All right, let's talk some pinball. I like that you like me. I taste your lips. You got good taste. I like that you like me. All right. What are we doing here? People here? Anyone in the house? we're gonna have a good day. We're gonna have a good Canada live. Here we go. Who we got? Who we got in the house? Getting tired of Facebook. I got to be honest. I I'm tire I want I don't I don't really want to do Facebook much anymore. There's nobody on it. This is This is a YouTube show. This is a YouTube show. YouTube's the right. It's wide. What's everybody doing? What's everybody doing? How's everybody doing? We in the house. Did I see you on Samsung commercial? You hell hell yeah you did. Samsung Cana stepping in. Uh Samsung's a client of mine and uh yeah, they needed they needed some help so I I helped out. How's everybody doing? How's everybody doing? I feel [clears throat] I feel like long weekend football playoffs alive in 2026. See, I think all of us are like have no reason to be anything but happy. All of us born most of us most of us born at the right time. Most of us born in a period where we didn't have the internet. We had our cage. We went out. We enjoyed life. We went to the mall. We saw Back to the Future in the theaters. We got Sad Boy Baby. Yes, I've seen Jack Danger's uh Tank Girl game. It looks really cool. We're going to talk about Jack Danger. We're going to talk about where I think he should go. We're going to talk about what makes total sense. This is going to be a good day. This is going to be a good life for each and every one of us. You found yourself here. Think about it. Millions of content creators. Only one Gadas Binball podcast. Where would we be without Canadas Pinball podcast fizzy? Where would we be? We set the trend. We paved the way. We trailblazed to six trippies now to the point where we blew up the twies. We killed the twppies. Oh, they kind of killed themselves. No one even cares. Nobody voted. Did anyone I didn't vote. Anyone vote? Nobody voted. I see them like begging for votes everywhere. Nobody cares. It's like it's like there'll be like threads about something completely different and then some dude's like, "Yeah, man. It's a good time to vote in the TR." Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Oh, that's funny. the troll vote. [clears throat] Yeah. No, Colin's done. His stock is at an all-time low. Alltime low. Haven't read the kineticist in years. Don't care. Don't care. Um, how's everybody doing? How's everybody doing? Waking up Saturday morning. Spectacular. Pinball is about to get crazy, people. Crazy. Explain the predator issue. We will. Fizzy. Fizzy's new to Pinball. He doesn't know. He doesn't know what he's looking at when he sees the pooling underneath the posts. We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it. Mad Pinball saying he's sold out of his Pokemon le allocation already. Sold out. People bought it. They haven't even seen it. Sold out. Look, you know, our our friend Don, I heard, can't even get one. Don, I'll get you an Nelly if you want one.
[clears throat]
The easiest thing for a Canad to get in this hobby is a machine. Like literally, I'm not on a list. I'm not on a list anywhere. I can get any game I want anytime without even being on a list. You know why I'm not on a list? Because I'm not on anyone's list. I'm on not even on. I'm in I'm in people's hearts, baby. And when you're in their heart, Yeah. they're going to get you to the top of that list, baby. The top of that mountain. I love them. below. You know, I emailed them. I didn't hear back. Yeah, they don't. Yeah. Who are you? Just another guy with money. What's that worth? Nothing. Canada. Stock rising, baby. Stock rising. Want to thank each and every one of the subscribers who subscribes to Canadas Pinball Podcast. You guys are the best. You're having the best time. The community has been better than it's ever been. It's awesome. It's awesome. You know, we're going to we're going to get to 800 one day, but until then, we're just chilling. We're having fun. Same number one for now for the streets. Number one on Goonies, Gremlins. We going to get it all. Sonic the Hedgehog. Damn, man. Damn, man. There's one thing I want to see changed on Sonic the Hedgehog Collector's Edition. I gota I got to hit up my boys over there and the Abbis family, my friends. Brett was talking to Brett this week. Man, I had a game on G&R yesterday. Dark room, lights out. It was like six o'clock at night and I'll say having not played G&R for a few weeks. I rediscovered what really is magical about the game. It is It is Yes, it is one of the worst flow games I've played. It It literally the upper right flipper orbit shot is clunky. the there, you know, there's really there really isn't like I think the only two satisfying shots in G&R for me, the orbit shot, the left and right orbits I like cuz you know you can find them and then the upper the the left ramp backhanding the left ramp. Other than that, Lost Brown, baby, lost Americana, baby. MGK, if you guys haven't heard the album yet, get on it, man. I'm not I'm trying to just give you guys some joy. Like, if you listen to Lost Americana and you don't have a good time, you're dead inside. Like, it literally is like great rock. It's great ' 80s vibe. It's amazing. So, you know, those of you who know No, Derek Musket's one of them. He loves MGK. Look, I'm not I'm not here to tell you like you need to love MGK as a person and all his stuff, but you know, go listen to a song like No Cell phones and rehab and tell me, you know, you're not having a good time. Um, look, we're going to um we're going to talk about everything going on in pinball. It's about to get nuts. It's about to get crazy. Derek is the best. Derek's the man. He calls me every week. We talk every week. Um, we'll give a shout out to Ed Mara. I think Ed was over at Automated yesterday with um my boy Frank D'Python Anghelo. Check out the new riff Jim Raff in Katie song. All right. Yeah, man. I love sharing good music, man. There's nothing like discovering a new song. Isn't it amazing when you discover a new song or a new artist and you're just like, "Yeah, man." Yeah. Like, thank you. I love NF, man. NF is an amazing artist. What's up, guys? Ah, you know, we're gonna we're gonna bring a lot of energy on this show. I just had my little baby uh Cassian on my lot playing the piano. I'm feeling very blessed. You know what I love about you? You guys can't see my view right now, but I'll let me see if I can just turn this around real quick. This is what I'm looking at. My neighbors are like, "What the hell is he doing?" um looking out this beautiful street in Rowan, Connecticut on a beautiful block. I I still remember the day we turned on to this street. I still remember it like it was yesterday. And I was like, man, this would be a great street for my little boys to grow up on. There was no double yellow, not a lot of through traffic. There's like a culde-sac kind of vibe at the end like right here with basketball hoop is up, kids running around the street, white picket fences, and I'm just And then we we saw the house and we just fell in love. And within 20 minutes, we went from seeing the house Friday at 10:00 a.m. We were the first viewing. Within 20 minutes, we made an offer on the house. hundreds of thousands over the listing price. And on Monday at noon, we we signed the deal with the 10% cash down on the house. House is now 2/3 paid off. I'm almost, you know, my goal is to pay it off in 5 years. But so this is it. This is it. This is it. Like everything I do now is about family first, staying here, enjoying our lives. We have a community. And I can tell you for those guys out there who know this, if you have a community where you live, you're you're like that's everything. That really is everything. What's around my neck, baby? Christopher Franchi, baby. Christopher Franchi. Christopher Franchi, you know what's around my neck? For each one of these pearls, that's the amount of thousands of dollars in value over the price of MSRP the next three spooky games are going to make me. That's what that is, Ranchie. We're talking about We're talking about Beetlejuice, Goonies, and Gremlins. We're talking Get ready, people. Get ready for $10,000 spooky games to be trading for 18 consistently while George Gomez is busy putting brackets on his cabinets telling us that there's licenser delays. Did they even get the licenser approval on the Walking Dead code yet? Does anyone know? Are they still Are they still, you know, are they still making people stare at a screen that says waiting for license or approval? Oh, what are these? You know what's funny? These are are car dice for uh but um they don't look anything like the picture. The picture was like super cool. They look like 3D road signs and then look they arrived. They were just like blocks. But whatever, they look good. I'll wear them. I'll wear them all year. I don't care. I really don't care. I have so much self-confidence. It's scary. I I could give I'll tell you why. I just don't care. I don't care. I think I've seen the best life has to offer. I've been in some of the greatest cars on the planet. I've had the most amazing meals. Three Michelin staras in Japan. I've flown business cl. You know, I've seen it. I've been on private jets to Bermuda. I've I've got friends that are billionaires, friends that are broke. I've seen the richest people in therapy who are alcoholics and hate their lives. And I've seen the poorest people running comic book stores that are happy every day. And I wake up and I say, I just don't care to think negatively. I don't care to read the news and feel bad about my country. I don't care about any of that. What I care about is making the most of every minute we have on this planet. Connecting with people that I enjoy hanging out with, providing for my family, and having a good damn time before it's over, right? But not in a way that's too reckless. Not in a way that's going to hurt me or anybody else. That's what life is about. It's damn kids reading books. I don't want to feel bad. anyone like, let's stop let's stop drinking. Let's stop hanging out. Let's Let's just let's become sober curious and be lonely our entire 30s and then wake up and realize we messed up. Now we're we're single. I'm a I'm I'm reaching 40. I've got no husband and I'm screwed because any guy that's looking for a girl now has got a whole new crop of women 20 to 35 to pick from. You're screwed. It's the way it works. The world is brutal. Got to get on it. Got to get on it. I met Brenda when she was 27. She was single. She never had a real boyfriend. And she was ready to go back to Ireland. And I'm like, STOP RIGHT THERE, BRENDA. NO, you're not going back to Ireland. You're going to occupy a house in Rowan in 12 years with two beautiful boys. Man, need a little alcohol in life, baby. For thousands of years, they drank it because the damn the water was unhealthy. Anyway, let's talk pinball. Let's talk pinball, baby. Let's talk pinball. Let's talk first and foremost. Let's talk first and foremost American pinball back. I reached out to Ronald Ron over there. Um, I want to say this publicly. I want to say this, you know, for we'll talk about the Ryan McQuaid message, too. But publicly, I want to say this. I've hated American Pinball. I've hated American Pinball because American Pinball, and I don't hate much, but they employed someone who tried to get me fired, right? Like literally cheap shot at me, sucker punch me, and and managed to hurt my family very significantly financially, by the way. But those are that's the past. And I forgave him. I don't care. He's not part of my world anymore. He's not part of my He's not part of my universe. He had a little moment where he knocked me down and he got to me. Man, it hurt. But you know what? I only came back stronger. But I hated American Pinball because I hated the fact that the company employed people that I thought were like bad human beings and then they fired all these people. I don't know Mukesh personally. I have nothing against Mukesh. I I all I know is this. There is a new team over there. They are building a new company and as of today I am absolutely keeping an open mind on American Pinball. I have absolutely no animosity, no vendetta against them. I absolutely wish them all the success moving forward. I I think one thing is critical for this company. And you know me, I would change the name. It's probably hard for them to change the name contractually because that, you know what I'm saying? Like they they probably have contracts with all their vendors and maybe some licenses that they have secured. I I get it like changing the name American Pinball probably not. I would announce if I were them, we are only going to continue to I don't know may I don't know, maybe continue to offer service on the old games for another year and then that's it. But whatever. whatever. But here's my thing. Here's my thing. This company's first new game from the new regime needs to be a banger. It's it like I I think if they rush out something to get to expo, game over. I think if they release Cuphead, game over. I think they need a banger and they need also to make a move in the design department. Okay, now here's the thing. If I were them, I would make one phone call to one individual and make him head of design and just roll with him. And that man's name is Jack Danger. I think Jack Danger should go over there, lead the design on the first game, give these guys a banger layout, get it in a theme like He-Man, and just just crush. Reach out to Franchie, get his He-Man art package secured. I think they need a banger. If they come out with just something that's mediocre or just basic, they are going to get clobbered. The pro we don't need another boutique just making basic games. And also with all the baggage of the old American pinball, nobody's going to just like support these guys and buy another kind of Legends of Valhalla game. So, you know what? I also heard I think Franchie told us this. the guy Riot Pinball were the dudes making He-Man and that's not what I want to hear. They're They're the we we've seen Wrath of Olympus. We've seen Legends of Valhalla not not on a level that can compete with what's in the marketplace today. And so if I'm American Pinball, I I need I need to create instant excitement with our first game. I need to win back the community. And that's what I would do. I have no line of sight into their plans. I'm going to talk to them sometime soon. It's really hard. I know these guys are successful. I I believe the was it like JBC something the private equity or the the investment firm uh the guy made all his money making LEDs. One of the most successful LED manufacturers made LED signs for I believe like highways and you know so a lot of money coming in to the company. So, but what we do know is a lot of money does not equal pinball success. And so, that's the trick, right? I mean, look at all the money the Abbis family had. It kind of took them a decade to go from Hobbit to Potter, right? So, and lots of missteps along the way. JB Vincent, thank you. So, a lot of this is just going to come down to the moves they make early on and taking their time to get it right. Okay. And that's going to be interesting. American Pinball Foul Ball not American Pinball not using Matt Andrews Houdini art was idiotic. Okay. Um, American Pinball used all of Amtron's boards. They worked very well. Now what? I don't know. They might still use Amtron's boards. I mean, who I I don't think like I I look Amtron selling them to these new guys does not mean it's they're still I believe in the same building. Aimro is in. So I'm Look, it's so What I love about this hobby gang is why would anybody not want Why would anybody not want another option, not want another company that's trying to break through in pinball? It's just going to mean more options for us. What's just funny to me is if they get some traction going and some games going, I I just love how everyone around Stern is like really crushing it right now. And I I think Stern is is uh is looking pretty cheap. I I I'm really waiting for a Stern game to come out that really shows us that they're capable of making a nicer game. I think it's going to be Transformers. I look, I keep hearing to curb your enthusiasm for Pokemon. I think George Gomez Pokemon is going to be not worth the money. I think it's going to be barren. I think it's going to be uh, you know, they're going to put all the money into the IP and very little money into the mechanical. Wow. That's what I'm hearing. Elwin needs to go to JJP. You know what I would say? I don't think JJ needs Elwin. I think I don't think they need him. It would be a death blow to Stern. I mean, if [clears throat] if um if I if Keith Elwin left Stern, obviously [clears throat] death blow, but Stern Stern will give Ellen what he wants to stay and he's making good money at Stern and he gets to get a game out a year. I don't think Ellen wants to go wait every three years to have a game hit the market. Sonic the Hedgehog is going to crush. Um, [clears throat] uh, Kiss. But gang, here's the thing about Kiss. We already see it. Like, I don't these remasters. Do you really get that excited? Okay, so they're going to remaster Kiss. Cool. I can tell you right now what the layout is. I can tell you right now what it's going to look like. I can tell you right now everything. I And I also can tell you right now where we used to get Kiss for like 8,500. Now you're going to spend 5,000 more for the same game. Basically, this is why the remasters to me don't work. They just don't work. But like again, I just think Stern No. So now everybody who loves Kiss who has an old Kissle Ellie, what do they do? What do they do? Look, remastering games like this, like every year doing remasters, is an absolute sign that this company is out of new and present great ideas. They They that is the reason why they're doing the remasters. They're out of new ideas that are that are that are taking off that are being hugely successful. And so, you know, when you think about it, like every time Stern does a remaster, they're burning everybody who who bought that game in the past who still has it. They are burning them. I'll put my new KISSL besides my old Kisslee because Kiss is my favorite. Scott Avery. Well, Scott, man, I mean, first of all, congratulations on your tremendous financial success in life. Any man that puts two of the same game next to each other. You I want to be you one day, bro. I want to be you. I'm going to be I'm going to be you one day. I'm going to have I'm going to have an Elliot premium and a pro of a hero one day all next to each other. Um I don't that's kind of silly if you ask me. I mean, I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't know what what it just I don't know. Like it'd be different if they I don't know. Maybe they'll do a full overhaul like they Walking Dead. I I don't think I've seen anybody put the Walking Deads next to each other. Stern messed up, man. They messed up. You got to remember like Jod and Gary. Jody, do you really think Jodie Dankberg, right? Jodie, you think he's got his hand on the pulse of what's cool? Like what people really want? Do you think so? I don't I mean that's the thing about pinball is like it's really like you know it's it's a kind of introverted hobby in a lot of ways and I think a lot of people made a lot of silly mistakes. Man, why are people sending like work emails now? It's 10:30 on a Saturday morning. This is what's wrong with the world. It's really what's wrong with the world is like these people just can't stop. And you know, I'm like seeing it pop up on my my phone and I'm like, "Yeah, you think I'm going to actually look at this for two days?" I'm not. I'm not. Everyone just like, you know, the concept of work, you know, they want you to work outside hours that you're even at work and they want you to work when you're not even being paid to work, you know? So silly. You know, there's a conversation this week where they're like, well, they're like, a lot of people have 30% of their time non-billable, but then they're like, but everybody here is working more than 40 hours a week, right? So that should like what? No. Like just stop. Like people want to, you know what the problem with a lot of my work these days is? Is like instead of just like, well, how long does it take to get to a solution? They want you to just have eight hours every day. Eight hours like nonstop billing. So it rewards inefficiency over intellect. It It just it makes no sense. Time does not equal value. It just doesn't. It's different if you were like on an assembly line and you're just making like sprockets and and yeah, of then yeah, every hour we're on we're making this much more money, but that people don't work like that. Yeah, I get law firms are like that, but again, like those days are coming to an end with AI, man. They're going to blow up all the legal companies, all the financial companies. Anyway, sorry for that. I just I just wish people would just realize it's not really um it's not really the time Saturday morning. Like people when I'm doing my spectacular, leave me alone. Um Proof Stern themes being me currently. I have three Star Wars, three Deadpool, two Team Monte, and two guys on location. We need a new South Park. The customers want good themes. Okay. Well, yeah. Duh. All right. So, I I would send Jack Danger over to American Pinball. So, here's what I heard. This American Pinball deal has been brewing for a while and I heard that it was brought to Barry over at Dutch that maybe he should reach out to American Pinball to be the North American American manufacturer of Back to the Future. That would make a lot of sense. Barry could be in charge of Europe and Australia and American pinball makes the games uh for America and and this way you have a much greater ability to avoid tariffs. You also have a greater easier to ship to most of your customers which will be in the US and you also have more orders you can fulfill. Okay. And I'm hearing that Barry rejected said suggestion and said, "Nope, screw that. I'm doing it all." Barry, I'm hearing that he his goal is to make around a,000 Back to the Futures a year. 800 to a,000. I don't know. I don't know. You know, I think I think the plan is is that he's going to hire more people to make the games, but as of right now, I think Alice just didn't really work out for a lot of people. I mean, 200 people didn't get their Alyses by the end of the year. Now, I don't think they got 200 refund refund requests. How many of you out there asked for an Alice refund? Anybody? you know. Wow, that's a lot of re Okay, so this just knowing that there's only a few people here and it's like yes, refund I got to break it to you guys right now. I kind of feel like, you know, the refund request isn't is not such a bad idea because I I also think when Back to the Future gets announced, I think the whole decision to give it to the Alice buyers first is going to somewhat backfire on them because I think what's going to happen is this. If they have those 88 SLEs, then I think they're gonna struggle to then I think all those Alice guys are going to want to like get first dibs at those and I don't think they're going to. It's I So I just think this whole thing is kind of being uh you know it's loosey goosey at best. The problem is is you know what here's the thing I don't think that they have a plan and when you don't have a plan you fail to achieve a desirable result you know it's it's just interesting in life I mean we all struggle with this in life we most of us might struggle with this in life if you go up to someone and say what's your plan okay you know and you know do you wanna do you wanna is your plan to work to get to this level? Is your plan to be a manager? Is your plan to open up your own agency? Is your plan to retire at 60? What's your plan? I bet 90% of people would struggle with an answer. Most people would probably say the age they want to retire by or the, you know, and so like when I like if I was like, Barry, what's your plan here? Right? What's your plan? If you can't make over 300 Alice machines in a year, So, the Raza thing is going to be really interesting now because I think the momentum is gone. I think the enthusiasm and the Yeah, it's just like the people just don't want to wait. You know, all these people are going to be watching people unbox Beetlejuice machines, unbox Pokemon, unbox Transformers, and who's going to want to go on a an an eightmonth wait or six month wait to get a Raza? I just That's the thing. That's the thing. They've got to figure this out. They've got to figure this out. And again, like I I think they've they've said a lot, but they just haven't executed enough. And when people are executing as well as Spooky is, as well as Stern does, as well as Jersey Jack does. I mean, we don't give enough credit for Jersey Jack these days. Can we just say for a minute there there's been like no issues really with Harry Potter other than that initial art issue. They're just getting it done. Jersey Jack to me is really the biggest threat to Stern. I mean they they are getting it done. Their product looks insane. Sonic looks insane. What they have coming is going to be bonkers. they have all the momentum, the wind behind their sales and they're going to be the new like whale that all the boutiques, you know, connect to, you know, and I feel like Stern to me feels more like Thanos, you know, it's like it's like the the arrogance, the greed, the the entitlement to being the driver in the industry and and the lack of humanity is going to be what is Stern's downfall. And I mean that when I say that I I absolutely I do believe that uh Stern's culture has eroded from within and that is what is causing them to look so vulnerable and and so not fun and you can see it like in the way they talk, the way they walk, the way their people carry themselves. And then you look at how like people are at barrels. You know, when I was at the barrels booth, what a difference it was like walking through the barrel section at Expo and then Stern section. Stern section just feels big. It felt cold. It felt sterile. You know, you almost like don't want to run into the Stern people, especially if you're me because I've been ragging on Star Wars. But you just don't want to run into them because you don't want to congratulate them because you don't feel like they deserve like congratulations. I also don't want to interview them because I don't care. I don't care what they have to say because I look at their product and I'm not I'm not curious. I see when they make a Godzilla, I want to talk to them. I want to talk to them about what went into making this masterpiece. When they make a game like Star Wars, I just want to make fun of them because I don't want to talk to them because I can see what I can see exactly what went wrong. They rushed the game out. They didn't give John Borgan enough time. They didn't use the big screen properly and they made it and everything on the game looks so bad compared to what else is in the market. So like why would I want to discuss with them how they achieve such mediocrity? I have no care I could care less how they achieve that mediocrity. It is a mediocre game and it's fun. Yeah, it's fun. Cool. Is it fun losing $3,000 if you bought an LE? Is that fun? Good. Go throw the topper on it and see what you get for your LE in six months when you go to sell it for like eight grand. How much fun are you having? Do you have a lot of fun? I could go watch the Star Wars movies without a decapitated C3PO and have more fun. So that's what I'm saying. Like and people keep forgetting that Beetlejuice was 10 grand. People keep forgetting that Beetlejuice 10 grand. $9,999 for Beetlejuice. Okay. put it next to a $13,000 anything Stern's made the last like four or five years. Okay. Of course, Harry Potter arcade is better than any current Stern. You know, when Harry when uh Jersey Jack announced the arcade edition, you know what Jersey Jack realized, though? Because they've had like 10 times more orders for CES and arcade editions. So, Jersey Jack realized something. When you make something really nice and special, people would rather spend 15 on one Jersey Jack masterpiece than two Stern Pros at 6,500. Potter CE is is a work of art. It's a work of art and it's it's a great game and everyone who has one is loving it and you're not embarrassed to show it off and it's just stunning. I remember when I was at Expo, I spent a lot of time looking at Winchester. I spent time looking at Predator. I spent time looking at Big Trouble. I spent time looking at Star Wars. I remember like I I spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the stuff I hadn't seen before. And then I just kind of walked over to JJP for a little bit and and I I it reminded me how damn nice Potter is. I was like, "Wow." Like, it really does. is like it's it's on a different level than everybody else's product. It's on a a completely different level than everybody else's product. Now, I think Beetlejuice is on on level with with Potter. And I think when Beetlejuice starts going out, you're going to start to see you're going to start to see like a lot a lot of giddy back flips, a lot of excited people. Yeah. No, Harry Potter. Everything about it everything about it is just cool, man. I just, you know, look, and I I always say this, we're all just people. We're all people who want to support different brands and different organizations. And I really I don't know. I just I don't know. Can I whisper this? Stern needs to win me back. Not as a customer because, you know, I'll buy a Stern if I like it. They need to win me back as as just a a fan of the brand. I'm just not a fan of Stern anymore. I'm not a fan of of what they've done over the last three to four years. I'm not a fan of how they've treated their people. I'm not a fan of the decisions they've made. I'm not a fan of their lack of respect for their own buyers. I'm not a fan of their strategy. I'm not a fan of their game plan. I'm not a fan of their art packages. I'm not a fan of their new cabinets. I'm just not a fan of Stern anymore. I I consider Stern Pinball to be at maximum a $10,000 LE. I'm not a fan of how they got greedy. I'm not a fan of how they made five versions of Elvara Ellies. I'm not a fan of how they like keep screwing over their old buyers. I'm not a fan of how they because they don't need to do that. They didn't need to do any of it and they did it. So, I'm not a fan of any of that behavior. And so, yeah, Stern, I want Stern to win me back. I I know they're not going to do it with Pokemon because I know the story behind Pokemon, and I know that it's going to be a a pretty barren compromised game. And I just think everyone's going to see it and be like, "Canada was right." [snorts] I'm a fan of Seth Davis. Look, you know, I I'm not a fan of the personnel Seth has brought in to to turn the ship. It's not the gang and like I did not expect Stern to hire me. I I didn't. I just thought they would actually take some of my advice and they haven't. So, I'm not a fan that they completely ignored what I was recommending to them. You know, the thing is this is what's funny about Seth is like I I work on brands that are worth 10 times 100 times the value of Stern and these clients pay good money for ideas. I mean, I'm I'm fingers crossed I'm about to activate something around the World Cup with one of the biggest beer brands in the world. One of the biggest beer brands in America for sure. And yet Stern's like, "Well, yes, no. We're gonna we're just gonna keep doing it the way we do it." Okay, fine. Cool. Cool. Keep doing this crap. The problem is like with Stern is is all of what they've done they what they really needed to do what Stern really should have done a few years ago and they would have had the opportunity to do it is they needed to create another line a line extension of their games and I think they needed to create more of like an SLE version of a game and they needed to really think. Okay, so I I that's that's what I would have done. I would have taken their collector product way up market and everything else should have stayed like lower. Spooky could make money selling more Evil Deads and Beetleju, but yeah, of course they're not. Spooky could sell another, you know, I know this. Spooky would not retort this. There There was a serious meeting at Spooky Pinball to redo Rick and Morty with a better layout but you know use the amazing code of the game and they and because then they could have said it's a new game like it's not we didn't remake the same Rick and Morty we made a new Rick and Morty and maybe they would have changed the code some bit and they decided against it. they they would have made the money. The millions were there and they said, "You know what? If we do this, if we do this, it it'll be a short-term gain for a longterm damage to our brand and our reputation." And they made the right decision. And I think Stern is the complete opposite. They They are making moves that they could care less about the long-term damage to their brand. And I don't care what they say. They did it. And they did it again. And they did it again. And they did it. And George was clueless. He was like, "I don't understand. Why are people upset if we made 499 Alvara Blood Kiss editions? That's more than, you know, the like 89 or 199 like signature editions or whatever, the Red Couch editions, because George, you made a nicer version of the game." It's like he doesn't understand why Jaws Ellie owners would be pissed off that he made a nicer version of Jaws with the 50th. It's not about the numbers, George. It's like I want to know at some point not only are you not making more but you're done with the run, right? And this and but also you're never going to make something a version of it that's as nice as this. You know, if Stern were smart and they did remasters, they should only make a pro version of the remaster unless they go like way back to games like Simpsons and Lord of the Rings, games like that, right? that like there never was really a three tier system back then, but doing what they're doing now going like going back as recent as like Jaws and making a new version. Going back it just the whole thing the whole thing is is really just killing them. Christopher Franchi, you have to realize you are effing up in order to address the problem. Stern doesn't think they are broken and Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. They're smug, Franchie. They're very smug. When When I talk to them and you know, like I've had off thereord conversations with George, I they're just there's a smuggness that they they think like, haha, like I make as many games in a week as Spooky makes in a year. Like they're smug. They have that attitude. But But for how long, right? And that's the real thing. but for how long? And they don't get that part of it. And the more we continue to get the caliber of game we're getting from these other companies that you feel better about buying from, I don't know, Stern's other problem is there's just so many Stern machines everywhere, right? Yeah. If you're new to pinball, uh, if you're new to pinball and you're like, you're probably going to probably go get something like a Godzilla, something like a Jaws, something like a, you know, I'm trying to think of like the ones I would pick up, you know, you might go find like a like an AC/DC somewhere. No, man. I I just I don't know. I don't don't Jurassic Park, Elvra, right? I R Rush is a good game for Rush fans. I'm I don't like Rush music. That's just me. To me, people who like are into Rush are a little dorkier than Canada. I'm not Look, guys, I'm happy you like them, but I feel like guys who wear khaki pants at Rush concerts. Like, isn't that a joke? Wasn't there like a Family Guy episode about that? I know. Rush fans to me are like, you know, I'm Axel Rose, baby. MGK, man. Like I I need some like, you know, Metallica. I need some AC/DC. Like I I'm not going to put Rush when I'm driving around in my uh Demon. It's just not It's just not doesn't hit as hard as the music I like. I just I never liked Rush. I never like Rush never even made its way onto I couldn't even name you three Rush songs. But you know me, you know my musical taste. It's like everyone's is personal. Rush is also like the Rush art package is so bad. The game just is like I don't know. The game's ugly to me. I don't know. Oh Jesus. Okay. Keep it keep it uh keep it classy, sad boy. Um I I did you guys see my Do you guys see the Ryan Mcuade thing? Do you guys want to talk about Ryan real quick? Like um just to clarify here. uh someone I guess he wrote something bashing American Pinball in his in a private it was a group chat that was private about I think it was like like a homebrew or a custom pinball maker chat and somebody sent me the image of Ryan bashing American pinball and I just put it up and [snorts] then he says afterwards don't post that because, you know, I'm just trying to give some friendly advice. I'm not trying to bash the company, but he just he bashes the company. Look, I think Ryan um realizes that two things. I think legally it's not the smartest thing for him to do that. I'm sure he signed an an NDA or a contract on the way out the door if he got any severance, which he probably didn't because AP was so cheap. But I also think he's um he's in the unfortunate position of he had to work for you know who and that guy probably screwed him and you know there's nothing but anger from Cougler from Ryan from those guys. So but now it's a new American pinball and and again I think like people are going to give them the benefit of the doubt. People care more about getting a great game than they do about like some of these people's mental health. And I think some of these people's mental health, it's unfortunate, but they're really going to be depressed for a really long time because I think Ryan's a good guy. I do. I think Ryan's a good guy. I don't think he's like a a narcissistic sociopath, you know? I I think he's a good guy. I actually think he has a lot of remorse and empathy with what went on. You know, when I see a guy like Damian, I think Damen's the opposite. I think Damian, he's back out there website live, how great he is at business. Same thing with Andrew Highway. These guys who are total crooks who lied to people. Ryan never lied to anybody. He never took anybody's money. He never lost anybody. He just wanted to get something out the door. That's all he wanted. He never wanted to mislead anybody. He never did. Where Damian's a liar. Like Andrew lied to people. Not only that, I mean, Damen pocketed upwards of $800,000 of people's money and then just bankrupted his own company and kept all of that money. You guys understand this, right? Like he literally never refunded anybody while he still got his own personal millions if he if he's that successful. And now he's gonna try to go back out there and bury bury the past. And everyone, you know, the problem with this hobby, too, is this hobbies incredible ability to let people get away with it. This hobby is pretty this this hobby is filled with like a lot of cowardly people who literally don't pursue enough legal action against these crooks. They also don't speak up when these crooks go to pinball shows or see them out and about. Look, I know like it's hard, but I've been I've been at shows where like after J-pop stole all the money from people, he was still up on stage and people clapped. When Miro took the stage, who was the first person who stood up and and grilled him for how dare you come here and want to sell us a what was it like a Toaden 2.0 and no kit when you won't even address all the issues with Guns and Roses playfields. You know, the disgusting thing is is Mirro made double the money cuz when you bought your playfield at cost, he charged JJP for those playfields at cost. Mira's Mirao's made so many subpar playfields and he's multi-millionaire because of it. And he's a little weasel. He's a weasel. Dude's a weasel. So, I wish I I wish Ryan the best and you know, I took down the post and just it is what it is, man. It's just you got to be careful what you type on the internet, what you put in teams chats. I tell this people all the time that you there's no such thing as a private conversation that you put in a chat. It's one thing too if it's like if if you put it on like like if right now if someone just texted me something and they know it's only I have this then yeah but I think what happened to Ryan is there's probably a bunch of people on that chat and he has no idea who shared it. Uh Bill Brand is people that announce their taste is better than anothers when they say said thing is totally personal suck. Bill, is that is that you? Bill Brandis. People that announce their taste is better than another's when that said thing is totally personal suck. I don't even know if that's proper grammar. I can't even I can't. Bill, can you write can you put that into chat GPT and and say make this make sense and then repost it? Thank you. Uh I want some 2026 predictions. What does the landscape look like end of year? Okay, so [clears throat] Alex, good question. Here's what we know. End of the year landscape, we are going to be um looking at Spooky Pinball will be revealing Goonies. Okay, I if I'm going to make a guess, Barrels of Fun will be hopefully wrapping up the Winchesterers and I think they will usher out in I'm going to make a guess here. I think it's going to be never ending story is going to be the next game from Barrels of Fun at the end of the year. I am gonna tell you this right now. I do not think Dutch Pinball successfully reveals Back to the Future this year. I don't I I just do not I think um what we're going to get at the end of the year will be Sonic the Hedgehog will be announced middle of this year, but there won't that will be Jersey Jack's new game this year. Stern will have trans Pokemon Transformers Fallout. Kiss will be the game that they announce in uh October. So look at like whenever they announce The Walking Dead remastered. Expect them to announce Kiss Remastered at that time frame. So you know Elwin will probably be on Fallout. There's just too much There's just too much around that for it not to happen. Like I everybody's saying Fallout. I I do not think we are going to see a Batman anniversary. Uh from what I've heard, the Adam West family, I think that could be the issue. I also don't know if Joe Camnikau is going to help Stern out with that knowing that he's now working with Dutch on Back to the Future. So, I I don't think we're going to see an anniversary of Batman. Do I think a Batman anniversary edition would sell? Absolutely. I just don't think we're going to see it. We are never going to get a Lord of the Rings, you know. And I wish George Gomez would just say no. It's just not feasible with the licensing issues. There's no way Stern will ever be able to like get the movie assets into that game, contract all the actors. like they they had a you know they got it done in 2004 but I just think the way these properties operate now and the licensing deals operate and I wish George would just say that like Lord of the Rings because of that you're never going to see again. I I hate the way he dangles it like everything you want we're going to make. He hasn't done it. The The first two ones everybody wanted were Tron and Lord of the Rings. So nobody wanted Walking Dead. So I I do not expect there to be a Lord of the Rings remake. Will there be a surprise? You know, we Another game we don't talk about is um the Resident Evil game that will be coming out shortly from the pinball company in Sweden. Is it like World Pinball or something like that? Pinball World or something something along those lines. They're going to enter the pinball market. We're going to see a remake of Twilight Zone from CGC. We're going to see Toaden from Pedretti. We're going to see the [clears throat] next game from Pinball Brothers. So, just a lot, right? when you start to um so the thing with Bladeunner, Alex, is you're never going to get Harrison Ford's estate to approve. He's not dead. So Harrison Ford will never be a part of it. So I don't think you can make Bladeunner without Harrison Ford. Uh Jamie, I don't know, man. Like, do you really think we're going to get that Mark Ritchie Halo game from CGC? I you know, that game's been rumored now for three years. I think CGC, like I don't know, man. And if it's Halo, dead on arrival. Dead on arrival. Just like such a weird time for Halo, too. It's like that theme that I don't know. That property is not even like exciting. Well, I think Halo is going to bomb. Really? Why would you guys want to play a Halo pinball machine? I That's what I don't get. I would just rather play it on Xbox. Yeah, but like cause like playing Halo as a shooter makes sense. Playing it as a pinball machine. I don't know. Look, I'm happy you guys who are going to go in on Predator. Like, I just I just cannot own an Arnoldless Predator just on pure principle. Like I don't I just don't want to own an Arnold Predator. But have your fun. I also just, you know, I don't know. These wide bodies are just massive. I I just I don't know. I don't know. I mean, you will have a one of only 300, right? Game, but there's a reason why because nobody wanted it. Evil Dead gameplay sucks. I don't really hear that much. I never really hear people complain about the Evil Dead gameplay. I I usually hear people enjoy the gameplay on Evil Dead. So, you just got an Evil Dead and you think the gameplay sucks. It's not staying. Well, good for you. I mean, you'll be able hopefully you didn't pay a lot for it. Um, if you have an Evil Dead, uh, you can probably get $18,000 for that game right now. Too bouncy. Evil Dead gameplay is fine. It's no Harry Potter, but the code progression. Yeah, the the code is amazing. That's why Beetlejuice is going to crush because Beetlejuice gameplay is it looks really good. Has anyone here played Beetlejuice? Anybody? I I would love for someone who's played Beetlejuice to um to chime in in the chat. trading it for Beetlejuice spot and 14k. It's not a bad deal. Franchie Franchie ass. Oh man. Oh, I got water here. Thank god. Coffee, too. Nobody paying. No, I I don't know, man. people. Yeah, I've seen Evil Deads trade for 18. Beetlejuice has too many scoops. How many scoops does it have? Three. I don't know. Scoops are fine if they fire the ball back quickly. I just love the way Beetlejuice looks, man. I love the way it looks. I love that he can talk to the game. Carrie, how is Beetlejuice? Is it Is it um Is it too many scoops? Carrie? Carrie, what shoots better? Carrie, you've played both. Carrie, what shoots better, Beetlejuice or Winchester? Hate to put you on the spot, but I'm going to put you on the spot, brother. How you doing, Carrie? Love you. Beetle just looks amazing. Like, I don't even care if it even has balls in it. It looks amazing. See, the thing is for me, if the if they shoot comparable, I just think the Beetlejuice moments are going to be so much more fun for me because I just like Beetlejuice way more than I do Evil Dead. Carrie, did you get a Winchester? Did you get one? You know, I look I watched the three-hour Winchester stream or, you know, like an hour of it. I I just can't wait till the people get their Winchesterers and we get more mainstream reviews of the game. Uh it's a tough game. It's a tough game. A lot of stop and go lot like it's just hard to hit the shots. Winchester shoots way above its weight. What does that mean? What What do you mean it shoots above its weight? I don't even understand what that means. Like what how like what what game shoots its weight? You know, when you say someone's like punching above their weight, it means like a company is doing work well beyond its scope, right? That people don't expect. So, is that what you mean? that Winchester shoots better than you expect, but it's still got some frustrating shots. See, I think Carl as a designer is actually I think it's I think it's like that to me that's the issue. You don't want someone too good designing. Well, it it's not that. You don't you see this is why like when you watch him play even he I think he made a game that's got great challenge for it's a challenge for him to get through the game but that's the problem is like with shots that tight he doesn't know [clears throat] you know he doesn't know how to make a shot open enough for most people to enjoy it. That's That's always going to be an issue when someone's like way too good and they design something like this. It's like if a race car driver designed the the suspension setup on a vehicle, he might be able to set it up at a level where he could, you know, he could control it, but you put that in the hands of someone who's not as experienced and they'll crash every time. [clears throat] I think he's smart enough to figure that out. I don't know, man. I don't know. When I'm watching people play the game, it it does it definitely feels like there's a bunch of shots that are just really super tight. And I mean, this isn't me saying this. It's like the dude streaming it after three hours. He's like, "Ah, it's brutal." Right? Is brutal a word you really want to associate with what the game play is of a pinball machine? Brutal. You want brutal to be Okay. So, I don't know. I don't want my I don't in the amount of time I have to play. This is like what I This is the thing that frustrates me about Guns and Roses is it's br it's a brutal game too. There are so many areas in G&R that are so close to the flipper that just can create instant drains and you can't save it. No, No, no. So the the here's what makes a good game. You can hit the shots, right? The shot the shots should all feel rewarding, not challenging to find. See, that's the thing. And what should make a game hard is the the code should be where the challenge lies, not in the shot geometry. And that that is a big difference. And yeah, like a game where you never can get to anything deep in it is also badly badly designed. This is why Lyman was the best ever, man. Because like it's like Batman when you Batman's a little clunky, but you know exactly what to do. It's got a lot to do. But if you want to like get to the end of Batman and get to like the the wizard mode like or Batusi or you know the escape when they all escape from the prison, you you you're you maybe might see that, you know, if you're a decent player like once a month, but you can get there. Yeah, I think Potter definitely does do that, Bill. I I just think smoothness is key, right? right? Cuz like look, a game could drain a lot, but if it's smooth and it's fast, even if you feel like you're holding on a little bit like to me like Elton John is a good example of a game that is just so smooth and it's just so satisfying to shoot. You know, Elton John games don't last forever and you can have super quick games, you can have a few longer games, but that's to me like it's just satisfying. And if you walk up to a game and like shots are super annoying, it's kind of like what Kill dialed in. Like people forget like what Kill dialed in was like really one thing other than I mean not one thing, but what really was the final nail in the coffin of dialed in is like the sim cart shot. So it had this like essential shot to get through the game and to see more and unlock more of like the moments of magic. And it's like an impossible shot to hit. It's like the only way to hit it is like off of like a random deflection into the scoop. They like Pat Lawler like made it annoying. And you like you guys know games like Indiana Jones, right? To start a mode, right? Have you guys ever played Indiana Jones? You've played them. You've all played it, right? Look how narrow that mode. It's It's stupid. [clears throat] Potter is a great game. Almost too easy. Really? Okay. See, it's it's beneficial not to get too good at pinball. Then you'll just enjoy everything. Jaws I think I got to the boy who lived because I opened the coin door like 85 times. I just wanted to see, you know, it gets really cool when you get to those wizard modes in Potter. Like they they when when they go full screen on the clips and the machine is shaking and the lights are going and the intensity and the music, it's it's pretty um it's pretty damn near pinball perfect in my honest opinion. I feel like I might I might get a Potter one day. What what's fun about No, like there there's going to be a lot of Potter CES out there. A lot of them. It's a great game. It's a great game. It's like what is there to say, you know, to me like, you know, Stern games are um great. They have great feel. And also just where I think we all grew up most of us with the stern feel. So it became the you know satisfying to always have that stern feel in a game. And I think when you would jump on a game like a Dutch game or you know the old JJPs like they they felt sluggish. They felt slow. Even I felt that way even when I played Labyrinth for the first time. I was like this feels sluggish. And then you go on a stern like snap snap and you're just like snapping shots like you're just it's like firing the ball up and you you know you can you can catch the ball easier, you can cradle it, you can pass it amongst you know you post pass it. The gameplay on a Stern was like phenomenal. Now I feel like Spooky's got better gameplay. So does JJP. Um I think Dutch is still a little sluggish. If you play Alice that flipper feels not as good as a Stern game. No, I I don't think Potter is easy. I I don't Sonic. Who's ready for Sonic? Who's ready for Sega? Sega Sonic based on the 80s video game. Something's going to happen on the Sonic cabinet that um you're going to want to not have that Sonic in between pins. I'll just say that. How does Kina know that? What is What does he know? I mean, Ready Player One, man, is a great book. I can't wait. Sonic was 91. Okay. All right. 91. Really? I feel like Sonic I feel like I've played Sonic before then. What's G? So, here's Sonic will be the fastest pinball machine ever. What's the one change in how pinball companies market new and box games that would most immediately protect buyers from feeling I'm going to read this question here from uh from David. Feeling burned. What's the one change in how pinball companies market new box games? Well, I don't think it's a change. I I think the best way not to feel burned with noon box is you know exactly how you know exactly how many of the collectible version or the highest end version of the game they're going to make and then also you there's like a guarantee that they're never making more. I think we're going to get a loop in Sonic for sure. Um, the thing is this here here's the thing also, you know, to that question of what's the one marketing thing you would change. Here's the greatest marketing thing is I would only want to bring to market new inbox pinball machines that I know people would never want to sell. Because once you bring something to market that is based on something people love and the game itself is a masterpiece, nobody cares about no one no one will ever feel like they got burned. You know what I'm saying? Because you delivered something magical to them. They won't care. Look, Look, Harry Potter CE owners are not caring that there's an unlimited run of CES. Why? because it's a masterpiece. Sonic will be the same thing. Beetlejuice is limited, but it's also Beetlejuice to me is going to turn out to be a masterpiece. The reason why people feel burned by like a by all these new and box stern games is because the games are not great. The games are overpriced and the games are mediocre and the games have been they've been cutting corners. They've been yanking stuff out of their platform and charging more. The reason why people feel burned by Stern is because when you you celebrate a Raspberry Pi as an improvement, f you. You know what I'm saying? It's like when you when you make the cabinets cheaper and then you try to sell it to us as an improvement, like screw you. Like any woodworking company will tell you that that's cheaper, right? So when George wants to say this is this is an improvement because it's easier to put the decals on or if there's a scratch on one side of the cabinet, we can just send you the like a piece of it. It doesn't matter. It's cheaper. So you you got a company that just make everything cheaper cheaper and then charge you more more and it's like so yeah like the burn began when they decided to go down that road. See, Stern's in the Stern wants to make volume. And it's fine, but just be the volume play at the volume price. But don't be the volume play at at the boutique price or at the high-end price, then then I've got a problem with you. If I go to McDonald's and a quarter pounder is like $28, like they're out of business. But yet somehow people think Stern will continue to survive at these prices with these products. They're not. And it doesn't matter what any dealer or DRO says. is like what an individual dealer or DRO did last year is not indicative of what Stern did as an organization. Your sales might be up. So what? That just means you found some new people to buy the media the mediocre crap they're putting in a box. That's not indicative of how Stern does as a company. And it's very clear that they are not doing as well as they used to. It's very clear what their strategy is. And it's very clear they don't care to lose a lot of us to gain newbies who won't have any frame of reference really. You know, newbies who will open up the new cabinet not know like oh that looks cheap because they don't that's to them that's all they know when when they see a walking dead for 13,000 like they think a walking dead is worth 13,000. They don't know that a walking dead used to be 6,500. So they don't they don't know you know they need more. They the only way Stern survives and get and grows pinball is through modern ignorance. And that to me is not a winning strategy. What they should have done like I recommended to them is they should have really doubled down on everybody who loved them, who supported them all these years. And they should have made marketing moves that showed those people how much they cared. They should have made moves to support those individuals. and they should have incentivized those individuals to invite a friend into the hobby and they would have doubled their business over the next 5 years. Instead, they went all in on Insider Connected. They think these stupid badges are the reason why their games will have replay value and they basically started remaking everything because they didn't care about pissing off their old loyal customers. They would rather have newbies come in and buy games for almost twice as much as they used to cost uh and and just get that short-term gain. Cook the books. Cook the books. And the reason why they were cooking the books short-term because Seth's job was to sell the company. You That is why you make moves like this. You want to show shortterm amazing results so that you can find a buyer. And they didn't. And now they're at the mercy of the private equity people that are keeping the lights on. The work environment seems toxic. The stories I hear from people over there are don't do not paint a picture of a company that you want to walk through the door every day and have this dream job in pinball. It's big. It's It's on the outside looking in, it seems very very attractive. But I think the, you know, like all great empires fall from within. And when I hear what's happening over at Stern, it feels like an environment where everyone's going in punching a clock, you know, they they do not feel like they they the pressures on them have have destroyed, I think, a lot of the vibes and the culture. And again, prove us wrong, Stern, for Show me a Show me what is a Show me a $13,000 product. You know what? Let's be honest. Show me with a topper included what a $15,000 pinball machine you can make and prove me wrong and and I will 100% buy one of them. I'm hoping it's Transformers. I think Pokemon's going to be mediocre, but I just again you you can't hide anymore that your product does not look like it's worth that. And it's not just the LE, it's the the unlimited premiums for 10 grand. Okay, cool. buy one and see, you know, lose two $3,000 in one year. And then, you know, again, only the multi-millionaires are like, well, you know, it's just like a car. It just depreciate. And we never used to talk like that. Things never lost $3,000 in a year. Things some of their games have lost $7,000 in two years. How can you The games didn't even cost $7,000 like like eight years ago. How now you can lose $7,000 on a Venom. Like Like and literally people like, well, you know, like is so negative. He's so I'm not the toxic one. I'm not I'm the only one who like was like like literally like don't forget this stuff. Why do they think their game was their games with a topper? They think their products were $15,000. That was the price of Batman SLE. There's only 80 in the world. And look how nice Batman SLE and that was like six years. That was 10 years ago. 10 freaking years ago. And they can't even like make a game that looks that good again. And they want to march this Star Wars out and have stupid C-3PO playing at at E3 and and what? So what? So what? Now you got a you got a banger now because you got to hire a guy in a costume. Stern, you know the who did? They didn't have to put anybody in a Beetlejuice costume to sell those games out. And look, the Stern army is just looking more and more like apologist, apologist, apologist. George goes on the, you know, he goes on his tour to talk about what now they had a chance to really land with a new platform elevate. They They made their new platform cheaper. Like it's just so funny to me. It's like because because people are so stupid in this hobby. And And I mean that like do you understand like the speakers that were in that game before might have been like $15 speakers, right? So now they're like $30, but they raised the price by three freaking thousand. You like people like wake up. Wake up. They go from an Ellie costing like 10 to 13, right? Look at everything that's in Godzilla and look at what's in Star Wars. And then what? Because the LCD screen, which probably at most is a $50 item, and speakers that are $15 more a pop. You're like, "It sounds better, man. It's better." Like Raspberry Pi is 50 bucks at most. So like what? Like what do you see? And then they go and make every game look the same. I can't even tell you. If I just like quickly looked at King Kong, other than the translate, everything looks the same. The cabinets all look the same. The playfields are all the same. They go like, you know, like if I'm going to spend 13,000, I want my playfield to be different than the $10,000 premium. Nope. Not doing it. Cheap, Cheap, cheap. How do we just make every How do we make the margins cheaper? How do we just just keep making them? Keep making them. Keep making them. Stern has some banger games. Feel like they'd be better off only releasing two games a year and not rushing stuff out. They can always sell a lot. Yeah. Well, look, here here's the thing. They don't they they I agree with that. Like it's much better to sell a lot of Godzilla's and a lot of Jawses versus like bringing out like games that are just D and D and then you know Star Wars and problem is the problem is because they they have a they have inventory so the sales are not as bad as we think. So a lot of a lot of fools will buy Star Wars at full price. Yeah, they will. They'll get they'll lose their shirt when they go to get rid of it, but they will buy it. They just don't know. And unfortunately, it's like what that will do is just reinforce their business decisions to aim for mediocrity and cost cutting. You know, because you got to remember like so if they cost cut, cost cut, cost cut and they still find a few thousand people to spend at these prices, they're not going to change. They're not going to put more in. they're going to keep going this way. You know, their their market strategy now is to find more people that consider this to be worth this. We will never be that. The people that have been in this hobby as long as we have, we will never be like that. The newbies that have joined the Canada Club and and are hanging out here, consider yourselves very lucky because now, you know, now you get educated. That's all it comes down to. Like the educated pinball buyer is laughing at all these stern offerings at these prices, you know, and the educated buyer is simply going to wait. I'm not saying don't buy Star Wars, but buy a Star Wars LE for eight grand, which is what it will be in a couple months. You see what I'm saying? You can buy a Star Wars LE for $8,000 in just a couple months. So, would you rather spend 13 when the code's not complete or
or eight? So you you give Canada $5 a month and you save $5,000. It'll be $8,000. Star Wars. It'll be eight. It'll It'll it's going to go the same route as Venom, the same route as, you know, John Wix. We're going for eight is the same. Like gang, that's where they land now. That's where they land. There's so many of them and nobody cares. The real damage to Stern's Ellie's sort of like moniker is nobody cares anymore about their less. They just don't care. It's just a stern LE now means nothing because the premium looks exactly the same. Everything looks exact the pro looks ex the pro looks as good. This is the This is their real They did not They did not institute enough of a differentiator between the Ellie and the Premium. They all look the same. Does Harry Potter CE look like Harry Potter wizard edition, right? Beetlejuice only has one edition. Winchester one edition. You know, you don't feel like, oh man, someone got the same game for No. I I don't like the Spike 3 speakers. They look terrible. Again, I just think they like All right, we are at the 11:30 mark. You got me going. So, that's it. Stern, you got your work cut out. As I said earlier, I think Stern needs to win me back and I think they need to win a lot of you back. And much like, you know, everyone real everyone feels the same. If they if they achieve it, we'll be back. And I don't want Stern to make crappy games. I don't want Stern to make crappy Star Wars games like this. I don't want Stern to make uninspired, rushed out Star Wars games. I don't want that. I don't want them to waste 18 months developing Venom. I don't want that. I don't want another Marvel game. I don't need another dadrock game. I want Stern to make stuff based on nostalgia, 80s and 90s IP that I love. I want them to put mechanical magic sculpts instead of flat plastics. When you look at the flat plastics with the screws on Walking Dead, get the f out of here for 13 fing,000. It's so stupid. So stupid, gang. They don't even they It's like they don't even walk around. Like this looks like [ __ ] I I don't mean to curse, but I'm going to curse right now. This looks like [ __ ] And the competition is putting fully sculpted, 3D sculpted stuff, painted, whatever. Like, just beautiful stuff. Look at us. Look at Dune next to Star Wars. Look at Winchester next to Star Wars. Look at Beetlejuice next to Star Wars. Hundreds of people walked by Star Wars. Yep. We Yep. Yep. That's good, man. Man, doesn't it look like Jabba's a glowworm and he's transparent? Like, shouldn't we get like a shouldn't we spend more money and have a better sculpt of Jabba? Like, that looks really cheap. Nope. Nope. Man, Walking Dead, all these silver screws everywhere on the flat plastics. This looks bad. Like, shouldn't we like, I don't know, maybe try to figure out a soft Nope. Nope. Flat plastic away. Flat plastic away. And yeah, so cool. Keep losing thousands of dollars on the on the varants that are supposed to be holding value. How stupid can one be to continue to throw money at a just like this version is supposed to be the one that [snorts] holds value limited edition. It's three. $3500 more than the premium. $3500 more. What do you get for $3500? Do you get sculpts? Do you get an exclusive mech? Do you get exclusive modes? Do you even get a topper? Do you get what do you get? So, as long as you want to like hardly make any difference mirrored back. It's not even a real mirror. You guys go go look at Lord of the Rings back glass. That's a mirror. Stern's just cheap glass. It's not like a nice mirrored back glass. It's just reflective cheap. It's cheap. And again, like it's like like do it like does nobody like realize what you can get for $3500? That's probably almost the bomb on the entire freaking game. Am I wrong? Am I wrong? Are Are people going to cancel their subscription? No, they're they're not. They're not. And And you know what we're seeing is an awakening by a lot more people to this. Look, the reason why they're willing to pay again, you know, the look, the reason why they're willing to pay, it's like there the the volume on all of this industry is tiny. You know what I'm saying? The volume is tiny on all of this. There's so many people that have $13,000. It means nothing to them. You know, like what's that saying? If you could take a pile of money and light it on fire, would it change your life? It means I could take $13,000, light it on fire. It doesn't matter. It's not going to change my life. It's not going to make anything different. You know, so these people, you know, they can spend it. They, you know, people are making a lot of money. They make a lot of money off their money. Like, it's small. It's a small niche hobby, you know? But it's just fun watching these suckers go in because they cuz no educated when you really no educated pinball enthusiast who's been in this hobby long enough wrote a check for $13,000 for a Star Wars Ellie. What if you saw it? If you've seen an educated person open and in new inbox LE of Star Wars, [clears throat] you know, someone who's been around for a while, you know exactly that they paid probably 105 for the game that their dealer Dro friend sold it to them at cost and just wanted the game gone. And that's something that they'll never tell you, but a lot of, you know, there's there's con there's other content creators, maybe there's like, you know, people on a lot of people are getting deals that they can't disclose. Okay. I I didn't say Retro. I don't think he did. I But there's there's just people that get deals. [clears throat] But, you know, I would just hate to spend 13 on something and then it's like going to be worth like nine pretty quickly. Like, wh why do you think is is this is the four months of playing it worth three $3,000 $4,000? Well, Neil Mcra is just he's super loaded. You guys know that. I mean, Neil's worth tens of millions of dollars if not hundred million dollar. Like Neil Neil, it doesn't matter to Neil. You know what I'm saying? When Neil has a Neil could have a $1,500 lunch every day and it wouldn't matter to him. He think about like do you ever He's flying He flies all over the world to every pinball thing imaginable. He does I don't think he he doesn't have to work another day in his life. His money he's making money passively every day. And that's good. I'm happy for Neil, but he's he's you know, he's up here like those those that's not what Stern needs to survive. They need more consistency. You know, in the end, gang, I just hope all of you just take care of yourselves more. You know, when I see these people where like they're so into pinball and like they're not they're, you know, they need to take care of their health more, you know, cuz you know what you don't want to have is a half a million dollar pinball collection and then have like a massive heart attack at like 5560. What I want to do is have no pinball machines and be alive to 90 and see my grandkids born. I' I'd rather see that than have a big pinball collection. and, you know, not not look out for myself. I wish you guys all the best Saturday ever. Go to the gym. I'm going to the gym after this. Going to go work out. [clears throat] Neil Mcgra on their bingo card. That's funny. Um, that's really funny. We need to do a Canada pinball bingo card. That's like Neil Mcra showing a stern post, you know? Um, what else would be on that bingo card? I don't know. Be funny. Anyway, guys, have a great day. We'll talk to you soon. Nothing but love. Thank you for uh for hanging out. We'll do this again soon. And lots of shows coming next week. We got Go Bills is right. I think they're going to win. I do think they're going to win. Josh Allen, man. You got to go with the experienced quarterback. That's what wins in the postseason. Go Hawks. Go sports this week. All right. Later later, guys on Facebook.