Don Garrison discusses his 2024 pinball highlights, LE pricing concerns, and anticipation for Looney Tunes and rumored Metallica game.
Summary
Don Garrison from Don's Pinball Podcast appears as a guest on the Pinball Party Podcast's "12 Days of Balls" Christmas special. The conversation covers Don's background, his rapid rise in pinball media, his favorite games and industry moments from 2024, his grievances about limited edition pricing strategies (particularly GTF Signature Edition and Jurassic Park reruns), and his expectations for 2024 including Spooky's Looney Tunes vs. Scooby-Doo comparison, Stern's rumored Black Album Metallica game, and upcoming Jaws release.
Key Claims
Don's Pinball Podcast generates approximately $550-600/month via Patreon and produces 200+ episodes with 2-3 weekly releases
medium confidence · Implied from KB context describing the podcast's Patreon model and output, not directly stated in episode
Don paid $9,600 for Foo Fighters Premium and sold it for $8,000, losing ~$3,000 total including customization costs (shipped through Michigan Pinball Refinery for $500, Expression light kit $400, and other upgrades)
high confidence · Don Garrison, directly stated in discussion of secondary market losses
Stern is rumored to be developing a new ground-up Metallica game based on the Black Album with Expression lighting
medium confidence · Don Garrison, stated as rumor he heard through industry contacts
Spooky's Looney Tunes layout is more solid in structure and engineering compared to Scooby-Doo, using more robust servos and eliminating problematic components from past designs
medium confidence · Don Garrison, based on hands-on play of both games
GTF Signature Edition costs $16,000-$17,000 and includes a refillable pint glass as part of its premium package
high confidence · Don Garrison, stated as a grievance about pricing and marketing
Black Knight toppers were initially selling for ~$3,000 on secondary market before Stern announced a $1,500 rerun
high confidence · Hosting/Don discussing secondary market LE dynamics
Don sources local powder coating in Stevens Point, Wisconsin for under $200 (coin doors, shooter housing, speaker panel) versus $400-$500 that Pinside collectors typically pay
high confidence · Don Garrison, discussing customization cost-cutting strategies
Chicago Expo and Pinball Olympics were Don's favorite pinball moments of 2024
high confidence · Don Garrison, direct answer to question about favorite 2024 pinball experience
Notable Quotes
“This doesn't feel like work for me. This is fun for me, so I'll keep going. I did a live stream last night. I just did one this morning.”
Don Garrison@ 1:58 — Reveals Don's motivation and work ethic driving his rapid podcast expansion and community engagement
“I put as many games on venom premium in three months as i put on foo fighters all year”
Don Garrison@ 8:49 — Indicates Venom Premium's superior gameplay engagement compared to Foo Fighters, a significant player experience signal
“The flow is real with this game... The flippers are strong. The ramps are all reachable. Upper right flipper into the inner loop, into a subway that goes to a VUC to the outer loop orbit that goes right back to the same flipper, so it's repeatable. It's fun, man.”
Don Garrison@ 19:22 — Detailed gameplay assessment of Spooky's Looney Tunes layout quality and playability
“i'm hopping back and forth giggling to myself what we don't know is what's going to happen these games you know six months down the road of heavy play”
Don Garrison@ 21:18 — Acknowledges uncertainty around long-term reliability of new designs despite positive first impressions
“they're spending money for good costumes, for good concepts. And then somewhere along the line, it's going sideways into here's a lunchbox and here's a refillable pint glass. That floored me when I heard that.”
Don Garrison@ 13:35 — Criticism of LE packaging and marketing strategy, questioning value proposition
“i'm liking this other rumor of them doing a new ground up metallica game with expression lines um black album uh i'm i'm looking forward to see if That rumor is true”
Don Garrison@ 21:43 — Introduces unconfirmed Stern Metallica project as major anticipated release
content_signal: Don Garrison has established Don's Pinball Podcast as a major media hub with 200+ episodes, 2-3 weekly releases, and consistent Patreon support. The host notes Don's rapid rise and ubiquitous presence at pinball events, suggesting strong community demand for accessible, enthusiast-oriented content.
high · Host commends Don's tireless work: 'you're somehow like I think you have a teleporter or transporter you just show up in pinball places and you're doing awesome stuff for the community'
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product_strategy: Stern's strategy of re-releasing limited edition variants (Black Knight toppers, Jurassic Park Blood Red/Super LE, Elvira black-and-white edition) is creating secondary market fragmentation and eroding collector confidence. Don views this as hurting secondary value retention and creating tension between original LE buyers and new buyers.
high · Don on LE reruns: 'that would be my grievance is like i like of course you have to make money... this hobby is expensive enough that really hurts the secondary value'
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gameplay_signal: Spooky's Looney Tunes demonstrates superior playfield flow and layout design compared to Scooby-Doo. Key features include strong flippers, reachable ramps, repeatable shots (upper flipper to inner loop to subway to outer loop orbit), and robust servo engineering. Don reports playing ~12 games on each title back-to-back and finding Looney Tunes consistently more enjoyable.
high · Don: 'The flow is real with this game... The flippers are strong. The ramps are all reachable... it's repeatable. It's fun, man. It's fun.'
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product_concern: Scooby-Doo's servo-heavy apron design may require elevated maintenance burden for commercial operators. Spooky addressed this in Looney Tunes by using more robust servo models and eliminating problem components from past designs, suggesting previous reliability issues with servo-based mechanisms.
Topics
Limited Edition Pricing Strategy and Secondary Market ImpactprimarySpooky Looney Tunes vs. Scooby-Doo ComparisonprimaryRumored Stern Metallica Game (Black Album)primaryDon Garrison's Rise in Pinball MediasecondarySecondary Market Game Sales and Customization EconomicssecondaryVenom Premium Gameplay vs. Pro/Foo FighterssecondaryCustom Cabinet Modification Services (Powder Coating)mentioned2024 Pinball Industry Outlook and Manufacturer Trajectoriessecondary
Sentiment
positive(0.78)— Don expresses enthusiasm for the pinball industry, community engagement, and specific games (Looney Tunes, Venom Premium). However, he voices clear frustration with LE pricing strategies and the impact on secondary market values. Overall optimistic about 2024 releases and industry direction, with constructive criticism focused on business practices rather than personal negativity.
Transcript
groq_whisper · $0.073
0:00
Well, all right. Let's keep this train a-rollin'. Merry Christmas. Yeah. This time we have a pair of balls that have not been on the show before. I think a lot of... Yeah, thanks. A lot of you have probably gotten to know his balls better than I have, but let's go. Twelve days of balls. We continue down our road. And let me say it, please. Fuck you. Next time, this is my show, so stop it. Yeah. 12 days of balls let's go let's talk to don from don's pinball podcast a fellow wisconsinite
0:36
all right well hey don welcome to the pinball party podcast 12 days of balls I'm so excited to be here I can't wait to meet Meth Hang on, lick my 12 days of balls You don't want to Be careful what you wish for, that dude is a prick Eat shit I think he's like me, just misunderstood is the thing
1:08
Yeah, he's misunderstood Yeah, but the difference is You seem, at least from From what I can see from afar, a nice guy Meth's a piece of shit So that's a big difference My ruse is working though That's good feedback for me, thanks Yeah. Well, yeah, dude, you are just taken off in the pinball media world. And you seem to be so enthusiastic and I don't know how you do it. I can't. I go like a week of like, oh, yeah. And then I'm like, how do you do it, man?
1:41
I don't know. I mean, everybody has their cycle. Right. But, you know, I don't record when I'm in a bad mood. So I guess that helps, you know, but some news drops, something's going on, some kind of speculation. and I'm like, dude, I want to talk to everybody about this. So I just fire it up. I'm blessed this doesn't feel like work for me. This is fun for me, so I'll keep going. I did a live stream last night. I just did one this morning. I just interrupted it. Yeah. These 12 Days of Balls, I should say, are a little shorter than normal.
“I could have got another five 600 but i would have had to wait i just wanted it to go it sold to a local guy in town him and his kid are like overjoyed”
Don Garrison@ 17:04 — Shows Don's values prioritizing community relationships over maximum profit on secondary market sales
medium · Don: 'scooby's loaded with uh you know it's got the servos on the apron... that may require more maintenance than a location would be ready to deal with'
?
machine_intel: Stern is rumored to be developing a new ground-up Metallica game themed around the Black Album with Expression lighting integration. Don has industry contacts suggesting this is credible but unconfirmed.
medium · Don: 'i'm liking this other rumor of them doing a new ground up metallica game with expression lines um black album uh i'm i'm looking forward to see if That rumor is true'
~
sentiment_shift: Don initially disliked Venom Premium at release but it has grown on him significantly. He now plays it more than Foo Fighters and attributes this to gameplay depth (character unlocks, mode variety, interactive elements like Spider flips). This suggests positive code updates or improved familiarity may have transformed initial lukewarm reception into enthusiasm.
high · Don: 'i was mad at that game when i first got it but it really grew on me... i put as many games on venom premium in three months as i put on foo fighters all year'
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design_philosophy: Spooky's design approach for Looney Tunes reflects learning from past production issues by simplifying servo complexity, improving robustness, and removing failure-prone components. This suggests a conscious shift toward operator-friendly reliability over feature-rich complexity.
medium · Don: 'they've gone for the more robust ones that they haven't had problems with with Polybean Ultraman. You know, those tiny little ones that are for model aircraft that are built to fail and be replaced are kind of left out'
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collector_signal: Collectors face risk-reward tension on LE purchases: hold for potential appreciation vs. accept depreciation risk when variants are released. The secondary market is increasingly volatile as manufacturers leverage FOMO to drive new sales, with examples like Black Knight toppers dropping 50% in value post-rerun announcement.
high · Don discussing LE dynamics: 'The people that got the Jurassic Park LE initially, they've had it for years and have been able to enjoy it. So I guess you're saying if you would have just denied yourself that enjoyment for that many years, you could have got this other new edition.'
?
business_signal: American Pinball's viability in 2024 is uncertain. Don lists them among manufacturers to watch but frames it as a question ('if they hit a home run with Food Truck'), suggesting investor/community doubt about their trajectory despite the anticipated Food Truck release.
medium · Don: 'I can't wait to see if American Pinball is hanging around this year or if they hit a home run with Food Truck'
?
event_signal: TPF (Texas Pinball Festival) and Expo are expected to be major announcement venues for 2024 product reveals. Industry insiders plan significant information drops at these events, with Don specifically mentioning Metallica as a potential wink-wink reveal opportunity.
medium · Don: 'we're going to have a lot more information once we get there we'll all be together again TPF and a little sprinkle of maybe Metallica on the side maybe, wink wink'
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community_signal: Don identifies powder coating as an example of secondary market-driven price gouging on customization services. Collectors on Pinside pay $400-$500 while local operators in Stevens Point, Wisconsin offer the same service for under $200. This signals opportunity for cost arbitrage and potential dissatisfaction with customization service pricing.
high · Don: 'All those people on Pinside paying people like $500, $400 don't... if you just talk to someone locally under $200, it is easy. Locally, they do it for like $150.'
?
product_launch: Stern's Jaws is anticipated for January 2024 release with strong community anticipation. This represents a major IP-licensed release expected to drive significant early-year sales and industry attention.
high · Don: 'everybody is looking forward to jaws you know probably that's going to be you know released and in our home starting in january'
2:12
Some other time, let's get together more. I want to learn a little bit more about you in depth some other time. but Merry Christmas to you and your family I guess I don't know you have a family, you have a wife, right? you have kids? yeah, wife and kid, 12 year old, yeah, it's going to be great yeah, there's always this lead up to Christmas and we're like, is it here yet, is it here yet everything's great, everything's white and frosty Christmas happens and it's like, hey, guess what the real gift was two more months of this cold nonsense with absolutely nothing to look forward to well, yesterday it was like 40 degrees
2:43
right, I was in a t-shirt, it was great yeah, you know, I didn't have pants on I was outside, you know, taking a swim in the lake. That's Wisconsin for you. Whereabouts are you in Wisconsin? Right in the dead center. Like, I'm adjacent to Stevens Point, West Virginia, Wisconsin. It's about 90 minutes upriver from Madison. Just right there, right there in the middle. 90 minutes from District 82, 90 minutes from IO Arcade in Madison, you know, three to MSP, three to O'Hare. Yeah, so I have family in Wausau, and my parents went to college in Stevens Point, U.
3:17
I went to college actually in Wausau for like a year. All right. Yeah, just in Marathon County for like music theory, and I was like, no, don't want that. All right, let's get on to that some other time. This is the time to get to know your Christmas balls, if you will. So let's get right into it. I got them decked out and dipped in glitter, so let's go. I can see it. Everyone, yeah, if anyone wants to know, he has no pants on, balls dipped in glitter. It's disgusting, but I appreciate it. It fits the theme of the show. So do you believe in aliens?
3:47
Absolutely. Positively. Lutely. Are you kidding? Of course. With an infinite amount of possibilities and an infinite amount of expanding expanse out there. Of course, there's something, whether it's fungus on a rock or some rock aliens chasing the Foo Fighters. Totally. Hmm. Do you believe in ghosts? No, I believe in the band Ghost. I've seen them materialize in front of me a few times. I believe in sweeping. I believe in music. so in that sense yes um in the sense are there you know metaphysical spirits around no but are
4:21
there things that people can't explain yes those things probably exist only within the minds of the observer probably so right depending on your definition of ghost yeah i think any sort of well for me it's like anything that'll freak me the fuck out at night which um what is that thing is it wisconsin or michigan maybe you'll know because you're a local there's like this like the floating two lights thing do you know what i'm talking about no no but i come from the land of mothman in west virginia so there there's local legends of of these you know supernatural
4:52
creatures um they take different forms i guess depending on you know your cheese intake level meth maybe you know we don't know yeah he came out of nowhere well he didn't he came out of jeff and marty but um so you're from west virginia well i'm from a small coastal city in california called Los Angeles. Then as a part of a social experiment, I moved to West Virginia in my 20s because houses there were free. Then I fell backwards into various professions and then ended up pursuing higher education as a hobby. Then I ended up moving all over the place. I've
5:26
lived in the middle of Pennsylvania and Hershey. I lived in North Idaho. Right now, I'm parked in the middle of Wisconsin. It's awesome. I'm adjacent to Wisconsin Dells, man. I like roller coasters and theme parks, so this is not a bad place to be. No, it's not. And then you mentioned earlier, geographically, we're close, especially for pinball. You couldn't ask for a better spot. This is it, man. And we're not like... I see the machines behind you in Wisconsin. You could leave a pinball machine in my front yard. No one's going to take it. Chicago, they might shoot you in the head for it, but eh.
5:56
California, somebody would move into it and claim squatter's rights, and you never be able to get them from your coin box And they would They piss on it They shit on it And they would be theirs Yeah What is your favorite Man challenge yourself if you can answer this because you seem to God, you're all over the place with pinball this year in a good way. It's not insulting. What is your favorite pinball thing this year? Can you narrow it down to one thing? Oh, gosh. It's the people and the friends that we made along the way. um but next to that it was it was chicago expo and then probably pinball olympics holy garbage
6:30
that was amazing i went to that yeah i was told i should go and i said heck it let's let's waste part of a saturday and check this thing out and i'm still processing what exactly occurred while i was there but it was you know as somebody with a passion for the absurd it was it was right at my wheelhouse man what is uh speaking of absurd possibly do you have a favorite quote real monster uh lochmiss monster sasquatch yeti chupacabra no you know i mean off the cuff i
7:00
would i would just go with mothman because you know from west virginia as i did for as long as i did long enough to pick up an appalachian accent that i can use when it suits me um yeah hop on the four-wheeler i'm gonna tell you what i did we're gonna go up to get some biscuits my mamaw's got the sugars she's gonna take a nap i'm gonna run the sweeper and wake her up later um man that That kind of fits in Wisconsin, though, too. You know, the hick life that we live. Yeah, yeah. You didn't want a bag? Oh, that's Pennsylvania. Man, I'm a mix of everything that I've been drug through around the country.
7:31
You're the melting pot. Yeah, but supernatural creatures, let's go with Mothman, man. Okay. Do you have, and please enunciate your favorite curse word. Shit. Yeah, I actually get more traffic out of that than any of the other ones. you know, Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo, of course, is useful as a verb, adjective and just about everything else. But, yeah, it's like, what the shit? Yeah. It rolls off so great. And shit like really cuts through.
8:01
Yeah. And you can have, you know, the same word. It can mean something great and mean something terrible and disgusting all at the same time. You know, like that over there, that shit, this right here, this is my shit. Completely different. Yeah. and where would you put uh venom pro which which which shit would you use for the for the for venom pro that's underneath some some drippy corn shit yeah doesn't do it for me because the theme like i was excited for i think you were probably too
8:32
when it first came out again like you know things get announced like hell yeah this could be great and i was like yeah and i ordered it and then i canceled my order before it came out because i'm like oh yeah yeah now i went through with my venom premium order and i'm glad i did i was mad at that game when i first got it but it really grew on me and it was it's really fun to play i put as many games on venom premium in three months as i put on foo fighters all year um i'd be null four times i unlocked all the characters i'm playing with hulk i'm doing the hulk smash uh spider cheeks flips out and you can hit his little dangly bits and all those things that i love about venom
9:05
premium are not on the pro you get a horseshoe which is horse shit and uh the only two interesting things in the pro are the longest captive ball in pinball at least since centaur and the middle ramp from mandalorian yeah like doppelganger comes up and it's just an insert light what am i supposed to do with this change your character change the rules what are you doing stern yeah not great good attempt they have it locally i've played it twice each time i've played no the first time i played i played it all the way through second time second ball i'm like well i i don't i don't need
9:38
to keep doing this. I'm just going to walk away. I noticed all the powder coating back there. Do you get it done locally or do you send out for it? I do now. I started sending it out for multiple hundreds of dollars because I didn't know any better. And then I've since sourced the powder myself. I source a powder coater in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. And I do the coin doors, the shooter housing. I do the speaker panel and I can do the whole thing for under $200. Yes. And that's partly why I was going to ask it just in case you didn't have one. Yeah, we have a local in Eau Claire. All those people on Pinside
10:10
paying people like $500, $400 don't. That's how it started. If you give me $500, send me the stuff. I'll do it for $400. Yes. Don and Jason from Pinball Party and Don's podcast, we will both charge you $200 to barely do any work. But yeah, if you just talk to someone locally under $200, it is easy. Locally, they do it for like $150. And all you need to do, if it's stern people, just bring it there they can like basically blast it to get it ready for the powder coat no big deal if it's
10:40
ballywilliams something you can't bring them chrome you have to bring something raw which you can get on like pinball life and all that just yeah i get the lollipop rails from pinball life the angled ones yeah and just bring in the bare metal or i got a guy i've sourced in barcelona that can laser cut anything you want so you like le armor you can get it do you have a pinball plating guy i don't i don't yeah like for chrome you mean yeah or for like lord of the rings brass That's the only thing. Oh, right, right, right. Okay, moving on to the questions.
11:11
How much do you bench? 240. Shit, man. Nice. You know, when I train up a bit, you know, I can throw up 225 all day. But, you know, max 240, 245 is like the most I've got. Hell yeah, man. I'm trying to – I'm 5'7", 140 pounds. So for me, like when I'm doing like 3x8s, I'm benching like 140. I'm trying to get to 200 in my small size, but I never push strength. I'm always doing volumes. So I'll do the like – I'll try to do strength and then I get like, oh, I didn't do enough volume because – I don't know.
11:44
Any weightlifters or like gym rats out there, like you get very hard on yourself when you do certain things. And I can't convince myself to sometimes do lower volume for strength. And I'm trying that now. So I want to get up there. In high school, while everybody else was successful with or trying to be successful with women, I went to the gym during lunch Did you All day all lunch That what I did And then I started doing weightlifting competitions in high school started getting medals with it And so you know you get your routine and then you get your buddies together cause you need spotters And then we would try to
12:16
max out each day and just try to push forward another five pounds. And so I got up to two 30 in high school as my max, which was dope. And then at 40 something years old, I went and beat that. So that was great. That's awesome. I'm jealous. And I wish I would have done that in high school. What I did in high school was smoke a lot of pot and cigarettes and skip class and play in punk bands. Hindsight's 20-20. I don't regret a second of it. I think I would have swapped places if I could. I didn't have a choice, so there I was in the gym.
12:47
Oh, dude. At least you got that. Then I got a skateboard, a set of drums, and some blue hair, and it picked up from there towards the end. There was an upward trend through high school. Okay. So I have a question on here. you can either answer it now or wait a couple. It's air a pinball grievance. If you got one off... What the hell did you possibly think about? When I asked Zach many of this, he was like, oh shit, that's a loaded gun. So he needed a couple seconds. So if you want to think about it, we can go back to it in a little bit, or if you got one off the top of your head,
13:19
please air it. Just because I don't want to rehash Zach's brilliant performance there. Let's go with demanding $16,000 to $17,000 for the GTF Signature Edition. I'm grieving over that. Refillable pint glass. That got me, man. Slick marketing. They're spending money for good costumes, for good concepts. And then somewhere along the line, it's going sideways into here's a lunchbox and here's a refillable pint glass. That floored me when I heard that. $16,000 for the refillable pint glass.
13:51
on that same note how do you feel about um the like jurassic park super le the elvira new lipstick i don't even remember what it's called stern doing this you know basically kicking the previous le buyers in the balls at least from secondhand market as you and i both do quite frequently yeah i i that would be my grievance is like i like of course you have to make money i think the Blood Red Edition looks awesome and the Jurassic, it looks awesome. It just feels as
14:24
the only thing, this hobby is expensive enough that really hurts the secondary value. But that's my opinion. What do you think of the whole? So let's say you, there's two groups of people, right? Those that had the Black Knight topper for resale and those that wanted it. And then they just announced that they're rerunning them for $1,500 and they were going listing for $3,000. So if you were holding on to one of those $3,000 ones and then they announced that, you think that sucks. If you were looking to buy one of the $3,000 ones and they announced it, you're like, this rules, right? So it's kind of equal across
14:56
there. There's always this, I have this thing worth money. Should I list it now or should I try to hold it and get more later or whatever? That's the risk that you take. The people that got the Jurassic Park LE initially, they've had it for years and have been able to enjoy it. So I guess you're saying if you would have just denied yourself that enjoyment for that many years, you could have got this other new edition. And I think that kind of goes for anything. If I didn't buy an Elvira 40th anniversary edition for $25,000 when they came out, I could have got one for $18,000 last year.
15:27
So yeah, I could have waited and got it cheaper. And now they came out with a 1299 black and white edition. That looks phenomenal. Gosh, so good. It's so good. You got to see it in person, man. The pictures don't do it. The sparkle on the red is amazing. um so you know they're not going and rerunning well they did with jurassic well it wasn't the same they changed it a little bit um i don't think it was worth worth the price i mean you know with the brown powder coat and some cabinet graphics that um you know with some doing you can get
15:58
something similar to that anyway i don't know again two hundred dollars we didn't have to buy it you know they put it out there they all sold so yeah what is uh on that note what is your your biggest loss on the secondary market? Like something you bought, like, oh shit, shouldn't have done that. Like an LE or you pimped the shit out of something and then sold it too much. I know that your recent Foo Fighters was probably not the biggest, but you know. I sold that for $8. Bought it for the $9,600 or something,
16:28
whatever it came out with. Paid Michigan Pinball Refinery $500 to ship everything back and forth and get the lollipop rails and stuff. Paid some guy $400 for a Led Zeppelin Expression light kit and put in there you know but i had this game when it came out it was like i got it quick from mad pinball um i had expression lights in it so i didn't have to wait on that um i put the glow rubbers in there and i put pin stadiums in there that i sold already separately so i had killer foo fighters experience like from day one in my house you know and and so maybe that cost me
17:00
three thousand dollars you know yeah um but then i i mean i probably could have got another five 600 but i would have had to wait i just wanted it to go it sold to a local guy in town him and his kid are like overjoyed that they're getting this game i have to live stream it so that was probably my biggest loss now that i've had um but you know it's kind of a cost of doing business um we should um now that we kind of have each other's contact info if you know selling games all that kind of stuff i'll keep you abreast of like oh you know this thing or you know anyone that kind of stuff
17:31
doesn't happen often, but sometimes it's better to do. I'm with you. I'd rather price something rock bottom and just get it out of here, work with people I know instead of the game of just getting low balls or dealing with pricks. I got a fair price for where the market is right now, and that's kind of what I wanted to get. I didn't want to get what I put into it. Whenever I sold it, I wanted to get a good price for the market. If the market was up, fantastic. If it's down, at least I still got a good price for the market where it is. Yes. Your point of view is too positive. We've got to move on. I can't have that.
18:02
Sure. What do you want for… I can control over the things I have control over right The things that are out of my reach I mean I could stress about them or drink a Diet Coke and go throw some balls at some dinosaurs or something Yeah Either in pinball or in real life What do you want for Christmas this year Ooh. Let's see. You have your two front teeth so I don't think you need those. Probably a pizza oven. Like a legit stone pizza oven, 500 degrees. Throw some Neapolitan pies in the backyard.
18:34
Probably a piece in Gaza but also pizza. No, I would say pizza. I was going to make some pizza today. I think that's convinced me. All right, 2024. I'm going to ask you what you're looking forward to most in 2024, and please answer it. But before you answer that, let's just briefly talk about Looney Tunes because you've seen it in person, and I'm just creaming over that from afar. I played the heck out of it. How is it? Oh, man, no hyperbole. The flow is real with this game.
19:05
and I was really like, am I standing at Spooky right now with the way this thing's flipping? The flippers are strong. The ramps are all reachable. I can't wait for other people to play it to see if I'm just completely in my own head with it, but this layout is great. Upper right flipper into the inner loop, into a subway that goes to a VUC to the outer loop orbit that goes right back to the same flipper, so it's repeatable. It's fun, man. It's fun. They got the lock from Shadow to throw the ball through the door yeah taz is right there and the whole when you start a mode it's they couldn't haven't done any
19:41
streams of this yet but the cartoon starts playing like what seems like in its entirety the whole time you're playing whatever mode i like that so my wife was standing behind me and like you know like duck season rabbit season came on she's like don't train i want to watch this cartoon and you have okay so you have scooby behind you yeah and you know in a vacuum i know you just played looney tunes once i've played scooby i've dealt with some of the problems with it i think it looks fantastic i think it actually flows pretty well it's a little floaty in the upper play field and and whatever i'm at heart rooting for spooky as a company because you know wisconsin
20:12
and all that i just want them to just smash it out of the park with this one looney tunes versus scooby-doo what's your gut reaction uh looney tunes feels a lot more solid um just you know from from structure from getting your hands on it um you know it it it didn't feel as look at this like scooby's loaded with uh you know it's got the servos on the apron you know little things And I'm like, that's cool, but it may require more maintenance than a location would be ready to deal with. And I think their approach to this new layout is to look at what's worked for them in the past,
20:43
look at what's been problematic in the past, and try to get rid of the problem things so they don't occur. The servos that do exist on the new layout, I've asked them this, they've gone for the more robust ones that they haven't had problems with with Polybean Ultraman. You know, those tiny little ones that are for model aircraft that are built to fail and be replaced are kind of left out. uh so um it just feels like it's a more solid like the engineering is leveled up um and every little little little tiny little bits each thing leveled up with them for these new games is how
21:14
they feel when i was playing them and i put a dozen games on each one i'm just hopping back and forth giggling to myself what we don't know is what's going to happen these games you know six months down the road of heavy play you know we'll find that out with time but from the jump yeah i was i was happy with these man i can't wait to get them okay so what are you looking forward to most in 2024 in the world of pinball so i was thinking about this in the shower today lathered up and everybody is looking forward to jaws you know probably that's going to be you know released and in our home starting in january but i'm liking this other rumor of them doing a new
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ground up metallica game with expression lines um black album uh i'm i'm looking forward to see if That rumor is true. I would love that to be true. I, you know, it's like you have contacts, you hear things, you say things you don't want to say too much. Yeah, the rumor seems, you know, but yeah, me too. I would say that that possibility. And even if that rumor doesn't come out, there's going to be two more games from Stern this year. I can't wait to see what those are.
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I can't wait to see what the December release next year from Spooky is going to be. I can't wait to see if American Pinball is hanging around this year or if they hit a home run with Food Truck I'm looking forward to going to Expo and TPF let's go with TPF for now we're going to have a lot more information once we get there we'll all be together again TPF and a little sprinkle of maybe Metallica on the side maybe, wink wink alright man, I got to get to a meeting soon everyone out there
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go check out Don's Pinball Podcast you know how to get podcasts go check out his Facebook, you're always doing streams just killing it, you're somehow like I think you have a teleporter or transporter you just show up in pinball places and you're doing awesome stuff for the community, you're showing stuff early yeah, check out his Facebook page, Don's Pinball Podcast give me a follow so you don't miss the live streams I'm giving away a Godzilla banner to a Patreon member today, there's still time to get in on that for 5 bucks email me at donspinballpodcastgmail.com, I got stickers, I got holiday t-shirts I really want to have
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the best or most diverse gear in the game. Even if the podcast is terrible, you're going to like my stuff. It's not terrible. Yeah, go get his stuff. Your art's awesome too as well. All right, dude, thanks for letting me get to know your holiday balls. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thanks for joining, and we'll talk to you later. Thanks, man. Appreciate it.