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The Pinball Show Ep 171: Tick Tock

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·47m 44s·analyzed·Feb 24, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

Stern production updates, John Wick accessories launch, Dutch delays, AP news exclusive.

Summary

Dennis and Zach discuss Stern Pinball's recent production updates including D&D LE/Premium manufacturing, X-Men Pro acceleration, and upcoming releases (Metallica Remastered, Godzilla, Jaws in March-April). John Wick accessories launched with an animated hourglass topper ($1,499). Dutch Pinball faces another Alice's Adventures in Wonderland delay due to parts shortages. Patreon members get exclusive coverage of American Pinball's Pee Wee Herman license deal and strategic product development shifts. Spooky Pinball's Evil Dead is performing strongly.

Key Claims

  • Stern will likely not produce any more Uncanny X-Men Pro for the remainder of 2025

    high confidence · Dennis states they moved up the April run to last week as a parts decision, and X-Men Pro won't run again this year

  • Dungeons & Dragons has been the best-selling game across all models in recent weeks

    high confidence · Dennis: 'that's kind of been the big seller over the last couple weeks. Dungeons and Dragons, all models.'

  • John Wick hourglass topper is priced at $1,499 and includes actual sand

    high confidence · Zach confirms pricing and sand inclusion: 'comes in at $1,499' and 'with sand included'

  • Dutch Pinball's Back to the Future license is limited to only the DeLorean; characters like Doc and Marty are not licensed

    medium confidence · Dennis references Loser Kid Pinball podcast discussion: 'they got the DeLorean...but they don't have any of the characters. Like, they don't have Doc. They don't have Marty.'

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is delayed due to a key component shortage expected until at least mid-March

    high confidence · Dennis: 'a part delay on a key component that's not going to arrive until second half of March at the earliest'

  • Stern allocated John Wick accessories differently this time—no dealer allocation limits, only general public allocations

    high confidence · Zach: 'they didn't really give dealers a heads up...usually do allocations for dealers...But this time around, they did pretty much allocations on every accessory'

  • Spooky Pinball's Evil Dead may be their biggest hit and best game in company history

    medium confidence · Zach: 'I think this may be their biggest hit, best game, best product in company history. I feel good about that.'

  • Metallica Remastered Premium and Jaws Premium are heavily back-ordered with long pre-order lists

    high confidence · Dennis: 'Jaws Premium right now is the, that and Metallica. People are...now on pre-order lists for it.'

Notable Quotes

  • “I'm thinking hourglass. I'm thinking hourglass.”

    Zach Minney @ ~23:00 — Humorous reference to John Wick's iconic line, playing on the hourglass topper design

  • “you can change a lay into a Pringle all you want. It's still a potato.”

    Dennis Creasel @ ~54:00 — Criticism of Dutch Pinball's iterative artwork fixes to Alice character, dismissing cosmetic changes as insufficient

  • “they got the DeLorean...but they don't have any of the characters. Like, they don't have Doc. They don't have Marty. Like, they got the car. Yeah, they were wasting their time and money then.”

    Dennis and Zach (collaborative) @ ~60:00 — Revelation about Dutch Pinball's Back to the Future license limitations—only car, no character IP

  • “this thing is sharp. It is sexy looking. It matches perfectly to the game. I don't know what people are complaining about.”

    Zach Minney @ ~20:00 — Defense of John Wick hourglass topper design against online criticism

  • “Dutch Pinball still delayed. They still think that they're going to get all these games out in 2025, so God bless them.”

    Dennis Creasel @ ~52:00 — Skeptical commentary on Dutch's ability to meet 2025 production targets given track record

  • “I feel that Dungeons & Dragons has felt more complete at every step of its journey versus where X-Men was”

    Zach Minney @ ~35:00 — Assessment that D&D is outpacing X-Men in code development maturity despite X-Men being moved up aggressively

  • “It's been difficult for me to tell because obviously the games are getting assessed at various different points, like X-Men's had several different versions.”

    Dennis Creasel @ ~35:00 — Acknowledges complexity in comparing code versions across different game development timelines

  • “if there's a parts kind of thing. Like, it's just they're focusing more of their efforts on making games, and the accessories kind of get the back burner of things.”

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyDennis CreaselpersonZach MinneypersonDutch PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanyDungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's EyegameUncanny X-Men

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Hourglass topper received mixed/polarized reception online despite Zach's positive assessment; pricing complaint is primary concern ($1,499)

    medium · Zach: 'And this thing...got shit on all up and down online. Why do people not like it?'; both hosts agree pricing is likely the complaint, not design

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Spooky Pinball Evil Dead reported as potentially the company's biggest hit; strong customer engagement and tutorial content suggest strong product-market fit

    high · Zach: 'I think this may be their biggest hit, best game, best product in company history...People were loving it at the pinball at the beach'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Chicago Gaming's Pulp Fiction production progressing slowly; hosts use humor to deflect timeline questions ('just a few more years')

    medium · Dennis: 'Another new Chicago Gaming Company halfway through production of their Pulp Fiction LE game'; Zach deflects with 'Later is the perfect word'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Back to the Future pinball license severely limited—Dutch has only DeLorean, no character IP (Doc, Marty); raises questions about game viability

    high · Dennis/Zach discussion referencing Loser Kid Podcast: 'they got the DeLorean...but they don't have any of the characters...they were wasting their time and money then'

  • $

    market_signal: Metallica Remastered and Jaws Premium heavily back-ordered with long pre-order queues; Zach (dealer) publicly offering to buy inventory if dealers have stock to move

    high · Dennis: 'Jaws premiums or...Metallica premiums...People are...now on pre-order lists'; Zach: 'If you guys have them and you want to get rid of inventory, please contact me. I will buy them.'

Topics

Stern Pinball production scheduling and capacityprimaryJohn Wick accessories launch and receptionprimaryDutch Pinball delays and licensing constraintsprimaryCode version updates across multiple Stern titlesprimaryDemand/scarcity narrative for premium Stern games (Metallica, Jaws)secondarySpooky Pinball Evil Dead reception and sales performancesecondaryAmerican Pinball exclusive news (Patreon members only)secondaryAccessory allocation strategy changes at Sternsecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Hosts are generally positive about game quality and production (D&D 'darling', Evil Dead success) and enthusiastic about accessories, but express skepticism about Dutch Pinball's ability to deliver on timelines and frustration with accessory pricing. Some cynicism about market narratives and streaming platforms. Overall tone is informal, comedic, and insider-friendly rather than critical.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.143

Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. The Pinball Network is online. Launching The Pinball Show. On this episode of The Pinball Show, Dennis and I give you stern pinball production updates. We chat John Wick accessories being released, more Dutch delays, and other pinistry news. For those official Pinball Show Club members, you'll get exclusive content covering American pinball updates, including a near-license agreement for a Pee Wee Herman pinball machine, AP's rebuttal to the recent Day Fix bus toss, and a very interesting detail that no one has caught on to about precisely how AP is going to be moving forward with product development. Thanks for the listen. Thanks even more for the membership over at Patreon. And thank you for the public support of The Pinball Show. Oh, shit! Get your towels ready. It's about to go down. Everybody in the place hit the fucking deck. But stay on your motherfucking toes. We running this. Let's go. Pinball is a game of skill. For some, it's a passion in their lifestyle. It's time for the Pinball Show. It's pinball with personality. It's the Pinball Show. It's episode 171. It's Dennis Creasel, Zach Minney. How's it going, listener? How are you guys? You guys playing some pinball? We're good, Zach. Thank you. Is that their voices? That's the mob. What's that, Lassie? The listeners? They're stuck in a well? They've fallen in. Don't play in wells. That's the moral. So, Zach, you're back from your Antonio Cruz. Oh, you know what? I'm so glad to be back, but sad to be back at the same time. Why is there a sad? What do they call that? Bittersweet. Yes. Much like some of the cuisine that I ate on board. A lot of desserts on board vacation vessels, such as a Antonio Cruz ship. It was great. It was fun. Good times. Speaking of, I took the travel bidet that you gave me. Oh, yes. The portable bidet. That little squirter worked well. Squirt off. Oh, it worked terrific. I only go for the best. I thought I was going to wet my asshole a little bit, but I didn't think it was going to really clean. But, man, you really outdid yourself there, Dennis. It was perfect. I checked the reviews and everything. Yeah, strong force, strong aim. It really helped me out. I know you're very particular. Yeah, my booty thanked you because it didn't have the harsh one-ply rash thereafter. And then you get it in the salt water and you're like, oh! Yeah. No salts. Supple butthole over here. Thank you, my friend. Well, I'm assuming you're probably not way behind on work now that you're finally back. I, that's right. I'm like. What? Is it all those John Wick accessories just flying out the door? Why does it always happen whenever I'm gone? Look. It just. I even had somebody on. Stern is a machine. They're constantly turning out content. Somebody on Facebook was like, why does this happen every single time? I'm like, well, it's just, it's fun times. We'll talk about that and more. Why don't we jump into it, Dennis? All right. CERN Pinball, the past couple of weeks, have been producing Dungeons & Dragons LE, as we've known. They're going – last week they were making them. Remember, they got the fix. All right. Now the Dragon mod has been removed. Yes, this is post-fix production. So now they're cranking out the D&D LEs. You're going to see more of them. The listener, you're going to see more of them go out this week as well. By that, you do mean post-repair production. It's very difficult to talk about post-fix production. Oh, I see. Yeah. It may confuse some. Post-repair. Post-repair. And then they actually bumped up Uncanny X-Men Pro that were going to be made in April. They bumped that up, and they were making those last week as well. Why? I think it was a parts thing. They were like, well, we're waiting for parts. Might as well bump this up while we're waiting for parts. I mean, that's logical. So they did do that. So they did that, so we're not going to see that run in April. And believe it or not, there is a high likelihood that we will not see Stern Pinball run any more uncanny X-Men Pro for the remainder of the year. I actually am in no way surprised. Still a better seller than the premiums have been lately. Yeah, I've heard a lot of people feel that once they got time on it, that the Pro actually satisfied all of their desire. Yeah, so they like that, and we'll talk about code updates here soon as well. But this week, they're going to, as I said, continue pushing out those LEs of Dungeons and Dragons, and they're also going to be starting the Premium model of D&D as well. A lot of people are looking forward to the Premium. I've had a lot. Yeah, we have a lot of orders for the Premium. People are getting itchy. They're like, wait a minute. I heard they fixed it. When are we going to? Yeah, I think there was a lot of concern that the repair was going to cause a delay in the Premiums. Yep. March, we're still going to see that Metallica Remastered Premium. It cannot come quick enough. Godzilla Pro and Premiums in March as well. and then April Jaws Pro and Premium, and Uncanny X-Men Premium. And Jaws Premium right now is the, that and Metallica. People are, I mean, they're back-ordered. Oh, yeah. People are now on pre-order lists for it. Here we go again. I always wonder if that is manufactured. Manufactured being a loose term here, listener. But, Dennis, I mean, like, do they, does Stern control that to build up hype again on a product? like desirability on a product? Because sometimes, I mean, many of you in relationships may be able to attest to this, but sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? If you can always get the, what's my grandma say? Something about if you can always get the milk while you buy the cow, is that a thing? Is that a Kansas City thing? No. Do you know what I'm talking about? No, I think I've heard the thing about something about the cow and the milk's free because cows don't charge for milk or something like that. All I know is I can't afford eggs anymore. I only understand poultry references. We need another screaming goat so that we can make them an egg. Just an egg, not a whole lot. All the call-outs that we can get. Excellent. There's all kinds of stuff. Yes. There's so much you can do with eggs. So that's the – No, I don't think so. I think Stern, it's not driven by hype, I don't believe. I think it's more about an economy of scale of, you know, we need to just have enough demand there to make it worth throwing these back on the line. Okay. But my argument then would be, then why are you running Uncanny X-Men Pro when I know that the orders, the outstanding orders you have for Metallica and Jaws Premium are way more than that. It's probably what you said earlier, a parts thing. Okay. Because, yeah, waiting for April for Jaws. Oh, my God. Killing me. I mean, because they don't need to. Stern doesn't have to take steps. They already would have and do, just like you already know, that Jaws, these Elwynn games, there's always this demand until you finally satiate the market, which takes years with his titles. And Metallica has been this smash hit. We were already just a few short months ago speculating on what the next huge smash remaster they were going to target is. Because how do you follow up on something that was as well received as Metallica? And that's why we were speculating things like Ghostbust. It's just odd in a market that all I read on the hobbyist forums is nobody's buying Noonbox. They're starting on fire. LA's on fire and so is Stern. All I read is nobody's buying anything. But here I am reaching out, dealers out there, Zach here. If you guys are struggling to sell games, as the narrative is suggesting, if you have Jaws premiums or, I don't know, maybe Godzilla Pros, Metallica premiums, I'm out. If you guys have them and you want to get rid of inventory, please contact me. I will buy them. So it's a juxtaposition. I don't understand. Maybe it's a little of both, right? I mean, I understand there's always a degree of hyperbole that is going to be in those expressions. So I would say, first off, don't read there are no new in-box sales as literally there are no new in-box sales because that would be quite a silly interpretation. And I know Pinball. It is a silly place, and people do those interpretations. Oh, yeah. I've had lots of criticism over the years about when I've clearly used hyperbole and people people have written in demanding retractions on obvious hyperbole. I know it's quaint. It's if we were in person, I would literally reach over and pat you on your head for actually talking to me like that. It's just hyperbolic as well. But yes, it is. I don't want to touch your hair. The so in this instance, saying that aside, you know what they see with the hobbyists, Zach, because most of them aren't distributors. They don't know. What they see, though, is three years ago, listening to this show and going over the what's for sale from flipping out pinball at the end of the episode has mostly been things that are not in stock. And now you have maybe not Jaws in stock and Metallica remastered premium in stock, but you got other lots of other stuff. So I think that's where that perception also comes in from is there is quite if if you're not picky about what game you want, there's plenty that you can just walk in and walk out with. is the idea. Good point. So that's where I think it flows from. Man, Mr. Balanced Logic over here. Well, and some of it's just people like to be negative. I get it. Well, I'm... You know how I am. I'm the, Mom, can we have Louis Black? We have Louis Black at home. I'm the at-home version. That's a good one. I really like that one because I visualized it. I visualized Louis Black in a package, like a toy package on the shelf. It's like, what's with this Joshua Clay-faced looking Louis Black? It's like, that's the Dennis version. just how it is this isn't the uh what was it what's the uh the nika or neca edition i guess if you're going to bring that much logic into the show i've got to sprinkle in a little little razzle dazzle a little razzle dazzle baby a little high emotion and did you hear listener did you guys hear john wick accessories are fucking launched oh baby Bye-bye-bye! I'm thinking I'm back! Oh, do you have the time? Because I do. On my John Wick hourglass topper, Dennis! Tick-tock. Tick-tock, John. It's got an hourglass that spins upside down, and the sand comes through it. Yeah, I'm thinking hourglass. Hourglass. I'm thinking hourglass. Oh, yeah, that's better. And this thing has a dedicated mode. And it got shit on all up and down online. Why do people not like it? I have not read up on any of this. I knew that the topper was out. I figured the reaction would be polarized. Oh, I'm so happy to see this topper because, to me, this thing is sharp. It is sexy looking. It matches perfectly to the game. I don't know what people are complaining about. But then again, I'm selling them. So every time I sell one, I make money. And I've been told that that's my only motivation in life is to lie and make money off people. But if you guys actually want the truth I think this thing looks damn cool The other accessories like the armor came out the shooter rod came out I think those are fine They fine And then the expression cabinet lighting system to me any game that has that or equipped for that is kind of a must So you really kind of have to have that just because it makes the lighting so much more dynamic in a certain game. But the hourglass topper, I am just loving this thing. And I don't get into the dedicated modes. I really don't care about the challenge mode that comes with it or whatnot. I just love the looks of the design of it, and I love a moving topper, not just the 2D plastic kind of stuff. So, yeah, it is an hourglass, and it tips up and down. Almost think, I'm thinking like Deadpool thumb that goes up and down kind of thing. So it's like a servo, but this is actually a 3D molded hourglass with sand. It actually comes down. It comes with actual sand. Yeah, with sand included. And it's, I think, don't quote me, but yeah, I think it's sand included. And it is used as the actual timer for different things throughout the game. Yeah, I've seen their video clip of it. Actually, yeah, I think it does look pretty decent. Right? It's a nice-looking topper. People complain any time a Stern accessory comes out, so I was expecting that. See, I'm mixed on this as well because the price is high because the price is high on every single topper. I imagine that's what most of the gripes are. Yeah. I would think aren't how it looks because it actually looks pretty tastefully done. Sure. But the price is even perfectly relative to all their other stuff. So I don't know what the – I guess the argument in general is just we don't want to pay that much for accessories. Meaning for $1,500 at this point with Carl F. Booker going out of business, they could probably just get Carl F. Booker Monero watches like Keanu wore as John Wick and just put them as the topper, and then you could just take the watch off and wear it. I'm thinking hourglass. I think it was good. It was nice. But it comes in at $1,499, whereas you have some toppers $2,000, some toppers are $1,000. But I can differentiate. You get a hologram topper at $2,000, or you've got a 2D plastic topper at $1,000. And this is kind of in the middle, so it's $1,500. I think it's priced appropriately based on their other lineup of products. But those did come out. They've been selling well. Interestingly enough, and I don't think Stern cares that I tell people this, But they did it a little bit different this time around. They didn't really give dealers a heads up. They kind of did. They gave the whole general public a heads up saying, hey, we're going to launch this trailer video here in a couple days at this time, blah, blah, blah. But they usually do allocations for dealers. Like you can only get so many toppers in the first run kind of thing. And then if there's enough of a desire, we'll do subsequent runs in the future. We won't tell you when, which is hard to plan and coordinate, but whatever. But this time around, they did pretty much allocations on every accessory, which is odd. I don't know. Do you think it's a sign of a new approach or is this a one-off? I don't. I can never guess what they're doing over there. So I don't know. I think it could be a parts kind of thing. Like, it's just they're focusing more of their efforts on making games, and the accessories kind of get the back burner of things. Well, that's always been true, though. Yeah. So, or this is very plausible. They have heard me voice opinions and discussions so much back and forth with them about how a system should be run that they're just sick of hearing it. So they're like, you know what? We're going to do allocations on everything so that when flipping out orders this many and we come back and say, well, we're going to send you this many. He doesn't freak out and say, well, get your shit together. Maybe that. I don't know. But interestingly enough, we got an allocation, and if there's enough of a desire, then they'll do another run after that. Cool. Speaking of John Wick, just released, there are now two new limited contracts that are open for John Wick, I think, throughout this month. So go down to your local arcade and get those contracts completed, or in your basement or wherever you have your John Wick. also with John Wick. New code, version .94. We're getting closer, but we still got a lot of room. Mostly that was just bug fixes, tweaks, balancing, and implementation of the topper and mode. Also this week, there is a Rally the X-Men Forge a New Future quest available this week only. Go do that. Go complete that. In regard to Uncanny X-Men, we did get a new code. Finally! finally version .90 it's almost a John Wick level we still got a way to go you said that with John Wick I still do I feel that way there's a lot added on this new X-Men but people wanted more people really wanted more but there's still a lot I'm still holding on to this game still holding strong also new code on Dungeons and Dragons version .85 This is the darling game, Dennis. It is. Do you think that Dungeons & Dragons version will actually pass X-Men's version? What do you mean? Like, get to one point first. Oh, surpass it? Yeah. No. Faster. You know, surpassing in terms of quality is a judgment call, but that reached completed state. I don't believe so. But I would say that most would argue that D&D 8.5 is at a further level of depth and polish. than Uncanny at 0.9. I mean, it's been difficult for me to tell because obviously the games are getting assessed at various different points, like X-Men's had several different versions. The general vibe I've received from people is that yes, Dungeons & Dragons has felt more complete at every step of its journey versus where X-Men was, but X-Men got moved up so aggressively. I don't think that's particularly surprising. Yeah, I'm happy to see that. I thought that little fixed kit hiccup was really going to be not catastrophic but significant. And it was a mere speed bump, it feels like. Now, that could all change if, you know, other issues happen. If the kit catches on fire. Of course. But at this point, it was like a speed bump, and people, that's kind of been the big seller over the last couple weeks. Dungeons and Dragons, all models. So we'll see. Speaking of Dragon Gate, there was a fixed kit. It's being sent out this very week. Now, I don't know if that is a fixed kit for just the wiring harness, if Node 10s did not go bad, or if that is Node 10 boards as well being sent out. You know what I mean? Yeah, I get it. Unless they post a picture of the kit. We'll hear from someone soon enough. And they already did upload a video. Kyle Kyle Spiteri did a video for the Stern Tech or whatever it is and goes through how to step by step how to fix it so very cool I said earlier Dungeons and Dragons has been the darling it has been flipping out pinball YouTube channel Joel and Jared have been streaming this game the last couple of weeks they even had on programmer of D&D Elizabeth Elizabeth Gieske on last week and people loved that stream I still have to go back because I was on a boat. Flippy floppies. But that was a lot of fun, Joel said. Did you know Joel's streaming in 4K now? No, but no one cares. They do. Twitch doesn't because Twitch is still incapable of streaming in 4K. I think a lot of people watch on their phones. Are people still streaming on Twitch? People in general. Are pinball people? I don't know. people in general. Yeah, Twitch is still a thing. I'm surprised Twitch is still a thing. People don't, and again, because people don't want me to be a full-on Eeyore, but I'm going to Eeyore a little bit. I really don't like Twitch. There's so many ad breaks that they do. It's like you feel them so hard trying to squeeze you for money, and they still don't make any money. And it's like, what the heck? And then you go over to YouTube, and it's a much nicer place. And Twitch doesn't, they don't advance. They don't grow. No, they don't. It's the same shit that it was 10 years ago. It's sloppy in certain areas. It's just not a system that I like. But, yeah, I'm surprised it's still being used as much. I still feel YouTube has a long ways to go for live stream discoverability. But from a streaming platform perspective, I much prefer it. Oh, yeah, and archival stuff. Yeah, VOD stuff. Oh, yeah, and once it gets to the archive. I mean, practically everyone who is anyone backed up their Twitch streams to YouTube afterward anyway. Even back when I streamed pinball, we did that. So, yeah, congrats to Joel for getting him a new computer. He's streaming in 4K. It's all good over there at the Flip N Out Pinball. And he still hasn't streamed Space Hunt. Oh, that's interesting. I don't know if I want to air that here, but there's a possible meeting happening about some Space Hunt products. You know what? You need to just insert in a giant beep through this whole part after me asking the question. No, because then people would say I said a different word than hunt. No, no. You keep that part in, but then you go, well, actually, Dennis, I don't. And then they love the beeps. Yes, they do. American pinball in the news. So much so that we want to give the goods to people. We want to talk about a Pee Wee Herman pinball machine. We want to speak about the updates from American pinball. Like, what's their rebuttal? To this day fix going and just blowing this company up. He gone rogue. Yeah. What's their rebuttal? And throughout the rebuttal, because we did receive an update, us dealers did receive an update about what they think about all that in general, as well as something that I picked up that nobody's talking about yet that I think a lot of people will find very, very interesting. The future directions of where this company is heading are right under our noses. Yeah. Why does it still smell like aqua velvet? Dave, you still here? Dave's always with us. I like that Dave fixed, shaved his mustache, and is just like sweeping in the hallways. He's like in disguise. He's taking a page from Craig Bobby. Yes. But really, disguising yourself as a human is amateur hour. Disguising yourself as furniture, that's top tier. That's a Craigism. That's get smart right there. But we're going to do that. In our cone of silence. All the Patreon. Yes, our dedicated official club members of the Pinball Show. It's super simple, Dennis. Where do they have to go to sign up for that? Just to patreon.com slash thepinballshow. It's super simple. And you can pay as little as $10 a month to get exclusive content from us. You can get all other kinds of goodies and like Discord communications. You can bump up levels. We're going to have our live happy hour hangout this Wednesday. Yes. This Wednesday, 8 o'clock Central. so come hang out for that and if you're at the ten dollar membership bump up so you can come hang out with us this month and all kinds of other cool stuff we got new t-shirts going out here soon for those screaming goat club members cool stuff paywall polo but yeah you guys are going to want to hear all about peewee herman and all the other stuff that we were able to dissect Another new Chicago Gaming Company halfway through production of their Pulp Fiction LE game You're getting there, guys. Oh, jeez. Just a few more years. Still a nice game, holding up super well, as expected. Everybody's like, well, when's the medieval man's going to come? I don't know. Like, sometimes. He'll come later. Yeah, later is the perfect word. Speaking of later, Dutch Pinball. Bomp, bomp, bomp. Yeah. Another delay. I talked about this over on my other podcast, The Click Gamers Podcast. Yeah, I mean, there wasn't much else to talk about. Another delay on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The source here, Nap Arcade, I read that there. But a part delay on a key component that's not going to arrive until second half of March at the earliest. I want you to guess. Maybe you know. What is the key component? that you believe is missing? I would guess, let's have fun with this. The proper art package? That ain't coming. Well, maybe they're just not going to go back and they were like, you know what? We forgot to add in the. Cut the. I can't do it. I didn't think you could. I can't. As soon as you said it, I was like, I better request that one being taken out. I just want to get out of it. With a menthol in her hand. That's right. Speaking of Allison Waterly, did you see the other one, the sub-1000? It changes the artwork a little bit. But they still didn't fix the important stuff. They made her doe-eyed, but that's it. I've had like three emails come in to me, and I was like, am I being targeted? Because I was fairly critical. You were rough. Well, we both were. I mean, but I think it was fair. Yes, it wasn't. Right into the pinball show, you know, comment if you feel I wasn't fair about it. It was true. Yeah. No, I keep getting them. I keep seeing Alice's face. It keeps changing. But there's still like the wrong color of the card. The red spade. Yeah. Everything else is still wrong. It's just they're trying to make her less potato. Look, you can change a lay into a Pringle all you want. It's still a potato. That's a proper Kansas City saying. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Okay. So Dutch Pinball still delayed. They still think that they're going to get all these games out in 2025, so God bless them. I mean, if the delay is short, I would agree with them, but this is not a company that has a track record for speed. It's just they don't. If they really have back to the future. Remember, people thought I was crazy. I was like, we're not going to see that until 2026 at the earliest. Would we even by then? In my mind, that's not even licenses with anybody anymore. So I would think no, because it's tricky, right? because, well, I instinctively think it's tricky because Alice's Adventures in Winterland technically is DPX, not Dutch Pinball, but I think the planned production's all the same place. So in that regard, yeah, it does seem to be delayed. I don't know, because you've been traveling, you probably haven't heard the latest Loser Kid Pinball podcast. No, I'm behind the whole podcast right now. They actually do discuss a little bit about the issue with Back to the Future and the challenges with the licenses. Go find Loser Kid if you haven't heard it and listen to it because I'm not going to do it justice in any way. But the too-long-didn't-read version that I would convey from listening to it yesterday was that, yeah, that Dutch has it, and the only thing they got was the DeLorean, which Stern didn't even have. But they don't have any of the characters. Like, they don't have Doc. They don't have Marty. Like, they got the car. Yeah, they were wasting their time and money then. Exactly. And I feel the Loser Kids articulated it in a much more detailed way. We're doing that in anniversary, too, so congrats to the Loser Kid anniversary. Yes. When's our anniversary? I was going to say, I don't know when our anniversary is. I don't either. Look, we've been doing so many different flavors of so many different podcasts. We're veterans at this point. It is what it is. I mean, we are some of the longest running. There are a few that are longer, like Slam Tilt's been around longer. But they're older, too. Hey-o! Ouch. Yeah. Okay. Whippersnappers. These young people are coming in, though. We've got to watch them. Mm-hmm. You did ask me what part you think. Yeah. I'm going to be tongue-in-cheeky here, and I'm going to say it's all those damn Lior parts because Lord knows that he is like a snail doing anything. I have heard that. I have heard that. Legit, that's probably the answer. As soon as he's tied to something, I'm always like, well, there goes that production. Not to say he does bad work or anything, but it's just the words that he presents are much different than the truth that occurs. and it's always something going on and some of these things are tragic and i i'd feel bad for all that but there's some bullshit in there too so take it for what it is anything timely or is it going to be attached to something it's going to be beautiful stuff but it's going to take forever and there's going to be delays upon delays upon delays okay well i'll do the more fun answer and say the pinballs they're just like with the one thing we forgot the one thing I don't know if that's key to making this game work, pinballs. They came out cubed. What are you going to do? The shapes are all wrong. They decided to make their own pinballs. The 3D printer got all the little blocks everywhere. Oh, everyone 3D prints everything. It looks so cheap. You know, production-wise, Spooky Pinball is doing fairly well, I believe. They're getting out Evil Dead games. We got ours. I haven't unboxed it yet, but I'm going to work on it this week. I heard it was the game of the show at the last show. Yeah. People were loving it at the pinball at the beach. And it's not a thing where these things are getting out and people are like, oh, but this, but that. No, it's still holding strong. I think this may be their biggest hit, best game, best product in company history. I feel good about that. We'll see. I've still not had a chance to play it yet. I don't have much time on it either. Gameplay-wise, Looney Tunes and Texas Chainsaw were pretty good experiences, so I think it has to live up to a lot. We'll see. But, yeah, Bug did upload. They've been doing really well on customer interface, too, like interactions. They're on the forums. They're uploading their own content. They uploaded a tutorial for Evil Dead Pinball. I like seeing that kind of stuff. I did get a chuckle this week. I don't know if you noticed it. Some of the listeners did, though. It was a very lighthearted post that Bug and Luke were mimicking a JJP post about Jack Guarnieri and Steve Ritchie. I don't know if you saw this. I don't think I did, or if I did, I did not pick up on the reference. It was very well played. So Jersey Jack on social media posted something to the effect of, I think it was Steve Ritchie's birthday. So it was a picture of Steve Ritchie shaking hands with Jack Guarnieri in front of like Elton John, right? And looking at the camera, shaking hands and said, you know, happiest birthday. But what was so fun about this lighthearted post by Spooky is that not even like an hour later, Bug and Luke pose for a picture and upload in the same like they mimicked the same thing, but they were poking fun at themselves. They used the same terms that was used in the J.J.P. Post, emoticons that were used, and poked fun at themselves for designing what they said was like subpar engineered Ultraman or something. It was really well done, and I cracked up. And I'm like, hopefully J.J.P. will not take this negatively. You say lighthearted Post, but I see potential corporate war. I could see it seeming like that. Well, no, I mean, it would come down to J.J.P.'s interpretation. I don't think that's Spooky's interpretation. But because Spooky was kind of poking themselves, it was. Yeah, but that's a common tactic. I'll use self-deprecating humor so you don't miss the other entendre I've slipped in between your ribs. And even if it was, it was so well executed. J.J.P., you got to take this one. You just got to take it. It was that well done. and I'll call it when it's not. Kind of like I was calling, remember the Rams guy that was poking fun, swinging at giants? Remember I was saying that? I'll call it the other way too. And I'll call all these people and wish them a big thank you from us at the Pinball Show. It's our screaming Goat Club members. We've got to thank them. Yay! Do you think the bobcat would take any swings on giants? Yeah. Especially wives that are giant. It would attack the people's wife oh shoot that fucker that is low man thank you rodney i want to say thank you to steve the bumblebee sting a giant you got float like a butterfly sting like steve what was that i'm trying to think what was the the giant beanstalk uh jolly green giant no not the jolly what he's like a green bean or something He was like a sexy green bean man, wasn't he? He was like, I think. And then there's a little one. What's his name? Sprout or something? I'm just now thinking that. Was that like a ploy back in the 70s and 80s to create honky mascots so that women who were buying groceries would buy like Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean? Like a sexy, like Brawny, the Brawny man. Like no man's going to be like, that's a hell of a beard. I'm going for that paper towel. I think that's what it was for, wasn't it? I'm just now clicking with that. Jolly Green Giant was like, I'll be your green giant. Like, yeah. Marketing in its finest, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Steve. Rob, thank you as well. You little kitty cat. One of my favorite. You're not an SNL person, are you? I don't watch it all the time. I usually just catch the weekend update. Okay. Well, it was Jost and Che. They're good. I watched the SNL 50, nicely done too. Okay, I've not seen that. It was really good. But there was one of my favorite – I'm an SNL guy. I grew up watching, I think, probably third generation. I got into it during third generation, like Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan. It was like in between third and fourth because it was like Sandler, Spade, and then it transitioned into Ferrell. But one of my favorites was a skit. It was like – I don't even know why I'm talking about this. I've been watching SNL stuff. It was Moynihan, I think. He did the Space Cat. And listeners, any listener that knows what I'm talking about right now is cracking up. But you have to go search it, listener. It was a Space Kitty Cat. Okay, I'm going to look it up now. Oh, my gosh. Why are we going down this rabbit hole? I don't know. We're talking about the panther. I just want the proper name of it. Bob Jonesi from Alien? That's the space cat. It's called Kitty Cat on the Mars Mission. Look that up. Oh, my God. It's so good. Bobby Moynihan. And I just love, he says, this is my little kitty cat. And it's good shit. So there's your SNL plug for this episode. One of my favorites. I don't know what that has to do with the, oh, the panther, because he's a kitty cat. Gotcha. All right. Thank you. Frank, the falcon. Speaking of the falcon, while I was on that Disney Antonio Cruz, I seen the new Captain America I saw that too I don know what the name of it is captain america three red hulk edition i don know what like yeah brave i thought it was like it was like brave new world or something so you you went and seen it yes i thought it was junk it was stupid like i didn't brave new world that's what it's called oh this is not the huxley book brave new world oh yeah you're definitely talking to the wrong person there It's a good book. I'm referencing SNL Kitty Cat on Mars skits. No, Brave New World is a classic. But anyway, was not the plot to Captain America. No, I found Captain America okay at parts, but very boring. Slow. Slow to start. A lot of tedium. And possibly for me it was because I was sitting in a Antonio Cruz ship theater, and I was trying to upload John Wick and screenshot pictures so that I could get my website going and take orders. Like, that's what I do on vacation. Fucking joke. But, yeah, maybe that's why. But, hey, it's just boring and just the plot sucked and I didn't like it. So there's your downer recommendation this week. I mean, I've seen worse out of Marvel. Absolutely. I've absolutely seen worse. Dave, thank you for the continued support and enjoy your, oh, he's got two games coming to him this week. Wow, that's a lot. And they're good ones, two fresh ones. Yeah, but it's still a lot, even if they are good. Absolutely. Even better if they're good. But he's our resident shaker mother, Rumble Rumble. Thank you for the continued support. Joe, Mr. Fox, love you. Want to have your baby? Well, what's a baby fox's name? I guess whatever you choose to name it. The fox and the hound. So what's a baby fox? Yeah, maybe a kit. Yeah, or something. Charlie, thank you. He's the bell. What's a baby bell's name? It's a jingle. Okay. Do bells lay eggs? Foxes or cubs. Really? I had to look it up, yeah. That doesn't make sense, but okay. But it can be called a kit, too. Okay. Thank you for the continued support, Will. Appreciate it. Foxes call the kit. I'm sorry, now I had to look all this up. Kit is also used for raccoons, skunks, beavers, minks, wolverines, and ferrets. Yeah, apparently. Ferrets? Did I tell you the time I stole a ferret? I think you did. We talked about that, yeah. Okay. The dude. Thank you, will you? Fucking A, man. I got a rash, man. His new addition, he's making an arcade for himself. What's a baby dude? A dud? A dude. I don't know what the baby dude would be. Little dude. I think we'd go little at that point. Josh, thank you. Josh visited me on vacation I don't know if you saw it on the discord No on an island I had this damn rooster come up on me On one of these islands And trying to eat my food like a seagull Or something I'm like what is this This isn't Hawaii Why do we have cocks around here Yeah he had his little gobbler I tried to touch it I wanted to see if it was cold He wouldn't let me though He was a little skittish. But then again, I would be skittish if I was trying to touch my red sack. I'm so sorry. Oh, my God. It's been a long couple weeks. Okay. Josh, thank you. Thank you, you stinky thing, you. Thanks for the continued support. You are our Dracar, our Aqua Velva. There's something about an Aqua Velva, man. You shouldn't. Speaking of fragrances, do you do paraben-free and aluminum-free deodorant? No. So you go full chemicals, huh? Antiperspirants require those chemicals. Oh, Dennis. Not to be, you know, worm-brained. You're sounding a little worm-brained. But, no, you don't want that metal shit in you, man. I cannot recommend enough. Just look, especially if any of you out there want to get laid and stuff, pheromones are so important. And that antiperspirant shit that keeps you from even shedding any sweat, it's no good, bro. You need to sweat. And if you're going to sweat, you know, clean up the stink a little bit with the all-natural stuff. I can't recommend that enough. It's like right up there with the bidet. But anyway, I had a rash on my armpit from all the salt water and rubbing my arms with dress shirts on. I hate that. But you probably wear undershirts, don't you? Not usually. Oh, with dress shirts? No undershirts? Generally, no. See, that's fine. I used to. That's sex appeal. It's just an extra shirt to have to deal with. I like that. I like that. As long as the dress shirt's not too see-through because I don't need them seeing my nips. No, that's fine. No, let the nips hang, man. You're a man. Let's do it. I'm grown into like this. I'm turning into Matthew McConaughey. All right. Where's my bongo at? I'll let a nipple show. Yeah, Matthew McConaughey at home. That's right. I'm like a fat Matthew McConaughey. I swear. But where am I going with this? Oh, because the aquavelva. Yeah, man. Let them pheromones go. Get rid of that metal in your freaking bloodstream in your system. You got to get rid of it. I like how you've decided it absorbs into the bloodstream. It is bad for you. That shit is bad for you. Oh, God. Don't get me started on... The same people who have spoken for 50 years against saccharin. I'm thinking hourglass. And ladies and gentlemen, that's the show. Yeah, we did it. This is like the short, sweet hour. How about that? How about that? Where can people catch you? You can email me at collectivegamerspodcast.gmail.com. I even had like a pinball market trend set up. I'm like, nah. No. We're good. We're good. You can email us at thepinballshow at gmail.com. Sign up again to our Patreon. Help us out. Get some stuff, and it helps the show too. So do that today. You can join our Discord that way. We just had a manufacturer join the Discord this last week. Do I have to watch what I say now? Nope. That's the joy of it. Look, they know when they're coming in there. All right. What's the little people gloves? What is this? Kid gloves? Little people. Little like children. Little people do wear... Baby goats are kids, right? That's true. Little baby goat. I guess little people wear probably kids gloves, I would guess. Kid gloves should be like the theme gloves of the show, given the goat. Or do little people have big hands? I've heard little people have big dicks But I don't know if it's just relative to their I don't know They say if you shave it looks bigger too It was a good vacation Dennis Sign up to Patreon SDTM This week we have a Pulp Fiction review Really? I smell B-plus But would it not be a perfect grade For that game? I don't have all that much time on it Oh, that's true. So I can't say that it's a big, I mean. I hope you do get time on that one soon because that's one I think you might like. I mean, maybe. I don't know. We'll see. Oh, and we can't end the show without the sponsor of the pinball show. When I buy my pinball shit, I buy from Flip N Out Pinball. From Topper, Sharp, and Trivium, I've got it figured out. Flip N Out Pinball. Figured out. When I take a pinball, I think Flip N Out Pinball. Flip N Out Pinball. Figured out. It's when I buy, buy, buy, I buy from Flip N Out Pinball. Buy, buy, buy. Product showcase this week has to be hourglass. It's John Wick accessories. Get yourself an hourglass topper or some armor or some expression lighting. Do it now. Lots of choices for all three of you who own that game. I still own mine. Ralph traded in his. Oh, man. Traded his in toward a, this is retro Ralph I'm talking about. Oh, okay. John Wick LE traded in toward a Dungeons and Dragons LE. See, I think that makes sense. Interesting. He said he could always see himself coming back to John Wick later if the code gets to a better point where he really itches for it to come back. It ain't going to be hard for him to find an LE of that game. Yeah, yeah. And he was itching for a D&D, so yeah, very cool. Speaking of D&D, order yours through Flip N Out Pinball today. Why? We have pros and stars. We do free shipping all around the country. Still? That's a big one. Even on LEs. And it's not to the terminal. I can save you some money if we're doing that. But no, this is free shipping right to your door. How about that? And behind the scenes, we're working really hard at flipping out pinball to find better ways of doing trade-ins, doing pre-owned games, buying your games. So we're working really hard behind the scenes to make this hobby an even better experience for you. Yeah, I need to get you them photos of Buck Rogers to see what it's worth. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. We're going to be like the, what's that PBS show where they bring in the old plates and they're like, this is worth $400. Sesame Street? She's like, shit, I've been snorting coke off this since the 60s. No, Antique Roadshow? Oh, is that on PBS? Oh, is it? Maybe not. I don't know. I don't watch PBS. The only thing I remember from my kid time when I was a baby. Didn't Trump shut PBS down? I don't know. Look, there's been a lot going on. I don't know. That might not be PBS anymore. PBS is just going to be like, you know what? Fuck it. We're out. Singing this shit. Big Bird just out there smoking a cigarette on the stoop. Where's your snuffleupagus now? Scram. Metallica remastered pre-order one today. Uncanny X-Men, we've got them in. Oh, the Dungeons and Dragons. Ellie's Pros. We'll have some premiums as well. We still have a couple of those left unaccounted for. So John Wick, Godzilla, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Labyrinth. I think I'm down to like two or three Labyrinths. I can always order more, but right now it's getting low on those. Pulp Fictions, Avatars, Elton John's, Evil Dead, Black Knights, even the Vaulted games. Yeah, Deadpool, Iron Maiden. Those suckers are going quick. They're going to be gone. Funhouse remake, Cactus King remake, Godfather, Toy Story 4. Get yourself a promo price. Guns and Roses, Scooby-Doo, Queen, Galactic Tank Force. I got one more left of those. Oh, any of the interested lists. We did cover that last time. People really enjoyed that, the interested list exclusive content. So we talked about all of those different titles that people have their names on for Flip N Out Pinball. Get yourself on those lists as well. Big Buck Hunters, Golden Tees, Escalier, Stair Climbing Hand Trucks, Toppers, Accessories. Buy, buy, buy! Flip N Out Pinball YouTube channel with Joel, now in 4K. He's the only one that produces on that show. Yes, I've heard that. I don't know what he's streaming this week. Maybe some D&D. Probably some D&D. Yeah, I would guess D&D. Maybe Dwight will come by. Who knows? You think he'll just drop by the studio? Maybe. At this point, flipping out is flipping fun, and that's where everybody's hanging out. Dennis, what do these people need to learn? I don't know. Maybe, like Sans in the hourglass, these are the days of our I'm back. And always practice safe pinball, my little kitty cat. Go check it out. I'm telling you all, people. Kitty cat on Mars mission. and I love kitty cat. See you guys later.

Dennis Creasel @ ~24:00 — Explanation for Stern's shift in accessory allocation strategy—prioritizing game production

game
John Wickgame
Metallica Remasteredgame
Jaws 50th Anniversarygame
Godzillagame
Alice's Adventures in Wonderlandgame
Back to the Futuregame
Evil Deadgame
Elizabeth Gieskeperson
Joel (Flippin' Out Pinball)person
Kyle Spiteriperson
Bug and Luke (Spooky Pinball)person
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Chicago Gaming Companycompany
Naps Arcadecompany
Loser Kid Pinball Podcastmedia
Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
  • ?

    personnel_signal: Bug and Luke at Spooky Pinball creating lighthearted social media content that mimics Jersey Jack's style, suggesting competitive awareness and humor-based marketing

    medium · Zach: 'Bug and Luke pose for a picture...they mimicked the same thing...poking fun at themselves'; indicates active social media engagement strategy

  • ?

    product_strategy: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland delayed again due to key component shortage; parts not arriving until mid-March at earliest

    high · Dennis: 'a part delay on a key component that's not going to arrive until second half of March at the earliest'; source confirmed via Naps Arcade

  • ?

    product_concern: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland artwork revisions ongoing but incomplete—character redesigns don't address fundamental color/design errors (red spade, etc.)

    high · Dennis: 'they made her doe-eyed, but that's it...The red spade. Yeah. Everything else is still wrong'; 'you can change a lay into a Pringle all you want. It's still a potato.'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Uncanny X-Men Pro moved up from April due to parts availability; unlikely to see any X-Men Pro production for remainder of 2025

    high · Dennis: 'a parts thing. They were like, well, we're waiting for parts...there is a high likelihood that we will not see Stern Pinball run any more uncanny X-Men Pro for the remainder of the year'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern changed accessory allocation strategy—offering allocations on all accessories rather than tiered dealer allocation limits; possible sign of focus shift to game production over accessories

    medium · Zach: 'they didn't really give dealers a heads up...they gave the whole general public...allocations on every accessory, which is odd'; speculates it's a parts/focus issue