Will a Completely New Pinball Manufacturer Produce a Significant Number of Games in 2H 2023?

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Apr 17, 2023

Analysis

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TL;DR

Four new pinball manufacturers might ship 100+ units in H2 2023, but track record is mixed.

Summary

Knapp Arcade examines whether any new pinball manufacturers will successfully produce 100+ units in H2 2023, identifying four contenders: Bitronic (rebuilding after factory fire with Super Hoop), Pinball Adventures (showing Punny Factory prototypes), Turner Pinball (launching Ninja Eclipse from Deeproot assets), and an unconfirmed mystery company per Eclectic Gamers Podcast rumors. The piece weighs historical failures against current production progress.

Key Claims

Bitronic experienced a significant factory fire in fall 2022 that delayed Super Hoop production
medium confidence · Author reports this from hearsay; factory rebuild used to address quality issues
Turner Pinball acquired assets from defunct Deeproot Pinball in bankruptcy auction
medium confidence · Author mentions Chris Turner acquiring assets but provides limited verification detail
Turner Pinball plans to produce 100 units of Ninja Eclipse before end of 2023
medium confidence · Turner stated this at Texas Pinball Festival seminar; author present or reporting secondhand
Pinball Adventures announced bringing 'latest machines' (Punny Factory and possibly Elements) to three H2 2023 shows
medium confidence · Author cites announcement; first show is Northwest Pinball Show June 2
Dennis Kriesel (Eclectic Gamers Podcast) estimates 70-30 odds an unnamed new company will launch first game in H2 2023
high confidence · Direct quote from podcast; Kriesel's confidence level explicitly stated

Notable Quotes

“Pinball ain't easy.”
Knapp Arcade (author) — Thematic summary of why new manufacturers struggle; context for skepticism about new entrants
“Another pinball company that we have not seen a game from, at all ever, is planning to actually launch their first game later this year.”
Dennis Kriesel, Eclectic Gamers Podcast — Source of mystery company rumor; adds credibility through podcast platform rather than speculation
“That's pretty confident if you ask me. So blame him, not Knapp Arcade, if it doesn't happen lol.”
Knapp Arcade (author) — Humorous deflection; shows author's awareness of speculative nature; acknowledges 30% failure risk

Entities

Bitroniccompany Pinball Adventurescompany Turner PinballcompanyDeeproot PinballcompanyQuetzal PinballcompanyPinball HeavencompanyChris Turnerperson Dennis Kriesel

Signals

?
business_signal: Deeproot Pinball bankruptcy and asset liquidation; games RAZA and Food Truck not being continued by successor Turner Pinball
high · Turner Pinball acquired assets but chose original design path; RAZA and Food Truck explicitly identified as discontinued projects
?
leak_detection: Quetzal Pinball Tokyo Perfect Drift identified as Bitronic's supposed second game; status and timeline unconfirmed
low · Author mentions it as 'supposed' second title without official confirmation; Bitronic has not responded to author inquiry
?
personnel_signal: Chris Turner transitioned from Deeproot Pinball (IT/programmer role) to founding Turner Pinball as designer/manufacturer
high · Turner acquired Deeproot assets in bankruptcy auction; now leading original game design (Ninja Eclipse) rather than reviving Deeproot projects
?
product_strategy: Bitronic Super Hoop experienced production setback from factory fire fall 2022; timeline unclear despite distributor promotional activity
medium · Pinball Heaven uploaded promotional video but UK distributor reports still waiting for stock; author's outreach to Bitronic unanswered
?
rumor_hype: Unconfirmed mystery company planning first game launch in H2 2023 per Dennis Kriesel/Eclectic Gamers Podcast
medium · Dennis Kriesel stated on podcast that unnamed company with no prior game will launch; Kriesel estimates 70-30 confidence of actually happening

Topics

New manufacturer production prospects for H2 2023primaryBitronic factory fire and production recoveryprimaryStartup pinball company failures and track recordprimaryTurner Pinball acquisition of Deeproot assetsprimaryPinball Adventures multi-year development cyclesecondaryIndustry rumors and mystery new entrantssecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0.45)— Author presents balanced analysis of four contenders with clear acknowledgment of historical failures. Skepticism tempered by specific production progress from each candidate. Humorous tone about mystery company rumor and attribution deflection maintains journalistic distance while engaging audience.

Transcript

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Now that all of the established pinball manufacturers have either announced or begun production on their next game, I've started wondering whether we will see a completely new pinball manufacturer produce a new game in significant quantities in the second half of 2023? Now there's been rumors about mysterious new pinball manufacturers that are about to enter the market for years. I usually chalk such talk up as complete nonsense, but there has been a few companies that have made an unsuccessful run at bringing out their own new pinball machine, from larger endeavors like Deeproot to smaller ones such as Great Lakes Pinball and Circus Maximus. Pinball ain't easy. So who are the contenders that might actually be able to accomplish the difficult task of successfully bringing a new pinball machine to market in significant numbers? The word "significant" is somewhat ambiguous, so for the purpose of this exercise let's call it 100 games, which is far from significant to the Sterns and Jersey Jacks of the world, but still noticeable. First up we have a company that I have been writing about for well over a year, Bitronic. This established Spanish manufacturer is attempting to build and sell the Quetzal Pinball-designed game "Super Hoop." Bitronic actually seemed to be succeeding in launching production of Super Hoop until last fall when a significant fire at the company's factory set those efforts back. According to what I've heard, Bitronic used the time that it took to rebuild their factory to address some of the initial quality issues that early adopters of Super Hoop noticed. I hadn't thought much about Super Hoop lately, until last week when a UK pinball distributor named Pinball Heaven uploaded a promotional video for Super Hoop to YouTube. As soon as I saw that, I reached out to them asking if they actually had the game in stock. They informed me that the machine that they used in the video was a promotional unit and that they are still waiting for Bitronic to send them games to sell. I also sent an e-mail to Bitronic themselves to see if they would be willing to give us a status update on Super Hoop or their supposed second game Tokyo Perfect Drift. I have not heard back yet, but I will let you all know if I do. Candidate number two to produce a new pin this year is Pinball Adventures. This Canadian company has been showing off pictures prototypes of its first pinball machine, Punny Factory, for several years. After a number of delays, Pinball Adventures announced that it is bringing its "latest machines," which likely means at least Punny factory and possibly its supposed second game Elements, to three pinball shows in the second half of 2023, the first of which is the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show (https://www.nwpinballshow.com/), scheduled to take place in Tacoma Washington starting on June 2nd. Candidate number three to launch a new game this year is Turner Pinball. Chris Turner, former head of IT and programmer for Deeproot Pinball, scooped up a number of the defunct company's assets in a bankruptcy auction. Rather than attempting to bring out a game that Deeproot was working on as its first title, such as John Popadiuk's Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland aka RAZA or Barry Oursler's Food Truck, Chris Turner's new Company, Turner Pinball, has decided to design its own pinball machine from scratch. The name of that game is Ninja Eclipse. Turner brought an early prototype of the machine to the recent Texas Pinball Festival. During a seminar that he held at the event, Turner stated that he and his company plan to sell 100 units of Ninja Eclipse and that he hopes to have it in full production before the end of 2023. The last candidate to produce its first game in a significant quantity during the second half of 2023 is a brand new Mystery company. Yeah I know we've all heard rumors about a mysterious new player in the pinball industry for years without anything significant ever coming to fruition, but this rumor doesn't come from me. It comes from the critically acclaimed (OK well at least self-acclaimed) Rumor Corner segment of the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. The show's keeper of rumors, Dennis Kriesel, stated the following in the podcast's latest episode: Another pinball company that we have not seen a game from, at all ever, is planning to actually launch their first game later this year. So will another mystery company throw its hat into the pinball arena? When I reached out to him for comment, Dennis said that he thinks it's 70-30 that it will happen. That's pretty confident if you ask me. So blame him, not Knapp Arcade, if it doesn't happen lol. So what do you all think? Will any of these companies actually produce and sell 100 pinball machines during the second half of 2023? Have you heard any rumors about new games that you want to share? Let everyone know in the comments below, on Facebook or by e-mailing knapparcade@gmail.com . Link to the latest episode of the Eclectic Gamers Podcast: https://eclecticgamerspodcast.wordpress.com/2023/04/16/episode-191-peaches/ The new Pinball Heaven video of Super Hoop: Bitronic's Super Hoop: Quetzal Pinball's Tokyo Perfect Drift, Bitronic's supposed second title: Pinball Adventures' Punny Factory: Pinball Adventures' Elements: Turner Pinball's Ninja Eclipse: