# Episode 933: "Another Magic Girl? No Way!"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-04-04  
**Duration:** 25m 28s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-933-girl-101696726

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## Analysis

Kaneda discusses the controversial news that Dutch Pinball Exclusive (DPX) has trademarked Magic Girl and Raza, expressing concerns that this represents a 'Zidware 2.0' strategy built on failed John Papaduke projects. He provides extensive context on Zidware's history of fraud, American Pinball's financial losses ($350K) bailing out J-Pop, and warns that reviving these games before launching Alice in Wonderland is poor business strategy. He also critiques upcoming releases (ABBA, Funhouse, John Wick) as likely to underperform and expresses optimism for Jersey Jack's Matrix game as their chance to 'get it right' after a string of mediocre theme implementations.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] American Pinball lost $350,000 reinvesting in Magic Girl to bail out J-Pop — _Kaneda directly stated this figure as documented history of American Pinball's involvement with Magic Girl production_
- [MEDIUM] DPX filed the Magic Girl and Raza trademarks on March 29, possibly as April Fool's joke — _Kaneda speculates on the filing date and notes uncertainty about legitimacy; Jason Knapp broke the story_
- [HIGH] Alice in Wonderland will feature a fully working upper playfield with magna flipping — _Kaneda claims '100% confirmed' upper playfield with magna flipping; Zombie Eddie art and Big Lebowski artist coloring_
- [HIGH] J-Pop only charged $16,000 for Magic Girl when each would have cost ~$100,000 to produce profitably — _Kaneda explains the fundamental math failure of J-Pop's limited-run model_
- [MEDIUM] Godfather CE owners have lost approximately $5,000 in value — _Kaneda references secondary market depreciation of Godfather Collector's Edition_
- [HIGH] Jersey Jack will refill IO board stock by end of May — _Kaneda states Terry (Jersey Jack) confirmed this timeline_
- [MEDIUM] ABBA, Funhouse, and John Wick are all going to fail commercially — _Kaneda's prediction based on theme strength, designer reputation, and market saturation_
- [MEDIUM] Jersey Jack's next game is The Matrix with designer Mark Seiden — _Kaneda reports this 'AAA license' but expresses doubt, noting it could be Muppets instead_
- [MEDIUM] Back to the Future (from an unnamed manufacturer, implied Dutch Pinball) will dominate conversation in fall/winter 2024 — _Kaneda predicts this game will create 'new center of gravity' in pinball market_
- [MEDIUM] Chris Turner owns the rights to Raza after buying it from Robert Mueller/Deep Root — _Kaneda questions who actually owns Raza rights; implies Chris Turner may own them but uncertain_

### Notable Quotes

> "This game shouldn't even be called Magic Girl it should be called Magic Cat because this thing's got nine lives."
> — **Kaneda**, Opening
> _Sets tone for frustration with Magic Girl's repeated resurrection across different manufacturers_

> "When you try to revive Zidware, right, when you try to take these Zidware games that people paid for, that vendors got burned on. It's never going to launch with much enthusiasm."
> — **Kaneda**, Mid-episode
> _Core thesis of why DPX's strategy is problematic regardless of game quality_

> "So many people lost so much money, were robbed by a con man. And we need to start calling these people what they are. Con men. They're fraudulent people."
> — **Kaneda**, Early section
> _Direct accusation of John Papaduke as fraudster; establishes moral dimension of Zidware legacy_

> "He didn't even drill out the shooter lanes. None of the mechs worked. None of it."
> — **Kaneda**, Product quality discussion
> _First-hand account of Magic Girl quality; Kaneda bought one to verify_

> "What was the last Jersey Jack game that just got it right?"
> — **Kaneda**, Jersey Jack criticism section
> _Framing question for systematic critique of JJP's theme implementation failures_

> "If it was the theme people wanted, it would be selling like hotcakes. It's not. Definitely not."
> — **Kaneda**, Elton John critique
> _Market performance used as evidence that Jersey Jack's recent themes fail_

> "Willy Wonka has none of the movie assets, people. None. There's only one clip when they're in the elevator."
> — **Kaneda**, Theme implementation examples
> _Specific critique of Jersey Jack's incomplete asset licensing/implementation approach_

> "Every game is going to be better than Wizard of Oz. That has not been the case."
> — **Kaneda**, Jersey Jack legacy section
> _Jack's unfulfilled promise; Wizard of Oz and Guns N' Roses as only successes_

> "Once we get into the fall, the conversation is not going to be about Metallica on Spike 3. The conversation is going to be about one game and one game only. Back to the Future."
> — **Kaneda**, Market prediction section
> _Prediction of Back to the Future's dominance and Stern's declining relevance_

> "Even though they've banned me from their Facebook page and Ken Cromwell can't stand me and won't return any of my text messages, they don't like Kaneda and that's fine."
> — **Kaneda**, Jersey Jack closing remarks
> _Reveals interpersonal tension between Kaneda and Jersey Jack/Ken Cromwell; impact on industry commentary credibility_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Dutch Pinball Exclusive (DPX) | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer owned by Melvin and Barry (full names not provided); filed trademarks on Magic Girl and Raza; developing Alice in Wonderland |
| John Papaduke | person | Pinball designer behind Zidware; accused of fraud, taking hundreds of thousands in deposits, parts, and services without delivering complete games; founder of original Magic Girl project |
| Jason Knapp | person | Pinball journalist who broke the DPX trademark story; praised by Kaneda for journalism quality |
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast; industry commentator; purchased broken Magic Girl; banned from Jersey Jack Facebook; critical voice on theme implementation and market trends |
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer that lost $350,000 bailing out J-Pop by manufacturing Magic Girl boards; pivotal figure in Zidware collapse narrative |
| Zombie Yeti (surname unknown) | person | Pinball artist; creditor burned by John Papaduke; Bill Brand paid off Papaduke's debts to Zombie Yeti |
| Bill Brand | person | Industry figure who covered Papaduke's unpaid debts to Zombie Yeti |
| Robert Mueller (Deep Root) | person | Founder of Deep Root Pinball; sold Raza rights (possibly to Chris Turner); created alternative version of Raza with new LCD screen and full code |
| Steve Bowden | person | Deep Root representative; extensively discussed Raza ruleset; known for detailed rule discussions |
| Chris Turner | person | Possibly owns rights to Raza after purchasing from Robert Mueller/Deep Root; community member on show |
| Mark Seiden | person | New designer at Jersey Jack Pinball for upcoming title (possibly The Matrix) |
| Jack (Jersey Jack owner) | person | Jersey Jack Pinball owner; has personal relationship with Kaneda despite banning him from Facebook; promised games better than Wizard of Oz |
| Ken Cromwell | person | Associated with Jersey Jack; refuses to return Kaneda's messages; part of tension between Kaneda and JJP |
| Andrea Pedretti | person | Designer/owner behind Funhouse pinball; Kaneda predicts commercial failure due to late market entry |
| Jerry (Barrels of Fun) | person | Representative of Barrels of Fun; discussed production timeline for Princess Bride; claimed 20 games per week capacity (which Kaneda doubts) |
| Keith Elwin | person | Designer of Jaws LE; absence from John Wick seen as negative; presence in Jaws credited for game stability |
| Terry (Jersey Jack) | person | Jersey Jack contact who confirmed IO board stock refill by end of May |
| Pinball Brothers | organization | Announced departure coinciding with ABBA launch; Kaneda speculates distancing from expected ABBA failure |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Manufacturer expected to release game in fall/winter 2024; Kaneda speculates it could be Beetlejuice |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Manufacturer; next game expected for end-of-year release; Kaneda implies next theme will be adult-oriented (post-Labyrinth) |

### Topics

- **Primary:** DPX Magic Girl/Raza trademark filing and 'Zidware 2.0' strategy, Zidware/John Papaduke fraud history and vendor impact, Alice in Wonderland game features and specifications, ABBA, Funhouse, and John Wick commercial failure predictions, Jersey Jack's theme implementation track record and Matrix game prospects, Back to the Future's predicted market dominance
- **Secondary:** IO board supply issues and Godfather CE depreciation, Pinball collector segmentation and game absorption capacity

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (-0.35) — Kaneda is frustrated with DPX's strategy, critical of recent Jersey Jack releases, and pessimistic about upcoming Stern games (ABBA, Funhouse, John Wick). However, he expresses genuine optimism for Jersey Jack's Matrix game as a redemption opportunity and enthusiasm for Back to the Future. The tone is concerned about industry direction and collector market health, but not entirely negative—he maintains hope for course correction.

### Signals

- **[rumor_hype]** DPX filed trademarks for Magic Girl and Raza; Kaneda speculates this could be April Fool's joke filed March 29 (confidence: high) — Jason Knapp broke story; filing date March 29 suspicious per Kaneda; unclear if joke or real plan
- **[community_signal]** Interpersonal tension between Kaneda and Jersey Jack (banned from Facebook, Ken Cromwell avoiding contact); impacts credibility of commentary (confidence: high) — Kaneda directly acknowledged: 'they've banned me from their Facebook page and Ken Cromwell can't stand me and won't return any of my text messages'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Negative sentiment toward DPX's strategy of reviving failed John Papaduke projects; community concern about 'Zidware 2.0' (confidence: high) — Kaneda's sustained criticism; framing as poor business decision; concern for collectors who paid $40K for Netherlands Magic Girl versions
- **[market_signal]** Magic Girl Netherlands-fixed versions selling for $40,000; Godfather CE owners lost ~$5,000 in value (confidence: medium) — Kaneda cited $40K Magic Girl secondary market prices; $5K loss for Godfather CE as established fact
- **[product_concern]** Original Magic Girl from J-Pop plagued with incomplete work (unmilled shooter lanes, non-functional mechs); Kaneda purchased unit to verify (confidence: high) — First-hand account: 'He didn't even drill out the shooter lanes. None of the mechs worked. None of it.'
- **[supply_chain_signal]** IO boards for Guns N' Roses sold out at Pinball Life; Jersey Jack to refill stock by end of May (confidence: high) — Kaneda reached out to Terry (JJP); confirmed May end refill timeline; notes perfect timing for his June house closing
- **[product_launch]** ABBA launching Saturday; John Wick in April; Alice in Wonderland 'in a couple months' (from winter 2024 timeframe); Princess Bride summer release; Back to the Future fall/winter (confidence: high) — Kaneda has detailed release calendar and explicit timeline mentions throughout
- **[design_philosophy]** Jersey Jack's recurring failure to fully integrate licensed IP into games; examples: Willy Wonka missing movie assets, Pirates missing Captain Jack, Elton John as weak theme choice (confidence: high) — Systematic critique of JJP's last 6-7 releases; detailed breakdown of missing assets; Wizard of Oz and Guns N' Roses as only successes
- **[competitive_signal]** Back to the Future positioned to dominate market discourse in fall/winter 2024; will create 'new center of gravity'; shift away from Stern dominance (confidence: medium) — Kaneda predicts all conversation will shift to Back to the Future; implies Stern machines losing relevance; references 'people over Stern and their high prices'
- **[leak_detection]** Mark Seiden confirmed as Jersey Jack's new designer (likely for Matrix game); Matrix game described as 'AAA license' (confidence: medium) — Kaneda states 'brand new designer, Mark Seiden' but expresses doubt about Matrix license vs. Muppets
- **[business_signal]** Economics of limited-run collector models don't work; J-Pop's $16,000 price for 16 units when $100K per unit needed; DPX planning 500 Alice units at $14-15K to solve math (confidence: high) — Kaneda's detailed financial analysis: 'The amount of money it takes to make the game... each one of those would have been like $100,000 each'
- **[historical_signal]** No one has successfully executed 'Zidware 2.0' strategy before; Deep Root attempted and failed; Kaneda warns it's never been done (confidence: medium) — Kaneda states: 'Deeproot tried to do it. It didn't work... nobody's tried to do Zidware 2.0 and it's never worked'

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## Transcript

 I mean this game shouldn't even be called magic girl it should be called magic cat because this thing's got nine lives. I can't believe the news story I'm reading right now that DPX, you know, Dutch Pinball Exclusive has trademarked Magic Girl and Raza. Like, these games never die. It's like Zombie Yeti's worst nightmare. Like, when are these projects just gonna die? And so we're gonna talk about that on this episode of Canadian Spinball Podcast. We're gonna talk about ABBA, which comes out in just a few days. And let's just go around and talk about what's happening in the pinball horn. But this is why when people ask me, they're like, what news do you cover in the world of pinball on a weekly basis? And I'm like, you'd be surprised. Even though like only five games like go into a box and make their way to customers each year, every week there's like something new to talk about. And so let's talk about this because this is crazy. Like I just got to give Melvin some advice. because Melvin's a new member of the Canada Club, and him and Barry are Dutch DPX. They're making these exclusive games, and I just need to deconstruct this for a minute because, look, if you're going to make a new pinball company, and you want to be this, like, curator of collector games for people, that's one thing, but if you want to become Zidware 2.0, that's another thing, And this is now shaping up to be Zidware 2.0. Now, look, I asked Jason Knapp, who covered and broke this story, by the way, what great, great journalism by Jason Knapp. Thank you for finding this news story. I asked him if they trademarked this on April 1st, because that was my first feeling that this is an April Fool's joke. Like they're just doing this to trigger people. and maybe they filed it on 3-29, hoping that people would discover this news on 4-1. So I'm still not 100% sold that this is not an April Fool's joke, because if they actually intend to go through with this, the amount of questions I have, and even like questioning the sanity of this move, start to develop inside the head of myself, Kaneda. So here's the thing, because look, everyone is forgetting something like the J-pop thing. Like I was reading one of the comments on Jason's story and it was like, this would be a great way to close the loop on this story for everyone. No, no, no, no, no, no. Anyone who says that has no idea the history of this project. There is no great way to close the loop on the magic girl fiasco. All right. That's just a newbie comment from someone who doesn't even understand what went down. Like so many people lost so much money, were robbed by a con man. And we need to start calling these people what they are. Con men. They're fraudulent people. They lied to people's faces. They had no idea how to make these games. When people went into John's studio, he was just tinkering around and didn't know how to make anything. and he took hundreds of thousands of dollars in parts and services from people and never paid them back. Bill Brand has had to go in there and pay off Zombie Yeti's debts that John owed him. All this stuff, it's sticky, it's icky, and you don't want to get into it. And that is why when you try to revive Zidware, right, when you try to take these Zidware games that people paid for, that vendors got burned on. It's never going to launch with much enthusiasm. And Alice in Wonderland is like this weird part of that story. And the reason why Alice could work, somewhat work, is that it never really was at the center of any of the fraudulent and con man activities that J-Pop established with his deadware deposits. Because remember what he did. He did the whole Rob Peter to pay Paul thing. We're seeing the same thing happening a little bit with Haggis. were like, he didn't finish the Magic Girls. He ran out of money. He then took money on Raza deposits to try to finish the Magic Girl. He ran out of money and then he had no money. And you know who bailed him out? You know the fools who bailed out J-Pop? American Pinball. See, people don't even know this history. American Pinball was making the boards for Magic Girl. You don't know this, you newbies who think you're going to close the loop in a positive way. So this is what happened and j-pop and zidware are the origin story of american pinball do you know how much money they gave j-pop to try to finish those like 20 magic girls they lost 350 000 reinvesting in this project to slap together those broken magic girls how do i know they were broken because i broke it to the world because i bought one like an idiot thinking j-pop was going to make a finished product and it was absolute garbage. He didn't even drill out the shooter lanes. None of the mechs worked. None of it. And now this news today, I'm going to tell you who's panicking right now. Any of these grown men collectors who bought one of those Netherlands fixed versions of Magic Girl, you know how much people were buying those for? $40,000. Imagine how those gentlemen are going to wake up and realize that someone might make a much better working version of Magic Girl because I can tell you right now Alice in Wonderland is going to be fully working fully functional I've got a news item for you guys right now it is going to have 100% confirmed in upper play field with magna flipping going on so that's going to be fun to see magna flipping happening in pinball you're going to have zombie eddie art throughout the game you're also going to have the artist who who worked on the big Lebowski, completing the art package and coloring it in So you can go Google who did that artwork He a really talented artist I curious to see how that lands But this is a weird thing because right now here my advice to those guys This is why this whole Magic Girl returning is weird because you don't want to announce this or have this out in the world before you sell Alice in Wonderland games. And you know, this is why pinball companies, you want to focus on the game that's going to be out and not have people thinking about what's down the road because now you're going to create a weird situation where if people are getting ready to become collectors because remember if dpx is coming out as a brand that's for collectors right we're making games for collectors now you're just telegraphing to everybody what your true intentions are and again this all might be an april fool's joke this show might be irrelevant in like a week or so but if now you're establishing yourselves as Zidware 2.0. So now you're saying to the world, that's who you want to collect games from you are the people who went in on these J-pop games. And I don't know if that's a winning strategy. In fact, I can tell you as a marketer, it's not a winning strategy because there's too much baggage with all of those games. And also, what about Chris Turner? He's a member of the show, so we'll find out from him today. But I thought Chris Turner owns the rights to Raza. I thought he bought all of this from Robert Mueller and Deep Root. So who actually owns the right to Raza? Because Raza was completely redone over at Deep Root. Completely new game, right? Now, does that mean that Melvin's going to make the Raza game that was made at Zidware with the Zombietti and Matt Andrews art package? Is he going to do that version of Raza? Is he going to make the version of Raza that Deep Root made? And this is where it gets even weirder, because then you're like, well, wait a minute. Deep Root made a full working Raza, fully coded the game, right? They had that weird LCD screen that was stretched out, but it's got full code. I mean, Steven Bowden didn't stop talking about his rule set for like 15 years. And so now what happens there? Which version of Raza is it going to be? So here's the thing, everybody. I just want to say this right now. I'm going to just talk to you guys candidly. If you want to create a pinball company that's about rarity and exclusivity and make games for collectors, that's fine. And J-Pop's model at the very beginning, at the very beginning, what J-Pop wanted to do would have worked if he could have done it. The problem is what he didn't realize because he's an artist. He's not an engineer. He's not a manufacturer. He's not a marketer. He doesn't understand one simple thing. You can't sell just 16 Magic Girls and make it work because the numbers don't work. Because the amount of money it takes to make the game, to code the game, to manufacture the game, each one of those would have been like $100,000 each to make that work. And he only charged $16,000. So that is why you're seeing 500 Alice in Wonderland games. And that is why everybody's like, well, that seems like a lot of games to make if it's an original game like Alice in Wonderland. And it's going to be around like $14,000, $15,000. Will 500 collectors out there want one? Remember this, two people. If you're a pinball collector, you've got people that collect mostly Stern machines. You've got people that mix up their collections, right? Some people have a Stern, a JJP, a Bally Williams. You've got those collectors. You've got some people that just buy JJP. I see home collections with just CGC games. There's all different types of collectors. Now, there are easily enough pinball collectors to absorb these 500 games, but will they want them? and that is the ultimate Rubicon that needs to be crossed for this new company because this has never been done before. Nobody's tried to do Zidware 2.0 and it's never worked. Deeproot tried to do it. It didn't work. These guys are obviously going to make a working game. Like Alice in Wonderland is going to be working. It's going to be fully coded. It's going to be ready to go on day one. When you see it, it will be on the line being made. So that's a good thing. You don't don't have to worry about losing your money. But you know, it's like there's so much positive energy around Dutch pinball with Back to the Future and where they're going that I really hope that they don't build this second version of Dutch pinball on the pedigree and on the legacy of John Papadiuk. I mean, that is just the simplest way to think about it. And Melvin and Barry, if you're going to make these exclusive games, like just look elsewhere, make something else. Go make Akira. All right. Go make Akira like you could get the rights to Akira, make 500 of them and sell each of them for $15,000 and everybody would feel good. Go make Transformers the movie. G1. Go make Big Trouble in Little China. Do what you're going to do, you know, but don't do it this way. Like we don't need the resurrection of J-Pop's failed ideas. We need to let zombie Yeti sleep at night. He shouldn't have to wake up and read this news. And I really hope all of this is an April Fool's joke. So let's see what happens from here. But it's not the move I would make. It's just not. We need fresh ideas. And again, like think about it. If you're Melvin and Barry, you should be competing with barrels of fun, not trying to resurrect J-pop, right? That's your competition. We want to be the best boutique high-end pinball company in the world. And the answer to that brief is not Zidware 2.0. All right, so that's that. Didn't expect that. So we got ABBA coming out on Saturday. We're going to have more discussions around this game. If the art package looks like what's on that image and they're using that like AI generated ABBA concert, which they came out with like last year, I think this game is in big trouble. I think there's a reason why the other pinball brothers announced their departure right on the eve of this game coming out. I think they're trying to distance themselves from the backlash this game is going to get. Even though the music is good, think about it, right? People didn't really want an Elton John pinball machine and his music is really good, but it's Steve Ritchie, right That what carries Elton John from being like eh to a really great game You know if you took Elton John and you just put it into like a poorly designed game nobody buying it That the reason why Queen didn sell very well It looked dated It didn look nearly as nice as the modern music pins we been getting Queen doesn't shoot as good as Rush or any of the Stern music pins or Foo Fighters. And it definitely doesn't have the wow factor of Guns N' Roses. And by the way, if you're waiting on an IO board, because I've been waiting on one and Pinball Life is sold out. I reached out to Terry. He said Jersey Jack is going to refill the stock on those items by the end of May. So we've got some time to wait. It's actually perfect timing for Canada because I will be closing on my house in June. And that is the game I am most likely going to set up inside my house will be GNR. I can probably get two pins into the house, maybe three if I get creative, but I don't want people to walk through the front door and be like, what the heck is going on inside this house. And you know my rule in the world of pinball and homes. Never put a pinball machine in front of a window. If you're listening to this and I'm talking about you and you've got pinball back boxes in front of windows, you don't put furniture in front of windows. I don't care if you pipe and drape. I don't care what you're doing. It's the worst Feng Shui look imaginable. All right, so we got those IO boards coming. I have good news. If you're a Godfather CE owner, well, that's bad news because you lost a lot of money. But the good news is the replacement lockdown bars and side rails are now shipping to customers. If you have a Godfather CE and you don't play your game, you know, you're one of these collectors who after like eight years puts 87 plays on your games. Just open a ticket and get the new side rails from them because every single one of these games is going to tarnish. And you don't want to miss the window when they make these replacement parts. So if you know someone who owns a Godfather CE, the first thing you should do is console them because they've lost about $5,000. So that's the first thing you want to do. The second thing you want to do is let them know to open a ticket with JJP and get these items because they don't cost anything. They're not charging people for these. You know, unlike the Guns N' Roses playfields where we all had to spend an additional like 500 bucks to fix the mistakes of Jersey Jack. Thank you, Jack. You know, between that and having to buy an IO board, like it's annoying. Like why do I even have to spend 400 bucks to fix something? They should be swapping out all the IO boards. Like think about it. They made a better IO board that makes the game play properly now and doesn't have all the flipper fade. Why do we have to spend 400 bucks? Ah, so that's happening in the world. We'll see if there's any surprises at MGC this week. I think all the Jaws LEs have made their way to owners. That's a good thing because we're getting ready for John Wick in April. April's going to be a really interesting month. I think the two games are going to fail in April in my honest opinion. I think ABBA's going to fail. I also think Funhaus is going to fail. I think Andrea Pedretti has waited too long. Like now he's going to drop this expensive Funhaus into a very crowded new-in-box market and I think it's going to fail. I also think that John Wick is not going to be very successful. I don't want to use the word fail because I don't think any Stern machine will fail because all these distributors have to buy it. Like, I think what's going to be tough, if you're a distributor and you have to, like, buy all of these games to keep your Ellie allotment and John Wick feels like it's going to be another Venom, it does. It just feels like there's some fandom for it. But there's no way John Wick at $13,000 can have 1,000 units out in the world and hold any value whatsoever. I can't see anybody ponying up $9,500 for a John Wick premium. Because think about it. You know that LE is going to slide down to $10,000 within just a month or two of the game being out. And it also doesn't have Keith Elwin. That's what's keeping Jaws stable. It's the theme is Jaws. They got every asset you want in the game. Remember when we were all panicking that Roy's family estate would not let him be in the game? If he was not in the game, Jaws would not have worked. If they made Jaws like Jurassic Park, we were all worried about it, remember? We thought it was going to be like Jurassic Park, just all animated and like a Jaws-inspired adventure. No, they got everything into that game. They got all the clips into James Bond. They got him into Jaws. And that's a good thing. So if you're a fan of the Jaws franchise, you're probably not going to be selling Jaws LEs left and right because it gives you everything you want. Is it Keith Elwin's best game? No. But if you're a fan of Jaws, you're very, very happy right now. I mean, that's just the way it goes. But John Wick, you know, like, are they going to get all four movies? They're not even done with the John Wick movies. Isn't there another one coming out? So like, we're going to get this what? Which movies is it going to be based on? I don't know. It just doesn't have the same level of fandom of a film that's been around for 40 or 50 years. That's why the 80s and 90s stuff is the sweet spot for pinball buyers, because it's stuff that we have nostalgia for. And it's also stuff that has decades of fandom and communities and people that want it. And John Wick just does not have that. So all three of these games could be failures. And if I'm a distributor, I mean, they're looking at this year. They're like, what the heck is this? Can't we just get three great games in a row? And after these games, I think, fail in April, then it's going to start to become the conversation around Alice in Wonderland should be out in a couple months, and then the conversation is all going to be about one thing and one thing only, Jersey Jack's next game. They're going to have a great window to get their next game out. But here's my worry about Jersey Jack. They always mess it up. They always do. You know, I asked a very simple question yesterday. What was the last Jersey Jack game that just got it right? And it's an interesting question, right? Because Elton John, I would argue, just isn't the theme people want. If it was the theme people wanted, it would be selling like hotcakes. It not Definitely not The Godfather Definitely not Toy Story 4 Guns and Roses was like an anomaly on an asset level Like they never going to make a game like that again where they get everything because Slash worked on the game But you could argue that Guns and Roses didn't get it right. The playfields fell apart and it didn't shoot great. What, did Willy Wonka get it right? No. I mean for people who still defend Willy Wonka and whenever Jack says we put all the assets into the games people want, Willy Wonka has none of the movie assets, people. None. There's only one clip when they're in the elevator where they sync up the movie with the voices. One clip, people. It's a musical and none of that is in the pinball machine. I'm sorry. If you love Willy Wonka, that is not how you make the game. And then people will land on a game like Pirates of the Caribbean and be like, well, they nailed Pirates of the Caribbean. Did they? There's no Captain Jack Sparrow in the game whatsoever. His face is on the play field. But the entire movies, the reason why you love the movies is because of Captain Jack Sparrow. What they did make was a game inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean. It doesn't have the theme song, so they didn't nail it there. And I made a funny joke. I think the last game where they got it right was actually Wizard of Oz. Think about it. Out of all the themes Jersey Jack has made, like which one integrated the theme the best way possible into the machine itself? I would say Wizard of Oz and Guns and Roses. You know, and Jack way back in the day was like, every game is going to be better than Wizard of Oz. That has not been the case. And so as all eyes are on this window, this is Jersey Jack's moment. They've got a brand new designer, Mark Seiden. They've got what we think is a AAA license in The Matrix, but then we saw the bad news yesterday. They're making another Matrix movie, and everyone's like, oh no, does this mean that Jersey Jack's not gonna make The Matrix? Are they gonna make it based on the new movie? No. If this Matrix game is happening, it's been in the works for a few years. The one thing that keeps me up at night with Jersey Jack, the one thing we might get wrong is it might not be the Matrix. And if it's not the Matrix, it might be the Muppets. And I really hope that's not the case. But my point is this, is after we get Abba Funhouse and John Wick, we are then gonna get Alice in Wonderland from DPX. It's gonna be too soon for the next games from Barrels of Fawn, too soon for the next games from Spooky Pinball. We're gonna get The Princess Bride will be on the line sometime in the summer. Jerry let everybody know the production timeline this week. So that game is going to come out. He keeps talking about how many games they can make. I just believe it when I see it, Jerry. When you make 20 games a week, let us know. We'll report that. But right now, it's just a press release. They have not been cranking games out. And at like $12,000 to $14,000, I really don't think the Princess Pride pinball machine is going to be flying off the shelf. It's just such an expensive thing for a platform that not everybody sold on. So that's going to come out, but there's not going to be a ton of attention there. The real window right now is the summer is Jersey Jacks. My concern is, is they're going to still try to sell Elton John's, even though sales are flatlined on Elton John. And here's the thing about Jersey Jack is I always think they're somewhat stubborn, right? They don't want to move on from their failures very quickly. and so this is what we want from Jersey Jack. We just want them to finally check every single box on a game like The Matrix and that means you gotta make the first Matrix movie. You don't need all of them because the last one was terrible. It means you gotta have wow mechanisms. You gotta have bullet time with magnets. You gotta have a phone booth that opens up and locks the ball. You gotta have stuff that really wows us. You're not gonna win people over anymore for $12,000 to $15,000 with just a light show. You gotta have more than that. And I think they're gonna do it. I really do. And I'm rooting for them. Even though they've banned me from their Facebook page and Ken Cromwell can't stand me and won't return any of my text messages, they don't like Kaneda and that's fine. You know, when I meet up with Jersey Jack, we always have a good conversation and I am rooting for them. But man, when you think about this company in its totality, they usually mess it up. But this is their window. the summer of 2024, I think Jersey Jack can come out with the game and own the conversation. And the reason why they need to hit that window is once we get into the fall, the conversation is not going to be about Metallica on Spike 3. I think people are over Stern and their high prices. I think Stern Vimal is in a really weird place. And I think people that run at all these Stern machines, they're just going to be in a lot of pain as they lose all this money on all these games. The conversation is going to be about one game and one game only. And as we get to the fall winter of this year, it's going to be all about Back to the Future. That's it. That game is going to create a new center of gravity in pinball, which I think all other machines are going to be compared to. And it's going to get exciting because at the end of the year, we know we're going to get the next game from Spooky Pinball. Imagine if that's Beetlejuice, right back to the future and beetlejuice sounds really awesome to me and then when we get to the end of the year there's going to be the next game from barrels of fun and their next game will be a theme i'm going to confirm it right now their next game will be a theme for men who have had sex in the last 30 years that's not the case with labyrinth okay we need a real theme now okay enough with the kiddie stuff everybody have a great thursday thank you for being a member of the canada club as this show shows there's no dull moments in pinball there's always news there's always stuff to talk about. Thank you, Jason Knapp, for a great news story this week. And let's see what happens at MGC. I'm going to be back on the airwaves. We might not do a show tomorrow. I might wait for Saturday so I can talk about ABBA because I think there's going to be a lot to talk about with that game. Everybody be good. We'll talk to you soon. Some people call me Maurice.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 98ae39bf-079d-4111-ad0a-7a826e56f8f7*