Boutique Manufacturers

"Selling 500 units is not a successful pinball game. It is not enough to keep a boutique pinball company in business unless, here's the big caveat, unless your boutique pinball company is funded by ancillary income or revenue, unless you have outside money."

500 unit production runs are not sustainable for pinball companies

"it just starts to feel like the excitement, the enthusiasm, the energy is all in the boutique space. And that's a okay because there's enough boutiques now, where if you want to buy two or three Pinball machines a year, you're no longer like thinking about Stern, you're thinking about, okay, I'm going to get Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm going to get Beetlejuice and I'm going to get Winchester."

Most exciting pinball is now in boutique space, not Stern

"I love watching the pettiness between these two companies. And just for the record, people, for people that think like barrels and spooky, like, all get along and they're all rooting for each other. That is not the case. One company does something that's successful. It kind of irks the other company."

Boutique companies are petty toward each other despite appearance of solidarity

"But the overall takeaway from this show is very simple. That all the energy, all the excitement, all the sort of, like, swagger, all the smiles, it's all happening in the boutique areas. Primarily it's happening at this show over at Barrels of Fun"

All the energy and excitement at Expo is happening in boutique areas, not at Stern

"now a lot of the boutique Pinball machines are starting to look a lot more attractive"

Boutique pinball machines are looking more attractive than Stern's recent offerings

"I'm looking at companies like Padready, Pinball Brothers, Turner Pinball. I think they're going to be in trouble"

Pinball Brothers, Turner Pinball, and Pedretti Gaming are going to be in trouble

"I think some of these boutiques get looked at with such a different lens and people are so much kinder when they get served up something like this game... If Stern made Guardians of the Galaxy and none of the characters were on the playfield, you guys would burn Stern down"

Boutique pinball companies get unfair passes compared to Stern

"I think the JV team is on the field right now. I think this is the minor leagues. I mean that. Multimorphic, Turner pinball, even barrels of fun. David, I love you, but you're not there yet. This is the minor leagues people. They're charging major league prices, but these are not the big dogs."

Current pinball releases are JV/minor league companies charging major league prices

"I still don't think there's any reason to order one unless you're at the front of the line. Because by the time they get around to making your game number 300 or 400 or 800, by the time that happens. Some of the first 300 games are going to come up for sale."

Don't rush to order boutique games - wait and cut the line later for better deals

"I would much rather be at one of these boutique companies because I think you have more freedom to make stuff where you don't need to sell like 5000 units."

Boutique companies have better opportunities than large manufacturers

"I think the future of pinball is going to be mid-sized boutique companies that need to sell just one to 2000 games a year where they nail the theme and they make these games really creative and they give us great value."

The future of pinball is successful mid-sized boutique companies, not mass production

"As I've said recently, the future of pinball is boutique. If you think the future of pinball is mass produced, expensive games, think again. The future of pinball will be boutique companies that can make between one and 2,000 a year."

The future of pinball is boutique manufacturers

"If you want to start a company and you want people to buy your products, go to the bank and get a loan, right? Go knock on your rich uncle's door or grandpa, knock off your boomer parents who have all the money and then start your company. But to make your customers, the angel investors of your organization has never worked. It will never work."

Boutique pinball companies treat customers like Kickstarter investors instead of getting proper funding

"I would not be surprised if three to four pinball companies closed their doors this year"

Multiple pinball companies will close in 2024

"I think we're going to see boutique companies like Barrels of Fun, like Spooky Pinball, like Dutch Pinball. I think we're going to start to see these companies actually be in the best position possible to weather what's going on in pinball right now"

Boutique pinball companies are positioned to win over customers from big manufacturers

"But my prediction is this. I think there's a new era of boutique pinball that's coming. I think the goodwill that these boutique companies are building with their audiences is speaking volumes."

Prediction: A new era of boutique pinball is coming, with boutique companies building goodwill with their audiences that will challenge Jersey Jack and Stern.

"If Stern Pinball made this game, all of you would be destroying them. But for some reason, if you're a boutique pinball company, it doesn't matter what you do. You're always gonna be welcomed with open arms"

Boutique pinball companies get unfair positive treatment compared to Stern

"I think if you're a no-name boutique company and you haven't proven yourself yet, like teasing month after month after month, making jokes about how now it's after Labor Day and the real work begins, just show something. The more you tease, the more people are going to look at you with more skepticism than optimism."

Boutique companies shouldn't tease for months without proving themselves first

"Why don't they just get the damn workers over at JJP to make the Pulp Fiction games? I mean, let's just get together. Kumbaya, this whole pinball thing under one roof and build all the games in one mega factory... All pinball is just plastic parts and metal parts being screwed into a wood playfield, going into a wooden cabinet. It's all the same."

All boutique manufacturers should consolidate into one mega factory

"When was the last time a new pinball manufacturing company announced themselves and actually delivered an amazing product? Think about that. It's been over a decade."

New boutique pinball companies rarely deliver quality products

"I am bringing a new level of transparency to this hobby. That is a positive thing. We are asking companies that take our money to open up the door and show us what they have going on."

Factory transparency through live tours should be mandatory for boutique pinball companies

"I want to challenge every single boutique pinball company in the world to do two things... I would like to know from each of these boutique companies, how many games a week can you make?... I challenge them to open up the door to their factory on a random Wednesday and just do a Facebook live and walk around and show us what is actually happening inside your company on a random Wednesday."

Boutique pinball companies should reveal manufacturing capacity and do live factory tours

"It's about time these boutique companies got together and combined their efforts and made a single manufacturing facility that could have different products on different lines, but at least you can streamline the efforts a little bit more."

Boutique pinball companies should combine manufacturing instead of failing independently

"I think Jerry should go to like American pinball or go somewhere else where there's manufacturing and be like, hey, why don't we combine forces and work together on making games and have one factory putting together machines?"

Boutique manufacturers should collaborate rather than struggle alone with tiny teams

"It's like these boutique companies that are financed by other ventures. It's like they've got trust fund money, right? Imagine trying to get a trust fund kid to have a sense of urgency at work."

Boutique pinball companies act like trust fund kids with no urgency because they're financed by other ventures

"And I bet what's happening to Charlie is the same thing that's happening over at Haggis. It's the same thing that happened to Andrew Heighway... You take in new money to build the old orders. You can't build the old orders unless you take in the new money."

Most boutique pinball companies operate on a 'rob Peter to pay Paul' business model

"Every single boutique game is going down in value"

Every boutique game has lost money - be patient and wait

"This was the biggest whiff for JJP because this was the ultimate opportunity for them to capitalize on this window in which Stern has nothing new"

Boutique companies missed opportunity during Stern's 6-month window

"Like you are no longer buying a product, you are now investing in a company."

Boutique pinball companies are turning customers into unwilling kickstarters

"I think when the recession hits and it's coming people, when the recession hits and people start closing their wallets, half of these pinball companies, half of these boutiques that are not executing, they are going to go away. There are 12 pinball companies, 12, all trying to make games."

Half of boutique pinball companies will fail when recession hits

"Stern gave everybody else out there a gift. They gave every other company out there a six month window in which they would not be releasing a new game and every other company out there has absolutely fumbled this opportunity to have games on the line."

All 12 pinball companies fumbled the opportunity Stern gave them with a 6-month production break

"This pinball market is becoming a two to three horse race. It is basically stern, spooky, JJP, and then CGC. So four people are legitimately getting it done. Everyone else, everyone else... is failing people."

Pinball market will consolidate to just Stern, Spooky, JJP, and CGC

"I think it's one of the most inane things you could do with your life is wake up one day and say, honey, let's take all the money we made doing something else... Let's take everything we've done and put it in jeopardy by opening a pinball manufacturing company where the margins are razor thin, where the community is brutal"

Starting a boutique pinball company is one of the most insane business decisions someone could make

"here's the thing about all these pinball boutiques, I think they are for the most part amateur hour, I don't think they know what they're doing, I don't think they have a plan, I don't think they have a schedule, I don't think they have a vision"

Most boutique pinball companies are amateur hour and lack vision

"I don't think we really need many more companies other than Stern, CGC, and Jersey Jack. I mean it when I say it. Those three companies, when they have all of their manufacturing going and they can get out like hundreds of games a week or a month. We don't need more."

We don't need more pinball companies - just Stern, CGC, and Jersey Jack are enough

"95% of these boutique companies, even if they've shipped one game, have gone out of business. 95%."

Boutique pinball companies are risky investments with 95% failure rate

"So one out of 13 or 15 companies has actually figured it out and then when you look at Spooky Pinball as a company, how did they figure it out?"

Most boutique pinball companies are doomed to fail - only 1 out of 13+ companies has truly succeeded

"We don't need boutique Pinball at all. We don't. We have a company called Stern Pinball. We don't need boutique Pinball."

We don't need boutique pinball companies at all - Stern Pinball is enough

"they know what they're doing. They know what their challenges are. And they are withholding information from buyers. They are."

Boutique pinball companies withhold information and take money knowing they can't deliver for 6+ months

"I feel like boutique pinball has never really lived up to the hype... There is no boutique pinball game that is ranked above any of those companies"

Boutique pinball has never lived up to the hype and no boutique game ranks above major manufacturers

"I'm just tired of this way of making pinball. I want to get to a point where a company can make the games first. Like I firmly believe this. If Jerry made 227 weird Al games and put them in boxes and said hey 13-1 you can have them tomorrow he would sell everyone."

Tired of boutique companies taking money before games are manufactured and wants companies to build games first

"These fans almost become like cultists. They're like members of a cult. And whenever you speak up against them, they come at you with so much anger and so much vitriol."

Boutique pinball fans become like cult members who attack anyone who questions these companies

"the boutique companies out there I think have been the real disappointment because nobody from the boutique world has really elevated anything"

Boutique pinball companies have been a real disappointment and haven't elevated anything

"I for the life of me do not understand why more of these small companies don't just unite. Why doesn't Hages American Pinball and let's say Spooky Pinball just get together, make one company share some of your knowledge and your resources."

Boutique companies should merge rather than failing individually

"18 companies have thrown their hat into the pinball ring 18 of which only four to five have delivered customer games on time... why did you even bother unless you could make a masterpiece"

Most boutique pinball companies are failures - 18 companies tried, only 4-5 delivered games on time

"Here's how you do it. Again, you make your game. You put your game in a box. When the game is done, when you have it all figured out, that's the moment in which you take people's money"

Boutique companies should never take customer money before having final products ready to ship

"They want to become pinball famous before they realize how hard it is to make pinball. They want to march into these pinball shows and show the big dogs how it's done... then they realize they don't have a George Gomez. They don't have 30 to 40 years of experience making these things"

Boutique pinball companies are fundamentally failing because they want to become pinball famous before learning how hard it is to make pinball machines

"And here's what I think is going to happen in 2021. Here's my prediction. All of these boutique companies that slept during this window, they're all going to get hammered by Stern. I believe that Stern pinball has games in the pipeline that are just going to hammer these guys."

Prediction: All boutique companies that slept during the current window will get hammered by Stern in 2021, as Stern has games in the pipeline that will dominate them.

"I don't know how American pinball goes on now. I don't know how deeproot goes on now I don't know how p3 Multimorphic goes on now I don't unless you have a lot of money coming from another source"

Multiple smaller manufacturers won't be able to compete after GNR

"we realized that making pinball is extremely hard that almost nobody can pull it off almost nobody configured out and it actually like I don't know it kind of lowered a lot of people's enjoyment because all we were watching was like these boutiques fail left and right"

Most boutique pinball companies have failed and making pinball is extremely hard