Get a glimpse into the exciting story of a young Indian-origin man in his 20s venturing into the uncharted territory of business and achieving newer heights after not giving up on struggles. AV talks with 28-year-old Chicago-based Nirmal Vasani to get a glimpse into his story.
Tell us something about yourself and how you get into the Pinball business
My family hails from India's Gujarat state. I was born and brought up in the USA, but my wife Nishtha and I love the magic of India and invariably make a point to visit the homeland 2-3 times a year. 6 years ago, a customer came to my dad's electronics factory in Chicago to manufacture some parts for a game. I had just joined the business after completing my marketing baccalaureate My dad and I instantly related to the amazing game. We immediately made up our minds to get into the venture. I founded American Pinball along with my dad.
What is the Pinball Game all about?
Pinball has been a widely favoured game across the USA since the nineteenth century. A variety of exciting Pinball games can be seen in arcades, bars and game zones across America. Some people even have a collection of Pinball machines at home. However, there are only a handful of manufacturers across the globe who manufacture them, because of the extremely complicated manufacturing process involved.
So what is so difficult in manufacturing a Pinball Game?
A single Pinball is created from approximately 5000 different electronic and mechanical parts in addition to the sound engineering, animation, content creation etc. The creation of the game starts with a story and a storyboard. Several characters are created to give users an immersive experience. The characters are given life with artworks, audio and animations.” For their latest game, Nirmal’s company has also created videos where film actors play the characters of the game. One game creation costs £1-1.2 million. A single game weighs over 150 kgs and is sold at $7,000-10,000 in the US. One of the biggest challenges of the game is its hundreds of moving parts. If a single part does not move properly the game might not work properly.
How was your journey into the venture?
American Pinball started in 2017 with several losses as only 300 games could be sold in the first year. It was a defining moment for us. We were already investing a lot of time and money but were only meeting losses. However, me and my team of 50 people decided that we wanted to make it anyhow. We worked relentlessly for months to create some of the most exciting stuff. The games Houdini, Hot Wheels and Galactic Tank Force created by the company have now become hot favourites with Americans. In the current year, the company has already sold 2000 machines with a revenue of 15 million dollars.
What is the plan for the future?
Currently, Pinballs are also exported to Europe, South America and other countries. But, they are not as popular there as in the USA. In the UK they are used as coining machines in publicly accessible places as compared to the US, where people also have them at home. The UK is one of the biggest growth markets for us right now, outside the USA. We also want to make an entry into India as it is my home country.