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BOF Trip Report

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·34m 8s·analyzed·Feb 24, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Don reports on Barrels of Fun facility tour and glimpses unreleased specialty pinball machine.

Summary

Don recently attended the Twippy Pinball Festival and Barrels of Fun factory tour in Houston, where he saw a new unreleased pinball machine under NDA. He provides details about BOF's production facility, quality control process, and their roadmap: 120 more Labyrinth units to build before Game Two, which will only be announced when ready to ship. The mystery machine is a specialty product, not the next main release, positioned for niche venues rather than mass market adoption.

Key Claims

  • Barrels of Fun has enough parts to build 120 more Labyrinth machines, bringing total to approximately 1,400 units

    high confidence · Don describing BOF factory details from tour

  • Game Two from Barrels of Fun will not be revealed early; only announced when games are in boxes and ready to ship

    high confidence · Don quoting BOF's strategy to avoid pre-announcement deposits and delayed production

  • A new Barrels of Fun pinball machine was revealed at the tour, currently in whitewood form with working mechanisms

    high confidence · Don describing the shrouded reveal at BOF facility

  • Early Labyrinth production runs had issues; BOF changed components (metal to plastic, gear ratios) and production is now solid

    high confidence · Don discussing BOF's troubleshooting process

  • The revealed machine is a specialty product, not mainstream; projected success at $250-300 units sold

    medium confidence · Don's personal assessment based on venue fit and market positioning

  • Barrels of Fun's production facility is larger than Spooky's new building in square footage and has higher ceilings

    high confidence · Don comparing facility sizes from tour observation

  • Some employees of other pinball companies were present at the BOF tour, unlike Stern's policy

    high confidence · Don noting contrast with typical Stern factory tour exclusivity

  • Labyrinth has been 'very well received' according to Electric Bat representatives at WIPI

    medium confidence · Don reporting secondhand from Electric Bat feedback

Notable Quotes

  • “They don't want to do this thing where you reveal a game and then start taking deposits and then three months later is when the production goes into place.”

    Don @ ~22:00 — Highlights BOF's contrarian strategy to avoid industry standard pre-order model, possibly subtle criticism of Spooky

  • “This is something that's really fun, but not necessarily something that you'd be like, okay, screw Harry Potter, I'm going to get this instead.”

    Don @ ~26:00 — Don characterizing the mystery machine as complementary niche product, not direct competitor to mainstream releases

  • “They don't want people just cropping by... No sign on the street at all, and that's by design.”

    Don @ ~8:00 — Describes BOF's intentional operational discretion and facility secrecy

  • “Wire harnesses is where the bread gets buttered.”

    Don @ ~12:00 — Don emphasizing quality control and manufacturing detail at BOF

  • “There's one located near Wienerschnitzel in Katy, Texas.”

    Don @ ~32:00 — Minor tangent about BOF location reference, shows personal details of trip

  • “Four to six weeks we're probably going to know [what the mystery machine is].”

    Don @ ~59:00 — Prediction on timeline for mystery machine reveal

Entities

Barrels of FuncompanyDonpersonDavid Van NesspersonBrian SavagepersonElectric BatcompanyKale and RachelpersonTwippy Pinball FestivaleventSpooky Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Barrels of Fun deliberately avoids pre-announcement deposits and early reveals; will only announce Game Two when production is complete and inventory is in boxes, contrasting with Stern/Spooky industry standard

    high · Don quotes BOF's intention: 'They don't want to do this thing where you reveal a game and then start taking deposits and then three months later is when the production goes into place'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Early Labyrinth production had issues requiring component changes (metal to plastic, gear ratio adjustments); current production is now 'rock solid' after troubleshooting

    high · Don: 'They started putting games out and started having problems immediately... they went back and redid them again... they changed some gear ratios and then now it's been rock solid'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Barrels of Fun facility is 13,000+ sq ft with capability to build 10-20 units weekly; has parts for 120 more Labyrinth machines bringing total to ~1,400 units

    high · Don's tour report: 'they have enough parts to build another 120 Labyrinth machines, which will bring their total build at most to one thousand, four hundred'

  • ?

    machine_intel: Barrels of Fun has a new specialty pinball machine in whitewood form with working mechanisms; not Game Two; positioned as limited niche product (~250-300 units) for specialty venues; expected to reveal in 4-6 weeks

    high · Don: 'There was a machine shrouded in a cloth... The shroud was lifted and gasps were had... it'll be a pinball machine product of Barrels of Fun, and it is not game number two'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.102

0:00
This ain't Texas, ain't no hold'em, so lay your cards down, down, down, down. So park your Lexus, and throw your keys up, stick around, around, around, around. Hey, what's up Patreon? What's going on? It's Don, it's Patri-Don time, man. And I'm sure everybody that's doing a podcast this week is probably using this song. But at the risk of being overused, overrated, overworked, I decided to put in some effort this week.
0:39
Having just returned home from Texas from the Twippy Pinball Festival and Barrels of Fun, I want to talk about that because I think by far I've been getting more questions about what I saw there than anything else. So, Beyonce, we'll see you here in a little bit. Alright guys, check this out, check this out. I put in so much damn effort. Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Bally Williams, Bally Winters, Knapp Arcade, Bally Winters,
1:28
And everything that happened over that 48 hours I was in Texas. But let's talk about Barrels of Fun, right? Cause that was the, that was the real key. I bought a ticket to the Twippies when they went on sale thinking, eh, it'd be kind of cool to go down and see what this is all like, check out Wormhole. And then once I found out Barrels of Fun was having like NDAs at the door and we were gonna see something cool, I was like, that's it, buy the plane ticket. We're going for sure now, buddy. We're going for sure. So this was yesterday, man, Saturday. What a day to be in Houston, 40 degrees out, Freezing cold, man, for Texas. I thought it was going to be like in Florida down there. Weather be weird, man, but it do be February. So we roll up in there at 10 o'clock. We all meet in this little nondescript commercial building. It's in a whole row of just, you know, those commercial distribution center kind of places. No sign on the street at all, and that's by design. They don't want people just cropping by. But you go in there, they do have a sticker on the door there, the window. It just says Barrels of Fun, has a little logo on it. So I'll pop on in there, and everybody's already gathered. I showed up right at 10, fashionably late. In the lobby they got a ton of spooky games, which is awesome. They had a prototype Rob Zombie, like the only one that was ever done with a butter cabinet, so that was cool. And Alice Cooper was there. They had a Stern Spider-Man. They didn't have a Scooby Doo. They did have another, oh, they had a Halloween. And then, of course, a Labyrinth, like right there. And it was like their prototype, too. So that was cool. All of these things are in this tiny little room, just like the beginning of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but just kind of crammed together. We signed our NDAs. Brian Savage was there. David Van Es was there. My new homie. And a ton of other people, man. If you're listening, especially Chris. God, tell me your name is Chris, man. I'm going to get your t-shirt out to you. Dude just found out about me because of Pinball at the Beach of all things, and then now he's on the Patreon, so he gets to hear this. And he was there. And he's probably the only person listening to this that also knows what they showed off. So it started with a factory tour, man. You know, wire harnesses is where the bread gets buttered. You know, I've seen all this stuff before. It's terribly interesting, you know, but I was there just having fun goofing off with everybody. We get into the main development floor of this cavernous area, and while not quite the size of JJP, it is a quite large production facility. Higher ceilings than Spooky's got at their new building. Square footage-wise, it was bigger because it was kind of storage facilities too. I'm John Popadiuk, and I'll see you next time on Playfields. Anyway, they throw the playfield and the rotisserie and then, you know, first station, mechanisms and things go in, you know, flipper bumpers and, or, you know, flipper coils and all that business. The next one, the wiring gets put in and the next one, even more stuff gets put in and plastics and everything. And then finally, they get QC'd and then it goes into a cabinet. So, they're kind of using the same kind of QC process that Spooky uses where QC is done on a populated playfield before it meets a cabinet. being part of the nata and below the cabinet as well you know so that's nice uh... you know but nice a production facility tons elaborate stayer are getting made we did get some information and that was that uh... they have enough parts to build another hundred twenty labyrinth switch will bring their total build at most to one thousand four you know maybe the be a couple of rejects with parts in the may come a little under that but essentially at this point they've got about a hundred Rel før FOV fosse ada�던 kurd Mira Frieden Cem mainly sie rareperatu cruaut account,
Stern Pinball
company
JJPcompany
Sterling Balls of Steelperson
Kanedaperson
Jamieperson
American Pinballcompany
Rob Zombiegame
Labyrinthgame
Next Levelcompany
Lumberjack Johnny'scompany
Ace Loungecompany
Lit Pinballcompany
District 82company

product_strategy: Mystery BOF machine targets specialty pinball venues (Next Level, Lumberjack Johnny's, Lit Pinball, Ace Lounge) rather than mainstream mass-market adoption; positioned as complementary to major releases like Harry Potter

high · Don: 'This isn't something like... okay, screw Harry Potter, I'm going to get this instead... I think if you were looking at sales around $250 to $300, that'd probably be a success'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Barrels of Fun maintains intentionally low-profile facility (no street signage, NDA-protected tours, selective access) to control information flow and prevent casual traffic

    high · Don: 'No sign on the street at all, and that's by design. They don't want people just cropping by'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Twippy tournament results (Electric Bat vs. unknown competitor) were extremely close (13.4 vs 13.5 voting scores); Kaneda (competitor/viewer) had emotional meltdown on live stream; Sterling created reaction video commentary

    high · Don: 'the difference in voting between one and two was like 13.4 and 13.5... boom Electric Bat won... we're watching... celebrating... looking over at our phones... this guy's... really crying over this'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Labyrinth has been well-received in market; Don owned a copy and sold it to someone who 'really enjoyed it'; Electric Bat reports positive reception

    high · Don: 'Labyrinth has been very well received. I mean, I bought the game, I liked it, and the person I sold it to really enjoyed it'

  • ?

    content_signal: Don expresses periodic content creation burnout; questions sustainability of podcast work; seeks explicit community feedback to maintain motivation for weekly effort

    high · Don: 'I get burnt out a little bit sometimes... you know, is this worthwhile continuing?... just let me know... either drop an email, a text, drop in the Discord'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Some employees from other pinball companies were allowed to attend BOF factory tour, unlike Stern's restrictive policy; suggests more open industry collaboration at BOF

    high · Don: 'some folks that work with other pinball companies were actually in attendance there, which I thought was a little strange because typically, if you go to Stern, you cannot be an employee of any other pinball company'

  • ?

    event_signal: Twippy Pinball Festival drew significant attendance (40+ people at BOF tour alone); Electric Bat won tournament; streaming/recording available; integrated with broader pinball community events

    high · Don: 'there was 40 of us there in the room... I mean I wasn't because I'm blocked but like this guy next to me... we're watching the Twip... celebrating and hooting and hollering'

    • 6:02
    and then they started putting games out and started having problems immediately. and then so they went back and redid them again. I think they actually went from metal to plastic or changed some gear ratios and then now it's been rock solid. so the games that they're building now are the best of the entire run. now that the team is experienced and they've been able to troubleshoot things until this point. somebody was asking a question... I totally forgot what it was. Hi, every one of ya people here is Dillon Pess. Thanks for tune in to Anna'Bros Media Check de Quilts for a portion of an episode of Another listeners view of Game number one and again last saturday, cam habían ike Bloc Ke Supai Lewis in сторон edon ma erzio amb l' subjected dan musik Sergi asn grusz polem yuk kur ww non melna All right, so that was the big reveals there were that we got 120 games left to build. They'll probably sell out and game number two is coming as soon as that one's done. Game number two won't be shown early. We didn't see that. I was going down there fully expecting to see game number two and then, you know, a week later they were probably going to get ready to launch it. So it was my original thinking. But that turned out to not be the case. Game number two will be revealed when it's ready and there's games in boxes. They don't want to do this thing where you reveal a game and then start taking deposits and then three months later is when the production goes into place. I don't know if that was a dig. It's spooky because that's kind of what they do. It seems to be relatively normal in the industry, I would say, amongst Stern and amongst Spooky for sure to be like, you know, this game is released. In the name of God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen Oyjpaon Impeachment Monkeyfile Part 3
    8:57
    That was American Pinball's intention with game number seven was to have this thing ready and already like at locations and in hands of distributors ready to sell day one. Will that happen? I don't know. I'm going to talk about my perspective on that. I may be able to drop it a little bit later than this thing will definitely be in another show because it's damn interesting. Oh my goodness. So after that, it was time for all right, you know, you guys want to go and see this new thing, everybody in the conference room. So we all pile into this conference room, which is decorated with a lot of kn 10310 NachoG twream Penn Street barICES I almost gave a juicy reveal there. There was a machine shrouded in a cloth, much like the Kaaba in Mecca, right? Black cloth over it. There weren't Arabic inscriptions on it or anything, but that was in the corner of the room. So obviously that's what we were going to look at. I'm trying not to reveal too much about this accidentally. Look, I want to talk about it. I want to talk about it, but I did sign this technically legally binding document, but I also don't want to be an asshole to these guys because they were super cool to me and it seems like we could do some work in the future, which is something I'd really like to do. And plus, plus, okay, okay, I think it's going to get leaked probably soon. I mean there was 40 of us there in the room of various stripes. Even some folks that work with other pinball companies were actually in attendance there, which I thought was a little strange because typically, If you go to Stern, you cannot be an employee of any other pinball company to go on their factory tours. Obviously, they knew some people in attendance did work at other companies and were there and were fine with it. So, I kind of think this isn't super top secret, but we were there and then the shroud was lifted and gasps were had and we were all pleasantly surprised by what we saw. There was a nice little story that went along with it, why they came to the conclusion of creating this thing that they did. And I'm excited to be able to talk about it at some point. What I was allowed to say, and I checked with them to make sure I didn't want to be a jerk and violate any NDA stuff, but they said, I can say that we saw a new pinball machine, that's what it was. It'll be a pinball machine product of Barrels of Fun, and it is not game number two. It's not like their next release that's coming out. The
    12:07
    Lin Kangerımı choses que John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Kanyo Klyce, Beatbox, Kanyo Klyce, David Van Es, Pinball Machine,
    13:07
    And then maybe later in the development of game number two, this thing, this project could come to fruition and then enter the line and then have a period of being sold, maybe in limited numbers, maybe not particularly limited numbers. But to give you a sense, I know this sucks, man, because I want to just tell you what it is. But to give you a sense, and I posted this on Discord, this is something that you would like to see, you know, that rich friend that buys everything, you would like to see him get it so you could have access to it. This isn't something like, you know, I buy everything so I have Thunderbirds, you know, and it's like, ugh, why'd you buy that? Well, because I wanted to have everything. Yeah, but I don't even want to play that. Like, it sucks. This is something that's really fun, but not necessarily something that you'd be like, okay, screw Harry Potter, I'm going to get this instead, right? So I don't think, it's not going to be adopted like a Stern in every house, and I think if you were looking at sales around $250 to $300, that'd probably be a success for this device. This is the pinball machine, it's not their next game, it was playable, it's in whitewood formation with mechanisms that work, it's fun, it's shootable, it's, you know, the gimmicks that are there, they all worked, so, yeah, I'd like to see this come out. I would like to see, you know, somebody nearby me have one that I can go play. I think this is something that like, you know, Electric Bat would get. Maybe not, I don't think District 82 would get it. But like a Lumberjack Johnny's type place, a Lit Pinball in Minneapolis, an Ace Goge would probably get one of these. You know, like those really like landmark pinball places, Next Level would certainly get one. You know, a place that already has enough of a collection, right? All of these are great. They have a whole Stern lineup. They've got maybe a couple of JJPs, maybe a couple of Spookys, a little esoteric 80s area, some EMs, and then this would fit into that kind of place. It's like something like, oh, all right, hey, this place over here has one of these. Let's go play it kind of thing. Blue 좋은 이름이 비용 2 20Sorry to take the slip out of my stock too late So for now I am really hoping for a 5.9 mm The thing with playing early games, you know, like, I was over at Spooky, you know, six months before Evil Dead was revealed to me at least. And, you know, they had a new game and they were like, you know, Don, it's really not even worth seeing at this point. Like, it just wouldn't be, it's just not ready to kind of be seen. It wouldn't be exciting, you know. And of course, to me, any new pinball would be exciting. I want to see it, you know. If they have Beetlejuice in whitewood form, like, let me go play it. The thing is with a white wood, while you may have the layout that you want and some mechanisms that you want, every ball guide is not going to be perfect. Maybe there's an element in it that's not in its final stage. You'd go and play it and it would play clunky because the ball guides aren't by millimeters exactly where they need to be yet. Maybe they're still testing a concept on should we use this size of rubber or this size of rubber? Should this be a post? Should this have a rubber on it? Kevon & David Webb, Free Shops Bicycle Box Fridge Opto Board rat
    16:56
    Jack Mas 75 Leach for Life with Tim amplica I just hang out man Let have Diet Coke and be cool So that kind of how I play it You know I not mining for content and trying to get myself you know banned from everything I trying to be you know kind of a go between you know the fan community and you know my own like fandom of pinball and, you know, the folks there. I am rambling. So after that, we got lunch. They catered in some Texas barbecue. People seemed to love it. I had some macaroni and cheese. Otherwise, there was some brisket that was there because this is Texas. Subtitles by the Amara.org community
    17:56
    Thanks for watching! Nancy penis Shoelin, www.willywink.com Tim Kitzrow, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast, Laser Los. Best Finals� desserts, Best Finals mots, Best Sweet Poor Friends, Best Winners Evenings صamorph호�rator leakage souls and friendssn vienen Japonie Ortiz Best Finals celebritykiego epblitz and Best Polyphô unexpected David Van Es texted me and he was like, hey, I missed you. And I was like, you know, he was, I failed at a stall ball like the first round. I just totally flubbed it. You know, I had a shot right up at those fork locks, you know, and I like bricked it twice and then bounced right out and outlayed it. I'm like, damn it, man. I thought I was going to do better at this. You know, so after that, I was like, you know, I need to get some food. I want to see if I can go ride this coaster. I'm at least going to go to Bucky's because there's a couple of them around. There's one located near Wienerschnitzel in Katy, Texas. So I was going to go to that one. And then I'm sitting there eating my hot dog, right? David Van Es, co-partner, Barrels of Fun, and David Van Es, co-founder, Barrels of Fun, He is a member of the World Concreteниon team and for more information visit weddingragnon.com
    21:38
    we look forward to seeing you next time Westcoaster.net, ThemeParkReview.com. We went to that first Halloween, celebrating the Haunted Mansion event, or the Haunted Mansion 35th Anniversary or something like that. He was there running the cameras during the event. They had a whole panel in one of the theaters where they had the voice actors from Nightmare Before Christmas came there and Danny Elfman was doing music. It was a whole production in the park. He was there at that event and I'm like, I was there at that event. I went to the Celebrating the Pirates of the Caribbean event where some of the Imagineers that worked on the 1967 ride were in attendance and stuff. He's like, that's so cool. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO BATTLEGROUND.COM, LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, SHARE, COMMENT. I'll see you next time. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye. outreachpinballgames.com
    23:38
    Tim Kitzrow, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast, Laser Los. Wind chick, to I digress was
    24:48
    I digress was so мир 약 here in this So much effort weekly, you guys, weekly. Congratulations to Kale and Rachel at Electric Bat. Man, I love the Electric Bat cast. I loved them when they were on the Pinball Party podcast. I love their whole vibe. I've been to both of their arcades. They're amazing. They're like legitimately cool people. I've met them both. They've ridden in my truck. Kale rode in the back of my truck driving over to JJP in Chicago. Like we've already had Madcap Adventures together. So to see my friends like take it to WIPI that was awesome man I glad I got to be there for it I glad I got to be there for it Yeah just like super cool people Tim Kitzrow Loser Kid Pinball Podcast Laser Los Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, 6 Shan, 49, 2, 22, 1,
    26:58
    2, 3, This guy's really seem to care about pinball. From a collector's perspective, they're like, we want to put stuff out that's like, you're really, you know, has value and that people would like, you know, not just strictly look at, you know, building materials and how can we build the minimum and sell the most and all this stuff. And so far it seems like it's serving them well. What they're telling me is Labyrinth has been very well received. I mean, I bought the game, I liked it, and the person I sold it to really enjoyed it. I love their topper. We talked about working with licensors and working with distributors and things. It's just doing shop talk and stuff, but like I spent like almost all of my Saturday at Barrels of Fun, which was super cool. The guys are having fun there. I would love to be able to find a way to do pinball stuff full time. I don't know what that entails or what that looks like.
    27:47
    I doubt that I could probably match the budget that I have now, unfortunately, in this other dead-end job that I'm at, unless I was working for like all six major pinball companies. Are there even six anymore? Are they even six anymore? So after that, you know, I drove off, went to my hotel, crashed, got up this morning, eight o'clock, went to the airport, flew home and crashed again in bed. And then now I'm awake talking on Patreon to all my awesome supporters. And I get burnt out a little bit sometimes like you would with anything. And, you know, sometimes I'm driving and I get inside my own head and I'm like, you know, is this worthwhile continuing? You know, am I really having fun with this? He Krugman,
    28:53
    Hey Unit, what's your favorite Xbox -용 Game Tutorial sounds like on Twitch? What games do you like more, Cinecom or Starboard? ahan durable martin pinto c3d3d1-mao ejektee,
    30:03
    www.patreon.com What I need from you guys to make this a closed loop cycle is, you know, just let me know, you know, either drop an email, a text, drop in the discord and say like, Hey, it'd be cool if you did this. I want to get this or you suck when you do this. Quit doing it. And I'll keep putting in that work every week. I put in so much effort weekly. And Sterling, Balls of Steel, you're, you're a damn fool, man. Sterling did this reaction video to Kaneda's meltdown. I'll talk about that for a second. And of course I'm watching and then you know finally we get to the podcasting part of it like the best part of the show and then it's like Jamie announces that like the difference in voting between one and two was like 13.4 and 13.5 or something so it was close and I was like oh that's kind of interesting and then I was like boom electric bat won and then somebody's like look at Kaneda he's on live right now so we're watching we're standing watching the twippies being recorded live and everything and like celebrating and hooting and hollering and all that and then we're like looking over at our phones I mean I wasn't because I'm blocked but like this guy next to me and he's like man this guy's And he's just, he was like listening to the whole time while he's watching the twip. He's like, he's really crying over this. And I'm like, of course he is, man. Why, why, why, why not make this about yourself, I guess. So Sterling, oh my God, what a legend of a dude. Um, he's already posted like somebody string screen captured about 10 minutes of this rant that he did. It's all been deleted now. Um, but somebody screen captured it and put it up on YouTube and Sterling took that and did a reaction commentary to it, which is like side splittingly hilarious because it's like. www.willywink.com And now, from the latest batch, if you're interested, I think I'm finally getting off my ass to add motion to it, and so I'm excited about that. I'm gonna show that off, like if I get it to work and move, I'm gonna bring the damn thing to... Maybe I'll bring it to TPF, and then we can like, show it off, and then I'll give it away to somebody or something. I think that would be fun. That would be a fun giveaway to do at TPF, to do a Star Wars topper with motion. I'll have to find somebody that's got a Star Wars game they're bringing, I'll rig the thing up, and then we'll give it away, um, on the Saturday or something. Somebody could have it. Beyonce, why don't you take us on out? This ain't Texas, ain't no hold'em, so lay your cards down, down, down, down. I thought she said this ain't a hoedown, but this ain't hold'em. This is a jam dude. Alright guys, more as I know it. Can't wait for this new game from Barrels man. See what it is. Think it's GI Joe? You think it's Dune? I didn't see any hint of Dune anywhere, no sand on the floor, no trolling, no nothing.
    33:55
    The good thing is, I don't think we're going to have to wait that long. Four to six weeks we're probably going to know. How about the time Cuphead ever comes out?