# DPP #108 "Barry's BBQ Challenge!"

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-03-08  
**Duration:** 22m 37s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donspinballpodcast/episodes/DPP-108-Barrys-BBQ-Challenge-e2gqk6g

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## Analysis

Don visited the American Pinball factory in Palatine, Illinois to play and review Barry's Barbecue Challenge, a new single-level fan layout game with innovative 'bash lock' saucer mechanics. The game features two ramps, standout LED lighting, affordable pricing ($6,995 base, $8,000-8,200 premium with 100 unit limit), and is positioned as operator-friendly for location placement in barbecue restaurants and tourist destinations. The game is already shipping to locations nationwide and will be playable at Texas Pinball Festival.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Barry's Barbecue Challenge is a single-level playfield with fan layout, two ramps, and bash lock saucer innovations — _Don played the game at the factory and provided detailed playfield breakdown from first-hand experience_
- [HIGH] Base MSRP is $6,995; premium edition with powder coat, shaker motor, and premium LEDs is $8,000-$8,200 with only 100 units produced — _Don stated pricing directly from factory visit: 'MSRP, $69.95 for the base edition' (likely $6,995 typo) and 'only an extra $1,000 or $1,200' for premium_
- [HIGH] Games are already shipping to 10+ location arcades across the U.S., including Ace Gorge in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Florida, Chicago, and Michigan — _Don saw a map at the factory showing flags for game placements across the country and confirmed games are on location now_
- [MEDIUM] The game concept evolved from an initial car hop idea to barbecue theme when someone realized there are 3,000+ independent barbecue restaurants in the U.S. — _David Fix told Don about the conception during factory visit lunch conversation_
- [HIGH] Bash locks are slightly oblong saucers that function both as ball locks and as bash toys players can hit to knock balls out and back in — _Don played the game and explained the mechanic in detail as 'something I haven't seen' and 'hard to convey it really just by describing it but it was fun'_
- [MEDIUM] American Pinball has no rumors of being sold; Don cleared this up directly with David Fix during the factory visit — _Don states 'we were really able to kind of clear a lot of that up just sitting having lunch' with Fix regarding sale rumors_
- [MEDIUM] The game's design was influenced by input from tournament players on American Pinball's staff affecting code and rules — _Don notes 'I think a lot of that has to do with the input of the tournament players that America Pinball has'_
- [MEDIUM] Food Truck is owned by Deep Root assets/estate and is held by Chris Turner from Chris Turner Pinball (maker of Ninja Eclipse) — _Don clarifies early speculation: 'Food Truck is a license that's owned by the assets or the estate of Deep Root. And actually, it lies in the hands of Mr. Chris Turner from Chris Turner Pinball'_

### Notable Quotes

> "So there is some innovation. I was so excited. I just came back from the factory, man. I got to play this thing a handful of times."
> — **Don**, early in gameplay breakdown
> _Sets enthusiasm tone for the review and establishes Don's hands-on experience with the game_

> "I see this game as like a better shooting Hot Wheels with the lighting package of Galactic Tank Force."
> — **Don**, mid-review comparison section
> _Key comparative analysis positioning the game as superior to Hot Wheels in gameplay while matching GTF's lighting intensity_

> "These games are ready. They're ready to go out. If I had myself a location, I would seriously consider picking up one of these games."
> — **Don**, distribution and recommendation section
> _Strong endorsement of the game's operator-friendly readiness and market positioning_

> "There is a paucity of Southern American themes in pinball. The most recent one that's been released, and I believe this is true, is Big Buck Hunter."
> — **Don**, market analysis section
> _Identifies market gap that Barry's Barbecue Challenge fills in the pinball industry_

> "I don't think it's only an extra $1,000 or $1,200. Comes with a full powder coat. You get shaker motor, you get whatever they're going to call their stadium type lighting."
> — **Don**, pricing section
> _Details premium edition pricing strategy and features compared to base model_

> "No shots were bricked. Every shot was fair. It was a fun, flowing game, kind of like the way that TNA is."
> — **Don**, shot quality assessment
> _Confirms shot design fairness and gameplay flow comparable to TNT/TNA_

> "I think if you go into it with that kind of mindset, it makes sense. You know, this isn't for, you know, the person that's looking for a Godzilla pro, Foo Fighters pro, something that's got, you know, complex shots and a deep, you know, lore and storyline."
> — **Don**, target audience clarification
> _Sets expectations for the game's design philosophy: accessibility over complexity_

> "I worked all night I drove down to chicago I hung out for about three hours at the factory... I want to go back and play it some more it was compelling"
> — **Don**, closing remarks
> _Demonstrates genuine enthusiasm and willingness to return to play the game more_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Barry's Barbecue Challenge; operates factory in Palatine, Illinois; has tournament player input on design |
| Barry's Barbecue Challenge | game | New American Pinball release; single-level fan layout; features bash lock saucer innovations; base MSRP $6,995 |
| Barry Osler | person | Game designer/namesake for Barry's Barbecue Challenge; game includes his name and imagery on cabinet |
| David Fix | person | Factory contact at American Pinball; invited Don to factory; discussed game conception and rumor clarification |
| Ron Lindemann | person | Marketing director at American Pinball; extended invitation to Don for factory visit |
| Chris Turner | person | Owner of Chris Turner Pinball; maker of Ninja Eclipse; holds Food Truck license from Deep Root assets |
| Deep Root | company | Previous owner of Food Truck license assets; estate/assets now held by Chris Turner Pinball |
| Ametron | company | Parent company/factory location of American Pinball in Palatine, Illinois |
| Galactic Tank Force | game | American Pinball game used as comparison for LED lighting intensity and design approach |
| Hot Wheels | game | Stern pinball game used as comparison for operator reliability and location placement appeal |
| Ace Gorge | location | Arcade in Los Angeles confirmed to have Barry's Barbecue Challenge on location placement |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Event where Barry's Barbecue Challenge will be playable; mentioned as happening 'next week' from recording date |
| Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast; visited American Pinball factory; played Barry's Barbecue Challenge multiple times; episode narrator |
| Jeff Teolas | person | Voice actor for game callouts; described as having 'gruff, almost biker' character voice |
| Steve Bowen | person | Expected to explain Barry's Barbecue Challenge rules and code details on future stream |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Barry's Barbecue Challenge announcement and design, Bash lock saucer innovation mechanism, American Pinball factory operations and production capacity, Operator-friendly pricing and market positioning strategy, Location placement and distribution strategy
- **Secondary:** LED lighting and cabinet design, Comparison to Hot Wheels and Galactic Tank Force, Southern American theme gap in pinball market

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Don expresses genuine enthusiasm about the game's innovative mechanics, fair shot design, and operator-friendly approach. Initial hesitation about simplicity was overcome by hands-on gameplay. Strong endorsement for location placement. Minor uncertainty about unreleased music and code elements prevents perfect score.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** American Pinball/Ametron factory demonstrates full production capacity with two assembly lines running simultaneously for Houdini and Barry's games (confidence: high) — Don reports: 'they had two lines running they had houdini's uh ready to go you know be assembled and get out to customers because they have orders for those and they had a ton of barbecues on the line'
- **[community_signal]** American Pinball incorporated input from tournament players and competitive community into code and rules design (confidence: medium) — Don states: 'I think a lot of that has to do with the input of the tournament players that America Pinball has and the way they were able to influence the code and the rules'
- **[design_philosophy]** Barry's Barbecue Challenge positions itself as 'classic pinball' with accessible gameplay vs. complex lore-heavy competitors (Godzilla, Foo Fighters) (confidence: high) — Don states explicitly: 'This isn't for, you know, the person that's looking for a Godzilla pro, Foo Fighters pro, something that's got, you know, complex shots and a deep lore'
- **[event_signal]** Barry's Barbecue Challenge will be playable at Texas Pinball Festival (referenced as 'next week' from recording date) (confidence: high) — Don states: 'it's going to be at tpf for sure next week' and encourages players to 'go play it'
- **[licensing_signal]** Food Truck pinball game license clarified as held by Chris Turner Pinball (not American Pinball), acquired from Deep Root assets/estate (confidence: medium) — Don clarifies: 'Food Truck is a license that's owned by the assets or the estate of Deep Root. And actually, it lies in the hands of Mr. Chris Turner from Chris Turner Pinball'
- **[market_signal]** American Pinball identifies and targets Southern American theme gap in pinball market for location/operator placement at tourism and specialty retail venues (confidence: high) — Don notes 'There is a paucity of Southern American themes in pinball' and identifies specific venue opportunities (Buc-ee's, Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops)
- **[market_signal]** American Pinball deliberately undercuts premium tier pricing with two-tier model: $6,995 base and $8,000-8,200 premium (100 units) vs. industry standard $12,000-16,000 tiers (confidence: high) — Don emphasizes: 'It's not $16,000' and praises 'that method better than going through these multiple tiers' creating 'a hole in the market for a game in this price range'
- **[announcement]** American Pinball officially announces Barry's Barbecue Challenge with official assets, pricing, and distribution details (confidence: high) — Don confirms 'this was released today' and 'hopefully by now there's been assets and everything released' with embargo lifted for publication
- **[product_strategy]** Barry's Barbecue Challenge includes optional premium LED lighting package (name TBD) as add-on feature available on upper trim level (confidence: high) — Don notes lights are 'available as an add-on' and 'seem to be fairly affordable' and describes stadium/expression lighting as one of standout features
- **[business_signal]** American Pinball prioritizes rapid location placement and operator distribution over pre-order deposit model to establish install base quickly (confidence: high) — Don states: 'they didn't want to have something where you go ahead and put in your deposit and then it's months to a year until you get your game. These games are ready. They're ready to go out.'

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## Transcript

 Ooh, got a screaming show here for Don's Pinball Podcast, episode number 108. Did you see the news? We've got a brand new American pinball game, and it was barbecue-themed. It was Barry Osler. We're going to go into the shots, the layout, everything that was released today. Oh, also, I've kind of played the game, too. Let's go. In the mountains of Tennessee They like the smoky sauce But over there in old Memphis A dry rug rivets falls The folks down in Georgia They can't pick up their fine You can give it to them sweet or spicy And they'll say that tastes alright And you might think the South Carolinians Are just a little bit off Would you believe their barbecue's yellow With a mustard sauce Oh man, we did get the barbecue-themed pinball machine from Barry Osler. It's not Food Truck, like we were all speculating. It turns out that Food Truck is a license that's owned by the assets or the estate of Deep Root. And actually, it lies in the hands of Mr. Chris Turner from Chris Turner Pinball, maker of Ninja Eclipse. So, it is a barbecue theme. It is Barry Osler. And it is released now, so I can talk about it. So, I got invited by a friend of the show, Mr. David Fix, and Ron Lindeman, the marketing director with American Pinball. They reached out, and they invited me down to Palatine, Illinois, to the factory, to the home of Ametron, to go and play this game and play it. I did. I got a full factory tour. We're going to get into all that. We're going to get into all that as soon as this silly barbecue song is over. Bluegrass, man. Bluegrass. All right, so here's this. So hopefully by now there's been assets and everything released. Nap Arcade's been all over it. You've seen the images of the play field and everything. And we've confirmed a lot of the other kind of short-term rumors we've heard. We heard that this was a single-level play field. There weren't any upper playfields or anything. and this game was going to come in at a lower cost. So currently at the time of recording, I've returned home from the factory fresh off playing it. I want to give my first early impressions, and I'm currently under embargo. So this should release, hopefully it's Saturday, and that's when everything was supposed to come out. And as long as that's happened, I am free from my NDA clause here, and I can talk about the game. So what we got here, let's go over shots and layouts and everything. What's the scope of this game? um this is a single level play field fan layout two ramps i put this as the same scope of a game like taxi yeah or a game uh like diner maybe not as complicated as that uh basically you can see from hopefully the layout that's been released uh there are some ramps in this game two fun ramps and uh just from a casual observation you know of this cabinet it seems to be a little bit empty and that was what i first saw when i when i walked around the corner as we're doing the factory tour, they're like, here's the barbecue. You know, I'm looking at it and I'm like, okay, it is a fairly simple game. But don't be deceived. Go through and look into what the shots are and the mechanisms here. There is some innovation. I'm so excited. I just came back from the factory, man. I got to play this thing a handful of times, you know, got the whole tour. We'll get the breakdown. So let's start with the cabinet. All right. So this is Barry Osler's barbecue championship challenge. Barbecue challenge. Gosh. I wasn't allowed to take any photos, so this is all from memory, so please excuse me. But it started with the cabinet art. It's got the wood paneling faux effect on the side. And then it has these stickers or graphics that look like stickers from what you'd find on a barbecue sauce bottle. Now the idea behind this, and this is the key to the marketing point for this game, if you have a barbecue restaurant of which there's greater than 3,000 independently owned barbecue restaurants in the United States, and you want to take your logo and slap it on the side, it will fit with the motif of this game. And so that is the gist of the art there. Every little bit of the art, all the little faux names of these fictitious sauces and things, all tie back to Barry somehow. This is very much Barry's game, Barry's name. Barry's name is carved in there with both of his wives on either side of the cabinet. A lot of detail has gone into this um but let's get to what we want to know and that is how does the game play the game plays really fun i'm gonna cut to the chase here this is a game that is uh simple in layout but has some things to master this is a game that would be fun to play tournament fun to play for player it's not going to be a super long game it's not going to have mechanisms that take time to reset after they dip into the play field and come back up it's a fun fast approachable game with some cool innovation. So let's get to it. So I'll just kind of go over what I can remember because I don't have anything to reference other than my own memories. Let's start with the ramps because that's the thing that you see when you first start up there. The bottom of the game is pretty standard Italian bottom. Nothing's fancy down there. The ramps, though, were fun. The ramps are hittable. They weren't difficult to hit. They do have spinners on each one of them, which adds some kinetic flair They both return to the flipper Now there also a ton of other shots uh in and around uh the uh the the ramps uh there orbit shots from what I remember um, right there at the back of the midfield, uh, is a set of standup targets, slightly angled to the right. So they're not going to fire straight down the middle and thank God they're pushed farther back than the tank, uh, from galactic tank force. You don't have to spend the game kind of avoiding the thing that's right in front of your flippers. Um, eh, let's see, uh, The pop-upers are in the back there. These pops, I did hear a rumor that they were going to look like barbecue grills, which they do. And they also have this really cool integrated LED lighting. I do want to make a point to really hit the lighting on this game because it is one of the standout parts of it. So you've got the pop-up burness there. Multiple ways to get into it, multiple ways to get out of it. I love that. Rather than have the pop-up bumpers as kind of an afterthought where they're tucked away in the corner of the game, like some of Brian Eddy's recent designs. It's Stranger Things where the pops are just tucked way around in the corner where the right orbit shot would be. There's one way in. There's one way out. You kind of go there. You hit the pops, and then there's no surprise. It's going to come back right where you sent it in. Venom is kind of the same way. The ball comes in there. The pops are kind of just an afterthought. They don't really affect the gameplay that much. These are front and center and give you that classic pinball experience. And that's kind of one of the themes of this game is classic pinball. So you got the pops. All right, you got the stand-up targets. There's also a set of stand-up targets on the left side, from what I remember, BBQ targets. They function as one of the skill shots of the game coming off of the plunger. But there's also a set of stand-up drop targets towards the right side as you enter into the pop bumper nest there. They are grazeable. I can't remember if you can go directly from the drop targets into the pops or if it feeds into the back orbit. It might be an orbit shot back there. But you can go through and, you know, sweep all of these drop targets if you shoot correctly. And so that's the bones of the layout, right? Classic pinball, nothing too exciting that we haven't really seen before, but it is in there and shoots really well. Now, the innovative part of this, and this kind of blew my mind, is the, what do they call them, the bash lock system, I think. Yeah, bash locks, okay. So let me talk about what a bash lock is. Hopefully they've done a good job really conveying what this is, because this is the exciting part of the game, the part that really got me coming back and hitting start again to play it. So there's three saucers in the game, which is essentially what these are. There's one midfield right, one midfield left, and then there's another one farther up stuck in the back, kind of like Pulp Fiction-y, you know, like the saucer that's back there. So these things function as saucers. You hit the ball in there and they lock. They sense the ball in there. But they're engineered in such a way that they're slightly oblong. and what this allows you to do and here's the innovation is you can shoot one of these balls you'll knock it backwards out of the saucer uh where it'll kind of go back into a little pocket and then roll back into the saucer uh so you can use the saucers to lock your ball in there but they also function as a bash toy once the ball is in there uh so uh the way that the game was coded when i was playing it is this functions into a multiball right you can lock the balls into saucers than they all release. The farthest one in the back is what releases the balls. So you could lock one ball and then lock the other one in the back and then it would release as a two ball multiball. Or you can lock one to the left, one to the right, and then when you hit that third one in the back, you get a three ball multiball. Also while you're playing, you can hit these balls and bash them like bash toys. They almost function like Newton balls in a sense. This is something I haven't seen and this is a fun little gameplay gimmick it's hard to convey it really just by describing it but it was fun when you were playing especially playing multiplayer which is what i was doing at the factory if somebody else locks their balls in there and then you get your chance you can get awarded that lock just by hitting the ball and then it'll lock in there so in that way it kind of keeps track on who's got balls locked where and it's not like a sense where you can go and steal somebody's balls like in TNA or Rick and Morty. So I see this game. I was trying to think of a way to really convey it. I see this game as like a better shooting Hot Wheels with the lighting package of Galactic Tank Force. The lights and the LEDs really stand out in their games. That was one of the standout points from Galactic Tank Force was the intensity of the multicolored LEDs and the inserts and also those light-up kind of hot rails in the sky that America Pinball did with Galactic Tank Force. Those are back in this game. There's two versions of this game. The upper trim level is going to come with it, but they are available as an add-on. And from what I was talking with Mr. Fix, they seem to be fairly affordable as well. I feel like I'm all over the place, but I'm going off of memory here. But it was fun playing this game and seeing the lights, particularly without a tank in the way and a mess of ramps and things like you have with galactic tank force um and so this was a game where let's see let's see let me let me characterize the theme here uh so think of it not as a barbecue restaurant that you're at but more of like a barbecue festival like something that you would have you know in the southern united states where you know people Antonio Cruz out in their classic cars and then they have a barbecue festival it's kind of the theme that's going for this uh there are call outs from a voice actor i think his name is jeff teolas something um but he kind of got this kind of gruff uh almost almost like biker kind of character he doing uh which really seemed to add to the game the music of the game i couldn hear that well I think it was turned down maybe for streaming maybe for testing Maybe the code is still early so I can comment yet on what the music is like Other than it seemed serviceable, it didn't distract from the game. It definitely was not dubstep, so I don't know if the dubstep is making a return or not. I think it's got its place. I didn't hate it in GTF, but so there it is. So I've played this game. I got a handful of games on it. I didn't get 40, but I did more than two. And I got to play multiplayer. I got to play separate. You know, we get to take the glass off. I got to check out the lights and everything. So this is a game. Now, MSRP, $69.95 for the base edition. The upper level edition of which you're only making 100 of them, which I think is perfect. And it's not $16,000. I think it's only an extra $1,000 or $1,200. Comes with a full powder coat. You get shaker motor, you get whatever they're going to call their stadium type lighting. They're still trying to decide on a name, but you get those as well. And probably some other accoutrements too that aren't quite released yet, or at least weren't the day that I was there. But I like that method better than going through these multiple tiers, which are a little bit confusing, and then have a really high $16,000 level. You know, that is not a thing. um the cabinet for this is uh like the newer gtf cabinet but they did add t molding which i appreciate because it gives me a way to add some customization ability to it um so is this game for you uh so uh since i was at the factory talking with david fix we went out we got lunch we talked about this game we talked about a lot of other stuff we talked about the rumor about them being sold. And we were really able to kind of clear a lot of that up just sitting having lunch in this really cool pub right around the corner from the factory. So shout out to him. Thanks for that. Really appreciate it. Got to return the favor to you again at some point, sir. But yeah, we had a good time at the factory. The factory is very impressive. The white marble floors are great to see in person. I almost wanted to run around there barefoot just to feel it on my feet. Full factory, you know, nothing was, you know, sitting mothballed. They had two lines running they had houdini's uh ready to go you know be assembled and get out to customers because they have orders for those and they had a ton of barbecues on the line uh i came there right during the lunch breaks everybody took a break i got to walk through the whole line of the factory very impressive setup they got everything you need to make games um so i talked to him about more of like the conception of this game and what they were going with um from what he told me they were thinking of doing a kind of a car hop type game and then that ended up morphing into this barbecue concept when at some point somebody realized that there are a ton of independent barbecue restaurants in the United States. This is kind of a uniquely American thing. And like the boys with the bluegrass music with the intro, every region of the country has its own take on barbecue. I mean, it's very, very much a regional distinction that we have here in the country. So their idea is let's get a game together that'll be available at a very operator friendly price that we can put out there and you could put in your barbecue restaurant, you could put at your car show, you could take to festivals, you could put it in your pizza shop, you could put it out there on location. We know it's going to hum along just like, you know, Hot Wheels tends to. Hot Wheels earns well in location, doesn't break down, it's a tank. You know, for me, Hot Wheels doesn't have the most compelling gameplay, but this game is different. And I think a lot of that has to do with the input of the tournament players that America Pinball has and the way they were able to influence the code and the rules. I had a great game. We were playing four people. I came in second place, which was great. You know, the lady there that was doing the coding and the testing, she was kicking my butt all over the place. So you go, lady. Gosh, her name escapes me. I didn't get her card or anything. But, yeah, had a good time playing with Dave. He very graciously invited me on down there to get my hands on this game. I really liked it. It was fun. I like this more than I liked Hot Wheels. It's definitely approachable, and that's what this game is. And I think if you go into it with that kind of mindset, it makes sense. You know, this isn't for, you know, the person that's looking for a Godzilla pro, Foo Fighters pro, something that's got, you know, complex shots and a deep, you know, lore and storyline. This is very much, and I haven't gotten deep into the code, there are modes in this game. You start the modes by, you qualify them by hitting shots, and then you lock a ball into one of the saucers somewhere, and then the mode starts. I didn't get a chance to go through all the modes that were available. One of the ones that I did see played, essentially, you were driving a car, towing a smoker, and you had to follow the GPS to your destination, which was, you know, one lane would be open, and that's the one you have to shoot, and when you hit the other ones, you just got this recalculating kind of feedback, like the GPS. So I'm sure that's probably, you know, shoot a couple of the shots, complete it, and then hit one of the bash toys or something to finish it. So I haven't been able to comment yet on the code of the game because it's probably still in process here. I can't comment much on the music because it was a little bit hard to hear. It turned down pretty low, and I don't even know if that's final release form yet. But I can comment on the shots. No shots were bricked. Every shot was fair. It was a fun, flowing game, kind of like the way that TNA is, where the shots are fun to hit The gameplay is fairly fast The ball times are not super long And with these bash locks there some innovation there And so here's the other great thing that they're doing that really impressed me there. They've already shipped these games to locations in the U.S. So by the time you are hearing this, by the time all the information is being released, there are games on location that you can play. They showed me this big map on the wall where they've got flags all over the country to where these are going. I saw at least 10 arcades, um, of which Ace Goge out in Los Angeles is going to have these, uh, basically any arcade that tends to be an early adopter of games. It looked like there was one in Minneapolis. I couldn't tell if it was lit, um, arcade or not. Uh, there is one in the Phoenix, Arizona region, but it wasn't electric bad. It's, it's, it's one of those other ones. Um, and, uh, there's one in Florida, Chicago, and there's one in Michigan. Again, I wasn't able to take pictures of anything because they didn't want anything getting out yet. But I'm sure they'll be advertising where these games are at. Also, they're available with distributors now. So they really made it a point to me as we were talking and chatting that they didn't want to have something where you go ahead and put in your deposit and then it's months to a year until you get your game. These games are ready. They're ready to go out. If I had myself a location, I would seriously consider picking up one of these games, given that it's, you know, for pinball prices anyway, budget-friendly, looks like it's going to be low-maintenance, fun, compelling gameplay, great for tournaments. So I think it's really fitting that niche. The other point that they made regarding the theme was there is a paucity of Southern American themes in pinball. The most recent one that's been released, and I believe this is true, is Big Buck Hunter, right? And large swaths of the United States are in that southern region. And so outside of Jake Danzig's homebrew, I don't know of another recent southern theme that's come out. So I can see this machine putting on my marketing helmet. This is a machine I would expect to see if I went to Bucky's, right? One of the biggest family truck stops in the United States. It's completely fantastic. Half the country knows what Buc-ee's is. The other half needs to learn. Because this is a game that I could see going right in there and would play right into the brisket that they're selling off the grill. I could see this going into basically any shop in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. For those of you that don't know, again, you need to find out. But eastern Tennessee has a great Smoky Mountains. And just outside of the National Park, which is the number one attended National Park in the country, is the twin towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Basically, think of taking Kissimmee, Florida, and dropping it in the Smoky Mountains. So you've got the natural splendor of the North Carolina, eastern Tennessee border region, black bears, waterfalls, hiking trails, beautiful nature and everything. And then right outside of that, it's nothing but go-karts, Paula Deen, hog fries, moonshine tasting, mountain coasters. I'm starting to slip into my Appalachian dialect, y'all. like um if this game absolutely if this game theme does not strike you it does absolutely strike a segment of the population in the united states and i think it would be quite popular with the with the nascar crowd with the paula dean crowd uh with the the the old smoky moonshine crowd with the dollywood crowd of which i consider myself part of um love that culture love dollywood love eastern tennessee i want to go down there so it's great to see a game that would be this thing would be at home right next to the shooting gallery at Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops for sure that's the scope of this game so you know don't be like my initial impressions when I saw it I was a little taken aback like okay it's kind of a simple game you know let's see what else they got but once I got to actually play it and kind of go through and they talked about the the rationale of the theme and the the mechanisms that were put into it and I got to play against a good player like there's some gameplay that's here that was quite compelling so go check this game out fortunately it's in boxes it's on locations and it's going to be at tpf for sure next week so let's all go play it i can't wait to hear other people's uh uh interpretations of it i love playing brand new pinball machines man today was great um i worked all night i drove down to chicago i hung out for about three hours of the factory the first hour and a half was a tour kind of going over the game getting some lunch and then we came back when they were done uh doing some coding and some filming and i got to spend about an hour and a half playing the game um i want to go back and play it some more it was it was fun it was compelling i like the fact that uh the uh the upper level trubber trim level is not you know crazily expensive comes with a powder coat comes with the uh i don't know what they're going to call their lights i was almost calling them expression lights uh you know comes with a shaker the full package there and not you know 12 to 15 thousand dollars like we're seeing uh there's definitely a hole in the market uh for a game in this price range and i think they nailed it man it was super fun i want to go play it again thank you so very much to friend of the show david fix and and ron and lindemann and the whole crew at american pinball and atron had a great time had a great lunch man i want to go back and play this game some more maybe i can go down and see if i can get one to stream wouldn't that be awesome uh check out the stream gameplay i'm sure Steven Bowden's gonna explain all the cool rules and everything about it. But yeah, I got to play it and I didn't hate it, man. It was fun. Later.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 8ea369b1-eef3-4214-8dec-e3c0eaa26667*