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·analyzed·Mar 5, 2017
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Flippin' Out Pinball showcases Escalera transport tool and custom Jersey Jack mods at 2017 Louisville Expo.

Summary

Zack Sharp interviews Larry Kitchen of Flippin' Out Pinball at the 2017 Louisville Arcade and Pinball Expo, discussing the Escalera stair-climbing hand truck and Flippin' Out's custom mods for Jersey Jack Pinball games including laser-cut coin door replacements and ring button upgrades. The interview showcases Jersey Jack's Wizard of Oz, Dialed In (upcoming), and The Hobbit machines, and teases upcoming Flippin' Out coin door mods for Attack from Mars and AC/DC.

Key Claims

  • Flippin' Out Pinball became a Jersey Jack Pinball distributor after starting with Escalera sales

    high confidence · Larry Kitchen directly states he started with escaleras, then 'had an opportunity to become a Jersey Jack Pinball distributor,' later also becoming a Chicago Gaming distributor

  • Jersey Jack Wizard of Oz is still in production with Ruby Red Edition available

    high confidence · Larry states 'These are still currently in production. So you can still buy one of those' regarding the Ruby Red Edition

  • Jersey Jack is moving production to Dialed In on main line, will stop The Hobbit, continue Wizard of Oz

    medium confidence · Larry explains: 'they're going to stop making these. They have two lines now...they're going to put Dialed In on the main line and they'll probably stop making The Hobbit and still produce The Wizard of Oz because they're still in demand'

  • Dialed In not yet in production, expected to deliver late second quarter

    high confidence · Larry states 'It's not in production yet. This is actually a test game' and later 'late second quarter, probably late second quarter' for delivery

  • Dialed In comes in Standard, Limited Edition, and Collector's Edition

    high confidence · Larry explicitly states 'This comes in a standard, a limited edition, and a collector's edition' and describes collector's edition having 'a different colored powder coat'

  • Escalera stair-climbing hand truck has 1,200 pound capacity and is made in USA for over 50 years

    high confidence · Larry directly states 'These are 1200 pound capacity' and 'They've been building them for over 50 years. Made in the USA'

  • Flippin' Out designed laser-cut coin door replacement mods that are universal but voltage-dependent

    high confidence · Larry demonstrates the dragon coin door mod and explains 'these are universal. It will go in any game. Except I need to know whether it's a 12-volt system or a 6-volt system'

  • AC/DC Premium coin door mod is planned but 'probably going to be a ways off yet'

Notable Quotes

  • “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.”

    Larry Kitchen@ 1:14 — Establishes Larry's deep industry experience and passion for pinball collecting

  • “So you're going 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 something. So that's what got me into it.”

    Larry Kitchen@ 2:42 — Origin story for why Escalera product line became central to Flippin' Out's business

  • “Jersey Jack doesn't skimp on anything. No. Everybody gets a topper. Everybody, I mean it's just, it's amazing.”

    Zack Sharp@ 10:12 — Endorsement of Jersey Jack's quality standards and product inclusivity

  • “This thing is a piece of art. It's gorgeous. And Jersey Jack doesn't skimp on anything.”

    Zack Sharp@ 10:08 — Positive assessment of Wizard of Oz as premium quality machine

  • “Once you see it, you have to have it if you have a The Hobbit.”

    Zack Sharp@ 15:05 — Commentary on the visual impact and desirability of Flippin' Out's laser-cut ring button upgrade

  • “The coin door is ugly in my opinion. It's like a hole. Nobody at home uses it.”

    Larry Kitchen@ 15:42 — Rationale for developing coin door replacement aesthetic mods

Entities

Flippin' Out PinballcompanyLarry KitchenpersonZack SharppersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyChicago Gaming CompanycompanyEscaleraproductThe Wizard of Ozgame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Flippin' Out Pinball expanding product line beyond Escalera into custom cosmetic mods as core business offering

    high · Larry demonstrates laser-cut coin door replacement, ring button upgrades, and announces multiple upcoming mod designs for different games with plans for expanded production

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball shifting production from Hobbit to Dialed In on main manufacturing line while maintaining Wizard of Oz production

    high · Larry Kitchen states: 'they're going to stop making these. They have two lines now. So they're making, they're going to make Dialed In...they're going to put Dialed In on the main line and they'll probably stop making The Hobbit and still produce The Wizard of Oz'

  • ?

    community_signal: Straight Down the Middle podcast conducting in-person vendor spotlight interviews at major pinball expos to showcase manufacturers and aftermarket vendors

    high · This entire segment is vendor spotlight interview format at 2017 Louisville Expo with plans to visit Larry's showroom in follow-up episode

  • ?

    community_signal: Custom mod manufacturers filling aesthetic gap in home collector market for pinball machines

    high · Flippin' Out's successful development of universal coin door replacement mods with positive community reception at Pinball Expo; multiple game compatibility demonstrates market validation

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Wizard of Oz maintains strong ongoing demand despite multi-year availability on market

    high · Larry states he 'still sell[s] as many of these as I can' and Jersey Jack is prioritizing continued Wizard of Oz production even with new Dialed In line starting

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.

high confidence · Larry announces 'Stern Pinball AC/DC (Premium) will be next' after Attack from Mars, but notes timing is unclear

  • “Would you guys rather have two coin mechs or this freaking awesome dragon here?”

    Zack Sharp@ 16:49 — Rhetorical question highlighting the cosmetic improvement over functional coin doors

  • “You guys heard it here. Stern Pinball AC/DC (Premium) is the next one up.”

    Zack Sharp@ 19:18 — Public announcement/leak of AC/DC Premium as upcoming Flippin' Out coin door mod project

    • Dialed In
    game
    The Hobbitgame
    Pat Lawlorperson
    Back Alley Creationscompany
    Attack from Marsgame
    Stern Pinball AC/DCgame
    Medieval Madnessgame
    Game of Thronesgame
    Straight Down the Middlemedia
    2017 Louisville Arcade and Pinball Expoevent
  • ?

    community_signal: Larry Kitchen transitioned from hobbyist/back-surgery recovery to professional pinball distributor and custom mod manufacturer within 7 years

    high · Larry explains 'retired from a real job and started working on it a bit more about seven years ago. And that's when I pulled the trigger' starting with Escalera sales

  • ?

    announcement: Flippin' Out Pinball announcing laser-cut coin door replacement mods for Attack from Mars and Stern AC/DC Premium

    high · Larry demonstrates prototype dragon coin door for Attack from Mars and Revenge from Mars, announces AC/DC Premium is 'next one up' in development pipeline with sample artwork already online

  • ?

    product_strategy: Dialed In expected delivery pushed to late second quarter from initial timeline

    high · Larry states 'late second quarter, probably late second quarter' for Dialed In delivery; multiple code updates still being implemented

  • ?

    product_concern: Coin door mechanic viewed as visually unappealing by collectors, driving demand for replacement alternatives

    medium · Larry states 'The coin door is ugly in my opinion. It's like a hole. Nobody at home uses it.' Flippin' Out Expo feedback confirmed aesthetic replacement preference despite initial skepticism

  • ?

    technology_signal: Jersey Jack Dialed In introducing phone app-based flipper control during multiball

    medium · Zack Sharp notes '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'

    • 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