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Kaneda's Saturday Morning Pinball Spectacular - Aug 16

Kaneda Pinball Podcasts YouTube Lives·video·1h 8m·analyzed·Aug 17, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.037

TL;DR

Pinball market struggling with saturation; Predator failure may doom Pinball Brothers

Summary

Kaneda discusses market saturation in pinball, focusing heavily on Pinball Brothers' failed Predator launch without Arnold Schwarzenegger, predicting potential company closure. He analyzes upcoming releases including Star Wars and Sonic, criticizes King Kong's design consistency, and comments on Stern's business health signals amid reported 4-day work weeks and potential price increases. He also critiques Arcade1Up content creators and their transition to pinball coverage.

Key Claims

  • Pinball Brothers only sold around 100-150 Predator units, not 650 as implied, and will only manufacture 300 total units

    medium confidence · Kaneda discusses rumor from chat, contrasts with Pinball Brothers' lack of explicit sales numbers

  • Predator pricing failure is not primarily due to tariffs but fundamental market rejection of game without Arnold Schwarzenegger

    high confidence · Kaneda's direct analysis and comparison to hypothetical Back to the Future reception

  • Predator may be the last game Pinball Brothers releases; company may go out of business

    medium confidence · Kaneda's prediction based on financial and production analysis

  • Stern is on a 4-day work week despite CEO claiming business is good

    medium confidence · Kaneda cites heard rumor; questions contradiction with business claims

  • Stern will not increase Pro model pricing to $8,500 despite industry speculation

    medium confidence · Kaneda states this would cause 'game over for Stern'

  • Guns N' Roses Limited Edition will eventually sell for around $4,500 secondary market

    low confidence · Kaneda's prediction about future secondary market value

  • New Star Wars game will use OG trilogy (Episodes 4-6) not prequel trilogy

    high confidence · Kaneda cites text from current Stern employee, provides sarcastic context about decision

  • Dutch Pinball has not yet secured replacement vendor for Alice topper after original vendor departure

    high confidence · Kaneda states 'information as recent as today'

  • King Kong will make less than 1,000 units total and Jaws 50th premium edition will become rarer long-term

    low confidence · Kaneda's prediction based on market analysis

Notable Quotes

  • “If they want to come out and say 'We've sold 650,' okay, cool. Say it. They're not going to say it.”

    Kaneda @ ~12:00 — Directly addresses Pinball Brothers' calculated deception about sales figures

  • “Nobody's buying an Arnold-less Predator. It's not happening, gang. You're not buying it.”

    Kaneda @ ~13:30 — Core thesis on why Predator failed

  • “This could be the end of Pinball Brothers... They took a huge gamble and it didn't pay off.”

    Kaneda @ ~17:00 — Explicit prediction of company failure

  • “How good is business if you're on a 4-day work week? There's no way they're hiking Pros to $8,500.”

    Kaneda @ ~33:30 — Skepticism about Stern's financial health narrative

  • “I think it's the boutique time now... Stern had an incredible run... but the excitement, the FOMO, it's boutique.”

    Kaneda @ ~38:00 — Major industry shift analysis from mass-market to boutique

  • “Those days are over... The fake FOMO doesn't work anymore.”

    Kaneda @ ~25:00 — Commentary on changing market dynamics and scarcity tactics

  • “It's OG trilogy... that's as much confirmation as I need... they said it sarcastically like Stern's cheap.”

    Kaneda @ ~61:00 — Confirms Star Wars game scope with inside source

  • “Kong is the new Avengers. It is... Avengers shoots more interesting than Kong.”

    Kaneda @ ~54:00 — Unfavorable comparison of King Kong to predecessor

  • “They tried to sell us on this narrative that they've always been into pinball... now you're paying for your own travel to make sales content for them.”

    Kaneda @ ~87:00 — Criticism of Arcade1Up creator authenticity in pinball space

Entities

Pinball BrotherscompanyPredatorgameStern PinballcompanyKing KonggameStar WarsgameHarry PottergameSonic the Hedgehog

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Pinball Brothers' Predator pricing failure and likely business closure due to market rejection of game without Arnold Schwarzenegger

    high · Kaneda states estimated 100-150 units sold vs 800 planned, price reduced from $15,500 to $12,000, tariffs absorbed by company, 300 parts ordered that may go unsold

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern reported on 4-day work week despite CEO claims of strong business; Kaneda questions contradiction between work schedule and business health narrative

    medium · Kaneda: 'Stern's on a 4-day work week. So I don't how good is business if you're on a 4-day work week?'

  • ?

    community_signal: Kaneda explicitly refuses to participate in rumor culture, stating surprises and leak/rumor content no longer drives engagement or interest

    high · Kaneda: 'I don't care anymore about rumors... doesn't mean anything anymore... nobody's leaking anything real'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Shift from boutique to mass-market excitement; FOMO and hype now concentrated in boutique manufacturers despite Stern's volume dominance

    high · Kaneda's explicit statement: 'I think it's the boutique time now... excitement, the FOMO, it's boutique'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: King Kong lacks mechanical wow factor and emotional resonance; described as underwhelming shooter despite CGI animation

    high · Kaneda's extended analysis of Kong's inability to excite, comparison to John Wick shooter quality

Topics

Predator game failure and Pinball Brothers' viabilityprimaryMarket saturation and collector spending trendsprimaryStern Pinball's business health and work scheduleprimaryBoutique vs mass-market manufacturer positioningprimaryUpcoming game releases and hype cyclesprimaryPricing strategies and secondary market valuesecondaryContent creator authenticity and manufacturer influencesecondaryDesign philosophy and mechanical quality concernssecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.65)— Kaneda expresses significant skepticism about market direction, predicts company failure, criticizes design choices and pricing strategies, and demonstrates frustration with industry trends (fake FOMO, slow development, content creator authenticity issues). However, maintains respect for some manufacturers and optimistic tone about boutique market shift.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

A good morning children behave. That's what they say when we're together. And watch how you play. Don't understand. And so we're burning just as fast as we can. Holding on to one another's hand. All right. Welcome to Canadas Saturday morning spectacular. The one pinball show that the pinball brothers don't want to listen to today. We're going to have a good time. How's everybody doing? Saturday, we have um a a big shout out to Bri, Brenda's cousin, who is out in the backyard with the children so I could actually do this show this week. I will say this, I got zero sleep last night, so I'm a little tired. The kids moving around different beds. Cassian was fussy, couldn't get him down. And then eventually we all ended up in Killian's Paw Patrol bed with one on one side and one on the other and me just like like a sarcophagus just like in a in a like I couldn't move. I was in a tomb of of little child, you know, like two little children. I didn't buy a pinball machine. Instead, I spent a week vacation. Charles, you're smart. Yeah, I think more and more people I just I got um some people texting me today. They're on vacation. They're doing other stuff with their money. They're realizing, you know, maybe I'm good. What happens in a world where everyone just starts to feel like I'm kind of good with the games I got? Uh, the notion of buying all these games new in box, having to spend 300 bucks on new power supplies, having half these boutique companies take forever to get you product. You know, it's it's going to keep chipping away at people's enthusiasm. Good morning from the hospital bed. What? Ed, what are you doing in the hospital bed? Well, Ed, we hope you feel better. Hopefully, it's nothing too serious. Um, glad we could entertain her. I could entertain you this morning. And Sad Boy pops in again with the damn moola. Buddy, I love you. You've become a weekly staple here at the top of the leaderboard. Pinball brothers said they only have 150 predators left. They must be gaslighting us. No way they've sold that many. Well, sad boy. Um that's not a proper use of the word gaslighting. They are simply deceiving us. Gaslighting is when you slowly uh to give you the origin, it's when husbands used to slowly lower the gas light in their homes and then all of a sudden the wife wakes up one day and it's completely dark and she thinks it's always been that dark. It's the slowly manipulating of of something to make people believe it's always been that way. So, what's happening here? Um, damn, man. Ed, we hope you feel better. What's happening here is they're just flat out like they're they're not like lying. They're not telling the full story, though. So, again, I think it's calculated deception. They did not sell 650. What I heard is they sold around a hundred, maybe 150. I heard they're only going to make 300. Look, if they if they want to come out and say, "We've sold 650." Okay, cool. Say it. They're not going to say it. Did they come out and say, "Hey, we we were not allowed to release that uh that video of Arnold." Nope. They didn't say that right away. I think in the end, hardly anybody ordered Predator. Uh they I don't even think they got 200 games sold at the prices and now they're screwing over their US dealers and dros and even with the reduced price it's now $12,000. Like nobody's buying it, gang. You're not buying it. Who's buying an Arnold list predator? It it's not happening. Um and you know I think they're just trying to break even on the game now. And what they're trying to do is they need to sell the 300 games that they ordered 300 parts for. Uh, make no mistake, gang. If they don't, this could be the the end of the pinball brothers and they, you know, like like when you read what they said, uh, we're renegotiating the license. What does that mean? You thought you were going to sell 800 and you couldn't even sell 300. It was a terrible decision made by a group of people that didn't do any market research and the market bit them in the butt. Now, the tariffs didn't help out, but it wasn't about the tariffs. Gang, think about it. If uh Dutch Pinball revealed Back to the Future today with the tariffs and a $15,000 price tag and it was loaded, you'd they'd sell out everyone. It was just not the game people will will buy without the assets. Um, this offer expires. End of this commercial vibe. Yeah, it's just so stupid. The fake FOMO doesn't work. Doesn't work. Oh, I've been pronouncing it wrong. It's not It's Dubois. Dubois, Pennsylvania is now the new headquarters for uh for Pinball Brothers in the United States. Uh, yesterday's show. I hope you guys had a great time watching it. I hope you had a good time watching Canada do a show for roughly 30 minutes with no editing. I didn't edit that show. I put it right up and it was a lot of fun to do it that way. When I can see myself and I'm just going, I just go. No notes, no no anything else to talk about. Um Jason Nat rumoring uh JJP's next game is Sonic the Hedgehog. We shall see if he's right in a year. You know, Brian with a dollar. Thank you, buddy. But Steve Ritchie's game is is a long way out. And so it's going to be uh it's going to be interesting. I I've been waiting to see what what I'm curious about is and we'll get back to Predator in a little bit. I'm curious to see what uh the Harry Potter long-term feelings are with the game and everybody loves the way it shoots. The code is I, you know, I haven't played the latest code update. Um, but it's a it's a success for for Jersey Jack. I I think it's going to be around the same volume of units as Guns and Roses. I don't think it's going to outsell Guns and Roses. And I think uh what's going to be interesting is uh you know the CE price cuz I I you know I don't know the Guns and Roses C price didn't even hold uh and there's only 500. I think Guns & Roses years from now is going to be fine. I think the Ellies will be worth 4,500 bucks. I mean this I think years from now G&RLE's 4500 and GNRCEES will end up around 9500 10K. I think that's where it's going to be. Elton John Elton John is ah you know like here's the thing about Elton John Charles it's going to hold until Richie's next game comes out because right now there's only one Steve Ritchie Jersey Jack game you can play and it's Elton John. Elton John is holding the C is holding around 12. I mean, it's lost $3,000 in value. Patrick says, "I was very interested in Predator. Favorite theme for me, but without Arnold." Yeah, it's just there's no way you're selling it without Arnold. Good morning, Louie. Oh, man. We've only been here nine minutes now. I'm in the garage. Uh, it is a little humid out, not going to lie. I uh I am hot. and I'm exhausted. And I and I say that because I have the two kids for an entire week. This is going to be the roughest 48 hours, which is the weekend in which right now Brenda's cousin is helping out for a little bit so I could do the show. And then I have them from like 11 to 8 at night. And then, you know, I can't go out. I don't have a babysitter. And then I have them all day tomorrow, all day Monday. Well, they go to daycare all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday. And I've been doing it since Wednesday. So, I am uh I am Mr. Mom right now. Will Automated get a Predator? I don't know. I think they ordered a few uh maybe two or something. I root for all games to be great, but Predator is a giant nothing burger. Zero hype from the community. Well, you know, like this is um the thing is with Predator, you know, they they use Jenis to launch it, which, you know, I didn't have a problem with that. Uh it's just the the way they slowly they they should have let people know right away there's no Arnold in it. They should have just done market research and asked people if they would buy a game without Arnold in it. And I think everything I said in my last show was accurate. I think they thought everybody was going to welcome it. like Alien. I I think they were going to try to get away with that. The The problem is this is Alien without Sigoni Weaver. Remember how much it was a little little um little trivia because again all these newbie content creators don't know any of this history. They just don't know why we why we react the way we react. Remember how much it was? No, it was less than that. I ordered an alien right at the beginning. I know exactly how much it was. Any guesses? And it was and it was refundable deposit which actually is what bankrupted Andrew Highway. You guys are like, "No, Wayne. It wasn't 8K." Wayne, the initial asking price for Highway Pinball's Alien was $6,500. It was 6,500. Yeah, of course. Dave Sanders knows because he worked on it. It was $6,500. I have the receipt. So, you're telling me that you're going to try to sell Predator for 15,500 12,000 if they eat the tariffs. It's just not happening. It's not happening. Um, my prediction is this game will be um maybe the last game we see from Pinball Brothers. I'm not sure. I don't want any pinball company to go under, but I just think they made they took a huge gamble and it didn't pay off. It It's not personal. They took a huge gamble and it didn't pay off. Um, you know, the game is the game feels pretty middle of the road and there's just no room for middle of the road when for less money I can go get a Evil Dead. I remember you being on board, but I said it I always said it um Oh, with Alien. Yeah, I was on board at the beginning. It it's just, you know, and I think too like this concept of, well, if they only make 300, then the prices of Predator are going to go up. It's not going to be the case. Those days are over. Those days are over. Um, I Let's talk Star Wars. Let's talk Star Wars. So, do you I I keep feeling I think two things are going to happen. I think the new Star Wars game is going to have me more mechanical wow than the Steve Ritchie game. I think the Steve Ritchie game is going to shoot better, but I and I think the new game is going to have better code, but and new and better artwork. I worry that John Borg is going to make a mistake. I worry that he's going to make like a homage to his data e Star Wars and make like, you know, the like like the the next chapter in the same game, you know, an evolution of what was out before. And I worry about that. I worry about it being more of a fan layout, more of like, you know, mechs are in the same place as the old game. I worry about that. And look, Kelly, when you say Star Wars gets played a ton, why do you think that is? because of the theme. Kelly again and it shoots fast. It's like it's to me Star Wars is like it's like it's like John Wick with a better theme. That's it. It feels to me like John Wick with a better theme. You know, when I go up to John Wick, the reason why I I walk away from John Wick after two balls, I just don't care. Like I just don't care to to do this. You know what I mean? Like I just It's like Labyrinth. I I feel the same way when I walk up to a labyrinth. I just kind of walk away right away because I'm just like I just don't care to be in the labyrinth world right now when I when I can look over and see the world of all these other worlds. Jurassic Park. I'd rather be there. I'd rather be Batman. I'd rather be this. I'd rather be Avengers. I'd rather be, you know, Jaws. I'd rather be playing Godzilla. I I you know, I don't want to be in the labyrinth world. Out of all the worlds I could jump into in a world under glass, Labyrinth is not one. Same with John Wick. And that's that's it. And Star Wars is always a world I want to be in. I, you know, I would have loved it if John Borg was able to release Indiana Jones cuz he was that was the game he really wanted and something happened after after the game was developed. Something happened with the license and they they just couldn't release it. So yeah, got some exclusive news I'm going to release on my podcast this week. Stuff nobody's talking about. Gomez said business is good. 500 online working. More pins coming to Costco. I heard Stern's on a 4-day work week. So I don't How good is business if you're on a 4-day work week? How good is it? There's no way they're hiking pros to $8,500. There's There's no way that that's the that's that's not happening. They're not hiking a pro up by $2,000, guys. Just let's I mean like I if they do, game over for Stern. People are just done. I I don't know about you guys. I just I think people are um I don't know. I I think it's the boutique time now. I've been saying it for a while. I think it's I think Stern had an incredible run and they're always going to lead by volume. But the excitement, the FOMO, it's boutique and Jersey Jack is boutique. You know what I'm saying? One game a year is boutique. So as big as Jersey Jack, they're still boutique. They're still make they're only when you only make one game a year, you are a boutique bespoke pinball manufacturer. If you make more than one game a year, I'll call you mass-produced. Labyrinth turned out to be a great pin. Well, if you like Labyrinth, I just don't care about the theme at all, Robert. I don't care. I didn't I didn't when I was a kid, I didn't care. The only reason I watched it was to see Jennifer Connelly bouncing around. And you know what I was loving when I was a little boy? data e Star Wars is 1992 great and well worth a 1992 price but not today's um the next theme for pinball brothers is hey question gang is is the new multimorphic game is the new elemental the is that the same elemental game that pinball adventures was making am I just making this stuff up. Like, is that did did that game get ported over to Multimorphic? Did I I'm I'm confused by that. I thought Elemental was like the new game from Pinball Adventures. What's up? Anyone know? I I Or literally this isn't the same name as like the Pinball Adventures game, the second game. Elements is the pinball. So, there's elements and elemental. Okay. Um, you know, it's funny when um when when Jerry does marketing, he's like the 26th game for Multimorphic. Did you notice that? He's like the 26th game for the Multimorphic platform. 20 There's 26 games. Really? 26? I mean, is wasn't Elemental a new Disney movie? All right. It's a different theme. All right. Yeah. I did anyone get a portal yet? Does anyone have Portal? Uh, anyone? I I feel like I haven't seen a Portal unboxing. I I I'm just curious like are they is it ever going to happen? Pinball Brothers making He-Man next without He-Man. Oh man. You know what license people are trying to get right now is um I'm not going to say it. It's a nostalgic theme, but I I know there's a little tug-of-war going on for it. I you know, in the end, gang, here's how I feel about all of it. I don't care anymore about rumors. I I have to be honest. I don't care anymore about rumors. being first with a rumor anymore. It doesn't mean anything anymore. It doesn't matter. You know, Top Gun, Sonic, Super Mario, Pokemon. Like, who cares? Like, remember when the rumor mill was exciting? Remember when like being right about what was next was what drove I don't think it drives like what makes the content interesting anymore. There's just too many. It's all the same. Like nobody no, you know, nobody's like leaking anything real. like a a real leak was when like we had the leak of the Deadpool playfield before it was out or the the Ghostbusters Translite was circulating around and nowadays it's like everyone's just got the same 12 themes to be rumored and then it takes forever for the games to come out. I think um there's been no surprises. Like when was the I was thinking about this this morning. When was the last time we were surprised? like like oh I didn't see that coming. I I didn't I didn't you know that whoa what like wow when was like think about like when was the last time we were truly surprised by a pinball company move. No, we knew about Pulp Fiction. We knew Pulp Fiction was coming. That That was not like we were like I think we may may have been surprised that it was no LCD screen. You like how the Dune code is progressing? Oh yeah. Well, you know, it keep prog I'm I I look forward to playing it one day when it's progressed. As I said, I I'm not I'm not in on these long journeys to get my money's worth. I yeah, maybe like the Harry Potter the way they the way they announced Harry Potter was a bit of a surprise. I I just think that when you when it comes to modern pinball marketing, this whole uh let's release a game that's basically a beta version of the game and make everybody wait is not the way to go. I just I just haven't seen I think maybe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland coming back might have been like one of the biggest surprises. Raza is next. Uh Raza is going to have more less units. It's been reworked. The ramp is even higher, easier to hit and more rewarding. There is also like J-pop left some magnets out of Raza when he did it at Deeproot that are going to be put back in. And I'll tell you this, like Raza is a much further coded game than Alice, but um they're going to be I mean it's kind of crazy. you're going to be able to get Raza next to I I've seen I've seen pictures of Magic Girl in the in the new cabinet. It just doesn't doesn't look quite right. Magic Girl needs to be have be in that deep Zidwear cabinet. Uh Avengers from Stern was a surprise. I think look I think one of the biggest surprises gang and and correct me if I'm wrong. I think one of the biggest surprises was um getting Roy Schneider Schneider I haven't slept getting all the assets into Jaws. I I think I think the last big surprise that paid out in dividends was getting Roy into that game and having all of the Jaws assets. I think everybody thought they weren't going to get him. His estate was impossible. You were going to play as him. all this stuff. So, I think getting all that in was a real surprise. And you know, we know it's Star Wars, then it's Walking Dead. I I'm You know what? I'm surprised by the lack of people listing their old Walking Deads for sale. I mean, what you know, I guess what do you do, right? Uh unlike Star Wars, which is a whole new game, if you own the Richie Star Wars, you you don't feel as compelled to dump it. But if you own an old Walking Dead, I mean, and and as Gomez said, that game's gonna have the updated cabinet lighting. Yeah, I do think Jaws is a little bit of an underwhelming shooter, though. I I think it gets a little bit um I I you know, I wish there was more mechanical wow in Jaws a lot more. I I think it's kind of empty and I think Jaws is one of those games where the people that believe that shots are the new toys sort of defend it. Um but yeah, Derek, I mean Jaws 50th, I keep telling people I think Jaws 50th is going to be uh in the end I think they will end up making less than a thousand of them. And I think Jaw's 50th in the long term with a nicer playfield is gonna end up being the more rare version of the game to have. Spooky making two pins one design actually work. What? Yeah, there's a lot of Star Wars 2017s for sale now because there's I think people were holding I think what people were hoping for was it would be episode one two three and I'm confirming for you. I literally have a text message from someone who um who uh worked worked at Stern during the development of it doesn't work there anymore and he's like it's the OG trilogy. So that's that like that's as much confirmation as I need. And they said it in a way that was like you're not going to believe it. Like they were kind of saying it sarcastically like like Stern's cheap for going back to the same well, but it is what it is. Who's the designer from the new Star Wars? Is John Borg? I feel like Stern has greatly lowered their customer base with a constant price increase. Of course they have. Jason, you you lure in less customers when you raise the prices. And look, they're about to raise the prices again. I think they've been nervous about this price increase for a while. I think they were considering it with King Kong. I think they were considering the bigger screen with King Kong. Uh I think they made a smart decision to pause. I mean, Kong's not selling as it is. It would do even worse with the price increase. Kong is the new Avengers. It is. I actually think Avengers shoots more interesting than Kong. Um, I think Kong is just is just not clicking with people. And what I love about Kong apologist is the people that bought it. You You got to it's it's funny hearing them try to defend it and like, oh, it's so great. You know, you don't like, no, we don't care. Hey, Kong is one of those games where I'm sure it's going to be fun and it's going to be a heck of a lot of fun buying an LE. If it if it does turn out to be one of the best games Stern has made, it's going to be a heck of a lot of fun to own one at 8,500 for an LE. The reason why Kong will never truly excite, it goes beyond just the thank you for the stars, Bill Brandice. We're still doing this, Billy. I appreciate it. Um, thank you. The reason why Kong will also never hold any value is they made every version look the same. And that was like the the dumbest move ever. And what I don't get about why they did it that way, what what happened? Like what what were they rushing the art package? I mean, Zombie Yeti did it. Like is he on too much? Um, the Mr. reason. No need to defend Kong. The code that just dropped is a huge indicator for where where will it end up? Mr. Mr. Reason, where will Kong end up that's going to prove all of us wrong? Like, what? We're all going to get goosebumps because we're watching some CGI animated King Kong throw around a subway car. I don't understand where the emotional energy is going to come from in that game. Uh, thank you, Kelly. The last show was a lot of fun. Um, Back to the Future gang. I mean, I you're going to be waiting to the end of the year. You have to remember Dodge Pinball is a company that's made one game in 12 years. They They did not develop Alice's Adventures of Wonderland. Melbourne did that in one year. My worry about Barry is Barry being Barry. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's slow. He's slow. They're not quick. Like, look how slow. I mean, Melvin handed him a game that was ready to be made and look how slow it's been uh getting the game on the line for Alice. The They don't have a I just want to say this too. They don't have This is information as recent as today. They have not they have not replaced the vendor for the topper yet. So I know Melissa said, "Oh yeah, the new game shit." No, No, no. Melissa's getting some games that have the original topper, but they they don't have a replacement vendor lined up. I think the old vendor might still be making some, too. He's just closing up shop. Jason said, "I need to add I don't feel like all of their price increases were material-based." I No, Jason, they none of them were material-based. Um, I I think they they adjusted their prices because they saw the secondhand market that was happening during COVID. They They this is not like Stern did not like juice its bomb up 40% while at the same time raising the price by 40%. Please do get to the chopper. All right. All right. and champ. They're out of business. Bimbo brothers, I think, are going to go out. I think they're they're going to go out fighting. They're going to go out paying for tariffs to save the crew, but they're not I don't think they survive this. I don't hope they go out of business, but I don't think they survived this. I think they took I think they took a huge gamble and it didn't pay off. I don't think it works. You know, I would love Jenis' point of view on this. You know, maybe he pops in here today. Retro Ralph ain't going to pop in here. I I think my uh my indictment of the Arcade OneUp content creators might have stung too uh too deep. I was pretty mean. I will be honest. I was mean. I think anyone who started an arcade channel because they wanted to review arcade one-ups. Think about that. What? You know, like, you know, like talk about an item that like like fizzled out real quick. I mean, those guys like they they like, you know, they thought they were like in the cool kid club for a while because Yeah. I mean, everyone just started colle and then and then when people amassed these collections, they looked at their game room and realized they made a terrible mistake. They made a terrible mistake because collecting arcade one-ups is the equivalent of collecting fake Rolexes. These are fake versions of something everybody knows and loves. That's fake. It's fake. It's garbage. you can't play Street Fighter on Arcade OneUp. And then and then the saddest part is when these dudes were adding those like bases to them, you know, to like make them higher so they could play as an adult. I get that if you want if your kid wants to play the games you grew up with. Cool. But don't start a don't don't start a whole community around it as a grown adult. Like no. Like if if kids were the ones driving the arcade oneup content, I'd be like that makes sense. But for these grown men to be like that's what they were all about like and and you got to remember gang like Stern Pinball went and got these guys to then go make pinball content. Like they weren't going to do it unless Stern recognized well we've got these guys with tens of thousands of followers you know and they're not covering pinball but they're gamers. Because if you got to think about it like this, who's the most susceptible sus susceptible, right? Susceptible. Who's the most vulnerable, right, to bending their mind to becoming a sales shill for you if you're a Stern? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, what what community of grown men could we could we like take over and get them to create advertisements for us? You know what I'm saying? Like I think arcade oneup guys are where we should go because these dudes think everything is awesome if they're Win Schilling that, you know? And like I would never What's up, Kill? Oh, Kill's in here. Hold on, Kill. Come on. Go. Go back in with Bri. Kill. Kill. I don't want to pretend to drive this. All right, he's pretending to drive this. But look, it it's it's funny, too, because it's not just that they entered into the pinball space. It's not that they entered into the pinball space. It's that they they tried to sell us on a narrative that they've always been into pinball. Do you know Do you notice that? Like Ben, was it was it Kong Guy did it? Ralph did it? Like they tried to sell us on this like we've always been into pinball. Like, so what happened? You just decided now was the time because you got invites to the manufacturers, you know, your and your first invite was all expense paid trip and then they hooked you so much that now you're paying for your own travel to go to these companies to make sales content for them. Canada won't do that. Canada got flown out to see Avatar and I said I wouldn't buy it. Guess what? still friends with all the people at JJP, you know. Kill, come on. Go. Bree's gonna be a little nervous where you are. Does she know you're in here? Brenda's cousin's watching him. Uh, yeah, one did get out, Bill. Absolutely. Um, and that's it. You know, oneup collectors. The thing about pinball, you know what I always wished that, you know, I think sometimes people question me as a gamer. Now, you can absolutely question my pinball skills. I'm like an average pinball player. I mean that like I'm average. Like I I my my weakness in pinball is is that I don't like to nudge or like throw a machine around. It's just something about it makes me feel but it's like it's important, you know, and I I know like the you know hitting the lock down bar and nudging that way is important and I sometimes just tend to watch a ball go into the out lane without much movement of the machine. Uh I think the best games are are the ones that like don't have cheap drains. You know, some games just really cheap drains and you're always nudging. Like I think G&R has a lot of cheap drains. I think the the game's a drain monster. Um, but I will say this, if you are a real gamer, and I mean this, who grew up in the 80s and 90s, you're good at Street Fighter and and you you probably chose Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. So, you know, I would love to play all all those guys in Street Fighter 2, Champion Edition or Turbo, and we should play for like whoever wins, the other person has to like shut their showdown for a month cuz I'll I'll clean the floor with all of them in Street Fighter. I I will I will use Guile and they won't even I will never jump with him. They will never get they will never they will never get a round off of me, right? You know, and that's that's how I grew up, right? And that's what arcade culture was. Daytona USA, same thing. I know how to drive that game like like no tomorrow. Now look, hold on, Killian. Come on, Killian. Daddy's doing a show. You're not supposed to be in here. Come on. Where's Bri? Here. Come on. We're going to get lunch later. Oh, you buckled yourself in. Uhhuh. Okay. Why? I needed to. Just say hi real quick. Say hi. Hi. Hi, baby. Say, oh yeah. Oh yeah. Let me down. Okay. You got to let daddy record the show. Okay. All right. So, that's all right. Do you know what I'm teaching him? You know, Brenda is away. So, like my goal was I don't know if you've seen the Seth Rogan show, the studio. It's absolutely amazing. So, I'm just I want to just teach him to say, "Oh, yeah." Like the Kool-Aid Man. So that when Brenda comes back, like I've trained him to always make his affirmative response to be, "Oh yeah, oh yeah, cool." It I I don't want to ruin it for you, but go watch the studio. I think it's one of the best comedies I've seen in in many, many years. It is so funny, and the cast is amazing. The writing is amazing. It is some of the best comedy on TV. Oh yeah, it's not Macho Man. Oh yeah, though. It's Kool-Aid guy. Um, no. Ehonda, Kale, Ehonda cannot go near Guile in turbo. Ehonda only E Honda maybe in the one where you could torpedo through the sonic boom. But you know, see real Street Fighter guys know this and Kale will know this that in Street Fighter 2 before Champion Editions, do you remember what the game was like? You could only select you could not select the same character as your opponent. And so Street Fighter 2 like changed everything, right? But if someone picked Guile, you couldn't pick Guile. And that's what made Champion Edition so epic was you could go player versus player for the first time. Now, what everybody knows about the original Street Fighter 2 is this. In the end, the only two characters that really could survive a good competition was Guile versus Damim. Guile versus Damim was always the matchup. those two guys could easily beat Rayu Ken like you just couldn't you couldn't get past like Dimim's long kicks because remember in the original Street Fighter 2 you couldn't block when you jumped in the air. Okay. And that was a huge issue for characters that had projectiles and long legs because what what always happened is when you jumped into guile, you could charge that sonic boom, you know, that sonic kick, the flash kick, and he would just get you. So it was always like a stalemate between Dalium and Guile. And it and and if memory serves me correct, it would usually end up in a um in a timeout. And that's why Champion Edition like solved that problem. Oh man, Blanc. Okay. How's everybody doing? Do you remember how the original Street Fighter had giant Oh yeah. yeah. The The big buttons like this boom and that's when you had like I mean that the first Street Fighter do you do you guys know the story of this? like the first Street Fighter. Uh there's a really interesting history about Capcom versus SNK and how um you know, I believe the guy that was involved in Street Fighter 1 went over to SNK to like kickstart their fighting genre. And the whole thing was like what what was revolutionary about Street Fighter is it gave a backstory and storylines to these characters. And so that was like never heard of before. And so SNK then came out with I want to say Fatal Fury. Uh that was like the first SNK Neo Geo fighting game that went all in on like the story line. Uh, but then when Street Fighter 2 came out, it was just Capcom just had the better the better controls, the better gameplay, if you will. Much like Pinball, it's like the better gameplay, the more you're going to win. It's more fun. I I was never a Mortal Kombat guy because I just couldn't get into using the block button as a um as something. The game I was great at, the the fighting games I mastered was X-Men. um when the X-Men game first came out and and Cyclock I Cycl I she just I could kill anybody with her and that's the one where like Akuma was hidden inside the game. And then um Killer Instinct I was amazing with Orchid. Like I knew all of Orchid's moves, all the crazy killer combos, everything. I I don't remember them now, but it was it was so when Killer Instinct came out that was like badass. Anyway, no. Tekken, not so much. Like virtual fighter, not so much. I mean, I love that the guy's name was Akira. Kale, what's up, Kale? Let me ask you a question. Kale, how have your um how have your conversations to create a daunt between Canadas Pinball Podcast and Retro Ralph? How have they gone? Because I know you're in communication with Ralph and you know, we're checking in weekly. We care about him. We want to make sure he comes back to the uh to the nWo and is having fun with us at Expo. So, how have how have your conversations gone, Kell? Have you been successful in breaking through the the hard exterior o of this grown man who's into gaming just like the rest of us? As is he still is he still like did you see Colin now is saying like for peace of mind? He Colin saying he put the story about me behind the payw wall because he wanted to make sure only people with intent read it because he didn't want to get into the same stress levels of Ralph. Like he saw what Canada did to Ralph and he wanted to avoid that. So he put his story behind a payw wall. Does that make any sense? Who needs a payw wall? I'm a jackass. I take the piss out of things. I'm sarcastic. I'm Sicilian. I'll make fun of you. Make fun of me. You know, like it doesn't have to be so serious. You know, if if I if I say I'm gonna out you for getting paid in a pinball machine, so what? Let me out you. Who cares? You deserve And I keep saying you deserve to make money. You deserve to get paid for making content. I never said it was a bad thing. It's just funny to me. It's like they're still holding on, holding on, holding on. You know, when Kale and I roll through Expo, we're going to be like Hall and Nash, baby. It's going to be like the nWo, the bad boys of pinball. We're rolling through there. Rachel can be like Miss Elizabeth. We've got Melvin Williams from DPX. We're all going to be wearing like feather boas. You know, I got my houndstooth Gucci coat on. I'm going to be looking at Bill Brandis being like, "This dude makes more in one day than I make all month. I'm dressed like I got more money than Bill." But I don't. I'm just pretending. You know how it is. I'm pretending. It's fun. I know exactly what I'm worth. I know exactly what I make. I know exactly how much money I have. Now, I can afford all these clothes. This isn't like I'm I have no debt other than like a little mortgage I got to, you know, but I have more money in assets than my debts. And I also don't carry credit card debt. So, I pay my credit card off right away. I don't like float it over. I don't pay interest on stuff. I'm not I'm not like that. I just want the points because I want to go to Japan. I will not be wearing socks to expo. I never wear socks, guys. Like, I don't even own socks. Like, I don't even know what that means. I Whenever I wear a tuxedo, I never wear socks. You don't wear socks with velvet slippers that say screw you on them from Stubs and whatever. Oh, God. Reminds me when Don dressed up. No, No, no. Well, you know, look, look, I wouldn't dress up like Wonka. I don't understand that. Like I I don't I It's weird to like turn your thing over into a into like a salesy like like to help like selling these companies products. Like you got there's there's got to be a little bit of having some like pride in your own content that you're not going to turn your channel over. I just saw like Ralph is like he's like promoting Harry Potter donuts. It's like we've come it's come to this. It's come to this. Like so every time there's a Harry Potter anything we're going to be like here you go enjoy your pinball with your Harry Potter like I don't know like maybe sure why I don't I wouldn't do it. No I don't wear socks to the gym. I don't wear socks with sneakers. I I don't wear socks. I'm a That's the Italian way. Italians don't wear socks, guys. When you wear You're telling me when you wear I I get you can wear like those low cut socks you don't see. I don't wear them. I don't know. My feet don't really stink. Who knows? Who knew that, right? Oh, man. All right. So, like, let's see. Let's go back to some of these pinball topics. For those of you who joined late, we already debunked that. There's no way that um Pinball Brothers sold 650 Predators. We all know that. They probably sold 100 250. That's why there's 150 left because they're only going to make 300. And yeah, I wear a pair of socks in my underwear. Yeah, I hope so. Taking parents to Tokyo next spring and jumping a boat to the see the rest of um Yeah. Yeah. So, Bill, I've been to I Bill, we should maybe coordinate because I'm going next year, too, for my uh my my 50th birthday. So, maybe we can uh we could sync up. No, no better trip than that. I always tell people like instead of buying a $15,000 pinball machine, if you've never been to Tokyo, go when you're young. Go. My Bill, my parents won't even go to Moheaggan Suns, which is like an hour from them. They they're they're not going to Tokyo. My dad said he will never get on a plane for the rest of his life. He got on a plane his whole life traveling. He's like, "I'm never doing it again." He um he won't do it. My mom won't even like I literally like they're going to Moheaggan Suns next week and it was like pulling teeth to get them there. They They like being sort of in their town. They're very stationary. And you know, I'm not going to force them. They're never going to go to Japan. Never. My dad My dad used to go for work. H, how's everybody doing? But go, you know, look, I think I think it would be wise if everybody took money you were going to spend on a pinball machine and and did an adventure that got you out of your comfort zone. Because if you think about all of us, you know, you could take the money and go buy another thing of something you've already got too many of to begin with. Or you could actually take the money and go have a lifealtering experience. You know, when we're dead, we're dead forever. Yeah, you guys know this concept, right? when we're dead, we're dead forever. Nobody on your deathbed, even as you get older and you can't travel as much, nobody's going to be like, I wish I bought more pinball when I was in my 40s and 50s. I wish I really, you know, I'm glad I used all those hours to uncover the new D&D code instead of like hanging out with friends and family and making new connections. You're not going to. I I actually I'm going to say this is a little bit controversial. I think spending too many hours playing pinball is kind of not a great use of time. I just don't I don't think pinball was ever designed to be something that should be 30 minute games, 40minute games. I don't think pinball was designed to be something that takes like a year to beat. I don't think that's what it's about. I don't I think modern pinball's turned into that. And I think for some people like you kind of need that sort of like length to games to justify the extreme cost of the machines. But I don't know. I think um I think it's become a little bit more like a role playing game and less like a pinball machine. The pinball treadmill. My brother-in-law in hospital 62 years old. Terminal 4. Yeah. See, Wayne, I mean Yeah. I mean, of course, Bill, I don't think your parents are not flying first class. Go Air Japan, though, if you're going to go to Japan. Uh the the first class in Air Japan is just is insane. Um some Anyway, what do you guys want to talk about? Let's like We have 799 stars. Sad Boys been the only one hitting up. I don't know where Pete Rosen's at. I'm a little tired, as you guys can tell. I've been um I didn't get any sleep last night because the two boys I you know, Berto, I love that. Sell two pins, restore an old 50 Mustang with your boys. That's That's living, man. You know, I'm working on this new campaign for Corona, and it's all about like what what is living? is living really, you know, staying up late at night, having 15 pinball machines and staring down staring down at a box of lights that you already have like eight other games, nine other games. Um, I I believe in balance and I think I think most of you understand that. You know, I'm not here to you you know this like you know you don't need another game. you know, on a beautiful sunny day, like the last thing you should be doing is inside like exploring that new D&D code and the new trinkets that give you a little bit more money to buy. Who cares about any of this, right? It's just it's funny to me. It's funny to me. I think pinball um I think I think we're at a pinball crossroads. I do. I think certain certain games are going to really connect with us and click emotionally, and I think the rest of them are going to be discarded. I think I I still think we're going to see some of the best pinball we've ever seen in the next three years. And I also think we're going to see more pinball companies close in the next three years than we've seen in the last 10 years. And it's it's pretty clear who's who's moving in the right direction and who's not. Canada, what older pin under 5K would you recommend? Uh it's a good question. under 5K. Um, you know, you know, it's hard now because like I feel like everybody there's two things. What What do you define by older? And it's like nobody wants to list anything below 5K now. Um, I think there's lots of stern pros that are 5K or less that I would really consider. They're not older though. If you want to go Bali Williams, you know, people are saying T2, Getaway 2. Um, yeah, you know, I the the problem is with some of those older games is I I wouldn't want to own them and I don't think you'd want to own them. I I do think the sweet spot would be, you know, something like a like a Star Trek Pro, you know, the Steve Ritchie game or like an AC/DC Pro. I think that would be like a good game to have. Um, wasn't there a Walking Dead Pro? I look I think that Black Knight. Yeah, I just think like you want something you can almost get a G&RLE for 5,000. Um, Corvette is one of the most underrated pins ever. I I love games like Roller Coaster Tycoon, even Baywatch, Last Action Hero. Some of those games are just dumb fun, you know, Dirty Hairy. Like, they're just dumb fun games. Dracula. Yeah. Can you get a Dracula, Bill? Um, I don't know if you can get a Dracula for 5,000, though. That's the thing. It's It's 5,000's like like Let's Let's look right now. Let me go on Pinide right now and type in Let's type in uh Dracula in the marketplace. See what comes up. I I just I have a hard time. Bram Stoker's Dracula. Oh, yeah. You can. Let's see. 39.90 4,000. Yeah. All right. Five. Yeah. Right at it. Right. Bill's right. Right on top of it. So, yeah, I think that's a great game to get. I think that game is um you know, one of the most magical moments in the history of pinball. Um, Doctor Who is fun. Well, my my advice to be would would be go play all these games, you know, go play these games and buy the one that speaks to you. It's really hard, right? Because there's nothing universal anymore in pinball. There's no like, oh yeah, I mean, some people love Adam's Family, some people hate it, some some people love Medieval Madness, some people think it gets old quickly. Speaking of I I Yeah. Does anyone have a line of sight into where the new Medieval Madness games are? Anybody? I I don't I don't I don't even We don't even hear from CGC. Does anyone have a line of sight into where uh Turner Pinball's been? Where's Chris Turner? You know, all these guys with their August ship shipments. I don't feel like games are going out. We're going to do this show to about 11 gang because two things. cuz I'm tired and I got to, you know, take care of the kids. But I'm I'm glad we got to do this. Um I really think we're we're about a week away from two weeks away from Star Wars. I don't think we're going to see it next week. I think Stern's going to hold it to early September. I I think just August with everybody traveling and vacations. It's not the smartest time to release Star Wars, but there's you know how I feel. There's never a bad time to release a great game and there's never a good time to release a bad game. Any word on what's in the new Star? So, I heard the new Star Wars is sort of uh designed as a followup to the Data East game. It's It's sort of like a tribute to that game and where the big R2-D2 is is going to be a big Adat Walker. So, that's what I heard is in this game. So, you know, you're going to look down and see Star Wars. So, I don't know. I I think Borg might have just taken his old design and just modernized it. He could have completely changed it, gang. I haven't seen it. So, like everything I'm saying is just kind of what I'm hearing through the rumor mill. But I do I am hearing that where where R2 was is a big ad at Walker. Yeah, gang. The spooky game is sold out. I got my order in. I got a star. I got I got an order in for a Star Wars LE. Um, what was the Haggus rumor you posted that Keith Owen was going to Haggus? So, the rumor I was making fun of the rumor that Keith Owen is going to Jersey Jack. Uh here I I'm going to speak broadly and lightly about this, but I heard the rumor is that working at Stern has become a bit of a grind and it's become a little bit of a toxic work environment. And so who knows where Keith Elwin might go if he's tired of it. If Keith Elwin went to Jersey Jack, uh, that would absolutely be devastating to Stern. I think Stern knows that. I think they would throw anything they could at him. The problem is is they could never throw as much as Leonard could. I mean, Leonard could buy Stern tomorrow and he wouldn't really feel it. I know how much Stern was um was asking for sale. I know what the number was. It's not as much as you think considering, you know, what are the annual revenue on Stern? This is not profit, but just revenue somewhere in the you I mean in the height I think it was in the vicinity of like 50 to 60 million a year was revenue. That's not operating cost. It's not profit. That's like what they were generating. Um and I think Jersey Jack is not, you know, I don't think the Abbvis family is interested in buying Stern. I think they're interested in d, you know, beating Stern. And I think that's the way it's going to go. Well, you know, Tom Caper going over there was big. Um, I do get a sense that the Jersey Jack culture is not nearly as stressful. Did you talk about the new P3 Elemental? Uh, Chad, I I did not because if I start talking about P3 games, I I fear my audience would exit immediately. Um, what's this again? What's going on? Elemental08, you Ralph and Don. I don't I don't know what this guy's talking about. Um, like I think that um I think Jack Danger needed a break. I don't know the details. Um I I just imagine that working at Stern is very stressful. I imagine that the you get too close to the sun and it just doesn't become nearly as much fun as you think and it does become a job and you are like destroying your your family life to to get a game to market on time or ahead of time like Jack had to and it's not worth it. like you love your wife, you love your kids, you're not making millions. Like, and these men who are pushing you to to hit these deadlines um probably in a lot of a lot of times are like unfair deadlines, you know, like they've they've already made their money. They've they it's it's probably pretty tough. Uh I can't imagine they've sold 100 portals. They're They're very expensive. There's not I don't know how many. I think Jerry was telling people there's like 750 multimmorphics out there in the world. I I don't I don't know. I I just I I don't believe that. But I also can't like contest it. I don't know. I It doesn't feel like 800 people every time there's a new uh Multimmorphic game are unboxing the games. It just doesn't feel like that. Unless they've got some like hidden Scientology bought like 700 of them. Like I don't know like you know who's who's like where where all these owners are. I I also just like it's it's hard for me you know I always feel this way like Jerry could have just had like one of the best pinball companies in the world by now and he created a solution in search of a problem. And everybody knows that he's a nice guy. He's got good tech. He's smart. He just needed a creative director that had more common sense and that's that. It's again it's it was his decision. He's comfortable with it. He sleeps at night. He wanted his company to be that. It's not how I would have done a pinball company. Um and you know in the end of the day Spooky is going to make millions more. And Jerry's never going to he's never going to get to that tipping point where he's got the the only way Jerry's model works is if the platform itself is a lost leader. So, he needs to sell the platform for $3,000 and then charge you 3,000 per game, but you can't sell the platform for 12 to $15,000. That That doesn't work. Um, are people really not sure that it's Beetlejuice? I mean, we've been saying Beetlejuice now every day for like a year and a half. It's either Beetlejuice or Gremlins or Goonies or Motorhead. No, it's it's Beetlejuice. Big Trouble in Little China is currently on YouTube Premium. What the hell? Anyway, Carrie, what's up, buddy? Carrie, you know, Carrie Carrie and I are probably feeling the same thing a little bit. The uh the news is lacking. Our subscribers have gone down a little bit. You know, there's just oversaturation. and there's not enough to talk about. And like I I just feel like the rumor business is now like it's it's not even where it's at. It's about how well can you entertain? How well can you talk in real time about what's going on in the community? And that's why like Canad Pinball Podcast has always been I I love doing the show every week because in in because imagine if all you want to talk about is gameplay or like tournaments or like it's boring. Like what I want to talk about is like what's happening in the community. Like this week in the community was the Pinball Brothers trying to create FOMO around Predator, right? That's that like that was a really interesting marketing move. We saw right through it. Led to one of my most entertaining shows ever yesterday. If you haven't heard it, it's free. You can watch it on Facebook Live or you could listen to it on Patreon. You don't even need a login. You don't need an account. You can just go to Canad Pinball Podcast and it'll pop up for free. Oh, Albert, man. I just Albert at the end of it all. Um, no regrets like not asking for a buck here or there. I mean, I don't I don't I It's It's um It's I don't make a lot of money, but you know, time value of money. It's a more something's better than nothing. I I think we've kind of like I don't think a lot more people are going to be coming into pinball though. And you know like like let me explain like I don't think like Harry Potter is going to bring in a thousand more potential pinball buyers in. I don't I don't think Pokemon's going to do it. I I don't I I think we're very lucky that we're in this like little bubble of like economy still doing pretty well, right? S&P highest it's ever been like like none of that recession hit like none of the but if it does get bad economically that's what will create a um a really rough go and and oh I love it look 500 and you can put stuff on my face I I actually would I would walk around like this all day long I'd be like I'm not buying predator as a pink dog a Christopher Franchi I think I I think someone turned me into Bill Brandice's French bulldog. Show you what we're doing to bring more pinball to go live. Show you what we're doing to bring Jason. Um, let me see. Let me see if I can invite you on to the show. Let's see what happens here. Um, yeah. All right. I think I might be adding you, Jason. Let's see if it works. You want to know what's going to grow pinball? Electric bed arcade is Yeah. No, arcades are going to be what? Grow a pinball. It's so how it should be. These games were meant to be on location. You know what I'm saying? You're not going to grow pinball. Like, it's kind of creepy when you're like, "You want to come over in my basement and see my pinball machine?" Like, even grown adults are creeped out when I tell them I have a pinball machine. They want, you want to come over and play? They're like, but if I'm like, "You want to come over and have a vodka soda?" Yeah. You want to come over and like, you know, barbecue? Yeah. You want to come over and play pinball? We're busy actually. Um, yeah, the price increase. Charlie, I don't know where you've been. It Jack Danger's on Pokemon. I I don't know. Charlie, where aren't I feel like Charlie Martin is in this community like here every week asking questions like like, "Hey guys, who's making Star Wars?" Hey guys, when does Spooky normally reveal their new game? Like, come on, Charlie. Jason, I did. It's not working. Um, everybody, look, have a great Saturday. I know this is a little bit of like low energy. I didn't sleep at all. I'm exhausted. I've got another four days in daddy daycare here. Wish me luck. Just got to get these kids to to dinner and then put them down and then I can I got a chilled bottle of sake. I'm going to order some sushi and I'm going to put on some Japanese TV and I'm just going to be in heaven now. I just got to get to like 8:00 at night for that. So, wish me luck. Wayne, thank you for the stars. Sad Boy, thank you again for your donations on YouTube. Um, you know, you guys are a little lacking on these super chats, I gotta say, but I'm not busking today. I'm too tired to busk. All right, Wayne. I appreciate it, guys. Be good. It's Brenda's birthday yesterday. No, it's Brenda's birthday yesterday. Yeah. Jeez. Nobody hit Brenda with the big birthday with the big birthday dinner. I need to I need Kim Mitchell to come back. Come back to Brenda. He loves Brenda, by the way. It's amazing. It's adorable. He's like, "My wife's gorgeous. She's gorgeous. She's so amazing." Um, the ladies here want I know. I know. J Jason said, "Tell him I said hi. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out for the next week." Um, be good. I I'm sweating in this in this garage. It's so humid today. It's disgusting. I can't wait to just go inside and play Donkey Kong Bonanza. Everybody, we'll chat soon. Canada out. Oh, let me see here. Let me see. Hold on. Jason We'll see if Jason can say hi now. I'm trying to add him again. I don't know. I don't know if it'll work. Let's see. It might be like Ah, what's up? Oh, I It's like It's trying to see my mouth because Ted just gave me um some 500 stars. Thank you, Ted. I appreciate it. All right, everybody. It's not working. It's not working. We're going to finish this. And now we're going to go to YouTube and finish.

Stern recognized and recruited Arcade1Up content creators specifically to convert them to pinball coverage

low confidence · Kaneda's interpretation of Stern's recruitment strategy

  • “I wouldn't buy it. Guess what? Still friends with all the people at JJP.”

    Kaneda @ ~90:00 — Contrasts his independence with other content creators' apparent co-optation by manufacturers

  • game
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Dutch Pinballcompany
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderlandgame
    Back to the Futuregame
    Jaws 50th Anniversarygame
    John Borgperson
    Kanedaperson
    George Gomezperson
    Zombie Yetiperson
    Andrew Heighwayperson
    Guns N' Rosesgame
    Elton Johngame
    Arcade1Upcompany
    Multimorphiccompany
    Deep Root Pinballcompany
    Razagame
    Magic Girlgame
    Walking Deadgame
    ?

    leak_detection: New Star Wars confirmed as OG trilogy (Episodes 4-6) via text from current Stern employee

    high · Kaneda cites text message from current Stern developer stating OG trilogy confirmation with sarcastic delivery suggesting Stern's cost-cutting approach

  • $

    market_signal: Consumer shift away from collecting new machines; people on vacation spending money elsewhere, not purchasing new games

    medium · Kaneda mentions people texting him about vacation spending; discusses general saturation with existing collections

  • ?

    community_signal: Barry (Dutch Pinball) characterized as slow-moving developer; Back to the Future expected end of year; Melbourne team developed Alice in one year, but Dutch Pinball taking significantly longer to manufacture/fulfill

    medium · Kaneda: 'My worry about Barry is Barry being Barry... He's slow. They're not quick'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Zombie Yeti (Stern art department head) responsible for King Kong art package; Kaneda questions his workload/judgment with rhetorical 'Is he on too much?'

    high · Kaneda: 'Zombie Yeti did it. Like is he on too much?'

  • $

    market_signal: Market resistance to premium pricing despite tariff pressures; Kaneda predicts Stern will not raise Pro to $8,500 as doing so would cause 'game over'

    medium · Kaneda's analysis that raising Pro pricing by $2,000 would be fatal to Stern

  • ?

    product_strategy: Dutch Pinball experiencing extended Alice delays; topper vendor issue unresolved as of today

    high · Kaneda: 'They have not replaced the vendor for the topper yet. So I know Melissa said the game shipped. No, no... they don't have a replacement vendor lined up'

  • ?

    product_concern: King Kong criticized for identical art across all tiers (Pro/Premium/LE), reducing differentiation and collector value; compared unfavorably to Avengers

    high · Kaneda: 'they made every version look the same. And that was like the dumbest move ever'; 'Kong is the new Avengers'