Journalist Tool

Kineticist

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

v0.1.0

← Back to items

SDTM: Special Presentation: Flip N Out Pinball

Straight Down the Middle·video·20m 50s·held·Mar 5, 2017
View original

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Flip N Out Pinball vendor spotlight showcasing Escalera, Jersey Jack machines, and custom mods

Summary

Zach from Straight Down the Middle interviews Larry Kitchen of Flip N Out Pinball at the 2017 Louisville Arcade and Pinball Expo, showcasing the Escalera stair-climbing hand truck and discussing the company's distributor relationships with Jersey Jack and Chicago Gaming. The interview features demonstrations of Jersey Jack pinball machines (Wizard of Oz, Dialed In!!, Hobbit) and highlights Flip N Out's custom mods including laser-cut coin door replacements and premium lockdown bar accessories.

Key Claims

  • Flip N Out Pinball has been selling Escalera stair-climbing hand trucks for about 7 years after retiring from a full-time job

    high confidence · Larry Kitchen speaking directly about his business timeline

  • Jersey Jack Wizard of Oz Ruby Red Edition is still in current production with demand continuing

    high confidence · Larry Kitchen discussing Wizard of Oz production status at 2017 Expo

  • Jersey Jack will stop producing Hobbit to focus manufacturing lines on Dialed In!! and Wizard of Oz

    medium confidence · Larry Kitchen stating JJP production plans regarding two manufacturing lines

  • Dialed In!! was expected to begin deliveries in late second quarter with test game undergoing code updates at the Expo

    high confidence · Larry Kitchen discussing delivery timeline and mentioning Steve from Jersey Jack bringing new code

  • Escalera pricing is $2,051 list price with Larry's current discount price of $1,795

    high confidence · Larry Kitchen providing specific pricing information during product demonstration

  • Flip N Out's custom coin door replacements are out of stock but will be available within 1-2 weeks and by Texas Pinball Festival

    high confidence · Larry Kitchen discussing inventory status and timeline for custom mod production

  • AC/DC coin door mod will be the next design after Attack from Mars, with AC/DC production timeline described as 'a ways off yet'

    medium confidence · Larry Kitchen announcing upcoming custom mod designs at the Expo

  • Dialed In!! comes in Standard, Limited Edition, and Collector's Edition with collector's edition featuring special powder coat and additional differentiating features

    high confidence · Larry Kitchen describing Dialed In!! product tiers during demo

Notable Quotes

  • “I had back surgery a while back, and I said, I can't do this anymore unless I find out. So that's what got me into it.”

    Larry Kitchen@ 2:45 — Personal motivation behind founding Flip N Out's Escalera business

  • “They've got two lines now. So they're making, they're going to make the dialed in. Hobbits are going to stop. And they're going to put dialed in on the main line and they'll probably stop making Hobbits and still produce Wizard of Oz because they're still in demand.”

    Larry Kitchen@ 11:19 — Key intelligence about Jersey Jack's production capacity allocation and pipeline decisions

  • “It may be the most beautiful machine ever made. It's gorgeous. This thing is a piece of art.”

    Zach (SDTM Host)@ 10:04 — Enthusiastic endorsement of Wizard of Oz design and quality

  • “So that's the standard look. Which looks good but Larry has upped the game. I have. At least we think so. Oh it's fantastic.”

    [name withheld pending review]@ 14:19 — Discussion of Flip N Out's Hobbit Black Arrow Edition premium customization

  • “Nobody at home uses it [coin door]. So I took this to Expo last year to show it off and I asked people that question. What do you think if we got rid of the coin man? And they're going like, absolutely, this is gorgeous.”

    Larry Kitchen@ 15:59 — Consumer feedback driving design of Flip N Out's custom coin door replacement product

  • “You guys heard it here. ACDC is the next one up.”

    Larry Kitchen@ 19:18 — Public announcement of upcoming AC/DC custom coin door mod design at major Expo event

Entities

Flip N Out PinballcompanyLarry KitchenpersonZach SharpepersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyChicago Gaming CompanycompanyPat Wallerperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack Dialed In launching with three product tiers (Standard, Limited Edition, Collector's Edition) with increasing feature differentiation and special powder coats

    high · Larry Kitchen: 'This comes in a standard, a limited edition, and a collector's edition... with the collector's edition you'll get a different colored powder coat and all kinds of special little things'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Jersey Jack reallocating manufacturing lines away from Hobbit to prioritize Dialed In and continue Wizard of Oz production

    medium · Larry Kitchen: 'They've got two lines now... they're going to make the dialed in. Hobbits are going to stop. And they're going to put dialed in on the main line and they'll probably stop making Hobbits'

  • ?

    product_launch: Jersey Jack Dialed In expected to begin shipping in late Q2 2017 with code updates still in development at Expo

    high · Larry Kitchen: 'late second quarter, probably late second quarter' and 'They're supposedly bringing me some new code today... Steve from Jersey Jack's coming in with their tech'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Flip N Out developing modular, game-agnostic custom coin door replacements with interchangeable artwork inserts and laser-cut backlit designs as aftermarket enhancement

    high · Larry Kitchen demonstrating dragon door with interchangeable inserts and announcing Attack from Mars and AC/DC versions, noting 'it's universal. It will go in any game'

  • ?

    business_signal: Flip N Out Pinball grew from Escalera seller to full distributor for Jersey Jack and Chicago Gaming, indicating business model evolution and market opportunity

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.062

0:00
You hit it off with a bumper, now you're straight down the middle again You had a fling with a fling shot, you're rolling out the alley again I tried to cradle you with my flipper, it was all in vain Baby, baby, baby, why are you doing me wrong? Do me wrong Don't you remember the good days when we used to get along?
0:30
We'd make those four wheels spin all night, then we'd be singing our song. We'd be singing our song. You said life was getting white, so you brought two friends in. Two friends in. But I can hardly keep up, you guys are making my head spin.
0:47
Now I've let you all drain and my dang old flippers went limp. Hey everybody, it's Zach with Straight Down the Middle Pinball. I'm here today with Larry Kitchen with Flippin' Out Pinball. He's our vendor spotlight. He's got a lot of cool stuff going on here at the 2017 Louisville Arcade and Pinball Expo. How's it going, Larry? Good. How are you? Pretty good. So, Larry owns Flippin' Out Pinball. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about your company. I've been in the pinball business as a hobbyist initially for about 30 years. I started off like a lot of people, bought a game, and the next thing I know I have 40. That's right. I started working on them and buying and selling them to support the habit. So then I retired from a real job and started working out a bit more about seven years ago. And that's when I pulled back down. Wonderful. How's the response been so far in the last seven years? You know, it starts off slow. It started off with just escalators. And then after I started doing that, I took one of the shows. I had an opportunity to become a Jersey Jack distributor. Really? Yeah, the best. So that became a great opportunity for me. And then Chicago Gaming, your coach, I became a distributor for them. So it keeps me busy. It's a full-time job. What we'll do is, here in a month or so, we're going to go down to Larry's showroom, talk about his business more in-depth, see the showcase and stuff like that. But speaking of Escalara, let's talk about this thing. So the Escalara, this is considered a hand truck? It's considered a stair-climbing hand truck. Stair-climbing hand truck. What's the beauty of it? It takes all the work out of climbing stairs, going downstairs. So if you, most of us do, have a house with stairs in it, you're constantly changing games. After a while, your buddies won't come over to help you anymore. You can't buy them a piece of beer to help you. So you've got to end up doing it yourself. And I had back surgery a while back, and I said, I can't do this anymore unless I find out. So that's what got me into it. And now I can do it by myself.
[name withheld pending review]
person
Mattperson
The Wizard of Ozgame
Dialed In!game
The Hobbitgame
Escaleraproduct
Flip N Out Pinball Black Arrow Editionproduct
Flip N Out Custom Coin Door Replacementproduct
2017 Louisville Arcade and Pinball Expoevent
Straight Down the Middle Pinballcontent
Attack from Marsgame
Medieval Madnessgame
Game of Thronesgame
Revenge from Marsgame
AC/DCgame
Texas Pinball Festivalevent
Back Alleycompany

high · Larry Kitchen: 'I started off like a lot of people, bought a game... I took one of the shows. I had an opportunity to become a Jersey Jack distributor... Then Chicago Gaming... it keeps me busy. It's a full-time job'

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong collector demand for premium aesthetic mods and customization options, driving Flip N Out's business in laser-cut trim kits, button upgrades, and artistic coin door replacements

    high · Zach: 'Once you see it, you have to have it if you have a Hobbit' regarding Black Arrow mod; Larry noting custom mod inventory selling well

  • ?

    product_concern: Industry questioning traditional coin door functionality on home collector machines, with community feedback indicating preference for aesthetic alternatives

    medium · Larry Kitchen: 'Nobody at home uses it... I took this to Expo last year to show it off and I asked people... absolutely, this is gorgeous' regarding removing coin doors

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack using premium materials (powder coat options, special features) to differentiate LE and Collector's Edition tiers and justify premium pricing

    high · Larry Kitchen discussing Dialed In tiers and Hobbit 'Smaug edition' powder coat variations

  • ?

    venue_signal: Major expos serving as dual-purpose venues for vendor demonstrations, prototype testing, code updates in-person, and new product announcement platforms

    high · 2017 Louisville Expo featured Dialed In test game receiving code updates, Flip N Out's custom mod prototypes, and direct product announcements to community

  • ?

    operational_signal: Stair-climbing hand trucks and lifting equipment becoming essential infrastructure for active collectors managing multi-game collections in residential settings

    high · Larry Kitchen: 'We're talking about collectors, and many of you guys have 10, 20 games... for the fraction of a pinball machine yourself, you'll have a machine that helps you transport it for years'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Flip N Out's custom coin door roadmap (Attack from Mars → AC/DC → TBD) driven by collector demand and requests rather than pre-planned schedule

    medium · Larry Kitchen: 'We haven't decided which one we're going to do next. But certainly people ask... we really want one. Why won't you take this?'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Flip N Out managing inventory build-up for custom mods with phased production rollout to avoid stockouts (out of stock at Expo, restocking within 1-2 weeks)

    high · Larry Kitchen: 'This is on the website. We currently have it out of stock because we're building up some inventory... probably put it as soon as I get some inventory built up. I'll be there in the next week or two'

    • 2:55
    It's as easy as pushing the button. So I can just push this button. You see it'll climb the stairs. I'm not doing anything as far as lifting. It's the same effort if you have a machine on. If I want to go down, I can go up the other way. It's got a built-in strap system here. There's a lot of accessories you can buy for this. It's lots of accessories.
    3:17
    Big wheels are something I recommend. And I move the game, whatever I'm moving on on stairs, I move it with the big wheels. That thing is cool. It's really nice. It balances the whole setup for me. Yeah, it balances the load. It's all about working smart and not hard. That's right. And I'm an old guy, and I can't work harder. You're not that old.
    3:35
    Well, this is awesome. Can you tell us a little bit about the pricing of something like this? The list price is $2,051. I discount them. So right now, my current price is $1,795. That's a steal. That's unbelievable. So people will say, well, you know, it's a lot of money, but like I said, I already had the back surgery. Back surgery costs a lot more than any one. So you don't want to hurt yourself. We're talking about collectors, and many of you guys have 10, 20 games. These things aren't getting any cheaper either. So for the fraction of a pinball machine yourself, you'll have a machine that helps you transport it for years. When you start getting into the Hobbits, they're 350 pounds. That's right. So that in itself, try to lift, pull 350 pounds off the stairs by yourself. Yeah. Very difficult. Try to even put it on the dolly. Put it on the dolly or move the box. Yeah. Okay.
    4:48
    Is that good? It as easy as that It how easy it is guys Up and down basement, stairs, and absolutely no effort by Larry. Nothing.
    5:51
    Just like that. Makes it look like it weighs 100 pounds. Now, big wheels? Big wheels, yeah. Plenty of accessories for the Escalera as well. Very nice.
    6:18
    Look at that. No balancing. No hands! Nice and brisk, 40 degrees out here in Louisville. That's the way to do it.
    6:47
    That's great quality of this product too. Made in the USA. I love it. They've been building them for over 50 years.
    7:01
    It's a collector's must have, that's for sure. There's old parts too. That's right. It's just so simple.
    7:13
    That's the 60 inch version. Come in three heights. Come in 60, 66, 66 and 72 inch. So, adjust that. You said there was an accessory to make it like a pinball jack, right? Yep, I have the forklift on the other side. The forklift, yeah. We won't see a drop of sweat on Larry's fork. I also have a forklift model which is there. This is the forklift model. So now, if I want to lift the game up, all I have to do is hand crank. That's cool.
    8:14
    This comes off. Yeah. So I can take this off and it comes right in your hands. It's like a built-in pinball jack. Yeah. Or a dolly. Yeah. So I can go underneath the game. I have a plate that goes underneath the game. I can lift up from the front and move it if I need to. And this thing is heavy duty, too. I saw you out in the parking lot effortlessly. It's heavy duty, it's built really well. Yes. These are 1200 pound capacity. I sell these to people that use gun safes. That's true. Because they, 1000 pound gun safes, they move them with this kind of a product and one guy can do it. Arcades, anything. You can lift them. Arcades, G-Boxes, plumber's use them for hot water heaters, electricians use them for transformers, wood stoves, the cast iron stoves, you gotta move the cast iron stove up and down the step, you gotta use something like this. So multi-purposes, you can purchase it for a business and then use it for your pinball collection or vice versa? I get a lot of people that buy it for their business and then they use it at home as well. That's really cool, that's really cool. Thanks Larry. Alright, let's take that back and then let's talk about some of the machines that you have here. So we'll start off with Jersey Jack's first machine. This is Wizard of Oz. This is the Ruby Red Edition, which is the latest one. The first one that came out was the Wizard of Oz Standard and LE. So the LEs had green trim and green topper, and they had made 1,000 of those. Those were sold out and have been gone for a while. They had the standard, which is the stainless trim. Then they came out because the demand was still there for the ruby red. Oh yeah. These are still currently in production. So you can still buy one of those. And it may be the most beautiful machine ever made. It's gorgeous. This thing is a piece of art. It's gorgeous. And he doesn't jerk jack, doesn't skimp on anything. No. Everybody gets a topper. Everybody, I mean it's just, it's amazing. Lots of toys in the play field. Yeah. Lots of ruby red slippers. Yeah The house moves The house moves the switch comes down That right the feet come out The feet come out That so cool The twister was the twister always in there The twister was not on the originals That's something you get with the living room edition. I see. And also Toto here in the castle. Toto, the powder coated rails. The castle walls were not on there. Okay, now I think, is it Back Alley that does those? Yeah, Matt from Back Alley makes those for the Jack. I just love it. I think this thing is beautiful. It's built like a tank. Oh yeah. It's heavy duty. And the theme is classic. People are going to buy and buy and buy. The theme doesn't get old. No. Wonderful. It's a great machine. I probably sell, I still sell as many of these as I can. Oh I bet. Sorry. I bet. Now did Jack ever talk about the production time limits on the Wizard Boss? What's going to happen is they're going to stop making these. They've got two lines now. So they're making, they're going to make the dialed in. Hobbits are going to stop. Okay. And they're going to put dialed in on the main line and they'll probably stop making Hobbits and still produce Wizard of Oz because they're still in demand. Okay. You guys make sure you get a hold of Larry with Flippin' Out Pinball. If you guys want a Wizard of Oz, if you want a dialed in, if you want a Hobbit, Hobbit has a Black Arrow edition we'll talk about here in a second. But he's your one stop shop guy for all things Jersey Jack, all things Escalora and as you'll see here in a minute specific mods for Jersey Jack as well. In fact we're gonna have the flipping out black arrow in this one. Oh that's awesome. Let's move down here. This is Jersey Jack's newest piece, right dialed in. So it's not in production yet. This is actually a test game that's been a couple of different shows. So it's got a couple scratches from being around a lot of shows. Knuckleheads with rings and everything else. It's a great shooting game. Oh yeah. It really is. There is a phone app that you can put on here so you can actually flip the flippers with the phone app. That's cool. During a multi-ball I believe. Yeah. What about... Where does it come from? I don't know. I haven't played it. Oh, okay. Now is this... Do you have to update the code on this? Is this the latest code or how did that... They're supposedly bringing me some new code today. Oh, great. So there's Steve from Jersey Jackets coming in with their tech. Yeah. I think he's got some new code for it. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. But again, Jersey Jack's first standard body. Yes, that's correct. And you wouldn't know it. I mean, this thing is packed. It's really packed. It is packed. It's so beautiful. We'll talk a little bit more as we review the dialed-in machine, but I think you hit it out of the park again. It's a great shooting game if you're a Pat Waller fan. A lot of people are. Oh, yeah. He makes some great games. Some of the best. I talked to him on Wednesday about it. He said, okay, tweak this, tweak that. As we played it and tested it, we found a couple of things. So we did that for a seven this morning. Good. So is he looking to start delivering these late second quarter? Second quarter, probably late second quarter. I've got some of my orders in. This comes in a standard, a limited edition, and a collector's edition. Now this particular model is the limited edition. And with the collector's edition you'll get a different colored powder coat and all kinds of special little things that Jack's got going on. There's still going to be adding some things to that as they differentiate between the LE and the C. Yeah, I love the art pack in the moment too. Very, very nice. You guys have seen the Hobbit. This is the Smaug edition. Beautiful powder coat job on this. And then this over here is actually the Black Arrow edition where it says a nice hammered black powder coat. I want to point out something on the differences in the lock down bar and the ring. This is how it comes standard. With a decal and a clear point. So that's the standard look. Which looks good but Larry has upped the game. I have. At least we think so. Oh it's fantastic. So what we did is this is the Flippin' Out Black Arrow Edition and what that what you get is this is a laser-cut a What ring button plate that's nice gold plated the bezel for the button And then so we had to use the clears because that's got multicolor LEDs in it. Yeah, they still use the clear but on the sides Put the gold buttons on the side. I think that is such a nice and we use the black later that normally comes with it with a black arrow, you use the black buttons for that. So now it really is like the gold ring.
    15:05
    It's hard to not see it on there. Once you see it, you have to have it if you have a Hobbit. Versus this. I mean, I think that just looks gorgeous. So do you sell this, the flipper buttons, everything in a set separately? How does that work? Currently we're selling the ring button plate and the button for the lockdown board as a If you want to do the buttons for the flipper buttons, that's optional. Okay. And then the other thing that we did is I been trying to figure out a way for a long time to get rid of the coin door The coin door is ugly in my opinion
    15:42
    It's like a hole. Nobody at home uses it. Yeah. So I'm not sure whether people would actually want to get rid of it. Yeah. I mean, everybody says, I've got to have a coin door. And there was the big controversy over the Maximus and how to read Evil Madness. That's right. But nobody used it. So I took this to Expo last year to show it off and I asked people that question. What do you think if we got rid of the coin man? And they're going like, absolutely, this is gorgeous. Look at this thing you guys. Zoom into that. This is laser cut. It's backlit. We've got the yellow eye in there. So this particular, and these are universal. It will go in any game. Okay. Except I need to know whether it's a 12-volt system or a 6-volt system. Yeah, that's easy enough. Depending on the manufacturer. Because we have to give you the right ones. How awesome does this look? So you could use this for The Hobbit. You could use this for Medieval Madness. Game of Thrones. Yeah. Anything with a dragon in it, you could use that for. Yeah. God, how sharp is that? Would you guys rather have two coin mechs or this freaking awesome dragon here? Look here or look there. I mean, it's unbelievable. What's the installation on this? It takes about 30 minutes. That ain't bad. It basically, you remove the... because we sell it as a complete kit, you take your existing coin door off, there's no modifications. So, the wiring... Oh, I love that. So, it's all covered and everything. Yeah, it's covered. You should mount your... take your buttons off, use the LEDs. All you do is plug into where the coin mag is. That's where you get the power from the light at. Perfect. So everything still works. It's such a clean look, too. Golly, that cleans the whole. Because usually when you open up these games, you see coin mags and wires. Yeah. So some of these are the wires that go to the existing coin switches. No longer needed. We just tie wrap them up out of the way. Same with you've got an extra wire for the coins. These are the wires that exist here. don't want to get rid of those because if you ever want to go back, you can do it. You just take the four bolts out, put this wiring harness on your existing coin door, you're back in business. So Larry, is this on your website for sale now? This is on the website. We currently have it out of stock because we're building up some inventory and we've been testing this for a while. We made a couple of small changes and now we're ready for production. That's really cool. So can people, as it's out of stock, are people doing a wait list Or is it just keep checking back or how would you check it back? I will take it off We'll probably put it as soon as I get some inventory built up. I'll be there in the next week or two Certainly by Texas in about three weeks. That's cool. And then we already have a couple other designs Oh, you guys got check out this next design. So this is attack from Mars or Or it could be revenge from Mars. Now. This is our prototype because it's still not powder-coated. This is what it'll look like
    18:46
    when After it's powder-coated. So it's the same. And we've got to line this up when you put this on. So it's in the back. That's what makes the colors. But everything else is the same. You just change the insert.
    19:03
    That's neat. So it's universal. We had the game after that. It's going to be ACDC. Oh, you're announcing that now. That's great. We're going to announce it, but it's probably going to be a ways off yet. Yeah. We're starting to make an attack from Mars. ACDC will be next. You guys heard it here. ACDC is the next one up. And then we're going to do... We haven't decided which one we're going to do next.
    19:26
    But certainly people ask, say, hey, we really want one. Why won't you take this? And we can take that. But it'll go on any... It's just a matter of demand. So if you have the actual door itself, you can just... This is what you get. Yeah.
    19:42
    I like that. How beautiful is that guys? The UFOs there? It just pops. I love the stars too. Yeah, it's cool. My wife actually designed that. Oh, okay. As with anything, you have to be careful about original artwork. That's right. We don't want to have any copyright issues. So my wife designed that one. I think it's great. We had an artist do a sample of ACDC. We have that online already. We just got to give it a pop. I think it's great. That's awesome. The possibilities are endless. So you guys heard it here. This is Larry Kitchen flipping out pinball. He's our vendor spotlight here at the 2017 Louisville Arcade Pinball Expo. Larry, thanks for hanging out, and tell us about your company. We look forward to coming over to your place, looking at the showroom, and then going from there. Just an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things. That's right. Thanks, guys. Have a good one. Thanks, Mitch.
    20:42
    again I tried to cradle you with that flipper it was all in vain