Information is coming in thick and fast about Stern's newest game - Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

We can now bring you the very first playfield pictures.

And what a packed playfield it is.

So packed it's hard to see where all the shots are, so let's concentrate on the basics.  There are three flippers and special lights in both outlanes. 

There is only one inlane on each side but seemingly two outlanes on the right side.  Perhaps the outer one feeds back to the shooter lane or acts as the ball lock? Much of the shooter lane is covered by plastic pieces and the right ramp.

The upper right flipper has a variety of shot options and indeed there are seven main shots at the top of the playfield including the classic through-the-bumpers shot.  There are three regular looking bumpers over on the left and right next to them is a scoop like the electric chair from The Addams Family.

But the most interesting stuff is right at the top.  The mini-display is back at the top-left.  The display peaked with the tri-colour TV from The Simpsons Pinball Party and has returned in a more modest form here with three 7x5 LEDs labeled A, B & C, which presumably relate to the awards shown top right.

Beneath the displays appears to be a three-way lane arrangement, presumably related to the three choices above.  Underneath that are the outer left and inner left loops, the latter has the first of two spinners in the game.

To the right of that is the shrunken head which is supposed to say funny stuff, then comes the centre ramp which feeds the A-B-C lanes to the left.

Then come some more rollover lanes feeding three more bumpers to make a game total of six.  These are fed from the launch lane and the right loop. Above them is the A-B-C sign.  We will have to wait to see whether the wording on the sign changes in some way or whether those options are fixed.

Below that is a vari-target.  We haven't seen one of these for a while and this one has a ten-stage power meter right in front of it.  Awards from here include extra ball and special, so this is going to be an important shot to master.

Continuing across the top we have the right ramp which feeds to either the left inlane or the second right outlane.  This is controlled by a diverter above the ramp.

Finally across the top we have the right loop which features the second spinner.  Above this loop is a fact card featuring details of pinball games such as: "There are about 1,500 parts in a pinball game" and "There is about 1/2 mile of wire in a pinball game"

But there are more areas of interest lower down the playfield.

You can collect idols here in what looks like a bit of a sucker shot - get it wrong and it comes back at you very fast.  The Tomb Stone standup looks similarly dangerous. But does that idol have a magnet hidden away in there, and if so, does it do more than simply grab the ball?

But the most prominent feature is right above the flippers.

The tic-tac-toe board gives awards such as light extra ball, light special and 2X playfield, so there are lots of goodies to be gained here. So that's at least two ways to light extra balls and specials, so expect good players to earn decent awards and that 2X the playfield suggests that this game will benefit from a carefully thought-out strategy.

The initial impressions are good. It's undoubtedly a Lawlor game with the cross-playfield shots from the upper flipper and other trademark shots, but it's also a bright and colourful game with incredibly busy looking artwork.  That fits in with the theme of course - lots of variety and plenty of distractions - while not sticking so closely to the theme that it alienates newcomers.

So we've brought you the cabinet, backglass and now the playfield.  Now we just have to play it.

The game starts production in March so look out for a full review and more details on the game here very soon.

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