# The Pinball Show Ep 194 BONUS: Zach Visited Jersey Jack Pinball & What I Love, What I Don't About Tales Of The Arabian Night Remake

**Source:** Pinball Show Patreon Feed  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-06-18  
**Duration:** 30m 59s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/ThePinballShow/posts/pinball-show-ep-161384654

---

## Analysis

Zach from The The The Pinball Show visited Jersey Jack Pinball and played the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog machine ahead of its June 23rd launch. He describes it as a phenomenal, hit-worthy game comparable to Harry Potter in appeal and quality, praising its flow, speed, and aesthetic polish. The episode also covers JJP's three-tier pricing model for Sonic (Arcade/Special/Collector's Edition), the CE topper's quality, and detailed impressions of the Tales of the Arabian Nights remake, including likes (new lighting, limited LE production) and dislikes (thin playfield glass, lack of a topper).

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Jersey Jack Pinball formally announced Sonic the Hedgehog with a June 23rd launch date — _Zach, The The The Pinball Show host, discussing official JJP announcement_
- [HIGH] Sonic the Hedgehog will be available in three tiers: Arcade Edition (sub-$10,000), Special Edition, and Collector's Edition ($15,000), with no price changes between models — _Zach describing official JJP pricing structure_
- [HIGH] The Sonic CE will be built-to-order with a time-limited release window, similar to Harry Potter — _Zach explaining JJP's production strategy for Sonic CE_
- [HIGH] Sonic the Hedgehog is designed by Steve Ritchie — _Zach, confirmed from official JJP announcement context_
- [HIGH] Zach played Sonic the Hedgehog at JJP and confirms it is 'a hit' and 'an amazing pinball machine' comparable to Harry Potter — _Zach describing hands-on playtest experience at JJP headquarters_
- [HIGH] The Sonic CE topper is described as 'amazing' and 'fucking awesome' and will be a major selling point for the Collector's Edition — _Zach, who visited JJP and confirmed seeing the topper_
- [MEDIUM] Sonic plays like Elton John but with more interesting mechanics; it is fast, flowy, smooth, and feels like a premium product comparable to Harry Potter — _Zach describing gameplay mechanics and feel_
- [HIGH] Tales of the Arabian Nights remake uses thin playfield glass, which Zach views negatively as a quality signal — _Zach's detailed critique of ToAN remake_
- [HIGH] Tales of the Tales of the Arabian Nights is limited to 399 units at $3.99 price point — _Zach discussing Stern's limited edition pricing and production for ToAN_
- [MEDIUM] Barrels of Fun Pinball may be working on a game with notable powder coat work, rumored to be G.I. Joe, Never Ending Story, or a band-themed pinball — _Zach discussing teases from David Van Es and community rumors_

### Notable Quotes

> "This thing is a hit. It's going to be a hit. This thing is fun. This thing is amazing. This is an amazing pinball machine. It's one of those releases like Harry Potter, like where you just know what's going to do well."
> — **Zach**, ~23:00
> _Direct confirmation of Sonic the Hedgehog's quality and market potential from hands-on experience_

> "If you're a pinball hobbyist, at some point you're going to own a Sonic the Hedgehog pinball machine. That's kind of what we're in the grand scheme."
> — **Zach**, ~24:00
> _Prediction that Sonic will become a canonical must-own title in modern pinball collecting_

> "The CE topper is amazing for the CE. Don't be mad, J.J.P. Don't be mad at me, please. But the topper is amazing for the CE. I think that topper alone probably will push people over the edge to go CE."
> — **Zach**, ~28:00
> _Confirms CE topper as a major differentiator and purchasing driver_

> "It shoots good like that, but there's some more interesting stuff because... this feels familiar, but also is different. But it still feels like a Steve Ritchie. This thing is just smooth as butter."
> — **Zach**, ~21:00
> _Gameplay assessment praising Ritchie's design while noting fresh innovation_

> "J.J.P. right now is a nice, well-oiled machine. They're hitting it right now. The last couple of years have been really good for them and will continue to last a year."
> — **Zach**, ~40:00
> _Business health assessment of JJP as manufacturer_

> "What I don't love about Tales of the Arabian Nights, I'm not going to lie, I wanted a topper. Is that too much to ask, Dennis?"
> — **Zach**, ~58:00
> _Critique that ToAN LE lacks a topper, contrasting with Sonic's CE topper strategy_

> "That thin playfield glass and it is the most annoying thing because it seems minor. But hear me out. I think that one of the first things you have to do in setting up this game is pull the glass out."
> — **Zach**, ~65:00
> _Detailed quality concern about ToAN remake; thin glass as negative signal of cost-cutting_

> "I love that Pedretti gave us what we wanted in a remake. We didn't want Funhouse 2.0, and we screamed it from the mountaintops."
> — **Zach**, ~54:00
> _Praise for Stern honoring community feedback on remaster design philosophy_

> "They're going to, I think, get dealers, try to get a lot of dealers out, like a single CE unit, I believe. That's what they did on previous titles. And then I think they're going to start making CEs."
> — **Zach**, ~35:00
> _Insider knowledge of JJP's production and distribution strategy for Sonic_

> "Barrels got the crown when it comes to powder coat. I love it."
> — **Zach**, ~48:00
> _Validation of Barrels of Fun's manufacturing reputation and quality standards_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Zach Sharpe | person | Host of The Pinball Show podcast; visited Jersey Jack Pinball and played Sonic the Hedgehog; provides insider industry commentary and collector perspective |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer; announced Sonic the Hedgehog for June 2026 release; currently executing strong product strategy with Harry Potter and Sonic releases |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | game | Upcoming Jersey Jack Pinball machine designed by Steve Ritchie; launching June 23, 2026; available in Arcade, Special Edition, and Collector's Edition tiers; Zach confirms it is a high-quality, hit-worthy title |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer; designed Sonic the Hedgehog for JJP; known for smooth, flowy machine designs |
| Tales of the Arabian Nights | game | Stern Pinball remake of classic Funhouse designer; features new lighting, animation, and optional original art; Zach provides detailed praise and critique; LE limited to 399 units at $3.99 |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; produced Tales of the Arabian Nights remake; known for strong Metallica Remastered edition |
| David Van Es | person | Owner/creator of Barrels of Fun Pinball; teased upcoming game with notable powder coat work to Zach; known for high-quality manufacturing |
| Barrels of Fun Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer recognized for premium powder coat work; rumored upcoming titles include G.I. Joe, Never Ending Story, or band-themed games |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; currently performing well ('on fire'); described as 'still the king' by community observers |
| Elton John | game | Recent JJP pinball machine; gameplay compared favorably to Sonic the Hedgehog for smooth, quality shooting mechanics |
| Harry Potter | game | JJP premium pinball machine released in 2025; benchmark for quality and success; Sonic frequently compared to it; CE performed well commercially |
| Winchester | game | Pinball machine noted for exceptional multi-stage powder coat with pearlescent green finish; referenced as benchmark for quality paint work |
| American Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; previously rumored to be working on He-Man themed pinball (status unknown) |
| The Pinball Show | organization | Podcast and content platform hosted by Zach Sharpe; Patreon-supported with exclusive bonus episodes and Discord community |
| Metallica Remastered | game | Stern Pinball remaster; referenced as example of enhanced ruleset (beyond 1.5 update) that maintained original game identity while adding depth |
| Funhouse | game | Classic pinball machine; Tales of the Arabian Nights is a remake of Funhouse; Zach praised Stern for not creating 'Funhouse 2.0' |
| [name withheld pending review] | person | Co-host or interviewer on The Pinball Show; engages with Zach in dialogue about games and industry |
| Godzilla | game | Popular modern pinball machine; referenced as canonical must-own title in collector communities |
| Medieval Madness | game | Classic Williams pinball; referenced as rare machine that most collectors have not owned; example of historical collecting canon |
| Avatar | game | Modern pinball machine; referenced as less universally adopted than blockbuster titles like Harry Potter |

### Signals

- **[announcement]** Jersey Jack Pinball officially announced Sonic the Hedgehog with confirmed launch date of June 23, 2026 (confidence: high) — Zach directly states: 'JJP formally announces Sonic the Hedgehog as their upcoming title, and they even said game launches June 23rd'
- **[product_launch]** Sonic the Hedgehog pricing: Arcade Edition sub-$10,000, Special Edition and Collector's Edition at $15,000; no price differentiation between mid/premium tiers; CE limited to time-window build-to-order (confidence: high) — Zach: 'sub $10,000 arcade edition as well as the most sold $15,000 collector edition' and 'Sonic Collector's Edition is going to be strictly what they're calling built to order'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Sonic the Hedgehog praised for smooth, flowy, fast gameplay with premium build quality comparable to Harry Potter; Steve Ritchie design maintains signature style while introducing novel mechanics (confidence: high) — Zach: 'This thing is just smooth as butter... It's flowy and it is fast... This thing is beautiful... you just feel like you're on a different level here'
- **[product_strategy]** JJP using time-limited 'built-to-order' window for CE tier rather than hard unit cap; strategy learned from Harry Potter success; mirrors Stern's approach with Tales of the Arabian Nights (399 unit LE) (confidence: high) — Zach: 'They're going to take a window of time and that's all they're going to be making... It worked out for Harry Potter. It probably will work for this as well'
- **[design_innovation]** Sonic CE topper identified as premium differentiator; Zach confirms it is exceptional quality and major sales driver; contrasts with ToAN's lack of topper (confidence: high) — Zach: 'the topper is amazing for the CE... I think that topper alone probably will push people over the edge to go CE'
- **[market_signal]** Prediction that Sonic will sell CE > Special Edition > Arcade Edition, with CEs outperforming intended arcade-market tier; historical pattern from Harry Potter where CE/Wizard editions outsold Arcade editions (confidence: medium) — Zach: 'CEs are going to be the highest seller again. Then it's going to be special edition. Then it's going to be arcade edition' and speculation that more CE+Wizard editions are in locations than Arcade editions
- **[business_signal]** Jersey Jack Pinball assessed as high-performing, well-organized manufacturer with strong execution; 'well-oiled machine' with momentum from Harry Potter carrying into Sonic release (confidence: high) — Zach: 'J.J.P. right now is a nice, well-oiled machine. They're hitting it right now. The last couple of years have been really good for them'
- **[rumor_hype]** Rumor floated (likely joking) that JJP might acquire Spooky Pinball; dismissed immediately as implausible by Zach (confidence: low) — Zach mentions rumor of 'J.J.P. planning to buy Spooky' but rejects it: 'No way they could. No way. What the hell?'
- **[product_concern]** Tales of the Arabian Nights uses noticeably thin playfield glass (non-reflective type); Zach views this as negative quality signal suggesting potential cost-cutting on other components (confidence: high) — Zach: 'I wanted to care about it... when you're pulling out [the glass], you're like, everybody else's glass is the same thickness. Why is this thin?'
- **[design_innovation]** Tales of the Arabian Nights remake features significantly enhanced lighting system with new backbox panel lighting and ambient wall lighting; sets new standard that other manufacturers should adopt (confidence: high) — Zach: 'that back panel lighting... and that backbox ambient wall lighting, every manufacturer needs to do that. JGP does that. Hopefully barrels will start doing that'
- **[collector_signal]** Sonic the Hedgehog positioned as canonical must-own title comparable to Harry Potter, Godzilla, Medieval Madness; expected to become standard in collector portfolios (confidence: high) — Zach: 'if you're a pinball hobbyist, at some point you're going to own a Sonic the Hedgehog pinball machine... like Harry Potter, one of these really hot sterns or something'
- **[leak_detection]** Barrels of Fun teased unreleased game via powder coat photo to Zach; rumored candidates include G.I. Joe, Never Ending Story, or band-themed pinball; no confirmation of actual title (confidence: medium) — Zach: 'David Van Es... maybe he sent me a little tease... He sent me a picture' and 'We've heard rumors of like Never Ending Story. We've heard rumors of G.I. Joe.'

---

## Transcript

Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. Thanks again for the ongoing support as a Pinball Show Club member. Enjoy this exclusive TPS content and make sure to visit the Pinball Show Club Discord to chat about the bonus material. Jersey Jack Pinball, Sonic the Hedgehog, made in, what is it called? America. No, made in America. Japan. No, made, matrimony, made in Sega. Sega. Which one do you like better? Do you like the Sega or do you like the Sega? I mean, audibly, I like the old Sega, Sega, however you used it. But so Battlefield video game, not made by Sega. This is important. Where are we going here? This is important. In some of the older games, unfortunately not currently in 6, there are a variety of shotguns as an option. I like shotguns. There is a shotgun called a Sega. In the game, when I would use that shotgun, any time I got a kill, I would yell into my headset, Sega! Headshot. Sega! If I won the fight, it was Sega. Sega. Battlefield. Don't they have like Battlefield 9? Six is the new one that came out last year. You're a fucking nerd. And no one likes you. Oh, is it good? Yeah, it's back to like how four, three, and four were, which is good. I'm thinking it's bad. But no Sega. And so I have this other semi-auto shotgun. The Sega is a semi-auto, so you don't have to pump it. And so I just go, Sega, Sega, Sega, Sega. I'm not in a big group when I do this. I do have the headset on so I can hear, because that's incredibly obnoxious, as you can tell. But I am an incredibly obnoxious gamer. No. You're not trolly, are you? Toxic as hell, too. Really? Oh, do I hate losing. I just don't say it to them. I say it to me in the room. Tell me to go fuck yourself. I'll be like, oh, yes. It'd be like, you son of a bitch. Go back to fucking quick play, you amateur. This is ranked. Oh my gosh. I love it. Tell your big brother to take his controller back. Oh, wow. You're a smack talker too. People are going to come up on you in multiplayer and be like, it's the Dennis. I listen to the same person four times. Nice hacks. I wish I knew any of this. Your mom buys you those cheats? Or did you save your allowance for them? Wow. Anyway, back to Pinball. Okay. In which I'm a very calm player. Thankfully. JJP formally announces Sonic the Hedgehog as their upcoming title, and they even said game launches June 23rd. So that's why happy hour we're going to talk about it. They love taking like a whole month. They do. But this has been, I mean, they've been on like, it almost feels like a celebration tour, which is funny because they haven't sold any games yet. But like they're doing the whole thing. Here, let's backlight Steve Ritchie's head and let's have blue rings around. And every time, just like with Harry Potter, hey, look, something's coming out. Let's just like mention that we're about to do something in like the most pedestrian, uncouth way to try and steal sales. Any time somebody announced something, they're like, here's a teaser from us. It reminds me of the whole, and I don't even remember if it was J.J.P. or Stern or who did it, but it reminds me of the days when there'd be like pinball shows and be like, well, we're going to have pizza at our thing to sanitize you from going. That was J.J.P. and Stern. You see, it's stuff, it's so trash. It's so trash. Why don't y'all get good instead of having to do like this. It's like the seediest kind of Diamond District nonsense bullshit. We got pizza at our event. They're going to have three models of this game. The arcade, like we said, the lower edition. And in the middle, they're changing the name to Special Edition. They need to change that. Why do they always keep changing names? Wow wow In that special No there no special Special 60 of the time is an insult It is And I didn just make up those percentages Those are real percentages 25 chance they real They used to do limited edition but then everybody kind of laughed them off Because it was stupid It was always stupid It was stupid they even put a limit on it And then they were like, okay, it's Harry Potter. Let's be clever and call it the wizard edition. I didn't mind that, but I still don't like the changes all the time now. But why not do like the rings edition or why not? But they're just doing special edition. I just don't know if I like the special ed. I don't like that they're changing them all the time. Don't forget Platinum Edition. We get Platinum. Why didn't they just go back to Platinum? Because that was special because Elt and John and selling records and going gold. Yeah, because I almost bet you that Sega would not, they probably wouldn't like the word Platinum. They'd be like, no, we're golden. Golden Edition. But the powder coat is, oh, never mind. Can't say that. Can't mention powder coat. There's no change in pricing between these models. That's good. We still get a sub $10,000 arcade edition as well as the most sold $15,000 collector edition. So that's good. I'm not saying there isn't a change in margins. Oh, Sonic Collector's Edition is going to be strictly what they're calling built to order. They're going to have it for a specified amount, just like Harry Potter. We're not going to say there's only 500 units or they're going to take a window of time and that's all they're going to be making. Whereas the other ones are just in production as long as they want them to be, which is kind of the same. They can go back. When I hear built to order, though, I imagine that they don't actually start production until orders arrive. Yeah, and I think that they're starting with the CE, so that really wouldn't make sense then to me. But okay, what they mean is a time-limited release. Sure. Which we talked about that might be in their best interest to do so. It worked out for Harry Potter. It probably will work for this as well. Whenever they have these big banger titles, I think it works. So I think it'll work because I do think they're going to sell way more than 1,000 CEs of this. And anything that they would have come out with as limited in nature, more than 1,000 people would have gave them shit for. So I think internally, if they're not doing so, they need to be doing this. Think internally, are we going to sell more than 1,000 units? If the answer is yes, or could we? If the answer is yes, then make it this bill to order. If the answer is no, then come up with a specified number and try to hit exclusivity on that. This is designed by Steve Ritchie, as we know. So that's all the information that we currently know. I think more is going to be released. There's a lot of info out there that I can't say is true or not. But I can at least just tell you what the rumors are. Can I not do that? I don't know. You mentioned during the main episode that maybe you had gone to Jersey Jack recently a couple weeks ago. I did, yeah. So you now remember that you did. I remember. I remember I did. I went up there to visit and to hang out, see what the new product is, Sonic the Hedgehog, get my hands on it, get down and dirty. With that little blue rat, eat some chili dogs. Can you confirm do chili dogs feature in the game? I know that was a joke, but I also want to answer it, but I can't answer it. Well, if you can't, you can't. I mean, all I can do is ask the questions. I don't think I can say much. That the people want. I mean, I'm going to say what the rumors are. Yeah. You know, there's rumors out there. They talk about like a big upper playfields a rumor. They've talked about like a loop as a rumor. We've heard Eggman, you know, battling Eggman as a rumor. Rumor, yeah, egg rumor. We've heard, we've heard the topper is damn cool as a rumor. How about this? The topper is amazing for the CE. Don't be mad, J.J.P. Don't be mad at me, please. But the topper is amazing for the CE. I think that topper alone probably will push people over the edge to go CE. It's going to be hard not to. If you like toppers, yeah. Now, I'm not wanting to hype this thing up to the effect of like, I don't want anybody to do, he said it was, you know, it made me a fucking pizza. No, it's still a topper. It's so cool. There's no way I get any other addition. No there no way I trying to think of the differences that I know And from the differences I know the topper is the big one that keeps me in the seat And some of the cabinet stuff is cool too. Yeah. But the special edition is probably, if I didn't like toppers, the special edition, Would be maybe I like the art on the special edition a lot. And subsequently, I like the art on the on the arcade edition, too. But special edition art, I really do like that package. What can I say? So those are the rumors and stuff. The rumors of CE topper is awesome. I'm confirming the CE topper is fucking awesome. It's cool. I can also say that I played the game. This thing is a hit. It's going to be a hit. This thing is fun. This thing is this thing is amazing. This is an amazing pinball machine. It's one of those releases like Harry Potter, like where you just know what's going to do well. It just it plays to everything so well that it's going to be one of those ones. Like if you're a pinball hobbyist, at some point you're going to own a Sonic the Hedgehog pinball machine. That's kind of what we're – like grand scheme. Like, oh, you've owned a medieval madness. Oh, you've owned a Godzilla. Oh, you've owned – like that kind of thing. You understand what I'm saying? I don't know how common that really is anymore to be like, we've got to take the tour, got to own all the classics. Here's what AI told you a pinball collection should look like sort of stuff anymore. There's just too many bangers now. It just doesn't – Do you know more pinball people that have owned or not owned Godzilla? I'm not sure. I would guess owned. I mean, maybe, but you're naming the most popular. It's like if I was to name a classic game, they probably owned Adam's family. Most pinball collectors have not owned Medieval Madness. It was far too rare for most of the collecting time period. Okay. What I'm saying is like it's not like it's a, ooh, you've owned Avatar? That's interesting. I've never owned it. It's not that. It's more like Harry Potter, one of these really hot sterns or something. It's that good, period. It's going to be that good. It shoots phenomenally. It's, oh, J.J.P.'s not going to be mad if I tell you what it shoots. It's like Elton John, but more to do, I guess. So, like, Elton John's, oh, Elton John's so good. How do you beat Elton John the way that shoots? This is – it shoots good like that, but there's some more interesting stuff because Elton John in a sense is – I mean, is there anything crazy in Elton John? There's nothing crazy. No, but – There's not anything crazy in it, but Elton John feels pretty – you know, left or right. If you're familiar with Steve Ritchie, the layout isn't going to surprise you. Exactly. And this feels familiar, but also is different. But it still feels like a Steve Ritchie. This thing is just smooth as butter. It's just a smooth damn game. It's a flowy game. Flowy. I have to wait. It's got me. It's flowy still. It's still flowy. It's fast. This game is very fast. We talked about the difference between something that's flowy and something that's fast. This one's both. This one is flowy and it is fast. It's sharp. It is beautiful. It's got some really nice details to it. It feels like this game, when you stand beside this game and look at it, viewer, and when you're playing it, it kind of feels special. Like there's just, the details are really nice. You just feel like you're, we're on a different level here with this pinball machine in a way that I think Harry Potter did really well too. When you're next to Harry Potter, you see the gold wire forms, you see the upper playfield that plays so well, wire forms, a spinning staircase, you've got the LCD with all of the assets, you have the top and the side radcals, the hot rails as a package. You just feel like they're on a different level compared to some other manufacturers. This echoes that supremely, so much so. It just feels like a really, really top-notch pinball machine, the nicest kind of pinball machine that's on the market. Plus it Sonic the Hedgehog and it feels like Sonic It looks like Sonic What on the screen Sonic Can I say it not the movie I don know I don know these rules I don't either. They're unspoken rules. Well, no, are they unspoken? Maybe they're spoken. Again, I'm not there. I don't have rules. I don't answer to these people. I'm trying to think what the agreement and everything. I think it's just basically whether JJP wants to get mad or not. Because technically, I guess I'm not supposed to say anything, but I don't know. But let's just try to play common sense here. Yeah, it's a phenomenal game. I cannot wait to have this damn game. They're going to, I think, get dealers, try to get a lot of dealers out, like a single CE unit, I believe. That's what they did on previous titles. And then I think they're going to start making CEs. It's tentative, so I don't know for sure. But I think that's what they're going to start doing. I don't know if it's because on Harry Potter, they really made that arcade edition. They only built that like twice, once in like October, November, maybe three times. And then once in like the spring. I'm surprised they're doing it. After what happened with Harry Potter, I think that one's going to sell like trash. I think Sonic is going to do great, but I think the arcade edition is going to do terrible. I know. It's just like the only way for it to get into an arcade. But even locations were buying Harry Potter CEs and the LEs or the whatever, the Wizard Edition. I would say they probably went into more – here's a bold prediction. J.U.P., let me know if this is correct. I don't even know if they have this data. I would guess that there are more CE and Wizard editions combined in locations than there are arcade editions. And that goes against everything it should and the whole reason that there is an arcade edition. They even call it an arcade edition. So, yeah, it's going to sell. CEs are going to be the highest seller again. Then it's going to be special edition. Then it's going to be arcade edition. And that's after seeing it and playing it and everything. They are on the line. I didn't say that. They're on the line. Well, that's good. So they'll be ready to ship some right after they announce. They used to do that pretty regularly, and I always thought that was smart. Any brand, any company that does that, I think it's smart. Hey, man, JGP right now is a nice, well-oiled machine. They're hitting it right now. The last couple of years have been really good for them and will continue to last a year. Spooky and will continue to be. Yes, they're basically gods. They're on fire right now. Fire gods. Spooky. Starring with Bob a little bit. They're still the king. They'll be fine. What do you think about the rumors of J.J.P. planning to buy Spooky? I didn't hear that. You just did. Shit. Made me stumble. Mm-hmm. No way they could. No way. What the hell? Don't want you to throw that at me. No. Let's move on. So you had top things that you wanted to talk about of likes and dislikes when it came to Totan, the remake. You know what? You got to tease. I got to tease. David Van Es. Mm. Owner, creator over at Barrels of Fun Pinball. Maybe he sent me a little tease. Maybe. I don't know. I really liked it, but I don't know what it says about me. He showed me a picture. He sent me a picture. He texted me a picture of his leg. This is me rubbing my leg. Dennis, you see how I'm emphasizing my leg. Yes. His leg. No one sees it, but they assume by your massive shoulder shrug that that somehow affects your leg. I'm wearing shorts. There's a kneecap. I'm naked. But yeah, he sent me a picture of his leg. Donald Ducking in this show all the time. I've got to do that one podcast. Just balls out and everything. Yeah, Where did this go? And what I mean is maybe he sent me a picture of the leg of an upcoming game. It did get me excited. Why it got me excited? Because it was, I'm not going to say the color or anything like that. That would be shit. I want to keep it. You know, you got to keep it. Unless the barrels let me say that. We don't have time to find out. All right, so we get to know nothing. It's reminiscent of what – Remember how much I loved Winchester? It was like the nicest powder coat in all of people. One of my favorite powder coated games of all time. Maybe the top. I can't think of one offhand that was better powder coat than Winchester. It was a multi-stage powder coat that was like ink. Oh, my God. It like color change, but not like a tacky color change. It was like this pearlescent, sea foamy green. Oh, it was wonderful. I'm a fucking pinball nerd talking about this. It was wonderful, though. I'm going to say what he sent me a picture of was reminiscent of that. It felt. It wasn't the same. It was quite different. But it felt in that family. And it made me very happy. Very happy. Barrel's got the crown when it comes to powder coat. I love it. And toy and a lot of other stuff. But what might they be making? I still don't know. And I'm on NBA and they still don't tell me. I don't know what they're making over there. We've heard rumors of like Never Ending Story. We've heard rumors of G.I. Joe. We've heard rumors of a band pin. We've heard rumors like I don't know what they're making. G.I. Joe makes sense to me. I wish they were making He-Man. I think that would be cool. They're making He-Man. I haven't really heard an update on He-Man's rumors since American Pinball. I know. I think that would be awesome. What do you think they're making? Smurfs. Smurfy. Do you think anybody makes Smurfs? You know what, though? That was kind of like, I wasn't the G.I. Joe kid. I wasn't the tough kid, man. Everybody knows this about me. I was like 90s Disney kid. So I could get down with Smurfs, man. I could really get down with Smurfs as a title. I don't know if anybody would make a Smurfs, but. Maybe. I watched all the, I watched G.I. Joe and Smurfs and Snorks and He-Man and Thundercats and Gobots. Gobots. Power Rangers? That is after my time. Okay. What about the Popples? I don't know what that is. That's a deep cut. Popples, man. Anybody out there popples? Care Bears? Yeah, that was fair. Give me that all day. I was like a wuss kid, a wussy little boy. I watched Animaniacs and Rescue Rangers and I love Tailspin. All day long, baby. Give me a... Chippendale Strong take here y Strong take Ask for to ask for Chippendale Chippendale Rescue Rangers All day long It going to be a strong take Pinky and the brain. Zoikes, you guys are going to think less of me. They already do. Wow. I've been in the industry too long. Give me Smurfs with Gargamel. All day. Original animated series over G.I. Joe. So I'm in the minority there, very much in the minority there all day. I don't care about G.I. Joe. I didn't even own a G.I. Joe toy. How about that? Why not merge them and have Smurfs on the left and Joe on the right? Oh, my gosh. What was the Cobra? What was the Cobra Commander? Cobra Commander. Thundercats. Let's go. All right. So that was Barrels. Come on. Keep teasing. Snarf, snarf, snarf. And the last thing I wanted to go over is what I love, what I don't about Toten Remake. I'm going to put it all out there, just like Donald Duck. I love that Pedretti gave us what we wanted in a remake. We didn't want Funhouse 2.0, and we screamed it from the mountaintops. And they said, fine, we'll give you tons of enhancements without changing the charm and nostalgia that you keep on screaming on your stupid podcast. And we'll even give you the original art as an option because you bitched and moaned about that too. I love that. Nicely done. They gave like a CGC-esque remake. What I don't love about Toten Remake. I'm not saying I want a 2.0 rule set. But I'm not saying 1.5 is as much as I'd want to go either. Hear me out, Petretti. What if we call it 1.75, right? It's like in the middle because I wouldn't mind something like what Stern did with Metallica Remastered. When people play Metallica Remastered, they still think this is a lineman-sheets game. This is an even better game than the regular Metallica. It felt like more than a 1.5, like that .5 being like bug fix and stuff like that. I wouldn't have minded. Give me a wizard mode that is really hard to reach. That's all. Maybe give me a couple extra shots in one of the modes. I think actually they might have done that for one of the modes, so I can't say that. But yeah, give me a far reacher. Give me maybe this. Give me this Give me a far reacher that nobody going to see but it there if I want it And give me a Mech Suit Multiball Yeah I collecting another Give me a Mech Suit Multiball kind of thing instead of like a hurry up after you get all the jewels or whatever. That's all. What I love about Toten, new lighting system and animation makes the game. Specifically, like I said in the show, that back panel lighting. It's a weight. You're going to love it too. And that backbox ambient wall lighting, every manufacturer needs to do that. JGP does that. Hopefully barrels will start doing that. It's just really cool. Love that. So the new lighting is super dynamic. It's awesome. What I don't love about Toten, I'm not going to lie, I wanted a topper. Is that too much to ask, Dennis? CGC gives us a topper for the LEs. Well, it'd be nice. They could always do that later, though. I know, and they've talked about maybe doing that with me, but I just, I don't know, I just want a topper. Just buy a lamp at the vintage store and glue it on there. Put a tapestry up there. Tapestry. We have many tapestries. Yeah. But if you are Scottish Lord, then I am Mickey Mouse. What the hell? Only two pings, please. Indiana Jones and Alaska said. I didn't reckon, and I love that film too. Apparently that love only goes so deep. It felt blockbuster-ish, but I didn't know where it came from. What I do love about Toten, I love that they really made the LE feel limited with only 399 units. Dennis can say whatever he wants to say. It's still not limited. It's 399. No, it's limited, but don't act like it's going to be really hard to get. They might be sold out as we're speaking. Maybe they're sitting on shelves and somebody's listening to this in 2028. They're like, those damn things didn't even sell. I don't know. $3.99. I do love that, yeah, that they have a game that they know is going to be loved by people, but they're still not like, let's make $750 or $1,000. They're like, no, let's make $3.99. I don't even know where they came up with $3.99. I don't even, from a marketing standpoint, I don't even like that number. I don't like $3.99 at all. I like that for sales prices. I don't like that for limit. I like round numbers. It looks better on a plaque, too. I didn't add that. I do love the plaque. Did you see the plaque? I did. It's kind of like this little plastic square. It's like a shaped-out metal die-cut. Dude, it's awesome. The plaque for the backbox It awesome All right what I don love last thing what I don love Pedretti Y are still using this thin playfield glass and it is the most annoying thing because it seems minor But hear me out. I think that one of the first things you have to do in setting up this game is pull the glass out. So you know every owner is going to put their hands on glass. So when you're doing that, one of the first things you put your hand tangibly on and tactile, it feels thin. For pinball people, it feels thin. So then your brain's already like, well, wait a minute. What else have they thinned out on this game? So it's just – and it's the non-reflective glass. It's like the nice glass, but it just feels significantly thinner. And I can't stand that being a representation of potentially anything else. Maybe I'm just exaggerating to the effect here, but am I making any sense? Like the one thing that you feel if one of the first things is like a thin piece of glass, you're like, everybody else's glass is the same thickness. Why is this thin? I get where you're coming from. I don't know. I guess I'd like to touch it and figure out what my thought would be because it being different than everyone else does sound like it might actually be more of an issue than my gut instinct, which would be nobody cares how thick the glass is. I know. I don't want to care about it, but there's something when you're pulling out, you're like – I see what you mean, though. I can envision it. It's kind of weird. So plenty of like, plenty of don't. See, I didn't pull the punches there. And over time, once I play it more, I'll be able to say whether this damn thing is rock solid, whether there's pieces of it that I don't like as much. The one concern I had with Funhaus, I gave them feedback. The powder coat felt thin, too. Like, they didn't put enough layers on the powder coat. They said they've since upped that quite a bit. So that's no longer an issue per their report. I didn't notice anything when I was setting up the two games that was drastically like, oh, my God, this sucks. Okay, cool. That was a good little bonus episode. I think they feel satiated. Do you think they're going to be satiated enough to bump up that level? No. But what might satiate them is a reminder that we are doing the next Happy Hour Hangout the day after the Sonic official release. We would have a lot to talk about, but that's only for the Nordman level and above. So do that. Do that. I'll see you later, Dennis. I'll see you later, viewer. Goodbye, guys. Enjoy your life. You can turn it off.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v5)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-08-04 | Item ID: a9af66e3-e75d-4cf5-8fa3-29a00e04c9c0*