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We Are Pinball #31 "Kong and Dune! Big reveal week!"

We Are Pinball (WAP)·podcast_episode·1h 3m·analyzed·Apr 19, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

WAP #31: Kong praise, Dune reaction, Patreon surge, exclusive industry intel teased.

Summary

We Are Pinball hosts Don and Genghis discuss two major pinball releases: Stern's King Kong (by designer Keith Elwin) and Barrels of Fun's Dune. The hosts provide hands-on impressions of Kong, praising its layout, ball paths, and mechanical design while noting the limitations imposed by licensing the 1923 public domain book rather than film rights. They also celebrate substantial Patreon growth and hint at upcoming exclusive content about industry news.

Key Claims

  • King Kong's layout was completed by Keith Elwin approximately one year before release, then handed to coding team while Elwin moved to his next design

    high confidence · Direct statement from hosts citing interview with Keith Elwin at Stern facility

  • Kong's modes are limited in cinematic impact because Stern only licensed the 1923 public domain book, not film rights; movie elements like Kong climbing with a woman would require separate licensing

    high confidence · Genghis (host from Denmark) explains licensing constraints preventing Kong from climbing buildings with movie imagery

  • King Kong's playfield layout lacks mechanical rattle or reject issues, with all fair shots routing smoothly and no design flaws compared to X-Men

    high confidence · Don's hands-on play experience at Stern event, noting 'couldn't find no jank in this tank'

  • Keith Elwin has multiple completed game layouts in queue and is currently working on his next design after Kong, operating on a sustained production cycle

    high confidence · Hosts citing Elwin's direct statements about completing layouts and then moving to next game

  • Barrels of Fun's Dune release event occurred in Houston; attendees included Jamie Burchill and Don

    high confidence · Don mentions attending both Barrels of Fun Dune event in Houston and King Kong event in Elk Grove, Illinois

  • Jamie Burchill's recent podcast/video episode included critical or surprising content about Barrels of Fun that has fueled industry discussion

    medium confidence · Genghis references Jamie's episode causing Kaneda (YouTube content creator) to go into 'fire mode' and reconsider messaging; hosts urge not to 'mess with Jamie'

  • King Kong features a log diverter, spiral shot wrapping to upper flipper, anti-skill shot via out lane plunge, and sweepable four-bank drop targets

    high confidence · Don's detailed description of Kong's mechanical features based on hands-on play

  • Stern provided VIP private play sessions (~15-20 minutes) with Kong Premium in a dedicated room, plus diet Coke and access to rare games like Guardians of the Galaxy Premium

Notable Quotes

  • “I thought I would be more whelmed I'm a bit just underwhelmed. Only because I've seen great games from Elwynn before. It's like everything that I expected. There's nothing really missing that I would add.”

    Genghis @ ~45:00 — Core tension in Kong reception: technically excellent but not thematically engaging due to licensing limitations on 1923 book vs. film imagery

  • “If I was running Stern and I love George Gomez like crazy, he's just legendary for me, but if I was George Gomez, I would definitely find a team programming team number two for Keith Elwin. So he could jump between two games and release two Keith Elwin games every year.”

    Genghis @ ~57:00 — Proposal to increase Keith Elwin output by creating dedicated second programming team; signals confidence in Elwin's design consistency

  • “This layout's been fine tuned and done for a while. This is absolutely not rushed. His next layout I think is done. And he's on to the game after that now.”

    Don @ ~53:00 — Confirms Kong was not rushed; contradicts any quality concerns by explaining Elwin's design-first, code-later workflow

  • “I couldn't find no jank in this tank, buddy.”

    Don @ ~40:00 — Strong mechanical quality endorsement after hands-on play; contrasts with X-Men's layout issues

  • “When you write King Kong that we will put in some animations where he fights with the T-Rex. It's okay. So they're already programming some more stuff.”

    Don, quoting Keith Elwin interview @ ~38:00 — Keith Elwin confirming post-release code updates planned for Kong

  • “There was a moment. I just want to say don't mess with Jamie, right? I mean, we love Jamie. I mean, he's the man, right?”

    Genghis @ ~26:00 — Suggests Jamie Burchill's recent content was controversial or had sharp industry critiques; community respect for Jamie evident

  • “This could be Goonies, and I would still love it. This is what every game should strive for.”

    Don @ ~48:00 — Highest praise for Kong's layout and ball physics, independent of theme

Entities

We Are Pinball (WAP)organizationDonpersonGenghispersonKing KonggameDunegameKeith Elwinperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: We Are Pinball Patreon support surged significantly in 6 days, nearly catching Don's Pinball Podcast ($555 vs $587), indicating competitive momentum and audience growth.

    high · Hosts state: 'we had like $4 more support than Donnie did... all of a sudden, Donnie's support level just exploded... just one person to upgrade and I'm back to second place'

  • ?

    community_signal: Jamie Burchill's recent video/podcast episode contained sharp or controversial commentary about Barrels of Fun's Dune release that has triggered industry discussion and influenced content creator reactions (Kaneda in 'fire mode').

    medium · Genghis describes Kaneda receiving messages from Jamie's show, going into 'fire mode', and says 'don't mess with Jamie' — suggesting Jamie's content was critical or surprising

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Kong's layout and ball physics praised as superior across multiple skill shot types (plunge variants, anti-skill shot via out lane, smooth orbit routing), suggesting potential competitive advantage.

    medium · Don: 'Off the plunge, there's so many different skill shots you can get... no rattle, no rejects from any rams'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Keith Elwin completes playfield layouts well in advance (1 year+) before handing to coding teams, then immediately moves to next design. Code team and artists continue work while layout is finalized. This workflow prevents rush and ensures baked, polished mechanics.

    high · Direct statements from hosts citing Elwin interview: 'he finishes the layout and then gets it over to the coding team, and he goes to his next layout to start working on'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.191

0:00
We got a stack heavy chasing that heist for life, from Godly to Stern, every flip we learn, we're dropping knowledge in your feed, you're waiting on our turn. Yeah, we're old school cool with a CRT glow, pinball dreams in a neon flow, Jersey Jack, Valley Pack, we're talking all, from 70's classics to the latest call. Bump is poppin', raps are rockin', every drop target got us talkin' Spin that disc like that lane, with our voices in the arcade lane While we are pinball, lights and sounds collide, livin' for the silver ball ride From rumors to the cold drops, deep dives in the hall, we ain't just hands down, we are pinball I got a scoop on a leap, next title tease, I'm tick-coding, Jesus like a wizard with ease Show me the art, let's break it apart, that cabinet's fireman, a real work of heart Yo, I'm reppin' that retro CRT haze Talkin' arcades, been cold in days We dig dug dreams, took donkey kong kings We bridge generations with flipper things Done, new code update, already installed Done, heard that rumor, can't go not called Done, what's your grill machine? Man, it's gotta be the big Lebowski Done, respect, flip, bump, nudge, tilt Steel shot trains in the cabinet built Slay, bang, like that mode We're on the mic with the mother law We are pinball, no quarters spared, hobbyists and hosts fully prepared. We talk themes, streams, and scorecards tall. It's more than a game, we are pinball. We're down to Django, keeping it rolling. With every drop target, our passion's showing. From old to new, it's a silver ball call. Remember the name, we are pinball. Yo, how is that for a bop? Are you serious? Man, can you believe how fire that new theme song came? I had to play it in its entirety. I'm still bopping, man. We are pinball. Don and Jango, what's up, man? Back again. Episode 31. Are we going to top that Jamie Burchill episode? How absuppositively we are. Get in on this, WAP members. Get in on this, Patreon members. Nobody brings the fire to your desire like we do. We're the Caged Tiger Kings over here in the United States, in the United Land of Denmark. He's got health care. I got bullshit. Let's get into this. This is how we do it.
2:35
This is how we do it. La, la, la, la, la. No, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute now. This one is dedicated to our dear friend of the show, Jamie, man. We love us some Jamie. We just had him on the show. And Jamie says, WAP show has too much hip-hop rap, man. We need some rock. We need some old, dead rock. So, Jamie, this is how we do it, my dear friend. This is how we do it, okay? Yes!

high confidence · Don and Genghis describe 'Seven Minutes in Paradise' style private play setup at Stern facility

  • We Are Pinball's Patreon support reached $555, narrowly behind Don's Pinball Podcast at $587, with rapid growth over six days

    high confidence · Hosts explicitly state current Patreon totals during episode

  • Genghis is developing Kong video content for his Retro Jingo YouTube channel and received DM from Kaneda with unreleased information

    high confidence · Hosts discuss direct messaging between Genghis and Kaneda regarding Kong video and unreleased information

  • “It's just Keith Elwin. Whatever he does, it's so good.”

    Genghis @ ~59:00 — Genghis expresses consistent confidence in Keith Elwin's design output quality

    • Jamie Burchill
    person
    JBS Showorganization
    Kanedaperson
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Barrels of Funcompany
    Zach Sharpperson
    George Gomezperson
    Elizabethperson
    Don's Pinball Podcastorganization
    Retro Ralphperson
    Kaleperson
    X-Mengame
    Godzillagame
    Jawsgame

    event_signal: Stern hosted major Kong and other game demo event with VIP private play sessions, rare machine access (Guardians of the Galaxy Premium), and hospitality for media/influencers including Don and Genghis.

    high · Hosts describe multi-game facility tour, private 15-20 minute play sessions, diet Coke provision, and access to multiple rare titles

  • ?

    leak_detection: Genghis received unreleased/sensitive information from Kaneda via DM about Kong/industry matters that cannot be shared on public podcast but will be addressed on Patreon episode.

    high · Genghis describes DM exchange: 'Kaneda wrote to me this morning... messages... that I cannot share here' and plans 'Patreon episode to follow'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Kong's cinematic depth is constrained by licensing only the 1923 public domain book, not film rights. Movie elements (Kong climbing with woman, plane fights) require separate licensing and are absent from game design.

    high · Genghis explains: 'if they were to do anything referencing that [film scenes], they would be infringing on those licenses unless they had approval'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Keith Elwin's sustained output and design quality suggest Stern could benefit from creating second programming team dedicated to supporting his layouts, allowing 2 Elwin games per year instead of 1.

    medium · Genghis proposes: 'find a team programming team number two for Keith Elwin... release two Keith Elwin games every year'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Keith Elwin confirmed post-release code updates planned for Kong, including T-Rex fight animations that are being programmed for future release.

    high · Don quotes Elwin interview: 'When you write King Kong that we will put in some animations where he fights with the T-Rex... they're already programming some more stuff'

  • ?

    product_concern: X-Men experienced mechanical rattle and reject issues, setting low bar for playfield quality. Kong's absence of these issues is notable contrast and positive signal.

    high · Don: 'This wasn't like Rattlefest, like X-Men, which... had a little bit of jank back there. I couldn't find no jank in this tank, buddy.'

  • ?

    product_concern: King Kong modes lack thematic integration compared to Jaws (which has movie clips, callouts, cinematic context). Modes are generic (fight pterodactyls, hit lit shots) without strong IP connection.

    medium · Genghis: 'I didn't really see anything that super excited me... when you activate the mode and it's like, okay, fight the pterodactyls. And you fight the pterodactyls by hitting these lit shots. And it's like, all right, and there's pterodactyls on screen. Okay, I don't care about pterodactyls really.'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Jamie Burchill's recent video/podcast episode has fueled industry discussion and influenced multiple content creators' reactions, but specific details are being withheld from public broadcast.

    medium · Hosts repeatedly hint at Jamie's content being significant ('boss level', 'amazing', causing Kaneda to go into 'fire mode') but refuse to discuss details publicly

    • 3:21
    Heck yeah! This is how we do it, Jamie! Let's go, baby, let's go! Yeah! Everybody, you should see the face I'm looking at right now.
    4:09
    He's speechless. jenga's in rare form man there i played it sir i mean this this was this was strictly for jamie we love jamie b i mean he wants some dad rock he got the dad rock i think from now on he will never listen to that awesome song again i can't hear it the same way ever again sir oh my god the the number episode number 31 darn it can you believe it train to a own yeah man 31 we're back after the Jamie virtual devastating episode right smack after two huge releases in the pinball world talking Kong talking Dune talking more BS bring it I hope everybody listened to episode 30 first part was at Jamie's brand new channel JBS going and support that guy support him all you can and part two was here on hope everybody enjoyed it we enjoyed making it and jamie is welcome here anytime he wants right donnie such a great human man i had the luxury of hanging out with him not at one but at two pinball releases across the country this last week down in houston with barrels of fun and then with king kong stern pinball fountain grove illinois wait elk grove muskrove kylie musgraves uh it It was awesome, yeah. So more Jamie time, more good fun. And check out the JBS show blowing up, dude. Can you believe it? Did you see this live recording with freaking friend of the show, Kale? Other friend of the show, Retro Ralph? Yes. It was dynamite. It was awesome. It was awesome, man. All three guys. I wrote in there, oh, pinball royalties. What's up, guys? I love you. They didn't see that part. They were just talking on the live show. And then like 10 minutes later, they were talking about ball locks. and I was like, oh, the pro version of Kong is the ball lock virtual? And one of the guys saw me riding that. Oh, it's Jengis. What's up, man?
    6:13
    What's up, buddy? Not only is it virtual, yeah, it's not even there at all, man. No, we're definitely going to talk about that because I am so happy with this Kong release. How do you feel about it, man? You had the hands-on experience. They did something super cool this time where they gave us each 20 minutes, right? We have this game in the United States called Seven Minutes in Paradise. I don't know if you have something similar in Denmark, but this is where you and a female get locked in a closet for seven minutes at a party to do whatever. And that's what it felt like. They had a separate room with a Kong premium, and they're like, all right, guys, you got 15, 20 minutes. Dude, go back into the VIP room and just whatever you want to do, you're by yourself. So myself and George Gomez from Reno, friend of the show. What up, George? We got in there, and, like, we probably only had two games because we were playing so well. But, like, we finally just got to just have some time with the damn game, playing it, getting the shots and stuff, geeking on it, like without somebody hovering over you. It was awesome. Premium. Yeah, absolutely. It was a premium. They had plenty of games at Stern, too. They had two games on the floor, two games in the streaming lounge, one game in the closet for seven minutes at Paradise. It was amazing. and there was food and there was diet coke and they even had a guardians of the galaxy premium to play like you never get to see those it was just awesome man everybody's great there those those diet codes were for you and for jamie yeah we absolutely ripped them up too man oh my god it was awesome so good man so yeah first of all zach sharp invited you to stern he invited me to stern again we want to thank him for the invitation really really appreciate it so you guys were in there you you sent me beautiful pictures you sent me video clips you shared everything and it was so cool retro ralph shout out he sent me a real nice clip thank you ralph and um also i want to talk about those pictures you sent me uh that i won't share i don't know if you want to share them oh you're talking about the factory photos yeah uh let's not get That stuff you saw that you shouldn't see at Stern. I don't know what you're talking about, but I think they'll be on the Patreon episode to follow this. Yeah, we'll discuss what was seen. So at the end of the show, let's do a Patreon show and let's talk about those pictures you saw, but not here, right? Are we going to share them on our Patreon? Yeah, probably.
    8:45
    We'll talk about it. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. All right. Dude, what's going on with the Patreon? Oh my god, right? So we had this friendly contest going on, and then over the weekend sometime, WAP has actually outpaced Don's Pinball Podcast to take the lead in the Patreon surge race. However, I ran up from the back road and I've recaptured the title on Don's Pinball Podcast. That's a double right there. So balls in your court, WAP Nation. Get on in there. We're trying. We're fighting. We've got a fire episode, too, coming up on Patreon after this. I cannot wait to get into that. I've got some things to talk about, about some other games that are certainly unreleased now. Will they ever be released? I've got the news for you. Dude, I just want to say, are you ready? Are you ready? Are we thinking of it? Last week, we got Brandon Grave. And I said, if he ups his Patreon support, he will be called General Gravis. So, Brandon, he's very active on Patreon, writes a lot. I love that guy. So, give him a shout-out again.
    9:55
    But a couple of days later, we got Kawhia Bailey joining at Pro Kawhia. Welcome to the team, buddy. Thank you. Get on in here.
    10:09
    After Kawhia, we got Chris Bezenski. I love it. I want to give him a nickname. Yeah, he's a pro-level supporter, so that's not a new thing. That's how it starts. That's how it starts, though. That's how it starts. Yeah, yeah. He's welcome to Up, man. Next one is Elevated Reality. Get in here.
    10:34
    Dude, Joe Ernst. I know that name. Yeah. Does it say anything to you? I know, Joe. I just don't remember from where. But Joe Ernst, welcome to the team, buddy. Oh!
    10:48
    My finger slipped. Oh, my God. Don, isn't it cool? Don, do you want more? Yeah, sure. Is there more? Okay. We got Nick Laurentano. Oh, I think I know this dude. Cool guy.
    11:05
    So cool, man. Welcome, man. Do you want more? Oh, my God. That's not it? Brad Ellinson. What up, Brad? Welcome, buddy. Brad, welcome, sir. Welcome, sir. He wants to join the show, but we've got to preserve that for the upper-level members. But I was open to it. I mean, this Brad, that's the Brad that got your tails, right? Tails from the Crypt in his house now. Color DMD. Got the custom Jango code on there. Yeah. Oh, he's that. Brad, buddy, pro-level. Come on, man. No, no, I'm kidding. I'm happy he's in there, man. I'm so happy. Do you want more? Do you want more, Donnie? Do you have more left? Jesus. Yeah, baby. Come on. Mark Tenhaken. Oh. Welcome, welcome, welcome. A Wisconsin boy. Cool guy. Yeah, man. Welcome to the team, man. Thanks, Mark. Yeah, we're just so happy with all this new support for the last week. Like, is it the last six days? Oh, my God. Sneaky is in here also. Let's say welcome to the team.
    12:10
    So cool, man. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm going to get so tired of this horn. Oh, my God, dude. How many more are there? We got William Moore.
    12:20
    William, William, welcome to the team, buddy. Oh, my God. We're so happy. Welcome, William. Donnie, I'm out of breath, but I just want to say, RJ Texan, welcome to the WAP team.
    12:37
    Yeah, dude. Wow, man. I mean, the support is crazy. every time this happens we talk to each other and sometimes multiple times along the day so yeah but when everything was over not rodney come guys join the show also i think it's a triple blast i mean look at the support on top of that we have got charles angels man charles forreston giving us 150 dollars at collector's edition support charles what up buddy yeah what a freaking guy dude wow man i mean c-level charles he's just ah it's crazy donnie it's crazy songs will be written about charles for being such a generous human being yeah man i mean so much love positivity goes from denmark to georgia charles i'm telling you same same level collector's edition level our beautiful willwood steve josh cox what a freaking legend josh cox is i love this guy i can't wait for him to get on we're gonna work that out this week man josh get on man tell us all about your pinball collections tell us all about your pinball desires i want to know your inner workings yeah we we want josh in here again josh ce level supporter 150 and he's active on patreon i mean on patreon we have the general chat we can talk with everybody but we also when you're a patron member you can write directly to us and he's both places so a lot of love to josh cox what more could you ask for man Exactly, man. But we're not done yet. We have our premium supporters. We have got Anthony Mouroua. Yes, dude. Anthony.
    14:40
    Anthony is really representing us with WAP stickers everywhere, man. I got to get another refill. We got some new graphics I'm cooking up, too, man. They're going to be straight fire. Antonio Banderas. Enzo. Oh, my God, Enzo. Premium supporter level Enzo Ferrari Almost from the war Enzo man What a guy Enzo was the first guest Of this show So he has got a special place in my heart I love Enzo Yeah yeah Absolutely and thank you for the premium level support Enzo really really appreciate it We got one more premium guy It's Jeremy Ford man The Ford Mustang There's some Fords in this house. I mean, every time we mention him, we need to have this V8 Ford engine. I like that. I like that idea. I love that idea. Yeah, man. So, guys, thank you for the support on Patreon. Thank you for joining the WAP team. We are so close. We so close because Donnie our goal is to beat Donnie right Our goal is to get more support that Donnie is getting because Donnie he is a baller man Right now Donnie is getting us here on Patreon We are Patreon. We are pinball. We are Patreon.
    16:09
    We are pinball. We are getting $555. And we are so thankful. Remarkable. Yeah. But if we change and jump over to Donnie. Oh, no. Yes, yes. We're going to talk about it. Last time I did this, they were like, oh, this is so cool. We need to beat Donnie. But Donnie, he's getting so much support. Donnie is up at $587 support. Woo-hoo, Donnie.
    16:42
    There's some hoes in this. There's some Don. Holy crap. I'm whoring myself out. Good time there, man. Like two days ago, I was talking with Donnie, and on We're Pinball, we had like $4 more support than Donnie did. But all of a sudden, Donnie's support level just exploded. And the scene I was thinking about was in Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd drives with their truck and comes back with this little moped. and Jim Carrey says just when I thought you couldn't be any dumber, you go ahead and totally redeem yourself so Donnie redeems himself all it's going to take is one person to upgrade their membership dude and I'm back to second place so holy crap just like I said if Brad jumps from pro to premium level we're up there buddy we're fighting do it do it do it do it do it come on hey donnie yeah donnie donnie donnie where is the money i have been talking with pinball brothers oh no oh yes is it here or is it on patreon i have a whole i have a whole area carved out for predator talk and and my impressions because i've been talking to some people too.
    18:05
    On here or on Patreon? You want to share a little tease? And then we'll Patreon it. Okay, he's motioning to the green room. Alright, so that'll be part of this. This is going to be great. Every bit worth the $5 to $150. I'm sad. When you shared your info with me, I was a bit sad. So, ooh.
    18:26
    So I'll recap what I know and then we'll hear what you know. But before that, J-Gus, Stern Cornerstone dropped an elwynn dropped this would be the event of the year am i excited about it are you excited about i want to hear your take first i i mean should i just give it a quick quick rating i am oh i just got a message canada is on his saturday live should we jump over to canada oh i wonder what he's listening to what he's saying oh canada wrote to me this morning yeah wait wait wait Actually, I'm talking with Kaneda. I'm sorry. I'm writing with Kaneda. All neutral. No trouble. I don't want no hate, no nothing, right? So I'm at his page, and I'm just writing. Yesterday, he wrote to me, give me a buzz. I'm going to give you some info about some stuff I won't share here. And I was like, no, I'm doing my Kong video on my YouTube channel, Retro Jingo. And then we just let that go. And this morning, very early for me, so it must be midnight for you guys in the U.S., All of a sudden, I got these messages. Canada wrote this, this, this that I cannot share here. And I was – my answer was, did you listen to Jamie's newest podcast? And he said, no, but he will. And I said, before you do anything else, make sure to listen to his podcast. I think everybody should listen to that episode. That's it. I was rolling. I couldn't believe what they did. That was amazing. And then he listened and he wrote back to me that, yeah. And then I can say what I wrote to him. And then I just wrote, please maybe reconsider. Don't say anything negative about Barrelsoft Fun. That's just what I said to him. But I think he's fueled up.
    20:22
    I mean, he was going to listen to Jamie's show anyway. We know it. But I think he's in fire mode, so I think it will be fun to go in and check what he's saying in there. But don't mess with Jamie. Jamie's a baller, man. Tony, what did he do? He was like – So, yeah, I don't want to give it away, man. It was amazing. There was a moment. I just want to say don't mess with Jamie, right? I mean, we love Jamie. I mean, he's the man, right? Life-breaking Canadian news. What's going on? flies in the other shots happening moving towards the upper left. It's just boss level. I cannot say anything else. It's just, yeah, Jamie in there. Don't go and listen. We cannot say all the details. Jamie in there. So that is why he's there.
    21:08
    She's the champion in Street Fighter 2. I love you some kale, man. All right. Let's listen to the guru here. What's going on? I'm really going to make the ball times a little bit longer. So I think, you know, the game is definitely going to have. What is it? I can't hear anything. Some long ball times for people. Again, I think it's a good – All right, he's talking about long ball times in Kong, which, yeah, I did notice a bit of that. People were asking me, Don, okay, is this the Godzilla killer? Is Kong better than Godzilla? Like, is this the old one's best? And a lot of people were very excited and caught up with me. What did you play? It was just a snip of Kaneda talking about long ball times on his live. Oh, okay, okay, okay. I don't know why you can't hear it. Whatever. I cannot hear it now. Kong, I want to talk about it. Yes. So, I don't know. Everybody's excited. Everybody's exuberant about it right now. It's the new release from Keith Owen. It's got all these cool ball paths. It's got this log diverter that pops up. It's got a Kong in the back beating his chest, smashing the glass and stuff. So, yeah, like, okay, the game's great. It's a great pinball machine. Like, I've been saying my take is that if you like pinball, if you've got the means, get one of these. For sure get a premium. And it's going to be everywhere on location. I'm just like I thought I would be more whelmed I'm a bit just underwhelmed Only because I've seen great games from Elwynn before It's like everything that I expected There's nothing really missing that I would add They went with the 1923 book Because they can use King Kong And it's all open access Public domain So this is cool because they can take their own take on it They can create art Now they can sell t-shirts with their King Kong on it Because this is Stern's property that they own now, everything they've created with it. So I get that. They can make an amazing topper now. No license talk, no nothing. They can make a huge topper now. Well, it's stern. It's still stern. It's going to be stacked plastics. It's going to be static. It's going to be lights. It's going to be $1,400. And it's going to add an extra mode to the game. Maybe it's a huge Kong on top swinging his arm, opening his mouth, shouting, destroying the top of the topper. So here's the other part of that, though, because the 1923 book, from what I gather, only had, like, Kong does go to New York and escapes and climbs a building, but it's only a few pages in the book, right? All of that stuff that we remember, Kong swinging around, fighting the plane, holding the woman, those are all from films. And if they were to do anything referencing that, they would be infringing on those licenses unless they had approval. So that's why you don't really see a building. Now, virtually Kong does climb floors as you progress in the game, and that builds up bonuses or some such. but you don't see him climbing with a woman in his hand like that we remember from every single Kong film. And that's the reason why. So that's the reason why I'm a little bit not overwhelmed. I'm perfectly whelmed. And that's because while the game's layout is absolute fire, and I like all the mechanisms in the game, when it comes to the modes, they were just kind of like, okay. I didn't really see anything that super excited me. It was things like this. It was like you activate the mode and it's like, okay, fight the pterodactyls. And you fight the pterodactyls by hitting these lit shots. And it's like, all right, and there's pterodactyls on screen. Okay, I don't care about pterodactyls really. But aren't all modes like that? Yeah, but in Jaws, right, when you start a mode, it's like here's movie clips from Jaws. Here's call-outs from Jaws. Hey, capture the shark by hitting the things. Okay, now the Jaws shark is there. Like there's that theme interaction to bring you in. Like, I never read this book. I get King Kong. I like the Universal rides. Like, that's what I want to see. I want to, you know, it would be cool to see, like, you know, cinematic assets being used. But, of course, that would have required, you know, the license, and then you would have had to be subservient to them. So I get it. Game is great. Premium's already ordered.
    25:06
    And it's at least as good as Godzilla. At least with Godzilla, like, when I was fighting kaijus, it was like, all right, it's the Eberra battle. Like, I get this. It's the Gigan battle. I get this. it's mega godzilla hell yeah um so i don't know i don't think it's really fair though to say like which one is better if they're both really great games does it matter if like this one's a 9.7 and the other one's a 9.8 right because they're fucking great man but is it fair to compare just the thing you did for a second ago you're comparing con's code that just came out with Jaws code that has been out for a year, that has been programmed, reprogrammed, finished for a year with Elwin's team, plus Elizabeth on top of that. I mean, for a whole year. I'm comparing from the first time I played Jaws. It was at Interium. I jumped on a Jaws premium. They had a premium pro there. I drove down just for a couple of hours. I had to work that night. but like the first time playing Jaws I was like I was really enthusiastic about Jaws I'm happy that I got to play Kong I think it's a great game it's a 9.8 there's nothing really to improve it's just I wasn't drawn in as much as I was for something like Jaws was but if this was one of the King Kong movies so if you compare theme by theme Jaws or Kong one of the King Kong movies which theme is the best for you? Jaws for sure for me it's King Kong all right all right king kong 1976 if it was that um for me i actually like that this is stern's way to see kong i like that i made a video about this yesterday on the comments on my video on on youtube i don't know if you have watched it but on the comments donnie um i have some people in there there are that are really huge huge fan of the ip they're fan of king kong and i have multiple guys in there that's writing this was a day one buy for me no matter which movie they chose okay i would have bought it yeah but doing it this way i canceled my order what yes you can go in and read it on the comments that's a fucking hot take no do not cancel your order this is a phenomenal pinball machine that is it's got like the best coders at stern on it this code is going to be some of the legendary best. I can't wait to get this game and flip it at home. And while I'm not immediately grabbed by the pelvis and pulled into the machine like Jaws was,
    27:39
    the ball pass and everything are amazing in this, like comboing shots. Did you see that spiral shot into the Kong fist on that right orbit? It wraps right around, bam, wraps right around back, back to that upper flipper. You hit the biplane ramp. Now it's going through the spiral. you hear the plane sound back to the right flipper and now you can go for a different shot it's awesome it plays great it's not a brutal beast it's a fun jungle to explore uh there's some exciting things with like the left out lane where it crosses through that gate to come back in there's a little rubber there on the true out lane where you can nudge and save your ball just like jaws which i loved so like like this is it man this is it it's just the modes remind me of like Black Knight Sword of Rage, which like, they're okay, but it wasn't like, oh fuck yes, I love this damn mode, you know?
    28:31
    For me, the first thing I think about is shots and layout. I paused the gameplay video and I was like, okay, this ball, it goes in there, it goes out there, how smooth it is, how it just works from the left flip to the right flip, ram, in, exit, and then shots and layout on this game, and I'm a huge, huge Godzilla fan, but This one, Donnie, it was just so impressive from the first second. I will rate it 10 out of 10. I mean, this could be goonies, and I would still love it. Oh, my God. Whatever. This is what every game should strive for. Let me tell you, I was paying extra close attention to this. I was getting no rattle, no rejects from any rams. Any fair shot went up there just fine. Off the plunge, there's so many different skill shots you can get. If you plunge into the out lane, it's a secret skill shot. It's called the anti-skill shot. I love it.
    29:26
    Yeah, like everything there, it was perfect. This wasn't like Rattlefest, like X-Men, which, you know, took some leaps with its layout, which I love, but had a little bit of jank back there. I couldn't find no jank in this tank, buddy. Oh, my God. So this game doesn't feel like it's rushed out in any way. this game feels like i mean the code it comes with on the videos i think it's a great version of a code to release a game with it doesn't it doesn't feel lackluster yeah when they interviewed keith hill when he said like yeah when you write king kong that we will put in some animations where he fights with the t-rex it's okay so they're already programming some more stuff which is great, right? But at the release week, bravo, Stern. I'm really liking what I'm seeing here. So here's the difference with Keith, man. This dude is an absolute machine when it comes to making machines. We asked him this directly, and he said that King Kong's layout has been done for like a year. He finishes the layout and then gets it over to the coding team, and he goes to his next layout to start working on. While the artists are still on that project And Elwin is still part of the project They're working on essentially two different games At that point This layout's been fine tuned and done for a while This is absolutely not rushed His next layout I think is done And he's on to the game after that now This dude's just cranking through them Remember this was a guy that released Godzilla And then like Went over and did Bond 60th Because he had extra time And then went on to something else So, like, his games are baked. They're cooked. They've chilled on the windowsill. You know, they let the meat rest, and then they come out. And then, like, the coders just keep going on it. And he designs with code in mind, too. So he's like, that's part of why his games are great. They had the whole lineup of Keith games there, too, at Stern in the lobby, like, all the way from Iron Maiden to Kong on the other end. And you could go and play everything, including Bond 60th. And, like, yeah, you can see his evolution. There's not a stinker in the bunch. his worst game for me is Jurassic Park, and that game's awesome. Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. If I was running Stern and I love George Gomez like crazy, he's just legendary for me, but if I was George Gomez, I would definitely find a team programming team number two for Keith Elwin So he could jump between two games and release two Keith Elwin games every year Just let the man work. Let the man work, yeah. Yeah. And he's designed. Dude, he is a very modern designer, innovative. He comes up with modern new way to, you know, let the ball move around. But he also has all the classics in his mind. So he borrows some old stuff also and modernizes it and puts it in. He's just 2025. It's just Keith Elwin. Whatever he does, it's so good. So give him a second team. Give him a team with Elizabeth and a lot of other great people you have got at Stern. Hire some new people. I don't know. But two teams release two Elvin games every year. The little under-orbit shot that goes from the left flipper to the right flipper is super fun. Why doesn't anybody else snuck that in there? He just snuck it in under all the ramps. Like, here, just shoot over to the other side.
    32:53
    The sweepable four-bank drop targets, it's even there on the pro, and you've got the Gary Stern stand-up target behind there. Perfect. And off that upper flipper, the ball will rest there for a second, and you can look at your drop targets, like, which one do I have left? And if it's that first one, just off the very last little tip of the flipper, you can knock it right over there and get it. It's like I was knocking down drop targets with precision the whole time I was playing, man. What a game. And that upper left flipper, you cannot use it all the time because they've got a diverter that needs to come up. If that's not up, the ball will go down that waterfall stuff. I mean, this guy's a genius. When I say he's my favorite designer, Now you know why. That little river area on the left, like your ball will go under the blue plastic like it's in the water. It will also go on top of the water because the wire form follows that same path. So you're getting the same kind of effect at two different levels. It's just a really great use of space for just a standard body machine. Like there's so many ball paths and so much gameplay in this. You've got Kong back there, this huge mechanism, but he doesn't take up any space because you've got all that space underneath him that the ball can go in. Because he's up there and elevated. I thought it was some sort of an upper play field, but it's not. No, no. It's so, so well done. Yeah, this is such a great use of space all over this game. And such verticality, different ball paths at different levels. And it has that thing where I can see something and I'm like, okay, what do I have to do to get a ball up there? And I love it. You've got to get the premium because it's got that physical ball lock on the right with the tram car, but there's a diverter. the ball will go up the center ramp, and then it's rolling down tram tracks, or the two rails of the wire form look like the tram right there. And Kong will stop the ball there for a second and then let it go.
    34:47
    It's a great use of space. Tram tracks, they're just awesome. I love it. They're physically the rails of the tram track on top of the plastic that the ball rolls on. It's perfect. World under glass, man, world under glass. Also, when you start the multiple, that train that gets smashed, the last ball, it just flies up.
    35:08
    Sometimes it flies out the back. Sometimes it flies out the forward. It's random like every time. But, yeah, it's like ball explosion. I love it. Yeah, so multiple start is different every time, man. Yeah. Wow, absolutely wow. Have you played Quicksilver? It has got the sweepable targets about the same place. I've played it a couple of times, not enough to intimately know it. But I do know that much like Berrio's Barbecue Challenge and Space Shuttle, I do love some sweepable drop targets. Oh, beautiful. It was the first thing I saw. I was like, whoa! And I'm a huge fan of Quicksilver. So, yeah, so shots and layout, beautiful. Two spinners, yeah. Yeah, and we agree on that, right? Ten out of ten. It's perfect, shots and layout. We love it. 9.8. Ah, it's ten for me. I love it. The only thing I would change is the right orbit. You can shoot the ball up, and it will come back and feed to your upper right flipper. It's a bit downer feeling that a ball goes up one place and comes back at the same place again. That's a downer feeling, just like an Adams family train shot. That's the only thing. It's a minor, minor, but still is a 10 out of 10. Yeah, now there is a hole in there. So if your ball doesn't have the trajectory to make it all the way through that spiral, it will fall and drain, feed into that buck that goes into that giant spitting out wire form. Yeah, and it will get pumped up 180 and again get feeded to the upper right flipper. And then they recycled that John Wick 007 shot too, like that ejector area, the Q branch. It's there in Kong too. It's Kong's cave. And it was easy to hit to get the ball in there too. Just great use of the real estate. Packable of everything. I love this idea of using a public domain so you don't have licensure pressure, so you can really just kind of create it on your own. And I think they baked some of that in there, probably baked in some margin too. Game's going to be a great seller, man. I'm sure eventually the Ellies will all sell out, 932 of them. I have heard from multiple distro friends. I have Ellies out. Ellies are gone. They got there. All right, yeah, so initially, like first day, they were still available for a while. Have you heard your distro? Yeah, yeah. He managed – when I asked him, he said he managed to grab one more. But, yeah, I think they're moving towards a sellout. It wasn't just like a day one sellout. It wasn't no medieval madness, boom, 1,000 gone.
    37:40
    Okay. But I think we got there. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you should choose between medieval madness or this Kong, what would you choose? Oh, Kong, for sure, 100% every time, twice on Tuesday. Yeah, absolutely. Premium level, that one's for me. I'm going to make it over, add the shaker, add the Invisiglass. It's going to look great. I'm going to make it my own. I'm going to put bananas everywhere I possibly can. I got an idea to swap the spider out for something that's very tasteless, and I can't wait to do it, even if I'm the only one that enjoys it. I know. Put a banana, nothing else, man. No, no, no, not a banana. But something that looks like it. There will be a banana hammock involved, let me tell you that. Oh! So the way the spider works is pretty cool, too. I thought it was on a coil, but it's not. It's just a piece of spring steel, and whenever the magnet pulses, it pulls it down. And so as it pulses, it's like... Is that Keith Elwin's thing, or is that the mechanical engineer? I didn't ask him that specifically.
    38:42
    The engineer's thing, because it's just beautiful. It's simple. It's elegant. It's not going to break. As long as the magnet's working, the spider's working. And because the magnet is there on the pro, I kind of think somebody could finagle a way to just add that in there as well. So I love that creativity there.
    39:00
    All right, so, I mean, that's, like, how I feel about Kong. Those are all my thoughts. What do you think? I think it's a beautiful game. Just one thing, we have, of course, of course, we have some negative Nancys that has been crying about the artwork. I think the artwork is amazing I love the popping colors yeah and again you see it in person it looks fine so you know if you were going to pick one thing to pick apart okay fine pick apart the art who cares you're not playing the art anyway it's great none of us had any problems seeing this game in person and being like that's fire and all the LE back glass with the mirroring and the art deco corners that's one of the best ones they've done man And since John Wick, I'd put this one up against it. It's amazing. Also, the art plates on this game, on the LE, it really gives the real, you know, Congo Kong feeling. I think it looks good. They're shiny. They're foil. I've seen them. Yeah. They didn't have an LE cabinet for us to see. I think there's a bit of a delay with a bit of the art. I think it's the front panel graphic they're redoing or retouching something. So they didn't actually have an LE cabinet that we could see. So I couldn't see the – but the LE graphics are the same. they're the premium on one side the pro on the other i love the pro cabinet graphics that's just like fucking kong breaking the jaw of a dinosaur that's cool the other one looks really good too i think i like the pro translate better than the premium translate the le back glass is stunning and it's the best version of everything i need to get a translate printed of that man it looks awesome so yeah man kong's a winner dude i don't think you could really pick this apart you know unless you just hate elwyn's layouts and you want to go play you know mandalorian or something i I don't know. I remember crybabies cried about the artwork of Godzilla when it came out. He was too green. Oh, Cucumber Godzilla, yeah. Yeah, but look at it now. It's number one game four years later, and now they're going to cry about this. We don't want negativity. I think it kicks ass. Cale Hernandez says it kicks ass, so this game kicks ass. One last thing, the audio package. I feel like the music is action movie. It's just there. it didn't, I mean, it's not Godzilla level, it's not in Godzilla, you know, when you fight the dragon with three heads, I love that kind of music, but this was like it's there, but it's not 10 out of 10 for me. Well, we'll see how it comes kicking here down the road with some code updates and things, I get what you're saying I did like the call out guy sounds like the same dude from Jurassic Park and then they got this other guy from Impractical Jokers that also punches out some like really kind of New York-y kind of sound and stuff. It didn't have, like, the camp of Godzilla, the two guys, like, going back and forth. So we'll see where it ends up. I heard when they start a new game, you hear this, we are in Chile and something, something noisy guy at the start of the game.
    41:57
    The same guy they use on Godzilla. We are the zillion something, something, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is he more in Congo or is it just at the game start? I don't know. I didn't really notice it, so it must be just at the game start. Good, good, good. That guy's noise, voice, I don't like it, but everything else on Congo, it was cool. Don't get me wrong. The music was – I think when you play the game, when you're immersed in that world, I think the music is cool. But when you're watching a video and listening to the – concentrating on the music, I was like, usually it's – usually it's – I was concentrating on making all these cool shots. Just better than this, if you know what I mean. I was also invited, cordially, to Barrels of Fun Pinball for their new release of Dune, The Wrath of Dune. No, did it have a subtitle? Dune. Dooney Dune Dunes. Battle of Arrakis or something? Yeah. The spice is nice, I think was the tagline. Spice must flow. I love this universe, man. He who controls the spice controls the universe. It's definitely a vibe for sure, yeah. Oh, I love Dune theme. I love the movies. I love the games. I was so excited about Dune being into a pinball machine, but I said it for like 10 shows here. How is Dune going to work as a pinball machine? Yeah. Remember, I've said it so many times. You got invited. it you were at their factory uh-huh you tried the game yep did you were you with the game for 20 minutes alone or i was live posting as i was there and um you know they start with it usually it's like hey everybody come on in everybody gather in the conference room okay here's kind of like here's the trailer here's our thoughts here how here's how it was working with the licensor legendary which does the pictures um here's our whole factory tour and the whole time i'm like this is great i want to play the game i want to play the game i want to play the game so finally we get in there to play the game and it's awesome there's two of them there for us there's like 15 of us so we're breaked off into four person games uh i played for you know i played two games it was probably a little longer than 20 minutes but like it was so excited it felt like it went by in a flash and then they're like okay guys now we're gonna take you all to lunch we're gonna feed you and then we'll come back and play some more and i'm like can i skip lunch and just stay here and play the game some more you know so people were asking me like don how's doing don how's doing i'm like i'm in the factory i'm in the conference room and then like i got when i played it i wasn't texting anybody and then like when i was at lunch people were like oh what do you think and i'm like i was only there for like 20 minutes i i i don't i gotta form more of an opinion it shoots fun um but i i i haven't tried everything yet and they're like what you were only there for 20 minutes what the heck and then it became like its own thing i was having lunch having a good time cut out from lunch early Dave and myself went back to the factory so I could jump back on it, I had a little 7 minutes in heaven with the game and then I got to play for another hour or so I got a lot of game time on it to the point that I was like, okay, I feel satisfied with as much Dune as I've played thank you everybody, I gotta get to the airport and then I went to go fly to Chicago yeah, so how's the game? The game's $11,600 it's got shiny radcals, it's got invisibility glass it's got what? wait wait wait usually when we do this wait hold all your thoughts there when we do this people are saying this and i have to say to you every time you invite donnie to a factory show he buys the game and you just you was invited to stern you bought the stern game yes one time you didn't buy the game was when you were invited to that meat grinder game what's it called meat cooking various No, not Barry O's. You didn't buy that. I did not. So just before we start the review, did you buy Dune? I have not bought Dune.
    45:53
    Did not buy it. Okay, okay, okay. Let's continue then. Now I know. Okay, this is much more easier for me. Yeah, so when they were teasing the release for this, they said that they've got these rad cows that they're calling Evergloss or something. They're really nice. They're just like what you would see with Jersey Jack. They have the thick plastic layering on top to help protect the cabinet. They put the metal underfoil with it, too. Half the machine looks dark like it's nighttime. Half of it's during daytime. There's a daylight mode because of their horizon lightings that can do this. The modes change. The gameplay changes a bit. You're collecting different shit during the day versus during the night. There's Invisiglass. It looks great. There's a shaker motor in it. Thank you. There's still only one coin slot in the coin door. and there you go so i think why is that important people are talking about that why is that important for you every single game i have has two coin slots in this one only what do you use them for what do you use those two coins for in your home i take the black plastics off and i put chrome plastics on okay fair i don't know um you know i mean you know a lot of places use card readers on location i always like the fact that you know the the coin mech meant if some kid put some M&Ms in one of them, you still had another one that was functional, you know, like as a backup. I can tell you, in our location, we have a scanner on the wall so people can scan their phone, and it will drop off some stand-up tokens, and those tokens go into the pinball machine. So it's just our tokens only. So, yeah, that's the best way to do it for us. also security wise so people don't just break off and try to take the money just like they did in the 90s if you buy Billy Williams games they have four holes in the front because they put a metal bar so you couldn open up Jack up to his coin door back then Yeah to get the money No money No money inside So people want to know how this game plays First off, the flippers feel just like Labyrinth. When I plunged the ball and started flipping, it was exactly that strength, so that's what you can expect. Compared to Stern. I mean, Stern's got the flippiest flippers in pinball, you know.
    48:08
    But, like, I didn't feel like they were weak or anything, you know, They felt exactly like Labyrinth. I owned a Labyrinth, and so I felt like I was right at home. I could hit every shot. There's plenty of power. I didn't feel like I couldn't get up a ramp because the flippers were weaker. None of that business. Nice. There's a lot of branching ball paths on the right side with that flap diverter that pops up. There's a lot of little barrels of fun tricks like that Raptor pen that's in the midfield on the right with the forks that come up, just like the Jareth shot on Labyrinth. They use that again. It works good. It's a fun little pen that allows the ball to bounce around in there. There's magnets involved in the game. There's a bunch of magnets. There's a couple of spinners. There are like four magnets, right? Yeah, they love their magnets. I love magnets. Oh, yes. So while you don't see like a ton of mechanisms, you know, like this is obviously a physical ball lock. This is obviously a collapsing tower. There are a lot of magnets that add some interaction with the game. There's the Vuck. I think there may be a – there's a subway as well, yeah, because the ball gets eaten by the worm. the worm can function as a butthole like a sarlacc pit or it can come up like like circus voltaire like the ringmaster they can do some fun things with it it's a cool moment watching the worm come up but as far as like major mechanism there's that and there's that that harvester mech in the back that has a servo in it that bounces back and forth a little bit with it's like like front when it's getting damaged or something i haven't seen the dune movies so you know when the harvester explodes that screen at the back of the play field you can see the explosion to the side oh i do i do love so that's what this game is this game if if kong is fast arcade action then this game is cinematic uh exploration this is more akin to like an avatar where it's like you got the big screen that huge topper you're in here for to play in this world where the other one is just like fast mad monkey action you know monkey action man and i'm not saying that any one is any better than the other one that's just they're a little bit different you know so it kind of it's down to what you what you want to get into if you love dune this is the best dune pinball machine available i love the theme i love the theme first question i have from the videos and everything yes this game feels very flat yes is it because you i love when the when on kong the rams go up what's it called in english verticality verticality yes yeah it's very vertical some freaking verticality i want from the bottom of the playfield all the way up to the top of the glass i want rams in between i love stuff like that yeah dune on the videos everything it feels very flat yeah you're like that in the real deal you essentially have the street level and then you've got the wire forms above it and then that's it so there is some of that um a lot of it seems to be hidden by that that big that gigantic sculpt of sand dune over in the back right area um there are multiple levels in there because there is a diverter flap so you can shoot orbits around and business on the ground level. You can play on the upper level. There's some cool, clever things they've done with the gameplay, with the ball shooting around. It exits at different levels for things. But you can't really see that looking at it because it's all covered in that mountain. So it comes out during the gameplay. The shots feel like they're a little bit more open than they were on Labyrinth. I know some of the Labyrinth shots, they felt like a little bit of a dick punch sometimes because you're like, I need to start a mode, but I got to hit this tiny window all the way in the back of the field. Like, what the fuck? This one, they did feel more open, so that was fun. It plays pretty quick, so it's not like a very slow brooding type game. I like this layout more than I liked Godfather, where everything was kind of just there in the back. It seems like they've added things in all sorts of areas around it. And nothing felt like janky, like a good shot up a ramp went up a ramp. You know I don't like jank in pinball. I didn't find a lot of jank here. you know but it's it's dune so you know if you were to put 10 themes in front of me and this is one of them i probably wouldn't have picked this but then i have no real connection to it either other than i've seen the trailers and i like the the beautiful um actors the beautiful young actors with the blue eyes look great um but it's all as a yeah you know they did some cool gameplay elements with like this pain box thing did you see that at all um there's there's a little physical ball lock on the left out lane and when it's activated the ball will go in there and give you a chance to save your ball if you can survive the pain of having so the way this works is you know in the move you got to stick your hand in a box and i don't know like it gets tortured and you have to try to endure it so when this is active you have to put one of your hands on the action button don't move it you move it you lose your ball and then with one hand you have to your ball will eject back into the gameplay field and you have to hit a shot that's lit with only using one hand so you have to go back and forth between the other flippers with your hand in order to try to trap up and then make this shot and if you do you get your ball back all right it was a cool gameplay mechanic um i was never able to coordinate myself successfully to pull it off i lost my ball every time maybe maybe with some training and practice i'd get better at that um you know but it's got those kind of novel things you know those are new things i haven't seen that used in pinball before so that's that's something brand new and there's a cool little On Godzilla, when you build up that ray where you have to hold down the action button, I just put my knee on top there, just hold it down with my knee. So what will happen if I put my knee on top and use both hands? You can do that, but if the game notices that you're hitting the flippers too quick, it'll kill your ball. So you have to hit the flippers as if you're only using one hand because if you push them both at once or too quickly, where they know you're cheating, you're going to die. Colin just sent a heart on Facebook Colin was at the Stern Factory also He shared amazing pictures Shout out to Colin Kineticist We love you buddy Absolutely Okay, okay So I have a question about the music The audio package Yes Because I watched the gameplay video And Being a huge fan of the theme I wasn't impressed by the audio package. How is it? Also, I'm not impressed by the audio package. This is a pinball machine, Donnie. It's so important. It's 50% of the enjoyment. Is it just like on the videos I have watched? Yeah. So, I don't know. Something must have happened. I think the game was revealed a little too early.
    55:07
    The code has none of the call-outs, really. There's a call-out when you die, and there's one when you start, and that's it. And I think it may be that the licensor hasn't given final marketing approval for the voices or something like that. But there's no voices in the game that I played. It was just this atmospheric music, which, like, it was fine. Like, I noticed it was there, but it didn't jump out to me like, oh, yeah, I'm in this mode now. The music's different, new tempo, let's get hype. Didn't have that. Kong had that in spades. It had tons of call-outs, tons of music changes, tons of sound effects. Dune, I didn't really get that, you know. And I don't know if part of that is because the game takes place in a barren sand planet with nothing going on. Maybe there's a lot of brown. People ask me how the game was, and the first thing I can say is it's very brown.
    55:53
    Worst color palette ever is brown. Dude, being a Dune fan, like, Muad'Dib in the first movie, he's a wimp. And the first half of the second movie, he's a wimp. But the last half of the second movie, he becomes a man. And he becomes a strong, confident man. And he can do, he can shout. He can give, I don't know if I should call it just like the force in Star Wars. But he can really shut the fuck up. And people will shut up. And he will have so, so powerful in his speech. And at the cinema, when I experienced that, all the hair on my head was just, it was just all the way up. And it was just, it was amazing. And I think when all of this will be put into the game, it will be so powerful. Yeah. And when the license holder approves what's going on on the screen, so they remove that text that says nothing is completed yet, nothing is ready yet. If that gets removed, Mr. David Van Ness, then the game will be much more powerful. Yeah. When these two combinations is not done yet, why did you invite Donnie over? That's my little thing over here. Just wait. Please just wait three weeks. We've all been commenting, and to us that seems like the most obvious thing. Like if you don't have something like ready to go for TPF to get out in front of all these other games, let Kong breathe for a little bit and then come so you can own the moment because absolutely it's overshadowed right now. Exactly. And the only reason, two reasons. First, I love Dune, the movies, everything, Dune Universe. And second thing, I love Barrels of Fun as a company. I love what they have done. I love the quality. I love the build speed. I love everything. I want them to succeed. There is nothing negative towards this company in me. I want them. But doing it this way, I think it hurts sales. and releasing the same day as Keith Elwin? I mean, as an outside observer, I don't see the strategy here. Because, you know, three weeks ago or three weeks from now, Dune would have had its own moment. It would have been Dune Week. You know, it could have been a teaser on Monday, full trailer on Tuesday, order banks open on Wednesday, accessories revealed on Friday, and it could have been Dune Week. We could Dune.
    58:26
    I mean, Canada, he just shared something interesting with me, I can share this. I mean, some of the things he said was, okay, just put the game on the line. Start building them for like a couple of weeks so you have them ready to ship. Wait a couple of weeks and then launch the game. He had some other things also. But, yes, I mean, as an outsider, it's easy for us to say, but they need to get their lines going. I don't know if they're done building Labyrinth. Yeah. I mean, they're economics in it also, of course. I can tell you because I was in the factory, and they have what looks like their last 40 Labyrinths or something are just waiting for back glasses from China. Tariffs are starting to affect things. But they're waiting for, like, literally put back glasses on, put them in boxes, Labyrinth is done. The line has changed over to Dune now. There was one Dune machine that looked like it was in the very final stages of quality control and then going into a box. And then there were at least three or four other ones that were getting there. And then there were play fields that were populated, play fields that needed wiring, and then a stack of play fields waiting to go. So they look like they're in their first week of getting the line going. So they could probably ramp up pretty quickly and try to target that, you know, eight or nine games a day and just get them rolling out. It's not an easy thing. This is the first time they changed the whole build from the first game to the second. and everything has to be, you know, the wire set, everything is done. It's not easy. But just keep everything quiet for three more weeks. Just have a couple of maybe 200 games in boxes ready to ship and make a – I want to know how many games did they sell this week. I'm so into – Donnie, is it 1,000? I reached out to my distributor. They're doing 1,000 games. Mad Pinball says that this game is selling better than Labyrinth did, at least for the same time. So that's good. That makes me so happy to hear. I don't see this game selling out anytime soon. And so that kind of factors in. I don't have an unlimited budget. I don't have unlimited space. I have to kind of pick and choose what I go into. So for me, this wasn't a game for me. I put a deposit on Labyrinth when it was revealed because it was a Jim Henson game and I love freaking Muppets and I don't care if it was Dark Crystal or Muppets from Space or Muppet Treasure Island or Muppet Family Christmas or Muppet Show for fuck's sake make that game I would have got that for sure power of the theme I'm not connected to it I haven't even sat through the new films I watched the old one back in the day I've never read the book so I get what it is But it wasn't, you know, the theme didn't put it over the line for me to put like family money down for it. And look at me. I love the theme. We have no Danish distros of Paris Alfonso. We can even buy this game. Wow. Yeah. So simple as that.
    61:34
    Yeah. Yes. Donnie, we have so much more to talk about. I can't wait. We agreed before we hit the record button, 30 minutes here, 30 minutes on Patreon. How long have we recorded here? We're at one hour, man, so I think it's time. What the heck, Tony? We got to get ourselves over to the Patreon green room. Thank you, everybody, for joining. I want to talk about the retcon. I want to talk about plastics. Oh, we're going to get to it. Two sets of different game plastics I'm just so excited about. Okay, we're not going to share the pictures, but I have some questions. I'm so excited about this. All right. I'll see you on the other side of the drop here, man.
    62:19
    Let's say thank you to everybody. Thank you for the support. That's a bop, man. I love it. We didn't do that song. Please share how did we get this awesome song. So my cousin works with an audio producer and was good friends with a talent that, although several thousand dollars went into this, we're not able to reveal exactly who's on the track, but your mind would be absolutely blown.
    62:48
    Or it was AI. Someone sent it to us. I can't remember exactly, but... Well, thank you. Thank you for the song. It's so... I mean, the level of support we're getting... I couldn't ask for more. I'm so thankful. Right, Tony? Yeah, let's... All right, let's do it. I can't wait to talk about the new stuff. Let's get in the green room. Everybody, we are Pinball. WeArePinball69 at gmail.com to get at us. Yeah. Or Patreon backslash WeArePinball to join the fastest growing group in pinball and the community. And get in on it. And get your toes tickled by Don and Jenga. Join us. Join us, everybody. See you on Patreon. Let's jump over to Patreon talk right now.
    63:38
    While we are pinball