# Kaneda's Pinball Podcast Saturday Morning Spectacular November 1 **Source:** Kaneda Pinball Podcasts YouTube Lives **Type:** video **Published:** 2025-11-02 **Duration:** 87m 18s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HurKucjAKno --- ## Analysis Kaneda discusses upcoming pinball releases including The Walking Dead Remastered LE (500 units, launching Tuesday), Beetlejuice (Spooky, launching Friday the 14th), and Winchester's Mystery House (Barrels, sold out in two days). He analyzes market dynamics around limited edition scarcity, secondary market value, theme licensing impact, and competitive positioning between manufacturers. Key tensions explored: boutique vs. Stern quality perception, the role of mechs in justifying price points, and theme selection driving sales success. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] The Walking Dead Remastered LE (500 units) will sell out instantly due to scarcity, similar to Metallica Remastered — _Kaneda speaks from historical pricing/sales patterns and states '500 was always the magic number for a Stern LE'_ - [MEDIUM] Original Walking Dead art was significantly inferior to new Remastered art, making the new version vastly superior — _Kaneda's opinion based on visual comparison; describes original as 'horrendous' and 'crappy draggy art'_ - [HIGH] Winchester's Mystery House sold out in two days, which would have seemed impossible six months prior — _Kaneda confirms this factually and notes it as more surprising than Beetlejuice's commercial success_ - [MEDIUM] Back to the Future SLE will be extremely limited (88 units, possibly) and highly sought after in approximately one year — _Kaneda states he knows details 'percolating behind the scenes' but declines to fully disclose; calls it hardest to get game_ - [HIGH] Dune failed to reach 500 sales in six months, indicating poor theme selection by Barrels — _Kaneda references slow Dune sales and contrasts with instant sellouts expected for themes like G.I. Joe, He-Man, Transformers_ - [MEDIUM] Stern games consistently look and feel cheap compared to boutique competitors, limiting perceived value justification — _Kaneda's opinion: 'the thing they can't shake is how their games just look and feel cheap'_ - [MEDIUM] Spooky show game production (80 additional units) was driven by dealer/distributor pressure, not customer demand or legitimacy — _Kaneda criticizes Luke Peters' rationale as 'spin' and states 'dealers and the distros were crying like babies'_ - [MEDIUM] Transformers (Elliot Eisman) is next from Stern after Walking Dead; Pokemon (George Gomez/Jack Danger) follows after — _Kaneda speculates on release order: 'mark my words'; not confirmed by manufacturer sources_ ### Notable Quotes > "The LEs are going to sell out simply because there's 500. 500 was always the magic number for a Stern LE." > — **Kaneda**, ~08:30 > _Establishes scarcity-driven demand narrative for Walking Dead Remastered_ > "What will ruin this hobby is people losing $300 to $5,000 on every game. That is what will destroy pinball, not the other way around." > — **Kaneda**, ~12:00 > _Defends secondary market flipping as healthy; identifies speculative loss as the actual threat to hobby sustainability_ > "The original Walking Dead art made it look like a dirty ashtray after a coke-fueled all-nighter." > — **Chat user (original John)**, ~13:45 > _Colorful characterization of original art quality; echoes Kaneda's criticism_ > "Stern is going to make a 60th anniversary of Batman and I think they're going to bring it back with the big screen." > — **Kaneda**, ~35:00 > _Speculation on future Stern release leveraging Batman IP anniversary; prediction of premium re-release strategy_ > "I just don't think people wanted to see Timothy Chalamet really." > — **Chat user (John)**, ~52:00 > _Critique of Dune translite artwork choice; suggests theme/casting misalignment with core pinball demographics_ > "If he announced G.I. Joe, instant sellout. If he announced He-Man, Masters of the Universe, instant sellout." > — **Kaneda**, ~60:00 > _Lists themes Kaneda believes Barrels should have chosen instead of Dune; implies market research failure_ > "Winchester's Mystery House is going to be a blessing and a curse for David because it's going to reinforce that he knows what he's doing, but clearly he doesn't fully understand the themes people want." > — **Kaneda**, ~63:00 > _Backhanded assessment of Barrels success; suggests one hit doesn't validate broader strategic judgment_ > "Pinball needs to stay below 10,000." > — **Chat user**, ~57:00 > _Community price sensitivity concern; suggests pricing has reached ceiling for casual/broad market appeal_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Kaneda | person | Host of Saturday Morning Spectacular; independent pinball podcaster and industry analyst based in Connecticut; critical voice on manufacturer decisions | | The Walking Dead Remastered LE | product | Stern Pinball release; 500 units; launches Tuesday; new art package vs. original; priced at $13,000+ | | Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer; producing Walking Dead Remaster and upcoming titles (Transformers, Pokemon); criticized for cheap aesthetics and conservative design | | Beetlejuice | product | Spooky Pinball release; sold out; launching Friday the 14th (Halloween reveal); market value/availability unclear until reveal | | Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique manufacturer; releasing Beetlejuice after Winchester; known for strong art direction and mechanical depth; producing show games (80 additional units) | | Winchester's Mystery House | product | Barrels of Fun release; sold out in two days; more successful launch than Beetlejuice; themes campy haunted house; 525 units produced | | Barrels of Fun | company | Boutique manufacturer; produced Dune (slow sales) and Winchester (rapid sellout); launching factory tour Nov 15th; focus on progression-based gameplay | | Dune | product | Barrels of Fun release; failed to reach 500 sales in six months; Timothy Chalamet translite criticized; theme selection called poor by industry analysts | | Back to the Future SLE | product | Upcoming boutique release (unconfirmed manufacturer); 88 units (possibly); launching ~1 year from now; expected to be hardest to obtain game | | Metallica Remastered | product | Stern Pinball prior LE release; sold out quickly; featured Dirty Donnie art package; original still has some collector value due to Dirty Donnie artwork | | Dirty Donnie | person | Artist; created Metallica Remastered art package; first fully illustrated Stern machine; work distinguishes original Metallica from newer LE | | Luke Peters (Spooky Luke) | person | Spooky Pinball representative; announced end of show game production going forward; previously authorized additional 80 show units; decision suggests awareness of controversy | | David Vaness | person | Barrels of Fun owner/founder; responsible for theme selection and game design; Winchester success vs. Dune failure creates mixed perception of strategic judgment | | Carrie Hardy | person | Pinball content creator; technical expert on YouTube monetization; assists Kaneda with streaming platform issues | | George Gomez | person | Stern Pinball designer; speculated to be designing Pokemon pinball machine with Jack Danger | | Jack Danger | person | Pinball designer; speculated to co-design Pokemon with George Gomez; designs for Stern and Spooky | | Elliot Eisman | person | Stern Pinball designer; speculated to be designing Transformers pinball (next release after Walking Dead) | | Lyman Sheets | person | Legendary code designer; credited with Walking Dead code by community; also designed Batman '66 code (cited as superior theme integration) | | Wayne Gillard (Mr. Pinball) | person | Operator/distributor; claims Dune is selling well but Kaneda estimates actual sales at 8-12 units, contradicting narrative | ### Topics - **Primary:** Limited Edition Scarcity and Secondary Market Value, Theme Selection and Market Demand Dynamics, Boutique vs. Stern Competitive Positioning, Game Pricing and Mechanical Justification ($13k-$15k price points), Production Scale and Unit Allocation Strategy (500 units, show games) - **Secondary:** Artwork and Translite Quality as Perceived Value Driver, Show Game Controversy and Transparency/Goodwill Impacts, Code Quality vs. Mechanical Design as Game Value Components ### Sentiment **Mixed** (0.45) — Kaneda is enthusiastic about boutique launches (Winchester, Beetlejuice) and competition dynamics, but deeply critical of Stern's cost-cutting aesthetics, theme misselection (Dune), and LE pricing strategy. Frustrated by streaming tech issues at show start. Defends secondary market as healthy. Skeptical about Stern's ability to compete aesthetically. Optimistic about boutique future but cautious about game availability and sustainability at current price points. ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Dune sales failure (under 500 units in 6 months) suggests Barrels' one-hit success with Winchester may not validate broader strategic judgment; theme selection remains critical risk (confidence: high) — Kaneda: 'Winchester will make up for the lack of success of Dune or does it like is it like a wash for them'; lists 10+ superior themes Barrels should have chosen instead - **[community_signal]** Spooky providing five show games to Kaneda Club members as exclusive perk; demonstrates ongoing community partnerships and collector stratification (confidence: high) — Kaneda confirms 'I'm not scalping the games that Spooky is giving me for the Kaneda Club members' and notes 'the Kaneda Club Five will become a little bit of a special thing' - **[design_philosophy]** Dune translite artwork (Timothy Chalamet) criticized as misaligned with core demographic; theme selection entirely wrong; mechanical design cannot justify $13k+ price without compelling IP (confidence: high) — 'no grown man 40 to 60 is like Timothy Chalamet's doom'; 'terrible idea to make Dune'; Dune failed to reach 500 sales in 6 months - **[market_signal]** Boutique manufacturers (Barrels, Spooky) now dominating news cycle and community excitement; Stern perceived as aesthetically and mechanically outmatched despite IP licensing advantages (confidence: high) — Kaneda notes Spooky/Barrels 'directly in competition' and will 'push each other to make each other's games better'; Winchester/Beetlejuice launches overshadow Walking Dead anticipation - **[personnel_signal]** Luke Peters (Spooky Luke) announced end of show game production going forward, implying awareness of controversy and decision to deprioritize dealer relationships (confidence: medium) — Kaneda states 'Luke said he's no longer doing show games in the future leads me to believe that he knows 100% it was a little bit of a weird move'; suggests internal acknowledgment - **[market_signal]** Growing market sensitivity to $13k+ pricing; chat commentary 'Pinball needs to stay below 10,000'; Kaneda acknowledges secondary losses as threat to hobby sustainability (confidence: medium) — Kaneda defends secondary market but acknowledges 'people losing $300 to $5,000 on every game' is threat - **[announcement]** Back to the Future SLE (88 units, possibly) launching approximately one year from now; extremely limited; expected to be hardest-to-obtain pinball machine; details 'percolating behind scenes' (confidence: medium) — Kaneda confirms knowledge of unreleased details: 'I know the idea behind like what what's been percolating behind the scenes'; says 'might be more than 88, but when you see what they're doing, there might only be 88' - **[announcement]** Walking Dead Remastered LE confirmed for Tuesday launch with 500 unit cap; new art package vs. original; Stern positioning as major release bridge to Transformers (confidence: high) — Kaneda confirms 'The Walking Dead coming out Tuesday' and '500 LE'; discusses as fact, not speculation - **[rumor_hype]** Transformers (Elliot Eisman) expected next Stern release after Walking Dead; Pokemon (George Gomez/Jack Danger) to follow; not officially confirmed (confidence: medium) — Kaneda speculates 'I think we're going to see Elliot Eisman's Transformers and then we're going to see Pokemon' and says 'mark my words' - **[sentiment_shift]** Winchester's Mystery House rapid sellout (2 days) establishes Barrels as viable competitor to Stern despite Dune failure; signals theme selection risk remains high (confidence: high) — 'Winchester's Mystery House would sell out in two days flat, you would have been like You're crazy'; 'I think that one was more surprising' than Beetlejuice - **[business_signal]** Stern constraining Walking Dead LE to 500 units to restore FOMO/scarcity narrative; Kaneda cites '500 was always the magic number' and expects instant sellout (confidence: high) — 'The LEs are going to sell out simply because there's 500'; parallels Metallica Remastered demand pattern - **[licensing_signal]** Beetlejuice reveal timing unusual (sold out before reveal); market value uncertain until Friday reveal; suggests strong pre-existing demand independent of game quality visibility (confidence: medium) — Kaneda notes 'it's weird to me that like a game is sold out and we have to wait two weeks for the reveal'; indicates demand-pull from IP licensing rather than game mechanics --- ## Transcript I don't get it. I don't I don't get these services. Like everything was working fine. Sorry for the delay. I don't like it. All of a sudden it turned off super chats. Working fine. Now it's like you need to verify your address. Like so all this stupid tech, man. all this stupid tech just like can't like the fact that I can't even get I can't like super chats just turned off. I'm sorry for the delay. Like I I don't understand how any of this garbage works. Like on Facebook they don't let you mirror the image now. Like it it it's just idiotic. So you have to like what like why not? It was working fine for years and all of a sudden you can't mirror the image. So you have to read Dodgers backwards. On YouTube I had super chats going perfectly. Now it's like, "Oh, you have to verify." Like what? Why? It was all working fine. I verified everything. It's like they don't want to pay you out. I mean, that's all it comes down to is these damn tech companies are so greedy. They do no work and then they make it hard for you to just like monetize your own damn content. I it absolutely is so annoying on every level. Like why why all of a sudden I I'll figure this out later, but now I can't make any money on YouTube because it's like shut off my ability to like have super chats. Why? When I was doing super chats perfectly for weeks. Great. Awesome. Thank you, YouTube. Unbelievable. How's everybody doing? Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Let's clean the screen a little bit. Oh, there we go. Morning. Yeah, you guys, there's no there's no super chats, right? I don't know. I'll have to ask Carrie Hardy. He's the only one who knows how to do this stuff. I know, Sad Boy. I don't I don't know what it is. If you guys want to send anything, just PayPal me at Canadapinballgmail.com. I know, sad boy. I don't understand it. I don't understand. It kind of annoys me. It kind It kind of just like Yeah, it's just so stupid. Like, what is up with this? It's like you haven't completed the verification process for checking verify. Now, let's do this. Look for deposit of listen on your All right. Oh my god. They're literally Oh my god. Literally there's like Good morning everybody. Give me Give me one second to do this real quick. Hold on. And then we'll talk pinball. Guys, welcome to Welcome to Canada's Saturday morning spectacular. where I um let me take these glasses off because they're like mirrored right now and I don't want you to see what I'm doing here. How's everybody doing? We're going to talk all about pinball real quick. I just need to verify something really. Oh my god. Is that that? Gosh. I What the Hold on. Hold on. So annoying. So annoying. All this stuff. We're going to talk all about Beetlejuice. We're going to talk about Damian coming out of the woodworks. Let me just do this real quick. Um, [sighs] it's just like the world between the amount of login, the amount of things we have to subscribe to now. The world is just so dumb. It's like so overly complex that nothing really makes sense anymore. Like now to see anything. Oh, now I need to Now it's going to have to text me. All right. Can't just like log into your accounts. Got to log in. Got to be texted. Got to be this. Got to be that. Like everything's just like 10 steps to do anything now. Am I frozen here? I don't know what's happening here on Facebook. This is like Sorry. Like this is like I'm just frustrated because I'm tired. I'm just canceling it. I don't even care. All right, there we're back. All right, I've got to go and find a Oh my god. I I'm so sorry, guys. Like, I literally We're gonna We're gonna This is going to get Give me two minutes, gang. We're going to start this show, right? I just look for De This is what Google says. Look for a deposit on or around a certain date. Oh my god. They really make it difficult. Let's see if this works. They literally mail you a pin to your mail. Okay. All right. Let's just do this. We're back. Watch Canada try to figure out how to monetize his own damn stuff. How's everybody doing? How's everybody doing? Dodgers, baby. Dodgers. Can't stop. Can't stop our pitcher last night. I fell asleep. I got to be honest. The whole leadup to Halloween, walking around with the kids. Uh, beautiful. We had it was windy, but we had a nice Carl Weathers. It wasn't raining. Uh, but like I don't know what it was, but at like 7:00 at night, I just like my whole system just shut off. It was like, you dude, you are done. You are done. You are not staying up. And I just crashed. Yeah, I was just trying to like the super chats turned off for some reason. I gotta ask Carrie how to do all this because it's just it's just silly. I was uh I was uh Baby Saja from uh Demon Hunters. Again, if you guys haven't seen Demon Hunters, go check it out. Go check it out. All right, so we look, let's talk all about what's about to happen in Pinball. We've got crazy crazy stuff about to hit. So, let's start with what's going to happen first. The Walking Dead Remastered Ellie is coming out on Tuesday. I'm traveling to Atlanta on Tuesday. So, I uh I'll probably pack my gear, but I'm not going to be home. All right. Nice, Robert. Doing great. Got my taste back. Awesome, man. Cancerree, Robert. I'm so happy to hear that, brother. Um, for those of you say you're not going to watch K-pop Demon Hunters, it's like really weird. It's just it's an amazing movie. Like I I don't understand. Like I'm a 49year-old man that grew up loving lots of movies and films. It is one of the greatest like musical movies, animated films I've seen. It just it is that great. Like just you you could you could say you're not going to watch it for some I don't know like ignorant reason or you could watch it. It's actually terrific. No, No, no. I don't even have an 8-year-old. Um, anyway, so we've got, first things first, we've got The Walking Dead coming out Tuesday. It is coming out from Stern and there's only 500 less. And I've said it and I'll say it again. The Ellies are going to sell out simply because there's 500. 500 was always the magic number for a Stern Ellie. And there are so many new people in the hobby. There are so many new people in the hobby that have been buying these 1,000 Stern games and losing a fortune on. This game is going to sell out just as fast as Metallica Remastered sold out. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. Yes, everybody. A huge congrats to Rob. Um, you know, look, nobody's going to want the old Walking Dead, unlike Metallica, cuz people forget this. Metallica actually had with the Dirty Donnie art package was like probably the first fully illustrated Stern machine that they ever did. Before that, it was all Photoshop drag and drop crap. And Gary didn't even want to do the Dirty Donnie art package. So, um, Metallica, the original still has like some uniqueness to it. The original Walking Dead art package is horrendous. I want to say The Walking Dead came out, I want to say before Metallica, but it was still like crappy dragon art. And I think if we see a stunning art package on the new Walking Dead, it's just going to sell out so fast because I think it's going to trump the original in so many more ways than one. And I think, you know, I don't know, like you could listen to Canada. If I were you, I'm telling you, the scalper, a scalper's move would just be to scalp walking dead Ellie. And And we're going to talk a little bit about speculators and scalpers and flipping games for money and how this hobby is ruined by it. No, what's going to ruin this hobby is not people scalping for money. What will ruin this hobby is people losing $300 to $5,000 on every game. That is what will destroy pinball, not the other way around. Scalping and secondhand value is healthy for a hobby. it doesn't ruin any hobby. How does it ruin it? Explain to me how that ruins the hobby, that games actually go up in value, that holding on to your games, uh, you know, becomes a financial success for everybody, that everybody who bought a Sternle from 2008 to like 2021 made money on their Ellies. The original John, what's up, brother? The original Walking Dead art made it look like a dirty ashtray after a Cokefueled allnighter. Yeah, it was bad. Why does everyone get so annoyed about reselling games this free market? Absolutely. Like, you know, look, it it's it's just like comical to me. But here's the thing. I'm just going to tell you right now. I think The Walking Dead remastered sells out instantly in day one. I think they're going to go. I think, you know, there's less of them than Winchester's Mystery House, right? And when it comes to these remasters, it's like people don't only, you know, look, I think what's going to be interesting about the remastered on this one is is how nice and how close to the LE is the premium because on Metallica, I think the premium kind of sucked. Like that green premium was kind of crappy. So, everyone just wanted the LE. Now, what's interesting about Walking Dead is, you know, will the premium be nicer than the Metallica Premium? Will you feel no uh FOMO to to trade up and spend 3,000 more on the LE? The The whole thing though, and look, I'm not I'm not ignorant to the fact that a Stern L now means nothing. That they've made a Stern Lie mean nothing. So, I don't really think it's going to uh you know, it's not going to have the same wow, especially with Beetlejuice and Winchester and everything happening in the pinball world lately. Uh Sterns are you know what they the thing they can't shake is how their games just look and feel cheap and that's it. you know, even it's it's getting harder for them to be put next to other games in a lineup and and to look like they're worth that much money because remember like ostensibly it's going to be the same Walking Dead game that we once got for $5 to $6,000. It's not going to like play better. There's actually an opposite concern that they're going to make the game easier. That part of what made The Walking Dead so great was the gameplay and was the challenge to the gameplay. uh it had a little bit of that holding on to survive a a zombie apocalypse and will they make it easier? So, uh we shall see. But I think a lot is riding on this game in terms of like will Stern be able to get enough excitement to create a bridge between this and Transformers which is next. I don't think Pokemon is next. I think we're going to see Elliot Elliot Eismin's Transformer and then we're going to see Pokemon from George Gomez and and Jack Danger. And mark my words. So like let's let's speculate 13,000 for Walking Dead Ali. Are more than 500 people going to want one when they see it on Tuesday? Yes. And so do I think there's going to be an ability to flip a Walking Dead remastered Ellie for a few thousand over sticker? Um, I do, but I think you're looking at, you know, 13 gets you one. I think you're looking more 15, 16 at most. I don't think we're looking at like Metallica is we're going for like 18 right away. So, that's just that. Are you scalping Jay or giving away five of your pre-orders? Jay, do you mean K? I don't Are you talking to me? Well, I I'm not scalping the games that Spooky is giving me for um for the Canad Club members. I mean, come on. Like, that that would be like total loser move. That's not that's not that's not what's happening there. Um, what I need to figure out from the folks at Spooky is um, you know, where we are and getting them and how we want to do it. I'm going to have some fun with those five. It's It's going to be great. There there's going to be a, you know, I think they're all going to be spoken for. So, the Canad 5 will become a little bit of a special thing. Um, maybe I asked for five show games. Look, the fact that Luke and and again, I'm not going to beat a dead horse over these show games, but the fact that Luke said he's no longer doing show games in the future leads me to believe that he knows 100%. It was a little bit of a a weird move. And it was like, yeah, we're just making more. Like, come on. Like, all the rationale for it was bogus, guys. Like, oh, we need to, you know, make sure that shows have like come on. What? What? What are you in the business now of of like of of show attendance matters? Like, come on. They could have sold every single Beetlejuice without even going to a show. They don't need to to have a presence at a show. They don't need dealers to have five extra each to bring to shows. Like, all that is BS. Everybody knows it. Luke knows it. Like the whole like, well, we did it in the past. Like, all of it. It was all spin. It was all Look, and again, like it just No one wants to see this. I just don't want show games to become part of the pinball world's vernacular. Like David Van Es is not making 50 show games because Winchester sold out in two days. And it's just it's cuz the owner it's because the dealers and the dros were crying like babies and they wanted more games. That is the only reason why they're making more. A move like that screws over the actual consumer who's thinking he's getting one of a,000 or $9.99. Um, it's absolutely a ridiculous like, oh, we'll just make a few more. And that's not how it works in any collectible world. Okay. And it's that and it's just that and like again like it was their decision. It's another hundreds of thousands of dollars in their pocket and it dilutes a little bit of the nice cuz think about it like you have this clean 999 for $9,999. Like that's the narrative 80 over here. Like come stupid, stupid stupid stupid. And look, I'm friends with these guys and I told them I thought it was stupid and now they're not doing it again. So if it was smart, they do it again. No. And I told this to them like you built you you built your empire now on goodwill and transparency. And that that was like a shady thing to do. but no, I don't think the 80 show games are going to be like SLES. I don't No one's going to like care for a plaque because I think what Spooky will end up just doing is like sending everybody else a show game plaque. You know what I'm saying? Like it's it's not like that. Like there's no difference. Like there's a difference between a Batman SLE and the rest of the LE's. There's a difference between you know this and that this and that. I'm gonna tell you right now what's going to be bonkers and everybody better start saving up are um Back to the Future Super Limited Edition. So, let's let's just pivot there for a second. If you want to talk about an SLE, let me tell you about what's coming. There's 88 Batman. No, sorry, why did I say Batman? 88 Back to the Future Super Limited Editions. Now, I know the idea behind like what what's been percolating behind the scenes, but if you if you want to talk about what's going to be the hardest to get game, it's going to be that. And you know, they're they're going to be expensive. There's going to be 88. Um there might be more than 88, but when you see what they're doing, there might only be 88 where Okay, I'm not going to say anymore, but you know, when that happens, that's going to be like a wow moment. And it's going to be crazy to see what people do to try to get one. It's also going to be fun to see what, you know, Dutch and, you know, Coin Taker and whoever else is offering them are going to do uh to get that game. So, I look forward to it. It's like a year from now. It's not, you know, it's literally like a year from now. So, it's not happening anytime soon. Um, but yeah, no way I'm buying a pinball machine from a European company that's hanging on by a thread. Um, well, Matthew, who's that? Who's hanging on by a thread? I don't I don't Which company is that? Because you're not hanging on by a thread if you have Back to the Future. You know what I'm saying, bro? They're not hanging on by a thread. They're They're about to just, you know, the dam's going to break and they're going to have a they're going to be a cash cow. Oh, Pinball Brothers. Yeah. I mean, I look Yeah. I I like I don't I don't even know. I I mean, I I don't even know how to like approach the Pinball Brothers with any true um enthusiasm. I I really don't. I don't. Look, I I think the Pinball Brothers bet big on a game and it didn't work out. How much is the tariff on Alice? Is the same tariff that's on everything? I think is it 20% something like that? Um, you know, look, but Alice just got everybody a ticket to Back to the Future 500 of them. The first 500 Back to the Future regular editions will be Alice owners. Okay. So, did anybody here uh anyone here in on a Walking Dead remastered LE simply because you love the game? What do you guys think of The Walking Dead? I'd love to hear from you guys what you think of The Walking Dead because I I hear mixed things about the game. I went on the top 100. It's not It's not that high up, but the top 100 also is pretty pointless because it's like the top 40 games are all like like 8 point 8.3 8.31 8.32 8.3 It's like whoa. Okay. Do you really even want the first 500 of a new machine? Won't the latter ones be built better? I mean, I don't know. Just played it this week. It's a good game. Next. Great game. Challenging. Good tournament game. Code is great. Shoots crap. Bash target in a bad place. Yeah, that Weller is always in a bad place. Literally one of my favorite games of all time. I will die on that hill. Art sucked. Hard game and satisfying to get to Horde. Yeah, I keep hearing like the Horde multiball is amazing. I'm in on one says Paul. It's Lyman. Love the pin. Uh yeah, I mean there are people that claim that this is Lyman's best coded game ever. I would argue it's Batman 66 is Lyman's best coded game ever. Um just because of what that man did still to this day is the greatest theme integration ever with I think in pinball. I I think Lyman's Code in Batman is the greatest theme integration ever in pinball. And I think the approachability of Batman 66 and how fun it is to get through that code is so good and it's so campy and it's so fun and it's so rewarding. I don't think I've ever Yeah. You know, I really do think, you know, Stern is going to make a 60th anniversary of Batman and I think they're going to bring it back with the big screen. I think they should do another run of like 90 SLEs. Just f, you know, at this point, Stern, just screw it. Like, you've been you've been effing over everybody anyway. You might as well keep doing it. I don't think you're in the minority for not liking Walking Dead. I think it's a polarizing theme. I don't think everybody loves it. Did uh did people get Winchesterers before uh Halloween? I think the four show games I think the four show games. Are those show games or those part of the 525? I think they went out to customers. You know, look, I um look, I saw Barrels doing a factory tour the day after Spooky launches Beetlejuice. Um and I just like I don't know. I feel like these guys, these two companies, they're funny to me. They're just like back and forth with each other. So Spooky is going to release Beetlejuice on Friday the 14th, and then Barrels has its Factory Tour on the 15th. And I I don't know, man. Like I guess I don't know why you would time it then, but it is what it is. I I think what's going to be next for David is is just getting games out. So, when we see the factory tour on the 15th at Barrels, what I hope to see, see, here's the thing is when you do these factory tours on a on a Saturday, like the line's not going, it's more of like turning the ware, you know, the factory into sort of a um a uh a showroom, if you will, for your company. So, I you know, I just, as I said, I just really want to see these games go out. I also think Oh, man. I'm like watching my inflatables that's so windy just blow all over the place is funny. Um I'm just excited for people to get their Winchesterers. I think both of these companies hit hit it out of the park and I think Barrels and Spooky on top of each other both had very successful launches. I definitely think um Winchester probably was the more successful launch considering if I had told you six months ago Winchester's Mystery Castle or Mystery House would um would sell out in two days flat, you would have been like, "You're crazy." So, I I think that one was more surprising. The Beetlejuice, like we knew what it was, and Beetlejuice is kind of like weird now, right? cuz we um we don't really know yet what the reality is with the uh you know with the market value and how hard it's going to be to get a Beetlejuice just yet. Like it it's like they're all spoken for. It's weird, right? It's weird to me that like a game is sold out and we have to wait two weeks for the reveal. I I mean I don't like re what's what's why like what's gonna what happens on the 14th at I I think both of them Stern and Spooky drop the ball by not having a Friday like you have a Friday Halloween. You have a Friday Halloween. Everyone's kind of off work. Everyone's chilling with their family and kids. You have a Friday Halloween for the first time in a long time. And neither Stern or Spooky could reveal a game on Halloween. Like there was nothing new from Spooky yesterday. And I know they wanted to announce Beetlejuice midnight at Halloween and then they went early for some reason. Maybe they were a little worried about walking. I don't There's nothing to worry about. You know, you're going to sell these games and all those show games. Um, but the fact that nobody had anything on Halloween was really disappointing from a marketing standpoint. Just it's just disappointing in general. Like we were all home. We were all like in our costumes. It would have been so much fun to have something to chew on. No, like like they they both they they both have done great things. You know what what I love is I love competition. I love competition and I think Spooky and Barrels are in direct competition with each other. And it's funny because they they will only push each other to make each other's games better. And I think if I were to look at both games right now, like if we were to look at Dune and Winchester next to Evil Dead and soon to be Beetlejuice, you know, I think they're both I don't think either platform or company is, you know, fully like on I think they're I think they're on a pretty even playing field, you know. I do. I think Spooky probably has the edge in mechanisms. The Dune mech is cool, but you know, it's like I don't know. Like other than that, there's really not anything that interesting happening in the Dune game. Am I wrong? Like other than the worm mech, which you know, I hear from players slows the game down a little bit. It's It's cool, but like after 50 times, is there another mech in the Dune game that's really cool? I think Evil Dead's just loaded with way more. I think the um you know the artwork is better on this franch for sure, but you know Spooky's still using like servos and you know some of the quality issues on Spooky games are are not as nice as I think some of the build quality on the barrels. So it's like you know they both have a little like pros and cons if you will but they're both looking really nice. I I you know like I wish if Dune had come out of the gate and I mean this with the different translate. I just don't think people wanted to see Timothy Shamallay really. Every mech slows the game down. Been saying that for Yeah, but John But here's the thing. You can't just have like you can't just have like wide open games, John, with no mechs and charge like 10 to $15,000, John. Cuz Cuz John, then what then what are people paying for? Like you know you know what I'm saying, John? Like you you can't you can't charge this much money if there's no mechanical engineering in the game. I you can't what is the running rumor for what spooky game arrives after Beetlejuice? Um, I think they're going to do a small run of that motorhead game. And I think they're going to also I think next is going to be Gremlins. Spooky games play like a carnival game. Pure fun. Whereas the barrels, it's a progression play that holds up as well. Fall of the Empire has no mechs. I'm not saying no mechs. I just don't use them as a gauge for game quality. No, but John, I mean, what we do is we definitely have to sort of evaluate a game's value on how many mechs are in it and do we feel like, you know, the engineering went in to justify the cost of the game. You know, look, uh, Harry Potter is a game without a lot of mechs. You know, I would say Harry Potter to me the the most, you know, it's a game that doesn't have I I would like to see more mechanical wow in Harry Potter. Just I just the one thing I'm I'm missing from Potter is the one like wow moment mechanically and whether you know I would love to have seen more of like the Quidditch be more of a dramatic flying around Hogwarts. I would love to have seen a castle with candles in the window and draw bridges opening up or something. I just, you know, I don't know. I I think Potter shoots great. I think it's a wonderful shooter. I think um it's all about flow, but when it comes to magic and the ball doing something magical, I I don't feel it in that game. No, the code is great. The code of Potter is great. And that's the thing, right? It's like they really put a lot into the code. I was just hoping for one more mechanical item in the game that would have done something like that was like poof, you know, ball disappears or something. So now you need to file your financial Oh, you just I don't know what. Okay, Fizzy is like deleting comments. [sighs] A new South Park by Spooky. H I um I don't know. I don't know. I I definitely think Spooky with the um you know, with the Rick and Morty success and and the sort of adult theme cartoon would be a territory I would explore for them again. Pinball needs to stay below 10,000. You think Franchie is hitting spooky? We'll do Batman 89. I hope so. But I I don't know. I don't see Batman as a spooky themed title. I I see Goonies and Gremlins as spooky themes. Gang, I'm just going to say it, man. Like, I don't know. Spooky could sell probably it could probably sell 500 Hocus Pocuses. You know, when I think about how little like you think about 525 games for an entire world of pinball buyers, do you ever just you ever just like think about that? What's up, Jenga? Do you ever think about how like tiny that is for a boutique to only to only have to sell 500 games to a global hobby buyer base that is consisting of men who have millions of dollars for the most part or at least like men who have at least like a hundred grand in disposable income sitting in their checking accounts. You know what I'm saying? like like around the world. Um I don't understand why it would be hard to hit the right theme to create that kind of demand. And that's why like the you know the Dune the Dune games inability to sell even 500 games in six months. You know, I I just think it's it's a it was a terrible idea to make Dune. And I know there's they're always mad at me when I say that, but it was a terrible idea. And you get guess who thinks it's a bad idea? The pinball buying community that still has not bought 500 of those games. And you know, other than Wayne always saying, "Oh yeah, they're selling. I've sold a whole container. You sold eight or 12 at most." You know, if if David Van Es announced G.I. Joe, instant sellout. If he announced He-Man, Masters of the Universe, instant sellout. If he announced Transformers, instant sellout. If he announced Big Trouble and Little China, instant sellout. If he announced Die Hard, Fifth Element, instant sellout. If he announced Ferris Builder's Day Off, instant sellout. If he announced Karate Kid, instant sellout. If he announced Matrix, instant sellout. If he announced Rocky 4, which is having its anniversary this year, Rocky 4, instant sellout. You would sell a thousand Rocky fours like that with that soundtrack. Instant sellout. No grown man 40 to 60 is like Timothy Shamallay's doom. But again, no market research whatsoever. You see, I and look, I believe it when I say this. I believe it when I say this. The Winchester's mystery house is going to be a blessing and a curse for David because I think it's going I think it's going to like reinforce that he knows what he's doing, but clearly he doesn't fully understand the themes people want. Because you know what I'm saying? like when you're a boutique at you can't have a miss. And I'm just curious if like Winchester will make up for the lack of success of Dune or does it like is it like a wash for them? I don't know. Well, yeah. I mean, people would just rather have a campy haunted house game that that doesn't bring any, you know, Gen Z kids into the mix. Well, here's the thing, gang. Here's the thing. And And again, I just really want to encourage everybody to play it, but Carl's game layoutwise, I I think is going to create, you know, I think it's going to be a little bit divisive. I don't think people are going to I think people some people are going to love it, some people are going to find it challenging. And And again, like I just don't know yet. That's all I think that's like the fairest way for to think about it. I think more people are going to have to play it before we get a sense of, you know, what the game play is really like. But it I don't know either. Like I just I I just talked to a lot of people at the show and I I just got a mixed bag from people saying they really enjoyed it, from people saying it was too hard. Personally, I didn't find it like hard in the sense that it was just draining a lot. I just found um you know the shots were just not as easy to find as they are on some other games. And then that's all like I'm I'm absolutely super happy for them to sell those 525 like they did. I'm absolutely super happy that they showed everybody that you can come out with such a game and find such sales success so quickly. I think it's a really good thing. I think it's going to get make more of these boutiques realize like you think about it like Winchester's Mystery House can just run circles around Predator. Like when you think about that right now, uh there's the there's all the obvious reasons why people stayed away from Predator, but I mean it's embarrassing for the Pinball Brothers to do what they did. And it's hugely rewarding for the folks at Barrels to bring that Winchester game to market cuz everything everything they did, they did it right with that game. You have to have a special kind of stupid to screw up a license like Star Wars. Hey Bill, how you doing? Um, you know, Bill, I I think that stern stern fumbling of Star Wars again, I don't think they realize the the longtail impact and reputation harm that game will cause their organization. And in fact, Bill, I would argue that over the last four years, the manage the management at Stern has made so many stupid decisions that have really hurt that company's reputation, and they continue to make stupid decisions one after another. And I don't feel like anybody's accountable. And I don't feel like they're taking their time to get it right. I think they have um you know they've got the same playbook with the same approach, the same mediocrity, the same level of like cheap feeling platform and it's like they really just seem silly. But Star Wars the biggest IP they will ever have next to Pokemon maybe, but it's the biggest IP for this audience. If they had made finally made a magical Star Wars machine, if and I'm just going to say this right now, the decision to not have Keith Elwin make Star Wars, Fu Stern. You've got the best designer in the world and you've got the IP that is the biggest IP that all of your pinball buying fans are into. Like Star Wars is it. You give Keith Elwin King Kong. If Star Wars had the King Kong layout, we are not having this conversation about how Stern messed up Star Wars again. But it just goes to show you the kind of company Stern Pinball has become. a company of politics, a company of committees, a company that doesn't all rally around the opportunity they have with the theme they have. And I don't care what anybody says. What a dumb move. And wake the f up, George. New CMO guy, Gary, what are you doing? You've got all the Star Wars assets in the world, all the clips, everything you can use. and you've got the best designer in pinball and you need a hit game and you give this dude King Kong with no effing assets and you make a King Kong game look like a kid's comic book and you don't you so you have the money to get Star Wars and all of the assets and you don't have the money to go get clips from King Kong movies that are much cheaper that have no like like the old ones have no celebrities inside them and Then you make the art package look like a book I buy for Killian that I GET AT THE pharmacy and then you think you're the like what what do you want what did you want us to do? How did you want us to respond to this? And then everybody who bought a King Kong le has now lost thousands of dollars in value and then you follow it up with what? With what? What was after King Kong? Wasn't there a another game? Like was Star Wars the next game? No, I'm I'm missing a game. What was after King Kong? Was it wasn't It wasn't D and D. That was before King Kong. Help me out here because I'm so like I'm so used to the the mediocrity of these games. Jaw. Okay, so Jaws 50th. So back to the Well, again, Jaws is a good game. You know why Jaws is a really good game? Because Keith Elwin made it. But you literally have been doing this crap over and over and over again. Everyone's tired of it. And you like whatever. I mean, cool. cool. Remake Walking Dead and then, you know, it's all going to come down. It's all going to come down to Elliot Elliot Eismin's Transformers. And, you know, don't mess it up. Don't mess it up. What was the last great Stern game? What was the last great Stern game? I would say Jaws. And I would say it's not even great. Like it's good, but I don't find the Jaws layout to be great because I actually think the King Kong layout is better than Jaws. I do. I I do. I think the King Kong layout is more rewarding to shoot than Jaws. I like I I just I I'm I'm frustrated because like I don't want Keith Delwan to work on Fallout next. Fallout. Bren is home already. Fallout. Soccer. It's too cold out there to play soccer. Does Jersey Jack Pinball have Ghostbusters? I'll find out. I'll find out if they do. I don't know. Maybe. The thing about JJP having Ghostbusters gang is like I mean, you know how you know how like far away that is? It's like two years away. I love that people are now trying to be like, "Avatar is good, man. Avatar is good." Like, Avatar owners trying to convince us that game is great is like, I can't. I can't. I can't. It's just too soulless, man. It's too soulless of a g Sorry. Too soulless of a game. Yes, Sonic the Hedgehog is next. How many of you guys Hey, anybody here want a Beetlejuice that didn't get one? Anybody here? I still think that Ghostbusters is Zombie Yeti's best art package for any Stern ever. I I do. I still think it's his best art package ever. G&R is You want a G&R, bro? I got one right here. Oh, man. Every time I turn on my G&R, it's like I love looking at the lights. I [sighs and gasps] just hard. I I wish they would have like music videos in it. You know, I get kind of tired of seeing cuz I mean Axel weighs about like 40 lbs less now than he did when he the footage we have in this game. G&R is the only Matthew got shut out on BJ. But Matthew, are you going to Why don't you try Are you going to try to get one by call? Here's the deal, gang. Don't try to go on Spooky's website. Call them. Call them the like just keep ringing the phone the when the game goes on sale. Foo Fighters is the best Yeti art. I don't I don't think so. I like Foo Fighters, don't get me wrong. I like a lot of Yeti stuff. I do. I just don't like Yeti's King Kong. I also don't like the fact that King Kong's got two artists on it. I don't like the playfield. I bet the playfield's just a disaster. I mean, I think when I don't It's not even like Yeti's cabinet artwork that it's like that orange the orange green like the the rainbow puke on the King Kong playfield is just so embarrassing. I was embarrassed for them. How is that King Kong? Who thought that would be a good idea? And again, I just think Yeti as the art director at Stern, you know, he just needs to like look over this. And I look, he was like, you know, he was mad that people were like complaining about it because he's like what, you know, I guess it was the artist who did the, you know, was it Congo or original King Kong playfield? But But man, it's like Jeremy Jeremy, like what matters is people people don't like it. You know what I'm saying? like they had this sense of like people should be showing respect to the people who like no bro it's like you're making a very expensive product and you know you need to figure out a way to like connect with the people that want to buy it bro which means maybe bring in some focus groups and show them a few options of what you're thinking. See this whole thing of like you guys are going to make these games in a vacuum then charge us all this money and then we're not allowed to not like it. We're not allowed to like think it's not great. Yeah, Kevin Oconor, whatever. Who car? Like, nobody nobody cares. Nobody cares that Kevin Oconor did the artwork. What they want is a King Kong game that looks like the King Kong they know. They don't care. They don't care. Jaws has become great. I agree the layout isn't perfect by any means. Well, Jaws is great, gang, because when Jaws is like Godzilla. The moment, you know, the moment you hit start on a Jaws, it's like hitting start on Godzilla. It teleports you right away into the movie and the world and the universe you love. That is what a great pin does. And it like and and even just like the way like Royy's like getting into his jeep, you know, his truck in the in the in the village. It's It's so beautifully done. where Star Wars is lazy garbage code. The moment you hit start on Star Wars, it feels instantly cheap. It there's no there's no the the reason why everybody loves Star Wars is there was a romanticism to the story. There was a grittiness, a rawness to it that when you, for some reason, when I play Stern Star Wars, I feel like they've missed completely [clears throat] everything that pulled us into Star Wars as children. Like that game should start and it should be like you should be like on Tatooine like staring up at the moons, you know? Like you, they should have like figured out a way to make you feel like Luke going on this epic. You should play as Luke going on this epic journey to like save your father. Like that's the story of Star Wars, you know? When you hit start on Stern Star Wars, it it's just it's just a blender of of BS of everything just like all of a sudden, you know, glowworm Jaba like this and that. Like there's just no romance to any of it. It It just feels like a a Star Wars slot machine in in a way. Like it just it doesn't capture any of the emotion. It doesn't build to any of the moments in the movies. It's just kind of like just a slot machine feel. God, what people call me when they know I'm doing my show. Hold on. And the thing is when when you turn on Godzilla, it's the opposite. You feel like you're in that Star Wars world. You know, you're telling me, you know, they they should have had a lightsaber under the glass. When you finally learn how to like use your lightsaber, it should light up. Game is so cheap. It looks so bad. The spinner sounds are sweet. Jeez, you guys. Like, our expectations are are rock bottom if we're if if we're impressed by spinner sounds. Gang, can we talk about Damian? Can we talk about Damen Harden? Can we talk about his comeback? Can we Can we talk about Can we talk about this? Let me um I I you know, because for just for like I was just curious. I'm like, I wonder if this guy like all I did was Google his name. And I right away there he is and he's got a new website up in which he talks about Yeah. I I really I'm I'm just shocked. I'm shocked that he would even have the audacity to even I, you know, just to put in the final paragraph. Like I I understand that he's a man. He's got a family. He's trying to make a living and he had an unsuccessful pinball venture. That's fine. That's fine. But man, did you read that final paragraph? Like, hold on. Let's Let's go look at this. I'm going to share screen on on YouTube. I mean, baby, he's back. He's back. Um, you know, Damian Harden transforming enterprise technology for three decades. As a veteran technology leader and innovator, I've spent 30 years driving digital transformation across multiple industries. Sounds a lot like Andrew Highway. You know, these guys are always like they're always like a jack of all trades who are just for 30 years I've been so successful at everything I've done, right? Um, but I want to just go down. I mean, first of all, this is just amazing. Th this this new Damian suit and tie. Long gone is the rockstar hair. Long gone is, you know, all the, you know, the the look. Now he's back. Let's just do this. He's back. He's uh he's a change man. He's a change man. But I want to read the because like all this to me the entrepreneurial chapter of my life. This part where he talks about how he's the owner and CTO of a manufacturing company. I've seamlessly integrated modern technology into traditional manufacturing processes, establishing a successful export operation, serving markets across northern USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Our facility managed sustained production across three district distinct product lines while built. Is that is that pinball or something else? So, I don't even like if that's pinball or something else. But when when did he do that? When did he do that? Was that before or after pinball? I I just like I can't I can't, you know, like like literally the dude stole like I think a couple like I know he didn't steal it, but he like def like he took like $2,000 or $2 million almost. I feel like in comp in in customer money. But here's the part I don't get. Here's the part I don't get. I just don't know how you wake up and you look in the mirror knowing that hundreds of thousands if not a couple million dollars in customer money that you you took and then never delivered pro and then you're going to put up a website that you've been successful for 30 years. I I just don't get it. I just don't get it. Like, you know, in the end, there's like this this, you know, like because here's what I think happens with these people. I think they justify I think they rationalize their failures as like some ventures work out, some don't, right? LLC's like we're entrepreneurs, like not everything we do is going to be successful. But like, you know, but I don't understand how you wake up in such a like such a small niche community that you burned and you don't do whatever it takes to make those customers whole and pay them back. And you know what I'm saying? Like you sell your Lotus, you sell your sports car, like you take out a second mortgage on your house. Like whatever you do, like you go work two jobs, like whatever you do, how do you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror and how do you like how do you like remarket yourself like this? How do you reintroduce yourself to the world as a success when you still owe all these people money? I mean, that's just I don't I wouldn't be able to do it. I would I'd be working three jobs. I I'd be I'd be eating peanut butter sandwiches until I I figured out a way to get those people, you know, whole again. Bill said he's one of those chameleons that sounds like a CEO when really they are nothing more than a failure. Um, you know what's funny, Bill, is like when you read his website, I mean Andrew Highway used to talk the same way. He was CEO. CEO. Like he had a board of directors and like CEO of like Andrew Highway was accepting business awards for being the most successful British pinball manufacturing company. Like all like it's amazing to me because what you'll never see me do and and I again I I know I'm good at marketing. I I have some awards. I don't but I I'm a I'm a member of a company and a member of a team and I'm I'm only as good as sometimes the team around me and I'm only you know everything that I do requires a group effort to get to good execution and it's not just me it's it's a there's always you know a lot of people around me that are good and and I I just I just I don't have like a website like I would I don't I don't know who they're talking to like Who? What is this website even like? Who is it even trying to like reach, you know? I just don't get. It's almost like It's almost like they're just trying to have something. So, when they start their next scam, something pops up on the internet. Now, when you Google my name on the internet, you get my bedroom arcade, you get my pinball podcast, you you know, you get all the gaming stuff I've been doing for for a while. And that's fine. It's who I am. You know, there's never going to be like, oh, like this guy claims he's into pinball. This guy claims he's like into gaming. Like I that's who I am. I I'm not trying to and I'm not asking anybody for for any money to do anything. I don't know. I don't know. Look, I'm just happy I found that page because like it's you know what's what's great about the internet. This is like the one good thing about like the internet. It has a long tail. Like you you can't like when Andrew Highway tried to start his remember when he bought that hydrooil like that boat and he was going to like try to scam people in Australia or New Zealand to to sort of like rejuvenate this super expensive boat. And you know, I don't I he almost would have got away with it if it wasn't for people being able to search and find all the pinball people that were like, "This guy's a fraud." You know, it's just it is what it is. I mean, if there's one thing I'm not I'm not a fraud. I'm not a fraud. I don't I will never tell you I can do something I can't do for you. I will never take your money and then not deliver what I promised on it. And in fact, I'm the opposite. You get way more for your money than $5 a month. Way more. For those of you who subscribe at just $5 a month, the amount of content you get is it's insane how little and how much you get. But as I said, I would not raise my rates and I haven't through this whole as the world gets way more expensive. Not going to do it. Now, look, I may be exploring in the future, I've said this before, I may be exploring new ways to sort of um monetize my connection to pinball because after 12 years of doing this, I do think it's time. And hopefully there'll be more to come on that in the near future, but it's time. Like, it's just it's silly. It's silly. Like I have all these people, they love Canadas Pinball Podcast, but they love the personality. And you know, it's about time I get into the game a little bit differently. And you're you're never I'm just telling you this right now. You're never going to lose the podcast. The podcast is never going to lose its integrity. The podcast is never going to hold back. The podcast is never going to stop telling you how I feel about all these games. It's just not. And you'll see what what I mean when it when it happens. But it's just going to be it's going to be the best of both worlds. Best of both worlds. And you know, that's it. That's it. I just know this hobby too well. And I want to give you guys another way to like engage with with me and my family and help me out and I'll help you out and we all win. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. And um yeah, more to come on that. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. That's all I'm going to say. I'm gonna have me some fun. I'm gonna have me some fun. 30 years of technological expertise. First of all, there's no like there's only like a few dros, okay? Dros are like big big organizations. All right? Most people are dealers out there. Like Zach's a dealer. He sells a ton of games. He's still a dealer. I don't think it matters. I don't think anyone cares. Like nobody cares. Nobody cares. I still don't understand why you don't have a job in market. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Um, I two things. I don't think any marketing job in this industry pays even remotely close to what marketing salaries are in my industry. So, there's that, right? So, like, cool. I could have my dream pinball marketing job and take a 60% pay cut. So, there's that. Then the company that I wanted to work for at a year ago was Stern. And I made no I I made no um I was direct with them. Now, let me just ask you a year ago when I when I presented to Stern and said, "Hey, like you need help. I know the audience better than you guys do because I inter I interact with the I I said this to their faces. I interact with pinball collectors and buyers of your way more than you do. You don't interact with them. You You I know your audience of that side of your business better than you do. You might know your locations and you might know how to sell the dros and you might have your, you know, Mr. Sharp running around with the stern army, but you don't know collectors like I do. And what you need to do from a chief marketing officer role is you need to reestablish this company's um affinity with those individuals and and you need to build bridges back to those individuals. And after a year and Stern hiring a new CMO, let me again I just I ask this question every week, have you heard anything from the Stern CMO ever? ever? I just don't think you can be the chief marketing officer at a pinball company that is a communitydriven industry and be behind the scenes. And that's just my feeling on it. Now look, did I think they were going to hire me? No. Do I know all of the baggage I come with? Yes. Would I have been would they would they have would they have had people like complain and backlash if they hired me? Absolutely. But I also do know that in the end they would have been better off with someone of my nature. Not, you know, whether it's me or not. I just think they needed a jolt of something and they needed a disruptive hire like myself. I I believe that I believe they would have been better off with me than without me. And that's it. Well, because I told them, Josh, I was like, "Look, the majority of the information you need to be successful as a CMO at Stern Pinball, that knowledge is it's you can't just acquire it. you have to live it. And you know, I was 12 years into their industry. That guy doesn't have any experience in pinball again. But this is how it works in business. People just transfer over. They have their MBAs. I like I see it every day. They They have MBAs. They're successful over here, then they go over here. You know, they come from they might come from Disney, they come over to pinball. It's so different. They go from WWE to pinball. They go from video games to pinball. But you know what they had was someone with 25 years of marketing and 12 years of those was pinball expertise because and and if I think about my pinball expertise it literally was passion on the job like I mean I'm I'm on the job every week like following their industry religiously and I bet that their um you know I bet that the people they've brought in from the outside barely thought about pinball ever. They just wanted a different job. And so, and you so like you get what you pay for. You can't even put a price tag on the institutional knowledge I have of the pinball community and they just, you know, they they just didn't take the risk. And look, I I don't wake up and like regret anything. I mean, I I'm I h I love my life. I love my family. I love my house. I I you know I love where I'm at. You know, I'll do it as long as I can. Um but it's nice to know that if I need to figure out like another career option that there's absolutely opportunities within pinball for for me the same way there are opportunities for Zack Manny, for Ken Cromwell, you know, opportunities for Donald Garrison, opportunities for a lot of people, man. Like a lot of people have like other jobs and they pivot and find, you know, a successful whether it's side gig or new career in pinball. There's There's enough money to be made in this hobby for people to have livelihoods in it. A lot of dealers and dros are making a lot of money. A lot of manufacturers are making a lot of money. Um, and it's a beautiful little hobby. It's a beautiful little industry. It's It's just big enough to to really fully understand it from A to Z. You know, manufacturing is obviously the hardest part. Can you DM me at some point? Josh. Yeah, sure. Josh. Josh, DM me. I don't Josh, I don't I don't Just can you DM me? It's just easier. I don't know where to find your DM. Um, but yeah. No, it's good. It's good. I'm happy Let's see. I'm just reading Canada. That dude came from the video game. Okay. Um, yeah. I mean, Greg, Greg, I mean, obviously Zach is doing great for flipping out, you know? I mean, everyone, but that's Look, people should help each other out, you know. Here's the truth about life. Here's the truth about life. You will you will find happiness in life not because of what you studied, not because of where you went to school. You will find success in life. Nine out of 10en times it will come from people you meet. people you meet, the network you make, the community you get in, you invest in, that is where success will happen in life. My father was, you know, he worked at a big company, but early in his career, he got connected through work to an individual that became the CEO of Bristol Myers Squib. So, as you know, and my dad worked hard to impress that gentleman to the point where that man wanted my dad on his team. There are a lot of other people working in the same field that didn't build that relationship, that didn't make that connection happen. So, when that gentleman ascended, he brought with him the people that he wanted. And this is what Gen Z and the kids don't get. They They think like none of that matters. They They don't they don't put in the time, the effort for the relationships. They don't go to the happy hours. They don't instigate relationship building moments with anybody senior. They simply sit back and complain about the way the world is, how expensive everything is, and how they don't want to work as as hard. And it's like, you know, many times, like I'm the senior most creative person in my department in New York, right? How many times I invite people out, they say no. How many times do they actually like try to build bridges with me? They don't. Okay, cool. And then I know all the senior leaders at my company and we get along great. And it's personal. It's and professional, but it's personal, too. I go out of my way to ask people to go out to grab a drink to talk about family, talk about life, like. And so when it comes to pinball, this is the way it should be. You know, we we should help each other out. We should help each other find success. If If someone's not happy in their day job and they can have a career in pinball, what a beautiful thing. I I never look down on any of that. Like that's the way life should work. But yeah, you're going to find success and who you know. And what's cool about pinball is we've all met really interesting people in this hobby that amongst just our network, I think everybody here would always like help out and make sure everybody, you know, could could land on their feet regardless of what happens to them in in life. Yeah. No, Fizzy. I I Fizzy the the amount. You know what Jen You know what the kids now consider happy hour? They They think it's creepy. They think inviting them out for a drink is creepy. They think it's an invasion on their free time. They They actually relish and enjoy saying no. the amount of like they they think the way it works is that the senior people have to win them over. It's this is this is actually how things happen now. And it's funny like I I know someone um a few times I was trying to just like get to know better like you know I'm I'm a senior executive in the organization and they you know they they we were working on some things together. I just want to get to know them a little bit better, you know, outside of the transactions of of the job. And three, four times like, hey, like, and I'm like, why am I doing this? Why am I constantly trying to manage down and and win win people over that are J and like none of them are trying to win me over. None of them are trying to impress me with anything. None of them are trying to like it's like they don't even care. Like that's what I don't get. you work in corporate America. Don't you want like that job? Don't you want that salary? Don't you want to live in that town? Don't you want to drive that car? Don't you want to have like those vacations? Don't you want to have your airline seat lay? Like I don't like what do you want? What What do you think is going to happen? You think like it's just like you're just going to get a, you know, a raise every year and then it's just going to be given to you when you don't know anybody? Like no one's going to go to bat. Who's going to bat for you? I look again I feel blessed to have been in my industry when I was in you know as long as I've been and and through periods of time where things were different. Things were different man. We used to travel to see clients more often. I used to go down to Atlanta to visit Coke. We'd stay at the Four Seasons Hotel. We'd take the clients out for dinner all for a one-hour meeting the next day. We We met we like we like bonded. And I I mean I do feel bad for these kids. Like they all they do is like they they come into work and they go on their computer and they sit and they do these kinds of like calls all day long on a computer. Like Okay. So the clients down the block, we literally have clients down the block. Have you invited them to lunch ever? Have you invited them to the Japanese Jazz bar like I do all the time? Have you have you just asked to pop by and spend the day working there instead of just coming in here shoulder shrugging like you know when they leave us for a competitive agency because nobody's nobody's building those bridges you know and look in the end of the day the only way that people are going to like survive what AI is going to do is through interpersonal relationships because AI will never replace a relationship. It just won't. And look, they're just going to turn it on and find efficiencies. And the first people that always will go are the people that have no relationships. They the first ones to get cut. No relationships. It's harder to like let people go when you when you know them. You know what I'm saying? It's harder because you want them you want to walk through the door and see them every day. Now, look, I I know there's always like, "Oh, well, we're going to be their boss one day, and we're just going to use AI, and we're going to use AI to build apps and build this and make money." Like, it's I don't know. Maybe. Who knows? Who knows? 67. You guys know the 67 meme? Are we all old? 67. 67. Oh, it's in my, you know, it's in one of my new ideas I'm bringing. Uh, but look, there's a lot of cool kids out there, too. And coolness trickles up. It doesn't trickle down. And so, you know, I I I've got some people at work that are just awesome and they're young and they're junior and they're hungry and they're they're sarcastic and they're smart and they're in it. And, you know, I'll do everything I can to ensure that they have great careers and that these are the people that stick around. I mean, that's just the way it goes. You know, and then there's the people that you sit next to for freaking years and they don't say two words to you. Like you walk in, it's just like I don't understand. Like we're all like we're not big. Yeah. No, it's it's like it's it's a weird thing. It's a weird thing. um in interpersonal relationships, you know, they um when you look at the numbers of I I someone just shared a story around the other day. Let me find it. I'm going to share this with you guys. Hold on. This is what gets shared around my company these days. this literally is what gets shared around. Click on that article for those of you on Facebook. It is an article is having a boyfriend embarrassing now like this is UK Vogue. This is like the thoughts they're putting into like kids heads that like having a boyfriend is embarrassing and that you should you don't need you don't need anybody else. You don't need a partner in life. You don't need Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Keep Keep going down that road and we're going to you know fill in with AI bots and virtual girlfriends and boyfriends and you know as long as you have someone to listen to what's going on mentally in your head like you're going to be happy in life. Cool. Keep Keep going down these roads where you know everything's like all about you and how you feel and not about building a partnership, a relationship, a family unit. And go see what what happens when you hit the end of the road where it's all about you as the individual and see see what where you end up. miserable, lonely, depressed, nobody to talk to, nobody to go on vacation with. Like, it's funny. I But again, like this is like for some reason, for some reason, we're we're sort of selling the youth on this like isolationism is like the is is a sign of like freedom and empowerment. Now, look, I'm all for in your 20s, just have fun. Like, I'm all for that. Like, but there comes a point where you got to like you got to start having some different kinds of goals and different, you know, figure stuff out [sighs] Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, anything you guys want to cover before we end the show today? It was a good one. Sorry for the weird beginning, but I got to figure out the monetization of this thing. The world's going to be all right. I just want to say that. We're all going to be all right. Like I've been I've been getting really into this like flat earth. Have you had have you guys got you guys need to go like just listen to the flat earth conspiracy about how Antarctica is sort of the the like the crust around our entire planet and how the sun is actually right next to us. It's not millions of miles away and it's it's local. It's It's amazing. Like I I love I love like diving into certain things like this cuz it's to me like flat earth theory is is kind of like Winchester's mystery house. And And I'll explain what I mean by that. Sometimes the best way to be entertaining and get people engaged is just to come out of nowhere with something they were never expecting. Right? So if I if I if I sort of like deliver another mediocre Star Wars and you knew Star Wars was coming and you knew it was going to suck and then it came out and it did suck. You're like yeah like you're like you're already over it. But if I come in with like Winchester's Mystery House, you didn't even know it was coming and now it's available and it looks pretty interesting and I've got you like it's like I didn't expect that to come out of your mouth or for you to even like know anything about this and now you you're learning about this new mystery house that's real and it's got some evidence of like some supernatural elements and it's the Winchester like you know uh gun company and rifle company and it's like all it's like wow wow like you can't stop getting enough. That's what happens when someone's like, "Yo, bro, like the Earth is flat and beyond Antarctica is a continent twice the size of the United States where an intelligent race of people is living and watching the rest of us and that the moon landing was fake and there were no dinosaurs and the moon is not even real." Like, you literally what? You know, it's like what? I I didn't I'd never saw this coming and all of a sudden it's like really interesting to hear all about it now having they're all saying the same thing and you know it's like it's kind of like they they can't disprove like they they can't prove any of it and the things they say are not real are so strangely the like approached like the earth is not round because of this and you know it's amazing like they literally have a weird um rationale for everything happening. Yeah. No, I'm I'm all for the flat earth theory. Like I I think the world needs crazy. Uh we need more crazy. We need more weird. It doesn't hurt anybody to think the world is flat. as long as we treat each other with respect and we, you know, we raise our kids to question things and and that's kind of what's good about the flat earth theory that it kind of instills in each and every one of us that we should be uh conspiracy analysts. Like we should look at the world and and analyze it a little bit more and wonder what's real, what's not. Especially now in a world of fake everywhere and deep fakes and AI like we really have to teach our kids to don't take everything at surface value and really you know only truly truly believe at what's 6 inches in front of your face and and what your hands can feel and your eyes can see you know because you know it's even that's like going to be hard. Um it's crazy. Anyway, everybody, look, I hope you guys all had a great Halloween. We had a lot of time, a lot of fun here with the family. We all went as demon hunters. Thank you guys for tuning in each week. Uh, it's always a lot of fun to talk pinball, talk life, just hang out, have a place for 90 minutes. Uh, a lot's coming this week. The next two weeks are going to be bonkers. Uh, get ready for more Canada shows this week. I'm going to bring my podcast gear with me Tuesday. So hopefully I think we'll be able to do like a live from [snorts] uh where I'm at in Atlanta on Tuesday and then um you know obviously we'll be we'll be covering all of this, but I love sort of going live so we can watch uh Walking Dead remastered together and see what Stern puts into uh a a cardboard box for $13,000. Great hanging everybody. And if you're not a member of Canadas Pinball Podcast, I would love to have you. And if you are a member, I would love to give you a shout out for raising the roof. You know,5 to$10. That's not a lot. Are you gonna feel that? You gonna feel that? We had We went to We went to lunch yesterday just to, you know, a few items here and there and $190. Okay. Yeah, I know you guys got it. You guys are good for it. If you want to go from five to 10, that's cool. If you want to go from 10 to 30, even better. 30 to 50. as Dan Jansen would say, he's in there at 50 a month and then I think I got a couple dudes at 100 a month. Um, but again, just love any of the support I get. And I think we're now at 670. We're climbing back up to 700 slowly. I was going to say um I was going to say that it's going to be uh I was going to hold one Beetlejuice for club member 800. You know, that might be something fun to do. have it de if I did that because you could sign up a hundred times with different email addresses. I bet some dude would just do that because because remember a hundred at $5 is only 500 bucks to maybe be club member number 800. The things people will do to get this Beetlejuice, I mean, it's going to be it's going to be crazy once the 14th comes. Everybody be good. Have a great day and we'll talk to you soon. All right, let's end that on YouTube. _(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e624df78-7e70-4981-943a-25a2b066f90f*