Total Nuclear Annihilation Pinball Review: Spooky's Synthwave Cult Classic (2017)

The Skill Shot·video·11m 2s·analyzed·Jul 23, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.014

TL;DR

TNA is a retro-styled synthwave pinball hit that nails 1980s simplicity in a modern machine.

Summary

The Skill Shot reviews Total Nuclear Annihilation (TNA), a 2017 synthwave-themed pinball machine by Spooky Pinball designed by Scott Danesi. The game deliberately mimics early 1980s Williams/Bally pinball with simple rules, punishing difficulty, and an original synth soundtrack, eschewing the deep modes and licensed IP of modern competitors. TNA achieved cult status with 800 units produced and consistently strong secondary market appreciation.

Key Claims

Scott Danesi started TNA as a personal garage project in 2015, spent 2 years developing it, and designed the playfield, wrote all code, and composed the synthwave soundtrack himself
high confidence · Ryan (The Skill Shot host) in the opening narrative segment
Spooky Pinball was founded in 2013 by Charlie Emery and family in Benton, Wisconsin
high confidence · Ryan in historical overview of Spooky
Spooky produced exactly 550 units of TNA in 2017, then 250 collector's edition units (TNA 2.0) in 2022, for a total of 800 machines
high confidence · Ryan during production history segment
Danesi works as an engineer at Pinball Life (a pinball parts company) and is also an electronic music producer
high confidence · Ryan in designer background section
TNA ranks 76th in the top 100 pinball machines and could rank higher if more than 800 units existed in circulation
high confidence · Ryan during ranking discussion
TNA's original retail price was $6,000 and has appreciated steadily, making it one of the best-performing pins of the past decade on the secondary market
high confidence · Ryan in resale value segment of flip score analysis

Notable Quotes

“He wanted to build a pinball machine, not for a company, not to sell, just for himself. He'd grown up on early '80s pinball, the Bally and Williams classics. Simple rules, brutal difficulty, incredible electronic soundtracks. By 2015, that kind of pinball had vanished.”
The Skill Shot @ ~0:45 — Establishes the creative genesis and design philosophy of TNA as a reaction against modern pinball trends
“No committee, no license, no focus group, just a guy and the machine he wanted to play.”
The Skill Shot @ ~2:15 — Summarizes TNA's indie design ethos and lack of corporate overlay
“Scott has said outright that Scarlet never makes it out alive, no matter how you play... You achieved total annihilation, so the game annihilates itself.”
The Skill Shot @ ~3:45 — Explains the darkly nihilistic ending narrative and thematic consistency
“Few pinball machines lean on their audio the way this one does. Here, it's not an accompaniment. It's a core part of how the game feels.”
The Skill Shot @ ~4:30 — Highlights the unique centrality of soundtrack design to gameplay experience
“Scott tuned this thing to play like an early '80s competition machine. The outlanes are hungry, the ball is fast, and the scoop spits it back out quick enough to catch you off guard. A casual player might blow up two or three reactors in a whole night. A serious player chases that ending for months.”
The Skill Shot @ ~8:00 — Describes the difficulty curve and target audience segmentation
“TNA isn't trying to be a deep modern machine. It's trying to be a pure throwback and it nails that.”
The Skill Shot @ ~17:15 — Summarizes design intent and market positioning

Entities

Total Nuclear Annihilationgame Scott DanesipersonSpooky PinballcompanyCharlie Emeryperson Ryanperson Pinball Lifecompany

Signals

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design_philosophy: TNA deliberately strips down playfield complexity (3 flippers, 11 stand-up targets, 1 pop bumper, no sculpted toys) to mimic early-1980s design, prioritizing shot selection and difficulty over gadgetry
high · Ryan: 'Scott wanted a machine that looked and felt like 1985, back when the playfield was just shots and targets, and the difficulty came from the game itself, not from elaborate gadgets'
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design_innovation: TNA uses original synthwave soundtrack as a core gameplay mechanic, with tempo escalating as difficulty increases, making audio integral rather than supplementary
high · Ryan: 'Few pinball machines lean on their audio the way this one does. Here, it's not an accompaniment. It's a core part of how the game feels'
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design_innovation: The 'Denessi lock' (ball lock using inline drop targets) is highlighted as a particularly elegant mechanical solution for multiball triggering
high · Ryan: 'They call it the Denessi lock, and it's one of the slickest uses of inline drop targets anyone's ever done'
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product_strategy: TNA eschews the tiered product lines (Pro/Premium/LE) standard in modern pinball, producing a single 2017 run (550 units) and one 2022 collector edition (250 units) with consistent core specs
high · Ryan: 'There aren't tiers here like Stern's Pro, Premium, or LE, or JJP Standard, Limited Edition, or Collector's Edition. Spooky made 550 units in 2017'
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collector_signal: TNA demonstrates strong and steady secondary market appreciation from $6,000 original retail, performing as one of the best-appreciating pins of the past decade

Transcript

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0:00

In 2015, a synthwave musician and engineer named Scott Danesi started a personal project. He wanted to build a pinball machine, not for a company, not to sell, just for himself. He'd grown up on early '80s pinball, the Bally and Williams classics. Simple rules, brutal difficulty, incredible electronic soundtracks. By 2015, that kind of pinball had vanished. Stern was building deep movie-licensed rule sets. Jersey Jack was building wide-body machines with giant LCD screens. So, Scott set out to build the kind of game he grew up with. He spent 2 years on it, designed the playfield, wrote the code, composed the entire synthwave soundtrack. Then, a small company called Spooky Pinball saw what he was building and offered to put it into production. I'm Ryan. This is The Skill Shot, and today we're talking about Total Nuclear Annihilation.

0:58

Welcome to the future.

1:02

[music]

1:13

Spooky was founded in 2013 in Benton, Wisconsin by Charlie Emery and his family, running it out of a small town Wisconsin factory. Their first machine was America's Most Haunted in 2014. Then, Rob Zombie's Spook Show International in 2016. Plus, contract work like a promotional Domino's game on the side. Small production runs, counterculture themes that would never make it past the Stern licensing committee. Around 2016, Spooky picked up Scott's garage project for full production. Scott isn't an industry veteran. He's not a former Williams designer. He was an engineer working at the pinball parts company Pinball Life. He's also an electronic music producer on the side. So, when he built a pinball machine, he poured both halves of himself into it. The code is custom, written by him. The soundtrack is original synth wave, composed by him. No committee, no license, no focus group, just a guy and the machine he wanted to play. The theme is genuinely strange. You play a Scarlet, a woman in a neon post-apocalyptic '80s future, and your job is to overload and blow up nuclear reactors, nine of them. Each one you destroy cranks up the radiation, and the game never tells you why she's doing it. And if you destroy all nine, you trigger total nuclear annihilation. The flippers cut out, any balls you've got left just drain, the game ends, you won. You also died. Everyone did. It's one of the darkest, funniest endings in pinball. No celebration, no great job, play again. You achieved total annihilation, so the game annihilates itself. Scott has said outright that Scarlet never makes it out alive, no matter how you play. Instead of relying entirely on a video screen, like every modern game, this goes old school by using a numeric text score along the top. The small LCD represents Scarlet's wrist computer. The whole thing is built to look like it rolled off the line in 1985. It's funny, too. Hit the scoop when mystery is lit, and you'll see possible rewards like Lion Man, Bag of Cats, [music] Dispense four quarters. You'll want to read them, but the ball comes out of the scoop at light speed, so don't look away from the playfield for too long. The synth wave soundtrack is the soul of this machine. Driving beats, '80s synths, pulsing bass, and it pulls you into the game. Every reactor you destroy ramps the music up. The tempo climbs as the radiation rises. By the time you're one reactor from the end, the soundtrack is pounding. [music] Few pinball machines lean on their audio the way this one does. Here, it's not an accompaniment. It's a core part of how the game feels. Let's look at the playfield. It's deliberately stripped down. Three flippers, five sling shots, 11 stand-up targets, a set of inline drop targets, and exactly one pop bumper. No sculpted toys, no character figures, no motorized scoops or animated mechanisms. That's the point. Scott wanted a machine that looked and felt like 1985, back when the playfield was just shots and targets, and the difficulty came from the game itself, not from elaborate gadgets. What it does have is a clever ball lock. Shoot into an enclosed area and a gate snaps up to trap the ball. Load two of them, send in a third, and you've got a multiball. They call it the Denessi lock, and it's one of the slickest uses of inline drop targets anyone's ever done. I like to lock two balls and drain so my opponent can steal them. There's also a mini playfield, about the only thing here that resembles a modern feature. The code is simple by design. Each reactor takes three steps. Fill the keypad grid and shoot [music] the scoop to start it. Work the spinner and the reactor area targets to drive a critical, then hit the shots that light up to blow it up. Reactor one goes down with a single shot, but every reactor after that needs more heat to go critical and more shots to destroy. Pull it off nine times and you triggered the end of the world. Scott tuned this thing to play like an early '80s competition machine. The outlanes are hungry, the ball is fast, and the scoop spits it back out quick enough to catch you off guard. A casual player might blow up two or three reactors in a whole night. A serious player chases that ending for months. There aren't tiers here like Stern's Pro, Premium, or LE, or JJP Standard, Limited Edition, or Collector's Edition. Spooky made 550 units in 2017. Same playfield, same rules, same audio on everyone. Then in 2002, they did a rerun. 250 collector's edition machines. TNA 2.0 with upgrades. Nuclear green plastic protectors. Did I say it wrong again? Nuclear. I can't even hear the difference. TNA 2.0 with upgrades. Nuclear green plastic. I'm so self-conscious about that word.