what's up everybody we're here for a party for a year-end review with don's pinball podcast i guess you can call this episode number 92 but we are not counting that tonight we're gonna count through in a in a unique way everything that happened throughout the year in the pinball world with respect to don's pinball podcast and the sphere of influence that is growing across the landscape So get your party hats on, tip back your hypnotic or grab that Diet Coke or some liquid death if that's what you're into. And let's get the party going here. I got the mixtaples going. We got some instrumentals here on the beatbox. Let's get into the year. So we're going to kick this off. I did this a little bit differently, right? I started going through and researching Wikipedia and trying to get like the day that John Borg said this and the day that Keith Elwin did that. And when Stern opened and shut down or whatever, I was going nuts, right? I was doing a report for 12th grade English class or something. I said, heck with that. I'm going to do this in an easier format for myself to review this year. And what I did is I just went through the Facebook page. I started this whole thing 12 months ago. In January 2 is when the first episode went up. It was a little preliminary stuff I was doing 12 months ago now. And so I just set back the clock, went through the Facebook page, because I've been putting out photos every other day for like an entire year. So there's the encyclopedia of the year right there. There's all the major moments, all the major milestones, all the major merch drops. And I was having a great time there reminiscing while the 3D printer was spinning. And I put together a list in outline format that we can get to. Now, I had reader producer Danny reach out, and he's going on a long run on New Year's Day before he goes into work. And he wanted 30 minutes of content to listen to. And so that is the goal. We're going to recap the year via my Facebook profile because I captured everything there. It's all there. And then we're also going to keep Danny entertained as he's running around Virginia Beach. So homeboy, that's what we're doing today. So, you know, if you're playing this, it's probably 9, 10 p.m. We're getting ready for the new year to drop and a brand new season of not only this podcast, but the pinball landscape is going to continue, right? Birds are going to sing. Rivers are going to flow on. Trees are still going to grow. grass is still going to grow. You're still going to need to mow it. We're going to get into a brand new year and a new outlook. And I can't wait for that. I'm amazed though. Part of the process of going through and looking where I was 12 months ago to now, let's just start with that. My entire game room changed. All right, just to recap, back at that time, I had my new Godzilla that I'd gotten from Jeff at Mad Pinball. Just met that guy. I had my Ultra VP cabinet. I also had Rush LE, I had a Rick and Morty Bloodsuckers, had a Halloween CE, and a Guns and Roses Limited Edition. That was the game room. Of those, only two remain. Godzilla Premium is still here, powder-coated in Illusion Money. Man, it's looking awesome. Full of Stumbler mods and way too much money spent on it. Especially that crown on top, right? Thousand dollars, get out of here. And my Ultra VP, which has a bottomless pit of content to go and play. Everything else has been completely refreshed. And so it was kind of cool to look back on that and see, you know, which games actually survived, you know, the entire year. Because I had some bangers down here, y'all. I had me some bangers. But you know what? Love is fleeting and such is the world of Stern Premiums because they need to move on when something new and more compelling comes in. So let's get to that. So I started this podcast, you know, this is from humble beginnings. I think that first week I had seven total plays, four of which were probably mine. But from there, we have grown all the way to here, man. You know, but that's when we had the first followers on that Facebook page. We also had some content that had just dropped. We just finally got our eyes on Keith Elwin's 60th anniversary version of Bond. Now, remember this crazy rumor last year that the Bond cornerstone that was tripling and stumbling out of the gate wasn't it. We weren't just getting the pro-premium LE, but there was going to be a fourth edition, completely different from everybody else. And what is it even being designed by George Gomez? This was going to be designed by the dude that did Godzilla, Avengers Infinity Quest, Jurassic Park, and the, sitting over there, Iron Maiden, right? Keith Elwin was going to just step into George Gomez realm and do a completely different take on the same license. It was completely absurd. People are like, that's so far-fetched. No way that is happening. And then what do we get? We get a call for price black cabinet, Bond 60th, single play field level, single street level game, no ramps, forget it, old school play, but with, like, new school integration with shots flowing into each other, four spinners, multiball modes, hard as heck. And not only that, but get out of here, LCD screen. We're going to put reels, a scoring reel in the back. It was nuts. there was a little LCD screen in the play field so you can have that insider connected interactivity and post the scores and things and that's how multiplayer actually worked but there's a freaking set of scoring wheels in the back what a nuts rumor we are in some alternate timeline because that shouldn't have happened but let's talk about the aftermath of Bond 60th so this machine came out and it was purportedly it didn't have a listed MSRP it was call your dealer for price But the go-on rate was going to be $20,000 to $22,000. The best price I saw at launch was around $18,500 or $17,000. Supposedly, this game was costing dealers around $15,000. And then this was just a way to kind of give a cash back to dealers, thanking them for everything that they do, and get what you can get for it. Only 500 of these were made. Man, there was some problems with this, though. So remember that it was exclusively coming out with this acrylic LED topper, right? And then all of a sudden they're like, well, no, we're going to make a bunch of those anyway for $1,000. Come and get them. Those sold out. And then since there's been another release of them. But at the time, Stern had a backpedal and they were like, oh, yeah, this Bond topper that we made for this game that was included, which was nice, it was included for a $20,000 call for price deal. but what they meant by exclusivity because at the time they said that this was going to be exclusive to this machine that was their words and then they walked it back when they started just selling them to anybody and they said no no what we meant was this was the only game that the topper would come with exclusively any other bond game you buy is not going to come from a topper but the exclusivity words are hard is that this game will come with it already bolted on top which was what the heck and then they backpedaled and tried to save Grace a little bit more by putting Keith Elwin's signature on the back of the topper of the 500 that came with the new in box, Bond 60th. Man, just God, and it wasn't all Stern's fault, but the whole Bond launch was just like a dumpster tumbling off of a loading dock, right? But eventually we got to where we are now, right? The code is caught up. The Bond cornerstone is now somewhat beloved, almost like Deadpool it seems like. I still haven't glommed on to it by a great deal, but I think a lot of that is because, like many people, I played this game when it came out, I played the code, I got my fill of it, and I'm kind of done. And then now when I do find one on location, maybe it's not running the latest code, so I'm not getting all of that. When I have played it at good verified locations like, say, Logan's Arcade in Chicago, it's running latest code, and yeah, there is a whole lot of playability in there, and, you know, hopefully Bond can recover a bit, you know, but but I'm not stepping over Jaws to get one in my game room here. But Bond 60th, that was a thing they released. Still a pretty compelling game from locations that still run it. Still a good earner. I went on the market just yesterday to see kind of where it's landed now, 12 months later. And I've seen one trading for around $13,000, home use only, low plays. And then you can still get them new in box for $15,000. So, you know, if you really wanted to have one, you can get one. I suspect that price will probably continue to dwindle down. There's people that are still hanging on to their new inboxes, hoping they're going to recoup maybe what they put into it. I just don't think there's any way these things are $17,000 to $20,000 ever again. You know, it's the Bond 60th. I don't know that they've ever done much code update-wise with it. I think I see it kind of as a dead machine now. It's out there. It's fun to play. But, yeah, I don't know that I'll be adding one to my collection. There was a lot of other problems with it, too, like the art is uninspired. It's just a collage of Bond movie posters. Again, not that that was Stern's fault. That was limits placed on them by the licensor. But this thing was, you know, a super ultra LE model that came out, but doesn't have art blades. I'm not even sure if it shipped with a shaker motor or not. You know, I'd have to check on that. But from what we're seeing from things like the, you know, viral blood red kiss, there was a lot more, you know, standing in the way of Bond 60th, I think is a colorful way to put that. What else happened? The podcast launched, and we went out of January, and we went into February. February took me on the road. I was out in West Virginia, as I was for much of the year, doing some extra work, making that pin buddy and making the student loan payoff money. Gosh, that was rough. But I brought you guys with me. I brought my recording equipment, and I didn't miss a week. I still did podcasts every two to three times a week, just putting out content whenever I could, doing live streams when I could, taking you with me on my adventures. I creeped over to a couple of pin spots in West Virginia and in Pennsylvania. So Helicon, I went to Helicon for my first time near Pittsburgh there. A great place, a brew pub owned by a guy that just loves him some pinball and has an immaculately large collection of incredible games. I went to Helicon all throughout the year whenever I found myself out in Pittsburgh, four to five times, I think. and each time there was something new in the lineup that was there. Got to spend some time on Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. Got to spend some time on Galactic Tank Force when that came out. There was two Bonsai runs at one point. It was nuts. It was nuts there. So Helicon, shout out to them. Also operated Starport in Morgantown, West Virginia, which was nice because I was working adjacent to there, so I was able to sneak away and play some games here and there. And it was kind of interesting. For a tiny little college town in West Virginia, They had at one point a Stranger Things Limited Edition And a Elvira House of Horrors Limited Edition Like the Red Couch Edition So it's definitely something that wasn't expected In the woods of West Virginia there in Morgantown So I did have me some fun with that Starport has since went defunct And was replaced by another place called Level 5 or something So it's good to see that there are some games that are hanging out there I don't know if the guy from Helicon is still operating it or not But what else did we have in February? We had the first Scooby-Doo on location. Now, this game was revealed by Spooky Pinball in the prior December, so 12 months ago from now. But production didn't start until the new year when they re-spooled up the factory. And February saw the first one go out on location. And I just happened to be there. It was IO Arcade in Madison. They're good friends with the spooky people. They tend to get things pretty quickly. And TCM is already on its way there. They're going to be getting the first one off the line, which is awesome. The guy that operates there also helps them with code and things. So that's kind of cool that that happens. But I just happened to be right place, right time. I was off that day. I was in Madison, and there was Scooby-Doo. And I got to play it for the first time with Monica. And I actually live-streamed the gameplay somewhat. And it took off. It turned out to be, like, one of my most popular live-streams that I did because that was the first real gameplay review on location of Scooby-Doo. You know, so that was fun. That happened in February. What else did we have? on February 19th, Stern pinball. Oh, this is funny. This is funny. Stern made a little social media post talking about, it was a picture of Eleven. It was Millie Bob Brown's birthday, the actress that portrays Eleven in Stranger Things. And they posted that saying, oh, too bad, we're not going to see anything from Eleven again until 2024. And at the time, there was this persistent rumor that Stranger Things was going to be rerun, and that turned out to be absolutely true, but we didn't have to wait until 2024. for, but that really kicked off speculation. What is Stern Pinball doing? You know, yeah, they did release the Stranger Things pinball machine, you know, several years ago, and so maybe they're just doing a little social media thing because, you know, the actress is tied in with the license that they had, but what the heck? That was just kind of weird, right, and just kind of sated our appetites that maybe Stranger Things is going to come. Around this time, I started looking at Stranger Things Premium, Stranger Things Premium, yeah, the one with the projector, and I found one for like $14,000, or something. It was in New Robert Englunds and I was starting to think like, you know, it was modded, it had a topper, it had everything with it and I was like, I guess this is kind of like the going rate for this. It had to be between $11,000 and $14,000 something crazy. But I hesitated for a moment thinking like, well, you know if I want to get one, this is what they cost and, you know, I started calculating how many extra shifts I would have to do in order to afford this thing, drive out there, pick it up somewhere in New Hampshire or somewhere, wherever the heck it was. But then I talked myself out of it and part of the discussion in my brain regarding that was posts like this from Stern. The persistent rumor that it was swirling, that they would rerun them at some point, and then they're just kind of coming out and celebrating old Millie's birthday there. So that was a bit of foreshadowing from Stern. I like that they do that. I like the kind of cat and mouse that we play between the rumor mill and the official word. What else do I have on my list here? February 28th, the day after my birthday, Foo Fighters was revealed. Yeah, I didn't in fact check that on Wikipedia, but that's when my post was, and I'm sure I was on it. Another game that was strongly rumored to be coming out, we all thought Venom was going to be next and then Foo Fighters was down the road and then here this music pin game right But this music pin game that they really went off in their own direction with created an original story kind of a takeoff on a Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoon. You know the story, right? But we got the reveal for Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters has made its way through District Dawn here. It's come and it's gone. It's living its life. Still in town, over at a buddy's house. Powder-coated to heck. Looked great. We still don't have a topper. We still don't have accessory kits. we still don't have expression light kits. This was February. We are 10 months away from when this game was revealed, and we still don't have official topper, shooter rod, armor. I think we have art blades, but we don't have expression lights at all for the people with the premiums that are waiting. This was the first run of music pins where the pro actually didn't have the routed out area to put in expression lights. So what I ended up doing was finding a buddy I met in Pittsburgh, He had himself a Led Zeppelin Expression Light Kit, and so I went ahead and bought that from him, put that in my Foo Fighters, where it exists today because there just isn't an Expression Kit for Foo Fighters. Are we ever going to see it at this point? That's questionable. Ten months it's been. It didn't seem like that long until I was putting this list together. Ten months we've been waiting for those. Now, here's the thing, though. The Expression Light Kits, whether you get the Led Zeppelin or the Rush, which are only two available right now, there's no difference in the equipment at all like none, the equipment is exactly the same the light bar is the same, the only difference is the graphic that goes on it so essentially just an Artblade sticker go over to Tilt Graphics Pin Graphics, wherever you want and pick some up for $80-$90 get some cheaper from overseas and get yourself an X-Acto knife and cut out the little circles there for the lights and just make your own Foo Fighter lights, make lights for whatever games that come out because they're all the same, that's what I don't get I don't get why they don't just sell one kit and then just buy the special art blades and then they can just produce them it doesn't have to be brand specific but I don't make the decisions at Stern but anybody that's out there that's waiting for Foo Fighter Lights if you can get yourself a Led Zeppelin kit or a Rush kit, go ahead and get them pull off the graphic or even leave that graphic and just put your other one over it I know a guy that just took the graphic off completely and it's just one big light bar and then he just cut his art blades to go around that and it just has an art blade there or a light bar that's there. Penn Stadium is releasing their X-Panels. That kind of came in August. I'll skip ahead here now. I just got confirmation that since I've ordered it in August, it has now been shipped. So I'm going to get my X-Panels here soon that I was hoping to try out on my Foo Fighters, but the Foo Fighters is no longer here. So I'm going to be sitting on these Penn Stadium X-Panels until I either get frustrated and give them away, sell them to somebody else, or wait until Metallica comes out and I throw them in there and have to try it. But we'll see. I will digress That's how February ended Let's get to March Do you remember the madness that was going on In the pinball world March 2023 When we got 72 games released All at the same time It was nuts All in the lead up to Texas Pinball Festival Spooky did it right First out the gate, new year, new game Sold, deposits, done Then we had Foo Fighters was revealed Then we had everything from Godfather to GTF Godfather, I got to go play that on site we got the reveal from that I think that's what it was March was a busy month, let me start at the beginning of March I got my Elvira House of Horrors Premium the one that became the 40th Anniversary Light, which is now sitting over in Runner Danny's house, waiting for the topper which I've just finished and I'll be shipping out to him soon, got that in I got to play Godfather at IO again, the same people that had Scooby-Doo, first one out this first place I played Godfather, I was actually on my way to the airport in Chicago where I was going to fly down to Louisville, Kentucky, and go to the Louisville Arcade Expo, which I did. And I was able to stop and put $10 through Godfather and then show up there at the Louisville event, having just played the brand-new JJP and playing Bond 60th also with the Flip N Out Pinball guys. So that led right into that expo. That was my first expo as a content whatever this is, right? So that was very fun for me. I had already had a couple of T-shirt designs. and so I thought it would be fun and it would also help to brush up my ego if I would take some of my t-shirts and some stickers and things, put them in some polymailer bags, carry them around in the expo in my backpack and if anybody ran up to me and recognized me from the fledgling podcast that I just started I believe what was it, Whitewater? I think Whitewater was the phrase that paid there. So if you recognized me and you said Whitewater, I pulled out of my backpack a prize pack for that person. I brought four of them, and I gave three of them away. That was amazing. I had just started this. I was fresh out down in Louisville, Kentucky for the weekend to go check out this expo. Couldn't wait. Couldn't wait, man. Then people came up, and they were like, are you Don? I'm like, yes, I am. Here, have some stickers. Have a business card. Have a key chain. Here's your prize package. Pose for a selfie. It was fantastic. That was so fun. Out of four of the packs, I was able to give away three of them. so that was fun and that's something that I've continued on as we went the expo in March that was my first time that I got to meet the Flip N Out Pinball people Zach Nicole, Greg Bone was there Brian Coz my homie was there I got to meet him for the first time and I spent my time I split it between playing games on the show floor hanging out at the Flip N Out Pinball booth and then hanging out at the Spooky Pinball booth as well with Bug and Luke there I kept checking out that buttery Scooby-Doo that they had and decided to upgrade when the time came for that. But, yeah, just what a low-key show. Just a bunch of people hanging out. I got to go to Bucky's over in Lexington and get a sandwich. It was a good time. It was a good, fun time, low-key. It was about a fifth of the size of Pinball Expo in Chicago, but it was my first time out on my own, and I was giving stickers to everybody, playing with the homebrew games. I played full throttle for the first time. It was just a fun, good time. And what else? Oh, we got Galactic Tank Force. It was released subsequent to that. There was none of those at Louisville, but it was at TPF that year. TPF, I blew off. Well, I had every intention on going to TPF. It would have been my second time going to the Texas Pinball Expedition, Texas Pinball Festival in Frisco, Texas. Sorry, my brain paused there for a second. That would have been my second time going there, but I was outvoted by the family. And to their credit, it was my kid's spring break. And rather than have her waste her free time off at a dusty warehouse in the middle of Frisco, Texas, with just about nothing for her to do, we went ahead and went on a Antonio Cruz. Disney Antonio Cruz on the Caribbean. Had a fantastic time. I brought my equipment with me. And I remember sitting on the balcony, floating about the ocean, and recording some podcasts. And I think that's where I gave my first impressions on the reveal for GTF, right? So that was fun. GTF was released. Still to this day, I'm not sure exactly how many units have even left the factory. It's still not really showing up in arcades. It's at a few of the big places, but Logan's Arcade didn't even have one. Interium's had one, but American Pinball uses that as their testing ground. But all my local arcades, even IO Arcade Madison, which gets like every game when it comes out. Blue Moon right up the street. Again, they get every game when it comes out. They still don't have either one of those. So what's going on at the factory with American Pinball? Are we going to still be talking about American Pinball 12 months from now? Honestly, it could go either way. I wouldn't be surprised either way that it does go, which is crazy as these people with this company, they should be like a top five pinball manufacturer. But where are the games, man? How can you call yourself a pinball manufacturer if there's no games? They're making Houdini's. they're making Legends of Ahala's or they're sitting on stock or something. But, you know, what the heck, man? GTF should be everywhere. It's not everybody's cup of tea. It has some problems in it, some issues that are not insurmountable. Plenty of homeowners enjoy the game that they have. I have fun playing it about 50% of the time. It depends on if the game's been tweaked and is running well or not. But this is a game that should be in every arcade, right? because people are on the fence on buying this thing, especially that signature edition at $16,000. But this is a game that you would play on location, right? If you're not going to cop the money to go ahead and purchase this thing, you would run down to your local arcade and throw $5, $10 through it every week, every other week or so. So this game should be everywhere for operators, and it's just not. And I don't know why other than they're just not coming out of the factory. Like by now they should be into that standard edition, right? Not even the deluxe, but the standard. You know, the inexpensive version, the version that's made for operators and get it out there. But operators are either not buying it or they have it on order and they just don't know when it's coming. So what the heck, GTF? What does the future hold for you? You kooky weird game with the LED lights and then the cow on a noose and the magnets and the tank and the 3D stuff, 3D printed things and the laticular trans light and all that juicy, franchy artwork that we love. Where's this game at? Is this game ever going to make it into the District 1 arcade? I just don't know. Where would I even get one? Where would I even get one? I need to go on Pinside live here while I'm recording and just see what the market is on them. Are people selling them yet? Are they available? Or is it still all in pre-order land? Who the heck knows? The other game that we finally got to see, I think I might be jumping forward here a little bit. Let's see. When did I play Pulp Fiction? Did Pulp Fiction get away? What else did I have? March. Let's close March out. Went to the Louisville Arcade Expo, got that, met Flip N Out Pinball, met Spooky, gave away things, GTF was released, TPF, I wanted a Antonio Cruz instead. That's what happened. Okay, let's get to April. Let's get to April. April, I bought Star Wars Premium, and I'm not sad about it. I still have it. I sold Guns N' Roses Limited Edition. At the time, I didn't want to sell it, and now I can always go get one if I need it, but I'm not in the market for one. Oh, this was fun. This was fun in April. This was a little post. I took a screenshot of it. somebody was selling on the Facebook marketplace a Black Knight Sword of Rage topper for the price of $3,000 USD. This was back in April. These things were unavailable. They were in very short supply, and they were in very high demand, to the point that it was not unreasonable to ask for $3,000 for a Black Knight Sword of Rage topper because that feathered little black-headed knight that goes around and taunts you and his head rolls back and forth and looks amazing, it was not available anywhere. And so that was the going rate for it. And I remember posting that saying, like, you know, this is nuts. And Stern must have thought so, too, because just out of nowhere, they went ahead and just re-released these things with a $1,000 markup from their initial price. Now there's going to be some inflation adjustments, you know, so this thing could have sold for $9.99 and probably would have been about on par for its $4.99, $5.99 release years and years ago. but no they went with $14.99 for it which was again half the cost of what the going rate was online and from what I've been hearing it sold well heck I don't even own a Black Knight Sword of Rage and I went ahead and got me one just because of posts like that from before I remember seeing this thing going for multiple thousands of dollars with no word on if they'd ever be released again with a track record of accessories that should be released that haven't been you know like the Foo Fighters expression lights and topper and things you know so if we can't wait for things that haven't even been made the first time when the heck are they ever gonna we can count on them to ever re-release them again so yeah FOMO got me but I you know what else I got me a Black Knight Sword of Rage topper um and I've got it sitting there on a shelf and someday someday I will use it I will bolt that on my Sword of Rage game even if I only have it for a few months but I think I'll keep that topper because that topper special and I really like it and I know that that doesn't make any sense like in a logical way or manner. But since when does anything in pinball ever need to make logical sense? What do we have on the outline here? April. I bought that, I bought that, I bought that on Facebook. That's all I got. That's all I got. Where do I talk about Pulp Fiction? Oh, June. Okay, so let's go to May. Let's go to May. May I was back on the road. I was working in Ohio, making that pin money, making that student loan money, and I did stop by Collision Bend in Cleveland. I got to hang out with the 216 crew. Shout out to y'all. Cool bunch of homies out there. so my buddy Jeff from Ad Pinball our relationship was blossoming at this point they hooked me up with the 216 crew and was like hey come by this place when you check it out I was working adjacent to Cleveland so I rolled on up in there drove 11 hours straight through and made it for their tournament where I was like invited media guest of honor or some crap I had no idea what the hell my expectations were but there I was I was invited damn it I'm going I played in the tournament I hung out with the folks met some great people So get out to Collision Bend and go play some of them games that are out there Shout out to 216 If you're in the Cleveland area Get yourself over the Guardians Bridge or whatever And go play some games there That was fun, that happened May 14th was an infamous day in pinball land This kind of rocked everybody There had been a lot of speculation up to this point That somebody had the Harry Potter license Or was pursuing it to create a pinball machine um you know it's got a an ingrown base of fans that is like millions large right so this would be like like the killer app killer theme to make a pinball machine out of like as big as jurassic park is bigger than ghostbusters um you know but as big as star wars it seems like right and all of a sudden um uh our lord and savior uh joe cam and cow this guy that works deep in licensing And like if anybody knows licensing at this magnitude like this is the guy And he just comes out of nowhere and says, no speculation anymore. Jersey Jack has a license for Harry Potter and the Pinball World. Boom. Done. What the heck? And, like, we don't know why he posted that. We just know that he did. And it stayed up for, like, two or three days. And, like, people were just jumping in there. Like, what are you talking about, guy? are you serious? And he was just like doubling down. And then eventually like it must've been 48 hours later, he did delete it. Um, but there it is, there it is. Right. And we're looking at like Toy Story 4, Godfather, and then like they have the Harry Potter license. And then it was kind of radio silence from, from Jersey Jack. I think they, they did a flat out denial that, that, that no they don't have plans on doing that or something. Um, you know, maybe that's what they would have had to do to try to predict the license. Maybe it wasn't firmed up or finalized yet, but man, I bet Jersey Jack wasn't expecting that reveal to come out. And then it's since kind of petered out now, and it's out of the news cycle. But remember, that happened. That happened on May 14th. Here we are seven months later, and we're going to be seeing more from Jersey Jack this year. So is Harry Potter next? Honestly, it could happen or it could not happen, and I would be just as surprised either way. But that was crazy. Do you remember that? Man, and that was nuts. What do we have next? June. All right, we're getting into summertime here. What the heck? Oh, Space Hunt. Remember Space Hunt? Remember Hexapinball? Hexapinball, French manufacturer from the Burgundy region, deep in the south of France. Toulouse is the town. It's known as La Vie en Rose, which is the Rose City. Because of the city center, the buildings are made out of this rose-colored brick because that's the color of the Joshua Clay from that region. So that's kind of where that comes from. That's why Space Hunt is all pink and burgundy and purple. That's what that's about. Hexa comes from hexagon, which is the hexagonal shape of the mainland of France. France is sometimes referred to as the hexagon, lexagon. And so that's where hexa comes from. That's why Space Hunt is pink. Everything else about Space Hunt, I don't know. There's no connection to that. You play as Spherus, the ball, and you're hunting in space. What are you hunting? I don't know, but what a killer earworm of a song they had for that. Go look it up on the YouTube, Space Hunt. Man, we were, like, humming that thing for, like, a week, it seemed like. Space Hunt was either revealed or released or some damn thing. I still haven't got to play that. That was, like, the one release of this year that I haven't got to. I finally got the final Resistance, and I still haven't got to Space Hunt. I did reach out to them recently just through a Facebook post, just asking if there was any machines for the U.S., and I think they said something to the effect of soon. I have talked to them about, you know, importing them. Send me a review copy. Let me play it and send it back to you. That didn't go very far. They're making games for their local French market, which is burgeoning. They have tournaments there in the south of France. They had an expo that they invited me on out to that they were going to have it on location to play. I was actually nearby just across the border in northern Spain when that was going off. But, again, it was going to mean a five-hour detour and, hey, family, let's not go to the beaches of Barcelona and the Mediterranean. Let's go drive five hours the other direction to go to Toulouse, Spain, right, Toulouse, France, probably France's equivalent of Bakersfield, California so I can go to a sweaty warehouse and go play Space Hunt and I was appropriately downvoted that was the right decision to make family so what did we have in June? I got to play Pulp Fiction so en route to that trip out to Europe I stopped by Interium and there was a Pulp Fiction there on display that's where I got to play it so when this game was revealed I love the Pulp Fiction license I own the screenplay, I own the VHS tape I wore it out in high school, I could quote the entire movie I love me some pulp fiction but when this game was revealed that it was going to be a single level 1970 style game or whatever I was like, I don't know that I need to go in on this we have like 20 other games that were just revealed in March I don't know that I need to jump on this I don't know if this is the type of game that I want to have at home even though I will play it on location I thought of it more like a Bond 60, is this going to hold my attention, that all business so I had a limited edition with that topper in my cart when it was revealed and I was like you know I don't need to go in on this thing they're making a thousand of them there's going to be plenty there's plenty of Scooby-Doos left over I'll be able to get one if I really really want one they're making a thousand they're making a thousand of these and then boom I must have misjudged the market incredibly because they they completely sold out of the LEs and then the the standard editions were available whatever and I was like okay well this is something that I just don't think I can buy or pre-order non-refundable deposit, $1,000, without playing it first, right? And I still think that was the right decision to make. Well, I mean, probably not. I should have bought, pre-ordered three of them, and then sold my pre-orders for double or triple what I paid for and then got out. That probably would have been the best decision to make, hindsight-wise. But I didn't. But I did play it. And yeah, the game plays fantastic. The game's super fun. I totally want one now. So I went ahead and pre-ordered one while I was in Europe. Joe from Pinball Star and sent him $500 and then I expected to have my standard edition Pulp Fiction about 4 or 5 months ago and nobody's gotten any of them. Nobody has them. There's a couple on locations and that's it. There's a couple that are touring the shows I saw some down at IAAPA. They had like 4 or 5 of the things and none were for any of us. So I've been saying somewhat facetiously that I'm expecting this game to arrive finally in 2025. And the more I think about it, the more I may actually be right about that, which really, really sucks because this game is awesome. But, you know, as awesome as this game is, if it's not being made, is it really that great? I don't know. I don't know how to feel about it, man. You know, I've talked about Pulp Fiction before. You know, I had some money allocated when I pre-ordered it. Like, okay, you know, I've got some shifts coming up. I'll squirrel that money away so it'll be sitting there, you know, And hopefully October when they start leaving the factory, that's when I'll have to get it. That money, though, has been reallocated already. So if they were to call me today and say, hey, Don, your game's ready. Give us our $7,500 or whatever. I'd be like, rain check. Maybe I'll do it later. Let me reevaluate it. We're about to see Jaws next week. It would be foolish to just dump $7,500 into Pulp Fiction right now. If Jaws comes out next week, it's amazing. And, you know, I'd have to miss out on that just to get my game that I wanted six months ago. I don't like the whole pre-ordering business here. So I really hope it comes together in the new year. Oh, we'll speculate on that. But I got to play it, and the game does play good. So, you know, go and play it however you can. I had a good time in Europe. One of the things I do remember is I was out in Zermatt, Switzerland. I was up on the top of the Matterhorn. I always wanted to go there. I figured out how to get there. I found a place to stay the night. We stayed in the town overnight. It was great. And then I found out that when I was up at this mountain peak with glaciers in every direction, you know, Italy on the horizon, Switzerland where I was standing, you know, France not far away, I found out I had 5Gs of service. So I went ahead and did a pinball live stream from the Swiss Alps, glacier side, in a T-shirt, because it was 40 degrees and I'm from Wisconsin, and that's balmy. So that was fun. I don't think anybody has done that. I don't think anybody has gone to that type of location. and then rather than spend the time with the family, spend the time just admiring the glorious wonders of nature and contemplating your one's place in the universe. I went on and I talked about Galactic Tank Force or something stupid like that. But from the Alps, man, from the Alps. I did a Facebook Live from up there. That was something. That was something interesting. I've got a little feather in my hat. It only took like 10 or 15 minutes and then the family was exploring anyway. So it's not like I missed anything to do it. It was just kind of fun and really silly and stupid to go do, and so that's right up my alley. I do have a Pichon for the absurd, as I've mentioned before, and that served it well. What else did we have? Punny Factory I have written down. Left the factory. Okay, so, oh, man, I did see this. I saw Donald Hopkins' Punny Factory number one with the, what would he call it, the embossed wood cabinet engraved edition, right, that he got. that he was big into, and it was in his arcade. And looking back at that photo, I don't really see any problems with the play field. That seemed to have cropped up later. Maybe it was just a weird angle, but that saga went sideways like crazy. Remember the whole, has anybody checked in on how the fundraising is going to throw that game on fire off of Todd Tucky's roof? Whatever happened with that? Did that GoFundMe get shut down? But, yeah, I remember that's the photo that came up, that Plenty Factory is leaving the factory, and the number one engraved edition at the Tears of Oasis Arcade or whatever the heck that place in Georgia is called. I don't know. Dude went sideways on me, and he's one of, like, the two people that have banned from the website. So wish him well. Hopefully he gets whatever issue sorted, but gosh dang. And the Godzilla topper in June. We got that. We're only halfway through the year, man. Danny, how much more room do you have in your run? We're going to go ahead and celebrate. How about a brief musical interlude? Well, I flipped the pages in the ledger here. What a cool year this has been, man. Look at all that content, all that stuff that's happened within this hobby, the buying and the selling of the games, the buying and the selling of friends. It's just kind of all over the place. All right, let's stop that interlude and let's see what we got. All right, July. What happened in July? Centaur was revealed and released by Haggis Pinball. You got a leather jacket if you spent, what is it, $18,000 for the Oblivion edition of this weird old game. None of them have showed up so far, but I guess they're being made right now. Supposedly, Haggis actually finished by the end of the year, got caught up with all their Fathom Orgurs. So that's great. Good for them, man. Awesome, awesome job, you blokes down under. So I guess Centaur will be in production starting in the first of the year, and then we'll see when they start floating across the Pacific. But yeah, that's awesome. The leather jacket, though, I haven't seen it yet. I've got to say, Wasn't there a helmet, like a motorcycle helmet you get too if you buy that edition? So, I mean, okay. GTF, signature edition, $16,000. Comes with a powder coat and a laticular back glass. And that's it that you can't get yourself. Well, the autographs, I guess. But, like, the banners and the refillable pint glass and all that business for $16,000. Come on. At least Centaur, which is also absurdly overpriced, comes with a leather jacket and a helmet. So when they go lock you up for making bad financial decisions, you've already got your helmet so you don't hurt yourself. So I want to see what this leather jacket looks like. What if the leather jacket is freaking amazing? What if it's like a $700 leather jacket that's like dyed with the Centaur logo on it and just looks like completely awesome? Wouldn't that be like just the best cherry to put on the top if people are like, you know what? I'm not going to lie. That leather jacket is dope. And how could they shoot their customers in the foot? But what if they offer that leather jacket just on their web store for like $400, and you could just go get that and not have to spend the $18,000 for your Oblivion Edition of Centaur? I want to see one of these games in person, man. I hope the build quality is good because the game looks awesome. Even the colorized version, I've come around to it, man. I want to see this. I want to see Centaur. Centaur is not a bad game. It's goofy. I think they did some cool stuff with the toppers. I don't think people talked about that enough. But, yeah, I think people are finally going to get their Centaurs. And as long as they still have money in the pin budget so they're not missing out on some newer releases, I think people are going to enjoy it. I think people are actually going to enjoy it, but I do think it was overpriced. So what else happened in July? Oh, I got Iron Maiden. I picked that up. So sitting over there. I still have it. It's awesome. Moving on. August, what happened? August was when I made over Elvira into the 40th anniversary light edition and broke the Internet here for a little bit. Man, was I getting some heat from Kaneda there. He couldn't stand that I dared to change the cabinet decal graphics on my Elvira to suit what I wanted to make out of it. It was a fun little pet project for me. Through that process, I learned that I was able to change cabinet graphics if I so choose. That led me to have the confidence to go even further and try to customize games in ways that I find enjoyable. You know, I went ahead and was talked out of my Elvira. It was twisted out of my hands. You know, but on the contingency, I was able to replace it with a Blood Red Kiss, which I have. And so now she lives on, man. You know, something I created is out there in the ether and just a source of joy and inspiration to the rest of the world. So for that, I am thankful. What else happened? Oh, another first. So I went up flying around the neighborhood in my paramotor. It's a powered paraglider, right? So you wear a two-stroke engine on your back with a propeller on it. And you have basically a parabolic parachute wing. And you go running along the ground and then fly up into the air in this little contraption. which is kind of like sitting in one of those fabric camping chairs and just flying around. While I was doing that, I also had 5G service, so I went ahead and did a pinball live stream while I was operating my single-occupant aircraft. I think that's a first, too. I don't think anybody's ever done that before, probably for good reason, but that did happen. I saw the photos from the live stream. So check that out back in August. I don't know if you could even hear me because I wasn't really mic'd up. I was just talking into my phone with a 200cc two-stroke engine feet away with a spinning blade to death. But, yeah, yeah, that did happen, and we didn't run into anything. Later in August, I went to this place called the Yucca Tap Room, which is in the Phoenix area, and went to the Electric Bat Arcade. I had heard about Cale and Rachel place from the Pinball Party podcast and I was in Arizona and I thought heck it let go What a fantastic place That probably the best arcade I went to this year Let see Interium IO Logan Arcade and the Yucca Tap Room man That was tops for the year. So I'm glad I got to go by there. I can't wait to get back. Next time I'm in Arizona, for sure, I'm going to go there. Hopefully I can stop by when Cale and Railtree are working. We also got the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Edition that was revealed. So initially, you know, back in antiquity, 500 Jurassic Park limited editions were made. They went ahead and did another 500 of them with this, like, Ron Burgundy powder coat. And I guess they all sold out at $12,999. But that was before we knew Elvira was coming. So, you know, I didn't jump in at that fee. I think, you know, I like the experiment they're doing, making more limited editions later, even though that flies in the face of the phrase limited edition. but they did a big step up as far as what is added into when they did the Elvira edition then when they did this Jurassic Park re-release but if you were wanting a definitive version of Jurassic Park, you had it there it was it's a game I enjoy, I appreciate it I'm not really gunning to own it myself but that's okay, I don't have to own everything it's fun to play on location and it's fun to shoot dinosaurs so there's the game so that happened, what else? Oh, I went down to Benton, Wisconsin, and I interviewed Spooky Pinball. Dude, we got like five or seven minutes into the interview, and I realized I hadn't hit record. And so we had to like pull back and total rookie mistake, man. So whenever I record with anybody now, I'm like quadruple, centuple checking that we're actually recording. So it's not just talking into the wind. But they were super good sports about it. They've got a great operation down there. You've heard the praise for Spooky Pinball. and they listen to concerns and they're getting better every release man and they sure did prove that when they invited me back to the factory to go play their two brand new games 48 hours after they freaking released them man what a couple of great lads down there and the whole team from Morgan on down to all the manufacturing folks yeah I got love for Spooky what can I say so that happened in August what else September gosh man we have three more months left I invited the spooky guys over to the house And they came by, we live streamed Rick and Morty Behind me, that was nuts That happened Oh this was funny, well they were over here Now supposedly they were kind of like dropping hints On what their next games were And I think at one point Spooky Luke turned to me And he's like, okay Don, what do you really think We're doing next? And I was like, man honestly I don't know, there was the Princess Bride rumor There was the Monty Python rumor That was going on I think I'd heard Looney Tunes as well And I'm like, man, you guys could be making Texas Chainsaw Massacre for all I know. I really am not sure. I think I remember saying that. And he just went like, oh, okay, all right, okay, yeah, okay. And, like, for me, like, I didn't pick up on any of that like it was a hint or something. But I think Monica managed to glimpse Bug's desktop when he opened it up. And I think he had a Looney Tunes desktop that was on there, like desktop background. And she mentioned that to me later. And I'm like, oh, you know, whatever. They're just goofy guys. His name's Bug, Bug's Bunny. I'm so dense, man. I didn't put it together. We totally had their two themes that were coming. I didn't even realize it. So that was fun that that happened. Keep dropping hints around me because I will not pick up on them. What else do we got? Oh, I went and picked up Big Lebowski. I traded Rick and Morty for it. I drove out to Ohio to pick it up, and I picked up not only the game but a couple extra shifts at this hospital that I was working at. And I was going to be there for about three to four days, and I had Big Lebowski in the back of my truck with a tarp on it. And I didn't want to just leave it out there, you know, in the potential elements to get rained on. So I snuck it into the hospital with me. Now, they had a little room that I stay in there, kind of like a little studio apartment. And so in the hospital, I had my pinball machine with me, and that was super fun that that got to happen, that, you know, I was at work with a pinball machine, something I've wanted to do for years now, and I found a way to make it happen. Like, who doesn't want to just, like, bring a pinball machine from home and stick it in your break room, right? So when you go in there to grab a Dr. Pepper or something, you can throw a couple of games on Big Lebowski. Why not, right? Why not? I was living the dream, man. I'm living out my dreams and trying to share it with as many people as I can. What else happened? Let me go down the list here. Godfather accessory kit was revealed. I fell in love with those silver leg lines. I've got a set. I had to buy the whole kit and then part it out and then keep the lines for myself, and that's what I did. And I've got them over on the Blood Red Kiss right now, I've got to say, they kind of fit, man. They kind of fit. That chrome, man, I love it. Venom was also released. Not much else needs to be said about that. Cool game. I like the premium. I hate the pro. That does my feelings on it. Plug and Play Stimulator from Pinball Life. Thank you for releasing that into the world. You guys are some hardcore edgelords, man. I wouldn't have bought myself one of these. It's an extendable stimulator attachment to power on your machines, and it's for absolutely nothing else other than that. and I think it's in Canada now. Fun story, I gave it away on a live stream and of course a Canadian had to win it, which meant that I had to pay $25 for shipping instead of eight, so thanks for that. Sent that out there and it actually got caught up in customs for a while because weeks later when the guy finally received it, there was a note there that customs had opened the box. So I can only imagine what they were thinking opening up this tasseled marital aid on an extendable rod, but made out of flimsy quality, Packed with sawdust Oh my god And then they delivered it to the dude So somebody got a chuckle there When they opened that thing up They probably x-rayed it and they're like We gotta open this up and see what it is Because it could look like a pipe or something For smoking So they probably opened it up I hope they took a look at it And just closed the box and sent it off I hope they didn't pick it up I really hope they didn't smell it Not that I used it for nefarious purposes But man that would have been rough So thank you Pinball Life for all that you do for us Also end of September We got some Labyrinth rumors That's when Barrels of Fun put out that teaser That homework assignment And then that led into October That led into Expo Man we're 48 minutes now Danny keep running buddy Keep going This is going to be a two parter We're going to finish strong here So I went to Expo Stranger Things was revealed also in October I picked up my Venom One thing I'll say about Expo It was great meeting everybody there from Jersey Jack and Ken Cromwell to the folks over at Barrels of Fun to the folks from Pinball Adventures the folks from The Electric Playground to every listener that came up to me and hung out Jeff, dude, you're my homie Brad, Doug everybody, man I can't list everybody, dude it was just so great and I'm already booking my ticket for next year I can't wait to get back to Expo I got to meet Chick Danzig everybody, Cale and Rachel, I ran into them Met the two guys from the Pinball News Podcast Hung out with Pinball Brothers, it was great I was doing interviews, I was running non-stop Morning to noon, to night I went to the Pinball Olympics for the first time Everybody has to do that At some point, it is so Bizarrely strange and incredible So go to that We saw Elvira Blood Red Kiss At the Stern Tour Make sure you do that next year Elton John was there being played Ninja Eclipse was there Shout out to Turner Pinball We're going to check back in with them And see how they're doing We'll do that in the new year I really want them to take the feedback to heart And come out with a strong machine A strong product Because we need it and it plays well What else I won the Homebrew Topper Award That was a new category that was started this year For not only homebrew machines But homebrew toppers as well And I'm looking at the flippy award here That I got right now So that was fantastic I'm hoping to turn that into a production model in the new year. So if you're interested in a couple of light-up gargoyles that are game interactive, let me know. I'm going to be putting a small run of them into production. If you want to get in on one, you've got to let me know in like a $50 deposit or something. But I want to put those into production here soon, but I don't know that it would be for very long. So that was like the greatest time of the year was in October at Expo. It was nuts. But I followed that up with November. I went to the IAPA Expo. It's the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. It's held every year around the world, but the big one in the U.S. is in Orlando most years. And it's where, okay, imagine Pinball Expo, 20 times the size with 30 times the amount of people. It was incredible. This is the expo where if you make water slides, go-karts, popcorn machines, dip and dots booths, if you have a Sbarro franchise, if you make control systems for roller coasters, if you make roller coasters, if you want to buy a theme park or build your own, you can get everything there from arcades, family entertainment centers, go-kart tracks, roadside attractions, you name it, they got it. Inflatables, party rentals, everything, everything is there for the themed amusement and theme park community. I've always wanted to go because of all the new roller coasters that get revealed at the Expo, and now I had an in through the pinball thing. Man, it was great. I got to hang out there with Jack, got to play Elton John, got to play Pulp Fiction nonstop. GTF was there twice in two different booths. And then Interactive Water Adventures and all kinds of just everything. If you want dinosaur animatronics, that's where you get them. If you want to open a mini golf course, they got 10 people there to sell you on their different courses. If you want a bowling alley in your house, there's like six different people selling in-home bowling alleys. It's nuts from coin pushers to alcohol pushers, man. It's all there. It's all there, man. I can't wait to go back to IAPA next year. I'm never missing it again. It was an incredible experience over several days. I didn't even see like 30% of the show floor. It was just walking around mouth agape at all the possibilities of what is possible in the modern times with regard to themed entertainment. jukeboxes and slot machines well, not slot machines, coin pusher machines interactive stuff from what's the company that's making Pulp Fiction? Ride Mechanics? No. You know the guys that make the Jurassic Park shooters and things, House of the Dead. Play Mechanics, yeah. All of that stuff is there. Inflatables are there. Jungle gyms. Playground equipment. Escape rooms. I mean, if you want a smoke machine, if you want an inflatable bubble machine, if you want skywriting equipment, explosives, everything is there. Everything is there. Pyrotechnics. If you want a wall in your house that's nothing but LCD panels, you can do it. You can do it there. It's crazy. It's crazy. I had such a great time at IAPA, and I'm still recovering from everything that I saw there. Spooky was also teasing in November that they had some games coming out. That was nice of them to do that. Oh, yeah, they were mailing out bits of their new games, and I actually got one. Cary Hardy got one. Kaneda got something. It's not even related to the two games that were released. That was probably the funniest thing. We're all trying to figure out what his sliding bookcase mech goes to. It's like it doesn't go to anything. But Nat, myself, Cary Hardy, we each got three pieces to the ball lock mechanism in the back of TCM and Looney Tunes. So that was fun. That was totally cool. They did that. The guys had such a great time doing that. I think we're going to see that again in the future. That brings us to December. Lebowski Topper was released by the Electric Playground and promptly sold out of all 100 units. I've got one on order. They sent me one. They sent me the prototype one to go test and live stream, and I was happy to do that and share it with everybody. So I'm hoping to continue that burgeoning relationship with them so I can get the products and get the reviews out before it sells out so you can know, like, is this for me, is it not for me, and not just have the official word, but have it, like, from hands-on, you know, from somebody that can unbox it and show you, like, what the thing actually is. And then we got the Spooky Release 2 games, you know, whatever. 888 editions of TCM and Looney Tunes are coming out. I've played both of them. I ordered both of them. I can't wait to get both of them. And I'm going to have a whole spooky corner set up in my room. It's already budgeted and paid for. I can't wait. Bring the games. probably going to be February. And then we got a big tease from the Princess Bride that just happened. Woo! I'm exhausted. What a killer year in review that was, man. I can't wait to see what 2024 brings. It's going to bring me to Texas Pinball Festival in a couple of months. Expo, Southern Fright Gaming Expo. I've got to go back to IAAPA. There's a total solar eclipse coming in April. It's going to cross the entirety of the U.S., starting from the southwest to the northeast. Make sure you get the time off work now before people realize it's coming. Total solar eclipses are amazing. Bring that music back. So check that out. I'm going to do a whole year preview episode here coming up soon with all the speculations and everything. But, hey, thank you, everybody, for a great 2023. Thanks, everybody, for following the Facebook page. We hit 950 people today. Today. Almost to that 1,000-member goal. I can't wait. the Patreon was introduced and is blowing up. We've got six to eight producers now. We're doing giveaways every two months. The next one will be February 15th. I've got to find a stack of Translites or some banners to give away. Maybe some X-Panels from Penn Stadium. Who the heck knows? But I know that I'll still be here and still making this content for everybody. Thank you so much. Email me at donaldspinballpodcast at gmail.com. Follow the Facebook page. That's a great way to interact. Come on the Discord. It's blowing up. I can barely keep up with it all. I've got mods that are going to be released here in the new year. It's going to be great, man. Bring on the ball drop. Take care of yourself. Eat your vegetables.