Introducing Infinity Amusements

[soundasleep]

Good evening Aussie Pinball Arcade peoples!

I friend of mine who is a regular on this forum suggested that I come across and let you guys know what we are up to. I hope this is the right place to post, if not my apologies and hopefully the mods can kick it across to the right spot.

My name is Sana and along with my business party Mark we have just launched "Infinity Amusements" up at Microsoft's TechEd 2013 event on the Gold Coast. Who are we? And what has this got to do with pinball?

Over the last 2 years as a pet project on week nights and weekends, Mark has fully restored a trashed "Funhouse" (1990?) cabinet (just the cabinet) and turned it into one hell of a video pin (and amazingly enough he is still married afterwards ;). He took it to PAX Australia (which is where I first saw it) and the response was phenomenal. Every person who played it loved it, and several of them asked where they could buy one.

That's when the light bulb in my head went off. I've got a bit of an engineering background (self taught) so I went through his cab with a fine tooth comb and redesigned it to be a practical "retail product". I worked out all the necessarily components, found suppliers, sketched up how the cabinet would need to be built, costed it up, found a cabinet maker (waves to ArcadeWorX) and the final result is this:

http://igg.me/at/infinitypinball/x/3576391

(Yes, that is a referral link but all it does is let me track who comes from where)

We had quite a few people at TechEd show some serious interest, so now we are just waiting for them to go home and discuss it with their significant other and hopefully we'll start getting some orders over the next few days.

My mate tells me that many people here have either built or thought about building video pins, so we figured it was something you guys would like to know about. I apologises if this is a bit "spammy" but we both figured there might be some people here who have always wanted one, but just don't have the time, patience, or skill (or combination there-of) to do it themselves.

So that's it :) What do you guys think?

[infinite1977]

Welcome to AP. I will definitely pledge my support. I think its great and am happy to help support your cause to keep pinball alive. I am sure the members on here will give you some honest and at times brutal feedback, but it will be honest. Good luck with it all and I hope it gets off the ground.

[studley67]

interesting   .but not really pinball

[soundasleep]

Funny you should say that. We had several people come up to us during TechEd having noticed the cabinet from a distance and then when they saw the LCD screens would make comments like "Sacrilege!".

Yet everybody who played it, enjoyed it. For us that's what really matters :)

[studley67]

i am sure i would also enjoy it. if i could chose from multiple games.plus the starting price is attractive.

[soundasleep]

We were running PinballFX2 for all of TechEd and they have about 30 odd tables, though they are more on the video game side of things. We plan to have about 6 of their tables pre-installed, working out those particulars now.

The Arcade Pinball should get released on Steam next month and they do virtual versions of the real tables (Twilight Zone, Medieval Madness, T2, etc). Unfortunately neither currently support cabinet mode as yet though Zen said PinballFX2 will get it "in the future".

Have you seen the Kickstarter for "Pro Pinball: Timeshock!"? That's supports all three screens and we will be providing that one included. The only trick there is they will be ready by Dec and we will be ready a bit more so we will send out codes once its available.

[swinks]

I like what you are doing, I would be interested but for me the price is a little high...

I wrote to pinball arcade a few weeks ago and there soon will be a update for all tables to be adjusted for cabinet view I think when the PS4 is released.

Is the cabinet a standard width?
Will you be doing all cabinets in MDF?
Will you be offering Timeshock cabinet decals / translite?

[4_amusement_only]

Welcome and thanks for posting.

I think it's a great idea and proposition. You guys have put a nice detailed brief down that shows what the platform is capable of. I like how it could be used as a jukebox and other uses. I'd be keen to see how the product looks and operates once you have churned a few out before seriously considering it. Good luck with it.

[spacies]

All that experience and knowledge and you guys don't have $7k?

Seems odd.

[swinks]

I do need to retract one statement, that being I thought the finished item was $7k, sorry I should of read all the info carefully, so for $5k for a entry level full size cabinet is not too bad, does it come with the regular Bally / WMS lock down bar and trim

I agree with spacies it seems a little odd to raise $7k to launch off, why not just start selling direct now, is Indiegogo like Kickstarter when no money is taken unless the project is successful in raising the $7k.

[soundasleep]

I agree with spacies it seems a little odd to raise $7k to launch off, why not just start selling direct now, is Indiegogo like Kickstarter when no money is taken unless the project is successful in raising the $7k.

Basically the situation goes like this:

We need the $7k in order to build a "to specification" prototype of both the Mini and the Omega so we can iron out last minute bugs before we start building them for customers. Mark has already thrown so much money at his cab his wife won't let him throw anymore in, and personally I'm in the "hand-to-month" situation - thus the lack of funds to start up.

By using IndieGoGo to take pre-orders we ensure we have a market first. Then we build, take second deposits, build the customers unit, and final sale. TechEd will hopefully have given us the exposure to get our first few customers and off we go.

Having said all of that it looks like we should have a silent backer on board so that we can begin prototyping this week and we meet up with ArcadeWorX on Monday to finalize the cabinet design.

I wrote to pinball arcade a few weeks ago and there soon will be a update for all tables to be adjusted for cabinet view I think when the PS4 is released.

I certainly hope so, but since the software itself isn't out of Beta yet I'm not holding my breathe ;)

Is the cabinet a standard width?
Will you be doing all cabinets in MDF?
Will you be offering Timeshock cabinet decals / translite?

1. The cabinets are pretty much standard WMS size. They are a little bit shorter.
2. Cabinets will be black laminated MDF so you can easily apply and change vinyls. We looked at ply but couldn't find material we where happy with the quality of.
3. Decals - almost certainly, trying to organise now. Translite - Pro Pinball supports all 3 screens, so that's covered.

We've toyed with the idea of an "Ultimate" model using a genuine original pinnie cab that's been hand restored but given the man hours involved we've probably have to charge $2k-$3k more and I tend to think that prices it out of the market.

[craig robins]

Rang a few of the ex directors of Bumper today,don't think they appreciated it but who gives a shit.Time to pay up assholes.

[craig robins]

Rang a few of the ex directors of Bumper today,don't think they appreciated it but who gives a shit.Time to pay up assholes.

[swinks]

try Brims Plywood as they have a massive range of plywood and can custom lay/make it with clean outer layers

thanks for answering the questions, will be watching

[soundasleep]

try Brims Plywood as they have a massive range of plywood and can custom lay/make it with clean outer layers

I just tried to Google them and I got a post from 2008 talking about a "Brims" in Queensland closing up shop, and a few results for a "Brims Wood Panels". It's probably just my severe lack of sleep, but could I get a bit more info on these "Brims" guys?

Troy and Jason from ArcadeWorX will be in Melbourne on Monday so I've managed to snag some time with them to go over the final cabinet design. I'll bring the plywood question up again and see where it takes us. My concern is longevity. I know an MDF cabinet will take a beating and a half and not even notice, while ply tends to go balls up pretty quickly in humid environments or if it gets wet.

Plywood would certainly give a more "classic" feel but I'm not convinced it's the best choice for the retail models (especially since finding a reliable supplier of non-warped ply seems to be so difficult).