Pinball

Real-Life Pokémon Pinball Is the Most Visceral Way to Catch ‘Em All

You'll have to pay a hefty chunk of change for Stern Pinball's version of the classic Game Boy game.

Gadgets Kyle Barr Feb 18

A New Fast X Trailer Has Death Star Pinball and Cannon Cars

Vin Diesel, Brie Larson, Sung Kang, and Jason Statham show down with Jason Momoa in the new Fast film.

Trailers Germain Lussier Apr 19

A Vintage Arcade Stars in This Exclusive Look at Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game

One man steps up to fight the pinball ban in a new comedy exploring a bizarre chapter in arcade-game history.

Movies Cheryl Eddy Mar 17

Tonight, I Will Dream About This $9,000 Digital Pinball Machine With a 55-Inch Screen

The Skillshot FX Digital Pinball looks like the ultimate pinball simulator.

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Apr 8

A Magnificently Elaborate Weird Al Pinball Machine Is Coming With 17 of His Best Parodies

The musician's Museum of Natural Hilarity Pinball Game will be available for pre-order at the end of the month.

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Feb 24

The Amount of Work That Went Into This Pinball Machine Coffee Table Conversion Is Staggering

Users can even dial in the table's angle to increase the challenge.

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Feb 15

Pinball Machines Are Getting a Huge Upgrade to Convince Players to Come Back to Arcades

Stern is borrowing features from video game consoles to entice pinball players.

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Sep 7

Stern’s New The Mandalorian Pinball Table Includes a Ball-Controlling Baby Yoda

Despite the death of arcades, there’s apparently still enough of a demand for pinball machines for Stern to keep churning out new table designs. The company’s latest design takes inspiration from Star Wars: The Mandalorian and includes a Baby Yoda trapped inside who can use the Force to manipulate the ball’s trajectory. At CES a…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski May 11

In the Grim Darkness of the 41st Millennium, There Are Still Cool Toys

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular roundup of all things good, plastic, and distressingly expensive on the internet lately. This week: McFarlane wades into the world of 40K, Figuarts updates its Wonder Woman figure just in time for 1984, and Lego drops another extremely fancy Technic sportscar. Check it out! Lego Technic Lamborghini Sián…

Toys & Collectibles Andrew Liszewski & James Whitbrook May 29

Tiny Table Turns Your Nintendo Switch Into a Lap-Friendly Pinball Machine

There’s really only one good use for a mobile device in portrait mode: playing digital pinball games. Even on a much smaller scale, simulated pinball can be mindless fun, but to maximize the experience you need this Nintendo Switch accessory that adds proper arcade flipper buttons to the portable console. Japan’s Far East Pinball is…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Apr 10

11 of the Coolest Builds By Bored People With a Lot of Lego Bricks

There are a lot of reasons why Lego remains one of the world’s most popular toys, over 3,700, in fact: the number of unique Lego pieces that have been created over the decades. It allows everything from Batmobiles, to excavators, to Kessel running space ships to be built from plastic bricks, but Lego can be…

Toys & Collectibles Andrew Liszewski Mar 25

Hidden Magnets and a Video Projector Make This the Most Advanced Pinball Machine Yet

Despite mobile devices in our pockets that deliver arcade-quality graphics any time you need a gaming fix, pinball machines, a seemingly antiquated form of entertainment, are still thriving, thanks in part to companies like Stern Pinball whose Stranger Things table introduces new features like video projections and a clever ball trap inspired by Eleven’s telekinetic…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Dec 23

Lego Overwatch and a Souped-Up R2-D2 Are the Mightiest Toys of the Week

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular round-up of the latest and greatest toys. This week, we officially get on the objective for Lego’s Overwatch line, Hot Toys unleashes the galaxy’s most kitted-out Astromech droid, and the new Bumblebee movie gets a very cool figure. Check it out! Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6th-Scale R2-D2 Deluxe…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Nov 2

This Full-Sized Lego Lord of the Rings Pinball Table Takes Tommy to Middle-Earth

Now that Lego is comfortable that people will buy 7,500+ piece, $800 sets based on popular movie franchises, perhaps there’s hope that the toymaker will turn Vladimir van Hoek’s full-size working Lord of the Rings pinball machine into an equally massive set we can actually buy. We don’t know the full piece count for this…

Toys & Collectibles Andrew Liszewski Jan 23

You Can Draw Your Own Obstacles and Power-Ups on This Weird Pinball Machine

It’s getting harder and harder for pinball machines to compete with the cutting-edge graphics on home gaming consoles, and even VR now. But by adding an interactive element allowing players to design their own tables, artists Jérémie Cortial and Roman Miletitch have found a way to make pinball relevant again. With Flipppaper, the virtual pinball…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Apr 5

Get Your Next Iron Bank Withdrawal in Quarters; Game of Thrones Pinball Is Here

Don’t act so surprised that pinball is still a thing, sometimes knocking around a steel ball can be just as satisfying as gunning down a room full of virtual zombies. And even moreso when the table features swords, dragons, and even the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. The latest creation from Stern Pinball has…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Sep 10

You Can Customize These Cardboard Pinball Machines However You Want

There’s a certain appeal to playing a pinball machine that even video game versions can’t perfectly replicate. And with these cheap miniature cardboard versions, pinball fans can finally customize their own machines using a glue gun, hobby knife, and other crafting supplies at their disposal. The PinBox 3000 comes as a build-it-yourself kit. But you…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jul 6

Not Safe For Play? The Evolution of Pinball Machines

Game of skills or evil gambling? It is hard to believe that there was a long period in the history of arcade games when pinball machines, these amazing mixtures of art, design, engineering, technology, gaming, sport, culture, and so on, were banned. It was illegal to own even just one. The following images draw the…

Tech News Attila Nagy Jun 16

Get Lost in the Intricate Details of These Amazing Pinball Machines

You may never have noticed, but pinball machines are actually works of art. Yesterday, we featured 50 back glass masterpiecesfrom the collection of PBall Gallery, a pinball museum in Budapest, Hungary. Today, let’s look at all the incredible details of the machines themselves. PBallcontains more than 130 of these machines ranging from across the 20th…

Tech News Attila Nagy Jun 4

50 Gorgeous Examples of Pinball Machine Art Across Seven Decades

PBall Gallery, a pinball museum in Budapest, Hungary, contains more than 130 once-banned (and dreaded!) electromechanical gaming machines. It’s an incredible collection, and a reminder that while most of us were glued to the game, these games are also little works of art. Pball is Europe’s largest interactive pinball exhibition, and anyone who’s into arcade…

Tech News Attila Nagy Jun 3

Pinball

Real-Life Pokémon Pinball Is the Most Visceral Way to Catch ‘Em All

A New Fast X Trailer Has Death Star Pinball and Cannon Cars

A Vintage Arcade Stars in This Exclusive Look at Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game

Tonight, I Will Dream About This $9,000 Digital Pinball Machine With a 55-Inch Screen

A Magnificently Elaborate Weird Al Pinball Machine Is Coming With 17 of His Best Parodies

The Amount of Work That Went Into This Pinball Machine Coffee Table Conversion Is Staggering

Pinball Machines Are Getting a Huge Upgrade to Convince Players to Come Back to Arcades

Stern’s New The Mandalorian Pinball Table Includes a Ball-Controlling Baby Yoda

In the Grim Darkness of the 41st Millennium, There Are Still Cool Toys

Tiny Table Turns Your Nintendo Switch Into a Lap-Friendly Pinball Machine

11 of the Coolest Builds By Bored People With a Lot of Lego Bricks

Hidden Magnets and a Video Projector Make This the Most Advanced Pinball Machine Yet

Lego Overwatch and a Souped-Up R2-D2 Are the Mightiest Toys of the Week

This Full-Sized Lego Lord of the Rings Pinball Table Takes Tommy to Middle-Earth

You Can Draw Your Own Obstacles and Power-Ups on This Weird Pinball Machine

Get Your Next Iron Bank Withdrawal in Quarters; Game of Thrones Pinball Is Here

You Can Customize These Cardboard Pinball Machines However You Want

Not Safe For Play? The Evolution of Pinball Machines

Get Lost in the Intricate Details of These Amazing Pinball Machines

50 Gorgeous Examples of Pinball Machine Art Across Seven Decades

Amazon Is Sticking With ‘Rings of Power’ to the End

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

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