# Episode 929: "JAWS #1 OF ALL TIME?!?!?...NOT SO FAST!"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-03-26  
**Duration:** 20m 31s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-929-jaws-101114749

---

## Analysis

Kaneda discusses why Jaws Pinball's #1 Pinside ranking is misleading, driven by new-game hype rather than objective quality. He covers upcoming releases (Funhouse, ABBA, John Wick), manufacturing delays, and serial numbering practices across manufacturers. He also critiques American Pinball's direction, speculates on Stern's future leadership and acquisition potential, and highlights Jersey Jack's Godfather fix and upcoming Guns N' Roses code update.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Jaws entered Pinside top 100 with 208 votes and will inevitably fall down the rankings as more games release and general player base grows beyond just owners — _Kaneda - primary analysis of Pinside ranking dynamics_
- [MEDIUM] Centaur was submitted to Rick at Planetary for approval and did not get approved, meaning rework is needed — _Kaneda - heard from unnamed distributor contact_
- [MEDIUM] Funhouse has likely already been manufactured in bulk and will be available at launch to avoid delivery delays — _Kaneda - speculation based on industry patterns_
- [MEDIUM] John Wick pricing at $13,000+ is unsustainable; Stern will struggle to move 1,000 units at current prices — _Kaneda - market analysis opinion_
- [MEDIUM] Seth Davis joining Stern signals potential acquisition preparation and succession planning concerns — _Kaneda - speculation on corporate intent_
- [LOW] Keith Elwin would be the logical successor to George Gomez if Stern Pinball is sold — _Kaneda - personal opinion/speculation_
- [LOW] American Pinball is 'running on fumes' and Mukesh will likely shut down the company before Ryan McQuade's unreleased game ships — _Kaneda - opinion based on poor recent releases and leadership criticism_
- [LOW] Pulp Fiction LE will trade for approximately $12,000 secondary market (about $2,000 premium over standard edition) — _Kaneda - personal speculation on secondary market pricing_

### Notable Quotes

> "The Pinside 100 it does matter because you know who does look at it? It's not you. It's not fans of the Canada Club. It's absolute newbies who have no idea what game they should get."
> — **Kaneda**, ~5:45
> _Explains why Pinside rankings matter despite being honeymoon-period driven; newbies make purchasing decisions based on rankings_

> "These games were trading for like $5,000 to $6,000. And so to get someone to spend $11,000 on an LE of the game, I think that's going to be really hard."
> — **Kaneda**, ~9:30
> _Skepticism on Funhouse LE pricing relative to original game availability_

> "I think what I'm hearing is this. Those Funhaus machines, I bet most of them are made. I think we're going to see a few hundred Funhouses already in a box on day one."
> — **Kaneda**, ~11:15
> _Prediction about manufacturing strategy to avoid delivery delays_

> "None of you look like James Bond. None of you should have serial number 007."
> — **Kaneda**, ~20:45
> _Criticism of collectors paying for vanity serial numbers; advocate for sequential manufacturing-order serials_

> "I don't see a future for Stern Pinball at these prices. I just don't think it's very sustainable."
> — **Kaneda**, ~28:00
> _Macro concern about pricing strategy sustainability across the industry_

> "American Pinball is a company that is running on fumes... A company that had potential, did nothing with it, had terrible creative leadership, and horrendous art design."
> — **Kaneda**, ~45:30
> _Strong criticism of American Pinball's trajectory and decision-making under current leadership_

> "If Spooky makes Beetlejuice, I mean, it's over, people. You're all going to want one."
> — **Kaneda**, ~48:00
> _Speculation on potential Spooky theme that would drive major demand_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kaneda | person | Host of Canada's Pinball Podcast (also referred to as 'Kaneda's Pinball Podcast'); recently became Connecticut homeowner; provides commentary on pinball industry trends, pricing, and manufacturer decisions |
| Jaws | game | Keith Elwin-designed pinball game that entered Pinside top 100 at #1 with 9.2 rating; subject of extensive discussion about ranking honeymoon effect and market saturation |
| Funhouse | game | Pinball remake by Pedretti Gaming; submitted for Rick's (Planetary) approval; expected release in 1-2 weeks; priced ~$11,000 LE vs original used market at $5,000-6,000 |
| Centaur | game | Pinball remake submitted to Planetary for approval; reported to have been rejected and requiring rework; money taken from buyers 7 months prior |
| ABBA | game | Pinball Brothers music pinball game; confirmed release April 6th; described as 'worst kept secret' with visible disco ball; Kaneda plans to pass on due to music pin oversaturation |
| John Wick | game | Stern Pinball game based on John Wick film franchise; 3-4 weeks from launch; priced at $13,000 for premium tiers; Kaneda expresses doubt about sales volume at current pricing |
| Keith Elwin | person | World's #1 pinball designer; created Jaws; employed by Stern; Kaneda speculates he is logical successor to George Gomez if Stern is sold |
| George Gomez | person | Long-time Stern Pinball designer; Kaneda discusses his eventual retirement and succession planning implications for Stern's future |
| Gary Stern | person | Stern Pinball executive/owner; referenced in context of eventual retirement and company succession |
| Seth Davis | person | Recently hired Stern Pinball executive; Kaneda speculates his hiring signals acquisition preparation and concerns about Stern's future independence |
| Rick | person | Planetary owner who approves remakes of classic Planetary/Bally/Williams pinball games before public reveal |
| Andrea Pedretti | person | Founder of Pedretti Gaming; designing Funhouse remake; not yet publicly shown game pending Rick's approval |
| Carrie Hardy | person | Pinball content creator; typically first to unbox new games; awaiting Funhouse unboxing pending approval |
| Jersey Jack | company | Pinball manufacturer; fixing Godfather gold armor tarnish issue with replacement parts and prepaid return; planning major Guns N' Roses code update |
| Godfather | game | Jersey Jack pinball game; experiencing gold armor and side rail tarnishing issue; now receiving replacement parts with extra clear coat |
| Guns N' Roses | game | Jersey Jack pinball game; major code update coming; Kaneda speculates improvements needed to multiball balance and song-specific rewards |
| Elton John | game | Jersey Jack pinball game; priced $12,000-15,000; Kaneda mentions newbie who canceled order to buy Jaws instead; widely being unboxed; Kaneda waiting for next Steve Ritchie game instead |
| Pulp Fiction | game | Stern Pinball game; LE priced at $9,700; Kaneda calls it 'last great LE game at the right price'; predicts $12,000 secondary market value with Stern topper |
| American Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer; Kaneda describes as 'running on fumes' with bad creative leadership under David Fix; Burro's Barbecue Challenge game getting no attention; Cuphead and Ryan McQuade games in jeopardy |
| David Fix | person | Creative director/leader at American Pinball; criticized by Kaneda for lacking vision and understanding of community desires |
| Mukesh | person | Likely investor/owner of American Pinball; Kaneda speculates he will shut down company before releasing remaining games |
| Ryan McQuade | person | Game designer with unreleased game at American Pinball; Kaneda expresses low confidence in seeing this title released before company closure |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Jersey Jack designer; Kaneda waiting for his next game instead of buying Elton John; speculates it could be Top Gun or Harry Potter |
| Spooky | company | Pinball manufacturer; Kaneda hopes for Beetlejuice and Gremlins themes; Looney Tunes game experiencing serial number allocation confusion among buyers |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinside Top 100 ranking accuracy and new-game honeymoon bias, Upcoming pinball releases (Funhouse, ABBA, John Wick) and production timelines, Licensing approval process for Williams/Bally/Planetary remakes, Manufacturer pricing strategy sustainability and market segmentation
- **Secondary:** Serial numbering practices across manufacturers and fairness concerns, Stern Pinball succession planning, acquisition rumors, and leadership changes, American Pinball's declining trajectory and leadership criticism, Jersey Jack product quality issues (Godfather tarnish) and code updates

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.35) — Kaneda is enthusiastic about upcoming releases and some games (John Wick curiosity, Elton John appeal) but very negative about American Pinball's direction, skeptical about pricing sustainability across the industry, and concerned about Stern's future. He's dismissive of Jaws' #1 ranking and cautionary about FOMO-driven purchasing decisions. Overall tone is knowledgeable but critical.

### Signals

- **[rumor_hype]** Three major pinball releases in 3-4 week window (Funhouse, ABBA, John Wick) creating industry hype cycle (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'we're three to four weeks away from three new games' and tracking each release timeline
- **[product_concern]** Funhouse experiencing delays; initially targeted for February, now tracking 1-2 weeks out; Centaur rejected from Planetary approval and requiring rework despite pre-orders 7 months ago (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'They're well past the time they wanted to get the game out' and 'Centaur was submitted to Rick... and it did not get approved'
- **[market_signal]** Skepticism about $13,000 John Wick pricing and inability to sustain 1,000-unit sales at premium tiers; broader concern about pinball affordability at current price points (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'How are you going to sell 1,000 John Wicks at $13,000 a pop? It ain't going to happen' and 'I don't see a future for Stern Pinball at these prices'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Example of newbie making uninformed decision to buy Jaws instead of Elton John based on Pinside ranking, highlighting purchasing decision vulnerability (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'I actually heard from somebody that sold an Elton John and the guy canceled his order and ordered a Jaws instead'
- **[business_signal]** Seth Davis hire at Stern interpreted as signal of potential acquisition preparation; speculation on Stern's sale viability and successor leadership (confidence: low) — Kaneda: 'Is set there simply to cook the books... you only do that when you want to become an acquisition target' and discussion of George Gomez/Gary Stern retirement timeline
- **[business_signal]** American Pinball characterized as 'running on fumes' with expectation investor Mukesh will shut down company before releasing remaining titles; Burro's Barbecue Challenge generating no market interest (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'American pinball is done... I think Mukesh is going to pull the plug on this company before we get to Ryan McQuaid's game'
- **[code_update]** Jersey Jack planning major code update for Guns N' Roses; Kaneda speculates improvements needed include multiball balance, scoring adjustments, and potential new songs (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Jersey Jack also has a major code update coming for Guns N' Roses' with detailed speculation on what changes might be included
- **[product_concern]** Godfather experiencing gold armor and side rail tarnishing; Jersey Jack implementing replacement part solution with extra clear coat and prepaid return shipping (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Jersey Jack has a solve for your gold armor and side rails... replace yours with a new lockdown bar and side rail... extra clear coat'
- **[operational_signal]** Spooky's allocation strategy creates confusion among buyers on serial number ordering; discussion of how games are distributed to direct sales, distributors, and international markets affecting delivery sequence (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Spooky basically allocates their games... Some go to Europe. Some go to distributors. And some go directly to customers'
- **[design_philosophy]** Kaneda advocates for sequential serial numbering matching manufacturing order rather than allowing buyers to purchase specific numbers; criticism of vanity serial number practice (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'The first game off the line should be game number one... if you're going to make 1,000 Godfather CEs, I don't want to see number 1,000 on a game that was made right away'
- **[rumor_hype]** Speculation on potential Spooky future titles including Beetlejuice and Gremlins; Kaneda expresses high confidence in demand if Beetlejuice materializes (confidence: low) — Kaneda: 'I hope we get Beetlejuice from Spooky... If Spooky makes Beetlejuice, I mean, it's over, people'
- **[leak_detection]** ABBA by Pinball Brothers described as 'worst kept secret in pinball' with visible disco ball already seen; confirmation of April 6 release date (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'ABBA is coming out by the Pinball Brothers. It's the worst kept secret in pinball. We've seen the disco ball. We know it's ABBA'

---

## Transcript

 Well, a simple kind of life never did me no harm, raising me a family and working on the farm. My days are all filled with an easy country charm. Thank God I'm a country boy. Welcome everybody to Canada's Pinball Podcast, the world's favorite Patreon podcast. I want to give a big shout out to the two knuckleheads listening right now, Big Matt and Little Matt. Thank you guys for being a member of the Canada Club. I also want to give a huge shout out to Arcade Time, Jonathan over there. He is now joining Steve Jablonski at $100 a month. I'm so happy all of you guys are enjoying this show and everyone listening is subscribing to Canada's Pinball Podcast because now it's getting serious. Canada is a homeowner. Yes, we found a home in Connecticut. There's not much room for pinball machines. There's not a lot of room for the demon, but I'm going to sneak a pinball machine into the house. And I think the demon has to show up into this Connecticut town. We'll talk more about that. We'll talk a lot more about the House of Kaneda and moving the family to the suburbs and what it's going to mean for Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. But it's not going to change much. We're still going to do this show every single week. So let's talk about Jaws Pinball, the number one pinball machine of all time. It enters the pin side top 100 with like 208 votes. all of a sudden everyone's like jaws is it number one everybody needs to stop giving much weight to the pin side top 100 here's the way we all should be thinking about the pin side top 100 it's like the billboard top 100 but imagine if the music industry only had five new songs a year and that's what the pinball industry is like so when a new game comes out it's like a new song coming out And if the song is good, it's going to enter the charts at number one. Same way with Jaws Pinball, because the only people that have it right now are people that own the machine. So you're getting 200 people who own the machine that want to justify their purchases with a very good rating. It has like a 9.2 rating. But what will happen, much like the Billboard Top 100 music, is over time, as more games come out and more people play this game on location and at friends' houses, Jaws will slide down the list. It's not going to stay the number one game of all time. It is not the greatest pinball machine ever made. It is not Keith Owen's greatest game to date. But hey, it's a brand new game. The honeymoon period is happening right now. I just love the fact that the Pinside 100 always triggers people. Let me tell you this, and I was talking to a distributor. The Pinside 100 it does matter because you know who does look at it? It's not you. It's not fans of the Canada Club. It's absolute newbies who have no idea what game they should get. So imagine if you're brand new to pinball, right? You stumble into this hobby, you get bit by the bug, and you want to know what are the best pinball machines I should consider owning. You might end up there and you might see Jaws number one. And I actually heard from somebody that sold an Elton John and the guy canceled his order and ordered a Jaws instead because he's like, I want the best pinball machine ever made. And Elton John is not number one on the list. And I kind of almost want newbies like that to get burned and make stupid decisions like that. Because ultimately, you should play every single game. You should never go off of like the Pinside 100. You shouldn't even listen to too much of what other people say. And even if you get recommendations, make sure you play a game. make sure you love a game because for these prices if you go in on anything you better make sure you love it or you're going to be burned real soon in the second-hand market all right so what's going on in the world of pinball well look we're three to four weeks away from three new games we're going to get in the following order funhouse i know that the game has been submitted the reason why we haven't seen funhouse yet and carrie hardy hasn't unboxed it and andrea pedretti hasn't shown the world why he's remaking this game first is that Rick over at Planetary has to approve the game. And that's one of the things that people forget. When you remake a Planetary pinball game or a Bally Williams classic game where Rick has the rights to the game, he has to approve it before you can show the game and reveal it to the world. You want to know what I heard? I heard that Centaur was submitted to Rick over at Planetary for approval and it did not get approved, which means there's work to be done on the game, which is even more laughable that they took money on that game like seven months ago, and it doesn't even have final permission to be sold to customers. So you were never getting those games in January, people. All of that was a big lie. All right, so we got Funhaus coming out. I think Funhaus is going to be a little bit dead on arrival. I really don't think there's going to be a huge market. I don't care what you do with the artwork. I don think there going to be a huge market for an Funhaus And the standard edition is probably the way to go But here the issue You could still go get a perfectly well fun house for much less money than that I mean, these games were trading for like $5,000 to $6,000. And so to get someone to spend $11,000 on an LE of the game, I think that's going to be really hard. But we should see this game in like a week or two. I know they wanted this thing to be out in February. They're well past the time they wanted to get the game out. I also think it's a colossal mistake to launch any game around a Stern launch. And even though Stern John Wick might be like three to four weeks out, you want to stay clear of launching any game when Stern's about to launch because Stern's going to beat you on manufacturing. There's no way around it. They're going to get those John Wick games into boxes. They're going to get them to customers way before Pedretti Gaming's going to do it. And why would anybody ever lock up a non-refundable deposit on a Funhaus game? I think what I'm hearing is this. Those Funhaus machines, I bet most of them are made. I think we're going to see a few hundred Funhouses already in a box on day one. I think that's how they're going to have to do it. And I think it's smart, right? If the game is available today and there's no shenanigans, there's no like not knowing when you're going to get your game, there's no fumbling with the numbers of the game. I'm reading the Spooky thread. This is happening in the Spooky thread where like everyone's sort of confused. Like how did you bring game number 200 of like Looney Tunes to a show and my number is lower than that? How come I didn't get my game yet? Now the reason they do that is that Spooky basically allocates their games. Some go to Europe. Some go to distributors. And some go directly to customers. and while they do build the games in order, they basically allocate all of their games in numerical order. So if they're making 888 Looney Tunes, let's just think about this for a minute. The first 50 games might go direct, right? So one through 50 on the serial number games are gonna go direct. Then maybe games 50 through 100 might go to Joe at Pinball Star. Adding into the mix of that is like butter cabinets might create some delays. So you might be game number 75 with the butter cabinet, and you might actually be watching someone unbox game number like 85 ahead of you because you might be waiting for your butter cabinet. Now, look, I know Spooky does get as close as possible to making these games in numerical order, and I like that. I never like it when you don't know, right? Jersey Jack will make the total number of games, but when it comes to their plaques and what number you are in terms of collector's edition, it's all random. Like, I have Guns N' Roses number 500. That does not mean that my game was the last one off the line. I don't like that. I think it should be the last one off the line. And even if you want to special order your number, then you should just wait until your number is up in the queue. Because when you do it the other way, right? Let's take like Toy Story 4, for example. They didn't make a thousand Toy Story 4 CEs. They didn't make a thousand Godfather CEs, but we'll never know how many they actually made because someone might have serial number 1,000, even though they only made maybe 500. And I think it should be more like cars. I'm going to use a cargument. The first game off the line should be game number one, and the last game off the run should be the final number that that game is out of. So if you're going to make 1,000 Godfather CEs, I don't want to see number 1,000 on a game that was made right away just because you paid for that number. And paying for the number is stupid. Let's just end this practice. There's no reason why pinball companies should be selling you the number. If they want to give you number 12, remember Mr. Richie Wrench? He always had like collector's edition number 12. I'm fine with that. If you want to get number 12, then you always get game number 12, which is built after game number 11. But when you get to these dumb things where guys just want like 007, let me break it to all of you guys. And I've met you guys at shows. None of you look like James Bond. None of you should have serial number 007. All right. I said it. All right. So we got Funhouse coming out. And then we've got ABBA coming out April 6th in just like a week and a half. So we've got two new games coming out. ABBA is coming out by the Pinball Brothers. It's the worst kept secret in pinball. We've seen the disco ball. We know it's ABBA. A lot of questions about this game. I can't wait to see the game. It's an easy game for me to pass on. This is not the kind of music pin that I would go in on. I would much rather have an Elton John over ABBA, and I would much rather have Guns N' Roses over Elton John. I just think we have so many music pins now, where if you're going to pick a music pin that you want to be in your collection, It depends how big is your collection, how many games do you have. Now I would always prefer a story mode pinball machine over a music pin So when it comes to Funhaus ABBA and John Wick just by the pure nature of things I think John Wick has me the most excited It has me the most curious to see what Stern is gonna do with John Wick because I've seen all four John Wick movies. They're super entertaining. I still don't think it's gonna sell at these prices. I think there's gonna be a lot of hesitation to go in on John Wick at these prices. Again, if John Wick was like $6,500, $7,500, and $9,500, I think a lot of us are looking at John Wick much differently than we are now. Because if you look at it now, how are you going to sell 1,000 John Wicks at $13,000 a pop? It ain't going to happen. You know what also might not happen right now? Stern Pinball might not be for sale. So we've seen a lot of conversation around this. Have they updated the language? Is that old language? We all know that all good things come to an end. They do. One day, Canada's Pinball Podcast will no longer be on the airwaves. One day, I will decide I've had enough. I'm moving on. There's too many of you that won't upgrade your subscriptions from $5 to $10. You know, one day I'll walk into McDonald's and a large fry will cost me $15. And I'll think, why am I breaking my back every week? and people will only kick me $5 a month for three shows a week. But we're not there yet. But all good things come to an end. And there's going to be a time in which George Gomez and Gary Stern will retire from Stern Pinball. And that is why when we see a character like Seth Davis come into the company, it has a lot of people wondering, what is the future of Stern Pinball? is set there simply to cook the books, get the numbers as high as possible, high as possible, and you only do that when you want to become an acquisition target. And there is a lot of companies that could easily absorb Stern Pinball in the entertainment industry and in the amusement industry, right? This is a small, tiny little company. Heck, Leonard Abbas, with his own personal wealth, could easily afford to buy Stern Pinball. And so it's got a lot of people wondering what will happen. And I'm just going to say this. One day, George Gomez will be gone. Now, I see the successor to George Gomez, the spiritual successor to George Gomez. If you were to ask me, who is it going to be? Who's the guy that knows how to design games? Who's the guy that knows what customers want? Who's the guy that's super talented? Who's the guy that's very likable? The guy that everybody in that company probably respects? I would have to say that George Gomez successor would most likely be Keith Elwin. Now, look, over the years, I'm sure Keith Elwin has developed a lot more business acumen working next to George Gomez and Gary and the investors. He's seen the way the company works. He's seen the way it operates all the way from the top to the bottom and especially the bottom because that's where he started. He was designing a game in his basement and now he's the world's number one pinball designer. And so I think if Stern Pinball gets sold and Keith Elwin takes over as like the general manager or the president of Stern Pinball, I think people will feel really good about that. The problem I see with all of it is I don't see a future for Stern Pinball at these prices. I just don't think it's very sustainable. And I don't think the customers in the community is going to really put up with losing this much money if you're spending this much money on every brand new game. Now, speaking of losing money on brand new games, you know the game Godfather, right? So good news for you Jersey Jack Godfather owners out there. Jersey Jack has a solve for your gold armor and side rails. They sent out an email yesterday. They've worked with the vendor. They are now going to replace yours with a new lockdown bar and side rail. They've added extra clear coat to both items. So the tarnishing problem won't happen in the future. That is really good. It's going to be really easy for you to swap in and out the new stuff. They're going to mail the new stuff in a box. It has prepaid postage. Just put the old stuff into the box and mail it back to Jersey Jack. So it's taken about a year to get this fixed, but that is a good thing. Jersey Jack also has a major code update coming for Guns N' Roses. I don't know what that means. How's it going to be major? You know what? I hear like major code update. Remember when Lyman used to do major code updates on games like The Walking Dead? And he took like an okay game and made it amazing. Major code updates on Batman 66. I don't really see how Guns N' Roses is going to have a major code update. Unless they really figure out how to dial down the multi-balls. How to make the game more rewarding to get through each song. I think they're going to have to balance out the scoring. I think they have to figure out a way to make all those mini wizard modes mean more. And matter more when you get to them. So the scoring is more improved there. and I think if they really wanted to make a major code update to Guns N' Roses they might revisit some of the songs that don have great light shows and they might also add a few more songs into the mix I think that would be incredible I don think we going to get that It weird that we don because they working so close with Slash on the game He can even give you another track or two. Why not? It's all his stuff. And so that's good news over at Jersey Jack. And look, we're seeing more and more Elton John machines being unboxed. I really want an Elton John, but I'm not going to get one. And the reason I'm not going to get one, it's not just the price. It's this simple thing I keep thinking about. Steve Ritchie is still over there. He's going to make another game at Jersey Jack that is probably going to shoot just as good, if not better, than Elton John. And I think it's going to be based on a theme that I want much more than Elton John. Maybe it's going to be Top Gun. Maybe it's going to be Harry Potter. That's what I'm hoping for. And the reason why it's easy for me to wait and see what the next Steve Ritchie game is going to be at Jersey Jack is if that next game comes out and it's not something I really want, then I can go get an Elton John for much less money than $15,000 or $12,000. It's never going to be that hard to get this game. All right, what else is going on, people? We got Pulp Fiction's going out the door. People are still waiting on their Pulp Fiction LEs. I'm just curious like how long the Pulp Fiction hype is going to last. People are loving this game. As I've said, I think it's the last great LE game you bought at the right price at like $9,700. What do all of you think a Pulp Fiction LE on the secondhand market will trade for? It's an interesting question, right? Because I would have said like a year ago when the game first came out, if they were putting games in boxes then, I think people would have spent more over, but now that they've got the standard editions rolling out the door, people are playing them, there's streams of the game, the mystery and the intrigue of this game is going to get weaker over time, not stronger. My guess is, if you have a Pulp Fiction LE in a world in which Stern Toppers are $2,000, I think your Pulp Fiction LE is going to be worth $2,000 over the price of the standard edition game simply because of that beautiful topper, simply because there's only a thousand and they're never going to make more toppers. It's also a nicer looking backbox than the standard edition game. There's a lot to love in that game. It's got the mirror blades that you can buy from coin taker, but it comes installed with those mirror blades. The game is absolutely gorgeous. And then you add it all together. You're at like 11, seven around $12,000 for a Pulp Fiction, Ellie, where there's only a thousand. I think that's an enticing thing. It's like the same price as a labyrinth Elton John platinum edition. I think you're going to see that game trade for that when the game comes out later this year. All right. What else is going on in pinball? There's no news. There's no conversation happening around Berrio's barbecue challenge. I think American pinball is done people. I've said it for a long time. This is a Nepo baby company. This company was made because they got ripped off by J-Pop. It's been a series of disastrous decisions for almost like eight years now. But this is arguably the worst decision they've ever made. And I think as long as David Fix is at the helm of a creative company, a man that has no creative vision of what this community wants and what will work in pinball, this company will never make a game that will take your money. And I don't think they get to Cuphead. If they get to Cuphead, it's going to be a disaster. That is not a theme that a lot of people want. It's way too niche in the video game space. And so I think American Pinball is a company that is running on fumes. And I think Mukesh is going to pull the plug on this company before we get to Ryan McQuaid's game. And honestly, even if that game comes out, I don't think you care. I know I don't care. I don't look forward to anything coming from American Pinball. And it's truly sad. I really think this company could have gone in a really great direction. They just hired the wrong people. And this is what bad leadership can do. It can take a company that has so much potential and do nothing with it. That's the ultimate definition of American Pinball. A company that had potential, did nothing with it, had terrible creative leadership, and horrendous art design. Like, it was so weird how bad their art design was over all of the years they made games. All right, everybody. So look, we're at this calm period before the storm. Three new games are about to come out in like four weeks. I can't wait to cover all of it. We will be back with more Kaneda episodes this week. I'm going to go back to the 1980s and see which themes we need to turn into pinball machines. I hope we get there. I hope we get Beetlejuice from Spooky. I hope we get Gremlins from Spooky. I think it's going to happen. I really think it's going to happen. If Spooky makes Beetlejuice, I mean, it's over, people. You're all going to want one. Everybody, chat soon. Kaneda out. Thank God you're a country boy

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 9090691a-9e9a-406a-bdcd-28935e39dd33*