Finding your Passion Project

A personal case study with pinball analytics

 

Ryan Callihan

A Passion Project!?

"A Passion Project is something you work on that gives you satisfaction, happiness, and puts you into a state of flow. It's your tiny contribution to the world, large or small."

Pinball

Pinball everywhere! 

#data17

The Roots of Pinball

Louis XIV of France

Bagatelle

BallyHoo 1933

Japanese Pachinko

Japanese Pachinko

Montegue Redgrave, 1871

Pinball in the 1940's

Unique Pinball Manufacturers over Time

1947 New York City

"The man who saved pinball", 1976

  • the Las Vegas mafia
  • Al Winter
  • Seattle Teamsters
  • Tom “Blubber” Maloney
  • Portland Teamsters

VS

Stan Terry

James "Big Jim" Elkin

1992

Creepy. Kooky. Spooky. Ooky. 

Pinballytics

Data Process

  • Get data from Pinball Maps API
  • Prepare/Blend/Clean data for analysis
  • Export to Tableau

Viz Design Process

  • Data Exploration 
  • Mock up, iterate
  • Build in Tableau, iterate

Python - Get JSON from PinballMap API

Alteryx

Many JSON + spatial --> .Hyper

Pinball Density

The Age and Make of the Remaining Pinball Machines

3 C's of Dashboard Design

V1

V2

V3

+

V4

Was it worth it? 

  • SO much learned
  • Contribution to the community
  • Something to tinker with
  • Something to share

But someone already did it :(

 

  • Use updated data
  • Make a regional or more focused analysis
  • Tell a better story
  • Work directly with stakeholders

Who cares! Make it better!

The End

TUG Pinball

By Ryan Callihan

TUG Pinball

Presented to the Portland Tableau User Group, July 17th 2019.

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