# The Pinball Show Ep 167 BONUS: The Pinball Show Awards: The Worst Of 2024 **Source:** Pinball Show Patreon Feed **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2025-01-01 **Duration:** 34m 14s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/pinball-show-ep-119086929 --- ## Analysis The Pinball Show hosts conduct a year-end awards special for the worst pinball games and design elements of 2024. They critique Barry O's Barbecue Challenge as the worst theme of the decade, while also awarding worst callouts (Avatar: The Battle for Pandora), worst art (John Wick), worst toy (Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots concept from Alice), worst rules complexity (Avatar), and worst layout (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland). The episode is heavily critical of American Pinball's Barry O's Barbecue Challenge and Jersey Jack Pinball's Avatar, while also taking shots at Dutch Pinball's Alice and Spooky's Looney Tunes. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Barry O's Barbecue Challenge is the worst theme of the decade — _Dennis and co-host explicitly state this as a definitive judgment, noting it missed 'on every level' and was a fundamental business and design failure by American Pinball_ - [HIGH] Avatar's callouts are repetitive and poorly executed, with characters constantly repeating 'shoot the left ramp' — _Direct criticism: 'I'm so tired of hearing these avatars tell you to shoot the left ramp... over and over and over again'_ - [HIGH] John Wick's playfield art is among the worst Stern has produced since World Poker Tour — _'This is one of the worst Stern playfields since World Poker Tour. It is so bad.'_ - [HIGH] Avatar's rule set is so convoluted that Jersey Jack included a 4x4 foot chart to explain how to start modes — _'When you have to include a 4x4 foot chart of how to start modes on Avatar... it's convoluted'_ - [MEDIUM] American Pinball abandoned GTF work to focus resources on Barry O's Barbecue Challenge — _Hosts infer this: 'GTF wasn't the instant hit we wanted... they just moved on' after investing heavily in Barbecue_ - [HIGH] Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has poor playfield layout with an underutilized upper playfield — _'Alice Adventures of Wonderland is just not fun... when you do [reach the upper playfield] like oh yeah there nothing to do up here'_ - [MEDIUM] Final Resistance received no meaningful community engagement after its initial launch — _'I have not thought about that game. Nobody has talked about that game. That game has been in a purgatory.'_ - [HIGH] ABBA's artwork relies heavily on AI-generated imagery with visible quality issues — _'It was pretty bad because it was all AI. Like, I'm surprised the band members didn't have six fingers.'_ - [HIGH] Looney Tunes' rotating Tasmanian Devil toy is poorly executed and too slow — _'The rotating Tasmanian devil... it was too slow. It's like you need to put a motor up on high on that thing or you need to not do it.'_ - [HIGH] John Wick's 'Gun Gate' controversy was overstated; the real problem is poor art direction throughout — _'I held back because of the Gun Gate thing... but guns wouldn't have fixed anything with this art package'_ ### Notable Quotes > "I'm so tired of hearing these avatars tell you to shoot the left ramp. It's, it's, it was just horrible. And it was over and over and over again." > — **Dennis (host)**, ~15:00 > _Core criticism of Avatar's repetitive and poorly written callouts, a major design failure for a Jersey Jack premium title_ > "When you have to include a 4x4 foot chart of how to start modes on Avatar... how in the hell are they going to know, Atu Atu Multiball Mountain, like what the fuck are we doing here?" > — **Dennis (host)**, ~55:00 > _Highlights the incomprehensible rule complexity of Avatar, where even mode names are unpronounceable_ > "This is one of the worst Stern playfields since World Poker Tour. It is so bad." > — **Bob (co-host)**, ~28:00 > _Stark condemnation of John Wick's artwork from Stern, a company expected to maintain higher standards_ > "Barbecue for so many reasons just pisses me off. That time was spent, money was spent, jobs were lost because of this fucking product." > — **Dennis (host)**, ~48:00 > _Suggests Barry O's Barbecue had material business consequences for American Pinball, indicating real damage_ > "You didn't do the whimsical version. You didn't even do the American McGee's horror version. You did this tarted-up version which nobody asked for." > — **Tim (co-host)**, ~52:00 > _Critical assessment of Dutch Pinball's Alice failing to deliver on the promise of the IP_ > "I fully expect that to be a shit show. But I do not expect a game that I deem as the highest end product to have The most ridiculous rule Set known to man." > — **Dennis (host)**, ~54:00 > _Sets expectations for different manufacturer tiers, emphasizing that Jersey Jack/Avatar's failures are worse because they're 'premium'_ > "They put Whitewater 2 on the shelf for this. Yes! All the decisions, the commercially unsuccessful choices that they ended up making." > — **Bob (co-host)**, ~72:00 > _Reveals that American Pinball abandoned a higher-potential sequel to pursue Barry O's, a strategic disaster_ > "Rock'em Sock'em Bullshit. Just. I, uh, I would. God, I'm mad about this too. They knew better. JJP, you know better." > — **Dennis (host)**, ~35:00 > _Expresses frustration with Jersey Jack's toy implementation on Alice, blaming them for not learning from prior mistakes_ > "I have not thought about that game [Final Resistance]. Nobody has talked about that game. That game has been in a purgatory." > — **Bob (co-host)**, ~67:00 > _Suggests Final Resistance completely failed to maintain community interest post-launch, a sign of commercial weakness_ > "It's like you took the innovation of the Leatherface reveal and you turned it into the lamification of the Tasmanian Devil." > — **Dennis (host)**, ~40:00 > _Critiques Spooky's toy design in Looney Tunes as a failed attempt to reuse successful mechanics from Texas Chainsaw_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Dennis | person | Primary host of The Pinball Show, conducts awards segment, offers critical opinions on game design | | Bob | person | Co-host of The Pinball Show, participates in awards voting and design criticism | | Tim | person | Co-host of The Pinball Show, provides commentary on theme execution and design philosophy | | American Pinball | company | Manufacturer heavily criticized for Barry O's Barbecue Challenge; abandoned GTF to focus on Barbecue | | Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Criticized for Avatar's poor callouts, confusing ruleset, and Avatar being overambitious/poorly executed | | Stern Pinball | company | Criticized for John Wick's poor playfield art and design philosophy; expected to have higher standards | | Dutch Pinball | company | Developer of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; criticized for art direction, layout, and topper design | | Spooky Pinball | company | Developer of Looney Tunes; criticized for toy design (rotating Tasmanian Devil) and topper RGB effects | | Barry O's Barbecue Challenge | game | American Pinball title awarded worst theme of the decade; criticized across all design categories (sound, art, theme, layout) | | Avatar: The Battle for Pandora | game | Jersey Jack Pinball title criticized for terrible callouts, overcomplicated ruleset, poor mode naming, and confusing inserts | | John Wick | game | Stern Pinball title criticized for poor playfield art, Doctor Strange-inspired purple/blue styling, and comparison to Dark Knight heads | | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | game | Dutch Pinball title criticized for poor art direction, dark lighting, weak layout, underutilized upper playfield, and thematic misexecution | | Looney Tunes | game | Spooky Pinball title criticized for slow rotating Tasmanian Devil toy, poor RGB topper effects, and meat grinder/Marvin's spaceship design choices | | ABBA | game | Pinball game criticized for AI-generated artwork, poor band member rendering, white lighting, and overall weak lighting design | | Funhouse Remake | game | Mentioned as having weaker audio than original; new Rudy sounds not well-received by some | | Texas Chainsaw Massacre | game | Referenced as having better toy design (Leatherface reveal) than Looney Tunes; praised for 'beautifully ugly' design philosophy | | Jaws | game | Criticized for topper design; described as having facial paralysis appearance in transition | | Final Resistance | game | Criticized as the 'least improved' game; received minimal community engagement post-launch and was largely forgotten | | GTF (Greatest Table Flip or Golden Tee Flip?) | game | American Pinball title abandoned mid-development; work halted to pursue Barry O's Barbecue Challenge; had weak launch reception | | Whitewater 2 | game | Rumored to have been shelved by American Pinball in favor of Barry O's Barbecue Challenge development | | Uncanny X-Men | game | Mentioned as having weak callouts; compared unfavorably to Alice and other recent releases | | Ninja Eclipse | game | Referenced as having stiff callouts and being buggy due to developer inexperience | | Keith Johnson | person | Presumed designer/developer of Avatar ruleset; hosts discussed his work despite the overall poor execution | | Barry Orsler | person | Person memorialized by American Pinball in Barry O's Barbecue Challenge game; hosts suggest the tribute was misguided | ### Topics - **Primary:** Barry O's Barbecue Challenge Design Failure, Avatar's Callout and Ruleset Complexity Issues, John Wick Playfield Art Quality, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Thematic and Layout Problems, Toy Design Failures (Rock 'Em Sock 'Em, Tasmanian Devil) - **Secondary:** American Pinball's Strategic Pivot from GTF to Barbecue, AI-Generated Artwork in ABBA, Final Resistance's Commercial Performance and Community Engagement ### Sentiment **Negative** (-0.82) — The episode is entirely focused on critical awards for the worst of 2024. Hosts are angry and frustrated with design failures, especially Barry O's Barbecue Challenge and Avatar. Tone is cynical and sarcastic throughout. Some lighter moments when discussing less offensive titles (Texas Chainsaw, Funhouse), but overwhelming sentiment is contempt for poor design choices and wasted resources. ### Signals - **[product_concern]** John Wick criticized as having one of the worst Stern playfields since World Poker Tour, with poor art direction, purple/blue styling that doesn't fit the theme, and Dark Knight head imagery instead of proper John Wick aesthetics (confidence: high) — Bob: 'This is one of the worst Stern playfields since World Poker Tour. It is so bad.' Dennis: 'Guns wouldn't have fixed anything with this art package. This art package is terrible.' - **[product_concern]** Avatar: The Battle for Pandora features repetitive, monotonous callouts where characters constantly repeat 'shoot the left ramp' in ways that are 'over and over and over again,' indicating poor voice direction and script quality (confidence: high) — Dennis: 'I'm so tired of hearing these avatars tell you to shoot the left ramp... It was just horrible. And it was over and over and over again.' - **[product_concern]** Avatar requires a 4x4 foot chart to explain how to start modes; mode names are unpronounceable (Atu Atu, Multiball Mountain); inserts are confusing and don't clearly communicate function (confidence: high) — Dennis: 'When you have to include a 4x4 foot chart of how to start modes on Avatar... if the people can't even pronounce the modes, how in the hell are they going to know?' - **[product_concern]** Looney Tunes' rotating Tasmanian Devil toy is too slow and poorly executed compared to the successful Leatherface toy from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which it attempts to replicate (confidence: high) — Dennis: 'The rotating Tasmanian devil... it was too slow. It's like you need to put a motor up on high on that thing or you need to not do it. You took the innovation of the Leatherface reveal and you turned it into the lamification of the Tasmanian Devil.' - **[product_concern]** Alice's Adventures in Wonderland fails to deliver on its IP promise, adopting neither the whimsical original version nor the horror approach of American McGee's Alice, instead creating a sexualized version 'nobody asked for' (confidence: high) — Tim: 'You didn't do the whimsical version. You didn't even do the American McGee's horror version. You did this tarted-up version which nobody asked for.' - **[business_signal]** American Pinball appears to have abandoned GTF development to focus resources on Barry O's Barbecue Challenge, which proved commercially unsuccessful and damaged the company's resources and reputation (confidence: medium) — Bob: 'They put Whitewater 2 on the shelf for this... all the decisions, the commercially unsuccessful choices that they ended up making.' - **[sentiment_shift]** Final Resistance experienced rapid community engagement drop-off post-launch; hosts report no discussion or awareness of the game months after release, indicating commercial and cultural failure (confidence: high) — Bob: 'I have not thought about that game [Final Resistance] for an entire year... Nobody has talked about that game. That game has been in a purgatory.' - **[design_philosophy]** Spooky Pinball's attempt to reuse the successful rotating toy mechanism from Texas Chainsaw (Leatherface) in Looney Tunes (Tasmanian Devil) failed because of speed/motor issues and thematic inappropriateness (confidence: high) — Dennis: 'The whole, the leather face turning around, so cool... because you had the Tasmanian slowville turnaround. It didn't work because it was too slow.' - **[product_concern]** ABBA's artwork is entirely AI-generated with visible quality problems, including unusual rendering of band members (joke about six fingers), lending the game a cheap, low-effort appearance (confidence: high) — Dennis: 'It was pretty bad because it was all AI. Like, I'm surprised the band members didn't have six fingers.' - **[gameplay_signal]** Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has a poorly designed layout with an underutilized upper playfield that provides no engaging gameplay once reached, making the overall experience unsatisfying (confidence: high) — Dennis: 'Alice Adventures of Wonderland is just not fun... when you do [reach the upper playfield] like oh yeah there nothing to do up here. This isn fun either.' - **[design_philosophy]** Barry O's Barbecue Challenge represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how to execute a theme, missing on multiple levels: it's not a good theme concept, the barbecue restaurant integration was 'completely misguided,' and the Barry O's branding adds nothing (confidence: high) — Dennis: 'It missed on every level... the idea that they could sell it to barbecue restaurants was completely misguided... they still just made it all about barbecue... nobody knows [Barry O's].' --- ## Transcript Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. Thanks again for the ongoing support as a Pinball Show Club member. Enjoy this exclusive TPS content and make sure to visit the Pinball Show Club Discord to chat about the bonus material. Dennis, it's that time that we give people what they want, the toxicity of their clicks. Bob Want to do more P dear friends, to be a game that fits all of these things. I don't even know what sound and music it made, like what sound does barbecue make? I don't remember it being offensive or anything like, really problematic. It was just... Because it has the hot rods theme too, and I think maybe the audio was around that. I don't have a strong pick for the worst on sound and music. I think some would say that they don't like the way Rudy sounds on the new Funhouse remake. Yeah, but I don't, I didn't have that reaction when I heard it. Some people don't like the, well that's more callouts of Uncanny X-Men. There's something I really dislike about Avatar, but music and sound is not one of them. I mean, I guess I'd say probably barbecue is the worst way. It is, because I would like to say ABBA, but they're kind of catchy when I play that game. Um, so yeah, we'll give that to barbecue. Okay, now we're not gonna be as nice. Best callouts. Man, there were some fucking turds here. I don't know why people are so bad at doing callouts. Is it just foreign to them? Like, do they not know what people are looking for? For example, a lot of people are going to say Uncanny X-Men. Yeah, that was what I was going to say. I don't think they're horrible. Again, it's not like trashed here, but it definitely is like one of the weaker points of the game. Yeah, I would say that if anyone has even watched the trailer of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I thought about them too. And that Mad Hatter Jackpot. Ugh, you know what, I'm gonna change, you've convinced me. It's so bad. You're right, that was worse. That was worse. Bad! But, I'm not even gonna pick that one as my worst. What? No. You're gonna convince me to change to one that's not even your pick? I don't even know what Barry O's even says. I would even say Ninja Eclipse, little stiff in its callouts. I like the John Wick callouts. Um, ABBA, little stiff. Um, but for me, I expect Alice's Adventure in Wonderland to be shit. But I do not expect someone like JerseyJackPinball to have godawful callouts. And they took the cake with Avatar the Battle for Pandora. I'm so tired of hearing these avatars tell you to shoot the left ramp. It's, it's, it was just horrible. And it was over and over and over again. If you play Avatar, you'll know exactly what I'm meaning. They were like, oh, the guy who did the, who was the bad guy, the baddie. They were like, we got custom callouts I I I I I Iwhere the pinball platform was rigged became a This is the only time we have a pinball show in this category. It was off-putting. They could have just had something calm and generic. I'm thinking like TNA, Scott Denisi, you know, he didn't really have the LCD for stuff. So he just sort of had this sort of sci-fi thing that just sort of stayed there and moved around a little bit. Not dripping meats, drip, drip, drop, no. Bad UI cuts and other things. Hell no. No. On the red and white checkerboard. It's a hell no. It's a full southern hell no. No, it's hell no. It was, remember when that game came out, we said it was more offensive in its content than Texas Chainsaw Massacre was with its gore. Like, oh. Those images, if you put them in Texas, would have made sense because they're very unsettling. Oh, it would have been bad. I don't know whether to be turned on or grossed out. Yeah, whoever's idea that was just bad. Really, really bad. That was an amazing. That might be one of my angriest picks. That might be the worst of the worst there. It may be. It was rough. Worst lighting. Okay. Uh, Alice? It's super dark. It is really, really dark. Uh, X-Men had good lighting. Yeah, no. Funhouse had some RGBs that's good. John Wick had cool expression lighting. Abba doesn't do much of anything in lighting. That was pretty bad. I might give it to Abba. But I can see it. It's just white lights, yeah. Right, but it's visible. Just kind of an afterthought. Yeah, I would This Peft Gisino, ESTV Carat Jen Me� Phillips and Jack�� So, Texas Chainsaw was beautifully ugly. So I can't give it to that. I would agree. So it was beautifully ugly. It was supposed to be ugly. Right. Um, Barrios was atrocious. That was clip art. Like, made that look good. Abba? Abba sort of... Abba was... it was pretty bad because it was all AI. Like, I'm surprised the band members didn't have six fingers. It was... remember the abbatars? Urgent The protest and Remember listener if you remember to the episode we talked about the launch of this and I said the artwork I can almost smell the artwork I don't what to smell artwork when I know it was But it's just how bad they bastardized wanting to be zombie yeti they fucking fiverd that and it's just The AI avatars look better than poor busted ass Alice and her queen of hearts. I think either one of them is going to, I'm going to catch something. Like, oh, gross. No, no thanks. That's easily my worst art. It was a good pick. What about you? Worst art? But it is not my pick. Oh, really? Oh, no, no, no, no. John Wick. Oh, no. The playfield of John Wick. John Wick, Stern, Stern you should have known better. Oh my god, this is one of the worst Stern playfields since World Poker Tour. It is so bad. All the Dark Knight heads. From John Wick in his stylized center shot on the, by the slings in a purple suit because of the lighting effect because they had to get cutesy with it, Wam sl rescind do keinen neut in the ur m Ungr explode That his Doctor Strange circle he doing Yes And me being able to pick which Doctor I want to fight around the circle Just to the lame images on the ramp shots it may be hand drawn it looks like it was Photoshop instruction It is terrible and for a company as big and prestigious as Stern, this, I so held back because of the Gun Gate thing at the time I'm not going to say that I was more focused on that, but I remember I did not praise the art. And you know what? Guns wouldn't have fixed anything with this art package. This art package is terrible. Absolutely terrible. Totally phoned in. That's crazy. The low-hanging fruit was John Wick because of lack of guns, but you're saying, oh no. No, that is not the problem. It was every other choice. Okay, well... It's not an attractive playfield. And I look at it and I don't feel like I'm looking at the world of John Wick either because so much of it is like purple and blue stylized just Doctor Strange stuff. I didn't mind the cabinet and stuff. I did see some Dark Knight headshots. So many. Yes! Yes! I need to shoot Alfred Shaw. You're waiting for Scarecrow. PINNISH PINNISH PINNISH SPANISH PIN PINNISH SPANISH GlitcháoY HKL technologiesales New comfortable available Avatarr which found some rika koj 9 anti-global Avi kim fantastic dot experience Foreign The worst toy of the year easily. Oh, I've been saving this one for half a year. I want, that should be the title of this. Rock'em Sock'em Bullshit. Just. I, uh, I would. God, I'm mad about this too. They knew better. I was good. JJP, you know better. I, I've got a, I'm, I'm concurring with you. I can't. Just, I was gonna say, the worst toys was Avatar because it's what toys? Like, there, there was. Sure, no, there was this. In a world of Avatar. It was on the fly. Knapp Arcade is actually a pinball in the NBA lineup that's salt waterproof pinball labs are known to ignore heavily for their thin surpl 없어요 and this is wagging some rareff напр자�atz impulelse in the Basketball Stsamême Urdu hoje 있죠 572널�ippy contexts기에 las entertainment episode 678ger zodiacal exonerative I mean, shoot, go for it. Alright. Alright. This one, Looney Tunes. Oh no! Yep. Oh no! The rotating Tasmanian devil. Look, I get it. Dudes, bros, come on guys, I get it. Like, the whole, the leather face turning around, so cool. Makes sense. And you could so tell that was the toy you came up with first. Because you had the Tasmanian slowville turnaround. Tiny dancer. Hold me close. No, it didn't work because it was too slow. It's like you need to put a motor up on high on that thing or you need to not do it. Just have it be static or something. I know you're reusing stuff. I get it. I understand it doesn't make it right. It was still wrong. It was so wrong. You took the innovation of the Leatherface reveal and you turned it into the lamification of the Tasmanian Devil. This is like turning into a roast. This is even the worst of. I mean, I'm roasting as hard as those beef are on that barbecue pin. I'm just, no. Okay. No. The problem is it's so cool in Texas, but in Looney Tunes it's so misplaced. I was going to say Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was the worst innovation, but I would actually argue that's one of the best innovations, just because how much better innovation can and you get from conceptually taking a piece of foam and making it into a pinball machine so kudos for that so i cant i cant say that i would say the worst innovation you have my honorable mention which is pinball XP Alright Let's go What about worst topper I can't say anything is bad about the Looney Tunes Texas Chainsaw Massacre, because they are free I mean you could, but the easier answer is to pick on all the games that just don't have toppers yet Yeah, but that is what it is That's not my pick I'm not a pinball player. It's Jaws. I knew you were going to say that one. That sign, I get it. I get that, what it was doing. It looks like she has partial facial paralysis. Oh, no. It just looks so stupid. The way it, when it's in transition, it just, I get what they were going for. It's on brand thematically. It's ugly and not in a good way. It's an ugly topper. I like that topper. I know you do, but I don't, so it's on my worst list. I would say, you know what, this isn't funny about this, like, I'm gonna go Looney Tunes, uh, just because, like, the RGB effects and stuff like that are just not well done, and it mutes the artwork, even if it's a free topper, I just don't like the looks of it, uh, at all. Sometimes, having something up there is actually not as good as just not having anything at all, and I think TextChange Hall was fine, that one was cool, multi-layered. Looney Tunes just for me just didn't work at all. Alright, worst theme. Oh, I mean, come on. This is the worst theme of the decade was Barbecue Challenge. Yes, barbecue! As bad as ABBA was and I've, I had a meeting with those guys and I said, look, I know what price sold but just what were you thinking? I had that conversation with them. Ninja Eclipse for what it's worth, not a good theme at all. Even John Wick by Stern standards, not a good theme but nothing. And I mean nothing comes close to the utter ignorance that not only a barbecue challenge, but a Barry O's barbecue challenge, the late, the great Barry Oursler gets tagged with this atrocity. No. It's, it, again, it's one of those things that barbecue for so many reasons just pisses me off. That time was spent, money was spent, jobs were lost because of this fucking product. It's horrible. And again, it was true. When people went to purchase that, I did ask them, are you sure? Like, it was a two factor authorization because I just wanted to make sure nobody was stealing their identity It a horrible theme Theme is so important in pinball and they didn swing and miss They fucking jumped out in front of that bus They did it to themselves So the worst theme in all of this decade was and will be Berrio BBQ Challenge by American Pinball Yeah. You can't come back from that. You just can't. Like that is the decision that should be branded in... It missed on so many, it missed on every level. It missed, it's not a good theme just as a game concept. It's the idea that they could sell it to barbecue restaurants was completely misguided in no way and it conveyed only total ignorance about how barbecue restaurants actually operate in terms of what they do and how the food is prepared. Yeah. Um, the integration with Hot Rods, which once you play the game, it feels like there's not really any integration there other than they realized barbecue wasn't strong enough to carry the title, but then they still just made it all about barbecue. Uh, and then you've tagged it Barry O's who outside of pinball, nobody knows. None of it works. And Avatar wasn't a good theme too. Jersey Jack, don't be hiding snickering. That was a horrible theme too. Personally, I like that theme, but from a business standpoint, bad theme. Do the I'm tying between the absurdity that Avatar was, it's like the mech world and you're supposed to be on the fucking Fern Gully. I'm going to tie that with Looney Tunes. Guys, I like Looney Tunes as much as the next person and I'm friends with you over there, Spooky. But if you think you're going to pull the wool over our eyes and that fucking meat grinder you're going to make into Marvin's spaceship? No. And Taz spinning around, oh no, that's supposed to be fast spinning Taz. Tim Tim It's Alice. And this is where your points about the art, the whole direction they have taken is you have one of the most iconic, beloved stories of all time. Tim Oh, yes. Tim Whimsy. Tim And you didn't do the whimsical version. You didn't even do the American McGee's horror version. You did this tarted-up version which nobody asked for. Tim Adventures in NC17land. Tim And it's just like, why did you do this to this theme? There's so many other... I remember the art. You want to see a perfectly round titty with no nipple? There you go. It's just horrible. I'm just, it was the whole, so the whole way they decided to make it, Allison, outside of the topper with the cat, it's just, it's a huge miss. Because love it or hate it, barbecue is dripping literally with barbecue in terms of integration. But Alice is not, any version of Alice almost anyone knows. I certainly hope everybody who watches diminumpy cristisionsablestreamsركracks on Twitch will have the right to click on the Buttspix on starting page to order various pinball upcuts ״before buy and store. Pinball without lasers, first parsers,itic markers was今天的 White הס, C barClintieli, Pinball without 42 pins right now i think I expect Barry O to have shit code and rules. I expect Ninja Eclipse as a new company to be buggy and stuff. I expect ABBAs to still not have their shit together. I even expect Funhaus Remake to never be on the top of anyone's list. Alice in Wonderland? I fully expect that to be a shit show. But I do not expect a game that I deem as the highest end product to have The most ridiculous rule Set known to man. When you have to include a 4x4 foot chart of how to start modes on Avatar, and I love Keith P. Johnson, but then you pick a theme that if the people can't even pronounce the modes, how in the hell are they going to know, Atu Atu Multiball Mountain, like what the fuck are we doing here? None of the inserts you could even tell what the hell is going on like oh, that's Xiaomi Xan like I have no clue what any of this says I never understand what the hell is going on with that game But I do know that you can stack a lot of stuff and if you just keep hitting shots you'll start shit But no it's convoluted it is very confusing and yeah for me worst rule The Sound technically really excited and did them as their as my uh... my runner-up for the technicality of objective rules But with this theme and stuff no it's so confusing just Give us like a toy story. I know what to do there. What about layout? design What's the worst? Barrios bad. Barrios bad. It's not great, but it's shootable. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is where I was leaning on this one. That's pretty bad. 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Eteno! beta live quality豆 after he holds Mr one of my head sipping a shortened it's very very a new tiny coupons a lot of time and he's capture class right really was bad but, double there's nothing a system a simple nor became it's a state order part two counter Zac Stark but now right member of that what and that i don't know i wasn't that i didn't know how far from you know put it on the worst list that and they you out that to kidnap multiple purposes as well eban among the looseness and it'd before one shot The low for me personally would be Funhaus remake because I don like the layout of Lawler Funhaus I think it crammed I think it flawed design I don I just don like it at all But for what new yeah Alice Adventures of Wonderland is just not fun And then you got an upper playfield that you rarely get to And when you do you like oh yeah there nothing to do up here This isn fun either It just not a fun game to shoot So yeah it takes a cake Worst launch Brothers and Synix Search dog TE starving h The trailer was just some guy said fuck we got an hour I gotta upload some yes or like the gameplay they were like we're gonna do a YouTube video interview but then halfway we're gonna decide to go rogue and to take this roving camera around For this guy that can't hit a center ramp shot It was rough It's like that we're gonna take a luxury piece, but but they tried it was it was they should try it and fail LaR sue Marseramine composites andンド fruition docs subscribeaucoup o HELP ME KNOCK leak out Binball feito It was trying to be the best but it so failed. It was just sloppy, just sloppy. Least improved from 2023. Oh, I hadn't even thought about that. I haven't either. Leastimproved. GTF because... GTF didn't improve. No, GTF because the thing is there are people that enjoy the layout in such about you. You're one of them. I like that game. You like parts about GTF. And the thing I've seen so many people on, so I'm going to really defer to a lot of people I've read posting comments on forums The The The argument that The The Just The Just Instead of making it good instead of fixing the issues they gave up on it. So it's like the opposite of most of the press like that's true. The last thing was the twenty twenty three expo where their decision was again strangely. The Last thing was the twenty twenty three expo where their decision was again strangely. Let's just bring the entire voice acting cast to expo because you know everyone wants to identify with these no name actors and then that was it. That was the end of their attempts with GTF and they moved on to barbecue. I agree, but I'm going a different direction here. Really? This may surprise a lot of people. Yeah, because what GTF, you're right about all of that, Dennis, but at least GTF still got talked about throughout the year. You know what game has fallen off and I haven't thought about it for an entire year? Final Resistance. Oh, Final Resistance? Sure, people liked it when it came out, but it had two weeks worth of leg and then nothing. I have not thought about that game. Nobody has talked about that game. That game has been in a purgatory. Nobody talks or does anything with Final Resistance. You know what? It's a good, that's fair. I had forgotten about it because it was at TPF 2023 and then they weren't ready to produce it. So they kind of did a soft relaunch months later. They tried and that didn't work. I think Jerry did a few interviews, a couple interviews. Some podcasts talked about it. I did not visit it on EGP because as far as I was concerned, you had your launch. This ain't Hoppets. I don't give second launch. Second launch? I don't. I don't bother. I'm not here to promo. So it's not worth my time. www.knapps mango.com I was expecting that someone had mentioned the name Block. Jock Jock Poppolice I do not know why there are so many web Computer Woof tododoodle pretending JockJ мод�� Ok, the Isnenotes! I have to agree. There's nothing redeeming. I think one could make a serious case for Alice, and in fact you might be able to argue that barbecue has better rules and better layout, but it's still, given that it's a manufacturer that wants to be seen as a serious major manufacturer, it wasn't geared to be a boutique, or at least we weren't told originally it was geared to be a boutique, that they have, as American Pinball, the audacity, the audacity to go out on an interview with Loser Kids and tell them This is a white label game that they plan to use for other production. Fuck no. No you're not. This is where we're gonna succeed in the future with this as our basis. That's another oh hell no. No way. You guys, you do not know what you are talking about if you think that that is the bones to build anything other than upon your own grave for this company. Yep, dammit! And that might have... Just think about it. All the... This is American Pinball's Raza. All of this... I mean they did actually produce it so kudos there but all it was was a huge money sink. Think of all the man hours that were invested. All the time on rules. All the time on finishing that layout. Because it's been acknowledged. It wasn't like Barry was done with it. They put Whitewater 2 on the shelf for this. Yes! All the decisions, the commercially unsuccessful choices that they ended up making. In fact, I blame Barrios for part of the reason why they abandoned working on GTF. They were like, we gotta move on. GTF wasn't the instant hit we wanted. They probably blamed the fact that they launched against nine other games in a two-month period, and so they just moved on. And instead of moving on to something that would demand, they, I'm gonna be generous and say, got excited about wanting to really celebrate the memory of someone that they worked with and they really respected and they were very, you know, I imagine there Man, I was now going to call 4K with the The I can't even say in an ideal world I was going to an ideal world that would have been like a one-off game to be gifted to his family or something But it's such a bad game. I would have been ashamed to present it to them ten units tops That's it. So yeah, they needed the Mafia at team pinball Mafia That's not white label this layout not I mean, it's just they spent way too much time on to this is nothing to it There's nothing there. It's not good. It's not fun. It's a terrible theme Timing and Subtitles by the Amara.org community _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v4)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: d17147fd-ab21-41b9-a352-99b6ff23398d*