live. There we go. Let's post this. Publish original post. Lots to talk about. Lots to talk about. And you know, I'm feeling um let's see. Let's go to Patreon now. Maybe no one's joining today. I mean, it's it is Sunday morning. I feel like people have much less time, but we'll do this. We'll record it and people can people can watch it at a later date. It isn't our normal programming and that is understandable. Jeremy is in the house. What's up, Jeremy? The only one. Just going to be you and me, bro. Talking pinball. Ah, top of the morning. We are a little late, but we are never we are never without an entertaining show. How's everybody doing? Carlos Prime Laser System Jenis is in the house. Pete Rosen is in the house. Sad boy. Thoughts on Evil Dead being number one. Robert is in the house. Scott Bird Dog22 Prime Laser System is Steve Paradise. Steve, welcome. Um, we're gonna we're going to talk all about the new games. I I think everybody knows by now nobody cares about the pinside top 100 ranking. The only thing that matters in life is do you enjoy the games you own? And are you going to regret what you paid for your game that you now need to go sell because you want something else? Um, T-ball was was really eyeopening. Um, Killian is such a sensitive, amazing, caring, loving little boy. He was nervous at first. Uh doesn't know the kids and so getting him talked into playing was was a little difficult but but he he eventually at the end wanted to just keep fielding ground balls and uh was a natural. So it was a lot of fun. It's such a beautiful thing seeing young children uh learn things for the first time and their enthusiasm for it then before they become jaded, bitter old men like us complaining about overpriced pinball machines. And yes, they are overpriced. Hold on. I'm going try to raise this um this screen up a little bit for you guys. Let me go find something. Hold on. on? I knew there's a reason I kept all these Gucci boxes around. Cozy. I'm on the bed. Let's try to not mess this up so I don't have to start over. Just be a better height so you guys are not you get to see my Brenda's beautiful armwire. All right, who we got in the house here? Who we got in the house here? We've got Barcelona, man. Olaf, how's that? Avatar 10 grand for the CE coming up real soon. Um, we've obviously got Harry Potter around the corner. What What's a What's an amazing moment in Avatar, Olaf? I I'm just curious, like I I'm not I'm not saying this to just single you out or make fun of you, but like describe for us the moment in the game that gives you goosebumps. I'm I'm just curious. Like I I've played Avatar so much and every time I get on it I I just feel like nothing. So I'm just curious what in the game is giving you goosebumps? Like is it just the game itself? Like do you feel like you're in those battles? Do you feel like you're I I don't know how to discover the love of Avatar eclipse jackpot. That's the same thing everybody always says. That's it. All it's got is that one shot with the eclipse jack. Like that's it. Cashing in on that really hard to hit shot is the moment of All right, we're going to give people a couple more minutes and we're going to start with the topics. Um the today's topics will be my time on King Kong, my time on Dune, Harry Potter around the corner, um my overall observations of walking around Pinfest, and just seeing the um you know, reading the kind of vibe of the community. I mean, this is what the show's this is what the show's always been about. Um you know, my stale pinball podcast. Um, yeah. Apparently, yeah, I don't think Rob joins this stuff. But, you know, him and I had a good back and forth, but I don't think my show's stale. I don't think talking about pinball pricing is stale. I think um I I think that's been um the talk track of the last few years. And I think when people want to avoid it, you're kind of like uh giving immunity to these pinball companies who are not really giving you what your money should get for the money. You know, it the value is not there. Canada Street is brought to you today by letters. Uh yeah, I mean, where do you guys want to start? Should we start with King Kong and and I'll and I'll I'll explain to you my feelings on the game and then we'll go from there. Balls of steel. I could care less about price talk. Well, Balls of Steel. I mean, first of all, I don't know who that is, but um start with Dune. All right, we can start with Dune. Um, okay. So, let me just move this bear. It's making me nervous. Get him in the get him in the podcast. The The thing about Get the Polo sweater on him. The thing about Dune Pinball and I I sent a note to David Van Es. And by the way, I am I I will talk about it more at a later date as I know more, but I have officially signed uh an an NDA with uh Barrels of Fawn, and you'll understand why. And And the reason why is they have some stuff coming that I I really want to help them sort of do these themes justice. They're that good. Um it's kind of like if if you know I I won't be the leak of these themes, it's not happening. Uh, I take every NDA very seriously, but I it, as you'll see, like it's not gonna stop me from talking objectively about this company at all. All right? And And again, I don't know. I don't think these themes are coming out for a while. So, it is what it is. So, nothing I sign will prevent me from talking about the products that they have in market. So, the thing about Dune is this, and I said it on my show, I'll say it again. This game feels almost like Batman 66 did when it first came out. There's just no game here yet. Okay, you can keep guessing what's next. There's no This game just isn't ready. And because of that, if you think about like what software does for a game, I mean, it is very much the engine of the game. Yes, there's game play. And I'll talk about that. The The thing about, you know, when I played Dune uh this weekend and I played it after I played King Kong, you know, I went one to the other, there is a um a a Zac Stark difference, if you will, in in both games. Um, I think that Dune, if you look at it in a little bit of a vacuum of, you know, comparing it to Labyrinth, it it's a step up in every possible way from Labyrinth. I think the theme again is like it's so over-the-top Dune. it does the theme justice. And I think the game obviously has a lot more I it's it's hard for me even to talk about it because like nothing right now grabbed me because even even though like the ball literally gets grabbed by the sandworm, it's like the flippers were really weak. The flipper geometry when I was talking about this, I want to explain what I mean. You know, like, okay, flippers are like this. And for some reason in Dune when I played it at full flipper travel, it was only like that. It It like it got like really flat. I want it more like that. And I think some games that angle of of where the flipper flips to uh definitely changes the control you have can changes the snappiness. So, not only did the flippers feel weak, the full flipper travel wasn't really like energ like with any energy throwing the ball up the playfield. And I just felt like the snappiness and the power wasn't there. I mean, the ball was struggling to get up that left ramp, which is steep, you know, and and I just don't think any shot in a game should be hard to hit from a trapped flipper when you nail it. And that is what I noticed uh when not only I played the game but Frank played the game, Cliff Albert played the game is there was just a a really uh difficult time getting uh you know all the shots hit because of the weak flippers. Um, I think that the the thing is when you play the game right right now, there's just no game in it right now. Like there's just not enough game in it. Like the game itself feels barren like the desert. And And I know a lot more is coming, but I just and nothing will change my mind on this. I just don't think this company was ready yet to launch this game, but I think they had to launch it to get deposits in and to keep the line going because they've got employees. And if there's no more Labyrinth games to make, you need to have them make something. But But it pains me to see a game, you know, where they got so much of what they wanted from the license holder and yet not being able to get it in in the right way. So, it it is absolutely a game that if you get it now, you're going to have to wait a long time, it feels like, before a lot of game is there. And with so much competition and so much out there, is that something you want to wait for? Now, that being said, I I mean, I really did like the artwork in person. The cabinet looked really nice. Almost had like a rad cow feel. The translate was nice. The sculpts look really nice. It definitely has that world under glass feel to it. I'm not crazy about their expression lighting system. it it you can see um the the sort of like each individual LED kind of it feels more pin stadium before pin stadium now has the cover so you don't see the reflection of the lights. Uh, I I think the Jersey Jack Hot Rails really changed the game with inner cabinet lighting. And I I don't know why engineering something similar is so hard, but there's just something about when when lighting just feels it it feels artificial when you have like that strip of LED lights and you can see the strip of lights. It It sort of takes you out of that world under glass. And I and I think I would like to see these guys engineer a different lighting solution that would be more seamlessly incorporated into the cabinet. No, lighting is not a new toy. Um the the thing is, you know, the sandworm mech is is really cool. Like it it shows a real um ability to engineer something really awesome. Again, gang, you know how I feel. All of this is wrapped up in a theme. Like, if this theme were Goonies, right? If it were Karate Kid, if it was Die Hard, if it was Fifth Element, you know, even in its infancy stage, they would have sold out. So, I I think that's kind of my feeling now for them is it's going to be a slow burn. I don't know how burn or how hot it will ever burn uh for people wanting to get their hands on it cuz now I don't know what happens next. So again, my first impressions, as I said to David, I'll say to all you guys, this game was not ready to be released. There there's nothing. There's no other way. It wasn't ready to be released. The game play is okay. It's not It's not like It doesn't have gameplay that's going to win you over like an Lin. You know, I'm getting completely candid here. It's just not. But I could I could start to feel in it when the music was going, when the movie clips did come in at certain points and the energy of the soundtrack with the clips and and look, they've got the assets, they've got the Timothy, they've got Zenaya, they've got and all the clips are synced up with the movie scenes. When that starts to happen in the game, all of a sudden, the game starts to come to life. And again, I I just want so much more of it. And I think it's going to get there eventually, but I just don't think you can be successful launching in a crowded space with a game that's not going to have people walking away wanting to plunk down a deposit on it. So then what's the point? This is part of the, you know, I I I'm I'm giving you exactly the same thing I gave David um uh because I just don't think it was ready. So, there's there's It is a beautiful game. It It is a a much prettier game than Labyrinth. It's It's much easier on the eyes, in my honest opinion, than Labyrinth. Like, the translite is really cool. It It feels like it has a real mirrored back glass. Um you know the other thing like gang we we don't really bring it up. It's It's not cheap either. You know the game is 116 before you know it doesn't have the final topper. All in all in you're now at a $13,000 game. And again, I think a at these prices, you know, you're going to buy games because you really connect with the game, the theme, the package. Um, I don't know, you know, and and as I think about where the game currently stands, will they sell 1,000 Dunes at that price? I don't think they're going to do it. I I just don't think and they I they they might, but not they're not going to get like a crazy amount of orders now. And you know, we know that Harry Potter is just two weeks away. So, that's my feeling as on Dune. Pretty game. If you really love the theme, you probably ordered one. Really cool mech in the game. Um, I love that they got the assets they did and and it it shows me that if this company is going to make a game, they're not going to make a game with like muted clips and a game where the theme is not integrated, right? Like they really did a great job with theme integration. It's just it's not a dream theme for a lot of people. So, you know, I I worry about the sales uh when when I when I think about that aspect of it. I don't think King Kong's a great theme either. Like, let's let's talk Kong next. Does that sound good? Uh Harry Potter is on the line right now. The reveal video will be out within two weeks. I I have confirmation from that from Dros. Jack has been telling people that at Pinfest. Harry Potter's being made as we speak. So, that's gonna happen. Uh, there's no leaks right now. Will it leak? I don't know. I think we all can wait two weeks. Before we talk Potter, let's talk Let's talk King Kong. So, I'm going to say something that I think is true and and I think it's something that a lot of people in this hobby struggle to understand that you can hold two opposing points of view on something and and it can be true. So, my overall feeling on Kong is this. I think Kong is going to be a phenomenal game. I think it's going to be a fun shooter for people. I think it's going to be like um you know, one of a you know, the Elwin fans are going to love it. I think it's going to bring hours and hours of fun for people. I do. I there's a lot to shoot at. Albeit I you know, I don't think all the mechs are magical, but doesn't matter. like the some of the parts of Kong, you know, are going to be very rewarding for people when you play it. I just don't I also don't think it's worth anywhere near the money. And And that's my thing is I just I'm over Stern's modern pricing. I I just don't I don't I just I wouldn't buy one. I mean, that that's my feeling like I just wouldn't buy one new in box. So, as as great as I think this game will be, I just wouldn't go anywhere near one new in box, Stern has to make thousands of them. And that's the part I love is like unlike other boutiques, Stern is stuck, gang. Like, they have to crank their manufacturing on all these games to even stay in business. So, let them make the game. Let the poor dros gobble them all up because of fear of losing their allocation numbers on these precious less that aren't even precious anymore. And I'll wait because the code in Kong is also nowhere near complete. It is a good 6 to 8 months before this game will even be code completed. And by then, if I even still if I ever wanted to own one, I could go get one. So, I played it. I enjoyed it, but I saw it didn't like make me giddy. Like, again, no goosebumps whatsoever on the theme. Nothing happening. It It just It did feel cartoony to me. Um, the animations are fine, but again, I just don't feel any terror, right? The myth of Terror Island. There's nothing. I'm sorry, but when you when you make King Kong like this with childlike animations, any feeling of terror and and like I I there there's no tension at all in making a game this way. And I I don't know. It just nothing. It just feels a little gimmicky, a little a little childlike when you see the way the game comes at you, which is fine. which is fine, but I just I don't know. I much prefer Godzilla's assets. I much prefer seeing the Jaws movie. I much prefer a game that is serving up something that's more relatable and and more um I don't know, more more uh more accurate, if you will, to the theme, right? This to me this is not King Kong. Like if I saw this separate of the game, I would not be like that's awesome. I can't wait to see more. I'm reading some of your comments. available and look, I'm going to tell you right now, uh it is it it is hokey. Um, Franchie, welcome to the party. Look, I I want to go off on a little bit of a tangent now. Stern's in trouble. Stern's in trouble, guys. The mighty Keith Elwin can't sell out of the model they need to sell out of. Not only that, the mighty Keith Owen can't sell through these models. You understand that? They needed this game to be bigger than it is. And Stern's in trouble because they've got a price increase around the corner and they know that. And they've held spike three back because they didn't want to jack the price up of this game because they need volume and they're not getting the volume. They clearly thought there is no way if I'm the CMO of Stern and I've got a Keith Owen game, um, I need to adjust the amount of LE's on every LE now so that they sell out week one. If we don't get that week one sellout, we've messed up because everything pins against that LE always having some strong demand. It's not there. All right, so that they're they're in trouble. Whoever made the decision to use the same art package across all three models, huge mistake. That person should be reprimanded. The pro model should just have King Kong logo, real big, no other artwork. The fact that you're giving someone with the cheapest model, the same exact thing you're going to get when you spend twice as much money. These guys are so out of touch in the marketing department. They're so out of touch because think about what you are when you're the chief marketing officer or you're in the marketing department of Stern. Guess what sets the price? The market. You know what I'm saying? Like there's a reason why in your title marketing. What is the market telling us that every single Sternle is now trading for $10,000 or less? So, the market does not want to absorb your 1,000 units at 13K. And have they done anything to listen to the market? Nope. They'll just keep plowing forward and raising prices next. They're in trouble. They're in trouble. They don't have Keith Ellen on every game. They're in trouble. And I was thinking about this the other day. They don't have And I know what the themes are coming from Spooky. I know what the themes are coming from. Barrels of Fun. I know what's coming from Dutch Pinball. Stern Pinball does not have the themes that you and I want. I don't know what happened over there. I don't know why they were asleep at the wheel, but they have allowed the boutique companies to go grab some of like the take my money now themes you and I want. And I think they are delusional. When I walked around Pinfest this weekend, the These are the people. These are the people that buy your products. These are the cars they drove here in. When you go to a pinball show, do you see Bentley's in the parking lot? Do you see Ferraris? Do you see Lamborghinis? Do you see $100,000 cars left? No. No. You don't. This is your target audience. It's not that people don't have money. the people with the money aren't buying like they people don't have 13 to$15,000 per title to throw up these games lose $3 to $5,000 and you know what I think people have woken up and even the people I know who have that kind of money don't want to lose $3 to $5,000 because they don't have FOMO because they have a a lineup of great games and they can wait because they're not suckers. They're seeing everybody run in quickly and lose a gazillion dollars, lose 30% of the value of the game in six months, and we're just going to keep doing it. We're not going to stop putting our hand in the fire. They're in trouble. Keith Elwin can't sell his own less out. He that that is it, people. That Why isn't it sold out? Why what's what's the problem? So, who's to blame? Is it the art department? Is it the lack of mecha? Okay, let me let me I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you something right now. When I walked around PinFest, when I walked around Pinfest and I looked at everybody there, all right, these these are the people, right? For better or worse, th this is the clan of people that buy pinball. This is the tribe, if you will. These people are not going to buy Pokemon. There is not a single there's like nobody in the crowd of a pinball show that looks like a Pokemon fan that is into Pokemon. And they're gonna they're gonna learn in such a harsh way that Pokemon won't sell you more games than Back to the Future. That Pokemon won't sell to this demographic more than Predator. I I I'm serious when I say this. Go walk around a pinball show. There's no overlap with who's into Pokemon. None whatsoever. None. And when you start when you start turning your back on who buys your product, what they're actually into, what they can actually afford, and and then remove from all of those people, right? Thousands of people. You removed from all of them any secondhand value of the product because you took it all for yourself. And you don't think Stern's in trouble? They're in big trouble. Big trouble. Not in Little China. They're in big trouble in Chicago, Illinois. Because what their problem is, and it's not just about price gang, because now the shift has happened. Well, if I'm going to spend $10,000 or more, I'd rather buy from Spooky because they're only going to make $8.88 because I know they need it. I know they want I know they it matters to them more and I know they're listening to us and I know they're they care. They're walking around the show. Was anyone from Stern Pinball at Pinfest? No. How does Stern not have a No, they don't have anybody there. Do they go to every show with reps? Nope. Nope, they don't. Every sale counts now. Are they Do they do Facebook lives with their internal employees? No, they don't. What do they do? They walk around the factory and show you their make. That's all they do. Lazy. They've lost touch. This new CMO, do you know who he is? Nope. Have you heard from him yet? Nope. Has he introduced himself to the community? Nope. Bro, you're the new CMO of Stern Pinball. The battleground for your customers is here. You know, and again, if he's not charismatic, if he's not out there, if he's not going to become a member of the community like a bug and a Luke, I I mean it for all these guys. Like, you can't keep hiding. You can't keep hiding. And we're not just going to keep buying, buying, buying. And all the shill content creators, and you know who they are. Well, I just want to talk about pinball positivity and I just want to talk about how fun it is. And if you played more pinball, Canada, you'd feel the same way. No, No, no. Excuse me, sir. I don't need to play more pinball to get ripped off. Do I need to eat more hamburgers at McDonald's if the prices get too high? Just because it's delicious, I'll pay whatever they want me to pay. And that's the big change that's happened in pinball is while my audience is going up and my subscribers are doing great and my you know the only one getting consistent like it's Canada. I don't care. Go make go make the content that tells you know YouTubers get all get all the YouTubers who don't even understand pinball to blindly say how great pinball is and how much fun it is because none of those none of those guys were around when when you know and saw any of it. They have no they have no historical knowledge of any of it. So to them yeah $13,000 for a stern sounds great. They can't sell out. They can't sell out of a Keith L1LE. That's it. They're in trouble. They're in trouble because what's next? You think John Borg is next? All right. Now, do you think John Borg has got a $13,000 banger? I bet it's Skeleton Crew. Do you guys want Star Wars Skeleton Crew? Do you think John Borg's going to make Pokemon? That makes no sense. He's not into Pokemon. So, John Borg, I I mean, what's it going to be? I we know it's going to be something that's not Take my money now. But again, Stern doesn't have momentum anymore. They don't have the goodwill like they used to. You know, they just don't. And again, I I think all of this all of this is it all caught up to them. I I mean this when I say this, they they took advantage of their own buyers. They took advantage. They saw what was happening during COVID. And I understand that prices might have gone up a little bit, but they didn't just raise them a little bit. And then they started remaking when they said they wouldn't. They gang, they put their thumb on top of the very people that kept this company so healthy for so many years. And why should these people forgive them? And then the new cohort that ushered in over the last three to four years, they look like shills. Do you guys want to be part of that kind of mentality? And then I love the notion of like, well, you know, it's about positivity. You saw, you see this, right? This like woke ass way to process the world where if we want to get prices lowered, we should just shut up about it. No. The way you lower prices is you stop spending money and they'll have to lower their prices. They're not going to go out of business. They'll just have to lower their prices. And guess what? Automakers have lowered their prices. Watch manufacturers are lowering prices. Other companies are lowering their prices. I don't know. How much money does a DRO get to sell? That margin could go back to you, the customer. Why not? Why couldn't you just get it? Why Why do they get to make money? They're just putting Can't say this stuff. This is why nobody sponsors me. You know, I was talking to Jenz this morning and I was showing him, you know, I was very proud about the um the support I get on this show and all of it is with no sponsorship, no endorsements, no distro like kickbacks, nothing. No, I don't want Stern to drop the LE line. Ellie should be 500 units and they should be no more no more than 125 for a Sternle LE and only 500. I I'm willing to meet them in the middle. A Sternle LE 125 max with a topper. 125 with a topper max. Max only 500 125 with a topper. A premium should be $89.99. and a pro 6500 whatever 125 with a topper. I'm not spending 13 and then another two. I I I'm you know and and an LE needs to really be special. Am I right or wrong? I mean, look, maybe I'm in my own vacuum talking to my own little army of people. But man, it is so easy now not buying a new inbox stern. And And guess what? A lot of people are like you and me now cuz I've reached out to Dros. Kong is not flying off the shelves. And you know, and like let me let me give another like truth bomb right now. If the Ellies don't sell out, that negatively impacts the orders for premiums and pros. The Ellie selling out is quintessential. It's necessary. It is mandatory for that Ellie to be a hot commodity to move the other units. The moment you don't have that Ellie fire, everything else suffers because then everyone starts to second guessess. And guess what? Their secondguing is accurate. They have to make these games. You don't have to buy them. You're in the driver's seat. You can control pinball pricing, not them. They're about to take the price up. Can Can you imagine what's going to happen when a Sternell is 136 plus more for this, more for that? I mean, Insider Connected, you know what people are realizing? Insider connected, all these dumb badges. You know, you know what you're all realizing now? I don't know if you guys have realized this. Go play Xbox and PlayStation if you want to get online play. That's fun. I've been playing Halo again, FIFA. I've been playing a lot more video games. You know, when you start to realize how overpriced these pinball games are, and they've never made connected play of fun, really fun. It's like you're not connected to the other people that own your freaking $13,000 King Kong. What? So, you're just connected to win these dumb badges all the time. That's it. That's it. Where's the Where's the co-op modes? Where's the All right, I'm playing as Kong. You're playing as like the airplanes and where like where's the one v one? Nothing on any game. Where's the four player co-op with Ninja Turtles? So four dudes who own turtles can all go on at the same time. Nothing. This to you. This is internet connectivity in 2025 for 13,000. Gang, wake up. Wake up. for so much less money, you can now have so much more fun. And you know, that's the truth. And I get some guys out there have a lot of money, and you know who they are. And I don't I I've never told you I have a lot of money to burn on Pinball. You know, I I still need my paycheck. You know, I'm not sitting on tens of millions of dollars. I'm very transparent about that. I dress, as Bill Brandis would say, I dress wealthier than I am. Absolutely. You know, I know I have very wealthy friends. I'm not one of them. I didn't do as well as my father. I'm part of that generation, right? But, um, I'm happy most days, not every day. Curveballs will happen. You know, I'll tell you, um, on on a personal note, I I had a real convolescent moment last weekend that, um, rocked me to my core. So, I don't know if most of you know this, but I' i've have I've had in a strange relationship with my older brother for the last 25 years. And unfortunately, his wife passed away of cancer. And um at the funeral service, we reconciled after 25 years of not talking to each other. And he was the first one to say to me and my twin brother, I'm I'm really sorry for the last, you know, 20 so year 20some years. And I mean, you want to talk about grown men uh crying like babies uh in public, uh it was everything to me. and and I feel such a burden lifted off my shoulders because I've carried that childhood trauma with me for so many years and having him back in my life and having he has a beautiful son and family's everything and I mean it was like I look at the some of these things and you know I I don't know I feel like we've placed an overemphasis on on these material things and they're they're just that gang like they're just transient things and I I Edit. It's all about having fun. But man, you got to like put into context. I would trade all the pinball machines in the world to have a better relationship with my older brother. And I would burn every pinball machine just to like live longer to see my kids grow up, right? And you guys all feel the same way. But my point is this is, and I mean this, once you cross these thresholds and these games cost this much money, they actually are. They actually are costing you other things that would be far more valuable in your life. And I don't even think it's the money, gang. A lot of it might just be the time. Like the time, like the mental time you spend worrying about this or that in pinball, like the money you lose. Like, see, to me, here's what's fun about pinball. Canad Pinball Podcast. Think about like you join this show, you get three 20 minute shows a week, sometimes longer, not too much time out of your week, right? You You join here for 90 minutes. We have a lot of fun. We talk about stuff on a level that nobody else does. Like nobody else even comes close to actually like, "All right, uh let's just be real." And I and I I feel like I'm the only one now that actually talks on behalf of us. Like everyone just became uh manufacturer shill man. Everybody, Franchie, I mean, I feel the same way, man. But like forgiveness, man. It It's like and and my don't get me wrong, like he was that to me, too, man. And I I think he just got broken. gang. Well, thank you, Josh. Josha. Well, I mean there's you know what it is, you know, gang, there there are no show notes there and I think the live and I think people understand this is when you do live it's so much more who the person is and I think you guys understand this right is anyone can you know do a show and like edit um but it's just something different you It's just something different. All right. So, look, I think Stern is in trouble. I think their new CMO has his work cut out for him. And it's not because I think they're bad people at all, gang. I don't. And And I want to I want to I want to talk about the flip side is I I think Stern just bit off more than they can chew. And I think they grew too big. And I think Jody and George and Gary and I somewhere along their licensing department, they just I I keep going back to this singular moment because remember like in life there's a sometimes there's like a seinal moment if that's the right use of the word, but there's like a there can be a singular moment that absolutely it's it's like the moment Blockbuster had a chance to buy Netflix for $20 million or or whatever it was like $60 million and they said no, right? Like there's a moment in every company's history where they made a move that sent them on a course they could never recover from. Okay. And to me, that moment for Stern is when they had an opportunity to make Back to the Future and they said no. I I still can't understand it. I still can't comprehend it. And it it still telegraphs to me, oh my gosh, how out of touch they are with who buys their product to the point where they hired an agency to help them know who they are. And once you reach that point, like George Gomez could have called me up and said, "Chris, uh, we got a chance to do Back to the Future with Joe Camcow. Should we do it?" Uh Uh yeah, George. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you want to make $50 million or not? $80 million. I guarantee it. They lost touch. Money was rolling in, you know. And what made Stern so good over the last 10 years, right? Iconic stuff. Batman, Ghostbusters, AC/DC, Metallica, Transformers, Spider-Man. I mean, you know, the Alvir, like they the the iconic themes, but it feels like they're out of it. Like, it's dried up. And now, like, their strategy is, oh crap. Like, if a current day thing flops, we're just going to burn old customers with a remake. Like, if they come out with Walking Dead remake, dead on arrival. And I think they're going to do it. If this company does Walking Dead remake it another what will that telegraph? They're They're out of touch. Nobody wants another Walking Dead. Yeah. I mean it should be Tron. There's a new Tron movie coming out. Will it be Tron? That would be the smart move. We'll see. I don't know. If they make the smart move, I'll be the first to congratulate them. But I don't think it is Tron. Let me tell you something about getting new people to care. They don't. They don't. New people don't care about pinball. New people can't afford school. They can't afford rent. They can't afford their car payments. This is the most ridiculous way you could spend $15,000. Just think about it for a minute. Just think about it. It's not a it's not a wealth generating use of money, right? When you when you have disposable income, 99% of financial advisors would say you use your extra capital and put it into wealthgenerating areas. That's what adults do. So this is a item for manchildren, right? It's a toy. You think young people have money to buy these toys? They don't. Look, the the easiest way to approach Stern Pinball I is you get everybody who's into pinball to invite one friend to join in on the fun. Can you like let me give you a marketing idea? All right, imagine this. What do I know about marketing? What do I know? Nothing. You're Stern Pinball and you want to bring new people into the hobby. You've got Ellies are always selling out, but I want these Ellie owners I want them to invite a friend to join in on the fun. There's so many things you could do to introduce the friends of these people. Did they ever invite Ellie owners to the factory? Only Ellie owners with a plus one friend so they could see what goes into making a pinball machine. If you took a tour of Stern and you're another one of these like wealthy dudes who grew up with arcades and you saw what went into this, maybe right now you're only into cars or this that I think you'd come away from that factory tour feeling like you know what, like instead of just another Rolex in the drawer or another $100,000 S-Class, I you know, I'll order one. Have they ever done that? Did they ever invite Ellie owners only to the factory? Think about that for a minute. The people who have spent the most money on their product, have they ever invited just those people? No. Instead, you've got these YouTubers running around like making throwaway content, talking to a bunch of broke ass kids. Don't even know why they're gaming. Their gaming personalities now talking about pinball. I mean, seriously. And I'm not talking about Retro Ralph. I'm talking about some of those other like, you know, people they had running around there that have absolutely no no connection to pinball whatsoever. They They didn't even think about like new ways to introduce people to pinball. They just they thought they'd get new owners with contemporary titles and that is a recipe for disaster. The next ideas they can pay me for. I mean, look, you know, I will say this. If Stern did offer me the CMO role, and I would have to make at least I mean, it'd be taking a a pay cut for sure, but at least a a quarter million dollars or more, right? And I don't even think that job pays that. But it'd be like one of those jobs you take because you could uh you know, you could justify it with the, you know, the the you know, the fun it would be to do it. Uh but if I if I were to take a Stern CMO role, and again, I don't think the salaries are that great. I would also want to have a bonus built into my salary or to my contract. Um, that was conditional on revenue based on marketing decisions that I implemented, you know, like, okay, so like the way a designer might make more per game sold like, well, the CMO should have a bonus based upon sales. I mean, that's it. because I still think they're leaving a fortune on the table in areas like modding, in areas like art, in areas like merchandise, in areas like that. Kelly Daniel, King Kong looks great in person and plays amazing. Kelly Daniel, ladies and gentlemen, Pinball Palace operator extraordinaire. Thank you, Kelly. How about this, Kelly? It is It doesn't look amazing. It looks okay. It looks okay. It does. You know, Kong is big. Um, Kong is is bigger than I expected. I just I just don't think Kong has a wow mech though in it. Am I wrong, Kelly? Uh, did you see the Jamie Kale and Ralph video where Jamie was trying to get everyone to unsubscribe? I did see that. I've been asked about that many times. Jamie and I had a nice like we had a nice text battle that ended up in us burring the hatchet. Um, look, I um I I didn't think it was fair springing that on those other two guys and and I just I don't you know, I really don't no one unsubscribed so like I I and I know he'll be back. Dope. I know what he was just sticking up for his friends at Barrels, but I don't even think he realized too cuz I'm like, bro, like I'm still in good company with David Van Es and the people over there, so I don't know why you're so mad at me. You should be mad at them for releasing such an unfinished game. Kong. I um I I think it sucks. It is the new TIE fighter on the spring, but whatever. It's fine. There's so much other stuff in the spider just feels like it just feels like an afterthought thing they put in. It is. It's so crappy though. Like it just keeps going like this after it's activated and it just it's it's annoying. I don't know. I I wouldn't I don't know. It It looks I I don't even I wouldn't even bother modding that part of the game. I love that we've got now 142 people watching after I go on these like truth bomber. You know what I'm saying? It's like funny. It's like, oh man, I feel like people are like, "Oh, man. He's talking about you. He's talking about you. He's talking about you." Um, you know, I don't know, man. I mean, maybe I should reach out to the new Stern CMO, but again, I just think he's got his work cut out for him. I think he comes from the gaming space. I I know they know him. I think I heard he came from like wrestling, too, or something. I don't know if he knows pinball, though. And as I told this to George, this is a very unique hobby. And I think when you bring in people from outside categories to try to figure pinball out, good luck. Good luck. Nobody Nobody knows this hobby now more than me who has a marketing job. I I mean that I literally have spent 12 years of my life alongside my job becoming an expert on pinball. And not just the products, the people, the community, the the realities, like you could never you could never learn what I know. It comes from over 10,000 hours of studying this hobby in this industry. I would be the most valuable addition to any company's marketing team. It's just absolut I I you couldn't even put a price on the institutional knowledge I now have and and the effectiveness and the efficiencies of being able to make the right calls instantly because you know so much. But you know what? You know what's like you know my dad said this to He's like, "Well, you know, cuz I I when I I was talking to my dad about like when I was like actually meeting at Stern and he's like,"Well, you know, do you really want to give up though like the freedom you have and the creative outlet you have of your show?" And I was like, "Oh man." Like, right? I mean, imagine being the Stern CMO and you walk in there and they're like, "What do we got?" And then you they tell you everything and like, "Oh, f. No, right. This is what we got." And they're like, "Okay, and we also have to raise prices and we've got 600 people working here and we need to make 800 games a week and we've got thousands of games in inventory unsold." Like, imagine because if I walked in as a CMO, they're like, "Chris, what what would you do here? We've We've got 3,000 we've got we've got 2,000 unsold John Wixs in boxes and 1,800 venoms in boxes. Unsold. The first job you have is to get rid of what? Um, Jack Danger looks like burnt out and and I've noticed that Um I I don't think he's um I think he's seen the other side, right? He never looked like that when he was streaming these games, right? I mean, you can think about it like he's he crossed the Rubicon and and it and it's like I I you know, it pays more, but like at what price? And I bet when you work on a game like these guys work on a game for so long, like you can't even like you're kind of over it by the time it comes out and then everyone's complaining about it. It's probably a very thankless thing to be in. Well, I'm in the corporate world, too. It's like all corporate jobs are kind of like on some level are the same. You kind of just have to like tow the company line and be careful and, you know, work as long as you can before they get rid of you. Chris, do you think Stern could sell out of Wick if they dropped the MSRP on them by 1 or 2K? No. No. Because the the market value on them is way less than 1 to 2K off. Like right now a John Wickle Ellie is about $5,000 off MSRP. Thank you, Brian. That's exactly what I just said, Brian. Like there's no one. It's like it's like Jersey Jack trying to sell these G&RLs for 2,000 off when the market is almost $4,000 less on everyone. Um, I I I'll make you guys a bet. X-Men Uncanny X-Men never gets saved. I don't even think I It's not going to get saved, gang. There. You do. You actually think Stern Pinball when they can't even sell out of an L1 LE when sales of Kong are not as good as they needed them to be. You think they're going to divert resources to save a game that died on the vine in X-Men? Do you think they're actually going to go all in on they're not going to save that game? There's the work required to fix that game is is too much and they're not going to pump more money there like gang cuz they didn't make the money. I'm telling you right now, yeah, good luck thinking X-Men's going to get a major overhaul. Exactly. The reason why they fixed Game of Thrones and Ghostbusters is they sold really well. Nothing. Thank you, Josh. Nothing is happening on this X-Men. The thing is that t-shirt of like I told George could also apply to my father because that's his What about when he said he wasn't making more LE? Ah, except except that time. No, but I don't think George understands like what what the gripe is on the game. minutes, what's um what's everybody's feelings on um Well, by the way, and I and I mean this when I say this, and and I know I've been accused of saying this before, and I because I know and and I'm gonna say this because I'm in the presence of the of the artist, Evil dead is the most stunning game of the year. I I mean, it was at the show. Every sign on it was sold out. It It looks better than Kong. It looks better than Dune. It looks better than Avatar. It It as a total package, that game is just a stunner. There's so much in it. There's just I I mean this when I say this. Beetlejuice will sell out in 10 minutes. I I'm getting a Beetlejuice. You're getting a Beetlejuice. And Evil Dead gang, the the demand for it is greater than the supply. I the game's going to hold value. You are not going to see Evil Deads uh losing $3,000 in value in a year like a Stern Ali. I I just I I got to give credit where credit's due. I never thought I'd see a day where I walk into a pinball show and Spooky Pinball has the most stunning game um out of all the manufacturers. And And again to people's point, not just the art, I mean everything, the mechs, the shots, the amount to hit, the widebody, like it's got more in it. What does Kong have in it? You You start asking these questions. Let Let's ask these questions from stuff that interacts with the ball. What does King Kong really have in it? Oh, you can't you can't ask that, Canada. Oh, you got to you're going to get in trouble. You're going to get in trouble. Shots are the new toys. Truthfully, Elton John shoots way better than King Kong. I said it. It's a much more fun game to shoot Elton John. Can't say it. Can't say that. You're not allowed to say that. I It might be Steve Ritchie's like recycled layouts, but man, it's it's got more combos, has a cooler wire form that it's more fun instantly when you hit start. I don't know, Albert. I don't know. I mean, I don't want either one. I wouldn't buy either one, but Glenn? Look, man. Where this got pretty good audience. Should we do this? Hey, let me ask you guys a question. Should we do this on Sundays? It might have to be Sundays from now on because of T-ball. I I don't know who Glenn's talking to. Sunday? All right. I I mean, I like Sunday, too. I I like Canada's Sunday morning service. It just feels like feels very like a religious experience being here with all you guys. Um, well, look, I mean, you know who's going to dictate this is Killian, not me? You guys like Sunday morning spectacular? I You don't like Canada Sunday morning service? Come on. I think it needs a different name. Um, all right. Let's spend the next um Harry Potter. Oh man, how many of you deep down are still nervous about Harry Potter? I mean, I I feel like it's only natural to just wonder how Jersey Jack is going to mess up this game. I I just I don't want them to, but man, I just I I Glenn, how are you not nervous? Like, have you not seen Jersey Jack's last few offerings? I I don't understand. How could anyone be like, "Oh, man." Yeah. With With utter confidence, Jersey Jack nails it every time. Glenn, come on. Like, how are you not nervous? I I don't know. Anybody could like act like JJP's got this. Well, I I'm nervous about the mute clips. What does pinball look like in 10 years? It's over in 10 years. No, it's not. I mean, in 10 years, like we're all hopefully we're all still around. Hopefully, we all still have some money. I think I think in 10 years it'll be all boutique companies. I don't think major companies like Stern will survive in 10 in 10 years. No. Um, what's the level of sales they need to meet the cult? Um, well, Jersey Jack doesn't need to make any sales because they have so much money. It It's not going to be more stacked than W gang. It's a single body single body game. Is that the single body? Standard body game. Single body game. It's not a widebody. I don't You can't really fit as much in a standard game as a widebody. I here's my worry about Harry Potter. Muted clips, lack of magical toys, and just eight movies of material like in a blender. That's my worry about the game. Now, what I think is going to be amazing, gang, is David Thiel is back. when that David Theel music and the And I I just hope it's not I'm not worried about multiballs because it's Joe Katz. I'm worried about rainbow puke lighting in Harry Potter. That's my big worry, too. Jack already confirmed there are muted clips, Glenn. He in an interview that people asked him and he said that there's both which makes you nervous like why would there even be muted clips. You know the biggest mistake in all of of pinball is that Stern did not make an an individual game for the Star Wars trilogy. There should be a New Hope game, an Empire Strikes Back game, and a Return of the Jedi game. What dumb decision it was to split those up into one pin. Why would you do that? I mean, seriously, they would have sold 8,000 of each each and everyone would own all three. Should we make 24,000 pins or just one? John at Jackbar, did you order? Look, gang, I I'm gonna tell you right now, the way to go on Kong is Kong Pro. I I think it's a great shooter. It's a great shooter. The animations are kind of kitty, like feels like a Netflix animated show. Um, but I think when you order Kong Pro, you're going to get the best of what Kong has to offer. And again, I think if you buy a Kong Pro for 6,500, you'll bang on it for a year and then get rid of it for 5500, 5,000. Great. You didn't lose much money. If you buy the other models, you're going to get destroyed in the price. No, I don't like the Kong art at all. I I just don't like it. It It looks like a It looks like um I don't know. It just looks like a kids book. I I You know what I'm saying? Like I I have books for Killian that I It's just It's not how I I think it misses the mark. They should have done more iconic King Kong movie poster vibe and they should have gone way more into the romance and the look if I wish they would have leaned all in on like an art deco King Kong like make make the whole game here's where they messed up. The whole game should have taken place in 1932. You make this whole game take place in 1932 and you have this art deco romantic and even with the illustrations and the animations. Yeah, you can make it 1920s New York. I think the whole game should have taken place then and then you could have had this beautiful, you know, all the moments on the island animated to look a little bit more like stop motion the way the original movie was. I I think it looks it looks hokey to me. It looks more like a comic book. It looks like if Marvel made a, you know, King Kong versus the Fantastic Four. It It looks like a Marvel comic. When I look at it, am I having audio scratches? Did this thing Uh oh. Did it Can you still hear better? See what got going going on here. How's that? We're almost at the 11:30 mark. It's not better. Uh I think I think I moved it.