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The Great British Pinball Podcast Episode 24

The Great British Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 33m·analyzed·May 21, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

GBP Podcast 24: Personal updates, restoration projects, and mixed Dune/Labyrinth impressions.

Summary

Scott Rundell and Neil McRae discuss personal updates (Neil in California for work, Scott expecting a baby), their restoration projects (World Cup Soccer, multiple playfield refurbs for club machines), and early impressions of new Spooky Pinball releases Dune and Labyrinth. They explore parts supply chain frustrations, location vs. home machine differences, and polarized community reactions to Dune's early code and mechanics.

Key Claims

  • Dune is experiencing early code issues that make it feel like a 'snore fest' with mechs that feel slow on repeated plays

    medium confidence · Community feedback shared by listeners; Neil noting 'definitely an early code issue' but uncertain about worm mech perception

  • Labyrinth is well-made with solid playfield quality and no mechanical issues

    high confidence · Neil's direct experience: 'It shoots fine, it's lovely, it's well made, it doesn't skip a beat'

  • Godzilla (Premium) at Pinball Republic has sustained 12,000 plays with minimal issues

    high confidence · Neil stating direct operational data on location machine wear

  • Parts suppliers who ship within 1-2 days see significantly higher repeat business than those taking a week or more

    medium confidence · Neil's opinion based on ordering behavior: 'if you've got a website where it's in stock and you ship it the next day I will order from you'

  • No one currently manufactures Indy 500 playfields, making replacements extremely difficult to source

    high confidence · Neil actively searching: 'I was stunned by that. Really there's just like nothing about them. They're not made at all'

  • Spooky's Barrels have 'nailed on the head' manufacturing quality compared to competitors

    medium confidence · Neil's observation about Labyrinth's build quality

  • Dune video reviews have been inconsistent in portraying the game's quality, with Cool Toy's early coverage putting it in poor light

    medium confidence · Neil comparing multiple viewer experiences of Dune gameplay footage

  • Stern bumper stop pads (blue thin pads) are difficult to replace on location machines like Deadpool

    high confidence · Neil's direct maintenance experience: 'they're a nightmare' to access with screwdriver

Notable Quotes

  • “the quicker if I know that you've got a website where it's in stock and you ship it the next day I will order from you”

    Neil McRae @ mid-episode — Core insight on parts supplier competitive advantage; emphasizes speed as primary business differentiator

  • “if you're using it as a judgment to go unpack it and then play it and you're listening to the music and aesthetics and going that's not for me you've made the wrong decision from the get-go”

    Scott Rundell @ late-episode — Commentary on people selling games after minimal plays (10 plays on D&D LE); suggests aesthetic preference shouldn't drive purchase decisions

  • “this game is the biggest snore fest light show kind of box of lights that they've ever played”

    Community feedback (via Neil) @ mid-episode — Harsh critique of Dune's gameplay depth; cited as early code issue but raises mechanical concerns

  • “There's the big things in the world weddings, babies and pinball everything is expensive”

    Neil McRae @ early-episode — Humorous but candid observation about pinball collecting costs

  • “I need it ASAP. I don't want to come back to it in three months. I want to do it in the next three weeks.”

    Scott Rundell @ mid-episode — Explains urgency-driven parts ordering behavior that suppliers struggle to meet

  • “Godzilla has had 12,000 plays. Jesus. Right, it's been we've had it literally since the like a few months after”

    Neil McRae @ mid-episode — Demonstrates durability of modern Stern machines under heavy location use

  • “I lucked out with Metallica. I shouldn't have been able to get it, but someone bailed on their order”

    Neil McRae @ late-episode — Illustrates UK LE scarcity and difficulty securing orders without early access

  • “holy shit, that game's a brick fest”

    Neil McRae (re: Tested/Adam Savage video) — Visual observation of Dune gameplay showing poor shot-making or difficult playfield design

Entities

Neil McRaepersonScott RundellpersonPinball RepubliccompanyDunegameLabyrinthgameSpooky PinballcompanyMetallicagame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Parts suppliers with 1-day shipping model outcompete those with 7-14 day fulfillment; industry consensus that shipping speed drives repeat business by 25%+

    medium · Neil and Scott discussing ordering behavior; Neil: 'if you've got a website where it's in stock and you ship it the next day I will order from you'

  • ?

    event_signal: UK Open organizing committee meeting format combining food, planning, and casual pinball play; testing new acquisitions (Doodlebug, Uncanny X-Men) in group setting

    medium · Neil: 'we had a UK Open organising committee event at my house, we basically eat curry, talk UK Open and play a bit of pinball'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Dune early reviews polarized—initial Cool Toy coverage created negative first impression, but subsequent gameplay videos (Tested/Adam Savage) show inconsistent quality perception depending on player skill level

    medium · Neil comparing multiple community video reactions: 'initial videos by Cool Toy were not great... then another video put it in a better light'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Spooky Pinball positioned as manufacturing quality leader; Barrels/Spooky 'nailed on the head' for build reliability on Labyrinth vs. industry standard

    medium · Neil: 'Barrels definitely have nailed on the head' regarding manufacturing quality; Labyrinth described as 'solid' with no playfield issues

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Video game representation of pinball (YouTube reviews) creating inconsistent community perception of new releases; player skill level and table setup (steep angle) significantly affecting visual reception

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.281

0:00
Welcome to the Great British Pinball Podcast and here are your hosts Scott Rundell and Neil McRae. Ladies and gentlemen, you've just heard our glorious theme tune, God Save the King and what a king he is. and I'm not talking about the guy in Medieval Madness I'm talking about old Charlie and his glorious family who by all accounts were applying for the wreath of the king to be placed on Pinball Republic by order of the king. Now we're not really because that's why it's called Pinball Republic and not Pinball Kingdom. But Scott this is another episode of the great British Pinball Podcast number 24 I think. Hello Neil how are you doing? I'm good as I was mentioning just before I've had a crazy week, my mum had a stroke yeah I'm sorry to hear that yeah I won't bore the audience with but the one thing I will say is audience, make sure your parents or your friends or whoever it is your own power of attorney is in good shape that's my only comment right now and maybe in the future I'll talk more about it and don't freaking smoke right the doctor showed me a scan and basically said because your mum smoked she's had the stroke, no question about it so give up smoking at Vince, I'm looking at you mate so yeah a bit of a crazy week and also you remember I said I was worried I'd be made homeless and lose all my pins well it's happened they're all gone, I'm living in a sheltered accommodation big and lost I've only got a bed and an air conditioning unit, I have nothing else actually no, I'm currently in sunny California with work and then I'm off for a week so this is why I said Scott, let's do a podcast otherwise it's going to be a long time what about you Scott?
2:11
how's painting in the nursery and buying pots and napkins it's been like, how can I put it tiring because I'm having to do a lot of stuff myself my wife gets up and she's out of breath because we're walking out of breath it's getting to that stage now we're nearing the third trimester and it's like yeah it's becoming more of a less of a bump and more of a barrel it's um I might enter that out Scott for your life for your life's dependence she'll heal this later and probably hit me but yeah no it's fine I'd say like it's it's good we got like I put together the cots and everything like that I used the word cots in plural because she may be by an interim clock which I didn't even know what the hell that was until it was described to me so yeah what is it they call it the something basket or the it's just a license to print money I swear there's the big things in the world weddings, babies and pinball everything is expensive no that is a very good way of putting it next time I visit your house I'm going to look at the nursery and think how many pinball machines could sort of bought with all this yeah exactly exactly now i've been putting together my indie that's nearly done i'm just waiting on parts which is always a pain in the neck my homebrew playfields in finally kind of like just because i got to the point where holly said she can't she can't lift the playfield in and it's got a good decent size amount of coils in it doesn't look it but it's maxed out and coils we got like 17 coils in there right and it was getting pretty heavy and I was panicking a little bit when it went in but I didn't break anything so that was the start but yeah so it's good I'm making progress got things just waiting on parts it's just a necessary thing in the world at the moment yeah I mean speaking of speaking apart so I mentioned on the previous podcast that I bought a world cup soccer yeah I got I got it actually pretty cheap and of course I didn't realize my own um advice which is if it sounds too good to be true it probably is yeah i basically bought a flea pit of a game um and and and maybe that's my hard my own hard view anyway the good news is that scott's just got enough time to spruce it up i said to him do or die you've got a couple of months of window left before i'm not doing it for at least a year so so i've literally bought every world cup soccer park that there is including a play field from CPR which gets to someone's got to be a scratch field at this rate yeah pretty much apart from the leg bolts I think we can fix that I'm always a stickler for nice new leg bolts I agree and also the decals and let me tell you there are some companies Scott that have exclusivity on certain things. Yeah.
@ late-episode
Godzilla
game
Deadpoolgame
World Cup Soccergame
Jurassic Park 2 LEgame
Pinball Lifecompany
Marco Pinballcompany
Tested (Adam Savage)person/media
Cool Toyperson/media
Michael (DRI/Dry)person
Jamesperson
Ray Day's Pinballmedia
Backhand Pinball (Mark)media
Zach McCartyperson
David (Retro parts seller)person
George Gomezperson
Doodlebuggame
Uncanny X-Mengame
King Konggame

medium · Neil noting Dune videos showed 'brick fest' gameplay but uncertain if due to setup angle or design; Tested video perceived differently by different viewers

  • ?

    venue_signal: Location machines require fundamentally different maintenance and durability standards than home machines; Godzilla at 12,000 plays showing wear patterns different from home collector expectations

    high · Neil contrasting location durability (Godzilla 12k plays) vs. home machines; discussing spinner failure from user damage and cascading mechanical failure from unreported issues

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: No current manufacturer produces Indy 500 playfields; NOS extremely rare; third-party refurbishment services (Restored by Scott, Las Vegas provider) becoming primary restoration path

    high · Neil actively searching for Indy 500 playfield: 'stunned' no one manufactures them; only found Kuzmin NOS previously; exploring refurbishment via 'Restored by Scott in Australia'

  • $

    market_signal: UK LE market extremely constrained; early order access critical to securing inventory; secondary market for recent LEs showing resale after minimal plays (D&D LE with 10 plays)

    high · Neil: 'I lucked out with Metallica' via fallback order; community reports of LE resales after single-digit play counts

  • ?

    announcement: Labyrinth positioned as showroom machine purchase obligation; Neil selling after 8-9 months to rotate collection despite not being initial preference

    high · Neil: 'I didn't know if I really want this now' but 'felt indebted to buy it because I'd had the showroom machine'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Dune experiencing early code issues and mechanical concerns (slow worm mech animations, perceived lack of meaningful gameplay depth); community playing with steep table setup affecting shot difficulty

    medium · Neil: 'definitely an early code issue' and community feedback describing 'snore fest' gameplay despite promising initial mechanics presentation

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern bumper stop pads (blue thin pads) are significantly difficult to replace on location machines, requiring specialized tools (angled ratchet) and creating maintenance burden

    high · Neil direct experience on Deadpool: 'they're a nightmare' to access; had to purchase specialized angled ratchet for removal

    • 5:10
    And that's cool, right? I don't mind that. But why does it take a week to post something that should take maximum a day?
    5:22
    And then you kind of have to wait another week to get the tracking details. Yeah. You find out actually it wasn't posted when you thought it was posted much later. Yeah, that's the worst thing when they generate the label but they still haven't actually posted it. It's like you can see label generated, but it's not actually gone anywhere. This is exactly what's happened with these decals. And it's inferior. And the worst thing about it is it's kind of two sides of the coin. So I buy a lot from Marco and Pinball Life, right? Yeah, they're pretty big. They are just geniuses. And by the way, they're the two most popular pinball park locations in the world. Why is that? Because they've just nailed it. it's a absolute kind of mission from the minute they get an order to the minute they post it, right? It's like they rolled out Thunderbirds and I shouldn't have said that but they've got this kind of mission get it in a box, post it it's just so well done I've envisaged Pinball Life I can tell you in reality that's what it's like I'd be a kid in a candy store if I saw that place Yeah I mean it is It's a stunning place And the guys that run it Are just amazing I got huge respect from that as well as Marco I've not been to Marco but I've met a lot of the staff there They're just brilliant they're so dedicated You know they'll phone me I've had them phone me oh Neil we've got one of these And we thought you might like it And I was like yep I'll take it thank you And also Pinball Life They make parts I've asked them to make parts for stuff which they've done So if you're a Stern Classic fan They've got The sling kickers That were unobtainable For forever They've now got them And I ordered a pile of them They're absolutely perfect You know please Especially if you've got Exclusivity on some of it Please sort it out I dealt with The Ramp guys I forget what they're called There's a few, Ramp-O-Matic, Starship Fantasy Starship Fantasy, they were awesome In fact I was the delay there Because I ordered it Online And it said the shipping won't be right We'll send you an invoice for the shipping They sent me the invoice almost instantly and I just missed it on PayPal Nice So for this World Cup Soccer New ramps, new playfield New cabinet decals Every Mech or motor or thing It's always my favorite thing, like, doing, like, a scratch build on a Bally Williams because it's as close as you're going to get to, like, when it was off the factory floor. Do you know what I mean? In terms of its feel, look, presentation. And obviously you can go to town on it and make it look way better than OEM plus kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, like a mint build. Yeah.
    8:20
    I don't need a mint build because, one, I don't, a game like that, I'm not going to, you know, wrap it. I was in two minds of doing that with my indie, but I was, like, in the end I thought, I want to make it so that if I ever do sell it I don't create a divisive kind of like choice on the powder coat or anything like that because it's Marmite for some people powder coat I think some people will absolutely love it some people won't so but also if you put tons of effort into it will you be able to sell it yeah will you be able to recognise your costs and there are some games that I mean maybe Indies play one of those games that would but you know no one's going to pay a lot of money for a World Cup soccer let's face it Not in today's climate anyway I don't mind putting the money in for a game that plays well And if the cabinet's all neat and nice And solid, brilliant I'm not I don't need it to look like it's got a halo around it It just needs to For me as I've stated many times As long as it plays well So yeah, so lots of Lots of ordering of WCS parts And as soon as I'm back from holidays I'm in the US for work and I'm on holiday for a week As soon as I'm back I'm going to drop it off I'm trying to buy a few WMS games For the club It's not that we haven't got any We just haven't got some of the More bigger titles That folks like to play And part of the reason for that is Those games are expensive So we were talking about Attack from Mars Medieval Matt put his two into the club before And his attack from Mars was kind of you know, it was hammered and then he's got London Pinball is business they rent these games out and the club just doesn't allow for taking in games in and out regularly it's just not it can't get rotated then it's just too difficult and he needs constant access whereas we're doing an event a charity event I'm doing at work, we're taking some of my pinball machines down, Matt's organising it and that's a one-off it's fine for a one-off but trying to do lots of ins and outs the mall just isn't designed for it so rightly so, he's got those games in his location so that he can rent them out to people so if you've got like a Bally Williams game, a kind of DMD era ping me, I might be interested in it games I'm trying to find, Dirty Harry Try Shadow maybe? We've got Shadow We've got Judge Dredd What else have we got?
    11:01
    Indianapolis 500 We've got Jackpot We've got The Steve Ritchie game with the mask No Fear Probably a few others that I can't remember But I'd say they're on the Probably on the fringe Of the great Bally Williams games Yeah that's why I used to coined the phrase of B-list tier. So that was like the B-list tier. Then the A-list tier for me would be like, you know, Attack from Mars and then obviously Medieval Madness.
    11:30
    What was the other one? Monster Bash. Yeah. Probably Skirt Stuff. Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? A lot of people didn't seem to like that initially, but it's definitely up there now in terms of desirability. It's one of my favourites anyway. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm not a big fan of it. It's okay. And actually we've got one of them, Martin Ape, Who's one of our founders has got one We just need to Find space for it to come in Yeah And that's the other challenge We kind of We're trying to have this balance between New games And all the other eras of games You know We've got people like oh I love EMs We've got like two We're probably not going to have many more Because they're hard to keep running And then we've got the classics And actually I think everybody likes the classics To some extent But the classics are It's just such a widening thing Where you've got System 11's Or Early Bally Stern's Or Gottlieb's I think that's the trick isn't it You've got to get games that can take a beating On location Because that's the problem It's like pin fest all the time For you then because people are just sat there On it continuously And the older games definitely So my shadow has been in the club for a very long time And you'd never know it being there Yeah But you look at Something like My Indy 500 And it really needs a new playfield at some point in time Yeah Partly because I've got this regime of hardening games And I put them into the club And I didn't do as good a job on that as other games I kind of learned after it I've actually got a playfield for it And actually Ants offered to do the swap for that Nice So I might take him up on that Although it isn't a new playfield It's been I don't know what the story of it is But it's in a lot better shape Than the one I've got Actually if anyone's got an Indy 500 playfield Please look me up Because no one makes Indy 500 playfields I was stunned by that Really there's just like nothing about they're not made at all and I haven't been able to find a new old stock one, there was Kuzmin had one a while ago but I missed it annoyingly so, I mean the other option is you could do what I did and take your playfield to Restored by Scott in Australia and they'll sand down your existing playfield and then put a new print on top and then obviously new clear coat and the clear coat he's got, I mean I was cleaning my games I did a spring clean on the weekend and I cleaned up all my games just for get out the cloth, get out the novice and give everything a good clean and the two ones that I got him to do for Dracula and for the cyberpunk which was Johnny Mnemonic there's not even a dimple on the clear case I actually found another guy that does the same thing but he's in Las Vegas and I was going to send it to him, similar thing similar process Mark has I think sent them a playfield as a kind of trial to be honest I've only quickly so the other games I'm getting refurbished is Ali, Stern Ali I got a new playfield for that which is super hard to find yeah I bet I got a new playfield for a couple of other games including well I thought I had a space shuttle playfield so I got one of the lockups I've got full of pinball Games and other parts And stuff yeah And I open up all these boxes and there's no space shuttle thing But what I did find was I somehow managed to have ordered Two cheetah playfields So I've already had the playfield swap But I found another one and I was like The cheetah I've got Scott is probably the only one in the country Nice If anyone's looking for a cheetah playfield I've got one That I might do a deal on But I couldn't find a space shuttle playfield But I literally only kind of just Glanced at these boxes and it's just nuts basically the stupidity of pinball spend I might need that one day I think it goes back to what you were saying about buying stuff because sometimes it takes so long to arrive you then forget about it and then you order another one thinking you haven't got it you put it somewhere I've got tons of stuff under my pinball machines that are probably huge that I probably bought four times because I can't freaking find it yeah I mean pinball parts things just you know you want to make more money in the parts business just ship faster the faster you ship the more money you make i guarantee you if you're a take if you're in that space now and it takes you two days to send stuff out i bet your business would increase by 25 if you change that to one day because people just come to you and the worst thing david at retro the worst thing is having a website that says you've got stuff in stock that you don't have in stock. You heard that there David. No, no, no.
    16:53
    Boils my blood. But to be fair David, he did ping me very quickly and say I actually haven't got all of these. And he eventually got it for me.
    17:03
    And this is the thing, when I order parts it's typically because I want them quick. You're like me though, you basically, I wouldn't say you're impulsive, but it's like, it's the case of, I've made a decision that I want to do this project and I've set time to do it, so I need it ASAP. Yeah. I don't want to come back to it in three months. I want to do it in the next three weeks. Exactly. Absolutely, 100%, mate. Anyway.
    17:29
    So, yeah. That is painful, no question about it. But hopefully we'll get, I mean, so I'm open to, James is doing three games, Space Shuttle, Ali,
    17:42
    and Alien Star. Wow, he's keeping him busy then. Yeah, well, you know, it's good money for him. I'm paying him well.
    17:53
    Five or a game. Yeah, and a packet of crisps. A packet of crisps. Well, we're definitely in Space Shuttle and Ali. Hopefully we'll have time to get Alien Star on, but these are new playfields with clear coats on them. So those three games typically no clear coats. I imagine that plays really different then.
    18:14
    So Ali, right, is one of the most brutal games in the world. And it's going to step up into a new level of brutality. I'll bet. And I can't wait to play it. I love it, though, a clear coat. Like, it really does make the colour pop and everything just kind of shines.
    18:31
    Exactly, yeah. This is the thing. You know those bozos that buy cars with the flat paint on them? Paint cars? What is that all about? It's the same thing. You want a car to be shiny.
    18:48
    That's the mission over the next few weeks ahead of the UK Open. These games will be in the club as well at some stage.
    18:56
    You're doing WCS. Hopefully, I didn't say what to do in the 500. When you're running events and stuff like that, at home you buy a game it'll last you your life, you'll never need to touch it with stuff like this if you put it in the pinball republic my Godzilla has had 12,000 plays Jesus right, it's been we've had it literally since the like a few months after which one's that, the premium?
    19:30
    how's the mech holding up? no breaking on that? so I've had one issue And actually, this issue wasn't Stern's fault. It was our fault. The spinner came a bit loose. And, of course, instead of someone reporting it, what do they do? They just fire the ball at the spinner, knowing that it's broken. And it just made it. So I had to replace the spinner bits, which aren't cheap. Yeah, but. The spinner itself is 30 quid. Yeah.
    19:57
    Or $30. So I replaced that bit. Again, it's beautiful. the things that are really annoying to replace and this is a message to Mr. Gomez because you're the lead criminal in this act of brutality these little blue thin pads oh the bumper stops so I like I actually like them from a design point of view but pretty much every single one that you have to replace on Deadpool which I've just done You should be able to flip them though, no? You can flip them So I flipped one of them One of them that was actually damaged And I thought, you know what, I'm just going to replace it Well, I've kept the other side of it for emergencies But I just thought, I've ordered the I had the replacements, I replaced it But the problem is, it's getting the screwdriver in To undo the freaking screw Oh, they're a nightmare, yeah I had to buy an angled ratchet just for that Yep, same here Just, you know And then all the red posts had to replace all of that and blah, blah, blah, blah. So, you know, there's a lot of effort into keeping, you know, effort and money and keeping those games running.
    21:10
    And, you know, if you are at a location and you see a game where something's broken, just make sure they know about it. So the Godzilla thing, I didn't know about it. The same thing happened on Jurassic Park. The post where the ball is snapped and the ball kept getting stuck there. And I'm like, why does this ball keep getting stuck there? I look at it and the thing's just snapped completely off the playfield.
    21:34
    And actually that led to another breakage. And this is the thing, when one thing breaks, if it's not fixed, it can often cause other breakages.
    21:45
    And then the other thing is, we kind of pretty much replaced every single coil stop in the club on Stern games.
    21:55
    Oh, they always, yeah, you always get the nice brass shavings. We got a hoover to hoover out the games Big shout out to James and Di Who do a lot of the work on maintaining my games It's a constant lesson We want the games to be running We want parts I talked about the Metallica issue that I had And getting those parts Luckily Stern helped me out But it was challenging So please ship parts quickly and honestly the quicker if I know that you've got a website where it's in stock and you ship it the next day I will order from you. Yeah you'll order again 100% so Labyrinth is on the voyage wow it's gone up I've put it up for sale when I saw it I chuckled because I thought last podcast you said I'm just glad that I'm not selling any games right now and I was like I mean, I'll see if what happens, right? Because I've put it up at a fairly decent price, I think, considering what it would have been. I think it's a great price. I mean, I was actually going to post something about it being a great price. But, of course, because we do this podcast together, I'm going to be like, he's a shill. He's a shill. No, it's like, because it's got the topper, it's got the shoe rod. It's obviously packed out. The thing is, people, like, I had probably about five or six people message me now going, why are you selling it? And it like you do realize I had the showroom machine for like five or six months before that And I am the type of person normally I get rid of a game within 3 or 4 months so I had this one really for 8 months 8 or 9 months so it's kind of a long time and I was looking at it you can't switch your order once you've got the showroom machine mate I looked at it and yeah I said to David at the time I said I don't know if I really want this now because I've played it through on the showroom but I felt indebted to buy it because it was like, well, I've had the showroom machine. It would be a bit of rubbish not to actually commit on my orders.
    23:57
    Yeah, I mean, it is what it is. I needed a game to get rid of because I just want something new, but I didn't want to get rid of anything else. I literally looked at all my lineup and I went, no, I don't want to get rid of that. I'll never be able to get that again, or that's really hard to get. So it was like, I've got to pick something. And I thought, to be honest with you, it's the obvious. I want a game to keep switching. so I'm going to use that spot as the game to keep switching with that way I don't have my mum or my family going oh your baby comes first it's like this is my I can just keep rotating it and then I don't get any complaints that's my strategy absolutely I tell you picking which game to go is so hard I never let go of Metallica I'm telling you now That is so good I've done it wrong twice I kind of wish I hadn't I didn't sell it But I moved my Jurassic Park 2 Into storage And a month later I was like Nah that game's got to come back The other game is Avengers AIQ My LE's in storage I really want it back The problem is I can't pick what has to go in it's place That's for me though I think I will get a stern as my next rotation game because i like the inside connect and i feel like when i'm playing on metallica it's like oh what achievements have i not got so i go and look at about what i'm missing and then i go and aim for that it gives me something fresh to do and i feel like a game with deeper code is probably what i'm looking for and i think probably i'm like you actually i probably wouldn't mind having a jp2 back in because i have an le and i probably shouldn't got rid of it but at the time I sucked at pinball I'm much better at it I am better at it I shall say yeah no I mean that's it and I know that this seems to be quite a Marmite topic which is you know the whole kind of what's the word Dungeons and Dragons where you know there's a couple people I think one person bought it, maybe two where they literally had it a day and have decided to sell it gone in three days there was two games, one was a pro, one was an LE the LE, it's up for sale right now 10 plays I'm like, I'm sorry whoever bought that LE is a crackpot because that game is so deep, right there's no way you can tell I was going to say, I don't think I'd be able to tell if I'd like a game or not after 10 plays you definitely definitely cannot me a hundred percent right i think if you're basing on things like music and aesthetics then probably you should have just looked at it from a video and said do i want this game because if you're using it as a judgment to go unpack it and then play it and you're listening to the music and aesthetics and going that's not for me you've made the wrong decision from the get-go then do you know i mean you could have made that decision before you even open the box. I mean, it's partly one of the issues of buying games here in the UK is that if you don't, if you've got an LE of something and you're not in early, you won't get it, basically. I mean, I lucked out with Metallica. I shouldn't have been able to get it, but someone bailed on their order and I was like, well, I'll have it. Yeah. I was very lucky.
    27:20
    That is very frustrating. So, look, in Labyrinth, you know, I'm not a fan of the theme, but actually I've played it enough to know it's a game, I like the game, It shoots fine It's lovely, it's well made It doesn't skip a beat That's one thing that barrels definitely have nailed on the head I mean where does the UP open There was one little bug we hit on it That was a known bug That actually there was a fix for that we didn't know about But it played solid In fact you can watch the video on Backhand Pinball Mark's channel If you want to see it being played by Zach McCarty Probably one of the best players in the world Definitely check it out Well good luck with the sale mate Brings us nicely on to June Should we discuss that? Yes Well actually I've got one other Game I want to mention I've bought a game called Doodle Bug That I may have mentioned Before It's an old EM game And it's A fun Really fun game where It's quite a tough game but you've got this thing in the middle, the bug, and you start the bug doodling, and your whole... Whilst the bug doodles, it adds score. And depending on how you've hit these targets, the score gets bigger. It's a really, really simple game, but it's mega addictive.
    28:49
    And actually, if you go to Ray Day's Pinball YouTube, I think it's on there. Did you have to import that, I imagine? No, there was... Well, I was trying to import what actually last year from Chicago but I couldn't get the shipping they had a shipping company but they wouldn't ship internationally the bozos and it was a really nice one and this one actually came up on Facebook and I probably paid more than it's probably really worth well I probably would have paid the same to import it so I thought you know what I'm just going to get it and it's not the game plays lovely the cabinet it's probably in a bit sorrier state than I would have liked but it plays lovely it's an EM, it's first EM I've ever owned and it worked first time and I really enjoyed playing actually and I had, we had a UK Open organising committee event at my house, we basically eat curry, talk UK Open and play a bit of pinball and everyone was playing Doodlebug as well as UXM the game that you don't like Ultimate X-Men Uncanny X-Men Uncanny X-Men, yeah that's the other game I've bought and obviously I'm still waiting on Kong I got the banana I ain't got the freaking game Park your opinions on that We'll start with June first Let's go to June So I haven't played June yet Have you not? I've not played it yet But I've heard Polarising opinions on it I've been concerned About it I'll let you go first Yeah so one guy I don't know why I got quite a lot of people on Pinside What do you think of this game? What do you think of that game? I think it's part of the podcast Part of that post on Pinside And I love Pinside Robin does a phenomenal job running that circus I don't know if I'd have the will To run it But it's a great place I think A great community And I'll come back to that later He's like I'm selling He said I'm selling this thing which I think was like one of his Great old pins, I want Dune It's awesome, it shoots really fast The light shows great, the worm thing's Amazing I'm just sold and he said I'm not even a big fan Of the theme And I was like okay cool, sounds great And I was kind of a bit more excited to play it And there is actually one Close by that I might make Well close-ish by That I might drive up to Lynn's Arcade They're in California It's a bit of a track but it's a drivable track. I might nip up there because they've got a Dune right now. They had a stream of it and I wouldn't mind playing it but then I got another message from someone saying this game is the biggest snore fest light show kind of box of lights that they've ever played.
    31:56
    And basically, well, so again, they said the shots are there, but there's nothing to do on the game. So I don't know if that's an early code issue. It's definitely an early code issue, I can tell you that much. But he also said that the worm thing, the worm mech, and I've seen a picture of it, I haven't seen it move.
    32:15
    This person said that once you've seen that once, it's like, it's so slow. you don't want to see it again. And I don't know if that's fair or not, because I haven't... It's hard to say, right? Because like Medieval Madness, the castle breaks, sometimes people say, oh, for God's sake, skip. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've watched it too many times, but I still find it enjoyable to watch it break. But I've watched a couple of people play June now, and the initial videos by Cool Toy were not great. It put the game in a very bad light. Then there was another video, I can't remember by who, but it put it in a better light, and it felt like it was from Tested. You know Tested? Yeah, see, I saw that. I haven't watched all that, but someone told me about that video. He's the guy that did the other game as well, right? Labyrinth, yeah. Adam Savage. And when I looked at it, and obviously I've not studied this video in great depth, but when I looked at it, I thought holy shit, that game's a brick fest. That's the problem, because they're playing it and then they start playing it. I wouldn't say they're good players, and that's the issue I'm finding so far but then DRI played it as in dry and I think he's damn good at games right? Yeah so Michael he's a great friend of mine comes to the UK Open used to be living here in Europe, Swedish he's the guy that I was talking about that's got it up in Monterey so I thought he was at Lin's Arcade or maybe it's his one. He was at one of those shows where he basically had early access to it and he put a rig over it so that you could watch him play and he was bricking shots and he wasn't making shots either but he said they had it on quite a steep setup and they had the lanes out wide but I just felt like I suck, I wouldn't say I suck I'm average or slightly below average on pinball and I don't like shots that are too tight and too bricky and it felt like yeah and I just feel like I look at it and I go oh god I want to buy it. I like Barrels of Fire. It's so good. Yeah, I'm very on the fence on it. I'm like, I probably have to wait and see if I play it and like it, because the code is very early. The asset warnings are up all the time saying they haven't got approvals yet, which we can obviously talk about another game that hasn't got approvals yet. But it just feels like they rushed it out the door for Kong, and I felt like they probably should have just let that bake in the oven for like another five months and then release it. I mean, if they rushed out the door to try and beat Kong, I think that was a very bad move because I actually think the title they want to beat is Harry Potter, not Kong. Yeah. I just don't think that they are. I think there was an early leak or something that forced them to rush out. I think they were supposed to have that media day with Cool Toy and all those other guys that showed up. Yeah. And they kind of haphazardly told everybody, you've got to be there now because there was some leak. and then they ended up trying to do the whole media event in a rush but I just I don't know they need to work on their marketing I feel like there's something missing there it's not as polished like Stern does it or as JT I think this is one of the things where a new company like that marketing is a thing that you do once you've sent a box out or something Canada made some remark apparently about marketing that we can have a chuckle that later on but yeah um yeah i mean look i i'm looking forward to playing the light show and it looks amazing that's the main the parts that work look good and i feel like it's got the makings of a game that i would like and my wife's a major june fan she's watched the films like so many times now um and she kept hassling me going we need to buy this and i'm like holly i don't want to buy a game that ends up being i don't know the next i'm trying to think what was really like a heavy flop recently oh that's right uncanny x-men if only i think now look i think it's a when you're if you're spending 10 grand or anything you want to make sure that it's right yeah exactly that's not it so i think i mean i think a lot more people like if you're selling a uh a dnd le that probably costs you 15 grand and you're selling it for 11 and 10 games on it. I mean, what are you thinking, basically? There's easier ways to burn your money. People say, oh, well, you know, maybe he's loaded. Let me tell you, right, people who behave like that, they're not loaded for long is how I would position it. It's not a profit-making world to do that.
    36:59
    I could tell you the story of a friend of mine who won the lottery and basically three years later was flat broken, declared bankrupt. Wow. yeah i mean it's you you can't you just got to be sensible that doesn't matter whether you whether you've got 10 pound in your pocket or 10 million pound if you're not sensible then you'll end up broke i think that's the thing isn't it like pinball at the moment is the world of pinball prices have gone up but the secondary market is kind of going back to the way things were before the price hikes and we're now getting that huge disparity on what again costs you like 15 in the uk which might be a lot for the people in the u.s hearing that but that's what it costs us it's 15 grand for an le but likely then you're probably not going to get anywhere near that when you try and sell it and there probably needs to be some sort of price correction in the future because i just don't see a lot of people going i'm going to buy 15 grand le and then buy the next game but oh wait i've got to lose four grand to then buy the next one you see this is the this is the thing about people's you know say there's an over focus on le's and le this le that let me tell you right I did a bit of work I did a management degree years ago at Sloan and I was based with BMW for 8-9 weeks, couple of months and one of the debates they have every now and again is about why do we have these M cars and the debate goes something like this a lot of effort.
    38:35
    We don't sell many of them. And then the question, do we actually make money out of them? They did a lot of effort into studying this on models that had an M car at the top end and models that didn't. And models that had an M car at the top end sold 25% more than those that didn't, across the whole range.
    39:00
    So you'll have seen cars like the x5 suddenly have an m version not because it's really an m car because it ain't right i mean it is in terms of you know the m team are involved in it and building all that but it's not what you would call a sports car which is or a motorsport car which is what it's aimed for but by having that car sales of x5 overall are up massively right and and this is the thing about the le um you know everyone talks about le's and they sell like you know a thousand of them tops right which isn't even limited right anyone who thinks anyone who thinks more than 10 is a limited edition is kidding themselves right proper collectors if there's more than 10 i'm not interested right um and i'm in the i collect space stuff let me tell you that the really rare stuff in that, where there's two of them,
    39:55
    you're getting a very big calculator out to pay for one of them. But by having that kind of, because of the noise of the LE and the collector's edition and the platinum edition, it generates buzz, which contributes to sales. But what I think, and I think I've kind of what's the word I've kind of sat on the fence a little bit about this but when you look at the pricing of games from Stern and Jersey Jack they've kind of topped out the LE and CE models at a significant gap from the rest which doesn't line up with price increases on the lower models right Like, the premium's gone up, and I don't know the numbers exactly, but let's just say it's 10%. The pro's gone up 10%, but the LE's gone up 25%. It's like, what? And that's not the right – those aren't the right numbers, but – No, the method is like that, yeah. Yeah, and, you know, I was like, okay, but, you know, I look at the value of it and think, this is a scam now. And it's kind of nuts because they've made – the LE, you know, When Jurassic Park I think it was 400 LEs And the fight to get a Jurassic Park LE was insane Right And people getting People were posting I'm fucked off I didn't get an LE You know there was Scarcity wasn't it And it wasn't anywhere near the Prices they are now I think it was only 10k for an LE At the time wasn't it Might even be less than that Nine maybe I can't remember and this is the problem right the LEs has transformed from a thing of beauty and demand to a thing of ridicule it's almost become as you say like an average product because you think Labyrinth as an example they only made a thousand of them but meanwhile you've got Stern making a thousand Kongs it's like as an LE it's like does that make Labyrinth super rare no it doesn't really it's a thousand as you say it's high number i would like stern personally to go back to the way they did with metallica i thought they were doing that i thought it was like a return to form when they said guys it's 500 i was like oh this is good i've gone back to the way things were and and i reckon if you sold your metallica now if you have i'd probably sell it for the same money i bought it at yeah i think i got no i got no doubt about that yeah but But the thing about, I would say that they've gone one step further, which is they've made the LE, you know, because there's a view that, oh, you buy an LE and immediately you lose five grand, right? Let's say that's the number. I don't know what the number is.
    42:55
    And basically, people that are buying LEs are now in this class called stupid, right? Because people are saying, why are you buying this? Why don't you just wait for the, you know, if you buy two premiums. you get a third one free, effectively. Right? That's the way people look at it. And because of that, people are thinking, wait a minute, this is nuts. And, you know, the kind of the golden goose, if you like, is kind of being killed, which is, and it's not about, like people are saying, oh, it's about FOMO. It's not about FOMO. This has nothing to do with FOMO. this is just the kind of way that these kind of top tier and and it trickles down you know if there's a game that sells out its le's right and when i say seller i don't mean just the fact that stern have sold all of them because they always sell all of them that's not the problem but they sit in warehouses like if you want a um a james bond um le the the normal one um Electrocoin have got one in stock You can have it tomorrow right Same for John Wick I think John Wick it's a great Both great games And in fact Bond is Outstanding But Because it hasn't the trickle down As well this game really that good Because why haven't the LEs sold out That's the problem isn't it Not the confidence in the purchase And when BMW So the last M4 F82 was the shittest M4 they've ever made I've owned them all, M3s it was awful compared to other cars now they got lucky because their two big competitors Audi and Mercedes also made shit cars that generation, they got very lucky but honestly the most awful car and there's probably a million M3, M4 owners about to kill me for saying that but genuinely the car before it and the car after it are a million times better.
    45:02
    I've driven these cars heavily around Nürburgring. I can tell you right now that the FA2 is the worst. And because of that, unsurprisingly, all the other sales in the 4 and 3 series for this model are worse than they've ever been.
    45:19
    So what did BMW do? They're like, well, the next car... And the belief was that they had... There's a view that they got distracted by all this electric shit and took the ball off what they should be doing. And the call that some people made is they've been distracted by all this insider connected stuff and they've taken the ball off the thing that matters in pinball, which is the ball and flippers. Right. And that's so I don't believe that personally, but I have heard that is the kind of similarity of stuff. my theory is that they're struggling to keep up with demand on their own uh production cycle so they keep making the next title i feel like you know we haven't even had dungeons and dragons that long in this country but now the kong's arrived and then it's like by the time kong arrives the next game will be here and it's i feel like that momentum that stern needs to keep doing to obviously pay for its factory and for its staff it's it's it's spelling not not their doom but it's creating difficulties I think for them because they have to keep this momentum to keep funding the business basically and I feel like I would more than be happy to go back to the days when we used to have just two games a year from Stern sort of thing, not three sort of not four. Yeah but two games I mean two games a year, I mean they've always done three games a year forever this is the thing. Maybe it's when I joined over Covid maybe it wasn't the case. During Covid they dropped it down at two because there was frustration that people who wanted a Deadpool were waiting years for it Sure So they said look we going to hold off on a Cornerstone for one I think it was one or two years I think that was the right call, actually, because they didn't need any new games to sell. To keep the factory running, they didn't need new games. They just needed to take loss of what they had. They had plenty of great games, right? I mean I kind of I'm not a full subscriber to that as the only reason, I think it's a contributor I'm just wondering how much space people have got to host all these games, I mean I know they're not as like space constrained as we are in this country but I feel like in the US just in this area where I'm in the Bay Area The number of proper 10 game locations Hubs and stuff Pinball locations Is huge That's just in this 100 mile square that I'm at There's about 20 places I could go where there's more than 5 games right And actually none of them annoyingly are Kong Which made me chuckle I'll come back to that But I am Yeah I mean I think there's a I think there's more competition than... There definitely is now. There's so many pinball vendors now. It's crazy.
    48:17
    Actually, let me rephrase that. There's more competent competition. I think there was competition before they were just idiots that like highway and stuff like that that's kind of gone out of business.
    48:35
    But what I mean, and maybe pivot into this I played Kong last night shout out to Gene I was looking to play the game and I thought whilst I was here in the US someone's got to have one and I couldn't find a location with one so I posted on Pinside saying hey anyone in the Bay Area got Kong or know where there's a Kong where I can play and I actually got two invites to go and play at someone's house one too far away, one was literally on the way here so I stopped there and Gene is a great guy lovely house and lovely collection of pins and a great collection of arcade games as well we're playing Robotron I played Kong and it's fantastic it's actually it's one of those games where you have to play it and see it in person to really get it because the top of the play field is just so complex. Actually, you might look at it and think, whoa, that's very complex. It isn't actually when you've shot a few shots, you kind of get it, but it's so packed at the top of that game. Yeah. The gong shot is like... Is it as drainy as it looks, though, sometimes? I don't think it's drainy at all. Okay, because I've noticed sometimes if people don't seem to hit it just right, it seems to bounce it right back at you yeah I mean look I think if you hit it a bit off centre or you don't hit it with enough power it'll hurt you but that's what it's designed to do right but it is how are the shots though, they satisfying?
    50:20
    yeah there's the most satisfying shot is the sorry the just thinking about this, the right center ramp off the right flipper you kind of hit the thing is there's a lot of what I would call crisscross shots at the top of the playfield you hit the ball over to the other flipper and then you hit the flipper and when you nail that combo it's like wow magic I do notice that it looks really impressive when people can change the shots from right flipper into left upper flipper into right upper flipper. It was like, wow. It is a combo in game. If you like combos, this game is for you. But also the drop target sweep is awesome. So Keith said he took that out of Quicksilver. My favourite classic game is Quicksilver.
    51:18
    So I love it. They're kind of placed a bit higher in the play field and they're not as easy to, they're not as approachable, I think, as I was looking for. But when you hit that shot And you take all of them down It's absolutely awesome The shot to Kong The sculpt When you see it move Close up with your own eyes It looks so much better Than it does on any picture or video It looks properly It looks like a proper thing Be honest with me Does the spider look like it's going to hold up Because every time I swear I see that thing move I think oh god that's going to break Good question I think it'll be okay I mean it doesn't move massively And It's actually a tricky shot I got spider multiball a couple of times But the spider shot But it's also a switch shot So the great thing about it Is as soon as you hit that You're trying to hit the two spinners Which are quite challenging shots Because that just drives the switch hits Which then charge the jackpots But yeah I mean the other thing is The LCD animations I think they're awesome Yeah they look really good Cartoony But of course they're going to be cartoony Because they're not using the movie right So if they're not using the movie They're not going to Look like they're volunteering And run around in a monkey suit right And You're volunteering I could suggest some monkeys care of pinball info but no the other thing though I was thinking about it today what would be really funny I was reflecting on the games when I was reading something the kind of art video work that they've gone for did you ever watch Harry Enfield yeah of course Okay so Harry Enfield It's going to make me laugh Because it's so funny But Harry Enfield does these Like black and white Kind of adverts from the 40s And 50s Where it'll be like Hey woman your job is to stay at home And watch the issues You know that right This game If they were to put something like that in it With that kind of voice That kind of 50s I didn't understand. They've got the voice actor who was known to do all those pranks back in the old noughties, wasn't it? Yeah, and actually, I'll be honest with you, I didn't recognise him in the call-outs. I recognised the guy... So they've got the guy from Godzilla and Jurassic Park, that same guy. He's in it. You can hear him a mile away, right? I think they're going to have to retire him because he's so obvious now. Honestly, if they did this... if you're listening to this and you're like what's he on about I'm sure it must be on YouTube if you YouTube Harry Enfield commercials or something I'm sure it'll come up I might try and find one and post it on the website on the YouTube site for those watching on YouTube but basically it's Harry Enfield just being a bit kind of challenging of old ways of thinking.
    54:54
    It's hilarious. He's a superstar comic, Harry Enfield. British comic. Very funny. But yeah, I really rate the game. The one thing is, and this was a bit frustrating and I kind of feel like I have to moan about it, but his game wasn't online with Insider Connected.
    55:11
    I've had this issue. The game just falls off the network and it's impossible to get it to go back. I swear it's the Wi-Fi antennas they use. They're so weak. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing When the games, when the first In fact, I think my Godzilla Still got it in the club Godzilla, my Elliot Hallmark does The UK games got this big antenna That was attached to the side of the Inside of the black box I've never had an issue with those games But the more recent inside of them They've just got this little dongle That's in a freaking metal cage And I'm like, there's no way that's getting And it doesn't You might even get the signal But the whole kind of checksums of it Or you're missing certain key frames And at the club it's infuriating Because we turn the games on And you'll have to power cycle it Three or four times to get it to come on Or you'll have to reset the entire Config of it to get it to come on To the point where My games at home I'm about to put cables to them all Because I'm fed up with Ethernet runs Yeah I'm running Ethernet to every single if you can pinball a machine. That's so ridiculous. The way they update happens, though, it takes a long time for their Wi-Fi anyway. No, absolutely. And I tell you, when you plug it in via Ethernet, holy moly, what a speed it goes at.
    56:28
    So I really, Kong, I'm super excited about getting it. So when does yours arrive, then? Three, four months down the line? I could give Phil's standard answer, which highlights his frustration with the process. But I believe children listen to this podcast on occasion.
    56:52
    And I'm not talking about, no. So I don't know when it's arriving. I paid for it, it seems to be an eternity ago.
    57:01
    And we've all asked, I think there's about six of us that have asked for them to airlift the game. Right. So what I do know is, thanks to my good friend Doug Score at Stern, superstar. Love Doug, I've known him He's one of the earliest guys I met in pinball He used to be at CGC He's been in the arcade business his entire life And he's a phenomenal guy And he told me that all the LEs for X-Sport Were made Last week Well finished last week, early last week For a moment in the week before And just waiting On You know A jet airplane fighter plane to pick them up and fly them to the UK. It's going to be like Batman style, isn't it? You remember from the movie where he captures that guy and it gets literally yanked into airspace, so to speak. Yes, I still have this picture of Laurel and Hardy in pianos whenever I think of pinball machines being moved.
    58:07
    The thing is, I'll probably arrive later this week when I'm in the US and then I'm on holiday for a week so I probably could have just waited for it to go on the boat such that they've missed the opportunity. What I don't understand is UXM and Metallica literally got them days after the first ones were made that's what annoys me about it it's like the parts thing sometimes it's instant, sometimes it takes forever and it's like what is going on you know as a consumption as a high pinball consumer Getting the game to me quickly would be very much appreciated Factors all over the world And I'm sure I'm not the only one That would I'm happily going to pay 500-600 bucks more to have it air freighted It feels nuts that it takes so long And I go back My D&D arrived literally the day they announced Kong That's just how ridiculous it is And actually D&D If you want to play it right now it's going to be in pinball republic for probably another three weeks if you want to play it it's the only one on location as far as i'm aware oh no actually sorry retroids have got one as well um shout out to them if you want if you're in the south if you're if you're in the kind of midlands to the north go play at retroids if you're in the south go play at pinball republic um they're both on inside of connected you can scan and um shoot to your your merlion tent i think the one at Retroids of Pro, Maya Lee's actually on the floor because I'm an absolute head case.
    59:46
    I've actually only really played two games on it. That's why it's in the club because I knew I just wouldn't have time to play it.
    59:53
    It's there along with Evil Dead. Evil Dead will be there forever so no rush on that but if you do want to come to play these games, the club's open Thursday nights, Saturdays and Sundays. And a big shout out to Luke who's opening the Blackpool Pinball Club.
    60:10
    I've got huge respect for, having gone through this process, I've got huge respect for anyone who does this. Wish Luke and Luke Wells and all the guys there who are putting this place together the best of luck. As soon as the membership opens, even though I'll probably go there once a year, I'm going to sign up to be a member because these places need support to keep operating. And hopefully a big contingent of us from the South will visit.
    60:36
    Hopefully they're on a big tournament to kick it off or something. We'll all come up. Well done on that. And actually another shout out to Austin Pinball Collective who've also just opened up here in the US.
    60:46
    I used to go to Austin once a month. I used to play in the local leagues there. I know a lot of guys around the Austin area in Texas and they've just opened up a collective. It looks fantastic as well. So shout out to them. So Kong, great.
    61:03
    Let's yeah so I don't know when it's arriving hopefully soon big shout out to Gene for letting me play it he's offered for me to go down later this week and I think I'm going to take him up on that offer let's move on to the topic everyone wants to hear about yep it's Harry Potter and the doomsday of the licensing wizard I feel like we need like a was it philosopher's stone we need like a um licensor's axe um so i don't know if you've if you're up to speed on the on the rumors because nothing in pinball is true it's all perception and rumors um but according to several sources none of them me i hasten to add i've i I read this off Nap Pinball,
    62:01
    who is of the understanding that Jersey Jack have ran into an approval challenge whereby they had approval, then didn't have approval, and hopefully have now got approval. Yeah, and it's based on Warner Brothers approving it and then JK Rowling suspected as blocking it, right? Yeah. I mean that's the rumour which I've heard from a few places now and in pinball where there's smoke there's usually fire I mean let's face it adds up we've obviously had a very unorthodox way of announcing the title and then it went very very quiet and then nothing right media silence it just feels like there obviously is a problem and i'd rather they turn around and just say what it was because if it it builds like rumors right it could be like oh god they've got problems with production because they started talking about how merco are back in the picture for making the play fields now because buffenberg or whoever it was i think it was buffenberg yeah couldn't couldn't keep up with the demand um so you're like oh is that because of delays in the chain supply chain now we're gonna get like rushed parts is it gonna affect the quality if they just simply said actually it's nothing to do with that guys it's just licensing and left it at that i think it helps create a little bit of just wait and see people can go okay look it's fine we can all live with another five six months without a harry potter you know because if it comes out and it's great who cares yeah i mean this is the thing right um the threat i was i'm on the thread on pin side for harry potter and what's hilarious about it is people saying that jersey jacks should say nothing nothing they should ignore all their customers say nothing treat their customers like shit say nothing i don't know why anyone thinks that is a good idea.
    64:11
    That's a good idea. Even if all this stuff's not true. The problem is and I'm not trying to be critical of Jersey Jack genuinely. I could be but I'm not.
    64:26
    Let's say some Jersey Jack games have had ups and downs during the launch phase. Here we go. Wizard of Oz. God. You name it.
    64:38
    So here you have a company with not the best launch track record, although I would say maybe Guns N' Roses. Guns N' Roses they nailed. Toy Story I think they nailed as well.
    64:57
    And you then have your title that basically you have placed the biggest battle. let's not kind of shout around it but the biggest bet on you've probably paid a lot of money for it you're probably trying to make a game deservant of the IP right this is probably the biggest IP actually for me it's not but I'll go with the flow right this is probably the biggest IP in pinball since Adam's family right in terms of it's definitely a wide everyone knows Harry Potter let's face it yeah and but Adam's Family was kind of a reversal where the pinball machine was so good it drove the title but it's now I think it's in the same sort of place in terms of maximum hype for Adam's Family and maximum hype for Harry Potter and you have a track record of maybe not having every release go well right So your perception accelerator, i.e. humans, who have got, you know, stories in their head, thoughts, you know, human things, suddenly think, ah, they've bullsed it up again. Rightly or wrongly, right? And it could be that Jersey Jack have done every step perfectly, right? It could be. yet something that they can't control has screwed them or something that they might have got wrong themselves the problem is they're in a land of perception and the perception in the community now whether they like it or not whether anyone likes it or not is there's a problem with this game it's not going to be the game that everybody thought it was going to be and that is the rumour that is now what the perception is and the problem is One will probably never really know Right Unless the game doesn't launch until November Can you imagine like you know five years from now We actually see what the original artwork used to look like So imagine So I think Was it Nat that posted this Or someone posted it Apparently they've made A hundred of these games already Oh right So you've got the Arcade potentially the playfield all up in there and all artwork done and then yeah but you've got the arcade edition you've got the limited edition you've got the collector's edition and you've got the unlicensed edition yeah right if there's a hundred of those games with this IP that's suddenly become unapproved the value of those games Scott yeah has just gone into orbit right And if I was Jersey Jack, I'd be finding a storage unit for those games. Yeah, to see if you can try and persuade the person or persons that were blocking it before and then eventually release it. Or just occasionally sell one for 50 grand once a year for the next 10 years. Yeah. Right? That's what I would be doing. But who knows? I mean, it could be that this is – and also, no one knows what the change is. No one knows if it's like, you know, a spelling mistake. Or the story is She hates all the actors I don't believe That the three main characters Harry, Harmony and Ginger Hermione You can see that I'm a big Harry fan Mind you Those three They're the main characters right I don't believe that this game Will not have those It could be anything right It could be like Dumbledore's Because remember obviously the actor died them we have to change an actor who gets presented then on the playfield is it the old actor or the new actor or so and obviously a lot of actors have passed do they have rights to even show them you know it's a bit like um what happened with the idea of adam's family what you brought up right uh gomez the actor behind gomez obviously he's passed away his estate won't allow his likeness so when you buy virtual pinball uh versions of the game he's a different guy um so i imagine there's all these kind of things that happen when you've got a cast so wide and let's face it, it's like seven films God, there's so many people you have to approach and get I think in the signing up of people to that IP they'll have figured all that out Hey, do you want the lead part in the biggest novel that ever was made? Biggest movie Yeah, but we're going to own you forever Here's your five million quid oh I'm signing up because I'm only 10 and 5 million quid sounds great I just think they've nailed that I'd be amazed if they haven't but who knows or it could be that you know Harry Potter was in silver ink and it should be in gold I mean you know no one knows or it could be this is all just bollocks some random dude made it up it could be that it nothing to do with licensing at all And we just had Jack prematurely announce the game when it not even anywhere near ready
    70:26
    This could all be things. I have to say that if he has done that, I heard that Kaneda said this on a podcast. Apologies for mentioning he should never be mentioned. but he said something because I'm banned from all of Canada's I can't see any of it thankfully but what he said was that Jersey Jack is a company that's ran by committee and not by leaders and I kind of feel that that's true the CEO lives in Miami and travels up to Chicago once a month which I find incredible And then Jack's kind of Doing all the themes All you have to look at is Godfather Avatar Toy Story 4 To look at someone as they need to change Running the themes I kind of think That If Jack announced this When there was still more than 6 months Of effort required He's killed this game He hasn't killed it I think what he's done, though, is put the whole market on hold, right? Because I think we discussed this off-air before, but if you've got people out there going, I want to wait for Harry Potter, it delays their purchasing for any other game because they're like, well, I want to see what this looks like to see if it's worth my money. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing. The market is so much tighter that people, you know, there's people that might have bought maybe a couple of games a year, Maybe only buy one or they buy three Or they buy two And we've had Kong One of the big titles of the year June, potentially one of the other big titles of the year But I'm not sure it really is And then you've had a surprise Like Evil Dead Yeah, that's game of the year surely Simple fact that I've got one Says that that's a game worth of Note, right? You've got some laughables like Blues Brothers You've also got Dungeons and Dragons which by all accounts is selling well but actually to a different type of pinball player which I think we need to wait and see on that but I think could be potentially interesting and then you've got games that we know are coming but we don't know what the story is rumour has it that the alien game over we're all doomed special edition 64 could also be coming the thing is right i i do i do sometimes i've messaged them before because their facebook their their marketing is just just bizarre i'm just like i'm sorry guys but what the hell are you doing like sometimes i'm like you show a picture of abba it's like great that's literally yesterday's news like everyone you you tease your game you show the powder coat color and then you start talking about alien which was like your first game and I'm like what's going on? What was funny, they posted ABBA or was it Predator I can't remember which someone posted, I think it was ABBA someone posted Predator and I wrote get to the ABBA chopper from Predator, I don't know I'm hoping it's not the Predator game that burned out in fire The non-licensed Predator version Yeah, what was it? Skid B or something I can't remember the name of it But I mean it was basically this guy Made a game, sold it to a few people And didn't have a license and then got sued And is now in a state penitentiary Doing hard labour Apparently Kevin Kulik I think his name is Yeah, I mean You know I don't I'd say Pimbalboros don't need any more controversy after Highway, but anyway.
    74:30
    And then you've got... They'll hopefully write, and I do hope that they actually somewhat do great theme integration. It's hard to tell with them, because as you say, they had Highway, which was not their game, really. It was just, you know what I mean? That was Highway's game, and they kind of remastered it. Yeah, I mean, Alien and Queen weren't their games. No. Queen, I don't think, is great. It's not awful. It's close to awful, but it's not... It's okay. you can see it clearly suffered from a lack of investment yeah ABBA is just it is so bad I played it again at EPF and thought why and I like ABBA I'm an ABBA fan it just again made me cry but and then you've got American Pinball who you know I mean all people were talking about two months ago was American Pinball is it going bust you know who's going to jail who did this, who did that where are all the bananas it's it always concerns me they keep seeming to be having fire sales on their games and it's like a race to the bottom well is that David or is it them no absolutely it's them as well they've been doing it across the board I mean JGP as well I've had more Facebook ads to sell me a game I've got absolutely no intention of ever buying, even if they gave it away for nothing.
    76:00
    I like JJP's aesthetics. I think they really do make a game look premium, if you know what I mean. Yeah, I agree with that. I do agree with that. They've got that nailed down. I just don't like their code. I really don't. Guns and Roses, no. I don't want to go back to that game. Awful. Absolutely awful. And then you've got American Pinball with Cuphead. Now, we know that game's ready. Yeah.
    76:24
    We know it's absolutely ready. I think it's going to be a great game because the designer is a great guy.
    76:31
    Can they get it out? Can they get the wheel? Can they turn the wheel of doom to the wheel of capability? They've definitely got the promise to do it. Everyone says their games are built like tanks. They don't fail. It's just like, just materialize that into something. Put a damn license behind this that actually people want. So let's cross our fingers and hope that that lands. It'd be great. I'll tell you one thing I regret on that quickly, I will say. David did offer me, at the time when I was looking for a cabinet, an American pinball cabinet. And I was like, it's probably like a Stern. I could do with that. But then I got offered this Circus Voltaire. I wish I could go back in time and get that American pinball one. Finding parts for this in cabinet has been an absolute bane of my existence. it's been so hard I wish I'd just gone with a more modern cab yeah there's a lot of unobtainium trust me I had to find the t-nuts for the wing bolts for the back box that was effort no one stocks that because it's like the kind of thing you just don't touch it's just left in the cab yeah you never need it why should I stock it but this thing was only stripped when I got it but anyway let's move on yeah I mean let's hope that I genuinely want Harry Potter to sell in the billions because I think it would be good for pinball. It is one of those titles that could bring new money into the industry and the industry needs new money. I would like to think Jersey Jackets are going to do their own version of Insider Connect as well. I'd like that but I don't know if they will.
    78:16
    I can't ever see them doing it. The glorious ticket gambling thing seems to have died completely with like two venues buying it so yeah I mean it's we'll see how it gets on I think looking ahead the next title from Staron is Star Wars yes now do you know what if that is episodes 1 to 3 I am a massive jewel of the fates I love that song so good Darth Maul against Obi-Wan I love that It's not 1 to 3 mate It's 4, 5 and 6 Again Mate The only thing I like about 1 to 3 is Duel of the Fates It's the only thing The rest of it is utter trash Well I like the pod racing Pod racing is alright Bollocks I mean there was a bit of comedy in it That was kind of funny There was a couple of bits in the movie But he was just You honestly think it's going to be 4, 5 and 6 again? I am absolutely sure. I think it actually might only be 4.
    79:29
    I'm absolutely certain about it. And the thing is I mean I'll be honest with you. If I was Lucasfilm, I would quietly delete 1, 2 and 3 and I would just have Andor Season 1, Andor Season 2 and Rogue One as the prequels. I don't know if you've watched Andor. I haven't, no. I've got massively put off by a lot of the I would say chaff that came out from Disney on Star Wars. Let me tell you, right, go watch People of this World. Andor is absolutely outstanding. It is just so such great Star Wars. And then Rogue One, I love that film. It's almost ten years old, believe it or not. I feel old, yeah. I knew I had a heart attack. I was like, really? Honestly. So literally the end of season two of Andor leads you into Rogue One. And the acting and the scripts and just the whole thing is the most polished Star Wars I have ever seen. It's just stunning. So I got bored on Mandalorian. I was like, yeah. I think it got a bit. I mean, it felt like a fetch quest every episode. I think it got better towards the end of the season Mandalorian movies out next year There's a movie oh wow I kind of think they're mad They should have kept the TV series going Anyway Star Wars is definitely 4, 5 and 6 Weird I'm going to let the world Into a special secret The Death Star Eats the ball It probably will The Death Star eats the ball, right? I mean, there's got to be that whole, like, you know, part where you go, like, line it up, you know, and you've got to shoot the Death Star to destroy it. It's the obvious play.
    81:28
    Yeah, look, it's coming. John Borg. Don't know who's on code, but John is. Weird, though, because you got Steve Ritchie's one before that, right? Yeah, I mean, Steve Ritchie's one, I just... Steve, I love you, but that game is your worst game, mate. I hate it. I think he was a victim of the bomb sacrifice they were doing back then, though. Yeah I think Yeah maybe I just think that I just think the code The tie fighter on the spring Yeah There's certain things I like about it There are some shots that are great but the plunge Is just fucking awful I just don't know what they're thinking And quite often you'll plunge it And it'll go straight in the outlay Or you'll plunge it Lose the ball and the Ball saver will just literally kick it into the outlay And it's just horrible yeah that's the next game from Stern and then apparently after that it's the one that no one in the pinball industry is waiting on Pokemon that thing has been bloody rumoured for like years now I kind of despair of it because I think it's going to be a it might do well on location I don't know what the game the problem is I don't know enough about Pokemon to know what could be in the game from the Pokemon games or the whole Pokemon world you're well out of touch then I am out of touch on Pokemon and proud of it the number of like pocket monsters as it would be called but yeah the amount of creatures you can capture in that and I mean that god the achievements you could pile up the only thing I've been hoping for is that Pokemon goes into Fortnite so I can gun down Pikachu in all glory it's probably coming I'm sure it is they seem to get everything they've actually right now I don't know if you've heard about this but they've got a proper AI powered Darth Vader yeah I have I was playing about it someone made it swear excellent that made me laugh when I heard that Disney was like not allowed to do that I have a bad feeling about this but no and actually apparently James L Jones family were really up for it because they wanted to keep his voice going forever.
    83:48
    So Epic have done the hard work and I suspect Lucasfilm will get this as a free side. This is the thing I love about Epic. When they do something like that, they don't piss about. It's crazy how they can pump out content.
    84:07
    It's insane. I have to say the Star Wars season for Fortnite as a Fortnite player, if it wasn't for the sniper rifle it would be awful probably the worst one I've played in for sure anyway let's move on swiftly what else do we want to cover Iceman known as the chicken I have never seen and let me tell you I have dealt with some bozos in my time Iceman mate you have reached the sainthood of bozoism for you to challenge me at pinball and then literally try and ice man your way out after I put five grand on the table is a travesty of put your money where your mouth is and he definitely he's still like trying to shape it into something where he doesn't either lose, losing me at pinball and I'm not, like this is the thing he's winding me up about, well you're an FPA right Raiden shit, well what's your IFP Raiden? I don't even think he's got one I am not letting you get away with this Iceman my friend, I'm afraid every opportunity for me to remind the community of the chicken shit ass that you are I'm going to take it I'm going to love every freaking minute of it right, that's that out of the way so a couple other things coming up Swavesy Pinball Show here in the UK let me just find the date I've just suddenly realised I don't know what the date is Scott you should come at this before you're tied to the nappy your life as you know it is over 11th, 12th and 13th of July at the White Horse Mark Squires who runs this it's the last one ever which is why I should come I'm probably going to take either Evil Dead or D&D or Kong to whatever is newest and great. Mark is an absolute superstar, he's actually in the mobile phone industry I knew of him, I didn't know him until I got into pinball but he does a lot of work for schools now he's retired, absolute gentleman and I'm really looking forward to a great gig, hopefully we get sunshine But if you're up for It's just basically a pub With some pinball machines in it And a couple of marquees Outside We basically drink beer, play pinball And shoot the shit It's awesome There's no timetable It's just chill out And have some fun So I'm looking forward to it There is a tournament on a Sunday Which I'm hoping to do better than last year I played absolutely awful last year So I'm hoping that I did get a crap set of games That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it But yeah that's it And then We have Pinfest The third weekend of August Rooms are sold out So But tickets are still available You can bring a game if you want to bring a game Bring a game This year I've decided not to bring any games Because honestly The effort is high and I'm lazy Predominantly So I'm hoping everyone else steps up And look Here's the challenge If you've got games and you've never brought a game at Pinfest Help us Make it not be the same people Who always bring games That would be great Yeah so it keeps the fresh line up as well Indeed I'm not even going to play in the tournaments I'm just going to chill out and have some fun Check you out Nice. I will have a special T-shirt.
    88:07
    Like every year. And actually, if you want to advertise your organization on my T-shirt, make a donation to the National Autistic Society of £500, and I will put whatever you like on the T-shirt. Except Iceman is cool. Put the variations on that now. Yeah, Iceman is an asshole. I will do that. I might even give you a discount. Just kidding, Iceman.
    88:30
    Right. And then after that is UK Open. at the end of September. Tickets go on sale the 1st of July. If you're listening to this and you're thinking about coming and you're outside the UK, now is the time to buy flights. Flights are really cheap. Please buy flights now. It will save you tons of money. You can either fly in the London Heathrow or London Gatwick. London Gatwick is actually easier and typically cheaper. If you're coming from Boston or New York or Florida, particularly Orlando, there's lots of flights to London Gatwick that are well priced. And the prices from Orlando are getting better because unfortunately it seems like no one wants to visit Disney anymore.
    89:14
    I don't know why that is. Or rather, no one wants to visit Orlando anymore or go on holiday in the US, which is a great shame because the US is a phenomenal place. That's where I am right now.
    89:27
    And the only other thing that I wanted to mention, I think we've mentioned it actually I think we've covered everything Yeah I think so Yeah so I think we are done Scott Almost uncharacteristically On 1 hour 31 minutes It's not bad right Almost stuck to our Our time slot Time slots And On that note Hopefully by the time we see you next you'll have had um it's half term so everyone gets a holiday oh there's also one other thing to shout out sorry the european pinball championships is coming up it's a massive event being held in austria stefan from rs pinball has absolutely bust a gut to organize a massive massive massive event wish everybody there well because he has put in mega effort apparently that was going to be the launch place for Harry Potter. I don't think that will be the case, but my spies around the world have told me that there are three of these unlicensed Harry Potter games in a warehouse in Austria somewhere. To go hunting for them. So yes, I mean, they could be worth a big dollar to the mobile industry. I am as I say my spies have told me that I have, in case you're wondering I have spies everywhere, even the one right behind you right now so on that note we'll I did forget, my wife will kill me if I don't mention it, she has finished her artwork for her latest commission the playfield has been I think it's been printed at the moment so keep an eye out on Restored by Scott on his Facebook page, you'll see a Captain Scarlet, that's the theme hopefully in the next few weeks, that'll be her finished artwork, so hopefully it looks as good as it did when she did it on the Wackham, but yeah we'll see if it's come out on the playfield nice and is this for a commission? this was a commissioned work that she did for a guy in Australia, yeah so basically, that's all done and dusted, it's all been... Captain Scarlet the puppet, as in the Thundercats? Yeah, like from the Thunder Cats. Oh, awesome. Thunder Cats. Thunder Birds, sorry. Thunder Birds. This is the voice of the Mr. O. Yeah, she's done all that. Honestly, it's... We know we can see you. She's not the biggest fan of Captain Scarlet. I had to kind of get her to watch the... She remembered it as a kid, but not too much. No.
    92:13
    It's not the strongest stories. Let's see. It's okay. It's fun. It's okay. Yeah, she had to go back and watch a couple of episodes. Yeah. Yes Hopefully Whoever is making Captain Scarlet Take a great look at a game called Thunderbirds and do everything That that game hasn't got Pretty much That is a guide To certain doomsday And on that upbeat positive note Just a reminder If you live near venues Go play in venues They need your coin They need your engagement and we've got Blackpool Pinball Club opening, that's amazing news hopefully one of many more to come I would hope, but it's great to see someone else setting up a club, we've got Tilt we've got Retroids, we've got Level 3, we've got Pinball Republic we've got Special Unlit, we've got Chief Coffee go visit them, stick some coins in, buy a t-shirt take pictures Take pictures and post about it on Facebook. Take someone. Here's everybody's mission for July. Sorry, for June. Take someone to a pinball location that's never played pinball. That is your mission.
    93:33
    Spies will be telling me how successful you've been. Scott, see you in a month. Everyone else, see you in a month. Goodbye, everyone. Bye.