Episode 1052: "Barrels of Kong Potter"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·24m 0s·held·Feb 14, 2025

Analysis

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TL;DR

Kaneda skeptical of Jersey Jersey Jack Pinball, praises D&D's code innovation, questions TPF's industry luster.

Summary

Kaneda discusses the pinball market's current lull period, expressing skepticism about Harry Potter reveal location and Jersey Jack's ability to deliver a compelling game. He analyzes Dungeons & Dragons' innovative code-driven design, criticizes Chicago Gaming Company two-year production delays, and questions whether Texas Pinball Festival still holds industry relevance as a major reveal venue.

Key Claims

Harry Potter pinball will NOT be revealed at Texas Pinball Festival
high confidence · Kaneda stated this as definitive: 'You will not see Harry Potter at Texas Pinball Festival. That is 100% not happening'
Barrels of Fun is rallying to reveal their next game at TPF but it's unlikely to happen
medium confidence · Kaneda: 'I heard they are rallying to get their next game revealed at TPF. But I also heard all of the stars have to align if they're going to achieve that and it's not looking likely.'
Kaneda was a finalist for a Twippies Awards
high confidence · Kaneda: 'I got a Zoom invite that I am a finalist' for the Twippies Awards
Harry Potter expectations should be curbed; the game will likely be sparsely loaded with toys/mechanics
medium confidence · Kaneda: 'I heard Kaneda you should curb your expectations on Harry Potter pinball... I think it's gonna be a little barren' based on recent Jersey Jack titles lacking toys
Jersey Jack has not exceeded expectations on a theme since Guns N' Roses
medium confidence · Kaneda: 'When was the last time Jersey Jack Pinball exceeded your expectations on a theme... I think the last game you might have said that on, maybe Guns N' Roses'
Godfather CE has lost $7,000 in value since launch
medium confidence · Kaneda: 'This game has lost $7,000 in value if you bought a CE' in response to Jersey Jack calling it a masterpiece
Stern Pinball produces approximately 800 games per week
medium confidence · Kaneda: 'Stern Pinball makes 800 games a week!'
Pulp Fiction took over two years to deliver approximately 500 units
high confidence · Kaneda: 'Pulp Fiction's 500 have been made after like two years of waiting? More than two years of waiting?'
Multimorphic has not sold more than approximately 700 units after 12 years

Notable Quotes

“You will not see Harry Potter at Texas Pinball Festival. That is 100% not happening”
Kaneda @ early in episode — Definitive statement about a major IP reveal location, directly contradicting potential community speculation
“Jersey Jack Pinball, when you lift the hood on them, are empty and they're $12 to $15,000”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Criticism of Jersey Jack's recent design philosophy and value proposition
“This game is D&D in pinball form and I love how they did it. I love everything about the translation of Dungeons and Dragons as a pinball machine.”
Kaneda @ discussing D&D pinball — High praise for Stern's thematic integration and code-driven design approach in D&D
“When you're great, other people will say it. You don't call yourself great.”
Kaneda (citing Walter Payton) @ critiquing Jersey Jack's 'masterpiece' claim — Philosophical critique of Jersey Jack's self-promotion vs. market reception
“I don't like that they revealed the game, took everybody's deposits, and then said nothing to all of us for two years and then when they finally released the game they were smug about it.”
Kaneda @ discussing Chicago Gaming — Core criticism of Chicago Gaming's business practices and communication strategy
“For a lot of people out there, this isn't why you play pinball. You don't want to play pinball to go on an RPG role-playing adventure.”
Kaneda @ analyzing D&D appeal — Acknowledges D&D's niche appeal and design philosophy diverges from traditional pinball players
“If you're proud of what you've made, and I know you are, then just tell us how many you've sold. Why is that a mystery?”
Kaneda @ challenging Multimorphic/Jerry — Public challenge to Multimorphic's transparency about unit sales figures
“There is nobody I respect more in pinball than George Gomez”

Entities

Kanedaperson Texas Pinball Festival (TPF)eventEd Vander VeenpersonDavid Van Esperson[name withheld pending review]personStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack Pinballcompany

Signals

?
machine_intel: Harry Potter pinball will not be revealed at Texas Pinball Festival; Kaneda speculates it should be revealed at Universal/Wizarding World or via high-production video, not at PinTastic
high · Kaneda: 'You will not see Harry Potter at Texas Pinball Festival. That is 100% not happening... If they were smart, they would reveal this game in Orlando, at Universal, at WizardingWorld.'
?
product_concern: Harry Potter expected to have minimal toys/mechanics based on recent Jersey Jack design pattern (Avatar, Godfather, Elton John, Guns N' Roses all toy-sparse)
medium · Kaneda: 'I heard Kaneda you should curb your expectations on Harry Potter pinball... I think it means that this game is not gonna be loaded. I think it's gonna be a little barren... Jersey Jack Games, when you lift the hood on them, are empty and they're $12 to $15,000.'
?
event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival's status as industry reveal venue appears diminished; no major announcement expected for 2025 event
medium · Kaneda: 'I don't think anything is gonna be revealed or announced brand new at Texas Pinball Festival and it does beg the question, has TPF lost its luster?... With Expo and Pinball at the Beach, I think the show has just lost some of its luster.'
~
sentiment_shift: Jersey Jack Pinball facing credibility crisis with community; recent games have failed to meet expectations and value retention is poor
high · Kaneda: 'Godfather CE has lost $7,000 in value... Jersey Jack is calling its Godfather Pinball Machine a masterpiece. Are you freaking kidding me?... I think all of us are probably expecting Jersey Jack to fumble this game.'
?

Transcript

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the Toby Pneumonic, Black Water, person's name or role at Stern Pinballregation or back trucsend timing and time, description, etc. To the world's maybe favorite pinball podcast? We're gonna find out. I got an invite to the Twippies Award sometime this month. It's like next Saturday or in two Saturdays. I think it's two Saturdays from now. And I got a Zoom invite that I am a finalist. Wow, maybe we're gonna win it this year. Who knows? I'm not sure. But I do know something that is for sure. You will not see Harry Potter at Texas Pinball Festival. That is 100% not happening and so, now the wait continues. And I know for a lot of you out there, we're in this lull period right now. We're watching streams of Dungeons and Dragons by Joel at Flippin' Out. That was really good. We're gonna talk about that. Pulp Fiction LE's 500 have been made after like two years of waiting? More than two years of waiting? So that's, I don't know. Do you You take credit for taking two years to get 500 games made? Stern Pinball makes 800 games a week! We've got Evil Deads are gonna start rolling out to customers. Spooky Pinball seems to have a lot of mojo, a lot of momentum, a lot of people in their corner. Barrels of fun, this is some news. I hit up David Van Ness and I said, hey David, just let us know if it's not Dune, because I'm hearing it's not Dune. So I hit him up. I'm like, can you just like confirm if it's not that one theme and he refuses to confirm or deny that they have Dune Pinball. He's like, what would be the fun in that? And so barrels of fun continues to just want us to guess. I don't think it's Dune. I think Jason Roofer started that rumor. He's convinced it's Dune, but I don't think it is from what I've heard from my other friends over at barrels of fun. The other thing that's interesting is this. This company, their home show is Texas Pinball Festival and I heard they are rallying to get their next game revealed at TPF. But I also heard all of the stars have to align if they're going to achieve that and it's not looking likely. So I don't think anything is gonna be revealed or announced brand new at Texas Pinball Festival and it does beg the question, has TPF lost its luster? It used to be the show when Kim and Ed were running TPF. It was like the show. It was the show that most people went to. It was the biggest show and it did seem like the pinball manufacturers did want to reveal their games around Tor guildesar, SPD las, intimacy.covid16 gentleman, or weather and Hello, it's Gary with SpotifyWang. My phone just Australlinate, My computer isие consumo, Delункboy limbczakez, I miss the twippies being live at TPF. That was one of the main reasons I would go. I just think with Expo and Pinball at the Beach, I don't know, I think the show has just lost some of its luster. And I just want to say this. If you live down there and it's your show, I'm happy for you. People get very mad and territorial over their shows. And I see people like on my Facebook page when I confirmed that Harry Potter was not going to be at TPF. and then when people respond saying well now they're not gonna go people are chiming in being like it's your loss like you're gonna miss a great show and it's like come on gang like we're allowed to save some money not go to every single pinball show and only go to pinball shows when maybe there's a more compelling reason to go you know you're gonna spend a thousand or two thousand dollars going all the way to a pinball show i would rather go somewhere where it's on the beach Tpn. We can go visit the manufacturers and see all of the people behind the games now look. I still think a lot of Manufacturers are gonna be at tpf so if you go to tpf you're gonna meet all the people from spooky and jersey jack and stern Pinball and there's still gonna be Hundreds of Pinheads there I just won't be going this year Would I go to the twip ease down in Houston and my friends over at wormhole? Maybe you know maybe like come on like Canadian's been waiting for an I know people fly Kerry Hardyplaces, they fly other personalitiesplaces, Canadian Pinball Podcast, six years in a row the favorite pinball podcast and I still don't get any of the VIP treatment. They still don't give me plaques and they don't give me like all-star cards and they don't give me any special privileges and guess what everybody sometimes I'm happy to be the black sheep of this entire pinball content space. You know you hear these other guys they have to say Shreem K Wheatley outgoing Yup Yes Guy Aww I'm a pinball hygienist tagline File Love the swa it was respects stadishampa had got in mon algo torte the slingshot that you can even hit And I get you got some interesting ideas going on But how many of you out there want a road trip theme I don get it I just don get it And I allowed not to like it Playingbook Versions Exp prices nationwide Best購S bauen Pins, Comes Junk library-New Yorkります Society Razaarntani, Financier by the way, said in the comments section below that he is a good ambassador for pinball. So no Harry Potter at TPF, maybe Beryl's next game which maybe is Dune or not Dune. It's funny, my friend Gabe, Gabe listens to the show, Gabe thinks that Harry Potter is going to be unveiled at Pintastic. Gabe, let me tell you right now, Harry Potter, one of the biggest themes in the history of pinball, is not going to be unveiled at Pintastic. It's just not Atpicpinball with the most expensive IP they've ever had, one of the most expensive IPs in all of pinball is not going to reveal the game and bring it to the world for the first time ever at pintastic. If they were smart, they would reveal this game in Orlando, at Universal, at WizardingWorld. This game should be revealed in a magical way and nothing against pintastic. It's the 10-year anniversary. I have a hard time believing that the most The best pinball show is going to be at Pintastic. Look, you don't need a pinball show to reveal Harry Potter. All you got to do is put up that video. And look, if this company spent $100,000 on an Avatar launch video, they better spend that much or more on the Harry Potter video and it's going to be crazy gang. The end of the show. Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll see you next time. Bye. But here's what I heard. I heard Kaneda you should curb your expectations on Harry Potter pinball. What does that mean? I think it means that this game is not gonna be loaded. I think it's gonna be a little barren and we didn't see any toys in Avatar. We didn't see any toys in Godfather. There's not many toys in Elton John. There weren't many toys in The Game That you want to be loaded with stuff everybody wants Harry Potter to be Pirates of the Caribbean 2.0 We know it's not going to be a wide body We know Jersey Jack is like cutting costs while they're charging more for their product There weren't any toys and guns and roses. It's been a long time, right? It's been like four or five titles now Jersijac Games. When you lift the hood on them, are empty and they're $12 to $15,000. So, why do we think Harry Potter is all of a sudden gonna go back to the old ways of Jersijac and giving you a loaded pinball? We all want it to be that way, but look gang, Eric Min Kelly PIvaner's made three games, or the more famous by … Not to sound half that nazarCalphie Priestya. only one is loaded with stuff. The other two are empty when it comes to toys, Mechs and magical things the ball does. They're empty. So, I don't know. I really don't know what to expect. I think all of us are probably expecting Jersey Jack to fumble this game. You know why we feel this way? They did it to themselves. Because Jersey Jack, think about it. When was the last time Jersijack Pinball exceeded your expectations on a theme. When was the last time you saw one of their games and you say, wow, that's amazing how they engineered that. Look at what the ball does there. What an incredible new innovation in pinball. That is so cool. It's been so long since we've said that. I think the last game you might have said that on, maybe Guns N' Roses because that's the first time we saw the light show. Just pick any pun. and the So Joel did a really great stream of this game and I watched about 30 minutes of it and I will say this Joel the way he talks about the rules and he understands the game it a really really great way if you want to learn about a new machine I highly recommend you watch his videos they are very informative they are very entertaining and they are some of the best pinball tutorials if you will and the world so Joel and team over there thank you for those videos and I will say after watching D for 30 minutes I just not sure if I love the game or if it would become too confusing but I will say what they have done with this game might be one of the best interpretations of a theme in the history of pinball because this game is D in pinball form and I love how they did it. I love everything about the translation of Dungeons and Dragons as a pinball machine. So if you buy this game, you are going to go on a D&D adventure. You are going to start where you left off. You're going to look down at the map and see what villages you've visited, what modes you've completed, and what modes and battles you failed at. I love that. There is also this amazing thing in the code. I love it. The It's like when you have your long-range weapon You can actually hit a shot without even flipping if you know you have to hit the red arrow You can hit your long-range weapon and this blue light sweeps across the different arrows and inserts and if you line up the blue with the red shot you need to hit you hit the Button on the lock down bar and it hits the shot for you. I freaking love that I freaking love it. And this is the thing when I watch a Stern game and this is me playing Guns and Roses all day long in Jersey Jack where there's too many lights, everything's lit up, you usually have no idea what you're shooting at. I just love that a Stern machine you kind of understand what you need to do. And even though their lighting is a little archaic, it still really works well for pinball. And I also think this game shoots really well. It might be Brian Eddy's best layout is what people are saying. I do think for the theme itself, I'm just gonna say this, for the theme itself, and I know there's the big dragon there and there's the gelatinous cube, I just think there should be a little bit more. There's something about like watching the game being played, there's really not that many toys in the game. There are big toys in the game like the dragon, but the dragon's not really in play that often when you watch the stream of the game. So I wish there was a little bit more, but man, this thing is all about the code. It's all about feeling like you're playing a game of D&D in a pinball machine. And look, I think for the people who love D&D, this is going to be maybe the best pinball machine you ever own. And I'm just not sure if you don't love D&D, you're going to get the hours of excitement from the game. And I could see people feeling like there's too much going on. It's too confusing. I don't want to do this. For a lot of people out there, this isn't why you play pinball. You don't want to play pinball to go on an RPG role-playing adventure. You want pinball to be more fast, more immediate, easier to understand and progress through a game. But I think what's great about pinball in 2025 is just the variety we have, right? It's like you don't have to buy this game, but if you want a game like this, I'm really happy a game like this exists. And if you look at Stern's portfolio of games, it's insane. It really is insane. Stern Pinball every three to four months puts out a new game. And they have everything from music to comics to movies to D&D. Like they've got something for everybody. And you can't say that about every single pinball company. When you look at Spooky Pinball, it's like they're still kind of in that spooky horror theme. And I don't think they make something for everybody. And I think Spooky Pinball is going to How to deliver more variety in the future because they know better than anybody now that theme is everything and you don't want to get pigeonholed into just one type of theme over and over and over again. We really are in this amazing period in this hobby where there is something for everybody. The fact that we have a Pulp Fiction Pinball Machine available finally is a great thing. Now look I just wanna say this too because I get into arguments with people about Pulp Fiction. I will never tell you on my podcast that I think Pulp Fiction is a bad game. I know the one at Ethereum was set up floaty and I know that that's not how the game plays. My thing with Pulp Fiction is simply this. I don't like Chicago Gaminging Company. I don't like that they revealed the game, took everybody's deposits, and then said nothing to all of us for two years and then when they finally released the game they were smug about it. I don't like that. I don't agree with you people that say I'm just happy they took their time and got it right. No! I'm not happy about that. There was no reason why they should have revealed the game when they did. Explain to me why it would take two years after you have the game fully made, fully engineered, All the parts you need, why would it take two years? It makes absolutely no sense. And so I'm allowed to, as a grown adult, just not like a brand and not like a company. Like I don't want to wear certain brands clothing. I don't want to buy CGC games because of how they've operated as a company. And so I don't care what they make. I was really excited about Pulp Fiction two years ago, and now I'm no longer excited about it because of CBC It the same reason why I like I really excited about Spooky Pinball because of the people at Spooky Pinball I always excited about what next from Stern Pinball because of the people at Stern Pinball There nobody I respect more in pinball than George Gomez There no better designer in pinball than Keith Elwin There no better software team than the people over at Stern pinballffffff unless they working on x then you get the worst software team in pinball but I respect those people a lot and I look forward to what they gonna do next Atmicophren I can say the same thing about Jersey Jack I really can Atmicloyd I wish I could Atmicyscy Jersey Jack to me needs their George Gomez and they don have it Atmicyscy They don have their George Gomez Atmicyscy It not Steve Ritchie Atmicyscy It not Brett Abbas Proud professor Kr scriptures Donis Preserve Secretsип BullệŞ드� anarch null Jump, Kobytes foreby score Enfin equal, So I don't think banquet item here after I was very concerned about the experiment idea. I work hard and I'm very well off with the efforts that I was nice because I personally time retaliatory separation for letting be made by the I working hard I think mean I was in charge of that idea and mostly it was a little very short pea bell and I was a point I think the language is that kö collapse Jack's over there, everyone's over there, Tom Capera's over there, and these are people that know what makes a pinball masterpiece. I saw a Facebook post the other day, Jersey Jack is calling its Godfather Pinball Machine a masterpiece. Are you freaking kidding me? A masterpiece? This game has lost $7,000 in value if you bought a CE. $7,000! And you're gonna call it a masterpiece. It's like Walter Payton said, when you're great, other people will say it. You don't call yourself great. And so that's where we're at. You know, I want Jersey Jack to do a 180. I want Jersey Jack to blow us away with Harry Potter. I want it to finally click for these guys. They need a game. They need a game that shows us they just get it. They get how to theme integrate. They get how to put magic in a game. They get how to give us real people. Out Pinball Fun and Real Substance not just lights and art, not just a big screen. They need to make a game that just hits the right way. Elton John was the closest they got to just giving us a great shooting game, but most of us don't want Elton John as a theme. And then there's like all these other companies, right? Isn't it nuts? It's like we spend a lot of time talking about JJP, Stern Pinball, CGC, Spooky Pinball. What's next from pinball? What about Padretti? Is anyone talking about what's next from Padretti Gaminging? I think it's Totin. Or the Pinball Brothers, what's next from those guys? They're not going away. We've got Jerry with his Portal game maybe coming out. Is that going to sell? I don't know man. Jerry is just funny to me. Like, multi-morphic is just this thing that's going on always. It's kind of like a renaissance fair, right? It's like they go on around the country but are you really going to go to one? No. and like yeah people there look like they're having fun and I guess P3 Multimorphic owners are having somewhat of a good time but it's just after 10 or 12 years of this experiment of these swappable modular pinball machines and he hasn't sold more than one spooky title. I mean think about that gang he hasn't sold more Multimorphics and he won't tell us how many he sold. This is my challenge to Jerry and everybody over at If you're proud of what you've made, and I know you are, then just tell us how many you've sold. Why is that a mystery? We know it's not a lot, but it's probably more than we think. Maybe, I would say, I don't think after 12 years of this platform they've sold 700 units. And if I'm wrong, The Team tell me I'm wrong and tell us the number everybody look it's Valentine's day I love that you subscribe to this show We are in a little bit of a period where we're just waiting a lot of us are waiting to play Evil Dead I'm gonna go to automate it and play D&D soon, but we're still waiting We're waiting for that next pin to really blow us away much Coatiila 재�하신きます, any more rupees and The the guess, and they are full this whole that gave is the minute baseball garland its the sun Who and the pinball brothers are going to come out with predator is there going to be like something we didn't see coming happen in twenty twenty five on the site it's a watch it all happen I will keep you entertained every single week you know me even if there's not news you're going to tune in two to three times a week and we're going to have fun talking about the hobby we love everybody have a great valentine's day Kinada Out!