What can I say except you're welcome for the tides, the sun, the sky. Hey, it's okay, it's okay, you're welcome. I'm just an ordinary daily guy. I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said. So welcome everybody to the Saturday Morning Spectacular, November 23rd. Who would have thought? You know, on this date, this is the date that Chinese democracy came out like nine years ago. crazy. It was 2018 or eight years ago, whatever it is. I remember it because I launched the Dr. Pepper program and I remember them fumbling the free Dr. Pepper giveaway. And then the front page of the New York Times on Thanksgiving was that Axl Rose's lawyers were threatening Dr. Pepper. But you're not here to talk about that. We're here to talk about what I believe is one of the most fun weeks we've seen in a long time. We've seen Spooky Pinball release Evil Dead, and I'm not sure if it's sold out yet. It's going to sell out for sure. it seems to be a game that has rejuvenated a lot of people's enthusiasm not just in pinball in new inbox purchases in supporting a company that is building passionate products from the heart and i don't think i've ever seen a clearer example of that than this game than watching the video up here that Greg and Zach put together, this amazing featurette on the game. And, you know, there's a reason why you don't see a video like this, really. You know, like remember the Avatar one that cost $100,000 to make, right? So all of that polish did not equal a game that had heart and soul. This video did not cost $100,000, but I can guarantee you the game will have a lot more passion and soul, and you don't need a polished video to prove that. My little man here dropped his little sushi. Hold on a second. All right. So we're going to talk all about it. Yeah, it was 16 years ago. Gosh, Brian, thank you, man. I forget how long ago 2008 was. I can't do the math. It's nuts that there hasn't been a new Guns N' Roses album since then. So look, let's talk about everything going on in pinball because I think what we got this week is a shot, right? An adrenaline shot to all of us in the world of pinball. And it's the right thing at the right time, the right company with the right message. And I think everybody is really, really happy. And I think that's a really good thing. And I think if we think about, you know, where we go now in pinball, this is just what we want more of. We want themes that the designers are passionate about. We want a team that works on a game that really loves what they're working on and puts everything in it and isn't just answering an assignment. We want toys that interact with the ball. Toys that interact with the ball. There's not a single toy in Avatar. There's barely anything and John Wick. You know, I think we're just over the gaslighting from some of these companies that we should just accept what they give us because, you know, I don't know. Like, think about the amount of things that interact with the ball in games like Wizard of Oz, in games like Dialed In, in games like The Hobbit, in games like Pirates of the Caribbean, right? Then think about what interacts with the ball, right? A real interactive thing in the Godfather, in Toy Story, in Elton John, right? And especially in Avatar. And so I think everyone is at the point now where they're just over these empty games that are super expensive. I mean, it is crazy to me for $10,000. This game is $5,000 less than Avatar CE. How much is in the game? And it's a wide body. I didn't even realize it was a wide body until someone pointed that out to me. It doesn't look like a wide body, but that's exciting. And so I hope it shoots fast. I don't know how it shoots. There's always that fear with the wide bodies that they might be a little floaty. but I think this game, I think this game is going to be nothing but pleasure. And the more I thought about it too, I was like, look, I'm not the biggest evil dead fan, but I kind of want this game. I'll tell you the reason I want it. I want this game because I know the call outs are going to be so funny. So hysterical. It's going to be like the next Rick and Morty. And if you've ever played Rick and Morty, gameplay is atrocious. It's atrocious gameplay, but the call outs and the humor and the personality in that game are just incredible. You know, I love my guns and roses, but, you know, there's really not call outs in that game that make you laugh. I think they could have gone a lot further in GNR, especially with the explicit mode on making you laugh and saying crazy stuff. CD isn't a G&R album. We're not still talking about Chinese democracy. It's a phenomenal album, gang. Like if you listen to it now, after all these years, 16 years later, it's like a fine cognac. You have to appreciate all the notes in those songs and the fact that Axl actually cobbled together over 17 years those songs. They're just, I don't know, they're kind of special tracks. I wish there was more of them in the game, to be honest. There's some really kick-ass songs that are not in the game, in the pinball machine. All right, so how many of you out there ordered an Evil Dead from Spooky Pinball? Let me put up a little bit of a poll. Let me put up a poll here. I think I can do a poll. Start a poll. Did you order, did you order, did I say Rick and Morty Evil Dead? okay let's start the poll start it it's up um i um yeah i just think it's such a good vibe moment for pinball i think as people look at thousand dollar metallica le topper as people look at american pinball's inability to launch a new game as people look at avatar dead on arrival as people are trying to fix their X-Men's. What a good time for this company to hit with this game. And as I've always said this, and I say this to Cassie and I'll say it to Killian, I'll say it to each and every one of you. It's never a bad time to release a great game. And it's never a good time to release a bad game. And I think a lot of what we're seeing in pinball these days is proof of that. You could release Godzilla anytime. You could release Evil Dead anytime. You could release Jaws anytime. They're going to do fine. They're going to do just fine. Now, we haven't seen this game play yet. There are critics that it might be too much of a fan layout. It might be too easy. You know, I will say when you play some of the like Scooby-Doo, it's a very easy game. but I think you know I think this game is going to end up in people's homes for the most part I think it is going to bring joy and entertainment and I think it's going to be the new chapter in spooky starts now I've been saying this I think this company has had a lot of growing pains I think they've learned a lot I think they hear the feedback I think they want to get better I think they have gotten better and I think they care. I think bringing Christopher Franchi into the fold, so smart, so damn smart, like even on just a pure, this is maybe one of the most beautiful looking pinball machines I've ever seen. When you look at the topper with Franchi artwork, the whole package on this game is going to stand out in your lineup like nothing else. and that's a good thing. And it's 10 grand, right? 10 grand. And hey, there will never be more of these than a Stern LE. There will never be more of these than a Jersey Jack CE. These are gonna be very, very sort of, you know, scarce in a way. And the thing about it is, and I love that Luke said this. It wasn't Luke, it was Bug. So Luke, I'm gonna give you credit for something you didn't say. I love that Bug said this. We want to maintain the secondhand value of our games for our customers. What a novel idea that your company will do much, much, much better if people feel confident when they buy it, they're not going to see it for $4,000 less in just a few months. Hello, James Bond. Hello, Foo Fighters. Hello, every Stern LE other than Jaws and Metallica have lost four grand. Four grand. So if you bought Foo Fighters, James Bond, Venom, and John Wick, right? If you bought four Stern LEs, you lost $16,000 and maybe more than that. $16,000 if you bought four Stern LEs. And they just keep pushing the same strategy, the same products, the same number of LEs. It just doesn't work. It just doesn't work. And they seemingly just don't want to try anything different. They don't want to try anything different. Bug hired Francie. Yeah, it was like, you know, it's you know, it saddens me is it's November 23rd. And I was thinking about how awesome it would have been if we had the Twippies this year. How great of a year it would have been for people to come out and vote for all of these, like, interesting games. And it wouldn't have been a runaway. It would have been great to see X-Men versus Evil Dead versus Jaws. It would have been great to vote Franchi best artist because he would have won. Well, maybe not. Maybe the Metallica art on the Ellie's pretty damn good, right? That would have been a fun thing to see. And unfortunately, with all of the content creators and all of the energy in this hobby, we just don't have an ability now to recognize the best of pinball. And I do think we should find a way to get the Twippies back, or at least Greg and Zach should do their show and make it more of an open vote. That would just be the easiest thing to do if Colin doesn't want to do the Twippies again. Just open it up for everybody. Just get rid of the whole, here's like only insiders or content creators can vote. Franchi, you did it. I texted him personally that he crushed it. He crushed it. Different art on both sides. everyone's going to have the same beautiful game. Trust me when I tell you this, everybody, get the butter cabinet. It is so nice and you will never regret having the butter cabinet. The only thing you will regret is not getting the butter cabinet. I understand if you're going to shove it into a lineup, you might not want the butter cabinet, but you're going to still want the butter cabinet. It's just nice knowing that it's there. You know what I'm saying? It's like, why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you? Just get it with all the bells and whistles. The topper, this $1,300 topper is really the talk of the game even. It's like it is awesome. It is absolutely awesome. Brenda's still in Ireland. She's on a flight right now. I don't even know what time she lands. Like the communication to daddy has been a little bit less than I would have liked. I think it's a test if I could keep this little munchkin alive. Are you going to keep throwing that on the ground? All right. Well, you know, he's doing – he's chill. He's chill. I tell you, my two boys, I named them – obviously, they're going to be the Peaky Blinders, and they're going to be badasses. This is Thomas Shelby here. Thomas Shelby is the chill, just stone cold, like you're never going to read him emotionally. He's just going to be a badass and get it done. um, Killian is, is Arthur Shelby, the older son, emotionally like, like his daddy, a prima donna. He's all over the place. He can't just relax. So I think this is going to be the boss man and he's going to keep his older brother Killian in line. Um, yeah. So look, lots of love for Franchi and no Franchi. Uh, he said, thank you back. So, you know, like everyone's getting along, everyone's getting along. The only one who still refuses to get along with Canada is Don's pinball podcast. You know, he, he refuses. He still got me blocked. He's got, he's not, I haven't blocked him. He's still blocked Canada's pinball podcast. So like when I was chatting with, uh, in the Facebook stream last night with Bug, I can't see anything that Don is posting. It's just, Don, brother, like, at some point, right, just bury the hatchet, bro. Like, seriously, like, I don't have any ill will. I just don't understand why he still will not do it. I think I know why it comes down to the whole, like, if I do this, like, what that signals to my followers. And it's like, dude, nobody cares. Everyone would just rather see people get along than keep feuds going. And I, again, like I I'm, I don't talk about you. I'm not saying negative stuff about you, man. Um, and look, I've patched things up with everybody. I mean, he is the only one that refuses to talk to me. It's just crazy. Um, anyway, if you know him, you should be like, look, it'd be a good look, man. It's Thanksgiving. It's the holidays. We're all parents. We're all just, we're all just like trying to get by in this crazy world. You know, the world's so expensive. I just got a fraud charge on my credit card for like $3,800, like some crazy BS charge. I'm like, well, that's, that, that's not me. Um, but everything else is so expensive. Have you, do you ever get your credit card bill now? And you're like, wow, wait, what, how did I spend like $3,000 in the last like four weeks? Uh, you know, getting drinks for the Tyson fight, my Manhattan's, just the alcohol, right? Just the booze, like Woodford Reserve, some sake, some cherry liqueur, Amaru, like just all the booze, $575. For booze to bring into the house. If you had ordered those drinks out, the bill would have been like $3,000 because every one of those Manhattans would have been $25 in New York City. Evil Dead has the best art package ever, ever said Mike Donk. When Donk drops a comment like that, I don't know. Is it the best art package of all time? You know, it's I think there's no answer to that. It's one of the nicest for sure. Has the art, wait, Evil Dead has the art package. Yeah, there is no word there. He's Lee. He left out the adjective. That's funny. Evil Dead has the art package ever. What does he mean Is it the worst art package ever Is it the best Donk what the adjective Where the adjective brother You didn you didn you didn you didn tell us We're all going to be waiting. Oh, it is the best. He just confirmed it's the best. No, it's good. It's good. It's like, it's like way better than Guardians of the Galaxy. If I could just, no, it's funny. If I had to rank franchise art packages, I would go – let's see. I would go Evil Dead. I would go Munsters. Then I would go Batman. I just think those three to me are my favorites. I know Batman, he had to do like a last-minute job on it. But, man, it's still such a fun-looking game, especially the SLE. But, look, Avatar art looks good, Ninja Eclipse. Like, it's been a good year for art. What it hasn't been a good year for are toys and mechanisms. It really hasn't been the best year there. I really do think Spooky Pinball is in such a beautiful spot. And I want to just thank the team over there for, I don't, just personally for making me excited about pinball again, because I was in a rut. I was kind of feeling like, man, these new in box games are all stupid. Like everyone's losing money and they are like, you know, this is not like Canada wakes up and says, I'm going to make up facts, right? I'm not making up facts that everyone who buys these new in box Stern LEs are losing three to $4,000. Those are just the data shows. I don't want to see that. I don't want to see Avatar when you ask people, like, what are the mechs in the game and there's nothing, and then Jersey Jack flies out there and tells us this is the most loaded game they've ever made. I mean, you've got to just remember, what are you telling me? Like, that's gaslighting me. If you're going to tell me that this is one of the most loaded games you've ever made, and I look down at it and there's not a single toy. There's nothing that interacts with the ball. You haven't engineered a single complex mechanism in the game. And then you didn't even get the UV light working. And then all the clips are muted. And then everything is coming at me in some foreign knobby language that nobody understands. You can't even understand what's on the inserts. And you play the game for a few hours and you're like, I don't I'm good like I just I don't even feel anything sort of like when you leave the avatar movies I don't ever need to see that again that's how you feel well you know look it is what it is and the sales are speaking right it's like Jersey Jack is not going to be able to sell that game for the next four months like it's just like it's over it's absolutely over and you know Harry Potter is going to be hopefully going to turn things around. It's not hard, Jersey Jack. Put toys in your games. Unmute the clips. And if you have all the assets, stop letting Keith P. Johnson F up your games. To me, this is Keith P. Johnson's got this way he wants to throw code at people and won't listen to any feedback. Okay, cool. Won't buy it. Won't buy it. I got to be completely candid, everybody. I love Guns N' Roses. The worst part of the game is the 35 or 37 patches. Stupidest thing ever. It makes playing that game so difficult. Like, even when you're just going through the patches, I'll give you an example of why it's so stupid. First of all, you can't memorize what each of them do. Nobody wants to memorize 35 different bonuses or attributes. And then what's annoying is when you're playing Guns N' Roses and you're in a song and you're trying to change your patch and you have to cycle through all these patches. Because remember, you've got to cradle the ball to do that. And then because you're cradling the ball and hitting the patch button, it then turns off the concert footage and goes to all the menu screens. it's so like it's like dude this game would have been better with just 12 patches just 12 patches like why why does there need to be a a bonus or not a bonus but just like why does there need to be like a a plus up for every single mode every single album every single song every like it's just like what is this anyway they still need to lower the price you buy jeremy how much did you buy your godfather le for how much did you pay because i mean i think those things are going now for like when they were 12 new i think you're you're walking out the door of the godfather le at like 7500 right i mean what you know i don't how much are you paying oh yeah we forgot about Franchi's art on Elton John. Yes, absolutely. It's great. Like the platinum art is by far the best. And once again, it's like, so Jersey Jack, you should have put Franchi's art on the CE. The fact that they didn't, again, it just goes to show me, knucklehead move. You've got Franchi on artwork. He crushes it. Make that the better version of the game. um eight thousand dollars for a godfather le and i think you might have overpaid bro dude you can get like c's now for nine you know that right 67 total plays the problem with 67 total plays man it's like i don't know like what is that just as much as you know that doesn't matter like none of this none of that matters you're you know the you'll get your dimples you'll get your this you're not gonna you know it's just I don't know like it it's it just doesn't matter also I wouldn't want to buy a game that only was played 67 times you know what that means it means the game's not good it means the game's not good how can you play a game 60s that I played Guns N' Roses yesterday 67 times in one day um no i mean here's the thing it's like it's like when um when the dust settles and and boy is the dust settling this hobby is sort of becoming a lot easier to see who's who's winning and who's losing let's do that right now who's winning in pinball and who's losing in pinball and i'm going to be pretty candid and you know because to me if i were to define what winning is in pinball is that you consistently are releasing games that are bringing people happiness that you ship your games to customers in a timely fashion that you have a you've built a brand that people really enjoy. That's part of it. You know, that you're transparent with the community, that you talk to the pinball community and listen to their feedback. And when you hear feedback from your customers, you incorporate that into future decision making, right? So let's go down everybody now and let's talk about who's winning and who's losing in pinball. OK, and I'm going to give you my reason why. And please, in the comments, let me know if you agree. Now, look, I'm going to just start off and say Stern is winning. They are winning, you know, on their terms. How long their win streak will last is my worry, because I think their win streak is over. I think Stern has become a little bit of a one-trick pony with Elwin. You know, Elwin represents 40% of their sales. And so, like, I'm a little worried that Stern Pinball, you know, they're sort of – they've made a lot of mistakes lately about themes. I think they've misread the community. I think they've focused way too much on Stern Army and location tournament sort of operator buyers, and I think they've absolutely abandoned the home buyer, the home collector, which actually makes up more of their sales. And I think they made a lot of really greedy moves and they burned a lot of longtime customers and they're now feeling the residual effect of some of those moves. Now, but I also still do believe that Stern has some of the best talent in all of pinball. They make some of the most fun machines of all time. I don't think you'd argue that. And I know they do care. I mean that. I've met with George and Seth and Gary and Jack and, you know, and I feel the passion over there. I think where Stern struggles is you remember like the volume they need to make and then the amount of games they need to put out a year, I think has turned that organization into a little bit of a churn and burn sweatshop versus a company that is taking their time to get it right, to catch the quality issues at the manufacturing level before they pass those on to consumers. And I also really have to wonder what the heck happened when they passed on back to the future. I mean, you really have to have everyone who was in on that decisions head examined. How do you pass on back to the future but make John Wick? And I know the answer is because Stern, much like Jaguar, Stern brought in a consultancy. This is the truth. they brought in a consultancy and they did focus groups on what games they should make to bring in the next generation of pinball enthusiasts this is this is a true story and when they put back to the future in front of them it didn't hit because they those kids aren't in love with it you really think that they put back to the future in front of john borg Keith Elwin jack danger and Brian Eddy and they were like, no, let's not do that. I think Stern used their consultancy. I think they listened to all the wrong people and I think they made a colossal mistake and they passed on what would arguably be probably their biggest selling game of all time. And I, you know, right now, I don't know if that deal is going to happen with Dutch. Okay. So Stern is winning. Stern is winning Spooky Pinball is winning I mean for all the obvious reasons Spooky Pinball as I've said I think they've done everything a boutique company should do I think they are good human beings and I think they care and I think they they just make you feel good about buying from them they listen to you they are getting better with each game I think they understand their strengths and their weaknesses, and I think they've made some really smart moves. I think bringing Franchi on board, so smart. And I think they understand that he's a very passionate guy like all of us Italians, and he's going to say stuff that might not be PC. But in the end, who cares? You're going to get a great product, and you've got a guy that's passionate. I mean, that's great. That's great. and he's got damn good talent. And I think Bug and Luke and the family over there and Hilton and Ben Heck and there's Mr. Franchi right there. I think they're having a good time. And I think when you're having a good time and you're selling machines and every game you're going to make is going to be spoken for, you're winning. If there's one area of improvement I would like to see from Spooky, it's a theme that is a take my money now theme. I don't think they've had that really I'm gonna say this I don't think they've had that ever I really don't not in the pinball buying demographic I don't think they've ever had a take my money now theme Rick and Morty was obviously the closest but even when Rick and Morty came out it wasn't like nostalgic it wasn't a lot of us you know be honest never really watched Rick and Morty. And so we got into it because of the game, but they've never sort of dropped a triple a theme. That's got nostalgia that triple a with us. You know, I don't mean like, like it's going to be matrix or top gun. I mean, it's like a nostalgic theme that is triple a through the lens of the buying demographic. And so I think they're going to get there. I think it's going to be an exciting two to three years for Spooky Pinball. And I know that they're not going to have like overhead issues and they're probably not going to have like tariff issues. And they're probably not going to suffer the pressures, I think, that, you know, Stern and other companies will feel. All right. So let's let's let's let's go back and forth. Some loser who's who's losing right now? Um, I'm not going to go into detail because I can't legally speak about it, but I will. I will just give you the initials A and the other initial is P. So they're losing right now. And you know all the reasons why. And that's all I'm going to say. If they want to if they want to get into the winners column, they need to release a new game. That's a winner. And that's it. That's they know they need to do that. I think that's a fair assessment. Continuing to try to sell people on old products that people don't want, it's just not a winning formula. And it's just not going to work out. Hold on. I'm going to get this guy. So AP not winning right now. All right. Let's do another company that's not winning right now. Who is not winning right now? Chicago Gaming Company. You know, this is this hard one, right? It's like seemingly you could argue either way for Chicago Gaming Company, but I think they're really in an annoying company. They're annoying. They're just annoying. They have no public-facing transparency. They used to make some of the best quality games. I'm not so sure anymore. They don't talk to us. They only they they they just don't. They just they take forever to get stuff out. There's no excuse. And I'm over it. And I think they're losing. I think they've lost. I think they've lost all momentum. I don't think people are enthusiastic about them. And I think they just they've just made everybody sort of annoyed. I think that's the only word I can come up with. I think you're annoying, Chicago Gaming Company. And you've made no moves, no moves whatsoever, to improve any of the things that annoy customers. You've made no moves to get products out faster. You've made no moves to have a marketing or social media personality represent your company. You continue to do absolutely nothing. you released like Cactus Canyon code like update but then you didn't release the update like you're still working on it after like three years you still waiting for a plastic topper to be molded we moved on Spooky Pinball just crushed that topper with this evil dead topper So Chicago Gaming Company in my book is losing And I think they've lost all, like, I just think they've lost all of their sort of fan base. I just don't feel like people care about them anymore. All right. So those are two losers. Let's go back to who's winning right now. Turner Pinball is winning. Chris Turner. nicest guy in pinball may all of us who have young boys raise them to grow up with the the kindness and the the jovial nature of that man makes me ashamed for some of my past behaviors i mean it his mama raised him right as as we would say in in uh in certain circles so he's nice guy right It came from the worst place imaginable, Robert Mueller's Ponzi scheme. That's where he came from. And what did he do? Did he try to bring out Raza? No. He sold Raza off to Melvin over at DPX. He sort of took what he learned, and he made a game to teach himself how to make pinball. And he offered 100 of them, and they sold out. and he's going to make them. And there's a lot of really interesting technology in those games. And if you look at the platform of Ninja Eclipse, sorry, if you look at the platform, I think he's engineered a really much easier way to make pinball machines, but you wouldn't notice it when you play the game, right? He's simplified a lot of the manufacturing process. And I think some companies are going to take notice of Chris's innovations. and I think he might even become a board manufacturer for some of these other companies that want to streamline their manufacturing, which is good. He's adding positive vibes into the pinball world. So Chris Turner, you are winning. Just get a theme we want next, okay? All right, who else is winning in pinball? I'm like thinking who's out there. There's a few that I'm like not sure which way I'm going to go on. Jersey Jack is losing. They're not winning. And Jersey Jack losing after like 11 years, they pain me the most. You know, because Jersey Jack is just like, they're like a, you know, they've got all the, all the resources. You know, it's like a kid whose parents gave him everything. This is Jersey Jack to me. This is the analogy. The parents who gave you everything. They gave you the best schools, the best opportunities, the best of everything. All you had to do was show up, use common sense, and put it together, and you would have been fine. You would have succeeded. You would have won. You would have won. And Jersey Jack, with everything in their favor, managed to destroy what that company stands for post Pat Lawler. Like it's crazy to me. I thought Lawler leaving that joint would have made them the best. I thought his negativity, his Gestapo tactics, his Lord Lawler, his ego and his inability to mentor and coach people there, I thought they would have got better after Lawler. And it went in the other direction. They just started yanking everything out of their games. Jack Guarnieri has continued to select themes that only appeal to him and they continue to code games in an overly complex way that makes them not attractive to casual players. They made Pirates owners wait six years, six years to complete the code. Six years. And I know these things in isolation may seem like no big deal, but it's not true. They are big deals because they signify a larger thing. They signify how much you care about the people who own your products. I mean, look how long it took them to upgrade the code for Guns N' Roses. they've got the their best-selling game ever in five to six thousand households and they slept on polishing that code and and they and they let gnr own even like yesterday i was playing gnr and i still for the life of me cannot understand why they can't with software update not make the game so stupid multiball heavy. It's still, I did all the adjustments. It's still, there's moments in that game where I just want to take a sledgehammer and just destroy it. Because I'm like, I want to just enjoy the beginning of patience or civil war. And like, you know, think about a song like Civil War. Like the game should feed you multi-balls based on like the energy and the moments in the song that build up to maybe some of that like insanity but when you start a like slow song where you just want to get into it right civil war is a great example and you're just flailing with six ball it's just it's so not fun and it's all fixable with code they just don't want to do it. And I think Jersey Jack has really doubled down on what you see is what you're going to get. And I think in their heads, I think they think they're making the best, most fun pinball machines on the planet. And in lieu of our feedback, which if they listen to our feedback, as a community, this isn't just Canada, As a community, they would be so much further along as an organization if they found a way to actually adapt and change some things and improve. And I'm just curious. I think the reason they don't is nothing's at stake. Nobody's accountable. Nobody's responsible. When you have endless money, you can do whatever you want. And they feel like that. They feel like everyone's an employee. I just want to end my Jersey Jack feelings with I still believe in them. I still believe in them. I believe in Eric Minier. I believe in Mark Seiden. I believe in Tom Capera. I believe in them. Ken Cromwell and Jersey Jack and Jack Winari and Brett Abbas. I believe they're tired of this. They're tired. They have to be looking in the mirror a little bit. How many avatars do we sell today? Probably not many. How many are we going to sell? Not many. Are we going to? No, we're not. Are we going to hit our goals? No, we're not. I think they have to be tired of games that are let's be honest they're flops Godfather was a flop Elton John has been a flop Toy Story 4 was like you know I'm sure they sold a lot but man a disappointment and Avatar is another flop you know so it's like five years of your lives like you haven't had a hit since Guns N' Roses so you know i think i think harry potter is going to be a moment in which if they win with harry potter and that begins the next chapter then so be it Steve Ritchie wants to work on top gun i don't think they're going to get the license he's not doing sonic the hedgehog and there's a really good chance his next game is not a music pin they have the matrix license The problem is they don't have any asset permission with that game. So, you know, if they make the matrix, it's not going to have assets like you need to make it work right. All right, so who's winning? Who else is winning in the world of pinball? Barrels of Fun. The name that we all made fun of. But Barrels of Fun is winning. I think everyone who likes the Labyrinth theme has had a great year. Like you got a Labyrinth pinball machine. Like that wasn't really going to ever be made by anybody else. I think barrels is one better theme away from really showing us what they've got. I talked to them yesterday and they're targeting spring of 2025 for their new game. It is going to be released outside of the window of Harry Potter. So I'm thinking Potter is going to be February, March. And then I think we're going to see April, May be Barrels of Fun's new game. I think it might be Goonies. I think there's a Goonies movie coming out next year. Um, and look, they're, um, they've got to raise the bar. Labyrinth was okay, but man, it didn't really have the toys in it, but they, you know, they sold almost everyone. They were slow getting games out, but I still think they're winning. Um, I don't think they're losing and I think they're just going to get better. So I, I put them up there as a winner. Who else am I missing? All right, so let's go to some harder ones now. Because I get to companies like P3 Multimorphic. Is it just Multimorphic and P3 is the platform? Winning or losing? I think Jerry's winning. I'll explain why. I think you're winning because people who buy your platform seem to be enjoying. it. I think Princess Bride is obviously your best game to date and people say good stuff about it. You're manufacturing as slow as can be, but you don't rip anybody off and you're pretty transparent on when people can expect their games. I want to put Jerry in the winning column. I could easily put him in the other column, but I think he's definitely, in his own way. He's achieved what he's wanted to achieve stubbornly. I would have never done this platform, but I think he's winning. Let's go to Pinball Brothers. So we've got ABBA, we've got Alien, and we've got what else? Is that it? Queen, right? Those three games. um you know like pinball brothers to me it's like you know i just i i just i i think they're more uh you know it's hard right it's hard because like they're not like winning or really losing in my book, they're not winning over people. You know what I mean? Like, are people converted over to the Pinball Brothers? Because again, like Alien was still just a remake of Andrew Highway's game. So if I were to look at what Pinball Brothers have done after Alien, I'd have to say they're losing. ABBA and Queen, like just not there, right? They're just not nearly the same caliber of what we're getting from other companies. So I would put Pinball Brothers in the losing column because I don't think they've gained followers and fans and collectors. I don't think they've innovated or elevated or brought to the marketplace a theme that people really want. And like the ABBA art package on the regular one is one of the worst mailed in lazy things I've ever seen. It's like if you don't take more pride in your own creations, how do you expect us to feel pride in buying them? So I think they've got work to do. I heard that Pinball Brothers has the license for Predator. I don't know if you guys know that I don't know if that's an exclusive I don't know if I should have put that behind the paywall but I heard that they have the Predator license now that's awesome and I hope they have Arnold because I thought that he's really hard to get his likeness but if they make Predator and do it right then they could be in the winning column but i think they need to get a good designer over there that people know and trust i also think if you make predator don't get lost in the world of uv lights because uv lights have been the dumbest false promise of pinball in 2024 for. All right. Who else is winning and losing? Let's go to, um, I mean, Home Pin's losing. I'm not even going to go into Home Pin losing. It's a waste of airtime. I know you don't want to hear it. Um, yeah, they're not winning. Um, Pedretti Gaming. I always forget like Pedretti Gaming is like out there, right there. They've done the Funhouse remake, uh, Pedretti Gaming. Remind, Remind me what else they've done so far. I'm forgetting something. Gang, you know this better than me. I know they do the Funhouse remake. Was that their first game, Pedretti? I want to say there was another game they made. But I will wait to see what you guys say. Well, the Worldwin, they've done these kits. you know but i i don't consider the kits to be really that like great you know um okay so i i think pedretti gaming and i mean i want to say i just i actually want to say i think rick and planetary are losing man i think rick has made like rick has taken way too long to get a lot of these games to market and I just you know and the 2.0 kits are not where they need to be and I don't know I just think Planetary you know they they got burned by Damien and Haggis they've been too slow to get the games people want like I think there's going to be some crazy hype when Twilight Zone comes out from Chicago Gaming Company I mean that's going to be a huge moment but again like you know you play some of these older games and they just you know they don't hold up against modern games they just don't hold up like the themes are a lot too shallow all right so dutch pinball winning or losing and do we separate dutch pinball from dutch pinball x this little man by the way is so good right he's like sad here you gotta you gotta remember he's been here an hour now just chilling out with his dodo and his daddy he hasn cried or lost his cool He so much easier I couldn do this show if Killian were here right now Killian would be grabbing at the mic, throwing stuff at my head, going nuts. Going nuts. Let's put the artwork on. So Dutch, winning or losing? I want to say, and I want to be honest here with Dutch, they are so close to being in the winning column. They're not losing, but they're at a crossroads. And I think Dutch is probably the hardest one, right? Because they got themselves out of the big Lebowski quagmire. They have the biggest license in all that pinball secured. They have the ability to make Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. They can make a boutique game for a year. say what you will about alice but you know it's going to keep the lights on for them for a year it's all up to barry and and you know i i know barry personally i know melvin personally and so i want to choose my words very carefully here dutch doesn't know how to do this and what I mean by that I just don't think they in 11 years have gained the experience of really what it takes to make a game make everybody whole on their order and then make another game and order parts for that second game turn the line over and while you're making that second game you're developing game three and four. I don't think they know how to do it. I don't think they've ever had to do it. And now they have to do it. And so when I think about Dutch, I don't know really if they have it in them. And what's crazy is, you gotta remember, if it wasn't for Alice, Back to the Future was not ready. Dutch Pinball would have been over. there is no other way around there was no game ready to go there was no game ready to go what Barry would have done because Big Lebowski orders are done people the games are now selling for $11,000 on the second hand market you're not going to get new 13-5 orders and my worry is they didn't have anything ready if Melvin doesn't design Alice in 12 months what did they have ready to go what they would have done is they would have come back out with their bride of pinbot thing you know and they they still have that they've got the brian allen bride of pinbot like and to me that's like these dudes tried to hock that thing on us like six years ago and here we are still no you know there's there's not like an awesome back to the future Whitewood that's behind the door right now. And they know that. And so to me, what winning for this company, what I would do is I would partner with Stern, make back to the future with Keith Elwin, get your royalty, use that money to go get another theme and instantly start development on the game that's going to come out after Alice production is done. Keep everybody busy with Alice for 2024 and then come out with like Blade Runner, you know, come out with another like Rambo, you know, come out with something that, you know, is available that you can get and make it. So that's – I think there's a pathway to winning for Dutch. I think what will be the most difficult thing for Barry to do is to not have an ego or to be overconfident. You know, it's the hardest thing for all men to do is to actually look in the mirror and say, I can't do this because I maybe am not as good as I want people to think I am. It's one of the reasons why I don't start an agency. I don't start a PR agency, a marketing agency, because I can't keep an agency running. I'm good at ideas. I'm not good at operations, but it's more of an operational job to run an agency. And so the moment I like, you know, I could be like, yeah, I'm good. Everyone's going to come to me and I'm going to create an agency and I'm going to be responsible for people's jobs and salaries and getting clients and keeping clients happy. If I had to do all of that, I would fail. It's just not what I enjoy doing. It's not what I'm great at. So that's where I'm at with Dutch. and you know for those who are saying barry make back to the future barry make back to the future right i guess the question is how much of big lebowski did barry make you know did he make all of it then sure back to the future should be no problem but maybe yop was responsible for a lot of Back to the Future, sorry for Lebowski, maybe Yop, you know, maybe Barry was in a different place. Maybe he had other help, you know. So, you know, as much as people say, Barry, this is your moment, you know, you can't fake it now, you know, because Back to the Future has such specific things people are going to want to see. and if you don't deliver those things, way more expectations than a game like Lebowski. And Lebowski nailed it, man. Nailed it. Like the mechs, everything. All right. So Dutch, I think I'm fairly calling them at a crossroads. I also just want to say thank you everybody for joining right now. We are at 101 people. We've been consistently over or around 100 people, which is better numbers than I was ever doing on Facebook. So I want to just thank each and every one of you for, for hanging out today, for migrating over from Facebook or Patreon. I do want to thank everybody for your support of Canada's pinball podcast. We had some members of the spooky family, some new members sign up for the podcast this week. So thank you spooky family. We've got now, I think everybody's subscribing to hear what I'm going to say about their new game. Hey, buddy, hold on. Let me bring him in. Yeah, I don't really care about Facebook that much anymore. I had to change a diaper. We had a little number two incident. Oh, look, most people are still here. I had to change a diaper. He pooed his diaper. um okay did i get everybody on the winners and losers should you guys want to look at i think is franchise still here should we should we just look at this game should we just go to hold on a second let's let's go to um let's look at this together because like this thing is just damn beautiful spooky pinball oh man leave my page pains me to leave my page worked can we see that can you guys see the screen um can you see it now all right wow like wow look at this game I mean, look at this thing. It's just, it's perfect. It's so awesome. It's so much fun to look at this game. I just, I don't think, Franchi, I don't think, I think the balancing is perfect. I think the the coloring I love you know it's like yeah like Metallica Premium is too green and boring like this coloring is so nice you just you did it let me go to another photo hold on let's see there we go what's the what's the second flipper button for is that for the lower play field I mean look at this thing I you know I just I think this thing is going to pop in a lineup it's for the sling flipper oh cool I mean I just love looking at this game. It puts a smile on my face. Let's go to some more. Hold on. Okay, And when we look at, I'm going to zoom in a little bit. I also just love the, I love the play field art, you know? And, you know, I told this to Melvin, the black apron on Alice is, you know, terrible. The way this art blends in with the whole game, and it just looks so damn good. I want one of these games, but I'm going to wait. Someone's going to mod the hand on the left to have the middle finger. I'm not sure if the game is sold out yet. I asked Bug this morning how many they've sold. He said, thank you, sir. okay they're around the 500 mark in one day which is great look that's where i think they would be you know 500 units in one day of an 888 i you know my voice just goes like i'm sorry but you know it's um but it also goes to show you gang it's like it's a tough market right now you know there's just so many people have um you know there's so many games out there and and you know And it's hard not to kind of wait and see where things sort of net out. But I think 501 day is a great day for them, and it's just going to keep getting better. Again, I think the word of mouth on this is super positive. All right, everybody, here's the deal. I know I took a pause. Can we all give Mr. Franchi a round of applause on his art for this game? How did we just get 140 people to join? Where did those 40 people just come from? Well done, Mr. Franchi. You and I have had an interesting history, brother, but, man, you crushed it. You're very talented. A round of applause for Bug and Luke. keep getting better keep making games for themselves but like they crushed it on this a round of applause for zach and greg who made another great featurette video that is going to make everybody want the game a round of applause for canada's pinball podcast the most humble pinball podcaster out there uh who's won six twippies in a row so many that they had to take down the entire award show because of his ego. A round of applause for Bill Brandes, who makes tens of thousands of dollars a day, but does not sign up for Canada's Pinball Podcast, which is $5 a month. A round of applause for whoever designed the Metallica LE topper, because it makes the spooky topper look like it's worth $5,000. Um, look, everybody, it's a, it's a, it's a great game. Like we just lost those 40 people. Like what happened? Did I just get put on like the front page somewhere where they all go? Um, everybody look, have a great weekend, have some drinks spooky crew and you know congratulations to Ben Heck and everybody over there I really mean it I think good vibes and positive energy is what we need a lot more of in pinball enough with the gas lighting enough with the empty games enough with the ripping people off enough with screwing over your previous LE owners like nope you know spooky pinball said they never gonna make more Rick and Mortys they never made more Rick and Morty's even though they know there's millions of dollars there they never gonna do it I'm sure Bug and Luke are like what did you do dad what the heck did you do why did you say that like if you just never said that we would still be making Rick and Morty's today thank you Chris glad to see everybody having this much fun around the launch well you know thank you thank you if it were up to me man we're up to me i'd be making games as like like like blues brothers from home pin that's that's that's my design talents on pinball so thank you guys um good week good vibes everybody be good sign up for canada's pinball podcast i'm not selling guns and roses i've it took me an eternity to get it up the stairs i still love gnr despite all of its disastrous code decisions. I mean that. Guns N' Roses is a beautiful game. It's so much better when you take away the fat. You know what I'm saying? Just let people enjoy the best parts of the game and cut out the fat, and the game would be so much better. Why did they even need all these multiballs? Why? Why do you need Pyro, Ant multiball, Light's multiball? Like why? Who who thought that every like we needed four different multi balls that you can start by just hitting a few switches a couple of times? Who? Why? Why? The game would just be better without any of that. Just collect the band members, get in the song. And if you get through the song, then you get to the mini wizard modes, which are awesome. The album modes are awesome. I just want to focus on that. I don't want all this other stuff happening. And then you you go through all of that, like pyro. amp, like all the four multi, they, they don't give you any freaking points. Like I get it like, Oh, they're just meant to help you advance. It's like, that's the problem with GNR in my honest opinion is like, instead of just enjoying and knowing what you're doing, you're just always flailing all day long, trying to, trying to randomly advance everything. And none of it feels skill-based. It just feels like, and it's all fixable. They could fix all of this if they just simplify the game more and, and amplified the moments that matter more. Just take away the frustrating stuff. There's too much of it. Oh, I did change the settings. I did. I, I, how many times do I have to change the settings? Can I just turn up all the multiballs? All right, everybody, be good. Love you. Kaneda out.