New GGG Product: Tron Joystick Handle - was: Soooo.....what's this thing worth?

[Xiaou2]

 Sweet   

 Excellent Job Randy.  Im sold.  Please reserve 4 for me.

 
 Whats great about these types of Handles is that you can use either
Left or Right hand on them.   Many other analog handles are limited to
fitting one hand or the other.


 For me, I have a planned set up with 4 trigger sticks.   2 analogs, and 2 tron digitals.

This can support either:

  4 players digital  (single joy each)
  2 players digital  (dual joy tank games) (analogs can work 'ok' as digitals)
  1 player dual analogs
  1 player dual digitals

  2 players multi (1 digital, 1 analog each)


 Without a stick which can not be grasped from either hand, that setup wouldnt be
possible.


 Can we also get a Discs of Tron spinner knob made the same way?  Maybe a nice translucent UV reactive reddish-orange..  or maybe a nice UV greenish-blue (more green with a touch of blue)  ?

[RandyT]

Now Shipping.....


RandyT

[Zero_Hour]

Got my order in. These look awesome. 

[TheShanMan]

Sweet. Just bought mine.

[Angry_Radish]

Thanks for doing this Randy 

[ChadTower]

This is one of the better out of nowhere surprises for the community in quite a while.  Order is in.   

[mcfreak]

I got my order in.  You rock Randy!

[Visitor Q]

If this is just the shell (more or less) 4 sale, what goes inside?

If you have to ask, then this isn't for you.

Cool... Should Randy thank you then for the sale he lost?

[Xiaou2]

VisitorQ,

 These go on Happs style Heavy duty arcade Trigger Sticks.   You can search
ebay for  "Tron Control" , control panel,  trigger stick..etc..  and should be able
to see what you are looking for.

 The handles themselves should fit on almost any type of long handle arcade stick...
including the Happs analog sticks.   I suspect that the original black handles were
made to match mach3.

 They are very comfortable and can be used on digital or analog games, and
can be used with either left or right hand.   Additional buttons can be mounted to
the front face plate - which isnt included yet. (but shouldnt be hard to make your own
really.  Just the problem with finding nice easy pushable buttons like the DOT
originals, or the cone like buttons used on other similar joys. Many buttons that
small are very hard to press, thus fast repeated shooting isnt possible)

 The handles also do not come with the trigger switch yet.


 You could always grab such a used stick off ebay, and replace the handles with
these.  That is what a lot of people here are probably planning.   Ive already got
the handles, switches and buttons... but rather want the Blue handles instead
of the solid black handles.

[Ummon]

I've got a NOS Happ heavy duty 8-way trigger (with leaf switches) on my cp. It's also been retrofitted with the Tron rubber restrictor plate. So it would seem like replacing the shell with Randy's would be a no-brainer. Problem is, what do I do with the thumb buttons - which are useful for other games. I could leave them, but the black button insert won't match the blue. Hmmm.

I was just thinking this, too.

[TheShanMan]

Tron had a black insert, albeit with graphics.

[Loafmeister]

This is excellent and I'm assuming some kind of "all in one" solution will be available at some point down the road? ("all in one" meaning perhaps a USB solution that has everything included, all you have to do is plug it in).  Once that happens, I'll order it for sure!

[Level42]

Looks like this thing drew a lot of new visitors to Randy's site. I'm getting a 403 on it now !

[Visitor Q]

VisitorQ,

 These go on Happs style Heavy duty arcade Trigger Sticks.   You can search
ebay for  "Tron Control" , control panel,  trigger stick..etc..  and should be able
to see what you are looking for.

 The handles themselves should fit on almost any type of long handle arcade stick...
including the Happs analog sticks.   I suspect that the original black handles were
made to match mach3.

 They are very comfortable and can be used on digital or analog games, and
can be used with either left or right hand.   Additional buttons can be mounted to
the front face plate - which isnt included yet. (but shouldnt be hard to make your own
really.  Just the problem with finding nice easy pushable buttons like the DOT
originals, or the cone like buttons used on other similar joys. Many buttons that
small are very hard to press, thus fast repeated shooting isnt possible)

 The handles also do not come with the trigger switch yet.


 You could always grab such a used stick off ebay, and replace the handles with
these.  That is what a lot of people here are probably planning.   Ive already got
the handles, switches and buttons... but rather want the Blue handles instead
of the solid black handles.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, this explains a lot.

[polaris]

Looks like this thing drew a lot of new visitors to Randy's site. I'm getting a 403 on it now !

says he who's posting it on other sites

[arzoo]

I've got a NOS Happ heavy duty 8-way trigger (with leaf switches) on my cp. It's also been retrofitted with the Tron rubber restrictor plate. So it would seem like replacing the shell with Randy's would be a no-brainer. Problem is, what do I do with the thumb buttons - which are useful for other games. I could leave them, but the black button insert won't match the blue. Hmmm.

I was just thinking this, too.

Now we just need to determine if the mounting holes will be a problem. I'll ask Randy.

[ChadTower]

If this is just the shell (more or less) 4 sale, what goes inside?

If you have to ask, then this isn't for you.

Cool... Should Randy thank you then for the sale he lost?

Doesn't matter - it actually was mentioned before that guy complained that it hadn't been mentioned.  The guy just missed it.

Randy will sell out of these, guaranteed.

[ChadTower]

Looks like this thing drew a lot of new visitors to Randy's site. I'm getting a 403 on it now !

Why would traffic lead to a permissions error?  Maybe the host turned off the spigot because of the bandwidth spike?

[Visitor Q]

If this is just the shell (more or less) 4 sale, what goes inside?

If you have to ask, then this isn't for you.

Cool... Should Randy thank you then for the sale he lost?

Doesn't matter - it actually was mentioned before that guy complained that it hadn't been mentioned.  The guy just missed it.

Randy will sell out of these, guaranteed.

If there is a demand and who doesn't like money? I'm sure he will make more...

[ChadTower]

Did you read his initial post?

[Visitor Q]

Did you read his initial post?

I did.

Selling out in a 2 week span does not = "high demand"? 

[ChadTower]

It "not making good business sense" is the key part you want to take from his post.  He's doing it as a solid for the community, not to make money.

[Visitor Q]

Anyway you slice it he is not losing money so whats the point? 

Why make this into something it's not?

I'm glad he made these, a lot of people are. Heck I may just buy one to have it. 

I'm sure he will sell out of them and I am sure like he said, he will make more if the demand is there. It seems to me like there is enough for at least one more run.

[mountain]

It "not making good business sense" is the key part you want to take from his post.  He's doing it as a solid for the community, not to make money.

I oversee the manufacturing of dozens of plastics parts for products my employer makes. After the extremely high cost of tooling, the actual cost of the parts is relatively low, especially at higher volumes. It doesn't make sense to pay to have only 100 made when there is most likely a big price break a few hundred pieces higher. Of course this all goes out the window if someone like Randy, who is doing this outside of his regular job, can't or won't put up the capital needed for the higher quantities.

Randy has yet to share the story as to how he got his hands on the original molds. There may be some sort of lease agreement or something, who knows. Either way, this is very exciting. I visited the prints for my machine last night to try and come up with a way to incorporate one on my new panel.

[Visitor Q]

The print is rather large, 3" or so I think.

[RandyT]

It "not making good business sense" is the key part you want to take from his post.  He's doing it as a solid for the community, not to make money.

I oversee the manufacturing of dozens of plastics parts for products my employer makes. After the extremely high cost of tooling, the actual cost of the parts is relatively low, especially at higher volumes. It doesn't make sense to pay to have only 100 made when there is most likely a big price break a few hundred pieces higher. Of course this all goes out the window if someone like Randy, who is doing this outside of his regular job, can't or won't put up the capital needed for the higher quantities.

That is certainly true in the case of your employer, who has already ponied up the cash for the molds, owns them "lock stock and barrel" and now needs only to amortize the tooling costs over the quantity of parts produced.  But the scenario really doesn't apply in a situation like this one.  There are at least three other entities who needed to have their requirements met in one way or another for this to happen.  In the end, this means that there is a very definite, and immediate ceiling to the economy one can expect to enjoy, regardless of the quantities purchased. 

As for not losing money on the project, that jury is still very much "out".  You can't do things like this in a small way, so one has to weigh their chances of recovery very carefully.  I hope to break even on the project and have a small surplus of parts afterward.  However, an item like this one will saturate this tiny market very quickly, especially at the low price point required to get them into folks hands in such a trying economic climate.  So at the "end of the day", I may end up with a very cool, but very costly pile of UV reactive blue plastic 

But as I stated, I knew all of this "going in" and the primary objective was to give something back by filling a void and not to establish a long-term, profitable product line.  If it ends up that way, then everyone wins and that means other projects like this one will have a better chance of becoming reality.  But if not, the community just got an early Christmas present 

RandyT

[Visitor Q]

Well I certainly think you hit a good price point. Like I said, I may just buy one to have on hand incase I ever need it.

[saint]

I did

[CheffoJeffo]

Well I certainly think you hit a good price point.

It is certainly an *attractive* price point -- less than half of what they have been offered for previously (for what I understand was a lesser product)

I would like to buy a couple of these, but am currently overextended on project-related spending (a couple of long-sought items became available) and we're leading into to Christmas and jrok just released his MultiWilliams board and I already have a beautiful Tron stick ... and ...

If, however, there are any left when I place my order for a pair of TT2 spinners in a month or two, I will definitely pick up a couple -- somebody (maybe me) will want them sometime.

If there aren't any left at that point, it was still a nice thing for Randy to do.

 

[nox771]

Well I for one hope you make a second production run.  I can't buy for the next three weeks (not for lack of funds, but just because I'll be out of town), but when I get back I would very much like to get 3 to 4 of those (even if the next run has a higher cost).  So please keep some inventory!

And please restock your electric ice pushbuttons too 

[Scucci]

I got mine, 2 of them... now I just have to hunt down a control panel to put them on so I seem like less of a dork...

Thanks RandyT.

[ChadTower]

Are you kidding me?  I plan on using mine to film a sequel:  Dick in a box II:  Dick in an Arcade Game.

[polaris]

Are you kidding me?  I plan on using mine to film a sequel:  Dick in a box II:  Dick in an Arcade Game.

i was thinking Dick in a box 2:  Dick in a stick 

[ahofle]

Step one.....cut a hole in a Tron...

[ChadTower]

Step two:  stick your junk in that tron
Step three:  go to the ER because you forgot to ground your CP.

[polaris]

step 4: explain how you were fixing your arcade machine naked cos it was... hot, yeah thats it , i was hot thats why i was naked, and you just slipped and happened to end up in that hole like that. i know, it does sound far fetched, but thats how it happened, officer.

[shardian]

I can just see some pron site buying these up and making a special edition sex toy for arcade nerds. I would venture a guess that nerds make up a large part of the customer base anyways.

[Aceldamor]

Randy,

I have sent you a PM.

[Loafmeister]

Well I cracked and ordered it .  I'll have to figure out a solution on what else to order to make this a useable solution for my CP but boy oh boy does it ever look nice!

[Visitor Q]

Not that this really matters but I am curious... Randy said he may not make another run of these but he never did say how many were produced so far.

Last night when I looked at his site there were only less than 10 left and now when I checked there were more than 20. 

LOL! Maybe he did have 1000 made and he is holding out on us?

Again... Not that this matters as I am sure everyone would rather have more than enough to go around but it does make me wonder as to how many he really has for people like me who are only looking for keep sake value at this point.

hehehehe With all that said, I ordered on.