Dungeons & Dragons Pinball Machine Announced

Stern Pinball has announced a new Dungeons & Dragons-themed pinball machine. The famed pinball company has announced plans to release Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye, a new $6,999 pinball machine. Details about the new machine are scarce, although a teaser for the game shows off what appears to be a mechanical red dragon. No release date has been announced for the pinball machine but more details will likely be announced next week at CES, an annual consumer electronics show held in Las Vegas. A teaser trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye can be seen below:


As D&D develops into more and more of a modern-day brand, it has crossed over into various kinds of media with varying degrees of success. A D&D LEGO set was well-received in 2024, which was followed by additional LEGO minifigures of characters like the Lady of Pain and Strahd. D&D will also appear at a new Universal Fan Fest Nights event this spring, with what appears to be a kind of haunted house/adventure room experience. A new "immersive experience" is also running in Canada this winter, featuring a truncated hour-long adventure in Waterdeep.

 

[R_J_K75]

Theres a Billard hall not far from where I live, they started out as a rather small place, maybe 10 tables, 2 dartboards, 1 or 2 video games and bubble hockey. They expanded a few times over the last 25 years, more everything and now they have 83 pinball machines and are expanding again I heard this past summer. It's a pretty cool place, I'll once, twice a year, have a few drinks and play some games. I was surprised to find out pinball is still this popular. Maybe I'll shoot them an email and let them know this is coming out.

Pocketeer Billiards

 

[R_J_K75]

If it can generate $20 a day, it will pay for itself in a year. A good investment for some game stores and retro cafes.

last time I went to play pinball most machines were $0.50 USD to $1.00 USD. I'd usually play one or two games and then move on to the next one. Seems pretty standard for what everyone else did so $20 a day sounds about right.

 

[R_J_K75]

You got me kind of curious about how much one could expect an arcade game to generate. Pong was released in 1972 and did rather well generating an average of $40 per day which is about $300 in today's purchasing power. It'd hard finding specific figures for how much coin operated machines might generate. Good way to launder money I guess.

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[Alby87]

There was a pinball made in 1987 by Bally. Simple one, with the BECMI Red Box cover as the translite. Nice music for the era!

 

[Stormonu]

The original 1E DM's screen that was done by Trampier was intended to be used for a D&D pinball game that, to my knowledge, was never made with that artwork.

 

[Meech17]

Last fall my girlfriend and I took a weekend trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan and there's a bar there called The Pyramid Scheme we visited. They had probably two dozen pinball machines, and we played a few and had a couple drinks. I was kind of surprised by a John Wick machine, and my first thought was "Huh.. They're still making new Pinball Machines"

Maybe they'll get one of these bad boys in

 

[Nightfly]

Does anyone still play pinball? As far as I remember, they started to disappear in the second half of the 90s, when internet cafes and video game consoles arrived and the arcades disappeared.

I am not against the merchandising of D&D but where I live the pinballs are only a memory from a previous decade.

Pinball is undergoing a major resurgence. Just a few years ago, Stern was the only company in the world making tables. Now there are several, like Jersey Jack and Pinball Bros. Those smaller companies generally specialize in limited edition tables for collectors.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

They're still producing pinball machines, so someone is still playing them. I love pinball, but since arcades have largely gone the way of the dodo, I rarely have an opportunity to play. I played some pinball games while on my honeymoon in Vegas in 2001, but I didn't play another one until I went to a retro arcade here in 2023. That's a long time with no pinball.

Canada still has arcades with other attractions, like 2 arcades at Canada's Wonderland and arcades of varying sizes at some movie theaters, like a fair sized one at Cineplex in Newmarket.

 

[MGibster]

Canada still has arcades with other attractions, like 2 arcades at Canada's Wonderland and arcades of varying sizes at some movie theaters, like a fair sized one at Cineplex in Newmarket.

We still have a few here in the United States but they are far fewer in number than they were in decades past. It used to be you could walk into most malls and find an arcade like Aladdin's Castle. I think there was a sharp decline in the number of arcades starting in the mid to late 1990s. You'll still find arcades at other attractions like a movie theaters and some restaurants. It's been years since I've seen an arcade game at a convenience store or a supermarket though.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

General pinball related anecdote:

I grew up, in part, near Blackpool, which, for those who don’t know is a working class seaside resort in Northern England. It had many amusement arcades along its “Golden Mile”, going back many years. My (late) mum remembered the penny arcades from when she was a little girl.

So, in my time, late 70s to early 80s, the mechanical machines where gradually being replaced by video games, so my grandmother found herself with a bunch of old pinball machines dumped in her garage, which she hat let out.

That’s it really. No witty punchline, but I thought it might be of interest.