THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE & LOONY TUNES LAUNCHED

Spooky Pinball today announced not one, but two new games with the reveal of their upcoming The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Loony Tunes titles.

Using the same “one playfield, two games” concept they premiered with Halloween and Ultraman, Spooky Pinball have taken a single 4-flipper standard-width playfield design by Corwin Emery and Spooky Luke, and employed two separate design teams to create the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Loony Tunes games.

Both titles will be ‘limited’ to a total production of 888 machines each. There are three editions of both titles, with the 888 count spread across all three variants according to demand. The top end Collector’s Edition of both costs $9,699, with the mid-level Bloodsucker and bottom-end Standard Editions being $700 and $1,400 cheaper respectively.

Let’s look at both games, starting with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Based on the notorious R-rated horror movie directed by Tobe Hooper, who also composed the music and co-wrote and produced the film, it centres on a murderous family of cannibals who terrorise and slaughter a group of friends. The storyline was claimed to be based on the real-life crimes of murderer and suspected serial-killer, Ed Gein, although it is actually mostly fictionalised.

The Spooky team have access to the full assets from the 1974 movie, supplemented by additional voice work by Edwin Neal who was the original hitchhiker in the film, while voice actor Scott Innes provides narration. Scott is probably most famous for his Shaggy and Scooby-Doo voice work, although he didn’t feature in Spooky’s previous game, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

The top-of-the-range Collector’s Edition, priced at $9,699 plus tax and shipping, comes with red high-gloss powder-coated metalwork, including the side rails, backbox hinges, legs, wireforms, and even the coin door.

The Collector’s Edition also includes interior art blades, coin door, apron and lock bar magnetic artwork, a unique cabinet and backbox art package by Terry Wolfinger, a bespoke ball launch button, laser-cut speaker grilles, an additional playfield animated sculpt of the victim in the freezer, as well as fluorescent plastic protectors, flipper and target decals, plus the multi-layered RGB lit topper.

The only upgrade option available is the direct-print (a.k.a. “Butter”) high-gloss cabinet artwork, which costs an additional $1,499 and is available for all three editions.

The middle version is the Bloodsucker Edition – a title carried over from their 2020 game, Rick and Morty. This has a MRSP of $8,999 and includes a mix of features found on the higher Collector’s Edition and the lower Standard Edition.

For instance, it doesn’t include the topper, many of the magnetic decals on the speaker panel, apron, lock bar or coin door, the red powder coat, the victim in the freezer mechanism, or the decals on the flippers and targets.

It does include plastic protectors, but these are clear rather than the fluorescent ones found on the Collector’s Edition. It also shares the same real knocker and shaker motor as the top-end model and black metallic flake side rails which include flipper button protectors.

The $8,299 Standard Edition removes the flipper button protection and uses a matte flat paint, as well as lacking the RGB speaker lights, the interior art blades, the coin box, and any plastic protectors.

Here’s a full comparison of the features found on all three models:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre sees the return of one former Spooky alumni and the first Spooky project for another well-known pinball industry name.

Benjamin Heckendorn returns to Spooky to work on the game code ahead of his involvement in the previously-announced collaboration with Spooky and Chicago Gaming on an unnamed future title.

Meanwhile, Christopher Franchi gets his first Spooky gig working on the playfield and plastics artwork for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

There is a flyer for the game. Here it is:

If The Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn’t exactly a family-friendly theme (unless it’s the Slaughter family), Spooky’s alternative theme for the same playfield design couldn’t be more different.

Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes cartoon series is a staple of many of our childhoods. Characters such as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester and Tweety (or should that be Xy now?), and many more starred in the hundreds of cartoon shorts from the 1930s right through to the present day.

The golden era of Looney Tunes ran from the mid-’40s to the mid-’60s, alongside the Merrie Melodies series, with both created initially to showcase Warner Bros.’ musical catalogue before they took on a life of their own.

Spooky’s take on Looney Tunes includes Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian, Daffy Duck and Tasmanian Devil on the backglass, while Porky Pig only makes it to the cabinet art.

As with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there are Collector’s, Bloodsucker and Standard editions of the game, each with their own set of features.

The same differentiators are found in the three variants of Looney Tunes as with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with the Collector’s Edition the only one with the RGB illuminated topper and featuring a bespoke cabinet/backbox art package with special orange paint on metal components, both exterior and on the playfield.

While Mel Blanc may be the iconic voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil and many more, The Man of a Thousand Voices died in 1989. Since then, Canadian voice actor Eric Bauza has voiced these characters and many more. He also stars in the Looney Tunes pinball to voice the characters from the more-than 20 ‘golden era’ Looney Tunes cartoons featured in the game.

Spooky haven’t revealed detailed playfield images of Looney Tunes yet, suggesting it is the least-developed of the two designs. This is all we have so far from the Collector’s Edition:

We do know what is planned for the game though, and what appears in each of the three versions.

We do know the rules too, and we have a peek at the illuminated Bugs Bunny movie topper which is included with the Collector’s Edition.

The Bloodsucker Edition, as with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, includes the flipper button protection on the side rails, while the Standard Edition doesn’t. Both models have a much plainer cabinet and backbox artwork design too.

The pricing is the same $9,699/$8,999/$8,299 seen on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and, as with that game, there is a flyer for Looney Tunes available.

Soon after the game was launched, orders opened through distributors and through the Spooky Pinball website. An initial, non-refundable deposit was required to secure a game, with the remainder paid shortly before the game ships. A $1,000 deposit was needed to buy the Standard Edition of either title, $1,500 for a Bloodsucker Edition, and $2,000 for a Collector’s Edition.

A gameplay video of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was also released by Spooky Pinball. Here it is:

Both games were still available to purchase at the time of writing. It typically takes many months for any Spooky Pinball game to sell out, which not all of them have.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Looney Tunes can be purchased either directly from Spooky Pinball or through their network of distributors.

Update

There are now additional ‘featurette’ videos covering both games’ construction, playfield shots, models and rules. The Looney Tunes one gives a much more detailed look at the playfield art and toys than we saw initially.

Here are the two videos: