All Grown up

Pinball News Website·article·analyzed·Jun 7, 2006

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.017

TL;DR

Zizzle launches affordable $300 home pinball games with John Popadiuk Jr.

Summary

Zizzle, a toy company founded by Furby inventor Roger Shiffman, is launching two home pinball machines—Marvel Heroes & Villains and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest—designed by John Popadiuk Jr. These are three-quarter-size, mains-powered games with solenoids, LED playfield lighting, ramps, and LCD displays, positioned as affordable introductions to real pinball at a $300 suggested retail price.

Key Claims

Zizzle games are 75% the size of commercial pinball machines with full-size flippers, solenoids, and LED-lit playfields
high confidence · John Popadiuk Jr. quote describing manufacturing specs
Games are mains-powered, allowing solenoids and playfield illumination without battery constraints
high confidence · Article states 'mains-powered' enables solenoid use and LED playfield lighting
John Popadiuk Jr. joined the project in summer 2005 after Marc Rosenberg, Chris Nicollela, and Patty Jackson initiated it
high confidence · Direct quote: 'While Zizzle's Marc Rosenberg, Chris Nicollela and Patty Jackson kickstarted the project, John Popadiuk, Jr. joined last summer'
Games are designed in Chicago and manufactured in China at 'what I believe to be the world's largest pinball factory'
medium confidence · John Popadiuk Jr. quote about manufacturing location and scale
Suggested retail price is $300 per game in the US
high confidence · Article explicitly states: 'the suggested retail price of these games in the US is $300'

Notable Quotes

“Everyone in the office contributed something to make the games play better or look cooler. A philosophy that was used at Williams. A very similar pinball design process was used, from original designs beginning as napkin sketches, foam models, prototypes, to full engineering being completed in 3d cad utilizing rapid prototyping processes to meet tight deadlines and manufacturing tolerances.”
John Popadiuk Jr. — Reveals design methodology borrowed from Williams pinball tradition, emphasizing collaborative approach and rapid prototyping for manufacturing efficiency
“Currently in China, what I believe to be the world's largest pinball factory is being tooled up to manufacture the first of 2 titles in the months ahead.”
John Popadiuk Jr. — Indicates manufacturing scale and timeline, positioning Zizzle's factory as potentially record-setting for pinball production capacity
“There is even a backlit orange lcd display that will read 'tilt' if you nudge too much!”
John Popadiuk Jr. — Demonstrates attention to authentic pinball mechanics and user feedback, including traditional tilt functionality

Entities

ZizzlecompanyRoger ShiffmanpersonJohn Popadiuk Jr.personMarvel Heroes & VillainsgamePirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's ChestgameMarc RosenbergpersonChris NicollelapersonPatty JacksonpersonWilliamscompany

Signals

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design_philosophy: Zizzle adopting Williams pinball design methodology including napkin sketches, foam models, prototypes, and 3D CAD with rapid prototyping
high · John Popadiuk Jr. quote: 'A very similar pinball design process was used, from original designs beginning as napkin sketches, foam models, prototypes, to full engineering being completed in 3d cad'
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licensing_signal: Zizzle leveraging existing Disney (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Marvel entertainment licenses to differentiate home pinball games
high · Two games explicitly based on licensed IP: Marvel Heroes & Villains and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
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market_signal: Zizzle positioning $300 retail price point as 'affordable' introduction to real pinball, targeting gap between toy games and commercial machines
high · Article emphasizes 'bring the feel of arcade pinball to the home at an affordable price' and reveals $300 price tag
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personnel_signal: John Popadiuk Jr. hired by Zizzle in summer 2005 as lead pinball designer after company founders initiated project
high · Direct attribution: 'John Popadiuk, Jr. joined last summer and development of the game began'
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announcement: Official announcement of Zizzle's two home pinball machines: Marvel Heroes & Villains and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, priced at $300 retail
high · Article dated June 7, 2006 with detailed specifications, design credits, and retail pricing

Topics

Home pinball market expansionprimaryAffordable pinball entry pointprimaryLicensed IP in pinball (Marvel, Disney)primaryManufacturing and productionsecondaryGame design methodologysecondaryThree-quarter-size home machinessecondaryToy-to-serious-pinball transitionsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Article presents Zizzle's home pinball machines as a genuinely innovative product addressing market gap between toy games and full commercial machines. Tone is enthusiastic about design quality, manufacturing scale, and $300 price point positioning. No criticism or skepticism expressed.

Transcript

raw_text · $0.000

Story dated June 7, 2006 . There are loads of toy pinball games on the market and - let's face it - most of them are pretty much rubbish as any kind of introduction to the real deal. But one company plans to use its licences and market presence to make a wholly different kind of pinball. One even the seasoned pinball player might fancy their chances playing. Zizzle are a company founded by Roger Shiffman - the inventor of the Furby - and they are known for their toy figures and handheld electronic LCD games (including a pinball). They hold licences for Marvel heroes and for Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean and make games and character models for both. But their latest project is something much closer to the type of game we're used to playing and ties in with one of Roger's interests - Pinball. By utilising the Disney and Marvel brands, and combining them with the pinball design skills of John Popadiuk, Jr., they have created two home pinball machines intended to bring the feel of arcade pinball to the home at an affordable price. The first is Marvel Heroes & Villains and is based on the eternal battle between good and evil. It features classic Marvel characters Hulk, Spiderman, Wolverine, Thing and Storm fighting it out against Green Goblin, Mystique, Dr Doom, Magneto and Venom. Marvel backglass As you can see from the pictures, this is like no ordinary toy game. For a start it has a backbox with a backglass and a wooden cabinet with artwork on the sides. In fact, this is a three-quarters size game with metal legs, an LCD display and even a tilt mechanism. But perhaps most importantly from the gameplay point of view, it is mains-powered. Having access to a decent power supply means you're not limited to the type of in-game effects and features which don't drain the batteries too quickly. And that means the use of solenoids and playfield illumination. The flippers, kickers and bumpers all use solenoids to produce their movement and the playfield is lit by LEDs as is the LCD display and the playfield inserts. In fact LEDs are used instead of mechanical switches to further improve the reliability of the game. Populated playfield Playfield artwork The game has ramps, posts, a wireform, standup targets and even a spinner, so it's definitely got the makings of a machine with lasting interest for the kids. They can even play against their friends as the game can have one or two players. Zizzle haven't been slacking in the electronics department either as the game has 60 seconds of sampled music, sound effects and speech played through the backbox speakers to accompany the game play while the backlit alpha-numeric LCD display keeps track of the score, high score and gives extra information to the player. The other game, and the first to be released is Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest, based on the forthcoming Disney movie. Pirates Of The Caribbean backglass The playfield layout is identical to the Marvel game but the artwork and sound packages are totally different as you'd expect. Pirates Of The Caribbean playfield While Zizzle's Marc Rosenberg, Chris Nicollela and Patty Jackson kickstarted the project, John Popadiuk, Jr. joined last summer and development of the game began. John told Pinball News about the process. "Everyone in the office contributed something to make the games play better or look cooler. A philosophy that was used at Williams. A very similar pinball design process was used, from original designs beginning as David Hankin sketches, foam models, prototypes, to full engineering being completed in 3d cad utilizing rapid prototyping processes to meet tight deadlines and manufacturing tolerances." The game was completely designed in Chicago but it is being manufactured in China. "Currently in China, what I believe to be the world's largest pinball factory is being tooled up to manufacture the first of 2 titles in the months ahead. The games have a long feature list built within wood cabinets supported by steel legs. The games are 75% size of a real commercial machine. The chrome steel pinball zips across wood playfields that are lit by leds and have full size flippers, slingshots, mini pop bumpers mounted within a gorgeous playfield artwork. Multi level play is possible with 2 ramps, spinner and a fast wire catwalk. Each game has a unique art, sound and programming package with real pinball toys! There is even a backlit orange lcd display that will read "tilt" if you nudge too much!" But we've kept the biggest surprise for last. We mentioned at the top of this article about Zizzle's intention to "bring the feel of arcade pinball to the home at an affordable price" but what exactly is that price? Well, the suggested retail price of these games in the US is $300. You will soon be able to find out more about owning these games at the Zizzle website and Pinball News will be reporting more about them and their creator in future articles. Back to the news index Back to the front page