Ep 161 Reinventing Pinball with Gerry Stellenberg

Gerry Stellenberg details Multimorphic's origin, P3 tech roadmap, business struggles, and why modular pinball works.

Synopsis

Gerry Stellenberg, founder and owner of Multimorphic, discusses the origin, evolution, and business model of the P3 modular pinball platform in an extensive interview. He explains how the P3 emerged from his personal frustration with owning 13 pinball machines, details the 8+ year journey from 2009 P-Rock board development through 2017 first shipments, and addresses community concerns about backwards compatibility, upgrade paths, and mechanical complexity of module swapping. Stellenberg also reveals business challenges, including 10 years without paycheck, reliance on early P-Rock board sales to other manufacturers, and the company's path to cash-flow positivity through successful releases like Weird Al and The Princess Bride.

Entities

• American Pinball· company
• Dutch Pinball· company
• Jersey Jack Pinball· company
• Multimorphic· company
• Spooky Pinball· company
• Stern Pinball· company
• Bowen· person
• Colin McAlpine· person
• Gerry Stellenberg· person
• Josh Kugler· person
• Josh Rupe· person
• Karen· person
• Keith Elwin· person
• Nicole· person
• Scott Denise· person
• Scott Larson· person
• Zach· person
• Final Resistance· product
• Heist· product
• P-Rock· product
• P3· product
• Princess Bride· product
• Weird Al· product