Multimorphic has pulled back the curtain on not one but two new pinball creations, and both are inspired by popular novels rather than the usual cinematic or musical tie-ins. The first machine is built around the LitRPG book series Dungeon Crawler Carl, while the second adapts Orson Scott Card’s classic science fiction novel Ender’s Game. The pinball maker confirmed the dual launch after earlier rumors and a brief teaser, and both titles are reportedly available now through the company.
Why Two Novel-Based Pins at Once?
Pinball machines based on books remain a relatively rare corner of the themed-pin market. Films, television properties, and rock bands have historically dominated the licensing landscape, with literary adaptations often reserved for bespoke boutique runs. By choosing a wildly successful self-published LitRPG saga and a perennial Hugo-winning science fiction staple, Multimorphic is signaling that the literary well still has untapped material for the silver ball. For retro arcade and pinball enthusiasts, that translates into a fresh set of playfields, callouts, and art packages tied to stories that many cabinet visitors may actually recognize from the bookshelf rather than the silver screen.
Background: From Books to Playfields
Ender’s Game first appeared as a short story in 1977 before being expanded into Card’s 1985 novel. The book went on to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards and has long been a fixture of science fiction reading lists and school curricula. Decades later, it continues to draw new readers and remains one of the most assigned novels in the genre. Dungeon Crawler Carl, by contrast, is a more recent phenomenon. The series by Matt Dinniman gained traction in the early 2020s as part of the booming LitRPG movement, where game mechanics, level-ups, and dungeon-style progression are baked directly into the prose. Its mix of dark humor and genre-savvy world-building turned it into one of the breakout audio and e-book hits of its era, building a passionate fanbase hungry for any new adaptation.
Multimorphic itself has carved out a distinct niche in modern pinball with its P3 platform, a modular system that supports multiple interchangeable playfields sharing a common cabinet. That design philosophy is particularly well suited to literary tie-ins, since niche themes can find their audience without demanding the mass-market exposure that drives larger pinball productions. Releasing two novel-based machines in a single announcement is unusual for the hobby and gives collectors and operators a clear test of whether pinball players will embrace stories that were originally meant to be read rather than watched. Keep an eye on the RetroArcade news section for further details as the machines land on location.
Source: Arcade Heroes