6 episodes tracked since 2025 about →
Pinball Down Under Part 3: Home Pin?!
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 31 min listen
Highlights
- Mike Kalinowski founded Home Pin in 2013 as a pinball manufacturing company based on opportunity he identified with growing home pinball collector market
- Home Pin secured Thunderbirds IP license from ITV in London for their first machine
- Manufacturing in China requires building employee accommodation blocks/apartments adjacent to factories, a requirement unfamiliar to North American manufacturers
- China makes exporting from China relatively easy but importing into China is 'near impossible' due to trade restrictions
- Mike's wife passed away during early factory development, creating severe financial crisis with 10+ staff and monthly bills but minimal income
- A factory worker died in Mike's personal apartment (not worker housing), creating legal complications and police investigation of working conditions
- Thunderbirds launch was delayed approximately 18-24 months due to circumstances, occurring about 4 years into Home Pin's setup process
Notable quotes
“I figured a licensed pinball machine was going to sell better than an unlicensed pinball machine. I didn't want to have the Avengers or Superman or something that was pretty high-end.”
“I had no money and I had a factory with 10 plus staff in China with monthly bills and pretty much no income apart from some board sales”
“You need a license. Why do you need a license? Just you need a license to get people to buy the game.”
“People ask him why is your stuff metric? Well that's pretty simple because 99 of the world is metric. Get with the program.”
“The cops came because the guy's wife complained that I'd worked this guy to death. They took three of my key staff away, my English-speaking secretary and two of my engineers, to the police station”
Entities
- Cairns Electronics· company
- Flippin' Out Pinball· company
- Haggis Pinball· company
- Hankin Pinball· company
- Home Pin· company
- ITV (London)· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Queensland Automatics· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Fitzgerald Inquiry· event
- Guangzhou, China· location
- Hong Kong· location
- David Dennis· person
- Mike Kalianowski· person
- Ron Hallett· person
- Thunderbirds· product
