Hi. Colin here for a special edition of This Week in Pinball.
The TLDR of it is this: TWIP is joining Kineticist. Read on for a personal story and a brief Q&A about what comes next.
Fun fact! The image above (from Big Trouble in Little China - currently #18 in the Hype Index) was part of a mood board I put together when working on the concept for Kineticist in 2022. It’s not that I’m a huge fan of the movie - mostly, I liked the colors and the pure 1980s B-movie cheese of it all. I wanted to capture some of that energy in the site I was building, which was slowly taking shape.
In my presentation for this year’s Pinball Expo, I talked a bit about the inciting incident for my own passion for pinball and how that would eventually lead to Kineticist. Check out the recording for more, but net net, it took me roughly 20 years to fully understand how essential having the space to create things was to my own sense of self and overall well-being.
This epiphany was probably the true inciting incident for Kineticist (separate from my love for pinball), which I only arrived at after hitting some deep life lows that resulted in a lot of introspection, a cavernous chip on my shoulder, and a strong urge to prove I could do something of significance on my own. I needed to build. I needed to create. I needed to get back to telling stories. Kineticist was going to be the vehicle to help me do these things again.
One of those early supporters was Will Oetting and This Week in Pinball. He was one of the first in the pinball media community to call attention to the project on his own accord as part of a regular TWIP update this past January. It might seem like a small thing, a brief callout in a pinball newsletter, but it was a big deal to me!
This is part of the reason I’m so freaking excited to announce today that TWIP is officially joining Team Kineticist.
Now for a brief Q&A for things that may be top of mind:
Is This Week in Pinball done?
Where’s Will going?
What about the TWIPYs?
The TWIPY Awards are also not going anywhere! This is where it gets a little complex, so bear with me a moment. Will is continuing to lead the TWIPY effort alongside a steering committee that includes many prominent voices in the pinball community, myself included. Kineticist, as well as TWIP, will continue to support the TWIPYs however we can. Think of it as a dotted line between the two projects.
Seriously, what about the TWIPY Awards?
I’m a current subscriber or supporter, what can I expect?
I have questions/comments/concerns. How can I discuss them with you?
Send me an email! I love having conversations with other people in the pinball community and would be happy to address your question/comment/concern as best I can. Drop me an email at colin@kineticist.co.
This sounds cool, and I’d like to contribute or collaborate!
Hell yeah. Send me an email with an idea or what you’re interested in doing. Again, my email is colin@kineticist.co.
This sounds cool, and I’d like to talk business!
Hell yeah again. We’re currently a bootstrapped effort, so we are open to getting creative with like-minded businesses and individuals who are interested in reaching an audience of passionate pinball enthusiasts. Send an email to colin@kineticist.co, and we’ll set up some time to chat.
When is this all going down?
Meme of the Week
Via r/pinballmemes
TWIP Mood Music
Main Theme - World Cup Soccer (pinball music)
The main theme from Bally’s 1994 game, World Cup Soccer. Composed by Vince Pontarelli.
Odds & Evens
- We still have a very limited number of Anna Neal-designed Belles & Chimes tees on the Kineticist shop, and all proceeds go back to Belles & Chimes Worldwide (Kineticist)
- Wormhole Pinball interviews Houston Arcade Expo Founder Keith Christensen (YouTube)
- Cary Hardy has a message for pinball manufacturers everywhere (YouTube)
- Haggis Pinball says they are on track to start production of Centaur Revisited in December (Knapp Arcade)
- Rob from The Electric Playground and Davey from Stumblor debuted their new streaming show, In Before the Lock, all about toppers and mods (YouTube)
- LoserKid Pinball Podcast interviews Jersey Jack's Jack Guarnieri (YouTube)
Colin is the chief pixel pusher at Kineticist. He's a lifetime gamer who became enamored with pinball after taking in a family copy of the 1979 classic Joker Poker (the EM version). Since then he's bought, sold and repaired many machines, competed in all kinds of tournaments, and contributes to This Week in Pinball, the New England Pinball League, and Pin-Masters of New England. Previously, Colin spent over a decade working in marketing for agencies and tech startups. He also started and ran a music blog, happy hour website, and wrote a regular craft beer review column for Central Track in Dallas. Once aspired to be an artsy film director.
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