# The State of American Pinball

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-02-02  
**Duration:** 32m 5s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/state-of-pinball-97665133

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## Analysis

Don's Patreon episode provides a candid assessment of American Pinball's operational and financial struggles following rumors that parent company Ametron was shopping the manufacturer for sale. Don analyzes production bottlenecks, marketing missteps, and questionable strategic decisions (including a six-figure hardware redesign amid order backlogs), while criticizing the company's legal threat against community content creators during a crisis period.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Ametron, American Pinball's parent company, was shopping around for a buyer for American Pinball — _Jason from Wisconsin mentioned on Pinball Party podcast two episodes prior that he received a text about this; story spread rapidly through global pinball community_
- [HIGH] American Pinball has never made more than 500 games per year, with David Fix stating in early 2024 they aimed to end 2023 with 300 total units produced across all games — _Don cites David Fix's public statements and production data analysis by community members_
- [HIGH] Galactic Tank Force is not widely distributed across medium-sized arcade hub locations despite claims of strong location earnings — _Don's direct observation: IO Arcade in Madison, District 1, District 82 have no machines; only major legendary locations (Helicon, Interium, Lit Pinball) have them_
- [MEDIUM] American Pinball invested six figures into designing a new board set, which will not be backwards compatible with Galactic Tank Force — _Announcements made during livestreamed Hot Wheels gameplay event; Don characterizes this as a questionable priority given production bottlenecks_
- [MEDIUM] American Pinball's leadership appears to lack understanding of core production problems and proper delegation of expertise — _Don's analytical assessment based on pattern of strategic decisions (hardware investment over labor, poor crisis communication, legal threats during reputation crisis)_
- [MEDIUM] Someone at American Pinball made legal threats against Don over his Spirit Halloween meme criticizing the company — _Don received contact discouraging his social media criticism and removed the image in response, though details remain unclear_
- [HIGH] If American Pinball were sold, a buyer would primarily acquire game IP licenses, not facilities or manufacturing infrastructure — _Don's logical analysis: facility owned by Ametron, secondary infrastructure (racks, forklifts) likely owned by parent company; only game licenses and intellectual property would transfer_
- [HIGH] A Jaws Pro shipped by Kingpin was only 48 hours old from factory when Don unboxed it on January 31st — _Direct observation: machine dated January 29th when unboxed January 31st, demonstrating Stern's production velocity_

### Notable Quotes

> "This was the most telling thing...people have been doing some deep dives into American pinball here and like looking at their numbers and their production, like where the company started, where are they at now and like, you know, which way is this place going? And nobody's really able to make a through line to a profitable pinball company at this point."
> — **Don**, early in episode
> _Crystallizes the core concern: no clear evidence of profitability despite years of operation_

> "Where are the Oompa Loompas, man? Like nobody's nobody's making chocolate in this place."
> — **Don**, mid-episode
> _Vivid metaphor for apparent labor shortage/underutilization of manufacturing facility_

> "So, you're trying to make games, you've got backlogs of orders, you've got big distributors that you're just losing orders all out of hand. And then when you go to try to remedy that, you don't have the stock in hand...this is the limiting reagent in production. You know, you've got a game designed, you've got code for it...you should be being sold to locations fairly heavily."
> — **Don**, mid-episode
> _Identifies production capacity as core constraint while company prioritizes non-essential hardware redesign_

> "If anybody was to comment negatively to require legal action, you're picking this guy? The guy that you've already screwed over once with your orders apparently? So, I guess it was reaching out, I don't know, because of that or because of something else."
> — **Don**, discussing Zach Minney situation
> _Questions the strategic wisdom of legal threats against a distributor/content creator during crisis_

> "It's almost as if somebody is in charge of the company that doesn't quite know what he's doing."
> — **Don**, late in episode
> _Blunt assessment of leadership competence based on accumulating evidence_

> "I don't know, man. I'm not sure what they're doing. I don't know what the future holds for them. I don't know that they're a hugely profitable company, if at all."
> — **Don**, conclusion
> _Summarizes fundamental uncertainty about company viability_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| American Pinball | company | Chicago-area pinball manufacturer facing existential questions about profitability, production capacity, and leadership competence; subject of acquisition rumors via parent company Ametron |
| Ametron | company | Parent company/owner of American Pinball and manufacturer of circuit boards; reportedly shopping American Pinball division for a buyer |
| Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast (Patreon); systems-based problem solver providing candid industry analysis; directly observed production issues and legal threats against community figures |
| David Fix | person | American Pinball management figure associated with Galactic Tank Force era; made production claims about 300 units produced in 2023; characterized as sympathetic figure dealing with development challenges |
| Zach Minney | person | Distributor/content creator trying to sell American Pinball games; reported to have experienced order fulfillment problems; allegedly targeted for legal action after expressing concerns about Galactic Tank Force |
| Jason | person | Guest on Pinball Party podcast from Wisconsin who mentioned text rumor about Ametron shopping American Pinball for a buyer; broke initial story |
| Cale Hernandez | person | Co-host of Pinball Party podcast where acquisition rumor was first aired |
| Kyle | person | Owner/operator of Geeks Mania free-to-play arcade in Madison, Wisconsin; called Don to arrange Jaws unboxing livestream |
| Steven Bowden | person | Appeared in Hot Wheels livestream gameplay event; associated with American Pinball operations |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major competitor; Jaws Pro used as comparative example of production velocity and market dominance |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Major competitor mentioned as significant market force relative to American Pinball offerings |
| Kingpin | company | Distributor from Baraboo, Wisconsin (Wisconsin Dells area); supplies games to major locations; sold Don fresh-off-factory Jaws Pro on January 31st |
| Interium | company | Chicago arcade location with multiple Galactic Tank Force machines; shown prominently at Pinball Expo with five machines |
| Helicon | company | Pittsburgh legendary location carrying Galactic Tank Force |
| Lit Pinball | company | Minneapolis arcade (formerly Tilt); first location where Don played Galactic Tank Force |
| Mad Pinball | company | Distributor with positive relationship with American Pinball according to Don; no major complaints reported |
| Dutch Pinball Museum | company | Produced factory tour video showing American Pinball's crates of playfields off-gassing |
| Galactic Tank Force | game | American Pinball's most recent game (revealed March 2023); original IP with limited distribution; claimed strong location earnings but sparse actual placement |
| Hot Wheels | game | American Pinball licensed game; featured in livestream; some consideration for loop kit addition |
| Legends of Valhalla | game | American Pinball title; Don expresses positive opinion of location game quality |
| Houdini | game | American Pinball title; back in production with orders; described as good location game by Don |
| Oktoberfest | game | American Pinball title; market apparently saturated |
| IAAPA | event | International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions convention in Florida; major venue where American Pinball had minimal presence with only one machine shown |
| Pinball Expo | event | Major pinball industry event where American Pinball makes large show with multiple machines despite limited actual distribution |

### Topics

- **Primary:** American Pinball acquisition rumors and Ametron sale process, Production bottlenecks and manufacturing capacity constraints, Leadership competence and strategic decision-making, Community relations and legal threats against content creators, Galactic Tank Force distribution and location placement, American Pinball financial viability and profitability questions
- **Secondary:** Hardware redesign investment vs. production labor needs, Comparison with Stern and Jersey Jack competitive positioning

### Sentiment

**Negative** (-0.75) — Don is clearly disappointed and concerned about American Pinball's direction, though he explicitly states he's 'not rooting against' them and acknowledges quality of some games. However, the preponderance of criticism about production failures, poor decision-making, communication breakdowns, and legal bullying creates a damning overall narrative. Don maintains analytical tone rather than purely emotional criticism, but the verdict is clear: company appears to be in serious trouble.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Ametron, parent company of American Pinball, reportedly shopping the pinball division for a buyer; rumor broke via Pinball Party podcast and spread globally through community (confidence: high) — Jason from Wisconsin texted about sale process; story spread rapidly to French pinball communities and beyond; followed by 48 hours of silence from American Pinball
- **[product_concern]** American Pinball producing fewer than 500 units per year; Galactic Tank Force not appearing at expected locations despite claims of strong earnings; factory underutilized despite order backlogs (confidence: high) — Don's direct observation of sparse distribution; David Fix stated 300 units total goal for 2023; machines absent from IO Arcade Madison, District 1, District 82, Logan's Arcade; visible crates on factory tour but few workers observed
- **[sentiment_shift]** Community reaction to acquisition rumor was immediate acceptance ('yeah, I could see that coming'), indicating pre-existing doubts about company viability (confidence: high) — Don notes this was 'the most telling thing' - universal lack of surprise suggesting long-standing confidence issues
- **[community_signal]** American Pinball made legal threats against content creators and community commentators during crisis period; specifically targeted distributor/content creator for criticism (confidence: medium) — Don received contact discouraging Spirit Halloween meme; unclear who initiated threat; similar legal posturing mentioned by Pinball Show; poor optics during reputation crisis
- **[manufacturing_signal]** American Pinball invested six figures in new hardware board redesign while facing production capacity crisis and order backlogs; new boards will not be backwards compatible with Galactic Tank Force (confidence: medium) — Announced during livestream; Don characterizes as 'strange decision' that doesn't address limiting reagent (labor/production speed)
- **[operational_signal]** Pattern of poor strategic decisions suggests leadership lacks expertise in core competencies and may not be properly delegating; characterized as not knowing when to defer to specialists (confidence: medium) — Hardware redesign while ignoring labor shortage, poor crisis communication (48 hours silence then weak announcements), legal threats instead of reputation repair
- **[venue_signal]** Galactic Tank Force confined to legendary major-city locations; absent from medium-sized tournament hub arcades; shows large quantities at conventions but sparse real-world placement (confidence: high) — Helicon Pittsburgh, Interium Chicago, Lit Pinball Minneapolis have machines; IO Arcade Madison, District 1, District 82 do not; Interium showed five machines at Expo but sparse elsewhere
- **[market_signal]** American Pinball's licensed game market (Oktoberfest, Hot Wheels, Houdini, Legends of Valhalla) appears saturated with no clear path to additional sales (confidence: medium) — Don notes market saturation for all games except possibly Galactic Tank Force; questions whether future orders coming for licenses like Houdini
- **[content_signal]** American Pinball's official livestream announcement event featured poor audio, lighting, and low production quality despite being crisis communication moment (confidence: medium) — Don's direct observation of Hot Wheels gameplay livestream; Kerry Hardy's six-minute synopsis; substandard quality for major announcement
- **[personnel_signal]** American Pinball announced hiring of customer service staff during livestream, suggesting acknowledgment of communication/support gaps (confidence: medium) — Announced during Hot Wheels livestream event as part of response to acquisition rumors
- **[industry_signal]** American Pinball underperforming at IAAPA (largest amusement industry convention) with minimal machine presence while competitors show strong attendance and buying opportunities (confidence: medium) — Don's IAAPA attendance observation: American Pinball showed limited presence while competitors facilitating direct sales to venue operators
- **[design_philosophy]** American Pinball focusing on location games rather than home collector market; Don notes Galactic Tank Force strong on location precisely because home collectors don't own it (confidence: medium) — Don's analysis of Galactic Tank Force earnings claims; positioning as location-first manufacturer differentiation

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## Transcript

 We're all living in America, America, Is Wunderbar We're all living in America, America, America We're all living in America, America, Is Wunderbar The the the well thank you for that awesome intro there my friends from rammstein germany's by greatest metal band in in history as far as i'm concerned this will be in the following uh... will be a very candid uh... approach and response to what is going on with our friends over there in american pinball hello everybody and welcome to a I'm a special Patreon episode just for you that I am, I'm feeling compelled to go ahead and bring to you guys just because this week has been nuts. Now just to recap the timeline earlier in this week on the Pinball Party podcast with Cale Hernandez and my friend Jason here from Wisconsin. He had mentioned like right at the end of the episode recording, it's like two episodes ago by now, that he had gotten a text that in fact American Pinball's subsidiary owner, Ametron, maker of the circuit boards and whatnot, Was shoppingaround for a Buyer for American Pinball. Now, that was the rumor that came out, and it spread like wildfire through the community. I don't mean like the old Bally Williams fire game. I mean like a real wildfire here. People were picking it up everywhere. This story went global! It's still raging over there with the French groups, the French introscripts of pinball. Pinball's not just an American hobby, man. This thing is global, and it's been picked up everywhere. And then what followed was 48 hours of silence. 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So, you know, people have been doing some deep dives into American pinball here and like looking at their numbers and their production, like where the company started, where are they at now and like, you know, which way is this place going? And nobody's really able to make a through line to a profitable pinball company at this point. I know they had some some flounderings early on. You know, David Fix came on a couple of years ago. I haven't met the guy. Seems likeable enough. I mean who doesn't love that mustache and hat combo? Indiana Jones vibes. You know, like not Indiana Jones, maybe Uncle Andy Jones. That's what it looks like. Looks like, yeah, yeah. Oh, Uncle Andy Jones is here. Get him his leather jacket and his cowboy hat and his step stool. Let's have some fun here. That's what it reminds me of. Anyway, seems like a cool guy. Helps out with Expo and stuff. I don't want to get banned from Expo. Kyna's This is a company that's made not more than 500 of each of its games apparently, and that seems to ring true. We're almost a year into Galactic Tank Force's existence. It was of course revealed back in March, 11, 10 and a half months ago. And, you know, FIX had stated that in all total, including the first year build of Galactic Tank Force, including all those Houdini's, all the Legends of Ahalas that they had made this year, that they were trying to end 2023 with 300 units made. C Y'all ain't no pinball emitted to show off our company we serve their stret PlayersON minutics organize In the end of amazon Helo demo Stay disclose Name with s PD, Krant and Carmation Arcade, which gets everything. Geeks Mania, which is catchingingUp, I was livestreaming there last night. Blue Moon, who also gets just about everything. This is kingpin territory, right? Kingpin is a distributor from Baraboo, Wisconsin, you know the Wisconsin Dells. Eric Menear, his dad owns the company, right? So they are connected with pinball. When something comes out of a factory loading dock from Chicago, it goes into a truck for kingpin and goes out on locations within an hour. The game that I unboxed from Kingpin yesterday, last night, was a Jaws Pro. It was 48 hours old. That was January 31st, we unboxed it and it had a date stamp of January 29th. So that thing was fresh off the floor. And so to have tanks rolling out of this factory and not even make it across the border to Wisconsin, I know some private collections do have some, but none of the people that I know of have them. A good friend of mine was involved in development and even he doesn't have one location and he's got to Lin Smith, The game is a game that I think as a homeowner I would be a little bit hesitant on purchasing going in here given all the competition from Stern and Jersey Jacket To take a risk on this game that I might have to be fumbling around with especially if I want to buy a game that going to work out of the box and not require a lot of ongoing maintenance like I wouldn put this in my home But I would take my ten bucks down to the local arcade once or twice a week and go play it on location. I think that's a totally fine thing to do. So if you had a location and this game was on it, I would expect it to be earning quite well. Fix even spoke to this early on, though he's been silent the entirety of the time since then, that when Foo Fighters was released or near about that early period, that Galactic Tank Force was out-earning Foo Fighters on location. And, you know, my response to that was, well, of course it is. People own Foo Fighters at home. They're not going out dumping a lot of money on locations. But Galactic Tank Force is a game that people don't have at home, so of course they're going to come and play it on locations. Now, my question now here, almost a year later, is what locations was he talking about? Because I'm not seeing this This is a game on a ton of places. The legendary locations, Helicon in Pittsburgh has one, I've played it there, Interium in Chicago has it, Logan's Arcade doesn't have it, Lit Pinball formerly Tilt in Minneapolis, that was the first place I played it. It's at those big city locations, but just like the kind of medium-sized tournament hub areas, IO Arcade in Madison, District 1 near me, District 82, none, no galactic tank forces to be seen. And that has to be because these things aren't coming out of the factory which has to be because they're just limited in the quantities that they can make. Every now and then a post will go out on the social media that here's a bunch of games in boxes, we've got our first international shipment of tank games ready to go out but that's kind of all you see. They make a big showing at Expo with all these galactic tank forces everywhere, Interium had like five of them lined up on the floor by the bowling alley with two people playing them. They'll make a big show there but I think it's all What we want to know is if today'sjangletaaaaashal weiteren say all that that's��서ova... Yes, this was not just hyder stereoty lengethalrrss quintpsy vagituop flow You can upload PDFs to the iTunes store to Cha esto I think that's great that they have those people, but I'm wondering where those hellos people have been this whole time. Because I've heard from more than one person that it's been difficult to reach anybody at the company, you know, to break through to get some, you know, substantiveative help when things do go bad. A board, a node, or, you know, just user error and you need somebody to help troubleshoot it. So that is frustrating, you know, as a homeowner. So for those reasons and the fact that, you know, added up all together, it doesn't appear that they've ever made more than 500 games a year. 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The other point that came up out of this, and again, you know, I don't know for sure if this, there's any truth to this rumor, but it does seem plausible. But what we do know is, this was the other point, if this company was for sale, what would you actually be purchasing? And I was happy to actually see this point brought up on the pinball show. You know, so it shows I wasn't totally off base with my thinking. So if you were to show up with some money to buy American pinball, what exactly are you buying? You know, you back up the U-Haul truck, you hand over the money, What's going in the truck? So you're not getting the facility because the facility is own operator at least by AIMTRON. So, you know, probably a lot of the other secondary and tertiary support systems and infrastructure that are there belong to AIMTRON. So you're not getting, you know, the storage racks, you're probably not getting the forklifts. What you're probably getting is the IP, such as it is. I'm sure they own the licenses for the games that they've produced. You know, they seem to be orphan licenses Making города of St Tongva, CRA shocked and제 egy od in Monica nίν props tiếplays kung N The If you were to pick up that license to produce more of those games now, there would be a whole lot of value in that, like to the point that you would spend more than $30,000 for a company, you know, like you wouldn't spend $40 million to obtain the license to produce more Legends of a Hollow, like let's get that right. Same with Oktoberfest, you know, Hot Wheels is tied to a license, I don't know what their contractual licensing agreement is to run that game again. Galactic Tank Force is original IP, so you know, of course they own that. I wonder if the actors get a cut or if they were just hired off and you get the rights to that as well. What other, I'm missing another American pinball game. Houdini, Houdini, yeah. So, Houdini was back in production, apparently there were orders. You know, I don't know, but are there going to be any further orders from that? The point I'm getting at is I think that, you know, market has hit saturation for all of their games with the possible exception of Galactic Tank Force waiting for more orders to come out. Palples here you'll readty the but no you wouldn't really duty not really Reginald These are some of your best way to get stored Pesos FPS and see for yourself. Aloud Touchable Pinball I don know that there a big distribution Network that they operate They do have a lot of distributors I don know that distributors are terribly happy with them I haven heard anything but good things from Mad Pinball with their interactions with American Pinball But when you go to talk to Mr. Zach Many or at least listen to his pinball show, Patreon possibly, he had a big problem with American Pinball regarding Galactic Tank Force. This was a guy that was out there trying to shill these games, sell them, make some money for himself and his family, put some games in people's living rooms and for that I can applaud this person. Closed Caption provided by WKNO-MEMPHISIAL. Nowadays Alexander Browning Canada, it's Ets of attention Mythical ВсÁ Witcher tavallaiperama- you know, coined analogical Hoy tas Bill La Croix Cánępere, Religane Mariano a Stand McN Pieces 뭐야 B магai Not Biol äŽ pe wodēş� intuitive to finishilihet a screen while analyzing fables senée zastیک stabil ni mTVaz авvaeta cí brpxòi zščito35 Usã poĕĮ ģunóex mexiquis optimi nie tim pooléš breathte Foțģiļăș e prģesçto Cat' 혹시 yčejėrś ģhechħs'ţe s introviæžčnë sceči, Gló CTínor prominentæs piţişn Patricia P 건강 wins Pvz'妳, lavčodare siļ Keeping playing're sonی buret fedeešģģkumbteok' istiĺlestek Ánhiersii Qin後 ở tứ � certificate kurNotar, Pixel The extra Goodbye what the heck are you even talking about when there was a story that was breaking we were all in a tizzy I was actually working a night shift as this was going on so you know I had some downtime and I'm sitting there playing around making memes on my phone and you know I dreaded out that trope of you know a closed business with a spirit halloween banner on it right so I found an aimtron 1 online and had this spirit halloween right across the front there And so I shared that on my little social post, it's kind of like a ha ha, look at this, you know, just like anybody else would do, anybody on a Reddit or a Pinsight and I went through the Pinsight thread and it was much worse than anything I was doing. You know, but apparently there was objection to that and this person was reaching out to me to be like, you know, tread carefully, sir, with who you insult. It's like, listen, this is fair use, my friend, I'm commenting on the hobby, just like anybody else that's here and to, you know, So, here's some criticism coming from people that cover the industry and your remedy for that isn't looking introspectively to fix the issue that led to it and keep a good public face, but to go out legally and attack people that are just commenting, that is not a terribly good look. So, out of the good nature in my heart, I went ahead and took down the photo but I left the post and everything up there, the text and everything because I don't want to delete people's comments. The Pinball Show is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and the Center for Autism and Related Disorders. For more information, visit pinballshow.com. Pinball show is led by a distributor who has his personal business is tied to maintaining relationships with companies, right? You see the shill word thrown around. Well, of course, because he's in business with these people. So you would want to, of course, maintain good relationships. And so if anybody was to comment negatively to require legal action, you're picking this guy? The guy that you've already screwed over once with your orders apparently? So, I guess it was reaching out, I don't know, because of that or because of something else. This is still kind of ongoing and developing. But what is going on at this company? How is your answer to, hey guys, you know, people are kind of, you know, doubting our longevity, they don't have any confidence in our product. Let's go out and legally threaten our consumers and people that can really help our brand reach a broader audience, people that livestream our products when we won't do it. You know, like what kind of a look is that? You know, something really weird is going on. Case in point. The last night in the middle of my Jaws unboxing, what had happened was I'd gotten a call earlier in the day from Kyle from Geeks Mania, free to play arcade in Madison, Wisconsin. I livestreamed an unboxing of Deadpool and Godzilla pro last month for him. So he said, hey, when I get Jaws, I'll give you a call and you can come down. So earlier in the morning he called me and I said, I just got a call from Kingpin. They've got my Jaws. I'm anticipating it being here this evening, this afternoon. Can you come down and livestream it? We'd like to unbox it. And I said, yeah. So I shifted some things around. erst sweetness the main matter man generated the abundance in last evening bucky sentiment that we did a fun livestream all of that is the and the arcade so after any unboxing it has a reset everything to the favelas in the economist game brand new instead of the hottest game out there I got all my streaming equipment here let go ahead and do a little gameplay stream Now I can speak to the quality of the stream I was hearing some comments on the YouTube that Hot Wheels livestream gameplay and the announcement plus we play Jaws plus we talk and have fun It just seemed like something fun to do The live stream was two hours long, give or take. Kerry Hardy did a great six-minute synopsis of the whole thing. But basically, it was Steven Bowden and some of the new employees playing Hot Wheels with some not great audio lighting. It was David Fix without his hat. It was like his first time I've seen that. Keeps his hair a little short there. And also, it was a couple of announcements. And the announcements we got that they were hiring a couple of customer service people, great. And then they had invested what people are reporting to be six figures into designing a new board set to run their games. Now I think this is separate from the computer that runs the games, given that they use kind of little raspberry pi type computers to actually run the software, but then the hardware is all run by this new board which will be backwards compatible with everything except for Galactic Tank Force for some reason. So I've said before that I think that this company makes strange decisions that I don't I'm not going to quite wrap my head around and this is a good example of what that would be. So, you're trying to make games, you've got backlogs of orders, you've got big distributors that you're just losing orders all out of hand. And then when you go to try to remedy that, you don't have the stock in hand. It seems like that in chemistry what we would call the limiting reagent, right? That step that's limiting the broader yield overall that you're getting would be in production. You know, you've got a game designed, you've got code for it, you've got, you know, the media's been done. You know, people want these games, they're not on locations, they should be being sold to locations fairly heavily. You should be at IAAPA with more than just one machine. Um, you know and like, you know, showing these to people. I was at IAAPA, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Florida. It's the biggest convention of the year of people that do family entertainment centers, go-kart tracks, theme parks, Disney's there, Universal's there, SeaWorld's there, everybody is there. Community Every breve personnel including\'85UNI prototyiende 1949 which on the continent today sai vieks I want this Elton John. I didn't know it existed. How do I get one? Where do I get it? And there's like, here's how you do it. And like, just buying them right there. You know, poor American pinball is like up against the wall. And maybe the reason they're doing that is they're trying to make a show that they're still a viable company, but there's a problem in production as far as yields. I think they've got a great facility. I think they've got a lot of rotisseries. I think they have a lot of great plywood crates full of their playfields that are off-gassing. I saw those on the tour video that the Dutch Pinball Museum put up. What I didn't see was a lot of people in the factory. Where are the Oompa Loompas, man? Like nobody's nobody's making chocolate in this place. And I think that is what's holding them up. So I would have invested there to try to get that problem solved rather than reinventing hardware that's already functioning, you know. So strange decision, strange decision. It's almost as if I don't want to cast aspersions, but it's almost as if somebody is in charge of the company that doesn't quite know what he's doing. Not only that, like, it's one of the cabinet Winter I know how to do production, I know how to run teams, I know how to empower people, but you don't know how to design a board set, you don't know how to do art, you don't know how to do these things personally, but you have to know when to defer to people that can do that. But you have to have that wherewithal to know that actually I don't know how to do this, but I'm going to go find the person that does and empower them in a position that they can be successful. Like that's what I think is missing. And instead when you don't have that maturity to know this is something that I don't know you just kinda cover for it and you explain it away and you do things like no we're not for sale look at this we have a big announcement coming. You guys didn't know this but there's a big announcement coming and then we all show up to watch a stream of a four-year-old game in poor quality only to hear that they've made some customer service hires and there's a board set which doesn't appear to affect anything it will not drive a sale This is what you spent six figures on rather than you know you could have hired for other people to bolt these games together and get them out. I'm an outside observer, I haven't met these people, I haven't been in the factory but through a preponderance of evidence like this is where my mind is going. You know I'm involved in systems based problem solving you know in my career and to an extent in my personal life and my hobbies. Like I look for patterns, I look for problems and I look for solutions and I look for how to implement those solutions. So, for me sitting back and taking a look at my hobby, taking a look at what has come out, what has happened, like, these are the kind of things that I'm thinking. So, I don't know, I'm not rooting against American Pinball at all. I think we would all benefit from having, you know, a great foil for the other big three companies. I do like Legends of Valhalla. Houdini is a hoot to shoot on location. I think their games are good location games. Even Hot Wheels I've had some good games on, though I'm not running back there to play it. I heard from people that they have some other ideas in development like adding the loop kit to Hot Wheels. Come out with that man. Get that out there if you're working on it. You know, or let us know or something. Now apparently this kid that did the Sonic the Hedgehog homebrew is supposed to be up soon with a game. But you know, if we're getting Barry Osler's food truck next and we're getting Yukon Yeti next, then it's going to be the third game out and at this rate that's going to be like four years down the road. You know, this kid's going to have a beard. He's going to be able to drink beer by then. I don't know, man. I'm not sure what they're doing. I don't know what the future holds for them. I don't know that they're a hugely profitable company, if at all. I know that sometimes they talk a good game and we want to take them at their word, but I'm just thinking there's more going on here behind the scenes and I don't think it's fair to legally threaten people just for commenting who really have your best interests at heart, but maybe that's the way that they want to do business. C Barnolds valleys on

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 66d24c12-59fb-4b34-babf-757cd6b3ff8e*