claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028
Josh Sharp discusses Pinburgh prep, IFPA rank maintenance, and Raw Thrills manufacturing insights.
Josh Sharp maintains a high IFPA ranking despite playing relatively few tournaments, using what he calls 'the Lyman method' of performing very well in select events
high confidence · Josh describes his strategy of not playing many tournaments but doing well enough in the ones he does (particularly Pinburgh/Papa) to maintain ranking; references Lyman Sheets' similar approach of playing primarily Papa annually
Raw Thrills shut down factory operations for five weeks to build only Halo games due to extreme demand
high confidence · Josh: 'two weeks ago we pretty much shut down our factory for five weeks to build just halo because the demand for it is so nuts and it 24 7 we not building any other product'
Iron Maiden shipped with nearly complete code and received updates within a week of launch
high confidence · Jeff: 'Iron Maiden...came out almost at full code, was shipping basically that week. And the updates were already at the one point whatever code.'
Bowen Kerins joined Spooky Pinball; Stephen Bowden joined Deep Root Games
high confidence · Jeff discusses recent personnel moves: 'Bowen Cairns is now with Spooky. And now Stephen Bowden with Deep Root.'
Italy will host next year's World Championship with a cutoff around 85 IFPA ranking
high confidence · Jeff: 'Italy next year. Oh, boy. That's kind of the goal.' Josh confirms 85 was the cutoff for this year; notes European cuts are typically lower (Denmark was around 60)
North America typically has harder World Championship cuts than Europe
medium confidence · Josh: 'It is usually a harder cut in North America.'
Hobbit code received an update featuring a new colored action button
high confidence · Josh discusses Pinburgh banks: 'Now they've got that colored action button. Anything you can do to an action button, I'm in heaven.'
“I call it the Lyman method. Lyman would literally just play Papa every year...and like he would just do well enough in the one event he played a year to like make the IFPA World Championship cut.”
Josh Sharp @ ~16:00 — Explains Josh's tournament strategy of selective participation while maintaining high ranking
“two weeks ago we pretty much shut down our factory for five weeks to build just halo because the demand for it is so nuts”
Josh Sharp @ ~40:00 — Reveals Raw Thrills manufacturing priorities and Halo game demand levels
“It's rare for you to do that. I've heard some of your filthy things on other podcasts. I know yours is a family show, man.”
Jeff Teolis @ ~45:00 — Lighthearted commentary on Josh's content differentiation across platforms
“There's only one place for me to improve upon from last year, right? There's no spots left between last year and glory.”
Josh Sharp @ ~12:00 — Josh's confident statement about Pinburgh prospects after finishing second last year
“pinball is way cool at the top of the list...but they found other ways to entertain themselves that pinball wasn't, it's not the greatest thing in the house to them.”
Josh Sharp @ ~22:00 — Reflects on his children's interest in pinball relative to other entertainment options
business_signal: Deep Root Games launching multiple games simultaneously with experienced personnel; leveraging proven talent from pinball/arcade industry
medium · Jeff describes Deep Root as 'pulling from experience' and notes uncertainty about launch strategy ('all eight games that are getting launched at the same time or whatever')
competitive_signal: Iron Maiden positioned as 'one of the hottest games in the last 10 years' with sustained production momentum
medium · Jeff: 'Iron Maiden. This is one of the hottest games in the last, say, 10 years that have come off from everything I've heard.'
market_signal: Halo arcade game experiencing exceptionally high demand requiring exclusive 5-week factory production run
high · Josh: 'two weeks ago we pretty much shut down our factory for five weeks to build just halo because the demand for it is so nuts'
personnel_signal: Bowen Kerins confirmed as new hire at Spooky Pinball; Stephen Bowden joined Deep Root Games
high · Jeff: 'Bowen Cairns is now with Spooky. And now Stephen Bowden with Deep Root.' Josh confirms both moves as part of broader trend of players/personalities moving to boutique manufacturers.
product_concern: Iron Maiden shipped with near-complete code and rapid updates, setting potential new industry standard for release quality
high · Jeff: 'Iron Maiden...came out almost at full code, was shipping basically that week.' Josh suggests this may become the new norm for game launches.
groq_whisper · $0.072
business_signal: Raw Thrills prioritizing production of current hot game over launching new titles when demand is unsatisfiable
high · Josh: 'We have another game ready to go. It would come online whenever it's necessary, but right now it's not necessary. We shelve it.'