# Episode 1013: "Kaneda's Expo Recap"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-10-20  
**Duration:** 48m 40s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-1013-114358454

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## Analysis

Kaneda attended Pinball Expo and provided detailed hands-on impressions of four major new releases: James Cameron's Avatar (LE), Alice in Wonderland, X-Men, and Metallica Remastered. He criticized Jersey Jack Pinball's UV implementation failure on Avatar despite two years of R&D, praised Alice as a unique Popadiuk-inspired work despite limited gameplay depth, called X-Men excellent but overshadowed by Metallica, and declared Metallica Remastered the clear winner of the show with strong FOMO and scarcity messaging. He also criticized online negativity on Pinside versus positive vibes at the physical event.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Jersey Jack Pinball's Avatar CE UV ink feature isn't working properly and requires additional external UV lighting to display correctly; CE playfields haven't been manufactured yet despite November production target — _Kaneda observed this at Pinball Expo where additional UV lighting was installed over the games, and JJP staff confirmed they haven't started manufacturing CE playfields yet_
- [HIGH] Metallica Remastered is one of the nicest pinball machines Stern has ever made with strong FOMO because demand exceeds 500-unit limited production — _Kaneda's direct assessment after playing at Expo, emphasizing production constraint creates genuine scarcity_
- [MEDIUM] Alice in Wonderland has weak flipper power and floaty gameplay compared to snappier modern games like X-Men and Elton John — _Kaneda observed this by standing over the machines and playing 3-4 games on Alice late Friday night_
- [HIGH] Alice in Wonderland was created in less than 12 months by Melvin Louwers based on unfinished John Popadiuk design concepts — _Kaneda repeated seminar information from Melvin at Expo about the development timeline and creative origin_
- [HIGH] Only 300 Alice machines will be allocated to America with 200 going overseas out of 500 total production — _Kaneda stated these numbers during discussion of production capacity and timeline_
- [MEDIUM] The homebrew Harry Potter game shown at Expo will make JJP's upcoming Harry Potter difficult to market because of superior visual presentation — _Kaneda expressed concern that homebrew Harry Potter's deep cabinet aesthetic with UV effects looks too impressive for commercial comparison_
- [HIGH] Stern avoided the UV implementation mistakes that JJP made with Avatar by successfully executing UV in Stranger Things — _Kaneda direct comparison: 'There's no way Stern Pinball would have gotten that wrong, right? Like, look what they did with the UV in Stranger Things. It works.'_
- [MEDIUM] X-Men needs an exclusive topper only on Limited Edition versions to justify $13,000 pricing — _Kaneda stated this as personal critique of Stern's tier differentiation strategy_
- [MEDIUM] Dutch Pinball's Alice uses Opto flippers which are probably not as good as Stern flippers, contributing to weaker flipper power — _Kaneda's technical analysis of hardware differences between manufacturers_
- [MEDIUM] Avatar's code version 0.99 made multiballs harder to reach than previous versions, slowing player progression — _Kaneda reported hearing players mention this code change effect at Expo_

### Notable Quotes

> "It is the people. And I can't stress enough that walking through that show, visiting the operator party...everyone is celebrating and playing pinball...it reminded me once again why we all love this hobby."
> — **Kaneda**, Early in episode
> _Sets thematic tone about community vs online discourse; expresses gratitude for in-person connections_

> "The Internet has the ability to bring people together...But reading Pinside while I'm at Pinball Expo, you couldn't experience a polar opposite of the vibes."
> — **Kaneda**, Opening segment
> _Critiques online negativity culture and calls for community mental health awareness_

> "When you stand in front of this game, you will be standing in front of one of the nicest pinball machines Stern has ever made. There is FOMO through the roof with this game."
> — **Kaneda**, Metallica discussion
> _Strong endorsement of Metallica Remastered as show winner; notes successful FOMO strategy_

> "It hurts me to say this, but at Pinball Expo, they brought in additional UV lighting to stand over those games to make the playfields glow more...the major feature in this game doesn't really work."
> — **Kaneda**, Avatar LE section
> _Expresses concern about Avatar's central marketing feature failing; indicates JJP unpreparedness_

> "It is mid-October. Those games are supposed to be on the line in November and they still tinkering with the UV ink...How is it that your most major feature, which you've been using in all of your marketing materials, you still don't have it right?"
> — **Kaneda**, Avatar critique
> _Direct criticism of JJP's development process and timeline mismanagement; implies bait-and-switch risk_

> "Was the juice worth the squeeze? Was this worth the entire effort and is this game as good as other pinball is on the market in modern times?"
> — **Kaneda**, Alice assessment
> _Frames evaluation methodology; tests whether Alice's unique status justifies quality tradeoffs_

> "This game doesn't come close to having like the tons of stuff those older games have in them...it's Circus Voltaire light. It feels more like a Magic Girl to me."
> — **Kaneda**, Alice context framing
> _Provides historical context for Alice's design philosophy; manages expectations for modern game players_

> "I do wish the team all the best in getting the games made...they nailed the brief on the game and if you look at it in the right context, I think you're really going to enjoy it."
> — **Kaneda**, Alice conclusion
> _Balances criticism with support; acknowledges design brief success despite gameplay limitations_

> "I think the more they remove him from the software lead, the better this game is going to get...Stern is not going to give up on this game code-wise."
> — **Kaneda**, X-Men section
> _References ongoing X-Men code leadership changes and Stern's commitment to post-launch support_

> "They were really amazing while I was out there. I know they want to get better. I know they want to listen to us. I know they are listening to us."
> — **Kaneda**, X-Men/Stern final comments
> _Praises Stern's responsiveness and openness despite industry criticism; indicates ongoing dialogue_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast; attended Pinball Expo as observer and content creator; prioritized community interactions over solo gameplay |
| Melvin Louwers | person | Designer of Alice in Wonderland; Dutch Pinball; Kaneda developed personal friendship with him; described as family man and passionate advocate for the game |
| John Popadiuk | person | Original game designer whose foam-core Alice concept was refined into working machine by Melvin; Zidware-era designer known for art-focused design philosophy |
| Barry | person | Co-developer on Alice in Wonderland transformation; worked with Melvin and DPX to manufacturing the game |
| DPX | person | Co-developer on Alice in Wonderland; involved in Melvin's manufacturing team |
| George Gomez | person | Lead designer at Stern Pinball; Kaneda references him as standard of excellence for feature implementation vs Jersey Jack Pinball's failures |
| Ken and Brett | person | Implied leadership at Jersey Jack Pinball; Kaneda directly addresses them regarding need for feedback integration |
| Jack Danger | person | Notable pinball designer; Kaneda references him as upcoming talent comparable to historical greats; associated with X-Men design |
| Bug | person | Representative at Spooky Pinball booth; Kaneda spoke with him about company's upcoming games |
| Wyson | person | X-Men software lead; Kaneda notes that reducing his design role has improved the game's code quality |
| Mark Siding | person | Homebrew designer who created Metroid; now designing James Cameron's Avatar LE for Jersey Jack Pinball; example of progression from homebrew to commercial |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of James Cameron's Avatar LE; criticized for UV ink implementation failures and development process issues after 11 years in business |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Alice in Wonderland; Netherlands-based; using Opto flipper technology; targeting 500 unit production at slow pace (10/week) |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of X-Men and Metallica Remastered; praised for code support, feature implementation quality, and responsiveness to community feedback |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Exhibitor at Pinball Expo with Looney Tunes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre; established titles with upcoming new game in development |
| Pinball Expo | event | Annual industry show where Kaneda experienced major new releases and community; setting for manufacturer feedback and gameplay evaluation |
| Pinside | organization | Online forum platform criticized by Kaneda for negativity culture and contrast with positive in-person Expo community atmosphere |
| James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition) | game | Jersey Jack Pinball release; UV ink bioluminescent feature failed at Expo; ranked 4th at show; code update version 0.99 makes multiballs harder; concerns about bait-and-switch marketing |
| Alice in Wonderland | game | Dutch Pinball release; inspired by John Popadiuk concept; ranked 3rd at show; had consistent long line due to limited availability; praised for aesthetics but criticized for weak flipper power and floaty gameplay |
| X-Men | game | Stern Pinball release; ranked 2nd at show; described as one of nicest Stern machines ever made; ongoing code improvements; needs exclusive LE topper |
| Metallica Remastered | game | Stern Pinball release; ranked 1st at show; 500-unit limited production creating strong FOMO; described as among best machines Stern has ever made |
| Stranger Things | game | Stern Pinball UV implementation reference; example of successful feature execution compared to Avatar LE's failure |
| Kaneda's Pinball Podcast Club | organization | Kaneda's membership community; he covered happy hour tab for members at Expo |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Avatar LE UV feature implementation failure, Alice in Wonderland gameplay depth vs aesthetics tradeoff, Metallica Remastered FOMO and scarcity strategy, Jersey Jack Pinball development process failures, Online community negativity vs in-person positivity
- **Secondary:** X-Men code improvements and leadership changes, Limited Edition pricing and tier differentiation, Homebrew game development talent pipeline

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.35) — Generally positive about community spirit and individual game merits, but frustrated with Jersey Jack Pinball's development failures and online negativity. Enthusiastic about Metallica and appreciative of Alice's uniqueness, but concerned about Alice's gameplay limitations and Avatar's false marketing. Praises Stern's responsiveness while maintaining critical distance.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Jersey Jack Pinball at 10-11 years and 10 games into business still making fundamental development errors; Kaneda questions management oversight and feedback integration processes (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'this company's been around, 11 years. This is their 10th game. They shouldn't be making mistakes like this at this point...I don't know if they want to hear it, but I don't know how they get this stuff wrong'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Strong disconnect between in-person Expo community positivity and online Pinside forum negativity; Kaneda criticizes online culture as toxic and counterproductive to hobby enjoyment (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'at the show, everyone's getting along...And then you go on Pinside and there's so much negativity...if more about this hobby triggers anger in you than excitement, then maybe you need to reevaluate why you're even in this hobby'
- **[competitive_signal]** Avatar LE's long ball times and upper playfield shot positioning limiting gameplay appeal compared to snappier modern layouts; mechanical design criticized as collection of secondary features rather than standout centerpiece mechs (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'none of that's going to change the fact that the ball times on James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition) are super long. Most of the shots are really far up the playfield'
- **[design_philosophy]** Alice in Wonderland deliberately designed as art-forward, lightweight-mechanics experience drawing from John Popadiuk's Zidware design era; successful execution of limited brief but appeals only to specific collector mindset (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'This is what John Popadiuk did. He like always wanted to get to the artwork...none of the Zidware games had really any software that was interesting at all'
- **[market_signal]** Alice in Wonderland slow production pace (10 units/week) creating sustained scarcity; 500 total units (300 US, 200 overseas) will take 50 weeks to complete; initial hype cycle may diminish before production finishes (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'I wish they could make these games faster...If you're only doing 10 a week interest and conversation around this title is going to start to diminish...every single week and it's really going to be a struggle'
- **[community_signal]** X-Men software leadership change—reducing Wyson's role improving code quality; Stern making developmental adjustments post-launch based on community/internal feedback (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'The more they remove him from the software lead, the better this game is going to get. The hard part has been done. The layout is phenomenal.'
- **[product_strategy]** Avatar LE CE production delayed; not starting manufacturing until UV ink issue resolved; misses original November timeline (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'It is mid-October. Those games are supposed to be on the line in November and they still tinkering with the UV ink'
- **[product_strategy]** X-Men lacks exclusive Limited Edition differentiator; Kaneda recommends Stern introduce LE-exclusive toppers to justify $13,000+ pricing and maintain three-tier model value perception (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'For $13,000, though, I would like to have seen X-Men have an exclusive topper that's available only on the Limited Edition'
- **[product_concern]** Alice in Wonderland has weak flipper power and floaty ball dynamics compared to modern Stern games; Opto flipper hardware choice by Dutch Pinball contributing factor (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'the flipper power was a little weak...it did feel more like watching James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition), where the ball is moving much more slower...Dutch Pinball uses like those Opto flippers and they're probably not as good as the Stern flippers'
- **[product_concern]** Jersey Jack Pinball's Avatar LE UV ink bioluminescence feature—marketed as primary selling point—requires external UV lighting enhancement to function visibly; CE playfields not manufactured as of mid-October despite November production timeline; major feature still unresolved after two years of R&D (confidence: high) — Kaneda observed additional UV lighting installed over Avatar games at Expo and spoke with JJP staff confirming CE playfields not yet manufactured
- **[sentiment_shift]** Jersey Jack Pinball's reputation among community members shifting negative due to apparent incompetence; Kaneda expresses loss of faith in company despite previous support; concerns about basic QA processes (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'I just don't get the sense at Jersey Jack Pinball that they're testing these products the way they need to' and 'when a company is not getting commonsensical things right, I just lose faith'
- **[business_signal]** Stern's 500-unit Metallica Remastered production constraint intentionally generating FOMO; Kaneda validates this as successful scarcity strategy after previous LE overproduction issues with John Wick/Venom (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'FOMO is not dead. It comes back when the theme is right and the game is great...I'm happy to see Stern do 500'

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## Transcript

 Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire! Welcome everybody to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. I'm your host Kaneda. I'm going to do a recap of my surprise visit to Pinball Expo. I booked the trip just about a week ago. I'm still not feeling 100%. I paid the price for this trip this morning on the way back to my home in Connecticut. I was literally on the bathroom floor in that big family-sized bathroom outside the entrance to Expo in the fetal position at 7.50 in the morning, and I'm cringing. By mistake, I think I took like a pain medication on an empty stomach and I was dying. And I'm like, I'm never going to make it to the airport. I picked myself up. I was nauseous, but it was worth it because being at Expo, it reminded me of once again why we all love this hobby. And it is the people. And I can't underscore enough that walking through that show, visiting the operator Stern Army party, going back to Expo after that, walking the show floor and seeing all these amazing people sharing photos and drinks and stories about pinball, finding out where everyone is from. I loved every single moment and it was such a good vibes day for me and I really needed it. I've been through a lot over the last three weeks and it's just been so nice to be reminded and really rediscover the core reason why this hobby is so amazing. It is filled with amazing people from all over the world who have come together to celebrate a box of lights that makes us feel good. I just want to say this before I go over my recap of the different companies at the show and my observations of being there for 24 hours. I just want to say this. The Internet has the ability to bring people together, and I love that ability of the Internet. But reading Pinside while I'm at Pinball Expo, you couldn't experience a polar opposite of the vibes. Like at the show, everyone's getting along. Everyone's having a great time. Everyone is celebrating and playing pinball. And then you go on pin side and there's so much negativity. There's so much moaning and groaning constantly. It's almost as if some of these people wake up and they want to find more reasons to hate these companies, more reasons not to buy games, more reasons to make themselves personally very uninviting. And I just encourage each and every one of you, if you're in a place where more about this hobby triggers anger in you than excitement, then maybe you need to reevaluate why you're even in this hobby. And when you look at all these games and all these companies and what everyone's trying to do, I would say like 85% or 90% of pinball ventures start out with good intentions and a lot of passion. And there's a lot of effort that goes into making these games. And in the end, it's really hard to put all the pieces together to make an amazing pinball machine. But the good news is for each and every one of us is you don't need to buy anything. Most of us have enough pinball machines to last a lifetime. But what we'll never get again are memories with the people. And this is why when I walked around the show, I really just wanted to focus on the people and talking to people. because I'm not going to be able to see most of these people again. I might not see some of you for the rest of my life, but I can easily always go find an X-Men or an Avatar or a Metallica or an Alice. I could find these games in the world much easier than I can find time with each and every one of you. And that is why when I was at the show, I really did prioritize my time to be with people. And I think a lot of people should shut off Pinside. you should stop moaning and groaning on the internet and maybe just pick up the phone and call one of your pinhead friends and spend an hour just talking about why you love pinball instead of spending an hour on pin side moaning and groaning like a baby about a game you're not even going to buy in the first place and i think you'll just be better off your blood levels will go down you'll be happier and you'll put more positive energy into the universe what did i think about Pinball Expo. You're like, Kaneda, what are you talking about right now? Just talk about the games. All right. So here's the thing. When I got to the show and I walked in, right ahead of me was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. There was a line that formed right away. There was a consistent line to play Alice of about like 40 people all throughout the show at any hour of the day. And so we're going to talk more about Alice. Obviously, when we think about what were the new like major games at the show that everybody was excited to see. You know, you had Alice, you had Avatar, you had X-Men, and you had Metallica Remastered. Those were the games that really stole the spotlight. Those were the games that had the longest lines. And those were the games that a lot of people are really itching to get feedback on. You know, because for a lot of people out there on the internet, you haven't had a chance to play any of this stuff. So your greatest moment to get some feedback from people would be feedback from Pinball Expo. Okay, so I walk in, Alice is right in front of me. It was just awesome hanging with Melvin. He's someone that I've met recently over the last few months. I've built a nice relationship with the man. He's an awesome dude. Like we'd be friends even if it wasn't for pinball. And in fact, we often now when we talk, we just try to talk about stuff other than pinball because we're very similar. I think we're around the same age, we're into the same stuff, and we're family men. And he's a really cool dude. And I mean that. And if you've met Melvin, you know what I'm talking about. He's an awesome dude. And when you meet these people and you become friends with them, and then you have to give your opinions about their products, of course, it is impossible to be completely unbiased when you get into situations like that. But I'm going to do my best to give you my true feelings on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, things I like, things I might have liked to have seen, things I think they can improve, and what I think will happen with this game over the next year as they start to manufacture Alice. And then I want to talk about the most exciting game at the show, which was easily Metallica Remastered. I think a lot of people have been debating whether or not this game even should exist, if the original was better, Is this game worth the money? I'm hearing a lot of people on Pinside moaning groan. And I think a lot of opinions have been formed by people, again, on the internet, who have not stood in front of a Metallica remastered. And I'm just here to tell you right now, when you stand in front of this game, you will be standing in front of one of the nicest pinball machines Stern has ever made. There is FOMO through the roof with this game. FOMO is not dead. it comes back when the theme is right and the game is great and there's more people that want it than can have it and that is the case with Metallica LE. I'm happy to see Stern do 500. We're going to talk a lot about that game. We're going to talk about Jersey Jack's Avatar. How did it show up at Expo? Was it able to showcase its features in a better light, pun intended, with the UV light? was their updated code with more synced up video and assets. We're going to talk a little bit about the danger room that they had set up for X-Men. So let's just go down a list of these games. And I think for a lot of you, before I do this, I want to say have safe travels home. Because I think many of you will be listening to this as you are traveling home from Expo. It was great hanging. And I really appreciate all the gratitude that I got from each and every one of you. I can't personally go down a list and name names because there were just so many of you. And for those of you who came to happy hour, it was my pleasure to pick up the tab for everybody who's a Canada club member. I really do appreciate it. And for some of you, I will see you again, either in New York or in Connecticut shortly. Let's do this. Let me do this in order. I'm going to tackle the four games in order and get to the one that I think just won the show. How's that sound? And the order, if I were to say the top four, and by no means is this like a weighted order, but I think it's just how these games arrived and the conversations I had with people and the enthusiasm around each of these products. I think for me, it goes in fourth place is Avatar. In third place is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In second place is X-Men. And in first place is Metallica Remastered. Now let's start from the bottom up. Avatar. JJP showed up with a really nice section at Expo. They always do a good job setting up the Jersey Jack booth at the shows. They've got the steel frame with the lights hanging from it. And they bring a lot of games. And they had Godfather. They had Toy Story. They had Elton John's. They had a lot of Avatar LEs. And then they had, I believe, two or three, I think it was two, I want to say, Avatar CE editions in this pipe and draped area. Now, I have played Avatar extensively. And what I was just curious about is how well the UV ink on the collector's edition, how well would it work? Because when you look at this game, that really is the main effect. It is the main wow moment of the game that they have been communicating and selling to us and marketing to us as this like world of Pandora is going to come to life under the black lights in this UV way. And the whole game is going to glow. And with the CE edition, you're going to see blue ink, you're going to see red ink, and you're going to see green ink. and it's just going to come to life in this bioluminescent way. And then when we saw the game a month ago, it wasn't really coming to life. And we know from the video they made, the $100,000 video to sell us on the game, that they brought in additional UV lighting over the game to showcase the ink on the playfield. And it hurts me to say this, but at Expo, they brought in additional UV lighting to stand over those games to make the playfields glow more. And I'm really concerned that the major feature in this game doesn't really work. And Jersey Jack doesn't have it figured out. And they were saying at the show how they're still not happy with where the ink is on the CE playfields and they're not going to start making the game until they get it right. Here's my concern with that. It is mid-October. Those games are supposed to be on the line in November and they still tinkering with the UV ink on the playfields until they get it right The game has been in development for two years How is it that your most major feature, which you've been using in all of your marketing materials, you still don't have it right two weeks before your game is supposed to be on the line? So that means the CE playfields have not been manufactured. It means that those games are not going to be on the line in early November. And it also means that the major feature, which hooked a lot of people on this game, doesn't really work well. And I have a huge concern about this. Like, what were you doing for the two years of R&D? How did you make this part of your marketing materials when you didn't figure it out yet. I think they're running a huge risk, Jersey Jack, of almost going into the territory of bait and switch, where they baited you with a launch video. And then the reality is the game itself doesn't deliver that experience. And again, because this game doesn't have any toys, because the lower playfields are not that much fun, it's really relying on that bioluminescent UV stuff to be the wow moment in the game. So that is why, you know, when I talk to people about Avatar, I mean, everybody loves the topper. The game is still stunning. I'm just really, really concerned. And when it comes to code, I heard a few more call outs and stuff, but I'm still not hearing. I'm not hearing those clips exactly the way they would be if they were just lifted from the movie scenes with the audio 100% synced up. Now they definitely released new code, but people, the code of Avatar now is 0.99. And I think what they've done is they've made it harder to get to those multi balls. So you're not going to be playing them as easily as you were before, but none of that's going to change the fact that the ball times on Avatar are super long. Most of shots are really far up the play field and the big wow moment that uv moment isn't really working properly so i would be somewhat concerned if i was all in on a ce there was a rumor that they might be adding more uv lighting to the ce of the game again really concerned that your product should not have been launched it should not have been revealed to the world until you figured that out. I just don't get it. And I really did just sort of hover kind of on the outskirts of the JJP area because I don't know how to give this company feedback. I really don't. I don't know if they want to hear it, but I don't know how they get this stuff wrong. And that's what's got me somewhat concerned about them as a company, because it's like, do you need us to tell you this stuff? Like, do you really need me to tell you you should not have launched a game until you got the major feature working in the game? And it just seems like common sense. And when a company is not getting commonsensical things right, I just lose faith that someone is over there. Who's there? George Gomez. Like, there's no way Stern Pinball would have got that wrong, right? Like, look what they did with the UV and Stranger Things. It works. Not only that, it's amazing. It's way better implemented in the game than the UV is in Avatar, and that's the thing. I just don't get the sense at Jersey Jack that they're testing these products the way they need to and that they're getting the feedback. If I were to give Ken and Brett some advice, you've got to start taking feedback into account and you've got to find a way to get your company connected to the right kind of feedback or else you're going to keep making these mistakes that at this stage, right? 10 years, this company's been around 11 years. This is their 10th game. They shouldn't be making mistakes like this at this point. They should be firing on all cylinders, making the best machines they've ever made. And a misstep like this, not being able to get the main feature to work right, isn't working for me. All right, so that's why Avatar gets number four on my list. From Avatar, we go to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But before I get to Alice, I just want to say, look, at the show, there was spooky pinball. They had a lot of Looney Tunes and Texas Chainsaw Massacres lined up. You know, but you got this sense that like, you know, we've moved on from those titles. They've been out for a while. They're really excited about their next game. I talked to Bug. But I don't really want to go down like some of those older games on this episode. Because again, I didn't really want to spend any time on stuff that I'd seen before and you've seen before. You know, so that's like all the games at Spooky, the games at American, the games at CGC. Like nothing new, right? I want to focus on the new games, not the old games. And also, I just want to say this. The homebrew section was awesome. Like when you look at the homebrew games and all the stuff happening Friday the 13th, Tony Hawk, Harry Potter, unfortunately, while it looked amazing, it wasn't playable, which was a tragedy. Now that game looks incredible. And I'd hate to be releasing Jersey Jack's Harry Potter after this kid shows the world what could be under glass when it comes to Harry Potter, because it's insane looking with that deep cabinet. But there are too many homebrew games to even mention. But what I love about seeing the passion in the homebrew area, that's where the next Keith Elwin is going to come from. That's where the next Jack Danger is going to come from. And by the look of things, this hobby's got a lot of talent coming up. And that's going to be good because the legacy designers, some of them are beyond their prime. And these newbies are going to want to get their shot at having a mass-produced game happen and the homebrew area is a great stepping stone to nail a job like that. I mean, that's where Mark Seiden came from. He made Metroid and now he's making Jersey Jack's Avatar. All right, so Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The line was always long. They had a beautiful sort of backdrop with the artwork and they had three games there. For the most part, It was only two games that were playable. They took a third one out that got set up sometime like later Friday. And the line was always long. Now, I want to say this. The line was long because they only had two games. You're not going to get a long line for X-Men when there's 40 of them. Or a long line for Avatar when there's like 20 of them. So yeah, lines can be somewhat deceiving. Like you can't look at the line and say it's the most popular game at the show. Look, it was definitely popular though. Like there were other games there where there was only one example. I think there was like one labyrinth in the house and there wasn't really anyone online to play it. But when it came to this game, this has been a very polarizing game. Melvin and DPX and Barry did something that nobody really asked them to do. they took a J-pop foam core game and they turned it into a working, functioning, work of art pinball machine. And I was at the seminar. I heard the stories again. I feel like I've heard this story so many times and I get it. You know, he made the game based on J-pop's ideas. He didn't add extra stuff. He actually just had to figure out how to make John's stuff, which didn't work. He had to make it work. And here's my feelings about this game. First, and foremost, when you walk up to it, it is beautiful. It is a stunning game. It does look like this game that came from the mid-90s with a modern touch. The artwork in person is great. The colorization of the artwork in person is great. The entire machine, when you walk over it and you stand over it, it's much more colorful. It's much more lively and inviting than you've seen in the streams. And I mean that. But are the looks deceiving? Is the game beautiful to look at, but is the gameplay just mediocre? So what is it like to play the game, right? Because there's going to come a point where we get it. Like you made the J-pop game work, Melvin and Barry, and you manufactured it and you did all these tweaks. Okay. Was it worth it, right? There's a phrase I always use in my industry. Was the juice worth the squeeze? Was this worth the entire effort and is this game as good as other pinball is on the market in modern times and i want to be completely candid here because i hear people saying like did dutch pinball pay you to be out there no they did not pay for me to be out there i am not on any payroll with the company i think this game is hard to evaluate for everybody because i think you have to look at this game in a certain context. And if you do look at it in a certain context, you will absolutely enjoy the game. And you almost need to look at it in that context to justify buying it and enjoying it. Because if you try to look at this game as being something that has gameplay that's comparable to an X-Men or a Jaws or a Theater of Magic or a Circus Voltaire or a Totem, look, it doesn't. This game doesn't come close to having like the tons of stuff those older J-pop games have in them and doesn't have like the kind of crazy layouts we're used to with the modern games happening by the other companies today. Again, so if you look at it like that, I saw some people saying like it reminds me of Circus Voltaire. And I have to be honest, what? Like, what are you talking about? Circus Voltaire has one of the greatest mechs and toys in the history of pinball with a ringmaster like that does so many different things and that's just one thing happening that's really unique and whimsical on Circus Voltaire this game is not Circus Voltaire it is Circus Voltaire light it feels more like a magic girl to me than a Circus Voltaire and that should make sense because this game and its sort of creation and its design happened when John was doing his Zidware games. So if you look at it through that context of Melvin in less than a year made a working version of a J-pop thought starter, I think you're really going to enjoy this game. And I think it's interesting because all he needs is 500 people that enjoy this game on that level. It is unlike anything else happening in pinball right now. It looks different than every other game on the market. Okay, so what is the game like to play? Now, I was only able to play about three to four games on Alice. There was lines all the time. I did not want to cut the line. I did not want to have any special treatment. And so I finally got on it late, late Friday night. And for those of you at the show, you know what I'm about to say. It is exhausting being on your feet on that concrete all day long. And then you walk up to a machine and you can't really hear it. Like I didn't get pulled into the sound or the music or the call outs. But what I did really like about the game is I just liked standing over it. It just has this really fun whimsical world under glass and the shots are makeable and it easy to understand what you supposed to shoot And I think that my favorite thing about this game is you standing over it and there's one big like lightning bolt flashing and I know I need to shoot there. There's not everything going at once. There's not like rainbow lighting going all over the place where I have no idea what I'm supposed to be shooting at. So it's very easy for someone to walk up to Alice and have a nice, fun, casual game of pinball. And again, in a world in which Stern and Jersey Jack and everybody else is delivering these modern, deep, rule-set games, I find it somewhat refreshing that there is just a simple game that not everybody's going to own, that is just a unique pinball experience, but it also has some magic that I think works. Like I definitely love that upper play field when you get up there and it is fun to get up there and there is a little bit of a learning curve. I think Melvin is working on the code so that people get up there more often, but the magna flip area up there is a lot of fun. Magna flipping, again, I know a lot of you out there don't like it, but there are a lot of us out there that love it when a magnet grabs the ball and just makes the ball do something where like invisible forces are making that pinball fly around the play field. I love that about pinball. And so being up there in the queen's chamber is a lot of fun. I love it when the magnet grabs the ball near the left in lane, like the flamingo area. That is awesome. The spinning discs that can save the ball are really cool. I love it when you go into the Mad Hatter mode and the disc just keeps spinning. I think what's interesting about this game, if I were Melvin, I know he's got two buttons on each side and one controls the spinning discs. I think he should work in the code more often that you can turn them on by hitting switches in certain modes and not have to worry about using that second button. I don't know. I think it would just be more fun sometimes if they came on in an automated way. The same way in Totem were those shooting stars, right? Imagine if you had to like use a button to activate the shooting stars. It wouldn't be as much fun as them just turning on when the ball is about to drain. The center ramp is easy to hit. Like you could hit it all day long. I know people were like, oh, the power, it doesn't go up. It rolls back down. You can definitely nail that ramp over and over again. You know, if there's one area for improvement I would like to see in the game, I do feel like the flipper power was a little weak. You know, I don't know if they could turn it up a little bit. I also felt like the games were not that steep, that they were playing a little floaty. And you could tell floaty gameplay when you just stand over a game. You don't even have to be on a machine to see how the game is going to feel when you're on it. If you stand over an Elton John, you see snappy, fast gameplay. If you stand over an X-Men, you see that snappy, fast gameplay. When I was standing over Alice, it did feel more like watching Avatar, where the ball is moving much more slower from the flippers to the shots at the top of the playfield. So I think that's something that they can work on in software. And I know Dutch uses like those Opto flippers and they're probably not as good as the Stern flippers. So there's that. I think people are going to see what they want to see in Alice. I think for people that love modern pinball and have been enjoying games like Godzilla and games like X-Men, I mean, you name it, like all these modern games that people love, Jurassic Park, if you've been enjoying those games and what those games have in them, and you walk over to Alice expecting a similar experience, you are going to be extremely disappointed. You are going to think the game is empty. You're going to think there's nothing in the game. There's not much to shoot at. And you're going to feel a disconnect in like, what am I actually doing in this game? And that is one thing that I did feel too. It's like the artwork is so interesting. and it's so detailed and there's all these characters. I think they need to work on the code a little bit where some of that artwork and some of what we're seeing in the game, like these beautiful, sexy women, you're not seeing them come up on the screen. You're not hearing any of Alice's inner monologue as she's interacting with these characters. And so I think that's something they could explore with code down the road. And I think it would help tie together Some of that sexy edginess that's on the art. How do you get that into the game more? You know, but also that's J-pop, guys. This is what J-pop did. He like always wanted to get to the artwork. He always wanted to wow us with art versus like software because none of the Zidware games had really any software that was interesting at all. So if you went from like a Magic Girl and then you played Alice, you would be like, OMG, like this code is incredible. Then that's really what this game is. It's a working version of a Zidware idea that was made miraculously in just 12 months by a guy that you never heard of before in the pinball world. And I think if you look at Alice like that, it will always be an interesting game to have in a large collection or a medium-sized collection. it will always have an interesting story to go with it and you can't say that about most games and there's only 500 300 in america and 200 overseas you know and i wish they could make these games faster it would be great if all 500 would be in homes in four months while people were still like hyper interested in the game i do think over time if they're only doing 10 a week interest and conversation around this title is going to start to diminish now every single week and it's really going to be we got to now get these games made so i do wish the team all the best in getting the games made you know i have a little bit of a personal connection with these guys i think they nailed the brief on the game and if you look at it in the right context i think you're really going to enjoy it if you want to find things to hate about it and look at it like it should be just as good as like these modern other games, of course, you're going to come away disappointed. You're never going to want one and you'll be able to bag on the game and insult it as much as you'd like. But man, give these guys some credit because they did what nobody else could. All right. So the final two games, X-Men. So X-Men is amazing. I think X-Men LE is one of the nicest Stern machines I've ever seen. Only problem is a nicer Stern machine dropped right on top of it at Expo. I don't have too much to say about X-Men because I only got to play it a few times. The new code is getting better and better. They are sort of giving Wyson a lot more support. I think the more they remove him from the software lead, the better this game is going to get. The hard part has been done. The layout is phenomenal. And Stern is not going to give up on this game. code-wise, and I think it's just going to keep getting better every month. I think for $13,000, though, I would like to have seen X-Men have an exclusive topper that's available only on the LEs. I think that is something Stern needs to start exploring as we move forward, but they definitely are a company listening. I'm not going to go into all of the personal conversations I had with people at Stern. They were really amazing while I was out there. I know they want to get better. I know they want to listen to us. I know they are listening to us. And I think it's easy to blanket hate them. And they're the big, bad, evil empire of pinball. But I would rather take a different approach and give them constructive feedback and build bridges to the leadership there and actually have meaningful conversations about how we can get these things in a better place so that they still hold their value. So that if you're going to spend this much money, you're getting your money's worth. So you don't rip open the cardboard box and lose $3,000 in an instant. And again, it's easy to be a complainer on pin side. It's a lot harder to try to bring about positive impact on these products and on these companies. So yeah, X-Men is great. I think if you have one, you're going to love it. I'm still shocked that the LEs are not sold out. I really don't understand it. It is such a nice game. And I think it's just the fact that it's $13,000. I think the other problem with X-Men is all three of them look amazing. I was telling this to the Stern folks. You guys got to start sandbagging the pros because it looks so damn good. How can you keep making the pro cabinet as good as the LE cabinet? They really need to start differentiating more. I'm sorry, but if a pro machine is just supposed to be on location and allow people to go through the game without all the bells and whistles, you're putting too many bells and whistles in it, it all of a sudden doesn't make the LE worth twice as much money as the pro. And this is one of those pros where they didn't take out much and it might be the best earned pro in a long time. And I think that's another reason why do I really need to spend twice as much? And what am I really getting? Is it worth it? It's hard to see $6,500 more fun in the LE over the pro. But if they had exclusive modes that were only in the LE or an exclusive topper, that would start to make the LE owners just feel better. All right, maybe I should have done this in reverse order because I've been talking for a while and now I'm a little tired and I'm getting to the number one game of the show. And I was telling people like over a year ago, Stern Pinball is remaking Metallica. And I told you it was me. Nobody else said this story that Metallica visited Stern Pinball and they saw Rush and they were jealous that their game did not have a modern example. And they wanted Stern to make a modern example of their game. And this is John Borg's masterpiece, people. He actually said he worked about as hard and as many hours on the remastered game as he did on the original one. And when they wheeled this game out and it was at Microphone brewery. I want to tell you right now, this is one of the most stunning Stern pinball machines I've ever stood in front of. This game blows away the original. I'm sorry, everybody who has an original. I know you're not happy. I know you want to justify your Dirty Donnie artwork, but come on, everybody. The Dirty Donnie game, now 12 years later, that looks like the equivalent of the art package on the GNR standard edition games. You know, those cartoon characters in those like dune buggies. For some reason, when you look at this game and then you put it next to the original, the original does look so cartoonish. And this one looks like Metallica. This one reminds me of what Metallica's look and feel and persona was all throughout the 90s. And they nailed it. It looks incredible. It is some of the coolest Metallica artwork I've ever seen. And it's in pinball format and you get to own it. If you're one of the lucky 500 that got an LE and listen to me and you got rid of your original Metallica LE and you know you made a lot of money on that sale So nobody can complain because there never going to be a Metallica LE owner that lost money There not going to be an OG Metallica LE owner that lost money. There's never going to be a Metallica LE remastered owner that's going to lose a penny. This game is never going to go down in value. It is going to be one of those FOMO games that just holds and holds strong. There's way more interest in Metallica than Jaws. Just as a theme. And then you build it on top of this Lyman Sheets and John Borg masterpiece and you make it better. You make everything about the game better. And then you only make 500 LEs and you have this metallic artwork on the side that's perfect. The artwork is different on both sides. And then you've got the best trans light I've seen in a Stern machine in a long time. And you've got modern sound. And the best part about it, you've got internet connectivity with Metallica and all these new challenges, you're not going to get that in the original game. This game, 100% hard stop, makes that old game, in my mind, obsolete. Not to mention the band footage and the way the animations work. They're incredible, but it's going to trigger everyone who has an original. Everyone who has an original is going to justify that their game is better. The same way the guys who didn't get an LE on this new one are like, oh yeah, the premium's better. I'm telling you, everybody, and I mean this, I've stood over both of them in person. The premium is nowhere near as nice as the LE. I know you want to convince yourself it is, but that Mount Rushmore trans light and the green on the cabinet and the art package is just not as detailed. It's not as nice. And that's how it should be. The premium shouldn't be nicer than the LE. So I think Stern has made, I'm just going to say it, a modern masterpiece. I think Nobody's ever going to question if this game is great. We know it's great. And now it's just better. And on a global market, everybody I talk to, the dealers want it more. Everybody want it more. And I want to say this. I'm so happy that Stern Pinball is only making 500. They needed to do this. This was the time to do this. This is them listening to us. They've got to get back to the FOMO. They've got to get back to more demand and supply. And they got to start creating things that just become masterpieces that are not everywhere. Right. There's only going to be this many. That matters. I think they did it right. I know conventional wisdom says, well, they should have just made a thousand because that would have made a thousand people happy. And now you're making 500 people happy and everybody else is unhappy. I don't buy that. I do think now moving forward, Stern's going to have to work on how they allocate these games. How do they do it? We all know like the dealer model is like a model from the 80s, people. Is that the best way to do it? You know, I got a friend in Australia. He got locked out of getting a Metallica LE. He was on his dealer's list for like a year or two. And then the dealer only gets 25 and has like 75, 100 people that want it. And unfortunately, he didn't get one, even though he was on the list for a year. And, you know, the dealers are not doing stuff like a lottery system. they can just pick and choose who they want to give the game to. I think Stern might want to figure out how to create a system that maybe is a little bit more fair. But ultimately, when you do it right and you make things truly limited, you are also not going to appease everybody. And that's OK. We got to stop living in this world where like everyone has to be made happy, like pinball socialism, like let's just make as many as people want. And then none of them are special. Would you rather live in that world, which is the world we've been living in? Too many LEs across the board. None of them are special. Everybody's losing money, right? So the only people making money are the distros. Is that where you want to be as pinball collectors? I don't want to live in that world. I think they did it right. And I think the frenzy around this game is real. I'm just going to say, like, standing over this game, they crushed it. Everything about it. Everything about it. I love the new magnets. I love the new Sparky. I love the Metallica behind him that lights up. I love everything about it. I didn't get a chance to see the UV light work in the game. But man, the concert footage, the way it's woven in with the animations is genius. You can really tell Stern went the extra mile with this game. James and Lars and the whole band being involved with the call-outs is incredible. This game is going to go down, I think, one of the top five must-have Stern machines. And if this opens the door to another version of Tron like this, another version of Lord of the Rings like this, you know, Sam games that get ported over. How do you stop Stern? And Stern's factory is really just one line right now. And they have room to become two lines. Can you imagine if Stern's able to go to their vaults and make some of their best games ever look this good and then also bring out new stuff like Keith Elwin's King Kong? This company is just like unstoppable, people. I mean it. They're just going to be unstoppable. And for the record, I found out talking to Stern directly, Metallica was supposed to be a Spike 3 game. They just needed more time to perfect the platform. Look at that. They didn't reveal it. They didn't want to pass on quality control issues with Spike 3. They wanted to test it and make sure they got it right. So that is why Spike 3 is going to be on a ladder title. will it be Dungeons and Dragons Brian Eddy's game or will it be Keith Elwin's King Kong I think it makes sense to hold it to King Kong bigger screen big gorilla I forgot to mention that Dutch Pinball did not announce that they're making Back to the Future I know there's a lot of speculation that someone else is going to make it with them none of that is confirmed no deals have been inked and I think it's smart that they didn't start talking about Back to the Future because that game is so far away, you know, and you want all the attention to be on Alice. So that didn't make much sense, if you ask me. And I want to give a quick shout out to Chris Turner and his game Ninja Eclipse. I walked over to Chris at the show. He's maybe the nicest guy in the world, let alone pinball. And I love the innovation he's done underneath that game, how those boards work and how clean the game is and how he's sort of made manufacturing a lot more efficient with his innovations. This is a great first game to test out all those innovations. And I think if he can now go get a licensed theme with what he's got going with that tech, I think he's in a good place. I also think other manufacturers might start taking notice of how his tech is working and how it could streamline their manufacturing because with his boards, if a light goes out, you can repair it. You're not stuck having to replace the whole board. Chris, I want to say congratulations on getting your game to market, on selling those games you had. It was nice. He had like four Ninja Eclipses. They all sold. And, you know, he's only making $100. And will he sell all $100? Maybe. With his kind of attitude and his positive energy, I think Chris will find success in pinball. And I think he's moving at his own pace, which is good to see. Everybody, I just want to say, if you ever get a chance to go to a show, go to a show. I think more and more of you need to start turning the internet off. You're surrounded by a lot of negative, cranky people. And all they do is hate. I mean, I saw people like taking photos of me. It's funny. They're taking photos of me, making fun of me on pin side. Like, look at this clown. Look at this D-bag. All the nasty things in the world they want to say to me. And what's funny to me is those haters are there, right? They're in the room with me. They don't have the guts to ever come up to me and say those nasty things to my face. And they're the losers. They're the losers. They're the losers for like making fun of people like that, like spreading their hate. Meanwhile, I'm sitting down at the table with the leaders of these pinball companies and they're in the bathroom on pin side just trying to get some likes from a bunch of losers like them. Everybody, the majority of this hobby is really cool. You know who you are. I'm not going anywhere. I got thick skin. I'm really happy about what I've done with this show. I'm really happy about how I was received by the community and by the companies. Yeah, they tried to kick me out, but cooler heads prevailed. And it was onward and upward. I'm not trying to focus on any of that negativity. This show, people, as of today, has over 2 million listens. Canada's Pinball Podcast. Over 1,000 episodes about pinball. I think we've done a good thing for pinball. I think we're adding value to pinball. And I think there's a lot of good stuff happening in pinball. The prices are high and the games are going to have to deliver to justify those prices. And you know, I'm going to call it like I see it. So in summary, I think Avatar is doing a little bit of bait and switch. I think enthusiasm for that game is going to run thin sooner than later. And I think we're going to get Harry Potter in March because there's no way they're going to make avatars between now and March. There's no way. The orders are just not going to be there. And if the CE UV doesn't work well, who's really going to be plunking down 15k on a game where if they make all 1,000, right, there's twice as many avatar CEs as Metallica LEs. Those games are going to sit and you're going to be able to get one for like 10 Gs in just a few months. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It's going to forever be a polarizing title. Those who see it in the right context will enjoy it and it will be a unique conversation starter in their game rooms. Much cheaper to buy this game than the fool who bought Magic Girl for $36,000. Did you see that auction at Expo? Little does that person know that Magic Girl is probably going to be remade and it's actually going to work and it's not going to cost you $36,000. Foolish purchase if you ask me. X-Men is amazing. The code's going to get there. My only worry with X-Men is Metallica did override it. And I did feel a little bit bad that like X-Men did not have the spotlight of the show. The line to play Metallica was two hours long. There was not an hour long line to play X-Men. Again, there There's only two Metallicas, that's why. And Metallica. I think Metallica showed us that Stern Pinball can get even bigger. That Stern Pinball has so many aces up its sleeve, it's not even funny. It really is Stern and everybody else a distant second. And the fact that they can make a classic game like Metallica this much better, I would hate it. I would hate it if they even considered Tron or Lord of the Rings or another Ghostbusters or ACDC. I would hate it because every other pinball company doesn't have that. They don't have a deep portfolio and they don't have the talent to do these kinds of remastered games. Everybody, I'm exhausted. I want to give you a little bit of a longer show. I got to go edit this now so I can talk for like an hour. Now I got to listen back and edit out some stuff. I'm going to be dead tired. everybody thank you so much for your support and i want to end this show by thanking a few people that have edited their pledges you know they raised the roof club clint warren went from five to ten thank you clint i want to thank bill gunnett he went from five to ten and todd f todd went from five to ten recently as well everybody thank you and have a great night and a safe travel home from expo All I burn

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 80bc3f2e-f1e6-488e-ac1e-5cfb19eb129a*