# DPP #70 "Mystery Pinball Co! JJP new game update!"

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2023-09-19  
**Duration:** 24m 26s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donspinballpodcast/episodes/DPP-70-Mystery-Pinball-Co--JJP-new-game-update-e29g5n5

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## Analysis

Don discusses Mystery Pinball Company's factory photo dump revealing an unreleased pinball machine with magnets, multiple flippers, and mysterious theming (possibly Frankenstein), speculation about JJP's Steve Ritchie-designed game following Godfather, and personal updates on Venom Pro gameplay, Stern production timelines, and pinball community products.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Mystery Pinball Company showed 6 cabinets in production with factory photos featuring playfield magnets, multiple flippers, and vertically-oriented coils — _Don Garrison described photo dump posted to NAP Arcade; firsthand observation of playfield underside_
- [HIGH] Steve Ritchie's upcoming game is confirmed as JJP's next release following Godfather — _Pinball Profile interview with Jeff Teolis featuring Jack Guarnieri and Steve Ritchie; Don listened to full episode_
- [HIGH] Jack Guarnieri stated operators care more about machine revenue ($500+/week) than purchase price when evaluating ROI — _Pinball Profile interview; Guarnieri referenced Daytona GP example and Guns and Roses secondary market pricing at $8,500_
- [HIGH] Venom LE production will run this week and next week, with Premium units scheduled for first week of October — _Don's internal knowledge from Stern production updates; based on LE-then-Premium manufacturing sequence_
- [HIGH] Galactic Tank Force's turret tip is made from stacked red plastic pop bumper caps, a design detail American Pinball did not highlight — _Impromptu interview with unnamed local machine operator/designer who worked on GTF prototype in his basement_
- [HIGH] Stern no longer manufactures or sells official pinball banners, creating opportunity for third-party reproduction sellers — _Don's personal research and market observation; Pinside marketplace activity; personal purchase history_
- [HIGH] Venom code version 0.91 was recently released with bug fixes but no new gameplay features — _Don monitored production updates; noted potential exploit fixes affecting Emily's gameplay_
- [MEDIUM] Internet sleuths speculate Mystery Pinball Company's unrevealed game could be Frankenstein-themed based on logo clues — _Don referenced unconfirmed community speculation; 'Your friend will raise the roof' logo tagline lacks clear connection_

### Notable Quotes

> "Mystery Pinball, man, wouldn't that be cool? Maybe I can make that mine if they don't end up using it."
> — **Don Garrison**, ~2:30
> _Humorous commentary on company's mysterious branding strategy; reflects community speculation about unnamed manufacturers_

> "He says he really likes to look at, you know, what the operator would benefit from, a game that would compel players to put more quarters in, which would benefit the operator."
> — **Don Garrison**, ~10:00
> _Summarizes Steve Ritchie's design philosophy balancing operator ROI, casual play, and competitive depth_

> "I think we're waiting for the next from Stern, which should be a big, you know, a big lump of, of juicy, delicious pinball gold, man, not coal. We're getting gold next gold is coming."
> — **Don Garrison**, ~24:30
> _Expresses community anticipation for Stern's next release title post-Venom; signals Venom not meeting collector expectations_

> "That tip of that cannon is built out of stacked plastic tops from pinball pop bumpers... I would have wished that I wasn't today years old when I learned that."
> — **Don Garrison**, ~31:00
> _Highlights hidden design detail in Galactic Tank Force; critiques American Pinball's marketing approach for not leading with this story_

> "If you have an arcade, this is a great location. If you know, that's your price point, you're going to get a game. That's fun to play."
> — **Don Garrison**, ~25:00
> _Positioned Venom Pro as location/operator game rather than home collector piece; reflects market segmentation_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Mystery Pinball Company | company | Unannounced/mysterious pinball manufacturer; revealed factory photos of ~6 cabinets in production with playfield featuring magnets, multiple flippers; speculation about Frankenstein IP; planning expo reveal |
| Don Garrison | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast; community organizer and content creator; operator of District 1 Brewery events; collector and pinball enthusiast |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Chicago-based manufacturer; currently producing Godfather; Steve Ritchie-designed next game confirmed in development; featured in Pinball Profile interview |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer; designed upcoming JJP game; appeared on Pinball Profile interview with Jack Guarnieri; known for designing games balancing operator ROI, casual accessibility, and competitive depth |
| Jack Guarnieri | person | Founder/owner of Jersey Jack Pinball; appeared on Pinball Profile interview with Steve Ritchie; discussed operator perspective on machine ROI and pricing |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast; conducted interview with Steve Ritchie and Jack Guarnieri; Canadian pinball media figure |
| George | person | Apparent contact person for Mystery Pinball Company; sent photo dump information to Don via email; coordinated factory reveal media blitz |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; producing Venom Pro/Premium/LE; announced v0.91 code update; building new factory; discontinuing official banner production |
| American Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer; produced Galactic Tank Force with tank turret made from stacked pop bumper caps; criticized for marketing strategy |
| Venom | game | Stern's recent release (Pro/Premium/LE tiers); features character selection affecting rules; large horseshoe shot on Pro; Insider Connected integration; v0.91 recently released; Premium units scheduled for early October production |
| Godfather | game | Jersey Jack Pinball current title; significant movie license; Gotta and LE models in production; secondary market pricing ~$8,500 despite $11,000 MSRP |
| Galactic Tank Force | game | American Pinball tank-themed game; features foldable turret design made from pop bumper caps; prototype developed in local operator's basement; criticized for weak marketing narrative |
| Pinball Profile | organization | Long-running interview podcast by Jeff Teolis; released episode featuring Steve Ritchie and Jack Guarnieri; landmark community media platform |
| Emily | person | Pinball player; found exploit in Venom code scoring ~5-6 million points; potentially affected by v0.91 bug fixes |
| Ed | person | Local machine operator/designer; involved in Galactic Tank Force prototype development and design; created Ghost in the Shell homebrew; showcased at Expo |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; provided replacement parts to Don for Halloween game restoration |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; sent Big Lebowski sculpt to Don; developing topper with Lior; based in Netherlands; invited Don for future visit |
| Pinball Adventures | company | Maker of Punny Factory, Elements, and upcoming First Class (commercial aviation theme); produces Pinball Boost setup device |
| Andrew McBain | person | Associated with Pinball Adventures; designed/manufactures Pinball Boost device; no compensation relationship with Don |
| Big Lebowski | game | Dutch Pinball title; Don's collection; receiving custom topper; scheduled for review when topper complete |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Mystery Pinball Company unrevealed game, Jersey Jack Pinball's Steve Ritchie next title, Stern Venom Pro gameplay and production timeline
- **Secondary:** Pinball machine design philosophy and operator ROI, Third-party pinball banner reproduction and IP, Pinball machine setup equipment innovation, Galactic Tank Force design details and marketing
- **Mentioned:** Community podcasting and content creation

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.72) — Don expresses genuine enthusiasm for Mystery Pinball Company's reveal and JJP's Ritchie project, positive impressions of Venom gameplay and community connections. Mild criticism of American Pinball's marketing approach and reflective commentary on Stern's banner discontinuation. Overall upbeat, celebratory tone for episode 70 milestone.

### Signals

- **[machine_intel]** Mystery Pinball Company released factory photo dump revealing playfield with magnets, multiple flippers, vertically-oriented coils, and ~6 cabinets in production; internet speculation points to possible Frankenstein IP; reveal timing expected at upcoming Expo (3-4 weeks out) (confidence: high) — Don analyzed playfield photos from factory dump posted to NAP Arcade; described specific mechanical features observable in underside images; noted 'Your friend will raise the roof' logo clue and community Frankenstein speculation
- **[product_launch]** Stern Venom LE units scheduled to begin production this week and next, with Premium units scheduled for first week of October 2024 (confidence: high) — Don stated: 'The LEs will be run next... I kind of think when we see the Friday live from the new Stern factory... supposed to be run the first week of October, which means like by the end of the week or the second week of October, I may be unboxing another game'
- **[code_update]** Venom code version 0.91 released with bug fixes but no new gameplay features; potential exploit fixes may affect player strategies (confidence: high) — Don noted: 'they just dropped a 0.91 is where they're at and it looks like it didn't add any gameplay features or gameplay modes but with a lot of bug fixes'; referenced Emily's 5-6 million point exploit potentially being fixed
- **[design_philosophy]** Steve Ritchie emphasizes operator-focused game design: prioritizes revenue generation ($$/week over purchase price), balances casual accessibility with competitive depth, collaborates with code team on extra ball placement, avoids brutal difficulty that repels casual players (confidence: high) — Pinball Profile interview; Don quoted Ritchie: 'he really likes to look at, you know, what the operator would benefit from, a game that would compel players to put more quarters in'; discussed working with coders on extra ball feature depth and challenging competitive players while maintaining casual appeal
- **[market_signal]** Godfather secondary market pricing stabilized at ~$8,500 despite $11,000 MSRP; Jack Guarnieri frames strong machine value retention as justification for premium pricing (confidence: high) — Guarnieri stated: 'Guns and Roses, which is trading at around $8,500 now off at $11,000 purchase price MSRP'; used Daytona GP (early 80s, $3,500) generating $500/week as historical precedent for operator ROI model
- **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball discontinued manufacturing and selling official pinball banners, creating third-party marketplace vacuum on Pinside and other platforms (confidence: high) — Don stated: 'Stern Pinball large company they make pinball banners but they don make pinball banners to sell anymore And so now they unavailable'; noted bootleg reproductions available on Pinside; purchased knockoff Elvira banner for ~$160
- **[design_innovation]** Galactic Tank Force turret tip constructed from stacked red plastic pop bumper caps instead of solid plastic, creating thematic connection to pinball mechanics (confidence: high) — Don recounted operator Ed's design contribution: 'that tip of the turret is made of red plastic pop bumpers... he took some red plastic pop bumper caps and stacked them. And that's actually what that tip of the turret is made of'; criticized American Pinball for not foregrounding this detail in marketing
- **[venue_signal]** District 1 Brewery/Pinball location recently received Venom Pro and hosts official Stern tournament events with ~10 machines on rotation (confidence: high) — Don livestreamed from District 1 Brewery on Friday; described it as 'my local pin bar right where they host tournaments. It's an official Stern location. There's about 10 games there. And they, among everybody else, just got their Venom Pro.'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Don positioned Venom as solid location/operator game but not the anticipated Stern home collector title; community anticipation shifting to unannounced next Stern release (confidence: high) — Don stated: 'I don't think it's, you know, what everybody is like, you know, wishing is going to be underneath their Christmas tree this season. I think we're waiting for the next from Stern, which should be a big... pinball gold, man, not coal. We're getting gold next.'
- **[technology_signal]** Pinball Boost device (Pinball Adventures) introduces two-part powered setup system combining curved metal lever with inflatable air bladder to reduce back strain during machine installation (confidence: high) — Don detailed product: 'curved piece of powder-coated metal that goes underneath the machine when it's vertical... inflatable air bladder underneath... expand and lift up the back... leisurely attach the back legs'; retails for $180; independent purchase for back injury prevention
- **[community_signal]** Don's impromptu meeting with local operator Ed (Ghost in the Shell homebrew creator, Galactic Tank Force designer) sparked planned future collaborations and product development initiatives (confidence: high) — Don described: 'impromptu interview with a local machine operator... had a fundamental involvement in the planning and building and design process for... American Pinball's Galactic Tank Force'; stated: 'i've got some ideas for some collaborations and some products in the future that are going to utilize hopefully this guy's uh many many skills'

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## Transcript

 Are you ready again? Don's Pinball Podcast, episode number 70, is now loading. All seats are boarding. All calls, all rows. Get on in here. I got some information about Mystery Pinball Company. Also, there's a Steve Ritchie interview. Not by me, but by the Pinball Profile. Let's go. Hey, everybody, what's going on? Get on in here. Grab your carpet square. It is time once again to spend some time with your boy, Don. If you're getting ready for a run, Mr. Danny, get your laces tied up there and your new balances. Let's hit the trail. See if we can do a full 11 miles again. What's going on? I'm so happy to be back on the recording episode. And we got some news here finally, man. Been a slow week. I've been sitting there hitting refresh on my podcast servers, just looking for any other information, man. Pinball party, where you at, man? Nobody's out there. Is there another pinball show this Monday? Did not happen. But some good things have come out. Now, let's get caught up first with the first news item that I want to discuss. So this mystery pinball company, right? The guys with the exclamation sign sticker that have been leaving at Expos, been leaving at arcades. I saw it at Electric Bat. Anyway, they went and did a photo dump from their factory. So there's games in production, and I think they're getting closer to doing a release. Now, we don't know much about this company other than I think there's some guy, George, that's emailing things. Some things came across into my Gmail address. It got posted up on NAP Arcade. It's been going everywhere. Bit of a media blitz. Now, we still don't know when we're going to expect to see more from this company. Makes it a little bit mysterious. So if this company goes by any other name other than Mystery Pinball, I think it's a missed opportunity. What do I know, though? Maybe they've got a great name already planned up, like, you know, like Super Awesome Lion Man Pinball or something. I mean, probably something I would go with. Anyway, I know they're not going to go at Don's Pinball Company, but Mystery Pinball, man, wouldn't that be cool? Maybe I can make that mine if they don't end up using it. so one of the most revealing uh photos they had you know i mean they had photos of cabinets that were up on dollies which look like they're pretty professionally made it looks like laminated plywood cut together on a cnc machine i love the design they did some close-up pictures of some mechs they have uh parts and boxes and things they put their logo up but the most telling photo was one of the underside of the play field of what is presumably uh this new game that they're making so we can do some speculation which is fun i love doing the speculation the speculatory aspect of this purely speculating is what we're doing starting at the bottom of the play field from the back of the game it looks like they're gonna have a magnet in there um and you know your boy loves magnets i can't see like you know it's hard to tell if there's mounts for upper playfields and things all we got is the bottom of a play field some inserts are missing though um some of them are kind of big looks like they could be for scoops so there's a potential there could be a subway that's not installed here yet uh potentially but there is a magnet up there as well as some boards, some mechanisms, some vertically oriented coils, probably for, you know, for VUX or ball ejects or some such thing. There's another, looks like another flipper up in the midfield, which when this thing's flipped over, that would be up on the right. So I think we're looking at what could be a three flipper game, two traditional flippers down at the bottom. I don't see anything like, you know, huge and extraordinary on here, but there are a lot of vertically oriented coils. So for, you know, pop-up pins, locking pins, retention pins, VUX, or some such, as well as what looks like another magnet in the mid play field, which has me a little excited because it's right adjacent to what I think is a midfield flipper. So I was playing some kind of ridiculous game on my VP that someone recommended, Roller Games. Y'all played that one. What a just a ridiculous, silly theme. I think it was by Steve Ritchie, actually, too. But the cool thing about it, though, there was a magnet right in front of a mid play field flipper that would grab a ball and hold it and then tell you, you know, don't flip. And then as soon as it held on that magnet, it was like, all right, now go. It was like pinball T-ball, man. It just heated up for you. And then you could just hit right up a ramp or something. So, I mean, that was a redeeming factor of the game. The music was cringe AF. You know, it was not busting as the kids say. But other than that, I love that mechanism that was on there. And here I see a magnet. It looks like it's adjacent to a flipper. Magnets are fun in pinball. So I can't wait to see more. When are we going to see more i would presume expo expo is in a couple of weeks now um yeah we're coming up into the last week of september and so then uh october is when expo is so three to four weeks we may see more of a reveal are they going to hold on to all their cards until expo or are they going to give us like a release date or a teaser or something what's the theme of this game there's really no clues from what i can tell some internet sleuths have found some references to uh potentially Frankenstein, which would be an open source IP, I would imagine. So not a bad place to start, especially for a mystery pinball company, right? Mystery Castle, Godzilla, not Godzilla, Frankenstein, right? Ooh, what if it's young Frankenstein? That would blow my freaking mind. So there was one clue on the photo of their logo. Your friend will raise the roof. What the heck does that mean? Is this going to be a house party kid and play pinball machine based on 90s rap, like I am dreaming about? Is it somebody raising Frankenstein up to the roof to get shocked by electricity? There are magnets in the game and a bunch of what looks like light boards scattered around and a lot of vertically oriented coils. So this is going to be mechanistically interesting. I don't think we're just going to see a simple play field here. You know, no Jetsons can just drop targets. So we'll see. We'll see. Will it be a killer app game or not? Otherwise, you know, who knows? But I will say they have at least one two three four five six six cabinets that they shown uh no back boxes on them they look like empty cabinets there no graphics on them but i hope this means that when we get a reveal there'll actually be games in boxes ready to move out that would be fantastic none of this you know go ahead and order now five thousand dollar non-refundable deposit and then you were planning on getting your games out by the end of the year uh and then it ends up being end of the year 2024 into 2025 you know dragging on hopefully that's not the case hopefully is a cool topper too but we should learn more about these people where they've been located they've been keeping this pretty well under wraps like most games that come out um there's enough speculation enough leaks that we kind of have a good idea of what's coming out so i guess i'll segue into what's coming out from jersey jack pinball right chicago's finest or among them anyway um current makers of the godfather right that game so pinball profiles mr jeff teolis the person that I know I'll finally know that I've made it onto the scene when I appear on that show just posted a interview he did at Pentastic with none other than uh Mr. Black Knight Steve Ritchie himself shower con the voice of Mortal Kombat Steve Ritchie right wild hair even better sunglasses clean shaven keeps it cut and dry but he's wild on top him and Jack Guarnieri JJP himself both appeared in like a 20-minute interview so go check out that episode I listened to it its entirety today was very fantastic and good to listen to. And his interview style is great. And his voice is better than mine. And I'm just a fan of the Jeff Teolister. And maybe it's because he's Canadian and I'm partial to that business. Anyway, so there weren't any huge drops or reveals or anything during it, but it was interesting to hear him talk to Mr. Steve Ritchie kind of about his process. And he did speak a bit about his upcoming game. So it is confirmed Ritchie's game is next coming from JJP. They alluded to that. He also said that he was unrestrained, right? And that was one thing that Jack wanted to do. Mr. Steve Ritchie, like, come over here, and we don't want to pull anything off of your building materials. But it doesn't sound like he's just a nut that wants to drive up cost of, you know, making a game. He says he really likes to look at, you know, what the operator would benefit from, a game that would compel players to put more quarters in, which would benefit the operator. But to do that, you'd have to make a good game that people want to come back and play. Also a game that's not so brutal. You know, he talked about the process of working with the coders and asking them to, you know, place an extra ball feature, like a certain depth into the code. Like as far as he could play where he's like, you know what, I've played this far. I kind of need an extra ball. This is around where we should have it. It was kind of cool hearing that input from him. Also to make a game that's not so brutally difficult that, you know, people don't want to come back and play, but something that's compelling enough that it will bring in people or operations, but also deep enough that the average player can get some satisfaction out of there. And the tournament guys that are pros that just, you know, wizard mode every game, the first time they play it, he said, they're just going to have to, you know, deal for themselves. So I did like that perspective that he was given. We didn't get a release date or anything. And then, you know, they gushed about Godfather for a while and yeah, you know, great movie, I guess, you know, it's been heralded as such. I think it's more to do with the time that the movie came out and the the the depth of the filmmaking and the techniques that were used and how they inspired filmmaking going forward and storytelling not so much about the characters because like looking I mean at today's lens you know I didn't see the godfather in antiquity back in the 70s or 80s when it came out but watching now the main character is really unlikable and and maybe that's by design and that's why it's such a compelling piece of work you know but this guy like has to flee the country you know because he's uh being hunted right and then uh you know he finds some underage girl in some random village in Italy and then like takes her away from his family and then marries her, brings her to the States and then like treats her terribly. Like that's kind of cringe in today's lens, but maybe that's, you know, for the story of that character, maybe we're not supposed to identify with this guy. Maybe we're supposed to, you know, be wary of him. Maybe it's a cautionary tale. Regardless, that scene didn't seem to translate into the pinball machine, but you know, they gushed about it for a while. It's out there. It's available. They commented actually on the price of all things, which, you know, we kind of see as being a little bit over and the market is adjusting. One thing that Jack said that as an operator, he was never concerned about the cost of the machine. He was concerned about how much the machine was bringing in, you know, referencing a like Daytona GP or some racing game that was $3,500 in the 80s or some such and that it was bringing in $500 a week. And so it didn't matter what the cost of the machine was because it was making it back. And he was saying, you know, these games do hold their value, even Guns and Roses, which is trading at around $8,500 now off at $11,000 purchase price MSRP. So I don't know. Maybe if you made, you know, four grand in operations and then were able to get $8,500 for it, you'd get it back, but made all. But check out the pinball profiles there. Jeff Teolis, great episode. Always fun to spend some time with the Richie man, right? Shao Kahn himself, man. I'm such a fan. So are we going to see a new game revealed at Expo from JJP? I still think that is possible. You know, given that the Godfather CEs are in production, How many more months are they going to have to build those? And then they'll need to put another game on the line. Are they coming up soon to the 1,000 units? Are they somewhere in the middle? Who really knows? Otherwise, you know, if you want yourself some Chrome accoutrement for the legs, you can go ahead and buy those. Check your distributor. They're selling out the limited edition accessory package with the topper and whatnot. All right, so I want to take a moment to congratulate some of the winners from last week's live stream on Friday. I've been doing Friday night live streams, and I like to give stuff away. I give out two t-shirts and a sticker pack to three different people. You know, we were playing like random numbers, like guess the number that I drew on the paper, and, you know, we took the winners, and they're all getting their stuff. Otherwise, some of the Patreon supporters that have asked for the new stickers, they went out in the mail today, so be sure to grab those. Anybody else, if you still want to order, just at me, just email me. Let me know where you're at, where you want it sent. We'll work out some pricing details or whatever. No big deal. But, you know, thanks. So your shirts are in the mail everybody that won on Friday So Friday night I did a live stream from location I was at District 1 Pinball District 1 Brewery It my local pin bar right where they host tournaments. It's an official Stern location. There's about 10 games there. And they, among everybody else, just got their Venom Pro. So, you know, I went against my word that I wanted to try to avoid it until I got my own. And I took the wife down there to go play Venom. So we had a great time playing Venom down there. Someone was blowing it up and already getting, you know, scores in the the mid-billion, right, you know, 500 million or so. I was able to log in, and that was my first time playing the game, actually, with Insider Connected and logged in and leveling up. And I gotta say, like, playing the Pro again, you know, with my wife there and everybody else, it's a fun game. I still think the premium is the way to go, especially because that horseshoe shot is so big and empty. But the game is fun to play. When you do choose your character, though, you're not changing the layout on the Pro, you're changing the rules, as they say. So, you know, that is what it is. I think it's still a fun shooting game. I don't think it's, you know, what everybody is like, you know, wishing is going to be underneath their Christmas tree this season. I think we're waiting for the next from Stern, which should be a big, you know, a big lump of, of juicy, delicious pinball gold, man, not coal. We're getting gold next gold is coming. So, um, you know, but playing venom was fun. It was fun to be there on that live stream too. And just walk around, talk to everybody. After we did the giveaways, the craziest thing happened. It turned into an impromptu interview with a local machine operator who as it turns out had a fundamental involvement in the planning and building and design process for none other than American Pinball's Galactic Tank Force. So I got to talk to him a bit about like the production process. Apparently the prototype for the game spent quite a bit of time in this guy's basement about 30 minutes from where I live, which is kind of blowing my wig back that like GTF was sitting there in a basement somewhere being worked on and thought up. One thing he revealed to me, and I wish American Pinball would have led with this. So the tank version of the game has that turret that's up on the top, right? So when you fold the game up, it looks like a tank. Well, the turret itself has some red plastic at the tip, you know, to symbolize, you know, the cannon fire or something. Well, that tip of that cannon is built out of stacked plastic tops from pinball pop bumpers. And, you know, the story was when he first got to the game, there was some sort of just red light flashy plastic on it. And he was like, no, no, wait, I think we could do something better. And, you know, he's got some design skills and he took some red plastic pop bumper caps and stacked them. And that's actually what that tip of the turret is made of. That's really cool. That turret has pinball parts in it. It's pinball themed. It's a pin tank. Okay. I don't know. I still to this day don't know why American pinball didn't lead with here's a reveal. Here's a story of the game. Here's who the characters are. here's what you're trying to accomplish. And oh, by the way, the tank that we have that we're charging, you know, $11,000, $12,000 for has a turret made out of pinball pop bumpers. So at least like that kind of makes some sense. That's pretty cool. I would have wished that I wasn't today years old when I learned that. So that was fun. Had a great talk with Ed there. And I'm hoping for some more collaborations in the future. Also, this is the guy that made the Ghost in the Shell homebrew and brought to Expo. Like I played his game. And I just met the dude randomly while hanging out in the local arcade blowing my mind that was his venom we were playing it turned out so i made some good connections and i've got some ideas for some collaborations and some products in the future that are going to utilize hopefully this guy's uh many many skills we're going to delve deep into that well of skills that this guy has um so you know my thoughts on venom playing it again i love the art on the pro i think if you have this game on location in your home that art's going to shine i don't like the plastic apron i really wish it had the metal one i'd have to upgrade that myself. I don't know if I could live with a plastic apron. I don't know. I want the features, but then I don't think I would own the pro venom unless I had an arcade. If you have an arcade, this is a great location. If you know, that's your price point, you're going to get a game. That's fun to play. Um, go beat. No, go beat grundle or whoever. Um, it shoots fine. It's fun. I do like the, uh, the, the, the carnage on a matchbox car mech. Um, you know, it's fun for what it is. And I can't wait to explore the code more code up. They just dropped a 0.91 is where they're at and it looks like it didn't add any gameplay features or gameplay modes but with a lot of bug fixes and bug fixes i think is what emily is fearing because she just blew that game up like five six million points or something with some exploit that she found and that may have just gotten destroyed we'll have to hear back from her but i hope it hangs around long enough till i get the game so i can at least put a gc up there that's respectable uh when i get the premium so that should be coming soon from production updates what we know is the le's will be run next um going into this week and next week, I would assume. I kind of think when we see the Friday live from the new Stern factory, we're going to see the LEs finally on the line and made, which is great because as soon as those are done, that's when I get my premium. They're supposed to be run the first week of October, which means like by the end of the week or the second week of October, I may be unboxing another game down here and I need to make some room. And luckily Spooky came through giving me my replacement parts. I needed to make Halloween pristine for the new buyer. So I'm excited about that. We'll switch out. We'll still have space down here. We won't be overrun with pinball machines down here just yet. What else do I have for you? Oh, I just did an unboxing video as a Facebook Live. That's on the Facebook page right now. I got a lot of mail today, about six different boxes. And I unboxed a bunch of stuff. Got some stuff from Sticker Mule. We got some new coasters. If you'd like one, email me. I'll hook you up. It's fun to have a Don's Pinball Podcast drink coaster on your coffee table. I think everybody should have one. And I think I have one for everybody. So email me if you'd like to get one. We'll work out some details. I also got a banner. Let me talk about that for a second. So there's been some controversy in the industry here. You know, basically it boils down to people like pinball banners for their game rooms. Stern Pinball large company they make pinball banners but they don make pinball banners to sell anymore And so now they unavailable So some entrepreneurial people have taken it upon themselves to get some art together and print up their own banners and offer them for sale online. These have been on Pinside forever. Like as long as I've been in pinball, you've been able to go up there and get banners of dubious quality, but you know, they're available. I remember when I went on Pinside, I bought an Elvira House of Horrors banner. I was so excited. I thought maybe this is one of the original Stern ones that you know was was was hard to get I think I paid something stupid like 160 dollars or something I talked the guy down to and I got it and it's obviously a reproduction made by somebody else it's a bootleg uh that I bought they're still available on pin side right now um you know so it's not the same quite the same size the stitching is only single um it's still a serviceable enough banner um you know I would have bought one from stern had they been available um I'm hoping that's something that they revisit in the future. But for right now, if you want to get these banners, like the only place to get them is through, you know, third hand people who are putting art together and printing banners and exchanging them for money online as adults do. So, you know, some people think that that is, you know, intellectual property infringement and must be stopped. And my take on it is that, you know, if you are the IP holder and you want to take that on yourself, I think that you're right. I think if you're working with the IP holder and you want to protect your relationship and you think it's worthwhile, have at it. Everybody else, you know, thank you for your opinion, but you know, you're really kind of white knighting it is my take on it. Now, you know, don't, don't at me. You know, I get what you're saying. Your, your opinion's not wrong. It's valid, but you know, I don't see this as any different as when I go down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina or Kissimmee, Florida, and there's a t-shirt shop, you know, five t-shirts for 20 bucks and it's every licensed character you want. Some of them with marijuana leaves on them. You know, that's just, it's a known thing that happens. You know, adults exchange money for things that adults want. And if that's what it is. So I don't really have a comment on that per se, but a Venom banner showed up. So I'm going to, if I keep it, I'm going to pay for it. If not, I will give the thing away to a winner or somebody that wants it. I will say that I do like the art on this. I think it's better than the official Stern one. and that may be due to limitations that are placed by a license holder and that might be why some jimmies are rustled. That's just my take on it. Otherwise, I bought a product from Pinball Adventures, makers of the Punny Factory, makers of Elements, future makers of First Class, a game that I can't wait to get my hands on. It's about commercial aviation. I hope it lives up to everything that I think it should be because I'm a big fan of that space. Anyway, I bought the Pinball Boost and I'm going to review the thing once I get a chance to use it. But basically, this is a device that is meant to make it much easier to take your game from the vertical shipping position to the four legs on the floor lifted up position without totally wrecking your back and needing to get a spinal fusion or a laminectomy or discectomy with graft or something, right? So it's a two-part system, which basically has a curved piece of powder-coated metal that goes underneath the machine when it's vertical. You put the front legs on, and then you use this quarter-rounded cut metal to rock your machine forward onto the front legs in an easy, controlled manner. Once it's there, it's lifted up off the floor by about 8 to 10 inches, and you're able to put this inflatable air bladder underneath it, turn on the fan, and it'll expand and lift up the back of your game high enough that you can then just leisurely attach the back legs, deflate the bladder, and then your machine is set up. So if this works the way that I'm thinking, I'm going to use this every single time I go and stand a game up. Now, I'm not receiving compensation from Andrew McBain or from Pinball Adventures. You know, I talked to this guy. I independently went. I knew about this device. And after setting up and tearing down Lebowski a few times, I'm really thinking there's got to be a better way. there must be a better way to do this without like needing to have my back worked on right my muscles were a little bit sore after you know manhandling the thing myself um so i'm going to try this thing out i'm hoping to do a video about it i'll put it up on the youtube as a review and you guys can see what you think it retails for 180 dollars uh us he shipped the thing to me i i'm going to set it up and try it i'm really excited about it um other things i unboxed some some new camera arms I got from Amazon. And I opened up my Big Lebowski sculpt. Thanks again to Dutch Pinball for sending that to me. I love you guys. I want to come and visit. I've been invited to the Netherlands to swing by next time I'm there. So I think that'll happen probably around the time that we get the reveal of the topper for the Big Lebowski that Lior is working on. I don't know what timeline that's going to be. Hopefully they give me a heads up, but I'd love to come out there for the review. I think that would be fan phenomenal. Fantastic. Plus, I dig the Netherlands anyway man it's a cool place with a cool vibe and the big cities you could take a bicycle around every anywhere public transportation is everywhere and fantastic the food rules the language is hard for me to perceive even though it's supposed to be one of the easiest languages for a native English speaker to learn but I haven't cracked the code yet but I do love being in the Netherlands love the Dutch people I always have a good time when I go out there what else I don't know if I have anything else then for you for episode number 70 thank you for joining me here along the way. Go ahead and email me at donspinballpodcast at gmail.com. Go to the Facebook page and click a follow. I'm way up over 500 followers. I love each and every one of you. I'm pushing for a thousand. That's my next stretch goal. You know, my impossible stretch goal was going to be a hundred episodes of Don's Pinball Podcast, and I think we're going to get there. We're 30 away. We might even get there this year. Give me an air horn. I want an air horn for that. So thanks everybody for joining me once again. Let's hit that X-Tro music. Drop me an email, drop me a like, jump on the Facebook if you might. Give me some stars if you're feeling large. I'm not going to beg because I'm not a Drake. So there you go. A little bit of wrap for you at the end there. Have fun, everybody. I hope you love the episode. I'm going to keep bringing the heat. Keep following the Facebook page because I drop in for loves randomly, baby. That's what we do. That's what we do here at Don's Pinball Podcast. Order some crap, email me, I'll send it to your house. Later.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 35dd2df4-60d6-4960-ae56-a1008305d1e2*