Would it kill you to smile? Let me occupy your mind. Went a million miles an hour, and it fucked up your D-side. Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up. Oh, happy Friday, everybody! Is today gonna be the Friday that Stern Pinball finally releases the worst-kept secret in all of pinball? Pokemon! they always do the Friday teaser where they confirm the theme and then the next week the game is out. I don't think it happens today. I'll tell you why. I don't think it happens because I reached out to George Gomez because I saw the post by Texas Pinball Festival, a completely inaccurate statement. They said that Stern is going to debut its next cornerstone game at Texas Pinball Festival in like mid-March. That is not true. It may be the debut show where Pokemon makes an appearance, but the game will be out well before then. They need to take that post down or correct it because again, I just went right to George Gomez. I texted him. It's like 5.30 in the morning. He's like, Chris, this is not accurate. He also said he's filmed the marketing materials for the game. It is ready to go. He did say something about license or approval, George's two favorite words. But he also said internally that everybody is really digging the game. He said that it looks great in person. We hear this all the time, right? In person, the game looks amazing. I hope it photographs amazing. He also said he's got his fire suit on, ready for the content creators like myself. You know, he's ready for us. He knows we're going to have strong opinions about the game. And I said, look, George, I'm just excited to see it. You know, it's easy to have opinions. It's easy to say whether it's going to be good or not before even seeing a single damn thing about the game. It's going to be Pokemon. It's coming out any day now. Here's what I think the timeline is going to be. And when I think about it like this, it makes total sense. So think about it. We've got pinball at the beach, not this weekend, but next. George also did confirm for me that this game will not be at Pinball at the Beach. So it is 100% not going to be there. But I've heard from dealers that they are expecting delivery of Stern's next cornerstone game, Cough Cough Pokemon, February 11th. So now it starts to make sense. Why would you release the teaser today if you're not ready to do the game reveal next week? Because then everyone's going to want it at Pinball at the Beach. So it makes sense. So what I think they're going to do is this. I think they're going to time the teaser to drop the Friday of Pinball at the Beach. So they'll confirm it then. They'll get everybody talking. They'll steal some of the show's thunder with all the curiosity around the game. And heck, maybe they might even show some photos of it. I don't know. but then the full reveal will be the following week. It makes sense if you think about it. You don't want to put this game next to Beetlejuice. I mean that. Even though Spooky doesn't have any more Beetlejuices to sell other than the five spots Kaneda has, you just don't want to put it next to Beetlejuice. I don't think anything Stern makes is going to look like it's worth the money when you put it next to that $10,000 Beetlejuice. And there's going to be 10 Beetlejuice machines at the show itself. I think those are show games. Are they all sold? I'm curious to see what happens if those games are offered up at MSRP or if someone like Great American Pinball has them, changes the armor and charges like $17,000. Now, what's going to be fun about those 10 show games is they're going home with somebody. So no longer is Beetlejuice waiting for production. Production has begun. And not only that, in just a week, these Beetlejuice games are going to be in people's homes. I'm really excited to see the game, to see how the code has progressed, to know what this game is like to play. And we're going to get a lot of people who play those games at those shows. I hope they keep all 10 show games on and don't turn them off as they sell to customers. because that's one of the conditions of these show games is that they're there to be played by the public who is going to the show I understand if you drop like or on a game the last thing you want is it to be beat on a thousand times at a show But that should be a stipulation of a show game It doesn get turned off until the show is over. That should be the contractual deal with these show games. But in my experience, those games start to get turned off as those sold stickers go up onto the backbox. So as much as I was expecting the Pokemon teaser today. I am now starting to think it's going to be a week from today. George did say that he is not involved with the timing and the marketing release of the game. He does his video, but he's done that already. He said he's already shot the video. I do have a hard time believing that George doesn't know the timing. I mean, of course he knows the time. He's not going to tell me. He can tell me only oh so much. But I always love hearing from George. And you know, I take everything I hear from these manufacturers with a little bit of a grain of salt. You know, what's he going to say? He's not going to say, hey, Chris, man, we stripped down Jack Danger's design. Hey, Chris, man, this game's way too colorful. Hey, Chris, man, there's not many mechs in this game. You're going to make fun of it. He's not going to say any of that. I think every game they make, they're very proud of and they should be. And then it's up to us to decide whether or not we see the value. That is how this hobby works. So, okay, it is Friday, January 30th. It was a nice day to release the 30th anniversary of Pokemon on the 30th. It would have been a nice thing to connect to, especially since February, which is next Monday, is the 30th anniversary of Pokemon. So I think they're gonna hit the 30th. It doesn't really matter in their minds. Whenever this game does come out, they know they're gonna sell thousands of them. They don't see 1,000 Beetlejuice machines or 525 Winchester machines as a threat at all. They're going to make more money in one day on Pokemon than all the boutique companies have made all year, than probably even more than Jersey Jack has made with Harry Potter because they can get the games out. Remember, Stern, people sometimes forget this. When a game gets revealed, you give your deposit money to the dealer, and then they send that deposit money to the manufacturer. So the dealer hasn't even been paid yet. They don't get their money until the final game sale happens. And so it's a tough business. You know, that's why when you have a game like Winchester, it's like, where are they? The Beetlejuice is, it looks great, man. The line looks great. The games are going to start going out every week from now until the end of the year. And it's going to be exciting. I just want to see that same level of manufacturing efficiency over at Barrels. I don't like four or five month delays between reveal and manufacturing. I don't worry about games going out eventually, but we've seen some stuff that makes you kind of wonder what's going on. You know, the pre-ordering for the toppers for Dune, it does feel like cashflow is a little bit of an issue, maybe a big issue for a lot of these, a lot of these smaller manufacturers. And it makes sense. You got to pay the employees. You got to pay for the building. you got to do all this stuff. So I hope that game gets on the line soon. I don't think they're going to do two lines. And that's the thing is it might take them a few more months to finish all the dunes. And then I just want people to get their Winchesters. I've been saying this for a while. I think most people who bought one have never played it. And I just want more people to play it. There was an interesting post on Pinside about how modern pinball machines are becoming too complex, that you lose track of the ball too often, that the shots are too difficult, that the codes are too deep, that everything about modern pinball is becoming less appealing to why you love pinball, that people like a little bit more simplicity in their games. We hear all the time, you know, people screaming about wanting the final wizard mode in a game like Pirates of the Caribbean, and you're never going to see it. And I do agree that there is somewhat there is somewhat of a reality that as we're loading up these games, not just with software, but even with like shot geometry, that oftentimes it might not be satisfying to certain players if you can't see the ball often. So Lyman Sheets once said that what makes a great pinball machine is the ability to see the ball. He didn't even like subways. He didn't like the ball disappearing. And he also knew, not just from a design standpoint, but also from a software standpoint, it's really more enjoyable if the player knows the pathway to getting to things. And also those things should be obtainable every once in a while It shouldn be something that you never see for years And I think some of these modern games it gotten a little silly how hard it is to get to the ends of the game. You know, and then it feels like they want you to buy the additional topper for $1,000 to unlock the final wizard mode. It almost feels like it's the DLC we didn't want. They Trojan horsed it all into the accessory package. So, but here's the thing. You always get this argument like the older, simpler games were easier to appreciate, but then you buy one and you're bored right away. I mean, I own the Tales of the Arabian Nights and I can tell you right now, as magical as that game is with all the mechs, the disappearing magnet, the shooting stars, the genie, everything, the magic lamp, everything in that game mechanically blows away any modern stern. But after a week and you beat the game every time you play it, if you're a decent player, You are going to beat Totem every time you play it. You want to get rid of the game. There's nothing left to see. It's very shallow compared to what's in modern games. So I actually like that these modern games give you a lot. I like that. I think we should aim for that. I think you can pack a game and you can make it deep without being too complex. I think that's what I don't like. If a game is too complex and confusing on how to do stuff in the game, then that is frustrating. Then that gets old. Then that feels boring over time. You want to know what to do. And to do it, I need to do this. That's why I always say the one thing I hate about Guns N' Roses, as much as I love the game, I hate the patches. The whole patch thing, it's too confusing. And then you got to stack patches to unlock different things. It's stupid. It would be much more fun if Guns N' Roses only had eight patches. Because think about it. If you just had eight patches, then I could know what each one does. And if there's only eight, then you could pair two patches to unlock something. And I could remember that. But when you have like 35 or 32 patches in the game, it's too many. It makes no sense. And I still don't know. Right. This is what's sad about that kind of thinking. And this is why Keith P. Johnson needs to settle down a little bit is even after owning the game for a year. I still don't know. There shouldn't be a pinball game that you own for a year and you still don't even know what's going on in the game. And it's my only game, right? It's my only game. You should know how to play and what everything does in every game you own, whether you own one or 20 pinball machines. All right. So the other thing I'm hearing in the rumor mill, and this is going to be an interesting one because I've heard from two very reliable sources. What is the next remastered game? And we all thought it was going to be KISS, KISS, KISS. We saw KISS LEs go up for sale on Pinside. And now I'm hearing it's ACDC again. Because we initially heard it was ACDC. Then people said KISS, which made more sense. We don't need more ACDCs. And now I'm hearing it is ACDC again. And so what if they're both going to come back out? I think that's going to happen. I think Stern's going to redo both. Whether one is in front of the other, I do know this. I don't care about either of them coming back. I think I had many chances to get both of them. We've had so many chances to get ACDC. And I just don't like the remastered thing. I think if you're going to remaster anything, remaster stuff that's just impossible to get. I think Batman on the new platform would be fun to see. I think Ghostbusters would be fun to see. Lord of the Rings and Tron. It's like those four. And then if you really want to excite people, remake Simpsons Pinball Party. See, that to me gets really exciting. A game like that. Bring that back. Add some more code to that game. Put that game in a shiny new cabinet with a big screen. All of a sudden, get the clips from the Simpsons TV show. All of a sudden, why not, right? Why not? That is one of the most loaded Stern games of all time. So we'll see what happens over there. I'm trying to think if there's any more rumors floating around. American Pinball, what is their game going to be? I'm following all of their interviews. I'm seeing that they're doing a lot of talking. I'm excited that it's under new management. I have no ill will towards the new management team over there. I am keeping an open mind, but I really just want to see what they do. And I don't know how long that's going to take. It's probably going to be like six months. So they're going to do this little media tour and talk to everybody, which is fine. Again, great. I'm just happy it's not David Fix. Everybody is. I'm just happy it's not David Fix. I wouldn't be doing too much with the older games. But as I said before, I think they're just training the new staff with the old product. If you've got new software guys that haven't done pinball before, cool. We learn on a game like Galactic Tank Force If you got guys that have never assembled games before cool screw together some of these Oktoberfest or these Berrio BBQ challenges I know that they did not buy this company to be the customer service for the ideas of David Fix. They bought this company to move it forward, to get to the next chapter of American Pinball. And when that chapter arrives, I will, of course, love love love to talk about this stuff and see this stuff but until then I don't have anything really interesting to ask them right now if they want to like fly me down there and show me something they're working on under NDA I will take a trip like that and that's normally and in the world of gaming and I did gaming PR for many many years that's normally how companies handle content creators, it never ceases to amaze me how much content creators turn into salespeople for these companies on their own dime. Also, how much airtime they give these companies who don't even have any news. Hour and a half talking to somebody that hasn't even put anything new into the pinball world. An hour and a half. Even when I just do 20 minutes, it's like there's some news to talk about. They do an hour and a half and there's no news. There's no news whatsoever. And as we know in this hobby, it's really easy to have intentions and it's really hard to execute. Every challenge, every difficult thing that every boutique company has faced in the past, these gentlemen will face over at American Pinball. But they've got a lot of capital. They've got a lot of money backing it. Money is not going to be the issue. So this isn't going to be one of these things where they run out of money. This is going to be one of those things where it doesn't matter if you have money. You got to get the right talent. You got to create the right culture. You got to kind of try to emulate companies like Spooky and create that company vibe. So I don't know yet. I don't think any of us know. I don't know who the new American Pinball team is. I don't know who they've hired. Who's their designer? Who are their coders? Who is this company? It is forming as I speak. and so six months from now yes we will have a better understanding of who they are what their point of view is on pinball and i hope they crush it i would love to see someone like jack danger go over there i know stern has a non-compete so i don't think contractually he can go over right away but the people i'd be looking at and they must be looking at these people are the homebrew people you go around the homebrew area and you look at all those talented designers and those really fun games that everyone's making, there you go. You know, David Fix had that idea. I mean, that's why he got Ryan McQuaid over there at American Pinball. He just never executed. I do feel bad for the guy. I mean, he literally lost his dream theme Sonic because David didn't secure it properly. And then he makes Cuphead and he can't even release it. And now that game is in limbo. Contractually, who knows what the future is for that game? It may never come out. I mean, he's got to wake up every day in a little bit of a living nightmare. And there's nothing worse than the thing you love so much, pinball. And you get so close to the sun and you're so close to becoming what you've always dreamed of becoming. And it gets robbed from you because of bad leadership and bad management. That sucks. So I think it's going to be an uneventful Friday. This might be the only Friday pinball event that excites you. If there is a pinball teaser for Pokemon today, expect another show from me expect the game out maybe next week but i think it's going to be the following week so let's see if i'm right let's see what happens but it's going to be a really really exciting next two weeks in pinball we're going to get people jumping on some of these new beetle juices we're going to get the next cornerstone from stern and who knows if there's going to be another surprise that happens at pinball at the beach everybody have a great friday Get your butts at Kaneda's Saturday Morning Spectacular tomorrow. And let's chat more pinball when we wake up in the morning on the weekend. No work, just play. Kaneda out. Shawn Breaker