Question #1 at 14:37 (paraphrasing):
Q: Jersey Jack has a relationship with Scorbit, and Scorbit has a relationship with the players. Does Scorbit perceive a time when those costs (from Scorbit to JJP) gets passed along to the players?
A: No, in fact, our API is free for manufacturers to use, and our philosophy is to maintain a free service for players to use forever. We only charge people who buy our hardware for the recurring costs. There is always the hope that we can create value for all parts of the chain (manufacturer, owner, player) that could ultimately provide us revenue with optional features, though if it doesn’t increase the coin drop or other measurable value, philosophically we don’t think we should charge for it.
Question #2 at 17:24 (paraphrasing):
Q: What can you say about your relationship with Jersey Jack, and can you assure us that both parties will want to keep going with this relationship?
A: We talk to them on a daily basis, all indicators on their side is they are super happy with the relationship and have plans to move forward.
Question #3 at 21:30 (paraphrasing):
Q: Whenever I tour pinball factories, they are always talking about how great their quality is,hardware and software. I keep hearing these stories about it taking forever for them to fix it. How did things go so bad if they check them out so well?
A: With any manufacturer delivering a complex machines, which only increases, it’s extraordinarily difficult to deliver a smooth experience. What is important is what they do when these problems are discovered, and what is their commitment to getting things fixed. Do they stay committed to games that have been released a long time ago? We believe JJP and American are great examples of companies that come back and fix the platforms and improve them. As manufacturers improve their platforms, Scorbit has to re-integrate into it, but we’re happy to do so.
Question #4 at 24:02 (paraphrasing):
Q: Is there any plans to leverage the JJP camera to attach photos taken during the game to add to the scores posted on the Scorbit platform?
A: We currently do not pull any personal information, including photos, from JJP machines into the Scorbit platform. The capability exists, and that is up to the manufacturer to decide to use it or not. We default to only pulling data when the user has opted into such a thing, as philosophically we believe that data belongs to the player and requires their permission.
Question #5 at 31:18 (paraphrasing):
Q: What does this mean if you own ColorDMD?
A: We do work along with ColorDMD and Pin2DMD. Because we change the output, those frames we display end up as monochromatic. We’ve discussed this with ColorDMD and know a way to solve this in the future, but aren’t currently prioritizing at the moment that because it’s significant work.
Question #6 at 33:00 (paraphrasing):
Q: There is a small community that use products like Multimorphic P3-Rock that build their own homebrew pinball machines. Do you plan to work with those homebrew games?
A: We absolutely do. We have relationships with the manufacturers of these hardware platforms, like P3, FAST, and PinSound, and we are committed to hardware compatibility. The open platform allows any machine to connect to our infrastructure the same way that JJP, American and others connect to us. We’re looking into providing distributed, open source clients that make this even easier, or leveraging the work of the community to distribute these tools as well.
Question #7 at 36:15 (paraphrasing):
Q: (Hard to hear) Will there be documentation on how to create DMD achievements and tools provided by Scorbit?
A: The API is already open and available. We’ve recognized that for rules we will be providing a UI for creating rules for achievements. We’ve also worked with Olivier Galliez to create a version of Pinball Browser designed specifically to create pixel art for the DMD achievement overlays, such as badges or messages.
Question #8 at 40:12 (paraphrasing):
Q: I’d like to follow on to what you just said… For someone who had a venue, not just routed machines, and wants to build a pinball mecca, what is your pitch to them?
A: If you take all of the features we’ve discussed, the player features, visualizations and achievements, you create greater engagement. You can use the tool set to increase your own revenue.
Question #9 at 41:33 (paraphrasing):
Q: What about the player leaving comments on the condition of the machine? I go all around the country, and I’m regularly disappointed with the condition of the machine. Is there a way to take user feedback on the machine?
A: There is a series of features slated for early 2023, along with optional digital payments, around machine reports. This will combine automated alerts and data around machine condition with user-generated reports.
Question #10 at 43:40 (paraphrasing):
Q: If you could do something for the venue operator…that could bring people in…
A: First and foremost, we think that there is a big opportunity for Scorbit to develop a set of tools specific for venue owners. This will be using social media and Scorbit tools. We’ve been talking to industry people like PinQuest about redemption, achievements integration with point of sale systems, dynamic pricing. Venue operators have often made custom offerings to their players, and Scorbit is committed to not interfering, only enhancing those systems. For those who don’t have these capabilities, we would make this easier for them. We also released a Comboboard Wizard to automate the deployment of ScorbitVision boards for venues. However, next year we will roll out a dedicated venue features.
Question #11 at 46:30 (paraphrasing):
Q: How do you deal with the fact that machines are often configured and set up differently, such as one game being set for 3 ball, and others set for 5 ball, in regards to your scoring platform and leaderboards?
A: As for taking the glass off, there is an honor system. When you load the machine, we do see the ball count as the game is played. We then display those ball information on the game timelines, so it’s exposed. If you claim a score on a leaderboard for a machine set to easy levels, it’s pretty clear, and that is why in the millions of scores, people have not abused this.
Question #12 at 48:06 (paraphrasing):
Q: Question about leaderboards. Would it be possible to bring in the Stern Insider Connected leaderboards into Scorbit, so we can have a single leaderboard? It is a bad experience having to have two screens up, one for the majority of our games and one for Stern Insider Connected.
A: Unfortunately, not at this time, but their platform is not open. Technically we could, but Stern would have to allow this. We have approached them and asked for this integration as as of this date they have not accommodated this. We have many customers in this situation and recognize this is very awkward for these customers. That being said: If you do load Stern game code software that predates August 2, 2022 on those Spike 2 machines, it does fully work with Scorbitrons and the leaderboards can be integrated.
Question #13 at 49:55 (paraphrasing):
Q: Do you support users pulling analytics directly from your API for their own uses?
A: Right now we create the visualizations from the analytics on the tools website. We haven’t yet added API endpoints to pull aggregated statistics, but we’ll take this under consideration, there is no reason why not. We will work on providing a downloadable format along with an API for those analytics. Over time we’ll bake the data more and more ourselves, though ideally we could present to you what you want to see.
Question #14 at 52:18 (paraphrasing):
Q: As a small business owner, I wonder if you could provide any testimonials, or case studies, to explain how to justify the return on investment for an operator or venue owner in connecting their machines?
A: We have existing venue owners and operators we’ve been working with for quite some time and we will look to using their experiences as testimonials. Venue operators have many different business models, such as free play, tokens, POS integrations, food and drinks, redemption, and others, so we will work on creating examples of a business case for each of these types of models as we come across them. We know investing in connectivity can be an expensive proposition so we want to make sure our customers are armed with the metrics and models needed to be successful.
Question #13 at 55:18 (paraphrasing):
Q: Do you want to share details on the Virtual Pinball (VPIN) announcement?
A: As part of v1.2.8, we treat virtual pinball machines as another manufacturer. Therefore, these games work identically to directly connected machines, but as if they were different manufacturers with different titles. They have their own leaderboards, but function identical to all Scorbit integrations. We hope to also be announcing in the near future extensions and modules that will accommodate table designers to go back into their older catalog and extend the Scorbit functionality as well.