# The Super Awesome Pinball Show - Year in Review 2023 Part 1

**Source:** The Super Awesome Pinball Show  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-01-10  
**Duration:** 113m 58s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://superawesomepinballshow.libsyn.com/the-super-awesome-pinball-show-year-in-review-2023-part-1

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## Analysis

Christopher Franchi (franie), Dr. Pin, and Jeff Parsons return for The Super Awesome Pinball Show's first year-in-review episode after a 13-month hiatus. Franchi discusses his prolific 2023 as a pinball artist (3.5 games: Galactic Tank Force, Godfather, Elton John, Texas Chainsaw Massacre assist), his hidden Barlow tributes across titles, an unreleased Big Lebowski anniversary art package rejection, and hints at unannounced major licenses in development. The hosts celebrate Pinberg's return, Barrels of Fun's successful Labyrinth launch, and the growing manufacturer ecosystem while lamenting community toxicity around game design criticism.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Christopher Franchi completed art on 3.5 pinball games in 2023: Galactic Tank Force (March), Godfather (March), Elton John (October), and Texas Chainsaw Massacre assist (December) — _Franchi explicitly states release dates and credits for each title; verified by production timeline references_
- [HIGH] Franchi created a complete new art package for Big Lebowski 25th Anniversary Edition ('Dude Edition') that was rejected by the IP holder who wanted photography instead of artwork — _Franchi describes the approval process, IP holder's initial support, then rejection; states he posted the artwork briefly before taking it down per request_
- [MEDIUM] One previously unseen art package Franchi created for an unproduced game will now be produced with licensing already in place — _Franchi states: 'Of all the art packages that I've done...one of them is getting produced' and 'License is already in place' but refuses to name it_
- [HIGH] Franchi is currently working on 4-5 pinball games (4 confirmed, 1 awaiting details) — _Franchi: 'I'm working on one, two, three, four games right now. The fifth one, I'm waiting for all the details to be buttoned up on'_
- [HIGH] Franchi is working for Jersey Jack Pinball, American Pinball, Spooky Pinball, and Dutch Pinball — _Franchi lists manufacturers directly when asked about current work engagements_
- [HIGH] Jeff Parsons stepped back from New England Pinball League presidency due to toxic tournament environment affecting both machine buyers and competitive players — _Parsons: 'It's gotten to the point where it's like, I just want to play pinball...it's a really toxic environment'_
- [HIGH] Barrels of Fun released Labyrinth game in 2023 with significant pre-orders (ten games lined up at Expo with lines all weekend) — _Franchi describes Barrels' surprise launch and David Van Ness's statements about future projects_
- [LOW] Jersey Jack Pinball may have licensed Harry Potter (rumored but unconfirmed; sourced only from photo of Jack near Harry Potter in licensing display) — _Franchi: 'Jersey Jack probably has that license, but that's just a rumor. I have nothing to back that up' and notes the evidence is only a photo of Jack near Potter display_
- [HIGH] Pinberg's return was announced in late 2023 (around New Year's Day 2024) — _Parsons mentions Pinberg as 2023 highlight; Franchi corrects timing to 'late 23, like New Year's Day'_
- [MEDIUM] Elton John pinball is the highest art package quality Franchi has produced, surpassing The Munsters in his estimation — _Franchi: 'If I outdid the Munsters, that's good news' in response to feedback; collaborators call it 'Rolls Royce of pinball'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Of all the art packages that I've done, whether you've seen them or not, all the R.A.D. back class or whatever that I've done for games that were never produced, one of them is getting produced."
> — **Christopher Franchi**, ~51:30
> _Major hint about unannounced game in development with previously completed but unreleased art_

> "I put the artwork up, because it's my artwork, and I thought, well, share with the people...I took it down. But I want to put it back up. I think I have every right to put it back up."
> — **Christopher Franchi**, ~48:00
> _Indicates creative control conflict with Dutch Pinball over Big Lebowski artwork; plans to re-post rejected design_

> "It's gotten to the point where it's like, I just want to play pinball. I just want to not be responsible for anything...it's a really toxic environment, both to people that are buying pinball machines right now and others that are just playing in tournaments."
> — **Jeff Parsons**, ~8:00
> _Highlights growing community toxicity and burnout among tournament organizers_

> "Lots and lots of good stuff...The current crop of things that are being worked on are very exciting. They're going to surprise people, and they're going to make people very happy."
> — **Christopher Franchi**, ~49:45
> _Teases multiple unannounced games in development across multiple manufacturers_

> "You've got to start slow. You know, it's how it started originally...Everything in pinball is like that."
> — **Jeff Parsons**, ~59:30
> _Optimistic view of Pinberg's restart and broader pinball industry growth trajectory_

> "That's what I'm talking about with the toxic environment of this hobby. It drives me crazy."
> — **Christopher Franchi**, ~60:00
> _Directly addresses community negativity about new game design and mechanics_

> "Just like, hey, Mystery Pinball Company, what's this all about? Boom, game, everything. Ten games lined up at Expo, lines all weekend long."
> — **Christopher Franchi**, ~64:00
> _Celebrates Barrels of Fun's stealth launch success and surprise-driven marketing strategy_

> "I mean, just overall from all games released...I think for me personally, Pinberg coming back was a big, exciting moment."
> — **Jeff Parsons**, ~57:00
> _Identifies Pinberg's revival as major 2023 highlight for community_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Christopher Franchi | person | Prolific pinball artist (franie); worked on 3.5 games in 2023; designing at Jersey Jack, American Pinball, Spooky, Dutch Pinball; includes hidden character 'Barlow' in all artwork |
| Dr. Pin | person | Co-host of The Super Awesome Pinball Show; hosts or co-hosts with Christian Line (Mrs. Pin's Pinball Podcast); returns after 13-month absence |
| Jeff Parsons | person | Co-host Super Awesome Pinball Show; former New England Pinball League president; stepped back from tournament organization due to toxic environment; radio broadcaster |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Emerging pinball manufacturer that released Labyrinth in 2023; stealth-launched with 10 games at Expo and strong pre-order lines; founder David Van Ness indicates more projects planned |
| Labyrinth | game | 2023 release by Barrels of Fun featuring new mechanical features; successful launch with strong collector interest; theme based on 1986 film |
| Galactic Tank Force | game | Spooky Pinball game released March 2023 with Franchi art; Franchi owns signature edition; includes hidden Barlow character on playfield |
| Godfather | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game released March 2023 with Franchi art package; includes tributes in collector edition art blades (Marco's Specialties, parents, daughter, Barlow Haberdashery) |
| Elton John | game | Jersey Jack Pinball released October 2023; Franchi art considered his best work; features glitter playfield on premium edition, light shows, referred to as 'Rolls Royce of pinball' |
| Texas Chainsaw Massacre | game | Spooky Pinball released December 2023; Franchi did assist work on playfield and video screen artwork; primary artist was non-pinball artist; Piggy D (Rob Zombie's bassist) did animations |
| Big Lebowski 25th Anniversary Edition | game | Dutch Pinball planned title with Franchi's unreleased art package ('Dude Edition'); IP holder rejected artwork in favor of photography; Franchi created full art package on speculation |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer Franchi works for; rumored to have Harry Potter license (unconfirmed); produces premium games like Godfather and Elton John |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Manufacturer Franchi works for; employs Bug as creative director; released Galactic Tank Force and Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2023 |
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer Franchi currently works for; produces special interest titles |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Manufacturer Franchi works for; planning Big Lebowski anniversary edition; Barry is company representative/owner |
| Harry Potter | game | Unconfirmed; rumored Jersey Jack license based on photo evidence; Franchi created prototype art with Joe Camenco; not yet officially announced as produced |
| Pinberg | event | Historic pinball tournament/convention announced for 2024 return after hiatus; celebrated as major 2023 announcement; goal to rebuild to former scale |
| Chicago Expo | event | Major pinball show where Barrels of Fun had ten games with lines; Franchi brought parents who experienced the event as 'semi-celebrity' experience |
| New England Pinball League | organization | Competitive pinball league; Jeff Parsons was president, stepped down due to toxic environment; casual division emphasized by Parsons as best part of competition |
| The Munsters | game | Historic Franchi art work (2019); constantly cited as his best; Franchi considers Elton John as potential or achieved new peak to stop hearing 'you'll never top Munsters' |
| David Van Ness | person | Founder/designer of Barrels of Fun; indicates multiple games in development pipeline beyond Labyrinth |
| Barry | person | Representative/owner of Dutch Pinball; commissioned Big Lebowski anniversary art from Franchi; requested IP holder approval process |
| Bug | person | Creative director at Spooky Pinball; expressed excitement about 2024 game pipeline in interviews with podcast hosts |
| Marco Specialties | company | Pinball parts supplier; Mark (founder/owner) passed away; Franchi includes tribute 'Marco's Parks and Salvage' in Godfather art |
| Piggy D | person | Bass player from Rob Zombie's band; animated video screen content for Texas Chainsaw Massacre including fuel gauge animations |

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Pinberg tournament return announced late 2023 after apparent multi-year hiatus; planned restart at smaller scale (180 points) with goal to rebuild to historic convention center event (confidence: high) — Parsons: 'Pinberg coming back was a big exciting moment...thought that would probably never happen...want to get it back to convention center...start slow'
- **[community_signal]** Toxic community environment affecting tournament organization and casual player experience; toxicity around design criticism and feature comparison (confidence: high) — Parsons: 'really toxic environment' driving him from league leadership; Franchi criticizes 'shitting on' new games and comparing mechanics to older titles
- **[competitive_signal]** Barrels of Fun executed successful stealth launch strategy with surprise announcement and immediate marketplace demand, contrasting with over-hyped game reveals (confidence: high) — Franchi: 'Just like, hey, Mystery Pinball Company...Boom, game, everything...Ten games lined up at Expo, lines all weekend long' vs. discussion of spoiler culture
- **[design_philosophy]** Franchi includes intentional hidden character tributes and Easter eggs in artwork; tributes to community figures (Marco Specialties' Mark, parents, daughter, Barlow) (confidence: high) — Franchi systematically placed Barlow in Galactic Tank Force (playfield), Godfather (storefront), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (chainsaw brand); family tributes in Godfather art blades
- **[licensing_signal]** IP holder (likely Universal/WB for Big Lebowski) rejected custom artwork in favor of photography despite Franchi's complete art package completion (confidence: high) — Franchi describes approval process: 'they ended up saying, we don't want you to do artwork. You can use photography' after initial encouragement
- **[market_signal]** Growing manufacturer diversity (Jersey Jack, Spooky, American Pinball, Dutch, Barrels of Fun) creating competitive pressure for quality in game design and theming (confidence: medium) — Franchi: 'there's like six games out. You know, when you put your game out, there's six other games to choose from. It's like, you know, you better make it count'
- **[community_signal]** Christopher Franchi transitioned from Stern to boutique manufacturers (Jersey Jack, Spooky, American Pinball, Dutch) as primary art provider (confidence: high) — Franchi lists current employers; worked on Stern Monsters in 2019, nothing until 2023 releases across boutique manufacturers
- **[personnel_signal]** Jeff Parsons transitioned from New England Pinball League president to casual player only, citing operational burnout and toxic community dynamics (confidence: high) — Parsons: 'I just backed away from my involvement...because it's a really toxic environment...I just want to play pinball...I just want to go in and play against friends'
- **[announcement]** Multiple unannounced major license games in development across multiple manufacturers; at least one previously seen art package will be produced (confidence: medium) — Franchi: 'one of them is getting produced...License is already in place' and 'Lots and lots of good stuff coming in the near future...current crop of things...are very exciting'
- **[product_strategy]** Elton John pinball premium edition features playfield glitter enhancement (Franchi describes as 'radcals' and glitter portions) creating visual differentiation and premium positioning (confidence: high) — Franchi: 'There's like glitter on the play field...Even on the premium edition there's only two editions now...You just walk up and just like, wow. It's like the Rolls Royce of pinball'
- **[rumor_hype]** Harry Potter pinball rumored for Jersey Jack Pinball based solely on photo of Jack near licensing display; no official confirmation; Franchi has not received art commission despite having created prototype (confidence: low) — Franchi: 'Jersey Jack probably has that license, but that's just a rumor. I have nothing to back that up...only was a picture of Jack standing in front of licensing display'
- **[sentiment_shift]** All 2023 Franchi art packages received 'supreme positivity' reception, marking first year of universally positive critical response to his work (confidence: high) — Franchi: 'It was definitely my first year where everything was met with supreme positivity...everybody was very receptive to everything'

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## Transcript

 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first annual Super Awesome Pinball Awards! Just kidding, we need another pinball awards show like we need a funny factory part two! That means... No! After a year, the pinball podcasting legends are back again. You know them. You love them. You kiss their heavy metal boots out of respect. Please welcome back Christopher Franchi, Dr. Pin, and Jeff Parsons, collectively known as The Super Awesome Pinball Show. Boys back in town, boys back in town Boys, boys, boys We're back We're back We've been gone for so long Nothing now can keep us down Yeah, we're back on track And we're on attack Can't hold us back, no, no We've been waiting for this, there's no time at all We're the best, cause we're the best, let's get your back down, yeah We're the best, cause we're the best, let's go down, yeah We're the best, oh, oh, oh Hello everybody and welcome to the super awesome pinball show year in review for 2023 My name is Christopher Franchi, and with me, Mr. Dr. Pinn. Mr. Dr. Pinn. Mr. Dr. Pinn. I love it. And the handsome Jeff Parsons. How are you doing, guys? It's been a long time. It's been over a year. Has it been that long? Yeah, I think our last episode was December 9th of 2022, so it has been over a year to be back there with you guys. Wait, let's address that for a moment. I think our last episode was, and he puts the exact date down on the list. I mean, that's off the top of my head. I mean, you guys look the same. You look great. How is your 2023? Hold on, 20 pounds. I don't know what you're talking about. I will never know. Well, I look great wearing my sweet David Bowie shirt. I'm not ashamed to say I bought from a fat women's clothes store. It looks good on you, buddy. It looks like plus size. Corrid.com. Yep. It doesn't really look... Well, maybe it looks like a girl's shirt, but I mean, not in a feminine way. But, hey, fuck it. It just looks good, man. You rock with confidence. I do. That I do. So it's very good to be back. I'm so happy to be here. Boy, we have gotten, over the years, I don't know about you guys, over the past year, so many people, like, when are you bringing the podcast back? When are you bringing the podcast back? Or we know you're not bringing the podcast back, but you should bring the podcast back. So here we are. It's nice to get it out of our systems at least once a year and catch up. Not that we don't talk. Well, we don't talk to Jeff much because Jeff just, when we don't do a podcast, Jeff just goes off into fucking Parsonsville. He's a busy dude. Yeah. Yeah. This has been a crazy year for me. I've just, I've been right out straight. So I'm like, I've posted, normally I post like on social media like once a day. Now I'm like, people thought I went away because I'm not posting anything. I just don't have the time. Well, tell us what you've been up to, man. Hit us with your last year in Pimple. Well, I changed radio stations that I'm on. I went from the top 40 radio station that the music sucks to the classic hits or American. What the hell am I trying to come up with? It's like 80s, 90s and 2000s. OK, that's that's my ballpark. So I'm much happier there. But the workload has just gotten a lot busier at the same time. So that's why you haven't seen much of me. I've kind of also backed away a little bit from my involvement in pinball as far as being the president of New Robert Englunds Pinball League and, you know, running tournaments and doing that sort of stuff. because it's just, I'm really, I know a lot of you feel. It's because you suck, right? No, it's because other people suck, honestly. Because it's a really toxic environment, both to people that are buying pinball machines right now and others that are just playing in tournaments. It's just gotten to the point where it's like, I just want to play pinball. I just want to not be responsible for anything. I just want to go in. I want to play against friends and have fun, and that's what I'm doing. Especially my son. My son who just turned 17. It's kicking my ass at just about every game we play. Totally. You suck. Oh, I totally do suck. Although I will say I came back on him big time on Bond one night, and he wasn't expecting that. So, ah, got you there, buddy. It is cool, though, when your kid starts to outperform you to a point. When I used to play tennis with my dad, this is the day I beat him. I think that was the last time we ever played. So it is tough on the ego, but you've trained him well. The grasshopper has become the sensei. He's all into it. he got for Christmas, he now has the shrine in his bedroom of the awards that he's won at tournaments, the badges that he's got at shows he's gone to. He has a neon stern pinball light that he got for Christmas. Cool. And he also got a topper. He doesn't even have a pinball machine to put it on, but he got a topper for the Daily East, a Simpsons game. With Bart on the top, says, play pinball, man. Yeah. So he's got that. He's all in now, and it's all my fault. I don't know what that's like. My girls couldn't care less, so I'm jealous, man. That's really cool. Well, I can speak as a parent and say that when they surpass you at things, sometimes it hurts, but it depends on what it is, because when my daughter surpassed me at the skill of taking the trash out, I'm happy to have her come over and take my trash out, because she's way better at it than me. Parsons, I totally get why you would want to step away from overseeing tournaments and things like that. It's a totally thankless job. Thank you to everyone out there who does that because you don't even get to really play in the tournament. You are constantly dealing with grief, and you're doing it just to make people happy. So thank you for what you did. And are you still competing? Like, are you still getting out there? Yeah. Obviously, Pinberg is back. Yeah, still playing New Robert Englunds Pinball League. That's the big one. That's the one that's local. That's the one that's the most fun because it's a casual atmosphere. It's, you know, there are the people that are competitive and really want to win points and be the winners. I just want to play. it's just that's the best part of it it's just hanging out with friends and playing pinball and you know we'll see how you do at the end of the season it's just really cool i haven't been been traveling i wanted to go to pintastic this year but i just couldn't make it happen because i had a commitment prior to that that i had to honor so i kind of missed that of course one time i don't go both of you were there i know it was amazing i was there my wife came we got to hang out with all the pinball crew that we missed we hadn't seen in forever so that was awesome You know what the tragedy of that show was, though? You guys brought me this, like, tray of cookies or cupcakes or what was that? Remember? Oh, yeah. There was this amazing cookie store right across the street. Yeah. And we brought you a freaking spread. This huge box of cookies. Yeah. And then I walked away from the table for a minute, and this dumbass next to me stacks about 800 boxes of pinball glass up against my table. And the table goes flying, and the box of cookies goes flying. And I came back, and I'm like, where's the cookies? And all I could see was these little cookie crumbs all over the carpet. And I'm like, what, did dogs come in here? What happened? And then somebody finally says, oh, who's cleaning? So he comes running over after his glass knocked over my cookies. He came running over, cleaned it all up, and threw it away, and then didn't say anything. Like, I'm just going to go, oh, I forgot about my cookies. What a fucking dick. I hope you're listening to this podcast, Mr. Glass. So much drama in your life, Franchi. But, I mean, speaking of 2023, the one thing that we didn't ever get to do, which was really frustrating when we were doing this podcast regularly. Oh, shit, that's the hotline. Hang on a second. Hello? Hey, guys! It's me, Don! Don's Pinball Podcast, man! What's up? Oh, hey, Don. Congratulations on your award. What's up? Oh, thanks, man! I really appreciate that. Can I just say I'm a big fan of your show? You guys are so cool! Anyway, where were we? The one thing that we didn't ever get to do is talk about a game that you did the art on when it was released. Like, I always used to think how freaking awesome it would be if we could get everyone from the team of a game you worked on and just sit there and kind of, you know, chat it out like we would normally for a Super Awesome Pinball Show podcast. Right. Yeah. And you had done the monsters in 2019 and then nothing when we were actually podcasting. I mean, you were working on stuff, but nothing actually got released until this year. and you came out with three art packages this year. Three and a half. Three and a half, yeah. I'm in for a fucking banner year. Where's my Twippy just for being the most productive artist? Wait, how does three and a half work? How does three and a half work? Okay, well, in March of 23, I had Galactic Tank Force and Godfather come out. In October of 23, I had Elton John come out. And in December of 23, Spooky put out a Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which I have an assist on. The guy who did it was not a pinball artist. Did a great job, but when he got to the play field, he was just kind of like, I'm over it. And he just kind of threw the last half of it together. So some illustrations needed some work, so I just basically redrew things in this guy's style. And Bug was saying it didn't look pinball. Something was off, so I just made a few tweaks. The guy did half the plastics. I did the other half. I did the apron sticker. So that was it. It was nothing I really wanted credit for. But in this case, where you're asking what was my production for the year, well, but certainly get credit. So, so three and a half games. Amazing. So proud of all three of them. How was the year? Like with all these games coming out, were you, was it amazing for you? Crazy. Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. It was definitely crazy because it was like my first year where everything was met with supreme positivity. The art packages, like everybody was, uh, very receptive to everything and really enjoyed it, which is all you can hope for. You know, that's, that's the The only thing I'm in charge of, and if anybody knows me, they know that I will nitpick the crap out of something. I'll make changes on something until they physically come and just take it from me and say, we have to print this. So get off. So after putting in all that effort, you just hope. Because pinball people are finicky. Oh, yeah. But everything was received very well. I'm proud of everything. I think they're three and a half great games. I can't say I put my art on a turd or anything like that. I own the Galactic Tank Force, the signature edition. I don't have a Godfather or an Elton John because they're expensive. But I might find my way to get an Elton John because I really like that game. It looks great. It really does. Stunning. All three of the games are gorgeous, man. Yeah, Elton John's one of those games where just everything, Jupiter was aligned with Pluto, you know, Barlow was in the seventh house. Everything just went together. Because the light shows and all that, you know, I'm not going to say that game looks beautiful because of what I did. It's what everybody did. Because when you walk up there and the light show in that game in particular is like none I've ever seen. It's absolutely stunning. And then the material that they use, there's like glitter on the play field. There's radcals. Even on the premium edition, there's only two editions now with Jersey Jack. I guess the lower end edition has got rad cows where they're like this, you know, plastic. Like, you know, I don't know how many millimeters it is. And it's got glittery portions to that. You just walk up and just like, wow. It's like the Rolls Royce of bing ball. I have to say, man, you and I have talked about this many times, but I think it's your best art package you've ever done. It is absolutely gorgeous. I think you really perfectly captured Elton's personality in the music and his music in the art. And just the color choices you used, it was stunning. And I think most people agree with that, especially when they go and actually see it in person, you know, in conjunction with the light show and everything else. Well, it would be refreshing for people to stop saying the Munsters. That's what I always get. You're never going to top the Munsters. You're never going to top the Munsters. So if I did, because that's good. You don't want to hear that when you're an artist or when you're anything. Is that like your best was, you know, four years ago? You know, it's downhill from here, buddy. You know, oh, no. So, yeah, if I outdid the Munsters, that's good news. That's good news. I want to know, in your Elton John War Parade of these games that you did, do you have a hidden Barlow in there? Yeah, he's in everything. Okay, I thought so. I wanted to make sure you were keeping that going. Yeah, let's see. So in Galactic Tank Force, he's on the play field where you can't see it. He's underneath the apron. Okay. And he's got a space helmet on. And then on the back glass, you can see him running out from behind a tank, like he's joining the charge to go battle the bad guys. On the Godfather, on the Art Blades for the Collector's Edition, On the left side, there's a strip of stores on a city street. So the first shop is Marco's Parks and Salvage or something like that, which is named after Mark from Marco's Specialties, who passed away. Tribute to him. Next to that is Fran and Jerry's Italian Bakery, and that's my parents. Next to that is Presley Therese Boutique. That's my daughter. Your daughter, yep. And next to that is Barlow's Haberdashery. and not only is Barlow's face as a logo next to the sign but he's actually physically sitting out front of the store waiting to greet you so that's where Barlow is in that. Elton John you know what? Did you not put him in? He might not be in Elton John but I thought I thought of something a way to get him in there if anybody finds Barlow in Elton John let us know yeah in Texas Chainsaw Massacre I forgot to mention I did a lot of the work for the video screen as well, the animation stuff. I just did the artwork. I didn't animate it. I just said, wouldn't it be neater for the match? These, like, bones came dangling down and said the number. And so I did the artwork, and someone else, actually, Piggy D, bass player from Rob Zombie's band, did the animations. One of the animations shows a fuel gauge for a chainsaw, and that's how much power you're giving your shot, because it's a push-button shot. And on the gauge, it says Barlow Chainsaws. Like, that's the brand. Cool. Yep. Yeah, so I get him in there. He's definitely in there on everything. Oh, where is he? He's usually laying right next to me here, but he's gone. So, yeah, it's been a great year. Got out to, let's see, I was at Pintastic, TPF, and Expo. So I did the world tour. Had a good time. Great time meeting everybody. Did a few seminars, a few signings, and all that stuff. Had a great year. Great year. Now I'm back at it. I've got, I'm working on one, two, three, four games right now. The fifth one, I'm waiting for all the details to be buttoned up on. So plenty more in the future. How many companies would you say you're working for right now? Jersey Jack, American Pinball, Spooky, and Dutch. You're in all of them, man. And you did reveal earlier that you had done an entire new art package for the Big Lebowski, which would have been absolutely stunning. And for whatever reason, they decided that they weren't going to approve that. Yeah, well, you know, to put it nicely, I mean, because I was rather upset that all that artwork went to waste. But basically what happened was Barry came to me and he said, hey, I'd like to do an anniversary edition of Big Lebowski. We'll have Jeff Bridges sign the game. You know, we'll pick a sticker or a card or something he can sign. And I want to do a whole new art package. So he had me do a back glass. And they sent that in. And originally they were saying, like, well, we don't want you guys to use any artwork. We want you to use photos. And Barry was like, well, the point of doing this is to do something especially unique. We already did a photo thing. So he submitted it. And they actually, the people he submitted it to, step one of the process, loved it. Like, wow, this is great. Okay, well, let's put this through. Let's see what happens. And they put it through. We were waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. And so I started thinking, like, if all of this stuff is going to take that much time to get approved, I better get started on the rest of the art package. Now, Barry never said, yeah, go ahead and do that. I just did it because I thought we're going to need to do this. We're going to need to get a jump on it. So I just, you know, in my typical Frenchy way, just plowed right through and got it all done without him even asking for it. And I gave it to him, and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, like, I didn't ask for this. And I'm like, yeah, I know, Barry, but I'm a little worried about how long it's taken. Because to do an anniversary edition, we would have had to hit in 23. That was the anniversary, 25th anniversary. It was going to be called the Dude Edition. Oh, man. And, yeah. So he submitted that, and they ended up saying, we don't want you to do artwork. You can use photography. And the problem is that their assets are maybe 12 photos in a folder. Like everything that was good was used. JP used it on the first art package. So there was nothing to really harvest from what they had to put together a special package. I don't want to say art package because it wouldn't really be art, but, you know, a Photoshop thing. So the idea was scrapped. scrapped. That's so unfortunate. I mean, your art for that game was so amazing. It captured all the characters in a different way. The colors were amazing. It would have definitely sold a ton for Dutch. I'm going to talk to Barry about that, because I put the artwork up, because it's my artwork, and I thought, well, share with the people. I know how pinball people are. They love seeing that kind of stuff. Here's something you'll never see in a game, because it just didn't happen. And I had it up for like a day, and they said that you probably shouldn't post that. And I didn't see why not, but out of respect for that person, I took it down. But I want to put it back up. I think I have every right to put it back up. So we're going to have a little conversation and see what happens with that. You have had so many games, Chris, that you haven't ever actually had made. I mean, I know of the ones you've made public, there are probably three or four games that you've done complete RR packages for and they never actually got produced. And I know unannounced there are others that you've done. How about this? I'll give you this. All the listeners, here's a tidbit. Of all the art packages that I've done, whether you've seen them or not, all the R.A.D. back class or whatever that I've done for games that were never produced, one of them is getting produced. Ah, that people have seen and know about. License is already in place. I'm not going to answer that question. Okay. All right. Let me ask you this then. And we know that there was a lot of drama earlier in the year that didn't actually get to talk about because the show had stopped at that point. The Harry Potter game that was used to get the license from Warner Brothers, you actually did the prototype art for that game that was revealed. And you gave me permission to talk about that on the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. So that was all hand-drawn stuff. I mean, you had done all of that. Yeah, I was definitely a part of it. That was Joe Camenco. He was shopping it around, and the places that he thought would take it weren't interested, actually, for one reason or another. I don't know that I know the reason or I don't remember the reason, but yeah, and we'll see how that story ends. Tune in next year. Joe has been very verbal, very vocal, I should say, on Facebook about how things turned out there, whether or not that is how it plays out or not. We know that Jersey Jack probably has that license, but that's just a rumor. I have nothing to back that up. I don't know that anybody has anything to back that up, because all there was was a picture of Jack standing in front of a licensing display that had Harry Potter was one of three, Toy Story, Harry Potter, and something else. And everybody thought, well, they've already done the games for the other two, so Harry Potter must be that, you know. And maybe he was just standing there because there was Toy Story there, you know. So, yeah, I don't know. I have no idea. Yeah, and honestly, I'm not lying. I have no idea what's going on over at Jersey Jack. I know that I have not gotten a phone call yet to do that art package, if they indeed do have it. I don't know what's going to happen there. Well, we'll see what happens in 24. I know another big one that's maybe found a home. Dropping all the hints. I think one that's probably equally as big as Harry Potter. Okay. Save your pinball money, people. Save your pinball money. lots of good stuff coming in the near future. Lots and lots of good stuff. The current crop of things that are being worked on are very exciting. Cool. They're going to surprise people, and they're going to make people very happy. Well, we have talked to many a pinball executive for this show, and almost all of them were very excited about what was to come. I mean, we heard from Bug and from Jack. None more than Bug. Bug was like, he was really excited. He was. And you guys will hear this. But, yeah, everyone was really positive about what was coming in 24. So it looks like we're going to have a great year. I think what's happened is these companies are seeing all these other companies pop up, and there's a lot of competition. You've got to step your game up, you know. You can't just plop out some mediocre title and people are going to buy it because it's the only thing available. No, you know, there's like six games out. You know, when you put your game out, there's six other games to choose from. It's like, you know, you better make it count. So I think people are really taking a look at what they're picking up these days. And, yeah, it's definitely a good thing for everybody involved. It's a very exciting future for pinball. It's still amazing. I've said this before on the show. I remember when pinball was on the verge of death, just right bounced like this is going to be it. And to see where it has gone at the turn of the century to now, it just blows my mind. If you had told me, guess what, there's going to be more pinball manufacturers than you've ever seen in your lifetime coming soon. I'm like, yeah, whatever. Star Wars Episode I was done, and then we're done. You know, no. It all turned around, and it's just so hard to believe. Well, what were your guys' highlights of this year as far as pinball? Not your personal life, but in pinball, what did you really find to be really exciting? I mean, just overall from all games released? Oh, it doesn't even have to be a game. It could just be the fact that some dude won a tournament that you didn't think would or whatever. It could be anything. It's something in pinball. Yeah. I mean, I think for me personally, Pinberg coming back was a big, exciting moment. I thought that was something that would probably never happen, and I was really glad to see that. That was announced in 24. That doesn't count. No. It was in the late 23. It was like New Year's Day, wasn't it? Close enough. Close enough. That was my highlight. Yeah, so I'm excited for that. I can't wait until that blows up to hopefully one day via the same level that it used to be. I think it's going to take some time. But I want to get it back to, I mean, I know the challenge for those guys is daunting. But I want to see it get back to that convention center. You've got to love that. Oh, there's only 180 points. Yeah. You've got to start slow. You know, it's how it started originally. You know, it started with just, you know, 100 people and grew from there. So we've just got to do it again. Everything in pinball is like that. You ever notice the current hobby for the professional pinballist is to outsmart the next guy by making comparisons on new games. Like, oh, that ramp looks like Star Trek. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you see that one pop-upper there? It looks like the one in Centaur. Check out my pinball knowledge. I know everything. This thing's totally stolen from this game. Oh, God. There's always that person that will post the two games side-by-side and draw all the lines. See? It's exactly the same game. It's a rectangle with two flippers and a metal ball, and it's been around for how long? Exactly how much can you do with this? That's true. It's honestly reminiscent. I have Attack from Mars. I have Medieval Madness. They are literally the same length, and I love them completely. You know, I would never get rid of either of them. So it really doesn't say anything if they're the same features. The game can be completely different. You go to Wendy's and get a bacon cheeseburger and go, you know, there's a bacon on a cheeseburger at Checkers, too. looks just like this bacon. Come on, man. You know, you're in that celebratory mood and a new game comes out and whether you worked on it or not, you're just excited and people just start shitting on it. Artwork. That's what I'm talking about with the toxic environment of this hobby. It drives me crazy. I will say that in 2023, one of the other things that I thought was really exciting, I loved, you know, all new pinball is great pinball and we've had a ton of new releases this year. But I thought that seeing a company like Barrels of Fun come out of the woodwork, kind of like Jersey Jack did, and wow people with a new game with a lot of cool new features that you haven't seen before. That's the kind of thing that I love seeing in pinball because it just means there's going to be more options out there. If Labyrinth is your dream theme, I think you would be very happy with that game because it really did capture that world. And talking to David David Van Es, it sounds like there's a lot more to come from him, and they've got a lot in the bag. So that was another highlight for me. Oh, and this goes to show you, too, that you could do something, and not have people know about it. Because not only did that game come out of nowhere, but that company and the staff and everything came out of nowhere. Just like, hey, Mystery Pinball Company, what's this all about? Boom, game, everything. Ten games lined up at Expo, lines all weekend long. I mean, that was really impressive. And I love more stuff like that in pinball. You know, more surprises, more fun. I hate people having to spoil everything all the time. Oh, I know this game's coming out. I didn't even tell you about it. If you could subscribe to my Patreon, I'll tell you. I'll tell you what, man, I'm torn there. Like, on one hand, I want to know it all. And on the other hand, I'd be surprised. It's like Christmas, though, you know? Of course you want to know. You want to go, I hope the kids aren't listening. You want to go crawling around in your parents' closet and go, what am I getting? But at the same time, it's like, man, it just kind of ruins it. You know, Christmas morning, you're like, I knew about all this, you know, rather than, oh. I did that once. I did that once, found it all in my parents' bedroom closet, and I went through the whole thing. And somehow, I don't know how they figured it out, but they knew I was in there. And boy, I didn't get half that stuff. My parents returned it. That is a power move right there. They didn't give it to you. My parents, one year, my parents, it was like, I don't know, a couple of weeks before Christmas. Maybe even a couple of days before Christmas. Me and my brother are a year apart. He was a year older. We were maybe 9, 10, 11, somewhere around there. And we're sitting at the kitchen table doing something. And my parents walked by and said, hey, we're going to wherever. I don't know if it was like a card party or shopping. I don't remember what it said. Do not go in our bedroom. Okay. They left. We went in the bedroom. They had taken the comforter off their bed, put all the Christmas presents on the bed, and put the comforter back over it. So all we did was just walk up and lift the blanket up. Put it back down, walk up, and they never knew. Come on. Really? Don't go in the, you know. Now, I'm telling you right now, there's $1,000 in that drawer. Don't open it. Like, I'm not going to. Oh, shit. So, yeah, it's been a good year. It's been a good year for all of us as well. Great. I had my parents come out to Expo this year. They've never taken part in anything. And, I mean, that sounds rude. They're old. They don't travel like that. But this year they decided that they wanted to. I can't remember the way they said it, but basically it translates to, when I'm around their house, I'm just their son. But they hear these stories about me going to these expos and signing autographs. And I think they thought it was like some kind of like Academy Awards red carpet and their son's a superstar. So they wanted to go out to a show and experience me spending a weekend as like some sort of semi pinball celebrity. And, you know, take that in, which was just cool to have them. You know, it was a four and a half hour drive for them to come out. And they were literally in one day and out the next. So that's eight hours on the road in a 24-hour span just to come out and see me. I mean that really awesome that they wanted to do that What was their take I mean from a total outsider who doesn really understand pinball You know what was really funny My mom the first thing she said was wow I didn't know there were this many people in pinball. I thought there'd be like 30, 40 people here. 30, 40 people. So they were impressed. They were definitely impressed. They didn't know that much pinball was being made. Of course, it was a banner year for pinball. And my dad had a blast. He went around playing a lot of the games, and then they spent some time. It was funny. They came over to my table, and they just sat behind the table with me, and for the most part, I was talking to people and signing things and all that. I can see my parents out of the corner of my eye, like, nudging. There's a little movie signing autograph. That's our son. That's cool, man. Yeah, it was definitely cool. You know, I don't want to bring the party down, but I got some bad news about my dad recently, and he's hold it together he's got about six months so yeah that's the opportunity you know that we had I'm glad that he was able to make it out you know funny thing is I didn't I was at the time I was ecstatic to have them out there you know it was great but I didn't appreciate it as much as after I found out that news I'm like wow you know what luck that they came out, you know, that they, they, uh, got it together and he got to come out. So anyway, so God, yeah, that is, uh, something that unfortunately, you know, I've been through too. And the time that you have with him now is so special. And the fact that you can, you know, really optimize that six months and he's able to really appreciate what you do. He's seen a different side of your life that he might not have seen before to, uh, to have that kind of window into what you're up to now and be so proud of you for it. That's special, man. That's a memory you'll always have. Yeah, definitely. Because he was a tough dad growing up. I mean, he worked hard to provide for his family. Me and my brother and my sister, we didn't want for much. You know, we got spoiled at Christmas time on our birthdays and stuff like that. And, you know, I think we lived beyond our means. But at the same time, he was a tough dad, which is good because I didn't grow up stealing shit, being an asshole, you know. So as much as I hated it at the time, I appreciate it now because now I see kids that need a good smack upside the head. And their parents aren't giving it to them when they're growing up to be shitbags. But so, yeah, so I love my dad. And I'm definitely going to take advantage of the next couple of months we have and bring him his favorite cheeseburgers and all that kind of fun stuff. And we'll see what we can get done with pinball to impress him. I show him all my progress now. Yeah, he knows all the inside secrets because I'm like, here's what I'm working on now. Oh, that's neat. No. Yeah. So, anyway. You don't have to show him that stuff for him to be proud of you, I'm sure, man. That's just extra stuff. But, yeah, I'm sure he's very proud of who you are. Yep. So, sorry you're dealing with that, man, but lots of positive things to look forward to as well. Yeah, sure. You know, and just to put a good note on it, he is 82. You never want to see your parents go, but he's lived a long life, longer than I thought he would have lived, because he's a big guy like me. So even growing up, I always thought he wouldn't make it past like his mid-50s. So he has seen grandchildren, great-grandchildren. He's definitely had a good life. He's lived a full life. So no regrets. It's unfortunate, but he's not getting cut short of anything. Let's just put it that way. So let's move to our sponsor, shall we? This show is sponsored by Bunyan's Spicy Queso Snack Jits. I will sample one of these right now. There's nothing better than crunching on a podcast. God damn. God damn, these are good. I would love nothing more than a real sponsorship so I could beat these all the time. We only do this once a year, so I don't know how that's going to work out. I'd like to put the Funyuns spicy queso chips on my Christmas list for next year. I notice how podcasters, no matter what it is, if there's pinball podcasts, I watch a lot of podcasts about toys and statues and action figures and stuff like that. And these people have learned how to built their audience by talking about the things that they want. Boy, you know, this Funko Pop's really hard to get. I'd love to get my hands on that, though, but I don't think I'll be able to find one. And then two weeks later, they're like, oh, we got a package from Joe. What's in here? Oh, it's that Funko Pop that I really wanted. How about that? So now they just plant seeds to get the shit that they want. So I want to try a little bit of that. I want some glass bottle of Dr. Pepper and some Funyuns spicy queso. There, we'll put that out. There, boom. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Oh, man, you got to milk it for everything you can. Only once a year, so you might as well try. We get nothing for doing this, right? So we don't charge. No Patreon money to buy me Funyuns. Well, we have a doozy of a show. I mean, I think one of our best shows ever was the Christmas special where we just interviewed a ton of people all at once, and we have crammed a year of podcasts into one show. So there are a ton of awesome interviews coming. They're a little shorter than normal. No two-and-a-half-hour mega interviews, but we got the difference. George is close. He's on the cusp. George is definitely close. All right, so Zeta, we're going to kick off the show now. Yeah, let's do it. Strap in, and you're going to find out how all the pinball companies have rated themselves for 2023 and find out a little bit about what their plans are for beyond that. The Super Awesome Pinball Show Year in Review 2023 Barrels of Fun David David Van Es is a man of many talents. Besides working in television and film, David Van Es has been a big part of Spooky Pinball's success. Working on everything from securing the rights for their titles to working on sound, animations, or both. for every spooky game through Ultraman in 2021. Since then, he's gone all in on pinball as the CEO of a brand new pinball company, Barrels of Fun, who just released their impressive first game, Labyrinth. Let's talk about this amazing year for you, man, and a little bit more about what's coming in 2024. Welcome to the Super Awesome Pinball Show. Thank you for having me. It's nice to have the show back with Mr. You Guys. Oh, did you listen when we were around? Absolutely. Oh, that's amazing. I mean, you've got to remember, I'm a collector by heart. I started back when I was a teenager playing and routing and then went off, had a career, and then fell back into it because I missed having those games and started collecting and restoring. And then all of a sudden, like, well, LCDs are coming in and maybe I can help out. And, I mean, my story's being told. So that's what we love to do. Wow, Violet. And look at you now. Yeah, more gray hairs. You look surprisingly refreshed, actually, for just starting a pinball company. I can't believe it. I feel it. 10 years. First one out of the shoot is theme and IP selection. So, Labyrinth. You know, we're going to follow up with Consumer Reaction. So, we really want to know how you feel, like, of all the things you could get, is this the one you really wanted? You know, were there other things? Where does that fall in line? How do you feel you did? I think the IP was, in some minds, it was kind of a risky take because it's not a movie that was very successful when it first came out. but it really found its audience in the VHS rentals. That's where I discovered it. And, you know, reflecting back, you know, this feels like, you know, as you guys see us, this is our first year. We've been doing this for two years, over two years. And it's just really nice to finally bring a product to market that we truly believed in, that it was ready to come to market when we came to market. It kind of, you know, ran into Chicago Expo, which was great for us. I'm just glad that we're out and we can show you what we've been working really hard on. I'm just so proud of what the team has put together on this. It's funny you say out because I was going to make the analogy. It had to have felt like a coming out party because you were holding this secret for years and then you're just like, ah, and you just let it out to the world. You've got to understand, no one knew about this. My parents didn't know about this. This was something I wanted to do, but I wanted to do it right. We've seen so many other companies come out and talk a big game. And I just, what I expect, as a collector myself, I really, really wanted to reveal a game how I want to see a game revealed. And we didn't want to say, here's the game, but you're going to wait two years to see it. This is just a prototype. We really wanted, you know, we invested in ourselves to make this happen. And I think the buyers of these games deserve that. And, you know, we put our money where our mouth is and made that happen. It was obvious, though, that you definitely had put a ton of thought into it from a pinball fan first attitude, because we know how a lot of companies have come out with their games. There's been a lot of, you know, critiques on every company's reveal. But you guys seem to do everything right when it came to starting the pinball company. You did what's really, really hard for other people to do, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Well, you want to talk about grading. I mean, it may look like we did everything perfectly, but it was kind of chaos behind the scenes. But, again, it was like have a checklist. Like we knew what we wanted to achieve. So making sure the game was as ready as we thought it would be. Did it work out perfectly? I mean, we couldn't ask, like, our reveal at Expo and having games on the floor. I've got to give that an A+, because we actually had ten games there. Five on the floor, six up in the private party. and those games just held up. They had over a thousand plays on each. I mean, I couldn't have asked for a better reveal than that because I've seen plenty of playfields go up on games. And to have that happen out of the box, like, it was a relief. But at the same time, like, everyone told me, you know, you should be celebrating. It's like, this is just the start of the climb. Like, we just got to base camp. You know, we've got to ship these games. I can't rest until we've got these games in everyone's homes. You know, we've been shipping games. Like, there was a week and a half that when I got back, there were some things that we learned and we made some quick changes. But we've been shipping games every week since. Wow. How has that been going? Because that's on our list. But how is your production at this point? And has it ramped up more than you expected? Has it been more challenging than you expected? It's been a mixed bag because every time we send games out, something else will creep up that we have to make some little small tweaks. And that's gotten less and less and less. It's also training people. Like, we've got to invest in our people and they need to learn. It was kind of funny, we had a team meeting this week, because I didn't realize it, because I'm so caught up making sure we're moving forward, is some of the people didn't even realize we had a tested video out there with Adam Savage. And they were like, you guys were on the guy with the Smith Busters? Like, yeah, that's what we shipped out in August. So it's just that moment of realizing, like, wow, the team didn't even realize what we had achieved. But again, there are problems. There are things. Vendors, you know, there's still parts that may not come in exactly how they're meant to do, and we have to make changes on the fly. Hiring more people, training the people. Training is what's been not the hardest, but the one thing we have to make sure we're doing literally on a daily basis. How are you now with production? Can you give us an estimate of how many you're shipping or what your goal is ultimately? So I'm not going to give numbers because the reason is I don't want to disappoint anyone. I really want to, you know, under-promise, over-deliver. We are at the goal that we have set to be at right now, and we're probably looking to double that within the next month to two months. What is the reaction from consumers of this IP? I mean, I know one person, and I know a lot of people know this one, Elizabeth Cromwell. I know she's got number one because she is a huge David Bowie fan, and she's a huge Labyrinth fan, so she had to have that number one. So she's a super fan. Have you seen a lot of people like her? I honestly, the biggest thing that I've taken away from going to the shows, seeing people playing it, is seeing the diversity playing this game. Seeing the females and the kids playing this game and playing it over and over again. Seeing people dance. Like, I mean, I think the pinball community is getting more and more diverse. But you've got to remember, I came into it in the early 2000s where it was literally old dudes in cargo shorts. I'd know what you mean, actually. You know, bringing, like, me too, but bringing my wife to a pinball show was not the thing to do. But every time I go to these new shows and I see the crowds changing has always been a really exciting thing to see. But to see the reaction from these young people, like, I mean, there was a girl at Expo that had a David Bowie shirt on and she was stalking the booth the whole time. And I actually brought her in, like, you've got to play it. But, like, it's just to see a whole new demo coming to play this game has probably been the biggest satisfaction for me. Also, the game not breaking. That's great. But, like, these young people and females playing these games, that has been very, very eye-opening for me. Well, it was easy for you to gauge, I'd say, because you had lines the entire weekend. I didn't even get a chance to play. I went over there, I'm like, I'm not waiting in that line. Go back over there, I'm not waiting in that line. So we had some chains from old conventions that Brian used to do, and I was like, we don't need chains. We honestly expected this to be a slow burn. We knew we had a great product. We believe in our product, but we knew that the IP demographic is a little bit different to what the typical pinball demographic is. So we knew once people started playing it, the popularity of the game, people getting exposed to it, I think would grow. But we didn't expect the lines that we got. I mean, it was shocking. So I'm very glad we had those chains there because it made a big difference. Yeah. It calmed the crowd down. I mean, the IP is one that definitely crosses generations. It crosses genders and age groups. So you might not have, you know, the dad rock. All of the pinball buying demographic is like, yes, we love this theme. But you have maybe the wife of somebody who might not have bought that game saying, I need this. A really good example of that was Wizard of Oz when it came out. So when I was scouting for licenses and stuff like that, Labyrinth was an IP that I knew very well. But when you go look for stuff, you look at other things. And when Wizard of Oz came out, a lot of people were mixed on that IP because it is a female family demographic. It wasn't typical of the license you were seeing in pinball. And everyone crapped on it. Well, not crapped, skeptical. and that became such an evergreen for Jersey Jack. Like, I mean, they did so many different versions of that. And when I, Labyrinth kept popping up, it just, I kept thinking, it was like, man, like when I saw a wife see Wizard of Oz for the first time and when the wife said, I want that, seeing the husbands pulling out that wallet and going, I'll take it, I'll take it. It just, like, I thought that this could be another opportunity where we could strike that as well. I can see that. Yeah, even though you've been working at this for several years, if you could just isolate 2023 for us and let us know what you feel your biggest challenge was as a company. 2023, the biggest challenge was we wanted this game out earlier than it came out. But again, we could have rushed it out. We had games. What the market would have said, oh, that's production. But we didn't have either the infrastructure in place to make sure that we could follow up once we revealed it. So, you know, honestly, we were looking at hitting TPF, to be frank with you guys. but it wasn't because it was too crowded. It's just the game was not ready. And you will never see us launch a game until the game is ready to hit the market. And it's a tough pill to swallow because it costs money to have staff and a facility and, you know, to keep paying for that. But it's the, you know, the fundamental of our company. We don't release a product until it's ready to go. So 2023 was very trying because getting people to line up, getting vendors where they needed to be, get the facility up and running, get the people in the place, train the line, get the assembly process running. It was stressful. It really, really was. But to be frank with you, I could not think of anything else I could be doing right now. Well, you probably dodged a bullet with TPF too because there were so many games that got revealed. You'd have been lost in the mix, you know. You had much more of a focused spotlight, I think, at Expo in October. So that served you well. It was crazy how that all lined up. And it was the same thing, like, even with Adam. Working with Adam has always been a great experience. But we had the actor strike, and he was under the actor strike as well. So he couldn't do anything. So it was like one of these things of like, well, we don't want to launch the game until we actually have Adam ready to go as well. So there was all these little things that you're just constantly dealing with. Like, how can we tell people how much we love this IP, how much effort we've put into this, how much time and energy into it to make sure people understood what they're buying. Because I think in the industry, there's been a lot of, here's a nice little shiny thing. We're not going to show everything and we're going to sell out and then you'll get the product. Where I wanted to make sure if you wanted this game, you had all the information in front of you to make an educated choice on what you're buying. That's really nice and refreshing. I mean, not every company, especially new company can do that. And you know, some of the older companies don't do all of that. Can you speak at all? I know obviously you're not going to give us numbers, but can you speak at all in terms of game sales? Like, how do you feel you've done? We've done way better than we anticipated. Yeah, we could not be happier. We are in a fantastic position. It's allowed us to actually expand faster than we anticipated, which is basically everything that's happening is getting poured back into the company. So it's just, you know, I just can't wait for you guys to see. And this is not to tease you, something's coming immediately, but to see what the team is working on, that now are full-time doing nothing else but working on stuff and working as a team. I just can't wait for you guys to see that stuff coming down the pipe. Exciting. Very nice. Everything that has happened is getting this company off the ground and getting Labyrinth and getting the IP and all this stuff. What do you think is, for what has happened so far in your company, is the biggest success? The team. 100% the team and the workers on the line. You can build one prototype. You can build a couple of games. You can build five or ten. But putting together something takes a team. And I would not be here if it wasn't for that team. Like, I've worked in the service industry for a long, long time. And I kind of got to the point with COVID and everything else is like, I'm done just providing services. I want to work with great people. I want to empower people that I, you know, look up to. Like, how can I help them be better at what they do? And my whole team that we've got here is the best they can be. And that is the success of this company. It's the team that is making this and it's the people in the factory that are pumping these out every day. Nice. That's awesome. What are you most looking forward to moving forward into 2024? What am I most looking forward to? Realistically, I am looking forward to you got the day-to-day management, which is fine. That's part of the business itself. I am looking forward to the next reveal for sure. I'm looking forward to hiring new people that I totally didn't think should be in pinball, but seeing what they can do, really giving people more opportunities. That's honestly what I'm looking forward to. Cool. Like the pinball hobby is. It's always a swirl with rumors, and we've heard rumors that you guys have already secured more licenses. How many more potential games do you have plans for at this point? Let's just say we've got enough games planned out for the next five years. Wow. That's amazing. Now, how many of those are locked in versus just, you know, theoretically we'd love to have it? So officially locked in, there's three. Okay. Other ones that are skirting around just to see where they've fallen to as scheduled. At a cadence of what? One a year, two a year? What do you hope to do? When the games are ready to rock and roll. Really, at the end of the day, obviously we want to get a one a year would be ideal. but I just, again, I'm so burnt on games not being ready to be launched. I really, really want to stick to when the game is ready to go, we're rocking and rolling with it. And that's the other reason why we have multiple games in the queue is if one ends up going faster than the other one, then that one will jump. We don't have set schedules unless a licensor has something we want to work towards. So it's one of those things of that's why you've got to have multiple irons in the fire just to see where it goes, because some games will just stall out for a little bit because there's some type of challenge to it, and the other ones are like, wow, that happened way quicker than it should have, but it's awesome. Yeah. So, I mean, one a year is really impressive for a startup company. I mean, obviously, you're not brand new. You've been around for a couple of years now. It's just we haven't known of you until just recently. But would you say that your production schedule can keep up with that cadence in terms of, let's say, in theory, if you were to sell all 1,100 Labyrinths, would you be able to make those within a year? That's a lot. Yeah. The way the schedule is rolling right now, yes, we can do that. The way the production is rolling right now, we are on track to do that. What's the long-term goals for Barrels of Fun on how far ahead of you? Are you looking into the future? Are you just like, let's just get things going first, and then we'll look into the future? Where are you at with that? Every day I'm just looking at the next day. It's kind of funny. It's like I go into it. I get through my schedule stuff for the day. I go to see the family. I go to bed. I go to work with a list of 20 things to do. I roll in at 8. By 9, I have 20 more things that need to be addressed immediately. Then by 2 o'clock, I'm back at the 20 I need to take care of. I get those done, and then the process happens again. You have no time to think of the future. No, we have a 10-year plan. We're not going anywhere. We have put budgets and plans in place to see this out for, Actually, realistically, it's nine years now. Amazing. Do you feel like, you know, you've worked so much with Spooky, you've kind of seen their whole progression from where they started to where they are now. Is that kind of your dream to get to Spooky level, or are you shooting for the stars and saying, you know, we could be the next JJP, we could be the next Stern over, obviously, a long period of time? No, and I love seeing the success over there at Spooky. I mean, I've been a part of it for a very, very long time, and I just, I can't be more proud of what the guys are over there with Bug and that. I mean, you gotta remember, I've known Bug for a long, long time and I have spent so much time talking to him about licensing and just like the philosophies on filmmaking and all this type of stuff. I'm just so proud of what Bug and Morgan and Lucas and that, they're doing over at Spooky. It's just like, it's amazing to see where they're taking the company. So this comes back to the name Barrels of Fun. We want to make cool stuff with cool people, with cool licenses. And we have many opportunities not just to do pinball machines, but we can actually do other collectible products. So really at the end of the day, it's about what makes obviously myself excited about making a product, but also what the team wants to do. So as long as we can make cool stuff, we'll see how far that takes us. We don't want to be like another company. We want to be the company when you guys go, I want a Rocketeer pinball machine, you're going to say, we want barrels to do the Rocketeer. If you do a Rocketeer pinball machine, you better call my ass to do the artwork. Oh, I love it. Hold on. This is bad for podcasting, but this is good for Franchi. Oh, yeah. Oh, look at that. So for the listeners, he is holding up a Rocketeer helmet that's really, really detailed. Very, very cool. Wow. And actually, he's pulled from the same mold from the original film. Nice. If you ever make a Rocketeer pit bull machine, that's your topper. Oh, there we go. I'm telling you right now, I will find you and I will burn down your house if you call me to do that artwork. I'm sure whoever you might have signed up for that already, if you're doing it, will understand. I'll still do it for you. I've been trying to make it somebody to do that. Oh, in the classic comic book style, I mean, it would be just in that deco. And there's people at my company who want to kick me right now saying that because that is a dream thing for myself. But you've got to put it out there because, again, I can't secure licenses. I can't talk to people unless I have a good feeling of what the market is demanding. I'll buy one. You've got to get all excited for nothing over there. Well, David, like we said, you seem to do pretty much everything right with the launch of this game, whether or not that was, you know, you just rocked it with confidence or otherwise. You did a really good job with the reveal, and I know that starting a company is ridiculously hard. So what advice might you give someone out there who wants to do the same in 2024? Welcome to the deep side of the pool. But all I can say is don't launch anything before it's ready. Make sure you have the capital to back it up, and then make sure you surround yourself with really supportive people, because you will get kicked, and you'll get kicked hard, and you'll constantly get kicked. And it's rough out there, but again, I wouldn't do anything else. And lucky enough, I've done things in my past that has allowed me to take some crazy risks and opportunities, and all I can say is out there, chase your dreams. I mean, I've done some pretty weird stuff, and I wouldn't change it for the world. That's awesome. You're definitely chasing your dream. I think it's awesome. Thanks for joining us David, appreciate it Hey, anytime man, as I said I've been a long time listener and never been on the show, but now I am We're doing a once a year sort of thing We'll see you next year We'll get you on Franchi's pinball dinner party maybe I'll bring you to Cheetos Nice, cheers And I'll bring you to pineapple salsa Oh I love pineapple salsa man I've got some in the fridge already We should be roommates, so Rocketeer, pineapple salsa Come down to Texas man They got great steaks. Oh, man. All right. You sure don't sound like you're from Texas. I'm really deep south, my friend. Well, David, thanks again for coming on. Good luck with Barrels of Fun. We are rooting for you. I cannot wait to play Labyrinth. That was a theme that I would have said was on my list of dream themes, so I can't wait to check it out when I actually can get my hands on one and play it. And can't wait to see what you're doing in the future, too. It was nice to meet you finally. I really appreciate it. and I just can't say, you know, thank you enough to everyone out there that has welcomed us into the group. But, you know, next one's going to be tougher. We've got a lot to live up to, and, yeah, we've got a lot of work in front of us. You sound like you're on the right track, though, so that's good. Cheers, guys. All right, cheers, David. Have a good night. American Pinball. David Fix has been in the forefront of the pinball and arcade industry for years now. He's worked for some of the biggest arcade companies in the world and helped to run one of the premier pinball shows in Chicago's Pinball Expo. And starting in December of 2020, David had been moving up the ranks at American Pinball, from Director of Operations and Marketing to Executive Vice President and the owner of 150-plus pinball machines. He's a collector, too. We're lucky to have him on to reflect with American Pinball's year in 2023 and to touch on what's to come in 2024 and beyond. Welcome to the show, Mr. David Fix. Hey, welcome to the show, David. I'm not applauding, David. I'm applauding that fine, fine intro. Hey! Hey, I should be applauding that Christopher hit the record button. Oh You been outed now We been outed We did do this before in this before This is take two folks That okay We doing pretty good You know what amazing is that in take one you told us all of the games coming this year and then you called yourself. Unfortunately, we're going to miss out on that on this recording. Damn it. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We had a lot of surprises there. Well, we won't go into that because the lawyers have now told us we can't use that. We're going to go back. We're going to rapid-fire some topics at you again, and give us a few quick thoughts about each of them in terms of American Pinball's year in 2023. So, you know, to start things off, let's touch on theme and IP selection with Galactic Tank Force. That was your big reveal this year. How do you feel that was from an IP choice and a reaction overall to it? Well, it's not a license, right? But overall, it was received very well. Those who have received their games, have played their games, enjoyed the games. they love it. You know, listen, when we planned to release the game, we set out, we had all the teasers, we had everything kind of set up, we had a schedule. Did we think we were going to run into seven games being released at the same time? No. It was, unfortunately, it was kind of leaked before the announcement, so people knew that this game was coming, people were anticipating this game coming. We were excited, but we didn't release it quick enough, that kind of thing. I think we should have just said, here it is, bing, go for it, and then we ran into some issues with manufacturing, but we worked it out. Most people who have enjoyed the IP, those who have played the game, love the game. I keep telling people, you have to play the game to experience it, and a lot of people have. Mr. Lyons, did you get to play it at Fantastic? it? Yeah, I mean, I really enjoyed it, actually. When I played it there, I knew about the game, I'd seen the videos, but as we had talked about, it just feels to me like when you are playing it and you see the video clips and you're getting the gameplay with it, you're really kind of brought into that world in a way that you just can't get unless you're in front of the machine. And, you know, Franchi's artwork obviously pops completely differently in person than it does in a picture. So, I mean, the game is absolutely beautiful. The world that you guys have created is original, and I can understand why it wouldn't be for everyone because it is very kitschy. It's very, you know, it's whimsical, I guess, and that hits for a lot of people. They're looking for something new and different, and it certainly is that. I like to call it the sci-fi version of the old Batman TV show. If you get that, then you'll get this. It's just Batman in space. Well, let's talk about that for a second, And I know Franchi loves this story. I was at, you know, and here's the crazy thing. So we released the game. We're at literally Texas. Right after Texas, I'm flying from Texas to Vegas for the Vegas AMOA show, right? The big spring show. I'm there showing off Galactic Tank Force. People are loving it. I'm having people from overseas coming up to me at the show and going, So what year did this show come out? because I guess it never got exported from the U.S. to us. It was like a one-series, one-season kind of thing. And when we told them, no, it's us developed our own show, they were just, like, blown away. Now, think about this. We threw everything in the kitchen sink. There's well over 5,000 video clips in this game. There's call-outs. There's picture-in-picture. There's tons. We're not done with the code yet, okay, by any means. We're still going to be having more code updates. I mean, there's so much assets that we threw at this game. It's going to be needing some code updates. So people are going to get their code updates. It's already 16 gigs download for this game. So that is just ridiculous how big this is. But it is just, you know, people who are falling in love with it are just like, hey, this is hilarious. It's fun. It's got that world. But I just love the idea that, you know, Franchi created a world where people actually thought it was actually a real TV show from the 1960s or 70s, which talks about his artwork, right? But do you think American Pinball will ever do this again? I don't think so. It's just way too much, you know, stuff that we've shoved in this game. And we really went full town. But it's going to be one of those pieces that I think people are going to be talking about for a long time. Long time. You touched on the fact that with original IPs, you can create this world. You know, this is something that you can do whatever you want to, whereas with an IP that is licensed, you kind of have some restrictions there. You've come out with two original games since you've been with the company. You had Legends of Valhalla, and now you've got Galactic Tank Force. And you have mentioned in the past that you have two more original licenses coming before any IPs, although you do have some IPs as well in the shoes. So what makes you stay with the original licenses versus IPs, at least, you know, as of now in your career with American Pinball, you stuck with that? Budget, timing, there's a lot of stuff, right? So, listen, right now we have, you know, when you start a company, you have to get the IP, right? You've got to get the license. kind of fork over what we call dead money, which is you've got to give the licensor all this money and say, okay, we're going to bring out in 18 to 24 months or maybe more this title for you, okay? And then you have to put that out, and then you've got to get the team on it, and you've got to start working at it, right? The other thing that holds up about IPs, the IPs control the strings, too. So if you want to go a certain route, well, you know, we don't like that character anymore. Or no, we don't want this. We don't want that. Now, listen, Franchi has actually, as a pseudo friend and partner in crime, I've called him up. What do you think about this license? Oh, it's going to be great. I said, they only want to do it this way. Oh, go away. Don't touch it. You don't want to touch it. Don't touch it, man. It's toxic, you know. He's like, I'll get you holy water or something. So, you know, there's that realm that you want to make sure if you're going to do a license, you've got to do it right. Right. And listen, the biggest people, we're not in the 90s anymore, right? When people just saw a game and went, oh, my God, it's a game. You know, now we have everybody's, you know, kind of a critic and everybody wants to talk about it, which is okay. You know, I like that. But the point is that we have to be able to get it 100% right. So with Galactic Tank Force and the other games that you've done so far for 2023, actually, Galactic Tank Force was the only one for 2023 or am I wrong? Yes. Okay, I want to make sure I get that right. If you were to rate it like you would if you were a student taking a test, A+, B, B-, how would you rate how game sales were for Galactic Tank Force? Sales. Well, we've had the sales. Our execution of getting the game out, if I was going to rate that, I'd rate it a C, right? I mean, that's, you know, listen, there's many missteps. Things that people didn't see behind the scenes was production manager changing, personnel changing. A lot of people changed, left the company or moved on or, you know, whatever, right at the pinnacle of Galactic Tank Force being released. So we had a new production manager. We had, of course, a purchasing guy that left. There was some holes there. And it takes time to bring people up to speed. You know, COVID was, you know, bad to some extent because it really hurt the supply chain. But it also, which we don't talk about, also hurt the employee chain. So, you know, it's tough. You know, we had a nice purchasing guy, great guy. He wanted to be there for us. But he got his dream job, and he had two kids. I can't fault him. You know, they said, we're going to give you X, X, X. And he was like, Dave, I can't go, you know. So we bring people in, but you can't change things fast enough, right? There's going to be holes. And that kind of hurt us, you know. And so if I'm rating the company for this year, I would say probably a C, C+. There are a lot of ways we could have definitely stepped this up, and it kind of hurt. But I will say that the sales of the game, right, huge in Germany, right? Germany's loved this. Overseas markets have loved this. We've shipped more to Germany than a lot of other games that we've made. There's France has taken a bunch. Robert Englunds, you know, we heard from Robert Englunds back around the time of Houdini, and then nothing for, you know, up in, you know, maybe one or two, you know, couple orders of Hot Wheels. Nothing big, right? Nothing big for Valhalla, you know. I think they actually got it on the secondary market. And now all of a sudden Galactic Tank Force was like, yes, we want these. And it was like, okay. So another shipment went out to them. So is it out of a sales area? Yes. Can they be better? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, anybody would say that, you know what I mean? Sure. But understand that we hit a time period where we had seven games hitting the market at the same time. And that was kind of, you know, I'm not speaking bad of any company. Trust me, we've all been there. But there's certain games that were released that we still haven't seen yet. So it's kind of like, you know, if I was that company, I would have held it a little longer because the open market was huge for, you know, the tanking the next time around. By the time fall came along, you know, there was just, you know, one or two games coming out could have been a big hit for them. So it's, again, just the ways it's working, you know. To be fair, you know, with what you had going on with American Pinball, I think it's safe to say because I sort of was side-by-side with you through the whole year, companies can plan for hurdles when they know they're coming. You're standing at the track and you see you've got four hurdles to jump. You can prepare for it. You guys had hurdles thrown at you while you were running down the track, and that's what hurts. You've got no time to prepare. You've got to act fast, and when you have to pay attention to take care of one thing, that takes your attention away from another thing. So, yeah, there were a lot of, you know, unknown hurdles, you know, chucked in the way, and I think that's what slowed things up. Well, also, let me touch on this, Chris. I mean, we've talked about this before, and I'll put it out there for the public to know, is that you've got to remember this is a young company, right? I mean, when I started as director of ops, we rebuilt the entire company, right? Yes, they've been building games since they announced in 16 of October. Houdini came out in Texas 2017. Good Lord, how long ago that was. But understand it's also a little bit of a culture, too. They built the games back then. They had culture issues and they had, you know, understanding because they were a young company. They had done other manufacturing, not pinball or arcade manufacturing. Then they went all the way to Hot Wheels, went into a pandemic. Company had problems. Then now I step in. Now I'm trying to explain to them, you know, how things work, you know, how the culture is and how we, what hurdles we need to keep our eyes open for. And like Chris said, we had hurdles thrown at us from our suppliers. You know, here's the crazy thing. There were games that we made, okay, with the front targets bending back, okay. There are games that we made at the same time, and those targets never bent back. I was just down in Florida. I was at the pinball asylum where David and the whole team got Galactic Tank Force Limited 0001 because David and the asylum and I have been good friends for a long time, and they're going through a little growth spurt too, so there will be some stories about that coming up shortly. But I was just down there a week ago at the end of December, played Galactic Tank Force, played wonderfully. The targets are still perfectly fine. Do you feel like you've fine-tuned that, David? Do you feel like you've fixed the problem now? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fine-tuned because we overkilled it, right? We went in and we said, okay, here's a bracket for this, here's a bracket for this and here's a bracket for that. So if it does bend, it ain't going to bend, right? If it does bend, it's not going to bend. That's right. I mean, you have to lake it out and literally bend it, but everything else, you try to bend this stupid thing, it ain't going to move, okay? And we were very proactive, right? We sent out all the kits to all the people who had bought the game, who had problems with the game. We sent out the kits. If they had a problem, they called service. bing bang boom we took care of them right we we just we took care of like we normally that american normally does but like chris was talking about we've had hurdles right so just in december we lost our service technician so right now we have an interim service technician working on it until we get a full-time guy but that left a gaping hole because it's like well what did he what was he doing? What did he, are their customers happy? No, they're not. So now I'm hopping on the phones and smoothing that out and making sure that everybody gets, you know, their parts and make sure that things get taken care of. I thank everybody for their patience. Continue to be patient with American Pinball. We are a good company. You're going to be around a long time. And it's just one of those things that we just ran into some snags, hurdles, potholes, you know, you know, anything that could possibly thrown at us has been thrown at us. So let's hit you with a few more questions because I know time is limited. Let us know about your game production and your schedule. I know we touched on this a little bit, but your cadence has been one game every 18 months or so since you started. Do you see that continuing or are you hoping for some more frequent releases? New production manager, end of last year, we had the big 300 that was him getting the team up to speed, hit the numbers. We now know where we can do for production. So we're happy to say we have a new game coming out shortly. We have plans for another game coming out later this year. It's a lot of work. We also have two more games in the pipeline. So I've already flipped the next game. That's the Whitewood. That's already got artwork. That's got stuff done. The next game, I've already flipped that one. The game after that, I've already flipped. There's a fourth game that's in the queue that I've already kind of seen. Haven't flipped it yet. We're talking about it. We already have an artist assigned for that fourth game, and he's here on the podcast. And then it's a return of Christopher Franchi. So we're excited about this, right? It takes time to start the company up, you know, and then, you know, you've got to get the things in the right order. Now I'm excited about all the games that are coming. I mean, to that end, David, I mean, you just said that you're releasing two games potentially in 2024. That's a huge change for American Pinball. I mean, that's great. It is a huge change. And think about it. The company's only been around three years. For me, it's aggressive, too. And aggressive. But, you know, we also have, I'm happy to say, we have got some new people in. People who are production, people who are purchasing savvy and know that you need X, X, and X to get to the finish line, right? So we're excited about that. And so I have very high hopes for 2024. I'm very excited about it. And I'd like to come back and say next year, I think American Pinball did a B, you know, got out of the C level and got ourselves up one grade level, A, and then I let the rest of the world tell us if we ever got the A, right? So, I mean, there's always room for growth. David, looking at the future, what are your long-term goals for American Pinball? Like where do you see the company in, say, five, ten years from now? Now, here's the thing. We sat down with ownership, okay, and understand, I think I've said this before, but we'll just touch on it for a minute. Culture, they're behind us. they want to do it, right? They're excited to get two games out this year. We had already said to them and the ownership told me, he says, listen, if I get to put out three games in a year, let's start talking about that. So ownership is behind us. They're excited. They want to continue to go. We have shown since 2020 that this company has great potential. They're super excited. They've, we have a lot of little surprises that we're coming out with on the next game, which will be, you know, good for American pinball, the longevity. We're building, let's just put it this way. We spent a good part of 2023 making sure we had the right foundation for the company. Okay, now 2024, we're going to start showing people what the new foundation is of the company, where our directions are going for 2024. So if I have two games for 2024, I have two games already set in the pipeline for 2025. We have a game that's already been talked about for 2026. And Dennis and I had a meeting earlier this week with another licensor that quite possibly would be the second game in 2026, which would be huge for a lot of us. And it's a return of the license. Cool. Oh, good. So that's kind of a cool thing. But we'll wait and see. And then Mr. Franchi, he knows about some other little toys and stuff that we're working on, too. What's all about it, Franchi? Tell us. I'm very excited about the lunchbox for the next bin. Oh, I thought you were talking about lunchboxes. Let me touch on this for a second, Christian. I want to apologize to all the listeners and everybody. Chris sent us the lunchboxes. David, these are the lunchboxes. One small sample case of the lunchboxes. We go and we get them all printed. We take the manufacturer's code. We go to the company and we say we need more of these cases. They said, no problem, we'll ship them to you. They shipped them to us. They changed the size, but kept the code the same. So none of the stickers fit. None of the printing that we had set up would fit. So then Chris had to go back and do it all over again, and then to get the right lunchbox, and then to get, oh, my God. It's like, you know, when Chris said, let's do a lunchbox, I'm like, yeah, let's do it. Hey, David, you want to do the lunchbox? No. No more lunch boxes. However, I will tell you the tune glasses. The guy who's been doing that with us with the tune glasses, those nice beverage glasses, awesome guy. Slam dunk, do it again, love him. We'll keep doing that. We might do a Houdini glass. It screams Oktoberfest. Although we have some really big Oktoberfest signs, and I think Mr. Lyons and Mr. Franchi both have one of those gigantic you know, puts you in a coma drinking beer. Well, we really appreciate you coming on again, David. We really love hearing about the future. I mean, we can't wait to see what's coming. You definitely excited and hyped up, you know, the next couple of years for American Pinball and really hope for success for you and the company. Thank you. And you know what? Like I said, I apologize profusely to all our collectors. Listen, I'm a collector, right? We said that at the beginning. I have pins. I want pins. I want to have the collector's piece. I want to have that cool game. But, you know, like Chris says, we've had landmines and hurdles thrown at us by the versions of lunchboxes to who knows what else that's been thrown at us. We're just working through it. And Galactic Tank Force is still a pretty hot game. Company could be much better. We're working hard to get us out of that wrong rating. And there's still a lot of, way a lot of growth. and I apologize to all the listeners if you had problems with service. We're working on it. Bear with us. I'm taking personally with this and there's three or four more people who have jumped in on the team to help make sure that customers are getting taken care of. There's a lot of things that have been happening to us and we're trying to work through it. David, I really appreciate your honesty with that whole topic. Listen, guys, honesty is the right Ryan Policky, right? Just tell it like it is and tell everybody, We say, sorry, we're having some issues. And understand, we're building the foundation underneath us so that we have a good, strong platform going forward. We are also trying to get the updates done for Galactic Tank Force. And like Chris said, if you're a small company, right, you know, I'd love to have the size of a company like Stern or JJP. I mean, you know, I'm not that big. I'm just a small little guy. Chris would love to be that size. Oh! Oh! Oh! Chris was nodding. Definitely insulted David, and David just turned around and shot it right back. One point for David. Fuck you all. This is what I love about this group. I love the pinball community. It's fun. We have a lot of fun, and we're growing. And listen, Expo this coming year, it's going to be huge, right? The 40th. If you haven't saw the website, check it out. It's kind of crazy. It starts on a Tuesday. There's tours for manufacturing on Tuesdays. There's tours for Wednesday. There's tours on Thursday. There's dinners. There's a beautiful new logo for the 40th anniversary, too. Yes, and Brian Allen did such a beautiful job. No, that was done by Mr. Christopher Franchi. So, you know, I know he was trying to put a plug in for himself there. Oh, and I'll just go to say that that was free of charge, along with the many free things I do for the Pune Bowl community. Well, you know, unfortunately, we give Chris a lot of guff, but the guy does put up with an awful lot. And I'm just going to share a small story. There was this big fiasco at Expo this year, and poor Chris didn't have a room. He's calling me, and he's sitting there like a kid. He's just got his toy taken away from him. I'm like, I made some calls. I found him a roommate for one night. Yeah. And Mr. Franchi got to spend the night with the great Gary Flower from London. And Chris was like, who's this guy? Never met him in my life, and here I'm sharing a room with him. It was the most awkward evening I've ever had. I don't know if I slept. I just kind of laid there with my back to him with my eyes wide open. This is weird. This is weird. This is weird. You slept because Gary told me how bad you snored through the whole night. Do you want to pile on anything else? I didn't do the intro for you so that I wouldn't insult you with a bunch of jokes. I mean, you come in the fucking back end and like, well, let's just slam him before we get out. No, no. Hey, buddy. They're having some serious zingers tonight. The thing is, Christopher Franchi edits the show, so he can edit the show. He'll come out smelling like roses. Don't worry about it. But here's the good thing is Chris is a good player. He put up with some craziness at Expo this year. I felt bad for him. Listen, I remember the one time I had to get somebody to spend a night with Python Angel. No. You were saying spending a night with Gary Flowers is bad. You should try spending with Python Angel, who's, you know, half licked up, and it's just like talking about, you know, Amazonian women. And, yeah, here's your roommate. Yeah. For as many dicks as that guy's drawn, I would have worn steel underwear if I had the sleeper in him. Anyway, David, thank you so much. We always enjoy having you on, and can't wait to see what's coming from AP in the next year or two. And much better luck in 2024. Less hurdles. It would be nice for less hurdles, and thank you guys. And I'm happy that you brought the show out of mothballs just for this nice little thing. You know, it's always good to be with friends like you guys and to give some zingers to my good friend Christopher Franchi. And to know that, you know, I get the approval from Jeff and Christian very much because they're like, give it to him, give it to him. Absolutely. I was just about to say, the more love you give, the more I may have to talk these guys into doing more shows. But fuck you. Thanks, David. Good to see you, David. Thanks again, man. See you. See you. Jersey Jack Pinball. This man needs little introduction, but Jack Guarnieri founded the Jersey Jack Pinball Company in 2011, known for making the highest-end product on the market with some of the best licenses like Wizard of Oz, Guns N' Roses, and most recently, Elton John, which looks amazing. Today, we're going to explore what 2023 was like at the company and get Jack's take on how things went. Welcome back to the show, Jack. Hey. Thank you. All right. Looking good. He's got his Elton John flashing star glasses on. The listeners can't see the pictures, but it looks good. Looks good on you. So, Jack, this show is pretty much to reflect on Jersey Jack Pinball's year in 2023. We're going to rapid-fire some topics at you, And we just want you to give us a few quick thoughts on each of the topics that we go over, and then we'll touch on some things to come in 2024 for you guys. Does that sound good? Sounds good. All right. So overall in 2023, how do you think Jersey Jack did with the theme and IP selection? A plus. Now, you are responsible for finding a lot of these themes. Is that correct? I am. So, of course, I'm going to say A plus, right? Yeah, it is great. It's a team effort. I mean, it's not like I just pick something and everybody just falls down and says, that's great, let's do that. I mean, there's this and back and forth and there's discussion about it, but certainly I think we executed pretty well last year, especially releasing two great games with great IP. How would you say the consumer reaction to the IP selection was? I think they were surprised by the godfather. You know, people try to think of how do you take that and make that a pinball machine, but I think Eric and the team showed everybody how you do that. Epic story, I don't want to use the word epic too many times, but it was epic. And then you have Elton John, which is the soundtrack of so many people's, millions of people's lives for all these years. And you take that and you take the OG pinball wizard and you put them in a brand new game with all the modern technology and amazing artwork and light shows and music. And it's just, you line that up with an amazing designer, let him lose let him do what he wants to do with his team and you get a game that everybody walks up to and they just walk away smiling and want to play it again i have to say uh in the process of doing the art usually i kind of try to you know engulf myself and what i'm working on so if it's a music thing i'll listen to the music of whoever i'm working on and i grew up with elton john so i had a blast all the philadelphia freedom and don't go breaking my heart and all that i was like it for six months. I was having a great time having Elton John concert in my studio on a daily basis. Yeah. You hear him everywhere you go. You hear it now, you know, it's more obvious because we're aware of it, but it's just everywhere. And he just made a new album, I think with Brandy Carlisle. And he's still playing. He might not be touring, but he's still playing. He's out there doing charity events, the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The guy's a great humanitarian. Just wonderful to work with all those people. This is a good way to kind of bridge into the fact that, you know, this year in 2023, your release schedule was such that you could have two games in one year, which I know is something that you've been trying to do for a very long time. So congratulations on doing that. We've talked about this in the past. Thank you. I did both of them. I know. It's the art on both games, which is incredible. So congratulations to you, Richie. So do you think that you're going to continue doing that cadence moving forward? Are you going to try and stick to two games a year? I'd like to see one every nine months, nine to ten months. So sometimes it may land in the same calendar year, and sometimes it may not. But everything depends on the teams working on the games, and obviously, you know, your supply chain, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah, you know, those things like that. But we in pretty good shape Well speaking of supply chain sir how do you feel Jersey Jack did with game production this year I think it was a B We could always do better I think we could always There's room for improvement. You know, my blood type is B+, B+. So, you know, I'm kind of critical of a lot of things. I mean, I give our employees an A+, because they worked really hard to get two games out last year. And there's a lot of logistics and a lot of work, a lot of deadlines, a lot of approvals, A lot of thinking, a million different thoughts about one little line somewhere and building materials. But we could always do better. I think, I don't want to get ahead of you guys, what you're asking, but I think one of the things we could do better on is evangelizing what we have. The operators especially, you know, we have some really great games that make really good money on location, especially Toy Story. I hear from all the operators about Toy Story, number one marining game on location. You got Guns N' Roses. You know, you have Godfather and now you have Elton John. So, the games, you know, I said years ago, it doesn't matter what a game costs, it matters what the game makes. And our games really do well. So, I think that's another area we can improve on. So, in 2023, how was the business as far as game sales? I think it was good. You know, you have the 800-town gorilla in the room, you know, obviously the economy. So, when people feel good, they spend money. When people feel less good, they might spend less money. But we've come to be an industry now that is not date-driven. When I had pinballsells.com, we went crazy in the fourth quarter because of the holiday season and everything like that. Now, when you go crazy is when you release a game, and that's the event that drives the business. It's not a bad thing to be busy all year round. We used to have dead spots in the summer, and we used to be kind of dead in January because people were recovering from spending a lot of money in December. and I think it's become a lot more leveled around the whole year now. Do you feel like your line is constantly moving or is there any wiggle room in there where you could potentially do a vault series or something moving forward? You know, I never say never, right? I've been blamed for that because then you do things. You don't want to close the door. I really don't see it. We're just so busy with everything going forward. I know I've said on other podcasts with seminars and stuff, I've said a quote that doesn't belong to me. You know, the rearview mirror is a lot smaller than the windshield. That's why we're going forward. We're not looking backwards and that kind of stuff. But I don't see how we could do it. I mean, we're really, we have some great games coming up and, you know, let's keep going. Cool. So, Jack, what would you say your biggest challenge this year was in 2023? Oh, biggest challenge. Well, you know, every year has things going on. You need to have really great people work for the company so that you can do things. It's not only about the games. The games don't happen without people. And the challenge is always to keep everybody motivated, do the mundane things, show up, go through the process, all the things that sometimes get taken for granted. So processes are always difficult of a lot of companies. But I don't know. I mean, I guess I'm doing it so long, I don't look at anything as a really big obstacle. I mean, when you start a pinball company the way I did it, who the hell would do that? I mean, you know, you wouldn't be able to do anything if you looked at it as an obstacle and you jumped back in bed. So I don't really, I don't really, I can't really point to anything. You know, with COVID, everybody said the supply chain was the problem or this was the problem. It was very clear to see, but I think we did really well last year. I really do. I don't think there were any major potholes that we fell into. So what do you think, aside from improved flipper strength, supposedly, what is the greatest success for Jersey Jack in 2023? I think the obvious is that we released two games. I think that's a big thing for us. I mean, some people release two games, three games, four games at a time. We haven't gotten to that stage yet. I don't think we will. But having two full-featured games in one calendar year, I think, was a big goal and a big accomplishment. I'm very proud of all the people to help make that happen. What do you think was the greatest innovation that Jersey Jack had in 2023? Oh, my goodness. I think with all our games, I see more technology in them game to game. Elton John, I'm playing my Elton John home here for maybe the last three or four months. Maybe it's five months. I lost track, and I just downloaded the latest update and just the light shows. And what that game does, I just was blown away. I know it sounds very cliche, and it sounds kind of like beeping something noise. Sorry. You'd think you'd get used to actually silencing your phone for the asylum. But, you know, it just blows me away what we're able to do with the game. You know, when you have a game that you introduce, Wizard of Oz, and it has 139 RGB LEDs on it, and we all know what that game is. And then you have Elton John and you have 1,600 RGB LEDs on it. Wow. I mean, it's just, yeah, that's it. That's the answer. I mean, it looks like a concert. It really looks like a concert. It's a great view of it. It's just beautiful. I mean, the artwork, I have difficulty with your artwork. I know Chris is on here with us, but I love both art packages. I really do. I love both Outback. You know, we said it was Wizard of Oz, playable artwork, and it really is. Yeah, I do feel like people have said that you can't appreciate that game until you're in front of it, and you actually play it, and you see it with your own eyes, and you see those light shows, and it's just an experience. Kind of like GNR, but it sounds like it's next level with 1600 RGB LEDs. Yeah, and that's on the C. I think the Platinum has a couple hundred less. Not that you'll notice it, but you'll still be blown away by the effects. Let's look towards the future, Jack. So what are you most looking forward to in 2024? We have a really great game coming out designed by Mark Seiden. Oh, cool. Oh, is that next? It's coming up. Okay. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to nailing down some more licenses for 25, 26, 27, and just getting more games out on location especially. we have some really great games that really need to be out in the wild out in the public I've seen it with all of our games but now especially with Elton John getting those games out there and people playing them I'm getting emails and calls from people I mean this one landed in Asbury Park at the Silver Bowl and I'm going to be there next Saturday people just playing it for the first time saying I didn't know the game was going to be this good I'm going to have to break open my piggy bank I have to get this game you know so you hear those things music to your hands. That's really interesting because for such a high-end product like Jersey Jack Creates, the balance between getting games on location versus in a household has got to be a constant discussion for you guys. I mean, when you have them on location, people can see them, they can appreciate them, they can say, wow, I want these in my home, and then your stuff is so high-end and it's such a deep rule set that on location you can't really appreciate that. So a lot of your stuff is geared towards the home use. So how do you balance that? It's a tough line. It's good that you said it that way because that's what it is, you know. But one feeds the other. I mean, you could taste it, get a taste sample like they do at Costco, and then you go buy it and take it home. Right. They can eat the whole box of brownies instead of one bite, you know. I just circle back around with a mustache on. Keep all good there. Jack, how do you see JJP as a company evolving in 2024 and beyond? Well, I think we'll gather more people to the company. When I started the company, I kind of said it's an acorn, and everything in the universe is going to find its way to the acorns and turn it into an oak tree. And that's really happening. We celebrated our 13th anniversary on January 1st, and we continue to hire really great talent, and people want to come to work for the company, and they want to have a career at the company. and that's what I'm very, very excited about. It's nice to see something that you create and see it thrive and grow and that's very satisfying to go places and see the games and bring more fun into the world and smiles and make people happy all over the world. Does that include, you've got three designers there, does that include game designers or are you comfortable with that and you want to fill out in other areas? No, we probably need a couple more designers, I think. You have a lot of experience in that building and you want to teach a new generation that loves pinball to make more pinball. And that's how it's going to keep going. You know, when I started the company, there was only one company in the world building pinball machines. And 13 years later, I dare you to tell me how many companies there are now, you know, making or attempting to make or thinking about making or want to make pinball machines. And when I first started, I was on a podcast where I said, gee, I hope there's 50 companies that want to make pinball in a few years. And I think I'm going to get my wish. Yeah. Yeah, it seems that way. Your footprint that you have, I mean, I would pretty much say that, you know, you and Stern are the two top dogs, the Pepsi and Coke, if you will. Are you looking to expand your footprint in the marketplace now, or are you comfortable the way it is you just want to continue to? We're laughing because Jack is sticking his foot directly into the camera. There's my footprint. This is what we're doing. It's as far as 10. So, yeah, are you looking to expand your footprint, or are you comfortable with where it is, and you just want to continue with that? We have more than one building right now, so we have expanded our footprint. I mean your footprint in the marketplace. Oh, in the marketplace, sure. Yeah, I mean, the products find their way, and if you make something really great, that's how you expand your footprint. It's not about going to a certain show outside of the industry and hoping for the best. You know, I like to fish where the fish are, and the fish are at pinball shows, right? So we need to support tournaments. We need to support on-location pinball. We need to help support operators. We need to support our distributors so that they can have all the tools they need to sell and support our product. We need to support our players. So doing the right thing, you know, that's what we try to do as a company, and that helps expand the base. And I think also, I just throw this in, you know, the themes that I think about doing for pinball tries to expand the base. We had a lot of people buy the Godfather that never bought a pinball machine before because they were Godfather fans. We had Guns N' Roses fans buy Guns N' Roses. Now they're pinball addicted and they have to get more than one pinball machine. So that's not a bad thing. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, that goes into your theme choice. So speaking of theme choice, there have been rumors of themes coming from you guys in 2024 and beyond that are very exciting. And I know Harry Potter has been thrown around. Why are you asking this question? You've got to throw it out. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, right? So Harry Potter has been rumored to be at Jersey Jack Pinball, and we've heard other things like Matrix and Avatar and et cetera. Can you give us any hints, Jack? I know you cannot confirm or deny, but can you give us any hints about what might be coming in the future? Yes. The next thing is a pinball machine. That's the way to do it. Yep, that's about what we expected. Okay. Thank you, Chris. Hey, try the wheel. Mirror all week. Moving on. Do we know that you're heavily involved in the theme selection for JJP now and that the company's anchored in Chicago? Do you still take part in the development of the games? Every week. You know, we have development calls with the licensors because there's a very iterative process to develop a pinball machine. And, you know, I've said it many times, not a T-shirt or a lunchbox. You make it up one time and you submit it and everything like that. Chris has been on some of those calls, and they're every week, sometimes two times a week as you get towards the end. And then when you get down to approval times and different things that get submitted from everything from, you know, obviously the artwork, screen, you know, screen motion graphics, call-outs, the press release, the amazing video that we do to introduce the game, all those different things. There's a lot of work and a lot of process and a lot of time that many, many people put into it. So, yeah, I'm involved. I'm in Chicago once or twice a month going to shows. You know, next week I'll be in Chicago. The week after I'm in London at the show, EAG. I'll be in Asbury at the Silver Bowl, I think, next Saturday. So I find a way to keep busy. I have to go off script a little bit, but that brings up a question I wanted to ask you because I've had the pleasure of working with you guys, and I've seen what JP does. I was just curious. I know that a lot of people, you know, like Elton John and whatnot, the licensing people, they've seen everything over the years, you know, T-shirts, action figures, you know, this and that, everything else. Have you ever brought to the table, like, you know, here's the animations for a pinball machine, and any of these licensors just, like, flip their shit, like, oh, my God, you know? Yeah, yes. Elton John and David Furnish, we were told, were just head over heels. They said that we captured his DNA in the game. You know, they were really, really pleased with what the team did. And certainly JP, certainly you, Chris, you know, John Yowsey, the whole team really. And Steve Ritchie. They got it. They got it. They captured lightning in a bottle with that game. They really did. And nice to be. I think he's really going to go wacky when he gets his games. I think that's really when it's going to happen because he's seen it from a distance. It's like looking at a piano or playing the piano for him. I think it's going to be a big deal because he's a pinball guy. He still has the Captain Fantastic that he plays. So he doesn't have his Elton John yet? He doesn't have him yet, no, because we're going to be building his C shortly, and he gets E and PE, and then we have some games we've donated to his charity that you'll hear about in the coming months and things like that. So it's exciting. Very cool. Honestly, for us, it has been very cool to see the game get received. When people are playing it, they just freaking love it. And it's so cool that Elton John has got yet another game that he's involved with because I know he's a huge pinhead. I'd love to see a video of him getting his game and just his reaction to it. I'd love to be there when he gets his game, so I'll let you know. I'll report back when that is. Cool. Nice. Are you going to be there? I don't know what house it's going to. It could go anywhere in the world. Jack, what do you think pinball needs to attract a wider margin of gamers? I think you talked a little bit about this, but can you expand a bit? It's come a long way in these last few years. It really has. You have a variety of companies making games at different price points, and you need people to be pinball ambassadors all the time. I think the negativity that's in the world and the rush to instant gratification and rush to criticize things right away, it's really heightened in a lot of different parts of our lives. And we really don't need to bring that into pinball. You know, when somebody releases a new game, there are a lot of criticism of it, whatever it is. You know, the theme, colors, artwork, and all that stuff. And that's fine. That's good, healthy criticism and opinions, and everybody has an opinion. But consider that there are people at work at companies all around the industry, and their livelihoods depend on success for those products. And think about what have you done in your life that you have that you can criticize somebody else's work and time and effort and energy and money that they're putting into something. It wouldn't be good if there were no pinball companies. Would that make everybody happy? Maybe people would say, wow, my game's going to go way up now because the artist died and my picture is worth more money because the artist can't paint anymore. I would just say a little more positivity. like I said before my blood type's B positive so I can't be negative a little bit more positivity a little bit more happiness treat each other a little bit better with more kindness and and uh try to do something good try to do some you know I try to mix things that we do with charities and with our pinball machines I'm going to a concert tomorrow night at the Count Basie and Mark Mark Tremonti is going to be there singing Sinatra and Mark's whole challenge um us with Down Syndrome, all the money from the show and everything, and, you know, we donated a game to them, too, to be used to auction off whatever they want to do with it. If we all do a little bit, it makes it a lot easier for everybody. You know, and I think that's the way we could spread the word of pinball. Pinball is fun. It's positive. You know, imagine being somebody that doesn't know anything about it, and they fall into one of these groups, and they start reading some of the posts in the group. They don't want to be part of that. Like, get out of here. I'm walking into a ballroom fight. I'm going to get punched on the left side, punched on the right side. I'm in a hornet's nest. Ah! So, you know, it's something to think about. But, you know, I think we're on the right path, though. I think there's a lot of choices for people, and there's a lot of places to get games. And I certainly hope that you get your Jersey Jack games, you know, and have fun. I was just going to say, the response to Elton John, anybody who's sat down and played it, has been amazing. Now, you wouldn't be here if you weren't an awesome salesman because that's how you got your start. So we're going to give you as much time as you want, as much time as you need to sell Elton John to the public out there. Ready, set, go. Play it. That's actually all you need to do. Amazing. Yeah. Play it. You'll be blown away. You know, I said it before. Maybe I said it in private. You know, I'll just tell you a quick story. I know you've got other luminaries to talk to. and um you know when i got the game i got one of the prototype games i got a p prototype and i saw it really in a different stage than the time i saw it last in chicago let's put it that way you know set it up and everything and the first song that i wanted to play the game on was pinball wizard and i queued up pinball wizard and i turned up the volume and i launched the ball and the ball went around the orbit and came down to the slipper and i was playing the game i just i just had a a moment where I remembered when I opened up Valley Captain Fantastic like in 1976. And I opened up a box for my boss, who I was working for at the time in New York. And I set the game up and I remember playing that game and having this feeling of like, wow. And here I am, you know, all these years later, and it's not a Valley game, it's a Jersey Jack game. It's my game. And Elton John's doing voice calls. And I'm playing this game and I just said, it was just a lot for me to observe. I was just like, I didn't have a plan. There was no bucket list to start a pinball company. It just happened. And it just came all back to me with that first game of playing that game, the Steve Ritchie game of all things. You know, I remember I had games in Coney Island and I had Black Knight and my wrist used to hurt when I lift up the cash box because it was full of quarters. I didn't know who the hell Steve Ritchie was. He's one of my best friends today. You know, so it's been very fulfilling. It's been really a great experience. It's been a lot of fun and we got a lot more to go. and there's a lot more to do. And I just feel very blessed to have a little part in it. It's amazing. More than a little part. And we're all benefiting from that because we've gotten 13 years, as you say, of fantastic pinball. So thank you, Jack. Thank you. Thanks for joining us today. Somebody said to me the other day, they were talking about toppers and all the toppers on games and everything like that. And I said, you know, before I put a topper on the Emerald City Limited Edition Wizard of Oz game, there wasn't a topper on a game in 15 years. Yeah. Imagine a game without a topper today. That would be like not having balls in the game or legs in the game. No topper, what? No topper? Let me buy the topper. Keep the game, but I want the topper. Was your topper $1,700 when it came out? No, it was included on the game. Yeah, those were the days. Those were the days. Well, the PE has a topper on it, and the CE has an amazing topper on it. You know, we're making full-featured games. Other people are making stripped-down games. You've got to add all kinds of stuff, and they cost you more than the games we're selling. So they just inch you up like a card dealer. You know, I just wanted to say one other thing, Chris, whether it gets into the show or not, just between us that we're all talking now. You know, when I was thinking about the year in review, there was one thing that was really disappointing to me having to do with the artwork. And we hired a really great artist to do the LE version of Godfather. and I went one day when I got to Chicago and I saw all the artwork on the cabinet. I just looked at it and I looked at Eric and Eric looked at me and I said, we can't have this on the game. This can't be the LE artwork. And I picked up the phone and called you, Chris, and I said, can you do one more game? And you did the LE artwork package. We were only on the CE at that point. And it made a big, big difference. It made a big, big difference. And I think you did a great job. and you're trusted and that you're accounted on and that you're respected and that people seek you out, all different companies. I mean, if you can juggle all that stuff without screwing it up, you'll go a long way. You'll go a long way. So far, so good. Well, thank you, Jack. I really appreciate that. And it was my pleasure and my honor to be a part of that team. It was a fantastic team. Everybody did a great job. So thank you for bringing me in. And, you know, and the job you did with Alton John, I mean, it was just, just magnificent really really beautiful really beautiful i would say that that is my favorite art package on any game the limited edition elton john is by far the best art package platinum yeah there's no limited edition anymore right it's platinum and collector's edition i'm lost but yes whatever he did is amazing you know the funny thing uh everybody knows the art packages got flipped you know because when we you know we had one art package on the c and the other art package on the p and then we were looking at what color body armor matched better with what and it turned out the gold matched better with the one we had on the the p so they you know i didn't want to make two i got out of it steve was involved with it so i didn't want to be involved with it you know so they said well we'll do the gold as rce and we'll do the silver one as the right but silver platinum is you can say platinum is more valuable than gold but i don't think it is anymore i think gold is more expensive than platinum today anyway the artwork package got swapped but it would look beautiful either way i mean i'm fine with that i remember you calling me and you thought i was going to be disappointed and i'm like hey i'll bet you sell more platinum edition so i'm good with that yeah i mean you know and when we did the radcals we did the radcals with sparkle for the artwork package that you did chris because that was going to be the ce and then when brett and i were in chicago together and we looked at the the way the radcals came out with the with the sparkle we said we can't eliminate this this has to go in the game and if it and if it is the pe well guess what the pe is getting radcals with sparkle yeah yeah it's it's loaded We just added that in. You know, we just added it in. And, you know, I go off to my game and I'm looking at it like this, you know, like I'm just looking at how beautiful it is, you know. I'll tell you one other thing, Chris. You cost me one more license that I didn't expect. Oh. You're so detail-oriented that when they blew up the picture of Elton John on the side as the pinball wizard when he's pointing like that, and they blew that up, you know what game you can see in the background? Yeah, the one that he's playing in the movie. A Gottlieb buckaroo. Yeah. A Gottlieb buckaroo. Yeah. I got a call from my people in Chicago, and they said, we blew up the poster, and guess what we see? We're Gottlieb games. Oh, my God. Gottlieb games. They're not a player anymore. Why does that matter? Yeah, JP asked me. There still is. There still is. I had to call my friend Bob Fission that owns Gottlieb Development LLC, and I had to tell him that I'm using his IP, and we made a gentleman's agreement, and that was that. We had a written agreement to, because in the video, even though the video is already licensed, you know, I covered the buckaroo and I covered the kings and queens and all is good. But I said, that guy, Chris, he's too good. He couldn't make a smudge with colors. It was so cute. I mean, it was like at such an angle you could barely see anything. You're so good. You're too good. Too good. I want to know, Jack, why your drawing that Franchi did of you eating a cannoli didn't make it into the game. Where did that end up? That was such a good picture. It's on the apron card, right, Jack? It's on some apron cards. It's an apron card that he signs and gives people and they can put it in their game. Oh, it's unique to Jack. Yeah, it's like something special. That's cool. So this is the one. Yes, that's it. There it is. I'll find a bunch of these when I go to Asbury and I'll just give them to the people there and then my own John card oh neat nice I think with the Godfather they sent me all these cards and I started signing them and then about a week later they sent me another box of cards and I said what is that and they said oh we made them the wrong size I don't know wah wah alright you guys I kept you up thank you I appreciate it I hope you got some out of those silly things that I said. Some of it made sense, I hope. Oh, no. This is an editing genius. He will make it sound so good. And I will make sure to keep all that nice candy coating my work. I'll keep all that in. In fact, we might just leave just that. What do you think you did this year? Well, it's Frankie again. Thank you. Let's hope 24 is a great year for all of us Central Ken Ball. And I think you're doing the show this right. Kicks off good. And, Francis, say hello to Barlow for me, all right? Pet him a couple of times. Somebody gave me this one the other day. Oh, nice. Oh, that's so cool. I saw that at Walmart just today, but someone ripped the plastic in the middle, and they only had one. I'm like, well, I don't want the ripped one. Man, I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse. I guess these were exclusive to Walmart, I guess. Yeah. Oh, because of that sticker that says exclusive to Walmart. All right, you guys. All right, buddy. See you, man. Thanks, Jack. Love you all. Take it easy. Take care. Bye. Love you. All right, that's going to do it for part one of the super awesome pinball show year in review for 2023. We'll see you next week for the exciting conclusion and the big show wrap-up. Until then, take care. Oh, look, you're sponsored by new Funyuns brand spicy queso onion flavored rings. One crunch and you'll flip out. Funyuns, bringing the party to your mouth. Hey, you've reached the Super Awesome Pinball Hotline. We can't take your call right now, but please leave a message after the beep. Hey, franchise, you fat fuck. You ever hang up on me again, I'm going to stick my foot so far up your ass. Nobody hangs up on me. I'm Don from Don's Pinball Podcast. If you think I'm ever going to be on your show, there's no fucking way. Godfather, what the fuck was that shit? I do better shit in the toilet making diarrhea donuts than what I saw.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: f7f85c2f-56e0-4acc-9ea5-913e2b81bb6c*