Kevin,

It was recently brought to my attention that you had some disparaging words to say about the pinball bar project that we are working on opening up in the Ballard area.  While everyone is entitled to their opinion, I wanted to shed some light as to what we are doing.  Mind you this is coming from a standpoint of not knowing what words and rhetoric were specifically used.  I did not dig deeper into the subject when it was brought up to me as I am not keen on misconstruing second hand information.  I am also not making the assumption that it was under a blanket of super inflammatory commentary.  I just wanted to take ten minutes and address the issue first hand.  I wanted to talk to you in person about the subject, but I am out of the city for a bit.  Also I do not like “talking shop” at other pinball bars as I feel it is more or less disrespectful to the proprietors.

First and foremost, I understand your allegiance to Bobby and Full Tilt Ballard.  While the proximity to FT:B will be uncomfortably close, the products that we will both be individually offering will be two very different avenues.  We are primarily focused on the target audience of young adults and or bar scene that frequents establishments in the area like Kings Hardware, Tractor Tavern, Hattie’s Hat, etc while FT:B focuses more on being the jack of all trades kid friendly establishment.  We are not entering into this arena to try to come out on top or nudge anyone out.  We are trying to grow and foster the scene.

What that said though, we do intend on staying competitive.  We will have roughly 30 games and a rotating staff of 3 full time onsite technicians signed up.  Our mission statement in a nut shell is to have the biggest, most sought after, and best maintained collection in the pacific northwest.  Wether that comes to fruition or not is certainly dependent on us.  It is going to be a monumental task to execute and maintain.

We also have other projects slated in our pipeline over the next few years to encourage growth.  A silent partner and I come from electrical engineering, database engineering, and programming backgrounds.  The project revolves around player rewards and stat tracking.  The project is still in its infancy as we have only been working on it for about six months in our spare time, but we are making some serious headway. There is much more to the system that we are working on that, but that is about as much as I can share with you right now.

The end goal is that to create something worthwhile and longstanding.  This is a product that we are putting our blood, sweat and tears into.  We are not trying to be the next Shorty’s, Add-a-ball, or Full Tilt. We only hope our presence encourages others to find ways to stay innovative competitive.  If we flounder, so be it but the end goal from this growth is ultimate reaped by the player.  There is still plenty ceiling for pinball to grow in Seattle.

With all this said, the reason I specifically reached out to you is because you command a certain amount of respect in the pinball scene.  Wether you choose to keep this dialogue private or not is your prerogative, but I urge you out of hopefully reciprocal respect you will choose to do so.  Kevin, wether you realize it or not you are a de facto ambassador to pinball and I would hope you would give us a fair assessment until after the doors are open.

Anywho, thanks for giving this a read.  If you have any question, comments, or concerns you reach out to me at (206)-334-4054.

Thanks Dude!

Jeff Rogers
(206)-334-4054