claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029
Rush Pinball analysis, Gomez's 2022 design confirmed, Stern's rock band sales strategy examined.
George Gomez will have a game design releasing later in 2022 at Stern Pinball
high confidence · Saw a YouTube interview overseas with George Gomez coming out saying that he is going to have a game design in 2022, later in the year
Steve Ritchie had a whitewood-ready layout when he left Stern Pinball
medium confidence · steve said he had a you know he had a whitewood quote-unquote ready to go when he left so he was clearly far along on something
Rumors indicate George Gomez will redesign Steve Ritchie's layout rather than tweak it
medium confidence · george going to tweak steve's layout or is george going to just be like trash it and just redo the whole thing himself... I think the thing is is george going to tweak steve's layout or is george going to just be like trash it and just redo the whole thing himself... I think it's going to be the latter
Rush Pinball has sold very strongly despite low album sales compared to other Stern rock band games
high confidence · rush sales have been very strong... it's been a hell of a seller compared to what I thought it was going to be
Rush has only 40 million estimated worldwide album sales, significantly less than other Stern band games
high confidence · Rush, $40 million... Huge fall off... Everything else that got a cornerstone rock band had at least 100 million in sales worldwide
Stern Pinball has released 11 rock band cornerstone games since 1999, with escalating frequency starting in 2011
high confidence · I pulled together a list of all of the rock band games that Stern Pinball has done under Stern Pinball since 1999... 11... Elvis in 2004... then all of a sudden they just poured it on in 2011
Rumors suggest Stern Pinball may release Foo Fighters and Back to the Future, potentially designed by Jack Danger and Elwin respectively
low confidence · the rumor mill says Foo Fighters could happen by Stern Pinball this year... Uh, like a Jack Danger design is Foo Fighters... there's also the rumors that Elwin's doing Back to the Future
“I would do the same thing. There was a moral imperative for him to completely redo Trudeau's Deadpool. Like, they could not go out and give Trudeau any credit.”
Dennis Creasel @ N/A — Explains George Gomez's likely approach to redesigning Steve Ritchie's work due to ego and design philosophy
“You do not want to lose your cash cow to another company. If they're not, I would suggest they consider it. Elwin gets first pick.”
Zach Minney @ N/A — Suggests Stern should prioritize top designer Elwin's preferences to retain talent
“Everything else that got a cornerstone rock band had at least 100 million in sales worldwide. Rush is at 40 million.”
Dennis Creasel @ N/A — Key data point questioning Rush's licensing decision relative to sales metrics
“Do we get the Gomez ramp in his next game? That damn same ramp material and everything that we've seen in Batman and in Deadpool?”
Zach Minney @ N/A — Running joke about Gomez's signature design element recycling
“It didn't really trigger until 2011. Because Elvis was an outlier. And then all of a sudden they just poured it on.”
Dennis Creasel @ N/A — Identifies the inflection point when Stern committed heavily to rock band cornerstones
business_signal: Speculation about other completed designer layouts sitting unused at Stern Pinball, suggesting potential inventory or decision-making delays
low · I've heard that there is at least one other designer at Stern Pinball that has completed a layout and completed a game in the past, and it's kind of just sitting on a shelf
sentiment_shift: Episode title references 'Death of Valhalla Hype' and 'Growing Impatience with Haggis Pinball,' indicating sentiment shift regarding these entities
medium · Title: 'The Death Of Valhalla Hype & Growing Impatience With Haggis Pinball'; referenced as discussion topics for episode
competitive_signal: Tournament players disable physical ball locks on Rush Pinball to standardize play; affects Pro vs Premium/LE gameplay differentiation
medium · tourney people, they just turn off all those physical ball locks anyway... they take out all the fun
design_philosophy: Rush Pinball layout derivative of X-Men design rather than wholly unique; Borg notably absent bash toy in recent releases
medium · Borg took the X-Men layout but made changes to make it a more flowy layout... I definitely see X-Men in it. It's not a wholly unique concept... haven't seen a bash toy from Borg in a while
licensing_signal: Beatles and Led Zeppelin identified as harder IP licenses to secure, potentially explaining delayed releases vs. predicted release order by sales
medium · Beatles and Zeppelin were both kind of hard licenses to work with or secure... Stern would have done Zeppelin sooner if it was easier to get their lives
groq_whisper · $0.269
John Borg's Rush layout appears similar to his X-Men layout but with improvements for flow
high confidence · it looks like Borg took the X-Men layout but made changes to make it a more flowy layout... I definitely see X-Men in it. It's not a wholly unique concept
market_signal: Rush Pinball selling strongly despite having lowest album sales (40M) of any Stern cornerstone rock band, challenging traditional licensing metrics
high · rush sales have been very strong... it's been a hell of a seller... Everything else that got a cornerstone rock band had at least 100 million in sales worldwide
personnel_signal: George Gomez will likely redesign Steve Ritchie's whitewood layout rather than complete it, indicating designer ego and design control priorities
medium · george doesn't want to just put the finishing touches on something Steve did... george is like, no, if it's going to have my name on it, it's going to be my game
announcement: George Gomez confirmed for 2022 game design release at Stern Pinball, sourced from overseas YouTube interview
high · Saw a YouTube interview overseas with George Gomez coming out saying that he is going to have a game design in 2022, later in the year
rumor_hype: Foo Fighters potentially in development at Stern as Jack Danger design; Back to the Future rumored for Elwin
low · the rumor mill says Foo Fighters could happen by Stern Pinball this year... like a Jack Danger design is Foo Fighters... there's also the rumors that Elwin's doing Back to the Future
business_signal: Stern Pinball identified pattern: rock band cornerstones started 2011, never more than one year gap since AC/DC 2012, suggesting deliberate recurring revenue strategy
high · since ACDC, they have never gone more than one year without doing a band pin... That's when they had another, finally, another hit game... marks the start of what we know now as the band pin