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Evil Dead is home!

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·28m 38s·analyzed·Feb 2, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Don reviews Evil Dead pinball as Spooky's best game ever, praising layout, art, and value at $10k.

Summary

Don's Patreon podcast episode featuring an enthusiastic first-impression review of Evil Dead pinball after picking it up from the Spooky Pinball factory. Don discusses unboxing, early gameplay, design elements (art, shots, layout, theme integration), and compares it favorably to other Spooky games and premium-tier releases. He emphasizes the game's value at under $10k, notes the limited 888-unit production run with ~149 remaining, and predicts strong secondary market demand.

Key Claims

  • Evil Dead is Spooky Pinball's best game, surpassing TNA and Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle in shooting mechanics and overall design

    high confidence · Don Dwyer, Tee'd Off Pinball Pursuit host, speaking from personal ownership and gameplay after factory pickup

  • Evil Dead flippers lack the holding-current whine present on earlier Spooky games (Looney Tunes, TCM), suggesting electrical engineering improvement

    high confidence · Don Dwyer's technical observation during extended home gameplay sessions, comparing direct tactile experience

  • The lower playfield is implemented perfectly with appropriate time balance—players wish for slightly more time but don't feel cheated

    high confidence · Don Dwyer's gameplay impression after ~2 days of ownership

  • Evil Dead is priced at $9,888 (base) with only 888 units total production, approximately 149 remaining at time of podcast recording

    high confidence · Don Dwyer citing factory information and real-time inventory tracking

  • Evil Dead will likely sell out completely and commands strong secondary market demand based on current trajectory

    medium confidence · Don Dwyer's market prediction based on 2-day sales velocity observation

  • The 180-degree ramp routing from left orbit through wire form into bumper nest is smooth and mechanically reliable

    high confidence · Don Dwyer's hands-on gameplay experience describing shot routing precision

  • Christopher Franchi's artwork uses color theory (greens, purples with red flame accents) to create visual pop and character vibrancy

    high confidence · Don Dwyer's detailed art analysis during extended gameplay and cabinet inspection

  • Bruce Campbell voice work includes comedic timing with dad jokes, self-aware callbacks, and thematic innuendo integrated throughout gameplay

    high confidence · Don Dwyer describing specific quote examples heard during 2 days of gameplay

Notable Quotes

  • “Evil Dead is it, man. Evil Dead is it.”

    Don Dwyer @ early segment — Emphatic declaration establishing Evil Dead as Spooky's definitive best game

  • “Rick and Morty doesn't shoot like Evil Dead shoots better than any Spooky Pinball freaking game.”

    Don Dwyer @ early gameplay assessment — Direct comparative ranking of Evil Dead's shot quality against Spooky's entire catalog

  • “I think if you order one of these games, you're basically stealing it from Spooky Pinball at that price.”

    Don Dwyer @ pricing analysis — Strong market value statement; positions Evil Dead as significantly underpriced

  • “Evil Dead feels like a good game period not like this is a good game for Spooky Pinball this is a good game by any measure”

    Don Dwyer @ comparative positioning — Elevates Evil Dead beyond boutique category into absolute quality tier with premium manufacturers

  • “The orbit shots on this game, the ramp shots on this game are easily hittable. Easily hittable to the point that I'm worried that, you know, Stern AC/DC players are going to say, this game plays too easy.”

    Don Dwyer @ layout analysis — Identifies potential design criticism regarding shot difficulty balance, suggests accessibility as design choice

  • “Maybe I can see if I can lend you a hand... see what I did there?”

    Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead callout) @ gameplay audio — Example of Bruce Campbell's comedic delivery with thematic innuendo, demonstrates integration of licensed voice talent

  • “The way they've implemented the lower playfield is fantastic, too... every time I get that third ball drain or it times out, I'm kind of like, oh, I wish I had another couple seconds”

    Don Dwyer @ lower playfield design discussion — Technical praise for cellar mechanics balance; identifies design maturity in execution

  • “There's 149 of these left... and even just the last couple of days a couple of them have sold so yeah I think this game will go to sell out”

Entities

Don DwyerpersonChristopher FranchipersonBruce CampbellpersonSpooky PinballcompanyEvil DeadgameSpooky PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyAlice Cooper's Nightmare Castle

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Spooky Pinball released parallel unboxing video with comedic guidance for customers ('don't do what Don did') and subtle competitive jab at Jersey Jack Pinball's marketing approach. Signals brand personality and community integration.

    high · Don's reference to Spooky releasing official unboxing video 'basically calling me out'; noting 'great one about halfway through, just like a nice, subtle, classy, dig at Jersey Jack Pinball and their marketing'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Lower playfield (cellar) implementation balances play time at approximately 'perfect' duration—players consistently wish for slightly more time (3-5 seconds) without feeling cheated. Design achieves optimal player psychology for sub-playfield segments.

    high · Don's specific observation: 'every time I get that third ball drain or it times out, I'm kind of like, oh, I wish I had another couple seconds, which I think is what you want to do when you're programming and designing a lower playfield'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Evil Dead employs conservative, proven-safe layout (orbits, 180 ramp, bumper nest, spinner, center lock) rather than novel/experimental shot sequences. Design philosophy prioritizes reliable fun over innovation risk.

    high · Don explicitly describes layout as 'safe' with ramps/orbits that 'flow good' and mechanicals that work reliably without rejection; contrasts with potential for experimental designs that might not work

  • $

    market_signal: Evil Dead production constraint (888 units only, ~149 remaining at podcast time) combined with strong early sales velocity creates artificial scarcity driving secondary market demand. Limited run appears intentional FOMO strategy.

    high · Don tracking real-time inventory (148-149 remaining); observing 'a couple sold in last couple days'; predicting rapid complete sellout; noting 888 production limit appears deliberate ('they probably could have sold 1,200 and they picked 888')

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.086

0:00
Yeah. That's right. Yep. 1997 Zone Mac-10. Sunday morning. Patreon is the place to be. That's right.
0:25
Can we get a hip-hop pin, please? Get your boogie on You ready for the chorus? It's about to drop, Patreon Get your Mac-10 backyard boogie on Hold up your pimp cup, let's go Back drop boogie, boogie, boogie It's all about that Back drop boogie, boogie, boogie Oh man, I'm delirious It's been about three days with five hours of sleep Communative over the entire time I'm not gonna let that stop me, man I just got home from work Was supposed to... Happy Sunday morning, by the way. Was supposed to record with Genghis. I'm a buddy Enzo for We Are Pinball Today, but I'm like, as they say in Australia, rooted. Completely knackered.
1:14
I'm delirious a bit. It wouldn't be good content for a main show, but you know what? I'm going to share some insight.
1:22
God, I can't believe it. The last couple of days have been nuts. Like, not even 72 hours, dude. We went down to Spooky. I was there all day long, work night, all day long in Benton, picked up the game, came home yesterday, did the unboxing on like less than zero sleep, and then got to play the game finally in my home, and like I've played Evil Dead. Let's get into it. All right. Back 10. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. I appreciate your service. All right. So I've played Evil Dead, man. I played it early at the factory or an early build. I played it a couple of times during like some factory visits and stuff. But, like, the game's hit different at home, you guys, man. This thing, like, I've never not appreciated it until, like, I got it at home and got some games on it yesterday. Like, this is, it's Spooky's best game. I don't know, it can be a little subjective. And their games have come in eras, you know, like early Spooky, like their best game, probably TNA and Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. Some good argument for Rick and Morty. But, like, you know, Rick and Morty doesn't shoot like TCM and Looney Tunes do. Rick and Morty doesn't shoot like Evil Dead shoots better than any spooky freaking game. Forget it, man. TNA is probably like, until recent times, like their best shooting game as far as like just layout is good. There's no ramps or anything, you know, but like just satisfying pinball action. Total nonstop action.

  • Evil Dead's pricing at $9,888 is substantially below market equilibrium for comparable boutique games (Alice in Wonderland at $12,500), representing exceptional value

    medium confidence · Don Dwyer's market analysis comparing to recent Spooky releases

  • Evil Dead is competitive with Sam Stern's Jaws in fun factor and overall quality as a game by absolute measure, not just 'for a Spooky game'

    medium confidence · Don Dwyer's comparative judgment after 2 days of ownership, stated with caveat that assessment is preliminary

    • Don Dwyer @ inventory tracking — Real-time market data point indicating rapid sales velocity on limited production

  • “If this is the direction and level that they're going to go from here on out... Evil Dead feels like a good game period”

    Don Dwyer @ forward-looking assessment — Positions Evil Dead as establishing new quality bar for Spooky Pinball going forward

  • “I'm bolting this one here for a while... I almost wish I'd had the smooth-feeling shots in gameplay with premium cabinet upgrade too”

    Don Dwyer @ ownership/retention decision — Signals long-term keeper status despite minor equipment regret; confidence in secondary market value

    • game
    Total Nonstop Action Wrestlinggame
    Looney Tunesgame
    The Texas Chain Saw Massacregame
    Metallicagame
    X-Mengame
    James Cameron's Avatargame
    Jawsgame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Monicaperson
    Pinball at the Beachevent
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    Lit Framescompany
  • ?

    community_signal: Christopher Franchi's art direction on Evil Dead demonstrates artistic maturation in color theory application and theme integration. Described as use of 'pops of light' (Thomas Kinkade reference) with purposeful color contrast (greens/purples with red flame accents).

    high · Don's detailed color analysis and explicit comparison to Thomas Kinkade's light-source aesthetic, noting intentional color hierarchy and pop effects on Evil Dead

  • $

    market_signal: Evil Dead priced at $9,888 (base) positioned as substantially below market equilibrium. Don compares unfavorably to $12,500 Alice in Wonderland and suggests game could command $12,500 without resistance; current pricing represents 21% discount to comparable boutique titles.

    high · Don's explicit market analysis: 'If this game was $12,500...I wouldn't say that's abnormal' and 'If you order one of these games, you're basically stealing it from Spooky Pinball at that price'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Evil Dead positioned as competitive with premium Stern/JJP games in absolute quality terms, not merely 'good for a Spooky game.' Represents perceived quality inflection point for boutique manufacturer.

    high · Don's explicit statement: 'Evil Dead feels like a good game period not like this is a good game for Spooky Pinball this is a good game by any measure like put it up next to foo fighters iron Iron Maiden'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Evil Dead's sling flipper integration allows left orbit and left ramp shots to be hit from sling position, enabling advanced multiball control and chaos management. Design choice improves gameplay depth.

    high · Don's gameplay observation that refined sling flipper allows hitting upper playfield shots from sling position; notes use case in multiball chaos management

  • ?

    product_concern: Don notes flipper-holding whine present on earlier Spooky games (Looney Tunes, TCM) has been eliminated on Evil Dead, suggesting either electrical engineering fix (ferrule-based isolation) or servo routine optimization. Specific improvement in electrical noise isolation.

    high · Don's direct comparison of holding flipper sound across three machines at home; technical speculation about ferrule-based isolation similar to Stern upgrades

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Notable upgrade in community perception of Spooky Pinball's design maturity and manufacturing quality. Evil Dead moves Spooky from 'good boutique manufacturer' category into 'competitive with premium tier' category in industry perception.

    high · Don's trajectory from earlier assessment ('Spooky Pinball's been not quite Sam Stern') to current evaluation ('Evil Dead feels like a good game period...can compete head to head with Sam Stern')

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball appears to be implementing scarcity-based FOMO strategy through intentionally limited 888-unit production run at below-market pricing, creating conditions for secondary market appreciation and brand prestige.

    high · Don's market prediction that Evil Dead will appreciate in secondary market; observation that 888-unit limit appears deliberate ('they probably could have sold 1,200'); tracking that game will 'stick around' due to perceived value and limited supply

    • 2:45
    Evil Dead is it, man. Evil Dead is it. Let me start at the beginning with the unboxing. So originally I was told that my game would be ready when we get back from pinball at the beach next week. and I said, that sounds perfectly, totally fine and reasonable. And then I got the call that game could be ready as soon as Friday for pickup. Dawn, just by the way, she's putting it out there. And, you know, I'm in the middle of a long stretch of working 12-hour night shifts, 7 p.m., 7 a.m., and then trying to sleep during the day. Occasionally I can catch a nap at work, depending on how busy it is, but, like, it's been consistently busy every night. But I was like, you know what? Friday, I get off work at 7, man. We'll drive to Benton. We'll pick up that game, bring Monica. She got to play Evil Dead for the first time. Hung out at the factory. You all have seen the pictures. I went ahead and posted them there. Hung out with the guys all day. We got some sush. We got some sush in Galena, Illinois. No, Galena, Wisconsin. What a charming freaking town, by the way, that I got to get back there. Anyway, you know, got the game back. You know, and the guys, they warned me. They're like, okay, do this live stream. But, like, they were nervous. You know, what if a solder joint came loose or something? And, like, I'm doing this big live stream. And I go to power up the game. And, like, it doesn't power on. And then it looks like, oh, no. I was like, guys, it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. Sorry if I ramble, but I haven't been sleeping.
    4:03
    So the live stream was great. Congratulations to the winners of the Lit Frames giveaway. I was talking to Brad of Lit Frames for a while now. We've been trying to do a coordinated giveaway with Spooky and me and everything. And we finally made it happen. And those will be going out tomorrow. Super excited. But got the game unboxed. Game was freaking heavy. If you watch the live stream, I'm sure you guys have. But everything went great, and I'm like, you know what? I know they kind of told me not to, but let's just fire it up, just so I can show. Because I got confidence in this thing, man. Let me just fire up the game and just show, like, hey, look, we got it. Now, there's a ton of packing material that are all throughout the game. Like, this game is incredibly well-packed. There's foam around every mechanism to protect it during shipping, you know, because this thing is going to be going, you know, on trucks and with UPS and freight shippers. And, you know, you see people with forklifts and pallet carts due to pinball machines and boxes. Like, they're rough with them, man. So, like, it's extremely well-packed. And what I like to do is, you know, open a game and really kind of go through everything, check all the connections, make sure all the bolts are tightened and everything before we finally, like, power up. But it's like, it's on the live, man. We had such a great live stream. We just fired up. And I heard a little popping sound or something coming from the hand. And I'm like, well, yeah, but it's moving. you know whatever um and then the guys in the chat were just like dude shut it off so what i didn't do was take an extra 10 minutes of just showing my back to the camera and peeling off all the masking tape and stuff but i wanted i want to show the game and it fired up right away and that was so cool um so uh just word to the wise here you have to get yourself an evil dead or really you know any game it's good to remove all the packing materials before you fire it up unbeknownst to me at the time there's a whole uh servo routine and mechanism routine the game goes through and Because I had things taped down, you know, the motors were activated but weren't able to move. Now, luckily, I didn't break anything. Everything worked just fine. And, you know, if I would have had some sleep in my belt, I probably wouldn't have done it. But we were joking about it later. Everything went cool. Game's playing just fine. Hopefully, I can live stream a little later today, you know, some gameplay. But then they did put out an unboxing video of their own yesterday, basically calling me out for like, okay, don't do what Don did, right, when you get your game. Make sure you take the time to remove all the masking tape and all the foam that's protecting all the mechanisms and everything. And so it was all some good fun. Go check that out. I shared it. It's on my Facebook page. It's also on Spooky's YouTube channel. It's hilarious, man. There's some jokes that are in there. These guys are freaking characters. There's a great one about halfway through, just like a nice, subtle, classy, dig at JJP and their marketing and it's just so hilarious I laughed out loud when I saw that so go watch that video even if you're not even interested in getting an Evil Dead at all it's a funny unboxing video and it's just it's great so I got the game opened my parents came by to play it Monica lives here but she got to play it as well too and having this game at home you know I not like you know standing there with the eyes of the designer on me kind of like got my game finally on my home. It's, like, my playground and go play with it. And, like, I'm really noticing that the shots on this game and the layout, like, let me just give, like, a first impressions now that I own the game. Okay. Running through all the categories, I mean, you know, art, let's just cross that off the list. five out of five, Franchi did it. When you see this thing in person, especially if you get to a show and you see a butter cabinet, this freaking art shines. You know, it's got all the characters there that you want to see represented from the film, but just like the way that he plays with color. I've teased him before that he's like the Thomas Kinkade of pinball, right? The painter of light. Now, I think in like true artist circles, I don't know that Thomas Kinkade is necessarily held in the highest echelon of achievement, but I did like the way that he did his paintings and with little pops of light in there, you know, candles and things. Now, Thomas Kinkade, this is, you know, remember shopping malls? Okay, in the 90s and the early 2000s, if you went to a shopping mall, there would probably be a gallery to Thomas Kinkade somewhere right next to Mervyn's and on the complete opposite side of Macy's, probably next to a Walden Brooks and a Sbarro, right? There was a Thomas Kinkade gallery. And it was like mall art, right? Something you would get and you'd put in your office if you had a dental office and it'd look kind of cool or whatever. He did a whole series with Disney where he went into the parks and he painted Cinderella's Castle. And just the way that he puts light sources, I love that, how it pops. Now, I'm not an art critic. I'm not an art student. I don't have an art degree. I don't even know if I took an art class. So I'm not qualified to comment on anything beyond the fact that I know what I like.
    8:54
    But I like that pop of color. And I noticed that in franchise stuff too, where things just kind of play on each other, especially with the art that's awash with greens and purples. And then, you know, just these pops of red, the flames, the way they flicker off the face of the characters and add some vibrancy in there. Love it. I totally dig it. So five out of five on art. Shots and layout. So playing this game, first off with the flippers, it doesn't have that spooky whine when you hold the flipper down. I don't know what they did different, but I did talk to these guys while I was there. and of course everybody is now pursuing the Stern flipper feel. For new and bucks games of this era, they seem to have the best feeling flippers. I agree. Yeah, Stern's got it. Jersey Jack has not had it until recently and then they figured it out. And Spooky's been not quite Stern, but definitely way better than JJP and American Pinball. And I haven't had a problem with how their flippers feel, but they would have this current holding whine that you could hear, which some people, it annoyed them. Now, if you're on location, you're not going to notice. But at home, like, it's there. Like, it's there on Looney Tunes and TCM. And I think what it is is, like, the holding current may be causing some artifact that's heard, you know. It may be that they needed to have those ferrules, you know, like if you get a stern shaker motor and have to install it. They give you these magnetic things to wrap the electrical wires through, the cords through, just to, like, tamp down interference. It's almost like that. And so it is, and I was shocked. It is not there on Evil Dead, and I was by myself playing, just specifically holding flippers trying to hear it. Didn't hear it. Now, with shots in layout, the orbit shots on this game, the ramp shots on this game are easily hittable. Easily hittable to the point that I'm worried that, you know, pro players are going to say, this game plays too easy. And now, you know, I'm still draining down the middle. I'm still draining down the outlines when I don't want to. So, like, I don't think this game is, like, overly easy at all. And if it is, remove the center post from the drain, and there you go. But, like, when I want to and I trap up and I'm somewhat focused, like I'm hitting orbits when I want to about two-thirds of the time, which is good for me, which is good for me. And you know what? It's satisfying to be able to play a game, and, you know, here's a mode. There's four orange shots lit, and I can go through and systematically, like, take them all out, you know, get four shots and about six to eight tries. That's good for me. And I like that this game is open like that. This isn't like an Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle where there's eight different shots and kind of a fan-ish layout and this cool castle and everything, but it's difficult for me to consistently hit them. Now, not every shot is like that. The shot to lock balls in the cabin is probably the tightest one that I've found. There's a drop target that's there. And so that way you do need some accuracy to get up there. So it's just a good blend of shots that are relatively wide open and easier to hit and shots that are a little more challenging. And so I really like the thought that's been put into this. And not only that, I think it speaks to the fact that these guys are really leveled up with their design, that they're picking out these kind of nuanced things, where it's not just, you know, make every shot, you know, with an 18-millimeter opening, and so they're all equal. Like, there's open ones, and there's more closed ones. It's fun. I like the captive ball right up the middle. It reminds me of John Wick. That was one of the more satisfying shots in the game was hitting that captive ball and lighting the lock letters. The spinner is good. It's easy to hit. It's right up there. You know, generally even an okay shot will glance off the captive ball and still go through the spinner. The spinner rip has some cool sounds on it. So even out of the gate with this code, this game's awesome, and it's spooky, man. They're going to develop this code to the nth degree. They've refined the sling flipper. So you can actually hit the left orbit shot and the left ramp shot from the sling flipper. which is fun. I'm learning to use it more as I'm playing. So when a ball is kind of bouncing off the slings in that middle play field, you can grab it with the sling flipper and, like, continue it on its course, you know. You can kind of, you know, like a weaker flip or something off of the main flippers can be caught then by the sling flipper and, like, catapulted the ball up the play field. I love it, you know. When there's some chaos with a multi-ball and you have balls in that middle kind of area, you can go ahead and grab them and sling them off there. The way they've implemented the lower play field is fantastic, too. You know, when you hit the shotgun, first left, then right, then both, and then you shoot into the cellar, you've got essentially like three shots down there, meaning like, you know, your ball can drain three times and it'll feed it back to you. Like the ball saved for the lower play field lasts that long to allow you to hit the stand-up targets and the loops to get some shotgun shells for the forthcoming multi-ball mode. and you're down there for what seems like the perfect amount of time because every time I get that third ball to drain or it times out, I'm kind of like, oh, I wish I had another couple seconds, which I think is what you want to do when you're programming and designing a lower play field. You don't want it to feel like a chore. You want it to feel like, oh, I wish I had just a little bit more time down there.
    14:04
    And I think they've nailed it even at this early code, even with it out of the gate at launch. It's fun. It fits. It's perfect. I think people appreciate this lower play field for what it does I think it clever It plays like a fun upper play field You know if played around with the upper playfield with Foo Fighters where you can sit there and loop a couple of times you can hit some of the stand-up targets, there's a spinner in there. That's kind of how it feels. It doesn't feel like, okay, I'm in a lower playfield, game is kind of paused and stopped while we do this, you know, dicking around under the playfield. It feels like, oh, hey, cool, I got to the upper playfield, let me play it. It's just that it happens to be in the cellar, which is completely on theme. Theme integration for this game, also 5 out of 5. Now, this theme may not speak to everybody. Fine. But for the people that are into it, or even me, just casually aware of Evil Dead but never actually sat through a full sitting of the film, it's so fun to play this game. It's Bruce Campbell talking.
    15:01
    There's clips from the movie, there's clips from other characters and stuff. You're getting taunted by Linda as she's spinning around. Bruce's quips are hilarious, man.
    15:12
    There was one where he was like, he did a dad joke. He's something like, hey, maybe I can see if I can lend you a hand. And I was like, ah, I see what he did there. And then I was immediately followed up with a call out and says, see what I did there? And I'm like, oh, my God, perfect. He's dad joking me on my own dad joke quips. It was just so perfect. And Monica and I are laughing and cracking up as we're hearing stuff. And he's like, now you know what it feels like only have two balls or something. Just like little innuendo things. It's all very comedic. It's funny.
    15:47
    And then the multi-ball launch with the double launcher and you have to wait and time it to the words that he's saying when he's playing the scene before you start the multi-ball and sometimes it's like ready, aim, let him have it. And other times, swearing alert, he's like ready,
    16:04
    aim, fuck him up. And it's like, yes! I will do that. It's fun and satisfying. The shaker motor is integrated in a good way. Guys, this is just a good playing pinball machine.
    16:18
    I think the layout, you know, you could call it safe in the fact that there's not like some, you know, crazy thing that's never been done before. You know, there's not some, you know, somebody trying to be too creative in their ball pass where it's a little clunky. The orbits feel good. The 180 ramp on the left orbit into the pop bumper nest through the wire form is clever. And more than that, like, it works. You know, I haven't noticed that, you know, it's clunky and the ball's rejecting. Like, I'm surprised with how smooth that is when you hit the left orbit shot and it goes to this hidden 180 ramp into a wire form, drops into the pop bumper nest, and then pops and comes out. Like, it just works. You know, it's not somebody doing something that's, like, too new and, you know, not tested. You know, but the layout feels safe as far as, like, the ramps flow good, the orbits flow good, the spinner feels good, the center shot is good, the lock is fun.
    17:08
    So what I think this is is a bit of a safer-ish layout that doesn't take so many risks. At the same time, everything is absolutely loaded with mechanisms and loaded with theme, and the lower play field plays like a fun upper play field.
    17:23
    So I think that's what we want to see. Not necessarily take all these extreme risks and give us something that we've never seen before at the risk of making something that's maybe not fun or doesn't actually work. Make a layout that's fun to shoot and then load that with mechanisms that interact with the ball just about everywhere that you shoot. And drip it and dress it with a theme that's completely integrated with awesome call-outs from freaking Bruce Campbell, Bruce Coe County, Jr. Come on. And then coat it in some dripping Franchi art and put all that package, put all that together for under $10,000 in this market with what you get. and I said this on the live stream I did with Facebook, like, at this point, standing back and looking at this game next to Metallica and everything I had to do to it, everything I had to do to my X-Men Premium and LE when I had them just to, like, max them out, and this thing's come maxed out from the box for under $10,000, I think if you order one of these games, you're basically stealing it from Spooky Pinball at that price. I mean, this is a game that, you know, if it was $12,500, which is the price of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with tricked out sculpts and everything and like a boutique game with great art and cool lighting and all that stuff and a topper and all that business fully dressed for $12.50. If this game was $12.50, I wouldn't say that that's abnormal. And then if you were like, well, I'll just wait and get one $10K by Christmas, you'd think you got a deal. And I think they're doing the deal straight out the gate. Take advantage of that. There's 149 of these left, 148 I've been watching. and even just the last couple of days a couple of them have sold so yeah I think this game will go to sell out I think they probably could have sold $1,200 and they picked $888 and that's all they're going to make and because of that reason this is a game that will probably stick around for a while I'll be curious to see in six months if people start offering their games up when their deposits come due but man I don't know I don't think so with this one man I'm feeling good about it I'm bolting this one here for a while it is fun and it feels like I've got something special that there's only going to be less than 900 of, and I've got a great version of it. And I almost wish I'd had the butter cabinet too, you know, but it's tax season, you know, and I got to be careful with the spending and everything. One thing I will say, hell of a topper. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first, you know, when I first saw it, I'm like, is that just kind of, it's a little spirit Halloween-y. But now that I have it, I put it up there.
    19:52
    The motion is not distracting. You know, I thought it was going to be a rattling box of chains, you know, when I had this in my house. But when it goes off, sometimes I don't notice it because it is, you know, quiet and smooth as it runs through. But it's definitely a sight to see. And now I'm looking at my layered plastics on Looney Tunes and TCM, and I'm kind of wishing I had $1,400 versions of fully sculpted toppers that were animated that I could put up there as well so, like, it would complete the look. Thing looks awesome. And the fact that the topper even comes with, like, four feet of extra cable if you want to mount this topper, like, to your wall or, you know, put it under your machine or something. like you could totally do that and how fun would that be like to build kind of like a little wooden crate and put this topper down on it so it looks like from underneath the machine Cheryl's like rattling her chains trying to come up through the floor like that would be even like on theme don't do it if you have a dog that likes to rummage around under your machines but like it's clever like you know what they've done here man I know I'm rambling but listen it's been I've got five hours of sleep in three days and I want to put something out for everybody on the Patreon I've got the game fired up over here and I'm not hearing a loud fan blowing off it's over there looking inviting I love this thing it's like having a booth at a Halloween expo or something right over there this game would fit right in at one of those blood fests or whatever the game's fun and I don't want to sound like I shilling on it at all Go play this thing Go play the pinball at the beach next week I don know if day passes are still available I think some weekend passes are Go play this at TPF Probably 5,000 people are going to do, in which case it'll be just about sold out probably halfway through the show. And then I'm sure Spooky will be dragging these things to shows and they'll have some, at least a team game to show off.
    21:47
    But if this is the direction and level that they're going to go at from here on out, I was kind of I came to this thought and I know it's still early I've only had the game for two days now but TCM and Looney Tunes felt like great games I mean I've gushed about it before they felt like it was almost like those are good games for spooky games right you know and it's like alright well you know Jaws from Stern is still like you know king or whatever but like you know for a spooky game this game is like something that can compete head to head with Stern as far as fun factor and everything fine Evil Dead feels like a good game period not like this is a good game for spooky this is a good game by any measure like put it up next to foo fighters put it up next to iron maiden theme integration the art the mechanisms the fun layout the code that's interesting and compelling even now with the bruce callouts and the accessories like they're at launch which are like industry leading god man and these guys are still excited about what's coming in the future too and and i'm just overjoyed about it so holy crap i'm gonna go play some evil dead and then i'm gonna get caught up on some sleep i'm then gonna get hopefully caught up on some projects and things i'm gonna get the shipments boxed up for uh the people shout out to silver gun you wanted yourself a translate that is awesome oh franchi was giving me crap in the chat did you guys see this for the live stream so i wanted to do i wanted to have a fair way to do the giveaways so i came up with some trivia questions and rather than come up with some kind of obscure trivia question that people would really struggle with i want to make it equitable and so i thought what about if i just asked people about the cinematic runtime in minutes you know because that's something that people could furiously go and google real quick or just like throw out a guess you know and it was 85 minutes for the original evil dead 84 minutes for evil dead 2 i thought that was fun and if i was guessing i would guess 90 minutes i would guess 80 minutes i would guess 85 minutes so i thought that would just be kind of like a fun way to like get it out there and have everybody compete and be somewhat on equal playing field um people that were hardcore fans would probably know the minutiae of like who the the costume director was or something on the first film but like i didn't want to make it like too crazy like that so i thought that was fun he said they weren't hard enough questions now no secret the franchise loves himself some evil dead to the point that this as the story goes that He's told himself, once he found out a rumor that Spooky was doing Evil Dead, that's what caused him to go to them and say, you need to hire me for this project. Here's your next project. Let's go. That's how passionate he felt about it. Awesome. I think it's just freaking awesome. We had a great day down there with the Spooky guys.
    24:27
    I never pay for food when I go there, despite me trying. So I'm going to have to, at the beach or something, I'm going to buy these guys some food just to pay them back because they're the most hospitable people, like, ever. Um, we went and got some sushi. I don't prefer, uh, to eat many kinds of meat, but I got there with my little steam bowl of rice and they let me have it with both hands. It was fantastic. Uh, fortunately, Monica was there to stick up for me and actually ate some food. Um, I was listening to it with my bowl of steamed rice and I was just having fun, man. It's, it's totally cool. Uh, you know, it was just, it was just a fun time hanging out with those guys. My God, I'm so tired. All right. I don't want to drag this on and make it sound embarrassing, But, guys, this game is awesome. They're doing the first 20 games right now and getting those out. I got game number 10, so that's where they're at right now. That's kind of what we expect. Their first four weeks of games going out will probably be like two to five games a week is what I would expect. Once they get through the first month and they get back from pinball at the beach, they're going to hit more of a cadence. And I think at the most you'll be seeing 20 games going out a week. and around 40 to maybe if they have just a blowout month, 60 games a month. But they're committed to having everybody that's ordered an Evil Dead will have their game in 2025, which is fantastic. And it looks like they can hit those numbers. I think you'll see Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes start to taper off. They tell me that every week they're selling new in-box Scooby-Doos still. People still contact them and order them. So they're still selling. But I think you'll really see everything shift to just it's going to be Evil Dead time. My God, lifting up this play field and looking at the bottom of it, I'll go get a picture the next time I lift it up, is completely packed. There's like two games worth of wires and coils and lighting boards and things underneath this freaking game. This play field, no joke, is twice the weight of every Stern play field I have that I lift up. It's crazy the amount of stuff that's in there. It's nuts.
    26:23
    You're getting a hell of a lot of game for the money. Under $10,000 for this game, you're stealing it. and it sounds like in the future they're going to go back to having extra upgrades that they can offer on top of their games that can come shipped, like Invisiglass, which I'm absolutely getting myself a sheet of that as soon as I can, because, yeah, I'm going to need it. So next time I'm at a show and I'm driving home and there's wide-body glass, I'll be picking one up, or I'll probably order, I think Kingpin has some locally, and that's the closest distributor to where Spooky's at, so I may see about getting some from there if Mad Pinball doesn't stock that, which I'm not sure if they do or not. I'll definitely check with them. If you want to get yourself an Evil Dead, you can email jeff at mattpinball.com, and he'll hook you up or go to Spooky directly and do it. Yeah, there's still some left. If you were on the fence on getting one and you wanted to hear, like, a play reveal,
    27:13
    like, go get it, man. The game's awesome. Otherwise, we've got some great options for games coming up, man. We have an embarrassment of riches here in 2025 when it comes to theme-integrated pinball machines. And I love that, man. and I also love Mac 10 LA's finest don't let the palm trees fool you Patreon guys more content to come of course and I'll probably do a show tomorrow when I've had some sleep and I'll have a more cogent response but I wanted to get my first impressions out to you guys game's awesome and I didn't break it which was fantastic Evil Dead the air is upon us I'm gonna go play it you guys be cool Suffocant360 dude congratulations and to Lena the lady that won the Translate her husband's on the Patreon too so shout out to you guy I don't know your name but shout out to Mr. Lena you can't see it but I'm grooving right now we're gonna hit the chorus y'all you ready?
    28:19
    and here we go Have a good weekend, guys.