# SDTM Exclusive: Elite Pinball Toppers Debut: The Hobbit Pinball Topper Reveal & Install

**Source:** Straight Down the Middle  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2020-11-12  
**Duration:** 20m 49s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBx7wzGnTt8

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## Analysis

Straight Down the Middle provides an exclusive reveal and installation walkthrough of Elite Pinball Toppers' debut product: a hand-painted, wooden-cased topper for The Hobbit (Standard Edition), limited to 50 units at $750. The hosts praise the premium packaging, quality craftsmanship, and plug-and-play installation, positioning Elite Pinball Toppers as a new upscale alternative to flat 2D plastic toppers in the market.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Elite Pinball Toppers are limited to 50 units per game title — _Hosts hold topper #2 of 50, certificate verifies production run limit_
- [HIGH] Elite Hobbit topper is priced at $750 — _Host explicitly states price during unboxing_
- [HIGH] Indiana Jones will be the next game to receive Elite toppers with multiple trim level options — _Hosts discuss upcoming Indiana Jones toppers with multiple model variants_
- [HIGH] Elite toppers feature hand painting and hand-crafted wooden bases — _Certificate states 'individually made hand painted', visible wooden construction_
- [HIGH] The topper installation is plug-and-play with no soldering required — _Host confirms simplicity during installation segment: 'no soldering or anything they're just simple follow the directions'_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's almost like a collectible in itself...you can kind of set it around...set it on a shelf"
> — **Greg**, ~2:00
> _Establishes topper-as-collectible positioning, emphasizing aesthetic/display value beyond functional purpose_

> "They're wanting to do more with motor mix...with LCD screens hand painting...true elite topper"
> — **Jon Hey**, ~3:30
> _Articulates company's product differentiation strategy—moving beyond flat 2D plastics toward premium upscale options_

> "We would like to formally congratulate and thank you...your topper is created from scratch it is completely unique"
> — **Elite Pinball Toppers (certificate text)**, ~8:30
> _Certificate authenticates hand-made quality and individual uniqueness of each unit_

> "I think this might be a thing right where people collect elite toppers kind of like the brian Harry Allen translight"
> — **Greg**, ~14:00
> _Suggests emerging collectible sub-market within pinball aftermarket; draws parallel to translight collecting culture_

> "There's some tips and tricks and techniques to go back and check your work along with pictures fantastic much respect for the high quality stuff here"
> — **Jon Hey**, ~23:00
> _Praises comprehensive documentation and troubleshooting guide as differentiation point in premium product packaging_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Elite Pinball Toppers | company | New boutique topper manufacturer specializing in premium hand-painted toppers with limited production runs |
| The Hobbit (Standard Edition) | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game; first title to receive Elite Pinball Toppers product |
| Indiana Jones | game | Upcoming Elite Pinball Toppers title with multiple trim level variants planned |
| Jon Hey | person | Co-host of Straight Down the Middle, primary narrator for topper unboxing and installation walkthrough |
| Greg Bone | person | Co-host of Straight Down the Middle, provides commentary on product quality and collectibility |
| Zach Sharp | person | Introduced the Elite Pinball Toppers company to SDTM hosts; appears to have industry connection to new company |
| Jordan | person | Founder/operator of Elite Pinball Toppers; described as long-time pinball industry veteran |
| Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show | media | YouTube/podcast pinball show providing exclusive product reveal and installation content |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Premium pinball aftermarket products (toppers), Product packaging and unboxing experience, Installation guides and technical documentation
- **Secondary:** Limited edition collectibles in pinball culture, Jersey Jack Pinball games (Hobbit, Indiana Jones), Pinball product roadmap and future releases
- **Mentioned:** Exclusive media partnerships and manufacturer relationships

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.88) — Hosts express strong enthusiasm for product quality, packaging design, installation experience, and company professionalism. No criticisms or concerns raised. Positive language throughout ('this is nice', 'blown me away', 'super simple install', 'big impact'). Only minor friction is excitement/anticipation rather than dissatisfaction.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Straight Down the Middle receives exclusive early access and partnership with Elite Pinball Toppers for product reveal (confidence: high) — SDTM labeled as exclusive reveal partner; hosts provided with topper unit for unboxing and installation documentation
- **[market_signal]** Premium topper market expansion with hand-crafted alternatives emerging as alternative to standard flat 2D plastic toppers (confidence: high) — Company positioned as intentional response to demand: 'they're wanting to give you a few more options...you want something a little more upscale'
- **[announcement]** Elite Pinball Toppers officially debuts premium hand-painted topper line with Hobbit (Standard Edition) as inaugural product (confidence: high) — Exclusive reveal on SDTM with physical topper unit #2 of 50, certificate of authenticity, $750 pricing confirmed
- **[product_strategy]** Elite Pinball Toppers emphasizes premium packaging, hand-crafted wooden bases, comprehensive documentation, and plug-and-play simplicity as key differentiators (confidence: high) — Detailed packaging with wooden crate, numbered certificate of authenticity, included security bit, troubleshooting guide, gold-plated VGA cables, zip ties
- **[product_strategy]** Indiana Jones confirmed as second Elite Pinball Toppers title with multiple trim level variants in development (confidence: high) — Hosts explicitly discuss 'Indiana Jones...two models...elite toppers...options...limited edition topper' and reference future titles with 'up to three different trim levels'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Emerging enthusiasm for topper collectibility parallel to translight collecting culture in pinball community (confidence: medium) — Greg speculates: 'I think this might be a thing right where people collect elite toppers kind of like the brian Harry Allen translight'

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## Transcript

all right let's kick this you hit it off with the bumper knife straighten down the bed [Music] you had a plank with a slingshot you're rolling [Applause] [Music] baby baby baby why are you doing me hey wrong welcome back to straight down the middle of pinball show today we've got something special greg see usually we we show off new products right yeah we're gonna do that we're gonna do a new product but not only that we are gonna show off a brand new company are we lucky dogs we're also still lucky and not only any company but a brand new company that is going to specialize in pinball toppers handball toppers right up sex alley right up my alley so i thought whenever they approached us i thought hell yes we want to get behind this this is a company that is called elite pinball topper so do you have your elite topper yet these are going to be a limited edition type of topper and from what you guys can see here i mean what do you think greg this isn't cardboard what do you think about the wood i love so it comes uh it comes in a wooden crate and it's spray painted this side up fragile used care uh elite pinball toppers with some awesome flippers it's almost like a collectible in itself well yeah that's what i was telling zach like when zach had told me about this i was like you know what i said i actually really enjoy things like this when it comes like this because you can kind of set it around yeah and it's it's like you said it's it's almost like a a little collectible within its own throw it on a shelf yeah set it around your pins it's uh i actually really like it and these are limited to only 50 units what 50 units is this one of them we got one of them we got one of the units i wonder if they're numbered we're gonna have to see oh i'm curious if it's a number let's just see i know you're a package guys so i knew you would love the way that this looks like you can ship it just like this and you know the great thing about elite kind of kind of why this company was created was to give you a few more options not just flat 2d plastics you know that that you've seen a lot of which are not bad but you you want options you want something a little more you want something a little more upscale so so they're wanting to do more with with motor mix yeah with lcd screens hand painting hand painting yes they are they are wanting that true elite topper and the reason that we're sitting close to this beautiful machine is that this one of 50 is for the hobbit now you haven't seen this yet i've seen pictures so i kind of know what it looks like i have no idea but uh i'm interested to see what's going to be inside so make sure to order your elite pinball topper uh now for the hobbit and you know what's next i do oh little indiana Hilton Jones and there's actually going to be two models oh of the indiana Hilton Jones there's going to be elite toppers you get like a options yeah if you just want something beautiful that looks better than anything else on the market you can get like a i don't know what he's calling an elite or a standard edition i'm not sure but then there's other yes yeah limited edition topper i think there might even be on future titles up to three different trim levels on some of these limited editions which i still like because it's almost guaranteed that no matter what you go with it's going to be awesome that's going to look good and if it comes like this i don't know all right so what's up let's grab a drill here i'm going to let you drill because we're over your glass so i'm i'm going to hold i'm going to hold the curtain no son of a and uh Vecennia Jordan the guy running this company has been in pinball for a long time very knowledgeable he's a super super nice guy so you can't buy from a better dude out there i hope he starts selling a pinball glass after this poor invisible i'm not crazy about the invisalign bulletproof i love this this is kind of an experience i don't know it actually makes it more exciting anytime you get a pack in the mail you you know it's nice to open that box slice open that package this is this kind of takes it to the next level and then once we show all this off we'll probably cut to me installing it and then showing you guys what it looks like out of the box i did get a sneak peek of the indiana Hilton Jones one oh my god this guy's gonna yeah oh this is oh it's snug i like that [Music] oh that's nice okay oh yeah you're packaging i'll tear this off there we go that is nice nice package in there this side up front yeah you could just hang that up no put that as a topper oh nice so you'll appreciate it oh yeah i'm crazy i'm excited pull that foam out of there see packaged dude this is literally like fragility and you would think for the price of toppers now is what it's getting people flustered they're getting a little upset yeah toppers are super expensive now it doesn't matter what manufacturer anybody uh but this is 750 yes 750 dollars for for well we'll see that's what i was gonna say i i can't tell you what you're getting right now so what is this oh there's all your connectors the connectors hd i don't know i see a video splitter grid video pga cable okay we'll look at that yeah let's get to the good stuff we don't need we don't care about cable with el nino's thinking directions i'll let you pull it out oh look it's that's smart oh okay here hold on oh hold on yeah we can't see so there's actually two screws in the bottom of the top or holding it to your crate to keep it from moving around and helping secure it in there that is really smart so it's not bouncing around oh look at this come on okay this is nice so while you do that i'm gonna show the people this that's not true oh wow wait what's in here i wanna i'm curious nicely done instructions look how pretty these instructions are i think uh so stop reading now oh oops toppers bolted down carefully remove the goodie bag don't scratch the top or locate the six inch screwdriver bit oh there's one that's pretty insane does it not yeah is it out i think you might not need that yeah i got it i do remember him saying he wants everything in there you can use it yeah you can use it as an attachment or use a long screwdriver to remove the two bolts because that was kind of my end up i'm like oh my god you know imagine you got to run the hardware store because you don't have a screwdriver along with look at this but that's oh you're limited edition oh so it does come with like a scroll yeah it's a uh like commemorative parchment this is the number two out of 50. we would like to formally congratulate and thank you for purchasing an elite pinball topper we hope you thoroughly enjoy your product this certificate verifies and authenticates your topper our toppers are individually made hand painted and designed passionately with the end user in mind because your topper is created from scratch it is completely unique to any other the hobbit toppers limited to a production run of 50 units we encourage you to join our elite membership online where you receive exclusive first access to future products now we've got visiting uh jill fox in the house delaware man um he's licking his chops over there i've seen it these are already uh oh that's cool hold on out there we're ready i think we're supposed to technically lay it down but i'm gonna pull it out like are we are you ready you pull out like that [Music] oh nice oh that's well done what is that that's well it's a book craig i know look how nice that wood is around it your wood man i am you respect what man will do it and it's got the number it does it has your number i think it's going to be easier yeah i mean it looks like the back show on the back it's super basic it's not sloppy in there no it's super clean dude the wood grain the detailing on the floor this is a i mean color wise and everything it ne i mean it is like perfection to the the hobbit lettering yeah just literally up the back it has a place for your course for that bga yep can everything come out who's in this little box wow i'm impressed now what does this i actually needed oh there is the bit you just put on your screwdriver yeah or your drill that's what he was saying yeah that's nice this is simple yeah nice straight forward basically guys ready to hook this up are they or do you think they've clicked off right now just to order this topper before we uh before they sell out i wouldn't have are you going to miss out on one of these you've got a hobbit i've wanted something like this for a long time like i mean you kind of talked about something like this this i'll put you over there it gives you a hobby get really real oh my gosh and what does this display this is going to mimic everything that's on your main smaller book that's hard to hard to read so just for the spectators out there just to pull you into this game even more so than the 27 you've got this beautiful sculpted uh book monitor up there very high res as well so it's just going to be kind of the cherry on top of the sundae that is the hobbit closer for you all just so you can see that detailing oh and how rich that looks oh that is um i think this might be a thing right where people collect elite toppers kind of like the brian allen translight you got to collect all the elite toppers oh i would so pull the trigger on one you only got 49 left it sounds i bet he keeps number one dude 48 see they're already just seeing this and knowing what's next yeah i cannot wait to see an indiana Hilton Jones uh this is good good job man this is nice okay because it's like very quality yeah it's gonna it's big i like it it's big yeah it's big all right we're gonna cut to either myself or myself and greg installing this to show you how easy it is it'll be and then we'll show it off a little bit more uh but buy this let the let them know that straight down the middle sent you um and subscribe and follow and drop subscribe and follow uh so that you can have cool cool products jump on your screen quicker than everybody else and you can take advantage of it by following straight down the middle on facebook uh on youtube on are you on the twitter i'm running zach twitter keep the topper i'm gonna take the box fair deal all right see you later guys okay we have opened up the box removed the topper we're going to take the glass off and prep ourselves for installation of this topper first step we're going to use the supplied safety torque bit to remove the two safety bolts shown in the photo to the left so up on top of that head saving the washers because we're going to reuse them you know you're buying a super nice product whenever in the installation it comes with the security bit already in it very very nice it's just it's the little stuff like that that makes it easier so we're going to remove these two with the washers so we've got the screw or the bolt and the washers we're going to keep those washers though next we're going to remove the two bolts holding the black cover to the rear of the topper sliding the cover up out of the groove and removing set these screws aside and then down here we're going to reuse the original washers from earlier carefully this isn't the important part mount the topper on top of the machine using the new supplied phillips head bolts but do not over tighten them because you can crack the base of that do not over tighten use those new bolt heads head bolts bolt heads head bolts our next step will be removing the screws that are holding this back plate onto the topper that's nice that is a solid black piece of metal now back up top here we're going to use the supplied screws but with those existing washers this is the part where elite reminds us do not over tighten uh these screws or the base can crack so i'm going to turn it around and put these right where those security screws used to go the next step is easy enough we're just going to take the back glass out of the game and we are going to rest the play field up in the service position for our next step it seems like it's going to get confusing with all these cables but that is why i love plug and play systems like this there's no soldering or anything they're just simple follow the directions and these directions are fantastic we're going to unbox the vga splitters the usb power cable and it has two vga cables a short and a long one we're going to connect them as we see here in this diagram i've got a long vga cable a short vga cable three foot six foot vga splitter just wants me to connect them like the diagram simple enough get your usb here's your splitter looks just like that okay i like these because they're they're not even cheap vga like they're gold plated they're the nice ones nicely done elite tighten those up it shows the six foot one in this position here so essentially what we're doing is splitting that feed that goes to that small monitor in the uh on the play field there we're splitting it then using the diagram we're going to remove the vga cable and plug it into the port as shown up here plugging the usb into the usb plug on the computer in the cabinet connecting that three foot vga plug the shorter one where the vga used to be plugged in this is the vga that's going to control that monitor up top so we've removed that we're gonna take this put it right here hopefully you guys can see it so we've got two video now running and then we're gonna take this connection and plug it back in now that that's secure remember that usb that we had this is what's going to power that splitter we're going to take this and there are several usb spots here there's a location right under this cord this is the extension cord that goes to the front of the game we're going to take this and plug it under that one in the open port i have now removed the backing the red backing so that we can stick it onto the side of the cabinet elite says just make sure that this cable is pointing upward i'm gonna put it right down in here perfect it's nice and out of the way there all right this next part i'm going to refer you back to the pictures uh because this is going to get mounted right above that latch that holds the head on with the power oh obviously with the power pointing downward remove that power point downward this going straight up to uh the mon or the head all right so that vga cable uh in the power we i've ran them through behind the head and what we're gonna do next there's four screws here with a mesh on there we're gonna remove these four screws and then feed these powers cables up uh power and vga cable up to the monitor the monitor does have uh you guys can't see it but the monitor does have buttons calibration buttons as well as menu options back there and this is something we do not see often enough in my opinion in pinball modification or packing pinball parts a troubleshooting guide so if you're having any difficulties or something's just not working the way you want it to uh there's some tips and tricks and techniques to go back and check your work along with pictures fantastic much respect for the high quality stuff here elite that pretty much sums it up super simple install i think we're going to have a big impact here i'm going to take the removable oh it's like popping that champagne bottle on the side of a boat let's turn this thing on i'm going to tidy up the place with some of those zip ties that were supplied in there special thanks to uh elite toppers you're going to do some big things in pinball order yours now but we got to see it let's see it let's see it all i'm sorry we'll look at it in closer detail but i'm back you've got to buy this topper elite toppers if you have a hobbit this this one's blown me away i'm not gonna lie i don't even know if the video catches it check one two check one two here we go quiet on the side look at the dude it's good work oh that's awesome it's just good work

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 62668e49-d333-4fc2-a609-7a103b43e1ff*