SDTM Episode 38: The Chicago Pinball Expo 2017 Experience

Straight Down the Middle·video·29m 21s·analyzed·Oct 16, 2017

Analysis

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TL;DR

SDTM live expo coverage: Pirates standout, Houdini refined, TNA impressions, industry connections.

Summary

Zach and Greg from Straight Down the Middle provide live coverage from the 2017 Chicago Pinball Expo, discussing major reveals including Jersey Jack Pinball's Pirates of the Caribbean (praised as the show's hit with innovative rocking ship and triple-spinning disc mechanics), American Pinball's Houdini (highlighted for responsive design improvements and competitive $6,995 pricing), and Spooky Pinball's Total Nuclear Annihilation. The hosts recount party experiences, vendor interactions, and a friendly competition with Buffalo Pinball, emphasizing community engagement and industry relationships.

Key Claims

Pirates of the Caribbean features three independently-motorized spinning discs that can rotate in opposite directions and stop on a dime
high confidence · Direct quote from Eric Meunier (designer) to hosts about the triple-disc mechanic and independent motor control
Pirates of the Caribbean will be priced at $8,500 (Standard), $9,500 (LE), and $12,500 (Collector's Edition)
high confidence · Zach states pricing directly during the show discussion
American Pinball Houdini has a single-model price point of $6,995 and includes all cosmetic upgrades standard
high confidence · Zach cites direct statements from American Pinball representatives at the seminar
Jersey Jack Pinball's goal is to release Pirates of the Caribbean in January 2018
medium confidence · Zach reports Joe Balls said the goal is January release
Christopher Franchi had approximately two weeks to complete Batman 66 artwork for Stern
high confidence · Franchi discussed this timeline in his seminar at the expo
Pirates of the Caribbean has five subway system entrances on the playfield
high confidence · Eric Meunier told the hosts about this feature during gameplay discussion
Eric Meunier's personal record on the orbital ramp (third flipper) is 1,111 consecutive shots
high confidence · Direct statement from designer to hosts
American Pinball's next game after Houdini will be unlicensed IP
medium confidence · Joe Balls stated at the expo that American Pinball prefers going unlicensed

Notable Quotes

“I dare you guys not to have fun on that I swear to God”
Zach Minney @ early section — Enthusiastic endorsement of Pirates of the Caribbean gameplay experience
“The reveal sent industry standards from here on”
Greg Bone @ post-reveal discussion — Praise for Buffalo Pinball and Jersey Jack's reveal execution format
“I think that is a new precedent to unveil games”
Zach Minney @ reveal discussion — Recognition of the format combining conference, gameplay, and streaming as a model
“I'm such a selfish bastard I don't want anybody behind me playing I want to play this thing for hours”
Zach Minney @ TNA discussion — Emotional reaction indicating how engaging Total Nuclear Annihilation is
“When you give him two weeks to do that watch what's about to happen”
Greg Bone @ Franchi discussion — Implies Franchi's work quality will improve with more time; commentary on rapid turnaround constraints
“It's like what that Pacific Rim where the guys are synced into those freakin robots”
Zach Minney @ Buffalo Pinball battle description — Metaphor describing Buffalo Pinball's synchronized split-flipper performance
“We are knocking on the door of production these things are about to come out”
American Pinball representative (likely Joe Balls) @ Houdini discussion — Production timeline update indicating imminent Houdini shipments
“This party was for pinball fans by pinball fans”
Zach Minney @ Spooky party discussion — Praise for community-focused event organization by Spooky Pinball and Scott Denise

Entities

Zach MinneypersonGreg Boneperson Eric Meunierperson Christopher Franchiperson Scott Deniseperson Steve RitchiepersonJoe Ballsperson

Signals

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community_signal: Spooky Pinball and Scott Denise hosting high-quality community party focused on pinball fans with food, drinks, and multiple playable machines
high · Hosts describe party atmosphere, attendance, and emphasis on fan-focused event production
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competitive_signal: American Pinball positioning Houdini at $6,995 with all upgrades standard, framed as better value than Jersey Jack and Stern pricing
high · Zach notes pricing in context of JJP and Stern increases, hosts and spouses comment on value proposition
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event_signal: Buffalo Pinball streamed Jersey Jack Pirates reveal on Twitch and competed against SDTM in official pinball battle format
high · Hosts discuss streaming of reveal, describe battle format with three games (straight-up, split flipper, relay), mention Buffalo Pinball's synchronized performance
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industry_signal: Flipping Out Pinball distributor securing allocation and pre-orders for Pirates of the Caribbean and Houdini from multiple manufacturers
medium · Hosts note that Larry at Flipping Out sold all escalera units and already taking extra orders for new games
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market_signal: Pin Graphics and Pin Stadium Lights established as aftermarket accessory vendors with active sponsorship presence at major expos
medium · Vendors mentioned as show sponsors and described as having product demonstrations
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Transcript

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0:05

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1:01

you had a plane wave at Lake hey guys what's going down this is Zach ain't great from straight down the middle of pinball show we are here if you can't hear us we're here at the 2017 Chicago Expo I'm doing the no no I get gum and Pirates of the Caribbean is a little out it's rocking right now and it's amazing we're gonna talk about that we're gonna talk about a lot of things on this episode but first before we want to do all of that we want to thank all of you guys we've been sending out some videos some flyby videos you guys here at the expo have been fantastic helping the South Scott didn't easy just walking by and waving but you guys have been awesome the support is overwhelming we love you guys we love doing these videos for you and guess what they're gonna keep coming like a bad rash Greg they're going to keep on coming right brother oxygen how'd you manually I've never been and I didn't know what to expect that I didn't know what to do but I have absolutely loved that this is your first Expo the first X whoo besides whooping but it's more Chicago I love it man like it's more than what I expected yeah yeah all right so I got in on Thursday right Thursday morning like a big nerd I was here beating down the door trying to find Maggie a sack saying let me in you've got here Friday morning straight out the truck man I love like Greg straight out of the truck him and his wife Chelsea they met me at the door oh damn why are you running in there slow yeah I gave him his badge and he took off the ground running what time do we end last night partying it to to avoid who'd we party with or we think we're not gonna say yeah we can say we but I will say that I give Steve Ritchie a hard time on his games he's awesome to hang out with school Sam fell in love that's right it's Mike Gomez it's your job I'm so go man I still wanna get my picture really but he was so busy I'm gonna bother I got you so let's get into a guys you guys want to hear about Chicago Expo and all the goodies that it has to offer all right we've gotta start with Jersey Jack's reveal of Pirates of the Caribbean right so great first impressions I went to I was fortunate enough I got I got to get a huge huge shout out to blade fury on inside brother I freaking love you so much for letting me he drew my name out of a hat and I got to go to the collector's edition the free reveal at 5 o'clock he unveiled this thing Eric Minear unveils this thing I talked to Eric a long time about this machine Greg what do you think about fire I love things like when I was when I first saw the photos they were leaked just briefly early ok on the internet but I was like ok looks good yeah like they were grainy they were bad [ __ ] yes but in person the playfield pops it builds very Jersey Jack yeah there's a it's like a waz hobbit baby yeah almost oh yes hobbit babe the was hoppin baby see I think it's more like a dialed-in hobbit baby a donald a hobbit maybe because we're deacon out sorry got a dialed in because it should shoot like dial shoot don't shoot like that is very true and then it's got the theme and so don't guess Ronnie doesn't shoot anything like The Hobbit but just to feel that lil the mold of good parts of the hood yeah is what it is story yes imported I said man I said machines just to get that one I was I love multiple machines but it is just it's really pretty and I dare you guys not to have fun on that I swear to God cuz I didn't want to come back to war I just like I want to learn I learned this machine rig without a beer on five days is cranky I take five beer without Greg up the fire to the Caribbean these smiles again my love as I sell haha Kevin Buffalo I said ma'am I said you know how you know it's a good game esta cos when you guys were streaming that I said you had legitimate this like boyhood like like smiles on those days is this and I said that's how you know that it's good alright so let's get into Jersey check so I went to the five o'clock see reveal it was really nice a lot of appreciation went to the owners of the see machines there was food there was drinks everybody was approachable Jack talked about the machines the CEO everybody was there it's great yes then they revealed it at 8:30 and the reveal you told me the reveal sent industry standards from here on I think so Buffalo pinball did such a fricative nominal job revealing that because they showed them talking about they showed the conference but then they went straight into gameplay they had their rig set up everything was perfect and I do I think that is a new precedent to unveil games because smooth another they can make it the Chicago man people want to know that trust see they're curious and they showed people that like a meeting and then they streamed it for an hours ago I guess hands off yeah they a big big hand up walls to to Buffalo pinball for Darren and Jersey Jack for allowing them to come do that for him I think they they all nailed it as a team yes so what here's my favorite part about this and it has nothing to do with the game the designer all right yeah Eric Eric I'm just gonna call him Eric Eric on what bloody last name to hit man so Eric comes in with this poised and with this calmness with this excitement and he delivers this reveal this game yes he's a 29 year old man Yeah right this could get over his head very very easily but he's done this his whole life great he knows exactly what he's doing well that's one of the greatest things like I enjoyed listening his speech more than advice because of his background his background and routing of games you like it brother Baylin thing yeah and everything and then him going into the engineering and he was gonna work on medical prosthesis yeah and everything else and then you end up we're gonna laws make us some badass stuff yeah yeah so it's really cool my favorite part so far the expose just been hanging out with there he has been available every dance all night down the hall thought there's five machines right now pirates he's sitting he'll tell you about the rules he'll tell you about all the gadgets and he's told me three times and there's so much [ __ ] in this stuff break I still don't know really what but it's fun to shoot it is my pursuit right like so let's what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pull up a picture of and we're gonna kind of go through what we love about this game right so the cabinet arts beautiful it's real buttery looking it looks like that went through it's probably just images from Disney but it looks like somebody hated crafts at all yes and the colors are very reminiscent of The Hobbit like that brightness the Reds the greens like everything is just like it's saturated it is very little blood contrast saturation all right so the big things on this Dam I'm gonna name you the big things will be total Greg and I bet your bellies machines coming out and being barren or not having toys we're not gonna have to worry about it on this I've played this thing probably 20 times now yes and I'm still finding new stuff so let's take a look at it Greg the first thing that I see is that damn ship it's my favorite part the whole game quit [ __ ] there's bleach in it there's two ships in this game so the ship that rocks there's a ship that rocks back and forth that is very much feels like an engineering masterpiece now it feels like you're on the sea and I was like man that's gonna kind of get old I'm never a big fan of upper playfields I love that upper playfield is fantastic the rocking ship is it's just so up there there's an upper play field with some flippers you're trying to hit a little loop in there you qualify that enough and then there's like this door trap door you get it into that and you've got a cannonball you shoot the Cannonball across the play field to the other ship you can hit the ship or you can sink the ship by timing it just right to hit it into the which is support you would think that toy would be enough for this day yes no it's not another one you've got a left ramp that when you hit it full speed it wraps around and comes back to your left whipper but there's also a converter on their victims a bird it into like the white water goes down it was a long night all right so that's not enough the spinning disk in the middle it spinning discs yeah because it's not a spinning disc like twister or or any whirlwind know whirlwind no it has three spinning discs yeah within each other mini jet can spin in opposite directions because they're all on independent motors they're fully programmed Eric said that they can stop on a dime they can go slow yeah sometimes the centre would spend it slower than one of the outer rings or the further outer ring has been it's slower than that except one of their two enters and then opposite direction so your ball looks like oh it's gonna throw it over here but then in other distress it almost looks like a magnet and it's not going on all the time no there are two magnets in the game they're in the back to the very different balls right so what's cool about the spinner is on each of the each of the circles rings yeah there's words on hand and what happens in the game as it's coated more they'll walk on to three different things and as you read down through it there's all kinds of rewards you can get you can steal balls from opponents you can do all kinds of stuff that's really cool as well you know I love subways Eric told me there's five entrances to the subway system on that five five Greg is that we're behind that one yeah yeah I think that's called the defy you the Bayou so there's a third flipper on this game on the main play field that does this awesome orbital Eric the designer told me his record is 1111 shot you guys try to beat that that's a good challenge for you but they're under that flipper there's a hole to the bayou then there's a fiscal ball log we love that donators into its run into trunk we've got hidden shots everywhere there's surprises you don't know where the ball is coming it's not as complicated but it's sort of reminiscent of Twilight Zone in silence fast I like just because of all the little hidden things and shots everywhere that yeah and it feels good it's not just oh it's cran my ball got lost somewhere yeah it is I like that I like that a lot all right we could go on and on we're gonna spin up spinning spinning bumpers on LED all right so the collector's edition are the standard we'll start of a standard that's gonna start at what 85

15:52

another hint of maybe not the show but the satellite show that was going on there was a hell of a party going on a pinball light my friend did you go to it no oh I stayed here and winds are our friend Christopher Franchi oh that's our boy I got to see him speak at the meeting no no we're gonna talk about France here in a minute let's talk about pinball lifer soap in my life I went to it I had a little bit a lot of time excited to get back who knew little Frenchy loved as well but this thing was like a rave it was like an old eighties grunge rave I loved it I walked in it was all doors AK felt dirty crime it left well no I actually liked that I felt at home it was good well I didn't feel at home let's go let's not joke here didn't feel at home but it was nice I love a sweaty rave but I had the subway system so I walked in they have they're handing out rubber duckies for God I don't know some give away the hand off tickets free drinks great they're not just giving away from here they're giving away Mick Street it was all dark Dan a spin and playboy machine that has the pinball Olympics they had total let's see if I can do this everybody's called me on a nuclear nuclear total nuclear annihilation at 2/3 of them with the white woods and the production models there was disco lights going off everywhere I had a blast I had a blast and I played a teen a for the first time it's fun the heart game you suck at it you guys it was so sad I played out one of our fans came up at the end a seven-year-old boy I'm going to show you some video right now of it he kicked our ass and not only did he kick our ass but my whole time for maybe 10 seconds maybe and infer I was texting Scott Denise he afterward I said dude you got a hell of a gay marriage it's a beauty but it kind of brought the evil out of me it really did it it made me angry like walking dead and I really just wanted to play more and more of it I told my wife I was like I'm such a selfish bastard I don't want anybody behind me playing I want to play this thing for hours so it was a great showing I really want to play more and more and more of total nuclear annihilation you had a good showing he thought it was funny too Scott was photobombing me in the video but I was getting frustrated on so and what was super cool was that you thought that you were only gonna get to play it there but later that I yeah my stuff allowed down a little bit brought it in on it and there's been a lot of us yeah a long line you guys were geeking out this is so much this is what freaking pinball is all about I didn't stop yes oh my god so again I cannot say enough it's a pit ball live Terry if in my life and his crew as well Scott Denise's as well as spooky pinball thrown in outstanding party and guess what great unlike other parties that have been done in pinball this party was for fricking pinball field yeah there was food spreads there was everything and it was for fricking pinball fans of all people so that kind of stuff is what makes me have all of this space in the pinball community without getting corny or cheesy you guys rock that was never already that amazing I was amazing alright let's talk about some Franchi love brother you went to the seminar bringing love to the Valerie up up-to-the-minute Expo Crete in that family and 66 artwork what you think about it oh I thought it was phenomenally he gave some slides on some of his previous work yeah he talked about the absolute horror that it is to be an artist as great as it sounds with the work the massive amount of work that you put in to do and create something and he talked about you know how that he was approached by Stern and how he was approached by Greg - - yeah to do this pinball machine and you know he went into depth about the timeline man he had like seriously like two weeks or something that's true could throw this thing either dude so he discussed the you know I took previous artwork they had done for his self a poster that he had done for his his self and he created ball machine yeah and so it was a great in-depth thing a homeboy knocked it out of the park he did the only way he'll did he guilty love to do that he's a funny guy cracks jokes and stuff during the seminars and stuff all we can say is if you give him two weeks to do that watch what's about to happen yes when you give him some time but I got the meeting afterwards and stuff so I've got the meeting we went out with him a little Oh super excited we were last night should she get Tom great dude yeah I love the man like they're not only loved on some Franchi check out his artwork because he's got so much cool stuff or related stuff just classic cinema TV I was obviously I would I'm just blown away every time I see the realism and everything else like we ended up getting a hocus pocus oh yeah he did it was some of the most beautiful I got a special pieces on behalf of my gamer who signed for me yeah man that's so sick man thank you Chris we have your brother we love you all right let's go on to Stern around the oh yeah so to rama excellent good side it was in the beer lasted good bit those a lot two brothers brewery yeah supplied the beer and I thought okay when you say well Jack danger was like while supplies last so I thought there's two cases and everybody he's just gonna fire you get one beer for the first 15 B player in tubs of beer and it lasted through a whole party it did I miss out Rajesh now Craig and I I'm sorry serving guys so we parted it up we left came back to the vendor hall we needed a beer didn't we grape so what we do we snuck back in for another beer two brothers beer we loved it it was it was fantastic man sounds a lot of fun you had classic games had a tournament there yeah that's music playing you swipe all the music

22:44

awesome buddy have a good time man but yeah it was so far it was all good tell them about the bro battle so Buffalo pinball comes in right so I'm thinking they're gonna kick our ass got it pin stadium right here yes one of our sponsors also picked up Buffalo sponsoring the herb yeah sponsoring them and so Scott was like man you not like get you guys together battle so he contacted us contacted the Burroughs yep and they were gracious enough to do it what they streamed it on Twitch you know we went we had and we had a good lunch with him beforehand got to know the guys and who did they are truly those truly awesome people we had a blast like I had a great lunch and then we battled them that night yeah with their format though oh you're gonna put a like a V on on that I've got to hey guys for real I thought we were gonna get oh I thought we were gonna get our asses I thought we were gonna get smoke but we did a three game format first game was just straight-up pinball yes second game was split sliver third day was relay so when it came to straight-up pinball Oh Zack Zack tore it up dominated we played attack from ours with the pin setting blades where I could actually see the game yes yeah but then the second one we played split flipper God Wiesel did we know that these guys have got a lot of practice and we'll Nick come on they don't even fight they are like a freaking robot Kevin your kill yes it's like what that Pacific Rim where that the guys are synced into those freakin robots that are killing like like join right and on a relay when it was every 30 seconds they have a switch it was like synchronized swimming gray yes mean you were run or glomalin tripping loose is like well as a team they were sliding in man like it was amazing so we won the first one but then they won the two after so they needed us the win but we showed up we did show up we showed up I think's again a buffalo pinball check them out on twitch check out their YouTube stuff check them out on Facebook how they're everywhere I really can't say enough great things about a my head like I had so much I saw the most fun I've got a lot of respect for them I don't do it real hard working guys it was great thank you again guys look through some more stuff with Buffalo came on the future yeah we can get a pass oh I told him I said man I see you know what sucks guys is I was like cool Royal I can see you like once a year maybe twice a year if we go three play or something I was like that sucks but the good thing is go to their Twitter feed Buffalo was the one that streamed it you can go back and watch the video Craig and I kicking their ass on gay and whooping up this place and really blowing a game two and three yes I'm taking on the crash will get the crown then dick hit a hell of a game on the last like he nearly set the GC on on vent blew it up like a levee out well he was in the zone and was just like no stopping yeah I was hungry and I was like damn it come on brother let's go all right what else we got great is there anything else you want to we just wanted to pop in tell you guys about the expo we're trying to get a lot of videos and walk stuff so bear with our sound and stuff but yeah we're not a band want another grape thank you our sponsor we've been up in Bulgaria yeah Larry brought all those escolares and sold every one of them and every next day I took extra orders and he's already selling a crapload of pliers in the air being so if you guys wanna Pirates of the Caribbean that's beautiful parts of the Caribbean or the other head of the show which is Houdini check out Larry oblivion now and he's carrying both of them and he is us truly like we wouldn't put our names on the line is generally a great [ __ ] right here mad worried about layers knocking a great guy to five from so please go to Larry man and tell him SDTM sent you maybe sometime a he might give us a break on a machine one since we still love you Larry all right what else we got ping Brett we met Joe oh my god I love never met Joe and Joe he was the most liked his hospitality was of a second denied we hung on the booth with him for a long ass like represent a little paper yes and he went over everything with us showed us everything like oh my god like he's got some really cool product yes it is telling us what behind-the-scenes what's to come yeah I'm really excited about from you know your machine is gonna be ready for paint graphic stuff here soon I know I'm thinking about picking up some of those Walking Dead beer play it's just like cut out like barbed wire Lothar's weird oh my god I felt love with it first oh I would love to keep chatting Greg but I've got to get back to this append stadium booth and play these games we've only got a little bit more time here brother I know so we're gonna let you guys go we've got a little bit of time we'll try to get you what we can we'll be back or a regular format the next week or so where we're going to be probably doing a collector review this month and pin side we'll be doing something fun we've met a lot of cool people man yeah Joe ball sir I have like school I was like oh I love to pose so you got to talk to him a lot too so leading company Chris royalty yeah pinball plating fantastic guys hot rod arcade having them talk to them a little bit last night at their food they were gracious guys and asked very cool so if he needs something powder-coated or brass or chrome hit him up that's all right until next week until this hangover wears off Greg this is Zach this is Greg from straight down in the middle we'll talk to you guys later thanks for hanging out [Music]