# The Pinball Show Ep 195 BONUS: Sonic The Hedgehog Impressions & Inside Pinball

**Source:** Pinball Show Patreon Feed  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-07-29  
**Duration:** 29m 39s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/ThePinballShow/posts/pinball-show-ep-165186743

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## Analysis

The The The Pinball Show hosts discuss their hands-on impressions of Jersey Jack Pinball's Sonic the Hedgehog machine, praising its design innovation, world-building, and sales performance. They cover specific gameplay mechanics, artwork choices, and the game's strong market reception across home and location buyers, while also discussing the challenges of Jersey Jack's opaque production timeline and broader social media dynamics in the pinball community.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Sonic the Hedgehog by Jersey Jack Pinball features a four-flipper layout by Steve Ritchie, a departure from typical three-flipper designs — _Host states: 'I like that Steve Ritchie actually did a four-flipper layout, not a three-flipper layout.'_
- [MEDIUM] Jersey Jack Pinball has improved at world-building and thematic integration comparable to or exceeding Barrels of Fun — _Host comments: 'J.J.P., like, I don't know if they just got better... they've always tried to do it, but, like, Barrels was sort of seen as the leader. And now I'm kind of feeling like, J.J.P.'s really...'_
- [HIGH] Bill Grupp coded Sonic the Hedgehog, same designer as Elton John, with balanced rule depth between Elton John and Harry Potter — _Host states: 'Bill Grupp doing the code on this is the same person that did the Elton John that people just love... This is just a progression upon that so it's deeper than Elton John but it's not so depth-wise and complicated...'_
- [HIGH] Sonic initially sold more arcade editions than special editions in the first week, which surprised the hosts — _Zach Sharpe (Flip N Out distributor): 'We had more arcades initially in the first week, more arcades sold than SE. I would have never guessed that... SE passed over Arcade and I haven't sold as many Arcades...'_
- [HIGH] Jersey Jack Pinball has not communicated production timelines to dealers — _Zach Sharpe states: 'Unfortunately, Jersey Jack has not communicated to dealers any form of timeline. I just don't know. I have zero clue. Could be a week, could be nine months.'_
- [HIGH] Sonic's upper playfield uses transparent design to avoid obstructing lower playfield view, unlike Game of Game of Thrones (Premium) — _Host explains: 'And so smart to do the transparent play field up there so that you could still enjoy making the shots down below... this is where not covering everything up is often the right answer...'_
- [MEDIUM] Sales have been 'phenomenal' and Jersey Jack could do yearly Sonic runs for 3-4 years if they retain the license — _Zach Sharpe states: 'Sales have been phenomenal. This thing is going to be a great seller. Jersey Jack is starting to build this. If they can keep the licenses of these things, they could probably do yearly runs of these for three or four years...'_
- [HIGH] Locations (commercial operators) bought Sonic in larger quantities than expected, including dedicated arcade and special edition versions — _Zach Sharpe: 'We had a heavy amount of those. And maybe we're just building up our location clientele, but yeah, a lot of people, a lot of locations bought them as well.'_
- [MEDIUM] The captive ball mechanic using a pop-up post on the upper playfield is an innovation that traces its lineage back to Steve Ritchie vengeance shot design on Star Trek — _Host explains: 'Ritchie and Scott acknowledged the idea of doing three came from Ritchie doing the one for the vengeance shot on Star Trek...'_
- [MEDIUM] Some players feel Sonic would have sold better with purely retro artwork instead of modern 3D Sonic Generations aesthetic — _Host states: 'I think it would have sold better had they been able to retro... I would have liked to have seen the CE cabinet art reflect more.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I like that Steve Ritchie actually did a four-flipper layout, not a three-flipper layout."
> — **Dennis Dice**, ~5:30
> _Highlights a design innovation in Sonic that differentiates it from Ritchie's typical approach and demonstrates JJP's willingness to experiment with unconventional layouts._

> "This will be bolted because of the theming and because of the looks and the play of it."
> — **Flip N Out Pinball**, ~45:00
> _Industry shorthand for a machine that will remain in a collector's personal collection long-term due to strong thematic and gameplay appeal; indicates Sonic's staying power as a collectible._

> "We had more arcades initially in the first week, more arcades sold than SE. I would have never guessed that."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~34:00
> _Reveals surprising market dynamics: arcade versions outperformed special editions initially, contradicting expectations based on Harry Potter's arcade performance._

> "Unfortunately, Jersey Jack has not communicated to dealers any form of timeline. I just don't know. I have zero clue."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~38:00
> _Underscores a persistent operational pain point for the pinball distribution network and critical gap in manufacturer-dealer communication._

> "If they can keep the licenses of these things, they could probably do yearly runs of these for three or four years because people love these damn things."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~42:00
> _Suggests long-term franchise potential for licensed JJP games if production capacity and licensing allow, indicating strong market confidence in Sonic's longevity._

> "The lighting is always good, Zach. But damn, even in the Emeralds, though, they have these light boards that like now, each of the modes, it can go in like a circle with the lighting to tell you how much of the mode has been completed."
> — **Dennis Dice**, ~30:00
> _Highlights innovative use of LED/lighting technology as a visual rule indicator and thematic reinforcement, exemplifying Sonic's design attention to detail._

> "I think there's such a thing as too much depth. I feel you can make a game too deep for its own good."
> — **Dennis Dice**, ~24:00
> _Articulates a design philosophy debate in modern pinball: accessibility vs. depth; directly addresses criticism of Harry Potter's complexity, suggesting Sonic achieves better balance._

> "Sonic Mania. It was more of a crowdsource kind of thing, a fan-made kind of thing. It's great."
> — **Dennis Dice**, ~16:00
> _Demonstrates the speaker's approach to understanding a licensed IP by consuming the source material; indicates creator methodology for thematic authenticity._

> "This is not – this is just for fun. Yeah, I got – the last week is – we got a lot of shit for the whole multimorphic thing."
> — **Zach Sharpe**, ~58:00
> _Acknowledges controversy around Flip N Out's new distribution partnership with Multimorphic and social media backlash; reveals tension between distributor content creation and community perception._

> "The system, the way it is, is a big hurdle that turns off a lot of pure pinball people."
> — **Dennis Dice**, ~65:00
> _References the Multimorphic P3 platform as a barrier to adoption for traditional pinball purists, limiting potential audience and resale market for modular games._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Sonic the Hedgehog pinball game; also produced Harry Potter and Avatar; known for licensed IP games and premium pricing. |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer; designed Sonic the Hedgehog layout at JJP; known for 'smoothness' in shot design and flow-based gameplay; previously at Stern. |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | game | New Jersey Jack Pinball game based on Sega's Sonic franchise; features four-flipper layout, transparent upper playfield, LED ring targets, and Sega Generations 3D aesthetics; released with strong market reception. |
| Zach Sharpe | person | Operator of Flip N Out Pinball (Evansville, IN-based distributor); content creator and podcast host; handles sales distribution and venue placement for Sonic and other titles. |
| Dennis Dice | person | Co-host of The Pinball Show; pinball enthusiast and content creator; provides game analysis and gameplay impressions. |
| Bill Grupp | person | Code/programmer for Sonic the Hedgehog and Elton John at Jersey Jack; credited with balanced rule depth design philosophy. |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer; previously viewed as leader in thematic world-building; now competing with JJP on aesthetic and design innovation. |
| Harry Potter | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game; referenced as example of high rule complexity that confuses some players; set benchmark for licensed IP success; arcade version underperformed. |
| Avatar | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game; referenced as having strong aesthetics but weak sales adoption and secondary market depreciation following Harry Potter's announcement. |
| Elton John | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie with code by Bill Grupp; praised for balanced rule depth; referenced as baseline for Sonic's complexity level. |
| Game of Thrones | game | Stern Pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie; Premium version features obstructive upper playfield; referenced as design comparison point for Sonic's transparent playfield solution. |
| The Pinball Show | media | Podcast/YouTube channel hosted by Dennis Kriesel and Zach Sharpe; produces pinball content and game analysis; supported by Patreon membership. |
| Flip N Out Pinball | company | Pinball distributor and arcade venue based in Evansville, Indiana; primary dealer for Sonic and other major titles; operates content channels. |
| Multimorphic | company | Modular pinball platform manufacturer (P3); Flip N Out recently became distributor; viewed as barrier to adoption by traditional pinball enthusiasts. |
| Dungeon Crawler Carl | game | Multimorphic P3 module game; mentioned as recent release competing with Barrels of Fun titles for sales; subject of distribution controversy. |
| [name withheld pending review] | game | Barrels of Fun pinball game; referenced in comparison discussion about module vs. standalone game sales performance. |
| Pokemon | game | Stern Pinball game announced February 2026; referenced as example of front-loaded sales (high initial week, low ongoing) compared to Sonic's sustained sales curve. |
| [name withheld pending review] | game | Barrels of Fun pinball game; mentioned as title in sales comparison discussion with Multimorphic offerings. |
| Sega | company | Licensor of Sonic IP; made creative decision to use modern 3D Sonic Generations aesthetic instead of retro 2D art, per hosts' inference. |
| Scott Denise | person | Designer credited with TNA pinball; referenced alongside Steve Ritchie for collaborative design philosophy on captive ball mechanics. |
| TNA | game | Spooky Pinball game; referenced for innovative lock/captive ball mechanics that influenced later designs like Sonic. |
| Straight Down The Middle | media | Pinball content channel operated by Zach Sharpe; referenced as part of distributor's multi-platform content creation strategy. |

### Signals

- **[gameplay_signal]** Steve Ritchie's four-flipper layout on Sonic represents a departure from his standard three-flipper design; hosts praise 'smoothness' of shot flow and magnet-assisted loop mechanics. (confidence: high) — Host states: 'I like that Steve Ritchie actually did a four-flipper layout, not a three-flipper layout... Rich is just so good at the smoothness of the shots of these games... it's smooth, it's fast and it's magnet-assisted so it goes even smoother and faster.'
- **[design_innovation]** Pop-up post creates captive ball mechanic on upper playfield for multiplier chaining; hosts identify as evolutionary improvement on earlier designs. (confidence: high) — Host explains: 'the left little post that pops up that creates a captive ball... that captive ball then goes back and hits the target behind it, 2X, 3X, 5X... Ritchie and Scott acknowledged the idea of doing three came from Ritchie doing the one for the vengeance shot on Star Trek.'
- **[design_innovation]** Transparent upper playfield design allows visibility and enjoyment of lower playfield shots simultaneously; contrasts with Game of Thrones Premium's obstructive upper playfield. (confidence: high) — Host states: 'so smart to do the transparent play field up there so that you could still enjoy making the shots down below... this is where not covering everything up is often the right answer because you are able to enjoy doing the shots down below, but you can still have a very sizable upper playfield.'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Sonic achieves balanced rule complexity between Elton John (simpler) and Harry Potter (too complex); Bill Grupp coded both as progression. (confidence: high) — Host: 'This is just a progression upon that so it's deeper than Elton John but it's not so depth-wise and complicated... It's kind of go your own strategy, do your own tasks but once you get enough of those you can start the four mini wizard modes.'
- **[market_signal]** Sonic showed unexpected arcade edition strength in first week (outselling special editions), differing from Harry Potter's arcade underperformance; pattern reversed after initial period. (confidence: high) — Zach Sharpe: 'We had more arcades initially in the first week, more arcades sold than SE... But then again, for whatever reason, after a couple weeks of it being out, then all of a sudden SEs took off and I haven't sold as many Arcades.'
- **[market_signal]** Commercial operators/venues purchased Sonic at higher-than-expected rates across all tiers (arcade, special, collector editions); indicates strong venue appeal. (confidence: high) — Zach Sharpe: 'We had a heavy amount of those. And maybe we're just building up our location clientele, but yeah, a lot of people, a lot of locations bought them as well. So sales have been phenomenal.'
- **[product_strategy]** Sonic available in multiple tiers with distinct visual/packaging differences (Arcade, SE, CE); CE features exclusive topper; pricing strategy creates FOMO. (confidence: high) — Zach Sharpe: 'The CE topper is so damn cool... I still don't know SE or CE for me. Probably CE.'
- **[business_signal]** Jersey Jack maintains no communication with dealers regarding production or shipping timelines; distributor receives daily inquiries with no concrete information to provide. (confidence: high) — Zach Sharpe: 'Unfortunately, Jersey Jack has not communicated to dealers any form of timeline. I just don't know. I have zero clue. Could be a week, could be nine months... I'll still get five emails a day.'
- **[business_signal]** Jersey Jack prioritized location/commercial operator orders before residential customer orders; now bleeding into customer sales for arcade and SE, with CEs reserved for residential. (confidence: high) — Zach Sharpe: 'they're shipping them fast now though... they've been focused on locations. I will say that we're now out of our location priorities. So we have been shipping games to customers... and next CEs are going to be for customers, too.'
- **[licensing_signal]** Sega mandated use of modern 3D Sonic Generations aesthetic over retro 2D artwork; hosts note this likely reduced sales appeal to retro-focused collectors. (confidence: medium) — Host: 'Unfortunate, but understandable that they ended up going with... the 3D... I get that this was Sega saying you need to use this more modern property... I think it would have sold better had they been able to retro.'
- **[collector_signal]** Hosts indicate Sonic will be a 'bolt' (long-term keeper) due to strong theming, gameplay, and personal resonance; likely to remain in collections despite future releases. (confidence: medium) — Zach Sharpe: 'This will be bolted because of the theming and because of the looks and the play of it... This is one of those... This will stay in my collection.'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Community sentiment around Sonic is strongly positive; hosts note mixed opinions exist but sustained sales suggest healthy overall reception. (confidence: medium) — Host: 'I'm trying to take the temperature of the hobby. There is some mixed opinions on this game already, though. People generally are really liking it... Joel is loving this game.'

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## 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, everybody's been asking me. I went to the supermarket the other day. You did? This older lady. Buying lettuce? So it's already a lie. Anyway, I only get my latest Taco Bell, thank you. And the lady, she stopped me, she said, can I ask you for some help? And I said, yeah. And she said, why is that Dennis Kriesel so sexy? And I said, well, it's just the genes, I think. And then she said, what does he think of Sonic the Hedgehog by Jersey Jack? And I was like, wow, do you not listen to EGP? She wasn't a listener. DGP. She liked the pinball show. That hurts. That's painful. Well, you know, old ladies can be shitty. I don't know what to tell you. But everybody wants to know what you think about Sonic the Hedgehog by Jershack Pinball. Well, maybe they want to know what you think. We never covered this. We covered Pindle. You think that I show love everything. Well, you do. I mean, look at how yummy. If you loved on Ender's Game anymore. I don't really love on Elyton J. The art. The art's incredible with these barely discernible faces. It was mixed on Bon Jovi. I think it was fair, yeah. It's for Brandon. I'm a theme guy and DCC does it for me. So Sonic, yeah. Sonic finally, it came out while your basement was full. That was when we were supposed to talk about the release. Okay. So, I mean, my thoughts over, so you asked. We went over a lot of it. Yeah, I mean like the layout and stuff. I don't think we need to go through that. So what are my thoughts with the full reveal? I think the game looks a lot of fun. I like that Steve Ritchie actually did a four-flipper layout, not a three-flipper layout. I like those cool little mini-ring LED things they got all over that. They've done well before, obviously, but I feel like this was some really good world-building. Like, J.J.P., like, I don't know if they just got better. Like, they did GNR, and then it felt like there was a little, I mean, they've always tried to do it, but, like, Barrels was sort of seen as the leader. And now I'm kind of feeling like, J.J.P.'s really, like, Harry Potter felt like a real world. I think you could argue Avatar did, too, and I think this felt really good. Unfortunate, but understandable that they ended up going with, I don't even know the name of the game, the 3D, you know. Generations? Yeah, I wanted to say Generations and then I was afraid. I was thinking of that Star Trek movie with Shatner and Patrick Stewart. Full Contact? No, no, it was called Star Trek Generations. Was it? Okay. Anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're too young to remember. Yeah, I don't. I turned into a nerd later in life. I wasn't always a nerd. No, I understand. And I get that this was Sega saying you need to use this more modern property. And it did probably look better for the display to be able to pull from that element. I think overall, though, collectors would have preferred more of the 2D look because most people buying are the ones who remember more of the retro games in terms of introducing them. Unlike a lot of people, I actually think the collector's edition looks better than the special edition. I think the red powder coat is a better choice than the one. I think it's like Sonic's shoes. And we wanted to see Sonic go fast with his little red shoes. And I remember when I would occasionally play the old game, it was the little red blur of his shoes. That's true. Not a blue blur, even though he's called the blue blur. Okay. Make sense? So you like the artwork on the, okay. Yeah. I like the glitter. I mean, I like the art on, I mean, obviously the special edition, the arcade edition have the same art overall, but yeah, I like having shadow on the side of the game and stuff. I don't really know Shadow, but I've played some more modern Sega Sonic stuff, so I've seen Shadow in some of the other games. Like there was a hoverboard game or something I played with the Sonic crew. So that's where I kind of know some of the characters from. I love when new themes come out. I kind of immerse myself in them by consuming the product. So my son and I went to a retro gaming shop, and we bought all of the different Sonic games that we could. So even some of the newer stuff that I would never otherwise play, like I think it's Sonic Mania. It was more of a crowdsource kind of thing, a fan-made kind of thing. It's great. And Sonic Colors, Sonic X Shadow. What is it? That's like the highest rated one, one of the newest ones. Bought that. I think Sonic Generations. So we went and bought Sonic and Knuckles, all of that stuff. But I also want to wax a little bit on about the upper play field Don watch poetic What a cool well I just won be poetic I don have a way with words like that But what a cool like big upper play field Like, there's multiple things to do up there, more so than Ritchie's Game of Thrones gave you on the Premium LE. 100%. And so smart to do the transparent play field up there so that you could still enjoy making the shots down below. So you actually got to take advantage. And see, this is where not covering everything up is often the right answer because you are able to enjoy doing the shots down below, but you can still have a very sizable upper playfield without it obfuscating your view. And so I thought that was really cool. We'll think of the lighting flare on the edge of it that still adds a little dazzle. I like that. Overall, I thought this looked really, really fun. I'll want to try it because I really enjoyed Elton John, but I could see this maybe being more appealing to me than an Elton John would be if I enjoy the gameplay. Because Elton John's gameplay, as fun as it is, the layout is so Star Trek in so many ways to me that I still feel like I already played it, whereas this does look a lot different than what we've been seeing out of Ritchie for quite a while. Does this not feel like a world poker tour to you? I don't think so because I get when people see the upper playfield, they're going to think about it. But there isn't like 10 drop targets. I mean with World Poker Tour, anytime you do a poker game, you immediately are invoking all of these drops. And this doesn't have anything remotely like that. So while this does remind me of the positioning of that, no, the overall upper playfield, the actual shots, absolutely not. Not at all like it. Okay. Yeah, I agree with you there. It does feel – I just like how smooth it is. Rich is just so good at the smoothness of the shots of these games. Even like a loop shouldn't feel – a loopy loop when it's not really been done in pinball shouldn't – the first iteration should not be smooth, smooth. Not only is this smooth, it's fast and it's magnet-assisted so it goes even smoother and faster and then they even play with it with a dash where they stop it. Yeah. What a good one to bring up because it's actually when you look at the play field like it's like it's actually a fairly small footprint. So one might not think anything at first until they actually get to witness it in action and then be like, wow, this actually is very visually satisfying. Oh, it feels good. It flows back to the flipper there. The game with a huge upper play field still feels like a flow game. That says a lot. And the upper play field has plenty to shoot. That is fun, but still challenging. You're not stuck at that play field. You can't be. They put a flipper gap. They still put a little, it's not a curse post, but it's a post that does help, but you're not staying up there even if you wanted to. So that's pretty helpful. And they integrate that upper play field a lot into the rule, so you have to go up there to do things equally as you do the bottom. I think one of the most clever little toys that people don't give enough credit to, the creators thought so, So because when we were up there, they were really emphasizing that is that left little post that pops up that creates a captive ball. So the left, you hit the target during, I think it's a multiball and the post comes up, makes it a captive ball. So you hit the other one to jack up your multipliers. Every time that captive ball then goes back and hits the target behind it, 2X, 3X, 5X, all of that. But just it's something that is smart using a post that otherwise would be used to stop a ball, but doing so captively to make it another. Those are the clever little things that I just love in pinball when somebody takes something simple and makes it. Because doing it that way kind of reminds me of how, you know, Scott Dinesi got a lot of credit for the Dinesi lock in TNA. But Ritchie and Scott acknowledged the idea of doing three came from Ritchie doing the one for the vengeance shot on Star Trek where you would lock a ball and then all of a sudden you're bashing this drop target to basically functionally do something with a captive ball or locking balls there or however – locking the ball behind there briefly to do your kill shot and just a lot of interesting things. So anyway, overall, I was very impressed by this. I think it looks really, really nice. Even the Eggman toy was cool. That damn sculpt is nice. Like the little springy targets up there. Yeah, the glitter play field. And the lighting. I know that, you know, everybody should do lighting awesome. The lighting is always good, Zach. But damn, even in the Emeralds, though, they have these light boards that like now, each of the modes, it can go in like a circle with the lighting to tell you how much of the mode has been completed. This is a dazzling game We have it in the showroom Every time somebody comes in they like holy crap what is that thing Yep that the Jersey Jack row back there It phenomenal Even the sound Sounds are really top the music and stuff I like that you can go to the different levels. It's not linear. Joel is loving this game. I'm trying to take the temperature of the hobby. There is some mixed opinions on this game already, though. People generally are really liking it, but I don't know if enough people have got their hands on it to know whether it's their type of game or not. But Joel is surprisingly, he hasn't latched on to any JJP game, whether he says so publicly or not. I just know it was his friend. He likes them, but nothing has pulled him in like it has Stern games or even Chicago games. Well, you know, I think the flowchart of their rules is an example of where some people, and I totally understand that a lot of people will probably disagree with me for this statement, but there is such a thing as too much depth. I feel you can make a game too deep for its own good. It starts to feel like, I mean, the big complaint I hear about with Harry Potter, which having played Harry Potter, I really enjoyed it. But a lot of people are like, I don't know what's going on. It's overwhelming. It's like how these things tie together doesn't feel logical or obvious. Maybe obvious is a better word. And so those sort of frustrations hit people. But I think having said what I think about the game, I think what would be more interesting to people is knowing kind of like how is it selling? Yeah, and to piggyback before we talk about pricing, Bill Grupp doing the code on this is the same person that did the Elton John that people just love That didn't feel like finally not too much depth where I get confused. Pretty self-explanatory but hard to master. This is just a progression upon that so it's deeper than Elt and John but it's not so depth-wise and complicated and common lesson that you don't understand any of it. Pretty simple. It's kind of go your own strategy, do your own tasks but once you get enough of those you can start the four mini wizard modes, that kind of thing. So it's a nice balance there. Sales-wise, that's why I was hearing some, and it's hard to know if people are just dumb dicks in social media. I'm sorry. Well, because some people are like, this thing's selling shitty. And I can't even blame it on Kaneda Perseks. I think I've seen it otherwise. Like, that's a dedicated, like, by default dumb dick. But I'm talking about, like, people otherwise who I wouldn't think are dumb dicks. But I've seen a couple places where people are like, it's not selling well, it's not selling well. It's selling well, so I don't know. I don't know. I bought a lot of these games. We've sold a lot of these games. And just last week alone, we're still selling these games. Usually, when I know a game is selling well, we'll have that big old boom at the beginning. We'll sell a lot of them. Usually, great selling games we sell a lot the first day. A lot the first week. And then kind of like Pokemon. Sold a ton of them damn things. Still sold probably more Pokemon than Sonic at this point. But we sold them all in the first week. And now I don't really have a lot of sales for Pokemon at all. Whereas this, I'm still getting sales, picking up sales. One of the interesting things talking about how sales were, it surprised me initially how many arcades sold. We had more arcades initially in the first week, more arcades sold than SE. I would have never guessed that. That's interesting because I thought the arcade this time was – because, again, after Harry Potter's arcade also didn't do well. I was like, why do they keep doing this? I thought the same thing. But on this one, people still wanted the SE, so that outsold all of them. Sure. But the other two were pretty much even with the arcade actually initially the first week selling more. Or buy, they're pretty even, but still a handful more. But then again, for whatever reason, after a couple weeks of it being out, then all of a sudden SEs took off and I haven't sold. So SEs passed over Arcade and I've now not sold as many Arcades and SEs have been selling at a better rate than CEs now. So I don't know if it's just a perception. People are like, oh, maybe the CEs or SEs will come first. So people sometimes will buy based on what they think will come out first because they don't want to wait long, which sounds crazy. No, I can kind of see that actually. People do that. What about operators? Yeah, we sold more. Any sense? Because I would see Sonic as a – of course, I thought Harry Potter would also be a good location. So why not sell arcade versions A heavier location J than anything else besides Harry Potter that we sold Because when they asked us for dedicated I was surprised by how many locations again putting not only arcades but SEs and CEs We had a heavy amount of those. And maybe we're just building up our location clientele, but yeah, a lot of people, a lot of locations bought them as well. So sales have been phenomenal. This thing is going to be a great seller. Jersey Jack is starting to build this. If they can keep the licenses of these things, they could probably do yearly runs of these for three or four years because people love these damn things. And the topper is awesome. The CE topper is so damn cool. Well, it looks great. For not being steeped in the theme, I was really impressed. Production timeline, I do want to update people. Is this Jersey Jack, people? We don't freaking know. So I get every time a Jersey Jack game comes out, we're blessed to be able to sell a ton of them. But the nightmare of Jersey Jack and other manufacturers, not just Jersey Jack, zero timeline. I have no fucking clue. But I'll still get five emails a day. Hey, any update? My response is always the same. Unfortunately, Jersey Jack has not communicated to dealers any form of timeline. I just don't know. I have zero clue. Could be a week, could be nine months. I don't think it would be nine months, but based on their sales and what they're, they're shipping them fast now though. We've had a lot ship already, but they've been focused on locations. I will say that we're now out of our location priorities. So we have been shipping games to customers, not really CEs as much, but we've bled into customer sales on Arcade and SE. So and next CEs are going to be for customers, too, if that makes sense, residential people. Yeah. So that's the timeline of that. Anything that we don't like about this, we talked about we prefer it have been more retro than having Sally the rabbit or whoever these people. Because I'm making that's the big one because I don't know these people. That's the big one for me. I think it would I think it would have sold better had they been able to retro. I would have liked to have seen the CE cabinet art reflect more. This is probably a Sega choice. I don't want a gang of characters on the cap. I want what the SE had. I want Green Hills. I want Robotnik. That's kind of what I want. So I'm trying to think of other downsides here. Things I don't like. Man, I really like this game. This is a game, I'll say this. But this is a game that will be, I mean, when you say you bolt a game to your, I always like the term bolted because bolts can be taken out pretty easy with a rat. I mean, it defeats why people say that expression. That's why I like the expression because it'll take some work, but they're not there forever. This will be bolted because of the theming and because of the looks and the play of it. This is a game that I almost like it's a my collection sometimes is stuff that really stays a reflection of me as a person. That's a weird collector thing, but I think some of you out there can agree like Harry Potter. Love that theme so much. Even if I didn't like to play it, it probably stick around because it's a reflection of like the things I like in life. That's why I own Space Jam because I love that theme. I like Michael Jordan, that kind of stuff. This is one of those. This will stay in my collection. I still don't know SE or CE for me. Probably CE. It's kind of like the topper and stuff. But yeah, this is a bolt this thing. This is like those, duh, at some point you're going to have to, as a collector, you're going to probably want to own one at some point for some amount of time to play it. So if you do want to buy one, FlippinOutPinball.com, of course. I have been Win Schilling heavy lately. It's not really Win Schilling. It's like, what's the opposite? It's not anti-Win Schilling. I'm trying to think. I've got a lot of shill comments this last week, so I'm a little sensitive to it. But it's not really Win Schilling. If your job is to sell products, it's not Win Schilling. No, no. Technically, and I'd have to look. I mean, I can look right now. I think technically the definition of a shill is someone where you don't know that you're the employee. You act like you're not affiliated. So, yeah, secretly helps the seller. Yes. I'm not secret at all. No, no. And that's why. So in a way, the term has actually never been accurate because you've always been very clear about, like, again, just like on the main show today, you very clearly announced before we even started talking about Dungeon Crawler Carl that you now were selling for Multimorphic. So, no, Shell's never actually been accurate. But it's still fun to poke fun at, though. Well, and that's, well, yeah, people do. Well, a lot of the reason why you... Get poked at, of course, is that you have content creation stuff that you've started in and you continue to do all of it. Like not just the show, but straight down the middle, the flipping out channels. The other distributors don't do a lot of that. Like I know like the pinball company has a channel where they put out like tutorials and stuff, but they're not doing a bunch of podcasts. It's a little weird because Travis, but you know, he, the way that that show goes, it's not, it's different. So I think there's a lot of that. I'll embrace it. It's just you were really big in pinball social media before you became a distributor, and you kind of have to carry the baggage of that. And you probably have been able to drop those bags if you had dropped doing the content creation. That's my theory. But since you haven't, you've basically invited it. I'm strong. I'll take the bags. Let's go. I'll add bags. That's where a lot of I'm going to add bags. It reminds me of like Siskel and Ebert, like back in the day, movie critics. And people would get mad or annoyed they didn't agree with the opinion of the critics. And so they would criticize how the critics were busy criticizing instead of actually making movies. They were criticizing movies. To me, it's been like that. Social media always invites that. We see it in any social media field where it's like, well, this guy on YouTube is just like, I like this person and what they're saying. They're just an influencer trash. Like, why is their opinion any better than anyone else's? And the answer is it's not any better. But people want to be entertained, and so they tune into things like that. And we even get comments left on things where it's about the most – sometimes you could tell that they never even watched or listened, and they say something. It's like that didn't even – like what were they thinking sort of thing. Not even valid. Very strange. So some of that is just the desire to – think of it like – what is it? Paparazzi. Why care about the private lives of Hollywood people more than anyone else? It's solely because people – it's almost like a schreidenfraude. We want to see people that we deem as successful to fail or be humiliated or we want to know more about them than we have any right to know. I don't know if you get that. I know you do because I even get this This is not to your volume where people might start messaging you and they like they I like we not friends Oh like that an assumption that they start Well, like I've had people just like send to me just constantly like, like to have a conversation. And I, my thought is my silence is making it clear that I'm not comfortable having a conversation with you. Like, well, I mean, I'm not, I'm not trying to be rude or anything. It's just like I'm either not interested – most likely I'm not interested in the topic. Or time. Or, well, I mean – You have a life you're living. I do work. Like I don't just do this show and then take a month away and other than do my other shows. It's like, no, this is not – this is just for fun. Yeah, I got – the last week is – we got a lot of shit for the whole multimorphic thing. But I think I knew that was coming, which is totally welcome. That's totally fine because I think sometimes the rest of the team is like, holy crap, we're getting shit on. This doesn't feel good. Or damn, they're grilling you, Zach. Like, how are you? And I'm like, that shit used to bother me a lot. But now it's like, and maybe it's blind arrogance, but some of it's like, even when other podcasters shit on me, some of them have issues. So that's why they're doing it. Not that they can't help it, they can, but they just, it's almost like somebody selling hot dogs at a stadium, like yelling down at Tom Brady making fun of them. I'm like, well, okay, that's fine. Let the hot dog guy continue to yell at me. I'm fine with that. It's not the end of the world. But then I'll have people message like, did you hear what such and such said about you? Did you hear what this? And I'm like, sometimes I do because I consume that stuff, but sometimes I don't. I haven't lately because I've been on vacation stuff. I haven't consumed a lot of that stuff, probably for the best, but it just doesn't. My life is good, so I don't. When I've had that happen, I sometimes wonder, are they really? And I just sometimes I know because I know the person, but sometimes I my instinct is, are you telling me because you feel it's important? How important I know are you telling me because you want to stir the pot? Oh, that's 100%. And you hoping that I will do something in response So they can take it back to that person And it like that not why I got into any of that It comes with the territory right Absolutely. I'd rather be on this side. I get nasty YouTube comments on all sorts of stuff. And you start to kind of just learn to, it will be best for your mental health to learn to tune it out. If you can't tune it out, delete it. Or block it if you want, whatever. Or hide it. You can do that and you can't literally just not look at it anymore. For me, I always tell people that want to go back and tell the other person, I'm like, look, they can throw the arrows. I don't care just because life is good and I'm doing well. So I love my life and I don't want to compromise that. However, if it ever gets to a point where somebody is trying to take me out or hurt my life, then I just, it's like, and I don't mind saying it publicly with the phrase that everybody loves. It's like, fuck around and find out. If it's perfect, I'm good until you really fuck with me to a degree that compromises things for me. Then truly, it's fuck around and find out. All the words will come down quick on what I will do. There are instances where I've seen on my watch channel, I've had people come in where it's clear they maybe, I might find their rude comment amusing and I might do something with it. I might comment on it. I might use it in a video where I'm like, well, you know, some people who don't watch the content they're commenting on will say things like, and it's like, we didn't even talk about that. So that sort of thing, just the nature of how people try and stir the pot without anything. Or, you know, Mr. Beefstick, beef jerky in the coin box. What a great story. Painful for you, but what a great story. We still, that thing has legs. Somewhere I have that 4XXL shirt around. What a great story. If that hadn't happened, I would never have bought that. Beef stick in the coin box comments on our Flip N Out Pinball YouTube page. Every video will have a comment. Yeah, but I know you're selling multimorphic, but are you going to put beef sticks in the coin box? Are you going to put candy in the coin box? I'm not going to say it makes it worth it, but there can be amusement that's found in some of these things. If I can have the life that I have and it means people shitting on me every now and then I good with that I good with this pattern But for you out there tell your friends You can fuck around and find out, too, though. Alright, Dennis. Man, that was fun. I like how it went from Sonic to social media and interacting with... Yeah, Sonic's been out a while, so this was kind of a weird one. So a little treat for those that ended up wanting to watch the Patreon content. Sales Day. Here we go. All right. Well, good luck with that. I guess they can turn it off now. Before they turn it off, last second. I'd probably be in my best interest not to say or not to answer. What sells more? Dungeon Crawler, Carl, and Ender's Game or Bon Jovi? If we're just modules, just modules. It doesn't have to be new games. Just modules. The new multimorphic offerings or the barrels of fun offerings. It's one that I pitched Ken and Greg, and we've – there's been some interesting discussion on because I get to see both. It's going to be interesting. Do you think – I mean – Bon Jovi. We weren't unified in our thoughts. I think it's Bon Jovi. The challenge of both of them is no disrespect. The system, the way it is, is a big hurdle that turns off a lot of pure pinball people. It just does. And this is the way it will probably always be, quite frankly. I mean, the number one comment, we talked ahead of time before all our recording, one of the subreddits I follow is the pinball subreddit, And the initial reaction to finding out about it being multimorphic was disappointment. Disappointment that because they won't buy that system or disappointment that people don't route that system in very many places. And so it means they'll never get to play the game. Now, I don't know what the likelihood of them getting to play the game would have been with barrels either. But I think the reason they were saying that is they could envision themselves buying a barrels game. They couldn't envision themselves buying the platform P3. That's where I think it comes from. We will see. I think on the next episode we'll talk about how these sales were, so it'll be interesting. Yeah, it'll be exciting. See you, Dennis. Bye, viewer. Goodbye.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v5)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-08-03 | Item ID: e938d170-018e-499b-8d04-92ec1ad4b963*