Haenn ’89 and Co. Make Pinball Accessible

Sometimes, it’s something unexpected that can make a huge difference in a person’s life. For example, when Joe Haenn ’89 made a gesture to include his friend in an activity, he had no idea how this would impact the lives of many others.

Joe and his wife, Erin, enjoy entertaining in their home in suburban Denver, Colorado, and they have a pinball machine that is the source of many spirited games. However, they noticed that one of their friends, Zack Christofferson, never participated.

Christofferson, who uses a wheelchair because of muscular dystrophy and is unable to play a standup game of pinball, said that he hated not being able to play, and that he was often left alone, while the others, including his wife and kids, engaged in this fun activity. “It left him feeling very lonely,” Joe said, “which was unintentional.”

Joe wanted to include Zack, so he started tinkering (or modding as they call it in the pinball world) with his machine. 

“I woke up that night at 2 or 3 a.m. and thought that I can do this. I can figure out a way that Zack can play,” Haenn says. “When you have a pinball machine, you are always tinkering. You want your machine to be better and have more bells and whistles than anyone else's. I was never good at electronics, but when you have a hobby, you figure it out or pay someone $120 an hour.”

With some tries, and the help of an electrician, Haenn built a controller that Zack could use. “On the first night, he played three games and it was very emotional,” Haenn says. “We had to take a breather. He told us that we had to own this, to make this happen.”

Joe and Erin partnered with Zack and his wife Alysha as well as friends Dean and Cheryl Edmundson to start Inclusive Gamewerks, which produces controllers so that more people can have access to pinball. They partnered with Children’s Hospital in Denver to donate controllers so that young patients there get a better sense of belonging. The pinball games are no longer restricted to those patients who have mobility issues. Thus far, 50 controllers have been made, with several donated to local children’s hospitals and many being used in public areas. The group is expanding to include other arcade games. 

“It has been a whirlwind. I can’t believe the reception worldwide,” Joe says. “It was probably the right time to come to the market. Manufacturers are looking to broaden their market and include everyone.”

The success has bred imitations. “It’s a weird thing,” Haenn says. “A few companies are trying to copy us with knockoffs. This market is getting bigger. Microsoft has made a major push into disabled gaming Research and Development and PlayStation just launched into that space a few weeks ago.”

Joe and his partners decided not to fight those who are copying their product. Instead, they seek to become the voice of the disabled in the stand-up gaming community. Their plans are being shared as open source. “Hopefully this takes off and we may be small footnotes in history,” Haenn says. 

The item placed second out of more than 100 entries in the “Modification of the Year” contest by This Week in Pinball, a newsletter about the pinball gaming community. Getting their modification onto mainstream machines is a dream that is close to fruition, as the group is in talks with a major manufacturer. 

“Through this process, we have learned that there are significant discrepancies in accessibility and there doesn’t need to be,” Haenn says. “It has put us on a different journey, that’s for sure. Fifteen percent of Americans have a disability that affects their mobility and that will rise to 25% in the next 30 years. The second we installed a controller at Children’s Hospital (in Denver), we were on the journey and there was no going back.”

Joe sums it up by the words that Alysha said that night when she watched her husband play pinball for the first time. “She got very emotional and said, ‘I think you are going to save somebody’s life,’” Haenn says. “I feel it’s going to happen.”