Heighway Pinball was a manufacturer of arcade pinball machines, located in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Founded by pinball operator, distributor, and enthusiast Andrew Heighway in 2012, it was the United Kingdom's first major pinball company.
Inspired by issues he'd seen with routed pinball machines, Heighway sought to produce affordable, reliable games for home and retail markets. Three games were to be released a year, and veteran pinball designers like John Trudeau and Dennis Nordman joined Heighway's team.
Heighway Pinball's games feature modular mechanisms and easily-replaceable playfields, embedded with 10.4" colour LCD monitors. Optional LCDs to install in the backbox and entertain spectators are also available. Notably, an entire game can be replaced in 3.5 minutes
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The company's first game, Circe's Animal House,note was rethemed to Full Throttle and shipped in January 2015. Poor sales forced Heighway Pinball to prioritize development on their second title, Alien. However, the game suffered a contentious production due to design changes, unreliable and unavailable parts, Executive Meddling from 20th Century Fox, and several key personnel leaving the company (including Heighway himself on 17 June 2017).
On 26 April 2018, Heighway Pinball began the process of liquidation, shutting down its factory and laying off workers. The rights to the Alien pinball machine were acquired by Pinball Brothers, a company founded by some of Heighway Pinball's investors, and they proceeded on the second run of that machine in 2021.
Games from Heighway Pinball include:
- Circe's Animal House (unreleased)
- Full Throttle (July 2015)
- Alien (2017)
