Welcome everybody to Canada's Pinball Podcast, the pinball podcaster most likely to get invited to a media mixer. Here's what we're going to do. I asked on this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast for you club members to choose your own adventure. And we got two of the topics right at the top. I think one is at 26% and one is at freaking 27%. So I asked you, how will Stern handle Jaws? 26% of you want to talk about that. 27% of people want to talk about what's next after Elton John from Jersey Jack Pinball. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to throw both of you people a bone. I'm going to talk about both of these topics on this episode of Canadian Pinball Podcast. But before I do this, I want to do something I haven't done before. I want to thank the top five people who contribute to Canadian Pinball Podcast on a monthly basis. These are people that are donating more than just the $5 a month, which is what most people contribute. And I'm thankful for every single contribution. I'm not going to raise the price to $10. I want to thank Brenda O'Donovan. Yes, my wife is donating $30 a month. I want to thank Jordan Melville up there in Vancouver, Canada. I want to thank Rodney C., who is also donating $30 a month to Canada's Pinball Podcast. Thank you so much. and my two biggest contributors on a monthly basis with 50 whopping dollars a month. Thank you so much, Dan Jansen and Kenneth Collins. I really appreciate the support. You are donating in one month what other people donate in 10 months. And I'm super happy you see the value in Canada's Pinball Podcast. All right, so let's talk about these two topics. Where do we want to start? Let's start with Jersey Jack and then we'll move on to Jaws Pinball. Because what I did was I went and I looked online about the top 10 moments that happened in the Jaws movie. And let's ask ourselves whether or not we think Stern Pinball can mechanically bring some of those scenes to life. And the major question we're going to ask everybody on this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast, can you make a Jaws pinball machine without the assets from the movie? All right, so let's talk about Jersey Jack Pinball and what is after Elton John. You know, look, we're all assuming it's going to be Elton John. And I think the reason why everyone feels good about this Elton John rumor, it's much like the Godfather, much like Guns N' Roses. Jersey Jack Pinball has not been able to keep any of their titles a secret until now, though. If you think about it, nobody's really saying, hey, the game after Elton John is most likely going to be Mark Sadan's game. Now, Mark has been at Jersey Jack Pinball since October of 2021. So he's been there for two years. And we all know like two years over at Jersey Jack Pinball is the typical amount of time it takes to get a game from concept to creation. Steve Ritchie's been over there for two years and we're about to get his game this year. Now, if you go and listen to that Pinball Profile interview again, I listened to it again. I listened to my version of it because it's a lot more fun to listen to my version of it. And I might have to release that one for free, everybody. It might have to be one that goes out there for Twippy eligibility. I know I said I wasn't going to release new episodes, but I just might release the interview part of that episode. So if you go back and listen to it, I listened to it again. And when they talk about Steve Ritchie's next game, do they sound like they're gushing about it? Do they sound like I can't wait for you to see it? They seem a little melancholy. Like all Steve is saying is, well, they didn't take anything out of my game. And Jack's just giving his part for the course statement about, hey, Steve designed a really good game. I think people are going to say Steve Ritchie is back. Okay, well, look, we're going to see this game obviously in the next like three months. They've alluded to that. It's funny to me that on one hand they're saying Godfather is a great game and it's selling well and operators love it. And we all know they don't. We all know that Godfather is not selling well. And it's going to be real interesting to see how long it takes Jersey Jack Pinball to get all those CE owners replacement lockdown bars as their gold armor starts to fade where your palms are sitting on that lockdown bar. But you didn't fill out the survey to talk about the lockdown bar on the Godfather. So what do we think is next? Mark Sadan has only done one game we know of. He did a homebrew version of Metroid. Other than that, we have no idea what he's capable of. Now, when you hear Steve Ritchie talk, he says that the engineering department over at Jersey Jack Pinball is better than it's ever been. So are we going to see Jersey Jack Pinball return to a period where their games are loaded with toys? But what do we think the theme is? Let's talk about some of the titles that have been rumored. We know that Harry Potter might be a theme that Jersey Jack Pinball has. Do we think Mark Sadan is making Harry Potter? I don't think Harry Potter, if it's going to happen, is going to happen next year. I don't think it's going to be the next game after Elton John. I think if they do make Harry Potter, I think it's going to be a lot like Toy Story. I don't think it's going to have the assets from the Harry Potter movies. I think it's going to be a very difficult theme to execute properly. And we know for some reason, even though they've got like a billionaire backer, We know that Jersey Jack Pinball does not go and get all of the assets and put them into the game. They made Willy Wonka, ladies and gentlemen, a movie that is a musical, and it has none of the musical elements from the movie in the game. None of the clips from the movie of the characters singing the iconic songs. How do you fumble that? You know, people forget that is why Willy Wonka never really took off. It never really took off. It had a second life when COVID hit and all these distros were sitting on games and all of a sudden people were running to get Willy Wonka CEs that sat in a box for a year But it is what it is So what do I think it going to be It not going to be Harry Potter The other rumor that I hope it is and I really hope if Mark Sadan going to make a game he going to make this game I hope it Top Gun There a lot of rumors out there that Jersey Jack Pinball has the license to Top Gun. The question then becomes, do you have both movies? Do you have the first movie? Do you have Maverick? Hey, they're both amazing. If you make a Top Gun pinball machine based on either movie? They are absolutely amazing. Here's the problem. I don't think Tom Antonio Cruz is cheap. I don't think Tom Antonio Cruz licenses stuff very easily. So unless Mr. Abbas has a relationship with someone who knows Tom Antonio Cruz and knows the studio, I find it hard to believe we're gonna get a Top Gun pinball machine from Jersey Jack. As much as I would love to have it, and I think it's a great theme for pinball, can you imagine Danger Zone playing with a multiball and balls are firing out of an aircraft carrier to get into the battle. Can you imagine how cool that would be? How sick would that be? Can you also imagine like how to try to recreate a dog fight in a pinball machine? Let me give you a creative idea I had. Imagine this. Imagine you made it. So on the left side of the game, there's a trough that shoots out black balls that are supposed to represent the Russian MiGs. So imagine this scenario. We've never seen this before in pinball. That thing fires out black pinballs that are Russian MiGs. And it fires a ball through the middle of the playfield. And you have to time it and shoot it and knock it down with your silver pinball. Can you imagine how cool that would be? And you just have to find a way to weight them differently. When they drain, it knows which trough to put each ball into. but I think that would be super cool. And just imagine Danger Zone, the iconic theme song. Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. I mean, it would absolutely be killer. So do I think Mark Sagan's game is going to be Top Gun? No, I do not. All right, so what do we think it's going to be? What about Avatar? We've been hearing a lot about Avatar. I know that the Avis family is friends with the executive producer of Avatar, not James Cameron, his partner. So I know there's a relationship there. So if there's any movie where they could probably get all of the assets, I think Avatar might be one of them. We know that Jersey Jack has a relationship with both Disney and Warner Brothers. And so Avatar being a Disney property, are we going to see Avatar in pinball form? I hope not. And the reason why is I just don't think these latest Avatar movies have caught on culturally. We probably all saw the last movie. Do you think about it? Do you go to bed thinking about it? Are you clamoring to own it? I don't think so. I don't think these films, these films really aren't making an impact. They're not connecting with people on an emotional level. I think they're kind of boring now. I really do. They're like over three hours long. I don't really care about the characters. And they're going to make three more of them. I don't want to keep going back to Pandora. As hard as James Cameron wants to make this his version of Star Wars, it's just not going to catch on. And look at what Disney did to Star Wars. They made Star Wars boring. Nobody talks about these Star Wars shows anymore. They're boring. They're uninteresting. The character development isn't there. We just don't care. And because you've kept the fans out of the movie theaters, we don't have these like singular Star Wars moments anymore. And it's really sad. They've absolutely destroyed the Star Wars IP. And they're doing the same thing with Marvel. There's just so much content. You feel like if you've missed the last show, you don't know what's going on in the overall universe. And then you kind of just give up on it. So I hope it's not Avatar. It might be Avatar, though. I think Avatar is a very good guess. Now, here's the one I hope Mark Sadan is doing. If I were to say, hey, Jersey Jack, you need a hit. You got a guy that can make a game with a lot of toys, apparently. He's new to pinball. He needs to come out of the gate with a hit game. I really hope they leverage their relationship with Warner Brothers, and I hope the game they make is The Matrix. Can you imagine The Matrix on a Jersey Jack machine with their lighting system, with their 27-inch LCD screen, with clips from the movie. Just make the first Matrix movie. Don't cram all of them into it. You don't need to. There's enough that happens in the first movie that would make an incredible pinball experience. If you did something with magnets and created bullet-time Matrix pinball, you would win everybody over. Not to mention the beautiful cabinet and the artwork, the black and the green. The Matrix is one of the greatest movies that would translate into pinball. The dudes in the Netherlands who re-skinned a Johnny Mnemonic into The Matrix. There's a reason why that game sells for $50,000 if you can even find one. They only made like eight of them. It's because it's so freaking cool. Talk about the music in that movie. talk about the cinematography that movie is so much more ripe for pinball than even John Wick I'm a little worried about John Wick LE for $13,000 who's gonna go buy that no way anyway so the matrix I really hope Mark Sadan's game is the matrix now I'm gonna throw out a wild card right now this is a theme that I know for a fact from people who worked at Jersey Jack pinball I know for a fact Jack Guarnieri was pursuing this theme if you know about Jack Guarnieri you know he's stuck in the past. He's stuck in the wrong decade. He's like still stuck in the 70s with his theme selections. It's ironic to say that because I'm going to talk about Jaws next. But I think there's a theme that Jack has been trying to get and maybe he has it. And I think he wants to make a modern pinball version based on it, based on the popularity of this theme. And I don't really hear people talk about this very often. But one of the themes that Jack Guarnieri has been pursuing, And if Mark Sadan made a Metroid game he a fan of video games and he a big fan of 1980s gaming The theme that I know that Jack was trying to get into pinball in modern times is no other than Pac Pac you know, the little yellow guy that eats all the pellets and then eats the ghosts. Will Jack Winari try to bring Pac-Man back in JJP format? I don't know, right? The more I think about it, it's not a great idea. Like Pac-Man is perfect as Pac-Man. We don't need another Pac-Man pinball machine. We've had a Pac-Man pinball machine that was both a pinball machine and the video game all in one. Super cool for its time. Would it sell in 2023 at these prices? I don't think so. There's still a ton of nostalgia out there that has not been tapped into. And I think these companies are starting to realize. They're starting to realize that they need to start looking at stuff from the 90s. There are so many people in pinball that were also children of the 90s and I get the big companies need the big themes, but you can't tell me if Spooky Pinball made Bloodsport, they couldn't sell a thousand of them. Of course they could. Like what about all these iconic Jean-Claude Van Damme movies? What about all these iconic Arnold Schwarzenegger movies? There's so much stuff. What about Red Dawn, Karate Kid, The Last Starfighter? The list can go on and on and on. You know, Princess Bride is probably going to come out from somebody. The list goes on and on and on. And I just think you'd have a really good shot of selling at least 1,000 to 1,500 games if you picked a nostalgic theme that connects with people. But with companies like Jersey Jack and Stern, they can't only sell 1,500 or 1,000. They need to sell like 3,000 to 4,000 to 5,000 pins to make it worth their while. With the big factory and all their employees, they need more volume. So that's where Jersey Jack is. If I were to make my final guess on what I think Mark Sadan's pin is going to be, I think it's going to be the Matrix. And if I'm wrong, I'm only wrong because Dutch Pinball has the Matrix. But I keep hearing rumors that Dutch doesn't have the Matrix. Maybe that's just them trying to get us off their scent that they have it. I don't know. But look, I'll take a Matrix from either Jersey Jack or Dutch Pinball. If I had to choose who I would rather get the Matrix from after seeing all of their games, just one game from Dutch, I'm still going to choose Dutch Pinball. I think Barry has more creativity in him than all of the design team over at Jersey Jack Pinball. I just do. I can't wait to see what he does next. All right, let's talk about Jaws Pinball and what we think is gonna be in Jaws Pinball because that's another game we know is coming out. Now look, Jaws Pinball has people divided. I think some people are excited. Some people see this as a slower movie. It's sort of like a horror movie in the ocean. It's got the very slow theme song. It's got some amazing acting in it. But when I think about Jaws, I think about the scenes from the movie that are just unforgettable. So let me read you the scenes on this top 10 list from Jaws the movie. And let's ask ourselves if any of these would make sense in pinball form. So Hooper finds Ben Gardin's corpse underwater. The guy's head floats across the screen. Now, that would be something cool for like a lower playfield window a la James Bond. Can you imagine that? That's how they show his head underneath a screen. I don't think we're going to see a lower playfield in Jaws, even though the freaking movie is about a large great white shark underneath the water. I don't think Keith Elwin is going to be a fan of something like that. I think he likes flow. I think he likes speed. I don't think he's ever going to want to do something with a lower play field. I think as a player, that does not excite him. Another scene in the movie, Brody's son imitates him. That's probably not going to be in the pinball machine. Here's one, the tiger shark autopsy. Remember when they cut up the tiger shark and they see all these pieces? I think that definitely feels like a mode in the game where you've got to open up the tiger shark and all the different pieces fly out. And then you realize that that's not the shark you're looking for. Now this one, the shark pops up while Brody's head is turned. Remember when he's throwing the chum in the water, then all of a sudden Jaws' head pops up. He's got the cigarette in his mouth. I think we're going to see this. I think we're going to see this scene mechanically in the game. I think there is going to be a large great white shark that pops up from underneath the play field. I think you're definitely going to be shooting balls into the mouth of Jaws in this game itself. Now here's an interesting one. You know the ferry scene where they're driving in the car and they put the car on the ferry and they take the ferry from one part of the island to the other? I think that could be really cool. That could be something neat where there's a ferry that moves across the playfield. Maybe you lock the balls on the ferry. It's not like a major scene in the movie, but it's just a really interesting scene. So this one is probably got to be in the game. This has to be the final wizard mode of the game. Smile, you son of a B-I-T-C-H. Remember the ship is like sinking and Brody's on there with the rifle and he shoots the oxygen tank and blows Jaws sky high. I think there has to be a moment in this pinball machine where that shark has an oxygen tank in its mouth and you have to shoot it with one shot to blow him sky high. I mean, if that's not in this game, what are we even doing making a Jaws pinball machine? So a lot of these scenes too, like the dolly zoom on Brody, remember when he's like looking into the ocean and the camera's zooming in and out on his face as you get the suspense as he's watching someone being eaten in the ocean. How are they going to do this stuff? How are they going to recreate the scenes and the look on the actors' faces, the look of terror, right? That so much of this movie is reading the facial expressions of the characters in the film. How are you going to make Jaws pinball unless you have all of those assets? This is my biggest worry about this game. I don't think you can make Jaws the way you did Jurassic Park. I think you need to make Jaws the way you did Godzilla. I think you need to get like when Quint does his speech about the Indianapolis. How are you not going to have Quint in this game? You know, here's an interesting fact about the movie. Robert Shaw, who plays Quint in Jaws, he had a major drinking problem on the set of Jaws. And when he first attempted to shoot the iconic speech, he got even drunker than usual, seeing it as an opportunity to do some method acting. His drunken takes were unusable and Shaw felt so bad He remained stone cold sober when they reshot the scene and he nailed it in one take Wow See it just goes to show you Canada should take a piece of advice from this. Like, you're not going to do anything better when you're drunk. You should probably stay stone cold sober. So what do we think is going to be in the game? So I know there's going to be yellow barrels that pop up in the game. Now, do we think they're going to pop up like the faces in The Hobbit and Medieval Madness? Is that what they're going to pop up looking like? I don't know, but that's super cool if you think about it. A circular target that is a barrel that becomes something the ball rolls over until those barrels pop up. And when they pop up, that means the shark is getting ready to surface. I think that is going to be in the game. There's also rumors that there's going to be a shark fin that goes up and down underneath the playfield and pops up. Super freaking cool, people. So we're going to have a shark fin. We're going to have the barrels. We're going to have a mechanical shark that you're most likely going to be shooting the ball into its mouth. I think we need the ship from the movie. I think that ship is so iconic. I think you need it. I think it would be so amazing if the ship, as you're progressing through the game and getting to the final wizard mode, how cool would it be if that ship just kept sinking a little bit more and more and more as you're getting through Jaws pinball? I mean, when people say this is not a good theme for pinball, I don't know what people are talking about. You're battling a great white shark. You're on a little dinghy ship. You've got barrels. You've got rifles. You've got exploding oxygen tanks. You've got iconic lines. It is one of the greatest movies of all time. How are you saying that's not good for pinball? I think anyone skeptical of this theme is absolutely crazy. Now, here's the thing that I think is going to be hit or miss for me when we look at this game. This movie has an iconic look and feel. I really hope Stern Pinball does not make the art package on Jaws way too colorful. colorful. This should not look like a pack of Skittles. I don't want to just see like some rainbow colorful world of Jaws. When you think about the aesthetic, the movie is supposed to take place on this beach town off of Long Island. The movie was shot in Martha's Vineyard. Okay. It has that very like rustic East coast beach town vibe. That's what I want to see the game look like. So if we think about Randy Martinez, who's doing the artwork on Jaws, go look at his Mandalorian artwork. I don't want to see that kind of colorful art package with Jaws just moved over onto a Jaws game. I think these artists need to start doing different styles a little bit here and there and matching the art they put onto the game with the theme itself. It just doesn't feel like we get that. It feels like every artist has their own style and regardless of theme, you're going to get that art style on the game. And I think that's the problem. I think when you make a new pinball machine. They should go find an artist whose art style mirrors the kind of art and look and vibe you're going for on the game. You know, we don't see that in pinball, and I don't know why we can't see more of that, more variety in the world of pinball art. This is one of the most iconic movie posters of all time, so I definitely expect to see the Jaws movie poster as like the Translight. You know, that's it. I really hope they go for more rustic beach town vibe on the game. When do I think we're going to see Jaws Pinball? When is this game going to come out? That's the other huge question. Now, look, I don't think it's coming out this year. I think we're going to see it in February or March of 2024. I think what we're going to see in December, this is definitely going to happen, ladies and gentlemen. I got more confirmation about this yesterday. We are going to see another run of Stranger Things premiums. So if you are waiting for a Stranger Things premium, do not pay an inflated price. Do not send some distro, some crazy amount of money on a trade in Stranger Things. You're going to be able to get one new in box, brand new. I bet they will install the UV kit in each and every one when they re-release it. And I think it's going to be that. I don't think it's going to be like an anniversary edition of Stranger Things. I don't think they're going to make 500 more LEs just yet. I think they're going to do that eventually. It's just not an anniversary year for Stranger Things. The show isn't over yet. So I think once the show concludes, remember, I just want everybody to be careful with paying extra for premiums. Because the thing about premiums is they make an unlimited amount of them. And even if Stern says they're not making any more, they can always make more of them. So just be careful. I don't think any of these premiums are worth anywhere near over $10,000. I think if you start spending that on a premium, you need your head examined. The fact that premiums new in box are now $10,000 is also crazy to me, but it is what it is. So that's it, people. Those are the two topics in terms of where pricing is going in 2024. I'll use that for another show topic coming up soon. But we talk about pinball pricing all the time. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast. And hey, look, if you want to increase your monthly donations, I'm not making anybody. But if you want to get onto that exclusive list and get a shout out from Canada, I've seen some of your game rooms. I've seen some of you guys with quarter million dollars and pinball collections and $5 a month is all you're kicking Canada. Everybody love you guys. Oh, one final note. I'm not going to be doing another Saturday morning spectacular until October 21st, which is the Saturday pinball expo is going on. So I think that's the perfect time. There's not much news going on right now. Going to take a little break. I'll be back on that Saturday morning. Hopefully with a ton of new stuff to talk about when I go Facebook live, I just need like 30 days to get new items in my wardrobe. I know you guys love seeing my sartorial choices on that Saturday morning spectacular. Everybody be good. Take care of yourselves. And Monday, September 25th, it's Kaneda's birthday. He's going to busk for some birthday gifts right now. He's got no shame. If you want to send Kaneda some drinks for his birthday, all you got to do, KanedaPinball at gmail.com, at PayPal, and I will raise a toast in your honor. Everybody have a great day. We'll talk to you soon. Outro Music