Adaptive Flipper Control Interview | Making Pinball Accessible In late October of 2023, Game Preserve COO Rusty Key was gracious enough to invite the Software Agents to the Woodlands arcade in Spring, TX. There, they were formally introduced to Jim Austin, one of their repair technicians. Jim previously suffered from a debilitating stroke that left his right arm paralyzed. During his recovered, he developed a device that acts as a game controller -- The Adaptive Flipper Control -- allowing him to test pinball games with one hand. Jim has gone on to found Adaptive Game Products. They're intent is to create gaming devices for the disabled and physically different. They have applied for a patent for the Adaptive Flipper Control. We spoke with them for about an hour in the Game Preserve party room and then were granted a floor demonstration. Here is the interview with Rusty and Jim with some snippets of the floor demonstration for context. We're very excited about this new device and the doors it can open. Stick around to SoftwareAgentsHQ for the floor demonstration! Some images from https://gamepreservehouston.com/ Ref: https://gamepreservehouston.com/adaptive-flipper-controls A.T. Gonzalez - Edited by, Camera, Gameplay Sam Gonzalez - Interviewer, Camera, Gameplay, Thumbnail, Production planning https://www.youtube.com/@yosammyg2765 Interviewees Jim Austin Rusty Key Other Footage/B-Roll/Gameplay/Help Jay Lai - https://twitter.com/LaiByakko SaturnPM Clover Rosinka V. Other Audio and Visual Editing, Research, Timecodes Common RAM Error Patron Nicholas Bernhard Special Thanks to Launch JoBe All Game Preserve Staff Produced by Chaz Montenegro Sam Gonzalez A.T. Gonzalez 0:00 - Intro 0:42 - Adaptive Flipper Control interview (Sam Gonzalez, Jim Austin and Rusty Key introduce themselves) 2:06 - Meeting a need for a tool (Working on Gorgar) 4:32 - Using a headphone stereo jack 5:13 - Installation 6:43 - Meeting certain parameters 9:03 - Relating it to arcade stick troubleshooting (fight stick) 10:01 - AFC grip stances and sizes 11:43 - Targeting certain environments 15:44 - Ironing out logistics/Texas Pinball Festival reception 16:45 - Plunging 19:52 - Nudging and tilting 20:55 - Giving the physically different more options 22:48 - 3D Printing and patent requirements 24:42 - What was the feedback from Chicago?/Project Pinball 26:02 - Foot Pedal Controller and other prototypes 26:55 - Making it accessible and affordable 27:51 - Requesting the AFC at The Game Preserve /media kits 29:14 - Catching people's interests /provisional patent 31:05 - Good stories and selling Gorgar 32:04 - Necessity is the mother of invention 33:15 - People at Chicago Pinball Expo 34:00 - Jim's situation and playing pinball again 37:01 - Credits/Help Software Agents 37:20 - Related videos/Subscribe #sternpinball #pinball #retrogaming