# DPP #229 "Can you call yourself a Pinball Company if you can't make games?"

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-02-09  
**Duration:** 29m 14s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donspinballpodcast/episodes/DPP-229-Can-you-call-yourself-a-Pinball-Company-if-you-cant-make-games-e3eqv70

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## Analysis

Don discusses the shocking dissolution of DPX (Melvin Williams' collaboration with Dutch Pinball), questioning whether a company that can't deliver games deserves the title 'pinball company,' then pivots to extensive analysis of Pokemon Pinball's hype cycle, interviewing Pokemon expert Orbital Albert to assess whether collector demand is genuine or manufactured FOMO, and concluding with reflection on Stern's accessory supply chain challenges affecting his game-buying strategy.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] DPX is dissolving; Melvin Williams is stepping away from the collaboration with Dutch Pinball effective immediately — _Official press release from Melvin Williams announced during episode; Don references receiving advance notice_
- [HIGH] Alice's Adventures in Wonderland missed its one-year delivery deadline; approximately 30-100+ buyers are now requesting refunds — _Don cites Coin Taker (distributor) posts confirming refund requests increasing from 30 to ~100; Barry (Dutch Pinball) promised shipments 'within weeks'_
- [MEDIUM] Dutch Pinball offered Back to the Future as incentive to deposit holders who would wait beyond Alice deadline, but this promise yielded 'no fruition' — _Don describes this as 'slimy-sounding' and reports it ultimately failed; no corroboration provided_
- [MEDIUM] Spooky can produce 500 games in approximately 5-6 months; American Pinball could produce comparable volumes — _Don's comparative statement based on industry knowledge; not independently verified in episode_
- [HIGH] Stern Spike 3 games ship without consistent accessory availability; Premium buyers cannot reliably obtain LED cabinets, speakers, lighting within 90-day windows — _Don describes frustration with his own customers; reports inability to predict accessory delivery timelines_
- [MEDIUM] Pokemon Pinball LE production is expected at 750 units total (~500-550 US market, ~150-200 European) — _Don's estimate based on typical Stern distribution patterns; not officially confirmed_
- [MEDIUM] Pokemon card collectors represent 90% of hobby spending; less than 10% of Pokemon money is spent by game players — _Orbital Albert (Pokemon expert) claims in interview; presented as expert opinion without data verification_
- [LOW] If a Pokemon card were sealed inside Pokemon Pinball LE and graded 10, it could be worth tens of thousands of dollars with only 1-2 gem mint 10s existing globally — _Orbital Albert speculation; highly conditional on card inclusion and grading outcome_

### Notable Quotes

> "Can you call yourself a pinball company if you can't make pinball machines? Like, is this just a hobby then?"
> — **Don**, ~5:00
> _Core thesis of DPX dissolution criticism; challenges legitimacy of manufacturer status_

> "DPX is DP no more, or we'll continue on as XP, who knows."
> — **Don**, ~1:30
> _Announcement of Melvin Williams' departure from DPX partnership_

> "With a heavy heart that I announce that, effective today, I, Melvin Brower Williams, sound mind and body, will be stepping away from DPX."
> — **Melvin Williams**, ~6:30 (read by Don from press release)
> _Official statement of DPX dissolution_

> "Manufacturing games in the U.S. for the U.S. market, yes, do that now. Avoid the tariffs."
> — **Don**, ~12:00
> _Policy recommendation about tariff avoidance and US-based manufacturing strategy_

> "If people talking about Pokemon collectors already, you know, salivating over this game... all the dealers, ones are already taking deposits. They're already sold out."
> — **Don**, ~16:30
> _Describes FOMO narrative around Pokemon Pinball LE; frames question of authenticity_

> "The average pokemon fan is way way way more into the collectability of the hobby than the average fan of anything else... I think there's going to be so much spillover and that the stern ces will sell out faster than any other stern c has sold out for a very long time."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~26:00
> _Expert analysis supporting Pokemon crossover collector demand thesis_

> "Less than 10 of the money spent in Pokemon is by the players actually buying their cards. Most of the cards that are very effective to play with would never be a graded card... 90% is people buying either video games and or cards."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~28:00
> _Key insight into Pokemon hobby economics; explains collector-vs-player split_

> "If you have that Stern LE card and it grades a 10 you're talking about it being worth tens of thousands of dollars if it grades a 10 and there might only be one or two that will grade a 10 ever."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~30:00
> _Speculation about potential value of exclusive card inclusion in Pokemon LE_

> "I don't want to do it anymore but if something's about to rock it off and i have a chance to get in on one and have something that's truly coveted... isn't that the goal that we hope for?"
> — **Don**, ~48:00
> _Reveals Don's internal conflict about Pokemon LE purchase decision despite accessory concerns_

> "I find it so interesting... cards that have very few and if you can ever find a card that has zero gem in tens then i will go on ebay... I have ended up getting pop ones and selling them for hundreds of dollars when i only paid a few bucks."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~54:00
> _Demonstrates low-population card hunting strategy; illustrates Pokemon collectible economics_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Melvin Williams | person | Designer/creative force behind Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Dutch Pinball) and Raza; departing from DPX partnership; described as lead designer/art director who 'cobbled together the team' for game design |
| DPX | company | Collaboration between Melvin Williams and Dutch Pinball for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; dissolved/separated effective immediately as of episode date; Melvin stepping away from DPX |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Manufacturing partner with DPX; responsible for production of Alice; built new facility across street from existing operations; implied responsibility for supply chain failures and delivery delays |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | game | Dutch Pinball/DPX collaborative release (~15 months prior to episode); 500 units sold in presale; one-year delivery deadline missed; 30-100+ refund requests; art by Zombie Yeti; scopework by Lior; lighting by Stumbler |
| Raza | game | Forthcoming Dutch Pinball title; described as unappealingly colored continuation; Don expresses no interest in acquiring |
| Back to the Future | game | Promised as incentive to Alice deposit holders willing to wait beyond deadline; promise yielded 'no fruition' according to Don |
| Pokemon Pinball | game | Stern Pinball title announced/teased during episode; LE production estimated 750 units (~500-550 US); media day Tuesday, NDA media Wednesday (per episode timeline); subject of extensive hype analysis; potential crossover appeal to Pokemon card collectors |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Pokemon Pinball, Spike 3 platform machines; experiencing accessory supply chain delays affecting Premium buyer customization timelines |
| Orbital Albert | person | Pokemon card collector/expert from Nova Scotia interviewed by Don; provides analysis of Pokemon collector market dynamics, card grading economics, international market distribution |
| Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast; pinball operator/game modifier; experiencing Spike 3 accessory supply frustration; conflicted about Pokemon LE purchase decision |
| Barry | person | Barry Driessen, Dutch Pinball co-founder/operator; made promise to Coin Taker about shipping Alice units 'within weeks' |
| Coin Taker | company | Distributor holding escrow deposits for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; posted reassurance that Barry promised shipments within weeks |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Artist who created art for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; described as having produced 'the best thing about that game' (the art) |
| Lior | person | Scopework designer on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| Stumbler | person | Lighting designer on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland | game | Defunct/failed pinball project; Don disparages attempts to revive it; describes it as 'not a successful product,' 'just a scam,' urges leaving it dead |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Competitor manufacturer; cited as capable of producing 500 games in 5-6 months at good quality |
| American Pinball | company | Competitor manufacturer; Don speculates could produce 500 'burritos barbecue challenges' (game title reference) quickly |
| Mad Pinball | company | Distributor/vendor that brought historical Spooky games and donations to Tampa/St. Pete Beach event |
| Tampa/St. Pete Beach Event | event | Second-year poolside pinball gathering coordinated by Marshall (Little Shop of Games); featured hundreds of games in tent, minimal vendor fees, social activities; Don describes as different model from typical pinball expos |
| Harry Hardy | person | Gave Don advance heads-up about DPX dissolution while at airport |
| Metallica LE | game | Referenced as example of game where secondary market prices spiked ($16k+ from original $13k); used as comparison point for Pokemon LE speculation |
| X-Men | game | Stern game that 'sold decently' and then price declined as secondary market cooled |
| Foo Fighters | game | Stern game that 'sold decently' and then price declined as secondary market cooled |
| The Walking Dead | game | Stern game; Don dodged purchase FOMO; describes as 'not a terrible game' but happy to avoid; price declined on secondary market |

### Topics

- **Primary:** DPX dissolution and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland delivery failure, Pokemon Pinball hype cycle and collector market crossover, Stern Spike 3 accessory supply chain delays and impact on operators
- **Secondary:** Pinball LE/Premium pricing strategy and secondary market FOMO, Manufacturing capacity and supply chain bottlenecks across industry, Pokemon card collecting economics and collectible grading markets, Tariff impact on manufacturing decisions (US vs import sourcing)
- **Mentioned:** Pinball community events and alternative event models (Tampa poolside event)

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (-0.15) — Negative sentiment dominates DPX/Alice discussion (delivery failure, refunds, manufacturing questions); skeptical/investigative tone on Pokemon Pinball hype; frustration with Stern accessory delays; tempered by appreciation for community connections and event experiences. Overall more critical than celebratory.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** DPX unable to deliver 500 Alice machines within one-year deadline despite promise; now facing refund requests and reputational damage (confidence: high) — Don reports 30-100+ refund requests, missed delivery deadline, failed Back to the Future incentive, supply chain failures implied
- **[business_signal]** Manufacturing scalability questioned; DPX failure to produce 500 games in 12 months challenges viability of company status despite competitive manufacturers achieving 500-600 in 5-6 months (confidence: medium) — Don: '500 games in one year is not like the biggest leap... Spooky can do 500 in about five or six months... American pinball could churn out 500'
- **[event_signal]** Tampa/St. Pete Beach poolside pinball event (second year) positioned as alternative to traditional vendor-fee-heavy expos; low-cost social gathering model with karaoke, bonfires, pool parties (confidence: high) — Don describes event as 'different show than any other,' coordinated by Marshall, featuring hundreds of games in tent, minimal vendor economics, heavy focus on community mingling
- **[sentiment_shift]** Skepticism about Pokemon Pinball hype authenticity; Don investigated Pokemon collector YouTube/forums for grassroots demand signals and found minimal organic enthusiasm (confidence: high) — Don searched Pokemon collector channels expecting hype but found 'none of that,' describing potential 'pump and dump' pattern with manufactured FOMO
- **[competitive_signal]** Don pivoting purchase strategy from Premium customization to LE pre-purchase to guarantee accessory availability day-one, shifting profit model from customization to FOMO speculation (confidence: high) — Don: 'for a game like Pokemon, I kind of want the LE if I want it at all... I don't have to worry about when accessories are coming'
- **[licensing_signal]** Pokemon IP crossover potential with pinball LE creating exclusive card bundling speculation; estimated value in tens of thousands if card grades 10 (confidence: low) — Orbital Albert speculation about exclusive Pokemon card with LE: 'if it grades a 10... tens of thousands of dollars if there might only be one or two'
- **[market_signal]** Secondary market price volatility on Stern LEs: Metallica spike ($16k+), X-Men/Foo Fighters decline after hype fade, Walking Dead failed to sell through at original price (confidence: high) — Don discusses pattern of initial LE scarcity premiums followed by secondary market collapse; questions if Pokemon will repeat Metallica spike or Walking Dead failure
- **[personnel_signal]** Melvin Williams departing from DPX/Dutch Pinball collaboration effective immediately (confidence: high) — Official press release quoted: 'With a heavy heart that I announce that, effective today, I, Melvin Brower Williams, sound mind and body, will be stepping away from DPX'
- **[market_signal]** Pokemon Pinball LE at $13,000+ triggers FOMO investment speculation rather than gameplay interest; Don questions if purchase makes financial sense (confidence: high) — Don: 'I really don't want to lose the $13,000... I don't know if i trust that' secondary market value will hold
- **[product_strategy]** Alice's Adventures in Wonderland significantly delayed past promised one-year delivery window; shipping stalled for months before deadline failure acknowledged (confidence: high) — Don: 'a year elapsed and they were not going to make that deadline... it looked like that wasn't going to happen months and months ago'
- **[rumor_hype]** Pokemon Pinball LE production (~750 units) reported as 'sold out' with distributors' desired lists exceeding allotments; collectors allegedly salivating for pre-orders (confidence: medium) — Don reports hearing from distributors and dealers that Pokemon LE is 'already sold out' and deposits being taken; unverified by independent sources
- **[supply_chain_signal]** Stern Spike 3 games ship without consistent accessory availability; LED cabinets, speakers, lighting arrive unpredictably, preventing operators from fulfilling 90-day customization commitments (confidence: high) — Don describes unable to promise accessory delivery timelines: 'I don't know when the accessories are coming from Stern... I can't make a timeline or anything. It's frustrating'

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## Transcript

 Oh, and it is a great Don's Pinball Podcast coming up for you, episode number 228, After the Beach. But the drama has not ceased. We're going to get into Melvin Williams. We're going to talk about some Pokemon. We're going to get some words from an expert in the field and much, much more. Get your butt in the seat. Let's go. all right i'll do it in lieu of the drop is silver gun 360 really just david fix in disguise on my discord people want to know but before we get to that and before we get to pokemon and my expert interview i want to discuss this bomb news the drop today i got a little bit of a heads up from Harry Hardy sitting at the airport on two hours. The whole world is going to explode in pinball. And I'm like, all right, whatever. I'm at Epcot, but I'll go ahead and peruse. And wouldn't you know it, as I'm waiting in line for Test Track as I do, single rider line, 17 minutes, total wait in a 65-minute line. I love it. We got this word that DPX is DP no more, or we'll continue on as XP, who knows. Melvin Williams, Dutch man, over there, The creative force behind such juggernauts of pinball, such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the forthcoming Raza once again and such. The Splinter Group from Dutch Pinball has called it quits, has got separated. I don't know the details, but we did get a press release from this man. But here's the gist of it. DPX is no more. Or if it is, Melvin's not involved. I have a question about this whole business. OK, we know Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It came out two expos ago, right? It's been 15 months or so since this game was sold out of presale orders, right? Hit with a head of steam. Lior's doing the scopes. Stumbler's doing the lighting. It looks good. It plays okay. It was a premium machine. Remember before we knew about what the tariffs were going to do to everything and this thing came out? So my question right from the jump, though, about all this is can you – I have a question for the kids in the room. Can you call yourself a pinball company if you can't make pinball machines? Like, is this just a hobby then? Because they sold 500 of these things. So God bless them. They got their run out there exclusive. Everybody wants it. They said, if you don't get your game in one year, we will give you your money back to you, which was commendable. So it was like, all right, all right. Now, we know Dutch took 10 years to do Big Lebowski, a game that was pretty incredible, especially when you consider the time that it was designed. I had one. I loved it. I had the rug. The vinyl flooring in the home I'm trying to sell still has residue from the backing material from that rug that it was on. So thank you for that. Any tips on removing that glue? Let me know. But the point is this. The game sold out. People bought them. They were happily waiting for them. And then a year elapsed and they were not going to make that deadline. I think the breakdown was 300 or 350 games for the U.S. market, 150 to 200 or so for the European market. and we didn't get there. We didn't get there, and it looked like that wasn't going to happen months and months ago. And so they gave a press release and said, listen, if you bear with us, I know we're missing the deadline we promised you, but if you hold on to it, they dangled that carrot of you can get a back-to-the-future guaranteed, one of the first ones, if you just hold still on your deposit. And that was kind of like a slimy-sounding move, and then ultimately it bore out to no fruition. So I heard now between, you know, started 30 people were asking for their money back. I think 100 are asking now. Melvin did a big press release saying, you know, everybody's going to get their money back. Coin Taker hopefully had just been embargoing that money in an escrow account in the U.S. and didn't actually give it to DPX so folks can actually have a chance of getting their money back. What happens to the people that didn't receive a top earner still waiting on it to be complete and whole with their game? there was a coin taker put up inside post up uh reassuring people that said uh they have heard from barry from dutch pinball uh that's within the next few weeks they should be sending more of them out which sounds like a complete cop out now i'm not saying he's trying to scam people but if i was bsing this is exactly the kind of thing i would say so i hope that's not the case man i hope if you bought your alice you'll love it it's playing great for you hopefully you will get code updates hopefully you will get your topper if you're still waiting on it and yes i know you're in a crappy situation and that sucks man nobody wants to be there but was this ever a company 500 games in one year is not like the biggest leap in manufacturing i mean it's turned us 500 games in a week spooky can do you know 500 in about five or six months uh you know probably Nevertheless, if they're hitting at a good clip, you know, the second run of 500 is done a lot quicker than the first run of 500. We'll just say, you know, with quality and such. I think even American pinball could churn out 500 burritos barbecue challenges to where who knows. But I think they could have done it. So, like, what's going on this whole time? What were they doing? What was the holdup? It had to be with suppliers. It had to be something in their supply chain where at least the redundancy wasn't built in there. And then production was held up because they're waiting for a specific part. That's what it all usually comes down to. It seems like they had the manpower to be able to produce, although it would have been nice to see some livestream walk-arounds of the factory. Whatever. DPX is DP done. So was this guy fired? Did they separate amicably? I don't think we're going to know. And reading through this press release, it's with a heavy heart that I announce that, effective today, I, Melvin Brower Williams, sound mind and body, will be stepping away from DPX. I mean, it's a way to characterize that, but what exactly happened, I don't think we'll ever really truly know. But from my understanding, and I talked to Melvin once at Expo. I had some questions about the game. He kind of scowled at me. I don't know if he even knows who I am. But from what I've been able to gather is he was kind of the brains behind the design of this, cobbling together the team, getting the art, translating foam core into a workable machine. And then Dutch was responsible for like, OK, we're going to manufacture this thing at, I guess, a new facility that they built across the street or something. So did Melvin deliver the game on time and meet all of his metrics? And then it was Dutch that couldn't deliver or Dutch that kind of, you know, mucked around with the supply lines and couldn't get the coils in that they needed or a ball guide was taken a while or whatever. That's the bit of this that I would like to know. Like, how did this thing all fall apart? Right. and then you know we can talk again and i think i have about you know just the fact of going to an old j foam core and taking the best thing about that game which was the art that zombie yeti did and throwing it away the game the project was doomed from the start You know I get it as if it was a proof of concept You want to go through with it But I mean it was I wasn very enthusiastic about it And I was even less enthusiastic about the fact that Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland is trying to come back. Let it die. It's dead. It's not a successful product. It was just a scam. Leave it alone. You don't have to try to make that thing. You know, don't paint this pony up like a unicorn and have it out hot to try. Just leave it out in the pasture. There are so many more better ideas. And, man, if Dutch was just double-downing on Back to the Future right now and getting this game out at a quality level, I think the world would be a better place. So that was the big news that happened today. That was crazy and amazing. I can't say that I am terribly surprised. I thought when Kerry gave me that teaser, it was going to be like something really devastating. This is kind of like a yeah and kind of thing. So listen, I even sound like Kerry now saying kind of thing. Code updates will be slower at times, but rest assured it won't be forgotten. What have I heard that before? As I have my own team that will move with me and handle upcoming projects with me. There was a bit in here where he said, while I'm done with whatever DPX, I'm not done with pinball. My commitment to pinball does not come to a close, to paraphrase here. And he's talking about games that will shift to other manufacturing parties in the USA. Now, that is a moment of clarity, let me tell you. Manufacturing games in the U.S. for the U.S. market, yes, do that now. Avoid the tariffs. I know they're unfair, and we can get in political baits for hours about it. But if I was a practical manufacturer right now or a vendor of games and I wanted to sell in the U.S. and wanted to sell in Europe, I'd be splitting that manufacturing, man. Do what you can to build in the U.S., especially if you're using pinball life parts anyway. Why pay import tariffs both ways on these products? Just find a partner in the U.S., get them built, get your cheddar out of there, build good rapport with the community that's going to support you going forward, and launch this thing in the right way. That's what I would love to see. So Alice's Adventures in Wonderland exists. I'll play it every time I'm at Expo. If the line for ABBA is too long, that's where I'll be. But as far as buying one of these things, no, no, I won't. And Raza, definitely not. Nothing about this seems appealing to me. and i don't know and i know they were only going to do 300 and it would be kind of like a curiosity in a big collection so like i get that there would be a market for something like this but i'm just like beyond not even interested speaking of beyond not even interested uh i'm not interested in losing any more money on le's right now i'd really i'd really happily not like to do that very much dodge the walking dead bullet that game is just doing nothing so when games sell big like x-men i think sold decently uh foo fighters definitely sold decently and then as people kind of got tired of it wanted to move on to something else then the price came down uh walking dead's price is down but i don't even think they sold them in to begin with ah it's not a terrible game i played it at expo i'm just i'm happy that i didn't jump in on that little fomo that i had when it released and then i can go and pick one up down the road sometime later but i'll have to wait and see i'll have to wait and see but pokemon it was an interesting curiosity and i've been evolving in my pinball tastes and everything let me give you a little background of where i'm at i had been buying premium sterns and putting in work and making them over and i've run into a bit of a wall now it was very easy when they were all spike twos most of them didn't have expression lights when they came out with the universal speaker lights expression system for the games it was a very easy upgrade uh to get uh they were only a couple hundred dollars and you could easily go buy the kicker speakers on amazon and throw them right in there maybe throw an amp in if you really wanted to get spicy and then you could put out a decent game right the problem i'm having now in the era of spike 3 is everything has expression like capability which i love however i can't get the accessories from stern with any kind of regularity If I get a game, a premium, and I've got a 90-day window that I want to make this thing over for a customer of mine, I can't tell them exactly when to expect this thing fully loaded out because I don't know when the accessories are coming from Stern. So that would have been a bit of a quandary. They have added better speakers. They've added speaker lighting. They've added expression cabinet lighting, all of which is an added cost and Visiglas and everything. So there is more value baked into the limited edition tier level, which I like. However, you know, I'm more interested in buying at the premium level and then adding some accoutrement on there. But I don't know where I can do where I when I'm going to get them. I don't know. I can't make a timeline or anything. It's frustrating. Right. I hope we get that situated soon. But yeah, that's a frustrating bit. So now if I'm looking at, OK, I want to buy a game just for my personal collection. and if I'm interested in a game like, say, Pokemon, I want to get the good version because it's going to come day one with all the lighting systems in there, all the speakers. I don't have to worry about, is it going to be six months? Is it going to be a year until I can get this thing fleshed out and I can't even put art blades in it until I know when the lights are coming kind of thing? I am carry-harding pretty bad here. I must be sleep-deprived. So, you know, for a game like Pokemon, I kind of want the LE if I want it at all and that's where I'm having questions, right? Now, of course, we haven't seen the game yet. The game may be completely incredible, and I may be able to not resist myself from going and getting one there. But when it comes down to it, I really don't want to lose the $13,000, and I don't want to go in on a premium that I can't get accessories for, so maybe I just wait on the whole dang thing. And I think that was the realization that I've had. With Pokemon, let's talk about FOMO with Pokemon specifically. the only fear of missing out that will exist is on the limited edition that's about to release because that thing may have a fair or halfway fair chance of getting itself sold out and then that ship will have sailed out to joe toe or wherever this game takes place at if i want a pro or if i want a premium those can be available anytime i don't need to rush in and grab them so that's good that's a good place to be i can play it first if i really desperately want to have it then I can go get it. I'm going to like it all the more. And then maybe I'll have an idea of when accessories and things are going to come out. That was until I've started hearing about if people talking about Pokemon collectors already, you know, salivating over this game, like Don, if you can get one of these things, you got to get one, all the dealers, ones are already taking deposits. They're already sold out. You know, I'm hearing distributors have gotten their allotments and their, their desired list for this game has eclipsed that allotment. So, you know, this is going to be unavailable unless you jump you know first thing and get one and i'm thinking like is this a reasonable thing i mean it's a thirteen thousand dollar game the reason to jump in on this is the hope that it's so popular that it does a metallica where it's all of a sudden people are offering 16 for the thing if they can get it out of your cold pokemon gripted hands if that's a word um so that i don't know i don't know if i trust that um but i'm hearing it from some other contents people in the space I need an expert opinion so I have recruited one which i get to but is this just as my question is this a real thing where pokemon folks are out there salivating over this thing and just they're going to come out of the woodwork never bought a pinball machine before they're going to snatch these things up or come with 20 grand wanting to buy your pre-order deposit is that what's going on or is this one of those classic pump and dumps that we've seen where there's just all this manufactured hype over a product it launches completely falls like a turd and then they run away with your money like it was a like a bitcoin or an nft or something back in you know 2023 or some such um so i wasn't sure so i decided to go to the internet to find out so i went through youtube channels that are based on pokemon of the pokemon hobby surely if there are people out there fiendish collectors that can't wait to get their teeth into this limited edition game, keep it pristine in the box, seal it in plastic, get it graded to see if it's like a 10X or whatever, and then keep it in there. Surely the YouTube channel should be talking about this and hyping this thing up and talking about strategies and how to get it, you know, telling Pokemon people there's these things called pinball distributors. You need to go out and find one right now. Here's a list of them and get 10 of these things if you can or whatever. And I've seen none of that. I saw a couple of channels that were talking about the fact that this pinball machine is releasing but more so like yeah it'll be seven thousand dollars most pokemon people don't have that whatever um you know and then i went to uh i went to the forums as well because surely there should be like a pin side type pokemon form of which there are many with you know hundreds and thousands of posts and things and i'm looking for threads talking about this game that just got released we just got the teaser trailer it's been rumored for years the true collector would have their finger on at least the pulse of the pokemon business and i'm not really finding it so I'm concerned that maybe this is kind of pump and dumpy and I don't want to jump in with my 13 and then be holding the bag with this $8,500 game that I can't get rid of because you know just didn't sell out or whatever it is so I went to an expert so I found a person that not only is knowledgeable about pinball machines but he's also a Pokemon collector trader expert and of course I'm talking about yours and mine uh our good friend Orbital Albert out there in Nova Scotia And so I gave him a couple of questions and he recorded some responses to me for a little bit of a kind of text interview. So I like to play that. I'll read my questions and we'll read his responses. We'll play his responses so he can kind of join us virtually here. So he said, go ahead and ask me whatever it is you want to ask me. I said, boy, I don't even know what questions I need to ask. His response here. All right, Don. It's Orbital Albert here. kind of a little bit of a self-proclaimed pokemon nerd even more so than i even a even am a pinball nerd go on go on let me just try as i can in one minute to explain this to you basically because the average pokemon fan is way way way more into the collectability of the hobby than the average fan of anything else whether it be star wars or dnd or any band yeah go ahead they're just like regular fans but on average the average pokemon fan is also a huge massive collector oh and that's why i think there's going to be so much spillover and that the stern ces will sell out faster than any other stern c has sold out for a very long time whether that's day one or it takes a week i'm not sure but i suspect all 750 of those bad boys are gonna climb climb climb sore baby sore burn baby burn have a rad night peace out nerd thank you sir for that so for 750 total games i'm imagining 150 or 200 of those will be european market leaving 500 to 550 us availability that sounds like some manufactured scarcity that could lead to potentially a rocketing price for this thing but i'm still unconvinced so orbital albert my question to you how about internationally how popular is this pokemon thing is this just a u.s thing or is it really just as popular outside in other countries your response please pokemon is legitimately absolutely 100 international pokemon is what has been printed in multiple languages in fact the hardest language to get is uh original dutch stuff by the way some of the top collectors in the world can't get the dutch stuff from back in the day i didn't realize that now i would say the largest market is by far in the united states the second largest market and the second most sought after cards are the og cards where they're originally printed from which is of course japan the third largest market is is china um that's where i i have a good chunk i probably have about a quarter of my portfolio in chinese cards oh and then you've got uh korea's like kind of like it's sitting in fourth there there really is no fifth um there really is no fifth those are the four main markets but no every single european country pretty pretty much everywhere that's affluent everywhere that's a first world or even second world country the second world the thing i don't know hopefully that answers it buddy affluent or effluent either way i think that that's a that's appreciable my question um now let's say there was an exclusive card packed in with this limited edition i know people have been speculating that what if they made a one-off card that's only available on these le machines do you think that an exclusive card would become amazingly collectible oh and to answer yet another question that you didn't even ask oh a good okay a lot of people tend to think that pokemon's all about the game i would say less than 10 of the money of the money spent in pokemon is by the players actually buying their cards most of the cards that are very effective to play with are well would never be a graded card so they can get even an expensive card for super duper cheap that's surprising 90 of the people that you hear talking about Pokemon and spending money on Pokemon are people buying either video games and or cards and there is some crossover but probably at least half the money if not more is just in the cards the buying of the cards the the grading of the cards the fun of collecting them and all that kind of stuff so so the Stern LE will become way way way more expensive because if you have that Stern LE card and it grades a 10 you're talking about it being worth tens of thousands of dollars if it grades a 10 and there might only be one or two that will grade a 10 ever that that is wild so if these if these cards were packed in and like already encased in plastic and on the apron you think they'd be as good a quality as you could get and with only 400 worldwide i mean tens of thousands of dollars for pokemon cards and we thought pinball was crazy uh this is great stuff orbital albert um i have a question for you there's a Pokemon character called Mr. Mime, and he's incredibly creepy looking. There's been some consternation in the hobby as to the gender identity of Mr. Mime. And so just for my own edification, is Mr. Mime male or female? And would they be welcomed at an IFPA tournament, if you could explain? I absolutely hate Mr. Mime. Oh, no. It took me like three months of chasing Mr. Mime. In fact, I believe I had to go to Niagara Falls to try to get him. and the gym that he was in I absolutely couldn take down and I had to spend like on in micro purchases and pokemon go plus i also i freaked out by the look of all mimes man or woman i don care mr or mrs mime are not welcome at any ifba sanctioned tournaments as far as i'm concerned goodness but anyways hey this is not great stuff the audio quality is absolutely horrible and i'm half in the bag here watching green day rock out but anyways i love pokemon because some cards are more valuable just because they're worse so for instance if a card was printed on a day when the blades weren't very sharp or they didn't just oil the presses then there's a very very low chance and sometimes there's a chance of not a single card ever getting a gem mint 10 which can make it even more expensive that is so counterintuitive that i don't think i ever would have thought of that see this is why i had you on thank you this this is a completely fire interview dude i truly appreciate it uh do you have any parting words for us uh after this a huge info dump man i really appreciate it you're so funny this is definitely not fire but if you think it is you can use it i'm just telling you straight up uh my voice is a little hoarse of course abusing my lungs today a lot and because i'm on a microphone that's on a crappy like seven or eight year old probably six or seven six seven year old uh phone so but no i find it so interesting i like to go onto the psa website which is who grades most of the well they're the largest card grader and actually look for low pop we call it low pop or low population count so cards that have very few and if you can ever find a card that has zero gem in tens then i will go on ebay and i will search up down left right center for high res pictures of a card that i think can get a 10 and then i will buy it from wherever in the world it is and multiple copies of it and when owen and i both agree that it's a 10 that's when i will actually send that into ebay and a few times now i have ended up getting pop ones and selling them for hundreds of dollars when i only paid a few bucks for the card because it's that rare cm punk 10 pops what's going on in this world of pinball i think i'm even more confused now than i was when i started but i feel like i do have more information so there is a lot of nuance to this and here's where we are ladies and germs it is sunday night as I'm recording this. It's the 8th of February. Tomorrow's the 9th. That'll be Monday. Tuesday is when the media day is for distributors to finally see this game, and then we're going to get some impressions after that for certainly, and then NDA signing media folks will be there on Wednesday, and then at some point in the next few weeks, we should see the full reveal of this game, and we might in fact see it this week, but I'm waiting to get some impressions, and I'm trying to decide, you know, is this a game i think i think i could worm my way into getting a spot i just don't know what to do here like typically typically i would just i would go on a premium with the plan to make it over but i've been thwarted by spike three so far at the lack of availability and it's frustrating because i've got a buyer waiting on a game i'm waiting on this fall of the empire to ship out and i'm still waiting for my expression lights i want to at least have those in there so this can really stand up on its location it's supposed to be you know a focal point you know one-of-one makeover game for the arcade and i just don't know when i can get these accessories it's very frustrating i just don't want to do it anymore but if something's about to rock it off and i have a chance to get in on one and have something that's truly coveted something that i can play and enjoy with the family and then sell on for at least close to what i paid for it i mean isn't that the goal that we hope for and if this thing is going to be like a jewel like it's fired like this is going to be another supreme potentially um you know do i want to keep this thing pristine in a box in a closet strapped to the original palette and like don't touch it uh and then you know it can go to like a high-end collector for their distribution center window or something i don't know i just don't know help me out here if you've got any kind of inkling on how this thing is doing i've heard from distributors that you know game is quote quote sold out but does that mean that there's just enough people on the interest list because this was supposed to be the potter's water game uh i don't know man i don't know see if you can fill me in i can tell you this i had an amazing weekend uh down here in florida at tampa st pete beach uh super fun hanging out with all my peoples um the the the games were absolutely fire uh but it was really about the relationships and hanging out at the pool and uh and and indulging in some beverages and winding up in trailers in the parking lot thank you mad pinball uh so much for bringing all of that historical spooky games that were there as well as some others that were donated Thanks to Marshall from Little Shop of Games for coordinating this thing and having the wherewithal to bring it back for its second year. And, you know, hopefully everybody was well behaved enough and it was enough fun for everybody. And if revenue was generated, that this can then go on again. It's very much a different show than any other show I've been to. This isn't just, you know, pay out the nose for a spot on the floor, pay out the nose for electricity, pay out the nose for Wi-Fi, and then try to get to the end of the weekend having made some kind of money. This is really just here's a couple hundred games in a tent. Here's everybody involved in making these things. Just go have fun and mingle, right? And that's essentially it. There's a lot of extracurricular activities that are going on, karaoke, bonfires, pool parties, and all that business. I didn't even partake in any of that. I was so busy just on the show floor hanging out, climbing through the box fort that Spooky brought. But every distributor that contributed to this, the pinball factory people that came down, uh marshall for coordinating all the pinball celebrities all in one spot so i could go there and mingle amongst them and peep out the autograph signings and all that stuff that was super fun so thanks for doing that um we're gonna keep this train rolling as i get more information here over the coming weeks this dpx thing came out of nowhere you know pinball news is just it pops off non-stop man non-stop and when i hear about it i'm gonna let you guys know about as well as my hot takes and everything else, you can email the Don at DonSpinballPodcast at gmail.com. You can join the Patreon and throw your shekels my way at patreon.com backslash DonSpinballPodcast. As soon as I get back home, we're going to finally get caught up with the giveaways, man. It's going to be completely, completely amazing. To everybody that came up and said, you know, what up? I like what you do or you're completely annoying. Please stop. I really appreciate that feedback. It was super fun. Everybody that brought me a rum and a Diet Coke, you guys are awesome. So stay frosty, my friends. And we'll get back together and celebrate pinball at the next scheduled meeting time. Big thanks to the remote co-host, Orbital Albert. Check him out, the Pinball Nerds podcast, on the Poor Man's Pinball Network, wherever podcasts are served. And he gave us some ice-cold, frosty information, and I totally believe that is great. So all you sports ball fans, I hope you had fun. with your halftime show of choice. And who won? Was it the sea chickens? Maybe it was. I'll check that out later. I'm going to go back to the parks, man. Catch me at Disney. I'll talk to you later.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: ce362348-c409-481f-a3e9-4be19876ab46*