Episode 882: "JAWS EXCLUSIVE DETAILS!!!!"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·13m 17s·analyzed·Nov 30, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Kaneda reveals exclusive Jaws pinball specs: shark bash toy, Orca upper playfield, four flippers, shipping January.

Summary

Kaneda breaks exclusive details about the upcoming Stern Jaws pinball machine, sourced from someone who saw the game in development. The machine features a motorized shark bash toy with Newton ball mechanism, upper playfield representing the Orca ship, four flippers total, prominent artwork of Quint and Hooper characters, and complex playfield with multiple ramps, wire forms, and a spinning disc. The game maintains pricing consistent with James Bond and Foo Fighters, with no price increase announced.

Key Claims

Jaws will feature Dick White armor on Elite with shark bite marks on each side; Premium will have Shane Black angled armor like James Bond Elite and Godzilla Elite
high confidence · Kaneda reporting details from insider who saw the machine in development
Game features an upper playfield representing the Orca ship on the upper left, with one flipper
high confidence · Kaneda's source explicitly confirmed upper playfield is the Orca hull
Jaws will be a bash toy with a Newton ball/trapped ball on top that players hit multiple times before the shark pops up from underneath the playfield
high confidence · Detailed mechanical description from insider source
Only one barrel will appear in the game instead of three (Barrels of Fun mechanic scrapped)
high confidence · Insider source stated three Barrels of Fun originally planned but idea was scrapped
No price increase for Jaws compared to James Bond and Foo Fighters
high confidence · Kaneda reporting hearing there is no price increase on this game
Roy Scheider's estate was difficult regarding licensing; Brody will appear on LCD screen but likely without voice work or callouts
medium confidence · Kaneda reporting rumors about Brody's estate and licensing restrictions, confirmed by insider source
Game will feature transparent blue plastic playfield element where players can see underneath, possibly showing shark swimming
medium confidence · Insider source observed transparent blue plastic element described as similar to Pinball Arcade table
Game is supposed to come out in January 2024
medium confidence · Kaneda stating expected release timeline, but uncertain whether reveal happens in December or January

Notable Quotes

“I'm the last person on planet Earth that Stern Pinball wants to know what's in there about Jaws Pinball.”
Kaneda @ 0:00 — Establishes tone of exclusive scoop and insider access; indicates Stern would not want these details leaked
“This is definitely a game that you can't reskin into Looney Tunes or Halloween or anything else. This is Jaws pinball through and through.”
Kaneda @ 1:45 — Highlights theme-specific design philosophy; suggests passionate developer commitment to the IP
“The person who saw this said that this is going to be Keith Elwin's masterpiece.”
Kaneda @ 1:30 — Insider source assessment of game quality and design excellence relative to Elwin's previous work
“a big The Shark with a Newton ball on top of its head, a kinetic shot that you're going to hit over and over and then Jaws is going to pop up and you're going to bash Jaws.”
Kaneda @ 8:45 — Core mechanical description of primary bash toy feature; describes unique kinetic shot interaction
“The Jaws hype drain has officially left the station.”
Kaneda @ 17:30 — Enthusiastic community sentiment assessment; signals strong pre-release momentum and collector interest
“After hearing about this game, I'm not sure I would wait. I would be calling up your distributors tomorrow and try to get an Elite spot because they're going to go like hotcakes.”
Kaneda @ 25:45 — Confident prediction of sellout; implies significant secondary market demand and scarcity expectation
“We've never seen Keith Elwin do an upper playfield with a flipper.”
Kaneda @ 24:00 — Identifies novel design element in Elwin's portfolio; suggests innovation in his design approach
“I think this game is going to deliver like no other.”
Kaneda @ 24:30 — Personal assessment of game's mechanical complexity and feature density compared to recent Stern releases

Entities

Keith Elwinperson KanedapersonStern PinballcompanyRichard DreyfusspersonRobert ShawpersonRoy ScheiderpersonJawsgame James Bondgame

Signals

?
community_signal: Kaneda leveraging exclusive scoop for podcast audience retention and Twippy award voting considerations; emphasizes first-to-market information advantage
high · Kaneda direct appeal: 'just remember this when it becomes Twipy voting time'; repeated reminders to credit podcast when sharing information
?
design_philosophy: Original three-barrel Barrels of Fun mechanic scrapped during development; replaced with single barrel; mid-to-lower playfield described as 'barren' with back playfield 'absolutely packed'
medium · Insider source stating three barrels originally planned but idea was scrapped; current playfield has uneven feature distribution
?
design_philosophy: Keith Elwin pursuing feature-dense, mechanically complex design with upper playfield flipper (novel for his portfolio) and multiple interactive toys (shark bash, barrel, spinner)
high · Insider assessment that game is 'packed' with mechanics; contrasted with recent Stern releases (Elton John, GTF) criticized for sparse toy count
?
event_signal: Jaws expected release January 2024; reveal timing uncertain (December announcement or January reveal unclear)
medium · Kaneda stating 'The game is supposed to come out in January' with acknowledgment of uncertainty about reveal vs. shipping timeline
?
rumor_hype: Strong collector enthusiasm and demand signals emerging pre-release; Kaneda predicts instant Elite sellout and recommends securing units immediately
high · Kaneda assessment: 'The Jaws hype drain has officially left the station'; 'going to go like hotcakes'; prediction they would secure Elite units if reconsidering purchase

Topics

Jaws pinball mechanical design and playfield layoutprimaryExclusive game leaks and insider informationprimaryKeith Elwin design philosophy and innovationprimaryStern Pinball pricing strategy and product tierssecondaryLicensing restrictions and IP constraints (Roy Scheider estate)secondaryCommunity speculation and hype managementsecondaryStern design trends (armor styles, artwork quality across tiers)mentionedSecondary market demand and collector interestmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Kaneda and his source are enthusiastic about Jaws' mechanical complexity, theme integration, and design innovation. Strong confidence in game quality and prediction of collector sellout. No critical concerns raised; praise throughout for feature density and Keith Elwin's work. Minor uncertainty expressed only about specific gameplay mechanics and exact reveal timing.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.040

Here we are, ladies and gentlemen. I'm the last person on planet Earth that Stern Pinball wants to know what's in Jaws Pinball. I've got the information, and here's how we're going to do it. I'm just going to tell you what I know, and you're hearing it here first, before anybody else in the world, and all of those losers on Pinside that say Kaneda never gets the scoops, you're about to get the scoops. So just remember this when it becomes twippy voting time. All right, so here's how I'm going to do this. So here's how tonight went down. I'm about to have dinner with Brenda. I've got the food on the plate. I've got the plate on my lap. I'm about to eat with my wife. I get a text message. Chris, I have Jaws details. I said, baby, I got to go. I ran into the other room. I got my computer and I just started taking notes. Now, what I'm going to do is this. I am going to read for you my notes as they were told to me. And it might be a little bit all over the place. And here's why. Is this person was so excited by what they saw. And imagine trying to tell someone what Keith Elwin Jaws Pinball is like by looking at the photos. Like, where do you start? You kind of jump all over the place. And even though this is going to jump all over the place, you are going to get specific details that are going to come true in the game. And just remember, when you hear this stuff, and you take it to Pinside, and you take it to the Facebook groups, and you take it to the other media channels, just remember to say Kaneda, all right? Before I get into the details, I just want to say this. The person who saw this said that this is going to be Keith Elwin's masterpiece. everybody who's been involved with this game is super excited it was made by people that are tremendously excited about this theme I've always said you gotta make a game from the ground up with people who are passionate about the theme this is definitely a game that you can't reskin into Looney Tunes or Halloween or anything else this is Jaws pinball through and throughout all right, so let's just get started. These are my notes. And again, it's going to be all over the place because this person was excited. Again, just imagine if they're in your shoes, where do you start describing a pinball machine? We are going to start with the armor. I know you're like, oh, Chris, come on. We're going to start with the most boring thing. All right, so you're hearing all of this first. The Jaws armor on the Ellie of the game, the color of the armor is going to be white. On this game, the Ellie armor on Jaws Ellie, this is cool. On each side, it's going to look like a shark has taken a bite out of the armor on the game. White armor, shark bite on each side of the armor. The premium will come with black armor that has the angled armor like James Bond Ellie and Godzilla Ellie. It's got that angled cut that protects the cabinet. So you going to get a nicer version of the armor on the premium as well And I also here to tell you that I am hearing there is no price increase on this game So this game is going to cost the same amount of money as James Bond and Foo Fighters All right so let's keep going. In terms of the play field, you are going to see two main characters from the movie predominantly featured on the play field of Jaws. They are in the middle of the game. They are in the middle of the game, real big next to each other. You are going to see illustrated artwork featuring two characters, Quint and Hooper. So Robert Shaw and Richard Richard Dreyfuss's characters are going to be the predominant characters on the playfield. And no, Brody, Roy Scheider's character will not be on the playfield. The rumors that his estate was really difficult and would not give permission is true in artistic format. But even though he does not appear in art form on the play field, I am hearing there will be clips of him on the LCD screen. That is what I'm hearing, that he will be in the game itself, but you most likely won't hear his voice or hear call-outs from him, which is interesting. You know, who are they going to get to say, smile, you son of a, you know what? So that's the predominant artwork on the game. Let's talk a little bit about the Ellie artwork. On the right side is Jaws underwater and all these people's legs. Okay, so we're going to see Jaws and he's underwater. It's not just going to be the movie poster face. I think you're going to see the full shark and then all these people's legs. And then on the other side, we're going to see Jaws swimming at us. So that's what I'm hearing is on the Ellie artwork. So the rumors I heard of just having the woman swimming on it, it's not going to be the LE artwork. I was not told what was on the artwork for the premium and the pro, but I was told that they all look kind of similar and they all look really good. I was also told that the pro cabinet actually looks the best. This is something Stern's been doing recently. They've sort of been putting really nice artwork on the pro packages because they want to sell as many of those as possible. I'm also hearing the Translite for the LE of the game is going to be the iconic movie poster of Jaws with the woman swimming and Jaws coming up from below the surface. So when you walk up to this game, it is going to telegraph right at you the iconic movie poster everybody loves. All right, here's where the good stuff starts. I'm here to confirm for you that there will be an upper play field in this game and Kaneda was right. It is on the upper left side of the game and the upper playfield is the butt of the orca ship. So I was right. The upper playfield is the orca. The orca will also feature one flipper. So it's going to be a one flipper upper playfield. The very center of the game is the big shark. And here's how Jaws is going to work. This is what I was told. Jaws is going to be a bash toy. And when Jaws is underwater, you don't see the shark. What there will be is a Newton ball that's on the play field that you have to hit. And if you hit it enough times then Jaws will pop up from underneath the play field So you heard it here first a shark a big shark with a Newton ball on top of its head a kinetic shot that you're going to hit over and over and then Jaws is going to pop up and you're going to bash Jaws. How awesome does that sound? All right, here's another thing that's news to everybody. Instead of three barrels, I am hearing there is only one barrel in the game, and the barrel will be featured to the right of Jaws on the playfield. And apparently, like, you hit the barrel, and I guess there's like some plastic where you're trying to light three barrels. So instead of doing three barrels, Stern is doing one. What I heard was there was originally supposed to be three barrels that went below the playfield, but I think that idea was scrapped by Stern Pinball. I'm hearing like the middle to down low of the playfield is a little barren, but I'm hearing the back of the playfield is absolutely packed. There is a vertical up kick that is near the orca. Here's another brand new piece of information between the orca and the shark. They said this is a little bit of a weird thing. There is a chum bucket mechanism in the game. So you're going to see a sculpted chum bucket that has a pinkish color that is in the game. Remember, people, I talked to someone who played this game, but the details on the gameplay are very vague. Most of the information I got is all about what's on the machine itself. So I just wanted to know what the details were. So I will try to get more information from you on gameplay itself. So there's going to be a chum bucket that is a pinkish color that is between the orca and the shark. It's obviously a shot where you're going to want to fill up the chum bucket and get ready to go get some jaws. Now, look, there's an upper playfield flipper. There's also going to be three other flippers in the game. It is going to be a total of a four flipper game. The third flipper on the lower playfield is on the left side of the game. And that's going to be a flipper you use to bash into the barrel that's in the upper right of the game. There's also going to be two ramps in this game and lots of wire forms. I heard there's like wire forms going into the orca. Again, just going off of photos. it seems like that orca upper play field might actually lift up and down kind of like the building in Godzilla I'm not 100% sure about that but that might mean it could be what I said where the orca is like taking on water and sinking as you're playing the game which will open up different ball pathways when you're playing again all of this is so super cool I'm just so excited just giving you guys this information all right so I don't know if it's a newton ball or a trapped pinball on top of Jaws' head. Because I'm reading this again and it says there are two rubber posts with a trapped ball, a Newton ball, on top of the shark's head. You hit it hard a few times and the shark pops up. I'm also hearing that there is no fin that comes up from underneath the playfield. That was another idea that might have been scrapped somewhere along development. All right, There is a ramp up to the orca from the right. The ball can exit the orca from two ways. Wire forms on both sides Game looks really really busy You know someone was talking again to someone who involved with the making of this game and they said this is their all favorite game The game is ripping killer, and Keith Elwin's best to date. I'm just reading you what I was told, people. The Jaws hype train has officially left the station. Now, the game is supposed to come out in January. So does that mean the reveal is going to be in January, or will Stern reveal of this game in December and then the game is on the line in January. We shall see. Most of the playfield is blue. Duh, it's a Jaws pinball machine. But here's another interesting thing. To the right of Quint and Hooper in the game, there is going to be a piece of the playfield that is transparent, a la what we see in James Bond, Creature from the Black Lagoon. So it's going to be like a transparent blue piece of plastic where you can see underneath it. So that is leading us to believe that you're going to be able to see like Jaws swimming underneath the ocean. So maybe that's where the fin appears. Maybe they're going to use that to simulate the ocean turning blood red when Jaws has the advantage. Look for that blue plastic that's transparent and something is underneath. And the final thing that was weird, the people I was talking to, they were having a hard time explaining how this thing functions. In the upper right of the game, it looks like there is a spinning disc a la the Avengers. Unlike the Avengers in which it's on the playfield, this was lifted above the playfield. So look for a spinning right Avengers like disc in the upper right side of the game. And ladies and gentlemen, that is all of the information I have for you right now on Jaws Pinball. So we're going to have a major mechanical shark that comes up from under the playfield. The orca as an upper playfield. We've never seen Keith Elwin do an upper playfield with a flipper. We're going to have a yellow barrel that you bash, a shark that you bash, a boat where you're going to be bashing something with the flipper, multiple ramps, a vertical upkick. You know there's going to be a magnet somewhere in there. We've got a spinner from Avengers. And this game just sounds packed already. I mean, think about it. Like in Elton John, where are the mechs? In Galactic Tank Force, where are the mechs? You wanted mechs. You wanted toys. You wanted a world under glass. And I think this game is going to deliver like no other. I'm so happy I'm in on a Jaws LE. After hearing what this game is going to look like, I think it's going to be an instant sellout. And unfortunately for all of us complaining about prices, this is what Stern knew was coming. I've said it. Wait and see. You know what? After hearing about this game, I'm not sure I would wait. I would be calling up your distributors tomorrow and try to get an Ellie spot because they're going to go like hotcakes. Everybody, thank you so much for the support. You got two shows in one day. Just remember how much I love you. And every time I get this information, I'm going to get it to my fans and my subscribers first. And you're the first people on planet Earth getting this information. Everybody, peace out. Go get your jaws. you