# Episode 747: "Before You Buy A Spooky..."

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2022-12-06  
**Duration:** 25m 39s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-747-you-75580228

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## Analysis

Kaneda discusses Spooky Pinball's upcoming Scooby-Doo reveal, cautioning the community against FOMO-driven purchasing and non-refundable deposits. He analyzes the game's designer (Bug) and code team as inexperienced, draws parallels to the underperforming Halloween and Ultraman titles, and argues that at current price points ($11k+ fully loaded), the secondary market will soften due to oversupply (1500 units planned). He advocates for test-driving machines before purchase and predicts distributor inventory buildup will eventually drive prices below MSRP.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Spooky Pinball plans to make 1500 Scooby-Doo games (increased from 1200 due to demand) — _Kaneda heard this as a rumor but frames it as inside information he's been told_
- [HIGH] Bug (junior designer at Spooky) is designing Scooby-Doo as his second title after Halloween and Ultraman — _Kaneda states 'the answer to that question is most likely going to be Bug' and details Bug's prior work_
- [MEDIUM] The code team for Scooby-Doo may be working on their first game — _Kaneda: 'I'm also hearing a rumor that the code team on Scooby-Doo, this might also be the first game that they're working on'_
- [MEDIUM] 80% of recently released games sell for less than MSRP on the secondary market — _Kaneda claims you can buy Rush, Toy Story, Halloween, Legends of Valhalla, and Ultraman cheaper used than new_
- [HIGH] Spooky Pinball introduced non-refundable deposits as a business practice — _Kaneda: 'Spooky Pinball has turned on what I think is one of the worst practices in all of pinball: the nonrefundable deposit'_
- [HIGH] Rick and Morty was promised to receive new content from future seasons but never did — _Kaneda: 'When they sold us on Rick and Morty, they said they were going to continue to put new seasons into the game... They've never done it'_
- [MEDIUM] Spooky Pinball had quality control issues on TNA (drilling extra holes due to apron alignment mistakes) — _Kaneda: 'We've seen some really concerning quality issues on the new TNAs. Just drilling extra holes in people's games when you messed up the apron alignment'_
- [MEDIUM] Haggis Pinball only shipped games via air freight due to shipping container delays from Australia — _Kaneda: 'Has anyone even noticed that there's no shipment container going from Australia to America? Like only people who are paying for the air freight are getting their Fathom pinball machines'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Remember this company's never taken anyone's money and then not delivered. They've never promised something and then not delivered."
> — **Kaneda**, early
> _Establishes Spooky's historically strong track record on fulfillment, contrasting with Haggis Pinball_

> "Keith Elwin is like the Quentin Tarantino of pinball. You don't have to worry. You'll never be nervous buying a Keith Elwin machine."
> — **Kaneda**, mid
> _Illustrates the designer-as-brand-guarantee concept and uses Keith Elwin as the gold standard_

> "Those two machines are not the greatest shooters, right? They're not the best designed games. They don't have great flow."
> — **Kaneda**, mid
> _Direct critique of Bug's prior Spooky designs (Halloween/Ultraman), raising design concerns for Scooby-Doo_

> "I got burned on Ultraman... I lost $2000 on my Ultraman number 500... that game with taxes is about $10,500."
> — **Kaneda**, late
> _Personal financial loss story explaining his skepticism toward Spooky's current market positioning_

> "If you fully feature it out, more than a Stern Premium Edition. These games are going to cost you more than a Keith Elwin machine."
> — **Kaneda**, mid
> _Price positioning of fully-loaded Spooky games vs. premium competitors; marks shift in company positioning_

> "The only way you can make money on stuff now is if the game is a masterpiece. At these prices there is not a lot of room for mediocrity."
> — **Kaneda**, late
> _Market analysis: high base prices reduce tolerance for average games, changing secondary market dynamics_

> "I think you're gonna start to see more inventory sitting with distributors and they're gonna have to start discounting these games to find homes for them."
> — **Kaneda**, late
> _Prediction of future inventory glut and price deflation in pinball secondary market_

> "Wake up everybody. Look it's a good theme but it's also a property that we probably haven't watched in like 30, 40 years."
> — **Kaneda**, mid
> _Tempers Scooby-Doo theme enthusiasm; questions whether nostalgia justifies preorder hype_

> "I don't think there's any FOMO around this game. I don't, especially after the last two titles."
> — **Kaneda**, mid
> _Directly challenges the artificial scarcity narrative; expects abundant supply will prevent true FOMO_

> "It's crazy that we're in 2022. And when you tell people in the pinball community, maybe you should test drive the game before you buy it. People are going to be like..."
> — **Kaneda**, late
> _Critiques community's resistance to due diligence; indicates cultural shift toward impulse buying_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast; experienced player with 10+ years in hobby; self-identified as burned on Ultraman preorder; strong opinions on game design, pricing, and community culture |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Wisconsin-based pinball manufacturer; evolved from boutique 150-unit operation to mass production (1750 games in 18 months); known for strong fulfillment record but recently adopted non-refundable deposits; upcoming Scooby-Doo release |
| Bug | person | Junior designer at Spooky Pinball; designed Halloween and Ultraman; set to design Scooby-Doo as second title; criticized by Kaneda for lack of flow and shooting quality in prior work |
| Keith Elwin | person | Stern Pinball designer; positioned as gold standard of contemporary pinball design; known for flow, unique shots, consistent quality, and rule design; used as benchmark for reliability and value retention |
| Charlie (Spooky Pinball) | person | Founder/leader of Spooky Pinball; delegated design responsibilities to junior team (Bug); implied to be stepping back from hands-on design role |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Established pinball designer known for flow-focused gameplay; designed multiple titles including Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Led Zeppelin, Black Knight; example of designer with consistent stylistic signature |
| Eric Minier | person | Pinball designer with only two games; characterized by stop-and-go design and multiball-heavy gameplay; contrasted with Keith Elwin's flow-focused approach |
| Pat Lawlor | person | Historical pinball designer; cited as example of legacy designer Kaneda was unfamiliar with early in his hobby career |
| John Borg | person | Historical pinball designer; cited as example of legacy designer Kaneda was unfamiliar with early in his hobby career |
| Haggis Pinball | company | Australian boutique manufacturer; failed/bankrupt; example of fulfillment disaster; Fathom shipping issues (container delays, air freight only); cautionary tale for community |
| Scooby-Doo | game | Upcoming Spooky Pinball release; reveal scheduled for Thursday; planned production 1200-1500 units; features four full-size flippers, major building sculpt, Mystery Machine van; design by Bug; code team composition uncertain |
| Halloween (Spooky) | game | Spooky Pinball title designed by Bug; criticized for lack of flow; sold with non-refundable deposit; secondary market underperformed relative to Scooby-Doo theme expectations; Kaneda preordered and lost money |
| Ultraman (Spooky) | game | Spooky Pinball title designed by Bug; criticized for weak shooting mechanics; sold with non-refundable deposit; significant secondary market loss; dropped in value; subject of Kaneda's personal financial loss ($2000 deposit on $10.5k total) |
| Rick and Morty (Spooky) | game | Spooky Pinball title; promised future season content updates in code; promise unfulfilled; example of unmet manufacturer commitments; raises skepticism about Spooky's code update pledges |
| TNA | game | Spooky Pinball title; experienced quality control issues (apron alignment errors requiring extra drilling); example of manufacturing/QC concerns with Spooky's scaling |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer; benchmark for premium pricing and quality; Keith Elwin primary designer; positioned as more expensive than Spooky's fully-loaded variants |
| This Week in Pinball | organization | Industry news source; Kaneda references 'This Week in Pinball' in context of detailed production numbers and insider information; implied as source for manufacturing intel |
| Kaneda's Pinball Podcast Club | organization | Membership/Patreon offering; episode structure splits free/paid content to reward club members; mentioned as reward mechanism for loyalty |
| Toy Story | game | Recent release; available cheaper on secondary market than new; example of soft secondary market; Limited Edition variants in distributor inventory |
| Rush | game | Recent release; available cheaper on secondary market than new; example of soft secondary market conditions |
| Legends of Valhalla | game | Recent release; available cheaper on secondary market than new; example of soft secondary market conditions |
| Fathom (Haggis) | game | Haggis Pinball remake; significant shipping/delivery issues; only air-freighted units delivered; example of fulfillment failure and manufacturing problems |
| America's Most Haunted (Spooky) | game | Spooky Pinball early title; cited as their best shooting game; games after became 'brick fests' with tight shots; represents quality baseline before recent titles |
| The Walking Dead | game | Example of mediocre shooter saved by exceptional code/software; illustrates importance of software to game quality regardless of design quality |
| Batman 66 | game | Example of mediocre shooter saved by exceptional code/software; illustrates importance of software to game quality regardless of design quality |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Designer pedigree and track record as purchasing criterion, Non-refundable deposits and consumer protection, Secondary market pricing and FOMO-driven purchasing, Spooky Pinball's transition from boutique to mass manufacturer, Code/software quality and post-release updates, Game design quality (flow, shots, toy integration) across manufacturers
- **Secondary:** Inexperienced design and code teams as risk factor, Supply chain and manufacturing scaling challenges

### Sentiment

**Negative** (-0.72) — Kaneda is not opposed to Spooky Pinball as a company (praises fulfillment record) but is critical of market dynamics, pricing, non-refundable deposits, inexperienced design team, and community FOMO behavior. He expresses cautious skepticism about Scooby-Doo's value proposition and expects market oversupply. Tone is advisory/protective toward community rather than hostile toward manufacturer. Some positive notes about theme and company history, but overwhelmingly focused on warning against poor purchasing decisions.

### Signals

- **[market_signal]** Kaneda predicts 80% of recently released games now sell below MSRP; attributes to 40% price increases over 3-4 years and anticipated oversupply of 1500 Scooby-Doo units (confidence: high) — Kaneda cites multiple recent titles cheaper on secondary market and predicts distributor inventory buildup will drive further discounting
- **[product_concern]** TNA experienced quality issues (apron alignment errors requiring extra drilling); raises concerns about Spooky's manufacturing QC as production scales (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'We've seen some really concerning quality issues on the new TNAs. Just drilling extra holes in people's games when you messed up the apron alignment'
- **[business_signal]** Spooky Pinball games with full options now cost $11k+, exceeding Stern Premium and Keith Elwin machines; 40% price increase over 3-4 years (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'These games are going to cost you, if you fully feature it out, more than a Stern Premium Edition. These games are going to cost you more than a Keith Elwin machine'
- **[design_philosophy]** Designer and coder selection is critical to purchase decision; experienced designers carry trust premium; inexperienced teams require proof of capability (confidence: high) — Kaneda spends significant time establishing designer-as-brand-guarantee model; uses Keith Elwin as gold standard; expresses concern about Bug's track record
- **[sentiment_shift]** Kaneda advocates for community restraint and rational decision-making; warns against FOMO and impulse preordering; frames current market as low-scarcity for this volume (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'We don't like calmness. We like hype. We like FOMO... I don't think there's any FOMO around this game'
- **[product_strategy]** Spooky Pinball accepts unlimited collector's edition preorders rather than capping production; removes artificial scarcity that drives FOMO and secondary market premiums (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Spooky Pinball doesn't really limit their collector edition to a certain amount and they're going to take as many collector editions as people want to order'
- **[code_update]** Rick and Morty promised future season content updates; promise never delivered; raises skepticism about Spooky's code commitment claims (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'When they sold us on Rick and Morty, they said they were going to continue to put new seasons into the game... They've never done it'
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Spooky Pinball producing 1750 games in 18-month period (up from original 150-unit boutique scale); expansion may strain QC and fulfillment (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'This company is now cranking out seventeen hundred and fifty Spooky Pinball games right in an eighteen month period'
- **[supply_chain_signal]** Haggis Pinball Fathom experiencing severe delays; only air-freighted units reaching customers; sea freight container status unknown (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Has anyone even noticed that there's no shipment container going from Australia to America? Like only people who are paying for the air freight are getting their Fathom pinball machines'
- **[personnel_signal]** Charlie (Spooky founder) delegating design to junior team; Bug promoted to lead designer for Scooby-Doo after Halloween/Ultraman; generational leadership shift (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Charlie's basically handed the company over to like the younger generation at Spooky Pinball'
- **[rumor_hype]** Scooby-Doo Thursday reveal pending; community excitement high; Kaneda attributes to theme nostalgia rather than substantive design/code validation (confidence: high) — Episode titled 'Before You Buy A Spooky...' discussing upcoming Thursday reveal; Kaneda warns against hype-driven purchasing
- **[market_signal]** Kaneda predicts future shift where distributors hold inventory instead of consumers absorbing pre-orders; forces discounting to clear stock; changes direct-to-consumer sales model (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'you're gonna start to see more inventory sitting with distributors and they're gonna have to start discounting these games to find homes for them'

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## Transcript

 Spooky Pinball Podcast Episode Welcome everybody to Kenaida's Pinball Podcast. I'm your host Kenaida. We are going to do an episode that's all about Spooky Pinball's new game and the climate in the The pinball community right now as we're about to head into a Thursday reveal of Scooby Doo. Now I'm going to give half of you out there who are not a member of the Kaneda Club this show for free. Then I'm going to stop it. If you want to hear the whole show, you're going to have to sign up for Kaneda's Pinball Podcast because I want to reward my club members for their loyalty. So here's what I'm going to talk about. I'm going to talk about how this company has really had an interesting ascension in the pinball world. And here we are on a Thursday. This week in Pinball Podcast, Terminate Worker, I have detailed information on what I'm hearing is the number of games they're gonna make but more interesting than how many games they can make because spooky pinball has never been a company that's ever been Questionable when it comes to manufacturing and they have a lot of goodwill there Remember this company's never taken anyone's money and then not delivered. They've never promised something and then not delivered So there's no concern about whether or not you're going to get your game, right? This isn't haggis pinball where you're gonna pay in full and then wait like eight months to maybe get your game Has anyone even noticed that there's no shipment container going from Australia to America? Like only people who are paying for the air freight are getting their fathom pinball machines There's no excuse for that, but I haven't been like beating on those guys because it's not even fun anymore But here's the thing with this game Scooby Doo. It's a great theme. It's a great theme for pinball. It's a great theme for a company called spooky pinball But what I want to talk about on this episode of Canadian pinball podcast is simply this as a pinball community I think we usually approach a new game with a certain number of questions I want to talk about how after all of these years Spooky Pinball still is getting special treatment or is approached in a different way from every other pinball company and I understand why at the very beginning we approached spooky pinball a little bit differently. They were a tiny boutique company in Benton, Wisconsin. They made only a hundred and fifty of their first title and their games were cheap. They were like five to six thousand dollars. Now fast forward to today. This company is now cranking out seventeen hundred and fifty Spooky games right in an eighteen month period and now you can option out a spooky game with tax to be near eleven thousand dollars and also spooky pinball has turned on what I think is one of the worst practices in all of pinball the nonrefundable deposit and that is what's going to happen probably on Thursday they're going to ask you for your money and if you want a game and if you want one you're going to be locked in with that money and for many of us out there if we could turn back At that time, we probably would not have preordered both Halloween and Ultraman if we knew the way the market was going to go on both games. So what I want to do on this episode of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, I want to talk about Scooby-Doo and have we forgotten all the lessons we learned with Ultraman and Halloween or are we simply delusional because we're excited about a new theme? And here's what I want to do on this podcast. I don't want to indict Spooky Pinball because I don't blame Spooky Pinball for anything really. The simply accompany making a product whatever decision I want to do with my money is my decision What I want to do on this podcast is I want to encourage Everybody in the pinball community to think about these things as you go into a new pinball purchase And this isn't just a new pinball purchase with spooky This is how we should really approach our decision-making in pinball in general now Now there are going to be some specific things to Spooky that you need to consider because this is a unique company and they ask more of you than most pinball manufacturers out there and there are also more question marks and more things you need to think about when you buy from a smaller company like Spooky. Okay, so where do we want to start? I want to start here. Normally when we get enthusiastic about a pinball machine, there are two things that usually rise to the top that make us want Sp治ky Felipe K厲害 pursue zlapane Edwards, sill ages:// rotate purchased sofbyte Çal sexyηitationytə «Isejilla», xe «neczede ediyorum» call video awoř во phones сколько deg Jane Jā拜拜, Dere heels Journey, j compoundil Rule ye padant. Xehodu Who is coding the machine? I've been following this hobby for 10 years and I didn't know who Pat Lawler was when I started in pinball. I didn't. I didn't know who John Borg was. I had no idea who Keith Elwin was and a lot of people out there in the world don't know that. It's easy to sell a game on theme alone to an absolute newbie who has no clue. But for everyone else in pinball, any educated pinball buyer, that is going to be what really carries weight. And pinball designers become sort of like movie directors. You trust them. You know who's really good, you know who's mediocre, and you know who's not that good. And when you have a series of hit games in a row like Keith Elwin, he's like the Quentin Tarantino of pinball. You don't have to worry. You'll never be nervous buying a Keith Elwin machine, right? At this point, you don't need Keith Elwin to prove to you he knows how to design a good pinball machine. And look, the hardest thing in pinball, The main goal is to be consistently good as a designer I mean you can look at guys like Steve Ritchie they have some games that people absolutely love and then they have games like Led Zeppelin which people are absolutely bored of Now look Steve Ritchie has a reputation for making games with great flow So if you buy a Steve Ritchie game you not going to get a game with a lot of stop and go You going to get a game that fast right Star Wars is fast Game of Thrones is fast Led Zeppelin is fast Black Knight is fast ACDC is fast Like you not going to get a sluggish game with a lot of toys If you buy a game from Eric Minier who only had two games so far you going to get a game Game with a lot more like mechs a lot more stop and go he doesn't have a reputation for being a Designer Designer Designer designer who designs flow his designs are more stop and go his designs are more multiball heavy and then you get a designer like Keith Elwin who arguably is number one for a reason because the guy not only has like incredible flow he has really unique shots he can put a lot of interesting design elements into a single standard body pinball playfield he also can put a lot of fun toys and interactions and Because the guy not only has like incredible flow, he has really unique shots. He can put a lot of interesting design elements into a single standard body pinball playfield. He also can put a lot of fun toys and interactive mechs into his games with games like Godzilla and Jurassic Park. And he also knows, and this is the greatest thing about Keith Elwin, when he is designing his game, he also has the rule set and how the player's journey is going to be in one of his games. And so when you play a Keith Elwin machine for the most part, there's a lot of cohesiveness to it. Although I would argue that Avengers is still the most confusing game on planet Earth, but for the most part Keith Elwin doesn't just design the layout. He's really thinking about the rule set and the player's journey through the game and that's why Keith Elwin is number one. Okay, so let me ask you right now, on the eve of Scooby Doo, who's designing Scoobydoo? Do you even know the answer to that question? Now the answer to that question is most likely going to be Bug. So this is the junior team over at Spooky Pinball. Now Bug designed Halloween and Ultraman. Charlie's basically handed the company over to like the younger generation at Spooky Pinball and so this is his soft more title Scooby Doo. His first designed game was Halloween and Ultraman. Now look, I've played a lot of pinball machines and I will tell you right now, those two machines are not the greatest shooters, right? They're not the best designed games. They don't have great flow. They're an improvement over Spooky's previous titles. But if we're to be honest with everybody, Spooky's previous titles, they've been indicted for being very clunky. If you ask anyone who's a real great pinball shooter about Spooky's earlier titles, the best shooting game is America's Most Haunted. After that, they became a little bit of a brick fest, like really tight shots. And so I think what people did like about Halloween and Ultraman The game design is a big question mark. We have no idea what they're going to deliver from a design standpoint. Now, here's the thing I think everybody needs to make sure before you buy this game. You need to make sure you're going to enjoy shooting. I can guarantee you nobody out there can really raise their hand and say hey like I love shooting bug designed pinball machines because spooky doesn't have the pedigree of games that make you feel confident I just think you need to be careful that this is going to be a game you're going to enjoy shooting are you going to be able to determine that by a video of the game are you going to be able to determine that on Thursday when they show you gameplay elements and then they ask you for your non-scripted The Before you flipped a single ball. I just think you need to be cautious. I'm not telling you not to buy it I also want to say this I absolutely believe Everybody should get a chance to wow us look I was not impressed with his first effort I was not impressed with their first effort in the design standpoint But that doesn't mean that the sophomore effort from these guys won't be great The Week in Pinball, Johnny Pneumonic, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, translite proportering panel in backbox that is backlit during playelectronic Game of Thrones unint I want every one of you to do the same. And you can tell I do have an agenda. And my agenda is this. I want to get rid of nonrefundable deposits. I think it puts the entire onus on the buyer to make up their decision in a short amount of time. And it puts absolutely no onus on the pinball company to make sure they make a great game. And I mean that. But look, the power is in our court. As consumers, if you don't go in on a nonrefundable deposit on day one, think about it for a minute. The only reason you would The only way to get one is to have to pay more money for the title. I'm here to tell you right now, the other rumor I'm hearing is that Spooky Pinball has increased the number of Scooby-Doos they are going to make because they saw the demand, they saw the hype, they saw everybody on Pinside saying it was a dream theme. I'm hearing the rumor is that they are going to increase the number of Scooby-Doo's from 1200 to 1500 games. Do you really think you're going to have a hard time getting an order or getting a game if they're going to make 1500 Scooby-Doo's people? Wake up everybody. Look it's a good theme but it's also a property that we probably haven't watched in like 30, 40 years. Rick and Morty is a cartoon for adults Like kids are not watching Rick and Morty with all the cursing in it and all the violence in it So you got to remember that And so here my point I think everyone should have some calmness going into Thursday We don like calmness We like hype We like FOMO We want to feel like we were lucky to get one of the few machines And because Spooky Pinball doesn really limit their collector edition to a certain amount and they going to the as many collectors editions as people want to order and we know the distributors are going to order a ton of them I don think there any FOMO around this game I don especially after the last two titles I don think there any FOMO Okay so then what the next question we should be asking who coding this game because the software and coding in pinball is so critical I mean we've seen it before right software can actually save a game that's not the best shooter. Hello The Walking Dead, hello Batman 66. There are so many examples of how the right coder and the right software engineer can step in and take a mediocre game into a masterpiece realm. It's just the way it goes right? I'm also hearing a rumor that the code team on Scooby-Doo this might also be the first game that they're working on. and look we need young talent in pinball we need fresh ideas in pinball I'm not saying the games not going to be great what I'm saying is we're gonna have to see more you absolutely have to see more of something if the people working on it are brand-new it's the same way at work right if I've been doing what I've been doing for 20 years my bosses don't need to see what I'm gonna put in front of a client they don't they trust me because I've been The With these new designers and new coders over at spooky pinball I implore each and every one of us We have to see what they're capable of again if they knock it out of the park They are absolutely gonna sell this thing like hotcakes, but here's the hard part. Here's the hard part I think on Thursday, they're gonna show us what they want to show us and this becomes the tricky part The other part is this, and I'm just going to say this because I got to keep them accountable to their word. When they sold us on Rick and Morty, they said they were going to continue to put new seasons into the game, that they structured the code in a way that they could put new adventures from future seasons of Rick and Morty into the software. They've never done it. They've never added more. They've never added stuff from future seasons into the game. So look, what does that mean? That means you also have to take what a pinball company will tell you on sales day with a little bit of a grain of salt. Of course there will be things they intend to put into the game, but they might run into complications and they might need to start working on the next title. Alright, so what else do we know about this game? Should I do what Kaneda does best? Should I'm hearing that this game has four flippers, four full size flippers in the game. I'm also hearing that there is a major sculpt sort of like a building that takes up the whole back of the game. I'm hearing that the mystery machine van is inside the game as well. So we shall see. So I don't know. I mean, come on. I mean, there's only so many ways you can even describe a pinball machine you've never seen. Like it has a lot of toys. It has a lot of flow. It has a lot of It has beautiful artwork and it's got great callouts. Okay, so here's how I want to end this podcast. I want to just end this podcast by saying on Thursday, if Scooby Doo is a dream theme for you and you're going to buy it regardless, then it doesn't even matter what I say. If you're on the fence and you want to see more about the game, I encourage you to just wait a little bit. And I know what people are saying. They're going to say like, Kenaid is trying to sell against Spooky Pinball's effort to The game is not going to be hard to get. It's not. You're going to be able to get one and you're not going to have to pay over MSRP. I'm almost willing to guarantee that even though I won't, the market will dictate that. Everybody needs to wake up from the fog. This isn't tiny little spooky pinball anymore. These aren't cheap little mom and pop shop made games anymore. These games are going to cost you, if you fully feature it out, more than a stern premium. These games are going to cost you more than a Keith Elwin machine. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Spooky is keeping up with the Joneses and they're keeping up with the times of where The game is a bit of a pain in the ass to play, but I think it's fair for me to say as someone who got burned on Ultraman, and let me talk to you real quick about my Ultraman Burn, it wasn't their fault, but here's the reality. If I went in on a $2000 Ultraman deposit and I actually took possession of the game, so I lost $2000 on my Ultraman number 500 with Butter Cabinet, so that game with taxes is about $10,500. box They didn't need to do it. Obviously the Halloweens are holding a lot more value than Ultraman. Obviously Scooby-Doo is a far better theme for pinball than Ultraman. Scooby-Doo, it is a good theme and I don't know which way the market's gonna go on it, but I don't think it's gonna go over MSRP because MSRP at Spooky now when you get the butter cabinet and you get all the bells and the whistles, it's super expensive. It's also not gonna be rare cuz they're gonna make so many of them. I also think now that Spooky is at this price the next move they need to make if they really want to create first day FOMO colony cape Palmer now Man ke Rex得嘴 The other thousand are like our premiums and we will make those premiums for as long as we want. I mean, I think they're going to have to go that way because I just don't think they're going to hook so many people with these non-refundables and then every single game can be the same collector's edition. It doesn't create the scarcity. It doesn't create the FOMO. It's crazy that we're in 2022. And when you tell people in the pinball community, maybe you should test drive the game before you buy it. People are going to be like, Dot Dot Dot Dot Dot Dot Dot Dot acids charities зов Dot dot Spooky's making 1500 games. Why do you want to buy direct? The only reason why you'd want to buy direct if that was the best price possible, but that's not the case, right? Now the best price possible for almost every new machine in 2022 is if you buy used. You can get Rush for cheaper than new. You can get Toy Story for cheaper than new. You can get Halloween for cheaper than new. You can get Legends of Valhalla for cheaper than new. You can get Ultraman for cheaper than new. Think about it like 80% of games that just came out are now All of these are now cheaper than they were brand new. But think about it like this. Imagine if they make 1500 Scooby Doos and all of them just get allotted to the distributors. Think about that for a minute. You don't have to buy it right now. You don't have to lock in your money. And then when you go to buy a game, you pick the distributor who's got one available when you're ready to buy it. Imagine that, right? Like car dealerships. Like I'm going to go buy a car and then I'm going to buy it from the dealership that has one available. All these are just boxes getting loaded into trucks and arriving at your house. Are we always hearing that from distributors? Like they want to have inventory? So imagine a world in which consumers aren't absorbing most of the inventory. That the inventory is going to a distributor. So a distributor sells a game, how much money are they making on a game? They're making money on every game sold. Are you? You're not. If 2020 has shown us something, if you bought every single new game, 80% of them you lost money on. All of this is just the way it is. See, I think there's a big change coming to pinball people. I think there's a big change coming and I think we're gonna see it in the next couple years. I think you're gonna start to see more inventory sitting with distributors and they're gonna have to start discounting these games to find homes for them. Think about if you have an Ultraman Nuenbox right now. Just think about that for a minute. Imagine if you have an Ultraman Nuenbox and you're a distributor and it's got a butter cabinet on it. How the heck are you gonna find someone to buy it for like $10,000? How are you gonna find that person? Game with Toy StoryLE, you have new in box Toy StoryLEs. How are you going to continue to find people to buy it if everyone on the second hand market is selling them for $10,000? So all I'm saying everybody is this, be cautious. Make sure you play these machines. Make sure you see enough before you sign on the dotted line that you can't get your money back. That's all I'm saying. I hope Spooky knocks this game out of the park. I hope all of our concerns are unwarranted. I hope they don't make boneheaded mistakes like hedge multiball. I hope the quality is there on these games as well. We've seen some really concerning quality issues on the new TNAs. Just drilling extra holes in people's games when you messed up the apron alignment. Like what's going on over there? Like I hope they figure this all out. I hope they slow down. I hope success does not make them The I think ultimately this company will be better off if they take their time and they get it right and they don't rush things I'm glad to see it's just gonna be one theme. I think the big problem with Halloween and Ultraman They were not staffed up to code two different themes at the same time They were overly ambitious and it didn't really work out. It didn't really work out for us. It worked out for them The game is available for a while. My feeling is this game will sell really well for them, but they're not going to sell out. I think distributors are going to have them for a while. And I think if you wait to buy one, you might be able to get it for less than new. I don't think you're ever going to have to pay more than new. For a Scooby Doo and I think that's a good thing I think we're gonna start to see more and more of that in the pinball world for many years It was like you can make money on everything those days are over Those days are over the only way you can make money on stuff now is if the game is a masterpiece And I've said it and I'll say it again at these prices There is not a lot of room for mediocrity if you come out with a mediocre game The game is going to lose thousands of dollars because the base price is so much higher than it was three, four years ago. We're talking a 40% increase on a lot of these titles over the last three to four years. Okay, everybody, thank you for tuning in to Kenea's Pinball Podcast. We are now officially back into the Twippy hunt. We'll talk to you soon. Later.TP ENDING

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: ab7bfa34-5726-4c81-8eed-e0da42d0f2b7*