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DPP #247 "Big Episode! New BOF?!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·36m 40s·analyzed·Jul 21, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.023

TL;DR

Major BOF music pin rumor (Bon Jovi), Multimorphic hype, and industry gossip.

Summary

Don, host of Don's A A Pinball Podcast, returns from a European trip to discuss major industry developments including rumors of a Barrels of Fun Bon Jovi pinball machine with an imminent reveal, the Multimorphic P3 'Multimorphic' announcement featuring Dungeon Crawler Carl and Ender's Game dual-theme modules, impressions of Beetlejuice production progress at Spooky, and critical commentary on Jersey Jack Pinball the Hedgehog game and Dutch Pinball production struggles.

Key Claims

  • Barrels of Fun is planning to release a music-themed pinball machine (rumored to be Bon Jovi) with a possible imminent shadow drop this week

    medium confidence · Don citing Kaneda's rumor and BOF's Reserve Club membership window closing Friday; BOF's known pattern of surprise drops

  • Beetlejuice production at Spooky is approximately halfway through its run, with units in the upper 400s

    medium confidence · Don's casual observations during visit to Spooky Factory, noting distributor numbering variations

  • Multimorphic is releasing a new P3 module on Monday (Multimorphic) featuring dual themes: Dungeon Crawler Carl and Ender's Game

    high confidence · Don stating upcoming Monday reveal; module follows Portal; mentions NDA-bound industry figures have seen it

  • Jersey Jack Sonic the Hedgehog has underperformed in sales compared to expectations

    medium confidence · Don's observation of weak location placement and absence from Interium flagship arcade despite typical launch patterns

  • Winchester Mystery House sold out in two days with a 500-unit production run

    high confidence · Don's direct statement about BOF's previous game performance metrics

  • Barrels of Fun has a Reserve Club membership program ($75) that grants benefits including exclusive access to games that sell out within 7 days

    high confidence · Don describing BOF's announced membership program and its mechanics

  • Don views the Multimorphic P3 system as analogous to the Cybertruck: radically different, expensive, sought after by a niche, with significant shortcomings

    high confidence · Don's extended commentary comparing P3 market segmentation to Cybertruck adoption patterns

  • New Dead Rings product for Beetlejuice sold out its first run during Don's absence

    high confidence · Don mentioning he 'managed to snag one before the first run sold out'

Notable Quotes

  • “There goes my pay! Goodies sold out before Beetlejuice released”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Opening — Community-created opening song encapsulating FOMO dynamics and Spooky's market dominance

  • “This company is known to turn on a dime. David Van Ness likes to come out, completely surprise the community and just do drops, right, just phantom drops.”

    Don @ Early segment — Characterization of Barrels of Fun's aggressive marketing and surprise release strategy

  • “If it's Bon Jovi, stay in my butt home. I'll go play this on location. I do not need a Bon Jovi pin in this house.”

    Don @ BOF discussion — Host's skepticism about the rumored Bon Jovi theme; reveals collector vs. location preference dynamics

  • “The P3 is the Cybertruck of pinball. And by that I mean it's something that's radically different from everything else that's out there... it's not necessarily better than what's out there. In many ways, there's a lot of shortcomings.”

    Don @ P3 discussion — Analogy explaining P3's niche market positioning, price barriers, and polarized adoption patterns

  • “This game is fun to play. It's fast action. It's all that. It looks beautiful... It's what we expected. I expect that there will be a loop, but it's not going to be like the loop I have in my head.”

    Don @ Sonic discussion — Critique of Jersey Jack Sonic for meeting baseline expectations but missing thematic specificity (16-bit vs. modern)

  • “I traveled the country to go play Portal on location. I'm probably going to have to do the same thing with Dungeon Crawler Carl.”

    Don @ Multimorphic discussion — Illustrates deep community engagement with niche P3 titles despite ownership barriers

  • “Nobody is going in there and starting start to finish and building the entire thing. Like, it's just impossible to manufacture that way.”

    Don @ Build experience segment — Insider knowledge of factory specialization and assembly-line manufacturing in pinball production

Entities

Barrels of FuncompanySpooky PinballcompanyMultimorphiccompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyDonperson[name withheld pending review]personKanedaperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Barrels of Fun executing aggressive phantom drop and FOMO strategy with Reserve Club membership cutoff Friday and rumored immediate Bon Jovi reveal

    high · Don noting Reserve Club window closing Friday, Kaneda's rumor just dropping, and BOF's known pattern of surprise announcements

  • ?

    machine_intel: Multimorphic P3 new module announcement scheduled for Monday with dual themes (Dungeon Crawler Carl primary, Ender's Game secondary)

    high · Don stating upcoming Monday reveal with NDA-bound industry figures having previewed the module; mentioned as follow-up to Portal

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Sonic the Hedgehog showing weak sales momentum and location penetration compared to typical launch patterns

    medium · Don's observation of Sonic absence from Interium flagship arcade despite being month post-launch and typical prototype placement pattern; characterization of sales as 'not huge'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Dungeon Crawler Carl expected to command premium secondary market pricing due to thematic appeal; Ender's Game likely to be lower-value download option

    medium · Don stating 'DCC is going to be the one to get because on resale that'll be the one everybody wants' and anticipating $1,200 licensing fee for EG download

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Barrels of Fun balancing production of 300+ remaining Winchester units while potentially ramping new Bon Jovi machine; production timeline suggests November launch window

    medium · Don's mental math on BOF production capacity based on Winchester progress and Reserve Club strategy; forecasts November launch tied to Expo

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.024

0:00
Oh! Let's go! Oh! Spooky's turning heads like they're going out of style Walk up to a game, you can't help but smile Bug, Luke, Franchi, drawing magic every day Dawn drops a midnight reveal There goes my pay! Goodies sold out before Beetlejuice released Hey Danger, come on over, let's see what you can do We're all just chasing one more game That's something new, it's a community Built around fun One more game turns into 21 Inside rabbit holes, midnight streams, living somebody else's pinball dreams.
0:58
In person from WAP. We did WAP Lives from Denmark. It was completely amazing. I came back to this awesome song that Jeff Epner sent me. Thank you so much, buddy. I'll play it in its entirety at the end because it's super fun. But I leave the country for a week and a half, and then all of a sudden everything goes awire. There's all kinds of announcements, new games coming out, new rumors dropping, new products. It's all amazing. And there's so much going on right now. And so I'm going to fill up this summer void with your boy, the Pinball Noid right here, man. And we'll just start with Barrels of Fun right now because they are the company at the moment that everybody's talking about. As I'm recording this, Kaneda is live right now with his rumor that he's been teasing. It was going to come out later this week. It's here now about the title, the theme for the music pin that Barrels of Fun is supposedly just fostering upon us all of a sudden. Now, I had looked at the production of Dune wrapping up and the fact that there's still over half of the Winchesters to build, 300 or so left to make, and, you know, forecasting, you know, doing mental math, gymnastics in my head and flowcharts and algorithms and all of that, and figuring that they wouldn't be ready to release a game until they're just about wrapping up their production of this game sometime in November, which would give us like a launch at Expo. But then it's all going nuts right now. This company is known to turn on a dime. David Van Ness likes to come out, completely surprise the community and just do drops, right, just phantom drops. The last thing that they dropped on us was the Barrels of Fun Reserve Club. $75 join up. If the new game launches, sells out within seven days, you can then use your benefit and get yourself another one. Plus, you get to go to some exclusive events. We've known they've done this before. It shows where they rent out a room and they put their games in there. And if you bought a game or you're like bought curious about a game, you get to go in there and play it. They announced that they're doing this at a special pinball room Friday night at Southern Fright Gaming Expo, which I'll be in attendance, which is amazing, devastating. I'll be down there. I'll also be going to Fun Spot in Atlanta for the last weekend of operations so I can go ride Air Force One before it gets torn the hell down. If you like roller coasters, go check it out. I'll be there. I'll be talking about it. But Friday night they're going to be doing that. They announced that cruise that came out of nowhere, leaving from Galveston in June. And now all of a sudden they have announced in lieu, like in anticipation of the date of the drop of the rumor, Bon Jovi, that Kaneda just put out there. Everybody's going to be talking about it right now, so I don't think I'm breaking a street date or anything. But they just posted today, like as I'm sitting down here writing down some notes, that the Reserve Club, the $75 membership that will get you on the guest list If a game sells out, we'll be closing its window of opportunity on Friday, like this week. Like, not even until we get to Multimorphic Monday. So I was thinking, like, maybe, are they just being, like, you know, trying to do tit for tat with Kaneda or something? I'm sitting back, crunching some popcorn, waiting for some new pinball drops, but we may get a new drop from Barrels of Fun. And it sounds like it's going to be a music pin, and Kaneda's telling everybody that it's Bon Jovi. And I'm telling everybody, if it's Bon Jovi, stay in my butt home. I'll go play this on location. I do not need a Bon Jovi pin in this house. I'm about as excited, all right, about a Bon Jovi-themed pinball machine as I am for like, I don't know, like a Rod Stewart pinball machine. Yeah, they both sold millions of albums. I get it. I would take an Eric Clapton maybe over this. I was hoping, given this theme, this rumor of a music theme from Barrels of Fun, I was thinking they would go with a Texas band like ZZ Top.

A new Dante mode has been added to Beetlejuice in a recent code update

high confidence · Don stating 'There's a new mode in Beetlejuice that just dropped' before playing

  • Dutch Pinball's Alice in Wonderland games are still incomplete 2-3 years after reveal, with initial 500-unit first-year target missed by ~300 units

    medium confidence · Don's commentary on Dutch Pinball production delays and contractual offer to buyers of remaining units

  • “If I had a P3 I'd totally get this. Is this going to make me get one? Probably not. It's just that Cybertruck barriers right there.”

    Don @ P3 pricing discussion — Expresses price sensitivity and feature-to-cost ratio concerns preventing adoption despite thematic appeal

  • “I think it's fine to have an operator game. Will this change Jersey Jack's modus for going for unlimited CEs? Like, I think because I know it's unlimited, it's always going to be available.”

    Don @ Sonic market analysis — Commentary on JJP's unlimited Collector's Edition strategy and its impact on secondary market pricing and urgency

  • “I love Dutch for making that game. I love Barry for sending me a White Russian. Even though I don't have the game, I still have the White Russian.”

    Don @ Dutch Pinball nostalgia — Affection for Big Lebowski despite complicated Dutch Pinball history; illustrates community loyalty despite manufacturing failures

    • Jerry
    person
    Dungeon Crawler Carlgame
    Ender's Gamegame
    Bon Joviproduct
    Winchester Mystery Housegame
    Beetlejuicegame
    Sonic the Hedgehoggame
    Portalgame
    Dune Pinballgame
    Multimorphicevent
    Dutch Pinballcompany
    Big Lebowskigame
    Southern Fright Gaming Expoevent
    Interiumvenue
    Multimorphic P3product
    Dead Ringsproduct
  • ?

    product_concern: Jersey Jack Sonic implementation diverged from player expectations for 16-bit chiptune-focused gameplay; instead delivered modern Sonic Generations CGI experience

    high · Don's detailed critique: 'I wanted a 16-bit Sonic experience... I wanted chiptune version mixed with remixes... None of that was delivered'

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack's unlimited Collector's Edition strategy potentially dampening urgency and secondary market premiums for Sonic the Hedgehog

    medium · Don noting availability of unlimited CEs will make game perpetually available and citing precedent of Godfather Effect with price dropping over time

  • ?

    community_signal: Multimorphic P3 community split into three distinct groups: devoted enthusiasts, interested-but-hesitant buyers, and outright detractors; niche adoption with passionate defenders

    high · Don's extended Cybertruck analogy describing different user camps and their arguments; mentions Russell and others with multiple P3 units

  • ?

    product_launch: Spooky Beetlejuice approximately halfway through 1,079-unit production run with upper 400s units completed; on track for November release window

    medium · Don's factory visit observations: 'seeing numbers that are in like the upper 400s now' and noting calendar suggests 'pretty quick wrap-up on time'

  • ?

    code_update: Beetlejuice receiving new Dante mode in recent code update; Dead Rings product offering first sold out immediately

    high · Don mentioning new Dante mode 'just dropped' and planning to update code upon home delivery; Dead Rings sold out during his absence

  • ?

    industry_signal: Dutch Pinball's Alice in Wonderland still incomplete 2-3 years post-reveal; original 500-unit first-year target missed by ~300 units; Back to the Future perpetually delayed

    high · Don stating 'I still don't think the Alice in Wonderland are complete. Two years, three years after they've been revealed' and referencing 10-year Big Lebowski development history

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Host expressing concern that Multimorphic P3 games are 'okay' rather than 'amazing' relative to their $12,000-13,000 price point, requiring exceptional quality to justify purchase

    high · Don: 'their best ones, like, the best ones to play are okay games... that's not an okay price... it's got to be amazing... It's got to be fantastic'

    • 4:38
    They were in Back to the Future 3, so there's like that connection. They're like the coolest band that's ever existed. The two guys had the huge beards, and then the only guy with the band without a beard, his last name was Beard. Like, it's super fun. Their music is cool. And I think they'd make for like a kind of a fun pinball machine in that kind of like modded chopped hot rod kind of era sort of thing. So like maybe I could bring myself around to like getting into that. But man, it's going to be a big ask to get me to be excited about Bon Jovi. I commented that I think I'd rather have a Chris Jericho pin to be honest over that. I don't know. Does Bon Jovi titillate and excite? Is this a game that would sell a thousand? Does barrels need to sell a thousand? What would be a measure of benefit for them? I don't know. The rumor run is 700, but then you got the Barrels Reserve members of 700 sells out, whatever. I don't know, man. I'm going to sit back casually and watch this, but we might get a shadow drop of a game for Barrels of Fun this week. Only they know for sure, and even then, they could probably change their opinion and turn on a dime. I will say this. I think it's too soon for a Carl D'Angelo pin to come up as follow-up to Winchester. Hopefully Boy's working on something. I was hoping it was going to be Dungeon Crawler Carl, but I don't think that's in the cards. But like, I don't know. Let me know what you think about Bon Jovi. I'm going to move on from this stuff. When I did run this through ChatGPT earlier today, because there was supposedly some connection with World Cup and stuff, like the bands it came back with was like Coldplay and U2, and I'm like, eh, I don't really care about either of those. BTS came back, that Korean boy pop band, like that might be fun as kind of an off-the-wall choice. But yeah, I can say Bon Jovi's probably a license that's gettable. I will say that. So this sounds like it could be a plausible thing, but man, you know, somebody's hot mom out there is probably really excited about this theme, but I don't know if that translates to sales. We'll have to see what happens. In terms of numbering, right, Winchester sold out after two days with a 500 run, With the strength of Carl D'Angelo coming on the hills of the lackluster in layout Fall of the Empire that was dropped. So it was like kind of a concomitant, a bunch of things. If they go ahead and release a 700 or 1,000 run of a game, I don't know if they get a seven-day sellout, in which case it wouldn't trigger the Barrels Reserve in the first place. So like, what do they do? You know, they probably have 200 or 300 people in the Barrels Reserve. Maybe they release 300 games. Maybe 300 games would sell out in a week pretty easily. And then you can get another 300 sales from the Barrels Reserve people. Win-win, everybody's happy. Somebody's got some exclusivity. And the overall numbers are still low. I'm going to watch this because I honestly don't know what's going to happen next. And it's only Monday. It's only Monday of this week. Let's move on. What else is going on? I want to talk about my trip, man. My trip was super fun. Just briefly, I left Chicago. We went to five countries, two continents. A lot of places were new to me. Went to Rome, went to Egypt, went to Greece, Athens. Denmark to go hang out with Genghis and then stop over in Iceland on the way back home. Just got back last night. I just woke up. I went over to the Spooky Factory today. I hung out with them in a thunderstorm. Man, those people in that pinball barn, I'm worried about them. They don't have like a basement in that area. If a tornado comes, which God forbid that ever happens, I don't know what would happen to Spooky, man. But I will say that Beetlejuices are humming along. And just through my casual observances, you know, just walking around in some publicly accessible areas and some not, it looks to be that they're probably about halfway through the run of Beetlejuices right now. I'm seeing numbers that are in like the upper 400s now. And, you know, I'm not seeing everything. And they don't build exactly in order, you know, because some distributors have numbers that are kind of all over the place. But that's kind of what I'm seeing. And then when I look at the calendar, us being here in the middle to late part of July where over half of the year is over, their release window is generally November. Like, everything seems to be tracking for, like, a pretty quick wrap-up on time of Beetlejuice and then the launch of some other game. If you want a rumor on that, go hit up ChatGPT because it's everywhere, what everybody thinks is coming from Spooky Next. I will say, you know, it's going to be another fun, snappy game, I do believe. As far as my own personal Beetlejuice journey, it's going in a box tomorrow. It will be delivered all the way across town Well halfway across town to my house And it be popping it open I played it again today It playing good man I got everything like fine in there What an experience this has been I need to do, like, an entire episode just recapping what it's like to build a pinball machine, like, start to finish the whole thing. Because this has been a crazy journey. I know it's taken a while. And part of that is my own damn fault of not being available for the first half of the year. But now it's all come together. It's all super fun. Will I do it again? I don't know. It's just so much work. So here's the thing about building a pinball machine. Like nobody in a pinball factory builds an entire pinball machine. It's not like you walk in there and you like start with the raw materials and then you turn around at the end of a day and a half and you have a completed game that you built entirely yourself. Like everybody is specialized in their own little departments. You know, someone's doing play field mechs. Someone's doing soldering and wiring all day. Someone else has done sub-assemblies and just making those. You know, the whole ramp mechanism with the opto-switches and captive balls and all that. Like, someone's just making those all day. And they get really good at that thing. And then they get faster at that thing. You know, and the people in QC are doing the QC of the game. But, like, nobody is going in there and starting start to finish and building the entire thing. Like, it's just impossible to manufacture that way. And so I think I would like to do more of this kind of experience, but I'm not sure I want to do the A to Z nuts to bolts, build the entire thing myself. But I will say it was fun going through this process. I'll go into it more on a later episode. But while it was gone, the Dead Rings came out. I believe they sold out of their first run of them. And those were being put together for weeks and months. And then the effect is really cool. I love adding extra ambiance to the machines. I love under cabinet lighting. I love back box lighting. It's the part of the thing that makes me want like a CE of a Jersey Jack machine if I get any of them because I just want there to be like all the effects in there. I was joking with the guys. It'd be fun to, you know, wire up an LED vest that you can put on. And when you play your game, like you're interactive with the game too. Like how ridiculous can we make this? But the dead wings are cool. I managed to snag one before the first run one sold out. I'm sure this is something they'll do again.
    11:29
    But it was super fun. So that came out. There's a new mode in Beetlejuice that just dropped. I haven't even played this yet, so I'll have to do that. I think when I get the game home, I'll get the code updated, throw the dead ring on it, and then just go to town on this Dante mode because it's going to be super fun. I wonder how Beetlejuice is going to play in my own home environment. Like to date, like I played Beetlejuice in Prototype. I played it in Whitewood. I've played it in Factory in various stages. I've played it at shows a little bit, but generally when I'm at shows, I'm running around doing like everything but stopping to just play pinball. So like I need to get home and actually have some quiet time on this game and really start exploring it, man. People ask me like, Don, like tell me about the code, the modes and things of Beetlejuice. I don't fully understand them because I haven't really ever played it in like its full code complete status. It's always like we're testing something or adjusting something or I'm trying to get my damn sub-assembly that I built all dialed in and fine-tuned, you know. So I'm looking forward to see what that happens. Otherwise, I don't think we're going to get a shadow drop this week from Spooky. I think they're going to maintain and do what they're doing because it's bringing them loads of success, and we love them for it. Now, family, chat, I'm excited for next week. I'm excited for Monday. What has been dubbed Multimorphic Monday from the Multimorphic team, the P3s. You know them, I know them. I celebrate them on the Multimorphic Minute when there's fun stuff to talk about. I've played every one of their games, sans some of the downloadable obscure titles, but every module I've played, I played Dungeon Door with Defender. I played that Birdwatcher game. And you know I've played a whole lot of Drained. And you know I have a whole lot of opinions. And you know I'm a whole lot of excited for Dungeon Crawler Carl, no matter who makes it. And while I wasn't picking Multimorphic as my first choice, this is looking like what I'm getting. So I can't wait to see this thing at this point. So there's a game being released, a new module, the follow-up to Portal for Multimorphic. Multimorphic, P3 is the system, Wise Trailer is the distributor, they have a couple of more now. On Monday they're supposed to reveal this thing to the world. I think Kerry Hardy has seen it. I think Russell's seen it. I think Jamie Burchill, Mr. Diet Coke has seen it. And of course they're all raving about it as much as their NDA will allow. But we're going to see this thing. And what I didn't see coming was this screwball of Multimorphic doing a dual release, a re-theme release, Similar to what we've seen from Spooky Pinball when they did Halloween Ultraman, when they did TCM Looney Tunes. There's going to be a multi-morphic module that has a theme swap on it. And the one rumored title is Dungeon Crawler Carl, of course. The other one I'm hearing is Ender's Game, right? And half of you are probably like, what the hell is that? And the other half are like, I'm vaguely familiar with that. Ender's Game is a series of books. Apparently they're pretty good. I'm trying to think. I saw the movie on an airplane or something a couple years ago when it came out. Orson Scott Card wrote it. A bit of a controversial figure. He also penned the underlying story behind Shadow Fortress. Was it Shadow Fortress? That came out on the Xbox Live or PS3 Summer of Fun or something like five years ago. Shadow Complex. Shadow Complex is what it was. Super fun Metroidvania type game, whatever. So it was a movie from what I remember about some kid prodigy on a spaceship and space battles and space politics or something. The movie I remember being pretty okay. I think they were trying to kick off a whole fantasy series of these and it didn't happen. But I guess the books are pretty good. I like this idea. I like this idea of taking literary works that are contemporary or some kind of offshoot or some kind of pigeonholed theme that people are really passionate about, like maybe a small group of really rabid fans, and then making a game out of that. Rather than go for the overarching Star Wars, it's X-Men, it's generic Avengers. Instead of just being this big, broad title, it's King Kong or whatever, Giant Monkey, play the game. Going into this is something that people care deeply about, a certain subject that people do, and maybe other people will be drawn into it. I want to see what they did with it. The problem with these dual themes, though, is that they're never created for both themes, right? It's always something that's designed one way and then ends up on something else. Or in the case of Halloween Ultraman, was designed for something that wasn't either of those two. And then they ended up being, you know, graduated into it, as it were. So was this layout designed for Dungeon Crawler Carl? Was it designed for, hopefully it was, was it designed for Ender's Game? Was it designed for something completely different and then this is what's been put on there? I think we'll be able to know once we look at it. I think as far as TCM Looney Tunes, I think TCM was the one it was designed for. I don't have any official confirmation of that. That's just me owning both of them and playing both. The mechs seem to speak more to a TCM, but whatever. This seems to work for both. So I'm excited to see what this is. I'm excited to see what this price is. I'm sure there's going to be some additional elements just like we saw with Portal so there'll be an extended edition, the extends edition like the over-the-counter gas station boner pills you would get, the extends version of Portal. And so is this game, is this going to be the first time that the module for a P3 actually is the same price as a Stern Pro? I guess we'll wait and see. I don't know. I can't speculate anymore until I see it. I'm excited to see it and see what they're bringing. And I have been agonizing once again. Like every time they have a release, I do this. I'm like, how can I get myself a P3? Like there's not really an easy way to go scroll through the marketplace on Pinside to see like how can I pick one of these up? Like you have to search for each module individually to see like if there's a game. I've had people offer them to me in the past before. Flippin' Outs had one for sale that was having a little bit of issues with the pillboxes. I just don't know. But I've been looking like, you know, does anybody have one of these cheap P3s? Maybe I can get it. But, like, I don't want to go ahead and get it before I even see what this module is. And while I do like the other ones, portals especially, I like Princess Bride, I like Final Resistance, what I can say about the multi-morphic units to date, their best ones, like, as far as I feel, like, the best ones to play are okay games, right? But when I look at the price of $12,000, $13,000 if you want to offer and everything, that's not an okay price. This is an extremely good game price It got to be great for me to get that That the price of Sonic and Harry Potter If I going to pay that it got to be amazing I did that with Harry Potter I did that with Avatar I did not do that with Sonic So for me to go in on this, it's got to not just be just okay. It's got to be fantastic. And I just don't think that the platform lends itself to that as far as in its current form. And I know that's echoed around. I've made another observation, as I do. It seems to be that people are very much split into different camps when it comes to P3. Of course, right? It's a niche of a niche of a niche. And I come to find a lot of parallels. I really think that the multimorphic P3 system is the Cybertruck of pinball.
    19:04
    And by that I mean it's something that's radically different from everything else that's out there. Or it's not necessarily better than what's out there. In many ways, there's a lot of shortcomings. In many ways, it's a lot more expensive. But in many ways, it's a lot more sought after by a niche of a subgroup of people. And so when I looked at P3, I know people that have this that love the system. They're having a lot of fun with it. I agree it's a fun system. Once you can get over that barrier of price. I know Russell's having a lot of fun with it. I know the other guy I talked to online that's got three of these machines is loving it. Silver Gun's got one, I think. So the people that have them really like them. I have friends that have Cybertrucks, and they really like their Cybertrucks, and they will defend their Cybertrucks. And I see them using a lot of the same passion and arguments that I see people with P3s, trying to convince me, like, Don, you need to get over yourself and get this. Once you see it through my eyes, you'll understand. I get the same energy from a Cybertruck. There's other people that are interested, but there's barriers in the way. Cost being one, maintenance being another one, not holding up on location seems to be another one. Like, interested, but barriers. Then there's just another group of people that just completely clown on it. This thing looks like a rolling dumpster. Why would I want to get in this? For that money, you can get something much better. What are you doing wasting all this stuff? It's like the same Cybertruck arguments I'm seeing about the P3. So in my eyes, P3 is the Cybertruck of pinball, and I think it makes perfect sense to me. Man, I hear the angels chorus coming off, like, dawning on me like this is what's going on. And I think I have to have some extra insight on why Jerry doesn't like me so much. Jerry, you know, of course, the kingpin for Multimorphic. I've had a very couple of brief conversations with the guy. The problem is I think we're too alike, me and him. When I look at the themes that he's picking, no theme gets made by P3 that doesn't go through him, that he's not passionate about. And he's a weird out guy. He's a portal guy. He's a princess bride guy. And so am I. I'm so that. I'm so that so much. My high school, up until Discovering the St. Clown Posse and Ska Music, was weird out. I grew up on Dr. Demento in grade school. I would stay up late at night and record his radio show. This is where Weird Al got his start as well as other weird music. I was super into that. I have tapes of Dr. Demento shows somewhere, some of which have some early Al recordings on them. I've been into Al pretty deep for a while. And when I heard that a game was coming out, I was like gathering up the money to go get the best version of it, you know, until I played it. And it just it fell short of like the grandeur that it should have had. Princess Bride was a VHS tape like my family wore out, you know, growing up. Like we watched that all the time. Called it the peanut movie because of that peanut joke reference in it. Anybody want a peanut? Like it's perfect. It's just like a perfect family movie. I've got great memories of the fire swamp, RUOS's and all of that. And when I heard they were doing that, it was like, damn it, I would have loved to get that too. Final Resistance is super fun. Portal's a game I played when it came out and just got enraptured with the gameplay. It was super fun, so I loved that. And then Dungeon Crawler Carl I had no idea about until the pinball rumors kicked off. I discovered it, and yeah, that's super cool, and I want to be part of this universe. So it's like, maybe we're just too alike, him and I. And maybe that's why we do this little oil and dishwater don't mix kind of deal.
    22:42
    Perhaps. Perhaps. You let me know. But we're going to find out on Multimorphic Monday. We're going to have to do a Multimorphic Minute. I'm going to hype this thing because of my excitement level regardless. I traveled the country to go play Portal on location. I'm probably going to have to do the same thing with Dungeon Crawler Carl. At least I'll have Ender's Game to go along with it. Super fun. So the way this is probably going to work is you're going to have to buy one of the two modules. I'm sure they'll have art specific to the theme. DCC is going to be the one to get because on resale that'll be the one everybody wants. And you'll probably have to pay $1,200 for the licensing fee to be able to put Ender's Game on your machine as a downloadable title if you have the module. Fine with all that. Fine with all that. If I had a P3 I'd totally get this. Is this going to make me get one? Probably not. It's just that Cybertruck barriers right there. What do you do? What do you do? You talk about Jersey Jack Pinball. Don't forget them, man. Remember Sonic the Hedgehog? Remember Sonic was coming out? We were all super excited. I will echo what I've heard from other people as well. This game is fun to play. It's fast action. It's all that. It looks beautiful. It's got glitter. It's everything we expect from J.J.P. and that's just the thing. It's what we expected. I expect that there will be a loop, but it's not going to be like the loop I have in my head. I wanted a 16-bit Sonic the Hedgehog experience. That's what I'm familiar with. That's my Sonic, and that's not what this game is. This is Sonic Generations. I never played these. Once Sonic went 3D, I just stopped caring. It was just fun to have the basic, fun, platforming gameplay. Bash the creatures, gather the rings, fast-paced the music and all that, the chip tunes. And that's really what I wanted. I wanted to play a chiptune version of Sonic the Hedgehog mixed in with some remixes when there's multiballs and exciting things going on. You know, fun bosses, levels, progression. None of that was what was delivered. You know, and that probably maybe that was never the vision of the creators. They wanted to create this, you know, we have access to these characters and these CGI scenes and this gameplay footage from like this Dreamcast title. So we're going to make that and then we'll go from there. The topper is super cool, but it's not the Sonic that I wanted to get, and so I don't think I'm alone. And what I'm hearing is that sales aren't huge, although this game is supposedly getting out in locations. However, I went to the airport a week and a half ago. It's been like a month since Sonic has launched, at least. And Interium, the big flagship arcade right at the Woodfield Mall, four or five miles from both Stern and J.J.P. and American, It's like where Americans' games go to get prototype code and all that. Like when a game launches, it goes to Interium. I played Avatar shortly after launch at Interium with the designer. They're doing maintenance on the game. Like their prototype titles go there. I stopped there on the way to the airport to go play some Transformers and play some Sonic, and Transformers Pro was there. Sonic, absent. What? This is Interium at the Woodfield Mall. Like this is the first place the game should go. When there's one on location, what was going on? Was there an issue? Probably. Otherwise, it would be there, right? If anybody knows, or if it's since shown back up, let me know, Chicago Heads, because before I drive all the way back into the city, I'd like to know that it's there operating. I think this will be a good game on location. John Wick effect, right? The game that not everybody buys for the home. So we go out and play it on location. We drop $10 every time we go there. It's making money for the operator. Operator's happy. I think it's fine to have an operator game. Will this change Jersey Jack's modus for going for unlimited CEs? Like, I think because I know it's unlimited, it's always going to be available. They're never going to cut it off. It'll be made for the next five years. These were all things that I was hearing. I can go get one at any point if I want one. If I wait, it'll be a Godfather effect. I can get it cheaper if I do at all. There it is, Sonic. It's fun to play. Why isn't there a spinner on the main play field, man? The end of the stages, you ran through that horizontal spinner. I was hoping to see one. Didn't see it. That's what we got. What else to talk about? You guys remember? You guys remember that company in the Netherlands? Remember Dutch Pinball? Remember the first time you heard about Dutch Pinball? I do. The first time I heard about Dutch Pinball was, of course, Big Lebowski. Now, I wasn't around in the beginning for the earlier Achievement Club members and all that business. What a debacle that was, waiting 10 years for a pinball machine. But I had a big Lebowski I loved it I love that movie Thank God that one escaped the clutches of Multimorphic and got made into an actual full cabinet If that was a Multimorphic module it would not have had the lower bowling alley play field It just such a great mechanism It intricate it simple it elegant it plays different games You can go up to a big Lebowski and just play 10 frames of bowling if you want and ignore the whole pinball aspect of it in the menu system. It's super fun, man. I'm so glad that that game got made. I love that game. I love Dutch for making that game. I love Barry for sending me a White Russian. Even though I don't have the game, I still have the White Russian. It's great, man. It's just fantastic.
    28:00
    And then, like, that's all they've done, right? Out of nowhere, they split it off to a separate company, right? The Dutch Pinball exclusive that cranked out Alice in Wonderland. We've talked about that ad nauseum and everything. 500 games were supposed to be made in the first year. If your game wasn't made in the first year, then you got to get your money back. And then when it looks like they were going to miss that deadline by about 300 games, they were like, if you stay in on your Alice, you'll get a Back to the Future when that comes. Like, it's all strange. I still don't think the Alice in Wonderland are complete. Two years, three years after they've been revealed, not everybody's even gotten their toppers yet. What's going on with this company? How is this still a company? And then they got some private equity money coming in now, and then they're supposed to be making Back to the Future? You know, there's going to be like 88 SLEs. They're going to go for $20,000, $30,000.
    28:54
    This is a company that I don't know if they've made 300 games a year. Like if that, like how in the world, even just making the SLEs, if they're doing 88 for U.S., 88 for imports. Well, I guess it would be domestic for them. Like, that's going to take a year to make those. And then they're getting ready to launch this title of Back to the Future, But they're reaching back in the well and they're doing a Jesus version of Big Lebowski for some reason. The only way they would do that is if they need more time at Back to the Future. Like it's not done. And like that's what I've heard. And one of the problems with Big Lebowski, I'm getting passionate about this. One of the problems with Big Lebowski was they didn't go and secure the licensing in the proper manner. And so that caused court delays. And then Back to the Future is supposed to be coming out and it's not. It's getting pushed back. They're doing more Lebowski. Like are there still problems with this? I've heard through grapevines that the game's not even finished yet as far as like layouts not finished. Like there's art that's not finalized. Like at this late stage, like when is this game even ever coming out? And we haven't heard whispers of anything. And then if it does launch this year, is it getting made this year? Probably not. They still haven't finished the Alice's. And then they're supposed to make another 300 Big Lebowski's. That kicks the ball down another year. What is going on? How is this a company? There's so many red flags here. And I love Barry. I love the Netherlands. I love Big Lebowski. I love the lower play field. I love the car that flips out. I love the theme of the call-outs. I love the build of the cabinet. Like, I'm a fan of all that.
    30:26
    And people are jumping ship. This other maintenance guy or somebody, who's this Ren dude? He jumped away from the company. He's going to American Pinball, of all things. You don't leave a company like Dutch Pinball. That's about to launch the biggest theme of all time. Back to the future and be like incredibly successful unless there's a problem. Unless there's a problem. Then you know what? You're like, okay, I'm out. You know, Europe's flagship moment in pinball is supposedly about to happen and you don't want to be there for it. Speaks to some red flags. To the fact that you're like, can I get out of here? Is anybody hiring? Anyone, like anyone at all. Oh, American Pinball over here is. I'll take it. What are you paying? I don't care. I'll take it. Like, I'm concerned. I'm concerned. And Brian Michael Vincent, I don't mean to throw any shade over there at American Pinball. I know I mentioned that there was a shade, a shadow of American Pinball, and it was just because Melvin was there, and I'm not sure, like, what he actually does. You know, like, I've yet to be, like, impressed by this guy. So I'm cautiously optimistic. Let me say that. It's not a shadow of American pinball, but there's some cautious optimism being draped across there.
    31:42
    I know so far, brand new American pinball, new company, right? So we could forgive you of the sins of the father because you are new people that are there now. So we can clean slate this, but I'm going to need to see something. And I've seen Houdini's, which I've played Houdini forever. And Franchi's art looks great, but it's still Houdini. I get that you had to make something to grease the wheels there. Are you going to do some more Galactic Tank Forces? When are we supposed to see Circus Voltaire? I'm getting a little worried. I'm getting a little worried because I'm not seeing anything. I'm not seeing any action.
    32:14
    I'm not hearing any teases. When is Circus Voltaire supposed to come out? We still need to get through whatever this new trim level of GTF is. Supposedly there's Lior stuff in it now. Now we're supposed to get through Circus Voltaire, like another remake. Okay, you know, fine, but it's boring. Like I want to get through that and see like what's the next title and like when is it all going to happen? When is it all going to happen? I'll tell you this, when it does happen, we'll meet right here and we will talk about all of that stuff, man. I still got so much more to catch up on. I think I'll do a trip report on Patreon just because like this trip I went was absolutely fantastic And I want to put it out there about how I did it to inspire others to follow along on that same path. Now, Jeff, Mr. Epner, thank you so much for sending that song this way. We're going to go out with this. I'll play it in its entirety. All right. So, you know, if you want to tune out, you can tune out. But if you want to if you want to catch this jam, you can catch it right here.
    33:22
    Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, oh, hey, hey, hey. Everybody's got a theory, everybody's got a leak. Canators five predictions every single week. Fanness starts laughing. Nah, that's not the one. Meanwhile, barrels of funds just loading up the gun. New kid on the block, but they're bringing all the heat. Dirty pull soundtrack, got the neighborhood on repeat. Carl drops the layout, everybody's in a line. Could this be the company that rewrites pinball time? Nobody knows what's coming next, but Ken, can you add me to an interested list?
    34:01
    It's a community built around fun, one more game turns into 21. Morning coffee, pin side scroll, pinball show while you're on your morning run. Rouse's got the gloves, Jamie's on the mic, Kale says exactly what he likes, he's the best. Joel and Jared teach the trick, Serge keeps ordering the rules mix, and we don't say that one by name. Cause somehow, we're all addicted just the same.
    34:34
    Spookies turning heads like they're going out of style, walk up to a game, you can't help but smile. Bug, Luke, Franchi drawing magic every day, Don, drop to midnight, reveal, there goes my pain. Goonies sold out before Beetlejuice released, hey danger come on over, let's see what you can do, we're all just chasing one more game, that's something new, it's a community built around fun, one more game turns into 21, inside rabbit holes, midnight streams, live in somebody else's pinball dreams. Jersy Jack rolls in, driving a Lamborghini, Harry Potter's casting spells and paving ways. Best game ever made, we shall see! Sonic on the mind fast, here we go! Let's just get some code on the road!
    35:25
    Vince Stern walks in, Friday teaser, Tuesday release. The code will be here in 52 weeks. Optimist, buddy, R.I.P. But all jokes aside, Stern is a beast. Elwin's still the king, someone hand that man a bomb that'll make us lose our minds again.
    35:48
    This community's one of a kind, crazy people spending every dime. One more rumor, one more stream, one more topper, one more dream. Whether it's Beryl, Spooky, JJP, or Stern, we're all just kids pretending. So full to plunge, flip till dawn, miss your shots, buy another one.
    36:11
    No regrets, just one more game. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. Oh, thank you so much for that. Thank you so much. Don's Pitball Podcast at gmail.com. Ticket to Abby, patreon.com, backslashdonspinballpodcast. You know how to find me. Y'all be good. We'll talk later.