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Episode 241: Zach Sharpe. All things (Stranger and otherwise) about Stern Pinball

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·32m 43s·analyzed·Jan 9, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

Stern's marketing director reflects on record 2019 output, Stranger Things success, pricing pressures, and competitive pinball growth.

Summary

Zach Sharpe, Stern Pinball's Marketing Director, discusses 2019's record output of six games (The Munsters (Pro), Black Knight: Sword of Rage, Jurassic Park, Elvira: House of Horrors, Star Wars, Star Wars (Comic Art Pro), and Stranger Things), the Stranger Things launch strategy timed for Christmas, Brian Eddy return as a designer, game pricing increases driven by tariffs, the Stern Pro Circuit structure and upcoming March 2020 final in Chicago, Stern's charitable giving and Stern Army growth, and the role of awards like the Twippies in validating game design—balancing sales metrics with community recognition.

Key Claims

  • Stern released six games in 2019 (The Munsters (Pro), Black Knight: Sword of Rage, Jurassic Park, Elvira, Star Wars, Star Wars (Comic Art Pro)) plus Stranger Things which can be counted as 2019 or 2020.

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe discusses Stern's 2019 releases with host Jeff Lee; confirmed by enumeration of specific titles.

  • Stranger Things was released right before Christmas 2019, timed intentionally to align with holiday/Christmas lights themes and to generate momentum into CES and 2020.

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe explains the strategy: 'Stranger Things just really lends itself well to the kind of Christmas holiday spirit with the Christmas lights and thought it would be a unique approach to announce and have the game delivered before the end of the year.'

  • Brian Eddy returned to Stern pinball design for Stranger Things after being away for approximately 20 years.

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe: 'I sure he been very pleased by the reaction so far' regarding Eddy's return; Teals confirms Eddy's prior iconic work on The Shadow, Attack from Mars, and Medieval Madness.

  • Stern raised game pricing by $100 for Stranger Things—the first price increase in almost two years.

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe directly states: 'I think with Stranger Things, the price went up $100. So that price increase happened. But that was the first price increase in almost two years.'

  • Chinese tariffs and international trade policies significantly impacted Stern's manufacturing costs and pricing decisions.

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe: 'with Chinese tariffs and other trade stuff that's out of our control as a U.S.-based company...there's always going to be factors that can influence pricing moving forward.'

  • The Stern Pro Circuit final is earmarked for March 21st in Chicago, with the Heads Up Challenge returning that weekend.

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe: 'I can say we are earmarked for March 21st in Chicago...That is earmarked as well for the weekend.'

  • George Gomez designed only two games (Deadpool and The Beatles) in 2018 and took 2019 off, drawing teasing criticism from Teals.

Notable Quotes

  • “Stranger Things just really lends itself well to the kind of Christmas holiday spirit with the Christmas lights and thought it would be a unique approach to announce and have the game delivered before the end of the year and get geared up for CES and start 2020 with a bang.”

    Zach Sharpe @ ~9:30 — Reveals intentional strategic timing of Stranger Things release to capitalize on Christmas theme and holiday excitement while setting up CES 2020 launch momentum.

  • “I take NDAs extremely serious. I learned from the best, you know, from our father. And, you know, I would never risk my personal employment over sharing exclusive information willy-nilly. I won't even share information with Josh, who has an NDA.”

    Zach Sharpe @ ~14:00 — Demonstrates Zach's strict adherence to confidentiality and references his father (implied Gary Sharpe) as a role model for NDA compliance; indicates family culture around information security at Stern.

  • “I mean, he has not lost a step. And it's fun to see him get reinvigorated with pinball and actually being a part of it on a day-to-day basis. For the first time in almost I don want to say not 20 years but I can do the math while I driving But it been a while.”

    Zach Sharpe @ ~11:00 — Confirms Brian Eddy's long absence from active pinball design (~20 years) and his excitement returning to daily studio work on Stranger Things.

  • “I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, let's not get me wrong. Would I rather win an award and lose my job or lose an award and... choose the latter but i mean how vain is zach but i will say i mean it's definitely great validation for the team to win any award.”

    Zach Sharpe @ ~35:00 — Balances business pragmatism (sales over awards) with recognition that team validation matters; reveals underlying tension between commercial metrics and industry accolades.

  • “with Chinese tariffs and other trade stuff that's out of our control as a U.S.-based company. You know, there's always going to be factors that can influence pricing moving forward.”

    Zach Sharpe @ ~22:00 — Explicitly acknowledges external supply chain and trade policy pressures driving pricing; provides business context for $100 Stranger Things price increase.

Entities

Zach SharpepersonJeff LeepersonJosh SharpepersonBrian EddypersonGeorge Gomezperson[name withheld pending review]person

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stranger Things deliberately released late December 2019 to align with Christmas holiday theme (lights aesthetic) and generate momentum into CES 2020 and new year; indicates sophisticated release calendar planning tied to theme seasonality and industry event cycles.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'Stranger Things just really lends itself well to the kind of Christmas holiday spirit with the Christmas lights and thought it would be a unique approach...get the game delivered before the end of the year and get geared up for CES and start 2020 with a bang.'

  • $

    market_signal: $100 price increase on Stranger Things (first increase in ~2 years) driven by Chinese tariffs, international trade policy, and inflation; signals cost pressures on manufacturer and potential resistance to further increases from market.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'with Stranger Things, the price went up $100...first price increase in almost two years...with Chinese tariffs and other trade stuff that's out of our control as a U.S.-based company...there's always going to be factors that can influence pricing moving forward.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern shipped record six games in 2019 calendar year (The Monsters, Black Knight, Jurassic Park, Elvira, Star Wars Pin, Star Wars Comic, plus Stranger Things on cusp of 2020); demonstrates sustained production capacity and assembly line efficiency.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'Busiest year ever' in response to question about 2019 output; Jeff Teals enumeration confirms 'six games that came out in the calendar year, that's pretty amazing.'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Brian Eddy's return to active Stern pinball design after ~20-year absence signals designer recruitment/retention strategy and indicates community excitement around bringing back legendary designer names; described as retaining design skill and being 'reinvigorated.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.098

0:00
it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teals you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check us out on instagram at pinball profile marketing director, Zach Sharp, joins us right now. Hey, Zach, how are you, buddy? I've been a little better. I kind of ended the year with a little bout of food poisoning, but so far, 2020 has been starting off pretty well. See, now, food poisoning for me, that's scheduled. It's my diet program. That's what I plan on. Is that your cleanse? Yes. Exercising, proper foods, too difficult. Just a good bout of food poisoning, clear the pipes. That's how I go. I call that the South Park cleanse. I don't recommend you searching that GIF image, but pretty gross, but go on. Well, didn't Benson have a little bout too? Yeah, I don't know if it's like father, like son, but back in Maine for Christmas, he overate to the point of actually puking in the car ride for the first time ever. So not food poisoning because he was in good spirits, but he overate, which he probably does take after me. So I guess we can say like father, like son. Boy, oh boy. Overeating, that seems to be the common thread over the holidays. We had a little spread out for New Year's Eve for some friends of ours. It's actually my wife and I, it's our anniversary on New Year's Eve. So we had some people over and we all went downstairs to play a little bit of pinball. And all of a sudden, Ann goes, where's the dog? The dog tiptoed upstairs to go and eat all of the cheese, all of the meat, got a few crackers. Luckily left the chocolates and grapes or we wouldn't have a dog. Oh, gosh. Oh, just gross. What kind of dog? It's a Havanese dog. So it's a little dog, about 22 pounds. A little Havana, Cuba dog. It's a lovely dog, but a sneaky bastard when you're not looking, I'll tell you that much. Oh, yeah. We had a beagle growing up that got into the closet and ate our cat food to the point of almost dying. We just found him laying on the ground, his belly as extended as it could be. Dogs can be fun Pets don't know when to stop I guess some humans are the same way too But anyway Wait, are you calling Benson a dog? Oh, sorry No, babies usually know But Benson's what? A year and a half now? Yep, 16 months Benson is not a dog by any means When it comes to eating, he is Some of your other family members That's a different story You said it, not me Speaking of which, how is your brother doing? I know he had a tough holidays too, a big campaign that came out of nowhere for some reason to get me to become the IFPA president and oust him. I mean, that had to hit him hard. I don't know. I mean, are the votes final? Is there a recount? I mean, I didn't see the official release. Yeah, it came out. It was on the super awesome pinball show. They had this poll, and I won by almost two-thirds. I mean, it was a landslide, but I've already announced that I'm declining. I'm flattered. Again, I have no idea where this came from, but I will decline and let Josh run his little baby there at the IFPA, and we'll just all keep a watchful eye on what he does. Sounds good. Now, speaking of which, I've got a little bone to pick with you, but it's a good one. Bring it. Do me a favor and count to three. One, two, three. Now, see, you're already better than your brother. He gets stuck on two, but three, I wanted to know if you could count to three, because three is the number of Cornerstone games that Stern releases in a year. But as I look at what 2019 was, my goodness, The Monsters, Black Knight Sword of Rage, Jurassic Park, Elvira, House of Horrors, Star Wars Pin, and then just because that wasn't enough, right before Christmas, here's Stranger Things. Wow, what a year for Stern. It was an amazing year. Technically, you can count Stranger Things as a cornerstone of 2019 or 2020. Semantics, you say potato, I say potato. The New Year is starting right where we left off. Wow, that is impressive I know it's going to be very, very visually pleasing to all those people at CS in Vegas this week that is something, I mean, the reason I asked you to count to three is because I always thought it was three cornerstones but that was, you say it's kind of a 2020 game, but that's still six games that came out in the calendar year, that's pretty amazing And you forgot Star Wars Comic too Yeah, you know what Not that I'm counting Okay, it is a sure, it's different, absolutely That definitely did come out. It's the same game as one before, but I will give you that. And also, too, let's not forget pros and premiums and LEs and all the different variations. So that assembly line was moving big time and still is, I imagine.

medium confidence · Teals jokingly criticizes: 'The guy gives two games in 2018 with Deadpool and the Beatles, and he takes 2019 off?' Sharpe responds non-commitally but does not correct the claim.

  • Stern is growing location/operator business alongside collector sales, with measurable increase in Stern Army participation and official launch parties.

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe discusses Stern Army growth, location visibility on sternpinball.com map, and launch party expansion; notes 'location is huge' and 'getting games out in the wild' is a crux of business.

    • “I mean, location is huge. It is a huge crux of our business of getting games out in the wild. And you also have to think about it not just from a U.S. perspective, but from a global perspective. I mean, these games, we're building and shipping them all over the world.”

    Zach Sharpe @ ~20:30 — Emphasizes location/operator channel as strategic priority alongside global reach; signals shift in business focus toward venue placement and international distribution.

    Stern Pinball
    company
    Stranger Thingsgame
    Black Knight: Sword of Ragegame
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Star Warsgame
    The Munsters (Pro)game
    Elvira's House of Horrors (Premium/LE)game
    Star Wars (Comic Art Pro)game
    Deadpoolgame
    The Beatlesgame
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    Stern Pro Circuitorganization
    Stern Armyorganization
    IFPAorganization
    Indisc / IFPA Openevent
    Netflix / Duffer Brothersorganization
    Twippiesevent
    Project Pinballorganization
    Papaorganization

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'he has not lost a step...It's fun to see him get reinvigorated with pinball and actually being a part of it on a day-to-day basis for the first time in almost...20 years but I can do the math...been a while.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pro Circuit formalized and expanded with multi-partner governance (Stern/IFPA/Papa), multiple qualifying events across North America and internationally, and elevated status recognition (major championship multiplier effect on WPPR rankings); signals industry commitment to competitive pinball legitimization.

    high · Zach Sharpe on Stern Pro Circuit: 'three-headed monster...Stern Pinball, the IFPA, and Papa...multiplies your Whoppers by 50%' and multiple international events mentioned (Brisbane Masters, Canada events).

  • ?

    business_signal: Location/operator business increasingly emphasized alongside collector channel; Stern Army growing, official launch parties proliferating, venue visibility on digital map; operator ratio to collectors implied to be increasing.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'location is huge...a huge crux of our business of getting games out in the wild...ratio of collectors to owner-operators keeps shifting...those owner-operators are really starting to increase.'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Stern enforces strict NDAs internally; Zach Sharpe claims even family members (Josh with NDA) are not exempt; acknowledges external leak sources (licensors, distributors, industry enthusiasm) difficult to control; discusses potential watermarking/tracking of distributor preview materials.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'I take NDAs extremely serious...I would never risk my personal employment over sharing exclusive information willy-nilly. I won't even share information with Josh, who has an NDA.'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Chinese tariffs explicitly cited as impacting U.S.-based manufacturer's cost structure and pricing strategy; signals vulnerability to geopolitical trade policy and emphasis on maintaining competitive global pricing despite external constraints.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'Chinese tariffs and other trade stuff that's out of our control as a U.S.-based company...factors that can influence pricing moving forward...we always strive to be competitive...don't want to be pricing ourselves out.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Twippies (fan-voted awards at Texas Pinball Festival) viewed by industry as meaningful but secondary to sales metrics; Zach balances team morale value ('great validation') against business reality (sales trump accolades); Jeff Teals attempts to pressure Zach into voting despite Zach's strict neutrality policy.

    medium · Zach Sharpe: 'Would I rather win an award and lose my job or lose an award...choose the latter...but great validation for the team to win any award.' Context: Teals challenges whether Dial In Game of the Year was deserved over Star Wars (higher sales).

  • ?

    product_concern: Jeff Teals casually mentions that Jurassic Park sales 'weren't doing very well' and it's 'hard to find one of those games anywhere,' then backtracks ('sorry'). Zach does not confirm or deny; uncertainty about whether this reflects poor reception, supply constraints, or operator preference shift.

    low · Jeff Teals: 'I heard the sales weren't doing very well on that. It's hard to find one of those games anywhere.' Followed by self-correction suggesting Teals may have misspoken or reassessed.

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Netflix/Duffer Brothers described as 'extremely collaborative' partners on Stranger Things; ongoing approval process for projector content post-launch; external licensor enthusiasm acknowledged as potential leak source but uncontrollable.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'Netflix and the Duffer Brothers were extremely collaborative...we are still going through some approvals on some of the content...it's like well, we can't control that. I mean, we're licensing their product. And if they got excited, then that's kind of on them.'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Stern Pro Circuit final scheduled for March 21, 2020 in Chicago with Heads Up Challenge as secondary tournament; format still evolving with post-event reviews; '20-person ladder' mentioned as returning to after earlier iteration changes; mid-season adjustments discussed.

    high · Zach Sharpe: 'earmarked for March 21st in Chicago...Heads Up Challenge earmarked as well for the weekend...when we have our post-mortem after an event, changes are going to be made...mid to early season.'

    • 5:12
    Busiest year ever. So everyone was busy except for Mr. Lazy Bones, George Gomez. What, he gets a pass? The guy gives two games in 2018 with Deadpool and the Beatles, and he takes 2019 off? Come on, George. What's going on? You know, I don't know if he has enough to fill his plate. I don't know what he's doing.
    5:31
    Well, anyway, very impressive. Can I ask about Stranger Things and the timing right before Christmas? Was that because it was ready to go? Was it based on the line? I mean, it wasn't a lot of days before Christmas, but what impressed me was, I mean, even before the dead flip stream came out, I saw games on location. It was bang, bang. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, every game launch will never necessarily be the same, and whether it's our decision, whether it's working closely with the licensor, Stranger Things just really lends itself well to the kind of Christmas holiday spirit with the Christmas lights and thought it would be a unique approach to announce and have the game delivered before the end of the year and get geared up for CES and start 2020 with a bang. Zach, was it a lot of pressure to get it out before Christmas? Were you coming close to deadlines, or was that definitely going to be no problem, we've got it before Christmas, piece of cake? I mean, I would say with every game launch in the history of pinball, and this doesn't just go for Stern, I'm sure, it's always high-pressure situation and trying to get everything out the door and making sure everything's buttoned up, everything's approved. So, I mean, that won't change, regardless of if the date is December 1st or December 28th or whatever date of a launch happens. It'll always be, you know, kind of everyone grouped together and, you know, get the job done. I know you and I have talked before about all the different factors that go into a release. So getting the release, I remember I think there were some last minute changes to Iron Maiden that kind of delayed that by a little bit, too. So in this case, just watching the video, it looked like Netflix and the Duffer Brothers were amazing to work with. Oh, yeah. They were extremely collaborative and really exciting to see what we have in store for, especially with the projector. I know right now we are still going through some approvals on some of the content that we're going to be including in there, but just wait. Well, I'll tell you what I like so far. I like seeing Brian Eddy back in the fold because... How could you not? Yeah, really. All three of those games before, and The Shadow and Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness, some of the all-time greatest. And just the instant reaction from Stranger Things is getting a great buzz, too. So it's good to have him back. He must be thrilled to be getting into it, especially with all the new toys since he's been away from it. Oh, yeah. I mean, I would say he has not lost a step. And it's fun to see him get reinvigorated with pinball and actually being a part of it on a day-to-day basis. For the first time in almost I don want to say not 20 years but I can do the math while I driving But it been a while I sure he been very pleased by the reaction so far and just as excited to see it out in location It's almost like he hasn't lost a step, as you say, and I'm sure he's excited to get to the next one too. But, I mean, certainly step back a little bit, enjoy the pat on the back that he's receiving for this one. Oh, yeah, and now he can actually talk about it, which is, I'm sure, more fun and relieving for him that he can now be like, hey, I've been working on Stranger Things. It's my first time back in the pinball studio working with all these new people and some of the previous people he's worked with in the past. So it's really cool. Yes, he can now talk about it, but as you know, people talk about it before he talks about it in the sense of rumors. I have no idea what you're talking about. Let's just pretend here that I'm informing you for the first time ever that people leak correctly or incorrectly titles that come out. And I'm not ever going to ask you or anybody on this program what's coming up. You know that. I respect what you do too much and all the pinball companies. But I do want to know about when these leaks come out. I imagine that's frustrating at times because of what your marketing plan is. Some people speculate, oh, maybe they're planted. I don't know if that's so much the case because I think if I were in Zach's shoes, I would want to control the narrative. And I also have to ask you, are there concerns that when you talk to distributors and you show them the games, that those videos or webinars or whatever the case may be you do with distributors, that those get leaked? Is that frustrating or is there a way to control that or you just kind of throw your hands up and go, it is what it is?
    9:55
    Probably a combination of a bunch of that. I mean, I've always been of the mindset of, you know, I take NDAs extremely serious. I learned from the best, you know, from our father. And, you know, I would never risk my personal employment over sharing exclusive information willy-nilly. I won't even share information with Josh, who has an NDA. So that kind of shows you how much I just don't talk about things that don't need to be talked about. So, yeah, I mean, if people are willing to risk their employment on sharing sensitive information, then, you know, That's kind of on them. If it pivots or changes the direction that I have from a marketing launch or release, then, you know, I'll roll with it. I'll pivot, but I'm not going to lose sleep over stuff that I don't have control over. So I kind of just roll with it. You know? Yeah. I mean, really, that's pretty much all I can say. Yeah. Well, you definitely, as all Stern employees do, have that kind of safeguarded. But when it has to eventually get out to not even just distributors, but I'm not saying this would be the case, But let's say the Duffer brothers are super excited and whoops, they just kind of leak out. Oh, we're going to be getting a pinball machine. Whoops, you're supposed to keep that secret. I'm not saying they did that because they didn't, but I'm just saying an example of something like that could happen. So there are a lot of other people that are outside of the stern walls that are causes for leaks. Exactly. It's like the Wayne's World. You know, you tell two friends and then they tell two friends and then they tell two friends. But, you know, it's like if it's anyone on my personal team, I have full confidence that nothing is being leaked or shared from my direct internal team. But, you know, like I said, if somebody wants to risk their employment by sharing stuff, that's on them. But obviously, when like you said, oh, the Duffer Brothers said something or released something, it's like, well, we can't control that. I mean, we're licensing their product. And if they got excited, then that's kind of on them to release the cat out of the bag. When I saw the video that came out before Stern released theirs, it looked pretty high quality. I thought it was legit. And I thought, okay, if this is something that's presented to somebody else, is it difficult or is there a need or even a want to watermark that so you know specifically where it came out? And therefore, each individual distributor, although there are a lot of them, would have something unique and then you could go, that's where it came from. Who's to say that didn't already happen? Good answer. I would say this, Jeffrey. Some people like to play checkers, and some others like to play chess. Some of us have no friends that play solitaire, but that's a whole other story. Or cribbit. I mean, whatever. God bless the Internet. All right, let's pivot here, as you do in marketing. After CES, which is going to be great. Oh, thank you. It's already great. I like it. It's always fun. First, how do you not have fun in Vegas? I know. Even when your brother sets up the stupidest... Actually, you were part of that stupid tilt-bob setting for Pinmasters. So anyway, there's still fun things to do in Vegas and especially CS. That is a good time. So yes, it's a good time. But you shuffle off from Vegas to Southern California where we're going to be in Banning, California for Indisc and the IFPA Open, a big part of the Stern Pro Circuit. It is so exciting. I missed it last year. Looking forward to it this year. And Stern is a big part of that with a massive grand prize. Do you want to tell people why they want to go to Indisc? oh i mean i don't have the prize figures in front of me but i know it's a brand new pinball machine for the winner it's now the fifth major um uh you know the ifpa world championship metric however you want to describe that but jim carl bob everyone who's on that in this team they run the best event i mean there's a reason why it's called papa west and if you can ever have papa describing your event you're doing something right so i mean there's no reason if you are And you don't want to say, oh, if you're on the West Coast, you should go there. I mean, I know Olli Mikko from Finland is going to fly in. I mean, this is a true world-class event. And being on the Stern Pro Circuit for the last several years just kind of indignifies that. For tournament players, it's nice, too, and very justified that we're seeing this as a major status, too, which multiplies your Whoppers by 50%, as Pinberg does, as the World Championship does for those that get invited, as the European Pinball Championship does, and as Papa will do when they come back one day, and fingers crossed that'll be safe. Fingers crossed. Yeah. They've never said no. It's just if you've been to the new facility, which is really more storage than anything else, they've got a big, big project in making sure Pinberg works, and they're testing games right now. No one ever complains about how wonderful Pinberg is because of the long months and weeks and people and hours that are put into making Pinberg as wonderful as it is and replay effects. Well, adding Papa to it when you don't really have the facility right now, let's just leave it laying low and let the IFPA open, take things, and we've got enough majors, we've got a lot of great pinball tournaments, and as you said, to be compared to Papa. That's one thing that always amazes me about great events like Indisc, like Pinberg. You look at it and you're a participant and you go, this is perfect. Not why aren't you doing more of this. It's just why can't all tournaments be like this? Well, it's a lot of hard work. From top to bottom, I mean, just the technology that Carl's implemented, it's just so seamless. And last year was the first year I missed in a bit. I mean, I went for the last four years prior, I want to say, back when it was at the bowling lanes. And it hurt to miss it last year. But, you know, with Benson just being born and CES last year, the timing just didn't work out for me. So I am excited and chomping at the bit to play some competitive pinball. And so many different events, too. The Stern Pro Circuit, this is certainly one of the two biggest events on the Stern Pro Circuit, along with Pinberg, as we mentioned. But the Stern Pro Circuit, that is kind of a three-headed monster, correct? Yes. Between Stern Pinball, the IFPA, and Papa. Right. So I guess to make changes, there would be certainly, it doesn't have to be an unanimous vote, but obviously two out of three would favor any kind of changes to the Stern Pro Circuit Is that safe to say Yeah Unified rules That obviously a must Absolutely So the Stern Pro Circuit is still relatively new It was the old Papa Circuit, but now that Stern Pinball has come on board, is the Stern Pro Circuit, from your standpoint, where you want it to be? We've seen some changes made from the initial beginnings,
    16:40
    and now we're kind of almost back to where we were with the old Papa Circuit and the 20-person ladder, but still all these great events. spread out not only through the country. Now there's one in Canada. There's one in Europe. We had the Brisbane Masters last year. Is this where you want to be? Is there room for growth? Is there anything you can tell us about maybe some plans for the Stern Pro Circuit or things you'd like to see improved? Yeah, I mean, I think the goal will always be bigger and better every year. The metric of bigger or better might be different from your vantage point. For you, bigger or better might be, well, more players for the final, and that might not be the case from our side. where it might be, well, the prize pool will be bigger. It's not going to be more players necessarily. And with the timing being what it is, with the final being in March and already a couple events underway, you know, when we have our post-mortem after an event, changes are going to be made. I don't want to say mid-season, but, you know, mid to early season because that's just the lay of the land and that will kind of always be the case because we don't know what we don't know. So say that, you know, this March's final, the latter runs too long or too short and we want to make changes. You know, we'll definitely regroup and Stern management, Papa management and completely meet and, you know, discuss our goals to improve the quality of the event, the prestige of it, and to get the maximum exposure to, you know, competitive pinball to the masses. We know the Stern Pro Circuit final will be in March. I know you're probably working out some details, and maybe those will come in the next few days or whatever. Dates, locations? Again, until it is locked and loaded with a contract, we're not going to publicly release the information, but I can say we are earmarked for March 21st in Chicago. Last year, the second day of that weekend event was the Heads Up Challenge. Is that being discussed? That is earmarked as well for the weekend. So that brings me to an amazing point. Again, it was already a great year as far as distributing games to Stern Pinball. But when I look at the number of games that you gave away, I think that also was a record. It was. Maybe you can remind me of how many games were given away. I don't have my budget sheet in front of me. But, no, I mean, you have the IFPA World Championship. You got the Heads Up Championship. You had the Stern Pro Circuit Championship. You had the IFPA Women's Championship. That's what I can name off the top of my head. But I know we also give to charities. We had the Bahama Bowl, the Bahamas Bowl down in Nassau, where both schools won a machine for their university. So it was a busy year. And I also know from Daniel Spoler that you work well with Project Pinball, too, in assisting them as well. Yes, absolutely. You've got to be pretty proud. I'm sure a lot of the employees are even slackers like George Gomez, who took the whole year off. But really, I'm just saying that to get a reaction out of George. You know that. I was going to say, see if he listens. He doesn't.
    19:43
    Well, it's not only that. A lot more than happened. The Stern Insider, the Stern Army. My, oh my, has that ever grown. I was on sternpinball.com and just looking at locations and just looking at the map pop up with all those red earmarks. Oh, yeah. It definitely helps having some support. My colleague Roper has been awesome to work with in helping us grow the Stern Army, have bigger launch parties. Again, just increasing the exposure and awareness of pinball. So we're currently in the middle of getting our Stranger Things launch parties kind of off the map, so to speak. So we will be getting those listed soon. I can't believe the number of launch parties. And those are just the official launch parties? Yes, official. That's right, for those Stern Army ones. But I know that there are some other launch parties that happen too. So when you really think about it, boy, is location pinball? Are we back? I know we'll never be where we were, but it just seems to be growing and growing. And you're seeing more machines in bars, machines at bowling alleys, barcades set up as strictly pinball and video games. I have to imagine the ratio of collectors to owner-operators keeps shifting. It's still the collectors that are dominating the sales, but I imagine those owner-operators are really starting to increase. I mean, location is huge. It is a huge crux of our business of getting games out in the wild. And you also have to think about it not just from a U.S. perspective, but from a global perspective. I mean, these games, we're building and shipping them all over the world. Price points for games? I know there are a lot of moving parts in a pinball machine, and a lot of parts may be imported. There's certainly the manufacturing costs and everything that go with it. Is it tough? I've heard Gary say maybe some machines are actually priced too low. Can we expect the price point to be roughly the same in 2020? I think with Stranger Things, the price went up $100. So that price increase happened. But that was the first price increase in almost two years. So look at inflation and how things increase the cost of goods, not to get political, but, you know, with Chinese tariffs and other trade stuff that's out of our control as a U.S.-based company. You know, there's always going to be factors that can influence pricing moving forward. But by and large, you know, we always strive to be competitive and, you know, we want these things to be, you know, purchased and placed in homes all over the world. So we definitely don't want to be pricing ourselves out of being able to sell across all markets. Those tariffs were a big hit. You're undermining that just a little bit. I mean, a lot of people have said that too. Like I said, I didn't want to get political. You went there, Jeff. I'm in Canada. What are you going to do? Come at me? That's true. You got to come through the frozen tundra to get me. Get some free health care for my food poisoning. No, no, diet program. Although you don't need a diet. I mean, that's one thing about eating crappy fast food is, you know, that stuff will last forever. It's like cockroaches. You'll be fine. It's the healthy stuff that you've got to worry about, I guess. Look out.
    22:53
    With the Stern Pro Circuit, with the Stern Army, with great events like Indisc and the IFPA Open, I wonder if tournaments and competitive pinball is more of a focus for Stern Pinball now. Because if we were to go back 10 years ago, was it an afterthought? You always had great people like Lyman Sheets who certainly knew how to make games deep and fun for the beginner. and deep for the collector and the great competitive player. But I would imagine as you are putting these games out now, especially with people like Keith Owen, yourself, Tim Sexton, there's a little bit more focus on how these will hold up in tournaments. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, as an employee, we want to buy games that we put in our basement. I mean, I just set up a Jurassic Park in my basement last month with Josh's help. So ultimately, we are buying our own product. so we're not going to want to put out a product that we won't ultimately want to either play out in the wild or play in our personal collection. Well, good on you for buying that game. I heard the sales weren't doing very well on that. It's hard to find one of those games anywhere. Oh, sorry. Okay, can I ask another question too? Go for it. At Texas Pinball Festival, they have this little award show that Jeff Patterson created for This Week in Pinball, the Twippies. Is that something that, as a manufacturing company that produces all these great games, Is that something you go, all right, we're nominated, or yay, we win a Twippy? Is that something that's important, or is it really, at the end of the day, how many games you sell? I don't think it's necessarily based on game sales because, again, I don't know production numbers of how many games were produced, but didn dial in when the first year of Game of the Year and wasn that the same year that Star Wars came out And you know I not a betting man but I would venture to guess that Star Wars outsold Dial Yeah. So shouldn't have Star Wars won Game of the Year? Based on sales. Okay, that's what I'm saying, though. So does the Twippy Award matter or do sales matter? I would imagine sales matter more. Oh, I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, let's not get me wrong. Would I rather win an award and lose my job or lose an award and...
    24:59
    choose the latter but i mean how vain is zach but i will say i mean it's definitely great validation for the team to win any award i mean you think about you know texas pinball festival best in show or anywhere else whether it's you know at mgc or anywhere i mean any kind of validation of your work is always positively received so you know nobody i i mean i can't speak for other people but you I certainly don't hold my thumb up at the Twippies or other awards that are presented. I'm all for net positivity, and if things are being rewarded, I'm all for it. I think it's great. What they've done from year one to year two, unfortunately March is already so crazy with travel. I haven't been able to go to Texas in so long, but just seeing what they've been able to transform,
    25:52
    not only from a show perspective there, it's really cool to see. and just the whole awards atmosphere. It was cool. And I heard from the people, like Mike Vinicore was there, you know, receiving the rewards on behalf of Stern. And, you know, he had nothing but positive things to say. Yeah, it's a great production. And I think the thing I like the most about it is, sure, it's great. It's nice to be nominated and all that. But really, it's... You want to win, Jeff. Come on. No. Where's your campaigning? Or do you want to, you know... No, you'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever hear me for that or for anything else. Sorry, it's not my bag. I went to the awards last year, and I was thoroughly impressed. Great production value. And what I like about it, and this was the thing I didn't realize, I had to take myself out of being in the quote-unquote pinball media. And what I didn't realize was that this is super, super exciting for the people with their ballot and getting to vote. Because you and I get to watch maybe the Oscars or some other award show, and you go, oh, okay, well, I don't agree or disagree, but I also didn't have a vote. Well, now you have a vote and they get to say, you know, vote for their friends or whatever. And I think that's kind of cool. Yeah. And if you don't vote or you don't write in the ballot, then you can't complain. Just like in real politics, just because, you know, maybe your vote won't win. You can't complain. For me, I would have loved to have seen Josh as one of the best competitive pinball players or the favorite competitive pinball player. But he was not an option because he was not written in on the ballot. and it's like, well, I can complain about it. I did not submit a write-in ballot, so I can't complain that he's not an option because I didn't do my part in adding him to the list. I did not know that. I haven't opened the ballot yet. Why aren't you voting? Because it's not for me. First of all, I know too many people, right? So how do I say... So? Okay, I don't have a favorite of any of those things. I'm sure with gun to head, you cannot pick one from each category with just your gut feeling. Well, I'll tell you what. I'm looking at your little list of games last year. I enjoy playing Black Knight a lot. I love the pro. Jurassic Park, who doesn't love that game. I haven't played Stranger Things yet. I'd like to try that. From the competitors, I really enjoy playing Willy Wonka. We'll see what else is out there. Spooky has got their new game coming out, Rick and Morty, that's got a good buzz. Which one of those is my favorite? I don't know. Depends on the day. I like them all. I like how you're deflecting, but I know deep down, if you were in a private room and it was anonymous, you could vote for each one. I guarantee it. Really? Ask Jeff Patterson if I voted last year. Ask if I voted this year. I wouldn't do it. I know you're not going to vote. I'm just saying, I know you could vote. You could pick. I'll tell you this. I like it a lot because it's, again, for the fans. It's a fan favorite vote. It's not what is the best. It's what's your favorite. And I think that's really, really smart. Yeah. It's kind of like the People's Choice Awards. You have to think of it as like the People's Choice versus the Oscars versus opening it to everyone. Think about like, you know, the All-Star Game is coming up for the NBA. So you're saying you voted? I did. Okay. All right. Not for the NBA All-Star Game, but I voted for Twippies. You want to reveal any of your votes? I will just say the game. Stern was on a few of them? Stern was on a few of them. You know, I would say that, you know, the game of the year was maybe something that I just unboxed and put in my basement. I don't know. I don't, you know, disclose my votes. I think that's got a very strong possibility of winning. I'd be shocked if it wasn't.
    29:28
    So would I. What won last year? Was it Deadpool or Iron Maiden? I forget. It was one of yours. Last year was Iron Maiden. Yeah, but Deadpool did very well, too. Artwork and some of the other things, too. Yeah. How do you flip a coin there? It's, again, it's personal preference. Do you like chicken or steak? When the year is said and done, a year from now, and again, because I haven't played it and probably a lot of people haven't, Stranger Things could be the best game ever. We don't know. Well, it's not on the ballot for this year because it wasn't released yet. It should be on next year's. So kind of like Munsters. Munsters was on this year even though it came out last. Well, I guess technically that one did come out in January. But again, I got to tell you, I don't know the semantics of it all. When you go on Facebook and some of the other social media things and you see some of the people campaigning and... Doesn't it just warm your heart? No, no. And they're good friends, too. And I'm like, oh, I had a wonderful conversation with somebody. They know who it is, and I'll keep their name out of this. But I just said, you know, win or lose, you're already a winner. Win or lose, you just lost because you campaigned. No, no. I said, you don't need to campaign because you're already a winner. You have how many thousands of subscribers or whatever you have, whether it's viewers, listeners, whatever it is, you've already got that. You've already won. You know what? If no one's listening to you, then that's a problem. But you don't need to be validated. It's nice. Sure, it's great. But this whole thing is a celebration of pinball. And that's what I like about it because you get to see on these drop-down menus everybody's name except Josh. and you get to vote for your friends and all that kind of stuff. That's kind of cool. No disagreement there, but I am, I am going to campaign for you next year for favorite competitive pinball player.
    31:19
    I want favorite. I want favorite president. Okay. If that ever comes up, I might campaign for that, but I didn't even have to. I mean, my goodness, those signs and the votes on another podcast. I mean, really, I, I'm humbled. It's not in my nature to be boastful. It's not in my nature. You know, me humble as can be like, Charlotte's Web. All right. Make sure your kid's not puking. Make sure you're eating fast food to avoid those healthy food-poisoning things that made you sick. I'll go on the Josh diet. What's that? I don't know, but it eats way worse than I do but never gets sick, so why not? That's my 2020 resolution. Why not? Throw in the towel. Josh had that resolution a few years ago. Anyway, you've got CES. We've got InDisc this weekend. It'll be a lot of fun. Zach, thank you very much. Thank you. This has been your Pinball Profile. you can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at pinball profile, email us pinball profile at gmail.com. Please subscribe on your favorite pod catcher and check us out on Instagram at pinball profile and vote for Zach. Are you on the ballot for favorite player? Hell no. I'm pissed.
    32:24
    Don't vote for Zach. Protest. No, I'm just kidding. I'm Jeff. Hey, hey, hey