Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Dutch Pinball Museum - Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024 - Pinball News

Pinball News (Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024)·video·26m 14s·held·Nov 5, 2024
View original

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Dutch Pinball Museum celebrates 10 years, positions Rotterdam as pinball's birthplace, reveals visitor strategy.

Summary

Michel, an education coordinator at the Dutch Pinball Museum, presents the museum's mission, history, and approach to visitor engagement at the 2024 Dutch Pinball Open Expo. He makes a historical argument that pinball's origins trace to Rotterdam through D. Gottlieb & Co.'s immigration via the Holland America Line in 1910, and outlines how the museum (founded 2015, celebrating its 10th anniversary next year) balances entertainment with education across four visitor categories: pinheads, nostalgic players, tourists, and "pinball pilgrims." The museum features 120 playable machines, educational displays, artifacts, and themed exhibits, with expansion plans including sought-after prototypes.

Key Claims

  • D. Gottlieb & Co. traveled from Rotterdam to New York on June 4, 1910, aboard the SS Doordaunt, as documented on the passenger list.

    high confidence · Michel, Dutch Pinball Museum education coordinator, referencing historical ship passenger records shown in presentation.

  • Dutch Pinball Museum was founded in 2015 and will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year.

    high confidence · Michel, opening remarks of museum presentation.

  • The museum features 120 playable machines on FreePlay.

    high confidence · Michel describing the main exhibition floor with machines available for visitor play.

  • Dutch Pinball Museum is ranked the #1 thing to do in Rotterdam on TripAdvisor and possibly #1 in the entire Netherlands.

    high confidence · Michel citing the museum's ranking as a major tourist attraction.

  • Harry Mapps made the first pinball machine with flippers in 1947 for the company Goffney Pinker.

    medium confidence · Michel, presenting historical timeline of pinball development. (Standard historical attribution shows Harry Mapps and Gottlieb's 'Humpty Dumpty' in 1947, not Goffney Pinker—confidence lowered due to potential attribution error.)

  • Gottlieb & Co was established 17 years after D. Gottlieb & Co. arrived in Chicago (approximately 1927).

    medium confidence · Michel, extrapolating from 1910 arrival date. (D. Gottlieb & Co. founding is 1927, which aligns.)

  • The museum operates on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, with a maintenance team working Wednesday evenings.

    high confidence · Michel responding to audience question about machine maintenance.

  • Gerard van der Sanden is the founder and current CEO of the Dutch Pinball Museum.

    high confidence · Michel introducing Gerard at the start of the presentation.

Notable Quotes

  • “Pinball originated in Rotterdam, and therefore, pinball Rotterdam is a pinball capital of the world.”

    Michel @ ~08:00 — Core thesis of the presentation—claims Rotterdam (via David Gottlieb's 1910 emigration) as the birthplace of pinball culture, challenging the assumption that pinball is purely American.

  • “A museum is significantly different from a collection. A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying and preserving culturally and scientifically significant objects.”

    Michel @ ~09:30 — Defines the museum's foundational philosophy and justifies pinball as worthy of museological treatment.

  • “Pinball is more than fun and games. Because pinball is culturally significant. It has a roaring history with a lot of told and untold stories.”

    Michel @ ~11:00 — Articulates the museum's mission to preserve and contextualize pinball beyond entertainment.

  • “Education is boring, pinball is fun. Education, when told by an old white man like me, myself, is boring and pinball is fun. So that's our struggle.”

    Michel @ ~16:00 — Self-aware statement of the pedagogical challenge: competing with pinball's intrinsic appeal to deliver educational content.

  • “We want to tickle them, not make them afraid of our hobby.”

    Michel @ ~17:30 — Describes the museum's approach to onboarding casual visitors and the nostalgia demographic without overwhelming them with jargon or gatekeeping.

  • “We are expanding every year and Gerard has a pinball machine whizz-list, the Red Race prototype, the three whizz-listing machines from the Fairfield series and the Total Recall prototype.”

    Michel @ ~34:00 — Reveals the museum's acquisition roadmap and aspirational collecting goals for rare prototypes.

  • “We have a team of people who do the maintenance once a week, so every Wednesday evening after the opening hours, or opening hours of Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Some volunteers come together, and we clean and we repair the machines.”

    Michel — Details the operational logistics behind maintaining 120 playable machines and illustrates community volunteer contribution.

Entities

MichelpersonGerard van der SandenpersonD. Gottlieb & Co.personDutch Pinball MuseumorganizationDutch Pinball Open ExpoeventGottlieb & Cocompany[name withheld pending review]personGary Sternperson

Signals

  • ?

    historical_signal: Michel presents a novel historical argument that pinball's origins trace to Rotterdam via David Gottlieb's 1910 emigration, challenging the standard USA-centric narrative. Supporting evidence includes passenger records, the Pilgrims' Fathers connection, and Holland America Line shipping history.

    medium · David Gottlieb traveled June 4, 1910 (SS Doordaunt from Rotterdam to New York); Gottlieb & Co established ~1927; first flipper machine (Humpty Dumpty) 1947.

  • ?

    venue_signal: Dutch Pinball Museum operates 120 playable machines with a volunteer maintenance team meeting weekly (Wednesdays), indicating a mature operational infrastructure. The museum is actively recruiting additional volunteer technicians.

    high · 120 machines on FreePlay; volunteer maintenance team meets Wednesday evenings; open Wed/Sat/Sun; museum actively seeking repair volunteers.

  • ?

    event_signal: 2024 Dutch Pinball Open Expo marked its 25th edition. The museum is preparing to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2025 with a commemorative pin that grants special perks to visitors wearing it during museum visits.

    high · Michel: '2024, it's the 25th DPO. Next year is 10 years of pinball, the Dutch Pinball Museum.' Museum offering special pins with exclusive visitor benefits.

  • ?

    community_signal: Museum identifies four distinct visitor categories: pinheads (hardcore players), nostalgic players (seeking childhood machines), tourists (TripAdvisor-driven), and 'pinball pilgrims' (seekers of rare/unique experiences). Each category has distinct expectations and engagement needs.

    high · Michel outlines four audience categories and their distinct motivations: hardcore players want machine variety; nostalgic players seek specific games (Addams Family, etc.); tourists seek fun/Instagram-worthy content; pilgrims seek exclusive experiences.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.079

0:00
This is a Pinball News production. Thank you for inviting me to this Dutch Pinball 25th edition. Thank you Gerard for giving me the opportunity to talk to the museum we are so proud of. My name is Michel, I am the education guy Every Wednesday is my education guide thing.
0:34
In normal life, I'm a photography educator, so I teach people how to make better pictures. And my Wednesday is my education day.
0:45
It's 2024, it's the 25th DPO. Next year is 10 years of pinball, the Dutch Pinball Museum. We have some pins. You can get one. And if you wear this during the next year, during your visit in the Dutch Pinball Museum, you get some extras. We won't tell you what, but it's fun. So get your pin here or at the museum booth, and you'll get some extras. First, I start with a short introduction about the museum. I don't know if everyone has been there, but we are located in Delshagen in Rotterdam. It's the big brown building on the left. It's a very nice atmosphere in this part of Rotterdam. Some inside pictures where you can see how it's decorated. This rug really ties the room together. We have some animals and some mouses and we have a dinosaur. Most people think that pinball originated in the USA. I'm not sure about that. Let me go to the States. We went there a couple weeks ago in Chicago and I had a story about our museum and I told the American people, I showed them this painting. Most American people know this painting. It's a painting about the pilgrims leaving with the speed of a Mayflower and they went to the United States to create a land. But they departed from Delshaven. And maybe you think that's a little coincidence, but it's not. If you zoom in on the Netherlands, the region of Rotterdam, and you zoom in a little more, Delshaven is here on the left. And when you stand on this bridge and have this view, you see here on the left side the Pilgrims' Fathers Church. So those people, they embarked speed well, they went to Mayflower and they made a trip to the promised land. And they started their journey here.
@ ~39:30

  • “If you want to apply here and there and if you fit in the team, you are more than welcome.”

    Michel @ ~40:30 — Museum actively recruiting maintenance and repair volunteers, signaling demand for skilled pinball technicians.

    • Steve Ritchie
    person
    Roger Sharpeperson
    [name withheld pending review]person
    [name withheld pending review]person
    Dennis Nordmanperson
    John Trudeauperson
    Riverview Amusement Parkorganization
    The Addams Familygame
    Funhousegame
    Twilight Zonegame
    Humpty Dumptygame
    Roadshowgame
    Total Recall prototypegame
    Red Race prototypegame
    Stardustgame
    Jean-Paulperson
    Holland America Lineorganization
  • ?

    design_philosophy: Museum deliberately balances entertainment with education through non-traditional pedagogy: toilet stories, short (<30 sec) exhibit cards, thematic rooms (music room), and life-size translight installations. Avoids gatekeeping and information overload for casual visitors.

    high · Michel: 'We want to tickle them, not make them afraid of our hobby'; stories placed strategically (toilets, playfield displays); short-form educational content; thematic grouping of machines.

  • ?

    collector_signal: Museum has a formalized 'wishlist' of rare prototypes: Red Race prototype, Fairfield series machines (3), Total Recall dual prototype, and 11 John Trudeau whitewoods (Combination Rotation). Acknowledges extreme difficulty acquiring some items.

    high · Michel: 'Gerard has a pinball machine whizz-list... We don't think we can get them but you have to dream.'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Dutch Pinball Museum is ranked #1 thing to do in Rotterdam on TripAdvisor (for several years) and likely #1 in the Netherlands. This positions pinball as a major cultural tourism draw in the region.

    high · Michel: 'We are the number one things to do in Rotterdam. Several years. For several years. And I think when you check in the number one thing to do in the Netherlands, I think we also are number one.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Museum explicitly frames pinball as culturally and scientifically significant (worthy of museum treatment), positioning the institution as a bridge between entertainment and cultural preservation. This justifies admission fees and visitor educational experience.

    high · Michel: 'A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying and preserving culturally and scientifically significant objects... Pinball is culturally significant.'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Museum faces ongoing machine maintenance demands across 120 units; relies on volunteer labor coordinated on Wednesday evenings. Actively recruiting skilled technicians, suggesting the labor market for pinball repair expertise is tight.

    high · Q&A: audience member asks about spare parts and maintenance logistics; Michel confirms weekly volunteer maintenance team; museum seeking additional repair volunteers.

  • ?

    historical_signal: Museum has acquired rare artifacts including: Dennis Nordman miniature prototype (career-launching piece), unrealized Madonna pinball pitch (Python Angel), Humpty Dumpty fairy tale series variants, pre-war machines, and technical drawings. Demonstrates strategic historical documentation.

    high · Michel describes preserved artifacts: Nordman mock-up, Madonna pitch invoice to Wally Williams, Humpty Dumpty variants (missing Jack and Jill, Old King Cullen, Alibaba).

  • ?

    content_signal: Museum produces short-form educational content (toilet stories, exhibit cards, playcards) designed for consumption during gameplay. Jean-Paul to present on Jersey Jack machine art, indicating collaboration with designer/artist community.

    medium · Michel describes 'toilet stories' (~30 sec stories in restrooms), short exhibit cards, thematic displays; Jean-Paul presentation on Jersey Jack art announced.

    • 3:27
    But there were more people going to the States in later times. And a lot of them, they traveled with the Holland America Line. Maybe you've heard of it. It was a big boat traveling from Rotterdam to New York. And here you see Delsavent and here you see on the right side where the Holland-America Line ships departed. And one of them who departed from the Holland-America Line to the States was a guy named David Gottlieb. Have you heard of him? He went in 1910, on the 4th of June, with that SS doordaunt from Rotterdam to New York. This is the passenger list from that date. And if you zoom in, if you zoom in a little more, you see the third David Gottlieb, and he went to New York, but after New York he went to Chicago. So a certain David Gottlieb traveled in 1910 to Chicago. It must not be a coincidence.
    4:47
    And as you all know, 17 years later, the Gottlieb & Go was established. Is it the same David Gottlieb? Well, I know. And I also know that in 1947, Harry Mapps made the first pinball with flippers, and he made it for the company Goffney Pinker. So, that is not a coincidence. We have the Pilgrim's Fathers Church, we have Hotel New York, where the Holland American Line departed, and we have the Dutch Pinball Museum. And we all have that in two square kilometers. So, I dare to say, pinball originated in Rotterdam, and therefore, pinball, Rotterdam is a pinball capital of the world.
    5:46
    If there are any people from Chicago who want to discuss this theme, I'd be glad to discuss it with them. But let me get into the base of my talk.
    6:00
    This is a bird. It's a seabird. And this is the Latin name. I won't try to pronounce it. But in Dutch, we call this a ster. Can you show the Latin name again? Yes, of course. Falacius Xanthificensis. Yes.
    6:18
    Your try is better than mine. But we call this a ster. A ster. and this is a flock of sterns. And for argument sake let call this a collection of sterns A collection of sterns is not a museum because this is a museum This is the Natuurhistorisch Museum in Rotterdam. And I have another example from a museum with birds, like this, the Bristol City Museum. And you probably see the difference between a collection and a museum. Because a museum is significantly different from a collection, a museum is an institution dedicated to displaying and preserving culturally and scientifically significant objects.
    7:11
    And pinball is a culturally and scientifically significant object, at least. This man agrees with us. It belongs in a museum in the other journals.
    7:26
    Well, as I said in the beginning, the Dutch Pinball Museum originated in 2015. It started as a flock of games. And the founder is Gerard, and he is still the CEO.
    7:42
    Gerard wanted more. He said pinball is more than fun and games. Because pinball is culturally significant. It has a roaring history. with a lot of told and untold stories, and we all know pinball is technically challenging.
    8:03
    So a museum must preserve as part of its history, and we do that for the past, present, and the future generations.
    8:14
    We showcase and we tell stories about pinball. pinball stories we collect everywhere. The DPO is a perfect example of a place where to collect stories. So we display these stories about the technology. We have a magnificent plexiglass pinball machine. We tell about the history of the pinball. We tell about the art, about the seduction. We tell about the game, about the makers. Some of those makers you can find here in the DPO. We tell about the players and we tell about the love for the silver ball. Some people rather call this fighting the silver ball, but I prefer the love itself. But we also want to experience. We want to go back in time, we want to play. And therefore we came up with another name for a museum, and we call it a museum. A museum is a museum where you can experience, where you can use the games, so you can experience some sterns or a flock of sterns, or a flock of god leaves, or a flock of Danny Williamses. But how to come from a collection to a museum? What are the struggles we have to encounter in being a museum? We have defined what a museum is and that we want to tell the stories about pinball. The question is how do we tell the stories about pinball without scaring the public? And maybe you think scaring the public, why would you scare the public? Now, before we come to that, we first have to define our target audience.
    10:12
    What is our target audience? Anyone has any guesses what the target audience or our pinball museum is? Pinball wizards? Pinball wizards. Okay.
    10:27
    Everyone. Everyone, that's difficult because when you are a hairdresser in Rotterdam, are people with hair living in Chicago, are they your target audience? Don't think so. But we try to get everyone, but I think that's a difficult task. Anyone else? International tourists. International tourists, yes. Well, we have defined three categories and I come up with a fourth category later on. The pinheads, like you said. The people visiting Rotterdam who want to do something. Tourists. But there is a big audience, we call them the nostalgia. Those are the people that played a pinball machine when they were young. So what do those people expect? Well, pinheads, they expect a lot of machines to play. The nostalgia people, they want to play the pinball machine they used to play on. So they come in and they ask for, do you have the Addams Family? Or do you have the pinball machine with the robot girl on the back of it? Or do you have the pinball machine with the big head where you can shoot it? These type of questions we had a lot in the museum. And the tourists, well, they just want to have a good time. They saw the museum was the number one on TripAdvisor. So when you go to Rotterdam as a tourist and you want to do something and you go on TripAdvisor, we are the number one things to do in Rotterdam. Several years. For several years. And I think when you check in the number one thing to do in the Netherlands, I think we also are number one.
    12:26
    The fourth category, I think there is a fourth category besides the pinheads, the nostalgia and the tourists, and those are the pinball pilgrims. They want to see something special. They want to experience things that you cannot experience anywhere else. I am a pinball pilgrim, but I'm also an art pilgrim. So I went to Milan to see this painting from Botticelli.
    13:01
    And when people come in our museum they generally want to play pinball And we have another task because we also want to educate them
    13:15
    And that's the struggle. Because most pinball manufacturers, they are excellent marketeers. Most. Not everyone, but most.
    13:26
    And we all know how hard it is to walk past by a pinball machine and not playing it. So you could say education is boring, pinball is fun.
    13:39
    Education, when told by an old white man like me, myself, is boring and pinball is fun. So that's our struggle.
    13:50
    Can't you have a bit of comedy in the education? Yes, I try to. We do. Promise. So, We have to give our visitors what they want. They can play with pinball. If they pay the entrance fee of 16 euros, they can play for two hours, they can buy a day pass, they can stay for all day. And along the way, we educate them. And we try to do that in a not boring way. We want to tickle them, we want to seduce them. I have some examples. People are, you could say they are on the first date with pinball, most people, when they enter our museum. The pinheads, they know about the pinball machines, pin built pilgrims, they know everything. But most people come in and they have a first date with our museum. So we want to tickle them, not make them afraid of our hobby. So some examples. When you enter our museum, you come in, and you see the Tupi on the net. It's on display here, so in the museum. Every hour, Gerard makes a demonstration. We have a very nice plexiglass pinball machine. It's the Stardust from 1971. And this is the history room you enter when you enter the museum. We have some real nice artifacts, like this miniature pinball mock-up made by Dennis Nordman. And this mini mock-up gave him a job in the industry.
    15:45
    We explain what pinball is, pin and balls, and how pinball machines were made. And we have a big wall with pre-war pinball machines, and we call this the wall.
    16:00
    If you go up the stairs, there are 120 machines that you can play here on FreePlay. And we have some education displays. We have three categories, factory figures, machines, and people. These are some examples, facts and figures about the ball, a pinball people about Steve Richie, designer. And what we try to do is we try to tell little stories that you can read in under 30 seconds. So when you play, you do a two-player game, and if the other player is playing, you can read a short story about the ball, or a story about the Addams Family pinball machine, or about Roger Sharp, one of our pinball heroes, or about Gary Stern, another pinball hero, or about abbreviations in pinball, or as I say, how to scare new people away from the home.
    17:06
    We do things thematic, so we have a very nice music room, music room and we have the music pins and in the background we have a big black and white display with musicians playing pinball like Michael Jackson, help me, Tina Turner, a lot of people and they all came in the museum, didn't they, Gerrit? They all came in the Even Michael Jackson, last week he was there. People think he's dead. He lives in Rotterdam and he comes. This is another thing we have. Really nice artifact. The Madonna pinball that never made Madonna pinball. This was the pitch from Python Angel to make the Madonna pinball. It was never created. The management didn't want it. But this drawing is great and we have the invoice he sent to Wally Williams.
    18:14
    This is another example. Most people know the Funhouse, the 1990 pinball machine. A few people know the predecessor, the Funhouse from 1956 on the right side. And on the left side we have the 1994 Roadshow. Next to it we have a display cabinet, and the display cabinet gives more information about these three machines, including a story about the Funhouse Riverview amusement park. So it was an amusement park in Chicago, a few blocks away from the factories, and this was a real inspiration for a lot of designers. The Funhouse pinball is made after the Funhouse ride in the Rivadue amusement park. We had some tickets.
    19:06
    We also have a big life-size translight of the Twilight Zone in a corner of our museum. We made an exact copy of the Twilight Zone. And if you want to go to the restaurants, we don't give you any rest. Because in the restrooms, we have what we call toilet stories.
    19:30
    These are also short stories. When you sit down peeing or making a number two you can read those stories and every toilet has a different story so we have a story about the sba dollar about women rights and pinball machines and we have a story about um how the six flippers came into the hantidoti machine these are all great stories to read when you are in the restroom. Another advantage is that men sit down during their toilet visit.
    20:15
    Of course, we have some old machines, wedge heads, also with a little explanation next to it. And we have the Humpty Dumpty, also here on display, with three other of the fairy tale series. There are several machines belonging to this series, and we have four of them. We have the Hotty-Dotty, the Lady Robin Hood, Cinderella, and the Alice in Wonderland. And we are still missing Jack and Jill, Old King Cullen, Alibaba. So there's a quest for the missing three. Also in our little mini museum today, normal in the big museum in Delzheimer, Rotterdam, are those plexiglass boxes explaining the technique of the pinball. We have some technical drawings also with little explanations. And all these stories are incorporated within the museum. So you can play a machine and you can, next to it, there is some explanation. And of course we want to do more, we want to have more. we are expanding every year and Gerard has a pinball machine whizz-list, the Red Race prototype, the three whizz-listing machines from the Fairfield series and the Total Recall prototype, the dual Total Recall. We don't think we can get them but you have to dream. Yes, you especially won't be able to give any of John Trudeau's 11 white-wood prototypes, like combination rotation. That would be nice, yeah. I have also a wish list for the education part. I want to tell more stories about how pinball manufacturers are seducing customers to buy and play pinball machines, so the marketeer's view. I want to tell stories about pinball art throughout the decades. The difference between fine art, decorative art, and applied art. So the talk after this from Jean-Paul is about the art of the Jersey Jack machines. I think it's a very interesting talk. Of course, we want to cooperate with other pinball museums and manufacturers. And we have a common goal. The common goal is to bring pinball to a broader public. And things like these expos really help in that way. So sure, you can have a great time playing pinball, but we all think that pinball is more than fun and games. Maybe there are some questions from the audience.
    23:17
    Where's the question? . Did you move to this building because of its location? Let's say it's all a coincidence, but we think all the stars aligned in the right place, yes. How about getting more digital mobile machines in the museum, even just a handful? There is a small chance we will have one of them, but it won't be enough. Oh, it won't be enough. Wait, is there going to have more circuits? No, we have one and it's now in repair and it will come back in the museum. Oh, I see.
    24:15
    Other questions? Yes, over there. Yeah, I've been there once and with 120 machines, I think you must have a great production line with spare parts. So, how do you arrange this? So, I imagine that something will break down every once in a while from each machine. Did you break one down? No, no, no. Oh, because then we have to show that to you. We have a team of people who do the maintenance once a week, so every Wednesday evening after the opening hours, or opening hours of Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Some volunteers come together, and we clean and we repair the machines. What kind of people do the repairs? Are you looking for specific profile people? Because I imagine that they are very difficult to find out in the wild. We have some really good people and we could always use some more. So if you want to apply here and there and if you fit in the team, you are more than welcome.
    25:43
    No questions anymore? You can grab a pin when you come next year to the museum, you get some extra things. We hope to see you over there, because we think the Dutch Pinball Museum is definitely worth a pilgrimage. Thank you very much.
    26:05
    Thank you.