Episode 1201: "Recap of TPF News"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·25m 6s·held·Mar 23, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.016

TL;DR

Kaneda recaps TPF: Pokémon ships, Beetlejuice thrives, Yukon Yeti criticized for AI music, Circus Voltaire announced.

Summary

Kaneda reviews Texas Pinball Festival 2025, discussing major manufacturers' presence and announcements. Key topics include Stern's Pokémon Pinball LE shipping this week with concerns about Insider Connected implementation, John Wick's continued code struggles, Spooky's Beetlejuice positive reception, Turner Pinball's Yukon Yeti with AI-generated music criticism, American Pinball's Houdini LE remaster with Franchi art, and the announcement of Circus Voltaire remakes via Planetary Pinball partnership. Kaneda emphasizes secondary market pricing concerns, the importance of word-of-mouth, and theme licensing strategy timing.

Key Claims

Pokémon Pinball LE units are shipping this week (as of TPF in March 2025)
high confidence · Kaneda stated directly: 'The LEs are all done. So if you have an LE game, it is going to ship to you this week.'
A Pokémon LE sold on eBay for $19,000 (approximately $6,000 over MSRP before fees)
medium confidence · Kaneda: 'He said he sold his on eBay for $19,000. Okay, you got to pay some eBay fees.' This is anecdotal from a friend.
Pokémon Pinball LEs are moving at $3,000-$5,000 over MSRP on Pinside secondary market
medium confidence · Kaneda observed: 'I'm seeing on Pinside right now, they seem to be moving around three to 5000 over sticker.'
Stern is being quiet about future Insider Connected implementation for Pokémon, particularly Pokedex functionality
high confidence · Kaneda: 'Stern Pinball, in their seminar, they were very sort of quiet on what's coming down the road' and 'Jack Danger and Tano. They seem to have smiles on their faces when people ask about this stuff.'
Yukon Yeti uses AI-generated ragtime piano music as its intro theme and soundtrack
high confidence · Kaneda opened the episode: 'That is ragtime piano, AI generated. That is the actual song that is being used by Turner Pinball in Yukon Yeti.'
American Pinball will produce Circus Voltaire remakes via partnership with Planetary Pinball Supply (Rick), while Pedretti Gaming produces Totem and Theater of Magic
high confidence · Kaneda: 'Rick at Planetary partnered up with these guys. They're gonna make Circus Voltaire first. It seems like Pedretti Gaming is making Totem and Theater of Magic.'
Circus Voltaire remakes are expected to release around July or August 2025
medium confidence · Kaneda: 'I am hearing somewhere around like July, August for the game.'
Three Musketeers by Hexapinball was stuck in customs at TPF
high confidence · Kaneda: 'The Three Musketeers by Hexapinball was stuck in customs. Poor guys.'

Notable Quotes

“That is ragtime piano, AI generated. That is the actual song that is being used by Turner Pinball in Yukon Yeti. TPF is over.”
Kaneda @ 0:00-0:15 — Opens the episode with strong criticism of Yukon Yeti's audio production quality; sets tone for product quality concerns
“If you have an LE game, it is going to ship to you this week.”
Kaneda @ ~2:45 — Confirms Pokémon LE shipping timeline; major product launch signal
“It is bonkers if you were to tell any of your friends that you spend [money] on a toy that is incomplete, you don't know when it going to be complete, and you don't even know what going to be included in the completed toy.”
Kaneda @ ~9:30 — Critical assessment of Pokémon's incomplete Insider Connected integration at launch; frames the purchase as risky
“I think Stern Pinball never really built Insider Connected to do anything very complex. I don't think they built it to have on your phone too as an app that does other stuff.”
Kaneda @ ~8:45 — Expresses skepticism about Stern's Insider Connected capabilities and roadmap; warns buyers about expectations
“John Wick sales were horrendous. The resale value is horrendous. I get it's got a little bit of a cult following. It never fully recovered from gun gate issue when it launched.”
Kaneda @ ~11:30 — Assesses John Wick's market failure and explains why continued code support won't revive it
“The game is really fun to shoot. It has fun mechs in the game. The upper playfield is a hoot to shoot. The music is atrocious. The artwork and the call outs are atrocious.”
Kaneda @ ~21:00 — Mixed review of Yukon Yeti gameplay vs. production quality; identifies specific areas for improvement
“If you are charging $10,000 to $12,000 for an unlicensed IP game like Yukon Yeti, you can't put in like cheap AI generated ragtime piano music.”
Kaneda @ ~22:15 — Criticizes Turner Pinball's production value for the price point; ties audio quality to premium positioning

Entities

Kanedaperson Texas Pinball Festival (TPF)eventStern PinballcompanyPokémon PinballgameJersey Jack Pinball (JJP)companySpooky PinballcompanyBeetlejuicegame Turner Pinballcompany

Signals

?
product_launch: Pokémon Pinball LE units shipping week of March 2025 TPF; 750 units expected by end of March
high · Kaneda: 'The LEs are all done. So if you have an LE game, it is going to ship to you this week' and 'We're going to get 750 Pokémon LEs to customers by the end of March.'
$
market_signal: Pokémon LE secondary market showing $3,000-$5,000 premiums on Pinside; anecdotal $19,000 eBay sale; market testing phase as units ship
medium · Kaneda observed current Pinside pricing and reported friend's eBay transaction; characterized as moment where 'rubber is going to meet the road'
?
product_concern: Pokémon Pinball shipping with incomplete Insider Connected integration; Pokedex functionality promised but undefined; buyer purchasing incomplete product
high · Kaneda: 'spending all of this money on a very, very popular IP' for a game whose 'long-term enjoyment and replay value will come down to how intricate Stern's Insider Connected software happens' but 'nobody fully knows how Stern is gonna implement Insider Connected'
?
product_concern: Yukon Yeti using cheap AI-generated ragtime piano music for premium-priced unlicensed IP game; community expects improvements before shipping
high · Kaneda: 'If you are charging $10,000 to $12,000 for an unlicensed IP game like Yukon Yeti, you can't put in like cheap AI generated ragtime piano music' and predicted community-driven improvements
~
sentiment_shift: Beetlejuice receiving predominantly positive community feedback despite minor mechanical criticisms; strong cultural resonance as first Tim Burton pinball

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.075

0:00

In the 13 years of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, you've never heard intro music so bad. That is ragtime piano, AI generated. That is the actual song that is being used by Turner Pinball in Yukon Yeti. TPF is over. Let's talk about the show. Let's talk about what's going on with each of these manufacturers. I think it's a good time to recalibrate on this Monday morning. March Madness is going on. Go St. John's. Go Yukon. And so TPF has come and gone. The Twippies are no longer there. I was always like the highlight of the Saturday night. Were there any big surprises at TPF? No. The Three Musketeers by Hexapinball was stuck in customs. Poor guys. Was there any big reveal that we didn't know coming? American Pinball, they revealed Circus Voltaire. We knew that was coming. But you know, I think the Houdini Franchi art package was probably maybe the biggest The show was a total surprise at Texas Pinball Festival. This used to be a show where the manufacturers would actually wait and reveal some big, big news at the show itself. So for most part, we got what Stern was doing before the show with Pokemon, Jersey Jacks, Harry Potter, they've been content to wait on Sonic the Hedgehog. I think it's going to be in July when Comic-Con hits. I think we're going to get Sonic the Hedgehog and Transformers maybe the same exact month. And if I'm Stern Transformers, I do not want to go up against Steve Ritchie's Sonic the Hedgehog, but it is a very, very good year to be a pinball buyer. The market and the amount of games out there, the prices are still stupid. I go all over pin side and I see all the prices and they still are pretty stupid. I still think there's a lot of people that are stuck in the COVID era of like everything I have now is worth 10 to $13,000, but there's so many good games out there and you know, you don't have to spend a fortune to get a great pinball machine. So let's go back again to TPF. So Stern pinball brought Pokemon. And what I heard, there were decently long lines to play the new game from Stern Pinball. I think people were having fun on the game. That's what I can take. The LEs are on the line. No, the LEs are all done. So if you have an LE game, it is going to ship to you this week. So I am so excited because that means Guns N' Roses is leaving soon and this game is coming in real, real soon. The weather is still terrible and rainy, so I'm going to make sure I schedule one of the sunny days for them to drop this game off. I'm gonna write that big check. It's not gonna feel good. I mean this. It's not gonna feel good to spend $13,000 on a Stern LE. We'll talk a little bit about Pokemon prices later. But the big conversation around Pokemon continues to be the use of Insider Connected. Now Stern Pinball, in their seminar, they were very sort of quiet on what's coming down the road. It's almost like they've got intentions of what they would like to do with the Pokemon Insider Connected and mainly the Pokedex. So the whole thing about Pokemon, if you play Pokemon, is you want to be able to capture Pokemon, you want to be able to analyze them, and you want to be able to share the Pokemon you have with everybody else in the world. And right now that is not working effectively in the game. And right now nobody fully knows how Stern is gonna implement Insider Connected, Jack Danger and Tano. They seem to have smiles on their faces when people ask about this stuff. But it does beg the question for the people out there that are spending all of this money on a very, very popular IP, on a layout that is very, very basic. A lot of this game's long-term enjoyment and replay value will come down to how intricate Stern's insider-connected software happens on this game. Now, if I were you, I would curb some of your enthusiasm because I don't think Stern ever really built insider-connected to do anything very complex. I don't think they built it, you know, to have on your phone too as an app that does other stuff. Like on the app on your phone, it should look like a Pokedex. It shouldn't look like Stern's Insider Connected. I just don't think that they really want to invest too much money or even have the ability to make some of the stuff people think they're gonna get. I think they saw it more as like leaderboards and maybe a few other things here and there, like these badges, but this is a different beast. And Pokemon is a property where people expect a certain thing to happen. And if you strip away too much of what people love about Pokemon, and this is what the game ultimately ends up becoming, which is just catching Pokemon and you don't really have a lot of other exciting stuff. Will it get boring? Will it feel like chopping wood? And will people want to get rid of the game after owning it for a while? So, you know, I don't know yet. What I do know is this it is bonkers if you were to tell any of your friends that you spend to on a toy that is incomplete you don know when it going to be complete and you don even know what going to be included in the completed toy that you bought It like buying a car and it doesn have the stereo in it yet and you not sure what the stereo is going to sound like. They're promising you a stereo one day but you don't know what it's going to be. So we've seen this before with Stern games and we're seeing it again. Now speaking of Stern code, John Wick just got another code update. If I spoke about John Wick a lot on this show, I would have no subscribers. Now the funny part is this, I think this game is closing in on 1.0 or maybe it's at 1.0. They did a stream of the game. This is John Wick team streaming the game and Stern's own employees are not even aware of what's happening in the game while they're streaming it. So it just goes to show you, not even Stern knows what's going on with its own software at times. John Wick is a game that is not going to get a lot of attention. It didn't sell very well. And unfortunately for Stern, this is why you got to get it right from the get go. If you don't pick a theme that has a lot of excitement and sales are not there, you now have to go finish this game over the next year and a half. John Wick sales were horrendous. The resale value is horrendous. I get it's got a little bit of a cult following. It never fully recovered from gun gate issue when it launched. And so yeah, when John Wick is complete, just as few people are going to care as they did six months ago. It's just one of these games that's going to be easily forgotten. You know, there's just a lot of games like that. They come out and a few months later, everybody's moved on. You know, that's why you have to make great games. You have to make games that culturally land in the pinball community. If you keep making stuff that's forgettable, you know, you're not going to get the effort from the software team. And even if it does become okay one day, then fine. Yeah, that only benefits the person coming in late who's paying almost nothing for the game. Then they get to enjoy it. But also, you just don't want to be playing a game that other people aren't talking about. What's the other fun part about this community is you want to geek out over a game because other people have it and are enjoying it. Okay, so Stern Pinball, Pokemon, Pokemon Elyse going out the door this week. We'll see what people's reaction is. I think that's really going to create an interesting moment the next week or two for the secondhand value of these Pokemon Elyse. I had a friend reach out last night from the show. He said he sold his on eBay for $19,000. Okay, you got to pay some eBay fees. So that would be 6000 over MSRP minus the eBay fees, which is not the best. Then you're looking at maybe another couple thousand, I think towards eBay. And I'm seeing on pin side right now, they seem to be moving around three to 5000 over sticker. And there's about three or four games for sale right now. There's still some wanted ads, but now the rubber is going to meet the road because everybody IDB,

9:54

A lot of owners. You're going to need the word of mouth to be amazing on this game. That is what it comes down to. Word of mouth. Remember when Jaws came out and we were complaining, oh, the Orca doesn't look right, oh, this doesn't seem like Keith Elwin's greatest game, ah, ah, ah. Then all of a sudden, what happened? Because the software was so amazing on Jaws and they kept making it better. The word of mouth on jaws was just so stellar that even if you were originally a little bit skeptical on it, maybe you didn't like the art, you didn't like this, it won people over because the word of mouth and the testimonials around the game really could not be false. Like, how could all these people like it? I should give it a try. I know you John Wick fanboys are saying, but what about our John Wick word of mouth? Nobody cares because it's John Wick. Nobody cares. All right. So moving on from Stern, any news at Jersey Jack? Nope. Harry Potter at the show. No mention of Sonic the Hedgehog. Nothing to talk about at JJP. Let's go over to Spooky. They had a lot of show games. Well, because they made a lot of show games. Any news on the spooky front over at Texas Pinball Festival? Nothing really. They dropped Beetlejuice out into the world. I keep hearing predominantly much more positive stuff about Beetlejuice than negative stuff. And yeah, there's going to be people that think, I don't know, maybe the Worm Mech isn't the greatest to interact with. Maybe there's too many Scoops. They're calling them Spooky Scoop now, not Spooky Luke. I think that's kind of funny. It's not Beetlejuice. It's Beetle Scoop. All just good humor. Spooky is laughing all the way to the bank. I think now what's about to happen is they're going to get more games out more consistently and then we're just going to have the year of Beetlejuice. It's all going to be about the software updates and the code updates. Again, it's going to be another thing too because this community is pretty, pretty good at getting over the honeymoon period. We are. The Bing Huber Re anticipate We're all in love with it for a lot of the bright flashiness of the game. And then what happened? Everybody wanted to get rid of it because the gameplay just didn't hold up. Now does Beetlejuice gameplay have that home ownership replay value I think again when I look at Beetlejuice I think it the sum of the parts It the first Tim Burton pinball machine It nails feeling like you playing Beetlejuice I don't think you're ever gonna get over this game. There are a lot of accessories, as I said on the last show, popping up for this game. I don't know, man, like, I just don't think you should over accessorize. I did love the pointed grass that is coming out. I think Cointaker has a lot of these mods available for Beetlejuice. I don't get any kickbacks. So, but just tell Melissa Kaneda said you guys are selling Beetlejuice accessories. It just makes her feel good, you know, and I like making my distro and dealer friends feel good. So, you know, there's some accessories here and there. I wouldn't overdo it. I know there's people doing like the chair and some of the art sculptures. I think what's missing from this game is the house. I mean, that house with like the frame outside of the house is really fun, but just be careful. Don't over clutter the game. When you over clutter anything, it looks bad. You don't need to shove everything that was in the Beetlejuice movies into the Beetlejuice game under glass. There's something to be said about empty space makes your eye go towards other things that they want you to focus on. Japanese artists knew this very well throughout history, but for some reason, we're in a We have a hobby where for the most part people have the worst taste imaginable on planet earth. Not just with their pinball machines, with how they dress? You know what I'm talking about man. Go look at a pinball crowd and you tell me, okay you tell me, these guys, they got good fashion sense. Okay, so moving on from Beetlejuice, the list for Goonies is already full, it's already sold out. You're not getting one unless you know Kaneda. I know some of you are going to get one. Most of you are not. I do need to. It's coming up now. I do need to figure out how to give away these five games that I have at MSRP. That is coming very, very soon. Look out for details on that. You will not want to miss out. It is only open to Kaneda Club members. That is it. Nobody else. And if you win it, we're shipping to your address. There is no transfer of where the game will ship. I'm going to make sure of that with Bug & Luke. So if you win it and you have a Beetlejuice already, shame on you for even being in the running for that game. This is not a game for you to scalp. This is a game for someone who missed out on the initial offering. Leave the scalping to me, people. All right, after this, let's go to Turner Pinball because Yukon Yeti obviously was one of the newer games at the show. It's Dennis Nordman's sort of like spiritual successor to Whitewater. And look, we've seen the streams. I've heard the feedback. I've talked to people that have played the game. And the consensus is pretty much this. The game is really fun to shoot. It has fun mechs in the game. The upper playfield is a hoot to shoot. The music is atrocious. The artwork and the call outs are atrocious. Now, I think what's going to happen is this. I've already seen it in the thread. People are going to help Chris Turner improve the music and the call outs. He's going to listen to the feedback and he's going to make the game better by the time the game ships. So, once again, you know, here we go. I just don't trust Chris Turner's initial judgment because he's too nice. And this was Dennis Norman's pick of the music. It's cheap. And here's the thing, Chris. If you are charging $10,000 to $12,000 for an unlicensed IP game like Yukon Yeti, you can't put in like cheap AI generated ragtime piano music that is costing you nothing, okay? You need to hire a really good sound engineer, hire a musical talent. They're all over pinball. People will do this almost for free. Archive demon four is day to hear of october 11 As Calbo and informed company America has agreed to support uns simultaneous investment in American flare, cayenne, rmgo, wasting, foreign, lace句se, sal встрет Gente We're going to maybe wait now to see what the improvements are, because if you do own the game with the current music, it might drive you crazy. You might end up in the loony bin hearing that ragtime piano over and over and over again. I mean, it's not enjoyable to hear that on repeat. So but definitely this is Chris Turner's best game to date. He continues to hang around in the pinball space with the nicest disposition, with the most calming voice of all pinball manufacturers. So we will see what happens. I can't wait to play one of these games. I'm not sure if Automated is going to get one. I think they might be ordering some of these games. So we'll see. I can't wait to jump on and play the game. All right, let's go to American Pinball. American Pinball, they brought the Houdini 100 Limited Edition Houdini games to honor the 100th anniversary of the death of Houdini. I see what you did there, right? It's interesting. So look, Franchi's art package is way better and he did it in two weeks. It looks really cool. The one thing that I'm still like, you know, I want to want this game more than I actually do and it's because I still remember the way it shoots. The one thing that always made Houdini frustrating was the way it shot. There are a few shots in this game that are absolutely necessary to making your way through the game. types of The Valley Company Subsidiary of Walter Kidde Co Inc Mirco Playfields Tim Kitzrow Barry Oursler Before Keith Elwin was even on the scene. So back when Houdini came out, we weren't used to games that shot like so good, like Foo Fighters and all the Elwin pins and Elton John. List goes on and on and on. And you know, you know that there's nothing worse than bad gameplay. So unfortunately, that hasn't changed in this game. I don't hold it against like Bryan and Melvin and team. They gotta get rid of the games. It was smart to do this. I still think they're gonna sell them out. I mean, they sold through all of them. I still think people are gonna pick them up out of curiosity. And also, I think the Franchi factor is the other reason they're gonna move. There are people that will buy this game because of what Franchi art package and topper looks like on the game. So that happened at TPF. And then we get Circus Voltaire. Rick at Planetary partnered up with these guys. They're gonna make Circus Voltaire first. It seems like Pedretti Gaming is making Toten and Theater of Magic. I would rather have American Pinball make the remakes. So here's the thing about Circus Voltaire that's interesting. They said they're going to make a classic and a reimagined or a remastered version of the game. Now, I don't know if they're still going to put the screen below the glass, which is one of the coolest elements of Circus Voltaire. If you were to ask me, I think they might move it up, but I hope they keep it below the glass. But when you look at the Brian Allen Translite, it seems more like a traditional Translite versus that big square, which is the Circus Voltaire backbox because the screen is below the glass. Much more Zidware looking than it is a traditional cabinet. We shall see. Now as of now, we do not know the details on the pricing. We also do not know exactly when. I asked over there, I am hearing somewhere around like July, August for the game. They are not taking deposits. You email your distributor and they will put you on a list. Ah, those good old distro lists. Everyone's on a list for Transformers, for Goonies, for Circus Voltaire. Man, it's just gonna get really expensive trying to buy all these games. There's so much coming out that I think people are gonna want. You're gonna really have to exercise patience and only get the games that you really can afford for a lot of you or you have space for. I mean, who's dropping like $50,000 to $100,000 on pinball machines a year? I know I'm not. Maybe you guys are, but I'm not. So that was also announced by American Pinball. A fun thing that happened at the show, they did a raffle to win a free Houdini. And they said, when we pull your raffle ticket, you need to be in the room and you win. So they pulled the winner and they announced his name and he was not in the room. They did a countdown. He wasn't there. And so then they pulled another ticket and the winner was, I believe, a woman who is Brian is a Patreon Club member and so she won the game and then the other guy comes running into the room hysterical almost at the point of tears and he's all upset that he was the winner and he should get his Houdini. Man, they couldn't have more clearly stated you gotta be here. Here's the thing and this is why I love the new American Pinball leadership. Brian makes the executive decision to also give the original winner a game. That is good PR. That is a great move. Hopefully that erases any of the anger for putting a little AI on a flyer. So American Pinball doing the right stuff. You know me, I'm still looking forward to seeing what they do when they don't have to fix David Fix's mistakes. I still look forward to seeing what they do when they're not remastering a game from 35 years ago. I want to see what the new American pinball develops without any baggage, without any old stuff. The new game with the new leadership and the new team wearing those bright blue shirts. Thank you for looking like a company and not like a bunch of cargo short wearing sloppy crew. All right. Anything else happen at TPF? Any companies I'm missing? No news from Multimorphic P3. zetorc verlدة pleasing