Triple Drain Pinball Podcast Ep 57: We Have Killed ALL Pinball Sales & Expo Recap

TL;DR

Triple Drain covers Expo experiences, praises Metallica (LE) remaster, questions Funhouse remake viability.

Summary

Key Claims

• Metallica LE production limited to 500 units to drive FOMO and prevent overselling

  high confidence · Travis explicitly states 'It's only 500' and discusses how scarcity drives desire: 'One of the things is you can drive a lot of desire for a certain product based off the number of units available.'

• Some Metallica LEs sold for $15,000-$18,000 on secondary market while others remained available at MSRP

  high confidence · Travis reports: 'I've heard of some LEs still being available at the end of the week... And then I've heard of other LEs that are repopping for $15,000 to $18,000.'

• Metallica LE includes post on left side to prevent left-side drains (absent or modified from original)

  medium confidence · Tom states: 'There's one major change to the actual, like, formation of the final layout, and that's the post on the left that prevents a lot of borging to happen' and later 'I don't think it was there on the original Metallica.'

• Metallica LE features virtual ball saves on both sides (new to remaster, not in original code)

  medium confidence · Travis notes: 'they have virtual ball saves on both sides that I think can be earned' and questions whether this was in original: 'That wasn't in the original code?'

• Metallica LE porting to Spike 2 required complete rework of light choreography despite base rules reusability

  high confidence · Travis quotes designer Ray Day: 'porting this game over to Spike 2, he said, from a rules standpoint... a lot of the base rules... you can essentially copy paste, but it's a whole new system. So all the light choreography, all of that had to be redone.'

• New players to pinball within past year comprise significant portion of Expo booth visitors

  high confidence · Travis: 'A lot of people I talked to this year at the booth were brand new to pinball within the past year. and I was floored how many people I talked to that just now either bought their first game, like since 2022 or had just discovered pinball just in 2023.'

• Funhouse remake uses new artwork that disrupts muscle memory for experienced players

Notable Quotes

• “One of the things is you can drive a lot of desire for a certain product based off the number of units available. And when people feel like, wait, you know, there may not be enough for me, and you get multiple people filling like that, that's naturally what creates the FOMO.”

  Travis @ ~45:30 — Explicit articulation of Stern's scarcity strategy for Metallica LE; confirms deliberate FOMO engineering with 500-unit limit

• “I would have rather played Jetsons. That's all I'm going to say.”

  Tom @ ~18:45 — Strong negative assessment of Funhouse remake from someone involved in the project; demonstrates willingness to critique despite potential bias

• “I'm done. It's just don't do it. No more LEs.”

  Tom @ ~52:00 — Tom's stated position on LE purchasing, which he then immediately contradicts by acquiring Metallica LE

• “The way the direction they have is zombie Eddie is essentially established the characters or the character drawings. And then as animators, they are trying to match what zombie Eddie has done.”

  Travis (reporting Mark's commentary) @ ~35:45 — Confirms Zombie Yeti establishes visual direction for X-Men animations; animators execute to match his specifications

• “It's the same layout. It's the same basic... I mean, it's... But it's not. They took everything the original had. It's not the same exact layout, though.”

  Tom @ ~54:15 — Dispute about whether Metallica LE constitutes a 'new game' vs. remaster; indicates significant mechanical changes beyond art/animation

• “porting this game over to Spike 2, he said, from a rules standpoint, you know, a lot of the base rules, that is something you can essentially copy paste, but it's a whole new system.”

  Travis (quoting Ray Day) @ ~63:00 — Designer insight into Spike 2 porting complexity; clarifies substantial work beyond cosmetic updates

• “the new artwork just, like, totally, like, messed with my brain, and it just threw me way off. So I didn't like it. I refused to go back to it to play another entry.”

Entities

Signals

• ?

  business_signal: Distributor had to carefully manage Metallica LE allocation to prevent overselling despite strong pre-webinar demand signals

  medium · Travis: 'we had to make sure that we did not oversell our allocation of LEs on it' due to high demand forecasting

• ?

  community_signal: Stern hosting separate media-exclusive factory events for new game reveals with expanded crowds and cross-industry participants (Arcade1Up)

  medium · Tom reports Metallica reveal event had 'so many more people... than the one in May' including 'arcade one-up arcade people'

• ?

  community_signal: Significant new player cohort (past 1-2 years) attending Expo despite economic pressures; hobby showing growth/retention

  high · Travis: 'A lot of people I talked to this year at the booth were brand new to pinball within the past year... just now either bought their first game, like since 2022 or had just discovered pinball just in 2023'

• ?

  design_philosophy: Funhouse remake artwork creates negative gameplay experience by disrupting visual muscle memory and shot targeting for experienced players

  high · Tom: 'the new artwork just, like, totally, like, messed with my brain' and 'I refused to go back to it to play another entry' despite playing original successfully

• ?

  design_philosophy: Zombie Yeti establishes X-Men visual direction; animators work to match specifications rather than innovate independently

  high · Travis reports Mark's comment: 'Zombie Eddie is essentially established the characters or the character drawings. And then as animators, they are trying to match what zombie Eddie has done'