Funkatron Mix

I’ve been fortunate enough to see a lot more of my friend (and newsletter subscriber) Mitchman Funkatron, of Pinball Over Boston fame, over the last few months than I had in the months prior. The local community he built was instrumental in guiding my own pinball journey, so it’s been good to catch up.

Those who know Mitchman know of his soft spot for 1980s pop music, specifically from artists like Prince and Michael Jackson (some may be familiar with his MoonWalking Dead retheme of Stern’s Walking Dead), so when I came across Rock A Bye Baby, the latest release from pop musician Jean Dawson, I instantly thought of Funkatron.

If you played Rock A Bye Baby for me blind and told me it was some long-lost Prince song, I don’t think I’d argue. It channels everything you think of from that genre and era of music and coats it in a modern wrapper. My only disappointment is that there’s no official music video for it yet. Hopefully, we get one soon!

It’s still September, so we’re still taking part in the September Back Indie Media Drive. The two dedicated pieces I’ve written so far about the identity crisis of calling myself a journalist and what it takes to run Kineticist seemed to resonate with a lot of you.

So much, in fact, that our paid subscriber count is up over 50% from the start of the month, and we’re only 13 more subscribers away from a goal that I thought I’d be grinding for well into next year.

I still need one more post in this series, a payoff for the trilogy of questionably vulnerable and transparent writing that I hope demonstrates my commitment to the project and my passion for seeing it grow into something sustainable that continues to add value to the community.

I think that payoff is a revisiting of the Kineticist Manifesto (click on the “About” tab), which I wrote in 2022, when, frankly, I had no idea what I was building - just an idea and a little bit of vision. Three-ish years later, I have a lot more clarity on that vision, and it’s getting time to share that with you, even if it’s still a little rough around the edges.

It’s clear that a lot of you really enjoy our work here, and I’m so appreciative of the support and encouragement you provide every week. In fact, I finally collected a bunch of the notes of thanks and encouragement you all have sent over the years and added them as public testimonials to our upgrade page. There are a lot of them, and it’s a nice reminder of the community we’re building here.

But, to take it back to the point of this little missive, can we get 13 more paid upgrades before the end of the month? Subscriptions start at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year.

In a paid subscriber-only update released earlier this week, we discussed the ongoing rumors of an upcoming Big Bang Bar remake by Pedretti Pinball and the confusion caused by some recently leaked photos that were linked to the manufacturer. In it, I also relay notes from a direct conversation I had with Andrea Pedretti, where he throws some cold water on the rumors and the provenance of those photos.

Australia’s upstart manufacturer Vector Pinball announced an upcoming licensed title, based on the 1965 classic sci-fi television series, Lost in Space. It’s based on all three seasons of the show and is set to make its debut at the Melbourne Pinball Expo this November. I find this release interesting as it’s an example of a small manufacturer starting to move up the licensing ladder, from original IP (Eight Ball Fury) to obscure regional licenses (Peter Brock / Holden), to now a more recognizable international license. Having never played the games, I take that as a positive sign of growth for the company.

Speaking of small upstart manufacturers, a reader sent me a note last week inquiring about the status of Ramp’s Pinball Manufacturing (formerly TiltBob Pinball), based in Florida. The last time most of us had heard from them was back at Pinball at the Beach earlier this year, when they showed off a prototype version of their first commercial game, Ramp’s Road Trip.

Well, I checked in with founder Bob Neis this week, and he tells me they’ve gone dark for a reason, but are working hard on changes based on player feedback to the game — things like tweaking the ramps and finetuning the geometry. They’ve also been working on a secret contract game, building out a new 7,500sf production facility, and planning their first licensed title. Stay tuned for more from them in the future.

This is the week of checking in on things I haven’t heard about in a while. Another reader sent a note inquiring about the status of the Deeproot legal proceedings. We have some newer-to-pinball readers here, and I don’t have the space to recap everything about the Deeproot saga here, but this Pinball News article from 2021 should give you enough backstory to get up to speed.

Anyway, I spent some time pulling up various court documents from the PACER system, and while I preface this with a disclaimer that I am not a lawyer, I was able to learn a few things I didn’t know previously.

There are two cases: a civil case (SEC v. Robert J. Mueller & Deeproot Funds LLC) and a criminal case (United States v. Robert Mueller). The judge granted a stay (pause) in the civil case in January of this year, as resolving the civil case would implicate Mueller’s Fifth Amendment rights, as he may wind up incriminating himself in pursuit of the second criminal case.

But that also means the criminal case is still ongoing, and as part of the stay granted in the civil case, an update to the criminal case must be filed every 90 days.

As of the last update published to the docket of the criminal case on June 27, 2025, the judge had granted Mueller another delay in a long series of them, presumably to negotiate a plea deal or get other matters sorted. As of writing, any formal plea agreement must be submitted by November 7, 2025. And if no agreement is reached by then a Jury Selection and Jury Trial date is set for December 1, 2025.

So maybe we’ll get some resolution to the criminal case this year, but the track record here, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it get pushed again into 2026.

Remember how I wrote that I was starting to catch up on our Noah Crable tutorials? I meant it! Here’s his latest, breaking down the quirky detective-themed 1995 release, WHO dunnit.

It feels good to no longer be in teaser mode for the Scorbit & Kineticist Pinball Media Mixer 3 at Pinball Expo! We opened up early registration for paid subscribers and creators earlier this week, and on Thursday, opened up registration to everyone else.

All the details for the event, plus the link where you can snag tickets, are outlined here. We’re more than halfway sold out already, so if you’d like to join us, make sure you RSVP soon. Everyone is welcome, and you do not need to be a media member to come.

Oh, and scope Scorbit’s recently refreshed site if you haven’t already.

Ryan and Scott from Pinball Map run a regular series that highlights one new or interesting pinball location each week. This week, Ryan writes about The Dive Bar Shirt Club.

What’s the longest bridge you’ve ever been on? I think for me, my longest bridge is Astoria-Megler Bridge, which connects Washington to Astoria, Oregon. In fact, that one is the longest continual truss bridge in North America, and I don’t think I’ll be on a longer one in the foreseeable future. But what about the dreamable future?

My dream is to hit up the 7 mile long bridge through the Florida Keys. What’s there? The Beach Boys tried to sing about the Florida Keys, but aside from Key Largo they got sidetracked and mostly sang about places off rather than on the Keys. Places such as Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahama, Pretty Mama, Montego, and so on. All places that I’d like to visit, but as just noted my primary focus right now is on long bridges, and I won’t deign to step foot in a plane or even a boat until my dream of breaking my record for longest bridge I’ve ever been on is achieved.

Key Largo is like the first stop off of Florida along the famous 7 mile bridge, which means I need to plow past Largo and go the distance. The bridge ends in Key West, which is famous for The Dive Bar Shirt Club, which happens to have four pinball machines. The Dive Bar Shirt Club is an interesting meta name for a business - in that it is an actual dive bar, and also a subscription shirt club focused on dive bars t-shirts. Shirt club is a new concept for me, but it seems great if you require a steady flow of fresh shirts, each unique but along the same theme. The shirts also seem like a great way to learn about spots to explore throughout the nation, similar to how the Beach Boys opened my eyes to a bunch of Caribbean islands. The Dive Bar Shirt Club has four machines, all Sterns, and all Premiums, naturally. When I visit there, I will play JAWS, and I will buy a shirt and rip the sleeves off of it.

The Dive Bar Shirt Club
320 Grinnell St, Key West, FL 33040
Website

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