Another New Pinball Manufacturer

Pinball News Website·article·analyzed·May 4, 2012

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.014

TL;DR

Skit•B Pinball announces Predator game with 250-unit production run at $4,750–$5,000.

Summary

Skit•B Pinball, a Michigan-based manufacturer, announced their officially-licensed Predator game in May 2012, building on whitewood prototypes shown in early 2012. The company plans to produce 250 machines at $4,750–$5,000 each using P-ROC control systems, custom parts from Marco Specialties and Back Alley Creations, and innovative UV-reactive playfield printing.

Key Claims

Skit•B Pinball formally announced Predator game and started taking pre-orders
high confidence · Direct statement in article; pre-orders confirmed as available without deposits
Predator is officially licensed based on the original Predator movie
high confidence · Article explicitly states 'officially-licensed game based on the original Predator movie'
250 machines planned at $4,750–$5,000 cost per unit
high confidence · Direct announcement quoted in article
Back Alley Creations will produce interactive toys for the Predator playfield
high confidence · Recent announcement detailed in article
Predator uses UV reactive ink in playfield printing that reacts to UV LED lighting during certain modes
high confidence · Described as 'one of the innovative design features' with specific technical details provided

Notable Quotes

“The number of pinball makers has exploded over the past couple of years and now another name has joined the frey as Michigan-based Skit•B Pinball have formally announced their Predator game”
Pinball News — Opening statement contextualizing Skit•B as part of broader wave of new manufacturers entering the market
“The intention is to build 250 machines at a cost of between $4,750 and $5,000 each.”
Pinball News (reporting announcement) — Key production and pricing details for Predator
“Back Alley Creations will be producing "many" interactive toys for the Predator playfield, which suggests there is significantly more yet to be revealed.”
Pinball News — Indicates additional playfield features beyond what has been publicly shown to date

Entities

Skit•B PinballcompanyPredatorgameBack Alley CreationscompanyMarco SpecialtiescompanyP-ROC systemproductPinballcontrollers.comcompanyMichigan Pinball ExpoeventPinfesteventPinball Newsorganization

Signals

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event_signal: Predator whitewood exhibited at Michigan Pinball Expo (April 2012) and Pinfest (Allentown, PA), building community awareness and credibility
high · Multiple expo appearances documented in chronological progression
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market_signal: New manufacturer entering market with mid-range pricing ($4,750–$5,000) positioned between homebrew and commercial segments
high · Pricing explicitly stated; article notes 'number of pinball makers has exploded over the past couple of years'
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announcement: Skit•B Pinball formally announces Predator game with official movie license and begins taking pre-orders
high · Direct announcement statement; pre-orders confirmed active
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product_strategy: UV reactive ink playfield printing with UV LED lighting integration as innovative design feature enabling dynamic visual effects during gameplay modes
high · Described as 'one of the innovative design features' with technical details provided
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technology_signal: Adoption of P-ROC control system and LED-based dot matrix display in new manufacturer entry, moving away from traditional Stern/Williams high-voltage gas plasma units
high · Article explicitly compares LED vs. plasma technology and identifies P-ROC as heart of system

Topics

New manufacturer entryprimaryPredator pinball machine announcementprimaryP-ROC control system adoptionsecondaryCustom parts sourcing and non-licensed componentssecondaryUV reactive playfield technologysecondaryPricing in homebrew/new manufacturer segmentmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.75)— Article is factual and neutral in tone, but the narrative arc—from announcement through whitewood reveals, video demos, expo appearances, to pre-orders—conveys momentum and legitimacy. No critical commentary or skepticism present.

Transcript

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Date: 4th May, 2012 The number of pinball makers has exploded over the past couple of years and now another name has joined the frey as Michigan-based Skit•B Pinball have formally announced their Predator game and have started taking pre-orders. The intention to build the officially-licensed game based on the original Predator movie was first announced in June of last year, but excitement really began to take off when the first whitewood pictures were released on the company's website in March this year. The Predator whitewood Then in April the first video of the whitewood being played was posted on YouTube and it really looked as though the game could become reality before too much longer. The illuminated playfield The playfield with the display Here's the video in full showing how the 'Hunt' mode and 'Hunt Multiball' operate. The Skit•B video of Predator The whitewood game has since appeared at the Michigan Pinball Expo in April followed by the Pinfest show in Allentown, PA. Meanwhile more details about the game and the construction have been announced. The intention is to build 250 machines at a cost of between $4,750 and $5,000 each. The playfield as seen in the pictures and video above is a fairly conventional design without any obviously expensive mechanisms, however it has since been announced that Back Alley Creations will be producing "many" interactive toys for the Predator playfield, which suggests there is significantly more yet to be revealed. Another recent announcement states that Marco Specialties will be providing the parts for the game. However, these are described as "brand new parts sourced from industry standard specs", suggesting they will not be officially licensed Williams/Bally or Stern parts but of a similar non-infringing design. At the heart of the Predator game is the P-ROC system, as featured several time here at Pinball News, and the driver boards are also from Pinballcontrollers.com as shown in our recent P3 machine article. Predator uses a dot matrix display but this is a low power LED version rather than the high voltage gas plasma units used on Stern games until recently. One of the innovative design features of the game is the use of UV reactive ink in the playfield printing process. This reacts to UV LED lighting within the game which takes over during certain modes and changes the appearance of the playfield and its artwork. So far the team at Skit•B are taking pre-orders which do not currently require any deposits or down payments. Enquiries about the game and ordering can be made through the Skit•B website. Back to the News page Like this page? Share it with your Facebook friends: Back to the front page