Bubsy Paws Into Pinball (Updated!)

Atari has recently revisited several overlooked classic properties, including Bubsy, the 1990s platform-game mascot. Alongside the Bubsy Purrfect Collection and Bubsy 4D, a supposed pinball collaboration with Chicago Gaming appeared to offer the character a new arcade role.

Update: This announcement was an April Fool’s joke. Read the clarification below before treating any of the reported features or release details as genuine.

The alleged Bubsy pinball machine

Bubsy has a complicated reputation, and his platform games only had a limited presence in arcades during the late 1980s, with occasional exceptions. A pinball table would therefore have been an unusual way to bring the character back into the arcade conversation.

The announcement included a cabinet image and more information than the usual pinball teaser, although no playfield had been shown. Chicago Gaming also did not display the project at Amusement Expo or the Texas Pinball Festival. For Australian readers following developments across the wider arcade news scene, that absence was another reason to remain cautious.

The accompanying email did not identify a designer, with gameplay footage and further design information supposedly still to come. Its deliberately exaggerated pitch described the project as Bubsy’s first pinball outing and claimed it would compete for attention with licensed tables based on Pokémon and Sonic.

The claimed features

• A yarn-ball plunger intended as a playful nod to Bubsy’s feline identity.
• Numerous game modes and video modes, with character quips and other Bubsy-themed content.
• A five-year plan to refine the code towards a polished version 1.0.
• High-quality components.
• A feature in which Bubsy eats the pinball, either at launch or through a later software update.
• A single special model limited to 167 units.
• An online service called Purrside Clawneccted for saving high scores, buying credits, tracking scores and collecting balls of yarn.
• References to Dead Post, BBQ imagery and Mick on a Stick.
• Hidden cat-related music, including Nyan Cat and Oshama Scramble.
• Playtest comparisons to the Godzilla pinball machine.
• Microphone technology that would let players begin a game by purring into the cabinet.
• A choice between Standard mode and Bubsy 3D mode.

The fictional announcement also stated that the machine would not be available in Europe and promised a full playfield reveal and release on 31 April 2026, a date that does not exist.

April Fool’s reveal

The entire Bubsy pinball story was a prank created for April Fool’s Day. Bubsy’s birthday happened to fall at the same time, which made the presentation slightly easier to believe. The piece was created with help from Jdevy, and the organisers hoped readers would enjoy the joke rather than expect a real pinball release.

There is no Bubsy pinball table to add to a collection of virtual pinball machines, and the advertised 167-unit run, gameplay systems, cabinet and release plan were not genuine product details. Anyone researching a real arcade machine purchase should treat this as entertainment, not a buying opportunity.

Earlier April Fool’s arcade stories

• 2025: Sega’s Hatsune Miku Project Sekai and Chunithm collide in Colorful Stage Hyper Arcade.
• 2024: Five Nights at Freddy’s comes to arcades.
• 2023: Rocket League blasts into arcades.
• 2022: Among Us heads to arcades.
• 2021: Untitled Goose Game is announced for arcades.