# EP05 I Played Beetlejuice!

**Source:** The Pinball Studio Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-11-16  
**Duration:** 15m 2s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://thepinballstudio.podbean.com/e/ep05-i-played-beetlejuice/

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## Analysis

Sterling Martin recounts his experience at Spooky Pinball's exclusive midnight release event for Beetlejuice, praising the game as phenomenal and detailing Spooky's in-house manufacturing capabilities. He describes the event format (groups of 5 rotating through gameplay at Don's house, factory tour, prototype access), highlights design features like the modular sandworm mechanism and free topper, and emphasizes Spooky's superior build quality and maintenance-forward engineering compared to competitors. Martin urges listeners to get on distribution lists for future Spooky releases, claiming Beetlejuice will be remembered as one of the best games ever made.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Beetlejuice will probably go down in history as one of the best games ever made — _Sterling Martin, first-hand experience at midnight launch, enthusiastic but potentially hyperbolic given recent release_
- [HIGH] Spooky manufactures all metal brackets and circuit boards in-house, unlike Stern and competitors who order from overseas — _Luke gave factory tour and Sterling verified manufacturing claims during facility walkthrough_
- [HIGH] The Beetlejuice sandworm mechanism can be removed without lifting the playfield, with pluggable connections for easy maintenance — _Luke explained maintenance design philosophy during tour; this represents deliberate design-for-serviceability approach_
- [HIGH] Beetlejuice sold out in approximately 15 minutes during phone order period following website crash — _Sterling was present during sales launch, witnessed phone order taking process with 5-6 staff members_
- [HIGH] The exclusive topper bundled with Beetlejuice provides Spooky Speak feature and unlocks an additional game mode — _Sterling attended launch event and examined topper; stated as factual observation of bundled features_
- [HIGH] Event organizers did not enforce photo/leak restrictions but relied on attendee self-regulation based on understanding that rule-breaking would result in losing game allocation — _Sterling was present and explicitly denies that Spooky 'made them' follow rules; states it was implicit understanding_

### Notable Quotes

> "The game is freaking phenomenal... I think this game will probably go down in history as one of the best games ever made."
> — **Sterling Martin**, ~0:30
> _Opening statement establishing enthusiastic tone and setting high bar for game quality assessment_

> "Spooky's got to be the only one in the business literally making like all their metal brackets... They make their boards. They don't order them from overseas like Stern and everyone else."
> — **Sterling Martin**, ~3:00
> _Key differentiation claim about manufacturing strategy; suggests competitive advantage in supply chain resilience_

> "There's no Jersey Jack or Barrels of Fun that has anything on this game at the moment. It's just insane how they were able to keep all of this in the game and keep the game at 10k."
> — **Sterling Martin**, ~9:00
> _Direct competitive comparison; frames Beetlejuice as superior value and feature density vs. rival boutiques_

> "You can remove that mechanism without even lifting the play field. You can literally remove the hardware that you need to, a few screws or whatever, unplug it, and pull it off the top of the play field."
> — **Sterling Martin (paraphrasing Luke)**, ~11:15
> _Highlights design philosophy prioritizing serviceability and owner maintenance, differentiating from competitor approach_

> "I had a better time at this than any pinball show I've ever been to. It was just like this exclusive behind the scenes look of how these games are made."
> — **Sterling Martin**, ~19:30
> _Strong endorsement of event format; suggests replicating this approach could become industry standard or competitive advantage_

> "There's only five or six people taking orders so it does you know they were taking down name email and... I think it probably took about 15 minutes to take all those names down and then they were sold out."
> — **Sterling Martin**, ~15:00
> _Provides specific detail on sales execution; documents rapid sell-out timeframe and logistical constraints_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Sterling Martin | person | Host of The Pinball Studio Podcast; attended exclusive Beetlejuice midnight release event at Spooky Pinball; provided first-hand coverage of game quality, manufacturing tour, and event logistics |
| Beetlejuice | game | Latest release from Spooky Pinball based on Tim Burton's 1988 film; sold out in ~15 minutes; priced at $10k; features motorized sandworm mechanism, Spooky Speak technology, bundled topper with exclusive mode; according to Sterling, represents pinnacle of modern pinball design |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer; manufactures brackets and circuit boards in-house; known for quality, maintainability design, and exclusive launch events; Sterling presents them as superior to competitors like Jersey Jack and Barrels of Fun |
| Luke | person | Senior designer/engineer at Spooky Pinball; gave factory tour; explained sandworm mechanism and maintenance-first design philosophy; demonstrates collaborative approach to visitor questions |
| Don | person | Organized exclusive midnight release event at his house; idea originator; hosted groups of 5 for gameplay rotation; instrumental in event planning and execution; apparently established himself as key community organizer at Spooky |
| Bug | person | Co-founder/creative director of Spooky Pinball; initially skeptical of exclusive launch event format but converted after successful execution; Sterling indicates he may approve annual repeats |
| Jersey Jack | company | Boutique pinball competitor; Sterling explicitly states their games have 'nothing on' Beetlejuice currently; implicitly criticized for lacking feature parity at comparable price points |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Boutique pinball competitor; Sterling explicitly states their games lack competitive feature parity with Beetlejuice; grouped with Jersey Jack as inferior offerings |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; Sterling toured their facility; referenced as ordering circuit boards from overseas unlike Spooky's in-house production; implicit comparison suggesting supply chain disadvantage vs. Spooky |
| Kerry Hardy | person | Content creator who covered Beetlejuice launch with camera rolling; Sterling recommends checking Kerry's Patreon for behind-the-scenes content and 'real coverage' of the event |
| John | person | Sterling's friend from Atlanta who attended the launch event with him and toured Stern and Spooky facilities |
| Morgan | person | Event attendee; recipient of notably large Chipotle catering order during Spooky event |
| Zach | person | Credited with producing phenomenal trailer/marketing content for Beetlejuice; presumably marketing/media role at Spooky or affiliated company |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Beetlejuice quality and design features, Spooky Pinball manufacturing capabilities and supply chain, Exclusive launch event format and logistics, Game serviceability and maintenance-forward design
- **Secondary:** Competitive positioning vs. Jersey Jack and Barrels of Fun, Sales execution and rapid sell-out
- **Mentioned:** Content creator coverage and community media

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Overwhelmingly enthusiastic endorsement of Beetlejuice, Spooky Pinball's manufacturing/design philosophy, and event format. Minimal criticism; only minor mentions of website crash during sales. Comparative negativity toward competitors (Jersey Jack, Barrels of Fun) but framed as factual assessment rather than disparaging opinion. Host fatigue evident at end but does not diminish substantive praise.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Spooky in-house manufacturing of brackets and circuit boards (vs. overseas sourcing by Stern/competitors) provides pandemic-resilience and supply chain control advantage (confidence: high) — Sterling: 'Spooky's got to be the only one in the business literally making like all their metal brackets... They make their boards... They don't order them from overseas like Stern and everyone else. so when you have these pandemics like we did with you know covid they're set moving forward'
- **[community_signal]** Exclusive midnight launch event format building community goodwill and generating organic content; Bug reportedly converted from skepticism to potential annual commitment (confidence: high) — Sterling: 'Don this is all Don idea... Bug was really into the idea at first but I think after the event ended this is definitely going to happen every year'
- **[community_signal]** Spooky staff (Luke) demonstrating transparency and accessibility; willing to explain design/manufacturing details and show facility operations to enthusiasts without gatekeeping (confidence: high) — Sterling: 'I was asking Luke, I was like, how do you do this? How do you do that? Come on, I'll come show you. And I mean, I'm not sure every manufacturer is that welcome'
- **[competitive_signal]** Beetlejuice framed as feature/quality leader vs. Jersey Jack and Barrels of Fun; Sterling states competitors 'have nothing on this game at the moment' (confidence: medium) — Sterling: 'there's no jersey jack or barrels of fun that has anything on this game at the moment it's just insane how they were able to keep all of this in the game and keep the game at 10k'
- **[market_signal]** Rapid sell-out (~15 minutes) via phone orders following website crash; demonstrates sustained FOMO/demand for Spooky limited editions (confidence: high) — Sterling present during sales launch: 'I think it probably took about 15 minutes to take all those names down and then they were sold out'
- **[product_strategy]** Beetheljuice features multiple art packages (cabinet sides, front, head, glass cover) with non-repetitive designs; differentiates from competitor aesthetic standardization (confidence: high) — Sterling: 'they're doing different art packages on literally everything both sides the cabinet the front the sides of the head all different artwork it's not repetitive like a lot of the other manufacturers tend to do'
- **[product_concern]** Beetlejuice endured 10+ hours of continuous heavy play with only one stuck ball and zero software crashes; demonstrates manufacturing robustness (confidence: high) — Sterling: 'we probably played this damn thing for 10 hours straight and no crashes or anything with the software the only thing I noticed is one stuck ball'
- **[technology_signal]** Spooky implementing modular, pluggable architecture for major mechs (sandworm example); enabling field-serviceable replacement without specialty skills or advanced disassembly (confidence: high) — Luke explained sandworm can be removed without lifting playfield via simple screw removal and unplugging; Sterling notes 'they're trying to make it a lot easier to work on for the average person that doesn't know how to solder'

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## Transcript

 Hello and welcome to another episode of the pinball studio podcast. I'm your host Sterling Martin and today we're going to be doing something a little bit different. We're going to be talking about the new title from Spooky Pinball, Beetlejuice. So I was one of the lucky individuals that got to go to the midnight release at Spooky and see the game for the first time. And all I can say is the game is freaking phenomenal. I mean, if you missed out on this, I'm truly sorry, but I think this game will probably go down in history as one of the best games ever made. I mean, it's just jam-packed. It's really fun to shoot. I felt the game definitely had flow to it and just everything about it. The music, the call-outs, the artwork, you name it. and I mean we probably played this damn thing for 10 hours straight and no crashes or anything with the software the only thing I noticed is one stuck ball which is not a big deal at all so spooky all I can say is wow you did a phenomenal job on this game it was just such a unique experience being there and seeing how these games are actually put together I was lucky enough that Luke kind of gave us a tour around all the different rooms where they make all the different parts for these games. And Spooky's got to be the only one in the business literally making like all their metal brackets. Like they make all of them. They're boards. They make their boards for their circuit boards for their games. They don't order them from overseas like Stern and everyone else. so when you have these pandemics like we did with you know covid they're set moving forward so i thought that was you know really cool um i've heard some individuals you know say in the past they're like you know but they don't make their boards in-house well yes yes actually they do and i thought that was really really cool um i mean as far as i can tell the only damn thing they aren't making in-house is like screws, springs, the actual wire. Um, and there's not a whole lot of other things, the legs, I'm sure they source those, but, uh, I mean all the little brackets and stuff, they don't have to order this from pinball life. I thought that was really cool. But anyway, let's go back to the beginning of my trip. Uh, we flew into Chicago. I flew in with my a buddy, John, from Atlanta, and we made our way over to Stern Pinball. We did a quick tour there, and then we ran out to Spooky Pinball and met Don over there at his house. And, man, Don, thank you so much. You were so welcoming, letting all of us come to your house and just hang out, play your games. Morgan got the largest amount of Chipotle food I've ever seen in my life. I think we could have fed at least 50 people. But, I mean, y'all are just so nice to let us come and hang out and see the game for the first time the way we did. And a lot of that is mainly for Don. Don this is all Don idea That how this thing was dreamed up I don think Bug was really into the idea at first but I think after the event ended this is definitely going to happen every year And I hope it does grow into a slightly larger event, but I like keeping it small because I think that's what keeps it special. And it's how we started this off is everyone met at Don's house. He showed you the trailer. and then groups of five he would take them over to get some time on the game and then later in the evening we all went over there played the game a whole bunch more and just hung out ate food walked around the factory and got to see how these games are made then we went to the other building later on in the night and they have all their other prototypes scooby-doo and you name it all the games lined up so we could play those in the room uh where they actually build these games so we got to see all the evil deads on the line. Saw one Scooby on the line. I thought that was cool. And we all just hung out in there and got to walk around and look at, you know, how all these games are put together. And another thing I want to say is everyone that attended this event was very respectful of being there and not taking photos of things they weren't supposed to. And no material got leaked out. And I hear all these people saying they made them do this. They made them do that. Well, I'll tell you what. I was there and they didn't make us do any of that. It was just known that if you did something stupid, I mean, you probably wouldn't get a game. They didn't have to tell us that. I think it was just obvious. But, no, everyone was very respectful for being there and nobody broke any rules. But, anyway, I hope some other people can make it next year. I think they'll probably bump it up to 30 or 40 people. We'll see, but no promises whatsoever. I will say, though, you need to go ahead and get on the list for the next game because it's going to be a good one. And if this game sold out as quick as it did, I think you're going to see the same thing for the next title and the next title after that. So I will say I saw the trailer first before I went over there and saw the game for the first time. And in the trailer, the game looks phenomenal. but when John Youssi it in person it's even better i mean the pictures and video i mean they were done very good big shout out to zach for doing a phenomenal job but once John Youssi this game for the first time you're just going to be like wow there's no manufacturer out there putting this much in a game i mean there's no jersey jack i'll just call them out there's no jersey jack or barrels of fun that has anything on this game at the moment uh it's just insane how they were able to keep all of this in the game and keep the game at 10k not to mention you get a free topper i don't know if they've released what the the free topper is i've seen it i don't want to say anything about it in case they haven't released that but even the free topper man it's a big step up i would say from the evil dead topper um just the artwork of what's on that topper so i think the people that didn't buy the topper will still be happy but just to be clear you need to get the expensive topper as well for one thing you're not going to get the spooky speak without that topper and i believe you also get another mode with that topper and it looks phenomenal Also they just released the glass cover that they came out with and they did some new artwork on that that different from any advertisement poster or anything else out there so I like that they're doing different art packages on literally everything both sides the cabinet the front the sides of the head all different artwork it's not repetitive like a lot of the other manufacturers tend to do. So that makes these games a lot more special. Not to mention the quality that these games have gone up is just crazy. One thing that Luke told me that I thought was really cool was a lot of these bigger mechs say it's the sandworm. You can remove that mechanism without even lifting the play field. You can literally remove the hardware that you need to, a few screws or whatever, unplug it, and pull it off the top of the play field. So Luke and these other people involved are thinking about maintenance on these games too. They're trying to make it a lot easier to work on for the average person that doesn't know how to solder. So I think they're going to be adding a lot of plugs to a lot of things that you can just unplug and plug back in. If you've got a problem with your sandworm, throw it in a box, mail it to Spooky, they'll send you another one. I don't know the full details on all of that But that's pretty much what I gathered And I think a lot of other manufacturers Aren't thinking about maintenance on some of these games I don't want to remove 20 layers of stuff To get to something to replace something That may burn up every couple of years So hats off to them for thinking about All these different parts of owning a pinball machine But if you hear any negative feedback About this game out there I honestly just think it's for people that missed out And I'm sorry that you did miss out But there's no reason to talk trash about this game If you haven't seen it and you hadn't played it Because I mean I honestly think It's one of the coolest freaking games of all time And it held up Being played extremely hard for multiple hours which was super, super impressive. Um, I was there the second day as well. When, uh, the sales went live, I was upstairs when the phone calls were ringing and yes, the website did crash. I think everyone was already prepared for that. So you, you needed to call them on the phone and, uh, you know, they were taking orders as quickly as possible. There's only five or six people taking orders so it does you know they were taking down name email and uh i think something else and they were going to call back for deposits later which is a good idea so they could kind of get through them i think it probably took about 15 minutes to take all those names down and then they were sold out uh if you got hung up on or anything like that the game was probably already sold out i guess um they did their best and uh i really don't think there was any way they could have done any better of a job taking down all those orders so uh good job on that guys as far as content out there i would definitely check out kerry hardy's page definitely join his patreon if you want to see more information about this game because uh he's got the real coverage he was there during the launch and uh if you want a behind the scenes look he's uploaded all kinds of videos already as well as don obviously don hosted the whole damn thing and he came up with the idea. So he also got some material out there as well But Kerry had the camera the camera rolling uh half the time so uh definitely go check all that out and uh man all i can say is i just can wait for next year i i really hope i get to go again and uh if any of y'all can find a way to go i'm sure donna do a contest again definitely try to get in because uh i had a better time at this than any pinball show I've ever been to. It was just like this exclusive behind the scenes look of how these games are made and playing a game before anybody else could ever put their hands on this game. And just they're the nicest people in the world. And I mean, if you ask them a question, they will more than likely answer it unless it's what's the next game. But, you know, I was asking Luke, I was like, how do you do this? How do you do that? Come on, I'll come show you. And I mean, I'm not sure every manufacturer is that welcome. I don't know if there's much more to say. I had a phenomenal time. I'm sure there's tons of stuff I'm leaving out. I'm exhausted. I've hardly had any sleep in the past three days. Finally got a little bit of sleep last night. Anyway, if you're not on the list, I would get on the list for the next three games. because I honestly think if you miss out on any of these, you're going to be disappointed. So go ahead and call your distro and just say whatever it is next, put me on the list. You don't necessarily have to buy the game, but it would be nice to get a phone call, you know, and have the first right of refusal for the next titles. Anyway, I'll talk with everyone later. Have a wonderful weekend. Later. I would rather talk about. That's cute, Julio. Otho, are you doing this? I don't drink rum. Will I come and be one go home? Stock banana till the morning come. Will I come and be one go home? Come, Mr. Tallyman, tally me banana. Will I come and be one go home? Come, Mr. Tallyman, tally me banana. Will I come and be one go home? Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch, daylight come and we one go home. Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch, daylight come and we one go home. Day, these are day, oh. Daylight come and we one go home. Day, is a day, is a day, is a day. Daylight come and we want to go home. A beautiful bunch of ripe banana. Daylight come and we want to go home. Hide the deadly black tarantula. Daylight come and we want to go home. Live safe and healthy. you

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 4ea2d9da-7fbf-4722-84ab-686712d66f7d*