Let them say we're crazy, I don't care about that. Put your hands in my hand, baby, don't ever look back. I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said. Welcome to Canada's Pinball Podcast. Happy Friday. Happy Labor Day weekend, everybody. And look, we learned a few things yesterday in the pinball world. Here's what we learned. We learned that there is still a lot of enthusiasm for total nuclear annihilation. Reading the thread, it is quite clear that people love this game. Now look, I think most of you out there do feel, like I do, that it's not a $9,000 game. But that does not take away the fact that people really love this game. And they love this game so much that 100 people were willing to spend $9,000 on the first 15 minutes the order banks opened up for this game. So I want to say congratulations to Spooky Pinball. You guys have a hit game. $900,000 in sales were done in 15 minutes. Deep Root never did that. Home Pin never did that. Multimorphic never did that. I could go on and on and on on the list of companies that haven't had a 15-minute success like that. Now, this is not Spooky's 15 minutes of fame. This game is a game that many people out there enjoy and they want to play. And enough of you want to own it where they will sell all 250. I absolutely think they will sell every single one. Here's the part people are missing. Right now, as of today, this game is only available if you're a Fang Club member. What's going to happen is this. The Moment Spooky Pinball sells this game to the general public without having to sign up for the fan club, they're going to sell the remaining games. So maybe this was their strategy all along, right? You don't need to open it up to the dealers and the distros. We'll sell direct. And if we don't sell all of them direct, then we'll open it up to the distributors. Now look, next time, spooky pimple, save Kine to the Tums and the Ant Assets. Next time, just let your dealers and distributors know what you're doing. Do not blindside them. You know, the other thing that's interesting is this. When you read the enthusiasm for TNA and Spooky could sell a single level game that came out four or five years ago for $9,000. And if they offered up another Halloween or Ultraman for sale, nobody would buy it. Nobody would even want to come close to offering $9,000. This is the thing about Spooky. Only Scott Danesi's games have held value. value. Only Scott Danesi's games are in demand. The team over at Spooky who's making the other Spooky games, they have not proven they can make a game good enough where people would still throw $9,000 at it. Halloween and Ultraman have both lost $2,000 plus. So this is very interesting right now if you're Spooky Pinball, right? We all know they left millions on the table by saying they were never making more Rick and Mortys. So now the pressure is on. As they see people once again throw money at Scott's Games, can they do it? Can Bug and Luke and everybody over there who's working on Scooby-Doo, I think it's Scooby-Doo, can they deliver a game that on day one is going to have this kind of enthusiasm? We all know this is going to be the way it plays out. They're going to have to show their next game before people give deposits. There is no way they are going to be able to pull another Halloween in Ultraman. They've lost all credibility and faith. Nobody will trust that the game is good unless they show us the game. So making these TNAs will take Spooky to the end of the year, and then we will most likely see Scooby-Doo sometime around March, like TPF timeframe. That seems to be like when they'll be done with all the Halloweens, all the Ultramans, and then we get Spooky's next game. So look, I hope they knock it out of the park. Canada doesn't root for companies to bring out bad products. I want us to get games that really excite us. I want us to get games that have the value in them. And this is the big debate of 2022 is how do you price a game? And I keep seeing this in the TNA thread. For those people that love the game, they're happy to spend $9,000 on it. For those people that don't love the game, $9,000 is a crime against pinball. But I think most people are like me. We're sort of in the middle. Like we could see why people would spend the money on it, but we just don't want to. We just don't see the value there. And I do think, you know, as a community, we sort of have to have the value discussion. You can't be charging, you know, $100,000 for Mazda Miatas, even though it's the most fun car you could possibly drive. We have to have a point where we look at something and say, hey, is it worth this? And there's no greater game more than TNA than Toy Story 4. Toy Story 4 is the ultimate example of a fun shooter that has nowhere near the value in it, right? When you look at that game, you see nowhere near a $12,000 to $15,000 game. I don't think I've seen a Jersey Jack game that has been shipping that just came out and there's like no conversation around it. There's no excitement. There's no enthusiasm. I mean, the game is pretty much DOA. And now what does Jersey Jack do? I was thinking about this. There is no way sales for this game are going to be very strong heading into the winter. So what does Jersey Jack do? Like, are they going to get Godfather out sooner than later? Jack Guarnari has gone on the record saying their next game is nine months away. There no way there going to be orders coming in for Toy Story for nine months So then the question becomes do they just keep building the games even if the demand is not there Who's going to order the games? Are they going to stockpile these games? I'm on Pinside right now, and you can go get a CE new in box. Brand new game, CE. Hasn't even been made yet for $13.1, $13.2. Right now, there's a $2,000 discount on a collector's edition. Right now. How do you think all those people feel who are committed to $15,000? They feel horrible. They're kicking themselves a little bit. Like they went in on a game that is immediately on day one lost $2,000 in value. See, the truth about Toy Story is this. It's not even worth $12,500. Like this is their most barren game to date. And because of that, it's worth less in most people's eyes than their previous games, which used to sell for like $9,500 for the LE and $12,500 for the CE. they absolutely overshot the market. So then the question becomes this, and we haven't seen this before. We haven't seen a pinball company lower their prices. Do you think Jersey Jack Pinball lowers its prices or are they going to continue with this 12 and 15 price scheme? I don't think they're going to lower the price. I think there's ego at play. I think there's pride and I think there's an embarrassment at play. It's embarrassing if they lower the price because what will happen if they lower the price on the next game, is everybody who bought a Toy Story 4 is going to be upset. So either way, they're going to lose on this situation. The only way out, and the only way out is good for us, because the only solution for Jersey Jack Pinball to get out of this problem and get out of this hole is to make fully featured games. The kinds of games they were known for. The kinds of games that built them a fan base. Like, they have to go back and look at games like Wizard of Oz, Look at games like Pirates of the Caribbean. They need to make sure that their future offerings have that level of wow, have that level of magic, have that level of like engineering and are just packed. Like they are packed games. And when you stand over Toy Story, you're not going to fool people with plastic and cake toppers and LCD screens. Like that is not the direction to go in. But I'm hearing from people and my sources who have seen Godfather that the game is pretty wide open. the game is pretty barren and it's a pretty weird theme choice for pinball. Now look, I don't know, I haven't seen the game. Like this is all still just rumors. Remember, someone told Kaneda, and this is someone who used to work at Jersey Jack, they're not there anymore. Someone said to me with a straight face that Toy Story 4 is packed and it is Pat Lawler's greatest hits. And that got me really excited. I hyped the game and I was 100% wrong. And that was one of the worst bits of hype I ever got. It was one of the worst bits of information that was ever delivered to me. And I don't know how anyone who sees that game can declare it Pat Lawler's greatest hits. It is more like Pat Lawler's greatest misses all put into one game. So Jersey Jack, they are absolutely trending down as Zach many would say. So let's go around the horn. Stern Pinball. We are all anxiously waiting to see if Stern puts out a teaser today. I'm at the point now where I don't even care. Really, I mean this. I really don't care anymore. We've been waiting for this Stern teaser now for so many weeks that you almost lose interest. It's like if you wait long enough for something, you absolutely slide into this apathetic place where you're just like, when it comes, it comes. I think it's going to be any day now. I also think it's going to be James Bond. And I am on the record for saying I think it's going to be Sean Connery's Thunderball. That is what Canada is saying. I think I'm the only source that has said Thunderball. And so Pinside is calling me a jackass and saying I'm absolutely wrong. And we shall see. The thing is this. I was one of the first people to tell you James Bond and Venom and all these things. But look, James Bond's been a rumor swirling forever. It's like Tron Vault Edition. We've been hearing about it forever. Now, speaking of Stern, I don't know if you noticed this, but Naps Arcade put up a few posts about Stern's factory tour. And they had some pictures from the Stern Factory tour, and they removed the posting. And I don't know if you caught what was in one of those photos. In one of those photos, there was like a series of Tupperware containers with different games listed on it. And one of the games listed on it was Lord of the Rings. Now, does this mean there's a remake of Lord of the Rings in the works? Or does it simply mean that Stern has a bunch of containers with parts in them from previous games? Absolutely no clue whatsoever what that indicates. But the fact that Jason had to take down the posting is really, really interesting. So look, Stern, just get us the damn teaser. Like, it's September. All right, come on. We're ready for a new game. So what else is happening in pinball? Well, I want to say happy 10-year anniversary to Joe Newhart over at Pinball Starred. starred. Joe is a great guy. He's a personal friend. And if you've ever bought from Joe Newhart at Pinball Star, he's totally one of the greatest distributors in all of pinball. So Joe, happy 10-year anniversary. Now, Joe did make a marketing mistake. He posted on Facebook a happy 10-year anniversary from Mike from Homepin, right? And I was like, dude, this is bad PR. You don't want to associate with Mike from Homepin, but you know, look, Joe is going to sell Home Pin's Spinal Tap game. We will see it. In the video, Mike is standing in front of it. But here's what's funny. Joe said, like, here's the 10 more years of Pinball Star and Home Pin. And I was like, if Home Pin is still around in 10 years, I'll place a $50,000 order. I think I wrote that on the Facebook page. Can you tell now why Canada gets banned from every single Facebook group and forum on the internet? Because you know what? People just can't take my sense of humor. I will say this. Since I been back on Facebook I actually had to ban a few people and block a few people from my page And like I don normally block people I normally open for the dialogue But when someone comes onto my Facebook page and just says nasty stuff about me like personally attacks me, let me tell you right now, I don't care. You're gone. Like that's my house, my rules. We are all there to have a good time and everyone who's there does have a good time. But if you're gonna come in to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast page and just start spewing vitriol, like you're gone. I love it when people are like, but you're a hypocrite, Kaneda. like you spew vitriol about these manufacturers. Yeah, and guess what? They ban me from their pages. They don't let me talk on their pages. It's their house, their rules. Same thing with my page, you know? And it's a page for Canada fans. It's not a page for you to come in there and start insulting me. So just be warned. And I'm very quick with the ban hammer. It's fun. I'm like, oh, look at this guy. He thinks he's having a good time. He thinks everyone's gonna give him a thumbs up. This ain't pin side. You're gone. Hit the bricks, pal. You're out of here. Okay, so let's see. It's September. In three weeks at the Coin Taker and Super Awesome Pinball Show tailgating party, we are going to get our first tease of the next American pinball game. So, three weeks to that. We also, in three weeks, are going to see the Pinball Brothers and their Queen Machine. It is going to be the first time I think they show the world Queen Pinball. Now, they've been taking orders on this game for almost a month now, and nobody has seen any gameplay footage. I don't like it. I don't like that practice. They've also been asking people to pay in full for one of the early builds, which they said will be on the line in September. I don't think it's on the line. I don't think you're going to get your game in September. The reason I don't like what they're doing is simply this. I think the first footage of the game is going to be crappy, over-the-shoulder, cell phone footage of the game. You worked on this game for years. At least bring in a professional crew or at least someone who's got professional skills when it comes to videography and give them the game. If they were smart, and I mean this, they would ship their Queen Pinball machine to Greg Bone and Zach Menny and let them do their thing. Like they do a really good job of a 30-minute walkthrough on a brand new game. It is one of the greatest ways to introduce a machine to the world. And I think that makes way more sense to me than showing up at a tailgating party with a bunch of people drinking and eating, standing over your machine, and that's the way you're going to introduce the game to the world for the first time. And look, it's absolutely what the tailgating organizers want because now they have an interesting draw to get people there. But if I were Pinball Brothers, this isn't how I would do it. I would absolutely bring the game to the tailgating. But before that, how about you ship the game to Greg and Zach, let them record their stuff right now, and then ship the game over to the tailgating party? It makes total sense. Just get the game in America, pay the customs fee, but really give it the right media tour. Don't do it all at the tailgating event. But what does Kaneda know? He knows nothing about marketing. He knows absolutely nothing about marketing. even though John Jameson Company just bought his St. Patrick's Day idea again last week. You will be seeing a Canada special out in the world next St. Patrick's Day. And I love working on Jameson Whiskey because it's such an honor to sort of represent the world's number one Irish whiskey during St. Patrick's Day. It's like the reason why I love my job and the reason why, you know, being in New York City gives you access to some of the most iconic brands in the world. All right, so let's see. We've covered off on American Pinball. We covered off on JJP. let's talk about Multimorphic. Once again, there is a code update for a game nobody has. He keeps doing wizard mode updates for Weird Al. Everyone is just waiting for their Weird Al. And I haven't really seen many unboxings. I haven't seen games going out. Unfortunately, I saw one a few weeks ago where the guy got his game and there was a huge hole in the box and there was damage to the game. And that is horrible. Imagine waiting for your game for so long and then all of a sudden it finally arrives. And this is a company that they can't really make many, right? They're making like one game a week. And when your game gets injured in shipping, you're going to have to wait probably months to get another game. So that was an unfortunate thing to see on Pinside. But Multimorphic, you know how I feel. Like Jerry's just, I don't even know like who's working there. Like have we seen a video with like workers at Multimorphic? I saw that Jerry uploaded a video tour of Multimorphic. and it was on Instagram and it was like a really quick sort of overview of all the different parts and boxes and playfields and pieces of wood and cabinets. And guess what you did not see in that video? Guess what the biggest red flag is whenever companies do this? You don't see workers, you don't see people, you don't see a staff. And I don't care how many parts you have. I don't care how many pieces of wood. I don't care. You could have everything in place, but if you don't have people to put it together, then you're not making progress, people. Guess what you see whenever you see a Stern Factory tour? You see an army of people. You see legions of people working on a game. You see an assembly line. You see games being built. You see progress. You see manufacturing in action, and it's so impressive. I'm not impressed that you have a warehouse full of parts. Jerry, make the games. Jerry, hire people. Jerry, pay their salaries. Jerry, move your company from the middle of nowhere into a place where people actually want to live and then you'll get workers. It's that simple. That is really the issue with most of these companies that don't have workers. They're just located in places people don't want to be. You know, Spooky Pinball's main advantage is like they've got everybody there. Like they've like probably employed like a third of the town in Benton, Wisconsin, but at least they've got people there. The whole family's working on building games and they're building games. That's a good thing. Like Spooky Pinball, you know, For all of my annoyance at Spooky this week, they build the damn games. I just want them to build better games and I want the games to have more value in them. But they make the damn product They never burned anybody They never made people wait a year after They always been upfront They always been transparent about how many games they can make a week They always hit their deadline of an 18 month production schedule And I always commended them for that. You know, we have our differences for sure, but respect needs to be given to a company that gets the job done. Multimorphic doesn't get it done. Haggis Pinball doesn't really get it done. Now look, Damien is shipping games, but I would just love to know, Damien, Marty, how many games a week are you making? He is still sending out emails to people, still, saying pay in full and you'll have your game in eight weeks. It is such a lie. And look, Kim Mitchell, I'm talking to you right now. I'm going to get in front of the text message Kim Mitchell is about to send me. Every time I say that Damien is lying when he tells people eight weeks. Always, Kim is like, he's not lying. Then Kim, what is it? He knows he can't get you a game in eight weeks. Why is he saying that? Is he saying that because eventually he'll get to it? But right now, he is telling people eight weeks, you'll have your game pay in full. That is a flat out lie. He's not delivering on that promise. And look, I think they're going to get all these haggises made. I just don't know how much profit they're making, right? Isn't it crazy that I think Fathom is $9,000, right? And I guarantee you, it is a lot harder, a lot more expensive, and a lot more arduous to make every single Fathom than it is to make every single TNA. And this is a good lesson for Damien to see this, that he probably underpriced his Fathom. I'm going to say that again. He probably underpriced Fathom. What he should have done, this is the tricky part, he priced his game before he knew how how hard it was to make. And he priced his game before he knew the manufacturing schedule. If he could go back, I bet you right now, if Damien could go back in time, get in a little DeLorean and go 88 miles an hour, he would tell his earlier self, what are you doing, man? Like, this is underpriced. If you're going to put this much in it and you're going to make it this high quality and all this detail, you're going to be going after a wealthier collector and they will pay more money. Now, what you should do is price it higher. Don't make as many and make them to order. Like only take 10 orders at a time, charge 12 grand, but don't take another 10 orders until you build those first 10 games. It'd just be a different way of doing it. And if they did it that way, I think you're in a smaller facility. I think you have less overhead. I think he got too ambitious. I think he thought he could just upscale quickly. And I think he thought like, oh, if I can just get like three times as many people in here, we can make games three times as fast. And I think it's working out to be anything but that for him. All right, what else is going on in pinball real quick? Home pin, we should see Spinal Tap in the next couple of weeks. They're unveiling the game at a show in Australia. Pinball Expo is coming up right around the corner. I think it's like October 19th or 17th through the 23rd. I booked a room because I knew the hotel would sell out. I'm not sure I'm going to go, but I will say this. If you go to Pinball Expo, mark my words, don't get there too early. I know there is now a factory tour for Jersey Jack on Thursday. Stern is doing a virtual tour, which is not that fun because you can watch it from the internet. But here's the thing. Every time people arrive for Pinball Expo, like on Tuesday or Wednesday, By Friday, you should see the look on these people's faces. They are bored. They are exhausted. They look like zombies. And there's nothing to do. I think last time I was at Expo, I don't even think the show opened until like 4 o'clock on Friday. So trust me when I say this. Do not arrive too early. You will be sitting around with nothing to do. It is Chicago. There are great arcades there. But trust me, the hotel is nowhere near anything. It's not in walking distance to anything, and you're not going to want to be there for like four or five days. Trust me. It is a Friday, Saturday, get out of town on Sunday show. All right, so it's Friday. Let's see if Stern drops a teaser today. Everybody, thank you so much for your contributions to Canada's Pinball Podcast. I really mean it. At the end of each month, you get your little bill for all of this content. And here's the funny part. Every month, this happens every month without fail, I lose 10 subscribers. Every month, right when the bill hits, 10 people run for the hills. And by the end of the month, they come back. And it's sometimes the same people. It's weird to me. Maybe some people just don't want the recurring payment. But I really do want to say thank you to each and every one of you. And a huge shout out to Mr. Robert Mooney, who gave his daughter Gianna on her first day as a sophomore. She went to school wearing the Canadas Pinball Podcast Twippy book bag with a Twippy in it. So Robert, you're a horrible father for sending your daughter to school like that, but she looks amazing. I'm going to share the photo with all of my subscribers right now. She looks great. Robert is one of my greatest pals in pinball, and he is holding on to my Fix-It Felix Jr. arcade machine. Robert, thank you so much. And Robert has an amazing collection. Everybody, have a great Labor Day weekend. Do you think Stern's going to reveal a game on a holiday weekend? Is that a good idea or a bad idea? I don't know. I really don't know. I just can't wait till we finally get the next Stern machine. And when that happens, I'm going back to my Facebook live. I can't wait to talk to you live again and do the Saturday morning spectacular. Everybody, have a great Friday. We'll be back real soon. Canada out. Nothing's gonna stop us now