Contest: Your Pinball Design Ideas for $$$$!!

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This is not a trick. I am looking for great ideas for a new customized pinball machine design.

If I decide to build one based on your design- and you will know since I will post it here- I will pay you $50. Not enough for college tuition, I know- but certainly worth a few minutes to brainstorm some ideas, and type them out in the comments below.

For reference, and to get you thinking, here are links to my prototype 3 designs thus far- (sorry, I have a few other secret commissioned designs in the works that I can’t share yet):

The Racer
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Night of the Living Dead

Here are the rules:
1. Ideas must be submitted with your name and email address in the comments below. Additional explanation/concepts will be helpful to envision the idea (this could definitely influence my decision!)
2. Ideally, the theme or concept should be nostalgic- from the 60’s, 70’s, or early 80’s
3. Ideally, the theme should be one that has not already been used in a pinball design.
4. Be wary of ideas that directly relate to copyrighted works.
5. In a future blog posting, I will outline the entries as well as my thoughts in determining any “winners” for designs I choose.
6. In lieu of a $50 prize, winner(s) may choose to take a 50% discount on one of my donor machines to use for making your idea a reality.
7. If there are insufficient and/or inadequate entries, I reserve the right not to declare a winner.
8. Limit of 3 ideas per person.

This is not a joke, nor a trick. I am looking for inspiration and the next big idea for an art project. It costs nothing to provide your ideas! Good luck!

Dave
P.S. my new email address for the business is:
davegaskill@pinventions.com

Fantasy Football and David Hasselhoff

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For those of you not familiar with Cumberland Farms, it is a family owned chain of gas stations and convenience stores located mostly in New England. There is one down the road from us where I usually purchase my gasoline. Several months ago, I was shocked to see former Bay Watch and TV semi-star David Hasselhoff’s somewhat bloated image plastered around the Cumberland Farms store and parking lot.

The image is prominent and repeated: As I pull into the lot, David’s life-sized image- fully clothed but still riding a surf board- smirks me into thinking about how odd he now seems, even as he tempts me with a refreshing beverage…. I’m pumping gas, David is eyeing me up, fluffing up his chest hair, offering me a mega-serving of iced coffee…. I make out a 99 cent gold medallion around his neck- reminding me within his chest-forest that the drink is less than a buck….. I go inside to purchase something else and -dammit- there he is again- cloned on every wall- a Jurassic-Parkesque scare tactic that makes me consider purchasing a delicious iced beverage. It’s under a dollar after all.

It seems that I am not alone in being hypnotized by sir Hoff’s glare and stare, fluffed chest hair. There has been a recent crime wave of sorts, as Rhode Islanders and neighbors are stealing the large Hoff parking lot signs from stores around the region. One brave employee recently risked his life protecting one of the sought after prizes. David himself expressed concern after hearing that this employee was injured in the line of duty- guarding one of the remaining signs from theft. Hoff tweeted his regret, and by all accounts it was a most sincere tweet.

Unfortunately, all of the above is true.

After shaking myself out of my trance, I reflected on the most disturbing aspects of this ad campaign. In no particular order, I offer these thoughts:

1. If you are surfing, why would you wear a long sleeve shirt and long pants?
2. How can you surf and drink coffee at the same time? This seems like trick photography or something.
3. In Jurassic Park, why was there a porta-potty in the middle of the T-Rex enclosure? This seems a bit contrived and I suspect was there simply so the lawyer could go into it and be exposed and eaten by the dinosaur.
4. Is David Hasselhoff getting career advice from William Shatner?
5. Did anybody see the Sponge Bob movie? The German people worshipped Hoff.
6. Does Germany have eBay? If so, can someone help me post something for sale there. Don’t worry about what it is. That’s my business.

On a related, note, I’m a bit nervous about my first fantasy football draft this Sunday. Anyone have any advice? Here is my logo for my team. Notice there is nothing this week about custom pinball machines- but I have a new idea for a design….

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Validation

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The wording and image above are not mine. This is a screenshot from a Make Magazine article covering the 2013 Maker Faire in Providence, RI. In this article, the “pleasant bing-bing sounds” of my machine were used to set the ambience of the piece, as the author described some truly amazing displays and creations put on by my fellow “makers” at the show last Saturday. There were scores of very cool 3D printers, electronics gizmos, and gadgets galore. Fellow weirdos, as promised, and a feast for the eyes and brains at every turn.

The article went on to describe many of the displays, and included many pictures, including one where a face-painted teen takes on my Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out pinball game. After that photo, that included me creepily in the background, came the wording as reproduced above-the author’s favorite “stumble upon” at the Faire- followed by the only video in the entire article- of a simple LED effect under the faux turntable in my creation.

With all the cutting edge technology in play here, with all the robotics, 3D scans, prints, and Arduino infested creations- the author was most affected by essentially a parlor trick that would have been possible decades ago. Such is “art” when combined with science. Such is the old- if treated correctly- that can be made to seem new again.

The author’s name is Nick Normal, and the link is here: Reporting Back from the RI Maker Faire

Thank you to Nick for the kind words. My web traffic has increased exponentially since this article. However, 1 to the second power is still 1.

While that was my favorite validation of the past week, I had three others that were noteworthy:

1. First, “Erika and Bear”- coauthors of the I (heart) Rhody magazine/blog- interviewed me about my custom pinball/art business after visiting my booth at the Faire. This interview focused on the artistic merit of my creations, and I was happy to oblige.

2. Secondly, after submitting photos and descriptions of my work to the www.pinballowners.com website- the premiere site for pinball enthusiasts world-wide, I was accepted as a “manufacturer” and my works are now included in the database, galleries and descriptions.

3. Finally, I have submitted my idea for a controlled-fog back glass unit to the Roger Williams University Engineering school for consideration as a Senior Design Project. Dr. Riley and the other staff there were very supportive of the idea, and it has been approved. I will now have the benefit of having a team of student engineers mulling over the technical challenges of creating a closed fog control system- all simply to be able to create a cool foggy cemetery scene for my “Night of the Living Dead” machine design.

Along with this additional validation, I now have several expressions of interest, and a few tentative orders. I would urge those of you on the fence about this to consider the advantage of being “first”- in terms of getting your machine before everyone else, and paying the minimal amount for the early models.

As a reminder, pricing can be seen here, and available donor machines are listed and described here.

Thinks are looking up- so I need to get back to designing and building.

Toodles,

Dave

Foo Fest: Success!

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So my first experience “manning a booth” is over- it was exciting, rewarding, and exhausting. I came home from Providence’s Foo Fest/Makers Faire late on Saturday night, and Sunday was a day of foggy memories, sore muscles, and slow, zombie-like movements. Standing all day, talking to potential clients continuously, and lifting and moving my machine and all my display materials had taken a toll on my mind, body, and soul.

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by to see my work and to reminisce about the old arcades and the early days of the E-street Band. I could have sold several “Bruce” machines if I had them or was willing to sell my prototype. Several guys lingered and studied my price sheets to see how they could afford to have me make them a new/old machine. If any of you are reading this- please give me a call- we can make that a reality! Several small groups of guys and gals huddled near the booth just to hear the endless string of songs from the machine in its “jukebox” mode.

If nothing else, I proved to myself that there is an audience for my work- and the positive feedback and words of encouragement and praise made it all worthwhile.

I had no expectations of getting any strong leads from my booth at this festival- after all, the demographics for Foo Fest tend towards the younger, “fringier” crowd. I considered this a practice show- I am really aiming to show more at arts festivals where I am more likely to find more clients from my era that would appreciate my work- but I was very pleased with the feedback here- the younger attendees especially were very complimentary- and interested in what these old machines were like- many having never seen or played anything but video games.

For example- I got sincere compliments from a 20-something DJ, who appreciated the art work and attention to the artist in the design. I heard words of appreciation from a young local female radio personality. I was asked if I would be interested in displaying a machine in the Providence Museum of Art and Science (if the curator’s dream ever becomes a reality). Finally, a writer for a prominent Rhode Island monthly publication indicated that she wanted to write a story about my work.

Even if nothing comes from any of this, I believe these are signs that I may be onto something. Thank you to anyone and everyone who offered kind and encouraging words.

Chapter 1 is complete.

My First Booth

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I hadn’t planned on getting serious about my custom pinball machine business endeavor for another year. I wanted to complete 3 sample/prototype machines, work through a business plan, meet with a lawyer and an accountant, etc.

But in the space of about three weeks, I’ve developed a “real” website, purchased my own domain name, worked up a pricing strategy, written a few blogs, and submitted one of my projects- Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out – for consideration in the local “Maker’s Faire” in Providence- a showcase of “Makers”- those like me who dabble in unique combinations of art, technology, etc. In other words, a place where weirdos can go to meet other weirdos so they don’t feel so weird.

I didn’t have high hopes that I would be accepted into the weirdo circles immediately- I suspected that they needed to get to know me, quiz me on my eccentricities, challenge me to prove that I deserved to be on the far end of the weirdo-spectrum. Only then could I be accepted to participate in their “Faire”.

But either they aren’t so weird or I’m weirder than I thought I was- my application was almost immediately accepted, and I was invited to put my creation on display in a booth at the event this Saturday. I was honored, pleased, and panicked a bit at the thought of putting something semi-professional to promote my business concept (and solicit potential clients) as part of the show.

This week has been a crash course in designing a hanging banner for my booth (designed in one night, submitted to Staples for printing yesterday, printed today, trimmed and ready for pick-up tomorrow), designing and printing business cards (complete with a QR code), designing tri-fold promotional fliers (inside designed and printed tonight, outside to be designed and printed tomorrow), and planning the layout of the booth (complete with the actual functioning machine, promotional materials, email sign-up sheets, price lists, free candy/bribes for the kiddies, etc. etc. etc.)

Oh yes- and I just returned from a week-long vacation so I had a lot of catching up to do at my real job. So my pinball work happens in the evenings. It will all magically come together on Saturday morning, I am certain.

So if anyone happens to read this, and if anyone reading this happens to be in Providence, RI on Saturday, please stop by to stare at the weirdos at our little Faire. I’ll be the one sleeping behind the booth as little kids steal all my candy.

A Fly on the Wall at Boston Comic Con

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I’ve always wanted to go to the “MOACC” (Mother of all Comic-Cons) in San Diego, and actually never even considered going to one of the lesser versions anywhere else. However, my wife and daughter had the idea to give me tickets to the local Boston show for my birthday- and today I return home with some observations- along with some ideas for arranging my own booth at the Rhode Island Mini Maker Faire this coming weekend.

First off, I need to note that I was pretty wiped out after a long drive back from PA yesterday- a trip that included trying to teach my parents how to use an iPhone, a family reunion, a trip to Kennywood Park (the inspiration for my RACER design), a Pirate baseball game in beautiful PNC Park, and a costly game of poker with my two brothers, Scott and Jeff.

So I wasn’t exactly fired-up about the Boston Comic-con, even though in theory I should have been.

I arrived with my wife Linda, my daughter Amanda, and her boyfriend Ben a little before noon. The lobby looked a bit like the Star Wars Cantina scene, and I felt underdressed (or more correctly- oddly dressed) with a throwback Pirates top and baseball cap. As we entered the hall, a full sized embodiment of Jabba the Hut was posing for pictures, a crew of Pirates taunted onlookers into sword fights, and several ghostbusters showed off their back-pack technology. My interest was piqued, and I even toyed with the idea of asking the Pirates if I could join their motley crew- given my ensemble and all. I thought better of this after realizing that I was in Red Sox territory, and that the idea was stupid.

I had heard about the cos players, and they did not disappoint- there were the expected super heroes and villains (I especially admired/was terrified by a Bane clone), along with the sexy (and not so sexy) women in skimpy costumes. I am not a huge comic book fan, but I love science fiction, video games and horror, so I was pleased to get most of the references. We met and spoke to a few independent artists and authors, and I tried to deposit some goodwill in my karma account by buying some of their wares.

We also attended a Q&A forum with authors and artists from the “Locke and Key” comics- a favorite of my daughter’s. I got an appreciation of the genre after listening to the creators- one of them the son of Steven King- he was obviously brilliant, insightful, funny, and extremely creative and talented. He gained a fan today and I will read/ look at their work.

As we exited the venue, I thought about what I observed, and what I could take away from this experience that I could apply to my little venture. I realize now more than ever that there are a lot of very talented people in the various genres on display here, and that they are very passionate about their work. These people tend to be pretty smart, and there is a depth to their work that most outsiders would not realize. I recognize the passion, the depth, and the intelligence as concepts that I too value, and want to cultivate in my own creations.

I also got some cool ideas for organizing my booth at Maker Faire.

Thank you cosmos.

Day Two- Crash Course in Web Design

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So my tinkering in web design yesterday led to sharing a link on Facebook, and a few hundred views of my digital scrawling. I don’t think I embarrassed myself too much. I must say that the web design software is more of a grammar nazi than any of my friends. So I want to spell playfield as one word- just humor me, please.

I added links today. That was special. I replaced my lame order form with a too-long ramble about price comparisons and guidance on costs for potential clients- but I think it’s an improvement.

So my audience is no longer zero- but it is certainly not captive.

If only I didn’t have a day job, I could make a serious go at this….

Soon….