What does TEP do… and what the heck is a topper?

“What is it you’d say that you do?!” 

It never fails. Whether trying to explain our new venture to in-laws over dinner, to new potential vendors or partners, or just to friends that aren’t as dialed into the pinball hobby as we are ourselves, inevitably a few questions will arise.

Rather than continuously reinventing the wheel, we thought it could be handy to share a quick post about how we view our products and the role we play in the pinball community overall. So just like the two Bobs in Office Space, we are here to finally address the question of what it is we do here at the Electric Playground! 

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, “What’s a topper?” 

If you’re a fan of the hobby already then this is likely fairly obvious as the name of the product itself pretty much answers this question, but we view toppers as interactive art installations that sit atop a pinball’s backbox. Of course, they can vary in terms of size, complexity, and functionality, but the basic gist is that they’re adornments for these very expensive toys that we all love and cherish so much! 

Example of various pinball toppers from Tony Caciolo, see the video here.

“So can anything be a topper then?!”

Sure, if you’re so inclined. We’ve seen plenty of people throw small characters or stuffed animals atop their games and call it a day. That’s certainly not the type of work we do, but we support everyone’s decision to put whatever gaudy crap they want on top of their machines! 

Example of a homemade topper on Monster Bash and Creature from the Black Lagoon via Pinball Supernova. More info here.

“Well, then what makes your toppers different from what else is out there?”

Ultimately, our goal as a company is to be continually raising the bar for what’s possible in the industry. A TEP topper should not only look gorgeous but it should also provide at least one (or two!) “wow moments” to spectators and players alike. The exact components will vary by machine but if you don’t hear “holy shit, did you see that” at least once from bystanders in the room then it’s not likely a product of ours they’re looking at! 

Our topper for Twilight Zone. See the video here.

“So it’s just more bells and whistles on top of a game?”

For some toppers, yes it’s as simple as being a cherry on top. However, in addition to stunning visuals and lighting F/X, one other key difference about our toppers is the fact that we design them to also provide a level of “wayfinding” to players by providing visual cues that can assist them in their game-playing experience. We’re fond of saying that we’re fans (and players) first and builders second, and we want our products to be a reflection of this point by making games even more enjoyable to play and navigate. 

We hope that helps clear a few things up! We’re sure questions like this will continue to arise and we’ll be sure to update our blog with new answers as they come up. Thanks for reading!