# Haggis VS The Hammer **Source:** Cary Hardy **Type:** video **Published:** 2020-02-06 **Duration:** 7m 1s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6QH82pxIjU --- ## Analysis Carrie Hardy analyzes Haggis Pinball's durability demonstration video for their upcoming Kelts game, which features a chemically bonded quarter-inch acrylic sheet over the playfield to prevent dimpling and cratering. Hardy contrasts this with Deep Root Pinball's anticipated #hammer durability announcement, suggesting Haggis has preempted Deep Root's planned reveal. Hardy notes the similarity to hardtop overlay products and speculates on what Deep Root might announce, while praising Haggis for solving a widespread manufacturing problem that larger, better-funded manufacturers have failed to address. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Haggis Pinball uses a quarter-inch thick chemically bonded acrylic sheet on top of the playfield — _Carrie Hardy directly describes and analyzes the visible thickness in the Haggis video, multiple angle shots showing the acrylic layer_ - [HIGH] The acrylic sheet prevents dimpling and cratering when struck with a sledgehammer — _Haggis video demonstrates hammer durability test; Hardy confirms no denting or pooling visible_ - [MEDIUM] Deep Root Pinball planned to announce a #hammer durability test/reveal — _Hardy states 'someone just beat Deep Roots hashtag hammer to the punch' and later speculates on what Deep Root 'was going to announce'_ - [MEDIUM] Haggis Pinball has only been operating for approximately 18 months — _Hardy references Damien stating this in the Haggis video_ - [MEDIUM] Black Knight Sword of Rage premium/LE upper playfields become foggy/cloudy — _Hardy references her previous year prediction that upper playfield fogging is happening on Black Knight SOAR machines_ ### Notable Quotes > "someone just beat Deep Roots hashtag hammer to the punch" > — **Carrie Hardy**, 0:00 > _Establishes the competitive dynamic between Haggis and Deep Root's planned durability announcements_ > "it's a quarter inch fucking thick for crying out loud. it better not dimple or dent." > — **Carrie Hardy**, near end > _Emphasizes that the acrylic thickness naturally should prevent durability issues; skeptical tone_ > "you have a very small company like this that has only been going for like I want to say he even states like 18 months... and they are solving a lot of the problems that other manufacturers are having that have all this money and people that have all these things on payroll" > — **Carrie Hardy**, mid-video > _Highlights Haggis's achievement despite being a young, small company outpacing established manufacturers on engineering solutions_ > "it's very reminiscent to the product hardtop that is gaining much more momentum recently" > — **Carrie Hardy**, mid-video > _Connects Haggis's solution to existing hardtop overlay market trend_ > "whether or not that can be wiped away and buffed out maybe maybe not but still being in that one spot for a week straight without many rolls and only having that much that's pretty impressive" > — **Carrie Hardy**, mid-video > _Acknowledges minor surface marks after ~100,000 ball rolls but frames results positively_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Carrie Hardy | person | Content creator and YouTuber analyzing pinball machine durability solutions | | Damien | person | Representative/founder of Haggis Pinball who created the durability demonstration video | | Haggis Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer with ~18 months operating history; developing Kelts game with acrylic-bonded playfield technology | | Deep Root Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer with planned #hammer durability announcement that Haggis has preempted | | Kelts | game | Upcoming Haggis Pinball game featuring the acrylic-bonded playfield durability solution | | Black Knight Sword of Rage | game | Stern game known for fogging/cloudiness issues on upper playfield in premium/LE editions | | Robert Mueller | person | Owner/founder of Deep Root Pinball (referenced as 'Robert' in context of Deep Root's hammer announcement) | ### Topics - **Primary:** Playfield durability and anti-dimpling solutions, Manufacturing quality and engineering innovation, Acrylic vs. traditional wood playfield construction - **Secondary:** Competitive announcements between manufacturers, Hardtop overlays as aftermarket solution, Small manufacturers vs. established companies ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.78) — Hardy is impressed by Haggis's engineering solution and their ability to solve problems that larger manufacturers haven't addressed. However, some skepticism about whether the acrylic thickness naturally prevents issues (hence the sardonic closing comment). Tone is respectful but with critical undertones regarding Deep Root's timing. ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Haggis Pinball (18-month-old startup) achieving engineering solutions that established, better-funded manufacturers have failed to implement (confidence: high) — Hardy explicitly contrasts small homemade business solving dimpling/cratering against established manufacturers with large payrolls and engineering teams - **[design_philosophy]** Established manufacturers failing to address long-standing playfield durability problems despite resources (confidence: high) — Hardy critiques that larger manufacturers with engineering teams haven't solved dimpling/cratering issues that Haggis (18 months old) has addressed - **[announcement]** Deep Root Pinball's #hammer durability announcement anticipated but preempted by Haggis (confidence: medium) — Hardy references Robert (Deep Root) stating he was going to take a hammer to the playfield; expresses curiosity about what Deep Root will announce in the coming month - **[product_strategy]** Haggis Pinball's acrylic-bonded playfield represents a novel construction method addressing widespread dimpling/cratering issues (confidence: high) — Quarter-inch chemically bonded acrylic sheet demonstrated in durability testing; withstands sledgehammer impact and ~100k ball rolls with minimal marking - **[product_concern]** Black Knight Sword of Rage upper playfield fogging issue affecting premium and LE machines (confidence: medium) — Hardy references her previous year prediction that upper playfields on BKSOAR premium/LE are becoming foggy; suggests this is happening to owners - **[technology_signal]** Hardtop overlay products gaining market momentum as durable alternative to playfield swaps (confidence: medium) — Hardy notes hardtop is gaining momentum due to easy installation and durability; compares Haggis solution to this emerging product category --- ## Transcript Well, someone just beat Deep Roots hashtag hammer to the punch. So today, Damien from Haggis Pinball decided to throw out a video essentially showing the durability of his upcoming playfields for his game kelts i was going to wait to do this video to tomorrow but i'm gonna be busy as hell tomorrow and i just don't know if i'm gonna have time or not so i'm gonna get this out right now and just kind of throw in my feelings and what i think about this so far so damian comes in here and he basically talks about you know durability of the play field and how the structure of it works and what he's utilizing here is like he goes and talking about how it's a you know chemically bonded with a sheet of acrylic and how it doesn't affect the art at all now i've watched this multiple times i think the first time i was just like oh yeah cool you know i didn't look deeper into it but um i decided to look a a little bit deeper into it, and I was like, yeah, no wonder it's not denting or getting anything like that, because this acrylic sheet is like a quarter inch thick. So you can see it right here how thick it is. Now, it's a little bit distance and we're at an angle, and it kind of a shitty angle here but they go into dropping the ball on here I put a link in the description below for you to check out the video for yourself but you can even see right here the light shining through underneath the wood rails on how thick this acrylic sheet really is and then you get another angle shot when they actually show off around the play field at this particular angle let's go right about there look how thick this is guys you've got your i i want to say it's a quarter inch it's a quarter inch thick acrylic sheet and more than likely the adhesive or i don't know the layering but you would think that maybe the plate field has been shimmed down about a layer or two but I don't really think it's been shimmed down that much. It looks like it might be a full-fledged play field with an extra quarter inch of acrylic on top of it. Now, doing that, you know, you have to design your game a little bit differently, hardware-wise mainly, because you've got an extra quarter inch of depth. So that's something to account for on that. But the pros on this is that, like he states, and what he's trying to pinpoint out, is that you can hit this playfield with a hammer, a sledgehammer at that, and you're not going to get denting or pooling and all the issues that we were seeing on other manufacturers with clear coating. Now, I know some of you were probably thinking, well, what about wear and tear from the ball rolling around on it, stopping and going and things like that. For example, the Black Knight Sword of Rage upper playfield, anyone who's got a premium or LE more than likely is a little upset that their upper playfield foggy like I predicted last year but i digress this uh he he mentions that in the video as well and goes into showing off how you have a particular ball it's been rolling back and forth for about a week and i think he guesstimates it or at least a hundred thousand rolls back and forth and uh when he goes he takes it off of there to show that there's nothing on there it's not exactly nothing you can see a line where it has spent most of its time now whether or not that can be wiped away and buffed out maybe maybe not but still being in that one spot for a week straight without many rolls and only having that much that's pretty impressive that's pretty impressive but it's very reminiscent to the product hardtop that is gaining much more momentum recently due to the fact that it's very easy to install in comparison to doing a playfield swap and the durability is there and you don't have to worry about dimpling and stuff like that it just kind of makes sense i and i'm kind of wondering that what deep root was going to announce and what we're going to get a month from now what kind of material are they going to be showing us on their playfields is it going to be something like this to where it's not exactly going to be 100 wood will it be a sheet of acrylic or lexan or something like that to essentially absorb and not have to worry about it cratering or dimpling and stuff like that whatever robert stated that he was going to take a hammer to the play field that was my first initial thought was it not going to be clear coat but i think it Pretty funny that you have a very small you know homemade business like this that has only been going for like I want to say he even states like 18 months You have a very small company like this that's just getting their feet off the ground building this machine. and they are solving a lot of the problems that other manufacturers are having that have all this money and people that have all these things on payroll to do all these engineering jobs and designing jobs, but yet no one has come up with any idea to solve the issue that is plagued by a lot of owners and that is the cratering and dimpling issue. Now, for those of you that are not bothered by the dimpling and cratering and it's part of pinball and that's your philosophy, fee, so be it, that's your prerogative, but this is what we're strictly aiming for the audience that does not like the dimpling and cratering. So props to you Haggis for beating Deep Root to the punch for hashtag hammer. I will leave a link in the description below if you want to see the video in its entirety. So what's your thoughts on this type of play-filled design? Comment down below to let me know. And if you haven't already, do not forget to hit that subscribe button down below, that That way you can be notified of whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. Until next time, peace out. I mean, it's a quarter inch fucking thick for crying out loud. It better not dimple or dent. you _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: eb5925d3-5407-40b3-af26-aeac731fb576*