Episode 806: "Juicy Rumor Mill Stuff"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·20m 18s·analyzed·May 24, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Kaneda exposes collector fraud, American Pinball supply issues, and speculates Fast Pinball's mystery game is Joust.

Summary

Kaneda discusses several major industry rumors and controversies: fraudulent odometer-rolling practices in high-end collector games, production delays and supply chain issues at American Pinball related to Galactic Tank Force, criticism of Heggis Pinball's lack of transparency, and speculation that Fast Pinball's mystery licensed game might be a Joust remake.

Key Claims

People are fraudulently swapping high-play limited edition boards into low-play premium cabinets to misrepresent play counts to buyers
medium confidence · Kaneda reported hearing this practice happening in the high-end collectible space, but acknowledged he cannot verify it directly
American Pinball attempted to bypass Pinball Life supplier and go directly to vendors to save money, prompting retaliation pricing
low confidence · Kaneda delivered this as a rumor from 'a little birdie' in the arcade industry with explicit caveat that he cannot verify it
American Pinball has barely begun shipping Galactic Tank Force units and no LEs are going out to customers currently
medium confidence · Kaneda reported hearing this from distributors at pinball shows
Dennis Nordman is not publicly promoting his own game creation Galactic Tank Force despite having designed it
high confidence · Kaneda observed this directly from marketing materials and public appearances
Fast Pinball's mystery game is likely a Joust remake based on sightings of Joust running on Fast Pinball boards
low confidence · Kaneda's speculation based on logic about game scarcity, pricing, and player-vs-player mechanics
Heggis Pinball lacks transparency about production and is planning to announce another title
medium confidence · Kaneda offered $250 to charity for Heggis to show production; based on pattern of industry announcements
Fast Pinball 2.0 kits for Twilight, Funhouse, and World Tour are receiving poor reception from players
medium confidence · Kaneda reported hearing from community via emails; characterized as tepid reception

Notable Quotes

“I heard that American Pinball tried to go around Pinball Life and go directly to the vendors who make the parts that Pinball Life supplies American Pinball. And I heard that Terry caught wind of that and that created a huge issue.”
Kaneda @ ~15:30 — Core supply chain rumor about American Pinball's production delays; sourced from arcade industry contact with explicit caveat about verifiability
“It's still such a weird storyline. It's still all over the place about ice cream and milk and tanks and UFOs and cows. It is so damn weird.”
Kaneda @ ~11:00 — Critical assessment of Galactic Tank Force's narrative coherence despite improved marketing video
“There's a reason why this game was sitting in Dennis Nordman's garage for ten years and nobody else would make it. Can you tell why?”
Kaneda @ ~18:30 — Implies deeper industry-level concerns about Galactic Tank Force's fundamental design and appeal beyond marketing issues
“If you're a pinball manufacturer and you're afraid to open up your door and show us randomly on a random day of the week what's going on each day, you owe people that.”
Kaneda @ ~27:00 — Public call-out of Heggis Pinball for lack of transparency; signals broader industry accountability expectations
“Nobody is loving these 2.0 kits. The Twilight one is terrible. The Funhouse one is like, eh, and the World Tour one is just meh.”
Kaneda @ ~30:30 — Negative assessment of Fast Pinball remake quality based on community feedback
“There was a Joust running off of the Fast Pinball boards and I haven't seen that before. Why would there be a Joust using the Fast Pinball boards unless they were testing a 2.0 kit for Joust?”
Kaneda @ ~32:45 — Evidence-based speculation linking observed Joust testing to Fast Pinball mystery game

Entities

Kanedaperson American Pinballcompany Galactic Tank Forcegame Dennis Nordmanperson Pinball LifecompanyTerrypersonFast Pinballcompany

Signals

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product_concern: American Pinball experiencing severe production delays and minimal unit shipments for Galactic Tank Force; no LEs reportedly going out to customers
medium · Kaneda reported hearing from distributors at pinball shows that 'these games are barely being made' and 'I don't think any LEs are really going out to customers right now'
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supply_chain_signal: Alleged conflict between American Pinball and Pinball Life supplier over attempted direct vendor bypass, resulting in supply shortages and increased pricing
low · Kaneda's unverified rumor: 'American Pinball tried to go around Pinball Life and go directly to the vendors...Terry caught wind of that and that created a huge issue...they were charging more money for American Pinball'
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collector_signal: Fraudulent practice of swapping high-play limited edition PCBs into low-play premium cabinets to misrepresent play counts and inflate secondary market values
medium · Kaneda described detailed fraud methodology: 'People will take high played LE games...they have to buy a new premium, they have to find an LE with a lot of plays for a good deal, make the swap happen'
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product_strategy: American Pinball's Galactic Tank Force marketing characterized as amateurish and reactive; new 8-minute explainer video released late, poorly positioning game with confused narrative
high · Kaneda: 'The marketing on this game has been terrible...this is the best marketing material they've put out to date...it's a day late and a dollar short'
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design_philosophy: Galactic Tank Force's narrative and playfield design criticized as incoherent and poorly integrated (ice cream, milk, tanks, UFOs, cows); hidden playfield elements reduce player engagement

Transcript

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0:00

I've been a whole lot easier since the chase Gun. Did I miss, did I miss, did I miss, can I pinball? I said I, said I, said I, said I, said I, said I, said I. Wait, back to back Kaneda shows? I'm not even charging $10. You guys are paying most of you $5 a month for Kaneda Spinball Podcast. Here's what we're gonna do on this little short version of Kaneda Spinball Podcast. I wanna do a little bit of a follow up on Kaneda's Collector's Corner. I got some interesting information I want to pass on to each and every one of you about a really shady practice I'm hearing happens in some of these high-end collectible games for sale. I wasn't even aware that this is something people do. It's kind of like rolling back the clock on the odometer Ferris Bueller style. We're going to talk about that. We're going to talk a little bit about American Pinball and Galactic Tank Force. I heard a little bit of a rumor why these games are taking such a long time to get out to people. I'm also going to talk about the latest video they just put up like a few minutes ago. It's a seven minute video that they probably should have put out at the very beginning of this game, but we're going to talk about that. Then I'm going to make a quick guess on what I think might be the game coming out from Fast Pinball. A couple of people hit me up and let me know something they saw. We're going to pass that information on to you and maybe this is one of the mystery games Coming out into the pinball space. All right, so let's start this episode with a shady practice that is happening in the high end collectible space. So you know how you see these like high end games and it's like 87 plays and less than 200 plays. I heard a practice that people do that is really shady. People will take high played le games so maybe some le games that were on location or le games that were in a home of someone who put a few GONE DONE

2:28

I don't even know how you get around this because Stern Pinball and Jersey Jack, they both use the same exact driver boards for both like the LEM the CE or the LEM the premium. So what do you think of that? So that's really shady. Now, if you're someone who does this, I don't understand the world of a scammer, like someone who's willingly doing something that is basically lying to the new customer so they can make more money. Like, how do you If you're someone who's doing this just to make a couple more thousand dollars because you want to sell the game as a low play limited edition game. And there's a lot of effort that you have to do to do this. Like, you have to buy a new premium, you have to find an Ali with a lot of plays for a good deal, make the swap happen, and then list the game and ship the game and then live with yourself knowing that you have to buy a new premium. Iron leaned I don't think this happens very often. I think the easiest way to see if this is going on with your LE game, this is why you kind of have to stand over a machine and not just buy off of internet photos. If you stand over a machine and it's been played a few thousand times and the person's listing it as a low play LE with like 87 plays, you'll be able to tell by the wear and tear The game is really a low play game or if it's a high played game. And look, raise of hands, how many of us have bought a pinball machine sight unseen, which means we never stood over it. And it's really a gamble. I just bought a $25,000 Batman SLE and I never walked around the machine. I never looked at the machine. I'm just going off of the photos. I'm taking their word for it that the game is perfect. I don know there could be a nick on the cabinet that would reduce the price There could be something broken on the topper I mean when you really think about all of the different things that are part of a pinball machine there is a lot that can go wrong if you don walk around the machine When I was at Texas Pinball Festival they had a Batman SLE there and it was beat to crap I mean totally beat to crap all over the machine and you could easily take photos that hide the damage on the machine So look, just be careful when you buy these super expensive machines. I think for anyone out there buying a machine that's over $10,000, I would try to find someone local to the seller. And I think you can find people local to the seller that would happily go over there and inspect the machine for you. And we know a lot of us are bankwiring money for these games and you're never going to be able to get a refund if the product arrives and you're not happy. So just be careful. There are scammers everywhere in pinball. Disgusting behavior. And I think anyone who scams anybody in this hobby should be ashamed of themselves. Cuzpan, Franchidisciplinary, I do believe in karma people. All right, so let's talk about Galactic Tank Force. I just saw this eight minute video. I saw Christopher Franchi was posting about this yesterday. And this video is much better than the initial launch video of this game. I mean, they should have this video ready to go in March. It explains the storyline. It explains the gameplay better. It explains what you have to do in this game. And we see the employees over at American Pinball dressed up in character, and it's a much better video than what they launched the game with. Now that being said, after watching 8 minutes of this game and them explaining what's happening in this game, I'm going to be completely candid. It's still such a weird storyline. It's still all over the place about ice cream and milk and tanks and UFOs and cows. It is so damn weird. And also when you stand over this game, a lot of the different targets and elements happening on the playfield, a lot of those things are kind of hidden when you're actually standing over the game in a player's position. You know, that's the thing about pinball is like you could easily have ideas, but if the player can't really see or read where things are happening on the playfield, it does get a little bit confusing if things are kind of hidden shots. Because hidden shots and targets that aren't really rewarding to shoot, it doesn't really make the game a lot of fun. And so look, this is the best marketing material they've put out to date. The marketing on this game has been terrible. They worked on this game for three years and I'm still wondering where the heck is Dennis Norman? Like why isn't he even talking about his own creation? It's just weird to me. It's like you have Ryan McQuaid who's not even the designer of this game working harder to sell a game that was made by a guy that's an iconic designer in the pinball community. I don't get it and it just feels like something weird is happening behind the scenes on this game. And it does feel a little bit like a day late and a dollar short. Like they're trying hard to get new interest in this game. And look, I've been speaking to people at pinball shows. It's not that people don't walk up to this game and don't want it, but I'm still hearing from a lot of distributors that these games are barely being made. Like there's not a lot going out. I don't think any LEs are really going out to customers right now. Now I did a little digging and I was asking around why is this like why is American Pinball a company that has made games before why is this launch so shaky like why is this launch all over the place like why aren't games on the line like what is happening over at AP? Now look I heard a story from someone who works in the industry about why the delay is happening over at AP and I'm going to deliver this to you with a caveat That obviously they're not going to confirm this is going on. That obviously I can't overly investigate this because no one's going to tell me if this is true or not. But here's what I heard from a little birdie. I heard that American Pinball when they were making this game or developing this game, American Pinball buys a lot of its parts from Terry at PinballLife. And what I heard happened was this. In an effort to save money and increase their profit margins on this game, I heard the team over at American Pinball tried to go around Pinball Life and go directly to the vendors who make the parts that Pinball Life supplies American Pinball. And I heard that Terry caught wind of that and that created a huge issue with American Pinball getting all of the parts it needed to make these games. And once Pinball Life caught wind of it they put a stop to it and then also I heard they were charging more money for American Pinball to get the same exact parts because that is not a good business practice to go around your supplier and go directly to the vendor So whether or not this story is true or not I don know So remember that I delivering this with a caveat It doesn matter All that matters now is that they get these games made and they satiate the orders for these games as soon as possible I have friends who are in on a tank version of this game and they have no idea when they getting their game That not a good thing This is a good business practice. You don't want to take orders from people and then leave them in the dark. And I think almost everybody who bought a Galactic Tank Force LE or a Signature Edition game, they have absolutely no clue when they're getting their game. And it's only a matter of time before people get a little bit fed up with the wait. And I'm just saying, look, American Pinball, you've been in the game long enough. You know how this hobby works. You know how marketing You know how generating excitement for a product works and you've done everything backwards and I don't care if Franchi wants to say oh this is a podcast or being negative we're not gonna champion and cheerlead efforts if they're done poorly. It's time to wake up, it's time to act more professionally, and it's time to have more respect for your own product and your own marketing. This is your company and you had every chance to do it right. And I know that you put up a Raza ͡°alternate title or Raza�alternate title or Raza çocease, tilt bobJustin, RazaLAUGHINGalternate title or Razavenes, Razabedingt, Razaünf205, Raza26, Raza25, Raza26, Raza27, Raza26, Raza28, Raza29, Raza30, Raza28, Raza30, Raza27, Raza28, Raza29, Raza30, You have a captive audience that wants to engage with your brand. It's time to start acting like marketing professionals and it's amateur hour. And of course, I'm going to call you out on this because this is what I do for a living. I could have marketed this game ten times better. But look, if I was working over at American Pinball as a marketer, I never would have greenlit this game. There's a reason why this game was sitting in Dennis Norman's garage for ten years and nobody else would make it. Can you tell why? Because if you make a good theme pinball machine, you don't even have to make 8 minute videos explaining to people what UFOs are doing here and cows are doing here. You don't even have to do an 8 minute video trying to explain to people what the damn storyline is. They already know what the storyline is when it's the Godfather, when it's Godzilla, when it's Ghostbusters, when it's Batman, when it's Venom. They know what the storyline is. Alright, so we'll see what happens. I can't wait to see someone unbox a $17,500 signature edition of Galactic Tank Force. Now speaking of unboxings or showing us something, I offered $250 to a charity of Damien's Choice over at Haggis Pinball if he would open up his door and show us live what production looks like over at Haggis Pinball. No word from him yet. I don't think he's going to take me up on the offer. I'm going to keep increasing the amount of money. This is funny now. Like if you're a pinball manufacturer and you're afraid to open up your door and show us randomly on a random day of the week what's going on each day, you owe people that. I'm sorry. You do owe people that. And I heard from John over at Jack Bar. John, I'm going to call you out right now. He wrote on Facebook, he goes, when a guy is successfully cooking, why does he have to show you what's going on? In the kitchen. And I responded to John and I said, successfully cooking? Imagine if you're at a restaurant and the chef tells you your meal is gonna be out in eight minutes and your meal doesn't come out for eight hours. Okay, that's what's happening over at Haggis. Am I being a jerk? Am I being unkind? Am I being a bully? No, because what's about to happen next is this. Haggis Pinball is gonna announce another title and I don't think we should be giving deposits Click on upload Sub çok kong Cass街 Nor? How about this Muito Thanks! Making optical the I'm not a good sign that people should throw more nonrefundable deposits at your business. Come at me. I got lawyers lined up and believe me, I've captured all of Haggis Pinball's promises throughout the years. So if they ever want to say I'm saying something I'm not allowed to, I'll simply let them hang themselves by their own words Kaneda you can do this Kaneda you never going to be able to charge a month if you go after a pinball company and challenge them to show us how they even making their own games What are you doing, Kaneda? You gotta cheerlead every single pinball company! You're never going to get mentioned on Naps Arcade now! So speaking of pinball companies, people, so here's the other rumor I heard. So, we all know that Fast Pinball is providing boards to build some new game, some mystery game coming out in pinball. I've also heard that it's a licensed game. Now, does that mean it's a new licensed game? Does that mean it's an old game that's a license? We don't know, but I'm about to make a guess. So if you go on Fast Pinball's website, you see the boards they make, and they're making Using boards that drive classic pinball machines. So older Bally Williams stuff, you can put the fast board into the older games and it can now both drive the original code of the game and these 2.0 kits. Now I've been hearing from a few of you, you've sent me emails. Nobody is loving these 2.0 kits. The Toten one is terrible. The Funhouse one is like, eh, and the WorldWin one is just Dan The game is a remake of the game that was released in the early days of the game, and it is an interesting game to consider as a remake because it is a licensed theme. It's also a game that is super expensive. It's a game where there were not many made back in the day, but it's also a game that is unique, right? When you think about like what's the white space in people's game rooms, we haven't seen anyone remake this game ever before. And it's also a game that's a different way to play pinball. It is a player versus player game. So my fast guess on what Fast Pinball's remake machine might be is they're going to remake Joust. Joust is a game where I think only like a hundred or so were made. It's player versus player. It's a super cool experience. A good conditioned Joust game will cost you like $15,000 to $20,000 depending on who's selling it. And so is that going to be the game? Is that the The amazing game that's coming and the shhh. They've been saying stuff like their game has been out in the open. So maybe it is joust. I can hear Aaron right now texting me. You're wrong. You're wrong. Well, if I'm wrong, so be it. But that is my guess. There was a joust running off of the fast boards and I haven't seen that before. Why would there be a joust using the fast boards unless they were testing a 2.0 kit for joust? So you heard it here first on Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. I know you love the news, rumors and speculations. I know that's why you're here. And don't worry, I'm not going to charge you more money. I'm not going to change the tiers of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. Someone said to me, you should make Kaneda's Collector's Corner a separate tier for Patreon. I'm going to tell you right now, I will never slice up this show. You're not going to get more Kaneda if you spend $15 or $30. I don't care. If I ever feel like this is not I'm super thankful for everyone who's a club member. I'm super thankful if you give more than $5, but I'm not going to slice and dice the content. If you give more than $10 and you want to have a private screen time chat with Kaneda once a month, let me tell you right now, I will privately chat with each and every one of you, even if you just give $5. If you want to do a private chat with me or a phone call, I will happily do it. Just Hit me up at kanedapinball at gmail.com. I don't think Patreon tiers should be sliced up like that. I think it's extra work. I don't think it's worth it. You shouldn't have to pay 25 or 100 bucks a month just to have a personal phone call or video chat with Kaneda. Everybody, I love being the podcaster for the people. Nobody gives you news rumors or speculation like this. And now that we've called out American Pinball, you think we might be able to get Christopher Franchi to do a podcast? I mean, he really has no medium to respond now. I'm going to call you out because he's never doing a podcast again. Trust me, he's going to do a podcast again because we're going to get him triggered. Later.