Episode 16 - David Van Es (Barrels Of Fun Pinball) / Pokemon + Beetlejuice!
WE ARE OFFICIALLY BACK FOR SEASON TWO - And we have a great episode. CEO and "Mischief Maker" David Van Es joins us to talk about his epic life journey, leading him to now head up Barrels Of Fun...
Highlights
- Pokémon pinball just came out and is driving significant FOMO, with machines selling for $30,000+
- Beetlejuice features three scoops, is not a wide-body, has three flippers (with one in an unusual upper position), and includes a spinner mechanic that feeds into a scoop
- Beetlejuice includes a unique animation feature where flippers move to the beat during Deo multiball sequences
- Winchester Winchester Mystery House has four flippers and includes a Pepper's Ghost display with a magnet behind it
- Winchester Winchester Mystery House is more complex and similar in play style to Labyrinth than to Dune, both previous Barrels of Fun titles
- David Van Es is Australian-born but now based in Texas
- David Van Es is legally blind in his left eye, which prevented him from pursuing his childhood dream of being an Air Force pilot
- 2026 could be a historic year for pinball with multiple major releases pushing the hobby toward mainstream
Notable quotes
“I think this could be a very historic year in pinball for all the new shit that's coming out”
“when it does the deo multi ball it moves your flippers like to the beat... by the end it's going like bop like on your flippers it's like moving them for you to the beat as you're like playing”
“I think that's the innovation that I love about Spooky, though, they're not afraid to do absolutely wild stuff like that”
“we're just going to make shit happen, to be frank... we're just going to do it”
“My very first dream was to be an Air Force pilot... they turned to me and said, oh, honey, like you can't do that. You're legally blind in one eye”
“I walked through that front gate everything just melted away... from that point literally on the airplane... I started writing things what can I do at home to create worlds”
“pretty much only Stern is doing fan layouts at this point”
“when you find the shots and you're going, yeah, it's really interesting. To me, that game is also doing a lot of the kind of Harry Potter stuff where... it's a spinning disc that has different ball paths depending on where it is”
Entities
- Barrels of Fun· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Mad Pinball· company
- Spooky Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Silverstein· company/band
- Beetlejuice (Spooky)· game
- Dune (Barrels of Fun)· game
- Labyrinth (Barrels of Fun)· game
- Pokémon (Pro)· game
- Winchester Mystery House (Barrels of Fun)· game
- Nudge Magazine· organization
- David Van Ess· person
- Ian Jacoby· person
- Karl DeAngelo· person
- Retro Ralph· person
- Shane Toll· person
- Tanya (Stern code designer)· person
- Private Function· person/artist
- D82· venue
- Electric Bat· venue
- Lit· venue
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