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MAY 2026 PINCAST

Pinball News Website·podcast_episode·analyzed·Jun 4, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Stern launches Transformers G1, TMNT preorders open, Pedretti announces Arabian Night 2.0 remake, European distribution shifts.

Summary

Jonathan Houston and Martin Ebb discuss May 2026 pinball news, including Stern's official reveal of Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye (G1 cartoon-themed), Wonderland Amusements' second game TMNT: Battle in the Sewer now taking pre-orders, and Pedretti Gaming announcement of Tales of the Arabian Night 2.0 remake. Major discussion of Sam Stern distribution changes, code updates across multiple games, and an industry dispute involving Pedretti, Team Pinball, and Melvin Williams over Big Bang Bar remake rights.

Key Claims

  • Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye was designed by Elliott Eisman with software lead from Elizabeth Gieske, marking her first software lead role

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston, discussing official Stern reveal details

  • Transformers game shipped with surprisingly complete code at launch, which is unusual for Stern releases

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston, commenting on his hands-on play experience at Park Avenue Open Day

  • Optimus Prime on the playfield does not transform in the Transformers game; rumors suggest either mechanical reliability issues or cost concerns prevented implementation

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston and Martin Ebb, discussing physical playfield features

  • Pinball Heaven has been added as a new UK distributor for Stern alongside ElectricCoin, breaking ElectricCoin's monopoly on Stern distribution in the UK

    high confidence · Martin Ebb, discussing official UK distribution announcement

  • Team Pinball purchased a Big Bang Bar remake prototype from Melvin Williams, performed work on it, but lost access to the prototype and royalties after Pedretti severed the relationship

    medium confidence · Martin Ebb, citing independently verified information from Team Pinball post

  • Sam Stern distribution strategy aims to reduce prices by cutting out markup layers and adding multiple importers per region

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston and Martin Ebb, discussing distribution model and Gary Stern conversations

  • John Buscalier from Stern plans to head up a European office in Amsterdam before the end of the year, though this timeline has slipped before

    medium confidence · Jonathan Houston, referencing previous announcement at Park Avenue Open Day

  • WMNT: Battle in the Sewer is expected to ship in October 2026 and is only available to US and Canada initially

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston, citing Wonderland Amusements' official announcement

Notable Quotes

  • “It's almost like Back to the Future. But that's not a game we're talking about at the moment.”

    Jonathan Houston @ early in episode — Humorous reference to Stern's pattern of remaking classic licensed games, hinting at future Back to the Future remake

  • “The Pro doesn't have anything. The Premium nearly has Megatron that shoots the ball from a cannon mounted on Megatron's shoulder. There's no transformation of Optimus Prime... you end up with a rather unattractive looking Optimus Prime model that maybe should transform but doesn't.”

    Jonathan Houston @ early-mid episode — Critical observation of a major design limitation in Transformers game, suggesting mechanical/cost compromise

  • “I'm busy enough during the day and no pinball company can expect me to drop everything because they just revealed a new game. I need time to write a decent article instead of just copy-pasting a press release.”

    Martin Ebb @ mid episode — Industry commentary on embargo practices and media professionalism, critique of Stern's lack of advance asset distribution

  • “It would be really nice if you could actually have a game completely done and then release it... They didn't think that was particularly likely anytime soon because they always try and tie things in with licensor events.”

    Jonathan Houston @ mid episode — Gary Stern explanation of why Stern games launch incomplete; tied to licensor marketing coordination

  • “Version 1.01 came out on the 27th of May. That is much much more fully featured... has a mini wizard mode, a final wizard mode, lots more feedback to the player. It took a long time to get there, but now looks like a much more fun game.”

    Jonathan Houston @ software corner segment — John Wick code update received as major improvement, crediting Lonnie D. Ropp for satisfying player complaints

  • “Apparently the rights for that game are now owned by Melvin Williams. So he was working with Pedretti to bring the game to fruition... there was a falling out, basically, with Pedretti.”

    Martin Ebb @ Big Bang Bar discussion — Explanation of Big Bang Bar rights holder and subsequent industry dispute

Entities

Jonathan HoustonpersonMartin EbbpersonElliott EismanpersonElizabeth GieskepersonGary Sternperson[name withheld pending review]personLonnie D. RopppersonMelvin Williamsperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Stern Pinball officially revealed Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye (G1 cartoon-based) with Elliott Eisman design and Elizabeth Guiske software lead, three flipper six ball game with Pro/Premium/LE tiers at standard Cornerstone pricing

    high · Official Stern media day and Park Avenue Open Day demo; Jonathan played Pro version; pricing confirmed at $6,995 Pro, $9,700 Premium, $13,000 LE

  • ?

    product_concern: Optimus Prime does not transform on Transformers playfield despite being core franchise element; rumors of mechanical reliability or cost constraints prevent implementation

    high · Jonathan's hands-on observation: 'you end up with a rather unattractive looking Optimus Prime model that maybe should transform but doesn't'; teaser video shows transformation state briefly, indicating original intent

  • ?

    code_update: Transformers launched with surprisingly complete code, unusual for Stern, likely tied to Hasbro licensing approval requirements before launch

    high · Jonathan: 'It was released with surprisingly complete code. So kudos to Stern for doing that.'

  • $

    market_signal: Stern restructuring European distribution by adding multiple importers per region (UK: Pinball Heaven + ElectricCoin; Germany: Freddy's Pinball Paradise, Pinball Universe, KMS Handel) to reduce pricing through margin compression, part of broader European market penetration strategy

    high · Official announcement of Pinball Heaven as co-distributor with ElectricCoin; existing resellers now able to import directly; European pricing still higher than US; Gary Stern and John Buscalier in London discussing expansion; IFPA Europe in London September 2026 expected to detail further changes

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.291

0:00
New Transformers game. New Turtles game. New Arabian Nights game. Hi, my name is Jonathan Houston, I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine, and welcome to this new episode of this Pinball Industry News Pincast. And as always, I'm joined by... Hi, I'm Martin Ebb and I'm the editor of Pinball News and Jonathan and I are here to look back in this new pincast through the month of May 2026 and the first couple of days of June as well. Indeed we are. Yes, we delayed recording this by a couple of days just so we could include a particular event which we'll get to a little bit later. But we might as well dive straight in because it's been quite a month as you can tell from our headlines. Three new games to talk about, or are they new? And three familiar titles with Transformers Turtles. I was going to say, it's awfully familiar. I know, it's almost without wishing to tempt fate or talk about a future design, almost like Back to the Future.
1:19
But that's not a game we're talking about at the moment. So let's dive straight in with the first of those. And of course, we're talking about Stern Pinball and they have revealed their Transformers More Than Meets the Eye game, The Gai game which of course is a Hasbro license based on the Transformers TV series and a little bit of the movie. The cartoon animated series. Absolutely, yeah. Which is from the, I guess it's from the what, 70s I suppose? I think it's 80s but it doesn't matter. Okay, I was looking at some of the graphics. I think I re-ran those for godless how many years on Saturday mornings. They're probably still running somewhere on some channel. So yeah, a design by Elliot Eisman with software lead from Elizabeth Guiske, which is her first lead on this. Elliot's not Elliot's first game, of course he did John Wick previously. It's a three-flipper, six-ball game and surprisingly I actually had a chance to play it today. Yeah. Yeah, I do tell. Well, this is actually something we'll talk about a little bit later because there's a trade event in London today. But yes, they had a Transformers Pro game there. So I did have a good chance to play, I don't know, three games, maybe four. Didn't want to hog the machine because obviously it's quite an attraction and quite a rarity. I don't think the game has been anywhere outside the Stern factory up until now. So that was a bit of a coup. And it was a Pro machine which doesn't actually have anything that transforms on it, which is maybe a little disappointing for a Transformers game. A bit of a downer. It is. The Pro doesn't have anything. The Premium nearly has Megatron that shoots the ball from a cannon mounted on Megatron's shoulder. There's no transformation of Optimus Prime, although it is shown on the display from the cartoon series. There's various rumors or suggestions as to why Optimus Prime doesn't transform. Some people say that it's because they tried to get it to work and couldn't get it to work reliably, the transformation. Other people say it's taken out because it was too expensive a mechanism. That sounds like a concern. Well, I don't know which one of those it is, but in the end, you end up with a rather unattractive looking Optimus Prime model that maybe should transform but doesn't. Interestingly in one of the teaser videos you can see him in the transition or transform state where he's down on the playfield level and turned into the truck but that's only a sort of very brief glimpse that was in there so it obviously was an intention to do it but it doesn't anyway. In the LEN Premium Editions, the other animating thing is Soundwave model on the right hand side that has a cassette sort of flap that opens and releases balls that have locked inside him. On the Pro, that is a flat plastic so all locks are virtual. And on the upper models there's a model on the left hand side, the name of which I forget. It's a kind of dinosaur type character. And that again is a flat plastic in the Pro. But I have to say it was still fun to shoot and had some nice flowing shots and quite tight and quite tough, I would say as well. Those slingshots really do fire the ball straight down the out lane if they get the slightest chance to do so. And there's also a single pop bumper on the right hand side as well, just above the slingshots, which also does a very similar thing. So it was a tough playing game. And that's with the post on the outlanes in the middle position. It wasn't wide open or anything like that. So you have to be very, very careful about that. But even so, still had some good fun playing it. Got through to, I think, what's the mini wizard mode on the game, which is... That's not a good sign. You play your first game and you reach the mini wizard mode. Well, not so. It wasn't the first game, it was the second. But yeah, it was... There's a lot more to go into it, I think, yeah. But it was released with surprisingly complete code. So kudos to Stern for doing that.

  • Transformers (LE) pricing is $13k USD; Premium $9.7k; Pro just under $7k, following standard Stern Cornerstone pricing

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston, citing official Stern press release pricing

  • This is the first time Stern has included recommended retail pricing for Europe and UK in euros and pounds in a press release

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston, observing new practice in Transformers release materials

  • “If you're a programmer and you're considering like, hey, I love programming Pinball machines, well, don't do it just for the royalties because if you get sacked, then you get nothing.”

    Jonathan Houston @ Big Bang Bar aftermath discussion — Industry warning about programming contract risks based on Team Pinball situation

  • “I guess you can still buy the Aliskators. Yeah. Sorry.”

    Jonathan Houston @ Wonderland Amusements discussion — Humorous reference to Wonderland's original Alice Goes to Wonderland game still available

    • Mick Brown
    person
    Zach Sharpeperson
    Stefan Riedlerperson
    Daniel Jansonperson
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Wonderland Amusementscompany
    Pedretti Gamingcompany
    Team Pinballcompany
    ElectricCoincompany
    Pinball Heavencompany
    Pinball Brotherscompany
    Pinball News Websiteorganization

    business_signal: John Buscalier planning to establish Stern European office in Amsterdam before end of year, though timeline has previously slipped; tied to broader distribution restructuring across EU markets

    medium · Jonathan: 'He certainly would like to move over to live in Amsterdam before the end of the year. But no, no. That's what he said last year.'

  • ?

    product_launch: Wonderland Amusements opened pre-orders for TMNT: Battle in the Sewer with two tiers (Standard + Turtle Power Edition $300-$350 premium) for October 2026 US/Canada shipping only; $50 Kickstarter backer discount on standard edition

    high · Official announcement; extended discount deadline by one week; standard edition only eligible for discount

  • ?

    code_update: John Wick received major version 1.01 update on May 27 addressing player complaints about incomplete v1.0, adding mini wizard mode, final wizard mode, expanded extra ball paths (5 vs 2), and enhanced player feedback

    high · Jonathan: 'Version 1.01 came out on the 27th of May. That is much much more fully featured... It took a long time to get there, but now looks... like a much more fun game'; credited to Lonnie D. Ropp

  • ?

    announcement: Pedretti Gaming announced Tales of the Arabian Nights 2.0 remake after 18-month silence since January 2025 hint; prototype photographed at Planetary Pinball facility with rear backbox lighting, purple legs, Brian Allen potential cabinet artwork; no timeline, version tiers, or pricing disclosed

    medium · Martin: prototype photographed at Planetary Pinball facility in Sparks, Nevada; announcement confirms project after long silence; early stage (front unknown, no release date)

  • ?

    industry_signal: Major dispute involving Pedretti Gaming, Team Pinball, and Melvin Brown Williams over Big Bang Bar remake: Team Pinball purchased prototype from Melvin, performed programming/board design work, but Pedretti severed relationship and refused to return prototype; Team Pinball lost investment and future royalties

    high · Martin independently verified post by Team Pinball; Melvin split first, then Team Pinball purchased prototype, performed work, Pedretti replaced artwork/playfield and severed, refusing prototype return; outcome unclear for Big Bang Bar viability

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: EPC (Euro Pinball Corporation) has very packed production schedule; Pedretti Gaming appears to be running only one game in production (Funhaus) with possible second (League of Boogs) but no confirmation; historically ran 2-3 games simultaneously

    medium · Daniel Janson confirmed 'very packed schedule' and 'very hard to get any production time'; Martin observes only Funhaus visible, unclear status of League of Boogs and no Pinball Brothers production

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: John Wick game sentiment significantly improved post-v1.01 update; previous version 1.0 was incomplete despite being labeled final version; community satisfaction improved substantially with new wizard modes and extra ball paths

    high · Jonathan: v1.0 'wasn't ever going to be the fully full featured version... version 1.01 came out... much more fully featured... looks... like a much more fun game'

  • ?

    content_signal: Stern's media embargo practices vary; did not provide advance assets for Transformers reveal to Pinball News/Magazine editors, forcing reactive coverage rather than planned articles; requires advance notice and coordination with marketing company to obtain assets

    high · Martin: 'I didn't actually get any of the assets in advance this time'; requires advance request to Zach Sharp to bug marketing company; otherwise assets arrive 'an hour before, which is useless'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Stern constrained by Hasbro licensor approval on Transformers marketing content; media day had restricted recording/photography; launch timing coordinated with licensor events (e.g., 40th anniversary) rather than Stern production schedule

    high · Jonathan: 'They were quite a little more reticent to allow people to record things this time as well. I think there's a certain amount of licensor approval pending'; Gary Stern explanation of tie-in with 'licensor events'

    • 6:34
    What's interesting I suppose we can also say that it came out with the regular Cornerstone game pricing of just under 7,000 US dollars for the Pro, 9.7k for the Premium and 13 for the LE. But what was interesting there was they actually started including recommended retail pricing for Europe and the UK with prices in euros and pounds, which I think is the first time they've done that, which will probably link to something we're going to talk about in a minute as far as Stern goes. But yes, of course, they had their media day at the Stern factory to release the game. Oh yes, I got an invite, but not a plane ticket. Yes, yes, same here. But Mick Brown was able to attend it for Pimple News and got some interesting information. They were quite a little more reticent to allow people to record things this time as well. I think there's a certain amount of licensor approval pending on some of this stuff. So I was talking to Gary Stern about it and saying that, you know, it would be really good if you can actually have the game completely done when you come to launch it. It always seems like every time they launch a game, it just about makes it to that point. You know, they can just about show enough of it to give an impression of how it's going to be when it's complete. Well, software complete at least. So it would be really nice if you could actually have a game completely done and then release it. They didn't think that was particularly likely anytime soon because they always try and tie things in with licensor events as well. So if there's like a 40th anniversary of Transformers or something on a particular day, then the Dice and Saw will want to launch a game in collaboration with that and to fit around their plans rather than when it suits Stern. But, you know, it's, it's, it's from our point of view, it's a bit tricky when we only get like a week's notice that there's going to be a media event. And it's like, well, what are we meant to do? Drop everything and fly over to Chicago for that. Right. Yeah. Not going to happen, I suspect. But they still get plenty of people stateside going there and doing their socials and their streams. Right. And while Martin was not able, neither was I by the way, to attend this media event, of course he did write a very in-depth article on the reveal of the game with plenty of pictures and you have it. And because I was very busy, I didn't. Well, I was very busy as well, because I've just come back from Austria. So I actually didn't actually get any of the assets in advance this time. Neither did I, which is a reason for me not to pay any attention to it. Yes, I debug them and get them afterwards. Right. Just to explain to our listeners, I'm busy enough during the day and no pinball company can expect me to drop everything because they just revealed a new game. I'm busy working with the staff and I expressed to Stern Pinball in the past, there's this thing called Embargo where you send your release assets upfront. So I have time actually to write an article instead of just copy-pasting a press release. And I figured like, well, there's too many people already copy-pasting a press release. I don't need to do that anymore. So I'll be more than willing to write about new games coming up, but I need time to write a decent article. So, and if I'm not given any materials under embargo up front and I don't see why not because we have a reputation to keep up high so... Well, Stern have done that in the past but they seem to be quite sporadic. Well, they have a marketing company who deals with all this kind of stuff. Yeah, and then you run into a brick wall and you never get a reply. Yeah, yeah. Well, you have to get, you have to get Josh, Zach, sorry, I have to get Zach Sharp to bug their marketing company to send the assets that you need. And then they do, but you know, you have to get, you have to do that in advance and give them plenty of notice, because otherwise they won't send it until like, you know, an hour before, which is useless. Well, yeah, so and I get it in the sense that, sure, they want the most traction on their social media and not so much someone else's social media, although you want that as well, but still priorities for me, at least. Yes. Well, anyway, I was talking about the pricing on the game. And so as we previewed in last month's Pincast, there's been a change to some of Stern's European distribution. This month in particular, there's been an announcement about the UK market where traditionally ElectricCoin were the sole importers and distributors of Stern Pinball games and everybody else in the country who wanted to sell the games had to buy them through ElectricCoin. And of course, ElectricCoin had their margins and all the resellers have their margins. So it ended up with prices being higher than they necessarily would be. Well, now Pimball Heaven have been added as new distributors for Stern Pimball alongside ElectricCoin. So now there are two companies which can import games. And it does mean that Pimball Heaven can sell games direct to home buyers and to operators as well at Stern's recommended retail price without having to buy games for Electric Coin and pay their markup. So if you go to the Pitbull Heaven website, for instance, you'll find the latest Transformers game on there at the recommended retail price that was in Stern's press release with tax added on top, which is 20% VAT. All Stern's prices, of course, don't include tax anywhere because that varies across the country, across the globe. So yes, it also means that Electricoin are able to sell to the home market as well. If they wanted to do that, traditionally they've only really sold to operators and the trade because they don't really have the infrastructure in place to support repairs and servicing of home games, unlike Pimple Heaven. And then all the other home buyers, HomeLeaders Direct, to name just one. But there are plenty of other companies who sell to Medieval Games who do supply them and offer service and support. So yes, it's a bit of a shake-up in the UK market there. I suspect there were a few newsies out of joint with that latest announcement. Not least at Electricoin who are no longer the sole importers. So it was interesting to see that today in London at the Electricoin office there was an event held, an annual event called the Park Avenue Open Day. And this is a trade only event run by ElectricCoin and a fellow coin-op distributor company UDC stands for United Distributing Company. They are the two big distributors of coin-op and manufacturers in many cases of coin-op games. ElectricCoin certainly make a lot of slot machines and also pushers. And also Pushers I think too. But it's kind of like an industry wide event. And it's not just them, Electrical and UDC's games are there. All sorts of manufacturers bring the games along. It's a big social event and there's also catering and drinks and chances to talk business or talk nonsense. And also to try out some of these latest games. And that was indeed where I was able to play the Transformers game today. Right. I had a Transformers, a Pokemon, and a Dungeons and Dragons set up. So that was a nice event. And so Gary Stern and John Buscalier from Stern were both there. John, as we know and we've spoken about before, is going to be heading up the European office in Amsterdam.
    16:42
    If that ever happens, yes. Yeah, yeah. We're talking about when that might be likely to happen. He certainly would like to move over to live in Amsterdam before the end of the year.
    16:55
    But no, no. That's what he said last year. Yeah, well, I didn't say which year, I suppose, maybe. Or the end of a year. Yes, but I think this is all part of Stern's plans to introduce more distributors across Europe and bring down pricing in the continent, which has always been a bit of a bugbear. Everybody says, you know, why are prices so high for Stern games in Europe? And there's always been, well, you have to ship the games over, then you have to go through a distributor and they have to be resold. Well, yeah, well, we've seen other, like in Germany now, there are other resellers, indeed, Freddy's Pinball Paradise are one of those, and they, interestingly, are advertising that they can sell Stern pinball machines worldwide. So, not just anywhere within Germany, or indeed within Europe. Right. Okay. So, if I may comment on that, not so much the Freddy Pimble paradise thing, but if the plan is to introduce more distributors across Europe, then why is it that so far all we've seen is existing resellers becoming distributors, but I don't see any new parties being added to the mix? Well, I think, as I said, I think it's an intention to bring the price down by cutting out a layer of markup on certain machines. So, and also, like in Germany, KMS Handel were the sole importers, but they weren't supposed to be selling to the home market. They were leaving that to Freddie and Pibble Universe. Pinball Universe. Yeah. But now they can all import and they can all sell to home buyers as well. So with that, it means that Pimball Universe and Freddy's don't have to do like Pimball Heaven did and take or suffer from a markup from the importer because they can do it themselves. Yeah. So it's more distributors and hopefully lower prices for everyone. Well, it's technically the same parties that were already offering Stern games. Yeah, rather than being resellers, they're full distributors. Yeah, so I'm just waiting for if you want to sell more games, then you have to tap into new markets maybe and get new distributors or people that have not been, or companies that have not been distributing Pinball machines yet. Well, yes, that may be coming. I was hoping to speak to Gary and John about this. They've declined and said they're not ready to discuss the changes that's happening across Europe at this time, but might be able to say more later in the year around the time of IAPA Europe, which is being held in London in, I think, September. Yeah. Okay. Well, it will be interesting to see what will happen in terms of whether there will be more distributors for Stern Pinball or whether it will be sort of existing resellers now having a slightly lower price tag on their games. Yeah. Hopefully. And I guess being able to import what they think they can sell rather than what the what the the sole importer wants them to sell.
    20:46
    Right. And also, one other point on that is I think it will also help with attendance at pinball shows across Europe, Because rather than being like the one distributor who probably doesn't attend the pinball show themselves and they just rely on their resellers to sell games. So you'll see P, Pinball Universe at the Dutch show, but you won't see KMS there because why would they? Now these companies can also bring in a lot more in terms of merchandise as well and mods and toppers and all that kind of stuff independently of anybody else. And I think that would probably be something which is expected of them as well. They will up their game when it comes to promoting Stern Pinball at various big shows. So it could be good news for show attendees as well. Right. Okay. So, any other activities that Gary Stern and or John Biscaylor were a part of while they were in London? Well, they were planning to go down to the Pinball Republic Pinball Club in Croydon on Tuesday evening, but unfortunately there's been a series of strikes on the London Underground at the moment by some drivers. So that wasn't possible because the trains weren't running and the traffic was so bad as a consequence that it would take like two and a half hours for them to get from where they were in near Electricoin down to Croydon and it just wasn't going to happen. I'm not sure what happened, but obviously today we're recording this on the Wednesday, the day of the Park Avenue Open Day, the day after tomorrow they are hoping to go down to Pinball Republic for their regular Thursday evening opening. So if you get to hear this in time, you should be able to pop down to Pinball Republic in Croydon if you are in the UK and somewhere near Croydon and go meet Gary Stern and Don Pascaglia. And I don't know, I don't think they're going to have the Transformers game down there for that, but they're certainly going to be able to meet and greet all the people who turn up for the regular Thursday night league night, which there are quite a few. So, and then I think they're both flying back on Friday. So, that's it. Okay. Now, well, I guess that's all the news that we have from Stern Pinball besides, of course, our traditional Nuke Code Corner. Oh, this is the best bit. Yeah, of all. Yeah, been quite a busy month along with the new game being launched. There been four code updates Pokemon which before Transformers was the current game That up to version 0 as of the 6th of May Quite a lot of rules added new light shows blah blah blah Existing rules changed adjusted and some extra standard features have been added Things like competition mode and target game time and all that kind of stuff along with the usual bug fixes Walking Dead Remastered, yeah, still getting updates. Smallish one this time, just added the Fish Tank Frenzy Topper exclusive mode and also the DJ Mixer option. So you add to the player menu holding both flipper buttons in the start so you can play the music tracks with a few bug fixes. John Wick, this was interesting, version 1.01. It's got a really big update and has really gone a long way to satisfy the people who were playing the game. It didn't have all the features that it really should have had in version 1.0. Apparently they only call it version 1.0 because they run out of numbers and it wasn't ever going to be the fully full featured version. Well version 1.01 came out on the 27th of May. That is much much more fully featured. Has a mini wizard mode, a final wizard mode, lots more feedback to the player, lots more awards. Five ways to earn an extra ball now compared to two that were there before. It took a long time to get there, but now looks from a least from a software perspective like a much more fun game. And that's all down to Lonnie Ropp, who is the software lead on that and has been working his socks off, I think, to get this out. So kudos to him for his hard work on that game. And finally, just yesterday, The Walking Dead Remastered got an update to version 0.92. We've rewritten the Crossbow Frenzy mode with new rules, graphics, sound and speech, added some additional display information and tweaked it with a scoring. And all these updates include a new version of the system software, version 4.25, I think in fact version 4.26 is in the Walking Dead Remarters. But this adds support for things like TOPS Tournament from the gameplay menu, holding the two buttons, and also adds various adjustments to the test menu settings in the machine settings category. So you can customize the screen colors, how the LED lamp tests work, and various other things. So look out for that coming to probably all the Spike 3 games I'd expect eventually, but it's finally giving the test menu a bit more customization, which is good, as well as adding the Topps tournament mode. So if you have a Spike 3 game, that's probably going to be arriving over the next few months. And I think that's it for the Software Corner. Code Corner, that is. Code Corner. The Code Corner, yes. And that's also all we have for Stern Pinball, like I said. Moving on to our second headline, we're at Wonderland Amusements who started taking pre-orders for their second game, World of TMNT, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Battle in the Sewer. Now I won't keep making the same joke again, but that's gotta smell bad. That stinks, yes. So, the extended Wonderland Amusement, that is, extended the $50 discount for Kickstarter backers of their Alice Goes to Wonderland by a week. So if you bought that game, you get a $50 discount if you purchase that game through Kickstarter, I believe. That's right. Still no official detailed playfield pictures or videos. There is a trailer video, but it doesn't show the final version of the game.
    28:20
    But there will be two versions available. A standard edition, where have you heard that before? And a Turtle Power Edition, which costs another $350 extra or more. Or $300 for pre-orders. It comes with five extra sculpts and an illuminated topper. Ooh. Yeah. Now you know what happens with these toppers. Before you know it, they cost more than the game. Yeah. Well, certainly some toppers cost more than this game. Right. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. So, Alice in, Alice goes to Wonderland buyers are discounted only on the standard edition. So keep that in mind if you're considering ordering the game. They expect the game to start shipping in October of 2026, but they're still only shipping to the United States and Canada at the moment. Yeah, it says on their website if you're an international distributor and they're happy to talk to you about setting something up, But currently only, as you said, US and Canada and only 110 volt ready at the moment. So how come I don't read that on the Stern Pinball website that they are looking for new distributors in Europe, like we just discussed? I mean, these, at least Wonderland Amusement is actively announcing we're looking for distributors, obviously also because they don't have any. But I get that. There is that. Yeah, you have to start somewhere. Right. But at least they make it public. We're looking for distributors. Oh, well. Yeah. Probably not for this game, but maybe for future ones. Well, you never know how long they keep making them. That's true. Yeah. I guess you can still buy the Aliskators. Yeah. Sorry. Right. And then our third headline was regarding a new Arabian Nights Pinball machine. Well, new is, relatively speaking, more like a remake game which has been anticipated for quite a while. I think even January of 2025, Pedretti already hinted at, because we're talking about Pedretti Gaming,
    31:04
    Hinted at Tales of the Arabian Nights as a upcoming remake game from them. And then it's taken, well, at least 18 months before we finally get the confirmation that indeed they are planning to review Tales of the Arabian Nights 2.0 Or as their next remake game similar to Funhaus, which is also a remake game. A prototype from the Euro Pimball Corporation game of Arabian Nights was photographed at the back, or from the back I should say, at the Planetary Pimball facility in Sparks, Nevada. It has rear back box lighting which you see on televisions as well these days. The MBI. Purple legs and side rails and it looks like it has Brian Allen cabinet artwork. Obviously we couldn't see it from the front so we don't know what the translight looks like whether it has Brian Allen artwork as well. So, new remake announced, but we still, well that's all we know, we don't even know when we're going to see that game. All we know that it's coming and we don't know how many different versions there will be or what the pricing is going to be. All we know is Pedretti have announced a Liga Booga game last year. We don't know how many they are building of those, but that was a re-themed Queen game. They're currently not running any, as far as we know, Pinball Brothers games, which are also built in the same factory in Italy. I believe they're still building Funhaus, but you have to wonder like how much more Funhouses can you build and at what point are they moving to the next game? Because they used to be running like two or three games at the same time and as far as I can see right now they're only building one. Yeah, and that's been in production for quite some time. Yeah, or maybe two with the League of Boogs game, but we have no confirmation that that's actually being built right now. Yeah, although when we spoke to Pimball Brothers and Daniel, he was saying that EPC had a very packed schedule on their production, And it would be very hard to get any production time on the production line. They had so much work to work through. But I don't know what they're building. Yeah, well me neither. So I do know what they're not building, but you had a big story on that. So I leave this up to you. Yeah, it was just a post I was contacted by Team Pinball about a post they were going to be putting out about work they'd done for Padretti to remake the Big Bang Bar game. Which is originally a Capcom game that was already remade by Illinois Pinball run by Gene Cunningham. Pinball Manufacturing Inc. That was in 2005, 2006. And you were there? Somewhere like that. Yeah, I was definitely there. I helped build most of these games, or at least the pre-production of most of these games. Well, Padretti had been working to remake Big Bang Bar. They've been working... According to this post by... Yeah, I've had it independently verified as well. Apparently the rights for that game are now owned by Melvin Brow Williams. So he was working with Padresi to bring the game to fruition along with Team Pimball to do some board design and coding for the game. Well, apparently there was falling out, well, everybody, basically, with Petretti. So Melvin, first of all, split from the whole project and then Team Pinball bought from Melvin a prototype game that he had made of a remake so they could work on that. They did and then they sent it to Pedretti with the work they'd done and Pedretti apparently replaced the cabinet and the playfield on it with artworks versions of those and then basically ended up severing with Team Pinball and then refused to give them their prototype back which Team Pinball They were bought from Melvin. So basically, Team Pinball are out for the expenditure of buying that prototype and the work they've done so far. And I guess any future royalties as well, which was part of the agreement. So at the moment, it seems like it's just Petretti have a prototype game. And when that's going to come, if that's ever going to be made into a remake. And if so, when? We don't know, but it's certainly not the next title as we already spoke about. So it's been some time in the making and if it ever happens, it will probably be some time more before it actually does become available. Right. So if you're a programmer and you're considering like, hey, I love programming Pinball machines, well, don't do it just for the royalties because if you get sacked, then you get nothing. Yes, that's right. And I'm not saying anybody got sacked, but if you're basically out of the project and then or they decide not to use your code, then you did all the work for nothing. So make sure you get paid and get royalties as well. Yes, because otherwise you'll end up having to employ a lawyer and try and sue and that's never going to end well, is it? No, most likely not, no. No. Anyway, so… I feel sorry for Team Pinball, how this has developed and I wish them all the best. And I assume Pateretti has new programmers in place to make sure whatever they're working on gets coded. Yes, indeed. Because bear in mind that now they are fully using the fast Pinball board set for all their remakes as they were for the Predator game, I think, from Pinball Brothers. And it's intended for any future Pinball Brothers games that may come out. So it's a different system to work on, but a well understood one, put it that way.
    39:04
    Right, okay. So, we'll have to wait and see if there will be any new announcements for programmers being hired. Or maybe, well, they're already collaborating with Pimble Brothers, so why not? I mean, I'm sure they have plenty on their own plate to take care of, but Daniel Jansen is also a programmer. So, if he has some spare time left, then who knows what he might be coding. Okay, let's move on and let's talk about American Pinball now because it brings us back to Melvin Brow-Williams who we were just talking about. Exactly, yeah. He was at the Austrian Pinball Festival in May, in the middle of May. Right. So were you, by the way. I was, yeah, and he very kindly as representative for American Pinball was able to donate some posters, drinks, can, koozies and pens for as gifts for the prize quiz I ran there. Stefan Riedler, who runs the Austrian Pinball Festival, heads up the team who runs it, there's a big team behind it, I'll talk about that more later, asked me if I could do a quiz to give away some prizes so I had to dream up some questions very quickly on the hoof. You did a quiz without me? I know, it wasn't that kind of quiz, it was very different. Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say. Yeah, yeah. I didn't even use any of our questions. But no, it's just a quick 30 minute filler. And yeah, anyway, we did that. Melvin was there as a guest, but didn't hold a seminar, unlike some of the other people who were there. And I did want to pin him down and try and record a What's Cooking With segment with him, which he agreed to do, but he was in and out and busy all the time. So we never actually got around. I bet he was in the kitchen preparing. Yeah, it could be. But yeah, didn't get in that time. Tying out his own recipe to making sure that he gets the right recipe across. Well, we will see. We'll get to talk to him, I'm sure, before too long anyway. It won't be that long before we run into him again. So not this time, but soon, hopefully. Right. Okay. But there's more from American Pinball because they also announced a new game. Actually, we already knew it was coming. Yes, that's right. Last month they announced they're going to be the reimagined Circus Voltaire game. But there was very little detail there. In fact, there still is very little detail was announced, Along with the fact they were going to be remaking it. I think that was announced at the Texas Pinball Festival. But credit goes to Don's Pinball Podcast who published at least a picture taken at the Golden State Pinball Festival, where there was a poster from American Pinball about Circus Voltaire. Banner to be more precise, yes. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Canvas banner saying get on our interests list. Only 771 ringmasters planned. I assume that means the entire game rather than just the ringmaster. But it's an interesting number. We don't know where that number comes from, how it relates to how many of those will be reimagined versions of the game or how many will be just straight up remakes. This is the other version they're going to be making. So Melbourne did say previously they wanted to just do a run of them and then move on to the next game and not keep them as a continuing product line like they do with Houdini or Galactic Tank Force. So basically, one run and done and that's it and move on to the next remake. But 771 seems to be the magic number for that. And so if you do want to get on the interest list, I guess you have to contact or go to the American Pinball website and see who you need to speak to or speak to your distributor for American Pinball and get your name on the list. If you fancy being having a Circus Voltaire either remake or reimagined version. Right, so, and in the meantime, American Pinball have been building and shipping their limited run of 100 Houdini 100th Anniversary Edition games with the new artwork by Christopher Frenchy and Playfield sculpts. Yeah, yeah, so only 100 of those are going to be made and two of them reported in Texas Pimble Festival were actually given away whether that's two out of the hundred or whether they're separate two I don't know but yet they are building them and and they look very nice so congratulations to those people who got one of the 100. Right, okay, and it rounds it up for American Pinball. Still to come, Barrels of Fun, we're going to be talking about them, Spooky Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, Pinball Brothers we already briefly discussed, Dutch Pinball, but right now we're continuing with Hexa Pinball from France. Yes, they too were at the Austrian Bimball Festival in Moklabrook in the middle of last month, month of May, which we are looking at here of course. They were showing their three, the Three Musketeers game. They had that alongside. This time it was there. It was there, yes. A bit easier to get it to that show than it was to the Texas show. He had two Space Hunt games as well. Alice from Hexa did a short presentation about the game and how the company's unique approach to building them and with an emphasis on their unique playfield manufacturing technique and how that allows them to create any shape inserts they choose. Alex's talk is available in the Pimball News Austrian Pimball Festival report and on the YouTube channel as well. I think it's probably fallen off the Twitch channel by now, but certainly go to Pimball News videos on YouTube. You'll be able to watch that and all the other talks that we'll come up to come to a little bit later from the Austrian Pimball Festival. It's interesting to note that they are also taking the game to the Southwest Flipper Festival in Pontac in France this weekend on the 6th or 7th of June where they will be running a The Three Musketeers tournament. So I hope the software has improved a bit over the version it had at the Austrian Pimple Festival because on that the sound would often either disappear or have unusual volume changes and the game needs to be restarted a few times during the day in order to solve those problems and other problems too. So, yeah, it's an interesting game to play and interesting ruleset till I finally get to play it. But yeah, it certainly did have some issues and it does have some interesting features in there which I haven't seen before. Like holding in the start button to vary the strength of the initial plunge and the light bars at the side growing in length. The longer you hold it, the stronger the plunge is. So that's an interesting feature. And also the whole lighting looked very good. I've commented on that before. But didn't really get to experience all the features of it yet, because I think the software is still at a fairly early stage. And also some of the call-outs and things need more fleshing out. But there's work to do. But it's nice to actually get to play it. After not being able to play, as you said, at the Texas show. Right. I don't think there's any other news from Hexapinball, so I just recommend go and watch the video from Alice on the Pinball News videos YouTube channel or read the report from the show. Right. On pinballnews.com. Indeed. Right. Okay. So then moving on to Barrels of Fun. And I have a feeling I have to leave this one to you as well because, well, they had all three Barrels of Fun games at the Austrian Pimball Festival as well. Yeah they did Now when we been to pinball shows you pretty much used to being permanently long lines to play certainly Winchester Mystery House but also Dune and Labyrinth 2 But it was very refreshing with so many games set up in the free play area at the Austrian Pibble Festival. Most of the time it was like it was one person playing any of these games and sometimes those games were not being played at all. So you could just walk over and play a game. Sounds like they need more audience, more visitors. Well, maybe, but on the other hand, you kind of get the same kind of vibe that you do at the Pimball at the Beach, where they limit the number of people there. So you do get a chance to play these games, rather than having the long lines all the time. But this was not deliberately limited, but it was the very first Austrian Pinball Festival. So it's something that's going to grow, not next year, but it will come to that, but in future years. So, yeah, I was going to say, to put things in perspective, most games had no lines, because there were so many of them. So, it's a good event if you want to play lots of pinball. And on the other hand, there were so many tournaments being run at the event that a lot of people were tied up with those, which is partly, I guess, why the free play era was less packed than you might expect. Okay, so if you're ever planning to attend the Austrian pinball festival, get ready to play some pinball because chances are you have more games to choose from than you expect. Yeah, and also it's like five days long as well. So if you want to play a particular game, there's no rush. You've got all the time in the world really to get to play it. And because it was open from like 10 o'clock in the morning to at least midnight, if not later, there were plenty of hours to play all the games, which I guess is pretty much an ideal situation as a player. You can play everything at your leisure. Right. Okay. Going back to Rounds of Fun. Yes, indeed. A slight detour there. Yes. Yes, what I've understood is, and I've seen the photos that prove it, David Van Ness, the CEO or whatever his name is. Chief Mischief Maker. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I couldn't get that out of my mouth because I didn't remember exactly what it was, but has attended, The licensing show, the licensing expo in Las Vegas. And so have other Pimball manufacturers, namely Spooky and the Jersy Jack Pimball. And well, if you're interested in what they might have been shopping for, so to speak, Then you can take a look at the list of exhibitor at licensingexpo.com. And there you can start speculating on suggestions, rumors and what have you about the future Pinball licenses that we might be seeing in a couple of years. Because let's not forget that it takes a couple of years to develop a game. Or longer in some cases. Well, in some cases longer even. And well, in case of Barrels, which we're talking about here is I think they have a couple of games already in the pipeline, which means also years of production schedules. If they start working on a new license today, it will probably take five years before we get to see that game. It could be, but yeah. Interestingly, when I was talking to Gary Stern today about licensing and I was saying I expect you went to the licensing expo show. He said no, no he doesn't do that kind of thing any longer and it's now Seth and Jodie who look after all the licenses at Stern. So Gary wasn't even at the licensing expo show and hasn't been there for a couple of years. Well that explains Transformers I guess. Yeah well he's just saying you know now his era and to an extent my era as well of themes are not the kind of licenses that they're looking at, looking at a younger demographic. And so we've got Jody and Seth, who are both probably younger than us. And so they are the ones who are making decisions about what licenses they're going to buy. Right, okay. But getting back to barrels of fun. Yes. Any chance they released some new code last month? Well, finally you should mention that, but no. Oh yeah, hang on, yes they did. Yes, in fact two games got it. First of all, Dune got a new version on the 13th of May. Not really any new features, but did fix quite a list of bugs. On the other hand, Winter to Mystery House got an update two weeks later on the 28th of May, and that did add a couple of new modes to it. New Sarah's Bedroom mode, The Possession, and new Hall of Fires mode, Ashes in the Wall. Walls, I should say. Also added several new light shows and quite a few bugs were fixed in that game too. So yes, those games are getting quite regular updates now, which is good to see. Yes indeed it is. So okay and that rounds it up for barrels of fun. Yeah. So do we have any news on Multimorphic? No, fellow Texan manufacturers but no, no news at all yet on what their next title is going to be. I mean it's been 15 months since Portal was launched so you know just saying it's probably around about the time we'd hope to I think we're going to see something new coming out from there. So they're still building Portsmouth and I think the production was a little bit delayed I would say. Yeah, I think it's proved to be very popular though. Yeah, well that's a good thing. Definitely, yeah. Oh well, so, hold on. Moving on to, if there's no other news from Multimortals, then I suppose we can, Moving on to Spooky Pinball. Yeah, why not? Well, as you mentioned, they were at the licensing expo, but also attended the Golden State Pinball show in Lodi in California. Not exhibiting themselves, but I think one of their distributors was. Going back to the Austrian Pinball Festival again, they had the full lineup of spooky games there, including Beetlejuice, of course, and the giant inflatable Beetlejuice as well that we saw at Texas. I think that probably the same same height inflatable model turned up partway through the Austrian Pinball Festival show, which kind of dwarfed the, up until then, seemingly very large Pikachu model that was an inflatable one, which was next to the Pokemon games. So everyone's got to now have an inflatable model to promote their games from this point onwards it seems. Right. Well, you know what's even cooler? An inflatable topper. Oh, I like it. You can put the fan that's in the back box to some use and use it to inflate things. Yeah, exactly. Patent pending. So, oh, well, if that's all for Skooshin Pinball, then, well, it's a short bridge, I would say, to Jersey Jack Pinball as Jack was also at the licensing expo in Las Vegas. Like what you did there. Yeah. And well, Jersie Jack Pinball have been heavily teasing Steve Ritchie's upcoming game, which is widely believed to be based on the Sonic the Hedgehog character from Nintendo. I think it's fair to say that it's going to be Sonic. Even in the way Steve Ritchie was promoted was sort of a reference to images of Sonic. I'm not even sure from whether it was a movie poster or whatever. Yeah, backlit, should we say. Yeah, with a blue backdrop or whatever. Yeah, Halo. Yeah. So, let's assume it's Sonic. Yeah, okay. Let's go with that. Yeah, and let's assume Steve Ritchie is the next designer or the designer of this game. The game, according to Jersie Jack, will be revealed in June, but we don't know when in June. Well, we can rule out the first three days, because it hasn't been revealed yet. Yes. Yeah. So, now, Stern are premiering Transformers at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show in Tacoma, and that is in Washington State. At the start of the month, this weekend, yeah. I'm not sure whether Jersie Jack Pinball would want or need to go head to head with Stern in competing for attention for that game or taking away sales as some people in the industry think that it works. Although there are plenty of people who buy every brand's game and I mean that doesn't matter. So that sort of leaves me wondering when do we get to see this presumably Sonic the Hedgehog game to appear at a major show or which show will be the first one to have. That new Jersey Jack game which is about to be revealed somewhere this month. Yeah, there's normally a sort of lull during the summer months for major pinball shows and then things start picking up again towards September time. So, I think Jack said in the past that he doesn't necessarily feel the need to launch a game at a show. I'm not sure whether that was done with Harry Potter. I don't think so. Somebody better correct me on that, but I have no recollection at all about that game. I have been informed that Steve's game is already on the line at Jersi Jack, meaning they are still building Harry Potter, of course, but there's a second line which is currently building, from what I believe, distributor games, so that once the game is announced, distributors will already have them. Jersey Jack's Headers in their shops or warehouses or wherever. Jersey Jack's Headers can either play them or decide whether they want one for their location or whatever. Jernsey Jack's Headers from what I understand is they're currently building games to have games all over the US And possibly also in Europe as soon as it is announced. Yeah, well, it's certainly an alternative way to launch it at a show, isn't it? To have the games out there for people to try, but at the distributor where you can actually buy it rather than being at a major show. So people can settle their own time to go and go and visit their distributor and check out the games. And of course having them all over the country and indeed all over the world is much more, gives a much wider audience than just having it one single show in one location. So yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's a good way of doing it. And also I think it kind of adds a certain sort of exclusivity to those people who do buy it. I think it's a great idea for people who do buy it because to have that game in your home when most people wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to a show and play it. If you've gone to a show and there's so many thousand people who have played the game already before you get your game at home. But if you buy it first before it's been at a show, then you have that early opportunity to know the game before other people do. So it's a different marketing technique, but I think it could work. Right. Well, we'll have to see. I do recall Jack indicating that he, similar to Harry Potter, he played the prototype game and he said, don't buy anything until you play. See his next game. So, and that's sort of becoming a catchphrase for upcoming Jersey Jack games, I suppose, at least for the second title in a row, that is. It takes over from the old adage that Jack's played it and he likes it, which always used to be the seal of approval for any game. Right. Okay. So now usually we don't do rumors. Oh no, definitely not. No, no, we stick to the facts. Now the fact is that there's this rumor coming around. Is it a fact? Well, actually, well, we started a rumor about Mark Siden's game last year, which we discussed a couple of times already, where we loosely, or I should say, I loosely hinted at that it could have been, well, All I said was there was a reason why Stern Pinball is not doing a vault edition of Ghostbusters. And that was already enough to spark a little rumor that Mark Seidon would be working on or just Jack would be working on a Ghostbusters game. But there's a new rumor, for some time it's already been rumored that Mark Sarnan's game will be a music themed pin. And the latest rumor is that that theme would be Michael Jackson. Hmm, yes. PINball, I think, well, yeah, a little bit. Although, not to everybody, I suppose. There's plenty of people who will only care about the music. And not so much as private life, I suppose, unless that's really part of the game, which I... I can't see that somewhere. Neverland. No, let's not even speculate on this. No. No good will come of it. Yes. But it's just a rumor. It could be interesting. Could it be a title that I would see Jack taking on for Jersey Jack? The name is big enough, but it's also controversial title. It could be interesting. On the other hand, too many ballads in Michael Jackson's repertoire, I would say. But there's probably about a dozen danceable songs that make sense. And then again, Guns N' Roses had ballads too, and that worked very well in Guns N' Roses game. So, um, well, anyway, that is a, it's a fact that that's a rumor, right? Yes. Okay. Good. Good. Because we wouldn't want to do rumors that are just rumors. No. Yeah. I still like Ghostbusters better, but yeah. Yeah. So anyway, we'll see what other rumors we can start. Sure. So, uh, well, he is one to start. What would Pinball Brothers currently be working on? Well, is there a fact about what a rumor is about that game? I think there is a rumor for a fact. Oh, rumor for a fact. Okay, so is it a fact or rumor that they're working on the fifth element? I think it's a factual rumor. Okay. Well, there you are. Take it or leave it. Or leave it. But we haven't had an announcement about what the next game is after Predator because Predator sales finished at the end of March, I believe. Right. I'm curious whether they're still building ABBA games or Queen games for that matter. Because those licenses have, as far as I know, not expired. I'm just not sure how big the demand is. Yeah. Although based on the names of these groups you would say that should be huge. Yeah, I suspect there'd be a small dribble of orders for those games but not large numbers. But they could probably fill those from stock I imagine. They're hardly going to pull it back onto production line unless they have a smaller line. They can just do small runs of these games. But then if they're doing the League of War game in Pedretti, then that is effectively a Queen game, re-themed. So, you know, maybe it's not that difficult to run some Queen games at the same time. Right. And I also wonder what happened to that alternative backlash for Queen that was shown at Expo, but I've never seen it actually. As an option or an add-on for your game. Maybe it didn't get approved, I don't know. Probably the case. I'm pretty surprised. It was really the band logo, wasn't it? Yeah. The crest. Yeah. Yes. So, oh well, then moving on to Cardona Pimble who are actually building
    69:08
    Game kits in this case, I would say. Yeah, last month we announced that they were going to be building Fishtails the Ultimate Fishing Challenge kit as a sort of 2.0 upgrade to the original Fishtails game. Well, now they have to own the game already. Yes, or buy one. And they've upgraded. Yes, that's right. So it would be like a new control system, I think it's fast pinball boards go in the game, new display panel, new back glass, same play field I think where it adds an LCD display to not just the display panel but also where the fishing, I shall remember what it's called, the panel on the left that has the one on the left. One, two, three, four, five times LEDs or lamps in it for when you do the monster fish thing. Yes, so that they had an initial $200 discount on orders for Fishtails the Ultimate Fishing Challenge, which is now expired. So if you didn't get in on that, the price is now $2,200. The Cape Toural, apart from being available from Cardona Pinball Design, it will also be available from Cointaker, who will be stocking it. So that's an alternative purchase option for you. Gameplay videos are available on the Cardona Pinball Design Facebook and YouTube channels, so you can actually see the game in action for yourself. Interestingly, we mentioned before they also did a No Good Gophers kit and a Black Rose kit. Well, Cardona Pinball says they only have one No Good Gophers kit left and after that they have no plans to make any more of those since the license has expired for that license I guess from Plant Tree Pinball. They also have a handful of Black Rose kits, but again the license for that one has expired as well, so once they're gone, they're gone. And this is a sudden surge in demand that causes them to renegotiate the license. So if you want to get either of those two kits, the Nego Gophers or the Black Rose kits, now's the time to get it before they're all gone. All gone. But in the meantime, Fishtails Ultimate Fishing Challenge is the new kit. Available from Cardona themselves and also from Cointaker. And that's it, I think, from Cardona Pinball Design. Okay. So, then, near your home, what's going on with Barry and co at Dutch Pinball? Well, I texted Barry this afternoon to find out about some rumors I had heard and he was busy today. He said he'd be happy to talk to me tomorrow.
    72:28
    Hmm. Okay. Well, big news in next month's FinCast then. Probably yeah Officially no news From what I understand quite a few people are still waiting on their topper for their Alice Adventures in Wonderland game Yes. But, well, it's touch pinball. So on a positive note, they always seem to come through at the end. Although, well, the end isn't the end, but still. But so it might take a while, but... Well, it already has. Yeah, well, yeah, well, you know how long I waited for my Lebowski game, right? True. That was like a decade. Yes. And no kidding. So, but eventually I got my game. So, and I did run into Renz, who is sort of a spokesperson, At least online for Dutch Pinball and of course our talk was completely off the record. Of course. Right, moving on then.
    73:44
    And of course he didn't spill any beans. I think I am allowed to say that I think they're expecting to finish the production of Alice Adventures in Wonderland this summer. I'm not going to pin it down on a month because, well, it's summer and you never know how it goes with holidays and what have you. Yeah, it's now officially summer. So now we're in June. So over the next three months then. That seems reasonable to aim for. And, well, I got, at the Texas Pinball Festival, I got a, I think it was a sticker from Chris from Cointaker of the Big Lebowski. There is one prototype only that has artwork by Christopher Frenchy. And, well, that's a one-off, I suppose, but since there are hardly any photos of it, I was very happy with that sticker that has that image on it. So I mentioned that to Renz and I was like, so any chance you guys are getting approval to use that artwork and take Lebowski back into production? Like a Houdini.
    75:15
    Yeah, something like that. Yeah, and I think he said something like that not everybody in the company is a fan of that artwork, so if they would be considering doing a remake of The Big Lebowski or a rerun or what have you, it would definitely not be with that artwork. And I think that's all the news that I got out of him. So it's not very much, but they make of that what you want. Did you get the impression that they might put Big Lebowski back on the line? I guess that depends on how far along are they with their rumours to be the next title back to the future game. Yes. If that's ready to go into production, I don't see why they need to be building more Lebowski games. But if for whatever reason that game is not ready to go into production, they might need something to keep the line busy. I've been working on the next title for a good number of years now, so you might think it would be in a position to go into production. They're ready. Yeah, well, you also have to order all your parts up front. Yeah. Well, that's how a pinball company works. We don't need to tell them how it works. No, indeed. Okay, so that's what we do know about Dutch Pinball. We also know about a number of other companies. Unfortunately, what we know is that there's no news from them this month, This month, at least in the month of May. We're going to make this very short then. Yeah, absolutely. We have no news from the following companies. Here we go. Chicago Gaming. Turner Pinball.
    77:15
    Ramps Pinball. Vector Pinball. That's Australia that is. Kildozer Studios. Bitronic in Spain. I did check, although Super Hoop and Tokyo Perfect Drift Games were both at the Austrian Pimball Festival, just to throw that in. Not news from them, but they're available to play. Right. Okay. No news from Homepin either. No, no news from Pimball Adventures in Canada. Yeah. No news from Quetzal, which is sort of related to Bitronic, I would say. Bitronic, yeah. Yeah. So those are companies we don't have news from. Yeah, and then we already cut a few from the list that we haven't had any news from for years and so on. Yeah. Oh, well. Is there any other news? Well, just to hark back to talking about the Austrian Pimball Festival, which, as I mentioned, took place in Wokrebuk, middle of May. Special guests there included Eric Meunier, famed designer, of course. Aaron Davis, also famed for Fast Pinball founder, co-founder. Hexa Pinball, as you mentioned, they were there. The first three of those all did talks, Eric, Aaron and Hexa. So you can catch those videos as mentioned before. Melvin Brow-Williams was there of course, I was there. Aaron was talking with Brian Madden, Team Dr. Brian Madden, founder of the Mission Pinball Framework, which an awful lot of games are built on, whether they're using the fast pinball or using other hardware systems. And so they were basically there to rhapsodize about how good it is to build your own homebrew game and how easy it now is and how you need to come up with an idea and then start working with like-minded individuals to realize it. And there's a good selection of homebrew games there as well. And Aaron, Melvin, Brian, Stefan and myself sat down and had a talk about which games, and Eric as well, I should say, to talk about which one was the best homebrew game of the show. And we decided it's Deep Blue Rage. So we gave that one the award. So well done for that particular game, which was very innovative in numerous different ways. I assume there are photos of that in your report. And in the video as well, of course. Yes, Stefan organizer, Stefan Riedler, rounded up a nice selection of prizes for the quiz, which I, as I said, I quickly did it and got our audience members to shout out answers to try to get the right number. Most of them were number based, so we tried to get people to shout out the right number or get as close to it as possible and then I just give the prize away. I'm assisted there very much by Marcel van Kessel, of course, organiser of the Dutch Pinball Open Expo, which is being held in November near Utrecht. And so definitely worth going there where you and I will be there, of course, doing our proper quiz where we have lots more prizes to give away, which are actually in the process of collecting even now and we'll pick up a bunch more from Pinball Expo in October. Unfortunately, there won't be an Austrian Pinball Festival next year, as the dates that they could book the hall for clash with a large show in Germany being held by the German Pinball Association not that far away, so all efforts are going towards that show. But the Austrian Pinball Festival will return for its second outing in 2028. So I certainly hope to be back for that and hope you can make it as well because it's quite a show. I would say if you're not aware of it, then go and read the report and look at the pictures and the videos. I hear there's plenty of possibility to play pinball and not just long lines. I heard somebody mention that, yeah, it might have been us just now, but it certainly was the case. I think that pretty much wraps it up from other news. No, I don't think so. You got more? I am more. Actually, you do. Do I? Oh. What have I got? Right. Well, while you were in Austria, I do believe that you were able to talk to Eric Meunier of Jersey Jack Pinball. Of course. And you wanted to find out what's cooking with Eric Meunier, didn't you? I did indeed. Yes, Eric was kind enough to sit down and in a rather echoey back room there so we could talk about not just what's cooking with him but also what his impressions of the show were and how the game and his seminar about it went. And anyway, the key point was we wanted to find out his favorite recipe and here he is. So to find out what's cooking with Eric Meunier. We are joined here by famed pinball designer Eric Meunier of Jersey Jack Pinball who is here with me at the Austrian Pinball Festival, the very first Austrian Pinball Festival. Welcome Eric. Thank you. And we're going to ask the famed question, what's cooking with Eric Meunier? Yeah. So there's a recipe that I really enjoy making, that I enjoy bringing to parties. And there's two different variants for it. One of them is if you have a lot of time, you can make it one way. Right. It requires about a day to prepare. Right. Okay. And the other one you can make in about two hours. So let's start with the short one. The recipe is Jalapenos, fresh Jalapenos, cream cheese, spices that include things like brown sugar, garlic, onion powder, chili powder is good, something to give it a little bit of kick. And then we want, let's see, the outside is bacon. Oh, right. Okay. The term that I've heard them described as is called an atomic buffalo turd. All right? So what you do is you cut open the top of the jalapeno, you stuff it with your cream cheese and spices, those are mixed together. You can add more cheese to it, something like a Mexican blend of cheese. That can help quite a bit. If you want, you can add chorizo to it. Oh, okay. And again, this is going to be something that can be prepared quickly. You wrap it in bacon, and one of the key points is to use toothpicks to spear through it so you hold the bacon on, so it doesn't slip off. And then it's often best, if you have the proper device, you can put it inside your smoker, which is why you want to do this, but you want them to rest vertically so that as they're cooking the cream cheese doesn't all pour out. Of course. You lay it on its sides, cream cheese will all melt out. So you stick them vertically. Upright. And smoke them for about two hours at 225 and they come out with a bacon crispy. Two hours. Okay. It's a cream cheese nice and gooey and it adds this wonderful smoky flavor. If your fan base that is eating these is a fan of spicy food, when you're cutting open the jalapenos you can leave in the seeds and stems or you can mix them back in. If your people who are going to be consuming this are not fans of really spicy food, you You clean out all of the seeds and all of the stems from your jalapenos and that makes it much more palatable. So even people who don't like spicy food can enjoy this because it's not going to burn as long as you get rid of the seeds and stems. Now if you have an entire weekend to prepare, what you do, and now this elevates it to a level, there's a restaurant in Texas near the Texas Pinball Festival that serves what's called the Texas Twinkie. Which is a variant of this recipe. So it's this same recipe, it's the jalapeno, it's the cream cheese, it's the bacon, and then inside instead of chorizo, you have brisket. So you cook brisket, you smoke your brisket, use your proper spices for preparing your brisket, you slice it up into very small pieces and you mix that in with your cream cheese and put that back in the jalapeno. In place of chorizo. In place of the chorizo. Yeah. And then you smoke that with the same temperature and next time you're at Texas Pinball Festival and you go over to Hard 8, make sure you order yourself a Texas Yankee. I've been there several times. And you'll see why this is a recipe for the ages. It's certainly not what you'd consider health food by any means, but it's one of those, we're going to go to a barbecue, we're going to have a good time, and we're going to have something that's a unique flavor. Is it small enough? It's like finger food and it's just sort of nibble on. It can be. So certainly you can get smaller size, one inch jalapenos, that have a little bit in them, or you can get monster jalapenos. When you go to Hard 8, you're getting a monster sized jalapeno. Of course, I think it's bigger in Texas. Right. I mean, that thing is a meal unto itself. I think it costs $8 for just one of these things. So it's a lot. But I've prepared them several times where I cut the jalapeno in half and lay it on its side but try to leave a lip made from the bacon so that you can rest and everything doesn't pour out. Yes. So they can be smaller size. I've made them for my wife's book club and they go over very, very well with her and her lady friends. Most prefer the milder version and that's what I would recommend if you're bringing it to a party where you don't know everyone. Yeah, right. I think it's a milder version. Okay. Well, thank you very much for that, Eric. Now, we are here at the very first Austrian Pinball Festival. It's an interesting show and I'm sure you'll be pretty impressed by what you've seen so far. But what's your impression of the Austrian Pinball Festival in 2026? Yeah, I really like the way the hall is laid out. It's got a lot of space. It has a really good variety of games. So you're not seeing duplicates and triplicates of everything. There are enough different games from every manufacturer that you can play some of the stuff that you might not have been exposed to before. So like all of the, every Dirty Jack game is here, all of the spooky games, all of the Barrels of Fun games, everything is here, playable, set up, working and it's really great. And the games seem to be quite available to play, there's not long lines behind any of them. Yep. Which is quite surprising. When you come to some of the other shows there's 10 or 12 people waiting to play the latest title. I think a lot has to do with how many games there are in such a wide variety and we're seeing games now as an American there's games here that I haven't seen in the US at any of the shows that I've been to. I've got to experience some games from European manufacturers that don't make it overseas. I've got to experience quite a few of the really unique homebrews that people don't, of course, bring over to the US. It's very hard to bring a game across the ocean. So it's been really fun to see what some of the people on this side of the pond are making with passion and not for a major manufacturer. So that's been really cool and getting to talk to a lot of these people because it's an event where I'm not working at a booth. I'm not representing 24-7. So I get to hang out, I get to spend time, I get to play games with people and hear their story and what brings them to pinball. So I really enjoyed this show. I really enjoyed the people and the environment and it's a fun place. So just talking briefly about your current game, which is obviously the Harry Potter game, which has done so well for the company and has been a big success and been so well received. I think in every version of it that's been produced. That is still on the line, I'm guessing. It is. But of course you will be working on your next title already. Absolutely. And Jerser Jack Pinball will be launching a new game fairly soon. Correct. So what's...are you still doing development on...are you still looking at what's happening with Harry Potter, Harry Potter still identifying any things which you might change later or might come into play later or even in your next game? Sure. There's always a list of nice to haves on a game, right? But there's also a certain amount of resources that you're allowed to apply to a project. Right now, Harry Potter is considered done by Jersey Jack. Of course, if we find bugs, which have happened, we have our beta group that will tell us and we'll read stuff online if, hey, there's a bug here. We found one recently on 125. We patched it in 126 and that's the only update that happened on 126 and it was a stupid two-minute update. One of those things that sneaks through. It was one of those things where it's like, it was this mode and it was taking priority over this other thing and is that what we wanted? No. But is it something that was exhaustively tested and found? No. Because we wouldn't. Who would have thought it would happen? It was an edge case. Yeah, it was an edge case and a fan brought it up and I'm like, oh yeah, that does suck. And then we reproduced it. Like, yeah, that's not fun. Let's fix it. And we did. There are, like I said, those things that would be nice to have in the game and maybe when there's a rainy day, myself or Joe will get in a room and we'll be like, hey, let's see if we can do X, Y, and Z. But the game is 100% complete. All rules, all modes, everything. All the voice, all the animation, all of the movie clips, all that stuff is there. And guys like me and Joe, as fun as Potter is, and we love the game, Joe and I have been on other projects for almost a year at this point. There's more to do. So we're three games ahead of what the public sees at any time and working on the next thing. So we are both actively involved in Steve's game, we're both actively involved in Mark's game, and then him and I are heading another project ourselves. And there's always new games and more stuff, and again Harry Potter is very close to both of us. And we're always open to what people say and their feedback, and we listen. And if there are improvements that are deemed necessary by the company, of course we make them. We make them and if there are improvements that are deemed necessary by me and Joe, we find time to make them. You must be very proud of the way that the game's turned out though and the reception that's received and the sales that it garnered as well as a result of that. Absolutely. I mean when you come to a show like, well, come to any show, and you see all the games there and see all the boxes all stacked up, saying Joe's Dettling Ball and all stamped with Harry Potter and the various different editions on them, it must give you a very warm feeling to think, that's my game. It is a very good feeling when a game strikes true on all levels. So the layout is of course my primary responsibility. Software is Joe's primary responsibility and we work together so closely. He's shooting the white wood and he's giving feedback. I'm shooting the rules and I'm giving feedback. And then the mechanics being done by Dan Leitchick. We're all such a close group that we give honest feedback to each other and all of us strive to make the game as good as possible. And when we come to a show and we just have hundreds of fans saying how much they love the game and how it's not just the layout, it's not just the rules and the animations and the sound, but the whole package comes together, it's a very rewarding feeling. Of course you will be doing a presentation tomorrow about the making of that game ahead of the launch of the next game and your next game which will be a little while yet I'm guessing. Yep. But anyway in the meantime thank you very much for joining us on What's Cooking With? Mr. Eric Winnie, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Well thank you very much Martin for recording this segment. Thank you for reminding me I've forgotten all about it. There's so much going on. Yeah, exactly. So, well, thank you very much. Thank you, Eric, as well for sharing his thoughts on the show and his recipe. Absolutely. Good to sit down with him and talk. Now you get to say that this finally rounds it up for our recap of the month of May, 2026. We hope you've enjoyed this look back. Yes, indeed. We will be back at the start of July. My goodness, can you imagine July? We're back at the start of July with our next pincast, which will look back at all the events in the pinball industry throughout this exciting month of June. Which will include a new game reveal, most likely being Sonic the Hedgehog. Wow! Yes, so that's something to look forward to. Yes, and that will keep many people busy, including us. So anyway, we'll have that and all details of everything else that's happened in the pinball industry throughout the month. So until then, from me, Martin Aeb of Pinball News, and me, Jonathan Houston of Pinball Magazine, we hope you have a truly joyous June and look forward to joining you again next month for the next edition of the Pinball Industry News Pincast. Bye for now! Bye bye!