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***Special Announcement*** PInswaprentals.com

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Jan 15, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

We Are Pinball launches pinswaprentals.com peer-to-peer machine rental platform with insurance and safety features.

Summary

Scott Ian and Drew from We Are Pinball announce the launch of pinswaprentals.com, a peer-to-peer pinball machine rental platform designed to connect machine owners with enthusiasts who want to rent games monthly. The service features PayPal/Stripe payment processing, a $10,000 per-transaction insurance policy, a 12% platform fee, and a rating system to protect both renters and owners. The platform targets collectors with excess machines, distributors seeking lead generation and revenue from used inventory, location operators seeking alternative revenue streams during COVID-19, and players priced out of purchasing new machines.

Key Claims

  • Newer Stern machines (2010+) rent for approximately $400-500 per month on average

    medium confidence · Scott Ian discussing pricing research: 'newer Sterns, I'd say from 2010 and up you know the average price for renting is about 400 to 450 a month newer machines closer to 500 a month'

  • The platform charges a 12% transaction fee to cover insurance and website hosting

    high confidence · Scott Ian stating: 'Right now it's a 12% fee, and I think that's more than fair because, like I said, we're putting in a lot of money towards the insurance and we're putting in money towards just the hosting of the website.'

  • Each transaction is protected by a $10,000 insurance policy covering theft, fire, complete destruction, and damage

    high confidence · Scott Ian announcing: 'We Are Pinball proud to announce that we have $10,000 insurance policy for each and every transaction.' Drew confirming it covers 'theft, fire, and complete destruction of the game, damage to the machine.'

  • Stranger Things pinball had a lukewarm reception in the market

    medium confidence · Scott Ian suggesting: 'say a new game comes out that people are kind of lukewarm on, say like Stranger Things had a lukewarm reception.'

  • This is the first peer-to-peer pinball rental platform of its kind

    medium confidence · Scott Ian stating: 'I don't know of another rental website that has been released and has tried this. So we're willing to take the first steps, see how it goes. But We Are Pinball starting from scratch.'

Notable Quotes

  • “If you have a brand new Stern pinball machine maybe two Stern pinball machines that are relatively new... you can take that and use that to buy more machines so a dream scenario how we see it is you know owners making this a little bit of a side business”

    Scott Ian @ N/A — Articulates the core value proposition for machine owners: passive income enabling hobby expansion

  • “There's a lot of people out there that love pinball you know i just think about you know the different play levels of players right you have your your enthusiasts your hobbyists you have your hardcore tournament players i mean i think this will hit everybody the same way”

    Scott Ian @ N/A — Demonstrates the platform's intended reach across all player demographics

  • “If you don't want this in a house where the people smoke, completely up to you. You know, you have the power on who you decide to rent to.”

    Scott Ian @ N/A — Emphasizes owner control and autonomy in rental decisions

  • “We're literally connecting the whole world... we envision having a one-stop shop where you want to rent a pinball machine, you go to Pinswap Rentals, you're covered, you're insured, and you can feel confident that you're going to make money and your game is going to come back in decent shape”

    Drew (We Are Pinball) @ N/A — Positions Pinswap as a global, comprehensive solution compared to regional alternatives

  • “my dream scenario is we get people that say fuck corporate America and go go hard... people that are able to quit their full-time jobs”

    Scott Ian @ N/A — Reveals aspirational vision for the platform as enabling career transitions in the hobby

  • “I wanted to rent games before we started this, and I'm going to do just that. So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.”

    Drew (We Are Pinball) @ N/A — Personal commitment to using the platform they created, establishing credibility

Entities

Scott IanpersonDrewpersonWe Are PinballorganizationPinswap RentalsproductStern PinballcompanyTeenager Mutant Ninja TurtlesgameLed ZeppelingameGuns N' RosesgameWilly Wonka & The Chocolate Factorygame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Launch of new peer-to-peer rental marketplace targeting underserved segments of pinball market (players priced out of purchase, owners seeking passive income, distributors seeking new revenue channels)

    high · Official announcement of fully operational pinswaprentals.com with insurance, payment processing, and rating system infrastructure

  • ?

    product_strategy: Platform designed to democratize access to expensive pinball machines through rental model, addressing $6,000+ purchase barrier for new and casual players

    high · Scott Ian: 'There's a lot of people out there that love pinball... Wouldn't it be nice to spend only $400, play the hell out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... and just have a lot of fun'

  • $

    market_signal: Pricing data emerges showing rental rates: '90s Williams games $350-400/month, newer Sterns $400-500/month, premium machines $500+/month

    medium · Scott Ian discussing research: 'newer Sterns, I'd say from 2010 and up you know the average price for renting is about 400 to 450 a month'

  • ?

    operational_signal: New venue/operator revenue stream identified: routing operators and arcade locations can monetize excess inventory during economic downturn by listing machines on rental platform

    high · Scott Ian to operators: 'if you're not making $400 a month on your machines, maybe this is a good opportunity to pull some of those expensive machines you have at bars and put them up for rent'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Evidence of lukewarm market reception for Stranger Things pinball game, suggesting potential demand gap for new releases

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.077

0:00
Hi everybody, this is Ian and with me is Drew and we are the Pinswap team and we had a special announcement today for all of you pinheads and arcade buffs and basically just coin up nuts like us. If you can stick a coin in it, we can make it happen. I think so. We're going to try anyway. So, what is it? What the hell are we talking about? Well, we just created a website that is live now. It's pinswaprentals.com. That's pinswaprentals.com. It is a peer-to-peer website. So basically, it's a rental website where owners of machines can put their machines up for rent, and like-minded hobbyists who always wanted to play those said machines would rent those machines on a monthly basis. Sound about right, Drew? That sounds about right. Perfect. All right. This is only like take four, everybody, so we're doing really well.
1:01
So let's kind of go through a little bit of the why, because the why I feel is the most important. Like why do we need this? You know, there's already Pinside. You know, there's Facebook Marketplace. There's Craigslist. I'm sure there's plenty of different ways to go out and put your machines up for rent.
1:21
So let's kind of go through that a little bit. What do you say, Drew? Yeah, this whole idea was kind of hatched because I actually was interested in renting games. I kind of started talking to Ian about it, and Ian was not crazy about the idea of helping me schlep games around. But then as we talked more and more about the idea, it kind of came up where, hey, what if we could help facilitate people who did want to schlep games around, people who did want to rent games, people, maybe distributors that have lots of games, maybe they want to rent the games to people in the public. And there's a lot of people out there who, instead of dropping $6,000 on a brand new pen, would love to rent something to play for a month. Yeah, yeah. Picture, you know, you're new to the hobby. You don't have $6,000 to, you know, pay for a pen and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles drops from Stern, you know. So how cool would it be if someone who has that money up front buys the machine and puts it up for rent? Now he can rent it out to all those enthusiasts that can pay $500 a month to play a game, learn the rules, learn the shots, and overall just enjoy the game. And then when it's done, the owner will come by, pick it up, and then that's where the obsession starts. Now the guy can go around and see what other games are around. So I thought all of that was a really good idea. And that's kind of where Pinswap was born. So let's start with how a transaction is going to kind of look. So really simply, quite simply put, it is just like every other online marketplace you've ever seen. To sign up, it's free. It's all that requires is, you know, your name, a password. and I think you have to link it to either your PayPal account or Stripe account. That's important because we're not allowing cash transactions to take place. Everything is going to be done under the safety umbrella that is PayPal and Stripe. So either method works just fine for this application. And how this would work is owners of pinball machines that, say, have too many pinball machines in their collection and really want to get some space but don't want to sell their machines outright well now they can put those extra machines up for rent and actually make a decent monthly income say if you have a brand new stern pinball machine maybe two stern pinball machines that are relatively new our research indicates that newer sterns i'd say from 2010 and up you know the the average price for renting is about 400 450 a month newer machines closer to 500 a month now you have that kind of power to put up machines for rent to make a nice monthly income i mean two machines that are relatively new stern machines that's a thousand a month of of income and you can take that and use that to buy more machines so a dream scenario how we see it is you know owners making this a little bit of a side business uh able to have a little bit more money um and have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to buying new machines because now they'll have more income coming in uh the positives we see from a renter's perspective is, you know, someone who wants to rent a machine generally isn't going to be the guy that buys these machines brand new. You know, this is the guy who's probably trying to get into the hobby. He's probably been going on location for the most part or going over to a friend's house. And ideally, you know, he doesn't want to go on location anymore because of the COVID-19. And I get it. You know, I want to stay healthy too. I have a family to protect myself. So I'm not really going on location right now and i miss going on location so badly but this is a great alternative there's fewer you know uh there's there's much fewer uh cases of contact you know you're literally just dealing with the owner but with your side yes you would just sign up the same way you put in your your name and and your address and and uh we don't collect any kind of information and link it to your PayPal or Stripe account. And now that's all you got to do. Now you can browse your area to see what machines are up for rent.
Stranger Things
game
PayPalorganization
Stripeorganization
Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization

medium · Scott Ian: 'say a new game comes out that people are kind of lukewarm on, say like Stranger Things had a lukewarm reception'

  • ?

    community_signal: Platform explicitly designed to address accessibility and affordability barriers that price out casual and new players from hobby participation

    high · Scott Ian: 'this is a hobby again that is very pricey... people get priced out every day in this hobby'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Implementation of $10,000 per-transaction insurance policy as key differentiator and trust mechanism compared to uninsured alternatives (Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist)

    high · Scott Ian: 'We Are Pinball proud to announce that we have $10,000 insurance policy for each and every transaction. And that's what's going to set us apart'

  • ?

    business_signal: COVID-19 cited as accelerating factor for platform development; venues and location operators facing sustained capacity restrictions and revenue pressure

    high · Scott Ian: 'I know a lot of you get used inventory on trades... you're probably going to be at half capacity for a while yet so this is a good opportunity'

    • 6:00
    And once you guys find each other, the renters who are interested are just going to be, just click the Rent Me Now button and a dialog box will appear. And the best thing is you guys can talk about how you want to do this. You know I feel like there should be some good guidelines if you an owner because these are your machines you are spending the money buying these machines and you are going to be maintaining these machines on your dime So yeah you know if you don want to you know move these things upstairs that totally up to you If you don't want this in a house where the people smoke, completely up to you.
    6:42
    You know, you have the power on who you decide to rent to. And the renters, you know, same thing. You're going to have to look at some of the owners, and the beautiful thing about every transaction that transpires, there is going to be at the end of it a rating system. So you're going to be able to see previous rentals, if there are positive or negative experiences, and you can read reviews of how the transaction went. So you have more confidence knowing that these guys are legit. So that was very important, Drew. So we needed a system in place where we kind of protect the renters as well. So the renters are also going to get reviewed by the owners. So it's a fair system through and through. One more thing I'd just like to add is because we are only doing transactions through PayPal and Stripe, the beauty of that is now you're protected by PayPal and Stripe versus Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, something like that. That's a tough one because you're not exactly getting the safest transaction because there may be guys out there that only want to deal with cash, and that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for transactions that are going to be safe for both parties. The biggest thing that we think was going to come up, and we shared this with a couple of people, and the question was always the same. How are we protected? How is the owner protected? How is the renter protected? And, you know, we've worked very hard through several different insurance routes, and we are proud to announce that we have $10,000 insurance policy for each and every transaction. And that's what's going to set us apart, we feel, from Craigslist and Facebook and just even some other small rental outfits that I have tried in the past because we have been able to secure that $10,000 per transaction insurance. Yeah, and that's going to protect you from theft, fire, and complete destruction of the game, damage to the machine. Like I said before, general maintenance is going to be on the owner's part. You guys are going to be the ones collecting the money, and you guys are going to be the ones that are going to have to put in some work to make sure your machines are fully operation when you go to rent them.
    9:14
    And that's kind of how it goes. Now, Drew and I, because we have the insurance on everything and we're going to be hosting the site, we're going to collect a fee after every transaction or when the money switches hands. Right now it's a 12% fee, and I think that's more than fair because, like I said, we're putting in a lot of money towards the insurance and we're putting in money towards just the hosting of the website. And we're going to try to moderate it with full authority and just to make sure that all sides are protected in this. So like many of you know, there's a lot of different segments in our collector, you know, in the collector hobby.
    9:58
    And really what we're trying to help out, which I think what we're trying to do is help every single person, no matter what little niche, what little bucket you fit in. So let's kind of go into some of these real quick. It's going to be a quick bullet point thing. I just want you to kind of see what we're thinking, okay? So let's go about it in the eyes of the owners, okay? So you have these collections, and I just want to say this isn't going to be something for somebody that has rare games. You know, this isn't going to be something where you guys, you know, out there need pristine and perfect games. You know, this probably isn't going to be for you, guaranteed. But if it's, if you have, you know, four or five games and you want to get game number six in, but can't, you know, either can't afford it or you just don't have the room. And maybe you're the only one that plays pinball in your house. And, you know, you have these games just kind of sitting there collecting dust. well, this is a great way for you to make a little bit of extra money to help you kind of grow your collection. Putting two or three games up for rent would actually help bring in quite a bit of money, depending on which game it is.
    11:15
    I know we kind of mentioned a little bit on pricing. You know, the prices are set by the owners. So depending on the game, you know, if it's a 90s Williams game, you know, you might be able to get $350 to $400 a month, depending on the title. Um, newer stern machines, you know, 400 to 500, um, you know, and some of the nicer machines out there, you might even get more than 500. It's completely up to you how much you want to charge for your machine. But if you think about it, um, just saying you have a few machines, let's say two machines out for rent every month, that's an $800 in your bank, $800 in your bank every month, you know, and that quickly will add up to the point where you're able to buy more machines and put more machines up for rent. Imagine if you have four machines up or five machines up. That's $2,000 a month. That's a nice little chunk of change. So for owners, all you're really worried about is, A, you're going to have to find out. You're going to be in charge of the actual delivery. So you're going to be the ones that are going to be taking care of your games, packing up your games, and driving and delivering your games. So you're the one that's going to be in charge of that, and you're in charge of the maintenance of your machines. And if anything goes wrong, it's going to be on you to fix these.
    12:37
    Juror and I's responsibility is literally to protect you as best as we can. That's why we have that $10,000 insurance policy.
    12:44
    But other than that, yeah, it's a business. What I dream of my dream for the owners that want to make more money every month so they can afford more pinball and more arcades is I want you guys to treat it as a small business And I want you guys to go out there and I want you guys to market this And I want you guys to be able to get these machines rented. Drew and I were just talking before we got on the air. You know, we talked about Facebook and Craigslist and there's a lot of users on there. There's nothing that says you can't copy the URL from your games that are listed for rent on Pinswap and posting them on those Facebook and Craigslist pages. Because, again, this is set up so it's super easy for your transactions to go through, PayPal and Stripe. And you get the insurance, the $10,000 insurance. That's not something that Facebook or Craigslist is going to offer. But you can still market your stuff there. So I think owners, you can make some good money. And even if you have a small collection like me, I have two games. I have no problem putting up one of those games for sale just to collect some money so I can go out and get myself another game, a third game, maybe even a fourth game.
    14:02
    So that's kind of what I was thinking. This is going to help us kind of grow our hobby. We're going to be able to buy more games. Distributors are going to love us because we're going to be able to act as small businesses and buying more machines from them. And this is going to be a really good thing for us and for our hobby. And I think if done right, we can make some good money on this.
    14:24
    So I spoke about distributors. Let's talk about them. So distributors, I know you probably are just dying to find more leads in your area. And this is a great way. This is a great lead generation tool. You can literally go on pin swap, check the map, and you will find anyone who's either renting machines or people that are inquiring about your machines. These could be pinheads you didn't even know existed in your own backyard. Lead generation is one thing that I feel will be really, really nice for you guys. The second thing is I know a lot of you get used inventory on trades. Now, used inventory can sit there and collect dust. So this is something that you can actually put up for rent. you already have the vehicles and equipment for delivering, and this isn't going to take much out of your day. Think about it. You're dropping off one day, and you're picking up at the end of the month. And that is a monthly income you weren't having before. So this could actually be a very beneficial service for your business. And, yes, that insurance is also covering your machines too. And you already know how to work on your machines, and I think this is a great way to show off that stair-climbing escalera and all that great stuff. So I think this is a good opportunity for you guys to grow your business and get more income coming in on those distributorships. And this is the only one-stop shop that we know of because there's a couple of, like, regional pinball rentals in certain areas, certain cities. You know, you can find some distributors that might, you know, rent you a game here or there.
    16:00
    But we're, you know, we're literally connecting the whole world. Right. I mean, you can post this anywhere. I mean, you can post this in Canada. You can post this in Australia.
    16:11
    You know, we envision having a one-stop shop where you want to rent a pinball machine, you go to Pinswap Rentals, you're covered, you're insured, and you can, you know, rent to somebody with a good rating, and you can feel confident that you're going to make money and your game is going to come back in decent shape, and you can do it over and over and over again. Yeah. The next little segment, the little bucket here, is companies that route machines. Now, we know that there's tons of machines out there at bars and local establishments.
    16:48
    We know that local, especially in our neck of the woods, the bars and the local establishments have been hit hard with COVID-19, and I'm sure it's hitting the businesses hard there for those that route the machines. And I think this is a really good opportunity to kind of step outside your comfort zone. And if you're not making $400 a month on your machines, maybe this is a good opportunity to pull some of those expensive machines you have at bars and put them up for rent and see if you can bring in some more revenue for your company so you don't have to go out of business. I think that, you know, because you already do all the hard work, this is something that this is in your wheelhouse. This is easy. You're already set up for everything here. now it's just a matter of just posting some machines on a map and and then collecting the money you know i think this is going to be really really good for you guys too and i see it as a good opportunity to make more money on individual machines and again like i said you know with covid19 a lot of bars and restaurants are at half capacity still and i think before it's all said and done they're probably going to be at half capacity for a while yet so this is a good opportunity you know maybe we can get you some more money in your pockets and then the last thing obviously i want to talk about are the people who are going to rent machines now this is a hobby again that is very pricey you know when we talk about one thousand dollar toppers you know people get priced out every day in this hobby and it's it's it's no joke and i know there's a lot of people out there that love pinball you know i just think about you know the different play levels of players right you have your your enthusiasts your hobbyists you have your hardcore tournament players i mean i think this will hit everybody the same way i mean you tournament guys if there's a game out there that you want to learn how nice would it be to have it in your own home and play it for a month and just nail it and get it those rules down and locked in or if you're new to the hobby and you don't have six grand buy a machine you know yes you can get some used machines.
    19:01
    Prices keep going up on this stuff. You're still paying thousands of dollars. Wouldn't it be nice to spend only $400, play the hell out of Turtles, play the hell out of Led Zeppelin, play the hell out of Guns N Roses or Wonka and just have a lot of fun Those of you you in the arcade business um you know i know arcades are hurting this is another good way of of moving machines a little bit getting some more money for your return you know arcade machines you can rent them out um you know 100 200 300 there's no minimum so whatever you feel is fair um go for it because there's a lot of people out there that are stuck at home and are looking for entertainment think about parties birthday parties all that great stuff where you could have um some cool entertainment in your home for just for a fraction of yeah the cost and then these are the guys that are going to come by set it up and then they're going to take it away in a month you know and you're going to have your fill you're going to play it and you're going to have a lot of fun doing it and i don't think you're going to have i think you're going to get your money's worth i think it's a for for as far as entertainment value goes drew and you could probably talk to about this a bit i mean things are expensive out there now people are jacking up their pride you can't get a hot tub now you know so for something like this this is something that i think will really help you guys you know fill some of that entertainment need without committing six thousand dollars and even just mentioned about weekends, birthday parties. We kind of kept saying monthly rentals, but once again, the owner's in control and the renter to some degree. So if a renter just wants a game for a weekend for his birthday party or his daughter's birthday party or whatever, you guys can work that out. That's fine. Maybe it's $200 just to have it for a week. There's nothing wrong with that. Right, and we're not going to be very strictly enforcing the month rule. That's just something that is just like a preset thing. Yeah, most of them will probably be monthly rentals. However, if you have a special event, maybe you're a corporate business, and you just want something fun for your employees at a company picnic or whatever. So there's all kinds of opportunities out there for owners to make money renting these games for any period of time.
    21:39
    All right, perfect. Well, we are out of time, Drew. We went over our timing like usual. But I just want to touch on some of the challenges right now for Pinswap, and we'll be fully transparent. We are starting a community from scratch. I don't know of another rental website that has been released and has tried this. So we're willing to take the first steps, see how it goes. But we are starting from scratch. So if you log on to Pinswap today and you see not many machines in your area, please don't give up on us. It's going to be a process.
    22:21
    It's not going to be built in a day. But what we're going to try to do is, like I said, we want to get everyone involved. And I think this is a good opportunity to showcase new games as well. I didn't even mention that, but for distributors, say a new game comes out that people are kind of lukewarm on, say like Stranger Things had a lukewarm reception. Well, you know, this is a good opportunity to start showcasing some of those games, maybe get some of that old stock sold. So, again, I preface, just be patient with us. We're still working out some kinks. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. We have on the website, on the very top, there is a Contact Us button, a link.
    23:07
    Feel free to use that. That will go right to Drew and I. Once again, it's pinswaprentals.com. Pinswaprentals.com. Yep. And on the page, it will have About, and it will show some of why we're doing this, kind of what this podcast was about. Contact Us, so that goes right to us. and there's a link to invite new members so you can invite your friends as well.
    23:32
    And then, yeah, there's how it works. We talk a little bit about that. And really we just want everyone to have a very positive experience with this. So please give us a look.
    23:45
    Pinsiders, be gentle on us. You know who you are. And we are just open to any kind of questions you might have, and we're still working on our frequently asked questions because like Drew said earlier, we have talked to a few people about this in the media and they have given us some great things to think about and we're going to be adding some frequently asked questions. But for the most part, we just want you guys all to understand that this isn't something that we take lightly and we're really excited about it and I think it's going to be a good thing. But we need to get people to participate. And again, in my dream scenario, we get you guys all this extra money through a hobby that we all love and i want you to treat it as a small business i really want you to kind of push that marketing button in your brain and i want to see if you guys can get creative out there and kind of like push it a little bit and see what we can do and i would love for you guys to be able to quit your full-time jobs that's my dream scenario is we get people that say fuck corporate america and go go hard you know i was just about to say that that you know uh I lost my train of thought. I was just about to say that this thing's live now, and I'm going to be putting my own games up for rent. So like I said, I wanted to rent games before we started this, and I'm going to do just that. So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. There you go. So you guys will see some of my games listed up there very, very soon. Excellent. All right. Well, thank you, everybody, for your time. It's pinswaprentals.com, pinswaprentals.com. and we hope to see you out there. I hope this is a positive experience. Again, if you have any questions, just contact us through PIN Swap, and we will answer as many questions as we can. So thank you very much for your time. Drew, do you want to say bye?
    25:41
    Drew, say bye. All right, well, thanks, guys, and we love you, and keep flipping. Bye.