WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE

In a surprise announcement, Barrels of Fun today revealed their third title, Winchester Mystery House, based on the Gothic-style mansion in San Jose, California, which has become a popular tourist attraction due to its size, architectural curiosities and for the numerous myths and legends associated with it.

The game sees the introduction of Karl DeAngelo as a game designer for the company. Karl is not only one of the world’s top players, he runs the IE Pinball streaming operation and organises many world-class tournaments. Now he has joined Barrels of Fun as a game designer, with Winchester Mystery House as his debut title.

Artwork in the game comes from Brad Albright who recently created the art for Multimorphic’s Portal game having previously designed the art package for a Motörhead homebrew.

Winchester Mystery House only comes in one model with a retail price of $11,600. This includes a shaker motor, anti-reflective glass, and high gloss cabinet art decals.

The title is limited to a run of 525 units which matches the house number of the property. Barrels of fun expect to sell 200 of these directly to US buyers, 100 to overseas buyers, leaving 225 for their distributors to sell.

UPDATE: Just one day after the reveal, the entire run of 525 machines sold out.

So, what’s on the playfield?

One of the most striking features is found on the bottom apron where a Ouija board is used to spell out words, give yes/no decisions and indicate player and ball numbers. The planchette (the pointer) has an marking which, while ostensibly a ‘W’ for ‘Winchester’ also looks suspiciously like the initials LFS for Lyman F. Sheats Jr.

There are three full-size flippers in the game along with one mini-flipper.

A large sculpt of the house occupies the back of the playfield and acts as a frame for the back panel LCD. Unusually, the LCD is reflected onto a clear Perspex sheet which sits at the front of the house, giving the ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ effect where the projected image appears in front of the ball.

This effect allows the projection to interact with the ball as it travels along the orbits or is grabbed by a magnet at the top of the outer orbit.

The game also features a revolving Hallway turntable. This works rather like the rotating ‘Jungle Run’ platform in Gilligan’s Island, or the moving staircase in Harry Potter, providing multiple different shot entrances and exits depending on the angle of rotation.

The turntable provides 3 entrances and 8 rotational positions to create multiple ball path combinations.

As you can see in the image above, there is a tower which can collapse.

This tower references the 1906 Earthquake which destroyed the house’s tower. When it falls, a hidden ball path within the house is revealed.

Other features on the playfield include:

• Staircase to Nowhere Magnetic Ball Catch
  A seemingly dead end that plummets the ball further into the depths of the house!
  
• Door to Nowhere Staircase Ramp
  Expels the house’s ghostly inhabitants.
  
• Right Staircase Ramp
  Diverts the ball to 3 unique exits.
  
• Seance Room Inline Target Bank
  Break through the wall to uncover the mysterious Seance Room.
  
• Seance Table & Crystal Ball
  Take your seat around the illuminated Crystal Ball with this 3-ball physical lock.
  
• Spirit Board Apron
  Communicate with spirits through hidden illuminated lettering and backlit spirit planchette; also featuring a “Return” left outlane kickback.
  
• 5 High-Fidelity Custom Sculpts
  Winchester Mystery House Witch’s Cap, Roofline, Tower, Stained Glass Window Frame, and Crystal Ball.
  
• 2 Magnets
  Spider Web Magnet Catch within the Ghost Box and Staircase to Nowhere.
  

Here are the flyers for the game.

In addition, there is a promotional video for the game from Barrel of Fun.

Although the game is now sold out, Barrels of Fun will have several Winchester Mystery House games set up to play at this year’s Pinball Expo which begins on Wednesday 15th October.

We will bring you details of that and much more in our extensive Pinball Expo coverage, right here at Pinball News.