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EPC2025 - Lloyd Dortant - Pinball News

Pinball News (EPC 2025 Seminars)·video·19m 12s·analyzed·Jun 1, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.019

TL;DR

Stern Pinball presents Stone Army program for community ambassadors and tournament promotion.

Summary

Lloyd Dorton from Stern Pinball presents the Stone Army program at EPC 2025—a global network of official Stern brand ambassadors and tournament directors tasked with organizing monthly/bi-monthly IFPA tournaments at public locations to grow the pinball community. Stone Army members receive branded jackets, access to preview webinars, launch party support, and marketing assets. The program has grown to 1,000+ members across 825 locations in 22 countries, hosting 3,600+ launch parties since its inception with Guardian of the Galaxy.

Key Claims

  • Stone Army has 1,000+ members across 825 locations in 22 countries

    high confidence · Lloyd Dorton official presentation citing current program statistics

  • Stone Army program has hosted more than 3,600 launch parties since inception with Guardian of the Galaxy

    high confidence · Lloyd Dorton citing program milestones

  • Stone Army program doubled year-over-year demand

    high confidence · Lloyd Dorton stating growth metrics

  • There are 75 women's pinball clubs worldwide, with special women events currently only in Sweden

    high confidence · Lloyd Dorton discussing women's event support

  • Stone Army is a totally free program that costs nothing to locations

    high confidence · Lloyd Dorton explicitly stating program cost structure

Notable Quotes

  • “Stone Army is a global network of official steel brand ambassadors, tournament directors, so the TDs who make up Stone Pimble, the street team.”

    Lloyd Dorton@ 1:28 — Core definition of Stone Army program and its purpose within Stern's community infrastructure

  • “The idea is to have this jacket to show that we are the stone army and then the people can identify who is the stone army member”

    Lloyd Dorton@ 2:46 — Explains visible branding and community identification strategy for program members

  • “It's a win-win formula for everyone. More location, more games, more player, and stronger community.”

    Lloyd Dorton@ 4:00 — Articulates the mutual benefit value proposition for operators, locations, and players

  • “You are all here for the tournament but maybe the person on your left and right you don't know him and now maybe you are going to be friends. It's the pinball community. It's like that.”

    Lloyd Dorton@ 7:50 — Emphasizes community-building and social connection as primary benefit beyond competitive play

  • “Pinball is for everyone, not only for the man or it's for everyone”

    Lloyd Dorton@ 15:14 — Reflects Stern's stated commitment to inclusivity and growing women's participation in pinball

Entities

Lloyd DortonpersonStern PinballcompanyStone ArmyorganizationInsider ConnectedproductGuardian of the GalaxygameKing KonggameStefanpersonIFPAorganization

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stone Army program expansion into Europe as strategic priority; Lloyd Dorton hired January 2024 specifically to strengthen European Stern location connectivity and tournament infrastructure

    high · Lloyd Dorton: 'I began to work for Stone since January last year and I'm here to fortify the Stunami program and the connected pro location all over europe'; planning European appreciation party 'before the end of the year'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stone Army program growth metrics indicate strong operator adoption and location integration; doubled year-over-year demand with 3,600+ launch parties hosted

    high · Lloyd Dorton citing 1,000+ members across 825 locations in 22 countries and 3,600+ launch parties since Guardian of the Galaxy inception

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern is systematizing community ambassador program with jacket branding, official titles, and coordinated launch parties to formalize grassroots tournament infrastructure

    high · Stone Army members receive branded jackets, official ambassador status, and are responsible for organizing monthly IFPA tournaments; 1,000+ members established with dedicated support systems

  • ?

    community_signal: Stone Army demonstrates Stern's strategic positioning in competitive pinball hub development across 22 countries; European expansion explicitly prioritized

    high · Lloyd Dorton began work in January 2024 to 'fortify the Stunami program and the connected pro location all over europe'; program operating in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.058

0:00
Hi everyone, so I'm Lloyd Dorton from Stern Pinball and we are here to talk a little bit about Stone Army, what is it, and I don't know if somebody already heard something about what is Stone Army or maybe we have Stone Army member here. Yes, no? One, two, three, Okay. Okay. And we have some insider connected pro or regular accounts or operators with us or not? Okay. Good. So here we are going to talk about Sword and Stone Army. What is it? What is the goal? What are the benefits for the local pinball communities, pinball operators, the locations and our Sword and Stone Army members? So yeah, more VR, more fun, more connectivity. As all of you know, we have the different badge that you can get on different events. Like here, we made a special badge that you can get on your Insider Connected. If you still haven't it, you can play on every Spike 2 game. They are all connected and you will have it. Stefan, if you want, you can show the badge after it or now.
1:22
Don't put it. Okay, good. So what is Stone Army? Stone Army is a global network of official steel brand ambassadors, tournament directors, so the TDs who make up Stone Pimble, the street team. So we are encouraging that people with that program to promote more the Stern pinball all over the network that we have and we are going to have. All of the members coordinate with their dedicated public location and operator to promote and execute the Stern brand. And you have to organize an IFPA tournament on your locations, monthly or six or eight weeks.
2:12
And then, Stone Army member, what does it signify? It signifies that you get a member jacket like I have here. You can see. so for the moment we offer it at the Pinball Expo in Chicago at the Stone Army appreciation party. I'm working to do something similar in Europe. Normally we will have something before the end of the year. I'm still working on it so the idea is so have this jacket to show that we are the stone army and then the people can identify who is the stone army member also the stone army tournament director he has like you organize a tournament ifpa you need to have one and then yeah pinball some primal ambassadors So here you can see some pictures of different launch parties that were organized. So we always give some prizes when you host a launch party. So Translight, the wood champion here, banners, this is what we give on that program. And what is the goal on the Stone Army? is growing the pinball, growing the community, and then help solidify all of the relationship between the locations and also promote the Stern brand. If you have questions during the presentation, don't hesitate. I can answer, of course. And yeah, more location, more games, more player, and stronger community, of course. Also, when you are in a tsunami location, you are on our Google Maps system, so you can find everyone's Google Maps where there are a tsunami location. So it can be a private club. Private club can be a tsunami location. not only a bar or what else? A bar, an FEC. So FEC are the Family Entertainment Center. Just need a location that is open to public and running event regularly so monthly or every six eight weeks The game should be connected to an insider connected operator account. And a leaderboard is not mandatory, but we encourage to use it. Another picture from different events. We have also kits, as you can see. It's for everyone, women, men, kids, so no differences. As a Stone Army member, you have some responsibilities. So to organize, you need to coordinate with the location. If you are not the owner, you can ask the owner of the location to be a Stone Army. And you can manage that. You just need to focus with him and moving forward and giving him some arguments that you can do a tsunami party, launch party. A day it's more quiet. So, for example, a Tuesday evening, it's a night that nobody is in the location. You can say, oh, we can do that. And then you can bring more people over there. So it's a win-win formula for everyone. And then also you have to coordinate at some point of marketing, doing a digital flyer, a Facebook event, to promote everything about the event.
Jaws
game
Stern Armyorganization

community_signal: Stern providing structured support for women's participation in pinball through dedicated clubs and special event promotion; 75 women's clubs worldwide with Swedish model being replicated

high · Stern supporting women's events globally; 75 women's clubs worldwide; special women-only tournaments organized; Stern encouraging women to develop clubs and competition in their countries

  • ?

    event_signal: King Kong pinball launch parties in progress; Stefan hosting June launch in Boston area; France hosted Kong launch last week with multiple locations planned

    high · Lloyd Dorton stating 'Kong just released and the dates are going to be beginning with the launch Party'; 'Stefan here is going to host one probably in June'; 'We did last week in France We have the first'

  • $

    market_signal: Stone Army launch parties designed as experiential marketing events with costumes, giveaways, special merchandise, and community photography to drive engagement beyond traditional tournament play

    high · Launch parties feature costumes (Jaws glasses, Kong celebrations), signed posters as souvenirs, special badges, grand champion wood plates, and prizes; framed as 'more than a tournament' bringing 'more fun into it'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Insider Connected badge system integrated into Stone Army to create tangible digital rewards for tournament participation and launch party attendance

    high · Stone Army badges available on Insider Connected; launch party attendees receive special badges; all Spike 2 games connected to earn badges

    • 6:12
    You need, as I said, to coordinate with the operator. If you are not the operator, you can find one, or you can ask us. We have a lot of connections. We can provide you different operators. Also, really, it's really communicate with the players, it's also responsibilities, so when the people come, they want to say, oh, I don't know who is a Stone Army member, but I want to see who is it, so, and then you communicate on that event, and you can use different tools also for the tournament we have matchplay.event that we recommend or willofnames.com to making a random giveaways so here it's an example of an event that it really last month that you can see. It's an example of Facebook,
    7:18
    different events that they are about Stone Army. As you can see, Pinball Tournament. So this is only about the community.
    7:30
    And then also, as I already talked about that, so the community benefits, it's more location, growing in the pinball community, connect friends, making new friends. It's all around the pinball and the connection that we can have. You are all here for the tournament but maybe the person on your left and right you don't know him and now maybe you are going to be friends. It's the pinball community. It's like that. And then the operator benefits. So it's also interesting for them because they get more people inside the location, so more people playing the game. So it's increased the income for him. So it's, once again, a win-win formula for everyone that they can use it. The location also, more visibility for the locations due to the event. and you can organize in part with the people's other things making putting food truck or doing a party so you can you can also do something to promote its locations so here for example we can see special price Good. I already saw that on different event locations. And then we have the launch party, as I said at the beginning. So it's an official celebration of the new Cornerstone. So now we have the Kong just released and the dates are going to be beginning with the launch Party I know that Stefan here is going to host one probably in June We all made it We did last week in France We have the first We were lucky So that's the point. As the Boston Army, you have, with the coordination with the distributor and the dealer, the possibility to have the game before the other, to organize that kind of money. It's also a benefit for the community and for the locations.
    10:03
    A launch party, it's more than a tournament. It brings more fun into it. So some people come with a big gong, like Stefan says. And he has a costume, I think. He has it there. So that's the kind of fun you can have on the location when you have a launch party. You get a special insider-connected badge also on the application, and you have also from us price and giveaways for that.
    10:40
    It's also good to say that the Stone Army program is totally free. It costs nothing to the location.
    10:50
    So here you can see a photo from different launch parties. So we have Jaws with the glasses. Thank you. I'm saying almost Brille, but the glasses. We have the badge.
    11:11
    And yeah, as you can see, it's always fun. So here we see for the Jaws launch party, again, a costume. And always fun. Everyone is always happy. They're spending a really nice moment. That's the goal of the launch party. So here, for example, you have the posters of the launch party that everyone can sign on the location. It's a good souvenir for the winner or for the owner of the location. You can put that on the wall. We have the grand champion wood plate that you get with each launch party and new cornerstone. Here you can see everyone signed the posters.
    11:58
    We have Gary. Other pictures, as you see, fun for everyone. It's always like that. And yeah, so this is all of the things about the Stoner Army. What are the benefits for you? So, the benefits, as I said, you will get the jacket, you will have access to special preview webinars for the new title, so you will be invited with the webinar before the official release from us. the free prizes, support for the events, developing the pinball community.
    12:45
    And you will be more important, an official pinball brand ambassador in your pinball community. You will get an invitation for the annual appreciation party. So for the moment, this party is in Chicago during the Pinball Expo. But as I said earlier, I'm working to do that kind of event here in Europe.
    13:08
    You will get marketing assets to promote the events, so digital and physical assets. You will be invited to join the private Facebook group and the reward for hosting L'Engloche Party. And also an opportunity to give us feedback. And you can also organize something for a fundraise for good cause for whatever you want.
    13:39
    Once again, here, different picture about the event. It's always like that. If you've never been to a launch party, I really invite you to go to one of it.
    13:55
    So, yes. And we are also supporting the women event. I will talk about it just after. So here you can see the special badge that we made for the Stone Army Appreciation Party in Chicago.
    14:16
    It a barcade near the factory So this is the official member Stone Army official member group on Facebook
    14:28
    And here, as I said, we support the women's event. So I know that Stefan organized a tournament for women here. And also, I don't know if some women played the tournament are here. That's good. That's really good.
    14:51
    Ah, good. Very good. And then we have for the moment 75 women's clubs worldwide. It's growing slowly, but it's growing, and we encourage the women to develop clubs and the competition for them.
    15:14
    Pinball is for everyone, not only for for the man or it's for everyone and then here yeah another picture from woman events in europe for the moment we have special woman events only in sweden uh not other countries so i encourage you if you can to to do it in your country yeah more more pictures so yeah as i said the tsunami is growing. We doubled the demand, growing year to year. We have more than 1,000 members for the moment in 825 locations, 22 countries. You will see the countries where they are for the moment. We have an average of 350 to 400 large-pond super-titles. And we begin that program with the Guardian of the Galaxy and since that we have hosted more than 3600 launch parties. So that's not bad, but we want to really grow that number. This is why I'm here also. I began to work for Stone since January last year and I'm here to fortify the Stunami program and the connected pro location all over europe
    16:44
    this is a country where we have stone army so argentina so in in europe we have austria belgium denmark finland france germany hungary ireland italy netherlands no way poland spain sweden Switzerland. So it's Switzerland. We know. They are never in Europe.
    17:10
    And UK. Sorry? David March. I believe he did a poll in Dubai. And I think he did. I think there have never been some kind of big government like that. And we are talking about that. We have been met with that very long time. And maybe I will say one other thing.
    17:34
    Oh, good. Really good. And we have UK. They are not anymore in Europe. Thank you, Brexit. You're saying something. Surprise.
    17:45
    Europe. Yeah. I don't need you. You're right. You're watching. So thank you for your attention. If you want to join, you can send an email to the stonearmy.com. If you have questions, I'm here. You can ask. I will try to answer the best I can. Thank you. So what's the next game?
    18:22
    You haven't done a written draft? The new one? The one now is always the best. We never talk about it. Another game. You have the Kong, Kisilwin game. Really great game. You have the Kong, Kissel Wing game. Really great game.
    18:52
    It was clear enough? Looks like. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.