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DPP #249 "Is the Barrel only half full now? DCC wins the week!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·37m 55s·analyzed·Jul 29, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.024

TL;DR

Don criticizes Bon Jovi's underwhelming art vs. Barrels of Fun brand pedigree; praises Dungeon Crawler Carl execution over competition.

Summary

Don discusses the disappointing reveal of Barrels of Fun's Bon Jovi pinball machine, criticizing its generic art direction and lack of signature sculpts/animations that defined previous releases like Winchester Mystery House and Dune. He contrasts this sharply with P3 Multimorphic's dual release of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Ender's Game, praising DCC's theming and sculpts while panning Ender's Game for its bare presentation. Don reveals he passed on pre-ordering Bon Jovi despite planning to support Barrels of Fun, citing the $12,000+ price point without the premium features the brand promised.

Key Claims

  • Bon Jovi was officially confirmed by a pinball distributor (Pinball in Australia) as a real upcoming release, not a code name or misdirection

    high confidence · Don stated: 'It was confirmed by the pinball people, not the pinball dudes in Florida, but Pinball something or other in Australia actually listed it as like order this game soon. It's coming out.'

  • Barrels of Fun had to disable YouTube comments on the Bon Jovi reveal due to community backlash and brutal criticism

    high confidence · Don said: 'Sure, they had to stop the comments on the YouTube channel. The people out there were brutalizing this game.' Also: 'They won't even let the comments on there.'

  • Don passed on pre-ordering Bon Jovi despite securing early access through Mad Pinball due to dissatisfaction with art direction and missing signature Barrels of Fun features

    high confidence · Don stated: 'The money's firmly in the bank, it's not going out, and there's a variety of reasons for it... I couldn't do it as much as I wanted to support my buddies over there.'

  • Dungeon Crawler Carl images first surfaced via leaked cell phone photos from Comic-Con Hall H without planned advance notice

    high confidence · Don explained: 'The first images that buyers of the P3 system would see of this game are cell phone quality pictures from an auditorium in San Diego with, like, no notice. Like, there's no way. No way that was planned.'

  • P3 Dungeon Crawler Carl features more extensive sculpts and theming than Barrels of Fun's Bon Jovi despite both being premium releases

    high confidence · Don contrasted: 'How did Carl end up with more stuff than barrels?' and noted DCC has 'massive sculpts in the back of the playfield that we don't see on Bon Jovi' and 'branching ball paths.'

  • Don secured a sponsorship with Kingpin Games for P3 system coverage and plans to obtain a Dungeon Crawler Carl machine for home evaluation and streaming

    high confidence · Don stated: 'I managed to get myself a sponsorship with Kingpin Games for the P3 system... I'm hoping to be able to have at home a Dungeon Crawler Carl machine so I can fairly evaluate this thing.'

Notable Quotes

  • “This looks like a postcard of Bon Jovi that somebody found in a waterlog soaked out Hurricane Andrew devastated New Jersey beach house gift shop... It looks like something Data East would have maybe passed on back of the day.”

    Don @ early section — Captures Don's visceral negative reaction to Bon Jovi's retro art style; sets tone for the entire critique of the game's aesthetic shortcomings.

  • “It's like a half barrel full of fun. There's half of the fun is in this game, but more of the price.”

    Don @ mid-section — The central complaint: Bon Jovi lacks Barrels of Fun's signature features (sculpts, screens, theming) while maintaining premium pricing. The episode title directly references this remark.

  • “I think this is a very interesting game just in general. And that's the first time I think P3 has ever flirted with success like this.”

    Don @ P3 section — Don signals that Dungeon Crawler Carl represents a major inflection point for P3/Multimorphic's viability and marketability beyond niche enthusiasts.

  • “P3, Multimorphic, is out-bareling Barrels of Fun. I think the barrel of fun rolled and fell into a Texas river and floated over to Round Rock.”

    Don @ comparison section — Dramatic comparison showing P3 has out-executed Barrels of Fun on the very criteria that defined Barrels of Fun's brand (theming, sculpts, integration).

  • “How did Carl end up with more stuff than barrels?”

    Don @ mid-comparison — Core question highlighting the unexpected reversal: a digital-first platform (P3) delivering more physical innovation and theming than the boutique specialist (Barrels of Fun).

  • “The screen for this game, which is like the standard hallmark for what P3 even is, seems like tertiary to everything else in the game. Like it's not even the best thing here, and that's the best thing for this game.”

    Don @ DCC analysis — Indicates DCC successfully moves P3 beyond screen-dependency toward integrated mechanical gameplay, a key criticism of the platform historically.

  • “When you play that game, it makes sense. Like they're incorporating what pinball is and using a screen to augment that. That's when it was beneficial.”

Entities

DonpersonBarrels of FuncompanyP3 MultimorphiccompanyBon JovigameDungeon Crawler CarlgameEnder's GamegameWinchester Mystery Housegame

Signals

  • ?

    product_concern: Bon Jovi's art direction rejected by Don and community as disconnected from Barrels of Fun's brand promise. Described as '1970s waiting room' aesthetic, 'geritol ad,' and 'Hurricane Andrew beach house gift shop postcard'—anachronistic and dated rather than premium.

    high · Don's extended critique of the back glass, side cabinet art, and overall color palette. Community disabled comments due to brutal memes and backlash.

  • ?

    product_concern: Bon Jovi lacks signature Barrels of Fun features (sculpts, animated screens, mechanical innovations) present in previous releases, despite premium pricing. Missing screen, sculpts, and thematic 'world building' that defined prior games.

    high · Don repeatedly contrasted DCC's sculpts vs. Bon Jovi's single guitar; noted absence of screen, Pepper's Ghost effect, pallet mechanics, or branching ball paths. Price raised without feature justification.

  • ?

    collector_signal: Bon Jovi pre-order momentum deflated post-reveal. Despite Don securing early access and financial readiness, he withdrew. Comments disabled on YouTube. Distributor claims machines available at multiple outlets, not scarce.

    high · Don stated: 'The money's firmly in the bank, it's not going out.' YouTube comments disabled. Don quoted distributors all having stock. Lack of 'exuberance' and peer excitement reported.

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Significant downward sentiment swing from Don and community for Bon Jovi post-reveal. Pre-reveal hype turned to active discouragement. Contrasts sharply with Dungeon Crawler Carl's received enthusiasm.

    high · Don went from 'Hell yes, I wanted it' to 'I couldn't do it' and 'I'm disappointed and sad.' Community 'brutalizing this game.' Don: 'It's bumming me out, man.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.025

0:00
All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. What's up, everybody? This is an amazing time in pinball. I'm still recovering from the epic drop that Spon Jovi made on my heart. Talk about Shot Through the Heart. We got Dungeon Crawler Carl and Ender's Game that just got released from P3, so my head was already spinning from that. Ucon Yeti is coming. Let's go nuts.
0:30
Don's Pinball Podcast is my name. How you doing? Let me shake your hand. Come and sit in my lap, small child. While we talk about the small children and enders game, can you believe that? I want to start with Bon Jovi. I consumed my entire day yesterday. They flip my wig back from how I was with Dundercrawler Carl's reveal just the prior day. This is nuts. Who's releasing a game today? Let's just keep this going. Stern, what do you got? Spooky. You want to go today? You want to go today on something and make this the most epic week in pinball release history ever? Bon Jovi was not just a rumored title. Bon Jovi was not just a code name. Bon Jovi wasn't a joke. Bon Jovi was a game that came out from Barrels of Fun to virtually success. Yes, the successor to Winchester's Mystery House, which was just embraced by the entire community. Carl D'Angelo on design, big spooky Haunted Mansion feel, cool theme, Dave Albright on the art. Like it had everything you need in a game to sell out in two days. Managed to snag one just before the portal closed on that title. And here I am still waiting for it. And then we get Bon Jovi release. Now, this release was rumored. And then, of course, like most things, when the theme is kind of like a bit of a head scratcher, you think like, well, maybe it's just a code word for something. It's epic misdirection. Now, nowhere in the history of pinball releases in the last five years that I've been watching has that ever borne out to fruition. When there was a bad theme that was rumored and then we all thought we were being gaslit by some subterfuge. It was going to be something else. Classic misdirection. And it turns out to not be the case at all. Forget it. It is Bon Jovi. It was confirmed by the pinball people, not the pinball dudes in Florida, but Pinball something or other in Australia actually listed it as like order this game soon. It's coming out. It's what we're hearing from everybody. And then about two hours before the release yesterday of this Barrels of Fun game, I'm getting pictures sent to me from everybody of the back glass and the play field and side cabinets, everything. Everything, you know, people's smiling faces playing it, like just from delus from everywhere. So I threw that up on the Patreon for everybody. Thank you for the fiduciary support. That is very much appreciated. And I like to give it back, man. If something comes across my desk and I have access to it, you have access to it. And more of you now do, too. So thanks for joining in the last couple of days, you guys. Jaws Pinball Podcast is over on Patreon.com, backslash Jaws Pinball Podcast. If you want to find it, that's where the stuff is. It's where more live streams are happening nearly daily. We're having good conversations and things over there. So this game was not embraced by the community. Can we say that? The first thing that I saw was the backlash, and it just looks like a bad postcard. Do you ever see those urban exploring shows on YouTube where guys go around into an old video store or an abandoned gift shop, and they're digging around, and you find stuff from the 70s and 80s laying around there? This looks like a postcard of Bon Jovi that somebody found in a waterlog soaked out Hurricane Andrew devastated New Jersey beach house gift shop. And they were like, look at these outrageous colors, these teals and these purples. Isn't this anachronistic? Doesn't this look like an early 90s ladies sitting room? Doesn't this look like the waiting room of like a dentist's office that hasn't been updated in 20 years? Like that's what I was seeing there. We got old Bon Jovi in like a caricature next to younger Bon Jovi with his hair. The first thing that I saw was two of the Golden Girls on a back glass. And then there's like a picture of the band standing there just kind of like staring awkwardly. And then there's like there's it's like a couple of guns short of like Guns N' Roses theme around the whole thing. The whole thing's teal and red. It just looks it's so weird. It's so weird. How do you go with this, man? Was this the style guide you were given for Bon Jovi? Mr. Leather Jackets? Mr. On a Steel Horse I Ride? This is what you got? I've seen elderly moms in Bon Jovi t-shirts, sleeveless shirts on the backs of motorcycles with better logos than this, man. Like, that's what I want. This is a music pin. Make me feel like I'm their part of the action. Make me feel like I'm going to get Bon Jovi sweat all over my face. I'm so close to this thing. Don't make it look like a Geritol ad or like remember back when my knees worked? That sure was a nice time. Here's a photo of it. Get some Geritol. Like that's what it looks like, man. And like that's the selling point. That's what's going to be in my lineup when I bring this game home. I was very much poised to grab this. The fourth game from Barrels of Fun. Hell yes, I wanted it. After seeing Winchester, after seeing Dune, after seeing Labyrinth and owning Labyrinth and still waiting on the Winchester. Like I wanted to continue this. But the more I looked at it, the more I looked at the play field and what was offered, and then later on watching the featurette videos and watching the trailers, like I just could not get excited about this game. The money's firmly in the bank, it's not going out, and there's a variety of reasons for it. Now let's focus on some positive here. This game looks like it's going to be a heck of a lot of fun to shoot. I do like what the heart mech is doing in the back. We got another magnetic butthole to shoot in pinball. I liked it on Rush. I liked it on Lord of the Rings. I liked it. Did Dr. Dude have this or something else? I know there's other games that have used a ring magnet to do fun things with the balls, and I love magnets and pinballs. This has a little bit of it's a magnet attached to the worm mech, right, because this thing can lift up. There's also lift ramps. You can get it at second stage. It can go all the way up to the top and throw the ball back into the wire form, and you can shoot underneath into the subway. It's a good use of space. It gives you four different things that you can do in one little spot. But my problem is it's kind of like the only thing that's in here. There's a couple of ball sequestering spots. This seems to be a hallmark of Barrels of Fun games. You've seen this on Labyrinth. You saw this on Dune, a place where you can shoot a ball and it'll be captured behind an up post. And then a magnet can bounce it around to targets or something. It's a little fight arena or it's a ball behind a drop target. And the drop target can act like a little bash Newton ball type toy. That's all fun. I like bashing balls and have them go through spinners. I like if they put a loop in this game, and the loop in this game looks like it might be more fun and satisfying to shoot than the loop in Sonic the Hedgehog. So this game has some merit, man. I do like the sliders, the mechanical audio sliders that they put on the apron of the game down on the left. I like the lighting that's in it. I like the Evergloss decals. I just don't like the art that's on it. I don't like how this thing looks. And when it comes to a Barrels of Fun pinball game, they have built a brand now, and their brand is making collectible entertainment devices for the home user and trying to make them as best and sculpted and thematically integrated as they possibly can be to deliver the best in-home experience of that pinball theme. And, you know, have they truly captured that? They're working at it, and it's getting close. And, you know, the games are fun. I can't wait to have a Winchester at home. Very innovative, but they have a pedigree of what's included in there. Look at Labyrinth, their very first game. You walked up to that at Pinball Expo. We all did. It was just dropped on a shadow drop. And the sculpted city that was in that game, the sculpts that were in the back with the two doors and little wise man professor guy, the little hut with Ludo in it where he would pop up and be scared, the furies, the fireys that would pop their heads out. Like that was all very magical stuff that was put in here. Like it showed transformation within the game. When we got to Dune, you saw this nice sculpted Dune mountain back there with multiple levels and some hidden diverters in there. So it was it was mysterious. You would explore it. There were things to do. The harvester was in the back left. You had this giant worm soup can that would come up from the play field. Like there were fun little branching ball pass things in there. The art on Dune was very mysterious and kind of fit its theme. I like the punctuated bright areas of blue within the brown desert. It was Dune. It wasn't the theme that caused me to want to spend the money for it, but I do enjoy playing it, and the code has gotten pretty good. They also have these screens in the backs of their games that extend the viewing angle of the playfield, and they bring more interactivity in there. I love on Dune what they did, where they had the little dragonfly mechs back there flying around on the screen, and when you hit a shot, they explode. Like, that's cool. I love all of that. And so that's what I came to expect from a Barrels of Fun game. And when Winchester came out and showed us that Pepper's Ghost effect and the spinning pallet turntable and multiple shots and strange things going on, the crumbling building that was a ball diverter, like, yes, this is what I want. Paired with a great sound system a great lighting package nice decals like it all comes together and feels like something really premium that you want to have in the home And with a price increase coming on this game that what I was expecting The Bon Jovi theme well it not the one I would have picked but I wasn out I was in on Bon Jovi up until the reveal. Like, I was expecting to see that same pedigree of what Barrels of Fun puts into their games come to their release. And then if they need an extra little bit more money for it, but I can get in on this thing, it's going to sell loud. It's going to be worth more. We're going to have fun with it. We're going to feel like we have something special and we got in early on it. Like I did my homework. I talked to Mad Pinball info at madpinball.com early and I said, can I get one of these? Can we work on how do I get one of the first releases that they come out? I don't want to be at the end of the line again. I'm here. I'm ready. Let's go financially and I'm in a good spot. Like, can we can we go on this, man? And they said, absolutely. Yeah. So shout out to Corbin for working so hard on that. I appreciate that, brother. But then we got the reveal. And while I think that the game is going to be a heck of a lot of fun to shoot, I'm sure the audio is going to be great.

Multimorphic/P3 team exhibited defensive attitudes toward community feedback but ultimately incorporated suggestions about playfield layout and ramps

medium confidence · Don explained: 'they act like they don't want to hear it... they do listen to feedback and they do heed feedback, even though they act like they don't want to hear it.'

  • Dungeon Crawler Carl was not shown at Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Georgia as expected, instead being sent to Nashville and an Indiana convention

    high confidence · Don stated: 'I was hoping it was going to be at the Southern Freight Gaming Expo. It's not going to be there. Apparently, they're sending the game to Nashville.'

    • Don @ P3 design philosophy section — Articulates the core design principle Don values: screens should enhance traditional pinball, not replace it. This became Multimorphic's winning formula.

  • “I'll fly anywhere in the country. Heck, if this is going to Amsterdam, I'll fly out of Europe. I don't care. I'll go nationwide. I just want to play this game as soon as I can.”

    Don @ DCC travel plans — Extreme enthusiasm for DCC; contrasts dramatically with his refusal to buy Bon Jovi. Shows how powerfully the game excited him.

  • “I was very much poised to grab this. The fourth game from Barrels of Fun. Hell yes, I wanted it.”

    Don @ early Bon Jovi section — Establishes Don's pre-reveal enthusiasm and financial readiness, making his ultimate rejection more impactful commentary on the reveal's failure.

  • “It's like we're playing as Bon Jovi looking out over a stadium. Can you imagine like that's not in there.”

    Don @ missing features section — Illustrates specific thematic opportunity Barrels of Fun missed—an immersive first-person fantasy that would have elevated the experience and justified the price premium.

    • Dune
    game
    Labyrinthgame
    Portalgame
    Final Resistancegame
    Jerryperson
    Matt Denimanperson
    Corbinperson
    Glenn Waechterperson
    Chrisperson
    Kingpin Gamescompany
    Mad Pinballcompany
    Keri Hardyperson
    Brad Albrightperson
    Python Angheloperson
    Southern Fried Gaming Expoevent
    Comic-Conevent
    ?

    competitive_signal: P3 Multimorphic's Dungeon Crawler Carl out-executed Barrels of Fun on Barrels' own core brand criteria (theming, sculpts, mechanical innovation). First time P3 'flirted with success' at premium tier.

    high · Don directly compared: 'P3, Multimorphic, is out-bareling Barrels of Fun... How did Carl end up with more stuff than barrels?' DCC features extensive sculpts, themed environment; Bon Jovi lacks both.

  • ?

    design_innovation: Dungeon Crawler Carl's upper playfield features spinning plexiglass, functional diverter, player-controlled rotating cannon, and lit drop target bank—advancing P3's mechanical sophistication beyond screen-dependency.

    high · Don detailed: 'plexiglass upper playfield... spins... functional diverter... kickback mech... player controlled cannon that can rotate... bank of lit drop targets that spin around.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: P3's successful design formula is screens augmenting traditional pinball mechanics, not driving them. Final Resistance and Portal succeeded by integrating screens with ramps, upper playfields, and flipper-area play.

    high · Don explained: 'When they recreated... traditional wood playfield... inserts and lights... they added supplemental animations... It was very well received.' DCC screen is 'tertiary to everything else.'

  • ?

    leak_detection: Dungeon Crawler Carl images surfaced via unauthorized cell phone photos from Comic-Con Hall H panel without advance notice or embargo. Described as 'not planned' by Don despite Multimorphic framing it as scripted.

    high · Don: 'The first images... are cell phone quality pictures from an auditorium in San Diego with, like, no notice. Like, there's no way. No way that was planned.' Matt Deniman showed images; Jerry later claimed it was 'scripted.'

  • ?

    industry_signal: P3 Multimorphic publicly claims indifference to feedback ('don't want any advice at all') but demonstrably incorporates community input (Portal's ramps, DCC's mechanical focus). Performative standoffishness vs. actual responsiveness.

    medium · Don noted: 'they act like they don't want to hear it... they do listen to feedback and they do heed feedback, even though they act like they don't want to hear it.' Cited Portal, Final Resistance as examples of responsive iteration.

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Don's public questions to Multimorphic representatives (e.g., 'Why no arcade trim?') reportedly 'immediately soured' relations with P3 team, though he maintains enthusiasm for platform. Questions impact on future access/coverage.

    medium · Don stated: 'That immediately soured myself upon them somehow. But I'm still enthusiastic... I hope I'm still allowed at the shows.'

  • ?

    event_signal: Dungeon Crawler Carl routed to Nashville and Indiana conventions instead of Georgia's Southern Fried Gaming Expo, despite Expo being primary venue for pinball buyers. Don questioned strategic logic of routing.

    medium · Don remarked: 'It would have made more sense to send this game to the convention that's happening in Georgia this weekend where pinball buyers will be... instead of just showing it off at another Hall H in Indiana.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Bon Jovi priced at $12,000+ with implied price increase over Winchester/Dune, but stripped of signature features (screens, sculpts). Undermines Barrels of Fun's premium positioning and justification for collector premium.

    high · Don: 'Then they raised the price... I just couldn't, man.' Contrasted with Dungeon Crawler Carl at $12,350.79 containing more sculpts and innovation, creating unfavorable price-to-feature ratio for Bon Jovi.

    • 10:24
    I just don't know if I can drag that thing into my home with that back glass look and how it is with all its tealiness. I'm sure it's going to look better in person. But the things that I was looking for that are tied to the Barrels of Fun brand for me, interesting, exquisite sculpts, mechanical innovation and things that change. Ludo popping up from the little house there. The Fiery's coming out. The Pallet on Winchester. The Pepper's Ghost screen. The screen in the back that should be showing like we should be looking out from the stage and watching like the crowd like we're playing as Bon Jovi looking out over a stadium. Can you imagine like that's not in there. None of the things that I really prize with the brand from Barrels of Fun are in this game. I don't know why they took them out. Why isn't the screen there? Where are the sculpts? There's one sculpt in there. There's the same guitar from the Guns N' Roses Standard Edition in the same position. I don't want to see that. There's a guitar neck on the playfield just like Queen. I don't want to be reminded of Queen when I'm playing this, especially for $12,000. And then the art just doesn't match. The theme, I was willing to forgive the theme. I was willing to learn to love the theme. I've been hyping myself up for the last week or so with classic 80s Bon Jovi music. And you know what? It does kind of slap. I kind of did get into it a little bit. I was going through some playlists and like, yeah, like this could be fun and energetic. It's not all, you know, It's My Life, right? His rebranding song from the early 2000s, I Can't Stand. So like I was I was in on this theme. I just wanted the art to deliver. I wanted the sculpts to be in there. Like the things that really set barrels of fun apart is what I was expecting. And the fact that I didn't get that, I didn't get a screen, I didn't get sculpts, I didn't get a world, I didn't get movement. And then they raised the price. I just I couldn't, man. I couldn't do it as much as I wanted to support my buddies over there. I think I'm just waiting for my next game. So I don't think I'm alone either. Sure. They had to stop the comments on the YouTube channel. The people out there were brutalizing this game. When I buy a game, I want people to be like my friends to say, oh, dude, you got one of those? I want to come over and play it. I'll bring some food. I'll bring the fam. We'll have fun. And this is a game that I don't think we're seeing that. We're not seeing that exuberance. Like, who's ordering this? Is this coming to my town? I think the game will be fun to play on location. I think the music will sound great. I think the lights will be great. I think it'll play well, and I'm hoping that the modes are fun to play as well. Barrels is known for those things, but I don't know why they got rid of the idea of doing sculpts, doing a screen, and bringing art to where it needs to be for this game. It's just so off-putting. I feel like I'm in a 1970s waiting room, man. I want to embrace it, man. Lean into it. This looks like something Data East would have maybe passed on back in the day, but that's how they dressed it up. I'm trying not to be harsh. I'm trying to be fair. This is how I feel. I'm disappointed. All right. You know, barrels was disappointed that the pictures leaked yesterday. I'm disappointed that I'm not getting my barrels of fun in this game. It's like a half barrel full of fun. There's half of the fun is in this game, but more of the price. Like, what the heck, dude? What the heck? So I would say that my exuberance on this game is probably eclipsed once you get to nine thousand five hundred dollars. I think anything past that, I just can't sanction going in on it. So my hope is that this game is at shows. My hope is that this game is on the Barrels Cruise and I get to play it there. My hope is I can be singing along just like Keri Hardy did in the green room with this game over at the factory someday. It's just not going to happen in my game room, and I'm disappointed and sad over that, man. I love a pinball release week, but it's bumming me out, man. It's seriously bumming me out. But so thankfully, this wasn't the only game release of the week. They won't even let the comments on there. You guys are brutal with your memes. Holy crap. Yes, I did jump in there because I thought it was fun. But man, man, Bon Jovi, what happened? What happened? I mean, for all I know, the game is nearly sold out. I haven't heard any numbers from anybody except for every distributor I've talked to. They all have them. Listen, info at madpinball.com. You can have my spot and get an early build for Bon Jovi. I think the game would be fun at home. If I were to win a sweepstakes and I won this game, I'd be very happy about it. If I saw this game used for $8,500, I'd snatch it up right now. So I don't think this is the biggest failure that's ever happened to pinball. But as far as like disappointment, like I was anticipating something that was at the quality, at least the level of a dune, at least the level of a labyrinth. And I don't see that here. And I don't think I'm alone. And that's disappointing. I will say, if this game is not a big seller, we may be lucking out because that may mean that they get to their next game even sooner. And that might be The Last Starfighter or Rambo or anything else we want to see. E.T., something from Amblin, Kung Fu Panda, Barnacle Bill or SpongeBob SquarePants or something like that, you know, that we really want to see from them. And I thought that that's kind of where they were leaning. Like we're leaning into these licenses that are a little bit obscure other people wouldn't do and making highly collectible versions of low number games. And then somehow Bon Jovi showed up at the door. Knock, knock. So I don't know. The memes were wild, though. Look around the Internet. It's it's brutal. It's brutal. Now, that was not the only release this week. OK, P3 Multimorphic, myself, the greatest fan of the P3 platform in the world, especially Drain. And I've made no secret about that. Okay. Despite everything, like I'm exuberant about the P3 because I can't believe I'm in the universe that this thing exists. So they had a dual release. This was heavily rumored. Ender's game we had heard for a while. Dungeon Crawler Carl, we finally got confirmation that that's what they were making. We saw the leaks that happened at Comic-Con. Matt Deniman, the author of Dungeon Crawler Carl, was doing his panel. And then he's showing off the game, showing off the images, the play field, the mechanisms and all that. And then Jerry was able to come out through Carrie and say, like, this was all scripted and planned. I could say 100% was not planned. No way. No way the plan was that the first images that buyers of the P3 system would see of this game are cell phone quality pictures from an auditorium in San Diego with, like, no notice. Like, there's no way. No way that was planned. This was probably planned by Matt when he decided, like, I'm going to go do it and I'm the license holder and you're just going to be happy about it. Maybe maybe in that respect, it was planned. But no, the first images we got were cell phone quality potato cams from from Hall H at Comic-Con. So, yeah, there we go. So right next to, you know, images of the new Green Lantern series on Amazon Prime. We also got Dungeon Crawler Carl, the pinball machine. And of course, the comments have been running the gamut of, you know, From Dungeon Crawler Carl fans that this thing's likely going to be $2,000 to $3,000 and available at arcades everywhere. Neither of those is the case, but we'll see how it shakes out. On the flip side, it's been posited online that this game's already sold 500 units, and I think the truth is probably somewhere in between the two of those extremes. What I will say is DCC looks like it's amazing for not just for a P3 game, But I think this is a very interesting game just in general. And that's the first time I think P3 has ever flirted with success like this. And let's see, it's $12,350.79 or whatever. If you were to put this up against Bon Jovi, right, and just look at it as a standalone, like forget the whole P3 platform. Like you just saw this game and you saw a game with massive sculpts in the back of the playfield that we don't see on Bon Jovi. You see branching ball paths and things and some mystery about where they go. You see that little transforming ball trap mech with Mongo on it, the dinosaur-looking creature on the right with a magnet that bounces things around. That's not too dissimilar from that same area that's on Bon Jovi, but here it's themed. Like, why is Bon Jovi? It's not themed. So the theming on Dungeon Crawler Carl is what I expect from Barrels of Fun.
    18:44
    So P3, Multimorphic, is out-bareling. I think the barrel of fun rolled and fell into a Texas river and floated over to Round Rock to be honest and that where it came out And then you get this whole plexiglass upper play field We just saw that with Sonic the Hedgehog This one even bigger and it spins and it got a functional diverter in there made out of polycarbonate And attached to that is not only like a kickback mech but also a player controlled cannon that can rotate and shoot back into the playfield And then also also there like a bank of lit drop targets that spin around There LEDs within this thing from what I can see And then you have the whole screen The screen for this game, which is like the standard hallmark for what P3 even is, seems like tertiary to everything else in the game. Like it's not even the best thing here, and that's the best thing for this game. The parts of the P3 that people really enjoy and respond to are when they really try to go back to what real pinball is and implement that. They have the biggest success. And for all the standoffishness that Jerry and the team at Multimorphics seem to have, like these guys don't want any advice at all. They've already got it all figured out. A bit narcissistic is how they come off. You know, you have any constructive criticism. They do not want to hear it. That's been clear. And that's people have told me that even before I even got involved. But, you know, true to my word, I'm there for the people. If people ask me questions to then ask them, like, why isn't there an arcade trim level? Why not this, that, or the other? And I'm at a show. I'm going to ask somebody because I have the opportunity to go there. We're going to make it happen, man. I'm a doer, man. We need to do something. We're going to do it. If there's a question to ask, I'm just going to go ask, and then I'll report back. And unfortunately, that immediately soured myself upon them somehow. But I'm still enthusiastic. It's all fun playing the games. I hope I'm still allowed at the shows and whatnot. But I will say, when we do ask them questions, when we do offer advice, it does not go unheard or unheeded. Like, check this out. Their most successful title to date was Final Resistance when that came out. Final Resistance used that playfield screen to duplicate what a traditional wood playfield would have with inserts and lights and things that we're familiar with, things that we're nostalgic for, things that we like, things that we play pinball for. They recreated there and then they added like the supplemental little animations and things and it was very well received. When you play that game, it makes sense. Like they're incorporating what pinball is and using a screen to augment that. That's when it was beneficial. So they did do that and the feedback they got was great. Like, hey, you did something that's more like regular pinball. That's what we want. That's all we've been asking for. And it was successful. So successful, in fact, that the next thing we were saying is, you know, with this big screen here, you don't have anything that's down lower to the flippers. You know, essentially every game plays exactly like every other one, you know, or like Venom Pro or whatever, where everything's in the back of the play field. So to that end, when they came out with their next game, which was even more positively reviewed and revealed and received, Portal, it had ramps and upper play fields and things that were more toward the flipper. They filled it out. So again, they listen to the community and what we were saying when it comes to how to integrate stuff. So they do listen to feedback and they do heed feedback, even though they act like they don't want to hear it. So in concert with pushing in that direction, they did it even more. They leaned in hard to making the upper play field really feel like its own thing to the point that the screen is not carrying the entire game. The screen is displaying graphics, modes, it's interactive with the speech, but the gameplay is happening everywhere else except the screen, and I love that so much. So as the formerly minted number one P3 fanboy on the planet, I managed to get myself a sponsorship with Kingpin Games for the P3 system, and they can be reached at sales at kingpengames.net if you want any P3 accoutrement, right? I hope they sell the sculpts and things from Dungeon Crawler Carl. How did Carl end up with more stuff than barrels? And we'll reach out to Chris. He's over there at Kingpin. I'm hoping to be able to have at home a Dungeon Crawler Carl machine so I can fairly evaluate this thing on my own end and go through it. And I'm very excited about that. I'm making content. Nobody's streaming this thing. I'm going to stream it. This is going to be fun. This is going to be we're going to unbox this 500 pound beast and we're going to have some fun with it. Dungeon Crawler Carl super win. I'm into this theme, which already carries a ton. But then when you add a themed environment, you add sculpts to it, and you integrate the screen in a magical way, like now I think we're really there. The next step for P3 is to make a version of the platform, the P4, where the screen is slightly smaller so you can have traditional slings and flipper mechs. And then I think the machine will be just about where it needs to be to really get widespread adoption.
    23:34
    For all I know, they're selling thousands of them. They don't need to take my advice. But that would be the next step. Okay, and they can be angry at me for saying this, and they probably are, but hopefully they do incorporate this like they've done with play fields in the past and the extra ramps and things. So that's my take on it. No hard feelings toward Jerry, man. I can't wait to shake this guy's hand and we can hug and be friends. Hopefully that happens someday if he's open to it, but in the meantime, I think I found a way to play Dungeon Crawler Carl at home, and man, I can't wait to. Did you see the Carl Sculpt, the Princess Donut Cat Sculpt, Mongo over there, that floating lady's severed head in the back? That's what I wanted to see with a Barrels of Fun game, that level of creativity and sculpts and build me a themed world. I want a themed playground to go play in, man. Go build me Pee Wee's Playhouse and let me play pinball in it. That's all I want to do, and why couldn't Bon Jovi bring some of that? Bon Jovi's from New Jersey. New Jersey has cities. You could have put a cityscape in the back there, almost like a John Wick area in the one spot with like sculpted cities. And like we play over there, we play in the waterfront, we play in the farm. Like you'd have the whole garden state represented. This is New Jersey's prodigal son here. It's him and Bruce Springsteen. Like bring that into the game and play in that environment. Maybe I'll change my mind when I play the game here in a couple of days. But like that's what I was expecting. Expectations not met there. Dungeon Crawler Carl, exceeding expectations. I can't wait. This game looks super fun. I was hoping it was going to be at the Southern Freight Gaming Expo. It's not going to be there. Apparently, they're sending the game to Nashville for reasons, and then it's going to be at this con in Indiana. I remarked online that it would have made more sense to send this game to the convention that's happening in Georgia this weekend where pinball buyers will be because they're likely the people that would be most excited to actually follow through and convert and purchase one of these instead of just showing it off at another Hall H in Indiana where I'm sure it'll be well received. But will that transfer to sales? I don't know. Maybe they're just having fun with it. Maybe this is all planned ahead of time. Maybe they're contractually obligated to be there in the Southern Pryg Gaming Expo. I don't know all the intricacies. I really want to play the game. And so I'm putting the word out there. If anybody connected with this project knows the first place this game is going to be publicly available, let me know where I can go and play it. I'll fly anywhere in the country. Heck, if this is going to Amsterdam, I'll fly out of Europe. I don't care. I'll go nationwide. I just want to play this game as soon as I can. I'm very hyped for it. Now, if you take that hype that I have for Dungeon Crawler, and you get the inverse of that, then you have my enthusiasm for Ender's Game. So when I had heard that they were doing the dual theme thing, I, of course, chuckled to myself because I'm friends with a company that's done that a couple of times.
    26:16
    And in some cases, better than others. So I know it can work if done right. I know the rationale behind it. And I'd seen the movie Ender's Game a couple of years ago. So I was like, oh, this could be fun, you know, a little sci-fi adventure, palette cleanser from the wacky, absurd humor of Dungeon Crawler Carl. No more like, you know, like a somber, serious, like space flick, like I'm down, let's go. And then I saw the trailer and they took the same layout, which has been rumored to be designed for Ender's Game. But where are the sculpts? Where's the space stations? Where's all the myth and merriment? Where's the thematic integration? It's nothing there, man. It looks like somebody took Final Resistance and pulled off the sculpts and plastics on it and then just put it down in here. And then the call-outs, Glenn Weckner's call-outs are the best part of this game by far. The only reason I want to play it is just to hear Glenn there. The rest of the call-outs, all the little five and seven-year-old voices, like the little boy voices, what the heck is going on, man? I was watching this trailer. I could barely get through it. I had to turn the sound down. I thought people might have thought I had children over at my house or something. Like, how can you play this game in my basement? You just hear, like, what sounds like I'm down there listening to the magic school bus or something. You know, I'm ready to go shoot people, Captain, or whatever they were talking about. Like, it's so strange, right? It's strange. And then it's so stripped down, so bare. I get that the lighting was good, but, like, where's the sculpts? Where's the environment? What am I doing? It looks like a space jungle gym floating around back there with just all bare exposed metal and wire forms. Like am I having a space playground? I don't want to play a space playground game with a bunch of kid voices and then my friend Glenn yelling at me the whole time. Like it's so strange. It's so strange. So let's see. I don't know how many P3 platform owners there are out there. None of this is published knowledge. Let's say there's 300, right? So if you've got a P3, you know about pinball, you know about niche pinball, you know about sub-niche pinball, you wouldn't even have the system. Or some people have two or three P3 systems because they don like swapping modules And then of course you going to get Dungeon Crawler Carl You going to put it in You going to have it So since you can put the code of Ender Game into Carl you have to then buy the Ender module. But if you already have the same layout, why would you buy a $4,300 Ender's Game and duplicate the same spinning disk and mechanism and everything and have to swap all that out just to play a game that looks exceedingly inferior? I don't know why you would do that. So in lieu of like buying two P3s, one with each game in it, I don't know why you would do that. Who's going to buy Ender's game? I was joking initially thinking, you know, shoot, Dungeon Crawler Carl versus Ender's game. This is going to be like a 10 to 1, man. Like 10 Dungeon Crawler Carl's sold for every one of Ender's games. Now I'm thinking it's more of a 100 to 1. You know, I think everybody with a P3 is going to buy a Dungeon Crawler Carl for sure. And I think this is successful at bringing more people into the platform, maybe 1 to 200. So that could be 500 units sold. But then who would go through and buy Ender's Game as well? That's going to be the rare game. And it just it didn't look very fun. I have to go and see if they've released the actual gameplay footage. Maybe I'll watch that today and and have my mind or, you know, remagnetized or something and get to see something I didn't see before. But I'm super glad Glenn got on some call outs. I think that's easily the best part of the game. The game itself just looked like another P3 module. Like, there didn't seem to be much different from Ender's game than Cosmic Kart Racing, right? Like, it's fun to play at a show, but, like, I think people will walk away after ball too. Maybe I'll be wrong. I'd love to play it. I can't wait to. But I think Dungeon Crawler Carl is, like, the one to go to here. And so I know we were all hoping Barrels of Fun had it. They didn't. But we got it, and it actually looks pretty freaking good. I'm genuinely impressed with it. I'm very happy. I just got my Drain t-shirt. I can't wait to get a Dungeon Crawler Carl P3 Multimorphic t-shirt next. Hopefully those will be available soon. Jerry, send me one. Jerry, if you're out there. Jerry, if you're listening, open those bright eyes and send me a Dungeon Crawler Carl t-shirt. I would be forever grateful and would love that. I think that'd be rad, right? So hopefully they got merchandise rights too when it came to that title. So that brings us to where we are right now. We're a day and a half away from the start of the Southern Fright Gaming Expo. We're going to have Bon Jovi in the barrels room. I can't wait to see it and report back exactly like how it plays. I know there's a lot of people that were on the fence and jumped off as soon as they saw the release of the game. Maybe I can get a couple people to climb back on based on some in-person reviews. Now, I was not under NDA with Barrels of Fun. I was not informed at all from Barrels of Fun that a game was coming out. Nobody reached out and asked me, like, hey, if you see any images, just sit on them until the release. So I figured that's fair game. But I always am open if they have any kind of communications or anything. But I was not, you know, flown down there. I was not paid to be there. I'm not paid to shill the game at all. Heck, I'm telling you right now, I really, really wanted to buy the next Barrels of Fun game. And I give you a list of reasons why I just am not doing it. I'm not saying it forever, man. If I see it for $8,000, I think I'll pick it up. But you'll be able to trust my unbiased opinion after I play the game because I'll be talking about it. So that's going to happen on Friday. So look for that. That'll be cool. And then if you're on the fence just waiting for one more objective assessment so you can get in on it, you can get in on it then. And I don't know. They don't publish numbers or anything, but if they sold 50, I would say that sounds about right. So what that means is if you order, you'll probably get your game pretty soon. So I think you got at least the weekend to wait. That's not bad. That's not too bad, right? The other thing I do want to bring up, though, Winchester is not done being built. And I was under the impression that Dune was done, Winchesters were full tilt, and then when they're going to be finished, that's when the Bon Jovis will hit the line. Because, I don't know, I'm a human, and that seems like a fair thing to do. Especially when there's 225 people, myself included, still waiting for Winchesters, many of which, myself included, have paid in full already and are waiting for this freaking game. So it sounds like to me, from what David Van Ness was saying, is that Dune is still on the line. They're not complete with those yet, but there's a separate smaller line finishing out those Dune orders, and as they finish up, that's when Bon Jovi will start production on that second line. While there's still a line of Winchesters being done. Now, I am not alone in seeing that and saying that that is some freaking bullcrap to have over 200 people waiting for games to be built. And you're putting them on the back burner so you can throw another new game in front of it. So you're telling me that if I followed through on my Bon Jovi purchase like I was originally planning on, I would get my Bon Jovi before I'd even get my Winchester that I ordered back in October. That does not bode well for anybody that's waiting. And I think that hurts the barrels brand when they say that. Now, it could be that Winchester is going full tilt. They've got all their playfield solder people, people screwing things to playfield at the highest capacity that they can have with the parts coming in at the rate that they are. And so with the other team that's sitting around fiddling their thumbs because there's really no more games for them to be making, maybe that's why they have a second line of Dune. But if that was the case, I really wish they'd be a little bit more forward and transparent about that because I'm sitting over here fuming a little bit that they released a new game that's going to get made and shipped out and they still haven't fulfilled all the Winchester orders. I don't like the Peter to play Paul scam. I'm really kind of concerned. Someone told me that like, you know, if barrels is in financial trouble and doing stuff like this, maybe you won't get your Winchester. I definitely don't want to be in that position. And that does not bode well for the confidence of the consumer going forward either. So I'm going to have some questions when it comes to hanging out this weekend with old Dave boy. Hopefully he'll text me back and walk me off the ledge here. But I don't know, man. It just doesn't doesn't sit right with a lot of people. And I'm hearing it from peeps. I'm getting the feedback that being a little steamed over here, waiting on their games that they're anticipating and seeing something else just jump the line in front of them. Like, what the heck is that? Someone said that Spooky was doing the same thing with Beetlejuice, But Spooky's not really making any other game. They're not launching a game, putting the production in front of what they're doing. And Beetlejuices are screaming out of the factory right now faster than they're actually reporting. So keep your eyes out. I don't know when you were told, but games are going. There's not a new one going on the line until those are done. And then, yes, there are some Looney Tunes and TCMs and occasionally a Scooby-Doo that get thrown on the line. But it's really just kind of like one or two offs here and there. The way the line moves is just it's constant. So if you don't believe me, come by for a tour. I'll show you around myself as the official tour guide over there at Spooky. We'll have a good time. So I think I covered just about everything. Yukon Yeti shipped yesterday. It's coming to my house tomorrow, two days from Texas. That was pretty quick. Now, I did see a little video that leaked out of the folks over there, those knuckleheads at Turner Pinball who wanted to make sure my Yukon Yeti was extra special packed and filled the box completely with styrofoam peanuts. So I'm going to have to deal with that mess. I guess it's the confetti celebration for having the first one off the line. I was told I got one of the first four that are shipping out, and that's only because I had my deposit in like ASAP. I was posed to do that with Barrels of Fun, man. I don't know if I'm going to let it go. I'm just so disappointed. I really, really wanted to. Man, Last Starfighter, Big Trouble in Little China, Spongebob. If those themes with this layout, even without the screen and sculpts, it would have sucked, but I would have got it. I hope they bring the screens back, man. I hope they bring back the screens. Somebody told me that they had bought an auction of all the touchscreens from the action bar that Deep Root was going to use, and that's where they came from. Which, if that's the case, man, good for them for getting a deal and repurposing those in a fantastic method. But LCD screens are cheaper than $12,000 pinball machines. Continue that, please. Please do that. Please do that if you could. But otherwise, there's other gaming expo is coming up on Friday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday down there in ATL. I'll be on site having fun, shaking hands, kissing babies, slapping people. It's going to be wild. There's going to be the Barrels of Fun Reserve Room where we'll get to play Bon Jovi in person. I can't wait to see what the powder coat actually looks like because this like glazed donut denim color. I don't know if it's doing it for me, man. Hit me up at Don's Pinball Podcast at gmail.com. Continue to hang out on the Patreon for the live streams of Patreon backslash Don's Pinball Podcast. Oh man, I got sponsors now, Kingpin, sales at kingpengames.net for all your P3 needs. Tell Chris I said what up. And info at madpinball.com to get yourself a terrestrial pinball machine, including Bon Jovi, if that's what your little heart desires. If you order a game from either of these two guys or anything else, just email me. You got a t-shirt size and an address, and I'll send you out a Don's Pinball Podcast t-shirt straight to your home, brother. Anything else, I'll let you know as soon as I know. I'll be online or here, man. Be cool.
    37:27
    Thank you.