Rob Rath from The Electric Playground joins Dirty Pool Podcast to talk about his work designing and building custom toppers for pinball machines. We get into how he approaches the creative process, what goes into making something that feels like it belongs with a game but still stands out, and the small shop challenges of turning ideas into something that players will actually want on top of their machines.

Also he’s shamelessly trying to sell his new topper on my channel so I guess go check it out?

https://www.teppinball.com/store/p/aaiw-topper-expansion

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00:00:00 – Intro

00:00:40 – @teppinball Top, @stumblor Bottom

00:01:01 – The Origins of TEP.

00:02:16 – First Topper? Twilight Zone

00:05:10 – Failed Prototypes?

00:06:42 – What machines do you use in the shop?

00:09:15 – Last call for back catalogue toppers.

00:10:00 – Painting acrylics, and how to use vendors and family labor effectively.

00:12:11 – Captain Fantastic Top 10 selling game?

00:12:30 – Observing the market for when to make toppers for certain games.

00:13:02 – How do you have toppers interact with older EM’s?

00:15:12 – Zip ties, the pinball tech’s secret weapon.

00:16:00 – How do you set pricing for your toppers?

00:18:22 – Pricing Double Tap

00:20:00 – New mods are truly art and expand the pinball experience for some.

00:21:00 – The design philosophy for @teppinball toppers.

00:23:00 – wow… 48 toppers?

00:23:20 – What do you say to non-topper people?

00:24:47 – @dutchpinball Alice Adventures in Wonderland – TOPPER REVEAL

00:27:12 – What are the 10 swappable phrases?

00:29:00 – How long has development been going for Alice?

00:30:00 – Making a topper that feels like it’s part of the original production.

00:31:27 – Lets talk about @FlipNIK.Pinball

00:34:30 – Demo of animations on the topper via the app.

00:40:26 – Installation?

00:41:16 – Designing the manual for installation.

00:42:12 – Custom help videos for customers?!

00:42:45 – Lets talk about Alice availability issues.

00:44:57 – Custom phrases? Probably not happening.

00:46:34 – Chat thanks Rob, and some hot takes of upcoming stuff?

00:47:45 – What game would you love to make a topper for… no restrictions?

00:48:47 – The Raven thing…

00:50:11 – Hi @kineticist !

00:50:32 – Make a Raven topper.

00:51:11 – LOTR a dream topper concept.

00:51:30 – Pinball Expo is going to have a huge @teppinball presence! Come to the lounge.

00:52:47 – Hat trivia give away, a topper… for your head.

00:55:26 – Five unique Kill Bill homebrew reskins.

00:57:13 – First clue for the giveaway… spoilers it’s Street Fighter 2.

00:58:28 – First pin story time.

01:01:51 – Interactive knocker?

01:02:10 – Apparently this game has knockers.

01:02:30 – Strange history of Popaduik’s concept and Deep root.

01:03:00 – Zombie Yeti’s from @sternpinballinc first art in a game?

01:05:00 – What was your partnership with @dutchpinball , future projects?

01:06:30 – @ontiltpinball topper for Alice?

01:07:11 – ⁨Thank you everyone! + Social Media info for @teppinball

01:07:45 – bye!

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