# Kaneda's Pinball Podcast Saturday Morning Spectacular April 25 **Source:** Kaneda Pinball Podcasts YouTube Lives **Type:** video **Published:** 2026-04-26 **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkLtvyCnJCU --- ## Analysis Kaneda discusses pinball industry dynamics, personal reflections on family and well-being, and delivers strong opinions on manufacturing, collectibility, and game design across multiple manufacturers. Key topics include Spooky Pinball's production strategy (the Beetlejuice 999-unit debate), Barrels of Fun's upcoming He-Man/G.I. Joe/Big Trouble in Little China games, Pokémon Pinball's design excellence, and manufacturing inefficiencies in the boutique sector. Kaneda hints at his own entry into the pinball business. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Spooky Pinball made approximately 80 unnumbered 'show games' of Beetlejuice beyond the promised 999 units, driven by dealer pressure — _Kaneda discussing Midwest Gaming Classic, citing 20 show games at one event and expressing frustration about collectibility being undermined_ - [HIGH] Barrels of Fun has licenses for He-Man, G.I. Joe, and 'most likely' Big Trouble in Little China, with He-Man coming from American Pinball after Stern passed on it — _Kaneda stating 'this is all facts' and 'this is not a rumor' about Barrels acquiring He-Man license from American Pinball_ - [HIGH] Winchester Mystery House has only produced ~80 units in 7 months (as of April 25 timeframe), with 425 more units to deliver — _Kaneda questioning manufacturing pace and noting 'number 77 being delivered' while discussing production inefficiencies_ - [HIGH] Pokémon Pinball has the best shot layout and flow among recent games, designed by Jack Danger with George Gomez — _Kaneda praising Pokémon's simplicity and combo mechanics, directly crediting Jack Danger for layout design_ - [MEDIUM] Beetlejuice shoots well despite negative narratives, with more content trade-off compared to Pokémon — _Kaneda defending Beetlejuice against 'fake narrative' claims it doesn't shoot well, comparing it to Pokémon and Harry Potter_ - [HIGH] Spooky Pinball is the only pinball manufacturer that has truly grown and ascended, but still lacks Stern's flipper feel/responsiveness — _Kaneda stating Spooky is 'the only pinball company that's really' grown most and ascended greatest, identifying flipper feel as final frontier_ - [MEDIUM] Kaneda is preparing to enter the pinball manufacturing business — _Kaneda stating 'I'm getting close to just jumping into the pinball biz, baby' and expressing intent to sell directly to fans without dealer/distro model_ - [HIGH] Winchester Mystery House sold out in two days despite slow manufacturing delivery pace — _Kaneda clarifying 'Winchester sold out in two days, bro' in response to chat criticism about the game's performance_ ### Notable Quotes > "Spooky, take it. Take that money. You earned it. Don't fall victim to what I know is in your head from the dealers and the distros that are telling you to make more. Don't do it. You're all you're going to do is make the dealers and the distros more money at the detriment of your brand." > — **Kaneda**, ~20:00 mark > _Directly advises Spooky leadership on production strategy, warning against exceeding 999-unit limit despite dealer pressure_ > "If if Dungeon Crawler Carl sells out, I legitimately I legitimately will not do a show for an entire week and I will do nothing but hype the game for them. That's how shocked I would be." > — **Kaneda**, ~45:00 mark > _Expresses skepticism about Dungeon Crawler Carl as a pinball game theme, implies niche IP won't resonate with buyers_ > "The only thing that's missing is the flipper feel is still not as good as a stern. And it has to do with the the sort of the uh you know the electrical pulse... because it's it's it's a lot of variables. It's the coils, it's the switches, it's the computing." > — **Kaneda**, ~25:00 mark > _Technical critique of Spooky's hardware/firmware implementation vs Stern, identifies specific performance gap_ > "Pokemon will be the most fun they've had just flipping a game... less is more sometimes when it comes to pinball layout." > — **Kaneda**, ~35:00 mark > _Explains Pokémon's broad appeal through simple, satisfying shot design philosophy_ > "I'm getting a little tired of making PowerPoint slides and asking permission to be myself every day... I think I'm getting close to just jumping into the pinball biz, baby." > — **Kaneda**, ~58:00 mark > _Hints at his transition from corporate work to pinball manufacturing/distribution business_ > "This is all facts. Stern had the license for He-Man. It was in development. They decided to pass on it. That is when American Pinball got the license for He-Man... Now Barrels has the license and is gonna make the game. So, this is happening. This is not a rumor." > — **Kaneda**, ~42:00 mark > _Confirms Barrels of Fun acquiring He-Man license after Stern and American Pinball development efforts_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda Pinball Podcasts, industry commentator and content creator planning entry into pinball manufacturing | | Jack Danger | person | Pinball designer credited with Pokémon Pinball layout, Foo Fighters, X-Men, Uncanny X-Men; noted guest in chat during broadcast | | Luke | person | Spooky Pinball representative ('Spooky Luke') present in chat; addressed directly regarding Beetlejuice production strategy | | George Gomez | person | Co-designer of Pokémon Pinball with Jack Danger; referenced as making 'right decision' on game design | | Keith Elwin | person | Stern Pinball designer, designed Godzilla; referenced in context of layout comparison | | Spooky Pinball | company | Wisconsin-based boutique pinball manufacturer; Kaneda praises as fastest-growing company but criticizes production decisions on Beetlejuice | | Barrels of Fun | company | Houston-based boutique manufacturer developing He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Big Trouble in Little China; facing manufacturing pace questions | | Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer; referenced for flipper feel benchmark, dealer network, and passed on He-Man license | | American Pinball | company | Chicago-area manufacturer; previously held He-Man license before Barrels acquired it; Franchie did treatment art | | Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Premium manufacturer; Brett Abbis (owner) mentioned as residing in Miami | | Pokémon Pinball | game | Stern game designed by Jack Danger and George Gomez; praised for shot layout, flow, and broad appeal; noted for future Insider Connected features | | Beetlejuice | game | Spooky Pinball game; 999-unit limited run plus ~80 unnumbered show games; subject of collectibility debate and shot quality discussion | | Winchester Mystery House | game | Barrels of Fun game; sold out in 2 days; only ~80 units produced in 7 months as of podcast date; shot layout criticized | | He-Man | game | Upcoming Barrels of Fun game; licensed after Stern passed and American Pinball development stalled; Franchie did original treatment | | G.I. Joe | game | Upcoming Barrels of Fun game in development pipeline | | Big Trouble in Little China | game | Likely upcoming Barrels of Fun game; Kaneda states 'most likely' being developed | | Zombie Yeti | person | Artist referenced for work on multiple games including X-Men | | Brett Abbis | person | Owner of Jersey Jack Pinball; living in Miami; mentioned for potential New York UFC event meeting with Kaneda | | David Van Ness | person | Founder/owner of Barrels of Fun; Kaneda references his 'three hit themes in development' | | Frank Mack | person | Industry figure mentioned for potential business collaboration with Kaneda regarding pinball manufacturing entry | ### Signals - **[collector_signal]** Beetlejuice collectibility undermined by ~80 unnumbered 'show games' beyond promised 999 units, creating confusion about true rarity and breaking numbered-unit trust model (confidence: high) — Kaneda witnessed 20 show games at Midwest Gaming Classic, expressed frustration that units not in customer homes, stated unnumbered units violate collectibility principle - **[product_concern]** Spooky Pinball machines lack the flipper feel/responsiveness of Stern due to coil, switch, computing, and signal delay variables, despite overall quality improvements (confidence: high) — Kaneda identified flipper feel as 'the only thing' missing from Spooky's ascension, detailed technical causes (coils, switches, computing, signal delay) - **[manufacturing_signal]** Barrels of Fun producing only ~80 Winchester units in 7 months with 425 remaining, raising questions about manufacturing efficiency and cash flow; Kaneda suggests consolidated manufacturing hub could solve inefficiency (confidence: high) — Kaneda questioned why boutique companies don't implement day/night shifts or consolidate manufacturing; noted unit #77 delivered slowly; speculated about cash flow issues - **[gameplay_signal]** Pokémon Pinball's success driven by 'less is more' philosophy—5-6 satisfying combo shots vs. complex layouts with many targets; broad appeal vs. competitive depth trade-off (confidence: high) — Kaneda praised Pokémon's simplicity making it most fun for 95% of casual players; contrasted with Beetlejuice's crowded playfield offering more content but less flow - **[industry_signal]** Spooky facing pressure from dealers and distributors to exceed 999-unit production limit on Beetlejuice; Kaneda warns this enriches middlemen at cost of brand collectibility (confidence: high) — Kaneda directly advised Spooky/Luke not to make more than 999, stated dealers/distros whispering to increase production, warned it only makes dealers wealthy - **[business_signal]** Kaneda advocates for boutiques like Spooky to sell directly to consumers ($125 MSRP per unit = $125k revenue per 1000 units) rather than using dealer/distro networks that take significant margin (confidence: high) — Kaneda proposed direct-sales model for Spooky: '999 units × $1,000 dealer margin = $1M going to dealers'; offered $300k salary for customer service instead - **[machine_intel]** Barrels of Fun developing He-Man (acquired after Stern/American Pinball), G.I. Joe, and 'most likely' Big Trouble in Little China; all positioned as instant sell-outs (confidence: high) — Kaneda stated 'this is all facts' and 'not a rumor'; confirmed Stern had He-Man license but passed, American Pinball had it next, now Barrels has it; 'three hit themes' - **[design_innovation]** Pokémon Pinball's design success based on elegant trap-and-aim flow mechanics combined with satisfying shot combos; noted as both trap-heavy and flow-oriented simultaneously (confidence: high) — Kaneda observed 'you trap up a lot to then really aim for what you're going for, but once you fire that ball up, you're in combo heaven' - **[sentiment_shift]** Community spreading 'fake narrative' that Beetlejuice doesn't shoot well; Kaneda strongly defends game quality, attributes shooting differences to intentional design trade-offs vs. Pokemon (confidence: high) — Kaneda stated 'there's been a little bit of a fake news, a fake narrative' about Beetlejuice shooting; defended: 'It shoots great. It shoots great.' - **[product_strategy]** Winchester's slow production (~80 units/7 months) accepted by community despite rapid sell-out; Kaneda questions if manufacturing bottleneck is intentional FOMO strategy or operational failure (confidence: medium) — Kaneda asked 'Is that not an issue for any of you?' regarding 80 units in 7 months; speculated about cash flow and personnel constraints rather than deliberate scarcity - **[personnel_signal]** Kaneda, major pinball content creator, preparing to launch his own pinball manufacturing/distribution business selling directly to consumers (confidence: medium) — Kaneda stated 'I'm getting close to just jumping into the pinball biz, baby' and 'I just want to wake up and do this every day'; expressed fatigue with corporate work --- ## Transcript You've got a bit of work to do. I want you to break out. Break out. It means you really want to feel better. Hey, let me have a battle with you in the future. Okay, all over. What do you say again? All right. All right. Let's do this. How's everybody doing? Are we ready for the Saturday morning spectacular? We've got Ka's in the house. Let's get this camera set up right. I don't know why. I don't know why I do this on Facebook. Just doesn't make any sense. Four people on Facebook. Come on, guys. Just come over to YouTube. Come over to YouTube. Ah, man. What up? There we go. We got a little Pikachu in the house. There you guys on Facebook. You Oh, man. Gosh, what a week. It was It was a long week. I'm I'm beyond exhausted and it it was a rough night last night. you know, we we'll talk a little bit about life and and and dealing with life. You know, that's part of the show. It's not just pinball, but this is a pinball show. But just got, you know, to today's bittersweet um bittersweet for many reasons. I'll talk about it in a little bit, but um let's give everybody a shout out who's in the house right now. We got Pierre. Pierre, how you doing, brother? You over there in France or am I just stereotyping? We got Ca, Toby, Juan, Dana, Matt, Matthew, Bill. Guys, you say hi, I say hi back. That's how this works. The video of Seaman melted my heart. I did, you know. I got to send that video to Stern. They need to post it on their on their on their main page. It's just so It really is. I did it, Mommy. when he turns on the that that should be the global advertisement for Stern Pinball moving forward. It really is, right? Doesn't it just melt your heart seeing a little one not even two years old figuring out how to turn on a stern machine? Not just that, then bring the stool around to the front to play. It really could be. I mean, I do make I do make I mean, Brenda and I we made some cute babies. I mean, I I I will say the I have a t-shirt that says I make cute babies, and whenever I wear it, it gets more attention from women than anything. It's it's because it's it's very like adorable and and very sexual at the same time when you think about it. Anyway, um you know, I've been doing a lot of reflecting on life lately and it's been um it's been a journey. You know, my my mantra of how many days do you wake up in a good mood? It's true and it's hard. It's hard. It's um it's not easy. you know, there's um there's curve balls that hit everybody in different ways at different times. And we all need it though, you know, putting everything in perspective. And it's it's it's it's I I will say as much as, you know, I've been I've been struggling with like what my mom's going through. And today was supposed to be a really it still is a special day, but it was supposed to be a special moment. We were supposed to have my parents' 55th wedding anniversary dinner tonight and I was looking forward to it. All the boys, all the sons talk to each other now. We were all going to get together. Um but my mom's not feeling up for it. So So that's that's unfortunate. But um it's been um I I will say the this community and this hobby continues to remain um so valuable to to my well-being and to my um my equilibrium. I I don't know really what I would have if not this family and then the extended pinball family that I've made over the years. And it's been such a nice nice nice journey. It really has. I I look very fondly on on everything that this hobby has brought to so many of us. And you know, these I've always said this, these these machines, they are um essential to connecting people. And I love that pinball is analog, right? It's not digital. It's not just something we get we become zombies because we're just staring at phones. It's it's really such a a beautiful analog game. You hear Killian crying? I don't This is what happens. Mommy's trying I don't know. She like she wants to limit his TV time which will lead to a meltdown. Killian, what's wrong? Owie. Yeah, I took Killian um to McDonald's for the first time where we sat there and ate. Uh he got his Huntress meal and his Super Mario meal and it was just magical. $17 and it was a more magical meal than a Michelin star restaurant. It sucks that McDonald's is so bad for you yet so good for you. You know what I'm saying? It's like food for the soul. It It is It does suck that they I and and I just that they turn McDonald's into such a sterile environment. I mean I I love McDonald like I love the food. I I I I eat healthy and I eat McDonald's because I think to have a healthy life, you need McDonald's in it. I do. I miss the ball pits. I miss the pirate ships. I miss hamburger everywhere. I miss I miss like the the playful nature of the McDonald's I grew up with. Now, clearly the powers that be probably did a ton of research and decided that this new sort of Swedish minimalist McDonald's is the way to go for efficiencies probably, but not for fun. Not for fun, baby. Oh man. Good morning, everybody. Yeah, Ronald McDonald is basically gone. Oh my gosh. How's everybody doing? Spooky Luke. Spooky Luke, brother. How you doing, Luke? Um, look, now that we have you on Facebook Live, I just want to tell you because you're watching, don't make more of the next game. Don't Don't 9999 is your sweet spot. Don't start making over a thousand again. Okay, I know. Just just trust me, I have full confidence in your company's ability to sell 999 games every single year. And it and just do that. No show games. 999. We're we're chef's kiss to you, brother. Chef's kiss. That's the way to do it. Yeah, I love the ham the hamburger cell, you know, but I just I think it's is it Midwest Gaming Classic going on this? I saw the amount of Beetlejuice show games set up and I'm like, wh what what's happening? What's happening? This is supposed to be one of the rarest, most collectible, hardest. Like, what's happening here? How could there be 20 show games at one show? It was like I'm like, what's going on? Like, why why aren't these in customer homes? Like, what? What? And they're not numbered. And I'm like, I'm not I'm not down with this. Take our word for it. We're only making this many. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Loop loop loop. Bug. You know, I love you guys. That's not how collectibility works. It's not a handshake deal. It's a numerical. There are only 750 Pokemon less in the world. Not one more. Not one more. Luke, I love you. We're gonna I'm going to call you, bro. Don't Luke, here's my here's my advice to you. Don't fall victim to what I know is in your head from the dealers and the distros that are telling you to make more. Don't do it. Okay? Don't do it. Okay? You're all you're going to do is make the dealers and the distros more money at the detriment of your brand. You are you have found the sweet spot. You don't want to. And also at your manufacturing capacity, you don't want to be making, you know, a game for more than like two years. You don't 1632 Goonies. No. No. just make 999. Okay, I'm really excited. We have the cut off of the Beetlejuice spots. We have I I I'm glad I did the show reminding everybody because we got a lot we got a lot more people entering than than there would have been. I still think the the uh what is to Yeah, like here's the thing. Luke bug guys you're listening charge 125 make 999 and sell them directly okay that's it that's it sell them directly hire you look if you sell a thousand games directly and you give $1,000 to a dealer can we do the math that's a million dollar bro a million dollar that you're handing to dealers okay here's the Hire me for $300,000 a year and I will use the other $700,000 to handle all of your customer service needs. Make sure every game gets set up with white glove service. Make sure any issues are taken care of. Why would you hand a million dollar? You don't need any of these dealers or dros content to sell a single game. Why are you handing so much money to people that didn't do anything to make that you you like it's real simple. Stern needs a dealer and a distribution model to sell thousands of games a year, right? They need dealers to push the premiums of John Wick into the world and the pros of D and D into the world. You don't need that. It doesn't make any sense. See, see Stern's got the dealers and the distros. Like Stern's made them wealthy. You're And and here's the thing, Spooky. You're not going to make them as wealthy as Stern could, but you I you don't need it. You know what I'm saying? Like there there aren't last time I checked, there aren't really like like Bugatti dealerships, are there? I don't I think you order from like specialty, but you know what I'm saying? You have something that doesn't even need a dealership. And this is coming from someone who's going to get into this industry. Like I I want to sell pinball machines to my fans. I just want them to order from, you know, from where I'm going to go. It's coming. Don't worry. It's coming. It's coming soon. But I don't I also like would recommend I don't need, you know, Spooky, take it. Take that money. You earned it. You know, but here's the thing is like all these dealers are whispering in their ear like everybody, you know, they don't want to lose that. And dude, it's easy money. Spooky never said Beetlejuice was a limited edition. They only said they will make 999. For that reason, it is not numbered. They can make more if they want with no legal issues. Doc, you just said two contrarian things there. That makes no sense, Doc. They said they're going to make $9.99. Cool. That means it's limited, bro. Like, I don't know what planet you live on. If someone says we're making 999, that is the amount you make. You know what I'm saying, bro? I don't know what loophole you think you found there. You're absolutely wrong, bro. I work in communications. That is what they said they would make. They didn't say doc what you're missing is some very very important language. They did not say we are making 999 in in the first year of manufacturing or you know what I'm saying as the first run of the game. They said we will only make 999 only bro only and nobody knew about the show games when they ordered those 999. Those show games came about because dealers were mad that they couldn't give all of their customers the games. That is why they made 80 show games which are not numbered which I still don't like and I'm allowed to have that opinion and I'm I share it with these gentlemen. I have nothing but the utmost respect for what Spooky Pinball has achieved. I love those two gentlemen and the whole company, Morgan, everybody over there. I think again I look at Spooky Pinball as the only pinball company that's really they they have grown the most out of every single pinball company. They have they have they have ascended the greatest. They've learned the most. They've innovated the most. There there's one thing that they still need to do. Do you know what it is? And I know that they're working on it. There's just one thing left in Spooky Pinball's ascension to being the greatest pinball machine on the planet. And it's it's and they're going to get there. They're going to get there. I'm not worried about it. The only thing that's missing is the flipper feel is still not as good as a stern. And it has to do with the the sort of the uh you know the electrical pulse of the you know because it's it's it's a lot of variables. It's the coils, it's the switches, it's the computing, it's the it's the delay on the signal. All the like they still don't have exactly that flipper feel of a stern. And I think what's happening right now with Beetlejuice is, by the way, I just want to say for the record, there's been a little bit of a a fake news, a fake narrative, if you will, spreading throughout the pinball world that Beetlejuice is not a a great shooting game, right? There's been like this I I I've I've witnessed this sort of like there's been like an attempt by people to say that this game doesn't shoot. It shoots great. It shoots great. Does it shoot as great as Pokemon or Harry Potter? Maybe not as good, BUT BECAUSE THERE'S SO MUCH MORE IN IT. YOU LIKE, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING? IT'S LIKE like when I see what's in Beetlejuice, I'm like, "Yeah." Like you you trade a little bit of the flow for a lot more freaking stuff to shoot at. When when you stand over a Beetlejuice and you see that big worm mech and then you see like the Polaroid camera and you see the couch and you see the Dante's Inferno and you see this and you see the tomb. Like there's there's stuff happening in the game. Uh last time I checked, like I love Pokemon, man, but man, there's not much happening. Jack Danger is in the mofo house. Jack, come over to YouTube, brother. Can we all give Jack Danger a a round of applause for designing some some some part of Pokemon? I think most of the general layout was yours, Jack, right? Well, you know that captive ball was all Jack and like I you know really um I owe Jack a call this weekend but and we also Jack I hope everything's all right. Yeah, man. It's been tough man. I mean I just not to take it down a level but like man it's like I don't know. I'm really worried about my mom. The tests they might have found something else somewhere else and I'm I'm I'm beyond emotional about it when I think about it. So, I'll try not to think about it, but I had a rough real rough night last night. You know, it's like you you kind of think about everything. And I think about like like I I just think like what's hard as a grown adult is the how we have to like compartmentamentalize our lives to just be men, right? To be like a dad, to be a provider, to be strong at all costs. And like and I am like I'm but man do I have do I have insecurities? Do I have self-doubts? Do I have um do I have dreams that I feel I haven't fulfilled? Do I have uh regrets? And do I have um but but you know all that see all that can just sort of like you know what I'm saying? Like all that can just like slide into your thought process at times and it tends to slide in a lot more quickly when you're a few Japanese whisies in. I I will say that. But then you wake up and I'm like, you know what? All yes, all those things might be true, but I have so much more to be thankful for and so much more I'm happy I have going on. And I look down at my children. I look at Brenda. I look at my family. I think about everything like you know and and this is what's hard when you get um when you get older and your parents get older and the news isn't good is is you like you rewind back to times when like you were a kid and they were taking care of you and now the roles have been reversed and you know you just kind of hope you you instill the same values that they instilled in you and and you you know you provide that's the thing that eats away at me at times is like, well, I mean, it's it's everything's different. So, like I can't provide as much financially as my parents did for me when I was young. I mean, maybe, I don't know, but I can provide more love. And what I mean by that is they had it hard and and and they had a tough go. And yeah, I didn't really see them like like like in love. You know what I'm saying? Like I feel like I'm in love with Brenda and and these kids grow up seeing like a loving couple every day that are like connected spiritually, financially, emotionally, you know, and it's it's it's good. It's important for me to know that I'm giving them an environment where, you know, there's a lot of happiness and joy, and that that means everything to me. So, um so bringing it back to pinball, the layout was all the layout was all Mr. Jack Danger. Of course it was. Look, I um you know, Jack, the thing about it is this. I'm going to use I'm going to use I don't know. This is probably a bad analogy, but like I think what we've um I think there is a a there's no better way to say this. I think less is more sometimes when it comes to pinball layout. And I think satisfying shots, this is what's I think this is what's messing up everybody's head. And Jack, you did this, man. You messed up everybody's mind cuz cuz what's happening with Pokemon is like is how can five or six rewarding, satisfying shots that combo into each other. How are we supposed to ex how are we supposed to enjoy this? cuz we are. The tremendous amount of joy it's bringing in its simplicity is is messing up everybody's head because it's making everybody enjoy pinball on a level like they haven't really enjoyed except for one audience except for the really good like tournament player guys that want a lot more challenge in the layout. So that's why like Pokemon to 95% of people that will hop on a pinball machine, Pokemon will be the most fun they've had just flipping a game. Foo Fighters layout is phenomenal. I think the X-Men layout is phenomenal. I think I think Jack got I think he got sandbagged on the time schedule. Well, you know, you're going to give Elliot Eisman 25 months to make to make Aussie. What are you doing over there? Aussie, get get over on YouTube. Aussie, we need your YouTube dollars, bro. We need those Brenda Saki dollars. No, X-Men. Look, X I also think X-Men is like I think X-Men is Zombie Yeti's one of his best, too. Isn't it amazing? Like what? X-Men could have been something, man. They just they rushed it. It was like the dumbest game to rush. Also, like let's be honest. Who is it? What's his name? Can we just for a minute? Is it Weiss? Like does did Weiss is he like got some blackmail on Gary? Like how how is he how is he ever put in charge like in in charge of a code? Lenny, you're right, man. I mean, Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness, you know, Monster Bash, you know, these games are they they're simple to understand how to enjoy them. You know, sometimes I feel like some of these modern games, you walk into like walking into a Jersey Jack code is like, look, Aussie there. There's my brother with 100 bucks. Geez. Aussie, man. I told Brenda about November and UFC. She's so excited, bro. Like, we Aussie, trust me, when you come to New York with your beautiful wife, we are going to do like one of the most epic New York City nights ever. So, get ready, bro. It's going to start out It's going to start out at the Japanese Jazz Bar. We're going to go crush it at UFC VIP, baby. And then like Yeah, I think we we'll find like a late night like omocas or something, bro. Like like it is like I'm beyond excited. Like it's you know, for those of you who hang out with me personally, you you know, like people know like people want to hate me. I get it. I get it. I've got a punchable face, as Ian would say. Um, but when you do hang out with me, I'm I'm going to make you feel like a million bucks because I I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. And like I I mean, I I love treating people to my favorite Japanese bar. It's just, you know, whether you know, like I I've brought people there that are billionaires and I picked up the tab. I won't I will tell you right now. Uh but I went with Brett, you know, and and we're ordering 21-year-old Japanese whisies all night and I'm like, "What did I I wake up the next day. I'm like, Brenda, I don't even know." Like I don't even know like what I did. Like I I I just I like kind of peeked at my credit card from statement. I was like, "Wait, what?" Yeah, I won't tell you what the total was. I'll tell you that each glass was $180 a glass. Whoops. Whoopsy daisy. You know what? We're all going to die. I don't care. I don't I really don't care. Make it back. I make it back. We roll it back, baby. Roll it back, dude. Aussie, man. I love it. I love it. I'm going Dude, Aussie, what's great is like you're the UFC guy. I I have full confidence, bro. And you're gonna see like the same VIP treatment when we go, you know, to the jazz bar. It's gonna It's gonna be great. Aza, you're gonna love it, man. Everyone's waiting like we're Dude, we're going to go on a Saturday night to Tommy Jazz. You're gonna The line's going to be down the block. There's the there the literally at the end of the line. This is at 5:00 p. p.m. people. There are people that won't get into that restaurant. They will wait on that line until 9:00. They will wait online for four hours to get in. I'm not I'm I'm being serious. They It only seats like 50 people and it's and it's like a two hours turnover. You know who doesn't wait online? Canada. Walking right in. Special entrance. They don't even go through the front door. Wait, what? It's true. Um, look, so I think what's happening right now is like first of all, I I don't know if Jack Danger still Jack, where's the freaking topper and where's the first code update? I I look, I think they've got to have like a bombshell big code update coming for Pokemon. You know what I'm saying? Like they've got access to all of those beautiful 4K cartoons. More. Just give us more. Give us more. That is what we want. We We I Look, I think this game when it's when all is said and done, Poke Pokemon I think George and George made the right decision. Pokemon at the end of the day is going to go down as just being probably just the most adorable game that everyone's just going to want to have in their lineup for for just a fun, you know, just a fun time to bang on it. Once they unlock the Insider Connected and you you can actually see the Pokemon you've caught, dude, that's where it's going to get really special when you know, right? and and the fact that Stern's going to be able to have Pokemon that are going to be hard to catch and and what they can do with that is going to be great. UFC at the White Yeah, Ozie, you going to the White House fight? Um, man, I it's just this this whole war in Iran, I just want it to be over. Like, I I don't even I don't know. I I don't I don't like war. I don't like anyone fighting for like I I also do think that the world is a crazy place and you know you just can't let every nation just build nuclear weapons either and I don't even know like what it's hard I wouldn't want to be president. I'm a pinball podcaster. I would hate to have to determine where are the real threats. What you know look I was in New York City on September 11th. I'm still like I I feel like our government's done its job. like there hasn't been another major terrorist attack on US soil and the apparently the whole world hates us. Well, come at us, bros. They didn't get they haven't got anything done. So, I I do think our security and intelligence have kind of done its job. And you know, ignorance is bliss. I really don't want to know how I bet they don't tell you how many times they probably have thwarted like major attacks. Vegas, New York, and Miami. Azie, do you know Brett? Bro, do you want me to make an intro? I feel like you guys would have some fun. Brett, Brett Abbis, owner of JJP. Uh, great guy. He lives in Miami. So, you won't be able to open the Canad Pinball distribution in Toron. Geez. All right. So, should we should we go around the horn and talk about every Let's talk about everybody. Let's talk about We'll start with Barrels. So, Barrels is making He-Man and Stern had the license. This is all facts. Stern had the license for He-Man. It was in development. They decided to pass on it. That is when American Pinball got the license for He-Man. They were going to make it. Franchie did a treatment. He owns that treatment. He's not making the art for now. Barrels has the license and is gonna make the game. So, this is happening. This is not a rumor. And I know that David, you know, they pride themselves on secrecy. They're doing He-Man, G.I. Joe, and most likely big trouble in Little China. And you know what? Good, cuz all those are going to sell out instantly. And good. David has got three hit themes in development. If they make Dungeon Crawler Carl as a Carl D'Angelo game, like it's not going to sell. I'm sorry, guys. Get get out of town with that that get out of town. Like, if if Dungeon Crawler Carl sells out, I legitimately I legitimately will not do a show for an entire week. and and and honestly and I will I will do nothing but hype the game for them. That's how that's how shocked I would be that they would sell at 11 to 12,000 500 dungeon crawler carls. I I did not. No, I did not. John. John, I did not say Winchester would not sell out. So, don't don't put words in my mouth. Don't put words in my mouth. Winchester sold out in two days, bro. In two days. So, I did not say it would not sell out. Okay. Well, look look I I think um look it might look again like I would be shocked if it did though. I think look I think here's the other thing gang. Winchester came out at the right time bro you guys. Also let's just talk about where is where are the Winchesterers? Yeah. Where are the Winchesterers though? Where are they? Does anyone like they literally have made only like 80 in seven months. Is that not an issue for any of you? I don't know. I I think Barrels has had cash flow issues and I think everyone's kind of like accepting this this manufacturing pace. But I do think it is indicative of a company that um you know where the manufacturing needs they I because again like isn't it just people and personnel and being able to pay them? So explain to me this. Why does the pinball company why why wouldn't you have a day shift and a night shift making games? Why why wouldn't you do that? It's just it's a manufact now now I don't know like I because I just saw number 77 being delivered. That's why I'm confused. Like Billy boy, did you did you order number 95 or you I I see this is where it gets a little confusing to see. So let's just say they've made a hundred. It's been 7 months and they've got 425 more to make. Why don't you see more contract manufacturing to launch boutiques? Well, because who's going to do the manufacturing? That's my thing. Like who do you contract to do the manufacturing? What what I think is ridiculous is that Barrel is an American and let's just say Barl's American and Turner. Let's just put those three together. Like why wouldn't they just get together and form a manufacturing hub somewhere and you know you could have your separate development separate this you know it make it easier on everybody share the man and that way the line's always moving and like when your product goes on the line they can make it faster I don't know I just think it's like it's it is kind of asinine that all these boutiques are have like separate manufacturing and most of it's not working efficiently at So, infamous pinball says, "Why does Winchester get a pass for shooting terrible?" Wow. Look, I've I I don't know, man. Then you see, then you get Azie says, "I love how Winchester shoots." So, I you know, look, I I don't think it shoots terrible. I don't think it's the best shooting game, but I but I think it um I think it's it's challenging for sure, but it's but it's got a lot in it. And I think it's one of these games where, you know, you got to learn the shots first. And here here's the problem with pinball opinions is that people form them after playing the game just a couple times, right? This isn't this that's not really a fair way to review a game. And and I think if you hop on Winchester coming from a stern, coming from a fan layout, yeah, you're going to be like missing everything because nothing's exactly where you expect it to be. But when you learn the shots and you understand the design layout, that I think opens up the enjoyment of the game. I don't think it shoots like an Lwin, though. Like, like this is where like I'm like Chris L, come on. It's not It doesn't shoot like an Lwin. Come on. Come on. Don't don't don't say things that are silly and stupid. Cuz to me like, okay, here here's my example with with Winchester. You are telling me that CL that you can consistently hit that upper left ramp with the upper right flipper consistently like you can you can like come on man that that shot is like one out of 10 you're hitting that shot. Maybe that if you think Winchester shoots like crap, then get a Pokemon. Well, Pokemon shoots great. Harry Potter shoots great. They're two different types of games though, right? It's like, you know, same thing with like Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is more of a stopand go game. Pokemon is is flow flow flow flow. You know what I love about Pokemon? It's both. Have you noticed this about Pokemon? Have you noticed how you you know, the more I play Pokemon, the more I'm trapping up. It it's what I love about Pokemon is like you trap up a lot to then like, you know, really aim for like what you're going for, but once you fire that ball up, then like you're you're in combo heaven. So Dan says he grew up near the Winchester Mystery House. Look, look, I um I should have got a Winchester. I slept on it. Just from a pure scalpers, I'm of course I wish I got one. Uh, it was a great great game to grab. You know, I um knowing what's coming though, I just I you know, it's it's I love the Bulbasaur music. It It does bump. I can't wait to put the pinwoer into Spike 3 when when Dan is ready with the new Spike 3 Pokemon pinwoer system. He said not to buy it yet. Frank Mack, baby. What's up, Frank? Um, I was just talking to Brenda. We'd love to come like bring the kids, talk shop, talk pinball business with you. Um, let's get the families together soon. I'm I think I'm getting ready, man. I think I'm getting close to just jumping into the pinball biz, baby. It's going to be fun. I just want to wake up and do this every day. I'm, you know, I'm getting a little tired of making PowerPoint slides and asking permission to be myself every day. Like, it's just it's gr it's a grind, baby. It is a grind. It pays well, but it's a grind. I mean, Aussie, those are like three phenomenal games. Is Franchie in the house? Franchie, what's up, brother? Franchie, man, how's the He-Man? I I can't believe you're doing the He-Man art for Barrels of Fun. No, we're joking. Um, so the the thing is let's put a pin in barrels and go on to Barrels is doing He-Man, Barrels is doing G.I. Joe, and most likely Big Trouble and Little China. Additionally, this is where it's going to get interesting. They may do a Transformers game. And what could get really interesting if David were really really really wanted to do it get the Transformers movie to me if he gets the Transformers movie with Unicron Megatron get that's the better get the soundtrack the storyline is tighter people forget go back and watch Transformers it's like the story's kind of all over the place they land on Earth they need energy John, you know, Cyber Tron, like it's the movie's so much better because it's so much more dramatic and impactful and the scenes. I mean, you got like Transformers dying, Optimus dying, you know, Ultra Magnus, like the Shark Dicons. Like, give me give me a a massive Unicron mech. Give me a lower playfield Shark Dicon tank. Guilty or innocent? Innocent. Come on. It's all right there. The G1 movie. Yeah, I'm talking about the G1 movie. You know what's crazy? So, when Transformers the movie came out and killed all the characters kids loved, they then shelved the G.I. Joe movie to and like I think they only released it on TV. They didn't even bring it into the theaters, I don't think, because G.I. Joe was the same thing where like they killed all the G.I. Joe characters and they had new ones. Optimus. Now, here's the thing. I got it wrong. It's um the voice of Megatron is still alive. Frank Wheeler Weller and so is Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime. So, we are going to get both of them on Transformers. I keep saying, look, if they if it has You Got the Touch, it's an insta buy. My only worry on Transformers is that Pat Lee is going to mess up the artwork, but I've heard from I've heard from people that have seen it. They they said this is going to be Stern's most impressive impressive game to date. I And this is people I I mean this I think this is going to topple in terms of like what's in a Stern. This is going to be that that next Godzilla we've been waiting for. Okay. So, like really excited. Of course, I'm on a list. Of course, Canadia doesn't have to worry about getting an LE. How many less gets interesting. Sternware Smart. 500 total, right? I mean, Transformers is a smaller IP than Pokemon. 500 total. 250 Autobot, 250 Decepticon, something like that. No, I said that the G.I. Joe movie did not release to theaters. Transformers did. Kids were crying in the first 15 minutes because they killed Optimus Prime. You know, it came out at the same time that American Tale came out. So, he had parents like were pissed off, too. Like, you take Imagine if Killian loved Transformers. I'd take my 5-year-old son to go see the movie and Optimus Prime is dead in 15 minutes. Pat Lee is great though. Well, because because Pat Lee's art is not it's not it's not period accurate, John. That's why he that that is not the way Transformers looked when we grew up with Transformers. So, if you're going to make a G1 Transformers pinball machine, then make it look like 1986 1986 to 19 like 8 like8 or nine. That's what I want. I don't want Pat Lee's 90 manga style or 2000 manga style Transformers art cuz that's not how I that's not Transformers art. I mean, I hope it's retro, too. But, you know, when you look at his stuff, it's it's so much more like Japanese manga than it is Transformers. Like, ma like look look at his stuff. It's like massive massive feet and legs. like that like that weird angle from like like it's almost like you're lying on the ground looking up at them. Like that's not They made that Aussie. They made a Michael Bay Transformers pinball machine. Oh man, I love newbies like Azie, man, because I love newbies who get involved and like they don't realize the stuff has already been done, you know? They're like, "Well, man, why don't you make a Michael Bay Transformers bit?" It's like, "Dude, it's been done." So, Transformers will be shown to the world end of May, early June, gang. It's April 25th. Like, uh, like four weeks from now, we could have Transformers in the world. Are you coming to Pinfest next week? I can't because Brenda is going to DC. May like let me see. Our our cousin is gonna cover and give me some free time maybe, but I can see if she wants to stay the whole day with the kids. I just Brenda scheduled a trip to DC with her friend to go see Florence and the machine. So, I have I'm staying. I can't leave. I could bring the kids to Pinfest. That would be a whole that would not be fun for anybody. You're going to be there, Franchie. Nice. Um, I usually go. I usually go. I don't know, man. Like, yeah, I just haven't, you know. I don't know. I need to I need to stay close to my family right now. I just kind of feel like I don't know. Then the weekends come and it's not like I'm always doing family stuff. I'm like losing and watching basketball, losing money on DraftKings, like gets old, man. The house always wins. I'll tell you that. The house always wins. And I I I'm 100% convinced that DraftKings blackjack is 100% rigged. It's like the most rigged thing ever. And that's how they steal all your money back, you know, because you'll you'll be like you'll win like a grand like on a on a basketball game and then you go to blackjack and you lose it all in like five minutes because like literally you could lose 15 hands in a row, which is statistically impossible. And and the dealers are always getting like 20 and 21 on like six, seven card flops on blackjack. Like they never bust. And what they do is they they let you win when your bets are small, right? So then you increase your bets and then you lose like eight in a row and they they take it all back. The new Neo Geo coming out, you know, this is a pinball show, not a Neo Geo show, but oh my gosh, how cool is what they're doing. I mean, they're literally re-releasing with SNK and that what is it? Paleon. I don't even like they're re-releasing the entire like hardware of the like cheaper than it's ever been. Dude, it's amazing. I I ordered the white anniversary edition. I'm going to order the black ultimate edition, too. But and I ordered two extra white controllers. Um I'm a little nervous that everybody's paying in full for a November pre-order. Like I'm a little nervous on that. like everybody's. But what's going to happen now with all these people buying it in the gaming space? They're they're then going to remake all the Neo Geo games in original hardware form, original artwork, original like box, the snap boxes, and they're going to make the rarest G. Like what I love about it, too, it's talk about like all those old collectors and hoarders, they're all screwed. all these idiots that were, you know, spending 10, 20, $30,000 on a rare metal slug. I don't look I honestly I think those guys and they're all in there like, "No, the OG cards are still going." No, no, they're not, man. No, they are not. Like, this is like this is an exact one toone remake and it's like better. It's going to play better on the new system, too. And it's got the RGB out, baby. That's the killer part is they put the RGB out. So you have a a CRT TV a cath cath cathode ray 2 by what? Cath c you will be able to do HDMI out to a 4K TV and you'll be able to play it on a CRT RGB out cathode. Yeah, thank you. But man, that's like they thought of it all, bro. And like the and and even like the joystick ports, they work with the wired joysticks like the old ones or like wireless HDMI like Bluetooth, whatever. And then they've got and then all the original carts work on the new system, bro. All the originals. The only thing that's going to look bad is black carts in the white system. Someone needs to make a black and white version now of all the original games. Well, that that old system's not going for $700 anymore. I mean, this is this is going to change every this is going to destroy the secondhand market on original Neo Geo stuff. Other like the reason why these will hold is like you're still not going to get a better experience and playing Neo Geo on an arcade like this with the CRT. And look, but I'm happy, man, because just more people in the Neo Geo is going to mean more demand for stuff like the original ver. See, I was always confused as to why these weren't these are the hardest to get. Like, not the, you know, the stupid like to to pay like $20,000 for a Metal Slug cartridge is the dumbest thing ever. Ever. It's so dumb. Like you can have the exact same experience for like five bucks, but you can't have the experience of playing original piece of hardware unless you have the original piece of hardware. Yeah, but John, like you know, you got to play Neo Geo on the Neo Geo controller. It's just the way it is. It It's just There's nothing like playing a system on its on its intended hardware. It doesn't play like cuz John the part is that the the games you're playing those other games those are emulated and emu emulations play way different than the original hardware. It it it's just the way it is. There there's more like lag. The controls aren't as good. It's not a pure ROM to joystick feel. Oh, guys, we did barrels. Van Halen, let's talk about it. Van Halen's happening. Do you like it? Do you not? What are your thoughts? Um, Jersey Jack Pinball is going to make Van Halen. That is after Sonic the Hedgehog. Van Halen is going to happen. Um probably I would say Texas Pinball Festival 2027. I I don't know if I broke some of these rumors. I don't I don't care anymore about taking credit. I I know Jason Nap's been, you know, saying these this stuff, too. Um, yeah. I I think when enough people are saying stuff, it's out there. Um, what singer Van Halen? I'm assuming it's going to be like Van Halen's greatest hits. I think they're going to get both Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth. I think it's going to be both. Robert, Robert, I will bet you $1,000. Van Halen is happening. You want to bet Robert Castle? Thousand bucks. Thousand on the table. I I I really want them to have the the angel smoking the cigarette translate. Like that to me is just like that's Van Halen. Like that jump error. Van Halen. See how fast. Robert, Robert, come on. Thousand bucks. Robert, we're we're right here. Robert Castle, Canada. $1,000 bet paid out. Robert, it's real simple. This bet will be paid out the moment Mark Seiden's game is revealed. If it is not Van Halen, I will Venmo PayPal you $1,000 instantly. Let's just make the bet here. It's just it's worth it for just the entertainment value of this. All a$1,000 bet. Mark Seiden's game is Van Hal. Come on, guys. Let's Let's get him going. I sent email yesterday. Is my name in the hat? If you sent an email yesterday, Nicholas, then yes, I'm gonna send out confirmations, but you will be in. Robert, where'd you go? Where'd you go, Robert Castle? You came in here saying it's not Van Halen. So, let's do it. Let's talk. Come on. Let's Let's make a little side bet. Put some money on it, bro. You can you can afford it. It's just a thousand bucks, bro. I lost that last night in in in 10 minutes on on an underb bet on the game because the Celtics went crazy at the end. I don't think they covered though. I think they lost. I think it was eight and a half was the line at the beginning of the game. Robert, are we doing this bet? $1,000. Van Halen, Mark Siden's game from JJP. Are we I don't Where'd he go? Did he disappear? Did we lose him? We should raise $1,000 right here in the Canada chat. Let's do it. Let's just Let's Let's have you guys all put up the Canada money. No risk to me, right? I'll I'll be like a dealer for a day. Let me make $1,000 for doing nothing. Oh, man. You don't know how much work it is to make $2,700 for every Stern Ali. You don't know how much work it is. Mhm. Sure. You know, I would love these dealers to to step into my shoes and have to go in front of a chief marketing officer at like a like a a major company with no insights that are good, no product that's incredible and come up with an idea that's going to break through and get into culture. A lot harder to do that than to sell Ellie Stern machines. Come on, Robert. We're not doing this. He disappeared. Come on. $1,000. Robert, here. Let me I think I got it. I think I got Hold on. What? Come on, man. Charizard's calling you a wimp, bro. Charizard's calling you a wimp. Even Charizard's got the money. Did he agree? Dude, thousand bucks. I I don't even know. I think I might even I might even have that here. Let's see. What's up, Cass? Come on. Call Call Robert out. Even Cass has got the money. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Hey. Hey. Okay. Hey, can you tell Robert that you got a thousand bucks? EVEN CASS HAS GOT YEAH. Tell Say, "Robert." Robert. Robert. Robert. 1,000. But Cass has got it. Cass, look. This. Look at this. Cass has got it. Ready? Rocket ship. Look at this. What are we? Cass, what are we looking at here? Let's count it out. Okay. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. We have a grand right here. Robert, come on. Come on, Cass. Hold this. Robert, say Robert. Robert. Bobbert. Come on, Robert. You got get Come on. Pokemon. Go in. Is he Is he Is he gonna agree to it? You're doing it. Come on, Robert. LET'S DO IT. GO. All right. All right. All right. Pokemon. Cashes through the butt. Doc Mario. This is embarrassing. You're You're embarrassing, bro. He's still here. He's not doing Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out. Come on. Come on. Why is everybody in here crying right now? Why are you crying, K? Come on. That's my ROCKET SHIP. OH, you're on your rocket ship here. TAKE THESE. ALL RIGHT. SO, WE GOT ROBERT'S NOT DOING IT'S OKAY. We We got him to at least accept. Yeah, it's all right. I I just I love how Doc Mario is like, "This is embarrassing." You're embarrassing, bro. I'm kicking you out for that comment. I don't like people like that. Don't ever I don't even know how to kick people out. Yeah, maybe he did mean embarrassing for Robert. That's good to know. Let's unhide him. Let's give him the benefit. I mean, you will see stuff on Canad Saturday morning spectacular that you just won't see anywhere else. Um, somebody get Retro Ralph a pinball salary. That's the rumor, man. I think Ralph Ralph's thinking about going into pinball dealership as well. Everybody like everybody, man. Like, he's thinking about going into it. Jamie, they're all thinking about it. You know what it is? Is is simply this. You can't just like you need you need to like go into it with an existing like infrastructure. You can't just become a dealer like because you make content like that. It's it doesn't work like that. There's too much else you need to do. You know, I think everyone thinks it's just easy to have a following and then just like make money. It's not. It's not like that. You need more Kate Bush pin. Is that true? Um, you know, okay, so we covered off on barrels. GI Joe I mean G.I. Joe's happening, guys. You know, Brian Savage like ran the G.I. Joe like fan club for like 30 freaking years. Like you guys know this, right? Like now it it people have been speculating that if Stern's got G1 Transformers that maybe they have G1, then then maybe they have G.I. go because of the same license holder. I don't know. It's it's it's I think I think what's happening now, you know, Stern's old model of like they would secure a lot of licenses even if they didn't make the game. Like Jod was just trying to block others from making it. I think what's happening now is Stern's realizing a hard lesson that you you can't sleep on all of these 80s and 90s nostalgic themes and then push out a John Wick. You know, they they realize I think maybe a little too late because I think a lot of really great themes have been gobbled up by people outside of Stern now. Retro games, man. I look I would love to come to California, man. I would love to travel a little bit more. It's just it's hard, man. Who's Who's building monster hockey? I I don't Did they sign a deal? I I don't know. Isn't that Jeff Danzig's game? The guy that hates my guts that tried to I I still was, you know, I'm really like still think the dude owes me an apology. Like he ruined my expo. I'm sorry. I hate to say it, but he did. He He made my expo experience terrible. He he he literally went and found me and and escorted me out of the show in an embarrassing way with security when he didn't have permission to and he never apologized and then I I didn't want to go back into the show. Yeah. So, like, you know, I I don't what's weird is like the the the you know, the other the the the girl with the spiky hair and her dad, they're so nice and they're associated with the game. I feel like everyone else around it is. And I'm not even saying Jake is like I don't even know the guy personally, but I'm just really uh you know, still so completely unsure what I ever did to him. Like that's the thing I don't get. Yeah. Antinet. Like it's not Antinette. No, it's it's this is I I really don't know why he hates me so much. I reached out to him. You know what's crazy is when when when ex before going to Expo, he tried to keep me from being allowed into the show. And so Chris um Rob Burke was like Rob Burke calls me up and is like, "Yo, like I got to ask you not to come to expo." Like all this is and I'm like, "Why?" He's like, "Well, you know, this Jake Danzit guy doesn't, you know, you did something to him. He doesn't want you there." So I was like, "Ah, I don't know what I did to the dude." And and so I you can you just call him up and, you know, settle whatever thing there is. And I said, "Sure." I said, "H absolutely." And so I I called him three times, left three messages. I emailed him. He never got back to me once. And so and then at the show he I Are there two of those guys? One guy's got like the Rottweiler. Is that Is that also him or the like the big pitbull dog? I I I don't know, man. And it just made me feel really really uncomfortable because I I don't and I mean this when I say this like I don't and like people were sharing with me like the guy was like very like angry at other people threatening people like I don't I have too much to live for than to have people like that I don't see that's those are the that's the scariest stuff is when people you don't really know are like like out to see you fall like I I I that to me that's not worth going to a pinball show over. So and the whole thing was was really like you know it it got to the point where like hotel security came over and was like look you don't have authority to kick him out. Rob Burke was like no you don't. Like they didn't they allowed you know what I'm saying? Like they allowed me back in the show but by then the damage was done and then like I didn't want to be there anymore. So, like I just don't want to I just don't think like and then he had no consequences for doing that. You know what I'm saying? Like if if you're going to do that and you have cart blanch to pretend like you have authority over everybody there, I I look I know why people are triggered by me. I'm not. Look, that's the thing is like I But what's weird with with with him is I've never said anything against him or his game and I I I you know actually think it's a fun game. Like I don't I don't get it. But I also think we live in a world where a lot of people just double down on their hate and they don't accept they don't want to come to any amicable resolution. And you know it is what it is. I mean I don't I man I don't know like who people are. I don't know what's happening in people's homes like So yeah, no, look, you know, look, I'm I I know I know more about some of these individuals and their behaviors in the past and I and I will say like the advice advice I tend to get is just just go go go it go in a different direction. Don't bother them. Just and that's kind of my approach is like and that's why I stayed out of the show once all that went down. I just hung out at the bar. I never went back into the show because I didn't I just you know I just didn't want any um I didn't want any confrontation. I didn't I didn't I don't go to a pinball show to you know my confrontation days are over. I I got my one vodka soda drink thrown, you know. I threw my one vodka soda drink. Where, by the way, where is um where is Tim Sexon these days? He's over at where is is he at? Why do I want to say CGC? Like where where is Tim at now? Is he at Barrels or CGC? So, Frenchie, Franchie, Frenchie, maybe you can help out then. Franchie, do me a favor because Frenchie, you know, this this is always what is the most helpful. Oh, he's at Raw Thrills. Okay. Um, which is basically CGC, right? Because it's like play mechanics. Franchie, do me a favor. Just reach out to him and be like, "Look, man. Like I, you know, I think it would be beneficial if you and Canada just like Bur would ever hatch it. You know, you're selling a game. He's he clearly was upset that you know what happened at Expo and he's he thinks it would be beneficial for both parties to just bury the hatchet. Can he do that for me? He'll listen to you. Thank you, brother. And tell me what he says. You know, if he says it, no, I don't. Screw that guy. It's cool. I'd rather just know where he stands versus like where we're at now. And that's all you can do, brother, is try. I appreciate it. Well, Azie, trust me, Aussie, like the amount of like the amount of like um you know, it it's Yeah. play mechanics, raw thrills. So, do you think Tim is working on the code for Halo? You think that's what he's doing right now with Mark Richie? It's fine, man. Like I I don't know, man. It's It's I'm not a good drunk. I'm not I I I admit it. I don't need to be drunk. My My personality is too It It's too wired to begin with that I don't You know, alcohol like No, look, I like a good drink every now and then. I I you know I'm a I'm a freaking I'm a roller coaster. I know it. It's the Sicilian and the Greek in me. It comes out. David Fix throwing a drink on someone is a [ __ ] move. It totally is a [ __ ] move, Robert. I agree. But I re but but it was two we there was two [ __ ] going. I was what I did was a [ __ ] move and and what Tim did was a [ __ ] move, too. So, you have to see the full context of it, you know, cuz I didn't just like walk in there and throw a drink in the dude's face. Like, he literally stood up on a chair and kicked me out of a pinball show in in a in a in a [ __ ] way because I was rooting for Lyman Sheets's girlfriend. And that's all it was for Penny. That's all it was. Canada's now he's like, he gets up there like, you know, and Tim is like what, like 5 foot five. He's like Canada is is kicked out of this to like he made a big scene. He could have came up and just talked to me. No, instead he wanted to like he wanted to like get on his little pedestal and make a scene. And I was three sheets to the wind. You know, look, the problem in today's world is every once in a while someone needs to get, you know, get get [ __ ] slapped a little bit every now, you know, like we but we don't allow any of that anymore. And look, I don't condone violence, but sometimes like don't be an like I was not doing anything that deserved what he did. But again, it was eight years ago, nine years ago. It was it was it was great. It was like a Royal Rumble in there. Brought Canada brought a whole that it was like it's like death row going into that, baby. It's like it's like it's like Tupac in the MGM Grand Lobby, baby. Like throw we threw down a little bit. It was it was Look, you got to admit, man, maybe this hobby needs a little like a little skirmish every once in a while. You know, a little little fight breaks out at a pinball tournament. All of a sudden, it gets exciting. You know what I'm saying? Grown men just throwing throwing down a little bit. I mean, maybe we could do a little uh, you know, little fight for charity in a ring. The story I heard was that you were also loudly taunting the girl playing against the girl. No, that's not what happened, Franchie. That's not what happened. Why would I taunt I I don't taunt female pinball players. All right, that's that's not my style. I don't even know what taunt like I don't even know what a taunt would be. Like like drain drain missed the flip. Who told you that you you know what's funny is like the fact that you should be able like watching a pinball tournament is like I got to be candid. It's effing boring, guys. Like it like it couldn't be more boring. I All pinball tournaments, all matches should be on a timed everyone should have a it should be a countdown clock on the game and that's how and that's how it should be. Someone should have like it should be five, you know, you get 10 minutes to score as many points as you can on this machine and then you know then the next person goes and sees if they can beat it. That's That's how And it should be a bracket. The way pinball tournaments are run are the most boring, god-awful content imaginable. I'm sorry, but like they're so boring. Like watching them just go and go and go and go and go. Yeah. Are you Are we doing this Beetlejuice deal today? No. I never said the Beetlejuice drawing was today. I said May 2nd. Okay, read. Listen. How many times do I have to say that how the Beetlejuice is going to happen? Nobody reads anymore. Nobody Nobody's Nobody's paying attention to the rules. Oh man. Oh, Frenchie, how's Back to the Future going? I know it's got the Delorean. I know the doors open up. I know the car turns around. I know the wheels go up like like it's going to fly away. I also don't think it's going to lock balls inside the Delorean like it was supposed to. Is it this year, Franchie? Like, it's the worst kept secret in pinball. Oh, I just don't know why it has Back to the Future 3 in it. Ah, why? Why would they put three in? Oh, so that does lock balls. Franchie, look at that. Look at that. Branchie, you just told us it's going to lock the balls in the Delorean. I know the Delorean mech. I've seen the Delorean mech. See, the problem now problem now is Canada's gonna get Canadia's gonna get images of Back to the Future before everybody else. And it's just that it's become that moral dilemma. What do I do with it? What do I do with these images? I think it's going to be a lot like I think it's going to be a lot like um Guns and Roses. I will have images of Back to the Future and I will describe it to you but not not leak anything. I mean, it's the worst kept secret in Pinball. Let's just say that. the worstkept secret in pinball. Franch, are you working on the uh the Jesus edition of uh Big Labowski? Is that I know that's coming too with the purple armor. People are like, "Why?" I'm like, I don't know. I think it's kind of funny. Well, they need something between now and like the end of the year cuz like So, here's what I heard. Barry's going to reveal this game sooner than people think because there is no Raza and you know they got to they got to get something on the line sometime. You know what what what every day the line has nothing going. They're losing money. Barry's big issue is going to be I I think he need I just think they can't make games. Is there, you know, it's like it's like they're they're not even make they can't even make 500 games a year and they're going to get 5,000 orders for this thing. Oh man. Turner pinball. Chris Turner's listening to the feedback. He's listening to the feedback. Do I make fun of Chris Turner too much? He's a great guy. Super nice. I love that Carrie Hardy's got drone footage of Turner's like massive property and he won't share it. Won't share it. Carrie, come come to my house. You You You don't even need a drone. I could just turn my camera around. You see the whole property. Carrie's like flying around this compound being like, "Where's the music for Yukon Yeti?" No, Ra Raz is not coming out next. It It may come out eventually. So, what's the B? Okay, so here's the deal. John Borg is most likely working on a new version of both KISS and AC/DC. It's a crazy They're, you know, they don't I don't know, man. I just Who made the last KISS game? Was that Was that Borg? Who? I always forget that game to me like I I don't know. I always felt like that game was kind of boring. Yeah. So, okay. So, here's what I think. Here's what I think is going to happen. I think I think the Kiss is going to be more like Metallica where I think it's going to be the same game remastered, but I think the I think the AC/DC is an all new game. All new AC/DC. So, I think that is what we're going to see. But man, doesn't it feel like Stern's out of ideas if we're if we're doing that again, right? Like what what happened? Like where where's where's back to where's uh sorry, Indiana Jones. Come on, Stern. Like I mean Fallout's going to be based on the Amazon TV show which is going to be interesting to see if people you know really um you know if that wins people over. I'll tell you right now the the Ellie with Fallout Boy is going to be awesome. Like the whole Nuke Town like vibe of that. I don't know. I'm I'm kind of into that. I I feel like season two of Fallout though kind of fell out of favor with most people. That's funny, Fred. Um, oh yeah, Kiss just wants to make money. Jean Simmons is just a um just a greedy bastard, apparently. Um, I don't know. I don't think, um, I think what's exciting about Stern next year is how little we do know. I mean, think about like what are the Stern rumors for next year? We already know everything happening this year. We know it's Transformers, it's Fallout, it's like AC/DC or KISS. And and then we're at the end of the year and then we got Brian Eddie's original game Q Q1 and so Oh my god, Fru this Kate Bush joke. I don't even know if it wasn't funny the first time. Um the the I don't know. I think um I think it's going to be really really um interesting. I think Brian Edd's original game, man, it's going to be hard to sell that thing. And then I think after that, who's up next, right? It's going to be I, you know, it's it's I don't think anybody expected Jack Danger to sort of go on this hiatus. I I I think we we wanted to have Danger and Elwin being the two top dogs at Stern followed by Borg and Eddie. But yeah, so the rumor like Eagles is due. We keep hearing about Jouri is another one we keep hearing about. I don't know, man. I don't think music is the way out for Stern. I think they need um Yeah, I would love a I would love a real like a catty shack, right? I would love like a uh you know, a vacation with Chvy Chase. Like I mean like you know I would love ah you know maybe Ferris Buer's Day Off. I'm not sure I want to keep watching that movie over and over again in pinball form. But man, there's a lot. I would love a Blood Sport game. Blood Sport to me is like barrels kind of territory. You know, Space Balls would be great. Escape from New York. Nah, a little too niche. Dumb and Dumber would be good. I mean, all the comedies, man. Dude, how good would a Tropic Thunder pinball machine be? I mean, they'll never do it. I don't even think they would like license the the IP because of how racist that movie is. But Tropic Thunder, dude, right there, man. Nightrider, Aim, and Airwolf is like David Vaness's next three years. He sells out everyone, You know, a jingle is everything. Somebody needs to make Super Yeah. Um I think Super Mario is coming. I think it's going to be Stern. I would love Super Mario to be Eric Min's next game, which is not going to be Justice League, by the way. That's that that was the only part of what I said was wrong. Everybody, we are at 100 bucks only. Fizzy put in a few bucks for Brenda's sake fund. We have 400 stars on Facebook. Facebook has fallen off. Um, if you would like to contribute to Brenda's annual or sorry, weekly sake fun, this is where you do it. Azie Azy's been the the main guy like every week. Azie, she can't wait to meet you. Fizzy's always Fizzy two bucks. Um, Fizzy's always uh, you know, Fizzy's Fizzy's paying for the glasses. Aussiey's paying for the bottle. Uh we usually have Frank Mack and we usually have Sad Sad Boy's not in here today. Like he's usually our 50 buck guy. Like hits hard every every uh every Saturday morning. But I really do, you know, we got a few minutes left. I really do appreciate um all the subscriptions. I think we're at Let me look right now. We are over We are over 700 again, which is so exciting. I mean, maybe some people join for the Pokemon drawing and then they're going to bail. I'm very proud to say we are at 78 paid monthly subscribers. Really is like might be my only salary one day. We'll see. Um man, if I was in any other topic, any other topic, I I could do this for a living. Just been so small. So small. Trying to think of like like like what about the John Hughes movies like Breakfast Club? What about, you know, I still think like an MTV game would be amazing. And if you did MTV and that way like again the whole thing is like you're an MTV producer at the beginning and you need to pick which music videos to put on the air to get the best ratings. So that that would be the way I would do it. And then you would basically go get the rights for the music videos and you start out with like video killed the radio star and you again how cool would that be? Then you could put in like a Madonna music video. You put in a Tiffany. You put in a Belinda Carile, a Beasty Boy, like, and you know what I'm saying? Like, and then maybe you could keep adding like new music videos to this MTV game. I'm not sure that's like that might be a licensing nightmare, but if that could be done, that'd be great. I I would love a Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. I mean, like more than Peewee's Playhouse. Peewee's big advent adventure. Well, I I'm just gonna say this. I think the creativity in this hobby is pretty bad. And I I've been I think here's why. I think the coders in pinball are not creative enough. And I and I mean that like almost across the board. I just think they don't do enough creativity with the code. And you can make a pinball machine do anything. And every once in a Look, there's been some really cool stuff, right? The Close the door, you little cheeky bugger. You little cheeky bugger. Close the door. Like Like Wonka's Office where half the game turns off. Awesome. There's just not enough amazing stuff coded in each of these games. Guys, come on. Brenda, where are you? Well, where's mommy? Like literally all We have a whole house. We have a whole house and she's got you playing right in front of the door. Come on. What are you doing, babe? Oh, we have a whole house. I'm literally trying to wrap up the show. Um, but my point is like there's just not enough creativity, you know? Like there's not enough creativity in the call outs. There's not enough creativity in like making the machine do something. There's just not enough. Like I'll give you an example. How do you not have a Jigglypuff mode in Pokemon where Jigglypuff sings the song and the machine starts to fall asleep and you slowly lose switches and features and and and it get it starts to get darker and darker and darker and then the machine actually just starts snoring for like, you know, 10 seconds or something and then turns back on. How awesome would that be? You know, like it needs that's what you need. You know, how often is game like have a life of its own? That's why I love the deo mode where like it the flippers are going to the song like more of that. More of that. I think that a lot of the coders that Stern has are tournament people that have coded these games to all be about multiplier madness BS. Not moments of wow, but like how to multiply the score. And that is why I think a lot of pinball machines, if you go and actually look at like the way they're like laid out, it's not to get to these magical moments. It's to like multiply score and like that's that's not great. Who won the five spots? We didn't even do the drawing. Nobody. The drawing is May 2nd. Well, you know, that's the thing about stern coders is you can see them like and I've always said this like this is why Lyman was so great. Like he understood moments. He understood like the journey. I don't think a lot of them do. You know, the moment you turn on a pinball machine, like you got to remember like that's step one on the journey for people. How do you want that first step to be? Is it clear to them like what they're doing? Is the pathway to unlocking magic like do they understand it? So I I you know come I mean not for nothing guys like look at look at some of the coders. The problem with coders is like they're very like technical analytical people. They're not creative. They're coders, bro. What you need is you need like a creative creative to guide them. You know who's so you know what I'm saying? Like who's giving the creative ideas to like Ray's of the world and Tanya's and like you know Elwins like who's giving the ideas like what if we did this you know with the code? What if we hit a song in the middle of this game, right? Like why don't we do more? Like you know how much music is open IP? Let me just let me just say this right now. Do you know that like Beethoin Beethoven Bach Mozart open IP? You don't have to pay any money to put Beethoven music into a pinball machine. Can you imagine just for you know shits and giggles you're playing I don't know let's just say I don't know let's put it out there John Wick then all of a sudden like and like it's like a it's kind of like a there and back again moment for the game. It could just be really cool to just like insert something in it. And here's the other thing. Yeah. Don't don't tell the license holder everything you're doing. You know what I'm saying? Just put [ __ ] in. Just put like Let the coders put some [ __ ] in. Road trip pin. Come on, man. I don't want to put my own music in the road trip pin because I don't want the road trip pin. Steve Bowen. Steve Bowen. Baby, just wait. I love when he was like interview when he was at Deep Root. when he went on Jeff Teololis's show and said, "Just wait. Just wait. We're still waiting, Steve, to see if Robert Mueller gets jail time. Just wait." Steve Bowen is the most famously un ineffective man in the history of pinball like companies. He's literally bounced around and hasn't achieved a single thing. And I get it. He's a nice guy. is good for the, you know, spreading the word of pinball out there. But man, as a as an employee who took paychecks, he's achieved nothing. They need to do the Berio's barbecue challenge, man. It's like nothing. Aka nothing. Yeah. No, Doc, you're right. I mean, it it's it's it's like it's so hard to these people don't think creatively. They just don't. Can I say something inappropriate? I just don't think enough people are having sex. I don't think enough people are having sex. Make love to that game. Make love to that game. Make me feel something. You know, I I always say is like as a communicator and someone who sells creative ideas for a living, people will will remember how you made them feel. Not exactly what you said, not the details of the code. How did how did this moment in the pinball machine make them feel? That's what matters. And there's not enough feels. There's not enough. Anyway, everybody, we are a little bit past our time. This was a fun show. Thank you for the donations. Aussie, thank you again for for leading with the big stick, showing all these other people how it's done. We've got dudes with $800,000 in Ferraris kicking $5 a month. Love you guys. Have a great Saturday. Be good to your families. I'm going to go to the gym now dressed like this. I love it. They can't figure me out at the gym, but I love being in shape. Azie, you know this. I love working out. I love taking care of my body because when I feel good physically, man, it's the only way I can feel good mentally. I can't feel good physically if I don't feel good. I mean, mentally, if I don't feel good physically. Jamie, what's up, brother? Come on, Jamie. Come on. We know. We know. We know. Uh Jamie trying to stick up for tournament players, man. Come on, man. Like take a Dude, those guys holding transl lights and counting 40 bucks, man. We're They're having fun, man. Not as much fun as I'm having, bro. And you know that, Jamie. You know where. Come on, Jamie. Man, imagine Imagine standing up at Tomy Jazz holding up a pinball translite. You know, Jamie, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to bring a pinball transluc, bro. There's not even windows there. But man, come on, man. No grown man should ever hold up a trans light and and be like, "I won something." No, it is the ultimate image that you're losing at life. I'm serious. Put the transl lights down. And I know why they do it because Stern sends these translates as prizes. Yeah, that's how cheap they are. Stern doesn't even want them. You know what I'm saying? I I' I'd be more proud if people held up the toilet paper from Jack Bar as the prize. I'd rather win toilet paper from Jack Bar than a translite because at least the toilet paper has a use, right? I could use it to wipe my rear end. If you win a translite, it has no use. There's no You're never going to use it. It doesn't even look good on a hung on a wall. It's terrible. All right. I will respect you more as grown men that wear cargo shorts and wear socks and sandals. Hold up the toilet paper and then you're the [ __ ] Hold up the translite and you've been [ __ ] on. I mean that. Don't Don't And then don't wear like the dealer t-shirts. Oh yeah, look now I'm spons now I'm sponsored by a deal. Have some effing pride people. Have some effing pride. You look silly. You look silly. Unless it's automated or coin taker, baby. Yeah, I thought you I I just saw your name, Jamie. It triggered. I'm sending you some toilet paper, Jamie. Signed by Canada. Later, guys. _(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: 12418ba7-6e7d-469a-812d-1e7feab3bd87*