Since our last update in July 2019, Scorbit has been growing fast as we’ve been very hard at work building the platform. When we deliver Scorbitrons and players start using the Scorbit app, the experience should be nothing short of magical. To do that, we’ve been working and testing with pinball machines from the solid states of the 1970s all the way up to the latest and greatest releases. We’ve also been having some fantastic conversations with our friends at the various pinball manufacturers, with more to share soon. You can scroll below for a full update on the Scorbit platform, but first we wanted to share our excitement for the first pinball event of 2020 for Scorbit and the next place you can see it in action…
INDISC Pinball Festival 2020
We are beyond excited to announce that we are returning to the INDISC Pinball Festival at the Museum of Pinball in Banning, California as a proud sponsor. INDISC holds a special place in our hearts as it was one of the earliest tournaments to have Scorbitrons running in machines. This will mark our third year at INDISC and it has become a real moment in time for us to mark our progress. In 2018, we were installed in one machine; in 2019, we grew to 10 machines; and now in 2020 we will have Scorbitrons in the largest number of machines and recording scores at a tournament in history. The Scorbit team has been working overtime to ensure that Scorbit will be up and running on all the great games in all of the tournaments and in open play at INDISC.
If you’re attending INDISC, be sure to check out Scorbit as your scorekeeper registers your scores and be sure to say hi to Brian O’Neill, Jay Adelson and the rest of the team who will be in attendance and happy to chat about Scorbit. If you’re not at INDISC, don’t miss a minute of the action, tune into the livestream and keep a lookout for Scorbit providing real time scores! You can find the full schedule for livestreams at the INDISC site.
Scorbit Update
As mentioned above, we’ve been hard at work to get Scorbit fully launched and Scorbitrons shipping. Many of you reading this have either placed a reservation for the first batch of pilot units or signed up to participate in our beta program. First of all, we want to say THANK YOU. It says so much to us that you put your hard earned money down to show interest in what we’re doing and we love how excited and enthusiastic so many of you are when we talk at tournaments, pinball shows and online. Second, we’re delighted to report that we are a bit ahead of schedule, and that we expect to announce shipping this Spring.
You’ve all heard the story: Hardware is hard. However, Scorbit isn’t just hardware, it’s an entire Internet platform, applications, integrations, and more. We like to say launching Scorbit is like painting a jet while it’s flying!
You heard it, this year the first wave of Scorbitrons will go out into the world ready to connect your pinball machines to the Scorbit platform! They work on Ballys, Sterns, Gottliebs, Williams, everything under the sun… and machines you just received, new in box. Whether you have a solid state pinball machine from the 70’s (like one of our personal favorites, Meteor) or even a Gottlieb from the 80’s (like Class of 1812, a classic!) or a mid-90s DMD like Theater of Magic (the first game we got working with Scorbit) or even a modern machine (like the recently released, and amazing, Jurassic Park), Scorbit will be able to connect your machine to the Internet and enable all sorts of additional fun to your pinball experience.
Be sure to check out our video from our last update to see a Scorbitron installed in a pinball machine and see how our custom designed hardware enables to real-time scores to be recorded and connected to the Scorbit app, tournament software and livestreams.
After the “when” question, next comes the “how much.” First, let’s explain how we will charge for using Scorbit:
- For players using the Scorbit application or other integrations, the Scorbit app will always be free.
- For operators who will install Scorbitrons and require the operator-oriented features, we’re developing a tiered subscription model that includes devices, with lower costs for larger numbers of installations.
- For collectors or home use, we’ll be offering single unit sales, also with discounted packages for multiple units.
- Pricing will always be related to the number of Scorbitrons you have installed in pinball machines! When you sell a machine with a Scorbitron installed, don’t remove it, we will replace it free of charge, so spread that Scorbit love!
So, back to the question of the final pricing!
Please understand that every day we make progress in reducing our manufacturing costs so that the initial price of the hardware is affordable to everyone. Therefore, the cost per unit of the device keeps changing (going down), that is why we’re hesitating to publicize a price, because it’s getting better. The road is littered with the remains of companies who priced too early. We’ve also been talking to many of you in the pinball community — operators, collectors, players — to get a sense of what would work for each of you.
The main thing is that we’re making progress and we can’t wait to share it with you all. Stay tuned for upcoming events for more details to be revealed.
Upcoming Events
In addition to INDISC this weekend, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be at some upcoming events over the next few months:
- IFPA North American Pinball Championship, the IFPA Women’s World Pinball Championship and Pin-Masters — Denver, CO — March 5–8, 2020
- Texas Pinball Festival — Dallas, TX — March 27–29, 2020
Stay tuned for more info about Scorbit at these events and we hope to see you there!
Looking forward to a great 2020 of fun pinball!
The Scorbit Team:
Jay Adelson, , Brian O’Neill and Ron Richards