# DPP #146 "X-men release day. FOMO of future past!"

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-09-05  
**Duration:** 28m 18s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donspinballpodcast/episodes/DPP-146-X-men-release-day--FOMO-of-future-past-e2o1807

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## Analysis

Don discusses the release of Stern's X-Men (Uncanny X-Men) pinball machine designed by Jack Danger, expressing overwhelming excitement about its innovative and complex playfield design. He details his purchase of three X-Men machines—one LE and two Premiums for custom builds—driven by FOMO about not having the game to play. The episode also covers Stern's announcement of a one-year warranty, Expression speaker light kits with upcoming code support for Star Wars/Rush/Led Zeppelin/Jurassic Park, and Jersey Jack Pinball's official reveal of Avatar: Pandora—The Battle for Avatar with a September 12th launch date, described as the most loaded JJP game since Wizard of Oz.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Stern has implemented a one-year extended warranty on all machines, backdated 365 days to cover games purchased in the last year — _Don cites this as official policy announced by Stern on X-Men release day and attributes coordination to Seth Davis_
- [HIGH] X-Men LE production limited to 811 units — _Don directly states '811 LEs' and notes this represents '20% effectively fewer games baked into LE' compared to prior releases_
- [HIGH] Expression speaker light kits are being programmed for Star Wars, Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Jurassic Park, priced at $199 — _Don confirms kits already available/programmed for Bond, Wick, Jaws and lists next four games; cites $199 price point_
- [MEDIUM] Avatar: Pandora—The Battle for Avatar is described as the most loaded Jersey Jack game since Wizard of Oz — _Don attributes this characterization to unverified reports: 'I'm hearing that this is the most loaded game since Wizard of Oz'_
- [MEDIUM] Avatar features six flippers — _Don states 'I've heard six flippers' but acknowledges uncertainty about implementation across multiple playfield levels_
- [MEDIUM] Avatar features multiple underplay field areas including at least one subway with ball locking capability — _Don references seeing kineticist photos and teaser video showing 'under play field activity' with plastic sections and subway for ball locking_
- [HIGH] X-Men playfield features a Sentinel hand mechanism that deforms wire form ramps — _Don describes this as the pivotal moment of the reveal trailer: 'When that Sentinel hand grabbed the wire form ramp and deformed it'_
- [HIGH] Don ordered three X-Men machines (one LE, two Premiums) for personal use and custom builds — _Don explicitly states 'I ordered three X-Men today' and explains his motivations including FOMO and commitment to custom build customers_

### Notable Quotes

> "I thought the bridge in Godzilla was fantastic. It is. It is fantastic. Drops the ball, grabs on the magnet, train multi-ball, starts. But the Sentinel hand's good."
> — **Don**, ~12:20
> _Direct comparison of X-Men's signature Sentinel mechanism to Godzilla's bridge—establishing X-Men as competitive with recent flagship releases_

> "I don't know if there was a way to prepare for what had happened earlier today."
> — **Don**, ~1:30
> _Captures the unexpected magnitude of X-Men's reveal and community reaction_

> "I thought we had purged ourselves of FOMO and then it reached out like Nightcrawler and grabbed our throat."
> — **Don**, ~3:00
> _Meta-commentary on how X-Men triggered FOMO despite efforts to avoid it; uses Marvel reference for rhetorical effect_

> "This game looks like it's going to be a keeper, let the code mature, man. Gosh, this looks awesome."
> — **Don**, ~45:00
> _Confidence in X-Men's long-term value and gameplay depth post-code maturation_

> "Stern got caught up with their backlog of repair requests and fix-it tickets and going forward, they're going to have a one-year warranty on their machine, starting today."
> — **Don**, ~8:30
> _Contextualizes Stern's warranty announcement as response to acknowledged QC backlog; positions as positive correction_

> "This game is as loaded as a Jersey Jack game has been since Wizard of Oz and has that not been what we've been asking Jersey Jack Pinball to do?"
> — **Don**, ~67:00
> _Frames Avatar as JJP responding to community demand for feature-rich games comparable to their classic flagship_

> "My budget has just dried completely up to the point that I went ahead and listed Big Lebowski today."
> — **Don**, ~49:00
> _Demonstrates market timing pressure and FOMO-driven selling; establishes financial motivation for custom X-Men builds_

> "And so now I'm starting to hear more and more, I think the lips are loosening a bit now that there's X-Men hype and they want to do everything they can to remind people that this game is available soon."
> — **Don**, ~63:00
> _Commentary on JJP's strategic timing of Avatar announcement relative to X-Men release to leverage competitive hype_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| X-Men / Uncanny X-Men | game | Stern Pinball game designed by Jack Danger, based on Marvel Comics X-Men franchise (Days of Future Past comic storyline); released today with 811 LE units; features Sentinel hand mechanism and complex multi-level playfield |
| Jack Danger | person | Designer of X-Men pinball; game received overwhelming positive reception from Don and community |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer announcing X-Men release, one-year warranty program, and Expression speaker light kits with upcoming code support |
| Avatar: Pandora—The Battle for Avatar | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game based on Avatar film franchise; launching September 12; described as most feature-rich JJP game since Wizard of Oz with multiple underplay fields, six flippers, and gameplay innovations |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Avatar; teased game officially today with September 12 launch date and described as loaded with features |
| Seth Davis | person | Don credits him with coordinating Stern's one-year warranty announcement |
| George Gomez | person | Stern designer; Don references extended cut video of Gomez and Jack Danger discussing X-Men game |
| Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast; collector and custom build specialist; purchased three X-Men machines on release day |
| Jeff / Mad Pinball | person/company | Dealer Don contacted to purchase X-Men machines; Don ordered LE and Premiums from him |
| Mark Seiden | person | Don references as JJP team lead listening to community feedback on loaded game design |
| Frank / Cab Custom | person/company | Manufacturer of laser-cut powder-coated pinball armor; Don collaborates with him on custom builds; not official sponsor but sends product |
| Cary Hardy | person | Content creator whose livestream Don mentions watching; had similar enthusiastic reaction to X-Men reveal |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Artist for X-Men game; Don praises the art package |
| Expression Speaker Lights / Expression Lighting System | product | Stern Pinball LED speaker light kit; priced at $199; now programmed for Bond, Wick, Jaws; upcoming code for Star Wars, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Jurassic Park |
| Wizard of Oz | game | Benchmark JJP game for feature-richness; Avatar described as comparably loaded |
| Godzilla | game | Recent Stern flagship used as comparison for X-Men's mechanical innovations (bridge mech vs. Sentinel hand) |
| Jaws | game | Recent Stern release with Expression speaker light code support; Don compares favorably to X-Men |
| Big Lebowski | game | Don listed his Big Lebowski for sale to fund X-Men purchases; prototype priced at $10k, Don's at $11,999 |
| John Wick | game | Don references working a deal for John Wick LE as part of budget reallocation for X-Men |
| Black Knight / Elvira | game | Don indicates these machines are not safe from being sold to fund X-Men |

### Topics

- **Primary:** X-Men pinball release and reception, Jersey Jack Avatar announcement and feature speculation, Pinball playfield design innovation and complexity
- **Secondary:** Stern Pinball warranty and service improvements, Expression speaker light kits and upcoming code support, FOMO-driven purchasing and market timing, Custom pinball builds and aftermarket modifications, Secondary market pricing and game value retention

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Overwhelmingly enthusiastic about X-Men design and innovation; very positive about Stern's warranty and speaker light announcements; cautiously optimistic about Avatar despite budget constraints; some frustration with JJP's timing but ultimately excited; high energy and celebratory tone throughout episode

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Don leveraging custom build business model with armor partnerships and batch ordering to capitalize on X-Men demand, offering value-add services near MSRP (confidence: high) — Don proposes powder-coat armor bundles for under $500 and plans batch orders from Frank at Cab Custom for customer fulfillment
- **[sentiment_shift]** X-Men reveal generated unexpectedly intense community enthusiasm, with multiple content creators (Cary Hardy, Don, others) expressing overwhelming reaction across Discord, YouTube, and streaming platforms (confidence: high) — Don: 'I was spending all day in my Discord trying to keep up with the comments' and references Cary Hardy's livestream reaction of 'holy crap'
- **[design_philosophy]** X-Men exhibits radical departure from standard pinball layout with offset flippers, drain-mounted target, cross-field shots, and multiple diverters creating significant playfield complexity (confidence: high) — Don repeatedly expresses confusion about playfield routing: 'I still don't know what's going on in this game' and 'This game is definitely not a fan layout'
- **[licensing_signal]** Avatar chosen as JJP flagship despite lower mainstream cultural appeal compared to Star Wars/Back to the Future, suggesting focus on spectacle-driven gameplay over IP nostalgia (confidence: medium) — Don analyzes: 'It's not Star Wars. You know, it's not Doc and Marty...If you're doing that, you've got to come with something amazing' suggesting IP weakness compensated by mechanical innovation
- **[market_signal]** Jersey Jack strategically released Avatar announcement one week after X-Men to leverage X-Men hype and remind market of JJP's competitive offering (confidence: medium) — Don observes: 'I think the lips are loosening a bit now that there's X-Men hype and they want to do everything they can to remind people that this game is available soon'
- **[market_signal]** X-Men LE limited to 811 units, representing 20% production reduction; Don predicts strong demand and potential sell-out despite not anticipating value multiplication (confidence: high) — Don states 'only 811 of these' and 'I can see selling out' while noting game will be 'a keeper' rather than profit vehicle
- **[community_signal]** Don transitioned from planned premium-flip strategy (buy, mod, sell at MSRP for cost-free play) to LE purchase driven by FOMO and customer demand for custom builds (confidence: high) — Don explains shift: 'The fear of missing out was Time would just go by and I wouldn't have this game to play' and now has customers requesting premium builds
- **[personnel_signal]** X-Men described as team effort across multiple Stern departments (coders, artists, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers) with Jack Danger as lead designer but credit distributed (confidence: medium) — Don emphasizes: 'It's not just Jack Danger. It's everybody he was working with, man. The coders, the artists, the mechanical engineers, electrical engineers'
- **[announcement]** Avatar: Pandora—The Battle for Avatar officially revealed with September 12 launch (8 days away) described as feature-rich with innovative gameplay, multiple underplay fields, and topper with gameplay interactions (confidence: high) — Don confirms: 'they finally took...photos to the whoever's...now we got like an official teaser...launch date of September 12th'
- **[product_concern]** Stern's announcement of one-year warranty frames previous period as having backlog of repair requests and fix-it tickets requiring official remediation (confidence: high) — Don explains: 'Stern got caught up with their backlog of repair requests and fix-it tickets and going forward, they're going to have a one-year warranty'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Don's initial restraint about FOMO was overcome by game design innovation and customer demand, triggering reactive purchasing that he characterizes as unavoidable (confidence: high) — Don: 'I thought we had purged ourselves of FOMO' but then purchases LE immediately; later: 'how could you not, man? Look at this thing'
- **[technology_signal]** Stern's Expression speaker light kits receiving widespread dealer adoption with planned code integration for multiple upcoming titles, indicating platform investment (confidence: high) — Don reports kits already programmed for Bond/Wick/Jaws; upcoming for Star Wars/Rush/Led Zeppelin/Jurassic Park at $199; dealers urged to pre-order batches

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## Transcript

 Man, what a day this has been. Let's get into some 146 action, everybody. Oh man, it's this intro music from Days of Future Past. Prepares us. I don't even know if there was a way to prepare for what had happened earlier today. with the release of Stern's X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Jack Danger's game. We knew it was coming. We saw the teaser. But I don't think anybody was ready. Jack probably was ready. For what happened and what dropped today. So, it all started in the morning on a Thursday. Is it Thursday? Wednesday, probably. Wednesday. My days of future past are blended together. But I was sitting here And the trailer dropped And then I'm sitting there Trying to figure out what I had just witnessed What just happened? Balls going everywhere Was that a cross field shot? Into a Flintstones wire form ramp? Into an upper play field that somebody Put down in the left out lane? How could it be that the sentinel mechanism that they used in the teaser was the least interesting thing in the entire game. Man, I thought we had purged ourselves of FOMO and then it reached out like Nightcrawler and grabbed our throat. I don't know if Nightcrawler does that. Maybe Bishop would do that. I could see him do that. Sabretooth definitely would do that. And not only that, there's a chance for all of these characters to be in this game because it's the comic that it's based on there's no individual licenses to sign whatever I'm trying to keep up with the teaser I'm trying to keep up with the reveal trailer and then finally my seventh time watching the George Gomez, Jack Danger extended cut is starting to sink in I gotta have this game somehow, someway, it's got to get into my danger room. And the way we're going to do that, I was looking over at John Wick, and I'm like, that's it, Wick. I love you. But not as much as this new game. I've got to have this. Stern is back, man. Jaws was incredible. I say it rivals Godzilla. This thing just throat-punched it. Jaws is definitely a more nostalgic theme. I'll give it that. I'll give it that. Shout out to Jorge's Arcade because he commented on the Discord. I spent all day in my Discord trying to keep up with the comments that were coming in and trying to give out. I was hearing news. I was getting confirmations of things. I was putting it out there. Stern's got a one-year extended warranty. Least interesting beta news today. And that's huge. That's a huge topic on its own, man. Stern, I don't know if you noticed this, but Stern got caught up with their backlog of repair requests and fix-it tickets. and going forward, they're going to have a one-year warranty on their machine, starting today, starting today, and backdated 365 days. So a game that you bought in the last year falls under this new official warranty. Like it's official. Like that's huge, right? You know, we've gotten used to getting these games in our homes and then needing to work on them. And then if we needed a part, it was kind of like a lot quicker to just rely on each other to figure this out. But now there's an official channel. Thank you, Seth Davis. I'm sure he's the one that coordinated that. And the team. And everybody. It's not just Jack Danger. It's everybody he was working with, man. The coders, the artists, the mechanical engineers, electrical engineers. We've met these people. We know them. What did they churn out? All right. I'm not going to do a shot-by-shot layout because, honestly, I still don't understand what the heck is going on in this game. But I'll tell you the moment that it went from, all right, let's see what they got, to I'm texting Jeff at Mad Pinball, and I'm like, do you have any LEs left? He's like, I got two. I'm like, well, give me one. And give me a premium, too. You know, give me another premium. Guys, I ordered three X-Men today. I'll get into why. It'll make sense when I explain it. Oh, man. Here was the moment. Here was the moment for me. It's like midnight as I'm recording this. I'm still, like, hyper from today. When that Sentinel hand grabbed the wire form ramp and deformed it, I was like, oh, it's over now, man. We're going to have to measure everything to this. I thought the bridge in Godzilla was fantastic. It is. It is fantastic. Drops the ball, grabs on the magnet, train multiball, starts. But the Sentinel hand's good. So this is like the concept that they had with Groot, with Guardians of the Galaxy. Only in that game, it's like Groot was living in the play field. His head is all the way up at the back. He's a bash toy. He stores balls. He pukes them back at you. It's great. But then they had on the Premium and LE these Groot hands that would come over on top of the plastic ramps and just kind of block the view of everything. It looked really weird. I get what they were going for, but the implementation, a little strange. This idea of the Sentinel arising from underneath the play field and wreaking havoc as he's grabbing stuff and finger flicking your balls back at you. My God, man. He grabbed that wire from, just to deform it one way. Deformed like two ways, man. Like we had heard the rumors like Jack was pushing the bomb As far as he could Dude Well done And like so I'm like I'm texting people And watching this and I'm like they put the upper play field In the outlay and they're like what are you talking about That's like the Foo Fighters upper play field Right with the mini flipper The spinner a couple of stand up targets Spinning around and he put all that Activity right there that that left Out lane which comes like over the pop Bumper and drops down is now like a whole little playpen area. And then what the heck is going on as the ball drains? There's a stand-up target in the drain. The drain has a target. What is happening? I can't wait to get my hands on this game and play it. The QR code reader is the Sentinel's eye. Look at the premium or LE apron. I'm looking at this game more and more, right? Eyes are just all over it. I'm dragging my eyeballs from one end to the other. And I'm just discovering so many nuanced things. Here's the other thing. Okay. The Sentinel grabbing the wire form, that's just nuts. All right? The other thing is, this game has what I love in pinball, and that's where you see a feature, you see a ramp, you see an area where you know the ball can get to, and you have to figure out like what do I have to do to get the ball there Now fan layout it pretty easy to see where everything going Venom there really kind of no mystery You kind of see like where you heading You follow the inserts or whatever This game like I still like I have had time to digest and zoom in on nice high-fidelity renderings of the play field. I still don't know what's going on back here. Watching that, what is it, some kind of figure-eight subway ramp, they're calling it, in the back left of the machine, Is there a diverter back there That's causing that to do what it does It does like this pretzel loop It does this pretzel loop and then jumps into a wire form And then crosses over to the flipper What's going on with the shooter lane This game You can tell that the flippers at the bottom Kind of all over the place man The flippers at the bottom have shifted over to the right And then looking The out lane and the shooter lane Are the same lane Somehow What kind of what kind of black magic is going on here? I don't know how the ball does what it does. There's so many diverters, so many ramps. You know, at first it looks almost like Foo Fighters with the ramps crossing over, but then there's just more. There's just more of it, and I still don't know what's happening. I don't know what's going on behind the Sentinel. And I've watched the videos. I know that you can access ramps. I think there's another diverter back there. This is crazy. That whole weird swoopy upper right metal form ramp. Which way do you even hit that? And then it comes out into the V wire form bendy thing Gate, the V gate And then on top of everything else There's a magnet in the middle of the play field The magneto messes with your ball You got sentinel hands coming out Dude Alright, so what else do you get with the LE? You get this cool candy coat purple Pounder coated armor, love it Two tone buttons The foil aren't on the side The back glass and only 811 of these. So they've gone ahead and added some extra value in there by pulling more into it, right? I'm looking at the pictures again, man, trying to digest what's going on here. That is a very target in a modern Stern. What the heck is going on? What the heck is even going on? So with only 811 of these, right, there's like 20% effectively fewer games baked into LE, and hell of a game. Jaws is a hell of a game with Elwin. I think Danger's right there, man. His team, what we're putting together, it does the Flintstones thing. That's my favorite part of that game is where the ball comes down across the apron and this one does it. So if I'm watching this correctly and if I digested the videos appropriately, off this right flipper, it'll go up into almost like one of those slink shots or whatever from Deadpool, crosses over into the wire form, comes down across the apron into the danger room where it looks like it could carry enough velocity to take it around that out-lane spinner, back to the mini-flipper, up through the ramp, over to the Cerebro lock, and come back down on your left flipper. What in the world? What in the world? My favorite shot on Jaws is on that upper play field on the Premium LE where you hit that extra ramp, and then it curves around, does that quick 180, and goes out into that left lanes and then exits back through the spinner, back to your flipper. What a fun shot that is. And this looks like it's as good or better than that. Zombie Gideon's art. I don't know. How do you create an art package like this? You have to start with a white wood and then somehow incorporate everything on there. I didn't even notice until late this evening that there's a second pop bumper in this game, and it's a gambit pop bumper. And it's over there on the right. I don't know how it fits in there. there's like stand up targets everywhere what the heck is happening I don't even know if there's drop targets anywhere I know there's a jaw that drops off the sentinel and then he kafooms back out of his chin back at you my god dude there's so much here now I know the theme doesn't speak to everybody it's a Marvel theme it's a comic book theme right maybe you're more into the adult themes the bonds or the John Wicks or like the movie themes but you gotta like the shots that are in here if you like pinball, man. And even the Pro has a lot of the same, at least flowy shots on it. And you're not missing an upper playfield aspect, because the Danger Room's down there. It gets all your upper playfield antics right there, and it's on the main playfield. This is a game that's definitely not a fan layout. And it doesn't have an upper playfield taking up a bunch of room. What is going on in the back right corner? I know there's these upper ramps, but there's got to be more stuff underneath there. Dude, I can't wait to get this game And I don't think I'm going to have to wait Because I went ahead and got an LE And it'll probably be delivered next week And holy garbage, right? So here's the other thing My original plan that I had devised And I talked about it before here Was what if I could get a premium Have it for four or five months Trick it out like I do You know, with the ramps With the powder coated armor And I'll fill it up with mods Put a shaker motor in there Maybe an alternate trans light Put a topper on You know, just kind of do it all up shooter rod, star buttons, the whole bit. Get everything powder coated, the coin door, two-tone, with those chrome door inserts. Just make the thing look really great like I do. And then I'd go ahead and sell it as like, you know, kind of a premium makeover for right around what the MSRP was and, you know, the money that I would lose and what I put into it was my cost of having it for five months, you know. And I had somebody that said, yeah, dude, let's do it. So I'm like, okay, fine. I'm good. I get to get this game now. And I've already got a buyer for it, so it's kind of like, you know, I'm spending money, but then I'm going to get it back, and I'm going to enjoy the newest Stern game for four months. Like, what's bad about that? Even if the game is not the best, who doesn't want to have a game in their room for, you know, $700 for five months or something? That's what I thought was going to happen. And then I was like, no way, I've got to get an LE. There was no FOMO, like, fear that I was going to miss out on being able to own this game or that I would have to wait two years to get it. The fear of missing out was Time would just go by and I wouldn't have this game to play So that's why I jumped on it But then I wanted to honor my commitment So I'm like, you know what, send me the premium too I'll do a premium build I'm getting better with every one that I do It's something that I enjoy working on And you know what, I'll just I'll sell the premium, that'll still be the plan But then I'll have my LE, right Just a beautiful game, foil art I dig the X-Men I like what Jack's doing I think this will have more longevity in it than Foo Fighters Let's do it And then I had someone else reach out Don, hey, I heard you're doing these builds, man I would totally love to get one And I'm like, alright, well Jeff Throw me another premium So at some point I'm going to have three X-Men In my house Two that I'm working on, fixing up and getting out The thing that changes though Is the whole idea was that I was going to have this game And play it for five months Now I going to be making these games over refinery style Donco Custom style and they going to have like no plays on them They're still going to be brand new. So a couple of people are really lucking out here, being able to pay near MSRP and get fully loaded, fully featured games. Now part of this, I also have a relationship with a guy that makes my armor, Frank over at Cab Custom. You all know him because you guys are sending him, like, tremendous orders now. Not a sponsor of the show, but he did send me stuff from here time to time, which I like to give away. We gave away a set of powder-coated Jaws armor. He sent me the armor. I went and got it powder-coated, and we gave away a full set just for fun. And I think that had to have worked out for him because everybody I know is getting Cab Custom armor now. The price is great. The quality is awesome. Shipped directly to your house from Europe. What the heck, man? And in some senses, in most senses, better than what's available through official channels. Awesome, man. Awesome. So I'm going to do like a package deal. One other thought I had, since I do have this good relationship with the producer of this laser-cut armor, is what if I just start ordering some armor sets? If anyone out there is getting a premium X-Men machine or a pro X-Men machine, and you want it to look great, you want it to have that powder coat, you don't want to go through the trouble of finding a powder coat or is their quality good, are they going to understand what you're doing, and you just want to buy a set of armor and a lockdown bar that are already done, You just bolt them on your machine, say for $4.99. Let me know because I'll get an order in. I'll do a batch of powder coats. And for under $500, you can dress up your machine. It's going to look just like something from my show floor. Let me know. This is something I'm kicking around. This is something I'm kicking around. A little bit different episode here because I'm just like, I'm staring at this play field. Like, when do I get to play this? What is even going on? I'm finding new stuff the more I look at it. But, I mean, we've had pinball release days before. We had Venom release days. We had John Wick release days. We had the Jaws release week. Remember, that was like Shark Week. But, man, I don't think anybody was prepared for this. Xavier School's up there. Man, there's so much detail on this damn play field. I haven't even looked at the Artblade yet. What the hell's even going on there? All right. X-Men, you've seen it. My God, right? And I'm hearing that from other people, too. Like, they said the same thing. And Cary Hardy. I caught his live stream. He got home from work. He's like, I saw the video, and I was like, holy crap. That's kind of how he talks. And I said the same thing. Like, I was watching the video. I was just texting people just, holy S-word, man. And people are like, what is it? What is it? What are you saying? And I'm like, I don't know how to conceptualize it into words right now. Such a radical lower third of the play field. Like, the Italian bottom has been the standard, right? And this just throws it on its head. Like there's not even a way to bounce into the outlanes from down on the left flipper without going around Bishop there by the pop pop bumper. How's this game going to play? It's going to play so different than anything else. And there's like this kiddie pride shot. Like how do you fit that in there? And where the hell does the ball even exit at by the Quinn? It's not even a Quinn jet. No, it can't exit there because that's where the ball goes up. I got to get this thing in the house and go over and try to figure out what's actually going on here. There's like, there's like magical things happening in this I can't wait I'm so excited for this game so excited for this game get it to me alright so I think Jaws has been selling pretty well the Jaws LEs I don't know they're not completely sold out I think you can still find them but I gotta imagine it's like 85% just sold out this one I mean I still don't know what the market's gonna do or again I have to wait and see but this is one that I can see selling out It's not going to triple in cost and value once you get it, but this game looks like it's going to be a keeper, let the code mature, man. Gosh, this looks awesome. And then that would have been plenty. That would have been plenty for today. We got the one-year warranty from Stern. They also let it slip that the speaker lights that they have, the expression speaker lights or whatever they're calling them, Those kits have been selling well, and they have plans now for the next four games they're going to make. I saw Star Wars, Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Jurassic Park are going to have custom code put in for those Stern speaker lights. So go get your kits now. They're asking dealers to go ahead and get their orders in because Stern's ready to do another big batch order, and they want to get an idea on demand. So if you're thinking you want to get them, now they're already available and programmed for Bond, Wick, Jaws. There was one more game too. Foo Fighters? No, there was another one in there. Bond? Wick? Jaws? What was the one more? I can't think of it. Anyway, they're about to add Star Wars Rush, Led Zeppelin, Jurassic Park, with more to follow. So I've got my order in for a set. I'm going to put in Star Wars. I already have speaker lights in Star Wars, but I want these speaker lights because of the new code that's going to be in there. And for $1.99, I think they're kind of doing us a solid. I'm happy. I'm happy with that. what else did we talk about? The X-Men franchise, $6 billion in film proceeds. X-Men 97 is 99% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Deadpool and Wolverine is the first R-rated movie to make a billion dollars. This game is based on Days of Future Past. With a current timeline, a future timeline. It's in Earth 811. That's why there's 811 LEs. And then I just start writing expletives down. Like, oh my goodness. All right. So, guys, that would have been plenty. That would have been more than plenty for today. But we got this other underwater game from Jersey Jack Pinball. Don't forget about Avatar. They've been teasing it. Well, they finally took – they were sending out the photos to the whoever's. And then they did like the palm frond photo. And now we got like an official teaser, right? It's Pandora the Battle for Avatar. So it's got like a sub name to it. We're already past the hoax memo and everything. We're now getting an official word from Jersey Jack. And now we have a launch date of September 12th, which is in eight days from now. So one week and one day, we're going to have the Jersey Jack reveal. Now, I still hold by the fact that they probably should have found a way to release this yesterday, right? One day before this X-Men. Because my budget has just dried completely up to the point that I went ahead and listed Big Lebowski today. I'm working a deal for John Wick, LE. Even Black Knight and Elvira are not safe Because we need to make some revenue And looking at Pinside today I am not alone There's a prototype Lebowski on there for $10,000 You guys I played this game It's an early prototype But that's the cheapest I've seen a big Lebowski Second cheapest is mine At $11,999 And that is with a Laserific topper And I still have an electric playground topper As well that I can bundle with it if you want to get with me So if you want a big Lebowski holler at me People have been sniffing around so I don think it will be around here for too long I've played it. I've enjoyed it. I've got the sound mod in there. It plays the full version of the songs. Oh, it's such a vibe. Everybody jams on it when they come over. This is a very cool game if you're into that type of game. It's fantastic. Go bowling. Go bowling. Well, we're going to try to generate some revenue here. so we can get these games in here, get them out to, I guess I have customers now because I have people ordering custom builds. Anyway, all of that would have been plenty today, but then we got this Jersey Jack business as well. And so now I'm starting to hear more and more, I think the lips are loosening a bit now that there's X-Men hype and they want to do everything they can to remind people that this game is available soon. But what I'm hearing from Avatar is like, this game is as loaded as a Jersey Jack game has been since Wizard of Oz and has that not been what we've been asking Jersey Jack Pinball to do? Hey, remember Wizard of Oz? Remember everything that was in there? Remember that, yes, it probably almost bankrupted you making these things because there's so much in there. But we want that. We want that back. And it sounds like Mark Seiden and team, listen to that. I would say make it more like Pirates of the Caribbean. But I'm hearing that this is the most loaded game since Wizard of Oz, which would mean more than Pirates of the Caribbean. Okay, I'm now interested in whatever pinball extravaganza is about to come out from, like, the Lamborghini of pinball makers, Jersey Jack Pinball, especially with all the LEDs and the sparkle and the seven pounds of glitter that are in those machines. Those machines are expensive. Those machines are expensive. So I'm hearing the topper is, like, crazy amazing and has, like, interactions with the gameplay. I'm hearing the game does things pinball machines haven't done before, so I don't know what that means. but maybe we'll understand when we see it. What we have seen is there's some under play field activity, right? There's that subway where balls were locking. We saw that in one of the photos that went up recently. I think that was a kineticist photo maybe. And then the teaser video they showed today shows like a little under play field, right? There's a piece of plastic that's glued in or screwed into the play field. It looks to be about six inches or so big. But if there's flippers down there, they're stand-up targets. So maybe you can go down there and, I don't know, congo around with the blue people. I'm hearing six flippers, which seems to me like a lot. If we had a game with six flippers, that's a lot of flippers, man. Maybe there's a couple of flippers on the underplay field. I've heard that there's multiple underplay fields. Now, I don't know if that subway counts as one and maybe this is the second one or maybe there's even more hidden around. I've heard things like there was two translucent underwater areas on the play field. So maybe we've seen those already, or maybe there's still another one to be seen. Because I think we've only really seen the bottom of the game and maybe the middle third where these inserts are. We don't know what's going on with the rest of it. If you're waiting for a flying Banshee mech, I don't think there's going to be one. I think that was hoax. But they need to bring a contender, especially if they're doing a license like Avatar, which is, you know, we're not dressing up as Na'vi when we go to Comic-Cons, right, or anything. You know, it's not Star Wars. You know, it's not Doc and Marty, right? So if you're doing that, you've got to come with something amazing. And, you know, I'm not counting Jersey Jack out. I'll have to wait and see what they have. I don't have money in the budget now. I kind of went heavy on X-Men, but how could you not, man? Look at this thing. But I want to see what they have. I want to see what they have. And the good news is we're not going to have long to wait because the 12th, again, it's in eight days from now. I think it's almost midnight, so we're one week away from this launch. And it looks like on the 13th, Friday the 13th, I'll be on site in Chicago playing this game. So I'm super enthusiastic now about that. I hope it all works out because I can't wait to get my hands on the flippers. The Navi don't have flippers, do they? Do the ocean Na'vi have flippers? Do they have fingers? Do they have webbed hands? I've got to go watch Way of Water again. I saw the movie. I actually enjoyed it. These movies get hyped up so much you're like, eh, I don't really want to see it. It was a good movie. It was a good movie. Visuals were great. So I'm interested in Avatar. I like the world that they made. It's cool, world building and stuff. It's not Star Wars, but it is spectacle. And what is pinball if not interactive spectacle? I say that it's a combination of video games, right? A combination of slot machine because it's got that feedback, you know, that makes you want to keep playing. I want to see the scores go up. I want to see the numbers do things. I want to get the jackpots and see what happens, right? Cross between like a model railroad set and probably a dollhouse. I think that's pinball, right? Right, because the gameplay and the rules are so expanded now. and like the feedback with the players is just as just as addictive as a slot machine is but then the way you can decorate these things and get in there and play around this little miniature environment it's just like playing with trains man it's just like playing with trains so why not you know find the movie franchise with the biggest spectacle and bring that in i think that's that's probably what they're doing so guys i'm not even exhausted I could keep going for another two days now off all the excitement from today and interacting with everybody, mainly on the Discord. Check that out if you haven't been on there. On the Facebook, we've been on there. People are putting up their reaction videos and things. I did a reaction to the teaser on YouTube. I had some time yesterday to go and livestream WWE WrestleMania LE. So go check that out because I don't think there's a whole lot of people livestreaming that particular game. And then, gosh, dude, I knew there was going to be more, and I didn't know it was going to be like this, man. So we'll see what happens from here on out. I'm going to take a breather for the weekend, and then we'll circle back and get ready to get the hype train going again for the company that Jack built. But for now, it's X-Men time. Days of Future Past. A very target on a modern game. And it's implemented amazingly. an elevated captive ball mutant ball trajectory thing the downtown ramp is that what it's called? that pretzel? where the heck does the kitty pride shot go? I don't even know what mods to add to this thing woo Thank you.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 5bba09a4-095f-4877-bc98-431bcbf1feea*