# DPP #147 "Avatageous! What a week in pinball!"

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-09-11  
**Duration:** 30m 52s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donspinballpodcast/episodes/DPP-147-Avatageous--What-a-week-in-pinball-e2o9jur

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## Analysis

Don discusses the explosive week in pinball featuring Avatar's imminent release at Jersey Jack with hands-on events Friday, X-Men's first live stream gameplay airing Wednesday, and Dutch Pinball's Alice game gaining momentum with Stumbler's LED expertise. The podcast covers gameplay speculation on Avatar based on teaser imagery, market dynamics of recent JJP releases, Media Mixer 2.0 ticket availability at Expo, and emerging homebrew projects.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Avatar release is happening tomorrow with full reveal; hands-on gameplay Friday at Jersey Jack headquarters — _Don states Avatar release is coming, people invited to Jersey Jack Friday for hands-on play; topper is interactive with the game to higher degree than seen so far_
- [HIGH] X-Men livestream gameplay happening Wednesday 4pm Central (5pm Eastern, 2pm Pacific), likely Premium or LE version — _Don confirms livestream broadcast time and game model uncertainty_
- [HIGH] Stern dropped X-Men production count by about 20% from original; game sold out to distributors including Mad Pinball — _Don reports production reduction decision and distributor sell-out status_
- [HIGH] Elton John Collector's Editions on Pinside secondary market cheapest available at $13,500 for $15,000 MSRP games — _Don checked Pinside pricing yesterday; only five units found with various sale statuses_
- [HIGH] Avatar game features McFarlane Toys licensed figures instead of custom-tooled pieces; includes interactive AMP suit mech on left sling — _Don analyzes teaser images procured by Jason Knapp; describes kung fu grip interaction_
- [HIGH] Avatar features day-night cycle with UV lighting effects on art blades (both Limited and Collector's Editions) — _Don observes UV effect in trailer shots; notes bioluminescent motorcycle visual theme_
- [HIGH] Dutch Pinball's Alice game is open-source IP allowing third-party modder ports without cable hacking — _Don explains Alice will have ports for modders; contrasts with licensed games like X-Men that cannot allow open modifications_
- [HIGH] Dutch Pinball Alice limited to approximately 500 units at Stern LE price point — _Don mentions artificial scarcity strategy; only Cointaker available in U.S., Nitro in Canada for pre-orders_
- [HIGH] Media Mixer 2.0 at Expo Thursday Sept 17 (5-8pm) now open to fan community for $10 tickets; includes food, drink coupons, raffle giveaways — _Don provides event details, pricing, sponsor involvement (Jersey Jack, American Pinball), and ticket availability confirmation_
- [HIGH] JJP factory tour sold out (free tickets), Stern tour $35, American Pinball tour on Wednesday still available — _Don updates Expo tour ticket status as of recording Wednesday Sept 11_

### Notable Quotes

> "We're getting back to a better theme we're getting good builds now... Avatar, I think, compared to those last three themes of Godfather, Toy Story 4, and Elton John easily the best of the bunch"
> — **Don**, ~mid-episode
> _Signals improved theme direction at Jersey Jack after perceived missteps; positions Avatar favorably in recent JJP release cycle_

> "And then Jack Danger comes through with the heat. We all saw the Sentinel grab the wire form and deform it. And at that point, we're all texting our distributors like, do you got any of these left?"
> — **Don**, ~X-Men section
> _Demonstrates X-Men's market impact; playfield feature (Sentinel deforming wire forms) was key FOMO trigger for collectors_

> "If you want an LE and you can manage to find one from a distributor, you might have it as soon as next week... Your game shows up. Magical, man. That's how it should work."
> — **Don**, ~X-Men availability section
> _Praises rapid X-Men fulfillment vs historical multi-month waits (references 11-month Pulp Fiction wait); signals positive operator/collector experience_

> "This game does have that bit that I like in pinball, which is where you see a ball path or some sort of element, and then it's up to you to figure out how you interact with that... This game looks to be delivering in that"
> — **Don**, ~Avatar playfield analysis
> _Identifies Avatar's apparent strength in discovery-based gameplay design philosophy_

> "The rumor is that this topper will be interactive with the game to a higher degree than what we've seen so far so I'm enthusiastic to see more about that"
> — **Don**, ~Avatar topper discussion
> _References unconfirmed interactive topper feature; indicates rumor circulation in community ahead of reveal_

> "Now they've got Stumbler on board... the fact that this is an open source IP, I think, makes this possible"
> — **Don**, ~Alice game discussion
> _Highlights Alice's open-source strategy enabling third-party integration; contrasts with licensed game restrictions_

> "I do like the fact that that's in there. So I don't have one of these on order... the fact that there's only $499 out there in existence, it adds some extra value"
> — **Don**, ~Alice scarcity discussion
> _Articulates artificial scarcity as value proposition for buyers; acknowledges market psychology around limited production_

> "That week it did even more. The big thing was that was when the price was jumping up to $15,000 for a collector's edition. Yikes."
> — **Don**, ~Toy Story 4 pricing context
> _References pricing escalation as market turning point; signals community concern about sustainability of $15k LE model_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Avatar | game | Jersey Jack Pinball title releasing this week; features McFarlane Toys, interactive AMP suit, day-night UV cycle, multiple underplayfield areas; positioned as strongest JJP theme since Pirates/Guns N' Roses |
| X-Men | game | Stern Pinball game, sold out to distributors after Jack Danger's design featuring Sentinel deforming playfield; livestream gameplay Wednesday; production cut ~20%; fastest fulfillment in recent Stern history |
| Alice (Adventures in Wonderland) | game | Dutch Pinball open-source title featuring Stumbler LED integration, Lior sculpts; 500-unit limited production at Stern LE price; Zombie Yeti involved in art; shown at Expo target |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Avatar and recent releases (Elton John, Godfather, Toy Story 4, Guns N' Roses, Pirates); strong builds, stronger flippers; hosting Friday hands-on Avatar event; sponsored Media Mixer raffle giveaways |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Alice game; pursuing open-source modding strategy; contrasting approach to licensed manufacturers |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of X-Men; hosting factory tour ($35); merchandise sponsor at Media Mixer |
| Jack Danger | person | Designer of X-Men; community notes his playfield innovation (Sentinel mechanic) as key hype driver for otherwise skeptical market post-John Wick |
| Stumbler (Davey Stumbler) | person | Australian modder in U.K.; creates lolly rails, animated LED effects (Godzilla neon, Jaws buoy); officially integrated into Dutch Pinball Alice production |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Involved in Alice art direction; Don questions satisfaction with final art and whether alterations occurred |
| Lior | person | High-end pinball modder; creating sculpts for Alice; known for expensive, quality modifications now included factory-default |
| Jason Knapp | person | Community member who procured Avatar teaser images for analysis; Don references him as collaborator |
| Mad Pinball | company | Major Stern distributor; sold out X-Men allocation; referenced by Don for distributor availability status |
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer sponsor at Media Mixer raffle; factory tour available Wednesday at Expo |
| Cointaker | company | Only confirmed U.S. distributor for Dutch Pinball Alice pre-orders |
| Nitro | company | Canadian distributor for Dutch Pinball Alice pre-orders |
| Pinball Expo | event | Fall gathering ~5 weeks from recording; Avatar/Alice/X-Men machines expected on display; Pinball Olympics, Media Mixer 2.0, factory tours scheduled |
| Media Mixer 2.0 | event | Expo Thursday Sept 17, 5-8pm; $10 fan tickets available; food, drink coupons, raffle giveaways from manufacturers; first event last year had JJP playfield giveaways |
| Pinball Olympics | event | Expo Saturday event; tickets sold out morning of recording; Wild Jay's Magitorium location; shuttle bus provided; 5-hour tournament |
| Elton John | game | JJP release; $15,000 MSRP Collector's Edition; secondary market depreciation to $13,500+ minimum; strong sales praised by Don despite non-mainstream theme |
| Godfather | game | JJP release; iconic theme but not optimal for pinball; secondary market deals down to $10,000 Collector's Editions |
| Toy Story 4 | game | JJP release; marked price escalation to $15,000 for Collector's Edition; cake topper mechanics; weak theme execution per Don |
| Pirates of the Caribbean | game | JJP release; referenced as benchmark for complex playfield (upper playfield pirate ship); Avatar being compared to this standard |
| Guns N' Roses | game | JJP release; killer theme, great light show, gameplay fell short; marked community turning point toward more JJP purchases |
| Pulaski Pinball | company | Homebrew programmer creating 'Undead Eternal' (or similar title); notable for complex underplayfield design |
| Big Lebowski | game | Game in Don's collection being listed for sale under $12,000; Don loves it but cycling inventory |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Avatar release and mechanics, X-Men market performance and livestream, Dutch Pinball Alice development and modding strategy
- **Secondary:** Jersey Jack Pinball theme selection and release quality, Pinball Expo 2025 events and ticketing, Secondary market pricing and depreciation trends, Pinball pricing sustainability ($15k LE model)
- **Mentioned:** Homebrew pinball projects

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Don is enthusiastic about Avatar's potential and X-Men's market success, praises recent JJP build quality, excited about Dutch Pinball's innovative open-source approach and Alice. Minor concern about pricing sustainability and uncertainty about Avatar gameplay until hands-on Friday. Generally optimistic about industry momentum.

### Signals

- **[event_signal]** Media Mixer 2.0 at Expo (Thursday Sept 17, 5-8pm) reopened to fan community for $10; manufacturer sponsorship (JJP, American Pinball) with raffle giveaways including playfields (confidence: high) — Don provides event details, pricing, availability, sponsor list; last year JJP gave away playfields
- **[content_signal]** Don attending Friday Avatar hands-on event as content creator; planning first gameplay impression review to help fence-sitters make purchase decisions (confidence: high) — Don: 'I'm very thankful that I'm part of the crew that's getting invited down on Friday... I'll be able to give a first gameplay impression'
- **[design_philosophy]** Avatar featuring discovery-based gameplay design (figuring out ball paths and interaction methods); positioning as aesthetic/mechanical strength vs Pirates/Guns N' Roses benchmark (confidence: medium) — Don analyzes teaser images for ball paths, wire forms, toys; notes 'alien but better' vibe; compares playfield complexity to Jurassic Park and earlier classics
- **[event_signal]** Avatar full reveal and hands-on events scheduled for this week (full reveal on 12th, hands-on Friday at Jersey Jack); generates community excitement and media coverage coordination (confidence: high) — Don attending Friday hands-on; livestream teaser dropped; multiple sources confirming event logistics
- **[supply_chain_signal]** X-Men achieving fastest fulfillment timeline in recent Stern history; LE units shipping within 1-2 weeks vs historical 6-11 month waits (Pulp Fiction reference) (confidence: high) — Don: 'if you can manage to find one from a distributor, you might have it as soon as next week... This is how it should work'
- **[leak_detection]** Avatar details sourced from teaser images/video leaks analyzed by community (Jason Knapp procured still images); playfield configuration inferred before official reveal (confidence: high) — Don references '30-second snippet' teaser, paused for frame-by-frame analysis, Jason Knapp procuring images for community reference
- **[market_signal]** Avatar positioned as superior theme choice vs recent JJP releases (Godfather, Toy Story 4, Elton John); implies theming strategy course-correction (confidence: high) — Don: 'Avatar... compared to those last three themes... easily the best of the bunch, right?' going back to Pirates/Guns N' Roses quality tier
- **[market_signal]** X-Men production cut ~20% from original; sold out to major distributors (Mad Pinball); strategy appears intentional FOMO/scarcity play after John Wick/Venom LE demand softness (confidence: high) — Don reports '811 production dropped by about 20%' and states 'right move'; Mad Pinball sold out and requesting more from Stern
- **[community_signal]** Stumbler (Australian modder, U.K.-based) officially integrated into Dutch Pinball production team; signals boutique manufacturer talent acquisition strategy (confidence: high) — Don: 'Stumbler... is now officially involved with the Dutch team. I see that as a win.' Lists his previous work (Godzilla neon, Jaws buoy)
- **[market_signal]** JJP Collector's Edition pricing model ($13-15k) showing secondary market depreciation; only 5 Elton John CEs found on Pinside, cheapest $13.5k for $15k MSRP (confidence: high) — Don checked Pinside pricing; references Toy Story escalation to $15k as turning point; Godfather deals at $10k
- **[product_strategy]** Avatar reverting to Limited/Collector's Edition naming (from Elton John's Platinum); art blades included in both versions; Collector's Edition premium appears to be topper, cosmetics, potentially under-cabinet lighting (confidence: medium) — Don notes return to LE/CE naming, art blades in both, Collector's gets topper/radcals/hydro-dipped rails; mentions uncertainty about additional features
- **[technology_signal]** Dutch Pinball Alice implementing open-source modding ecosystem with integrated ports (Stumbler LED boards, Lior sculpts factory-default); contrasts with licensed game restrictions (confidence: high) — Don explains Alice open-source IP enables third-party integration impossible on X-Men due to licensing; lists specific modders (Stumbler, Lior) now officially involved

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## Transcript

 I think it is high time for some more high jinx here with Don on number 127. 127, 147, where are we at? We are here smack dab in the week of Avatar. The release is coming. But not only that, we're going to get some X-Men live stream gameplay today. So much more is going on. Gather around. Enter the world of the Avatar. Ethereal beings of light and mysticism. Unobtainium Hallelujah Mountain Joy Obust Colombian inspired coffee roasted blends Welcome To the Pandora Oh man, are you guys as excited As I am for this business So man, this has been the craziest week In pinball that we've seen in months, man We got Avatar coming out tomorrow They're gonna get the full reveal I think some people were invited to go down to Jersey Jack on Friday for some hands-on with the big blue machine. The big blue machine with the six flippers. The big blue machine with the multiple under-the-playfield areas, like we're playing Haunted House, only smaller and in many separate areas, and with blue people. There's Hallelujah Mountains back there in the back of the game. I still don't know exactly what's going on with this. All will be revealed on the 12th. So that's coming up. So very enthusiastic for that. We're going to find out, is this actual powder-coated armor? Is it hydro-dipped? What's going on in that giant shoebox up on top of the collector's edition? This topper, which is giving off Mandalorian vibes, but with even more moving footage. So still, we're not sure exactly what's been going on as far as the full extent of this game. We got the official, non-official leaks of images, and that's all we really had to go on. Up until yesterday when another teaser trailer dropped, that little 30-second snippet, which you had to stop and pause as you were going along to try to see all what was going on in that game. I'm looking at the still images that my homie and yours, Jason Knapp, has procured for us. And we can flip through here to try to get a sense on more of what's going on. This game does have that bit that I've talked about before that I like in pinball, which is where you see a ball path or some sort of element, and then it's up to you to figure out how you interact with that. How do I get up there? What do I have to qualify to make it up there? Is it a switch? Is it a drop? Is it a buck? Is it an undercarriage? Subway? You know exactly what's going on. This game looks to be delivering in that, and it's kind of given me, with everything that I've seen so far, which is limited, it's given me some alien vibes. Anybody else getting that? Of course, this isn't the wide body, but it's almost like alien but better is kind of how I feel about it now, and I've only been able to look at these images, I still don't know what's going on with all these wire forms. Some of them look to be 180 ramps. Others look to be VUX. Diverters look to be involved. I guess we're going to have more at the reveal coming up soon, but we did gleam some bits, some little tidbits, some little juicy nuggets that we can dig into. For starters, there's little toys in this game, right? And they appear to be officially licensed from McFarlane Toys. Not a bad thing. Not a bad thing. These look great. McFarlane does good detailed work. Of course, you know, it was famous for the Spawn line, but then it was spun off into a higher quality toy action figure with a lot more detail in it. So it makes sense to me, use something off the shelf. We're not going with cake toppers this time, but you do get to save on that tooling cost that you have to put in there. And these things look to be at least interactive. There's this giant mech suit that's midfield on the left, standing on a plastic over a sling. And from the short, I mean, microseconds that you see in the trailer, it looks to be like interactive with that sling. So a ball goes off the sling, little guy's kung fu action with his arm jumps out. So that's fun. That's fun. And I think we'll give them a pass. It's not a 3D printed, you know, piece of mechanism that they put in here. They did get something off the shelf, but off the shelf that does have, you know, good detail to it, right? Something that if it was made specifically for this machine would have been cost prohibitive. You have to cut something else out. So I like that that's in there, and they went the extra mile of making it interactive, even if it's just a Kung Fu grip. That's fine. That's fun. I like that. I like that. They did that with the little Elton John playing the piano. It was one of the coolest parts of that game. And I'm wondering how well it's going to hold up on location to be determined. But, yeah, it looks fun. So I like that they're doing that. I saw an Ekron, right? There's a Banshee over one of the ramps. Looks like it's flying off with a piece of the wire form. What's happening there? No idea. Are balls locking in there? Does that move? Is this the fabled, rumored Banshee on a Stick that we were going to see? What I'm not seeing here, and I was kind of led to believe that there would be kind of a sky region of this game, I was thinking upper play field. Looks to not be the case. You do have some floating rocks up in there. We're going to see more with the reveal. But a couple of other things that are interesting that we can gleam from this is they are doing that whole day-night thing. I've remarked before that I'm a fan of games that seem to take place at night, seems to work well with the games and we're not so brightly lit. And I love, and everyone else does, come on, the UV lights, the switching to the upside down in Stranger Things, next to the projector, that's what elevates this game from being just another Venom or another Medieval Madness or something, or another monster bashing type pinball machine. Stranger Things, fan layout, monster to bash, none of that is new, though it is relatively fun. The projector, the day-night cycle with the upside down and the cool storyline and the modes, that's what makes this game fun. That's what gets us coming back there again. The light-up 20-sided die shooter rod, like, that's, like, it's its whole vibe. Its whole aesthetic is what we like. This game looks to have that. There is a shot in the trailer where you can see that the art blades, which appear to come with both the collector and the limited edition version, does have some UV effect in it, so there is some extra graphics that jump out there. Whenever this thing goes into its bioluminescent, or whatever they're calling it, motorcycle. So that's fun. That's fun. I did like the beacons on Alien. I think that game creates a great vibe. This is essentially like a monster movie. It's also got some claustrophobic effects because this takes place in a spaceship. And then you get that atmosphere with those flashing beacons. And so replicating that effect with the UV light, I dig it, man. I dig it. I think this game, we can already tell, is going to be probably heavy and really well themed, right? Radcals on that premium what are they calling it? Collector's Edition giant shoebox diorama on top probably loaded with the leftover screens from Toy Story 4. I'm kidding, I'm kidding but yeah, I'm digging it. I'm digging what you're bringing. The rumor is that this topper will be interactive with the game to a higher degree than what we've seen so far so I'm enthusiastic to see more about that. This was great seeing this little teaser trailer. At least we got to see some moving images of what going on But I really want the full reveal Now fortunately I don have to wait that long because we going to get it tomorrow And then we going to get hands on Friday So yeah bring it Bring it. Okay. Jersey Jack, I love what you do with the build of the games and what you put in there. I like the fact that the flippers are stronger now. I like the fact that we've got good designers like Steve Ritchie making even a license like Elton John super exciting. And it's doing well. I went and looked at Elton John on Pinside yesterday. collector's editions the cheapest i could find one was 13 and a half thousand for this 15 000 msrp game there was a couple of in there for 14 one had a sale pending the other one's available someone else was looking to trade it and like that is it it was only five of these things and i know they were selling relatively well because people they were digging their elton john i was digging my honky cat i wanted to get in on some of this so the fact that it sold well and people seem to be holding on to them, that bodes well. That bodes well. Avatar, as a theme, not AAA, right? This isn't Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Goonies, Gremlins, or any of the other G ones. This is A for Avatar. The movie made a lot of money. It is a big spectacle. But then people have been talking about you don't see people walking around going to Walmart in the morning wearing their Avatar pajama pants. Well, maybe you do. But they wear their Cookie Monsters or whatever with cigarette holes in them. The point is people aren't filling their homes to an extent as you do with a Star Wars fan as far as other merchandising options. So I can see the through line here, and we'll probably hear about this more when they do their sizzle reel release. They walk us through the game, talk about why they went with Avatar. But this isn't like the hugest theme that people were just dying to have. This wasn't Raiders of the Lost Ark, man. Come on, you want a game that doesn't start with G? That is one I would love to see. Empire Strikes Back, man. Go to Star Wars. Maybe stay away from Mandalorian. Point is, theme-wise, I think this is a much better theme than we've seen for the last three releases. Okay. Pirates of the Caribbean, awesome and amazing. That's going to be the benchmark you're going to be placed up against. We were hearing that, talk about Avatar, this was going to have as many mechanisms in it as Wizard of Oz. That remains to be seen. Maybe there's a lot hiding in that underplay field that we haven't seen so far. But I want a rocking pirate ship upper play field that shoots balls at another ship. Or something equivalent to that. And I'm not quite seeing that here with the Avatar. Guns N' Roses, killer theme, great light show. Gameplay fell a little bit short. After that game was released, I was wanting to be a JJP guy and just get me in on their next releases. And then, of course, we got Toy Story 4. It wasn't Toy Story in general. It wasn't even just the first movie. It was for that week in the theme. The cake toppers were in there. That week it did even more. The big thing was that was when the price was jumping up to $15,000 for a collector's edition. Yikes. And then they followed up with Godfather again. Iconic theme. Not the best for pinball. I don't think everybody was wanting to get in on that. And, of course, if you want to get in on some Godfather, there's some deals out there, collector's editions down to $10,000. Elton John, again, theme that not everybody was clamoring for made a hell of a game out of it though Avatar, I think, compared to those last three themes of Godfather, Toy Story 4, and Elton John easily the best of the bunch, right? I think going all the way back to Guns N' Roses and Pirates of the Caribbean so we're getting back to a better theme we're getting good builds now we saw Elton John take a huge step up even from the gorgeous art and animations of Godfather to a game that I really want to get in a room and just have it sit by itself because it is that much of a spectacle. I want to see this Avatar Collector Edition have some under-cabinet lighting and some back-box lighting against the wall so you can get that ethereal blue bioluminescent kicking out there. Hopefully we'll see some of that. But I think the build quality is going to be fun. It's going to come down to how is the game play. That I don't know. Can't tell you. All I've seen is a 30-second teaser film that they put out. Everybody's seen it by now. I can tell you the potential is there and I'm seeing some stand up targets here looks like there's more in it ball path wise, wire form wise than a Jurassic Park you know from Elwynn and that game was highly lauded I still think Jaws is probably my favorite followed by Godzilla so yeah, is this a Godzilla thriller? we'll wait and we'll see there are a lot of wire forms in this and I can tell that the lights are going to be magical I would like to see those what do they call them? Hot lights, hot bars, hot rails. Maybe invert them and put them up a little bit higher so they shine down onto the play field itself. But we'll see. We'll see. What I'm not seeing was just that crescendo of RGB lighting that we see in a Guns N' Roses, that we see in a Toy Story. So we'll wait and we'll see some more about that. I guess we're still in a holding pattern here. But that's a review of kind of what I've seen so far. It looks like both versions of this game, and it looks like they're going back to limited edition and collector's edition for the names. I always get confused. You know, we had Platinum Editions with Elton John. Now we're back to Limited Editions. We'll see what's going on. Sapphire Edition, maybe they could have had. But it looks like the Art Blades come in both games. We saw with Elton John that the gameplay didn't lack any mechanisms between the two versions. Appreciate that. What does $3,000 more for a Collector's Edition get you? A half-pound of glitter in the play field. Sometimes some different art. But basically you're paying for that top or that shooter rod and the radcals that are on the side. as well as is it hydro dipped or is it some kind of painting process on the rails and armor? That's what you're getting. There should be some more in there. And probably we're going to see some under cabinet lighting if there is a lord above looking down on us to let us play with their carpets looking like rolling waves. Got to have it. Got to have it. So I'm excited about this. I'm very thankful that I'm part of the crew that's getting invited down on Friday to go play this game in person. I can't wait. Packing up everything. Going to be there on site. and I'll be able to give a first gameplay impression to any of you out there that are on the fence. Should I call Jeff at MadPinball.com and get this thing ordered? Maybe if you're waiting for one more review, you're going to have it here pretty quick. What else is going on? Well, later today, as of this recording, Wednesday, September 11th, moment of silence, we're going to get the first live stream gameplay of X-Men. I think they're doing the premium. Maybe they're dragging out an LE. We'll see. but 4 o'clock Central Time, 5 Eastern, 2 o'clock Pacific, we'll see some live streaming gameplay of X-Men. I can't wait, man. What a heck of a game to come along. And everybody at that point, myself included, was just kind of like taking a wait. All right, we just got through John Wick. The market is tanking. We're all kind of panicking. What game should I list? Should I sell now before it drops even further? I'm going to wait on this, especially if it's just another Marvel license. And then Jack Danger comes through with the heat. We all saw the Sentinel grab the wire form and deform it. And at that point, we're all texting our distributors like, do you got any of these left? Let me get in on this. Let me get in on this. To the point that now Ellie's selling, well, Stern sold out to the distributors. Some distributors still have some Ellie's available, but the big names here flipping out, Mad Pinball, they're sold out of their allotments and they're asking Daddy Stern, do you got any more? All right. So this game, hell of a seller, 811. They dropped the count by about 20%. I think that was the right move to do. And now we're going to see the game play. We love the theme. Who doesn't love them? Some Kitty Pryde. Who doesn't love them? Some Wolverine flying through the air, fastball special and all that. Who doesn't love the Sentinel, man? Talk about like a stormtrooper only it like 75 feet tall made of metal got rockets in the feet and fights mutants Come on What a great enemy You line them all up and destroy them. Crowd cheers. It's great. Crash the X-Jet into one of their heads. They always blow up spectacularly. So as a main antagonist that looks like he's living inside the cabinet with his hands creeping out, deforming the play field, having his head pop up and balls spit out of his mouth, what's not to love there? What's not to love there? So I'm digging the theme. Sounds like we're going to have good music. We've got the Anthrax guys back in it. It looks like we're going to have animations on the screen. What's not to love there? So if the music is on point, the animations are on point, the layout is bonkers. You've got a danger room down there. So now we just need to see, like, how do we trigger modes? What are we doing in this game? And how does this, like, time travel element factor in there? So hopefully we're going to see some of that today. And if you've ordered an LE, you're not even going to have to wait that long, man. I'm thinking back to when I pre-ordered Pulp Fiction and waited 11 months, and I got the game now. And I was late into the order, too. If you had ordered when it released, it was even longer for a wait. Here, if you want an LE and you can manage to find one from a distributor, you might have it as soon as next week. Maybe they're just doing the exports next week, but Friday, in two days, hence today, these games should be actually leaving the factory. So in production, games released. If you want to buy one, fork over your cash. Your game shows up. Magical, man. That's how it should work. That's how it should work. You make a huge purchase like this and then take delivery almost immediately. Immediately in pinball terms. So, yeah, that's rad. That's something I could be excited about. I can get behind that. I'm going to be having fun playing some X-Men. I don't know where I'm going to put the game yet. Big Lebowski got listed. I loved it. But, man, it's time to get it on to its next forever home. so or you know take care of it for a year and then you know the sisterhood of the traveling lebowski not a bad thing hell of a game but again i don't have infinite room and infinite cash so things need to cycle in things need to go out and i don't think there's any problem with that we'll make some good friends and some mutually beneficial deals along the way and yeah that's something something fun to do listed at it's under twelve thousand dollars right now which is less than what i paid for it so hey go get yourself a deal even comes a little with mods check me out i I got some pin side messages I got to reply to. But as of right now, it's still available. Come kick the tires and light the fires. So, yeah, going to unbox this thing hopefully in a week. Wouldn't it be cool if I could go down and pick it up tomorrow? I think that would be rushing it just a little bit. So I don't think I'll get in on that that quickly. But, hey, man, this is awesome. So Ellie's coming this week. And otherwise, game will be at Expo. Go see it there. Euro exports are probably happening first, and then we'll get the rest of it. It's all going to be in the next two weeks, man. New Pinball Day will be here once again. What am I going to do with this pinball box? Hopefully box up a Lebowski for another new friend of mine. Otherwise, that's a big news that we had. But there was some other really heavy hitters that came through in the last week that I want to get caught up on. Let's go to the next release. We've had the Stern Domino fall. We had the Avatar JGP Dominoes falling right now. Now, DPX, I think, is going to be the next one that we're going to finally get some eyeballs on Alice. We've had gameplay pictures. We've had no videos, no music. I'm not even sure what the final art is coming out like. I know Zombie Yeti was involved with it. Is he happy about that, that they're using it? Is he not? Is it even up to him? Who knows? I want to know more about that. Did they have to alter some of the art style? I heard that there were some changes that were made. That still hasn't been revealed. We still don't know when it's going to be revealed. But we did hear some new news from the house that Dutch built, speaking of Lebowski, and that is Stumbler, man, Davey Stumbler, your friend and mine, Australian guy who lives in the U.K., makes these lolly rails. He did the neon sign for Godzilla. He made the subway building that flashes and lights up. This awesome buoy that's animated for Jaws with the glowing LED lights, it's kind of like his trademark. He's now officially involved with the Dutch team. I see that as a win. We'd already heard tale that Lior, back from the dead seemingly, has been doing some sculpts and things for this new Alice's Adventures in Wonderland game, which is only a good thing, man. His mods are super expensive and very high quality. So for them to be included from the factory, love that. Now they've got Stumbler on board. He's got his printed circuit boards that he does, his lolly control system for his individual registered LEDs that he does. And so now that's going to be part of the official release of this game from Dutch Pinball X, or DPX. And it's also going to have ports available for other modders to come in, to come up with their own designs and equipment, and then have a way to get in there, into the game, without hacking into cables, running wire splices, and maybe blowing up node boards and things. That's awesome. That's awesome. And the fact that this is an open source IP, I think, makes this possible. if this was X-Men and it had just an open node board just open to anybody to walk in there that may have trouble passing the licensors what do you mean anybody can come in here and add whatever character they want you know we're not doing that open source Blues Brothers thing over here but Alice's Adventures in Wonderland will have that that was cool that was some dynamite news and it dropped right in the middle of like the biggest news week that we've had in at least the latter half of the year here so I think it might have gotten buried a little bit but yeah I'm a little bit hype on Alice I want to see this game. I want to see it at Expo. I want to get to play it. I'm already overburdened until I can move some inventory. So I think the fact that they're only making 500 or so of these games, priced right around or just below Stern LE price, that used to seem like a deal. Now it seems like kind of what you have to do. So bravo to the clairvoyance of the folks in the Netherlands that saw to price and budget and limit, you know, bake in that artificial scarcity to get some games moving. I think it's probably what you have to do in this market. And I will say, if I was a buyer of Alice in Wonderland, the fact that there's only $499 out there in existence, it adds some extra value to a game that I have. Even if I'm not looking at turning it over and flipping it, even if I'm looking at just hanging on to it for 20 years or whatever, I like that there's some extra baked-in value that I can feel like less of a sucker for spending so much money for these things, right? I mean, this is a point you can reach where that's as far as you can go with it. But I do like the fact that that's in there. So I don't have one of these on order. I think Cointaker is the only one in the U.S. to order from. Otherwise, there's Nitro in Canada and some other distributors in Australia. When are we going to see this game? Who knows? Dutch knows. But I'm kind of still thinking Expo. I don't know if maybe they're just kind of riding that line of being ready to show it and they don't want to fully commit just yet. But with us less than a month away to Expo, it seems like, about five weeks, if this game was for sure going to be there, I'd be shouting it from the heavens. and get as many people down there as possible to open up their wallets and kind of come in and take this game now that we're here in the wrath and onslaught of X-Men and Avatar and such. Yeah, so it's cool to have this third party in the mix here for our fall releases. So that's fun. And Lee Orban, he makes some good stuff, dude. I really dig it. All right, so moving on, guess what? We got another return, a return of a pinball event occurring during Expo remember a year ago now it seems like uh when the media mixer was kicked off um twip was taken over purchased bartered or somehow you know colin got his his into it to revive this brand But somehow the Twippies weren involved but maybe they were but maybe that still a separate thing and spun off I'm still not sure how to even wrap my head around that or that I even care to. I'll just have fun with who I can have fun with. But had this idea, Colin did, and I'm talking like Yoda now, to get some of the content creation people that are out there in the pinball ether sphere, maybe together so we could shake hands and kiss babies and meet each other and do some cross-promotion stuff and have some fun. Seemed like a good idea. Not everybody was on board with that idea. And so then drama, as it does, followed. Now, fortunately, no drama occurred at the actual event. No drinks were thrown in anybody's faces unless they happened when I wasn't there. But it was a good time. It was like my first foray into an event like that. It was my first time going to Expo as a known content person, and so it was super fun. Plus, there were some awesome giveaways. So who wouldn't want to go to that? Well, dear friends, this hasn't been publicized terribly well, but it's happening again. Media Mixer 2.0 at Interium. It's going to happen on Thursday night of Expo. That's the 17th from 5 to 8 p.m. Why do you care? Are you going to come up with a podcast in the next weeks to get invited? You don't have to because the doors are now opening to the fan community as well. For only $10, one tenner, you can purchase yourself a ticket right now through the event website that I'll link below on the Facebook page when I post this here. Got a lot of numbers in the URL, you know, otherwise I'd rattle it off. But as of now, I just checked, tickets are still available for members of the pinball community to come out and go to this event. What do you get for your $10 at Interium? Well, in addition to hanging out with a bunch of sweaty podcasters, this event is also sponsored by pinball manufacturers and distributors and such. and they did raffle giveaways. When we came in last year, you got yourself a blue ticket and a handful of drink tickets, and there was some food set up too. So you get food, you get some drink tickets, and you also get some raffle tickets, most likely, for giveaways. Jersey Jack was there giving away playfields, for cripes sakes. Just drawing names out of the 40, 50 people that were there. You get hats and T-shirts. I won a T-shirt. Somebody got a play field. I think there were a couple there. America Pinball was involved as well. So if you're not doing much on the Thursday of Expo, between 5 to 8, you want to go get your nom noms on, you want to grab some drink coupons, to heck with the pinball people, go win yourself a play field and you can go ride it in the parking lot if you want otherwise if you're kind of into the podcast sphere it's kind of just a nice time to just hang out with everybody, get some meet and greets on, shake some babies, kiss some hands and then we'll talk and we'll have fun, plus there's pinball there too so if nothing else, go play some pinball and Terian will probably kick down some game cards so I'm sure you'll get tons of value in that $10 while supplies last, go check it out now, by now I'm sure the pinball Olympics tickets are probably sold out, they went on sale this morning, I think at 9am if you haven't had a chance to go, or if you've been before and you know how awesome it is and you want to kill 5 hours of your Saturday at Expo go rush out and see if you can still snag yourself up a ticket there, they even provide a bus, you can buy a separate ticket for a spot on the shuttle bus that'll take you from Expo to Wild Jay's Magitorium to go play some of the wonkiest pinball machines ever. The things that are set up, it's just crazy. It's nuts. But yeah, you've got to kill five hours during Expo on a Saturday. I don't think I'm going to do it this year, but it's not because it's not an awesome event. It could sell out. There was Berea Tacos being made last time. It was a great experience and time. Let's go see if tickets are left for that. Snag yourself a ticket for the Media Mixer 2.0. So what you can't do is snag yourself a ticket for the JJP Tour. That sold completely out because the tickets were free there. Stern was still available. It was $35. The American Pinball Tour was still available, but that's like on Wednesday. I covered this in the previous podcast. I will say it wouldn't hurt to show up at the time that the bus is leaving for the Jersey Jack Tour. Maybe just kind of hang around and inquire. Maybe you can make your store aboard. Maybe somebody didn't show up, and there may be some extra spots. That's not official. But look into that. Look into that. What else are we going to talk about? Community tickets. I did have one final thing I wanted to mention. During this Wednesday, right before the live stream of X-Men, right before the full reveal of Avatar, right before we get to get hands-on with Avatar this week, and that is my buddy over at Pulaski Pinball, who released a trailer. This guy's a programmer working on an awesome homebrew. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Eternal? God, Undead Eternal? Gosh, what is it called? He's got, like, one of the wildest underplay fields I've seen. Anyway, dude's a programming wizard. He's come up with this plug-and-play pinball designer system that just blew in my mind, and he released a trailer. I'll go link to it on the Facebook page, but you can find it at Pawlowski Pinball, P-A-W-L-O-W-S-K-I, pinball, on YouTube. That's his channel. And it's called Pinball Designer. And the thing essentially is a way to have just a white wood in front of you and then click and drag your Italian bottom, click and drag in your paw bumpers, drop a pinball wherever you want and test things out to come up with your own layouts for fun or for profit um he even has a a way you can convert that into a template for a cnc machine and get your whitewood cut out which for the homebrew community which i'm trying to kind of force my way into which is just like magical because right now i've got a tape measure i've got some string and a pencil and i'm just doing it all like freehand but it would be great to kind to just drop in a layout, try it out, and then get something I can then send to the CNC and try in meatspace, like in reality, you know? So I want to plug that for him. I haven't heard about yet when this is going to publicly release. And when it does, is there a fee? Is there a fee system? Is there shareware? Like, what's going on? Is there going to be a beta test at some point? And can I get in on that? I think there may be a way to do that. But as I learn more, I'll be able to share it. But for sure, go check out his video, man, because it just looks really cool. Even if you're one of the rest of humanity that's not planning on getting into making a homebrew game, it'd be fun to sit there and try out some concepts and see what you can come up with. A dude even took this program and has, like, a working virtual X-Men already, which is kind of cool. So go check that out. You know, anything that supports virtual pinball, I'm also into, because I do have a virtual pinball machine with full haptics and full force feedback. and it was my dream to be able to play the newest Stern releases virtually in a cabinet and some of the other cool things that people are independently coming up with. And so if this helps make that a little bit easier, my God, sign me up. So I'm so excited for this week, you guys. I'm thankful for everybody that comes by to listen. We're going to have a whole bunch more, man, dropping. This weekend is going to be crazy. There's going to be YouTube videos, more trailer reactions. there's going to be more casts on YouTube and live stream and podcasting audio versions of three sweaty guys talking for hours about how awesome these games are. Are they any good to actually play? I hopefully will be able to share that with you coming up sooner than you think. Don's Pinball Podcast, gmail.com is how you get at me. If you hear tell of any projects that I'm working on that spark your interest, go ahead and email me about them. I'll get you in on a list. When I make things, sometimes I don't have enough for everybody, right? But if you contact me early, it gets you a foot in the door and gets you something cool there. Otherwise, we're doing giveaways. We're doing live streams. It's nuts, man. Keep following along. Later.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 2651c6c6-6d1b-4790-80ca-25dda42b9c90*