what's up fresh and happy patreon crew don's pinball podcast back here again waking up in the morning after the beetlejuice release midnight party what even happened last night i'm going to get into that with all of you here We Are Pinball moments away from beetlejuice the Pinball Adventures going live for sale as of this recording it's about 9 a.m or so we're about an hour away so i'm gonna put this out for you guys now it'll go live when embargoes are lifted and i'm free to talk about everything what a freaking night what started as a kernel of a crazy idea in my brain like why don't we redo what gamestop did with a midnight release it makes no sense for pinball you can't take this game home with you but what if we could have a nice calm adult way to go in and leave it a pause and that's exactly what happened. It was so much More Brewing Company than that, though. that. We had people driving from Charlotte, North Carolina. What's up, Brandon? Thanks for coming out. We had people traveling from California, from the southern reaches of Georgia, and every manner and mixed bit in between. We had people from local, from Madison, Milwaukee, and others from further afield, from neighboring states, all together, happily, to come and celebrate Beetlejuice. I didn't see one person that was having a bad time last night. even some of the spooky employees were having a great time um i took pictures for everybody of course it was a phone embargo that was going on um but i tried to capture a sense of what was going on got some pictures of people with the game guys let's talk about this freaking beetlejuice game the first time that i saw it i'll probably talk about this on the regular show too but you guys get it first the first time i saw it it uh of course was uh not complete didn't have all the sculpts in it though it did look amazing i wasn't able to play the one that we actually played now because that needed to be reserved for the trailer uh there was a second game that i got to play that was you know being code tested and everything very much a prototype and i got a sense of the game but it wasn't the final version so i've been growing with this game since then and while i think like this is the game like i had that moment well i didn't even i didn't know they didn't tell me they were doing beetlejuice i just walked in and here was the game and it was like there it is you guys did it franchise art is popping it's everything i want to see what is this huge sandworm mech that's right there in the middle what does that do it's freaking huge man and look you got a magnet just like alice cooper had that throws the ball back up in the play field i love that and i'm happy to report that it works phenomenally Bob Betor than the one that we saw it didn't have a didn't have a problem at all it didn't have a problem at all and it's not like something you need to learn like follow the empire this thing just throws the ball back up uh it's it's inKRETible but what i didn't realize was okay am i just being like fanboy over here or is this objectively a good game i haven't found one person that even had a notion of backing out on their deposit i didn't find one person that didn't have a great time playing this game we all loaded in here and people started showing up at like one o'clock you know the party officially kicked off at six to seven um but you know people were in town and i was in town i was at the i was at the house. I'd brought some games down in the morning. I got here just before one o'clock. And I was like, listen, if you guys are in town and you want to help me unload a truck, come on by, man. We had so much stuff in that truck, food, games. It was nuts. And it was just me. It was just me. Monica had to stay home. My kid had school. Couldn't miss any More Brewing Company school. So couldn't make it happen. So people started coming by and I got the final trailer from Bug, got it loaded in the laptop, took it down to the theater, did a test and it was working great. And then it It was just a bunch of us staring at each other like, should we just watch the trailer now? So that's what we did. And now I had seen the trailer. It was sent to me on my phone. Now I have a high quality version of it The best part for me was sitting there and watching everybody else watch and react to the trailer because that how that what going to tell me you know objectively is this as good of a game as I think it is or am I just you know deluded because I'm in the heart of it right and so just like looking around and just watching people's mouths fall open like as soon as it started and like the excitement coming out and the people just like fist pumping like yes this is what I wanted they did it I asked everybody like was this kind of like what you expected was it More Brewing Company was it less and they're like by far I had high expectations this game was hyped to the hilt and it was still blown away by it and those people's actual words like paying customers like nobody's getting a discount here um they were just like that enthusiastic for the game uh so thankfully uh the crew came through shortly after uh people started arriving they're like you know what why don't you just send some people up you know small groups of five and we'll give them some time on the game that way we don't get to midnight and then it's just like an hour long line just to get a chance to play it i'm so glad they did that i immediately started shuttling small groups of people up there uh as soon as we had five assembled around 5 p.m is when we went up there uh dropped them off and they got to see not only the trailer like they just saw the trailer now we're walking in they're just seeing the game and it's phenomenal the people are just going to it they're making shots they're doing combos they're learning the shots they're learning the code how do we get up there and we're talking them through it you know um get up to the upper area where the couch is uh loop it a couple of times to open your locks and then hit the double ramp you know once the ramp lifts up you can load the couch and they're like this is awesome uh every time the deo mode hit and people's Flippers Arcade got possessed they were like this is inKRETible like everybody was laughing singing along and having a great time so six o'clock i had another five people took them up there um you know seven eight or eight o'clock More Brewing Company people were coming up then we have a steady stream of people like going over getting some time on the game coming Back to the Arcade house the chipotle showed up like the chipotle army came to the door morgan and the spooky women came through there uh just with with box after box after box of chipotle filled up the entire kitchen countertop with food i fired up the grill we was doing quesadillas people are assembling bowls just like having a phenomenally awesome time uh the rest of spooky crew all came down of course because there was food there but i had like ben Ben Heck in my house um cody brought a abba from his house we set abba up in the living room we had four games downstairs and it's just everybody was just having fun like the spooky guys are coming by playing abba we're talking about beetlejuice we're eating chipotle it's eight nine o'clock at night um i went down and got the featurette the 38 minute featurette ready to go we screened that with like 15 or 20 people in the room, like standing room only down in the theater. And everybody watched with like wrapped attendance, man, all the way through the bloopers at the end. Um, I just like build that hype even More Brewing Company. And then it was about 10 o'clock or so. And, uh, we got the word like, Hey, why don't we just all head over to the factory? We've got a, we've got a bartender up at the factory right now. Evil deads are available. We have every other game that we've made online. Uh, you know, people can come on and play it. We've got, you know, new prototype code. They can play the new video mode on Evil Dead. We got the Tokens Arcade going and all that business. So we just started heading up there. Thankfully, Mad Pinball came through. They showed up at like 830, nine o'clock with a literal bus. I had heard that they were taking a bus in and I was thinking it was one of their, you know, big cargo vans or something. And no, they showed up with a blue school bus. Like we're here with Mad Pinball. I was downstairs watching the featurette. I came upstairs. Mad's there. I'm like, hey, guys, thanks for coming. They're like, yeah, we brought the literal bus. And also, we brought you something upstairs. I come upstairs. They had snuck in America's Most Haunted and set it up in my living room. And, like, people are playing it. Like, they literally brought it on a bus from Ohio just to come out to this, just to set it up so people could play it. Phenomenal guys. I like dude do you guys want to come down and watch the trailer Or do you just want to go to the factory and play it And they like Innovative Concepts (ICE) a trailer tomorrow let i gotta drive back to ohio let just go play the game so we all went over to the factory everybody piled in um i took some photos there by this time it like 10 30 11 o'clock at night we're starting to get the deposits processed everybody's walking up in a very calm manner uh to morgan's desk sitting there like they're having an interview calmly arranging their deposits happily shaking hands coming back and playing the game like it was awesome. It was completely awesome. Guys, I drove up to the factory with the first group of people and I didn't go by the factory on the way to my house. I went straight there and started getting unloaded. So I'm going around the corner with the first group of people and like there's a 20 foot inflatable Beetlejuice that they set up in front of the factory. And when you make the turn up the up easy street to come see spooky pinball, like the main factory just like rotates right into view. So I come around that corner, and it's just like the sun is setting. It's getting low. It's becoming a frigid November night in Wisconsin, and there's just a big illuminated Beetlejuice up there. Like something cool is happening. Every employee is on deck. There's like 50, 60 cars all over the The Place, and it's just this energy that was going on. We were so hyped going up there, and it just kept building and building all night, man. The Chipotle was flowing. the scoop Cokes and the daiquiris were flowing. I've got so much Chipotle left over this morning, guys. It's amazing. But we ended the night, I think one in the morning or something. We're all up at the Spooky Factory. The pizza had arrived, and then it was just like pizza, playing games, sitting around, talking to each other, goofing about everything going on. Every now and then we'd get a report from Pinside that there was another 100 comments or 100 posts that was made in The Last Arcade hour of just all kinds of speculation. Nothing had leaked out. Everybody was like being well behaved with their phones. So I didn't see any potato cam footage or anything. So it was just like the greatest group of people that were all together just to celebrate and have fun with pinball. And then paired with a company that was like, yeah, dude, come by. This is a great idea. I wish we would have had the energy to do something like this sooner. Of course, a lot of people were thanking me for putting this together. And like it only happened because of everybody out there that's super cool that was able to get together. So I'll do a show where I The Break down the shot by shot, whatever layout, what I think of the game and all that in a bit. But I wanted to put this out just to get the word out that this midnight event went off not only without a hitch, but like exceeded all expectations, man. I came Back to the Arcade house. People didn't leave finally until about 3.30 in the morning. We came back. We're playing Pulp Fiction. We're playing Munsters. I got the Munster Madness mode like 2 or 3 in the morning with the Mad Pinball guys. We're just having a great time. And Dory's next to me playing Pulp Fiction and gets the Frenzy Brewing Company. And it's just like shouting curse words all throughout everything. People finally got some time on WWE WrestleMania LE. The one with Hulk Hogan's signature on it. We watched trailers. We listened to music. We watched video. It was so much fun. It was so much fun. And I'm just struggling to think about how I top this next year. Because, God, this has to happen next year. There's another huge release coming. Guys, get Beetlejuice. This game kicks so much ass. Thanks to everybody out there. Pat yourself on the back. If you took the advice and got your name on a distributor list when I told you to. If you listen to Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show, which you do, you're on Patreon. You took my advice and you're like, Don's saying this game is great. I'm not obligated. All I have to do is just get on the list and then I can decide, you know, do I want it? Do I not? A lot of distributors are letting you get out of your deposit even. And if you had to pay a deposit to get on there, they'll let you get out of it for the next three days after release. Just so there's no, you know, commitment or worry. And I love that. I love just, We Are Pinball adults now. Can we just like put some mate/man down and then get a really nice, calm, reasonable yay or nay and then move on. And not be feeling like we're left out or that we have to gamble with our mate/man. What if it's good? What if it's bad? Not a position anybody wants to be in It not fun at all And it great for the manufacturers Great for the distributors great for the hobby If we kind of get a sense on like what the excitement is just based on rumors, right? Spooky pinball was telling me early on that if, if all the distributors, you know, held steady with their allotments that they typically get, the game is already sold out without them having even any to sell themselves. So they had to pull back a bit and yeah, I don't see anybody backing out of this deposit if he got in it take this piece of advice please just call a distributor or five and just tell them that you're interested in spooky pinball's next pinball release just so you have a foot in the door you're not committed financially just you you got a spot in line go do that now you got a whole year um just just do it now and then forget about it and then just get a call in a year from now and we're talking about the next release just so you know You're getting the straight information because this game is phenomenal. The next one is too. Man, what a great event. And I'm already hearing that they want to do this again. I want to do this again. I want to expand it even More Brewing Company and allow even More Brewing Company people to come. One of the happiest guys that was here last night. I had one of the 20 people dropped out. They emailed me. I went to the alternate. He couldn't make it. I went to the second alternate, and he showed up here. And that was the happiest dude I saw all night. Like this was a guy that missed. He was so close to getting into the original 20 and then he missed it. And it was just like, I know how aggravating that must be. Not only to miss it, but to know is like just by that much. And then, you know, for an event that nobody's going to drop out of. And then it dropped out. He got the word. He's like, yes, I'm there. Confirmed. And he like walked in. It's like, I'm here. Like the dude made it, man. Charlie got the golden ticket. It was so fun, man. Oh, phenomenal. So to everybody's credit, some people came back, helped me clean up. so the trash situation is not as bad as I was hoping it would be, or worried it would be. So I'm about to head over to the factory, guys. The phone banks are about to open, and I don't know what's going to happen, but I know that these 80 games that are left are not going to be left for long. So the clock will start at 10 a.m., and we'll see how long it takes to sell through 80 additional games, and then we'll go from there, guys. I'll be back soon. Thanks so much for being members. Thanks to all the new members that just joined in. I'm going to get everybody caught up, and I've got a Papa Duke cool translite (artwork panel in backbox that is backlit during play) I think we're going to give away for the monthly giveaways. I've got to get caught up on those. I've got about three to do. So we're going to do all those soon. It's pinball time. I've got four hours of sleep. I'm going to head to the factory. Maybe I'll man the phones. Maybe I'll start answering some phones and stuff and just talking to people. Can you imagine this game with this much hype and you call in and maybe it's like your fifth time calling because you just got dead air and then all of a sudden it's like, hey Spooky Pinball, what's going on? Oh, you want, yeah. I got a Beetlejuice for you, man. You made it. Can you imagine how cool that's going to feel for somebody? I got through. I got in. I got a spot. What they're doing is they're just taking a name, an email address, and a phone number, and then they're going to process everything, get all the numbers allotted, and then they're going to call you back and say, all right, give us your deposit now. So that way they can churn through everything. Because I have a feeling that this website, as robust as the technology is, is going to fail immediately with the crush of people jumping on there. And then this is going to be phone sales. And they have multiple phone lines there. I was there at the desk. It's like a telethon. It's like an old school telethon, man. What a The Throwback. Oh, Beetlejuice. Thanks so much for joining, man. I'll let you guys know when I know some More Brewing Company. I've got to get ready and get over to the factory. It is the time of the Beetle. And we're going to celebrate the hell out of this game. It's fun. It's a fun game. So don't take my word for it. Go play it. pinball at the beach February we're there it's gonna be awesome talk soon