DPP #40 "Rush no more? Foo Fighters is still LIT! Vemon soon?"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·23m 50s·analyzed·May 6, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Rush halted, Whirlwind upgraded by Pendretti, Venom rumored for Comic-Con, Foo Fighters dominates.

Summary

Don discusses Stern's Rush production status (no current plans to rerun), the long-awaited Pendretti Gaming upgrade kit for classic Whirlwind (adding modes, wizard modes, LCD screen, art blades for $2,200), speculation about Venom's announcement at San Diego Comic-Con in July, and enthusiastically covers his heavily modified Foo Fighters Premium machine with extensive aftermarket upgrades. He also announces upcoming appearances at release parties and European tour dates.

Key Claims

Stern Pinball has no current plans to rerun Rush in the near future, despite the game winning Game of the Year for 2023.
high confidence · Don citing official word from people affiliated with Stern; distinguishes between 'no plans right now' vs. permanent discontinuation
Pendretti Gaming released an upgrade kit for Whirlwind classic that adds modes, wizard modes, art blades, and LCD screen for €2,200 (~$2,200 USD).
high confidence · Don announcing official product availability with specific pricing
Stern may announce Venom at San Diego Comic-Con in July (~22nd), with possible August production start despite September cornerstone schedule.
medium confidence · Don citing NAP Arcade rumors and drawing parallels to James Bond announcement-to-production timeline; speculative on timing feasibility
Whirlwind secondary market prices have jumped from ~$4,000 to ~$6,000 following the Pendretti upgrade kit announcement.
medium confidence · Don reporting Pinside marketplace observations post-announcement
Brian A. is designing the Venom pinball machine.
medium confidence · Don stating this as expected/rumored based on pattern recognition from designer credits
Chicago Gaming Company may be exiting the classic game rerun business, potentially pivoting to original designs like Pulp Fiction.
low confidence · Don stating he's heard rumor but lacks insight into actual business reasons; speculative
Rush toppers have not yet shipped to distributors despite armor, shooter rods, and expression lights arriving.
high confidence · Don personally observing production updates and noting Friday factory floor updates show no topper production
Air bubbles are present in the resin Rush shooter rods but do not significantly impact functionality when lights are on.
high confidence · Don personally owns two Rush shooter rods and reporting firsthand observation; acknowledging this is a manufacturing byproduct

Notable Quotes

“Foo Fighters week. This is going to be a great month of May. I think people are going to keep getting their games, and every version of it that people are playing is just going to immensely satisfy.”
Don @ ~early in episode — Establishes strong enthusiasm for Foo Fighters as the defining game launch of the month; signals high market demand
“I could see where they would want to capture some of that [Comic-Con buzz], and Stern can move their production schedule around. I mean, they can throw this game on the line in August after reveal in July. That's only August would be one month earlier than September.”
Don @ ~mid-episode Venom section — Analyzes plausibility of Venom announcement and fast-track production; shows industry knowledge of Stern's flexibility
“I just love the projection effects. I think that was fantastic. I don't think still think that's one of the best innovations in pinball that I've seen recently.”
Don @ ~Venom discussion — Praises Brian A.'s design work on Stranger Things projections; sets expectations for potential Venom innovation
“This thing is firing on every cylinder. I think the only thing left to do is powder coat.”
Don @ ~Foo Fighters mods section — Reflects high satisfaction with Foo Fighters Premium as upgrade platform; demonstrates aggressive customization culture
“I like the idea of you know grabbing a pro and then doing those cosmetic and um you know quality of life upgrades to that machine and then you know for less money than the higher trim level, you kind of approach it.”
Don @ ~Foo Fighters pricing section — Articulates emerging buyer strategy: Pro + mods = near-LE experience at lower total cost; suggests price sensitivity in market
“I'm going to come meet the guy man. I'm going to give him some t-shirts hopefully he can wear them on a live stream. How fantastic would that be?”
Don @ ~release party announcements — Shows personal connection-building with Jack Danger; indicates grassroots content creator strategy

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyPendretti GamingcompanyFoo Fightersgame Rushgame Whirlwindgame Venomgame Jack Dangerperson

Signals

?
product_concern: Rush shooter rods contain air bubbles in the resin polyurethane material; some units have centimeter-sized bubbles affecting clarity, though LED lighting minimizes visibility during play.
high · Don personally owns two Rush shooter rods and reports: 'there's air bubbles in it...one of mine has like a centimeter and a half size air bubble.' Confirms it's a manufacturing byproduct but notes some community concern.
?
supply_chain_signal: Rush aftermarket accessories arriving in staggered sequence: armor and shooter rods shipped, expression lights shipping, but toppers not yet in production or delivery as of episode date.
high · Don states: 'we're still waiting on the toppers...Friday updates in the factory haven't shown any topper production.' Confirms armor, shooter rods, expression lights have shipped.
?
product_strategy: Stern Pinball halting Rush production in near term with no rerun plans currently; typically signals last call before discontinuation but no official last call announcement made yet (as done with Led Zeppelin).
high · Don cites 'official word from some people affiliated with Stern' that production is done; distinguishes from James Bond model where game was pulled early. States: 'there's nothing here on the production schedule' and likely reason is 'overwhelming response to Foo Fighters.'
$
market_signal: Whirlwind secondary market prices inflated sharply following Pendretti Gaming upgrade kit announcement; prices rose from ~$4,000 to ~$6,000 (50% increase) within days, with listed units on Pinside immediately marked pending.
high · Don reports: 'Whirlwinds were trading for around $4,000...two that were listed for sale were both pending...going for around $6,000.' Attributes to FOMO from upgrade announcement.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.071

0:00

those dulcet tones of the foo fighters are you guys feeling me are you feeling the absence of big me and hoping it comes in a code update man it's been having a great time here or i've been having a fantastic time with the foo fighters premium machine and i'm going to get back into that in another episode of Don's Pinball Podcast. Let's go to the music.

0:34

That's right, everybody. This is a big number. This is big number 40 for Don's Pinball Podcast coming to you live from Wisconsin on a Saturday morning. Hello, everybody. How are you doing? I've got a lot of information to talk about. We've got updates from Stern Pinball. We've got updates from Pendretti. The whirlwind is blowing back into town. We've got appearances. There's a whole bunch of stuff that we're going to get to here in just a moment after the drop. So buckle in, get your latte going, get that angry alpaca fired up.

1:04

For now. Swinging a drop. What's up, everybody? Man, Foo Fighters week. This is going to be a great month of May. I think people are going to keep getting their games, and every version of it that people are playing is just going to immensely satisfy. I mean, we were joking earlier on in the release that this is going to be the Godzilla killer, right? And then, of course, nothing can bring that. But you know what? I'm seeing some comparisons as far as the gameplay and the enjoyment in Foo Fighters. Man, it's awesome. And I've been having a blasty blast of a time with my premium. So let's get into some news here really quick. With Stern Pinball's Rush, right? So there's this rumor that came out that said production is done. No more rushes for anybody. We're done running that. It's not going to come out. And then there was some official word from some people affiliated with Stern that said it's not technically the case. what it appears to be is that there's no plans right now to rerun uh the rush pinball machine that doesn't mean that they won't you know typically i've seen with stern that will put out a last call when they're going to be done with the game they did this with led zeppelin this they put out a notice last call distributors we're going to run this one more time and like that's it and we're shelving it and so we haven't seen them do that or make that call with a rush but there's nothing here on the production schedule and that may be because of the just overwhelming response to Foo Fighters. And they're probably looking at their schedule and seeing how they can fit more production runs in this year. Now, early on, January, February, when we got a look at what the production run schedule was looking like for this year with Stern, we saw those two gaping holes for their cornerstones in March and then in September. Otherwise, it was a smattering of everything else that was in there. Now, these production schedules are in flux, particularly once you get more than three months out. so for what they're saying there's no plans to run Rush again at this time for the near future but that doesn't mean it may not pop up if there's demand and you know it's strange because this game just won game of the year probably by default given that the 2022 releases were a little bit light and I think you know Rush was probably is the best game that came out last year you know but I would have thought that you know they would have came out and said you know what we're going to do what video game companies do and release a game of the year edition and I haven't seen this with pinball yet, but I don't know if they could have, you know, a special version that could come out because this game did win game of the year, maybe with a different back glass or, you know, some sort of mode updates or something, or just some cosmetic upgrade. But then I think at this point, you know, the early adopters for the LEs, you know, you don't want to do anything that's going to make them seem like their machines less valuable. So I don't know if we'll see that in pinball, but that was interesting. In other Rush news, we're still waiting on the toppers. Now, the armor has come out. The shooter rods have come out. I ended up with two of them myself somehow, but we haven't seen toppers. We haven't seen topper production. The Friday updates in the factory haven't shown any topper production. I don't know if we're going to see that. Expression lights have been coming out. For sure, distributors have the side armor and the shooter rods, but we're still waiting on the toppers. And that may come out today. One might show up in my mailbox. Who knows? I mean, but so far, that's the one thing that we're still waiting on, and there wasn't anything from the Stern Production Update on Friday video from the factory floor. Moving on to the shooter rods, though, there's been some concerns. I saw this pop up in the thread. So the resin sculpt of the shooter rod itself, it's got that Starman logo, it's, you know, red, you know, polyurethane or something. So there's air bubbles in it, and I have got two of these rods because I had a pre-order from one place, and then I added one from somewhere else and I wanted to cancel that first one. Then it was going to be a restocking fee. And I said, you know what? Heck it. I'll end up with two. I'll figure out something to do with it. Um, the shooter rod is great. It feels good in the hand. Um, function is good and it's got the led lights in it. Just like the stranger things shooter rod, which I really, really like. I'll probably end up putting one on Foo Fighters just for fun in the meantime. Um, but there's air bubbles within that resin. And so that's been concerning to some people, you know, it's not just like a clear translucent all the way through. Um, one of mine has like a centimeter and a half size air bubble the other one is you know a tiny little wispy one i think it's just a a product of the manufacturing i don't know if there's a way to avoid that but some people have been concerned so i'm bringing the news to you um for me i don't notice it much at all especially when the lights are on so take that with what you would may take that with um you know but that's something that's out there one more little bit of news with rush um venom is popping up again these rumors are percolating now that Foo Fighters has been released. The Pro, the Premium, the LEs, they're in production, they're in high demand, and for good reason. And, you know, the launch parties are going on currently, more about that later. But Venom news is coming back up. So if you remember back to last year, Todd McFarlane, Ozzy Osbourne, and Stern Pinball all went to San Diego Comic-Con in July and the idea was that we were expecting this rumored Venom machine to be released then and then nothing happened And then there was the months process of rolling out James Bond and so that may, you know, production delays or whatnots or what have you may have jumbled their schedule, and then they had to kind of, you know, pivot to putting James Bond out there, and then, you know, we know how all that turned out. You know, so now we're here. And so now, NAP Arcade just posted that there's rumors that Stern will be back at San Diego Comic-Con this year, in July, around the 22nd or so, which is a little odd because the last production update had their next cornerstone going on the line in September. So, you know, would they release a game in July and then not go on the line until September? When has Stern Pinball ever done that? You know, come out with a release of what their title is, but not go into production until months, months later. Except, you know, it's exactly what happened with James Bond. So maybe, I don't know, San Diego Comic-Con is such a big media event, a big event in the yearly zeitgeist in the pop culture community. So I could see where they would want to capture some of that, you know, and Stern can move their production schedule around. I mean, they can throw this game on the line in August after reveal in July. That's only August would be one month earlier than September, which is when we're anticipating it go on. So I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility that there may be a release or at least, you know, a signing and maybe like a teaser video or something just to generate some interest and get those pre-orders, those FOMO LE pre-orders rolling in for this Brian A. Designed game. Hopefully that's the case. I can't wait for Venom. I got my name on a list. So if this game comes out and it's fire, your boy's going to get one. I've got to scramble and find out where I'm going to find the money to pay for this dang thing. but I'm excited that this is like you know kind of a brand new comic book release and you're looking back at the early 2000s that period of Stern where they had a lot of these Avengers and comic book machines come out you know they don't play the best for me I know there's a lot of people that love Iron Man the gameplay that provides but I didn't have like a big emotional kind of connection to these games you know I'm not rushing to play them when I see them at arcades but with the games that Stern has been producing for the last few years there's really step up in quality and I think that speaks to the talent that they have there um so i'm very curious to see you know what you know brian eddie's designed venom game if that is what it turns out to be uh what it comes out what it plays like you know and you know hopefully they've avoided the trope of just going to you know a giant venom bash skull sculpture in the middle of the play field you know with a tongue that comes lowers down like the stranger things ramp but i like what brian did with uh stranger things i just love the projection effects i think that was fantastic i don't think still think that's one of the best innovations in pinball that I've seen recently. I don't know if anybody feels the same way, but like the first time I played it and I saw the projections on the spinners, um, that little swirly pattern, I was, I was taken aback. It was something that I hadn't seen in pinball before. And I enjoyed that. Um, so, uh, and then he had, you know, Mandalorian, which came out, it has its in-game currency. It is what it is. You know, it's got its fans. I've had some good games on it. Um, I don't currently own one. I'm not looking for one currently, but, I'm curious to see what this follow-up is going to be I'm optimistic, I want to see ramps, I want to see a black and white motif with little splashes of red from the tongue from the blood I'm excited about what a Venom game could be so let's see if we end up seeing that here this summer, that'll be coming up in just a few months. I'm going to move on to the other huge news that dropped and that was the long rumored update from Prendredi Gaming to Whirlwind, the old Bally Williams classic, you know, get to the cellar, the spinning plates on the play field, the fan in your face. So just like with Rudy's Nightmare, the Funhouse upgrade, they've come out with an upgrade kit for Whirlwind. So fantastic. I mean, you know, classic era of games, ones that I grew up with. I mean, Whirlwind is one of the classics along with Whitewater. And I'm glad that they're breathing new life into this. So this is like a huge code update. It adds a ton of modes, It adds wizard modes. And then with the kit, you get hardware upgrades too in the form of art blades and a new LCD screen. And then so there's, you know, updated graphics and things that play during the modes. This whole kit will set you back either $2,200 or slightly more at 2,200 euros if you're in Europe. That's that Europe tax adding in there. But there's modes, wizard modes, art blades, the LCD screen. And, yeah, this thing will be available here soon. So, Pendretti Gaming, cool idea. Let's come out with some upgrade kits for people that have Whirlwind. Who is this for? I guess anybody that owns a Whirlwind and enjoys it and plays it regularly and wouldn't mind getting an update, I could see this being a good investment for you to add some longevity and breathe some life into your game, for sure. If I had one, I'd be totally down with getting this, of course. Now, will I go out and buy a Whirlwind specifically to add this module to it? Well, the time to do that would have been about six months ago when Whirlwinds were trading for around $4,000. Now, I went on to Pinside just recently when this was announced, and the two that were listed for sale were both pending. And I think they were going for around $6,000. So I think if you were to go out and get a Whirlwind now, the demand just skyrocketed. And so probably the price did too. So I don't know if it's worth paying $2,000 over what Sticker recently was for Whirlwind on top of a $2,200 upgrade. So that'll be a value judgment that you'll have to make for yourself.

13:51

So that would be interesting. What else do we have to get to today? Foo Fighters. Let's talk about that for a minute. Foo Fighters is amazing. I just did a live stream where I just wanted to highlight the modifications that I had put in. You know, originally I was planning on unboxing this machine, having it for a few months. And then when Venom came out, I was going to sell it and move on. but this game is fire man this game is fantastic i've got the titan bands in there i've got the pin stadium neo fusions um which are just like blisteringly lighting up the play field currently i only have one of the colors connected to a flasher and then the uv and that alone is blowing my socks off you know and there's even more modes that i can do to take full advantage of the pin stadium neo fusions uh not just the the the basic level pin stadiums that i have in my machine so if you want to check out that live stream and see like what these light shows are doing, particularly to these glow-in-the-dark titan bands and rubbers that I put on the machine. It's fairly fantastic. Now, I got the knocker kit because I'm a knocker dude. I got the shaker motor because I got to have that. What else did I do to this game? Oh, I put the pinwoofers in there so the sound is on point. So, this thing is firing on every cylinder. I think the only thing left to do is powder coat. Now, I just recently saw a YouTube video of a man that turned a pro into a housewife, basically. Got the pro version of Foo Fighters, which retails for $6,700, around there. And then he went ahead and got in on those Pinball Life sculpts that they had for the Overlord for the Van Mech, and replaced those plastics. He powder-coated the whole thing into a lime green powder coat. It looks fantastic. He added some other mods and upgrades, and made himself kind of like an LE light. It's still the pro playfield. Still doesn't have the pop-up dead post but he really did elevate his pro and so you know kudos to that guy because it does look pretty good I'm doing something similar trying to take my premium and approach the level of the le now I'm not going to have the art of the back glass but I'm going to get the powder coat and then I already have the play field and everything so I mean I'm kind of into this idea of buying you know one trim level below where you'd like to get and then upgrading to get close to that you know and then why don't you just buy the le well you are saving a couple thousand dollars and so in the end it comes down to money you know money and availability in terms of the le because that is in limited supply uh you know by its nature and really to get an le you got to be on a list ahead of time and really kind of commit to the game before you ever have a choice of playing it if you want to get one of those especially if it's going to be in demand like this one i mean foo fighters le sold out but i like the idea of you know grabbing a pro and then doing those cosmetic and um you know quality of life upgrades to that machine and then you know for less money than the higher trim level, you kind of approach it. And I did something similar with my Elvira Premium. I went out and got the sparkly 40th anniversary powder coat. I got a dagger shooter rod. And so, you know, the thing is hitting almost like how the signature edition, 40th anniversary edition hits. Now that machine's $25,000, 22 to 25. You know, I paid 10.5 for mine. And I've got the look and feel and gameplay of that higher level machine. Now it's not the limited version, but I did save about 10 grand. So, you know, pluses and minuses, there you go. I liked them on upgrade. Um, I threw an art blades. I think that was fantastic. Oh, my food fighters. I forgot. I put an expression lights. I managed to snag a kit, um, from a lead Zeppelin. So I've got expression lights, pin stadium, Neo fusions, Titan bands, shaker, knocker. Um, and the thing is playing, you know, fantastic. And it's what a great base game it is to begin with. So I just wanted to highlight that fact, you know, take a look for that guy's video. And if you managed to hit those pinball life sculpt mods, man, you hit pay dirt because you got the same look, although not the same functionality as the premium. So for myself personally, I like the upper play field. I went premium and I'm upgrading it to get closer to LE at a lower price point. So that's my take on it. What else is going on? A lot of stuff in the podcast news industry. So for me personally, I am going to go to a Foo Fighters release party today like in a couple hours I going to head down to Madison to I Pinball and there going to be a Foo fighters release party from noon to four so if you in the madison area and you happen to download and listen to this in the next hour get your butt down there uh jack danger is going to be on site i'm super enthused and and happy for that i'm going to come meet the guy man i'm going to give him some t-shirts hopefully he can wear them on a live stream how fantastic would that be you know i have like my t-shirt my design on this guy's gorgeous corpse so uh that would be fantastic i'm gonna be there i'm gonna get i got the plastic out of my apron from my foo fighters i'm gonna see if i can get the guy to sign it and then that'll bring me one step closer to my budget le upgrade that i'm working on with my foo fighters so that's fantastic that's happening today i'm excited he already posted photos of a unpopulated play field he's gonna bring so you know whoever gc's the tournament today will probably go home with that and that's fantastic hopefully he's got some swag for us guys that play a little bit more mediocrely more you know the fun casual uh category of tournament players so i'm excited for that today so boom so that's happening uh you know thank you wisconsin pinball group madison pinball for putting us all together and everybody that went in to coordinate this cool cool event but that's not it on wednesday wednesday may 10th wednesday may 10th from 6 p.m to 9 p.m i will be making an appearance at collision brewing in a collision been brewing in cleveland ohio uh that We're going to do an event down there with 216 Pinball. I reached out to my friends with Mad Pinball. We're getting an event thrown in and coordinated. I'm heading out to Ohio for work, and I managed to set up an event that we can all go to in Cleveland. So if you're in the greater northeast Ohio or western Pennsylvania region and you want to come hang out and play some pinball on a Wednesday night, 6 to 9, Collision Bend Brewing. They are at 1250 Old River Road in Cleveland, Ohio, 44113. If you want to mail them a package for some weird reason, I'm going to come, I'm going to bring t-shirts stickers, keychains magnets, and we're going to be doing some giveaway everybody should be leaving with something I'm just happy to share this and I'm glad people are digging the podcast and what I'm doing we'll be kissing selfies and taking babies, so come on out have a good time, that's going to be fun also want to give a huge shout out and heartfelt emotions to my Patreon subscribers thank you so much guys, if you guys don't know I started a Patreon the last week There's only one tier. It's $5 a month. It's the buy your buddy a beer level. Call yourself a baller level. If you just want to find a way to give back and contribute, it just means the world to me. And so I've been dropping some exclusive content on there. There's a lot of projects that I'm working with on the merch side of the podcast. I love to make things, design things, and then I like to give them away. I sell my t-shirts just about at cost. It just barely covers shipping. $25, Don's Pinball Podcast at gmail.com. I've got two different designs. I've got the skull designs with the mushroom pop bumpers. I've got the Fathom-inspired mermaid shirt. And I got a brand-new graphic that this morning I just got the final proof back. And so that will be going on merchandise soon. And so what I've been thinking of doing and what I've been doing with the mermaid shirt is kind of looking at some classic pinball games and how I can kind of take art inspired from that and then come up with my own in connection with my artists that I have online and come up with some cool designs, some trippy, interesting things. It's not just a logo on a t-shirt. I want to do a little bit more. I love the full front graphics on the shirts, so that's what I'm doing. So Gorgar is my next one, and I just got the graphic in. It blew my mind. This guy does great work. It's very kind of trippy, a little psychedelic. There's snakes involved. There's Skulls, there's a woman, and there's Gorgar there prominently featured. So I'm releasing that image to my Patreon subscribers this morning, and then I'll put it up on the Facebook page later today. I'm going to be sending in orders for t-shirts for this. So if you want a new Gorgar-inspired graphic, it's fantastic. It'll be the full front of the shirt. I'll say Don's Pinball Podcast on it. It's going to be fire. $25 delivered to your door in the U.S. domestic. International, we'll talk about shipping. Sometimes it's like $30, just a ship. so I don't want to eat that whole cost but I may be in your neck of the words also because I am going on a European tour in the month of June so if you live in the UK if you're in Paris, North or South Spain, Barcelona, Italy Switzerland or Western Germany hit me up, invite me to your arcade I want to come by, I want to play, I want to grab a pint I want to drop some tokens, I want to drop some jetons I want to drop some pound sterling, drop some euro coins drop some Swiss francs in your machines and you know play and see what it's like over there. So I've reached out to some people in the London area, so I'm going to coordinate on some times and meet up. I'll release more of that on the Facebook page, so be sure you're following. The last time I checked, I've got 198 Facebook followers, and wouldn't it be great to put myself over the top of 200? If you haven't followed, go ahead and click a like and follow on the Facebook page at Don's Pinball Podcast, and email me at donspinballpodcast at gmail.com. Come to Collision Bend Brewing on Wednesday night. Come to IO Arcade in a couple of hours. come find me in Europe we'll hang out we'll go to I don't want to go to the pay toilets but we'll go to the pay arcades and we'll play some games competitively I'm bringing some merch with me if you meet me you at least get stickers because I always have those on me give me your news, give me your views give me your reviews that you can't fare to lose I think that's all I have for this morning I'm going to go get ready, I've got to get changed I've got to go meet Mr. Jack Danger hopefully there will be a selfie up on the site later today hit me with your thoughts