# Episode 634: "Kaneda's 2021 Year In Review"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2021-12-28  
**Duration:** 49m 11s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-634-2021-60426862

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## Analysis

Kaneda reviews 2021 as a transformative but mixed year for pinball manufacturing. While demand exploded and secondary market prices skyrocketed, the industry struggled with supply, quality control, and incomplete product launches. Key narratives: Deep Root Pinball's collapse, Spooky's brand erosion despite financial success, Jersey Jack's persistent playfield quality issues, and the bright spot of American Pinball's successful original IP gamble with Legends of Valhalla.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Deep Root Pinball fraudulently took $60 million from investors, including elderly women who lost life savings. — _Kaneda, discussing Deep Root collapse; references SEC filing and mentions Robert Mueller should be in jail_
- [HIGH] Only 122 Raza machines were pre-ordered, proving community saw through Deep Root early. — _Kaneda, on Deep Root's public reception at launch_
- [HIGH] Spooky sold 1,750 games (1,250 Halloween + 500 Ultraman) in one day to distributors, their greatest financial day ever. — _Kaneda, discussing Spooky's 2021 sales numbers_
- [HIGH] Halloween and Ultraman collector's edition deposits ($2,000 each) are now worth 50% less as resellers dump inventory on Pinside. — _Kaneda, analyzing secondary market crash for Spooky games_
- [MEDIUM] Jersey Jack Pinball had approximately 5,000 orders for Guns N' Roses in 2021. — _Kaneda, estimating JJP sales volume; uses 'probably around 5,000'_
- [MEDIUM] Godzilla was the standout creative game of 2021; everything else was in its shadow. — _Kaneda's subjective assessment of game quality across all manufacturers_
- [MEDIUM] Pirates of the Caribbean Collector's Edition jumped from $12,500 (unsold for a year) to $36,000–$40,000 in 2021. — _Kaneda, illustrating secondary market inflation during hot demand period_
- [MEDIUM] Stranger Things LE sat unsold on eBay for 8 months in 2020, but by 2021 sold for $15,000–$20,000 new in box. — _Kaneda, illustrating secondary market mood swing_
- [MEDIUM] P3 Multimorphic has sold fewer than 300 units total; Stern makes more in a week. — _Kaneda, estimating P3 production scale relative to Stern; uses 'south of 300' and 'guesstimate'_
- [MEDIUM] Spooky lost significant revenue when they switched from P3 boards to Ben Heck's system for Rick and Morty (and presumably future games). — _Kaneda, inferring financial impact on Jerry at Multimorphic from Spooky's board switch_

### Notable Quotes

> "Deep Root is done and Robert Mueller should be in jail. What a dramatic ending to this joke of a company and a joke of a man who thought he can make more games in one year than Stern Pinball."
> — **Kaneda**, ~3:00
> _Definitive condemnation of Deep Root's fraud and collapse; sets tone for industry accountability discussion_

> "I would argue that I think American Pinball probably had maybe the best year of any manufacturer. And I mean that."
> — **Kaneda**, ~17:30
> _Contrasts with other mixed-bag manufacturers; highlights American Pinball's successful gamble on original IP_

> "Godzilla is the main attraction this year in the pinball world, and everything else was sort of in the shadow of that big lizard."
> — **Kaneda**, ~1:30
> _Establishes creative hierarchy and theme dominance for 2021 releases_

> "We are still pre-ordering games that are not even close to being on the line. We are taking people's word for it. We're still doing it. This community in 2021 has proven once again that it has learned nothing."
> — **Kaneda**, ~10:30
> _Critical commentary on community naivety regarding pre-orders, using Haggis Fathom as case study_

> "These games were not ready for the market. And all of the goodwill that Spooky Pinball has built up over the years, I do think that goodwill is in jeopardy."
> — **Kaneda**, ~23:00
> _Identifies brand risk for Spooky despite financial success; quality and perception mismatch_

> "For a company like Spooky that is focused on each title at a time, it was inexcusable how incomplete these games were."
> — **Kaneda**, ~24:15
> _Critique of Spooky's execution relative to their market position and production focus_

> "It is crazy to me that throughout the entire year of 2021, Jersey Jack Pinball never came out with an official statement about the playfield quality."
> — **Kaneda**, ~31:00
> _Highlights JJP's communication failure and brand damage during quality crisis_

> "Jersey Jack, you need to get over that. You need to put quality in front of secrecy."
> — **Kaneda**, ~34:00
> _Direct advice to JJP on how to rebuild trust via transparency in product testing before launch_

> "I still think American Pinball will struggle with original IPs against licensed themes. But you know what? I can't fault them."
> — **Kaneda**, ~17:45
> _Acknowledges American Pinball's structural challenge while praising execution_

> "Do we think we're going to see Steve's efforts anytime soon? But Jersey Jack is saying that we will see two games in 2022. Have we heard that before?"
> — **Kaneda**, ~36:30
> _Expresses skepticism of JJP's pipeline promises based on past delays_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast; provides industry analysis and year-in-review commentary |
| Robert Mueller | person | Founder of Deep Root Pinball; accused of $60 million fraud; Kaneda calls for his imprisonment |
| Deep Root Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer that collapsed in 2021 after fraudulent practices; took ~$60M from investors; only sold 122 Raza units before collapse |
| Stern Pinball | company | Largest pinball manufacturer; released Led Zeppelin, Mandalorian, Godzilla, Jurassic Park Home Edition, Elvira 40th in 2021; introduced Stern Connected; lost designer Lyman Sheets to CGC |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Wisconsin-based boutique manufacturer; sold 1,750 units in one day (Halloween/Ultraman) in 2021; major financial success but brand erosion from incomplete games and high secondary market sell-offs |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer with ~5,000 Guns N' Roses orders in 2021; persistent playfield quality issues across multiple titles; hired Steve Ritchie and Mark Seiden as new designers |
| American Pinball | company | Had best year of any manufacturer in 2021 by successfully launching Legends of Valhalla (original IP); sold 500 units through to distributors immediately; working on next original title |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Revealed Cactus Canyon Remake in 2021 with poor launch execution; LE/SE+/Pro pricing unclear; games not on manufacturing line; LEs delayed to April/May 2022 |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Slowly releasing Big Lebowski throughout 2021; still fulfilling early adopter orders; Kaneda questions company's long-term viability given manufacturing costs |
| Pinball Brothers | company | Released Alien Pinball in 2021 with Italian manufacturer partnership; poor customer communication; announced Queen Pinball but game looks dated; likely to exit after Alien orders fulfilled |
| P3 Multimorphic | company | Niche platform with ~300 units sold lifetime; released Heist in 2021; lost revenue when Spooky switched to Ben Heck boards instead of P3 |
| Haggis Pinball | company | Australian manufacturer hit hard by COVID lockdowns in 2021; took pre-order money for Fathom Remake (250 units) but production repeatedly delayed; scaled too fast with big factory and 20 employees |
| Home Pin Pinball | company | Taiwan-based manufacturer; announced Spinal Tap in 2021 but released only contractual teasers; Kaneda ranks as last place in pinball market |
| Lyman Sheets | person | Designer who left Stern Pinball for Chicago Gaming Company in 2021; significant industry move |
| Jack Danger | person | New designer hired by Stern Pinball in 2021 |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer; hired by Jersey Jack Pinball in 2021; previously at Stern where recent games underperformed relative to Keith Elwin's titles |
| Keith Elwin | person | Designer at Stern; Kaneda characterizes as outperforming Steve Ritchie in recent Stern releases |
| Mark Seiden | person | Designer hired by Jersey Jack Pinball in 2021; previously designed Metroid pinball |
| David Fix | person | Leader of American Pinball; made successful gamble on Legends of Valhalla original IP in 2021 |
| Jerry | person | Lead at P3 Multimorphic; took financial hit in 2021 when Spooky switched board manufacturers |
| Damien | person | Leader of Haggis Pinball; Kaneda suggests he took on too much scaling too fast; likely experiencing financial stress from production delays |
| Ben Heck | person | Designer whose board system Spooky adopted for Rick and Morty instead of P3 |
| Dennis Norman | person | Designer of original IP theme next in pipeline for American Pinball after Legends of Valhalla |
| Mark Ritchie | person | Designer with licensed game in Chicago Gaming Company's pipeline; product long in development |
| Ryan McQuaid | person | Contact for Sonic the Hedgehog licensing; Kaneda urges American Pinball to call him about Sonic Spinball |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Manufacturing capacity and supply chain constraints, Secondary market pricing inflation and FOMO-driven demand, Quality control failures and brand reputation damage, Company financial performance vs. community perception disparity, Manufacturer scaling challenges and over-ambition, Deep Root Pinball fraud and industry accountability
- **Secondary:** Original IP vs. licensed theme viability, Pre-order culture and community naivety

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.35) — Kaneda acknowledges extraordinary demand and market heat as positive, but critiques nearly every major manufacturer for execution failures, quality issues, poor communication, and brand erosion. Deep Root collapse is scathing. American Pinball receives qualified praise, but most other companies face harsh scrutiny despite financial success. Overall tone is cautious disappointment that a booming market masked structural problems.

### Signals

- **[market_signal]** Used pinball machine prices spiked dramatically in 2021 due to supply scarcity and FOMO. Pirates of Caribbean LE jumped $12.5K→$36-40K; Stranger Things LE $15-20K; Ghostbusters LE doubled. (confidence: high) — Kaneda cites multiple specific secondary market examples showing 2-3x price increases
- **[product_concern]** Spooky Halloween and Ultraman launched with bugs, incomplete animations, and operator nightmares. Jersey Jack's Guns N' Roses had persistent playfield failures (4th machine with playfield issues). Games rushed to market unpolished. (confidence: high) — Kaneda extensively documents Spooky's incomplete release and JJP's playfield problems; cites operator complaints
- **[sentiment_shift]** Spooky and Jersey Jack made record sales but suffered brand damage. Spooky customers dumping Halloween/Ultraman spots at 50% loss on Pinside (indicating lost confidence). JJP blamed customers for playfield issues, generating ill will. (confidence: high) — Kaneda observes $2K deposits now worth $1K; secondary market mass sell-offs; customers say 'we're unhappy and I'm never coming back'
- **[business_signal]** Multiple manufacturers scaled too fast (Haggis hired 20, got big factory, can't deliver; Dutch struggling with raw material costs; American Pinball can't make enough Legends of Valhalla). Supply bottleneck masks demand. (confidence: high) — Kaneda documents Haggis delays, Dutch cost pressures, American Pinball slow manufacturing despite sold-through orders
- **[industry_signal]** Major designer moves: Lyman Sheets left Stern for Chicago Gaming; Steve Ritchie joined Jersey Jack; Mark Seiden also to JJP. Deep Root's talented staff (animators, designers) absorbed by competitors like Spooky. (confidence: high) — Kaneda lists these hires as newsworthy 2021 moves; references Deep Root talent migration
- **[community_signal]** Community continues pre-ordering unreleased games despite repeated failures (Haggis Fathom, Pinball Brothers' long delays). Kaneda criticizes community for learned helplessness and blind faith in manufacturers. (confidence: high) — Kaneda direct statement: 'this community in 2021 has proven once again that it has learned nothing' and urges stopping pre-orders
- **[product_strategy]** American Pinball gambled on Legends of Valhalla (original IP) and succeeded in hot market; sold 500 units to distributors immediately. But market bias heavily favors licensed themes. Kaneda suggests American Pinball should pursue Sonic Spinball for maximum sales. (confidence: high) — Kaneda praises Legends of Valhalla's market timing while noting structural challenge of original IP
- **[regulatory_signal]** Deep Root Pinball's Robert Mueller engaged in $60M fraud (per SEC filing); took money from elderly investors who lost life savings. Kaneda calls for criminal prosecution. (confidence: high) — Kaneda states 'SEC filing' and 'this guy stole $60 million from other investors and this company was a fraud. It was a scam.'
- **[supply_chain_signal]** Demand far exceeds supply across all manufacturers. Spooky sold 1,750 units in one day but couldn't keep pace. American Pinball has sold-through orders but can't manufacture fast enough. Jersey Jack overwhelmed by 5K Guns N' Roses orders. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'demand through the roof and supply was very limited' and cites multiple manufacturers unable to fulfill orders at speed
- **[personnel_signal]** Spooky lost experienced talent that made prior games; games now handled by junior, less experienced staff. This quality drop is visible in Halloween/Ultraman incomplete state. Stern brought in Jack Danger; Jersey Jack hired Steve Ritchie (unproven at JJP). (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'they handed this company over to more of the junior talent' and 'they lost a lot of their talent that made their prior games more enjoyable'
- **[communication_signal]** Chicago Gaming's Cactus Canyon launch was 'sloppy'—unclear pricing, unsure about features, no clear specs. Jersey Jack never issued official statement on playfield quality despite 4-machine pattern of failures. Poor communication eroded trust. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: Chicago Gaming 'didn't know if the Translite was going to be included' and JJP 'never came out with an official statement' despite year of complaints
- **[collector_signal]** Collector demand driven by scarcity (only 500 Ultraman, 1,250 Halloween) and FOMO despite not knowing IP or game quality. Once supply perceived as adequate or games arrived incomplete, secondary market crashed (50% deposit losses). Speculative bubble burst. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'people who bought a Halloween or an Ultraman, you're losing 50% of your deposit right away' and notes FOMO as purchase driver

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## Transcript

 Welcome Welcome everybody to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. I'm your host Kaneda. On this episode of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, we are going to do the 2021 pinball year in review. What kind of year was it, right? How many games came out? Were manufacturers struggling to get products out the door? Pinflation hit us really hard. Deep root pinball collapsed. When you really write it all down on one piece of paper and you see this is how many games came out and this is the kind of year it was. It is a very interesting year to discuss in the pinball world. So let's go right into it right now. What kind of year was 2021 for pinball? Well, let's look at the games that came out. Let's just go down a list. These were all of the games that shipped to customers in 2021. We had Led Zeppelin. We had Mandalorian. We had Godzilla. We have Jurassic Park Home addition. We've got, what else? We've got Guns N' Roses machines were going out the door. We have Halloween and Ultraman. We have no Cactus Canyon remakes. We have Legends of Valhalla. We had some Celts being put together by Haggis Pinball. We had P3 Multimorphic sending out some heist machines. We had Alien SE. We have the big Lebowski. That's a lot of machines, right? But When you add it all up and you look at all of these games and you just ask the very macro question, was it a year in which we got a lot of magical and ultra-creative pinball machines? I would argue that Godzilla is the main attraction this year in the pinball world, and everything else was sort of in the shadow of that big lizard. But let's do this. Let's go down the list of every manufacturer and talk about what kind of year I think they had. because I do think it's a little bit of a mixed bag in 2021. I think every single pinball company experienced demand like never before, right? If you could put a pinball machine in a box, there were way more people who are ready to buy that game than you could supply. So there was demand through the roof and supply was very limited. So we saw stuff like Legends of Valhalla like sell out immediately. And that is why in this marketplace, we saw prices of used games skyrocketing. We saw games like Pirates of the Caribbean Collector's Edition, a game that sat in a box for a year for $12,500 that nobody wanted it for a year, now is selling for $36,000 to $40,000. We saw games like Ghostbusters LE double in price. We saw games like Stranger Things LE. They were on eBay. LEs of Stranger Things for almost eight months, nobody wanted them. And now a Stranger Things LE, new in box, would sell for $15,000 to $20,000, right? The entire pinball marketplace is hotter than hot. And so in this extremely hot market, does that mean that everyone succeeded? Does that mean everyone reached their goals? Does that mean we had an amazing 2021? Well, let's go down the list right now. So I was going to start with Stern, but let's go from the bottom up because I think it's more fun to end with the big dogs. So we are going to start from the bottom up and I'm going to go through each pinball company and say what kind of 2021 I think they had. And I think I'm going to do it from a couple vantage points. I think as a business, what kind of year do they have? And just from a public relations consumer standpoint, how do I think the community viewed this company in 2021. And I'm going to do my best to channel all of your thoughts. And if you disagree with anything I say, just hit me up at canadapinball at gmail.com. Before we go into each company, we are going to start 2021 with the one major company that didn't make it, that failed in a colossal way. And that is the downfall of Deep Root Pinball and what this did to the pinball community. Now, I would argue that most people, most people saw through this company on day one. That is why most people did not order Raza when Robert Mueller opened up the order banks. They only sold an embarrassingly low number of 122 Razas. That was proof enough that everyone saw through this BS. And so in 2021, we finally saw the collapse of Deep Root, the SEC filing, and it was much worse than anybody thought. This guy stole $60 million from other investors and this company was a fraud. It was a scam. And I still believe to this day that more people involved with this company should have came out and said stuff earlier on. Instead, they brought more people on board. But the good news is this, is that most people got their money back. Most people got their credit card chargebacks And ultimately, the pinball community was not impacted that bad. It's all those poor old ladies that sent quarter million dollar checks to Robert that lost their life savings. And I do think that there is a little bit of a dark stain on the pinball community that we allowed J-Pop another chance, that we weren't more vocal, that we weren't more upfront in shutting this thing down from the very beginning. And I think a lot of the people in the pinball community that joined forces with Robert Mueller have some responsibility and have some accountability to creating the entity that took all this money from outside people that had no idea they were investing in pinball. But you know what? Let's put a final nail in this coffin. Deep Root is done and Robert Mueller should be in jail. What a dramatic ending to this joke of a company and a joke of a man who thought he can make more games in one year than Stern Pinball. Bye bye, Bobby. It's over. OK, so let's go from the bottom up. Home Pin. Mike over there in Taiwan has said that he is making Spinal Tap Pinball. Now, we have not seen anything other than a few teasers that he was contractually obligated to get out the door. So it's basically another dead year for Home Pin Pinball. This is a company that is really in probably last place in the entire pinball world. And so do we think Spinal Tap will be any good in 2022? I really don't know. From the pictures I've seen, I don't think this company can compete on any level with what's in the pinball marketplace. And with so many companies providing products, why would you send your money here? That's just my thoughts on Home Pin. And I don't think Spinal Tap is going to be a game that wins many people over. All right, Dutch Pinball. The Big Lebowski. What kind of year did Dutch Pinball have? Well, it's sort of like the same year over and over and over for Dutch. It is kind of like a groundhog day reporting on this company. They are slowly getting Big Lebowski's out to people. There are still a lot of EAs that are owed games. and I would have liked to have seen them made more EA's whole but I didn't so what kind of year did this company have I think this is a company that just wants to get these games done and then I don't think we're ever going to see a game two from Dutch Pinball I just don't I really don't I don't know how long they can keep this up with the price of raw materials going through the roof in 2021. I also think this whole charging more to make the old buyers whole isn't really working out in their favor. So I think Dutch just had another Dutch year. I don't think most people care about Dutch that much anymore. And I don't think there's much attention on this game. And I think they have nobody else to blame but themselves. All right, pinball brothers, alien pinball. Remember, they announced this way back in December. They said we're going to be making Alien Pinball with an Italian manufacturer. And I will say this. If you're the Pinball Brothers, you got it done. You made the games. You started getting games to people. You just revealed your LV version of the game. And, you know, look, what kind of year did they have? I think this is a sort of like mixed bag year for the Pinball Brothers. I think they got games out the door. But I think communication with their customers was pretty piss poor. I think anyone who was in on these games doesn't really feel ultra satisfied with the buying experience from the Pinball Brothers. And if you ordered this game, you kind of knew you were going on a journey that was very ambiguous. You did not know when you were going to get your game. You were probably told the ship is on the ocean. But who knows, you know, when you read the threads about Alien Pinball, it's such a mixture of this is the greatest, most immersive game of all time. And I'm having all these quality control issues or I'm not sure when I'm getting my game. These guys don't communicate on any level. I ordered it so long ago. I've waited a year for my game. You know, so you've got Alien. It's just another game that has been around for so long that has a little bit of a sordid history. and it's another product that I think most of us out there just don't care about. We just don't care about these failed pinball launches that keep relaunching and relaunching. Now, if you want a unique game, yeah, go get an Alien Pinball Machine, and I hope it doesn't break down. But then they also had an interesting 2021 because we saw that they had Queen Pinball, and we saw that they brought it out to this like Queen pop-up store celebrating the band. And do we think we're going to see Queen Pinball from the Pinball Brothers in 2022? It's another one. When you look at the game, maybe five years ago, this kind of product looked impressive. But in 2021, 2022, with what is coming out in the pinball marketplace, it looks dated. It looks a bit stale. It doesn't look like a modern pinball machine. So I bet the Pinball Brothers are satisfied they got games out the door. but I bet they're also like, this is really hard. This isn't as easy as we thought it would be. And I'm not sure they're going to stay in it for the long run. I'm really not. We'll see what happens, but I have a feeling the Pinball Brothers are going to fulfill all of their alien orders and that might be it for the Pinball Brothers. All right. Okay, P3 Multimorphic. How is 2021 for Jerry and the P3 Multimorphic platform? Well, how many people out there, show of hands, have a P3 Multimorphic? This isn't a huge volume platform. I don't know how many they've sold to date. If I were to guesstimate how many P3s have been sold, I would say it's south of 300 units. Now, Stern makes more pinball machines in a week than maybe Jerry has sold in seven or eight years. It is a very, very niche platform. And the heist is definitely like their best offering to date. But as we know, nothing they've made to date has created a surge in demand for the product. And, you know, I think we all were expecting in 2021 for them to reveal their license theme. We didn't get it. We didn't get it at Expo. Maybe we'll get it at TPF. But it was pretty much a stale year for P3 Multimorphic. It also probably was a year in which Jerry was delivered a pretty harsh financial blow with Spooky Pinball moving away from the P platform I pretty sure P drives all the big Lebowskis Charlie was using P boards in all of his Rick and Mortys And so 1 spooky games did not place an order with P Charlie went with Ben Heck's system. So it definitely was a year in which Jerry took a financial hit. All right, Haggis Pinball. What kind of 2021 did Haggis Pinball have? Now, look, We all know what Haggis has been going through. This company in 2021, they came out and they said they were remaking Fathom. They were making this beautiful mermaid edition. They were making 250 of them. We know the story. They took money. They took pre-order dollars. Those pre-order dollars were non-refundable. They said production would start in July. July, August, September, October, November, December. Now, Damien is saying that January is when production will start on Fathom. I asked a few weeks ago if production was going to start in January, could you show us pictures of the parts? Because you can't start making this game unless you have the parts in-house. Nobody really feels strong enough to ask that question, and he has not shared with the community where the parts are for the game. Instead, he's sending out Christmas cards. Now, what kind of year was it for Haggis Pinball? I'm not going to beat around the bush. This was a bad year for Haggis Pinball. They staffed up, they got into this big factory, they hired 20 employees, and then COVID really locked stuff up for them. I mean, COVID really did hit Australia really, really hard. And the lockdowns there were much more harsh than other parts of the world. So this was kind of like a nightmarish year if you're Haggis Pinball. There is no way around it. They got a few Celts out the door, But for the most part, Haggis Pinball has been burning money and has not been able to make fathom. And so hopefully in 2022, they can turn a corner and start getting the game on the line that they took money for six months ago. But I bet Damien is having a lot of sleepless nights and I bet he is really feeling the pain of pinball manufacturing. I think he ran into it with the best of intentions. I don't think he's in this to rip people off, but I think he's learned how hard it really is. It's one thing to make a few kelts. It's another thing to say you're going to make 500 of another game. And it's an even harder thing to start planning games three, four, and five, and you're scaling up for the future, but you haven't figured out how to make it work in the present day. And I think he might have bit off a little bit more than they could chew. I think he scaled up too fast. And if you look at the way Spooky did it, they did it right. I would argue that Haggis has not done it right. I would argue that Haggis has skipped a few steps in how they're scaling up. And I think they must be taking on water, no pun intended, because it's Mermaid. And I think it was a rough year from Haggis. I really, really do. But I do hope people get their fathoms in early 2022. Because if they don't, I do think people are going to become more restless and anxious. But ultimately, this also shows that nobody's learned a lesson when it comes to pre-ordering, right? We are still pre-ordering games that are not even close to being on the line. We are taking people's word for it. We're still doing it. This community in 2021 has proven once again that it has learned nothing, that it continues to say, hey, if you're a nice guy and you can make game A slowly. Holy, I have total faith that you'll make game B regardless of the context, regardless of how much more money it might require to make that game B. Very susceptible community we are to just believing in anyone's ambitions. But you know what? I think we all need to moving into 2022. Stop buying games unless they're on the line or in a box. Is it that hard? I mean, it's not that hard to just wait until something is actually made. All right. What kind of 2021 did American Pinball have? Now, I would argue that I think American Pinball probably had maybe the best year of any manufacturer. And I mean that. They probably had the best year of any manufacturer. Because American Pinball took the biggest gamble ever. They had the biggest risk releasing Legends of Valhalla, an original IP game in which Canada was like, no way anyone's going to buy this thing. And on day one, they increased their order and their sell through to distributors from 300 units to 500 units sold through. So I think 2021 was an amazing year for American Pinball. They hit the market at the right time. I still don't think it was the right game at the right time, but it didn't matter. The market was so hot and distributors are thirsty for any new products in boxes because they're out of inventory. so it was a great time to come out with a game. Now, I would say that the only hiccup for them right now is they are not manufacturing these things fast enough. They got the orders. Where are the games? I am seeing slow, slow rolling out of this title, and I think the speed of their manufacturing is letting them down a little bit. I bet they would have liked a lot more Legends of Valhalla to have gone out the door before the end of the year, But still, that money is in the bank. And if you're David Fix, you have to be somewhat satisfied that your gamble paid off and you are moving on to Dennis Nordman's original theme next. I still think this company will struggle with original IPs against licensed themes. But you know what? I can't fault them. They got a game out and the market is hot and they're going to build these games like nobody is worried that they won't get their American pinball game. The first three titles they launched all made their way to customers. There's no drama here. You might have to wait a little bit for your game. So I think American Pinball had a really good 2021. And I think if they're smart, they will sign up Sonic Spinball and they will stop with this nonsense. And they will make some of the finest homebrew games that are licensed and bring them to market. And David, if you make Sonic, you're going to sell a few thousand units. It'll be your most successful game of all time. and it's sitting there waiting for you to just green light it, okay? Please call Ryan McQuaid and get Sonic Spinball made. Okay, next on our list of 2021 pinball companies is Chicago Gaming Company. What kind of year did CGC have? Well, strange year if you ask me for CGC. They revealed a game that we all knew was coming for years. So no surprise there. They revealed it in the worst way possible. it was probably the sloppiest pinball launch of all time. They legitimately didn't even know all the information about the game. They created consumer confusion about everything associated with Cactus Canyon. It was almost like they were making it up as they were going. They didn't really know the price. They didn't know if the Translite was going to be included in this or that. They didn't know if the Topper was going to be on every single unit. They didn't know this. They didn't know that. It just felt like this company, after having so many years to get this game to market, launched it in a way that showed absolutely no respect for themselves. Like the weirdest thing, right? All the years you've been spending making Cactus Canyon Remake, and you didn't really have your ducks in a row. And it showed. And I think what they did with the LE, and then the next day you've got the SE Plus. I think they burned everybody. I think Doug's mission backfired. We want to price these things at a great value, but now you don't even know the value, Doug. No one really knows. How much is the Lyman Sheets code going to cost? I have to add the Translate to my order. At the end of the day, you add it all up, and this thing is going to be just as much, if not more, than a Stern LE. And so I'm not even sure they understand what's happening here. And also, the games aren't on the line. So it was a really weird time for them to reveal the product because they're not manufacturing them. And we didn't see any SEs go out the door before the end of the year. We didn't see any LEs go out the door. In fact, I'm hearing the LEs are delayed till April, May. So if that's the case, why didn't they just reveal this game at TPF when they were closer to launch, when they had all parts in-house? A really sloppy launch from a company that shouldn't be sloppy with their launches. They have a great product. They might make arguably the best quality pinball machines on the market. Everyone says it. These games are worth the wait. But in the marketing department and in the communication department, really, really sloppy. And I really hope they get their act together. And the other thing with CGC and the reason why I consider 2021 to be kind of like a fail for them is they need to get more than just one game out every three years. They need to. They need to also get that original licensed game out the door from Mark Ritchie. We keep hearing like what's coming from this company, but the future seems to take forever to get to with CGC. All right, Spooky Pinball. Spooky Pinball. This is the one. Spooky Pinball is the one. When I think about companies that had mixed bag years, Spooky Pinball is at the top of my list. because on one level, Spooky Pinball had the greatest financial day of their lives when they announced 1,750 games, 1,250 Halloweens, and 500 Ultramans sold through in one day, sold through to distributors. So they had the greatest financial day of their lives. And from a financial standpoint, these guys are doing jumping jacks and cartwheels all the way to the bank. So was 2021 an amazing year for Spooky Pinball? Well, then you look at the other side of the coin. They launched these titles and they were very incomplete. They launched these titles with a lot of bugs that made them nightmares for operators. They launched these titles with animations that weren't up to the standard of the industry. and there was just like a lot of confusion of what's going on here, Spooky. You've been around all these years. You know what people want and you came out with games and they weren't ready for the market. I think that's the best way to put it. These games were not ready for the market. And all of the goodwill that Spooky Pinball has built up over the years, I do think that goodwill is in jeopardy because I think people ran to these games in 2021 simply because of FOMO. There are so few people out there that even know what Ultraman is or would want an Ultraman pinball machine, but why did they sell every single one? Because there was FOMO. We were watching all of these pinball machines flip for so much more money and we all felt like, well, there's only 500. How can I lose money on an Ultraman? There's only 1,250 Halloweens. How can I lose money on Halloween? It was like a sure bet. But now the market is showing everybody out there, if you bought a Halloween or an Ultraman, you're losing 50% of your deposit right away. These deposits for these collector's editions were $2,000. And go on Pinside today, and everyone is trying to get rid of their spots who are trying to get rid of their spots, and they're taking a $1,000 hit. And it's impossible not to look at this behavior as somewhat of a failure, as a lack of faith in Spooky's ability to make these games great. I think people are basically saying with their wallets, we're unhappy and I'm never coming back to these shores. And I think it was a mixed bag year for Spooky. I think they made so much money with these games but I don think they invested enough in the talent over at Spooky I don think they invested enough in these games I think they trying to build the ship in the ocean and I think people are seeing right through it And they saying look we understand that this sometimes takes a long time to get code into a game, to polish a game. But when you're a company like Spooky, there's no excuse anymore because you're not making the amount of games Stern is. When Jersey Jack Pinball comes out with a game, it's pretty complete. So for a company like Spooky that is focused on each title at a time, it was inexcusable how incomplete these games were. And it really feels like they handed this company over to more of the junior talent. They're not that experienced. They don't know fully what they're doing. And they lost a lot of their talent that made their prior games more enjoyable. So I think what's happened to Spooky Pinball is that even though they made so much money, we're seeing a product that is somewhat inferior to what's come before it. And that has made a lot of people lose some confidence in this company. And I think a lot of that goodwill has been eroded. And I don't think people are going to run to Spooky on the next title and just buy it because I can't lose money on it. I don't think they're going to be able to create another FOMO moment. And I said it like a year ago that Rick and Morty was the greatest theme they might ever get for a pinball machine. And that Rick and Morty is one that they're probably kicking themselves that they said they're only going to make 750 Rick and Mortys. Because that could have been their cash cow for years to come. But you know what? They said they're never making anymore. Not the best year from spooky pinball. Again, financially, they crushed it. But the perception of their brand, I think, took a huge hit in 2021. All right. We got two more left. Can you tell who they are? We've got Jersey Jack Pinball and we've got Stern. So what kind of 2021 was it for Jersey Jack Pinball? Well, again, another company where financially you had a juggernaut year. You had so many orders for Guns N' Roses. It overwhelmed your manufacturing line, probably. It overwhelmed your schedule to get to the next game. And they probably got somewhere around 5,000 orders for Guns N' Roses. And so the story of Jersey Jack Pinball in 2021, another mixed bag year on one level, financially amazing year for them, probably their best game to date. I think the consumers have spoken. This game is a masterpiece for those who hate it. I don't know what to tell you. I think the game's a masterpiece, but that wasn't the story of 2021 for Jersey Jack, was it? We weren't talking about how great the game was. We weren't talking about how many they sold. We weren't talking about how this was finally a cool theme that wasn't a family-friendly thing. The only thing we were talking about all year was the poor quality of the machine. Was the playfields falling apart again? It wasn't just the quality control issues that dominated Jersey Jacks 2021. It was their lack of response. And I think this is another company that even though they had financial success, their brand took a huge hit. And every time we talk about Jersey Jack Pinball now, it's an army of people complaining about quality. And it is crazy to me that throughout the entire year of 2021, Jersey Jack Pinball never came out with an official statement about the playfield quality. And you just have to think about that for a minute. a company turned its back on its customers by never officially saying anything. That's not good. That's not good. Now, they were communicating behind closed channels to people with emails, but nothing was ever official. We did hear from Jersey Jack himself in 2021, in which he basically blamed consumers for the issues with the play field. And we've heard that soundbite, and Jack probably regrets saying that. I don't know what the problem is. I don't. I don't know if it's over-torquing. I don't know if it's Mirko. I don't know. What I can say is this is now like the fourth Jersey Jack machine in which the playfields have had issues. And so I think it created a dark cloud over Jersey Jack pinball all throughout 2021. And even now, as we look at like the Godfather rumor and all the new games coming out, Toy Story, you can't escape it. And I really hope in 2022, all I can hope for is that Jersey Jack Pinball solves this issue and comes out and says, we've solved it. I don't know how they're going to prove they've solved it unless we play these games and they don't fall apart. Because no one's going to believe in some quality seal that Miracle puts on the playfields. It's going to come down to the actual product itself. And will they be able to ship Toy Story with no issues? I really hope, I really hope for their sake, that they have like 10 toy stories made already. And I mean CEs and LEs. I hope they're sitting in a private room and they are pressure testing these games like never before. And I doubt they're doing it. Because I bet they're trying to keep it a secret, like and not have it leak. But you know what, Jersey Jack, you need to get over that. You need to put quality in front of secrecy. We know what the game is. we know it's Toy Story. So they would be smart to say, hey, look, we're going to put Toy Story on location for two months and have it be beat on before we turn on the assembly line because we want to make sure these playfields are bulletproof. I feel like everyone would stand up and applaud that move. Instead, I feel like we're going to get another like, well, we're all going to be guinea pigs when they ship this game. And who knows what the outcome will be. But it wasn't all quality control issues at Jersey Jack in 2021, we also got the big switch. They hired Steve Ritchie, right? The king of all pinball joins Jersey Jack Pinball. They also hired Mark Seiden who did a Metroid pinball. So they brought two new designers into the company. And so on a surface level, Steve Ritchie joining Jersey Jack Pinball should seem like a humongous acquisition and some amazing move by the company. But I also think a lot of people are like, well, I don't know, you know, Steve Ritchie's last few Stern games haven't really been the best. And Steve's sort of been complaining that the bomb over at Stern isn't good enough. And then we see what Keith Elwin does. And so it's pretty clear that the new king at Stern is Elwin. And so will Steve Ritchie show us what he can do over at Jersey Jack Pinball? But again, it's 2021. And I think most people are like, we're not going to see Steve's efforts anytime soon. But Jersey Jack is saying that we will see two games in 2022. Have we heard that before? Jack has said that for years. So do we think they will actually get two new games on the line in 2022? I can tell you this. Everybody hopes they do, but I'll believe it when I see it. All right, let's go over to Stern Pinball because this is a company that had a ton of activity in 2021. Let me go down the list of everything that Stern did in 2021. They got Led Zeppelin out. Then we got Mandalorian. We got Godzilla. We got Elvira 40th, Jurassic Park Home Edition. We got Stern Insider Connected. Talk about a huge thing, right? Stern connected its games using QR codes and the internet. We got Lyman Sheets left Stern for CGC. That was big news as well. Jack Danger is hired as a new designer over at Stern Pinball. And we finally got new code for the Munsters after years of people complaining. Okay, so what kind of 2021 did Stern Pinball have? Well, obviously, Stern Pinball is the number one pinball maker in the world. There is more demand for Stern Pinball machines than anywhere else. This is the number one company by far. They had an amazing 2021. Not only did they do this new stuff, but all of their old games are skyrocketing in value. If you're Stern and you're looking at where this market is going, you are seeing nothing but dollar signs and googly eyes over there because they must be like, look, we've got it. We've got everyone right where we want them. We have now shown that we can sell games at $6,000 and $25,000 for pretty much the same product. It's crazy, but Stern deserves it. Out of all the pinball companies out there, this company deserves all the success they're having. They deserve all the demand they're having. I will say it, and I've said it before, this company has the best pinball licenses. This company has the best teams. They have the best manufacturing capability. They have the best leadership. And ultimately, Stern Pinball, are you ready for it? Has the best quality. There is no one who even comes close to Stern's quality. And the thing about quality is this. Go and try and make 15,000 games a year. Can you imagine if anyone else made the amount of games Stern makes? For the amount of games Stern pumps out the door. I rarely, and I mean this, I rarely open up threads about Stern Machines and see moaning and groaning about quality issues. There's nobody complaining about play field issues. There's nobody complaining that much about mech issues. For the most part, at the volume they create this game, they're the best quality in the whole industry. And then you could argue that they've got the best coders now. And they're putting more into their games from a software standpoint than everybody else. or at least, you know, they're up there, right? I mean, because, you know, this isn't Jersey Jack. It's not like Stern just makes one game every 18 months. The fact that they make four to five games a year and all of them launch pretty complete now, right? We're no longer waiting two years for games to be done. These games are coming out the door with real polish and you're not going to regret buying a Stern on day one anymore. Those days are over. Now, that being said, do I think Stern Pinball, from a consumer standpoint made the most magical games in 2021. And what was their portfolio like? Was it quality over quantity or quantity over quality? Led Zeppelin led the year for a Stern pinball. Arguably, this game is one that everyone has forgotten. This is one of the Stern L.E.s that's not going up in price. This is one of the games that people look at and say, you know, Steve Ritchie kind of mailed it in. There's nothing really that innovative or creative about Led Zeppelin. And I also think this was Stern's response to Guns N' Roses. And it was sort of like a pathetic response. I mean, even in their press release, they tried to say this is like going to a Led Zeppelin concert. If you put Led Zeppelin next to Guns N' Roses, it's embarrassing. And I don't care you guys complaining about Eric's multi balls. I don't care. It's such a better game, Guns N' Roses. It's not even funny. And I know what the Steve Ritchie fanboys will say, but it shoots better. I'm sorry. It's really easy to make a game shoot better if there's nothing in it and nothing happening in the game. I mean, nothing shoots smoother than an empty playfield, people. Wake up. All right. So Led Zeppelin, eh, a dud. Then we get to Mandalorian. And don't forget, it was Kaneda who told you Mandalorian was coming. I mean, I put that rumor out there before anybody else. And so Mandalorian comes out. Brian Eddy's follow-up title to Stranger Things. would Mandalorian have the magic of the show we all love? Would it create a world under glass that brought Baby Yoda and the Bounty Hunter world to life? And I would say this, Mandalorian, great theme. The theme integration is not there for me. And I just don't see the magic on the game itself. I understand that people who love this game and why they love it, but it's another one of these things where all the magic is in the software It not in the hardware And I think Mandalorian should have been a game that had a lot more magical toys and wow moments happening on the play field itself I think it's a boring, uninspired design. And that's just my point of view on it. Now, I get it if you love it. But once again, I think Stern Pinball has taken our love of Star Wars and they've flushed it down the toilet. The fact that we don't have a Star Wars game that makes people as excited as like Ghostbusters or Lord of the Rings or Tron or Metallica is crazy. It is the greatest source material of all time. The Steve Ritchie Star Wars pinball machine is arguably the worst theme integration in the history of theme integrations considering what the source theme is. And I really think Stern should go give Star Wars to Keith Elwin and try it again. Can we please just have Elwin make everything we love? And we all knew Keith Elwin's Godzilla was coming. It was so hyped. And did it deliver on the hype? Obviously, it did. Godzilla from Keith Elwin has really been the juggernaut theme of 2021. It is arguably the most popular game of the year. It is going to win every single award that it is entered into. I would say that the only controversy around Godzilla was whether or not Zombie Eddie's art style was the right fit for the Godzilla theme, considering it was Toho Godzilla. But for the most part, right, every time Keith Elwin comes out with a pin, it's a special moment. He's arguably the best designer over at Stern Pinball right now, and they are giving him a little bit more to work with when it comes to the bomb of the game. And then we had the surprise launch, which was Elvira's 40th, a $15,000 pinball machine that Stern Pinball let its distributors price themselves. And they are selling for $15,000 to $25,000. I think most of them are selling for closer to $25,000 to $30,000. And Stern is only making $199,000. This is crazy because what Stern did with this launch of Elvira was they said to the distributors, you set the price. Much different than Stern selling Batman SLEs for $15,000. I think this is probably the most interesting move Stern did all year for collectors because they're going to start doing this more and more. They're going to start SLE dropping their hot titles. And we heard Zach Many talk about this. He thinks a vault is coming. And you best believe it, If they bought any of their games that people want, well, what if they just make 200 special versions of Tron or Lord of the Rings or Metallica? You could go down a list of games, probably not Metallica, but you could go down a list. Imagine if they made more Ghostbuster games and there was a special version of only 200. The sky's the limit on what they could charge the collector. So if you were a collector, I think 2021 was a year in which you realized your wallet is in big trouble. It's in huge trouble. And I think for those of you out there who want to collect rare machines, you're looking at 40K, 35K for Pirates of the Caribbean CE. You're looking at $25,000 for Elvira 40th. It's crazy, right? Two hot pinball machines are now going to cost you $50,000 to $60,000 for just two machines. And all of a sudden, this market starts to feel a little ridiculous, right? We start to feel like, how did it come to this? Like machines never used to be this much. And now the only good deal in town seems like MSRP if you get a game right when it comes out. So Elvira 40th, though, smashing success for Stern Pinball. It showed them that they have not hit any sort of ceiling. It also showed them that this is a future for them in the collectible space. They might as well just limit the supply of a special version of a game that won't really cost them more to make. and they could charge $20,000, $30,000, and people will spend the money. We got Jurassic Park Home Edition, and I think Jack Danger joining the team over there at Stern is a great move for Stern. Jack is a great personality, and Jack's design skills, I think, pass the test of a lot of people. I think when you jump on the Jurassic Park Home Edition, people have a lot of fun with that game. I mean, there's more in that game. There's more in that game than Legends of Valhalla, right? The game shoots amazingly well. And Jack Danger, I think, is going to have a really awesome future with Stern Pinball. And I think he's a great ambassador for Stern in general. So Jack Danger joining the team, we kind of knew it. I think we're going to see him working on Foo Fighters in 2022. That's just my speculation. And then we had the big news of the year, which was Stern Insider Connected. I mean, this is long overdue. Stern has tens of thousands of pinball machines out there in the world. And now they're going to connect them all with Stern Insider Connected. Absolutely, this is the biggest move. And I bet more work went into this than all of their games combined in 2021. Because this is going to open up so many new revenue streams for Stern Pinball. It is. It's also going to make playing pinball more enjoyable for all of us. If you have a game on location, this opens up so many new opportunities for bar and business owners to make these games fun, to add achievements that can be connected to the business you're in. It also makes owning the game in your home more enjoyable to connect to people out there who also have that machine. And I love this. And I think this was long overdue for pinball. And obviously, Stern took their time, and I think they're doing it right. Jersey Jack's got score a bit, and that's great too. But connecting people in this community through the games themselves has really been lacking. And it's crazy. We're at 2021, 2022, and internet connecting these games is still really not where it should be. But this is a first step in the right direction. But it does come with a little bit of a negative. And that is, this will also open up the door for DLC, which is downloadable content. And we know that Stern is gonna find new and interesting ways to charge us money even after we buy the games. And I think that's the one part that people don't want. I don't want to spend $10,500 and then have to keep spending more money to unlock the game. And at these price points, you should get everything in the kitchen sink in your purchase, but Stern's gonna be smart. They're gonna charge you extra. And they're gonna start doing more and more stuff like this. You want the topper? Well, you have to spend like five bucks to unlock the topper mode. Like they're gonna do it Because with this much of an audience, think about it, with this much of an audience, there's millions of dollars they can make in additional revenue if they just do small microtransactions across the community. Stern deserves to do this stuff because they saved pinball. Without Stern pinball, this hobby would be pretty boring. The whole community would collapse if Stern went away. Without Stern, there's not much going on. And I think when I look at the year in review, it really is like Stern's doing like 75% of the work and everyone else is just hanging on, right? Everyone else has like one game and only one game. But Stern Pinball keeps going. We're probably going to get rushed like this week or next. And then they're going to keep going on to Venom. You know, everyone else, it's like who knows, right? It's just a guess of when these companies are actually going to get two games out a year. Most of them can't figure that out. I mean, when David Fix came back and said, we're going to make two games a year, he said that at the beginning of 2021, they didn't get two games out a year. And as much as everyone's blaming COVID, Stern still got all of its titles out the door. They still did it. Jersey Jack never got a second game on the line. And so you got to give these guys credit. And I think we have like their sales success. 17,000 games are backlogged. That's incredible. All right. So what kind of year was it? Right. I think 2021, in summary, what kind of year do I think we had in 2021? I think it was a little bit of a mixed bag year. I think we saw prices go through the roof. And I think that's deflated a lot of people in pinball. I think this hobby we used to love used to be much more approachable for so many more people. And I think the hobby has become a little bit ridiculous. I do. When I see some of these prices and I see how fast things are selling for double the price they did just a year or two ago. I kind of laugh at it because I don't think any pinball machine is worth more than $10,000, let alone 20, let alone 30, let alone 40. But if you have the means and you're impatient and you just wanna have what you wanna have when you wanna have it, and you're a multimillionaire, I mean, I got a great hobby for you. It's called pinball. And I think there's just a lot of money has moved into this hobby. A lot of us have gotten our friends into pinball. And now that they're in it, they want stuff. And they want stuff now. And they're excited. The most exciting time is when you first get into a new hobby. And that is who is buying these games. Don't be mistaken. We all knew that Stranger Things LE wasn't the best pin ever. Who do you think's buying Stranger Things LE at $15,000? A new person in the hobby who has money. Same with Ghostbusters. So there's just so much new money in the hobby. And what's going to happen now is for those of us out there who have been in this hobby for a while, like we're legacied into it in a lot of ways. We have the relationships with the distributors and whatnot. And I think you're going to see a lot more of scalping and flipping machines as people take advantage of all this new money. They don't have the relationships, but they've got the cash. And I think this hobby is going to keep going up in price in 2022. I think supply shortages are still going to be an issue. And I think if you have a game in a box that people want, you might as well ask a lot for it because there's not a lot of games that are going to be on the line in 2022. I think 2022 is going to be a lot like 2021 in the sense that prices are not going to dip. It is an exciting year we're headed into. I'm really looking forward to a new Jersey Jack machine. That's always a moment. It's always a special moment when Jersey Jack launches a new game, but we know it's coming from Stern. We know it's James Vaughn. We know it's Venom. We know it's Rush. And we know it's probably not Back to the Future from Keith Elwin. Will anyone else surprise us? I think that's going to be the big question of 2022. Will anybody else surprise us with something we didn't see coming? I'm not sure. I'm really not sure. Everybody out there, I want to say thank you so much for your support. It's been a really sort of weird like few days for me. I've had an amazing time with my family during the holidays. You know, and even though people try to say a ton of nasty stuff about me, I really don't care or pay attention to any of it. I just want to do this show and do a show like this and keep making Canada's Pinball Podcast for all of you. Thank you so much. The numbers are going in the right direction. 317 people. It's just going to keep growing as people realize this is the only place to enjoy the most entertaining pinball podcast on the planet. Well, I think it is. Who knows? Who knows? Like, it's no longer about awards or numbers for me now. It's just about making show for my fans. And that's what I want to do. And I know you enjoy listening. If you're having any issues with the show, let me know at canadapinball at gmail.com. Thank you so much for the support. It means so much to my family. And I've had so many nice conversations with a lot of you out there. And I'm hoping each and every one of you has a very happy and healthy 2022. And I'll be back with more episodes of Canada's Pinball Podcast. Have a good day. Memories bring back, memories bring back Memories bring back, memories bring back

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 269adeb8-4f82-40a8-b0b6-4cfa0a341c44*