Pro Pinball series caroms onto Kickstarter with free Big Race USA download

Developer Silverball Studios revealed its Pro Pinball series revival on Kickstarter last week with the admirable goal of creating "the ultimate pinball game" by adding a brand new table to the series crafted by renowned table designer Pat Lawlor. And yes, I nearly jumped out of my chair when "Pinball Wizard" started playing through my headphones as I typed this.

Lawlor created the Addams Family and Twilight Zone tables, the latter considered the most successful pinball table ever made. I certainly recall my ears always catching that iconic finger-snap floating in the smoky haze of my arcade binges.

"This project is like a dream come true for me," Lawlor said in the Kickstarter campaign's video. "We can explore possibilities economically impossible in a standard pinball machine."

Silverball hopes to release a single remastered table in April, June, and August 2013. The fourth table, Big Race USA, is a free download on the Kickstarter page as a bonus for visitors. The new table has a slated October 2013 release.

Pro Pinball's funding goal rests at $400,000. Donor rewards include t-shirts, pins, badges, signed box copies of the original and new tables, and your portrait appearing on the backglass of the new table.

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?