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Episode 758: "From Buy Now! To Why Now?"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·31m 46s·analyzed·Jan 14, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Pinball's FOMO-driven 'buy now' era is ending; consumers now demand justification before spending $10k–$20k on new games.

Summary

Kaneda argues that pinball market sentiment is shifting from 'buy now' to 'why now,' with consumers increasingly skeptical about new releases at inflated prices ($10k–$20k+). He critiques manufacturers for poor execution, deceptive marketing, and pricing that doesn't match product quality, while highlighting specific manufacturer issues: Stern's James Bond pricing and quality concerns, Spooky's unproven track record with Scooby-Doo, Dutch Pinball's playfield defects, and saturation killing secondary market value and FOMO. He predicts weak adoption of upcoming titles (Godfather, Venom, Foo Fighters) and calls for 'miracle games' to restore faith.

Key Claims

  • James Bond sales are really weak.

    medium confidence · Kaneda, early in episode, citing what he's hearing from the community

  • A lot of people got burned on deposits for Toy Story and Spooky Pinball's last game.

    medium confidence · Kaneda, discussing secondary market risks and deposit losses

  • Jersey Jack Pinball number 8 is coming out February 20th.

    high confidence · Kaneda, stating this as a reported release date

  • Nobody's ordering Queen Pinball. It is dead on arrival.

    medium confidence · Kaneda, citing feedback from distributors

  • Stern Pinball lied to us in their reveal video about James Bond 60th, specifically falsely claiming the topper was exclusive.

    high confidence · Kaneda, discussing Stern's marketing deception

  • The only way out for manufacturers is to make amazing games; mediocre games will be dead on arrival.

    high confidence · Kaneda's core thesis on survival in the market

  • Scooby-Doo will not be rare; code won't be done at launch; people will sell for less than MSRP.

    medium confidence · Kaneda's prediction based on market saturation and pattern analysis

  • Fathom Pinball was left off the Twippies ballot despite shipping this year.

    high confidence · Kaneda, citing This Week in Pinball committee oversight

  • Mirko Playfield vendor has recurring quality issues; hundreds of playfields have had defects across JJP and Dutch Pinball.

    medium confidence · Kaneda, discussing Dutch Pinball Miracle Playfield issues

  • Stern Pinball is making 600 games a week, making it nearly impossible for smaller manufacturers like Multimorphic to win awards or compete.

    medium confidence · Kaneda, analyzing Twippies voting dynamics and market dynamics

Notable Quotes

  • “Instead of buy now, it's why now? Like why would you order Scooby-Doo right now? You don't know enough.”

    Kaneda@ 6:27 — Core thesis encapsulation: shift from impulse buying to consumer skepticism

  • “We are now making excuses for these companies. It's at the point now where I think everyone is just waking up out of the COVID coma, out of the price frenzy.”

    Kaneda@ 10:57 — Describes market psychology shift post-pandemic

  • “In what other industry can you release a product that's not even as good as products that came out five years ago and then charge 40% more?”

    Kaneda@ 14:10 — Core criticism of pinball industry value proposition vs. price

  • “Mirko's making money again. He's making double the money on his own mistakes.”

    Kaneda@ 22:05 — Specific vendor criticism highlighting perverse incentive structure

  • “If you buy one of these games now for $20,000 or $22,000, you're absolutely going to lose your shirt. Nobody wants to buy something only to realize they could have got the very exact same item and saved themselves thousands and thousands of dollars.”

    Kaneda@ 26:13 — Prediction of James Bond 60th depreciation and killer of collectibility concept

  • “If you want to buy just three pinball machines now at the top trim level, it is now $40,000. Think about that for a minute. 40 grand for three machines. It wasn't that long ago, Stern LEs were $7,500. You could get three machines for around like $22,000. We've doubled the price.”

    Kaneda@ 28:54 — Quantifies pricing inflation and its market impact

  • “I think we need a miracle game. I think we need a magical miracle game that restores all of our faith in pinball.”

    Kaneda — Emotional appeal encapsulating community desperation for quality game

Entities

KanedapersonStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyDutch PinballcompanyMultimorphiccompanyAmerican PinballcompanyChicago Gaming Companycompany

Signals

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Broad community shift from impulse buying (FOMO, 'buy now') to cost-benefit analysis ('why now'). Consumers are delaying purchases to see reviews, code quality, and real-world performance before committing.

    high · Kaneda reports hearing this across the community, distributors waiting on sidelines, weak James Bond and Queen sales, and people actively resisting pre-orders.

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern Pinball criticized for false advertising (James Bond 60th 'exclusive' topper; misleading reveal video) and poor attention to detail (black screws omitted to save costs despite $20k price point).

    high · Kaneda directly references Stern's lies and spin; compares to Pee-wee Herman debate on Pinside; calls out specific cost-cutting despite premium pricing.

  • $

    market_signal: Limited edition machines are not holding resale value; secondary market is collapsing. Kaneda predicts James Bond 60th will sell for $12k (down from $20k–$22k) within a year; Scooby-Doo pre-order holder already listing at -$200 loss.

    high · Scooby-Doo #607 listing at $1,800 (stated loss of $200+); Kaneda's explicit prediction that waitlisters will undercut MSRP at launch; no secondary market activity mentioned for recent releases.

  • ?

    product_concern: Mirko Playfield vendor has chronic quality issues across Dutch Pinball and JJP (Guns N' Roses, Miracle Playfield). Chipping artwork, pooling playfields reported. Vendor profits on replacement sales without fixing root cause.

    high · Kaneda describes 'Miracle Playfield nightmare all over again,' references hundreds of defective units, calculates Mirko's double-profit incentive on replacements at $500/unit.

  • ?

Topics

Market sentiment shift from FOMO-driven buying to skepticism ('buy now' vs 'why now')primaryPricing inflation and value proposition decline ($7.5k–$20k+ machines with questionable innovation)primaryManufacturer quality and execution failures (Stern false advertising, Spooky unproven code, Dutch/Mirko defects)primarySecondary market collapse and death of collectibility/FOMO due to oversaturation (1,000 unit runs)primaryDistributor desperation and pivot to used game sales as revenue stabilizersecondaryLimited edition strategy failure (500 vs 1,000 unit runs; James Bond 60th depreciation risk)secondaryCompetitive dynamics between 8–10 manufacturers and scaling mismatches (Stern 600/week vs Multimorphic <100)secondaryTwippies award politics and voting bias toward mass-market/popular machines over boutique innovationssecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.75)— Kaneda expresses deep frustration with industry direction, manufacturer behavior, and market saturation. While he frames concerns as constructive (calling for 'miracle games' to restore faith), his dominant tone is critical, warning, and pessimistic about near-term recovery. Some moments of dark humor and deflation ('dead on arrival,' 'absolutely crazy'). Underlying concern is genuine—he loves pinball but feels the hobby has betrayed its promise.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.095

0:00
Time has to spell on you, but you won't forget me. I know I could have loved you, but you would not let me. I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said. Oh, welcome everybody to Canada's Pinball Podcast, the world's favorite pinball podcast to 523 people who are on the Canada Club.
0:32
Thank you everybody for being a member. We're going to talk about a topic today as we discuss the hobby as a whole, as we discuss the different manufacturers. And that topic is simply this. Is the mood shifting in pinball from buy, buy, buy to why, why, why? I think we're all starting to ask ourselves these questions more and more. Why am I buying this game? Or more poignantly, why do I not want to buy this game?
1:05
Because I think all of us out there who are pinheads, we really want to feel compelled to buy every single pinball machine that gets revealed to the world. And for many years, it was really hard to resist, right? It was really hard to resist those halcyon days of old when we had nothing but game after game that was a great theme, that had a lot in it, that had beautiful artwork. And look, not every game was a hit. Not every game was something we really had to own.
1:37
But over the last six to seven years, there always was that magical game each year that restored our faith in the new in box pinball world. Now, the problem is this. You have to constantly keep innovating and evolving and keep upping what you put into your products or else people will get bored. People will get tired of every single new reveal if each new reveal doesn't elevate our expectations, doesn't elevate what can go into a pinball machine, doesn't elevate the theme and the theme integration and the artwork and the light shows.
@ 29:45

  • “The fool is the person with the sun behind their back that walks over the cliff and orders a game before even seeing any of those things come to fruition.”

    Kaneda@ 5:57 — Cautionary metaphor against pre-ordering unproven games

    • Haggis Pinball
    company
    James Bond 60th Anniversarygame
    Scooby-Doogame
    Godfathergame
    Venomgame
    Queen Pinballgame
    Toy Story 4game
    Weird Algame
    Fathomgame
    Guns N' Rosesgame
    Cactus Canyon LEgame
    Mirko Playfieldcompany
    Steve Bowenperson
    Brian Eddyperson
    Lyman Sheetsperson
    This Week in Pinballorganization
    Pinsideorganization

    competitive_signal: Stern producing 600 units/week while boutique makers (Multimorphic, Haggis) produce <100 total. Oversupply killing collectibility and FOMO. Too many manufacturers chasing finite buyer base.

    high · Kaneda explicitly states Stern's 600/week production makes Multimorphic impossible to win Twippies; notes 'too many pinball companies now' and scalping is dead.

  • ?

    machine_intel: Jersey Jack Pinball #8 confirmed for February 20th release. Identity presumed to be Godfather based on context (Christopher Franchi, Eric Minier designers).

    high · Kaneda states: 'Jersey Jack number eight is coming out February 20th.' Also notes 'probably godfather' and references Godfather as likely 2024 title.

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Kaneda speculates Stern's March announcement will be Venom (Brian Eddy design, zombie Yeti mech), not Back to the Future or Foo Fighters. Predicts needs limiting to 400 units to maintain value.

    medium · Kaneda: 'I think it's going to be Venom. I'll tell you why. I think Venom's been done for over a year.' Also notes 'Brian Eddy game. It has a big mech in the middle of it.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Manufacturers have lost collectibility by jumping from 500 to 1,000-unit runs (JJP Toy Story). Kaneda argues LEs/CEs must return to 400–500 units max to restore FOMO and secondary market value.

    high · Kaneda: 'Jersey Jack went from 500 Guns N' Roses CEs to 1,000 Toy Stories. I mean, stupid. You don't double the amount of something.' Predicts Toy Story SE lost all collectibility at 1,000 units.

  • ?

    industry_signal: Distributors facing revenue drought as new game pre-orders collapse. Predicted to pivot to buying/reselling used games as consistent revenue stream. Classic inventory model breaking down.

    medium · Kaneda: 'Distros are going to start to get really desperate as times get leaner... I think we're going to see more distros become used pin salespeople if they want consistent revenue.'

  • ?

    event_signal: Fathom Pinball omitted from 2024 Twippies ballot despite being first year of commercial shipping. Kaneda attributes to committee (including Steve Bowen) not recognizing shipping milestone.

    high · Kaneda: 'I don't understand how you don't realize that Fathom Pinball is shipping this year for the first year ever, and it should be included in certain categories.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Industry figures making overblown claims (e.g., pinball as 'ultimate gaming experience' vs Xbox/PlayStation). Kaneda attributes this to long-term 'Kool-Aid drinking' and isolation from broader gaming market reality.

    medium · Kaneda cites CES interview where Stern exec claimed pinball as ultimate gaming experience. Critiques this as delusional marketing disconnected from video game quality/value.

    • 2:16
    for this much money, and I think that's what I've been noticing with everybody, for this much money, why do I need to own this game? And I think people ask that about James Bond. I'm hearing James Bond sales are really weak. I think people ask that about Toy Story 4, and I think the majority of people cannot answer that question. Why do I need to own a Toy Story 4? Why would I spend $15,000 on a Toy Story CE? Why would I spend $12,000 on an Ellie? Why are Stern premiums now $10,000
    2:50
    basically? Why, why, why? And the more we're asking why about this hobby, I think the more and more most of us are finding a place of solace. And the place of solace is simply this. If I wait and see If this game is going to be worth it, then I will be in a much better position to answer the question, why do I want to own this game? But if we jump in and we let FOMO make us commit to buying a game, before we can answer that why question,
    3:27
    I think people are just fatigued by the amount of people telling you to buy everything when it comes out. Those days are over. and I think if you wait and see and you wait and play a game that will put you in a much happier place in pinball that's where I'm at right now it's going to take a lot for me to buy a new in box game again the other thing I think we're going to see more and more of in pinball is simply this I think we're going to see a lot more trading of games I think we're going to see a lot more people
    3:57
    go and buy games that we know for sure are great games. We know for sure we enjoy this game. Now, we don't all enjoy everything, but there is a lot of really good pinball out there. If you go on the Pinside Marketplace and you want to fill your house with 10 great pinball machines, you can go get 10 great pinball machines that there are no question marks around. Now, if you want to chase every single new in box game that comes out, I think you're going to end up really disappointed
    4:31
    for the most part. I think you're going to end up losing a lot of money. I think you're going to end up taking a really big risk. And I think that's the thing is I think people are just getting tired of taking the risk. We don't talk about it a lot, but a lot of people got burned on their deposits for Toy Story. A lot of people got burned on their deposits for Spooky Pinball's last game. And look, there are some people that will run right into the fire again. I'm already seeing someone list a Scooby-Doo spot for $1,800 or best offer.
    5:04
    Scooby-Doo number 607. I will lose $200 if you want my spot or best offer. That means he's willing to lose even more than $200. Now look, $200 is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Because if you order to Scooby-Doo, you're going to be writing Spooky Pinball a check for like $10,000. But the question remains is this. Why would anybody buy Scooby-Doo already? You don't know the game is going to be good. You don't have a past precedence of the coder doing anything magical in pinball.
    5:37
    In fact, the majority of people, the silent majority would say, spooky pinball still needs to prove they can get their quality up. They need to prove they can engineer mechs that are really exciting. They need to prove they can make a game that has good flow. They've got a lot to prove with this game. And look, I'm rooting for them. But I think the fool is the person with the sun behind their back that walks over the cliff and orders a game before even seeing any of those things come to fruition.
    6:09
    So I'm waiting on the sidelines. A lot of people are waiting on the sidelines. Now, distributors don't want you to wait on the sidelines anymore. They want you to buy the game. They want you to buy the game so that when they mail their money to Spooky, they already have a customer lined up. And I'm just saying I think people are starting to move away from that behavior. Instead of buy now, it's why now? Like why would you order Scooby-Doo right now? You don't know enough. You don't. I'm not saying it's not going to deliver the goods, but you just don't know.
    6:40
    And I think the other thing, why now? Why would anyone buy a $20,000 James Bond 60th anniversary game? Why would you buy it after Stern Pinball lied to us in their reveal video? I just saw this interview with the guy over at Stern. I forget his name. He said something at CES that just made me laugh. He said, if you want the ultimate gaming experience, and he's saying this at CES, where all the big video game companies are at. If you want the ultimate gaming experience by a pinball machine, is he out of his mind?
    7:15
    Look, I love pinball to no end, but there is no way in the gaming world pinball is a better gaming experience than what's on Xbox and PlayStation. And this is the delusion now. I think pinball is reaching this point where so many people in it and in the industry and in the media and at the companies and at the distro level. So many people have been drinking the pinball Kool-Aid for so many years. They're starting to say stuff like pinball is the ultimate gaming experience on the planet.
    7:49
    Let not say silly things like that The reason I love pinball and maybe you think I don say it enough I love pinball because I don like a digital world I don like a world in which gaming is always remote I don't like a world in which everything is just on a screen. I love pinball because it's a physical game, right? You can't digitize pinball. When you stand over a pinball machine, it is so much fun looking down at this physical analog world under glass that I get to play. And I love the randomness
    8:25
    of it, right? I would argue, yes, pinball is more fun than Donkey Kong. It is more fun than Pac-Man. Those older arcade games are very repetitive and they get old very fast. But pinball is not more fun than Call of Duty to me. It's not more fun than Halo. It's not more fun than modern video games and that's just my personal opinion and the great thing about modern video games is just for a few hundred bucks you can experience the best the world has to offer where pinball gets comical is
    8:57
    now the most expensive pinball machine of all time this twenty thousand dollar james bond i would argue is one of the most simple and basic and there's no way that is the greatest example of pinball in 2022 we should be embarrassed that that is the price or 2023 whatever year you want to consider this game coming out, even though it came out last month. And if you go on Pinside, you know what everyone sounds like on Pinside? They sound like this. My father says everything's negotiable. Pee-wee. I wouldn't sell my bike for all the money in the world, not for a hundred billion million
    9:30
    trillion dollars. Then you're crazy. I know you are, but what am I? You're a nerd. I know you are, but what am I? You're an idiot. I know you are, but what am I? Infinity. No, I'm not. You are. No way. Knock it off. Cut it out. Oh, shut up, Pee-wee. Why don't you make me? Because I don't make monkeys. I just train them.
    10:00
    What the fuck? He's reaching for the 14. I mean, listening to these grown men spend the last week and a half arguing back and forth on this game after Stern lied to us, after we could see how ugly the game is, after we could see that this thing has nothing really special. I was listening to another podcast in which they mentioned for $20,000, maybe Stern should
    10:33
    make the screws, you know, by the LCD screen that's on the playfield because the border is all black. They were mentioning that the screws should be black. And heck, yes, they should be black. For $20,000, the screws there should be black. But you know what they said? They said that they probably are not black because of the cost. The cost of making screws black. We are now making excuses for these companies. It's at the point now where I think everyone is just waking up out of the COVID coma,
    11:07
    out of the price frenzy and realizing the reason why the screws aren't black is because Stern doesn't care about the details. Stern doesn't care to actually make the cabinet artwork more interesting. Stern does not care. And the screws are a great example of that because the screws themselves would not need licensor approval. And Stern doesn't care that they false advertise. I didn't even talk about this on my last show,
    11:39
    but they said it was exclusive, the topper. And then they said it was exclusive because it's included in the purchase of the 60th. They lied to us. And then they tried to spin it. So look, I think all of this is starting to sort of drag people down into this space. Instead of buy now, it's why now. I'll tell you another example where I just think people are starting to lose excitement because nobody's excited to spend 15K on a Jersey Jack machine.
    12:11
    And nobody's really excited to spend 13,000, let alone 20,000 on a Stern pinball machine. I put up what date Jersey Jack pinball number eight is coming out to the world. It's coming out February 20th. Okay. Now, normally that would be a huge reveal. It would be something totally everyone would talk about. Kaneda's reporting that Jersey Jack number eight is coming out February 20th. I'm going to ask one of you who's listening to this right now, who has the guts to go
    12:41
    on to Pinside and actually start a thread that says, Kaneda reporting JJP number 8, 220. Do me a favor, post that. I'll send you a Kaneda mug. I promise you, okay? But here's the thing. Even after having it on my page, nobody's talking about it. It's like nobody cares. Everyone's worried it's going to be Godfather. Everyone already knows what the price is going to be, And that's creating an overwhelming lack of enthusiasm for this hobby.
    13:11
    And here's the thing, and I get it. Like you guys are like, Kaneda, you're beating a dead horse. Kaneda, you're being negative again. No, what I'm trying to do is just tell you the vibe I'm feeling. And there's only one way out. There is literally one way out of this. All these manufacturers, all these companies, they've painted themselves into a corner. And the only way out is if they make amazing games. And that's the silver lining in all of this. That's what keeps me excited to see what happens in the future.
    13:44
    Because if your game is not amazing, if it is mediocre, it will be dead on arrival. I'm hearing from distributors, nobody's ordering Queen Pinball. It is dead on arrival. You're not going to get people to cut you a $10,000 check if the game itself doesn't elevate, doesn't innovate, doesn't take it to another level. Think about any other industry. In what other industry can you release a product that's not even as good as products that came
    14:16
    out five years ago and then charge 40% more? I mean, just think about that. Are you buying a TV that's not as good as your old TV for 40% more? and that's what's been happening in pinball. You can't fool us anymore. Our love affair with chasing every new inbox is gone. I mean, it's gone, man. You can see it, man. Distros are going to start to get really desperate as times get leaner. You're going to see more and more of them starting to unload used games, right? Buying from other people and unloading other products because
    14:49
    I know you really want an Iron Maiden. I know you really want a Ghostbusters. I can't convince you to buy a James Bond because you don't see the value there. But I know you're going to want these classical games. I think we're going to see more and more distros become used pin salespeople if they want consistent revenue. Because when they announce Galactic Space Force or Godfather or Foo Fighters or Venom, are people going to run through the door? If 2023's big titles are Godfather, Venom and Foo Fighters, the answer is no. You know the answer is no. I mean, come on,
    15:24
    At least go make the A-Team. I mean, the A-Team is a better theme than the Godfather for pinball. And I can't imagine it's that hard to license the original A-Team TV show. All right. So let's quickly go around the horn and see what's happening in the pinball world. So Stern Pinball, everybody hates them right now. They lied to us. They misled us. And I still haven't forgiven them. And they need to ask for forgiveness. And James Bond sales are nowhere near where they thought they would be Spooky Pinball probably the most exciting post of the week They showed us they have Scooby manufacturing beginning
    15:58
    We saw a lineup of cabinets. We see them working on the playfields. This game is about to go on the line any day now. They hired the voice actor that's been doing the Scooby-Doo voices over all of these years. And supposedly he will be giving us those 4,000 custom call-outs. The only question I had when they announced that, that he's joining Team Spooky, I thought they already recorded the 4,000 callouts and that's why they used it in their marketing materials.
    16:28
    So I hope they have a lot of this game already coded because the moment Spooky shows this game, they must know deep down inside that this code needs to be pretty good. like this can't be barren code like halloween and if they show this game and it looks like there's a ton of work that needs to be done you're gonna hear 1969 people go rut row what did i do i should have listened to kaneda i should have waited to see if this game is gonna deliver for this much
    16:59
    money and i'll tell you this right now guys i'm just gonna be candid if you waited on the sidelines you're gonna be able to buy a scooby-doo for less than msrp you're gonna be able to get one cheaper than anyone who bought it directly from Spooky or directly from a distributor. Times have changed, people. Wake up. 1,969 games. It's not going to be rare. It's not going to be hard to find. And the code's not going to be done at launch. And that's going to make people buy it, realize they don't want to wait, and then they're
    17:29
    going to sell the game for less than sticker. And you heard it here first. It's not being negative. It's just that there's too many pinball companies now. The prices are too high and most of us are just fed up and the scalping is dead. All of these companies killed the scalping. There's no more secondhand value to be had in any of these games. And now we have to wake up to that reality. That was not the reality over the last 10 years. And it's going to hurt the sales tactic of FOMO. And when that goes away, the whole buy, buy, buy mantra is going to be dead.
    18:00
    People are going to wait and see and they're going to listen to Kaneda and they're going to sleep better at night. Okay, so spooky pinball ready to go. Haggis pinball. They're getting more fathoms out the door. Did you see this mistake by This Week in Pinball with the Twippies? They left fathom pinball off of the ballot for the Twippies. I don't understand how you have a committee of people who is in this hobby, right? And this is like Steve Bowden. I mean, the people on this committee, they should know better.
    18:33
    I don't understand how you don't realize that Fathom Pinball is shipping this year for the first year ever, and it should be included in certain categories. Now, that being said, do I expect Fathom Pinball to win a Twippy? No, and it's real simple because not enough people have it, not enough people have seen it, and the Twippies is a popularity contest. And the more people that have the game, the more people that have played the game, you're more likely to get those votes.
    19:04
    And so, yes, why I think it was a boneheaded move to leave it off of the ballot. I don't think it's going to change anything. But come on. I mean, at what point are these guys going to realize maybe Kaneda should be on the committee and then we'll announce that he's ineligible for a Twippy moving forward. Just give me the Lifetime Achievement Award and let someone else have it next year. But this year, I'm putting on the cargo shorts. If you haven't voted yet in the Twippies, this is the last weekend to vote.
    19:36
    So make sure you vote Canada for Favorite Pinball Podcast and Favorite Pinball Streamer. I much appreciate all of your support. That's Haggis Pinball, Chicago gaming company. We're still trickling out Cactus Canyon LEs. The thing I don't understand about this company is this. Where is the Lyman Sheets code? Poor Lyman has been gone for a long time now. What's happening with this code? What is going on? Why would it take an entire year, even without Lyman, to finish what he worked on? How much did he even work on? There's been no communication around this.
    20:12
    There's been no timeline around when this code is going to drop. And it's really disappointing. I And the way they've been communicating this game, it's just an utter disappointment. Let's go over to Dutch Pinball. Because if you've been in the Dutch thread and you're seeing what's going on with Dutch Pinball, it is Miracle Playfield nightmare all over again. It is the same exact thing that happened with Guns N' Roses owners.
    20:42
    There's a batch of Miracle Playfields that are now pooling. They're chipping the artwork. And it's really bad. And it's really, really bad. And I don't know how many strikes does Mirko get before us as a community says, I refuse to buy any pinball machine that has a Mirko Playfield logo on it. This company, and I mean Mirko, this guy is a joke. And he's making millions of dollars, people.
    21:14
    Do the math. Imagine if he ships 5,000 Guns N' Roses playfields to JJP. How much money out of that 5,000 units do you think he makes per playfield? And he's been making playfields for JJP, for Dutch Pinball. He's made thousands and thousands of playfields. And look, they don't all have issues. But hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them have had issues. And when this clown makes a mistake, does he send you a replacement playfield if his playfield falls apart?
    21:51
    Nope. I've got to buy it again. And I'll tell you this. When Jersey Jack sells me a replacement Guns N' Roses playfield for $500, they're paying Mirko that $500. They're just selling it to me at cost. So that's the most painful part about it is Mirko's making money again. he's making double the money on his own mistakes we need to wake up the guy's a squirrel he doesn't deserve our money or our support anybody out there who's a pinball company should be looking for a
    22:24
    new vendor to make these play fields all right so thank you mirko for giving us this nightmare once again as everyone now searches for washers to put under their big lebowski posts all right what else is going on we covered off on spooky jersey jack game number eight what we know is it's probably godfather it's christopher franchi it's eric minier and it's coming out in just about a month and it seems like nobody cares and look i mean it when i say it jersey jack marketing wake up people
    22:56
    if it's godfather let us know now rip the band-aid off let everybody complain for a few weeks they'll get tired of complaining. There's only so much you can complain about pinball unless you're Kaneda, and then you can complain for seven years straight. All right, everybody, so what else is going on? We've covered off on those companies. Well, look, we also know we're getting a new game from Stern. I said we're all upset with Stern right now, and the other question will become, in March, will it be Venom? Will it be Foo Fighters? It's not going to be Back to the Future. I wonder what
    23:31
    it's going to be. I think it's going to be Venom. I'll tell you why. I think Venom's been done for For a really long time. It's been done for over a year. It's Brian Eddy game. It has a big mech in the middle of it. And it also a zombie Yeti game And I think after this Ugly James Bond game Stern is going to hit with an absolutely knock it out of the park gorgeous zombie yeti game now the big question is this how do you sell a $13,000 venom and how do you make 1,000 of them at that price I think what
    24:08
    we're going to see if Stern wants to sell venom for 13,000 I think they're going to have to get back to making the limited editions actually get ready for it are you sitting down they need to actually make them limited so i think we're going to see i would bet venom should be like 400 le's like if you're going to do venom do not do a thousand do not even do 500 make it 400 make it somewhat rare and exclusive we need to get back there i think all le's and ce's need to be 500
    24:38
    I think there still needs to be like some FOMO with the collectible version of the game. The 1,000 units was too much of a jump. It was way too much. I mean, think about it for a minute. Jersey Jack went from 500 Guns N' Roses CEs to 1,000 Toy Stories. I mean, stupid. You don't double the amount of something. That's not an incremental increase. Like absolutely boneheaded move. The funny part is this. The only way Toy Story SEs ever would have held value is if they made 500 or less.
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    The moment we saw 1,000 was the moment they killed the collectability of the game. I mean, think about the irony of that. These own companies are killing the collectability of their collector versions of the game. James Bond 60th. Let's just talk about this for a minute. Here's what I think James Bond 60th is going to be worth in a year. Are you ready for it? Stern's going to make all 500. Distros are going to sit on them forever. I think this game, a year from now, will sell for $12,000.
    25:48
    And I think it's going to be $12,000 or less. If you buy one of these games now for $20,000 or $22,000, you're absolutely going to lose your shirt. And I don't care if you're the world's biggest James Bond collector. I don't care if you take a bath in $100 bills. Nobody who's rich wants to buy something that's supposed to be collectible and rare and sort of exclusive. Nobody wants to buy something only to realize they could have got the very exact same item and saved themselves thousands and thousands of dollars.
    26:23
    This thing, I'm telling you right now, this game will never be special. It will never be sought after. It will never be something we talk about in a positive light. It's never going to be that. We are never going to look at this game with adoring eyes. We're just never going to do it. All right. Am I missing anybody in the pinball world? We covered off on Stern, JJP, Spooky, Pinball Brothers. We talked about how nobody's ordering Queen Pinball. That is truth. American Pinball and Multimorphic.
    26:54
    Let's cover off on the final two companies that are actually making pinball machines. So, Multimorphic, Weird Al, where are the Weird Als? They are still slowly trickling out, so not a lot of news there. It will be interesting to see if Weird Al wins any Twippies. I was thinking about it, like, what Twippies could it win? It could win for Best Music, it could win for, I don't think they even have Best Callouts, maybe Best Animations, maybe Best Topper, I don't know, right? It's another game where I don't even think they've made 50, let alone 100.
    27:29
    Stern Pinball is making 600 games a week. So there's almost no way Multimorphic can win anything. And I know they feel like they deserve it, but they need to get these games to customers. They need to figure out manufacturing. All right, let's talk about American Pinball last but not least. American Pinball. Seemingly, the Nordman game is coming out sometime soon. but once again I think AP is missing a golden window because think about it if Stern has a new game in March Jersey Jack has a new game in February just think about those two companies
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    alone between those two games let's say you want to buy both of them and you buy the next JJPCE and you buy the next Stern LE add that together now during a global recession that is really coming people it is really going to happen people so those two games will set you back with tax are you ready for it? $15,000 plus $13,000. $28,000 for two machines. Add some tax to that. Over $30,000 if you want to buy the nicest version of both JJP and Stern. This is crazy. This hobby is absolutely
    28:40
    crazy. And then American Pinball is going to come out and sell you a game around $9,000 to $10,000. are you really going to go $38,000, $39,000 if you want three pinball machines? This is crazy. If you want to buy just three pinball machines now at the top trim level, it is now $40,000. Think about that for a minute. 40 grand for three machines. It wasn't that long ago, Stern LEs were $7,500. You could get three machines for around like $22,000. We've doubled
    29:15
    the price. This hobby has doubled the price. And that is why no one is saying buy now. The thing we're saying is why now? Why now is pinball twice the price of what it used to be just a few years ago? Why now are pinball machines this expensive and we're not even close to getting the magic in these games the way we used to? It's just getting ridiculous. And I'll be here to cover the vibe of this hobby. I think we need a miracle game. I think we need a magical miracle game that restores
    29:51
    all of our faith in pinball. Bring out Die Hard. Bring out Matrix. Bring out Top Gun. Bring out Big Trouble in Little China. Bring out the A-Team. I don't know. Maybe the A-Team is not a great example, but bring out something that when we look down on it, our eyes, they just pop open and we're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe you did that. Look at that innovation. Look at these shots. I can't wait to find a distributor to give my money to because this company just knocked it out of the park.
    30:22
    Nobody is saying that with James Bond. Nobody said it with Toy Story. Nobody said it about any game in 2022. And we need a game in 2023 that makes us feel that way. Everybody, thank you for being a member of the Kaneda Club. Back with more shows because you know you love to hear Kaneda tell everybody that nobody's ordering Queen. Later.
    31:14
    Never get away You could be my silver spring My blue-green colors flashing
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    you