6 episodes tracked since 2025 about →
Game Plan: Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
PodcastAnalysis updated 5d ago1 hr 26 min listen
Highlights
- Game Plan released cocktail pinball machines (Model 110) in late 1977/early 1978 with swappable playfields to save arcade floor space
- Black Velvet was the first cocktail machine theme, based on Black Velvet whiskey, designed by Ed Sabula with art by Jim Sullivan
- Black Velvet licensing deal was terminated due to concerns about marketing alcohol to minors/teenagers in arcades
- Real cigarettes (a licensed brand) pulled sponsorship after their own test marketing determined the pinball machine was a poor marketing vehicle
- Roger Sharpe encountered Game Plan's cocktail pinball concept at a New York State trade show and advised against cigarette/alcohol licensing
- Cocktail pinball playfield dimensions were approximately 29 inches tall, 38.5 inches long, 28 inches wide, and weighed 170 pounds
- Lee Goldvoss was president of Game Plan and had previous experience with government contract technology work before entering pinball
- Game Plan used the same playfield layout across multiple cocktail machine themes (Black Velvet, Camel Lights, Real, Chuckaluck)
- Night Moves was displayed as a cocktail pinball machine in the A Division tournament at INDISC
- Cocktail pinball machines had no backbox and featured solid-state boards (MPU1) with self-diagnostic test systems
Notable quotes
“But for pinball, it's like the biggest franchise on the planet. And it's great. It's a great thing to get new people into pinball, which is a good thing.”
“I was at a New York State trade show and encountered Kenny Anderson who was at Gameplan. He took me over to look at a cocktail pinball machine that is company I've never heard of And it was real cigarettes. And he asked me what I thought. I was like, oh my god, you can't do cigarettes.”
“Pinball was still somewhat tenuous in regard to people's acceptance. There's a lot of stigma attached to it. I like the concept of a cocktail table.”
“The cigarette companies are like, I don't know about this one... a cigarette company is doing marketing and they're like, you know what, this isn't a good idea. Their product literally kills people. It's unbelievable.”
“They just replaced the velvet gimmick... we're not plugging the booze, we're plugging the lady now.”
“So it seems it kind of in a nutshell, it seems like kind of a good idea. Takes up less space. It's always a problem with pinball machines.”
“Those guys and backgrounds tend to struggle when it comes to marketing, but, I mean, cigarettes and alcohol, who doesn't like that right?”
Entities
- Flip N Out Pinball· company
- Game Plan· company
- INDISC· event
- Black Velvet· game
- Camel Lights· game
- Chuckaluck· game
- Foxy Lady· game
- Night Moves· game
- Pokémon· game
- Real· game
- Patreon· organization
- Silverball Chronicles· organization
- Andreas Bernard· person
- David Dennis· person
- Ed Sabula· person
- Jim Sullivan· person
- Kenny Anderson· person
- Lee Goldvoss· person
- Roger Sharpe· person
- Ron F. Winter Hallett· person
- Wendell Adams· person
