![]() ![]() : When we first brought the PinBox 3000 to ToyFair in NYC, there were no pinball games anywhere. TWIP: Over the 8 years that PinBox 3000 has been around, what has been the biggest impact you have seen? Were you surprised by anything or anyone that has been affected by your cardboard pinball machine? Project-based learning, hands-on learning, design, engineering, art… it goes deep if you want. The versatility of the kit keeps surprising us everyday, so it’s hard to stop.įor STEM educators, the PinBox 3000 is a homerun. Those that know the basics of pinball really level up their PinBox 3000. We have hundreds of adults who also love the problem solving elements of pinball game design. Most every kid we met never touched a pinball machine, so this was a huge revelation to them and opened up all kinds of possibilities for them. They were nervous about punching holes into cardboard. When we started doing workshops in schools we realized how many kids had never worked with tools and explored materials. At certain events kids literally left their phones behind at our booth. When we started integrating PinBox 3000 into our art practices, the feedback was amazing. ![]() We’ve been working with youth in our communities for decades. ![]() : Pete and I both have experience in education. TWIP: What made you determine that the PinBox 3000 was needed? We started going to the Chicago convention, then Pintastic, and then became enamored by the ingenuity and variety of pinball games that kept us hungry to do more with our versatile kit. We began to pursue more pinball playing around Vermont and found pockets in Burlington. We made revision after revision and refined the project into the robust little machine we have today. Our first PinBox 3000 games were getting their first major playtest, and the reviews were great. We made about 10 of those and put them out at parties and playtested them at the afterschool program I was running at the time. Our initial prototypes were nearly the size of a normal pin. Now we could make multiples instead of one sculptural piece. Pete was determined and focused to get a proof-of-concept. We had a two month artist-in-residence at the Generator Maker Space in Burlington where we learned to use the laser cutter. But I loved the idea as a “gravitational puppetry artform”. At that time, the hobby didn’t have any footing for miles around. This is Vermont, so I hadn’t touched a pinball in a decade. I remember closing down the show and saying “now we have to make a pinball game”. When I met Pete, we started making shows together and he agreed to help devise a giant show that involved hip hop, live bands, and giant puppets called Grottoblaster. Building interactive cardboard experiences was inspiring to me, and satisfied my interest in making games as theater. I had also built cardboard pinball games for an outdoor carnival that was held in the deep woods of Northern Vermont. My friends and I would build these weird and wild arcade and pinball games out of cardboard for our audiences. I co-owned a Cafe in Montpelier Vermont and we had these wild art shows. I can still hear the game: “GREEEEED!”įlash forward about 12 years and I’m a puppeteer and performing artist working in Vermont. I would go between acting classes and learn that game and I loved it. I was the only person in the place during the day. In the student union arcade there was an Addams Family pin. TWIP: What is your pinball origin story? How did you get involved in the pinball hobby? Matchstick, one of the founders of the Cardboard Teck Instantute, about how PinBox 3000 got started and the new advancements in the game modules.
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