Episode 906: "Kaneda Plays JAWS!"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·23m 28s·analyzed·Jan 27, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Kaneda criticizes Jaws Premium design & Stern pricing while reporting American Pinball's financial troubles.

Summary

Kaneda reports rumors of American Pinball's sale and dire financial straits after the failure of Galactic Tank Force. He shares early gameplay impressions of Jaws Pinball Premium from Logan Arcade, criticizing its toy design (particularly the disappointing orca upper playfield) while praising shooting mechanics, and expresses broader frustration with Stern pricing inflation and lack of physical innovation compared to competitors like Godzilla. He warns against rushing to purchase LE games at $13k, predicting price corrections and arguing modern pinball is overpriced relative to quality and effort.

Key Claims

American Pinball is rumored to be up for sale and in 'dire straits' with massive unsold inventory from Galactic Tank Force failure
medium confidence · Kaneda reporting rumors circulating in the community; notes people ordering Houdini months ago still haven't received games
Galactic Tank Force sold only 200-300 units when 500+ needed to break even, leaving 200 3D-printed tank parts unsold
medium confidence · Kaneda's assertion based on industry observation; speculative estimate
Jersey Jack would be out of business without Addams Family IP success to bankroll recent failed games (Toy Story, Godfather, Elton John)
medium confidence · Kaneda's opinion on Jersey Jack's financial dependence on licensing hits
Spooky Pinball is shipping Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Looney Tunes starting this week
high confidence · Kaneda reporting current shipping status as of episode recording
Pulp Fiction has been available for almost a year and only 1,000 LEs are being made with standard edition supply constrained for a second year wait
medium confidence · Kaneda observes current distributor marketing push and warns buyers about long wait times if not in first production run
The Princess Bride pinball is confirmed as a Multimorphic P3 title by designer Jerry Stelenberg
high confidence · Kaneda states 'I know 100% fact' based on flyers found in Pinball Life mailers per Knapp Arcade report
Jaws Premium's upper playfield is underutilized and rarely accessed; the shark pop-up toy from underneath is the game's most satisfying and important feature
high confidence · Direct gameplay observation: 'we were up there not often' and 'that moment in which the shark pops up...is really cool'
Jaws shoots significantly better than Pulp Fiction with more interesting shot geometry despite comparable cost positioning
high confidence · Direct gameplay comparison at Logan Arcade; Kaneda played 5 games of Jaws and 1 of Pulp Fiction

Notable Quotes

“I am hearing things and they are not good. I think if we were to kick open the door to American Pinball, we would not see American Pinball manufacturing company taking the place.”
Kaneda @ Early segment — Direct statement of dire condition at American Pinball; suggests closure or acquisition likely
“If you don't have companies fail, then companies won't learn a lesson. I've always said this, the biggest problem with so many of these pinball companies, nobody's ever held accountable for terrible decisions.”
Kaneda @ American Pinball discussion — Industry philosophy on accountability and consequences for bad business decisions
“I know 100% fact, it is going to be a Multimorphic P3 title. It is not going to be a neopinball company. So get ready for The Princess Bride by Jerry Stelenberg and Multimorphic.”
Kaneda @ Princess Bride announcement — Confirms unannounced game details with stated certainty; identifies designer
“when you stand over a new machine, all of the pinside stuff dissipates...you can absorb in real life what they've done with this game.”
Kaneda @ Jaws evaluation methodology — Explains Kaneda's hands-on evaluation approach vs. online discourse
“There's a lot more interesting shots in Jaws than are in Pulp Fiction...Jaws is a much more rewarding game to flip. But Jaws to me also feels like a game that's not fully there. Like it's not fully baked.”
Kaneda @ Comparative analysis — Core criticism: strong mechanics undermined by incomplete design and cheap execution
“The thing about Jaws, I just feel like all of it just feels like they played it a little bit safe. Like, none of it feels like they really went the extra mile.”
Kaneda @ Design philosophy critique — Diagnosis of creative risk-aversion in Stern's approach
“I think we're going to see all of those LE prices slide back down to reality around $10,000. I also think we're going to see premium deals left and right.”
Kaneda — Specific pricing forecast indicating market correction expected

Entities

Kanedaperson Logan Arcadevenue American PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky Pinballcompany

Signals

?
business_signal: American Pinball reported to be in 'dire straits' with possible sale in progress; Galactic Tank Force failure left company with massive unsold inventory and no clear path forward
medium · Kaneda: 'I am hearing things and they are not good' and 'I think if we were to kick open the door to American Pinball, we would not see American Pinball manufacturing company taking the place'
?
product_concern: Jaws Premium's upper playfield and orca toy criticized as lazy, cheap-looking, and underutilized; overall game feels 'not fully baked' despite strong shooting mechanics
high · Kaneda: 'it looks so weird...nothing about it feels aesthetically like a ship...lazy and it looks cheap' and 'I don't think the upper playfield does very much'
$
market_signal: Stern LE prices doubled from ~$10k to $13k; Kaneda predicts imminent correction back to $10k and widespread premium discounting as market rejects current pricing
medium · Kaneda: 'I think we're going to see all of those LE prices slide back down to reality around $10,000' and 'All these games are going to be selling for less money'
~
sentiment_shift: Growing skepticism about whether modern pinball at current prices is sustainable; industry commentators questioning value proposition of $13k games vs. arcade play
high · Kaneda: 'I just don't feel like most pinball is going to survive if every game is over $10,000' and 'It's the greatest time in the history of pinball to wait and see'
?
announcement: The Princess Bride pinball confirmed as Multimorphic P3 title designed by Jerry Stelenberg; flyers appearing in Pinball Life mailers indicating imminent announcement phase

Topics

American Pinball financial crisis and potential acquisitionprimaryJaws Pinball game design and gameplay evaluationprimaryPinball pricing inflation and market correction predictionsprimaryModern Stern design philosophy and toy execution criticismprimaryThe Princess Bride pinball announcement and Multimorphic confirmationsecondaryJersey Jack financial dependence on successful IP licensingsecondarySpooky Pinball product shipping milestonessecondaryLogan Arcade venue quality and atmospheresecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.72)— Kaneda is frustrated and critical throughout, focusing on industry accountability, pricing failures, and design shortcomings. While he acknowledges positive aspects (Jaws shooting mechanics, Spooky Pinball success, Logan Arcade quality), the dominant tone is one of disappointment with Stern's execution, anger at inflated pricing, and concern about American Pinball's collapse. His fatigue at episode's end reinforces the negative framing. However, some constructive advice (wait for price drops, play in arcades) and acknowledgment of middle-ground positions prevent sentiment from being entirely negative.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.070

Welcome everybody to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast and I'm dedicated to this show. I literally just got out of a taxi from Chicago back to New York City. I came through the door, gave Killian a kiss and Brenda a kiss. And then I said, I got to go do a quick podcast. I played it at Logan Arcade yesterday. I was doing Whirlyball which was like down the street from Logan Arcade. What Whirlyball is, it's bumper cars with like lacrosse added in where you're firing a whiffleball at a target that is up where a basketball hoop would be. It is a lot of fun. It is a good corporate building exercise but you don't listen to this show to learn about Kaneda's corporate building podcast. You want to know about pinball. So let's talk real quick about some pinball news. The rumors have been circulating more and more about American Pinball being up for sale. And now there was someone on pinball enthusiasts who's like, that's not true. There's a barrel game coming out in a little over six weeks. Are we going to see a new American Pinball game at Texas Pinball Festival? Is the company really for sale? I am hearing things over there are not good. I think if we were to kick open the door to American Pinball, we would not see a pinball manufacturing company taking place. We would not see games on the line. We would not see a bunch of people assembling pinball machines. There have been people who ordered Houdinis months ago. They still have not got those games. And I'm hearing it is dire straits time. And look, you heard it here first on Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. And look, this wasn't me rooting for this company to fail, but if you make a lot of bad decisions, failure is a natural part of the capitalistic system. If you don't have companies fail, then companies won't learn a lesson. I've always said this, the biggest problem with so many of these pinball companies, nobody's ever held accountable for terrible decisions. And you've got all of these other companies bankrolling these failed pinball decisions. If the Abbas family were not involved with Jersey Jack, Jersey Jack would be out of business right now again. Right after these last two games, that company's not going to be in business after the Toy Story flop and the freaking Godfather flop and now the Elton John flop. And American Pinball, it's even worse. I mean, after being in business for almost like eight or nine years, the company comes out with freaking Galactic Tank Force. Nobody wants that game. At most they sold 200-300 examples of that game when they probably needed to sell at least 500 to break even. So they're sitting on like 200 3D printed tank parts that have nowhere to go. 200 thermoses and lunchboxes with nowhere to go. So we've got that going on. Spooky Pinball, congratulations. They're starting to ship Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Looney Tunes to customers I think as early as some time soon. Spammed by all the pinball distributors reminding us that we can order Pulp Fiction today. It's been funny, right? This game's been out for almost a year and it's been available to purchase for almost a year. And now we're going to get inundated with distros trying to sell us new Pulp Fictions. The problem is now, how many have they already sold, right? All thousand LEs have to be made and then they probably sold a bunch of standard edition games. And how many are they going to make? If you're not in on that first run of standard edition games, you might be waiting a really long time, like a whole nother year till you get your game. So a little advice to everybody out there, I would not buy a Pulp Fiction until that game is sent to a distributor and just wait, right? You're not gonna get your game anytime soon. And now we're also seeing that flyers are going into Pinball Life mailers. Like if you ordered something from Pinball Life, there are flyers, according to Naps Arcade, going into the orders that are teasing The Princess Bride Pinball. Trust me when I say this, I know 100% fact, it is going to be a Multimorphic P3 title. It is not going to be a new pinball company. So get ready for The Princess Bride by Jerry Stelenberg and Multimorphic. I'm really curious to see what they do with the assets. We've never seen a movie ported over onto the Multimorphic platform. So what will that be? We shall see. All right, let's get to Logan Arcade. So as I said, I was at Whirlyball. I checked my Uber app and I saw that Logan Arcade was basically four minutes away. And when you're in Chicago, even though everything might be four minutes away, you have to wait like 18 minutes for your Uber to get there. But I got a bunch of people, my coworkers, we went over there and I must say this. First and foremost Logan Arcade is amazing. It is one of the nicest arcades you can possibly go into. And it got something for everybody. You walk in they got the environmental disc of Tron game they got all these pinball machines lined up then they got this section with all these 80s arcade machines that are super fun then they got another row and room of pinball machines then they got like some candy cabinets from Japan and there was like a Street Fighter tournament going on. I have to be honest, I really wanted to hop on Street Fighter and see how good I still was, but there was a huge crowd of people on a Thursday night. And then I saw Jaws Pinball, Jaws Premium. Right next to it was Pulp Fiction. Right next to Jaws on the other side, there was a Rush LE. Then there was like an Attack from Mars. There were some CGC games. And they had everything that was new. They had a Jaws Premium. They had a Pulp Fiction. They had a Jaws Pro. They had an Addams Family LE. They had a Ghostbusters freaking LE just out there on the floor and so I played Jaws Premium over and over and over again. Now I have to say this at Logan Arcade you can't hear the machines very well there's almost no volume coming out of the machines and so as I give you my first gameplay impressions keep in mind that with every game I played it wasn't like I was absorbing the full experience. I've played other Stern games where they've used movie clips and put them together and it just feels very, very chaotic. The clips just don't come at you in this like linear fashion and it's just a little weird. The game is not going to really blow you away from an artistic standpoint. Nothing about the art package is terrible, but nothing about it really jumps out too much. And I will say I don't really love the translite on the premium. I liked the pro iconic Jaws movie poster translite better. And then you stand over the game. And I love for the first time standing over a new machine, I'm going to be talking about the pinball machine. Because when you stand over a new machine, all of the pin side baby stuff dissipates. All of the moaning and groaning we've been listening to and all of your own sort of skepticism, it all just sort of goes away and you can absorb in real life what they've done with this game. You can absorb the colors, the shots, the geometry. You can take in the world under glass of Jaws Pinball Machine. And when I was standing over the game, did I feel like they nailed it, right? And I have to say this, the reason I liked playing this game at Logan Arcade is you can compare and contrast a modern Stern machine with other games from other companies. They didn't have an Elton John, they didn't have any Jersey Jack games, but putting a new Stern next to a Chicago Gaming Company classic like Attack from Mars and thinking about it next to a game like Pulp Fiction, you do start to compare and contrast. How does a Stern feel? How does it look? Is it really blowing me away? And so we'll talk a little bit about that. So I played about five games in a row on Jaws Premium. And I just want to say this first and foremost, the gameplay is just fine. It shoots really nice. It's a Keith Elwin game. There's a lot more interesting shots in Jaws than are in Pulp Fiction. And when you stand over the game and you look at it, you start to realize so much of this game is happening in the upper playfield like everything is sort of happening where that upper playfield is and behind it. There's a lot of like ramps. There's a lot of stuff happening all the pathways to the wireforms. It's a lot of stuff that's hidden behind all of those things that are happening like in the game and it's really uniquely done. I think Elwin really did pack a lot of stuff into this game. But all of the stuff is happening towards the top portion of the game. I'm a fan of the pinball game. And that was the first thing I felt after a few games. It doesn't have like that Godzilla feeling that there's a lot of stuff all over the game. It just doesn't have that. That was one of my first takeaways of this game. Thinking about how Godzilla plays and thinking about how Jaws plays, I do think there's a lot more to shoot at or at least there feels like there's a lot more to shoot at and a lot more interesting stuff going on in Godzilla than there is in Jaws Pinball. I also noticed from a gameplay standpoint, there's a lot of stopping and go in Jaws, but I think you can control some of that. But you know what I'm talking about? Like being able to trap that ball with the upper right flipper is really interesting and you can do it a lot. And I kind of like that. Like you could tee up your next shot. The only thing is this, that upper right flipper, there's really not something really fun and satisfying to shoot coming off of that upper right flipper. It like you're dying to have like one of those classic Elwin orbit shots off the upper right flipper. You know you can keep looping it around and around and around and it just doesn't have that. For the most part it feels like the main target of that upper right flipper are those drop targets to the left. And that's fine but I just will say that there's not a ton of like satisfaction of hitting those drop targets. And then, you know, when we think about the premium, the major difference between this and the pro is definitely that upper playfield and definitely the shark bash toy up the middle. Now I know there's a lot of debate, there's a lot of debate about whether or not the pro is good enough and if that upper playfield just doesn't give you enough enjoyment to justify the cost over the pro version of the machine. And here's my take on this game again after playing it like five times. I don't think the upper playfield does very much. I really don't. In fact, getting to that upper playfield, me and my friend played about five games each. And I think we were up there not often. Like it's not the kind of upper playfield where it's easy to get up to it. There's not a ramp in front of it that's easy to shoot. And that shot to get up there is very narrow and very tight. And you're going to find the ball's not going to have the velocity. Unless you hit that shot perfectly, you're not going to get to that upper playfield very often. And then when you do get up there, the shots off of that upper playfield are just really kind of like, eh. In fact, I'm kind of embarrassed that this is supposed to be the orca in a world under glass in Jaws Pinball. It just looks so weird. Like nothing about it feels aesthetically like a ship. And again, I'm going off of my friend's reaction. I'm like, what is that? Can you tell me what that is? You know, it just doesn't have any elements to it that feel like the orca. And I go back to Pirates of the Caribbean and the way the ship rocked back and forth. And there were a lot of details on that. I don't know if you've ever been in a pinball and you're like, I'm going to be a pirate ship. That made you feel like it was the Black Pearl. And then you look at this orca and it's lazy and it looks cheap and being up there is not that rewarding. And so I do feel like the upper playfield does not add that much excitement to Jaws Pinball. I also felt like the shark fin that popped up, you know, that's on the pro version of the machine. I really didn't have that much of a problem with the shark at all. In fact, that is probably the most fun toy in the game. That was my takeaway of Jaws. The shots are fun. The shots are there. There's a lot of great speed in the game. There's a lot of great combos to hit in the game. But when it comes to like satisfying stuff in this game, it's all about the flow. The toys themselves leave a lot to be desired in this game, but I will say that moment in which the shark pops up from underneath the playfield is really cool. And everybody that was watching us play it and everyone who played the game, there's just something satisfying about that sequence, right? Of putting the chum in the water, getting the shark to pop up, bashing the shark, getting him to go back underneath. There's just, that's Jaws, like that's the story of Jaws. And then when I walked over and played the pro machine and the shark is just always there, it doesn't work. I know people are thinking it's the upper playfield is the thing you don't really need and you don't mind losing that upper playfield if you get the pro version of the machine. But I think the most important thing in this game, the most important toy, the most important feature is to maintain that shark popping up from underneath the playfield. If you lose that, I think you somewhat neuter this game. And I really mean that and that's why like oh man a pro version of the machine I think is missing the most important part of Jaws Pinball. And here's the crazy part though. As we were playing the premium and as we were sort of standing over Jaws, I couldn't help but think there's no way that an LE version of this game should be twice the price of the pro version of this game. And this is the other part. You know, this game was right next to Pulp Fiction and I only played one game of Pulp Fiction, ladies and gentlemen. I didn't want to keep playing Pulp Fiction without any music, without any callouts because it's just not the experience. And Pulp Fiction shoots fine, but it doesn't shoot anywhere near as good as Jaws Pinball. And I know there's a lot of Pulp Fiction people who are like, oh, you know, Pulp Fiction's amazing. It shoots so well. I think those people need to have their head examined just a little bit. It's a fine shooting game but there's nothing crazy about the shots in Pulp Fiction. Jaws is a much more rewarding game to flip. But Jaws to me also feels like a game that's not fully there. Like it's not fully baked. I still feel like when I stand over Jaws there's just still a lot of elements of it that feel really cheap. And that's what's been frustrating me about pinball for so many years. A Stern LE was just a few thousand dollars more than a Stern Pro. Like remember when a Stern Pro was and an LE was like years ago? And now a Stern LE is $13,000 and that's twice the price of a Stern Pro. And when I walked away from Jaws Pinball and we had a lot of fun at Logan Arcade, me and all my coworkers, we spent about like $40 at most on games and had like an hour and a half and we had so much fun. And when you leave the arcade and you're like, you know, you could own that in LE trim for $13,000 and it just feels stupid. I mean it when I say it. I think we're going to see all of those LE prices slide back down to reality around $10,000. I also think we're going to see premium deals left and right. And you know, getting a pro might not be a bad decision, but as I said, losing that major moment with the shark to me just makes Jaws Pinball irrelevant. Because then you're just really all about hitting switches and software. And if pinball becomes all about switches and software and shots become the new toys and we stop expecting like there to be that physical world under glass that we can interact with and if we stop feeling like there's wow moments and wow things to shoot, I mean nothing in Jaws is really wow. Like none of the toys are really that impressive. Godzilla blows this thing away when it comes to toys and mechs. It just does. Like, I don't care. It's not about bulleting out how many coils are in each game. It's about the physical feel you get when you play Godzilla versus playing Jaws. The thing about Jaws, I just feel like all of it just feels like they played it a little bit safe. Like, none of it feels like they really went the extra mile. But again, here's what I think is gonna happen. Anyone who's ordered one is gonna say it's like the greatest Elwin masterpiece ever. And people who think it's overpriced are gonna say it's not. And I tell you right now, the answer is somewhere in the middle. And I think what's great about pinball right now, I encourage each and every one of you, jump on the machine and find out for yourself. And I think it's way too early to be throwing like $13,000 at this game until you really make sure this game has everything in it you want. And once you play it, I mean it, once you start to play these games, the magic starts to erode a little bit. It doesn't become more magical. Because again, when I stand over these modern Sterns, I can't help but feel we are getting ripped off at these prices. It's just not there. And again, I was just staring at the Orca and I was like, this is as good as they can do for this much money. And then I look over at Pulp Fiction and everything in it like the sculpts and the toys, there's just more effort. It just looks like there's more passion and effort going into the stuff that's in the Pulp Fiction game than is in the Jaws game. And again, Pulp Fiction was a lot less money. All right, everybody, I'm tired. I've been up early in the morning and I know if I'm a little bit cranky, cut me some slack, but I wanted to get you a quick show. Happy Friday night. Don't rush in and buy any of these games. All these games are going to be selling for less money. All of these pinball machines right now are overpriced. Everybody knows it. It's the greatest time in the history of pinball to wait and see. And I just don't feel like most pinball is going to survive if every game is over $10,000. It's just not worth it everybody. You know, I would much rather go to Logan Arcade when they open up and ask the guy to turn the volume up and sit on the game for like a half hour then spend $13,000. Everybody, have a good one and we'll talk to you soon.