# Dennis Nordman Joins American Pinball and Podcasters Get Burned?

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2021-01-04  
**Duration:** 10m 16s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF88vNeO4mw

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## Analysis

Carrie Hardy discusses a Super Awesome Pinball Show episode featuring Dennis Nordman joining American Pinball as senior designer, and critiques podcaster ethics around reviewing unreleased games. Hardy defends first-impression content as legitimate community engagement while acknowledging the distinction between played vs. unplayed commentary. Nordman's hire is positioned as positive for the industry given his prolific design output and American Pinball's stated commitment to full IP licensing assets.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Dennis Nordman has designed approximately 24 pinball games throughout his career — _Carrie Hardy states 'i want to say he's got a total of like 24 on his record' - uses hedging language ('want to say') indicating uncertainty_
- [MEDIUM] Dennis Nordman can design and complete a full pinball game from start to finish in approximately two months at American Pinball — _Hardy paraphrases Nordman: 'he's able to do a design from like Cradle to the Grave, which is basically ready to go in like a two month period' - reports from podcast discussion_
- [MEDIUM] American Pinball's next game should be announced/revealed in approximately six months — _Hardy states 'from the information I gathered on the podcast, it looks like we should be seeing American Pinball's next game, I think they said six months from now'_
- [HIGH] Dennis Nordman has worked for Highway Pinball, Stern Pinball, Deep Root Pinball, Chicago Gaming Company, and now American Pinball — _Hardy directly lists his employer history: 'highway pinball he was at stern whenever he did his elvirus house of horrors and he started it but it was finished by somebody else... then he went on to deep root then the chicago gaming company and now he at american pinball'_
- [MEDIUM] Dennis Nordman designs games that emphasize packed content with maximum features — _Hardy reports: 'he loves games that are packed. He specifies that is that he loves games that where he can just throw as much stuff as he possibly can into it'_
- [MEDIUM] American Pinball prioritizes acquiring complete IP licensing assets rather than partial rights for licensed games — _Hardy credits David Fix: 'if they get a licensed game, they want everything. They want all the assets. They don't want just little bits here and there'_

### Notable Quotes

> "typically when you watch like my videos or anybody else's podcast or videos you're technically just looking for affirmation about how you feel. That's what it is. Us as people love for others to agree with how we feel."
> — **Carrie Hardy (quoting discussion from Super Awesome Pinball Show)**, ~mid-content
> _Core argument about audience psychology in podcast/video consumption; explains why people consume content aligned with pre-formed opinions_

> "you gotta be first gotta be first never play oh hey hey it's about like having a podcaster sitting there watching i don't know a really good super awesome pinball podcast eating popcorn while just commenting on what's going on in the screen"
> — **Unknown discussant (Super Awesome Pinball Show)**, ~mid-content
> _Sarcastic critique of podcasters commenting on unreleased games without hands-on play; uses metaphor of passive consumption_

> "I have a $500 getaway and a $600 Terminator 2 that looks like they're brand new. I bought an Indiana Jones from the Williams version for $1,000."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~early-mid-content
> _Personal testimony about historical pinball machine pricing during industry decline; establishes her credibility as long-time collector with market perspective_

> "he loves games that where he can just throw as much stuff as he possibly can into it"
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~late-content
> _Characterization of Dennis Nordman's design philosophy; relevant to predicting American Pinball's upcoming game style_

> "he's able to do a design from like Cradle to the Grave, which is basically ready to go in like a two month period"
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~late-content
> _Key claim about Nordman's production speed at American Pinball; suggests operational efficiency advantage_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Carrie Hardy | person | Pinball content creator and YouTuber analyzing industry news and defending podcast content creation practices |
| Dennis Nordman | person | Prolific pinball game designer (~24 games) recently hired as senior designer at American Pinball; previously worked at Highway Pinball, Stern, Deep Root, Chicago Gaming |
| David Fix | person | American Pinball representative/decision-maker discussed in Super Awesome Pinball Show episode; commented on IP licensing philosophy |
| American Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer that hired Dennis Nordman as senior designer; stated focus on complete IP licensing assets for licensed games |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer where Dennis Nordman previously worked; involved with Elvira's House of Horrors |
| Super Awesome Pinball Show | organization | Podcast featuring interview with Dennis Nordman about his career and American Pinball role; excerpt featured in Hardy's video |
| Deep Root Pinball | company | Manufacturer where Dennis Nordman previously worked |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Manufacturer where Dennis Nordman previously worked |
| Highway Pinball | company | Manufacturer where Dennis Nordman previously worked |
| Kaneda | person | Podcaster whom Carrie Hardy respects and listens to regularly for aligned perspectives on pinball |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Podcast content ethics and first-impression reviews, Dennis Nordman career and American Pinball hire, American Pinball's design philosophy and IP licensing strategy
- **Secondary:** Audience psychology and echo chambers in pinball media consumption, Historical pinball market pricing and industry decline/recovery, Podcaster credibility and industry experience

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.72) — Hardy is supportive of Dennis Nordman's hire and optimistic about implications for American Pinball. She defends podcast culture while acknowledging valid criticism. Some defensive tone when responding to critique of unreleased-game commentary, but generally constructive and encouraging toward industry growth.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** American Pinball's operational efficiency: two-month design-to-completion cycle with full IP asset acquisition strategy (confidence: medium) — Nordman describes cradle-to-grave completion in ~2 months; David Fix emphasizes commitment to complete IP licensing assets
- **[community_signal]** Active debate within pinball community about legitimacy of first-impression podcast content on unreleased games (confidence: medium) — Hardy defends first-impression format as standard community practice aligned with Pinside discussions; acknowledges tension between played vs. unplayed commentary
- **[design_philosophy]** Dennis Nordman's signature design approach: feature-packed games with maximum content density (confidence: medium) — Hardy reports: 'he loves games that are packed. He specifies that is that he loves games that where he can just throw as much stuff as he possibly can into it'
- **[personnel_signal]** Dennis Nordman joins American Pinball as senior designer, representing talent consolidation at emerging manufacturer (confidence: high) — Confirmed through Super Awesome Pinball Show podcast episode; Hardy emphasizes this as 'really good news for the pinball industry in general'
- **[product_strategy]** American Pinball planning to announce next game in approximately six months (~mid-2024) (confidence: medium) — Hardy reports from podcast: 'from the information I gathered on the podcast, it looks like we should be seeing American Pinball's next game, I think they said six months from now'

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## Transcript

 you know it's like and i don't want to just say this if a podcaster is reviewing a game did they play the game first that's my first thing if they said oh i looked at all these pictures of the game but i haven't played it i really don't take much consideration into a podcaster's critique on that they play the game they disguise that as a first impression oh yes That's my first impression. Okay, first of all, it's not a matter of disguising. It's just a matter of just being honest. I mean, typically when these games get revealed, it's pretty obvious that it's not out into the public yet for everyone to play and give feedback on due to their gameplay experiencing of it. No, that's why a lot of the times when new games are revealed, everyone's talking about it on Pinside and giving their thoughts and opinions. This is just another outlet for that being YouTube. We give our first impressions on how we feel. And my videos specify whether or not I have actually played the game. And a lot of the times, like even just recently with Led Zeppelin, I specified that all my comments are strictly going by the stream alone. And that my opinions could obviously change after I play it. So it's not a matter of disguising, it's just being honest with the viewers. Like whether you like it or not, David Fix, whenever a game is revealed and shown to the world, everyone, including us that comment on this material, have their opinions. And a lot of times people just want to hear other people's thoughts on the game and what they think about it because they've already got in their head how they feel about it. And a lot of times when us podcasters or YouTubers discuss this content, people are either going to agree or completely disagree. it happens to each their own and this may be a hard truth for a lot of you out there the thing is most of you out there have already watched content about a new game and have your thoughts and feelings about it and you've already made up your mind how you feel so typically when you watch like my videos or anybody else's podcast or videos you're technically just looking for affirmation about how you feel. That's what it is. Us as people love for others to agree with how we feel. That is how it is. That is how my subscriber base has grown the way it has because I not the only one that thinks this way guys There a reason why when I started listening to Kaneda that I kept listening because his mindset thinks a lot how I think That's just the way it is. Not many people listen or watch somebody that is completely off course of how they think or feel. Although I greatly encourage those of you out there to watch content that doesn't technically agree with how you feel. It's not good to be in an echo chamber. That's like me seeing a young podcaster, and Chris and I, we had this discussion earlier. Just think about this, a podcaster who maybe been podcasting and collecting for the last five years. I mean, he wasn't there through the 2000s. He wasn't there in the 99s when Williams closed down. He wasn't there when we used to buy pinball machines for $200 or $500. I mean, I have a $500 getaway and a $600 Terminator 2 that looks like they're brand new. I bought an Indiana Jones from the Williams version for $1,000. The first two games that my wife and I ever bought was a pinbot for $800 and a Bride pinbot for $1,200. So, I mean, you look at that and you're like, wow. So first off, congratulations for purchasing your pinball machines at such a low price back in the day. But you honestly took a big gamble at the time because you bought these machines for cheap. Why were they so cheap? Because at that time, pinball was on the major decline and possibly going to be non-existent. So therefore, you would have purchased all these games for the low, low price of what? To have a bunch of machines in your house that don't work anymore because you got lucky and pinball got better. manufacturers kept pumping games out companies like marco started making parts to keep these games alive if it wasn't for the rise of pinball again then technically you took a risk so whether or not you bought games at a low price that means jack shit you know and then they come online and they're young they have their attitude and they're going to tell the world what they think but sometimes it's you gotta put the time in the trenches boys and do your research and get the facts right. And the sad thing in the old days, what we did, we didn't go on podcasts. We would just reply back to the email saying, I haven't played it yet. It looks neat. You know, that kind of thing. Yeah, back in the old days, we also didn't have like YouTube and really good internet and stuff like that It like it a horrible argument to state It like people that argue that they only want to put incandescence in their games because that the way they were designed to be I like it not a matter about whether or not they were designed that way It a matter of just what the availability of materials were at that time I'm pretty sure if they could have gotten LEDs into their games back in the day at a good price, then they would have done it. So it's the same ordeal now with everyone having the ability to have a platform and a voice. but to go on and give your first impressions and you know it's because you gotta be first gotta be first never play oh hey hey it's about like having a podcaster sitting there watching i don't know a really good super awesome pinball podcast eating popcorn while just commenting on what's going on in the screen oh oh so you just got burned and the whole you just got burned soundbite i don't i guess i don't understand that because it's not a burn because essentially you're talking about yourself as well when it comes to podcasters or YouTubers commenting on what they see. That's what we do. That is over 90% of what our content is about, reacting and giving our feedback on what we see and hear or read or whatever in this hobby. That's what it is. So I don't get the whole, you just got burned thing. I'm like, well, that's Okay. All right. So that was an excerpt from the Super Awesome Pinball Show. If you want to hear the whole interview and everything, by all means, I'll put a link in the description down below so you may listen to the entire podcast. That is only one portion of it that I felt I really needed to comment on. But the other news that needs to be talked about is the fact that Dennis Nordman is now working as a senior designer for American Pinball. And this is actually really good news. for the pinball industry in general because uh dennis has made a lot of games let me put these on here real quick these are just you know some of the games that Dennis Nordman has been a designer for i want to say he's got a total of like 24 on his record for creating because he's designed other games that have never seen the light of day as of yet because as some of you may know dennis has kind of hopped around a bit from you know doing stuff with highway pinball he was at stern whenever he did his elvirus house of horrors and he started it but it was finished by somebody else and he even comments on the podcast about the things that were changed a little bit in that game then he went on to deep root then the chicago gaming company and now he at american pinball and he comments and explains why he was hopping around the way he does and i'm and like i said i encourage those of you to listen to the podcast to get all that information i will give you in a nutshell and that's basically that dennis wants to make games and get them out to people he is a workhorse when it comes to designing games and getting them out into the world for people to enjoy and due to where he's been in the past there's been something that's always gone wrong or it's just something that keeps him from being able to get his games out so with him jumping on into American Pinball, as he states in the podcast, he's able to do a design from like Cradle to the Grave, which is basically ready to go in like a two month period. So he's and he loves games that are packed. He specifies that is that he loves games that where he can just throw as much stuff as he possibly can into it. So that's another plus with him being an American Pinball is that hopefully we'll get games one more often to that have a lot of stuff in it. And from the information I gathered on the podcast, it looks like we should be seeing American Pinball's next game, I think they said six months from now? So, middle of this year, we should see American Pinball's next game. And something else I noted from the podcast is that David Fix, although he said some other things in there that I'm like, okay. But one thing that I do have to give him a compliment on is that he said that if they get a licensed game, they want everything. They want all the assets. They don't want just little bits here and there. So kudos to you, and I hope that remains true in your upcoming titles. As of right now, I think that's all this video needs to have in it. It's basically just discussing the news with Dennis Nordman and promote for you to listen to the newest podcast from Super Awesome Pinball Show where Dennis Nordman goes over much more details. I'll put, like I said, a link in the description for your listening pleasure. Until next time, guys, peace out. Outro Music

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: a568aa12-a269-4ec3-9c0d-f5df96577999*