![]() ![]() Weaver thinks he’s hit on a winning formula with Cosmic Carnival. “There is decent money to be made, if you can produce enough of the machines.” “Pinball has the potential to be much, much larger ,” he says. A handful of rivals have since sprung up, but Weaver sees a huge amount of market share waiting to be captured. Weaver’s competitor, Chicago-based Stern Pinball Inc., makes a model priced at $5,700, Weaver says, but also makes higher-end machines that sell for $8,000.Ī decade ago, in the depths of the recession, Stern had the U.S. While arcade games have gotten cheaper to manufacture, pinball machines - with their complex lighting, circuitry and electronics - have become costlier to make, Weaver says, with low profit margins despite their high price tags: Cosmic Carnival sells for $5,995 and it’s considered an entry-level machine. “It’s exciting and good for me because if I wanted to make money, there are easier ways.”Īlthough he declines to disclose the company’s revenues, citing the early stage of the pinball venture, Weaver says Suncoast Pinball & Arcade also makes tabletop- and cabinet-style video games, a line of business that generates sales in “the low seven figures.” “Arcade and pinball machines are making a comeback,” Weaver says. Just a few steps away is Right Around the Corner, an arcade- bar bursting at the seams with pinball and arcade games, as well as retro console video game systems like the original Nintendo Entertainment System. The Pinball Arcade Museum, a 2,000-square-foot love letter to about 60 classic quarter-eaters of yesteryear, opened Aug. "We've noticed that with the economy doing well and unemployment relatively low, our applications have dropped significantly," he says.Īrcade and pinball machines are having a moment, even close to home. He'd like to hire 10 more people, at least, but the tight labor market and specialized training required for pinball machine manufacturing are limiting factors. 1 challenge at the moment, though supply chain efficiency is something to watch out for in the future as the company grows. Weaver, who founded the business in 2015, says hiring is his No. ![]() ![]() Biggest manufacturing challengeĮxecutive : Jon Weaver, president and CEO In many international markets, he explains, arcades remain commonplace and there’s a culture of playing coin-op pinball at the local restaurant or pub that never went away. They have a hard time getting the machines, and from what we’ve heard from dealers, they like the ones with original artwork, not licensed designs - what pinball used to be.” He adds, “There’s a bit of a vacuum overseas. “I think we’ve got 20 to 25 dealers from 12, 13 countries who are constantly asking, ‘Can we get this machine?’” “What really surprised me is we are getting inundated with calls from overseas,” Weaver says. As of mid-July, he and his team of 15 employees had produced just one Cosmic Carnival pinball machine but had already signed up 18 dealers in the United States and even more internationally. It’s exciting and good for me because if I wanted to make money, there are easier ways.” Jon Weaver, founder, president and CEO of Suncoast Pinball & Arcade Inc.īut in an era of shuttered malls and nearly infinite home entertainment options, can pinball machine manufacturing be a growth industry? Although he says supply chain could be a future challenge, and he’d like to hire more people to keep up with demand, Weaver likes his chances. “Arcade and pinball machines are making a comeback. That taught Weaver, 42, a valuable lesson about the allure - and profitability - of coin-operated entertainment, which in turn spurred him to launch Suncoast Pinball & Arcade, a Largo-based company that recently rolled out Cosmic Carnival, one of the first original pinball machine designs to hit the market in years. “Unbeknownst to me, my father got back about half of my pay,” he says. A lot of those quarters, he says, wound up in the family restaurant’s arcade games. During his childhood in northeast Indiana, Jon Weaver would help his father, a restaurateur, earning 25 cents for every table he bussed. ![]()
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