Welcome everybody to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. I'm your host Kaneda. Happy Leap Day everybody. It's been a while, but we're going to leap right back in to talking about everything happening in the pinball world. Thank you so much for being a club member. What's going on? Let's do what we always do best. Let's go around the horn and let's talk about everything happening in the pinball industry with each of these companies. Is it going to be a March Madness like last year? I do not think so. I think we're going to get the game that we laugh at more than any other game ever come March 15th at 7 o'clock at night at Texas Pinball Festival. We're going to talk about that. But let's just go down the horn. Let's start with Stern Pinball. So Stern Pinball, Jaws LE is still somewhat delayed over there at Stern. Now look, I don't think this is some conspiracy. I don't think Stern doesn't want you to get your $13,000 overpriced Jaws machine. Trust me, they want to make sure you get that machine as quickly as possible. They don't want anyone to cancel orders on those LE machines. That's why they make the LEs right after the pros. and obviously if there's a delay, it's because it's something cosmetic that's different from the premium. It's not going to be a play field part. It's going to be something cosmetic they're waiting on. The rumor is it's those foil decals on the side of the cabinet. So Jaws is going out the door. Can I ask a question for all you Jaws owners? What's the most iconic scene in the movie? The shark fin is coming at you. You hear dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun, right? The suspense. the anxiety as Jaws is coming towards you. Does that even happen in the game? I mean, seriously, I mean, everyone's talking about this and about that. And is the single most iconic scene in Jaws even translated into the pinball experience? I don't know. I haven't seen anything. I haven't played that much of this game, but let me know if that's actually something that happens in the game. And also it's funny how the shark fin, did you notice this? I mean, everyone's been making fun of this, but it only goes in one direction. It's only going from left to right, and then the shark apparently swims backwards to start over again. Stern Pinball really crushing it with their mechanisms, people. All right, so here's the other thing about Stern Pinball. It's like, what game is going to be next? So like a week ago, I was telling everybody it's going to be Indiana Jones, and that was one of the rumored games from like last year that John Borg was working on Indiana Jones. Now I'm hearing that Indiana Jones was like scraped. I'm hearing that Indiana Jones was shelved, that Stern's not going to make an Indiana Jones pinball machine. I really don't know who to believe on this one, but if Dial of Destiny was a huge flop and it was a flop and it was a failure, do you really think Stern Pinball is going to come out with a Dial of Destiny pinball machine? I can't see it happening. And that begs the question then, if Indiana Jones is not next. Then what is next from Stern Pinball? The other rumor I'm hearing is this, that the next two Stern machines are pretty underwhelming and mediocre. And man, it's going to get really interesting if Stern Pinball has two mediocre games in a row with that huge factory and needing to make like 800 games a week. So let's just talk about the rumors, right? We've got Indiana Jones, which I am hearing is now not going to happen. And then we've got John Wick. So who's doing John Wick. Now another rumor I heard is John Wick might be a George Gomez game because they shelved what John Borg was working on. George Gomez might step in and make John Wick. I can see John Wick being either a John Borg game or a George Gomez game. And then we're going to get the next game hopefully from Jack Danger. The rumor is that he's working on Pokemon. Is it going to be Pokemon? Is it going to be He-Man Masters of the Universe. I think Pokemon's the one that has the most attention, but maybe Jack Danger's doing John Wick. I mean, I really don't feel like Stern has a juggernaut like Pokemon. I just don't feel it. I think the order might go Jaws, John Wick, and then Metallica, and I think that might be it for the year from Stern Pinball. And I think that's why people are like, oh, you know, it's not going to be two juggernauts in a row. It's going to be two mediocre things. And if Metallica is just new artwork on Spike 3 and not an entirely new game, is that really going to excite people or just piss off the 6,000 people that already have a Metallica machine? And what do we really think Spike 3 is going to be, right? Do we think Spike 3 is going to make a Stern as nice as a Jersey Jack? Like they're going to add modern lighting and all this modern stuff? I really don't. I think Spike 3 is going to be all about internet connectivity. And I think Stern Pinball is waiting until they flip the switch and have like hundreds of thousands of machines out there with internet connected. And then guess what's going to happen? They're going to want each and every one of you to do microtransactions to get new modes in your game. I mean, it is absolutely coming, people. You are going to start spending $5 more a month, $10 more a month to unlock the game. All right. So that's what's happening at Stern Pinball. what's over at Jersey Jack. So Jersey Jack, the big story now at Jersey Jack is really when are they going to run the next game? Elton John is a great shooting game. The more people play it, the more they're going to like it. I'm seeing more and more of the discussion around Elton John, be about the fact that it's really not a mode-based game. You don't really feel like you journeying through the storyline of Elton John right It so radically different than Foo Fighters in which you feel like you going from city to city and there all these missions and minor quests I don think people are feeling that way when they play Elton John Now, that being said, it is easily the best shooting game in Jersey Jack's lineup. That being said, it's finally a Jersey Jack game in which you have to work for your multi-balls and they're very rewarding to get to. But it can get a little bit repetitive. Crocodile Rock multiball over and over again. The Rocketman multiball is amazing. I don't think seeing that multiball start will ever get old whenever you play Elton John. I think a lot of you are where I'm at. You would happily buy this game if you can knock $3,000 to $4,000 off the price. And I think now the conversation becomes what's next from Jersey Jack. And let's talk about that real quick. The two big rumors are Matrix and Harry Potter. Now we know we're going to get Mark Seiden's first game. And everybody is thinking it might be The Matrix. And that would put Eric Minier onto Harry Potter, which gets really exciting. I'm also hearing another rumor that it might be based on the Harry Potter movies. Now, here's the big issue for Jersey Jack moving forward. If they do another movie pin and it doesn't have the voices and the video clips synced up, Jerry over at Multimorphic got everything in The Princess Bride. And I don't think people are going to be paying these premium prices for Jersey Jack machines. if they don't sync up the assets in the right way. And so if they make either of these games, and they're both based on the movies of Harry Potter and The Matrix, if they don't do them right, I think Jersey Jack, you know, it's just so disappointing. And let's face it, we haven't seen them do the assets right since Guns N' Roses. They did not do it right with Toy Story. I guess Godfather was kind of right. I think those clips synced up, and it's a really old movie. They kind of did Godfather right. Where Godfather messed up is when they started putting the company staff into the game itself. That was the biggest boneheaded move ever. In a moment of silence for Godfather LE owners out there, my friend Derek bought his for $12,000. I think the best offer he has on the table for the game is like $6,500 or $5,500. You cannot sell a Godfather LE for anything. So when will we see Jersey Jacks next game? I don't think we're going to see it before June or July. I think we got a lot of time where this company is going to make more Elton John Platinums. I can't see them making a thousand Elton John CEs. I think they're going to make more like 500. I don't think they made a thousand Godfather CEs or Toy Story CEs. I just don't think there's a thousand out there. So that's the news over at Jersey Jack. Look, I'm really bullish about the future of Jersey Jack. And I'm hearing it from everybody who's over there now. Now that Pat Lawler is gone, the vibe over at JJP is great. And I've been saying it for years. That man was a dark cloud over the company. He was not a collaborator. He was not a nice man. And I don't know why anyone would defend him because he created a cantankerous culture over at Jersey Jack. And I'm happy he's gone and so should you. He never delivered for Jack. And that's the bottom line. he's the reason why Jack had to go get money and had to get bailed out because he took forever to get stuff done and Jack couldn't get games to market fast enough all right what else is on Canada's list let's start with barrels of fun here so this company just pulled off what people are heralding as the greatest customer service in the history of pinball a gentleman with about 600 plays on his labyrinth noticed that the play field chipped so instead of telling him to put down Mylar. You know, Jersey Jack would have sent him a sticker. Jersey Jack would have made him buy an unpopulated play field for $500. This company told this gentleman, we will pick up your game for free, mail it back to us for free, fix your game with a new play field, basically repopulating his game with a new play field without a chip and mail it back to this gentleman for free, for free. And even though this guy's like, well, you don't really have to do all of that. Like maybe I can meet you in the middle somewhere when we do a swap. Then they were like, nope, we insist on doing it this way. And he got a nice letter from David Van Es and I don't even know how to respond to this. Like I've never seen a pinball company do customer service on this level. That's absolutely amazing. Now, look, I also hope that barrels of fun does not have 1100 games where they might have chipped playfields because there's no way they could afford to do this for 1100 customers. Here's the thing though, like once you do something like this for one person, it can't just be a one-time PR stunt. I really hope they don't have to do this that often, but it's a great sign of a new company doing things right. And isn't it refreshing? A pinball company coming out, not asking for your money to fund their operation, not making you give non-refundable deposits for eight months and lying to your face about it, not telling you to pound sand when something happens with their playfields the way Jersey Jack did. I mean, this is how you do it. And once this company makes a theme that excites me, I can't wait to give my money to Barrels of Fun because I believe in companies that act like this and treat their customers like this. And we need to see more of this in pinball. I guarantee you David David Van Es is praying to the pinball gods he does not have to do this 1100 times. All right, who else is on our list? Chicago Gaming Company. Pulp Fictions are making their way out the door. I am hearing LEs are going to be available sometime in June. Now, they have to make a thousand LEs. And so, you know, I mean, how long is that going to take? The early reviews on this game are really good My gosh though did you see when someone popped the hood on a Pulp Fiction This thing has a board that bigger than a skateboard It like a single ginormous board on this game the size of like a boogie board Like I was like, oh my gosh, I've never seen in my history of pinball a single board set that is ginormous like that. And it's like, what happens if one light goes out? You have to repair that humongous thing and take that humongous thing out of the game. I think it's really weird it's engineered that way. But the good news is this, is that Chicago Gaming Company stands behind their products. And if anything happens with the board, they will repair it for you. Still a mixed bag on whether or not the call-outs sound good or not. I think they're just lifted right from the movie. And I think all of us have to go back and watch Pulp Fiction, hear how the call-outs are in the film. And I bet they're not super clear. I bet they're not super clean. I bet they're a little bit scratchy. and I think that's what we're getting in the game itself. So I'm not worried about that. I think anyone who's in on an LE is still very happy because you bought a pinball machine that was less than $10,000 and it's already gone up in value and we're never going to see that again in the history of pinball. All right, who else is next on our list? All right, American Pinball. This is who I was talking about. This company is going to be the laughingstock of the entire pinball world. Saturday, March 15th at 7 o'clock at night at Texas Pinball Festival when David Fix gets up there with Maurice and unveils to the world the secret sauce of American Pinball, which is going to be their barbecue-themed pinball machine. It's happening. It is a barbecue-themed game, and it's Berrio-designed. And when we see this, this could be the end of American Pinball. I think it could be. I think this is going to be a game that gets a worse reception than dialed in and games like full throttle. I think David Fix has no idea what he's doing. And I think this is the final decision that he's going to get to make at American Pinball. I think he knows it. And I think there's another reason why we're seeing social media blitz nonstop with Galactic Tank Force. Have you seen like all the blitzing of social media happening around like Galactic Tank Force launch parties and events? and cosplay things going on with the actress from the game. None of this is going to help him sell more Galactic Tank Force games. And I don't care how much they scream from the rooftops about that game and this barbecue game. Trust me, stick a fork in American Pinball. 7 o'clock, March 15th, Saturday night at Texas Pinball Festival. I will be at my Jameson St. Patrick's Eve party. But trust me, you're going to want to hear my take on this game when I just go off. And I know I'm going to be going off on this game. There is no way this game is going to be great. There is no way this game is going to be what you want. There is no way this game is going to survive in a modern pinball marketplace with the themes we have. It's Game Over Fix. And he has driven his company off the tracks into the ocean. He is basically making the worst decisions I've ever seen a pinball leader make. All right. That's American pinball. Let's go on the Dutch pinball over in the Netherlands. Not a lot of news in Dutchland. They've got the early Achiever Games are going out the door. I think Barry is done with them. And then it's Alice in Wonderland sometime in May, June. And then it should be Back to the Future at the end of the year. That's what's happening with Dutch. I think once they start making Back to the Future, they're going to make it for the rest of their lives. And I really hope it's amazing. I hope Alice in Wonderland is amazing. You know, and there's nothing else to really say. I think they're quietly getting it done. And I don't think anybody's nervous anymore about supporting Dutch Pinball. And I think the next chapter in Dutch Pinball begins this year. And I'm happy to see Barry crawl out of that gutter and get it done. I wish I could say the same about this next company, Haggis Pinball. Oh man, this company. There is no way anyone is going to be giving these guys money moving forward. I think they're screwed. I think their distributors are screwed. I saw Kerry Hardy put up a video and people are saying it was a softball video. Look, I don't blame Kerry Hardy. I don't blame Zach Many. I don't blame the distributors. I don't blame anybody but Damien. And he's blaming COVID. But the bottom line is this. He's been misleading people now for two years. And I don't care what anybody says. When Damien is telling people, if you pay in full, you'll have your game in eight weeks. He's flat out lying to people. He knows that's not possible. When he asked people to pay in full for Centaur in January, people, last month, he asked people to pay in full for January when he knew he needed to recapitalize. He's lying to you. He knows he can't survive unless you help him recapitalize. It is not going to work. I think American Pinball and I think Haggis Pinball are going to be done in 2024. and I would be pleasantly surprised if they both survive. The one that has a much easier time surviving is American Pinball because Mukesh is financing this company with the money from Ametron. Damien doesn't have that annuity. He doesn't have a big backer. He doesn't have an Abbess family marching in and saving his ass. The thing is this, no one's going to because he doesn't have a product people want. He doesn't have a product thousands of people want like Jersey Jack did. He doesn't. He's got a product where he's struggling to sell a few hundred units. And because of that, no big whale rich man is going to march in there and save his ass. It not going to happen because he not making any money Like if you were to march into Haggis and ask to see the books you seeing nothing but red I think they done All right home pin number eight I don even know how to talk about home pin I don even know if Spinal Tap going out I'm not going to waste any air time on these guys. If you ordered a Spinal Tap, congratulations. You got a really rare pin that nobody else wants. All right, let's go on to Multimorphic, the Princess Bride. I think they're going to have a good showing at TPF. I think the stream the other day was fun to see the game. It was fun to see them get all the assets for The Princess Bride. The game looks really fun to play. It's just expensive. I could see everyone who owns a Multimorphic buying the kit. I just can't see a lot of new people like opening up their wallets for like $12,000 to $14,000 basically to get a full game of The Princess Bride. I don't see it happening. I just think there's too much out there and everything is so expensive. And I think you're curious. I think you'll play it. I don't know. I think if Jerry gets a few more games people really want, then people might make the plunge. But right now, he doesn't have enough amazing games to get people to spend this much money on the entire platform. Number 10 on my list. We've got so many companies. We've got Pinball Adventures. I'm not even going to waste my time. I think they're going to be done this year. I'm pretty fatalistic, as you can tell, because we have 14 pinball companies, people. 14! All right, after Pinball Adventures is Pinball Brothers. So look, these guys and Pedretti Gaming, everybody is waiting for Pinball Brothers next game, which is going to be a music pin. I don't know what it is. I heard it might be Scorpions. Who knows? But that game should be out soon because Queen was announced like well over a year ago, like a year and a half ago. And so we've got that game coming out. And then we've got the Bally Williams remake games that are coming out by Pedretti Gaming in the European Pinball Company, whatever it's called. And so when is that going to happen? I thought that was going to happen at TPF. I thought TPF was going to be the big reveal. They still might show up there and do a mystery reveal of their game. But I don't think they're going to announce it before TPF. Here's the good news. TPF is in two weeks. So in just like two weeks, we are going to see whatever happens at Texas Pinball Festival. I do think the show is going to be a little underwhelming this year, even though I'm not going and I'm not bitter that I'm not going but trust me not having the twippies there on that Saturday night is a huge mistake and that was always the culminating event at Texas Pinball Festival and you have nobody else to thank other than Colin and Will for destroying what brought hundreds of people joy and happiness at Texas Pinball Festival and I'm happy I'm not going to be there this year I'm going to have fun with my Jameson party the only thing that makes me sad is I won't be doing my Perry Steakhouse happy hour. A lot of you who are listening right now, we used to hang out there. It was a lot of fun. And I'm going to miss my fans. I mean, of course I'm going to miss you. I'm not going to miss seeing all those BS people that ruin TPF. And they're going to be there. What else is going on in pinball? So spooky pinball. So spooky pinball. They've got Looney Tunes. They've got Texas Chainsaw going out the door. Games look great. Games look beautiful. They're getting it done. And I'm seeing like more and more people buying both games at the same time. I don't know what that's about. No, no real questions here. You know, I think they're going to be making these games for the next six to eight months. And I guess the only question is, are they going to adjust Looney Tunes to make it more choose your own adventure and less about randomizing the mode? So we'll see if Luke listens to Kaneda and implements that into the game. But I'm not seeing any out of box issues. Everyone seems to be unboxing their games and having a good time. and that's what we want to see. You know, it's really easy. Like when people really execute well, there's not that much for me to say. So I'm really happy that most of these pinball companies have no idea what they're doing. It's going to keep me gamefully employed in this pinball podcasting space. All right, the last two companies, right? 13 and 14 on my list. Turner Pinball is going to show up at Texas Pinball with a new version of Ninja Eclipse. Yeah, I don't even know what to say, right? I don't know who this guy thinks is going to buy this game. It doesn't make any sense to me. And Chris Turner, if you're listening to this and you bought the Raza games and you have the right to Raza, stop wasting your time with Ninja Eclipse. Just make 200 Razas, charge 20 grand for them, and you'd sell every one. Trust me, there's enough silly collectors that would want one if there was only 200 Razas in the world. And finally, out of France, I believe, Hexa Pinball with their Space Hunt game. It is shipping to customers. They're executing better than Haggis Pinball. You know, it's so sad. Haggis Pinball just got lapped by Hexa Pinball. And 99% of you are like, who the heck is Hexa Pinball? Exactly. Everybody, happy Leap Day again. Thank you for being a member of the Canada Club. I know I made you wait a couple more days for a show. Work has just been crazy. But we're going to get way more episodes going. And there's going to be so much to talk about as we go into March. And as TPF happens and these companies try to steal our attention at the show, I can't wait to talk about this barbecue game. Stick a fork in David Fix and Maurice because they're done. Thank you.