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Advancing Connected Pinball To The Next Phase - Pinball Expo 2024 - Jay Adelson & Ron Richards

Pinball News (Pinball Expo 2024)·video·21m 35s·analyzed·Oct 18, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Scorbit eliminates subscription fees, launches SDK v2, announces Pulp Fiction connectivity.

Summary

Jay Adelson and Ron Richards of Scorbit presented the connected pinball platform's evolution at Pinball Expo 2024, announcing the Scorbitron device is back in stock after supply chain issues, eliminated monthly subscription fees, and revealed new SDK version 2 supporting C, Python, C++, and VBScript. They highlighted post-game analysis features, upcoming Pulp Fiction connectivity via Play Mechanics/CGC, and strategic partnerships with manufacturers while maintaining compatibility with Stern's Insider Connected platform.

Key Claims

  • Scorbitron device is available for purchase again after supply chain resolution

    high confidence · Opening announcement: 'after a very difficult supply chain mess, we are happy to announce that you can buy Scorbitrons again on our website'

  • Scorbit eliminated monthly subscription costs for Scorbitron use

    high confidence · Ron Richards: 'as of a couple of weeks ago, it is now $0 per month to use the Scorbitron. So we've dropped the – previously had a monthly subscription cost'

  • Scorbit has captured game session data from every game played on the platform since 2020

    high confidence · Jay Adelson: 'ever since 2020, we have all the data for every game that's ever been played on Scorebit'

  • Pulp Fiction machines will receive Scorbit connectivity via QR code activation with no external hardware needed

    high confidence · Jay Adelson: 'all of you will have Scorbit connectivity. All you have to do is scan that QR code and put your name on the list, and the folks at Play Mechanics and CGC will send you a kit that will allow you to connect just by plugging an Ethernet cable'

  • Scorbit SDK version 2 will support C, Python, C++, and VBScript with MIT open-source licensing

    high confidence · Jay Adelson: 'we're really excited to be releasing the version two of the SDK in the next couple weeks. This new version supports C for the game developers from the 70s. We also have Python and C++'

  • Thousands of Jersey Jack Pinball machines are currently using Scorbit despite lack of official partnership

    high confidence · Ron Richards: 'we have thousands of live JGP machines currently unlocking achievements, posting scores, challenging each other every single day. They still work. We never blocked it'

  • Scorbit has major announcements planned for early 2025 focused on enhancing play and operator features

    high confidence · Jay Adelson: 'we have a lot of stuff that is coming that we can't talk about as of yet, but we're excited for the next expo to come around where we're going to have a lot more to talk about'

Notable Quotes

  • “The whole premise here is that eventually we want to get to a place where you have this post-game analysis where you can actually improve your games or even look at your favorite tournament superstars and how they're playing the games and really improve your experience.”

    Jay Adelson@ 4:01 — Articulates Scorbit's vision for data-driven player improvement and competitive analysis

  • “everybody wants the same thing. We all want more people to play pinball. We want people to be reengaged and have all of that kind of repeat loyalty and share their experiences with others because in the end when more people come into the game and more generations come into the game we all winning”

    Jay Adelson @ ~13:30 — Emphasizes industry-wide alignment on growing the pinball player base and positions Scorbit as pro-competitive cooperation

  • “we're actually big fans of what they're doing with insider connected it's great to see so many folks engage with it and it's kind of showing what you know what the power of connected pinball can be”

    Jay Adelson@ 11:22 — Publicly endorses Stern's Insider Connected platform despite being a competitor, signaling collaborative industry approach

  • “this is really as we look look towards taking pinball into the 21st century and adding in another layer beyond just flipping and getting scores and starting multi-balls and things like that, the potential is just limitless”

    Jay Adelson@ 11:30 — Frames connected pinball as fundamental evolution of the game beyond mechanical gameplay

  • “We don't want to get in the way of anybody's play experience of what they want to do.”

    Ron Richards@ 20:04 — Articulates Scorbit's compatibility-first philosophy regarding competing platforms like Insider Connected

Entities

ScorbitcompanyJay AdelsonpersonRon RichardspersonScorbitronproductPlay MechanicscompanyPulp FictiongameStern PinballcompanyInsider Connectedproduct

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Scorebit business model shifting from subscription revenue to hardware sales focus, exploring additional monetization approaches

    high · Ron Richards: 'we are now in a spot where we are, you know, mainly focused on hardware sales for revenue, but we are exploring new and interesting stuff that's going to come down the line'

  • ?

    community_signal: Scorebit rolling out achievements platform over next few months across as many games as possible

    high · Jay Adelson: 'We're going to be rolling out achievements over the next few months for as many games as possible. We're really excited about that.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Scorbit maintaining compatibility and support for Jersey Jack Pinball machines despite partnership termination; thousands of JJP machines actively using platform

    high · Ron Richards: 'we have thousands of live JGP machines currently unlocking achievements, posting scores, challenging each other every single day. They still work. We never blocked it.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Scorbit positioning itself as manufacturer-agnostic connectivity platform; publicly endorsing Stern's Insider Connected as complement rather than competitor

    high · Jay Adelson: 'we're actually big fans of what they're doing with insider connected it's great to see so many folks engage with it'

  • ?

    announcement: Pulp Fiction machines receiving native Scorbit connectivity via software update through Play Mechanics/CGC partnership, no external hardware needed

    high · Jay Adelson: 'all of you will have Scorbit connectivity...the folks at Play Mechanics and CGC will send you a kit that will allow you to connect just by plugging an Ethernet cable'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.065

0:00
Jump into that one. Yeah, well, thank you, everybody, for joining us at the dinner hour. I know there's free beer and things like that, so we appreciate you spending your time with us. That's what I heard. That's what Brian said. We were kidding about the free beer. Stay where you are.
0:17
Yeah, so I'm Ron Richards. I'm Jay Adelson. And we are from Scorbit, and the rest of our team is there in the audience. But for those of you who don't know or those of you watching online, Scorbit is a connected pinball platform that's been around since we launched in 2020. So maybe a little longer than that. It doesn't matter. We're not counting.
0:40
So, you know, after a very difficult supply chain mess, we are happy to announce that you can buy Scorbitrons again on our website. And for those of you who are not familiar with the Scorbitron, it's a device that you can install on any machine from the 1970s to today, including your favorite Stern Spike IIs or any machine that you want to install it in. Even if it doesn't work in the machine, you can install it in the machine. Sure, yeah.
1:14
It does actually work on every DMD ever made. It works on all those early, you know, MPU 100, 200s, dash 35, 17, early ballys. It works on, like I said, the spike ones, the white stars, the data east, the 192 by 64 big Baywatch screens, whatever you want. You install it, pulls the data off the machine, sends it up to the cloud where magic things happen. The Oompa Loompas mess with the data. And basically what it does is so with the Scorebit mobile app, then what you can do is you can automatically track your scores. So it will save all your scores to your user account. You can appear on leaderboards within the app as well as you can generate your own custom leaderboards at home or at an arcade. So if you wanted to have all the games that are connected up there with the leaderboards and live scoreboards, that is a capability. We also have a platform for achievements that I feel like last time we were here at Expo, we were talking about our achievements platform. We're going to be rolling out achievements over the next few months for as many games as possible. We're really excited about that. Now, Ron, I have a question for you, sir. Yeah. How much does it cost a month to install your Scorbitron in a game? Well, as of a couple of weeks ago, it is now $0 per month to use the Scorbitron. So we've dropped the – previously had a monthly subscription cost, which now we have all you need to do is buy the device, and then it just works. You get access to all the great features we got for free. Just go to the website. You click Buy Scorbitron. I know it's complicated. You type in the name of the game, and when you get the device, it actually comes with the kit, the powered cables, the data cables needed for it to work. And then you use the app to set up Wi-Fi, and you're all good. So speaking of the app, we have this mobile app that has been around since we launched the company and we were really happy with this last version that came out. Now, every time you complete a game using a connected Scorebit machine, all of the modes and data associated with that game session is uploaded to the Scorebit API, which means that ever since 2020, we have all the data for every game that's ever been played on Scorebit. We didn't really do much with the data other than put a pretty little timeline, but the new version of this actually allows you to run your finger across the timeline. And this includes games that you played on a game three years ago and see what you scored, when you scored it, and how that impacted your score. The whole premise here is that eventually we want to get to a place where you have this post-game analysis where you can actually improve your games or even look at your favorite tournament superstars and how they're playing the games and really improve your experience. Yeah, the conversation after a great game is like, oh, God, how did my score jump from – like oftentimes when you're playing, you don't even know what happened. You hit a shot. You maybe missed the jackpot call out or whatever it might be. Now you can go back and analyze and see, oh, I see at that point I jumped because I had double play field multipliers and I hit a jackpot and then I got a double jackpot and you see how the score jumps. So this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the data that we have that we've captured via the device that we can present in different ways. And we're going to be looking for ways to help players improve their own play, share tips, share, you know, explain basically how well a game went or how poorly, in my case, a game went and understand, oh, I missed that jackpot. And so it's a lot of fun. I just am excited that we got that out there. Yeah.
Jersey Jack Pinball
company
CGCcompany
Lynn's Haunted Cruisegame
Scorebit Visionproduct
Spike IIproduct
  • ?

    announcement: Scorbitron device back in stock after supply chain resolution; monthly subscription eliminated

    high · Ron Richards: 'as of a couple of weeks ago, it is now $0 per month to use the Scorbitron' and 'after a very difficult supply chain mess, we are happy to announce that you can buy Scorbitrons again'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Scorebit app timeline feature now allows scrubbing through historical game sessions from past three years with detailed score progression analysis

    high · Jay Adelson: 'the new version of this actually allows you to run your finger across the timeline. And this includes games that you played on a game three years ago and see what you scored'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Scorebit Vision web-based enhancements for streamers and venue owners planned for early 2025, with ESPN partnership aspirations

    medium · Jay Adelson discussing post-game analysis tools: 'all of that's going to be more web, larger scale formatted early next year. ESPN after that. Hopefully, fingers crossed.'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Scorebit data analytics enabling post-game score breakdown analysis showing how multipliers, jackpots, and mode interactions impacted final scores

    high · Jay Adelson: 'I hit a shot. You maybe missed the jackpot call out...I jumped because I had double play field multipliers and I hit a jackpot and then I got a double jackpot and you see how the score jumps'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Scorebit SDK version 2 released with MIT open-source licensing, supporting C/Python/C++/VBScript for easier manufacturer integration

    high · Jay Adelson: 'we're really excited to be releasing the version two of the SDK in the next couple weeks. This new version supports C...Python and C++' with MIT licensing

    • 5:07
    OK, so those of you who have Pulp Fiction games, I know all of you in this room have a Pulp Fiction game. Anybody have a Pulp Fiction here? anybody besides me anybody play Pulp Fiction okay if you haven played this game which was released late last year It started shipping earlier this year Shipping earlier this year You may have noticed a little Scorbit insignia logo on your device when you got it. And the good news is that what that means is that all of you will have Scorbit connectivity. All you have to do is scan that QR code and put your name on the list, and the folks at Play Mechanics and CGC will send you a kit that will allow you to connect just by plugging an Ethernet cable into the back of your game. You'll then be able to use Scorebit. We are going to be releasing this functionality soon, and we've made great progress on this. It's coming very, very soon. We're working very closely with the folks at Play Mechanics on it. They're also going to enable – this connectivity will not only allow use of the Scorber platform, but also for machine owners to do remote software updates. So no need to pull out the SD card, put in a new card. The software update will come over the Internet, as well as all the other kind of operator features that Play Mechanics and CGC are planning on rolling out. And we're super excited about it. We're literally actively working. Like this week, we're working on the code, and Play Mechanics is working on their side. So we're really looking forward to shipping this. And the great thing about it is that it's all software-based, so no Scorbatron or external devices needed. Once you get that connectivity kit from Play Mechanics and CGC, it's just logging into the Scorba platform, and then it works. Yeah, this is, by the way, an interesting challenge because when you have a game that has no display on it other than seven-segment or alphanumeric 14-segment displays, it's kind of an interesting trick so part of that trick and making that work was code both on the game and off the game and standardizing a lot of the way that we do that code which for the folks like me who are kind of nerdy and want to know about the technical details please find me afterwards and i'm happy to discuss it but we have an sdk and we're really excited to be releasing the version two of the SDK in the next couple weeks. This new version supports C for the game developers from the 70s. We also have Python and C++, and even for those virtual pinball folks out there, a new version of the SDK for VBScript that includes a network client and an ability to pair a single PC to multiple machines in our service so you don't have to repair every single time you activate a VPN so investment of time and effort is going into the VPN community we love you guys we can't wait to show you what what we have coming and what's great about this is that this is further enables the ability for manufacturers you know no matter what the size to come to score bit and say hey we want to add connectivity to our machine how can we do it well hey here's a software development kit, their developers can do it. They can take ownership of the process and integrate the software on the game level as deep as they would like to go with our support and kind of blessing. And it really kind of gives a more, you know, autonomous action to the manufacturers to be able to implement it versus having to do some custom code and that sort of thing. That's right. And it's free. So, so if you're a manufacturer and you want to do a whole lot of stuff yourself and you can roll that out and connect our API directly with direct calls and we can expose all that to you. If you, on the other hand, want a more sort of complete thing, you want the code to handle all of your updates and all the other components of your connectivity element of your product, you can do that too. And it's all pre-baked examples. It's easy to use and even homebrew pins have been using this product. If you do get a chance, check out Lynn's Haunted Cruise Game, for example, that integrates this and will display a dynamic QR code on the screen for you to scan in and automatically claim your slot.
    9:47
    So, you know, our friends at Stern who are here in the audience today may remember this slide from last year where we talked about the number of games that Stern has connectivity on and we have connectivity on. Obviously, we have a little bit of an edge because we work on every game across all manufacturers for all that time. And, you know, this was kind of a fun thing to describe, but we wanted to add to this discussion today. Just to keep track of what's been going on. How much Jersey Jack is doing in comparison.
    10:22
    So I just want to point out that, as I said the last time we were up talking, everybody wants the same thing. We all want more people to play pinball. We want people to be reengaged and have all of that kind of repeat loyalty and share their experiences with others because in the end when more people come into the game and more generations come into the game we all winning And so Scorebit's plan, as we mentioned, we're no longer charging a subscription for connecting your machines. We don't charge manufacturers for access to the API. Our goal in life is to get those players really excited, which means as much connectivity as possible. So we remain committed to helping any manufacturer, including our friends to getting online and doing whatever is necessary to get as many people playing this game yeah and seeing and and just and not because folks from stern are here but just to you know like we we're actually big fans of what they're doing with insider connected it's great to see so many folks engage with it and it's kind of showing what you know what the power of connected pinball can be and this is really as we look look towards taking pinball into the 21st century and adding in another layer beyond just flipping and getting scores and starting multi-balls and things like that, the potential is just limitless. So timing-wise for us, we're at a very interesting point in our company's kind of position because we have a lot of stuff that is coming that we can't talk about as of yet, but we're excited for the next expo to come around where we're going to have a lot more to talk about, specifically around things for enhancing play and working with venue owners and operators at arcades and things like that, because we see there's an immense, immense opportunity to just level up the play for everybody in the industry. And connected is the way to go. So for sure. Yeah. So watch this space. I think there's going to be a lot of fun announcements coming into the beginning of next year. And and honestly, for those who are nerdy like me in the audience some real cool technical innovations that are coming I think you'll be really excited about so with that show any questions yes yes so you're showing a game session timeline on the phone but suppose someone is doing a stream of a game and they want to go back afterwards and stream a post-game analysis, which you guys are very into, how is that going to be involved? Well, there's a couple things to point out. So our current product that we didn't really discuss called Scorebit Vision, which shows live games, includes a set of templates that allow streamers to embed our technology in an OBS environment, for example. During a game session, you do see the modes that someone has unlocked in that visualization. And we have a number of customers and users and venues that have integrated that into their own visualizations. So for example, if you wanted to show how many walkers you killed in a particular game or when you're in multiball yeah now the the format of this of the phone is not ideal for for a stream and so we've had a lot of users ask us for additional enhancements for the scorebit vision product so you'll you should expect to see some of those both from the perspective of a streamer but also from the perspective of a venue owner who wants to highlight certain types of achievements or things that have happened during the course of a game. And so all of that's going to be more web, larger scale formatted early next year.
    14:30
    ESPN after that. Hopefully, fingers crossed. When I said that this was scratching just the tip of the iceberg, that's kind of what, you know, we've got this data and now how can we present it and build tools that make it easy for people to access it and use it. And determine if they're cheating. Yes. Yeah. That's one of the goals. Questions? How many people here? Oh, we have one. Yep.
    14:57
    I noticed the list of vendors you had that you support did not list JJP. Is that, do you support JJP? Well, we don't officially support JJP. We previously had a relationship with them that they chose to end, unfortunately. But that said, if you have a game with JGP code on it, when the scoreboard software is on there, if you reach out to us, we can help you connect it and it will still work. Yeah, actually, we have thousands of live JGP machines currently unlocking achievements, posting scores, challenging each other every single day. They still work. We never blocked it. Probably should have blocked it. But we never blocked it. It's something that all you have to do is reach out to us and we can help you with it. Actually, you don't really have to reach out to us if you have that software revision. But if you accidentally upgraded, although some of the upgrades are pretty cool. But if you did upgrade and you need help connecting your newer machine, let me know. Just reach out to support at scorebit And we still like JJP The avatar looks awesome door is open to them if they ever want to come back on the platform Yes We appreciate all the data
    16:19
    I noticed your SDK new version is MIT licensed, so it's open source. That is correct. Everything about our SDK is open. And I should point out that it's not just SCORBIT that's contributed to this SDK. We have a number of manufacturer partners who have also contributed to it, and they will be credited and have agreed to allowing it to be licensed with the MIT license. One of the things that we learned in the course of developing the SDK is that there are some, particularly around the VPNs and the use of VBScript and different kinds of implementations, that require a little bit more network love on our part because the environments do not support as much advanced networking. In those cases, we're actually providing a binary, which we'll also provide an open source version of. So if you wanted to compile your own version of our client, you could. But we're providing that binary because so many people and so many platforms out there really do need that additional help, if that makes sense.
    17:43
    I'm curious also about Scorbit as a company. So if you're not trying to get revenue off the software side, it must be hardware then, right? It does seem like we're in like that old Saturday Night Live skit about how does the company make money volume. Yeah. We make change. That's all we do. We do it really well. It's actually funny because back – I used to – in New York City, in the New York City tech scene, there used to be a meetup, NYC tech meetup back in like 2006, 2007. and they would have startups come and present, and they eventually had to ban the question, what's your business model? Because everybody would yell and ask it. And I always think about that when we're doing these sort of things. But we're currently, we looked at the Scorbitron device sales and that monthly subscription, and we're looking at the different ways we can tweak our business. And we looked at it and we said, oh, let's just sell the devices, get it in people's machines, make it, you know, kind of minimize the friction to do that. Admittedly, though, we are now in a spot where we are, you know, mainly focused on hardware sales for revenue, but we are exploring new and interesting stuff that's going to come down the line. So that's he says that so much better than me. So we're just going to go with that. And one last quick question. So the Corbitron, it's it'll work with Spike 2, newer Stern games. It does work with Spike 2. And to be completely transparent on that, one of the things that we get asked a lot is does it impact Stern Insider Connected in any way? Absolutely not. So if you want to use Insider Connected so that you're on the Stern leaderboards and that you get the achievements and all that, that's still absolutely compatible with our Scorbitron in there as well. A good example of a use case is that we've got several customers who have lots of pinball machines in their home arcade in their basement or whatever, and they want to have the leaderboards for all of their machines. So they might have a Twilight Zone and a Foo Fighters, and they want to have those leaderboards visible. Scorbit enables them to do that, but they still want to use Insider Connected for the achievements and things like that. I'm just curious. Does anybody here have a Twilight Zone and a Foo Fighters? I just think that would be a really interesting – But, yeah, but basically, you know, they coexist side by side, and that's the whole purpose. We don't want to get in the way of anybody's play experience of what they want to do. Right. Yeah, and when you do get the Scorbitron for that purpose, one of the nice things about it is that, you know, the device is a very low-power device. It's not like adding pin stadium color DMDs, like tons of things. It's very light on your Spike 2. I'm saying this mostly because Stern is in the room.
    20:33
    It's very nice to the game. But in any case, we absolutely do support that and the Spike 1s and the White Stars and the Sams and the Data Easts and everything else. Oh, and if you do have a DMD game with a Scorbitron in it, and you use this app to check into the game and you tap the player one slot or whatever, it actually changes the screen of the DMD to say player one is, you know, J, welcome, whatever. and as we roll out DMD achievements you will see those achievements appear on the DMD screen as well I love it alright well if there's no more questions thanks well thanks everybody for coming really appreciate it I'm so excited for my playing cards