by bounceback on Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:57 pm
definitely, thanks for the info and perspective. this is the kind of stuff that we need to look at, without a doubt.
i agree that the business model for pins and their routes in most places that are not portland seems flawed if not done-busted. however, it seems like one major reason for this has been the assumption on the part of many that the model wouldn't need to adapt, and that there isn't a possibility of making a new version of things work. most of us are fully aware of the difficulty in terms of time and cost of maintaining a pin, and can understand the reason that a lot of operators have historically let them fall apart. i've spoken with several former operators who have argued for a long time that it's impossible to keep up with maintenance, pay anyone the labor to do so full-time, and make a profit. it seems like most try to do as little maintenance as possible to keep that cost down, which in most places results in broken pins, which results in less play, thus less profit. but more importantly for the long-term picture, i believe that poor maintenance has contributed a lot to the decline of players. when someone shows interest and a machine is broken, they leave discouraged don't bother again-- they can never get hooked. a dirty, broken game, isn't going to lure anyone with its fascinating art and mechanical beauty. obviously there is more to resurrecting pinball than keeping games well-maintained, but it's a very important step. rather than saying "we can't make a profit and maintain games," it seems operators need to say "we're having a problem making a profit-- what else can we do?"
any good business owner isn't lazy by any means, and i can't speak from the experience of having a coin-op machine route, so i would love to hear more from people who have run this type of business about the mindset, what's involved day to day, what the appeal of running that type of business is, and how they got into it. i can easily see why few coin-op routes are capable of providing a living-wage income from gameplay alone if pinball is the cornerstone of that route and maintenance is a major issue. but from my experiences all my life, it has seemed that operators are often almost totally anonymous. i've seen ads in the paper in the past about coin-op routes or vending machine routes for sale, advertising it as basically easy money-- go around, collect quarters for nothing, keep your machines stocked, and do a minimum of real labor on keeping machines up and running. while pins break their promise of generating good revenue for little effort, it seems that many operators have continued to treat them like a cigarette machine or video poker, let them break down, and then removed them when they don't earn. in many places i've travelled in the past two years, employees at places that DO have pins are totally unaware of who they're even supposed to talk to about game issues, there aren't operator stickers or cards on the games so users can notify operators about maintenance issues, and frequently games look like they haven't been so much as cleaned in years.
it seems that it's far too rare for operators to ask themselves what attracted them to pinball in the first place. it seems that one key for generating new players might lie in the re-telling of that story on a regular basis. i for one always found pins beautiful, mysterious, and so difficult when i would occasionally play them that i was somewhat awe-struck when i'd watch a good player or compare my scores to the massive high scores on the backglass. i knew from that alone that it was nearly impossible to get those kind of scores by chance, and the idea of pinball being a physical skill game is what got me hooked. modern games are so deep that they reward every effort, at whatever level, if they're working well. i went from working on basic reflexes and trying to keep the ball alive, putting some effort into using single flippers, to tentatively trying to learn to stall and being satisfied every time i got a multiball, to appreciating the humor and rewarding new sounds and lights as the game progressed, to being totally sucked into the story each particular game tells as you play-- even the same machine, with the same end goal, is a different journey each time, and they're difficult enough that milestone great games are rare accomplishments. everything changes, including your personal standards of what a good game is. i think this is what keeps people playing skill games like pool, darts, and bowling. pinball adds an element of controlled chaos that more pronounced than in those other games, making it the only real physical skill game i can think of that's as rewarding to play alone as head to head. i don't think enough operators or even manufacturers have worked to connect players to this basic idea.
i guess i'm talking about all of this because there are a lot of questions involved with the viability of a new pinball company-- i want to hear as much more as possible (even if it makes my head spin a bit,) about the actual details of designing and building a game. i was aware that the big bang bar production run was at a significant loss, but i don't fully understand why. i know that parts alone are a significant cost on new games, but have never priced a bill of materials for one game, top to bottom, assuming wholesale prices on components. the input on the legal difficulties and patent issues is useful-- i wasn't aware of those problems, and hadn't considered needing to get around them. that explains some things. i would love to have a better breakdown of the million+ dollar development cost on games. i know that figure involves a lot of people, but i'm not sure if that number can be brought down based on a different type of business model (i.e. profit sharing rather than an up-front fee for design services, etc.) it's frustrating to hear that in some regards pinball companies have shot themselves in the foot by bickering over minutiae of patents and so on that aren't being used by them anymore whatsoever, as though they'd rather see the entire existence of pins go extinct since they themselves have failed.
speaking hypothetically from the idea that maybe there's a way to make the cost of producing a game viable, through ingenuity, good luck, and the anomaly or perfect storm that is the conditions of portland oregon, it seems that there are a lot of other ideas that can be pursued to help promote pinball playership. but it takes a different mindset than has been shown by operators historically.
for one thing, a stronger interface should exist between players and operators. the relationship would benefit by being more personalized-- people associate with other people, and will happily become repeat customers of all kinds of bars, coffee shops, bakeries, stores, service centers and institutions, if they feel a connection with it. operators are often an anonymous boogeyman when a machine isn't working-- players might complain to the location that their machine is "broken," the staff says their pinball guy never does anything about the game, and the random player ends up with a bad taste in their mouth about the game and the negligent, invisible "pinball guy." with the internet now, operators could do a lot more to promote themselves-- having more visible cards or stickers with information about their company pointing players toward a website, where they could post a map of locations of their other games, offer more in-depth rules, suggestions, and tips for players of their games, run contests, provide a place for players and staff on location to give them feedback about game conditions, and generally cultivate the sense that they are a real and interesting, personal business that players can get to know and look out for. that goes a long way toward building community among players, reinforcing the idea that they're a part of something. it's obvious to anyone who spends time in bars that there is a certain pride and identity among community of game players-- those who play pool, darts, etc., on any level from totally casually to professionally begin to sense a kind of roadhouse camaraderie that's very attractive. i've rarely seen notes posted next to machines, but have always thought that would contribute to play as well-- something personalized from the operator with any number of pieces of information-- tips that aren't printed on the little rule cards on the games, some basic pinball pointers for newbies, information on how to report a problem, even some words of greeting and encouragement or a statement about "who we are" or some pinball history. if you create a narrative for people about their whole pinball "experience" they will treat it as less of a one time thing. someone who's uninclined to drop money in a pin might just give it a try. people casually playing with a friend might have their minds changed, or at least think of pinball more often, if they've read something more about what they're doing while waiting their turn.
i don't really agree that the footprint of a pin is as big an issue as a lot of people have made it out to be. pins are definitely smaller than pool tables, and you can fit 5 pins side by side in the space needed for players to get around a pool table and play. pinball games often go faster, and more people can play at once in the same space. plus pins draw attention to themselves and look dynamic and interesting even from a distance. there's a big attraction factor to a working game. in places that have chosen to highlight pinball, they create a cool atmosphere when you walk in, and even people who've never played become more aware of them. almost all businesses that have multiple machines have all those machines doing better than places that just have one machine tucked in a corner that no one ever sees. people are a lot more likely to drop a minimum of $1.50 on games, just to try all three, if there are three games and they have a poor game on one. the redemption games that are popular now are huge, often bigger than pins, and they're going to have no resale value when they're no longer novel. pins offer a long-term reward if they're just kept functional. big buck hunter is widely popular at the moment, along with golden tee and superstrike bowling and so on-- you see big buck and even huge racing games in arcades and truck stops all over the country, but when you add the player to the depth and width of those large machines, they're taking up as much room as a pin. because pins are fairly narrow they can actually be fit into spaces in a lot of locations that are kind of useless for most other things.
since redemption games ARE so popular, it makes sense to adapt pinball as a redemption game in some ways, at least as an option. that seems like it would be relatively simple to build in as an option. i can't understand at all why that hasn't already been implemented, and pins reintroduced to arcades doing a lot of redemption games. it seems like the tournament play options on the new stern games have potential merit, but i have RARELY seen clear explanation of the way the tournament modes work and i attribute that to the lack of play in tournament mode. the payout concept should be a big incentive for people, but there needs to be additional signage about how the tournament runs, and when specifically the next payout will be for winners. if the tournament modes were paid out on a weekly basis, and this was clearly posted, that could draw more regular players. if operators ran little mini-incentive games, that might also increase play-- i.e., operators could have agreements with bars that they would buy a player a beer if they can get a high score on the board. that's a simple and small investment, the bar doesn't lose anything, and since the scores are progressively harder to get, players will spend more time and money working to eclipse themselves, thus more money into the machine. a guy just sitting around at the bar doing nothing could be told that they could win a beer with a good game on the pin, and surely some players would be inclined to play who otherwise don't give it a second thought.
sure all these things are a lot of work, but that's one of the things that need to change. operators need to take a more active role in the success of their business if they want it to be profitable. and even if coin-op entertainment is in trouble across the board, operators should be doing these things now-- if pinball becomes extinct, those who ARE making an ok profit some way or another are going to lose that business. i've spoken to a lot of operators that point fingers in many directions as to why it's not worth their while to work creatively to grow their own businesses. no wonder it continues to go down the tubes. if routes are too big and spread out for games to be maintained, it makes sense that operators should have less games, and focus on only servicing what they can handle and keep running with a moderate investment of regular maintenance. this means more operators should be involved, and for more of them it should be a supplemental rather than a primary income. there are of course ways to make it work on a more full-time basis, but people shouldn't expect it to be handed to them. if more operators existed, and they had only 20 games, that would leave them with a lot more freedom to keep those machines in top shape and do other things to grow that business slowly, and promote the community in general.
other ideas that i've tossed out before in other places, but which i haven't heard taken up: it seems to me that there could be a great possibility for promoting a new generation of pinball players by partnering with schools for a very educational pinball in the schools program. many schools are hurting for extra-curricular activities and clubs, funds in general, and options that kids can tap into for better science and art options and so on. i've discussed with several people the idea of negotiating a profit sharing arrangement with schools for a pinball machine that could create a term or year-long educational experience, by allowing them to pay for their machine progressively through game-play revenue. say a number of high schools in a town are given a machine, for perhaps a small initial fee with profits eventually paying for the rest. students use the game as a focus for a business club, wherein they discuss in groups how to place and market the machine-- they collectively decide on a location for the game, a way to promote it, and create flyers and so forth to direct people's attention to their machine. they learn to do routine maintenance and repairs themselves, giving them technical and analytical skills and independence. they could organize a tournament for the end of the year, create a name for their operating business, study the physics and math involved in both the mechanics of the game and the game accounting. the greatest benefit is that this gives a lot of kids a personal connection to and investment in pinball, which could make them lifelong players, all while giving them real-world skills that are entertaining and not cheesy. eventually schools could have a decent route of their own going in their community, and the community would be very likely to get behind and commonly play games that were operated by their kids and treated on some level as a fundraiser. in a lot of communities across the country where pinball has died out, this combination of factors could revive interest and positive feelings and nostalgia about pinball that has dwindled.
on that same note, there should be incentive for individual collectors and game owners to put their machines on location. pinball can't be enjoyed and a new player base created if the games aren't even out there. buyers should be able to offset the cost of purchasing a game by a profit sharing arrangement. there are plenty of dangers to this, of course, but if the right protections were in place to make sure that the games were paid off through play, that would make a big difference in getting machines on-site. a new pinball company should be directly involved in training owners on game maintenance and repair, and should also make it a great priority to work with operators and even individual owners to negotiate with sites to place games.
there is SO much that the industry could learn from the ways that the rest of the national culture has changed around it. while stern's been cranking out titles like roller coaster tycoon, nascar, WPT, and wheel of fortune, and people consider portland an anomaly in many ways, it seems that few people have been asking themselves how to recreate the portland anomaly and make it work elsewhere! pinball is so successful here for a lot of reasons having to do with the overall culture of portland. and savvy operators should take note of those cultural conditions and tap into the things about portland that have national appeal, especially with a younger generation of players. many games in the last 10 years have been directed at a target audience that young people with disposable income who tend to hang out in bars and traditional pinball locations have little interest in. meanwhile that youth culture has trumpeted and elevated all things vintage, retro, and independent to new heights, making the companies that have responded to this very profitable. look at shoes, just as one example-- every major shoe company has released more and more retro models and vintage reissues in recent years, and the overlap between formerly fragmented youth cultures is creating a really unique climate in which just the right blend of the old and new can get a lot of people behind it. classic bands are hugely popular, re-issued, distressed t-shirts are everywhere and new designs emulate them, neon is back and hand-in-hand with dirty jeans, dead brands from the 80s such as transformers, GI Joe, and all sorts of others have been revived, remade, and re-introduced. simultaneously, "rocker" and "biker" "skater" and "tattoo" culture are bigger than i can remember them ever being as well. look at the tony hawk franchise, and the recent highly successful marketing of everything from shopping mall harley davidson gear to ed hardy to west coast choppers. christian teen suburbanites sport AC/DC shirts, and kids walking the mall with their moms are wearing spandex fake tattoo sleeves as fashion accessories. with the right approach, pinball definitely fits right in with the level of appreciation this generation has for the enduring and non-modern. speaking as a member of this younger generation, a generation that includes a lot of people that really can't afford to buy a pinball machine, or a house to keep one in, there are many, many people our age out there that have been through the video game boom and still treat pinball as an altogether different and appealing beast. the longevity and hands-on nature of pinball, its classic cool, would draw players if it were promoted properly, and available to people. the very problem is that it has been moved indoors. where pinball has always been a roadhouse game with a certain seediness associated with it, it's now primarily a collectors' accessory. the cultural factors involved in the changing gaming industry have to be accounted for, but it seems like the old guard, from collectors and operators through designers and manufacturers, have failed to show an interest in adapting to these changes.
a new pinball company that was actively in-touch with better ways to present and promote pinball could find a lot of success-- we should've learned by now from independent bands' use of street teams to promote new releases in exchange for concert tickets or free merch. it's simple and effective. quite frankly there should be clubs and groups like CFF in practically every city in the country, and stern should've done a lot to support and develop that. instead what we have are a handful of local "leagues" with arcane D&D-style point and ranking systems, all operating behind closed-doors in private homes. many require that new members own at least one home machine to join. the VRPA, for example, has those kinds of rules, and an active website and message board that's only open to members of their club. in the face of the decline of machines, operators, techs, and manufacturers, we are STILL seeing an increase in competitive pinball participation, the creation of more and more pinball websites and fansites, and the inauguration of more and more pinball clubs who are LOOKING for help from folks like stern and the IFPA on how to expand their interest. true pinball fans/fanatics are going to spread the word, the love, generate interest, and ultimately the profitability of pinball, and the continued success of those efforts is completely dependent on the responsiveness of operators and pin companies.
i know this all glosses over the actual business model discussion for a new pinball business. but this is the stuff that really seems important to me right now-- at least for starters. it's always been true that where there's a will there's a way; in most of my conversations with current/former pinball operators and workers, i've largely met cynicism and pessimism about the direction of pinball since its heyday, which many would argue occurred within the past 10 years! yes a lot has changed very quickly, but for pinball to survive we need enthusiasm, dreams, and some radical new ideas about how to go about things. pinball can't continue to be a clandestine hobby for nerds-- in all seriousness. the very first thing that pinball, on the whole, needs, is visibility. there is a desire for it, a market for it, and a readiness for pinball to be reintroduced as a lasting thing. but it is SERIOUSLY in danger, and it needs an injection of effort from everyone that's still passionately involved in it right now. when it comes to the business side of things, there are lots of ways for creative people to come up with new solutions for how to approach a pin company successfully. but it's going to have to go far beyond volunteer assembly labor. a worker-owned co-op is one starting place that seems like it would be a necessary foundation to get things off the ground. there are ways to make this happen without following the traditional notions that the business needs to collect a lot of investors beforehand and so on, but we also have to pave the way, and take action in that regard NOW--
i hope that this discussion continues, i am really seriously interested in having this conversation, and i'm also fully willing to be awakened to the realities of the costs and obstacles that we're going to have to face. i welcome all rebuttals, advice, and ideas. also, if any of you are active on r.g.p or other pinball community sites, please feel free to post this there, direct people here, or create other crossover discussion. we could use it.
-bounceback
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