# Episode 735: "Chicago Delaying Company"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2022-10-27  
**Duration:** 19m 31s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-735-73848982

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## Analysis

Kaneda criticizes Chicago Gaming Company for delayed Cactus Canyon LE shipments (now pushed to 2023, one year after pre-orders) and the broader pattern of poor communication and customer service across boutique pinball manufacturers. He argues that companies like Spooky Pinball set the standard for transparency and professionalism, contrasts outside-financed manufacturers with Stern's discipline, and calls for better warranties, loyalty programs, and communication from all pinball makers. He expresses concern about mediocrity in 2022's game releases and frustration with the Twippies award show format change.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Chicago Gaming Company revealed Monster Bash in July 2018, and Cactus Canyon LE was revealed at Expo last year with orders locked in at ~$9,700 per unit for 1,250 machines — _Kaneda directly cites the timeline and his presence when order banks opened_
- [HIGH] Cactus Canyon LE is now delayed an additional 6+ weeks beyond original estimates (pushing shipment to 2023) — _Kaneda states he learned this from distributors (not Chicago Gaming Company directly)_
- [MEDIUM] The primary cause of delay is likely incomplete code from Lyman Sheets, not physical component sourcing issues — _Kaneda speculates: 'I don't think the Lyman Sheets code is that far along' and eliminates material sourcing as a viable reason_
- [HIGH] Ryan White (Chicago Gaming marketing/sales lead) is failing to communicate delays directly and instead leaving it to distributors — _Kaneda directly names Ryan White and criticizes him for not doing his job of professional communication_
- [MEDIUM] Medieval Madness Royal Edition is selling for $24,000+ on secondary market — _Kaneda mentions seeing a sale pending listing at that price_
- [MEDIUM] Spooky Pinball is the only boutique manufacturer demonstrating transparency about production timelines and delivery promises — _Kaneda states: 'Spooky Pinball seems to be the only company, and I mean this when I say it, Spooky Pinball is transparent' and contrasts with other boutique firms_
- [MEDIUM] Outside-financed boutique companies (CDC via Churchill Cabinets, JJP via Abbess Money, American Pinball via Ametron) lack urgency because they don't depend on pinball profits alone — _Kaneda speculates on financing structure: 'these boutique companies that are financed by something else... it's like they've got trust fund money'_
- [MEDIUM] Jeff Patterson has stepped aside as co-creator of the Twippies award show — _Kaneda reports: 'Jeff Patterson is no longer part of the Twippies. The co-creator of it has stepped aside'_
- [HIGH] Stern Pinball offers no loyalty program or special benefits to high-volume machine buyers despite premium pricing — _Kaneda directly states: 'You could spend $100,000 on Stern Pinball Machines. What does it get you? Do you get invited to anything? Do you get early access to the next games? You get absolutely nothing'_
- [MEDIUM] Stern Insider Connected achievement rewards are not functioning or delivering value to users — _Kaneda reports from community feedback: 'Guess how many rewards and things people are experiencing as they hook up Stern Insider Connected? None'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Why did they reveal this game at Expo last year if they knew they couldn't get these games on the line?"
> — **Kaneda**, early in episode
> _Core criticism of Chicago Gaming Company's decision to take $9.7M in orders without delivery confidence_

> "I think it's inexcusable that a pinball company that takes people's money a year ago and then goes radio silent is allowed to operate this way."
> — **Kaneda**, early middle
> _Sets up the central complaint about industry communication standards_

> "At least Spooky Pinball is alive and well... every single day. Every time we go live to Spooky, we see games with play fields up and in cabinets and stuff is happening."
> — **Kaneda**, mid-episode
> _Positions Spooky as the manufacturing standard-bearer and model for others to follow_

> "Mediocrity in pinball is dead. Like you can see it when people jumped on Queen Pinball at Expo... The only people praising the game are the distributors who want to sell you one."
> — **Kaneda**, late middle
> _Signals sentiment shift against Queen Pinball and demand for better game quality and authenticity_

> "The only get out of jail free card you should get is if you make a masterpiece."
> — **Kaneda**, near end
> _Encapsulates Kaneda's final position: execution and game quality trump communication and customer service_

> "The guy in New York who doesn't even have a pinball machine set up is talking to you the most on a weekly basis about pinball."
> — **Kaneda**, late
> _Self-referential criticism of how he provides more consistent communication than major manufacturers_

> "In 2022, which game is the magical world under glass? Which game is improving upon what we've seen before in pinball?"
> — **Kaneda**, end section
> _Rhetorical challenge questioning the creative innovation of 2022 releases_

> "It's such a whiff on so many levels... It's almost more of a whiff than Star Wars."
> — **Kaneda**, late
> _Strongly negative assessment of Toy Story Pinball (JJP, designed by Pat Lawler)_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer criticized for Cactus Canyon LE delays (one year post pre-order with 1,250 units at $9,700 each), poor communication, and failure to meet originally announced delivery timelines |
| Cactus Canyon LE | product | Chicago Gaming remake with topper and apron; 1,250 units pre-ordered at $9,700 in 2021; now delayed to 2023 with 6+ week additional delays; Kaneda speculates code completion (Lyman Sheets) is the bottleneck |
| Ryan White | person | Marketing/sales/communications lead at Chicago Gaming Company; criticized by Kaneda for failing to directly communicate delays to customers and instead leaving it to distributors |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Positioned by Kaneda as the transparency and professionalism standard in boutique pinball; delivers on production timelines, honest about weekly output, transparent about queue position, communicates like 'grown adults' |
| Stern Pinball | company | Industry leader; criticized for lack of loyalty programs despite premium pricing; Stern Insider Connected achievement rewards reportedly non-functional; minimal community engagement from marketing team |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer financed by Abbess Money; turned corner with Guns N' Roses; Toy Story Pinball described by Kaneda as 'whiff'; minimal Pinside forum presence despite occasional appearances from staff member Kiefer |
| American Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer financed by Ametron; described as having minimal onsite staff; Dennis Nordman game expected to deliver innovation; praised for expected to 'pack it with stuff' |
| Pinball Brothers | company | Boutique manufacturer; revealed Queen Pinball at Expo; games still in prototype form; distributors taking non-refundable pre-orders; production timeline unclear |
| Queen Pinball | product | Pinball Brothers title; revealed at Expo; reviews 'not stellar'; community shoulder-shrugging; only distributors praising it; weak hype despite early order activity |
| Lyman Sheets | person | Code/software designer for Cactus Canyon LE; Kaneda speculates incomplete code is delaying the game release |
| Dennis Nordman | person | Designer of American Pinball's upcoming game; Kaneda expresses excitement about the game and expects it to deliver innovation; notes focus should be on the game, not on designer interviews |
| Pat Lawler | person | Designer of Toy Story Pinball (JJP); Kaneda describes the game as a major 'whiff' and criticizes promotional videos featuring Lawler |
| Jeff Patterson | person | Co-creator of the Twippies award show; has stepped aside from the role; Kaneda notes his departure and questions the show's future hosting and format |
| Greg Bone | person | Former Twippies co-host (alongside Zach); Kaneda argues Greg and Zach were the best hosts and should be brought back rather than trying new hosts |
| Zach Minney | person | Former Twippies co-host (alongside Greg); Kaneda argues for his return as host in lieu of current format change and Jeff Teolis selection |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Asked to host the Twippies; reportedly declined; Kaneda notes he regularly mocks the Twippies on podcasts alongside Marty, making him an odd choice |
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon); provides weekly pinball industry commentary; self-describes as more communicative than major manufacturers; criticizes industry transparency and customer service standards |
| Jared | person | Stern Pinball marketing team member; Kaneda notes his absence from Pinside forum discussions and lack of industry engagement |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Occasional commenter on Pinside forum defending Stern Pinball; minimal engagement relative to the scale of communication needed |
| Neil McRae | person | Community member; Kaneda notes he is no longer excited about James Bond Pinball due to poor launch |
| Ed Robertson | person | Pinball industry figure; Kaneda jokingly suggests he might text advice to 'hang it up' if Kaneda isn't enjoying pinball analysis |
| Twippies | event | Annual pinball award show; format recently changed with Jeff Patterson stepping aside; hosted by Jeff Teolis (or to be determined); last show was 'so bad' that Kaneda questions attending next year; no hype in community; Kaneda advocates for return to Greg/Zach hosting model |
| James Bond Pinball | product | Jersey Jack Pinball release; hype described as 'dead' due to poor launch; released in 2022; community enthusiasm has waned significantly |
| Toy Story Pinball | product | Jersey Jack Pinball game by Pat Lawler; Kaneda describes as 'biggest whiff' in 5 years of pinball, worse than Star Wars; criticizes promotional content around designer |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Chicago Gaming Company delays and communication failures, Boutique pinball manufacturer transparency and customer service standards, Spooky Pinball as manufacturing and communication model
- **Secondary:** Stern Pinball loyalty programs and customer engagement gaps, 2022 pinball game releases and lack of innovation/magic, Twippies award show format change and hosting decisions, Outside financing of boutique pinball manufacturers and its impact on urgency
- **Mentioned:** Secondary market pricing for collectible machines

### Sentiment

**Negative** (-0.78) — Kaneda is frustrated and critical throughout, particularly regarding Chicago Gaming delays, industry-wide communication failures, and 2022 game quality. Criticism is sharp and direct. The sole positive sentiment is reserved for Spooky Pinball's transparency and Dennis Nordman's expected American Pinball game. The overall tone conveys disappointment in the pinball industry's customer service and game quality relative to pricing.

### Signals

- **[product_concern]** Cactus Canyon LE delayed 6+ weeks beyond previous estimates, pushing delivery to 2023—one year after $9.7M in pre-orders locked in at Expo (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'we are learning from distributors... that this LE is now delayed again at least another six weeks. So you are not going to get your Cactus Canyon LE probably until 2023.'
- **[industry_signal]** Across boutique pinball manufacturers, poor direct communication with customers about delays and production status; reliance on distributors for updates (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Why are we hearing through distributors like the game room guys that this game is now delayed? Why doesn't Ryan White actually do his job?'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Queen Pinball (Pinball Brothers) received underwhelming reviews at Expo; community sentiment shifted to shoulder-shrugging; only distributor enthusiasm remains (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'I was looking at all of the Queen Pinball reviews and they were not stellar. Like people were kind of shoulder shrugging. The only people praising the game are the distributors who want to sell you one.'
- **[sentiment_shift]** James Bond Pinball hype described as dead post-launch; community engagement and enthusiasm have dropped significantly (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'I do feel like the James Bond hype is dead. Doesn't it feel like that? Like, who is still really, really excited about James Bond? Like not even our friend Neil McRae is chomping at the bit about James Bond anymore because it was a really bad launch.'
- **[personnel_signal]** Jeff Patterson, co-creator of the Twippies award show, has stepped aside from his role (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Jeff Patterson is no longer part of the Twippies. The co-creator of it has stepped aside.'
- **[event_signal]** Twippies hosting format changed; Jeff Teolis asked to host despite publicly mocking the show on podcasts; community concern about future viability and entertainment value (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'They asked Jeff Teolis to host it and he said no. Have they never listened to Jeff Teolis talk about the Twippies? He makes fun of it in every single podcast.'
- **[market_signal]** Medieval Madness Royal Edition selling for $24,000+ on secondary market; high-tier remake pricing remains strong (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Medieval Madness Royal Edition for $24,000 or best offer has a sale pending.'
- **[business_signal]** Boutique manufacturers financed by outside entities (Churchill Cabinets financing CDC, Abbess Money financing JJP, Ametron financing American Pinball) lack urgency due to not depending on pinball profits; compared to trust fund model (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'when these companies are outside financed... they don't really need it. They don't need to survive based on their pinball profits alone... it's like they've got trust fund money'
- **[design_innovation]** Kaneda argues that 2022 pinball releases lack magical innovation and that mediocrity no longer survives in the market due to high pricing; games must be masterpieces to justify cost (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Mediocrity in pinball is dead... In 2022, which game is the magical world under glass? Where is the magic?'
- **[community_signal]** Community expectation for loyalty programs and VIP treatment for high-volume collectors is unmet across industry; Stern Insider Connected rewards non-functional; no benefits for large spenders (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'You could spend $100,000 on Stern Pinball Machines. What does it get you? Do you get invited to anything? Do you get early access to the next games? You get absolutely nothing.'
- **[content_signal]** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast provides more frequent and consistent industry commentary than official manufacturer communications; positioned as more engaged than corporate marketing teams (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'The guy in New York who doesn't even have a pinball machine set up is talking to you the most on a weekly basis about pinball.'

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## Transcript

 Face down, booty up, that's the way we like it. I'm sicker than an oil spill. She say she won't, but I bet she will. All right, so let's do this for a second. Let's talk about when Chicago Gaming Company revealed that they were making Monster Bash. Do you remember what year it was? This is shocking. It was July of 2018 when Chicago Gaming Company said, we're making Monster Bash, and then they showed it a few months later. So four years ago, and here we are four years later, and where the heck is Cactus Canyon LE? And now we are learning from distributors, not even from Chicago Gaming Company themselves, that this LE is now delayed again at least another six weeks. So you are not going to get your Cactus Canyon LE probably until 2023. And it begs the question. Why did they reveal this game at Expo last year if they knew they couldn't get these games on the line? And a lot of you out there bought this game. Like they sold 1,250 Ellies of Cactus Canyon. I was in the room when the order banks opened up and everybody wanted one because it was like $9,700. It was a good bargain. It had this amazing topper. It had this amazing apron. And here we are one year later. There is nothing on planet Earth that would take a year to figure out how to source the material. So why do you think Chicago Gaming Company is so delayed? What do you think the issue is with this game? I'm going to speculate on this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast. But before I speculate on what the issue is, I just want to say this. I think it's inexcusable that a pinball company that takes people's money a year ago and then goes radio silent is allowed to operate this way. Why are they allowed not to make official statements? Why are we hearing through distributors like the game room guys that this game is now delayed? Why doesn't Ryan White actually do his job? And this is not a personal attack. If you're in charge of marketing and sales and communications for a pinball company and you have a delay, then you need to man up and tell everybody what the delay is, when they can expect to have another sort of update, and when people can expect their games. That is just called being a professional. I'm not asking for them to take us through the factory every single week. I'm not asking for a weekly newsletter of updates if they don't have weekly updates. But we keep seeing this trend in pinball where companies keep taking money and then they absolutely don't keep you updated on the progress of where your game is at. I don't know about you, but I would be very frustrated and very upset that I locked my money in so long ago for a game and the company can't even have the common decency to let me know the status. What's the big deal? Facebook Live is something I go on all the time throughout the week. I went on Facebook Live at 4 in the morning yesterday or this morning because I couldn't sleep, because I woke up early. Why is it that Canada can do this, can keep you more updated on what's going on in the world of pinball, and these pinball companies that are making millions of dollars off of you can't even do it? They can't even keep you posted on the status of the build. We saw it with the Pinball Brothers. They revealed Queen Pinball. What happened next? Distributors were taking money, non-refundable, paid in full money on the game, promising people the game sometime this year. Now what happened? They came to Expo. The games are not on the line. The games are still in prototype form. And you have no idea when you're going to get your game. And we're seeing it across the boutique pinball space. and I think we're just at the point now where this community is allowing this to happen to itself and look if you ordered a cactus canyon I know what you were thinking why should I worry they've made monster bash they've made the other games they always deliver and when they do deliver people are getting quality product and you're right like you're absolutely right like I was blown away I saw that yesterday that Medieval Madness Royal Edition for $24,000 or best offer has a sale pending. Sale pending. And the person who bought it probably spent over on it Like it just crazy But I just think Ryan White needs to wake up and do his job He not doing his job He needs to communicate and not rely on the distributors to give the updates on his game See, the problem with all these boutique companies that are, like, financed by something else, like, CDC is financed by Churchill Cabinets. Jersey Jack is financed by the Abbess Money. You've got Ametron financing American Pinball. Did you see the American Pinball Tour that David Fix did, right? He opens the door to American Pinball. There's no receptionist. There's barely anyone inside the company. You do a walk around and you're like, this does not look like a pinball company that is putting pinballs into boxes every day. And I don't understand that, right? But it doesn't matter, right? Because Ametron is making tens of millions of dollars a year. And this is probably a tax write-off venture. I doubt any of these companies are making tremendous profits. JJP obviously turned a corner with Guns N' Roses, but before then, it was hard for JJP to turn a profit on their games. Like it was. That's why they moved the whole factory to Chicago from New Jersey. Spooky Pinball seems to be the only company, and I mean this when I say it, Spooky Pinball is transparent. At least they are honest with people about how many games they can make a week. They're honest about when you're going to get your game. You know what number game you are. And so you can figure out when you should expect your game from Spooky Pinball. Say what you will about Spooky. And I've said a lot about Spooky. At least they are professional. At least they communicate like grown adults. Nothing they do is ever ambiguous. They don't tell people to pound sand. They don't hide from their promises. They say, hey, we're going to do this. We're going to build this game. We're going to build this many a week. We're going to make this many in this much time frame. And we are going to make all of them within 18 months. And they've delivered on that promise. And say what you will about the hot glue guns and the cheap LCD screens and no real toys in the last two games. I don't really care. At least Spooky Pinball is alive and well. At least Spooky Pinball, when they do a factory tour, there's actually people there building the games every single day. Every time we go live to Spooky, we see games with playfields up and in cabinets and stuff is happening. And that is the thing. It's like we've learned from Stern and we've learned from the number one dog in the game. When you do a factory tour, the line needs to be moving. Every day, games are not going into boxes. you are losing money as a manufacturing company. No factory wants to have a day in which nothing is made. But this is the problem when these companies are outside financed. It's like they don't really need it. They don't need to survive based on their pinball profits alone. And when you do that, right, when you're financed by something else, you can get really lazy. You can get more apathetic. It's like these boutique companies that are financed by other ventures. It's like they've got trust fund money, right? Imagine trying to get a trust fund kid to have a sense of urgency at work. Imagine trying to get a trust fund kid to go the extra effort to go above and beyond. And that's what it feels like. Does Chicago Gaming Company feel like they're going above and beyond with their customer service? Does Haggis Pinball feel like they're going above and beyond? You can go down a list of these boutique companies where it's like when you're a customer of theirs, you kind of feel like you've been abandoned and you just have to wait with your fingers crossed. Now look, why do I think this Cactus Canyon game is delayed? Here's why I think it's delayed. I don't think the Lyman Sheets code is that far along. I think they're waiting for this code to get to a place where they feel like confident that it's going to live up to what people are expecting. because I can't imagine any other reason why this game is delayed. It can't be because of metal parts for the train or wood for the apron or whatever else is in this game because we know they are making essays of the game. It can't be because of the topper. How would a topper cause a one-year delay? How? It's just plastic with like some servos. So I fully expect that the reason why this game is delayed is they want the LEs to ship with the code completed. I don't know when that's going to be. Now we're hearing it's going to be four to six weeks. Remember when it used to be two weeks was the joke? Now it feels like it's six weeks. Six weeks from now, we promise games are going to be on the line. You know, I'm just going to say this. At these prices with all of these companies we all deserve better customer service And what I mean by that it not just like communication because communication in the pinball world is pretty much piss poor Like it piss poor The thing we really need though is just better customer service We need better warranties in this industry. Nobody's demanding better warranties. Have you ever read the warranty on your pinball machine? It's basically not even covered. Like nothing on the machine is actually covered. So we don't have good warranties. When you buy these games over and over again, do you feel like you're getting invited into this VIP club? Do you feel like they're treating you special? You could spend $100,000 on Stern Pinball Machines. What does it get you? Do you get invited to anything? Do you get early access to the next games? You get absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. The only thing you'll get is the opportunity to buy into their Stern Insider Club, which then it just gives you the opportunity to try to catch an LE on their website before it sells out in 30 seconds. But there's absolutely no loyalty program for the pinball collector. And I've been saying this before. All of the effort into building the community goes into the tournament and league players, right? That's where all of the effort is going. But I've been hearing from people like in these games and the Stern Insider Connected, there are supposed to be like rewards for unlocking achievements in the game. Guess how many rewards and things people are experiencing as they hook up Stern Insider Connected? None. Like there's nothing. Like all of this is like good in theory, but in practice, in the way this stuff is actually coming to life. I just want us as a community to get more, especially at these prices. You know, pinballs are as much as a Rolex now. When you walk in to buy a Rolex, when you go to a Rolex dealer, if you've ever walked into a watch shop, it's much more polished. It's a nice environment. They'll pour you some champagne. They'll get you some Perrier. They treat you like a valued customer. And I know some of you are getting that from your distributors. But for the most part, I just want to see these pinball companies do more to make everybody feel like a valued customer. And I'm just going to go down a list of things I expect from all of these companies. I expect more transparency. I think they should be talking to the community more. I think they should be talking to their buyers more. Even if their buyers complain, I don't care. I expect these pinball companies to be in threads the same way Spooky Pinball is. Stern Pinball has a marketing team. Where is Jared on Pinside? He's nowhere to be found. Where are these people? Like every once in a while, Zombie Yeti will jump in defending something. But for the most part, there's absolutely no communication from Stern on the number one forum, right? There's barely any communication from Jersey Jack on the forum. Sometimes Kiefer jumps in, but for the most part, no communication. So I would just like more transparency. And look, I get it. The more transparent you are, the more there's gonna be a target on your back for the haters and the people to come in and troll you a little bit. But you can always block those people. Like I'm blocked from Jersey Jack's Facebook page. I can't comment on anything. I would like more transparency. I would like better warranties. I would also like to feel if I buy many machines with these companies that that somehow unlocks more rewards and more loyalty from those companies with me. You know, because it's so much money. It's absolutely getting to the point now where at these prices, I think we expect more from these companies. And I'll say this, and I'm going to play devil's advocate right now. I don't need all that stuff if companies just make great games, get them out on time, and the games are built well. If you do that, right, if you make a great game, you get it out, when you say you're going to get it out, and the build quality is great, guess what you're going to have? A happy customer. I'm not going to want any more. I'm not going to feel like I missed out on some stuff. I'm not going to feel like I'm longing for more from you because I'm going to feel like you delivered to me what I expected for the money. And I think that's where it's at right now. At these prices in pinball, our expectations are going to go up. And we're going to want great games. And if a game isn't great, it's not going to survive. And it's a really interesting time in pinball because of that. Mediocrity in pinball is dead. Like you can see it when people jumped on Queen Pinball Ad Expo. I was looking at all of the Queen Pinball reviews and they were not stellar. Like people were kind of shoulder shrugging. The only people praising the game are the distributors who want to sell you one. And everyone's going to start to see past that. There's no room for Spinal Tap in this pinball marketplace. There's no room for mediocre games. They haven't even sold all the TNAs for $9,000 with 250 of them being made. At this point it going to be whoever delivers the magic is going to get the cheddar And that why I excited to see American Pinball new game because out of all the games coming out I think the Dennis Nordman game is going to be the one that just packs it with stuff And I really think they know they need to do that. So I'm excited to see that game. I just don't know when. There's no hype for it. I do feel like the James Bond hype is dead. Doesn't it feel like that? Like, who is still really, really excited about James Bond? Like not even our friend Neil McRae is chomping at the bit about James Bond anymore because it was a really bad launch. And so here we are. It's almost November. We've got two more months in the pinball year. We've got the Twippies coming up. Did you hear this news? Jeff Patterson is no longer part of the Twippies. The co-creator of it has stepped aside. We all know what they need to do. They need to get Greg and Zach to host a show again. They asked Jeff Teolis to host it and he said no. Have they never listened to Jeff Teolis talk about the Twippies? He makes fun of it in every single podcast. And I don't blame him. Like him and Marty always used to make fun of it. Why would you ask him? Now, look, I'm not going to host the Twippies. They're never going to ask me. But we need to not try to fix something that wasn't really broken. Greg and Zach were the greatest hosts of it. We need one award show in which the consumers out there vote on their favorite stuff. And let's just get back to making it what it used to be. I don't think that's going to happen. We're still going to have two award shows. There's going to be the industry awards with the committee voting. And then there's going to be this. And then it's going to make everybody nervous because whoever you get, are they going to be able to keep the Twippies going in a live format? The last Twippies was so bad, ladies and gentlemen, that I'm really, really questioning whether or not I even want to be at Texas for it because it was just so bad being in the audience of that show. And I think they need to hand it back over to the guys who knew how to do it live because the best Twippies ever was the one that was live where Kaneda got booed and Greg and Zach kept the show going in an entertaining way. And now we're going to go back and try to find new hosts who are going to try to do that. And I think they're going to have a hard time being successful at it. And here we are. It's almost November. There's no hype of the show. And it's just crazy to me. Like, how hard is it? As we're getting to the end of the year, we should start to be teasing these things, start to get people ready to get excited about who they're going to vote for, but absolutely nothing. Radio silence. The guy in New York who doesn't even have a pinball machine set up is talking to you the most on a weekly basis about pinball. It's about time all of these other entities that are making a lot more money than me, a lot more than me, it's about time they bring us along with the journey more. And I mean that, and I feel like we deserve that for this much money. The only get out of jail free card you should get is if you make a masterpiece. And I mean this. When you make a masterpiece, I don't care if you don't go to the award shows, Keith Elwin. I don't care if you never talk to me. All I care about is a great game. I don't care even about seeing people at the factory. I don't care about receptionists. I don't care about Dennis Nordman being interviewed. All I want from Nordman is a great game. All we wanted from Pat Lawler was a great game. I don't want to watch a video of Pat Lawler talk about Toy Story because it's the biggest whiff I think we've ever seen in the last five years of pinball. It's almost more of a whiff than Star Wars. It's such a whiff on so many levels that I don't want to hear these videos. I don't want to see him smiling up there with the JJP team. I just want great games, magic, world under glass. Let me ask you a question. In 2022, which game is the magical world under glass? Which game is improving upon what we've seen before in pinball? And I'm just going to leave that to you right now. I want you to tell me, email me at canadapinball at gmail.com. Out of all the games that came out in 2022, where is the magic? Legends of Valhalla, James Bond, Halloween, Ultraman. What else we got? Rush Pinball. Where's the magic? Queen Pinball. Alien Pinball. Like these are just games that are shipping right now. I'll just name everything shipping. But tell me, where's the magic? Where is the magic? Am I missing something? Am I being irrational? Is Ed Ed Robertson going to send me a text right now saying, Kaneda, hang it up. You're clearly not enjoying it. Absolutely, I'm enjoying it. I love doing this show. I just want more for the money. And I think you do too. Everybody have a great day. I'll be back. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Saturday. Who knows? I will just pick up the mic anytime I want to talk to you guys about pinball. You're going to get your money's worth with Kaneda. You're not going to be starving for content with Canada's Pinball Podcast. Later, everybody.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 4a5ca07d-513c-4d3f-8f36-4524b3ddc875*