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Late Breaking News

Pintastic New England·video·22m 53s·analyzed·Jul 26, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Pintastic New England event updates: new arcade opening, shipping tips, Project Pinball charity tour progress.

Summary

Pintastic New England live event coverage featuring multiple industry updates: a new arcade opening in Massachusetts (Pinball-O-Rama), shipping logistics insights from ShipMyPinball regarding fuel surcharges and dimensional freight quotes, and an extensive Project Pinball charity presentation showcasing their Love Across America tour with six machine dedications across the United States. Additional programming announced includes appearances from Roger Sharpe, Scorbit, American Pinball, and Jersey Jack Pinball throughout the day.

Key Claims

  • Seven Graylins opening Pinball-O-Rama arcade with 50 machines from his personal collection, targeting opening before end of Winchester Mystery House (next week)

    high confidence · Host announces new arcade venue at Pintastic New England event

  • YRC Freight offers prepackaged fuel charges in dimensional freight quotes that remain stable week-to-week if shipper guarantees specific dimensions

    high confidence · Dino Gasparri, ShipMyPinball, 30-year shipping industry veteran

  • Dino Gasparri shipped a Mata Hari machine from Montreal to Puerto Rico for $223 using dimensional freight quotes

    high confidence · Dino Gasparri states specific recent shipment example

  • Project Pinball has dedicated 61 machines total across the United States since 2011

    high confidence · Dan Spolar, Project Pinball director, during presentation

  • Project Pinball's Love Across America tour 2022 dedicated six machines in 24 days traveling over 6,000 miles

    high confidence · Dan Spolar describes specific tour metrics

  • Project Pinball replaced original personal vehicle's engine with crate engine after 350,000+ miles rather than purchasing new vehicle due to cost

    high confidence · Dan Spolar explains pinmobile maintenance decision

  • Project Pinball working with Marco Specialties to develop and offer miniature/reduced-height legs for pinball machines to accommodate wheelchair access and younger players

    high confidence · Dan Spolar announces partnership initiative

  • Pilot shortage affecting air freight shipping, particularly to smaller airports, with high-volume routes prioritized

    medium confidence · Host mentions Roger Sharpe unable to get flight due to pilot shortage

  • Project Pinball receives machine sourcing support from Stern (through distributor), Jersey Jack (direct from Jack), and American Pinball (through Dave Fix)

Notable Quotes

  • “I just shipped a Mata Hari to Puerto Rico from Montreal, for $223. People don't know that. That's why I'm here today.”

    Dino Gasparri, ShipMyPinball@ 3:27 — Demonstrates cost-effectiveness of dimensional freight optimization strategy for shipping pinball machines

  • “When he was diagnosed with cancer, she was fighting it and then she had a relapse and she found out it was terminal. So we contacted her and asked if we could help in some way and mentioned that we could do a dedication in her name.”

    Dan Spolar, Project Pinball@ 15:05 — Highlights Project Pinball's role in the community and personal connections to memorial dedications

  • “It just described her mother to a T. So it was very special to leave that legacy, to leave that memorial back to someone special.”

    Dan Spolar, Project Pinball@ 15:37 — Emotional impact of Project Pinball's charitable work and community engagement

  • “I was quite surprised because if you look, he has a cast and all these tubes and you could tell that, you know, he had to do something with his foot. But he jumped right up and He wanted to play the machine.”

    Dan Spolar, Project Pinball@ 10:23 — Demonstrates therapeutic/motivational power of pinball for pediatric patients in recovery

  • “I did not notice it affect my play at all. So this is something that we're going to do. We going to work with Marco Specialties to offer these miniature legs for other people to try maybe with their kids as well.”

    Dan Spolar, Project Pinball@ 16:51 — Announces new accessibility product development collaboration between Project Pinball and Marco Specialties

Entities

Seven GraylinspersonDino GasparripersonDan SpolarpersonRoger SharpepersonShipMyPinballcompanyProject PinballorganizationPintastic New EnglandeventPinball-O-Ramaproduct

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: New Massachusetts arcade (Pinball-O-Rama) launching with established collector's 50-machine inventory, representing venue expansion in New England region

    high · Seven Graylins opening venue with 50 machines from personal collection; targeting opening within one week

  • ?

    event_signal: Pintastic New England serving as major regional pinball event with comprehensive programming including manufacturer updates, designer interviews, and community showcase

    high · Event features Jersey Jack Pinball presentation, American Pinball update, Scorbit update, designer interviews, and streaming availability

  • ?

    community_signal: Project Pinball demonstrating sustained community impact with 61 machine dedications and partnerships with major manufacturers (Stern, Jersey Jack, American Pinball) actively supporting charity work

    high · Dan Spolar reports 61 total dedications and states manufacturers 'know who the charity is' and appreciate seeing products 'in the hands of kids'

  • $

    market_signal: Dimensional freight optimization techniques allowing 30-year shipper to maintain flat rates despite fuel surcharges; potential industry-wide impact on shipping costs

    medium · Dino Gasparri demonstrates ability to ship Mata Hari for $223 to Puerto Rico while maintaining consistent rates despite weekly fuel surcharge fluctuations

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Mark Seiden transitioning from Stern Pinball to Jersey Jack Pinball as game designer; notable talent migration between major manufacturers

    high · Host identifies Seiden as 'another New Englander who went to Stern as a pinball game designer' and notes he will share stories of 'first few months at Jersey Jack Pinball'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.069

0:00
50 out of his collection are going to an arcade. And for those of you who travel Lat Far East. You can find out about it online. Former IT worker, so pinball is what he, his Refuge, after that hard work.
0:44
It's called Pinball-O-Rama. Seven's Pinball-O-Rama. And Seven Graylins is the guy's name. Aims to be open for customers before the end of June. So that means next week, I guess.
1:03
Next item, we have a guy who came down from Canada. It's a news story outside of the world of pinball, of course, is the price of fuel. It's not only what you pay, but when you have things shipped, the trucking companies will tack on fuel surcharges. I'm going to wake up here. And so Dino Gasparri is going to tell us a little bit about some tactics he knows that will help with those fuel surcharges you might be hit with when you're shipping your pinball machine. Dino? Dino Gasparri Just a couple of minutes. Maybe bring this up a little bit. So I'm Dino Gasparri. I am with ShipMyPinball.com. I've been shipping machines for about 30 years and always looking for ways to pass on to you guys the best way to ship a machine, the best way to insure a machine, and specifically today, the hot news is that I spoke to my relationship I have with YRC Freight for the last 30 years, and he notified me that Dimensional Freight quotes are prepackaged fuel charges. So what that means for us, essentially, is that when you're guaranteeing a specific size to the freight company, because remember, the freight company is telling you,
2:47

high confidence · Dan Spolar answers question about machine sourcing relationships

  • “Love Across America, as you see, is a way for us to keep the costs down and control what happens to our machines. We had two machines in the Escalade when we left. That way we could hand deliver them, make sure that they're in pristine condition.”

    Dan Spolar, Project Pinball@ 18:51 — Explains Project Pinball's operational philosophy prioritizing hands-on delivery and quality control

    • Marco Specialties
    company
    YRC Freightcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    American Pinballcompany
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Jim Patlaperson
    Mark Seidenperson
    David Fixperson
    Steven Bowdenperson
    Ryan McQuaidperson
    Tee'd Offcompany
    Fluke Skywalkerperson
  • ?

    announcement: Project Pinball and Marco Specialties collaborating on new miniature/reduced-height pinball machine leg product for accessibility and family play

    high · Dan Spolar announces 'we going to work with Marco Specialties to offer these miniature legs for other people to try maybe with their kids as well'

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Pilot shortage affecting air freight availability, particularly to regional airports; potential logistics constraint for industry

    medium · Host notes Roger Sharpe unable to get flight due to 'shortage of pilots' and references high-volume routes being prioritized

  • ?

    technology_signal: Accessibility-focused design modifications (reduced-height legs) expanding pinball appeal to wheelchair users and young children

    high · Project Pinball successfully tested reduced-height machine (cut and re-welded legs) with positive usability results and plans to commercialize through Marco Specialties

    • we'll give you this price if you can guarantee that your freight won't be bigger than this. And that's how dimensional freight quote actually works. If you're doing a rate quote, they have a formula. The fuel surcharges changes every week. It's every Wednesday. They have a formula to calculate how that's going to affect the price that they quote you. It's very complex and convoluted. If you can guarantee me that you're going to do a 31 by 31 by 60, 350 pound on a new machine, maybe 300 on an older one, and we pass that along to the freight company, they'll give me a killer rate. I just shipped a Mata Hari to Puerto Rico from Montreal, Canada for $223. People don't know that. That's why I'm here today.
    3:37
    You can reach me at shipmypinball at gmail.com. Ship My Pinball also runs pinballdepot.ca. If you've ever seen that association, we do custom rethemes. We're showing off the Jaws retheme at the Pintastic at this time. So come see us at our booth. will tell you a little bit more details about how to get a better rate and how not to let the fuel surcharges affect you. I'm still shipping machines at the same price I was six months ago. How can that be? Well, because I'm shipping dimensional freight quotes. I'm happy to pass on that news to you guys. And please give me a call or an email, and I'll be happy to walk you through the whole process. Thanks so much for your time. Thanks. All right. I think when we get Roger Sharp connected up later this morning, he will have some news about the movie he's involved in, so we'll save that for then. Roger Sharp was unable to get a flight because of a shortage of pilots, so for those of you who are thinking or shipping anything air freight. You might want to keep that in mind that the pilot shortage is affecting a lot of flights, particularly to the smaller airports. They're going for high volume flight routes. The last item I have on the planned schedule is the usual update from Project Pinball. So Dan Spolar, what do you have to tell us today?
    5:22
    We've been busy. Thank you guys. We've been really busy. You guys probably know what our charity does but for everybody out there I going to play a short very short video video here There a lot of people maybe at home that do not know who Project Pinball is but we like to help patients by donating pinball machines. We've been doing this since 2011 and we've been doing the Love Across America tour, which We're currently on for eight years now, eight years. Even through the pandemic, we were able to find a way to dedicate our pinball machines.
    6:16
    And we do this a lot by not flying. We actually drive everywhere we go. You've probably seen the need that we had to put a new engine into the pinmobile. We had over 350,000 miles on that vehicle. It was my personal vehicle and then the charity just took over and put all those miles on it. It's a great pin hauler. In times like this, we really had a rough time trying to find a new vehicle. We found out it was way cheaper to get a crate engine and put in there. We're back on the road.
    7:00
    And this is what it looks like when we get fully loaded up. We had two machines loaded up this time, and we pack it right to the ceiling.
    7:13
    And usually I have my dog with me, but unfortunately she couldn't make it. And here's what the road feels like when we're on it, because we're moving from city to city. And, you know, we started out in St. Petersburg.
    7:30
    On our Love Across America tour 2022, we wanted to dedicate six machines in 24 days, traveling over 6,000 miles during that time. So we did start in St. Petersburg. We had a hook that was donated by a family several years back, and we've been working on placing that machine for probably about four years. and we were all set up and all of a sudden the pandemic pretty much shut down access to the hospital. So we were patient and we finally were able to add that machine to their hospital. And you can see the patient that came up to it never played pinball before.
    8:18
    And we had a person out of the community. he's a tournament player so he was helping out showing the rules and how to play the machine as well and this was a first-time player as well I believe the dog was a first-time player as well and believe it or not the dog was very well trained it's a service dog and the kids love it so they wanted to do this photo shoots this photo for us and the dog would not stay on the pinball machine so I mentioned how about if we put the ball in play and sure enough the the dog was you know captured by the ball moving across and it shows you the power of the silver ball how it captures your attention so we went from St. Petersburg to Birmingham, Alabama. We did a dedication in Ronald McDonald home there. We used the older machine. That was a roadshow. Here's a little child that couldn't wait to play the machine. And you could see I get quite busy trying to you know point out the machine to these first-time players. And we had such a great time at that dedication the kids just loved it then we moved right on to San Antonio you could see the transformers in the back but we had this row of cupcakes where they just welcome us with all these sweets they did a great job to make us feel at home this little boy had surgery a couple days before and we were hearing that he did not want to get out of bed for took him like an hour and a half to get out of bed the day before. Once he found out that there was something fun to do, like a pinball machine, he even offered to get up out of his wheelchair. And I was quite surprised because if you look, he has a cast and all these tubes and you could tell that, you know, he had to do something with his foot. But he jumped right up and He wanted to play the machine.
    10:36
    First time he said it was stressful. But the second time he just forgot about all the pain, all the stress, and just played pinball. It was really great to see. Even Sierra was saying that she was paying attention, you know, getting those photographs like she does. And she looked up and seen the mother actually have tears in her eyes. So, you know, that's just a great story. and we were welcome there as well. You know, we had a big crowd come down. These are staff members and people out of the community that heard that we were going to be in there. So, you know, we just love that. It makes us feel right at home And you know on the road it takes a lot of energy So anytime we have a dedication like this and people show up it gives that energy right back to us On the very same day, which we'd never done before, we did two dedications in the same day. This was in San Antonio as well, but in a Ronald McDonald house, only a couple blocks away, so that was nice. it was a home pin if you guys ever thought of getting a home pin they're remarkable you know we use them because they don't have the roles of the the bigger games maybe like acdc and you know batman 66 where they're really heavy on the roles this you walk up and you could see what you need to do and it's right in front of you. So it's a good beginner's game for sure and it works well in these crowds. And you could see we had patients just roll up to it and want to play. And I love that sign. That was a sign that they had and I knew I had to pick it up and hold it. But we had plenty of players. They did not want to take turns at all. They did not want to share. They just wanted to keep playing.
    12:50
    So from there, we went to a school. It's in Eden Ridge. This was the first time that we placed a pinball machine in a school and we did so because they have a program where they work with kids with autism and special needs so we started talking to them and we have a steam and stem development program that they're taking a look at to help us with and they're giving us ideas of you know how they work with their kids there. So it's a beneficial relationship that we have with the hospital or with this school. And you can see we rethemed this machine. It's an older machine, so we had fun with it. We cleaned it up. And it allows us, when we get a donation of an older machine, we sometimes can't put them in the children's hospital because the UL ratings not being attached to the older ones. So we found a home for these older ones now. So we're quite happy about that.
    14:01
    But again, the kids would not get off of this machine. When we went to take photographs, they kept facing the machine until the very last minute. Then they would turn around and then swing back as soon as the picture was taken. It was great to see. and you could see they came out in force to welcome us on what was that a Friday afternoon or Saturday I'm trying to think because when we're on the road it just all jams together Sierra's shaking her head like oh wow and the last dedication our sixth dedication was in New York City and it was a special one. It was for Dahlia.
    14:49
    She was very special to the New York City pinball community and very special to us and Project Pinball. She helped us many a times along the way.
    15:01
    When she was diagnosed with cancer, she was fighting it and then she had a relapse and she found out it was terminal. So we contacted her and asked if we could help in some way and mentioned that we could do a dedication in her name. So she gave us some kind words that we could put on the plaque, and you could see her daughter was so happy that she could read the words that her mother gave to us, and she just said, that's her mother. It just described her mother to a team. So it was very special to leave that legacy, to leave that memorial back to someone special.
    15:47
    I mean, it was just a great dedication. And we're 61 machines total right now across the United States, which we're very happy about.
    16:00
    And this was a machine, I just added this to the slideshow, because Derek was actually talking to me about this machine. It is one that we dedicated last year in Cincinnati, Ronald McDonald home. What we did was we cut the legs down, re-welded them so the machine sits inches from the floor. That way someone in maybe a wheelchair could roll up to it or a small child, a four-year-old, five-year-old could walk right up to it. It is very inviting. As you can see, Sierra is sitting there.
    16:41
    And when I tried sitting in front of it, I thought it might be uncomfortable. Maybe my knees would be in the way since I am taller. But I did not notice it affect my play at all. So this is something that we're going to do. We going to work with Marco Specialties to offer these miniature legs for other people to try maybe with their kids as well I was surprised how I did not miss standing up in front of a machine It was a really great experiment. And we had a special guest.
    17:22
    They call him Fluke Skywalker because it was a fluke that someone walked up to him and said, Hey, you look exactly like Luke Skywalker. So he goes around to all the Ronald McDonald homes and Children's Hospital. He found out about our program, and he made it happen for the Ronald McDonald home. He raised the money for the machine to be placed there, and he's just a great guy. If you go out on Facebook, put in Fluke Skywalker, and tell them we said hello.
    17:58
    And that's our presentation here. Thank you. Is there any questions or anything like that? Does anybody have any questions? I'm here to... You've got a plan to go for how long? Tell us about coming up on the tour. Well, right now we're at the end of the tour. We knew that Pentastic was pretty much going to be the final thing, so we'll be headed back. it's like a 21 hour drive from here to fort myers florida but we're already planning other trips we'll be at the pinball expo we'll be out on the west coast for pinball at the lab we're going to be doing the fundraiser there but we have other dedications coming up hopefully at the end of the year. If not, you'll see them in the spring. But Love Across America, as you see, is a way for us to keep the costs down and control what happens to our machines. We had two machines in the Escalade when we left. That way we could hand deliver them, make sure that they're in pristine condition, just like we had them before they might have been shipped. Sorry, Dana. But, you know, we love giving that specialized service. Yes? Where do you source your games?
    19:26
    It depends. If we're dealing with Stern, we have a distributor that we've been dealing with for years.
    19:36
    If it's Jersey Jack, we deal with Jack directly. He's really great to work with. American Pinball, now it's Dave Fix. All these guys, they know who the charity is and who we are. We've been dealing with them as pinball enthusiasts before the charity. So they just think it's great. You know, they see their products in the hands of kids and, you know, they just really appreciate what we do. So they do help us out as much as they can. Any other questions? I got answers, I hope. Thank you, guys. Thank you.
    20:24
    And, of course, if you have other questions later, both Dino and Dan have booths along the south wall of the vendor hall, so you can talk to them in there.
    20:35
    So for the rest of today, we'll have Roger Sharp remotely, as I said, at 11 a.m. And then in the afternoon, we've got an update from the Scorbit guys,
    20:53
    what's been happening, sort of the news from Scorbit, the American pinball update with David Fix, Steve Bowden, and their new designer from New England, Ryan McQuaid.
    21:09
    Then we'll have a screening of Full Tilt, short documentary film, like 20, 25 minutes, something like that.
    21:19
    Again, a Canadian story about a guy who had a passion to open an arcade. 3.45 p.m., Jim Patla, famous game designer and pinball executive, will sit down with me right up front here, and this will probably be the most extensive review of his 50-year career in pinball that has ever been done.
    21:46
    And then at 6 p.m. tonight, the Jersey Jack crew rolls in and they'll talk about what's been going on there. And again, another New Englander who went pro as a pinball game designer, Mark Seiden, will be around to tell his stories of his first few months at Jersey Jack Pinball. So I hope we'll get a good turnout there, whether in this room or for those that are streaming, you know, watching on the stream. But if you've got your questions you really want to ask, it's best that you come down here to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to the Sturbridge Host Hotel, right near the junction of I-84 and I-90. come on in live to see the people and ask your questions live in the room and interact with our special guests. That's all for now. Thanks.