# Episode 955: "They Are Called DEALers For A Reason"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-05-15  
**Duration:** 25m 14s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-955-they-104287567

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## Analysis

Kaneda discusses the Funhouse 2.0 launch from Pedretti Gaming, criticizing the lack of video demonstration on day one and expressing skepticism about dealer allocation practices. He pivots to broader market concerns: John Wick's flat sales, Stern's aggressive pricing and dealer constraints, rumors of a Stern vault remake, and his personal refusal to buy Stern machines at current price points. He also addresses community rumors and the broader pinball market oversupply crisis.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Pedretti Gaming upped Funhouse 2.0 production from 500 to 750 units, with Nick Parks allocating 400 to US dealers — _Kaneda, mid-episode discussion of Funhouse launch logistics_
- [HIGH] John Wick owners club on Pinside has fewer than two pages of conversation despite over a week of availability — _Kaneda, discussing John Wick adoption metrics on Pinside forums_
- [MEDIUM] Stern is planning a vault remake (Kiss or Ghostbusters) using Spike 2 hardware with recreated DMD dots on LCD, releasing June/July — _Kaneda, 'I heard that Stern is going to use, I think it might be Spike 1 game coming out on Spike 2'_
- [HIGH] Lior (art of pinball) is alive and working on the Funhouse topper, confirming rumors to the contrary — _Kaneda, direct confirmation from Andrea Pedretti at Pedretti Gaming_
- [HIGH] Jersey Jack Elton John had upside-down projector logos that only got fixed after Kaneda's public complaint prompted a service bulletin — _Kaneda, personal account of his impact on industry quality improvements_
- [MEDIUM] Colin (This Week in Pinball) illegally transferred 7,000+ followers from TWIP to Kineticists without earning them organically — _Kaneda, criticism of Colin's content strategy and follower migration tactics_
- [MEDIUM] Funhouse 2.0 kit has reports of being buggy, laggy, and Rudy's voice doesn't work well — _Kaneda, 'there are people out there that are saying you know the funhouse 2.0 kit is not the best it's kind of buggy it's kind of laggy'_
- [MEDIUM] Haggis Pinball is effectively done and should issue refunds; they promised Fathoms by end of year but Centaur will never be made — _Kaneda opinion on Haggis Pinball viability based on delays and lack of transparency_
- [HIGH] Stern operates dealers as a mafia model: collecting full payment upfront while dealers sit on depreciating inventory unable to discount — _Kaneda's extended critique of Stern's dealer payment and pricing constraints, core argument of episode_
- [HIGH] Pinball market is in oversupply with declining demand due to high prices, and dealers cannot make deals at MSRP-only pricing — _Kaneda, philosophical analysis of 'dealer' etymology and modern pinball business model failure_

### Notable Quotes

> "Don't you tell me that Kaneda doesn't do any good for this pinball hobby. [referring to Elton John projector fix]"
> — **Kaneda**, early segment
> _Establishes Kaneda's view of his own industry impact and credibility, frames the episode's defense against criticism_

> "They're called dealers for a reason. Allow them to make deals. Allow them to advertise a Venom LE new in box for $11,500 because even that is $2,000 more than it's worth."
> — **Kaneda**, closing
> _Core thesis of the episode; critique of Stern's dealer constraints and pricing strategy; title reference_

> "I am not buying another Stern machine at these prices ever. I'm just going to say it right now, ever."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Personal boycott pledge; major sentiment shift for long-time Stern customer_

> "Stern Pinball operates like they are the mob. And that is why on my very expletive show, I'm like F off Stern."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Strongest condemnation of Stern; frames industry dynamics as exploitative_

> "If you admit right now that you bought a John Wick LE, you might as well wear a t-shirt that says dummy. Like you're a dummy."
> — **Kaneda**, discussing John Wick adoption
> _Harsh judgment of early adopters; indicates extreme negative sentiment toward John Wick purchase decision_

> "Now we look at John Wick LE owners with empathy and sorrow. And I know we're not supposed to feel sorry for them, but they made a stupid move."
> — **Kaneda**, John Wick segment
> _Reflects dramatic sentiment shift toward John Wick owners; indicates market failure in community perception_

> "I just want to say for all of my fans in Australia, why has nobody just gone over to Haggis Pinball on a random weekday with your cell phone camera and knock on the door and record it?"
> — **Kaneda**, Haggis Pinball segment
> _Call for direct investigation into Haggis operations; reflects frustration with lack of transparency_

> "There's no FOMO around this game though. Unless it's one of those AAA bangers like Harry Potter, The Matrix, Back to the Future, everything's going to be easy to get whenever you want to get it."
> — **Kaneda**, Funhouse analysis
> _Market observation: FOMO only works for blockbuster IPs; reflects broader demand weakness_

> "Stern Pinball is going to release a vault. Raymond Davison is working on a vault game that is coming out."
> — **Kaneda**, Stern news segment
> _First public mention of Stern vault remake project; credibility-dependent on sourcing_

> "Somebody has to do a pinball podcast where we just talk about what's relevant in a short period of time without shilling everything."
> — **Kaneda**, closing remarks
> _Meta-commentary on content creator responsibility; differentiates Kaneda's approach from peers_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast; new father; industry critic and commentator with claimed influence on quality improvements |
| Pedretti Gaming | company | Manufacturer/publisher of Funhouse 2.0 remake; working with Lior and Pedretti on art and toppers |
| Andrea Pedretti | person | Representative at Pedretti Gaming; confirmed Lior's status to Kaneda |
| Nick Parks | person | Distributor/allocator for Funhouse 2.0; allocated 400 units to US dealers; likely appears as Easter egg in game art |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer; subject of extensive criticism for pricing, dealer constraints, and mafia-like business model; planning vault remake |
| George Gomez | person | Stern lead designer; targets of Kaneda's criticism for game design direction and corporate justifications |
| Elliott Whitewood | person | Stern designer; John Wick designer (third title); questioned readiness for lead designer role |
| John Borg | person | Stern designer; Indiana Jones shelved, rumored cause of John Wick accelerated design |
| Raymond Davison | person | Stern designer working on vault remake project using Spike 2 hardware |
| Colin | person | Former operator of This Week in Pinball; transferred followers to Kineticists; criticized for clickbait approach |
| Lior | person | Artist (Lior Art of Pinball); alive and working on Funhouse topper; subject of false death rumors |
| Pat Lawlor | person | Legendary designer of original Funhouse; referenced as example of superior mechanical design vs. modern Stern machines |
| Damien | person | Haggis Pinball leadership; Kaneda suggests should pull the plug on Centaur and refund customers |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Manufacturer; mentioned positively for code updates; fewer quality issues than previous machines |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Elton John; had upside-down projector issue; mentioned for positive community reception of current titles |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Manufacturer with Pulp Fiction LE; criticized for 3+ year delays on Cactus Canyon remake in Europe |
| Haggis Pinball | company | Australian manufacturer; severely delayed on Fathoms; Kaneda suggests bankruptcy-level viability issues; Centaur assumed cancelled |
| Funhouse 2.0 | game | Remake of classic Funhouse by Pedretti Gaming; 750-unit run; white inserts with RGB lighting; launched without video demonstration |
| John Wick | game | Stern machine; fast, fan-layout with short ball times; sales flatlined; community perception extremely negative; IE owners regretted |
| Elton John | game | Jersey Jack machine; positive community reception; slow burn success; had projector calibration issue |
| Jaws | game | Stern machine; production ramping through June/July before vault release |
| Alice in Wonderland | game | Spooky Pinball title; expected July release; receiving positive code updates |
| Back to the Future | game | Spooky Pinball title; not releasing until end of year; mentioned as AAA IP that generates FOMO |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Funhouse 2.0 Launch and Demonstration Strategy, John Wick Market Failure and Community Sentiment, Stern Pinball Business Model Criticism (Dealer Constraints, Pricing, Mafia Analogy), Pinball Market Oversupply and Demand Crisis
- **Secondary:** Stern Vault Remake Rumors (Kiss/Ghostbusters on Spike 2), Haggis Pinball Delays and Viability, Pinball Content Creator Ethics and Shilling, FOMO Dynamics and Limited Edition Strategy

### Sentiment

**Negative** (-0.78) — Kaneda expresses strong frustration with Stern's business practices, John Wick market failure, and broader industry dynamics. While he praises specific machines (Elton John, Spooky's code updates) and Funhouse 2.0's aesthetic, the dominant tone is critical and pessimistic about market structure, pricing sustainability, and manufacturer behavior. His personal boycott pledge and repeated 'F off Stern' comments underscore intensity of negativity.

### Signals

- **[sentiment_shift]** John Wick community sentiment inverted from typical Stern pre-launch hype to extreme negative regret; owners compared to dummies who lost $3-4k; dramatic shift from envy to empathy/sorrow for purchasers (confidence: high) — Kaneda's observation of Pinside owners club having <2 pages of conversation and statement 'Now we look at John Wick LE owners with empathy and sorrow'
- **[market_signal]** Pinball market experiencing oversupply with declining demand due to manufacturer MSRP floor enforcement; dealers unable to discount even on year-old inventory like Venom LE (confidence: high) — Kaneda's extended critique: 'There is an oversupply of everything. The demand is going down because the prices are so high and you're forcing your dealers and your distros to behave in a way that doesn't allow them to make a deal'
- **[business_signal]** Stern collects full payment upfront from dealers/distributors, then invests capital in growth while dealers sit on depreciating inventory unable to adjust prices; Kaneda characterizes this as 'mafia' operating model (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Stern has those dealers and those distros money for an entire year and you bet your bottom dollar that Stern has taken that money from those distros and dealers and has invested it into areas of growth'
- **[product_launch]** Funhouse 2.0 production increased from 500 to 750 units; Nick Parks allocating to US dealers on day one with widespread dealer advertising; launched without accompanying video demonstration (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'They were originally going to have 500... They upped that number to 750... Nick Parks is allocating games to the dealers... On launch day, did you see Funhaus LE lit up in all of its glory? No, you didn't.'
- **[collector_signal]** FOMO only effective for AAA blockbuster IP (Harry Potter, The Matrix, Back to the Future); mid-tier games like Funhouse 2.0 have no scarcity pressure and dealers will have excess inventory (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'There's no FOMO around this game though... everything's going to be easy to get whenever you want to get it... Unless it's one of those AAA bangers'
- **[machine_intel]** Stern planning vault remake (likely Kiss or Ghostbusters) to be released June/July using Spike 2 hardware with recreated DMD dots on LCD; designer Raymond Davison assigned to project (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Raymond Davison is working on a vault game that is coming out... Stern is going to use Spike 1 game coming out on Spike 2... recreate the DMD dots on the LCD screen'
- **[product_concern]** Reports that Funhouse 2.0 kit is buggy, laggy; Rudy's voice doesn't work well; poor reception to code update; Kaneda reluctant to purchase without seeing full gameplay video (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'There are people out there that are saying you know the funhouse 2.0 kit is not the best it's kind of buggy it's kind of laggy Rudy's voice doesn't work for me'
- **[business_signal]** Kaneda declares Haggis Pinball effectively defunct; promised Fathoms by end of year but now June with no delivery; Centaur assumed cancelled; recommends company issue full refunds (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Haggis is loving all of this gun gate debate... I think that company is done. I think refunds should go to everybody... We all know that Centaur is not getting made'
- **[content_signal]** Kaneda criticizes Colin for transferring This Week in Pinball followers to Kineticists without earning them organically; condemns content creator shilling of greedy manufacturers; frames himself as counterpoint (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Colin, you're not fooling anybody... the only way you make money when you want to make pinball content it's one word talent you need talent bro'
- **[community_signal]** Kaneda asserts he single-handedly drove Jersey Jack to fix Elton John projector issue via public complaint; also claims to have influenced Spooky to change playfields resulting in 6.1 Twippies; frames himself as positive industry force (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Don't you tell me that Kaneda doesn't do any good for this pinball hobby... I made a big stink about it... then I wake up this morning to a service bulletin from Jersey Jack'
- **[regulatory_signal]** False rumor circulated that Lior (art of pinball) had passed away; Kaneda confirms with Andrea Pedretti that Lior is alive and actively working on Funhouse topper (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'I heard that Lior passed away. And I just want to confirm for everybody, he has not passed away. He is doing fine... I just asked Andrea Pedretti... yeah, he's alive. He's working on our topper'

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## Transcript

 This used to be a fun house, but now it's full of evil clowns. It's time to start the countdown, I'm gonna burn it down. Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up. Welcome to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, it's 5.15 in the morning, I am without sleep. What is sleep? What is time when Kaneda's a new daddy? Mama and baby are doing great. They just had to spend another night over in the hospital. There's this little thing called jaundice where like basically the baby gets to go suntanning for like a day and a half. Get that good foundation going. A true son of Kaneda, you know, fake bake before the summertime rolls around. Everyone's doing great. They're going to come home today. And if you think I'm a terrible husband because I'm not sleeping in the hospital. Just so you know, NYU is around the block from where we live. So even Brenda's like, go home and get a good night's sleep because you're not going to have it for the next 16 years. All right, so let's talk about Funhaus from Pedretti Gaming. Let's go around the horn and talk about what's going on with these pinball companies. And here's the thing. I want to start out this show by saying something. There are people in this community who say that Kaneda is toxic. He never does anything good for the pinball community. He never gets positive changes in pinball. And I just saw, remember a few weeks ago when I said that Jersey Jack pinball, for all this money and all the intelligent people over there, nobody stood over in Elton John's CE and looked up at the ceiling and said, hey, it's projecting all the logos upside down. And when I said that and I made a big stink about it, everybody said, shut up, Canada. You're an idiot. It rotates around. You don't know what you're talking about. And then I wake up this morning to a service bulletin from Jersey Jack Pinball going out to all of its CEO owners of Elton John explaining to them how to turn the projector upside down. So don't you tell me that Canada doesn't do any good for this pinball hobby. This was going to be the hedge multi-ba. Remember, I got spooky pinball. Focusing on this, I got spooky pinball to change their play fields. And this is why we have 6.1 Twippies. And also, speaking of Twippies, did you see what the clown Colin has done recently? You know, we all used to love This Week in Pinball and they amassed like 7,000 followers or something on like Facebook. And what Colin did, I don't even know why Facebook let him do this. He was allowed to roll over those followers from This Week in Pinball, a site we all used to love, into followers for the Kineticists. And now he's bragging that those numbers are great. Colin, you're not fooling anybody. you did not earn any of this this is not how it works your clickbait site is not going to work none of us are big fans of the kineticist and that is why we all unsubscribe to this week in pinball you're never going to make any money doing this because the only way you make money when you want to make pinball content it's one word talent you need talent bro you can't hide all right so here we are we got Funhouse Pinball from Pedretti Gaming it came out at like noon eastern standard time what do we think about this game about the launch and then let's talk about what else is happening in pinball you know all the John Wick apologists they're coming out of the woodworks people the Stern Army all the fanboys of Timmy Sexton gonna start coming out and say hey the game plays fun and fast that's the greatest thing I love is when these people come out and they're like shocked that a fan layout with Stern Flippers is going to play fast. But let's go back to Fun House. So the game is revealed. There's 750. All of the details about this game you got from Canada and the game is out there. Now, I was a little bit surprised to see the sheer number of distributors and dealers like spamming me once again with Facebook ads. Now, I think what happened was this. They were originally going to have 500. I think Nick Parks was going to have 400 of them in the US and then the European distributors were going to get 100 of these. They upped that number to 750. I'm also probably 100% confident in this that Nick Parks is allocating games to the dealers that are out there. I saw all the regular dealers spamming me with Funhaus ads on day one and that's fine. They're dealers. I expect that. They're trying to sell it. But here's the thing about this launch, I wish, I just wish we had yesterday. And it's a wish of Kaneda. When a game gets revealed to the world on day one, and we saw this with John Wick, and now we're seeing it again with this game, it's not enough anymore to just release the details and the photos. This is a very interactive toy. And you've made major changes to it, Pedretti, right? All the inserts now are white, right? They don't look colorful like the original game. Those white inserts are going to look amazing when they're fully lit up with all the full color RGB lighting. Now, here's the problem. On launch day, did you see Funhaus LE lit up in all of its glory? No, you didn't. Did you see a video? No, you didn't. And so that is what disappointed me about yesterday's launch is like you've done all these things to the game and you're not showing it. Now, part of me thinks they're probably a little bit nervous about people reaction to Rudy voice with Funhaus 2 Rudy Nightmare because the reception to that code update was never really phenomenal So Kaneda being always a little bit skeptical about all the marketing that happens in pinball because it's usually terrible, I kind of feel like they did it like this on purpose, that they wanted to reveal this game this way and make all the dealers buy their allotments. See, that's the thing about yesterday. All we learned yesterday is who's already bought this game. and they're the dealers. And this is the model of pinball. And I still, to this day, am not sure this is how these products should work. And so all of these dealers now have to commit to a certain number of games and buy them from Pedretti and probably Nick Parks. And I think that's Nick Parks' face on the Translate. There's a lot of Easter eggs, but I saw some gentleman, a man with a great set of hair, and it looked just like Nick Parks. As far as the game itself, I think it looks really neat. I think it looks really cool. It obviously, this LD looks much better than the original Funhaus. When you see those two games next to each other, it's night and day which one looks a lot better. There's really one huge caveat. And if you go on the marketplace, Funhaus was a game. You could easily obtain it for like $4,000 to $5,000. You know, maybe it got up around $6,000 during the height of COVID. But there's a lot of these games out there. There's not a ton, but there's a lot. right? And I think Funhaus is a very popular game. It's a Pat Lawler game. It's a game, when you look at all the mechanical stuff in it, it embarrasses what's in a $13,000 John Wick. It embarrasses mechanically what's in an Elton John, but you know, we don't like to think like that anymore, right? You got to stay focused on the present pinball machines, Chris, that are hoodwinking us with artwork, LCD stuff, and LED lights. So as a package, this game is really nice. now I still think it's a huge miss not to have video of the game I would not see enough yet to pull the trigger on the game because I need to see it all together I need to see how it works I mean there are people out there that are saying you know the funhouse 2.0 kit is not the best it's kind of buggy it's kind of laggy Rudy's voice doesn't work for me so I want to see it all together there's no FOMO around this game though does anyone out there think that if you want a Funhaus LE. You've got to order it today or this week or this month. I just don't feel that anymore about anything. It's going to happen again. We're going to get another FOMO game. It's going to have to be something like Harry Potter, The Matrix, Back to the Future. But unless it's one of those AAA bangers, everything's going to be easy to get whenever you want to get it. And these dealers are going to be really anxious to get you the game. I was thinking about this the other day. You know, I was thinking about this whole pinball world. When you have a lack of sleep, maybe I'm getting a lack of oxygen to the brain, but I just started to think about this hobby and I started to think about the word dealer and what it means to be a pinball dealer. And the word itself, dealer, means you go to them for a deal. And here's what's weird about all the pinball right now in my mind, as I watch John Wick sales, flatline and people making excuses is a dealer in pinball doesn't really have any ability to create a deal. They can't deal with you. They can only deal one way, right? They can only deal at MSRP or above, and maybe they'll throw in some free shipping, but that's it. There's no deals being made anywhere in pinball. And I think that needs to change. And I think all of this hobby and the entire landscape of pinball and the dealerships and the distros and the manufacturers. I think we're going through a period now in which there's going to be a lot of inflection on what this hobby can do differently to save itself from the issues it's experiencing right now, which is there is an oversupply of everything. The demand is going down because the prices are so high and you're forcing your dealers and your distros to behave in a way that doesn't allow them to make a deal. And if you think about it, if you're sitting on a Venom LE from a year ago, how can you not be able to make a deal on that game? You've still got to list that game for $13,000 and we need to stop this. Like it's so stupid to me that a dealer pays for this thing in full. A dealer buys this game from Stern Pinball for so much money and then they're not allowed to do what they want to do with it even after they've owned it for a year? Even after they've seen the used market on the game tank, they still are at the mercy of Stern who's been paid in full what they wanted for the game a year ago. Stern has those dealers and those distros money for an entire year and you bet your bottom dollar that Stern has taken that money from those distros and dealers and has invested it into areas of growth where the dealer and the distro sitting on a sinking asset can't do anything. That is the mafia, ladies and gentlemen. Stern Pinball operates like they are the mob. And that is why on my very expletive show, I'm like F off Stern. I'm going to say this right now. I am not buying another Stern machine at these prices ever. I'm just going to say it right now, ever. I'm not going in on anything ever from Stern ever again at these prices. I don't care how dream theme it is. I'm not doing it because I know that at these prices, everything's going down in value. Everything, G1 Transformers, Akira, everything. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it. And you know what? It's funny when I adopt this sort of mentality, I feel liberated. Like, cool. It doesn't mean I'm not going to buy another Stern ever again. I'm just not buying another Stern at these prices. And that's going to be the line I draw in the sand for myself. Now you do what you want to do. I'm not going to get up here and tell you, you should do the same thing. Just be like me If we hold the line we going to force them to lower the prices which is not false We will as a community force them to lower prices if we stop buying Stern Machines So speaking of stop buying Stern Machines John Wick is out right John Wick's been out now. It feels like it's been out for like six months after all of the back and forth around this game. It is now popping up on location. and we're getting early feedback that a fan layout stern machine with the most snappy flippers in pinball is really fun the ball times are really short and this is a fast brutal game that you have to hold on for dear life when you play it and everyone's like that's awesome and guess what cool i'm glad another stern fan layout that has a lot of speed i could go play black knight there's a whole series of stern machines that play this way and it's cool i can't wait to play one on location. I really can. I can't wait to go to Jack Bar. If I have any free time after Cassian comes home, if I have any free time, I will go play John Wick Pro. I'm never buying one. I'm never buying one. I'm never buying this game. And again, the thing is this, it just doesn't speak to me. I don't see the effort there. I don't see the magic in the game. I'm not buying one at 13. I'm not buying an LE at 10. I wouldn't buy an LE for eight. I just don't want the game. That's how I am. It's okay, people. It's okay to feel like you never want to own something, but you just want to enjoy it on location. But you know, it's interesting when I'm looking at Pinside and I go to the John Wick Owners Club, and I know none of these have shipped to owners yet, but man, it is pretty bleak in there. I haven't really seen a Stern Owners Club after a game being out for over a week doesn't even have two pages of conversation on Pinside. Because remember, they've been taking orders on this game now for like a week and a half. And the fact that on Pinside, there are not even more than one page of people communicating that they bought one. And here's one of the reasons why. It doesn't mean Stern hasn't sold any. I don't think anyone wants to admit they bought a John Wick LE. Because if you admit right now that you bought a John Wick LE, you might as well wear a t-shirt that says dummy. Like you're a dummy. Like you just lost three to four thousand dollars and no one's ever going to think you're cool or you made the right decision. And that saddens me because all the years when FOMO was good and we were buying all these Stern LEs, it was like we were envious of those people. Now we look at John Wick LE owners with empathy and sorrow. And I know we're not supposed to feel sorry for them, but they made a stupid move. Okay. So John Wick sales are flatlined. The other thing that I was thinking about was this, like, how do these two things make sense? So you make a game and it's brutally fast and short ball times, but then you want to market it. Like there's 40 minutes of clips from the movies. Are you going to see them? Is there going to be enough time to enjoy those clips? See, I would just rather most of the pinball magic be under the glass. I don't care about watching 45 minutes or whatever of a movie in pinball format. I look at John Wick. It's fine. It just still feels uninspired. There's no magical mechs. That weapons chest on the right side of the game just really is a head scratcher. It looks terrible. And all it does is open up a ball path. And I love watching Stern Apologist and George Gomez go on this like media tour. Now George is like saying, hey, this was Elliott's third Whitewood after we made all these changes. Is that supposed to make me feel like this guy's ready for the big leagues? I don't think so. And when George was doing a podcast, someone asked him, does this mean that Elliott is going to be in the roster of lead designers moving forward and George didn't say yes and you know what that tells me that again this game was quickly designed this game was a result of a little bit of an issue with their top designers mainly John Borg's Indiana Jones was shelved and that is why I think they did it this way a little bit of Stern news now for you guys out there now you know how Stern is not revealing its production schedule. And you know how like John Wick is not going to sell that well into fall. And I was saying like, well, what's Stern going to do, right? They're not going to have a ton of John Wick orders. And I know they're going to still make as many Jaws premium and pros as they can heading into June, July. And then what, right? Well, here's the answer to that. Stern Pinball is going to release a vault. Raymond Davison is working on a vault game that is coming out. I heard that Stern is going to use, I think it might be Spike 1 game coming out on Spike 2. And what they're going to do is they're going to recreate the DMD dots on the LCD screen. That is what I'm hearing. And so that's the rumors. we're going to get this like vault edition of a game sometime in June, July. So Stern is not going to rely solely on John Wick sales. What game could it be? If I were a guessing man, I don't think this is the Tron vault. I think this is most likely going to be Kiss, a remake of Kiss, or I think it's going to be a remake of Ghostbusters. Those are the two that I would think Stern Pinball would want to bring out and just cash out on them one more time. All right, so that's happening over there at Stern. Rest in peace, John Wick. You killed yourself without even a gun. Congratulations, Stern. Any other big news in the pinball market right now? It's soft, gang. The best thing to happen to Haggis Pinball is John Wick. I feel like nobody's knocking on the door over at Haggis. I just want to say for all of my fans in Australia, why has nobody just gone over to Haggis Pinball on a random weekday with your cell phone camera and knock on the door and record it? Can someone do that? Just do that for us as a community. Take your cell phone, put it on Facebook Live and say, hey, gang, we're here. I going to go knock on the door of Haggis Pinball and just see if anyone answers the door If they do I going to politely ask if we can walk in and see if any manufacturing is happening Why can somebody do that Remember all those years where Iceman was driving around Deep Roots parking lot and nobody has the guts to knock on the door? Believe me, gang, if there was a pinball manufacturing company in New York City that had manufacturing going on and people had been waiting for their games for over a year, I guarantee you Kaneda would do a Facebook Live in which I would go to the company, knock on the door, and see what happens. It is not illegal to do that. Haggis is loving all of this gun gate debate. I think that company is done. I think refunds should go to everybody at this point. I think the statue of limitations on when refunds should go to people is up, and it's ridiculous. They said they were going to finish the fathoms by the end of the year. We're heading towards June, people. We all know that Centaur is not getting made, and I think Damien needs to pull the plug. I mean, yesterday, Red Lobster declared bankruptcy, yet Haggis Pinball remains. That's stupid. All right, so we got that over there. We're waiting on Alice in Wonderland. I think that's going to be sometime in July. Back to the Future is not until the end of the year. Spooky Pinball, you know, just a bunch of code updates on these two titles. It sounds like people are having a good time with these games. There's not as many quality issues with these two games as previous Spooky Machines, so that's good. Just not a lot to talk about with Spooky. You know, that's not a bad thing. When you don't get on to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast on a frequent basis, sometimes that's not a bad thing. Elton John continues. This game continues to have a really positive reception, a slow burn, but it is always being bumped to the top of the pin side threads. And that just goes to show you, you know, people are buying Elton John. They're enjoying it. They're borrowing games from friends. I think a lot of us would be owning this game if it were not so expensive. I would be an owner of Elton John CE if it were 12.5. I'm not spending 15 again I've just got to draw the line because I think they're gonna easily be 12-5 if they ever make a thousand of them especially with what's coming next from Jersey Jack theme wise all right so that's that like Princess Bride I don't know no real news there I don't know where this game is at it feels like another bad marketing move they revealed the game way too early now we're just waiting. Speaking of waiting, CGC, Pulp Fiction LEs, your guess is as good as mine. I feel like there's no longer that excitement. Imagine if they had this game on the line, when that great 20-minute video that got all of us excited about this game, imagine if they actually scratched that itch when we all were so excited for Pulp Fiction. I just talked to someone who just got three years after they ordered it a Cactus Canyon remake in Europe. Three years later. Stupid. I also want to clarify a silly rumor that's going around that Lior, you know, Lior the art of pinball, that something happened to him. And there's a rumor, someone hit me up, hey, I heard that Lior passed away. And I just want to confirm for everybody, he has not passed away. He is doing fine and he is working on the Funhouse Topper. And the reason I know that is I just asked Andrea Pedretti, hey, I heard this rumor and he's like, yeah, he's alive. He's working on our topper. So just because you're not hearing from somebody doesn't mean they're gone. All right. And if you don't hear from Kaneda, I might need to take like a week off or two just to get the new baby settled. But I'm going to have free time because Brenda and I are going back and forth. But if you don't hear from me, don't worry. I haven't gone anywhere. You know, somebody has to do a pinball podcast where we just talk about what's relevant in a short period of time without shilling everything. Have you noticed, man, there was so much like bravado with so many content creators. And then the John Wick gun gate came out and everybody got all angry. Then everybody got all apologetic. That's not the right way to do it. And I really wish there were more content creators that didn't just shill everything and look for more ways to support a greedy company like Stern Pinball. They keep hiding behind the fact that because there's demand, they can price things wherever they want. Someone asked him like, hey, why is the Black Knight topper three times as much money? Because of demand. George, the only reason there's demand is because your company couldn't just make them normally. Like, why don't you just make them? That Ghostbusters topper is easy to make. Why don't you just make it? The reason there's demand, George, is because you treated your owners like crap by not fulfilling the demand when the game was out. That's the only reason why, George. If you want to manufacture scarcity and then rip us off by charging us three times as much money as the damn thing should be and then take credit for that, You can do that, George. But Canada's Pinball Podcast is here to tell you, F off, Stern. I'm not buying your products ever again until I see you make a move that shows me you're not greedy, you're not going to manufacture this BS scarcity, and you stop treating your dealers and your distros like you're the mafia. They're called dealers for a reason. Allow them to make deals. Allow them to advertise a Venom LE new in box for $11,500 because even that is $2,000 more than it's worth. So how's that for demand, George, Seth, and Gary? Kaneda out.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 3456d354-f5ea-462e-8ced-f66f8fb015c8*