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The Pinball Chinwag Podcast UK

Juggler Spencer said:
It just grinds my gears that pinball companies can be not only be overtly underhanded but are being a little underhanded even when they are 'behaving themselves'.
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I doubt anyone who has bought NIB and has had issues (myself included) would disagree with you. You feel lucky when you don’t have issues, where it should be the other way round.
 
Interesting talk.

I would have loved a big lebowski but there was no way I was providing a non refundable payment for essentially a prototype that may or may not be made, turned out most of them wern't!

However if I had money to waste and took 6 people to Salt Bae and spent £30k on golden t**ds and some crystal, champagne it would be worth the punt.

New pinball starts ups are similar to film (movie) investment only do it if you prepared to loose it all and your not that bothered! Still the gamble can pay off the few Big lebowski that came of the proudction line sold for £25,000K, so basically people entered a raffle to win a big price :)

I remember seeing highway pinball's racing theme game at the arcade show, aving a quick go and thinking why the hell would anyone buy that, it reminded me of one of the old tomy pinball toy but at a larger scale.


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Actually thinking about it, I think I'm going to set up a pinball company, I have a spare Tomy in the loft, I can change the stickers and playfield to a theme everyone wants and charge £5,000 rather than £11,000. People will think its a bargin (joking off course, I would only charge 2K:)
 
Excellent write-up Spencer, completely agree.

Ultimately this will keep being an issue as we struggle under Capitalism when competition is limited. Competition will keep being limited whilst the barrier to entry is high (see: the several examples of failed pinball "start-ups" mentioned earlier) and while the market is small. And of course it will always be a problem as people keep giving these companies their money sight unseen.
 
I am happy to buy a CGC (Cactus Canyon) right now because I believe CGC has better QA and the price point is significantly lower.
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I know this makes me a bit of a hypocrite, but I freely admit I am in the same boat as everyone else. Fortunately there is 'some' choice available (albeit limited) as to which manufacturer you buy a machine from. I really wish there was more market force pushing the quality up and the price down rather than the current monopoly by the worlds biggest manufacturer.
I am hoping that CGC live up to their past quality and that JAG555's comment...

You feel lucky when you don’t have issues, where it should be the other way round.
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...works for me.
 
I think they share a production facility but the CGC stuff seems to have a bit of a better QA than the Stern pins. Quite why this should be the case I don't know. Maybe they just haven't produced anything particularly frightful yet?
The price point softens the blow as well!
 
I'd be interested to know how much crossover there is between CGC and Stern in production and development. You do see Pinside forum threads about staff leaving one company to go and work for the other, so god knows where the crossover (if any) is.
 
Planetary Pinball, Chicago Gaming and Stern Pinball announce Specialty Manufacturing Arrangement

CHICAGO, IL – MAY 14, 2014 – Planetary Pinball Supply (“PPS”), Chicago Gaming Company (“CGC”) and Stern Pinball, Inc. (“SPI”), today announced a specialty manufacturing arrangement pursuant to which SPI will make its manufacturing facility available to PPS and CGC to assemble their remake of the Medieval Madness (“MMR”) pinball game.

CGC, which has a long-standing business relationship with SPI, will assemble the game for PPS in SPI’s factory using SPI’s factory labor and production line assets. The game will be assembled with parts supplied by CGC which consist of original WMS specification parts combined with the new electronics and lighting systems designed by CGC. Final prep, packaging and shipment will be from CGC facility in Cicero, IL.

“We think this arrangement provides the best solution to insure the timely delivery of a high quality game for our customers who wish to own this legendary title” said Rick Bartlett, President of PPS.

“We have a long-standing relationship with SPI and its high capacity manufacturing operation will allow us to complete the MMR games in a timely fashion,” added Doug Duba, President of CGC.

“We’re looking forward to helping PPS and CGC exceed the expectations of Medieval Madness pinball enthusiasts,” said Gary Stern, President of SPI.
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I reckon CGC must have some control over production standards. All I can say is that I havn't heard anything bad about GCG games on the whole apart from a slightly shorter flipper stroke than original games, possibly down to the strength of the flipper driver requiring a short stroke. Most people seem to think they are high quality machines? I suppose this is the point where a whole load of horror stories come out of the woodwork! :)
 
CGC are no longer made at the Stern factory and have their own facility. I believe they were at Stern for 1 year during their first game but I might be wrong.
 
Gonzo said:
CGC are no longer made at the Stern factory and have their own facility. I believe they were at Stern for 1 year during their first game but I might be wrong.
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On the money Gonzo. The first few runs of Medieval Madness Remake where manufactured by Stern.

I believe CGC produced their own games from AFMr onwards and the last few runs of MMr where also produced by CGC including the Royals..
 
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My hero and what a character.
I did actually know the FH Trivia. From memory he calls you bucko, Spunkey and I think Chukie!

Top class Chinwag guys well done. Todd is a genuine Top bloke who deserves a lifetime achievement from the Oscar’s for his crazy antics.

Wow whoever’s up next has a top act to follow.
 
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