Journalist Tool

Kineticist

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

v0.1.0

← Back to items

The Pinball Show Ep 100: Pinball Market Trends 2.0, Slappin’ That Glass, & Top 5 Game Investments

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·1h 48m·analyzed·May 24, 2022
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.023

TL;DR

The The Pinball Show #100: Stern expansion, JJP Toy Story rumors, format overhaul with new correspondent Craig Bobby.

Summary

The The The Pinball Show celebrates its 100th episode with a special video format, introducing Craig Bobby as the new unified news correspondent replacing multiple contributors. The episode covers major industry developments including George Gomez's interview revealing Stern's expansion plans, new Insider Connected features ('Home Team'), a three-flipper title in development, Jersey Jack's rumored Toy Story machine potentially debuting at Pintastic, American Pinball hiring and licensing losses, and broader market trends and game investments.

Key Claims

  • George Gomez confirmed Steve Ritchie rumored title at Stern was trashed upon Ritchie's departure to Jersey Jack, but Gomez kept the license and is designing the game himself as a three-flipper title

    high confidence · Craig Bobby news segment, citing The Super Awesome Pinball Show two-part interview with George Gomez

  • Stern experienced a storm drain flood from heavy rainfall that resulted in only six hours of lost production time with no damage to games or finished product

    high confidence · Craig Bobby news segment, citing George Gomez interview

  • Stern's licensing team reviews up to 60 potential new licenses and themes every Wednesday, including video game titles like Halo, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Zelda, and Sonic the Hedgehog

    high confidence · Craig Bobby news segment, citing George Gomez interview

  • George Gomez disagreed that a bombless/unlimited budget design would necessarily produce a better pinball experience, arguing constraints drive more creativity and innovation

    high confidence · Zach Manny and Dennis Kreisel discussion of George Gomez interview content

  • Jersey Jack's new title may debut at Pintastic New England show June 23-26, with speculation it is a Pat Lawlor-designed Toy Story machine based on posted assembly photos

    medium confidence · Craig Bobby news segment citing Knapp Arcade website and fan speculation from Jersey Jack Pinball posts

  • American Pinball hired Ryan McQuaid (Home Pin Pinball winner and Sonic Spinball designer) but lost the Sonic the Hedgehog license to Stern Pinball

    high confidence · Craig Bobby news segment

  • American Pinball programmer Josh Coogler (lead programmer for Houdini, Oktoberfest, Hot Wheels) left the company and will be replaced by Steed and Bowden

    medium confidence · Craig Bobby news segment

  • Haggis Pinball first Fathom machine came off the assembly line but ended up in a storage locker rather than being streamed, raising concerns about ongoing production delays and possible financial issues

Notable Quotes

  • “Numbers don't lie. I'm only reporting the facts.”

    Zach Manny @ early in episode — Recurring tagline of the show hosts, representing the show's claimed commitment to factual reporting

  • “He thinks that the constraints that you have and limitations that you do have with things like cost sometimes bring more creativity out.”

    Zach Manny @ mid-episode during Stern discussion — Core design philosophy claim from George Gomez about budget constraints vs. unlimited resources in game design

  • “To infinity and beyond!”

    Craig Bobby @ Jersey Jack news segment — Running joke about Jersey Jack price increases, using Toy Story reference

  • “Stern is all-in on the Internet-Connected platform that will be so much more than Wi-Fi updates and achievements.”

    Craig Bobby @ Stern news coverage — Key claim about Stern's strategic focus on Insider Connected platform expansion

  • “Don't fuck it up, Craig.”

    Zach Manny @ after introducing Craig Bobby as new correspondent — Humorous pressure on new correspondent, reflecting the show's casual tone

  • “Weaving centurial gold and coining a new pinball tagline.”

    Zach Manny @ episode description/opening — References the show's tradition of creating catchphrases and inside jokes

  • “When's the last time you really got to tap that glass?”

    Zach Manny @ mid-episode — New show catchphrase/segment introduced: 'Slappin' That Glass' about physical interaction with machines

  • “I think you're falling into the trap that George set. It's not a trap. He's not Admiral Ackbar.”

    Dennis Kreisel @ budget discussion section — Disagreement over whether Gomez is being strategic in messaging about budget constraints

Entities

Zach MannypersonDennis KreiselpersonCraig BobbypersonGeorge GomezpersonSteve RitchiepersonPat LawlorpersonKen Cromwellperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: The Pinball Show restructuring correspondent system from multiple voices to single unified correspondent (Craig Bobby), marking significant format change at 100-episode milestone

    high · Zach and Dennis explicitly announce consolidation of correspondence section and introduction of Craig Bobby as replacement for former multiple correspondents

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern Pinball planning to expand production capacity with larger facility space, though avoiding second shift to preserve quality control

    high · George Gomez interview via Craig Bobby news segment confirming expansion plans but not second shift due to quality/efficiency concerns

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern heavily investing in Insider Connected platform with new features (Home Team, head-to-head play, leaderboards, location-based quests) and dedicated design team to drive recurring revenue

    high · Zach emphasizes Stern is 'all in' on Insider Connected; Craig reports new design team and division assigned to platform; George Gomez interview confirms upcoming feature rollout

  • ?

    machine_intel: George Gomez designing new three-flipper pinball game using Steve Ritchie's abandoned Stern license that Ritchie designed before departing to Jersey Jack Pinball

    high · Craig Bobby news segment: 'George confirmed that Steve Ritchie's rumored title that he was working on over at Stern was indeed trashed by Gomez upon Ritchie's departure to Jersey Jack Pinball. However, Gomez decided to keep the license and design the game himself. So a new Gomez pin is in the works and it will be a three-flipper game.'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.073

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised.
0:10
The Pinball Network is online. Launching The Pinball Show. This week on The Pinball Show we celebrate our 100th episode by giving you all a facial. Dennis and I also discuss podcast moments, reformatting the show a bit, George Gomez chatting with a couple of saps, both Gomez and Kreisel being wrong about the vast expanse of a bombless pinball machine, Stern Pinball needing a bigger boat, my homie Gomi going all three flippers on his upcoming title, me giving the Kreisel a refresher course in fan layouts, production scheduling updates for Stern Pinball, the hype train leaving the Jersey Jack station, woo woo! What to expect with the next Lawler game, Chicago gaming updates, pinball market trends, weaving centurial gold and coining a new pinball tagline. And five pinball titles worth investing in right now. Got 100 minutes or so to celebrate 100 episodes of the Pinball Show. We're doing a special. You can listen or you can watch. Let's go. Pinball is a game of skill. For some, it's a passion and a lifestyle.
1:26
Pinnball! It's time for the Pinball Show. It's Pinball with personality. Wowee! Holy moly, we made it, Dennis! This is episode 100 of the Pinball Show. We're coming in hot with my co-host, Dennis Kreisel. I, myself, am Zach Manny. How are you? Viewers! Dennis, we have viewers! It's been 100 episodes!
2:01
Yes, we do. This is our big surprise. A whole two weeks later than normal. Hey, look, we turned on the cameras. Wow. We got a video camera. What a shock. For those of you listening to us through podcasts, we're going to try to conduct this show just as we would any otherwise. But if you guys want to see the beauty that is Dennis Creasel and I, we're going to be on video as well. You can go to YouTube at the Pinball Network. Check us out there. They need to at least look briefly because I've got so many lights on right now. I'm like a little mogwai. My eyes hurt. This is too early to have this much light. Look, I've got a camera, so I'm going to get you with the water. We'll see if we can make some more creasals. Some more creasals. Because that's what the world wanted was more me. You know what I always wondered with that show? The Gremlins 1 and 2. Grimless 2 is actually, I really like that. But why is he so damn cute? And then whenever he zits up and creates these other ones, why are they so ugly? Why wouldn't they replicate his cuteness? Well, have you ever taken like a Xerox machine and made a copy of a copy of a copy? Oh, I see. There you go. It's like the Michael Keaton film, Multiplicity. Exactly. I like pizza. The fourth one is just an idiot. Basically, all the other gizmo clones were just liking pizza.

medium confidence · Craig Bobby news segment citing YouTube video documentation and customer complaints about delays since April 2021

  • Stern is developing a new ball trough design retrofittable into older Stern games to hold balls in place during vertical playfield tilting

    high confidence · Craig Bobby news segment citing George Gomez interview

  • Steve Ritchie may be working on a new music-themed pinball machine, with Elton John rumored as the most likely artist subject

    low confidence · Craig Bobby news segment describing unconfirmed rumor

    • The Pinball Show
    media
    Super Awesome Pinball Showmedia
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    American Pinballcompany
    Haggis Pinballcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Toy Storygame
    Godzillagame
    Lord of the Ringsgame
    Sonic the Hedgehoggame
    Insider Connectedproduct
    Ryan McQuaidperson
    Josh Cooglerperson
    David Fixperson
    Squidmarperson
    Pintastic New Englandevent
    This Week in Pinballmedia

    licensing_signal: Stern actively pursuing major video game IP licenses including Halo, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Zelda, and Sonic the Hedgehog as part of weekly licensing review process evaluating 60 properties

    high · Craig Bobby reports George Gomez confirmed Stern meets weekly to review 60 potential licenses including specific video game titles, and Sonic license already acquired (Sonic Spinball reference with American Pinball loss)

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Jersey Jack Pinball's next title rumored to be Pat Lawler-designed Toy Story machine, with assembly photos showing potential Woody character artwork, expected public debut at Pintastic June 23-26

    medium · Craig Bobby news segment: Jersey Jack Facebook posts of coils/Molex connectors with suspected Woody artwork visible; Knapp Arcade website reporting potential debut at Pintastic; Ken Cromwell (JJP comms) remaining tight-lipped

  • ?

    personnel_signal: American Pinball experiencing personnel flux: hired Ryan McQuaid (Home Pin Award winner, Sonic Spinball designer) but lost Sonic license to competitor Stern; lead programmer Josh Coogler departed

    high · Craig Bobby news segment explicitly reports McQuaid hiring and Sonic license loss, plus Coogler departure and replacement by Steed and Bowden

  • ?

    product_concern: Haggis Pinball experiencing severe production delays with Fathom machines not reaching collectors despite deposits taken April 2021; first unit ended up in storage rather than streamed, raising financial distress concerns

    medium · Craig Bobby news segment: 'Haggis Pinball has come under much scrutiny of late as they continue to struggle to get built machines out to customers after taking deposits over one year ago back in late April of 2021. This of course has fueled the rumor fires once again on the possibility of lingering financial issues at Haggis'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: George Gomez argues that budget constraints and design limitations drive more creativity and better pinball design than unlimited budgets, disagreeing with premise that bombless machines are superior

    high · Zach reports: 'George Gomez...didn't agree...He said no. He thinks that going with a bombless design is not going to necessarily produce a better pinball experience. He thinks that the constraints that you have and limitations that you do have with things like cost sometimes bring more creativity out.'

  • ?

    product_launch: Stern developing new ball trough design that retrofits into older Stern games to prevent multiballs from spilling during vertical playfield maintenance

    high · Craig Bobby news segment: 'A new ball trough design is in the works over at Stern, one that could be retrofitted into older Stern games that would hold balls in place when a game's playfield is tilted vertically'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Unconfirmed rumor that Steve Ritchie may be working on music-themed pinball machine with Elton John as most likely artist subject

    low · Craig Bobby news segment: 'Rumor has it that the veteran designer and former King of Flow is hard at work on a new music pin of a rock pop solo artist, the most popular guest being Elton John.'

  • ?

    content_signal: The Pinball Show expanding to video format for 100th episode milestone celebration, with possibility of reverting to audio-only if editing demands prove prohibitive

    high · Zach announces: 'We're going to try this video thing this week. If I'm daunted by the hours it's going to take to edit it, we'll probably go back down to a just audio only format'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Stern Pinball's storm drain flooding incident from heavy rainfall resulted in only 6 hours of lost production with no equipment or product damage, demonstrating operational resilience

    high · Craig Bobby news segment: 'the recent storm drain flood at Stern due to heavy rainfall in the area only resulted in roughly six hours of lost production time with no damage being done to any games or finished product'

    • 3:26
    Dennis, episode 100, we've been through it, man. This is what? How many years have you and I been podcasting together, not counting the pinball show?
    3:36
    Not counting the pinball show? We have to take out, too. We've got to drop a couple of years out. I mean, because we did about a year of This Week in Pinball podcast first. Okay. And then we've now done this over two years. So I guess about three in a few months. Three plus, yeah. Yeah, three plus. Wow.
    3:59
    Any closer to me? Do you still, am I your friend yet? Am I working my way there? Where are we at? I think we work decently well together on most occasions. Okay. Any fond memories you've had over the last two years, episode 100? Oh, gosh. Well, you know, I was thinking way back. This is a blast from the past because this was when we still had Ken Cromwell as the third host. For three episodes or two episodes? You tried to, for like two episodes, maybe three, you tried to make a thing about sucking on a crow's toe.
    4:33
    And I think thankfully it just sort of died. But as T-shirt material, it really had a lot of potential. It did. A little Quentin Tarantino eroticism to that crow toe sucking or something. You know, I'm just saying, with rumors of Pulp Fiction out there, maybe that would have really been fitting. But thankfully, in a way, I'd say thankfully, you seem to just sort of drop that after maybe three attempts to be – or maybe it was the aspect that you just didn't like saying that you were wrong. And that's what the whole premise was. It was. Well, I got to suck on some crow's toe because, you know. Eating crow. So, man, I've eaten a lot of crow over the last two to three years. You've been right a lot of the times, and if you read our reviews, people seem to agree, well, Zach's crazy and Dennis is the rational one. But a lot of people still like my singing. That was one of my favorite memories over the last couple years, and you vetoed that one out real quick. Yeah, I can tolerate a lot of segments, but that one was not one of them. Oh, I remembered the four-inch creasal clone. I don't even remember where that came from, though. I don't know. I don't know where a lot of this gold came from. And speaking of gold. Weaving gold. I mean, we've weaved a lot of gold. That one pops up in my head a lot. So that one has some good sticking potential. Remember Dr. Phil? What ever happened to Dr. Phil? Well, you know, only you can answer what happened to Dr. Phil. Personally, of all your impressions, though, I still to this day think your Dr. Phil just sounds like Mr. Mackey. Yeah, it does. It does. You know what happened to Dr. Phil now that I'm recollecting, Dennis? Ken Cromwell happened to Dr. Phil. Remember, he got a little... That was a bit Ken didn't really like. But after Ken left, I'm a bit surprised he didn't crop up more. Yeah, that's true. That's true. We had we had I remember a phrase that you said maybe once or twice that was was everything. It's still maybe a T-shirt idea when you said shilly nonsense instead of silly nonsense, shilly nonsense. That was wonderful. I didn't I didn't even remember saying that. We coined the phrase blinded by Dwight. That was your idea that everybody pretty much uses that now. Hulk to D2. Yeah, for the video people, I got my Hope Duty 2.
    7:02
    Talk about a limited edition t-shirt. Disney may not like that. We had the Picasso watercolors of Dave Fix. A lot of people will probably say the greatest gift David Fix has given to pinball is bringing in all these designers in-house to American Pinball, but to me, it was his comments on artists. Absolutely. We've got a lot of people, both enthusiasts that listen to us as well as industry folk. I always love going to shows and having drinks with people who create pinball and them saying how much they listen to our show. That's always been really nice. They even throw out the, at this point, the coveted line, buy, buy, buy. They give me a lot of that. Numbers don't lie. I'm only reporting the facts. We had a lot of that stuff in here. The one I probably get the most, and it's surprising, actually this is one I was really surprised had legs, was Nordman. Oh, Nordman's fantastic. Nordman has surpassed a lot of anything I've ever tried. And the thing was, as you know, Nordman was an ad lib. Yes. Because we had show notes, and so I knew you were going to have a thing about the discussion between Ben Heck and Dennis Nordman on Pinside and some statements made regarding Deep Root. But I didn't know you were going to have us read different parts of the letter. And I didn't know what Dennis Nordman sounded like. Oh, yeah, that's right. So I just did the Batman voice. And then while I was going along, I realized with his name Nordman, I could break it up into being like a playoff of Batman. And that's just, I mean, this is how it was. It worked so well. Well, have you seen yet Croods 2? No. No, still haven't seen Croods 2. That was a thing. That was a thing as well. Have you seen any Academy Award winning movies yet? Oh, I've seen Toy Story and you still haven't seen all the Toy Story films. I've seen the one they're going to make.
    9:05
    Anywho, we've had... Oh, that pet peeve of mine. I do not like that expression. You don't like anywho? It's like regional or something. I always found it super weird. Anywho, now what do you like? Conversely. Just anyway.
    9:21
    Alternatively. Of course, my verbal tics, I'm always like, so, and then I just trail off and just assume everyone can fill in all the blanks. Subsequently, moreover, in addition. I don't think I'm that verbose normally. I guess some of my word selection is a little weird. I've written too many papers, Dennis. But you claim that I don't do research. What is this? Last week, the whole. That's incorrect. I would say that market trends. I claim you do not do market trends research. Not proper. You're not doing an actual analysis. You're mostly like glancing at Pinside Marketplace and you just sort of go anecdotally with your gut. What do you have about qualitative research?
    10:03
    I prefer quantitative research when it's available. And it is. And quantitative is superior to qualitative. And numbers can lie. If you know the methodology, I actually agree with you that numbers don't lie. As long as you're honest, the numbers themselves is the source on us.
    10:23
    That's probably my favorite expression of yours is numbers don't lie. Well, I only report the facts here. And the fact is that we're in episode 100. I've created a – I've gained a friend out of you. So for that, I thank you for all of your time, your wisdom, your wit, your experience, and your love, and your love, Dennis. So it's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of fun. But with all things. Can we retire now? No.
    10:49
    All good things must come to an end, though. Oh, boy. No. Why are you so happy all the time? What? Every time we. What? No. We're not quitting the show. I'm a joyful person. Just read the reviews. What am I going to do if you do ever quit the show?
    11:07
    Replace me with Greg Bone. I already do a thing with Greg. This is what the people want. Just imagine all the yeses and agreements you could have. Don't leave me, Dennis. Please don't leave me. No, but with all good things come to an end. We're not ending the show, but we're going to switch things up a little bit. Actually, yeah, this is a pretty big shakeup, in my view. This is a big one. We're going to try this video thing this week. If I'm daunted by the hours it's going to take to edit it, we'll probably go back down to a just audio only format, but we'll see. Let's see. I'm assuming we will go back audio. This is like a special treat sort of thing, but that's not the change that I think is noteworthy. Why don't you note the change that we are making a little bit? Well, we have decided to completely restructure how we're doing the correspondence section. That's right. And I want to open with a big thank you to everyone who has served either in the past or up until this point as a correspondent for the pinball show. This was an idea that Ken brought with him over from Special and Lit, and it's been a great way to deliver a lot of the news. But we've decided that based off of audience reaction and just trying to have a consistency in the voicing, That it would make a lot more sense to consolidate all of that under one individual rather than relying on a team. If there would be a person who is willing to do it. And there was. There is. There will be. Wow. In a world.
    12:40
    Where science meets reason. Where numbers don't lie. And where we only report the facts. We want to introduce Craig Bobby as the everyone correspondent. Woo! Craig Bobby coming in as the Pinball News news anchor correspondent. Wow. You think he's up for it? You know what? I bet after three of them, he's going to regret it. But that won't stop us from exploiting his current glee. That's right. This last week I introduced him via email to most of the other manufacturers. A little warm handoff there. You can trust this guy and he's going to create good content to cover your company. So a lot to come from Mr. Craig Bobby, the third wheel of this tricycle. Do we even need a third wheel? Bicycle's fine. We wouldn't be a tricycle anymore if we lost the third wheel. That's right. Piggyback off of what you were saying, Dennis, personally, thank you so much for the correspondents who spent countless hours and time and research trying to get us the stories each and every week. We're going to reformat, try a little something different here with Mr. Craig Bobby, and we'll see how it goes. Don't fuck it up, Craig. Don't, please don't mess it up. I think we'll kick it over to Craig right now and see what's going on around the industry with news. But first, I almost feel like with all of these golden-weaved ideas that we've had over the last three years, I feel like we need a new one.
    14:11
    And I just, you know, off the top of my head here, I've got all kinds of nuggets. Why don't we go with something that insinuates maybe some sexuality? People love that, right? Yes, they love it. They love that. So I'll ask you this, Dennis. Over the last week or so, you've been playing any pinball games? You've been playing anything specific? And then I'll introduce you to our new quip. Okay. Well, I mean, at home, the most recent game I played was Godzilla. I know that's such a shock, which I played a few games of yesterday before going to a pinball tournament where I played non-Godzilla games. And then whenever you're playing Godzilla at home, how much do you wiggle that game? A little nudge. Do you give it a... I give it a little nuge every now and then. That left out lane's hungry. Are you rough when you play around with your games? Yeah, I like to use a gentle touch. Ooh, you're a gentle touch kind of guy, so you're not manhandling them. You're not getting aggressive. You're not choking the head of that game. My, no, my, this is, this segment needs to join the crotos, I think, whatever this is. What I'm saying, what I'm asking, Dennis, when's the last time you really got to tap that glass?
    15:30
    Tapping that glass, dude. It was tap that glass. You came up with this, who knows how long ago, and you have just waited, waited, thinking, oh, this is going to get you a five-star review on iTunes. Absolutely. It's not. So ladies and gentlemen, if you're out there touching and feeling and becoming a wand with that machine, you've got to tap egg glass. Fingerprints all over. I love tapping egg glass. Alright Craig Bobby, what you got bud?
    16:05
    Hello and welcome to the Pinball Show's news update. I'm Craig Bobby. Well, a new day is done here at the Pinball Show with a momentous 100th episode. Wow, where has the time gone? But before we get to the news, a quick shout out to our former news correspondents that have helped make what our show is today. Brian Cosner, Ken Rudberg, Chris Chandler, Matt Morrison, Robert Byers, and of course, Dr. John Cosson. These guys are still very much friends of the show and to us personally and have all been an absolute pleasure to work with, many going back to our special and lit days with our then hosts Ken Cromwell and Bill Webb. Their enthusiasm to report on all things pinball and approach the show with professionalism, honesty, and of course fun will remain an inspiration to me as the TPS News Desk forges ahead in our quest to report and comment on noteworthy items in the pinball industry. Thanks again, guys, for all your hard work and continued support of all of us here on The Pinball Show. And with that said, let's get busy and get to the news with so much going on these days in the world of pinball as companies now find themselves on the back end, hopefully, of the pandemic and looking more actively towards satisfying, continued, skyrocketing demand for pinball and pinball-related products. So let's kick things off this week with the biggest and industry leader in Stern Pinball. Courtesy of the Super Awesome Pinball Show podcast, recent two-part, two-hour interview with Stern's Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, George Gomez, who revealed an absolute treasure trove of information about recent developments over at Stern and showing again why he's one of the most intelligent, likable, and charismatic minds in the world of pinball today. Highlights from the two-part interview included that the recent storm drain flood at Stern due to heavy rainfall in the area only resulted in roughly six hours of lost production time with no damage being done to any games or finished product. George shed some light on Stern's licensing process in which their team meets every Wednesday as they review up to 60 potential new licenses and themes at any given time for suitability for potential upcoming titles. George confirmed these licenses also include video game based titles like Halo, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, or Be Still My Heart, Zelda, or possibly even Sonic the Hedgehog. More on that potential title in a minute. George was not ruling out the possibility of more Super LEs in the future, similar to Batman 66 and Elvira's House of Horrors. However, he did also say he didn't believe the concept of a high-end pin necessarily translated into a better pinball playing experience, and that the constraints of a tighter bomb or licensing restriction in his experience often leads to a more creative process, innovation, and better overall pinball design outcomes, as designers need to work harder to overcome cost or restriction challenges. A new ball trough design is in the works over at Stern, one that could be retrofitted into older Stern games that would hold balls in place when a game's playfield is tilted vertically for maintenance or repair so all those multi-balls don't come spilling embarrassingly out to the back of your playfield which can also cause damage and generally scare the shit out of anyone that forgets to pull them out first. He shared that Stern is looking to expand production capacity with a larger space but not necessarily with a second shift as George worries about too many cooks in the kitchen which could impact both quality and efficiency of Stern's production process. And on the much-lauded and highly-reviewed Insider Connected platform, good news as new code and updates are coming shortly for their online platform which will enhance its functionality and begin to introduce new features. Although George didn't mention what features were to be added next, he teased that leaderboards, head-to-head play, operator or location-based quests, automatic logins at home, and so much more are coming across all titles, confirming once again that Stern is all-in on the Internet-Connected platform that will be so much more than Wi-Fi updates and achievements. Stern is now assigned its own design team and division within Stern, created to enhance existing and future games with Insider Connected and of course to drive additional revenue to the company. And last, George confirmed that Steve Ritchie's rumored title that he was working on over at Stern was indeed trashed by Gomez upon Ritchie's departure to Jersey Jack Pinball. However, Gomez decided to keep the license and design the game himself. Say what? So a new Gomez pin is in the works and it will be a three-flipper game. Say what? So tons of good stuff as always brewing over at the Stern Mothership. And as we switch gears now to Stern rival Jersey Jack Pinball where we have a recent Jersey Jack Facebook post of coils with their Molex connectors being placed out and made ready for some upcoming new assembly for perhaps a certain Disney animated licensed movie theme. Much speculated and talked about, Pat Lawler designed Toy Story pinball machine has been the source of rumor over at JJP even prior to their last release of Guns N' Roses back in 2020. Now as usual when these photos are posted, eager Jersey Jack pinball fans scoured the image and circled what some thought was the artwork of Toy Story's woody character that could be seen hiding between the Molex cables and wrapped around cellophane. Do you see him back there hiding? Yeah. Despite these persistent rumors, the team over at Jersey Jack, including their communications director and former special and lit podcast host Ken Cromwell, have been extremely tight-lipped about what Jersey Jack's next title might be and when it may be released. However, recently, courtesy of the Knapp Arcade website, we have word that their new title may be making its public debut at the upcoming Pintastic New England show from June 23rd to June 26th. So presumably we'll see some sort of trailer or teaser prior to that and yes, Orbital Albert, get ready for more price increases. To infinity and beyond! Quickly before leaving the world of Jersey Jack we have a new rumor stewing that new Jersey Jack designer Steve Ritchie may have a new title in the works. Rumor has it that the veteran designer and former King of Flow is hard at work on a new music pin of a rock pop solo artist, the most popular guest being Elton John. But you guessed it, we shall have to wait and see. Now on to the good folks over at American Pinball as they hire Home Pin Award winner Ryan McQuaid and designer of the very popular Sonic Spinball only to have the Sonic the Hedgehog license scooped up by one of their rival competitors, rumor has it by Stern Pinball. Potentially proving once again that if there's a major license up for grab, chances are Stern either already has it or is in the process of acquiring it, leaving their competition to scramble in their wake. And David Fix continues to shuffle his deck of cards as American Pinball says goodbye to longtime programmer Josh Coogler as he leaves American Pinball for unknown reasons. Josh was the lead programmer for American's first three titles of Houdini, Oktoberfest, and Hot Wheels. Josh will presumably be replaced by the recent hiring of Steed and Bowden going forward. And from one struggling boutique pinball company to another, we have the first Fathom machine from Haggis Pinball coming off the assembly line to much fanfare and a proud YouTube video documenting the achievement. After viewing the video, excited fans waited with much anticipation for the video to end up in the hands of a collector who would hopefully stream the title live for the community to see, But we're unfortunately disappointed again as the game ends up in someone's storage locker, reminding me of what happened with the Ark of the Covenant at the end of the first Indiana Jones movie.
    23:55
    Haggis Pinball has come under much scrutiny of late as they continue to struggle to get built machines out to customers after taking deposits over one year ago back in late April of 2021. This of course has fueled the rumor fires once again on the possibility of lingering financial issues at Haggis coming off two years of various lockdowns in Australia which has potentially hampered that title's production progress. And lastly, Spooky adds wizard modes to Halloween and Ultraman as the pinball world shrugs and proclaims that those titles are still a pinball design misstep. And lastly, so often the phrase of world under glass is used by pinball enthusiasts to describe what they want to see in a new pinball design. Players want designers to draw them into the world of a particular themed pinball machine with the use of toys, mechanical devices, light shows, art and animation. So often it's talked about, yet so rarely is it achieved by pinball designers and manufacturers due to cost, licenses or logistical problems during a game's creation. It's why the homebrew section of many pinball shows and expos have become so popular in recent years as pinball enthusiasts shake off all of those practical or logistical concerns to create one-off works of custom pinball machines, much to the delight of fans like you see custom cars at most automotive shows. Well, if you haven't seen it yet, do check out the 30-minute YouTube video of custom artist and miniature model painting expert who goes by the handle of Squidmar who recently used his talents to rebuild Stern's 2003 Lord of the Rings game which included building an entire miniature diorama in the machine's backbox which they rebuilt from scratch. In addition, the game's apron was completely redone and tons of custom painted miniatures and miniature dioramas were added all over the game. The result was nothing short of spectacular, making what can really only be described as a true world under glass. Well, that's all for this week for the Pinball Show. I'm Craig Bobby. Catch you on the flip side.
    25:56
    Craig Bobby, nicely done. Thanks for the rundown of news across the industry. You did pretty good, right? Yeah, yeah. You know what I always say, I always appreciate our correspondent.
    26:08
    We're going to have a lot of news coming out of the industry, I think in the next two to three weeks if I had to guess. Some of those individuals are going to be Jersey Jack, Stern Pinball, Stern Pinball is going to be really big. Maybe some updates from Haggis. Let's jump right into it. Let's start with the king of manufacturers, the king of pinball themselves, Stern Pinball. Did you hear George Gomez? He was recently on a Super Awesome Pinball Show episode being interviewed. I saw a post about that episode, but I didn't have saps in my subscription list because they went away, so I haven't heard it. Yeah, so a two-parter over at the Super Awesome Pinball Show. I've got to say, really, really good episode over there. You guys have to go check part one and part two out. They talked about a lot of things. One of the things that I found particularly interesting, if you want the details, go listen to the specific episode. But George Gomez announced something they calling Home Team a new feature on the Insider Connected platform over at Stern Pinball the online content Yeah and it kind of he was explaining it similar to Netflix where it like a who watching almost like a categorical thing when you fire it up It doesn't have to – like a lot of people are getting tired of taking the phone and having to scan the QR codes and stuff. It's going to be more of a you open it up to your home team and it's going to kind of show who's part of the household. You get to select which one so then it goes in right there, saves it all. Oh, are they going to add another feature later, like Away Team? It'll be modeled on Paramount+. Oh, Yellowstone's good, I've heard. It is good. Oh, is it? I borrowed some DVD or Blu-rays of it. I haven't seen the latest season, though. You totally are the Paramount.
    27:54
    I don't subscribe to the Mountain. They got all the Star Trek stuff, though. So they're going to try something new with the Home Team feature coming very soon. He did talk at length about other features, head-to-head play and such that we'll see at some point in the future. But I'm telling you guys, I've told you all for the last six months or so, they are all in more than you'll ever know on Insider Connected. Also, what I found really interesting, Dennis and listener and viewer, is that we talk about sometimes some of these designers feel throttled back when it comes to a bill of materials. So they can't really put in everything maybe they'd want to or, well, I have a bomb so I can't do opto spinners. But everybody always wants to know what would happen if you created a game with no bill of material limits. You could spend whatever you want. We'd definitely get a better game. They broached this topic with George Gomez and he didn't agree, which I found interesting. He said no. He thinks that going with a bombless design is not going to necessarily produce a better pinball experience. He thinks that the constraints that you have and limitations that you do have with things like cost sometimes bring more creativity out.
    29:11
    What do you think about that? Do you agree with that? Or is that something that you think he's just saying because that's the way they're going to do things going forward?
    29:22
    All right. So sort of two parts. Yeah. First is, yes, I do agree with him that if you have a dollar limit, you are forced to be more creative than if you, I think, than if you sky's the limit. It's like you do whatever. I can see where you can. Let's be realistic. You could never do sky's the limit. Ever. Why? Yeah. Because you'd never – eventually, if you went sky's the limit, I think you would end up with something that you would not make enough money on to be able to recoup your costs. So from a commercial standpoint, like as a homebrew person, if you wanted to say, you know what, I want a game coated in gold, I love gold, and I'm going to make the cabinet out of 24-carat. I mean, just think about it. You get to a point where it's ridiculous. Oh, I can think about it. It would be totally ridiculous. So, well, maybe if you had no strings attached, you could say, well, let your imagination run wild. There is a lot of creativity, I think, that you have to come up with when it's like, all right, we got a budget. We got to bootstrap this. We got to figure out ways, creative ways to make things work that you would never contemplate if you had unlimited resources.
    30:32
    So in that aspect, because there's always some limit, to me it's like tears. So it's like there's probably a ground where if you have limits, you have to be more creative. And then if you have a certain level more, maybe you're less creative. And then in theory, if there was no limit, then it's like a bell curve. And then you've hit another realm of peak creativity. But that end of the curve, it's a pointless intellectual exercise because that does not exist. There's not a market for $100,000 pinball machines. How do you know? If there was, I think it had already been exploited. If it was, you wouldn't be sitting on Elvira 40, number 40.
    31:13
    Yeah, but that's the same game, so it's a different argument. It's super special, right? I think the Fall of Elahjic here, I think you're falling into the trap that George set. It's not a trap. He's not Admiral Ackbar. Quit making him think he's not. It's a trap. It is a trap, Akbar, because George Gomez is he's he's he's skirting around with the narrative here. I think I disagree with him. I disagree with you. I think that it's easy to say, oh, when we create constraints, we pull together and we're more creative. No, it's the same damn mind, whether it has a high bomb or a low bomb. Give them time. I think if you take the constraints of the physicality and dimensions of a pinball machine, then two times, three times more fewer can be done if there weren't constraints of, you know, using more coils or more motors or more optos or more. I don't think we've ever seen that, practically speaking. And here's my case in point I'll use. And it's only one example, so it's not the best thing. You know, I don't have lots of data points to work with here. But Pat Lawler and Twilight Zone.
    32:27
    Addams Family, huge seller. Mr. Lawler can do no wrong. No limits, purportedly no limits on him for what he did with Twilight Zone. And that game might be liked now. It was not liked when it came out. It's a bit of a mess. He just threw in all sorts of stuff because he could. And they end up breaking. They end up not shooting well. The whole left side is pointless. Well, you've got all sorts of stuff. And some of that was because they went wide body. And even Pat admits that wide body, you think with that extra space, that's another. I would point to that, though part of it is I think it's an inferior geometry. So I want to be careful. But I agree. Here we go. You now have the ability to put more stuff in. So in a way, it's similar to this discussion about the limit of bomb. Now we actually have more space. And what do designers end up doing? They start filling stuff because it's not like it unleashes more creativity. You just all of a sudden they're just like, okay, let's cram, cram, cram, cram, cram. And that's what I think you could very well run the risk of if you lifted the limits on the bomb. But wait, Dennis, you pick the one designer who is notoriously known for trying to make things location friendly. No. Give me Eric Minier without a bomb. Give me Keith Elwin. Maybe not Keith Elwin. Give me, give me, I'd say George Gomez without a bomb, but clearly he likes to have constraints there. No, I think just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean that it can't be done. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not. I think you're, George is right, and I get it because the company line of, is well represented by saying, And no, no, bombs are good. Bombs are good. It creates, creates. It's like, no, you just don't want to spend more money. I get where you want to push back against that. But on the flip side, if it's if you've got someone like an elbow, it could be anyone. You got anyone. It's like, hey, I want to do this mech. All right. The cost with how we would normally approach it. It's not it's insurmountable. You can't have that. And they figure out a way to do it anyway. That is creativity born by necessity. You won't have that if there's no limits.
    34:46
    I agree that I think that financially speaking, there's no better way to run a company probably than what Stern's doing. So having those limits absolutely makes sense. They should continue doing that because it is proven effective over and over again. But if he's just talking about the pinball experience and not the return, but the pinball experience, I think giving a three times amount bomb to someone like a Keith Elwin, we are going to see a better playing experience. I just do. And it maybe, maybe, but I don't think so. But I want to also bear in mind, at least per your notes, George wasn't saying three times the bomb. The discussion was limitless.
    35:34
    And that's just people were talking Louis XVI style crazy. Just ridiculous waste. The first thing I would do is hire five engineers that are world-renowned, and I would have them come in and create mechanisms for this pinball machine. My concern isn't about being able to achieve whatever the dream is, but I've got to go back to Michael Crichton in some Jurassic Park here and say, you were so busy wondering if you could, you didn't stop to think that you should. I mean I'm just imagining all sorts of ridiculous stuff like putting in a fog machine to dump smoke into the playfield. That's right. During a multiball. With a strobing effect. And then six months later you've got people like, okay, so I've got to constantly refill the smoke machine. Is it doing damage to the parts? I mean all sorts of electrical issues. Children are burning alive because of the game. I'm just like you've not – there's just no. No. I don't think we're there yet. Hey, look, let's do the Tommy Lee Jones hit action movie Volcano. Hey, maybe we could put liquid hot magma in the game. There's no risk. Why not? We're being creative here. Who else was in that? I love that movie. And next thing you know, dead. Everyone's dead. You're going to kill people with this. Was Helen Hunt in that too? Who was in that? Who said along? I think so. I know she was Twister. Was it her? No, she wasn't Twister. She was in Twister. Was she Twister? No, it was Anne Heche, right? Anne Heche was the love interest. Maybe. The volcanologist. Oh, man. Over the last couple of weeks, Stern Pinball's seen their own catastrophic event. It wasn't volcano magma, hot magma. It certainly wasn't that. It wasn't an earthquake. It was water. Water. A water break in the city of Elk Grove Village. George Adams is not a myth. Dry land is not a mess! I've seen it! Kevin Costner, Waterworld. They've seen a lot of water coming up and they reported on it. Why, I don't know. But they reported on it and within six hours it was cleaned up. But I say that because George Gomez talked about on this episode of the Super Awesome Pinball Show that they're looking for a larger factory. We're going to need a bigger space. Maybe that was reference to a rumor Jaws. I don't know. Maybe the water is a sign that Snorks is in production. Snorks. I love that show. Wasn't as good as Smurfs, but it was still good. What if with our limitless budget, we could have a lower play field that's actually underwater and the ball would be flipped in the water? Wow. Seth Davis, let's get on that. New CEO over there. Looking for a larger factory. I can see this. This makes sense to me. Double the production, double the fun, double it. I mean, it makes sense as long as, I mean, they got to get their supply chain, right? Is the bottleneck the supplies or is the bottleneck the workers? Maybe the bottleneck's both. Why not both? So a larger factory, are they going to stay in Elk Grove Village? Who knows? Coming soon. We'll see what happens and what kind of delays there are going to be if they find another factory. Holy moly. Maybe they'll schedule it to where if there's more delays still with parts and supplies issues, maybe they skip another cornerstone next year as they transition over to the new factory. If we get rid of both cornerstones and we only have one, then it's just a stone. That's right. One stone. There's one boulder. One stone, which is coincidentally more games than most manufacturers develop in a year. Ouch. Very ouch. Yeah, very true. Also, George Gomez indicating that when Steve Ritchie, he did have a designed game. It was a white wood.
    39:35
    Steve had confirmed that right after he left. That confirmed. They asked him, well, what are you guys going to do with that? Are you going to keep it around? Are you going to just manipulate it a little bit here and there to make it your own? And George Gomez said they tossed that shit out the window. Gone. I'm not surprised. I know they quote unquote had to with Deadpool giving Trudeau and what had happened with him. But what designer, even one that's mostly just running teams like Gomez, what designer wants to just clean up some other designer's work? Not the personal against the other designer, but I think they want to have their creative thumbprint on it, not a creative tweak. Absolutely. So George Gomez is taking over the helm as lead designer for this unannounced future title. So they're keeping the IP. They're keeping the game. They're just redoing the entirety of the design, which, OK. I agree with you. I think that's smart. Do we know? I know what was rumored that he was working on.
    40:31
    You know the rumor that Steve Ritchie was working on his last game there? You know, I probably heard it, but I don't remember off the top of my head. Yeah, I won't give it away or anything, but yeah.
    40:47
    George Gomez says he's using three flippers for this next game. Well, that's sort of a Steve Ritchie thing. Three flippers. He says he's going to go back to it because he's a two flipper kind of guy, even though he argued my first game was a three flipper game in Corvette. Sure, it's a great game. But he's had a lot of very famous two flipper designs and his two flipper games are the ones, you know, Lord of the Rings, Deadpool. Those are the ones I hear most people celebrate, not Corvette. I was thinking about the other day, can a two flipper game ever not be a fan layout? Yes. You need to have shots that are really close to the flippers to take away the fan shots. So you get rid of the ability to lay out everything in a fan. Fan layouts should all sort of have shots towards the mid and back of the playfield.
    41:36
    Oh, that's your definition. That's right. No, this is the general definition that everyone agrees upon. I have merely codified. Was your fan only this angle of a fan? No, no. The shots don't have to all be evenly placed, in my opinion. They don't have to all be evenly placed, but the shots should pretty much all be towards the back. So, for example, Deadpool is not a fan layout. The drop bank with Lil' Deadpool totally breaks up the fan shot aspect of it. And you can see that with how you feed to that ramp with the whole looper. I'm doing the visually for people. I think – That's not a fan. Yeah, it is. No. Deadpool's a fan layout? Nope.
    42:19
    Orbit ramp. Those drops are so close. And the way you access the block shot with the Katana ramp, nope.
    42:30
    And it's because of that disruption of having such a close bank of targets towards the flippers. I don't think so. I'm going to say that two flippers – If you're just going to say everything with two flippers is a fan layout. I think that's what I'm going to say. Okay, you're wrong. You're wrong that Deadpool is not a fan layout. Deadpool is a fan layout. No. Maybe atypical, but it's still a fan layout. It's geometry, Holmes. No.
    42:57
    Watson, email us at the pinballnetwork at gmail.com. No. If you guys are surprised that Dennis is wrong for once, go ahead and jump in there. No. What do you think Ray Day is going to say about that one? I think you're going to say, why aren't you playing Led Zeppelin? Oh, three flipper game, George Gomez. You see, he felt a little prickly when it came to the whole discussion about C-Riss 2. Maybe this is Porsche. Maybe that's the license. It's Porsche. Who says Porsche? I know everybody does, but it's not Porsche. It's Porsche.
    43:27
    Everybody loves... Lambo. The sequel to Corvette. This time it's Italian. Italian bottom for Lambo. It writes itself, Dennis. There we go. It writes itself. Are we the Porsche of pinball podcasts? The 911? I feel like we are.
    43:48
    No. Okay. If our podcast were a car. I was going to say we're the Volvo, but we're not very reliable.
    43:58
    I think we would be a Ferrari. Oh, yeah. I was going to say maybe we're a classic Mustang. We don't always start, but... And we're American. We got, we got, yeah, but we got some power if we get going. Maybe we're a vet. I don't like Ford.
    44:21
    Trans Am. Oh my God. I feel like Stern Pinball is the Chevy or the Ford of pinball manufacturing. And with that, I'm going to give you guys an update, a schedule update on their productions. Everybody loves that, don't they? They do. This last week they were building Deadpool premiums. We got a lot of those out. Finally. People have been waiting on those. Oh, they've been waiting. They've been waiting 84 years. Man, they were waiting and waiting. Did you see Nap got his Deadpool? I did. I saw that the pallet it was on had a broken board. I told them to contact Flippin' Out Pinball. You know that pallet cost me 15 bucks. Really? Mine had a broken board too. I don't know if we're supposed to. I guess that pallet pricing is not a big deal. Yeah. Oh, they're going to go after you for that. All the manufacturers charge dealers for every fucking pallet. And you know what's sad? It's not like aluminum cans in Delaware or wherever. I can't return them.
    45:18
    There's no bottle fee? Yes, there's no bottle fee. I've got to pay $15 for every damn pallet. Deadpool premiums are leaving the factory this last week, so they're wrapping those up. The week prior to that was Deadpool Pro, so they did that. There's no word really, viewer, on when Deadpools are going to be run again. It's not on the production schedule for the rest of the year.
    45:41
    If you ain't first, you're last. Not everybody was fulfilled from those Deadpool runs this week and last. So I might have to wait a little bit there. Next on the line this week, I believe, is Jurassic Park Premium. Now wait a minute. We were supposed to get Jurassic Park before, and it was bumped back to July. But then they've been this last week. They told us they were forced to move Jurassic Park Premium back up again. So, yeah, and they also said this run of Jurassic Park Premium is going to be pretty close to the entirety of what they were going to do for July. So it's not like it's, you know, half of or 25 percent of they're going to try. They said they may get the whole thing done, but it's going to be the majority of what what was going to be allotted for that July run. Now, I said, well, what about Jurassic Park Pros? Are we going to see those as well? They said, no, that's still scheduled for July. So we're going to see those in July. So we're just seeing that premium run getting bumped up right now. And again, no word on additional runs of Jurassic Park Pro or premium for the rest of the year. It's not on the production schedule. So two of the most popular games, Deadpool, Jurassic Park, may not see them until 2023. They reminded us as dealers that supply chain issues have not gone away. After Jurassic Park, Stern Pinball is going to resume the rest of their May production titles that they already have scheduled, which include Godzilla Pro and Premium, as well as Mandalorian Pro. You're going to get that towards the end of the month into June because we know for June they do have scheduled Mandalorian Premiums. So one knows that that's going to be towards the end of the month because the Premiums are going to be right after it, beginning of June. Let's see what else is in June. Oh, yeah, June, we're also going to get more, shout out to Ray Day, more Rush Pro and Premiums. Those are going to be seeing a June run. And then we're going to see those July runs of JP Pro and still on schedule for July runs of Godzilla Pro and Premium 2. They should just run that every month. They really should. Maybe they don't have all the parts. Maybe they don't. August, that's when we're going to see the cornerstone. That's right. That's our new cornerstone. That's Venom. I would guess before that new released Cornerstone in August, we're still going to get some more Star Wars. So the pro and premium Star Wars. We're going to get those. Comic edition? No, those are discontinued. So no, just the original, the OG art, which is so weird that they can still make the comic edition of the home version, but they can't make the comic edition of the.
    48:13
    I don't get it. I don't understand. I don't know what's going on there. But don't worry. These limited bombs breed creativity. Okay. So, yeah, I think with that being said, Star Wars Pro and Premium, I think you're going to see it's beginning of August there. At the end of August, that's when I think we're going to see that new Cornerstone release title. Because then in September, you're going to see the bulk of that production in September of that new Cornerstone title. You're saying you think it's Venom.
    48:42
    Yes, that's what I just said. Who do you think is designing it, Brian Eddy? Yeah, that would be my guess. Think they're bringing in a new artist for comic book stuff or you think they're going to stick with their tried and true Jeremy Packer, a.k.a. Zombie Yeti? I think if it's Marvel, it'll be Yeti. Wow. And then then what are we going to go with the coder?
    49:06
    You know what? Lonnie Ropp might be working on this one with Mike Vinicor helping kind of pulling a stranger thing. OK, I'm guessing that they're going to I think that they're going to stick with Dwight on the next Brian Eddy game. I think that worked well the first time and they want to continue with that collaboration for title two between those two. So that's what I think we're going to see. I don't know what game though. Venom would be cool I guess. But that's been the rumor. Speaking of Star Wars, the home editions, both the original art and the comic art, are going to get another run in October. It's like the fall is prepping for that Q4 holiday season so we're going to see a lot of home editions coming out. That is Star Wars as well as the home edition of Jurassic Park in November. So October, November you see those. And then you're going to get another Cornerstone run or two in October, that new Cornerstone. So they're going to do those until the end of the year. Along for those patiently waiting for those Elviber premiums in November.
    50:07
    People are still rumoring that they're going to cut that entirely. Wow. Pull the rug out from under everybody. Oh, no. But there are rumors that the Elvira Toppers are getting made again here soon. So why would they do that? Probably had plenty of leftover stickers. We'll have to wait and see. Don't make fun of my 40th anniversary stickers. They're purple cheetahs. Or cougars. I guess cougars. Cougars. More fitting.
    50:36
    Oh, boy. And then December is slated for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pro and Premiums. And right now, don't get in trouble, Zach. Right now, that's the only thing on the production schedule.
    50:50
    Just saying. If Joe Kamencow has a window there. We do know that usually end of December, beginning of January is when they have their next Cornerstone release. Right. So it would not surprise me at all. This is just me completely, completely guessing here. It wouldn't surprise me at all, Dennis, if we seen a studio title getting announced at the end of November maybe and maybe some of them being run in December. It wouldn't surprise me either. Maybe. And at this point, 2023 production runs are unknown. We don't know. We have not been given a schedule. The entire production schedule is living, breathing entity. So things can change and things will change. It's always tentative. And no word on toppers, viewers. I'm sorry. No word on the Godzilla topper, the Rush topper, no word on the Mandalorian topper. I don't know. They're done, but I just, I don't know. I think it's a parts issue. I honestly think it's a parts issue. A lot of those parts utilize node boards that are used in the games and such. I don't think they're going to allocate them for toppers if they don't have to. That's my guess. Again, I have no clue. No word on Rush accessories either. I know what they look like, but no word on. All right, Dennis, jumping over to Jersey Jack Pinball. Rumors of a May 23rd release date of JJP's next game release have been proven wrong. You want to know why? Why? Because today is the 23rd. No! JJP, what's happening? We were promised, and by promised, I mean not promised, that it would be at TPF. Why did everybody think that? It wasn't at MGC. It wasn't at Allentown. They took all the coal from the ground and did not find a Toy Story. Did they go to, did you go to Allentown? No. But I listened to the Slap Show podcast and they went to Allentown and they told me there was no Toy Story. No Toy Story. I don't know where May 23rd even came out. You were one of the most powerful dealers, not just in the U.S. Okay, yeah, just in the U.S. No, in the world, thank you. No, no, just in the U.S. What's going on? I don't know what's going on.
    52:53
    I don't know when they're going to release it. They have not formally told dealers when they're going to release it. We have needs. We, the people, have needs. We want to see Pat Lawler's swan song sing. Is it going to be a swan song? I think so. Huh. Now, maybe he... Do swans sound like geese? I don't know what they sound like. I don't care. They're just birds. No one cares. Do you feel black swan? Sorry. Curb your enthusiasm. I think it will be Pat's last game design. I haven't decided whether or not I've bought in that he's leaving JJP. He might stay and just run the teams and kind of do a Gomez. Hmm.
    53:31
    I think he's gone. I don't know when the game's going to come out. I wouldn't blame him. I wouldn't blame him at this point. I'm hoping that they give dealers a heads up on how many CEs we will be receiving prior to the release. Last time I was a little bit of a cluster. And we have not received those as of this recording. Well, do we even know how many CEs are going to be made? I don't think so. I think they're going to up them. You do? I do. I do not. They had, what, 500 Guns N' Roses CEs that sold out like that. Yeah, but it took them a while to make them. So that's where I'm like, do they want to take on more of those? If it is a rumortory story, then we know the license is much more dynamite than Guns N' Roses. A heightened industry right now that willing to pay I mean you know what Here the thing I agree with you Toy Story is a better license than Guns N Roses More potential sales
    54:32
    Pat Lawler, so far, just for me personally, the rules and the layouts on the Pat Lawler games have resonated better. Mm-hmm. But I don't expect its toy integration to match the concert under glass that GNR had with the unprecedented access they had with the Slash being so heavily involved. So the overall packaged experience, I do not think on first blush is going to be as impressive. Okay. Even though I think it's going to be a better player. And I will like it more. I think I will like Toy Story more than Guns N' Roses. And obviously I've not seen anything, so this is a total guess. But I think when you look at photos of it, people are going to be like, this is a step back. That's what I think. This is so speculative, but it's just how do you like I hate that expression of the world under glass. But when I saw Guns N' Roses, I was blown away by just how much it looked like a concert under that. That is a world. And how do you match that? I mean, that's like a that's a once in a lifetime integration. I just don't see it. Do you think that they will utilize hot rails and the lighting that they did in G&R?
    55:47
    No, I do not. Yes, they will. I meant to say yes. I'm saying I think they will. You're not. I don't know what you want me to say. I'm trying to give you a visual cue. I'm like, well, you see, my problem is I'm thinking to Stern, and Stern doesn't like to do the lighting outside of the band pins. And so, I mean, it was really cool. At least the LECE where you had the color changing RGB was really cool. The one we had on location, I believe is a regular standard. And so it just had the white lights, which. Not as cool. It's not as cool. I mean, it makes it easier to see the game, which I appreciate from on location play in a place that's pretty dark. You know, I think you may even see, if I were a betting man, I don't know this. I know a lot about this upcoming game. I don't know this. I think that they are learning their lesson with having full RGB integration. Maybe you'll see some of those micro spotlights more to light the playfield evenly. Do you know what I'm talking about? Those little bitty pinpoint. I think maybe you'll see more of those if they're going to go full RGB. Just leave the GI on. Just have GI. I don't think we need color-changing G.I. I'm the old man who yells at Cloud. We do not have some basic G.I. that's just always on and always white. And blow us away with the red. I mean, this is Jersey Jack. They stick like 600 color-changing RGBs in. We can be immersed and still have G.I. on. I'm fine when they kill the light for effect. But, yeah, general gameplay, I don't like a color G.I. I am if the ball's not in play anymore. I'm at the point now when I play even my Sterns. I just turn on the overhead lights now. Really? Yeah. I'm just like, I don't know. I'm going to be mad if I lose the ball over a lighting effect.
    57:43
    I'm totally fine with Dwight trying to blind me. I was going to say, with that statement, I don't know how Dwight still likes you more than he likes me. It's ridiculous. Because I'm usually right. We don't have to have the same philosophies on code or lighting. Maybe we'll hear from Dwight here very soon. No, Dwight, don't write in. So you don't think the CEs may or may not go up in number? What about pricing? They might. I mean, they might go up. I just don't see enough. I mean, they didn't sell out of the LEs. So how many special editions do you want to make? Price increase, though, yes. I think the price goes up. How much?
    58:20
    Let's say a grand on all models. One million dollars. Sorry. It's a video thing. I'll say a thousand. A thousand on all models. So instead of 11,000 for an L.A., you're going to see 12,000? Yes. Instead of 12,500 for a CE, you're going to see 13,500? Yes, that would be 1,000. Maybe even more. No, I'm just saying 1,000. That's my guess. Okay. Well, I know that there is one thing that's leaving the factory and it may not come back, and that is Guns N' Roses. They're doing their last call for the L.A. Guns N' Roses, and they're damn near at 5,000 if not reaching that. I heard rumors, Zach, that they're at least $1,000 short.
    59:04
    There's no way. I don't think they're at least $1,000. I've heard they're somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000 on the sales. And what was that, capped at $5,000?
    59:13
    Yes. Well, hell, I know they've got to be super close to $4,000 if not over by now. So if they don't make all $5,000, maybe they pull a Wonka where next summer they say, hey, we're going to run $300 or $400 Guns N' Roses and that's the remainder. But I think you'll see. I don't know if the demand will be there once Toy Story drops. I don't know. I think we're going to see GNRs actually sell more once Toy Story is announced because people are waiting right now. And Toy Story is such a different type of theme than Guns N' Roses. So I think when Toy Story comes out, people are going to say, okay, now that I see it, it is a pinball machine, I'm going to go back, I still want that G&R.
    59:59
    It is possible. There's so many floating around. There's a lot. They're up for sale a lot, so it's not hard to get one used. I know there's some people that don't want to buy used, though, so that is a factor. So you think this is his last game, Pat Lawler? Yes, I do. Do you think it's his last game ever designed? Because remember, even if he doesn't work for JJP, maybe he goes back to Stern. Maybe he joins Nordman over at American Pinball. Maybe he goes on Multimorphic. I think if he leaves, he's ready to retire.
    60:35
    In Australia? If I was wrong. They're too busy doing remakes. If I'm wrong and he still wanted to design, why would he want to leave where he's in charge?
    60:50
    Because it's a lot of responsibility when you're older. Okay. You're just like, come on, I'm done. So here's my thinking. You can disagree, obviously, where you want to. But if he were to leave, I could only envision him going to Stern because my thought would be stress aside of being in charge. And he could always ask J.J.P., hey, I don't want to run this anymore. Put Eric in charge. I just want to design. He could always ask that. Yeah, but do you think his ego would allow that? Well, if he's going somewhere else, he's not going to – if he goes to – I mean, is he going to be in charge? It still feels different. It's like – it still feels different. You're rolling in. If he doesn't want to be in charge anymore, though, what's the diff? There's no difference. It's like, I'm going to go to Haggis and not be in charge, or I'm going to stay in JJP, but I don't want to be in charge anymore, but I can't stay at JJP and not be in charge because I'll be too upset. There's a lot of Toy Story hype right now. I mean, think about it. Well, that's just because it's the next game that's supposed to come out, and everyone, myself included, feels like we were supposed to know about this like three months ago. Well, and I'm only saying Toy Story because I've been saying it's a rumored title. We had Todd Tucky, who's a sub-dealer for Jersey Jack Pinball.
    62:04
    What's a sub-dealer? A sub-dealer is basically you have a dealer, and then that dealer has people selling games under them. So he's a sub-dealer for Automated. Okay. Yeah, out of Northeast.
    62:20
    So he's a sub-dealer. He was on a recent Canada's Facebook live stream. I mean, he said Toy Story. That's what he said. And he's a dealer, so I would think. Every rumor I've heard has been Toy Story, Zach. And he said it has to be, quote, has to be at Pintastic Show at the end of June. Has to be. Has to. Because if it doesn't make that, they have to destroy it. That's like Disney's rule, right? If it's not that Pintastic, it burns. It will die. With that shitty movie Luca.
    62:55
    Fire won't burn up there. With Toy Story it will. I cry because Conan and Lawler can't. There's been so much freaking hype on this game. Do you think hype like this hurts it?
    63:08
    You got Kaneda screaming every single damn day. It's not as hyped as Wonka was. Oh, God. Don't get me... I have not heard ridiculous rumors like it's going to have a different color ball for every mode. And the game will know, like one of them is going to be made out of steel, one's going to be gold, one's going to be unobtainment. It's going to have an actual crane claw game that you can win. Like, come on. Buzz Lightyear will actually move around. Tim Allen will record custom voices for every single buyer.
    63:44
    There's been a lot of hype, though. Do you think this hype hinders the release or helps it? Eh, so far I think I'm neutral on this hype. I don't think it's going to make much of a difference either way.
    64:00
    JGP, generally speaking, handles the reveals really well. So actually I think they do it the best of anyone. The reveals sell games. Yes. And so that I think is going to be what's more important than the hype. And if they do the reveal like they did the GNR reveal, they're going to be fine. They'll be fine. And I do think if it is Toy Story, I do feel like you're going to open up yourselves to other markets and other potential buyers more so than probably any other title they've had, including Wizard of Oz. Okay. Do you think GNR's outsold Wizard of Oz?
    64:38
    No. Okay. I do not. Wizard of Oz's pricing gives it such a leg up over, not to mention its multi-year run. Yes. Numerous runs. I think the biggest obstacle to Toy Story success will be if they run into a similar thing that happened with G&R and they're just not able to get the games out. And that drags out so long that people see the next Stern or American Pinball or whatever and those dollars start to – because you know how this hobby is. People get frustrated and fickle and they'll move their money to the latest new thing. No one wants to sit and wait five years for a game. That's not how this hobby – people aren't used to it. Especially people outside of this hobby. Yeah. Well, because what else is like that? And while we still have, as Gomez noted in his SAPS interview, where there are still supply chain issues, so much – like baby formula aside, so much of everything else has recovered that it's like – and again, I won't prattle on about it, but one of my other hobbies is wristwatches. A lot of that supply chain stuff is resolved for them now. The Swiss are putting out their products again. Fully? Not fully, but enough that use prices are coming down below the retail prices. Good 80%. Huh. I will say that I recently had a family come into the showroom at Flippin' Out Pinball and check out some games. And a lot of the games they were interested in, Dennis, I said, they're backordered. And they were like, oh, so we can't get them? You can, but we're looking at 2023. Their jaws dropped. They couldn't believe that you would have to wait that long for the price that these things are. And then they said, well, what about pre-owned, like the gently pre-owned? And I said, you know, we can get you some. There are some. But they were like, well, the price is about the same. And I'm like, that's just kind of the market. If anything, that's a nice price because sometimes the market pulls more in as a used game because of demand issues.
    66:35
    People are so surprised by it because I think hype is not great for a game. I think the reveal sells games. I think you're going to bring in a new audience with a lot of families, a lot of younger people buying, if it is Toy Story, buying it because of that. But at the end of the day, everybody's like, what's it going to have in? Guys, I mean, for me, it's still Pat Lawler. We know what Pat Lawler, he's given you two examples of what he does. I think we're going to be getting, and this is, I have no clue, we're going to be getting a lot more of that if I were to guess. And anytime Disney is your property that you're working with, I'm always hesitant. I'm just always hesitant. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am. I'm mostly – that's fair. That's a fair thing because it just depends. I mean we've seen – like if it's not a movie or TV property, like when they had Deadpool comic edition, they had flexibility. And I don't know how much control, like does Disney have much say when it's just, or is Marvel still standalone? But no, yeah, that's the thing. That's the thing I'm thinking of is what video are they going to have and what limits on the art are these going to look like lunchboxes? Not the gameplay. Lawler, I think, will deliver on the gameplay. But I do agree with you. I don't think hype is healthy for games because I think it's next to impossible to ever even live up to the hype. Especially as the popularity of said license goes up. I think you're much better off as a manufacturer if your game is downplayed before the reveal. And then when people see – and my case in point is look at Godzilla. A license a ton of people don't care about. They know about, but they don't care about. That game, when people got to experience it, experience the sounds, experience the look, and experience the rules, that made it what it is. And it's not all just Elwin. Like people, well, it wasn't my favorite Jeremy Packer art package. People loved the art package. People loved how the game sounded. It just, yeah. Well, and I think that's what hurt Wonka as well because Wonka is one of the greatest games ever. It is damn good, but people can't get over that letdown from the initial hype that it first received. Well, Jersey Jack even has a better example of it, and that's Pirates. Sure, yeah. That was a game that was so hyped. And then you come out with a version. You dropped your triple spinning disc. You dropped your closing chest. And that was the version that they still were taking around shows even after they made the decision to remove those items to make it a production model. And, yeah, people ended up – who played the game said it was a great game with those changes that they made. But the blowback on that you couldn't live up to your own hype. Yeah. And when it comes to themes are huge for me. Dennis, you know that viewer, you know that. And Toy Story is just a killer dynamic theme. It's a top theme for me. So I temper my expectations. This is a personal thing. I temper my expectations any time that I go into anything like a Goonies or Back to the Future. I'm going to temper my expectations. If it is Pat Lawler, if it is Toy Story, if he can deliver me and the team over at JJP something equivalent to my experience of Wonka, I will be a very, very happy, long-time Pinball enthusiast for said Toy Story. I will be extremely happy. I'm very confident it will be a fun game. If Lawler's working on it, I think it will be one of their better games. But that's because his two games, Dialed In and Wonka, are my two favorite Jersey Jack games. So I do have high expectations for it, but I think they're well-grounded and they're not built off of the theme. That said, I think Toy Story is the best theme of any theme they've done. I agree.
    70:20
    Yes, I know Wizard of Oz is very, very famous, but Toy Story is more relevant. Yes, it's a more relevant touchstone to more people. Are mermaids relevant?
    70:33
    Well, you know, with Daryl Hannah and Splash, how could they never not be relevant? Another Tom Hanks. Nice. That's a nice segue there from one Hanksy to the other.
    70:43
    Yeah, so Fathom Revisited. People are losing their minds. I mean, I saw the – and I covered it on my other podcast, Collect the Gamers podcast with Tony last week that one of them did get delivered to Australia. I think it was a – was it a location? Yeah, it was like a – but they put it in a storage facility, I think.
    71:03
    Top men are working on it. It's next to the Ark. Yeah, top fish. People are losing their minds because they're saying, where's my fucking fathom at? Where's it at? Well, as I recall, they were starting to take full payments around the time of TPF, if I remember correctly. And they were saying games, they're going to be boxed up in eight weeks. That's why we're asking you now. I did pay for my personal one, and I will say here on the pinball show that as one of their authorized dealers, We have more on order and this next batch payment has been requested. The rest of the payment.
    71:46
    Now, I can't tell you as a business owner, I'm not a bit hesitant that I haven't received my first one that was paid in full. Am I concerned, though? I'm I'm still not, you know, burning my house down worrying about this. I don't know if I should, but I'm not for some reason. Right, right. I think caution is always warranted, especially with newer companies. Sure. I have not been as worried about – like, to me, it's not the same level of red flags as we saw with Highway.
    72:16
    And part of that might be because they haven't been promising a whole bunch of new deadlines that they then keep missing, or Deep Root for that matter. And part of that is even in this window of – because this game is very delayed versus when we thought they would first start coming out. That said, Haggis has continued to produce and ship Celts games. Okay, yeah, that's a good point. I mean, we saw a sizable number of those ship out. They've probably shipped at least 50 of those. Right, right, right. And so given that – So they made games. To me it says they have production capability. There's something bottlenecking Fathom. And either they're way behind on the development, which I don't think so because they've shown us like reveal video. We've seen the gameplay, yeah. Right, right. So I think it's got to be a parts thing. And given that they are building in Australia, I'm assuming that they have to import a great deal of stuff. And as a small manufacturer, they've got to be bottom rung compared to – I mean, Pinball's not top rung in general anyway, even a Sern. So, I mean, I have excuses for them. That said, I personally think that Damien is making a mistake not being more transparent with what's going on. Okay. When you're this far behind your – I understand that they've indicated that, yes, they acknowledge that they weren't going to make their original shipping deadlines. By a year, almost. I don't think it hurts being more transparent. And maybe he thinks that no matter what he says, there's going to be blowback. I think that's what it is. And in a way, he's right. There will always be blowback because it's bad news. But this is something lots of manufacturers have done where they just say, we're just going to keep our mouths shut. I'm like, you're too far behind to keep your mouth shut and think you're winning any fans with that. Other than a few diehard Australian supporters I see on the Pinside thread, it's only alienating people. I don't think they're really concerned about selling more games because they sold out of the Mermaids. This is another situation like American Pinball, though, where I think that Valhalla, they're not going to make any standards. I would be thinking ahead about, are people going to be reluctant to jump into Centaur Remake, Centaur Revisited, or whatever the next game is? No, as long as when Centaur is announced, there is at least a hundred, you know, mermaids that have shipped. Right. And that's, and maybe that's where the, if they don't announce Centaur until after the shipping gets more ramped up, I think they can navigate it even being quiet. I don't think being quiet is the right move, but. But people are going to expect. It's their choice. If it is Centaur, people are going to expect it to be a year plus. Sure. Like a spooky kind of thing. But if they announce Centaur before the Fathoms start to flow, I think that's going to be a huge red flag for people because it's going to look like you're trying to get deposit money to help. Surely they wouldn't do that. I would think no. But that said, the only reason why – well, not only reason, but the main reason why I think they should be more transparent is the problem that – I'll describe it as a problem. I think the problem that they have is Damien initially positioned their company as being ultra transparent. One of us taking videos, the spooky pinball of Australia. I mean, had you not done that in the first place, you being more quiet, you could probably have gotten away with less blowback. But when you were all like, I'm going to do a video a week, and then you stop, and now you don't say anything. I'm sorry. You dug that hole way back with Kelts, and you got to live with it. And I think you're forced to be more transparent for the time being. Maybe once you transition away from Fathom, you can stop and say, you know, we're just not going to we don't have the time. We're not going to do that anymore. But I'm I'm sorry, but you positioned yourself as being a really open company. And right now you're not doing that. And that isn't flagging red for me on the production of Fathom, per se. But it's I think that's where they're getting more blowback than maybe they otherwise another company might. I would also argue to jump off of that is that I still think there is a heavy interest in these Fathom Revisited, a lot of excitement still. I think people, especially after they were able to see the build of these, the quality, the beauty of these things, the innovation in taking this remake and adding things to it that people love and enjoy, So much so that that's why they're getting a lot of focus as well because American Pinball, they're not getting that type of focus because, quite frankly, they don't have that type of game that really fires people up and people have to have it. They want it. They want it. They want it. People away from American Pinball, they're like, meh. I mean, I really think that... Well, American Pinball is still talking original themes and stuff. I mean, Fathom was an original theme, but now it's a remake and a remake is different. It's just wild to think that there's a haggis product right now that is so much more heavily desired than pretty much anything that American Pinball's made.
    77:25
    Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Remakes are, I think they're a safe bet. They're just a safe thing to do. We know that Dennis Norman's coming out with the next game. It's going to be unlicensed. Besides that, not much news. Same with Multimorphic. Not much news there. They can't get workers over there. Yeah, I saw some of the job listings. Can't get the workers. Spooky Pinball. That's a struggle for all sorts of people. Yeah, sure. Spooky Pinball, same thing. They're updating code still, updating animation still. They're doing their own media kind of stuff, but they're just cranking out games. I think they announced they finally put in wizard modes into the Halloween. Okay. I think I saw something about that. Gotcha.
    78:03
    I need to update my code behind me. I don't know how. Got a Mac. I don't know how. But Spooky Pinball, they're still cranking them out because I got a notification that we've got, they're actually well over halfway. They're in the 600s, they're getting close to it.
    78:25
    Everyone's just eagerly awaiting what the next game is. I am hearing, not to hype, but I'm hearing that it's going to be a title that will wash away the remembrance of weights or of past games or anything like that. I heard it's another dynamite one.
    78:44
    So we'll see. We'll see. I'm trying to think who else. The Chicago Gaming Company, they're cranking out Cactus Canyon Remake SE still. Well, I would estimate they're not going to give us any data, but I would estimate based on the orders that I have outstanding as well as received, we're about 50%, if not a little bit more, of the SE run that have been built as of right now. So what have we been doing that for a couple months? So I think you go maybe a couple more months before we start seeing LEs hit the production line. I'm guessing July, August, September for those LEs, followed by the SE Plus models towards the end of the year. Again, simply a guess because I've been having a lot of people, where in the hell is my LE? And I asked Chicago Gaming last week any estimation on when LEs are going to go on the production line. And they said, yes. And I said, oh, great. When is that? And they said, quote, when they're ready. That was their quote. Thank you, Rockstar Games. Thanks so much. Sorry, Chicago Gaming. You are not GTA V. You do not have that level of – When customers ask, I said, this is Chicago Gaming Company's quote, when they're ready. I respect it on one level, and on the flip side, it's not exactly confidence-inspiring that it would be quick. It's like, well, they could have been at least like, you're a dealer, so between us, we're guessing probably summer, fall, but don't repeat. Maybe that, nothing, nothing. So I guess they're transparent.
    80:19
    Oh, you know what, Dennis, before we do this. This shit's getting real. Because we're about to start the fan favorite. You guys see that? It says, bye, bye, bye, because we're starting Pimball Market Trends! Oh, it's coming in hot, Dennis. How do those ears feel? Feeling good?
    80:45
    Can you hear me, Dennis? Yes. Oh man, now everybody's got a visual, beep boop, beep boop, a visual of Pinball Market Trends. This is how saucy it gets. Had to turn around the back, there's hell here. Old Travis Murry, all I need now is a big ass Snuggie on. We're gonna, trending up this week is Chicago Gaming Company's Attack from Mars Remake LE. Actually just the remake altogether If you guys haven seen the Penside Top 100 it just booted Medieval Madness off of its plateau Yeah Wow It bumped it off That hasn been done in quite some time So I can see the argument actually as well We hear more about the Attack from Mars remake later on in Pinball Market Trends but for right now I can say that getting your hand on an LE is still going to cost you a pretty penny Same as an SE Classics eh you going to have that big display You're going to have that big display. But yeah, everything's hot on the market right now, everything's expensive, this is no exception. Also trending up this week is Tapaneglass. Hmm, I think we can make this assumption, Dennis, I really do. What? Come here. What did he say? You told Altono fucking his wife? No, I said that you said that his wife was beautiful. That's all I said. That's all I said. When you said that shit to him, that's implying that I'm fucking up. Well, just tell him that you're not. But I am. You're what? I'm tapping that ass. I've been coming for that ass for a while now. What is wrong with you? Why do you fool around with married women? Ass is ass, Larry. Ass is not ass. Ass is fucking ass, Larry. No, it's not. That's what the fuck I do, Larry. Well, you don't have to tap every ass. Do you? Do you have to tap every ass? Tap that glass. Yeah, tap that glass. Have you ever heard of the Mile High Club, Dims?
    82:31
    Yes. You see where I'm going here. The Mile High Club is whenever you fornicate way up in the airplane, usually the cargo holding bay, in the bathroom. I don't know where you're having sex, but you're having sex with your partner or some rando stranger, maybe the flight attendant.
    82:49
    Where are the exits at, baby? But you're having sex up there. That's why they call it the Mile High Club, right? Okay, tapping the glass is when you, I think when you, when you fornicate, when you, when you have relations on top of a pinball machine. Have you ever done that, Dennis? On top of a pinball machine. On top of a pinball. Are you not tall enough, maybe? I wonder, I wonder what the height you have to be.
    83:11
    How small do you think I am? Four inches. I wonder how high you have to. But yeah, I think that's it. The new term is tapping the glass is whenever you get it on, on that pinball machine. Well, I guess you could. There's a lot of positions for tapping the glass. They could go straight up and sit down on a lockdown board. They can turn around. You don't like where this conversation is going, but it's a thing. It's called tapping that glass, baby, and I ask you to email the pinballnetwork at gmail.com. Tell me if you've ever tapped that glass, and if so, if there's any other positions besides just those two. Remember that Playboy game? Which one? That custom one with the legs? Oh, yes. Okay. You know, in that position on a spooky, you'll slice your thighs open on those burrs on that lockdown bar.
    84:02
    Tapping that glass, baby. You know, sadly... Halloween-er. See? You're playing along with it. Oh, I will tap that glass. Sadly, I'm going to say this here, and Nicole's going to be embarrassed, I've never tapped a glass. The only time I'm tapping glasses when I'm playing Whitewater or Scared Stiff. Brings a whole other meaning to Leapers, doesn't it?
    84:28
    Okay, alright. Trending down this week. Oh, this is this video. Trending down this week is the Mandalorian's term, Pinball. Oh no, what? No, I'm not, baby Yoda. This thing will continue to trickle downward until that topper comes out. Once that topper comes out, this is only a temporary trending down. So you guys heard me over at Stern Pinball, get that damn topper out so we can sell some games. And I say it's trending down because it is one of those titles that is a mixed bag for people, a mixed experience. And then you also have that on top of, they are keeping up with production pretty well on the Mandalorian. So they've sold a lot. The more they go out, the more that market is affected or balanced, if you will. For example, Godzilla Premium. Next year, Godzilla Premium around this time is going to be much less value-wise on the secondary market than it is today. In five years, you're probably going to see that being one of the lowest-priced games, not because of its popularity. Everybody might still want it, but it's because they make so damn many of them, they're going to be everywhere. They're going to be Metallica. You're going to say, well, Metallica's really high right now. I know it is because time has elapsed, but back in the day, it was just as much as everything else. So with the popularity of it, I think you see that going down. Mandalorian is going to go down as well until we get that light show, Dwight show in that topper. Do you think it'll have any lights? I'm not sure. Maybe it has hologram. I'm not. I don't know. Maybe it'll be flat plastics. Hopefully it'll be out soon. No, it's going to happen. It'll be cool. But for now, a little trickle. Just a little trickle. I don't have a deal of WTF this week. I don't even have a deal of the week this week. Wow, there are no deals anymore. But I have something special for him. A special edition of Deal of the Week. I am going to give you what I gave the recent Pinball Network stream that Joel Engelberth did. What was that last week, I believe? He asked a question to all of us. Recycled content, great. Host Joel Engelberth asked us co-guests. He said, if you had to sell your entire pinball collection, you had to, and you get to buy five more back. But that's the only five you can have for the short future. And you can't buy them just to be flipping them and making money. Which five would you buy? It was a really difficult question. I answered correctly just so that they had some outlandish stuff. Surprisingly, two of them picked Stranger Things Premium LE.
    86:59
    That's pretty wild. That's some wild stuff there. But they asked me. I gave them the correct answer. But I also said, you know, it got me thinking, well, if I was only getting five and I had to rebuild that collection again, I'm going to want to buy something that I can make money on six months from now. So in addition to the five that I gave Joel and viewers there, my five basically favorite games, you can go check that out on the VOD. I gave them five games that you could potentially make money on in the future. An investment. People love when you use the word investment for pinball machines, don't they?
    87:32
    Probably depends on the person. Sorry, Dennis is allergic to making money. It's a dangerous game you're playing.
    87:41
    Just like the stock market right now. Well, that would be an illegal game to play if you're not an investment advisor.
    87:49
    But on products, you can. I always find it interesting, and again, because of other hobbies, I see people do this sometimes. They almost always end up naming things that they themselves sell. Oh, here we go. The accusation is running wild. Anyway, I'm ready for the shillpocalypse. Okay, so I'm going to give you five. I'm actually just going to cut to the segment. You're going to learn five games that if you want to invest in right now, you can make some serious jack six months from now or really a year from now. So right now, these five titles, I'll admit they are high. They're higher than we're ever used to, but I still think there's a deal there, And a lot of serious jack can be made if you purchase them and sit on them now. Let's run that clip. All right, Zach. I don't know what's coming here, man.
    88:41
    Correct answers. Once again, the prompt that I gave everybody was, and the thought here is I didn't want somebody to say I would buy five Pirates of the Caribbean CEs and then sell them. And with all the profits, you know, go and buy 20 games. But that doesn't work either, Joel, because at the market that we're at right now, buying five pirates may not be a smart idea if it is, in fact, trending down.
    89:09
    Okay, Zach, I'm just so I'm going to shut up. And maybe making more. And I'm just I thought I, you know, I thought I laid out a very simple question. I thought the guidelines were somewhat clear. I mean, he still has convoluted. He still doesn't know the damn rules of this game. Craig and Mike didn't – there were no second follow-up questions from Craig and Mike. It was just they just did the game. They're nice guys. That's fine. But Zach was like, I immediately have questions. Do you want me to ask these now or just save it? I said, just save it for the stream, and if you come with multiple lists, that's fine. So tell me – yeah, give us – yeah, how's your mind thinking? What popped into your head here, Zach? Okay, so you originally told me pick five games. You have to sell your whole collection as shit a brick. Oh, my God. But then you said you can have five back or you can buy five. You got to start over. Yeah, yeah. That's terrifying as well. And then I'm like, okay, well, is this the only five I get ever? Is this like five forever? Or is this the first five I can get until I build back up my collection? Or can I not pick five from the ones I've owned? Can I own these before? So many questions I have. And you're like, dude, it's just a game. I don't know. Like, just figure it out. I don't think Zach liked the game is what I'm thinking. Yeah. So let's hear just if you have multiple lists, we'll work your way through it. I mean, what do you got here? Five slot. Yeah, you built it. There you go. Zach, you built a very small barn. Okay. Your barn can only fit five. I wouldn't do that.
    90:38
    I wouldn't know. I'm just five pinball machines. Okay. All right. So I formulated two lists and one of the lists is the stupid rules you had.
    90:51
    Because I like the concept, you know, you got to start over. And for many viewers, they can probably relate. You've got your collection now because of what you have done to build that collection. And with that comes buying at good value, playing the hell out of them, and then sending them off on their way so that you can then make profit. Sure. I mean, that's what tight broke asses like me have to do. I can't just pull out the credit card for everything. So I have to build my way up to that. So the second list I compose is kind of in tribute to Pimball Market Trends, where I'm going to give you guys a list of five that I think right now are good buys. They're good buys. So if I were to compile, as Mike's walking away, I'd have to affect a lot of people. He's disgusted. That's okay. Carter's more of a fan, I think. So top five of games that if I had to sell my whole collection and start over, I would want to start with the foundation of these five because I like playing them, and I can also sell them within six months, and I see them rising in value, thus making a profit and moving forward and so on and so forth. You guys will thank me later.
    92:02
    Let's start with, let's do your pinball marketing. So these are the top five games right now that I think may seem high even in the market that we're at, but I'm telling you, I think they can go even higher. Okay. Number one, and I think the number legit in order chronologically, the number one game that you guys need to be buying right now if you'd like to make money on Pinball is the Attack from Mars remake limited edition version.
    92:28
    That is quite simply because one of the greatest games ever made. It is a Lyman Sheets game and we won't get any more of those. And a lot of people prefer it over Medieval Madness and they're never going to make another Attack for Mars LE. Ever. Ever. Never going to do it. They'll make more Medieval Madnesses and they'll sell you more toppers and they'll sell you more RGB kits and they'll sell you more speaker panels. You'll never get that in Attack for Mars LE. You're never going to get that topper. Okay. So that alone right now, and right now it's crazy. Those damn things are selling you guys cheaper than Medieval Madness LEs. And value-wise, absurd. Absurd. There's one you can buy all day long that's priced more than one you can't. Clean house and buy as many Attack for Mars LEs as you can. Do you have one? I assume you have one. Absolutely.
    93:25
    Number two. My homie-gomie. Deadpool LE. Deadpool LE right now seems like they're going for high. But if you can find one in the market for $13, buy it. Don't you have one for sale right now?
    93:42
    I do have one for sale. Not really. I overpriced it just because, you know. Look, Deadpool is a classic game. Not my kind of game. I get bored with it. It's fine. If you like shooting forever like Lord of the Rings, I think it's fine. All right, so Deadpool LA. Here's the deal. In two years from now, Deadpool LA is going to be worth more than Godzilla LA. Mark my words. Just like I told you about Beatles, just like I told you about Wonka and Stranger Things, it just will be. Because there's going to be so many damn Godzillas. There's going to be so many Godzillas a year or two from now. So those games aren't going to be that high later on. Number three, Cactus Canyon LE. Hear me out. Cactus Canyon LE because, again, you're going to get a remake, the CGC remake to all hold value. One that not a lot of people have played, so there's always going to be an itch for it. And this is the last glimpse of what we get from Lyman Sheets. Lyman Sheets games, I don't know if it's too soon, my apologies if this is insensitive, But Lyman Sheets games will not only hold value, they're going to go up. We don't get any of that magic ever again, regardless of how great the coder is. It's just, it's fact. And it's the last piece. And if it can turn out to be a Bally Williams game that we all love, but enhanced with new kind of code, it's curtains. That game's always going to be hot. The theme's great, too. Sure. All right, number four, Wizard of Oz, Yellow Brick Road. Not the ruby, not the Aussie emerald, not the emerald, the yellow brick road. That's the one that you're going to see continue to go up because at this point I think that's the one that's considered most luxurious with or without no monkey.
    95:32
    I think as the catalog builds for the new style cabinet of JJP, people laughed at me all day long, viewer, about the heads lining up and all of that. A lot of you now are doing the same damn thing. As this catalog builds and you see more and more JPs come out, you're going to want that Woz to line up with all the other ones that you're collecting. And that's the only damn one that you're going to have to get in order for those to line up. And then Sparkle Play feels crazy. And then the last one right now, if you guys want to make money in six months or a year from now, the Addams Family. Really?
    96:08
    And it's high right now. I get it. If you can find a super nice one, I would spend the money and take it through HEP. And that will secure a value on that thing because I don't see them making that ever again. I don't see them making it, remaking it. I don't. Just getting the rights. And then you think about who owns the rights for Adam's family. They continue to try to reinvigorate that licensed property. And they're going to continue wanting the newer renditions if they're ever going to be willing to remake that.
    96:43
    So I don't think you're ever going to get that. And it's just that it's a favorite among all non-Pinheads. They want to see the hand. They want to see the magnets. They want to see Fester. It's Adam's family. I'm not crazy about the game. It's awesome. But, you know, it's not not for my collection. But those are five games. See, that's a cool list. Right, Joe? I do. I mean, you I'm going to trust your. I don't know what I'm saying. Priesel himself said that numbers don't lie, and I'm only here to report the facts on Pinball Market Trends.
    97:49
    Dennis, episode 100. I've got to turn my hat back around. That was good, right? You know what? I'm just glad we didn't ask a bunch of people to send in clips.
    97:58
    Glad I didn't hear that, would you say? Yeah, that's true. And we don't need the recognition. We just need the love and support of our friends and listeners. And that's you. And you too, Desmond. All right. Where can people find you? Well, I also do the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. So people can always email me over at eclecticgamerspodcast.gmail.com. Or you can go to facebook.com slash eclecticgamerspodcast to use the messenger tool. And I check those pretty regularly. So if you want to reach me, those are the easiest ways. Yeah, and if you want to see Dennis visually like this format right here and you're into watches, go check out Watches with Dennis on YouTube. Subscribe and follow. Right? And check out the, he did a Toy Story watch. I gotta tell you, fantastic. If the reaction of the watch populace is the same for pinball, Jersi Jack's in trouble because that video has done, it's not rated low. No one wants to watch it though. Watch people just want to hear about Rolex, I guess. I think you just need to build another branch in that industry. Even though I gave Mr. Potato Head the most Sopranos Rolex I could. It makes sense. You verified and backed up all of your, I loved it. That's been one of my favorite videos to date. I think it's underappreciated like Stranger Things and Hobbit and all the other games that I love so much. And yeah, you got to go check that out. You can catch me at the pinball network at gmail.com or sdt and pinball at gmail.com for the straight down the middle video series. We got some recording. I'm in editing right now. A lot of editing right now. So you're going to see that very, very soon. As well as go follow, like, and subscribe over on TPN, different Facebooks and stuff. The TPN babies, we're going to announce winners next week. So if you participated in the baby stuff, God, there's some cute babies out there. People still didn't know you.
    99:50
    Broadly speaking, there are a couple exceptions, but broadly speaking, the guesses were horrific. In my mind, nobody won. Oh, you were all losers is what Dennis is saying. Yes, basically. Except for when my picture came up, everyone knew it. You and Chuck Wirt. Yeah, Chuck Wirt's a giveaway too.
    100:12
    But other than that, it was pretty bad. I mean, it was like really bad, really, really, really bad. It was really bad, but we do have some winners. We're going to announce those next week. Sponsor plug this week is Flippin' Out Pinball, my company. Why, why, why? Why, why, why! Because it's the best customer satisfaction in the world. I wasn't going to say in the country. I don't know. They won't even tell me when I'm getting my Cactus Canyon Elite. Whenever it's ready.
    100:41
    Oh, I teased something this last week. Did you see my tease? It was called the Flippin' Out Vault coming soon. I worked really hard on that. I'm getting dangerous at Illustrator and Photoshop. That was all my hand work right there. Wow. Brad Albright. Watch out. Brad Albright. It's coming for your job. Coming for you. Yeah, so the Flippin' Out Vault, I can't really tease much besides it's not a location. Good Lord, I'm not opening up a location. Is Geraldo Rivera going to come and open your vault and show us what's all in there? You know what, I've got a really good tease and you can find out kind of what the Flippin' Out Vault is all about if you make sure that you're a member of the Flippin'OutPinball.com website. That's my tease right there. You can become a member, just log in and stuff like that. It tracks your purchases and whatnot, but members will have access. So make sure a member of FlippinOutPinball.com. And there's a little tease already once you do log in to that. Product showcase this week for Flippin Out Pinball is none other than what you've been waiting for for probably over a year. It's Golden Tee 2021 right now. Once they release 2022 update, that's for free. We'll ship it out to you. So we've got Golden Tees in stock. That is always a fan favorite. Everybody freaking loves Golden Tees. Loves those damn things. And they're affordable. They're like, I think they're under four grand. So check those out. We still have some Guns N' Roses LEs. Remember, it is last call. And we have a handful of those. So once those are gone, unfortunately, they're going to be gone. We have all the accessories for those, art blades, toppers, banners, etc., etc. Insider Connected Kiss. Holy shit, Stern Pinball, you finally came through after I begged you and after Nicole finally emailed. I was like, guys, what in the hell is going on? You got us some premium kits and those are all kind of fulfilled now. For those of you still backorder with us at Flippin' Out Pinball, it's likely because you have a specialty kit a la Batman, Star Wars, Beatles, Stranger Things Pro UV. Those games require a specialty kit. They're not just going to plug and play into the existing apron. So the backorder ones, wait on those. But we do have some premium kits and a lot of pro kits available, so buy them now. If you're getting a Coindor mod, you can have any kit. We'll send you a pro. Just put it on that Coindor. That's a lovely option as well. You're going to see some really exciting stuff, some exclusive products coming to that Flippin' Out Vault too. I forgot to say that. We've got Alien pre-orders we're still taking. Batman 66 LE is still sitting here. Every week that goes by, that thing becomes a little bit more, it makes more sense, doesn't it? We have Rush Pro pre-owned right now. We have still taking Cactus Canyon orders. Elvira 40th anniversary. You're right. Star Wars LE still available. I don't know how that's still available. TMNT Premium. I have a pre-owned. I have a lot of games. Led Zeppelin Premium pre-owned. Deadpool LE pre-owned. Monsters Pro pre-owned. Corvette pre-owned. Got a lot of stuff. A lot of accessories as well. Shaker Motors. Just got another batch of those in. Thank God. Banners. Escalator turnaround. At this point, four, five, six months. If you want one, you're going to have to be patient. Otherwise, I don't know what to tell you. Merch by a shirt. Buy some pants, buy some underwear. TPN last week, what happened? We added two new podcasts to the TPN podcast lineup. That was exciting. Mm-hmm. The Aussie Pinball Podcast hosted by Dr. John. That's right. He had episode three, Michael Boyer, who was the manager of the main AMD distribution over in Australia for Stern Pinball. That one's still in my queue to listen to. I haven't gotten to it yet. And then we had the pinball tapes added. The pinball tapes, almost like a more specified version of Silver Ball Chronicles. Deep dives into individual games on an episode, historical focus. People are really, the reception is really good on that so far. Oh yeah. Episode two was Sinbad, the Gottlieb Sinbad. So if you've ever played that, I've not played a lot of Sinbad, but it was interesting to even, just the way he presents things and the facts and stuff, Really, really nicely done by Zach over there in Australia because apparently Down Under is taking over the network. We thought it was Canada that was doing it, but it's proving more and more to be Australia. Where are you at, Ryan C.? He's on a fucking mountain eating a banana again.
    105:03
    I wonder if Ryan C. has ever tapped a glass. I guarantee you he has. A sexual little beast, all hairy and furry. Man. Silver Ball Chronicles, you can't talk about TPN without talking about the hit that is Silver Ball Chronicles. The John Papaduke episode. I've been waiting for this one. Long awaited by a lot of people, I'm sure. It almost wasn't long enough, Dennis. I wanted more. It did go pretty quick. Actually, I thought they went pretty fast through the deep root part, it felt like. They did. I wanted them to lean into those 90s games even more. Give me more Circus Voltaire talk. Give me more freaking Star Wars Episode I talk. Well, that's, I mean, yeah, I guess they're kind of light on that because they did the Pinball 2000 episode. You've got to remember they kind of build off of their own episodes. So many of them had already been covered at length. They didn't want it to be repetitive. If anybody has John Papaduke's information, I wanted to contact him. So if you guys have it, hook it up.
    106:06
    I've never talked to John. Never had a conversation with him. I think it would be interesting. I like a lot of his games. I don't like a lot of his decisions, so chill out. I don't need the emails.
    106:18
    Email the pinball network at gmail.com and tell Zach exactly what you think of Mr. Papaduke and his designs. I'm not saying I like that.
    106:27
    TPN this week, we have a lot. Oh, you know what? I almost missed. Final round. We had a final round as well with Josh Sharp. So I almost forgot about it because I'm uploading it as we're recording now. So I haven't listened to that one yet.
    106:43
    TPN this week, a lot of stuff going on. Make sure to follow, like, and subscribe. I know last Tuesday Frisco Pinball streaming was celebrating all of the creators of Virtual Pin in the past, I think. So we had that last Tuesday night. Events coming up, second annual Triple Flip open June 4th and 5th over at District 82. Three tournaments, two days, one location. Three, two, one. Don't be tapping the glass over there in public, people. That's gross. So District 82 is going to have that. And check out Wild Dogs. They recently got a new game in. See what game that was. Man, we have so many streaming affiliates. Wowzers. And a lot of new cool stuff coming to the TVN streaming channel very soon. All right, Dennis, I think that's it. Can we call it? We done? Okay. What a day. What an episode 100. I'll see you for the next 100, Dennis. We will try. But I'll have to say, you know, always remember that you might think being bombless means your game will be da bomb, but it might just mean the game will bomb. So I would always limit bomb. Bomb. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. I almost, maybe I could work in La Bamba into that.
    107:56
    The only thing you should have unlimited is unlimited La Bamba. Put that, put that on loop. Enjoy it. It's great. It's a classic. But then I was afraid you would sing. And always practice safe pinball. Don't listen to Dennis about what or what is not a fan layout because clearly he doesn't know. And for all of you watching visually, I love you.
    108:28
    Let's kick this shit. Isn't that what your co-host says? Your real co-host? That works.