By Danielle Kutchel
Remember pinball?
Just the word itself has the power to summon vivid memories of those dings, rattles, lights and flashes.
But they’re not just a thing of the past; pinball is back in a big way, and a Cranbourne-based company is riding the wave of the pinball resurgence.
Damian Hartin founded Haggis Pinball two years ago to put the country back on the map as a serious player in the industry.
Haggis’ game designer Martin Robbins said Mr Hartin, a “massive fan” of the silver ball, created the company from scratch and learned all he needed to produce the machines.
Mr Robbins used to run pinball tournaments and met Mr Hartin at one of these.
The pair got talking, and soon were working together on Haggis’ machines.
Haggis was named for Mr Hartin’s Scottish heritage, and in fact the company’s first machine, named Celts, celebrated the Scottish Highland Games.
The second game has just been launched – Fathom Revisited, a modern twist on a 1981 classic.
Mr Robbins said the nostalgia factor might be one reason behind the recent pinball resurgence, as people turn to hobbies they remember and love from their younger days.
“We’re part of this movement of bringing pinball back,” Mr Robbins said.
“We have to pinch ourselves every day that we’re working on something we absolutely love.”
Haggis is positioning itself to square up to the big boys from the US; the pinball industry is currently dominated by US companies like Stern.
It’s been a tough twelve months owing to the pandemic, but Haggis has made it through and has just moved into a new, larger factory.
They hope to continue that growth and create more local jobs as they release new games.
“Covid impacted us quite a lot,” Mr Robbins explained.
“Not being able to come into the factory to do work has caused some delays. Sourcing supplies from around world became a bit of a challenge, but like other companies we embraced Zoom.
“We took advantage of the time to streamline our manufacturing processes and spend time designing the game.
“The majority of development on Fathom Revisited happened during Covid. Out of the challenges we had with Covid, we were able to take that time to reengineer a lot of things and come out as a well-known pinball manufacturer with a global presence.”
And when Covid is over, Mr Robbins hopes that Haggis will be able to host its own pinball tournament. Already, the company is a big supporter of his own competitions.
Mr Robbins said thousands can attend these tournaments – often whole families sharing in a favourite hobby.
“To see children now into pinball is so exciting,” he said.
“My hope is everybody understands that pinball is back, is as exciting as it was, and in some ways is better due to new technology like video screens.
“The pinball scene in Australia and around the world is really social. It’s a great way to connect with people.”
