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Episode 141: Pinball Expo 2023 Recap

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Oct 28, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Pinball Expo 2023 recap focusing on community moments and industry insights

Summary

Host recaps Pinball Expo 2023, highlighting personal moments, industry observations, and community connections. Notable stories include Scott Ian's surprise appearance and impulse jukebox purchase, interactions with Barrels of Fun's Brian Savage, and observations about emerging manufacturers like Barrels of Fun and Multimorphic gaining market traction. The episode emphasizes the value of community and relationships over business metrics.

Key Claims

  • Barrels of Fun already has 1,100 games sold and plans to ship within six to seven months

    medium confidence · Host discussing Barrels of Fun's business model and production capacity at Pinball Expo 2023

  • Multimorphic P3 currently running only a few months behind on orders with spring delivery expected

    medium confidence · Host referencing current P3 dealer information (Justin Wise) regarding production timelines

  • Poor Man's Pinball tribe has approximately 45 members total, with 17-18 attending Pinball Expo 2023

    high confidence · Host directly stating tribe size and attendance at Expo

  • Laser War sold for $2,500 on the open market at Pinball Expo 2023

    high confidence · Host stating sale price directly and asking Doc Finlay to log it on pinballprices

  • Dan Rosenstein won a Flippy Award for Best Podcast at Pinball Expo 2023

    high confidence · Host congratulating Dan on award and naming it as voted by panel from Pinball Expo

Notable Quotes

  • “I told her and she didn't say anything... for all you guys in pinball land who are married we have all heard that before the silence it's deafening”

    Host (Jonathan) @ Early in episode — Humorous commentary on Scott Ian's wife's reaction to impulse jukebox purchase, relatable to married listeners

  • “I don't have anything to do with the game itself. You know, he goes, I'm not a pinball designer. That's not my forte. He is the CBO, the chief business officer.”

    Host (Jonathan), quoting Brian Savage @ Mid-episode discussion of Barrels of Fun — Highlights effective business delegation and self-awareness as positive business practice

  • “the best part of any show, as I've always said, is the people”

    Host (Jonathan) @ Later in episode — Core philosophy of the podcast and community-focused approach

  • “Pinball people are always looking for something a little different. Not a lot different... we're starting to see some steam with some different things”

    Host (Jonathan) @ Discussion of emerging manufacturers — Analysis of market diversity and consumer appetite for alternatives to established manufacturers

Entities

Scott IanpersonRob BurkepersonBrian SavagepersonDavid Van SpersonDan RosensteinpersonJohn CraigpersonJonathanpersonColinpersonJocktonperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Poor Man's Pinball tribe reached approximately 45 members with 17-18 attending Pinball Expo 2023; host setting goal to induct 2 more members before year-end to reach 47; fan page approaching 1,000 followers

    high · Host stating 'I think we had 15, 15, maybe even 18 of our tribe members come through... out of 45' and discussing goal to reach 47-50 members

  • $

    market_signal: Barrels of Fun and Multimorphic gaining market traction with alternative approaches; host notes consumer appetite for 'something a little different' and predicts these manufacturers could 'peel away some of that market share'

    medium · Host stating 'we're starting to see some steam with some different things, you know, Multimorphic, Multimorphic P3 starting to pick up this new barrel' and 'might be here to stay for a while and they might start peeling away some of that market share'

  • ?

    product_launch: Barrels of Fun has 1,100 units of Labyrinth Pinball sold and plans to ship within 6-7 months from Pinball Expo 2023

    medium · Host stating 'they've already sold all 1,100 of them, so we'll see if they can get those done in six or seven months'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Multimorphic P3 production only a few months behind schedule with spring 2024 delivery expected for new orders

    medium · Host mentioning 'Right now, I think they're only running a few months behind. So if you order today, you should be able to get one by the spring'

  • ?

    business_signal: Brian Savage at Barrels of Fun demonstrates effective business practices by delegating game design to David Van S and focusing on CBO responsibilities rather than attempting to control all aspects

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.076

0:00
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. This is episode 141, Expo 2023 recap. Let's get it.
0:09
About a week has passed since Expo 2023 has wrapped up, and I just want to talk about some of the great, great moments I had there. This might have been one of my favorite shows.
0:20
Some of the criticisms in the past, it seems like Rob Burke and company have addressed them. great layout, great show lots of fun, lots of great people and so many amazing moments at this expo too many to count in fact so what I'd like to do today is do an episode I'm going to talk a little bit about some of those great moments in no particular order once again there were so many of them if I miss you guys I'm sorry but so many great people so I'm going to try to get through everybody try to get through some of my favorite, favorite Expo moments. And we'll talk a little bit about the games, talk a little bit about what's going on, a couple new ideas that I think we're going to implement for the next couple of shows, and go from there. So moment number one was, of course, my partner in crime, Ian. Ian originally was going to spend a night with us. Then about a week before Expo, he sent us a message and says he wasn't going to make it. We were all very, very disappointed. but Ian in Ian fashion surprised us at the show and that was freaking awesome he came on Friday spent the day with us on Friday and we just had the best time and Ian you can check it out on the poor man's pinball fan page Ian bought a jukebox so Ian is the only guy in the world that can impulse buy a jukebox make it fun make it exciting the best part about it was he came in his Dodge challenger. So he wasn't even able to take it home himself. We loaded it up in Eric's car and Eric brought it home the next day for him. That's so nice of you, Eric. But wow, how cool is that? He said his wife wasn't upset. I hope she wasn't. I haven't talked to her, but he said, oh, she's fine with it. Actually, his exact words were, I told her and she didn't say anything. So for all you guys in pinball land who are married we have all heard that before the silence it's deafening and we know exactly what it means so rest in peace ian hopefully we'll see you next year 2024 expo but moving on one of my funniest most treasured moments from this whole event so i brought laser War. I sold Laser War. We'll talk a little bit about that. Laser War is not a perfect game. And what I mean by that is the game that Ian and I had reconstructed had a couple of issues. Nothing major. I'm not going to go too much into the technical details, but you know, just small little things that, you know, kept kind of popping up. I kept getting texts and calls saying, hey, the ball's stuck. This is happening. That's happening. Most of them not catastrophic. And Once again, I did end up selling it, and the guy who bought it, the same shit happened to him. So he knows what he's getting into. But anyways, at one moment during the show, it was Friday, I believe, because, yeah, Ian was there. So I get another one of these texts. I go over to the Laser Ward. But before I go there, we're at the booth, and I just said, hey, guys, anyone want to see Laser Ward? And some people didn't know it was there, hadn't seen it yet, so they're like, yeah, we'll go over there. We're all drinking. We're having a great time. probably halfway through the day, so we're a little sauced up at this point. And now there's about 10, 10 of us knuckleheads over by LaserWarn. So we walk up, and there's a pinball tech working on the game, which I'm like, oh, this is great. So I'm talking to the tech. The other guys are behind us, literally like this half circle of like 10 knuckleheads. and the tech says, do you want to take a look? He goes, it's your game. I said, yeah, yeah, I'll take a look. So while I'm doing this, all of the guys are just giving me shit, razzing me, doing all this shit and saying all these ridiculous things and they're loud and they're obnoxious and poor man style. And the tech turns around and looks at them and he says, do you know these guys?
Amanda Hamiltonperson
Christopher Franchiperson
Doc Finlayperson
Zach Minneyperson
Justin Wiseperson
Pinball Expo 2023event
Barrels of Funcompany
Spooky Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Multimorphiccompany
Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
Labyrinth Pinballgame
Laser Wargame
Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization
Pinshadesproduct

high · Host praising Brian's willingness to defer to David Van S and stating 'I think that makes for a better business'

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball Expo 2023 received positive marks for layout and organization; host states 'Rob Burke and company have addressed them... Great layout, great show' and calls it 'one of my favorite shows'

    high · Host opening remarks about expo quality and Rob Burke's improvements

  • ?

    content_signal: Dan Rosenstein's Pinball Makers and Innovators podcast won Flippy Award for Best Podcast at Pinball Expo 2023

    high · Host stating 'Dan Rosenstein... now has his own podcast, the Pinball Makers and Innovators... He won a Flippy Award for Best Podcast'

  • $

    market_signal: Laser War sold for $2,500 at Pinball Expo 2023 on open market

    high · Host stating 'Doc, Laser War sold for $2,500 on the open market' and requesting it be logged on pinballprices

  • ?

    venue_signal: Scudero's Deli and Bakery in Melrose Park (30 min from Pinball Expo) is established community gathering place; purchased pinball alley sign merchandise

    medium · Host stating 'we always like to visit Scudero's Deli and Bakery... worth the journey' and noting they 'bought a pinball alley sign'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Host expresses optimism about pinball industry diversity and new manufacturers' potential to sustain and grow the market

    high · Host stating 'it'll be really interesting to see what happens in 2024 and beyond and I am here for the ride and I am excited'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jockton (Pinshades) is developing new product beyond current sunglasses line; details not shared pending product announcement

    medium · Host stating 'he is working on something new. It's coming out soon... I know what it is, but I won't share it because it's his thunder'

  • ?

    community_signal: Multiple Pinball Expo 2023 attendees identified themselves as podcast listeners and expressed appreciation for Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, including listener Nate and daughter Maddie

    high · Host stating 'he was a listener of the show and he told me as much' and expressing gratitude for listener recognition

    • 4:33
    And I said, yep, those are my friends, I think. as they're saying all this ridiculous, rude stuff, and making fun of the game, and it was just hilarious. This poor Tech didn't know what was coming, and here's all these drunk idiots just razzing me and just being completely obnoxious in public. For that, tribe members, I salute you. It was such a great moment of pinball for me, and I will never, ever forget the look on that Tech's face when he turned around. Then, of course, we cannot forget about the infamous Dan Rosenstein.
    5:10
    Dan Rosenstein, fan of the show, now has his own podcast, the Pinball Makers and Innovators, I believe it is. So, first of all, shout out to Dan. He won a Flippy Award for Best Podcast, I believe, which was voted on by a panel from Expo. So congrats on that. Super great job, Dan. Dan came back from pinball olympics on Saturday and let's just say he had a couple of cocktails he was carrying a bag with four count four bottles of brown sugar bourbon and one of those bottles was already polished off I think he was working on a second we all had something that was great him and Craig Bobby came back from the pinball olympics and Dan was a little sauced up there's no other way to say it. He was great. He was very loud. He was at the poor man's booth. We had a lot of fun. He was feeding our tribe members and myself McDonald's. Craig Bobby was laughing so hard. I think he might have pissed his pants I not sure What a great time See I can stop laughing It was so much fun to watch Dan Rosenstein have such a great time at Expo. I love when everyone has a great time at Expo. And, you know, this moment will be another moment I will always remember. I have video. I will not embarrass him by showing the video. I know I'm talking about it here, but he was out in public it wasn't really that bad it was just really funny, very entertaining Dan is an amazing guy and he's one of us I mean we've all had great expos, we've all imbibed a little too much at expo this guy especially but so great to have Dan part of our little group, thanks for coming over to the booth thanks for entertaining us Craig Bobby, so glad to get to spend some time with you as well. So very, very cool. And that booth was rocking Friday and Saturday night. So if you guys are ever at these shows, please, please stop by. Say hi. We will have another booth at MGC. That'll be our next one. That's in April. And we will, of course, have the booth for next year, which is Expo's 40th anniversary. They're adding an extra day, and we will have a larger booth there as well. we are getting it honed in we're getting it dialed in we now have kind of a plan that we use to get this set up we can get some less expensive tickets if we need to to get people into the show so stay tuned for more details and all that but yeah whenever we're at the shows just come by say hi let us know that you're a listener and we really really really appreciate that and you're just going to have a good time and that's what really matters anyways so moving on another moment uh at expo we always like to visit scudero's deli and bakery tony scoots shout out tribe member uh he owns this amazing bakery in melrose park which is about 30 minutes from expo it's worth the journey go there they're open till about six every day the food's amazing uh the cannolis are out of this world so a group went on friday and another group went on Saturday. Always, always a great time at Scoots Deli. I just wanted to shout out that it was great. Scoots bought a pinball alley sign too, which is just amazing. If you see those things in person, they're actually pretty impressive. And given they're the price of a topper, you know, not too bad. Still a little too much for what it is, for my opinion, but it's a really cool sign. And if it came down in price, I might buy one. And another special thanks to Colin from the kineticist he hosted the or set up the pinball media mixer i believe it was sponsored by jjp and spooky pinball they had gifts for raffles there uh we did go to interium on thursday and once again just just quick shout out uh canada did not show up but we were at the pinball media mixer at interium it was a lot of fun and i just really wanted to thank colin and his beautiful wife and they had their son there as well for just hosting such a great event. And it was great. Some free food, some free drinks. Got to hang out with some great people. And I met Brian Savage, Barrels of Fun, with the new Labyrinth Pinball. I got a chance to talk to him for, I don't know, we talked for probably 30 minutes, 45 minutes. So really kind of cool, his back story. I won't bore you with all that. If you see Brian, ask him about it. It's an amazing story. But what's more amazing to me is the way they're launching this business, the way they're running it.
    10:06
    I won't go into great detail about Labyrinth. You can listen to all kinds of other podcasts about the game itself. The game is great. But I really just got a sense that Brian very much knows his business. And one of the things that he said, which you won't hear a lot of people admit, but I think is actually a great thing. when somebody asked him something specifically about the game, he will always defer to David Van S. And what I mean by that, he says, I don't have anything to do with the game itself. You know, he goes, I'm not a pinball designer. That's not my forte. He is the CBO, the chief business officer. He runs the business.
    10:46
    You know, but the fact that he can delegate to his great people and says, hey, no, David Van S is the leader. he's the guy who's in charge of the game itself ask him because I don't know I think that makes for a better business because sometimes you have these people that say well I love pinball so I can run a pinball business not always true or I'm a great business person so I'm going to take the reins on everything and I'm going to try to design this game and it just doesn't work that way so Brian has surrounded himself with great pinball-minded people to help him launch this amazing game and this amazing company. And it's still very, very early, but so far, everything we've seen, they already have, what, I think they had 10 games there in total, maybe. They had four on the floor for the entire show. So, you know, they already have games made, and they're going to start shipping very soon.
    11:43
    Supposedly, they've sold all 1,100 of them, so we'll see if they can get those done in six or seven months. and if they can and move on to their next title, I think they're going to be a company that might be here to stay for a while and they might start peeling away some of that market share. I know how crazy that sounds, but pinball people are always looking for something a little different. Not a lot different. Pinball people aren't, you know, they don't like getting too far off the beaten path, but, you know, we're starting to see some steam with some different things, you know, Multimorphic, P3 starting to pick up this new barrel is a fun it'll be really interesting to see what happens in 2024 and beyond and I am here for the ride and I am excited and now a quick break to talk about our sponsors Flippin' Out Pinball the premier sponsor of the Poor Man Pinball Podcast Carl Zach and Nicole if you want anything pinball man cave golden tees raw thrills accessories toppers armor shooter rods anything you need They got games in stock. They got used games in stock. Call Zach and Nicole today, flipping out pinball for all your game room, pinball, and arcade needs. We are also sponsored by pinballprices.com. Doc Finlay works really hard to log all those sales. By the way, Doc, Laser War sold for $2,500 on the open market. Don't forget to log that one, buddy. Expo 2023, Laser War is out the door. Check out pinballprices.com if you're buying or selling a pinball. And remember, Doc Finlay does this all for free, all out of the generosity of his beautiful big heart. So don't forget to go there. Hit the donate button. Buy Doc Finlay a beer today. And last but not least, our unofficial sponsor, Justin Wise, Wise Trailers. He is a multi-morphic P3 dealer. He sells P3s. He doesn't even know he's a sponsor. But he is an amazing dude, does amazing work. If you need a P3, and don't worry guys, Zach doesn't sell them, so this isn't a conflict of interest. If you need a P3, contact me or contact Justin Wise at Wise Trailers. He will hook you up and get you what you need. Right now, I think they're only running a few months behind. So if you order today, you should be able to get one by the spring.
    14:10
    So once again, all it takes is a $1,000 deposit to get your P3 set up with Justin Wise at Wise Trailers. So once again, Justin Wise, Wise Trailers. Get yourself a P3. Get yourself any other pinball game with Zach and Nicole. and go to pinballprices.com and buy Doc a beer, and let's go back to the show.
    14:32
    We had some great neighbors, too. Next to our booth, we had these two awesome women who are printing decals and other... They could pretty much make anything on a tumbler, on a T-shirt, on a bandana. They were just printing all this great pinball stuff, Deadpool stuff. fuck around and find out, you know, whatever you want. They were putting all kinds of cool stuff. They had a crane machine and it was called Quilts and Crap, which is awesome. I think it said like win some crap or something on their crane machine. So very cool, very awesome women. We spent some time with them. We exchanged drinks and had a great time hanging out with them over the weekend. so I wish I had a business card from them or something so I could actually get their name and shout it out. I will find out. I will tell you on a future episode, but just wanted to give them a shout out because they were just fun and made the show that much better.
    15:37
    And then one more story comes to mind. There were those two Italian guys who had that awesome Radical. I believe they restore machines in Italy, and the work was like top-notch. I mean, this radical was easily the best radical in the entire world. If you would see this thing up close, just the attention to detail, it had an original play feel that was touched up, redone, just looked brand new, cool topper, cool cabinet, everything, every detail, no stone was left unturned. turn but so with our booth how it kind of works is everyone brings stuff to sell you know it's the joke it's the flea market it's this and that well uh brian cosner had went to the stern tour and he bought some merchandise and if you buy 50 with the merchandise they give you this cool and bosed uh poster i didn't know anything about any of this uh it's just a cool looking poster You know, it's just a kind of pinball poster. You know, I didn't look that closely at it. But anyways, it's sitting out on the table, which is par for the course. Every day, every hour, there's new stuff because people just bring it and say, you know, sell it for whatever. Okay, cool. So it's sitting on the table. So I know it's for sale. I have no idea what it is. I have no idea how much it is. Once again, par for the course. This is what happens at Pinball Expo. This is how the poor men are organized. so anyways uh one of one of the italian guys spoke pretty good english the other italian guy i believe didn't speak much english at all not a big deal so i'm talking to the guy who speaks english and we're having this nice conversation and his friend is looking at this poster so he looks at the poster points at it and says how much and i said i don't know 20 bucks and he kind of thought about it and talks to his friend in Italian and goes back and forth. And then he finally says, okay. And he hands me $20 and I give him the poster. Well, then Kaz comes back and Kaz the 20 bucks and said, Hey Kaz, I sold that poster. And Kaz starts laughing hysterically. And I said, what is so funny? And he said, I got that poster for free. so you know i i didn't know i wasn't trying to rip anybody off but uh you know to be fair you had to spend 50 to get it but it still was a free freebie um but you know i didn't know so just you know kind of made me chuckle it's not the end of the world i don't think we ripped them off too bad still a cool poster but just another great moment from expo 2023 so many so many great moments but the best part of any show, as I've always said, is the people. And I reconnected with people I haven't seen in a while. The tribe came out in force. I lost count. I think we had 15, 15, maybe even 18 of our tribe members come through. You know, that's out of 45. So we're getting close to half, which is, you know, pretty amazing, you know, for half the tribe who are literally all over the world to come to a single show and be there Very humbling very cool I just want to thank the tribe I not going to name them all because I will forget somebody but I think we were at about 17 or 18
    19:06
    And some people who don't participate too much in the tribe anymore, just to see them and hug them, great, great. Once again, it was the best thing to ever come out of this podcast. And some people might think I'm cheesy for saying that or just whatever, but it's one of those things if you know you know and i know we talk about it and then all you guys can't participate because you know there's there's only 45 tribe members um and we we will get a few more because there are still some people out there and if if we can continue to keep poor man's pinball podcast alive which i'm really hoping to do uh we will continue that um you know what i'm gonna make it a goal to to maybe you know i am i'm gonna make it a goal before the end of this year to probably induct two more people. And I say probably, cause I might forget or, you know, do my usual drew thing, you know, life gets in the way, but, uh, I'm going to, I'm going to make it a goal to get two more great pinball people into the poor man's tribe. Um, that'll get us to 47. I'd like to get to 50, then we'll kind of see where it goes, but it's still very exclusive. It's still very awesome. Um, don't forget the five pillars of excellence. We haven't talked about that in a long time, even though the pillars are long since gone. But, you know, now it's just good people, great community, a few more tribe members. Amanda Hamilton is our newest inductee from a few months ago. She was there. It was nice giving her a big old hug. And her husband, Mike, who is, as we call it, tribe adjacent. Because, you know, he's there. He's almost, you know, He's tribe member light, I guess you could say. But we love our pinball people, and it's just amazing to see everybody at every show. And not just the tribe, but everybody.
    20:59
    Which reminds me of just one more story. Not so funny, just awesome. I went over to say goodbye to Franchie on the last day. I just wanted to make sure to see him before he left or I left. And he was talking to a gentleman, and the gentleman happened to be the father of the other woman with the Antoinette type hair, Maddie. I don't know if you saw her there at Expo, but she had the big red hairdo.
    21:30
    Anyways, this gentleman, I believe his name was Nate. He was a listener of the show and he told me as much. I met his daughter, Maddie. She was very nice. So I just really want to shout out to Nate for saying hello and saying kind words about the show that he listens and has been listening for a while so Nate and Maddie thank you so much that really means a lot it is very humbling so thank you thank you thank you and there were a handful of others and I don't have names so once again I'm not going to try to go through everyone's name I'm getting old I can't remember all this shit but very very kind this is why I do it it's you know not to win awards or whatever because we've never won any.
    22:15
    But it's just super humbling when people actually say they enjoy the content, they enjoy the show. So even today, you know, that it's not what it once was because, you know, we're sadly missing Ian, but still very humbling. So thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm going to end it there.
    22:33
    This has been episode 141 of the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast Expo Recap. so glad to be here with you for another great episode of this awesome podcast and I hope to hear from you guys soon don't forget poormanspinball at gmail.com 414-828-3739 you can always text go to the poormanspinball fan page that's where it's at there's lots of activity there every day which I'm very proud of because that just continues to grow and grow I think we're at almost a thousand followers likes and followers on on that uh page so uh go give us a follow give us a like thumbs up tell us you love us tell us you hate us um oh yeah jockton pin shades uh pin shades jockton our buddy got to spend time with him i would be remiss if i forgot about that um he did give us some pin shades that we will be trying to sell at mgc uh great product if you haven't tried them a couple tribe members got to try them for the first time played some pinball um really great for tournament players, great for very well lit rooms with glare and that kind of stuff. Just awesome glasses, pin shapes. And I will tell you this, I know what it is, but I won't share it because it's his thunder, but he is working on something new. It's coming out soon. So we hope to see that another new product. Jockton's just an amazing dude. Super cool guy. Just always fun to hang out with. He helped us pack up. So thank you, Jockton, for that because all my other friends left me. Jerks. Jackton, you're the man. Love you, brother.
    24:10
    We will see all of you later. I always wanna know I wonder what you died for before Maybe there's astronauts and maybe there's aliens All the time, but oh