# DPP #177 "D&D has landed! Let's talk Pintastic"

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-03-05  
**Duration:** 34m 54s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donspinballpodcast/episodes/DPP-177-DD-has-landed--Lets-talk-Pintastic-e2vnk0b

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## Analysis

Don discusses the recent D&D Tyrant's Eye Limited Edition launch, compares it favorably to John Wick and X-Men, and previews upcoming pinball events including Texas Pinball Festival and Pintastic. He covers speculation about Barrels of Fun's unreleased second game, mulls Multimorphic's potential Portal license, and recounts seeking media credentials for Pintastic while reflecting on his growing presence in pinball media.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] D&D Tyrant's Eye has 26 total Spike 2 titles produced (excluding technical variants like Primus, Heavy Metal, Supreme) — _Don states this as trivia answer from his live stream giveaway_
- [HIGH] When counting all SKUs (Pro/Premium/LE/Anniversary/Black & White editions), there have been 81 total Spike 2 games across all variants — _Don provided this as second trivia answer on his unboxing stream_
- [HIGH] D&D Tyrant's Eye code feels more complete than John Wick and X-Men, with better shot design and fewer mechanical issues — _Don's direct personal impressions after owning and playing all three recent Stern releases_
- [HIGH] X-Men Uncanny X-Men code was rushed at release — _Don acknowledges this in his comparison, noting he won't harshly judge due to rushed code_
- [HIGH] Barrels of Fun has 100 more Labyrinth units to produce before ending that production run — _Don states he visited the factory 'last week, week and a half ago' and saw production status_
- [HIGH] Barrels of Fun doesn't reveal new titles until they have supply in boxes ready to ship — _Don explains their business model for launches_
- [MEDIUM] Manufacturing a single pinball machine takes approximately 60-40 to 60 man hours depending on complexity — _Don estimates based on factory observation_
- [MEDIUM] Multimorphic may be launching a Portal-themed game at TPF — _Don states 'rumors that I'm hearing are this will be a video game license around the game Portal'_
- [HIGH] John Wick topper at $1,500 is overpriced; $799 for standard version and $1,500 for premium would be more justified — _Don's opinion based on perceived value relative to what operators can justify ROI-wise_
- [HIGH] Don was invited to Stern's D&D Media Day where he spoke with George Gomez, Brian Eddy, and Elizabeth Kiske — _Don recounts this experience in discussion of his industry involvement_

### Notable Quotes

> "I hate jank. You go and shoot a shot, and you feel like it's a fair shot up there, and you get this rattle, and then it doesn't award you anything. And it's like, come on, man."
> — **Don**, ~15:30
> _Core complaint about shot registration and fairness in pinball mechanics, comparing D&D favorably to X-Men_

> "I wanted my first time to be special. So special the game is."
> — **Don**, ~5:45
> _Explains deliberate avoidance of location play to preserve first home experience with D&D LE_

> "This code feels more complete. I won't harshly judge Uncanny X-Men too much because it was rushed as far as the code, but the shots in this game... I'm not having any issues with it."
> — **Don**, ~16:45
> _Direct quality comparison acknowledging X-Men's production timeline constraints_

> "I love that, when you can pull it off. Pinball's difficult, you know, you're not printing decals and getting them out there. I mean, this is a machine with as many parts as a motor vehicle."
> — **Don**, ~35:00
> _Reflects on manufacturing complexity and respect for on-time delivery_

> "I don't have the ego to say, like, you don't know who I am. But, like, I'm out there, right? You Google and you get pages and pages of things pop up, you know, featuring me."
> — **Don**, ~67:00
> _Don's response to Pintastic media coordinator questioning his legitimacy_

> "What if you hit a shot into that scoop, and then a virtual ball will appear on the lower playfield virtually on the screen... and then play continues kind of seamlessly, that would be a cool way. No other machine can do this."
> — **Don**, ~52:00
> _Suggests innovative game design concept for Multimorphic P3 using digital lower playfield_

> "I would not feel very good about that at all... I hate having money tied up for a year in a game and I'm seeing these new releases come out that I could be jumping on"
> — **Don**, ~40:00
> _Expresses frustration with prolonged pre-order delays (references Pulp Fiction and others)_

> "Maybe I should drop links to shows and things. But I kind of see Pinside as like somebody's clubhouse. And I don't know. I'm not much on the self-promotion."
> — **Don**, ~65:30
> _Explains why his Pinside presence is minimal despite active podcast production_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast (177 episodes), pinball content creator, game reviewer, mod builder, recent D&D LE owner |
| Kevin Smith | person | Celebrity guest who appeared on recent Aimless Pinball stream playing D&D at Ace Goge Van Nuys location; was searching for Rocky and Bullwinkle game |
| Christopher Franchi | person | Pinball artist known for Black and White Monsters and Evil Dead artwork; won Don's D&D trivia giveaways |
| Brian Eddy | person | Stern Pinball game designer and programmer; co-designer of D&D Tyrant's Eye; spoke with Don at Media Day |
| George Gomez | person | Stern Pinball designer; participated in D&D Media Day with Don |
| Elizabeth Kiske | person | Stern Pinball staff member; participated in D&D Media Day |
| Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye | game | Recent Stern Pinball Limited Edition release; praised by Don for code quality, shot design, and fairness compared to John Wick and X-Men |
| John Wick Pinball | game | Recent Stern release owned by Don; criticized for limited content depth (exhausted in weeks); $1,500 topper pricing questioned |
| Uncanny X-Men | game | Recent Stern Pinball release owned by Don; noted for rushed code at launch and jank around Sentinel head mech |
| Evil Dead | game | Spooky Pinball release; praised for ramp optos allowing partial ramp hits to register |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Texas-based pinball manufacturer with Labyrinth in production; preparing second unreleased game (rumored Dune, Fifth Element, or G.I. Joe); has 5 TBA slots at Texas Pinball Festival |
| Multimorphic/P3 | company | Manufacturer of P3 digital playfield machines; rumored to be launching Portal-themed game at TPF; known for cantilevered flippers and digital integration |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Major pinball event March 21-23, 2025 in Frisco, Texas; Don's first pinball show; features new releases and free play |
| Pintastic | event | Major pinball event in Boston area April 10-13, 2025; Don seeking media credentials to cover the show |
| Dave Marston | person | Pintastic media coordinator who questioned Don's legitimacy when reviewing media credential request |
| Enzo | person | Pinball enthusiast in Perth, Australia; recently acquired his first P3 Multimorphic machine |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer; recently released D&D Tyrant's Eye; Don attended media day event |
| Ace Goge | company | Pinball arcade location with Van Nuys and West Hills spots; features P3 machine and Korean barbecue at West Hills |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer; released Evil Dead; known for quality art and reliable machines |
| Rick and Morty Pinball | game | Referenced as best example of portal mechanic in pinball; features staged ball at flipper that pops to upper area |
| Pulp Fiction | game | Game with significant pre-order delays (500 people still waiting); cited as example of customer frustration |
| District Dawn Arcade | company | Don's local pinball arcade; location where D&D LE was unboxed and initially played |
| Eureka Brewing | company | Houston venue that hosted D&D launch party; Don deliberately skipped to preserve first home experience |
| Pinside | platform | Pinball marketplace and community forum; Don uses for sales but not active in forums due to mobile usability issues |

### Topics

- **Primary:** D&D Tyrant's Eye quality and reception, Stern Pinball mechanical and code quality (X-Men, John Wick, D&D comparisons), Texas Pinball Festival 2025 preview and speculation, Barrels of Fun unreleased second game rumors (Dune, Fifth Element, G.I. Joe), Multimorphic P3 Portal game rumor
- **Secondary:** John Wick topper pricing and value proposition, Pintastic event and media credential acquisition, Pinball manufacturing timeline and production capacity

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.72) — Don is enthusiastic about D&D quality and pinball content creation, positive about event attendance, but expresses frustration with pricing (John Wick topper), manufacturing delays (Pulp Fiction), and mechanical jank in recent Stern releases. Overall optimistic tone about the hobby and his growing role in the community, though tempered by practical concerns about product execution and cost.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Pinball community actively requests Don's attendance at major events (TPF, Allentown, Pintastic, Golden State); indicates growing recognition of his media presence despite Pinside obscurity (confidence: high) — Don reports 'I get this. When are you coming to Allentown? When you come into Pentastic' from listeners; media coordinator initially didn't recognize him
- **[design_philosophy]** D&D Tyrant's Eye benefits from Brian Eddy's proven layout design principles; fairness and shot variety (low orbit ramps vs. steep full-plunge ramps) creates better gameplay than mechanically complex but poorly-routed designs (confidence: high) — Don praises D&D: 'the shots in this game and whether it's due to Brian Eddy's tried and true layout designs, I'm not having any issues with it'
- **[event_signal]** Texas Pinball Festival and Pintastic both positioned as major player conventions with strong first-play opportunities for new releases; attended by media, collectors, and competitive players (confidence: high) — Don describes TPF as 'one of its hallmarks' for first plays; cites Rush, Godzilla, Looney Tunes, Jaws, Labyrinth all played first at TPF
- **[leak_detection]** Barrels of Fun has unreleased second game in production; TPF vendor list shows 5 TBA games with question marks on release dates, likely placeholder for unannounced title (confidence: high) — Don observed factory production, notes Barrels strategy to not reveal until supply ready; identifies Dune as most likely candidate based on community polling
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Barrels of Fun has significant production backlog on Labyrinth (100+ units remaining) that likely delays second game launch beyond Texas Pinball Festival (confidence: high) — Don visited factory, saw 'whole rows of cabinets ready to go' but no blank cabinets pre-QC'd for launch day; estimates June-July release more realistic than March TPF debut
- **[market_signal]** Texas Pinball Festival ticket pricing increase: $95 pre-order tier eliminated, now $110 at gate, suggesting demand or cost inflation management (confidence: high) — Don notes pre-orders 'ceased to exist' and were only available at $95; gate price now $110
- **[community_signal]** Christopher Franchi recognized as major art talent working on both Black and White Monsters and Evil Dead, indicating potential shift in artist roles or portfolio expansion across manufacturers (confidence: medium) — Don highlights Franchi's work: 'artist extraordinaire... also, Evil Dead. Are you kidding me? Killing it with the art, man'
- **[market_signal]** John Wick $1,500 topper pricing is perceived as unsustainable for location operators seeking ROI justification; two-tier pricing model ($799 base, $1,500 premium) would be more defensible (confidence: high) — Don detailed analysis: 'I don't think it's there for $1,500' for operators; 'even pushing it, $799 topper. I think that would have been fair'
- **[product_strategy]** Multiple games experiencing pre-order delays (Pulp Fiction cites 500 customers still waiting); creates customer frustration and tie-up of capital (confidence: high) — Don criticizes delay culture: 'I hate having money tied up for a year in a game and I'm seeing these new releases come out that I could be jumping on'
- **[product_concern]** X-Men Uncanny X-Men code was rushed at launch; contains jank around Sentinel head mech. D&D appears to address these issues with more complete code and fairer shot mechanics. (confidence: high) — Don explicitly states X-Men 'was rushed as far as the code' and 'there's still some jank around that Sentinel head' while D&D code 'feels more complete' with fair shots and no jank
- **[rumor_hype]** Multimorphic/P3 rumored to launch Portal-themed game at TPF featuring virtual ball mechanics and scoops integrated with digital playfield (confidence: medium) — Don states 'rumors that I'm hearing are this will be a video game license around the game Portal' and speculates on digital lower playfield implementation
- **[technology_signal]** Multimorphic P3 criticized for design quirks (cantilevered flippers, weak plunge mechanism resembles 'leaky toilet tank dribble') but appreciated for game content and digital integration capabilities (confidence: medium) — Don: 'The cantilevered flippers, the fact that there's no way to plunge a ball, they just dribble out from the top like a leaky toilet tank' but 'I do have fun playing the games'

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## Transcript

 back once again for some more fire dawn casting this for this episode number 177 let's talk about what's going on in pinball currently for the week of march 3rd 2025 i'm sorry it's the fourth it's pie day already can you get into this how about a hot slice of dawn podcast enterprise with the whole community of like-minded weirdos and some adversaries and we're all having fun battling in the world of the silver ball covering rumors reviews perspectives market analysis and such and therefore and so on also covering live streams which it was an amazing one that just dropped with none other than mr kevin smith himself mr dnd pinball led his voice to that new game, which was just recently unboxed here at the District Dawn Arcade itself. And I checked it out a little bit. It was on the Aimless Pinball stream, which I haven't really had a chance to check out too much. But it was kind of cool checking out this guy, hearing him talk about pinball and his search for a Rocky and Bullwinkle. Can we get Kevin Smith a Rocky and Bullwinkle game if anybody's got one? So I was watching this and it was fun to watch him play around and play the game, of course. It also took place at the Ace Goge Van Nuys location, which is a super cool place. I've had the opportunity to visit both their locations. Ace Goge has it on lock. Absolutely amazing. Great location. Also, they have a P3 on location at their West Hills spot, plus Korean barbecue. How can you go wrong with this? So this was fun. This dropped. It was over on Nap Arcade. Stern's been hyping it. But yeah, this is cool to see this personality just lend himself to the game. I actually get to play it. I love it. I love bringing this integration in here. So the game's been fun. The game's been fun. Had a fantastic unboxing just, is it two days ago now? The days are running themselves all together. But we did, up on the YouTube channel, a live unboxing of Dungeons & Dragons Tyrant's Eye Limited Edition. We splurged for this one, fam. We splurged for this one. Went off without a hitch, probably because I didn't fire up the game on stream this time. I waited and went through it. Now, this game in particular I've mentioned that I've purposely been avoiding logging in on location, even to the point that I didn't even get a launch party badge when I had the opportunity over at Eureka Brewing down in Houston because I wanted to do it for the first time at home. I wanted to get all the bleep bloops in my house where I could sit there, let them simmer, let them cook, savor them a bit, and not just burn through them on location and then, you know, they're gone forever. You only get them one time, man. And I wanted my first time to be special. So special the game is. I've got it leveled 6.5% of tilt there, leveled side to side as close as I can get to on my carpet. And I'm just having a fun time with it. So check out that stream. On that stream, because I love to do the giveaways, we got two Stern Translites going out to folks. And this was weird, okay? I've been thinking up, you know, trivia ways to do this. It's difficult sometimes to come up with good chat interactive giveaways on a live stream. So I went with trivia questions, something where, you know, you can kind of find the answer, just put them up there, or just randomly guess stuff. Numbers seem to work pretty good. So I thought it'd be fun to say, okay, this is a Spike 2 game. may be the final one ever. So how many Spike 2 titles have there been? Not including things, the technicalities like Primus, Heavy Metal, Supreme, you know, those sorts of things. Turns out there was, what was it, 26, I believe, total titles that were done. And so that was one of the answers. And then the other one I thought would be a little more devilish. If you count Pro Premium and LE and then Anniversary Editions, Black and White Editions and such, how many total spike to games have there been as far as like individual stock keeping units right individual skews that turns out to be 81 much higher than i would have thought uh i said and added them all up that's talking about the uh you know diamond platinum and whatever beatles editions the 17 different versions of elvira you know if you add them all together you know how many were there black and white editions of games monsters elvira's blood red kiss uh godzilla 70th and all that, 81. So this was fun. Two people in both of these instances came in number one and number two the same time, which was amazing. And the first one was Mr. Christopher Franchi, artist extraordinaire, black and white monsters, some of his best work. Also, Evil Dead. Are you kidding me? Killing it with the art, man. So this guy just happened to be the guy that answered correctly the first time on both instances. And as a gentleman, he did yield on the second one to a listener that I've met in person, super cool family. They're also getting themselves some Translight goodness. So, super fun. Also, as I mentioned, if you missed the chance on winning something, and you're really wanting to get something from me, and you don't mind kicking in for shipping, just email me, and we'll get you stickers, we'll get you a shirt, we'll get you something, man. I got Mad Pinball stuff here to give away. I get an e-P the Evil Dead unboxing, and we gave away not just two translights, but also a lit frame from Lit Frames. So if you need to light up your frame, not a bad way to go. Email Brad there over at litframes.com. Give him a little plug, because he's a friend of the show. So yeah, it's been fun, and I've been having a heck of a time playing this D&D game. First early impressions on owning it, and this is coming hot off the heels of owning John Wick and X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, the last two releases from Stern. I'm liking this a lot better than either of those. The game is still early, but this code feels more complete. I won't harshly judge Uncanny X-Men too much because it was rushed as far as the code, but the shots in this game and whether it's due to Brian Eddy's tried and true layout designs, I'm not having any issues with it. The ramps, I'm not getting any jank. Some of the ramps are very low. Some of them are little orbits that are easy to just backhand and get a ball through. Other ramps are a little bit steeper, so you do have to have a nice, strong, full plunge to get around it. And I like that variety. They're plastic ramps. They translate the ball's energy just fine. There's no jank. I hate jank. You go and shoot a shot, and you feel like it's a fair shot up there, and you get this rattle, and then it doesn't award you anything. And it's like, come on, man. Come on. To Evil Dead's credit, some of the ramps there have ramp optos that are triggered when you shoot up there. And sometimes you don't actually have to get the ball completely through the ramp all the way to the apex to register the shot, which for someone like me does make it easier to go through the modes. You know, it doesn't have to be a trap up and a full strength plunge every single time just to get a ramp. You can backhand it. And even if it's not the best shot, sometimes it'll still count. And then you feel good because you're getting through everything before the time runs out. So I appreciate that. I appreciate no jank, man. Take that jank and get it out of here, man. I don't like the janking shots. And so Dungeons & Dragons, while I'm still learning exactly where on the flipper each of the shots are, generally a fair shot is translated right through the ramp, comes back sometimes too quickly, and yeah, I'm having fun with it. So a solid good game. I like this layout. I'm not fighting the layout. With X-Men, I felt like I was fighting the layout more than I was really kind of enjoying and getting to the flow of the game. Once you fine-tune the game, it does improve, but there's still some jank around that Sentinel head, and if I can have one wish this holiday season in the world of pinball, it is for slightly less jank. Thank you for listening to my rant. So yeah, that was fun. Congratulations to Franchi and the other winners. You'll have your stuff here shipping out shortly. If you've ordered anything recently, orders should be caught up and of course new ones are coming in so the mod dungeon continues. Dungeons and Dragons. I've even got some mods on here. I did the 3D printed apron card. I love it. I got a start button. and what else did I add a little plate frame for the badge then there some more stuff coming flipper toppers I I got I think they just look good I having fun I got a new pinball machine It was very expensive and I having a lot of fun with it And it's something that I don't see myself holding on for only six weeks. And so thank you. I feel like I can finally breathe, you know. John Wick, I saw absolutely everything there was to do in that game in a matter of weeks. And then TikTok, Mr. Clock, Mr. Wick. We're still waiting for code updates and things. I will say, while we're on the John Wick, somebody did send me a photo, thank you, of the John Wick topper on top of a limited edition machine. And it looks better on the machine than I would have thought. I wish they would have showed off pictures of the topper on each trim level of the machine. So if you're searching and you're shopping for this thing, you have an idea of what the end product is really going to look like on top of your machine. because in the promotional photos and the video that we saw, it really just looks like a green edge-lit cut plastic topper there. But there are some golds in there when you see it under ambient lighting. So I'll come back a little bit on my harsh critique of this topper. I still think that this would have been a good, I mean, even pushing it, $799 topper. I think that would have been fair. And then you could have had an even more opulent $1,500 LE topper, right, with like gold and candles, something that really would complete that cathedral look that you have on that amazing back glass for John Wick. And I think, you know, even though you'd still be spending $1,500 for the good topper, I think you would feel better about it because you would see, okay, yeah, there's the more budget one, which is just cut plastics and seems to work better on locations for operators, but I've got the good one, and I still paid that same amount. Because the topper looks awesome. I do like it. I like the kinetic energy that's in there. um you know i like the spinning hourglass it's a gimmick and i'm all about the gimmick um but for the price it just makes it makes it seem a little difficult especially if you are a location operator you bought this machine you want to make some money you got a pro for 6995 or maybe 6500 if you do a lot of business with your distributor and you're earning money on it and john wick tends to earn relatively okay on location again probably because it's not in a lot of homes so people play on location plus the contracts do help and you know you want to crown this thing but then 1500 is kind of a large ask for that you know maybe you could justify 500 for an operator to throw that up there um add an extra mode maybe get some people to come to your location instead of another one improve the aesthetics and the uh the prestige of your specific location we have the accessories come here if you want to play them um but it's like translating to strictly return on investment I just don't think it's there for $1,500, which is a shame because I think this thing should be out in more locations so people can enjoy it because I think it does look cool. It looks cool objectively. It's just the price. But if there was like an elite good one for $1,500 and then a more budget one for $799, a little bit more reasonable is what it would seem. But since when is the world reasonable, especially the world of the pinball? Let's pop bumper ourselves to another topic. Texas Pinball Festival is coming up this month. 21st, 22nd, 23rd, that weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. No, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Down there in Frisco, Texas. My first pinball event that I went to was TPF three years ago, I think it was. And, yeah, I've been going just about every year since. I did skip. I skipped one year. But had a table there last year. So, my, how we have grown. $95 preorders have ceased to exist. I know this because I just went to go and pick one up. now that I finally have an actual day off work and I'm awake during the day. I was like, all right, let's get this TPF thing done. But pre-orders ended. That $95 is but a fleeting memory. It will now be $110 at the end of a ginormous line on Thursday or Friday or whenever you can purchase something, unless I can find a way to weasel in on somebody's booth and get a vendor ticket. So we'll see. We did that last year. We got four vendor tickets for our booth, and so we do nothing but try to include our friends and bring ends to our friends, and it feels stupendous, as Notorious B.I.G. has told us. What new games will be there this year? Now, TPF is notorious for being a place where you can play games for the first time. Whatever's come out that year or approximately around TPF is there to play, and it is very much a player's convention, and it's kind of one of its hallmarks. This was the first place that I played Rush. This was the first place that I played Godzilla, and it's the first place a lot of people played Barry's Barbecue Challenge and other games. Looney Tunes and TCM, of course, from Spooky Pinball. Jaws, Labyrinth, everything was there last year. So what are we looking forward to this year? Everything that's been released has been released, if I can make a Zen statement. So what's coming? I guess we're down to two, okay? And these were the two that seemed to make the most sense. First up, Texas' own Barrels of Fun Pinball. They've got one in the chamber. We know game number two is coming from them soon. We know that they showed us a special project that they're working on that's not in any impending release channel, but they got one in the shoot, in the launch shoot, as Gomez says, for Barrels of Fun for number two. What is it going to be? I still don't know. Early rumors were Fifth Element, and then that one kind of came and went. It seems like Dune has the most popularity, if you were to poll people that track these sorts of things. G.I. Joe is bumbling around there somewhere, which makes sense because one of the people involved in Barrels of Fun did licensing work, I guess, with Hasbro or G.I. Joe, or was somehow connected, so that makes sense. I would push for My Little Pony myself because I am nothing but a chaos agent at heart. But we'll see what they have coming. But we know they do have a game coming soon, and we know that this is essentially their hometown event. Sorry, Houston Pinball Expo. But this is TPF. This is the big one. And so they are slotted there on the schedule to have five games on the floor, all listed as to be announced, right? And with a release date that is also ending in question marks. so if you were going to design a placeholder for yourself there you want to generate some excitement you want to be on the vendor list and you weren't ready to yet say what you've got coming that's how you would do it now I was in that factory what was it last week week and a half ago and I saw a lot of labyrinths on the line we know that there's a hundred more of these games that need to be produced before they're released before they end the run there and we know that barrels doesn't want to reveal a new title until they've got some supply in boxes so they can do the whole, here's our new game, here's our list of distributors, you can go and buy one right now, it's available for shipping right now, it's also on these prominent locations around the country, so you can go locally and go play it to see if you like it, and if you want to buy one, we have them for you. I love that, when you can pull it off. Pinball's difficult, you know, you're not printing decals and getting them out there. I mean, this is a machine with as many parts as a motor vehicle, you know, so a delay in anything, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, can really throw a wrench in the whole business. So I do salute anybody that can actually pull this off and make a game to its release date without delays and also in boxes ready to go. I love it. So anytime that can happen, I love it. Now I was in the factory and what I didn't see was TPF games being produced. And you know it takes some days, a week or so to produce a game. Maybe like 60, 40 to 60 man hours depending on the complexity of the machine to get it built. Now that's, you know, including 45 minutes at each station plus cabinets and things. Now I did see whole rows of cabinets ready to go. So they do have cabinets ready. You just decal them, and then you can go ahead and start throwing components in them. But what I didn't see was just blank cabinets that had already had their QCs done and, you know, like 60 ready to go for, like, launch day. And then when you do launch a game, you want to have your line essentially ready to go to satiate that early demand. we hate nothing more than laying down thousands of dollars in pre-order deposits in in budgetary shuffling and in full payments only to hear well we still don't know exactly when your game is going to ship that sucks i hate doing that i hate having money tied up for a year in a game and i'm seeing these new releases come out that i could be jumping on but i'm still waiting for like last year's game to come out ask the 500 people still waiting for pull fiction at least how they feel about that i would not feel very good about that at all so i don't know I don know I hedging I hedging a bit I think it would make great sense to bring a new game out I think it the right time Let go TPF I want to play the new new from Barrels of Fun and then we can usher in another year of excitement from this little Houston company However I don see how they would have any time to prep for that I would see this more as maybe like a June July release because that would allow them to get through the rest of the line of the labyrinths, fill all those remaining orders, and then really start in earnest on this new title. But we'll see. We'll see what happens. Otherwise, there's five spots there on the vendor list. Maybe they just haven't submitted their final titles or something. And it could be as simple as that. We're reading far too much into this. In my mind, I'm picturing nodding heads over barrels of fun like, yes, Don, everybody's reading way too far into this. We have a game coming out soon, but maybe not that soon. So, we'll see. We'll know in a couple of weeks, man. They got two weeks and then we're going to kick this thing off. What else is going on? There's another Texas company that's not Turner Pinball that makes technically pinball machines, P3, Multimorphic. I love to give you the jabs, man. The cantilevered flippers, the fact that there's no way to plunge a ball, they just dribble out from the top like a leaky toilet tank. There's a lot of toilet references for pinball machines I don't terribly love. But notwithstanding, I do have fun playing the games. I love playing them at shows. I love playing them on locations. My boy Enzo out in Perth just got his first P3 Multimorphic, and he is completely enraptured with this thing. And just recently had time to spend on a home location playing Princess Bride. And yeah, it's fun to play. And I dig it. I have trouble wrapping my brain around exactly what I'm doing. The machine is heavy as all get out. But yeah, it's fun to play. I do have fun playing the Multimorphic, so I don't want to rib them too much there. I'm not looking to run out and buy one, but that's fine. I don't have to buy everything. And people that love it, you're allowed to love it. Gosh, can we just have... Can I criticize the game without just being called a complete hater? Either way, it seems like they're in the shoot as well to launch a game, only because it seems like every year at TPF they have a new game to come out, right? From Heist to Final Resistance to Weird Al's Museum of Natural Hilarity. Maybe switch those two release schedules. And then we got last year Princess Bride. I remember I played it for the first time at TPF. I was super excited to get up there. I love this license, love this movie. I got to play the game. I got to feel the swords. I got to do the whole thing, man. It was fun. and then I went and played Cannon Lagoon and I'm like, what is even is this? So it looks like they may have their new game there as well. So there'll be something else brand new to play at TPF. And the rumors that I'm hearing are this will be a video game license around the game Portal, of all things. And I think that works in pinball. I think, yeah, Portals and pinball have worked. The only other time I've really seen that done well was with Rick and Morty, where you have that staged ball down by your flipper. And then as soon as you hit that portal in the farthest area of the play field, instantaneously, boom, ball pops out down low. It's a great mechanic, probably the best one in that game, and really just highlights the fact that that ramp shot to get up there is so difficult to nail. Talk about some jank. That's the only frustrating thing about that game is it's just difficult to hit that upper flipper portal shot. The Jerry Ram from Interactive Pinball does improve upon that, and the guys, I think, learned a lot going forward from there. But what a fantastic mechanism for pinball to shoot in that portal. You go into a different dimension. It makes Rick and Morty. Can you imagine Rick and Morty without the portal shot? So now we'll see if they are bringing portal, and we get to battle Gladys, and she's a giant mechanism or bash toy or something. I think this would be super fun. I dig the world of portal. So let's see what they have to bring. How about this, P3 Multimorphic? What about, I don't think this has ever been done before. How about a digital lower play field? People hate lower playfields. Now imagine you've got this huge screen there. No other game in existence on the market has something like this, the laser grid for tracking in 3D motion where your ball is, and plus they have those plastic pillboxes that pop up at the midfield there with the shields in front of them, then they drop and you can hit them, and basically it's an arrangement of scoops that can move up and down. So what if you hit a shot into that scoop, and then a virtual ball will appear on the lower playfield virtually on the screen, and then you can actually play a virtual table as a lower playfield down there, exploring dungeons or whatever, and then you hit a ball back to the scoop, and then it dribbles out where they do, and then play continues kind of seamlessly, that would be a cool way. No other machine can do this and integrate mechanical pinball into virtual pinball. So why not marry those two things? Somebody's had to have that idea at some point. I know people hate lower playfields, but virtually I think you could replicate something that's actually kind of fun and interesting as a virtual lower play field, and I don't believe that that's ever been done in pinball. So there you go. Some free ideas we're throwing out there. Let's make P3 as great as we can, and then maybe someday I'll be able to own one of these things. I've got a virtual pinball machine. I love that. So why not? I could have everything. We'll see. We'll see. Alright, so that's what we have to look forward to at TPF. The $95 tickets are gone. $110 tickets are available. Also available, and this was fun, are tickets to Pintastic. So Pintastic, as I'm learning, is a pinball event. And I've heard about this as long as I've heard about TPF. People love Pentastic. It takes place in the greater Boston area out there in Massachusetts, about an hour from Six Flags New Robert Englunds, if you go just about due east. So this is a multi-day weekend tournament, fun playing, free play, arcade, vendor hall, big budget thing of a pinball event. And so I've been hearing from listeners, hey, Don, when are you coming out to Pentastic, right? I get this. When are you coming to Allentown? When you come into Pentastic, when you come down to Golden State, when you come into the Northwest, it's all on the schedule at some point. I'd like to at least make a lap around all these shows. So recently I went to Freeplay Florida, and I went down and I clicked while I was down at IAPA, and they had a media request. And so I requested a media pass to this event. I didn't have a lot of time for it, but I thought, hey, that would be kind of fun if I could get a media credential, pop down in there, kind of see the show, do some live streaming, and then hype it up and then give my review of it, and kind of we could help each other out. And so that worked great. I got my packet. I showed up at my first show as media. It was super fun, man, and validating. And I had a good time at the show there talking to everybody. Shout out to Token Taverns. And I got to play Hellraiser for the first time. So all in all, it was great. So I thought, hey, Pentastic is coming up. I've been having people asking me if I'm going to be going there. And, of course, I love pinball shows. Why wouldn't I want to go there? Who doesn't love Boston? Get some donkeys while I'm out there. And so I went down and I saw that I have the weekend off too. So things are lining up. So I went and I requested a media credential, you know, because maybe I can pop in for, I don't have a ton of time, but maybe I could pop in for a day, you know, make the rounds of the show, get a sense and a feel for it, and then give my predilections and my review of what I thought of the show to people that may be considering making the trip out there. You know, what's it really like, Don? That kind of thing. So I filled out the media credential And then I had a very nice conversation yesterday With I believe Dave Marston Who coordinates the media And the passes and things for them And this gentleman Was like Don I've looked around I've never heard of you So I wanted to call and see like are you an actual person That has a show Because I have no idea who you are And to his credit he went to Pinside And looked around and he's like I don't see mention of you anywhere You know you have a podcast but you're not on Pinside What's happening and that is true. I'm pinned on on Pinside, P-I-N-D-O-N. I do go on there to sell my wares and I've sold games through Pinside before. I love the platform for that. As far as the forums, they're just hard for me to engage with given how we engage in modernity. An internet forum like that is difficult to scroll through on a cell phone. It's not formatted correctly for it. You only get so many responses at a time whereas things like Facebook and Discord and Instagram and TikTok and everything else, are really kind of an evolved version of the Internet forum. So I don't post a whole lot on Pinside. Maybe I should. Maybe I should drop links to shows and things. But I kind of see Pinside as like somebody's clubhouse. And I don't know. I'm not much on the self-promotion of just coming into your space and just essentially spamming, hey, come click my thing, like, subscribe, get an Amazon gift card or something. I just don't tend to do that. Maybe I should, and I'd have a bigger reach. But whatever. So I talked to Dave for a while here, and I'm like, look, I got 177 shows here. I've got two podcasts that I do. We do giveaways live unboxings I do you know I live stream content I make mods We do giveaways It like a whole thing man Like every hour of my day essentially is consumed by some manner of pinball marketing or media or doing something hyping up, reviewing products, bringing on people. I mean, heck, I was in the belly of the beast. I was at Stern for the D&D Media Day, and I sat down with George Gomez and Brian Eddy and Elizabeth Kiske, and we talked to games and stuff. It was super fun, and I did this whole thing. And I'm like, you know, I don't have the ego to say, like, you don't know who I am. But, like, I'm out there, right? You Google and you get pages and pages of things pop up, you know, featuring me. So if anybody knows Dave and wouldn't mind vouching on my behalf. I mean, don't flood this guy's email address, though. I would very much appreciate that. But if you know this guy or have a way to reach out and just verify, like, hey, yes, he actually does do a podcast. He's family friendly. People dig him. He sent me stickers, he gave me a t-shirt He helped jumpstart my pickup truck In the parking lot of Expo Like he's a solid dude And it would be appreciated Otherwise, media credential or not I'm looking at getting over to Pintastic As I said, I want to go to every show Get a flavor of what they're like We picked up new shows last year Went to Freeplay Florida Went to Southern Fry Gaming Expo for the first time We out there I've been to Louisville Expo before So big and small I want to go to a mall. I like to collect them. They're like Pokemon. All right, so Pentastic's going on April 10th to the 13th, and I just happen to have that weekend off, which works out fantastically. It looks relatively close to probably Uber from Logan Airport, I would imagine. They have a $265 level four-day pass for this thing, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. To their credit, they have a 24-hour extra ball lounge or something that it's called. I imagine that's some sort of concierge where there's snacks and drinks and sips and nibbles, and so that would be super fun to get in on. Otherwise, weekend passes, $195, $170, but thankfully they do day passes from $20 to $40 depending on the day. I dig that. So if I end up coming down as a member of John Q Public, I'm still going to do all the same things. I'll bring some T-shirts to give out. We'll see if we can get anybody for an interview to see what's going on, a little speculation and stuff, what we can get out of them. We'll be live streaming. We'll be shaking hands, having fun, and I love vendor halls, man. Who doesn't? I want to go pet the pin snakes but you know whether I'm doing it on a $40 day pass for Saturday or I actually get a media credential we'll see but yeah if you know this dude I would appreciate like a little vouch out maybe he's just you know completely unaware right of I mean I was like I was in the twippies man I came in fifth like worldwide intergalactically for pinball podcasting what an honor fantastic that was amazing thank you everybody for voting I still can't wrap my head around that but yeah we out there we out there all right what else we got what else we got all right so unboxings i've got one that i've been looking forward to for a while the other day i went down into chicago donnie went down to chicago he was looking for some pins to pick up he was in a bind way behind waiting for his dnd to fire to extinguish so it just so happened that i got the word that dnd was going to be available to pick up from the stern adjacent warehouse where i'm allowed to actually go and pick up games from stern uh and so on the way down there i get an email uh that avatar also will be ready that afternoon like freshly boxed up so giddy me i jump in the pin hauler my f-150 and we head on in there i pick up dnd and then i swing by the jersey jack factory drive my truck into the factory which is fantastic through the roll-up door hang out with my good friend ken cromwell what a jewel uh this guy is like here's your game man um i was there with monica she's never been to jjp before so he Gave us an impromptu tour, walked us around the whole line, let us hold the little lower playfields in the sub-assembly area. I'm becoming such like an assembly nerd on pinball machines. I love the factories, man. So it was super fun, took us back to his little cubicle, loaded us up with giveaways. And so in my home right now, I've got the recently unboxed D&D. Go check that out on YouTube. Oh, throw me a like and subscribe on there, please. I just want to get to 2,000 members because I think that will help satisfy media credential criteria. so do Donna Solid if you could and then Avatar CE is still here in box and I want to open this thing up pretty badly man the CE it looks amazing ask anybody ask my mom but I also want to do it up on a live stream so on YouTube which is where I'll be premiering my live streams Facebook rules recently changed and after 30 days every live stream is just deleted so I want them to live to antiquity so we're going to do on YouTube so YouTube Don Spinball Podcast is the channel and I'm thinking tomorrow tomorrow I'm going to go into the biggest room in my house and I'm going to have this avatar there and we're going to make it an event I've invested a lot of effort and energy into creating a ridiculous costume to wear for this and maybe it's only worthwhile to myself but it's going to at least be hilarious you got to see how tragic this is going to look and then we're going to hopefully successfully unbox Avatar CE one of the heaviest games imaginable and maybe I'll do it solo maybe I'll solo free climb this thing maybe I'll get some help either way I'm going to be dressed as a Na'vi I'm going to be getting blue paint everywhere I've got an ear prosthesis I'm going to wear it's like a whole thing man it's a whole thing I think a loincloth may be involved you don't want to miss this and me being a ridiculous person notwithstanding I also got some sweet giveaway stuff from Jersey Jack to give away live on the live stream because we do it up here, man. We do it up. I've got Jersey Jack Translites. Don, what the hell is a Jersey Jack Translite? Well, it's essentially if someone screen captured what the back glass looks like with the screen and then printed it out on Translite material. It looks really cool. I'm going to go post some pictures of it. And I've got a couple of those to give out. And also, I've got some of their huge banners. Now, Jersey Jack does pinball banners. And they're, I don't know, double the size of the Stern banners. There's width. There's girth. There's height. and this game took the best pinball art at the Twippies. So you could own yourself one of these copies. I think these things are $300, and we're going to give them away during the live stream. So it's going to be super fun. I've got to come up with some kind of challenge questions for how to get these things, but we're doing it up, man. And so thanks to Ken, and thanks to Jersey Jack for hooking it up. Make sure to let me come down to the factory and skip freight charges and pick up this game. And then finally, when this live stream is over, I will finally get to experience Avatar, the collector's edition, with all of the lighting, with all of the topper, with all the goodness, with all the Rainforest Cafe-inspired day-night cycles and eclipses in my own house, and then truly objectively say, what's this game worth? $15,000. And so this is the only way to do it. I suffer for my art. I do this for scientific purposes and also because I like playing ridiculous pinball. And I have a hell of a lot of fun with Avatar. Don't hate. And while we wait for what I guess is going to be Harry Potter but not a TPF, we have the season of the Avatar. So that's everything I've been up to in the last week. That and I've been getting both of my cheeks handed to me at work all week, working nights. It's been ridiculous. So I'm glad to be back where I'm in a position where I'm off for a few days. We can get into some projects. Maybe I can make some headway on the homebrew project as well as some other things. adding some motion to some droids and whatnot and what have you. So assignments, if you could do me a solid, go to the Facebook page and follow if you haven't. I'm trying to get to 2,000 there. I'm 500 away. And then that will help me get media credentials. And then also go to YouTube and like and subscribe that too. And I don't want to be so heavy-handed with this, but I want to get that to 2,000 as well. And then I'll continue doing more YouTube content. The Patreon people, I love you. You've got your giveaways coming soon. Check that out at patreon.com backslash donspinballpodcast. email Don at DonSpinballPodcast at gmail.com. Also, email Dave. Text Dave. Go order him a sandwich from Arby's and send it to him or something and say, hey, this Don guy, he's an actual person out there. He's not just trying, someone that's just trying to scam for some media credentials. Anything else? Let me know, homie. This has been another episode. We got together. We got to hang out. We had some fun. I'm going to go play some D&D. And then the final piece of my costume should be coming today. And then tomorrow at some time. We'll unbox Avatar CE. I can't wait. We'll play that thing in my house. We'll play Avatar in the house. Be cool. Email your thoughts. Kick it. Later.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: a0f21ac3-ecfd-4f33-b17d-df16221228e4*