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Pinball Magazine & Pinball News PINcast July 2023 recap

Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast·podcast_episode·1h 23m·analyzed·Aug 4, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.039

TL;DR

Venom launches amid pricing concerns; Centaur Revisited announced; Stern hires Zombie Yeti as staff artist.

Summary

July 2023 pinball industry recap covering Stern's Venom launch (Brian Eddy design, $13K LE pricing causing lukewarm response), Haggis Pinball's Centaur Revisited reissue (limited Beast/Oblivion editions at $10K-$16.7K), multiple Stern staff appointments including Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) as full-time project artist, and news from Hexa Pinball and Pinball Brothers. Notable themes: pricing concerns on premium machines, artist talent consolidation at Stern, and manufacturer expansion.

Key Claims

  • Venom LE priced at $12,999 with 1,000 units available

    high confidence · Jonathan Euston and Martin Hamm cite official Stern pricing for cornerstone releases

  • Venom code shipped at version 0.87+ at launch, unusually complete for Stern release

    high confidence · Martin Hamm notes this is atypical and 'quite promising' for code maturity at launch

  • Insider Connected integration allows save progression across multiple machines and tracks fastest wizard mode completion

    high confidence · Jonathan describes feature architecture in detail

  • Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) hired as full-time Project Artist at Stern after freelance work

    high confidence · Breaking announcement mentioned as coming 'yesterday at time of recording' (early July 2023)

  • Centaur Revisited Beast Edition priced at 15,000 AUD (~$10K USD); Oblivion Edition at 25,000 AUD (~$16.7K USD)

    high confidence · Martin Hamm provides official Haggis pricing announced July 12, 2023

  • Centaur Revisited features option for colorized playfield in Oblivion Edition after customer requests

    high confidence · Jonathan notes this 'defeats the whole purpose' of original monochromatic Paul Ferris design

  • Brian Eddy designed both Venom and Stranger Things for Stern, both initially lukewarm but improved through code updates

    high confidence · Martin and Jonathan compare launch reception and software maturation trajectory

  • Mark Tremonti (Creed/Alter Bridge) provided 12 music tracks for Venom including Godfather theme

    high confidence · Jonathan details licensing and notes Tremonti's prior work with Jersey Jack

  • Scientific Games Corporation has rebranded as Light and Wonder Inc. (LNW) for Williams licensing

    high confidence · Martin discovered this in Centaur Revisited documentation

Notable Quotes

  • “I think at this point these price increases, or the current pricing anyway, is sort of causing a lukewarm response in the people enthusiastic market”

    Martin Hamm @ ~10:30 — Direct critique of $13K LE pricing model sustainability and market reception

  • “It's not exactly an impulse buy, is it, at that kind of price? You don't immediately think, oh, I'll buy a limited edition, and then you look at the price, and then it causes you to think twice about it.”

    Jonathan Euston @ ~11:00 — Articulates friction in three-tier pricing model (Pro/Premium/LE) affecting purchasing behavior

  • “The code is probably the most ground-breaking part of this game... to me this is what's really changed with this is what they call the tagline for the game is choose your host change the game”

    Martin Hamm @ ~15:30 — Identifies Venom's core innovation as software architecture (dynamic playfield changes) rather than mechanical novelty

  • “Venom has actually been ready to go for quite some time... It seems to have an awful lot of software in there for a launch title, which is unusual for Stern.”

    Martin Hamm @ ~13:00 — Notes atypically mature code delivery for Stern, suggesting extended development cycle

  • “I congratulate Jeremy on being hired as project artist at Stern, it seems to me that we're getting a little bit of somebody getting overkill lately... there's a lot of them but they have all been Deathfall, Turtles Foo Fighters of course Venom Iron Maiden”

    Jonathan Euston @ ~35:00 — Signals concern about Zombie Yeti's overuse across recent Stern releases and potential monopoly on comic-book aesthetic treatments

  • “If you figured you missed out because you found out too late, you still have a chance to buy the game... Both [Beast and Oblivion editions] are still available at this moment”

    Martin Hamm @ ~48:00 — Indicates limited edition stock not sold out despite scarcity marketing—suggests demand shortfall

  • “Very sad to see her [Shelley Sacks Eldridge] passing... she was really running the company for a significant amount of time, particularly when Gary was off at shows”

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyVenomgameBrian EddypersonJeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti)personDwight SullivanpersonHaggis Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Hexa Pinball (French boutique) expanding to larger Bordeaux facility due to significant Space Hunt order volume, indicating healthy demand and scaling plans. Lacks specific unit numbers but implies production confidence.

    medium · Martin: 'orders are significant enough for them to move to a larger facility... didn't actually specify any numbers about how many games have been ordered but it looked like they'd moved to a new factory unit'

  • ?

    business_signal: Scientific Games Corporation formally rebranded to Light and Wonder Inc. (LNW) as licensor of Williams Electronics IP for 2.0 remakes. This signals shift in corporate identity and potential future branding changes across pinball licensing.

    high · Martin: 'Scientific Games Corporation will now do business as Light and Wonder Inc... You probably won't see Scientific Games' name appearing on future 2.0 or remakes, but you will see Light and Wonder or LNW'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Venom's host-selection mechanic and Insider Connected features noted as innovation but early reception appears 'lukewarm' according to hosts. Comparison to Stranger Things (also Brian Eddy) which had lukewarm launch but improved through code updates suggests similar trajectory expected.

    medium · Martin: 'similar to Stranger Things when that game was launched also a Brian Eddy game at Stern lukewarm reception and over time people still warm up to the game' and notes software improvements key to eventual acceptance

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Jonathan expresses concern that host-selection mechanic on Venom reduces game accessibility for casual players unfamiliar with Marvel Venom character/lore, similar to Game of Thrones house selection mechanic. Criticizes knowledge barrier for pick-your-host mechanics.

    high · Jonathan: 'if you're not [aware of the license], you have no clue what you're why you should pick a character... the whole concept is a bit alien if you didn't pardon the pun when you first walk up to it and it says pick your host... that's why I'm not that fond of all those options because I think it makes pinball less accessible'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.249

0:00
Venom is launched Centaur Revisited is also launched Lots of new job appointments Hi, my name is Jonathan Euston I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine and I'm joined by Hi, I'm Martin Hamm and I'm the editor of Pinball News and we're here to look back on all the excitement that took place in the pinball world during the month of July 2023.
0:32
It's been quite an exciting month, yes. Two new game announcements, so to speak, although one is a rerun, and one new game that we have been expecting for over a year.
0:47
And, yeah, so lots of news. So let's dive in straight away, shall we? Yeah, our first headline is about the launch of Stone Pinball's new Venom game, which they designed by Brian Eddy. Yes, who we know of Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness and Stranger Things that he did for Stern which apparently while being a lukewarm title when launched apparently is going back into production due to demand.
1:20
Popular demand I would say. Okay, well that's good news that there's still demand for that title. But His latest game, I should say, is Venom, based on the Marvel character. Yeah, I never heard of that, by the way, but okay. No, it wasn't what I was familiar with. Actually, I did know there was a movie some time ago, which I think I watched on a plane and decided I didn't really get on with. I didn't think it was that exciting. I can't remember whether it was Tom Hardy who was playing the lead character who became Venom. But anyway, doing a bit of research to find out more about the Venom character, it seems like there's a lot of opportunities for interaction between Venom and other Marvel Universe characters. And that, of course, is what has turned up, materialized in the Stern game. Yeah, which is also immediately one of the things that turns me off instantly, because it reminds me of you really have to be aware of or knowledgeable about in this case the license Venom the comic because if you're not you have no clue what you're why you should pick a character to or something else well the whole concept is a bit alien if you didn't pardon the pun when you first walk up to it and it says, no, pick your host. If you don't know anything about Benham, you go, well, what's a host? Yeah, but that's the same like on Game of Thrones, pick your house. Yeah, well, that was confusing as well. Yeah, exactly. So that's why I'm not that fond of all those options because I think it makes pinball less accessible to people in general. yeah although i suspect um a significant number of casual players will just walk up to it and just play whatever it gives you just hit the launch button and uh yeah and take it from there but it is it is one of those games or it seems to be one of those games which is stress we haven't played it it did premiere at comic-con this year and not entirely surprising given the theme, where it was available to play, both on the show floor and in the special Stern presentation in a neighbouring hotel. Right.

  • Pinball Brothers Queen game price reduced $300 from $9,295 to $8,995 MSRP

    high confidence · Jonathan cites official Pinball Brothers announcement

    • Jonathan Euston @ ~42:00 — Marks passing of Stern co-founder's longtime office manager; reflects on her operational role in company founding (1986)

  • “The colorised playfield artwork... I guess you get to choose what colour it's going to be. So it went on sale... and as you also said, both are still available.”

    Martin Hamm @ ~50:30 — Notes customer customization option and slow sales despite limited production (50 Oblivion/250 Beast units)

    • Centaur Revisited
    game
    Pinball Brotherscompany
    Hexa Pinballcompany
    Mark Tremontiperson
    Shelley Sachs Eldridgeperson
    Dorothy Brownperson
    Jonathan Eustonperson
    Martin Hammperson
    Josh Riggle (The Riggler)person
    Gary Sternperson
    Light and Wonder Inc. (LNW)company
    Paul Ferrisperson
    Planetary Pinball Supply (PPS)company
    Kyle Spiteriperson
  • ?

    licensing_signal: Mark Tremonti providing music for Stern Venom while maintaining freelance work with other manufacturers (Jersey Jack history). Hosts discuss tension between securing top talent as full-time vs. freelance, suggesting industry competition for specialized creatives.

    medium · Jonathan: 'there's this temptation to want to tie them up, especially if they're freelance, with your company so they don't do any work for anybody else' and notes Tremonti previously worked with Jersey Jack

  • $

    market_signal: Pinball Brothers reduced Queen Champions Edition MSRP by $300 ($9,295→$8,995), signaling manufacturer willingness to adjust pricing downward—rare in pinball market. Possible response to pricing resistance.

    high · Jonathan: 'often we see a price decrease, so we should applaud that. Well done, Pinball Brothers.'

  • $

    market_signal: Centaur Revisited (limited to 300 units total: 250 Beast + 50 Oblivion) remains in stock weeks after announcement, contradicting scarcity expectations. Both editions still available for pre-order with deposits.

    high · Martin: 'when it was limited to a total of 300 machines, people were thinking, well, that's not very many. They're going to sell out in next to no time. And yet, I checked literally just before we started recording this, and you can order both versions... at this moment'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) transitioned to full-time staff artist at Stern. Jonathan expresses concern that Packer's artistic style is being overused across recent Stern releases (Deathfall, TMNT, Foo Fighters, Venom, Iron Maiden), suggesting potential creative monopoly or consolidation.

    high · Jonathan: 'I do have to say that while I congratulate Jeremy on being hired as project artist at Stern, it seems to me that we're getting a little bit of somebody getting overkill lately' and lists multiple recent comic-book style titles

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Multiple Stern hires announced in July 2023: Jeremy Packer (Project Artist), Tim Morrison (Technical Service Engineer), Julia Mistiel (Senior Staff Accountant), Dave Hegg (Software Tester/Technician), Elizabeth Geisk (Software Developer), Madeline Benz (Customer Service), Thea Ayad (Director of Programme Management), Joe Westone (Manager of Financial Planning). Also notable retirements: Dorothy Brown (parts manager, 20 years).

    high · Hosts cite official Stern announcements of multiple hires across engineering, software, finance, and artist roles

  • $

    market_signal: Venom LE priced at $13K with Premium at $9.7K, creating $3.3K gap. Hosts note lukewarm market response and buyers reconsidering purchases due to price points. Haggis Centaur Oblivion at $16.7K USD shows similar premium tier pricing friction.

    high · Martin: 'these price increases, or the current pricing anyway, is sort of causing a lukewarm response in the people enthusiastic market' and 'rumors from the Internet, lots of LEs and premiums and pro models still available with Stern distributors all over the world'

  • ?

    product_concern: Hosts identify Venom's strength in software/rules architecture ('most ground-breaking part') while mechanical innovations are incremental variations on known designs (diverter, ramps, crane-like mechs). Hardware innovations minimal despite premium pricing.

    high · Martin: 'there's some different mechs on there but they're not really anything we haven't seen before... the hardware is not hugely different' vs. 'the code is probably the most ground-breaking part'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Venom shipping with unusually mature code (v0.87+) for Stern launch, featuring complex Insider Connected integration tracking wizard mode completion times across machines. Hosts note this is atypical maturity level for Stern releases.

    high · Martin: 'It seems to have an awful lot of software in there for a launch title, which is unusual for Stern. And so I think that's quite promising because it gives people a very much better understanding of how the game is going to work eventually'

    • 3:45
    And for the first time at Comic-Con, as far as I am aware, Stern did actually a presentation on the reveal of the game, with Brian Eddy present and Seth Davis as well, and Zach Sharp. head of Stern's marketing division right so sort of like a panel yes which I don't think we've seen at Comic Con before panels yes but not with Stern Pimple yeah well I think this particular title was particularly appropriate for that show and to do a presentation or seminar with it's as we said it's a Brian Edger design Dwight Sullivan leading up the software so you can be pretty sure there will be lots of deep rules in this game the art of course is by Zombie Yeti, Jeremy Packer and we will come back to him a little bit later in this section there will be a little news about him but so when they launched it as they generally do now with new games, cornerstone games anyway, there was a small number of limited edition models available. We should say as a cornerstone game, there is the Pro, the Premium and the LE. Okay. There's, I think there's a thousand LEs. Yes. Available for that.
    5:22
    Pricing was, I think the limited edition was priced at 12,999, so 13,000 US dollars. What? Yeah, the premium was $9,699, so that's $3,300 less than the limited edition. Right. And the pro model was priced, or is priced, at just under $7,000, $6,999, which I think, I don't think that's an increase on previous prices, but maybe the limited edition it might be, but 13,000 is a lot for a limited edition. I think you're getting quite a bit. You'd want to be getting quite a bit for your extra $3,300.
    6:10
    Right, yeah. I think at this point these price increases, or the current pricing anyway, is sort of causing a lukewarm response in the people enthusiastic market, so to speak. Well, yeah, it's not exactly a, what do you call it, an impulse buy, is it, at that kind of price? You don't immediately think, oh, I'll buy a limited edition, and then you look at the price, and then it causes you to think twice about it.
    6:44
    Yeah, exactly. So apparently, if we have to believe the rumors from the Internet, lots of LEs and premiums and pro models still available with Stern distributors all over the world. So if you're interested into one of these models, you might as well go for it now because similar to Stranger Things when that game was launched also a Brian Eddy game at Stern lukewarm reception and over time people still warm up to the game so to speak and then they want it but it's more expensive than when you could have bought it new Also, I think the software on Stranger Things improved significantly over time. But as we mentioned last time in the previous month's Pincast, Venom has actually been ready to go for quite some time. Yeah, I haven't seen any code updates for Venom, assuming that it's mostly complete already. Yeah, it's certainly not at version 1.0 yet. I think it was only like 0.8, I'm probably wrong, I think it was only like 0.87 when they were showing it. But it seems to have an awful lot of software in there for a launch title, which is unusual for Stern. And so I think that's quite promising because it gives people a very much better understanding of how the game is going to work eventually. With a lot of games, they bring out the code is at one level and then it changes completely by the time it actually matures fully. but I think what we're seeing now is quite deep and when we're talking about the code I think it's actually worth looking at that a little more closely because to me the code is probably the most ground-breaking part of this game. Yeah, there's some different mechs on there but they're not really anything we haven't seen before. Maybe they're all under targets on the right-hand side for the doppelganger that's slightly different, but in a way it's like a version of the crane that we've seen before on Batman and on Dark Knight as well. Right, yeah, okay. So the hardware is not hugely different. Well, I thought the diverter on the Premium and the LE is something that we haven't seen. It's true, it's a three position diverter so it can either be a bash or it can be a ball lock or it can be a 180 I think oh and also you can roll under it you can lock the ball or it can be a 180 U-turn ramp so it has three possible positions and on the right hand side there's another ramp which can either be a ramp or a roll under shot as well but they're kind of like variations on something we've seen before but what's really changed I think with this is what they call the tagline for the game is choose your host change the game which means that certainly on the LE and the premium various aspects of the play field change that diverter, that ramp the settings for those differ depending on who you pick as your start host character but also it's been far more integrated now with the insider connected system which means that when you log on to the game when you play your first game however far you've got, that is saved against your account and then if you go and play the game, either the same machine or another machine it will pick up from where you left off last time so you can actually work your way through the entire game over time without having to start from scratch every time, which is a nice feature. And also it's got a timer which runs all the way through the game until you actually defeat the wizard mode. So there's a high score for how long or the fastest person to complete it across multiple machines and multiple games. So I think that's a nice feature that they've added. I suppose that's something that we rolled out maybe to previous titles as well. They do tend to have all these features, like achievements and all that kind of stuff, ending up being retrofitted to previous titles. So it would be nice to see that. It might actually add some added impetus to older games to have this new feature. Yeah.
    11:46
    It's definitely interesting. It makes me wonder immediately, okay, once you walk up to a machine it gives you the option to probably continue where you were or start all over again but let's say you start over again do you still have the option on a future game to continue where you left the last time not being the game that you're about to play yeah because I believe there is the option to reset your save position back to the beginning Right, okay. Because I can imagine that if you're, for example, in a company of other people playing along, you all want to start at the same point. If you're playing a four-player game, for example, because it wouldn't be fair scoring-wise, I suppose, if you're already, I don't know, three levels deep in the game, scoring might be completely different compared to level one. Oh true, but then you have the option of just not logging in, you want to start from the beginning Oh yeah, sure But you might miss out on another insider connected badge Yeah, achievement, yeah, that's right Yeah I'm sure there'll be plenty of those to go around so I won't worry about that So I don't know what else to say about Venom It's a beautiful looking game So obviously got the art from Jeremy, as we said before. What was another interesting feature about the package is that it includes a dozen music tracks from Mark Tremonti, from Alter Bridge, and I'm trying to think who his other band was. But he previously, his main claim to fame, I suppose, would be that he has, oh, Creed, of course, yes. was that he did music for Jersey Jack Pinball. Right. Including the sting that goes along with their title animation for the company. Yeah, and also... And The Godfather as well. Yes, I was going to say, we're going to get to that. Yeah, so he did a particular version of the main theme from The Godfather, which is included in the pinball machine. there's a video in there you can actually see him performing it as well so interesting to see that he's now doing stuff for Stern right well already did some time ago I suppose but yes that's right yes that's true yeah exactly the timing of it is a little unclear but that's probably just a freelance job anyway so doesn't prohibit him from working with any people company I suppose oh no I'm sure not, no. He's doing it for the love of pinball. He's a big pinball fan. I think we know that. Yeah. But not tied to just one company, though. No. Which is always a danger. If you've got somebody who's really good at doing their job and their work is well appreciated, then there's this temptation to want to tie them up, especially if they're freelance, with your company so they don't do any work for anybody else. Right. Which brings us on to an announcement that just came in yesterday at the time of recording about Jeremy Packer, a zombie-getty, as we were talking about just now. Yes, as he has been hired as a project artist at Stern Pinball, which leads me to assume that all the work he did so far on various games for Stern Pinball was as a freelancer. but apparently he's now a full-time employee.
    15:43
    Yes, indeed. So I don't think we've seen him do any artwork for any other company. I don't think he had the time. No, no. So he's an interesting title, though, Project Artist. We're not quite sure how that ties in with the rest of the hierarchy there because obviously Greg is still there as art director. Right, well he's probably still under Greg then. Yes, indeed. And he's assigned to a certain project and he's doing all the artwork for that project. Yeah. Sort of makes sense. As it was before. Yes, but not now as a CERN employee and not as a freelancer. Hmm. I wonder if it means that he's going to get a cubicle at CERN and do his, or is he still working from his studio or home or wherever he used to work? I wouldn't have thought there'd be much any change in his requirements to be at the factory no, I don't think so either no, I'm sure he'd much rather work in his own studio, in his own surroundings but maybe it just means he works on a wider range of projects as well as doing stuff directly for the game that he's working on, he can be working on other Stern related projects right, oh well we'll have to see. Yeah, we'll see, we'll find out we'll probably get to hear from him in October I suppose when we go to Pinball Expo Right, yeah, so I do have to say that while I congratulate Jeremy on being hired as project artist at Stern, it seems to me that we're getting a little bit of somebody getting overkill lately. Yes, well there have been a significant number of themes which have been suitable for his particular style of treatment lots of comic book styles I can't imagine him doing something like the James Bond game for instance but I was looking back on previous titles that have come from Stern recently and I'm thinking yes that's a Jeremy Becker one that's another one, that's another one yeah there's a lot of them but they have all been Deathfall, Turtles Foo Fighters of course Venom Iron Maiden yeah well plenty to go around so regardless of that congratulations to Jeremy and I look forward to seeing many more from him I guess because he's now a stone employee so yep well done congratulations but he is far from the only recent appointment yeah now that's true now it's raining new appointments at CERN although some we already discussed on previous episodes like the last one Kyle Spiteri from Marco switching jobs and moving to CERN we mentioned that last month but there are more there is Tim Morrison being hired as a technical service engineer, Julia Mistiel as a senior staff accountant, and Dave Hedge as a game software tester and technician.
    19:18
    I was struck which of these we already mentioned other than... Oh, we haven't. I don't think so. So quite a lot of these came in, well, they all came in after our previous Pincast. It was interesting to see Dave Hegg there as an appointment as a game software tester and technician. I've known Dave or seen Dave around for quite a long time. A popular player and also a technician at Logan and I think I've seen him down at Headquarters as well before, fixing up games. So, yeah, a popular character in the Chicago area as a game technician. But now he's got that job at Stern and a software tester as well. So, yeah, some of you know what they're talking about and some of you know the business. So a particularly good appointment there. The others I don't know so well.
    20:16
    I actually don't know Tim or Julia that well. And there were some other appointments as well which came in. because we did mention about Elizabeth Geisk,
    20:28
    the game software developer, and Madeline Benz, I think we mentioned, about a customer service representative. So that's dealing with the customers, the public. But also they announced Thea Ayad as Director of Programme Management and I have no idea what that means but congratulations Managing programmes Yeah indeed And Joe Westone, Westone, as Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis. So jobs all over the place at Stern. Congratulations to everybody there who's taken up one of those new positions. Yeah, so lots of new faces. I suppose that people should be wearing a hello I am yes that's right yes should have a whole board up as people go in saying who the new people are but it's not just saying hello no no exactly it's also saying goodbye in multiple meanings I would say yes that's right yes very sad announcement from Stern was the death of Shelley Sachs Eldridge. Shelley Sachs, as you knew her originally, back from the very early days of working with Gary and Joe setting up Data Re Spinball. 1986 we're talking about. Wow, yeah. That's right, yes, helped found the company in 1986 and it was a very small team then, so she was doing lots of roles in receptionist, purchasing, bookkeeper, personnel manager, office manager. She was the driving force behind the company for a very long time. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, she was actually running the company, really, for a significant amount of time, particularly, you know, when Gary was off at shows or visiting dealerships or distributors. she looked after the factory and very sad to see her passing after all these years in recent retirement she only retired a couple of months ago that's true yes she'd been fighting cancer for quite a few years I think we knew that but very sad when someone like that leaves us because she had such a bearing on the development of that company and really made it what it is today. Right. Yeah, so resting beef, Shelley, sex average. Indeed. But she's not the only, as you said, she retired a few months ago, but she's not the only retiree because anyone who's been to the Stirling factory and visited the parts department would be familiar with Dorothy Brown. Yes. Brown, who was the, I don't know if she was the manager, I think she was parts manager, I think, for the company. Yeah, yeah. And has been with them for nearly 20 years, I think, and had a, you know, like, not the same consent as Shelley, but she certainly had a number of roles in the company.
    23:42
    Oh, yeah. Dorothy, this is, and, you know, she will be sadly missed as well. or somebody who knew the stock of the games. Absolutely. Yeah. Couldn't have put it better. And there was a very nice person to deal with whenever there was a factory tour or anything. She was always very, very helpful, at least to me. But I hear good stories from other people as well who basically reached out to Dorothy if they needed something, and she helped them to the best of her ability. Yeah, wish her a very happy and long retirement. Exactly, yeah, and hopefully, well, maybe she'll be back for some factory tour or pinball expo show or something like that. Yes, a reunion. Or maybe she's just glad to have no more pinball in her life. Yeah, probably. Probably sick to death a bit by now. Yeah. so we can round up the stern pinball news I think by just a couple of code updates which we can skip over very likely because Foo Fighters had a new update version 0.96 on 10th of July which was really just a bug fix of some issues which came up in version 0.95 which was released just before so nothing new in that just to make the previous version work properly and James Bond also had an update not a huge amount there was chaos at Crab Key wizard mode was added which is a two stage mode with reverse flippers and has a new high score entry on the high score table to see who scores the most points and it's one of those modes that when you complete it finishes it doesn't carry on forever so all the balls drain and then you start again. So there's some new topper light shows. This is in version 0.94, which came out at the 6th of July. And a few rules and behavior changes plus, well, we call them bug fixes. At Stern called it improvements for correctness and performance. Right, which means they didn't get it right the first time. Well, every new feature introduces new bugs. or opportunities for improvements to correctness and performance. Right, okay. And that was it. That was the start. Since the 10th of July, there hasn't been any new code coming out for any games from Steam. Yeah, it's been relatively quiet. Well, it has been quiet, basically.
    26:30
    Yeah, in that regard, anyway. I thought we'd be working on new games. Or maybe there'll be some dramatic updates coming out soon. well we don't know but well you're speculating about rolling out some of the enhancements that were in Venom onto previous games so perhaps we'll see you know 20 game updates coming out all at once with new features or not right so anyway let's move on to our second headline which was from Australia and about haggis people right remember last month we were And anticipating the announcement of the new, let's call it revisited game that Haggis would announce, which was at that point moments away.
    27:24
    And it turned out to be, as we speculated indeed, Centaur. Yes, indeed. the very well known I would say black and white game from 1981 with Paul Ferris artwork yes strikingly original design there doing it in mostly black and white just coloured inserts really and a bit of writing on the play field a few red accents in the artwork as well but that's it yeah so Centaur Revisited was announced a limited edition of two different models. There's the Beast Edition, which is the lower price one, which will be 250 made, or maximum 250, I should say. And then there was the much more exclusive Oblivion Edition, of which only 50 games are going to be made. Right. And I believe the Oblivion Edition, you either have the option to choose for a black and white playfield or a coloured playfield. Yes, apparently some customers have been asking to add some colour to the playfield, which to me kind of defeats the whole purpose of the artwork in that it's so strikingly monochromatic. Right. But, you know, if people want them and are willing to pay, and it's not a small premium because the Beast Edition had a launch price of 15,000 Australian dollars, which is equivalent to about 10,000 US dollars or just over 9,000 euros. plus applicable sales taxes. So that's 15,000 Australian dollars. But the Oblivion edition, of which there are only 50, is priced at 25,000 Australian dollars. So two-thirds as much again, which is equivalent to 16,700 US dollars or just over 15,000 euros. Plus the sales tax again. Which probably explains why both models are still available in the web shop of Haggis, I believe. Yeah, when it was limited to a total of 300 machines, people were thinking, well, that's not very many. They're going to sell out in next to no time. And yet, I checked literally just before we started recording this, and you can order both versions through the Haggis website at this moment by putting down a deposit of 2,000 or 3,000 Australian dollars. Right, so if you figured you missed out because you found out too late, you still have a chance to buy the game. Yes, absolutely. Now, those prices both include free shipping within Australia and free shipping of a complete container of 40 games to Planetary Pinball in the US,
    30:13
    from which point you'd have to pay for delivery from Planetary Pinball. but that is only if they can do an entire container of 40 games and given the way that Haggis produced games in well it's not entirely clear shall we say when any particular games are going to be made available it might be that if your game is the first one to go into the container of 40 then you might have to wait another 39 games for another 39 games going to the same destination. Right. So 39 games go into the US who also, all of whom, all the buyers of whom, all want to have it shipped with the container and don't want to air freight it over separately. So it's a little unclear exactly when you'll get your game by going that way. Yeah, okay, so but kudos to Hegg Spinball for revisiting Centaur. Yeah, indeed. It's a very striking looking game. It's got a couple of LCD panels on the apron at the bottom. It has a topper, mirror chrome artwork, RGB lighting, of course, and RGB displays.
    31:32
    The alphanumeric displays, of course, not DMD or LCD. And both versions have the option of the original game code or the 2.0 game code, which, if Fathom is anything to go by, will add a whole new dimension to the game, because I think that particular code, the 2.0 code for Fathom, was very well received. I think people like the way that plays.
    32:01
    The Oblivion Edition, which is the higher-priced one, adds inner-cabinet artwork, enhanced topper with extra lighting, additional multi-ball mode in the walls, custom voice call-outs, which aren't in the Beast Edition.
    32:18
    Apparently it has black balls, black targets, laser-etched side rails, and this is all a bit cheesy, but it comes with an airbrushed motorcycle helmet and a leather jacket, whether you want them or not. So, and as John... Whether it's your size or not. Yeah. Yeah, one size fits no one. One of those.
    32:41
    Also, as you said, has the option to have a colourised playfield artwork, which some buyers have requested. I guess you get to choose what colour it's going to be. So it went on sale at 11am Australian time on Wednesday the 12th of July, which seems a lifetime ago now, but it wasn't all that long ago. And as you also said, both are still available. We don't know how many of either are available, but if you want one of them, head over to HaggisPinball.com and check out the game on their website. And you can order it through them for a $2,000 Australian dollar deposit for the Beast and $3,000 for the Oblivion. Right, OK. And you discovered something else rather interesting regarding scientific games. Yeah, well, we've mentioned Scientific Games as being the licensor of Williams Electronics rights through Planetary Pinball Supply, PPS, for using the remakes. Well, I noticed on the wording of the Fathom, sorry, the Centaur revisited documentation that that company has actually changed its name now. So no longer called scientific, well, they use the name scientific games, but they are now called Light and Wonder, or basically LNW, Light and Wonder, LNW.com. Reading the information on the press announcements that came out, which you must have missed at some point, it says, Scientific Games Corporation will now do business as Light and Wonder Inc., a game company singularly focused on creating great games and leveraging technology to enable a seamless player experience across all platforms, which obviously includes pinball as well. So you probably won't see Scientific Games' name appearing on future 2.0 or remakes, but you will see Light and Wonder or LNW. Right. So don't be too confused when you see that. No. Well, I wasn't, but thanks for clearing that up. Good. Well, in case you think it's a new company that's might have taken over the rights for Williams. I was wondering about that, but no. No, it's the same one, different name. Yeah. Okay. So moving on to Hexa Pinball. Ah, yes. from France a new company who recently introduced us to their space hunt game and apparently orders are significant enough for them to move to a larger facility yes still in the Bordeaux region of France but didn't actually specify any numbers about how many games have been ordered but it looked like they'd moved to a new factory unit. They shared a couple of photos from their new place on their Facebook page. It doesn't really show very much. There's one game in the factory and a blank playfield. So still early days. But it's good that they are looking forward and ahead to building their games in reasonable numbers as well. So congratulations to Hexapimble, the team there, and we look forward to seeing their Space Hunt game and playing it before too much longer. Right, yeah. So hopefully they will be at Pinball Expo. I expect so, yeah. Or maybe even the UK Pinball Open or the pinball thing in August. I don't think the UK Pinfest. It hasn't been announced that Hexapimble will be there, but you never know. There's still time. It's not very far for them to just hop across the channel and bring a game. I'm sure they'll be very welcome and we'll be able to have a nice display of their work because it looks a very interesting game to me. And as a launch title, we want to see the approach they've taken to making their game. Right, okay. So, well, while sticking in Europe, let's move to Pinball Brothers, located in Sweden.
    37:05
    Yes, indeed. they've just started production of the Champions Edition of their Queen game they've been doing the Rhapsody Edition before now, so the Champions Edition is the lower end model I believe but some good news, if you were looking to buy one, I don't know whether this applies to people who have already bought them but they say they have adjusted the manufacturer's suggested retail price downwards by a total of 300 US dollars from 9,295 US dollars to 8,995. So just under 9,000 US dollars now. Right.
    37:47
    If you want to get one of those, get hold of your local distributor to find out the total price. The final price tag, yeah. Yeah, well, I guess there's taxes and shipping and various things. Markups and what have you. Yeah, but the total cost, at least to the distributors, has dropped by 300 US dollars for the Champions Edition. So often we see a price decrease, so we should applaud that. Well done, Pinball Brothers. Yeah, exactly.
    38:18
    And they also ran a contest to be the first to reach 5 billion points on Queen. Yeah, and the winner of that contest was Josh Riggle, a.k.a. The Riggler. he managed to achieve that first and picks up a 100 US dollar prize ok and did he reach that with the glass on or well I guess we'll never know but one would like to think it was done in a legitimate way I'm sure it was I'm sure Josh would never do anything other than that I don't know Josh that well I'm just I know being quirky I suppose or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, mischievous, shall we say.
    39:05
    Well, anyway, I think that's... There hasn't been a huge amount of news from Pinball Brothers, but that kind of wraps up our coverage of their events in the month of July. So let's move all the way... Well, actually, I was suggesting to go to Pedretti Gaming, related to Pinball Brothers, of course. Okay, very good, yes. as their contract manufacturer and partner in Euro Pinball they did a they released a code update for Rudy's Nightmare, Funhouse Rudy's Nightmare the conversion kit which now includes a speedrun for Evil Rudy yeah a bit like the one that's on Venom as well how long it takes you to complete the entire game, while they do it for how long it takes you to complete the evil Rudy wizard mode for Funhaus. That's new in version 1.0, which is always a good sign. That came out on the 6th of July and includes a number of other changes, feature changes, bug fixes,
    40:15
    won't go through them all, in fact won't go through any of them, because there's far too many, but a very worthwhile update if you were one of the purchasers of the Rudy's Nightmare Funhouse conversion kits from Pagetti Gaming,
    40:30
    who, as you say, with Pinball Brothers, have the Euro Pinball Corporation manufacturing facility to produce Queen and Alien games and whatever their third title will be. Yeah, which, well, we know it's in the works. I wonder whether we might be able to see that this year at some show, at some point. I would have thought so. I thought it was actually originally supposed to be announced this summer. Okay. So maybe even last month.
    41:07
    And then I missed it. Yes. Well, me too. I think it may have been delayed by various reasons or for various reasons. But no, I wouldn't expect it to be that much longer. But I suppose now they're getting their teeth into building the Champions Edition of Queen, then they have to start looking forward or looking ahead to their next title And yeah whether we see it later in the year I don know but I certainly expect to see it announced fairly shortly Okay. Although we've been saying that about various announcements, and obviously it's not something that we have any inside knowledge of exactly when this announcement is going to take place. Each company times it according to contractual obligations and if it is a licence, and also according to when they think is the best time to announce it as far as sales go. Right, okay. Now, finishing off the news about Pedretti Gaming, they're currently in the process of building Whirlwind Total Chaos. Yes. And they did share an image of about 15 of those kits being shipped to Cointaker in America. And what I've been hearing is that a lot of people who were skeptical at first about an upgrade for Whirlwind, once they had the chance to actually play it, were completely turned into believers, so to speak, and enthusiastic about this update as it really enhances the game, so to speak. Yeah, I think it's a nice... If you actually read the modes, it doesn't convey just how well integrated they are into the gameplay. So it sounds a bit weird, and some of the modes, the titles even, sound weird. But when you're actually playing it, it all makes a lot more sense. So, yeah, it's understandable that now people are getting their hands on it and installing it and playing the game. and they're starting to be a lot more enthusiastic about it and spreading the word. So let's hope that's another winner in the same way that Rudy's nightmare was for Funhouse. Okay. So moving back to North America, only this time Canada, with Pinball Adventures. Yes, they were exhibiting at the recent Yekpin show. where they had their own stand, and they had their current Polly Factory game set up for people to play. Now, I didn't read any sort of direct comments from that show, because I'd not been able to be there myself, but I did see from the pictures that it had a show price sticker on it that said $6,000.
    44:15
    Now, I'm guessing since the Eggpin is in Canada, that this is Canadian dollars, which would make sense because they're a Canadian company, it's a Canadian show, so you think $6,000.
    44:27
    If that's true, then that means that it's a US price of $4,500 US dollars, which sounds very achievable to me. Very reasonable for a new game. Yeah, I know a lot of people have sort of misgivings about both Pinball Adventures and the Polly Factory theme. But at that kind of price, I think you'd be willing to take a punt and try it and see whether you enjoy it or not. I mean, you're not going to lose a lot if you decide to resell it, are you?
    45:02
    I'm guessing there are various taxes, and bearing in mind this was a show special, so it was in Canada. If you wanted to bring it back to the US, you'd have to pay duty when you take it over the border and all that kind of stuff, which is a bit of a nightmare, I know. Anyway, still, nice to see for Canadians, even with sales tax on top of that, 6,000 Canadian dollars, nice price. I hope Andrew got some good sales out of that show. It looked a great show, by the way. I've heard him mention it any other time. Really impressive looking set up there and some nice vendors as well. So one other thing Pinball Adventures have been doing is on their Instagram account, they've been showing just a little short video of some art from their Elements game. Which is to be debuting as Pinball Expo. That's right, yeah. We look forward to seeing it there. Not much to show on the video, but just a little bit. So if you go to Instagram and look for Pinball Adventures there, you can see some pictures. I think it also has some pictures from the Yegpin show as well. So you can see what I'm talking about when I'm saying what a nice looking show it was. Right. Okay. Thank you for that. Okay. You're very welcome. So next company. Jersey Jack Pinball. Wow. And a, I was going to say a busy month, but a quiet month.
    46:33
    Would probably be more accurate, I think. At least as far as news goes. I'm sure it's far from quiet at the factory. But not much in the way of announcements. And speaking of the factory, they did start manufacturing the collector's editions of The Godfather.
    46:51
    Yeah, that's the top-end model. Yes, so that should keep them busy for some time, I suppose. Yes, and seeing some pictures of those games on the line, they look amazing, because they are so rich and ornate. And seeing a whole row of them lined up, it's an impressive sight. put it that way and well we mentioned Mark Tremonti earlier on when we were discussing Stern Pimble on the social media of Jersey Jack Pimble they did share a video which you can also find on YouTube by the way of the orchestral recordings for the Godfather including Mark Tremonti singing the Godfather theme so to speak and interestingly it appears that Eric Meunier and Jack Borgneri also did their parts in that recording well I've seen Eric singing the themes that's one of the hidden easter eggs within it there is the video of him doing that I haven't seen one of Jack though what was Jack's involvement with that exactly? Well, he also, he sang it once, I'm not sure how good it was, and I'm not sure whether they kept it in, but the video mentioned that he did sing it once, so and apparently tied in with the orchestral behind the scenes video, there is a sort of a giveaway, take a chance for charity is giving away a 50th Anniversary Godfather pinball limited edition game and there's a link which links to the TremontiSinsSinatra.com website where you can enter for a chance to win so if you want to win a Godfather pinball machine you should probably look that up and see if you're eligible to win and enter and what have you. Well, that's a great, great prize.
    49:18
    I want to know which machine has got Jack, though, singing Speak Softly Love in it, whether it's just Jack's personal machine or whether it's another hidden Easter egg within every machine.
    49:33
    Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know if there are any backing vocals that we might hear Jack all the time and not be aware of it. Oh, interesting. There was a picture shared on social media of him in the recording studio. Yes. So he wasn't just there as an observer then. No. Who knows? We'll have to get him on the pin cast, won't we? And we can ask him more about that. So maybe we'll invite him on next month and he can tell us about the recording session. Right, right, okay So, that sort of rounds it up for Jersey Jack Pinball this month Like we said, they're so busy building pinball machines But news-wise it was a rather slow month Yes, indeed, and not much different Up further north, up at Spooky Pinball up in Wisconsin They're still busy building their Scooby-Doo games Which is understandable It's a very nice looking game and I certainly look forward to getting more playtime on it because I didn't get a huge amount at the Texas show and I haven't seen one since. Yeah, but it was a very fun playing game. Surprisingly fun playing game, yes. Yeah, well, since then there's been new code added and this month there were actually two code drops. There was one which added a new shaggy mode. That's the character, not anything else. And then shortly after there was an even newer code came out which added a Daphne mode also added a speeded up the kick out from the mystery machine that's one of the things I think everybody noticed when they played it for the first time when you shoot the ball into the bus, the mystery machine, it took a long time for the ball to come back onto the playfield I'm still waiting for that it doesn't take that long it took a while but anyway, it's been sped up now and there will be further improvements to that coming. So not quite sure how that's going to happen, but congratulations on listening to customer and player feedback and taking steps to address that particular issue. Other things which are pretty much about housekeeping, about all the menu items are saved now every time you update the game and so will the audits.
    51:56
    And a few minor bug fixes. So not much more to say about the code. and the code is anything we had to say anything about from Spooky Pinball this month yeah okay well there's one more thing with new codes Spooky tends to do a live stream video of the new rules and that's scheduled for tonight which is what day are we today the 3rd of August yes yeah so by the time you hear this you've probably missed it you might still be in time and else you can always watch the replay on YouTube I suppose yeah I'm sure it'll be there or Twitch or one or the other certainly so have a look on Spooky's social media feeds as soon as you hear this and you will either find details about the stream that's taking place tonight or where you can watch it Right, okay. Now, we started off by talking, well, our third headline was about lots of new appointments, and we've already covered quite a few. Yes, at Stern Pinball. Yes, at Stern Pinball, but there's still more to come. And we'll talk about Multimorphic now, down in Texas. Yeah. And they have announced that Nick Baldridge has joined the Multimorphic team as customer support representative. Right. During non-office hours, as far as I understood. Yeah, sorry about that. I was just having a little cough there because, you know, it's a slight cold at the moment. I didn't realise what I was saying was seriously causing you to cough. It was so outlandish, I couldn't believe it. I was choking on the words. No, but, yeah, so, well, we know Nick very well from the games that he's built for the P3 pinball platform and from his long-time championing of bingo games and building his own bingo game, multi-bingo game.
    54:04
    For the For Amusement Only company. Yeah, and he does his podcast, I think, certainly does. he's very active and proactive in the enthusiasm realms, shall I say. And so an all-round good guy, and he knows the P3 inside out, so it's great that he is now helping Multimorphic as part of the team in providing customer support requests outside in all business hours. Because it kind of sounded to me a bit like, well, he's always working on the game anyway, So you might as well answer some questions about it during that time as well, and become part of the team. Speaking of Nick's games that he programmed for the PC, Drained, Silver Falls, Rhythm Explosion, and Ranger in the Ruins, they got software updates as well,
    55:05
    including the possibility to add medals or achievements and some new gameplay features and a new speaker light kit support. Yeah, so very nice for those people who bought those games for their P3 platform to get new code updates across all four of them from Nick. So he's been busy doing that. Yeah, but it's not all about Nick, of course. the company is still run by Jerry Stellenberg who sent out a sort of monthly update about the company which contained some good news I suppose he informed us that they hired more production staff and a production manager which results in the reduction of delays and waiting times if you order a complete P3 machine now chances are you get it within 6 months which is different than when for example Heist was announced there was a waiting time of 12 months yeah at least 12 if not 14 yes months right yeah so and all game kit orders except Final Resistance have been caught up by now production problems with the building of a final resistance.
    56:38
    Well, they were expecting to start shipping final resistance at the start of July, but due to these issues that they run into, there's no exact date for the start of production given right now, which means that the problem hasn't been solved yet. And it's probably, and this is just me guessing, this might have to do with supply chain issues. Yeah, you know, if you come across something that requires a new part to be fabricated, then obviously there are lead times on getting those parts, or the way the part is made needs to be changed to make it more resilient and stronger, or to avoid ball hang-ups, then yeah, it can be months before you can actually get those new parts delivered. Right. But the good news is, once those parts are in, production will be quicker than they originally expected. So you will get your game quicker once they finally start. Yeah. So if you're waiting for your game at the start of the queue, it will take longer to get that than you were originally expecting, but if you're further down the queue, you'll probably get them at least as when you expected to, if not sooner. So that's good. The production will happen faster once it actually starts.
    58:08
    And the other good thing about that is for Final Resistance is that those kits will ship with the latest code, which is currently feature complete at version 1.0.0.0. so everything in it that's intended to be in it when you actually get the kit ok and that sort of rounds it up for just one other thing that we mentioned this in previous months that Gerry has also been sort of introducing various members of the team who work at Multimorphic on social media and he's continuing to do that so this past month There's been a couple, including Steven Silber, who's a well-known designer of Heist, amongst other games. And if you want to find out more about him and other members of the Multimorphic team, head over to Multimorphic's social media feeds. Probably the Facebook page is the best one to go to to get more information. Well, I was going to say, Jerry has been doing this so long, some of the members he already introduced are already retired.
    59:19
    By now. No, no, I kid, I kid. I know. No, not yet, no. It's always good to know who's at the company and who to contact as well, and who to thank or ask questions of when you see them at shows. Yeah. So, yeah, okay. That does round it up for Multimortem for now.
    59:43
    I did notice that you wrote some notes on Cardona pinball design. Yes. Well, we mentioned before about their new Black Rose Skull and Bones kit. And it was kind of shown at shows, but it hasn't been available to purchase yet. And it's still not available to purchase yet, which is a bit of a surprise. I thought it would be available by now. But if you go to the cardonapinball.com site, you can read about it, but you can't actually order it yet. But you can order their No Good Gophers Battle for the Green. that is available now through Planetary Pinball, Coin Taker, I should say, and other distributors. So if you want to, you're itching to add another 2.0 or upgrade kit to one of your games, you can do Nogo Gophers, but you can't quite yet do Black Rose. We'll let you know as soon as that becomes available. Right, okay. So moving on to, well, where do you want to go? Well, let's pop round the corner from your place and talk about Dutch pinball. Yeah, I just signed an NDA. I can't discuss anything. Okay, so moving on.
    60:54
    Over in... Oh, no. Okay, that's all we can do. We do have some news we can report. Yes. No, I did... I was at the factory yesterday for a project that I cannot discuss, also because we still have to see whether it ever will see the light of day and it does not exactly involve that spin ball but Barry was kind enough to give us a little corner in the factory to play around with something to see whether that will ever see the light of day So I was in the corner of the factory playing around with it.
    61:45
    Yeah, I think we better move on quickly to things that we can talk about. Yeah, well, but while I was there, what did surprise me is to see the number of people he has in the assembly process currently working, even though it is holiday time, holiday season, I should say. So three or four people were not present, and I still was impressed with how many people were working there building a big Lebowski game So I thought I mention that Right Okay Good And the official news is Yes, I was going to say there was an official announcement. Yes, exactly.
    62:33
    And that changes things slightly into a more professional manner, I would say, for Dutch Pinball, in the sense that they appointed Pimple Pleasure, the company run by Christophe Lienaar, who is, for example, a distributor for Jersey Jack in France and Belgium and the Netherlands, to assign him as their European master distributor as of the 1st of July of this year. And that means that Christoph is responsible for sales of the Big Lebowski in Europe, but he's also responsible for appointing resellers, so to speak, that purchase the game through him and then offer it, for example, in Germany. And in this case, we can already review two resellers who have been announced. The first one being Pinball Universe in Germany, and the second, Pinball Heaven in the UK. Right. Now, I don't know whether, well, I assume they were both selling the game previously anyway. Yeah, but they probably got it directly from Pinball. Yes, indeed. That this probably clears up the traffic, I suppose, involved in receiving calls from various resellers who want to order games and so on. Now it all goes to Christoph, and basically it's one phone call from Christoph, I need this many games, and then he takes care of distribution to whoever they ordered. Yeah, so it's kind of like one truck will go to Christoph for all European sales. Another one will go to send the game to Cointaker for North American sales, or at least for U.S. sales. And I don't know about in Canada whether Nitro is a distributor for them over there. But, yeah, so they've got to deal with each distributor individually or each country's distributors individually. So it makes it a lot simpler for Barry. but also puts another stage in the process. Right.
    65:01
    Which probably means another... I haven't seen an announcement of a price increase, so maybe that hasn't happened.
    65:12
    So congratulations to Christoph in getting the Masters distribution ship for Europe. Yeah. We look forward to seeing those games being more available across the whole of the continent.
    65:28
    Right, yeah, absolutely. And future cycles as well, of course. Yeah, yeah, which are still, well, some time away, as we discussed last month. But, yeah, more stuff in the works at Dutch Spinball that I can't talk about right now, but as soon as we can, you'll be the first to hear it here. Right. Good. Okay. Well, then, if we can't say any more about them, then we'll move on to our next company, and we'll head over to Taiwan, where Homepin have been busy with their This Is Spinal Tap game. Yes. I signed an NDA account. Yeah. It's a good job that only one of us signs an NDA. I don't think we have anything to say at all. But we can say that the Home Pin have been posting a few pictures on Facebook showing six of their This Is Spinal Tap Bimble machines being assembled in their factory.
    66:28
    Mike Kalinowski said, Everyone here is starting to get a handle on the workflow. We will be shipping out our first full container within a couple of weeks. finished machines are being tested and packed.
    66:41
    So that's good. Nice that that game is actually getting out in some kind of quantity now, or about to. Next couple of weeks, he says. And, of course, container presumably means going by sea.
    66:53
    So that could probably be quite a few more weeks before they actually end up at their destination. Not a huge amount more to say. I was looking at the pictures of the game, I noticed they did have a large toroidal transformer in the bottom of the cabinet.
    67:09
    Now, toroidal transformers are normally reserved for higher quality products like audio equipment, where you need a transformer which is more capable of delivering power quickly and reliably, much better than a sort of switching power supply or even just a sort of square block transformer. transformers, so Troil transformers tend to have a lot more stability to them, which is generally a good sign. So nice to see Homepin putting a quality transformer in the bottom of their game. And the rest of the playfield looked suitably high quality as well. But we can only see the bottom of it from the pictures from the factory, at least in this most recent update. But it's a good sign anyway, and nice to see that the game will be heading out of the factory in the next couple of weeks. Right, okay. Now, in our notes that we are sharing, all the way at the end, we also have a little bit other news related to the Scandinavian pinball factory, which other, well, despite the name, they're actually located in Taiwan as well. Yes, so Norway and Taiwan.
    68:32
    Now, I'm not entirely sure how much news this is, how new this news is, but I did see about them announcing an upcoming game called Troll, which will be made, Troll the Pimple Machine, which will be made in conjunction with fellow Taiwan Pimple Company, which we've been talking about, Homepin. Yeah. Yes. Good link. Yeah, nice bridge there. So, which they originally said is supposedly for release in 2023. That's what it said when I first saw it earlier this month, or earlier last month, I should say, about the month we're talking about. But more recently, just before we started doing this recording, I checked again, and that has been changed to 2024 now. And there's no more detail about them working with Homepin on the Troll Game. Huh. Well, whether they're not working with them, I don't know, or whether that's maybe not something they want to publicize so much at the moment, because HomePin are busy building their own game.
    69:40
    But they are still a distributor for HomePin parts. Indeed, they have a website called homepinstore.com, where they sell home pin parts, and worldwidepinball.com, where they sell, it's a parts store for other part resellers, not for retail direct customers. So this is, you know, for your local pinball company, they could buy from worldwidepinball.com. And they ship the parts from their base, as you mentioned, they have a base in Taiwan. Right, okay. So, let's do hope. Now this troll game, do we know anything about it? What it will be like? Well, there's a list of features. They said it had three flippers, a big rotating troll that shoots silver balls, well, let's say they're pinballs, a big mountain loaded with tunnels and caves, which sounds an interesting multi-way feature, has magnets off with the head an active and quite brutal goblin with an axe. Wow. You better be careful how you play this game. In multitude and multiple modes, you can play as a troll, a troll hunter, or a priest. There you go. Choose your character again. You'll love this.
    71:01
    With a combination of speed and strategy shots, Newton ball, kickback, shake a motor, eight ball game, apparently, and a wide body. so boy Bollies are having a little bit of a comeback aren't they after Scooby Doo I suppose we just have to keep an eye on the Scandinavian Pinball Factory website to see whether there is any news on this troll game or whether they are trolling us oh hey well done bravo sir yeah well it would be nice to think we will have another pinball manufacturer out there another one based up in Scandinavia this one in Norway and Taiwan so it sounds like they have the manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and the maybe the distributorship for Europe based in Norway and they're working with Homepin as well they have a lot of knowledge about the game and construction and design right Okay, so moving back to the U.S. Yeah, where were we? Oh, yeah, that's right. Yes, now this is a bit of news that you came up with from a company. Actually, I didn't come up with it. I found it. You found it? I found it. I've seen it in life.
    72:27
    No, I kid. Net Arcade did a little research on Trademark as they quite often do actually and they discovered that Tilpop Pinball the company founded by Bob Neese who is the known for his homebrew game Elf which won a couple of awards I believe he founded this company Tilt-Pop Pinball and they trademarked the name Tilt-Pop Pinball as well as the name for their first game which is going to be Road Trip.
    73:10
    That's a concept that we've seen quite a few times actually in Pinball, in Roadshow, Vacation America and there's probably a couple of other titles that we can think of. Yeah, sort of like Harley Davidson type games as well. Yeah, exactly.
    73:27
    so and there's Jason who runs NAP Arcade reached out to Bob found out some more details about the game if you want to read everything I suggest you go to naparcade.org but Road Trip is currently being designed as a four flipper white body game with an original theme of course no references to any existing movies or pinball machines. And, of course, more to come. We still have to see how Tilt Bob is going to, first of all, design and then take this design into production.
    74:14
    As the last time we mentioned them, they were still operating from the garage of Bob. So we just have to wait and see. But at least the first steps are being taken into taking things very seriously with a trademark registration. So good news on that end. Yeah, I wish them well and hope they are able to bring out the game and also have it at a reasonable price, which is probably the biggest challenge, I think, for any new company is to be able to keep the cost of manufacturing down to something that's affordable and comparable to other games because otherwise it'll always be compared. Am I going to buy this for this price or am I going to buy a Godfather for the same price or a Venom LE or something for that price? So it's a tough market out there with so many companies, but we do wish them well.
    75:08
    Right. Okay, now, Chicago Gaming didn't have much news, although Josh Sharp did appear or did an interview with the Pinball Chinwag podcast, episode 66. one of the things he revealed about Pulp Fiction is that the main reason for showcasing the game at the Texas Pinball Festival was that the game had to be announced before March 31st of this year that was a contractual obligation else they would lose the license and would be in deeper trouble I suppose even though they were not apparently capable of going into production immediately they did show the game and a couple of games since appeared on location and at various shows so everybody is as far as I can tell very enthusiastic about this game title and we're still waiting for production updates from Chicago Gaming.
    76:22
    But there's no news on that, so we can't discuss that. No. They're busy building their own games at the moment. So they're working on their Cactus Canyons.
    76:33
    And it seems that the production of those is pretty slow as well at the moment. So probably still have to get those done before they can start working on Pulp Fiction. But, yeah, not scheduled, I don't think, until next year now.
    76:50
    So we do look forward to seeing it when it does come out, because it's a good, fun game. But hopefully we'll get a chance to play it when we go to Chicago in October. But no guarantees. And until then, we just have to wait and move on to our next company. Yeah, well, then we have to wait for news from those companies, because there's actually quite a list of companies that we have no news from. Yeah. So we'll just list them quickly. American Pinball. No news. Bittronic Spain. No news. Quetzal Pinball Spain. Also no news. Turner Pinball. Still no news. Circus Maximus. Continuing to be no news.
    77:34
    And the new mysterious pinball company that has been teasing us the last couple of months. with emails just saying that they are there. But no news, no teases or promotions this month. Okay, or we missed them at the Southern Friday show, but I didn't see anything pop up or whatever. No, or me. Okay, so then there is the other news section, which in this case is entirely dedicated to Deep Root. Oh, yes. Yes, that's right, we've covered everything else already, so just a little quick wrap-up of Deep Root News for those still following this particular story. Now, remember last month reported that the SEC and Robert Mueller went to, they had a meeting. They tried to settle something? Yeah, tried to settle it out of court. Didn't happen. Went to arbitration and couldn't agree on anything. So it was going to go back to the court for a court trial date, which has now been set for the 4th of December this year. That may move, of course, according to various court demands or for motions for delay. But 4th of December, 2023, at 10.30 a.m., that will be, I guess that would be Texas time. So we look forward to seeing what happens about that in the meantime, before then the various deadlines. Will there be a live stream from that court case?
    79:15
    Don't know at the moment. I haven't seen anything put in place yet, but it's a while away yet. So we'll let you know if anything is going to be available. And we'll obviously update you on any developments in the meantime. One of which is that a law firm acting for the bankruptcy trustee, that's the people who lost money in the various deep root companies, put in a claim for their working expenses of $241,000 for the four months February to May. So there's a lot of work going on there, and they did itemise it all, and I'd like to say it's interesting reading, but it isn't. having read it, I can tell you that. So, yeah, so that brings their total expenses, I think, now to more than one million dollars in trying to recover money. Not the cheapest law phone they could find, I suppose. Well, no, I guess they didn't go to bankruptcylawyers.com or whatever.
    80:17
    But one interesting point from that was some of the claims they put in are for work providing details of the case to the Department of Justice as well as to the SEC. So that kind of adds to the suggestion there could be a federal indictment once the SEC's civil case concludes and would be another reason why Robert might choose not to admit to any wrongdoing in the SEC case as that could prejudice any defence he might have in any following criminal case.
    80:51
    Okay, so it's a lot easier, you know, if he holds out his claim of innocence throughout, then a criminal case would have to overcome that if he's admitted to doing wrongdoing before then it almost dropped himself in it. One other thing was that I noticed a law firm is working with a company called Tuyo, which actually takes us back to something we talked about earlier, because Tuyo is a joint company of Chris Turner of Turner Pinball and Greg Yost. They were the couple who bought the insurance policies from Robert Mueller's policy service company when everything collapsed. Apparently one policy was for $1.5 million and was expected to pay out when the insured person, it was a life insurance policy, when that person died.
    81:42
    And they did recently. But then the issuer is saying that the policy had lapsed in the meantime, hadn't been maintained, and that company, Transamerica, is refusing to pay out.
    81:54
    Now there's a legal battle to prove it hadn't lapsed. Only interesting because the bankruptcy trustee, the one who's trying to get all the money for it, is due to get 50% of that payout if it happens. So that would be $750,000 more for those people who lost money in the Deep Root case. So at the moment, that's an ongoing legal battle to try and recover some more money from the ashes of the Deep Root policy services debacle. And that wraps it up for the Deep Root update for this month. Well, that wraps it up for the pinball industry news for July 2023. It does indeed, yes. So thank you for listening to this month's Pincast. We'll be back at the start of September with our next monthly Pincast. looking back at all the excitement that took place in the pinball world throughout this month of August. So until then, from me, Martin Ayub of Pinball News. And me, Jonathan Euston, the editor of Pinball Magazine. We wish you a very, very happy August and we'll see you at the start of September. Okay, thanks. Bye-bye.