Heck/Spooky/Chicago Gaming Pinball Rumour Mill

Spooky Pinball & Chicago Gaming Company Logos

Heck/Spooky/Chicago Gaming Pinball Rumour Mill – new title set to arrive in 2021.

It was confirmed by Doug Duba, President of Chicago Gaming Company in March last year that Ben Heckendorn was developing a new pinball machine as a co-production with Chicago Gaming Company and Spooky Pinball.

Chicago Gaming is a sister business of the Churchill Cabinet Company, established in 1904. Chicago Gaming is now producing remakes of extremely popular classic Williams Electronics pinball machines, recreated to exceed the high standards of the original game, and has received critical acclaim for their Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness and Monster Bash remakes.

Spooky Pinball is a family owned & operated business and Wisconsin’s only pinball manufacturer. Starting life in 2010 as a podcast “Spooky Pinball”, in 2011 Charlie Emery took a custom game to the Midwest Gaming Classic. That in turn lead to a meeting with console modder and computer engineer Ben Heck who also shared a passion for pinball. Ben didn’t want to re-theme games, he wanted to build them from the ground up, so driven by a vision for pinball innovation, in February 2013 Emery founded Spooky Pinball LLC. The following year Spooky released America’s Most Haunted, designed by Ben Heck, which swiftly sold out its production run of 150 machines.

The First Heck/Spooky/Chicago Gaming Collaboration

This will be the first collaboration between Heck, Spooky and Chicago Gaming. To date no title has been confirmed, but with Doug Duba stating “the goal is to make the best pinball ever” there has been plenty of speculation as to what the team could be working on.

It has been rumoured that Spooky Pinball was previously looking at a remake of Evil Dead, but the licensing costs were prohibitive. Further speculation has centred around whether Stern currently holds a licence for Beetlejuice, and if not, then could that be a possible avenue to explore.

However, the smart money is not on a remake, or even an original title, but on an original concept. Why else would Chicago Gaming be teaming up with Spooky and Heck?

Original Concept

An original concept would be an attractive proposition, with the saving on licencing costs making it even more attractive in these uncertain pandemic-ridden times. An original concept would also tick the originality box for Heck and Spooky and open up a wider market for Chicago Gaming. So, a Heck/Spooky/Chicago co-production; definitely. A new title; absolutely. And an original concept; most probably.

Nothing has been announced just yet, but considering Spooky Pinball’s usual gestation period, we can’t be too far away from an update.

Whatever the news, hear it here first from Pinball Heaven

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