5th July, 2021 After weeks of teasing, Spooky Pinball today unveiled their next title, John Carpenter’s Halloween. The Halloween backbox image Halloween marks a number of changes in the way the Spooky Pinball titles are sold. For a start, there are three models of Halloween – Standard Edition, Blood Sucker Edition and Collector’s Edition priced at $6,995, $7,995 and $8,995 respectively. The playfield features are the same across all three but the trim finish, interior cabinet art, speaker lights, knocker, shaker, plastic protectors, target decals and build order varies, with the Collector’s Edition built first followed by the Blood Sucker Edition and finally the Standard Edition. For all three variants, glossy “butter” cabinet decals are available for an additional $995. The three variants of Halloween As we said though, the playfield gameplay features are consistent across the three models. Here’s Spooky’s description of them. Halloween’s in-game features Another first for Spooky is the way this playfield design is being given two separate themes. Halloween is the first with a maximum of 1,250 of these being built. The second is the Japanese cartoon superhero, Ultraman. Only 500 of these will be built. Although there is a cap on the overall number of each title produced, there is no defined split between the three variants – the numbers of Standards, Blood Suckers and Collectors will depend on how many of each are ordered. We’ll look at Ultraman a little later, but let’s begin with the main Halloween theme. The pictures seen here are believed to be of the Collector’s Edition which comes with all the add-ons installed except the butter cabinet decals. The left side of the backbox The right side of the backbox The backbox translite artwork for this Collector’s Edition model doesn’t include the name of the game. That’s because it is on the animated topper which features a motorised stabbing knife. Likewise, there are special powdercoated speaker grilles and a bespoke shooter rod. The variants without the topper do include the Halloween title on the backbox translite. The animated topper with the game’s name The backbox translite for the variants without the topper The speaker and display panel The knife shooter knob and pumpkin side rails Cabinet artwork Cabinet artwork The left side of the Collector’s Edition The right side cabinet artwork The Halloween playfield is heavily-themed on the movie and the key characters of Tony Moran’s Michael Myers, Donald Pleasence’s Loomis and Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie with repeated use of the knife and pumpkin motifs. The Halloween playfield One of the key scenes in the movie is where Myers appears from and then disappears behind a hedge. This is played out in triplicate with three hedges and three animated Myers models. The main playfield area Each hedge features a subway entrance beneath which all feed the ball to an elevator. This lifts the ball from the subway into the inlane to feed the flippers. The left flipper area There is a corresponding subway on the right with its own elevator to lift the ball into the right inlane. The right flipper area Unusually, rather than relying on the LCD panel to give information about ball locks and tilt warning remaining, these are indicated by playfield inserts in the inlane feed to the flippers. Balls locked and tilt warning remaining are shown by playfield inserts in the inlanes We’ll add much more detail to this article about the playfield features very shortly, but in the meantime here are some pictures of all the key areas. The mid-playfield area Close-up detail of the mid-playfield area The three hedges with appearing/disappearing Michael Myers models The left ball return wireform runs behind the hedges The illuminated pumpkin scoop and Judith Myers ball lock The Judith Myers ball lock The illuminated pumpkin drop targets The three upper playfields The first upper playfield on the mid-right The upper-upper playfield with dual spinners The ramp out of the upper-upper playfield The route to the third upper playfield The third upper-playfield The Halloween playfield You can watch Spooky Pinball promotional video of John Carpenter’s Halloween right here. We said earlier how Halloween is not the only theme Spooky Pinball are applying to this playfield design. Ultraman: Kaiju Rumble! is a second theme using the same layout. Spooky Pinball’s second theme for the Halloween design Ultraman is a total retheme, with new artwork, plastics, playfield toys and topper, along with separate game software, sounds and animations. The Ultraman translite artwork The Ultraman animated topper As with Halloween, we’ll have more details of Ultraman very soon, but here are some playfield pictures and a promotional video. Ultraman backbox artwork Ultraman cabinet art Ultraman cabinet art The left side of the Ultraman Collector’s Edition The right side of the Ultraman Collector’s Edition The view of the Ultraman playfield from the main flippers The lower part of the Ultraman playfield The three upper playfields and ramps The flipper area The left inlane area The right inlane area The rocket scoop and first upper playfield The upper upper playfield The exit to the third upper playfield The three upper playfields The ball return wireform behind the buildings Finally for now, here’s Spooky Pinball’s promotional video. UPDATE: Sales to the general public began at 9am Central Time on 7th July, 2021 and within three hours all 1,750 units (1,250 Halloween + 500 Ultraman) had sold out. Spooky Pinball estimate it will take eighteen months to complete orders, so we shouldn’t expect any new game announcements from them until the end of 2022.