We're here at Pinball Expo 2025 Pin DevCon. Marco Pinball. Somebody already goes, "Oh, wow." In the chat, Marco Pinball and Past Pinball, Jeff Palmer. Hello, sir.
Hello.
We're going to have Isaiah step up, too. And
he's going to flip a little. We're going to chat here. Let me get on that side here and then you come. Yeah, you're in the perfect spot. Jeff, how you doing?
Not too bad. Uh, first expo with a machine. First machine I've built. Um, it's been a whirlwind. This is uh 90 days worth of work.
90 days worth of work. So, so let me talk to you, Jeeoff, about why build a pinball machine? What inspired you to go, I'm going to build a pinball machine?
Um, I run a big arcade in in Bay City, Michigan.
What's it called?
Uh, Crazy Quarters Arcade. And um I've always had a passion for pinball. I've always wanted to design one just to say I did, to say I could. Um I came up with a story uh many years ago sitting in a hospital with my kid. I came up with a story. Um and then I just kind of pushed it into a pinball design. Um the code is super young. I I really don't have much coded. Um, my playfield swap kind of ate the time that I was going to use to do some more coding. Uh, I've got an upper playfield, a ramp, and two wire forms coming. Those will, um, be in for next expo. Um, other things to note, the pot bumpers are on a rotating platter. They rotate 45°. Uh, and those will be a ball diverter.
That's a little like Zachariah. Remember those guys? Have you seen those?
A little bit. Uh there's there's raised and lowered. Um this just indexes about 45°. It'll act as a physical diverter to the two wire forms. Um got actual Nixie tubes in the bottom.
Oh, so talk about that cuz that had to be a nightmare.
Yeah, that that was rough. Um in a nutshell, uh I had to write a platform module for MPF to to leverage those tubes. um in the the modes in the game as I get it coded um those will be active in Cypers. The whole game is about breaking codes and it's a metaphysical survival game. Uh you play as the character on the playfield, Scarlet. Um it's uh I guess other things of note, it's the first pinball machine with a bamboo playfield. Uh this is
Yeah, you guys, you're not doing it justice if you're not seeing it. Yeah, it's direct print process. Um then it's got three coats of um pearl impregnated uh clear and then four coats of clear on top of that. Um tried to make a really beautiful game that that is going to be a good backdrop to tell my story.
Yeah. Yeah. So what is the story? This is an original original IP.
Yeah, this is this is all original. Um, you play as a character Scarlet, uh, who drops out of college to take care of her dying grandfather, the grandfather that everyone insists is crazy. Um, because he goes on and on about stories about the Crimson Hand. Um, come to find out, he was in a a real organization called the Crimson Hand, and you are um, you know, fighting for survival after you get in a car crash um, after his funeral. Um, then you've got Julian, the character with red eyes, who's your uncle, who you find out is in the cacophony, who is a they're a competing um, you know, the the bad guys, if you will. So, he's actively trying to kill you and, you know, metaphysically trying to kill you as well. So, the whole game's a survival game. Tried to make it pretty. Um, we'll see how the story plays out in modes in the the next year.
That's amazing. So, what So, what do you have like what are you working on currently? like what's when you get home and you you drop jump on this, what are you going to be working on?
Uh, I've got a few things I need to do. I've got some plastics that need to be replaced. These plastics are modeled off the old playfield, so they're off a little bit. Those will get fixed. Um, upper right flipper. I want to do some work on that. The return springs in a really weird spot. Um, then I've got the laser cut upper playfield that rides on the pop bumpers. That'll go in. Um, the rest of the physical items. And then we're going going to go into code hard.
Okay. So, we're about what percentage are you at the physical stuff?
Uh, physical stuff, I'd say I'm about 70%. Um, I've got all those plastics that need to be done. I've got a few changes I want to make. Want to put a sneak shot in behind that upper right flipper. Um, so we'll we'll get it done though.
Yeah, you definitely will. So, for the software end of it, what are you using? Is it fast pinball and stuff like that?
Yeah, it's all fast pinball and uh Mission Pinball framework. Yep. So Isaiah's kind of playing with the shots. When you were playing around with the shots, are are your shots kind of locked in right now outside of the stuff that's not on the playfield?
Um, for the most part, they're locked in. Once the ramp gets in, it'll clean up some of the clunkiness up there.
So that ramp is going to go here.
Right between the posts. You can see the brown circle where it goes.
What kind of ramps you going for? like metal or plastic?
It's going to be metal. Yep. I I modeled it all uh and 3D printed it. It works. Um I had it on the uh whitewood that I switched out on Monday morning. Um but I didn't want to put that ramp on here. I want it to be really clean. So there's that brown hole that'll get drilled out um after I get home to to get the ramp opto wires up and we'll we'll go from there.
Cool. So, I love the idea of the the turntable. Where did you get the turntable idea for the pop bumpers?
Um, I came up with that idea in 2019. Uh, 3D printed it out. Uh, end of 2019, beginning of 2020. Um,
now is that on a stepper motor or it's just some kind of DC motor or whatever?
It It's on a stepper motor with a lead screw. Um, it's actually I designed some bogeies like you'd see on a roller coaster and there's a lip on the inner playfield that rides in those bogeies. So, it's spring-loaded, so it's self-centering and um should be really robust.
So, are you going to have any multiballs and stuff in the game? Or how many balls are going to be in the game? And how many multiballs? It
It's a sixball game and I've got three multiball modes planned right now. Um, it could be more, it could be less. We'll see how it all comes together. I like your double set of drop targets. So, you hit them once and you hit them twice and then All right. So, that that's a that's a good way to double up on a a mech and uh make it makes it a little more fun for me. I love drop targets.
Yeah, me too. Um placement was was something I was a little concerned with. Um, you know, I would have liked to have some standups behind there, but with a subway under there and a few other things that aren't being leveraged yet, um, I didn't really have room. Uh, I also have the two standups over on the right side in that, uh, scoop area that are going to be physical locks. Um, then I have a a drop target back just to the right of where the ramp will go. That's going to act as a lock as well as you kind of thread the needle through those skill lanes. And what was some of your uh inspiration like games that you have played or maybe you have in your arcade that that inspired some of the stuff that you're putting into your game?
Um I can't really say there's a game that directly inspired any of this. I didn't you know I tried not to think about other games as I created this because you know from the bamboo playfield to the rotating pops I kind of approached it from a let's step outside the box. Just because it has been done a certain way doesn't mean it needs to be done that way in the future. And and I I wanted to push some innovation and you know if it fails it'll fail fast and we'll we'll iterate and continue.
Yeah. Fail fast and iterate. Isaiah, are any particular shots that you're finding like kind of interesting here?
I do like the subway uh to the right. One thing that uh really surprised me is that trough up there in the very back like by the pop bumpers. Uh, I was kind of flipping around with the upper flippers and I hit it off that left upper flipper and I I was like I was like, "Whoa, I didn't even know that was there."
Yeah. So, yeah, I'm excited to see it come along. And also, the Nixon tubes are really cool.
You know, this is the second pinball machine I've seen with Nixie tubes. Do you know that? Do you know that there is one that exists?
An old pinball machine. They use them for scoring. um that much I do know. I think it was a German machine.
That it's uh they actually have one at the uh Pinball Museum in Alama. Okay.
Well, at least in their storage area because they are a pain in the butt. So,
yeah.
Well, good on you for uh for doing everything you do. Like I said, guys, if you if you I got a really good look at this playfield. It's got a beautiful like what what is that? Glitter or what is it?
Um it's actually a red pearl. Um, and being that it's pearl, it's it's an organic compound, so I I can do some cool effects with black lights in this playfield. Um, and the way the light shines off it is is just really phenomenal. It can't really be captured on camera very well. I I tried. Um, if you check out YouTube, uh, Penguin Deity Pinball channel, um, there are some videos of the bear playfield right after I cleared it where you can get a better idea of what it looks like. But, um, you know, I invite you definitely to check it out next year at Expo.
So, you've heard of powder coating your rails. Jeff just looked at that and said, "Hold my beer. I'm going to powder coat my whole damn game." Thank you so much, man. Appreciate it. Good luck with your build. And, uh, are you going to have it? What's your next got to get it done goal show?
Uh, I'm going to try to have it for Pinball at the Zoo. Uh, I'm a little on the fence whether Texas Pinball Festival is doable for me coming from Michigan. Um, but I'll definitely be back here next year. All right. Thank you, Jeff.