Got bit, fever hit: The Walking Dead pinball shambles into game rooms

It's been a little while since we've reported on a new pinball at Ars; almost exactly a year ago we covered the release of Star Trek. Now Stern Pinball, one of the last bastions of physical pinball manufacturing, has announced its latest title, themed after AMC's The Walking Dead, which is of course based on the highly popular black and white comic created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore.

The Emmy-award-winning show has a large following—people can't seem to get enough of zombies these days—and Stern hasn't disappointed in dishing out walkers and gore for the fans. If you're a pinhead who's been waiting for a new horror-themed pin for what feels like ages for your personal game room, your local arcade, or barcade (should you be so lucky—if you're not sure, check Pinball Map), then you're going to be in heaven (or hell as the case may be). It's been a long time since so much blood was scattered on a playfield. We approve!

The Walking Dead pin is designed by John Borg and programmed by Lyman Sheats Jr. (with an assist from Stern programmers Tanio Klyce and Mike Kyzivat). Lyman and Borg are the same team that brought you games like Tron Legacy and Metallica, both excellent, so hope is high for lightning to strike a third time on this one. Lyman is known for deep rule sets with a lot of approaches to strategy, and he typically incorporates well-balanced scoring suitable for tournament play. We'd expect to see this game show up in PAPA tournaments shortly after release.

Eschewing Stern's recent model of releasing three versions, the company is making The Walking Dead in only two: a standard Pro model and a Limited Edition with some special features, like multi-colored (red, green, and white) interactive general illumination. (A cap of 600 has been produced.) Both are packed with zombies, from the playfield and backbox art all the way to the large, sculpted "well zombie"—and we do mean large. On the Limited Edition model, bashing that zombie enough times with the ball will cause the figure to tilt back, revealing its (likely substantial) guts.

Pinball isn't a cheap hobby, of course. The Pro MSRP is $5,995 (street price will be below $5,000, though) while the Limited Edition Model retails for $8,595 (again, street price will be lower). Manufacturing will begin in October, but the Limited Edition will probably sell out before that. If you must have one, you can contact a distributor such as Pinball Refinery (there are plenty out there to choose from).

Pinball Expo in Chicago is coming up in mid-October, and we'll try and get some hands on time with the machine and report back. If you have any questions we might be able to answer about it, put them in the comments. In the meantime, long live the silver ball!