Episode 681: "Did Haggis Lie?"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·20m 3s·analyzed·May 23, 2022

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Haggis Pinball accountability crisis; Toy Story hype and speculation.

Summary

Kaneda discusses accountability and communication failures at Haggis Pinball, which promised delivery 8 weeks ago but has now pushed shipments back by 2+ weeks with minimal customer communication. He contrasts this with the pinball community's proven patience and willingness to forgive transparent companies, then shifts to speculation about the imminent Toy Story reveal by Jersey Jack Pinball and Pat Lawlor, expressing concerns about pricing, assets, and whether the game will meet inflated expectations.

Key Claims

Haggis Pinball told customers 8 weeks ago their games would be ready and boxed for shipping, but only now pushing them back 2+ weeks
high confidence · Kaneda, reading Pinside thread post and company communication
Haggis Pinball is not communicating transparently with customers about delays or reasons
high confidence · Kaneda, direct observation of customer posts and silence from company
Pat Lawlor is designing Toy Story and it will be his final game
high confidence · Kaneda, stated as personal belief but treated as known fact
Mirco Playfields is manufacturing the Toy Story playfield
high confidence · Kaneda, stated as confirmed information
Toy Story announcement/reveal is imminent (within days/weeks)
medium confidence · Kaneda, speculation based on timing patterns and industry signals
Jersey Jack Pinball is doing a poor job hyping Toy Story with minimal marketing content
medium confidence · Kaneda, opinion/observation about teaser videos
The pinball community is historically forgiving and understanding of delays when companies communicate transparently
high confidence · Kaneda, based on 6-7 years of community observation

Notable Quotes

“He told people eight weeks ago to pay in full. I'm just gonna say right now, how many times do we have to see this movie?”
Kaneda @ ~08:30 — Central complaint about repeated broken promises from Haggis Pinball
“Haggis Pinball and Marty because they need Toy Story to come out to distract everybody else from what's really going on over at Haggis Pinball.”
Kaneda @ ~01:30 — Suggests deliberate distraction strategy, implies bad faith
“I have known this pinball community over the last six to seven years to be the most understanding, the most patient, and the most forgiving community possible.”
Kaneda @ ~11:45 — Core argument: community will forgive transparency, making silence the real problem
“Just stop with these pinball shenanigans. I understand that you have encountered some unforeseen delays.”
Kaneda @ ~09:20 — Direct appeal to Haggis leadership to improve communication
“I think Pat Lawlor is gonna knock it out of the park. I think it's his final game.”
Kaneda @ ~18:15 — High confidence in game quality tied to designer legacy
“Jersey Jack Pinball is doing a terrible job hyping this game because they're doing nothing.”
Kaneda @ ~20:30 — Criticism of JJP marketing strategy for Toy Story

Entities

Kanedaperson Haggis PinballcompanyDamien HartonpersonMartyperson Jersey Jack Pinballcompany Pat Lawlorperson Toy Storygame

Signals

?
product_concern: Haggis Pinball has pushed back Fathom shipments 2+ weeks after promising delivery 8 weeks ago; zero transparency from company on reasons or timeline
high · Customer post on Pinside: 'My game has been pushed back a couple of weeks'; Kaneda's direct reading of company payment terms showing promised 'boxed ready for shipping' status
~
sentiment_shift: Haggis Pinball leadership facing increasing criticism for pattern of broken promises and radio silence despite community's historical patience
high · Kaneda's repeated use of 'seen this movie before,' criticism of Marty's podcast avoiding company issues, characterization of behavior as 'ridiculous'
?
rumor_hype: Strong speculation that Toy Story pinball reveal is days/weeks away, with timing pressure before Winchester Mystery House release
medium · Kaneda: 'It's coming! Like it's coming any day now. Maybe it's today.' References pattern of industry timing and JJP's marketing escalation phase
?
design_philosophy: Toy Story positioned as Pat Lawlor's final pinball game, creating high stakes and expectations for quality and thematic execution
medium · Kaneda: 'I think it's his final game. I think he's gonna make a statement.'
?
manufacturing_signal: Mirco Playfields historically associated with quality issues; community will scrutinize Toy Story playfield for artwork pooling/shipping damage around posts
medium · Kaneda: 'I just assume these playfields will have some issues' and will check if 'they remove the artwork from around the posts'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.060

0:00

🎵🎵🎵 Ah, Happy Monday everybody! It's gonna be a great week. The sun is shining. Top Gun 2 comes out this week. I got my tickets to see it twice. My nanny has COVID so I have to stay home with Killian all week long which means you are probably going to see Kaneda on Facebook live throughout the week. And we also might get Toy Story revealed. Now look, every day we get closer and closer to June, we get closer and closer to seeing this game. And the two people on planet earth that really want to see Toy Story revealed, do you know who they are? Damien and Marty because they need Toy Story to come out to distract everybody else from what's really going on over at Haggis Pinball. So we're going to talk about that and I want to read you something because it is going to prove for you once and for all that I am not the jerk, that I am not unkind. What I'm going to read is from This week we are going to talk about the company that they said they were going to do with this company and they basically lied and I want to talk about this and I want to start out with this because on my last show I talked about accountability and at what point do we hold companies accountable and at what point do we have empathy. So I woke up this morning. What's fun about waking up on a Monday morning in New York City is it's pretty much the day is done in Australia. And so we know if any progress has happened by the time we wake up in America and we know whether or not like new fathoms went out the door. So here's what I woke up to this morning in the Haggis thread. So there was someone on the pin side thread who was waiting on their fathom machine and they wrote the following. Got some correspondence from Damien today. My game This game has been pushed back a couple of weeks. Not the news I had hoped for, but at least I'm being informed. And that got 10 upvotes and no downvotes. Okay, so let's deconstruct that for a minute. So what Damien is telling people now is that their games will be ready in two weeks. Have we heard that before? A few weeks ago, we were watching a movie where a boutique company is telling its customers that even though I told you you should have your game by now, You're going to get it in two weeks, but that's not the part that really is the most concerning. Here is the most concerning part. When Damien took money from people, he wrote to everybody to order a fathom pinball machine. We require a nonrefundable deposit of 15% to confirm the order. This is the line people. The balance will be due when the machine is boxed ready for shipping. You see what I'm saying right there? He says the balance will be due when the machine is boxed and ready for shipping. He told people eight weeks ago to pay in full. I'm just gonna say right now, how many times do we have to see this movie? How many times is Kenaida have to bring this stuff up? And I want to say this right now to Damian and Marty. Just stop with these shenanigans. I understand that you have encountered some unforeseen delays. And here is my recommendation to both of these gentlemen. Because Marty did another podcast yesterday. This is the part that just kills me. The dude has a podcast about pinball and he goes on his own show and does an hour long show and doesn't even bring up his very own pinball company which is a year delayed in getting people product. At what point does that become a ridiculous way to communicate to the community? But here's my thing. I don't think Marty's a bad guy. I don't think Damien is a bad guy. I think they're in a very tough situation, but they're making the situation much worse than it needs to be. Here is what I implore they do I don think they can do daily updates but I think once a week they should update people on the status And even if there is no update just communicate on what you waiting for Maybe you waiting for parts Maybe you waiting to hire the right labor because you want to make sure that each of these games is built to your specifications so we can get that little Marty Robbins sticker on each game But what they're doing is the opposite. They're going radio silent. They're not saying anything. And now they're telling people it's going to be two weeks and they expect me not to make fun of that? Two weeks was the Andrew Highway spin that never really came to reality. Because you and I both know that if things aren't going very well, it's going to take longer than two weeks to figure it out. But the part that really makes no sense is this. I have known this pinball community over the last six to seven years to be the most understanding, the most patient, and the most forgiving community possible. That if you come out and you just tell them the truth, they will forgive you. They will understand what's going on and they want to know this stuff. People have an abundance of empathy in the I'm going to be talking about the pinball community, but when you don't say anything, it just makes things look really bad. But I will say it looks very, very bad when a company took money a year ago and said, we will not take payment in fall until your game is in a box. And then they took payment in fall eight weeks ago and those games were not in a box. So was that a lie? What is that then? I mean, what do you even call that? This Week in Pinball Podcast is brought to you by 08.17.107.217 WPPR TeBe.com.Вы Salute to Alex Moss grief and Alex Mossạtut, mort I think they were expecting Alex Moss to make an amazing video to give everybody confidence and show everybody how beautiful the game is and the game is beautiful. But here's the problem, Alex Moss has been really delinquent in getting that video up. He's like making this super high end production video and that's not what they need. See what they would like to show is Alex Moss jumping on the machine everyday just enjoying this work of art. Oh

8:23

Oh I Oh I and a storage unit doing nothing. And there clearly hasn't been game two, three, four, or five that have gone out because we would have heard about that. Now I think they're at a point now where it's just come on guys, just talk to us. Just be honest with the community and we will be understanding. Because I think the other part is this. We all know this. Damien needs to raise the price of the machine to probably stay in business. Right? The same way Dutch pinball had to raise the price of the big Lebowski to stay in business. The same way highway pinball raised the price of Alien to stay in business. Every single company that has had these long, long delays, the only way to recover the money that you've burned on the delay is to increase the price of the product. See what I think they're trying to do is like decrease the amount of people making the machines, So when you're out playing by the heart, if you're having f español paintball, Tiffany's most recent and most offhand speedball on the go, and your partner's dries form preceding the k your partner has to master frustration with the paddle type playaxter that just so screw that And I would just encourage Damien and Marty just to stop hiding and talk to the community They will understand. They knew what they were getting themselves into. And from what I can tell, you guys have a lot of support. You have people that are willing to wait, but just talk to them more. Alright, so speaking of waiting, when will the wait for Toy Story finally be over? I don't know, you know, I've been talking to Ken Cromwell a little bit, I've been trying to get Zach Many to talk to me again. For some reason, Zach just stopped talking to me. I think it might have something to do with Haggis and he's got some deposits with them and he doesn't want to bring it up. I don't even know what it is. Like, I hope it's nothing personal because I still enjoy talking to Zach and his content. And I think everyone out there is just waiting for Toy Story. We know we're not going to get anything from Stern until August. We know there's nothing really happening in the pinball world, but something major is about to happen, right? This is like an invasion on our wallets is about to occur. And there are still so many questions around Toy Story. Questions like will it be based on all four movies or just the fourth one? How many collector's editions will they make? How much will this game be? I mean, that's the Major question. We know that Mirko will be making the playfield. So I just assume these playfields will have some issues. Will they remove the artwork from around the posts? See, I think that's going to be one of the first things we go to when we see this game. First, we're going to be like, wow, yeah, look at the toys. Look at all this colorful stuff. The second thing we're going to do is really look at that playfield and see if they remove the art from problem areas. And I hope they did because that's That seems to be what everyone else has done to solve the problem of pooling and shipping around the post. But then it's going to come down to price. And for a lot of you out there and me included, I'm really sort of just wondering how much are they going to charge for this game. You know, and it's not a matter of whether or not I'm going to get Toy Story. I went and I watched the first movie again. It's so damn good. It's so much fun. It's such a perfect theme for pinball. I'm John Papadiuk, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, Translatesregon and Raza),turnate title or abbreviation for Retro Atmingham, I might have to. I think all of us out there, if these games start to be like 15,000 plus, we then are going to want to make sure that there's everything we want in the game. And will they have assets from the movie? Will they have voice actors from the film? How are they going to bring this �로수 This week's topic is Pinball. Pinball is a game that is a reality. And yes, Drew is right over at Poor Man's. There's nothing that ever fully lives up to our expectations in the pinball world. But we had super high expectations for Godzilla. And I would say that game met those expectations. I don't think it blew them away. But I think Godzilla met the expectations of the pinball community. I would say Guns N' Roses also met the expectations of the pinball community. I don't think Mandalorian did. I know that Led Zeppelin did not. I think Rush kind of did. I think Rush fans are very happy with the game. You don't see much complaining. The main issue with Rush was just the scoop protector. But for the most part, if you're a Rush fan, you're just super happy you have this pinball machine. And so for me, I just hope that Toy Story meets our expectations. Would I love it to exceed our expectations? Absolutely. Absolutely, but I just don't want it to under deliver That's my big fear if this thing comes out and it Underwhelms and it doesn't have a lot and it's not that magical and they cut corners with the assets I think you're gonna see a lot of people especially if these games are really expensive I think you're gonna see people just kind of wait and maybe play it out and not really run at it But I think it's gonna be the opposite. I think this game is gonna be a I think Lawler gonna knock it out of the park I think it his final game I think he gonna make a statement And there nothing more to even speculate about That my belief That what I hoping for And that what I think is gonna happen People are funny They will hit me up and they like Kaneda you putting your show reputation on the line And I like reputation on the line Did I ever have a reputation to begin with Also I have 518 subscribers right now Let welcome the new guys David MBT Nolan Sean Freaky Guy Juan Jim Lone Ranger and Craig Justin You guys are all the new members, eight new members since the last time I did this. And every time I check, we're getting more and more people who are following Kenaida's Pinball Podcast because these shows are right to the point because we're talking about this stuff that you want to talk about. And it's like me having a conversation with you. Yes, am I over excited for Toy Story? Absolutely. Am I over hyping this game? Abso-freaking-lutely I'm over hyping the game because nobody else is hyping it at all. Think about it for a minute. Jersey Jack Pinball is doing a terrible job hyping this game because they're doing nothing. Like what is showing Jen getting into a truck do for us or showing coils? Like where is the excitement? Where is the hype? Where is the I'm going to be doing a little bit of a beat up to this whole thing and part of me is getting a little bit worried now that even though the game is on the line, we might not see it to the end of June. And then I'm like, oh man, I don't really want to do shows for the next three weeks without Toy Story. I really think they're going to get this game out before the movie. And I think you're going to see this thing in the next couple of weeks. Oh, I said two weeks. And I think once it comes out, we are going to have and I mean this, we are going to have some of the most fun we've ever had. I'm so glad on this podcast and on my Facebook lives because I can't wait to deconstruct this game. I can't wait to see it in action and I can't wait to see if Jersey Jack and Pat Lawler are going to give us a masterpiece. You know at these prices everyone you know how I feel. It's only worth buying a pinball machine now because the prices are so high. If the game is a masterpiece or if you love the theme so much you just The