Welcome everybody to Canada's Pinball Podcast. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving with the family. I hope you had some turkey, maybe some football, and everybody got together, watched the parade, watched the dog show, and now we're here. It's Black Friday. Black Friday deals are swooping across the pinball world. Kineta's excited to go around the pinball horn. We're going to put all that drama behind us. I've unsubscribed to This Week in Pinball. I've unsubscribed to the Kineticist. And I'm just going to focus on doing what you love, which is the greatest entertaining podcast about what's going on with these manufacturers. Because nobody cares about the damn content creators, me included. All right, so people, here's what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about the Black Friday deal over at American Pinball. We're going to talk about distributors getting Elton John machines. Is this going to help with game sales? We're going to talk about the code over at Jersey Jack Pinball. There's an issue with the Jersey Jack Pinball code that I'm starting to hear people finally realize. And it's not about completing the code. It's about something else. And we're going to talk about what's going on over at these manufacturers. What are the rumored titles? We've got new rumored games from Stern Pinball. We've got people thinking that some Stern games that we think are coming out might actually be code names for other stuff. And we're just going to go around and make a 20-something minute entertaining pinball podcast. Now, I'm going to tell you right now, there's not going to be a Black Friday deal on Canada's pinball podcast because at $5 a month, it's the best bang for buck in all the pinball. So let's start with American pinball. They have a Black Friday deal, which is a little strange because the image has images all of their new title, Galactic Tank Force. But if you read about the Black Friday deal, you don't get anything off that machine. What you will get is if you buy Legends of Valhalla, they will remove $400 off the price of the machine. And the game was weirdly priced to begin with. It's like $8,395. and you could have it if you want it today through Sunday for $7,995. I think the jig is up over at American Pinball. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know how to market. They don't know the themes people want. And now they're doing this weird deal for this Legends of Valhalla game where the hype is completely gone on the machine. And I just don't think David Fix has any of the answers. I don't think they know what they're doing. And I don't think until this company shakes up the leadership team over there, we're going to see anything really good from American Pinball. And I'm going to tell you right now, one of the unlicensed themed games they have is a food truck machine from Barrio. I heard it's single level. So maybe they bought the code that Deep Root worked on for food truck. And instead of having all the complex mechanisms, they're just going to use switches to get you through the code in the game. I don't think anybody wants that. And again, if history repeats itself, it's just going to be more of American Pinball giving us what we don't really want. All right, so let's move on from American Pinball. Talk about giving something that people do want in the Pinball Brothers version of Alien. There is now going to be a predominant image of Ripley on the Translight in like a space outfit helmet. It looks way better than the Power Loader one where you don't even see her face. So good job, Pinball Brothers, on making the Ripley version of the game actually telegraph that it's the Ripley version of the game. I reached out to them. Oric Lawson did the artwork on this new Translight. It looks really good. They also said the other side of the cabinet is going to be different as well. So they were waiting for approval on some of these other alternative versions of the game that predominantly feature Ripley. And they couldn't get approval in time by the time they took the game to Expo. So that's a good thing. So anyone who ordered this game is going to feel better about getting more Ripley on the machine. All right, so that's happening over at Pinball Brothers. Let's go to Spooky Pinball. They're starting to send everybody clues to their newest game. I got a clue a few weeks ago. They've been doing Facebook Lives with a few clues. They mailed Don over at Don's Pinball Podcast. They mailed him another clue, which looks a little bit like an upper play. It looks like a tiny little portion of an upper play field. Maybe it's a chainsaw. Maybe it's a Halo weapon. I mean, the speculations are running wild. I do think it's fun that Spooky Pinball is doing this. They are throwing clues all throughout the pinball media world and all throughout Facebook live streams that they're doing. And I think Spooky Pinball, you know, as a company is just having a lot of fun. They're having a lot of fun. They've sold pretty much all of these Scooby-Doos. They sold all of their TNAs. And now they're moving on to new themes. And the reason why Spooky Pinball is having a lot of fun, whether or not they put the mechanical magic we want into the games. The reason they're having so much fun is they are making themes that they love and they are making themes that build their spooky brand. And I can't say that about everybody else. I mean, when you look at Jersey Jack's theme selection, it's all over the place. And I think spooky pinball, when they wake up and they see like Scooby-Doo on a trans light, it's a dream come true. When they wake up and they say, hey, we're the only pinball company that ever made a Halloween pinball machine. That's a dream come true. And so I think this company is going to keep getting better as they make more themes that connect with what they're passionate about. And that's how pinball should be done. The only part I don't like is one design where they carry two separate themes over that design. I hope we don't see that again. The rumor is we are going to. So look, I mean, I think every pinball machine should be designed from the ground up with the theme in mind, because how can you design mechanisms if you're not designing it for that particular game? All right, what else is going on in pinball? We've got Spooky Pinball. Guess is happening galore. We've got a few more months of Scooby-Doo production. I think we're going to hear what their new game is maybe by the end of the year. Spooky likes to do a December announcement They done it before and maybe they do it again All right what else is going on Jersey Jack Pinball is sending prototypes of Elton John or show examples of Elton John to its distributors, which is good. The more they get people on this game, the more they're going to get good reviews of Elton John. Predominantly, the Elton John reviews have been very positive. But here's the thing about Elton John, people. Let's be honest for a minute. What does everybody say about Elton John pinball? They're not gushing over the mechanisms. They're not gushing over the amount of stuff that's put into the game. They're simply gushing over the fact that it plays like a Stern-Steve-Ritchie game. So is this praise for Elton John, or is it just more of an indictment that every other Jersey Jack game that's come out over the last 10 years hasn't shot very well? I I mean, that's really what's happening here. This is not like a radically imaginative and creative Steve Ritchie design. It's just finally we get a game that shoots as good as a Black Knight Pro. Let's be honest. Finally, a game that shoots as well as a Black Knight Pro or a Star Trek Pro or an ACDC Pro, right? This is like a Steve Ritchie Pro. I mean, think about it. There's no upper play field. There's no lower play field. This is Steve Ritchie's design wrapped up in a beautiful game. I mean, it is an absolutely stunning game. And every time I see the Platinum Edition of this game with that Christopher Franchi artwork, I want one. I want one at $8,500. I don't want one at $12,000 because we all know that most likely this game is just going to lose so much money in value. I mean, look at this like godfather pinball machine from IE Pinball. I know he plays his games a lot, but these playfields are now holding up. And now you can go get a Godfather for $8,500. I mean, this game was $12,000 less than a year ago. And that's the problem JJP has. It's not about whether or not we want the game. It's whether or not you want to lose $3,000 to $5,000 because they overpriced all these B-themed games. So you will never hear me say Elton John's not a good game. You will never hear me say Elton John's not a great shooter. Now, the big question mark I have on Elton John, because I was reading the pin side thread, and it's funny when people walk up to the game and they play it five times at Expo and they're like, and I ordered one. After five plays, they ordered one. And I think the big question mark in this machine, it's not whether or not it shoots well. It's not whether or not it's going to light up your home like a Christmas tree all year round. The big question is, is the code going to be fun? Is it going to be satisfying to own this thing after you played it 200 times? From what I can see on the code itself, it's got like this screensaver kind of collage of Elton John images, and the callouts are pretty terrible. And I'm not really sure what the objective is in the game, maybe other than getting to a high score. And then I heard someone say something on Pinside that I think hit the nail on the head. And it's something that we've all been feeling about Jersey Jack games. It's not just how they shoot. It's not just the weak flipper feel. The real issue with Jersey Jack code and the real issue with their games is simply this. Their games, when it comes to the code and it comes to the call-outs and it comes to the music now in their last like four years worth of machines, the problem with Jersey Jack code, it simply lacks humanity and personality and urgency and excitement. like they don't know how to code into their machines, like stuff that just gets you going stuff. That's just memorable stuff that feels like I got to make these shots. And there's this sense of urgency. And if I don't hit it, something's going to happen. And if I do get to it, it's going to unlock this amazing call out. Then the way a multiball starts will be like it does in Adam's family and cactus Canyon. And if you go back and play those Bally Williams games, They didn't have deep code, but they had code that really had so much personality. Those games had code. Whenever something happened that was monumental in the game, you felt it and it connected with you and it made you super excited. And that's my big thing with Jersey Jack games. It's like when you play a game like Dialed In, it's got so much code, but it's all just like, oh, you know, it's devoid of any personality. It's devoid of any urgency. It doesn't really get you going. And again, I think Jersey Jack Pinball needs to go back and study a little bit what people love about pinball. And I can't say the same thing over at Stern. I think Stern does a much better job with their coding than Jersey Jack Pinball. They don't get credit for it. And I think some Jersey Jack fanboys don't give Stern credit for this, but I much prefer a Stern code over a Jersey Jack code. I think Stern Pinball has a much better grasp on how to connect with people through the code and how to put much more into the games. You know, some Stern games are too complex like Avengers and some Stern coders I just don't like. I don't like what Ray Day does. I think he makes it too complex. I don't like what Dwight does. Everything's just stacking on top of stacking on top of stacking. I think the code with Keith Elwin is the best code team right now. Before that, it was obviously anything Lyman Sheets touched. You know, we'll see what happens. I mean, Elton John is still so early on. What I really would love it if Jersey Jack would mail a machine, not to distributors, Mail these machines to the top 10 pinball buying demographics out there. There should be an Elton John on location in Chicago. There should be one in Seattle, one in New York, one in San Francisco, but one maybe in Houston, one in Austin. I don't know what the top 10 pinball demographics are, but think about it. How are you going to get more people onto this game? Why would mailing it to a distributor get more people in front of the game? And if I could give them any marketing advice from someone who lives in New York City, I have still yet to play a Godfather. I am not going to be able to play an Elton John because no one has one ordered here. And I think the job of Jersey Jack and its marketing department is to put these games where you're going to get foot traffic. And you can't just rely on pinball shows. You should have 10 top arcades that you identified throughout the country who get machines Don waste your time throwing them to a distributor You not going to get as many people driving to a distro to play a game like this You know what's interesting about Elton John is I think they went out too early with it. I think they thought Jaws was going to hit in December and now it's not. So I think they went out with this game a little early. I think they were anxious. I also think they're gauging how many orders they're going to get because they don't want to over-order parts. And that's why this game was not on the line when they revealed it. So we're going to see what happens with this game. I think Elton John will outsell the Godfather I do. The reason why is I don't think anybody wants Godfather Ellie. I think more people are going to want Elton John Ellie than Godfather. I think Elton John Ellie looks much nicer than Godfather Ellie. It's a better shooter than Godfather Ellie. And I think Godfather and Toy Story are both going to lose more value than Elton John. I just think because this is Jersey Jack's best shooting game to date, and because it's so beautiful, I do think Elton John will hold more value than both Toy Story and Godfather. Those two games are going to sink like a lead balloon, and they're going to keep going down and down and down. I think we're going to see games like Toy Story LE and Godfather LE. I mean it, people. I think we're going to see them for like $7,000 within a year. They're just going to keep going down because there's so much stuff coming out. All right, speaking of coming out, have you heard some of my Stern rumors? So I am hearing that next year there is going to be a 70th anniversary of Godzilla. Lots of people upset by this. Lots of people worried that Stern is going to make anniversary editions of all of its hot games, and that is going to cause the LE values on those games to sink. Now look, the only reason why I think this might not happen, even though I hear it's going to happen, the one reason is this. They've never done an anniversary edition on a game where that game had 1,000 LEs in circulation. So this would be the first time ever that Stern made an additional collectible variation of a game when that game already had 1,000 units of an LE. Remember, Jurassic Park only had 500 LEs when they made the Anniversary Edition. I think Elvira also only had 500 LEs or 400 LEs, and then they had 50 of those Signature Editions, and then they made 200 of the 40th Anniversary Edition of the game. It's going to be interesting to see what they do. Now, where it gets really interesting is if Stern does something like this. So imagine a move like this. so 70th anniversary of Godzilla you don't want to piss off all these 1000 LE owners but you also know there's an opportunity to put a few more million dollars in the bank for doing nothing more than putting stickers and new armor on the game I mean that is what it will be now will it be as some people are speculating a black and white anniversary edition of Godzilla which would make sense because the original Godzilla movies were in black and white. So that would be interesting, right? Black and white in which the only thing green is maybe Godzilla. I could see that looking pretty stunning. This Elvira is the nicest version of Elvira. But here's what I would do if I were them and I'm just going to give them an idea. See, I don't want to piss off these thousand people, right? We don't need more Godzilla machines. I mean, everybody owns a Godzilla. Even people who don't own a Godzilla own a Godzilla. It's just everywhere. They keep making the premiums. They've made so many LEs. I was never really a fan of the LE version of Godzilla. That silver armor does not pop. The side art is not the most impressive in the zombie yeti portfolio. And there's just something about like the play field itself. The whole game itself just does not pop as an LE version of the game. I wish they did more to make the LE look special. But here's the thing I would do if I were them. If I were going to make 70th anniversary Godzilla and I didn't want to piss off a thousand people and I'm reading the room and people are starting to be annoyed by this, the only direction forward is this. I would only make 70 editions of a Godzilla 70th anniversary. I would make it more of an SLE and I would charge like $20,000 for it. And that way, if you put enough of a gap between that machine and everyone else who owns the LE who only spent 10.5 on their LEs. I think that's a way to make it so you're not really pissing those people off because they would look at that expensive version and be like, I don't really need it. It's not worth it. You know, and you might attract 70 people out there who just want to own the creme de la creme version of Keith Elwin's masterpiece, which is Godzilla. That's what I would do. That's what Canada would do. Don't kill me. I'm a marketer by day. I'm a podcaster by night. And I think Stern Pinball needs to figure out a way to separate and not cannibalize all those thousand people. And I think that could be the solution. And people get ready for it. People get ready for super expensive pinball machines that might sit for a while before they sell every one. But if you only have to sell 70 to a global audience and you make it look absolutely spectacular, I think they might find a market for it. Because think about it, I'd much rather have a Godzilla 70th knowing there's only 70 in the world for 20K than a James Bond where there's 500 in the world and the game itself is pretty basic. It would basically be like their Godzilla version of Batman SLE. So let's see if that is the case. The other thing I would do if I was going to charge that much money, you'd have to put a few more exclusive modes into the game. You have to do it. All right, speaking of rumors over at Stern Pinball, you know, I broke this rumor, Naps Arcade covered it. I'm hearing that Stern Pinball has the music license to Journey. All right, don't stop believing Canadian people because we're usually right. So are we going to see Journey Pinball from Stern and who would do Journey Pinball? Is that going to be a John Borg game? It doesn't feel like something Jack Danger would want to do. It doesn't seem like something that Keith Elwin would do. And is it going to be something we see this year? because here the other rumor I hearing Remember I been saying that Metallica is coming back And I here to tell you right now Metallica is coming back And I not sure if it an anniversary edition if they going to call it something else, but here is what I'm hearing. Metallica will be. So sit down people. It is going to be the same game, the same layout, but it is going to have an LCD screen. So this goes back to the rumor I heard that Metallica band members went to Stern Pinball and they looked at the new Stern games and then they looked at their machine and they said, hey, can't we make our machine look like a more modern game? And so I am hearing we are going to get another run of Metallica's, but this time they will have an LCD screen. And people, it's not that hard to port over. It is not that hard once you've written all this code to make it so you can display it now on an LCD screen? Will it be all new animations? What will happen? But I'm hearing from a really good source that Metallica is coming back with an LCD screen. So what are the rumors at Stern? So look, John Wick, I don't really want a John Wick pinball machine. And then there's people speculating now that Dungeons and Dragons is just a code name for He-Man. I don't know about that. I don't really know about that. But the fact that American Pinball is now saying that its next three games will be original IP games leads me to believe that they do not have the license for He-Man because if they had the He-Man license, not in a million years would they not make it. I don't know. AP does the dumbest things on the planet, so maybe they wouldn't make it even if they had the license. So here's the thing. I heard from a good source that it's Dungeons and Dragons and the person who owns that license went to Stern directly and wants a D&D pinball machine. So keep that in mind. But look, if I had to choose between Dungeons and Dragons and He-Man, I would absolutely rather have He-Man pinball. So we shall see what happens there. We know about the rumors of Pokemon. We know about the rumors of John Wick. Here's the game that I think John Borg designed that got shelved. Are you ready for it? You know how I was saying there's turmoil over at Stern and not everybody's happy? The game I think John Borg designed. This is just a guess. The game I think he designed that got shelved because Stern fumbled the license or didn't want to pay for it, my guess is it was Indiana Jones. And I had from really, really good sources that a new Indiana Jones pinball machine was coming out. The movie came out, and John Borg made the old Stern Indiana Jones pinball machine. And I think this is one of those where, like, Borg was working on it, and he had it ready to go, and Stern just didn't want to move forward with it. maybe it's because the new movie didn't do as well as they thought but that's just my guess that john borg somewhere in a closet over at stern pinball there is an indiana jones fully designed game by john borg that will never see the light of day i love guessing stuff like this i don't think we'll ever know if i'm right or wrong on this but that's my guess people all right what else is going on on this black friday everybody we covered stern we covered spooky i keep hearing these rumors that like Franchi is going to be on Spooky Pinball's next game. Franchi is on Jersey Jack's games. Franchi is probably going to go somewhere where we don't have roads, ladies and gentlemen. And he's on all these company machines. The thing is, the reason why he works, the reason why Franchi works on all these different games is the way he does his art. It takes the original art from all of these franchises and it just makes it better. It works really well. He needs source material. I don't think galactic tank force is his best work. I don't think it's even close to his best work. Put galactic tank force next to Godfather and Elton John and you can see what happens because Franchi's not a guy that can sit down at a blank piece of paper and illustrate something. He's not that kind of illustrator. He needs source material. When you give him source material, he can do wonders with it. But if you were to sit him next to an easel with a blank canvas and have him in zombie yeti and say hey draw me venom he's not going to be able to do it but that being said lucky for him every single ip out there every single license out there has a plethora of source material for him to start with so he's never going to be devoid of being able to create beautiful pinball machines if he's working with a licensed theme the last thing he should make is an unlicensed game look at the play field on the monsters people and put it next to galactic tank force, which is mostly empty. Most of that play field is empty and it's just a gradient. It doesn't have much detail because again, he's not going to be able to illustrate all of these different space features and tanks and characters. That's not what he does. Oh, there we go. Everybody, thank you so much, everybody, for being a member of the Canada Club. And an extra special thanks to Mr. Steve Jablonski, still the only Canada Club member with $100 a month donated to the show. Steve, thank you so much. For the rest of you that donate, you know you got a little bit more. You know you got a little bit more. I haven't given anybody a shout out for raising the roof recently. I think a lot of you are still at $5 a month. And look, if you love this show and you love what you're hearing, you know you can afford another $5 a month. I mean, go out in the world now. I mean, I went to the diner last night for dinner. We had our Thanksgiving meal at a diner, right? and I had like a bacon, egg, and cheese and a vanilla milkshake and we had a great time and it was like $90 just to go to a diner in New York City. Everybody, have a great day. We'll talk to you soon. Have a great weekend and we'll be back with tomorrow's Saturday Morning Spectacular and if you haven't listened to the wormhole interview with Jamie, check it out. I thought it was awesome. I love those guys. I can't wait to go down there and put the worst scores on their machines. Everybody, have a great day. Kaneda out. your mind and they never get ready it's enough to drive you crazy if you let it 9 to 5 they got you and I want you and I want better lives and you scream about it don't you it's a