# The Great British Pinball Podcast Episode 15 - Pinfest 24 aftermath

**Source:** The Great British Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-08-28  
**Duration:** 67m 43s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** Buzzsprout-15657928

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## Analysis

Scott Rundell and Neil McCray discuss Pinfest 24's aftermath, covering David Fix's presentation on American Pinball's business challenges, newly played games including Labyrinth and Galactic Tank Force, and broader industry concerns about pricing, game design philosophy, and distribution. They critique manufacturing decisions that inflate costs without adding value and debate whether American Pinball's strategy of creating original themes versus licensing is sustainable.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] David Fix let slip that another manufacturer will be doing a Harry Potter pinball machine — _Neil directly heard this from David Fix during his presentation at Pinfest 24; Neil characterizes it as 'the worst game secret in pinball'_
- [HIGH] American Pinball became profitable starting with Galactic Tank Force after years in the red — _David Fix disclosed this business milestone during his Pinfest presentation; described as breaking into the black for the first time_
- [HIGH] Pinball Heaven resigned as American Pinball distributor after learning about competing distributor David Retro Arcade through social media — _Discussed as happening shortly after Pinfest; Phil from Pinball Heaven expressed dissatisfaction with announcement method_
- [MEDIUM] Stern is now the cheapest option in the UK market to buy a new game, which is unusual historically — _Forum post cited by Scott; suggests pricing repositioning across manufacturers_
- [HIGH] Labyrinth (Barrels of Fun) didn't break down once during entire Pinfest weekend despite heavy use — _Scott's direct experience playing the game; cited as reason for purchase decision_
- [MEDIUM] American Pinball manufactures only approximately one game per year — _Phil from Pinball Heaven's comment about distribution viability; implies severe production constraints_
- [MEDIUM] Harry Potter licensing will likely be expensive, potentially millions, given IP scope and rights complexity — _Neil's speculation based on David Fix's presentation about licensing costs; acknowledged as unprovable prediction_
- [HIGH] Spooky games had reliability issues at Pinfest with Looney Tunes and TCM breaking down more than staying playable — _Scott's direct observation of games being down throughout the weekend; consistent pattern noted_
- [MEDIUM] American Pinball created custom manufacturing parts (special legs) for Galactic Tank Force that reduce margins without clear benefit — _Scott's analysis of manufacturing choices; implied from discussion of cost vs. value trade-offs_
- [HIGH] CGC's Cactus Canyon Remake required three iterations of drop target redesign for location reliability — _Butch Peel's presentation at Pinfest; explicitly discussed redesign philosophy for location durability_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's Harry Potter. It's the worst game secret in pinball, mate."
> — **Scott Rundell**, early segment
> _Confirms Harry Potter as all-but-officially-announced machine; indicates community speculation is accurate_

> "I pity the guy that's working on that because I mean my hope is is that the game is so great that anything around the theme or the music or any of the assets no one's worried about because the game's so good"
> — **Neil McCray**, mid-content
> _Expresses concern about Harry Potter's design complexity due to multi-source IP (books vs. movies); themes can conflict with gameplay quality_

> "If you're only selling one game a year, how can you have two distributors?"
> — **Phil from Pinball Heaven (quoted)**, distribution segment
> _Highlights core business problem for American Pinball—production bottleneck makes multi-distributor strategy nonsensical_

> "Stern is now the cheapest option in the market to buy a new game—that feels weird"
> — **Scott Rundell**, pricing discussion
> _Signals major market repositioning; Stern historically mid-priced, now competing on price against smaller manufacturers_

> "Why do you need that screen in the playfield? That's adding unnecessary bill of materials to me. It's not needed given how simplistic it is."
> — **Scott Rundell**, Barrios/BBQ discussion
> _Critiques American Pinball's design philosophy of adding digital features that increase cost without gameplay benefit_

> "We want these games to be able to go out on location and survive."
> — **Butch Peel (cited)**, CGC discussion
> _Explains CGC's design-for-durability philosophy, contrasting with other manufacturers prioritizing collector appeal over operational reliability_

> "Do you know, when I heard that, I literally pissed myself in the show. I was like, okay, you've got this machine that makes posts—how are you going to differentiate your games with posts?"
> — **Scott Rundell**, Heighway discussion
> _Criticizes Heighway's investment in specialized post-making equipment as non-differentiating; audience consensus that this was poor strategic investment_

> "It's the mechs that no one gives a crap about how a target's made."
> — **Scott Rundell**, manufacturing philosophy
> _Core design philosophy: mechanical features are what players value, not manufacturing technique differentiation_

> "I honestly feel like, given the right theme, that layout would be much better in another theme."
> — **Scott Rundell**, Barrios assessment
> _Suggests Barrios' gameplay is competent but theme selection limits market appeal; hints at poor IP licensing judgment_

> "The Godfather that was at Pinfest broke down...and you know, it's Elton John actually made it through the whole weekend which was great to see."
> — **Neil McCray**, reliability discussion
> _Illustrates unreliability of modern boutique games on location vs. Stern; Elton John's durability is notable exception_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| David Fix | person | CEO of American Pinball; presented at Pinfest 24 on business performance, licensing costs, and company direction; attended curry dinner with hosts; offered factory tour to Neil in Chicago |
| American Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer that pivoted to original themes after licensing struggles; achieved profitability with Galactic Tank Force; facing distribution challenges and pricing concerns |
| Scott Rundell | person | Co-host of Great British Pinball Podcast; attended Pinfest 24; purchased Medieval Madness and Labyrinth; critiques game design and manufacturing choices |
| Neil McCray | person | Co-host of Great British Pinball Podcast; attended Pinfest 24; critical of Harry Potter theme complexity; interested in manufacturing philosophy and operator reliability |
| Labyrinth | game | Barrels of Fun release; played extensively at Pinfest; praised for reliability and robust design; multiple units sold directly from show attendance |
| Galactic Tank Force | game | American Pinball's second release; achieved profitability milestone; features original theme, strong artwork, custom mechs; praised for light show and humor (cow mech) |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Manufacturer of Labyrinth; strong showing at Pinfest with reliable game; sales boost from show presence |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Had Looney Tunes and TCM games at Pinfest; criticized for reliability issues and design choices (excessive orange coloring on Looney Tunes) |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Mentioned as sorting flipper issues on a game (likely Potter); referenced as reliable location game operator alongside Stern |
| Pinball Heaven | company | Former American Pinball distributor; resigned after learning of competing distributor David Retro Arcade through social media; expressed frustration with announcement method |
| Harry Potter | game | Unannounced JJP machine; revealed through David Fix's comment at Pinfest; significant licensing complexity due to books/movies duality; expected to carry high licensing costs |
| Butch Peel | person | CGC presenter; discussed Cactus Canyon Remake's triple-iteration drop target redesign for location durability; philosophy of designing for operational reliability |
| CGC (Chicago Gaming Company) | company | Remakes classic games with location-focused durability engineering; Cactus Canyon and Pulp Fiction featured latest drop target revisions |
| Elton John | game | Stern game at Pinfest; survived entire weekend without major breakdowns; represents Stern's reliability standard |
| Looney Tunes | game | Spooky Pinball game at Pinfest; criticized for excessive orange coloring not matching IP; reliability issues (stuck ball, broken loops) |
| TCM (The Cabinet of Mysterious Wonders or similar) | game | Spooky Pinball game at Pinfest; downtime issues throughout weekend; problematic reliability |
| Pinfest 24 | event | UK annual pinball festival; large vendor presence; David Fix presentation; games revealed; distribution channel issues surfaced |
| Medieval Madness | game | Purchased by Scott before Pinfest; transported to show in narrow-door situation; classic game being collected by UK enthusiasts |
| Barrios (or Barry's Barbecue Challenge) | game | American Pinball single-level game at Pinfest; Scott found playable but felt layout would work better with different theme; criticized for odd design choices including unnecessary screen |
| Legends of Valhalla | game | American Pinball original theme game at Pinfest; critiqued as average, flat, lacking excitement; animations underwhelming |
| Alan O'Grady | person | From Ireland; arranged David Fix's travel to Pinfest; facilitator for international pinball community engagement |
| Phil (Pinball Heaven) | person | Pinball Heaven distributor representative; expressed frustration with distribution announcement method; made humorous comment about game vs. backbox splitting |
| Kerry Hardy | person | Documentary creator; interviewed original Bally/Williams licensee about manufacturing and licensing history; referenced in context of pinball industry learning |
| Heighway Pinball | company | Criticized for investing in specialized post-making machine; Scott questioned differentiation strategy; audience reaction was negative |
| Cactus Canyon Remake | game | CGC release; featured triple-iteration drop target redesign; designed for location durability and reliability |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Harry Potter pinball machine (unannounced), American Pinball business performance and strategy, Game design philosophy: licensed vs. original themes, Manufacturing decisions and cost-benefit analysis, Pricing and market positioning across manufacturers, Game reliability and location operator viability
- **Secondary:** Distribution channel conflicts and communication failures, UK pinball market constraints and venue availability

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.35) — Hosts are appreciative of specific games (Labyrinth, Galactic Tank Force) and Stern's reliability, but deeply critical of industry-wide trends: unsustainable pricing, poor manufacturing choices that prioritize differentiation over value, reliability issues in boutique games, and American Pinball's strategic struggles. Constructive rather than dismissive—hosts propose solutions (simplify manufacturing, focus on mechs, design for location operators) but are pessimistic about industry adoption. Clear frustration with Spooky's reliability and design philosophy.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** American Pinball achieved profitability with Galactic Tank Force after sustained losses during first years of operation (confidence: high) — David Fix disclosed in presentation that company broke into the black with GTF release; described previous financial backing from parent company as 'letting teenage company have feet'
- **[community_signal]** Distribution channel conflict: Pinball Heaven resigned as American Pinball distributor after learning of competing distributor David Retro Arcade through social media rather than direct notification (confidence: high) — Scott and Neil discuss this as post-Pinfest fallout; Phil from Pinball Heaven made public statement; hosts note 'better ways of bringing news' exist
- **[competitive_signal]** CGC's design-for-location philosophy contrasts sharply with collector-focused boutique manufacturers; drop target triple-redesign for reliability vs. Stern/others' feature compression compromises (confidence: medium) — Butch Peel disclosed Cactus Canyon required three drop target iterations for location survival; CGC philosophy is games must earn revenue operationally, not just in home collections
- **[design_philosophy]** Boutique manufacturers (American Pinball, Spooky, Heighway) investing in non-differentiating manufacturing improvements (custom parts, post-making machines, screens) while increasing costs without gameplay benefit (confidence: high) — Scott extensively critiques unnecessary manufacturing choices: Barrios screen, Heighway post machine, Pinball Brothers custom targets with high failure rates; contrasts with CGC philosophy of designing for location durability
- **[event_signal]** Pinfest 24 served as major showcase driving direct game sales (Labyrinth, others) through demonstration and David Fix's presentation elevating American Pinball's visibility despite ongoing business challenges (confidence: high) — Scott confirmed multiple Labyrinth sales directly from show; David brought game specifically to Pinfest (not trade show); Neil attended David's presentation which disclosed business metrics
- **[licensing_signal]** Harry Potter licensing complexity due to separate IP rights for books and films; design team must reconcile conflicting source materials (Philosopher's Stone vs. Sorcerer's Stone, multiple book/film timelines) (confidence: medium) — Neil extensively discusses uncertainty: 'Do you base it on books? Movies? Merge them?' Notes multiple character references and terminology differences; expresses sympathy for designer facing these constraints
- **[market_signal]** Production bottleneck at American Pinball severely limiting growth: estimated one game per year output makes traditional two-distributor model impossible (confidence: medium) — Phil's sarcastic comment 'if you're only selling one game a year, how can you have two distributors?'; implies American Pinball cannot scale distribution faster than manufacturing
- **[personnel_signal]** American Pinball's strategic pivot to original themes to avoid licensing costs appears partially successful with Galactic Tank Force but failing with other originals (Barrios, Valhalla) (confidence: medium) — Scott and Neil assess each American Pinball game separately; GTF praised but BBQ/Barrios and Valhalla critiqued as poor themes with generic layouts
- **[market_signal]** Stern pricing repositioned to lowest market tier in UK, unusual shift suggesting other manufacturers' pricing has become uncompetitive or unsustainable (confidence: medium) — Forum post cited by Scott noting 'Stern is now the cheapest option in the market to buy a new game'; David Fix's presentation prompted pricing discussion and implied need for revision
- **[announcement]** Harry Potter pinball machine existence confirmed indirectly through David Fix presentation at Pinfest 24; manufacturer (JJP) implied but not explicitly stated (confidence: high) — David Fix let slip mention of 'another manufacturer' doing 'a certain game for a young boy in England'; Neil immediately identified as Harry Potter, calling it 'the worst game secret in pinball'
- **[product_concern]** Spooky Pinball games exhibiting widespread reliability issues at Pinfest with Looney Tunes and TCM experiencing high downtime; contrasts with Stern and CGC location durability focus (confidence: high) — Scott observed both Spooky games 'down more than up' throughout weekend; cited ball sticking, loop failures, reboots needed; described as pattern that explains why he doesn't buy Spooky
- **[sentiment_shift]** Community perception of American Pinball improving slightly with Galactic Tank Force's design and profitability, but sustained skepticism about original theme viability long-term (confidence: medium) — Scott praises GTF artwork, mechs, and humor ('the cow's great'); but maintains concern about BBQ/Barrios and Valhalla; notes American Pinball pursuing themes that may not have market appeal

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## Transcript

 welcome to the great british pinball podcast and here are your hosts scott rundell and neil mccray oh i love that soundtrack scott it always gives me a great vibe it's it's kind of a week it's week plus one from pin fest how are you feeling still recovering i'm old i honestly i could have done with a week off to be honest with you and i went back to work and i was like oh i had to move like loads of games you yeah you had one yeah well no technically two because oh what was funny obviously is i picked up medieval madness on sunday yeah and there was a funny because there was a remark someone sees me like um like i was basically when i got the game so those didn't know because i wasn't really going to advertise it especially since there was obviously some stealing going on in the car park as well that happened over the bloody event as well which is crap yeah we'll talk about that yeah we'll talk about that in a bit but basically i i thought right i'll pick up the game in the morning on the sunday drove back to daventry obviously you know attended for some of the show and then packed up my game went and getting the game there the medieval madness that i picked up it was like his door was so narrow i had to take the backbox off i had to assemble the wire in i was like so i'm reassembling it in the car park and then this guy goes oh i didn't know that medieval madness could have got the show i said that's because it wasn't one day and i just laughed at him and i thought he knows he knows exactly what i've got there i was like i remember this time last year you say you'd never do that again and i like you doing it i do every year i did rick and morty last year yeah exactly and then i did alien the year before that was the other year was at least at the show though yes true true mine minus a salesman who basically got into hiding at that point he literally went deep underground like the taliban sat there going oh can you find out where he's run to yeah yeah so look um welcome everyone i'm neil mccray and i'm joined as always by scott rundle hello hello neil this is uh the great british pinball podcast the post pin fest aftermath or or kind of as we used to do in the good old days of dj and the kind of the slow down the the chill out yeah um the sunday morning chill out where you've kind of burned yourself to death and you're trying to survive um a lot going on in space in the space of a week yeah a big one thing i wanted to say as well by the way before we kick off uh big shout out i think it's the chagas on i think that's his name on the forum who listened to our podcast and brought his jaws to the show i was going to mention that as well mate yeah because we were a bit disappointed and actually his jaws was rammed i mean yeah oh you couldn't get on it yeah it was so popular which was great it needed a Jaws, so I'm glad it was there. So, Scott, take us through your pin fest, highs and lows. I think, you know, look, we're going to talk about it shortly anyway. There's another whole subject matter after pin fest. But I did enjoy the talk show or talk show presentation, I suppose is a better way of putting it. David Fix. David Fix. I think it was good. It's enlightening to see because obviously I didn't have the benefit that you guys did when you went to Texas Pinball Festival, which I imagine is a very similar presentation, just in a larger audience yeah um but you know it was a good turnout as well three quarters full in the room um so i think like you know given the fact that it was kind of awkward he was like raise your hands of those who have an american pinball machine i think maybe one one came up there yeah and well yeah that's something to definitely talk about that's another part to talk about in a bit but yeah presentation wise loved it good insight into understanding like costs for licensing uh you know for ips and buying that that's you can see much of that is a hurdle that a lot of businesses need to you know depending on the suppose the size of the license i.e the popularity and age of it can have a massive impact to your initial costs so 100 i mean dave fix um i mean i actually didn't go for a specific reason okay um one um i've kind of seen dave speak loads of times i know him well he's a great speaker and but but two um i know i would just get i would get irritated by stupid questions that people would ask that you know like well i mean the price is down well that did come up yeah it definitely come up but it was at the end in all fairness like they did listen they did ask questions about like what were the next ip going to be and obviously didn't really let that slip but he did let slip that a certain other manufacturer will be doing a certain game for a young boy in Robert Englunds and I thought it's Harry Potter. It's the worst game secret in pinball, mate. Yeah, let's face it. But interesting, right? Because I mean briefly let's touch on that if you may. It's really hard to do a Harry Potter pinball machine in my book because do you base it on the books? Do you base it on the movies? Do you merge it? I'm going to guess it's based on the movies. right makes sense because the assets yeah well yeah but also you know but then you get into the world of you know who's harry potter is it is it your harry potter is it your daughter's harry potter is it you know is it book one is it filmed four is it they call it like the sorcerer's stone instead of philosopher's stone yeah stuff like that exactly i just i pity the guy that's working on that because i mean my hope is is that the game is so great that anything around the theme or the music or any of the assets no one's worried about because the game's so good right i'm not sure how you portray it on the playfield i suppose you take the safe bet and base it around um what's the castle called hogwarts is it or something like that yeah something like that or or you do on the books you know book mode one is book one or you know where you i don't know i I'll be honest here, I'm the worst person to ask because I can't freaking stand Speccy Bastard. I mean, I just... I'll be honest here, Harry Potter. I watched the first movie and I read the first book and I just thought, nah, I don't get this. There's no ninjas in it. There's no robots in it. There's no ninjas. I mean, there is the assassins or whatever they want to call themselves. Yeah, but they're not ninjas, man. they're not they're like a tape they're fake no i mean i just it's just a theme that and i'm a movie in the books just i mean my daughter thinks it's blasphemy when i say it's rubbish she she is like a super super fan she's been to the studios we went to florida a couple of times and she's like when are we going to harry potter when are we gonna you know she was a total head job for it bought like four million quids worth of harry potter shit to bring back we had to buy a suitcase for all um you know she she's massive mass on it but just it does nothing for me i just feel it's a bit um i can see like the logic in why they went down like harry potter is a popular license that traverses a lot of different age demographics i mean forget how big the films were as for my book point of view it was huge you know and you're the quidditch cup right with the what's that weird thing that they try and catch i don't know some sort of but anyway that thing would represent the ball right it's quite i think there's all this kind of stuff yeah look in in what eight movies was it or seven there's got a ton of content right you got the you got the the you know the theme tune that everyone recognizes the day you know whatever it is yeah yeah but it is it is like i think everyone in their head a bit it's a bit like star wars to some extent now has got you know a star wars i think a mandalorian i think of boba fett i think of you know true yeah i think of so many different things um that i'd want to see versus and the same will be true um for harry potter and and you know i wish uh jgp all the best on it i just hope they've got access to all of the license they need yeah and to be honest here i'm doubtful of like because i can't imagine that'll be cheap um well it goes back to what we're saying about that presentation with david so yeah that could be in the millions and anything david said that surprised you um i think it was like the i suppose the honesty around the business performance of american pinball yeah and how they basically had a lot of financial backing from their parent company yeah and he gave it as a an insight and a i suppose an analogy of saying like we're like the angsty teenager and he's trying you know the parent is trying to like let us have feet and say i need you to succeed on your own so while they've obviously had a shaky few first years where they've always been in the red um they got into the black when they entered i think in with galactic tank force i think they're on the right path i'm just hopeful that the next licenses which he did say these are all going to be licensed themes that was the stuff that came out from the um the talk so i was like okay licensed themes that's good obviously the rumor mill is that it's going to be cuphead for their next release yeah now cuphead i i know all about cuphead i've played the game I've got no idea about it. Yeah, exactly. And this is the problem. It's so, it's a niche side-scrolling shoot-'em-up where I would say if you've ever played the old days of Metal Slug, you'll probably understand what kind of game that is. But again, it's like pinball players in the age demographic of 50 to 60 or plus, they ain't going to be interested, I don't think, in this game. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, there's a few buyers under 40, let's put it that way, right? Yeah. And, you know, this is why I'm nervous about Pokemon as well, which is, you know, where are these themes headed? And even a bot, you know, so John Wick, when I heard that was coming, I was thinking, yeah, that's a decent theme. Sure. But it's been a disaster. You know, it just has not shipped units. Actually, mine arrives tomorrow. Hooray. Wow. I only paid for it like nine years ago. Yeah. I paid for it when John Wick 1 came out. I don't know I feel like they're being CGC now I don't know what Ledger are doing I just despair and actually Stern today or tomorrow are going to announce their next game which is X-Men I think that's the rumor heavily hinted at anyway another borderline theme I'll buy it because I'm a massive X-Men kind of marvel I liked X-Men 97 anyway I don't know if you watched the cartoon but it was actually a good continuation of the original kids show I've got the previous X-Men from Stern which is a great game but so more on Pinfest so David I mean and actually just for those that might not know this David Fix is the CEO of American Pinball but he's been in the arcade pinball business for forever he also partly runs Pinball Expo he's a lovely guy we took him out for curry I have a kind of yearly curry gig that I invite a lot of people to and he came along and his wife's lovely his wife was with me, his wife's lovely as well yeah I mean he didn't considering the size of the market for him to make the trip out there which was arranged by I think Alan O'Grady from yeah I really appreciate you doing that from Ireland, thanks for that Alan and also he's offered to I'm heading out to Chicago in a week's time to play at Papatoni when he says come and visit the factory so I'll pop down there and maybe see something new but look more on Pinfest what else, what games did you play, what was the... I played a lot for my sins I ended up buying one as well, so I thought I bought Medieval Madness, why not spend another 10 plus grand on another game because you know i'm i'm already moving house i like the the key of the the strategy there though was to get the wife to play it first and see if she liked it what game is it so this was labyrinth so so basically yeah i i you know i i'm a sucker for that film i loved i knew you were gonna buy that game yeah it was it was i think after i had to like and we this was something we need to discuss from what happened on the forums obviously as part of some of the ongoing discussions that are still happening around it but for me at least i i felt like having exposure to actually try the game because again for those that aren't aware in the uk we've got no venues to go play games nothing new anyways it's really difficult other than like pinball republic which is set in the southeast and then we've got a couple of places in the middle in the midlands um it's just nothing really to go out and play kind of it's not where it needs to be in the uk and at the moment it won't ever be because unfortunately the market just isn't big enough which is which is again something we'll we will touch on later on but yeah having the opportunity of playing barrels of funds labyrinth i was like yeah this makes me smile and i was like i've got to have it and i think what really made me realize that the game was built robustly is that it didn't break down once it was just rock solid throughout the entire weekend i thought any game that can take that level of being deserves you know some recognition so i mean i was like i'll buy that it definitely had a bit of a weak flipper moment later on on the yeah i think it got maybe hot maybe yeah i mean i think any other game would be in the same boat on that um yeah and uh i mean it but yeah i mean it was rammed and i think david but as i think david bringing over will have only reinforced the fact that he's he'll probably pay back because well he took it to he got it over for um the show in january that which is more of a trade show than a public show sure where and people don't go there to buy well i've yet to see anyone go there and buy a pinball machine if i'm honest but um it's a kind of trade show where all the trade folks come out but i think bringing at the pin fest was a stroke of genius and you know I think I know of three people including you that have told me that they've bought it off the back of I was going to say I know for a fact he's actually secured some sales based on what happened at the show which is great news in terms of new games at the show it was probably one of the best ever we had Elton John there we had a couple of spooky games Looney Tunes. I'll give JJP credit, right? They finally sorted that flipper issue. It plays as nice as everyone said it would. Yeah. We had TCM and Looney Tunes, which... Which actually, do you know what? It had the opposite effect because those games were down more than they were up. Yeah, they were not. I mean, they just highlighted why I don't buy spooky games. They're just too problematic. I wanted to like it, you know, because I like Looney Tunes. Both of them just phenomenal that orange is too much looney tunes is not about orange i'm wearing an orange shirt and i feel like that's too much orange i liked it but i thought you know i mean it's the same thing that happened when i was in texas i had a game of looney tunes lost the ball didn't give out another ball got stuck started playing this loop and then the guy came and just rebooted it to fix it i'm like what um so that was a bit disappointing um and then we had the american pinball games, Barrios, which I like. I like the game. I mean, it's not a brilliant game, but it's a good game. I honestly feel like, given the right theme, that layout would be much better in another theme if you see what I mean It played fine I figured out what I was doing quite easily with the locks And I think think as a what do you want to call it uh what they call these games without got no ramps low level is it single level single level so a single level game it's fine i actually quite enjoyed it and it's like i just think it's got some odd choices in it it's like again why do you need that screen in the play field that's adding unnecessary bill of materials to me it's not needed given how simplistic it is anyway um and then the other odd choices seem to be as you say the theme i just yeah i i would keep that design aside and say right that's got potential we'll turn into something else better later yeah i mean the next i mean the whole the game i mean it is a kind of a touch to you know barry osler and it's got a lot of his mechs in it from other games Yeah I felt that And you recognise it when you're playing Oh that's like Doctor Who, oh that's like this, that's like that And I think it does that okay But I mean you're right, like I said last podcast When he told me it was BBQ I genuinely thought that was the code name for it Because I couldn't see a BBQ game Working Well at least outside of Texas And even then I think it might struggle But it's not, you know I've played worse I've definitely played worse games Spinal Cack was there in its glory um i think it's a prototype as well i know it's never gonna i mean david's basically going to be buried in the pasture and shot if you ask me um and actually david uh you know and i mean fair play uh that uh both just kind of distributors david and phil who brought stuff yeah i did like galactic tank force by the way that was genuinely i think it's their best game and I love the artwork it's really nice actually it's like that B-movie kind of like Flash Gordon-esque kind of appeal to it and I was like, I think I would enjoy it more if I could hear it, the problem is with being in Pinfest, it's just a billion sounds bombarding you at once always the issue with shows, I mean I don't know if it's 10 grand nice yeah, yeah, but I feel like again, you know we know, we're touching around this we're really dancing around it, but I think there is going to be some sort of price adjustment that will happen from all of this because even from David Fix's presentation that was even though you said oh yeah I wouldn't join that because it would be a whinge about pricing there were some valid points raised and it did make him pause and stop and go probably need to assess this so I wonder what will happen with the under the new ownership or new distribution rights if we'll see a revision in price let's just kick that into touch so shortly after the day after I think, Pinfest David Retro Arcade David Retro Arcade Specialist I think he was going to be an American Pinball distributor unfortunately American Pinball didn't you know consult with their existing distributor, which is Pinball Heaven. Pinball Heaven are pretty narked about it and basically have resigned as a distributor. We're not going to go into that because it's filled with speculation. Full of minefields, I think, as well. Suffice to say, if I was a distributor and I heard about a competing distributor through social media, I might be a little bit knocked too. I agree with you on that. I think there's probably better ways of bringing news, right? But I think, I mean, the thing, I mean, and you know, Phil from Film Will Heaven, he made a, I'll point to one thing he said that made me laugh, which is, you know, and everyone's got an opinion on this, right? Which is oh, this is good, or this is bad, or whatever it is. It doesn't really matter, right? Because if you're only selling one game a year, how can you have two distributors? And Phil said, you know, I'll bring in the play field and David can bring in the bat, which I thought was hilarious. Right. Now, we don't know why they're only selling one game a year, right? No, we do need to talk about that, right? But in my view, my kind of take on this is, is the distribution channel the thing that's really a big issue for American pinball? Or do they need to be thinking about how they position and design and build their games differently? So that, I think, is very valid. I think that's why I feel like there should be a price revision. it shouldn't, I mean there was an interesting post that came up from someone else on another thread where they were like, in the UK at least they were like, so Stern is now the cheapest option in the market to buy a new game that feels weird, because I must admit I wouldn't say Stern were the most expensive, but they were always the middle of the road price for a pro, remember yeah, but even then I'm like, there should be cheaper alternatives, because if you're building a game on a non-licensed theme and you're doing it to a state where it's maybe the equivalent of a pro you should you should be able to do it below a stern price in my book yeah well only in the uk because we pay for the nose and pricing no no i see i agree if you've not got a theme yeah that's a ton of money you've got to spend right sure and and you know are they spending it wisely so look galactic tank force right let's just let's just do a cross-section on that for a minute it's a theme that's been completely made up so and and people think that makes it easy actually and i think it makes it harder because you've got to kind of create something that joins up and makes sense so you've got to create the characters you've got to create the story you've got to create the you know what's happening you've got to create the music you've got you know and whereas a theme oh yeah you can't do like video dumps from a movie or whatever you've got to you know they had to i went to the when last year i went to the um american pinball factory and they had an area where they were shooting all the movies they were they did in green screen right this was like they built a studio to shoot them and you know that's an expense so yeah you got costumes props and actors and my question is is okay you might have saved i don't say it's i'm going to make this up say it's 750 quid uh machine right per theme you've saved that but you've ended up spending 750 quid on creating this theme that that um you know because you need because in the lcd days you need video you need content etc do you need video look at like stern right avengers with its basic like i would say the the avengers like slideshows yeah they're just like powerpoint presentations with a bit of flashing animation behind it to make it look like it's moving that and the assets were provided by marvel they were like here's four here's hulk do you know i mean all they had to do was stick some moving shit behind it and go there goes moving you could have done that with tank force absolutely and i think that's the point they if they had done that maybe they knock i don't know 500 quid off the price yeah and also the building of the tank on the LE version, that cost development time. Happen it, yeah. I just feel that, and also you know, when you're manufacturing volume is everything, right? Because if you're manufacturing you know, they have to have special legs made that don't stick out, they go straight down. You know, that's hoovering up margin for them. God, it sounds like haggis, doesn't it? When you think like that, it's like I don't know if you've watched the documentary that Kerry Hardy's been doing, which is quite interesting, but he obviously went through this whole thing where he interviewed one of the original licences for Bally Williams. Wayne. Can I interrupt you, right? Go on. Wayne is an idiot. Okay. Seriously. So I thought this was hilarious, right? You had one failure, right, because he failed with a Bally Williams licence completely, right? one failure talking about someone else who'd failed i'm like what and this is this is part of the issue with pinball and part of the issue that people have lost money on haggis pinball memories are like this long right and if and if you know i came into the hobby just as all the way he's holding his fingers up and pointing to a very minuscule amount yeah i forget that were audio, but I'm like playing the miniature violin, right? I came into the hobby when all this shit show was kicking off with him promising to make Medieval Madness or it was Cactus Canyon. It was just a total shit show, right? And, you know, he was doing the usual, here's all the pictures of the parts and all this bullshit. Nothing got made. And then I think PPS saved them by taking the license off of them. Thank God for that, because we've had some great games out of it. But, I mean, some of the things he said, you know, anyone could have a view. But, I mean, Carrier, I was... For something that Carrier put a lot of effort into, to video and shoot, he could have done with a bit more, actually, let's check the background of this stuff. Back checking. I was... Don't know about that. Don't get me wrong. I mean, you raised some valid points there. I think for me it's like why mill and produce specific parts? Agreed. Just reuse what's available. Don't reinvent the wheel. It's probably the bottom line. 100%. 100% agree, Scott. And, I mean, that's, you know, highway. Oh, we bought this machine to make posts. What? Yeah. You know, I mean, when I heard that, I literally, he was presenting about it. I pissed myself in the show. I was like, and I put my hand up and asked the question. I was like, okay, you've got this machine that makes posts. how are you going to differentiate your games with posts and the whole place laughed the whole place the whole freaking room was laughing i could imagine that was i mean i was like what are you thinking like but if you're going to invest in something yeah invest in something that will make a difference right yeah what make mechs right i mean that's the differentiator for me it's it's the mechs that no one gives a crap about how a target's made i mean i look at like pimple brothers and they've like they spent forever making these stand-up targets and i'm like you could have just got some pally williams no one would have really cared and they had huge revisions they had to do they had issues with the metal being too malleable they had issues with the target you know basically breaking within like about 100 plays because it couldn't take the pressure from the ball hitting it so they had to reinforce it it's like all this learning and development all of that means you just can't put these games on location because they just break. And this is the difference. CGC, right? So I asked almost the same question to Butch. He was doing a presentation on Cactus Canyon Remake. And the amount of effort they put into that game to retool it, I was amazed that I was thinking, why do you need to do all this? And the reason was is Butch said, we want these games to be able to go out on location and survive. So they redesigned the drop target entirely, right? Right. And basically made it bulletproof. And, you know, in fact, they redesigned it three times because the first two revisions didn't work as well as they wanted it to. And, in fact, the latest revisions in Pulp Fiction. And it makes a massive difference to the game because the drop targets are reliable, whereas in most games, you know, drop targets are usually the first thing that goes. and their view was that allows us to sell the only games that go out on location right now are Sterns Jersey Jack, American Pinball Spooky rarely they go out on location unless the location is huge and it's got an in-house team because you put a Godfather in a pub in Essex it'll be broken in two weeks and you'll have to go visit it right and even the godfather that was at pinfest broke down yeah exactly the rubber snapped on it yeah and and you know it's it's elton john actually made it through the whole weekend which was great to see although there was you know was yeah well i think there was one issue with it but i think it got solved but but my you know they so they you know we've retooled this because we need to do it because we want these games to earn money, right? Which is ultimately, you know, it's where Stern come from. Although I'd say in a couple of occasions, they've got that wrong, or they've tried to take money out and maintain reliability, and they've failed. In fact, Drop Target and Guardians of the Galaxy and the Orb is a classic example of that, right? And this is the thing, if you're going to do something that is taking you away from it, I mean, I said this point last time, ball and flippers, right? I'm not focused on ball and flippers I'm going to do this thing which is going to give me this it was like the pin bar on Deep Root I'm like no one gives a shit about a screen that you can touch what are you on about so from that perspective I feel that doing that sort of differentiation now David Fix and the team at American Pinball thought okay team's important I agree with you that is important they decided we can't afford a theme we're going to try our own themes and we're going to try and do them well I actually think American Pinball Gladys Tank Force lands I don't think BBQ lands Legends of Valhalla I don't think it lands and the game is terrible David said Neil you said my game is terrible I was like, it is me. I'm sorry. Valhalla's not... I wouldn't rate it as terrible. I've definitely played it way worse, but I just think it's average. It's flat. There's no excitement in it. The animations let it down a little bit. We're at the pinball moment. We're just not there. I couldn't really hear it again, so it's hard to think. The thing I liked is that we've got Galactic Tank Force. It's a very good light show. He's put a lot of money, you can tell, into the mechs. The cow is funny. There's some humour in it. And I was like, it's genuinely making me laugh. Yeah, I mean, they got a lot of shit for the cow, but I think it's fucking great. It's funny. I think it's great. It's hilarious. And it's pinball, right? Yeah. The cow's been in pinball forever, right? Oh, God. The cow jokes are there all the time. I think that's a bit of a nod to the old 90s days. And Hot Wheels is okay. It's not a great use of the Hot Wheels theme because there's more that they should have done with loops and stuff like that and ramps because my grandson, he's a massive Hot Wheels nut and loves to build these kind of crazy tracks. And that's not what that's about. But I actually, again, I rate it. And actually, that game I've put on, I've used it in a couple of big tournaments and it's been solid. It's not... That's the thing I think with American Pinball. It's like, I don't think their reliability is in question here. No. because it proves that every game was holding up fine, I mean there was a bit of irony I was sat next to, not sat next to, I stood next to David because he was having to David fixed this, he was lifting up the hood because I think there was an issue with the harness at one point in one of the games where it arrived probably from transport so he took loose but he's stuck in there, you know, owner of the business and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty he's a worker but I think great that David fixed the game, let's do a bit more on Pym first Yeah. Other games that you played that you liked? Anything else, Scott? What stood out for me, I think, I'm trying to remember. Yeah, Pulp Fiction, obviously. Yeah. I never played it up until now. Well, I had a quick go at yours at one point, but I feel like, again, playing it again in an open venue and everybody was talking about it Everybody was playing it It definitely a hit I just don see people whoever bought it and is still waiting for their copy to arrive it's definitely going to be worth having I'd be surprised if they get rid of it once they have it it's a fun game I think it'll be for some people, it won't be for them maybe but I think it'll be one or two people not lots that's the same for every I know some people that hate Godzilla like you do. But it's probably the best-selling game of all time now. Yeah, it is. Well, I doubt it beats Adam's Family in numbers. No, I think it's close. I think Chris Gonzo, as in Gonzo's podcast, he did say that he spoke to Sterns explicitly on that and they said that they were second only to Adam's Family. So they said that. That came from their mouths. So don't get me wrong, that's still a hell of a lot of units. And especially in this day and age where, let's face it, there's, what, a 50-50 split between collectors and operators in terms of sales? But they're still making them and selling them and making special editions, you know? Oh, yeah, it continues to sell. I think they're closer to Adams than they might have suggested. Maybe. I mean, it's definitely their ticket earner. I think, like, it's probably what's keeping their business afloat, if I'm honest. Because after the, I would say, dismal performance of Venom, which is unfair because I actually quite like that game. I played it again on the charity lineup, and it's still a fun game. I think it's great. The obviously other dismal performance of John Wick, which I've played it now, and I'm just like, I can see why people don't like it. It's brutal. Was it at the event? No, it wasn't. No. But I've played it around someone's house. But for me, that was the pro, obviously, not your fabled Ellie, which still hasn't arrived. Arrives tomorrow. Amazing. it will arrive by the time you see this hopefully maybe so but yeah I feel like it's just a bit too brutal for me that game and I feel I don't know I don't like brutal games I mean the shots are tight you need time with it yeah but I kind of like the way it's going with the missions and the the stuff on it you know we'll see it's I mean like X-Men is again like speaking I suppose like their next release which should be imminent might even be before this this show comes out they might have already announced it yeah yeah but i feel like you know x-men 97 i don't know it's again it's appealing to me to a younger demographic like the 40s i just don't know i don't know if that's going to sell well it'd be like venom again maybe yeah it's it's a tricky one uh location i think it might do okay yes yeah but um you know it's a it's a it's a tough one i think i think like kind of waiting for the back to the future and if that's dutch which i think it is yeah you'll be waiting three or four years to get your machine it's gonna it's gonna take a long time unless they you know i i don't get me wrong i i'm kind of glad they got it in one way because they might do something well with the license but i'm also concerned in another that they don't have the production facilities to meet demand like stern would meet demand do you know i mean you'd get that game pretty damn quick well and also what how much is it going to be because i think that's i i think folks are in for a shock is my guess if it's going to cost like and if they manage to pull all the licensing off and they had to convince a lot of people to like you know michael j fox who was, let's face it, quite famous for not allowing his appearance on the original game. I don't know. It's kind of like you just think how much money they're going to have to throw out at. £13,000? £14,000? Yeah, it definitely feels like that sort of money. And of course their biggest market, they've got to ship them to the US. Yeah. I suppose we should talk about Alice. Have you seen the video, by the way? Yeah, I saw the video. Looks interesting. Games always look great on video um sure even abba looked looked you know okay on video but and actually i don't know if you saw um what's his name oh his name's got my head he did a he's got one um and he did a stream of it on twitch um you mean abba do you yeah abba sorry right i don't think anyone's called no no no yeah i mean everyone's getting these previews of it but sure um okay let me let's just finish off let me give you my take on pin fest oh yeah sorry i jumped in it yeah look i thought it was a good show i actually thought last year was better um okay and it was kind of for me um the schedule was a disaster um and i've had lots of feedback people saying there were conflicts weren't there between the women's tournament and the main tournament i think like saturday night is socializing night right the VIP kicks in it's a bit quieter lots of people nip out for a curry they come back and they play pinball and then they do a bit of karaoke and beer in the bar when the when the show shuts and I had to I mean I like to say I have this kind of it's become a bit of an annual routine now with taking folks out for a curry and I get I had to leave early like the Curry Place made my food early I'd eat it like I was like I'd never eaten food before whilst no one had any food and then I had to head back into the hotel for yeah the hotel for seven to play in the finals which I was super glad I qualified because it was hard actually David and Claire and Paul they probably ran the best tournament at pin fest that I've played in it was a lot of fun it ran really well and you know it's hard to see how they would improve it although I know space is becoming a challenge in the room but the whole Saturday night and you know the fact there was a ladies comp and the main finals on at the same time and a few other things going on it really for a lot of you know I talked about this before but there's a bunch of stakeholders there's a bunch of different stakeholders in this show. One of the most important stakeholders are the machine bringers and if the machine bringers aren't looked after the show will suffer and I got from a lot of machine bringers that they were frustrated that the social aspect of the show wasn't quite where it needed to be and it's hard to argue with them and you know all the organisation was great. Was that based on their comments based on what you had and your experience over the scheduling of the events? Yeah because people who they would have liked some of the guys said oh Neil we missed you at Curry because you had to bail out you know that's nonsense and it wasn't just me I find that really weird though because didn't you guys start on the Thursday for qualifiers? well no the set up the qualifier started Friday morning Luke can you run the tournament and keep Saturday free and run all the tournaments 100% I could do it it's a piece of piss sure and actually I gave Phil that feedback do you want me to be brutally honest I don't even know why those tournaments are pin vest yeah it should be about pinball and socialising that's all it should be to me someone else said that to me as well and and you know like what they said is why do we need a tournament at pinfest when we've got the uk open um and look i like the pinfest tournament i enjoy it um and actually i i didn't even start the classics because it was so hard on me and i just focused on it so and i and i said i qualified i was like and i qualified well in the end literally on the last minute, but a win's a win. A few other people have said that to me. Why do they have a tournament there? I do think it's something Phil needs to think very carefully about because most of the game bringers are not tournament players. Most of the attendees aren't tournament players. Exactly. The one thing I'll say and it's I'm going to come across pretty negative here but it's all about constructive feedback if I had been at the show on Saturday as a normal punter I would have been mightily pissed off because and even to some extent on Sunday the the wait to get on games was outrageous I mean worse than I've been to a lot of shows that is the worst I've seen it I mean we go about touching on you know Chagas bringing Jaws I think I got on it once and that's only because I'm a donator and I could get obviously access to the interior of the area before it opened so I could then stand in front of the game I wanted to play before the general public were allowed in and then on Sunday they turned all the games off for the awards and again I'm like what are they doing I just didn't make it look if people interest in awards go find a room and hand out trophies but yeah most of the people there who's this i don't know why um and again don't be wrong there's people who love those awards and congrats to pete and phil for being inducted in the bizarre hall of fame um i won't start that rant again um but um yeah i just like what what are you thinking um yeah you're right actually i didn't even think about that because the general public won't know who these people are. In all honesty, being brutal, will they care? They're here to play pinball. They've paid for admission. Yeah, and even people watching the tournament, there was a few but there's not many. And Phil needs, I mean, I think he knows this because there's some discussion about moving the pinball tournament. There's a big room downstairs. Yeah, I didn't even know that. Apparently there's a massive room downstairs. We've got access to the whole hotel. Not as big as it was because they've kind of built a load of little rooms in it but you could easily run the tournament downstairs actually phil i mean phil actually talked about he could you know can we bring the uk open and pinface back together again and and um you know i was like well let's have a chat about it but okay i was going in i was skeptical because he's already filled all the hotel rooms um so if i bring another 200 players where are they staying um yeah you know so but we went down had a look matt and i matt vincent I, Phil, and we said, and actually it was too small for the UK Open, I was like, nah, we need a space for 60 games, and Phil's like, really? I was like, yeah. Matt was on the same, but both Matt and I felt, yeah, you could easily run all the other tournaments down there, and we both were saying, you need to bring this together, you need to put it under one lead that makes the hard calls and gets it done, because part of the issue with the scheduling is you've got certain people who want, oh well I don't want to do anything on Friday and Saturday night because I want to have a few beers that's cool but don't run the tournament then because other people will do it and actually if you're going to make the tournament worth attending they need to do it so I hope Phil puts his foot down and says okay Fred here they're accountable for it and actually if it was me if I was picking it I'd be picking Claire to run the whole thing because she genuinely did an epic job. Yeah, it sounds like you said she nailed it. And I think then put a schedule together that makes sense. Keep Saturday night free because I think that's easily doable or at least have the qualifying run on Saturday so if you choose to play in the tournament, you can choose. You're not forced to play because the finals are there. I think it goes back to my point though. It's like a lot of people don't really go to that show for the tournament anyway and as you say if there's massive queues on games there's a whole like one eighth of that room it's probably more than one eighth mate, it's probably one sixth yeah, well you could host like what, another 20 odd machines? easily and I think Phil knows that he needs to do something because you know there's talk of moving the tournament downstairs there was talk of moving the shops and some of the free play downstairs and I was like well that would be the graveyard I said don't put me down there don't put the shops down there it's nice to have it at the beginning where people can then see goods and it's good foot traffic isn't it so but you know I mean I ultimately think Phil needs to find a I've said this for a couple of years I think it needs a bigger venue but I understand why Phil doesn't want to move because it's extensive. On the plus note, I thought Daventry stepped up in terms of its quality. Oh, 100%. I couldn't agree more. I mean, I think it was the busiest... Of all the ones I've been there, I think there was more people staying than ever before and they struggled a little bit with breakfast but, you know, no one starved. And then the staff themselves, I definitely felt like they were going that bit further beyond... You know, the bar in the evening was great yeah um you know and i genuinely felt um that felt more organized more prepared yeah everything felt cleaner i don't know about you 100 my room was was clean um and you know again still no air conditioning in the rooms which is my only kind of and also i really put a fridge in all the freaking rooms it's not like you know won't kill you but um that's my only gripe really um and i'll be honest here it was never warm in my room but and when i get to when i go to bed i'm usually so tired it could be a furnace i'm going to fall asleep and only burning right exactly i'm like anyway um but yeah no look i was a good show i mean a couple of couple of weird bizarre things let's start with camera gate shall we oh god i completely forgot about this how could i forget yes um so look a whole lot of waffles being posted on the forum and this look this is me having a rant so don't beat scott up about it but look um the the you know let's just let's just hear what i'm right so this there's some guy um who's putting cameras everywhere that's cool no issue um i actually didn't see anything that said you were being recorded although in the past i have seen it this time i didn't but whatever and who owns the footage, blah, blah, blah, you know, not sure. But we were playing a game of Genesis, and I stepped back and caught the camera and actually knocked it clean off the pinball machine glass that it was sitting on. And I have to say, if that had been my game, that camera would be in the bin. So don't put a camera on my game. It was on one of Matt's games. I don't know if Matt knew about it, but I then tried to put the camera back up and it kept sliding off the glass and I finally got it stable and I thought you know what I'm you're saying it was sat on the playfield glass is that it? yeah the tripod with this GoPro which I don't know was like older than my great great great great great and you pick them up on eBay for about three quid it was on it was hooked up with this battery it was on this tripod it kept sliding down the glass and I accidentally knocked it over and I tried to put it back and it kept sliding down. Eventually I got it kind of stable there and I thought bollocks to this and I just pressed the button and pointed at the back glass and said, have an animation of a static back glass. Guilty as charged, right? However, that's all I did. That's all I did. But, funnily enough, since this big The club thickens. Doomsday, where the world has ended. We've been taken over by aliens. And Liverpool have won another trophy This is the world that we in right Someone else in fact two other people approached me who had similar shit shows with these cameras One that got knocked over and got, I don't know, it was apparently in a stupid place. It got knocked over. And then someone else had a similar thing where the camera was in the way. They were trying to load games or something. and it was in the middle of the corridor. So I get blamed for all of the disruption. I'm guilty as charged on one. Lock me up and put me in a... You know your biggest mistake there is because you got caught being on video doing it. They had your mug shots, mate, multiple shots. Do you think... Look, I don't know. I've only worked in TV and video for the last 20 years. Do you think I don't know it was recording? Jesus Christ. Anyway. and it's about Neil's got no respect for other people's property, shut the fuck up that's my response to that they didn't like my humorous response I thought it was pretty good I even did my humorous for it I was like wow that was a proper, how can I put it over the top response but there we go some people do anything they can to be offended. They do, yeah. And look, if it wasn't for those people, the world would be sad and have no drama. So, anyway, good news is... Well, I'll tell you what, the forum misses you, Neil, because they love the drama. Good news is, is I've now got a few lines for next year's T-shirts. You do, yeah. Well, I'm going to get that one where I superimpose your face on Prodigy and have Firestarter. Yeah, I want one of them, definitely. I want, like, Camera Starter. Camera Starter. I mean, like, look, I get it. If you're doing footage and someone messes with it, I can see their point of view where they kind of get upset. But it was 15 minutes of footage, and I think you should also ask permission before you put said camera on said machines. You don't own those machines. To be fair, he might have asked Matt. It was on one of Matt's games. He might have asked for it. Actually, it was on Attack from Mars, and actually I was a bit annoyed because they turned the game off so they could put the camera on it. So no one could play that game. Which I'm like, wait a minute, if I'd sold my game and turned it off, I would be getting my ass kicked. But what I'm going to do next year, I'm going to bring 20 fucking cameras and stick them all over my games and no fucker can play them, basically. Sounds like it annoyed you, Neil. What annoyed me, so look, I got inundated with people giving me a hard time about it. I'm sure, I'm sure. And my first response was, you need to get your facts right about what actually happened. Because on the thread, it's like, Neil McCrae, all I did all weekend was fuck with someone's cameras. I did not do that. It was portrayed that he broke multiple cameras and it was off for a long period of time and destroyed footage. And I was like... Destroyed footage? I'm like, are you kidding me on, man? I'll tell you what, I'll turn my camera on and point it at Foo Fighters for an hour and give you all the pinball footage you need. All right? sorry um let's move on let's move on before i bust a blood vessel i was gonna say um so we've kind of done uh so actually let's end on a high sure the glorious pinball republic reopened on thursday night last week he did um congratulations we went uh so we came from pin fest dumped all the games had a day off went back thursday and worked our absolute asses off to get the um the club kind of ready to open i mean i have to say i walked in on thursday morning thinking oh my god we're never going to open in time and um the i was i genuinely thought i'm going to have to cancel this opening tonight that's where i thought we we were because there was so much that had to do um but i forgot about the pinball republic spirit mate and and i'm going to shout out um some names here for a minute sorry to kind of take this over for a moment but ian claricoats james reed joe burke tony greenwood graham swaffield matt vince clive bush die bush Mike Parkins, Armin Lloyd Andy Brock, Conrad Chambers Tom Shine, Brad Atwood and the Monster everyone in Pimbal Republic knows who that is these guys over the last few months have basically gone above and beyond and helped us get the club back open everything from cleaning to painting, to carrying stuff to collecting pinball machines to filling holes in a wall Tom Shine and his guys did all the electrics for us, did an amazing job of it, Ian and Clive putting TVs up on the wall and other stuff on the wall, Mike getting the vending machine up and running and Matt collecting games Andy Brock and Brad and Joe and myself, even I was painting stuff, don't tell the wife because she'll have me decorating at home all of these people are absolute superstars without them we would not get up we would not have got the club back up and running and a special note to my wife mandy we probably will never hear this but it's okay um i had to put a huge amount of work to get the legals over the line um and i was getting to the point where i was just taking too much time i was gonna have to pull the plug but we got there in the end a big thanks to the centrale shopping mall who also went out on a limb to help us we're in there, we've been open we had a members only evening that was great and I knew from the members only meeting that we'd landed on all thrusters because they were all like oh my god this is amazing and look there were some game issues we knew that there would be in fact the whole point there's always going to be game issues we'd had 60 games in storage for 6 months right um so you know we're expecting lots of issues we then had a saturday kind of casual play place was rammed sunday we had a tournament we had 50 players it was a great fun ran a bit long my fault actually a bit of practice and also some of the games weren't quite to my tuning of brutality um so it made that a little bit harder but um we are open um the feedback has been universally positive um we had a couple of things about layouts and the games and stuff like that but overall overwhelming massively positive feedback um i'm going to do a plug we're open Thursday 6.30 till 11 we're open Saturday and Sunday 10 till 5 if you're a member you pay 45 quid a month you can come as often as we're open and you've got a bunch of other cool stuff going on with special tournaments that we're going to do and then on weekends we have kind of two slots morning slot afternoon slot you pay 15 quid you play as much pinball as you like or you can play 25 quid and play all day it sounds a lot but actually going in arcade 25 quid will get you 25 games in fact in some arcades it'll get you 12 games um so a huge thanks to everyone who helped um get get the the club back to where it is it is it looks amazing i forget because i've seen it incrementally get from where we entered to where it is now For me it still feels like there's more to do And there is Have you managed to get the internet sorted and all that? Yeah I've got all the wifi and internet sorted I came up with a solution It seems to have worked Over the past week There's more to do, the games need a lot of work So James is in for a couple of days This week I mean James Reid was all over the games When we put them up and made sure they were working Playtesting them Great job by him and literally a massively it's great to be part of something like that where none of us get paid we're doing this for the love of pinball none of those people I mentioned get paid they all do it for the love of pinball and everyone leaned in and we got everything up, Ian brought his tools and his drill Clive brought ladders Matt and Joe brought a platform so we could fix all the lights, you know, just so many great things to come out. Sure. It was just an honour to be part of it. And then our members who've paid, you know, who have to pay a lot more money now, I think all of them went away thinking, actually, that extra 20 quid a month is worth it. Cool. And certainly that is the feedback I got. So, Luke, folks, come down and see us. Come down and give me a hard time about my rant about cameras in person. I won't charge you for that. But we've got an epic collection of games. We've got to juggle them around a bit. We've got more games than we've got space for, which is a great problem to have. It means we can swap stuff out. We've got a new workshop where we can build stuff easily. And it is great to see the place open. and I hope, look, use it or lose it, right? If people don't come down and play, don't come down, if we don't have enough members to pay the bills. You talked about the pricing, but you should probably say the address just one more time. Sorry. So pinballrepublic.com, that's our website. All the details are there. We're at Centrali Shopping Centre, which is in the centre of Croydon. West Croydon train station is, I mean literally if you fell off a train at West Croydon you'd land in Pimble Republic the tram system and the Hyperloop or Superloop, whatever bus thing goes right past our venue again if you fell off it in a kind of drunken stupor you'd land in Pimble Republic we are so close to transport there's parking there it's a little bit, parking's price it's not actually, parking for London it's cheap but it's still no one likes paying for parking right i hate it everyone hates it right but so you got to pay for parking but overall it's a phenomenal venue and a great location the shopping center is a beautiful shopping center um and you know there's there's you can get starbucks's upstairs or you can go get a maccy d's or you can go get um chopsticks or you can walk up the road and get great you know we're right in the middle of the heart of the community and it's just phenomenal to see and we've got so many plans in our head that we want to do but we're out of money so we've done what we can do with the cash that we had and we had a few big donators thank you for those that did that a couple of people made a donation above and beyond and yeah, look, we're here we've got the UK open in a month's time which we'll talk about maybe on the next podcast but phenomenal um phenomenal work amazing amount of people that did some you know heavy lifting lifting 60 pinball machines and getting them on legs more like 70 pinball machines getting them on legs plugging them in running all the cables blah blah blah you're just just cleaning the you know with the state of the place it was filthy we had to clean it scrape chewing gum off the floor and stuff like that. Hard work, but Luke and Scott, you need to come down. In fact, we should do the next podcast in the club, or at least a podcast in the club. Maybe not the next one, maybe the one after. But we should do that, maybe do a bit more of a video. Yeah, they can see that I'm not your puppet. That was one of the other comments we had. They thought I always sit too low and I'm being propped up by Neil and I'm some sort of puppet on strings. I can safely say I do have my own independent fort. Right. And on that, I'm getting hassled to go somewhere. Okay. So, Luke, first of all, thanks to everyone who came at Pinfest. Thanks to everyone who worked at Pinfest. Again, a lot of hard work going on there. People bringing games. There was some bizarre thing with tyres getting stolen, which is a bit worrying. There's no point in covering that, but that needs to be sorted out for next time. because actually we left a load of games and the night so our van, the van I paid for it got its spare tyre nicked whilst it had 8 games in it and that scares the shit out of me frankly and you know luckily we'd been sensible about how we parked it so it was impossible for anyone to even if they wanted to get into it they couldn't but anyway a lot of hard work a lot of good stuff some great stuff on Pinball Republic reopening, thanks to David Fix for coming over to the US and Scott you were robbed from the point of view of the best game by an absolute mile, right? Stevie Wonder could have picked out the best game in that place and it was what Scott Brung an amazing reimagination into Cyberpunk played lovely, looked lovely it looks staggeringly good actually i think it was kind of hidden in a weird part of the the show yeah a lot of people remarked that said it was stuck in the corner and that was a lot of people didn't know it was there but yeah but i mean it's a juggling act isn't it between putting it in the open where it could potentially get damaged versus sticking in a corner where it won't get noticed so i i say the one thing i'll be quick on it is that um one positive that came from it is that david fix went up to my wife and said yeah phenomenal work i'm really impressed by what you've done did you do all of this and she said yes and then he said here's my card let's have a conversation so look if there's some recognition that's going to happen and rather than joe blogs off the street that just says it looks nice to have somebody in the industry genuinely say it looks good it means more than anything not many artists have built up i've done a play field and it's not you know it's not we just threw art on it you've got inserts you got holes you got. It's not easy to do that. It's to make it cohesive, right? They've done that. So, Luke, great job. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Whitewater that won it was nice. The Harlem Globetrotters was, I mean, Stan's game, let me tell you, once upon a time, that was a nice-looking game. It didn't even have a match in the flippers. So, again, clearly Stevie Wonder was a judge. But, you know, it is great to see um and i gave gave some feedback about how they should run the competition like there should be a panel and then maybe one maybe there's a people's vote but there's a panel that sensibly looks at games like they do at car shows um um anyway luke scott as always thanks it was great to see you and holly um yeah at pin fest as always now we will we will catch up soon and um let's uh you know everyone have great pinball and hopefully i've been looking at stern's website click and reload all the way through this just in case they launched the game whilst we were recording they might do but yeah you haven't done um but yeah we will we will um we will shortly um see that new game from stern um and tomorrow i'll as well as what i'll probably be watching the new game launch whilst i unbox the last new game it's taken months to arrive and on that bombshell. I'm Neil McCreary. I bid you farewell. See you soon, folks. And also, don't forget, cameras, cameras, cameras.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 839daaeb-0dd5-4ebc-bf84-5d493c78af14*