# deeproot Pinball RAZA First Impression

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2019-11-15  
**Duration:** 22m 9s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7vn3OkXgEQ

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy provides an in-depth first impression analysis of Deep Root Pinball's RAZA prototype, examining playfield layout, mechanics, and design choices. He clarifies that cabinet art, backglass, and many plastic components are placeholders, noting that 3D-printed parts will require molding for mass production. Hardy speculates the final machine will cost $7,000–$7,500 and positions it as potentially competitive with Stern if priced under $6,000.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Cabinet exterior artwork and backglass are explicitly stated in interviews to be placeholders, not final — _Hardy cites ThisWeekInPinball interviews and emphasizes viewers should read them to understand what's final vs. prototype_
- [HIGH] Many plastic components on RAZA are 3D-printed and will require custom moldings for mass production — _Hardy repeatedly observes 3D-printed aesthetic on Atomic Shop, Ned character, and pop bumpers; notes 'no way they're going to be able to mass produce these if they're all 3D printed'_
- [MEDIUM] Playfield uses wooden construction with aluminum apron (likely placeholder) — _Hardy notes 'wood is specified in the interview' for playfield but questions whether aluminum apron is final_
- [MEDIUM] RAZA will likely be priced between $7,000–$7,500; if under $6,000, Stern should be concerned — _Hardy's speculation based on comparing feature complexity to current market pricing; acknowledges Deep Root's past rhetoric about 'less than current machines'_
- [HIGH] The Ferris Wheel mechanic's purpose is unclear from static images and will require gameplay footage to confirm — _Hardy repeatedly speculates about the Ferris Wheel's function ('is it going to be doing...') but defers to 'actual footage tomorrow'_

### Notable Quotes

> "if they would read the interviews they would have a lot of answers to their questions or things that they are being so picky about"
> — **Cary Hardy**, early in video
> _Hardy critiques community for judging prototype images without reading official context; emphasizes placeholder status_

> "whenever i'm playing pinball i'm looking inside the machine i try to at least and i'm not really too focused on what's going on the screen"
> — **Cary Hardy**, mid-video
> _Defends the widescreen display size against community criticism; personal play preference perspective_

> "this game looks like J-Pop meets Big Bang Bar in a real quick glance"
> — **Cary Hardy**, discussing playfield aesthetics
> _Thematic comparison suggesting Valley-era pinball design influence; UV-reactive green elements_

> "this looks like it's going to be very reactive to uv light so i'm curious to see those of us with Penn Stadiums how well that looks with the UV effect"
> — **Cary Hardy**, playfield design section
> _Specific observation about UV-reactive design targeting home collector market with UV lighting setups_

> "if it's less than $6,000, I will be surprised and Stern look out because if they're able to give us all of this for the price of a pro model, then yeah, Stern, you've got some competition on the way"
> — **Cary Hardy**, pricing discussion
> _Core competitive positioning claim; signals Deep Root as potential market disruptor if pricing undercuts Stern_

> "I'm just glad that he's designing again...I didn't lose any money towards him...if you want to be harping on that, then whatever"
> — **Cary Hardy**, discussion of Robert Mueller's past
> _Acknowledges community controversy around Mueller's history while defending continued support; owns two of his games_

> "it's reminiscent to the games that we saw in the like the later 90s...this is j-pop and you people have an issue with j-pop for what he's done in the past and rightfully so"
> — **Cary Hardy**, toward end of video
> _Directly references J-Pop (John Popadiuk) design influence; acknowledges unspecified past controversy_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | Content creator and pinball enthusiast analyzing RAZA; owns two Deep Root games; focuses on playfield layout and design philosophy |
| Robert Mueller | person | Founder/owner of Deep Root Pinball; designer of RAZA; past controversy mentioned but not detailed; history of claiming lower pricing than competitors |
| John Popadiuk | person | Referenced as 'J-Pop'; design influence on RAZA playfield aesthetic; has past controversy with community that Hardy acknowledges |
| Deep Root Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer unveiling RAZA prototype; known for delays and ambitious projects; history of pricing claims and community controversy |
| RAZA | game | Deep Root Pinball's first major title reveal; prototype state with placeholder art, 3D-printed components; amusement park/Adventureland theme with atomic shop mechanic |
| Stern Pinball | company | Market incumbent; Pro model baseline pricing ~$6,000; positioned as potential competition for Deep Root if pricing undercuts expectations |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Referenced as JJP; competitor offering feature-rich games at premium pricing; Hardy distinguishes from Stern's 'stripped down' approach |
| This Week in Pinball | organization | Media outlet; source of RAZA images and official interviews referenced by Hardy as context for understanding prototype status |
| Atomic Shop | game_mechanic | RAZA feature; mysterious mechanic possibly involving currency/tickets tied to amusement park theme; Hardy speculates on functionality |
| Ferris Wheel | game_mechanic | RAZA toy/ramp mechanism; function unclear from static images; described as spiraling with complex routing; requires gameplay footage to confirm purpose |
| Pinside | organization | Pinball forum; source community discussion Hardy monitored during workday; venue for image analysis and speculation |
| Ned | game_character | Character on RAZA playfield; 3D-printed appearance; role/significance unclear from prototype images |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Prototype vs. final product expectations, Playfield layout and shot design complexity, Pricing strategy and market competitiveness, 3D-printed components and manufacturing process
- **Secondary:** Deep Root's history and community controversy, Display size and visual design aesthetics, UV-reactive design elements for home collectors
- **Mentioned:** Comparison to Valley/1990s pinball design era

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.75) — Hardy expresses genuine enthusiasm for RAZA's design complexity, layout creativity, and potential to compete with Stern. He repeatedly defends the prototype against community nitpicking and acknowledges his bias as an owner of two Deep Root games. However, he maintains skepticism on final pricing and manufacturing feasibility of 3D-printed components. Tone is cautiously optimistic tempered by practical concerns about execution.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Robert Mueller/Deep Root Pinball has unspecified past controversy; community divided on supporting designer despite issues; Hardy defends continued enthusiasm while acknowledging controversy (confidence: medium) — 'you people have an issue with j-pop for what he's done in the past and rightfully so he did mess up...some people are really stuck on it and they're really sour about it'
- **[competitive_signal]** RAZA positioned as potential Stern competitor; if priced under $6,000 (Stern Pro baseline), could disrupt market; feature richness compared unfavorably to Stern's 'stripped down' approach (confidence: high) — 'if they're able to give us all of this for the price of a pro model, then yeah, Stern, you've got some competition on the way' and 'Stern, they give us a game, but it feels like it's definitely been stripped down'
- **[design_philosophy]** RAZA exhibits Valley/1990s pinball era design influence with complex, non-linear shot sequencing and UV-reactive green aesthetics; contrasts with perceived 'stripped down' modern Stern design (confidence: high) — 'reminiscent to the games that we saw in the like the later 90s', 'J-Pop meets Big Bang Bar', 'weird layouts...not your usual stuff'
- **[leak_detection]** RAZA prototype images and interview details surfaced through This Week in Pinball coverage; Hardy references Pinside and Facebook community discussion as information sources (confidence: high) — 'i've been observing throughout my day at work today and it's that i feel like people look at these images', 'you can find all these images as well as the interviews that took place at thisweekinpinball.com'
- **[market_signal]** Deep Root's pricing rhetoric has shifted from 'less than current machines' to emphasis on 'value'; community speculation pegs RAZA at $7,000–$7,500 based on feature complexity (confidence: medium) — 'he started talking about value...I'm thinking that this machine's probably going to be around the seven...I'm gonna go with that. I'm going to go seven to 7,500'
- **[announcement]** Deep Root Pinball officially unveils RAZA prototype with images and interviews at This Week in Pinball; gameplay footage promised for next day (confidence: high) — 'deeproot has finally unveiled their first title in almost complete fashion' and 'we're going to have actual footage and everything tomorrow'
- **[product_concern]** Cabinet exterior art and backglass currently 'hideous' placeholder quality; 3D-printed plastic details (Ned character, Atomic Shop) appear rough and will require quality improvement before production (confidence: high) — 'the outside of it is...in comparison to the inside is hideous', 'looking at net up here if you get close enough you can see how it's 3d printed'
- **[technology_signal]** Extensive use of 3D-printed prototype components raises manufacturability questions; Hardy questions feasibility of mass production without custom molding (confidence: high) — 'no way that they're going to be able to mass produce these things if they're all 3d printed like that they're gonna have to get moldings and stuff like that done'

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## Transcript

 Robert, come on dude, accept the request. Come on! What's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk into everything pinball. pinball so if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below so after all this time deep root has finally unveiled their first title in almost complete fashion this is still not what the game is actually going to look like in its entirety this is still considered to be a prototype so there will more likely be changes and some of them i'm hoping so and we'll go through that as we begin this for those that don't know you can find all these images as well as the interviews that took place at thisweekinpinball.com that is where i got all of these images from that we're going to be going through if i sound tired it's probably because i am i just got off work i've been wanting to get home to kind of like get out my thoughts and feelings about this machine and i'm home and now i'm exhausted so i'm just gonna put this stuff out there and we're going to have a bunch more information as well as gameplay footage and everything tomorrow which will be friday if i even get this out tonight we're going to see how the night goes so let's start with the exterior before we get into the more interesting part of the interior so this is something that i've noticed via pin side as well as facebook which is the only two media sources that i've kind of been observing throughout my day at work today and it's that i feel like people look at these images and they are judging them solely by the images but if they would read the interviews they would have a lot of answers to their questions or things that they are being so picky about for instance the artwork on the cabinet is stated in the interview that these are merely placeholders this is not the final artwork and i hope so because this is the outside of it is uh in comparison to the inside is hideous this is not good the uh i mean it's it's a simple little thing like okay that's nice and everything but uh yeah obviously the exterior of the cabinet is just a placeholder thankfully as the same goes for the back glass. It's all the placeholder. I believe this to be the actual size of the display. And that's another thing is I have no problems with this display. I'm perfectly content with this widescreen narrow view. And I don't even consider it that narrow. I think it's going to be able to show us everything that we need. And I don't have a problem with this, but you have certain people that are just adamant on the fact that it's not the size of a frigging television screen which is just it boggles me i'm sorry but whenever i'm playing pinball i'm looking inside the machine i try to at least and i'm not really too focused on what's going on the screen unless it calls for a time that i actually need to so the size of the screen is really not pertinent to me and i'm not even really focused on how well the graphics are on the screen i mean we're talking like me i enjoy the hell out of 90s games and i think that's why i have a little bit of passion for what I'm seeing in this game is that I favor the older games. So with that being said, there may be a little bit of bias in this because of what I'm seeing. So as far as the display, I don't have an issue with it. No problems. Speakers, I mean, we'll see how it sounds. I'm pretty sure it's going to be sufficient for what we got going on. So the cabinet art, kind of crap. But I know that this is not the final version. so moving on to the next image this is pretty much just a straightforward uh simple thing and this is the thing also guys that we don't even know for sure if this is actually going to be the legitimate cabinet that this is going to come in there's a chance that we're going to have different cabinets um which i'm on board for i mean at least we see that it's like a regular size pinball play field so that's one question that's out of the you know out of the ballpark right there is what kind of plate filler are we going to have is it going to be made of wood yes that's specified in the interview um as far as the apron i'm curious if they are actually going to stick with the full aluminum look or this is just a placeholder as well so this is i'm going to assume merely a placeholder if it's not i don't have a problem with it because i don't care i'm not playing the apron um but once we get deeper into the plate fill this is where i start getting a little bit of uh excited so let's this is the top side view of the entire play field looking down and some of the things that i i zoom in in here on to read is the instruction card and uh it's a little blurry so it's legible and i'm not going to read the entire thing to you but it gives you an idea of basically some of the things that you need to shoot for um so if there's anything in particular that i need to pinpoint out i guess it the ferris wheel the ferris wheel is something that unless you kind of like actually focus and see it and i kind of curious to see what this ferris wheel is going to be doing is it going to be like hurricane where it spins around moves the ball what's all going to encompass in that you've got that mag to save and that's on the play field we'll see that we'll get there when we get there so let's start working our way from the bottom right up so what i see from launching the ball this is uh looks like it's going to launch directly into a potential vuck either it's going to be a vuck or it's going to be a 180 scoop that's going to launch the ball up into this portion right here and then roll out onto the play field that's what I'm seeing here I don't see anywhere else for this ball to go besides up and I don't think it's a buck it looks like it's going to be just a 180 ramp like you would see on black knight or black knight 2000 so it launches the ball you launch the ball actual shooter comes up rolls out and the trajectory looks like it should feed looks like it's actually going to feed your left slingshot i don't think so i would think it would be better off probably feeding your left flipper but uh either way that's what it looks like to me it's gonna feed the play field from this portion right here so something else we have the magna save uh ramp that drops down from a pretty good distance too uh this is a little high up but uh so hopefully their playfields are as strong as they say they are. Let's move on up a little further up and this ramp, we'll see where this ramp is fed from. This ramp is fed from back here somewhere. I don't know where it gets fed from. We're going to see if we could find the image for that, but I think I've gone through them and that was something that I could not pinpoint is what feeds this ramp. Where is it getting fed from and it's the same ordeal with the far left ramp as well i don't know where it's getting fed from this is something that interests me ride the coasters so this is one hell of a ramp you're gonna have to have some trajectory and um because it goes up here spirals around this and then goes up an even more hill and feeds what looks like the back behind the playfield or it goes up and just drops down and feeds this ramp which looks like that's what it may do in fact either way that's pretty cool all the lights are obviously rgb because we're seeing color fading and gradient effects throughout the just the still shot this is something else i noticed and i don't know if anybody else has pinpointed it out because it's kind of hard to see is this formation right here now is this formation actually meant for a ball to be on top where the ball rides down this i can't tell the size of this gap if it's actually going to work like that or not but it's just kind of weird for them to actually have this in there because i'm not seeing anything else in here that would give me besides it being a straightaway up and the only way you can get that straightaway up is by the kicker and there's got to be a kicker right here this kicker more than likely is going to launch that ball up and then back here for wherever it goes but i'm wondering if there's anything that feeds the top of this plastic portion right here because it looks like it opens up underneath this ramp and would feed your left flipper possibly ah there is a kickback there's a kickback right here it says kickback so there is a kickback that will launch that ball straight up you got your little spinner thing very totan reminiscent right there but i'm kind of curious to see how this mech works uh mainly i mean it looks like obviously you're going to shoot this oh i think i know how it works okay so this is all speculation tomorrow we're gonna have actual footage and everything guys so i'm kind of throwing guesses and speculation out there just to see how close to right that i am so to me it looks like you launch the ball up this ramp to hit this target and then it lands now once it lands there it looks like it should free roam up underneath this i don't think it's going to actually be a mech that will move up and down you know under cpu control this looks like it's going to be all physical to where it's going to hit that ball is going to have enough weight behind it to cause it to roll and that ramp's going to go up ball is going to roll down to your left flipper or possibly hit this area right here Atomic shop now. This is something I'm kind of curious about how this is going to work From what I was gathering on the on the apron. It looks like this is I'm guessing how you Was it saying down here Yeah this starts modes evidently So that what it looks like So this is gonna start modes but atomic shop what i was kind of curious about that this is going to have some sort of um currency like that you gain some sort of currency whether it be tickets because it's an amusement park or adventureland or whatever let's say you make certain shots and these certain shots get you i don't know so many amounts of tickets and then you can use these tickets at the atomic shop to gain perks or progress in the story um stuff like that so i'm kind of i'm kind of hoping that's what it is if it's not then hey i'm just giving you guys some ideas i don't know but i like the idea of that besides uh mentioning that i like the art there's a lot of green on here which i don't have a problem with it looks like it's going to be very reactive to uv light so i'm curious to see those of us with PinStadiums how well that looks with the UV effect. I think it's going to look really good under people with black lights and stuff like that. This game looks like J-Pop meets Big Bang Bar in a real quick glance. I mean, that's one of the first things I thought of was Big Bang Bar, I guess with the UV reacting green. That's what I thought of. all right move on to the next picture so this gives us a closer look to the atomic shop now this is something this is another thing that i'm believing that this is going to be all um this isn't final because a lot of these plastics guys these look like they were 3d printed and they're throwing them on the game because it's a placeholder for now so i'm hoping that eventually this may look better and that includes the i'm going to assume his name as Ned on the very back of the playfield. A lot of these 3D moldings look like they were 3D printed and painted up to put onto the game for now. And so hopefully that's going to look a little bit better. If not, might want to work on that guys. Now that I'm getting a closer look at this, I'm leaning more towards me being correct on that. How the ball is just going to roll up underneath this. Yeah. But I like this it's something that you don't really see it's gonna hit that and land in there and just roll out that's pretty cool so that ferris wheel i'm wondering what all that's gonna do is it gonna feed something take us somewhere else that's that's all speculation and it looks like there's gonna be even rgb in the pop bumpers because now the pop bumpers have this color tone to them and other images i've seen other colors so 3d printed ufo looking thing right there and this is where we get a better shot of the ferris wheel so this ramp spirals around right here this is very reminiscent to me to a totan you have your world cup soccer rollovers right here and this looks like it's going to be a moving target so that's going to be pretty cool and what is that ferris wheel going to do i'm just curious about that looking at net up here if you get close enough you can see how it's 3d printed very good mock-up yeah i mean i'm glad that they're showing us guys but this kind of gives you an idea of what they're going for so i mean there's no way that they're going to be able to mass produce these things if they're all 3d printed like that they're gonna have to get moldings and stuff like that done but this as it stands as a 3d 3d printed you know model it looks pretty damn cool I like it they could look even better once it's better quality trying to figure out where that ramp gets fed I mean now so it looks like this ramp feeds this ramp over here or possibly even both we might have a mech right here that can choose like a diverter possibly if it goes down this ramp or down this ramp so that's pretty cool my I guess one of my concerns about if it does do the little roller thing on top of plastics is how the hell it gets fed that way but it looks like we got some sort of mech right here up underneath here that does something is that i can't tell but i wonder if that's also a 360 ramp that throws it up on top of the plastic region right here to roll down hmm i'll have to look at that again so another look at that shot there's the ferris wheel the ferris wheel doesn't look like it does anything am i seeing this right i mean it looks like it's just got some open spaces but i don't think it feeds anything one way it could get fed is by coming around probably this way and then it gets rolled i wonder the ferris wheel the ferris wheel feeds that portion over here i don't know i'm starting to ramble on let move on spinners galore are they opto spinners no they are not opto spinners there is a switch right there so not opto but that could change i doubt it but it could change and this is pretty much just another shot of what we already seen but just the pop bumpers are a little bit different color again but as far as anything else that's different or new no everything looks the way it does so that is raza what are your thoughts on raza this is my opinions this is just my speculation on what the shots are going to be and what it can do we will find out tomorrow what this machine is capable of but just try to remember guys that this is not the final rendition and for those of you that are really nitpicking this game apart i'm like really guys this is this is really getting me uh amped up to where it's reminiscent to the games that we saw in the like the later 90s all this stuff this is j-pop and you people have an issue with j-pop for what he's done in the past and rightfully so he did mess up and And a lot of people just would like him to apologize. And if you would, I think that would just be like, all right, good. And we can go on to moving on. But some people are really stuck on it and they're really sour about it. But I'm just glad that he's designing again. Because, I mean, just because I own two of his games back here. So that may be why I'm a little biased on that. I didn't lose any money towards him. So there's, I'm not telling you guys to move on. but if you want to be harping on that, then whatever. I don't care. All I'm saying is that this game definitely interests me. But here's the main thing, guys. Here's something that I believe everyone's got the question on their mind. This is something that everyone wants to know and will deter whether or not Deep Root is going to move up the ranks and be an actual competitor in the pinball hobby. Pinball industry, rather. Whatever. but is the price now he robert has said and mentioned things many times in the past including years ago about how his machines will uh cost less than current machines that are on the market so at that you're immediately thinking oh so they're going to start out like less than stern's pro model which is like six thousand dollars but the thing is i it just recently changed up where he started talking about value and where i'm going with this is that i'm thinking that this machine's probably going to be around the seven i'd say seven seven thousand i'm gonna I'm going to go with that. I'm going to go seven to 7,500. And if it's less than $6,000, I will be surprised and Stern look out because if they're able to give us all of this for the price of a pro model, then yeah, Stern, you've got some competition on the way. But I have a feeling that this is going to be about at least a $7,000 machine. Not to say that That's all their machines' pricings are going to be. But from what I'm seeing on this, and I've got what to compare to. I'm comparing to what's currently on the market, what they cost, and what they're giving us. So when Robert's talking about value and his passion for pinball and his mainly passion for Valley Williams era, is that he's wanting to give us a lot more in the game compared to what Stern is giving us. Now, I'm not going to compare it to JJP because JJP gives us a lot in their games, but their prices are higher to account for that. Whereas Stern, they give us a game, but it feels like it's definitely been stripped down. So this game doesn't look stripped down. It looks like there's a lot to do on here, a good amount of shots. It's not a fan-based layout, which is something I'm fond of. I like the weird shots, the obtuse things. I'm not much of a fan of just straight shots and just lining them up. That's not my thing. I just, I don't know. For me, it's more entertaining to have the weird layouts. That's not your usual stuff. But that's just me. That's the joy of the hobby to each their own. But these are my thoughts. I want to know your thoughts. What do you guess? And you got to get these out before they actually reveal anything, guys. But what do you think the price point is going to be on this game? What are your thoughts on this game? Does Stern have something to worry about? Comment down below and let me know. If you like what you've seen here, give me the thumbs up. And if you haven't already, do not forget to hit the subscribe button. That way you can be notified whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. Until next time, guys. Peace out. Thank you.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: cb5aa36a-2e1d-490e-83df-2c354c0e59b0*