Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. The Pinball Network is online. Launching the Pinball Show. This week on the Pinball Show, Craig Bobby digs a hole for himself in top stories. Dennis and I weave plumes of gold as we digest the newest Stern Pinball Godzilla topper release. We also present some big changes in Stern Pinball's upcoming production schedule. Keith Elwin's next game release. Some American Pinball updates from Dave Fix himself. GTA being the real king of monsters on location. And tons of itch-free heads. As well as 2023's version of GTA called Space Hunt. other manufacturer updates, competitive pinball, and of course, Pinball Market Trends E2 Brute Edition. Y'all never seen a podcast have a plume this big. Pinball is a game of pills. For some, it's a passion and a lifestyle. It's time for the Pinball Show. It's pinball with personality. It's Alvin Jones here. No, it's not Alvin Jones. This is the pinball show. Episode 129. I haven't heard from Alvin Jones in a while. We're your hosts, Zach Minney and Dennis Priestel. I'm excited about 129, Dennis. You know why? No, I don't. Because we're talking about toppers, baby. Oh, I did know we were going to talk about toppers. I just didn't know that it was so exciting for the topper prince. Usually I'm looking for toppers to come off, but now, baby, we get to talk about putting them on. How have you been, Dennis? Have you bought a topper this last week? No. I thankfully can blame my ceiling for my cheapness. It's hard to put toppers up because I have a lower... I have vent ducting that pushes the ceiling down back where I have the back boxes. I have that third-party walking dead topper, and it actually scrapes against the ceiling, so I don't have it on the game. That one's hideous anyway. Why don't we get to the little... That's true. You probably hate it. Because it's not an OEM topper that you sell, so you must hate it. The baby Godzilla. Maybe he can have the plume of marshmallow. I love it. It's a little... My favorite thing is the person who called it a speech bubble, but it's facing the wrong direction. I was supposed to point out, a speech bubble for Godzilla should be facing the sky, not the ground. Ground speech bubble. I just want it... And I want it when it lights for it to just... Just to say the word. Is this a topper for ants? Oh, man. The speech bubble should be at least four times bigger. It should be four times closer to the plume out of his mouth. Why is he zip-tied facing the left? Just because Godzilla's not an ambi-turner. We're going to get into all of this. He's not an ambi-turner. He's not an ambi-turner. We're going to get into it. He invented the Mothraki necktie. He invented that. Mothraki. I truly thought the best hopper for Godzilla would be an animatronic, big old furry Mothra up there just flapping her wing. I thought that would be, like, the best. We've got three freaking Godzilla hoppers this week, and not one of them featured Mothra. The objectively right answer would have been, I think. I like your idea, other than Mothra's little cry can get kind of annoying. No, it's not. It's one of the best call-outs ever. But, no, the right answer would have been the triple-headed King Ghidorah as the topper with the middle head moving. That's pretty good. That is pretty good. Welcome to the $3,000 for a topper here. $1,000 a head. Well, by all three moves, sure. Would you give $1,000 for good heads? Depends on how long it's been Well, what's been in your world, your pinball world, Dennis? I went and played competitively at the 4-3 club First time I played competitively there this year Very nice I didn't win Story over Okay We had our VIP pinball membership, Zoom That was fun this last week Oh, yeah We were in a couple hours I'm not a big drinker, but I always have a nice stiff one during that. You get a lot. Even there, I just think it's interesting because you talk about so much here on this show, but a lot of questions about production, a lot of interest, always interesting what's going on with the lines. And I can get a little looser there, you know? That's true. That's true. Kind of explaining how rumors are managed. People are eye-opening in that. They're like, oh, wow. I didn't know. Oh, okay. That's how sausage is made. Yeah. You have to be really interested in it, but I think a lot of people get a lot out of knowing how the sausage is made. I think so as well. Speaking of big old sausages. Got another top story with Craig Bobby. Oh, Craig's coming in spicy today. He is a spicy sausage today, that son of a bitch. We'll see what he's got to say. Yes, hello and welcome back to the Pinball Show's Top Stories. I'm Craig Bobby. Well, Zach and Dennis, not a ton going on this week in pinball land, but there was one piece of news that I thought was so astounding, so ridiculously outrageous, and so controversial within the pinball hobby, that it was simply crying out for the Pinball Show's Top Stories newsroom to report, comment exclusively on this travesty, putting aside any number of breaking news stories. Okay, there really wasn't much going on this week anyway. Warning! Very little nature will promise you. I take opinion in bow. I repeat, I take opinion in bow. Yes, pinball fans, it's no secret that Stern's Godzilla has been the runaway sales hit that would make even the founders of Bally Williams themselves cream their 80s Jordache jeans with envy at how many Godzilla pinball machines Stern has sold since its release back in September of 2021, especially when you factor in how much Stern is charging for these machines these days. And good on Stern. They've created a wonderfully laid out and coated machine with a brilliant zombie-yitty art package that is about as damn close to a perfect machine as we've seen in the modern age of pinball. So let those pinball dollars roll in from appreciative and affluent pinball fans around the world. So one would only have to logically think that Stern's follow-up to the most popular game in their history would deserve accessories that would rival the king of all monsters pure awesomeness and make it worthy of the number one selling game in the modern pinball era by a country mile. I mean, surely it would be as good as Stern's recently released Rush or Mandalorian toppers that had moving parts, cool electronics, or just fantastic art design that would make the Godzilla topper the must-have pinball accessory for the must-have pinball machine of the decade. At the very least, surely it would have the simplistic coolness of a KISS or 007 logo topper, with the KISS topper now selling for well over $3,000 on the aftermarket, and that's if you can find one for sale, or the retro coolness and psychedelic wow factor of the popular Netflix-licensed Stranger Things topper, or maybe even a new zombie-yeti art treasure that will so beautifully complement his popular comic book art style seen on the Godzilla game. Surely Stern would not let their legions of fans down with an uninspired design and lackluster-looking piece of plastic that they'd actually expect you to proudly put on your pinball machine after paying the outrageous sum of $9.99. Say what? Yes, that's $999 plus applicable taxes and shipping. Surely Stern wasn't going to double down on the one major flaw in Godzilla, being the almost laughable Godzilla sculpt itself that every respectable owner immediately rips out of their $8,000 to $15,000 game after purchasing it because of how bad it actually looks. Surely, if they were going to charge this outrageous sum of money, Stern would give us a take-our-money-now accessory that would at least deliver on one of these areas. Art design. Amazing moving parts. Dazzling LED lights. An indescribable cool factor that you just can't put a dollar value on. A game mode not in the original game? Okay, so on that front, Stern seems to have delivered. But after waiting patiently for over a year and a half, with nearly zero news squeaking out from the hallowed Stern offices, except the usual, yes, impatient pinball fans, your topper is coming, and yes, it will be good, don't worry. Oh, we are impatient Stern executives, and we are worried. Do it. So after all this time, that day finally arrived, and as we all watched Stern's plain and uninspired trailer in horror, which barely showcased each of the Godzilla accessories and what looked like clips that landed on the editor's cutting room floor because they were so poorly shot and showcased these overpriced accessories so poorly, we realized collectively that not only did Stern just not deliver in any of the areas of art design, amazing moving parts, dazzling LEDs, or a cool factor, they fueled the ever-growing pay-for-play fear with a new game mode that is unlocked when you buy your poorly designed and tragically uninspired piece of topper plastic. Yes, pinball fans, our greatest fears were in fact being realized in this topper trailer that Stern in fact could at times not deliver with their designs and yet still charge a fortune for their products. They were acting just like any out of touch, uninterested, and indifferent company that dominated a market segment would act. Oh yeah! That would be so crazy. Now surely I can't be the only one thinking these angry, disappointed, or dare I say it, boycotting thoughts about our sweetheart and king of the pinball world and stern pinball. Surely thousands of others like me who took to Pinside, Facebook, and other social media to voice and pen their displeasure and disgust with a laughable high-priced Godzilla topper that delivers so little to the consumer once they've forked over their hard-earned dollars, surely the mighty consumer would have their day and have it say in the pinball sun and show the Goliath of the pinball world who was really calling the shots here. But no, no true believers, no. Horror upon horror, the Godzilla topper by most distributors I've talked to said the Godzilla topper was actually selling well with most either sold out or expecting to sell through their allocations by the time this pinball podcast has aired. You see, Mr. Fowler? I love gold! So it just goes to show, Stern wins again! With a snap of their sandals-like fingers, they actually can produce garbage, and the masses will still come. Bravo, Stern! You've shown us all again that your infinite power in the pinball world allows you to create an accessory our children could have designed better, charge three to four times than what most hoppers were selling for five to seven years ago, and still create a sellout. Literally, what the f*** is the pinball world coming to? And Zach, if you turn this f***ing thing up, I mean, I'm just going to f***ing lose it. For the Pinball Show, I'm Craig Bobby. Catch you on the flip side. Well, thanks, Craig, for the hot takes. No thanks. What the hell? This guy's got some nerve, doesn't he? I thought Canadians were nice. Not this one. It's a spicy meat to ball. What is he doing talking crap about the Godzilla topper? How much is it in Canadian dollars? Maybe it's more shocking if we were to express it that way. He's still probably upset about the whole rush getting discontinued. continued. Well, he had plenty of opportunity to buy one. And he was the one Canadian who didn't. And I know that his country's judging him right now for that decision, but I'm glad that he's his own independent person. Say what you want, Craig Bobby. And he did. And he did. But we're going to dive down deeper into your little shit fest there that was the Godzilla Topper release by Stern. Topper time, topper time. It is Godzilla topper time. He didn't even refer to it as its proper name, which is the Godzilla Heat Ray Destruction Topper. Oh, that thing's a heat ray destructor. Oh, damn it. Ah. Oh, what? Sorry, Godzilla. I had a little cough from his rolling clouds that he's doing with his vape pen, but go on. Oh, I was blowing around using the blower this weekend. We got the pool in, but it left a lot of... Oh, your pool's done. Well, eh. Done is a interesting word. It's in. We've been swimming. We're still waiting for the heater to get hooked up, the chiller to be hooked up. The lighting is hooked up. Fountains are hooked up. A chiller? Let's not. A chiller. Let's not. But I'm like a fine saltwater fish. I like a fine balance. Chiller. Like this is. Like this is. What are you adding into the pool there, Bob? A reefer. Got to keep it cool. That was blowing. The water's getting a little too warm. I don't like it. 87.4 degrees Fahrenheit. But we're moving the driveway. So I was blowing. Moving the driveway. We are. I just need to move it like six inches over. We're working on it. I just would like to drive by six inches further east. You all shit on my above ground pool, so I'm like, you know what? Never will they make fun of me again. I never did. Prove it. Well, the city got a hold of us and said, that was a National Historic Landmark. I'm amazed your neighbor didn't try and get it on the historical registry to make you keep it. Oh, those poor neighbors. I was using the blower to blow some dirt and stuff like that. The next day, I thought I had like a whole weekend bender of snorting coke because my nose was like blood boogers and all that. Oh, my. Horrible, horrible stuff. When you're breathing, you smell that. I was in a plume. I can only imagine Godzilla's plume of destruction as he blows off somebody. Yeah, and his is like nuclear, so you'd have like a radiation nose. I'd grow a second wiener. It's been a long week. This is where I'm at. So, yeah, that's where it was muddied up this weekend, and I'll never, ever talk about my pool again. All right, so Godzilla Heat Ray Destruction Topper. custom molded Godzilla. I can't even do it. Please continue. Why did I put that up top? I can't even read the rep. Breathing a heat ray against a skinny landscape. All right. But it does have not one, not two, to be fair, not four, but three fire panels on this thing. Yes. Do you get fire panels on any other topper? I think not. Are there not fire panels on the Black Knight topper? Yeah, I guess there is. It's a little bit on the Jurassic Park date. Yeah, okay. So, yeah, a couple other toppers. Somewhat fire-like, but not three fire panels behind. Correct. A custom-sculpted heat ray plume. Now, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please. I'm all right. I'm all right. Yes, custom-sculpted heat ray. People are giving this topper a hard time, Dennis. A plume. How many RGB lights are in the plume? That's my point. People poo-poo the plume. Don't poo the plume. The plume is full of RGB lighting. So much so that there's probably more RGB lighting in that plume than is on the Godzilla game itself. Oh, well, okay. This is a fantastic plume. Never had this plume. Been so multifaceted, multicolor. Have you seen the color? It's done. 21. No, because the video just showed it white, like not lit up. Distraction jackpot is a game changer. The plume can turn colors. We couldn't tell that from the video. It's going to look like the white water topper. It's going to be so awesome and trickling. Oh, is there foil in it? Plume is going to be plu-optuous. This plume is going to be the sexiest plume you've ever seen. You're not going to get that plume on the game. You only get that plume on the top. This sounds like an EPA Superfund site, all these plume references. How do you even shove 21 RGBs in that plume? Maybe they use the twinkle little baby ones that JJP does to twinkle on the little inserts. We'll get why I think there's mixed results here, but let's not forget the 21 RGB lights in the plume. Let's also not forget what they're calling a special flash lamp that projects Godzilla's shadow from that custom molded Godzilla sculpture. Now, when everybody's shitting on this topper, are they talking about that? No, they're not talking about that. Distinct light shows? Distinct light shows? And what about this? An exclusive, quote, king of the monster's time attack mode. You get an exclusive mode on this topper. Now, everybody got all up in arms and fins, whatever appendages they had. Whenever Mandalorian came out, it was $2,000. and Rush came out $1,700. Gone are the days that we get a normal-priced topper. Here's Stern saying, you know what? We hear you loud and clear. For the most popular game probably that we've ever produced, we're not going to give you a $3,000 topper, even though our toppers sell for $3,000 to $5,000 on the secondary market when they go out of print or out of production. No, we're going to be one for the people. Not $2,000, not $1,500, not $1,000, but $99.99. I don't ever do the one thing. $999 and $99. It's a $1,000 topper. It's under $1,000. I have to factor in my bank processing fees. And it's still not good enough for these people. So, yeah, it's mixed reviews. Some people are just downright angry. Yeah, I did see a lot about that. So what happened? Do you like this topper? Do you not like this topper? Where are you sitting? I know you're not a topper guy, but you still have an opinion. Yeah, I mean, I would say I don't like the topper for the price. I don't see $1,000 in value there. What topper do you like for the price? The Black Knight topper at its retail price. Fair enough. Am I right? Continue on. So, yeah. No, I mean, I didn't think the topper design is okay. I had, and this was reported on Eclectic Gamers Podcast's almost award-winning segment, Rumor Corner, was that it was more than flat plastics, which I think a lot of people were afraid it would just be flat plastics at the $1,000 price point, and clearly it is more than that. It's just, you know, I think the main things are obviously pushback on the price, but saying that aside, just in terms of the aesthetic of the topper, the biggest complaint I have seen out of people, and I do, I understand, I guess I sort of see both ways of it, is it's like they used the same Godzilla figure, which was like the most hated figure in the Godzilla game, like that sculpt. And so since that wasn't a popular sculpt to begin with, to use that as sort of the centerpiece of the topper or the right-hand piece of the topper, I think frustrated a lot of people. Like they wanted to see a new sculpt for the topper. For $1,000, they thought there would be a new sculpt. They didn't like the plume? They didn't like the tanks? The plume looks silly when it's not lit because it just looks like this white thing that looks like a cloud. It's got a little distance from the mouth to the sternum. Yeah, and again, I get it, so that they, you know, because you can only zip-tie these things so close together. But the... The zip-tie they don't like? They don't like the zip-tie. You know, plus, not to be overly critical, but I mean, I am on a podcast. Bring us a size ratio going. No, no, no, no, no. The video of it that Stern put out, it didn't help. It didn't help, sir. That's where it's at. I mean, I saw the video and I thought, this looks really underwhelming. I don't even remember really seeing the plume light up in the video. That's why I was surprised to know there were 21 RGBs in it. They got a little bit too close when they did show the lit plume and it showed the hot spots of the LEDs. Yes, I did remember that part. And then my initial thought is, oh, does it just light white? Because I just saw these bright white glows in it, and I was like, eh. The other complaint was that Godzilla would be much bigger than those tanks, and, you know, the tanks are proportion-wise larger than they should be. Well, those are not the same tanks as the tanks in the game, like on the screen. Those are galactic tank force tanks. At least they look like fucking tanks. They don't look like red spaceships from some busted-ass knockoff Star Trek movie. Is there a spot for an extra post on the top of where I could, like, zip-tie a dom in one of his Fast and the Furious cars? and I want to add another plume where if it is, we'll be facing up where it's a speech bubble and when it lights up it just says family. I would love a reverse plume. Yes, a reverse plume. That projects onto the ceiling. Batman style. It's just family. I am going to get this topper. What a shock. I'm going to give you all a little credit here. The sculpt itself. Okay, I'll probably replace the sculpt myself as well. as I did in the game. I bought the Sleel or whatever it was. People don't want to spend $1,000 and have to be modding the popper. Fair enough. And that's fine. But I have no issue transferring over to a different one. And do you know what? I'll probably take the tanks out and I'll replace them with GGL. Do you not worry that the special flash lamp that projects Godzilla's shadow isn't going to work right with your new sculpt? has that engineering. Don't you think they spent maybe hundreds of hours researching the flash lamp to see if it was properly shadowing the... I'll get it. I'll get it. This was such a high-level effort. I mean, I'm concerned about making modifications to the size. Dennis, I've been through this before. We have this release of a topper. I've been... It's the same old song, the same old dance, my friend. And, you know, me, I'm known to cut a little rug. And that's what I'll do here. People just, they want to throw their fit because they had envisioned in their mind something and it wasn't that. People love this topper. They just don't know it yet. Give them time. They'll warm up to it. They'll buy it. And fucking numbers don't lie. They are buying it. And it's a better price. You know, make some modifications. Maybe this is the first topper that sees mods. The real mods here. People are going to like it. They're going to enjoy it. You're right. The video came up short because this video was an advertisement for the collection of Godzilla accessories, which I see what they're doing there. The issue is those are old product releases. They could have done that. They could have collectively put a Godzilla accessories video together, but also have the new product, which is just the topper alone, Have a side cut of just that for a video. Or, I don't know, send one a week ahead of time to one of your dealers that does videos. And for free, they could give a first impression showing the details like the 21 RGB light show plume or the projected light up against the wall of the shadow of Godzilla or all of this stuff. It makes me think, do they want to limit how many toppers they're selling? because the video didn't even explain what it – the video didn't explain that it had an extra mode. Right. Yeah, I know. That surprised me because I thought that's the main selling point that I was getting there, Ryan, with is this is $1,000 DLC. Yeah, and I know it had – I like the light panel with the fire. I think it's a good effect. At the end of the day, what I want to remind people is this. Some people don't like – if you don't like toppers, you don't like toppers. Whatever. Somebody that hates toppers and never have toppers can't be like, oh, this is such a ripoff. You're not going to buy it. Why do you care? Well, I don't. That's where I guess I don't really see. I guess I could. Anger always sort of surprises me. The anger is weird. I'm just not interested. Even if I had the space for it, I wouldn't buy this. I'm just not interested in it. I'm not angry about it. I guess I sort of get people getting upset if they did like what you mentioned, and they had a very specific vision in their mind. And, of course, what Stern did wasn't the vision. And, you know, honestly, the same thing is going to happen when J.J.P. drops Harry Potter. It's not going to be what so many people have built it up to be in their mind. Well, objectively, there's one right answer for that topper. And if it doesn't happen, then even I'll be angry. Objectively, the only topper that should be placed on the Harry Potter pinball machine is an interactive choosing hat. The owl. No, not the owl. They'll get spare owls from Russ. The choosing hat. You should press start. That thing should start talking to you. It should place you into House Hufflepuff, and you should play. That's the only. It should talk to you throughout the game. It should be an owl on an extension crane, and when certain modes activate, it flies over your head. Like Bubo from Slash of the Titans. Back to Godzilla Topper. What do you think my favorite part of this is that justifies the price for me? I would say probably, if not the mode, then the RGBs. The modes, honestly, like Jurassic Park, I don't really care because they'll end up probably stiffing us. Exclusive topper collectors, and they'll give it to the Insider Connective six months down the line. The RGB is a nice touch. I really do like the plume in general, that molded plume. I like the fire in the background. But no, none of that. It's not even the price. It's not even the exclusivity. The one thing it is that you cannot take away and you cannot replicate, ladies and gentlemen, is the thing that will keep me buying time after time again, and that is the interactivity, the coating. You can fucking buy Funko Pops all you want and tape on the top of your pinball machine. Put some strip lighting on there. I don't give a shit. You can make it look, 90% of homemade toppers look like complete ass. 8% make me roll my eyes, but I'm not going to let people see me roll my eyes. Maybe 2% are good. But even having said that, you can't get these integrated into the code, your homemade toppers. You can't. I am buying that. I am buying that whenever I hit a certain shot, that 21 RGB interacts in a certain way. Whenever I get a destruction jackpot, maybe the building reacts in a certain way. Maybe in a track mode it flashes in a certain way that also is integrated nicely to the rest of the light show on the play field It the integration that I am buying No other second hand operation can do with these aftermarket toppers Some of them are clever I give it We talk about the other toppers that came out for Godzilla. There are some mimicking of that but they're not tapping into the code. And Stern is. These things are like a completist thing too. In my row, Godzilla is the only one without a topper. This one's better than a flat plastic topper. It's $1000. This is a no-brainer to me. Maybe that's some of the anger. There may be some other people that feel like they have to buy it. Or that they're not happy with some aspect or multiple aspects of it. Stern Pinball is not going to come out and say the following. And I officially wouldn't be saying the following either. When they see that zip tie, they freak out about that zip tie. Guys, I think Stern Pinball is smart enough to know that we as a group didn't really like the sculpt of Godzilla in the playing field. I think they know that. I think they might put that on that little platform that you can easily remove, kind of like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles label on that topper that you can easily remove. I think they're smart enough to know that. I think the zip tie is there because they might know that. I think that if anyone thinks, even if it's $1,000, if anyone thinks that I have a Godzilla that has been approved by Toho licensing-wise and you want me for a topper to now see if I can go through an approval process of another figure, No! That would be the dumbest thing ever. Why would they go through the pain and agony and inefficiency of that? They throw another topper, or they throw the approved already figure up there. They already have the part number. It's easy to build. Because they know that probably you're going to take that thing off and put whatever you want on there anyway. Stern's not stupid, people. They're actually, in my opinion, and I could be way off base and incorrect, I think they're really accommodating on a lot of these things. that's just my take. Might I be wrong? I could be right. Right, Dennis? I mean, yeah, the zip tie might be deliberate. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I think I'm on to something there. I think a lot of these complaints, well, I don't know if they'd be solved, but it would be a lot more efficient if this stuff would all just release when the game comes out. Yeah, they're, yeah. Yep. No one would be arguing about the sculpt being the exact same sculpt, in my opinion, if it was when the game came out. I mean, if JJP's going to stick the same pose of Willy Wonka everywhere on their game, you know, you just deal with it right when the release comes out and then no one talks about it anymore. I think that they have said before that the reason that doesn't happen is because it's such a crunch to get up to that point that usually the designers or some of the creative team that create these games are the ones that kind of work on a topper and such, so they give them time to be able to create, because they're not going to be able to create it right there when they're, you know, trying to get this game done. I mean, but it's been almost two years since stress wrecking. No excuses. I completely agree. No excuses. I think it's ridiculous as well. So that's the top of the cool thing is that it is planning to ship immediately. I'm hearing some are, you know, potentially leaving Monday. Well, when's the second run? So, well, you know, so that's the thing. Yeah, tell me about this Stern approach. All dealers know their first allotment And the second run Is planned But they're gauging interest Based on the orders they get from us dealers And a timeline will be revealed Later My frustration usually comes in Because that later means What the fuck is the second run But we'll Maybe it'll be right after you get all your Expression lighting Let's not I can't But I can. That's the glory of freedom. And you, Shane. The Electric Playground, a little offshoot company, also had a Godzilla topper reveal. They have two models and even a future topper mod with LCD screens and stuff. Pretty cool. I give them credit. Pretty cool. And the 2%? I give them the top 10. Okay. I give them that 10%. There's some things that made me roll my eyes, but still. My favorite. My favorite. another third-party one was the cardboard one. Oh, that's a cute one, wasn't it? I like them because I think I have that microfiber cloth that was used, that blue one to be the plume. I like it for two reasons. One, obviously, it's kind of poking fun at the plume, obviously, but the other is it kind of looks like Godzilla's grabbing his blankie because he's sleepy after destroying everything. So many plumes. It's got a little portrait of Mothra on the wall, Queen of the Monsters there. Yeah, Electric Playground. So I thought, again, mixed reviews on that one, too. Well, I think the problem is they're – oh, you're back on the background. I was saying the problem with the cardboard one is I think there's not very many being made. Well, I saw the mod, the tongue-in-cheek mod on pin side of the zip toy, the neon zip toy that people are trying to sell now. I also like on the cardboard one. They didn't clip any of the zip ties that left the full tails on. Because it's meant for you to swap out. We're in this era now that everybody's cute. And I'm waiting. You got to do what it takes to get them TikTok views. I know. And I'm waiting until we get out of this. Because this is like the, I'm the man on the porch yelling about lawns. But maybe I'm just not as impressed or amused. But I can only do the same joke so many times. I just want to be like, hey, guys, you should have to – this is very elitist of me – you should have to apply to be a comedian or to be an entertainer on the Internet. Because, like, you guys suck. You just suck. Like, you know, you've got to jazz it up a little bit. If you've read that comment anywhere else, a joke, a punchline, don't regurgitate that. Like, that's done. It's done. 80% of everything I say is stolen dialogue, though. Yeah, but again, you're good at what you do. If you weren't, the numbers would tell you so. Well, you see, that's the same with them videos, right? The bad TikTok videos are going to have bad views. The whole time I'm scrolling through social media, now I'm like, you're so fucking hilarious. Oh, my God. What a riot this guy is. These people just lay their head down at night and think, man, such a fucking stud. I am funny. You're not. So much so, I had a couple people. We talked about anger. I guess I've become the spokesperson for Stern Accessories because whenever these things are released at us, people lose their mind toward me. They get so angry. And they don't get angry at Stern, but Stern doesn't give any commentary. After they drop a product, they just drop it and they're like, buy it or don't, whatever. Other dealers aren't looking up for these things. Other dealers aren't, you know, aren't the topper king and queen, so they don't care. But it's me saying I like toppers. People are like, you don't like toppers. You're just Win Schilling these things. Now, you've got to be original. Like, find a way to tear me down, but to also acknowledge facts. And the fact is, I do like toppers. Dennis, do you have any doubt in your mind that I actually do like this Godzilla? No, but you also shouldn't be surprised at this reaction. We've talked about this numerous times. If you're selling something, you cannot be trusted to give an objective review, and it's not a judgment about you as an individual. This is true for everything. And for the listeners out there, it's also extremely common in other industries for people that sell products to actually opine on them, and you just need to take into account what biases may exist. Exactly. So I get a little confused at the – sometimes I think some of it – People are very surprised. Like, how dare you? Well, I think some are, and I think some, you know, let's say they just don't like you. Because there are a few that don't. Just a couple. And I think they use this to try and goad. Like, I remember – and this is separate from this specifically, but I remember one time there was someone who I know you've debated with before. or they got upset at you about something and just went on this little rant about, like, the pinball awards and how you created them to give yourself an award. And it's like, Zach didn't even vote in those. It's like there's no factual basis for any of that. But they do it to try and goad. And some of this is that same realm. It's like because you respond to it because you clearly don't love seeing this all come up. Just like you're bringing it up now. And then people keep that in their back pocket and they go, you know what? We're going to really work the shill angle the next time he gives an opinion on something. But the thing is, you keep giving your opinion on stuff. So it's like, here, turn into straight down the middle and listen to the review on Godfather. Oh, the game you sell, huh? Okay. Some of it's clever. I look forward to your B pluses, by the way. Yes. I think somebody made that joke. Oh, he's going to rate this over a B plus. I stole it. It's so funny. Let me have my low effort humor. Goat, goat, goat. So this is the mean tweets version on the pinball show. So you got a few. Goating. Yeah. This guy said, he's referencing the Godzilla topper in my liking it. He said, quote, because you love bending over for Stern. Did they give you a reach around? Did you answer? Sadly, I just, whenever, I'm a very visual person, listener. So when I read that, all of a sudden, I'm not going to tell you who. I pictured someone that works this firm actually stroking me off. And I was like, whoa, whoa. A little too tight there. Listen up. But, yeah, it's just what happens to me. Now people are like, who was it? Was it Al? It was Daniel, wasn't it? That's just never right. So, yeah, so they give you a reach around. No, they give me frenzies, baby. This one says So how many did you order that you need to sell? You have no credibility giving any opinion or review When you're selling said items I wanted to be like Hey, 2020 called They want their fucking argument back Like what? You just now You know what? Hot damn I think you're onto something Everybody hear Bill over here? Revelations Sorry Thank you all for making me smile throughout another product release. Keep shitting on us. That's fine. We'll keep on giving you the goods, such as Stern Production Updates. A lot of movement. A lot of stuff happening, Dennis. Yeah, I can't keep this straight anymore. I don't think they can. I've never seen a time when Stern Pinball has so many different titles and trim levels all being produced simultaneously, interweaving them in and out. I heard somebody complaining about Jurassic Park Premium. They're like, how in the hell are they running Jurassic Park Premium for five weeks? I've seen Zach many trying to sell these damn things for five weeks, and there's no way that... And I'm like, well, because they're not making them for five weeks. What they're doing, it's only been three weeks, but what they're doing is they might have a run of them. And then maybe they have a part delay or something, and instead of just sitting twiddling their thumbs like other manufacturers might do, They can put in another title really quick, like, bam, just quick. So it's not that Jurassic Park Premium was running for three weeks straight. How many Jurassic Parks do we need? The game is up. No, they run them until they have to take a pause. They throw something else on. And they've just been doing that much more than typical over at Stern. This last week, Jurassic Park Premiums and Iron Maiden Pros have been shipping out. So you'll probably see some ship this week as well. on the line last week. We also saw some Foo Fighter premiums. So those are going to be on the line this week. They're going to be shipping. James Bond premium has also been on the line recently in that Factory Friday video. We saw some Foo and some James Bond premiums. Jurassic Parks. Iron Maidens. So that's four right there. They're still finishing off Foo Fighter LE games. So we're going to be seeing that. And then after that you're going to be seeing some Iron Maiden premiums. Everybody's like, here's the pros. Iron Maiden pros. What about the premiums? They're coming. And then toward the end of the month, we're going to see Godzilla Pros. That's a lot of games. July is going to start us off probably with Godzilla Premiums, followed by Avengers Pro and Premiums, and Foo Fighter Pro and Premiums throughout the month. Because remember, the Foo Fighter Pro and Premiums, especially that first run Premium, was slated for April. Bumped back kind of to May. Still going through May. Still haven't been landing. We're looking into June and damned if it's probably going to bleed right into the July run. That's something I've not seen in quite some time. Them planning on doing a first run premium and it getting delayed and pushed back and delayed so much so that it's already close to the second run of premiums. Yeah, it is interesting. So I don't, as of this point, it has not affected the allotments that we were supposed to receive. It's not like, well, since we're bleeding it in, you're not getting as many. It's still supposed to be as many. It's been a bit stressful with the food premiums because a lot of us dealers were notified three weeks ago, too, that we were going to have them start shipping. So we got money from our customers, and now our customers are three weeks into full payment, and they're like, you son of a bitch, lying bastard. So we're like, no, we're not trying to be that. It's just we don't want to refund your money now. Then we're eating payment. It's a mess. But they are coming. And then August. So that's July, June, July, August. August we're going to be seeing Jurassic Park pros make their way onto the line. A lot of renewed interest, and I was talking at the top of the show about Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park pros, it feels like we're selling more of those than we have in two years. People really want these Jurassic Park pros that are getting made in June. Do you think that is because of the complexity of the moving T-Rex that sometimes has issues? I don't know. You know, I wouldn't say the – I don't think it's the issues. I know a number of – again, this is more talking to people that at least casually play competitively. They don't like the moving heads randomness that it applies even when it works right. Okay. So for a lot of people, you get a lot – you don't give up a lot of coolness, and you get a really good playing game when you go with the pro model. So I think it's just more of that. Yeah, probably. Probably. But, yeah, we've got a lot of people wanting that Jurassic Park Pro. Also in August, here's the big news. We've talked about it. They've announced it. We don't know specifically when it was going to be, but now we do. We're calling it the move. The move is happening, Dennis. Yes, but this is the first time I've heard someone tell me what month it is. Yes, in August. So I don't know when we talk about Jurassic Park Pros coming in August. I don't know if that's before or after the move, if that's old factory run run or if that's new factory run because CERN Pinball will be shutting down for one to two weeks in August for the move into their new manufacturing facility. That's big news. What does that mean, though? What does that mean? Does that mean that they're just going to be right back up and at them? I've heard some reports that they're getting stuff over to the new factory now, just not the production line. Yeah, I think that was kind of what happened with the last move. I don't know if they do a stagger where maybe they use the old factory for a little bit while the stuff's going online. But given the shutdown, I think maybe once they do that point, probably moving stuff now, using the old line, and then do the shutdown, it's going to be all at the new factory. I think, though, that timeline was achieved last time they moved. They did. They did it very efficiently. And it's still being, like, Ray Tanzer, former famed Gottlieb designer, is who oversees all of that. He oversaw the last move as well, and everyone I've heard from has said he did an excellent job. Anyway, he's got the experience. I think it will probably be quite smooth, not like what we've seen with other manufacturers that have moved. Granted, most of them who have moved have moved further distances than this. Yeah, I believe so as well. And to have a large manufacturing company like this only shutting down for one to two weeks tops, that would be very, very impressive. So they are building so many machines right now, it's unreal. Starting to get some of those back orders lists down a little bit, which is good. And in September, I don't think it's ironic and coincidental that the move happens in August, because September, there's a big old gap for that next Cornerstone title. What's it going to be, Dennis? Is it going to be Venom? Yes. Brian Eddy? It's going to be Venom with Brian Eddy. Dwight Sullivan? Yeah. Zombie Eddy? Probably, yeah. Oh, I love sales. And it gets even better than that. We've had a couple of busy months in pinball manufacturing at Stern. Currently, their games are flying out of that factory. They're going to have the move. But what's going to happen from October to December? So much stuff, so many movements, so many changes, so many winks, So many nods, leans, that you're going to want to hear the most recent modifications to the Stern Pinball production schedule for October, November, December, and some of 2024 from Stern Pinball. I just received these updates, and I really want you guys to jump over to the official Pinball Show membership to hear exactly what is being moved, what is being added, what is being changed for October through December at Stern Pinball. Some eye-opening stuff here You can hear it exclusively as a Patreon member of the Pinball Show All you gotta do is go to patreon.com slash the pinball show Yes, I know, you really want to hear this, I get it There's no shame in that, come on over I almost want to guarantee that they'll be surprised But I won't, no guarantee You'll be happy enough Because there's probably a pin-side thread that has sent this somewhere Yeah, that's right Throwing all the pickles at the wall and seeing which one races down quickest What movie is that, Dennis? I don't know Damn it. Billy Madison. I've seen that like once because it's not good. I quit. I'm done. Here's the good news. Everybody's rolling their eyes as I do for 90% of the people trying to make toppers in their garage. Here's the good deal. Don't fret. Don't make it sound like a cooking math. Blue ice, baby. Some of them are. Plumes. Homemade plumes. I am the one who LEDs. Where's that from? Breaking Bad. Yeah, I am the plume. Okay. Don't freak out, people. Don't go on Pennside right now and say, damn it, I'll never listen again to an entire episode. Until the next one. But after that, I promise. We're going to give you this information as well because we love you as our listener. Numbers don't lie. We only report the facts. And the facts of what's coming up in October and December will be revealed, if it's not already on Pennside at some point. We'll reveal it the next episode. So episode what, 130? So yeah, we'll give you the goods. But you've got to wait. You just have to wait and see? Yeah, wait and gasp. Oh, I want to tell them so bad. Patreon.com slash ThePenBallShow. It's $10 a month. It's very much appreciated. With that entry-level membership of $10 a month, you also get invited to a Discord channel. our VIP private Discord channel for the pinball show, which has been a hoot and a holler and a lot of fun. Or you can jump up to $25 a month, get even more benefits, or $100 a month, and at that point we just kind of worship you. Except for Dennis. Yeah, I don't do hero worship. He treats his $10 people as much as he does his $100. His snark does not change. Thank you to all the official TPS members. I still want to talk about Stern, Dennis. I want to talk about Keith Elwin. He said on the recent pinball profile that his next game, believe this, his next game is done. Like, it's not even, oh, we're still, it's done. So much so that he is well into his following game. I'm not surprised. This is nuts. Yeah, he, look. It'd be different if he was borg in it. Right? He's not borg in it. No, look. Keith said in numerous interviews, basically, he's always been, at least since, like, game number two, significantly ahead of the production schedule in terms of doing the design aspects of his games. And I don't think it's surprising. In fact, I think we as a hobby have created this mythos, like everyone's moving things by a millimeter and like there's research in it for three months. It's like, no, it doesn't. It's not that slow. It's never been that slow. It's bad. And and, you know, in the old days, it wasn't that slow. And so while a game might often have, you know, like a 12-month incubation cycle, it's not like the layout takes that long. And let's face facts. Like, there's a lot of time between Keith games. So I don't think it's surprising that he's done with his next game, and I wouldn't shock me if he's close to done with the one after that. Now, I don't mean the code's all there and everything. This is his aspect. This is his parts. But he might, you know, he does his rules. So he may have the rules drafted up. And that goes to show the importance of code now more than ever when it comes to LCD integration, when it comes to lighting effects, all this is code. I still, I'm pushing forward saying, I've said it before, Dennis, you'll probably somewhat agree with me that code is the factor that is most important in modern pinball. I no longer think it is a layout. I just don't. I think it's code and it's theme. I don't know. Because so much of it is true. I mean, code is incredibly critical. The one reason, the thing that still always holds me back is code cannot fix a bad layout. It just can't. I know you're big on that. And some people may disagree with me and be like, no, code can't. I think there are layouts that maybe are better without code than other layouts that are better without code. Like Walking Dead, if it didn't have any code as a layout, wouldn't be as fun to just shoot with nothing else happening versus, say, Star Trek. because of just the flow of it. But, you know, some games, they're not, even if the code has you accessing all areas of the play, that's like my base rule before we get to the integration and everything. Ideal rules should make you want to play the entire table. Yeah. And if you're not shooting across the whole table, then there's a problem. And that's the problem with old games is, you know, there weren't incentives to always shoot all areas. You know, all the geometry wasn't exploited once you knew the rules. It's like, well, how do I, you know, what was Williams in the 90s? Well, how do I get into multiball? Because that's how you win. That's how you blow the game up. So that's the one thing. But that said, all the immersion and everything else is coming from that code at this point. Because code is more than just the rules. As you noted, it's the LCD integrations, the music, the sound effects triggering properly. So for buying modern pinball, if the code isn't there, it won't stay. A great layout with sloppy code isn't going to sell. Because people are like, I don't feel like I'm in the world of the Galactic Tanks. Or I don't feel like I'm in the world of Godfather. Because that comes down to the code. And even if it shoots great, if they bought it because they love the theme, and it doesn't feel like they're in the theme, why would they keep the game? We've also seen in modern pinball something very important. is, and I think this is, I think when it comes to Keith Elwin, half of it is the geometry. Because he's just, he has a way of creating unique layouts, but ones that are actually very well shooting, right? They're not just cute novel ideas, they're well shooting, some of the best of all time. But I think half of what his is, is his integration and idea of a structure of a rule set as well. Sometimes I feel as if the coder, coder, they get stuck in their own way. They get deep down this rabbit hole so far because of their brilliance that they miss what someone like me is looking for when I'm playing a game. That dichotomy between the yesteryears of a Steve Ritchie saying, here's the layout, here's your physical piece, do what you want with the code. I think that still kind of sticks today. So when we get people like Keith Elwin that are prolific players and designers, kinetic satisfaction creators, when they give their input as the structure of a rule set, I think that helps immensely as well, so that there's not too much of a dichotomy there. Because coders get a little bit too deep sometimes, I think. All right, so Keith Elwin, all finished on his next game. And do you have any rumors as to what his next game is, Dennis? I haven't. I've, the rumor that's circling around Water Bowl is Jaws. Well, I hope they have assets for it. How hard is it to get a shark? I don't know. See, that freckle on his nose, that's not the IP shark. The movie, but the movie isn't really about the shark. I know it's not. So, I mean, I'm just thinking like, you know, Zen Studios, you know, host of their version of the pinball show. They have a neon sign So that makes them the winner They did a table Years ago, a Jaws table And it, you know, I don't I don't know I'm hearing Jaws as well I don't know if that's true or not I don't have any inside evidence that it is true What I do have inside knowledge of Is something I'll drop right here Right now, I don't care I'm hearing that his next game Regardless of, you know Is it Jaws or not I'm hearing that his next game, theme, layout, toys, Mac integration, is another holy shit, knock your socks off game. Here comes another huge backlog. But is anyone really surprised at hearing that reportedly the layout is really good? At this point? Well, I'm trying to discriminate, or I'm trying to differentiate for the listener, because I have to put myself in my shoes. I'm trying to sell games, of course, so I'm going to try to hype this stuff up. But what I'm being told behind the scenes is this is more akin to a Godzilla than it is the stuff I was hearing about Avengers. Well, Avengers is the lowest-rated game on Pinside, and as we know, Pinside is 100% accurate. But even that game, I think, is top 20 on that list. And I hear things, you know, behind the scenes, even within Stern, the people working there, what they like, what they don't like, what everyone's playing there, whose game they're really playing, Whitewood-wise. And Avengers, people were liking that. But what I'm hearing about this next one is like, oh, crap. Wait until you see this. Another one of those. When do you think we see it? Is it coming? Next year. Maybe in the late winter, early spring of next year. Okay. When are we going to see American Pimples GTF? I have seen it. Whoop, whoop. GTF is here. Signature editions are going to start shipping. Wait, hold up. Hold up. Signature. That's the one with the $5,000 back glass. Okay. That's the lenticular. That's the thermos. That's the signatures. That the big one Okay The one that folds The one that folds Hold now for price No because the LE folds Oh I raging at myself that I can keep all this straight anymore I'm too old to begin the training. Too old. I can't hear too old now. So I listen to the Pimble News, Pimble Magazine, Pimble Podcast. That joke never gets old for me. I'm sorry for those. It does. Okay, now I haven't heard this, so this is going to be news to me. They talked to Dave Fix. Well, it was a nail-biter because at the beginning of the show, they said, I can't do a British accent. I can't. You can't? I'd like to talk to Dave Fix and Mr. Fix. I'm not sure. He's going to be able to meet with us. There's a scheduled meeting. He's busy. He's creating. No. So they gave us a little tease. Is Dave Fix going to show up by hour two? And he did. He showed up. So it was like a tease within the intro. So Dave Fix showed up, and I have got to, without being passive aggressive, I've got to say thank you to Dave Fix for coming on to that podcast so that as a dealer, I have information now as to when our orders are going to be fulfilled. That was me being passive aggressive. Yes, I could tell. Okay. So he had a lot of information, old Fixie. Oh, I do love information. Five years worth. He said, if you order a GTF now, I think it was Martin that asked, if you order a GTF now, when's it going to be fulfilled? And Jerry at Multimorphic said, well, it's going to be a while. Quote, two months. Dot, dot, dot. He didn't say dot, dot, dot, but there was a space, and he said three months. Can I hear four months? Four months. Can I hear five months? Can I get a five months? Can I get a six months? Yeah, yeah, well. Were there more dot, dot, dots, or was it two months, three months? Two months, three months. Okay. Which I find interesting because we have some on order, and we've not seen one yet. How long have you had them on order? Two months or three months? Release day. Okay. So that was in March? It was in March. So it's been more than two months. It's been more than two months. Maybe it's three months. Might be almost three months. Some of them are trickling out. I've seen... I've heard that. I've heard people have gotten it. Yeah. Some people on our Discord have received theirs. Mm-hmm. I don't know. Dave Fix also indicating that he is a reader of Pinside. Yeah, he says he's a reader of Pinside because... Is that like reading The New Yorker or what? No, he just wanted to let people know that the reason he's on Pinside, it's not the support. It's because he said a lot of people in glass houses on the forums at Pinside, But he said in order to, quote, throw a stone or take a stone, end quote, if he needs to. What does that mean? Is that like give a penny, take a penny? No, it doesn't sound like that. It sounds like. Well, the take a stone does. Does he mean. Take a stone for later use maybe? I don't know. Yeah, or does he mean like so that if someone was going to throw a stone at someone, he wants to jump out in front of it and like take the stone and like get hit in the head? No, it felt like eye for an eye kind of thing. Like, I'm going to have my snowball mound, and if you throw a snowball at me when I'm coming home from school, damn it, I will throw that snowball back at you. But if you replace snowball with head injury-inducing stones. The throw a stone part, yeah, I get that. The take a stone makes me think if something was being criticized, say, about American Pinball, like if he were to come in and say, no, don't blame Bob over there, don't blame Steve, You need to blame me. The buck stops here. So, you know, Matt was like, you know, let me, I'll take these slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, not. Freedom. But then the other part of the statement, yeah, or, you know, I'll see people and I'll be like, you know what? I just need to destroy them in first hands, which is an interesting strategy as a company representative to go with. I love that Dave Fix gives us info. He's fun to communicate with and talk to at the shows and stuff. So I like giving Fixie a tough time at times. But when he sends me product, I like him too He indicated that They're going to be at some upcoming shows They're going to IAAPA, the Northwest show This last weekend, the Northwest I've heard great things about that show They were there, he said he was going to send 12 12 GTFs, I just need one Dave I've ordered a shitload Can I not just get one of them, damn Are you at the Northwest show? No I'm not Then maybe shut up 12? So Tommy at Nitro gets 12 for the Northwest show To sell to sell their... I've already got people waiting. Dave Bix. I should tell my customers to go to the Northwest show in order to get it. Oh, I'm not salty. GTF. Also, this is news to me. He said on that podcast PM and MPT in between that can you believe this? GTF, exclamation part, is the acronym. It is out earning all the other titles in pinball including Foo Fighters. It's out earning them. Yeah. That is a congratulatory laugh from my co-host, Dennis Treason. Job well done, Scoop. Round of applause for American Tyndall. Boy. Yep. Out earning. No. No. Oh, yeah. No. They're everywhere. It's the freaking invasion of the tanks, man. Out-earnings all the major cities. New York. This is his personal arcade. The tank car coming. Yep. Yep. Has earned as much, if not more, than title-fixing two fighters. Godfather. Yep. Paul Fitch. What? You're up ahead of so much of this. I know. Go back to Tim Bowles. Oh, my God. I should have listened to this. Oh, my God. You should have listened. Why did I listen? I'm sorry. It's been the most rewinded podcast episode in pinball podcasting history. People are like, what the fuck did he just say? Did he just really go 10 second back skip there? Oh, fuck, he did say that. All right. All right, well, okay, Dave. Maybe it is. Maybe it is. No, it's not. I can't put any on location because I don't fucking have any. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I'm taking crazy pills. What is going on? Wow. We deserve more money, Dennis, if that's the case. We have shot that thing to the moon in popularity. Okay. That's without the lunchboxes, B.R. Without the lunchboxes. Your laugh indicates you feel the same way. I find it hard to believe any of that. Hard to believe. At all. You're so generous. At all. You're so generous. I'm just waiting on the games. I'm waiting on the games. You're okay. That has an outsold Godzilla, too. Oh, crap, man. Maybe Adam's family. I don't know. Stop it. Stop the limit, baby. They're rolling off the factory line. The reason I'm being a little bit prickly about this, listeners, because I've been struggling with American Pinball. I've been trying American Pinball to get some games kicked. The bigger issue is communication, like whether I'm a shill and I shouldn't be talking against companies. Sometimes I do just so that people can share my pain. I've been waiting. Not that I would generally don't discuss weird business interactions and relationships on here, but I like to be transparent as well, so it's a balancing act over here. But at Flip N Out Pinball, a company I own and distribute games, we have messaged three times now to American Pinball formally, and I'm attaching like five people to each of these emails saying, hey, guys, I need an update as to when we're getting our ordered GTFs. Like just some type of timeline here. I need to be able to tell customers, communicate that. They put down deposits. We have some of their nonrefundable. Please let us know what we're looking at. Are we looking at a week? Are we looking at a year? Like what are we looking at? And this has been, you know, since release and stuff. Three times now, the most recent being last week. And they don't respond. They just don't respond. Not even, you know, tough shit. We don't know what to tell you, Zach. That's odd. No response. I guess I find it odd. And I'm like, is it going into spam folders? Like, what? No, because I've emailed people before, and they get back with me about other stuff. Like, so the October 5th deluxe, come with the Stein stupid shit. But no responses. This last week, I even had somebody from accounting in American Pinball. I think it was like, tag Dave Fix in the email. It was like, Dave, please respond to this dealer. Nothing. So when I go here to see him as a dealer, when I see him going on a podcast, just ho-humming it up and talking about all these other, I'm like, it's bad enough we're not updating dealers, but at least let us know what's going on. Respond to the emails. That's why I'm being a little frustrated here and transparent. I was happy to hear on this podcast him say that Hot Wheels, Legends of a Holiday, Dennis and Oktoberfest are in stock. They have them in stock in American Pinball. I was shocked because they don't sell direct. They just sell to dealers. And as one of their dealers, this is news to me. Do you have orders pending for these? I do not. Okay. I'd be really concerned if I had orders pending. Okay. Yeah, I was going to say. I do not have. But the thing is, what are they collecting games over there? If they're in stock, why wouldn't they have? Oh, they haven't told you they're in stock? They have not told us there's deals. Oh. At least not me. I didn't know any of these were in stock. Are you sure your spam filter is not catching all their emails? When I heard this on the podcast, I immediately messaged them over. I was like, you know what? I could probably get some Hot Wheels. I think it's a good title. So I go to order some Hot Wheels and say, hey, gang, I heard from Dave Fix on the PM&T podcast that you guys have Hot Wheels in stock. I'd like to purchase some. Can you tell me what models are available? Let's get some shipping, blah, blah. No response. So I don't know what's going on over there. I don't know. All I know is based on this podcast. If they have Legends of Valhalla in stock, so is that still the, well, I guess you don't know. Is that still the classic? Is that still the LE that they did at the level? Well, remember, he said on a, because I remember hearing about this, there were going to be three tiers. Remember, because there was so much demand. Like, there was demand for, like, 500 or whatever. So are those these? Are they finished with the deluxe editions or whatever they were called? Are they out of the standards? I don't know. Are they alternated? Do they have two? Oh, they have multiple lines. I remember hearing that. So are they running Legends of Valhalla on one line and GTF's signature editions on the other? I have no clue. Simply as an authorized dealer, I don't know. No clue? Okay, well. The information I have as a dealer is the information I received through this podcast. We did hear on this podcast, and they emailed us back, the dealers, Dave did, saying, hey, we're fixing some stuff on this bank, right, the center bank that everybody's talking about. They talked about that on the podcast as well. They had some magnetized balls. He was going into talking about dealing with a supplier, getting different balls that weren't magnetized, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So they're fixing stuff. That's great. He also said they got an extension from Mattel on the Hot Wheels license. So they re-upped that. That's good news as well. He said, again, kind of confusing, he indicated that after GTF Signature Editions, because those are going to be on the line here soon, that Houdini is going to be running again. Their first game? Their first game. Because he said that while Hot Wheels, Legends of Valhalla, Oktoberfest, all in stock, they're sitting on 200-plus orders of Houdini from D-Link. 200? 200-plus. Wow. So I'm like, okay, well, if they're running Houdini again after GTF Signature Editions, But he previously said earlier that if you buy a GTF now, it'll be fulfilled in two months. So, see, the timeline's getting messed up here. We have Houdini's on backorder because they haven't built them for over two years. Non-refundable deposits. That podcast he's told before that they didn't take non-refundable deposits from dealers. So that's all on a dealer if they're taking non-refundable deposits. It's bullshit because a lot of us dealers have ordered Houdini, and that came with non-refundable deposits. over two years. So I'd still be surprised if they had 200-plus orders of Houdini on back order, but, hey, if they do, they do. It's just all very confusing. And it would be nice to get some accurate information so that businesses can make decisions and hobbyists can make purchasing decisions. Remember when we all thought, like, that American Dream idea, and everybody thought it was a good idea, and then you put a little perspective into it, Dennis, And then people were like, eh, this is kind of a weird deal with the whole homebrew thing. They asked about that. Good on them for asking about that. Oh, yeah, yeah. I often forget about this, but I know a lot of people, they really cared about this. Yeah, whatever happened to the, did it have a winner? Like, we heard nothing. Well, Dave Fick said that, yes, they have chosen a winner for that American Dream from the last expo, and that winner has been notified as having that winning homebrew, and they were going to try to make it, right? He said the theme kind of insinuated it had to be licensed, so that's what they're working on right now, licensing that thing. I thought that, like, I don't know. I didn't think that that came with the win, getting the license, but maybe they're trying to get the license to it. Now, if I was studious enough, I'd go back to the expo and see what homebrews were there with licenses and try to narrow it down. But why a secret? Why is there a secret as to who won this American Dream? I didn't think it was a private. I thought this was going to announce a winner. Yeah, and I don't remember very well. I've actually gone back and pulled up the American Dream Challenge flyer that Pinball Expo had listed. And so at that, it had noted that the contest was homebrewers would have one year to design and develop a unique and innovative concept and show it off at Expo 2023. And what the flyer had said was the creation would be judged by Expo attendees and the American Pinball Crew, and the winner's machine may be put into production, and that the winner of Best in Show, which I guess was sort of separate from that, was supposed to get money, $250. And then there was a disclaimer about the, you know, they made it clear that they weren't guaranteed they were going to put a game in production. But given that they described it as a winner, you win the challenge, why that implicitly indicates that the winner would be named publicly, because if you don't name them publicly, here's the thing. It's like when YouTubers do giveaways and stuff. If you don't name the person who won, how do you know that the drawing happened? Yes. So it's super weird not to name the individual, so I don't. And it wasn't like the show was last month. No, no. The way it was always phrased was it said the creation was going to be judged by Expo attendees and the American Pinball. That's at the show. So everyone thought the announcement would be at the show, like Brock Burke or someone would announce it, if not American Pinball. I don't know if there was a lot of signage or anything at the show. I don't remember. So I don't know who won. And, I mean, in the disclaimers when it came to production, they even noted, like, the idea of license stuff was okay, because what they did is they said they reserved the right to refuse designs on the basis of copyrighted material. You see, at the time, most of the phrasing was really leaning on originality. So they indicated, like, if you go with a license, we might just have to reject it on that grounds alone. But you see, there were terms and stuff. Like, you were the winner of the American dream. AAP was supposed to first negotiate for the design and stuff. So I don't know. Maybe that's what they're doing. Well, the way you've described it, I haven't heard the interview, but the way you described what came out on the podcast was that they were told they're the winner and AP is working on getting the license. So even though it's a license theme, they want to move forward with it. But they want to know. I mean, that's that's how it was. The summary that, as I understand it, is what maybe we get some clarification from them. I don't know. In a nutshell, that's where we're at with American Pinball, GTF, Dave Fix being on a podcast, and such. Okay, well, that was fun. He's the gift that keeps on giving. We've got a new gift, though, and it's bundled in croissants, beignets. Beignets. Yeah, sure. Beignets. And that is a new pinball company launching their first pinball machine, I believe it is. If not, sue me. I don't know. The company's called Hexa Pinball. And the pinball machine, I don't want to give it away. Here's what it's called. That's right. Hexa Pinball enters the ring in the pinball industry with their launch of Space Hunt. Yes. Space Hunt. Space Hunt. We've already kind of started creating so much exposure for this in just our opening, and it's not going to get any worse or any better, listener. You've seen the picture. If not, you need to. NAP's got a good write-up, naparcade.org. You can follow the video on YouTube of Hexit Pinball, where they have their sizzle reel of Space Hunt. Picture description stuff you've seen everywhere. Let's dive into this, Dennis. What the fuck are we looking at? This is a new company. I'm convinced that they don't want American buyers. Why? They're not looking. This is just like, they almost don't even want us Americans to even know about this. It doesn't feel, and they're like, nah, you know, we over here, we do our own thing. We only have three dealers. They all over here. Not American. It's fine. We don't even pay attention to us. That's what it feels like. Because there's no American dealers. And I don't understand the theming of any of this. I don't understand a lot of this game. So I think this is not for us. I don't think it is. It makes sense to start local for any company, I think, since they're based in Europe. To target sales in Europe for their first game would make a lot of sense. But let's be blunt. At a basically $9,500 U.S. game, This isn't selling in the U.S. well enough to worry about getting dealers. What about the elegance package? No, we don't even count the elegance package. The elegance package, 9, 10, 11, Dan made the price of a jersey check. It's almost $12,000 for an elegance package. So you see, I'm not sure this is for anyone. For a non-licensed pinball machine. You say it's not for us. Us as in U.S., but I'm not sure it's for anyone. People have got to see the picture of this. She's a pinky. She is a pinky monster. Yeah, I asked somewhere. I didn't see anyone answer. I was asking, I wondered, this sort of, this pink of a game, the last one I remember, I was wondering, what was the last time we saw a game with about this much pink? And the closest I could come up with was Gottlieb Premier's Vegas, one of their street levels from, like, 90. Diamond Lady. It was really pink. Diamond Lady's older, though, and it's not as, it probably has a lot of cab fade. Man, this pink's got that stank on it, too. That's a hot pink. Some of it reminds me a little bit of the pinks used in Total Nuclear Annihilation, you know, that kind of cyberpunk pink, but not in that. In fact, some of the styling, like in the middle of the play field, stuff kind of maybe wants to be that. It does feel like that. But to me, and I don't mean it in like a mean way. I mean it in like a Procter & Gamble way, but it looks like, but Pepto-Bismol is just sort of spilled all over this thing. Do they make, does Procter make Pepto? Procter and Gamble. I don't even know why you know that company. I was like, the, what, what, the, you know, Procter and Gamble, or? Yeah, I mean, you know, it's not a. It's a big company. It's huge. I mean, they make all sorts of stuff. Yes, they do. Oh, I'm right. I looked it up. Pepto business is Procter and Gamble. Yeah. Proper indigestion. Yeah. Up to stomachs. Diarrhea. Diarrhea. Diarrhea. Saving you from rums. From juices. Should come with a bottle of it Kills bacteria and spaces You hear something stupid, Dennis? What? I really kind of like the art It's fine, I don't mind it being I love the pink And the blue and the purple It's different, I respect that it's different It's got some fun stuff to it It's Pepto-Bismol pink But then there's some stuff I don't understand Like the main character in this is a It looks like something hand-drawn of a ball, almost Puny Factory worthy of the main protagonist is a ball with a crown or something. But then he's got stick hands and stick fingers, and it looks like on the front of the game he's flicking off the player. He's giving two middle fingers. What's on his head? It's like a crown, right? Like a space crown. It's a Primal King. I don't know. I don't know what's on his head. I like the robot on the back glass. Yeah, but he doesn't make sense to the... What? Yes, he does. He's got an axe. So he's clearly serious. What is wrong with people and what kind of drugs are they on and do you have extra? You know what, Zach? I have heard that this game is going to out-earn you. Move over, GTF. I think you should buy it. I would... Oh, man. What is this game doing? It's got that fun three-headed monster with the three aliens that look like jellyfish. It's weird. Some of the art is just fantastic. Some of the animation is fantastic. And then some is just so hideous and looks rudimentary. It's weird. It's almost like two artists. Like one really good artist and then his son. But the manufacturers don't have the heart to be like, we don't want Billy to touch this game. But we need an artist. So we're going to go with it. So that's the artwork. I'm confused about the little upper play field with what reminds me. Okay, you want to get into the layout. Well, I mean, because that's what's going to sell the game. Because the theme is original. So I get it. I mean, they went with space. Space. Which, like, everyone's doing this year. It's always a safe generic area to go with in pinball. Why is there so many space games and hunt? And yes, because players are like to hunt things. They're very, there's a, we are. Yes, we are. There is an upper playfield. You're alluding to that comes off of a left ramp, right? There's a left ramp beside the left orbit that feeds all the way over to an upper playfield in the middle, right? Playfield with a repeatable looping shot. But yes, but there's a whole thing. There's like a hole in. Yeah. Yeah, but it reminds me of a tilt bob, like a teeny, but they didn't hang a tilt bob on it. They hung a couple of those post rubbers. It doesn't look like you're using a weight on this, no. It's just a very static, light, loose stick. But what does it do? Does it do anything? It scores points or something, right? Unless there's an opto, otherwise it doesn't look like there's a switch that it hits. But it's attached to this unpainted metal thing, so is there not current running through it? Smaller loop than the spinning house loop on Wizard of Oz. Yeah, this looks like a pretty tight loop to me. Yeah, a little flipper up there. I don't know, and then an X is going to wire for him. I don't know what the goal of that is, but that's like the central feature toy in this game because there's no toys. So that's like a, hey, make it up here kind of thing. Doesn't look particularly fun up there, though. No, unfortunately, it's too small to do. It reminds me of the Rob Zombie chicken bucket area. Yeah, I don't know what that gangler is. It looks like a uvula or whatever those are called. Yeah, yeah. I've seen some people say that. I just said a part of a vagina. Did I say that right? Uvula? I think you said it right. Vulva? What is it? No. It's uvula. Put them together and you get a real good time. Maybe they forgot to add the weight. I can see the weight, you know, on the end. You kind of hit it. You know what would be cool? I don't know. I'm going to be helpful to Hexa here. No, you're not. It would have been cool if they redid an actualization of a tilt bob, like an enlarged tilt bob around the tilt ring there, and you had to hit loops without hitting that. Like, why not put a toy tilt bob in there? That would have been fucking awesome. That would have been cool, right? I guess. In these pictures, it shows no, nothing. You just hit it, and it falls down. Yeah, so there's that. Then you've got a left wrench, not a smart left. I think there is a scoop far left, though. Yes, I did. Yeah, that one was a traditional scoop. I wonder if that's a, yeah, I wonder if it's the standalone scoop there or if there's a subway that leads to that. Now, it looks like they've got a ball lock system just to the right of the second left ramp between the pop bumper and that ramp entrance with one drop target. Oh, okay. But I don't see anything. It says lock one, lock two, lock three, and behind lock one is a drop. But I don't see any, like, I don't think it's, it doesn't look like it's a physical lock, is it? It looks like you just hit the drop. Right drop target goes back into the shooter lane like everything else. Okay, this is the layout. It's interesting, but not... Spinner on the left orbit. That looks crazy awesome, by any means. I don't... It looks like another run-of-the-mill modern layout. Nothing special here. Yeah, the... I mean... Nothing stands out. Yeah. I mean, the most unique aspect, I'd say the two most unique aspects are probably the You got four ramps. That's different than a lot of games will go with, and two of them merge together for their return, and then the weird upper playfield. Yeah, I think it's a forgettable layout. I just don't see $9,000 on this playfield. I don't see any of this. I don't know how this sells. I don't know who wants to put money into a company doing this, but to each their own. There are some redeeming qualities I like about it. I love me some pinky. It might shoot great. What is that? Okay, so the crown thing on the ProTag is actually a thruster. I see a close-up of him now. It's like a rocket. He's got a rocket crown. A rocket crown. Yeah. I think it could have been a lot better than what it's presented as, and it's got more air time than it probably deserves at this point. I don't know. Oh, so the heads in the... Oh, come on, Hexapim. Well, the heads in the back are just flasher caps. Those three heads go Yeah yeah Flasher caps That be cool I think so Or maybe I mean there another shot which gives me like near where the Combo X insert is which almost has like a Cthulhu vibe to the art approach with it But then there's another shot where the ball, the ProTag ball is facing, and he's pointing at an insert, and he's got this big grin with human teeth. Oh. Yeah, I see that. Yeah, and I'm like, I don't know. It's like a mix of styles here. Yeah, so you guys can check out, I think they have a gameplay coming June 10th and 11th. It's all in French. I can't really read it. It's from Salon. I'm being suspicious here. I think it's like Salon means something in French. I don't know. But that's Pepto Pinball. They should rename. Pepto Pinball. Oh, if we were smart, we would have had a little jingle. Left drain, right drain. Straight down the level. Yay, Pepto-Pinball. And it says game features three pinball machines. Well, motherfucker, where's the third one at then? I'm only seeing two. Two tray levels. What does that mean? Maybe they mistyped trim. Play as the hero, Spheras. You see what they did there? These are the same writers as on Pinside. Facebook. So hilarious. Play as the hero Spheras and free your people from the yoke of the space hunters. Complete all the original missions to defeat the enemy. That's your goal. The enemy. Original missions. Well, as opposed to what? What would be a mode? You activate and all of a sudden it's clips from Alien and you're trying to save Bob Jonesi or get him off the ship. It's just like straight up ripped right out of Pinball Brothers. It's just like just dropped in. It's an Easter egg. I don't understand how like the brochures and stuff, some of the like the notes, the dashes, and they'll give the features. Some of them start with capitalization, but then Spinner is not capitalized. and then like other break system is not capitalized nor do i even know what break system means as an exclusive feature but then soundtrack is capitalized like who wrote this if this is the level of detail you're going into to launch a twelve thousand dollar pinball machine it makes me second guess how competent you are at this uh unless this is that bastard billy Son of the artist doing this. What is a break system, Dennis? A break system? Yeah, exclusive features. You get digital service menu. I don't know what's exclusive about that. You get break system and you get soundtrack and a reasonable price. How do they spell it? R-E-A-K? Yeah, break system. Oh, I'm wondering that's like their – I wonder if they use like Google Translate. I'm wondering if that's the diagnostic system. Okay. See if something's not working right. Digital service menu, brake system. You had to figure out if a switch is not working. Yeah. You could see how a translator would say, what is something that's broke? In French, you write something that's like, brake. Okay, brake. Yeah. Soundtrack and original voice. Original voice as opposed to what? No, I'm not. It's me. No, I'm not. I found my way into another. Instead of them just using audio clips from the Space Hunt movie. Don't you remember the Space Hunt movie? I like that in game features, one of the game features, they're listing all the physical things. The half pipe, double wire, ramps, a spinner, three emulated drop targets, and then hidden plot. A hidden plot. Shouldn't that be part of the goals? A hidden plot. What do they mean by that? Multi balls up to four balls. A single pendulum shot. A pendulum to nowhere. It's not pendulum if it's the same weighted object, is it? A pendulum implies a weight at the base You're taking way too much into what Google translates helping with Okay This is fucking chat GTP, like I don't think that How does this happen? I just don't get how any of this happens How does it get this far? Some have their dream We've got to move on We can't be spending this much time on this enslaved by space hunters in hundreds of hundreds of years. We're done with Exocimbo now. Can I please just read the intro? No, you can't. When all seems lost in your fight of freedom, you receive unexpected help, which will modify the balance of power. It's now time to free your people. Come on. We won't keep you any longer around here. Go on the official website to find more information. Just let it go. Jersey Jack pinball. I can't believe, you know what, I'm sorry, Jersey Jack. We just gave Hexer pinball a space above yours in this week's news. I'm sorry. Well, this has been very much news, to be blunt. Hey, I was listening to the guys over at the Pinball News, Pinball Magazine, Pinball Podcast. What a hearty episode. I'm referencing them twice here. They reached out to Jack Guarnieri, as they often do, and asked about this whole Cam and Cal saying Harry Potter thing. Like, what's Jack think about that? Jack didn't say no comment, nor did he say he had the time to do an interview with him. But Martin said that basically he indicated that Jack Guarnieri, original founder of Jack Pinball, wondered why Joe Cam and Cal would go on posting that about Harry Potter pinball license on his Facebook page. He didn't confirm that they do have the Harry Potter, didn't deny that they had. He just said to Martin, like, yeah, I find that odd. I wonder why he did that. Now, this is the same Jack that posted on his social media just before Godfather was revealed standing in front of a Harry Potter poster, right? You're a wizard, Quintanilla. Yeah, I don't know why he would go and post that either. I guess this is a lot of people not understanding people's actions. A lot of non-itchy heads. So much scratching has been done. There's a little reach for that. But Godfather CE, you know what? It's now in the assembly line. Oh, okay. Boom. Here comes gold. Okay. Speaking of gold, Pinball Brothers with their golden hit Queen. Gets a nice update. It's now at version 1.0. Oh. The game now has an in-game wizard mode around Bohemian Rhapsody, their all-time mecha hit, Bohemian Rhapsody. And it's a six-chapter wizard mode, including a five-ball, multiball, and also an independently selectable standalone Bohemian Challenge. So it's kind of like the Stern games now. You can pick it if you want to ahead of time. So this wizard mode in general, it's got six chapters. It covers all the distinct sections of that truly unique song, starting off slow with the intro, followed by Mama, and too late, leading up to the up-tempo part of the song, Scat-a-moosh, scat-a-moosh. I've never seen that spelled out so nicely. Dun Pinball Brothers. Scaramouche. Did you know that was a word? I mean, I've heard it in a song. Followed by Get Out, and then ending up with Nothing Really Matters. See, I'm rusty because you don't let me sing on here anymore, do you? That's tragic. Six minutes of the experience covering a vast variety of gameplay and emotions awaits. Good times. Still waiting for mine I'm excited about Queen getting that update You're a wizard, Freddy Chicago Gaming Company in the news They are still cranking out Cactus Canyon Remake LEs They're probably over halfway But for some reason they start squeezing out some SE Plus models too What is going on, Dennis? Why are they doing that? I don't know What? I know a number of people have indicated they've lost a lot of patience I can't really blame them, especially if they ordered what back in 2021. Two years ago. Yeah. So weird. The only thing I can think of, there's some differences with the LE and the SE Plus. Well, obviously, that would suggest, yeah, something other than the topper is now in short supply. There's no way. Powder coated. Maybe the wooden apron? Maybe that, yeah. Otherwise, a mine cart molding? I don't know. Maybe they're just like, hey, it's been too long, so we need to get some SE Pluses out there. People have waited just as long, too. I know. Actually, the LE people have waited longer because they came out with the SE Plus model following. The SE Plus. It wasn't at the initial reveal. It wasn't a long wait, but it was later. Unless they're one to assure the SE Plus people that their games aren't going to happen. I don't know. I don't. It's like a no-win scenario. It's Kobayashi Maru for CGC. Unless they can just turn all these games out all of a sudden, they're going to take a lot of flack for it. And I know people that won't order Pulp Fiction because they're worried about the speed on this. I'm having people. It's already started, Dennis. I'm having people message, hey, what's the latest update on my Pulp Fiction? I'm like, fuck, they haven't even got Cactus done. I got asked about it at the pinball tournament yesterday, and I told someone, look, my position is they're saying Q3 was the official announcement, Q3 of this year for Pulp Fiction. But unless Cactus Canyon's done, I sure wouldn't count on it. Yeah. I don't see it. That's my non-professional opinion because I don't like it. Yeah, towards the end of the show, we talk about competitive pinball. We put this right before pinball market turns because, you know, people stick around for that. Yes. The IFPA 18 World Pinball Championship happened this last weekend. I think it might still be going on as we're recording. It might be. We've been recording a while, though. Or we can get cute and be like, we really don't want to give any spoilers, so we'll just say that the final match is down to Johannes Ostermeyer. I always think of a German sausage. Ostermeyer Wiener. No, he doesn't like that. Ostermeyer. But, yeah, it's a play on words. I get it. But you called him a hot dog. No, no bunny factor. Sorry, Andy. Versus Finland's own Marcus Virtanen. Virtanen. Virtanen. What a Finnish sound. Oh, my gosh. All these people are unsubscribing for your mispronunciations and cruelty. And he wears white gloves. Oh, I smell a trend. White gloves? I would be intimidated if somebody I was playing in a tournament put on their white gloves. That's kind of badass. I'm rooting for you, Marcus. But I think you're going to get after mired. Fucking Johannes has nothing to mess with. That dude will win and still not smile. He doesn't give a shit. He don't care about ratings. Epstein Cup, that's when the countries battle one another. I don't know who battles, but all I know is either North America or the U.S. won. They beat the people over the sea. People over the sea. Sorry. I'm seeing the little mermaid. All about the sea. I want to take my hat off to you, Zach, for the sheer amount of research you have done for this thing. Hey, you know what? That's better than most, I've got to say. That's better than most Epstein Cup. Coming back home. I think it was already here last year. Would you ever go see The Little Mermaid? The what? The new one? Yeah, the new one. Yeah. No, I wouldn't go to the theater and see it. No, it's just... I did. I liked it. I know. And you liked it. That's right. I liked it. Just some weird stuff. I saw the Spider-Verse movie. Oh, you went and seen that, huh? Yeah, I didn't see the first one. I saw it on, like, video. They're hyping that awfully hard. Yeah, the animation was really cool. It's long, though. Oh, it's long, though, and it's a cliffhanger, so just FYI if you want to wait or not. I haven't seen the first one. I want to watch the first one. The first one's a good, yeah, I saw it, like, years after it came out. But, yeah, the first one's good. It's a good story. But this one, they ended on a cliffhanger, so. And I guess that was known ahead of time, but I didn't know. So a friend of mine was like, asked me if I wanted to see it. I was like, yeah, sure. Wait five years while they do all the animation. Well, oh my gosh, there's so many animators. I sat through the credits because maybe they'll put a sneaky thing in at the end and they're like, no, we're sorry. They're like, oh, Marvel. Yeah, Sony didn't give a shit. Because it's not Disney. It's technically Sony in collaboration with Disney for Marvel. Can they not just get over it and figure it out? Well, someday. I mean, Sony don't want to let it go because they bought that when Marvel was going bankrupt. Would you give up Spider-Man and let Disney have it if you had control of it? I don't know why they're redoing all of these animated classics. It makes no sense to me. I get the premise. It's just nostalgia moves. You should get it because that's what all pinball is. I mean, why do you think I roll my eyes every time someone goes gaga for Back to the Future? No one cares anymore. I thought they would ruin The Little Mermaid more. I really thought they were just going to screw it up. No, there was a lot of things that I'm like, okay, I still got the nostalgia. Some of it, you know, Disney in 2023 has the worst visual effects now for some reason. I'm like, who in the hell did the visual effects for this? Because this is, it should have waited a whole another decade if you can't figure out water, people. This looks like garbage a lot. Like you could tell they weren't comfortable trying to portray being underwater. It looks so bad. And then the hair physics. Nope. Nope. You should have tried in 10 more years. But they didn't screw it all up totally. So this last week, yeah, I watched a crab, an animated bird, a grouper. But they didn't have any goats on there. Nope. No goats in that film. But we've got some goats. Some big old greatest of all times in our exclusive club. It's called the Screaming Goat Club. And we've got to personally thank them on this episode. Hey, Bobcat. Thank you. And please For Dennis and I Thank your wife Oh shoot that fucker Bumblebee We've decided Jabs That you're now the Bumblebee And we want to thank you personally For supporting the pinball show Can't forget the Panther Oh the Panther was on Our last Zoom Hangout Yep You know what I'm going to tell you all right now Not a lot of good looking people in pinball He's an exception Yep The dude looked like Bradley Cooper He looks like Bradley Cooper The Panther Man, I'm glad I picked that name Do you remember his response to you? You asked him if anyone ever asked him And without a beat he said Bradley Cooper actually looks like me Yeah, he said people have asked Bradley Cooper He looks like He looks like Rob And I thought, he's quick on his feet Even Chuck Norris said, oh shit Yeah I want to say thank you to Colin the kineticist You're a wizard kinetic The falcon Oh Frank thanks Thank you I gotta change that one That's annoying The OEM Stern Shaker Motors Where would we be without you Well we'd have feeling in our fingertips And we don't like that What does the fox say I don't know I haven't talked to the fox lately But thank you Joe for the continued support And the bell Charlie Thank you And a reminder that towards the end of the month We're going to have another TPS live zoom hangout So for those of you part of the Screaming Go and Nordman levels On Patreon Go sign up now Or up your game from the $10 level to the $25 or the $100 And come join us there We all come together We all join together As one It's an industry, a hobbyist community. I'm called Penthusiasts. With the puns, I'm sorry. I've been punning enough lately. We come together for one sacred cause. We gather around. We hold hands. We beat drums in the fairest way. And we chant. Pinball! No, we chant. Space. Hunt. Space. Space. Hunt. Space. It's a Bobcat Techno Boy! Training up this week at Keith Elwin. You want to know why? Because he didn't design Space Hunt. Why are you so hard on Space Hunt? It's like you're already confined it to Game Clover. Almost because it's kind of like the Little Mermaid. Because, you know, at first glance, I kind of liked it. Not going to lie. But ultimately, still a modern letdown. It has so much pink jazz. It might be. The price is really going to be a barrier. You know, we talked about that when we kind of talked about Punny Factory, which is near a Stern Pro price, but this is way high. Spaced. Are you out of your damn mind? But I like the song. The only problem is I haven't been able to memorize the lyrics. I wish I was smarter and could remember things like the lyrics. See, though, we're turning up this week because objectively, I mean, look, Stern Pinball has become the Keith Elwin show They're making Walter Jim Weisz Storage unit Piles of money And they stand back And they look at Avengers and Jurassic Park And Godzilla And Iron Maiden And those are the games that are being made right now It's Jurassic Park, it's Iron Maiden Pretty soon it's going to be Godzilla again Next, are we going to get a Jaws? If we do, it's going to print money too We're going to need more fucking storage units, Stern Pinball Why do you think they're moving to the factory? No, it's not to add more games to the assembly line. No, it's not for more parts and manufacturing of accessories. God knows they need all the help they can get. It's simply for space for all the money coming in from Keith Elwin Games. Do you think if they do produce Jaws that the topper, the shark, will have a blanket in its mouth? No. It's going to be zip-tied. No, they're going to zip-tie his fin on. That would be fun. They should put that Godzilla finger in its mouth. It's just going to be the fin that's tied to a face. But you'll be like, he's got 21 RGB LEDs, guys. It's a fucking, have you seen the fin plume? The trail from the fin. They could do a blood plume. They could do that. They use the same plume. It's just red instead of white. 21 R. R LEDs Oh, trending down this week No Don't do it No I was told that I better not Trend up the Godzilla Topper To be fair, you know what? That's fine, I won't But damn it doesn't mean I'm not going to trend you down Craig Bobby That's right, trending down this week CB Oh, how dare you? You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch. I can't even believe your parents procreated together. He finally stretched out his wings to fly, and this is what you do. Clip them wings. You get a filing cabinet and a chair half-stacked, they make a mahogany desk. That's you. You're going to come into our house. And you know what? Not even our house, because Dennis doesn't even like toppers. You're going to come to my house. You're coming on my stage. You're going to lip service my microphone and talk shit about the moneymaker that is the stern Godzilla topper? No, no, no, sir. You will not. You're trending down this week in a big way. Go to the penalty box because that's what you fucking Canadians do, I think, in your sports. Go there. Think about what you've done. Because another one of these little blast-offs about my precious topper. Yeah, you hear that? Yeah. Yeah. That's a wood chipper, my friend. A little mahogany table, spirit Halloween costume. This is going to get fucking Fargo'd real quick. Yeah. Uh-huh. Step back, Craig Bobby. Deal of the week this week saves some money. Buy, buy, buy! If you're wanting to buy a Led Zeppelin premium. You know they're extinct now. Yes. The airport nodes are a thing of myth at this stage. I've got to say, I've got ones like under 100 plays, under 200 plays. It's brand new. It's a premium. All right, fun game. This person put the topper on it, $2,000 topper. The armor, official armor shooter. They've got everything official, the light, the expression lighting. It's a brand-new Led Zeppelin. I had it priced at $86.99, Dennis, and it's sitting. The brand-new game is $96.99. With all those options, it's over, it's probably like $11,000. I had it at $86.99. It's sitting. So I'll do a deal of the week here. I'll slash $500 off of that. Let's get this thing going, $81.99. Buy, buy, buy! That is a deal of the week. You're not going to find a better price in all of the Internet, guaranteed. At this point, we're price matched. And as always, hate all you want, people. I'll throw smooches back at you when you talk shit about toppers because I love them. And I'm just here to report the facts because numbers don't lie and neither do the... We didn't even talk about how many toppers sold. Shit, Dennis. A lot of toppers sold this last week. A lot. It's Pinball Market Tricks. Let's close down this bee hotch. Where can people find you? They can always reach out to me, eclecticgamerspodcast at gmail.com, and I will try and answer. Will you try? I will try, but I don't always, like, prioritize it. Either you do or you don't. No, on occasion I have actually forgotten to. Really? Yeah. Well, lately the EGP email is kind of getting really big because we've been doing a lot of video game giveaways. Oh, look at you. One of our listeners donated us a bunch of Steam codes, but he didn't know what games they were. So we just kind of like randomly hand them out for reviews. And so far, every review has been bad. So they're like a pile of bad games. You know what? They're taking their time, though. I can appreciate that. And I appreciate the codes. I think it's created some fun content. Because, of course, we do more than just cover pinball on EGP. We do video games. So that's added a lot. We do, too, on SDTM. We cover rubber bands. You haven't done that one yet. and people are starting to leave comments on your inside threats. Yeah, it's you. Oh, well, I'm people too. I'm not a robot. You know, and straight down the middle of the last one I did, I did a sports card grading. That really went over well. It never did. You know what, though? I was proud of it because it was well done, number one. And number two, I found it for the non-sports card collecting enthusiast. Still very enjoyable to watch because it had a market thing in there like, this is worth this, but if I get this grade, Isn't this going to be worth this? What grade did I end up getting? Reveal. It was actually, I'd recommend it. It was kind of fun. So go check that out. I'm straight down the middle. You can email us in general here at the Pinball Show. You can email us at pinballshow at gmail.com or the pinballnetwork at gmail.com. Subscribe to Patreon. Become a member. Hear that juicy stern update info. Damn, it's good. Be in the know. Be in the now. Be in the hunt. Space hunt. Is Space Hunt 2023's version of GTF? Yeah, except GTF is 2023. You know what? But it doesn't fit. I think it works. I think this is the 2023, 2023's GTF. The latter half of 2023's GTF is Space Hunt. The other fucking joke of the year. The Pinball Show Facebook page, TikTok, Discord. Sponsor of the Pinball Show is Flip N Out Pinball. Product showcase this week is Iron Maiden Pro. Believe it or not, I have some in stock. People love their Iron Maiden Pros. I also have Jurassic Park Premiums in stock. Two Elwins. Those things will sell forever if they were allowed to. Godfather LEs, I have those new and used. James Bond Pro Premiums, new and used. 60th Anniversary James Bond 007, got those new and used. Alien LVs, if you're looking for a pinball machine, come this way because I likely have them in stock. And if not, I can probably get you on the next run. Unless it's like Foo Fighters. I don't think I can get next run Foo Fighters. Or Deadpools, I believe. Yeah. Ultraman Halloweens, Cactus Canyons, used games, new games. I just went through and updated all of our accessories as well. You can find them on our website. We got some Shaker Mothers for CGC and Stern. Escaleras. If you need a 66-inch Escalera with the Magnum cross grip handle, get a hold of me. Might have one in stock for you. Dust covers, the Stern dust covers and the player mats, the fatigue mats, got those back in stock. Headphone kits, got them in stock. And I'll be adding very soon Translites. Like, hard to get Translites. Fins, catch this. I was able to source and get into our inventory. Spider-Man Vault Translites. Ghostbusters Pro Translites. Stranger Things Premium. TPN, very tough to get. Translight. You can hang these up. You can frame them. You can backlight them. So, yeah, getting in the Translight business. And that's what happens when you get rid of my banners. Flip N Out Pinball with Friends. That's a show that Joe Engelbert does where he either streams pinball or flips out with friends talking and chatting a video podcast on Flip N Out Pinball YouTube page. I think this next week. I got him a new game. I don't know if he's going to stream that or have some friends on to talk. TPN, some good stuff. Yesterday, the Final Round Pinball Podcast was up. We had a pinball party podcast. We had another podcast. The Aussie Pinball Podcast did the Aussie Pinball Championships. That's right. We had that. We actually had two pinball party podcasts because it's been two weeks. About two weeks ago, they did the Thankful Part 2. That's right. With Doc and Kale. So a lot happening at TPN. Go watch the streams as well. George Fisher still can't sleep on his stomach after the Harry Potter. I don't know why I think that's such a funny joke because it's really not because he's got a wiener it's like you're fucking five if a joke works it works it didn't work go ahead and give him the last word there Bruce I think the only last word for us Zach is Space Hunt. Space Hunt. I'm looking for a hunt. A space hunt. A space hunt here. Why are you all giggling? Some people might get that reference. No one went by the Godzilla Topper. Do it. Except they have. Except they have. That's not integrated. Topper cannot be stopped. Now we'll witness the full... This fully operational... Black Plastic Battle Station. Deploy Cloud Word Speech Bubble. On Godzilla. Thank you.