# Episode 759: "My New Game"

**Source:** Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2023-01-18  
**Duration:** 36m 6s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-759-my-77383317

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## Analysis

Kaneda discusses his outlook on the pinball industry in early 2023, criticizing high pricing at Stern (particularly the $19,995 James Bond 60th), predicting upcoming releases like Venom and Jack Danger games, expressing concerns about Jersey Jack's Toy Story sales slowdown, and explaining his decision to repurchase a Batman 66 Super Limited Edition machine. He emphasizes the importance of value, code quality, and the irreplaceable creative contributions of designers like Lyman Sheets.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] James Bond 60th at $19,995 is a failure; distributors are sitting on inventory and the game will not sell out — _Kaneda, discussing industry observations and distributor conversations_
- [MEDIUM] Toy Story sales have flatlined seven months post-launch; Jersey Jack needs a new game soon to stay competitive — _Kaneda, speculating on market trends based on distributor observations_
- [MEDIUM] Stern is releasing Venom (Brian Eddy, Zombie Yeti) in March 2023, followed by Jack Danger's next game — _Kaneda, citing rumors from closer to the company; acknowledges speculation_
- [LOW] Jack Danger's next theme is either Foo Fighters or He-Man Masters of the Universe — _Kaneda, admitting uncertainty and lack of confirmed information_
- [LOW] Jersey Jack game #8 rumored to release February 20th, 2023 — _Kaneda, citing rumor mill; explicitly acknowledges unverified nature_
- [MEDIUM] Christopher Franchi is working on five pinball machines that will wow players, including Godfather and Galactic Space Battle — _Kaneda, citing Franchi's Facebook Live statements_
- [HIGH] Batman 66 SLE secondary market price has risen from $15-18k (2016-2019) to $18-19k currently — _Kaneda, citing Pinside Marketplace data and personal transaction history_

### Notable Quotes

> "This game was a failure. And the reason why it's a failure, Mr. Ed Robertson, if they priced this game properly, it would have sold out."
> — **Kaneda**, ~early in episode
> _Core thesis on James Bond 60th pricing; directly addresses manufacturer pricing strategy_

> "It's not like the distros want the prices to go up and up and up. They don't get more margins if these games go up and up in value. It's really the pinball manufacturers that are going to benefit."
> — **Kaneda**, ~mid-episode
> _Identifies manufacturer incentives vs. distributor interests; clarifies market dynamics_

> "We're never going to see Stern Pinball ever do that again. We are never going to get another genius mind like Lyman Sheets Jr. on a code like this."
> — **Kaneda**, ~late in episode
> _Expresses belief in irreplaceable creative talent; explains motivation for Batman repurchase_

> "I think there's a lot of licensing issues with getting the Back to the Future theme."
> — **Kaneda**, ~mid-episode
> _Speculation on licensing barriers for rumored Keith Elwin game; cautious against hype_

> "I think the big mistake they made was splitting up the coding duties on two titles last time around."
> — **Kaneda**, ~discussing Spooky Pinball
> _Analysis of Spooky's development challenges with Halloween and Ultraman parallel coding_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kaneda | person | Host of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast; New York-based pinball enthusiast and collector; critical industry commentator |
| Ed Robertson | person | Referenced industry figure; engaged in value discussion debates with Kaneda |
| Bill Brandis | person | Pinball industry figure; critical of Kaneda's purchasing decisions; reportedly upset about Batman SLE purchase |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; criticized for James Bond 60th pricing strategy ($19,995); releasing Venom and Jack Danger games in 2023 |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Premium pinball manufacturer; Toy Story sales have flatlined; expected to announce new game (JJP #8) in February 2023 |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Manufacturer releasing Scooby-Doo (1969 units); praised for maintaining reasonable pricing; expanding manufacturing capacity |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Manufacturer; recently released Cactus Canyon LE; reportedly working with Mark Ritchie on licensed property |
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer; working on Galactic Space Battle (Dennis Nordman designer); Christopher Franchi providing artwork |
| Batman 66 | game | Stern machine coded by Lyman Sheets; SLE units selling for $18-19k on secondary market; Kaneda repurchased SLE unit |
| James Bond 60th Anniversary | game | Stern Pinball release; priced at $19,995 LE; criticized as failure by Kaneda; distributors holding excess inventory |
| Toy Story | game | Jersey Jack game; released July 2022; sales flatlined after 7 months; units sitting at distributors worldwide |
| Venom | game | Upcoming Stern Pinball cornerstone; designed by Brian Eddy and Zombie Yeti; predicted March 2023 release; expected pre-Texas Pinball Festival |
| Scooby-Doo | game | Spooky Pinball release; 1969 units produced; coded by Jack Danger (rookie coder); pricing maintained at competitive level ($8k standard); shipping in ~one month |
| Cactus Canyon LE | game | Chicago Gaming Company remaster; shipping now; praised as phenomenal game with smooth shots and good toys; criticized for uninspired LE cabinet artwork |
| Christopher Franchi | person | Artist; worked on Batman 66 SLE artwork; working on five upcoming games (Godfather, Galactic Space Battle confirmed); reportedly may not work with Stern again |
| Lyman Sheets | person | Code designer for Batman 66; meticulously arranged game over two-year period; Kaneda calls him greatest LCD coder of all time; likely irreplaceable at Stern |
| Brian Eddy | person | Designer of upcoming Stern game Venom; known for comic book art style; Zombie Yeti collaborator |
| Jack Danger | person | Stern Pinball designer; next cornersone game unknown theme (Foo Fighters or He-Man rumored); previously coded Spooky's Scooby-Doo |
| Dennis Nordman | person | Designer of American Pinball's Galactic Space Battle game |
| Mark Ritchie | person | Designer; supposedly working on licensed property game for Chicago Gaming Company (Beetlejuice rumored) |
| Eric Minier | person | Jersey Jack Pinball designer; working on next JJP game (believed to be Godfather); highly regarded but Kaneda concerned about pricing |
| Melissa | person | Works at Cointaker distributor; discussed pricing and value dynamics with Kaneda |
| Adam West | person | Batman 66 actor; final creative work was Batman 66 pinball machine |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pricing and value proposition in pinball, Stern Pinball's 2023 release pipeline and strategy, Jersey Jack Pinball's competitive position and Toy Story performance, Code quality, updates, and designer legacy
- **Secondary:** Secondary market pricing and collectibility trends, Spooky Pinball's manufacturing expansion and Scooby-Doo launch, Chicago Gaming Company remaster strategy, Industry speculation and rumor culture

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.35) — Kaneda is critical of industry pricing trends (especially James Bond and high prices generally), frustrated with Jersey Jack's slow code updates and Toy Story stagnation, but shows genuine enthusiasm for upcoming designs (Venom, Godfather), appreciation for Spooky's restraint, and personal passion when discussing Batman 66's artistry and code quality. The tone balances cynicism about market dynamics with optimism about specific creative work.

### Signals

- **[market_signal]** James Bond 60th at $19,995 priced beyond market acceptance; distributors holding excess inventory; signals manufacturer overestimation of premium pricing elasticity (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'distributors are sitting on a ton of this product. There are not enough people out there that are so rich that they don't care to have a value conversation.'
- **[product_concern]** Jersey Jack's Toy Story sales flatlined after 7 months; units sitting at distributors worldwide; signals poor secondary demand and market saturation (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Toy Story sales have absolutely flatlined... Sales in Europe are done. They're flatlined. Nobody's going to go get the game now.'
- **[machine_intel]** Stern Pinball expected to release Venom (Brian Eddy) in March 2023, before Texas Pinball Festival; Jack Danger's next game follows (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'I think Venom's going to be next... I think they will. I think we're going to see it sometime in March.'
- **[code_update]** Jersey Jack has not finalized code for Pirates of the Caribbean and Guns N' Roses despite years of availability; beta testing ongoing but final versions stuck in limbo (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Where is the Finnish code for Jersey Jack Pinball?... But why does it take Jersey Jack Pinball so long to finalize the code on some of these games that have been out now for years?'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Shift toward consumer waiting and playing before purchasing; James Bond LE not sold out, TNA 2.0 not sold out, Scooby-Doo not sold out signals healthier buying discipline (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'I think Scooby not selling out. I think James Bond, L.E.'s struggling to sell... I think it's good. I think it shows we're starting to sort of move in the other direction.'
- **[business_signal]** Spooky Pinball expanding manufacturing facility and planning increased output; transitioning from 150 games annual target toward JJP volume levels (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Spooky Pinball is starting to get to the point now where they're nipping at the heels... of Jersey Jack Pinball when it comes to like volume of games a year'
- **[rumor_hype]** Mark Ritchie / Chicago Gaming Company rumored Beetlejuice machine; broader speculation about Tim Burton IP shortage in pinball (Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands) (confidence: low) — Kaneda: 'Imagine if Mark Ritchie and CGC and Christopher Franchi... made Beetlejuice for Chicago Gaming Company... I can't believe we do not have a Tim Burton manufactured game.'
- **[personnel_signal]** Kaneda predicts Christopher Franchi may never work with Stern again; Lyman Sheets era likely over; signals potential irreplaceability of key creative talent (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'Who knows if he's ever going to work for Stern again... We're never going to get another Lyman Sheets Stern machine again. And we may never get a Christopher Franchi Stern machine again.'
- **[design_philosophy]** Lyman Sheets' Batman 66 praised as exemplar of LCD coding balance: 120 episodes studied, 2-year meticulous arrangement, seamless integration of clips with gameplay without overwhelming (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'This man went through 120 episodes of Batman 66... meticulously and painstakingly arranged this game... the greatest LCD coded machine of all time.'
- **[collector_signal]** Batman 66 LE secondary prices risen from $10-12k (2016-2019) to $18-19k current; SLE pricing appreciated but remains achievable at market rates (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'The most recent sales of Batman LEs with the topper everybody wants are around $18,000 to $19,000.'
- **[regulatory_signal]** Kaneda speculates Back to the Future licensing issues prevent Keith Elwin 2024 game announcement; suggests complex IP negotiation landscape (confidence: low) — Kaneda: 'I think there's a lot of licensing issues with getting the Back to the Future theme.'
- **[design_innovation]** Kaneda criticizes Cactus Canyon LE for retaining original cabinet logo design instead of commissioning modern artwork; argues remasters for home collectors should diverge from original route designs (confidence: medium) — Kaneda: 'If you're going to remake a game... I wish they would have made the LE cabinet artwork a lot more interesting. Commission an artist to make a spectacular looking new cabinet.'

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## Transcript

 Here I am, in the city, with a fistful of dollars, and baby, you better believe I'm back, back in the New York groove. I'm back, back in the New York groove. La-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit. Oh, everybody, welcome to Canada's Pinball Podcast. We are back in the New York groove, coming at you from New York City. The Giants are winning in the postseason. It's been like 11 years or something. It's crazy. Everybody, let's talk about pinball. Let's talk about 2023. Let's talk about what we think is going to happen in Q1 of 2023, because I think this is going to be a year, people. I really mean it. This is going to be a year to remember in pinball, either for better or for worse. It's going to be one of those years where we say 2023 was one of those pinball years that either reinforced why we love pinball so much, or it could be a year where we start to get a little bit burnt out on the high prices, on these companies' failure to deliver more creativity for the money. And yes, Mr. Ed Ed Robertson, who's listening right now, we can have a conversation about value. I love Ed so much, but he's like, you can't have a conversation about value, Kaneda, because it's subjective. Yes, to a point, Ed, you're right, but you can't charge $150 for a quarter pounder with cheese, right? Imagine if Burger King and McDonald's were like Stern and JJP and they were trying to find the price ceiling on our love of cheeseburgers, okay? Now look, a cheeseburger is great, but there's only so much you can charge for that cheeseburger until you start putting like gold leaf and beluga caviar on top of it. So we're going to talk about what I think is going to happen over the next couple of months with each of these companies. Before I get there, I want to say thank you to our new club members. John Greatwitch has joined the show. Jeremy Thomas K. Kijetel BS, whatever that means. We've got Greg T. Mr. JG. Mr. Adam P. Rick B. Sarah O'Donovan, my wife's sister, has joined the show. I can guarantee you Sarah O'Donovan, who's now a $10 a month club member, is probably not going to listen to a single episode. but if she's listening, Sarah, we love you. Thank you for joining the show. E&M, Mario V, Enzo V, Maddie L. The list goes on and on. I'm missing some of you. We keep climbing, man. This thing keeps going in the wrong direction for the Canada haters and the Canada haters are out there but the fun part is I've just stopped listening to everybody else. I'm just here to have fun with you guys and the Canada Facebook live page and this Patreon page and Cengiz. We're having a great time. I don't know why anyone would moan and groan about the world's favorite pinball podcast. We took it behind the paywall. Okay, so let's talk about what we think's gonna happen the first half of 2023. I'm also gonna talk about the fact that I did buy another pinball machine and I'm gonna come clean about why I bought another Batman 66 super limited edition. Yes, I spent a lot of money on it. Yes, you might think I'm a hypocrite for spending a lot of money on it, but I'm here to tell you on this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast, I think I got it for the market value. And ultimately, the market's going to determine the price on these games. Because if you come in underneath market value on a game like a Batman 66 SLE, guess what's going to happen? You're not going to be able to get one. And so I really wanted to get the game again. I'm going to explain why. I know Bill Brandis is super upset with me, but let's not start there. Let's end with why I bought another Batman SLE. So let's go around the horn. This is always fun. Like beginning of the week, what's going on with these pinball companies? We have now reached the point of absolute fatigue and exhaustion in the James Bond 60th thread. I'm not going to beat a dead horse. There's 108 pages of grown men moaning and groaning about this game. I'm going to just say this. This game was a failure. And the reason why it's a failure, Mr. Ed Ed Robertson, if they priced this game properly, it would have sold out. It's not only not sold out, distributors are sitting on a ton of this product. There are not enough people out there that are so rich that they don't care to have a value conversation. And I mean it when I say it. See, we were willing to accept this game somewhere around maybe $12,000 or $13,000. We were willing to go that far on a game that's hideous, a game with no effort whatsoever in the art department, a game that doesn't have anything really innovative on the playfield whatsoever. I was willing, Stern, to give you $12,000 to $13,000 for one of these. Even that is an insult when you think about it. Guns N' Roses Collector's Edition was $12,500. This game is an insult to that price. But for $19,995, it is impossible to even look at this game without spitting your drink out laughing out loud and anyone who tells you otherwise is simply trying to sell you the game every single major distributor i know has this game in stock they will have it in stock for many many years to come it's going to be just like beatles diamond all over again okay so i don't care about this game of course i'll play it of course i'll have fun with it and i will never in a million years have any desire to own one. I get it. It's going to be fun to shoot, but it's not a collectible. There's nothing about this that feels collectible. Okay. So that's going to come and go like this game's going to come and go like a fart in the wind. And then we're going to get to Stern's next game sometime in March. And we're going to get two Stern cornerstone games in 2023. Now that's the big question mark. Is it going to be Venom, which is Brian Eddy and Zombie Yeti. I think Venom's going to be next. And then I think Jack Danger is up as a cornerstone title in 2023. I think many of us are somewhat bummed out. We're not going to get a Keith Elwin cornerstone game in 2023. We're going to have to wait to 2024. I know everybody wishes in 2024, the Keith Elwin game is going to be back to the future. I don't have any evidence that that's going to be the case. But just saying that Stern Pinball and Keith Elwin give you Back to the Future makes everybody so excited. But don't get your hopes so high for that game. I think there's a lot of licensing issues with getting the Back to the Future theme. So Venom in March, will that be the case? Will Stern get this game out before Texas Pinball Festival? I think they will. I think we're going to see it sometime in March. And I think it's going to be a beautiful game. You know, this is zombie eddie's perfect art style for him his comic book style artwork he's gonna make this game look incredible but i'm gonna predict this right now if it is venom and it is Brian Eddy and it is thirteen thousand dollars for in le i think we're gonna see another scenario where more and more people are gonna wait to play the game there's absolutely no need to rush in with this many games at this much money because you're never gonna miss out and i think it's a good thing and it's really weird for me for people to label this as a toxic or negative approach to this hobby. It's not. It's not at all. You know, I was speaking to Melissa over at Cointaker. We had a really good conversation about this. And there's all these different sides to the coin. Well, there's actually just two sides to the coin. But we were just talking about like, where did all these high prices come from? And it's not just the manufacturers. It's also the consumers who have been running towards every single launch that have shown these manufacturers they can keep increasing the price. It's not like the distros want the prices to go up and up and up. They don't get more margins if these games go up and up in value. It's really the pinball manufacturers that are going to benefit. And look, I've never seen a game like James Bond where everybody loses. The consumers are losing because they're not getting anywhere near 20k in the product. The distributors are losing because they have to order these damn things without customers already lined up, which they're not used to. And Stern Pinball is going to lose because people are going to see this launch as a greedy cash grab move, and it's going to turn people off to Stern Pinball. It just going to do it Now look do I think that going to impact their bottom line in 2023 Probably not They backlogged still on all of these older titles but it not a good move when it comes to building the brand of pinball. So I think we're going to see Venom, and then I think we're going to see Jack Danger's game. Now the two themes we keep hearing about possibly for Jack Danger are Foo Fighters and He-Man Masters of the Universe. Now you know me. I'll tell you when I know what I think the theme is going to be. I'm not sure what Jack Danger's next theme is. Stern does a good job of keeping things under wraps. The reason why we know it's Venom is because it was right around the corner before they hit pause on it. And the closer we get to a release date of a new Stern machine, more and more distributors and more and more people that are close to the company, they start to talk a little bit. And that's how these rumors sort of percolate. You know, I'm the only show where if I know something you want to know, I'm not going to hold it back. And yes, I'm wrong sometimes, but who cares if I'm wrong sometimes, but no one ever gives me credit when I'm right. It's funny, right? When I'm right, I'd rather be right 60% of the time and give you guys all the information I know, then never tell you anything and then just make fun of Knative because he's only right this percentage of time. So what? We're all having fun. Part of pinball fun is speculating on these rumors. Like the rumor that Jersey Jack number eight is coming out February 20th. I don't know. Like that's what I'm hearing in the rumor mill that sometime in February, we should see a new Jersey Jack game. Now, it's either going to be the new Jersey Jack game or maybe it's the new American pinball game. But I'll tell you this, Jersey Jack needs to get a new game on the line. Toy Story sales have absolutely flatlined. I mean, they're sitting in box all over the place at distributors around the world. Sales in Europe are done. They're flatlined. Nobody's going to go get the game now. So look, we're all looking forward to what's next from Jersey Jack Pinball. And look, it wasn't just yesterday when Toy Story came out. It's been out since July. Let's count the months right now. July, August, September, October, November, December, January, right? Seven months ago, this game came out. It wasn't just yesterday. And it's seven months of a game on the line where demand has all but dried up. So I would expect Jersey Jack Pinball to get a new game out in the next few months. If they were smart, I think they would do that. And look, if it doesn't happen, right, let's just say hypothetically, like Jersey Jack does not get out a game in February. Does that make Canadian Pinball Podcast any less entertaining? If I get that wrong, Have I committed some crime against pinball factual reporting? As if in the media world that's out there, you need to factually get your pinball facts correct, or else what? Or else nothing happens. Ed Robertson still rich, Bill Brandis has still got V12 Ferraris, and I'm still living in a one-bedroom in New York City. Ain't nothing going to change if I get these facts right or wrong. And that's why you're here listening to Canada's Pinball Podcast. Because at least we're speculating about these things. Has anyone else even given you a ballpark date by which you can expect the next Jersey Jack game? And what fun is that? It's not. That's why everybody else is listening to Canada and Canada's not listening to anybody else. Now, look, I keep hearing something from Christopher Franchi, who we know is working on Godfather or Eric Meunier's next game. I think it's Godfather. Every time I'm on Facebook Live and I'm like, I want a magical game. We need a magical game that's going to wow us. Franchi keeps saying that he's working on five games that are going to wow us. Now, look, his artwork is incredible. It's one of the reasons why I'm getting another Batman. I absolutely love his artwork. But he's saying that he is working on five pinball machines that are going to wow us. Now, look, I would just take one, one machine to wow us. We didn't have any real machine to wow us in 2022. Two machines would be amazing, but five pinball machines are going to wow us. I have a hard time believing that. But look, we know his art is great, and he's clearly very excited about what he's working on. Here's what we know he is working on. He's working on the next Eric Minier game. We think it's Godfather. Then we know he's working on the Galactic Space Battle game from American Pinball, the Dennis Nordman game. That's two of five. I don't know what the other stuff is. I heard it was Pulp Fiction, but then he said it's not Pulp Fiction. So I'm not sure. But at least there's some excitement and hype there because I can't wait to see what the five projects are that Christopher Franchi is working on. The other one that I think he's working on is Mark Ritchie supposedly is working on another licensed property game that Chicago Gaming Company is coming out with. Now, what would make everybody really excited? Imagine if Mark Ritchie and CGC and Christopher Franchi, imagine if they made Beetlejuice for Chicago Gaming Company. Now, we know Beetlejuice is a great theme for pinball. Tim Burden needs a pinball machine, whether it's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure or Beetlejuice or Edward Scissorhands, his entire world. I can't believe we do not have a Tim Burton manufactured game. We've got the Nightmare Before Christmas homebrew game, which is super cool, but I really hope some of the rumors that like Beetlejuice are coming, I hope some of them are true. All right, so that's what we got. We got Eric's JJP game is next. And then the question is this, when do we think we're going to see Steve Ritchie's Jersey Jack pinball machine? And it's not just Steve Ritchie. They've also got another designer over at JJP. So I'm here to predict that I don't think we see two Jersey Jack pinball machines in 2023. I think Jersey Jack pinball, all they really need to do is one great game a year. That's it. Because they get to focus on one machine a year. I always believe they go above and beyond on their machines. And if they just do one great machine every 12 months, I think that's the niche JJP should fill. I think their games are a little bit more high end and I think the price should reflect that. They just raised the price on the wrong game. And that's unfortunate. You know, the other thing I keep hearing people say is like, where's the Finnish code for Jersey Jack Pinball? A lot of people want me to do a full like episode on this. Where is the Finnish Pirates of the Caribbean code? where is the Finnish Guns and Roses code? Now they have put some code updates into beta and people are testing them. But why does it take Jersey Jack Pinball so long to finalize the code on some of these games that have been out now for years? And it really is frustrating. We should be playing the final version of GNR by now. And you absolutely should be playing the final version of freaking Pirates of the Caribbean. But I don't know what to tell you. I will tell you this, maybe make more of a noise and figure out a way to complain about it. Because the only way you're going to get it, it seems, is if you do like bang the pots and pans. As a company, they're happy to make you wait years without the final code. So I don't know, maybe find a way to get in front of them more. But clearly asking for the code isn't going to get you it. Oh, Canadian, you're so negative. How can you tell people to complain? So look, Eric's game is going to have a lot of attention. I hope we see it soon. I always have a lot of faith in Eric Minier. I haven't seen the game, so there's nothing else to say on it right now. I'm still worried they priced themselves too high in this hobby. I really am. People are just not going to be throwing $12,000 or $15,000 at every single launch. Now, speaking of not being $12,000 or $15,000, a lot of people are really happy that Spooky Pinball didn't really significantly raise prices on Scooby-Doo, a machine that significantly has more in it than like Halloween and Ultraman. And I think people are starting to really appreciate that. And so Spooky did a good job of winning back a lot of its goodwill, even though we haven't played the game, even though we don't know the quality or the code yet. The fact that they didn't like significantly increase the price on this game is a good first step. We know they are increasing their like manufacturing facility. So they're planning for a future in which they can make even more titles. I mean, Spooky Pinball is starting to get to the point now where they're nipping at the heels, I feel like, of Jersey Jack Pinball when it comes to like volume of games a year They not there yet They probably half the output of JJP But man from a company that went from like 150 games to now making 1969 Scooby and they also making more TNAs and they keeping the price right around that sort of like consideration sweet spot. Remember, you can order a Scooby-Doo standard for like in the $8,000 range. And so that like $8,000 to $10,000 sweet spot, you know, before butter cabinet and like taxes, is that is where Spooky Pinball is playing. Now, if memory serves me correct, weren't we supposed to see a stream of this game by Jack Danger sometime in January? I have not seen a date floated out there. There's basically two more weeks left in the month, and I hope we get to see the game soon, because there's really nothing else to talk about right now until we see the code of this game. Am I nervous that it's a rookie coder? Absolutely. Do we need to give him a chance to show us what he's got? Absolutely. It would be really, really cruel for any of us to say he's not going to get it done. Let's see what he's capable of, this DJ guy. I think Spooky knows it's really important they get this game right. A lot of customers buying just one game. I think the big mistake they made was splitting up the coding duties on two titles last time around. They clearly weren't able to do it very effectively. You know, Halloween and Ultraman, they had to code both those games in parallel. It didn't work. And now we know they're focused on one theme. Everyone's going to be playing the same game. Just make everybody happy. It's a theme a lot of people like, but we're also starting to see, you know, part of what I've been saying. The game is still not sold out. They haven't really shown enough to sell it out. So I'm happy it has not sold out. See, I would be really worried if Scooby-Doo sold out all 1969 of those games. If they sold out already with what they've shown us, then I would be like this hobby is over. Like we have shown these companies we don't need anything and we'll throw money at them. I think Scooby not selling out. I think James Bond, L.E.'s struggling to sell. And I think like TNA 2.0 is not selling out. I think it's good. I think it shows we're starting to sort of move in the other direction. And that's not a negative thing that people want to wait and play something and make up their mind before they buy the game. Like, why would anyone say that's a negative thing? All right, Spooky, show us what you got. Because these games are shipping in just a month or so. Chicago Gaming Company, right? They've got Cactus Canyon LE. Those are starting to come out. There's no real news there, so I'm not even going to spend much time on it. The game is great. I don't really talk about Cactus Canyon that much, but man, if you've played one, it's a phenomenal game. It's a lot of fun. It definitely needs more code, but it's not like unsatisfying to play. I've always found the game a little easy to play. It's a fan layout. The shots are really smooth. The toys are awesome. I love the way they do the dots on the CGC game. The topper is incredible. And the LE package is really, really nice. Now, look, there's one thing I don't like on the LE package. it's the armor itself is a little boring. And you know me, I like an LE package that pops, that really just pops. Now look, I get they were going for like that gunmetal look and it works within the theme, but I still think like when you make an LE or you make a CE or you make like the 60th anniversary of James Bond, you should make it in a way where it feels truly special. When you walk up to it, it's just beaming at you how this is the top of the line version of the game. I don't really feel that way when I walk up to Cactus Canyon LE. The other thing I wish they would do, and this is just me, if you're gonna remake a game, and back in the day, I know they were really lazy and they just threw the logo on the side of the cabinet. I wish they would have made the LE cabinet artwork a lot more interesting. Commission an artist to make a spectacular looking new cabinet, you know, drawn in the style of Cactus Canyon. When you just have everyone looking the same, like it's all just got the big logo, I get what you're doing. You're remaking an old game. But I don't know. Have some creative freedom. Because back in the day, they didn't really care about this stuff as much. Nobody was buying Attack from Mars to put into their home. And that's why you just see the big logo on the side. The only job of a pinball machine back in the day was just to communicate to you what the name of the game was. especially these original IP games. But now that these are for home collectors and we want games that are super, super sexy, I don't know why nobody will just have some creative liberty and make it look even better. Who's going to complain about that? Like who would complain about that? The purists are already upset that you remade it. I mean, think about it. The purists are not happy that you remade the game because all the purists that own the originals, you know, the guys who were trying to study how the flippers like operate it, like on a millisecond different delay. All those purists, they don't like this for real. You know, you'll get some of the guys to be like, I'm just really happy. A lot more people get to experience the fun of like Cactus Canyon. The truth is this is made for like the modern buyer, the modern collector, the modern pinball and enthusiast. If you're going to modernize the dots, why not modernize the cabinet artwork? I just don't get it. All right. So CGC, we're still waiting for more weird owls to come out. That's happening. That's trickling out. What else? Anything else interesting going on? I'm not going to talk about Mirko again. I'm not going to talk about Dutch Pinball. Hopefully they figure that whole thing out. All right. Let me end this podcast with why I bought a Batman Super Limited Edition. And I'm going to be completely transparent about why I bought it, why it's coming back into my collection and what I paid for it because I'm always transparent on this show. And I've been saying it now for the past few months is like, as these new in box games are a little underwhelming, we're going to start looking at games from yesteryears, games we really know we like, we know we enjoy. And that's subjective, people, because I can already hear Bill Brandis being like, you own two of the worst shooting games ever. You own Guns and Roses and Batman now. And I want to explain that, look, all of us, the games we choose, there's a subjective reason why we want to own those games. And all of our reasons are different. But let me give you my reasons why I bought Batman SLE again. I owned it. I sold it for $17,000 about, I think it was like four years ago, maybe three years ago. I think it was four years ago. I replaced it with a Rick and Morty. Batman went out, $17,000. and my gosh has the market changed since I sold it for $17,000. So if you go and look on the Pinside Marketplace right now, I mean right now, if you look at what Batman LEs used to sell for, they used to sell for around $10,000 between 2016 and 2019. You could easily get a Batman LE between $10,000 and $12,000. And you could also get a Batman SLE back then between like $15,000 to $18,000, right? Because the notion of spending 15 to 18 grand on a single machine back then was absolute insanity. Nobody was doing it. There were just a couple of games that even cost more than $10,000. Now every single Stern premium is over $10,000 with tax. Times have changed. So those Batman LEs, if you go and look on the Pinside Marketplace, and this is not me making this stuff up, gang. Go look. The most recent sales of Batman LEs with the topper everybody wants are around $18,000 to $19,000. Okay. Now I would argue that those Batman LEs are also one of the last true LEs Stern ever made. There's only 240 of the LEs with the topper. 120 of those LEs were Bat Gadget themed and 120 of them were themed as like the show episodes. And every single one of them came with that amazing topper. This was before Stern Pinball decided that exclusive means included. And it's before Stern Pinball realized they could have sold each and every one of us that topper for $1,000 or $2,000. Instead, they included it in the price of the game. It made each LE feel really special. All right. But you know me. You know Kaneda. I like Gucci. I like the finer things in life. So I had an SLE. I owned it for two years. I heavily enjoyed it. I loved modding the game. I never had any issues with it. I think I had to change one node board and that was it For the most part that hood was never open on that game And I just want to tell you why After I sold Batman SLE why I regretted selling the machine The number one reason I regretted selling the machine is I loved playing the machine. And the reason why I loved playing the machine, it's not because of the gameplay, right? I'm not the best pinball player. The reason I loved playing Batman 66 so much is the way it pulled you into the Batman world. Right when you hit the start button, with the theme song, another day in Gotham City, with the campy announcement, and all the call-outs, and all the clips from the show, it really transports you right into that campy, cheesy world of Batman 66. So I love that part of it. I also loved how simple it was to play the game. It's a deep game that has a very simple rule set. I love that there's like four major villains and you just have to hit each villain shot twice to start the villain mode. That's it. I could explain to anybody how to play Batman 66. I could explain to any casual person that walks up to the game how to start stuff, how to get to wizard modes, and what the point of the game is. Right? Isn't that a very novel idea that a pinball machine shouldn't be too hard to figure out? So I missed that part of the game. I also feel like deep down inside, we are probably never going to get another game coded the way Lyman Sheets coded Batman 66. And here's what I mean by that. This man went through 120 episodes of Batman 66. He went through thousands of clips of the show. He meticulously and painstakingly arranged this game over a two-year period. We are never going to see Stern Pinball ever do that again. We are never going to get another genius mind like Lyman Sheets Jr. on a code like this. And the passion he put into it, I would still argue to this day, this is probably the greatest LCD coded machine of all time. I think Godzilla also does a really good job. But the way he coded this game, where like everything's coming at you in the perfect way, the way the music changes, the way the clips change. You're able to enjoy the show. You're able to look up at that screen and enjoy everything he put into it while still playing the pinball machine. I never felt like when you play Batman that I had to sacrifice one for the other. There's other games out there where like a lot's happening on the screen, but there's too much going on and you're not paying attention to any of it. Batman's not like that. And like Lyman knew, and this is the genius of Lyman Sheets. He always knew like how to create through the gameplay moments of the physical machine, how to create those moments of pause where you can then appreciate what he's doing on the screen. It is such a delicate orchestra. Nobody knew how to do it better than Lyman Sheets. And so I also feel really honored to have, you know, one of his games in my collection and I love what he did with Batman 66. Another reason why, And this is a little bit of my vanity reason. I don't think Stern Pinball is ever really going to make an LE quite like Batman 66 SLE again. I don't. I think head to toe, they made this game the most stunning Stern machine of all time. I think second to this is Elvira's 40th anniversary game. But Batman SLE, when you stand over this game, the artwork by Mr. Christopher Franchi, And who knows if he's ever going to work for Stern again. That's another thing. We're never going to get another Lyman Sheets Stern machine again. And we may never get a Christopher Franchi Stern machine again. And I just feel like there's something super special about this game. Not only that, this was the last creative thing Adam West ever worked on. I mean, there's some prominence to this game that really still, to this day, I feel special about it. And look, gang, I'm telling you all this stuff not because I'm trying to pump and dump this game. Like, I'm not buying this game to flip it. I'm not buying it to sell it again. I'm buying this game because I regret selling it. I'm buying this game because I want to keep it in my pinball collection forever. I will be bolting this game to my floor unless I find myself in financial dire straits one day. I'm keeping this game. I think this game next to Guns N' Roses CE is going to be a beautiful one-two punch in the pinball world. I just don't think Stern's going to do this again. And me studying this market and seeing where prices are going, let me break it down like this. Some people just bought Godzilla LE new in box, and it sold for these prices for $18,000 to $19,000, okay? So think about that for a minute. There are 1,000 Godzillas out there in the world, and someone's going to spend $19,000 on a machine in which there are 999 others out there in the world. Once you unbox it, you have just another of those 1,000 machines. I spent $25,000 on this Batman SLE. I paid $8,000 over what I sold mine for years ago, and I actually think I got a pretty good price on the machine. because the machine I bought also has a playfield protector on it, which means there's no dimples. And if you play to Batman, those playfields dimple really poorly. And so the game's mint, right? It comes from a great collector. He's in the Northeast. And look, on just a pure, like how collectible it is and do I think it's going to hold value? I can hear Ed Ed Robertson being like, Chris, you don't get it. You're back at the value conversation. But from a pure value collectible standpoint. I would much rather spend $25,000 on a Batman SLE in which there are only $80,000 than $19,000 or $16,000 on a Godzilla where there are a thousand of them. Because it's very, very rare that a Batman SLE in this condition comes up for sale. It doesn't happen very often. There is only one other game for sale right now, and it is listed for $34,000. And so I don't feel terrible, right? I would feel bad if I committed to buying this game for $25,000 and then you could show me like five different examples where Batman SLEs in the last couple years sold for around like $20,000 or less than $25,000. You're not going to see it. And so I think I paid a fair market value for it. Do I think it's crazy spending $25,000 on a pinball machine? Yes. Should I have done this? I don't really know. Is it going to make me happy? I hope so. I'm not sure yet. Of course, I've had some nights of like buyer's remorse. Like, did I really need it? Did I fall victim to the FOMO? And the reason why I walk away feeling good is that I've owned this machine. I know I love playing this machine. I know this machine makes me happy. And so I really look forward to getting another one back into my collection. That's absolutely it. Those are the reasons why I'm getting the machine. Everybody, thank you so much for being a member of the Kaneda Club. We are now at 533 members. It's amazing. We were just 522 last week. All the haters out there, you know, I know they listen. This is the best part because they hang off of every word that we say. They follow me on Facebook Live. I love it, guys. There's no room for hate in this heart. And if you're listening to Canada's Pinball Podcast, this is not toxic talking about pinball like this. And we might win the six twippy. We shall see. Voting is over. So I don't have to campaign anymore or beg for votes. So I thank each and every one of you who voted for me. You can tell I'm losing my voice a little bit. It's just been a really tiresome few weeks. Got a lot going on in my personal life. I'll let you guys in on it a little bit. Not right now. So everybody be good. Thank you for joining the Canada Club. And I mean it when I say it. If you have a friend who enjoys pinball as much as you, you should introduce them to Canada's Pinball Podcast. It's the best five bucks a month you can spend later. I'm back in the New York, New York, New York.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: c38e520b-28e2-43d3-b4e2-5a3f935f644c*