# BDYETP 96: Star Wars (again), Dune, Merlin’s Arcade, Space Hunt Impressions

**Source:** Bro, Do you Even Talk Pinball  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-10-08  
**Duration:** 75m 4s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/buffalo-pinball/episodes/BDYETP-96-Star-Wars-again--Dune--Merlins-Arcade--Space-Hunt-Impressions-e3995dp

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## Analysis

Kevin Manny and Nick Lane discuss the newly released Star Wars: Fall of the Empire pinball machine from Stern (designed by John Borg on Spike 3 platform), impressions of Dune by Barrels of Fun (generally positive but early code), Multimorphic P3 updates including Elemental Pinball and new modules, and a homebrew Big Trouble in Little China machine that impresses both hosts.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Star Wars: Fall of the Empire has 770 LEs and is not available in Europe, Middle East, or Africa due to licensing issues — _Kevin and Nick discussing the official announcement and regional restrictions_
- [HIGH] The Death Star shot on Star Wars is rattly and rejecting, with John Borg posting a Facebook video showing the fix being dialed in — _Kevin citing Don (former Pinball Podcast host) and John Borg's Facebook post confirming the issue and ongoing fixes_
- [HIGH] Expression lights are only available on Premium and LE versions of Star Wars, not on the Pro model — _Kevin and Nick analyzing the official product tier specifications and chat discussion_
- [HIGH] Stern reduced LE production from approximately 1,000 units to 770 to create scarcity and drive FOMO — _Kevin explicitly stating the production reduction strategy and reasoning_
- [HIGH] Dune by Barrels of Fun has early code that needs significant work on presentation and story integration — _Kevin and Nick's detailed play impressions, describing the code as 'really early' and lacking presentation_
- [HIGH] Big Trouble in Little China homebrew by Kyle Smet (Mudflaps Pinball) features custom callouts from original actor James Paxson — _Kevin reading the credits listing James Paxson providing original callouts for the homebrew_
- [MEDIUM] Spike 3 allows for cost-cutting measures while maintaining the same retail pricing — _Kevin stating 'that's what I've heard' regarding Spike 3 cost-cutting enabling higher profit margins_

### Notable Quotes

> "This is like the 13th Star Wars pinball machine, but maybe this is a good one."
> — **Kevin Manny**, early in Star Wars discussion
> _Establishes the community fatigue with repeated Star Wars releases and cautious optimism about Fall of the Empire_

> "Dune makes Berrios look like a fucking masterpiece if I gotta be honest I hate to say it it's not a good game"
> — **Nick Lane**, Dune impressions segment
> _Initial strong negative reaction to Dune (later clarified as joking), sets up nuanced discussion of game quality_

> "This game looks more impressive than some games that get released by quote-unquote real companies."
> — **Kevin Manny**, Big Trouble in Little China discussion
> _High praise for homebrew BTILC quality relative to commercial manufacturer releases_

> "It's not one that I'm going to get because it's Star Wars, and I'm not sure if it does anything truly special to lose your mind over"
> — **Nick Lane**, Star Wars analysis
> _Indicates community skepticism about Star Wars IP value proposition despite game quality_

> "The fact that Ray Day was getting wrecked by the game to start with was encouraging to me because he's an amazing player."
> — **Kevin Manny**, Star Wars difficulty analysis
> _Discusses difficulty balance and potential for challenging gameplay that keeps players engaged_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Star Wars: Fall of the Empire | game | New Stern Pinball release on Spike 3 platform, designed by John Borg, 770 LEs, regional licensing restrictions |
| Dune | game | Barrels of Fun pinball machine with early code, features worm mechanism, playfield digital display integration |
| Big Trouble in Little China | game | Homebrew machine by Kyle Smet (Mudflaps Pinball), features original actor callouts and professional-quality design |
| John Borg | person | Designer of Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, legendary Stern Pinball designer, confirmed working on fixing Death Star shot issue |
| Kevin Manny | person | Co-host of Bro Do You Even Talk Pinball podcast, traveled extensively for work, provides game impressions and P3 updates |
| Nick Lane | person | Co-host of Bro Do You Even Talk Pinball podcast from Buffalo Pinball, provides critical game analysis |
| Kyle Smet (Mudflaps Pinball) | person | Homebrew designer of Big Trouble in Little China, assembled team of professional artists and audio designers |
| Multimorphic | company | P3 platform manufacturer releasing Elemental Pinball, Portal module, and hosting third-party modules like Nezik City |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Pinball manufacturer of Dune, with ongoing code development and play-testing feedback |
| Ray Day | person | Elite pinball player used as reference point for game difficulty analysis on Star Wars |
| Rob Gantz | person | Host who organized Dune play session in August, provided Dune-themed hospitality |
| Randy Martinez | person | Artist who created playfield art for Big Trouble in Little China homebrew, has worked on Mandalorian and John Wick for Stern |
| Scott Denisi | person | Sound designer and composer for Big Trouble in Little China homebrew |
| Planetary Pinball | company | Auctioning original concept art from classic Bally Williams games through Heritage Auctions |
| Spike 3 | product | New Stern platform featuring 35% larger display, upgraded audio with 2x wattage, wireless headphone support, cost-cutting measures |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Star Wars: Fall of the Empire release and design, Dune pinball game impressions and early code quality, Big Trouble in Little China homebrew showcase
- **Secondary:** Multimorphic P3 module ecosystem and new releases, Stern pricing strategy and LE production limits, Pinball game quality and design philosophy
- **Mentioned:** Licensing restrictions on Star Wars pinball, Bally Williams original art auction

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.62) — Hosts are moderately positive on Star Wars despite Star Wars fatigue and some quality concerns. Dune is discussed with mixed but leaning-positive impressions after initial joking harsh critique. Big Trouble in Little China homebrew receives enthusiastic praise. P3 ecosystem updates are very positive.

### Signals

- **[sentiment_shift]** Big Trouble in Little China homebrew receiving unusually high praise, raising questions about commercial manufacturer competitiveness (confidence: high) — Kevin stating homebrew 'looks more impressive than some games that get released by quote-unquote real companies'
- **[design_philosophy]** P3 platform enabling diverse creative designs (cyberpunk, elemental themes) not possible on traditional pinball hardware (confidence: high) — Kevin highlighting Nezik City and Elemental Pinball as platform-exclusive creative opportunities
- **[licensing_signal]** Star Wars: Fall of the Empire not available in Europe, Middle East, or Africa regions due to licensing restrictions (confidence: high) — Kevin noting regional unavailability and 'weird licensing stuff going on with this'
- **[community_signal]** Ella McLean (GLaDOS voice actress) appearing at RetroGameCon to support Portal pinball at manufacturer event (confidence: high) — Kevin planning to attend event and get Portal magnets signed by actress
- **[market_signal]** Stern maintaining existing price point despite Spike 3 development, likely offsetting costs through manufacturing efficiencies (confidence: medium) — Kevin stating 'good on them for not raising pricing' and speculation about Spike 3 cost-cutting measures
- **[product_strategy]** Multimorphic Portal module finally entering production after months of development and testing (confidence: high) — Kevin noting long wait period since previous streaming session and upcoming personal receipt of unit
- **[product_strategy]** Dune features digital display integration on backboard with visual effects (ball-destroying spaceship animation) (confidence: high) — Kevin describing the cool effect of the digital display integration during gameplay
- **[product_concern]** Death Star shot on Star Wars: Fall of the Empire experiencing rattle and rejection issues, though John Borg confirmed working on fixes (confidence: high) — Kevin citing Don's report and John Borg's Facebook video demonstrating the issue and ongoing adjustment
- **[business_signal]** Stern reducing LE production from ~1,000 to 770 units to restore scarcity and FOMO after previous over-production (confidence: high) — Kevin explicitly analyzing the production reduction: 'having so many LEs is not going to drive the purchases. You got to make it actually limited.'
- **[technology_signal]** Uncertainty about speaker size compatibility with new Spike 3 backbox design featuring larger display (confidence: medium) — Kevin and Nick speculating whether smaller speakers are necessary and impact audio quality

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## Transcript

 Up on this episode of Bro, Do You Even Talk Pinball, we've got the new release of Star Wars. Again, another Star Wars game. Sure, why not? We've got Dune impressions, Merlin's arcade impressions, and Space Hunt impressions. All that and more coming right up. Double Super Jet Pod! I need a ramp. I need a loop. I want targets I can hit. I need the scoop. I need a double super jetpack in my life. That's right. Nick Lane and Kevin Manny of Buffalo Pinball. Boom shakalaka. What's going on, everybody? It's Brody Even Talk Pinball for Tuesday, October 7th, 2025. I'm Kevin Manny. That's Nick Lane. Nick, how's it going? What's your boys? Hey, Kevin. Hey, before we get into it, y'all need to smash that like and subscribe button. You know what I mean? It's supposed to be at the start of the video, right? smash the like and subscribe turn on your notifications did I do it right? oh shoot Gav you know I can't see on your side the like chatter overlays let me uh I can turn that on for you we're live Nick yeah I know I was like I gotta see the chat that's how I have fun you know and I can't see the chat then it's like why bother I need you to send me the code for um I'm just gonna do this there you go now you should see everything on the screen okay alright if you can send me the code wow off to a roaring start everybody I know we're breaking out the dust we're doing this on a Tuesday also after working for the day so it's not like a waking up fresh cup of cup of coffee kind of deal alright alright we're good we got Wormer butthole in chat already it's a little early for that but I mean if you guys want to go there we can yeah it always leads there okay Nick's almost logged in, we're almost ready to go I'm good, let's go let's go somehow let's go somewhere, let's do it alright, so how's your month been? I know you've been busy super busy I travel a lot for work these days I'm waking up at 4am to travel again tomorrow and I was traveling last week and I was traveling two weeks before that so not as much pinball as I like. Oh, I can update on John Wick later. We'll talk about some updates on John Wick. But yeah, it's been busy. Yeah, for sure. Things are good. It's Tron Week. Ready to go see the movie this weekend. Just been hanging out, watching a lot of baseball. The Yankees are kind of hanging in there. Barely. They're probably going to get wrecked tonight, but you know, that's life. I'm not traveling all over for work, so I've got that going for me. Yeah, I saw Bill's game. Oh yeah, you're the That's the reason the Bills lost yesterday. A hundred percent. Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah, I stopped playing that stadium when I jinxed it. Amazing. All right. You want to thank some partners? Let's do that. I can do that. All right. We want to give a special shout-out and thanks to our premier partner, Zach Money of Flip N Out Pinball. FlippinOutPinball.com. FlippinOutPinball.com. Look, if you're in the market to buy a pinball machine and you haven't bought from Zach or haven't checked out Zach, you're doing it wrong. Not only has he got fantastic pricing, but his customer service is second to none. He'll even sell you a Merlin's Arcade. He's willing to do that. Again, this guy, like, I don't know if I agree with all these things, all the games that he's selling, but he's willing to do it, and that makes him a good person for at least letting people make their own decisions. It's free will at its finest. All right, so that's Flip N Out Pinball, Zach Money. Check it out. I want to give a shout-out to our other partners, Pinball Life, dot com head on over there that's the uh that's the place where i buy all my parts for pinball machines i've been doing so since 2011 we've got comet pinball comet pinball for uh you know silicone rings tools sweet matt check that out that's not that's no comet pinballs leds titan pinball titan pinball is that oh my god guys nick i hope you i hope this is a reward for everybody who did not, who doesn't skip these, so you can just watch me just slog through this. All right. Titan pinball. Titan pinball. Comet pinball. All right. Comet pinball. That's where you get LEDs. Duh. You know? Like, you need LEDs in your pinball machine. Go to Comet. I just, I, uh, I've just been doing some LED rehabs on my classic games, so thank God for LEDs. All right. We got Pinside.com. Pinside is where you can go and buy and sell games. You can go on the forums and have nice little chit-chats, very respectful chit-chats with people, and respectfully put your opinions in there. That's pinside.com. Yeah, I said that right. That's right. Multimorphic, makers of the P3. I think Kevin's got some P3 updates later on. He's the man on the ground with that. And then last but not least, our newest sponsor, Hall & Oates. Hall & Oates is the look if you're going to buy a pinball machine you're crazy to go and try to move it yourself and pick it up yourself so if you live in the northeast you need to reach out to Hall & Oates you can find it on Pinside or Kevin's got the URL on the screen I'm going to read it it's bits.ly slash hall h-a-u-l n as in Nick and then oats o-a-t-e-s reach out Rob Gens will take care of you white glove service i'll pick the game up set it up all that good stuff all right cap boom nailed it go all right so uh we got we got some news here's the tip it's the latest pinball news so hot it's on fire up first it's the star wars fall of the empire from stern if you were like man you know what theme i really wanted a pinball machine that's never been done before we need a Star Wars game. This is like the 13th Star Wars pinball machine, but maybe this is a good one. I know people kind of like the Data East one, but all the rest of them are kind of like, meh. And this one actually looks kind of cool. So this is designed by John Borg. It's on the new Spike 3 platform, which you can see in the photo here has a 35% larger display. The audio has been upgraded. The amp has two times the wattage and wireless headphones support and separate tweeters on the le get bonus uh the price is the same as previous titles which i think is good in this uh in this market right like it's it's a soft pinball market i don't think you want to go raising prices but uh you know this game you know what i've heard is that spike 3 is all about cost cutting so that's probably where they're turning a higher profit margin is by the cost cutting measures that have been uh allowed by the new platform i don't know If that's true, I'm not a technical guy, but that's what I've heard. People are saying, many people are saying. And the LE has, there's 770 LEs. And notably, one of the interesting things about this game is that it's not available in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa. There's some weird licensing stuff going on with this. Yeah. So, I don't know. Nick, I don't think you've gotten any time on this game. Have you seen any gameplay or anything like that? I think I watched gameplay when it first came out for a few minutes. I mean, it's kind of a non-starter when it's Star Wars. I just don't have a lot of energy and interest to look into the game. But when I first saw it, I was like, yeah, that looks more fun than Stern's iteration of Star Wars back in the 2017 version. So, yeah, I mean, it's a kind of generic kind of fan layout, but I do like the placement of the pop bumper, so that's something. You and I were talking about this, Kev. They integrated the Force very nicely. It's very slick. I like what they did there with the way the magnet works and activating the Force. That was sorely lacking from the 2017 version of Star Wars from Stern. So I don't know. I'm looking forward to playing it. It's not one that I'm going to get because it's Star Wars, and I'm not sure if it does anything truly special to lose your mind over, but I've heard some people say it's not a baby game. Yes. That's Nick Lane's contribution to the world of pinball, is that the baby game terminology has taken off. Yeah, I agree with a lot of what you said. I watched that first video that had Ray Day playing it, and the fact that Ray Day was getting wrecked by the game to start with was encouraging to me because he's an amazing player. And it shows me that there's some danger in this game. It's not inherently this insane long playing game. Although I did watch a more recent stream and he played for longer, which makes sense because he's a good player. But, you know, the fact that Ray can get, you know, some balls kicked to the outlanes real quick is encouraging. I want a game that, you know, I want to, you know, I wanted to kick my butt and want me to be able to keep coming back and playing, you know, wanting to hit that start button. And when you have a longer playing game, that's not always the case. Right. I did really like the integration of the, um, the expression lighting on the sides. I thought that was well done. It's not always in certain games for the, uh, for games that are, uh, you know, not music games. They like to put them in the music games, but I like that they're including them on this and it looks like they're doing a pretty good job. I think the art's better than the 2017 game overall. I haven't seen it in person, but my initial impression is that it's not as cheesy looking as the 2017 Stern Star Wars. It looks like classic Star Wars. It's got the, if you remember the old, like, Kenner logo on the toy boxes, that's kind of like the look of the logo, which I like. I don't get like and they're going kind of with the original trilogy we rarely talk about that original trilogy again Fall of the Empire is kind of its own thing but it's also like showing a lot of footage from the movies so I don't I haven't really like tried to grasp what the story is but it just looks like it's the original trilogy which is cool that's what everybody likes and wants and I really am looking forward to this the one concern is that people are saying the Death Star shot. It's rattly and rejecting. I know Don, who used to be on the Pinball Podcast, he was one of the first ones to report on this after playing it at one of the shows out near him. He said this is insanely rejecty. It seems like they're dialing that in on the location or on the factory line. John Borges posted something on Facebook, a video of him making the shot a few times in a row today. Hopefully they're getting that dialed in but that's again it's like it's weird to me they never used to do the le's first and the fact that they're doing the le's first you're paying the most and you're also kind of the beta tester for the layout which i don't understand i i understand like if you pay more you should get it first but it's in pinball it's not necessarily always the best thing so um this is a game you're gonna see everywhere i don't think you have to be in a huge rush to get it um you know the pinball market is not what it was during the uh oh good we got we got a spam bot in the chat cool um yeah you don't have to rush out and play the buy this you're gonna be able to play it get your hands on it try it out um it seems like the code's in a good place i'm kind of i'm encouraged by raid a being on code and the john borg kind of like more um like 2010s ish style layout of you know feedback and things like that um yeah i'm i'm i'm curious about this game want to play it some more there you go oh so the the somebody said in chat wish the pro had the option for expression lights so they're not giving the option for expression lights in the pro that's interesting yeah it doesn't look like here's the pro here and you can see there's there's no cutouts on the oh that sucks why would they do that they can just sell uh they could sell some kits maybe i mean i know they've had trouble getting like the expression lighting kits so maybe they just said the hell with it but yeah that's a bummer man that's a bummer i like when they give people that optionality yeah you think they want to be able to sell more but it's also like another another reason to get people to upgrade i guess it's like well if you want the expression what do you get at least a pro i guess so it is okay oh this is a premium or at least a premium okay you can get all those scumbags yeah the premium has the cutout you can see it there yeah that's Come on, guy. Come on, Stern. That's a kick. That's a real kick. All right. Cheers. I mean, good on them for not raising pricing. I mean, things are tough, right? Like, they're going to hurt a little bit by not raising pricing, but hopefully they are able to compensate by selling a lot of these. And they only had 770, so they're backing down from, like, you know, this idea of, like, 1,000 LEs, which was way too much. It's proven to be way too much. So we're getting down to the realm of reason here, I think. Yeah, that's smart on there. You know, you got to, you got to, having so many LEs is not going to drive the purchases. You got to, you got to make it actually limited. And they're all, they all, as we've talked about in the past, they've also kind of shot themselves in the foot by doing these re-releases a few years after the, the like anniversary editions and things like that. That makes the LE buyers feel like, well, hey, what the heck? You're, you're not calling it an LE, but it's got all these improvements and things like that. so um which version do you like the best in the art uh i think the premium is cool like i like the you know the classic vader and luke going at it on the side um they're all pretty good though like there's not one where i'm like oh that's bad let me see uh so that's that's the pro the pro's got like the um ewoks on the side and the atsd walker and stuff so that's more like return of the jedi ish uh and then let me see oh this one's got the battle of hoth the le which is cool yeah i like them all but i think premium personally is probably my favorite all right yeah so it's all subjective though you know get get the one that speaks to you you know i mean there you go all right so uh stay tuned uh we'll report back with impressions after we get a chance to get our hands on with that one does anybody know in the chat so with the new backbox and the design are the speakers smaller like will you know the pin woofers standard size fit in those as replacements i'm was wondering about i can't tell from the picture i can't tell from the picture if they made them smaller but i don't maybe somebody knows yeah i don't know it's hard to tell you'd think it would have to be to fit next to the screen like that but yeah who knows i mean if they're smaller are they going to be as good even though they've i mean it's weird yeah it's a trade-off for sure well that's probably why they put the tweeter on the le's right yeah it'll be interesting like how the sounds actually materialize and and do sound better right especially with the aftermarket solutions right because you can get the spike two games really cranking with um like a pinwoofer or custom solution yeah for sure yeah if i put like the kenwoods in my uh venom and they sound way better i like the the kickers are even better than those though i think oh totally yeah kickers are the best way to go. Yeah. Cool. All right. You threw this one in here, the Big Trouble and Little China pinball. I hadn't really seen anything about this. What's going on with this one? Oh, really? You haven't seen that yet? No. Oh, man. They even have, like, a teaser video for it. Let's roll the video. This is a homebrew, Kevin, by the way. Okay. Okay. Let's just... I just want to see... Okay, here we go. All right. Give me some gameplay here. Here we go. what's the sound on don't don't dmca me randy martinez that's good that's the dude that's did some of the uh stern yeah john wick yeah amando amando yeah brian allen scott denisi what a team you really shook the pillars i wonder if this is one of the if they're like gonna try to get this produced. Yeah, I mean, look at it. It is remarkable. I would never think that that's a homebrew. Right? Yeah, for sure. It's better than Predator. That's a low bar, but... Oh yeah, here we go. Here's some shots. This looks incredible. It does. I could be the guy that says I've never seen this movie when we talk about this one. I've never seen it either. You know what, Kev? We'll have to watch it. We're going to get lit up in the YouTube comments now. What the hell's wrong with those guys? I've never seen this movie. Looks good, though. I'm interested. I'm interested. Yeah. That's impressive. It's very impressive. It's very impressive. Yeah, very, very impressive. It'd be a shame if they didn't make this game. I mean, it's got even an expression lighting in it, for God's sakes. I think. I think it does, right? Am I wrong? Yeah, well, it's got, like, the light bars on it, like, you know, like pin stadiums or whatever. Oh, yeah, and they are changing colors. So yeah that cool I don know This thing is just very very impressive for homebrew I just cannot believe it That incredible I imagine it going to be at Expo if it this far along Yeah, I think that's, yeah. They're bringing it. And just look at the display, too, like that they did up there, the UI for it and everything. I mean, God, how many people, I don't know how many people did that game, but that's remarkable. Yeah, nicely done. Who makes it? It's a one-off homebrew game, so nobody makes it yet. Maybe somebody will pick it up. Yep. Maybe if American Pinball was still around, they could build it. Mudflaps Pinball is the name of the homebrew guy that he goes by. Good job, Mudflaps. I had his name in the thing. I should probably give the dude credit, shouldn't I? Let's see. He can keep going while I find him. Oh, yeah. Kyle Smet, a.k.a. Mudflaps Pinball. So one dude? Like, well, obviously he had the art by other people, but that's just... Yeah. I don't know, man. I'm sure he'll get interviewed if he's not been on some podcasts, and that's one I'd actually like to listen to just to hear about the process for this game. Yeah, so it looks like there's three artists. Art Blades were by Randy Martinez, who did Mando and John Wick. Playfield Art by Brian Allen. He's done a lot of the reworked Bailey Williams art that you've seen around, like Whitewater and Medieval Madness, stuff like that. Sound and Original Music by Scott Dinizi. Shout out, Scott. Hand-Painted Backglass by Michael Calandra. Interactive Topper by the folks at Electric Playground and Randy Martinez. Call Us From the Original Big Trouble in Little China actor James Paxson. They even got the actor from the movie to do custom call-outs for this over here. I know. That's insane. I know. It is insane. It is insane. This game looks more impressive than some games that get released by quote-unquote real companies. We're going to talk about some of them later. Yeah. Okay, that's cool. Looking forward to trying that. Hopefully it makes the rounds of the shows. It's got like a little, you know, the little demon thing on Fireball 2. It looks like it's got that in there. Oh, that's cool. I'm looking at it. The little demon. Yeah. That's cool. All right. I've never been excited for homebrew before but I actually am for this awesome cool I guess we'll have to watch the movie now so yeah this came up somebody posted this on one of the groups on Facebook and it's from Nap Arcade but the Planetary Pinball folks are moshining off a bunch of original art from Belly Williams and there's some insane stuff in here you know concept drawings for um a classic belly williams games so this is not like the production art but it's like early like concepts so there's like future spa art too hot for twitch we got to get off of that uh this is mr and mrs pac-man it does have uh frontier i don't i don't want to hype up frontier too much in case you want it nick but uh the original frontier art is on here tons of stuff even Hardbody. So if you're looking for these are awesome like original art pieces if you want something for your game room. Heritage Auctions is auctioning them off. And yeah, it's pretty cool. Especially if you got one of these games as one of your all-time favorites. Add it to your collection man. Playfield Art. Cool. Yeah, good stuff. Any thoughts on this Nick? No, you found it. So I just wanted to draw people's attention to because the auction is this Friday. There you go. That's our PSA. We've done our good work, Kevin. There you go. There's good old Frontier. That's amazing. This is Kenny Rogers. Somebody in our community has to buy this so I can see it hung up in their game room. That'd be amazing. Yeah. Alright. Nice. Alright. Up next, let's talk some P3. Multimorphic has had a bunch of stuff coming out. surprisingly busy month in the world of P3. So they started out with this reveal of Elemental Pinball, which is an add-on game that you can play on any of your modules. It makes use of a lot of the scoops in the lower part of the play field. So basically you play, and as you are trying to hit shots, I'll play the video here so the folks watching at home can see, but as you're playing, the elements are filling up the screen, and then you hit shots it pauses the element so it's like a big timer on the screen and then uh you hit the scoops and the faster you do it uh the the quicker you can get through the modes there's four different gameplay modes there's one where you collect coins and it's a much more of a risk reward kind of thing there's one that's like instant death um and uh you can um so that one's super hard you can see there you can see the clouds filling up um yeah so this is a fun and it's free totally free uh if you got a p3 and any of the playfields you can download this game from multimorphic and and add it to your collection of games it's super fun um great for when you just want to play a quick game of something and uh there are folks that really really like the scoop so if you if you're a scoop fanatic this game is for you check it out elemental pinball i had some some folks over here to stream it with me the streams on youtube if you want to check it out that's what we're watching right here um and then a couple weeks later we got i got an email from um deluxia studios it's a father and son team who made this uh cyberpunk-esque p3 game called nezik city and this is their first pinball machine uh the son is 22 this is his first game that he's ever made uh and it's fun his father helped with some of the design and marketing and stuff like that uh really really cool so this works only on the heist play field and um you're uh kind of like battling through different waves and there's there's power-ups and hacks and things you can do um bunch of cool multi balls uh and there's a wizard mode that spoiler alert i got to on the stream so if you want to see it uh front to back i played through the whole thing although when I played it, I used a bunch of hacks to get through it. So there are some alternative ways to make it more challenging settings to make it more challenging. If you want to, if you want to just make it a little harder, but yeah, lots, lots, but it's also very approachable. Super fun. Right up my alley theme wise, even though it's an original theme, love the like cyberpunk look and feel really cool game and exciting to see some new designers getting into it. This is the kind of thing you're only going to get on the P3, which is what I really like about the P3. You're never going to get this on a regular pinball machine, and it gives new people a new opportunity to try out creative different things using existing playfields, and bringing this as an add-on experience to a game that you already have. So check that out. You can grab it at the Delixia Studios website or just go to the Multimorphic website, and it's on there as well. Let's see. Next from Multimorphic is Mirror Blades. So this is actually from For Amusement Only Games. I've been kind of like back and forth with Nick a little bit on this for a while. He told me these were in development. What do you think people would think of these? I was like, this is like the perfect thing for the P3 because if you're changing modules, You don't necessarily want a single art on the inside of the cabinets. So I was like mirror blades make sense. So these go in, you throw the play field up, um, stick them on. It's got adhesive and then you can also, uh, drill them into the sides with screws and yeah. And then, uh, it just looks really cool. So, um, I like the added light you get from it. And it also like, you can see the reflections of the light shows and stuff. There's a lot of, uh, sidewall on the P3. So it, it was a really cool job of, uh, of lighten it up and making it, making it look even cooler than it already does. So, uh, check those out. Those are at, for amusement only games website. So thanks Nick for those. And then, uh, yeah, portal finally hitting production, man. I've been waiting for this one since we went out there, uh, a few months ago and streamed it. I know, uh, Ian Harrower, where gamma goats been working hard on the code. Um, super stoked to get one of these. I should be getting in soon. Hashtag soon. Um, and as soon as I do, I'll be streaming it, showing off the latest code. um yeah so you can see they posted they sent out their their regular update sharing a bunch of uh shots of the parts and everything on the assembly line so yeah we'll get another portal in there very stoked and i'm actually gonna go out um so ella mclean the voice of glados is gonna be at retro game con on sunday well this whole weekend and i'm gonna go out there uh i ordered a one of the apron magnets for the game ahead of time, I'm going to ever sign it. That'll be cool. So I'll get, I'll get some photos of that. That'll be fun. Yeah. Stoked for all that. So there's your P3 updates. All right. We got to play a bunch of new games this month. Yeah. Yeah, we did. Let's, let's just start with this one. Cause this is a little tough. I hate, I hate to break hearts here, but we played Dune. All right. Rob, Rob Gantz was a great host. he got the game. Look how excited I am. And he had us over back in August, and he put on a great party. He had a Doom-themed drink and everything. Going into this game, I didn't know what to think of it. I didn't have strong opinions either way. I've had one friend say it was good, another friend say it was not good. So it's just kind of like, okay, we went in a neutral opinion, and I've got to say, Kevin, I thought Barrios was a bad game. Dune is makes Berrios look like a fucking masterpiece if I gotta be honest I hate to say it it's not a good game oh man it's like there it is I was waiting for Rob to say something I was gonna keep that up for a minute Rob but I can't I see Kevin laughing I was just waiting for the comment I'm just joking. I'm just joking. He's joshing you guys. Everybody hold your bottle. I'm just joking. All right, let's get to the real impressions, okay? You want to tee it up first? They were using our photos and stuff as if, like, Buffalo Pinball endorses this game. Buffalo Pinball doesn't endorse the game. We've played a handful of games on it, and I left with a positive impression of it. I thought it was pretty fun. I wanted to play more. I like the layout. I like the fact that the layout felt unique and fresh, which is nice, right? You want different pinball machines to feel like different pinball machines, and Dune certainly does, and it doesn't feel like anything I've played before in a good way. The shots worked. I think the only shot that I really had a problem with was one of the lock shots on the right that goes. It's been a while since I played the game. Oh, yeah, it's kind of like the little light turnaround thing on the right. Yeah, it was kind of rattling around a lot of times. Not a big deal. Maybe it could be adjusted. So, you know, good layout, interesting layout. It was fun to shoot. I wanted to, you know, play more. Game is a great-looking game. You know, I mean, you can kind of tell that from the art and the pictures, but it looks great in person as well. I do like that, you know, idea of the digital display on the backboard of the play field. That's cool. And it utilized it at least once in the game to a cool effect where it kind of ball jumps up and looks like it's destroying one of the spaceships. That was a cool effect. The worm, you know, I was worried that maybe it would slow down play or move too slowly. It doesn't. It's fine. It's not like a wow moment, but it doesn't negatively affect the game, so it's perfectly fine. sounds not a lot of like a it just feels really early code right so it's really hard to figure out how good this game is with the code in it I think that's where it remains to be seen in terms of really getting excited for it when we played I always seemed to be starting the same mode the stuff on the screen or the level of interaction during the gameplay of the modes, nothing really drew me into the story and what I was doing. So the presentation is definitely lacking right now. I think it's got to be really early code. But I'd say it's certainly a promising game for sure. Yeah, I echo a lot of your initial impressions. I thought it felt like going into it, I was like, I wonder if this is going to be a clunky game, and it didn't feel clunky at all. Those shots felt good. um the one i struggled with was the the shot that like threw the worm to the like ramp in the back for some reason i had like the hardest time with that shot um i didn't struggle as much with the shot on the right um but yeah i feel like all the shots were makeable um so that that's step one right you got a fun layout good shots you know so you've got a good foundation to build from I thought the lighting effect in the glass was cool, how it would, like, especially when he started the worm multiball, it would, like, go dark and, like, swirl around. So that was cool. Something neat that I had never seen in pinball before. And that was a cool moment. You want pinball moments, interesting, engaging things in pinball. The worm coming up and doing his thing was cool. So, yeah, but I, yeah, the code and the, in some ways the choreography is really good. I feel like the light show was really good and fun. But the audio was, you know, they love to say, oh, it's so cinematic. It's cinematic in that it, you know, it uses some of the like sound and it feels kind of movie-ish, I would say. But it also is very like monotone. It kind of felt like it was just playing sound effects, like brrrr, sound effects, and not a lot of call-outs. The mode seemed kind of basic and straightforward. Not a lot of variety there yet, so hopefully the code's going to come along, and I know they've been working on updates. So, yeah, I think it's got a good foundation. It has a ways to go from a rules perspective, but hopefully it gets there. All right. And I took the highest score for the night, and I won a Tom Hanna. Oh, yeah. You want to show that off? You want to see the Tom Hanna? I want to see the Tom Hanna. All right. Everybody needs to see the Tom Hanna. Oh, yeah. There it is. You go to a party at Rob's house, you win yourself a beautiful piece of art just like that. Look at that. Amazing. so next guy put his headphones back on yeah so sadly i'll do i'll to win another tournament and maybe i'll get a frame for it so one day i got my tom hannah so the other thing they announced this month was that they're doing their dune accessory set which uh i thought this was interesting for a number of reasons i think the uh the play field like the 3d sculpted plastic things are cool for the slingshots on the inlanes they look really neat um the shooter rod is kind of ridiculous it's huge it sticks out super far from the cabinet this picture doesn't make it look bad but they they posted one on pin side from the player's perspective and it sticks out it's got to be like six inches sticking out from the machine you're gonna like either knock your nuts into that thing or smash it off with your thigh that's this is like a scourge and we're I mean, spoiler alert, there's one coming for mods you don't need later. Why are we doing this to our pinball machines, everybody? But the other thing I thought that was interesting, I was like, you know what? They made a big deal when this game came out or when they were launching this game about how they're going to include everything with this game. They're not going to have, like, the add-on model that all the other manufacturers do. You know, everything is included. And I was like, I swear there was a post like that. So I went back on Pinside. So be savage. I'm not sure who that is. We have noticed there are some other manufacturers that have truly embraced the quote-unquote airlines pricing model. Oh, you want a seat? Clear glass? Upgrade. You want a carry-on shaker motor? Upgrade. Oh, you want food, nicer cabinet? Upgrade. Oh, you want first-class molded toys in your game? Upgrade or talk to a customizer. Why are they selling you all of that when that should come with your machine? so just like the airlines the price is not really the price hashtag best value in film like you're doing it now you're doing the thing you said you didn't do that only everybody else does uh you know i mean why honestly it's a bad idea for one manufacturer to criticize another to shut the fuck up like let us do that all right stay in your lane that's right that's what we're here for it's like okay you like hype up your game but like and i don't have a problem with people if they want to offer upgrades offer upgrades but don't come out and say you're getting everything you don't you're not gonna charge you for add-ons and then come out and do it six months later yourself you know there's receipts on the internet the internet never forgets um what do we got oh merlot two two more games that we got impressions of uh these came out to the club you want to talk a little bit about how this came to be yeah um so there were there's like a doing like a traveling road show for merlin's and space hunt and the club was able to get it there for a couple weeks before that that was like a rpc then it was at the club for a couple weeks so thanks to dave sussa for that and then um i think it's in pittsburgh now so we were able to do a tournament and folks got to play these games So let start with you Kevin Let talk about Space Hunt first okay Okay You got it on there What do you think of Space Hunt So I had played these at RPC first and then played them out at the Nickel City Pinball Club too. I think, yeah, it's kind of a toss-up. I like the Space Hunt, I think, is better overall. I think there's more to do in it. I like the kind of like spacey theme. First off, let me just say, everybody calling for original theme games, here's two of them for you. Get your wallets out and go buy one of these. I'm not telling you to, but for the people that said the original themes, let's see you. This is your time to shine. That's right. Back up your words, you know what I mean? But not that original theme. So I like the look and feel and the sound is good on this. the shots are okay I don't love like the flippers were kind of weak and I don't know if that's just because these are prototypes or whatever but yeah after a few plays they were starting to feel a little soft and I know there were some technical issues with this like the drop target and stuff like that and it's kind of like what comes with these boutique bimbo machines a lot of times but the shot to the far left So on the far left, there's an orbit, and just to the left of that is a super long sweeping ramp to get around to the upper playfield. It's like so hard to get. It will go around. It'll do it. But it's like you spend all this time trying to shoot that shot, and then it comes around, and you're not even like ready for it, and it's off of that upper playfield. It's like, oh, my God. I did all that work, and it's like you can barely even stay up there, which normally I like an upper playfield where you're not up there all the time. but this one is so hard to get to that it's kind of like there should be the reward of being able to play up there after you finally get the shot all the way around. But, you know, the code and the presentation, I feel like the thing with a lot of these startup manufacturers is the choreography and the presentation is not great, and I think that's true on both of these games. And the code depth is also not that great, so it's like startup mode, stay bring in a multiball rinse and repeat there is more shot variety mode variety in um space hunt than there is in the merlin's arcade but um i don't think either one of them is outstanding and especially you know if you're looking for for new in box prices on these games compared to the other manufacturers i just unless you're just like one of these collectors that has so many games that you're looking for something unique and different um so you can have bragging race they have something that nobody else has uh i i really can't see grabbing one of these i don't know what about you nick yeah i mean i think you you cover a lot of it um one i think this game is just really ugly i i think the i don't know i think the backlash is pretty hideous um there's something that draws me in the aesthetics i just i can't get behind it um the theme doesn't draw me in any way and even playing it doesn't i don't know i just i like the layout i thought it was a pretty cool layout uh the right flipper was weak on the one that we had so it was frustrating i thought i i like this i i played them both and i like this one better originally but the more i played it i liked it less and less and the more i played merlin's i liked merlin's more and more interesting interesting yeah yeah yeah we'll get the same much i'm not i have thoughts yeah no danger of buying any of these games but you know i mean i haven't bought any new games in forever but yeah uh yeah for sure it's like you know get it if you want something different but yeah it's you said it best it's solely for like the person who wants to have bragging rights on like i've got this game there's like 100 200 of them right like you're not going to see it anywhere and I got it right and that's I feel like that's who's gonna buy it right because on gameplay and everything else alone there's just so many better games you can buy right agreed uh and yeah let's talk talk Merlin's Arcade uh why don't you go first on this one all right so Merlin's Arcade this is from Turner Pinball Space Hunt was from a French company so Turner Pinball who made that Samurai game Ninja Eclipse this is their second game you were saying Kevin that this is actually a game that Deep Root was making yeah yeah it's so funny about this Turner company they tried so hard to distance themselves from Deep Root when they first started and they're just they bought all the Deep Root assets and stuff so they're picking up where they left off on a lot of these so So, yeah, this is a continuation of a game that started at the Deep Root. Okay. Yeah, so we had the Legendary Edition, I guess, is the one we had. It's got, like, the bling on the armor and some LEDs on the lights. It looks like, when you look at this, Kevin, it looks like a stern really quickly. It really does, yeah. The shape of it, the size of the screen, the LEDs on the speakers, the speaker design. they even have like the plaques right like where stern does on the um above the speakers they even have like a like almost like instead of insider connected they got a sticker for whatever system they're using so it's very which is fine i think that's like i think that's a smart thing i would i would do that i'd make it look like a stern so it doesn't look weird in the lineup looks like anything else it kind of legitimizes it um i think that the the art is is great art on the game like it's an attractive looking game. It's a childish looking game at the same time. It's kind of like a Disney-esque. And it's a very bizarre theme to me. Obviously Merlin's Arcade is Merlin, but then you're in an arcade, so there's foosball and there's pool and there's the basketball shooting game. Really weird. Really weird matchup of themes. I would have been way more into this game if it was like you know knights of the round table kind of deal with with merlin or merlin's adventure or something right like in a medieval setting but instead they did this mashup okay fine it's just like i don't think that the theme alone is going to appeal to a lot of people where you could have just gone gone like um pretty used license and again if you just stuck to merlin's or something knight castle related that medieval related that kind of thing you might have more success but what what do i know i just think it's a weird thing um what i like about the game i think is that i think it shoots great um and you were telling me kevin that this game was designed by uh Jon Norris right yeah our boy john and Jon Norris what did Jon Norris do kevin what's what's the best game in the world that that Jon Norris did he's world famous for designing bad girls that's right amongst other games but he designed bad girls which is interesting because the game has pool balls on the side of it, like Bad Girls does. It doesn't have drop targets, but it actually has a third flipper that you can use to hit those pool balls. The game is a pretty wide open layout, but the shots flow very nicely. I like the third flipper, how you can hit the right orbit shot and loop it again and again. A lot of things feed that left flipper, and you have a couple shots and you're trying to hit the pool ball. The game is good in constantly keeping the ball moving, which helps with my undiagnosed ADHD, ADD, whatever. Now, the game that we played was at version .6 something, so I had no idea really what was going on in the game. It was really hard to figure out what I was doing or what I was not doing. I can't tell anything really about the rules in terms of depth. I got to a few modes. I got to a multiball, and that was it. I would say that the game, not only in the layout feels good, but in, like, the flippers themselves, it feels great. Like, the flippers feel great. And that's an important but basic thing. Like, okay, you get the flippers feeling good, now let's go on to the next thing. So they nailed that. And then they have the weird thing, which I think was superfluous and not really needed, was they had a second set of flippers, which would do like a tap pass so you can pass it like a tap pass like on a ballet you can hit the second flipper button and it would tap it over to the other flipper that to me is like a novelty maybe some people like it I just didn't think it needed to be in the game but I think people at the club liked it anyways I I had more fun playing this game and I wanted to play it more compared to Space Hunt and um there's some amateurs things like the sound levels were off um not a big deal but overall i mean it was it was a pretty professional looking game i was pretty impressed by it i had a little very low expectations yeah for sure i yeah i would definitely say this is the more fun game to shoot i don't know if that would wear thin after a while because it's it's like super it's probably like the easiest shooting game i've ever played like every shot just goes somewhere good the inlanes felt really friendly it didn't feel super dangerous when it went to the to the sides um but yeah like like you said the the code is just so early on this game and apparently it's been updated since then but the one that we played um i mean that's all we can judge it based on the one we played uh had a had a long long way to go and uh yeah like you said weird theme i kind of like the weird mashup it's like it's some weird nightmare of a theme like merlin and the knights of the round table in an arcade like it doesn't make sense at all but like that's kind of what makes it fun uh it's kind of like a fever dream but again it's like nine thousand dollars for the the version that we played and seven thousand dollars for a standard version it's like really i don't know again it's this is one of those games where if you want something unique that Nobody else has. Maybe give it a go. I think from a gameplay perspective, it's pretty fun. Hopefully the code will get there. I actually, I like the tap pass buttons, especially on a game where it's only got one ramp that returns to the right. So if you're like, got it on the left, there's no like ramp shot to get it over to the left or to the right. If you got it on the left, you want to get it to the right. There's no safe way to get over there. So you can do the tap pass and get it over there. start your multiball so I think it makes sense for this layout if you had like a flowy layout where you could get save shots to either in lane then it wouldn't be as useful but I think it does make sense on this game again it's like one of those things that most people are not going to understand what that is or how to use it but for advanced players it's like oh it's a tap pass button and then you kind of immediately understand how it works and what to do so something neat and interesting at least I believe when they were doing Ninja Eclipse they limited it to 100 I couldn't find anything on here in terms of the limited numbers of it which again you limit it, that's going to drive the fact that hey, there's only 100 I've got one of them and they'll do well in that sense I don't know if maybe they're banking on they've got something better here and they didn't cap it I'm not sure Merlin limited to 500, is that only the LEs or is that all in total? I wish I were kidding. Oh, we got taken by Blueberry Johnson. He got us. Yeah, I don't... No, he's not. So 500, limited to 500. Okay, that's not really a limit. They... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But they limited the other one to Ninja Eclipse 200, and they sold out, right? This, they're like... This, they think 5X. 5X they can do. Yeah, no, I gotcha. Yeah, there's no way they're selling 500 of these. I'm sorry. I mean, if you put it at 100, I think that's low enough that it's going to drive people maybe like 150, 200 at most. But, yeah, I just don't think there's enough of a market to sell 500 of these. And the problem is, like, I get that, like, they have to, like, the bill of materials. Like, I get that they have to charge, like, $9,000 or close to it. but it's just like, man, why would you buy this when you can buy so many other games? Again, the demographic is just the people that want to one-up. This game, if you can get it for like $4,500, I know that's not realistic. I mean, on a secondary market of plunges, it might not be bad, you know, if they get the code up and it becomes something that's finished out and then you have something that's a little novel and different, a little whimsical, if you will. You want some whimsy in your life, Kev? You've got to have some whimsy, you know what I mean? I know, I know. That's why I said that. I was like, Kevin likes a little whimsy. gotta have some whimsy yeah so good luck selling 500 of those I think that's what we have to say but thanks to Dave for setting that up it was fun to have him at the club it was a good turnout at that tournament we had a good time alright you ready for some mods you don't need Nick Lane that's my favorite part of the show I know me too my favorite part is when I forget what I put on the list and I look at it and I'm like oh yeah this is really bad so first this one came up speaking of our friend Rob he sent me this one I was like, this isn't that bad. This is kind of cool. It's like a little boat for your Jaws pinball machine. He's like, no, no, no. Look at it installed on the game. I was like, oh, my God. Look at that. Look how ridiculous that is. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Who wants to grab that? Like, come on. That is so stupid. Oh, that is so dumb. They took the orca, if you're just listening to this podcast, so they took the orca boat, which there's already got a boat in the game. They're like, no, no, no. Bumbo's not enough. Let's have another orca. And they put it as a shooter rod. And this thing looks like so fucking uncomfortable to grab. I mean, I guess the only way to make it worse is if you put some razor blades in it. This is another mod for people who don't actually play their pinball machines. It's like that gun handle shooter thing that people put on their pirates, DJP pirates, that like destroys the, you like can't even hit the skill shot when you put it on because it's so heavy and screws everything up. Like, oh yeah, you just want a game to look good in your game room. There you go. Put that on there and then never play it. Mm-hmm. Thanks for that one, Rob. So this... Here's one I found on Pinside. It must be Jaws month. Here's a Jaws topper. What in the hell is that? What is that? What is this? What? What? What? Yep, there you go. You want to see a video? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Oh, I should have asked you. $189? Yeah. Dude, that's 3D printed trash, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it sure is. Oh, my God. $189? Look at that. Look at that. $189. All right, describe it for our listeners. I can't. It's supposed to be like Jaws' mouth. But, like, the color's off. You can't barely tell what it is. Yeah, so let's say, like, we didn't know what that was and you just showed that. Not even in the context of pinball, but, like, Nick, what do you think this is? I don't know if I can get it. I don't know. It looks like a sign that's not completed. It's missing the lettering in the middle of the sign. Like, the teeth are, like, okay, the teeth part are kind of fine, but, like, the outline of it, right? I don't know. This is why it's really weird. That's really bad. All right, there you go. $189. There you go. Get your wallet out, kids. I was thinking like $30, Kev. I'm not joking. I was like, $30 and it's still too much money. Not in Pinball World. And they're calling it a topper? Oh, yeah, that's a topper. I'll read the description for the people at home. This is a Jaws-inspired topper for your consideration. This will look great on your Jaws pinball machine. The topper is attached using a magnet at the bottom of the topper. The topper will be magnetized to the steel head of the game. The power cord is placed inside the hole on the top of the head and routed into the surface outlet of the game. There is a variation available that comes with a harness to get your topper power from the power board on the game. The topper is 15 inches wide by 8 inches tall. Let me know if you have any questions. Nick, do you have any questions? I got a lot of questions, but not a lot of answers. Oh, it's if you want the harness where it actually like turns on with your game instead of going into the service outlet. It's another 10 bucks, $199. Actually, my one question is how many of these did they sell? That is I really want to know. I really want to know how many of these they sold. OK, yeah, same. I think I think we've sold it's in stock. It is one in stock. Well, they only made one. So El Rocco asks, El Rocco in chat says, is a magnet enough to keep it up there if you were to shove it? That's a good question. So then it can fall down on your game and do some damage. That's great. And shatter into a million pieces because it's 3D printed. It's only one way to find out. Only one way to find out. Get yourself one. Well, again, this is probably for people who don't play their game. Right. They want to have something on top of it that nobody knows what it is. What is that on top of your jaws? I don't know. Does it matter? No, it's a topper. I wish Goran were here. Spoiler alert, no Goran this month. I think Goran should call that because he can make the official call and call it not a topper. Oh, a topper or not a topper. You can't just call something a topper. Right? Like, if I call, like, a sneaker a chair, you're like, no. It's a topper. No. No, it's not a topper. It's not a topper. You can't just call things toppers. It's not a topper. That's how you charge $200 for it You just put the word topper in there Oh What a 200 bucks yeah yeah what a deal search searching a thousand yeah what a deal remember when black knight topper was 400 bucks so this thing like 200 bucks like yeah and people thought 500 bucks for a black knight topper was too much people didn't know it was coming hold my beer yeah wait until i show you the piece of plastic with some leds on it yeah all right that's pretty good that was a good one all right i got one more okay this is This is not a bot you don't need. This is a tool you don't need. Rob's my testing ground. I was like, I'm going to see what he thinks of this one. I was like, what do you think of this for a tool you don't need? This is the, what is this called? Safely carry your, they had some dumb name. Oh, the pinball grab and go tool bag. If you want to look like a tool bag. If you want to look like a tool bag, you use this. Here you go. So at first you're like, okay. that's a little thing to put your bolts and tools and cable in any pack yes i guess i guess like a purse i guess like first off it's like you don't need this you just get a ziploc bag and throw your crap in there and you know like you always do and then it comes with like a little embroidered zip bag to put your balls in that says pinballs okay i guess that's the thing you could do if you wanted wait for it wait oh look at that look at that ladies ladies what the fuck dude i knew it was gonna i knew it was going there when i saw it before we got to it but i still i wasn't prepared kevin seeing it look at look at just like that that that belt loop is just holding on for dear life yeah yeah yeah it's gonna give out it looks so stupid now listen i'm gonna I'm going to be very, very honest. There's somebody out there who probably has no hands, and this is perfect for them. There you go. They can't hold on to it. I don't know how they're going to fix a pinball machine. How do you get the parts in it? You insensitive son of a bitch. Kevin, they don't have a hand to hold it. The rest of us just hold up our hands. This person doesn't, and there it goes. Pinballs. Pinballs. Pinballs. It's a good thing they labeled it. I know. I'd be so confused. comment, bro, that's a fanny pack. Yeah, yeah. Oh, here you go. Fanny packs would make more sense. Yeah. You want to have a fanny pack for your tools. Look at that zoom in. Is that a zoom or is that the viewer's seat? Do they see the zoom in? What's that? Never mind. It's like zooming in on my screen. Oh, yeah. You're zooming in a little bit. Alright. Okay, we got some game room updates. Thank you, thank you Best segment of the show That's why you put it towards the end You make people stick around for the good stuff Alright, so what's going on In your game room? What's going on in my game room? Well Oh, you know, I put WIC update and impressions We didn't get to that Alright, so let me do this quick That applies to your game room Because you've been playing that I've been playing a lot of WIC And shout out that WIC is getting some love It's getting an update like every month and a half, two months kind of deal. And Mike Fallon, is it Fallon Nor, Fallon Cor, Fallon Cor? Vinnie Cor. Vinnie Cor? Yeah. So it was called Mike. You know, Mike and Lonnie Rapp took over. And, like, I got to be honest, they're doing a good job. They're not just phoning it in. You know, they really kind of had to pick up what Tim started. But they're, I don't know, they probably had a lot of work to do. They're really making its own game right now. So the game is getting really fleshed out. And again, they kind of could have just taken this game and just washed their hands, like just done a few basic things and just like done, we've fulfilled our obligations. But they're putting some thought into it for sure and adding some interesting things. They keep on changing like the modes around and making the game better. I know I'm not being super descriptive, but I wanted to acknowledge that. And I'm definitely grateful that the game is starting to get there. It's at .98, so I think the next update is probably going to be the – It still needs two mini-wizard modes and a wizard mode in it. I think all the improvements that they're doing are generally good. I still think they totally messed up by changing the way the enemies work. I think it's a huge mistake. You know, they've added a nice thing in there, Kev, like if you play the game where all the phones start ringing to indicate when more enemies are spawning. Like before, it would have a noise when an enemy would spawn, but it was, I don't even know what the noise was. It was really annoying, like a countdown timer. It just made no sense. This makes sense. Like, when the phones ring, that means the contracts are going out. More people are coming to kill John Wick. However, the problem is with this game is, like, I'm not, like, frustrated. Like, oh, shit, there's more enemies coming. The game's going to get harder all of a sudden, and I got a clear wave of enemies. Like, no, it's really meaningless. like it will 2, 3x a shot but I don't really pay attention to enemies anymore in terms of the bonus multiplier so again I think I don't think this will happen but in the best case scenario they get this game finished all the bells and whistles all the modes all the polish and they find a way to introduce the fact that the enemies are actually fighting back in the game like they had before but yeah shout out to that team definitely been having fun playing it the game has like quadrupled in length of time that I've been playing it, it feels like. It is what it is, but I still highly recommend that game. I've played that game more than any game in the last year and a half. So is it a baby game now? Because it used to be an ass kicker, and I know they've added a bunch more ball saves and stuff like that, and you said it's a longer playing game. Baby game or no baby game? It's a baby game in the fact that it's a longer playing safer game. That's what makes it a baby game. Now, I only get to, like, maybe I've not beaten all the modes in a single game. I've not gotten to even think to more than two boss fights. I mean, I could focus on that and prioritize. I don't. So it's not like I'm getting to the end of the game and it's easy to beat baby game. It's just long playing and it feels pretty generous and safe, if that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. Dude, I love this game. This game is such a good game. please put the enemies back fighting you that's what gives it soul makes it unique and thematic wise but um other than that i'm happy to own it yeah it's definitely been growing on me the more i played at the club it's pretty it's pretty fun i gotta say but i like the i like the overall vibe of it too it's got like the cool neon cityscape and stuff like that yeah it's got it's got some depth to like things that you like but you beating factions now you get perks and there's one thing in there that I never use, but like on the premium in LE, when you lock balls, they have a thing called swipe a ball. So if you're in multiball, you can like hit the action button and it will release a ball that you have locked, which is a ball that you have locked for another multiball. So you sacrifice progress towards that multiball to bring another ball in play. I like that. That's like the kind of thing where like when I say they're not phoning it in, that shows they're not phoning it in, right? when they're thinking, oh, let's do this. I don't think this has ever been done in a game before. Let's add that in there. So, yeah, shout out to that team for getting it there. Yeah, cool. Good to see. So what else is going on in your game room? Anything else? Nothing else except for the club. Martha got a game for the club. She got a game called Doodle Bug. She was obsessed with Doodle Bug when she played it in Pittsburgh a few months ago, and she hunted one down, found out that um zach from rochester pinball collective had one and he wasn't even selling it but he sold it to martha and she couldn't be happier so she's got her doodle bug she was going nuts when that thing goes back and forth and then the lights are flashing she loves it is that is that when she was giving me that hand gesture as the as the sign of yes that's supposed to be the doodling yes the doodling okay yeah i never would have the ball the ball yeah the ball does the you know like the thing on fireball to see if anybody's played that it's the same idea. That's where it first originated, this doodle bug. I do love some doodle and I played it at Pemburg and it was very fun game, so I'm excited to have it at the club. That's it. Not much for me in the game room as for updates this month. I've been playing all that new P3 stuff, basically. Other than that, just kind of making the rounds on my games. I did finally unlock all the characters on Venom. Yeah, so I've been cranking through that. Now I'm like, now what do I do? I guess you try to like get to the end fast enough or, or play it without logging in and see, you know, play it in a more traditional way. But yeah, that's what I've been up to. And yeah, that's about it. We do have one viewer question. This came in, somebody commented on our last podcast video, which I thought this was a good question that we could discuss on the show. So rather than replying in the comments, I was like, let's talk about this on the next show. So the question was, if you guys were opening a public quarter drop pinball arcade today, which 10 pinball machines would you start with considering price or reliability, popularity, et cetera? Not routing just one location. Well, I guess one location is routing, but I have my own list, but trying to get some feedback from different pinball enthusiasts to get a better feel of what to purchase first. So you actually had a location with pinball machines. I feel like you're well qualified to talk about this. Any thoughts on games that are out right now, probably ones you can buy new in the box or otherwise that would make sense to put on location? Yeah, this is pretty easy, actually. And you'll never have to ask anybody again if you just kind of follow this basic principle. It's all about theme. There might be some exceptions to this, but it's all about theme. Get games where the theme is universally known and popular. So games that do well in location, Star Wars. Everybody knows Star Wars. Stranger Things does well in location because it's popular. Maybe the popularity starts waning over time, right? That's the one thing to consider. But you want a game that is popular in culture, all right? The game can be bad, all right, from a gameplay perspective, but it probably will do good because people put money in games that they recognize and like, and the more people that recognize and like a theme, the more money you'll make. So it's very simple. I would just do that. I would stick with Stern Pros. There's no reason to get premium or LEs, really isn't. And I would buy on the used market. There's no reason to buy a new game if you're trying to make money from routing because that's obviously, you know, that's just more that you've got to make back in your funding depreciation costs versus a game that's been out for, you know, like six months even or a year or so, right and then it's depreciated so you're not gonna the game probably won't depreciate too much anymore obviously it will a little bit on on route but maybe it will even go up um but yeah get a game for like 5500 a nice stern pro popular theme and you you kind of can't go wrong do you think they're uh by waiting the six months are you missing that like new game hype period where people are like going out to play just because it's new yeah that's that's certainly a possibility I don't know the market that you're in. If the market is starved for pinball and there's no competition, you probably can get away with not doing that. If you've got competition and you're like, we have to have the latest and greatest game, then you might have to do that strategy. But again, if you're putting 10 games there, you can just get games from the last few years on the used market, and then sometimes buy a new game a year. You can do that. I don't know. I mean, waiting six months for the price to come down, the way they've been crashing, still it's – Yeah, are you going to make that much money? Are you going to make like two grand in those six months? Probably not. Yeah. Let's say like a lot of pros are dropping down by like $1,000 or $1,500, right? Like, I don't know, a good month you're making $200 maybe. Maybe. So it's going to take five months. like maybe the first month's really good because it's new and then drops down so i don't know that's what i would do yeah that's what i would yeah yeah it's a good point and you know if you're in a market where there are a lot of um pinball locations already maybe you look at what differentiates you right so maybe you look at you know there's people that go into an arcade and they're like do you have the adams family like that's the only game i want to play right so maybe it makes sense to have a classic or two in there that are super popular and we'll draw the nostalgia factor too so there's there's something to consider with that as well but yeah it's the next point get the get the uh low maintenance pros get yourself a uh a theme that people like and i was i was gonna say make that money but you don't really make that money with with pinball the other thing is like you should have uh another source of income like run a bar or a restaurant and have pinball machines in it if you want to actually make money yeah not a lot of money to be made in routing unless you do it at volume right like doing it at volume can can make sense and if you do buy a new game um in all seriousness reach out to flipping out pinball um highly recommend them they'll take care of you you'll get the game quick and all that good stuff so that's the way to go yeah and they got used games too they got new and used games so if you're looking for something build a relationship with zach get her from there all right uh that's going to do it but because we don't have uh topper talk this month i wanted to give a shout out to our buddy gordon who has for years been your topper talk guy at the end of the show he's doing a uh pinball what is it what did they call this so here i'll just read it to you it's a uh andrew gordon replay is the name of it uh and it says about the show andrew gordon loves two things musical theater and pinball after years of not performing he was busy he started a business had great success with the business and then sold the business he's ready to take the stage in his first ever solo cabaret show using the mechanics of pinball to tell some personal and hilarious life stories andrew will bring you into his world the way he sees it with songs you definitely know and some of you definitely don't parentheses ever heard of cop rock uh replay is a fast-moving awkwardly funny and very charming show about an enthusiast of pinball a music theater of life and if you so this is in new york city and if you go to reverie room nyc.com i'll put that in chat too for for y'all uh watching live you can go there and get tickets if you want to go see it live uh but you can also go there if you want to buy a live stream pass so you can buy a pass so to go a ticket to go see it live is 15 bucks if you want to watch it live on on the internets you can buy a pass to watch it 15 bucks support our buddy gordon uh check it out it is october 20th at 7pm one show only one time only get there you don't want to miss it so my Andrew Gorin replay that is reverieroomnyc.com or just search for Andrew Gorin replay and it'll come up so good job Gorin he was rehearsing today and he couldn't get us a he didn't get us a Topper Talk even I will say though like he's always like you guys don't give me enough time for Topper Talk it's like just record one and then it'll be ready for the next show you don't have to it after I tell you. You know we're going to do another show. It's true. It's true. Well, listen, I'm glad you gave Gorin a shout out. I'd love to go to that. I'm not going to be in New York City. I've been traveling a lot. But that truly is limited edition. One show. Yeah, that's an LE right there. Yeah. Go wear your Buffalo pinball shirt. Get Gorin to sign something. I mean, that's a hell of a deal for $15. Hell of a deal. Take your topper and have Gorin sign your topper. The topper talk guy. I mean, that might be your only chance. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We love Goran. Thank you, Goran. Rucko got the virtual ticket. There you go. Thanks for supporting Goran. We appreciate it. There you go. There you go. And then, Rucko, you can come on and do a review of Goran's show. I was thinking about asking him if we could, like, restream it and do, like, a watch-along. We could, like, restream it. He probably doesn't want to do that, though. I told Goran, you know, when I saw that, I was like, listen, if you're going to be doing shows, you can come to the club and do your magic show. Oh, my God. I would love to see Goran's magic show at the club. Oh, yeah. We love you, Goran. Yep. All right. That's going to do it for this one. Thanks, everybody, for watching. Don't forget, we got merch at our website, buffalopinball.com. Our buddy Rob went out and bought a shirt after the last show. So you can be cool like Rob looking good delivering pinball machines on your Buffalo Pinball shirt. Just click the merch button on our website. Follow us on our social media channels, Buffalo Pinball and everything. Email us, talkpinball at gmail.com. If you want to give some feedback, ask questions, like the lovely question we got from our YouTube commenter. You can follow and subscribe on Twitch if you want to support the channel. You can share a little cash money with us by PayPal, buffalopinball.gmail.com for that. Or give us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform of choice. Helps other people find the show and discover the amazingness that is Brody Even Talk Pinball. Nick, what are your parting words for the fine folks at home? but pinball be nice to everybody we'll see you next time bye-bye now you

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 15c2add8-02ad-4811-863a-0e0eea2d9429*