# Pinball Party Podcast Ep 31: Kaneda **Source:** The Pinball Network **Type:** video **Published:** 2023-05-31 **Duration:** 87m 17s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFM5fw381SE --- ## Analysis Kaneda appears as guest on Pinball Party Podcast Episode 31, discussing his motivation as a pinball podcaster, his 800+ episodes over 8 years, Patreon-supported show, and his Saturday morning Facebook Live streams that draw ~1,500 viewers. The conversation covers his initial motivation (being banned from Pinside), his philosophy on honest industry criticism, Stern's poor customer support despite quality machines, and personal reflections on potential, career balance, and creative fulfillment in pinball and music. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Kaneda has produced 808 official podcast episodes over approximately 8 years, with about 20 deleted episodes — _Kaneda directly states: 'a billion 808 official then there's about probably 20 deleted podcasts'_ - [HIGH] Kaneda's Saturday Morning Spectacular Facebook Live streams attract approximately 1,500 viewers per week — _Kaneda: 'I think we get about 1,500 people listen' and 'within our little community... 1500 potential buyers of a pinball machine'_ - [HIGH] Kaneda was initially banned from Pinside forum, which motivated him to start podcasting — _Kaneda: 'So you can ask so many people, why was I banned from Pinside? And you will legitimately, if I ask for a specific reason why. Yeah. You won't be able to find any real answer from anybody. I think it was just my overall presence was a little too controversial, too provocative.'_ - [HIGH] Stern Pinball has poor customer support despite producing quality machines; uses distributor model to avoid direct customer engagement — _Kaneda: 'They just want to deal with making the games and not hear from a customer who having issues' and Jason's account of receiving a defective machine with non-responsive support_ - [MEDIUM] Spooky Pinball has superior customer service but potentially lower initial product quality compared to Stern — _Kaneda: 'Stern will generally give you gold but not fix shit... Spooky is going to give you garbage, but then they'll fix everything for you'_ - [HIGH] Pulp Fiction Limited Edition machines sold out in one day and now command secondary market premiums of $2,500-$3,000 — _Kaneda: 'the LEs sell out in one day and now people will pay you $2,500 to $3,000 over just for your spot'_ - [HIGH] Kaneda owns Guns N' Roses number 500 CE, Batman SLE, and has a Pulp Fiction LE on order, planning to set up these games when he purchases a house — _Kaneda: 'the unboxing of my Guns N' Roses number 500 CE, which is sitting at Cointaker, the Batman SLE... And then I'm just waiting. I have a Pulp Fiction LE ordered as well'_ - [HIGH] Kaneda works in marketing/creative at an advertising agency and views pinball as a creative side project that allows freedom he doesn't have in his day job — _Kaneda: 'I work in marketing and I work for a lot of really great brands and I work in an agency... my podcast flips that, 99% of the time I can do whatever I want'_ ### Notable Quotes > "the initial motivation was they banned me from Pinside. So that was like, well, I got it all started" > — **Kaneda**, ~20:40 > _Reveals the founding motivation for his podcast and explains a key source of his controversial reputation_ > "I want to jump on that topic with you because I think Stern's support is absolutely dog shit. I have bought many new in-box games... Half the shit didn't fucking work... Their solution is to just ignore you until the problem goes away" > — **Jason (host)**, ~38:30 > _Direct criticism of Stern's customer support practices; personal anecdote of poor support on a high-value machine_ > "where I want to keep all these companies honest is when it's measurable honesty. So if someone says, hey, we're going to ship your game, Jason, in eight weeks... and then eight months go by... I want to call this company out" > — **Kaneda**, ~35:00 > _Defines Kaneda's philosophy on industry criticism: focused on verifiable facts, not subjective taste_ > "Stern will generally give you gold but not fix shit. It's ironic, right? The company with probably the best quality is the worst customer service" > — **Kaneda**, ~42:00 > _Captures the contrast in Stern's market position: strong manufacturing but weak customer engagement_ > "I don't talk really about other pinball content creators... I'll swing mud at the companies because that's my thing is I want to keep all these companies honest" > — **Kaneda**, ~18:00 > _Kaneda's pivot away from interpersonal drama toward industry accountability; addresses community perception of him_ > "it's not a job. If I ever felt like this was a job, like I don't want to do this, I'll stop doing it. It's not worth my time" > — **Kaneda**, ~12:30 > _Clarifies his motivation structure and boundary for the podcast; suggests burnout prevention strategy_ > "Within our little community, I always look at it through that lens, 1,500 people might watch every Saturday morning spectacular... is a tiny number for followers. But when you look at it through the lens of pinball, it's not that small considering that would be 1500 potential buyers of a pinball machine" > — **Kaneda**, ~11:00 > _Reframes nano-influencer metrics within pinball market context; demonstrates influence calculation relevant to manufacturers_ > "One time I bought a new in-box game... by one of the very most popular Keith Alwyn designs... Half the shit didn't fucking work... their solution is to just ignore you until the problem goes away and you sell the game" > — **Jason (host)**, ~37:00 > _Concrete example of Stern support failure on premium product; quality control concerns on high-priced machines_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Kaneda | person | Prominent independent pinball podcaster (800+ episodes over 8 years), six-time Twippy Award winner, hosts Saturday Morning Spectacular Facebook Live streams (~1,500 viewers), runs Canada Club Patreon community (~700 subscribers). Works in marketing/advertising by day. Nicknamed after Akira character. Previously banned from Pinside forum, which motivated podcast launch. Known for controversial/provocative persona, though recently toned down direct criticism of other podcasters. Focuses on holding manufacturers accountable for measurable commitments. | | Jason | person | Host of Pinball Party Podcast. Newer to pinball podcasting; previously received feedback to reduce profanity but doubled down on authentic voice. Sells pinball machines on Pinside (username: Wild Rover). Recently sold Foo Fighters and Dracula machines to fund car purchase. Owns Jurassic Park Premium and Star Wars Comic Pro. | | Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer. Produces high-quality machines but has poor customer support; uses distributor model to avoid direct customer engagement. Recent quality control issues reported by Jason on unnamed Keith Alwyn design (half of features non-functional out of box). Employs Kyle in QA/testing capacity. | | Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer. Described as having lower initial product quality but superior customer service; responsive to customer issues and personally engaged with owners. Contrasted with Stern's quality-over-service approach. | | Zach Menny | person | Early supporter of Jason's podcast. Suggested Jason reduce profanity in initial feedback. Also a pinball content creator/podcaster. Later invited Jason to join Pinball Network (TPN). Mentioned in context of drama Jason was unaware of. Owns/operates Flippin' Out Pinball distributor. | | Flippin' Out Pinball | company | Pinball distributor and retailer. Sponsor of Pinball Party Podcast. Owned by Zach Menny and operated with partners Greg and Nicole. Jason praises them for honest pricing, responsive customer service, and quality support. Noted as distributor that would likely help resolve issues others face. | | Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer mentioned alongside Spooky as companies offering personal customer service and direct engagement with owners. | | American Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer mentioned alongside Stern and Jersey Jack as distributor options. | | Haggis Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer. Kaneda and Jason discuss trying to arrange a factory tour by creating a charity fundraiser where each curse word spoken donates $5 to Damien/Haggis's chosen charity. | | Pinside | organization | Major online pinball community forum and marketplace. Kaneda was banned from platform; cites overall 'controversial' and 'provocative' presence as reason, though no specific rule violations clearly stated. Jason uses Pinside to list machines for sale (username: Wild Rover). Hosts Top 100 list. | | Pulp Fiction | game | Recent Stern pinball release. Limited Edition version sold out in one day. Now commands $2,500-$3,000 secondary market premiums. Community initially dismissed as single-level game but gained significant hype as Tarantino's first pinball machine. | | Godzilla | game | Recent Stern pinball release. Described as most popular game. Featured in text message screenshot ($10,000 LE price). Just announced $1,000 topper (criticized as overpriced by Jason). Game image includes beast smoking bong (noted as topper's 'saving grace'). | | Pinball Network | organization | Podcast network (TPN). Has chat community. Jason was invited to join. Kaneda questions what membership means. Some content moderation issues noted (told Jason perhaps not to say certain things). | | Saturday Morning Spectacular | event | Weekly Facebook Live show hosted by Kaneda on Saturdays. Draws approximately 1,500 viewers. Part of his content ecosystem alongside main podcast. | | Guns N' Roses (pinball) | game | Pinball machine. Kaneda owns unit #500 Collector's Edition, currently stored at Cointaker. Plans to display when he purchases a house. | | Batman SLE | game | Batman Special Limited Edition pinball machine. Kaneda previously owned one and sold it. Experienced seller's remorse; recently repurchased at higher price point. Currently stored in Massachusetts. | | Pulp Fiction LE | game | Pulp Fiction Limited Edition pinball. Kaneda has one on order. Plans to display when house purchase complete. | | Foo Fighters | game | Pinball machine. Jason previously owned and recently sold to fund car purchase. | | Dracula | game | Pinball machine. Jason previously owned and recently sold. | | Jurassic Park Premium | game | Pinball machine. Jason currently owns. | | Star Wars Comic Pro | game | Pinball machine. Jason currently owns. | | Fire (pinball) | game | Vintage pinball machine featuring horses on back glass. Mentioned in context of horses in pinball games. | | Frontier | game | Vintage pinball machine featuring horses on back glass. Mentioned in context of horses in pinball games. | | Black Knight | game | Vintage pinball machine. Black Knight topper mentioned as no longer manufactured but worthwhile accessory (contrasted with overpriced Godzilla topper). | | Fishtails | game | Pinball machine. Topper noted as awesome and worth the money, contrasted with expensive Godzilla topper. | | Rush | game | Pinball machine. Topper noted as awesome and worth the money, contrasted with expensive Godzilla topper. | ### Topics - **Primary:** Pinball podcasting motivation and sustainability, Stern Pinball customer support failures vs. boutique manufacturers, Industry accountability and honest criticism - **Secondary:** Limited Edition game pricing and secondary market frenzy (Pulp Fiction, Godzilla toppers), Pinside ban and podcast origins, Kaneda's personal philosophy on potential, career balance, and creative fulfillment - **Mentioned:** Pinball community dynamics and interpersonal drama, Content creator monetization (Patreon models) ### Sentiment **Mixed** (0.55) — Conversation is generally warm and respectful between Jason and Kaneda. Jason expresses genuine appreciation for Kaneda's work despite acknowledging his controversial reputation. However, underlying criticism of Stern Pinball is sharp and negative (poor support, ignoring customers). Kaneda's tone is measured but critical of industry practices. Discussion balances personal warmth with industry skepticism. ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Kaneda's Patreon model is financially successful enough to sustain motivation but explicitly not treating podcast as full-time job; only works if it remains enjoyable creative outlet. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'I'm also a little bit motivated now that we make a little bit of money on the side with the Patreon... if I ever felt like this was a job... I'll stop doing it' - **[event_signal]** Pinball Party Podcast now part of Pinball Network ecosystem with shared chat community and cross-promotion but maintaining editorial independence on profanity/tone. (confidence: medium) — Jason: 'TPN has a chat community... someone said, maybe don't say that... I honestly thought, you know, maybe it's time I leave TPN... but it's too much of a win-win right now' - **[event_signal]** Jason-Kaneda collaboration on Haggis Pinball factory tour fundraiser: each curse word in episode donates $5 to Damien's charity of choice to incentivize tour access. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'For every curse, I'm going to add $5 into a fund to get a Haggis Pinball Factory tour... offer that money to Damien to the charity of his choice' - **[sentiment_shift]** Kaneda's reputation for controversy acknowledged but appears to be from earlier period; recent shift toward industry accountability focus rather than interpersonal drama. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'I don't talk really about other pinball content creators... I'll swing mud at the companies because that's my thing' and 'I haven't had any drinks and done Facebook Lives about pinball in a while' - **[competitive_signal]** Clear market differentiation: Stern prioritizes manufacturing quality with poor customer service; Spooky/Jersey Jack trade some quality for superior customer engagement and responsiveness. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Stern will generally give you gold but not fix shit... Spooky is going to give you garbage, but then they'll fix everything for you' - **[market_signal]** Pulp Fiction repositioned from perceived niche (single-level) to premium collector item based on Tarantino IP prestige; sold out in one day despite initial skepticism. (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'We were all writing off it as a single-level game... And then all of a sudden it's freaking Pulp Fiction, right?' - **[personnel_signal]** Kaneda's Pinside ban appears to be community/moderation-based rather than violation-specific; unclear what exactly triggered it but described as 'controversial' and 'provocative' presence rather than rule-breaking. (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'You won't be able to find any real answer from anybody. I think it was just my overall presence was a little too controversial, too provocative.' - **[market_signal]** Secondary market FOMO on contemporary IP: Pulp Fiction LE sold out in one day; premium commands $2,500-$3,000 above list price. Recent Godzilla topper priced at $1,000 with poor value perception. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'the LEs sell out in one day and now people will pay you $2,500 to $3,000 over' and Jason on Godzilla topper: 'For $1,000, I would much rather put that $1,000 towards groceries, bills' - **[product_concern]** Recent Stern machine quality control failure: unnamed Keith Alwyn design sold new-in-box with half of features non-functional, with distributor and manufacturer both non-responsive. (confidence: high) — Jason: 'I bought a new in-box game... by one of the very most popular Keith Alwyn designs... Half the shit didn't fucking work... their solution is to just ignore you until the problem goes away' - **[technology_signal]** Distributor model used by Stern to avoid customer support burden, indicating structural priority on manufacturing over post-sale service quality. (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'They just want to deal with making the games and not hear from a customer who having issues. And that's why they use the distributor model' --- ## Transcript The Pinball Network is online. Launching. Pinball Party. Holy shit, Jason. What's up? What are you doing? What do you mean? What am I doing? Kunai-da. Yeah, he's coming on. I can't believe it. Oh, come on. Knock it off. This is fucking dramatic music. It's just a podcast. Anyways, welcome... No, I can't... Come on. Play the music. Yeah. Welcome to episode 31 of the Pinball Party Podcast. I am your host, Jason. Today we have a show for you. Thank you. Really appreciate it, buddy. How could you? Dude, you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Not a big deal. Just another pinball podcaster coming on to talk some shit. He's the nicest guy in pinball. canada will be joining us in a little while we're going to talk to him about his motivation as a pinball podcaster get to know his balls and you know all that sort of stuff do you think that what do you mean who the pinball network oh i don't know i guess i can give him a call no Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jason. Just a heads up, I'm going to have Kaneda on the next episode, so I just... Yeah, right. Yeah, they're cool. Oh, yeah. But before we get to that guest, there was a request I put out last week for those who got messed up texts to send them in and so I could, you know, just read them out of context on the show. I did get a few. Some I definitely cannot read. This one, though, seems, you know, fine. It's just a screenshot of a text with the subject states, fucked up text. Okay. It's a screenshot of just a conversation. Here we go. It starts with, can I do wire transfer or money order? The response? Yeah, we go that. Bank or Zelle? The response? Oh, I have a bank that uses Zelle. Then we could do Zelle, and it's an image of a Godzilla LE, and it says $10,000. What the fuck? That's broken English and a crazy price for a Godzilla LE. No context. So there you go. Thank you. And from a couple podcasts ago, I was talking about horses and how I couldn't think of any horses in pinball. Well, fuck me, I forgot about fire. They have horses on the back glass, as does Frontier. Though this person had never played it. Thank you for reaching out with that correct answer. Beyond that, I just want to say thanks to the patrons again. Stop it. Thank you to Doc and Kale for joining last week and talking through more of the Pinside Top 100 list and games we are thankful for. Lots of great feedback on that as well. I guess we will keep doing that in the future because I guess them shits are bangers. In my personal pinball life, I've listed every game I have for sale. Yeah, I need money for a new car that I happen to have to get. So, Foo Fighters is gone. Shit. So is Dracula. No. I still have Jurassic Park Premium and Star Wars Comic Pro. If anyone's interested, check my listings on Pinside under Wild Rover. There are good prices and all that in great condition. But, yeah, sometimes I need money for life stuff, and sometimes I need money for pinball stuff. Right now it's life stuff. And part of life stuff is not the just announced two hours ago, the Godzilla topper. Ah, $1,000. You got an extra $1,000 to throw in the trash? I guess if you're a topper person, there's your topper. I don't know. I'm, you know, sorry. I'm kind of really just the zeitgeist is like, look at that piece of shit. and I've looked at it and I'm like, that's cool. If it was like $100, shit yeah, but $1,000, I mean, just don't buy it. Please don't buy it so they don't make this type of stuff. Don't. Buy the Black Knight topper that they don't make anymore. Buy the Fishtails topper because that's also awesome. The Rush topper, very awesome. Worth the money? I don't know, but as far as toppers go, top tier. Top tier topper. But Godzilla, the most popular game out there. I guess kind of so they'll make money. There'll be enough people to buy it. But truly, it looks cool. For $1,000, I would much rather put that $1,000 towards groceries, bills, things like that. But it does have a saving grace. We do have a topper of a fictional beast smoking a bong. So we got that. if we take the $100 that it's probably worth, toss in $200 for the bong reference, you got a $300 topper, it's $1,000, there you go. Go lose $700, Godzilla topper, just announced by CERN. Where can you go if you want to lose $700? I have just the place. When I buy my pinball shit, I buy from Clip-It-Out. From toppers, I play TV, I've got it, Clip-It-Out, Clip-It-Out, Clip-It-Out. When I take a pinball, I think Clip-It-Out. There's some free marketing for you. Lose $700. Flip N Out Pinball is a fantastic place to buy pinball machines. Accessories, Stern, Jersey Jack, American, all that. I buy it from there. I bought from there before they were a sponsor, but now they are a sponsor of this show. Thank you, Zach, Nicole, Greg. Fantastic company. If you like, I don't know about you, but if you are like one of those weirdos that like honest sellers with great support and they get back to you all the time, almost instantly. If you're one of those weirdos that likes that, go buy a flipping open bowl. If you don't like that, send me a message. I'll give you a few to buy from. You'll have a great time. They'll rip you off. They won't get back to you. They'll lie about the price and they'll say, I just can't do free shipping. It's literally impossible. Strange, isn't it? When you deal with good distributors, what happens? Flip it out. Do it. All right. Let's bring in our guest. Our guest, Kaneda, is one of the most popular pinball podcasters out there. Also one of the most popular pinball streamers out there. He's a six-time Twippy Award-winning podcast. Has numerous amounts of patrons supporting his show, which is behind a paywall. But for him, it does really well. He does constant streams on Facebook Live. Spectacular, I think is what it's called on Saturdays. A very controversial person in the industry, I'll say. A lot of rumors, a lot of good, a lot of bad. But hey, let's just talk to him ourselves and find out about all of that. So welcome to the show, Teneida. How you doing? Good, I never miss a party. Thanks for having me, Jason. Yeah, you bet. This is your first foray, I guess, kind of into TPN-ish, I guess? First time ever I'm coming in through the back door the back door you're having me a lot of people have asked to have you on Of course, you know elephant in the room. Some people say you have a reputation And you know, there's people like I'll ask the hard questions like I'm not a fucking asshole I'm gonna bring someone on like hey you piece of shit. Fuck you That'd be fun. Well before we get going first of all ask me anything Secondarily, I was thinking, you know, can I get Jason not it's a curse and I'm like, you know That's a futile effort. So curse away, but here's what I'm going to do. Yeah. For every curse, I'm going to add $5 into a fund to get a Haggis Pinball Factory tour. Okay? Okay. And we're going to offer that money to Damien to the charity of his choice if he just shows us behind the doors at Haggis. So curse away. So the more you curse, the more we're going to donate to charity. So let's effing do this. Yeah. You missed a few syllables in that word, but that's funny. When I first did the first episode, oh so long ago, two people reached out. Zach Menny and Kaneda. Kaneda's message was, hey, awesome, thanks for joining, all that. And then some advice, don't swear so much. And I thought, you know, I get what you're saying because as far as a family show and getting more audience and that totally makes sense. I was like, you know, for me, I just got to be me and I'm not leaning into the F-bombs. I just talk that way. I'm like, the only way I'm doing this is if I just, so in a way I was like, I'm just going to double down on it then I'm going to fucking say, I'm going to say words all the time. And it ended up, you know, being a lot more freeing for me personally, because I do this as just like, probably similar to you. Like I do it for my own sake. If people listen, that's great. But, um, you know, look, it's your house, it's your rules. I look, I love it. I mean, I was listening to a few episodes and I was like, man, the last one, I think I heard like 50 F-bombs in the first 10 minutes. I'm like, let's do it. Yeah. So we're just going to, we're going to raise this fund for Haggis. We're going to get a factory tour, Jason. Trust me, this is going to make it happen. Okay. Um, I remember, so you reached out, Zach reached out and, uh, then there was a bunch of drama and I was, I was new to this pinball stuff and I don't, I don't know about this drama. And I'm like, what the fuck is this drama? Oh, there's one. Uh, you know, what is all this stuff? And then by episode, I don't know what it was, like four or five, Zach emailed, hey, do you want to join the Pinball Network? And I was like, I mean, sure, I want to listen. I asked him, like, what does that mean? What is all this stuff? Like, you don't own any of my stuff and all that. And it was a great conversation. And then, you know, he has podcasts where he says stuff about, like, you and then all that kind of stuff. I'm like, what did I walk into? What is this fucking circus? And then, like, you know, all the TPN people say all these things about your past and all this. I'm like, cool. Like, you know, no offense. He did reach out as one of the, literally the first person to say, hey, welcome to the team and all that. And, you know, and I know, like, you have your style, you have your thing, and, you know, it works for you. What do you think of all this? Jason, I think anyone who starts a pinball podcast, and the reason why I reached out right away, and I do the same to any new pinball podcasters, right, is once you decide to do this, put a microphone in front of you and talk about pinball. Regardless if we like or don't like each other, we're all in the same boat, right? And it's interesting how everyone approaches just filling the airwaves with their passion for pinball and their point of view on what's going on in the hobby. And so I was happy to see just another solo pinball podcaster throw their hat into the ring. So it's good having you, man. I think the more voices, the better. There's plenty of room for everybody to share their thoughts on this hobby. Yep. And speaking of, I didn't really do a proper intro to people that don't know who you are. Canada's Pinball Podcast, objectively, I guess you're like subjectively. Well, subjectively is where it gets, I guess, controversial. But objectively, a very popular, if not the most popular, you know, as far as award winning six years in a row, right? But you've been doing it for seven years. How many podcasts have you done total? a billion 808 official then there's about probably 20 deleted podcasts uh for various reasons and then there's a whole bunch of facebook live stuff i do every week so a lot i've been doing it for like eight years now right and and your facebook live stuff i'm not a big social media person hence why i don't use my last name i just kind of you know all that kind of stuff um they seem to be very popular as far as listeners and stuff. Yeah, they're not bad. I think we get about 1,500 people listen. I mean, we're all nano-influencers. If you look at the world of influencers, I think anywhere from like zero to 5,000 is considered a nano-influencer. But within our little community, I always look at it through that lens, 1,500 people might watch every Saturday morning spectacular that I do every week, which is a tiny number for followers. But when you look at it through the lens of pinball, it's not that small considering that would be 1500 potential buyers of a pinball machine, which is a decent amount of sales for any pinball company. So we all have a little bit of influence in this tiny little hobby of ours. For you doing it this long. I know I sometimes have weeks where I'm like, I just don't give a shit. I don't want talk. I don't want to, how do you keep the motivation after seven years? How do you come up with your ideas? Like, tell me about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, the initial motivation was they banned me from Pinside. So that was like, well, I got it all started. Why is that? Cause you were such a nice guy or what? Here's an interesting thing. So you can ask so many people, why was I banned from Pinside? And you will legitimately, if I ask for a specific reason why. Yeah. You won't be able to find any real answer from anybody. I think it was just my overall presence was a little too controversial, too provocative. And but I didn't threaten anybody. I didn't do anything like racist, sexist, horrible. That was unforgivable. And then you look at the site now. Right. And I think it's been a few people they've banned, but it's OK. I actually look at it as a blessing in disguise because they banned me, which was fine. And I basically said, I still have some thoughts on this hobby. So I started the podcast and, you know, it started out slowly. We got maybe 500 listeners and it climbed to 800. Then at the height, when I was doing interviews with some notable people in the industry, we were getting like four to 5,000 listeners. So what motivated me at first was just the anger that they banned me. But what motivates me now is just the listeners. I just love doing the show because I think I have such a great fan base and a listener base. And I won't lie, I'm also a little bit motivated now that we make a little bit of money on the side with the Patreon, which we can talk a little bit about. But it's good. I mean, look, it's not a job. If I ever felt like this was a job, like I don't want to do this, I'll stop doing it. It's not worth my time. It's not worth the energy. I don't make enough money if it becomes something that becomes a chore that I don't enjoy doing. So I just, I enjoy doing it. I don't, you know how it is, Jason. It kind of feels like when you talk about pinball, it's like talking to yourself in the shower for 20 minutes or 30 minutes and just other people get to hear our thoughts on this crazy hobby. So on that note, when I'm in the shower, I'm just saying like, fuck, fuck, shit. I'm just swearing at myself. And, and, uh, you're talking about like how many listeners you have and stuff like that in the shower, right? As I like clean my body, I'm like 608. Right. With the, hey, the pill hat on probably in the shower, what is the origin of that? Is that like... Oh, it's all from Akira, or Akira as they would say in Japan. So all of that is the Kaneda sort of imagery if you will. Sure. I always wondered if that was like a subtle Matrix thing. I have a Matrix tattoo with a couple pills on it. We have to talk about Matrix on this podcast. Oh, let's get, yeah, we're going to get to that. Another weird thing about this hobbies i don't know many others where there's like a lot of podcasts that also talk about other podcasts like my main i think listens outside of pinball is movies star wars video games kind of in that and a little bit of like you know philosophy shit but beyond that there's so many pinball podcasts and guys including myself you're the second i guess third if you count zach pinball podcaster i've had on you like what a small community with a lot of big egos there's a lot of alpha males. And I mean, here's the thing about my show, though. If you actually listen to my show, and this is more like the last few years, I don't talk really about other pinball content creators. I used to. And I think some people have some memories of the older Kaneda that was a lot more strident and vitriolic. But now, you know, I think people tune in to hear my thoughts on the industry, on the companies, on the games. And my shows now are about 20 to 30 minutes max and there's really not any mudslinging at podcasters. I'll swing mud at the companies because that's my thing is I want to keep all these companies honest. But I think, you know, people don't tune in to hear us talk trash about each other. No. Well, I mean, to be fair, you've done it a few times. Of course. It's typically more sometimes on Facebook Live and it's typically if I'm pretty three sheets to the wind, as they would say in Ireland, have some whiskeys in me. And I never like it when I get that way. So I'm trying, and I haven't in a really long time. I haven't had any drinks and done Facebook Lives about pinball in a while. That's honestly why I avoid alcohol, just from, like, relationships I've had in the past where, like, it gets to that point where, like, the person doesn't truly want to say that or be that type of person. But then after a while, like, in my personal opinion, ex-girlfriend style, I'm just like, well, just fuck off. Like, either quit drinking. I'm not saying I'm trying to tell you I have a drinking problem. I'm just saying I get it, and that's why I've avoided it because I just don't like being a different person. But before your paywall, I listened to your podcast a lot, and truly, I like it. I think you're a fantastic host. I think your energy, 800 shows, shit. I mean, my God, you're not like a droll, just welcome to Pimbo. You are very entertaining. You're very personable. You know, aside from the dickish shit or when you talk shit or when you do the stuff that everyone says is controversial, you're good at what you do, man. No lie. I don't think you are where you are because, like, you flipped a coin and somehow you landed here, you know? No, I appreciate that. And look, I always look at all of what we do in this podcasting space. It's just entertain people. That's why we're here. And I've learned the hard way. I mean, you could go for attention by being negative and angry all the time. And that just, like, kills you as a podcaster. Like, if I was just screaming and complaining all the time, it would wear me out. It would wear the listeners out. So I just try to make it fun. And I think, you know, lately it's been let's point the energy at what we love and then let's point the energy at getting these companies to be honest and be more transparent. And I think people really appreciate having a voice like that in pinball. Yeah, I'm very much about that. And people have reached out to me, email, and sometimes compared me to you when it comes to that, of like, oh, being honest or whatever. And like, okay, I mean, do I take that as a compliment? Eh, depending, I guess, if you said if you had a few drinks or whatever. Like, I don't know, man, but you don't need to fucking do that. It's so weird that being honest in this industry is a weird thing, or it's like, what? Like, that's just how shit should be. Well, it's weird, right? Because it's hard to say, like, well, here's the honesty about how good this game is. Like, there's no such thing as honesty when it's a subjective thing. See, I think where I try to keep these companies honest is when it's measurable honesty. So if someone says, hey, we're going to ship your game, Jason, in eight weeks. All right. Okay. Cool. And then eight months go by and you don't get your game. I'm like, all right, who's going to call this company out for, is that a lie to Jason? Were they honest to him when they said eight weeks? And that's the kind of stuff I want to go after. I'm not going to argue with people or arm wrestle them whether or not Foo Fighters is great or whether or not Godzilla is amazing. Like, that's a subjective thing. I want to jump on that topic with you because I think Stern's support is absolutely dog shit. I have bought many new in-box games, but one time I bought a new in-box game. I won't even state what game it was. It's a very relatively new game by one of the very most popular Keith Alwyn designs. One of his games, right? Half the shit didn't fucking work. And I mean that truly. And I emailed in with a list. Here's six things that don't work on the $10,000 I just gave you. You know, the response is like, two days later, did you try turning it off and on again? And two days later, did you try to remove, you know, all this stuff. In the end, their solution is to just ignore you until the problem goes away and you sell the game out of frustration. And that is so unacceptable, and I cannot believe that the big boy Stern support is so terrible. Yeah, you know, I think with them selling so many thousands of games, I have to imagine they're like, all right, 2% of these or 5% are going to be somewhat problematic or lemons, if you will. Yeah, and it's to our advantage not to engage the customer one-to-one when they get one of those problematic pins. And that's why they use the distributor model, because ultimately they want you to go to your distributor and they want to be left alone right They just want to deal with making the games and not hear from a customer who having issues But I think for the amount of games Stern sells I would have to say like the quality I think is great To your point, though, when you have a problem, though, I do agree. It's not like they're spooky or they're Jersey Jack. Like, they're not going to, well, let me say I'm spooky with this analogy. They're not going to get back to you right away. They're not going to give you that personal one-to-one sort of interaction that you crave because all of us have had a moment where our pin is down and all we want is to know what we need to do to fix it. And we want to get it up and running as fast as possible. And it's painful when you have to pound sand for days, if not weeks, as the company ignores you. Stern should just buy the support department of Spooky because Spooky is going to give you garbage, but then they'll fix everything for you. Stern will generally give you gold but not fix shit. It's ironic, right? The company with probably the best quality is the worst customer service or one of the worst customer services when you need it, and the company with maybe arguably some of the worst quality has the best customer service that's always on. Honestly, it wasn't even through flipping out. It was with a different distributor, and I know Zach probably would have at least stepped in, like, I'll fucking take care of it. But the other guy was like, oh, CC me, and they just didn't do shit. I think all of us need a good friend who is a distributor for help and also to lock in those hard-to-get LEs and CEs because that's the battlefield that's coming, Jason. I've never been an LE CE guy. What if it was Matrix? Then aren't you going to want one? There we go. Well, for sure. Well, that's the thing. If it's Matrix or Back to the Future, I mean, look at the frenzy to get some of these D themes. Once a contemporary A theme drops into the world, and we think we've been complaining about prices and it's hard to get. I mean, look what Pulp Fiction just did. We were all writing off it as a single-level game. No one's really going to want it. And then all of a sudden it's freaking Pulp Fiction, right? It's Tarantino's first pinball machine and the LEs sell out in one day and now people will pay you $2,500 to $3,000 over just for your spot. What's an LE game that you – or have you – what is it, Batman? Or isn't there a game that – I've got a Batman SLE sitting somewhere in Massachusetts. Why is it there? Well, I can't bring it to my apartment right now. I have a little two-year-old monster that will destroy anything that makes its way in his path. So I'm waiting until I get my house. My housewarming gifts to myself will be the unboxing of my Guns N' Roses number 500 CE, which is sitting at Cointaker, the Batman SLE, which I paid a lot more to get it back. I used to have one, and then I just missed it. So I had a little bit of seller's remorse. Everyone can relate to that. And then I'm just waiting. I have a Pulp Fiction LE ordered as well. And that's it. Those three games are most likely going to be my lineup when I get a house, hopefully sometime in the next few months. Well, that's a good conversation to start to get to know your balls then. We're getting to know your balls. All right, let's ask you some questions about you and pinball. Yeah. In general, do you prefer location or home play? Home play. And, well, without having games right now, are you playing more on location, or are you just not playing at all? Yes. Yeah? Yes. Always on location. Very different question. What is one of your biggest fears in life? Wow. I would say not living up to my potential. Hmm. It's actually, uh, I can relate to that. Yep. Yeah. I said one time that question and Dennis Creasel said, Oh yeah, I'm responsible for people's lives. So I don't want to kill people. Like, ah, that's much more honorable. Yeah. Myself is shit. But it's true. Like for you, what is your, like what drives, what's your potential to you? What is your. Yeah, no, I think for me, I mean, I work in marketing and I work for a lot of really great brands and I work in an agency. And so for me, I'm just always thinking about, well, what's next? And as I get older as a creative and I see all the kids are on TikTok and just following Vapid influencers, I'm like, how much longer will I have a shelf life, you know, as a guy coming up with creative ideas? But I don't know. You know, I also just love the gaming space. And I always sort of moonlight and dream about, well, do I open up a barcade? Do I open up a little Neo-Tokyo sake place where I can have all of what I love and it be my little corner of the universe? That's always what eats away at me is when you work for other people, you always feel like at some point I got to break away from this and do what I love. Now, I'm also a realist and I have a son to educate and feed and a wife and we need to pay for mortgage payments coming up. And so I'm not going to throw everything I've accumulated in my career away just to follow my passions. And that's sort of like I am pretty content where I'm at right now, where I do enjoy my job. I love what I do. I want to do it as long as I can do it. And then I can have a pinball side hustle that also allows me that creative freedom that I don't always get at work. Because in my industry, Jason, 99% of the times I'm asking somebody else permission if I can execute an idea I have. Where my podcast flips that, 99% of the time I can do whatever I want. And I just got to be careful I don't say that 1% thing I'm thinking that could get me in trouble. And if I can do that, I'll sleep well at night. I just say that 1% thing. You do. Yeah. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. We need more. Between you and I, we average out the normal amount of cursing adults do. I think so. Yeah. I've gotten full disclosure. Hmm. Should I say that? Why not? You know, TPN has a chat community. I've pushed it too far where someone said, maybe don't say that. And I honestly thought, you know, maybe it's time I leave TPN. Not because I'm trying to, like, fucking be rebellious, but, like, same thing. Like, if I have to, like, watch what I say, I'm not, like, again, I'm not a racist. I'm not sexist. I'm not going to, but it's like, you know, that freedom expression and thought. Like, I thought, hmm, but it's too much of a win-win right now to do that. And I like the team, and they support me very much and all that, and I support them. So it's still good. So, Jason, what keeps you up at night, or what's your biggest fear? Very similar to yours. Yeah, it's that I won't feel satisfied. On my deathbed, that I won't feel satisfied that I pushed hard enough and achieved what I wanted to achieve, which is really to feel that I satisfied my musical... I don't know how to answer this, because any way I answer it, I feel like I'm going to say it. I just don't like sounding egotistical because that's not what it is. Some music in my life has saved me, I'll say, just emotionally or spiritually or whatever. And sometimes you can't tell the artist that or whatever, not that I want to, but to me it's such a powerful thing. And I write music for the same reason, not to help people, but I know what it's done to me sometimes, and I sometimes want those artists to know. like you have no idea how impactful your stuff is to some people. Right. And to, I would be satisfied if I knew that anything I did touched one person, even remotely that much, I could probably die happy, but I'm so good at it. But the game is so hard to play the music industry and the career that like, if I don't give it a college try and I fail it, I'd rather fail at it. Trying my ass off versus like never doing it. But it's in the realm of that. So similar, like the potential, just like, fuck, Yeah, I'm watching this like, what is it, the Big Door Prize show where this machine shows up in this little town and it kicks out a car that tells everyone what their true life potential is. It's an interesting concept and how it freaks with, it messes everybody's ability to just enjoy day to day because they now think they have to get to that thing. Right. It's interesting how disruptive it can be. But, yeah, look, I mean, look, as long as we're all above ground, you know, I've been through a lot this year. And that's the other thing, too, is as much as we're aiming for greater things and bigger things, learning how to appreciate everything we have and every day is really the most important, you know, key to happiness. So happy to be here on a Sunday holiday weekend, Jason. Yeah, the most beautiful day of the year talking pinball. But this is why I love it. I mean, I'm going to be doing this. Again, it's testament to how much we enjoy talking about pinball. Yeah. And the things that keep me going on some of this is because it's in the realm. It's creative. It's audio. I get to really – like, look, I put way too much work in some of the math stuff or some of the audio editing. I shouldn't be doing this for what I'm doing. But I sometimes get messages from people, and I assume you do as well, that are truly heartwarming. Like, they'll say something. They're like, wow, something you said actually meant something to them in a way. Oh, yeah. Yeah. There's people who listen to all of these shows, and sometimes people are battling a disease or they're in the hospital, and they're listening to Bimbal Podcasts as a way to just get their mind off of what they're struggling through. Yeah. And I'm like, crap, now I really got to keep the show going. Yeah. I feel this person with Bimbal Podcasting. In a strange way, all of us, you, me, Zach, Christopher Franchi, you name it, Slam Tilt, all the shows out there, people feel like they have a personal connection with the creators. And it's nice. And that's why it's fun going to shows. It's fun talking to people and seeing them in real life because we've all built this weird relationship with this motley crew of people that we never would have met had we not found pinball. It's like this weird thing that is a connector of people and and that's actually more interesting in some ways and the games themselves and i think we all kind of know that and yeah and it's it's a fascinating thing i think because the hobby is small enough but also has the potential to be so big it yeah it makes it exciting but plus accessible to everyone and um and there's not there's not too many pins right so that the last point i'm putting this like all you got to do is six seven new pins a year and you're well versed If you follow watches or movies, there's like hundreds of new items a year. You can't possibly know enough, and it's too much work. But this is kind of like you can sit back and know everything going on in pinball in like an hour. And just like everyone on Pinside who's an expert on every game, every price. Oh, they are. Oh, my God. All right. Speaking of, what is your favorite era of pinball? Oh, I would say my favorite era of pinball is right now. It really is. the last five years, I've absolutely loved the last five years of what's been happening in pinball. Even though I'm a Bally Williams fanboy with the toys, I never grew up in that era. So I just love now. I love all the companies trying to make great games. I love how far along we've come with the experience of pinball. It's truly, this period is better than the 90s probably was. And when you think about, you know, everyone making games and the variety of games and all the stuff happening. Do you like, love, or hate fixing games? I can't fix games. I can't solder, man. Like, once something breaks on a machine of mine, I start crying like a baby and try to find a tech locally. But I can lift a playfield. I can do certain things, but, no, I don't like doing repairs. They scare me profusely. Do you have any horror stories from the secondary market? Have you done much buy, sell, and trade and that stuff? Yeah. I mean, I once bought a Tales of the Arabian Nights that was beautiful in its photos. It was brass-plated, new CPR playfield. It looked incredible. And then I brought it home, and Eddie, who's a great technician, he passed away, unfortunately. No, sorry. His wife passed away. Eddie's still here so Eddie looked at the game and he's like dude this game has got water damage all throughout the cabinet and they basically just put lipstick on a pig and changed the play field and then sold it as this sort of like beautifully brass plated totem and because I didn't see the game in person I just went off of the photos I kind of got burned on that one so that's really it the rest of the games I've bought used have always been in pretty good condition I will say this my first game was Lord of the Rings I'm looking at your Lord of the Rings poster right now oh yeah and that was my favorite game ever to own because I didn't know when I bought my first pin that having wear in the shooter lane is a bad thing there were some broken plastics and I didn't care like I just played the game and enjoyed it yeah I wasn't OCD about pinball. And I think what sucks now is like, you know, with all the money we're spending on these games and we're trying to keep them perfect. And it's like, it's just such a weird thing, you know, to have to, you know, from day one, how am I going to preserve this thing to be as pristine as possible? And ultimately, like, that's why so many collectors don't even play their damn games. Because they're more worried about the condition than they are about the experience. yeah I miss those days too the ignorance is bliss of like just playing a game yeah and then then you start to hear about things like shooter where or insert where now I look at insert ghosting and every little fucking thing it does not mean gameplay at all no at all but you know you could lose like a couple grand and I don't want to lose a couple grand and no I know I know I know what's something you want in life maybe this is similar to the thing you said earlier but maybe not. Besides enough money to satiate all my pinball and car desires, I really just want my son to grow up and A, outlive me and B, be someone I'm very proud of. And I want to be someone that he's proud of. And that means the world to me. Being a new dad is amazing and it's exhausting. I mean, no one tells you the truth about it. And then I just want to be a good person, you know, to my family. And I think family is the most important thing and taking care of ourselves is part of that. And so, yeah, I mean, that's kind of all I really want is, you know, to be happy. But those things would make me extremely happy. What's your favorite game moment in pinball? Easy answer for me. My favorite pinball moment is there and back again in the Lord of the Rings. I just love it. I don't think I've ever seen a game where it's like rewards you for getting far through the game. And then that moment hits in that game and the music changes. And there's just something about it that just makes me so giddy. And no matter how many times you get to it, it's still, I think, one of the most magically coded moments in any pinball machine ever. That's probably the correct answer to that question. Is there a certain mod that's valuable to you? Oh man, the mod space. I'm so jealous of these modders, Jason. They're all making, like, so much money right now. Like, there are modders making more money than Keith Elwin right now. And I'm like, what has happened? I think, I mean, I like mods that actually enhance an area of the game, but also the experience of the game. So, I mean, I go back to, like, Lord of the Rings was the Eye of Palantir, where, like, the original one was crappy. And then they put this beautiful one in there. So I love that mod. But I don't know. I think the mods, the subtle mods that just make some of the sculpts look better, I'm all for that stuff. But I just think, you know, ultimately, there's not one mod that I'm like, oh, that's the one. Like, they got it. Like, they fixed this game because they did that. I don't think at these prices we should be modding these games the way we are. I think the companies are actually seeing what's happening and they're like, why bother? Someone's just going to make a mod for the crappy tank in Galactic Tank Force. We don't need to make it a good-looking thing. Well, that's if anyone buys that game. David Fix is going to have to buy all 2,000 he said he sold or else his ass is on the line. In a game, is the gameplay or theme more important to you? For me, theme because I suck at pinball. Perfect. So you suck at pinball. You do 800 podcasts about it. Well, and my favorite thing, Jason, number two, I think I got three last year. World's best pinball streamer, third best, second best, without ever actually playing pinball. That's my favorite accomplishment. Is that because of the Facebook stuff? Yeah. Yeah, because technically I am talking about pinball. I'm just not playing it. It is a stream about pinball. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I was always joking with Brenda. I was like, I bet I can go an entire year and not play a single game of pinball and retain the audience. Ownership, do you have a fastest regret? You got a game and you're like, I hate this. Or, yeah, Magic Girl. Oh. I paid $23,000 for a Magic Girl and it arrived. And I'll never forget the phone call from Chris from Cointaker. Because no one knew the game didn't work until I unboxed it. So, Jason, imagine this. You'd think that John Papadiuk figured out the game. American Pinball was working on it for two years. They made 25 of them. And mine arrives and I get this phone call from Chris Marquette and he goes, he goes, dude, it doesn't work. And I thought it was just like shitting me. Like I was like, yeah, come on. What do you mean it doesn't work? I just bought this thing from Kim Mitchell, my friend. He sold me his Magic Girl, which he originally paid $16,000 for and then $7,000 deposit on Raza. So I'm like, look, I'll give you $23,000 for the Magic Girl. And I unbox it. The shooter lane's not even, there's not even cut out. It's just flat wood and nothing on the game worked. Like there's no code, it's a broken machine. And so I was like, I can't believe I just bought a $23,000 beautiful pinball machine that doesn't even play. So that was, I had to get rid of it and I ended up- Did you lose money on it? Yeah, I sold it for $20,000 or $21,000. I was happy just to get out of it. I know that these dudes in the Netherlands made that cool kit that kind of turns this stuff on and added some features to it. But it's a joke of a machine. I mean, John Papadiuk is the biggest fraud in the history of pinball. And I will not back down from that statement. Look at what he created over like a 15-year period without standing on the shoulders of Valley Williams engineers. The guy doesn't know how to make mechs. And so, yeah, that one was a regret. And the other one that I sold pretty quickly that I kind of wish I still had is Rick and Morty. Just a weird shooting game. It's not the best shooter, but the code and the call-outs. And I think Rick and Morty is actually going to be one of the most sought-after pins for collectors as time goes on, just because of the theme, and there's only 750 ever. Yeah, I hate playing that game, but I can see why people, you know, it's really bad. What is your favorite machine right now? Huh. Well, there's like the new ones that are out of the new current games that just launched. Obviously, Foo Fighters is amazing. I love it. It shoots like a dream. Right now, my favorite pinball machine, I'm still going to go back. I'm like, it's kind of the ones I own. I love Batman 66. I know it's a little clunky, but I just think it's Lime and Sheets' masterpiece when it comes to code. And I'm a huge Guns N' Roses fan, and I know all of the complaints about the game. I know everyone hates the multiballs. I know everyone thinks the flippers suck. I know it. I hear what you're saying, people. But it's my favorite band, and when you're a few drinks in and you turn up the volume to 11 on Guns N' Roses, I just love playing it. I think it's a super cool pinball experience. So those are my two favorite right now. I haven't had enough time on everything else, and that's the hard part for me is I just wish I could have more time. Even on games like Godzilla, on the new offerings, I would love to play The Godfather. There's not a Godfather, Jason, in New York City. The movie takes place in New York City. What the hell? I know. It's like Jack Guarnieri. get a freaking mobster pin in the mobster location the movie takes place in um but you know it's it's hard to get an intimate feeling for a lot of games unless you have friends that have them or a location close by that has a lot of lineup but yeah you know and i support jack bar john's a great friend of mine but i keep giving him crap because he doesn't have the new stuff he only has Foo Fighters Pro. Oh yeah What your favorite pin right now I just heard you say Foo Fighters was your favorite pin of all time Bold statement. No, of all time, it's Jurassic Park. But as of, like, right now, I can see why Foo Fighters is. It's a little, not shallow. I have it for sale, but more so because I need money because I bought a car. But it would be Jurassic Park still. yeah that's the one game I just don't get sick of even though Lord of the Rings is probably like my favorite you know what I mean like a lot of people's favorite every time I have it I don't fucking play it I play the shit out of it yeah probably Jurassic Park once that Jurassic Park theme song hits right I mean it's just like you're in it you're in it do you have the updated or the hacked software that puts the movie clips in it yeah I don't like it as much because it doesn't do the timing as well as the normal code. So for me, I don't look at the screen much, so I use the audio cues more than anything to play, and so it kind of fucks with me a little bit. But I like sometimes to hear Jeff Goldblum. You can swap it pretty easy. Yeah, very cool. That's a great game. Yeah, I've been looking at Jurassic Park LEs or kind of like Unobtainium right now. Around here, there was a couple recently, but it was the one LE I actually ever legit considered, other than like Matrix, as you said. Jurassic Park is the only one. All right, last question. What's your least favorite game? Could be of all time, could be right now. Okay. Pretty easy. What's your least favorite game? So I'm going to say this, and it's simply what this game symbolizes for me, and it is James Bond's 60th Anniversary Edition. Sure. I hate what Stern did with the pricing. I hate how they tried to show the community that has supported Stern all these years, the disrespect to the collector base with that pricing. And you look at it, Jason, they sold at $19,995. Was the price they put on it on their own website? Then what did they do a day later? They removed the price. And then they say, call for price. And so for people who bought it directly, Jason, they're 22,000 in with taxes at Stern. And now I can march into any distributor's office with 15-5 and walk out with the game. And it's just, I just, don't do this. Like, don't fleece us. Like, at least give the value to the customers and the community that's been supporting you all these years. Just, yeah, just, I mean, even at 15 grand, that game's a rip-off, right? It's like, but at least charge like 15 and give the people a couple thousand maybe in value. But it's just, I hate what that game stood for. I hate the way they priced it. I hate that they put Keith Elwin, because we love Elwin. I don't want him associated with some cash grab, Mickey Mouse marketing game like that. Like, come on. He deserves more respect than that. And I don't know if Bond is the theme to make that type of Super L.E. on. Star Wars? Sure. Strip it down, call it whatever. Harry Potter? Sure, you could charge 30 grand and not put shit in there. But Bond? I don't know. I mean, is there a Harry Potter pinball machine happening? What have you ever heard? What have I heard? I have heard basically yes. How about you? What have you heard? Yeah. No, it's so weird the way Joe did that petty announcement spoiling Jersey Jack's big reveal. I don't know. But I don't think we're going to see it for like three years earlier. Well, let's say we're done getting to know your balls. Thank you very much. Let's talk about this rumored stuff because there's so much. Yeah, Harry Potter. I mean, what do you think? Are you a Harry Potter fan? I've seen all the movies. I didn't read the books. I think it's too much material for one pin. Hmm. You're just going to disappoint the hardcore fans. There's no way you can get seven movies into one game. So as a hardcore fan, I don't like the idea. I think Zach was bringing it up of, like, making multiple versions. I would fucking hate that, to have to spend too much to get the experience. I brought that up first. He stole my great idea, Zach. Figure it out. No, it's a good idea. They could... Okay, why don't you think that's a good idea? For a business, yes. It's a good idea. What do you mean? But at least then you can do each of those chapters, those three chapters, justice versus having to cram it all into one. The FOMO, though, of only having one of the three $15,000, $45,000 to own all three. Fuck, dude. Crazy, right? When you start doing the math, you can't do the math anymore in pinball. You've got to just pretend you didn't spend that much on these games. Well, if they can put that much into Pirates, I think they could put it all into Harry Potter. Jason, let me ask you, are you excited that Jersey Jack has it? Because I used to think Jersey Jack was the only one I'd want to make a Harry Potter game. Now I've reversed feeling that way because of how barren their last two games have been. Okay, I see your point. I think from an aesthetics point of view, yes, I'm glad Jersey Jack. if it was like a if it was like a Kapow level Harry Potter I think that would be the right call if Stern had it and I would be cool with either the book theme slash art or the movie if they did the movie like Star Wars style where they get some Photoshop trash and that's it I don't want to see that I'm just worried Jersey Jack employees are going to be like dressing up as wizards and stuff after what they did With Godfather. It's like Jack Guarnieri as Dumbledore. So, I mean, no disrespect to Jersey Jack. Having employees in that game completely throws me out of the universe. You can't do it. You can't do it. It doesn't make any sense. Right? It's like when I saw that, I was like, wait, you can't. You can't even name any theme where that's appropriate. Only in like, I know there's a lot of Midway and Mortal Kombat background, and a lot of the pinball people, Mike Vinikour and a lot of Stern. Like, the toasty thing in Mortal Kombat 2 is cool, but that game also has a little bit of humor in it. But taking something like Godfather and adding in some, like, almost, like, company memes, like, nah, that's not the game to do it on. I don't want it. It's different if the design team of, like, a Mortal Kombat is putting themselves in it as an Easter egg. That's much different than this iconic movie that is 40 or 50 years old where you have nothing to do with it. Stay out of it. It's like imagine if they made Star Wars and the Stormtrooper pulls its helmet off and it's Eric Minier. And you're like, what the hell? Like, no, you're not allowed to do that. No. Yeah, it throws me out of the game. The first time I saw that, I was just like, ooh, no, that's a, to me. You know, you can turn off. I have a friend who has Godfather. you can turn off all of the Jersey Jack call-outs and all their additional, like, bada-bing, like, wise guy stuff and just keep it more focused on the content from the movie. Oh. And I didn't know this. And he's like, Chris, when you do that, it kind of removes all the cheesiness that people are complaining about, and it's a much better experience. So I didn't know that either. So I think it's an interesting thing that, you know, again, I don't think a lot of people are aware of. Yeah, I would think they should do that by default and then turn it if you want the Easter eggs and all the people, whatever. Yeah, so Harry Potter, don't do that. Don't put your faces in it. Maybe that Steve Ritchie Haggard one. Yeah, did you see that? Yeah, yeah. That was really good. That looked like legit. Like, oh, he's in the movie. Who do you think is going to design Harry Potter? No, I just want them to give Elwynn like a couple million just so you do it. You know they tried to get Elwynn to go to Jersey Jack. Do you know that? No. And he said no. And then Steve Ritchie was like the safety, well, not the safety hire, but like Ritchie is who they got when Elwynn turned them down. Was the check not big enough? I think, you know, like I think if you're Elwynn, you know, you want to be at a place that's going to crank out your ideas faster. Sure. I mean, I feel like if you're a designer and an artist, Stern is the place to be. Just because you want to see your stuff come to fruition more frequently. Now, Jersey Jack, you know, higher bomb. That's the exciting part, or used to be. I'm so excited for Steve Ritchie's game, Jason, because it's like, this is it, right? Because I don't know if you saw his interview when he talked about leaving Stern, but he's not happy. Like, he wants to send an FU to Stern with his next game. So I'm expecting something epic. On Elton John? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, I think it's Matrix. Really? I heard it's Matrix. I heard it's not Elton John. If it is Elton John, we will all be crying together because I don't think anybody wants that as like his comeback. And I won't say who, but I heard from a employee at a distributor that it was Elton John at a manufacturer. Sorry, not a distributor. Yeah, I heard that, too. And I think they might have switched it. I fucking hope so. I fucking hope so, too. I just want to get Haggis some money in this charity. We've stopped cursing. Yeah. PG. Come on, let him rip. No, yeah, no. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. There you go. Yeah, give him some money. Yeah, if it's Matrix, holy shit. I mean, for real. I mean, I did text Zach, like, hey, yo, guy, list me. Fuck, fucking just put me on all the whatever list you want to call it and just give me pickings. He's not going to just give me pickings, but, you know, I want to. Is he giving real on the Patreon, on the Discord? Are they getting, like, rumors like this? Because Zach's got to know a lot that he can't say. And I was, you know, I was like, all right, what? I don't join his Discord. I'm not a subscriber of him, not because it is, but it's kind of, like, weird. Like, you know, are you paying? It gets weird. Like, he's not my boss or anything. We're on the same team, and we're, like, doing the stuff together and flipping out sponsors this podcast. so it kind of gets weird where like I try not to get money or weird stuff involved but um you know like he's very good with like telling giving people a little bit but like he's also not breaking contracts whatever he has manufactured I think you know I don't know I'm not even in the discord so shit I don't know he probably knows shit I don't know as he should I mean like I think distributors should know more than they actually do I think it's ridiculous how I talk to so many distributors who are like, I have no idea what David Fix is about to do. And then he wants me to sell his product and he's keeping us in the dark. It's like the distributors are finding out at the same time as the customers, how many games are they going to make, how much they cost and when they're, you know, it's like, you can't, you shouldn't treat your distros like customers. They've got to know more. They can help you plan. And here's the greatest thing about distributors. They can give valuable feedback to all of these companies. And I think more of these companies should listen to what the distros are saying because they're talking to the customers on the front line every day. I wonder if they are listening. It doesn't seem like it. I don't know. Would you make Galactic Tank Force if you were listening to what customers wanted? No. God, that game is bad. Matrix. Yeah, Matrix. I think Matrix, Steve Ritchie, I think we see it by the end of the year. I think by the end of the year. Yeah. You think it's that over Elton John? Yeah. I hope you're right. I hope I'm right, too. And look, if I'm wrong, guess who they're going to blame? Not me. They're going to blame Steve Ritchie and Jack Guarnari. How did this rumor start? Do you know? Well, I mean, it's always been in the wheelhouse of Jersey Jack because of their relationship with Warner Brothers. So if you think about it, I mean, Jack's got what? Willy Wonka was Warner Brothers, Wizard of Oz. I feel like there's one more I'm missing. And then The Matrix. And then plus Jack, you know, he loves to put these teasers or these hints out there. And I think he was just at the European pinball show. And why did they have The Matrix? You know, that one that those Netherlands guys made. They re-skinned Johnny Mnemonic into The Matrix. And Jack's sitting there in front of it next to Godfather. So it's like, all right, maybe he's trolling us because or maybe he's not. But everybody, 99.9% of people want it to be the Matrix. The only person that wants Elton John pinball is Elton John. Why do you think Elton John would be a rumored title, though, over Matrix? I don't see the logic there. I think they have the license. I think it makes sense that Steve Ritchie would have a music pin. You know, Jersey Jack, from a business standpoint, Guns N' Roses was a phenomenal success for them. But that's Guns N' Roses. Yeah, but here's the weird thing about all these musical acts, because I would argue Foo Fighters is not big. They're a medium-level band. If you go by album sales, Jason, Elton John has more albums sold than Guns N' Roses, Foo Fighters, and probably Metallica and Aerosmith combined. Sure. So you're like, all right, so clearly the dude has fans, but you know he's another one of these artists that spans a 50 year period of time and his he's no longer as relevant as he used to be and i don't i just don't think he has the cool factor right of guns and roses or foo fighters within the demo of pinball right now which is yes primarily 40 to 60 year old white males who love pinball i don't really hear people rocking out to elton John and Crocodile Rock. It's kind of corny if you ask me, but I don't, but look at Jersey Jack's theme selections, man. I don't know. It's been all over the place. So I don't feel like, like the Godfather to me is probably the worst selection of a theme that you could probably do. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. I think at least, you know, there's glitz and glamour in Elton John and it's rock and roll. So you can like pump up the energy. You can use the rainbow colors there will make sense, but Godfather, I just don't get it. Well, and Elton John's like 70s and his like, what, late 60s early 70s materials, very high energy. I mean, Crocodile Rock, you've got, you know, Benny and the Jets, you've got I'm Still Standing, I think that was a little later on, but his stuff, he rocks out. I mean, it's just alright, but Matrix, right? Like, hopefully it's the Matrix. Oh my God. If it's Matrix and then followed up with Harry Potter in a couple years. Like, they're just printing money, I think. Yeah, they need to, though. Jersey Jack needs to get its mojo back, and it's not going to happen with Elton John. When do you think they started to lose their mojo? Toy Story 4? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, they lost their mojo when the Guns N' Roses playfields fell apart. And then Jack Guarnieri said that this is the fault of people who play the game. And I hated their response. And Mirko has been shipping. I mean, Mirko in general has maybe, if it wasn't for the Abbas family, Mirko would have been solely responsible for destroying Jersey Jack pinball. Because people would have gave up on them with the quality, and Jack could not afford to give people replacement playfields or fully populated playfields replaced. They just could not afford to do that. And it's so weird, right? Because some of the playfields are good, some are not. They figure it out. then they have issues again. But once that happened with Guns N' Roses, that's when people started to be like, all right, here we go again. Playfields are falling apart. It's like a headache to do a replacement. And then Toy Story 4, I'm the biggest Toy Story fan. I mean, as much, you know, Jason, you love The Matrix. I mean, Toy Story to me, the first movie, is one of the most perfect pieces of cinema of all time. Captures every boy's love of their toys and how we use our imagination, all of it, right? How could you mess up Toy Story? and they found a way to do it. So I'm like, that's why I'm nervous about Harry Potter and Jersey Jack because I'm like, if anyone's going to mess it up, it's going to be them. And then Spooky. Spooky would fuck it up. Well, yes, but I would throw it. Here's why I was thinking about this when I was thinking about, you know, our chat. Has Stern ever really messed up a theme? Star Wars. Yes, you're right. Okay, other than Star Wars. Well, other than the Steve Ritchie games that he's messed up, Maybe Game of Thrones wasn't that bad, but it didn't really capture it. But recently, I think Stern has kind of knocked it out of the park with all their themes. Someone posited this, which I think a lot of people agree with. What if they switched the theme and game of Star Wars and Iron Maiden? And Star Wars had the layout of Iron Maiden. Holy shit. It would be the easily number one game on Pinside. Yeah. You know what's weird is Iron Maiden was originally Guardians of the Galaxy. They re-skinned it to Guardians. See, the thing is, here's what I heard. This is a really strange rumor, but it kind of makes sense, is that Steve Ritchie was working on Jurassic Park, and his design for Star Wars was Jurassic Park, and it was supposed to be the raptors running around the park, which is what that big mech was. Because it makes no sense as, like, the hyperdrive. It makes absolutely no sense. Like, why is this the main mech in a Star Wars game? No. No, and even then, they made more of a warp or hyperspace was way more talked about and a big deal in Star Trek than Star Wars. Like, they wouldn't, sometimes they would say, well, jump to light speed, but it wasn't like a big fucking thing in Star Wars where it was. They just fucked it up. Yeah. And it's the biggest property to fuck up. And I think what's sad about it is, so is this it now? Or can someone actually go make a good version of the original trilogy? I wonder what the statute of limitations are on these contracts, right? I mean, we've seen in the video game space, people will revisit Star Wars multiple times. So I don't know. I don't know. Does Stern just own it exclusively? They probably do. They probably have a right of refusal where they can just re-upping the license as much as they want. So if Mandalorian was the next step into it, they're not going to make one for Ahsoka. I think they messed up that theme too. I think I'm like, I thought they didn't mess. They just keep messing up. I guess Stern has messed up the biggest themes they've ever had. But I think they're going in the right direction. I think Godzilla is the right direction. I think Jurassic Park is. I think Jaws, which is the rumor of Keith Owens next, is going to be amazing. And I think John Borg is going to do Indiana Jones because he was really upset that the last Indiana Jones he did for Stern was pretty terrible. So what are you saying? You think Indiana Jones is going to be on Dial of Destiny? Yeah, I think it's going to be that. And I don't know what the movie storyline is, but I heard, and maybe this is incorrect or correct, that it's Indiana Jones. The Dial of Destiny, I think, allows them to time travel. So I think he might go back and appear in a lot of the iconic moments from the previous movies, which would be an interesting way to sort of work in, you know, all those major elements. we'd love to see the bridge scene or the big boulder or the ark of the covenant so we'll see i'm i have no idea i you know what you know what we need is a barbie pinball machine i was thinking about that like i mean i was gonna buy that uh you know like all the parents out there i'm not gonna buy a barbie game are you i'd rather what's your son's name i would rather oh killian killian you buy one for him um i'd rather have barbie than godfather okay it would outsell godfather fuck I don't know about that I can't get on the Barbie train man if it was spooky they would make a Barbie and then a Ken version the Ken wouldn't sell the Barbie collectors are crazy though I guess man you know something that I don't you're paying attention to Barbies what the fuck so Indiana Jones you mentioned Jaws which is the you know I mean it's going to be Jaws yeah it's going to be Jaws and then Venom which is just on the other side of a couple months, right? Yeah, Venom's been done for like two years now. I wonder what that's going to be, a multiplier fest? Well, it's Brian Eddy, you know, and I think we're all still waiting for Brian Eddy to bring a mech into the game that's somewhere close to the medieval Madness Castle. You know, we know he's capable of really cool mechs. I think the projector in Stranger Things is a really interesting idea. I think when that UV kit got put in, that game came to life, and then the code turned around and made that game a lot better. I think the first year of owning Stranger Things was pretty terrible for most people. But look, Stern's been on a roll, and Zombie Yeti's doing the artwork for Venom, so it's going to look insane. And that's his perfect wheelhouse is that comic book style for Yeti. So I don't know. I mean, personally, I don't really – Venom's not a thing that I follow or would run towards, But I think Stern knows what they're doing. You know, they go between major movies, they go between Marvel properties, and they go between music pins. And, you know, as long as they sell 2,000 to 3,000, they're on to the next, and everything makes them money. They'll sell Venom. For sure. Yeah. Another rumored game that I know you bring up more than anyone is them vaulting Tron Yeah Yeah Is there any like meat to this rumor Is this stuff you hear Are you just saying this for listens? Come on. What are we doing? Yeah, no, it's, I mean, I'm like, I hear stuff. And the whole thing with vaults, I think what happened is the COVID backlog and the supply chain. I think Stern, when they move to their new facility, I think we're going to start to see a few vaults again. And I think Tron is on that list. I think Ghostbusters is on that list. I would love Lord of the Rings to be revisited somehow, you know, without pixelated artwork. And, I mean, it's all right there, right, Jason? I know. I mean, just make it and they will come. But also Stern's got how many designers now? four designers on staff, which means there's not even enough cornerstones a year for each designer to have a release. And the demand for Stern Pinball globally is humongous. So they can't even fulfill the orders they're getting. And so who knows, right? I mean, I think what's terrifying if I was competing with Stern is at any point they could vault one of 20 games and sell another $3,000 to $4,000 instantly if they just go back to their portfolio of classics that people love. I mean, who else can do that in pinball? There's more old Stern games that are good than old Bally Williams games I want to see remade. They could print money with Lord of the Rings, Tron, Metallica, Ghostbusters. Right? Am I missing any? Yeah. That's probably... Yeah, I'm trying to think. Those are the big ones. And, like, if they actually close the flipper gap on Ghostbusters, because they've actually, when they redid the Spider-Man, when they vaulted Spider-Man, I think some people forget this, they actually fixed some of the mechs and changed some of the engineering to make the gameplay better. And they've openly admitted that it was a design in CAD when they designed Ghostbusters, they made a mistake with the flipper gap. It was not supposed to be that large. And the question becomes is what do you do if you do do that for the original owners that are going to complain that they have a game that, you know, is more difficult and not as much fun. But I don't think Stern really cares, though. I mean, everyone's, you know, everyone who's got a game, they're not in it to preserve people's secondhand value. They just want to make themselves money and get on to the next game. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a for-profit company. I support that. well thanks for stopping by talking balls talking rumors yeah anything else on your mind this fine sunday memorial day no i mean look i i've waited four years to get onto the pinball network and it's been fun and this is what it's always about jason just getting together i think everybody's drama is you know blown out of proportions and we're all good people who who are in this hobby We are. I mean, there's really very few jerks and they don't last. They don't last very long in pinball. So thank you for inviting me. I'm glad to to join your show and for some of the network listeners to hear Canada. And, you know, if people want to join the Canada Club, it's really easy. Just Google Canada's pinball podcast. And it's behind the paywall now that everyone's doing Patreon. It is funny to see everybody join the easiest way, I think, to show some financial support to all these content creators. But, Jason, I do believe that. And you know, this takes a lot of time and effort, and we do love doing it, and it is nice to see the support from the fans. And, Jason, I do want to give you a little shit. I saw you hid how many Patreon subscribers you have. Unhide that shit. Don only has three, all right? Three. to your point earlier i'm i was gonna stop the patreon and i still might i was serious when i'm like i'm gonna start kicking people off because then it's like i don't want to work for these people it's well yes i don't want to like yeah truly i'd rather make money from like ads and sponsorships and like have like oh people pay me and stuff like it so i'm i'm i hit it i stopped it it's still there a couple people have posted but i don't know what i have i have under 20 It's not that many because I'm just like, fuck it. I don't want to do this. Where it's like, objectively, does anyone put as much time and effort into audio production as me? No. But I mean, I'm not trying to win off of that shit. But then if I start comparing my numbers to yours or other people, because we all have competition in us, I'll start to get down on myself. For me, I don't know what to do with it. You know what I mean? It's so much time. It's so much effort. Can I ask you one final question? Because I want to see what your opinion is on this. What do you think about my latest effort to ask all these pinball companies to open up their doors on a random day and go live to show us their manufacturing? How many people are working there? How many games they can make a week? And be more transparent. because this is my new driving mission in this year is to keep these companies honest with us consumers, you know, what their manufacturing capabilities are, because that's the thing that is near and dear to me as I think about a positive thing I can bring out in this hobby is I do think it's positive when consumers, they just know, like, how many games can these companies make before they give these companies non-refundable deposits. And you shouldn't be hiding your manufacturing. Why is it a big secret? Every time we see behind the doors, it's only helped these companies look good and gives a more sort of personal touch to the companies and who we're supporting on the manufacturing level. Are you talking Stern and Jersey Jack as well? So Stern does their factory Fridays every Friday, right? I mean, no one's wondering whether or not Stern's making gigs, right? They're cranking out about 600 a week. Jersey Jack has shown us a little bit behind the scenes. I still think people are unclear how many games Jersey Jack can make a week or a month. I mean, we could guess, right? Maybe 100, 150 a week around there. Spooky's been the most transparent since day one. They'll tell us right away, like, we can make this many a week. If you're this number game, they make their games in numerical order. So I'm going after companies like Haggis, you know, and I'm going after companies that they won't say this stuff. and I think if you're going to ask people for non-refundable deposits, the least you can do is be transparent about how many games a week you can make and how many people are just working there. Yeah. I don't follow them as much as others. Is that something that they're over-promising on their delivery? Yeah. Well, you know, when you're telling people your game's going to arrive in eight weeks and it takes eight months, and then they're about to announce another game. And I'm not against any of that. It's just like, okay, but just let's not make this one big secret endeavor. And it's not just them. I mean, you know, for the longest time, I think, you know, a lot of people got burned in pinball or sent money in, and then, you know, they just wait. I mean, look at American pinball right now. I have friends who ordered Galactic Tank Force. They have no idea when they're getting their game. So then why are you taking orders? If EPA is so unclear, I don't think a pinball company should sell a product unless they really have a legitimate estimate on when you're going to get your game. Yeah. I don't disagree. Okay. All right. I just want to get behind. What do you think my odds are of getting Damien to open the door at Haggis? He won't do it. He won't do it. What do you think? Would you do it? $500 to charity? $1,000? Oh, for him to do it? Well, how many fucks do I have to say? I don't know. Can you add a bunch of fucks to the end of this podcast? Yeah. No problem. Yeah, just play that song for like 20 minutes. Oh, sure. I was actually working on that this morning. I'm changing it to, well, surprise for another time. But yeah, I will. I'll put 30 to 40 fucks at the end of this episode. All right, good. We'll get someone to tally them all up, and then I'll make the official offer again. All right, let me ask you one hard question. Yeah, yeah. Why do you care so much about number of listens, my Patreon, all that stuff? Why do you care? In our sort of space of creating content to attract listeners, the most easy way to just know how well you're doing is how many people are listening, right? And no one's making anybody listen, so it's always been about that. So my big thing has always been this. since day one, I've always transparently let people know how many people listen to every episode of Canadian Spinball Podcast. And the other podcasters out there, and I'll just name names, like Zach is always like, yeah, numbers don't lie, like we're number one. Like, cool. And I'm like, well, where are the numbers? And that's the thing, is if you're going to make a statement that we're the best because we have the most listeners, I fully expect them to have the most listeners now for sure because I'm behind the paywall but you got to show the numbers if you were in high school and you're like I got the largest penis in high school it's like well show us nah it's cool just take my word for it that's kind of that's a dick measuring I see that's the answer well all of this is just fighting for a mountain of dirt I think ultimately I think Zach and I have always had the best two pinball podcasts out there. And I would just say by the numbers, again. And so that is why, you know, as much as we might argue and say some stuff or be passive-aggressive, I'm always going to have respect for Zach and what he's created in his show because I think he's a great pinball personality. And I think him and Greg hosted the best pinball award show. And since they haven't hosted it, it hasn't been as good. Do I want there to be two award shows? No. Do I think award shows are fun? It used to be a lot of fun when we were doing those award shows at the beginning. It's turned into anything really but fun for a lot of the content creators. I still think the manufacturers and the designers, they still have a lot of fun with it. But I can assure everybody that whether or not I have 600 listeners or 5,000 or this many Patreon subscribers, none of it really matters that much. It doesn't. The only reason I would harp on it is because I do think I get a lot of arrows from a lot of people. And I'm just like, well, if I'm that negative, horrible person that nobody listens to, then why do all these people listen to it? And I'm not making anybody listen to it, right? And I think the Canada, or I'll speak about myself in the third person, which is always me. There you go. But I think what I talk about in pinball is good, and I think it balances out what we're getting from a lot of the other media, which any other media, a lot of them are friendlier with the company, so they're going to be a little bit softer in their takes on things. Some of them are making money for every game sold, so of course they're going to be a little bit more positive about their inventory that they need to move. And I expect that. The only thing that I think is the biggest danger in everything we do, Jason, is there is a line though. So I expect, you know, if Zach's a distributor and he's making content, I expect him to sell me on the benefits of the game. Nobody made a better piece of content to help sell a game than his content and Greg's content around Pulp Fiction, right? He dropped that 20 minute, the making of Pulp Fiction and look what happened, right? Game like sold out. It was perfect. But once you go from, and I expect the distributor to sell me on the product, but once you start reviewing something that you're also selling, that's the line where it gets a little bit foggy on whether or not you should be reviewing something. Because AMC does not review movies. They just want to get butts in seats, right? A Chevy car dealership doesn't review cars or give out car awards. So, because of course they would give them, they would give their cars the awards. And that's it. And look, I looked at all of the straight down the middle game reviews. they've done like 45, 46 not a single game ever got a C you know so it's like there's some shit games out there and it's like I get it and look but we it's just pinball it doesn't matter and I appreciate everything that Zach and Greg have done for pinball content I appreciate what Jack Danger has done I appreciate what all the other podcasters do because think about the people that are having the biggest issues with it it's not even us it's like we have a lot of fans that can get you know, get highly energized around this stuff. But ultimately, I respect anybody that takes their free time and makes pinball content when they don't have to because we're the ones that make this hobby interesting week in and week out. The companies aren't doing that. They make six games a year. There's only six days of real news a year. And the rest of it is dudes like us keeping people entertained to get to the next game. and and so we're all we all really are in the same boat and you know while we might squabble every once in a while ultimately when we see each other in person i think everyone is is a good person most of us are family people most of us have you know most of us can bury the hatchet and just have a beer and talk about how shitty galactic tank force is right i mean that's really the common denominator for all of it i just i'm just trying to trigger franchi to come back out because he said he's never podcasting again. If we just talk enough shit about Galactic Tank Force, he's got to resurface. It's a bad game. It's a shit game. It's just bad, and I've played it enough to just say I fucking didn't like it. I mean, I feel bad for all that stuff with him. I don't know him, and I'm not going to... That's the hard part, I think, sometimes, about being honest about these games, is that the creators have to have a harder skin, thicker skin of, this is not a knock against you. shit. You got paid, bro. You got paid. You're not making more money if they sell more, and if you sign that deal, I would not have signed that deal for Galactic Tank Force. And it's not personal. And the art on Galactic Tank Force is the best thing on it. Yeah. In my opinion. Because I feel like Franchise is like, oh, cool, we're making a 1950 sci-fi game. I'm going to crush it. And his art looks great. And then he's like, what the fuck is this dubstep? Why has this game got 1990s Wing Commander full motion video acting going on? The game is so a mashup of things that just don't go together. And the recent promo, what the fuck was that? No comments, nothing. Once you turn comments off, I mean, that's even worse than saying the numbers don't lie and then not sharing the numbers. The numbers don't lie. Just share the numbers. In fact, the numbers are great. That's the weird thing is his numbers are phenomenal, and so were the numbers for, you know, who else did it? It was Marty and Ryan when they did Head to Head. They had great numbers. Their numbers were higher than mine. Are you saying listens? Yeah, they just share them. Chip, you know why they don't share them is, you know, I don't know. Every once in a while, you're going to have, like, an off month, or you might have certain shows might get more than others, and it's fine. Like, you know. Oh, I've had some off shows. Oh, boy. I've had 803 off shows. A couple are good, you know. So, Jason, this was such a pleasure, man. I really do appreciate the offer. And, you know, we'll have to do this again sometime, and we'll get you on to Canada's one day too, you know? Sure. Well, yeah, next time you're having a few drinks, remember that you don't talk shit about the pinball party. I'll replay this for when you do. Like we're blood brothers. Don't you remember, Chris? Memorial Day weekend. Yeah. Awesome, brother. Appreciate it, man. All the best. Thanks, man. I'll talk to you soon. Bye. Thank you, everyone, for joining. Thanks, Canada, for stopping by. For Jason, this has been the Pinball Party Podcast, Episode 31. The following is a song titled Highway by Neon Dale. See you later. Highway, drive me for a week. Dive me, wallow. I got a bitter pill for you. Follow, you've got a voice inside of you. Wonder, take me Hindsight, take me Down low I never had to work for one Far off You've got a push inside of you You're not all about falling over Not feeling colder Not well-fitting within It's not all about getting older And being sober And finding life again It's not all about falling over And feeling sober It's time well spent together with him My way breaks free Cosmic saves me Hello I've never made a face before Hello Got a voice inside of me It's not all about falling over Feeling over Time left in there With me It's not all about getting over Feeling over Finding life there again Well, I find closure in my exposure And can I admit that I was wrong If I lean over your bitter shoulder And just oddly whisper that I was wrong Doesn't change anything. It's not about falling over or feeling broken. Time will pass you through with him. It's not about getting broken and seeking love. I'm finding life there again. It's not all about falling over, feeling over, time will stand and help again. Highway, drive me, four-leaf, guide me, swallow. I've got a bitter feel for you. I've got a bitter feeling for you I've got a bitter feeling for you Fuck. _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 69cd7ce8-3e98-44f3-a2a9-8f0dfe25f701*