Episode 205: Kristin Browning-Mezel, Mezel Mods

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·20m 32s·analyzed·Jul 7, 2019

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Mezel Mods founder discusses 3D-printed pinball mods, playfield protection, and New Mexico arcade business.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Kristin Browning-Mezel, co-founder of Mezel Mods, a New Mexico-based pinball modification and aftermarket parts company. They discuss how Mezel Mods grew from a hobby project in 2013 (making 3D-printed snake fangs for Metallica) into a thriving business that won the 2024 New Mexico Manufacturer of the Year Award. The conversation covers 3D printing technology, playfield protectors, their arcade venue 505 Pinball, and community engagement.

Key Claims

Mezel Mods won the 2024 New Mexico Manufacturer of the Year Award from the Manufacturing Extension Partnership
high confidence · Kristin states: 'The Manufacturing Extension Partnership... nominated us for the award, and we were selected as the winners... received the award up in Colorado at their manufacturing awards ceremony about two months ago.'
Stern pulled snake fangs from production versions of Metallica due to manufacturing issues
high confidence · Kristin explains: 'stern had problems with the snake fang in the production version of the game and so they ended up pulling them out... There are some games that did ship with the snake fangs, but they ended up pulling them out of the end version of the game.'
Mezel Mods began when Tim created a 3D-printed Donut Heaven mod for Getaway pinball and posted it on Pinside forum
high confidence · Kristin describes: 'he started participating in the forum, particularly Pinside, and found people talking about things they were doing in the machine... decided that one of the things that would be cool to make is the Donut Heaven... he made the donut heaven posted on pin side and sort of like that the rest is kind of history'
By Christmas 2013, Mezel Mods had 40+ orders for Metallica snake fangs with no production system in place
high confidence · Kristin recalls: 'He had about 40-plus orders for snake fangs and really no way of producing, let alone kind of keeping up with the demand until I came in and started helping with the business.'
Kristin left her job running a logistics company to manage Mezel Mods full-time
high confidence · Kristin states: 'I was running a logistics company at the time... Ended up leaving my job, and suddenly I found myself running this funny little company.'
505 Pinball arcade in Rio Rancho operates as a flat-rate, unlimited-play family-friendly venue with pinball and arcade games
high confidence · Kristin describes: 'we are a family-friendly arcade that is flat rate, you know, one price, unlimited play... we opened it up because we already had a small collection as a result of the business'

Notable Quotes

“Six years ago, if you would have told me that I would be running a pinball company, I would have said you are absolutely out of your mind.”
Kristin Browning-Mezel @ Early in interview — Reflects the unexpected growth trajectory of Mezel Mods from hobby to award-winning manufacturer.
“The hardest part about a 3D printer is really creating the program to create the product... Once you done that and you worked out the kinks... start going. But it's the creation that is the difficult part.”
Kristin Browning-Mezel @ Mid-interview — Explains the technical challenge of 3D-printed mod production beyond hardware capability.
“I think that the best part about the whole thing is really less for me about the value financially that it provides the game, but really more about the joy that it brings to the collector.”
Kristin Browning-Mezel @ Mid-interview — Reveals core philosophy: mods driven by collector happiness rather than pure profit motive.
“I noticed that I was getting some very fine scratches right there, kind of right above the flippers where Jack Sparrow is. And I could see the little scratches on his face because the dirt was settling into those scratches.”
Kristin Browning-Mezel @ Discussing Pirates of the Caribbean playfield protector — Specific example of playfield wear problem that protectors solve.
“We call this the pinball wasteland here, where there's not a lot of machines on location. We're certainly trying to contribute to that growing by having our location.”
Kristin Browning-Mezel @ Discussing 505 Pinball arcade — Identifies New Mexico as underserved pinball market; community-driven motivation for arcade opening.
“You know what? And that's how some people actually think. It's sad to think that. I just want to promote pinball.”
Jeff Teolis @ End of interview — Addresses criticism about potential conflicts of interest in podcast coverage; reaffirms commitment to comprehensive pinball coverage.

Entities

Kristin Browning-MezelpersonTim (Browning-Mezel)personMezel Modscompany505 PinballcompanyPinball UniversecompanyMetallica (Stern pinball)gamePirates of the Caribbean (Stern pinball)gameF-14 Tomcatgame Getawaygame

Signals

?
business_signal: Mezel Mods awarded 2024 New Mexico Manufacturer of the Year Award by Manufacturing Extension Partnership, signaling legitimacy and recognition of small-scale pinball manufacturer within state manufacturing ecosystem.
high · Kristin: 'The Manufacturing Extension Partnership... nominated us for the award, and we were selected as the winners... received the award up in Colorado at their manufacturing awards ceremony about two months ago.'
?
community_signal: 505 Pinball arcade serving as community hub in underserved 'pinball wasteland' region; hosting tournaments, leagues, educational field trips, and family events to grow local pinball presence.
high · Kristin: 'We call this the pinball wasteland here... we opened it up... As a sponsor of the local league Duke City Pinball... we do field trips and we're part of an annual tour... for manufacturing month'
?
licensing_signal: Breaking Bad pinball remains highly requested by community but no official machine produced; Kristin expresses interest in creating mods if game were ever developed.
medium · Kristin: 'themes that people want to see made... you almost always see Breaking Bad as one of those. We would be delighted to be a part of that... I do think it would make a great pinball machine'
?
manufacturing_signal: Historical Stern manufacturing quality issue: snake fangs on Metallica removed from production runs, creating aftermarket demand that became Mezel Mods' best-selling product.
high · Kristin: 'stern had problems with the snake fang in the production version of the game and so they ended up pulling them out... Tim said, I'm going to make snake fangs. And it's been one of our best sellers ever since 2013'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.062

0:00

It's time now for another Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. We go now to New Mexico and talk to Kristen Browning-Miesel. How are you doing, Kristen? I'm great. How are you? I'm good. There's so many things I want to talk to you because, you know, in this show, we talk to a lot of players that might be very, very competitive. We talk to people that organize tournaments, and we talk to people that are big into collecting, and you are a big part of that world because of Measle Mods and everything that has come since this all started in 2013. You and Tim realized that some of these older machines can be upgraded a little bit with the fine work of 3D printing and some great graphic designs and artists. And it's been probably something that in the last six years you thought, oh, I don't know how big this is going to grow into, and look where we are today.

1:02

That's absolutely the case. Six years ago, if you would have told me that I would be running a pinball company, I would have said you are absolutely out of your mind. By the way, not just any pinball company, a company that just won the New Mexico Manufacturer of the Year Award, which congratulations on that. That's huge. Yeah, thank you. We're pretty excited. The Manufacturing Extension Partnership, it's a U.S.-based organization that helps smaller manufacturers like us to have the benefit of learning how to use lean manufacturing tools and process improvement technologies. It's been a huge supporter in helping us grow and be more efficient, and they nominated us for the award, and we were selected as the winners. So we got to receive the award up in Colorado at their manufacturing awards ceremony about two months ago. So that was pretty cool. It's very cool and a nice piece of pride for those that work there at Measel Mods. So good on you for that. Thank you. So was it a machine that you or Tim had that you thought, okay, I can add something here? And now that they've got 3D printing, you know, with a little bit of creativity, we can really bedazzle this machine up. How did it all start? Well, it started when our first machine that we bought was the Star Wars trilogy. And I think Tim suspected that the only way he was going to get a pinball machine into our home was by appealing to my sense of love of Star Wars. So we bought the Star Wars, and then he ended up suddenly buying three more machines. I think he bought Johnny Mnemonic next. And then we ended up getting the Getaway. And when he got to Getaway, he started participating in the forum, particularly Pinside, and found people talking about things they were doing in the machine. And he decided that one of the things that would be cool to make is the Donut Heaven, because Donut Heaven or Donut Shop is featured basically in the DMV on the game. And so he thought, well, I want to try my hand at making. He's kind of a maker. and he went to the hobby shop locally and bought some materials. And it's quite a funny picture, the original Donut Heaven that he made. And he decided it was clearly not going to be sufficient to go on this really great game. So he said, I'm going to buy a 3D printer so I can make Donut Shop. And I said, whatever. I was busy running another, I was running a logistics company at the time and I didn't have time to really, you know, supervise that purchase. and so as a result you know he made the donut heaven posted on pin side and sort of like that the rest is kind of history as they say by christmas time we had uh metallica and he decided to make the snake fangs that i don't know if you know or not but stern had problems with the snake fang in the production version of the game and so they ended up pulling them out of the game There are some games that did ship with the snake fangs, but they ended up pulling them out of the end version of the game. And so Tim said, I'm going to make snake fangs. And it's been one of our best sellers ever since 2013, I guess, is when they first came out. But it was December that year that I ended up coming in and helping out. He had about 40-plus orders for snake fangs and really no way of producing, let alone kind of keeping up with the demand until I came in and started helping with the business. Ended up leaving my job, and suddenly I found myself running this funny little company. People listening to this show years after it first was recorded are going to find the next thing I say a little funny. I've never used a 3D printer, and I imagine down the road it's going to be like saying, I've never had a cell phone, you know, so. Yeah, it could be. It very well could be. But I do know this about it. The hardest part about a 3D printer is really creating the program to create the product I mean that the difficult part Once you done that and you worked out the kinks and you got the right materials and your printer is fantastic, start going. But it's the creation that is the difficult part. And again, what you do at Measle Mods, it's pretty impressive to the pinball community because everywhere I go, any kind of show, I mean, I saw a ton at TPF. I saw a ton at Pintastic. There are games that are just pimped up like I've never seen before, and it just really makes that game already worth a lot of money, now worth a lot more when you can do something like this to it. Well, I think that the best part about the whole thing is really less for me about the value financially that it provides the game, but really more about the joy that it brings to the collector. You know, I look at how hard people work and wanting to find some level of excitement and fun in their hobbies. And, you know, we get to be a part of that. And that's one of the things I get a lot of joy out of and pleasure out of is, you know, the comments I get from customers who say, you know, I've just had so much fun doing this. And, you know, just providing a little bit of joy back in people's busy lives is one of the things that accessorizing your game can do. When you look at collections, whether it be anything, it could be cars, it could be vinyl, it could be models, it could be anything. In the case of pinball machines, yeah, there's a huge sense of pride. And when you can add something to a game and enhance a game with something like a mod, it really makes you proud. And you want to show it off, I think, a little bit more, too. And also, too, you want these machines, some of them that are, you know, 20, 30, 40 years old, to be protected and safe. And so, I mean, for years we've seen things like Cliffies. Cliffies are very, very important for some of those scoops. And, you know, finding just the right ones, and now the manufacturers even add them too. But there are other things too, and they've been talked a lot about on forums too, the playfield protectors, and that's something that you were a big part of as well. Yeah, we recently, you know, one of the reasons that I kind of was inspired to get involved with using and bringing to the U.S. market the Pinball Universe playfield protectors is we've got a game that we picked up here in our arcade, F-14 Tomcat. And literally, besides the ones I've seen on Pinside in pictures, it is just, you know, I've never seen a great-looking Tomcat in person. The playfields always look terrible. And so one of the things that I realized that there are not a lot of solutions to that problem, the old kind of game problem. But what I could be a part of is bringing forth a solution to that problem going forward. So, you know, in the future, games can be well protected while they're being enjoyed without, you know, really much impact or, you know, visibility to the player, so to speak. So we've been excited to bring these really high-quality protectors to the U.S. And I've done a couple of installations now myself. They can be a little bit challenging. They're time-consuming. That's like the biggest challenge of all. But they play beautifully, and I've been really excited, especially like I look at our Pirates of the Caribbean, which I don't know if you've played that, Jeff, but it is. Amazing. It's an amazing game. It's beautiful, and it's a little pricey.

8:48

And so protecting it from the kind of wear you can get, not just, you know, in an arcade, but even in the home use. I mean, we all know, you know, I think a lot of your listeners know that play field dimpling has become more and more prevalent, I think, more and more visible. And so having something that can stop that from happening and keep that brand new look that you get. There is nothing like that look when you open a brand new game and just how beautiful that play field looks. And maintaining that over time is really something that I think the future pinball collectors will appreciate. So, Kristen, is it wise with a new game, if you're getting a new game in box, is it wise to immediately apply the play field protector? or if you buy a used game that's maybe been out on location for, let's say, even a year. You're picking up an Iron Maiden game that's been out for a year, and there's maybe some dimpling there. Will these playfield protectors help that? Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think ideally, you know, it would be great to never have a ball touch the playfield. And I actually talked to an operator who told me that's his strategy for some of the, you know, games that he purchases. he makes sure that he gets the playfield protector in before the game goes out on location, which I think is an awesome strategy. But it can also be put in a game that you had and you want to stop the continued abuse that the ball has Some of the theories I heard on the new machines when they clear coat them they not dry enough before they send them out I don know if that true or not but The play field is certainly easily, I don't want to say it's easily dented, I don't know. Well, with clear coating, it's something that is done to the newer machines. When you talk about some of the older games, F-14 Tomcat, and I think of some of the old Stern games that I love, like Flight 2000 and Stargazer and Quicksilver, though playfields are usually quite worn out. So I can see a playfield protector help that, especially if you're getting it refurbished or maybe you just want the wear and tear to stop. Well, let me give you an example. So we had our pirates for about six months. I heard one of the other people you interviewed called it POTC, and so I'm so affectionately calling it POTC now. I love that. I love that. So on our pod feed, we had it for about six months before we put in the plate deal protector. And one of the reasons why I wanted it in there is I noticed that I was getting some very fine scratches right there, kind of right above the flippers where Jack Sparrow is. And I could see the little scratches on his face because the dirt was settling into those scratches. At first, I thought that the artwork had whiskers, but no. That was not the case. They're little tiny grasses. And so what the play field protector does is stops that from happening to the actual play field itself. So, you know, I'm happy to have it reversing, not reversing, but eliminating additional wear in that area because I want to keep that game looking, playing beautifully for years to come. Now, I love pinball. I travel all over North America and even the world to play pinball. and I have a few machines at home. It's notorious that I'm not good for fixing my own games. I have friends that do that. But when it comes to things like installations, and I'm sure there are people listening to Pinball Profile right now that may be into collecting, may be just starting out, and maybe are a little fearful of that. You did say it is time-consuming to maybe put on this or maybe even other mods. Is there a good way to teach somebody? Are there videos? Are there tips? I mean, I know you can go on forums and ask for help, but I like to see it done before I do it. I don't know. Yeah, I totally get that. So one of my criteria, you know, I'm not the most technical pinball person either. Join the club.

13:40

That's funny. Yeah, the other thing that I've been doing is I'm creating a catalog of pictures and tips for all the installations I've done. So I did the Iron Maiden Premium. I found two things that would be really helpful to know. in the orbit that has the post that, just double checking when you have laid down the plate field protector. First, the post is going to come up without catching the edge of it. So you can trim that before you get all the way down in the process. So I'm trying to help people along in that way. The other thing is that I am pretty widely known for being accessible to customers for problem solving and helping them through. I've walked through over the phone with many a customer, sometimes on Skype or FaceTime, how to do an installation. So I'm always open to that as well. That's a nice peace of mind. That's good to know, Kristen. Now, also in New Mexico, if you happen to be in Rio Rancho and you want to play some pinball, a good place to go to is the place that you manage, 505 Pinball. So do you want to tell us about that arcade? I know that's something I'd like to see someday. That's not too far from Albuquerque, is it? No, we're, you know, just a suburb of Albuquerque, and we are a family-friendly arcade that is flat rate, you know, one price, unlimited play. And, you know, we, there is not a whole, we call this the pinball wasteland here, where there's not a lot of machines on location. We're certainly trying to contribute to that growing by having our location. and we opened it up because we already had a small collection as a result of the business, but found we were bringing these new games in and wanted to share them with the community And so as a sponsor of the local league Duke City Pinball we decided that we would open up the facility for the community And so we've had a lot of birthday parties here. My favorite birthday parties are for those who are about six or seven years old or those who are 50 and older. Those are the best kinds of birthday parties that we've had here. We do, you know, it's like flipper tournaments for the parties, which is just awesome. You know, it's great to see the joy that people get out of kind of teaming up in competition. And we, you know, we do field trips and we're part of an annual tour that they do for kind of manufacturing month, which is in October, to help people see different kinds of manufacturing jobs. And so as part of that, people get to come in and play pinball. So our arcade is, you know, it's kind of small. It's quaint. We're in the industrial center of Rio Rancho. And in the back of the arcade is the workshop where we run miso mods. So it's kind of a fun, different place to come if you're in the area. I like it. I like the sound of it. And I do want to come to the area and check it out for sure. Come to New Mexico. I will. And speaking of New Mexico, now I'm sure you've heard this once or twice or a million times before, but come on. How cool would it be to have a Breaking Bad pinball machine? Well, this is one of the most mentioned things, you know, on the threads that you see on Facebook or Pinside. You know, themes that people want to see made, and you almost always see Breaking Bad as one of those. We would be delighted to be a part of that as, you know, for better or worse, the home of Breaking Bad. But I do think it would make a great pinball machine, and I think it would provide some excellent content for us to work with at Measlemods to do some of our best product development work. So we hope that someday it may be made. Who knows? I've seen the rethemed pin. I thought that was kind of cool. Oh, I've never seen that. Maybe. I don't know if it's just artwork or not, but I'll try to find a picture of it and post it on our Facebook page. Yeah, that would be cool. Kristen, it has been a pleasure talking to you. I wish you all the best at Measel Mods. You can find out more at MeaselMods.com. And also on that website, too, you have done something where you kind of bring in other makers of things and really promote their work, too. Yeah, we've been really excited to make it easier for customers to buy in one place, but also to really help people who are hobbyist makers who want to use our platform, our website, and our infrastructure to sell their products. So we're excited to have companies like Rock Custom Pinball, Lermod, Still Graphics, a whole bunch of Sparky Pinball, and a whole bunch of others that we have been delighted to be in collaboration with. and it's been really rewarding for us as well as, I think, those makers to, you know, get to learn from each other and also grow their business at the same time. So it's been really great talking to you, Jeff. I've been listening to your show over the last couple of months and really, really think it's a fantastic show. Not just saying that, but I really like it. You know what? Okay, somebody's going to say, you know what? I know why you talked to Kristen at Measle Mods because you're getting something from that. No, I just want to promote. You know what? And that's how some people actually think. It's sad to think that. I just want to promote pinball. I think there's all kinds of different aspects. And you saying that nice compliment to me means the world to me because I think you appreciate what my goal is in trying to cover every aspect of pinball, whether it's competitions, whether it's the makers, whether it's the mods, whatever it may be. If it's pinball related, I'd like it here on Pinball Profile. Well, I do think you do really an exceptional job with the diversity of what you're covering, but I also think you're just spot on in the way that you interview people and how you select in what gets talked about. So, you know, I just think you're really doing – it makes it easy to listen to. Kristen, you maybe want to do one more show. You know, you get a good comment. All right, I'll do one more then.