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DPP#124 "Stern July Surprise!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·36m 4s·analyzed·May 23, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Stern teases July surprise (likely Metallica), shooter rod restock sparks rumors, John Wick impressions mixed with factory visit coverage.

Summary

Don covers Stern's July surprises, including a Black Knight Sword of Rage shooter rod surprise restock and heavy speculation about a Metallica remake announcement. He reports attending a Stern factory media day for John Wick in Chicago, discusses early John Wick gameplay impressions (comparing it favorably to Bond), and explores his vision for expanded public fan events at Stern. He also covers Pedretti's Funhouse remake and the narrowing collector market.

Key Claims

  • Stern is remaking Black Knight Sword of Rage shooter rods after they sold out years ago with secondary market prices reaching $600-700

    high confidence · Don purchased one from Stern web store at $169-179; confirms Zach mentioned Stern's decision to remake them in his show

  • A July production schedule opening likely indicates Metallica remake announcement coming from Stern

    medium confidence · Don speculates based on production schedule gaps and hints, notes Stern may have contingencies; described as 'heavily hinted'

  • Jason Knapp dropped speculation about a possible black and white Godzilla Anniversary Edition

    medium confidence · Don references 'Jason Knapp just dropped this Godzilla blood bread kiss' and describes it as 'wild speculation probably'

  • John Wick Pro code is very early and unpolished, with unannounced multiball modes triggering unexpectedly

    high confidence · Don played John Wick Pro at Interium; reports triggering multiball without knowing what caused it and units not providing feedback

  • Stern is building a new livestream studio/brick room at their factory for media events

    high confidence · Don references hoping to play in 'that new brick room that they have, the new studio, the new livestream studio' at tomorrow's factory tour

  • Pedretti's Funhouse remake features a new Brian Allen art package priced at $99.99 for the upgrade

    high confidence · Don states '$99.99 seems about right for the Brian Allen package edition' after viewing photos and Kerry Hardy's interview coverage

  • Jersey Jack Pirates of the Caribbean secondary market prices dropped from ~$30,000 to ~$18,000 in one year

    medium confidence · Don uses this as example of market price volatility when discussing whether to buy expensive machines

  • Stern is no longer doing limited edition re-releases after the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Edition debacle

    medium confidence · Don states 'they said they weren't going to do any more re-releases of limited editions down the road after the debacle following the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Edition'

Notable Quotes

  • “I willed the Stranger Things into existence. I willed Black Knight Sword of Rage. I'm willing hard for Munsters.”

    Don @ ~14:00 — Illustrates community's role in driving Stern's remake decisions through demand signals

  • “The Rio Grande is dropping its water level. Right. So we're all kind of squirming around on the serengeti and the water pool is getting smaller so the feeding frenzy is turning up.”

    Don @ ~32:00 — Metaphor for tightening pinball market with increased competition and fewer premium titles available

  • “I think there's plenty of room for it. So let's keep that going... we're all working towards like we're all on the same path you know with our different goals and everything.”

    Don @ ~35:00 — Don's philosophy on content creator/manufacturer alignment and symbiotic relationships in the community

  • “Shots feel good. Fant-ish layout. Shots are relatively easy to get. It's not like a brick fest.”

    Don @ ~62:00 — Early positive John Wick gameplay assessment after fresh play session without prior content consumption

  • “Man, how cool is that? Like, you know, I bought my Black Knight Sword of Rage. I finally found a pro. I think I paid $5,500, $5,400 for it. And then, of course, they announced, hey, we're running brand new ones again.”

    Don @ ~12:00 — Captures FOMO/market timing anxiety in modern pinball collecting with limited editions

Entities

DonpersonStern PinballcompanyJason KnapppersonJohn WickgameMetallicagameBlack Knight Sword of RagegameGodzillagame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern no longer producing limited edition re-releases of classic games after Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Edition market reaction

    medium · Don states 'they said they weren't going to do any more re-releases of limited editions down the road after the debacle following the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Edition'

  • ?

    community_signal: Don proposing expanded fan event model for Stern game launches with public play days, streaming, merchandise, and factory tours

    medium · Don outlines detailed vision for 'media day for each launch' with public access, streaming opportunities, and merchandise sales; notes American Pinball and Spooky already doing similar preview events

  • ?

    event_signal: Stern conducting media day factory tours with multiple podcasters/content creators for John Wick launch coverage

    high · Don invited to factory tomorrow with hotel room; mentions Loser Kids, Jason Knapp, and other podcasters attending; Stern building livestream studio

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Stern facing constraints on John Wick design (notably absent gun toy) despite film's gun-centric themes, indicating licensing/design limitations

    low · Don mentions 'no guns' as known fact about game; player comment about gun shop environment and lack of concern about missing toy

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Pirates of the Caribbean secondary market collapse ($30k to $18k in 12 months) creating uncertainty about future remake licensing

    medium · Don uses example when discussing whether Pedretti could license classics like Funhouse and potentially remake them vs original manufacturers

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.108

0:00
Oh man, who's ready for some dulcet Metallica tones? Plus some Dawn coming in here. Man, bring me that Metallica Machine remake, Stern.
0:15
You know we're out here waiting for it. Do you really want a black and white Godzilla? I mean, I kind of do.
0:23
Let's talk about it. Let's go. Man, it just goes so hard, right, Don's Pinball Podcast, episode number 124, coming into your ear holes, coming for your brains like a worm sitting there from some undercooked pork. Here I am, 124, can you believe it? All right, Metallica, thank you, thank you for the intro, thank you for the intro. So, hidden news and rumors, man, it's flying crazy, everything's going nuts, it's like everything everywhere all at once here. We got the John Wick release. We're in that post-fade. There's still more to come. Pros are out there. Went and played it today at Interium. Can't wait to tell you about that. Can't wait to get caught up on all the stuff that Jason Knapp is dropping on us. We are all converging on Chicago as we speak. I was down there at Interium today. I'll talk about that. But first I want to talk about something amazing that happened just a couple of nights ago. I was in my twilight of sleep, doom scrolling through the phone here and there, catching some Zs. when I can't even find the message anymore. I might have just materialized that out of my thoughts. But somebody texted me and they're like, yo, Black Knight Sword of Rage shooter rods are back in the web store, man. Go check it out. And I'm like, stop it. This has got to be some kind of scam or something, nighttime fairy person. But sure enough, I followed the link on over. I was actually able to flip it out. And there it was, in stock, Black Knight Sword of Rage shooter rod, $169, $179 or something, 20 bucks shipping, whatever. And I'm like, is this real? Or is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality. So, caution to the wind. I went ahead and purchased it. It looked like it was legit. And it was. The thing showed up the other day. A Black Knight Sword of Rage shooter rod. Like the grail that I've been searching for that's been out of print. People asking outrageous amounts of money for it. I've heard $600, $700 for this dang shooter rod. Which, in its defense, the shooter rod is just dope. the shooter rod is amazing it fits the aesthetic, it's like three skulls with red eyes and fangs it's got a dragon on the bottom, it looks like it's sculpted out of metal, it's not the thing is resin and painted, which I didn't realize until I had just seen one finally, for the first time in person, just a month ago in Ohio, at Wizards World but the thing, I got it now so somebody else had contacted me a couple of weeks ago actually and they're like, Don, I've got one of these shooter rods, I heard you were looking for it and I'm like, very much yes sir what do you got and he's like well I got this rod new in box never played with I'm like great doesn't really apply to me because I'm going to put it on a machine and play with it but he's like I got 350 into it what do you think about like 425 450 something like that and I'm like man man I don't know like I want the thing but like I don't want to pay that and then you know it's not technically limited it could just spontaneously appear somewhere at some point and I was thinking you know what I'm getting better with my 3d printing I think I could get some kind of facsimile. Maybe I'll get three skulls, put some jaws or fangs on them. I'll get kind of close. I can get the look and the feel and the size. Actually, when I was at Wizard World, I got my camera out and I got some quarters I had in my pocket, of course, because it's Coindrop. I held the quarters up next to it and I was taking pictures for scale so I could get home and replicate something that same size and at least get something close. Maybe I put my logo instead of that dragon on the hilt or something. I'm like, for $450, which I mean, it's probably the price that somebody will pay for it. I figured I could sculpt something myself. So I was going to do that. So I said, thanks, but no thanks. Best of luck with sale. Sell it to somebody. I want it, but it's just not quite that bad, especially not in this market. And then what the heck happened two weeks later, dude? I finally made the correct choice in this choose your own adventure life that we go on. And boom, suddenly they're on the web store. I thought, well, what the hell? Did Zach find some of these in a dusty back basement when he's building this new building? Maybe he's like, oh, hey, here's six of these shooter rods I didn't know I had. Let me go throw them on the web store.
Funhouse 2.0
product
Pedretticompany
Kerry Hardyperson
Brian Allenperson
George Gomezperson
Loser Kids Podcastorganization
Jack Dangerperson
Interiumvenue
Zachperson
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
American Pinballcompany
Spooky Pinballcompany
Jeff at Mad Pinballperson
  • $

    market_signal: Pinball collector market tightening with increased competition between manufacturers and fewer premium titles driving FOMO-driven purchasing anxiety

    high · Don uses 'Rio Grande water level' metaphor for shrinking availability; discusses secondary market volatility (JJP Pirates $30k→$18k); market shift from pre-order lists to immediate availability

  • ?

    community_signal: Pedretti/Brian Allen partnership on Funhouse 2.0 remake represents successful game artist/manufacturer collaboration with active media promotion

    high · Don notes Pedretti is 'on like a media blitz' with Kerry Hardy interviews; calls out strong partnership between designer/artist and manufacturer

  • ?

    announcement: Stern confirmed remaking Black Knight Sword of Rage shooter rods after years of high secondary market prices

    high · Don purchased from official Stern web store at $169-179; confirms Zach mentioned in his show that Stern decided to remake them

  • ?

    product_concern: John Wick Pro code is very early stage with incomplete rule implementation and unannounced multiball mechanics

    high · Don reports triggering multiball without knowing cause, no audio feedback from machine, compares code maturity to Bond at launch

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Black and white Godzilla Anniversary Edition with color accents speculation following Munsters black and white availability

    low · Jason Knapp reportedly dropped 'wild speculation' about Godzilla edition; Don describes it as speculative but thematically sensible

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Metallica remake heavily hinted for July surprise announcement with potential new code and art package

    medium · Don states 'heavily heavily hinted that that's going to be Metallica' and speculates about July production schedule opening; Stern teasing something for July

  • ?

    technology_signal: Lack of Stern investment in new code/features for potential Metallica remake despite game's popularity and prior issues

    low · Don expresses hope for 'maybe they reworked the mechanism a little bit' for hammer device service calls; suggests 'same layout pro premium layout'

    • 4:24
    Man, that was great. But it turns out they're remaking them again. Zach just said in his pinball show that suddenly Stern just decided to make them again. Not surprisingly, because they did remake the topper, which was also going for big money. And then they remade the game, right? So it's all coming to fruition. I willed the Stranger Things into existence. I willed Black Knight Sword of Rage. I'm willing hard for Munsters. I think another Munsters run of the black and white edition, maybe with some green accents. Maybe they can tie it to an anniversary, update the code just a smidge, and, you know, did they ever have a shooter rod for Munsters? I know they had a topper. So if they could get that topper and, like, maybe the side armor available and do a run of premiums and just throw it on the line somewhere, throw it in the mix there with the anniversary of Godzilla that we'll talk about and the Metallica, right? But, man, how cool is that? Like, you know, I bought my Black Knight Sword of Rage. I finally found a pro. I think I paid $5,500, $5,400 for it. And then, of course, they announced, hey, we're running brand new ones again, which will be around here in the next few months or something. And so I could have got one for like $6,800 brand new, which if I knew that was coming, I would have held out. But you never know in this pinball market. Like, should I pay for this? Should I wait? You know, like imagine, like if you're wanting like a Jersey Jack Pirates of the Caribbean, right? You're kind of in that same position. You know, people paid or were paying like $30,000 for those things like just a year ago. And now they're down around $18,000. And it's like, if I would have waited, I could have got one then. But like, I didn't know it was going to drop. And, you know, did I want one? Did I not want one? What if you buy one at $18,000 and Jersey Jack is like, guess what? $15,000 Blood Red Pearl editions are now coming out or something, you know, or the At World's End edition or the Yellow Brick Road edition of Pirates of the Caribbean. Something crazy could come out. Could happen. Maybe Pedretti will remake it. Maybe Jersey Jack doesn't want to remake it, but maybe Pedretti will get the license to go remake that like they did with Funhaus. And then who knows? So I'm waiting. I'm on the shelf there. I want a Munsters. Munsters is great. I love that theme. The gameplay is absolutely a C+. But as far as the layout, it's just not that exciting to me. But, God, the Munsters theme and the charge of the zap meter and the underplay field thing, it's special. and I want to own one at some point, but not at these prices, not yet. Haven't pepped onto Pinside to see if they're dropping even, but with the rumors of it coming, I've got to imagine people are turning and burning. I think people are turning and burning Metallica right now. I think in July there's an opening in the production schedule, and who knows? A month ago, Stern probably wasn't even sure what they were going to put on there, but I'm sure they've got several contingencies in place. Munsters has to be one of them. They did release on their own web store the black and white Translate for some reason, So I'm kind of thinking we're going to see monsters black and white at some point, and I'm happy. I want them out there so they can be available when I get around to getting some dang space in this basement, which I am absolutely out of, so I can go ahead and get one of those. I think, man, black and white monsters right next to black and white Elvira and stranger things right there, like triple threat. That just looks, for a horror fan, that would go great with Spooky Corner. I'll grow out some black bangs. I'll get a Jack Skellington tattoo. I'll gain some weight it'll be great man we'll go full goth on it I'll play some My Chemical Romance and I'll sit in a corner and cry and I'll play Monsters man that just sounds like fun to me let's get back on the track I dropped my notes here guys I don't have my lectern is missing alright so surprise coming up from Stern something's coming in July it's heavily heavily hinted that that's going to be Metallica that'll be Metallica with maybe some new code exactly the same layout pro premium layout I don't No, I want the premium one because you get the spinner, you get the hammer, the hammer's cool. Maybe they reworked the mechanism a little bit or whatever so they don't get so many service calls on it. But with that big screen and, like, hopefully a thumping sound system, I want, like, the thumping sound version of Metallica as a premium. Maybe throw a new art package on there so it's got a road case. I want a new back glass design. You know, the Dirty Donnie thing, I get what they're going for. I'm not really that Rat Fink generation. I don't really dig it. I want something a little more brutal. I want some brutality, you know, like, uh, you know, like, like at least some octane level, you know, for, I'm going to go all the way liquid metal, let's go octane. Right. So bring me that. And, you know, black and white metallic, I'll put it right next to the rest of them. I have to stack these things on top of each other I nowhere I have no idea where the hell I would put it Um but again I would like to see it out there Metallica is a good game I finally played a good version of it and wow it amazing with some art blades and mirror blades, plus the thing up. Gameplay's cool. And I want that kind of out there on deck for when I start finally switching games out again, just so they can be available, not at super high prices. So Stern is bringing that. But then Jason Knapp just dropped this Godzilla blood bread kiss on us? Like, he's just doing wild speculation probably but i'm kind of digging the black and white aesthetic you know when you look at it when you look at pictures you know in isolation on the internet of these black and white games you know they they're high contrast but like low scale because there's nothing really in the background but when you see them in person in in our color universe and these games are there looking amazing and then they have that little accent of color like the blood red kessel virus you've got to see one in person to see what i mean but like the glitter that's there the sequence on the dress, the little blood drops, like they just sparkle and it's, it's, it's, it's gorgeous, man. And, you know, I think of the five things I look at for a pinball machine art isn't, you know, it's probably like four or five, but damn it, if it doesn't make it look like a good machine. So what if we get Godzilla and like, it's got a blue sparkly, uh, accent on its black and white for the, uh, you know, this fire breath. Uh, I'm kind of thinking that would be kind of sick. So we'll see if they do that. I think it's going to be Metallica. We'll see if my $5 bet is correct. But, yeah, I'd expect a Godzilla Anniversary Edition. And in the theme of the market right now, how much sense does that make that they're not going to come out with another LE? Because they said they weren't going to do any more re-releases of limited editions down the road after the debacle following the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Edition. So I think we're going to get essentially what would have been a limited edition. It just won't come with the Shaker motor or the Invisiglass. You'll have to buy that yourself. But it'll come with a new art package. I don't know if we'll get a little code update. That'd be kind of nice, but we'll see. But Godzilla is just a perennial game. They can make that game every few years, and it would keep selling, because who doesn't want a fresh, out-of-the-box, brand-new Godzilla, man? The game is amazing. All right, so we'll look for that. What else is going on at Stern? Well, we are on the cusp, man. The storm is gathering on the horizon, right?
    11:12
    Privileged podcasters from across the ethosphere are converging on Chicago. There was some controversy, as there always is, Can't do something nice without somebody losing their crap. But yours truly has been invited. Very humbled and appreciative of that. We're going to the factory tomorrow. There's some sort of media day event for John Wick at the Stern Factory in Chicago where they'll give us a factory tour and a hotel room, and that's about all I know for sure. We'll get to play the game. Hopefully we'll get to play the game in that new brick room that they have, the new studio, the new livestream studio. Maybe we'll meet some dignitaries. Wouldn't that be fun? I don't know what the heck I even have here I can bring to sign. I got some 3D printed plastic guns. I'm definitely not bringing those because that's all I need. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. I'll bring a Sharpie and I'll have them sign my forearm. I don't know. I don't even know who it'll be. But maybe it'll be Elliot Eisenman, maybe in a personal appearance. Wouldn't that be cool? So we'll see. I'll cover everything that happens. I'll put something up tomorrow night. In my mind's eye, I'm picturing like all of us coalesce together. I don't even know all who's going. I heard Jason Knapp is on his way. He's been posting. Loser Kids, I think, are coming in, which makes sense because they just interviewed George Gomez. Who else? You know, a couple here and there, little whispers, but it could be a million of us. It could be five. I have no idea. But I'll tell you everything I can. I'll take pictures of everything I can and post them on the Facebook page. So follow there. And my hope is that this is successful for whatever goal Stern is looking for, and so they keep doing these and hopefully expand them. As I said before, it would be nice if we all play well together, and they're like, hey, maybe we should do this again, and let's get B. Kong out here and the other YouTube people, and we'll kind of coalesce and make this into maybe an event. And wouldn't it be cool if at some point there was a fan event that they could do around the launches of the new games, where everybody could come down to the new factory and to the new arcade that they're building, and just kind of have a public day and be like, here's our three trim levels of these games, here's some limited edition merchandise available only on this media day you can get your media day t-shirt that you can buy a floor mat everybody gets little plastics for their keychains you can go ahead and play the games and then contact your local distributor if you want to buy it or try it out for your arcade but instead of trying to wait for a location to make sure they got it and it's unboxed and it's ready you could come down to the factory and that would be kind of fun kind of like a media day for each launch and you get your posters signed and get your Translight signed or bring your little plastics from the apron, get those signed or something. You know, something cool. Something cool. You know, maybe buy an I Was There Day One shooter rod or something. So I could see that would be something fun for the community. It would be kind of open to anybody. You just have to travel into Chicago, and then people wouldn't feel like they're kind of left out on these things. It would be a chance for us to get in there and maybe do some streaming or do some playing or just get in on like a fan live stream. you know we saw the live stream that was done you know with the crew that was making it and Jack Danger was there and George Gomez played some games on it and Simon Phillips that was a guy from Nintendo of America anyway you know all the designers were playing the game we got to say the gameplay but wouldn't it be fun if like the next day or something it was just open to public and they just had a game up that was being live streamed and we could all go in there and take turns playing it and you could see kind of how the average person or the average tournament person, average person off the street see how they play the game so you get a sense on like okay that guy kind of matches my skill level this is kind of how I would be playing that game and then maybe that would help you weigh in you know do I want one do I not want one which trim level do I want to get and you know give us a chance to kind of ask some of those questions without waiting for you know a scripted interview or something I think that would be fun I think that'd be fun you know maybe the podcasters come and bring some recording equipment and just you know ask a few questions or something and then get all disseminated amongst our media channels which we love to do and then do YouTube reviews and all this stuff and just generate a lot of free content. Stern, you get a lot of free content and exposure in exchange for doing these things. Maybe you sell some day one release t-shirts and then we from the media community and then also just people from the public that want to come in and check out the new game. It's like a controlled space where they can do that. This is my vision that I'm going to push and I'll see if they pick up on it because it seems like I'm starting to get some traction finally with some other companies. American Pinball, Spooky Pinball, They're inviting me down to kind of try out their new game around release time, sit down for interviews and things like super fun. Like, let's do more of that. You know, I know me as a consumer, like just pinball playing Don, want to fill up my basement. Those are things that I like to know before I commit to purchasing this, that or the other. Because speaking of which, there's a lot still of choices to make. And the market is getting tighter. The Rio Grande is dropping its water level. Right. So we're all kind of squirming around. we're out on the serengeti and the water pool is getting smaller so the feeding frenzy is turning up so you know gone are the days when it was like take my money now put me on a list as soon as i can get that game i'll get it and then meanwhile i've got my money in three different pots waiting for games because who knows it's gonna take a year until you can get them now it's like you know if you want it you can get it you want a barbecue go get a barbecue you want abba they're coming do you want to blues brothers go see a psychiatrist you know but anything that's available, you can go and get now, right? So, we need a little bit more coercion, a little bit more like, you know, okay, here's your game, give me everything about it, what's going on, bells and whistles, when can I get one, how much is it, alright, so do I want to get this, or do I want to get a Pajareti Funhouse, which is a game, when it was announced, like a lot of people, I think we're a little soft on it, when we're looking at games of that era, you know, it's probably not top of the heap, as far as like, please make it now, I think that's still Twilight Zone, Adam's Family, Totan, you know, even though Funhaus predates in it as more classic than Totan done, I still think Tales of the Rave Me Knights is probably like one of the best games of that late era that people would go into, you know, once you get a Twilight Zone and Addams Family Remake and whatever, anyway so Funhaus looks amazing now that I've been able to see it, so this is what I'm talking about, they announced this game and I'm like, I don't care, I hate Rudy he's creepy, I like creepy stuff but Rudy is like the wrong kind of creepy for me the gameplay doesn't really hold that nostalgia candle to me like a whirlwind or a diner speaking of which diner totally a hoax but I wanted to believe but after seeing the Brian Alenar package in all its glory and then watching the game being played and just like the new LED light package and everything it's shining I still don't think I'm going to be a fan or I don't know yet that I would be a fan of Rudy's Nightmare 2.0 code but I like that it's an option I liked what Haggis was doing in concept as far as bringing out these games and having the choice to play the new code or the classic code but they were essentially making a remake of the classic version with an LCD screen in it That kind of what Pedretti done here and I like that idea I like if you're going to remake a game, like remake Whirlwind, make sure the 2.0 kit is in there. Bonus points of the 2.0 kit isn't full of Suey and the Grannies, but actually some compelling information. Can we take it aside for a second? Okay, we got Whirlwind, right? A game is essentially like Twister, right? So, you know, you put 2.0 code in and you want to put more of a story, you're a storm chaser, right? You've got to chase the storm around. Maybe you've got to travel from city to city as the destruction is being wrought. Maybe you're battling it. Maybe you're not. Maybe you're battling to put all the parts of your van together so you can get to the next town. And then you have to put your kit together so you can get to the next town. And then finally, after you've visited all five towns, you battle against the storm itself, the triple hurricane tornado, you know. And the wind is blowing and the lighting package is going off. And, like, you're getting some thump from the new upgraded sound system. And then, you know, the shaker motor's going crazy because there's new integration. And, like, that's part of the modes. Meanwhile, like, you're building points as you go longitudinally for, like, side quests and things. Instead of, you know, the corn boys and the suey and the grannies and just going totally slapstick with it, I think that kind of would have worked. So can we maybe for the next 2.0 code kind of, you know, get some rational input maybe and help, you know, kind of push that in a good direction? Okay, we're back. So we have two whirlwinds. So anyway, if this was Whirlwind, I would have been very much interested. It was Funhaus, so I wasn't. But now that I've seen the package, $7,500, probably a little much for the original. $99.99 seems about right for the Brian Allen package edition. And man, does it look sharp. It's looking great. It's making me want to really go play this. It was at the Golden State Pinball Festival in Lodi, California over the weekend. And so we got some footage of it. I haven't had time to dig through all the streams and everything. But just the pictures that I've seen. I listened to Kerry Hardy's interview with Brian Allen. I listened partway through the Pedretti interview that Kerry Hart did. Dude's on like a media blitz. I love it, dude. I'm glad he's working for that company and like has a good partnership. It's got to be fun for him generating content, getting the stuff out. We reap the benefits of all this, you know. You know, it's fun to be on stage and have your content out there and like see the views and everything. So it's fun for Kerry. It's also fun for us because we get more content to consume, whether, you know, we're driving back and forth to Chicago like I was doing today. listen to carrie in the car like like that's perfect man we got a good relationship it's all of our uh all of our stakeholders uh our goals are aligned you know so like when carrie does better we do better because we get more content we listen to his content he gets more views he gets more stuff to give away he gets more sponsorships so he builds up bigger then he gets more opportunities to bring us even more stuff and we're just like we're all working towards like we're all on the same path you know with our different goals and everything so i i I like that. I want to see more of that. I think there's plenty of room for it. So let's keep that going. What else do I got? Funhouse looks good. I guess that was it. I wanted to talk about the Black Knight Sword and Rage Shooter. That was nuts, man. I wasn't expecting that. All right. So when I started recording this, when I buy my pinball – oh, no. We can't do that. Here. Let me fire this up.
    21:10
    And we're going to get the dulcet tones of Mad Pinball here for a second. Front of the show, Jeff Cernava.
    21:16
    I'm sorry, buddy. If and when I'm getting a John Wick I'm getting Ooh God Who the hell is this I'm getting it from JeffAtMadPinball.com This song slaps man
    21:48
    Oh, friend of the show, Matt Pinball. Great. All right. So I posted on the Facebook page. I said if you want a shout-out during the episode, go ahead and post now. I've got 15 people as we speak, and some people can't follow instructions. Phantom Tilt, you liked and hearted, as well as Big Tree Little Odd? I thought it was Big Tree Little Todd. It's Big Tree Little Odd? All right. Ethan Boggess and Frank Hollinger, thank you for liking, but I wanted you to post something. It's a River City Arcade, Brian Kosner's new place. I can't wait until he kicks that off. Sweet looking, was that an otter or a beaver logo that you got? Either way, some sort of marmot, some sort of ground mammal, possibly reptarian. Looks amazing. Bradley Ballman, I'm going to have a great show. Thank you very much, buddy. Gary Kaufman, here's your shout-out, Gary. Gary, here's your shout-out. I know you want to go to the Stern launch. I did not get a plus one. Otherwise, you would be the guy that I was bringing. Pete Clark, what's going on? Playing pinball with his five-year-old. That's awesome. Big Tree Little Odd.
    22:49
    Dude, what's your real name? Is it Todd? I want to call you Todd. Big Tree Little Todd. That's what I have in my head. That's what I was reading every time I saw your name. He played John Wick Pro at League Night last night. It was pretty fun. Guess you could compare it to Bond when it was first released. Yes, absolutely. Let's talk about that for a second. Well, I'll get to the continuum a little bit. But, yes, the code is so early. I did a multi-ball, and I didn't even know what was going on. They weren't saying anything to me. I don't know what triggered it. It wasn't the one where you load up the center ramp. I'll get to that in a second. Plenty of multiballs. Had fun. Should also know my league is A&G Pinball Emporium, which is also a gun shop, and no one was worried about the lack of guns. That's fun. Jason Knapp. No, you're not too late, buddy. Get on your plane and get down here. I'll see you tomorrow. Puff Danny loves you. Who's Puff Danny? Puff Danny loves you. All right, Dan Norton. I have no idea what that is. Wes Bentley. You always get a shout-out. Brandon Dodds. What's up? Mark Duclos. Hey. All right. Chris Turner. Man, making the rounds, keeping Ninja Eclipse relevant. I keep seeing it pop up here and there. And he's very great at responding to people that are up there. Big Tree Little Time. Dude, you only have to go on here once, man. Ed Owens, my homie. What's up, man? And Brian Farrell. You are so awesome. Jamie Murray. Quit telling me what to do. I love it. Bring me the sass. I need it. So I was at Interium today with a woman. Her name is Monica. And we got to go have her play John Wick for the first time. and she hadn't looked at any of the the the pre-release stuff she didn't watch my live streams none of my coverage so she got to go into this game like just completely blind like she'd heard things this and that you know no guns some art there's a car that attacks your ball but like as far as layout you know she really wasn't sure so i'm like you know i started explaining to her like layout and what's going on i'm like you know i'm just gonna let her explore this game so she got to walk in there completely fresh now she likes pinball she loves pinball as much as i do But she's not so much like I need to consume every little nano bit of pinball content as soon as it's released. So this wasn't spoiled for her. So the take-home point, she liked the game. She liked it. She hasn't seen John Wick. She loved that there was a beagle on the plastic for the left sling. She kind of knows what happens to the beagle, but she's like consciously ignoring that part. So there's a cool little beagle on there. It looks just like one of our beagles. So she's like, yeah. So, I mean, how lucky am I? Like, my wife loves pinball. She tolerates it being in the house. She thinks it's awesome. She plays with me. She plays not half bad. She did well in a women's tournament just a few months ago. And so, man, like, if I want WIC, I kind of think I could just flip that switch, man. Hey, Jeff. Jeff, can you hook me up? Can you give me one of these games? Can you get me one before August? So am I going to pull the trigger on it? Am I not? Trigger. I guess it comes down to what I think of the game So I got to play the game again This time not after being awake all day And driving across the country And stopping and setting up a streaming thing And then doing four player games I was able to just like As my wife wandered over to Sephora I was in an interium by myself essentially One other dude was playing Ninja Turts So I just got to spend some quiet time on WIC Play two or three games in a row Go play something else, come back And yeah, I'm thinking pretty much echoing what everybody's saying about the game. Shots feel good. Fant-ish layout. Shots are relatively easy to get. It's not like a brick fest. I actually had a couple of first balls that were doing really well. Managed to get a replay score, which is good, since I'm still learning the game.
    26:20
    The center ramp seems to be the hardest shot. I think everybody's agreeing on that. It's nowhere near as hard as successfully getting to the upper play field on Jaws through the wave ramp, so that's nice. So while it is technically a little difficult, it's not hard, right? So the gameplay is actually pretty approachable.
    26:37
    I had the sense that this would be a game that if I was really new to pinball, I would have trouble with, but now that I'm a little more seasoned, I know how to trap up, I know how to dead flip, I know how to drop catch and all that. I'm having a lot of fun with it. So it seems to be more of a player's game, but I still think it's fairly approachable.
    26:53
    I did like my gameplay that I was having with it. you know locking the balls still seems weird on the pro because it virtual lock and it virtual through like a moving wire form so it not like you hit the balls into something and you know they take time to process or anything it just like it just keeps going and ball one locked but is it it rolling back to your flipper right now um now as i was playing this code this code is early early early i don't know if it's like as bad as as bonds was early but um you know we're like the button doesn't even do anything now i don't even think the button does anything on john wick yet uh but something happened during one of my games on my second ball i plunged around and then i managed to hit like an orbit twice and all of a sudden i'm in a multi-ball and there wasn't like you know a car bash multi-ball or something you know or roll a doobie multi-ball or none of that it was just like all of a sudden i'm in a multi-ball for some reason didn't even tell me why it's not telling me what to do it's not flashing where to shoot so i think you know some inserts for flashing or something so um that's a mode that's not completely coded yet it happens it triggers um but uh not totally coded. Now, I'm not sure if they had upgraded to the .88 code that just dropped for the Pro. I didn't even look through the rubric to see all what was in there for that code update. But the code's early. It's going to improve. The shots feel okay. The mechanisms aren't terribly compelling. There's nothing as complicated even that's on Jaws. We're talking probably still better mechanistically than Venom. Although, Venom did have that carnage that would crawl on his skateboard up that ramp, so that was something. It had little tilty ramps and things, but you don't really get much of that on this one. The only real moving part on the Pro, at least, is the car that, you know, it's almost like a sea creature that's hiding in a cave, and you come near its hovel, and it just, like, snips at you. It's fun, and it does a lot more than what I thought it was going to do, as far as a bash toy, but mechanistically, that's all you get. You're missing the drop target, you're missing the Altoids canister that opens and closes, you're missing the Blood Oath pop-open, pop-close pocket watch, although what does that really add?
    28:56
    You know, so, yeah, the game's okay. The game's okay. If you like this game, I think you're going to get plenty of gameplay on the Pro. I can't wait to go try the premium, maybe even an LE tomorrow. I know Jeff was able to put in some Led Zeppelin expression lights in his John Wick, and it's already coded and working fine, so that's cool. I want to see if this game is like an atmospheric game. Like, once the code gets there, once the call-outs get there, once I'm playing in a location and I can actually hear the music, Because right now, it's all very kind of just, it's there, just flat. Like, it's not doing anything for me. And that may be because it's early in code is what I'm hoping, or it's turned down so low that I can't hear it. But, you know, for all of the talk about professional musicians being involved in creating the soundtrack, you know, we had Jeff Tremonti, is that his name, on Venom. We had, you know, wasn't that the dude from Anthrax on Black Knight Sword of Rage? Like, that music, well, wasn't Brandon Small on Black Knight Sword of Rage as well? like that kicks ass i want if john wick can be atmospheric enough to have the code the call outs kick ass music and an amazing lighting package and maybe i can throw in some uv lights or something to really make those edge lit plastics glow i think we can cobble together a little pinball experience here so that's what i'm hoping for the other thing i'm hoping for is that the code and the gameplay advance to the point that it's really compelling and doing something new and i think the contract push notifications to your phone could be the thing that does that so when I think about is this a game that I want to have at home what I want to know is that there's like ongoing interesting gameplay I'm a sucker for that I love these monthly quests that are going on you know the one for Jaws is going on right now we had those ones for Venom when that released so it's fun to come down and get those things those limited time quests so if that's what they're doing with John Wick they have the experience system the leveling up system that was in Venom that's now in Jaws that hopefully continues they're having a leveling up system They have the interaction, the achievements that you can get. And now if we can get push notification contracts. And if they work a little something like this, then I am very interested in John Wick. So let's say you get a push notification. Hey, here's your contract. Go take out this person. And then you go to the game, whether it's on location or in your basement. You scan in, and then, like, the game goes into that mode, right? And then, like, you're playing through that mode to get that contract. And then success, you get it, and then it's recorded somewhere. So you have evidence that you did that. and you get some kind of reward, just a little token or something for doing that, I think that would be fun. Because when you're sitting there on a Saturday, you weren't planning on playing, but then it pops up on your phone, and you're like, yeah, yeah, I think I will. That is what I want to see. Imagine if on Jaws, we've all played it by now, if you've got a push notification like the hammerhead shark has been seen in your area. It's like, oh, there's a shark to go hunt. Then you go and log in, and it drops into this mode where it's like a super shark hunter mode where it's like you get one ball and you get 90 seconds, you have to hit these targets and then successfully capture the shark, right? And then you get a little achievement or reward, a little token, a little star by your name. You go on a secret leaderboard, something like that. So just periodically, hey, there's a new Bond villain to go get. Hey, there's another shark to go catch. Hey, the Black Knight just called your mama a horse. Go beat him up. Something like that to really just kind of get you back into the arcade, get you playing, and then the code can have these cool little modes that pop up. So I don't know if that's what it is. I'm going to try to get as much information I can out of the folks tomorrow as I can. But wouldn't that be compelling? Wouldn't that be super fun? Would that be $13,000 of fun? That is a personal value decision that you need to make, sir. And, you know, that's not child's money. So, you know, think about it. All right, everybody, thank you for joining me for this pre-stern takeover episode of Don's Pinball Podcast. As always, you can email me at donspinballpodcast.com. check out the extra Patreon content it's been blowing up recently I've been doing more kind of like offshoot little side quest episodes that go over onto there it's not necessarily in this style but more like let's talk about a topic for a little bit I like what I'm seeing other people do for their Patreon members and I want to be the best I want to have the best Patreon I want to have the most stuff I'm giving to people I want to drown you with content I want to bury you with Translight giveaways we gave away a Jaws Premium Translite the other day to a Patreon member who's actually one of the higher tier members and he gets a bonus entry. So for five bucks a month, man, if nothing else, you're entered into a lottery to go ahead and get you a Translite. You got a one in 50 chance. Every 50 people that we get to join the Patreon, I'll add another giveaway. So we'll do, I don't know, two Translites. I'll throw a banner in there. I'm starting to get more and more stuff from people I'm reaching out with. And it's the same thing as I was talking before with Kerry. As I start to build more of a following, more views, more comments, more engagements, more likes on the Facebook page, I'm getting noticed by more and more people. Jeff is sending me more stuff for giveaways. So when you do win something or even order something, you'll probably get a bonus T-shirt thrown in there, some stickers and stuff from Mad Pinball. I'm getting stuff from American Pinball that I can give away. I'm hoping to make inroads with Stern now so I can get some of that Stern stuff. Maybe they get some Stern Army stuff to give away to folks. um cab custom sent me an extra set of jaws side armor we got that stuff powder coat and gave that away for free uh last month that was amazing so like the more uh you know i get the interaction you know for the people that are listening if you want free stuff like subscribe share like get the name out there let's build this up the more we build it up the more swag we all get man and i can't keep it all you should look at my downstairs here i got stuff in piles here so um every time i sell a t-shirt, a chicken bucket, a crypt for Elvira or something. I'm also stuffing that package with stickers, with Ninja Eclipse stuff, Turner pinball crap that I got. I'm throwing in buttons and charms and little keychains, little knickknacks I pick up at the conventions and stuff. All kinds of bonus stuff comes in there, you guys. Ask anybody that's got a swag bag from me. There's all kinds of fun stuff in there. It's fun. I like it. I got a little ship station set up here. It's like I'm an official business or something, man. I like it. So if you want to get in on that, the way you do it is crawling over the Patreon. If you've been thinking about it, it's like walking by the freak show, and it's like, hey, two bits of gander. Don't you want to peek in here and see what the world's largest, thinnest woman looks like? Five bucks a gander. Come on in. Stay for a month. Hang out. Jump on the Discord. We're having a good time. Anyway, I will be back with more content from Stern, so follow the Facebook page and the Instagram because that's where I'm going to be putting stuff up tomorrow. As much as they allow me to do, I can't wait to see what happens. Maybe there will be cake.