2026-03-05

“It is nicer than any Stern machine ever made it is nicer than any Bally or Williams game ever made. It is nicer than any Jersey Jack Pinball game ever made. I'm being candid here.”

— Kaneda, Saturday Morning Spectacular Feb 28· Establishes extreme position on Beetlejuice's quality supremacy; represents potential sentiment shift in boutique vs major manufacturer perception

“They nailed it as far as the design and the layout. It's going to be really good, I think, for beginners and advanced players alike...It's just really approachable.”

— Melissa (Mel Plays Pinball), Erika's Pinball Journey - What's it Like Playing the New Pokémon Pinball Machine?· Key endorsement of Pokémon Pinball's accessibility design from emerging creator with fresh perspective

“when it does the deo multi ball it moves your flippers like to the beat... by the end it's going like bop like on your flippers it's like moving them for you to the beat as you're like playing”

— Shane Toll, Nudgecast Ep 16· Highlights Spooky's willingness to innovate with unusual mechanical/code features

“And there's a pinball machine that's being made.”

— Matt Dinniman, Kineticist article· The official announcement of the DCC pinball machine, delivered casually during a book tour

“This is franchise IP that's popular with key pieces of the pinball demographic right now. The fan community lives on places like Reddit, Discord, and YouTube — the same places many pinball players and buyers spend their time.”

— Kineticist (article author), Kineticist analysis· Analysis of why DCC is an interesting fit for pinball despite being a newer IP

“Dungeon Crawler Carl...This book and this property that I had not heard of, it's not even been a week, and then here I am confronted with it...people are inundating me with, Don, you need to go listen to this audiobook.”

— Don, DPP #231· Indicates rapid rise in Dungeon Crawler Carl's cultural relevance, driving interest in the Barrels of Fun game adaptation.

“In what was a historic launch for all of pinball, the worldwide response to the first ever pinball machine of Pokémon has been astonishing.”

— Stern Pinball (official), Stern of the Union March 2026· Emphasizes unprecedented scale and industry impact of Pokémon pinball release

“Pokémon might be the most basic pinball machine I've ever seen since I've been covering this hobby. And the reason why it gets a pass is because it was the right move.”

— Kaneda, Kaneda Episode 1193· Acknowledges Pokémon's design simplicity while defending it as intentional strategy for market appeal

“people selling them for like $30,000 or whatever, it's like insane. I think that's all a really strong sign for what's to come”

— Shane Toll, Nudgecast Ep 16· Documents extreme secondary market FOMO and collector demand for Pokémon LE

“I hope so. I would love to be able to get achievements on Jersey Jack games. I am hopelessly addicted to hunting for them on Stern games already.”

— Jason Knapp (Knapp Arcade), Knapp Arcade article· Personal commentary on the appeal of a connected system for achievement hunting

“Jersey Jack pinball coming out with something called Jack in the Box...I almost didn't want to even say anything because I want it to happen because I'm just going to be thinking about those onion rings every time I'm logging into a Jersey Jack game.”

— Don, DPP #231· Humorous take on Jersey Jack's patent filing for connectivity system; reveals Don's enthusiasm for the feature despite the name collision with the fast-food chain.