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Ep 3 - What's Better Than A Battle?

Jersey Jack Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·20m 26s·analyzed·Jul 3, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

JJP explores pinball streaming innovation through Twitch battles with Buffalo Pinball partnership.

Summary

Ken Crone hosts Jersey Jack Pinball Podcast Episode 3 (July 2, 2020) featuring guests Joe Katz (JJP software developer) and Kevin Manning (Buffalo Pinball co-host). The episode discusses the growing phenomenon of pinball streaming, Buffalo Pinball history and evolution into a Twitch-partnered channel, and introduces an innovative format called 'Twitch battles'—competitive head-to-head gameplay streams between players at different locations using simultaneous camera feeds. The hosts highlight how battles serve as interactive tutorials for learning game rules while providing entertainment through real-time competition.

Key Claims

  • Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory reveal stream achieved a concurrent viewer count of 14,753, setting a record for most-viewed live pinball stream reveal at the time.

    high confidence · Joe Katz states this number was encoded as a candy code in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory machine itself, cited by Ken Crone and Joe Katz in discussion

  • Buffalo Pinball began in 2013 with local leagues and tournaments, then evolved into streaming content in 2015 with their flagship show 'Brodie and Pinball'.

    high confidence · Kevin Manning provides detailed historical timeline of Buffalo Pinball evolution

  • Jersey Jack Pinball relocated from their old Lakewood, New Jersey facility to a new facility where manufacturing is now directly adjacent to offices.

    high confidence · Ken Crone and Joe Katz discuss the new facility; Kevin Manning references visiting the 'old Jersey factory' in July 2016 in Lakewood

  • Twitch battles were inspired by IFPA heads-up challenges that started a few years prior, which Kevin Manning witnessed being streamed by Python Anghelo.

    high confidence · Kevin Manning directly attributes inspiration to IFPA heads-up challenges and references specific streamer

  • Jersey Jack Pinball is actively hiring and invites interested candidates to apply via careers@jerseyjackpinball.com.

    high confidence · Ken Crone makes repeated hiring announcements and endorsement throughout episode

Notable Quotes

  • “I thought I thought a lot about pinball before. And that was coming over as a pinball enthusiast. But now I can't stop thinking about pinball.”

    Ken Crone @ Early in episode — Cromwell's personal account of joining JJP and the all-consuming nature of working in the pinball industry

  • “Streaming is just basically anybody can create their own video channel, their own video network, and share their gameplay, specifically with pinball.”

    Kevin Manning @ Mid-episode during streaming explanation — Clear definition of pinball streaming for audience unfamiliar with the format

  • “We were inspired by the IFBA heads up challenges they started a few years ago. Basically you set up two machines side by side and then you race to an objective.”

    Kevin Manning @ During Twitch battles discussion — Explains the competitive format and its origins in competitive pinball culture

  • “It's like you each have all the knowledge going into the competition, you just have to execute it faster than your opponent.”

    Kevin Manning @ During explanation of Twitch battles mechanics — Clarifies how battles differ from traditional high-score competition

  • “I, to be honest with you, I'm a kid in a candy store in here because everything is new.”

    Ken Crone @ Near end when asked about new facility — Shows Cromwell's enthusiasm for JJP and the new manufacturing-integrated facility

  • “Eric and I spent about four hours one day going through different solutions to make this happen... what has worked out best for us is Skype, of all things.”

    Joe Katz @ During technical discussion of streaming setup — Reveals the practical challenges and solutions for executing simultaneous multi-location streams

Entities

Ken CronepersonJoe KatzpersonKevin ManningpersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyBuffalo Pinballorganization[name withheld pending review]personDialed In!gamePirates of the Caribbean

Signals

  • ?

    content_signal: Pinball streaming is experiencing significant growth, particularly during COVID-19 lockdowns. Buffalo Pinball Twitch channel achieved Twitch partnership status and has scaled to multiple regular streamers with daily content.

    high · Kevin Manning discusses growth from single 2015 show to daily multi-streamer channel with Twitch partnership; notes channel expansion and subscriber model

  • ?

    community_signal: Community innovating new streaming formats beyond traditional gameplay/tournament coverage. Twitch battles represent a novel competitive format that serves educational purposes while maintaining entertainment value.

    high · Joe Katz and Kevin Manning discuss Twitch battles as 'different take' on streaming; format derived from IFPA heads-up challenges; noted as interactive tutorial format

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball has relocated to a new facility where manufacturing and office operations are now integrated, representing significant operational expansion.

    high · Multiple references to 'new facility' with manufacturing 'right behind a couple of doors'; Joe Katz notes space improvement over 'old place'; Kevin Manning references 2016 visit to 'old Jersey factory' in Lakewood, New Jersey

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball is actively hiring across roles (Ken Cromwell hired April 2020), suggesting business growth and expansion plans.

    high · Ken Cromwell repeatedly announces hiring and encourages applications to careers@jerseyjackpinball.com; describes excitement about company culture

  • ?

    product_launch: Willy Wonka reveal stream on Buffalo Pinball Twitch channel achieved record-breaking concurrent viewership of 14,753 viewers, demonstrating significant audience appetite for major JJP announcements.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.061

0:00
flying through the airwaves and into your podcatcher it's the jersey jack pinball podcast hey what's going on pinball and welcome it's another episode of the jersey jack pinball podcast my name is ken cromwell i am your host so here we are now in july july of 2020 today being July 2nd. This podcast being uploaded most likely on July 3rd. So it's a Friday. We're going into the Independence Day weekend here in the United States of America. So everybody, happy 4th of July. And in a few minutes, we're going to be bringing in Joe Katz, who's a software developer here at Jersey Jack Pinball, and Kevin Manning, who's one of the hosts at Buffalo Pinball and Buffalo Pinball Streaming. We've got a conversation set up that I think you guys are going to find pretty interesting. But before we do that, I wanted to walk you through a couple things that's been happening over here at Jersey Jack Pinball.
0:56
I want to share with you guys kind of an experience that I've been going through ever since being hired on. And again, if you've just listened to the podcast here for the first time, thank you for joining us. You can email the show at podcast at jerseyjackpinball.com should you have any questions, comments, observations, etc. When I was hired on here in early April, obviously I'm excited because I'm coming into work for a pinball company. What I'm noticing now is that I thought I thought a lot about pinball before. And that was coming over as a pinball enthusiast. But now I can't stop thinking about pinball. And it's got its pros and its cons, mostly pros. Essentially what happens to me is I wake up in the morning and I'm getting ready for work. And I know that I've got a 45-minute drive in. And on that drive in, I'm preparing for my day. And I've got so many thoughts that have carried over from the night prior. And I'm looking to apply some creativity and get some things on paper and start executing some things. So that anticipation getting to work is always exciting, but it's like pregame jitters. Not that I'm nervous, but I'm just anxious to get going. When I'm here, I'm working with such a great team of people throughout the whole building in every aspect. It's just a joy to be here at work. And then driving home, I'm already thinking about what I want to do the next day. The problem is this. When I'm laying down and I'm trying to get to sleep at nighttime, I've got thoughts of pinball going through my head. and I can't fall asleep at night because I'm anxious to get going the next day. So it's like this really strange thing that I'm not used to regarding work. I've never really loved going to work and working for a company as much as I do here at Jersey Jack Pinball. The reason that I'm kind of getting into this story is we are hiring, right? And I think I discussed this in one of the past podcasts, but if you're looking to get involved with a pinball company and you're enthusiastic and it's something that you're passionate about, I would really encourage you to contact us via email at careers at jerseyjackpinball.com and let us know a little bit about yourself. Maybe drop a resume in there. Ladies and gentlemen, outstanding place to work, outstanding company. And the honeymoon phase, I think, would have started wearing off for me by now, and it's only increased. So just something to keep in mind.
game
Willy Wonkagame
The Hobbitgame
[name withheld pending review]product
Steven Bowdenperson
Mixer Tunaperson
Skip Nattyperson
Jack Guarnieriperson
Austin Mackertperson
[name withheld pending review]person
Nickperson
IFPAorganization
[name withheld pending review]company

high · Joe Katz confirms 14,753 concurrent viewer count as record for reveal streams; embedded as easter egg 'candy code' in the game itself

  • ?

    partnership_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball establishing formal partnership with Buffalo Pinball Streaming to create branded content (Twitch battles). Relationship spans since 2016 factory visit.

    high · Ken Cromwell discusses partnership as 'great partnership'; Kevin Manning confirms multiple collaborative streams (Dialed In, POTC, Willy Wonka reveals); notes ongoing collaboration plans

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Twitch battle format functioning as effective rules education mechanism. Commentary-driven format with laser focus on specific challenges helps casual viewers learn complex rule interactions.

    high · Joe Katz describes battles as 'interactive tutorial'; Kevin Manning notes format is 'educational' and brings rule nuances to 'forefront'; Ken Cromwell notes feedback indicated learning value

  • ?

    operational_signal: Multi-location simultaneous streaming requires significant technical work. Skype emerged as best practical solution after extensive troubleshooting; setup not flawless but functional.

    high · Joe Katz describes 4-hour troubleshooting session with Eric Minier; references online guides and tilt forums for solutions; confirms Skype as working solution

  • $

    market_signal: Twitch partnership enabling subscriber-based revenue model for pinball streaming. Buffalo Pinball monetizing content through subscriptions.

    medium · Kevin Manning discusses Twitch partnership allowing subscriptions; mentions decision to expand content to justify paid subscriptions

  • ?

    community_signal: Buffalo Pinball scaled team from core hosts (Kevin Manning, Nick) to multiple regular streamers (Mixer Tuna, Austin Mackert, Rudy Soup, Skip Natty), indicating professionalization and sustainability of pinball streaming as community activity.

    high · Kevin Manning describes evolution from 2-person operation to multi-streamer team; notes Austin Mackert tenure of 1 year before departure

    • 3:13
    Now, interestingly enough, if you're following the company on our social media pages, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, et cetera. Get ready because over the next few weeks, we've got a lot of video content that we've been compiling that's ready to start launching next week. And that's going to really give you some unique inside looks at some of the team here and some of the responsibilities that are going on on a daily basis. And it's going to give you a little bit of a unique inside look as to what happens on a day-to-day basis at Jersey Jack Pinball. I think when I had originally started the podcast, I said that the one thing or one of the things that I really wanted to do is I wanted to offer some unique access. And I've been working hard with everybody here to kind of compile that so that we can have something out for you as far as access. So be searching for this coming out starting next week.
    4:03
    All right. And joining us live on the Jersey Jack Pinball Podcast Hotline, Joe Katz, Kevin Manning. What is going on, gentlemen? How's the day? How are you doing? Thanks for having us on. Yeah, thanks for coming on, Kevin. Joe, you're here, right? Yeah, I'm here. Thanks for having me on. Joe is coming in hot with the microphone. It's interesting because myself and Joe, we're both in the same building here, but we're in separate offices as makeshift recording studios so that we don't get too much of a reverb. But I wanted to thank you guys for joining us. I know it's an afternoon before we get into the holiday.
    4:38
    Kevin, if you can start off real quick. I think that the term pinball streaming is something that we're hearing more and more of lately. I mean, it's been around for a few years, I guess predominantly, but like right now it's been hot. Maybe that's due to COVID and people staying home and kind of watching this stuff on TV. But for somebody that may have missed the boat here or late to the party, can you kind of walk us through what pinball streaming is? so uh pinball streaming in simple terms it it broadcasting pinball gameplay and and shows and things like that So if you really into pinball and you want to soak it all in 24 hours a day like you know I remember getting first into the hobby and I was like, I just couldn't get enough of it. I was watching Papa tutorial videos all the time and watching their tournament coverage and stuff like that. Streaming is just basically anybody can create their own video channel, their own video network, and share their gameplay, specifically with pinball. You get a couple cameras, point them at the pinball machine and maybe at yourself, and a microphone so you can talk to people. It's like a casual hangout while you play pinball. Maybe you have a show where you show people how to play games, go over rules and stuff like that, but it's a video presentation of pinball, if that makes sense. Absolutely, and with it being live, it kind of gives you the opportunity to kind of talk to people that are in chat that can ask questions. So there's a lot of interaction going on, right? Yeah, well, that's the fun part of it for me as somebody who does streaming. It's kind of like a way to hang out with like-minded people while you play pinball, talk about pinball, and just share this hobby that we all love so much, right? Yeah, and the channel that you're kind of co-hosting, because you have like a stream team, so to speak, is Buffalo Pinball. Can you kind of walk us through Buffalo Pinball and what is that all about? Yeah, so it's a complicated question because Buffalo Pinball has many things, but we started out in 2013 with leagues and tournaments here locally. And then, you know, that built up over time. We started getting requests from casual folks who wanted to learn how to play. And not everybody could always come together and be together at the same time. So we experimented with doing like presentations. I remember doing a PowerPoint of how to play pinball, basic flipper skills, things like that. And then we eventually looked at doing a live stream where we do a show. So we started up our flagship show, Brodie and Pinball, back in 2015. And we've been doing that pretty much weekly since then. We take the summers off because we don't want to overdo it, but we have all sorts of other streaming content. But long and short of it is, you know, over the years, we've added additional streamers. we got partnered on Twitch, which allowed us to start getting subscriptions where people pay us to watch every month. And we felt like if people were paying us to watch pinball content, we wanted to give them more. So we brought Mix Your Tuna on first. Then we brought Austin Mackert. He's not with us anymore. He's been with us for a year. But then we brought Rudy Soup on. And then most recently we brought Skip Natty on. And those are some of the folks that you've been seeing on the streams we've been doing with Jersey Jack, which we're going to get into here in a little bit. I think it's a great partnership, too, with Jersey Jack Pinball and with Buffalo Pinball Streaming. The hosts are fun. You guys have content, it seems like, every single day. Sometimes in the mornings, afternoons, evenings. It's almost like it's its own pinball television network. Yeah, that was kind of the concept when Nick and I came up with it. It was like, you know, let's make a channel for pinball and have scheduled times when, you know, just like if you were going to tune in and watch a show on TV, except do it for pinball. And the thing with Jersey Jack came about in 2016. Actually, I was prompted by your post on Facebook today. We went back in July of 2016 to the factory, the old Jersey factory. Rest in peace. Lakewood, New Jersey. It was a good run. We played The Hobbit with Steve Bowden. Mixer Tuna joined us out there. And Jersey Jack Winery. So that was kind of the beginning of our relationship. And since then, we've done the Dialed In reveal stream. We've done Pirates of the Caribbean. and most recently Willy Wonka, which was an amazing success. And I look forward to doing more with you here in the future. Yeah, it's amazing. Now, the Willy Wonka stream, and Joe, I know you're still there. I want to get to you in a second because Jersey Jack Pinball, we have our own live streaming channel here at JJP Live, and we've got some sub-channels with some staff. But going back to Willy Wonka for a second, if I remember correctly, I think at the time, and it still might hold a record, wasn't that the most viewed live pinball stream reveal of all time? For a reveal, I believe it was. Joe can correct me on the number because he put it in Willy Wonka as a candy code. It's 14,763, I think, was the concurrent high viewer count. That's amazing. 14,753, I believe. 53, okay. That's amazing. I mean, those are huge numbers. When you think about the pinball public and to have over 10,000 and almost 15,000 viewers at any given time, all focused on pinball is tremendous for the hobby so i congratulate you on that and i appreciate your hard work and your efforts that you guys have been doing uh since you guys have started so thank you for that thanks yeah uh we have we're in a unique position as a twitch partner there are very few partnered twitch channels uh dedicated to pinball and we're able to leverage that relationship to get us put on the front page of twitch which really puts a ton of eyes on pinball and we're happy to do that with our friends at jersey jack because we love what you guys do We love your games and we want to see even more of them Absolutely I know a lot of people want to see more games and that that coming soon But Joe welcome to the show buddy Yeah thanks Let do this Let get into real quick because I want to go into how you guys have been working together with a unique kind of style of streaming But can you talk a little bit about the Jersey Jack Pinball streaming channel, JJP Live, how that came about and where that is right now? You know, we just sort of wanted to get in on the fun of streaming when everyone was doing it. And at the time, we were sort of waiting to start building POTC, and we just sort of wanted to show it to people while we were sort of in this limbo of not building it. Now, POTC is an acronym, correct? Oh, yes. Sorry. Pirates of the Caribbean.
    10:53
    So we just kind of wanted to play for people while they were kind of waiting to get their games. and the channel's kind of gone dormant a little bit lately, but we hope to be able to do that some more someday. No, absolutely. I know there's big plans for that channel. But what you guys have done now is you've made a change or you've kind of pivoted and you've created additional interest within the typical pinball stream, which is kind of an overhead view of one pinball machine and either some competitiveness or some tutorials, et cetera. Now you guys have kind of gone into the Twitch battles, and I was hoping you guys could just have a conversation about it. What's a Twitch battle, why is it interesting, and why should anybody care? Well, I think it's interesting because it's a little bit of a different take, like you're saying. I mean, everyone's just streaming gameplay and streaming tournaments. This was sort of a way to show the games to people, have a new way to sort of watch and interact, and at the same time, I think it's a really interesting way for people to learn our games.
    12:02
    So essentially all we're doing is we're kind of going through the rules and creating challenges slash races, so to speak, to see who can get to X, Y, Z faster. And then after 15 or 10 of those, we just kind of say, okay, you win. You know, we tally wins for each one, and it's an interesting different take on streaming pinball. I think it's important to point out that when you're having a pinball streaming battle, it's not on the same machine in the same place, right? I mean, so we have two different locations that each have their own machine set up, and you guys are kind of going about the battles in real time simultaneously. Is that kind of accurate, would you say, Kevin? yeah i mean i was inspired uh by the ifba heads up challenges they started a few years ago i remember watching carl d'angelo stream that i think they were at um ace gogi out in california and so basically you set up two machines side by side and then you race to an objective and that's it's a it's a cool way of playing so typically if you're not familiar with pinball tournaments or leagues you're playing for a high score typically um here it's like get to the multi ball get a super jackpot do one specific thing but do it faster than the other person can do it so people who play competitive pinball all the time know all the ins and outs and how to get the high scores and especially on older games how to get exploits and certain things to do this is like you each have all the knowledge going into the to the competition you just have to execute it faster than your opponent. So it kind of levels up the competitive experience into these bite-sized little chunks that are much easier to watch, much more fun to watch. And I think, like Joe said, it's educational. You learn how to play maybe these nuance of the rules that, you know, Kiefer and Joe and the team over at Jersey Jack program so many cool rules into these games that, you know, being able to focus in on them with laser precision a little bit kind of brings them to the forefront, I think. Yeah, we've received some really nice feedback for the streams. What has been happening, at least the last few streams, is we've had Eric Minier, who is one of the lead engineers here at Jersey Jack Pinball, going up against the Buffalo streaming team. And that first night, I believe it was against you, Kevin, and then there was a night against Skip Natty and then Mixer Tuna. So there were three separate nights. You guys were in your own locations, but being able to stream simultaneously on the same screen, The feedback that I had gotten, which I thought was most beneficial for those that are kind of learning their games, is that it is kind of an interactive tutorial. So they're able to kind of exploit things they may not have thought of prior. They're learning different rules that they may not have thought of. And again, being able to execute is ultimately what it's all about. But to know that there's something to execute is such a benefit when you have a pinball machine. Yeah, exactly. And it's just such a fun way to be able to have some competition when we can't get together and do it in person, right? No two pinball machines play the same, as we know. But, you know, we try to do our best to set them up similarly. And it's all about having a good time, hanging out, and showing folks some rules. Right, Joe? Yeah I mean I think that the key also is it kind of just a fun casual way to hang out If you got nothing to do and we doing it it kind of just really relaxing and chill and we just are kind of having a good time doing it Well, I've noticed a growing fan base for some of the commentary that's going on during these streams, and I believe the commentator, the guest commentator, has been a Mr. Joe Katz.
    15:36
    Yeah, I have done it for two of them. We didn't do it the first time. We sort of thought of the idea after the first one. And it's kind of a way for me to sort of talk about the challenges and present them to the two players so they don't have to kind of deal with it. And then I could sort of talk through, you know, whatever rule it is. It's been a lot of fun. I get a kick out of it. Now, I've done a little bit of streaming in the past. And to get a normal stream set up, I know, at least for me, can be nerve-wracking at times. Just when you think you have everything set, something goes wrong or there's an update and everything's out of whack. I can imagine that having two streams simultaneously kind of trickled into one stream poses its challenges. Yeah, Eric and I spent about four hours one day going through different solutions to make this happen. Because if you look online, there's guides that folks have put up and there's threads on tilt forums about how to get two head-to-head streams going like this. Because folks have been doing it for a little while. And what has worked out best for us is Skype, of all things. Uh, and it hasn't been flawless, but it's been fun and good enough to watch. I would say. Absolutely. That's, that's fun. When is the next battle? When are you guys going to face off again? So we're going to, our next one is scheduled for July 10th. We've been doing them at 8 30 PM Eastern and they're on the Buffalo pinball Twitch channel at twitch.tv slash Buffalo pinball. Joe, are we going to see you going head to head or are you staying in the commentary booth?
    17:05
    Um, I would like to play. The plan is potentially to play Kevin in Hobbit probably in three weeks. Ah, nice. We will see how the setup is. We've got to kind of take the setup of JJP Live from Eric's house and bring it back to the new office and get it all set up. And if we do that, then Kevin and I might play Hobbit together. Fingers crossed. That's all you can do in the land of streaming. But, guys, listen, thanks for taking some time out of your day, talking a little pinball streaming. Joe, I'll see you here in a few minutes. But, Kevin, on a personal note, thank you for everything that you've been doing, you know, in the pinball community with furthering these streams. I think that you're one of the pioneers there for pinball streaming and to see the channel evolve over time and to see what it's doing now is remarkable. So thank you so much. Well, thanks so much. And we appreciate the, the partnership we have with JJP. But before I go, can I ask you guys a question? As a fan of JJP, what's the coolest, what's the coolest part about the new the new facility you guys are in the new, the new factory? Oh, that's an interesting question. That is an interesting question. I'll go first. I, to be honest with you, I'm a kid in a candy store in here because everything is new. And, uh, uh, I think for me, probably the coolest thing is knowing that the heart of this company, which is in the manufacturing is right behind, uh, you know, a couple of doors that divide the offices. And for me, uh, that's kind of unparalleled.
    18:25
    Yeah, that's definitely the answer for sure is the fact that the factory is attached to us now. just from a personal note, I, I enjoy the space. We were, we were getting pretty cramped in the old place. So having this space is really nice. All right, guys, we'll wrap it up. Kevin, how can people follow the channel? How can they see what's going on over at Buffalo pinball? Sure. You can check us out on Twitch, just to go to twitch.tv slash Buffalo pinball and hit the follow button and you'll be notified when our streams go live and be sure to stop by on July 10th at 8 30 PM Eastern for the next JJP battle. sounds good i appreciate it guys have a good fourth thank you you too all right we're gonna call it a wrap here on the jersey jack pinball podcast i want to sincerely thank you all for listening taking the time out it means the world i appreciate that uh before i let you go a couple quick reminders okay and that is facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube follow jersey jack pinball at all of those social media hot spots because that exclusive content that insider access that I've really been wanting to offer and to deliver to you. It's going to be available at all those places. So go ahead, follow somewhere, follow them all, and take part in the fun because it's not going to get any better than what's coming up here pretty soon at Jersey Jack Pinball. If you want to work in pinball, okay, who doesn't want to do that? Careers at jerseyjackpinball.com, C-A-R-E-E-R-S at jerseyjackpinball.com. I highly recommend just ending your career wherever you're at right now and getting into pinball. It's a rewarding experience. I can promise you that. And finally, if you want to contact me or reach out to the show, you can do so by sending an email to podcast at jerseyjackpinball.com. It's the weekend. Everybody be smart. Please be safe. But most importantly, don't forget to take some time out of your day and play some pinball. So long, everybody.
    20:23
    you