This Week on Post Games:
Act 1: How Stern Survived the Pinball Apocalypse
Act 2: What Makes a Pinball Table Special in 2026?
Patreon Bonus: Adapting Pokémon into a Pinball Table
Act 3: The News of the Week
Guests:
Seth Davis: President and CEO, Stern Pinball
Lewis Gordon: Reporter and Critic
Closing Song: “A Musical Tale” by bermei.inazawa (Chicory: A Musical Tale)
Act 1: How Stern Survived the Pinball Apocalypse
The History of Stern Pinball (Stern Pinball)
For a Pinball Survivor, the Game Isn’t Over (NYTimes)
Pinball losing its ping and zing of storied past (Chicago Tribune)
No Place like Jersey: Inside the factory of the wizard of pinball (Polygon)
Pinball Expo (pinballexpo.com)
Act 2: What Makes a Pinball Table Special in 2026?
STERN PINBALL ANNOUNCES HIRING OF NEW PRESIDENT (Stern Pinball)
Jersey Jack Pinball: The Pinball of Oz (Polygon)
This Wrestlemania pinball machine is Stern’s newest, most technologically advanced table (2015) (The Verge)
The Best Pinball Machines of 2025 Ranked (Kineticist)
Pinball Top 100 (Pinside)
What is Stern Pinball's 'Insider Connected' Feature? (Liberty Games)
Patreon Bonus: Adapting Pokémon into a Pinball Table
Pokémon Pinball (Stern Pinball)
Pokémon by Stern Pinball Game Trailer (YouTube)
Pokémon by Stern Pinball Live Gameplay Premiere (YouTube)
Pokémon Pinball for Game Boy Color (Bulbapedia)
Pokémon Pinball is Finally Here and It's Not What I Expected (RetroRalph)
Act 3: News of the Week
Crimson Desert review - it's a bit like prestige Candy Crush (Eurogamer)
After K-Pop and K-Drama, Here Come K-Games (NYTimes)
Crimson Desert reviews suggest Skyrim is safe for now (Polygon)
This Week in Video Game Links
What happens when all the Pokémon fans are dead? (New piece by me at Mothership)
How Outersloth's investment fund contracts upend the status quo for indie developers (Mothership)
Nvidia’s DLSS 5 is like motion smoothing for video games, but worse (The Verge)
Marathon is a satire (ReaderGrev)
I’ve Killed Runners (Ed Smith on Google Docs)
Paranormasight series director Ishiyama & producer Oushu speak on how The Mermaid's Curse was created. (RPGSite)
Funi Raccoon Game Is Queer, Funny, And Irish (Aftermath)
Free Game of the Week: The Ratline demo
Owlskip Games consistently publishes some of the most interesting narrative deductive games on Steam. The latest game has one hell of a pitch: "A murdered priest. A secret list. Hunt Nazi fugitives across the globe in this gritty 1971 detective thriller. Analyze evidence, follow leads, and make sharp deductions before the trail goes cold. From the creators of Family, Rivals, Conspiracy, Echo Beach and Riley & Rochelle." (Steam)
What Else I’m Enjoying
What Actually Happened to the Clay Behind ‘Wallace & Gromit’? (WSJ)
Against Rigour (Will Sloan)
Love in the Time of A.I. Companions (New Yorker)
Song of the Week: “A Musical Tale” by bermei.inazawa (Chicory: A Musical Tale)
Available on Bandcamp
PSA: Murder at the Birch Tree Theater Released on Steam!
In August, I interviewed musical composer, orchestrator, lyricist, conductor, and musician Mike Pettry about his first video game. Murder at the Birch Tree Theater splices Golden Idol deduction with community theater drama. The demo has been available for a while, but now you can play the full game on Steam! (Steam)