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Jim Henson's Labyrinth Pinball Gameplay Overview With Bowen Kerins

Barrels of Fun Pinball·video·21m 6s·analyzed·Oct 17, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Bowen Kerins demos Barrels of Fun's Labyrinth pinball, highlighting thematic modes and character progression systems.

Summary

Bowen Kerins provides a comprehensive gameplay walkthrough of Barrels of Fun's Jim Henson's Labyrinth pinball machine, demonstrating the game's core mechanics including six thematic modes, three character progression systems (Hoggle, Ludo, Didymus), multiball modes, skill shots, and ball path variance. The design emphasizes movie fidelity by integrating Labyrinth narrative elements (the Oubliette's dual-path mechanic, character-specific perks) with David Bowie's soundtrack and accessible-yet-deep rule set.

Key Claims

  • Labyrinth is Barrels of Fun's first game

    high confidence · Opening statement: 'we are here at Barrels of Fun in Houston Texas to play this pre-built version of Labyrinth the first game by Barrels of Fun'

  • The Oubliette mode features ball path variance where the same shot route takes different paths on first vs. second attempt, matching movie logic

    high confidence · Bowen demonstrates and explains: 'So you can shoot the same shot twice, and in every case, the ball will go a different route than it did the first time' and 'matches what happens in the movie as well where you have to open that door and then you have to open the same door the opposite way'

  • The game has six modes with varying difficulty levels

    high confidence · Phil Grimaldi quote via Bowen: 'the six modes that are sometimes difficult, sometimes more difficult than others, and they all have different objectives'

  • Three characters (Hoggle, Ludo, Didymus) each provide distinct mechanical and scoring benefits

    high confidence · Bowen explains: 'Hoggle makes things easier. Ludo makes them more valuable. Didymus takes care of you a little bit more with add-a-balls, with ball saves'

  • Sir Didymus provides an outlane save mechanic that activates once per game, then repeats when 'help' is spelled

    high confidence · Bowen demonstrates and states: 'Sir Didymus will save you on the outlane once per game. But once you have activated him and pushed him to his level one jackpot, that save will activate again every time you spell help'

Notable Quotes

  • “There's a lot to see and do in this game, and let's go.”

    Bowen Kerins @ 00:00:30 — Opening statement establishing the game's complexity and scope

  • “So you can shoot the same shot twice, and in every case, the ball will go a different route than it did the first time.”

    Bowen Kerins @ 01:45:00 — Core explanation of Oubliette mode's defining mechanic—ball path variance

  • “Hoggle makes things easier. Ludo makes them more valuable. Didymus takes care of you a little bit more with add-a-balls, with ball saves.”

    Bowen Kerins @ 18:15:00 — Concise description of the three character progression systems and their distinct roles

  • “What we've tried to do here is integrate these ideas into the game, make it as realistic as we can to the experience of the movie, bring in things like all the Bowie music that's here, and just try to make this the best experience we can for fans of the movie as well as fans of pinball.”

    Bowen Kerins @ 39:45:00 — Statement of design philosophy emphasizing theme fidelity and accessibility to both movie and pinball audiences

  • “Pretty much no matter how bad you're playing, David Bowie pulls you out of that funk right at the end of the game.”

    Bowen Kerins @ 32:30:00 — Observation on the game's use of soundtrack as emotional anchor

  • “Bog farts at you like crazy, but also puts up an orange shot and two green shots. If you gotta go on the orange shots without touching the green shots. If you touch a green shot, you are forever unclean.”

    Bowen Kerins @ 09:00:00 — Humorous description of Bog mode mechanics tied to movie narrative (the Bog of Eternal Stench)

Entities

Bowen KerinspersonBarrels of FuncompanyJim Henson's LabyrinthgamePhil GrimaldipersonDavid BowiepersonHogglegameLudogameDidymusgame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Bowen Kerins actively involved in Barrels of Fun production team, providing official gameplay overview and rule set explanation to community

    high · Bowen states: 'As a member of the team producing this game I'm going to help you guide you through the different aspects of this'; closing: 'thanks to the team at Barrels of Fun for making this game and for giving me the opportunity to work with them'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Game designed for dual audience appeal: pinball enthusiasts AND movie fans through narrative integration and accessible rule set with depth

    high · Bowen states: 'try to make this the best experience we can for fans of the movie as well as fans of pinball who we hope will become fans of the movie by playing this'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Labyrinth emphasizes ball path variance as a core mechanic matching movie narrative (door-opening puzzle logic); integrates character-specific mechanical perks (Hoggle=shortcuts, Ludo=points, Didymus=defense) creating multiple valid play strategies

    high · Bowen demonstrates Oubliette mode twice from different paths and states: 'matches what happens in the movie as well where you have to open that door and then you have to open the same door the opposite way'; character benefits are explicitly differentiated per design

  • ?

    announcement: Jim Henson's Labyrinth by Barrels of Fun is Barrels of Fun's debut commercial pinball release

    high · Opening statement: 'we are here at Barrels of Fun in Houston Texas to play this pre-built version of Labyrinth the first game by Barrels of Fun'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.063

0:00
Hey I'm Bo and we are here at Barrels of Fun in Houston Texas to play this pre-built version of Labyrinth the first game by Barrels. As a member of the team producing this game I'm going to help you guide you through the different aspects of this including the friends, the modes, the multi balls, all the ways things interact, including the different ball paths that can be taken when you take different shots throughout. There's a lot to see and do in this game, and let's go.
0:40
One of the simple skill shots in the game is to plunge into this short hole, the wormhole, if you will. And also the first switch that you hit will lock in the very first move that you're going to play. So that in this case is Oubliette. And to light a mode, now it's switched to bog because I hit the change mode target, you complete the white lights that are on the playfield. So white light on the ramp there, white light on the ramp there that I missed. There are many such white lights. It changes again to cleaners. So the mode can change in two different ways, one of which you see here. We'll top up the other one there with lovely hands.
1:30
Oh, yeah, magnet time. That's some good stuff right there. We're back on Ooliet. We've got all of the white lights completed. And once you spell Labyrinth, when you can see the progress on the lower screen, the modes are lit by shooting the U-turn. One of the other things I've done is I also shot the orange shot and the blue shot once. activating Ludo and Didymus. The yellow, orange, and blue shots around the playfield that move around, those are going to activate and advance the different friends.
Oubliette
game
Boggame
Cleanersgame
Brick Keepersgame
Friend Multiballgame
Fireysgame
Jim Henson Companycompany
2:04
When you shoot through the U-turn, you'll start a mode, in this case it's Oubliette. Shoot any lit shot twice. What this mode does is takes advantage of your game's pass. So you can You can shoot the same shot twice, and in every case, the ball will go a different route than it did the first time. So that first shot to the center ramp went around to my left flipper. Now I shoot again, and it grabs it and throws it into behind the ramp. That second shot is worth $2 million. And if you're a fan of the movie, you know that this actually matches with what happens. You have to shoot every shot and you have to basically go two different routes and open the door twice to get out of there. This is some Bowie for a second here. So any shot, choose your shot. I'll shoot the left ramp here and then it's going to open up. And if I can put it into the ramp again, the second path gives me the big value and also shuts that shot off for the remainder of the mode. You have to get all five shots to win the mode. So this is actually probably one of the most difficult modes in terms of number of shots that you need to make.
3:33
Let's go to the right orb. Dangerous. And a failure. Yeah, alright, I know where the way was, but I didn't go that way.
3:45
It's a valuable mode, difficult mode, so there's a balance here. Phil Grimaldi, who's in charge of the rules for this game, choosing different paths in these modes, the six modes that are sometimes difficult, sometimes more difficult than others. and they all have different objectives. They should all feel significantly different from one another. Bogs the next, and I really enjoy playing Bogs, so I'm going to go with that. Let's go for a different skill shot.
4:11
Make the skill shot here. Missed it. There are many different skill shots here. Now you have to get to the mode. You need to shoot.
4:24
White shot is a spell out. The letter is in labyrinth. And you can see the progress towards Labyrinth on that bottom screen. Once you have enough letters, the U-turn will open up, and it will allow the ball to be collected for the Muffin Star.
4:42
I've also shot enough blue shots here to collect the Sir Didymus Jackpot at level 1. And Sir Didymus' reward at level 1 is that Spelling Help will light the save. If Didymus is lit in blue like he is now, going through that top out lane switch will kick the ball back into play. And I don't really know how to shoot that on purpose, but when it comes up, I'll point it out.
5:07
Probably it'll come up during multi-ball. Let's play Buck. Oh man I don know why I doing this This is going to hurt gonna stink forever I don want to stink forever I already stink I an old man trying to play pinball
5:23
Man. Okay, so Bog farts at you like crazy, but also puts up an orange shot and two green shots. If you... you gotta go on the orange shots without touching the green shots. If you touch a green shot, you are forever unclean.
5:47
And, yeah, you can hit the target's surrounding shot sometimes. It's just at the edge. Whatever you want to keep yourself clean. And here we are so far. We're so good. We're three steps in. Come on, Ludo. You got this.
6:05
Come on, Ludo. No. Oh, don't go that way. Nobody goes that way. So did I miss and get across? No problem, of course.
6:17
So we failed two modes so far, but each of them got pretty significant progress and 12 million through two balls is a decent score. Anytime you win one of the modes, you can collect an orb that is worth 10 million and a shot multiplier. I've got the Ludo jackpot ready from shooting enough orange shots. Hoggle is not ready, I need yellow shots for that. But we also have multi-ball available to us here on ball three.
6:52
It might make sense to start in load first, so let's go right into multi-ball. And listen to some go. Brick Keepers Multi Bowl and in Brick Keepers you take out jackpots and you put a ball on the lock in that underneath the spinner. Once you light that up you can collect the super by beaming that ball off of its spot on the spinner. The lower screen will tell you how much it's worth, but it's also worth a quarter spin, the jackpot. So you get more for nailing it.
7:40
And you can collect multiple supers this way. I only got one here, but the more you go, the more it's worth.
7:49
Now we've got the Ludo jackpot and the Hoggle jackpot ready. So you can put in there to collect them. And we've got one of each at this point. Hagel's awards are based on making the game easier as you go. So shortcuts like two labyrinth letters and ludos are about points. Once you get at least level one of everybody, you can start friend multiball. If you wait on friend multiball, you can start at a higher value, but you have to complete more friend jackpots to get those off.
8:22
Red multiball expects you to just make one of every friend shot. So here I've got the left loop, the right loop, and the center ramp available to me.
8:35
Every one of those shots is worth a little bit of points, but what you really want to do is free. And there was the Stradimus save. Stradimus save is on the left out lane above the main out lane there. Right orbit. Left orbit. There they are. And now the frame jack button is available on the Scoot.
9:21
So that would have been 3 million opportunity there, but not successful. The other feature in the game is these wise man quests. Going into the drop target, we'll start a small quest of shooting, in this case, targets.
9:41
And you'll get different rewards, including eventually an extra bottle. Let's go back into a pool here and pick cleaners.
9:54
We also show you what an orb looks like here. We're playing front and middle, and there is the Didymus active.
10:02
To collect an orb, you must hit the wall underneath. Go for it on the purple button right. This is also where the mystery is.
10:13
So that lit the defense again as it was off. I get 10 million for collecting the orb. You're like my leopard. And then the next shot I make will be double for the rest of the game So you know this is a good time to just lose Why not Ludo Scares Ludo Scares
10:42
28 million. That's a good score here. Not a great score, but that's alright. And we'll keep going. Play another one.
10:49
But, we gotta listen to this first. Don't look at me. Just listen. Pretty much no matter how bad you're playing, David Bowie pulls you out of that funk right at the end of the game.
11:43
All right. Well, that runs the game with both modes and friends. The friends are color-coded, so Hoggle and Ludo and Didymus are the yellow, orange, and blue shots, and modes are lit by completing the white shots. There are skill shots throughout including plunging into the wormhole. Let's try this center shot on the ramp and meet Ludo. Ludo brother, yeah. By shooting an orange shot I lit Ludo and now other orange shots will solidly lit and advance Ludo towards his jackpot. You can see here I've got the left orbit now lit for Ludo. Ludo's jackpot is lit, let's cash it out. Ludo's jackpot is that every mode is worth 50% more than it normally would be. So you can see how the different things in the game attach to different ways of playing the game. Hoggle is about shortcuts, Ludo is about points, Didymus is about defense, and Fireys are about popping their heads off and getting out of balls. We got two balls in play, put one in the lock on the left.
12:57
Give me that ball back. Put it in there. Boom! Lock it up. You lock it up, you gotta then make one of the five flashing shots. There are both ramps, all three ramps. There's one. And then once you shoot the shot, you start to hurry up, where you can then pop a head off. I didn't get there, but that would have given me...
13:22
I'm not going with my head. I still got my head, but I didn't get no extra ball head. I didn't get no add-a-ball there.
13:30
Fireys has the opportunity to make two or three add-a-balls. And there's a magnet again. Oh, thank you, Sir Denimus!
13:38
Sir Denimus will save you on the outline once per game. But once you have activated him and pushed him to his level one jackpot, that save will activate again every time you spell help. So each character has its own kind of personality to them. Agu makes things easier. Lua makes them more valuable. Didymus takes care of you a little bit more with add-a-balls, with ball saves.
14:06
So let's try to pick Didymus here. And we'll do the Didymus jackpot by shooting his shots on the left. Corbett.
14:20
And on the left ramp. Yeah, I got it. And now his jackpot is available. If you want, you can collect more than one jackpot at a time. So you can have multiple characters live for jackpot. Anytime you shoot that hole and jackpots are ready, you're going to cash in some points and you're going to get a perk. In this case, the perk is that every time I complete help, I'll go and get that save. Let's see, should I go up or down? Do I want the cleaners or the knockers? Let's go for the knockers.
14:55
Of course, I chose down, so wrong answer, buddy. Going down to cleaners. Cleaners is a quick roll mode.
15:07
During cleaners, the objective is to shoot the left orbit to light the right orbit for a collect. You also have a second screen down there. and the second screen will tell you a little more information, and you'll see that pop up. Every time something happens, that little screen will be available.
15:27
So notice what I'm doing there. I'm not actually shooting the left orbit, but still getting access to the cleaners, and that is because the cleaners is about that spinner, not just about the orbit itself.
15:40
So if I shoot the spinner hard, I can get a really good value on the cleaners But even without that I can still get some value Big bucks Boom 3 million Hurry up Yeah that is actually damn good
16:01
And we just keep going. We win this. We escape by doing it three times. That combo is really satisfying, especially if you can go left orbit to interloop and then around that ramp.
16:15
But even in this case, we get some good points out of this. We get 2.1 million that time. We're over 5 million. That will give us the orb for this battle, and we are now in David Bowie territory.
16:33
The boat still runs, so... I still want that ball to go around the right orbit and finish. Yeah, there it is. And there's the completion of Cleaners.
16:49
At the expense of a bad Brick Keeper's Multi-Ball, I will try to come back around to that. We just have to complete the white targets again. And we have at least level one of every character now, Hoggle, Pluto, and Didymus, which gives you access to friend multiball. You get a better friend multiball by continuing and earning level 2, level 3, level 4 of each of these characters. You can see on the display what the perks are for each level for each character.
17:20
What I need here too is I won cleaners and an orb is now lit under the upper flipper. How are you enjoying my labyrinth? I am enjoying your labyrinth, Mr. Bowie. I think you're an excellent dance-off judge, or pose-off, whatever that was in Zoolander, I don't remember.
17:41
But, uh... I get points, and now I also need to place a shot multiplier. So now the left ramp will be doubled for the rest of the game.
17:57
We're still collecting white lights for the modes. We can still progress towards the friends. by shooting their colors to this left ramp for Ludo. Gave me two letters in Labyrinth.
18:10
Oh, I should have had that. That was close. Don't laugh at me like that. You just asked me how I was enjoying this place, and now you're laughing at me. I don't enjoy it anymore.
18:24
I didn't even like it when you kicked that chicken. Where are we here? Ball three. We've got the Oubliette ready. mode is ready to start. Let's go for that and talk about Oubliette. Haha, yes you can plunge it. Hahaha. Five shots to make and what we have to do here is make each shot twice from the different possible ways those shots can be completed. So this takes advantage of the ball paths that this game has. I'm going to shoot the left ramp first because the left ramp I've already doubled so every shot to left ramp is gonna be worth more
19:06
And that ramp opens up like a pathway underneath where I get six Million points for one shot and that six million points was because the shot was double but also because level one Ludo Gave me 50% extra these shots would normally be two million at three minutes. Sorry. Sorry dude Can I call you dude? No, I really shouldn't
19:31
You have to make the shots twice but in different ways. So there's that center ramp. Once, center ramp twice, goes in a different place. All five shots are going to do this. And it matches, oh I should have played that better. It matches what happens in the movie as well where you have to open that door and then you have to open the same door the opposite way. So what we've tried to do here is integrate these ideas into the game, make it as realistic as we can to the experience of the movie, bring in things like all the Bowie music that's here, and just try to make this the best experience we can for fans of the movie as well as fans of pinball who we hope will become fans of the movie by playing this. Ooh, I got the cleaner's champ.
20:23
Let's enter my initials. I hope there's some music at the end. Is there music at the end? Might say.
20:46
Thanks for watching, and thanks to the team at Farrells of Fun for making this game and for giving me the opportunity to work with them. and it will only be available forever, according to David Bowie.