Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Pinball Magazine & Pinball News PINcast April 2023 recap

Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast·podcast_episode·1h 25m·analyzed·May 2, 2023
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

April 2023 pinball recap: Punny Factory launches, Williams 2.0 sequel announced, Fathom upgrade kits unveiled.

Summary

Jonathan Euston (Pinball Magazine) and Martin Noeb (Pinball News) recap April 2023 pinball industry news. Key stories include Pinball Adventures' Punny Factory 2520 finally launching at $6,500-$7,000 (120 units max, 10 engraved editions sold out), Pedretti Gaming announcing a new Williams 2.0 remake title using PinSound boards due to Raspberry Pi shortages, Haggis Pinball introducing Fathom Revisited upgrade kits ($995 USD) and a series ticket system guaranteeing customers games through five planned classic remake titles, and Stern Pinball receiving a Licensing International Award nomination for James Bond pinball. The episode emphasizes slower news cycle compared to March's seven game announcements.

Key Claims

  • Punny Factory 2520 available for $6,500 (printed cabinet) or $7,000 (engraved), maximum 120 units with 10 engraved editions already sold out

    high confidence · Jonathan Euston reporting on Pinball Adventures announcement

  • Pedretti Gaming's upcoming Williams 2.0 title delayed due to Raspberry Pi board availability shortage, switching to PinSound boards instead of FAST boards

    high confidence · Martin Noeb explaining supply chain constraints affecting hardware selection

  • Haggis Pinball offering $995 USD upgrade kits to enable Fathom Revisited Classic Edition to run Mermaid 2.0 code with new apron and LCD displays

    high confidence · Martin Noeb detailing upgrade kit specifications and pricing

  • Haggis Pinball planning five classic game remakes total, with second title announcement expected mid-July 2023 at an Australian show

    high confidence · Martin Noeb explaining series ticket system and production roadmap

  • Two Illinois Fighting Illini Football-autographed Godzilla Premium machines sold at auction for $14,600 and $13,300 before premiums/taxes, reaching $18,500 and $17,000 total

    high confidence · Jonathan Euston reporting auction results from Captain's Auctions

  • Punny Factory 2520 has been in development for three and a half years before finally going on sale

    high confidence · Jonathan Euston criticizing extended development timeline and pre-announcement credibility issues

  • Stern Pinball James Bond game nominated for Licensing International Awards in 'Best Product Appliances, Housewares, and Electronics for Entertainment Brands' category

    high confidence · Jonathan Euston reporting award nomination with voting deadline May 6, 2023

  • Jack Danger featured in Billboard magazine interview discussing the making of Stern's Foo Fighters pinball machine

    high confidence · Jonathan Euston and Martin Noeb confirming article availability on billboard.com

Notable Quotes

  • “if you're hyping a game that much up front, at some point you lose all your credibility but also that you also reveal or announce a whole bunch of future titles which tends to take the focus off your launch title”

    Jonathan Euston @ ~12:00 — Critical commentary on Pinball Adventures' marketing strategy of announcing multiple future games before launch title availability, losing consumer confidence through extended development cycles

  • “I mean, if you follow Pinball Adventures on their Instagram, like I do, you get these videos which are supposed to trigger you about the game... if that's a feature that has to sell you on the game i'm not so sure i mean i think the main there's another one about lag levels... i'm not sure I mean I would probably improve with or try to get people to talk about gameplay instead of like oh yeah they have these really tiny features that nobody cares about”

    Jonathan Euston @ ~15:00 — Critique of Pinball Adventures' marketing focus on minor technical details (nylon rings, lag levels) rather than core gameplay appeal

  • “Well, that's what DeepRoot did, and look what happened to them. That's true. Well, they never actually managed to sell any games, did they? No. So, kudos to Pimble Adventures for going the same route but actually being able to put out a game.”

    Martin Noeb and Jonathan Euston @ ~20:00 — Comparative analysis noting Pinball Adventures achieved market success where DeepRoot failed, despite similar detailed design philosophy

  • “It's a completely different direction. It uses all the same hardware on the play field... the rules have been expanded and reimagined... it's basically a similar kind of take on it as Funhouse Rudy's Nightmare.”

    Martin Noeb @ ~35:00 — Confirmation that upcoming Williams 2.0 title uses original hardware with reimagined rules, following Funhouse precedent

  • “I think there's a lot of similarities in the team who did the second title and the Funhouse game... the programmer is probably the same... hardware system anyway”

    Martin Noeb @ ~38:00 — Indicates consistent development team for Williams 2.0 remakes, suggesting standardized approach across titles

  • “the build quality of the Fathom Revisited games that we have seen is basically through the roof”

Entities

Pinball AdventurescompanyJonathan EustonpersonMartin NoebpersonPunny Factory 2520gamePedretti GamingcompanyHaggis PinballcompanyFathom RevisitedgameStern Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Extended development timelines (Punny Factory 3.5 years pre-announcement) risk consumer credibility when companies announce future titles before launch release

    high · Jonathan Euston: 'if you're hyping a game that much up front, at some point you lose all your credibility but also that you also reveal or announce a whole bunch of future titles which tends to take the focus off your launch title'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Jonathan Euston criticizes Pinball Adventures' promotional strategy focusing on minor technical features (nylon rings, lag levels) rather than core gameplay appeal

    high · Jonathan questioned whether features like 'nylon rings to support playfield sliding' and 'lag levels for when the game is sitting on its back' drive purchasing decisions

  • ?

    event_signal: Haggis Pinball announcing second classic game remake at mid-year Australian show; speculation includes Centaur, Xenon, Medusa, or 8 Ball Deluxe

    medium · Martin Noeb: 'I understand about mid-July... there's a show in Australia they will be attending and are expected to make the announcement there'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Stern Pinball James Bond game nominated for Licensing International Awards in Entertainment Brands category

    high · Jonathan Euston reported nomination details with voting deadline May 6, 2023

  • $

    market_signal: Auction pricing of limited-edition signed Godzilla machines ($18,500-$17,000 total) significantly exceeds typical Premium machine pricing, raising value proposition questions

    high · Jonathan Euston: 'I think you can buy two premium machines for that kind of money... You need to be big fans of the Fighting Alini in order to bid on those'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.257

0:00
Putney Factory finally on sale. Next Williams 2.0 title announced this week. Fathom Revisited Update Kits also announced.
0:19
Hi, my name is Jonathan Euston. I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine, and I'm joined by... Hello, I'm Martin Noeb, and I'm the editor of Pinball News, and we are looking back together at all the exciting events that happened in the pinball world throughout the month of April 2023. Yes, and, well, it was not as much as an exciting month as March, when we had, like, seven game announcements. That was crazy. It was a crazy month. There was so much that we, and I hope you caught both of them, we put out two pincasts. We did a bonus one with our interviews. so thank you for our interviewees for that and we hope you enjoyed both of those this month as Jonathan says it's been quite a bit quieter yes but it doesn't mean that there is no news to report so we'll take you through the news from various companies and in this case most of the news is coming from the smaller companies so to speak so we start with those and of course we won't forget the Stern Pimbles and the Jersey Jacks But if they don't have that much news to report, then, well, you're probably not in front of the line, I suppose. That's right. Yeah. OK, so let's go back to our very first headline about what's been going on at Pinball Adventures. And it's a company we've been following for a long, long time. Oh, who's that calling? Oh, that's my girlfriend chiming in. Oh, I thought it might have been our long lost inside reporter. But no. no no actually speaking of that have you heard from our good friend Gary no not at all no reached out not heard anything last our news over in at MDC so we'll hopefully we'll hear before too much longer right there's plenty of exciting information coming out of that show so anyway Yes, back to where we were before we were so rudely interrupted. Yeah, I'll put my phone on silent because I don't want to get interrupted again by my girlfriend in this case. Yeah, let me say that we're not fully professional here and totally prepared for this recording. But, okay, so Pinball Adventures, yes, we've been following the development of their multiple titles, starting with the very first one, Punny Factory 2520, which we've been following and been reporting on the multiple update pictures and videos that have been produced for the past like three and a half years or so yes seriously, three and a half years for a game to be in development I get it, pinball companies are startup companies if they're new companies but I tend to think that in this case if you already started announcing a game like three and a half years before you actually finally get to offer it, which is something I understand that you can't foresee at the time. And nobody could foresee that COVID was coming, which probably also interfered and caused the delay. And then we had, of course,

Martin Noeb @ ~55:00 — High praise for Haggis Pinball manufacturing quality, establishing confidence in company's production capabilities

  • “if you purchase a series tickets you'll be guaranteed a game regardless of whether it will sell out your game is reserved so it's sort of like showing a sign of you're supporting the company and you're willing to buy another four titles from them aside from Fathom which is a good way to get customers to commit to your company”

    Martin Noeb @ ~62:00 — Analysis of Haggis Pinball's pre-commitment strategy to lock in customers for future remake titles, reducing production risk

  • “I think you can buy two premium machines for that kind of money... You need to be big fans of the Fighting Alini in order to bid on those.”

    Jonathan Euston @ ~95:00 — Critical commentary on premium pricing for autographed promotional Godzilla machines, noting value proposition concerns

    • Jack Danger
    person
    Keith Elwinperson
    Team Pinballcompany
    PinSound boardproduct
    James Bond 007 (Stern)game
    Godzilla (Stern)game
    Foo Fighters (Stern)game
    Funhouse 2.0game
    Seth Davisperson
    Robert Gagnowperson
    Andrew (Pinball Adventures)person
    Damien (Haggis Pinball)person
  • ?

    community_signal: Haggis Pinball pivoting to offer upgrade kits and variants after receiving Texas Pinball Festival customer feedback, demonstrating responsiveness to player preferences

    high · Martin Noeb: 'they went to the Texas Pinball Festival... they got feedback from customers... made them decide... to make an upgrade kit available'

  • ?

    announcement: Punny Factory 2520 officially launched with 120-unit maximum production (110 printed, 10 engraved); engraved editions already sold out

    high · Jonathan Euston detailed pricing ($6,500-$7,000), production limits, and immediate sell-out of premium variant

  • ?

    product_concern: Haggis Pinball receiving praise for build quality on Fathom Revisited games, establishing manufacturing confidence despite company's relative newness

    high · Martin Noeb: 'the build quality of the Fathom Revisited games that we have seen is basically through the roof'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Haggis Pinball committing to five classic game remakes with series ticket system; second title announcement expected mid-July 2023

    high · Martin Noeb detailed series ticket mechanics and production timeline: 'second up or remake title will be announced halfway through 2023... mid-July'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Raspberry Pi shortage forcing Pedretti Gaming to switch from FAST boards to PinSound boards for upcoming Williams 2.0 title

    high · Martin Noeb explained supply chain impact: 'the lack of availability of the Raspberry Pi boards that they use as the main processor... Pinsound board was used with the first 2.0 game... they pre-ordered those and they had them'

    • 3:33
    supply chain issues and what have you. But still, if you're hyping a game that much up front, at some point you lose all your credibility but also that you also reveal or announce a whole bunch of future titles which tends to take the focus off your launch title but getting back to the headline Pony Factory did go on sale this month just over a week ago I believe we had a gameplay video which I think featured Robert Gagnow from Canada as well, playing the game. Right, okay. Well, the details are that there will be a maximum of 120 of these units of Pony Factory made. Yeah, of which 10 are so-called engraved editions with a black cabinet with the Pony Factory logo etched in the wood, I think. That's correct, yeah. Yeah, the others have direct full-color printing onto the cabinet. the prices are 6,500 US dollars very much a Canadian company but the prices are all in US dollars so 6,500 US dollars for the one version with the printed cabinet which will be a maximum of 110 of those and 7,000 US dollars for the 10 engraved cabinets games which apparently have all sold out already so not even worth trying to put in order for those um now included in that price is free shipping to anywhere in the us or canada so that's pretty good actually that's quite a nice offer i'm seeing that from any other company um and in order to order one of these which obviously these are built to order they're not there may be a few uh pre-built but um in order to order your um bunny factory you have to put down a 250 us dollar refundable deposit for the game it's refundable in that if you decide not to go ahead with the order and somebody else subsequently buys that game then you get your money back otherwise i guess you don't but it's only 250 dollars there's not a huge amount of money and um yeah well as we said we've been following it over the years we've seen pretty much everything about the game it has some really nicely painted playfield toys which we've spoken about before and has full cabinet artwork on the inside as well all the way down the inside side and across the bottom of the playfield of the cabinet as well including the logo on the very bottom and as i think we've also reported before it uses the hardware system built by team pinball which is a Raspberry Pi based system driving their board their R board which is the driver and switch and interface board and lighting board so yeah no great surprises about it, not surprising it's actually available to buy and we have some prices and availability right so but that surprised me and I don't want to sound negative here but here it comes anyway you? If you follow Pinball Adventures on their Instagram, like I do, you get these videos which are supposed to trigger you about the game.
    7:12
    These live reels or whatever they call them. and yeah so so we get a video about nylon rings to support playfield sliding in and out and okay if that's a feature that has to sell you on the game i'm not so sure i mean i think the main there's another one about lag levels that they put in the back of the game for when the game is sitting on its back if that's the goal of the game to put it on its back I'm not sure I mean I would probably improve with or try to get people to talk about gameplay instead of like oh yeah they have these really tiny features that nobody cares about which other companies don't have but there's a reason why other companies don't have it, because nobody cares about it. Okay, let me play devil's advocate here then and count an argument. Okay, sure. And say that maybe it's, they're attempting to show or indicate the level of detail that they go into with every game. I mean, there are various other things in that game that we haven't spoken about, like the way the speakers are built into the back box sides using basically side-firing speakers, which are then ducted through little grills built into the depth of the wood that's used for the cabinet sides, the back box sides, I should say, which, however that sounds, I don't know, because we haven't actually got our hands on one yet, and we probably won't until Pinball Expo, I suppose, in October. but there are lots of different things in there which they have changed and as you mentioned about the playfield slides and um yeah some of them are interesting changes you know if you were designing a game from scratch would you do things differently um or do you is it just easier to go with what everybody else uses you know which it may well be um so i guess that's that's the gist of these videos is, A, we've examined every aspect of the game and improved it in many small ways. Well, that's what DeepRoot did, and look what happened to them. That's true. Well, they never actually managed to sell any games, did they? No. So, kudos to Pimble Adventures for going the same route but actually being able to put out a game. So, that's definitely a plus. but in the end the proof has to be in gameplay whether people like the game and well we can check that out now there's a gameplay video over two hours I believe it is so that will give you a very good impression on how the game is it's supposed to be a funny game with all the puns in there yeah indeed so yeah I mean, pinball and humor is always a good combination, if implemented correctly.
    10:28
    Yeah. From what I've seen so far, it looked like a fun game. I have seen some gameplay, not that particular video, the live stream recording that you're referring to, but there have been some promotional videos done as well. And, yeah, it's a bit, well, it's very corny. I think that's the whole idea of it. You know, it's like dad jokes, dad puns.
    10:52
    So as long as you sort of buy into that and it's a sort of family-based game, I don't think there's anything offensive within it.
    11:02
    No, perhaps it's got that market. There aren't that many games of that particular genre out there. Maybe there's a good reason for that. Well, the good thing is, pricing-wise, if there's any families out there that are looking for a pinball machine, then this is probably the one they should get.
    11:24
    Yeah, it's certainly accessible. Although other distributors are probably saying you should get other ones. Oh, of course. Yeah.
    11:32
    Anyway, so congratulations to Andrew at Pinball Adventures on getting the game on sale. Hopefully. Let's end this on a positive note. And seriously, I hope that they manage to sell their games in order to continue building pinball games so we can move on to Elements and Sushi Mania and what have you. Yes. I mean, to me, I told Andrew this myself. I said, I think Elements is the more interesting game. But this is the first step. This is the learning curve, if you like. and this is the sort of proving ground for your system in order to bring out your future games. So congratulations on getting that done. Another plus, I would say, because I don't want to be all negative about it and I have no reason to be. I'm just questioning certain decisions in the promotional elements, so to speak, of this game. No pun intended. I think it's very good that we have a company that is actually focusing on original themes yeah well there's a few of course true there are a few but we come from almost 20 years of no original themes in pinball so it's a good thing that there's this company that is developing their own content and everything so I just wanted to put that out there as well and if this is a theme that you think like oh I love this kind of humor then get the game absolutely yeah by all means ok so that's a very positive end to our wrap up of Pinball Adventures launch of Pony Factory 2520 I don't understand the 2520 thing i think it's i think oh yeah isn't that something like an address or something i don't know uh well i think it says established 25 20 so it's like it's in the future but it's not but i don't know anyway i'm sure it'll all make sense uh when you get to play the game so hopefully you will and hopefully we will too and then we'll report back on when we have so that's uh pinball adventures so uh our second headline was about um the next gaming yes the next williams two .0 upgrade title to be produced by Pedresti Gaming. Yeah, it's supposed to be announced this week. I think they started a countdown on their Facebook page and probably other social media as well.
    14:20
    Which started two days ago at five days remaining until reveal. So at least three days since then. Yeah, they said they'll reveal it on Thursday, which depending on which day you listen to this, is either been and gone or coming up very shortly. Yeah, exactly. So, originally, as I understand it, this title was supposed to be already revealed at the Texas Pinball Festival.
    14:53
    Well, the whole game was supposed to be revealed. Yeah, I think we have to, we talked about that last month, and I think we have Well, I have to make a correction. There was a delay in the reveal, which was due to the fast pinball boards not being available or not being complete in time. But I'm told it's actually due to the lack of availability of the Raspberry Pi boards that they use as the main processor on the fast boards, rather than the fast boards themselves. anybody who's trying to buy a Raspberry Pi board would know that they are like hen's teeth and very difficult to find at the moment and if you can find them they command a premium price however Pinsound which was the board that was used with the first 2.0 game which was Funhaus Rudy's Nightmare that also uses a Raspberry Pi board but uses a different Raspberry Pi and the Pinsound team have a lot of those in stock they pre-ordered those and they had them. So that's why pin sound board was used. And I think the pin sound board is going to be used in the upcoming release as well, simply because of the lack of availability of the Raspberry Pi boards that Fast use. Right. So no reflection on Fast themselves, but just on the lack of Raspberry Pi boards that are out there at the moment. Right. Okay. So now, of course, there's speculation going on which William's title is going to be the upcoming 2.0 title, so to speak. Yes, it is. Are we doing any guesses?
    16:41
    I probably can't because I've got an article all about it ready to go. I'm just going to hit the publish button, and it will be on the website on the Big Four News site. Right. What can you tell us about that upcoming title? Well, I understand it's going to be revealed on Thursday, Jonathan, and it is going to be a 2.0 title of a Williams game. Wow, wow. Yeah. Can you tell us who the designer of the original game is? I could, yes. Yes, indeed. Yes, thank you. Yes. Any other questions?
    17:14
    Well, no. Good. Okay. well so basically the news is not only do we get a new 2.0 kit but we also get an in depth article by you on it immediately at the announcement yes absolutely on pinballnews.com thank you very much which has been sitting there for quite a while actually waiting for this game to be announced not much has changed with the game itself and it's just waiting for the availability of everything so you can actually put it on sale. Have you played the 2.0 version? I have indeed. Yes.
    17:59
    Is it an improvement over the original game or is it a completely different direction? It's a completely different direction.
    18:07
    It uses all the same hardware on the play field. I can tell you that. There's no extra hardware added to the game on the play field. put it that way. There is obviously a different back box arrangement with display and speakers and artwork and things like that but the rules have been expanded and reimagined put it that way but also has of course the ability to go back to play the original version so as you would expect and it's basically a similar kind of take on it as Funhouse Rudy's Nightmare. So if you think of that and that's kind of how this second title has been treated. Does it have the same voice actors? I believe so, yes. Yeah.
    19:05
    And I think there's a lot of similarities in the team who did the second title and the Funhouse game. Right, well the programmer is probably the same Yes, and hardware system anyway, you'll find out more about it in a couple of days time but we were talking about Funhaus just now as well you have some news on that I believe Well I came across an article on the NAP Arcade side which basically suggested that an auto plunger for for now 2.0 is uh coming um it turns out there is a uh a video on youtube by a uh a poster uh or a channel called deja vu um which is not an official pedretti channel as far as I know.
    20:10
    You can only find the video if you have the link to it. That does show a Funhouse 2.0 game that uses an auto plunger during the multi-ball. One of the multi-balls in there. But I'm not actually sure whether that is an upgrade that will be made by Pedretti. I have little information on that. I know it was originally planned to have an auto-plunger, but that wasn't then the decision taken not to put it into the game because it wasn't actually needed. And I do believe that the code for the game supports it. So if you have got it added, then, yeah, I think it'll work. Right, okay. So that's just a matter of maybe installing an auto-plunger yourself if you want to, if you're that handy with... Yes, I'm not sure whether there's a setting within the game, within the game's configuration. I not sure how the wiring would work as well but Well the wiring would just be off another solenoid somewhere There be another the from the driver board that will be connected to it but obviously you need to tell the game that it got it so it not um uh so it knows to fire it at the appropriate time right okay well that might be become available in the summer time uh in the future uh for now it could be just some homemade mod or somebody that figured like hey or looked into the code and it was like hey there is code for an auto plunger let's put one in so nothing official by Pedretti on it as far as I could see so I think that pretty much wraps up our news from Pedretti Gaming for this month so our third headline good luck on the launch for the upcoming 2.0 title. Indeed, yep. Should be an exciting day, see what the reaction is.
    22:18
    Yes, so our third headline was about Haggis and their Fathom Revisited game. Yes. So you've sort of got some more news about this I think. Yeah, well I think earlier this week, Damien posted a new update video which have been long missing from basically their social media, so to speak. Yes, so much so. He used to do several a week, and all of a sudden when production started, he got very silent,
    22:55
    which, well, there could be many reasons for that, so let's not dive into that. But he did a new one in which he basically explained that they went to the Texas Pinball Festival and a couple of other shows as well. they got feedback from customers and other people interested in the Fathom game, which basically made them decide, if not already planned up front, but we probably never know, to make an upgrade kit available for people who already ordered a classic edition Fathom game.
    23:39
    so that it can run the Mermaid 2.0 game code. Right. And that upgrade kit includes a new apron with LCDs in it and colored LED displays that are used in the back box and some other stuff as well that you need to run that game. So if you have a Fathom on order, then you can just order that upgrade game and if they still have to build your game it will be automatically implemented. Now speaking of on that besides this upgrade kit there's now also the availability to order a classic plus edition which basically means that you get the upgrade kit immediately installed in there as well. So pricing and everything of all these kits and upgrades as well, or are you good with what we have so far? Just give us an idea of what kind of money we're talking about here. Right, okay. So the upgrade kit is priced at their website for 995 US dollars or 1,500 Australian dollars or 907 euros. Right, so basically a thousand US dollars for the upgrade kit to turn, well to allow the Fathom Revisited Classic Edition to run the Fathom Revisited Mermaid Edition rules and have the display and hardware and things like that on it but it's not a complete upgrade to the Mermaid Edition it's an interim I think the Mermaid Edition has a special side art. Yeah, it sold out long ago. Yeah. And the back glass might be mirrored or different, or I'm not exactly sure. So we have the Classic, we have the Classic Plus, and we have the Mermaid Edition.
    25:53
    Now, that is correct. Okay. Right. That's fine. So that makes sense. and if you want to buy the classic plus edition. Yeah, that goes for, in Australian dollars, $13,000.
    26:09
    In US dollars, I didn't do the math on that, but probably somewhere $7,000, $8,000, I think. Roughly estimate based on the numbers that I see from the $1,500 Australian dollars to the $1,000 US dollars for the upgrade kit. Right. So, yeah. Mark, that's my strong point. A bit about eight and a half, I think. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Okay. Fine. Good. Okay. And what they also, what Haggis introduced when they announced the Mermaid series or the Mermaid edition is a series ticket, which was for free for everybody who bought a Mermaid Edition at the time. But you can also purchase a series ticket now, which basically means that if you buy, let's say, a Fathom Classic Plus Edition, as well as a series ticket, that means that you will get the same serial number on your game, on your future upgrade game or remake title that Haggis will do. And they will do five in total.
    27:24
    So their second up or remake title will be announced halfway through 2023. So let's say in a month or two. Yeah. Yeah, I understand about mid-July, I think. Okay, so mid-July. I think there's a show in Australia they will be attending and are expected to make the announcement there and that's just an announcement they're not taking the game immediately into production but production for the rest of the year is mostly on Fathom and another run of Celts after Fathom if you purchase a series tickets you'll be guaranteed a game regardless of whether it will sell out your game is reserved so it's sort of like showing a sign of you're supporting the company and you're willing to buy another four titles from them aside from Fathom which is a good way to get customers to commit to your company, I suppose. But I have to say, the build quality of the Fathom Revisited games that we have seen is basically through the roof. Yeah, I think it's a very impressive job that they've been doing on those. Let's hope that continues through the future for more titles. Right. Are they saying that there will definitely be five reruns? I'm afraid to ask, but do you have any guess on what we might be looking at for a second announced title? Or do you already have an article ready to go? No, no, I have no more information on that than anybody else. So if you're pushing me to guess, my guess would be it would be Centaur. But I've also seen 8 Ball Deluxe being thrown around as a title. that I'm less convinced about that, but Centaur would make a lot more sense, given the similarity to Fathom. Right, okay. So, well, there's going to be five titles in total, and I'm assuming they're all belly titles. Yeah, I guess so, from that same kind of era. Centaur should be on the list, probably Xenon as well.
    29:52
    Medusa, maybe. Yeah, it's an expensive game to make, all the drop targets and things, but yeah, it could be. Yeah, so that's probably four classic ballads that I can think of from the top of my head. There's lots more, don't get me wrong. There certainly are, yeah.
    30:11
    A very enjoyable era for pinball, I'd say, for a lot of people. And certainly that kind of era was, those were the games that got me into pinball in the first place. Oh yeah, absolutely. So they had to blame. I can still name locations where I used to play those belly games back then yeah I used to play them over and over and I still never understood what an earth vector was about but never mind it made a lot of nice noises so that was fun yeah exactly ok right let's move on to some of the larger companies we've covered Pinball Adventures, Pedretti and Haggis let's go to the big boys then yeah Sturm Pinball Well, none bigger than Stern. At the moment. Well, that's true, yeah. Everyone has to start somewhere.
    31:00
    So there's lots of little news items from them, really. No big announcements or anything. But there was an interview in Billboard magazine, the well-known…
    31:14
    Our location. Yeah, trying to work out exactly what it covers these days. But certainly coin-op, jukebox, that kind of thing. bending Billboard is mostly a music magazine right now isn't it? I thought that's one of the things it covers, I thought it covered an awful lot of things but maybe I'm going back to the old days where it used to cover an awful lot more I know that it used to have a lot of coin-op advertisements like in the 40s and 50s and so on I mainly know it from like 20 years ago as a music publication with music charts Yeah, he's had all the charts. He's had all the artists and everything. Different categories, yeah. Anyway, whatever they do these days, they were carrying an interview with Jack Danger about the making of the Stern Foo Fighters game. Yeah, which basically ties in with the music direction that they had it into. Yeah, absolutely. Makes sense, yeah. Yeah. Okay, I've got nothing more to say about that other than the fact that if you want to find out about Jack's interview about Foo Fighters, get yourself, I don't know if it's on the website or get yourself a copy of Billboard magazine. OK, while you do that second item on Stern Pinball, let me check if it's on the website. OK, you do that. OK.
    32:28
    Well, when we're talking about the making of games, Stern also put out a fairly short video about how their 60th anniversary James Bond machine was created. That's, of course, Keith Elwin's design. now there's some of their making of videos are very lengthy but this was one of the shorter ones so much more accessible and I recommend watching that if you just go to the sternpinball.com website and click on the James Bond game, there you'll be able to find out all about the 60th anniversary and watch that making of video hopefully I've now been talking long enough for Jonathan to have worked out whether or not Bilbo Magazine is carrying that job. I have good news.
    33:13
    The designer of Foo Fighters pinball machine describes banned input nothing but fuck yes, left and right.
    33:23
    That's the headline for the article. Pardon my French. Okay. And it appears that you can actually read the article. It's not behind any paid transcription. it's available for everybody so and you can even listen to it because they recorded somebody reading it for you or an Autobot or something like that so is it on billboard.com yes and if you just do what I did was a quick search on Jack Danger and it immediately pops up there's the article I'll be reading that later on Or maybe when you start talking about code updates. Oh, well, okay. Well, there's nothing you can manage to keep awake during that. But one other, well, we have some more news, actually, about Stern, because they have been nominated for the Licensing International Awards. Yeah. Again. Yeah, how exciting, eh? But in the category of Best Product Appliances, Housewares, and Electronics for Entertainment Brands. now um they are what game uh that will be for james bond 007 okay um not any particular model but the whole range of them i believe all four different uh models the uh including 60th anniversary they uh are up against um other international brands such as asus for um a batman phone, not the bat phone, but a Batman branded phone that they've produced. Is that not the bat phone then? That's not the big red one that flashes now.
    35:13
    Dalstrom, who make knives, who have brought out a Call of Duty range. Energizer, who brought out a Stranger Things torch. Yes, exciting stuff this, isn't it? And Oppo, OnePlus One, who do phones as well, they've brought out a House of Dragons phone, so a bit of a follow-on from Game of Thrones. And a company called OSIM, who I've never heard of, who make gaming chairs and have made a Transformers-branded gaming chairs. So that's who Stern are up against. The voting for that award closes on the 6th of May, and I'm sure if Stern win in that category, they will be putting out a press release about it fairly shortly after that. Yeah, well, might be one trophy the game will win harsh but anyway moving on swiftly then another very popular stone pinball title is Godzilla of course and there's been two special well special in inverted commas Godzilla premium pinball machines that have been auctioned off over the past few days. These apparently have been played by a team or members...
    36:44
    I lost you. Hello? And Martin appears to be missing. In action. Martin, can you hear me? If you can hear me. Yeah. Oh, I'm still here Yeah, I hear you Looks like you lost your connection On this rather important topic Okay, well I'll go back to Pick up and say Apparently these two Godzilla Premium games Were played Or at least in the presence of Some members of an American football team Called the Fighting Eleni From Illinois and they were played during the team's breakthrough 2022 season, so last year.
    37:34
    These are two highly exclusive Illinois Football Godzilla Premium Signature Edition games, which were up for auction on the Captain's Auctions website. Okay, so how many times did these guys play them? That is unclear, if indeed it was ever played. Well, there's pictures, I've seen pictures of them playing the game, but they're football players I mean and not very famous ones I believe no I guess not we're not that au fait with American football so we don't know quite how well known the Fighting Alini are if the Fighting Alini rocked your boat then this was your chance it was unfortunately it's too late but we are reporting on it there were two of these machines They were autographed by the members of the teams on the back box and also by the president and CEO of Stern Pinball, Seth Davis.
    38:40
    So those two basically came in play after the games was already designed. Oh, well. Yeah. Anyway, proceeds from this auction benefit eight football players on the team, apparently. So good luck to them. They were listed, I'd say, on the Captain's Auction Warehouse website with a starting bid of $9,699 each.
    39:06
    And they also, the final price they went for was $14,600 for the first one and $13,300 for the second one, plus an 18% buyer's premium and sales tax of 7.5%, which bumped the price up to 18,500 for one and 17,000 for the other. Okay, seriously. I think you can buy two premium machines for that kind of money. Pretty much, yeah. You need to be big fans of the Fighting Alini in order to bid on those. But they both sold anyway, and good luck to the buyers who got those. Okay, so next thing you know is we're going to be bidding on a game that, well, somebody famous drove by in his car and now we get a plaque on that. Yeah. One that Seth looked at as he came into the factory one day.
    40:03
    Wow. But you'll sign it. Just to indicate. Anyway, enough levity on that particular thing, because we've got the all-exciting new code. Oh, right. Let me get back to my Jack Danger article. Okay.
    40:18
    Well, at least it's relevant. I suppose the big news for the code fans amongst you is that all Spike 2 games, which are the LCD games, they all got an update in this past month, which is 19 different machines. Some updates were just like insider-connected or system-level updates to introduce new features or make them catch up with features which were introduced on other versions of the games, or other games, I should say. but others actually got some nice new features and some bug fixes that have been waiting to be squished for quite a while. So if you have a Spike 2 game, you haven't updated it yet, or it hasn't updated itself, if you've got it connected to Wi-Fi and the auto-update thing on, then go and check that code and see what's new.
    41:11
    As well as that, there's also a new code for James Bond, which came out at the beginning of April on the 3rd. Foo Fighters, as you'd expect, came out on the 6th. And there was another update for James Bond as well, the 60th anniversary one, which added a whole range of new sound package options and a rather nifty little feature that allows you to use the insider-connected QR code reader to swap between different sound packages, even though they're mid-game. so there are some codes out there so you can just wave your phone or you print out of it over the QR code reader and the sound package changes between 60s, 70s, 80s and some brand new exclusive vintage versions of those sound packages which are only accessible by using the QR code and can't be selected normally. So it's not like it's going to play Foo Fighters all of a sudden? Well, who knows? I'm sure that option will be available by people using various hacking systems. But officially, no. Let's say not, no. So anyway, I think that pretty much wraps up our news from Elk Grove Village and the Stern Pinball Factory. Right. Okay. So, well, let's report on what's happening on the next block. Jersey Jack pinball as far as I can tell not that much other than Jack traveling the globe Jack Guarnieri the founder of Jersey Jack Pinball that is Jack was recently in Australia.
    43:00
    And last weekend, actually, in France for Flip Expo, which is a show that we have attended in the past. We have. This is probably the first one in years that I missed.
    43:15
    Yeah, it's a shame. It would have been a good one. But unfortunately, we were both too busy for this particular one. So as you will know, if you listen to the chat we had with Jack in our previous Pincast last month,
    43:33
    he was talking about that. Yes, he was referring to his travels, and the fact he would be at the Trepo for FlipExpo. But looks like all the people there enjoyed meeting Jack and getting various things signed by him.
    43:52
    You can tell that that's the main news from Jersey Jack Pinball this month. There's not much going on there. Basically the company is busy building the Godfather which is a huge hit for them. Yeah, absolutely. And rightfully so. And promoting it It's a very impressive game. Yes, lots of social media stuff about that, including pictures of Slash playing the game with Eric and Eric Meunier, and also a map showing where you can play The Godfather across the US, various locations, if you're unsure where to find it. Yes, but that doesn't mean that because Godfather is now in production that Jersey Jack is neglecting their older titles. Absolutely not, no There's some new code for Toy Story 4 Tell me all about it Well, it won't take very long So version 1.11 Came out on the 10th of April Fixed a couple of bugs With high score Initials And drop target Not updating During road trip multiple and I lost you again ok yeah and there's Martin again yeah I can hear you again thank you ok some positional so all this happens during code updates seriously it's pure coincidence yeah almost like somebody's pulling the plug there is this is actually the first game where they have removed the support for scorebit we mentioned that last time about how Jersey Jacks decided not to work with Scorbit any longer to integrate their system and this new update removes it.
    45:45
    There's no new code for any of the other games to take it out of, like for Wizard of Oz or dialed in Pirates of the Caribbean, Willy Wonka or Guns N' Roses.
    45:54
    So, for now Scorbit exists or continues to exist in those games but I'm sure there will be future updates which will remove it completely. Right. Which is a shame, but there you go. Oh, well. Well, the new system might even be better if they ever get to it. Yes, exactly. That's the thing. Okay, so that is our Jersey Jack Pinball update for April. Okay, let's move on to Pinball Brothers.
    46:23
    Yeah, well, there's we got some new code, of course, for Queen, which uh what do you mean of course well of course it's always being updated and uh this um this version brings the whole new sound package from david teal wow who we uh we knew was working on it and um this apparently does improve an awful lot of things with the sounds makes it more dynamic i don't know whether it involves any re-recording of uh only the voice call out which was the probably the biggest bugbear that we we picked up in the past but uh certainly the rest of it has from reports from people who've installed it and tried it made a significant difference to the sound so congratulations to david and and pinball brothers on uh producing that new sound package will also include some improved display effects um some new skill shot options some rules and scoring tweaks and uh some bug fixes as well for things which were which have been pointed out and been found. So, that's the code, but there's it's not just all about Queen. Queen. No. Because, as you say, I was saying with Jersey Jack, it's not all about the latest game. There's also news about previous titles. Yes. Well, in this case, there's only one previous title, which is Alien, but apparently April 26th is Alien Day. Was. Yes. Well, every year it is, so.
    47:54
    And for people, that was a good reason to announce a 426 discount for Alien LV games, which runs until May 15th. But keep in mind, it's only available until local stock runs out. so the games already have to be for example in the US at a distributor as long as stock lasts then the discount is available so it's not for games that are currently being built and still have to be shipped at least that's my take on it right, ok, fair enough well if it's only until the 15th of May then probably won't get any more games built and shipped in that time still two weeks to the shipping out games every week which is a good thing and if you're in the market for an Alien game you might be able to get one with a $426 discount that's not to be discounted yes or rather it is yes ok and there was some other news which I have difficulty understanding what it's actually about but apparently after opening their Italian factory at Euro Pinball Corp cranking out more and more of the pinball machines that they are building Pinball Brothers have now founded a PB USA LLC which the PB of course stands for Pinball Brothers I assume now I'm like ok so what does that mean well the explanation is as follows think of it as a hub to be able to better cater the needs of all US customers our US support section is on site already doing the greatest job but will offer further improve US shipment and parts and also machine deliveries to our distributors and resellers throughout the US and if you want to find out more about it there's a website which is basically pbusa.info very good that sounds like something they assure that they will keep making their games in Italy in collaboration with Pedretti Gaming yes it would be odd if they just found just formed their manufacturing company Europimble and then moved manufacturing to America so that's not happening probably financial reasons for whatever or something like that to start this new what do you call it LLC yeah venture but it's also probably I would guess and this is pure speculation from me is to take some of the workload off Cointaker having to deal with everything to do with Pinball Brothers so if they've got this other company set up there that can provide the service and support and help supply games, then that's to hopefully speed up and increase the amount of games and the amount of parts available throughout the US.
    51:24
    Right, okay. Anyway, so if you're still here and interested in Alien, hurry up and go get one while it's still discounted. Yep. $426 off while stocks lost.
    51:37
    Yeah. Okay. So that's our Pinball Brothers. That wraps it up for Pinball Brothers right now. Next on my list is Spooky Pinball. Sounds good. Okay. Well, not a huge amount to report from them. We already know about Scooby-Doo being their current title. Where are you? Yes, where are you?
    52:00
    With an exclamation mark on the end and not a question mark. so that is their current game and we got to play it at the Texas Pinball Festival back in March surprisingly fun game it was, well not surprising but yeah I suppose for a wide body it's certainly a little different to what you might have expected from a wide body game but in a good way so anyway as it is their current title then obviously there's some new code out for that on the 13th of April, which added a new Scooby Snack multiball to the rules, added new audits, new setting adjustments, new light shows, and a few rule tweaks. So nothing too exciting, but Scooby Snack multiball is a very welcome addition, something that was missing from the game before. However, that also introduced a couple of bugs to the bugs, as in software bugs, not as in bug, who runs the company. But that was soon squished by another release on the 18th of April version, well, no point going over the version numbers because the version numbers are the dates, pretty much. So it's version 17 really, which you should be on if you install version 16. So get that from the Spooky Pinball website and download it and install. Yeah. And there was also a new gameplay video posted on the social media featuring the new code. So if you're curious, if you don't have a Scooby-Doo pinball machine nearby to play for yourself, but you're still interested in seeing what gameplay would be like, then I highly suggest that you check out this video, which you can find on Spooky Pinball's Facebook page and probably YouTube as well. Yeah, YouTube channel, I think, as well. Well, we said it wasn't much from Spooky. I think that's about all we've got to say about what happens at Spooky. Right. So our next company would be Multimorphic, I believe. And, well, we know what they're making at the moment. Yeah. Their final Resistance game is the top. No, actually, that's coming up. They're not just coming up yet. They're still building Weird Al's. Yeah, that's right. Good point, good point. So, but in the meantime... I was going to say killing time. Yes, they've been busy picking up some of the members of the design team who you normally don't get to see and often aren't at any of the shows either where their games or their products are available for you to enjoy. So they've been sort of highlighting members of the team, starting with Trey Jones, who's a mechanical designer and metalworking expert. BJ Wilson, who does an awful lot of their software development. Rory Sanuda, who's the technical artist, lead technical artist and game engine expert. And also some of their playfield assemblers, Mikey, Cindy and Lexi. Not Lexi Lightspeed, but Lexi. who are the ones, or some of the ones at least, who build the playfields in the factory. It should be Sydney, not Cindy. Ah, okay, Sydney? Sydney. Sydney, yeah. Okay.
    55:34
    That's what I read in my screen. Okay, I'm sure you're right. Anyway, so you can look at both Jonathan's report and my report from the multi-mortar factory. if you want to see Jonathan's Texas Pinball Festival report, if you want to see where they're working and the games that they're working on. Yeah, and I'll probably be posting a photo of one of these individuals or the group of Playfield Assemblers in my Pinball Magazine newsletter. Make sure they are subscribed to that as well. A good timely reminder. Yeah, exactly. and I think that rounds it up for Multimorphic at this point I think you're right so well Chicago Gaming is next on my list so what's been happening there well they did a live stream with Jack Danger on his Deadflip Twitch channel for Pulp Fiction yeah as I understand it was very well received everyone seemed to be having a really good fun time as opposed to some other streams where it all seems to be deadly serious but this one certainly seemed to have a lot of fun. The entire design team was basically present and they didn't take things too seriously I'd say which probably helps in this case with a game like this. I did watch it for a bit earlier today. I didn't watch it live but I found the audio a little bit on the low side. I couldn't crank it up hard enough on my laptop. For the whole stream? Yeah, I think so, yeah. Basically the way the mics were set up and so on. It was not that loud, so to speak. But still a very, very fun stream to check out. And I didn't watch it entirely, but I don't think anybody got to nowhere near my 5 million points score on Bowl 1 when I played the game at Texas Pinball Festival like six weeks ago. Well, no, I mean, they probably don't understand how it works, you know, not in the way that you do. Well, these are the people that built the game. If anybody understands how it should work, it should be them, right? I was being facetious, but yes, absolutely. I understand they didn't get to complete the game at any point but got reasonably close to it so in a similar vein as yourself I might have to watch more to see if they got close to 5 million points I can't tell you about the scores but anyway if all this excitement at Chicago Gaming and the upcoming Pulp Fiction game and their existing remakes is something which interests you and you happen to live in the vicinity, then you might be interested to know that Chicago Gaming is seeking an experienced pinball service technician for their service department. What, you mean these machines break?
    58:53
    Well, obviously not theirs, but, you know, there's probably work to prevent them breaking, preventative maintenance. It's an in-house position. It doesn't say whose house it's in, but it's in. and it's open to either full or part-time applicants so if you sounds like something you might be interested in doing get in touch with Chicago Gaming and let them know your availability and they'll let you know whether you would be a good fit for them right now currently while Pulp Fiction was being streamed that game is going into production in the third quarter of this year in the meantime they are building Cactus Canyon remake and there's some news on that game as well as Josh Sharp who did the rules for Pulp Fiction posted an update on Pinsight basically explaining what has happened since the untimely passing of Lime and Sheets with who he was working on a special upgrade kit for the game. Yes, alternative rules. Yes, alternative rule set, but also with actual voice calls and basically trying to create a different game on the same platform, so to speak. and basically the project has been on hold for the past 15 months with the only thing that actually was done was make a to-do list of things that need to be finished. And due to the development of Pulp Fiction and other games that he can't go into, there were no resources available to finish the to-do list for that upgrade for Cactus Canyon but that doesn't mean it's game over Josh is a very sure I would say that whenever he gets the resources that he needs he will be able to finish the game in the fashion that he and Lyman envisioned at the start of that project.
    61:30
    Josh is in the possession of a game that is already running on the software that Lyman wrote, which isn't finished.
    61:46
    It's not finished, but it's not ready to be released either, so it needs work. And Josh is basically keeping his hopes up that that will happen at some point, but there's no timeline when that might happen. Okay. So we won't hold our breath waiting for that to be released. But it's good to know that work was done and is to be done on it anyway. And that they don't want to release it until it's complete. And a fitting tribute to what Josh and Lyman wanted it to be. To quote Josh, much is left to implement. The rules design is complete. The code is not, the art is not, the sound and speech are not. There's still a good amount of work to be done. End of quote. Okay, fair enough. So, at least we know what the situation with that is. It was always sort of something that's been hanging around for the question. It's also very good of Josh to chime in on Pinside, because obviously people are debating whether there is any progress made or not. And he clarified that. Yeah, obviously a lot of projects going on at Chicago Gaming at the moment. More on which later, but that for now, I think that's everything from them for this month. So let's move across the state a little to American Pinball and what's been going on there. Yeah, what has been going on there is they sent out another press release, which probably could have been a service bulletin. Yes, we mentioned last month, I think, there was one about a bracket behind the stand-up targets on the tank that was bending backwards and how they have taken the opportunity to fix that on all upcoming games. Now there's been another one about some issue with the lock mechanism. David Fix put out a press release which said, during a live stream of the game, we noticed some issues with our lock mechanism and our vertical up kicker in the Galactic Tank Force their current new game after extensive testing we have identified the issue of magnetised balls causing difficulties with the mechanisms I hate it when my balls are magnetized Well don we all But fortunately, if you do have that issue, let David know straight away and he'll replace your balls at no cost to you either.
    64:28
    So and he just goes on to reiterate about developing this bracket to prevent air balls. and then goes on about rather strangely about the price of games saying in light of concerns about the pricing of our games we want to emphasize our margins have always been extremely tight profit isn't what drives us we're driven purely for the love of the game we invest in our games to ensure the highest or best possible experience for our customers it's not about the bottom line it's about sharing our passion with the pinball community. So in other words... Well, I think the special deluxe limited engraved edition of Collected Tank Force was priced at a rather steep price point, north of 15,000, I believe.
    65:25
    But correct me if I'm wrong. so I can see why people would be talking about pricing but hey, you don't have to buy the game or you buy another edition also I guess they amortize the development cost of the game across all the models that they produce so while the top end ones may be very expensive that might keep the cost of the lower end ones down if they can sell all those and make the average price lower.
    66:01
    So, you know, I have to take them at their word. So that was a rather strange press release, but addressing a number of issues about mechanical issues and the pricing of the games. So there you go. Take it for what it is. Yeah, exactly. So, well, here's a new company that we haven't discussed that much.
    66:28
    Cardona Pinball Design. Yes. Who exhibited their Black Rose Skull and Bones at at least the Texas Pinball Festival and possibly other shows as well in the meantime. Yeah. You found some news on that? It was on the Planetary Pinball stand at the Texas show. I was hoping it would be available to purchase but apparently it's not yet available to purchase there are some sample videos showing the game in development I was kind of I mentioned last time that their earlier game No Good Gophers Battle for the Green was an earlier title that they showed and had some rather poor quality animations and graphics I have to say so far Skull and Bones is looking similar it's I don't want to say it's a mess but it's not looking the level of animation and graphics that we're used to from various LCD displays Pirates are always a mess that's true but the Gophers game is available if you wanted to buy that. I think that costs about $2,000 if you want to get the kit for that. Which seems quite good value these days when the price of a topper for a Mandalorian isn't it? So then you get a whole new game.
    68:02
    Well, you have to buy the game first, but still. You do. Same goes with the topper. But Skull and Bones is not yet available, but it's in development and will hopefully be available through Planetary Pinball.
    68:20
    And whether they'll work on any other future games or not, we don't know at the moment, but we'll keep you updated with the latest developments from Cardona Pinball and their No Good Gophers Battle for the Green and Black Rose Skull and Bones games. Right, okay. Now, let's do a quick round-up of the remaining companies, so to speak.
    68:39
    Okay, well... because there are quite a few, but there's not that much news. No. So we can make this rather quick. Dutch Pinball? No news.
    68:48
    Home Pin in Taiwan? A little bit of news. Although it wasn't directly from them, because it came from Highway Games, who are their Australian distributors. They produced a promotional video for the This Is Spinal Tap game,
    69:05
    which apparently is shipping now, as we reported last month. I believe But if you go to YouTube And search for This Is Spinal Tap Pinball You can watch a Semi-professional Should we say Video for The other thing was very nicely done Yeah Direction Is something that you might want to Discuss Yeah I tended to focus more on The model I guess it was Who was playing the game or was featured. Female model, so to be more precise. Yes, indeed. That's right, yeah. Not a game model.
    69:46
    And less on the actual gameplay itself, but there's a little bit of it in there, so you can see some of the gameplay, but not, if you are expecting to find or hoping to get a gameplay video, then that is not it. But it's an interesting promotional video, so definitely worth looking at. They sort of took the, if you want to buy a car out, use a beautiful woman to promote the car. I think this is a similar fashion.
    70:22
    Yeah. I'm not saying whether that's right or wrong. Okay. Well, I think that's anything we've got to say about HomePin and this is Final Tap. But we could move on to another new company, Hexa Pinball in France. Okay, that's a new name to me. Yes, they are producing a space hunt game, and they put a public vote up to choose which version of a back glass artwork to use, and they revealed the winner. I think it was on their Facebook page.
    71:02
    I have to look it up. I haven't seen it yet. Yes, don't know anything else about the game other than the fact it's got this artwork on it. But they are a French team, and Space Hunt is going to be their first title. So we'll bring you more news about Hexapimble and the Space Hunt game as soon as we find out.
    71:24
    Right, okay, Hexapimble, let me look it up right away. Yeah, might have found out more, I guess, if we'd been at the Trepaw show this weekend. Yeah, well, I see it uses a Pinsound speaker, so... Yes, I think it's got some involvement there with members of the Pinsound team. Yeah, there is a Facebook page indeed. I see some artwork in there. It's a bit cartoony looking, but it does look nice. So, okay, so it looks like we might have another pinball manufacturer in Europe. Yes, and let's move on to an existing pinball manufacturer who's based in Spain, Bitronic. And I understand there's a little bit of news there. Well, not so much from Bitronic, to be precise. Obviously, they are manufacturing the Super Hoop pinball machine, or I think it's called Super Canasta in Spain. but for the rest of the world it's called Super Hoop and their British distributor Pinball Heaven produced a video in which they basically discussed the game and all the pros of buying it if you're looking to add a game to your home or game room and you're not that familiar with pinball, then why would you buy one that is twice as expensive if you can buy a super hoop? Mm-hmm. Okay. Valid point. And I'll link to that video in the Pinball Magazine newsletter as well if you're interested. And else you have to look up super hoop and pinball heaven on YouTube and I think you'll easily find it. Excellent. Okay. So, staying in Spain, any news from SDR pinball? Well, not that I know of. Okay. Well, what about Quetzal pinball? also in Spain. As far as we know, the next title should be Tokyo Perfect Drift, which is actually an old title, but should be taken into production by Bitronic, but we don't know when. It's been a while, hasn't it? Yes. Okay, so there's no news from them, or anything from Turner Pinball, who we featured last month. I didn't hear anything. Nothing new about their ninja recruits? They're still trying to find out the direction for their ninja what's it called? Ninja Eclipse game, yes, exactly. Okay, so no news from them. Circus Maximus and the Kingpin project. No news there either. Okay.
    74:06
    I've seen it's been discussed quite a bit, but it does appear to be, if not on hiatus, then pretty much a dead project.
    74:15
    Well, I talked to Paul at, sorry, I talked to James, James Lovelin at Pinball Expo who explained to me he was trying to get back into his groove with the game but right now or at that time I think it basically was a two man project and I haven't recently talked to James so I don't know what the current status is and maybe I should talk to James for a future update for our next episode. Yeah, as I understand it, it doesn't own the or doesn't have the rights to the title even anymore. That's been picked up by a Dutch company or collector or individual who wants to get the game made, but doesn't see Circus Maximus doing anything with it. Right. Okay, which is a shame, but if anybody else thinks they can push the project forward well there is something that we could dive into because obviously this Kingpin project was for Circus Maximus sort of like a their way of moving forward with Pinball Circus so if they won't be doing Kingpin then probably the whole Pinball Circus project is dead as well which would be a real shame but you know it's it is what it is if nothing's happening with it then that's where it is right but there's also another new company which you've got news on I understand yeah but don't keep your well let's not get too excited yet but Bob Knies, known for his homebrew Elf Game which I think won some awards or I think it ended up pretty high in the American Pinball American Dream Challenge last year at Pinball Expo that Elf Game that he made sort of put him on the map and he now started a small company in which he plans to develop several comedic-themed pinball games. He's working with a gentleman called Paul Fusco as investor and some other members of a game design team. Okay. Where was this news released?
    77:08
    I read it on NAP Arcade. and kudos for them for bringing this story credit where it's due and we don't know anything more about it other than the fact that he's working well yeah well he's basically working from home with a small group of people supporting him and they have plans to build pinball machines, but we all know how it goes. Designing a game is one thing, and manufacturing is a completely different stuff. It certainly is, yes. So, yeah, the company is called Tilt-Bob Pinball, and they were already, he was handing out a Twippy, I believe, at the Texas Pinball Festival, where he was wearing a t-shirt, so the merchandise is already there, which is a star.
    78:07
    Yeah, that's a way of funding it to sell the t-shirts. Right. But we wish Bob and his team a successful development of their first title or titles and we hope to be reporting on them much more in the future. Yeah, indeed. Okay. Now going back to Europe and there was a post on Facebook this month from Christophe Linard of Pinball Pleasure in France. He's the distributor for Jersey Jack Pinball in France and Benelux, I believe. Yeah, I believe that's right. In his post, he showed a picture of some racks of items from the Zidware collection of I don't want to call it junk, but it's parts and prototypes and development items and drawings and all the stuff which was featured in the Pitbull News article about the two storage units which were in Illinois that contained all the items which formed the settlement between John Poppaduke and the buyers of the Magic Girl and Razor Games and Alice in Wonderland games from Zidware. So these items have now turned up in France, apparently.
    79:44
    And he says that he and Marco, I don't exactly know who Marco is, so he bought these Zidware items from the storage units in Illinois and he was showing that they had arrived in France. Yeah, I think what they showed was a photo of the shipping container that they were in just opened and they had to start unpacking or unloading yes no idea what's going to happen to those exactly I guess various parts will be sold off it mentioned that they are going to sell off the stuff that is the least interesting yeah at least historically interesting you said but at least to them as you say presumably it's all interesting to some degree or other so we'll look to see when those start appearing for sale and whether they are fetching good prices or not because I'm guessing they must have paid quite a lot of money to get all that and a fair amount to get it shipped over to Europe as well so let's hope it's how much they paid but I'm just wondering whether the people that apparently are getting the money that was paid for these units, whether they are satisfied with the amount that was paid for them?
    81:04
    Well, I guess they were. They wouldn't have accepted the offer. Well, if it was the only offer. Well, they were waiting. They didn't exactly rush into doing a deal, I don't think. It's taken some time. The longer these items were being kept in a storage unit in Illinois, the cost of that keeps eating into any money they might make. So, yeah, probably better to sell them as soon as possible, really, and get some real money rather than just some items.
    81:40
    Okay. Okay, so, I think we're down to our last topic, but earlier on we mentioned our good friend Gary Flower. I just checked my phone to see whether he called in, or tried to call in.
    81:57
    Nothing so far. I thought he wasn't any impression that we were recording right now oh well never mind I'm sure if there was anything pressing we would have heard so let's just go on to our last item which takes us back to the gift that keeps on giving and the deep root story and apparently it's almost worth a pibble machine of its own the deep root saga yeah fortunately the game would never end but the The Security and Exchange Commission, the SEC's case against Robert Mueller and Policy Services, which is the company which handled all the life insurance policies that they bought and sold as investments.
    82:43
    So his case against them and the Deep Root family of companies is apparently set for trial in October this year. Oh, so we might actually attend if we go to Pimble Expo. Oh, well, yeah, that's a good point. I'd better find out exactly where and when.
    83:01
    Probably in Texas. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I'll have to go through the court filings and find out exactly where the hearing will take place. I imagine it will be going on for a while. But, of course, it may not be open to the public. It may be behind closed doors because it's unlikely to be a jury case. But you never know. and just because it starts in October doesn't mean anything actually happens in October you know how long these things take anyway Robert has filed some defence documents which seems to have changed his line of defence for what he is charged with from saying he did nothing wrong to saying that his lawyer said that everything he did was ok and does it make that okay? apparently yeah because that would then take away his intention to defraud if he thought he was doing the right thing because his lawyer said it was the right thing okay so is the lawyer on trial? no of course not lawyers never go on trial but it wasn't the lawyer who did whatever was done so if I kill somebody and my lawyer says it was okay then I'm not to blame?
    84:29
    You'd have to ask a lawyer. I can't help you with that one. But anyway, we'll see what happens when, I'm sure there'll be lots more developments in this case before, I say before it comes to trial in October. That's assuming it ever does come to trial in October. Right. Because things have a tendency to be settled before it hits court. But anyway, we'll see. And we will keep you updated.
    84:59
    Right. Okay. So that brings us to the end of this episode. I think it does, yes. We'll be back at the start of June when we will be looking back in our next Pincast at all the events in the pinball world throughout this month of May. So until then, from me, Martin Ebb of Pinball News, and me, Jonathan Houston of Pinball Magazine. We wish you a fantastic May and we'll see you again next month. Okay, thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.