# DPP #39 "Haggis drama, Foo Premium is LIT, Patreon!"

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2023-05-02  
**Duration:** 26m 31s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donspinballpodcast/episodes/DPP-39-Haggis-drama--Foo-Premium-is-LIT--Patreon-e23bfpv

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## Analysis

Don discusses Haggis Pinball's controversial 2.0 upgrade offer for Fathom, secondary market pricing concerns around his R2D2 Star Wars topper, his Foo Fighters Premium setup experience with hardware issues and aftermarket upgrades, and his new Patreon launch.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Haggis Pinball announced a 2-week limited offer for 2.0 upgrade to Classic Standard Edition purchasers, previously exclusive to Mermaid Edition — _Don, based on official Haggis announcement_
- [HIGH] Fathom was announced April 2021 and still won't ship until end of 2023, approximately two years late — _Don's timeline calculation_
- [HIGH] Haggis Pinball's season ticket pass requires $6,000 AUD (~$4,000 USD) for four future game deposits at $1,500 AUD each — _Don describing the new fundraising offer_
- [MEDIUM] At current Stern production pace (300 Scooby-Doos in 2.5 months starting mid-February), Foo Fighters production will take at least 3 more months to reach mid-700s units — _Don's production rate extrapolation_
- [HIGH] Don's R2D2 Star Wars topper (limited edition 120/500) was priced at $3,800 based on recent comps ($3,000-$3,799 range) — _Don's market analysis_
- [HIGH] Foo Fighters Premium opto sensor issue is a manufacturing defect, not a common setup problem; Stern is sending replacement under warranty — _Don's troubleshooting experience and Stern's warranty response_
- [HIGH] Foo Fighters is 'game of the year' contender, neck-and-neck with Godzilla, and code is only at v0.9 with more updates coming — _Don's personal opinion after extended play_
- [HIGH] IO Arcade in Madison, Wisconsin is hosting Foo Fighters launch party Saturday with Jack Danger as a guest — _Don announcing upcoming event_
- [MEDIUM] Haggis Pinball has not been transparent about factory production status, unlike Spooky's public video updates — _Don's criticism of transparency and reference to Kaneda's podcast coverage_

### Notable Quotes

> "They're offering that code. That code also comes with an upgrade to the apron, which includes those little 4-inch screens that are there."
> — **Don**, ~5:30
> _Clarifies what the 2.0 upgrade includes beyond code changes_

> "Transparency equals sandwiches for the factories, the baseline take home, which that's just fantastic interaction between the community and the pinball company."
> — **Don**, ~6:45
> _Commends Kaneda's approach to pushing Haggis for transparency_

> "So you know, we would be realistically be looking at you exhausting your pre-ordered games and finally getting this full collection in about eight years at this point."
> — **Don**, ~11:15
> _Highlights the extreme timeline for Haggis' five-game commitment at current production pace_

> "I mean, it's not like I'm trying to get rid of this thing. If I was, I'd list it for $2,700, and it probably would have been gone."
> — **Don**, ~19:30
> _Defends his R2D2 topper pricing and explains his valuation methodology_

> "Foo Fighters Premium is blowing my socks off. Now, these LE buyers who have got their machines, you know, no surprise to them because they've had this game and they got the expression lights to boot."
> — **Don**, ~21:00
> _Strong positive statement about Foo Fighters Premium's quality and value proposition versus LE_

> "I think once I get them more fully integrated with the game, it's going to shine even more. I'm going to stay on Foo Fighters for a little bit because I've had some more things going today."
> — **Don**, ~38:30
> _Shows Don's commitment to optimizing the game with PinStadiums and other upgrades_

> "I mean, this is going to be game of the year for sure. So I give that a listen."
> — **Don**, ~44:30
> _Predicts Foo Fighters as game of the year, reinforcing its quality_

> "So I've got one tier level. Here's my deal. It's five bucks. If you like listening to what I do and you want a way to say, yo, bro, thanks for what you're doing."
> — **Don**, ~50:45
> _Announces Don's Patreon launch and value proposition_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast, home collector, pinball enthusiast in Wisconsin |
| Haggis Pinball | company | Australian boutique pinball manufacturer known for Fathom Revisited and Mermaid Edition |
| Fathom Revisited | game | Remake of classic 1981 Fathom by Haggis Pinball, announced April 2021, features water projection effects |
| Mermaid Edition | product | Limited edition variant of Fathom Revisited with water droplet projector effects on playfield floor |
| Foo Fighters | game | Newest Stern release with Premium and LE variants, Jack Danger designer, highly praised by Don |
| Jack Danger | person | Curator and creative artist behind Foo Fighters Pro/Premium/LE design |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; producing Foo Fighters and other recent releases |
| Kaneda | person | Pinball podcaster who has criticized Haggis Pinball on his show for lack of transparency |
| Raymond Davidson | person | Programmer/coder for Foo Fighters, featured in Loser Kids podcast interview |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer known for transparent factory video updates showing production progress |
| IO Arcade | venue | Madison, Wisconsin arcade hosting Foo Fighters launch party with Jack Danger |
| Jeff | person | Owner/representative of Mad Pinball; provided Don with early Foo Fighters Premium build and warranty support |
| Jim | person | Brand new listener from Pittsburgh who sold Don Rush Expression Lights previously used with Led Zeppelin |
| Kerry Hardy | person | Content creator who created Foo Fighters Premium video and PinStadium/Titan bands promotional content |
| PinStadiums | product | LED lighting upgrade system for playfields; Don using glow-in-the-dark variants with UV modes |
| Titan Bands | product | Rubber post upgrades; Don using low-bounce variants on Foo Fighters for reduced outlane bounces |
| Loser Kids | organization | Pinball podcast featuring interview with Raymond Davidson about Foo Fighters coding |
| Centaur | game | Rumored next Haggis Pinball title; classic game from same era as Fathom |
| Scooby-Doo | game | Stern pinball machine; Don tracking production via forum spreadsheet (reached unit 300 by May) |
| Godzilla | game | Recent Stern pinball title; mentioned as neck-and-neck game of the year contender with Foo Fighters |
| Wisconsin Pinball | organization | Local pinball community group running tournaments and events in Wisconsin |
| Flip N Out Pinball | company | Pinball retailer who sold R2D2 topper for $3,500 last year |
| Game Room Goodies | company | Retailer with archived R2D2 topper listing at $3,799 |
| Pinside | organization | Major pinball forum and secondary market trading platform |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Haggis Pinball business practices and transparency, Fathom production delays and secondary market pricing, Foo Fighters Premium quality, setup issues, and upgrades
- **Secondary:** Secondary market pricing and collector dynamics (R2D2 topper), Hardware modifications and aftermarket upgrades (PinStadiums, Titan Bands), Stern production rates and code update cycles
- **Mentioned:** Pinball venue launch events and tournaments, Podcast monetization via Patreon

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.55) — Positive on Foo Fighters (enthusiastic, high praise), negative on Haggis Pinball (frustrated with delays and lack of transparency), mixed/defensive on R2D2 topper pricing (justified but acknowledges backlash), overall upbeat tone despite criticisms

### Signals

- **[product_concern]** Foo Fighters Premium has opto sensor receiver defect affecting Overlord's Lair lock mechanism; appears to be component-level issue not user error (confidence: high) — Don's detailed troubleshooting showed emitter functional but receiver non-responsive even after desoldering/resoldering; Stern sent replacement under warranty
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Stern producing Scooby-Doo at ~120 units per 2.5 months based on public unit numbers (300 units by May 2023) (confidence: medium) — Don's calculation: mid-Feb first units, mid-May unit 300, extrapolated to 3+ months remaining for mid-700s units
- **[business_signal]** Haggis Pinball criticized for lack of production transparency compared to competitors like Spooky; Kaneda has pressured them on podcast (confidence: high) — Don: 'They have been taken to task by Kaneda on his podcast so much now that...there's a free lunch out there for anybody that wants to be a little more transparent'
- **[product_strategy]** Haggis Pinball introduced season ticket pass ($6k AUD / $4k USD for 4 future games) as Kickstarter-style pre-funding model (confidence: high) — Don describing new offer: 'basically, you can lay down four deposits of $1,500 Australian for and secure their next four titles'
- **[product_concern]** Haggis Fathom announced April 2021, promised delivery by end of 2022, now delayed to end of 2023 (24+ months late) (confidence: high) — Don: 'they announced that they were going to have all the games made at the end of the year last year. Now that has turned into the end of the year this year'
- **[collector_signal]** R2D2 Star Wars topper (120/500 LE) trading in $3,500-$3,800 range on secondary market; Don listed at $3,800 based on recent comps (confidence: high) — Don tracking: Pinside ads $3,000-$3,200, Flip N Out $3,500, Game Room Goodies $3,799; four recent sales in this band
- **[sentiment_shift]** Negative reception to Don's R2D2 topper pricing; some buyers accused him of inflated valuation, one potential buyer strung him along then disappeared (confidence: medium) — Don: 'some people just were straight up hateful to me' and 'I think I just got hosed by someone messing with me, someone that was just upset at my valuation'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Foo Fighters code currently at v0.9; still in active development with more updates expected before v1.0 (confidence: high) — Don: 'The code's only at 0.9 guys we're not even at 1.0 yet so i'm looking forward to that coming up'
- **[technology_signal]** PinStadiums and Titan Bands aftermarket LED/rubber upgrades gaining adoption; Don using glow-in-the-dark PinStadiums with UV modes on Foo Fighters (confidence: medium) — Don's detailed setup of PinStadiums with UV light triggers and Titan low-bounce rubbers; Kerry Hardy promoting similar upgrades
- **[event_signal]** Foo Fighters launch parties occurring across venues; IO Arcade (Madison, WI) event on Saturday with Jack Danger as guest appearance (confidence: high) — Don: 'IO Arcade from noon to four, they're going to have their Foo Fighters launch party...will be attended by Jack Danger, the curator and creative artist'
- **[community_signal]** Don launched Patreon at $5/month tier with exclusive behind-the-scenes content; gained first patron within 10 minutes of launch (confidence: high) — Don: 'I've got one tier level. Here's my deal. It's five bucks...I started that just a few days ago, and within the first ten minutes, I think I had my first patron'
- **[rumor_hype]** Centaur rumored as next Haggis Pinball title after Fathom; no official confirmation but persistent community speculation (confidence: low) — Don: 'that's been the persistent rumor that Centaur is next' and later 'Will...Centaur...be next? Yeah. Are they going to make it? We'll see, I guess.'

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## Transcript

 And now, coming directly from his basement arcade where his eyes are bleeding from the PinStadiums, it's Don's Pinball Podcast, episode 39! What's up, everybody? Welcome to Monday, welcome to the beginning of a new week, and welcome to more information and news and views that you can't afford to lose! It's Don's Pinball Podcast, episode 39, helping your commute on a Tuesday morning. It might be a little bit frosty if you're up here in Wisconsin, but here I am to give you some more information and to be your friend, to be your partner and confidant as we navigate the massive swamp of pinball news and views and other things like that. Let's get to the drop. That fell apart faster than some vineyard vines, purple corduroy pants. What's up, everybody? It's Monday. I've got some news. I've got some views. I've got some entertaining things for you to listen to in your ears. Welcome to Monday. What's going on? We've recovered from the weekend. And, man, was there some drama that was stirred up by our boys in Australia with Haggis Pinball when they announced that they need money. No, no, no. What they announced was they have decided for two weeks only to offer a 2.0 upgrade to anybody that did not get in on the Mermaid Edition of Fathom. Okay, the Fathom story. Just to recap, announced two years ago, Haggis Pinball, these mad lads out there in Australia, makers of kelts, you know, that fine championed pin that's up at the top of the leaderboard on pin side, I assume, I haven't checked, but they released, when the heck did Fathom even come out, in the 70s, 1981, something like that? Well, they recreated it, and the machine is beautiful, especially the Mermaid Edition, because it projects water droplet kind of schemes through a projector on the bottom of the machine, onto the floor which i can totally dig otherwise it's an old grandpa's game you know it's a electric mechanic or maybe the generation after that kind of some simple gameplay but some beautiful graphics you know and themed about these you know sirens slash mermaids that grab divers and drug them down to their doom so they announced that they were going to make this game and then you know they were going to be transparent and all these things and it was going to take eight weeks to get your game and you gave it a deposit and it wasn't doing full until it was ready to ship until it was and then it was like give me all your money and wait eight months and Now they're slowly tricking out. Well, they have announced that they are going to allow people that have purchased, and I assume are still waiting for, the Classic Standard Edition of the game, the 2.0 upgrade, which here they're due for, was only available to purchasers of that Mermaid Edition. And that has ruffled some feathers. It has rustled some jimmies. If you purchased this machine at that top trim level, you're expecting to get certain things exclusive to that level, right? and so I could see on the one hand where people would be a little bit upset about that. On the other hand, how many people have actually done that? On the other hand, people that have bought the game have a game that's actually worth more on the secondary market right now, so you're not really out any money. And on how many hands are we on now? The fourth hand, has anybody even gone in on these classic editions yet? And, you know, they haven't even been made yet from what I can tell. Well, we were told last year that all the Fathoms would be made at the end of the year and they'd be getting a Centaur. Well, they didn't mention that, but that's been the persistent rumor that Centaur is next. Another game of that line, and that's got some pretty cool art. You know, Lit Pinball up in Minneapolis has one to play. I've got one on my V-Pin. It's a fun-ish game from that same era. So they're offering that code. That code also comes with an upgrade to the apron, which includes those little 4-inch screens that are there. Now, I got to play myself one of these Mermaid editions back there at Expo. I played one game on it. It looked well enough. It looked built well. it was pretty. I don't remember anything really different about the code. Maybe it wasn't uploaded. Maybe it wasn't in that mode or maybe I just, it was so subtle. I didn't even notice. But that is now available. So, you know, these guys have been saying that they were going to have all the games made at the end of the year last year. Now that has turned into the end of the year this year, what we haven't seen is what's going on in the factory. They have been taken to task by Kaneda on his podcast so much now that, well, I'll let him talk about it, but there's a free lunch out there for anybody that wants to be a little more transparent. Transparency equals sandwiches for the factories, the baseline take home, which that's just fantastic interaction between the community and the pinball company. And I certainly would like to know what's going on in that factory. Now, not only that folks, you have two weeks to purchase that 2.0 upgrade. If you want no word on if that 2.0 upgrade will work for Centaur. But they also have this season ticket pass thing, which looks like a kind of a Kickstarter method of fundraising, which I get it new company need to generate some revenue. I guess Kelts wasn't doing that. So they're doing this. So basically, you can lay down four deposits of $1,500 Australian for and secure their next four titles. And what they'll do is if you do go in on this, they're promising that they can keep your number exclusive across all the lines. So if you end up buying all five of their games, we'll get to how long it's going to take in a minute, but they would all be the same number addition, you know? So, I mean, that's kind of cool. Now, you're going to have to lay down for their next four games, if you want to take part of this offer, $6,000 Australian. Converts to $4,000 in Eagle Feather money we use here in the States, or in the Euros, it's about $3,600. So, okay, you know, that's something that you can do. I see that these games are appealing. The games are pretty for sure the games are made well the games are are slow baked is the problem and you know there's no assurances now given a track record on when you would actually receive these now fathom was announced april of 2021 exactly two years and a couple of days ago and so they're still going to take until the end of the year now to to make these if we take them at their word where they are now i'd like to see some evidence of the factory to that effect um but we would be realistically be looking at you exhausting your pre-ordered games and finally getting this full collection in about eight years at this point. So I don't know. I was just over on Pinside there, and there was four Fathoms in box or recently used for sale that you can get right now. And yes, they're going to cost you a little bit more money than going in and ordering one. However, you can also have it sooner And so you know is that extra thousand dollars at um worth it to you and money to skip the line by about eight months to a year You know I think that would be reasonable One just sold for $11,500. There's another one for sale right now. It's out of box, $10,500. If you really want a Fathom Mermaid edition, there's one available there. There's also one listed for the crazy price of $11,896. I don't know how they came up with that. It looks like it's down in Florida. But that one's still new in box. if I really had my jimmies set on getting me a fathom I think this is the route I would go to and just skip the waiting period and eat the $1,500 cost and know that I actually am going to receive a game nothing seems to be guaranteed yet wish these guys all the best I mean you know they make a beautiful machine when they can get it out and they haven't been transparent with me as a potential customer about you know how exactly many of these are leaving the factory you know I love it if they would follow you know spooky's demonstration of where they you know throw out videos of like here's what's going on the line here's how many games we're making a week and then you're seeing people unbox and set up i mean we just saw scooby-doo 299 was just posted it's up it's working so they're into the 300s now and so given that uh i believe um the middle of february is when i played my first scooby-doo it was one of the first ones available in the public as io Arcade. More on them in just a little bit. I'll make a note to myself. IO Arcade, talk about that. So that was the middle of February. And so here we are in May. And so middle of February, we'll give them two weeks, March, April. So two and a half months, they've managed to crank out their first 300. So way to go, Scooby. That gets an air horn sound button. So if I'm looking at being in the mid 700s, I'm looking probably another at least three months until I'll get my game. But we know that. We're seeing people post them out there. I got my machine. Here's my number. Here's what's coming up. On the Scooby-Doo forum, there's a spreadsheet where people are updating the dates when they hear that they're asked for deposit, when they get scheduled delivery, and when it shows up. And we can all track that. Transparency is a fantastic thing, especially if we're going to be laying down money, especially Australian dollars, and then hoping that this game shows up. So I'd like to see a little bit more of that transparency for me to go in on one of these games. you know should i be in the market for them currently uh i'm kind of holding back because they're you know for at home use for me personally i don't think these games would hold a lot of my interest i can play them on my v-pin i could play fathom i got two versions on there they're fantastic i like playing them you know when i want that gameplay when i get that itch i go grab my mermaids um centaurs on there it's a weird game i think i like fathom better but you know they're they're pretty and i would like to see them at shows i would like to see them on location so i could play them occasionally so hopefully they can figure it out and get it together and get these machines together and out to people but isn't that always the way with some of these boutiques that are out there on the fringe have i talked about fathom and haggis enough i think so uh moving on recently i did list my r2d2 star wars topper limited edition number 120 of 500 on pinside also on facebook marketplace and i'm getting some slings and arrows about the price there. Okay, so I'm going to lay it out. I came into this R2-D2 topper recently. I know it's in limited edition. It's kind of cool to me, but I'm sure it's worth more to somebody else. So I did list it. Now I came upon my price by looking at the last four of these that I could see sold. And I saw two listed old archived ads on Pinside, $3,000, $3,200. Flip N Out Pinball sold one last year for $3,500 and game room goodies had one sold out at 37 99. Now was that the actual price that they sold it at or not? Um, I don't know, but I went ahead and priced it at $3,800 because that looks like what the price is, uh, when we left off. And some people just were straight up hateful to me. Um, other people were like, I get it. You know, you're probably going to sell it. I got an offer within the first four hours of putting that thing up. I had some guy in Texas, some knucklehead, from Pinside who said he was going to give me a cashier's check right away. And I'm like, okay, great. Well, I have references. Before you just mail $3,800 off, make sure I'm not a scam. We can video chat. I can show you that it works. I can verify that I'm the guy from the podcast. I mean, it would look bad if I was scamming people. I got none of that, but I got reassurances that, oh, work was busy. I'm going to go get it tomorrow. Oh, I'm going to send it tonight with a tracking number. And then nothing. Like a week goes by. I've had other people ask if it's still available, and I was waiting on this guy. So I think I just got hosed by someone messing with me, someone that was just upset at my valuation. And I think I was fairly transparent with where the valuation for that topper was at, notwithstanding that I don't hate the thing. I mean, it's not like I'm trying to get rid of this thing. If I was, I'd list it for $2,700, and it probably would have been gone. My wife kind of likes it, and she's not really looking at me to sell it. So it comes down to a value judgment. That's the value that I've seen in the marketplace. That's the trend of where it's been going. That's the veracity of the rarity of this topper device. So that's where I listed it at. If someone offered me $3,000, I don't know if I would sell it. I'd probably keep it for that price. But if someone wanted $3,800 or maybe even a little bit less, or would be willing to trade something, maybe they have a Williams Diner, and I can give them my topper and a couple of grand and get a Williams Diner, I would probably do that deal too. I mean, I'm open to negotiation. but there's no need to say, oh, hey, guy, I'm going to send you a cashier's check. Just wait and just keep dribbling me on for no reason. What's the point of that? Come with a counteroffer. A couple people did that, and I put them on the list waiting, so we'll see what shakes out, but that's my rationale behind posting it that way. I'm not trying to rip people off. That's just what I've seen in the marketplace. Moving on to something better. Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters Premium is blowing my socks off. Now, these LE buyers who have got their machines, you know, no surprise to them because they've had this game and they got the expression lights to boot. Now, me, I went in on a premium. I'm glad I did. Man, this game is amazing. Mad Pinball hooked it up. They got me an early build. So thank you, Jeff, very much for that. I am not sponsored by Mad Pinball, but I bought three machines from them, and they always seem to come with, you know, good deals, MSRP, fast delivery, and great communication and great service. So if you need a game, you know, and your distro's list that you're working with is out six months or so, maybe give Matt a call. They seem to be able to get the deals and get the allocations. And when it comes down to getting a game, who can get it to you first, right? I mean, they all drop ship anyway. But so thanks Jeff so much for helping me out especially with an issue I had Now I live streamed the setup of Foo Fighters Premium That was fun I showed the whole thing me taking it downstairs in my pin crawler and how I was able to do it all solo Took it off the pallet, onto the pin crawler, downstairs, unboxed. This time, I actually laid the box down, pulled the machine out to keep the box intact so I can have one if I need to ship a game. I can have a full intact box. And I was able to do that solidly on my own. So follow my techniques. My back is still intact. So everything has been working out great on that end. Now setting up the game, you know, it's playing fine out of the box, but I noticed a couple of issues, and there was a couple of fixes I had to give to it. So I want to kind of go over those. So for other people that are setting up their Foo Fighters, if they run across the same sort of things, they won't have to scour Pinside and the Facebook forums like I had to. So there's the forks that pop up in lock when you get a ball up into the Overlord's lair up there. My forks were not coming up. I could push them up and they could come down. There's a coil that drives it down. And then there's a magnet release that allows it to spring back up. So my magnet release was set a little bit too close to the center of the release mechanism there. It's hard to explain. I did put some pictures up. But basically I could go into the test and hit that magnet and it wasn't strong enough to pull it. So I found out there's a little retention tab or a little limiting metal tab in there in the device. If you look at it, you can see what I'm talking about. And you can bend that, and it works as like a limiter to how far the little magnet-activated metal can move. You know, its movement is limited by this little metal tab. So I just had to adjust that so that it was catching just at the edge of the activated coil stopper, and then it works just fine. So that was an easy fix. I've seen a couple people had the similar issue, and that was fairly straightforward and easy to fix. Stern actually released a little infographic on how to do that, but it wasn't very clear, so I thought I would explain it. I got some photos on the Facebook page. If you run into that issue at all when you're unboxing this thing, go ahead and get at me, Don's Pinball Podcast, gmail.com. Give me a call. I'll walk you through it, how I did it. That was an easy fix. What has not been an easy fix is figuring out why my opto's not working. There's a little optical sensor on the entrance to the Overlord's lair, and that's what actually triggers the forks to come up and lock a ball behind there. Then you have a captive ball you can play around with, bash it up into the targets, and then the forks drop and it releases for multiball. So my switch was not working. I went into the switch test. Every switch on the machine was working fine except for my ding-dang opto. I disassembled the whole thing. I pulled these optos out and they look like they're a different style than Stern has been using. The Stern optos, even most of the ones that I've seen on Foo Fighters itself, but also Elvira, Godzilla, and Rush, They all have this lens on either end of the emitter and the receiver, and there's a little plastic molded guide or apron or some such thing attached to it. It's a fairly bulky kind of mechanism, but these were just simple little circuit boards with some wires soldered onto them and a couple of LEDs. Now, I could see that my emitter was functioning, and the red LED on the receiver was lit also, but I could not get the thing to register. I even desoldered, resoldered it, nothing. So I called up Stern or sent them a service email, and they said to reach out to your distributor. So I quickly emailed Jeff. He got in on it. I've got a receiver opto on my way under warranty from Stern. So thanks to you guys. I'm playing the game. The game's fantastic. I mean, there's the loop shots. There's the combo shots. The modes are great. I like the music. But I haven't been able to really fully integrate with the overlord locking mechanism there. So the game already is playing fantastically. This is kind of one of the things you run the risk of of getting a new in-box game. Screws are going to be loose sometimes. You've got to check all those, check the Molex connections. When you buy a game used, even if it's recently used, a lot of these initial issues, if they crop up, they've been fixed. So if you're thinking about going new in-box, just keep in the back of your mind, your game might not be 100% out of the box you made it. You tinker with it a little bit. So, you know, build a community of people that have done this before and reach out. You know, I think at this point I'm getting to, like, handyman level of pinball now. I think this is just part of my training. I think a couple more new in-box games and I'll be able to go out on service calls myself maybe. So I've been having a lot of fun with the Foo Fighters. I watched Kerry Hardy's video. So he just put up his Foo Fighters premium video. He just got his from a show unboxed. I talked about it a little bit on the last podcast. And then he did a promotional video showing off the Titan bands and posts, the glow-in-the-dark versions that he put in his. And then he's also sponsored by Penn Stadium, and so he did a video on that. I got my Penn Stadium. I just put all of those glow-in-the-dark bands and posts in, and my God, it melted my brain off tonight playing that game. It was fantastic. I put some photos up on the Don's Pinball Podcast Facebook page. Go check those out there. I mean, you know, the photos come across a little bit darker than they do in person. In person, this thing is retina blasting, which is crazy fantastic. Now, the PinStadiums are not quite straightforward as far as their instructions. The videos I've seen to demonstrate how to hook these up, I think they're from earlier models. I would like them to see, I would like to see them do an updated version of how to set these things up because they come with several types of alligator clips. You've got to find out, you know, the general illumination that you want to clip it to. and then if you get the fusions um then you have to find you know flashers to hook up to and it's not quite straightforward when you're looking at the bottom of a play field especially if you're like me and you're not classically trained in all of this uh but i was able to pick you know a couple of modes and i've got some uv lights that come on um when one of the spotlights lights up and man when it does it lights up uh it fluoresces all of these little posts and things so i'm very happy with that upgrade uh carry hardy's just uses hardy code you can get 10 off from the pin stadiums and titan bands right now so that is a good deal i think every new game that you get or even if it's a game from someone else throw some titan bands in there man i'm trying out the low bounce ones on foo fighters and i'm loving those um they seem to really dampen the bounce so you know when you get uh you know a ball coming down you dead flip it it takes a lot of that energy away so it's not just bouncing around crazy and heading for the outlanes so i recommend those they're not expensive i mean they like a dollar 42 each get yourself a set of these low bounce rubbers and try them out the silicones from Titans I was quite impressed with them This is my first time playing with PinStadiums on my own machine and I have some more tinkering to do with them but so far I quite impressed with their UV ability. I think once I get them more fully integrated with the game, it's going to shine even more. I'm going to stay on Foo Fighters for a little bit because I've had some more things going today. Brand new listener to the show, Jim from Pittsburgh. He's hooked me up. He got his Rush Expression Lights in for his Rush Premium game, which means he was able to remove his Led Zeppelin expression lights that he had been using. And he had them available on pin side. And I jumped on those like a dung beetle on a dirty bowl of macaroni and cheese with feces in it. And I was able to secure a deal where hopefully, you know, and I believe this guy's legit. Um, I should have them to my house later this week so I can put expression lights in my Foo Fighters premium already. So I went in on the Foo Fighters premium. I knew it didn't come with the expression lights. I knew it was $3,000 cheaper than the LE. So, and I thought, you know, I can add the expression lights later. And then I got to thinking, well, you know, it took about a year for them to come out for Rush. They are coming out now, but quantities, you know, while not specifically limited, well, may be limited just because Stern may not run a whole lot of them. So I'm thinking, you know, what if it's another year until I can get my expression lights for my premium? That's kind of lame. So this is a way I was able to reach out and secure a set from Led Zeppelin, I can at least put those in and have expression lights to play with. Now, once they become available, like the official Foo Fighters ones, I'm on a list to go get a set of those and then, just like the sisterhood of the traveling pants, the sisterhood of the traveling expression lights can go on to their next home to prepubescent teenage girl to help console them the way that they're going to do to me. So, for that, I'm thankful. I'm excited to put these expression lights in, especially with the PinStadiums. Now this thing's going to light up like a nuclear bomb in my downstairs. That's going to be fantastic. So thank you, Jim, for hooking that up for me. Really appreciate it. I'm working through the issues with my Foo Fighters, but I'm expecting that opto-receiver here soon. So I'll get back on if that finally solves it, and I can actually play the entire game. All right, other news. I listened to a Loser Kids podcast this week. Fantastic podcast. Raymond Davidson was on there. These guys did an interview, and that is great. Now, your boy here, I don't really know anybody or have these connections to secure these kind of interviews. But it was great listening to Raymond Davidson, who coded Foo Fighters, talk about the process. And it went on for about 70 minutes. So it was great for driving around town, listening to what he went through to put in the code and answer some questions. So I recommend a listen to those guys. They seem to always have quality content. They're one of the podcasts that I never miss when it does come out. So the loser kids guys, I think they also sell shoes and they have some silver ball swag too. But give yourself a listen to that because listen to old Ray Day talk about his coding experience with Foo Fighters. You know, the current, I mean, this is going to be game of the year for sure. So I give that a listen. What else do we got? Okay, so IO Arcade. So we're seeing the Foo Fighter launch parties now going off. Some have already happened. Other ones are coming up this month. And on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin at IO Arcade from noon to four, they're going to have their Foo Fighters launch party. Now, these are usually tournaments, and Stern graces them with, you know, things to give away, a lot of swag, banners, T-shirts, trans lights, plaques, and things. So these are always fun to go to when there is a launch party. But this launch party will be attended by Jack Danger, the curator and creative artist behind the design for Foo Fighters Pro Premium and Limited Edition. So that's going to be fantastic. I'm going to be down there, and I'm going to bring an apron card with me, and I'm going to be that guy that asks him to sign it for me because then that will elevate me to premium plus status on my machine. Otherwise, there will be a tournament going on there. They're always a good time to hang out, and I don't mind playing in tournaments. I'm not a robust tournament player. I mean, I don't always place, but sometimes I get out with a gas card or something. So these are good fun. So I want to give the guys down at IO and the Wisconsin Pinball folks a plug here so go check that out if you're in the area this saturday otherwise if you've got one going on in your neighborhood go check it out you know a lot of these places they do you know weekly or monthly tournaments but the the release party ones they're a step above as far as like you know the things that they are able to give away and some swag so who doesn't like swag man uh who doesn't like to walk around and think that they're a baller now guess what guys i've finally done it I've joined the Patreon Podcaster Brigade, okay? So I've got one tier level. Here's my deal. It's five bucks. If you like listening to what I do and you want a way to say, yo, bro, thanks for what you're doing. You know, let me buy you a beer. Let me buy you a soda. Let me buy you some Godfather games or plays or something. Five bucks a month. I super duper appreciate it. I started that just a few days ago, and within the first ten minutes, I think I had my first patron. So that was just great, dude. You are just a mad lad for good. You get the triple beat salute there. So I've already started posting some, you know, initial content up there too, some exclusive things. What I want to do is, you know, maybe one time a week, we go a little bit deeper into some of these topics with a little bit more, you know, of my personal side of things that I don't really share on these shows. So it's just more of this, right? So if you want to get a little bit more, you know, behind the scenes, who is this guy? Why does he do what he does? How does he pay for pinball machines? How does his wife keep her hands off of him? You know, it just hit me up. But I also got some secret bonus content that I put up there today that is quite hilarious. So be sure to check that out. $5 is your admission fee. No one's saying you've got to stay every month, but don't you want to see what kind of weird stuff I put on there today? Guaranteed you'll be laughing out loud. So there's some secret content there behind the paywall. Only $5 a gander. Think of it as you were walking the midway at the fair, and there was Alligator Girl back there, and you had to pay a couple bucks to go gander. well this is like you know exclusive content that you can peek behind the curtain so i'm gonna let your curiosity sit there and fester and i'm gonna go back and melt my retinas with some foo fighters man this game is great this is gonna be game of the year this is a contender with godzilla it's neck and neck right there i mean i like both of these games now about equal and i can't wait the code's only at 0.9 guys we're not even at 1.0 yet so i'm looking forward to that coming up we'll see what shakes out with Fathom. Is Centaur next? Yeah. Are they going to make it? We'll see, I guess. Hit me up, everybody.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 5d2402ac-f736-4094-9098-d14b1bdac0e5*