# Pinball Industy News: November 2019 Re-cap

**Source:** Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2019-12-04  
**Duration:** 81m 36s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pinball-industry-news/episodes/Pinball-Industy-News-November-2019-Re-cap-eidt0f

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## Analysis

This November 2019 recap from Pinball Magazine/News discusses Deep Root Pinball's debut game Raza (Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland) shown at Houston Arcade Expo, Haggis Pinball's Kelts game now available for preorder at $5,250–$7,000, and the passing of Gene Cunningham of Illinois Pinball, who built 183 Big Bang Bar games. The hosts analyze the prototype Raza's playfield design, animation quality, rule code maturity, pricing implications, and manufacturing execution.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Deep Root Pinball revealed Raza (Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland) at Houston Arcade Expo as their first game, with a March 2020 press launch planned in San Antonio on March 25. — _Jonathan Houston and Martin Ayer directly report on the show reveal and planned launch date._
- [HIGH] Raza prototype had a long sweeping right-hand ramp, colorful playfield, basic rule code with multiball modes, and limited sound/voice work, with expectations for improvement before launch. — _Martin Ayer describes hands-on impressions from Houston Arcade Expo, with Jonathan Ayer noting video evidence of gameplay._
- [HIGH] Haggis Pinball's Kelts game opened preorders on December 1, 2019 at $5,250 base price, with optional upgrades (personalized name $1,000, metal trim $500, themed toys $250) bringing max price to ~$7,000. — _Martin Ayer verifies current haggispinball.com pricing and order page status as of podcast recording._
- [HIGH] Gene Cunningham of Illinois Pinball passed away; he owned Williams/Capcom remaining assets and built 183 Big Bang Bar games starting in 2003. — _Jonathan Houston confirms Gene's death and legacy through personal experience staying with him during Big Bang Bar production._
- [HIGH] Gene Cunningham's Big Bang Bar project caused him to lose over $100,000 because he insisted on using original Capcom hardware with security chips that were extremely difficult to hack, rather than adopting newer control systems. — _Jonathan Houston directly experienced the Capcom chip reverse-engineering efforts and security fuse-blocking problems during his month-long stay._
- [HIGH] Jeff Teolis was confirmed as a voice talent providing call-outs for Raza, with another Texas-based voice actor also involved but unnamed. — _Martin Ayer cites Super Awesome Pinball Show podcast as source confirming Jeff's voice role._
- [HIGH] Deep Root planned a press launch for Raza on March 25, 2020 in San Antonio, followed immediately by Texas Pinball Festival (March 27–29 in Frisco), allowing attendees to travel between events. — _Jonathan Houston and Martin Ayer both confirm participation in planned launch event and proximity to TPF._

### Notable Quotes

> "The game has potential. There were some mixed responses online, but mostly by people who didn't play it, weren't at the show. So, okay, that's easy to form an opinion behind your keyboard."
> — **Martin Ayer**, ~13:30
> _Reflects media analysis of online skepticism vs. hands-on experience with Raza prototype; highlights echo-chamber effect of keyboard criticism._

> "Basically, pinball is hard. And setting up a factory that's supposed to be building pinball machines, that's a beast on its own."
> — **Jonathan Houston**, ~17:00
> _Core insight on manufacturing challenges facing new manufacturers; sets context for evaluating Deep Root's execution risks._

> "I give credit to Stern. No matter what you think about their games, the manufacturing aspects is something that they are probably without a doubt the best in the industry."
> — **Martin Ayer**, ~18:15
> _Acknowledges Stern's manufacturing competency as industry benchmark despite game design criticism; relevant to Deep Root's manufacturing challenges._

> "He was a true pinball enthusiast, I'd say. And, of course, he has a collection or had a collection... Wizard Blocks, the third Pinball 2000 game. It contained the fourth Pinball 2000 game, Playboy. and lots of rarities that you hardly ever see anywhere else."
> — **Jonathan Houston**, ~36:30
> _Personal tribute to Gene Cunningham's passion and legacy collection; illustrates the scale and rarity of his assemblage._

> "I have nothing bad to say about Gene Cunningham... Gene took me to Chicago. He took me to Foremost Plastics... He had such great stories to tell on the road."
> — **Jonathan Houston**, ~33:00
> _Personal testimony of Gene's character and industry connections; balances criticism of business decisions with respect for his enthusiasm._

> "I think the Big Bang Bar project... could have actually been profitable if he wouldn't have been so focused on sticking with the Capcom hardware system."
> — **Jonathan Houston**, ~42:30
> _Identifies core business decision error in Big Bang Bar project; suggests alternative path with modern control boards would have been economically viable._

> "They physically take the chip and they start sanding it down from the top surface down until they get to the component level inside the package... to see where the connections exist inside. There was no way of reverse engineering it by interrogating it."
> — **Jonathan Houston**, ~46:00
> _Specific technical detail about Capcom security chip reverse-engineering attempts; illustrates engineering obstacle that consumed years and resources._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Deep Root Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer based in San Antonio, Texas, revealed their first game Raza at Houston Arcade Expo in November 2019 with March 2020 launch planned. |
| Raza (Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland) | game | Debut title by Deep Root Pinball; prototype shown at Houston Arcade Expo featuring colorful playfield, long right-hand ramp, basic rule code, animation-focused design. |
| Haggis Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer that revealed Kelts game at Pinball Expo; opened preorders December 1, 2019 at $5,250–$7,000 depending on options. |
| Kelts | game | Haggis Pinball's game shown at Pinball Expo; available for preorder starting December 1, 2019 via haggispinball.com with customization options. |
| Gene Cunningham | person | Founder of Illinois Pinball; acquired Williams/Capcom remaining assets; built 183 Big Bang Bar games (2003–2005); passed away in November 2019. Owned vast rare pinball collection. |
| Illinois Pinball | company | Parts/manufacturing company founded by Gene Cunningham after acquiring Williams and Capcom remaining assets in 1999; primarily known for building 183 Big Bang Bar games. |
| Big Bang Bar | game | Capcom game of which only 9 prototypes were originally built; Gene Cunningham built 183 units (2003–2005) using original Capcom hardware, losing over $100,000 on the project. |
| Jonathan Houston | person | Editor of Pinball Magazine; co-host of Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast; stayed with Gene Cunningham for a month during Big Bang Bar production. |
| Martin Ayer | person | Editor of Pinball News; co-host of Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast; attended Houston Arcade Expo and viewed Raza gameplay videos. |
| Houston Arcade Expo | event | November 2019 show where Deep Root Pinball debuted Raza prototype for public play and data collection. |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Major pinball event scheduled March 27–29, 2020 in Frisco; planned to immediately follow Deep Root's Raza press launch on March 25, 2020. |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Podcast host confirmed as voice talent providing call-outs for Raza; appeared in gameplay video produced for YouTube. |
| Stern Pinball | company | Referenced as industry-leading manufacturer in terms of manufacturing execution and quality control, despite potential game design criticism. |
| Capcom | company | Pinball division closed; Gene Cunningham acquired remaining assets and used original Capcom hardware (with security chips) for Big Bang Bar production. |
| Williams | company | Exited pinball manufacturing in 1999; Gene Cunningham acquired remaining assets and warehouse stock, which posed significant organizational challenges. |
| Super Awesome Pinball Show | event|media | New professional-quality pinball podcast/show hosted by Ed Van Der Veen, Christopher Frenchy, and Christian; praised for production quality and radio-broadcast aesthetic. |
| Foremost Plastics | company | Chicago-based manufacturer of pinball machine inserts; Gene Cunningham brought Jonathan Houston to tour this facility. |
| Gary Flowers | person | Regular caller to Pinball News podcast; attempted to call in during this episode but was redirected until later in the show. |
| Ed Van Der Veen | person | Host/organizer of Super Awesome Pinball Show; praised for radio production expertise. |
| Christopher Frenchy | person | Co-host of Super Awesome Pinball Show; has history in radio production. |
| Christian | person | Co-host of Super Awesome Pinball Show. |
| Pinball Expo | event | November 2019 show where Haggis Pinball's Kelts game was displayed and vendor orders began. |
| Jim Petla | person | Pinball designer; one of last employees of Williams pinball division; performed final inventory of Williams stock before Gene Cunningham acquisition. |
| Damien | person | Associated with Haggis Pinball; producing daily vlog updates on Kelts production as of November 2019. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Deep Root Pinball manufacturing and execution risk, Raza game design, playfield mechanics, and rule code maturity, Haggis Pinball Kelts pricing, options, and preorder availability, Gene Cunningham's legacy and Illinois Pinball Big Bang Bar project
- **Secondary:** Capcom security chip reverse-engineering technical challenges, New pinball manufacturer startup challenges vs. Stern's manufacturing expertise, Texas Pinball Festival scheduling and Deep Root press launch coordination
- **Mentioned:** Pinball industry podcast production quality and professionalization

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.55) — Respectful and celebratory tone regarding Raza reveal and Haggis Kelts availability, tempered by cautious optimism about Deep Root's execution risk and manufacturing challenges. Deep mourning but appreciation for Gene Cunningham's legacy and personal character. Overall balanced analysis without significant negativity toward any company or individual.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Gene Cunningham's Big Bang Bar project lost >$100,000 due to insistence on using original Capcom hardware with unhackable security chips instead of adopting modern control boards. (confidence: high) — Jonathan Houston directly experienced Capcom chip reverse-engineering efforts; explains that spending years on security fuse-blocking made project uneconomical.
- **[business_signal]** Gene Cunningham (Illinois Pinball founder) passed away in November 2019; loss of significant collector, parts supplier, and legacy manufacturer of 183 Big Bang Bar games. (confidence: high) — Jonathan Houston reports Gene's death and provides direct personal testimony of his contributions to Big Bang Bar production and industry relationships.
- **[community_signal]** Super Awesome Pinball Show launches with professional radio-quality production; hosts praise Christopher Frenchy's radio background and comprehensive jingles/segments. (confidence: high) — Martin Ayer specifically compliments production quality and notes 'I don't think any other podcast' has comparable radio-show production standards.
- **[design_philosophy]** Raza prototype features small upside-down spinner on playfield that appears to block shots frequently; unclear if intended as primary mechanic or design error. (confidence: medium) — Jonathan Houston observes from video that ball 'got stuck in that mini totem lamp spinner-type thing' repeatedly; expresses skepticism about intentionality.
- **[design_philosophy]** Raza prototype shows incomplete rule code implementation: basic multiball modes present but missing shot completion feedback (sound effects, up-the-ramp progression sensors). (confidence: high) — Martin Ayer notes from video evidence that 'not much appeared to be happening' after shots; Jonathan Houston specifies lack of audio feedback on ramp progression.
- **[personnel_signal]** Jeff Teolis (podcast host) confirmed as voice talent for Raza game; another Texas-based voice actor also involved but identity withheld. (confidence: high) — Martin Ayer cites Super Awesome Pinball Show podcast as source confirming Jeff's voice role; Jonathan Houston produced gameplay video with Jeff.
- **[market_signal]** Raza pricing strategy unclear; speculation about whether launch price will be premium (>$12,000) to justify original pre-buyers' $15,000 investment or lower to attract new customers. (confidence: medium) — Martin Ayer and Jonathan Houston discuss pricing tradeoffs; note that Deep Root promised 'innovative pricing' but hardware complexity suggests premium positioning.
- **[announcement]** Haggis Pinball opens preorders for Kelts game December 1, 2019; base price $5,250 with optional upgrades to $7,000. (confidence: high) — Martin Ayer verifies real-time haggispinball.com pricing and preorder page updates during podcast.
- **[announcement]** Deep Root Pinball officially reveals Raza (Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland) prototype at Houston Arcade Expo; first game from new Texas-based manufacturer; scheduled March 2020 press launch. (confidence: high) — Jonathan Houston and Martin Ayer confirm prototype display and hands-on play at Houston Arcade Expo; scheduled press launch March 25, 2020 in San Antonio.
- **[product_strategy]** Deep Root Pinball committed to March 2020 launch of Raza with press event March 25 in San Antonio; prototype state at Houston Arcade Expo represented current development status with 4 months remaining to launch. (confidence: high) — Jonathan Houston and Martin Ayer confirm scheduled press launch date and proximity to Texas Pinball Festival; express confidence in timeline.
- **[product_concern]** Manufacturing quality concerns for new manufacturers highlighted by hosts; Stern Pinball cited as industry benchmark for manufacturing execution despite game design criticism. (confidence: high) — Jonathan Houston emphasizes 'pinball is hard' and manufacturing setup is 'a beast on its own'; Martin Ayer credits Stern as 'best in the industry' for manufacturing.
- **[technology_signal]** Capcom pinball security chip (CPU board fuses) proved extremely difficult to reverse-engineer; required physical sanding and microscopic analysis of internal connections with no interrogation method available. (confidence: high) — Jonathan Houston attended seminar where Gene Cunningham described physical chip analysis methodology; confirms chip was designed specifically to prevent hacking.

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## Transcript

 Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland makes its debut Kelt's Pinball hold on, hold on I got Gary Flowers calling immediately you can't, it's freaking impossible our listeners might know that Gary usually at some point tries to call in during the show I guess he's very impatient this time, he doesn't want to miss out but we're still in the headlines so hold on. Gary, you're too early. Call me back later. Thanks. Please continue. Okay. Kelt's Pinball, now available to order. And Illinois Pinball's Gene Cunningham dies. Hi, my name is Jonathan Houston. I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine and I'm here with... I'm Martin Ayer, the editor of Pinball News. and we're here with our monthly podcast looking back at the news and events in the pinball world from the past month and this time we are looking back at october no november oh my goodness it's that must mean it's december already oh the year's almost over but we're looking back at november 2019 right and well it's been an interesting month uh i would say and usually we you say that every month. This time, apparently we switched the roles. Yeah. Well, I guess Gary threw us off. It's, um, yeah. Okay. So it's going to be an episode like that. So, um, okay. Let's not waste any, any time on that. Uh, yes, it was a very interesting month. I think, uh, well, like the first headline, retro atomic zombie adventure land is the newest game that has been shown to the public. and that's the first game by Deep Root Pinball from San Antonio in Texas. So obviously we're curious what it would be like and what people thought of it. What did you get from it? Yes. Well, the game was revealed at the Houston Arcade Expo. We'd had the pictures before and some details of the game, but this was the first chance anybody had to get their hands on it. And it's important to note that the game that was shown was definitely a prototype. Various aspects of it will change before it goes into production. It looked, as far as I can tell, very nice. It had some good animations on the display. The playfield looked very colourful, bright, some interesting shots. the right hand ramp is a long sweeping curving ramp which certainly was achievable on those games but certainly wasn't a given either you had to make a very clean and maybe even a rolling shot in order to get the ball all the way up the top but it certainly looked like there were plenty of options and things to shoot for on the game it was running a relatively simple set of rules it did have a multiball mode for completing Zombie by shooting Target at the back of the playfield I think it had a second multiball as well in there and it didn't have a huge amount of sound or voice calls in it but there were some and I think everybody who played it was impressed by both the appearance and the gameplay and with the prospect of the game advancing and improving even further before it's actually going to be revealed as a finished product, which is going to be early next year. We'll talk about that in a minute. I think it's showing great potential. What did you think? Well, first of all, let's note that we were both not at the Houston Arcade Expo where the game was revealed. so we had to do with videos and reports from other people. My first impression was, when I looked at the play field, I really had a Bally Williams 90s pinball look to it, so to speak. The ramp looks interesting. I like the art on the game, even though that might be placeholder art, but still, I liked it. I love the display. It's a very wide and narrow display. Apparently, somebody did some research. There are displays in that size that have the speakers included, like with televisions, which is actually, I'm not sure what the quality of those speakers is, but actually it makes a lot of sense to use those type of speakers because it might be cheaper than putting in an LCD and two separate speakers like Stern and other manufacturers are doing. So I thought it was actually a pretty clever idea. And I really like the look of it. and I've read very good reviews about the animations on the game. So that's something that Deepwood really is very good at at the moment. Yeah. From the video that I saw, I saw that a lot. First of all, let's say that the videos out there are not the best videos that you would like to see. No. but then again if you have average Joe flipping the game and average Joe has a problem with getting the ball further up than two thirds of the play field then you might have a problem I'm not sure how that's obviously you want to make a shot and then that builds up to something or whatever or you want to shoot it around but I got the feeling that the ball either hit a bunch of posts or it got stuck in that mini totem lamp spinner-type thing, which is a bit like the spinning disc on Safecracker, but then upside down. Yeah. And I get the idea that it's supposed to be blocking a shot, But because it's so small, it appears to be blocking the shot all the time, which seems a bit, yeah, I was not too fond of that, although I did like the idea of making that an upside-down Mac. I can see some people are wondering where's the innovation. I can see there is innovation. I mean, they apparently used a placeholder cabinet, so it's not the final cabinet that the games will be presented in. And the back glass art was a placeholder as well. Right, and the cabinet art. Yeah. But overall, I was pretty impressed, I have to say. and that tamed a bit down after I've seen a bunch of videos where not much appeared to be happening but also that has to do with game code I mean if you shoot a ball up and nothing's happening and it's coming down and you shoot it up and but I'd say the game has great potential yeah I think we agreed on that point it was in a way some aspects of it were very well advanced but also some of the basic things as you say, you know, make some shots you don't get any sounds or there's no obvious feedback that you've completed the shot that was the kind of stuff you'd expect to be fairly basic in the game code there'll be something there, even if they end up changing what it is or how it looks or what it sounds like yeah one thing that I did notice and obviously a lot of people noticed that the ramp shot, the center ramp shot is pretty hard to make, to make it completely up to the top of the ramp. It's a very long ramp to get to the top. That in itself is not so much a problem, but since it's pinball, I really hope that they will have up-tos across the ramp that follow how far you get up the ramp and add some sounds to that because that will make it far more enjoyable than just shooting the ball up a ramp and it doesn't make it just rolling back but the game will not know when it's rolling back unless you have some sensors up there that it's sensing when the ball is rolling back. And if you didn't make it and you want a special sound effect, at least I would like that, where it's indicating that you didn't make it. Obviously, you can see it, but add a sound effect to that. Yeah, that's going to cost a few dollars to implement. I get that. But it's like with the spinners on electromechanical games, those that really have a sound attached to it every time it spins. And the slower it spins, so you get ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, that kind of stuff. You get sort of the same thing if you have centers on the ramp that sense how far the ball is going up and add some sound to that. Yeah, well, there was no indication of pricing on the game. There's been a lot of speculation about that. Yeah, I have my own ideas about that. Well, Deep Root have said they were looking to be innovative in the pricing of the game as well, but looking at the amount of hardware on that Razor game, I can't imagine it's going to be a cheap game unless they're looking to do a lost leader on the first title, but that would be a very strange business decision, and I think they want to promote their product as being a premium product rather than a cut price one. Right. Obviously, potential pricing of the game has been discussed, but one comment that I haven't seen being made yet, although I didn't read all the discussion, all the posts and comments, but my thinking is obviously Deep Root is making a certain number of original buyers from the Raza game whole by providing them with a new game I think originally these people paid like $15,000 for that game I don't think it would sit well if they would get a game that would be priced under the price of a Stern Pro game. Because, yes, they got a game, I get that, but if you paid $15,000, you expect to get a $15,000 game. And so for that reason, I think Raza is not going to be in that ballpark as much as I would like it to be. But it would just give people that paid a lot of money for a game that eventually, after years waiting, finally get a game, it would still leave a bad taste in their mouth knowing that they got a game that's less than what they paid for, basically. Well, that's true, but that's assuming there's just the single model of that game. You know, there isn't a limited edition or deluxe model or a Super Elite or whatever you want to call it, which is priced higher, which is maybe what those people would get. I have no idea what their plans are in that context, But you might be right, there might be some sort of special edition where you get some sort of extras that would apparently validate a higher pricing. Yeah, so lots of questions to be answered. And we won't know the details of that until the game is officially launched. And that's going to take place in March. Now, you and I are both planning to be there. I think. Yes. Deep Root have told us that they are going to be doing a press launch for Raza and maybe other games, and that will be taking place on the 25th of March 2020 at their San Antonio facility. And that date is a Wednesday, I believe. Yes. And that's just a hell of a Texas Pinball Festival. That's right. So people who go to the launch, the press launch on the Wednesday will then have the Thursday to travel up to Frisco and get ready for the start of the Texas show on Friday. Right. And I guess that's what we're going to be doing. Yeah. I'm already looking forward to it. Party, here we come. Those who don't know, that's a barbecue. I don't know, shack? Restaurant. Yeah, just a short distance away from the Texas Pimple Festival show. It's a very popular one. There are barbecue restaurants all over Texas, so I'm really looking forward to it. I bet you are, yes. But I think in general the reveal of Raza, although it was a soft launch, so to speak, and the idea was to collect data from basically people playing the game at this show. I think, well, the game has potential. There were some mixed responses online, but mostly by people who didn't play it, weren't at the show. So, okay, that's easy to form an opinion behind your keyboard. I think Deep Root probably did very well for what they were intending to do. And as I was talking about them for 15 minutes, or how much is it? Yeah, it's potentially a very interesting game in itself, but of course it's the launch game for Deep Root. So it's going to set the tone for how we perceive the company and their products. So there's a lot riding on this game, and if the first game doesn't go well, then that puts them in a difficult situation for games two and three and so on, and they need to recover. So starting off strongly, and it looks like they did, this one is good for the company, and hopefully it'll be good for pinball as well. Right, and all I can hope now is that they will have production organized in a decent manner, so that when they reveal games, that they have games available right away or soon after. I mean, we both know, and I think by now everybody who followed pinball the past decade knows that setting up a pinball company is not something that you do with the... Basically, pinball is hard. And setting up a factory that's supposed to be building pinball machines, that's a beast on its own. So designing pinballs is one, then manufacturing them. And on that area, I have to give credit to Stern. No matter what you think about their games, the manufacturing aspects is something that they are probably without a doubt the best in the industry you can criticize the quality of certain parts or whatever but still that manufacturing aspect is they got that nailed well absolutely when they're not calling themselves a global lifestyle brand Gary Stern was always very insistent that Stern Pinball is number one a manufacturer and it just so happens that they're manufacturing pinball machines and he always saw the manufacturing as the number one thing he has to get right and then the game design and all the bells and whistles hangs off that so yeah, you're right that's almost the opposite of what some other companies have done they've come up with a great small scale companies come up with a great or a good idea for a game which looks great on paper and looks very impressive in the renders but then when it comes to actually building it, that's where the problems crop up. Right, so hopefully DeepRoot will have that narrowed down or what the expression may be Yeah, well they've got basically four months from when they showed that game at the Houston Arcade Expo until they're launching it as a finished product in March next year. So we'll see how much has changed in that intervening time. I was assuming that what was at the show was the current state of the game and not an earlier version. Right, okay. Yeah. Oh, and one of the videos that we saw, at least I saw, I see we did as well, was from podcast host Jeff Teolis. Right. Yeah, who was playing the game with Emoto. Yeah. Yes. That was a video that is on YouTube. Yeah, probably the best video of that game currently available. Yeah. And they were doing a bit of swapping between who was holding the camera and describing the game and who was playing. But Jeff also has a role in the game, as far as I understand. Yes. What I understood from the super awesome pinball show is that Jeff is one of the voice talents in the game, so he's doing call-outs. And apparently there's another Texan-based person who has been asked to do voice calls in the game, but they didn't want to get into details who that was. But Jeff Tionis has been confirmed as one of the voice actors in Red for the Atomic Zombie Adventureland. Very good. Well, he's got a very good voice for radio, podcasts, and now pinball. Right. Okay. While we're on the topic of the super awesome pinball show, and you mentioned radio, I take my hat off to Ed Van Der Veen, Christopher Franchi and Christian who did that super awesome pinball podcast their first episode it not a podcast it basically you listening to a professional radio show Sound quality wasn all that great in certain bits and they addressed that as well. They're working on that. But this was really a show. You can see that Christopher Franchi has a history in making radio, and so they had lots of jingles and items and all that stuff. I thought it was really impressive. So for a first episode, I'd say congratulations to the Super Awesome Pinball Show. I'm afraid I haven't listened to it yet, but based on your recommendation, I shall be streaming that over the weekend. Right. No, it's highly recommended. So in terms of production, I don't think any other podcast, if you're looking at it like production from a radio standpoint, then I take my hat off. I wish we had production like that. Well, one day perhaps. Once all the sponsorship comes in, we'll be able to afford some professional production facilities. Right. and staff as well. Yeah, to do all the editing and so on. Yeah. Anyway, moving on. Yes, our second headline was all about Haggis Pinball. Yeah, it was before Gary interested. I'm surprised he hasn't called back yet. He'll be back in a moment. I can feel it. Yes, so Haggis Pinball, at the Pinball Expo, they had their Celts game, which was in the vendor hall, And they had it, they were saying they had a price on it of 5,250 US dollars. And they were saying that they were going to start taking orders for the game through their website on the 1st of December. Well, I looked a bit earlier today and tried to order one and it was saying that I had to call them to get a price. But literally, you know, 10 minutes before we started recording this podcast, I also had another look, and it had all changed. And now there are prices on there. So the base price for the machine is still the same, $5,250 US dollars. Right. But it also gives the option to have your name in the game. I guess that means on the display, which will cost you $1,000 to have that. Wow. Yeah. So I dare say anybody knowledgeable enough in that particular aspect of the game could probably hack into the game code and add their name to it for rather less than that. But other options are available. You can get a series of different trims, which is metal work in various colors. That's a $500 option. and you can have a bunch of toys, suitable Celts-themed toys added to the play field and that will cost you $250. What? Yeah, well, it must be a good one, so I haven't seen them, but $250, I guess, all included in fitting. This is selectable when you order the game. So, yeah, the price can go from, add all that in, it can go from 5,000 to 150 up to about 7,000 when it's maxed out. But, you know, still you can make a decision whether or not those things are important to you or not. Right. But they've been promoting the game. Yeah, they've been vlogging. Damien is daily vlogging by now. I think he started halfway through November doing that, and there's literally every day since then updates on his Facebook about what's going on with the production of the game, which sort of gave me the feeling like, shouldn't you be building games instead of doing all these video posts? But okay, I guess he's used to doing those, so sure, why not? So check out the Haggis Pinball on Facebook. I'm not sure whether the videos are also on Instagram, but Facebook for sure. And the game's available to order, if you like what you're seeing, through haggispinball.com, where they have a shop. And you can also buy some other Haggis Pinball-related pinball merchandise, like caps and keychains and bottle openers and things like that. Right, so one thing that I found interesting, I saw some pictures of back boxes for Kelts online, and it appears that the back of the backbox has the Haggis pinball logo, which is a pinball with a sort of explosion type of thing on top of it. that it has to cut out out of the wood the back panel of the backbox which could indicate either two things I think either it's going to be there's going to be a plastic cover from the inside or outside whatever or it's going to be filled up with some sort of material but it could also be backlit. Not sure whether that's something worth... I don't know. I mean, it's the back of the game, but in a game room it might look interesting to see that they actually did something to make the back of the game look more interesting. Yes, not anything that people would see normally, but if it did sort of project their logo onto a back wall or something, behind the machine, there's enough space. Yeah, it could be an interesting addition. Or it might be something, I haven't seen any mention of a topper, of course, for the game yet, but that might be coming, or might be made by third parties, but it could be something that could be incorporated into the topper by backlighting it that way. Or you could have, if you have game modes, and each game mode has a different color, if it would be backlit then basically even if it's against a wall then the wall would still integrate with gameplay because of that backlit logo it could be like the Philips TVs that have an ambi light where they light up the wall behind the set maybe it wasn't intended to be backlit and we just gave them a good idea okay well that's all right there's plenty of plenty of good ideas out there and reasonable trials we've come up with one every now and again right so that's um i think that's everything about haggis pinball um yeah you can you can watch their blogs and um and get updates through the haggispinball.com website right okay um moving on to uh since there's still no sign of gary Moving on to our third headline before we get to the news of all the other manufacturers. So we're not done yet, don't worry. The passing of Illinois pinball gene Cunningham. Yes, he's probably someone, I mean, you probably know him more than I do. Yes. Because you actually went and stayed with him for a while. Yes. During the building of Big Bang Bar. So I don't know if you want to tell us a little bit about your experiences of working with and for Gene. Sure. First of all, my sympathies and condolences to the Cunningham family, which is quite a large family. yes so for those who don't know who Gene Cunningham was Gene Cunningham owned a lot of property in Bloomington, Illinois and I guess that's sort of the base for his fortune I would say he had a bowling ring in there where he said he was operating but he also rented a lot of houses to I think even to the state and what have you but obviously he had a passion for pinball, he had a huge collection and I think when Valley Williams closed in 1999 as well as when Capcom closed, Gene was there to buy the remaining assets, which is what he did. And that allowed him to start Illinois Pinball, which was supposed to become a manufacturer for spare parts. But in all fairness, I have to say, they were not as organized as they probably should be in the sense that when I was there, it appeared they had great difficulty getting the quality that they needed for certain parts or the vendors that they were sourcing it out to had a problem making the product while they initially said that they could. they also Gene also acquired a lot of stock didn't he from Williams a lot of parts boxes and boxes and I think one of the big problems there was it was a huge task to actually work out what they had and where it was I know a very interesting story about that which I'm going to share actually Jim Petla who we know as a pinball designer he was one of the last people to actually work for the pinball division for Williams and one of the last things that he apparently did was actually doing the inventory of all the remaining stock and it was all sorted and then when Gene bought it, basically they brought in a couple of trucks they put everything in the trucks and out was the order everything, they just threw it in the trucks and it was just one big pile of parts and apparently then it took months if not longer to sort it all out so yeah, it was certainly years and I remember they eventually got set up the bear cave as a means of trying to sell the parts but even then what was actually on the website and what was actually in stock was often very different so I think they always struggled to work out what they had and where it was and I think part of that problem is caused by the fact that Gene favoured family or preferred to have family working for him than other people but just because they are family doesn't mean that they are the best people for that job and oh well in a sense it's a miracle that Gene managed to actually build 183 Big Bang Bar games for those who don't know Big Bang Bar is a Capcom game of which originally only I think 9 prototypes were built and there was some talk that Williams would even take the design into production after Capcom closed their business. Eventually they didn't and that game in the early 2000s had such a status online, so to speak, because the story behind that game is so interesting and at some point, I think in 2003, Gene Cunningham announced that he would be building Big Bang Bar. Initially, 111 because he counted how many board sets he had from Capcom and he came to 111 so he figured that he could build that game that he could build 111 of these games which is quite a bold statement for someone who never built a pinball machine before and as it turned out it took him like I think over two years to get production actually going and then it took another year before games actually got delivered although the games that shipped to Europe actually got released a year ahead of time due to the ROHS compliancy laws being applicable or what have you. Due to the lead in the solder used, I think, was the main thing there. Right. So anyway, I ordered a Big Bang Bar, because I didn't know Gene, but I rang him, and I was like, so you have no factory, how are you going to build these games? And he explained what his plans were, and it seemed to me like he could use some help. So I basically offered to come over for the month, and we discussed that, And we found a way to make that possible. The problem was, the only problem was we didn't know yet when. So at some point we picked a date. And so I think I went from, I don't know. I don't even remember when I was there. But it probably was something like October or so. And, yeah, I stayed there for a month. Gene had arranged housing which was great so I could basically live there in a free bungalow apartment or whatever you want to call it and obviously I made some I negotiated my stay with Gene he kept all his promises to me so other people have had some less fortunate experiences, I'm not one of them. I have really nothing bad to say about Gene Cunningham. Right. Okay. And what I do have to say, during my stay, Gene took me to Chicago. He took me to Foremost Plastics, where most of the inserts for pinball machines are being manufactured. He took me to Stern Pinball. He had such great stories to tell on the road while we were driving up somewhere. He was a true pinball enthusiast, I'd say. And, of course, he has a collection or had a collection. At that time, it had contained Wizard Blocks, the third Pinball 2000 game. It contained the fourth Pinball 2000 game, Playboy. and lots of rarities that you hardly ever see anywhere else. The problem was most of those games were all packed up or not even playable. But the collection was just immense. Yeah, I think we had well over a thousand games, didn't we, spread across several warehouses. and there are videos available where he sort of guides you through that collection. I'm not sure whether they're part of the Pins and Vids series, and they might well have been, but I'm sure Al will correct me on that if that's not the case. but it is quite amazing to see those prototype one-off and sample games in this collection but as you say, unfortunately they weren't kept in great conditions and leaking roofs and dam things did take their toll and eventually all that was sold off I think in order to pay various debts and in the end well I think let's just say that the Big Bang Bar project is definitely going to be his legacy what he was most remembered for and there are over 180 machines out there which exist now which wouldn't have existed were it not for him on a final note I'll try to say this as respectful as possible I think the Big Bang Bar project which is currently a project that he lost apparently over $100,000 on it could have actually been profitable if he wouldn't have been so focused on sticking with the Capcom hardware system because even though at that time it was still not as common as today to work, I mean, P-Rock or a fast pinball, those types of hardware to control a pinball machine were not available yet. But Gene insisted on building the game Big Bang Bar and he even wanted to start building Kingpin. Yes, right. But he wanted to use the original Capcom hardware system because he saw a huge market for spare parts for those games. I'm not sure whether that was right, but the problem that they ran into for years is that Capcom has a security chip on their CPU board or whatever you call it. And that chip contains a number of fuses that are blown out in a certain way. But if you try to hack it, if you blow another fuse in there, then it doesn't work anymore. That's right. And they had the biggest problems I don think they ever succeeded in hacking that chip but they spent literally years of trying how to do it Yes, I remember a seminar where he was describing how they actually physically take the chip and they start sanding it down from the top surface down until they get to the component level inside the package. and you can see which particular links are made and which ones aren't anymore and then you can try and replicate that by looking at it under a microscope just to see where the connections exist inside. There was no way of reverse engineering it by interrogating it, by trying different combinations and seeing what worked. It was a security chip for a reason. And, yeah, that was, as you say, that was one of the, just one of the many things which stood in his way of making future games. And his lack of computer knowledge also didn't help him. I mean, he, I remember that he was saying, like, we can't get one computer talking to another. And I'm like, what are you talking about? but apparently that's what he was told by people working on it. In all fairness, I think quite a few people took advantage of that because they figured like, okay, we've got somebody who has no clue what he's doing. I can tell him anything, and he'll believe it, and he still will pay every invoice that I send him. So I think some people took advantage of that. Okay, well as you say our condolences go out to Gene's family and those who knew him personally and his legacy lives on through his games Yeah, absolutely so I have nothing to add No, let's move on to some slightly well, some significantly happier news as we start looking at what various pinball manufacturers have been doing over the past month. Well, speaking of happier news, Stern Pinball did not announce a new game last month. No, no, I thought they might do. I thought there would be a new game announced such that they would have it for the CES show in January. Yeah, but they still might do that. I mean, we're still early December. They still can. Yeah, they still can, sure. I thought people were expecting them to announce a game in between Christmas and New Year. Well, they can do, but it's a difficult time to get too much publicity for a new game launch. They'll probably be the only ones. True, but various magazines are probably shut down over that period. So it would be good to get it out before, if they possibly can. Yeah, but it was probably similar to Monsters, which was completely revealed, I think, at the CES show with the big dress-up by Gary and Zach and Jack Danger. So we're probably looking at something like that, I think. So there was no new game announcement? Not yet, but we're still expecting one this month. Yes, we are, yeah. Although even Elvira and Jurassic Park are relatively fresh games. They are, yeah. And speaking of those two, they actually got code updates to start with those. You know all about the details of the code updates for Jurassic Park and Elvira. You want to get into that? Yeah, well, just a quick summary. Jurassic Park's up to version 0.95, so getting very close to being a feature-complete version, which would be version 1. They've actually added some new modes, which is interesting. We've got Visitor Center, Museum Mayhem, and Secure Control Room. Mini Wizard Modes have been added, which is another one, actually, Invariate Frenzied, which I've seen some pictures of from Keith, I think, been posting that on Facebook. And there's lots of new sound and lighting effects, a few bug fixes, which is kind of inevitable when you add new code. and some of the features, the way they work has changed as well. I won't go into all that now because it doesn't make any sense unless you know how they worked before. Right. So, yeah, quite a big update, actually, for Jurassic Park. Not such a big update for Elvira's House of Horrors. That's on version 0.87, so a little way behind when it comes to getting the release version. they have made a bit of a change to the way the junk in the trunk multiball works but again, unless you're familiar with that we won't bore you with the details of that they added another haunt which means another movie they put in and this one, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians which sounds probably as high quality as it actually is the movie that is, not the mode I'm sure the mode every bit as good but you have to get into the locked room which means getting the key in order to start that mode so it's not one which is available straight away, it has to be qualified they made some things easier, they made a number of film clips a number of shots you need to make to complete those movies, those haunts lower for standard play but actually made it harder for tournament mode and well I don't feel sorry for a tournament player sorry yeah well probably I was going to say probably make the game a bit faster but it won't it means you have to complete have to make more shots but maybe it means that there's more life to the game more longevity to it and then there's trunk multiball which which is a bit strange on this you can't now combine it with garage multiple or vice versa. So that sounds like something they'd taken away. But I'm sure there's a good reason for doing that. And then, of course, there's the usual bug fixes. The way a few of the features change, some of the other features change, and they've added some more speech to the game, but I don't know whether any of that speech comes from Elvira herself. I suppose it must do for the Santa Claus Conquers the Martians haunt. There must be an introduction from her. Oh, and there's also on the Oki too. Yeah, exactly, Batman 66. This is kind of like an even more minor update. It doesn't add anything feature-wise for the gameplay, but sort of adds in a bunch of standard operator features and adjustments to the underlying control system, which you would expect to be in the game these days, but were never put into Batman 66 until now and now they are so those are the three new code versions Jurassic Park, Elvira and Batman 66 and Stern was one of the four pinball companies present at the IAPA show in Florida I think they had the biggest booth of all the vendors which is not surprising because they probably also have the most games to sell yeah they had a lot there Elvira, Jurassic Park of course pro and pre-models of Jurassic Deadpool yeah, Star Wars comic art was there Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy Monsters yeah, a big display as we're used to seeing with Stern these days it's still still very impressive though when you do get to see stand that they put together. Right. And one of the other new things, I suppose, which they have done, is it's not actually available just yet, but they are taking orders for the new Star Wars topper. I say new, it's so new we don't actually know exactly what it looks like. We've seen one before. I've seen a picture. So, I know what it looks like. we know what it looks like we don't know how it operates what the functionality of it is it was on show when Star Wars was during the factory tour at Pinball Expo a couple of years ago and that was just R2D2 sort of just turning left and right and had a light which came on and went off and if you get a free play it's pretty as confetti no it doesn't that would be impressive especially if it collected it all up afterwards and so it could do it again yeah so orders well pre-orders I suppose for that have been taken at the moment right it's quite an expensive top I have to say I think it's like 749 yeah and they are limited to 500 units if I'm not mistaken yeah well they're limited to 500 units because of the price that they don't think will sell many. Yeah. It's certainly one for die-hard Star Wars fans, I think. Right. Maybe not for pinball players. Yeah. Interestingly, I've already heard people talking about basically buying a topper even if they don't have a Star Wars game just to keep it in the box and sell it in a couple of years because I think the value of these will even go up any further. or even more, sorry. Which is, I wouldn't invest in that personally, but some people think that would be a wise investment. Yeah, well, that certainly wouldn't be the first time people have bought things as an investment. I mean... Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. At the moment, I'm not aware of a huge topper aftermarket business going on. I mean, if people have a topper on a game and they sell the game, they usually sell it with the topper included. At least that's my impression. Oh well. Apparently other toppers were limited as well. I have no idea whether that's actually true, whether the Kiss topper or the topper for I don't know what came to head they did all sorts of toppers personally I'm not keeping track I remember the Kiss one but I'm not sure whether that was limited or not I just thought it was an expensive light box yes which basically mirrored what was happening on the translight or back glass underneath the Kiss logo was right underneath the Kiss topper the same words, but it was lit in the backbox and lit in the topper. But was the KISS logo animated in the backbox? Oh, it was, yeah. Yeah, I think so, yeah. It could write up the letters individually, I remember that. Aren't you not talking about the belly game instead of the stern one? I believe the stern one could do it as well. Okay. don't remember yeah okay anyway one other product from Stern's swag shop I suppose you might describe it is to do with the Black Knight game yes the soundtrack of Black Knight Sword of Rage with the music composed by Scott Ian of Anthrax was already available at Comic-Con a couple of months ago where they had a limited edition blue vinyl, I think it was limited to 100 copies and although not officially announced, I think we reported on our podcast that we would not have seen the last of those, there would be other or vinyls becoming available at a later stage, which now, and just as I expected, they changed the art of the cover and the color of the vinyl. At Comic-Con, they had a blue vinyl, and right now in the Stern shop you can order an orange vinyl of the Black Knight soundtrack. for just under $26 plus shipping, which is not too bad, I guess. I guess not, if you like the music. My guess is this is actually something that a lot of people might be interested in, not because of the music, but just to have it as a pinball, what do you call it? Just a memento? Yeah, something like that. through and air, especially if you're in the game. And for those of you who are that inclined, you might even be able to make it into an attractive topper with some suitable light. So, yeah, I'm interested in one until I saw what Shipping to the Nail was costing, and I lost my interest. Well, I'm sure we'll be able to pick one up in Texas in March or Milwaukee. at the MGC but it's good to see that they announced I think it was just before Black Friday they announced this vinyl now being available very appropriate so if you're into that then here's your chance yeah ok I think that wraps up the Stern Pinball news I don't think we have anything else for them so let's move on to well, let's move to what Jersey Jack have been up to. I'm just looking at my phone, but still no Gary. Oh, you might have to call him at this rate. Yeah, okay, well, usually he comes in when we don't expect it the most, so now that we're counting on it. Okay, that sounds about right, yeah. Okay, but getting back to Jersey Jack pinball, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, of course, is their current game. and we said the collector's editions were about to go into production in our last podcast, and this one was a report that they did indeed and have been shipping this month. So all those lucky buyers who bought the collector's edition of Willy Wonka will either have got their machine or will be getting it fairly soon. Right, and I don't think the collector's edition sold out yet, So if you're interested in buying a collector's edition, then you might still be able to do so. Yeah, it's a very attractive looking game, I have to say. I haven't seen it a couple of times now. And, of course, Jersey Jack, Pinball were one of the four companies that were at IAPA. Right. They had, obviously, Willy Wonka there. And I think, I don't know what other games, I sort of dialed in some of the pictures from the show, but they might have had other games as well. Yeah, I'm not sure either. Sorry. But, yeah, at least those two games and possibly more. I would say, well, I haven't seen it in pictures, but I would not be surprised if they would have had a Yellow Brick Road with the walls present, which is basically a game that they introduced this year, at least in this variation. That's right. Yes, good point. So that's basically all we can come up with about Jersey Jack for this month. They're just busy building games. They haven't announced a new game yet, and we don't know when they will. We were expecting another title to come out by the end of the year. Yeah, or at least the announcement. And we might still get that because we still have 26 days left. Yeah, it could happen. But it might also be for early next year. I think that's more likely at this stage. I think we might have heard rumors if the announcement was going to take place in the next couple of weeks. Right. But speaking of announcements of new games, let's move on to Spooky Pinball, where we're also expecting the announcement of a new game, although I don't think it will be this month, but I do expect it's early January. Yeah, well, they did say they'll be finished building the Alice Cooper games by December, or certainly during December, and they said they do still have a very small number of Alice Cooper games left out of the limited run of 500, and when asked what small number was they were saying it was in single digits so less than 10 remain unsold and are available and I have to say it's a fun game I think it's their best game so far personally so if you were looking to buy a spooky pinball product I would recommend that one while there are still some available Right. They were not at IAPA, as far as I understand it. No. But they were at a show called Days of the Dead, which was held at a hotel in Rosemont in Chicago, which used to be home of Pinball Expo Rosemont. Right. Before they moved up to Wheeling. But they were there at the Days of the Dead show with Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle, They had Rob Zombie, Spookshow International, that was there as well. And also they had a Monster Bash remake on their stand, which obviously not one of their games, but very much in keeping with the theme of the show. Right. So that's, but I would say that, yeah, we would expect to have an announcement probably on Scott Danesi's second game. Yeah. to be coming out fairly soon. Scott was at a recent show in Florida. Yeah, where he was DJing as well. And Scott was also on the recent Spooky Pinball podcast where he talked a huge story or a big story about how you play Haunted House Party which is supposed to be the title of his upcoming game and if you're interested in that then I suggest listen to the Spooky Pinball podcast because I forgot half about what's supposed to be going on but it has to do with the guy that is invited to a party at a haunted house oh well but since nobody is believing that will actually be the theme either it would be a surprise if it actually is or we're looking forward to what it actually will be but so far the people at Spooky who played it and talked about it said that it's going to be their best game yet wow ok we've got something to live up to after TNA right so yeah that's that's Spooky News now let's let's move to another another pinball manufacturer and to I was going to say to Streamwood which is where they still are American Pimples they haven't moved to Palantine yet they did have a party in Palantine I think where they will be moving Aimtron Fest that was the 30th of October so we covered that in our last podcast already, I'll forget about it I didn't mention it Anyway, no, but there's sort of big news from American Pinball, because they announced a new game, but it's not a pinball machine. No, we alluded to it last time, with the title of it at least, saying it pretty much summed up you, but their redemption game is called The Flying Dutchman, and they were showing it at IAPA. They were another one of the four who were there. This game is designed by Bryan Hansen, who was a pinball designer for Pinball Magic and Flipper Football as well. Yeah, capital games. And did some Wizard of Oz design work as well. The game is a large piece, I think that's fair to say. although it's a large unit it seems to have quite a small screen on it which is a bit puzzling it's got an LCD panel but it doesn't seem to be that large compared to the rest of it the basic idea is that you are firing a cannon and it actually shoots ping pong balls out of the cannon and you're shooting it at a rotating cylinder which has holes cut in it in various places of various sizes and if you get a ball in a hole then the larger the hole the fewer tickets you win and the smaller ones are the more valuable ones and it's a timed game so after the time is up the game shuts off and you get your tickets it looked very interesting it had a nice light show and everything on it plenty of LEDs everywhere it was pretty much mandatory these days for any redemption piece so I think it could well do very nicely in a family entertainment center or a mixed arcade. But it's, yeah, it's not pinball. We'll have to wait until we find out what their next pinball machine is going to be. Yeah, and Joe Balcer just confirmed that that game will be revealed at the Texas Pinball Festival in March. So that's just four months away. yeah so it's going to be a busy time at that show with Deep Root having their new game or games there American Pinball also having it there and who knows who else as we just heard and as we heard Spooky you know well they'll have to announce their game before that but it should be in production by that time so they might have their new game there right well Stern usually is waiting until after Texas by revealing their second game, second new game of the year. It's normally almost immediately after Texas. Yes. The Monday or whatever straight after. Right. So, but yeah, American people also have a special offer for the December month where you get a voucher for a $500 discount on a future game purchase if you're buying Houdini or Oktoberfest before the end of the year. So if you're in the market for one of those games and you figure, like, well, these guys are doing a great job and I might be interested in a future game as well, then now is your time to get one. Yeah, a $500 discount, I should say, is not to be sneezed at. No, exactly. Exactly. The final artwork for their mascot, I would call her, Amy Finn, has also been revealed. Last month there was already, I think, a black line drawing, and now it's colored in, so we got to see the final version. Which I think looks very nice, and the response online was also very good, because people were really hoping that this artist would be doing the artwork for the third game of Spooky, which sadly is not the case. Right. Oh, okay. That's news to me. I hadn't heard that. But, yeah, I'm not quite sure how American are going to use this mascot, in what use. I don't think it's going to replace their logo on the games. But maybe it'll be on the back glass in the corner or something. But it's a nice design, but I'm not entirely clear how Amy Pinn, as she's called, is going to feature in future. I don't know either, but I'm curious to see what they plan to do with her. Yeah. And the artist, which is Joel the Guzman, and he also did artwork for various pinball shows, posters and so on. So the name may not ring a bell, but this artwork might be familiar once you know that he did it. And talking of shows, as we said, American Pinball were at IAPA, too. Right. They had, I think, two Oktoberfest and two Houdini machines there on their stand. With the Flying Dutchman in between. Absolutely, yeah. That's where they revealed that game. Okay, so that's American Pinball news. Right. So then moving on to Dutch Pinball. Yeah, that's across the Atlantic. Right. Barry is a Dutch pinball is a well it's I guess you could almost call it a one man show although it's not but they are still producing the Big Lebowski pinball Barry sent out a newsletter and where he explained that they had to organize their new facility and at first they didn't have any shelves or whatsoever which made it rather difficult to build games, obviously, because you need a certain part, and then you need to work yourselves through a pile of parts before you get to it. Now they have shelves. Yeah, they were all scattered around the floor, weren't they? Yeah. In boxes, I should say, that were all over the floor. So, yeah, certainly not the ideal manufacturing setup. up. But that's been addressed now with shelving and racks and work tables and the tools they need as well. Right. And I think he's also implemented a sort of what's called an ERP, an Enterprise Resource Planning System, which is kind of manages the project. It gives you all the tools that in order to keep track of milestones and assets. Right. Which bars are running low on stock and so on. Absolutely. Yeah. So, other than, well, more exciting news, I guess, obviously, those who remember the story of Dutch Pinball, there were people who ordered a Big Lebowski. back in 2014, I think it was. And those people are still waiting for their games. People who got in early on are called early achievers. And in the newsletter, an early achiever laser cut bottom apron was revealed, which will be lit from the bottom. and it has several stars that you, if you're familiar with the movie, resemble. I think they were on the wall of the bowling alley. Yes, that's right, yeah. And they made it up as well. So that's something that will only be on the early Achiever games. Yeah, I don't know whether I'm misremembering it, but I thought that was actually in the original design for the game that would have the bottom apron would be backlit and with those sort of starburst cutouts in various colours. And then I think it was later taken out of the production games as it was either not something they could do reliably or it was too expensive. Right. And I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I think it had got enhanced. it now says early achiever edition it's also cut out in the apron and I guess that they are able to offer such apron now has to do with finding a new supplier for sheet metal right yes so Barry has been outsourcing or looking to outsource the assembly of certain parts in the game as it's not practical or not the best use of their time to actually go building up cables themselves or some of the assemblies it would make a lot more sense to get those made outside and just brought in as complete units so they can then just add into the game so he's been doing that he said and there was there was also some potentially very good news for those early achievers in that Barry was saying he thought that in early 2020, i.e. in a couple of months' time, he hopes to be able to start sending out the first early achiever games to those people who are already paid. Right. Well, that certainly is good news. And there was even more news, because there was a code update for the Big Lebowski. Yeah, I don't think anybody was expecting that just yet. But it's certainly made some improvements. There were issues with the car toy, which sort of comes out. It's on the upper playfield, which could swing out. And it used to sort of judder at times or not move smoothly in and out. Now they've changed the code. and that is apparently from reports from those who have installed it generally fixed that problem, I think. So that's very good. Other than that, there hasn't been a lot of stuff going on. There's been a few enhanced lighting effects and a slight rules change to a time of stop when the ball is either in the upper playfield or in the pop bumpers. And, yeah, talk of pop bumpers, there's LED. Oh, no, there's just more slingshots rather than pop bumpers, to be fair. Yeah, there's lamp effects on those as well. And there's also something for the online players, because you can log in and register your scores with the Dutch Pinball servers, and there are now some trophies that can be won if you log in before starting the game. So that's nice to see. There will be future updates, I'm sure, as they get a little more time away from having to set up their manufacturing and get on to writing more code and testing it within the factory. But it's nice to see a new version come out, so that's something for those people who have the game. And I think that's pretty much everything, unless you have any more insights. So have you spoken to Barry recently? No, not the past month, no. Okay. And no more insights other than what we've already brought you? Yeah. No, I think basically that's all we have for this month. I do have to mention that at the beginning of November, there was the Dutch pinball open. You were there as well. You wrote a very impressive report. so if people are interested in what that show was like, then visit Martin's website, pinballnews.com. That's very kind. And, yeah, it was a good show. I enjoyed it. You and I did our quiz there. We were fortunate enough to have a nice bunch of prizes from our sponsors. Yeah. So thanks to them. And, of course, we will be back doing that again in Texas in March. And at the Miss White Gaming Classic. Absolutely, yeah. So if you don't catch us down in Frisco, you'll be able to catch us up in Milwaukee. And for those of you who are going to both, we're going to have to come up with two sets of quiz questions, aren't we? Yeah, I'm going to say yes. Yeah. So some work there for us to do, but we should hopefully be able to give away some more lovely prizes. Right. so I guess that's it for now I'm still waiting for Gary to call but as soon as we finish he'll call probably but oh well better luck next time Gary and well that's it for now I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine there is a slight bit of delay on the reprint of Pinball Magazine number 2 speaking of my own magazine but I hope to go to print this month and Pinball Magazine is not shipping out any orders in December because we had terrible experiences with that in the past so the reprint of Pinball Magazine number 2 should be available early January and then we start immediately shipping those Great and is there any insight you can give us as to when or if the next edition of Pimble Magazine might be available? Well, it's a good one. I'm aiming for the middle of March because we have two Pimble shows that we'll be attending and I'd like to have the magazine there. But I still have to get started and I also have a career in producing music and I've been really producing a lot of music lately. Yeah, it's been a busy time, I know. Yeah, we talk about that off mic, but it certainly does sound like that's a big growth area at the moment. Yeah, certainly content-wise, still a lot of that music has to be released. That's actually part of the plan. So currently the plan is to, this week, I will make a planning for music to be released in the first couple of months of 2020, which will not see a lot of promotion other than being released and having the usual promotional things going on. But hopefully some of that can be automated. And in the meantime, I hope to focus on finishing Pimple Magazine number six. Great. Well, fingers crossed that will be available in time for Texas and Milwaukee. Yeah. And Midwest Gaming Classic. It's going to be a big task. Basically, I have like three months to do it, and then it needs to go to print. But, yeah, I really want to get a new issue out as well, and not just the reprint of issue two. And, of course, we'll be back with our podcast as well, so that takes up a huge chunk of time as well, doing all the research. into what's been going on in the pinball world. So, yeah, you've got a busy year ahead. Oh, well. I'm used to that. You wouldn't want it any other way. No. So far, I'm pretty happy with my life. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess we'll have to do it without Gary, but we'll be back next month with our recap of December of 2016. Sorry, 2019. But who knows, we might do another year as well. Yeah, let's do a retro version. We look back at a popular month and all the news. Yes. Okay, so until then, anyway, we'll see you in January 2020, or the end of December, with that look back at the month. And so until then, let us wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever you are celebrating. and we hope that 2020 is another fantastic year for both you and for pinball. Right, okay. And the same for me. So that's it for now. Until next month. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 9d1b7f4f-4c6f-4538-9371-fd34f33d34a9*