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Robin Roth joins American Pinball; Cirqus Voltaire remake with Electric Playground topper coming 2026.
Robin Roth and Nick joined American Pinball team this month (late 2025) following partnership announcement at TPF
high confidence · Robin Roth directly states 'Nick and I were joining the team at American Pinball' and 'that actually started this month'
American Pinball is currently producing Houdini, Galactic Tank Force, and Hot Wheels with improving momentum
high confidence · Robin: 'we're selling building Houdinis, we're building lots of Tank Force, we're building new Hot Wheels'
Cirqus Voltaire remake will launch in 2026 with Electric Playground topper included on all versions
high confidence · Robin: 'it will will be available for all versions of the game' and 'coming this year, for sure' (referring to 2026 given context)
Brian Vincent acquired American Pinball from Aimtron after viewing Cirqus Voltaire topper at Expo last year
high confidence · Robin: 'Brian was one of the people that saw it who ultimately find out later was acquiring American Pinball from Aimtron'
Hot Wheels 'surprisingly sold a lot of units' despite perception issues
medium confidence · Robin confirms Hot Wheels sales were strong, though specifics not disclosed per private conversation request
Electric Playground is relocating to a new facility in a couple months with expanded team leadership
high confidence · Robin: 'moving into a new facility in a couple months' with Alec as creative director, Dustin Howell as operations manager, John Miller as production manager
Barrels of Fun showed Big Trouble in Little China at TPF and Kyle Smith joined the company in a new role
high confidence · Davey: 'I got a chance to congratulate our buddy Kyle Smith on his new role at Barrels of Fun' and mentions Big Trouble in Little China display
Hexa Games experienced a shipping mishap preventing Three Musketeers from showing at TPF
high confidence · Davey: 'Hexa had a a shipping mishap, so they weren't able to show their their Three Musketeers game'
“So different than maybe what has been said on some podcast, we're not building that game with them necessarily, but we are building a game with them. It was a license that he had previously acquired and is working on.”
Robin Roth@ 8:57 — Clarifies American Pinball partnership scope—Nick working on a licensed title, not a previously rumored whitewood
“I was surprised with how robust the team, you know, already was. I think a lot of people make up this story that there was just like one guy left and nothing was going on, and that was pretty far from the case.”
Robin Roth@ 10:33 — Contradicts community narrative about American Pinball's post-acquisition state; indicates stable operational foundation
“And as I talked with Nick about it, the opportunity is there to to be a part of growing something really special...even the opportunity to work with Melvin. I mean, what Melvin brings to the table with what he did with Alice, and what he wants to bring a lot of the things that makes Alice amazing to American Pinball titles.”
Robin Roth@ 12:42 — Confirms Melvin's involvement with American Pinball and references Alice experience as template for quality improvement
“Well, that was like that was basically like my hissy fit for being excluded, wasn't it? Like, you know, I was like, well, if I can't be involved, I'm just going to do four product releases in a week.”
Davey (host)@ 20:43 — Explains motivation for high-volume product launch strategy during TPF absence; indicates brand-building intent
“by the by the fourth day I just wanted to like [laughter] kill myself. Yeah. It was It was impressive...when you do four in a week and then everybody's like, when's it coming out? And you're like, 2 months.”
Dave Link — Reveals operational strain of rapid-launch strategy and manufacturing timeline reality
business_signal: Robin Roth and Nick join American Pinball as designer/strategist and game developer, expanding leadership capacity under Brian Vincent's new ownership
high · Robin: 'Nick and I were joining the team at American Pinball' and 'that actually started this month' (late 2025); part of formal announcement at TPF
machine_intel: Circus Voltaire remake by American Pinball with Electric Playground topper; confirmed 2026 launch
high · Robin: 'American is doing Circus Voltaire later on this year' and 'coming this year, for sure'; topper will ship with all versions
product_launch: Electric Playground releasing glow rails (illuminated side rails) starting with Harry Potter, spiritual successor to Alice side rails; controlled by lolly board
high · Davey demonstrates product: 'lit side rails. We're starting out with Harry Potter'; collaboration with Brad Albright; final hurdles with distribution/boxing
sentiment_shift: American Pinball brand recovery underway; community perception shifting from crisis to stability following leadership change
high · Robin: 'now that people know the games are going to be supported, that momentum is building'; 'I felt like that they had the foundation to build a great company'
event_signal: TPF 2026 featured strong new releases (Yukon Yeti with long lines, Beetlejuice, Winchester Mystery House variants) but also absences (Hexa's Three Musketeers shipping mishap)
high · Davey attended TPF; Turner's Yukon Yeti had sustained long lines; two Beetlejuice units; Hexa experienced shipping problems
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Turner Games released Yukon Yeti at TPF with extremely long lines and two machines on the floor
high confidence · Davey: 'Turner with their uh uh Yukon Yeti, which the lines were extremely long the entire time. They had two of those'
American Pinball's Barbecue flipper issues were due to cheap coil selection, fixable by upgrading components
medium confidence · Robin discussing coil options: 'the public opinion on it is they cheaped out on this the coil they selected' and 'if you flip out the the coil' the game plays well
“The topper in the exact form that it'll be available with American will also be available um to for classic machine owners. So it's like anybody that has a machine today that has signed up for our wait list, that topper will still be available to you.”
Robin Roth@ 7:59 — Confirms Electric Playground's backward compatibility approach for existing Circus Voltaire owners
“There's been a number of collaboration opportunities that have come out as a result of sort of, you know, I guess this week. Um and you know, that's really exciting and obviously also adds to the workload.”
Dave Link@ 24:25 — Indicates high-volume launch strategy attracted manufacturer interest and collaboration proposals
community_signal: Electric Playground's high-volume release week (four mods in one week) generated industry collaboration opportunities beyond direct sales
medium · Davey: 'There's been a number of collaboration opportunities that have come out as a result of sort of, you know, I guess this week'
market_signal: Electric Playground pursuing brand expansion beyond mods into game-agnostic products (glow rails for multiple machines) and manufacturer partnerships
high · Robin: 'We want to do more in pinball. We're not building mods because that's the only thing we want to do in pinball'; glow rails work across multiple titles
operational_signal: Electric Playground scaling operations with new facility, expanded leadership team, and two distribution centers (UK, France) for glow rails product
high · Robin: 'moving into a new facility in a couple months'; Davey: 'two different distribution centers, so one in France and and one here in the UK'
product_concern: Galactic Tank Force had power supply batch failures and code bugs, now being addressed under new American Pinball leadership
high · Robin: 'They had some a really bad batch of power supplies. There was some code that was doing some things that made it think they were mechanical problems'
personnel_signal: Electric Playground promoting internal team members to key roles (Alec as creative director, Dustin Howell as operations manager, John Miller as production manager)
high · Robin: 'we've got a bunch of team members stepping up to help us out. Alec is going to be taking on a role as creative director'
design_philosophy: Electric Playground and Robin Roth pursuing closer manufacturer relationships to make games more mod-friendly; pushing for design accommodations like easy power routing
high · Davey: 'whether that's uh you know, even if it's just like having powering options easily available in the game'
competitive_signal: Turner Games establishing competitive position with Yukon Yeti described as their best game to date; Barrels of Fun maintaining Big Trouble in Little China momentum
high · Davey: 'Yukon Yeti, which the lines were extremely long the entire time'; 'they keep raising the bar, which is really cool'; Kyle Smith joining Barrels in new role