# Pinball Magazine Pinball News Pincast October 2023 recap

**Source:** Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2023-11-02  
**Duration:** 160m 55s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pinball-industry-news/episodes/Pinball-Magazine-Pinball-News-Pincast-October-2023-recap-e2bd12n

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## Analysis

Jonathan Houston (Pinball Magazine) and Martin Eyre (Pinball News) recap October 2023 Pinball Expo in Chicago, covering major manufacturer announcements including Jersey Jack's Elton John reveal and Barrels of Fun's Labyrinth reveal. They discuss Stern's new factory location, Elvira House of Horrors Blood Red Kiss edition release, code updates across multiple titles, and Stern's Paris Games Week presence targeting mainstream gamers.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Pinball Expo is the longest-running annual pinball event (39th edition in 2023) — _Jonathan Houston, opening segment discussing Expo significance_
- [HIGH] Stern's new factory on Busse Avenue is approximately 130,000 square feet — _Jonathan Houston describing factory tour; metric system reference suggests conversion_
- [HIGH] Stern Pinball relocated from Lunt Avenue in Elk Grove Village; move took 7 days and was completed about a month before Expo — _Both hosts confirmed via personal visit to vacated Lunt Avenue facility_
- [HIGH] Elvira House of Horrors Blood Red Kiss edition limited to 500 units at approximately $13,000 USD, with some reported discounts to $11,000 — _Jonathan Houston discussing pricing; Martin notes discounts observed on Facebook but unconfirmed_
- [HIGH] Stern donated a Jurassic Park Pro model pinball machine to Anne and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital as the 70th machine placed by Project Pinball charity — _Jonathan Houston citing official ceremony and dedication_
- [HIGH] Led Zeppelin Pro and Premium, plus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Premium are out of production with $1,000-$2,000 discounts; Stern removed minimum advertised price on these titles — _Martin Eyre discussing distributor clearance strategy_
- [HIGH] Stern Pinball is expanding into mainstream gaming market via Paris Games Week (November 2023) with Social Pixel partnership — _Both hosts discussing Paris Games Week activation with multiple confirmed game titles_
- [HIGH] Jersey Jack Pinball announced Elton John at Pinball Expo 2023 — _Title/opening reference; content does not provide detail about this reveal_
- [HIGH] Barrels of Fun announced Labyrinth at Pinball Expo 2023 — _Title/opening reference; content does not provide detail about this reveal_

### Notable Quotes

> "It was actually a very quiet month, and nothing happened really. No new games, no shows, nothing."
> — **Martin Eyre**, Opening segment
> _Hosts joking about October being quiet before immediately contradicting themselves about Pinball Expo being 'Pinball Expo Month' — sets comedic tone_

> "All 47 seminars are now on the Pinball News website and YouTube channel... which stretches to about 28 hours worth of seminars."
> — **Martin Eyre**, Mid-opening
> _Demonstrates comprehensive coverage effort by Pinball News at Expo_

> "We went back in through the front door, skipped the line, and asked Seth Davis, who was very willing to help me to get these notes."
> — **Jonathan Houston**, Factory tour discussion
> _Shows access and willingness of Stern management to cooperate with media_

> "I expect by the time you go back there next year, you'll probably be knocked down and turned into a server farm or something."
> — **Martin Eyre**, Lunt Avenue closure discussion
> _Humorous speculation about fate of vacated facility; both hosts visited for final farewell_

> "Many people don't know that my daughter underwent treatment at Lorry's Children's Hospital... Project Pinball's aim to bring the joy of this game to children's hospitals across the nation is very near and dear to our hearts."
> — **Gary Stern (quoted by Jonathan Houston)**, Project Pinball segment
> _Personal motivation statement from Stern CEO explaining company's commitment to charitable cause_

> "Stern impose a minimum price on distributors that they cannot or not supposed to sell below... this is, as I understand it, they have removed that minimum price on these games."
> — **Martin Eyre**, Led Zeppelin/TMNT pricing discussion
> _Explains unusual distributor pricing freedom, suggesting strategic end-of-line clearance_

> "James Bond 007... when it first came out, people were really concerned that it was going to be such a simple and basic game, but congratulations to the team led by Lonnie and, of course, George, who's been pushing it a lot as well."
> — **Martin Eyre**, Code updates section
> _Notes trajectory of James Bond 007 from criticism to version 0.97 redemption arc_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jonathan Houston | person | Editor of Pinball Magazine; attended Pinball Expo 2023; toured Stern factory; co-host of this podcast |
| Martin Eyre | person | Editor of Pinball News; attended Pinball Expo 2023; recorded all 47 seminars (28 hours); co-host of this podcast |
| Pinball Expo | event | 39th annual edition held October 2023 at Renaissance Convention Center in Schaumburg, Illinois; described as longest-running annual pinball event |
| Stern Pinball | company | Largest pinball manufacturer; relocated factory from Lunt Ave (Elk Grove Village) to Busse Avenue facility (~130,000 sq ft); had major presence at Expo with ~40 machines via Marco Specialties partnership |
| Stern Pinball Factory | product|facility | New manufacturing facility on Busse Avenue; move completed ~1 month before Expo; no video/photography allowed during tours except entrance area with Gary Stern and Seth Davis |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer; announced Elton John pinball at Expo 2023 (details not provided in content) |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Boutique manufacturer; announced Labyrinth pinball at Expo 2023 (details not provided in content) |
| Elvira House of Horrors: Blood Red Kiss Edition | game | New limited run Stern game (500 units); price ~$13,000 USD (some discounts to $11,000 reported); black/white cabinet with red accents; released October 2023 with v1.07 code including new pew-pew frenzy mode and Elvira speech |
| Gary Stern | person | Chairman and founder of Stern Pinball; greeted factory tour groups; daughter received treatment at Lurie Children's Hospital motivating Project Pinball support |
| Seth Davis | person | Stern Pinball management; helped Jonathan Houston obtain factory tour guide notes; assisted with media access |
| Zach Sharp | person | Stern Pinball employee; sent factory tour guide notes to Jonathan Houston at request of Seth Davis |
| Project Pinball | organization | Charity placing pinball machines in children's hospitals; 70th machine dedication at Lurie Children's Hospital with Stern's Jurassic Park donation; had major presence at Expo with silent auction and tournament |
| Paris Games Week | event | Major gaming event (couple hundred thousand attendees) November 1-3, 2023; Stern presence with Social Pixel partnership to introduce pinball to mainstream gamers |
| Social Pixel | company | Partnership with Stern for Paris Games Week booth (Pavilion 2.2, booth 2A001); representing pinball to gaming audience |
| Locklear | person | Gaming content creator; hosting Leaderboard Challenge vs Venom at Paris Games Week on Thursday 1-3pm |
| DocScore | person | Stern Pinball representative attending Paris Games Week with Michael Grant |
| Michael Grant | person | Attending Paris Games Week with Stern Pinball as DocScore's companion |
| Marco Specialties | company | Partnered with Stern for major display at Expo featuring ~40 machines with multiple editions of current titles |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Designer of Led Zeppelin pinball; no longer works at Stern; led lunch with Jonathan Houston before Expo |
| James Bond 007 | game | Stern game at v0.97; approaching version 1.0; added smart missile feature and martini award in latest update; received criticism early but improved significantly |
| Venom | game | Current Stern game; v0.93; featured at Paris Games Week; perennially popular title available at shows |
| Fury Fighters | game | Stern game at v0.98; added Final Battle Challenge mini-game option |
| Deadpool | game | Stern game; described as perennially available and popular; featured at Paris Games Week and tournament room |
| Lunt Avenue facility | facility | Previous Stern Pinball factory location in Elk Grove Village; vacated approximately one month before Expo; hosts visited for final farewell |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball Expo 2023 (October, Chicago), Stern Pinball factory relocation and new facility, New game announcements (Jersey Jack Elton John, Barrels Labyrinth), Stern code updates (James Bond 007, Fury Fighters, Venom, Elvira), Elvira House of Horrors Blood Red Kiss Edition release and pricing
- **Secondary:** Stern expanding into mainstream gaming via Paris Games Week, Led Zeppelin and TMNT licensing/production status, Project Pinball charity partnership and hospital donations

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Hosts express enthusiasm about Expo's scale and comprehensive coverage. Positive regarding code update trajectory (especially James Bond 007 redemption arc). Humor and camaraderie between hosts. Minor concerns about Elvira LE buyers feeling displaced by Blood Red Kiss Edition, and speculation about licensing constraints (Led Zeppelin). Overall tone is celebratory of industry activity and community engagement.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball completed major factory relocation from Lunt Avenue (Elk Grove Village) to ~130,000 sq ft facility on Busse Avenue, consolidating manufacturing operations (confidence: high) — Jonathan toured new facility; both hosts verified Lunt Avenue was vacated ~1 month prior; move took 7 days; FedEx still occupies portion of building; empty cubicles from previous tenant retained
- **[community_signal]** Pinball News and Pinball Magazine provided comprehensive Expo coverage (47 seminars recorded, factory tour report, diary-style coverage, historical context documentation) (confidence: high) — Martin recorded all seminars with Jonathan's assistance; Jonathan provided factory tour report with Stern-provided photographs; both published individual reports on respective websites
- **[product_concern]** Elvira House of Horrors Blood Red Kiss Edition limited to 500 units potentially displacing earlier LE buyers (estimated 1,000 units) who believed they had most exclusive version (confidence: medium) — Martin notes prior LE owners 'annoyed' by new release; argues Blood Red Kiss 'tops the previous LE in terms of features and probably exclusivity'; notes trend of re-releasing exclusive editions years later with improvements
- **[event_signal]** Pinball Expo 2023 (39th edition) drew major manufacturer participation with comprehensive seminars (47 total, 28 hours recorded), factory tours, and product announcements (confidence: high) — Both hosts attended and documented; Martin recorded all seminars; Jonathan toured Stern factory; described as 'Pinball Expo Month' with significant industry presence
- **[market_signal]** Stern removed minimum advertised price controls on Led Zeppelin Pro/Premium and TMNT Premium, enabling distributors to clear end-of-line inventory with $1,000-$2,000 discounts (confidence: high) — Martin explains unusual pricing freedom as strategic clearance; Led Zeppelin likely out of production due to licensing constraints; TMNT reason unclear
- **[personnel_signal]** Steve Ritchie (Led Zeppelin designer) no longer works at Stern; licensing renewal for Led Zeppelin likely cost-prohibitive given designer departure (confidence: medium) — Martin notes Ritchie no longer with Stern as explanation for why Led Zeppelin won't be re-released; contrast with Elvira (designer Dennis Norman also gone but Greg Ferris artwork kept it viable)
- **[announcement]** Stern Pinball released Elvira House of Horrors: Blood Red Kiss Edition (limited 500 units, ~$13,000 USD) with new aesthetic and v1.07 code update (confidence: high) — Jonathan and Martin discuss cabinet design (black/white with red accents), pricing, production numbers, and code features (pew-pew frenzy mode, new Elvira speech)
- **[announcement]** Barrels of Fun announced Labyrinth pinball machine at Expo 2023 (confidence: high) — Title reference; content mentions reveal but provides no mechanical/feature details
- **[announcement]** Jersey Jack Pinball announced Elton John pinball machine at Expo 2023 (confidence: high) — Title reference; content mentions reveal but provides no mechanical/feature details
- **[rumor_hype]** Stern Pinball developing new Metallica game with color display (no confirmation provided) (confidence: low) — Martin explicitly frames as unverified rumor from Facebook/Twitter timeline; no official confirmation or details provided; hosts note not covering rumors but breaking habit on this one
- **[sentiment_shift]** James Bond 007 game redemption arc: early criticism of simplicity/basic design reversed by v0.97 with smart missile feature and martini award additions (confidence: high) — Martin explicitly notes initial concern followed by appreciation for development trajectory; credits team 'led by Lonnie' and George Gomez for pushing improvements
- **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball pursuing expansion into mainstream gaming/console gamer audience via Paris Games Week partnership with Social Pixel, featuring multiple current titles (confidence: high) — Both hosts discuss Paris Games Week activation; games featured (Venom, Jurassic Park, Foo Fighters, Deadpool, Star Wars, James Bond); Locklear content creator challenge; expense-paid Expo prize

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## Transcript

 It's Pinball Expo Month! Jersey Jack Pinball reveals Elton John! Barrels of Fun reveals Labyrinth! Hi, my name is Jonathan Houston. I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine, and you can read all about that on pinball-magazine.com. And I'm joined by... I'm Martin Eyre, and I'm the editor of Pinball News, and I'm sure you know where to find that. So let's carry on and remind you that we are here to look back at all the excitement in the pinball world throughout the month of October 2023, and what a month it was! Yeah, it was actually a very quiet month, and nothing happened really. No new games, no shows, nothing. No, no, it was a rather dull month, and, well... Let's get straight to the code updates, then, really. Yeah, this is going to be a very short episode, I'm sure. No, we can't, we can't, of course. It was Pinball Expo Month, which is... It was. Yeah, and for those who are unaware, Pinball Expo is the longest-running annual pinball event. The 39th edition took place in the Renaissance Convention Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, basically next to Chicago. and we were both present, Martin and I, and we both wrote our individual reports from the show, where Martin is hands down the best reporter ever to report on pinball events, and has included videos of all seminars, which mostly he recorded and I assisted in some way where possible as well. Certainly did, and he gave me the chance to actually escape from the seminar room for a few hours and go and take some pictures. You didn't escape, you were imprisoned there. Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, I felt like it anyway. But thank you for that. Yes, all 47 seminars are now on the Pinball News website and YouTube channel, thanks to Jonathan's assistance for that, which stretches to about 28 hours worth of seminars. Wow. So if you couldn't be there and you want to hear firsthand what you missed, check that out for sure. on the pinball-magazine.com website. I more published a sort of diary type of report, which includes all activities or most interesting activities that Martin and I had leading up to Expo. Yes, indeed It covers the Basically from the moment we arrived in Chicago Went to visit American Pinball Mike Nogle Over there And a visit to American Pinball And I think you mentioned Yes, you mentioned about that But I don't think you have any pictures from there No, I didn't take any pictures Well, there was some We saw some behind the scenes stuff Which we probably couldn't photograph anyway Yeah, yeah. So that's where. We got to play the upcoming Godzilla game. Oh, I didn't mention that either. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did that bit out. And lunch with Steve Ritchie the next day, which was quite unexpected, but fun. Very well done. Yeah. Exactly. And then we moved into the Renaissance Hotel. I didn't cover the build up because I figured like I'm going to publish pictures of the whole when it's set up anyway so why bother but anyway if you want to see what pinball expo was like two websites to go to pinballnews.com pinball-magazine.com and very different but equally comprehensive looks at our trip to the Expo and beyond. Yeah. So interesting stuff. I hope you'll find it interesting. Yeah. Okay. So now, Pinball Expo is, of course, about pinball, and almost every manufacturer is represented. Actually, I could only think of two current ones that weren't represented, as far as I could see at the event. which basically gives us a chance to basically follow our regular format and discuss the news from each manufacturer and include what the kind of presence they had at Pinball Expo in this pin cast looking back at our cover. Excellent. So let's kick off with the largest pinball manufacturer. In the world. Yeah. As far as we know. and the largest pinball factory. Yes, now. One of the key features of Pinball Expo is the chance to tour some pinball factories. And in previous years, it had been both Janice Avenue in Melrose Park and Lunt Avenue in Elk Grove Village. But, of course, now they have just moved to a whole new building on... Is it Buster? Yeah, Buster. Buster? BUSSA B-U-S-S-E and it's much larger but unfortunately I wasn't able to go but fortunately Jonathan was so he's going to tell us what the factory tour was like well there is a separate Stern Pinball Factory Tour report on the pinball-magazine.com website with photos provided by Stern Pinball themselves because video and photo or taking photo or videos was strictly forbidden and strictly enforced also I have to say and there were basically stuff from Stern basically every I don't know every stone's throw I would say keeping an eye out that nobody would take any pictures whatsoever And so I sort of asked kindly whether media could take pictures, which resulted in Stern providing me with photos from Stern Pinball's own photographers, which you can find on the Pinball Magazine website. And I have to say the new factory is really, really big. Now seriously, it's probably the size of, no, it's probably, I think it's mentioned 130 square feet or something like that. Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah? Sorry, I'm used to the metric system. No, it's not that. So, anyway, it's big. Did you get to see things like the making cabinets or playfields or anything like that? Yeah, well, if you've seen it or been on such a tour, you get that you have the usual stations. Basically, the manufacturing of a pinball machine is split up into various segments. So you have the cabling department where they make the wiring harnesses that still go into pinball machines. There's a... in the center between two lines there is a sub-assembly of the various mechanisms that are basically put together and then as an assembled assembly can be placed into a game. There's the... well, every... the playfield comes down to the line to that point. Exactly, and then it gets put in. So you start with the blank playfield, which is first dimples for drill holes and so on. So you get to see that press that every playfield, every Pimmel machine from the past 50 years went through. It's all there, but it's larger. I was just wondering whether you saw the woodworking area. No. Because most manufacturers, most companies which do that, keep that area completely sealed off because of all the dust that comes from all the cabinet, from cutting of the sheets, the backbox and the playfields. From what I understood, Spiron has their woodworking facility at a different address to prevent all the dust coming into the factory. Well that would certainly do it, yes. And that wasn't part of the tour, so no woodworking that we could see. So no videos or photos being allowed to be taken, except for the entrance where Gary Stern and Seth Davis were basically welcoming everybody in, but in small groups. so a group of 10 people, 10-15 people or so would come in they could take their picture with Gary and Seth and then they would be taken into the factory through the door after which no produce was further allowed up to the point where once the tour was over people were directed into an area where the new model of Elvira House of Horrors was presented Which we would get to in a minute Yeah, one machine displayed behind the rope Similar to the Batman presentation, only that were three machines And there was also merchandise sold over there But that was an area where people were allowed to take photo and video footage again Right, okay And then of course, well, you got to see all the stations, so to speak, in areas where once a playfield is completely built up, it gets tested, and then it gets put in the cabinet, and it gets tested again, and cabinet assembly, decals applied on cabinets and so on. So, yeah, it was all there. If you're familiar with the tour, like I said it was more of the same but bigger really it was a very popular tour there seemed to be very long lines of people wanting to take the tour certainly at the convention centre with the massive queues there to get on the buses and when you got off the bus exactly yeah and by the time I got out which was probably 11 a.m. there was still a line outside for people waiting to get in. Right. Not as long anymore. And the tour officially started, well, the buses left at 9 o'clock I think in the morning, didn't they? Yeah. To go there, so I guess it's about half an hour. Yeah, so the tour itself probably was like 45 minutes. Right. And, well, during my tour, of course, taking pictures was not allowed. I noticed that every tour guide had a sort of cheat sheet, if you want to call it, with notes for what they would tell the group that they were guiding through the factory at each stop, so to speak. Some interesting notes, I would say. And I had a, basically I asked, nobody would give them to me, so I went back in through the front door, skipped the line, and asked Seth Davis, who was very willing to help me to get these notes. And Zach Sharp sent them to me. And they're part of the Stern Pimple Tour report that I put up on the PTR. Yeah, I was reading them earlier. I was quite surprised they gave them to you. Yeah. Well, they allowed them to be published, if I put it that way, because there's nothing there which we don't know already. Or published. Yeah. But it's interesting to see what the guides were sort of briefed to talk about. Right. I recommend going to pinballmagazine.com looking up the Stern Pinball Factory Tour report yeah so and well that brings us to the rest of the news from Stern Pinball throughout let's pick up on that Elvira House of Horrors then which you mentioned just now that was something which was announced about a fortnight before Pinball Exo happened it was too late for our last Pincast, covering the month of September, but you get it in your monthly update newsletter. Right. But they are producing a new run of Elvira's House of Horrors, a blood-red kiss edition, which is kind of playing on the idea that there's a sort of centaur type black and white look with red accents. Yeah, but also like these blue and yellow... Yeah, it's not entirely black and white red it's just the cabinet has sort of blood colors on it and air's got some blue the candles are yellow and yeah yeah but it's that kind of but it really pops so it's mostly black and white with the red dominating so to speak yeah although the the playfield playfield art is also black and white uh mostly black and white and red but the inserts still seem to be the same colors as they were on the earlier version, so it may lose a little bit of the impact of that. But anyway, it's limited to 500 units, and the price of that is just shy of 13,000 US dollars. Right, yeah, which apparently is negotiable, because it seems that some people were able to get the game for about 11,000. Oh, okay. So, but that's just what I see on my timeline on Facebook, and we don't have to believe that. But if you're interested in such a game, then you might as well try. Yeah, yeah, who knows how well they're selling. They certainly seem to annoy a few previous buyers of Elvira's House of Horrors, the limited edition owners, who thought they were getting the top-of-the-range model. And I think it's easily arguable that this tops the previous LE in terms of features and probably exclusivity as well. I can't remember exactly how many LEs there were produced the first time around, but I think it was more than 500. Yeah, probably 1,000, I think, but don't quote me on that. Yeah, I can't remember the 600s and the 1,000s. There were three editions. Originally, there was the premium, the limited, and the signature edition, which was the most limited one and the most expensive one. But they all basically looked the same, only you got a little bit more access depending on how much more you paid. Yes, including a swatch from a virus couch, as I understand it, as well. Which, ironically, is red, but on the black and white cabinet is not red. No, it's not. No, but there you go. So that was a new version, and it seems to be quite a common thing now that when the original LEs were sold, or the top-end models were sold, about a few years later, down the line comes a new limited or exclusive edition. Yes. maybe to celebrate some particular anniversary, or just because they want to rerun it and have more ideas on what they can do with it, as they have with this one. Yeah, and usually we don't cover rumors. I'm breaking that habit now. Apparently, Stern is working on a new Metallica pinball machine, which will have a new design, and of course the color display, which the old Metallica game didn't have. but that's all rumors and it might not be true but that's what you read on your Facebook timeline or on Twitter you know so don't believe everything I indicated there's a rumor so we stick to the facts and the fact is that there is a rumor going around that there is a new Metallica coming but there was also a new Stranger Things announced last month or a new run of Stranger Things yeah that's right Yeah. And they've been re-running Deadpool for quite some time. Yeah, that seems to always be available at pretty much every show. Yeah. And Tilt also had quite a few of those in the tournament room, I should say, Deadpool. So that's, although there aren't other games from that era, so Deadpool seems to be a perennially popular title, I should say. So now speaking of Elvira, you probably addressed this with the code update, so I will just briefly mention that the new game will come with a software update that also is applicable for the already existing Elvira games, which includes a new mode, new animations, and new speech by Elvira herself. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, even if you have the LE and you're feeding all the signature edition, or feeling a bit put out by the fact this new one comes out, there is some payback in that you do get a software update with new features and new speech calls included. So, you know, there is that, at least. But we were talking about that Elvira House of Horrors game, the Blood Red Kiss edition. Nothing to do with Kiss, but Blood Red Kiss edition. That wasn't at Pinball Expo. But Stern did have a big display of machines there in conjunction with Marquez Specialties. Yes. They took over a very large section of the hall. And I don't know how many machines exactly they had. I didn't get around to counting them all. But they seem to have... I'd say about 40. From the top of my head. Had multiple editions of every current title, shall we say. Yeah, Venom, Godzilla was there. 007. Yes, exactly. Yeah, and Three Fighters, of course, as well. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, all the recent ones. And lots of Stern stuff present at the show and in the factory of course, but I mean designers doing seminars as well on Friday and Saturday. Yeah they had their usual run of seminars on Friday, basically taking over the whole afternoon and into the early evening with Stern related seminars in the seminar room. Right. What they didn't have this year, though, which we were talking about privately before we came on here, the stands seemed to be a little less, how should we say, intricate this year. It was really just the machines there, and they had a little, a small stone shop there where you could buy things like caps and inside the Kinect kits and toppers and things like that. But they didn't have their usual, well, what we've come to think as usual, area where they do, like, interviews with people, with designers, where they have, like, drinks with Gary or anything like that, or with Jack, anything like that. Yeah, no presentations, no DJs, nothing like that. Yeah, no, not this year, no. No, I guess they were doing the factory tour as well, and, of course, they've just moved factory as well, so they've got a lot of stuff going on at the company. And it did seem from the pictures that you have in your report that there's quite a lot of empty desks within that factory at the moment. Yeah, actually, when you... I don't know what they're going to use them for. When you enter the factory, there's a lot of currently unused cubicles. and what I understood was they made a deal with the previous tenant or whoever rented it, who had them custom made, and they decided to keep them. I think it was a shipping company, I think it was there before. Yeah. Because they've got so many loading bays around the back. Right. Yeah, I think Felix used to be there. So, FedEx is also still listed at that address as well, next to Stern Pimble. So, I'm not sure whether they have the entire building, because I think FedEx still has a small portion at the back. Ah, okay, but we can report, and this is verified by both of us, that Stern are no longer in the Lunt Avenue building. No, that was vacated, like, apparently a month ago. which, well, the move itself took like seven days, but what I understand is that not everybody who had an office at Lunt Avenue got an office at the new facility, partly because people are used to work from home, or they travel so much they are hardly in their office anyway, so why have an office? Well, we did swing by the Lunt Avenue building, just to have a look, for old time's sake, just to get one last look. I expect by the time you go back there next year, you'll probably be knocked down and turned into a server farm or something. Yeah. So it was nice just to get that final glimpse of the old Sternpibble. The sign's still up, still says Sternpibble. Yeah. I'm sorry, but it's all locked up. And in fact, there was someone there, I think, also from the city of Schomburg was patrolling it at the time. Yeah, well, we wanted to go dumpster diving, but there was nothing left there to be found. Not even any dumpsters? No. So, anyway, moving on then, other Stern Pinball news. Yeah, quite a bit, but I'll let you do the Project Pinball charity one. Okay, well Stern Pinball teamed up with Project Pinball the charity which places pinball machines within children's hospitals across the country and looks after their maintenance and they worked with Stern Pinball to have an official dedication ceremony at the Anne and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago where Stone Pinball basically donated, I believe, a game. A Jurassic Park pinball machine, if I'm not mistaken. That's right. I was just trying to see where I put that in my notes. But, yeah, it says the patient's family members and staff have been given their own Jurassic Park pinball game to enjoy for years to come. And this is the 70th pinball machine which Project Pinball have been involved in donating to children's hospitals around the country. So congratulations to them. Well done to Stern for donating that Jurassic Park to that hospital. So whether it's the home model or a pro? There was a picture of it. I don't think it was the home model. I think I looked at it and I think it was the pro model. and Gary Stern chairman and founder of Stern Pinball said that many people don't know that my daughter underwent treatment at Lorry's Children's Hospital he says and Project Pinball's aim to bring the joy of this game to children's hospitals across the nation is very near and dear to our hearts and he is especially honoured to have been there for the 70th dedication so well done to all involved and Project Pinball had a big present at Pinball Expo including a silent auction where there were some amazing prizes on offer or lots, I should say, not really prizes that people could bid on. And they also had a tournament there as well. So they had very much to the fore and I hope it was a big successful Project Pinball and that they raised some good money and a way to continue with their good work. Right, okay. So, then on with the business as usual, or in this case, not so usual, as in that certain people will be attending the legendary Paris Games Week on-site, which starts, actually started today, November 1st, or is it? Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, that's the day. Yeah, that's the time we're recording. carries on until Sunday yeah so this is not a pinball event but more a gamers event and a very big one I think there's a couple of hundred thousand people attending that so we understood from DocScore who will be present at this event representing Sperm Pinball together with at least Michael Grant, and I'm not sure if anybody else travels into, or to Paris with them, but they will be basically trying to introduce pinball to all these gamers who are usually playing video games, and not so much arcade games, at least that's not the focus of the show, but But they're trying to tap into this gamers market. Yeah, and expand their market into associated areas, as you say, console gamers, board gamers, anywhere where people would seem like a good fit, so to say. And they're teaming up with Social Pixel, who have a booth in Pavilion 2.2, in case you're in the area. And there will be games like Venom, Jurassic Park, Foo Fighters, Deadpool, Star Wars, and James Bond's presence to familiarize attendees with what pinball is. Yes, and apparently a legendary gaming content creator called Locklear, Yeah, not legendary here, but I guess if you're into gaming content, then you will probably have heard of them. They will be hosting a special Leaderboard Challenge on Thursday, which is tomorrow. Is there any relation with Heather? Oh, that would be nice, but no, I don't think so. anyway if you are going to the show tomorrow between 1 and 3 in the afternoon you will be able to take part in this this leaderboard challenge I guess it's like a high school competition and he will be I think it's a he will be attempting to to take on all comers and play the game Venom against them so if you want to go and have a challenge against Locklear, then 1 to 3 in the Paris Games Week show. Additionally, the Limbo Blaster Final will be taking place on Thursday, November 4th, with a grand prize winner receiving an all-expenses-paid Crypto Primble Expo 2024 in Schaumburg, of course. All-expenses-paid? Wow. Now we have a reason to go to Paris. Yeah, that sounds like a challenge to me. Yeah, okay. I thought we could rack up some expenses there. But, hey. Yeah, so good luck to them, anyway, whoever it is. And I'm sure it will be a well-known French pinball player who would win that prize. But good luck to them. And we wish them good luck. We see you next year, Sampona. Yes. I don't want to name names, but, yeah, now you mention it. Forreston. Adam. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, if you do want to go there, the Paris Games Week is held at 1 Place de la Porte de Versailles in Paris. And as Jonathan said, Pavilion 2.2 is where you'll find the social pixel booth 2A001. Which apparently is next to the village cosplay and retro gaming. Oh, well, okay. How fitting. Yes, I'm sure that's not an accent. Yeah. Okay. Okay, now, if you're in the market for a Led Zeppelin or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premium game, good news for you for holding off so long, because several Stern distributors discounted new in-box Led Zeppelin Pro and premium machines, as well as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premium. The Pro, the Led Zeppelin Pro, is discounted with $1,000, and both premium models even with $2,000. Hmm, so this is unusual. So what's the reasoning behind this? Well, apparently these games are out of production and they aren't going to be remade, which basically means either the license expired or they just didn't sell that many, are you? Yeah, you can buy them new in box so and there must be a reason for that or not, I mean okay, Led Zeppelin I think there are reasons with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Premium I'm not so sure to be honest I haven't played it so I wouldn't know But if you're in the market for a new pinball machine and you figure like, hey, I could use a discount, then see if your local or regional distributor is selling these with a discount. Yeah, this is unusual because normally Stern impose a minimum price on distributors that they cannot or not supposed to sell below, or certainly not to advertise the price below a certain level. And this is, as I understand it, they have removed that minimum price on these games, on these three, the Led Zeppelin Pro Premium and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Premium. So it's up to distributors to set the exact price, but now there is no longer a price below which they cannot advertise. So you may be able, if you're lucky enough to have several distributors in your vicinity, you might be able to work out a deal there, playing one off against the other. But anyway, it depends when they've got any stock, of course, because if they haven't got games in stock, it's all irrelevant because they won't be able to sell it to you anyway. Right. Yeah. So, and if they have been sitting on this stock for three years, then that explains why they are discounted. Yeah, and of course Stern want distributors to clear out old stock so they can buy new games from Stern. Right. Makes sense. They've already bought these games from Stern, so it's up to distributors to sell them on. Stern just made it easier by removing that minimum price on those three particular models. Right. And who knows what else they might be doing in the future. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Or they just want to get rid of all these Well I don't see A new model of Led Zeppelin being taken Into production anytime As it's a Steve Ritchie game And no longer works With Stern But who knows they come up with some sort of I don't know 50th anniversary Yes exactly Premium edition Well then you can pay more than you pay now Yeah Although you could argue that Elvira's House of Horrors was designed by Dennis Nordman and he doesn't work for Stern either. And I just bought a new one of those. Yeah, okay, but Greg Freres who did the art is still at Stern, so it's sort of his pet project, I would say, yeah. Yeah, okay. I think you're right, I don't think Led Zeppelin's going to come out, they're going to be re-released, and I suspect the license for that would be quite pricey to renew as well, and almost certainly not worth it. Anyway, talking about various new games, there's also new code out for existing games. And Jonathan just mentioned Vara's House of Horrors. A version 1.07 came out yesterday on Halloween, of course. How fitting. Of course. Yes, and that includes a new pew-pew-pew frenzy mode. has new gargoyles animations, a raft of new speech calls, as you mentioned, and apparently there were some bugs in the game and they've been fixed in this. Now, what we haven't seen with this is whether the display animations for the Blood Red Kiss Edition are different, whether they are also black and white treated or whether they are still in full colour. Right. Right. Because the tour wasn't showing anything other than just the track screen. It had an abstract screen with the logo of Alphire's House of Horrors in red. The rest of the screen was black and that was it. It wasn't even animated or rotating or changing screens or anything. so yeah it probably wouldn't be that difficult for them to just sort of put a filter over there all the graphics and make them um monochromatic but uh it might might require a bit more work than that of course because some of the colors might which work clear might sort of blend into one another when they're when they're made um when the color's taken out of them so uh anyway we'll see uh when that uh that game actually hits the streets as to whether or not they've done anything different with it. I suspect they will have done something different because the title screen will be different. But whether there'll be anything more, we don't know. Talk about other software updates then for other certain games. James Bond 007. It's getting very close to version 1, so 0.97. And really coming along in leaps and bounds, that game. I think when it first came out, people were really concerned that it was going to be such a simple and basic game, but congratulations to the team led by Lonnie and, of course, George, who's been pushing it a lot as well. It's now 0.97, which adds a feature, a new smart missile feature, which sort of takes you back to the old Jurassic Park-type game from Data East, where you had a smart missile you could use to, you know, if the ball was about to drain or something, you'd hit that and it would spot a shot for you. same kind of thing here that's available except you can you can earn lots more uh sight missiles and use them throughout the game and uh there's a new martini award which uh is a nice little feature if you if you play the game a lot you'll know that quite often if you shoot from the side flipper up the up the side ramp sometimes it won't go all the way around onto the ramp it will fall back down the the uh the right ramp and um which you kind of think oh to get kind of some kind of award for that what do you do now It's called the Martini Award. They also added some new light shows, some rebounds, scoring a bit, changed some of the rules and award values, and, of course, bug fixes. Right. Fury Fighters has got a new version, 0.98, added a new mini-game, selectable at the start, the Final Battle Challenge, which is kind of... Well, all certain games do that now, and it's not just them either. There are other manufacturers catching up on this as well, where you've got your wizard mode, but you can also play a mini version of it instead of a normal game. So Final Battle Challenge is added, along with a whole bunch of more bug fixes, more city mode speech and so on. Venom, the current game, is on version 0.93, which is not doing too badly. That's just got very minor tweaks. It's got that speed run thing where you can save your progress and you can be timed over the whole game until you've defeated the wizard mode at the end. Well, now the option is there to reset that at the start of the game or either just for the current game in play or for all of them Rush even Rush remember Rush Yeah that version 1 That actually quite a big update surprisingly It's had, we're talking about having the Wizard Mode Challenge as a game, mini-game, well, that's had that added. The 2112 Wizard Challenge has been added, and the gameplay menu at the start. They've added 74 new speech call-outs as well. Yeah, I'm excited by this, Jonathan. along with rules and rule tweaks and bug fixes. And now if I had a long stick, I would poke Jonathan and wake him up because we've reached the end of the code section. Ah! I wasn't boring you, was I? No, no, no. Good, good. I didn't think so. No, it's not that my jet lag is still not kicking in. Oh, that's it. Yeah, good, good. Okay. Well, I think that pretty much wraps it up for Stern Pinball. I think we've had quite a lot of news from them this month. So we better actually move on to our first new game reveal. Right. Judge Jack Bimble, Elton John. Yeah. Widely rumoured before it was actually confirmed. Well, I was still hoping for Billy Joel. Well, weren't we all? Yeah. But never mind. We'll make it to the second best and... No, no, no. Kidding. Kidding. Okay. So, before we head into how this game was revealed and everything and so on, let me just say, Elton John as a theme didn't strike me that much in the sense like, okay, yeah, Elton John, it's okay, easygoing music, nothing that really stands out to me. I know you're a big fan. I am, yeah. Yeah, I'm a longtime fan. Yeah, okay. So, I'll just say, once I got to play the game at Pinball Expo, at the special press viewing event that was set up on, I think, Friday morning, before the show hall opened, I have to admit I was not expecting this game to be such a great feel-good game. It's really a great game Which I wasn't expecting So I take my hat off to Steve Ritchie And his entire team For creating such a fun feel-good game Well said As a long-time fan I'm really a fan of his live performances Rather than his studio work Although this game is based around the studio tracks I just love the energy he puts into all his performances you think it's a sort of laid back easy going as you called it but you see him in concert he's you know he's when he gets into games like Saturday nights or Iperfighting he sort of you know sweats running off his face he's just putting so much effort and energy into it I don't think he does not all these years It really does Pull out all the stops To give a great performance Every single time And I think that's reflected well In this game as well And I only got to play it once Believe it or not Because by the time I got down to this special press briefing It was about 9.30 And I was next to play And then they announced that they were going to shut down All the games so they can get ready for the public So I didn't even get to play it during that press screening Or press preview But never mind So, anyway The game was first announced online on Thursday lunchtime Which was actually during the Stern Pinwall Factory Tour Yes, it was So I was on the bus back when I saw that they announced it 11am Chicago time And Martin and I both had our individual articles on the review of the game, thanks to Ken Cromwell of Jersey Jack Pimble, who's in charge of marketing and PR and that kind of stuff. We were fortunate enough to get a heads-up under embargo, which allowed us to write this article before Pimble Expo would actually start, because during Expo there's no way we could cover the reveal of that game in proper fashion, I would say. So a big thank you to Ken Cromwell. Yes, indeed. Check out those articles on Pinball News and the Pinball Magazine website. Yeah, in a way it was a spoiler for our trip because we got all the information and we were both then sitting down in the hotel room bashing away at our laptops trying to get our articles written and queued up ready to publish at the allowed time when the embargo finished, which was, I think, about four minutes after JDP officially launched the game online. Yes. So that was the online reveal, but of course that was only so much. I only showed you some pictures and gave you some details about the game. But I think, in a way, it's a game which you really do need to play to experience, because I don't think reading about it or even looking at pictures of it gives you even half of what the game is really like. It's not giving you the best impression that you could get when you see the game in person. Now, often we say this with pinball machines when it comes to artwork, because it's really popping when you see it in real life or in person, instead of looking at pictures. but this game had so much more than we understood, or at least I understood, from the press release that we received. Yes, absolutely. Because I was looking at it originally and thinking, oh, is that it? But then when you actually do play it, you find that various things are happening in the game which aren't even mentioned on the press release, or are only mentioned in oblique terms. It might mention an animated Elton model. Well, there's a lot more to it than that. Yeah, we'll come to that a bit later. Now, of course, this was Steve Ritchie's first Jersey Jack pinball game design. So there's a lot riding on this, a lot of expectations. And I would say that when people learned that Steve's first game was an Elton John game, there was a certain sense of trepidation and concern, because Steve is known for a certain type of combative gameplay. You know, Flass Flowing, King of Flow, a lot of Bash Toys, a lot of attacking and fighting. And all the Saturday Rites were right for fighting. It's not really the nature of an Elton John game. No, we could put in an Elton John head and bash it. No, of course not. So people were very interested to see exactly what Steve would have come up with, and the rest of the team, of course. there's a lot of people working on this in this game and how the thing will be integrated into a Steve Ritchie design and I think as far as the gameplay goes it plays really excellently just as you'd expect from a Steve game and but I think it's so much more to this, it's all about presentation because it's It's absolutely packed full of RGB LEDs for a start. So let's just look at exactly what is available. There are two versions of the Elton John pinball. There's the Platinum Edition and the Collector's Edition. So as we've seen before in recent titles from Josie Jack Pinball, they've dropped the lower-end Standard Edition and just going for the two upper-end models. So the Platinum Edition has a retail price of $12,000 and the Collector's Edition $15,000 with a maximum of 1,000 units of that. And apparently that's already sold out. Right, okay, no great surprise there with so many fans. And I think this is probably going to be one of those games which will expand the collector base into Elton John fans worldwide because it's almost like a must-have. And Elton John also promoted, well, his team at least, promoted the game on his social media feeds. So it got a wide reception. At Pitball Expo they had three machines. I think there were two Platinums and a collector's edition. Right. They were initially revealed in a seminar at 8pm on the Thursday. Technically, that's not entirely true. It was a VIP event for distributors and VIPs, which was actually, I think, 5pm on the day of the announcement. that was held in a private room with the same three machines, of course, being available. So distributors and people invited, which should have included us, I must say, got the chance to see and play the game in the afternoon before the seminar started at 8 p.m., which you can tell us all about. Yeah, well of course we couldn't get to an earlier event anyway because we have seminars running all day, every day so it's very hard to get away from those and go to another event but yes, so the seminar started by everybody being asked to leave the hall so the machines could be set up and so that happened and then everybody was invited back in and as they came in, they were all given Elton John flashing LED glasses to wear. I'm not sure quite how coordinated that was. Yeah, not everybody got them because some people were rushing to get to the front and forgot to pick up a pair of glasses. Yeah, I was kind of busy at the front. I got those there. You did? I did, and I wore them for a little while as well. so really it was Jack did a very brief introduction and had it over to Steve and Steve's entire presentation was to thank the members of the design team individually and in some detail about what they contributed to the game and then once that was over I think we played the promo video I actually played it twice as people were coming in but I don't think anybody was really paying that much attention to it at that point and so then we did a separate playing of the promo which is a very nice promo I have to say very well produced yeah yeah I think you commented on how nicely the tracks were merged yeah in the soundtrack of it and then after that basically they said okay come and play we also had a huge amount of time 15 minutes yeah 15 minutes left and then after that we had the screening of Roger Sharpe's movie Yeah, which actually was slightly delayed, I'd say The games had to be taken out Oh well Yeah, so it was It was I don't know It didn't give a huge amount of information About how the game was developed Or anything about the background to it No, but we'll get to that We will get to that, yeah but I suppose the takeaway features of the games are that they both, both models include 16 studio music tracks which is pretty impressive to have all those songs in there and more impressive I think is all the RGB LEDs which we referred to earlier the platinum edition has, interesting the flyer it says 1,294 plus RGB LEDs in it. Right. Well, I'm sure it's 1,294. I'm sure I know how many are in there. And the collector edition has 1,570 RGB LEDs, all individually controlled, which is quite astonishing. And that's got to be a record, hasn't it, for the most number of individually controllable RGB LEDs? Yes. Not counting, well, actually, even counting displays. Now, a fair number of those are taken up by a really nicely designed curved LED display which wraps around the front of the piano that the model of Elton John is playing. And so that's like a second screen, effectively, within the game. There isn't any other second screen on the play field, as we've seen in some of the other games from Jersey Jack. Yeah. Speaking of that second screen on the piano, I thought it was a very nice touch that the logo of Pinball Expo was scrolling on that during a track model. Oh, well noticed. I didn't stand there looking at it for that long. But yeah, very good. Now, both versions have a topper included in the price. The collector edition topper has two LCD screens showing concert footage. I think they both show the same concept footage and it's not synced directly with the music that's playing because that's studio tracks but it probably doesn't matter that much because I think it's the same song but maybe different it's cut from live footage so it's not really perfect and it's not only live footage but it's also material that is displayed on the display during Elton John concerts, which is not available anywhere else except for the Stimble Machine. Right, yes, that's right. They managed to get that exclusively for this. The idea is to be able to create what it looks like on stage with Elton in the middle and the two big screens either side of him showing this material, which is only in the CE version, the collector edition. the Platinum Edition has an illuminated acrylic two-layer, I think. Yes. Proper. Yes. Okay. I think it's fair to say that people were a bit taken aback by the price of the game when it was first announced, £12,000 for the Platinum and £15,000 for the Collector's Edition. I think credit has to be given to the fact they didn't try and dress it up by going, you know, it's £11,999 or something stupid like that. It's £12,000 and £15,000, now you know. But JJP have been very keen to stress that these prices include a lot of things which might have been optional extras before, things like Shaker motor, Radcal, cabinet decals, Invisiglass, Artblades, and of course those toppers we were just talking about. But it's still a bit of a roadblock for people to get over, I think. But, you know, as you say, they seem to have sold out all 1,000 of the collector editions at 15,000 each. Well, that doesn't mean they're not really available. It could be that distributors bought. Could be. Yeah, and they still are available with distributors. So it doesn't mean that if you're looking for one and you missed your opportunity that you can't find them. So it might be worth making a few phone calls or send emails, whatever, you know. Yeah, it'd be interesting to see whether that's being sold through any new channels, you know, like the Elton John Fan Club or anything like that, whether they have them available, where they wouldn't previously have been, a thought would be setting something like that. Right. Surprisingly, I didn't read anything of the game upon launch being available in the Jersey Jack pinball webshop. No, no, same here. Which was different with when, I think, Toy Story 4 and Godfather came out. Okay. So, either a change in Ryan Policky, or they forgot to mention it. I certainly didn't see any for sale. I was looking on it, but I'm sure if they'd been there, it would have been made obvious. And they would have been in the press release as well, of course, to say that that was available. Now, there's a lot to say about this Elton John game, but who better to ask than Elton John himself? Yes, indeed. And we were fortunate enough to actually have a time to sit down with Steve. straight after, well, we actually had an appointment scheduled on the evening of the launch. Yes, at 11pm. Yes. Which we missed because we were watching Roger Sharp's movie. Well, yes, we were working in the seminar room until way past midnight, and of course once all that's over, we had to clear everything away, pack it all up, take it back to the hotel room, make sure it was all secure ready for the start, the early start, the next morning, and try and make sure everything is secured in that room. So, as it was, we didn't actually get out of there and were available to talk to Steve until much, much later on in the evening. And we thought we'd missed the chance. Steve found us and he started complaining, like, I was looking for your guys. Wow. It's like he's in the room, isn't it? Where were you at 11? Yes, well, actually, we couldn't make that. But we did get a chance to catch up with Steve much, much later on in the evening. Yes. Well, early in the morning, in fact. Yes. And, well, we learned a lot about the game. We did, but we were talking to him at the end of a very long and very tiring day. It was the launch day of the game. He'd been in demand, of course, and been talking to everybody, and everybody wanted to know all about it. And, of course, he had to do his speech and remember to include everybody that worked on the game. So by the time we got to sit down, it was early in the morning, and we talked, and we talked a lot. We had a good time, absolutely. No argument there. Absolutely, yeah, and Steve was very welcoming. But it did turn out to be a little more, well, no, significantly more of an off-the-record talk than we had intended. We wanted to record it and bring it to you here, but we talked about so much stuff that we can't talk about here. Right. So... We can't say his next game is... No. Eee! No. And we can't... I kid. I kid. Much. much of the development process either, which is no proprietary stuff. But we do want to bring you an interview, and we think we can do a better, a much more encompassing interview with Steve. Also with the early perspective of being able to look back on that launch and all the reaction from people who've had a chance to play the game, because up until that point, we hadn't played it. Well, I hadn't, but that way. I don't think you had either, Jonathan, because he didn't play until the next morning. So now we have had a chance, and so have many other people. There's been a lot of reaction and a lot of feedback come back from that, and I think it will be good to get Steve's take on that. So we have agreed to have another interview with Steve, a proper one, where we can talk about all these things, and we will set that up at the earliest opportunity once Steve is available because he has other things to deal with at the moment, but he will be back with us very shortly. And as soon as that's available, we will probably be a bonus pin cast that we'll bring you exclusively about the Elton John pinball and our interview with Steve. Yeah, and most likely Steve will not be alone, but he will be joined by Jack Raniere, founder of the company. Yeah, who will be able to give us even more background and context to this launch of the New Jersey Jackpinball game. Right. So this bonus thing is not going to be available tomorrow, but I'd say give it a couple of weeks, and you'll be informed of it through our traditional channels anyway, or if you're a subscriber to our podcast, you'll be notified anyway. Yeah, we have been assured that this will be the first interview with Steve about the game. Yes. So, well, we're looking forward to it, and I'm sure that based on the information that we already heard but can't talk about, it will be worthwhile to listen to that once it becomes available. Yes, there's a lot that Steve wants to tell you about it, and we'd be delighted to give him the opportunity to do so, and Jack too. So listen out for that and it should be good if past interviews are anything to go by. Anyway, I think that pretty much wraps up everything we have to talk about for Jersey Jack Pinball for this month. No, there's more. There's more. Oh, no. Oh, tell us. Well, later this November, the weekend of 18 and 19 November, there is the Dutch Pinball Open in the Netherlands, of course, where you and I both will be present and hosting our So You Think You Know Pinball Quiz. And we've been assured by Jersey Jack Pinball that we will be giving away some prizes provided by them. And I have no idea what, but in the past they've never disappointed. So if you're attending that event and are interested in winning some Jersey Jack prizes, as well as from other manufacturers, because it's not a Jersey Jack pinball quiz. We have prizes from other manufacturers as well. But I figured I'd mention that the game will be present, the Elton John game will be present at the event, and we will be giving away prizes that may or may not be related to that Elton John game or other Jersey Jack titles like God's Heart or Toy Story, I don't know. We have no idea what we'll be giving away, but it will be worthwhile attending the quiz, I think. Yeah, well, I'm looking forward to it. So, unfortunately, I can't even win any of those lovely prizes, but you can. So, yes, come along to the Dutch Pinball Open Expo. As you say, the, was it the 17th, 18th? Yeah, it starts the weekend of 1789, and it's near Eindhoven in Venice. Veldhoven, I believe, yeah? Yes. Yeah, okay. So, we will hope to see you there. Is that all the Jack Pinball news? Yes. Ah, okay. Right, so from one game launch to another. And an impressive one, I have to say. And not just a game launch, but a company launch. I think as well. We've mentioned a few times about this mystery pinball company who have been sending out teaser emails under the name of George Spelvin. And finally, they showed their hands and declared themselves as being Barrels of Fun, a company based in Houston, in Texas. Houston, Texas. Indeed, founded by David David Van Es, who is actually a movie maker, filmmaker, and he has a business partner, associate, whatever you want to call it, in the person of Brian Savage. Right, I mean, you may well know David David Van Es's name from his work at Spooky, of course. Right, yes. I think Brian is also involved in the organization of the Houston Arcade, Fimlin Arcade Expo or something like that. It's not an unfamiliar name, so to speak. So I might be wrong on its function or the way he was involved, but it's not an unusual name, at least not for me. Okay. And any. Yeah, because they, and apart from announcing who they are, they also revealed their launch title. Yeah, which they did actually a couple of days already before Pinball Expo. It was already speculated, and I'm not sure whether we mentioned about it or talked about it in our last episode. I'm sure I mentioned it in the Pinball Magazine newsletter that went out, I think, a week later. And basically people figured out that the license that they based their pinball machine on was the Labyrinth movie from 1986, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. And the game is directed, I believe, by Jim Henson, who we know of The Muppets, of course. Yeah. It's a bit of a fantasy movie of this young girl, a babysitter, who has to find, I think, the baby that she basically was fed up with and wished that he would disappear or would be taken by trolls, and then it actually happens, and she has to go and find him, and she has to cross this labyrinth. I tried watching the movie on the plane back from Chicago, not my cup of tea, although I do love all the Muppets and the Puppets and that kind of stuff, but I had difficulty staying awake during the first half hour, so to speak, and I didn't watch the rest. But, okay, so that's about the movie. Now, the presentation of Barrels of Fun at Pringles Expo, So I don't think I've seen... No, well, let's put it in a... It reminded me of the way Dutch pinball introduced themselves in 2014. So it's quite a high bar to beat, the way that the Big Lebowski was launched. Yeah, but they came close. So they had a Drawder Sightable stand I would say With four machines in there Printed sliders Available as well A small board desk with some candy as well And Basically there was The entire Duration of Pimble Expo There was a queue of people Waiting in line To play one of those four machines Yes and And I think everybody who played it was very impressed by it. I was impressed right from the very start, even from the set-up, just going in and looking at their stand and seeing the fact they had ten machines in boxes, looking utterly professional as if they'd been making these games and boxing them for decades. It looks like they were a well-established pinball company and just turn up with ten of their standard games, stick them on the stand. Yeah, nothing special here. But as a result... Yeah, and they are a startup. This is their first game. You know, there was nothing about it which made it look as if they hadn't been doing this for a long time. The game was well built, well presented, and it was fun. It was a fun game, absolutely. I was very impressed with it. The music is quite intriguing. It's not your typical standard pinball music, or whatever you want to call it. But very well built, very interesting design, nice flowing game. So really I take my hat off to Barrels of Fun for what they were able to make of a movie that I was like, meh. So seriously, it's a really fun game. and it wasn't only the presentation that they had in their stand, which was very professional, I have to say. They also did a pizza party Friday evening at 9.30, where basically they had a wing on the first level next to the seminar room, which is also on the first level, where they were serving pizza, drinks, and so on for free. And everybody who entered got a little plastic barrel. I think it's filled with candy, if I'm not mistaken. So very, very nice touch. And very, very professional in the way they presented themselves and organize the launch of their company and game. I really have nothing bad to say. Well, you were kind enough to get me one of those barrels of fun from their launch party outside. I was in the hall covering the seminar, Lloyd's seminar, during the pizza party, so we missed out on that. but I don't know what's in that barrel, that plastic barrel, and I probably won't because I've already packed mine away and it's going to be a prize in our prize quiz at the GPO. Wow. So you will be able to win one of those even if you weren't at Expo. Wow, so if you want to win the second of those barrels that is in the Netherlands because I have the other one. I won't have one at all. I won't have one for myself. So that's the one So yep, there you go And yes, I think huge congratulations to everyone at the factory And the company who were making this game A little background detail to it We mentioned it's got David Bowie in it And the soundtrack is not the usual one you may expect in a bimbo game It includes five tracks written by David Bowie from the movie he actually sings on four of them not on the fifth but he wrote it now the game is going to have a maximum run of 1100 units and it's going to be priced at 10,600 US dollars there's only one version of the game there are extras available if you want you can get a topper there's alternative back glass available as well a mirror back glass I believe and custom shooter rod is also available as an add-on. The whole game actually runs on the fast pinball board set, so rather than having to develop their own system, they are using fast for this. And the monitor system is quite unusual. The standard 15.6-inch monitor on the speaker panel is fairly standard, A bit bigger than normal, but still not that unusual. But the second monitor is actually on the back panel of the game, and it's used in quite a nice way. Sometimes it's used as scenery to light up the whole back of the game and provide some depth to the imagery, but also it's used for information as well at various points during the game. And there are some moulded doors at the back which represent a theme in the movie where our hero has to choose left or right door, and the doors are there and the options are shown on the screen behind. So it's right there where the playfield is. I think it's a good use of it. And it's a 14.9-inch display, but it's a very wide and short display. So it basically fills the whole back panel that you'd normally see. And, you know, we've seen quite a few mods now come out for games like Twilight Zone and others where they've actually put displays on the back panel and run animations on there. So Battle Royale was a fun of taking that to the next level and using it for proper information about the gameplay. And I think that's pretty much all I can think of to say about it, other than the fact that, as you say, it was hugely popular at the show and they had ten machines there, they were all for sale, and I think they sold them all. Yeah, and again, bringing up the Dutch Pinball Open, later this month in the Netherlands, of course, GooseSource tells me one Labyrinth game will be present at the event. So another reason for you to attend the Dutch Pinball Open If you're in Europe or willing to fly to Europe to play the game Fantastic, so that's a barrel of fun You will be tracking in these monthly pinball industry news pincasts from now on Yes, so there's a little bit more news that I can From the top of my head I should probably have done some more research on it, but there's actually quite a few familiar names involved in this game. Bowen Kerins is involved in the design of rules, and Scott D'Anesi will be providing music and sound effects, which still has to be implemented in the game. Still, Scott D'Anesi, again, unfamiliar name. And not, well, Scott built quite a reputation for himself, so it's quite a big name to have on your team. Yes, you also kind of get the feeling that it's almost an exodus from Spooky Pinball, because you've got David who left Spooky to work with them. Obviously, Scott as well, who used to do stuff for Spooky. And you've got Eric Preakey as well, who did coding for Rick and Morty at Spooky as well. He's also part of Bowser Fun. I'm trying to remember what his role is there. there, but he's certainly working four barrels of fun, and so that's three people that we now know came from Spooky, or have worked at Spooky before. Right, yeah. There are more, but from the top of my head, I don't remember who at this point, so I don't want to spread false information or name people that were not involved. Well, there's Paul Seelis, who was director of manufacturing at American Pinball, interestingly. So he left American Pinball World and is now working for the Barrels of Fun as well. Oh, of course, Bowen, of course, also working with Spooky. Yeah. It's a small world, this pinball world, isn't it? Yeah. Oh, well, that's so... Once again, congratulations to the entire team of Barrels of Fun for a very impressive and impactful launch at Pinball Expo, and we wish them all the best. Yeah, one final thing. I'm not sure whether it's just a rumour or whether it's confirmed, but certainly I've heard several people say that they also have the licences for Muppets and Fraggle Rock locked in as well for future titles. I would not be able to confirm those titles I can confirm that they have Two more licenses locked up So And Muppets and Fred O'Rourke would be Great games Well, tying with doing a deal with The Jim Henson company Yeah, and who knows They might also do a David Bowie game Oh I mean The connections have already been made, so why not I was going to say, stranger things have happened but a bunch of things have happened. So, yes, there you go. Okay, moving on then. We've got an awful lot to get through here. Try to wrap it up, but I guess this is not going to be such a short episode after all. No, well, there's a lot of news this month, especially all around Pinball Expo. So, also at Pinball Expo were Pinball Brothers from Sweden. Yeah. And just prior to that, they launched their brand new Ellen Ripley version of the Alien game. Now, of course, we did our bonus Pincast interview with Rudiger and Daniel about that game, which we were able to publish once it had been confirmed by them. It was again you know it was one of those ones that embargoed until such time as the deal has been agreed with the licensure Yes and even at Expo the game could only be presented saying that it was pending licensure approval. That's how the situation was. So, Alan Ripley version with new artwork all around on the cabinet, a different Xenomorph head, new mini screen surround, new apron, and a lot of new movie clips with Ripley's voice. Yes, that was notably absent until now. Right, they came up with a new 4.0 game code with the new clips, and this code will also be available to standard version and limited version owners of Alien. Yes, so notably it's not going all the way back to the Highway Pinball version, but only the Pinball Brothers versions of Alien. which is not entirely surprising that's who the license is with so they were also showing a brand new xenomorph topper which has a moving tail to the creature and interactive lighting it was not actually moving as far as I'm aware at the show but actually from what I understood the topper arrived in like 17 pieces at the show and had to put it carefully back together which explains why there was a sign saying please don't touch it. Yes that's right so what's the first thing I do when they point it at me? I'll touch it and so without reading the sign but there you go. Yeah but people could see what it looks like and it looks actually quite impressive. Yeah. Yeah very nice detail with with the eggs and so on on it, and... Yeah, it almost feels as if it should be more visible than being on top of the machine, so it could sort of be angled towards you a bit, so you can see the level of detail, because it's very nicely made anyway. Yeah, so, and I do have to say that the new artwork package looks more appealing to me than earlier ADN artwork. Yeah, I don't think you're alone in that. I think some of the purchasers of earlier, of the standard and the limited versions, were kind of wishing they had that artwork. Well, good news for them. Yes. It will be available to purchase in the Pinball Brothers web store. Yes, indeed. And so you can customize your own game and apply this new artwork or some of the 3D sculpts and so on to basically upgrade your own game. Yes, a whole list of upgrades are available for the game now if you like the look of the new Alan Ripley version. And I think most people do. Right, and that's not all. It's not. No, because Pinball Brothers also showed, again, pending license for approval back glass for Queen ah right I knew that was coming but I didn't see it there were a few Queen games present and one had the new pending license for approval back glass which doesn't feature the band or images of the band It actually features the logo of Queen over a stadium crowd backdrop, so to speak. Yeah, I'm looking at my picture that I took, and I can see what you're talking about. Yes, I hadn't tweaked that. Well done. Yeah. So, like I said, it's still pending license or approval, but I really like the way it looks. and for many people the artwork of Queen has been a reason not to be interested in buying the game but that might change now that this or once this new backlash becomes available I think it looks a lot more classic, so to speak, partly due to the logo. But if some people didn't like the drawing style of the artist that did the first back glass, then this is a very good alternative, I think. Yeah, I was never a fan of that particular style of artwork for the back glass. So an alternative version would certainly seem like a good idea, and this is an officially licensed version, I guess. So, yeah, I think it's nice to have that option available. And I'd certainly be looking at getting that if I had a clean machine. I'm not sure whether a price has been announced for it yet. No, I don't think so. No. So it will be, once there is, you'll hear it in future episodes of our monthly pin cast. Indeed, yeah. Okay. Is that all? I think for Pimple Brothers, yes. Okay, right. Okay, so let's look at somebody else who had a new-ish game, at least a new version of their game there, and that was Turner Pimple. Yeah, from Texas. Yeah, from Texas, who we first saw their game, their Ninja Eclipse game, at the Texas Pimple Festival back in March. And at Pimple Expo, they were showing the latest version in an unusual cabinet, which I think divided opinion in some respects, and I suppose also galvanized opinion for others, particularly around the price for one of the 100 first edition machines, which comes in at $9,777, a very precise number there, plus taxes and shipping. Right, yeah. Now, I guess the overriding first impression you get of the game is that it has a much shallower cabinet to it, mainly because it doesn't have a coinder on the front. Yes. Which put off a lot of people thinking it was a homebrew or a home pinball machine. Yeah, home version. Not one for commercial exploitation. Yeah, some people say, look, it's more like a sizzle-sized cabinet, which is a bit unfair, but that's a risk you take when you start messing around with the standard dimensions of a game. Some people welcomed the acceptance that the cabinets are only as deep as they are on most other machines just because they've got to have a coin door on the front. There's not really much in the way of equipment in the bottom of a cabinet these days. some people put their board sets in there and others put them in the backbox and if they put them in the backbox they probably put the power supply up there as well and then all you have in the cabinet basically is really like the coin box and a speaker and well that's it really and a power switch at the bottom which doesn't need to be deep no, so I like the way they rethought how a pinball machine or cabinet could look. And I have to say, it actually looked... I found it impressive looking with the way the glass lifts with lightning integrated in it as well as the apron. And it uses very simple mechanisms, for example, for the bolt drop. And the game actually played also very nice, very smooth, interesting game to play. But it also made me wonder, okay, if you're a startup company like Turner, why not focus on getting your manufacturing straight and start with building a pinball machine in a more traditional way, instead of trying to improve elements that many people might feel don't need improvements, or wait with that until you have a second or a third game before you start implementing it, but first get everything going production-wise and so on. Build a name for yourself. I mean, obviously Turner Pinball is not related to Deep Root, but at Deep Root we've seen tons of innovations. At the end of the day, they never saw the light of day. Yeah. Which is, you may wonder like, okay, is it going to, do you have to invent or reinvent stuff that doesn't need to be reinvented? But sometimes it works. But I will do it at a later stage. That's just my personal opinion. Interestingly, during their seminar, Chris Turner announced that, based on the feedback that he got at the show from people indicating that they want a cabinet with a coin drawer, he announced that there will be an arcade edition of the game with a standard cabinet. and the version that we just described will be called the Epic version. And chances are the arcade version of the cabinets might be slightly cheaper. Yeah, and I think you also said that they would be looking to take some of the mechs out of the game as well to make it cheaper. But even so, it didn't seem to make a huge amount of sense that, um judging by the price difference it seemed that it's far more expensive to make this different style cabinet than it would be to get a standard pinball cabinet right which makes you wonder well you're spending money to get less okay so you don't really get why that is do people really have a problem with the depth of pinball cabinets other than it's wasteful um but of course if you're going to operate it then Well, his original intention was to use a bespoke digital payment system called PinPay to pay for the games, not to take cash in any way. On location. Yes, to play the game. People were thinking, well, why do you need another system of payment? There are plenty of other payment systems out there at the moment. pay range is one of them there's also you could easily get a standard Mastercard or Visa card reader put it on the front and charge like vending machines do so you could do that Pinball has a history a short history of trying alternative means of paying for games I don't know if anyone listening remembers when Jersey Jack Pinball launched and were coming out with their Wizard of Oz game, they teamed up with another card provider in the early days called Dynamics, who had a thing called an e-plate, which allowed you to, it had buttons on it, allowed you to pick what kind of rewards you wanted when you used this credit card to pay for things. Surprisingly, I checked into that earlier, and that system still exists. if you go to dynamicsinc.com then you can find the e-plate there the idea was that it would give you exclusive gameplay modes if you used it to pay for your game on the Wizard of Oz and also you could be entered into a draw to win a Wizard of Oz machine but I don't think that ever came to anything and Judge Jackson dropped the whole idea so I think ultimately no one's really looking for another means of paying for paying to play the game. And also, if it's an operator, they've probably already got a tried and tested method of collecting payment for all their games, and they don't want to have just one title or one manufacturer who wants to do things differently. So having a coin door that takes a dollar bill, etc., or a swipe card, or even does redemption, has a ticket spitter or something like that, or a ticket onto a digital card, all of which, I was assuming, you're going to have a standard-sized cabinet. And if it costs a lot more to not have that, what's the benefit? Right, yeah. I mean, there are some nice things, absolutely, in what you were saying. You know, having the playfield glass lift off in a cassette, Well, Highway Pinball did that as well, some time back, and Bally did it as well, with some of their games. So it's not exactly a reason. Yeah, there must be a reason why they abandoned it. Well, it's expensive, as we're seeing now. It gives the advantage of being able to build light into the frame, so that was a good idea. The other thing which the Tony Pinball had done is they're not using glass. using Perspex or acrylic sheet to cover the playfield. Again, if you're an operator and you put your games in a bar, then it needs to be incredibly strong and robust. And I've seen people, I've seen pinballs in locations and the cleaners who are going along cleaning the location, they're walking across the playfield grass from machine to machine. It needs to be that strong, and I don't think a sheet of acrylic is really going to stand up to that. So another reason that maybe isn't going to work. But I think it's good that they're trying new ideas. The backbox was particularly unusual in this one, because the artwork is just a single sheet, a printed sheet, and it's got a strip at the top of the backbox on the inside illuminating it. But the whole back of the backbox is open. There's nothing in it. So there was literally that one sheet with the artwork on it between the front of the game and the back of the game. Right. Which, again, doesn't seem too robust. Somebody could easily punch that and take the whole thing and then you've got no artwork or game title in it. Yeah. So, yeah. Again, similar to what I mentioned, I appreciate them trying to come up with a new payment system, but I think they would have a lot more credibility if they would have first produced a couple of games, build a reputation for themselves, and then introduce something like that, which is backwards compatible to all their earlier titles, of course. But at least operators have, by then, gotten an impression of who they are, what they are capable of, and whether, you know... And whether their game earns. That's the thing. Because who cares about a new payment system if it's not taking any money? Well, it's actually danger in the risk of not taking any money if people don't know how to use it. Yeah, that's right. If I walk up to a game and I have to download an app in order to be able to play it, and I don't have that app, I'm, A, assuming I've actually got any data, either via Wi-Fi or cellular data, to download it, and B, I actually want to be bothered and I'll just play the one next door. I'm also interested in how that new cabinet looks in a line-up of other manufacturer games. Yeah. You know, it might look like the home model we were talking about earlier, but I don't want to be too negative here, because I think a ton of people will come up with some really interesting ideas. Absolutely. And the game played very nice as well. Well, I'll take your word for that. I didn't get a chance to play it, unfortunately. Yeah. So, no, no, I appreciate what they are doing. I'm not sure whether the timing of everything that they are doing is the best timing but I wish them all the best and I'm really looking forward to what they will be showing at Texas which is the next big event in like five months their home state of course yes that's right Yes, we have quite a few machines. They had two machines at Expo. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they had a system where there's a second flipper button on the right-hand side to operate the upper flipper. Now, on one game, that was tied, those two flippers were tied, the two right-hand flippers were tied together on a single button. And on the other game, they were individually operated. And I think the overall impression that I got was that people preferred it all being on one button rather than two separate ones. I think Chris Turner addressed that as well in his seminar, which can be viewed on the Pimble News website. Thank you. More information about that. Yeah. One other thing which I think sort of angered, but raised a few eyebrows, was that they say it's going to be shipping in spring 2024, so Q1, I guess, or Q2 maybe. And there's some doubt about that. It seems to be quite a lot up in the air as to exactly how it's going to be made and in what quantity. But also they have this at the moment, you can order one, but you have to pay a $150 reservation fee to be able to order one, which is not a deposit. It's not refundable. not refundable. That's just to allow you access to buy one of the first 100 first edition games. It says that all reservation fees are non-refundable on Ninja Eclipse games undergoing final testing and preparation for production. However, if any unforeseen events should occur, the payment of the reservation fee does not guarantee you a first edition Ninja Eclipse or any machine. The reservation fee does not guarantee you your numbered slot in line. so it just seems like it's another $150 on top of the price of the game but that's the kind of little things which it puts off if they made it a deposit and a non-refundable deposit that would be fair enough and then people would know that's what they're paying for but at the moment it just seems to be a barrier to people who are interested in the game and needlessly irritable, irritating yeah, oh well we do wish them luck of course and we're really keen to play the game as I say I didn't get to play it at Expo with everything else that was going on and the queues that were there to play it but yeah looking forward to it and got some nice ideas I think a little bit of fine tuning and maybe a little realism needs to creep into some of those. But I hope a number of those ideas do make it through. Right, yeah, okay. So, moving on to another company that showed up with a new pinball machine. We're talking about Pinball Adventures from Vancouver, Canada. And I think this was their very first time at Pinball Expo, if I'm not mistaken. They had announced, or they have been producing Puny Factory in small quantities for the past couple of months. And they already announced that they would be revealing their Elements game at Expo. And so they did. Although you might have missed it if you were there, because, and this might be my personal opinion speaking, it wasn't a very impressive booth, and the Elements game was, I think, not working properly and being served on for at least the first two days of the show. which is not a very good impression to make I think if you bring a game and basically you have technicians working on it to get it to work we've seen that many times with the Highway Pinball games at various shows where the games have at least one of them has always been worked on pretty much throughout the entire show which doesn't produce a good impression, but they at least brought both those games. I think I can... I don't want to say I'm going to correct you, but I will maybe clarify that Pinball Adventures have certainly been an expo before, but this was back in the days when they were doing their series of books with Todd Tuckey. Right. And that... The games. Yes, we know how that went, and perhaps you don't, but I'm sure there's plenty of reading available if you want to know how the whole series of books turned out. But this is the first time they've been at Texpo with games, and I can't remember the Pully Factory being shown anywhere else either. So, can you? Yeah, the Northwest Pinball Show. Ah, okay, well done, yeah. and Jack Finn ok that was earlier this year as well so yeah they were I think they announced they would be doing three shows and this actually was the third and the other two we just mentioned I kind of don't like saying it but if you see the impact that Barrels of Fun made and you compare it to what Pimble Adventure was doing that it basically was like not in the same league I think that's fair to say yeah and wishing Pimble Adventure all the best but if you want to review a game I think I would at this point suggest at least bring multiple of the same game so people can get an idea that you're able to actually build these games and have them make sure they all work. In the defense, I would say that this was a soft launch of elements because there's quite a lot still to do on the game to be finalized. I don't think what they were showing there was in any way the production ready sample. In fact, I know that there will be some fine-tuning done, and I know someone, a well-known industry professional, has offered their services to work on fine-tuning some of the shots, make them a lot smoother, and basically make the gameplay in a nicer way before it's ready for production. But I actually quite enjoyed playing it. I played a couple of games on it, Andrew was telling me what it was you need to do. I do question some of the decisions made, such as where the displays are on the game. There is a display right on the very, very top of the backbox, which I'm not quite sure what use that is. It has some gameplay information, but the actual main display seems to be on the bottom apron, which contained all your scoring. That seems a bit weird. But it's nice to try these new ideas, not as we've seen with Turner. It's all about getting some nice ideas, some of which will stick and some of which won't. Well, some will stick if you have a proven track record, which in this case is not really the case, I'd say. But still, okay, it's pinball and we appreciate everybody trying. Although I had distributors telling me that they thought it was a homebrew stand, which I'm not sure is the impression that you want to leave behind if you're trying to be a serious pinball manufacturer. Well, I think that's, yeah, it seems harsh to me, but I understand that it didn't make a big splash with the new game and it didn't have a seminar about it either, which would have been a good way to help spread the word. Right. So, oh well. I think it's safe to say that our lessons will be learned. And maybe not. If they want to do it their way, then have it your way. And, oh well, we'll see how it turns out. Also slightly unusual was that they had playfields displayed for both polyfactory elements and also the next game as well. Yes, which I think is the Ninja. Yeah, or Ninja, whatever. Yeah, I'm trying to remember the exact name of it. It's a Ninja-based game anyway, and I wish I could find out exactly what it was, because I did write it down somewhere. Yeah, so did I. It's one of my earlier newsletters, so I should be able to. Yeah. Let's move on for now. But it's rather unusual to show a playfield, just a bare playfield with artwork on it. It was unusual, yeah. Yeah. Well, you were still trying to launch your second game, which isn't working. And I can't... I'd love to be more positive about this, but if you don't bring a working game when you're reviewing it, it's very difficult for me. Okay. Well, I think we've pretty much covered that from now on. So let's move on to another company which had a very large display at Pinball Expo this year. Yeah, literally, and figuratively speaking. Yes. Because they had a very large screen in the back of their stand, portraying a promotional video for Galactic Tank Force, and of course we're talking about American Pinball. Indeed. Now we, and you can read about this in Jonathan's Expo report on the Pinball Magazine website, we had the opportunity to go and visit American Pinball at their factory in Palatine, before Pinball Expo started. That's our Tuesday morning Yep, that's right And while we were there we spoke to game designer Dennis Nordman Who of course is designer of Galactic Tank Force But he was able to talk to us about that and upcoming games Which of course we can't talk about here And also we met with David Fix Who runs the company and he was both talking to us and showing us the production situation at the company right now, what they're making and what they've got coming up. So when we were there a year ago, we were looking around the factory and we saw they were making lots and lots of playfields for games, but they had a real shortage of back boxes and cabinets. Well, that issue now seems to have been thoroughly resolved. They have lots of both cabinets and back boxes in the factory and are, seem to be, busily building machines at quite an impressive rate. We saw signs all around the factory where it's kind of like an internal challenge to build 300 new machines by December. So bear in mind this was the, I think this was through October and November. So that would be about 150 a month, I suppose. No, I think it was October, November, December. So a three month period, 100 games a month. And it's not one title. When we were there, they were building both Galactic Tank Force and Houdini. And the 300 is for the total amount of games they are striving to build by the end of December. Ah, the actual signs up, they said 300 by December. Yeah. By the end of December. That's what I understood, but then again, English is not my native language. Pardon me if I misunderstood. Well, it's ambiguous enough that I'm sure I can manage that either way. But yes, you say they were building Galactic Force and Houdini Games while we were there. Interesting that the Houdini Games they were making was the final run which had all the 3D sculpts in it. after that they'll be producing the classic edition which gets rid of those 3D models and replaces them with plastic pieces instead and also on the escape box at the back as well rather than being a wooden one it has decals on it so it looks pretty good but it's a much cheaper product to make and of course that's reflected in the price of the game while we were there we did discover there was some new code coming for Houdini not sure exactly when it's going to be announced or released, we're sort of announcing it now but yeah there will be some code which will make it easier to lock balls the main ball lock which goes into the catch which throws it into the trunk that is a notoriously narrow lane, so there is a means coming up to make it in software to make it more accessible, put it that way. That hasn't been announced yet, and it's actually, what it's going to consist of is yet to be decided. And there's also another mod planned for Houdini and another one for Hot Wheels as well. Yes. Again, not announced. Not announced, yeah. I thought they were both very, very interesting, I have to say. Yeah, makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. Useful and, well, it's up to American Pimble to announce these. But if you're an owner of one of these games, then you can expect some mods coming up that might enhance your gameplay quite a bit. Yeah. Okay. But now American people have had, as you mentioned, not only a big stand, they had a big presence at the show. Graptic Tank Force, of course, uses real actors to portray the characters in the game. for main characters and for actors who portray them. And for Pinball Expo, American Pinball had brought those actors to the show. And they appeared, first of all, in a seminar where they were talking about their, well, who they are, their history and their involvement in the game and their interest in pinball. And then the next day, they were on the American Pinball stand dressed in their character outfits and signing flyers and posters for anybody who wanted to come along and get one and meet and greet. And they all seem to be very personable, very pleasant, and very much up for the public appearances. So I think it worked out really, really well. And there were certainly long lines of people to come and meet them and get their picture taken with them as well. Yeah, and apparently, what I understood from David's pitch, this is the, well, so far the only event where all four of the actors were present and most likely it will also be the only event he's not planning to do it again. Yeah, well, I'm not surprised it must be quite difficult to get them all together and also have them all with their outfits on, their tank force outfits. Yes. And, yeah, I thought it was very interesting. Also interesting to notice that for this one event, American Pinball did have, I wouldn't call them flyers, but let's call them flyers anyway, signable flyers for each character. So four different flyers, one for each character that they could sign. So you have Professor Plotnik, I think he's called. Yeah, that's right. And you have Empress Anoia. Mm-hmm. And what are the other names? Duke Kaboom, or whatever his name is. Duke Moonwalker, I think. Okay, well, so each of them had a flyer for their character, which they were signing. and we'll be giving away a set of those, including with the flyer for Galactic Tank Force, at the, so you think, you know, pinball quiz at the Dutch Pinball Open. It's one of the prizes you can win, which is rather exclusive, because from the looks of it, these will not be distributed any further anywhere else. No, these were created by Chris Fratchey, I believe. Yes, who did the artwork for the game. And he was also present in the booth signing flyers and posters and what have you. Indeed he was, yes. And of course had his own booth at the show as well, where you could also pick up this and an artwork from other games or even just other prospective titles as well that he's worked on. So he's a prolific guy at the moment, and as I've admitted, the Galactic Tank Force artwork, everything about it looks absolutely top notch. Totally in keeping with the theme. So it was a really nice event, and I think everyone was very appreciative of the tag of the signing sessions, in addition to the regular signing autograph session that they have at Pimble Let's Go every year as well. Yeah, so I guess that rounds it up for American Pinball and well I think it does, yep So, moving on to Pedretti Gaming from Italy Well, not much news from them, but there is some new code which is out for Whirlwind Total Chaos just announced that version 0.7 which apparently has new firmware for the fast pinball system which World Winter Total Chaos uses for better relay control. It has a new speedrun feature which uses all the rage for everyone now to be able to time their way through the game. It has new adjustments for the mode timers and there's apparently some bugs in there which need to be fixed and they have been fixed. So that's pretty much it for World Winter Total Chaos version 0.70. Right. Okay. Spooky pinball. Back to the US. Yeah. Well, last month we reported that Total Nuclear Annihilation version 2.0 hadn't quite sold out. They still had a couple of machines left. Well, good news. Those last two machines sold and nobody else cancelled. So TNA 2.0 is now officially sold out. Right, okay. And of course we know that Scooby-Doo is the current spooky pinball game, which is still available to purchase in every model available on their website. But Ultraman, the game they were making before Scooby-Doo, is also still available in a Bloodsucker edition and another version, I think. Yes. So if you're into that, then head to the Spooky Pinball website to order one of those. Apparently that website has recently been renewed, although it basically looks like they moved the site from the new.spookypinball.com URL to simply spookypinball.com. yes that's right the old one exists but it redirects to the new one now so yes it's doesn't say a hugely different thing but it's a little more professional a little more wordpressy now than it did before so I think it's certainly an improvement on design even the content is not that different but it does have a web shop where you can buy these games although we were trying it earlier and we found it to be very very slow going through the web shop. But I'm sure if you're looking to buy any stuff from there, it would be worth persevering with that. Now, we mentioned about Scooby-Doo, Ultraman and Halloween, of course, which is Ultraman and Halloween share the same basic design. All three have new code. Oh. Yes, Scooby-Doo has had a few days to kill on the 28th of October. Pretty minor update, really. Now has combos built into it, so that's a new feature, which we can create unique permutations of character awards as a two-thing character orbits in rapid succession to build combos. There's a new Pirate Henchman feature. Dashing Cutler will start Pirate Henchman mode after the multiball mode. Yeah. And lots more extra ball opportunities. Lots more extra ball opportunities. Ultraman and Halloween are kind of both getting updates, but Halloween's like one version ahead. and of course Halloween had a new version of software on Halloween appropriately enough which also now has a name yes that's right and like we were saying earlier with Stern Games they got this Wizard Mode mini game which is available from the start of the game other than that just like longer ball saves, bug fixes Ultraman has a new mini-mode, Giant Fuji, which, the instructions for which don't mean an awful lot unless you know how the game plays, and I don't know how the game plays, so I won't bother boring you with that. But, there are lots of new bits and pieces, like tweets, call-outs, performance improvements, but apparently there's a lot more still to come on Ultraman. So, if you own that game, nice to know it's still getting some love. And I think that's about it for Spooky. Yeah, well they were also present at Yes Yeah, a rather sizable booth They brought some Scooby-Doo games And others as well I don't remember exactly what they brought And of course Lots of merchandise Which they were selling At their booth It was run by Buck Son of Charlie and Kate And I don't think I've seen Charlie or Katie anywhere during the event. No. Oh, well. That's actually quite usual recently. So it seems like Buck is mostly running the company these days. And from what I can tell, he's still putting off a great job. So kudos to Buck. Yeah, we didn't do a seminar about anything this year, but I guess they've already done that. We did one at Texas, I think, didn't we? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. So probably no more to be said about Scooby-Doo at the moment until they've got their next title out. Yeah. Which actually should be, like, the beginning of next year because they're planning to finish Scooby-Doo by the end of this year. So there might always be delays or something, but their planning is that it should be a couple of months and then we have a new spooky title. Okay, look forward to seeing what that's going to be Okay, so let's move on to Multimorphic Yes From down in Texas as well Texas is becoming quite a hotbed of pinball manufacturing these days There's a sort of a manufacturing update Put out by Gerry Stellenberg Who's head of the company With kind of mixed news Mostly good saying that lead times on new P3 people platform machines, which used to be more than 12 months, has now been reduced to just a mere four to six weeks. So they've been ramping up production on full machines. Or a lot of people bailing out. Well, possibly, but I doubt that. Lead times on standalone final resistance playfield modules, that's their current title that's got an easy design game that's um that's around about four months at the moment so if you wanted to order one now you wouldn't expect to get it for four months uh however all other game modules uh for games like heisen and weird al and and uh cosmic cosmic heart racing yeah that's it exactly they're all available in stock and ready to ship right now. So that's a good situation to be in. Although rather strangely, if you order a complete P3 machine with final resistance in, you will probably get it earlier than if you just ordered a standalone final resistance kit, because they run separate lines for modules that go into complete machines and those which are sold as add-on kits, which is okay I suppose it means they get to sell more P3s that way complete P3s talking of final resistance they, Gerry announced they're making stronger versions of final resistance's drop target assembly and the centre wire form following feedback from customers and they've had a few engineering issues I think and Jerry says they're actually pausing announcing any new games while they go back and do a thorough re-evaluation of all the critical parts used in their games and re-engineer them where necessary in order to make the whole platform much more robust and fix any issues which they've noticed or have been reported to them. and so because of that there won't be the new game announcement they were planning for the fourth quarter of this year and that won't happen until next year, the key one next year at the earliest so yeah interesting that they're basically saying ok let's stop, have a look back, sort out any existing issues before we start releasing any new titles which is a good thing to do, but not every company is in a position to do that. Some companies have to keep the line going and stopping that and not announcing any new games is a bit of a luxury for some companies, but good that they're doing it and I'm sure it will pay dividends into the future. Yeah, and hearing this, I imagine that if some parts are re-engineered and replaced, that will probably mean that everybody already owning such a machine will have to either buy or get sent such a replacement part to avoid issues in the future. Which might take up some time and that otherwise could be used for assembly of production places. True, or it could just be a case that if people report there being an issue with a part which they've subsequently redesigned, then they will get sent out the new part, but not to everybody, only as and when the problem occurs, because some people will probably never experience some of the problems that they've noticed. noticed so it's not worth the time and effort doing that. Now they also announced a new code the the announcement I saw was the final resistance which is not a surprise because it's the current game as we said earlier version 1.1.1.1 has been announced there are a lot of changes and additions, including lots of ball savers and basic functions which have been improved or added, which weren't there in the first place. They added some more final resistance-appropriate music to the launcher, where you pick which game you're going to start off with, and a reasonable number of bugs as well, which have been squished in this version. But I thought that was it, but then I asked Jerry to give me the details of what the update is, and he said, oh, by the way, there's also updates for Dungeon Door Defender. Oh, right, okay, so that's now on version 1.6.0.2. That has a huge list of new features added to it, which we are not going to go through. No, quite right. No, and also quite a lot of bugs fixed. And then he said, oh, and also drained. as well, and the add-on game, Drain Byte Size. They've both got new features as well added. So, great. And bug fixes fixed. Of course. So version 2.0.0.1 of Drain and 1.0.0.1 of Byte Size Drain. Right. As you say, we'll go through the details. Just enough to know that those four games have received code updates. in this past month from Multimorphic or in the face of Dungeon Door Defender or Drained from third-party suppliers for those. Right, okay. So James Cardona of Cardona Pinball was present at Pinball Expo with a small booth in which he was showing both No Good Govers Battle for the Green and Black Rose Blood and Bones 2.0 kit. And it's funny enough, I was playing the No Good Govers game and someone walked up to me and asked me whether I owned that game because he wanted to buy it. I don't think that's the purpose here. You have to own one of these and then can change the game into what I'm currently playing. Yes, of course. So, yeah. But, oh well, it was good to see James Cardona being at Pinball Expo and display both of his games. You talked to him as well, so what did you talk about? Yeah, he showed me how you install the 2.0 kit. We were particularly looking at Black Rose Skull and Bones, and what you need to do to install it, because obviously it runs on the fast pinball system, so you need to take out the existing control boards and put in the new one from fast, and what that entails, because it needs its own PC to run, unlike the original Black Rose, which runs on the CPU board, of course. and of course it's got a completely different display to it and so the idea is that I'm going to get one to review fairly shortly so I'm just working out exactly which machine that's going to go in and I look forward to doing an in-depth review but it was a good decision I didn't get a chance to play either of them because I didn't really get a chance to play anything very much during the show. I think I played six machines in total, six games, I think, in total during the entire show. Wow, that's a record. It's a record low, I think, yes. More than I played. Oh, I like very hard to believe. Yeah, and I probably played like ten or so. Oh, well, there you go. For a three-day event, that's not a lot. I know, it's quite shameful really, but the important thing is I got to play the new releases, or at least you did, I got to play some of them. Yeah, except for Puny Factory and Element. Oh, well I did get to play those, you see, so, yeah, you see, now who's jealous? Yeah, exactly, that's right. But, but, but, but, but, I did get to play, again, Pulp Fiction. Did you? Yeah, which brings me to Chicago Gaming and of course Play Mechanics, working together on this Pulp Fiction machine. Now the, I was able to talk to Butch Beale, who is with Chicago Gaming and I asked like, So, what's the delay with the production of Pulp Fiction, which apparently now is finally in production? I'm not sure that it actually is yet. I think there's a production prototype or something being produced, but I don't think it's actually gone into production because they need to order a lot of parts for it before they can get that final. Right, okay. Now, I may be paraphrasing here. But what I understood from Bush Bill is that the company, run by Doug Dubin, of course, well, Doug has a say in everything. It's his company. And he firmly believes that people will forgive you for being late, not for giving them poor quality. So the delays are caused because they want to deliver the best quality and if it takes more time, it takes more time but people will forgive you for taking more time. That's the idea why it's apparently taking so long. And I also understood they run into some difficulties setting up a second production line in the factory. And once that's sorted out, then of course games will be cranked out a lot quicker. And also they'll be able to make the Capture's Canyon machines of course, which have also been pretty slow in coming off the line. Right. So, yeah, I wanted to talk to Ryan White, who was at Expo as well. He was very good at the Hoiding League. He's well-practiced at that, I'm sure. as indeed are most of us now but they did do a seminar on the making of Pulp Fiction which had Mark Ritchie George Petro, Scott Pakulski and Josh Sharpe all on the panel there to talk about the design of it and of course they have no idea exactly when the game is going to go into production either or when it's going to be available to purchase it's pretty much dependent on Chicago Gaming and Doug when they're actually in a position to build it they did give a nice interesting presentation about how the game was conceived and the various stages of approval or lack of approval it went through and how long it's taken to actually get to this stage yeah up to the point where they actually delivered the game at Quentin Tarantino's house. So it's a very interesting seminar to check out, which you will find on the Pinball News website. So make sure to listen what Mark Ritchie and his colleagues have to say about that. Great. And moving into another new, well, actually not another new company, a long-established company, a game that's been in development or been in production for a long time. We moved to Dutch Pinball, and they didn't have a presence themselves at Pinball Expo, certainly nothing like we were talking about earlier when the Big Lebowski was launched. But they are now represented by Cointaker, who had a couple of machines. Yeah, they had a distributor for the US, so that makes sense. Yeah. And very recently, the founder of the company was also present at Pinball Expo, together with Rens, who is taking care of the social media updates, so to speak, or at least on Pinsight, keeping people informed how production is coming along of the Big Lebowski. and so Barry was present and I think he had a rather good expo I did talk to him briefly it was good to see him there they're obviously also working on other projects other than the Big Lebowski but I'm not at liberty to talk about those so we would Okay I don't think there's anything more To say about Two games in the stand of CoinTaker Both played Quite a lot I think Oh yes I couldn't go anywhere near it To see what model they had there And what features were included And whether they had any of the extras On the game or not But One company from Europe which wasn't at Pinball Expo and that's Hexapinball who we've mentioned before and their Space Hunt game which is their launch title they are apparently working hard to get CE certification for that which as we remember from Deep Root days was always a sticking point when trying to get it UL or CE certified so they can sell it. I think it needs to be CE certified for them to sell it in the European Union. And I'm not sure whether they can sell it within France, even without CE certification. Probably not. So that's a key milestone to reach before they can actually start putting the game on sale. That's pretty much all we have. All the news we have from Hexapimble at the moment. Okay. So then... One company that wasn't there? Yes, from one to another. Haggis Pinball from Australia. Last year represented in the fast pinball booth with a phantom game. But this year I don't recall seeing any Haggis pinball machines on the floor, whether it be Fathom or Centaur Revisited that was announced not so long ago or Kelts yeah exactly but apparently they are still cranking out Fathom Revisited albeit at a very slow pace so oh well best of luck with that and we look forward to seeing them again at a a big US Yeah, they normally support Texas, don't they? Yes. Yeah, so hopefully we'll see them there, see Damien and Martin there. Yeah. Give you some updates. Yeah, and there was another pinball company not represented at all, and then we're talking about Home Pin from Taiwan. So, and no presence means no representative at the show, but also no game. So this final tap was not present at the show, which is a pity because I was curious to see that game in person. Yeah, no Thunderbirds either as far as I could tell. No? No. Which... And no news from the company also over the entire month other than Mike Kalinowski, the owner, assisting someone who imported a bunch of games from other manufacturers in actually getting them to work, because there was several technical issues with them. So he posted about that on the Home Print Factory Facebook page, but no updates on the production of this final set. Oh, okay. Well, if there's no news from them, Let's have a quick scan of some of the other companies we haven't got any news from. I don't think we've got anything from Victronic in Spain. No. STR Pinball, which you keep saying we should take out of the list, but they're still there, still hanging in there, and I hope that something will happen. I'll take them out myself. Okay. Quetzal Pinball. Still no news on when Tokyo Perfect Drift is actually going to go into production. Yeah, no, still not. Circus Maximus, we reported I think last month that the Kingpin project and the Pinball Circus project are considered to be dead, and we had no verification whatsoever. I had reached out to James Loughlin, who runs Circus Maximus, or run. At this point, that's not sure, but we did get some new information that sort of explained it through, what happened. And as it turns out, James has been battling the sister of Python Anghelo, Uli, for years now. And Uli has always been trying to claim the estate of Python Anghelo. and having been at Python's place and hearing him talk about his sister, it's fair to say that they did not get along very well. And as far as I remember, Python didn't want his sister to have anything to do with his art or his legacy or whatsoever, but apparently she had other ideas. so she went to court she fought James who was at that point trying to build Pimple Circus and Kingpin in many instances James won court cases and then she would find another argument and go back apparently the last time she actually won in court and there was a day set to which James could appeal against that ruling, and that expired without him doing so. And apparently that was the nail in the coffin for that project. Right. So it seems like she now owns his estate. She inherited his artwork, or what there is of it, what hasn't already been sold off. Right. anything left is now presumably now belongs to Uli his python sister right yes and well we just have to wait and see what she plans to do with it what there is of it what is left yeah well that's one thing I know that James sold off a lot of artwork on on ebay and when I say artwork I mean The original Pinbot mock-up sketch, the dual-layered one, is one of the items that was sold off on eBay a few years ago. Hand-drawn artwork, lots of sketches that were basically lying on Python's desk in a pile of stuff that needed to be sorted out. a lot of that was sold off on eBay. At that point, I understood to fund the Kingpin project. And in the end, that turned out to be for nothing. Well, it just hasn't gone anywhere, and nothing has happened to it for a long time now. Right, but it doesn't mean the money is still there. No, not quite. We don't know what happened to that business. It's none of our business. We have no coin in the game. But even so, it's an interesting development, and there could be the end of the final nail in the coffin of Python's Impulse Circus remake project if it actually wasn't already dead. Right. So, oh well, I still wish best of luck to James and Paul. Paul was also part of that project, and I hope to be able to report on that story someday in the future. It would be nice if it could actually be wrapped up in a positive way at some point. Yeah. Okay, so other news. We haven't covered all the pinball manufacturers, I think, at the moment. Yeah. Or is there a new one? Well, there might be a new one We both received an email Indicating that there is a company And we don't know which one Working on a pinball for Or themed after the Prince of Bride Yeah, and we all went Well, isn't that some kind of Cute cartoon or something like that But apparently not The email Basically directed you to a website Which is www.theprincessbridepinball.com Which is Basically says Will the Princess Bride Make a great pinball game? Question mark Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture Revenge, giants, monsters Chases, escapes True love, miracles It's an incredible game and then it asks you to sign up for updates on the progress of it a newsletter so you have to answer your email address and when you do that it says thank you for your interest in the upcoming The Prince's Bride pinball machine we will share more information in the coming weeks and months, we cannot wait to share this amazing pinball experience that brings this beloved cinematic masterpiece to life Hmm, well, no indication who it's from, or who's involved. I think, didn't we do a WHO-ISLAND? We did, but it was Finland, wasn't it? Oh, Iceland, yeah. Yeah, Reykjavik, wasn't it? That's right, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, well, we'll just have to see whether that's the address of a, internet provider or a URL web host something like that or whether they are actually in Iceland which would be the first Iceland spinball manufacturer and make them the biggest of the country immediately well that's one claim to fame before anything else ok other news we mentioned earlier that on our Pinball Expo trip, we had the opportunity to go and meet Eugene Jarvis, who, of course, runs, owns, runs War Thrills, the arcade game manufacturer and developer, and went to their factory, and saw some of the games that are in development, which we can't talk about. No, but they will be revealed at IAFA later this month, and that's in Florida. It is, yes, good point, yeah. Suffice to say, well, I think you already mentioned one of them, but we had a great time playing a VR game, which is, I think, for me, I'm not really a fan of video games, or immersive video games like that, but this one, yeah, this one I put money in and played. It was quite awesome. So watch out for their latest fully immersive VR game with movable seats and complete surround sound and the VR headset and everything. It's great fun. I mean, it's one of those ones where you've got a limited amount of control, to be honest, but it's a good two-player game where you can battle your partner and try and shoot more things than they do. And that's pretty much the gist of the game. And it's a great ride. Right. Now, you may wonder, why were we having lunch with Eugene Jarvis? Well, Eugene Jarvis and I go back to the days when I started working on the Python Anghelo issue of Pinball Magazine, which still has to be finished. and basically Eugene was there to urge me to finish it. One of many to urge you to finish it. Actually, yes, it seemed like the red threats throughout the Pimble Expo. There were quite a few people that were urging me to finish the Python-Python Anghelo issue, which they can't wait to read it. so okay that's once I'm well this is a busy month but I will get back on that and try to finish it oh well maybe I should just publish it and see what I will do with what's left on the table well talking of publications we can announce that Ryan Claytor, remember Ryan teamed up with Nick Aldridge to do the Coming Up Carnival. Of course, he has a new publication out, a book called One Bite at a Time, which was launched today, actually. Well, it was yesterday now, but on the 1st of November, he launched a new Kickstarter project, which is for a very lavish-looking book, which celebrates 20 years of his elephant-eater imprint. he is doing an online tour to promote the book and the book looks at basically looks at the process that he goes through in order to create publications like calling up carnival things like Mr. Jones pinball watches that he's done it's not all pinball but various different publications that he's done over the years and shows you how he does it and it's quite an innovative book the way it's created and if you want to find out more about that then he is doing a one month long promotional online tour throughout the month of November and I'm pleased to say that Pinball News will be part of that I think we have an article and an interview with Ryan all about his One Bite at a Time book and Kickstarter project and I think that's going to go live on the 7th of November so watch out for that otherwise go to I think look for the URL but if you go to Kickstarters and search for One Byte at a Time or even just Google One Byte at a Time book I'm sure you'll find out all the details of what it's about, how you can buy it and where you can read more about it and of course check out Pimple News from the 7th onwards where we'll also have all that information for you Sounds interesting, I'll check it out Yeah, it's a good book Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, moving on, Brian Allen, who has been known for making alternative translight art for various pinball machines, released or produced a new pinball translight designed for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Yeah, he was showing it at Pinball Expo on his stand and also all his other translights. and I think it's a nice one I'm not always necessarily a fan of redoing trans-like art in a very broadly similar design to the way that it was done the first time but this one is significantly different and I think probably better because it's less about the movie I think and more about Dracula himself and his story. So I think that's a nice looking translate. If I had the game, I'd probably get it. Okay, good. Well, best of luck to Brian with his artwork, and we look forward to other new alternative pinball translations and whatever else he's working on. As we mentioned earlier, Well, there is the Dutch Pinball Open Expo coming up this month in Veldhoven, which is on the outskirts of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. We'll both be there holding our quiz. If you're able to come over, it will be your chance to win some very, I would almost say rare, abysm in Europe, items that we'll be giving away if you know your answers correct and you're having luck with the prize that you will be drawing. Yes, that's right, yes, because the winners, we'll get down to the last few correct answers, we just ask everybody to pick a raffle ticket and the raffle ticket relates to a prize. So it's pretty much a lucky dip, which is exactly what you get. You may get a major prize, you may get a smaller prize, but it's all good stuff. Anyway. Yeah. And it's all free. So come along. Last but not least, you have some news on the never-ending story of Deep Root, Tim Ball. A little bit. We're kind of waiting at the moment. Well, we were last time I checked. If you remember last month, I mentioned about the Security and Exchange Commission, the SEC, had applied for a summary judgment on the case against Robert Mueller in relation to the Deep Root funds and how they were spent and or invested, or not invested, and how the money was spent on a pinball company. At the moment, we're still waiting on the judgment, from the judges to whether a summary judgment will be handed down or not. But in the absence of that, the court case, or the impending court case, rolls ever closer. There have been lots of interesting documents admitted for evidence in this court case, including many financial statements about the company's balance sheet, information and videos of upcoming game titles that we may not have seen before, for titles like Goonies and Machine Age. Details about how Raza, a retro-atomic zombie adventure game, would be built, were it ever to be built, including things like the bill of materials for it. And even a Pinball News article about the launch of that game has been submitted to the court for inclusion as evidence. if it goes to court who might be called as a witness well one person who might be called as we mentioned earlier is one Chris Turner of Turner Pinball of course was looking after the financial software for Deep Root and would have a unique insight into exactly how the company was run but that's all maybe maybe some judgment might come along and render all of that unnecessary but we'll wait for that and we'll bring you details of that next month in our next Pincast right, yeah but before or hopefully before that next Pincast we'll have a bonus episode which we mentioned earlier with Steve Ritchie and Jack Guarnieri of Jersey Jack Pimble discussing the new recently launched Elton John game keep your eyes open on social media or your subscribe to our podcast so you get notified when that episode goes live absolutely right, other than that we'll be back at the start of December I guess, with our next regular monthly pincast looking back at all the events in the pinball industry and the pinball world throughout this month of November. So, until then, until then, yeah, from me, Martin Ayer of Pinball News and me, Jonathan Houston of Pinball Magazine. We wish you a fantastic November and we'll see you next month for another Pincast. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 250af6ca-1648-4423-bb9c-f45391b35f7d*