# Episode 1123: "Why Is There No Pinball Hype Before Launch?"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-08-13  
**Duration:** 24m 29s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-1123-why-136388786

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## Analysis

Kaneda critiques the pinball industry's marketing and hype strategies, arguing that manufacturers fail to build anticipation before launches and that this arrogance is killing community enthusiasm. He contrasts Stern's high-pressure, deadline-driven model with smaller manufacturers like Spooky Pinball, calls out Barrels of Fun's community management and dismisses rumors about upcoming Stern games (Transformers, Fallout). He also discusses pricing pressures, LE value erosion, and the disconnect between pinball's strategy and how other entertainment industries build hype.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] American Pinball is defunct and has let all trademarks expire, including the company name and all game IPs — _Kaneda states directly that American Pinball 'did not even renew the trademark around their name' and 'let all their trademarks go for all their games, for the company name' and 'stick a fork in this company.'_
- [HIGH] Stern is under pressure to sell many games per year, which compromises code quality and design polish — _Kaneda extensively discusses how Stern's size and need to produce many games yearly forces them to allocate resources poorly, citing X-Men as example of rushed code with inferior coders assigned._
- [MEDIUM] Barrels of Fun cannot move units and is losing to Jersey Jack Pinball's Harry Potter sales significantly — _Kaneda states 'you can't move a thousand units of your game after four months and they've sold thousands of Harry Potters in the first four weeks' and references Dune Pinball sales struggle._
- [HIGH] Stern shot the next game (Star Wars) in the week of August 13 without confirming theme or release date — _Kaneda says 'So here we are, August 13th, Stern shooting its newest game this week. I have no idea when it's coming out.'_
- [MEDIUM] Stern recently hired a new CMO but hasn't shown any new marketing moves yet — _Kaneda asks 'Stern hired a new CMO. Have you seen a single move? Have you seen a single new thing Stern has done?'_
- [MEDIUM] King Kong is failing to sell and prices are dropping weekly to move inventory — _Kaneda says 'A guy can sell a King Kong new in box now Every day he like lowers the price or every week Now it's 10,400 new in a box' and calls it 'the next Avengers' (a flop)._
- [MEDIUM] Spooky Pinball has already sold 887 units in Canada of their upcoming game — _Kaneda states 'They've already sold 887 of them to Canada' regarding the upcoming Spooky game, speculating it may be Beetlejuice or Goonies._
- [LOW] Rumors suggest Transformers and Fallout are fake Stern games due to Brian Savage's relationships at Barrels of Fun — _Kaneda speculates that Transformers and Fallout rumors are likely false because 'Brian Savage has the Transformers relationship' and is at Barrels of Fun, implying Stern wouldn't get that IP._

### Notable Quotes

> "Why did his game ever get rushed out? Why did his game have to have code that bad? Because the better resources, the better coders were put on other people's projects."
> — **Kaneda**, early in episode
> _Critiques Stern's resource allocation and how it affects designer Jack Danger's game quality._

> "David, you got to take your company back... Who is the face of barrels of fun? Who is out there making Facebook lives? Who's out there taking a tour of the factory on a weekly basis, getting people excited about your company?"
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Direct call-out to David Van Ness/Barrels of Fun leadership about community management and brand representation._

> "For a $7,000 to $15,000 pinball machine, everybody that worked on it remains absolutely quiet until they want your money on the day it's revealed. That is stupid. That is idiocracy. That is arrogance."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Core thesis: pinball manufacturers ignore proven hype strategies used by film and game industries._

> "Stern Pinball does not know how to hype. They don't know what hype is. The only game you can't sleep on is obviously the spooky game."
> — **Kaneda**, late-episode
> _Contrasts Stern's marketing failure with Spooky's transparency and consistency._

> "They won't confirm the theme. John Borg's not out there hyping it. Welcome to the world of pinball. It doesn't work anymore."
> — **Kaneda**, late-episode
> _Points to designer John Borg's silence and absence from pre-launch hype as symptomatic of industry dysfunction._

> "King Kong... it's the next Avengers. Nobody cares. This game is never going to click for people."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Dismisses King Kong's prospects and draws parallel to Marvel's Avengers flop._

> "When you hit the start button on Jurassic Park, what do you hear? You hear that theme song that gives you butterflies... when you hit start on King Kong you feel nothing."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Key design observation: the moment of game start is crucial to player immersion and King Kong fails at this._

> "Every single day I have to put my time in or they turn off my email... the more pressure we have to grow as a company, the more the creativity dies."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Personal reflection on deadline pressure and its erosive effect on culture and creativity._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer criticized for high-pressure model, poor marketing, deadline-driven culture, and recent CMO hire. Upcoming Star Wars game discussed extensively. |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Boutique manufacturer (also known as Deep Root Pinball) criticized for poor Facebook marketing, negative messaging about Jersey Jack, and inability to move Dune Pinball units. Owned by David Van Ness. |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Small manufacturer praised as model for transparency, community engagement, consistent release schedule (Nov/Dec), and authentic company culture. Has sold 887 units in Canada of upcoming game. |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Well-funded manufacturer with strong recent sales (Harry Potter thousands sold in first 4 weeks). Criticized for lack of accountability due to Abbott family financing. Godfather discussed as mixed commercial result. |
| American Pinball | company | Defunct manufacturer. Did not renew trademarks for company name or game IPs (Cuphead, others). Described as finally 'done.' |
| Jack Danger | person | Stern Pinball designer whose game (X-Men) received poor code quality due to resource allocation issues. Described as visibly unhappy during development, once positive personality now affected by workplace pressure. |
| John Borg | person | Stern designer of upcoming game (implied to be Star Wars). Criticized for not hyping or promoting his own game pre-launch, maintaining silence despite knowing release is imminent. |
| David Van Ness | person | Owner/leader of Barrels of Fun Pinball. Directly addressed by Kaneda to take back control of company branding and address community management failures by hired staff. |
| Brian Savage | person | Former head of G.I. Joe and Transformer fan bases at Hasbro. Now at Barrels of Fun. Referenced as holder of Transformers IP relationships, implying Stern wouldn't have access to G1 Transformers IP for rumored game. |
| George Gomez | person | Stern Pinball figure who speaks publicly and generates positive community response. Cited as example of transparency working well. |
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. Self-described as Canadian pinball content creator with 660 Patreon subscribers. Makes business/industry commentary and conducts podcast. |
| Rachel | person | Owner of Electric Bat Arcade in Phoenix. Recently featured positively in local newspaper. Noted for resilience in community. |
| Jason Knapp | person | Pinball community figure who speculated that upcoming Star Wars game might focus entirely on Battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes Back. |
| Kerry Hardy | person | Pinball content creator with successful Patreon paywall (second only to Kaneda's per host). Works hard and creates video content. |
| Waysan | person | Stern Pinball coder referenced as having produced substandard recent work. Kaneda questions quality of 'Waysan game' recently. |
| Star Wars | game | Upcoming Stern Pinball machine shot week of August 13. Theme not officially confirmed. Rumored to be original trilogy-based (possibly Hoth-focused per Jason Knapp). Expected to launch within weeks. No release date announced. |
| Dune Pinball | game | Barrels of Fun game released recently. Criticized for poor sales momentum (can't move 1,000 units after 4 months), Timothy Chalamet IP not resonating with core audience, software released in early/beta state. |
| King Kong Pinball | game | Recent Stern release described as failing to sell. Prices dropping weekly (now at $10,400 NIB). Lacks strong theme moment at start. Compared unfavorably to Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Jaws. Called 'the next Avengers' (flop). |
| Harry Potter Pinball | game | Jersey Jack Pinball recent hit. Sold thousands of units in first 4 weeks. Success contrasted with Barrels of Fun's Dune struggles. |
| Godfather Pinball | game | Jersey Jack game that Kaneda calls a 'bad decision.' Likely profitable for JJP, but dealers/distributors hold inventory they struggle to move, possibly liquidating via black market. |
| Jaws 50th Pinball | game | Recent Stern release. Kaneda references it as game Stern wants players to buy now rather than wait for Star Wars, keeping Star Wars announcement secret to protect Jaws inventory. |
| Guns N' Roses Pinball | game | Game cited by Kaneda as example of strong theme/music integration at start—spotlight spotlight grabs player immediately upon starting. |
| Batman Pinball | game | Game cited as example of strong start moment that immediately hooks player into theme. |
| Jurassic Park Pinball | game | Game cited as example of strong theme resonance and sales success, contrasted favorably with King Kong's failure. |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Manufacturer joked as releasing 'one game every 12 years.' Produces focused, single-game-per-year model like other boutique makers (contradicts 12-year joke). |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Marketing and hype strategy failure in pinball industry, Stern Pinball's business model and cultural pressures, Barrels of Fun's community management and brand messaging missteps, American Pinball's decline and apparent closure, Upcoming Star Wars Pinball machine speculation and release strategy
- **Secondary:** Game design philosophy: importance of theme immersion at start moment, Secondary market value erosion for premium/Pro tier machines, Limited Edition (LE) value proposition and differentiation

### Sentiment

**Negative** (-0.72) — Kaneda is highly critical of industry marketing practices, manufacturer decision-making, and community management. Critical of Barrels of Fun specifically. Frustrated with deadline pressure and creativity erosion. Expresses lost enthusiasm for collecting due to value depreciation. However, expresses genuine admiration for Spooky Pinball's approach and some nostalgia for community. Tone is passionate, pointed, but not entirely hostile—more exasperated professional critique mixed with industry gossip and self-promotion.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** American Pinball appears to be defunct—company and all game trademarks have expired and not been renewed (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'American Pinball, by the way, is done... They did not even renew the trademark around their name... They've let all their trademarks go for all their games, for the company name. I think we can probably finally stick a fork in this company.'
- **[industry_signal]** Pinball manufacturer base facing survival pressure; boutique makers (Spooky, Barrels, JJP) operating lean, focused model vs. Stern's high-volume, high-pressure approach (confidence: high) — Kaneda contrasts company models extensively: Stern's pressure vs. single-game-per-year boutique focus. Mentions Stern tried to find buyer 'maybe a few years ago.'
- **[product_concern]** Stern X-Men shipped with substandard code quality due to resource allocation issues; junior/mid-tier coders assigned instead of best resources (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'code wasn't there and there were some issues with the hardware... because the better resources, the better coders were put on other people's projects. That speaks of a political issue.'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Kaneda expresses loss of personal enthusiasm for collecting due to secondary market depreciation and poor hype strategy; broader community impact unclear (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'I don't know how many of you out there can continue to buy plus games that are all going to lose $3,000 in value. You know, it just doesn't excite me anymore... I'd rather, I don't know, play around on Coinbase with some crypto.'
- **[announcement]** Stern Pinball recently hired a new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Stern hired a new CMO. Have you seen a single move? Have you seen a single new thing Stern has done? Maybe this is going to be the game they do it on.'
- **[market_signal]** King Kong Pinball failing to sell; new in box (NIB) prices dropping weekly from higher price to ~$10,400. Game is not resonating with market. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'A guy can sell a King Kong new in box now Every day he like lowers the price or every week Now it's 10,400 new in a box' and 'King Kong... it's the next Avengers. Nobody cares. This game is never going to click.'
- **[market_signal]** Dune Pinball (Barrels of Fun) unable to move 1,000 units after 4 months; Harry Potter (Jersey Jack) sold thousands in first 4 weeks (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'you can't move a thousand units of your game after four months and they've sold thousands of Harry Potters in the first four weeks.'
- **[industry_signal]** Barrels of Fun hired external community/social media manager who is creating negative brand impression via trolling/snarky messaging about competitors (Jersey Jack) (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Barrels of Fun puts up a Facebook post... they start out the Facebook post saying we don make a box of lights or a slot machine... shots fired... David's like hiring some guy who's in the pinball community to run his Facebook page.'
- **[design_philosophy]** Game designer philosophy: the moment of start (button press) is critical to player immersion; strong theme music/moment hooks player, weak start fails to transport player (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'When you hit the start button on Jurassic Park, what do you hear? You hear that theme song that gives you butterflies... when you hit start on King Kong you feel nothing there is nothing you hear there is nothing you feel.'
- **[content_signal]** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast has 660 Patreon subscribers; describes his paywall as most successful in pinball space (tied with Kerry Hardy's second) (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Behind my paywall, the only truly successful paywall next to, I think second to mine would be Kerry Hardy's... I thank each and every one of you.'
- **[product_strategy]** Stern's Limited Edition (LE) machines lack exclusive accessories/differentiation from Premium and Pro tiers; no exclusive topper or significant visual differences (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Stern Pinball they're reluctant to do this but that LE needs an exclusive LE topper... Stern LEs are going to be 13.5, 13.7 and not have any exclusive accessories really? It doesn't work... Look at what Jersey Jack gives you on the CE.'

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## Transcript

Didn't need no help for a hell of a time It's a long way home It's a long way home Welcome everybody to Canadian Pinball Podcast I want to ask each and every one of you a question. What kind of pinball company would you want? Would you want a humongous pinball company like Stern, where you've got hundreds of employees, a ginormous operation to keep going every single week? Would you want a company where the pressure to sell so many games every launch, or else all of this ginormousness doesn't make any sense? Or would you want a company where you could focus all of your energies, all of your efforts? The company feels like a family and everyone's pushing the same idea in the same direction. Which would you want to be? I mean, when you really think about it, I was like, man, I kind of feel bad for what Stern Pinball has to do now with the next game. I know personally the company's been trying to find a buyer. They were trying to find a buyer maybe a few years ago. Maybe they're not doing that anymore. But if you think about looking at what the job has done to Jack Danger, I mean, it's obvious what the job did to Jack Danger. He was one of the most positive, happy-go-lucky, a man who loves nothing more than pinball. And I remember walking into that factory and it didn't look like he was having fun. And I get it was in the middle of like the X-Men beatdown he was taking from people because the code wasn't there and there were some issues with the hardware. But still, why? Why did his game ever get rushed out? Why did his game have to have code that bad? Because the better resources, the better coders were put on other people's projects. That speaks of a political issue. I go through the same thing in my company. We have really good creatives. We have some mediocre creatives. And we have some junior creatives that are just learning. And you could give us the best like assignment ever. And you might get the A team that's going to crush it. or you could get like the interns working on it because everybody else is busy. And when you put Weissan on it as lead coder, when was the last time you played a Weissan game? That was absolutely incredible. Yeah, keep thinking. And so Stern Pinball is under so much pressure. Spooky Pinball, they can all rally around just one game a year. And look, Spooky Pinball is really small. Jersey Jack Pinball, all the money in the world, all the resources in the world. They still focus it all on one game a year. Barrels of Fun, one game a year. Dutch Pinball, one game every 12 years. Haggis Pinball, one lie every four years. American Pinball, by the way, is done. I don't know if you've seen this, but they did not even renew the trademark around their name, American Pinball. I think we can probably finally stick a fork in this company. They've let all their trademarks go for all their games, for the company name. I don't think it's ever going to come back. Like, I don't think Cuphead's ever happening. Chicago Gaming Company, I don't even know what they focus their efforts on. They don't even, you know, it's not even like it's one game every two and a half years if you're lucky. So, you know, here we are on the precipice of the next Stern game, right? The Star Wars game. There's one in Costco down the block from me. Haven't even taken Brenda's Costco card to go play it because I don't really care. But the next game is going to have a lot of pressure. Now, we know there's now been, Carrie said, the next six games are not what everybody thinks. I don't even care if the rumors are right or wrong. If I were to look at the games that are happening that were rumored, Transformers and Fallout, I think, are fake. The two reasons I think they're fake is Brian Savage has the Transformers relationship. He is over at Dutch. No, not Dutch. Sorry. He's over at Barrels of Fun Pinball. You got to look up Brian Savage, people. He was like the head of the G.I. Joe and Transformer fan bases and has that relationship with Hasbro all those years. So I kind of feel like even though Stern did a Transformers game, if G1 was going to come out, I would expect it to be with Brian and the relationships he's forged over the years. Why don't we have G.I. Joe? Why did Barrels of Fun make Dune over G.I. Joe? If they had made G.I. Joe based on the 80s cartoon, they would have sold all thousand right away. and Dune, a Timothy Chamolet movie. Nobody, man, nobody in this demo is like clamoring for this stuff. You know, I saw a Facebook post yesterday by Barrels of Fun. I'm gonna call them out on this because, you know, marketing matters and you gotta really, really be on top of what you're saying as a company. And I said it on my last show that the companies that make you feel good, that are transparent, that is what you're going to remember. Those are the companies you're going to want to be a part of. It's the companies you're going to want to support. So Barrels of Fun puts up a Facebook post to sort of highlight Dune Pinball All right I expect that of them but they start out the Facebook post saying we don make a box of lights or a slot machine Okay, so wow, shots fired. The first sentence of that Facebook post is making fun of Jersey Jack Pinball indictments from yesteryears. Oh, wow. You're going to make fun of a game that is the hottest selling game in pinball right now to promote your game, which can't move units. Who posted that? I know who posted it. David's like hiring some guy who's in the pinball community to run his Facebook page. And I just want to say this right now. I haven't really been in that much communication with David. I know I signed an NDA, but man, like the two things he told me, I'll never talk about them. And that's that. But I didn't sign any future NDAs. And I'm just going to call it like I see it. David, you got to take your company back. And by that, I mean, you got to really look in the mirror and ask yourself, how am I presenting my company to the pinball community? Who is the face of barrels of fun? I mean that. Who is the face of your company? Who is out there making Facebook lives? Who's out there taking a tour of the factory on a weekly basis, getting people excited about your company? Who in your company is in charge, connecting to the community and making them feel good about your company first? Not your products, but the company. You have someone out there representing barrels of fun, trolling Jersey Jack Pinball, who has the hottest game in pinball right now. and you can't move a thousand units of your game after four months and they've sold thousands of Harry Potters in the first four weeks. You know, I mean, look, everyone needs to just follow what Spooky does when it comes to community management. I mean it, just follow their pattern. They're out there, they're authentic, they're real, they own up when they make mistakes, but they're part of the community. Stern Pinball is so big, so I don't expect them to do that as much. And that's the thing, right? But when George Gomez talks, it's great. And people respond. And the response is always positive. You know, I wish there was more transparency from the designers over at Stern, right? When do you hear from them? Where's John Bork? His game is next. Why isn't he be like, I can't wait for you to see my next game. Why isn't he hyping what we know is around the corner? It's his game. And you know, this hobby, I really mean this. It's arrogant. It's elitist. We know when a movie is coming out. We know when a freaking $20 movie is coming out and the people that worked on it, what do they do before that $20 movie is in a theater? They do a circuit around the world and they get everybody excited about it before it even comes out. And yet for a $7,000 to $15,000 pinball machine, everybody that worked on it remains absolutely quiet until they want your money on the day it's revealed. That is stupid. That is idiocracy. That is arrogance. That if we just reveal a game like this, it's going to sell. And here's what they could do. This is why they are so bad at this. why don't they when you know it's star wars you know it's coming out in a few weeks why didn't they at the beginning of august travel around with the game make all of the major pinball content creators sign an nda and get to play the game you know don't take pictures they'll be there they'll invite us to a location to play the game for hours have no photography and then what would you get you would get weeks of all of us hyping this game if it's great right you'd only want to do it if you know you had something great but still you would still get you know all the happy-go-lucky shills out there which is like 90 of pinball content these days but you would at least ignite those guys to get you excited about the game the other thing they don't do like unlike a movie unlike a video game is they don't even give you a release date you don't even know when this game is coming out. That is arrogance. That is elitist attitude. We're so good. We're not going to help you as a buyer know when you can expect our next product. So you don't know because all we care about is that you buy Jaws 50th right now. And if you buy Jaws 50th right now, we might drop Star Wars on your butt in two weeks and we need to sell the existing inventory. So we're going to keep you in the dark on everything that's happening. I hate it. I hate it. This is why I like spooky. I know every November, December, that's when they're going to reveal their game. There's no shenanigans. There's no this and or that. But again, as an overall hobby, as an overall community, as all these manufacturers do their marketing, it's always still piss poor. It's absolutely piss poor. They don't know what hype is. They don't know how to do it right. And look, I'll just say this. When you get the theme right and you execute it right, yeah, you might not need to do much marketing. You might not need to do much hype. Harry Potter doesn't need much hype. Star Wars does not need that much hype. It has decades of a fan base that is in the hundreds of millions, if not billions of fans around the world. Yeah, it's going to work out. Dune Pinball, Timothy Chamolet, you need to hype that thing. You also need to release it when it's more ready. You can't release a pretty empty software beta version of a game like that. They got lucky even that King Kong was a stinker You know I looking at this King Kong A guy can sell a King Kong new in box now Every day he like lowers the price or every week Now it's 10,400 new in a box. And I love all these Kong apologists being like, the game's great. The code's just early. Gang, it's the next Avengers. Nobody cares. This game is never going to click for people. It's just never going to happen. It's never going to click the way that Jaws did. Godzilla did. And the reason why it's never going to click the way Jurassic Park did, I'm going to tell you right now, it's real simple. One thing. When you hit the start button on Jurassic Park, what do you hear? You hear that theme song that gives you butterflies. when you hit start on Star Wars the same thing is going to happen when you hit start on Godzilla that theme song the way the game begins it does the same thing when you hit start on King Kong you feel nothing there is nothing you hear there is nothing you feel that transports you to that place you need to be instantly in a pinball machine when you hit start on Batman man, it has you right away. When I hit start on Guns N' Roses and that spotlight's going, it grabs you right away. You know, when you hit start on Dune, what is the feeling like? And I mean this. If I worked at a pinball company, I would think the moment of start is so important on every single game. I don't care what the game is. When that person walks up and hits start, that moment should be magical and hey you should rotate a few different moments that happen when you hit start batman does it when you've got to make so many games and back to my initial point when these companies have to make so many games a year stern pinball it's hard for them it's hard for them to stand over one thing and as a company and as a community and as a family really massage that game perfectly before they bring it to market. It feels like Stern's entire thing is always about meeting deadlines. And I have to say this, the last few years of my life have felt like this tremendous pressure to be creative and deliver something magical. So many deadlines, every single day I have to put my time in or they turn off my email. Yeah, it's terrible. And so the more pressure we have to grow as a company, the more the creativity dies, the more the enthusiasm leaves the building, the more the culture of the company just erodes. And I hate that feeling. Can you imagine being over at a company where that's not the issue? Do you think Spooky Pinball is feeling that pressure? No, they're just excited for everybody to see the next game. You know, they've already sold 887 of them to Canada. So sorry, you guys, you're going to get locked out. I'm going to corner the market on it. Is it Beetlejuice? Is it Goonies? But Stern's feeling the pressure. I'll tell you this. Jersey Jack's not feeling any pressure. And maybe that's worked against them. And I think it has. But I think they're waking up. I do. I think for the longest time, because the Abbott's family has been financing this company, I think a lot of these guys acted like they were taking a paycheck. and there was no personal accountability for what they were putting into the marketplace. And I mean, like Jack on a whim wants to make Godfather bad decision, not a great decision. You know, in the end, though, this is crazy. In the end, that might have still made them money. The people who lost all the money, probably not JJP. It wasn't a huge hit, but I doubt they lost money on Godfather. who lost money on Godfather were all the people that bought the CEs and all the dealers and distros who are sitting on the inventory because JJP got paid. And people, there's a margin on these things, right? So they're making a lot more in all those CEs. And I think they did sell all thousand CE Godfathers. There's probably a lot of dealers and distros that are just ashamed to say they even have it for sale because they don't even know what to list it at. They've got to list it on the black market and take cash and get it out the back door. So here we are, August 13th, Stern shooting its newest game this week. I have no idea when it's coming out. Neither do you. And so here's the other reason why they're silly. So maybe you might want to buy it, but maybe you also might want to buy something else for yourself. Maybe a new TV. I just spent on Brenda's birthday, basically the price of a pinball machine on all these other things. I mean, it adds up pretty quickly. 2,000 here. Pilates classes are like 1,200 bucks. Who knew? Who knew? And so like, here we go. All this money going out the door in other areas. I don't know. I don't know if I should wait. I don't even know what it is. They won't confirm the theme. John Borg's not out there hyping it. Welcome to the world of pinball. It doesn't work anymore. It really doesn't work anymore. And what's shocking to me, Stern hired a new CMO. Have you seen a single move? Have you seen a single new thing Stern has done? Maybe this is going to be the game they do it on. Now, here's the thing that I think is just going to be comical. They're about to raise prices. Demand is not there at the existing price. It's not. Even the big themes, they're all losing value or sliding back down. And maybe only the LEs will hold. Everything else won't. And yet now we're going to get premiums are going to be over for an unlimited run premium This is what killed a lot of the enthusiasm in the hobby It killed it for me I don know how many of you out there can continue to buy plus games that are all going to lose $3,000 in value. You know, it just doesn't excite me anymore. I'd rather, I don't know, play around on Coinbase with some crypto. I'd rather do other stuff with that money. I'd rather, you know, I'd have regular investments in life. But the whole concept of it just feels so weird to me. And here's what I love about all of it, everybody. If you just follow my advice and you wait for all these games to come out, the only game you can't sleep on is obviously the spooky game. Star Wars LE yeah you might not want to sleep on that LE but the way Stern's been making their games lately they really haven't made the LEs special enough it's not even about the limited number anymore they just don't look much better than the premium and the pro and that's another thing is I think Stern Pinball they're reluctant to do this but that LE needs an exclusive LE topper That's the thing is that they don't want to give it to us. Look at what Jersey Jack gives you on the CE. And now Stern LEs are going to be 13.5, 13.7 and not have any exclusive accessories really? It doesn't work. It doesn't work. And they make all the art packages are looking too similar. It's not enough. It's really not enough. So my advice to each and every one of you is if you love Star Wars and hopefully it's episode four, five and six, Jason Knapp said something interesting. He thinks it could be a game that's entirely based on the Battle of Hoth. And I'm like, what? No, there's no way there's enough from one battle in Empire Strikes Back to make an entire pinball machine. But what there is in that battle is what I've been waiting to see is the at at Walker falling down and, you know, shooting the ball around its legs to drop it. The only thing is there's not enough storyline in just that battle. Now, if Stern were smart, I mean, I mean this, just make Empire Strikes Back pinball machine. I mean, I would start with A New Hope. I would make all three, but it is what it is. You know, I think it's going to be a really interesting two weeks. I want to say congratulations to Rachel over at Electric Bat Arcade. She had an awesome story in the Phoenix newspaper about that arcade, about Rachel. You know, if you don't know Rachel, she's got thicker skin than most of the men in this pinball content space. Have you been following some of the drama they're trying to throw my way? People are trying to make people pay for a subscription to hear a story about how Kanae is an a-hole. Well, I'll tell you right now, behind my paywall, the only truly successful paywall next to, I think second to mine would be Kerry Hardy's. You watch Kerry videos, man. Those names are stacking up. I'm happy for Kerry. He works hard. He's earned it. The only paywall that you should ever have to pay to hear that Kanae is an a-hole is me. I'll tell you myself, I can be an a-hole at times. but I'm more of a nice guy than all of these people complaining about me. Because you got to remember, these are men who say they believe in God. These are men who say they have good hearts. And when you try to do the right thing and you try to make amends and you try to move forward in a positive light, and this is why all these men are really hypocrites, and it eats them up inside and you could see it. They don't look like they're having fun. They're like, oh, they refuse to do it. And you know what's funny is I bet most of these men lean very much to the political far left. And they're the ones who are always saying we should aim for peace. And that's exactly what I'm trying to do. And don't worry. I am very moderate. I respect both sides of the political party. I think it's healthy to have different points of view. I think it's healthy to put a hot blonde woman in a sexy pair of jeans. I think it's healthy to have Beyonce over there competing in a sexy pair of jeans. That's what makes the world go round. 95% of stuff that offends people today would never have offended them in 1985. Everybody today is lame. The internet is pathetic. And social media is for losers. Social media sucks. It gave everybody a microphone to complain about everything. And then it made us look into the world of all these people that don't deserve it. You know, the only one who's really made a good use out of social media is Canada's Pinball Podcast and our 660 faithful subscribers. I thank each and every one of you. Thank you for staying on board. I really do appreciate it. More great shows coming. Happy Wednesday. Happy Hump Day. We'll be back this week with more episodes of the world's most entertaining, entitled, and self-deprecating pinball podcast. Kaneda out. I'm on my highway. I got some money.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 477bbf00-d87f-468b-9cf1-98da761ecd13*