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New Pinball Machines! King Kong, Dune, Portal, Harry Potter, Merlin's Arcade

Pinball Pursuit·video·41m 52s·analyzed·May 1, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Pinball Pursuit reviews King Kong, Dune, Portal, and other recent machine announcements with detailed analysis.

Summary

Dr. C and Mrs. J from Pinball Pursuit discuss four newly announced pinball machines: Stern's King Kong (Keith Elwin design), Barrels of Fun's Dune, Multimorphic's Portal, and briefly mention Harry Potter and Merlin's Arcade. They analyze gameplay features, art direction, theme integration, and express enthusiasm for all titles, with particular praise for King Kong's playfield density and Dune's movie authenticity, while noting reservations about King Kong's cartoonish art style and Multimorphic's empty front playfield design.

Key Claims

  • King Kong is based on the public domain 1933 book, not a movie adaptation

    high confidence · Dr. C states this explicitly when discussing why prior movie knowledge isn't necessary for the theme

  • King Kong is a Keith Elwin design and people who have played it think it might be a Godzilla killer

    high confidence · Mrs. J mentions this early in the King Kong segment; directly cited as player feedback

  • King Kong features a monkey that reacts to player actions by punching the glass

    high confidence · Dr. C cites this as information from the Loser Kid podcast coverage

  • Dune is Barrels of Fun's second game ever; their first was Labyrinth

    high confidence · Mrs. J confirms this when discussing production timeline and company history

  • Barrels of Fun is producing only 1,000 Dune machines and expects it to take the entire year

    high confidence · Dr. C states this explicitly after watching Barrels of Fun's interview

  • Multimorphic machines feature a completely LCD playfield that can track ball position

    high confidence · Mrs. J explains the technology in detail, comparing it to traditional machines

  • Portal is a Multimorphic game featuring GLaDOS and new personality cores written specifically for the game

    high confidence · Dr. C expresses excitement about hearing GLaDOS again and mentions the new Encouragement personality core

  • King Kong originally had a Data East prototype from which modern version borrowed playfield elements

    medium confidence · Mrs. J states 'They made 10 of them for Data East...and they copied some stuff from the playfield' but doesn't provide specific sources

  • Criticism of Multimorphic games is that the front half feels empty compared to traditional pinball

    high confidence · Both hosts discuss this as a known design critique, noting Portal's front playfield lacks hardware density

Notable Quotes

  • “He's becoming like the monster pinball guy. Right? The monster man. And, I mean, he has yet to deliver really a bad game.”

    Mrs. J and Dr. C (collaborative)@ 3:56 — Establishes Keith Elwin's reputation as a designer and explains community hype independent of King Kong theme

  • “I think this might be a Godzilla killer. Really? And you love Godzilla.”

    Dr. C and Mrs. J@ 7:52 — Indicates player expectations for King Kong to surpass one of Elwin's most acclaimed recent games

  • “There's a reason. They only made like 800 of them, or maybe 1,000... People rave about the game. I'm so sorry. I'm a Labyrinth hater.”

    Dr. C@ 14:13 — Reveals minority opinion on Barrels of Fun's debut while acknowledging game quality, sets context for expectations of Dune

  • “I love Portal. Portal is probably a top five video game franchise for me... GLaDOS. She's like my favorite. She's probably my favorite video game villain of all time.”

    Dr. C@ 20:24 — Establishes deep personal investment in Portal IP and high expectations for game authenticity

  • “I think it's crazy and I think it's genius. I think it's so cool that you can own one cabinet but own so many games within that cabinet.”

    Mrs. J@ 22:20 — Articulates value proposition of modular Multimorphic platform for home collectors with space constraints

  • “The front half, because it's only the LCD screen, feels empty... It seemed so empty. Yeah. It seemed like you've seen some ramps and stuff towards the back, but the front half feels like there's nothing there.”

Entities

Keith ElwinpersonStern PinballcompanyDr. CpersonMrs. JpersonKing Kong: Myth of Terror IslandgameDunegamePortalgame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Multimorphic's modular P3 system positioning as collector-friendly alternative to traditional cabinet ownership; allows ownership of multiple games within single cabinet framework

    medium · Mrs. J: 'I would love to have a Multimorphic machine in the house because i think this looks incredible' and discussion of cabinet swap capability reducing total ownership cost vs multiple traditional machines

  • ?

    competitive_signal: King Kong positioned as potentially surpassing Godzilla in player appeal despite Godzilla's #1 Pinside ranking; sets high performance expectations for new Elwin release

    medium · Dr. C: 'people who have played it, they think this might be a Godzilla killer' with Mrs. J responding 'Really? And you love Godzilla'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: King Kong's cartoonish, 3D video game art aesthetic misaligned with expected 1933 art deco/jungle theme; hosts expected more traditional pinball art style with green jungle tones rather than video game cartoon appearance

    high · Mrs. J: 'I was a little surprised by the art... very cartoonish... I just was expecting something different. Maybe something a little more jungly... more green' and later 'It's more like video game cartoon... very yellow'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Keith Elwin's design approach emphasizes shot complexity, ramp design, and playfield density creating engaging visual/mechanical experience; King Kong explicitly praised for packed playfield with diverse mechanical elements

    high · Dr. C: 'when you look at the playfield in general it's packed with so many things... I want to look everywhere there are so many different cool things' and analysis of ramps, river, car bash mechanics as Elwin signature

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.126

0:00
Welcome to Pinball Pursuit. I'm Dr. C. And I'm Mrs. J. And today we're going to be going over a couple of fun news items. Basically all the different pinball machines that have been announced in the last little while. All the new hot machines coming to you soon. Yeah. So there's a few that we didn't cover when they first got announced a couple of weeks ago. Sorry for being late. Oops. But we wanted to go over all of them. And if you hear any loud jingling noises, it's our dog. Hi, Wally. Yep, his name is Wally. So still getting new to this whole thing. So let's start with who the company that is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, pun intended,
0:54
Stern, and their newest pinball machine, King Kong. Myth of Terror Island. Very exciting. Very excited. Watched all the previews. I personally watched the Loser Kid podcast. Shout out to you guys about it. Nice. Whole lots of other stuff. So how familiar are you with King Kong? Like overall? Yeah, overall. Not just the machine? Not just the machine. Just the character, King Kong. I mean, I think it looks super fun. The machine does. I'm not super familiar with King Kong, the theme itself. I know that there was a movie that just came out. I was going to say not too long ago and it did not just come out it was probably like 10 years ago she had like a metal hand in it I had no idea I didn't watch it I didn't see it I know that there's an older one I haven't seen that one either I know there's a big monkey did you see the one with Jack Black in it? I had no idea there was one with Jack Black in it oh yeah Peter Jackson who made the Lord of the Rings when did that come out? like 2008 or 9 oh jeez that's probably the one that I'm thinking of that no I did not see I know that he sometimes hangs out on the Empire State Building. True. Airplanes. Yep, this is as far as my King Kong knowledge goes. Okay. And King Kong is based on a book, which is fun. I did not know that. Yes, and this machine is based on the book King Kong. Oh, not the movie King Kong. So it doesn't even matter that I haven't seen it. No, it doesn't. Deal. Because they have taken and made this their own original interpretation of the book. Because the book is in the public domain. Very cool. Very cool, right? I think that's cool. So that's a little bit about at least the theme of King Kong. The theme of it.

  • King Kong's art style uses cartoonish, 3D animated video game aesthetic rather than traditional pinball art

    high confidence · Mrs. J expresses surprise at the art direction and describes it as 'very video game cartoon' and 'very yellow'

    • Dr. C and Mrs. J@ 23:25 — Identifies ongoing criticism of Multimorphic design philosophy and empty playfield aesthetic

  • “But when it comes to the hardware and stuff, it feels like there's nothing there... they did add that front section. Halfway through the trailer, they added a new ramp and a spinner. It's not much.”

    Dr. C and Mrs. J@ 23:36 — Suggests Multimorphic made design adjustments to address playfield density criticism

  • “I have no doubt that this is going to be an incredible game. Yeah. I mean, Keith can't go wrong right now at this point. Golden Child.”

    Mrs. J and Dr. C@ 7:37 — Expresses absolute confidence in Elwin's design competence regardless of theme concerns

    • Barrels of Fun
    company
    Multimorphiccompany
    Godzillagame
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Jawsgame
    Labyrinthgame
    Avengers: Infinity Questgame
    Iron Maidengame
    Loser Kid podcastorganization
    Free Gold Watchorganization
    Data Eastcompany
    Frank Herbertperson
    Denis Villeneuveperson

    leak_detection: Portal ramp modifications documented mid-trailer showing Multimorphic responding to design criticism; ramp and spinner added to forward playfield after initial trailer version

    medium · Dr. C: 'they did add that front section. Halfway through the trailer, they added a new ramp and a spinner. It's not much. But it doesn't come all the way to the front'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Barrels of Fun constrained production capacity: 1,000 Dune units over entire year as second game from boutique manufacturer; limits market availability and location placement opportunities

    high · Dr. C: 'they're going to take them probably the whole year to make just 1,000' and earlier 'they're only making 1,000 of these. That makes me sad. I wish they were making more because I want a chance to play this on location'

  • ?

    announcement: Four new pinball machines announced recently: King Kong (Stern/Elwin), Dune (Barrels of Fun), Portal (Multimorphic), plus Harry Potter and Merlin's Arcade mentioned but not detailed

    high · Episode title and hosts' statement: 'all the different pinball machines that have been announced in there or similar interjection the last little while... a couple of weeks ago'

  • ?

    product_strategy: King Kong Pro vs Premium edition differentiation: Premium adds moving monkey, gong bashing, spider toy; Pro version lacks these signature mechanical features but maintains core playfield

    high · Dr. C notes Premium Edition 'looks so cool' and lists features absent from Pro: 'I am so sad that on the Pro, they don't have the big spider... I'm trying to figure out the gong. The gong on the Pro isn't like a real gong. No, it's just a piece of plastic'

  • ?

    product_concern: Multimorphic P3 platform criticized for empty front playfield due to LCD-centric design; lacks traditional mechanical density in shooter lane area despite company's additions of ramp/spinner

    high · Dr. C: 'the front half, because it's only the LCD screen, feels empty... when it comes to the hardware and stuff, it feels like there's nothing there' and Mrs. J: 'the front towards the flippers feels a little barren'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Multimorphic P3 represents alternative technology platform using full LCD playfield with ball-tracking capability vs traditional mechanical playfield; presents design tradeoffs between digital interactivity and mechanical tactility

    high · Mrs. J explains: 'you can swap out basically the back third of the playfield for new game modules... instead of having an LCD in the back box... their LCD is the playfield. The whole playfield... it can track where the ball is on that playfield'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: King Kong uses public domain 1933 book rather than licensed movie adaptation; allows Stern freedom in artistic interpretation without studio constraints that affect other licensed machines

    high · Dr. C: 'this machine is based on the book King Kong. Oh, not the movie King Kong... Because the book is in the public domain... they have taken and made this their own original interpretation of the book'

    • 2:30
    Yeah. And this is a Keith Elwin game, right? This is a Keith Elwin game, yes. Okay, love that. Of the Keith Elwin games, which one is your favorite? Oh my gosh. That's hard. I mean, this could be a new favorite. We'll see. I don't know. So we've had Jurassic Park in the house, right? That was our first machine. Love Jurassic Park.
    2:49
    I love Godzilla whenever I get to play it on location. Yeah, you do. It's fantastic. I feel like that's in your top five. Yeah, probably. It's so good. And it's no surprise to anybody. It's number one on Pinside, right? Yeah.
    3:01
    And our current rental that I'm working on the script for and everything is Jaws. I did not know that that was also a Keith Allen. It's a Keith Allen as well.
    3:10
    Love Jaws. So it's hard. I even like Avengers. I know it's like people's least favorite game that he's done. But I played in leagues. I'm playing a league right now. and I had like my best score ever during League Night on an Avengers game it was great very fun, he also did Iron Maiden oh, that's what I didn't know so I like Iron Maiden so yeah, that's kind of where Keith Elwin experiences, I think people were really anticipating this, I feel like this game people are hyped about it, not because they love King Kong, but because they love Keith Elwin I think he's becoming like the monster pinball guy. Right? The monster man. Yeah, the monster man. And, I mean, he has yet to deliver really a bad game. There you go. So, yeah. You've seen the trailer now? Yeah. And the little presentation thing. Yeah. Initial thoughts. Give it to me. Initial thoughts. I have notes because I watched the trailer and I took notes. There are a lot of cool things. Do you want me just to go over? Yeah, go over it. Do you want me to start with a certain category? No, just go with Okay. Now, feel free to chime in on this one, but from what I can see, pro versus premium, I think the premium looks so cool. Oh, yeah. And I am many a time team go with the pro because I'm not a big fan of the upper play fields. I like to see what's going on at the top. Yep. And I feel like that's what a lot of premiums offer is just, oh, an upper play field. And maybe some, like, cool, you know, bash toys or something. I feel like this one offers so many cool things from the giant moving monkey. The giant moving monkey is awesome. I am so sad that on the Pro, they don't have the big spider. Yeah. Do you like the big spider? I don't like spiders. But I think the spider on the machine is cool. So I would say I like the spider. It's a little controversial. People don't like the spider. Why? They think it looks cheesy. Oh, I thought it was cool. I think it's kind of cool. I just think, I mean, I guess I didn't analyze the way the spider looked. But I just like the fact that it was like guarding something. Yeah, and it like attacks it. And it kind of shakes. I like the spider. So I feel bad. As a spider person myself, yeah, I like the spider. Good work, Keith. I like the spider.
    5:25
    I'm trying to figure out the gong. The gong on the pro isn't like a real gong. No, it's just a piece of plastic. Exactly. I think we would need the premium. Sorry. Sorry, Cam. And the gong bashing it seems really cool. Really cool. Yeah. Love that. Moving on to other things, the ramps are really cool. Yeah, the helical one with the biplane on it. Yes, yes. Very cool. Love that. I feel like a lot of times ramps are just kind of like, oh, standard. You know, seen it before, but still fun. No. And that's something that Keith does in all his games. Avengers has the crazy ones. Yeah. It has the weird helical one on Jurassic Park. Yeah. Right?
    6:05
    The Jaws one we have right now has the quick 180 and the wave one on the other side. Yeah. I'm a fan of the cool ramps, so we'll just throw that out there. um i just think that when you look at the play field in general it's packed with so many things oh yeah and i feel like sometimes i look at other machines and i'm like oh it seems kind of boring no this one i want to look everywhere there are so many different cool things um i really like the train car i think that's cool that you can yeah that he like bashes it down yeah he bashes it down after you build up the balls in there yeah um and the zigzag path return yeah yeah the Oh, the river, right? The river, yes, yes, yes. The river, it's very cool. So those are my thoughts of what I thought looked really cool.
    6:48
    I got excited. You're hyped for this game. I'm hyped for this. I don't know if you can tell. I can tell. You're hyped for this game. So those are my thoughts. What are your thoughts? I agree with everything you just said. I'm really hyped for this game. I think it looks fantastic. I think I've watched a little bit more, and the whole river where it has a diverter that comes in and allows you to shoot with the upper flipper over and then you can hit the other upper flipper back and you can keep things with the upper flipper going. I think it's so cool.
    7:18
    One detail that they shared on, I think it was the Loser Kid podcast that had this, was that while the monkey is going around, he'll react to things you're doing, right? Oh. He'll, like, punch the glass. Oh, what? Yeah, he'll, like, make a noise by punching the glass, which I think is a fun, cool little detail. Yeah, it's different. It's different. And I have no doubt that this is going to be an incredible game. Yeah. I mean, Keith can't go wrong right now at this point. Golden Child. The hype is worth it, I think.
    7:49
    From what I've seen, people who have played it, they think this might be a Godzilla killer. Really? And you love Godzilla. I love Godzilla. I like Godzilla, too. Don't get me wrong. I'm just not as good at it as you are. I really, yeah. Yeah, so can't wait to get my hands on it. we're waiting to see where it's going to be at to play we're kind of keeping our eye out on that certain find some arcade near us so we'll let you guys know once we finally get our hands on it but yeah last question about it that's been a little controversial art the art? how do you like the art? I was a little surprised by the art I'm not going to lie okay tell me why it looks I mean this is going to sound dumb but like very cartoonish yes it does a little bit yeah I just was expecting something different. Maybe something a little more Godzilla-like, if that makes sense. Because I feel like Godzilla's a little cartoony, too. It is, but it's a different type of cartoon. This is more like video game cartoon. Because all the cutscenes and everything are like 3D animated cartoons. Yeah, and I feel like that's the way the playfield and things look, too. So, I'm out. I need to see it first before I have a solid opinion. All I'm going to say is it surprised me. It's very different. I don't know if I'm a fan or not. I have to see it in real life. People are complaining about the color palette. I actually like how colorful the game is. It feels very yellow. There's a lot of purples in there, too. I am actually a fan. I think that it... Oh, our dog just hit the tripod. Sorry about that.
    9:14
    I'm actually a fan of how the art package looks. So I'm excited to see. I think the play field looks kind of cool. It's a throwback kind of play field. It was kind of 70s-ish.
    9:24
    From what I understand, they took... There was a King Kong original game that was like... They made 10 of for Data East, back in the day and they never actually ended up making it full scale and they copied some stuff from the play field of that kind of like all of that so pretty pretty cool and i guess i just expected it in my head to be more jungly that makes sense more green i guess and i thought when they you know because it's been rumored for a long time they were going to use footage from like the black and white things i thought it would be a lot of like people in monkey suits you know is that what the old king kong is there are some of yeah no idea yeah so anyway that's so that's the first game we wanted to talk about yeah king kong let's go to the next really big announcement that's come out recently i think it was the same day was that the same day i think it was that was crazy it was within a day or two yeah uh dune dune okay so we've seen both of the movies we have seen both the movies i had not seen the first one before the second one came out so cameron made me dr c made me go through and watch the first one first Loved them Loved them They so good And I struggle with long movies Yes, you do. I'm a grandma. You fall asleep. I fall asleep. I did not fall asleep during either Dune. No. And I've seen them both, I think, twice now. Twice, yeah. We only saw Dune 2 in theater within like two weeks. Yeah. Because we liked it so much. Yeah. So, I mean, love the movies. Have you seen the original movie? The one from the 80s? I did not know there was an original movie. Oh, yeah. Sting is in it. Sting? Who is Sting? What is he? He's the bald fighter guy in the second movie. Oh, the scary one? The scary one, yeah. Sting.
    11:02
    Yeah, it's a trip. It's not good. Have you read the books? I've read the book. Is there one book? I said books. Okay, there's multiple books. Oh, okay, gotcha, good. I wasn't wrong. There's like a whole Dune universe. Frank Herbert, who wrote Dune, he made a couple of them. And then his kid made a few others. Oh, wow. Yeah, so there's something like 15 Dune books, I think. I just remember working at the Utah State Hospital, which is the local mental hospital here. You have to get yourself through college somehow. One of my favorite people to work with, he was great, but he was always reading Dune. And I was like, hmm, weird books, whatever. And then here I am loving the movies. I know, right? What did you think of the book? Okay, so I've only read the first book, which is a seminal book. It is, like, so good. It is one of the best science fiction books of all time. At least in my opinion, the first half of it is. Hot take, everybody. I love the first half of Dune, and then there's the time jump, and I don't like the second half of the book. The movie fixes all of my problems with the second half of the Dune. It's the one, there's like three things I can, three cases I can think of in which a movie is better than a book. I think Dune Part 2 is better than the book. I know that's going to be a super hot take. So you said you only read the first book. Yeah. So is Dune... Dune Part 1 and Part 2 is the first book. What about the third one coming out? It's going to be based on the second book. So you have no idea what's happening. I have no idea what's going to happen. Yeah. Interesting. I have no idea. So we'll see. Very excited for what the third one's going to do. Okay. Like I said, though, the problems I have with the second half of the first book, Dune Part 2 finishes all of them. Although you must have had the same issues then. I know, right? So you were going to eliminate this. Well, it's unfilmable. It's just... Oh. It's where you got into this, like... He was really into acid, I think.
    12:46
    All right. He wrote about it. There we go. He wrote about it. He was really into deserts and, like, 60s drug culture. Okay. Interesting. And he put them together. And I love what he did with the deserts. Well, I mean, the first two movies are great. They're so good. I love, like I said, I love the first half of Dude. Yeah. I have a great, nice copy on my bookshelf. I did not know this. but the movie's fantastic so what did you think about because the movies the two newest ones are what the game's based on okay what are your thoughts after seeing the trailer here's the thing is I don't want to steal all your thunder because I just went through and I raved about everything that I loved about King Kong you may have the same things that you love about Dune so I want you to go first and then I will fill in the gaps don't worry so I think what I'm gathering though is you're really hyped for Dune the pinball machine you don't know that it looks really good barrels of fun this is their second game their first game was Labyrinth which is so weird why? why did we touch that movie again? I remember watching that movie as a child at one of my childhood friends' homes and I was like, what am I watching? speaking of an acid trip yes, yes I don't know why we revived that into a pinball machine and you've never played it I've never even seen it so I really shouldn't judge, but I judge Because Barrel's only made like 800 of them, or maybe 1,000. There's a reason. So they're, well, people rave about the game. I'm so sorry. People love the game. I'm a Labyrinth hater. I may be a minority here, and I am willing to accept that. It's fine. The game's good, the Labyrinth game. I like the Labyrinth game. Have you played it? Yeah, I've played it. I played it at Free Gold Watch in San Francisco.
    14:32
    They have a lot of more rare games there, so I've actually, I've played the Labyrinth machine a couple of times. Okay, nice. Very fun. Barrel's a fun, did a good job. um we had to take a quick uh dog break oops he he made some uh problems for us he doesn't like it when we don't pay attention to him go figure so anyway we were talking about free gold watch i've played labyrinth the game yeah is uh barrels of fun first game um but when it comes to this dude game i think it looks so cool i think they've done a great job with the integration i think that they had a little magnet kind of like dungeons and dragons where they stop it with a magnet and then they allow you to get the third flipper shot into the siege uh which is kind of the base for the fremen so cool i love that worm that eats the ball yeah it's so cool i love that i think it's a multi it's gotta be a multi ball where it like eats the ball and then the worm rises up and you have to like hook it because that's kind of the footage they show in the trailer you have to hook it to get a second ball and then it gives you a multi-ball. That's what I'm assuming. It looks so cool seeing that worm come up out of the ground.
    15:43
    Can we talk about the pain box? Oh, yes. The move your hand and die. I think that is going to be so hard but so fun. I think that is such a cool idea for a mode. Do you get to choose whether you're playing? Because you have to put your hand down on the middle button and then do you get to choose Yeah, I'm sure you can choose whatever hand you want.
    16:05
    So for me, it's going to be my left hand because I bet it was my right. Yeah. Yeah, so I think that looks so cool. Barrels of Fun has that little thin LCD screen in the back. Oh, the little screen at the bottom that was showing explosions. Explosions off of the Harkonnen Spikes thing. So cool. I think this game looks really fun. Yeah. I kind of wish Barrels was making, because they're only making 1,000 of these. That makes me sad. I wish they were making more because I want a chance to play this on location. Yeah. I think this looks really solid.
    16:38
    I think they did a great job with the integration of the theme. Yeah, so those are my initial thoughts. Give me yours. Mine, I mean, pretty much the same, but I just loved how many movie Easter eggs were in there. Oh, yeah. I started listing them. I mean, there's the sandworm, of course, the move your hand and die, the little black. Oh, yeah. It has that on the thing. It like calls the worm out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So cool. So many things. This one had some pretty cool ramps, too. I remember I watched this trailer first, and I was like, these ramps are so cool. And then we watched King Kong, and I was like, no. King Kong blew these out of the water. But they still had really cool ramps, which I'm a fan of. And it just makes me sad that, yeah, they're not making very many. And it makes me a little curious about Labyrinth, because I just love how many details they put in from Dune that I was able to recognize. And I wonder, if I were to go back and watch Labyrinth, but I don't want to, because that sounds like a nightmare, how many small details they have in there. Other machines like that. And I think that it really plays to the fans of the movie or the game, whatever they're doing on that machine. And I think it's really cool. It's fun to play. It's fun to reminisce, and it makes me want to watch the movie again. Right. And I think, from what I can tell with Barrels, and I watched their interview as well, they seem just genuine fans of pinball and genuine fans of the Dune franchise. I think they really want to make this right. And that's really cool to me. Yeah. So, you guessed it. I'm excited about this one. I wasn't fooling anybody. Nope, nope. What about your art package on this one? What do you think of what they've done with the art of the machine? I felt like it was very true to the movie, very realistic. I liked it. Like we talked about, I love that LCD down at the bottom. That's not necessarily the art, but it's part of your world. It's part of that visual package. Yeah. No, I mean, I just really liked it. I don't have anything else to say other than it looks really cool. It looks very true to Dune, and it just makes me excited to play. Yeah. Me too. No, absolutely. Dune, I hope we get one near us. Yeah. I just hope we get one near us. Do we have very many barrels of fun around us? We have a look at the map. Like I said, I've only been able to fight in California. Because now I want to play one. Yeah. That sounds fun. And it's only Labyrinth. This is only their second game. Like, kudos to them for coming out. Oh, this is only their second game? Ever. I did not know that. Ever. They came out with Labyrinth and blew everybody out of the water. And now this is only their second game. Okay, that's a little crazy. And I guess maybe that's why it makes sense that they're only doing smaller production batches. Yep. Because they've said it's going to take them probably the whole year to make just 1,000. Really? Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. So, I mean, kudos to them. They're in Austin, Texas. Or maybe they're Houston, Texas. They're in Texas somewhere. So maybe we'll have to go on one of our trips. Yeah. I'd love to go see their stuff. That'd be so fun. I'd love that. So much fun. So, yeah. Barrels of Fun. Let us know. Okay.
    19:22
    And now we're going to go over a couple of games that got announced a couple of weeks ago. A little late to the game. Sorry about that. But the first one is Portal. Now, you have a history with Portal. I love Portal.
    19:36
    He loves Portal. Love Portal. We mentioned this in one of our past games, but the first time I went out to visit you, that was like a test if I was good enough to stick around, I think, was how well I was going to do at Portal. You had to solve some puzzles. I did. He was like, oh, see if this girl's smart enough.
    19:52
    And that's when he discovered that I'm terrible with video games that are not Mario Kart. Yep, it's true. The two joystick thing. She did good, though. She did well. Thank you. I mean, clearly I passed. Yeah, you passed. You're here.
    20:03
    But yeah, so I love Portal. Portal is probably a top five video game franchise for me. You do love it. I love it.
    20:14
    I watched the trailer for this one. I saw Multimorphic put out their trailer, and I just got really excited.
    20:22
    Because I got to hear Gladys again. Oh, Gladys. She's like my favorite. She's probably my favorite video game villain of all time. Whoa, that's a bold claim. I know, that's a bold claim. But you can't count Bowser. He's like a frenemy at this point. Bowser doesn't count? No, he's like a bad guy sometimes. Other times he's like playing tennis or racing.
    20:44
    But yeah, no, I love Portal. And yeah, this makes me so excited. Hearing the music hearing GLaDOS seeing a new personality core that they written just for this game Yeah that is interesting Encouragement personality core So cool So, let's talk a little bit about Multimorphic, because they're a different pinball company. Yeah, they're a little crazy. I had not heard of them before you started raving about Portal. And so you told me all about it. Explain it a little bit. So, Multimorphic, for those that don't know, is you buy one cabinet, and that cabinet you can swap out basically the back third of the playfield for new game modules. So, it's own one game and buy modules for it that'll completely change the game. And instead of having an LCD in the back box, which a lot of modern machines have that LCD in the back box, their LCD is the playfield. The whole playfield. And I don't know how I feel about that. It is, and I don't know anything about the technology in that it can track where the ball is on that play field. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah. So in some of their other games, like I know, for example, their Weird Al game has a mode called Germs, based on the song Germs by Weird Al. And you have to roll the ball over the germs to squash them. Oh, interesting. From what I understand. Never played a P3 multimorphic machine.
    22:09
    Would love to. Sponsor us. But yeah, I think what they're doing with the technology is so cool. What are your thoughts on just the idea of the machine? I think it's crazy and I think it's genius.
    22:23
    I think it's so cool that you can own one cabinet but own so many games within that cabinet. You're not paying repeat, you know... Eight, ten thousand dollars. Exactly, for cabinet over cabinet. Also for people that have limited space. Yeah. That want multiple games. That's great. not a lot of people have the room to dedicate to an entire arcade yep and so it's great that you can own one but also own many at the same time keep refreshing things um i think it's really cool again i don't know how i feel about the completely lcd play field exactly i think that seems i don't know i'd have to say that yeah we we've never seen i've never seen one yeah i know i would love to play one yeah um but i i know that the criticism that multi-morphic has gotten for their games over the past, is the front half, because it's only the LCD screen, feels empty. And that was going to be one of my big critiques of the trailer that we watched, especially having watched King Kong before I watched this. So full. This seemed so empty. Yeah. It seemed like you've got some, you know, ramps and stuff towards the back, but the front half, I mean, there's a lot that comes up on the screen, but when it comes to the hardware and stuff, it feels like there's nothing there. Yeah. Yeah, but listen, they did add that front section. Halfway through the trailer, they added a new ramp and a spinner. It's not much. But it doesn't come all the way to the front. It doesn't come all the way to the front. I feel like the front towards the flippers feels a little barren. And that's by design because they want the LCD to be that interaction part. So I don't know.
    24:02
    So yeah, I think that is definitely a criticism people have. Of their games. But given what it is, and given that they did bring some stuff into the forward,
    24:13
    this looks really good to me. Yeah, and it could be a totally different experience while you're playing it. Yeah, and I think that's what it is. We've just never played it, so we don't know. Yeah. From what I've heard of people that play it is that, like, oh, you feel like looking at it, it's empty, but when you play it, it doesn't feel like it anymore. There's a lot going on. There's a lot going on, and it doesn't feel empty anymore. I love the portals in this game yeah that is really cool I love that is really cool the ramps lift up to allow you to portal and yeah because Multimorphic has like 15 balls that are part of it that like they can have a ball go in one place and have another ball which is supposed to be the same ball you know portal in I love the little like aerial faceplate that you jump onto yeah the jumping yep that's crazy it has a couple of different places where it does some jumping just like in the game I think that looks so cool I love that there's a companion cube oh yeah that you get a bash and have it like disappear appear in a different place yeah um i love that gladys is in the game i know i've said that already you love glad i love that the music is in the game yeah the music is iconic for portal it's so kind of techno creepy in my opinion kind of feel i hope i hope the songs that gladys sings are in the game. I really hope. I hope there's cake. Cake? You don't understand that reference? No, I don't. I didn't make it that far. I want there to be cake. Okay, well, I hope for you there's cake. What do you think about the art of the machine? The look of it? It looks very Portal-esque. I think if you hadn't played the game, that it would feel a little, yeah, a little weird, a little like sterile almost.
    25:52
    That's Portal. That's the way it would feel to me if I looked at it and didn't know about the game. That's fair. that's fair i i think it looks good i think the what they do have on the screen during the thing with the turret multi-ball and the so many cool different multi-balls yeah so cool but i do like on the speakers how they have the like the the green and the blue the orange and the blue yeah and i recognize that because you have the bookends of that i do i have bookends of somebody of the like portal logo of going in and coming out and so i thought that was a fun little thing yeah um i i think this looks fantastic it would be something i'd definitely be interested in playing i mean a multi-morphic machine is something that i'm interested in playing i look i would love to have a multi-morphic machine in the house because i think this looks incredible there they did princess bride which that's right it's a great we both love princess bride the movie it's iconic um and they did weird out which is not for you it's not me it's not not not my cup But I love Weird Al. I just can't imagine living in a house where I've got a pinball machine going all the time playing Weird Al songs. We would get the headphone for it. Okay, that's perfect. So we're going to have to put you behind a closed door.
    27:10
    Yeah. I can only listen to My Bologna so many times before I go crazy. But yeah, I think what Multimortar Freak is doing is really cool. Yeah.
    27:22
    There's one other game that's been shown off. There's not an official trailer for it because this is also their second game. I did not know that. Yes. Turner Pinball did Merlin's Arcade. We tried to watch a little bit of footage on this from some of the festivals.
    27:39
    Kind of hard to tell what's going on. Yeah, it is hard. What I understand from the game is it's an original IP, maybe from another company that was kind of developing it, and then they didn't end up making it, and so Turner Pinball picked it up. it's basically all the knights of Camelot run different arcade games like I saw like somebody playing basketball yeah like the little hoop game it all makes sense but and there's I think like a pool table maybe again it's hard to tell I think it's very early on in development they only made 100 copies of their first game really what was their first game Ninja Eclipse apparently it's good never seen it okay interesting People are kind of rooting, I think, for Turner because they're a smaller company. Yeah. Which, you know, we want these companies to succeed. But I don't think we have much to say because we don't. It's an original IP. And they didn't have, like, a full-blown trailer showing it all off. Yeah. I mean, one thing I will say is when we first started watching the trailer, I was like, this seemed very generic. If I was walking past it in an arcade, it wouldn't necessarily stop me. I wouldn't be super excited about it. But then the more you told me about it, about having integrated with the different arcade games and things, I think I'd like to play it. I'm interested in playing it, that's for sure. For sure. I'm excited to see maybe some more footage coming out online. I don't know. The stuff that we saw, like you said, it was kind of hard to follow. Yeah, it was loud because I think it was from the festival. I don't know. I mean, it was Pinfest. I'm not sure where it debuted. It was footage from that. And so you have all the background noise. It's hard to get a feel for what it looked like. Yeah. But if I came upon one, yeah, I'd definitely be interested in playing one now. Yeah. So those are the four games that I think have been officially revealed. There's one more we'll talk about in a minute. But of the ones that you've seen, just based on what we know so far. Yeah.
    29:33
    And you just rank them. Rank them? Yep, rank them from bottom to top. Number four favorite, number three, number two, number one.
    29:41
    All right. Can I just say for us, both of us, probably number four is New Orleans Arcade. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. But our number one, two, and three could be different. Very much so. Number one for me is King Kong. Number one. Really excited about King Kong. Okay.
    29:55
    Love all the rest of the Keiths that we've seen. It just looks really cool. Like I said, there's so much going on. Yeah. I'm really excited about it. Yeah, yeah. I think that looks really cool. Like what? 10 out of 10? Yeah. Oh, I'm so excited. Okay. Like we've got to find one as soon as they come around our area. Number two is Dune. Okay. I'm stoked for Dune. Love the movies. love all of the callbacks to the movies so many different little fun little things yeah hype level 10 out of 10 9 out of 10 king kong i mean if we put me at a 10 for king kong yeah i'd say probably an 8 for dune okay yeah yeah like still really high still really still really high uh number three is portal i mean i like portal i just am a little skeptical about the whole lcd screen being the whole play field again like i feel like i just want i'm a ramp girl and so i just want more ramps up close i don't know it just it it feels really sterile again to me it's not as fun you've only played a little bit of the game maybe maybe an hour or two exactly um and then yeah fourth is um high level for for portal oh portal i'd say probably like a five a five yeah and then merlin's arcade i'd put it in like a three like if i saw one i'd be like yeah I want to play this, but I'm not going to go out of my way right now to go somewhere to play it. There you go. That makes sense. That's my ranking. Okay, you ready for mine? Yep, go.
    31:16
    Let me guess. Can I guess your number one Cool Portal It Portal Here the thing A lot of it is the theme right I mean, 70% of this is the theme. You love Portal. I love Portal. So for me, hype level is like 10 out of 10. Watching that trailer makes me giddy, makes me excited. I really want to play it. And not only that, I think the more I've learned about Multimorphic, the more I'm excited to try out this company. The more I want to play one of these machines because I think what they're doing is so unique and I support it. Yeah, I think it's really cool that it gives people more access to owning a machine at home. It's a big undertaking to own just one and pay that amount of money but if you can swap it out and own for a little bit more multiple games, that's really cool. Yeah, it's really cool. like it getting a multi-morphic machine is i think moving up there one of the things i really want to get for the house i did not know that yeah i really i just love the concept yeah and the fact that it's portal i mean sold 10 out of 10 hype on that for me just below that on the hype train like a 9.5 i don't know which one's coming next uh it's king kong king kong i again it's keith it's Keith Elwin everything I'm seeing from it looks incredible the theme does nothing for me like what they've done with the theme I like yeah honestly when I heard it was gonna be King Kong I was like and then I like saw the trailer thing I was like okay but yeah you tell me the theme and I was like yeah if you just heard they're making a King Kong pinball machine I'm like yeah but because it's Keith it's gonna be great um I would love one day to see Godzilla versus King Kong right like the two machines both Keith games right next to each other right interesting that'd be fun would be fun so for me again it's the draw is Keith it's not necessarily the theme so that's why I think Portal beats that one out a little bit okay I do think King Kong looks incredible yeah I look I I mean it I can't wait to play it we're gonna have to put on our rental list yep we will so look for a tutorial for that as soon as we get around to it um and then like an 8, probably the same as you, is Dune.
    33:33
    The only sad part about Dune is I don't think I'm going to be able to play it very often because they're so hard to find. I know. They only make so many of them. I love that you pay one price for their games. You can get everything.
    33:45
    But they're also really expensive priced games. Oh, they are on the pricey side. Yeah. Premium King Kong is going to be about $10,000. You're going to be paying $12,000 to $13,000 for doing. Yeah. Which it looks like it's worth it. But I don't have any kind of cash. Yeah. So would love to play it.
    34:09
    Would love to write a tutorial about it. Yeah. But you know we gotta find one. Yep. So that's where I'm at with all of that. And then Merlin's Arcade because I do think it looks like a cool idea. Probably a five for me. Okay. I need to see more. I wish Turner would have spent the money to make a video. Yeah. You know, it could be amateurish, but I feel like they needed something to show off that game when they announced it because I feel like it landed kind of with a thud because there's not a cool two, six-minute trailer someone can go to. You have to go watch some of these other content creators, like Kerry Hardy or some of these others that have done interviews with them.
    34:46
    It's really hard to do that, though, to build hype. You need something that's short and quick that people can just watch and see. Get that in-depth look. Yeah. Closer. Yeah. So that's my thoughts on those rankings. Last but not least, we wanted to talk about one game that hasn't been revealed yet. No. I want it to be. But has been confirmed from Jersey Jack, Harry Potter. Harry Potter! So we only have seen one thing from this game, and that's the shooter rod. Yep. The golden snitch. Right? Which, great, great. Awesome. Cool. Love that. Very fun. That's all we know. We know that, well, we do know that they've said they have the film assets, like everything. Which is very cool. And apparently they paid like a million plus dollars to get the license for this. Wow.
    35:37
    But yeah, give me your thoughts on a Harry Potter themed pinball machine. I have thoughts. I have questions. I have probably more questions than thoughts. Because we haven't seen it. We haven't seen anything. My question is, if you're making a machine, where do you start? There are seven books of content and so many things you could pack into this machine. Do you just stick to book one? Do you just stick to, does it have a theme? You could have an entire machine on its own of like Diagon Alley or like Hogwarts. You know, like there are just so many little things that you could hone in on and just make an entire machine. You could have one just based on the Triwizard Cup from the fourth book, right? And only have those events and it would be an entire pinball machine. It would be crazy. And so I'm like, where do they even begin? they of course they're gonna have to have a hogwarts castle in the back like that that is a must-have yeah but i mean after that there are so many different things you could have you could have the the forest with the spiders yeah you have the whomping willow you could have a whomping willow the fun little bash toy whomping willow you could have the basilisk like yeah like where do you there's there's there's too much content there's so many things i really think that if they paid this much for the license if i were jersey jack i'd be like look we have a trilogy of games we have books one two and three books four and five books six and seven yeah and i think if they did that it'd be super smart yes they'd be pinning themselves pun intended to a long time of just one thing to pinball machines but for the hardcore people yeah that's like three guaranteed sales because if you own the first one you've got to get the second exactly exactly i just don't know how they're gonna do they can't they can't fit all eight movies seven books into one game it's crazy to me because no matter how much you pack in there i'm still gonna be disappointed that something's not there yeah exactly like you can't not be disappointed you have a quidditch match in there right yep you've got to have a little like the rings up there in the back exactly yeah like there is just so much i don't even know where to begin i don't yeah exactly Like, I wish we knew more. Yeah. And I really wish that they would, like I said, split the license into multiple games.
    37:53
    Did they announce anything on when more announcements are going to come? When these machines are going to be released? The rumors I'm hearing is that it's releasing this year. Okay, well, it's releasing this year. It's releasing this year. 2025. I've heard that this next month they're going to reveal it. Oh! In May? In May. That's what the rumor mill is saying. Now, I could be wrong. Okay. When they do, believe me, you're going to hear from us. We will let you know what we think. Because we don't have any opinions at all on this one.
    38:27
    In terms of, like, themes, hype level for Harry Potter? I'm scared. You're more scared than excited? I'm scared because I have such high hopes. And, like, I feel like this has such high potential. and I feel like everybody has something different envisioned or the favorite parts that they want to see. And if that's not in there, they're going to be a little sad. And that's the only reason why is because I feel like there's such high potential here. But, you know, like you said, seven books, eight movies. There is so much content in there. What are you going to do? Is each mode just one book? I don't know. So you're more scared than excited. I'm really excited, but I'm just nervous. Scared isn't the right word because I just want this to be incredible. Yeah. And I'm sure it'll be really cool. But I want it to be my imagination incredible. Yeah. You know? It's interesting because we haven't seen it, but we know it's coming.
    39:29
    You imagine all these things that it could be. And it's not going to be that. No. And that's why I get nervous. Yeah. I get sad. like I said I hope that they just trilogy of games books 1, 2, and 3 books 4, 5 books 6, and 7 or you know movie wise books movie 1, 2, and 3 4, 5 maybe 4, 5, 6 and then 7 part 1 part 2 that'd be crazy I gotta have Voldemort in there somewhere the elder wand yeah gotta have it all like there's so many like yeah I can think of a million different modes yep for multiple looks so we shall see and we'll let you know what we think anyway that's been our chatty episode yeah just kind of going over all the new pinball things which theme are you excited for do you disagree with some of our hot takes what do you want to see in the Harry Potter machine I want everybody's new ideas right I think for me I want the Triwizard Cup okay I love fourth book is my favorite book really yes oh that's fascinating Really? What's your favorite book? Six.
    40:42
    Here's the thing. No, six is good. Six is good. That face. The sixth movie is great. Sorry, the sixth movie is good, but not great. Because my favorite part of the sixth movie is getting all the Voldemort backstory. Oh, interesting. I love the flashbacks. I love how it kind of rounds out his character and makes him less of a cartoony villain and more of a like, oh, I understand now. There's some depth here. Yeah.
    41:08
    that's why I think six is probably, and I, it's a little bit of a darker book. Yeah. Um, love it. Now you make me want to go back and read all of the books again. And then of course I'm just going to be like cherry picking. Well, they should have put this in the machine. They should have put this in the machine. What about this? Well, I hear that the sixth, uh, illustrated version is coming out this year. Do we have the fifth? We have, we have all the illustrated ones. I'm very excited. I love it. Um, yeah, I think it's coming out. Okay. That's very exciting. It's been a long time. I know. The sixth one, that I feel like we've been waiting forever for. Yeah, I agree. So anyway, even more thoughts from us.
    41:43
    But yeah, we'll see you guys next time. Until then. Thanks for flipping.