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JBS Show with Jamie Burchell
JBS Show with Jamie Burchell
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Chris Turner of Turner Pinball - Episode 24

PodcastAnalysis updated 6d ago54 min listen
From the creator

Send us Fan Mail Episode 24 – Chris Turner. Chris sat down virtually with Jamie and they discuss multiple subjects from Deeproot to creating Turner Pinball, the making of Ninja Eclipse, selling the...

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Highlights

  • Turner Pinball acquired Deep Root's physical and intellectual property assets through a bankruptcy auction with no other bidders
  • Ninja Eclipse features an integrated LED glass frame system with contact board that is easy to remove, addressing the pain point of traditional glass removal
  • The middle flipper loopable ramp can be hit 20-22 times by pro player Collier at best, but typically less, balancing challenge with achievability
  • Turner Pinball originally designed a slimmer cabinet model with removable backbox, but customer feedback revealed perception issues and preference for standard-size cabinets with coin doors
  • Ninja Eclipse includes an unlicensed ninja theme with a 36-page illustrated comic book story provided with each machine
  • The team includes approximately 14 people with roles in software (Matthew), mechanical engineering (Gabe), electrical engineering (Brian, David), story writing (Quinn), and art (Brad Duke)
  • Turner Pinball presented a whiteboard prototype at TPF 2023 and later showed an updated version at Expo 2023 and MGC
  • The wizard mode features eight selectable bosses with difficulty levels, and only Collier has reached the wizard mode among all players tested

Notable quotes

“I love it from an engineering standpoint because it's so multidisciplinary. I mean you've got electrical engineering software engineering computer engineering and you've got all the art and the animation it's just everything coming together in one and it makes it so interesting.”
Chris Turner
“The perception of the customer is so important and there were people that would just walk up to that and they're like what what is this thing... the perception was without even going up to the game this thing is cheap.”
Chris Turner
“We want it to be challenging for the advanced and tournament players, but approachable for the novice.”
Chris Turner
“I really thought there would be other people out there that were interested in the stuff. But I knew that I wanted to try to do the pinball thing.”
Chris Turner
“We went back to the drawing board on a lot of those things. The biggest thing we were trying to keep was that glass frame. I don't think there was anyone that said that they didn't like that.”
Chris Turner

Entities

  • Deep Root Pinball· company
  • Highway Pinball· company
  • Lockheed· company
  • Turner Pinball· company
  • Pinball Expo· event
  • Texas Pinball Festival (TPF)· event
  • Ninja Eclipse· game
  • Wormhole Pinball· organization
  • Brad Duke· person
  • Brian· person
  • Chris Turner· person
  • Collier· person
  • David· person
  • Gabe· person
  • Jamie· person
  • Matthew· person
  • Quinn· person

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