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Pinball News - Pinball Expo 2019 Seminars - Dino Gaspari

Pinball News (Pinball Expo 2019)·video·27m 52s·analyzed·Oct 18, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Dino Gasparri pitches hand-airbrushed custom pinball re-theming service at $3k-$3.5k per machine.

Summary

Dino Gasparri from Pinball Depot presents a custom pinball re-theming service at Pinball Expo 2019, offering hand-airbrushed playfield artwork and complete machine customization for $3,000-$3,500. He describes his 20-year experience in buying/selling pinball machines, introduces Ship My Pinball (a shipping portal launching in a couple weeks), and showcases examples of one-off custom machines including sports themes, corporate events, and themed variations. The service targets machines with damaged playfields or unsalvageable original artwork, positioning custom art as an alternative to licensed commercial production games.

Key Claims

  • Custom pinball re-theming costs $3,000 to $3,500 when customer supplies the machine

    high confidence · Dino stated this price range multiple times, citing 100+ hours of labor including airbrush work, 12 coats of clear coat, new playfield parts, new top glass, and custom back glass decal

  • Hand airbrushing is the key differentiator because 'nobody does that anymore because it just takes too long'

    high confidence · Dino explicitly contrasted his hand-airbrush method against competitors and emphasized it as unique selling proposition

  • Pinball Depot shipped a Gorgar machine to Puerto Rico from Montreal for $224 USD

    high confidence · Dino provided this specific example to demonstrate shipping cost efficiency and relationships with trucking companies

  • Ship My Pinball portal will launch 'in a couple of weeks' from Pinball Expo 2019 date

    medium confidence · Dino stated portal 'will be launching in a couple of weeks' and offered additional seminar at 6:30 PM next day to discuss it further

  • Custom machines take approximately one month to complete with 100+ hours of work

    high confidence · Dino stated 'It takes about a month to do the work. There hours and hours of work to disassemble sand coat paint'

  • Custom sound systems can be added for approximately $500 additional cost

    high confidence · Dino stated 'you can buy a good sound system and have it installed for 500 bucks' and described triggering machine sounds based on game events

  • Playfield artwork is the most labor-intensive part, potentially $1,500-$2,000 if supplied as stripped playfield only

    medium confidence · Dino responded to question about stripped playfield pricing, suggesting playfield work alone could be 'half' the total cost or $1,500-$2,000

  • One-off custom designs eliminate licensing concerns because they are artist renditions rather than licensed IP

    high confidence · Dino repeatedly stated 'there's never any issues with licensing' and 'it's an artist's rendition. It's like a work of art. It's a painting.'

Notable Quotes

  • “Custom pinball is within your reach. That's a Buccaneer playfield. And that Buccaneer playfield was stripped, sanded down. The design was drawn, and then it was hand airbrushed. So it is actually a real work of art.”

    Dino Gasparri@ 4:46 — Core value proposition: positioning custom machines as accessible art pieces rather than commercial products

  • “There's only going to be one of that machine made. If you're doing a Jack Daniels or if you're doing an NFL-themed machine that you want done a certain way, have a corporate event... People like to rent those picture booths for $1,500 to $2,000. Why not have a machine that you can keep and hold and save?”

    Dino Gasparri@ 9:54 — Market positioning: framing custom pinballs as superior to rental photo booths for corporate events

  • “Nobody does that anymore because it just takes too long... The key differentiator in the marketplace is that we do the playfield by hand, hand airbrush.”

    Dino Gasparri@ 9:28 — Competitive positioning: hand-airbrushing as unique selling point vs. other custom shops

  • “If I can ship a pinball to Puerto Rico, a Gorgar, for $224, I can absorb the shipping costs as well.”

    Dino Gasparri@ 20:28 — Operational advantage: shipping cost leverage enabling nationwide customer access

  • “You have to let my artist run with the ball here... if I let him run with the ball, like, for example, the pinball expo, the way you see it on the playfield, immediately Rob said, I've got to turn sideways to see the logo... I said, listen, Rob, you've got to let my artist run with the ball here.”

    Dino Gasparri@ 18:31 — Design philosophy: balancing client input with artistic autonomy in custom projects

Entities

Dino GasparripersonPinball DepotcompanyShip My PinballcompanyRob BurkepersonPinball Expoeventshipmypinball.comproductpinballdepot.caproduct

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Ship My Pinball portal launching in couple weeks from Pinball Expo 2019, indicating business expansion into logistics/fulfillment services

    high · Dino stated 'it will be launching in a couple of weeks' and dedicated follow-up seminar slot to discuss shipping services

  • ?

    community_signal: Growing interest in custom themed pinballs for corporate/commercial venues and bar installations

    medium · Multiple audience members reported interest during Q&A: 'You're the third person today that came to me and said we want one for our bar'

  • $

    market_signal: Custom one-off hand-airbrushed pinball machines positioned as emerging market segment between commercial boutique production and vintage collector machines

    high · Dino framed service as systematic offering for 'one-off games' below boutique manufacturer tier, addressing niche of customers wanting custom artistic machines without licensing constraints

  • ?

    operational_signal: 20-year shipping relationships and logistics infrastructure enabling cost-effective pinball distribution

    high · Dino cited specific example of $224 shipment to Puerto Rico and described 'relationships in place with some of the biggest trucking companies'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.084

0:00
out to be historic, as I mentioned in my remarks in the program book. So I'm David Marston, and on behalf of Rob Burke and the entire staff of Pinball Expo, welcome to the 35th year.
0:14
I'll be talking later tonight about the history, along with Rob Burke, at 8.30 p.m. Our first speaker today, Dino Gasparri, is from a foreign country, Canada. Sometimes we forget that Canada is a different country, but came here from Montreal.
0:42
And he has two spots on the calendar. By the way, the October 14th edition is what we're going by here.
0:54
So it's slightly newer than what you have in the program books. I think the rest of the afternoon up through Gordon Hasse is all the same as what you have in your program books. So in this time slot, Dino is representing pinballdepot.ca, and he has a really interesting idea that down below the level of the boutique and the low production games, what about one-off games. What if that could be systematic? And we'll hear more about his plan to provide that service. Dino? Thank you. Did everybody have their double expressos this morning? Yes. Yeah? I promise you're not going to need another one after I'm done. So to give you a little bit of information and who, what I've done in the past, I've been buying and selling pinball machines for 20 years online. And had my love affair start in 1979 with Aladdin's Castle in centigrade 37, as I used to play as a kid. And the love just kept getting deeper and deeper. So I started to buy and sell machines basically just to finance my addiction.

  • “We can absorb the shipping costs as well... We're not out there to compete with anybody. We're out there to say, hey, look, let's all get together and do some good for the community, create some really cool original pinball machines.”

    Dino Gasparri@ 12:03 — Community-focused positioning: framing service as collaborative rather than competitive

    • 2:20
    So, you know, I had a chance of working with an airbrush artist. He designs hand drawings of whatever it is that you want to see on a play field. He airbrushes it. He clear coats it 12 times, and then all of a sudden you have the most beautiful machine you've ever seen designed exactly the way you want. It's a one-off. It's an artist's rendition. so there's never any issues with licensing or anything like that. We did create a pinball depot, did create a custom 35th anniversary pinball for the show, which you can see in the vendors. If you haven't already seen it, it's up on our website.
    3:04
    And so I'm also going to talk a little bit later tomorrow at 6.30 about shipmypinball.com. We already have a very nice network in place for people who go across the country and diligently carry our pinball machines. For those who are geographically not placed in the right location and can't reach those people, we also have a portal called shipmypinball.com, which will be launching in a couple of weeks. And that will provide you with amazing discounts. We've been shipping for 20 years. We have relationships in place with some of the biggest trucking companies.
    3:42
    And just for example, we shipped a pinball. It was a Gorgar pinball to Puerto Rico from Montreal, terminal to terminal, $224 U.S. So I know there's a lot of guys out there that have been saying, hey, I want to get that machine. But you know what? You're just a little bit too far, Dino, or whoever's selling the machine. So I wanted to pass along an opportunity to be able to show you the discounts available to the community, make the discounts available to the community.
    4:18
    So why don't we just get started with a little bit of a slideshow. What you're looking at, oops, that's a pretty quick slideshow. Let me get out of here.
    4:32
    Let's go. All right, can everybody see that? It's a custom pinball is within your reach. That's a Buccaneer playfield.
    4:46
    And that Buccaneer playfield was stripped, sanded down. The design was drawn, and then it was hand airbrushed. So it is actually a real work of art.
    4:57
    What we're here to tell you is that you can design your own custom pinball. It's within your reach. you don't need to provide all of the machine. I mean, if you have a machine that you want to convert because the play field is completely destroyed and you lost the black back glass in a previous shipping accident, we make the back glasses as well. So let me get to the next slide so I can go to my points.
    5:23
    First of all, I'd like to know how many people are from overseas here. So ship my pinball. Where are you from?
    5:32
    Chamadilava? So, okay, thanks for coming, everyone. And so we can custom re-theme most pinballs, SS or EM. If you have a pinball machine, like I said, that you was, the back glass was broken and the play field is not really salvageable, we'll take that machine, sand it down, we'll make the back glass that you want and we'll make the play field that you want. It can be anything. Remember that it's a one-off, so there's never any licensing issues for anybody because it's an artist's rendition. It's like a work of art. It's a painting.
    6:09
    So like I said earlier, 12 coats of clear coat car paint are applied. That thing will never run out after that. We got a back glass decal. So if you have a specific, I had a guy do a Jack Daniels pinball and he wanted somebody on him and his wife on a motorcycle on the back glass, he got it. You just have to send the proper resolution pick. New tempered top glass, all parts on the play field are new and you can pick and choose what kind of lighting you want, but the play field parts are all brand new. It takes about a month to do the work There hours and hours of work to disassemble sand coat paint and We do everything that needs to do to make it happen So you can pick and choose color themes parts If you like one vendor over another, we can order from the vendor of your choice. That's not a problem. As I mentioned earlier, substantial shipping discounts with Pinball Depot. Ship My Pinball, same company, subsidiary company that will give you a portal to get cheaper shipping rates. We'll talk about that a little bit more tomorrow at 6.30 about Ship My Pinball. So the average price, because it always comes down to, you know, what's it going to cost me? You're going to have your own pinball machine the way you want it on the machine that you want, whether it's an EM or an SS, whatever machine you want to supply. We can supply machine too, but most people like to. So if you're supplying the machine, you're looking at $3,000 to $3,500 dollars a machine. There's over 100 hours of work there. It's a one-off. And obviously, it's going to be something that is going to appreciate in value because, in my opinion, it's a work of art. Have a look when you get a moment at the pinball expo. There's actually crystals in the paint that shines off the play field. You'll never see a machine like that. Pinballs are getting expensive as we go. Why not have the one that you want? So it's within your reach. It's not difficult. And because we get great shipping rates, the reason I'm talking about that is it means we can actually have you ship. I'm doing a Cleveland Browns pinball on a Monday night football as we speak for Rob, and it's all hand airbrushed. So there's a picture of what the sanding looks like when it happens, and And there's a picture of the before and after. I don't know if you can actually see the play field was pretty worn. And then you got the play field on this one here. It's pretty magical. We did like a futuristic clear plastic theme to it. And I got a few more pics maybe I can show you from the website after. So we did the Pinball Expo machine and it's, like I said, it's about 100 hours a month of work to do. And it's something that everybody wants or loves. Now let me get to the final point. Let me make this a little smaller. So why should you choose us to do the custom job? You know there's a few people, there's at least one person in every state that does it, been doing it for a long time. The key differentiator in the marketplace is that we do the play field by hand, hand airbrush. Nobody does that anymore because it just takes too long. So it's a one-off. There's only going to be one of that machine made. If you're doing a Jack Daniels or if you're doing an NFL-themed machine that you want done a certain way, you have a corporate event. You want to have a Christmas party with all kinds of stuff. People like to rent those picture booths for $1,500 to $2,000. Why not have a machine that you can keep and hold and save? So, at this point in time, I'm going to take a few questions. If you guys want to ask some questions about the processes. Yeah, Dave. So, on the Expo one, you had clear clayfield island plastics, but what would you do with So, yeah, it would be a decal if the client wanted specific. We have done some plastics with pictures in them through a decal, but, again, they have to be high-resolution pictures.
    10:46
    Okay. Anybody else? So if you're from overseas, from London, England, like Martin is here, we also have a connection for great shipping rates. And, of course, you know, 20-year shipping pinballs, you have a lot of experience when it comes down to shipping it. Customs is changing every day, the rules and regulations.
    11:10
    So, and we'll talk a little bit about that later, but in addition to shipping the pinball, Ship My Pinball will also allow you to hire a third party to clear the pinball for you at customs. There's a lot of deals out there that don't get done because people don't know how to do it. So we want to give you the tool at a click of a mouse to give you all the information you need to get the pinball you need. So A, you can use those services to ship a pinball to us that we can custom develop for you, or B, you can use it to ship pinball machines to people out there that want to buy your machines, what normally you often hear, I wish you were closer.
    11:57
    And so this hopefully will cater to the needs of the community. We're not out there to compete with anybody. We're out there to say, hey, look, let's all get together and do some good for the community, create some really cool original pinball machines. And maybe I'm going to take another minute to just show you the website. and I don't have my mouse connected here.
    12:23
    I think I have a few more pictures for you on the website. I did. That's our website. So this gives you more details of the details and the accuracy. Accuracy and detail is everything, especially on the play field. I like the way, you know, on the back end, the way Stern is on there. I think we also even put Chicago Gaming there.
    12:51
    And then I think on my website here we have some other... There's a 35th anniversary logo back glass. So we actually, for the one that's here for the show, we actually have an alternate back glass so that Rob can use the machine every year. So he'll keep the 35th anniversary as a collector's edition, and we've replaced that one with just a Pinball Expo back glass. Let me see if I can get to some more.
    13:20
    Here's some pictures of some of the custom work that we're doing. We just did a Las Vegas, Vegas Nights.
    13:28
    We also had something important I forgot to mention. We can put sound systems. Of course, that's extra. So the Vegas Night one that we're doing now has a full sound system where that song, when they come on the ice, plays ACDC's music. So we triggered the machine to do the exact same thing. So we seeing a lot of subwoofers nowadays So here a good example of some of the custom work that we done I think you can appreciate the pictures more than words can describe The detail of the work is impeccable
    14:04
    We also have done... Pardon me? What? There are more Bruins fans in Montreal now than there are Canadians fans. Come on, guys. You should know that.
    14:20
    Yeah, it's remarkable work. There's the Pinball Expo. Pinball. There's the alternate back glass I was talking about. We use every year. You know, and some people have certain preferences with the kind of bulbs they want to see, not too bright or whatever.
    14:52
    It's even on the back header. It's pretty much what you want. Can I get a little feedback on how we've done a Ferrari, some car dealerships want?
    15:08
    Anybody can give me some feedback? of what your thoughts are on what our offering... Here's a Habs one.
    15:18
    That was an earlier machine. This is in a Porsche dealership in Montreal. It's pretty cool, I think, anyway. Can I get some feedback, guys? How do you feel? Yeah?
    15:33
    Pardon me? Can you clarify? We can re-theme a black knight is the answer. It's just, you know, I'm giving you the base price of $3,000 to $3,500. If I have to do another 20 hours just to do the mini play field, you know, I'm sure we can come to an arrangement on pricing. You know, we get great discounts on shipping, so maybe we can leverage it that way.
    16:16
    Some more machines. Oh, look at this one. Any Hawks fans here? One? Really? We're in Chicago and there's only one fan?
    16:29
    Come on. Who's your fan? So again, let me stress, it's a one-off. There's only one of these made. We're never going to make the same one ever again. It's an artist's rendition. It's a work of art. We don't have any licensing issues with anybody. We never have.
    16:59
    Here's a motorcycle one. This was mine, actually. There's a nice piece of work on the play field. Yeah.
    17:09
    Now there's a way, we've learned, there's a way to make those lights stand out less with some kind of a diffuser before the light, and so it'll diffuse the light more evenly instead of spots like that. So the other thing is, as we go, there's a lot more techniques that we learn. Go ahead.
    17:35
    A lot. see that's the plastic I was talking to you about Dave so if you have a picture we can put the picture on the plastics too that's another one
    17:58
    I have a question to what extent do you want the client to thought through all the designs and you want this image here and this image there So you have to find, in French we say, le milieu, the happy middle.
    18:18
    And we don't want to impede on the artist's style because I find if I let him run with the ball, like, for example, the pinball expo, the way you see it on the play field, immediately Rob said, I've got to turn sideways to see the logo. And I said, listen, Rob, you've got to let my artist run with the ball here. You know, I think this is the right move. All right, so we did it, and it turned out really well. So, of course, that brings up another point. What if you'll always see the design before we go to airbrush? Of course, you're submitting a design of what we, you know, what the work is that we're supposed to do, you know. And if you have digital high-res pic, see there's another example of how airbrushes. I think I didn't, I haven't uploaded the Vegas Golden Knight one yet, but I will. But there's another example of the plastics we were talking about, Dave.
    19:18
    So I'd like to get from you guys a little bit of feedback as to what your thoughts are on custom pinballs, and is that something that you feel you may do one day on a machine that has been sitting in the garage that you haven't looked at or touched because the plate feels pretty worn down?
    19:43
    You think it's awesome for you? Yeah, you're the third person today that came to me and said we want one for our bar.
    19:52
    Thank you. Can I get some feedback from somebody else who's been in the pinwall world for a long time and what your thoughts are on these machines and this idea?
    20:08
    I only have a few machines. There's no old ones set in the ground. Yeah. Could I buy one? Absolutely.
    20:18
    Yeah. Absolutely. That's why we leveraged it. That's why I talked to you about the discounts I get from the shipping companies. If I can ship a pinball to Puerto Rico, a Gorgar, for $224, I can absorb the shipping costs as well.
    20:37
    And when you're buying a garbage game, though, you have to make sure of two things. Once, it's not water damaged anywhere.
    20:44
    You know you don want to build a Cadillac in a I don know a rotted out frame You don want to put a new motor in a car that has no frame left because of the winters So you have to make sure especially if it an SS that been sitting in a humid place, you want to make sure that all the contacts are clean and good and the boards. Generally, we put new boards in. That's not included in the price of the pinball, but we give you that option at that time to do that. Go ahead.
    21:18
    So you mean like putting in a pin sound card? That's what you're referring to, right? We can. Like I said to you before, we put sound systems in machines. That's an added cost on top of the $3,000, which tell you what that cost is. Typically, I think, you know, you can buy a good sound system and have it installed for 500 bucks. It can be songs that you can change on a USB key, put the songs that you want the pinball to play. You know, we can add. So the answer to your question is yes, if it's that type of thing, are we going to remodify an existing machine completely on that level for different sound on the... Not yet. I don't believe we should even want to touch that. Does that answer your question? Yeah, super. I think there was one more back there.
    22:38
    I think his question was also about messages on the Alchemer display. I see. So messages for... Give me an example of what you would like to see.
    22:57
    We've never done it, and that's something we're open to exploring. If that's what the community is calling for, this is all about the experience. It's not just about the dollar.
    23:13
    Well, we have to evaluate what you want. Do you want a sound system? Do you want this? You tell me what it is that you want. We come back with you, and we provide you a photo of what the play field would look like. We'll tell you what the theme will be, the colors, and so on and so forth. and once you see it and approve it, then we'll go to paint. I think there was a question here. Are you redoing the panels? In other words, are the flippers going to be in good shape? If the flipper is, obviously, we notice that it's a deadbeat game that hasn't been played and the flippers are dead, we're going to say, hey, you need a flipper rebuild here, which is what we did on the number of our machines. So mechanically, I don't know how far we want to go, but if we see something that's mechanically not sound, we'll either... I have a technician that's been repairing machines for 50 years that I work with very, very closely, and we could add that to the cost of the pinball.
    24:22
    Yeah? Absolutely. Send me the play field. I'll do your play field with what you want. Yeah. Yeah, but that's where all... Yeah, re-theme.
    24:46
    Right. He says, I'm not an airbrush artist, and I don't draw. I can build a machine, but I can't draw. So you do the drawing for me.
    24:59
    Right. So that's exactly the point well taken. So, yeah, the answer is yes. Yes, sir. Yeah. No. Yeah, considerably a lot less. If you just send me a stripped play field is what you're saying. Yeah. I'd have to speak to my artist and come to a price. I'm sure that, you know, would be at least half of what it costs. But the play field is the biggest part of the work. I won't be surprised if, you know, it was $1,500 to $2,000 just the play field because that's where anybody can strip, put back new parts onto the play field. That takes time, but that's not where the talent is. That's not what the key differentiator is. But, yeah, we would come to a price and talk about that before. Absolutely. Thanks for the question. Yep. Why are you doing cabinet art and less common things? I've been in the police camp. Wow. The police camp being involved in the game. Absolutely. I won't do the cabinet. it. We're not currently doing spraying out the cabinets. We're doing decals on the cabinets right now. As I mentioned before, the only airbrush artwork is being done on the playfield. Eventually, as we grow the business, we're going to look at doing the cabs as well. But right now, we're just set up for the playfield jobs. But yeah, if you give me pictures again, I can have the machine side art decaled.
    26:35
    High resolution. You need ultra high res, almost like a logo. When you get logos made, you need that PNG file or whatever it is to get the best punch out of the... When you go see the Buccaneer pinball at my vendor booth there, you'll see how punchy the 35th anniversary logo is by Yossi. It's really impressive the way we can get that on a decal and onto a real back glass. And then I also started working with laminated glasses because glasses break in a million pieces tempered. So they're 6mm instead of the standard 5mm. And I find the ball hits the glass, it soundproofs, it protects your pinball playfield from UV rays. So that's just another thing I learned over the years. And if you get a smash in shipping or whatever it is, which doesn't happen a lot, it's not going to break into a million pieces, which is what we want.
    27:34
    So I think that's it. I want to thank Rob and everybody for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.