# Episode 52: After Playing Pokémon Pinball at Stern HQ… Here Are My Thoughts

**Source:** The Flipside Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-02-14  
**Duration:** 44m 44s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** fca54ead-cd6b-4de0-834f-23544a8df61f

---

## Analysis

Retro Ralph recounts his experience at Stern Pinball's Pokémon media day in Chicago on February 13, 2026. He provides detailed impressions of the game across all three cabinet tiers (Pro/Premium/LE), praising its approachability compared to Star Wars, flow gameplay, and faithful license representation. He emphasizes the importance of respecting NDAs and criticizes leaks for undermining the reveal moment that development teams work 18 months to achieve.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Pokémon Pinball feels more like a George Gomez game than a Jack Danger game; Danger had less involvement than publicly suggested — _Retro Ralph's design analysis after playing and hearing designer presentations; subjective assessment based on playstyle comparison_
- [HIGH] The game is significantly more approachable for casual/new players than Star Wars Pinball — _Direct comparative play experience at media day; Retro Ralph contrasts difficulty and shot accessibility_
- [HIGH] All three cabinet tiers (Pro/Premium/LE) retain major sculpts (Pikachu, Meowth, Pokéball) with feature differences rather than cosmetic downgrades — _Retro Ralph examined all three models in-person and noted Stern's deliberate design choice to preserve sculpts across tiers_
- [HIGH] Pro version was Retro Ralph's favorite tier due to faster game flow despite losing whirlpool ramp and Meowth magnet — _Personal preference stated after playing multiple tiers during media day_
- [HIGH] The game code is well-developed with 180+ Pokémon capturable and integrated with Insider Connected at launch — _Retro Ralph observed during hands-on play; Stern team outlined future plans for the system_
- [HIGH] Pokémon license holder had full control over playfield artwork and required approval down to millimeter-level character details (e.g., teeth alignment) — _Observed during media day; Stern team confirmed ongoing licensor approvals for cabinet art details_
- [MEDIUM] LEs are unlikely to be available for purchase due to expected sell-through from Pokémon crossover collectors willing to pay premium prices — _Retro Ralph's prediction based on observing Pokémon collector spending patterns (high-value card purchases); speculative but informed by market observation_
- [HIGH] Large license holders like Pokémon require approval down to production deadlines and will delay launches if standards aren't met — _Retro Ralph drawing on direct experience with Harry Potter Pinball licensing; attests to seeing this enforced firsthand_

### Notable Quotes

> "I think this is mostly George Gomez, which that's not a bad thing, by the way. I just think that Jack had a lot less involvement in this than I think maybe they're putting out into the world"
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~13:30
> _Suggests potential discrepancy between public co-design credit and actual design contribution balance; implies Jack Danger's role may be overstated_

> "this game is very approachable and what I mean is you can get in you can you can go on this game as like a novice player I think you're gonna have a great time... Star Wars, I feel, man, you're going to you're going to struggle with that game if you're not like a seasoned player"
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~20:00
> _Direct contrast with his earlier Star Wars assessment; establishes Pokémon as significantly more accessible and player-friendly_

> "if you're the people working on it, you're very proud of your project, I can't think that it doesn't impact sales to some degree. So just think about that a little bit more when next time when you're the one that maybe is about to click send on some crappy potato cam photo"
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~67:00
> _Core argument against leaks; frames leak responsibility as respect for creator effort and market perception_

> "They're very, very, very particular. Now, certain license holders are going to be easier than others. But think about it. The license holder for a $288 billion property is probably not going to want you to do anything outside of their guidelines."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~38:00
> _Defends licensing delays as legitimate constraints rather than excuses; establishes context for why large IP holders require rigorous approval_

> "we shut it down. Like they had to kick us out in a respectful way. They're so great over there... but they're just nice people over there in general"
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~60:00
> _Acknowledges positive experience with Stern staff during media day; explicitly rejects cynicism that niceness is performance-based_

> "There's so much time. These things are like 18-month sometimes cycles to get this product from its white wood to what we see as a finished product. So think about all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into that"
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~65:00
> _Establishes development timeline context; used to justify emotional stakes for creators in controlled reveal moments_

> "I'm sure working on a big project like this, I saw it with Eric Minier and the team out there and Joe Katz and their mechanical engineer and everyone that was involved in the Harry Potter project, how proud they were to show this. And then, of course, that stupid potato cam play field thing leaked."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~65:30
> _Reference to Harry Potter playfield leak; frames leak as dampening creator pride and contradicting controlled reveal strategy_

> "An NDA means I'm shutting my mouth until you tell me I can talk about it. And I have no problem with that. I have no problem at all with that. But I also take it really seriously."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~63:00
> _Establishes Retro Ralph's personal NDA philosophy; positions himself as exemplar of responsible information stewardship_

> "if you compare these two games this game is very approachable and what I mean is you can get in and this is probably I'm sure a conscious effort from Stern"
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~22:00
> _Attributes game design accessibility to deliberate Stern strategy; suggests design philosophy shift vs. Star Wars_

> "The two ramp shots are pretty easy to hit. The other thing, too, that's cool about it is I noticed that at least, I don't know, I'm not sitting there with, like, a ruler measuring shit, but it feels like those are much wider shots than, like, Star Wars."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~24:30
> _Technical detail about shot tolerance; reinforces approachability thesis through observable design feature_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Retro Ralph | person | Pinball content creator and podcast host; attended Pokémon Pinball media day; experienced with Harry Potter Pinball; known for video reviews and community engagement |
| Jack Danger | person | Co-designer of Pokémon Pinball with George Gomez; Stern Pinball designer known for complex layouts; presented at media day |
| George Gomez | person | Co-designer of Pokémon Pinball; Stern CCO; legendary designer; presented at media day alongside Jack Danger |
| Seth Davis | person | CEO of Stern Pinball; gave licensing presentation at Pokémon media day; Retro Ralph notes positive relationship and enthusiasm for property |
| Erica | person | Dedicated Pokémon fan (mentioned as 'Erica's pinball journey' podcast/channel); used by Retro Ralph as litmus test for theme authenticity; expressed enthusiasm for game |
| Vic VP | person | Pinball community member; attended Pokémon media day; known to Retro Ralph; involved with Stern Army tournaments |
| Mike | person | Tournament organizer for Stern Army Long Island; attended Pokémon media day; Retro Ralph describes as tall; spent day playing with Retro Ralph |
| Aaron | person | Content creator at 'Grown Up Adjacent' (stream channel); met by Retro Ralph at media day; described as very tall with large hands; streams almost daily |
| Punk Rock Pinball | person/group | Pinball podcast crew; met by Retro Ralph at media day; described as sweet people; podcast running for extended period |
| Ken Cromwell | person | Co-host/co-owner of Flipping Out Pinball podcast; brought up Retro Ralph's NDA post to Patreon audience; noted for sharing Retro Ralph's passion about NDA responsibility |
| Greg Bone | person | Co-host of Flipping Out Pinball podcast; Patreon member who discussed Retro Ralph's NDA stance with Ken Cromwell |
| Eric Minier | person | Involved with Harry Potter Pinball project; mentioned as example of team proud to show their work; Retro Ralph references direct observation of their project |
| Joe Katz | person | Involved with Harry Potter Pinball project; example of creator whose work was affected by leaks |
| Pokémon | game | Stern Pinball's new release (February 13, 2026); $288 billion IP property; animated series theme; features 180+ collectible Pokémon; three cabinet tiers (Pro/Premium/LE) |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Pokémon Pinball; hosted media day in Chicago; CEO Seth Davis; designers Jack Danger and George Gomez |
| Star Wars Pinball | game | Recent Stern release; contrasted negatively with Pokémon for difficulty/approachability; featured at earlier media day event |
| Harry Potter Pinball | game | Jersey Jack Pinball title; Retro Ralph worked on Harry Potter; experienced licensing approval delays; playfield leaked in 'potato cam' format |
| Insider Connected | system/technology | Stern's app integration; Pokémon Pinball features integration with 180+ Pokémon captures syncing to app; future features planned |
| Stern Army | organization | Tournament organization; Vic VP and Mike run/organize tournaments for Stern Army Long Island |
| Flipping Out Pinball Podcast | media/podcast | Hosted by Ken Cromwell and Greg Bone; Retro Ralph referenced for Patreon discussion of his NDA stance |
| The Flipside Pinball Podcast | media/podcast | Hosted by Retro Ralph; Episode 52 released February 13, 2026; features media day impressions and NDA philosophy |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pokémon Pinball hands-on impressions and gameplay mechanics, Cabinet tier comparison (Pro vs Premium vs LE) and feature differentiation strategy, Game approachability and accessibility compared to Star Wars Pinball, NDA responsibility and leak ethics in pinball community
- **Secondary:** Licensing constraints and approval processes for large IP properties, Designer attribution (Jack Danger vs George Gomez contribution balance), Insider Connected integration and future feature roadmap, Limited Edition availability predictions and collector demand from Pokémon fanbase crossover

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Retro Ralph is highly enthusiastic about Pokémon Pinball's gameplay, approachability, and design execution. He praises Stern's approach to preserving playfield sculpts across tiers and appreciates the team's professionalism. His passion about NDA responsibility is earnest but directed at the community rather than Stern. Only criticism is that the game feels more like George Gomez than Jack Danger, which he frames as not negative. Strong respect for Stern staff and the licensing challenge.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Stern media day format includes dedicated presentation rooms, designer walkthroughs, and extended hands-on play time in sound-isolated spaces; staff described as consistently kind and professional (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph describes multi-room format (licensing room → designer presentation → play room) designed to maximize experience; notes staff 'just nice people over there in general'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Leak responsibility is a passionate concern within content creator/industry segment; Retro Ralph and Ken Cromwell share philosophy that leaks undermine creator pride and market perception (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph dedicates extended segment to NDA ethics; Ken Cromwell brought up his NDA post; both frame leaks as harmful to 18-month development cycles
- **[design_philosophy]** Playfield layout uses five primary shots (left ramp, right ramp, battle arena, bash toy, center shot) creating perception of simplicity that masks depth through combos and flow gameplay (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph observes: 'doesn't look like there's a lot to do but there is...only like five shots' yet describes extensive combo and flow opportunities; explicitly addresses community perception mismatch
- **[design_philosophy]** Pokémon Pinball explicitly designed for approachability and casual player appeal; narrower shot selections and wider ramps intentionally contrast with Star Wars's difficulty (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph notes 'I'm sure a conscious effort from Stern' to make game approachable; attributes shot width and forgiving design to deliberate strategy
- **[leak_detection]** Harry Potter Pinball playfield leaked in poor-quality 'potato cam' photo format; leak impacted community perception and creator morale despite teams' 18-month development effort (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph: 'that stupid potato cam play field thing leaked...it bums me out'; describes impact on team pride and market assumptions based on poor image quality
- **[licensing_signal]** Pokémon license holder maintained full control over playfield artwork with extreme approval rigor (millimeter-level character detail vetting); ongoing approvals observed during media day (confidence: high) — Stern team confirmed 'very minor things' on cabinet art still subject to licensor changes; Retro Ralph notes licensor required teeth alignment approval to millimeter precision
- **[market_signal]** Limited Edition availability expected to be severely constrained due to crossover demand from Pokémon card collector base willing to pay premium prices (confidence: medium) — Retro Ralph predicts: 'I don't think LEs are going to be available for this'; notes Pokémon collectors spend freely on high-value items ($5 packs, expensive individual cards) indicating purchasing power
- **[personnel_signal]** Jack Danger's credited co-design role may not reflect proportional creative contribution; game feels predominantly George Gomez in design philosophy despite joint credit (confidence: medium) — Retro Ralph's comparative assessment: 'feels very George Gomez to me. It does not feel...a Jack Danger game' despite both listed as co-designers
- **[product_strategy]** All three cabinet tiers retain major sculpts (Pikachu, Meowth, Pokéball) with feature variations (magnet under Meowth, moving Pikachu, whirlpool ramp) rather than cosmetic downgrades (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph directly examined all three models and confirmed 'They didn't decide to make...Pikachu a flat plastic' across tiers; features differ but core sculpts preserved
- **[product_concern]** Pro tier gaming experience preferred by Retro Ralph despite feature losses (no whirlpool ramp, no Meowth magnet, stationary Pikachu) due to faster flow and reduced complexity (confidence: medium) — Retro Ralph: 'my pro is my favorite one...I really like fast-moving games...I was okay with some of these concessions...I don't feel like those features are so much'
- **[technology_signal]** Insider Connected integration launched with Pokémon Pinball featuring 180+ Pokémon captures with future feature expansion roadmap outlined (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph: 'code was pretty developed. There's already like one hundred eighty Pokemon you can capture...added to your insider connected...bunch of like future plans for that'
- **[licensing_signal]** Pokémon Pinball themed to animated series specifically; playfield artwork developed under full licensor control; visual execution deemed 'very on brand' and meeting strict guidelines (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph: 'theme is going to be for the animated series'; 'full control' by licensor over artwork appearance; 'they had to meet a certain guideline'

---

## Transcript

 Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the flip side podcast. I'm your host retro Ralph and I am fresh, fresh back from Chicago for media day. And if you're listening to this today, which will be February 13th, then Pokemon from Stern Pinball is just about to drop, if it hasn't already. So hopefully what this is and what this becomes is supplemental content for you to maybe dive a little deeper, get my thoughts. But I'm also going to have a full video from the whole experience. I'm bringing you into Media Day in my video that will be published hopefully tomorrow. We're shooting for tomorrow. but I had probably one of the best times I've had at one of these media days this past one. Now the, the, the, the crew was different. A lot of people that normally go couldn't go, but I got a chance. But what was cool about that is, you know, sometimes you, you know, you make friends with, with certain people within the hobby and then you, you, you kind of like, you kind of stick with them, you know, and it's not like you're trying to ignore everybody else. That's not, that's not what you're trying to do, but you kind of like, they become your your comfort zone so you kind of gravitate towards them but i got to meet uh aaron over at grown up adjacent i've met him before but i haven't if you haven't followed his content he streams like almost daily really good guy very tall very tall and very large hands his very very big hands um so if you do meet him uh you'll notice his hand could crush your whole entire face uh very easily or palm of basketball or whatever yeah i got to meet the punk rock pinball crew very very sweet people and so that was that was really fun so definitely go check them out too they they uh their podcast has been going for a little while now so uh interesting stuff go check those those guys out as well um yeah so anyways let's dive right into it so i uh you know we go to the we go to the media event and uh it kicks off and we're all excited right so they did something a little bit different this time i did not make the star wars one so i guess they did this at the Star Wars one. They did this at John Wick too, but they brought us into a room at first, but they hadn't done it a couple of times before that. So this is like maybe going to be their normal process. So Seth Davis came in and it was interesting because I like, I really, Seth gets a lot of heat. I really like Seth. And I don't know if that's because I've been in a corporate job for so long, like my whole career, but I have a, I have a deep appreciation for how hard his job is as CEO of that company. And I know he gets a lot of heat for things that I don't really think have anything to do with him, you know, but, but anyways, I really like him. I've, I've grown to, uh, have, you know, a bit of a relationship with him. You know, I, you know, at least, at least when I see him, he's going to stop and talk to me, which, which, which, which is cool. So, but he did the presentation in this, in this presentation stood out to me a little bit more. The vibe at Stern was interesting. I think they are extremely excited because it was coming out in the way that Seth was presenting the material. Not to say that when he did it for Star Wars, he didn't seem enthusiastic, but he seemed extra enthusiastic. Like the energy in the room was very high. And now I didn't grow up with Pokemon. I knew of its existence and my kids did Pokemon Go for a little bit. But there was just a different energy in that room with Seth. You know, and of course, when he throws up the slide and says, do you guys know how big, and of course, we all do do you know how big the pokemon property is and he's talking he talks about the 288 billion dollars i mean it's it's an insanely large property that spans generations uh and and it's still going right there's i was just in the airport going to i was going to chicago and there's like vending machines with pokemon cards i was going back from chicago and there's vending machines with pokemon cards i mean it now it's funny how sometimes when when John Youssi something that's not really something that is part of your life on a regular basis, and now it's introduced to you in some fashion, and now all of a sudden it's everywhere. You're like, wow, this is everywhere. I mean, the Super Bowl commercial, they had a Super Bowl commercial for Pokemon. So in that presentation room, that's the first thing we all did. We all piled in there. And he just gave us an overview of like, here's the license, here's what our thoughts were, this is what it was like working with the license holder. And, you know, the theme is going to be for the animated series. so we didn't play the game yet but of course you know sometimes if those go too long which by the way it didn't but if they if they go too long it starts sounding like wah wah wah wah like i just want to play the game right so so they after we did that we got a chance to to play it and they had all three you know all three there they had the pro the premium and the limited edition so we got a chance to get exposure to all of them and i'll tell you this so going into this i'm not a Pokemon fan I don't follow any of this stuff like I don't do any of that so so I it was interesting because you know I'm not going into it with what I want to see out of Pokemon but I also wanted to make sure that if there was someone there like Erica's uh Erica's pinball journey like she is really into Pokemon so I was like well I'm going to use her as my like litmus test because if she likes it and she's really into it then they captured the theme I wouldn't know right to me I wouldn't know i wouldn't be like oh man you know they i can't believe they didn't put salamander in there i don't even know if that's actually a character's name whatever it is like i can't believe they didn't put him in what the heck uh so that that so she she could at least uh she could at least like fact check that part of it so that was cool uh vick vp uh and mike i don't remember mike's i don't always forget mike's last name mike's this tall dude he runs um he runs tournaments for start for um stern army tournaments out on uh long island i believe it's long island But awesome dudes, by the way. Love Vic VP and Mike's super cool. I can't think of Mike's last name. So I was hanging around a lot with them. But so when we get into the room, we still haven't played it, though. It's not like we go from that one room to then we can play it, which I'm grateful for. We then get a presentation from the designers. You get Jack Danger and you get George Gomez and the rest of the development team is all there. and so they're going through the game and the and that that part i struggle with because it's early in the morning and i'm like oh man i'm only retaining i don't retain game rules that well it takes me a long time like i have to have a game for a considerable amount of time before i'm i'm like okay i understand the code but they are giving you the full breakdown but keep in mind if i'm talking one-on-one with you and i know a game really well and i tell you everything i brain dump everything about it you're gonna you're not unless you're joel from flipping out you're not or surge you're not going to retain or travis you're not going to retain all of that information right you're going to need to at least for me i need to learn through playing it but um you know they're going through the design and everything now we've seen it but we haven't played it at this point and i gotta say like one thing you know this game is co-designed and it has both their signatures it doesn't feel like a jack danger game to me though like this this is probably a very low percentage of Jack Danger. I think this is mostly George Gomez, which that's not a bad thing, by the way. I just think that Jack had a lot less involvement in this than I think maybe they're putting out into the world, which is fine. I mean, whatever. It is what it is. I'm sure Jack did a lot of other things, but if I'm looking at it from a purely game design perspective, it feels very George Gomez to me. It does not feel... And by the way, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. People love both of them. People love George Gomez games. A lot of people say Deadpool is their favorite game ever, or at least in the modern era for Spike 2. And then, you know, there's a lot of people that think Foo Fighters or X-Men is their favorite game. So, I mean, there's definitely love for both those designers, so whatever. I don't know the percentages, but if you were asking my opinion, I'd say this feels like a George Gomez game and not really a Jack Danger game, although he might have had a little influence in it. So, anyway, so they go through all that spiel, and then finally we can play the game. And I was pleasantly surprised. So here's the thing that you need to know. I think there's going to – you know how the community is. They'll set a narrative, and then they'll run with it. And I don't know what that narrative is going to be yet because I'm publishing this as that is going out. So I have no idea what the community will do or say. The problem with the community sometimes is some louder voices will say something, and that might be more opinion-based and not fact-based. And all of a sudden, the whole entire – like everyone's like repeating it. It's like a pin side, and it becomes like a virus that spreads. and sometimes it's not necessarily a great reflection of the game, which we're going to talk a little bit about leaks in a minute because I did a whole podcast on leaks. I hate leaks, and I'll tell you why. We'll go back to that because I don't think leaks are going to impact this game, but I hate it for a lot of reasons, and we'll go back to why. And it's more of a personal thing. So when we finally get to play it, I played the premium first. So I guess I'll backtrack just for a second. Looking at all the trims, pro, premium, and limited edition, keep in mind, not a Pokemon guy. So for artwork, I was like, okay, it's Pokemon. You know what I mean? Like I wasn't – although I was drawn to the LE. But it's hard not to be drawn to the LE because you have the cabinet expression lights. You have – it's like you have the art blades in it. So it like really completes the world. But what I did notice first and foremost as I'm looking at pro, premium, and limited edition is I was impressed by the fact that Stern left all the sculpts in. So it didn't matter what version of the game you looked at. The play field looked basically the same. There's a couple minor things, but I liked that from a sculpt's perspective, they didn't decide to make, let's say, like the Pokeball a flat plastic or Pikachu a flat plastic. All those sculpts are there. So Pikachu, Meowth. And by the way, don't think I have any clue who Meowth is. I know who he is now, but I had no clue who Meowth is. And I think it's really funny. Meowth. Meowth. I don't know why I want to like be like meow. So Meowth, I think it's a cat. I don't know. It has whiskers. So it looks like a cat to me. And then the Pokeball. So those are in all of them. So you're getting all of them. Now where that goes away or where that changes is that Pikachu doesn't move. The Pokeball doesn't move. So they're there though. They're there. They look the same. They just don't move. So we'll get into a little bit more of that in a minute. And the Meowth thing in the middle works exactly the same. Now there is concessions, but we'll get to that in a minute. But what I'm trying to tell you is if you're looking at this pro premium and limited edition, they're basically going to look very similar from a play field standpoint. And they're not, it's not like Stern ripped out those sculpts and put flat plastics and made it look like lesser than So I do I do like that It seems like they it seems like that was a i feel like that was something they tried to do here i i i feel when you look at the game initially it doesn look like there's a lot to do but there is right i mean there's not a lot of shots there's only like five shots you have your right ramp you have your left ramp you have uh the the battle arena thing you have the bash toy and then there's a shot behind that so that arena thing that's sort like a triangle up there at the top that is uh that thing comes down Meowth comes down and there's like a bash toy and then when when you complete that that or when you're he moves out of the way basically and then there's a blinking shot behind him for like an up the center shot so but he's not always there there's times where he's he's up and you can shoot right through the middle which which which surprisingly isn't as easy as you'd think but and then he's kind of surrounded by these stand-up targets and then there's a little bit of chaos in there because there's a pop there's a pop bumper in there. So there is something that adds some variability to the game by that pop bumper so that it does feel a little chaotic. Now it feels a little more chaotic on the premium or the LE because there's also a magnet almost think like think like X-Men Magneto magnet. There's a there's a magnet right there underneath Meowth that will also throw the ball around. So there's a bit more chaos and that is a feature that you don't get on the pro. But I think the community if I hope the problem with people that can't play the game is they're going to form opinions and I think when you look at it it looks like oh man it's a super simple layout and that might be true but it's really fun um you can start getting into a really great flow with left ramp right ramp and you could do some cool combo shots so and then the orbits are fun so there's like a um you know if you're if you're initially plunging the ball you can hold the left flipper like a la James Bond, right? And a ball will go all the way around. And when it does go all the way around, there'll be like a bunch of red lit shots. At least that's what they're lit as right now. And then if you hit any one of them, that's a skill shot. And obviously there are various different values associated with those skill shots. There's a cool captive ball feature. There's a scoop on the right hand side. That scoop is actually kind of a hardest. That's probably to me the hardest shot in the game is that scoop. The two ramp shots are pretty easy to hit. The other thing, too, that's cool about it is I noticed that at least, I don't know, I'm not sitting there with, like, a ruler measuring shit, but it feels like those are much wider shots than, like, Star Wars. You know what I mean? Like, you're not going to get a bunch of rejects. Once you get a feel for the shots, you'll find yourself getting into a good flow. So there's a lot of fun in that, right? Like, I like flowy games, and this game does have flow, and you can kind of get into a groove, and that feels good. and I think from a new player perspective someone's gonna and this is probably I'm sure a conscious effort from Stern I made the mistake of calling Star Wars approachable in the beginning that was my first impression that that that couldn't be more inaccurate at this point if you compared these two games this game is very approachable and what I mean is you can get in you can you can go on this game as like a novice player I think you're gonna have a great time and You will hit the shots where Star Wars, I feel, man, you're going to you're going to struggle with that game if you're not like a seasoned player. Actually, even even some of the best players struggle with it with that game quite a bit. So. So that was my like initial impressions. I was like, wow, it's approachable. It's fun. The code was pretty developed. There's already like one hundred eighty Pokemon you can capture. And then those in those things are catch, I guess. and then they will be added to your insider connected. And then they have a bunch of like future plans for that, that they were outlining, which make it sound really cool. And I wasn't really as, you know, the, the, the, the, the theme song is really catchy. It is in there. So there's that, but the, a lot of the thematic stuff, I, I don't know whether that's like staying true to the property or not, but Erica, you know, seemed to be super pumped and excited about it. So, So I got to go by that because she's a super fan of Pokemon. The other thing, too, is the Playfield artwork. That was all done by – I don't want to say it was all done by the license holder, but they had, like, full control of that. Now, Stern had to do a lot of things because, you know, it was like they're working together with them. But for the most part, how that looks and how they wanted that to look was very on brand. Like, it had to meet a certain guideline. And so even when we were there, there were some things on the cabinet art, very minor things that they said would change, like on the back glass, like if a character had teeth, it might have been like off a millimeter or something. So there was still some licensor stuff still going on, and I want to talk about that for two seconds. I do feel like people comment all the time, man, I wish that this game would come out. Like what's this pending licensor approval thing? As being someone that I got the unique opportunity to work on Harry Potter, it is not like we think. It's not like you just send a revision off to the license holder and they're like, oh, yeah, cool. Everything's cool, man. Like, here we go. All right. Here we go. No, no, it doesn't work like that. They're very, very, very particular. Now, certain license holders are going to be easier than others. But think about it. The license holder for a $288 billion property is probably not going to want you to do anything outside of their guidelines. So I show grace there because I've seen the other side of it. And I don't know why everyone is so like, they think it's literally an excuse. I'm like, no, man, they work down to the wire. And here's the thing. License holders don't care about your timeline. If it's not done to them, then it's not done. I saw that firsthand with Harry Potter. If it's not done, it's not done. If they don't like something, they will push back. And they do not care if your tentative launch date is a Friday or a Thursday. or Wednesday. They're aware of it, but if they don't like something, sorry, you're delayed. Like, that's it. Like, it's that simple. And I don't know why people don't show grace on this. They act like those are excuses. They are 1,000. I can tell you because I've lived it, it is not an excuse. It is just the nature, especially working with a large license like Harry Potter or Pokemon. Those are licenses where they're going to be extremely anal about how their license is perceived and you know you can't help but look over this game and it screams pokemon so i think they did a good job there now as i played through the day i want to talk about the pro for a minute because i felt like the pro was my favorite one and i never uh my pro is my favorite one but on this one it was and i'll tell you why so you don't get the little the toilet bowl but You know, it's a similar, I don't even know what you call that, like a whirlpool ramp. I don't know. I'll call it a toilet bowl for lack of, I don't know what it's actually called. But on Star Wars, that's in the top right for the Jabba shot. And over here, it's on the left. It's like hovers over the left flipper. I really like fast-moving games. And there is a diverter. It doesn't always go down that little toilet bowl thing. But it slows it down a little bit. I don't want to say it slows down a ton. but I preferred the fast player of the pro. So I was okay with some of these concessions. So you lose that whirlpool ramp. There's a sneak in on the left side. If you're looking at the left side of the play field, there's these three stand-ups, and then there's like a little sneak in on the left. You don't have that on the pro. That's just a stand-up target. So you have three stand-up targets plus a fourth stand-up target. Then also on the pro, where the Pokeball is, the ramp actually goes up and there's a physical lock. that is not on the pro so that ramp doesn't move at all there's no up it's always in the down position so when you shoot that ramp some people were wondering like does the pokeball open or do anything like that it doesn't it just goes up that ramp and it's like kind of this like very fun satisfying like loop shot it like kind of goes up and loops back down and it comes down pretty fast i like that um the other things that are concessions on the pro we do like i said we don't of that magnet under Meowth, and then Pokemon or Pikachu doesn't move. So all I saw Pikachu do in this code, and I don't think his arms move or his tail moves, so his head just moves, and I don't think any part of that other part of that sculpt moves, so that's it. So it looked like how they had it coded, at least initially, is if the ball's like, wherever the ball is, like Pikachu will move his head toward that ball, right? So if it's on the left, he's going to look left. If it's on the right. He's going to look right. But the thing is like when I'm playing and I shared the same thing with a punk rock pinball, we were like, well, we're not looking at him. It's kind of like Kong in the corner, like Kong in the corner is doing something, but I'm not ever really looking at Kong. So what he's doing is kind of irrelevant to me at least. So this was one where I went, shoot, I don't usually favor the pro, but I kind of did in this case. And, but here's the thing. normally I don't because I feel like the pro is is stripped down in this case it's really not you are missing some features but I don't feel like those features are so much that that it's like oh man you're making these major concessions unless you're like a you know unless you if you feel like those things are things you want to have then of course you could go with the premium and then the le is going to be the le but I don't think the le is going to be available so why I'm more inclined to like position a pro or even a premium but more so on the pro is all of these accessories, excuse me, my voice, all of these accessories are going to be able to be purchased. So you're not going to get the same art blades of the, as the Ellie, but you can put the cabinet expression lights in. You can put the art blades in. You can even put the lights on the outside of the cabinet. If you want, you can put the speaker expression lights. You could put a shooter rod. I don't know if it's going to be the same shooter rod as the Ellie. The Ellie is going to come with a shooter rod. It actually is a, I think it's called the master ball or something. It has a little M on it. I think that's what it is. That looks pretty cool, actually. So if you listen to this and want to go, I'm sure you can go check out the launch materials and you'll see all this. But I thought it was cool that they actually took the extra step and put a shooter rod in it, in the LE. Now, to me, you want to get LE, and I don't think they have any problems selling LEs here at all. But if you want to get LEs back on track, I think, no matter what the gamer license is put a topper on it like give give the le with a topper and we didn't get to see the topper unfortunately but the dealers did i guess and everyone's saying like the topper is going to be amazing so i don't know if they're going to show this topper during the launch i'm assuming i'm assuming not because i think they're not ready to do that but uh they did assure us that accessories would be available a lot faster than normal but that's why i'd be more inclined if i was going to buy this to go with the pro or the premium because i can kind of make it and i think that might be a moot point a little bit because I don't think LEs are going to be available for this. I really do think they're going to probably sell through the LEs because I do feel like this license is bleeding over to some of the Pokemon fans and I think a portion of them are going to buy this because they buy everything Pokemon regardless of price We try to say, oh, they're only buying cards. Well, some of these people are buying cards that the pack costs $5, but they're buying a single card for a considerable amount of money. So to say that the Pokemon collector doesn't have money would be inaccurate, I think, because a lot of them do, and they will buy every single thing. So, I mean, overall, I think the thing is when I got a chance to sit on the plane on the way home and soak it in, I was like, man, this game was – we were having so much fun with it. Like we shut it down. Like me, Mike, Vic VP, Erica – I'm trying to think who else was there toward the end. I think – I don't remember everybody that was in the room, but we shut it down. Like they had to kick us out in a respectful way. They're so great over there. they like you know i i i realized that that that you could look at it two ways you could be like well they're coming into your house they want you to have the best experience of course they're going to be super nice to you but but they're just nice people over there in general like i don't think it's like oh they're being nice because we're in there we want us to say nice they want us to say nice things about the game because no one says what to say and i know there's people that that that want to think that but no one that's turn is telling you what to say they want you to legitimately get the experience and and they give you time in a special room so you can have more one-on-one time with it so you can hear the music better because in their arcade room it is really loud and it is hard to get a grasp for the full thematic experience but everyone was so so kind but i'll talk about one thing about licensing so um if you if you if you're a patreon member of of flipping out the flipping out podcast ken cromwell and greg bone brought up a my post that I made the other day about how I take NDAs seriously. An NDA means I'm shutting my mouth until you tell me I can talk about it. And I have no problem with that. I have no problem at all with that. But I also take it really seriously. And there are some people that don't. I don't like this idea that, oh, well, I'm going to leak this thing. Because here's the problem with it. And I had a whole podcast on leaks, and I talked about this. There's so much time. These things are like 18-month sometimes cycles to get this product from its white wood to what we see as a finished product. So think about all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into that, whether that be the game designers, the software developers, the mechanical engineer. So if you think about it, this is the moment of reveal. This is the time where they get to show off how amazing – like how they feel about their game. And I'm sure working on a big project like this, I saw it with Eric Minier and the team out there and Joe Katz and their mechanical engineer and everyone that was involved in the Harry Potter project, how proud they were to show this. And then, of course, that stupid potato cam play field thing leaked. And that bums me out because I try to put myself in their shoes. If I was working on a project that took this long to come to fruition, 18 months, and then it gets ruined by some jackass who takes a shit photo and puts it out into the world, it sucks for everybody. Like we all want to be surprised together. I'm just as much of a hobbyist as the person listening to this. Like, yeah, I make content, but I only make content on this because I love this stuff. I love it. But I want everybody to get it together, like everyone, because then the community gets excited together. But when you put out something into the world that isn't a good representation of it, that sucks so bad for not only the company but every single person that put the time and effort into it. So I have a hard time when someone's like, well, it's already out there. I'm going to put it out. It's like, no, be the good steward. Like be the good steward of the hobby and don't do it. Don't publish the thing. Even if other people are doing it, don't. Don't be like, oh, well, everyone else is, so I'm going to. Don't. think about the people that put their put their blood sweat and tears and it's their job to put some game out into the world think about them just just do that next time and and i don't i don't mean this as a i'm not trying to be disrespectful to anybody that did share it but i just think that think more about it think more about if this was and and ken thank you ken for bringing this up because i'm super passionate about this too and i think it's because i work in tech we have to sign NDAs and we release new products and we're excited to release those products into the market. And the problem with releasing a crappy photo is that now people are making assumptions based on some crap photo. And a lot of times that photo was really bad. The initial play field photo, it was very hard to tell what was going on. And then people just, the internet makes its own opinion. And I got to think that if you're the people working on it, you're very proud of your project, I can't think that it doesn't impact sales to some degree. So just think about that a little bit more when next time when you're the one that maybe is about to click send on some crappy potato cam photo and think if it was your project, would you want it to be shown in that light? So I'm really passionate about this topic. And I do think people should really take an NDA seriously and don't treat it like a friend DA where you can go do anything else. The problem is none of these companies, you know, Ken pointed this out, none of these companies enforce these NDAs really. But people should have the integrity if you've been given that power, right? With great power comes great responsibility. Like be responsible because honestly, there is no real pinball media. We are the pinball media. There's no like major big time journalists covering this space. That's us. That's all of you guys who also make content. So most of my peer creators are very, very respectful of this. And it's something I feel strongly about. You can call me stupid or whatever. I don't care. It's something that I truly believe we should be respectful of because we all love these people. We meet them at shows. We build personal relationships with them. They have families. They have people that they're providing for. This is their exciting moment. And let them have it you know let them have their exciting moment but i'd say all in all you know i didn't i didn't i didn't view this podcast as being like a deep dive on the game or anything but i wanted to give you my thoughts and i i really do enjoy it i don't know if i want to trade in an existing game for it but i keep thinking i do like there's just something really fun about the game and and keep in mind for me to for me to want to potentially buy a Pokemon game is sort of weird for me because I don't have any like emotional connection to it, but we were all having so much fun playing it. And I think that's the testament of a good game. Maybe a good game doesn't need to have a million shots. It just has to have good shots, shots that feel good, you know, and that do something interesting with the code that gets you excited about that achievement. Like when you, there's a point where you're about to catch a Pokemon, and the Pokeball starts flashing. And it's telling you, you've got to go hit that shot. And I think there's an insert that's flashing too. So it's very obvious what you have to do when it comes to that time. And there's something cool about when you hit that shot, and then it kind of stops, and it shows you the animation of the one that you caught. excuse me and then at that point you uh you would see that on the lcd too so it gives you a moment of like it gives you a moment of you caught that one uh the battles are also really interesting with with Meowth and how that that that character can move up and down and by the way that moves up and down on on both on both the pro premium and limited edition so you know I think it's hard when you when you uh you only only I probably played it 30 times maybe I don't know maybe 20 25 25 30 times but we we were there all day like we closed it down it was like nine to almost nine at night so from nine to nine it might have been nine to eight something but it felt like it was nine it was so it felt like a long day but all we did was play just play play play play play and that's that's how you get the best experience with it is you just got to keep putting time on it but i had fun with it from the very moment so it's i think how i'd sum it up if you're a pokemon fan you're absolutely going to love it. I think, I don't know how you wouldn't. And it seemed like anybody that was there that was really into Pokemon was absolutely loving it. But if you're a pinball, if you're a pinball, uh, enthusiast and someone that you'd, you'd view your skill level being a little higher, I do think you're going to go into this and the shots are very satisfying and fun, but they're approachable shots. So it's not like it's giving you this like massive amount of challenge, but there's enough challenge in there. I was asking, um, Derek, one of their, one of the guys over at Stern, I was like, Hey, how does, when you guys play test this thing, like how's, what are the scores of the Stern people? And the average score of the Stern people was like, and they're obviously very good players, but the Stern employees weren't posting like billion point scores, although Tom Graff did. So Tom Graff was there and he like, I have this video where I'll end up publishing it. He's like, eh, like I played through, I think we played through a whole game with four people and he was still on like ball one or something or whatever. He was still playing his game. Let's just put it that way. After we went through four people, he was just commanding the machine, but he's also a super exceptional tournament player. And I have a lot of respect for Tom. He's a really good dude, really nice guy, just loves pinball. And, yeah, he totally crushed the game. So I think if you're in that super exceptional category, sure, you're going to be able to blow it up. But I think for most of us, we're going to have fun, it's going to be challenging enough, and the shots feel good. So I really am contemplating. I keep going back and forth on whether I'm going to pick one up. I think if I do, it's going to be a pro, not the premium. Because those other things aren't like, I don't know, they're not game changers for me. And that's weird for me to say because typically I'm always like a premium guy or an LE guy. And I think this will be the one LE. I know this is getting repeated everywhere and time will tell. But it does feel like this LE is the LE that's going to potentially hold value like we saw Jaws do. I will say the shooter rod thing, I don't think we've seen the included shooter rod on an LE since Jaws. actually. I think it was Jaws because Jaws had like the barrel, the barrel shooter rod. I'm pretty positive of that on the LE. The LE came and went so fast with Jaws that I never got a chance to get one. I really did want the LE of Jaws. I kind of made mine look like an LE, but, but yeah, that, that's the, that's the thing. If it's someone out there, I think we get hung up on, oh, premium's better and everything. It's just, it's really going to be subjective. It's going to be, do you feel like those things are important to you? Like the Pokeball, it does, it is animated, but all it really is doing is if you hit a pop bumper or you hit a slingshot it just kind of like goes left right left right like it just moves like that so i don't know is that is that if that's something that is a game like a deal breaker for you then then yeah you're gonna get everything you're gonna get in the le as far as the play field stuff on the premium so that's gonna be a decision you're gonna have to make but um but i'm telling you for me and I think my taste and how I like to play and games that I like to play has changed like I really do like things that are faster paced and fast moving And I not saying that the premium doesn because the bowl does slow it down but it only when it enabled and it not that often So, I don't know. But I preferred the Pro, to be honest, out of all of them. Now, you know, of course, I'm like all of you, and I like to mod and customize my game. But then you also have to factor in, you know, after you do all those things, what's your overall cost after? But what I do like about it is with spike three, they're making it so that any trim level can add cabinets, lights, can add speaker lights. Like that's the go forward strategy. And I like that because it means you can make the game as you can go as far as you want with accessories or not, or just you don't care. And there you go. You got you don't put art blades, you don't put lights and you don't care about that stuff. The LE is obviously the only one with a shaker motor. The shaker motor is a hundred and nine dollar item. So it's not like a crazy upgrade. But I did like the shaker motor was a cool touch on the LE. But here's the thing. A lot of times in the early code, they're not fully coded in. It was there. It was very apparent that it was there, and I did enjoy it a little bit more with the shaker. But that's something you can add to all of them. So it's not like you have to get the LE to get a shaker. You just pay $100 to get a shaker, and they're really easy to install. So and I like the fact that they were saying that these these accessories are going to come faster than normal. And I think they got a lot of heat from the community. I think they're trying to figure out how can we get these things rolling quicker. So I do like that. Now, that's going to be to be determined. Like, let's hope they do that. They they did it quick with Walking Dead remastered. They're so they're they're trying to do these things faster. So we'll see. We'll see. Excuse me. We'll see where that ends up. But yeah, the only like really hard shot I'd say is probably the scoop. The scoop is very far on the right hand side. So you kind of got to get it right on the tip of the flipper or your left flipper to get that, that, that scoop and the scoop will get, I'm sorry, not, yeah, the scoop. Uh, and, and the scoop is like, uh, you can do like your mystery and your extra ball and things like that at the, at the scoop. So yeah, that's my like 35 minute or so breakdown of it. I will say, like, if you asked me, did I like it? I'd say, yeah, I'd say I did. But the thing is, I want to just make it clear, it's not this, like, ultra dynamic layout. So if you like games like Kong or you like games like Avengers Infinity Quest, you know, those or even like Jurassic Park where the shots are kind of more challenging, then I think you might, you know, this might be a game where you pass because you like games with a third flipper or a fourth flipper. you know so that this isn't that it's not that so but i'd say don't shy away from simplicity because that's a mean that means it's not fun like it's it's if you need a two flipper game that's really fun to play in your collection i think this is a fun one to add and it doesn't have the brutality of like black knight sort of rage or or star wars you know borg is just his he likes to make brutal games and this isn't a brutal game so i so i think that's kind of nice especially for people that are newer to the hobby because you're going to feel like you're progressing through things nicely or or that the um uh the learning curve isn't quite as difficult you know i think even as many times as i've played star wars i still feel like i have my games are all over the place where you'd probably get more consistency with this and i'd say that's because the shots are easier to hit you know but but i don't want you to think that it's like ultra simple i'd say it's just simple in its design like the design is simple but i think that was a conscious effort to say it's a large ip we want everybody to have fun with it but we also want to take the approach that we can make it more challenging through code and so yeah that's i mean the one thing that's to be determined and this is why i take typically get a game like this is why i might want to get this is is what will the longevity be though like how deep will that code go and will i get bored with it like i can't answer that because i haven't owned it and put 200 300 plays on it but that'll be that'll be interesting so i always recommend someone goes and plays it on location this game is going to be freaking everywhere if you're just one of those people that buys all the new inbox stuff then by all means go for it but i do i don't think this game is going to be hard to find so that's also i talked to my buddy sean about this a lot uh shout out to uh shit arcade i always forget his name on the i always forget he's gonna kill me i always forget his uh arcade gaming central yeah go go go follow him on instagram he posts some great stuff but i was talking to him about this a lot he has the unique opportunity where there's tons he lives like close to the to stern so if you look around the you know the chicago metro area there's pinball everywhere and because the manufacturers are there the new stuff is usually very quickly on site so he gets this unique opportunity to be able to play stuff really close to his house so he can kind of get is fill and then realize like okay i want this game in my collection or i don't some of you don't have that luxury some of you don't have as many on location sites i've got it we've got a great pinball community here in phoenix so there's plenty of places to go play it and explore it some distros have showrooms you can go do it but you know i'd always encourage someone to play it first but um you know sometimes the videos don't quite give you everything you want to know but anyways i'm excited for everyone i'm excited to see the community reaction of course i can already anticipate there's going to be people that are going to form some opinion and that might not be the right one because they haven't played it so just keep an open mind and and do do the assessment for yourself don't just fall into the echo chamber because the echo chamber sometimes uh the majority of the echo chamber when it happens hasn't actually played it yet and this game literally just came out today there's probably no place on location it will be at uh new york toy fair and it will be at tpf so if you're going to tpf hey if you're on the fence play it at tpf when you go there and see see for yourself, you know, log some time on it or go find one locally. Cause these things, the pros are going to ship out first. And I think they're going to ship out pretty quickly. They were not on the line yet because they were waiting. They were, they were preparing the line for Pokemon, but it wasn't in production yet because they're waiting on some parts, but I'm assuming that's like any day now that will be in full swing and they're going to be pumping these things, things out pretty quickly. So yeah, I hope that would give you a good little breakdown. I'm doing this with a little bit of a limited time, so I just wanted to put something out there, but be on the lookout on my Retro Ralph channel. There'll be a full video. The plan is to try to get it out by tomorrow, but Mason and I, I did have Mason come out. We filmed a lot of material, so it could take a while to sift through. My goal would be, or our goal together would be to do it, get it out by tomorrow, so hopefully you'll have even more stuff to chew on. I'd say my video is gonna give a lot of the details I already did, but it's gonna give you a background, a little bit of a sneak peek behind the scenes of what a media day is like, what we do and and kind of um yeah just kind of get a little behind the the curtain look because i think sometimes i go to these media days and i focus so much on the game that i don't capture the fun we've had and the people that are there and so hopefully if it works the way i want it to the goal would be for you to watch my video and feel like hey i'm along for the ride on media day and ralph's giving me taking me down this journey because not everyone can go because it's really based on media, the pinball media, like I said earlier. So yeah, I cannot wait. So if you could, if you're watching this or listening to this after you've watched all the launch materials, put in the comments what you think about the game. I'm very, very curious to see what the community is going to say. Because it's different. It's different in the sense that it's a very different license. It's probably the biggest license Stern has probably ever worked with. right i don't it's it's the biggest ip in the world so i would think that there probably hasn't been a license that they've ever had before that would be this large so it's pretty exciting times for stern and i think stern's been getting beat up lately i don't think it's justified but they're getting so beat up lately it's like we're in this season of it's cool to hate stern and i i started with stern stuff i think stern does an exceptional job making games like they make good games through software, they're kind of like, I don't want to view this as like a negative, but they just have like a way of being able to put the whole package together. And maybe they're not perfect at everything, but collectively, you know, through Insider Connected and code updates and the amount of time they invest into continuing to develop a game is probably the best. You know, it's probably some of the best in the industry. So there's something to be said about that. And they manufacture with, even though there's been some blenders over this past couple years, like X-Men came out and it was very iffy mechanically. There were things about it that definitely made it a little less fun. Now, over time, they've sort of had fixed kits and things to get it back on track. But, you know, when you do these like radically different designs, you got to think the manufacturing process on that is harder, right? because you're doing things with a ball that maybe have never been done before or it's just, you know, it has to be so precise to shoot accurately. And this one just shoots good. It just shoots really good. It's got a good flow. And I think you guys are genuinely going to like it. And I'd be interested to hear both from the Pokemon fans and from the people that are, like, pinball enthusiasts and then even the newbies. Like, I want to see, I want to hear everybody's perspective. So I think I'm being very fair on it. and I think my honest take on it is I'm still on the fence of if I want to add it to my collection but that's more because I'm not like an ultra big time Pokemon fan and I know there's some other things coming from Stern later on this year that probably fit my generation a little bit better like if it is indeed Transformers which by the way there's a little there's a little cool fun thing in the beginning of my video and it has to do with Transformers so be on the lookout for that it's it's pretty funny I think so so hopefully you guys enjoy that but yeah that's it it's all I got thank you so much for the continued support of the channel I appreciate you guys so much and please put in the comments I want to know what you think because we're like 15 minutes away from launch I'm going to try to get this podcast uploaded so you guys can listen to it and have some of my thoughts and opinions and then you'll get a little bit more when it comes to how I feel about the game or at least my first impressions of the game because I was recording as I was experiencing it at Stern so hopefully this is probably a little bit more of my impressions after time to let it soak in. So that's it, guys. Thank you so much for joining. Again, light up the comments. I want to know what you think. And we will see you on the flip side. See you, guys.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-15 | Item ID: bbc7cebc-621d-44a2-9533-0d41c66274bc*