# Where Does Pinball Go After the TWIPY awards? (Ep. 50)

**Source:** A Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2021-04-15  
**Duration:** 19m 23s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://apinballpodcast.podbean.com/e/where-does-pinball-go-after-the-twipy-awards-ep-50/

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## Analysis

The host analyzes the aftermath of the 2024 Twippies awards, where Jersey Jack's Guns N' Roses dominated, and argues that Stern Pinball's dominance through volume production (7 nominations across multiple games) and expanding into merchandise, collectibles, and lifestyle branding makes them better positioned than any single award-winning competitor. He suggests the industry is experiencing explosive growth largely invisible to award-focused communities and predicts manufacturers will increasingly leverage designer/coder branding in marketing.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Stern Pinball had seven different games nominated for 2024 Twippies awards — _Host lists: Stranger Things, Avengers, Ninja Turtles, Jurassic Park, Elvira, Heavy Metal, Star Wars_
- [HIGH] Guns N' Roses winning Twippies won't meaningfully change Stern's business direction — _Host's core thesis: 'I don't believe that this will change anything that Stern does moving forward'_
- [HIGH] Stern Pinball is expanding into collectibles through NECA partnership (Ninja Turtles exclusive at Walmart) — _Host discusses NECA toy exclusive to Walmart, released recently_
- [MEDIUM] Over 500,000 people have watched the Stern Invitational — _Host cites this as evidence of Stern's marketing reach and partnership success with Marvel_
- [MEDIUM] The pinball industry is experiencing explosive growth, with online/award community representing only 15-20% of actual buyers — _Host's estimate based on conversations with people in sales and industry connections_
- [MEDIUM] Jersey Jack likely cannot keep up with Guns N' Roses demand — _Host speculation: 'by all appearances, that's obviously true'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Stern Pinball had seven games up for awards. Think about that for a second."
> — **Host**, ~7:00
> _Core argument that Stern's production volume outweighs single-game awards in determining industry direction_

> "I would take seven games that are up for nomination for game of the year than just one game coming out that does get game of the year. Because just the sheer amount of volume guarantees that their business will stay healthy."
> — **Host**, ~9:30
> _Explicit statement of why volume beats awards in business model assessment_

> "This is what Stern does. They put out so many games that so many people buy. There's a lot. I mean, there is so much out there."
> — **Host**, ~8:00
> _Characterizes Stern's competitive advantage as production velocity and market saturation_

> "The gap that I'm seeing starting to form right now is I'm wondering if in the future, if any of these companies will start really focusing in more and more on the award show."
> — **Host**, ~12:30
> _Predicts companies will leverage award-winning designer/coder branding in marketing_

> "I can't tell you guys how many people I meet that are just now getting into pinball, and Stern Pinball is all they're aware of"
> — **Host**, ~19:00
> _Evidence that Stern's brand awareness dominates outside the award/enthusiast bubble_

> "The Twippy Awards or any, even the Pinball Industry Awards, we are basically niching ourselves down so much that I don't even know if it really speaks anything to what's actually happening outside of our little bubble of these award shows."
> — **Host**, ~19:30
> _Critiques the relevance of award shows to actual market dynamics_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer with 7 games nominated for Twippies; expanding into collectibles, merchandise, video games; dominant brand awareness |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Competitor producing premium machines ($12k-$20k); Guns N' Roses won Game of the Year at Twippies; Eric (designer) being marketed aggressively |
| Guns N' Roses | game | Jersey Jack game that dominated 2024 Twippies, winning Game of the Year and multiple other categories |
| Zach Sharp | person | Stern Pinball marketing/PR, excellent at press releases and brand growth; manages Marvel partnerships |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Stern Pinball artist whose work is being monetized through collectibles and merchandise partnerships |
| Eric | person | Jersey Jack designer (likely Eric Meunier); being marketed as award-winning designer following Guns N' Roses success |
| NECA | company | National Entertainment Collectibles Association; partnered with Stern for Ninja Turtles exclusive toy at Walmart |
| Twippies | event | This Week in Pinball Awards; 2024 ceremony where Guns N' Roses dominated; host questions relevance to broader market |
| Deep Root Pinball | company | Mentioned as struggling to produce machines for general public, contrasted with Stern's prolific output |
| Stranger Things | game | Stern game nominated for Twippies (won Mod of the Year for UV kit) |
| Avengers | game | Stern game nominated for Twippies; rules nearly beat Guns N' Roses in that category |
| Ninja Turtles | game | Stern game nominated for Twippies; associated NECA collectible toy exclusive to Walmart |
| Jurassic Park | game | Stern game nominated for Twippies; frequently compared to competitor games in community discussions |
| Elvira | game | Stern game nominated for Twippies |
| Heavy Metal | game | Stern game nominated for Twippies (Music/Sound Effects and artwork categories) |
| Star Wars | game | Stern game nominated for Twippies (comic book art category) |
| Deadpool | game | Stern game frequently compared in community discussions about which game to buy |
| Toy Story | game | Jersey Jack game expected to release; if delayed, would hurt JJP's Twippies presence next year |
| Fox Cities Pinball | organization | Streaming platform hosting Penskins invitational tournament event; streaming Classics and Target Match Play tournaments |
| Colin McAlpine | person | Competitive pinball player competing in Penskins tournament event |
| Raymond Davidson | person | Competitive pinball player competing in Penskins tournament event |
| Luke Nahorniak | person | Competitive pinball player competing in Penskins tournament event |
| This Week in Pinball | organization | Media outlet running Twippies awards; website thisweekinpinball.com hosts results |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Twippies awards aftermath and industry implications, Stern Pinball's business model and market dominance through volume production, Designer/coder branding and marketing leveraging of award recognition, Lifestyle branding and collectibles expansion (NECA partnership, merchandise)
- **Secondary:** Jersey Jack's premium positioning and Guns N' Roses performance, Pinball industry growth and market size beyond the award/enthusiast community, Competitive pinball tournaments and streaming (Penskins, Fox Cities events), Gap between award-show relevance and actual market dynamics

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Host is enthusiastic about industry growth and impressed by both Stern's and Jersey Jack's strategic directions. Congratulatory toward Twippies winners (Guns N' Roses). Critical tone toward award relevance is analytical rather than negative. No significant negativity toward any manufacturer or game, though some skepticism about whether awards drive business.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Jersey Jack potentially at risk of lower Twippies presence if Toy Story delayed (speculative) (confidence: low) — Host hypothetical: 'what if Toy Story does not come out this year? Now, all of a sudden, they're not going to be able to have a pen up for next year's Twippies'
- **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball expanding into non-machine revenue streams: merchandise, video games, collectible toys (NECA partnership) (confidence: high) — Host discusses Stern producing puzzles, video games, and Ninja Turtles NECA toy exclusive to Walmart as part of 'lifestyle brand' strategy
- **[competitive_signal]** Jersey Jack positioning as premium 'Ferrari of pinball' at $12k-$20k price point with designer-focused marketing (confidence: medium) — Host praises JJP for premium machine strategy and notes they're leveraging Eric's Guns N' Roses award win in marketing
- **[market_signal]** Twippies awards and online pinball community represent niche bubble largely disconnected from broader market dynamics and consumer awareness (confidence: high) — Host states: 'we are basically niching ourselves down so much that I don't even know if it really speaks anything to what's actually happening outside of our little bubble' and notes most new players only aware of Stern
- **[market_signal]** Pinball industry experiencing explosive growth with severe supply constraints across manufacturers (confidence: high) — Host: 'sales across the board, there's a reason why pinball companies cannot keep up with demand. It is huge.' Also speculates actual market 5-8x larger than award-community visibility
- **[product_strategy]** Stern Pinball considering expanding NECA-style collectible partnerships to future licensed themes (Back to the Future, Matrix, etc.) (confidence: medium) — Host speculates: 'I mean, are they going to start doing this with future themes that are coming out whether it's Back to the Future, whether it's Matrix, whether it's whatever it could be'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Emerging narrative that award recognition may become marketing tool for designer/coder branding rather than business driver (confidence: medium) — Host predicts companies will tout 'award-winning designer' and 'award-winning coder' in press releases similar to film industry; notes Jersey Jack already doing this with Eric
- **[business_signal]** Stern leveraging Marvel partnership for brand reach and awareness (500k+ viewers on Stern Invitational) (confidence: high) — Host cites Marvel collaboration and Invitational viewership as evidence of Stern's marketing power

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## Transcript

 All right, welcome back everybody to another episode of A Pinball Podcast, and this is episode 50. Thank you guys so much for hanging in there with me to make it this far, and for those that have joined since we started this, I really do appreciate you guys for listening, for being here, commenting on the videos on YouTube, the whole shebang. I really do appreciate it, guys. So what is going on currently? Well, before we dig into the main meat and potatoes of this whole podcast, which is discussing just kind of the fallout of the Twippies, even though obviously it's been a few weeks ago as of this podcast. But I just want to talk about my thoughts of what's going to happen afterwards and kind of my thoughts overall of what it means for the industry in general and not just the results or anything like that, because I'm sure you guys have already heard plenty about the results. Outside of that, before I get into that, we do have a couple of announcements to make. I believe, I think that this is going to go out on April 15th. So essentially tomorrow, if you're listening to this on April 15th, tomorrow on April 16th, I will be on Fox Cities Pinball on Twitch starting at 6 p.m. Central Standard Time. And that's for the Penskins event. So it's a tournament event kind of or more like an invitational. If you guys haven't heard of this already, I'm going to be playing nine holes against Colin MacAlpine, Raymond Davidson, and Luke Nahorniak. and we're going to play for $20 per hole, nine objectives total. So you guys be sure and check that out. That'll kind of, if you guys are into watching any type of competitive pinball, that will kind of wet your whistle a little bit there. And then we'll also be having streams this weekend on Fox Cities Pinball once again for the, I believe it's Classics first, which starts around 9 a.m., and then we're playing Target Match Play afterwards, which starts right around 3 p.m. So it'll be an all-day thing. Lots of big names are out there, and you guys are going to see some high-quality pinball. At least I hope so. I assume everybody can still play pretty well. It's going to be there. So it should be a lot of competition and some high, like, world-class players are going to be out there. I'm very excited about it. And I'm sure we'll have a podcast next week talking all about the weekend and how everything went. But all right, let's get straight to it after I spent two minutes talking about everything else. the Twippies and the fallout of the Twippies. Now, I don't want to bore you guys with talking about what the results were. Of course, if you're listening to this podcast, you already know who won what category most likely. If you happen to not know yet, just go to thisweekinpinball.com or you can go to twippies.com, which is T-W-I-P-Y-S.com, and you can check out what the results are from there. Now, needless to say, spoiler alert, if you haven't looked yet, Guns N' Roses from Jersey Jack did clean up. And as a result, there's been a lot of speculation, a lot of people talking about, well, where does the pinball industry go from here? What does Stern do from here? And there's a lot of people that have speculated, and I've heard this on other podcasts. I've seen this on message boards. I've heard this from texts. I've read this on emails from you guys, that a lot of people are wondering how this will affect what Stern does. And they wonder or people wonder if this will change what Stern is going to do moving forward. Now, obviously, when it comes to the Twippy results, there was a lot of down ballot votes cast. If you look at it, Guns N' Roses obviously did very well when it came to music and sound effects, lights, and even the categories that they didn't win, such as rules, they still just narrowly lost, which is actually pretty shocking seeing how Avengers is with the way that the rules are there. and you know a lot of that is basically it just speaks volumes of the fan base from jersey jack and they came out in full really getting those votes together which is great for them which i mean i'm happy for jersey jack anybody that won a twippy i mean that's awesome so now that we know pretty much how these ballots were cast the one thing that i'm really focused on at this point is that I don't believe that this will change anything that CERN does moving forward. Now, people talk about all the time how Guns N' Roses changes the industry, how it's just the pen to have, and I'm not really going to debate that. It's obviously a great-looking pen. I obviously own one. A lot of fun. Now, what I am going to point out, and this is a big reason why I don't think it's going to change anything moving forward. And here's the big reason why, guys. If you look at how the Twippies played out and you look at all the nominees, okay? I don know if anybody else has pointed this out but we going to point this out right now If you look at all the nominees Stern Pinball had seven different games up for awards Let me repeat that Stern Pinball for the 2020 Twippies had seven games up for awards. Think about that for a second. And now when you hear that, really stop and think, does Stern need to change anything that they are doing just because they don't win Game of the Year for the first time ever. To me, they, I mean, seven, seven guys. And we'll list off those games right now. It's Stranger Things, it's Avengers, it's Ninja Turtles, it's Jurassic Park, it's Elvira, it's Heavy Metal, and it's Star Wars. Now, granted, I know a lot of people out there might be saying, well, Heavy Metal, that doesn't count, but it was up for a twippies. I mean, it's Heavy Metal, I believe, was for Best Music and Sound Effects, and I think they might have even been up there for artwork. I know Star Wars, the comic book art, that was up there. Stranger Things, it won Mod of the Year for the UV kit. So there was a lot of these pens that were all over the place. And that's the thing, guys. That's why I believe that this will not really change anything because think about this for a second, okay? Now, I'm sure there's obviously going to always be the debates about Jersey Jack pinball versus Stern, versus American pinball, maybe, versus Spooky, versus whoever else is out there. Okay? But if you really pay attention, especially to different Facebook groups or different discussions, a lot of the times, guys, it is all about people asking the question, should I get this Stern pin or this Stern pin or this Stern pin? I can't tell you. I've lost count for how many times I've seen somebody ask the question, should I get a Jurassic Park or should I get a Deadpool? Or should I get a Ninja Turtles? Or should I get Avengers? Those are the questions that I see all the time. And here's the difference, guys. The sheer amount of volume that Stern is able to come out with, this is a train that is just, it's explosive right now. It is rocking and rolling. I mean, there's no stopping it. I'll just tell you guys right now, there is no stopping it because this is what we're looking at right now. Let's say, for instance, that Jersey Jack can't keep up with Guns N' Roses demand, which by all appearances, that's obviously true. Even Stern is having a hard time keeping up with demand right now. But let's say Jersey Jack gets so far behind, what if Toy Story does not come out this year? Guess what? Now, all of a sudden, they're not going to be able to have a pen up for next year's Twippies. And now it's just going to be dominated up and down by Stern completely because this is what Stern does. They put out so many games that so many people buy. There's a lot. I mean, there is so much out there, and just the whole industry and the whole hobby has just exploded over this past year. and that's what I really want to get through to people whenever you're looking at this and it doesn't mean I'm not saying by any stretch of the imagination that Guns N' Roses does not compare to these games because obviously it does they got game of the year hats off to them but again seven different games guys seven that's a lot that is a lot and I'll tell you what with that type of business model I would take seven games that are up for nomination for game of the year than just one game coming out that does get game of the year. Because just the sheer amount of volume guarantees that their business will stay healthy. It really will. And when I look at this too, I see this huge gap really starting to form. And I don't know if anybody else sees it, but the gap that I'm seeing starting to form right now is I'm wondering if in the future, if any of these companies will start really focusing in more and more on the award show. So for instance, what I'm getting at is like Zach Sharp. He is excellent at getting out the press releases, excellent at doing the marketing the way that he needs to do it for Stern because you can tell by the massive growth, the fact that they are combining up with Marvel. I mean, what was it like over 500,000 people so far have watched that Stern Invitational. I mean, those types of partnerships are huge. Now I wonder if all these companies are going to keep putting out these press releases, when do they start touting their designers or their coders When do you start touting that you have an award winning designer And I think that that is something that Jersey Jack could definitely do right now with Eric With what happened with Guns N' Roses, I think you can easily take all these awards and just go ahead and add that in to any press release that you release in the future for future games about how it's an award-winning designer. And this is the gap that I'm mentioning right now, guys. The fact that you have Stern Pinball that is definitely in a position to continuously put out these massive press releases that they get around to all kinds of different magazines, all kinds of different news outlets. I mean, the sky is the limit with that. And they have such far reach compared to a lot of the other companies that the moment that they can start using that type of wording to where they talk about award-winning designers, They talk about award-winning coders. They talk about award-winning artists. Those are basically catchphrases and catchwords that will help drive sales. It really will. And I'm curious to see if anybody is going to put themselves in position to take advantage of that. Now, with Jersey Jack, honestly, it kind of seems like that that's the direction they're going. If you see a lot of their social media stuff, they really are touting Eric. They really are touting the awards there. I mean, and that to me, that is highly intelligent to do, because when somebody is looking up pinball and they don't know any of the companies, they're just looking up a search topic such as pinball and they can run into these companies that say we have this designer that is coming out with this game that has won this game of the year award for past. I mean, it's huge. It really is huge. And I think there's something to that in order to put in order to put like a spotlight on the people that design this stuff. It's the same way. If we look at it from the perspective of movies. Right. We're a lot of us that are movie junkies. We're well aware of who is producing this movie or who wrote this movie or who's directing this movie. All right. I mean, take Suicide Squad, for instance, that's coming back out later this year. Everybody knows James Gunn is a part of that. Take Avengers, for instance, with the MCU. Everybody knows the Russo brothers are doing all the Avenger stuff pretty much. And some of these people, they are huge influences and huge reasons why a lot of people will get attached to certain properties. And to me, I think pinball would really benefit from doing something like this. And that's the gap that I kind of see that is there that basically companies can take advantage of that, especially people like Jersey Jack, especially people like Stern. Now, as I mentioned just a second ago, this hobby is going through explosive growth right now, and I don't think it's going to slow down anytime soon. I really don't. I mean, look at where Stern Pinball is right now. They have merchandise. They put out puzzles. Yeah, it's confusing to me, but guess what? Puzzles. That means they're selling something different. They have video games out, and now they're putting out collectible toys. With that, the Ninja Turtles toy that came out that was exclusive to Walmart, that's from NECA. Now, for a lot of people out there, you may have no idea what NECA is. And what NECA is is that stands for the National Entertainment Collectibles Association. and that's who Stern Pinball combined up with in order to put out the Ninja Turtles toy that was exclusive to Walmart and that just released, I think, maybe last week. I haven't been able to find one. I know it's out there. I know a couple of people that found them and yeah, something like this to a lot of people in pinball may seem a little goofy. It may seem confusing. It may even seem unnecessary. Think about this for a second. This means that Stern, Stern Pinball, is legitimately taking all the assets or anything from a license and they are monetizing it in other ways that's not just a pinball machine. So when they talk about lifestyle brand, I know, again, catchphrases that a lot of people kind of chuckle out, kind of laugh at. But I'll tell you guys what, this is the direction to go if they're going to keep growing their business and if pinball is going to keep exploding. I mean, this is huge. I'm telling you, it is huge. And the fact that they are combining up with NECA, it makes me wonder because that a collectibles group it makes me really wonder are they going to start doing this with future themes that are coming out whether it's Back to the Future, whether it's Matrix, whether it's whatever it could be, right? I mean, to me, when you're dealing with pop culture, that is a great way to get your company out there even more, to get Zombie Yeti's art out there even more, to get different concepts out there even more, the fact that people are going to be walking by and they're going to find out what Stern Pinball is. Now, that doesn't mean that they're going to run out and just buy a pinball machine. But guess what? Those same people just bought that toy or that collectible that says Stern Pinball. And who's to say? With the merchandise, who's to say we won't see Stern Pinball merchandise actually show up in stores pretty soon? Like, why can't we see that? And to me, they have themselves in such great position that is so healthy moving forward that we look at other companies such as Deep Root, for instance, that we wonder if they'll even produce one pinball machine out to the general public. And here's Stern producing machine after machine after machine. And now they're getting into the merch. Now they're getting into the collectibles. Now they're getting into the video games. That is huge. And whenever I look at something such as the Twippies, it's great for the industry. It's great for all of us that are aware of it. But at the same time, the Twippie Awards or any, even the Pinball Industry Awards, we are basically niching ourselves down so much that I don't even know if it really speaks anything to what's actually happening outside of our little bubble of these award shows. You know what I mean? I can't tell you guys how many people I meet that are just now getting into pinball, and Stern Pinball is all they're aware of, which means that Stern Pinball has done a great job over the past decade getting a huge piece of the pie. The awareness, the brand awareness is off the charts when it comes to stuff like this. And to me, they're doing it right, and I think a lot of companies should take notice of that and kind of see the direction to where this hobby is headed towards. Now, when you look at what Jersey Jack's doing, I think that they're also doing a great thing as well that is a little bit different to where they do have the merchandise, but they're also basically making the Ferrari of pinball machines. And to me, that's great. If you're going to start putting out $12,000, $15,000, $20,000 pinball machines, that's awesome, and that's the direction to go towards. And if people are going to pay that and if you're going to be able to put it out and if you're going to be able to produce a great machine that benefits the hobby and people are happy, go for it, I say. And to me, I'm very excited to see where these two companies are going to go just because of all those elements that I've laid out. And to me, that's something that I don't know, guys. I think that the industry is going to incredibly change. I think come this time next year, we're probably going to be talking about how much larger or how much bigger this industry is as well. I mean, I've talked to lots of people that are either directly involved in different sales or they're aware of different companies. And I mean, sales across the board, there's a reason why pinball companies cannot keep up with demand. It is huge. And I'm telling you guys, this industry is so much bigger than what a lot of people realize. It's so much bigger. I would venture to say even our online content is not even 15, 20% of the amount of people that are out there that play pinball, that are buying pinball. I'm telling you guys, it is huge. It is huge out there. And I'm excited to see where it goes. But that's all I got for now, guys. I'm going to wrap it up right there. I wanted to talk about it as much as I could, but a lot of these subjects, I really don't know how much else we can go into it. Because at that point, it's kind of like just beating a dead horse, and we're just starting to repeat the same things over and over and over again. So hopefully here pretty soon, at some point next month, Stern Pinball will come out with another machine, and we'll finally have something else to talk about. I hope so. But other than that, again, I appreciate you guys watching, listening. Friday I will be on Fox Cities Pinball at 6 p.m. Central Standard Time. If you guys enjoy watching pinball, watch that. That will give you guys something to do this weekend. But other than that, that's all I got. And, yeah, that's it. Later, guys.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 963ea723-c16b-4111-a1fd-3d37b41a738b*