Episode 916: "The Princess Bride First Impressions"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·20m 27s·analyzed·Feb 20, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Kaneda hails Princess Bride as best P3 game yet but savages pricing, edition confusion, and presale tactics.

Summary

Kaneda provides first impressions of Multimorphic's newly announced The Princess Bride P3 pinball machine, praising it as the nicest P3 game to date while criticizing pricing ($11,500–$13,750), the three-tier edition structure, flat playfield aesthetics lacking 3D sculpts, absence of character figures underneath the glass, the decision to include permanent swords only on the Collector's Edition creating dedicated-cabinet confusion, and the practice of taking deposits 4–5 months before production.

Key Claims

The Princess Bride will be the nicest Multimorphic P3 game to date
high confidence · Kaneda stated this directly after reviewing available visuals and theme materials
Collector's Edition costs $13,750, Limited Edition $12,750, Standard Edition $11,500
high confidence · Kaneda cited official pricing structure announced with game reveal
Multimorphic is manufacturing approximately 5 games per week, unable to sustain the announced production targets of 500 CE + 750 LE + unlimited standard
medium confidence · Kaneda's estimate based on observable company production pace; not independently verified
The Collector's Edition includes mounted swords that cannot be easily removed, making the cabinet functionally dedicated to The Princess Bride theme
medium confidence · Kaneda inferred from official specs; acknowledged uncertainty about removability but stated swords 'don't look like they're going to come off'
The standard edition has unique artwork while the Collector's Edition shares artwork with Limited Edition, inverting typical edition differentiation strategy
high confidence · Kaneda directly reviewed the official feature matrix and artwork specifications
The game will not go into production until summer (4–5 months from reveal date in late February)
high confidence · Kaneda stated explicitly based on official timeline information
The Cliffs of Insanity mechanism uses magnetic technology to create a climbing-ball effect
high confidence · Kaneda described the mechanism directly from viewing game reveal materials
The playfield lacks 3D sculpts and appears plasticky and flat compared to games like Labyrinth
high confidence · Kaneda's direct visual assessment of reveal images and video

Notable Quotes

“I think this is the nicest Multimorphic P3 to date. Jerry, congratulations. You finally are starting to show people that this platform can work if you get the right theme on it.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Core validation of The Princess Bride's quality while acknowledging Multimorphic's historical platform struggles
“I'm not sure who that woman was in the video... you get one chance to release your game to the world it's based on The Princess Bride you should have had someone dress up like the dread pirate Roberts... like you know that 98 of the pinball buying demographic is like middle-aged men like do something that sells to your audience.”
Kaneda @ early segment — Direct criticism of Multimorphic's marketing execution and audience targeting
“Everything does look a little plasticky like there's no sculpts in the game... This is a game where if you're a mod maker, this is going to be a golden opportunity to sort of add some more three-dimensional sculpts to this game because it all does look a little flat.”
Kaneda @ design critique section — Identifies production shortcoming that may create aftermarket customization demand
“Where is everybody? Like nobody is anywhere underneath the glass in physical form. And I really think this game does need some like characters, like some action figures or something underneath the glass.”
Kaneda @ character absence critique — Points out missing thematic element despite strong LCD/cabinet artwork
“I think that is a colossal marketing mistake... Imagine if you've supported Jerry from day one... you cannot have the nicest version of The Princess Bride, which is the nicest game that's come out to date on the Multimorphic P3 because he won't allow you to upgrade your machine to be a collector's edition.”
Kaneda @ edition strategy critique — Highlights customer loyalty problem created by CE-exclusive features and permanent hardware modifications
“Do you take those swords off? Do they even come off?... if you buy this for $13,750, what happens when the next Multimorphic P3 game comes out? Are you going to be ripping off the stickers on this game and putting in a new modular game, but then you've got swords stuck on the side of your machine?”

Entities

The Princess Bridegame Multimorphiccompany Kanedaperson Jerryperson Heistgame Final Resistancegame Weird Algame

Signals

?
business_signal: Multimorphic's stated production targets (500 CE + 750 LE + unlimited standard) exceed estimated manufacturing capacity (~5 games per week, ~260 per year). Pre-order deposit practice 4–5 months before production suggests potential cash flow / financial health concerns.
medium · Kaneda estimates: 'I don't even think they're making one game a day' and concludes: 'this activity of needing money now, it also makes me feel like these companies are not doing well financially because if they were, they wouldn't be taking money four to five months in advance.'
?
community_signal: Buffalo Pinball scheduled to stream Princess Bride gameplay on Saturday (day after reveal); Kaneda plans additional podcast episodes covering streaming gameplay and community reaction.
high · Kaneda states: 'I hear Buffalo Pinball is going to stream this game on Saturday' and 'I'm obviously going to do more shows on this game when we see streaming on Saturday'
?
design_philosophy: The Princess Bride Collector's Edition includes permanent mounted swords (Inigo Montoya theme element) that appear non-removable, creating a dedicated-cabinet aesthetic that conflicts with Multimorphic's stated modular platform philosophy. Upgrading/swapping modules becomes impractical.
high · Kaneda questions: 'if you buy this for $13,750, what happens when the next Multimorphic P3 game comes out? Are you going to be ripping off the stickers on this game and putting in a new modular game, but then you've got swords stuck on the side of your machine?'
$
market_signal: Kaneda critiques marketing execution: reveal video features unnamed woman playing game instead of themed character (e.g., Dread Pirate Roberts); audience demographic is 98% middle-aged men but marketing does not align messaging to appeal to primary buyer demographic.
high · Kaneda states: 'I'm not sure who that woman was in the video... you get one chance to release your game to the world it's based on The Princess Bride you should have had someone dress up like the dread pirate Roberts... like you know that 98 of the pinball buying demographic is like middle-aged men'

Topics

Product Pricing and Edition StrategyprimaryManufacturing Capacity and Production TimelineprimaryPlayfield Design and Aesthetic ExecutionprimaryPlatform Philosophy: Modular vs. Dedicated CabinetsprimaryPre-Order and Deposit Practices / Financial Health SignalsprimaryMarketing Execution and Target Audience AlignmentsecondaryMechanical Innovation and Ball ActionsecondaryCompetitive Positioning vs. Jersey Jack and Sternsecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.35)— Kaneda strongly praises theme execution, visual assets, and the Cliffs of Insanity mechanic as best P3 game to date, but delivers scathing critique of pricing ($11.5k–$13.75k), three-tier edition confusion, flat aesthetics lacking 3D sculpts, character absence under glass, permanent sword installation creating dedicated-cabinet contradictions, and predatory presale tactics (deposits 4–5 months before production). Net sentiment is: game quality is strong but business execution, customer strategy, and value proposition are fundamentally flawed. Personal conclusion: not worth the money.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.061

all right everybody welcome to canada's pinball podcast the best thing to happen to haggis pinball this week is multimorphic has a new game the princess bride it got revealed today Now, look, I think I told you, I don't know, like how many months ago that this was going to be a multi-morphic game. Now we know. And so let's talk about The Princess Bride. Is this the nicest P3 multi-morphic game to date? Will this be the game that makes people jump into the platform? What do we know about this game? Should we start with the theme itself? All right. So Princess Bride. It's a movie that came out in 1987. It had a budget of $16 million and it made $30 million at the box office. So it was kind of a box office bust. But this movie kind of became a cult classic when it went to VHS. Like how many of you out there went to Blockbuster and rented The Princess bride. And I think what makes this movie so iconic and so timeless, it just had so much fun fantasy stuff happening in this movie. You had a giant, you had pirates, you had large swamp rats, you had a king, you had a queen, you had love, you had a castle, you had a torture chamber, it had comedy, it had action, it had some of the most memorable lines that to this day, people still remember. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. And now we have a pinball machine based on the Princess Bride. We've got interesting mechanisms in the game. And I'm looking at the game right now. And I want to just give you my overall feelings on the game. I haven't played it yet. Nobody has played it yet. And that was my first feeling about this reveal was so you reveal it on President's Day everybody is off so that's not a bad time to reveal a game everybody's around their computers with nothing else to do and then you drop the game on the world and order banks open tomorrow now you know me I would still wait it out like why would you order a game tomorrow and at the pace at which Multimorphic is making games you're not gonna miss out on any edition of this game. They're going to make 500 collector's editions at $13,750. They're going to make 750 limited edition versions of this game for $12,750. And then it seems like they're going to make a standard edition, which is not that cheap either, people. The standard edition of this game is going to be $11,500. And you can get a base P3 machine for $8,500, which I don't even think comes with a game. Now, before we get into the different versions of the games, let me just give you my overall thoughts on the game itself. I saw the video. I'm not sure who that woman was in the video. I want to give Jerry some marketing advice. I'm not sure who that is playing the game but you get one chance to release your game to the world it's based on the princess bride you should have had someone dress up like the dread pirate roberts or whatever his name is in the movie instead of just having a random woman play the game like you know that 98 of the pinball buying demographic is like middle-aged men like do something that sells to your audience. I don't know if you're trying to convey that like, oh yeah, your wives are going to love this game if you get it. So it was a little bit funny to me when I saw the expressions on that woman's face as she was playing the game. I'm looking at the module right now and you've got the castle in the upper left. You've got the cliffs of insanity on the right. You've got some drop targets that go into different areas of the play field. You've got the green grass that Wesley falls down you know the as you wish you've got two swords up there by the castle and just looking at it right now it definitely does present really nice like I do like the atmospheric essence of this modular kit I do like it the only thing is this as I'm looking at it right now everything does look a little plasticky like there's no sculpts in the game like the rock cliff looks like flat plastic The castle looks like flat plastic And I think what would have made this game stand out even more is if they had actual sculpts in the game Like on that rock surface I want to see more rockiness to it On the castle, I want it to be more 3D sculpted. And I think this is a game where if you're a mod maker, this is going to be a golden opportunity to sort of add some more three-dimensional sculpts to this game because it all does look a little flat. And that was my first takeaway of just looking at the game itself. Now, look, I do like some of the mechs in this game. And I think my favorite one is the Cliffs of Insanity where that pinball is climbing up the cliffs. Like, that is super freaking cool. I hope that mech works every single time. But it just goes to show you in this sport of pinball that we all love, you want to see the ball do really interesting stuff like that. So I thought that was a tremendous, a tremendous way to use a mechanical, must be magnetic way to sort of bring this theme to life. But as I'm looking at the game right now, and I'm looking at the castle and the rocks, it looks like it's got that little hut house. as I look at all over. And this is a thing. It's like this game is following in the footsteps of Labyrinth. And Labyrinth is a similar kind of theme. And Labyrinth had so many beautiful 3D sculpted elements in the game itself. And it's making this game look really flat and really plasticky. So that is one of my gripes in this game is nothing's popping out in a 3D sense. And the other thing I felt when I was looking at the modular part of the game or just the overall game itself, and this can be added, but I think the major thing missing when you look under the glass, what is this movie all about? This movie is all about all of these different iconic characters. As I was looking down at this game, where is everybody? Like nobody is anywhere underneath the glass in physical form. And I really think this game does need some like characters, like some action figures or something underneath the glass. Like let's just take, for example, the Cliffs of Insanity. It just feels like you want to see Wesley there, like even just having the characters at the top, even having Inigo Montoya somewhere like sword fencing, seeing the characters themselves. And I guess they're going to rely heavily on the LCD screen to do that. The whole game feels like the environment of the Princess Bride, but I just don't see any of the characters from the Princess Bride. Now they are all over the cabinets. They're on the Translight. And look, we've got very little gameplay so far on this machine itself. I hear Buffalo Pinball is going to stream this game on Saturday. But here's the thing, everybody. They want to take your money tomorrow. And look, unless you absolutely have loved what you've seen so far, I wouldn't order this game tomorrow. The reason why I would not even order this game anytime soon is Multimorphic is not a company that can make 1,250 games a year. How many games a year are they even making? I don't even think they're making one game a day. And so for a company to come out and say, hey, we're going to make 500 CEs, 750 LEs, and an unlimited number of standard edition games, and they're maybe only making five games a week, and they want to take your money right now, why would you leave a deposit? It just doesn't make any sense. So if you like the game, I would just wait. And you're going to be waiting forever. Even if you order the game in a week or two, you're going to be waiting almost a year to get your game. So we will see more about the gameplay. Looking at the game right now, it looks like a pretty standard fan layout. That ramp up the middle looks pretty wide. That looks pretty easy to hit. It doesn't seem to have as much, right, as much of a wow mech in it as the heist or as a game like Final Resistance. So we shall see how it plays. Look, and there's no getting around it, people. This game is not cheap. The cheapest version of this game is $11,500. Like that's $5,000 more than a Stern Pro. And the $13,750 version of the game, I mean, that's in between a Jersey Jack Elton John Platinum and a Jersey Jack Elton John Collector's Edition. That's $750 more than a Stern LE. So these games are not cheap. So if you're going to go in on one, you really are going to want to go in on this platform. Now, I think Jerry has heard some of the feedback. I like the fact that there's finally artwork on the front of the cabinet. I still not a fan of those three flipper buttons on the sides of the game Even in the video as the woman was playing the game and she was flipping back and forth between like the top flipper button and the bottom flipper button it was just making me anxious watching her flip like that. Jerry, every single pinball machine that's ever come out that has an upper and lower flippers, they all operate using just one flipper button. And I know you can change that into settings. But why are we still here? Nobody who plays pinball wants to relearn how to play pinball on this platform. So here's the other part as I was looking at the feature matrix of the game is like I don't understand a marketing move they're making. And let me explain what I mean by that. So the nicest version of this game is the collector's edition. There will only CBB 500. And each of those comes with a unique Translite, bronze powder coated legs and armor. This is the big one, the decorative cabinet T-mounted swords. You got those Inigo Montoyo swords on each side of the machine. And are those going to interfere with your flipper buttons? Now they have said they do not. They are definitely weird. They are definitely strange, but they definitely fit the theme. You then also get a custom LCD framing back glass, custom launch button, a numbered plaque, a signed certificate of authenticity, and a printed limited edition Translight. I'm just confused. Like you get the collector's edition digital Translight because remember the Translight area on a P3 multimorphic is an LCD screen, but you also get a printed version of the Translight. What's the point of that? Like you don't even need it. You can't even put that into the game. Here's my thing and this is where it makes no sense. So I think to date, you know, we've had Weird Al, we've had Heist, we've had Final Resistance. I think this is the nicest P3 to date. Jerry, congratulations. You finally are starting to show people that this platform can work if you get the right theme on it And I like all the clips. I like all the assets. I like that you got all the call outs and it's all synced up. I mean, this feels like it's going to translate the movie really nicely in pinball format. Here's my thing about what they're doing here. So imagine if you've supported Jerry from day one, right? Imagine if you went all in on a multi-morphic and you bought Lexi Lightspeed, Cosmic Kart Racing, you bought Heist, you bought Weird Al. You've bought every single Jerry machine he's ever made. And now you cannot have the nicest version of the Princess Bride, which is the nicest game that's come out to date on the P3 Multimorphic platform because he won't allow you to upgrade your machine to be a collector's edition. I think that is a colossal marketing mistake. And I understand why they're doing it, right? It's like these cabinets are going to have the Inigo Montoyo swords on the cabinets. I don't think those are going to come on and off. Okay, so now it also starts to get weird because think about it. You spend $13,750 on the collector's edition of the Princess Bride pinball machine and you've got these two swords attached to your cabinet. So what happens when you put in Lexi Lightspeed? swords, it all of a sudden doesn't work. And it just starts to beg the question. It's like Jerry's almost making what people have been asking for from day one. He's making a cabinet that's dedicated to a theme. And now all of a sudden, this seems to be like a weird sort of middle ground with his entire philosophy. Do you take those swords off? Do they even come off? It doesn't look like they're going to come off. They have to be on there pretty sturdy, especially if you're rocking the machine around. And so now you got to go all in on a dedicated Princess Bride cabinet. And if you buy this for $13,750, what happens when the next P3 multi-morphic game comes out? Are you going to be ripping off the stickers on this game and putting in a new modular game, but then you've got swords stuck on the side of your machine? So it doesn't really make sense. And it still opens the door to the conversation Jerry doesn't want to have, which is if this company just made a dedicated cabinet, they would be much more successful. And that was sort of like my first day takeaway of looking at this game. The other mistake I think he's making from a marketing standpoint is the artwork on the collector's edition should be unique. It's the same exact artwork that's on the limited edition. Why is it that the only unique art package is on the standard edition game Like the cheapest version of the game should not have the unique art package And it does And it like if only they would call up Kaneda and run this stuff by me, I could help them out. And I know what Jerry's trying to do. I know what he's trying to do. He wants to find new buyers. He wants to entice new people to go all in on the platform. But as I just said, like it doesn't really make any sense. And if you want to put the heist in it, you've got swords on the side of your game. And even like when I'm going through the pin side thread, there's just so much confusion with the multi morphic platform. And if I pay this much, I get this and a cabinet that's empty is 8500. And then it's 3000 over here and 3700 over here and it's 5000 over here and you're saving $700 if you do this, it's all over the place. And I don't think that's good. I think there's too much confusion about what to get. And it almost just feels like, Jerry, there should just be one version of the game. I think if there was just one version of this game, like there's one version of Labyrinth, and he said, hey, we're only making a thousand Princess Bride games. They all cost this. They all come with the topper. They come with this and that. And that's how you do it. I don't think Jerry is in a position to offer three versions of a game, especially a company that can't manufacture that quickly, Jerry. Like it just makes more sense. Just have one assembly line making the same exact game over and over and over again. you don't have the ability to customize it like this. It's just gonna slow down your manufacturing. And my overall thoughts as I was looking at this game, I think most of you out there, this looks like the nicest P3 game to date. I think this has piqued a lot of our curiosity. I think everybody wants to play it. I think it looks like a fun game. And I'm just asking myself, do you wanna spend this much money on it? and that's the big question mark and I don't know right I mean I know personally I'm not going to spend this much money on a multi-morphic I like the theme and I can't wait to play it but again it's just too much money for me 13.7 for a collector's edition and then if you buy another modular kit you're in another $3,500 now you're trying to sell almost a $17,000 package if you want to sell this game on the secondhand market? $17,000. It's just too much. Ultimately, the market's going to decide whether or not Jerry's business model is going to work. To date, it hasn't been the most successful. Right now, I would still much rather buy an Elton John Platinum for $12,000 over a Multimorphic. You could get a Jaws Pro is basically $5,000 cheaper than a standard edition of a multi-morphic like that's a lot of money people so we shall see I'm obviously going to do more shows on this game when we see streaming on Saturday but we have a new pinball game in the world and the final point is this this game is not going on the line until the summer so why did Jerry reveal it now like it's still basically winter time we're not even at spring and he wants to take orders on this game tomorrow. I don't like this. This game is like four to five months away from actually being on the line and he wants to lock in deposit money now. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't give deposit money to Haggis. I wouldn't give deposit money to anybody. Make these companies make these games. Make these companies make these games without your money. Let them ship these games to distributors And when that game is on a shelf at a distributor, then buy the game. We all need to change our behavior. There's no reason why anybody should be ordering this game tomorrow. It's not going to be on the line for four to five months. And this activity of needing money now, it also makes me feel like these companies are not doing well financially because if they were, they wouldn't be taking money four to five months in advance. They just wouldn't be doing it. Everybody have a great Monday. My voice is gone. I'm still not feeling 100%. I think I did too much on Saturday Morning Spectacular, but I'll talk to you soon. Later. © transcript Emily Beynon