Quiet anticipation has been building for months for Spooky Pinballs' latest release, their follow-up to last year's dual theme efforts, Looney Tunes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This go-around, Spooky sticks with familiar territory, again dipping into the well of classic cult horror films with Evil Dead.
While rumors had pointed to a later reveal, sometime in December, Spooky surprised the pinball enthusiast public with a pre-Thanksgiving drop, as they continue to carve out their own dedicated release windows, seperate from the industry standard cadence of releases around major pinball shows like Pinball Expo in the Fall and Texas Pinball Festival in the Spring.
With this release, Spooky is also nixing the standard multi-trim release scheme that's standard in the industry, instead focusing on producing a single pure expression of their preferred gameplay experience with a single Collectors Edition trim. This follows in the steps of Barrels of Fun, who also released a single trim level of Labyrinth in 2023.
More info is likely to come throughout the day, so we'll update this post as needed.
Hype & Rumors for Evil Dead Pinball
Evil Dead has long been one of the most hyped pinball themes in our Hype Index, peaking at spot #7 just before the game was teased this week. Rumors for an official Evil Dead machine have been present in the community for some time, possibly going back years, and always associated with Spooky Pinball.
Evil Dead Pinball Overview
Evil Dead Pinball is the 13th release for Spooky Pinball and 4th from the design team of Corwin "Bug" Emery and Spooky Luke. The game is based on the first two original films in the long-running franchise (Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn). This is the first game release since artist Christopher Franchi joined the team full time.
Evil Dead Game Photos
Flyers & Promo Media
Who’s Who
- Game Design: Corwin "Bug" Emery, Spooky Luke
- Code: Ben Heck
- Art: Christopher Franchi
- Music: Matt Montgomery
- Sculpts: Back Alley Creations
- Callouts: Bruce Campbell, Lara Sluyter, Scott Innes
Evil Dead Pricing and Availability
Unlike prior releases, Spooky is focusing on just a single trim line for Evil Dead, the Collectors Edition (CE). Evil Dead fans will be able to add on a selection of optional upgrades, like the Cheryl Topper or Butter Cabinet treatment. 888 total units will be produced.
- Collectors Edition $9,999 MSRP
- Cheryl Topper: $1,399 MSRP
- Direct Print Butter Cabinet: $1,499 MSRP
Games are already on the line and shipping is scheduled to start as soon as December or January of 2025.
Available to order through your favorite Spooky distributor or direct via Spooky's website.
Notable Game Features
Some of these can only be found on Prem / LE models of the machine. They will be marked accordingly.
The Cheryl Topper
The Cheryl Topper might be the pièce de résistance of the entire release. An optional add-on ($1,399), the topper is designed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe, a horror makeup FX designer. The topper is motorized, with Cheryl moving her head up and down, making the chains rattle and reaching out to the player with her hands.
Fruit Cellar Lower Playfield
Stepper Driven Evil Ash Hand
Evil Scotty and Ed Pop-Up Bash Toys
Rotating Linda Head
Evil Dead Pinball Rules
- TBD
Evil Dead Pinball Official Video Content
Colin is the chief pixel pusher at Kineticist. He's a lifetime gamer who became enamored with pinball after taking in a family copy of the 1979 classic Joker Poker (the EM version). Since then he's bought, sold and repaired many machines, competed in all kinds of tournaments, and contributes to This Week in Pinball, the New England Pinball League, and Pin-Masters of New England. Previously, Colin spent over a decade working in marketing for agencies and tech startups. He also started and ran a music blog, happy hour website, and wrote a regular craft beer review column for Central Track in Dallas. Once aspired to be an artsy film director.
