# Episode 829: "Which Game Should Each Company Remake and Why"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2023-08-03  
**Duration:** 23m 8s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-829-game-87099044

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## Analysis

Kaneda discusses which pinball games each manufacturer should remake, evaluating demand, production history, and thematic quality. He argues Lord of the Rings deserves a Stern remake, suggests Wizard of Oz for Jersey Jack Pinball despite conventional wisdom, notes Spooky Pinball cannot remake Rick and Morty due to prior commitments, and predicts Medieval Madness will receive a premium King Edition from Chicago Gaming Company. The episode reflects on market saturation, pricing pressures, and the need for manufacturers to produce 'masterpiece' games to survive.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Lord of the Rings is arguably one of Stern's greatest pinball machines and Keith Johnson's greatest code of all time — _Kaneda argues LOTR should be the game Stern remakes, emphasizing its immersive theme and quality code design_
- [MEDIUM] Pirates of the Caribbean is only valuable because it's rare; when it was readily available, nobody wanted it — _Kaneda disputes the common assumption that JJP should remake Pirates, arguing demand is artificial and driven by scarcity_
- [HIGH] Spooky Pinball gave their word they would never make more Rick and Morty — _Kaneda explicitly states this commitment prevents a Rick and Morty remake despite strong demand_
- [MEDIUM] Chicago Gaming Company will release a final King Edition of Medieval Madness that tops the Royal Edition — _Kaneda cites Ryan Dickerson as the source of this information about upcoming Medieval Madness release_
- [MEDIUM] Multimorphic has not completed their first game releases and has nothing worth rerunning — _Kaneda criticizes Multimorphic for hiring staff while lacking completed game products_
- [MEDIUM] Total Nuclear Annihilation rerun by Spooky sold only 200-250 units at $9,000 — _Kaneda uses this as evidence that Spooky's past remake attempt failed commercially_
- [MEDIUM] Scooby-Doo has quality issues and a recent code update causes the game to not register balls during multiball — _Kaneda reports issues from the Scooby-Doo thread and notes Spooky is making 1,200 more units_
- [MEDIUM] Dutch Pinball's next game after Big Lebowski is The Matrix — _Kaneda states 'I'm hearing it's The Matrix' as a rumor, expressing fatigue with the speculation_

### Notable Quotes

> "The Lord of the Rings nails it. Tron nails it. Stranger Things nails it. So which one out of those three do I think Stern should bring back and bring it back in all of its glory... I think the one they should bring back, and I think they should celebrate this game because it's worth celebrating, is the Lord of the Rings."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Core argument for which Stern remake would add the most value to the market_

> "The moment they make more of these games, and let's say when I say bring a game back, you're going to sell at least 1,000 or 1,500 of them, right? To really make it a legitimate remake. So I don't think that Jersey Jack Pinball, if they brought back Pirates of the Caribbean, would actually sell like 1,000 or 1,500 of these games."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Explains the economics and psychological dynamics of remake demand versus artificial scarcity-driven pricing_

> "If you're a manufacturer, that masterpiece game will be on your line for years. And if you're a distributor, you love it because you'll sell that game for years. That is why we should all be banging on the drum of we want masterpieces or nothing else."
> — **Kaneda**, closing
> _Summarizes Kaneda's thesis on the only sustainable path forward for the industry_

> "I'm going to shock people right now and say, if I'm Jersey Jack Pinball, and I want to do another run of a machine and seeing all these newbies coming into the hobby and seeing all this new money come into the hobby... I think if they did another run in a differently arranged art package with different armor, I think they could do another run of The Wizard of Oz."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Controversial suggestion that challenges conventional wisdom about which JJP game should be remade_

> "With the rumors I'm hearing about Jersey Jack Pinball and what's happening at Stern, it's all starting to make sense. These companies are starting to realize that at these prices, they need to keep shoveling new dishes in front of us a lot more frequently."
> — **Kaneda**, closing
> _References undisclosed rumors about JJP and Stern while connecting them to a broader industry pricing strategy_

> "Stranger Things is a game that has done a total 180 in the world of pinball. It was so easy to get Limited Edition for an entire year. The code was not completed. The UV kit was not out. But now that this game has been played by enough people and the immersive experience of Stranger Things, this is a highly sought after modern Stern machine."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Demonstrates how code updates and thematic execution can dramatically shift market perception and demand_

> "If you're going to go into the effort of making a pinball machine and then you stop manufacturing them, if you haven't made a game good enough where there's future demand for it, you're just not doing it right. You're just not doing it right."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Kaneda's evaluation criteria for which manufacturers are 'succeeding' in pinball_

> "Medieval Madness is much like Pirates of the Caribbean. It's only famous for being rare. It's only famous because so few of them are out there... But the experience, you know, I mean, Pirates is a much better experience."
> — **Kaneda**, closing
> _Distinguishes between games that are rare/valuable versus games that are genuinely great to play_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, described as six-time Twippies Award Winner for Favorite Pinball Podcast; presents opinions and rumors about pinball manufacturers and games |
| George Gomez | person | Mentioned as making statements at Stern about bringing back vaulted games; currently appears to be leadership figure at Stern |
| Ryan Dickerson | person | Cited as source for information about Chicago Gaming Company's upcoming Medieval Madness King Edition remake |
| David Fix | person | Characterized as claiming continued demand for all American Pinball titles; implied to be leadership at American Pinball |
| Keith Johnson | person | Code designer credited with creating Lord of the Rings pinball; Kaneda calls it his greatest code work |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer discussed for potential remakes; Kaneda critiques their pricing strategy and James Bond 60th release; notes they could remake LOTR, Tron, or Stranger Things |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer; Kaneda suggests Wizard of Oz remake instead of Pirates of the Caribbean; references undisclosed rumors about company direction |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Discussed for quality issues with Scooby-Doo and failed TNA rerun; committed to never remaking Rick and Morty per prior agreement |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Remake specialist; Kaneda predicts they will release Medieval Madness King Edition that will top Royal Edition |
| Multimorphic | company | Criticized for hiring staff without completing first game releases; Kaneda suggests they have nothing worth rerunning |
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer with portfolio including Oktoberfest, Houdini, Hot Wheels, Legends of Valhalla, GTF; Kaneda argues no remakes needed |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Remaking Big Lebowski; rumored to be developing The Matrix as next title; Kaneda notes newfound excitement and manufacturing challenges |
| Heighway Pinball | company | Mentioned as company requiring no remakes in Kaneda's evaluation |
| Pinball Brothers | company | Swedish manufacturer; noted as having remade Alien; Kaneda sees no demand for additional remakes from portfolio |
| Lord of the Rings | game | Stern game from 2001-2008 era; Kaneda's pick for Stern's best remake candidate; praised for immersive theme and code quality |
| Pirates of the Caribbean | game | Jersey Jack game; secondary market pricing $20k-$30k+ driven by scarcity not quality; Kaneda argues against remaking despite high prices |
| Stranger Things | game | Stern game; Kaneda's alternative choice for Stern remake; transformed from easily available to highly sought after through code updates and player experience |
| Tron | game | Stern game option for remake; would require Premium Edition, fiber optic lighting updates, and new artwork per Kaneda's analysis |
| Rick and Morty | game | Spooky Pinball game; Kaneda identifies as obvious choice but states Spooky committed to never making more |
| Medieval Madness | game | Chicago Gaming Company remake; Kaneda predicts King Edition coming to top Royal Edition; questions if game is truly great or only famous for rarity |
| Scooby-Doo | game | Spooky Pinball current release; experiencing quality issues and code bugs preventing multiball detection; 1,200 units still to be produced |
| Total Nuclear Annihilation | game | Spooky Pinball rerun; sold only 200-250 units at $9,000 despite remake attempt |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Artwork artist credited for Ghostbusters at Stern; Kaneda praises artwork quality but criticizes game design |
| Wizard of Oz | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game; Kaneda controversially suggests this as remake candidate for new money entering hobby rather than Pirates of the Caribbean |
| Venom | game | Stern game; Kaneda references difficulty with 32-page ruleset and distribution issues; suggests it won't win people over despite complexity |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Game remake strategy and market demand, Pricing and secondary market inflation driven by artificial scarcity, Manufacturer business sustainability and competitive positioning
- **Secondary:** Code quality and thematic integration as design criteria, Production capacity and fulfillment challenges, Quality control issues across manufacturers
- **Mentioned:** Rumor mill and future game announcements

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.45) — Kaneda expresses passion for pinball and optimism about the hobby's future if manufacturers focus on 'masterpiece' games, but demonstrates significant frustration with pricing strategies, market saturation, quality control failures at multiple manufacturers, and what he views as misguided decisions by Jersey Jack and Stern leadership. His tone is critical but constructive, framed as industry commentary rather than personal grievance.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Multimorphic appears to lack product-market fit or manufacturing completion; actively hiring without finished game releases suggests organizational dysfunction or strategic pivot (confidence: medium) — 'I keep seeing their new hires on Facebook, hiring this person, hiring that person. Where are the games? Where are the games? How are they even selling their next game when they didn't even complete the first releases?'
- **[business_signal]** Manufacturers are responding to pricing and inventory saturation by accelerating game release cadence ('shoveling new dishes in front of us a lot more frequently') rather than reducing production or reforming pricing (confidence: medium) — 'These companies are starting to realize that at these prices, they need to keep shoveling new dishes in front of us a lot more frequently and just see what hits'
- **[competitive_signal]** Tournament players dislike Lord of the Rings due to long ball times, but the game remains highly valued among casual/collector segment due to thematic immersion and code quality (confidence: medium) — 'It has long ball times, which all of the tournament players hate. But if you're not a crazy good pinball player, you are going to have crazy fun on the Lord of the Rings'
- **[design_philosophy]** Kaneda argues industry should prioritize 'masterpiece' games accessible to casual players over complex ruleset depth (e.g., criticizes Venom's 32-page ruleset and Jersey Jack's complexity as exhausting) (confidence: high) — 'I think we want pinball to be more immediate, more accessible... I just don't think this Venom, this 32 page rule set is going to really win people over'
- **[market_signal]** Secondary market prices for rare games (Pirates of the Caribbean $20k-30k+, Stranger Things zero LE availability) are driven by artificial scarcity rather than inherent game quality; prices have peaked and are 'getting softer every single month' (confidence: high) — Kaneda directly states 'The market is beyond saturated' and 'The used prices are stupid, but they're getting softer every single month. The prices are coming back down.'
- **[community_signal]** Spooky Pinball made explicit prior commitment to never remake Rick and Morty, constraining their remake options despite strong market demand (confidence: high) — 'The only problem is they can never bring back Rick and Morty because they gave their word they would never make more'
- **[product_concern]** Spooky Pinball's Scooby-Doo experiencing critical multiball detection bug following recent code update; customer trust eroded; 1,200 units still pending delivery (confidence: high) — Kaneda reports 'A lot of people are having a lot of quality issues. The recent code update is causing the game to not register balls during multi-ball. I think a lot of people are like, once burned, twice burned.'
- **[rumor_hype]** Undisclosed rumors about Jersey Jack Pinball and Stern Pinball direction that Kaneda references as connected to broader pricing/strategy shifts (confidence: low) — Kaneda states 'I have some good rumors around Spooky Pinball I'm going to give to you on a show coming up very soon' and 'With the rumors I'm hearing about Jersey Jack Pinball and what's happening at Stern, it's all starting to make sense' without specifics
- **[rumor_hype]** Chicago Gaming Company planning Medieval Madness King Edition that will supersede Royal Edition as premium variant (confidence: medium) — Kaneda cites Ryan Dickerson as source: 'This is apparently what Ryan Dickerson is telling people. They are going to top the Royal Edition of this game and bring it back with a final version'
- **[rumor_hype]** Dutch Pinball developing The Matrix as next major release after Big Lebowski remaster (confidence: medium) — Kaneda states 'I'm hearing it's The Matrix. Oh no, I'm so tired of all these rumors' indicating unconfirmed but credible sourcing
- **[sentiment_shift]** Stranger Things transformed from low-demand to highly sought-after through code maturation and immersive experience integration; zero LE availability on secondary market indicates major perception change (confidence: high) — Kaneda documents: 'It was so easy to get Limited Edition for an entire year... But now that this game has been played by enough people and the immersive experience of Stranger Things, this is a highly sought after modern Stern machine'

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## Transcript

 If I could turn back time, if I could find a way. Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up. Ah, welcome to the August edition of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. I'm your venerable host, Kaneda, six-time Twippy Award winner for Favorite Pinball Podcast. Alright, so here's what I want to talk about on this episode. You know, there's a lot happening in pinball right now. There's a lot of news, rumors, and speculation that's been permeating the pinball hobby. I love it. I love the rumors. You know, the only people that don't want rumors think about it because rumors are so much fun. It's so much fun to dream about what's around the corner. The reason why manufacturers and distributors don't love these rumors is they need you to buy the game that is out right now. So there's no fatigue on my part, and I know there's no fatigue on your part. You want the rumors to keep on coming, and we're going to keep coming with them. And boy, do I have a juicy one around Jersey Jack Pinball. I'm hearing stuff about Chicago Gaming Company. But on this episode, I don't want to talk about the rumors right now. What I want to talk about in August of 2023, I want to talk about if we could turn back time. Which pinball games do you think deserve to be remade? Which games do you regret not buying when they came out? Or which games did you sell and you would love to get again, but you really want it made again by a manufacturer? Does every pinball manufacturer out there have a title that's worthy of a remake? We know Stern has their Vault Edition approach, and they haven't vaulted that many games. I'm going to try to remember which games they vaulted. They vaulted Iron Man. They vaulted Spider-Man. Did they bring anything else back? You know, there was a period when George Gomez was saying stuff like, every single game that you think we're going to bring back, we're going to bring it back. And then they never brought back the games that everybody was really clamoring for. Games like Lord of the Rings and games like Tron. So let's talk about on this episode, which games do we think deserve a remake? And it's an interesting criteria to think about. Why does something deserve to be remade? Some games, there are just so many of them out there that we're never going to ask for a remake, right? No one's ever going to want a remake of Guns N' Roses from Jersey Jack Pinball. No one's ever going to want a remake of Led Zeppelin from Stern Pinball. So some of the games, we don't want to be remade because either they've made too many of them, or maybe the games just aren't that great and they're not that sought after. But which games by each manufacturer deserve to be remade and why? So let's start with the big dog. Let's start with Stern Pinball. Let's do this. Let's only pick one game from each company that deserves to be remade. And for some of these companies, the answer might be none of them, right? There's no demand for any of their previous titles. So if we go to Stern Pinball, this is a hard one because Stern obviously has such a deep catalog of titles. Stern could live off of their previous games for the next four years and be absolutely fine. With so many new people coming into pinball, so many of them who are now spending these crazy prices on used games would love to be able to get one of them new from Stern, new in box, even if they're spending these inflated prices. So what's the list of games that we want to see again? I hear titles like Metallica. Do we need more Metallica pinball machines? Now, when it comes to some of these Stern games that are highly sought after, I just want to say this. It's a caveat. Of course, every single one of these titles I'm about to mention, if they remade them, these titles would sell just fine. So Metallica, do we need more Metallicas? I think the answer is no. There are plenty of them out there. They made so many different variations of Metallica. I don't think Stern should remake Metallica. How about ACDC? Well, they did vault ACDC, right? Remember when they brought back the Lucy edition of ACDC? And I bet there's people kicking themselves right about now that they didn't move on that game when they re-released it. I think it was somewhere around like $7,600, maybe at most $8,000 for a remake of Metallica. of the Lucy ACDC edition. Good luck trying to find that pinball machine for that much money now. But I don't think we need more ACDCs. I don't think they're gonna go back and make a DMD error game. But again, as I said, if there's one game they should remake, one game that they should bring back new in box and give people a chance at it in 2024, what would I have it be? So it's not ACDC. It's not Metallica. What about Ghostbusters? No, the game is not going to shoot any better if they remade it. I know that Ghostbusters is a huge property. Many people love it. The Zombietti artwork is phenomenal. The toys in the game are fun. But the game is a design dog. And John Trudeau is in jail for a reason that all of you know. So no, I don't think Stern should remake more Ghostbusters. So what else should they remake? I mean, they're going to make so many Godzillas. We don't need any more of them. There's enough rushes out in the world. The other thing I didn't mention, when you remake a game, right, you're going to remake premiums and pros. There will be no more LEs unless they do like an Elvira, like a special version of a game. And obviously, I think it goes without saying, Stern could go after all of these old titles that are great and make a limited run of like 200 special super limited editions and they would sell out instantly and they could charge for any of these games Metallica ACDC They could do it for Godzilla even. They could do it for anything, because once you go above that LE, you then create the ultimate collectible version of the game, and of course, they have to be judicious if they do that more often because if they do do that, then people are not going to run and buy the LEs if they're going to undermine them later on down the road. But Stern has shown us over the years, people, they really don't care. They really don't care. They are all about the almighty dollar. The moment they released that James Bond 60th, they showed each and every one of us how much they care about us and our wallets and giving us value. This is not a podcast about that. There's three games right now in the current Stern portfolio that I think everybody would love to see remade right now, considering the hype around some of these games and also the pedigree for two of these games. And that is Tron, Lord of the Rings, and Stranger Things. If you try to go find a Stranger Things LE right now, none. There are zero for sale on Pinside. Stranger Things is a game that has done a total 180 in the world of pinball. It was so easy to get in LE for an entire year. The code was not completed. The UV kit was not out. But now that this game has been played by enough people and the immersive experience of Stranger Things, this is a highly sought after modern Stern machine. If they remade it, it would do super well. Now, the question is this, right? This isn't really like remaking Stranger Things. It was just a few years ago that it came out. So is it a vault edition if they just run more premiums? I don't think so. But as of now, nobody knows if Stranger Things is ever going to be rerun again. So I think we can consider it part of this show. Lord of the Rings is a game from many, many years ago, right? The L.E.s came out, I think, in 2004. And I think the regular Lord of the Rings came out in like 2001 or 2, something like that. Or maybe the L.E. was 2008. Maybe I have my dates wrong. This game is at least 15 years old. It's arguably one of Stern's greatest pinball machines of all time. It has long ball times, which all of the tournament players hate. But if you're not a crazy good pinball player, you are going to have crazy fun on the Lord of the Rings. And I still think it's Keith P. Johnson's greatest code of all time. Nothing pulls you into a game quite like the Lord of the Rings pinball experience. So those would do well. And then we've got Tron and Tron LE. Now, if you vault Tron, you've got to make it like in a premium format because they only made Tron LE and Tron Pro. If you bring Tron back, I think you're going to want to add the fiber optic lighting and you're going to want to redo the artwork on the pin. But man, that Daft Punk experience, another one of these Stern machines. If you think about these three machines, what makes them all so special is they all immerse you in the theme so well. They all create such a great atmosphere around those themes. Lord of the Rings nails it. Tron nails it. Stranger Things nails it. So which one out of those three do I think Stern should bring back and bring it back in all of its glory and make it new in box and add any additional tweaks the game needs? I think the one they should bring back, and I think they should celebrate this game because it's worth celebrating, is the Lord of the Rings. That is the one. It is hard to find this game in great condition. You'll never find this game with great artwork because it's all pixelated. So if Stern was going to go back and remake one of these games, that is the game I would make right now. So what about Jersey Jack Pimel? Is there any game they should remake? I know everyone's screaming right now at your headphones or your speaker and you're saying Kaneda. It's obviously Pirates of the Caribbean, a game that is now selling on the secondhand market for what, like 30,000 for a CE and 20 something thousand for NLE, a no brainer, make more of those. Well, not so fast on that. There's only one reason why Pirates of the Caribbean is selling for those prices. Do you know what that reason is? Because there aren't many out there. The moment they make more of these games, and let's say when I say bring a game back, you've got to sell at least 1,000 or 1,500 of them, right? To really make it a legitimate remake. So I don't think that Jersey Jack Pinball, if they brought back Pirates of the Caribbean, would actually sell like 1,000 or 1,500 of these games. I don't. I think the only way back for Pirates of the Caribbean is that they do some very limited Black Pearl edition of the game. I think everyone needs to remember, when this game was readily available, nobody wanted it. People played it. They played it at shows. They played it out on location. They didn't want to select between 22 characters. It's not really a great theme integrated pin. It developed this cult following amongst the owners, but I've never met anyone who's like, oh man, I really regret not getting Pirates. I really regret not having it in my lineup. The only time I hear people saying they regret not getting it is because they just wanted to scalp it. They just wanted to flip it. I mean, everybody would have loved to have marched over to automated pinball. Mike had them sitting in box for $12,500. And if you bought it and held on to it, you could have sold it for like $35,000, $40,000 at the height of the COVID boom. But that's it. You would have sold it And then you would have gone to buy like three Stern machines You would not have really wanted to keep this thing at all costs And for the people who have it now the reason why it hard to get there just like a dilemma Like what do I do with it And I get it It has some of its fanboys, but I'm going to shock people right now and say, if I'm Jersey Jack Pinball, and I want to do another run of a machine and seeing all these newbies coming into the hobby and seeing all this new money come into the hobby, I mean, it's not going to be Guns N' Roses. I wouldn't do Pirates. I think if they did, this is crazy to say this, I think if they did another run in a differently arranged art package with different armor, I think they could do another run of The Wizard of Oz. I mean, that is the game I would remake again if I was Jersey Jack. I know right now you're canceling your subscription, you're saying you're crazy, but I'm just being honest with you people. People want new in box stuff. Wizard of Oz with all this new money, I think would still sell easily for Jersey Jack Pinball. And it's still in some way the most impressive visual game and even inviting to like casual pinball players for Jersey Jack Pinball. All right, so that's JJP. What about Spooky Pinball? Is there anything they should remake? Well, that's easy. It's Rick and Morty. It's Rick and Morty. Without a doubt, it's Rick and Morty. The only problem is they can never bring back Rick and Morty because they gave their word they would never make more. So then it becomes, is there anything else in the Spooky Pinball portfolio that they can remake because there's demand for a remake? And the answer is no. They brought back Total Nuclear Annihilation and they charged $9,000 and it was kind of a flop. They were not able to even sell, I think like 200 of them or 250 of them. And so Spooky Pinball is a company in a really interesting position right now. I'm in the Scooby-Doo thread. A lot of people are having a lot of quality issues. They've got 1,200 more of them to make. The recent code update is causing the game to not register balls during multiball. I think a lot of people are like, once burned, twice burned. How many times can Spooky burn some of their customer base before they're not going to run at everything new? I have some good rumors around Spooky I'm going to give to you on a show coming up very soon. So Spooky Pinball, we don't need anything brought back. We're just going to see what you do in the future. All right. So after Spooky Pinball, let's talk about Chicago Gaming Company. I think the answer there is also very simple. Out of all of the remakes, Monster Bash, Cactus Canyon, Attack from Mars, and Medieval Madness, the game that they could easily bring back, and I hear they're going to, is Medieval Madness. And I hear they're going to bring it back in an even higher trim form. This is apparently what Ryan White is telling people. They are going to top the Royal Edition of this game and bring it back with a final version that is going to be the king of all versions of Medieval Madness. So if you're listening to this right now and you paid $20,000 for your Royal Edition, my condolences because I think you're about to be one-upped and Ryan White and CGC will not care. And they never said they weren't going to do this. So I think you're going to see a final edition of Medieval Madness, and I think it's the right play for them. Anything from B3, I can't even finish this. There's nothing from Multimorphic they need to rerun. They just need to start making games. I keep seeing their new hires on Facebook, hiring this person, hiring that person. Where are the games? Where are the Weird Al's? How are they even selling Scott Danesi's next game when they didn't even complete the Weird Al purchases? So no, nothing from Multimorphic. And ladies and gentlemen, this is a good filter by which to evaluate who's actually succeeding in pinball. If you're going to go into the effort of making a pinball machine and then you stop manufacturing them, if you haven't made a game good enough where there's future demand for it, you're not doing it right. You're just not doing it right. All right, who else do we got to talk about on this episode? Let's talk about American Pinball. Is there anything in their portfolio that they should remake? Well, if you talk to David Fix, he'll tell you that there is demand for everything still, that the hype has never died down for Oktoberfest or Houdini or Hot Wheels and Legends of Ahala. The only problem with that is the only person who wants those games new in box in 2023 is named David Fix. I also think out of all of those games, right, Oktoberfest, Houdini, Hot Wheels, Legends of Ahala, Galactic Tank Force, is there anything there that we need more of? The answer is no. All of those games are easy to get now. Why would you want a new in-box version when you can get the game for much less money if you just pick one up from a collector who's put low plays on it and the game's in mint condition? We don't need any remakes from American Pinball. All right, what about remakes from Dutch Pinball? Well, they're already remaking the game they released 10 years ago in the Big Lebowski. We're all super excited for what's next from Dutch. I'm hearing it's The Matrix. Oh no, I'm so tired of all these rumors. I need you to buy my Venom allotments. Nope, it's going to be the Matrix, people. Get ready. Big things are coming in pinball. Two Elwynn games next year. I can just see the Venom premium allotments piling up at distributors this year. They're not going to win people over with this RPG style coding. It's not why we love pinball. All right, so who are we missing? Anything from Home Pin? No. Anything from the Pinball Brothers? Well, you know, they kind of remade Alien already. Queen's not going to have anybody asking for remakes nothing from the Pinball Brothers it's crazy doing this exercise I mean like what would we love more of now look if I asked you what would you love more of with the older titles from Bally Williams era there a lot of games There are a plethora of games if they remade them even though they made so many of them You could still sell more The Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Indiana Jones. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And so Bally Williams and Stern are like the two companies. When you really do zoom out and you look at what they've made, what they've contributed to the pinball world, They've been super successful year in and year out. When you look at a company like Jersey Jack, it's been very hit or miss. I think everyone would agree that Jersey Jack has never really lived up to the expectations we had after seeing the Wizard of Oz, after feeling like this company was going to do it all and like blow Stern away. And now they're seemingly going in the wrong direction with high prices and barren games. You know, we believed in Dutch Pinball and they stuttered for so many years, but now they're getting it done. I think there's newfound excitement for Dutch Pinball. I think for Dutch Pinball now, knowing that they got their feet back underneath them, they're going to have to figure out manufacturing a little bit. If they release The Matrix, they can't only make 10 games a week. They're going to get a few thousand orders on day one. You know, I think those are the games that if we were to see remakes, we really would want them. when I hear about stuff like Twilight Zone and Big Bang Bar of course you know you're going to sell those games Big Bang Bar has me a little bit concerned because it's not a great game it's another one it's much like Pirates of the Caribbean it's only famous for being rare it's only famous because so few of them are out there and both of those games are eye candy both of those games are beautiful to stand over but the experience you know I mean Pirates is a much better experience than Big Bang Bar. The only problem with pirates is like, try to figure it out. Imagine sitting down with someone trying to explain to you how to play the Pirates of the Caribbean pinball. Like, I don't even want to do it. I don't even want to think about doing it. I mean, that's how complex Jersey Jack games are. It's like just the thought of them is exhausting at times. And that's why Venom, man, I just don't think this Venom, this 32 page rule set is going to really win people over. I think we want pinball to be more immediate, more accessible. What are your thoughts on this? I would love for you to email. If there was like one game from each of these companies that deserves a remake, what do you think they should be? Am I missing anything? Did I get it wrong? I would love to hear from you. Respond on Patreon to the comment section of this post or email me at canadapinball at gmail.com. And I'm just going to close the show by saying this. There are so many great pinball machines out in the world. The used prices are stupid, but they're getting softer every single month. the prices are coming back down, you're going to be able to get so much good pinball because there's just so much out there. The market is beyond saturated. I don't think we've seen the tipping point quite yet, but with the rumors I'm hearing about Jersey Jack and what's happening at Stern, it's all starting to make sense. These companies are starting to realize that at these prices, they need to keep shoveling new dishes in front of us a lot more frequently and just see what hits and then just keep making all of those. I mean, I think we're going to see more and more of that because one Godzilla is better than three mediocre Stern machines. One Guns and Roses is better than Toy Story 4 and The Godfather. And I think that's what we're going to see more and more of because some of these companies have like three, four, five, six designers. And so their games might be ready. And I think we're going to see more of that, like games coming out more frequently. And for some of these companies, they'll be able to absorb the financial blow on the misses. But for some of these smaller companies, if they get it wrong or they lose their customer base, I think it's going to be lights out in 2024 for some of these companies. I think it's going to be lights out even for some small distributors because they're just not going to be able to play this game. You're just going to get killed with inventory if people aren't buying at these prices. So it's going to be a very interesting time to see how all of this pans out. The only way out of this situation for everybody, for us, for the manufacturers, the distributors, that's why I'm excited about pinball because the only way out is to make masterpiece games. If you make amazing games, then there will be no issues. As customers, we will happily hand over our money, even if it's more money, because we see the value. If you're a manufacturer, that masterpiece game will be on your line for years. And if you're a distributor, you love it because you'll sell that game for years. That is why we should all be banging on the drum of we want masterpieces or nothing else. It's that simple, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Canada Club, you newbies. We dipped a little bit below 600, but we'll get back. For some reason, we always lose like 20, 25 people at the end of the month and then they crawl back in. I think some people just don't like the automated payment part of it and they just like cancel and then sign up again. It's strange, but you know what? When you come back, I'll still be here. Everybody have a great day. Later. Baby, baby, baby, you and I It's just a dream, a dream

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 082ca21c-12ee-42bf-8614-c8e37b6d486a*