# Episode 49: Pinball 2026: What’s REALLY Coming (Rumors vs Reality)

**Source:** The Flipside Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-01-01  
**Duration:** 59m 38s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** ce9addd2-fa24-4555-aa40-773940e94c6d

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## Analysis

Retro Ralph discusses 2026 pinball releases across manufacturers with varying confidence levels. Key upcoming titles include Stern's Pokemon (Q1), Transformers (rumored Q2), and Fallout (Q3), plus a remaster (possibly AC/DC). Boutique manufacturers are releasing Spooky's Beetlejuice (production ramping), Jersey Jack's Sonic the Hedgehog, and Chicago Gaming Company's potential Halo. Ralph expresses personal ambivalence about Pokemon and AC/DC remaster while highlighting excitement for Transformers, Goonies (Spooky rumor), and Sonic.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Pokemon will be Stern's Q1 2026 release, announced mid-to-late January, not at CES — _Based on conversations with industry contacts, Nap Arcade reporting, Kaneda commentary, and George Gomez interviews_
- [HIGH] Transformers (G1-based) is expected to be Stern's second cornerstone release later in 2026 — _Referenced as high-confidence based on industry discussions and George Gomez interview_
- [MEDIUM] Fallout is likely Stern's Q3 2026 release — _Positioned between Pokemon and Transformers in quarterly roadmap_
- [MEDIUM] AC/DC is rumored as a Stern remaster but Ralph expresses skepticism about this choice — _Mentioned as part of remaster pipeline; Ralph suggests Tron or Lord of the Rings would be better choices_
- [HIGH] Halo is a high-confidence rumor for Chicago Gaming Company with Play Mechanics involvement — _Play Mechanics' large Microsoft/Halo license holdings and existing relationship supports likelihood_
- [HIGH] Spooky's Beetlejuice production ramping up in January 2026 with games already in production — _Nap Arcade posted photos of Beetlejuice production lineup online_
- [MEDIUM] Goonies is a medium-confidence rumor for Spooky's next game after Beetlejuice — _Based on speculative data and teasing at Twippies event (though Barrels later revealed it was Dune teasing)_
- [HIGH] Jersey Jack's Sonic the Hedgehog (video game-based, not movie) is confirmed for 2026, designed by Steve Ritchie — _High-confidence statement by Ralph based on direct knowledge_
- [MEDIUM] Sonic likely to be an Expo 2026 reveal due to Harry Potter production backlog still being cleared — _Logistical assessment based on JJP's current production schedule_

### Notable Quotes

> "I think with high confidence...Pokemon is going to be the game that we see in the first quarter of 2026 from Stern Pinball."
> — **Retro Ralph**, early in episode
> _Core claim about Stern's 2026 lead game announcement_

> "This might be the first Stern game that I decide to sit this one out. I don't have any nostalgia for Pokemon."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Pokemon discussion section
> _Reveals host's personal lack of interest in a major upcoming title despite recognizing its market appeal_

> "I don't know why they'd go AC/DC...I think Tron would be a brilliant game to remaster. Lord of the Rings would be another one."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Stern remaster discussion
> _Expresses community feedback concerns about remaster selection strategy_

> "I can't think of a better property for pinball or one of the top properties for pinball than Sonic the Hedgehog. It pulls on nostalgia heartstrings big time."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Jersey Jack section
> _Endorsement of Sonic as ideal pinball IP; expresses high personal excitement_

> "I can't think of a better company to make Goonies than Spooky Pinball and Goonies seem so on brand for Spooky."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Spooky/Goonies discussion
> _Speculative endorsement of rumored Goonies title and manufacturer fit_

> "Harry Potter was like the game that broke it down for them. Finally, it's a fun shooter."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Jersey Jack section
> _Assessment of Harry Potter's success impact on JJP's trajectory_

> "If this happens, I am going to be all over this and this will be an instant buy for me, which is Goonies."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Goonies rumor discussion
> _Shows personal enthusiasm threshold for Goonies vs. other titles_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Retro Ralph | person | Host of The Flipside Pinball Podcast; content creator covering pinball games, industry news, and event coverage |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer with planned 2026 releases: Pokemon (Q1), Transformers (rumored Q2), Fallout (Q3), and AC/DC remaster |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer with Beetlejuice in production ramp-up; Goonies rumored as next title |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Premium boutique manufacturer with confirmed 2026 release: Sonic the Hedgehog (video game version, designed by Steve Ritchie) |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Manufacturer with Halo as high-confidence 2026 rumor; Mark Ritchie as potential designer; Play Mechanics software partnership |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer at Jersey Jack; confirmed designer of Sonic the Hedgehog; described as fast/aggressive design style match for Sonic |
| George Gomez | person | Chief Creative Officer/Head of Product at Stern Pinball; interviewed by Retro Ralph and Kerry Hardy about 2026 roadmap |
| Mark Ritchie | person | Pinball designer at Chicago Gaming Company; designed Pulp Fiction; rumored for potential Halo design |
| Eric Minier | person | Jersey Jack executive; worked with Retro Ralph on Harry Potter featurette production |
| Ken Cromwell | person | Jersey Jack producer transitioning away from company; worked with Retro Ralph on Harry Potter featurette |
| Play Mechanics | company | Software partner for Chicago Gaming Company; major Microsoft/Halo license holder with arcade game history |
| Nap Arcade | company | Pinball media outlet; posted photos of Beetlejuice production lineup online; reporting on industry news |
| Kaneda | person | Pinball industry commentator/content creator; discussed Stern's 2026 plans and Pokemon timing |
| Kerry Hardy | person | Pinball content creator; conducted George Gomez interview discussed by Retro Ralph |
| Pokemon | game | Stern's Q1 2026 release; based on major global IP; expected media day around mid-to-late January |
| Transformers | game | Stern's rumored Q2 2026 cornerstone; G1-based design; designed by Elliot Eisman |
| Fallout | game | Stern's rumored Q3 2026 release; based on Fallout video game franchise and/or TV series |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | game | Jersey Jack's confirmed 2026 release; video game-based (not movie); designed by Steve Ritchie; high collector interest |
| Beetlejuice | game | Spooky Pinball's current production; ramping up in January 2026; positive community reception based on gameplay videos |
| Goonies | game | Medium-confidence rumor for Spooky's next release after Beetlejuice; Retro Ralph expresses strong personal interest |
| Halo | game | High-confidence rumor for Chicago Gaming Company 2026 release; Microsoft licensed property; Play Mechanics software involvement |
| Evil Dead | game | Spooky's 2025 hit release; context for Spooky's current market position and reputation |
| Harry Potter | game | Jersey Jack's 2025 premium release; subject of Retro Ralph's featurette production; successful flagship game for JJP in 2025 |
| Pulp Fiction | game | Chicago Gaming Company release; designed by Mark Ritchie; featured limited mechanics due to license holder (Quentin Tarantino) constraints |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Boutique manufacturer; released Winchester Mystery House at Expo 2025; previously teased Goonies (later revealed as Dune teasing) |

### Topics

- **Primary:** 2026 Stern Pinball Roadmap, Boutique Manufacturer Releases (Spooky, Jersey Jack, Chicago Gaming), Upcoming Game Announcements and Timing
- **Secondary:** Nostalgia and IP Selection in Pinball Design, Designer-to-IP Matching (Steve Ritchie/Sonic, Mark Ritchie/Halo), Production Scheduling and Backlog Management, Personal Preferences vs. Market Appeal
- **Mentioned:** Licensing Constraints on Game Design

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.62) — Ralph is enthusiastic about several 2026 titles (Sonic, Halo, Goonies potential, Transformers) but expresses clear skepticism about Pokemon and AC/DC remaster. Overall tone is optimistic about the year's pipeline while offering constructive criticism about manufacturer decision-making. Personal digressions about family and pizza are warm and positive.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Jersey Jack still clearing Harry Potter production backlog, positioning subsequent releases (Sonic) for later calendar (Expo likely) (confidence: medium) — Ralph notes JJP 'so backlogged still with Harry Potter games' and positions Sonic as likely Expo reveal rather than earlier announcement
- **[sentiment_shift]** Community expectations for remaster selections diverging from Stern's apparent choices (AC/DC); Ralph requests community feedback on design preferences (confidence: medium) — Ralph explicitly encourages comments section engagement and suggests Tron/Lord of the Rings alternatives; notes Metallica remaster as positive example
- **[design_philosophy]** Steve Ritchie's fast/aggressive design style positioned as ideal match for Sonic's high-speed gameplay characteristics (confidence: high) — Ralph explicitly states 'Sonic is fast. His designs are fast. So I can't think of a better person to be put on it'
- **[event_signal]** Multiple 2026 releases (Pokemon, Transformers potential, Sonic, Halo potential) positioned for Pinball Expo 2026 reveal timing rather than CES (confidence: medium) — Ralph notes no new games expected at CES 2026; positions Expo (March) as probable revelation timeframe for multiple titles
- **[licensing_signal]** Play Mechanics' substantial Microsoft/Halo licensing portfolio supports confidence in Halo pinball development; license holder trust established through arcade game history (confidence: high) — Ralph explains Play Mechanics' extensive Halo licensing and existing arcade game portfolio (Firestorm/Team Raven reference) as foundation for trust with license holder
- **[market_signal]** Nostalgia and IP recognition positioned as primary drivers for game selection and appeal in 2026 (Pokemon, Sonic, Halo, Goonies all high-nostalgia properties) (confidence: high) — Repeated references to nostalgia as decision factor: 'pulls on nostalgia heartstrings,' core childhood memories for Goonies/Sonic, generational product recognition
- **[product_strategy]** Stern's 2026 roadmap appears solidified with Pokemon Q1, Transformers Q2, Fallout Q3, and AC/DC remaster confirmed in planning (confidence: high) — Ralph states roadmap 'has probably been done for a while' and references multiple corroborating sources (Nap Arcade, Kaneda, George Gomez interviews)
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Spooky ramping Beetlejuice production January 2026; games already in production pipeline confirmed by Nap Arcade photos (confidence: high) — Direct reference to Nap Arcade blog photos showing Beetlejuice production lineup
- **[rumor_hype]** AC/DC as Stern remaster choice circulating but subject to community skepticism about selection strategy (confidence: medium) — Ralph explicitly criticizes this choice and calls for community input on remaster selections; suggests Metallica remaster as better example
- **[rumor_hype]** Goonies rumored for Spooky's next release after Beetlejuice; medium confidence based on speculative data and Twippies event teasing (confidence: medium) — Event teasing at Twippies (later revealed as misdirection for Dune); Ralph positions as speculative but thematic fit for Spooky

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## Transcript

 Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the flip side podcast. I'm your host retro Ralph. We are here for almost episode 50. I want to say happy new year to everybody. This is new year's day. The day you're listening to this right now. I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and everyone had a great and safe Happy New Year. You know, I thought for this episode we'd do something a little different to kick off the new year just because we had so much amazing pinball in 2025, but there's so much right around the corner that I thought we'd kind of leave 2025 behind. I will make references to it every now and then, But I want to sort of bring forward what we have to look forward to in 2026 because there's a lot. There is a lot. There's even a new player in the mix here, too. So that's exciting. So we're going to talk through all of that. But before we get started, I just want to give a word to our sponsor, Flip N Out Pinball. If you're looking for a new pinball machine, a used pinball machine, you want to get on a list for one of these 2026 games, go hit up Zach, Nicole, Greg or Ken over at Flip N Out Pinball. All the information is in the description of this podcast. All right, let's get started. I think we're going to just go around the horn and we're going to look at each. I can't believe I said around the horn. That is not a term I use. I don't even know what that means. What is around the horn? If anybody knows the origins of around the horn, there's all these like things we say in the English vocabulary that I'm not sure where it came from, probably our parents or something. But yeah, around the horn. So we're going to go in, we're going to go one by one to each manufacturer and we're going to talk about what's supposedly rumored and I'll kind of give you a confidence level of that rumor. So some of these things are pretty much determined that they're going to happen and some we're not sure yet. So I'm going to go through each one. So I thought we'd start with Stern. So we're going to start with Stern Pinball. Now CES 2026 is starting on the 6th. I think it's the 6th through the 9th of January. I did buy a ticket to CES thinking that the game that would be originally announced at CES, and we would see it live there, was going to be Transformers by Elliot Elliot Eismin, the designer. Now, that's not what's actually going to happen, it sounds like. I think with high confidence, at least if we look and read into some of the things Nap Arcade has said, some of the things that Kaneda has said, some of the, oh, excuse me, I'm gassy a little bit today. Some of the things that have just been out in the open from our George Gomez interview, Kerry's George Gomez interview. If you haven't seen Kerry's, go back and watch it. And if you definitely haven't seen ours, go watch ours. We took a little bit of a different stance with George. So I originally thought it was going to be Transformers. Now, I don't think that Transformers isn't coming. I just think Transformers is coming later on in the year. So it's probably going to be the second cornerstone of the year. But I think we can say with very high confidence that Pokemon is going to be the game that we see in the first quarter of 2026 from Stern Pinball. Now, the problem with that is that I originally thought it was going to be at CES. I don't think any new games are going to be at CES based on conversations that I've had with certain people. And I think what we're going to see is Pokemon with high confidence that I think is going to be the game. Now, I will say this. My kids were kind of into Pokemon when the Pokemon Go thing came out. Now, my kids now, my son just turned 18 and my daughter is 22. As a matter of fact, I wanted to show you guys a picture of my son really quick. Like if you're watching on the or you're listening on the audio version, you're not going to see this. But I can't believe my son is 18. This is a picture of we went out and had some pizza at this really cool restaurant that had some awesome beers, awesome craft beers. They have this craft beer that I really like called Church Music. If you're in Arizona, I don't know if you can get it outside of Arizona. But if you're in Arizona, definitely give Church Music a try. I know it's a local brewery. I don't know if they distribute it outside of Arizona, but really good beers. they didn't really do too well with the old fashions they definitely didn't do old fashions but anyways that's my son over there he's 18 years old he's going to he accepted to go to college in Hawaii which I'm like I don't know the kid is amazing he's a good kid but he also loves to surf and he loves action sports so I'm a little bit nervous because everything he's talking about is more about surfing and hanging out with his friends than actually going to school So, hey, kid, you better do a good job. But that's Kim. If you've never seen Kim on the right, that's my wife, Kim. She was on one of the first episodes or maybe the first five episodes of the Flipside podcast, which was established in 2024, believe it or not. So sometime in this year, we're going to be hitting our two-year anniversary. And I couldn't be more happy with all the just positive acceptance from the community and all of that. So, yeah. So my kids, 18, 22, they were into Pokemon Go when it came out. Now, I always say that game really or nostalgia has a scale, right? I don't have any nostalgia for Pokemon. So this might be the first Stern game that I decide to sit this one out. I know all of you guys are rolling your eyes already, whether you're listening to this at the gym or in your car or on your TV, which it says that most of you guys are watching it on a TV. But anyways, at least that's what the analytics say. You're probably like, no, he's going to get it. He's going to get it. I don't think so. Now, my buddy Andrew, which is known as New Me- no, not New Mexico. Minnesota Retro Ranger. No, no, Retro Gamer. Retro Gamer. I always screw it up. I'm so sorry, Andrew. Maybe you should just change it. Because I can't get it right, but maybe it's just fun now that no one gets it right. He's wicked into Pokemon. So he's very excited. See, I'm not, so this is just not something I'm overly excited about. Now, that could totally change if the game just shoots amazingly well and has some crazy awesome shots. I like the way games play, but I'll tell you right now, when I'm looking at games, I evaluate everything, right? The theme, the music, the callouts, the way the layout and design is, the way the code is developed. So I still don't think I'm going to buy this one, but I do know there's a large demographic of people that are very interested in this title. It's one of the largest IPs in the world. So I do think this is going to be a success for Stern, but it's just not one that tugs on my heartstrings. and it's definitely not in the nostalgia realm for me at all now we know there are there there are certain manufacturers that have tugged on those nostalgia heartstrings in 2025 and i think they've done well because of that spooky being one of them with beetlejuice but we're not talking about spooky right now but so i'm going to table spooky for a little bit so i think we're going to get pokemon but i don't think we're going to get it at ces we're going to get it a little bit later so i'm thinking mid to late january we should get it and i hope uh they do a media day and i can go and get some coverage on it. Plus, I really love those media days because I get to see a lot of the people that also make content that I've become friends with over the years. So that's kind of Pokemon. I do want to know if you guys are excited about it. I think the one thing that they could really exploit for Pokemon that could be really cool is Insider Connected because there's a big group of people that focus on the card games and collecting and trading. And I think you could do some cool things with Insider Connected there. Like Dwight Sullivan would probably be a really great person to be on code for this game because he goes through these like very elaborate flow charts in his mind and he can get a little crazy. But we like crazy and pinball. So we'll see what happens with Pokemon. But I'm not personally pumped up for it. But I know there are a lot of people that are. So for me, I'm waiting for Transformers, which should be the and, you know, this is all rumored, but we're expecting it to be G1 Transformers. That's going to be later on in the year. So honestly, I'm really excited to talk and report on Pokemon and see how it is. I hope I get to play it. But for me, that one is not one that I am super pumped up or excited about. But I can say with high confidence, it's going to come in Q1. I just don't think it's going to come in time for CES, which is fine. Because CES is literally next week. So if it was going to happen, they probably would have had to tease it this week. So you never know. Maybe they'll still tease it. I don't think they're ready. I think it's going to take another week. And not to mention, it kind of sucks because I'm going to go off on a little bit of a tangent for a second. The Walking Dead remaster is remastered. It's actually really good. I own it. I'm loving it. If you're a fan of the original, I think you'll really like this. But if you're someone that's never played The Walking Dead or you only have played it on location, you're not looking to pick up a used one, I do think you should at least play it on location and see what you think. And then what I would also say to do is go watch our live stream we did with Surge from Electric Bat. Kale, Rachel, Surge, and Rudy were at my house. And Surge did probably one of the best breakdowns to get you started playing that game and understanding the codes and rules that Lyman Sheets put out there. So we'll table that. So what's next after that? So if Pokemon is Q1 and Transformers is Q3, then we can probably say with medium certainty that Fallout is going to be their Q3 release. Now, I have not watched the Fallout TV series. I have played the games, or some of them. I think I played the original one. I think there's several games. I only played the original. I have a hard time with modern gaming. I just don't, I don't know. I'm a retro gamer when it comes to video, the video side of the house. So it's mainly because I just, it gets too complex for me, which is funny because pinball is complex, but it's, you're using two, two fingers, you know, two flippers to operate a, a pinball machine. It gets a lot more complex when you have like a million buttons on a controller. I just, I just don't, I don't know. I just, it just modern gaming has never really been something that I've been all that good, good with. And plus I, I really deep dive into a hobby and I'm, I'm deep into pinball. I don't think the amount of free time I put into pinball, I could also put into playing video games on my TV too. So we'll see. Maybe, maybe maybe i mean kale and jamie are always playing call of duty and i feel left out but i feel like i'm not good at those games so they'd probably like be like hey kid scram like beat it you're you're no good so before we wrap up stern the only other thing is there's a vault game that's coming or maybe not a vault but another remastered if they stay on this idea of remastering games now i think that this is probably all solidified the roadmap's probably already done It's been done for a while. So I wouldn't be surprised if this is the game that comes out. I'm not excited at all for this, if this is the one that comes out. If it's ACDC, like they're saying, sure, I like ACDC as a band, but I just don't want an ACDC game. So this is going to be another one that I will definitely stay on the sidelines. I wish they would consider being a little bit more, I don't know, going into a little bit more of what people probably want from these remasters. I think Tron would be a brilliant game to remaster. and I think people genuinely like that game. Lord of the Rings would be another one that they could probably bring out. I just, I don't know why they'd go ACDC. So this is one where I'd like to see Stern, before we close out on Stern, I'd like to see them maybe pull the community a little bit more and see what people would really want because I just don't think ACDC is what we want. And if you're going to do a remaster, it should be something that people really want. Like, look at what happened with Metallica. First of all, it was beautiful. I think Borg did an amazing job bringing that back. Ray Day did some really cool things to sort of like enhance the code to add some new things to the game to make it new and interesting. They fixed some geometry problems with the original one. And everyone genuinely really likes Metallica Remastered. I don't know. I don't even think the next one should be a music pin. So I don't know. You know, games I would love to see if you're going to do music. Do something that, but this is not, this doesn't fall into the Remastered category. Like I always would have wanted like a Linkin Park pinball machine or a Nine Inch Nails pinball machine or something like that. It's kind of like going off this genre a little bit of like classic rock. I also think it'd be really cool to do like, I know this has been tossed around before and I don't know why, but like some kind of hip hop pinball machine. Like imagine like a Death Row Records pinball machine or something like that. Like, let's break the mold of the rock-only genre for pinball machines. But, you know, I think that'd be getting a little bit into the risk territory. But let's take more risks, Stern, you know? I mean, but I like the lineup for the most part. Like, I think Transformers is going to be cool. I think Fallout's going to be cool. Now, the complaints of Stern for 2025 was that, you know, depending on where you look, because there's all different edges of the community. You go to Pinside, you go to some other, you know, content creators that maybe take a more controversial approach to their evaluation of games and there's been this consensus that stern has been cheaping out or not doing things and i i don't necessarily see it that way i think the what why we might see it that way is the boutiques have really brought back lots of mechs and toys and things and maybe adding some additional things to the games and really getting a little bit away from flat plastics and using more molds and sculpts but i mean stern had some pretty cool things last year i mean the dragon mech in dungeons and dragons was pretty damn cool and that was pretty risky doing dungeons and dragons i think even though that even though that ip is big and i think stranger things sort of brought dnd into the modern era a little bit even though when i used to go to shows like uh southern fried gaming expo which i kind of stopped going to but it's a show i really like they have a whole table game section and people play the whole weekend they are sitting there playing having a blast so table games are very popular still but I think there's been a resurgence in table games. So I don't think D&D was a bad call. I think it was good. There were a couple things and complaints I had about that game. I'm going to do a shout out to Enzo and Dirty Pool Pinball. They didn't like that everything had to be set up from that right shot with the magnet that holds it. I don't know if they changed that because I did sell D&D. I beat, that was the first pinball machine I ever beat. It did frustrate me a little bit because a lot of the shots had to be set there and you had no choice. And there were also modes where the shot didn't move. So unless you, like if it was a shot that's difficult, you could be in that mode for days and days and weeks sometimes to beat certain modes within that game. Now, lucky for us, they had the progression saving stuff, so that did help. But let's move on from Stern. The next one I'm going to go to is one that we don't talk about that much, which is Chicago Gaming Company. Now, Pulp Fiction I did own for a short period of time. I decided to move it along, not because I don't like it, but more because I needed space, and it was one that I didn't get as emotionally connected to as others. But they did a great job with theme integration. That was Mark Ritchie that did that game Now what really cool is they were kind of handcuffed a little bit when CGC designed that game They were a little handcuffed by what the license holder which would have been Quentin Tarantino, wanted. He didn't want a multi-level pinball machine. He didn't want a bunch of ramps and things like that. He wanted it to play and look more like a 70s style pinball machine, which I think they achieved, but it kind of probably handcuffed Richie a little bit in the sense that there's rumors that he had a more elaborate design for Pulp Fiction that never saw the light of day. So the biggest rumor around CGC will be the second video game property if it happens, which would be Halo. There's no confirmation of Halo, but it's been talked about. It makes sense because Play Mechanics plays a role here. Play Mechanics does the software end of CGC's pinball machines. Play Mechanics has a gigantic, they're a gigantic license holder of Microsoft's Halo, and they have the Firestorm Team Raven or whatever it's called. I've covered it on the Retro Ralph YouTube channel. Every year I go to a show out in Vegas called Amusement Expo International. Mason and I, we go together. It's a video I really enjoy doing because it keeps my toe in the arcade waters. More of the new stuff, like the new, I'm always fascinated by the new arcade games that come out because arcade gaming is still a big part of my life i just don't you know restore cabinets anymore or really want my house being consumed with tons of old arcade games and repairing them i might at one day go back to it not go back to it meaning leaving pinball but i might if i had more space one day problem is my garage now looks amazing it's nice and clean in there and i don't know if i want to um you know i don't know if i want to like mess it all up again and get back into that kind of thing so i am having so much fun because I'm playing games versus restoring them as the majority of my time spent. So Halo is one that I don't know like where Halo lies in like the popularity right now, because the last Halo game I think came out a while ago now. I think it came out when the Xbox Series X launched, I think. I might be wrong on that. I did play a little bit of it, but I didn't. I got stuck in one area. I could literally couldn't figure out what to do. I probably should have given it more time but i do like the original halo i when i when i got my first apartment uh living by myself i had an original xbox and i used to play halo all the time with my buddy uh at that time so so halo is a big one for me and it was a launch title for xbox that really i thought brought a lot to the table and it had some ambiance to it that was really cool i i think the theme music is cool i i do think they could do some really cool things with halo so i'm kind of excited and this would be one that mark ritchie could probably have a field day with he could probably do whatever he wants and i think you know obviously license holders do hold some semblance of uh of of control when it comes to what you can do but i think because play mechanics has done so much with microsoft in and building arcade games that there's probably a lot of trust there so i do think that's going to be a cool one should that be accurate but i'd say i'd put that one at a high confidence level. I do think that we're probably going to see it. Will we see it at TPF? I don't think so. We probably will see it around. We could, we could, I don't know. And I am going to go to TPF. Jamie and I are going to go to TPF. I'm trying to get Cale to go, but I don't know. He's really busy at the arcade with Rachel. So I don't know if they're going to make it, but if it does hit TPF, that's going to be pretty cool. So, but I would imagine TPF timeframe would probably be let's see tpf is in march jerry frame march so that'd probably be pokemon still i don't know if transformers would be ready by then so we'll see so they could be transformers but i'm excited for cgc i think that's cool so so far we've got some pretty big like banger titles that are going to hit in 2026 and we're just talking about the larger companies right now now let's go to a boutique manufacturer spooky right spooky totally knocked it on the park when it came to Beetlejuice. Now, no one's really played it. Like, a very small subset of people have played it. I've seen gameplay videos. It looks amazing. Now, Spooky's been one that came off this giant hit with Evil Dead. And Evil Dead, what's funny about Spooky is that I don't have the historicals. I wasn't in the hobby when Spooky first came out. Although, it's funny because I was in a pinball tournament forever ago. This was when I was, like, on the cusp of getting into pinball. And I played America's Most Haunted, which I think was Spooky's first game, or Spooky's first official game they built and um i hated it but but but hey the funny thing is i've revisited that game uh at barrels of fun because i have it in their lobby or in their little like office space area and i kind of enjoyed it a little bit more there but it's probably because i was so bad at pinball at that time there was really difficult and then they had one of those white like almost um i don't know what those what material those balls are made out of but it's like that they call it something when they throw those those balls in a game but they play way different than the regular ball so not only was the game hard for me but it was even harder because of that ball so what spooky got around the corner so beetlejuice like literally beetlejuices are probably going to be being made this month so beetlejuice is going to start production they already started a bunch of them nap arcade had like a a photo he put on the internet that had uh on his blog site that had a lineup of beetlejuices so they're being made but they're going to probably really ramp up production in January, and they did awesome with that. So that's the game they currently have, and then Spooky doesn't release their next game until later in the year. So people are going to be getting their Beetlejuices. We're going to hear lots of feedback. I'm going to get mine. I'm going to stream it. So that's one where I really would love Surge to come, and he probably already knows the rules, which is so crazy. So what's next for Spooky? Because we're talking about moving forward, not moving back. But it seems weird because Beetlejuices are not even in people's homes yet, and we're talking about the next game. This one, if it happens, I'd say this is medium confidence level. If this happens, I am going to be all over this and this will be an instant buy for me, which is Goonies. That movie was something that was such a core part of my childhood. My sister and I used to watch it over and over and over again. There's so many cool elements of that. Like imagine a mode where, remember when they're trying to play the piano and the ground is falling underneath them? Like the piano keys could be shots. And if you miss the shot, the ground breaks underneath you just like it did and i can't think of a better company to make goonies than spooky and i gotta think because of the theme of i don't know just goonies seem so on brand for spooky pinball and i just know they would do it justice so that's what we have to look forward to if that's accurate i don't know that's that's speculative based on a lot of you know data that's been out there but then you had weird things like if you guys remember barrels of fun when we were out for the Twippies out at the wormhole in Houston, we went to Barrels of Fun. It was part of the festivities of the Twippies, and they were hiding, I don't know if it was Colin doing it or if it was Barrels of Fun doing it, but they were hiding pieces that were teasing people that it was basically going to be Goonies as the next game, but we found out later it was Dune. So, I don't know, what do you guys think? I'd love to know. I really want the comments section to be active here because these are all some of this is speculative and some of its high confidence some of its medium confidence would you want spooky to do goonies as the next game i to me i would i would but hold on to goonies because there's gonna be something kind of interesting when we get uh to some of the other manufacturers because i think uh there's some conflicting information as to sort of what we might get from barrels so we'll talk about barrels in a minute but the next one i want to jump to is jersey jack now because i said i didn't want to look backwards in time, but I do want to mention this because it was one of my highlights of 2025. I was so grateful and so excited and just, it was just such a cool experience for me to work on my first featurette, which was Harry Potter. There was so much that went into Harry Potter and I got to really get to know, I had met Eric Minier in the past, but I never really got to spend a good amount of time with him. And that was something that I worked on a project with Mason and Mason and I, we've done big projects we've done big longer scale productions but nothing like a featurette and nothing like a featurette and we're holding ourselves to this high production value standard that we've kind of put out there and it was just it was one of my highlights even though ken cromwell was leaving um he was basically leaving um jersey jack at that time but he was so awesome to work with debbie one of the producers over there was awesome to work with joe katz was such a nice guy to work with, um, their mechanical engineer. I can't remember his name right now, but he was so great. Uh, Steve Ritchie walked in a couple of times and I made him, I made him say, uh, what did I make him say? Oh, I made him say you weak, pathetic fool. So that was pretty cool. Even though he's like, yo, he was so excited. I'm like, dude, do a voice for me. So, uh, so anyways, that whole team was awesome over there. Uh, everyone, Jack, uh, working with Alex over at Alex, who does their social media stuff, Alex Manning, he was awesome to work with. So it was just, it was just a lot of fun. But what's, what's the look forward for Jersey Jack? Well, the look forward for Jersey Jack, and I can say this with high confidence is Sonic the Hedgehog. And it's not going to be based on the movies. It's going to be based on the video game. And I can't think of a better property for pinball or one of the top properties for pinball than Sonic the Hedgehog. It pulls on nostalgia, of heartstrings big time for anyone that's around our age right we all had a Sega Genesis probably and we all probably played Sonic I don't know about the later Sonic games but I played the crap out of Sonic 1 2 and 3 and so I'm super excited and that's going to be Steve Ritchie now will that be at TPF I don't think so I think they're so backlogged still with Harry Potter games that that's going to probably be a expo game so so potentially a lot of these fall into the Expo territory, which could be really cool because we could have a lot of fun new games to play at Expo. Where this past year at Expo, we got some surprises, right? We got Barrels of Fun with Winchester, which was such a hit. I think people love the idea of this, you know, haunted house kind of thing. And there's been various haunted house games in the past. You know, it's, is it Gottlieb? I think it's Gottlieb with haunted house. You know, there's just games with anything haunted seems to be something that hits really well with the pinball community. And so they knocked it out of the park with that. So Jersey Jack, we have a lot to look forward to. It's Steve Ritchie. Sonic is fast. His designs are fast. So I can't think of a better person to be put on it. And they're riding the high off of Harry Potter, right? I think Harry Potter was like the game that broke it down for them. Finally, it's a fun shooter. The code still has complexities to it. but once you get past that, I just, it's a very, very fun game to shoot. And I want to break off real quick. We're still going to hang. We're going to wrap up Jersey Jack, but Christmas is over now. I had the family here. I want to, I want to play this little clip of this is my family on Christmas and, and everyone was like, we were getting ready to eat. Actually. It was like right before. And I, and I cook on Christmas. So it's stressful for me. I cook my, uh, my kids call them my famous meatballs. I cook my, uh, Sunday sauce or gravy. If you're Jamie virtual, he said, I'm not a real Italian because I said sauce and not gravy. Well, but here's the thing. So I have a guy who's Puerto Rican telling an Italian guy that he's not Italian. I'm like, Jamie, you're Puerto Rican. What the hell do you know about being Italian? So anyways, but he is from New York. So he's got that connection. So whatever. Anyways, my sister was very offended by this. She's like, we're Italian. What are you talking about? We're a hundred percent Italian. I was like, I know. I was like, I know Jamie doesn't think we're Italian. And my sister got upset, but she's not a – my sister is a very similar personality type to me. We're happy people for most of the time. So her version of upset and my version of upset to some people probably wouldn't be that upset. But she was like, you like this Jamie guy? I was like, yeah, we're good friends. So anyway, Jamie, whatever. I'm Italian. So, hey, I'm going to play this clip really quick because I'm going to break off a little bit. So we're kind of – I know everyone – people have said – not people. One person said on my last podcast I broke off into side quests too often. Well, sorry. That's just how I operate sometimes. So we're going on a side quest to rewind a little bit to Christmas. I want to show you some of my family enjoying the pinball machines. So that's my sister-in-law. She was playing Harry Potter, but she really liked Jaws. There's my brother-in-law on the left, on the right there. And that's Kim. Hey, Kim. So I will say it's very cool to get the perspective of a non-pinball player. So I'm going to break off and I'm going to tell you the games they liked the most. So the games that got the most play were Harry Potter, The Walking Dead Remastered, and what was the other one? And Jaws. Those are the ones that got the most play. now my brother-in-law i was interested in getting his perspective the most because oh no sorry the other game the fourth game that got the most play was predator now keep in mind harry potter my sister is really into harry potter so she was like all about it my brother-in-law is really into harry potter so they have some emotional connection to harry potter so it was the first one they went to now predator my brother-in-law is around the same age as me he loved predator because of the theme but he also thought the game was really fun to play and he just he felt like he was in that jungle world uh walking dead remastered he's really a big fan of walking dead now he never played the original walking dead my sister-in-law loves jaws so she was connected to jaws the whole time the one game that really didn't get a lot of play was two really one was fall of the empire by stern and i think the reason why well i'm going on their reason. So they said, look, I love the theme. Like it's Star Wars. That's for sure. We plunge the ball. But my brother-in-law specifically said, I feel like I'm struggling to do something. And I do think I want to retract something I said in 2025. I said the game was approachable. Now, the one thing he said that would fit into the approachable theme is he said, I like that I can see everything I need to shoot, except I can't hit any of the shots or I'm very rarely hitting the shots and so he felt the game was too hard he's like i'm not getting any like instant satisfaction from this game so why i think that is i think stern did make the game is not an easy game i think the game is hard for someone new and that kind of weird that you do that with star wars because star wars is such a big IP and and Ray Day is doing a great job on the code but if the shots are hard initially then you probably going to appeal more towards the tournament player and the advanced pinball player than the entry level person I think they should have flipped the game around a little bit made the shots easier but made the code a little bit made made the code approachable but complex at the same time which a lot of people do well like like ray day does that but um but here it's almost like even if the code is amazing for a beginner player they might struggle with that game so but it was cool to get like that focus group almost of my family to see what they would like and not like and why my brother-in-law also likes metallica a lot because i i tell him like hit the snake hit hit sparky you know so he knows what to do and so and i and i told him like instantly and he got it where it was hard for me to tell them the only thing i could really tell them that would be a simple shot on star wars was the the center hyperspace ramp so that was it so anyways we'll bounce back out that was my side quest it was very interesting getting their perspective though and i definitely have changed my tune a little bit on fall of the empire i like fall of the empire but i do agree with my brother-in-law that it it's not a very easy game to pick up and play Evil Dead did get a little bit of play too and everyone's like dude the shaker they were into the elements they put into it they liked the idea that you could go into the basement so my wife's cousin was the one that was into Evil Dead the most but he grew up watching it and he really loved the he said oh my gosh I feel like I'm playing the movie so that just like that to me is the if someone feels like they're playing the movie then I think you won you achieved what you wanted to achieve so closing it out on going back off our side quest going back into Jersey Jack I think that Sonic is going to be another big hit for them so I and I love seeing Jersey Jack succeed because I think there's been a little bit of like they released some games that I don't know whose heartstrings they were pulling on like I think Godfather I don't have enough time on Godfather but the couple times I've played it I wasn't like ready to revisit it I wasn't like oh my gosh I can't wait to play godfather again so i do like toy story despite the fact that it gets beat up on for being toy story 4 i do think that game's kind of fun uh and i love the original wizard of oz they did i think it's good but you know the one thing that i think helped jersey jack a lot was that they they they made some changes to the capacitors on the io board that um that really brought the flipper strength up and they feel more snappy and i think that was something that people was a common complaint on jersey jack machines like i don't feel the same way as i do on a stern game like stern games just have a certain feel to them with a flipper power just feels high it feels snappy and responsive and i think jersey jacks always felt a little flat so with uh i think they changed it in avatar it might have been one game before avatar i can't remember but uh but yeah so so that's so so i think them going into this huge success of harry potter it's i think jersey jack is going to be on another winner with sonic the hedgehog and i can't imagine a better property to pull on all of our nostalgic heartstrings i think that's how you get people man you gotta get hit on the nostalgia and i don't know a better title that they could be working on right now but sonic the hedgehog and i can say that with pretty much 100 certainty we all think that's the game that they're working on so let's move on to some of the smaller pinball manufacturers so dutch pinball is coming with back to the future so that's going to be the game that we see from them uh they are doing a game in between which i think is um raza i think they're doing raza before now raza i i talked to jamie jamie played the original raza and he was like it was always broken and i don't know that he really even liked it but also playing a game that isn't working isn't going to give you a good perspective on how good the game is not excited for raza i i wish i wish some of the companies would stop this whole like let's redo games that were kind of obscure because to me i mean i guess if they're just small runs that's fine but i don't think there's this like part of the community that's clamoring for a raza game so we'll see how that does but dutch pinball's biggest one that they're gonna hit with this year i think finally and it should be at expo is back to the future. Now, the negative to that is, you know, I can say that with probably medium to high certainty, but they just don't have the manufacturing capability. I've talked about this before. So this could be one of those things like Big Lebowski where people are waiting for years and years and years to get their games. And I think that's a scary territory for people to be in when it comes to pinball manufacturers because companies like Stern, even Spooky, even it's one game a year cycles, whereas Stern's like four games a year cycles. There's always something new. And if even if people really wanted Back to the Future, which I do, I don't I think I'm going to end up not being able to get one. And that's unfortunate because that is one of my most beloved childhood movies. I watched. Back to the Future, you know, I remember it was like one of the first we got a VCR. I recorded it and I would just watch it over and over again to the point where I don't even know that, like, you know, when you have to adjust the tracking on your VCR. Like, I think the tape was worn out. I've watched it so many times. So it's one that's so nostalgic. It brought so much magic to my childhood, like this idea of time travel. And there was a bunch of time travel movies in that time period, too. But, man, I can't think. And it's just, man, Michael J. Fox was just so good in that movie. Christopher Lloyd was so good. Leah Thompson. Like, the whole cast, Christopher Glover? Glovin? McLovin? I always forget his last name. But, yeah, it's like there's so many, like, diff. There's so many awesome characters. I don't know how you could... And then I think Christopher Franchi, shout out to Franchi, is the one doing the artwork on that. Franchi is going to have a huge year between Beetlejuice and Back to the Future. I just, yeah, I can't imagine that's not going to be a hit for them. My only problem is how are they going to get this thing out in time? That moves us to Pinball Brothers. So Pinball Brothers did Predator. Now that I own one, and I think I'm one of very few people that own one, Shout out to Chance Hammer, who – Chance is the one that kind of said, hey, man, it would be really cool if you bought this game and shed some light on this game. Now, I was taking a little bit of a chance because – no pun intended, Chance Hammer. I was – is that his real name? Like, it's a cool name if that's his real name. But I really wasn't sure about it. I played it at Electric Bat when it was on its way to Expo, and I played it again at Expo, and now that I have it, it's really unfortunate to me that people haven't realized how good of a game it really is. Yes, there's no Arnold. There is Arnold in it. He's just in it in very limited capacity. You don't see his face, and when there's scenes with him in it, they do a good job of – you know he's there. He's visible sometimes. Sometimes he's not, but the game is tremendously fun. And so that's one where I hope that people catch on to the fact that it's fun and start to pick it up because I think it could be one of those games where in the resale market with very few of them, if they sell them out, which I hope they do, it will be one of those ones that people are going to want to have in their collection. And I stand by it. I think it's a really, really fun game, and I'm glad I was able to get one. but um what's next for pinball brothers i don't know so that's one that's they're probably going to be working on their next game they probably are right now i don't know what it will be i'm hearing that it's going to be another like 80s nostalgic type game but i don't know exactly what that's going to be so that'll be kind of interesting so that that brings us to our next company which is barrels of fun now barrels of fun was interesting it was an interesting year for them because uh dune didn't take dune did not have a good launch like it was it was spotty at best the code wasn't ready i think they felt pressure by the other games that were coming out like king kong and they wanted to get it out there really quickly and the problem is i think that really hurt them i think it hurt the perception of the game now now fast forward to to now the code is way developed they had jeff from dirty pool create an awesome soundtrack for it or enhance the soundtrack of that game with sound effects and music and all sorts of things and it really is an immersive truly cinematic experience if you've if you've never played it definitely go seek it out and play it it also had some mechanical issues when it first came out they had some quality control issues which are now coming gone they're their way those those are gone so don't don't listen to this thinking i'm saying there's issues you should stay away from dune that's not the case um they just did their last call for dune which is actually which which if you're watching this on on the first and it's the new year the last call was uh december 31st of 2025 but i think they'll still be available i think you'll still be able to find them at distros that have them or that that are getting their allotment of that game i talked to zach at um at flipping out and they definitely have a higher demand post expo for that game but i think that's because winchester took off and people were like huh winchester's cool let me check out dune like maybe they weren't going to check out Dune and they did. The question is, what's their next game? Because Winchester is a short run. Dune is going to be wrapped up. Labyrinths are done. What's their next game? Now, the game that got this is this is low confidence for me. I have no idea whether this is true, but I'm hearing the never ending story. Now, this was another childhood favorite of mine, a movie I used to watch quite a bit, but. I don't know, like if there's any outlier movie that that if there's a company that likes to do outlier stuff i think it'd be barrels of fun i don't know how good i don't know how well that game will do like there's cool things in it it's kind of it's kind of got the whole like vibe you'd want in pinball you know kind of kind of campy kind of cult classic but i don't know that one's one where i'm kind of scratching my head going will that actually be successful or not now i was i was noodling around some crazy ideas in my head over the time I had off with work. And I'm like, you know what would be a cool, you know, it'd be a cool game for them to do because they like doing these outlier titles. And maybe you guys will think I'm nuts for this. I did do a Facebook post about it. The Last Dragon, who's a master Leroy? Like, dude, really? That would have you get the glow like that would be a cool and the music, the 80s music in The Last Dragon, if you could license it would be amazing. So the current rumor we have, again, this is the beginning of the year, so I don't, this could change, but the current, and they're very, very good at barrels at keeping a tight lip, extremely good at keeping a tight lip. So I don't know if this is accurate. It's just what we're hearing is the never ending story. So we'll see where that goes. Uh, Turner pinball, you know, they had Merlins and you know, the, the thing I'd like to say about Turner really quick is he does a lot of innovative things that I don't know have quite come to the forefront. Like, I don't think people realize the amount of engineering efforts that Chris Turner and the team over there have put into their games. Now, have they hit the nail on the head as far as themes? Like, do they have a theme that's with mass appeal? Not currently, right? Because I don't think Ninja Eclipse, it's an original IP. I don't think that really, it's a fun game to play, but it's not going to pull on this mass audience where you're going to sell thousands of them. Merlins, you're not in that same category either. But the game is fun to play. But I think with some of the competition and some of these other, like, really nostalgic properties that people are getting, it would be nice to see Chris in 2026 release something that's a larger IP that we all – because don't – I would say this. Don't be afraid to dip your toe in the Turner pinball water because he makes a really good product. The thing is I just don't think he's hit mass appeal on the theme yet. So I'm excited to see what they do, but currently there's no rumor that I can find or anything that I can find that would allude to them working on a specific license. So we're going to go to our last one, which is – we can talk about Pedretti in a minute because Pedretti has something interesting cooking too. But before we go to Pedretti, let's go to this new company called World Pinball. World Pinball is out of Sweden, and there's a very heavy rumor that they're doing Resident Evil. There's a landing page for it. I would think it'd be based on – I don't know if it's based on the video games or the movies. I'm not really sure. But I think Resident Evil is a good theme. Now, the thing that they're going to run into, number one, they're in Sweden, and number two, they're a brand-new company. So I have no idea what their production capabilities are going to be. So if I look at these companies, Spooky has proven they can build a good game, a good, solid, reliable game. Now, Jersey Jack, they've always really been able to build reliable games, but they weren't really hitting on the themes. They weren't hitting on the flipper feel. I think they've got that all taken care of. So they're safe to buy from. Right. Stern, we all know Chicago gaming. I don't think anybody would would claim that that they're not reliable. I think they have a little bit of communication issues. I don't know that they communicate a lot with the community as far as what they're doing and what they're working on. And, you know, Stern Stern, which we talked about. So we'll see where this world pinball thing shapes into. but supposedly like it's been in development for a little while and they're just now being vocal about it so i don't know if we'll see that at any pinball show like tpf or or uh pinball expo but that could be one to watch now we're gonna round we're gonna round it off and and stop with pedretti gaming so pedretti does a lot of these remakes and the next game supposedly is big bang bar um my buddy mark mark here in arizona he um shout out to mark he's got um a big bang bar an original uh i went to his house not that long ago because when he was the first person i think in arizona to have an evil dead so he's like you want to come over and play it rudy and i came over now what's funny is rudy was coming from um a festival that he goes to all month long which is like this medieval festival so he was dressed as he i was like dude i'm going over to mark's he has evil dead he's like i'm dressed as jack sparrow and i've been in it all day and i've been sweating my ass off outside you think he's fine if i come over i was like well he might think it's a little weird when you ring the doorbell and you open it up it is jack sparrow but sure like come on i had mark can he come yeah sure so he came dressed as jack sparrow we played evil dead Dead But we never did play as Big Bang Bar So I don't really have an opinion on Big Bang Bar, but I don't think there's a lot of people that are like clamoring for that either. But the one game that is rumored that they're going to do, which I think people would be excited for, is Tales of the Arabian Nights or Totan. That game is my wife's favorite game. so i think if my wife knew that that game would have accessibility to go by that'd be like one where i could probably get her to be like hey uh pick that one up you know and i'm always looking for games that we can play together she's not that into pinball so um you know she'll come in from time to time you know because we have the garage now and it's all remodeled and it looks amazing it's got air conditioning like it's it's great i really made it look like a space that doesn't feel like you're in a garage it feels like you're in a a game room slash youtube studio and uh she so she'll play like harry potter from time to time it's funny because i put it on easy one time because it has the uh that game changer thing and she like put up a billion score on harry potter at the time i hadn't not quite a billion it was a little shy of a billion and and at the time i don't know if they fixed this yet but at the time there were there were not different scoring tables for uh easy medium and wizard or whatever it is i think it's easy medium wizard i think is what it is so I was kind of pissed because I'm like, dude, like, I just got this game, and now I have to stare at my wife's name as, like, the top, and I'm very competitive, as you probably know from watching the streams, that, uh, that kind of bugged me, so anyways, so that's kind of where we're at, like, that's, but I think that's exciting, like, these are exciting titles going into this year, I think this could be one of the coolest years, especially for nostalgia, if you think about, Now, I'm not nostalgic for Pokemon, but there definitely is an age demographic a little bit younger than me that is. Transformers, our generation, or depending on how old you are and you're watching this. Fallout, I think that was a popular video game, so I think that will – maybe it's not nostalgic, but I think there's interest there, and especially because the TV series is ongoing. hallow it pulls on a little bit of a different heartstring thing because that's sort of like a lot of our original xbox that was our launch title and that was an exciting next generation console and a game we played a lot if spooky does beetlejuice our our core demographic dutch doing back to the future jersey jack doing sonic it's like the year of nostalgia and then you throw in like nostalgia for tales of the arabian nights you throw in you know i don't know what pinball brothers is doing but supposedly it's another 80s property you do something that's 80s from them if it's the right one that's cool and then resident evil i don't know man like this is going to be a cool cool year for pinball i thought 2025 was good though i thought 2025 was good i think there's a lot of games that got kind of shit on and they didn't they shouldn't have got shit on i think king kong did and now a lot of people are realizing like wow team elwynn did a really good job on that game i will say i don't think king kong is an appealing game to someone that's a beginner at pinball. I don't think that's the game I'd put them on. Right. I just don't, I don't feel like it's a, I feel like it's a little bit of a complex shooter. The one thing that was kind of interesting that I observed also during, during Christmas when my family was playing games with more than two flippers, I had to like literally explain that that flipper was there, show them how to use that flipper. And then they got it, but it wasn't like instant. They gravitated toward like two flipper games and i get that because it's it's you know two buttons two flippers it's simple for someone to pick up and and start where i think kong really leans toward the more advanced player i really do and um but it's an awesome game and that one got kind of got kind of crapped on predator kind of got crapped on dune initially got crapped on but now people are really picking up dunes i'm trying to think of what else came out last year dungeons the dragons i think that hit a unique market that was different for stern um you know if i had any like feedback for i don't really have a lot of feedback for the boutiques i think they're doing a lot to bring more value to the table get away from flat plastics really build these interesting worlds under glass but the stern effect is that i think their shots their layout shots code continual code updates insider connected like you put it all together and i i do feel like they may get away a little bit with using less of the flat plastics and are using more of the flat plastics and not putting as many sculpts or maybe focusing on like one core mech where these companies are really bringing a tons of mechs and almost like almost like bringing back back some of the the things that people loved about 90s pinball so it's going to be interesting to see if like the community as a whole has really gravitated toward that to the point where it affects Stern sales. And maybe it is to a little bit of a degree now, but then I look at like their production schedules and they keep building Godzilla's, they keep building Jaws is they keep building James Bond. So I think we are a little naive sometimes to say Stern is failing when they continue to pump out titles and that are selling and that there, there are demands, there are demands in the community to buy some of these titles, which are great. So we'll see. I don't know, but I think that's probably what I laid out is probably pretty accurate. I tried to give you guys the level of certainty with each one. But, you know, the only thing that I think can be difficult with pinball is you always want to bring new people into the hobby. But that's a fine, fine balance. You know, I tried to ask George that question and he answered it to a point, but I don't think he answered it all the way. Because I was really trying to say, look, you guys, you guys have a lot of players at Stern that are really good. And so if they play a game that might be difficult to the core community, but they're like, this game is amazing, you have to be careful there. Like, I wish they would solicit a little bit more feedback from the community when they're in the design period to say, like, how does this shoot? Do you feel like this is too hard? because I think nowadays you could probably build more of the complexity in the code side of it, but make the shots still like, you know, have one or one or two hard shots out of the X amount you have, but focus on that from an approachability standpoint so that you do bring more people into the community. And they're the ones that can pump out more games than anybody else. So like, think of that, like put a little bit of that more in your mindset. And I know people that are really, really good are going to maybe go, Oh, this is a baby game, but you could, you could balance it more if you make the code rules a little bit more difficult. Cause even the best players miss shots, you know, but if the shots are all really difficult, then I think you alienate the new player a little bit. So that's something to be aware of. Like so far, if I look at evil dead, which was like the, the, the big hit for spooky, the shots aren't that difficult in that game. It's like, you got the right and the left ramps, which are pretty, pretty easy to hit for the most part. And the other thing I really like, you know, get bouncing back to spooky that, that some of the other companies could maybe take some lessons on is the shot to start the modes was, is, isn't that difficult. So you can kind of go, look, you start the modes and they did a, such an amazing job with evil dead, where the code, even though it can go deep, it's easy to get into a mode and it's, and they did such a good job with the call outs that you kind of always know what you're going to do or know what you have to do where Harry Potter, on the other hand, there's call outs happening a lot. And so sometimes it distracts you from the main goal of that mode. And it feels like you're doing a lot of things at once. Now the, the godsend or maybe the saving grace for Harry Potter is the shots are all fun. So I think people lose maybe the people that are like more casual and haven't, haven't gone into that deep dive world yet, or they're not really entrenched like some of us are in pinball they um they're still getting satisfaction from it but i don't know that they could tell you what they're doing like my brother-in-law had no idea because he'd like accidentally hit the scoop and go what is this one through six thing and i'd like well that's the movies and he's like oh okay i get it but it needed some explanation and then once he was in a mode he's like well what how do you get through it and i was like golden red shots and he It was getting a little too complex for him. But he's also a beginner, so I have to take that into consideration. But I think the companies need to look at that a little bit more. Because we want new people coming in. We want the hobby to grow, not shrink. And unfortunately, with all these companies not being publicly traded, it's really hard to know. And because their core buyer is the distributor, it's hard sometimes to know the success of a game. because even though they can be sold through to the distributor, they could be sitting at a distributor and maybe the interest isn't as high, and now that distributor is stuck with those games. I say stuck. Hopefully those games have long tails and they can sell some of these ones that have been sitting there for a while. I think of Venom. I didn't like Venom Pro at all, and I think a lot of people's first experience with Venom was Venom Pro. The Premium is like the LE is the same game, but the premium is a very different experience for me. But see, that's a game where all the shots are in front of you, but I think it's much more approachable to me, Venom is, than Star Wars Fall of the Empire, and I kind of feel like why was that decision made to make Fall of the Empire so much of a difficult shooter? I don't know. So I think Stern needs to maybe think about that a bit more when they're making and designing games, because you want it to appeal to both, And I know that's not easy to do. I know that. I'm not trying to sit here and say I've designed pinball machines because I haven't. I've never written code for a pinball machine. But code's usually not Stern's Achilles heel. They take a long time to put it out. Once it gets to 1.0, it's usually a great, well-coded game, but you don't get that in the beginning. So you're getting like a bare bones version or as George says and how they say in the technology world, minimal viable product. It's a playable game with some code and some rules and modes are there, but not all the modes. So anyways, that's kind of where I'm at. That's the look at 2026. I hope you enjoyed this with me. I might be wrong on some of these things, so just keep that in mind. Some of this stuff might not be right. but if you're listening to this and you're a little hungover on New Year's, if you have enough energy in you to write some comments, I really wanna engage with you on this video because I wanna know, do the titles I said excite you? Are they picking the right properties? And also if you have any thoughts about what you think, because some of these companies, I really didn't know what they were gonna do. Like I don't know Barrels. Like Barrels is never ending story, but that's a low confidence rumor. So should that be their next game? you know is is spooky doing goonies and if they are is that the right title for them i feel like it is i feel like and there's also one before i wrap up there's one more rumor and this would be weird if it's true there's a rumor that goonies is held by both barrels and spooky it would be sort of weird to have two companies making the same game although my curiosity gets peaked because I'm like, well, how would barrels approach it differently than spooky? Because spooky right now, if they stay on the theme integration stuff they did with Evil Dead, what it looks like they did with Beetlejuice, they really, ah, God, they just deserve so much credit in bringing you into that world with the code and the things under the glass. The last game from Stern that I felt really sucked me into that world was Jaws. They did such a bang-up job with Jaws. So Stern can do it. Stern can take a movie property and really bring you into that world. But man, Spooky just they deserve such high praise from last year doing Evil Dead and now Beetlejuice. and I know as you're listening to this none of us have these yet but I cannot wait to hear the feedback when people start playing it streaming it it starts showing up on location because if it's if Evil Dead was a good reflection of what Spooky can do and they did that with Beetlejuice they've got two bangers in a row so the pressure is on but man Goonies they could nail Goonies I think if there's one company they could do it be them but then you look at Barrels and barrels really brought you into the Dune world. Now, Dune isn't something I really am that interested in. I played the Dune PC game, and I loved that. Harkonnen units deployed. I loved it. But the movies, the original ones, was it David Finch that did the original ones? I like the original ones. I just don't know that I would want a Dune pinball machine in general, but I do appreciate what they did do with Dune. And I don't know, maybe it'll cycle through the garage at some point, but we'll see. We'll see. all right guys well that's kind of all i had so i'm gonna play you guys out of here thanks so much i hope everyone had a safe and fun new years had an amazing christmas if you got anything cool to share with me that you got for christmas put that in the comments too if there's any uh i gotta give a i gotta give a shout out to uh always forget the name of his it's it's pinball adjacent but it's something else it's something pinball adjacent such a good guy i met him at uh pinball expo and he recommended a cabinet jack i always use my uh my carry hardy uh manipulated or modified lift that i got from harbor freight to lift my pinball machines to level them and he suggested these cabinet jacks and it's made my world so much better so um so thank you for that if you end up listening to this and shout out to you and i i gotta it's something pinball adjacent i don't know why i can't remember exactly what it is but yeah check him out i'll put i'll put his information in the description of this video but that's it guys seems like we're gonna have an awesome 2026 when it comes to pinball i can't wait to read all your comments and respond to as many of them as i can and that's it for now guys we will see you on the flip side see you guys thank you for all the support 2026 is gonna be amazing i got some cool ideas for 2026 i'm gonna weave them in there you know you always want to evolve and change with the times i got some pretty cool ideas all right guys thank you and we'll see you on the flip side

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: a0d5cc10-1595-4acd-937d-7bb2ba871e2d*