to get the thread back on track, Charlie is a very talented guy and his podcast for the last 2 years has been very entertaining and I am sure he has gained many direct contacts from this part of his pinball passion. He has over 20 pinballs in his personal collection with many being the horror / spooky theme
he currently direct ink prints all the WOZ cabinet, playfields and plastics for JJP as they are friends, then Charlie is friends with Ben Heck who hang out together (and Ben is supplying the operating system and Charlie is the test pilot) as well as Jpop and Brian Kelly. He also has geek boy Blue Shirt on side who is under the wings of Heck and Pop so he I am sure he will be valuable for programming etc. So he has alot of contacts and his day job is signage hence the custom Godzilla as well as doing the JJP gear.
I think the way he is approaching it is great, custom theme, make small runs (25 at a time) and sell based on the interest. As for costs of setting up and doing runs of 25 - I think it is achievable but yes agree you need some sort of spare cash but not millions - maybe as small as $100-$150k as he can cover the graphic design and printing as well as programming and control system, just needs the playfield design and routing and you are away assuming his signage business has the room to do the assembly ??? would not have a clue on this but this is small cost in the scheme of things. Stern's overheads are huge because of the big and fast runs, the labour they hire and the big factory. Lastly he is passionate about spooky themes and has a good sense of humour so this is a great start.
Good luck Charlie and who knows a few may come down under. I sent a email with a few questions and told him of AP and this thread so hopefully he visits and can answer questions directly.
