DPP #33 "Stern speculation, Batman 89!! and I got a Jerry Ramp!!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·24m 40s·analyzed·Apr 9, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Stern speculation, Batman 89 rumors, and Jerry Ramp mod review.

Summary

Don Garrison speculates on Stern's upcoming lineup (Venom, Indiana Jones, Jaws), discusses Dutch Pinball's rumored Batman 89 project, analyzes IP opportunities at Universal Parks as pinball themes, and reviews the Jerry Ramp mod for Rick and Morty by Interactive Pinball Mods. He also praises James Bond 60th and discusses Jersey Jack's production capacity post-Godfather.

Key Claims

Venom has been done for over a year and should have good code
medium confidence · Don Garrison heard this from multiple people in the pinball community; speculation based on consistent rumors
Foo Fighters was moved up in Stern's schedule, possibly due to album release timing
medium confidence · Don Garrison speculation; Foo Fighters came out sooner than Venom was expected
Indiana Jones movie releases June 30th, likely driving Stern's pinball release timing
high confidence · Don Garrison confirmed movie release date; standard industry practice to align game releases with movie marketing windows
Dutch Pinball is making Batman 89 with the original Michael Keaton film license
medium confidence · Don Garrison heard rumors about this; initially thought it was a remake of Data East Batman but revised opinion
Elvira LE is selling well at MSRP, indicating strong sales
high confidence · Don Garrison observing secondary market availability; seeing them available at distributor prices
James Bond 60th is an excellent game despite high price, with fun figure-eight shot and engaging multiball
high confidence · Don Garrison personal play experience at multiple locations; gave stamp of approval after 20+ plays
Stern made well more Elviras than expected
medium confidence · Don Garrison observation based on availability at MSRP across multiple locations
Jersey Jack is making CEs after LEs, unlike Stern who does both in parallel
high confidence · Don Garrison's understanding of JJP production methodology
The Jerry Ramp mod costs $170 plus shipping and comes from Canada in small batches
high confidence · Don Garrison direct personal purchase and installation of Interactive Pinball Mods product

Notable Quotes

“when there are consistent rumors like this, and this strong from everybody, they are probably correct, right?”
Don Garrison @ early in Stern speculation section — Establishes Don's methodology for evaluating industry rumors; suggests confidence in Venom coming next
“I'm melting caramel inside my mouth right now thinking about what an awesome pairing of like modern technology with an LCD without an LCD, but with call outs with assets and then seeing what Dutch pinball who created the big Lebowski, which is a great theme integration for that cult movie to do the same thing with a Tim Burton movie”
Don Garrison @ Batman 89 section — Expresses strong enthusiasm for Batman 89 potential; demonstrates knowledge of Dutch Pinball's design philosophy
“Bruh. I think I would be very interested in shooting that game.”
Don Garrison @ Batman 89 section — Clear enthusiasm for Batman 89 project
“What a great pinball moment that was for me. I'll probably never be able to replicate that unless I find a way to find a friend who has this so I can get another 100 games on it.”
Don Garrison @ James Bond 60th review section — Personal anecdote demonstrating emotional engagement with the Bond 60th game and its gameplay moments
“it fixes like the one drawback that i really have with the game is some of those shots are just too brutally difficult”
Don Garrison @ Jerry Ramp mod section — Identifies specific game design issue that the mod addresses; explains mod's value proposition
“I haven't seen many mods that do this. Uh, the ones that I have heard about people complain that, you know, this makes the game easier or changes how the game was originally intended.”
Don Garrison @ Jerry Ramp mod discussion — Acknowledges the controversy around mods that change gameplay difficulty; notes this is a rare approach
“So if you're a pinball company and you're looking for themes to mine, I think going with what works, what's recognizable, and what's already proven to be a merchandise draw, look at what Universal's got and those themes all over there.”

Entities

Don Garrisonperson Brian Eddyperson Jack DangerpersonElwin BlakelypersonTodd McFarlanepersonMichael KeatonpersonJack NicholsonpersonTim Burtonperson

Signals

?
machine_intel: Don speculates that Venom is next from Stern (after Foo Fighters), followed by Indiana Jones and Jaws based on consistent rumors from multiple sources; notes Venom has been completed for over a year
medium · I think we can expect Venom, and from what I've been hearing from multiple people, it has been done for over a year
?
machine_intel: Batman 89 is rumored to be a Dutch Pinball project using the original 1989 Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson film license, not a remake of the Data East game
medium · I've heard rumors that Batman 89 is getting done as a theme... they actually got the license for that original Michael Keaton Batman movie with Jack Nicholson's Joker
?
rumor_hype: High community anticipation for Jaws from Stern by Elwin Blakely, with Don describing FOMO about limited edition; sees it as follow-up to successful Godzilla
high · This is the follow-up to Godzilla from the GOAT, from Pinball Designers currently... with a license of a classic movie that is amazing
?
design_philosophy: The Jerry Ramp mod improves Rick and Morty's difficult portal shot mechanics by replacing steel guides with 3D-printed plastic alternatives that reduce ball rattle and rejection
high · The steel just robs some inertia and causes the ball to rattle. But this plastic doesn't... more times than with the metal, it will ride right up there and get into the portal
?
product_concern: Rick and Morty has a known design flaw with the portal shot geometry where the steel guides reject balls that should make the shot

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.074

0:00

what's up everybody happy saturday evening this is don garrison from don garrison's pinball podcast you know this guy i've got another quick episode for you just want to go over some rumors that i've been seeing within the pinball sphere particularly what's coming up next from stern what are their next moves and then i also have a review of a mod that i just put in on spooky pinball's Rick and Morty, that seminal classic of a brutal, fun-playing, excellent call-out game. I'm going to bring all that up for you right flipping now.

0:39

And that's how we drop the beat and do an intro. What's up, everybody? Just coming in here on a Saturday. Just want to touch base with everybody on what I've been speculating on this week in pinball, basically. One of the things I like doing is the speculation, right? We all want to know what the new games are. And boy, were we hit with a big avalanche of news and huge games and empty bank accounts from the month of March. So we got our money in for the ones that we wanted. Everybody else, if we're going to wait and see and pick them up cheaper on the back end, that's probably going to happen. But what's next? What's on that horizon? And I want to do a little speculation because I was thinking about that this afternoon. Now, from Stern Pinball, Big Daddy, give me some pinballs, Daddy. they were supposed to come out with Venom. That's what we were rumored to have up next. Brian Eddy's Venom, that anti-hero from the Spider-Man universe, shoot-off of Marvel. That's what we were expecting. And then we got thrown for a loop when they were like, you know what, Jack Danger, you can't go to TPF. Just kidding. Yes, you can go and bring your new Foo Fighters. Was not expecting it to come out that quick. And it may have to do with the timing of the Foo Fighters album release. Maybe that's why they had to switch it up. I know last year Stern took their cornerstones and reduced them by one. And so it's like the launch window for Venom kind of came and went. They had that appearance at the San Diego Comic Convention. Ozzy Osbourne was involved. The guy from Spawn, Todd McFarlane, was there. But there was no Venom, and that's kind of what we were expecting. And it would have been a great marketing launch point for that title. But due to business decisions, they must have decided to wait on that. Now, this is all speculation. Nothing's been confirmed, but what I have been noticing in the pinball world is that when there are consistent rumors like this, and this strong from everybody, they are probably correct, right? So I think we can expect Venom, and from what I've been hearing from multiple people, it has been done for over a year, like this game's ready. So this game should have good code, it should hit the ground running, and it was what I was expecting, honestly, next, and then Foo Fighters just flipped everything up. So I think it would still be most likely that we would see Venom next. And so I'm speculating here because we haven't seen anything about this. They haven't confirmed that it's even coming out. But when I think of a Venom table, I mean, this machine is going to be that black and white kind of motif that Venom has, that villain, you know. So I can imagine a machine that's fairly black with a matte black powder coated armor and just, you know, maybe the Venom logo. I don't know if they're going to go all out with like crazy comic book imaging or just keep it a little more subtle. But I would definitely like to see kind of a subdued black and white menacing motif to the art on the side with those bright red venom eyes. And I'm sure the tongue would be in there somewhere. Is the tongue going to be the lock bar? You know, what's going to be on the back glass? That I don't know. How's it going to shoot? Well, let's see. Going over what Brian Eddy's done before. Mandalorian is kind of a not a terribly flowy beast. But then either is Stranger Things, and I quite like Stranger Things. And I play Mandalorian, and I love the theme, but I can't really get as into it as I do with Stranger Things. So I'm thinking it'll be something that probably borrows elements from each one. Will there be plastic ramps? Will there be metal ramps? Will there be plastic on the Pro and metal on the Premium? All that is to be decided. But I can't wait to see this machine, if it's actually the one up next. Now, from what I was speculating on, or where my mind was at before Pin March came and just destroyed all of us and ran us over with these great game releases, I was expecting to see Venom come out when Foo Fighters came out now. And then in the fall, I was expecting the next ones. That would have been Foo Fighters. And then Indiana Jones is the next one that's rumored to be coming out. And then there's Jaws after that. But after games get flipped up in their lineup and schedule, who knows really what could be next? If the rumors are true, which they've hold pretty well so far, we could be looking at Venom, Indiana Jones and Jaws next with out on there on the horizon back to the future. But in what order? I mean, could we see Elwin's Jaws come out next? I mean, he's the rumor designer for this. He has come out publicly and said that he does not have a game that's coming out this year. But, you know, things change. You know, Mr. Jack Danger was not going to be able to go to TPF until he was. So at this point, it really wouldn't shock me, but oh my god, I don't know if I'm either myself or my bank account is ready to go in on that Jaws LE that I know I would have to want, right? I mean, talk about FOMO, man. This is the follow-up to Godzilla from the GOAT, from Pinball Designers currently, from the modern group that we have, with a license of a classic movie that is amazing with huge moments and action and hopefully some assets. So I don't know. I still feel strongly that we may be seeing Venom this fall. But then Indiana Jones has a new movie coming out too. So are they going to try to switch up Indiana Jones and put that in the line? What about this other rumor I'm starting to pick up in here from the current Twippy Podcast Goat about a non-cornerstone release from an unknown theme? So we're waiting to hear and see what that may come out to. But we will still see probably, if the rumors hold true, two Stern Cornerstones this year, plus one of their boutique or offshoots like Supreme or Heavy Metal that have come out So going back to Indiana Jones Dial of Destiny June 30th is when it coming out in the US And then we speculated to be around fall for the next Stern Cornerstone as far as the last production update that I had. But that production update was clear back in January, February. So I've got some requests out. I'm waiting to get a new Stern production schedule to see what has shaken up, what has changed. For sure, I think they've made well more Elviras than I was planning on seeing because I'm seeing them for sale everywhere for MSRP. So if you want to go in on Elvira, which I have, recommend it. Solid shooting game. Otherwise, there's lots of, of course, other things to choose from. As far as Indy Jones, movie June 30th, Jaws, is that going to drop now? Is that going to drop next year? I don't know. I've got my name on a list because if it comes out and it totally slaps like I'm expecting it to, and I think everybody else is, I think we could go on it. If I could take it aside right now and just kind of go back to Bond 60th, remember when that came out all those months ago? I was able to play it again at Tilt Pinball Bar in Minneapolis right before I went on a flight. And, you know, I, okay. So when I reviewed the game initially, you know, well built, you're going to be able to get one, but the price was very high. Now what I can comment, now that I've played it a few times, that game does play very well. It is very fun. It's not typically the type of game I think I would be drawn to because of how simple and single level it is. But those shots are fun. I do like that figure eight shot onto the left. I want to brag on myself a little bit. My wife and I were throwing about $10 through this machine, going back and forth playing two player. And I managed to get the multi-ball again. Now, to get the multi-ball, you have to hit those three drop targets in a row and then get it back in that lane just enough that it lands in the saucer. And then that will trigger a two ball multi-ball and kick your ball out. Now, the goal for that two-ball multi-ball amongst, you know, getting targets and things is to land a ball back in that original saucer plus the saucer that's over on the figure eight. And so, of course, you know, that's my goal, but I'm not expecting to get it. But homeboy got it.

8:13

So I was playing and then just magically happened to do a quick like one, two, boom, boom, flip, flip. And they both rolled up right perfectly in the saucers. So I was playing and I was explaining to my wife like, oh, my God, I got the multi-ball. The goal here is to then try to get these two balls before they drain on this Drainmaster fast-playing game back into the saucers. And then as soon as I said that, just luck of the Irish, I hit them, and they both rolled perfectly and stopped. And I could not have planned it better. What a great pinball moment that was for me. I'll probably never be able to replicate that unless I find a way to find a friend who has this so I can get another 100 games on it. But that had to be like a once-in-a-lifetime Bond 60th moment for this dude. so you know i was able to get a replay get the knocker to go off that was fantastic so my uh now final review after playing the game about you know 20 times or so in a couple different locations and having some time and having a lot of fast games but that one just awesome game i'm giving this one a stamp of approval this is a fantastic game value wise that's where it's going to differ for everybody because this is an incredibly expensive game like an incredibly expensive game like two other stern premiums even at these inflated prices or like you know four or five williams diners and maybe a gorgar project pin for the price of that one pin but if you see it on location a solid play a great game elwynn i love the magic that you bring to pinball bring that to jaws and i want like a white powder coated armor for jaws i mean it's got to have that shark white and blue right all right so that was my speculation on that uh moving on to another country, literally another country where Dutch pinball is located in Dirt Netherlands. Been hearing rumors that Batman 89 is getting done as a theme. What? So at first I was thinking this would be a remake of the Data East game, which, you know, okay, I played it. I brought it up on the virtual pin the other day and threw some balls through it. It's got that cool, you know, Joker, almost like a cornhole or beanbag toss target on the left where there's holes for the eyes and mouth. You know, an okay game. I think I played it on location a few times. I mean, it's from the 90s. So I thought originally it was going to be a remake. But no, I think what may be happening is they actually got the license for that original Michael Keaton Batman movie with Jack Nicholson's Joker. And they're going to make a modern pinball with that retro theme. And I am all gravy about that, man. I'm melting caramel inside my mouth right now. thinking about what an awesome pairing of like modern technology with an LCD without an LCD, but with call outs with assets and then seeing what Dutch pinball who created the big Lebowski, which is a great theme integration for that cult movie to do the same thing with a Tim Burton movie, a Tim Burton movie pin. What? Right now, one of my if I can make a dream theme trifecta, you know, between Goonies and, I don't know, Cindy Lauper, I would throw out Beetlejuice as being like that reach dream theme that I would love to have. Spooky Pinball, come on, guys, man, bring me Beetlejuice. I gotta have my Beetlejuice. Imagine like playing a three-player game and every time you hit the start button, it's like Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, and the game starts. That'd be fun, right? I'm full of good ideas. Focus test me, guys. Give me an NDA. I want in on the secrets. But Tim Burton's original Batman movie, 89, as a new theme? Bruh. I think I would be very interested in shooting that game. So I hope that that is a rumor that comes out. I've heard nothing about Jersey Jack and what they may have up next. So that is a definite wait and see. I think I may be able to speculate here on when we might see it. Now, it's still a bit early to know what Godfather sales are. I know they don't really release sales numbers. I am seeing CEs available at distributors. I believe it sold through, but did it sell through at only 500 games? Did it sell through at 1,000 games? Unlike Stern, they are making the limited editions first, and then they're going to be making the CEs.

14:47

Back to the Future is also a machine. It's also requested to be a new machine, you know, and that's a big thing that they have. Simpsons, right? There's been two Simpsons pins. They've been successful. I don't know if Simpsons have the same popularity to do another run now, but I would like to see a modern take on a Simpsons pinball machine. so just looking around the park I found other great huge popular themes with great rides a lot of merchandise that are just sitting there and have not been used King Kong being one of them I mean Godzilla was huge and that was a license that I originally wasn't even excited about until I flipped the thing and man that was fantastic can you imagine another monster game with maybe buildings or maybe it takes place like half the play field is urban and you're destroying buildings and the other half is you know jungle or something or you're going on a jungle adventure to find King Kong or King Kong is fighting dinosaurs, you know, or there's Jack Black call out. So I think there's some room to go there with the Kongster. What if the apron had like a fur attached to it? So it's like you're holding the ape. I think that's probably too much, but the game would have to have a banana shooter rod. Give me a banana shooter rod for the King Kong game. If anybody makes that another huge dynamic explosive theme at the parks and doing it's just bonko juggernauts with the merchandise is Harry Potter. And I think the holdup with that is, is the JK Rowling licensing or the Warner brothers licensing. You know, could you get the license, but not do the characters can get the call outs because it would cost too much. That's probably an expensive restrictive license to do, but we are all clamoring for that. I think tons of us, you know, adult children would love to run out and get a Harry Potter mystical, you know, magical wizard pin, you know, you're a Harry wizard, right? um, Hogwarts express, you know, uh, broomstick ball launchers, all kinds of pop-up, uh, you know, witches and cauldrons and things. I think that that would, that's a, it'd be a dynamite theme that would sell, but what would it cost to bring that to fruition? That's probably what's been holding it up. Um, another theme, which I think has escaped everybody's a fast and furious, right? I mean, they've done like seven or eight of these movies. They're, you know, obviously generating money. Um, transformers is in universal and that's had a pin. So I would think like Fast and Furious would be kind of a good pin to go in locations, you know, car racing with a very noticeable, very visible license. And there's also, you know, sit down car racer video games with this license. So I would expect we would have that. Nintendo, no brainer. There's already been Mario pins. There's a new Mario movie. I think those Nintendo licenses would move machines both in the arcades and in the home. The Mario universe, Zelda, I would love to see a Zelda the universe. Pokemon would be huge. You know, Despicable Me and the Minions. I mean, who wouldn't want to play a Minions pinball machine if it was done right, you know? And one other stretch theme, which probably won't get made, but that's the Mummy. The Mummy franchise. Remember Brendan Fraser's 90s movie, early 2000s? I would kill for that, man. Imhotep, right? Bash the Mummy, escape the pyramid, find the tomb, escape the curse, scarabs everywhere. Love it. Love it. So I think if you're a pinball company and you're looking for themes to mine, I think going with what works, what's recognizable, and what's already proven to be a merchandise draw, look at what Universal's got and those themes all over there. So I think that would be a place to go. All right, final topic I want to get to real quick. I did install a mod late last night that I just got. I could not wait to put this one in. So I've got Rick and Morty, spooky pinballs, Rick and Morty, great call outs. There is a mod. It's unusual. Okay. It's called the Jerry ramp. And I had not heard of it until a friend told me about it I happened to cross the the maker on pin side and was able to put my name down to maybe get one of these made because he been doing small batches So the Jerry ramp is like a pathway for this game that you can add. I'm going to explain it. So on the left side of the playfield, lower playfield, there's the plastic area with the crystal over it and the three stand-up targets, Jerry and then Brenda and Brittany or Meg and Lois or the mom and the daughter, Summer and Beth from Rick and Morty. So what this guy, this madman has done is 3D printed a trough, a little area, a tunnel that actually goes underneath those plastics and you remove the Jerry stand-up target and replace it with this tunnel. And then there's also a loop switch trigger inside that tunnel so you can actually shoot from the right flipper through this tunnel and it actually throws the ball straight up into the portal. It's an easier way to get to that portal shot. Now, I love the game, but that portal shot is difficult. There's two ways to hit it. You can hit it from the left flipper up into the right orbit. If the diverter's open, you can drain it into the portal, and that's how you change the universe that you're playing in. You get those cool call-outs, right? The other way to do it is from that upper right flipper, but that is a hard shot. That's a shot that you really have to nail the timing on to get it to hit that steel guide and get up to that portal. And more times than not, anybody that's played this game, you've had a shot that you feel should have gone in. I mean, it was decent enough that you should have got it, but the ball kind of rattles around the steel, it loses energy and doesn't quite make it up and around there. So that's like the one drawback from the game. Like the geometry is not quite perfect. I wish they would have had more time to perfect that. So this fixes that, right? You remove the steel guide completely, and there's two main 3D printed guide parts that you replace it with. One of them goes underneath the plastic and is just about invisible, And the other one goes into the upper left area just to help guide that ball up in there. And they're made out of PET or one of the 3D printing plastic filaments. So it can absorb and bounce the ball different than the steel does. I think the steel just robs some inertia and causes the ball to rattle. But this plastic doesn't. So that original shot from the right-up flipper hits that plastic. And more times than with the metal, it will ride right up there and get into the portal. I was surprised just putting a couple of games through it late last night when I finished the install of this thing that it actually did work pretty good about hitting that portal. Now, the other Jerry shot entrance, it's not an easy shot to get. But when you do get it, it's very satisfying because it will cruise straight smoothly all the way up there to the portal. So it's another way that you can get to it. So you can do those cool portals. You can stack them. You can get more nuts and things. for me it it fixes like the one drawback that i really have with the game is some of those shots are just too brutally difficult now i'm okay with difficult shots or brutal games i mean i get it that's a scott denisi thing i don't want to mess with that but you know anyone that's played it knows that there are some shots that that you you got them but the rattle with the the steel guides robbed you of it you feel like that that should have been a satisfying shot to make it all the way up there so that has been fixed now now i've only done a couple of games through there i started installing this thing at around 7 o'clock, 7.30 when I got home from work, and it was about midnight when I was finally playing it. So it's not an easy, straightforward install. There's a lot to remove, a lot of plastic, a lot of posts. It actually does not reuse a lot of the hardware that you have, and a lot of it is replaced. Now, you'll have to get underneath the playfield, and it is tight working underneath there to remove the stand-up targets, replace it with this other 3D-printed insert, and then you do pull the jerry target down, and then there's alligator clips that clip in there. So the micro switch that is in the ramp, it actually triggers that Jerry stand up target. So at the end of the me six mode, you need to hit the Jerry stand up target in this way. If you hit the ramp, it triggers the same thing. So the gameplay and code are the same, but what you get is an extra pathway in a game. And I haven't seen many mods that do this. Uh, the ones that I have heard about people complain that, you know, this makes the game easier or changes how the game was originally intended. And there's an argument to be made there you know if you're a tournament purist maybe you wouldn't want to try this thing but if you have this game at home and you just want to get some more enjoyment out of it and you're willing to put in for a little little seven out of ten in difficulty installation and you know just try to stay calm and go through it step by step i was able to accomplish this and it does add some to the game and that's a lot so i don't know that i can give a full final review at this point because I've only played the game with it about three or four times. But I'm going to get some more time on it. But I did want to give a shout out to Interactive Pinball Mods. He's on Pinside. You can Google him, find his Pinside store. Trent is the guy's name. He's coming to us from Kamloops, BC. He also did another Rick and Morty mod with that Portal Gun Shooter Plunger. So if you've seen that, he's the guy that did that. But yeah, this ramp is legit. It legitimately makes the game more fun to play for me because I'm able to do more of those portal shots. but it's definitely not training wheels. I mean, it doesn't make it super easy. It's just a fair shot from that right flipper that goes to what sometimes would rattle around and reject. Now it's hittable. So that's fun. And when you do rip that jerry entrance from down below, it's quite satisfying. I do like it. So I've shared some pictures on the Facebook site, Don's Pinball Podcast on Facebook. Just search me out. I put a couple photos up there of the completed project, and I would like to do some more play testing on it before I can give a final review, but it's $170 plus shipping. It's coming from Canada. He's doing them in small batches, but go ahead and look them up on that Pinsight thread.