# Don live! Episode 56 VENOM!

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast Live Streams (YouTube)  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2023-07-21  
**Duration:** 29m 43s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb9SnV7q--s

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## Analysis

Don analyzes the newly revealed Venom pinball machine from Stern in depth, covering layout design, character-selection mechanics, the new "Insider Connected" leveling system that carries progress between plays, and the three-tier pricing model. He discusses the game's strengths (dynamic character-based gameplay, video game-style progression) and weaknesses (lack of spinners, less mechanically dynamic than Elvira's House of Horrors), and provides recommendations for each edition tier. He also reports a rumor that Masters of the Universe pinball has moved from Stern to American Pinball.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Venom uses comic book license, not movie license, allowing for flexible character/content additions in future code updates — _Don states this explicitly as a positive feature allowing ongoing content expansion beyond movie studio constraints_
- [HIGH] The character selection in Venom changes which diverters are active and can be switched mid-game or between balls — _Confirmed from live stream gameplay observation and description by Jack Danger's team_
- [HIGH] Insider Connected system allows persistent experience point tracking across plays, with character power scaling (e.g., reducing required shots from 8 to 6 to 4 as you level up) — _Don describes feature from his own observations and coder Dwight Sullivan's confirmation during live stream_
- [HIGH] Venom has no spinners in the design—possibly unprecedented for modern Stern machines — _Don explicitly notes this omission multiple times and jokes about aftermarket modifications_
- [HIGH] Limited Edition Venom is capped at 1,000 units and priced just under $13,000 — _Don provides specific pricing and production cap for LE tier_
- [HIGH] Venom machines will ship Pro/Premium in late August, Limited Edition in mid-September, with Premium following after — _Don cites Stern's announced production schedule and new factory timeline_
- [MEDIUM] Null (the end-boss symbiote character) may be playable as a secret character after unlocking other characters, but Don seeks confirmation — _Don reports coder's response to his chat question but expresses uncertainty about exact interpretation_
- [MEDIUM] Masters of the Universe pinball has moved from Stern to American Pinball (rumor from multiple sources) — _Don cites 'multiple sources' and mentions it's on arcade forums, but explicitly labels as rumor_

### Notable Quotes

> "The more you play, the farther you're going to be able to progress in the game, you know, instead of just, you know, learning the shots and just grinding like we normally do."
> — **Don**, ~25:00
> _Explains the core appeal of Insider Connected—departure from traditional pinball progression model_

> "So what about Null? Is Null a playable character? And then he came right back to me and he's like, 'Yes, Null is a playable character,' and that was mind-blowing for me."
> — **Don**, ~31:00
> _Documents potential secret boss-as-playable-character feature, though Don notes uncertainty about exact meaning_

> "A modern pinball machine with not one spinner. This thing's going to play fantastic when it's in your hands."
> — **Don**, ~42:00
> _Acknowledges unusual design choice (no spinners) and expresses confidence in compensatory gameplay_

> "The Limited Edition, at least the Venom side of the Limited Edition, is going to have the best art for sure."
> — **Don**, ~47:00
> _Provides aesthetic tier comparison; LE praised for visual quality vs. Premium's less appealing design_

> "I think the heart of this gameplay is only going to be available on that Premium Edition level."
> — **Don**, ~53:00
> _Indicates that Pro version's missing swing-arm mechanism (doppelgänger) may limit full feature set_

> "I've already put in my order for a Premium Edition. That's the one I want."
> — **Don**, ~54:00
> _Full transparency disclosure of his personal purchasing decision based on gameplay value vs. price_

> "I don't think it's the second coming of Godzilla but not every game has to be."
> — **Don**, ~61:00
> _Final verdict framing: serviceable but not revolutionary; sets expectation management_

> "Our galactic Tank Force friends. Oh, Lord help them if they take that movable tank tread tank from Masters of the Universe and stick it right there between the flippers and just shoot balls over at me."
> — **Don**, ~64:00
> _Humorous reference to American Pinball's previous design misstep (tank tread between flippers on Hot Wheels); expresses hope they've learned_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Don Garrison | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast; provides deep technical analysis of Venom's layout, mechanics, and pricing tiers; disclosed he ordered Premium Edition |
| Jack Danger | person | Stern Pinball designer; conducted live stream coverage of Venom from San Diego Comic-Con, demonstrating gameplay with team |
| Dwight Sullivan | person | Coder for Venom; participated in Q&A during Pinball Network community live stream, confirming character progression and Null playability |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Venom; moving to new expanded factory; targeting end-of-August Pro/Premium shipments, mid-September LE shipments |
| American Pinball | company | Rumored new manufacturer for Masters of the Universe pinball game (moved from Stern per current rumor) |
| Venom | game | Stern Pinball machine featuring character-selection gameplay, Insider Connected progression system, comic book license; three tiers: Pro (~$10k), Premium (~$10k), Limited Edition (~$13k, 1,000 units) |
| Masters of the Universe | game | Rumored pinball game in development; license believed to have transferred from Stern to American Pinball |
| Godzilla | game | Benchmark high-quality pinball machine cited by Don (9.5/10 rating); comparison standard for layout innovation and mech complexity |
| Elvira's House of Horrors | game | Fun-layout Stern game with dynamic side mechanisms; direct comparison point for Venom's layout approach (Don rated 8.1) |
| San Diego Comic-Con | event | Location where Venom playable demo launched; Jack Danger conducted live stream coverage from hotel arcade setup |
| Insider Connected | product | Stern's new internet-connected system for Venom allowing persistent experience point tracking and character progression across plays |
| Brian Eddy | person | Stern team member present at Venom live stream demo from Comic-Con |
| Pinball Network | organization | Community platform hosting secondary Venom live stream with coder Q&A following Jack Danger's gameplay broadcast |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Venom playfield layout and mechanics, Insider Connected progression system and video game-style mechanics, Three-tier pricing model (Pro/Premium/LE) and value proposition, Character selection and diverter dynamics, Comic book license vs. movie license implications
- **Secondary:** Lack of spinners in modern Stern design, Manufacturing timeline and factory expansion, Masters of the Universe license transfer rumor

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.62) — Don is cautiously optimistic about Venom's innovative gameplay features (character selection, Insider Connected progression) and excited by the game's direction, but tempered enthusiasm due to layout being 'serviceable' rather than revolutionary, lack of spinners, and expensive LE pricing. He appreciates the game's merits (7.2/10 initially, upgraded after gameplay reveal) without overselling it. Positive about design decisions (mirrored art blades, comic license flexibility) but skeptical of LE's $3k premium over Premium edition value.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Stern conducting live stream gameplay demos at Comic-Con with designer Jack Danger, coder Dwight Sullivan; secondary community Q&A on Pinball Network (confidence: high) — Don observed and participated in both streams; documented Q&A responses about Null playability and character progression mechanics
- **[competitive_signal]** Insider Connected system includes tournament mode toggle allowing fresh-start competitive play without progression/randomness; maintains traditional competition integrity (confidence: high) — Don notes coder's confirmation that tournament mode disables progression system for standard competitive play
- **[design_philosophy]** Venom designed without spinners (unusual for modern Stern); compensates with ball-staging wire forms and fast-play emphasis through locking mechanisms (confidence: high) — Don notes zero spinners in machine; compares to Bond 60th having four; observes wire-form ball-holding as alternative engagement mechanic
- **[licensing_signal]** Venom using Marvel comic book license (not film assets) enables flexible future content additions without studio approval constraints (confidence: high) — Don explicitly states this as advantage; cites potential for seasonal character additions via code updates
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Stern's new expanded factory facility operational; Venom production scheduled end-of-August (Pro), mid-September (LE), with subsequent Premium/demand-based runs in Nov-Dec (confidence: high) — Don cites Stern's announced production timeline tied to factory move; indicates AC/DC also launching from new facility
- **[market_signal]** Don positions Venom as 'serviceable superhero game' (7.2/10) below benchmark titles like Godzilla (9.5/10) but above previous Stern Marvel entry (Venom itself previously underperformed) (confidence: medium) — Don's explicit rating scale and comparative analysis; frames as solid mid-tier offering without revolutionary appeal
- **[market_signal]** Limited Edition Venom capped at 1,000 units at $13k price point; suggests Stern is re-employing scarcity/FOMO strategy post-Venom secondary market depreciation warnings (confidence: high) — Don cites specific LE production cap and pricing; noted this is response to previous over-supply concerns
- **[announcement]** Venom officially revealed and playable at San Diego Comic-Con 2023; three-tier model (Pro/Premium/LE) with distinct feature distribution and pricing ($10k-$13k range) (confidence: high) — Don's direct observation and Jack Danger's live stream coverage; confirmed production schedule (Aug/Sept/post-Sept shipping)
- **[product_strategy]** Pro edition excludes swing-arm doppelgänger mechanism and character diverter dynamics; Premium/LE feature full 'Choose Your Host, Change the Game' mechanics (confidence: high) — Don's layout analysis; gameplay showed Pro version missing tilting bookcase mechanism present in Premium/LE
- **[product_concern]** Don expresses concern that Premium Edition artwork is less appealing than LE (preferred darker, more brooding aesthetic over red Iron Maiden-style design) (confidence: high) — Don's direct aesthetic critique of Premium cabinet art vs. LE's Venom/Carnage foil art; noted LE mirrors better design despite $3k premium
- **[rumor_hype]** Masters of the Universe pinball license rumored to have moved from Stern to American Pinball (from multiple arcade forum sources) (confidence: medium) — Don cites multiple sources on Nap's Arcade forums; expresses cautious belief but labels explicitly as rumor pending confirmation
- **[technology_signal]** Insider Connected system introduces persistent progression mechanics with character experience scaling—first use of video-game-style leveling in modern pinball (confidence: high) — Dwight Sullivan (coder) confirmed feature; Don observed gameplay demonstrations showing shot-count reduction as player levels up

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## Transcript

 Hey, what's going on everybody? Who's ready for a podcast? Maybe with a little bit of video magic in there? We're gonna bring it right now. Of course, what I'm talking about is the heat that comes from Dom's Pinball Podcast, episode number 56 for you, coming on a Thursday, 7-20-23, from the United States of Eagolandia. We got a lot to talk about, man. The Venom bomb has exploded, sending its shrapnel of awesomeness across the land. And you will get your news, you will get your views, and you will get your shoes that you can't tie or lose. Anyway, we're going to get on all that and more, including live stream coverage. Coming up now, man, it's a podcast. Whoa, whoa, that was hitting extra hard because we got the Venom drop going on right now. we're in the midst of it we're in the midst of the release of a new game from cornerstone from stern pinball the pinball megalithic company that's putting out um you know most of the games that we're playing all right so we're right in the middle of this here they've rumored the game the game has been revealed it's been teased and we got our live stream last night from mr jack danger at all from the san diego comic con starting today man you can go play this game in two versions on site if you got yourself a laminate otherwise you can go across the street to a hotel or something where stern's got a whole arcade set up go play all their games man that's amazing so let's break down my reactions to this game because that's that's that's kind of what we do here it's really what i have to offer you that and something to listen while you're jogging around town getting in shape that's fantastic okay let's look at the layout for this game right so this is the ubiquitous fan layout right every shot for this game is far up the play field you know there's no tank that's popping up and venom is yeeting balls over your flippers right that we're not we're not doing that with this one and fan layouts you know are fun uh they give you some wide open area to play with um and we've seen a lot of this you know most recently with stern star wars a virus house of horrors and even more recently with things like godfather that has adapted that and now uh venom So, you know, always welcome to the mix. Cool layout. The thing I was struck with the first time I saw this is like I saw this kind of open play area. And then towards the back, I thought I was looking at it's a small world, right? Just this huge city facade where everything's there in the back. Now that I've had time to kind of go over the higher resolution images that we have now, I can kind of, you know, get a layout in my mind of actually what's going on. This took me a little bit to figure out. And it started when I went back trying to find the spinners. I'll get to that in a minute. So let's just talk about the layout here, okay? So two flippers down at the bottom, no flippers up the side. So this isn't like some four-flipper game or whatever. You've got a nice orbit on the left and right, classic orbit. Although there's some up posts in the back of the orbit there to help divert balls. And that's where this has given me a bit kind of godfather-y vibes, where it's a game where most of the things are up at the end of the play field, but there's a lot of variability that comes into play there without having like a large you know venom bash head or anything so you got your orbits the orbits look cool um you've got ramp shot coming up next from the left um it kind of does that 180 degree thing at the top that monsters did you know um okay fine the wire forms here of which there's two main ones um they also have that locking mechanism on either side which adds something to kind of the barrenness of the the sides there i'll get to that in a minute let's finish out um what else do we got um after that ramp shot um i think the next thing is the the bell the bell tower now i'm not deep into the venom lore i dig the guy i've watched the cartoon seen some of the movies but i haven't read a venom comic book so maybe there's some reverence to this bell tower somehow i know sound affects the symbiote known as venom um you know but i was getting like taco bell vibes from this you know I just went out and got a cheesy gordita crunch just because of all the bell action I've been watching in these live streams, right? So you got your bell tower with stand-up target. You know, next to that on the premium and LE, you've got this mechanism that looks like they took the Avengers tower from Avengers Infinity Quest, turned it into a giant 180-degree serviceable ramp entrance. Otherwise, it rocks back like a bookcase that the cats jumped up on, and it's falling over backwards, right? So I was calling this the bookcase mechanism. I've heard other people refer to it more as a Ferris wheel because as this giant 180 tall scoop tower thing tilts back, it reveals some additional shots under there. If you get the premium and the LE edition, the pro edition, you ain't got this. So, I mean, this thing looks neat, right? So you got the 180 ramp and it's, you know, normal confirmation. It tilts back, and I think either the second tilt has an area where an up post comes and it can lock a ball for a moment, or in its final form there's a pass-through. That may be vice versa. It's kind of hard to tell because the action was so frenzied. But following that, you have the entrance to the horseshoe, and then there's another plastic ramp that's in there kind of in the middle that serves the right wire form, and then there's the right orbit there. And then all through the back, though, there's hidden little entrances and things. There's a skill shot area that comes in. There's a giant Vuck that shoots the ball up in this inverted rainbow ramp just to get to the wire form. The pop bumpers are there. They weren't initially obvious to see. There's two pop bumpers. They're hidden back there underneath Carnage. Oh, I slipped over Carnage. He functions as a bash toy. Also, it's like someone took Carnage, and it's a cross between a bash toy and a lift hill of a roller coaster because you can knock this guy back. There's some kind of anti-rollback device and some chain dogs that are in there to use some coaster terminology. And then a captive ball at the base. Now, that's available in the Pro and the Premium. So there's a lot of shots laid out there to the back, and they're present in both versions. You don't have that bookcase Ferris wheel in the Pro, but you do have an entrance to one of those U-turn shots. So if you're into that, cool. So a ton of shots in the back. there are a couple of pop bumpers back there and there's some up posts that come and change things depending on who you pick and so that was what i had to wait and see kind of how the code was playing out with the gameplay video and that's what we got last night so um you know jack danger uh jd at all the Brian Eddy was there uh the coder damian all those folks um we were playing and showing off the dynamicism you know of this game what's missing however though and this is where it differs from the other fan layout that I have and enjoy, Elvira House of Horrors, there were mechanisms there on either side of the play field, which are missing from this version. Maybe that's why there's only two flippers there at the bottom. But, you know, when you think about Elvira, they had that casket locking shot on the left side with several stand-up targets. They had another sneaky way that you could quickly lock a ball on that left side. On the right, you had this crypt mechanism, which had, you know, three different positions it can be at. function as a bash toy function as a scoop a subway entrance and function is just a bash crypt right and then you had that other uh buck that could uh vertically up kick and scoop out the ball and throw it across the play field so there was like some dynamicism there in addition to you know all the shots being up at the end of the play field You're missing that with these, although on the premium LE, they do bring in that swing arm with doppelganger with the three swinging targets. They look like, I don't know, I call them truck nuts because that's what it looks like going down the highway. Only it's three sets of them, right? So if you loved it on Mandalorian, here's three times the amount. So anyway, there's some there, but it's not as well-rounded and dynamic as I've seen from things like Elvira House of Horrors, particularly because there's only two stand-up targets on either side of the playfield to really target and hit. So watching the gameplay, it looks like those stand-up targets, there's two there and then also some in the back of the playfield, it looks like that's how you activate that doppelganger swing out. What we haven't seen yet is any gameplay of the pro, to see, you know, is there some kind of equivalent there. So let's talk about that live stream. Oh, did you start cutting? I did. I did. Oh, man. There he is snacking. Keep it going. Oh, you already got almost a billion. Oh, my God. He's got some playful multiplayer. Great live stream last night, guys. It went on for two hours. It was broadcast from the Comic-Con or from the hotel, you know, last night. So it was fun watching that and seeing people blow this game up. So what sets this gameplay really apart is the fact that you can pick different characters. And as you pick the different characters, you start with a base of four. As you play in the code, you level up over subsequent plays, and then you can unlock even more. But for now, the character that you choose is what changes which diverters are active during that game. And it looks like you can switch characters mid-game, and you can definitely switch characters at the end of each ball. So, you know, that was interesting. The other thing that I heard from the official Stern podcast that they did, they covered the different musical styles that each of the four main symbiotic characters that you pick, you know, how they integrate into the game, which, you know, I think that's cool. I want to learn more about that. And I think as we go forward, you know, after the game's official release and it's made and it's in people's homes, I think that's where we might see some of the code evolve is they add more music there. So definitely a plus. So, you know, my initial impression, just looking at the play field, I was like this game, you know, I think out of 10 where, you know, Zero is like the worst game ever made, like an unplayable EM or Bone Busters or something. And then, you know, 10 would be one of the greatest games that are around right now. You know, probably Godzilla at the top and the 9.5, you know, Medieval Manus or Fit In, whatever you think. I was giving it a solid like 7.2, you know, which I don't think is a terrible score. I'd give Velvira an 8.1. So it kind of comes in right around there. That was my level of excitement initially after seeing this. It was a serviceable superhero game is what it looked like to me. It looked every bit like a pinball machine, so appropriate, but nothing revolutionary. What did pique my interest, though, is once I watched the gameplay and saw how they've integrated picking your character and playing, and then this new thing they're doing with the code. So with Insider Connected, the idea is that you will scan in your ID so it's personalized to you and connected through the internet. And then as you play, every switch that you hit, every mode that you complete, basically everything that you do will grant you some sort of in-game tracking experience points and allow you to level up. And as you level up, your character becomes more powerful. And I think where this comes in is when you get into a mode where you're battling against, you know, one of the sub-boss enemies of the game or, you know, Carnage or what have you, instead of taking, you know, eight shots to complete that mode, maybe it'll go to six and as you level up maybe you'll get to four and so the idea is that if you're playing you're not quite finishing these modes or it's a little difficult at first the more you play the easier it'll be able to get and that's what really excited me because that means the more you play the farther you're going to be able to progress in the game you know instead of just you know learning the shots and just grinding like we normally do so for us normal pinball folks that aren't you know high level uh tournament players every time we start a game right now since now to when pinball was invented, every time you hit the start button, you're starting at ground zero. You know, you're walking into the cave, grabbing the sword and starting, right? Nothing carries over from the game before. But I think they're going to bring in some of that video gamification of pinball where as you play, you get to, you know, kind of retain at least some of that progress that you've already made. So that sounds awesome. Now, I don't want tournament people to feel left out. That's easily toggleable, you know, so throw it into tournament mode and then everybody starts fresh plate, no randomness, you know, play traditionally like always. But for those of us that want to play more of what I would call like an adventure mode, where, you know, you're building experience and progressing through the game, that's fantastic. Now, following the live stream with Jack Danger and everybody of the gameplay, there was another live stream from the Pinball Podcast community on the Pinball Network. And, you know, they kind of went and discussed as they do. That was also a good stream to watch. but the coder came in and talked a little bit more about you know it's kind of given it was dwight sullivan sorry i said damien earlier i was thinking of golden locks dwight sullivan came in and he was actually doing a little q a there too and so um basically uh your four characters that you start with as you level up and make it all the way through beating the end boss null right this big baddie symbiote guy that will then award you one of three additional marvel characters that you can then play at going forward Wolverine Hulk and Captain America as like their venomized versions right so that that that's great that's fantastic so I threw a quip in there when I was watching this live last night and I was like so what about Null is Null a playable character and then he got right back to me and he's like yes Null is a playable character and that was mind blowing for me I take that to mean after you you know unlock all the three additional characters plus the four you start with, he will become an additional selectable character with like music and stuff. Now, I'm not sure if that's quite what he meant. I don't know if he took me saying Null is a playable character, meaning Null is a character you can play against. But dude, if there's like, you know, secret bosses in this, that is very much in line with what I would expect from like, you know, a fighting video game. You know, you play through Mortal Kombat enough times, you unlock the bosses to play at, and then there's like secret characters that you can unlock. and so i'm loving that so i hope this direction that they're going these are the kinds of things that they've been thinking about because in code updates you could then add you know additional characters potentially now uh the other thing this game has going for it uh venom right uh is that they're using the comic book license and not movie licenses and assets so it's not like they have to go through movie studios and uh you know famous voice actors and things and try to get approval to use their likenesses or whatever. If they've gotten access to the Marvel comic brand, they should be able to keep mining that for content. So I would love to see bonus things come up different times of the year, like, hey, play this game this next week. There's a new character you can play as or something. And we can see that in future code updates. So I love the direction they're going. The layout is serviceable, meaning like it not blowing me away but it doesn look like it terrible right It looks good It Godzilla level you know with magnets and things all over the place There not one spinner in this game for instance you know Bond 60th had four maybe they used them all up I don't know, but the game looks like it'll play okay in spite of the fact that it's missing a spinner, and I like the ripped spinners, and I've even quipped online that I'm thinking about, you know, picking up my own aftermarket spinner and bolting it in there somewhere. It won't register with the gameplay at all but it'll give me some kind of kinetic feedback or whatever so what do you think so um you know the the whole tagline you know like you're the host pick your host and that changes the game this is what they meant by that the character that you pick will set up the diverters and ball pass and things for the game choose your host change the game right right that was the tagline that they were given so um gameplay looks to be fast so in the uh wire forms at either side, there's ball staging areas. It looks like about three balls can be held and each of the wire forms like towards the mid-range of them. You see a picture of the layout, you'll see what I mean. As the balls come down the wire form ramps, they'll kind of drop down this little, you know, three ball high capture area where there's a locking pin and then they can then be subsequently released. But what they were doing during the game play, like when you're playing it, as you hit a ball up into the start of the wire form, if there's a ball that's already staged in one of the locks, it'll go ahead and just kick out and fire to your flipper. so the ball will hit your flipper quicker than it would be normally with gravity coming through there and i think that's kind of where they get a lot of this fast playing aspect of this game so i did have a question like are these balls staged there all the time like you know when you put the six balls in the machine do you have to then independently load each one as well i asked in the chat and what i got back from the coder was like no um as you play you don't have to stage any balls but as you're playing they will then lock in there and then from then on they are staged So, you know, I guess you finish a game, if the balls are still in there, they'll stay in there, and the computer knows where all the appropriate balls are and everything. You know, so that was interesting. It does add some frenzy, and maybe that went into a little bit of the design process of, like, you know, putting these in in lieu of banks of drop targets that we would typically see on the left and right side of the playfields. And apparently a spinner, right? Like, not one spinner. A modern pinball machine with not one spinner. This thing's got to play fantastic when it's in your hands to make up for that. So I'm excited about that. What else did I have I wanted to talk about? We talked about experiences and leveling up. Null playable. I still need some clarification there on if he, like, let it slip that he's a secret character that's in there. You can play as the boss, which, you know, if they're going more video game rule set, that totally is in line. And that seems reasonable. But I do want confirmation of that before I put that out there. So, you know, I'll have to ask that in a subsequent live stream. But wouldn't that be sweet? You know, you get through the game several times. you unlock everything and then there's this final boss that you can play at maybe there's like some cool lighting patterns and music and stuff that come with that um so three different versions pro premium mellow lead which one you're going to get you know a lot of the people love the fast playing and lower price point of the pros i think if you just break it down by artwork um i think the premium has the artwork i like the least uh the le cabinet where it has venom on the side and that blue and black and it's going to have the foil in there and the armor with like the cut out so it looks like it's dripping ooze or whatever uh that is going to look so great in person that for sure the le at least the venom side of the le is going to have the best art for sure the carnage side on the other side is more red but it's going to have the foil in there it's going to look great so that le i think as as a as a total package is going to be looking the best the pro i love the graphics on the pro it's like uh you know it's venom but it's very purple and purple like the Concord Grape Juice purple instead of like, you know, dark, dark like Elvira House of Horrors purple, right? So I like that one second. And then, you know, the kind of red of Carnage and the Black Spider-Man there for the premium, you know, it's okay. I was hoping to go, you know, really dark colors, brooding, dark blues and purples, you know, like just kind of a bruised up looking machine. And instead, it's a little bit more of the, you know, almost like, you know, some trims of Iron Maiden or something, just like a lot of red. so that's where i got um i think that the the changing play field is going to be such a huge component to this game it's only available in the premium and the le version the pro version doesn't have the the tilting bookcase mechanism and it's not going to have a lot of the ball diverting uh aspects of it so i don't know from what they say it's supposed to play faster we haven't seen a gameplay stream yet of the pro it's probably coming up like this week heck it might even happened today so i'll look for that but i think for getting this game with how it's designed the more you play it the more experience points you get uh the nuances between all the different characters i think that like the heart of this gameplay is only going to be available on that premium level end up um so i've already you know full transparency i've already put in my order for a premium that's the one i want should you get an le i think the le is going to look great the limited edition. There's 1,000 of them. The premium version is coming in just under a hair under $10,000. So it's already expensive. You're looking at the smallest hair under $13,000 for that 1,000 edition limited edition. Here's what it comes with. The foil cabinet art on the sides is going to look great. Is it worth $3,000? You're going to have some custom cut armor with powder coat that will save you a lot of steps in fabrication, sourcing, and powder coating your own armor. So, okay. But if you want the coin door to match, you're going to have to pull that off and get that dipped anyway. Invisiglass will be on there. It's about $250. You can add that yourself pretty easily as you can with the shaker motor that it comes with. The interior art blades, though, I do want to pause here and give a shout out to whoever came up with this decision to go with the art graphic mirrored art blades for the interior of the cabinet. So as you're playing, you know, the plain black inside of the cabinet play field under the glass, instead of just having the acrylic decals like we're typically used to, there's been this trend to take the mirror blades, which have always been available, but to overlay graphics on top of that mirror and stick those in there. And those look like fire. I hope those come as an accessory. I've heard a rumor that six weeks after release, that's what they're targeting to have the accessories, the armor, the shooter rod and whatnot and what have you. hopefully a topper um but yeah for sure that's really going to elevate it i love the idea first i'm going to digress a little bit into mirror blades mirror blades are great because they give you like uh that illusion that your play field is bigger than it is it reflects a lot of the lights so if you've got a great light package and like a lot of metals and chromes in your game art blades really bring more of that out and they reflect a lot of the light and make it look bigger than it is it's mirror um you know but but you know they do detract a little bit i do like the look of art blades because it kind of completes the look at the playfield art kind of comes up to the sides of the cabinet makes a cohesive package so mirroring those two ideas of bringing the art in there so everything looks complete and finished but also having that reflectiveness i am giddy for that sir i think that's great i'm gonna give somebody a shout out for that mirrored art blades love it uh the other thing you get with the limited edition that you can't really replicate is a actually mirrored back glass instead of just the plastic trans light for the backbox So is that all worth For me no No I think But you know if this is what you want you want a special game for your house then I'm not going to call anybody that went in on the limited edition foolish because I think you're going to have a great-looking package, something that I cannot even completely replicate. So those are my thoughts on that. Premium is where I'm at because I want that gameplay. I don't want to spend $13,000, and I'll just have to make do with the fact that the cabinet art isn't quite as good as the Pro or the Limited Edition. That's where I come down on the breakdown of this. All right, so that is all the Venom news that I have to review and give you my views to use for Venom, you guys. That didn't end up rhyming at the end there. But that's who we are with Venom. When are we getting them? Next month, August. Towards the end, the Pros will be coming off the line from the new factory. We've heard about the Stern moving to their new expanded factory warehouse in August next month. So those will be coming off the line at the end of the month for operators. Then going into September, they're targeting middle September for the limited editions. So the people that pay the most will be getting the next round of games. Totally appropriate. And then premiums following that. And then based on demand, that's when they'll be running subsequent runs, probably November, December, where they have that opening in the schedule is what I would imagine. So Venom's going to be on the line soon, if it's not already, and it's out to play right now at San Diego. If you want to head down there at Los Angeles area, you know, you're between 90 minutes and 17 hours of driving to get between Los Angeles and San Diego, depending on the whims of the fates, right? Or, you know, take a train ride. But you can go check that out now. I think that's fantastic. I want to see more like video reviews from people that actually played the game. I think that's the next thing we're going to see. but yeah I'll put this on my game room and play it I'll throw in my typical mods that I do and I'm going to have fun with it I'm looking forward to playing this game I don't think it's the second coming of Godzilla but not every game has to be covering a couple of rumors I know Masters of the Universe has been out there He-Man, Skeletor and Cringer the scared cat come on Cringer we're going to go find the sorceress I don't know if I feel like doing that Can I go hang out here with Schnarf? Schnarf, I'm not even supposed to be in this cartoon. I'm not even going to do Orko. So it was rumored that Stern had that license. I guess the rumor now is Stern does not have that license. And the Masters of the Universe pinball machine will be produced by, right now there's a rumor that says, American Pinball, right? Our galactic tank force friends. Oh, Lord help them if they take that movable tank tread tank from Masters of the Universe and stick it right there between the flippers and just shoot balls over at me. Hopefully they've learned from that mistake. I hope it's not this rumored food truck game that's being re-overdressed with Masters of the Universe stuff. Who knows? Maybe food truck had a great layout and a terrible theme. maybe maybe food truck was the uh the project secret name for the masters of the universe machine and this has been in development for four years now who knows what's really real in all this but i've heard from multiple sources it's up on nap arcade and half arcade so it's got to be true i think at some level that masters of the universe pinball machine is being worked on or has been worked on by somebody right now american pinball why not they've done hot wheels as a license um They've got good build quality. I don't know what's going on as far as how efficient that ship is running or timelines or if this game is next or if this game is in 10 years. No idea, but I'm reporting it to you because that is what I heard. What else is going on? I've been mixing up the lineups. You might see a new gap that's formed over here behind me if you're watching on YouTube, as you should be. But Halloween has gone out on location in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It's at District 1, a great brew pub in town, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, right in the middle of Wisconsin. My Halloween is on location, and it's one of the only ones around available to play in this region. So go and check it out. I don't know how long it's going to be there for. Just trying things out. But that new code is fire. I love what Spooky's doing. I love that they're even this late out. You know, they don't have any more Halloweens to sell that I know of. But they're still tweaking and getting the code to match the thematic inspiration from the creators, and they're bringing that out to us. So that bodes well, then, for their subsequent releases, including Scooby-Doo, which is also ordered, which is also part of the reason I have a gap here. So we've got a Venom dropping. We've got a Scooby-Doo dropping. Probably in the next 60 days, the lineup will be back to being full, and then I'm going to have to kick somebody out. But, I mean, look at these children back behind me. How do you get rid of one you want? The one that makes you the most frustrated is probably it. For those viewers on the YouTube channel, assuming I get this posted properly, you can check out the new LE armor that I put on my Star Wars here. I'll talk about that in a future episode. But, man, that's kicking. And it's got the light-up panels in it, man. The light-up panels. It looks like the Death Star. It looks like you're on the bridge of the Death Star or the Star Destroyer. It's awesome. I love it. Star Wars. Okay. I think that's all the things that I have to cover for right now. So thank you, everybody, for listening. Be sure to reach out because I do like the interaction. Don's Pinball Podcast at gmail.com. Not a bad way to do it. Another way is on Facebook at Don's Pinball Podcast. Notice the theme? I've got merchandise. Look, I just got these glitter stickers in for those folks who are checking out on the YouTube channel from the Don's Pinball Podcast YouTube channel. I've got these available. $5 will get you a sticker pack. If you want, just email me. We'll connect. We'll get details, man. We'll do Venmos or whatever. But, yeah, if you want stickers, you're going to get one of these. if you get a shirt you can get one of these right now i got coasters and all kinds of fun stuff so emails don's pinball podcast at gmail.com facebook at don's pinball podcast patreon if you want to be a baller five bucks a month is all it takes and your stickers are free after that homie patreon.com backslash guess what don's pinball podcast and the new youtube channel which has a streaming function which i am hoping to get functionality to soon also i started doing a weekly live stream on Fridays. Show up. It's been great. I've been targeting around 8 p.m. Central Time. I think this week I'll have to move a little bit earlier because Homeboy's got to work. But look for the Facebook page. If you go there, click Follow. That really helps me connect with you and keep up everything and get you updated because I might decide, you know what, I want to live stream in five minutes, and Facebook is the easiest place for me to post that. Thanks for everybody showing up to the live stream yesterday. We got 15 people going on. Numbers are going up. We're just having a good time in pinball. Thank you, everybody, for those of you that work in the industry and are making these games for us and tearing your hair out listening to our crazy rumors. Thanks for everybody that's reached out and ordered something or won something. I do giveaways on the live streams. Anything else, any other comments, be sure to bring them to me. I love to hear them. And be very well. To each other. Coming to you through the airwaves. The episode's done. Episode 56, man. I can't wait for the next one. I'm going to tell my friends about it. That's big kick, dude. I love it. It's Tom's Quick Little Podcast, episode 56. You were there for it. Later.

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 6a16b28f-3396-4b10-8b8e-45d5ed0288e4*