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Predator Pinball and Pinball Brothers with Daniel | Ep 170

Indie Arcade Wave·video·29m 17s·analyzed·Jun 18, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Pinball Brothers details Predator Pinball's design, licensing, manufacturing, and market positioning ahead of release.

Summary

Joe from Indie Arcade Wave interviews Daniel from Pinball Brothers about the upcoming Predator Pinball machine. Daniel discusses Pinball Brothers' origin story (formed in 2020 after acquiring Heighway's assets to complete Alien), their manufacturing partnership with Pedretti Gaming in Italy, the Disney licensing for Predator following Alien's success, remote team coordination across multiple continents, game design philosophy centered on playing as Dutch fighting the Predator, extensive movie integration (mechs, video, quotes but limited Arnold close-ups currently), production capacity of ~800 units at $10,995 MSRP with optional Trophy Package, and lessons learned transitioning from homebrew to mass production.

Key Claims

  • Pinball Brothers was formed in 2020 after acquiring Heighway Pinball assets and relaunching Alien

    high confidence · Daniel, Pinball Brothers founder, stated directly in interview

  • Predator Pinball is the fourth game title from Pinball Brothers (after Alien, Queen, and Abba)

    high confidence · Daniel mentioned 'five years we have been releasing now queen and abba and now the fourth game is predator'

  • Disney license for Predator followed successful Alien partnership with Fox/Disney

    high confidence · Daniel explained Fox was acquired by Disney, leading to Predator license extension as natural next step

  • Manufacturing occurs in Italy through subsidiary European Ball Corp, co-owned with Pedretti Gaming

    high confidence · Daniel: 'we are manufacturing in in italy... we have a subsidiary in Italy called European Ball Corp'

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger is in the game but no close-up shots allowed currently; team is working on this

    high confidence · Daniel: 'he's in the game but... we are currently not allowed to use any close-ups of him from the movie... we are working on that'

  • Production capacity targeted at approximately 800 units for Predator Pinball

    high confidence · Daniel: 'somewhere around 800 games or there about should be possible'

  • Single playfield design across all versions with optional Trophy Package upgrades

    high confidence · Daniel explained decision to have one model with Trophy Package as add-ons only

  • Core design team based in Sweden with distributed team from US, France, UK, and other locations

    high confidence · Daniel: 'the development team is kind of global... the core design team is based in Sweden'

Notable Quotes

  • “We thought that Alien in particular was too good to be wasted. So we decided to make that game happen for real. And we relaunched the game as Pinball Brothers in 2020.”

    Daniel (Pinball Brothers)@ 4:47 — Explains founding moment of Pinball Brothers and commitment to completing Heighway's Alien

  • “You are stepping into the shoes of Dutch when you play the game, because you are actually facing the predator. You are fighting the predator in the game, literally.”

    Daniel@ 13:21 — Core design philosophy of Predator Pinball - player as protagonist Dutch in combat with Predator

  • “The whole idea is that you should feel like you are stepping into the jungle actually. And to me, actually, the feeling is a bit eerie, like in the movie.”

    Daniel@ 14:48 — Describes atmospheric design goals for immersive movie experience in pinball form

  • “You really have to have a clear plan what the building material is and what the sort of what are the weakest point parts... we need to make this really solid”

    Daniel@ 22:32 — Key advice for designers moving from homebrew to mass production regarding durability planning

  • “I've been playing Alien over time for a long, long time. And I sort of never get fed up with it. I think the sound package in particular from David Thiel is just amazing.”

    Daniel@ 25:34 — Personal testament to Alien's staying power and sound design quality

Entities

DanielpersonPinball BrotherscompanyJoepersonPredator PinballgameAliengame[name withheld pending review]companyEuropean Ball Corpcompany

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Predator Pinball by Pinball Brothers with ~800 unit production capacity, $10,995 MSRP, single playfield design with optional Trophy Package upgrades

    high · Daniel confirmed production target, pricing, and packaging strategy in direct interview

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Disney license for Predator Pinball obtained as extension of successful Alien partnership; Fox acquisition by Disney facilitated smooth transition

    high · Daniel explained Fox→Disney acquisition led naturally to Predator license negotiation

  • ?

    business_signal: Pinball Brothers manufactures in Italy through European Ball Corp subsidiary with Progetti Gaming; unusual geographic separation from design (Sweden) and team (global)

    high · Daniel detailed manufacturing structure and team distribution across continents

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Predator Pinball emphasizes player-as-protagonist (Dutch) fighting Predator with atmospheric jungle aesthetic, movie integration via video/audio/mechs, and combat-focused rule design

    high · Daniel repeatedly described design goal of stepping into jungle, eerie feeling, and literal fighting mechanics

  • ?

    product_strategy: Single playfield design across all units with optional Trophy Package add-ons (shaker, RGB lights, jungle trim, ammo box); intentional simplification vs. Alien's three versions

    high · Daniel explained decision: 'we didn't want to make it more complicated with different versions this time'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.088

0:00
Face off with the deadly predator, unleash old painless, attack the rebel camp, and get to the chopper.
0:14
Heyo, welcome everyone to Today in the Scene by Indie Arcade Wave. I'm Joe, your host, and here on In the Scene we dive into what's happening in the arcade space. From indie arcade developers, arcade owners and operators, pinball, and just news in the space in general. Now, if you're looking to bring a pinball into your collection, I am actually on the road right now in Pittsburgh, working with Compulsive Pinball to bring more pinballs to arcade owners and collectors. If you are an operator of pinballs, we do offer competitive pricing for you, and we do sell to the home market as well. So if you're looking for something specifically Stern, let me know and we can bring it in to you. And I'm incredibly excited for this week's guest. I have been a fan of this movie franchise and their previous game as well for a very long time. It was one of my dad's favorite movies growing up. So I'm excited to bring this interview to you guys and kind of figure out who Pinball Brothers is and talk about Predator Pinball, which we know the stories of the previous Predator Pinball. So let's bring in Daniel. How are you doing?
1:12
Hello. Thank you for joining all the way from Sweden. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm excited to chat about this. Let's just start with who is Daniel? Like, how did you get into pinball and where did that interest start?
1:28
Compulsive Pinball
company
Disneycompany
Kelly Masarovskiperson
Aurich Lawsonperson
David Thielperson
[name withheld pending review]person
Steve Ritchieperson
Black Knightgame
Lord of the Ringsgame
Deadpoolgame
Shadowgame
Galloping Ghost Pinballvenue
Indie Arcade Waveorganization
?

manufacturing_signal: Production capacity limited to ~800 units; intentional design to account for mass production limitations (durability, weak points, material selection)

high · Daniel discussed designing with mass production requirements in mind, targeting 800 unit capacity

  • ?

    technology_signal: Core team based in Sweden with distributed contributors from LA (animation/art), France, UK, and other locations; time zone differences managed through established relationships from Alien project

    high · Daniel named Kelly Masarovski (LA animations), Auric Lawson (LA art), and described global team coordination challenges

  • ?

    product_concern: Arnold Schwarzenegger close-ups currently restricted by rights holders; team actively working to expand permissions; player is Dutch (not Arnold) due to IP constraints

    high · Daniel: 'we are currently not allowed to use any close-ups of him from the movie that is the current situation we are working on that'

  • ?

    historical_signal: Pinball Brothers originated from effort to complete Heighway Pinball's Alien after company's commercial failure; founded 2020 with asset acquisition, now on fourth title in five years

    high · Daniel detailed formation story: Heighway venture failed, team decided Alien too good to waste, formed Pinball Brothers 2020

  • ?

    content_signal: Indie Arcade Wave podcast featuring manufacturer interviews and industry coverage; host Joe working with Compulsive Pinball distribution network

    high · Podcast interview format with Joe as distributor partner, mentions reaching out via indie arcade wave at gmail.com

  • ?

    venue_signal: Original Predator Pinball homebrew machine available at Galloping Ghosts arcade near Chicago; serves as reference point for community awareness

    medium · Joe mentioned knowing collectors with original Predator homebrew, one at Galloping Ghosts

  • ?

    design_innovation: Predator features interactive minigun mech, detailed predator sculpt with snarling/growling animations, chopper mech, guerrilla camp sculpt, and Yutja wristband device with LCD display on apron

    high · Daniel detailed mechanical features: 'really loaded when it comes to mechs', minigun, chopper, predator with snarling/growling, camp sculpt, wristband display

    • Oh, that's way back. It's like 40 years ago, to be honest. I got into pinball when I was like 13, I think, 12, 13, 14 years old. And I was playing a lot of pinball at various places downtown where I live. and I guess the interest has always been there for this magic under glass, if you like. So that is my very start with pinball. And then I obviously couldn't afford to buy a pinball machine until way later, but I actually got my first pinball machine in 2003. So that was a shadow. So that was my first first game. So and since then I have been collecting pinball machines and been into pinball more or less ever since. So that's more than 20 years now. So that is the background story. Yeah, I think that's very relatable. You know, you find it when you're young, you enjoy playing it. and then you just keep with it for a long time and it becomes a passion and now it becomes a career and a profession of what you're doing. Let's talk about how Pinball Brothers started. So obviously you started playing pinball when you were 12, 14, started collecting them, started repairing them. How did you get to the side of distribution and actually creating these games? Yeah, that's a bit of a crazy story. I couldn't foreseen that at all, to be honest.
    3:10
    But I mean, I was collecting pinball machines from 2003 and onwards. And in Sweden, it was quite hard to get spare parts for pinball machines back then. So I was increasingly frustrated about that, I guess. So in 2011 or 2012, I started an online shop for spare parts. And that was sort of the starting point when I started to learn people in this business,
    3:45
    everybody who manufactured parts and stuff like that. And that eventually led me to thinking about selling and distributing pinball machines also. So I got in contact with Andrew who was running Highway Pinball at the time. So it was actually, I was talking to him about distributing his games, their games. But there was already a distributor assigned for Sweden, which was bad luck, I thought at the time. But I was involved in that anyway, passively to help out basically. And as people know, that venture didn't work out. It's quite hard to obviously to start a business manufacturing ping pong machines and so on. But we were a few people involved at the time and we We thought that Alien in particular was too good to be wasted.
    4:56
    So we decided to make that game happen for real. And we relaunched the game as Pinball Brothers in 2020.
    5:06
    So that is also when Pinball Brothers was formed. and from then on it's five years we have been releasing now queen and abba and now the fourth game is predator so that is that is a really quick version of the over a very long story i mean that's interesting that you you know you found someone that was already producing pinball you kind of wanted to distribute for him but then you partnered up with them and started making more games and this is your fourth title so you guys are kind of figuring that out you're you're getting your manufacturing figured out where are you guys manufacturing are you manufacturing in sweden are you manufacturing in america we are actually manufacturing in in italy so we are we are designing and prototyping the games in sweden even if the the development team is kind of global you could say because there are people from the us from france from uk from from many places involved in the process, but the core design team is based in Sweden. But the manufacturing is happening in Italy. And just to give you a better picture of that, we have a subsidiary in Italy called European Ball Corp. And we formed that company together with Pedretti Gaming, who were doing at the time, they were making the Funhouse 2.0 kits and whirlwind kits. And also they were also manufacturing a lot of spare parts. So that is how I came to know them a long, long time ago. So we have a parted up, but the majority shareholding is Pinball Brothers. So we are sort of, we and Euro Pinball Corp is the same company basically. And so we are manufacturing not only our games there but also Euro Pinball Corp games which is Funhouse is the first one So we are doing the remakes and also original themes side by side there
    7:30
    That's interesting that you guys are manufacturing in Italy. That's cool. And it's definitely unique because you see so many pinballs coming out of the Chicago area is where the majority of the US companies are manufacturing. I'm really excited about the Predator side of this because there was an attempt to make a Predator pinball years ago, and it was pretty under the table. It did not go well. I know a few collectors that have one, and there is one available at Galloping Ghosts very near to Chicago. How did you guys get the license? And once you had it, what was your plan moving forward with design and developing of the game? Yeah, I think as everybody knows that originally the license was held by 20th century Fox, who obviously made the movie, the Alien movie, I mean, and the Predator movie, of course, also movies. So we had a contract with Fox, but Fox was acquired by Disney. So that is why we ended up with an agreement with Disney. And as things work in this business, you sign up for a few years and then you have to extend the license. And when you extend the license, you can always talk about getting other brands or themes into the assignment or agreement.
    8:59
    And that is what we did. They were obviously happy with what we have been doing with Alien. And I think it was a pretty straightforward discussion and not that hard to... It was kind of natural, I would say, to take the step and do Predator as the next game after... From their perspective, the next game after Alien, because the other games in between have been licensed by other people, of course, not Disney. The second part of your question, I don't remember that part. You said something about how we started off designing the game or something like that. Yeah. What was that process like? You said you have a lot of remote people, so how did you get the team together? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I mean, that is a very good question. And you could think that working remotely with pinball machines isn't that easy and to some extent that is really true because pinball is a physical product and and it really helps to actually be able to touch and see the game together and so on but we have actually come to know each other quite well because a lot of people involved in the predator game is also the people who were actually doing the alien one so we have uh kelly masarovski for instance he is doing all the animations and everything you see on screen and he's based in la and the auric lawson is doing make doing the artwork for the game the play field and the cabinet art and so on he's also based in the la so we uh we have got gotten used to work that way i think and it's it's we we have found a way to make it work. And it's a number of years now. So I think, but starting off with new people doing something like this, I wouldn't recommend because it's quite a challenge sometimes to be that far apart, not only geographically, but also the time difference can be pretty hard, to be honest. But we know each other and there are some new people, of course, involved in this process now. But since we have a core team, that hasn't been too problematic, I think. The time difference would be pretty crazy for you guys because, I mean, doing this interview, we're five hours apart and I'm on the East Coast. If you're talking LA, you're talking eight hours that you guys are different. That's like half a day, right? That's the whole work day that you guys are separated. But I think that's really cool that you're able to make it work with so many people remotely and manufacturing in a different country than where you're working on it too. You guys are kind of pulling off a crazy feat here of getting this game done and out. And I love that it's Predator. I love that you did Alien. You had a lot of really cool mechs in the Alien machine and you had multiple versions of the game. How much of the movie did you incorporate into the game by means of like call outs and video footage? Like is Arnold in the game i feel like that's what everybody's always asking me uh he's in the game but uh since you are playing as um as dutch in the game uh arnold is not having a significant role on the display and the reason for this is that we are not we are currently not currently not allowed to use any close-ups of him from the from the movie that is the current situation we are working on that and we hope that will be different later on but that is the situation right now.
    12:51
    But to be honest we actually, yeah I don't know where to start from this but in this but maybe I should start this way that we decided early on that this game should actually be focused around fighting the predator. And who is fighting the predator? That is obviously Dutch in the movie, also the crew of course. But the idea then is that you are stepping into the shoes of Dutch when you play the game, because you are actually facing the predator. You are fighting the predator in the game, literally. And then you are also collecting the crew members that you bring into the fights with the predator. You collect weapons, you collect ammunition, and you
    13:47
    go with these people, the crew, on special missions and things like that. So that has been the sort of vision of the game from the beginning. And there we are actually, I mean we are using
    14:07
    a lot of the movie in the game. We are not restricted from anything like when it comes to guns or violence or it's an R-rated game. So there's a lot of video and footage in there and quotes of course and so on So you are actually and this is something that we have been really passionate about because the whole team is passionate about Predator of course So when you push the start button the whole idea is that you should feel like you are stepping into the jungle actually And to me, actually, the feeling is a bit eerie, like in the movie. And then you have these passages where things are crazy busy. There are fights and everything is going on. And then you have quite calm moments. And creating calm moments in the pinball machine isn't that easy. But it is this contrast, I think, that is making the game, the movie great. And also the game great, we hope.
    15:23
    But I understand this discussion about Arnold. And since you are playing as Arnold, he's in there, but since you are the main character fighting the Predator as Dutch, he's not the main character of the game, I would say. well i'm sure people are gonna be glad that arnold is involved right he's you're gonna have the call you're gonna have like some words from him and some scenes that are depicting what's happening in the movie and i'm really excited to get my hands on this game i actually went to the set in puerto vallarta when i was a teenager and it was really cool to see where they filmed it and be in the jungle and see the chopper and everything um i think that you guys had some really cool aesthetics and some cool mechs in Alien, especially when the Xenomorph reached its tongue out and grabbed the ball and pulled it back in. And I haven't seen the play field yet. You guys haven't released a ton of stuff. You've teased stuff, but what can people expect from mechs in this game that are going to stand out and really make this game pop? Yeah, this game is really, if you think Alien is full of things I would say that it's Predator is really really loaded when it comes to mechs and stuff it's a wide body game and you have a minigun mech in there interactive minigun mech and we have obviously a chopper and we also have the main guy of the whole game, the predator himself. In my eyes, incredibly detailed sculpt that is interactive and you really, we have sort of, we have worked really, really hard to make it feel like you are actually fighting him in there and he's snarling and growling and doing all the stuff from the movies. So on top of that, we have obviously his famous Yutja arm device on the apron as an interactive display with the characteristic characters from the movie.
    17:54
    There is a sculpt of the whole camp area where the big fight is the guerrilla camp, which is happening early on in the movie. so there are a lot of stuff in the game honestly so I it would surprise me if people if anybody would be disappointed with what's in in the game this is absolutely an IP that integration is going to be a big deal and it sounds like you guys brought a lot from the movie whether it be videos call shout outs toys mechs sculpts characters I love the integration of the the wristband the bomb like that's that's such a cool thing to have on the play field and like i just i i just i want to play this game so bad it's obviously not out but what uh what kind of additions do you have of this game because i think with alien you had what three different versions that you released yeah that's true there was a standard edition standard version and then there was the limited one and then the ripley version came along later um so we have decided this time to go with one model of the game. This is Predator and this is Predator Pinball. But what you can do is that you can actually, you can get an upgrade package for the game if you like, if you choose. And that is the Trophy Package, we call it. And the Trophy Package includes a shaker motor, invisiglass, you have interactive RGB lightings controlled, individually controlled RGB lights on the back of the back box that increases the light shows obviously and then of course the really cool in my opinion green jungle green metal trims for the for for the game so so and then you also get a really really cool ammo box also with some with some stuff in it so that is that is basically the thing. We wanted to make it simple and we don't have a huge production capacity. So we think that somewhere around 800 games or there about should be possible. And so we didn't want to make it more complicated with different versions this time, but to make it really clean and easy. You have to make one decision. That is if you want to have the trophy package or not.
    20:37
    And as I said, those things in the trophy package is just sort of adding add-ons, you could say. There's nothing in the game that is different by having that package or not. I think that's smart. I know Stern is kind of moving that direction where they have the same play field amongst most of their games. I was just talking to Jersey Jack a couple weeks ago about how they have one play field across all their versions. It just makes a lot of sense to have one play field that's the same on every version. And then you can buy all the bells and whistles that you want to upgrade and make it look more aesthetically pleasing.
    21:11
    Over the years, right, this is your fourth machine. You guys have learned a lot, I'm sure, about producing and designing games. What are some of the biggest lessons you've taken home? Because I have a lot of people on the channel that watch for like the indie development and the homebrew community. So what have you learned as a game designer and creator that is advice that you could give to someone else that wants to make their own homebrew?
    21:38
    That's a really good question. It's tricky because it is tricky to design Pimble machines. And I think the biggest step of course is when you when you it a it a challenge to make a single game of course to making a prototype or a homebrew That it really an achievement to do that but then taking that game into to mass production if you like in serial production is is a completely different story so it's it's it's it's almost impossible i would say if you design a game and make one or two games and then think about putting it into serial production without thinking about the mass production before designing the game if that makes sense you really have to have a clear plan what the building material is and what the sort of what what are the weakest point parts or the weakest points of this game we need to make this really solid you we have to be sure not to bring stuff into mass production that are causing failures easily so it might sound like no surprises here but i think that is really what you need to do if that is what you're thinking about to put the game into mass production. Making a homebrew, I think that would be really cool to do, to be honest. I would like to do that myself because then you could design a game without really having to think about the limitations of mass production. So I would say doing a homebrew is a little bit more freedom compared to making a mass-produced game.
    23:41
    I don't know if that was any advice at all, but I think that is a big, big, big step to put something into mass production. Right. Yeah, I mean, it's a completely different aspect. Like when I was at MAGFest this last winter, I got to meet a lot of people that were developing indie arcade games. And a lot of them weren't planning on, you know, releasing them for mass production or selling them. And I totally understand that, you know, it's a passion project. Once you mass produce it, it changes the game. It's a whole different plan because you have to think about the arcade owner and the person that's purchasing the game. It's no longer just for fun for you and your friends. So it brings a whole different element into the game. you've been producing pinballs for years now you've got a really cool release coming out other than your own games if you had to line up like a top five favorite pinballs of all time what would they be and why top five yeah oh uh then i have to go with black knight the early the old one from 1980 the steve richie game because that is one one of my favorites um that's where everything started so to speak then I have to go for Lord of Rings which is a great game in my opinion I love the theme but I also like the game rules a lot I also would like to say Deadpool I like that game also a lot and then I would actually go for Alien also, because I think it's a great game, to be honest. I know I'm quite biased here, but I think that I've been playing Alien, not maybe daily, but I've been playing it over time for a long, long time. And I sort of never get fed up with it. I think the sound package in particular from David Thiel is just amazing. And the whole feeling of the game is great.
    25:53
    And then I have to go for a fifth game. And I think next year, I can hopefully say Predator. But for now, I think I'll go with Shadow, actually. because that was my first buy and I really liked Flow of Shadow. I think it's a really, really great game also. So that would be my top five.
    26:23
    I think that's a great top five. I mean, I love Black Knight. I love Deadpool. Deadpool is kind of a sleeper, I feel like. A lot of people look at other Stern games and they're like, oh, Deadpool is kind of over here. But it's a really fun, exciting, fast-paced game. And the multi-ball is super easy. It's a very beginner friendly game. I think your top five is great. It's cool to see kind of a mixture of like old and new and what you're into. That's really all I had for you, Daniel. I really appreciate you coming on and talking about Predator, trying to figure out what's going on here with everything. Shout out your social medias. Let people know when the release is coming. And I haven't even asked you, like, what's the price going to be on these machines? The MSRP for the game is 10,995. And then you have the trophy package is 1495. If you want to add that. Yeah, you can obviously reach out to the easiest way is to find all our distributors on the pinballbrothers.com web page. There you have all the distributors for each area in North America, Europe and Australia.
    27:36
    And also the Middle East and Brazil. And if you can't reach your distributor, don't be afraid to reach out to us. Because we will help you to find a way to get this game. Because if you're a Predator fan, you really want this game. Believe me. I am totally convinced that you will not be disappointed. That's good to hear. I'm excited to get my hands on it at some point and play it. I really hope that Starport here gets one and I can play it in the future. Thanks again, Daniel, for coming on. It was great talking to you, great meeting you. And I'm so excited about Predator. Alien was a solid game. I'm really excited to see what you guys did with Predator. And for anyone that's still watching, don't forget to like, share and subscribe. It helps us a ton. The wave will continue to grow and we can all ride it together. If you're looking for new pinballs, reach out indie arcade wave at gmail.com. We will help you get the pin that you're looking for, whether you're a collector or a distributor. And until next time. Peace.
    28:52
    Thank you.