It's Carolina, tails California, maybe she'd fall for a boy from South Georgia. She's got the bar in the palm of her hand, and she's a 90's country fan, like I am. Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up. Ah, happy Monday morning everybody, the sun is shining, we are finally going to get James Bond pinball. I'm super happy for everybody in this hobby. I'm happy for you, the community members, you the collectors, you the pinball buyers, because come this Thursday, you're finally going to get your chance to buy this James Bond game. I'm happy for all of the dealers and distributors out there. They're finally going to get a hot new game to sell. I think they're going to get this George Gomez, what's looking to be like a George Gomez masterpiece. I think sales for this game are going to be incredible. So I'm happy for every one of you guys out there. I'm also happy for all the modders out there because there's going to be some cool stuff to add to this game, and I'm especially happy for all the pinball content creators who have been MIA throughout this entire crazy week and a half of James Bond failed launches. It's incredible. I can't wait to hear their shows, and I can't wait to see if they give Canada credit for predicting this Keith Elwin fourth version street level game. Everybody, welcome to Canada's Pinball Podcast. We are at 555 club members. Thank you so much for your support. Let's get right into it. So first and foremost, before we get to James Bond, we have to talk about Spinal Tap. So Home Pin finally revealed this game, and they showed the world what they've been working on for many, many years. Remember, this game has been a few years in development. It doesn't look like it. It doesn't look like there's much mechs in the game. It doesn't look like there was a lot of effort with the artwork. There's no inner art blades. I just gotta say this. There are no inner art blades on a game that's costing, are you sitting down? $9,500. This game is more money than a Stern Premium. This game is more money than a Spooky Machine. It's more money than TNA 2.0. And I'm just going to say this, at $9,500, I think they're going to struggle to sell 95 of these things. I mean, it's just too much for what's in this pin. And then you have to ask yourself, how do they actually get sales for this game at this price point. Like you have to be the biggest diehard Spinal Tap fan. And you also have to be willing to be someone who wants to lose thousands of dollars on day one, because why would you buy this game at 9,500? Like let someone else buy it. Let someone else take the hit. And then we're going to see these games on the used market for much less than $9,500. Now Mike's going to have to make a handful of these, right? He has to have ordered the parts. He has to have made the cabinets and the playfields. But looking down at this game in 2022 with no real toys or mechs, no good art package, they messed up the entire joke about Spinal Tap with the dial going to 11. I mean, how do you not engineer for $9,500 a physical dial in the game? Like that could have been in the back of the game and it turns. Like the whole point is to physically turn the dial to 11. There's really nothing happening in this game. It feels like a lot of off-the-shelf parts. But the problem with Mike is he's making all of it himself. And this is what happens. If you have to make every single part for your pinball machine, I bet it's costing him this much money to put this game together. But you're not going to see the value because there are existing vendors in the world that make so many of these parts. And for Mike to make it all in-house is fine. But then you get a game like this. You got a game that's got less in it than a Stern Pro that costs $3,000 more than a Stern Pro. I mean, this game is pretty much dead on arrival. I don't think you're going to see many people buy it. I'm also confused by that DMD below the LCD screen. It's like it's just looping clips from the movie. Clearly, they don't have the ability to put stuff on the big screen the way Jersey Jack does. They just don't have the team. They don't have the animators. They don't have the coders. So I think this game, even though it was just revealed, I feel like this game is going to be a little bit like a tree falling in the forest. I don't think anyone's going to pay attention to it. And then the attention comes to this Thursday. So this Thursday, the wait is going to be over. We are going to see James Bond for the third time. But this will be the official reveal of the game. I think everyone is super excited. I think the more we've been looking at this game, the more people who have studied this game and the HD images that leaked on that James Bond fan site, the more we look at this game, how do you not get excited? And I mean this. I know a lot of people are like, Kaneda, you hyped Wonka. And Kaneda, you hyped Toy Story. But people, listen to me. When I hyped Toy Story, and when I said Toy Story was going to be Pat Lawler's greatest hits, guess what? I wasn't able to see the game. If I had seen it and seen Toy Story 4, There is no way I would have picked up the mic and told you it's going to be Pat Lawler's greatest hits and that the game is loaded. Each and every one of us, we are looking at what James Bond is. And it is freaking loaded. There is more in this game than Godzilla. There is more in this game than Lord of the Rings. There is way more in this game than Batman 66. And here's what's exciting. There's more than Deadpool. Like, I think this is George Gomez most packed Stern machine ever. Name me another Gomez pin at Stern that has as much in it as this You know it right up there with Lord of the Rings It so freaking cool how much is in this game And every time I see this game it just feels like this is George Gomez response to Steve Ritchie. It just does. Like, it's crazy when you think about the fact that Steve Ritchie was working on this game originally. Steve Ritchie, who made Game of Thrones, who made Star Wars, who made Led Zeppelin, all three of those games don't really have that much in it. Now, either George Gomez, because he runs Stern Pinball, just increased the bomb for him? And even if he did, who cares? We're all going to benefit from what's in this game, because I think this game is a statement game by George Gomez. What's scary about looking at James Bond and how loaded it is, is how do you now compete with Stern Pinball? How does anybody else compete with this? If these guys are going to put this much into their games, and they're going to have the best coders in pinball right now, and they're going to have three to four games a year. How do you compete with this? Because even if James Bond isn't your cup of tea, here's the scary part. Within 12 months from now, we will see a game from Brian Eddy, a game from Jack Danger, and a game from Keith Elwin within the next 12 months. Meanwhile, every other pinball company out there in the next 12 months, what are you going to get? You're going to get one machine from Spooky, Scooby-Doo. Do you think bug and team over there can design a game as good as George Gomez and Keith Elwin? Do they have the resources? I don't know. We shall see. You're going to get one game from American Pinball, even though David Fix has this delusion that they're going to have four lines going, as if there's going to be new demand for Houdini. Who the heck wants Houdini when you've got games like James Bond popping? You're going to get one game from them, the Dennis Nordman game. Then you're going to get maybe another game from CGC. I doubt it. Maybe Pulp Fiction, single level game from CGC. They can't even get the Cactus Canyons made in a year. You're not going to get another licensed game from Multimorphic P3. Nothing. Nothing. The only other company that could really get in the ring with Stern and punch back at its weight was Jersey Jack Pinball. And then the question becomes, when are we going to see Godfather? You know, Eric Minier and Christopher Franchi's Godfather. Are we going to get two Jersey Jack games out within 12 months? I hope so. But the track record over at JJP has shown us they have never been able, never been able in this company's 10-year history to get two games out a year, to even just reveal two games a year. So it's absolutely looking like Stern Pinball is about to clobber everybody. So we know this game is loaded. The other big question is this, what is the LE going to be? They've done a good job keeping the LE a mystery, right? Do you guys notice that? Like the assets have all been for the pro and premium of the machine. Now, normally when Stern gives its assets out to like its partners, like the James Bond fan club, I'm surprised that they didn't have the Ellie ready to go, which leads me to believe that Stern is really keeping this Ellie back for a reason. I think it's gonna be something really special. I also think it's going to be Thunderball. I don't think it's gonna be GoldenEye. I think it's going to be Thunderball. The Thunderball art package is beautiful. I think that's what it's going to be. And then I think there's gonna be the fourth special 60th anniversary James Bond by Keith Elwin. You know, you've heard it enough. Like, I don't have to say it anymore. You heard it enough. But do me a favor. There are still people commenting being like, Kaneda, you're wrong that it's Keith Elwin because it's a George Gomez pin. Everybody, they're doing two separate games. Gomez is doing the three cornerstones. And then Elwin is doing the special anniversary edition street level game. Pay attention, people. It's really easy to follow this. All right. So look, this Thursday, here's what I think is going to happen. I think this game is already sold out. I think everyone realizes that this is going to be a special machine. I think everyone realizes if you get an LE, you're not going to lose any money. Now, how much are they going to charge for these games? There's a rumor that Stern might raise the prices by $1,000. And is $1,000 going to keep you guys away from this machine? Here's what I think is going to happen. I think you're going to see the premium be $9,500. And I think we're going to see the LE be $12,000. That's my prediction. A $12,000 LE and a $9,500 premium. I think they're going to keep their LE at the same price as a Jersey Jack LE. It's a lot of money, people. This is a lot of money for pinball. I think everyone has forgotten something. Just a few years ago, like four years ago, a Stern LE was like eight grand. We are now seeing a 50% increase in price of the games. And that's not the only part. Not only are these games 50% more than they used to be, they're making twice as many LEs. The scarcity is no longer there, and now they're making 50% more on each game they sell. The crazy part is there's way more than 1,000 people who want to get their hands on an LE. Now look, make sure you email me if you're a club member before this Thursday and put your name in the drawing for a James Bond LE. I'm going to do the drawing at the coin taker tailgating party. The way it's going to work, you have to tell me your name and your phone number. At 11 a.m., I am going to draw seven names out of a hat. 007 will win the game, and I'm going to call you in real time. If you do not pick up when Kaneda calls, we go on to the next secret agent. So make sure you're by your phone. I have to say there been a bunch of entries but you might as well throw your name into the hat okay So make sure you do that and we doing it this Saturday at 11 Eastern Standard Time The LE is just a no if you can get your hands on one because it gonna go up in value It just is. Like this game, I'm telling you right away, the secondhand market, even if it's 12, we're gonna see this thing sell on the secondhand market for $15,000, $16,000 immediately. Absolutely. And then a year from now, I bet it's like $18,000, $19,000. The world's gone crazy. The pinball prices are crazy. I don't think it's worth it. I don't think any of these pins are worth it, but it's just the way it is. Also, if I were you, just be cautious about spending a lot over if you wanna buy it secondhand, because here's the thing. This is a really cool pin, but Stern Pinball has a lot of really cool pins coming. And as I can see from people when I do tours of people's game rooms, people are gonna run out of space. And this hobby is not stopping. Like, there's been so much invested in future titles coming that I still implore each and every one of you, Buy a machine because you love it. Buy a machine because you want it. Don't get caught up in the FOMO. There are many of you out there who haven't even seen a James Bond movie. There are many of you out there who don't even care about Sean Connery, James Bond. So if that's the case, do you really want a $12,000 pinball machine based on something you really don't care about? Now, here's where it gets kind of crazy. This game just might be one of the coolest pinball experiences that Stern Pinball has ever done. and then you just might want it on a pinball level. The other big question mark is who's coding this game? With the multipliers on the playfield and the fact that there's a button on the apron to start multipliers, I think this is gonna be a Dwight Sullivan game. And I think people are on the fence. You know, Dwight's got his fans, he's got his detractors, but we will see what happens with this game. I just feel like because Gomez is overseeing this entire project, I just don't think this game's gonna end up being anything short of a masterpiece because George is involved. I have a lot of faith because this is a George Gomez special and I'm super excited. We're just three days away. The other question I have is this is like, how is Stern going to reveal it now? Are they still over there in the UK? Are they going to do something at some UK event? The other big thing happening is the British Film Institute on September 30th is doing their big James Bond special. So will Stern be there and will they use that moment to bring all of the games out? I think we're going to see the three cornerstones this Thursday. I don't think we're going to see the Keith Elwin machine on Thursday. I think we're going to see that machine at the British Film Institute on the 30th. That is what Canada is predicting. But there is a little bit of a quagmire if you think about them doing it that way. Don't you want to let your buyers know every available James Bond game that will be offered up for sale. Because I could see a problem happening if people lock in their money on premiums or LEs, right? And let's say you buy a $12,000 LE and then you see the street level game and maybe you're a fan of older solid state games and you want that one instead, what will happen? But here's the good news. Here's the good news. Even if that does happen, you're not going to run into a situation like everyone ran into with Spooky and Jersey Jack recently. Let's say you have an LE and you want to give up your spot to get the street level game? Do you think your distributor needs to take a non-refundable deposit on an LE? Do you think your distributor is going to have a hard time finding a new buyer for a James Bond LE? See, that's the thing is there's so much demand. People are lining up to get these Stern machines and people are willing to spend over sticker to get them. There's absolutely no need to lock in your customers with a non-refundable deposit. The exact opposite is happening right now with Jersey Jack. All of these people that went in on CEs and LEs, they now know their games are worth less money than they have to pay the distro. And now they're all frozen and they're all kicking themselves a little bit. How can you not kick yourself when you are seeing people buy new in box CEs for $13,000? You just lost $2,000 and you didn't even take possession of the game yet. You know, I was thinking about Jersey Jack this weekend and I was just wondering like what direction do they go in now? I've got some advice for them and I hope they take me up on this advice. They never take me up on this advice. I don't know. They just make these marketing decisions and I think they're doing it all wrong and I still think they're doing it all wrong. Jersey Jack pinball should always behave more like a high-end boutique and less like a mass-produced product like Stern. They can't beat Stern on volume. They can't. The only thing they can beat Stern on is value and giving you more than Stern would ever give you in a machine. Now, for many years, the Jersey Jack fans would argue that there was a lot more going into JJP machines, but that is no longer the case as we put James Bond next to Toy Story. It's no longer the case. So the only way out for Jersey Jack is they either are going to have to lower their prices, which they can't do now. Because if they lower their prices, there will be a revolt by everyone who bought Toy Story and those people will never buy from them again. Okay, so now we've got Jersey Jack Pinball. They're locked in at 12 for an LE and 15 for a CE. Wow. I mean, that is a really small sandbox to be stuck in and they have to now get out of it. So I think here's what they need to do. They obviously need to pack these games they can't release any more barren pinball machines ever again okay they also have to nail the theme they need to make sure they nail the theme and I'm really nervous if Godfather is the game I am really nervous they are gonna put a theme out into the pinball world that just not as much fun Think about like Godfather and James Bond You know they come from a similar period in culture And look how much fun Sean Connery James Bond pinball looks How do you make Godfather the movie? How do you make it into a fun pinball experience? Because the movie's not really fun. It's dramatic. It's slow. It's a work of art. You know, there's a lot of tension in that movie, a lot of drama, but that doesn't translate well into pinball. Whereas James Bond and Godzilla and themes like that, they just translate much better into a pinball experience. So they got to make sure they get the themes right. And the other thing is this, and I mean this when I say this, Jersey Jack Pinball, if I could give you one piece of advice that you could easily do moving forward, you need to never make more than 500 CEs, especially now that the games are 15,000. You can't make a thousand. Why do you want to parody Stern? Remember, Stern is the mass-produced company. They're the ones who are going to win on volume. JJP, you need to win on details. You need to win on scarcity. You need to work harder to create that FOMO. You need to keep your games more limited so they always feel more special. The moment you said we're going to make a thousand Toy Story CEs, in that instant, that game lost being special. And if it was only 500 available, it would have held its price better than a thousand being available. And why tax your production line the way they're doing it? Like how long is it going to take Jersey Jack to make just the CEs of this game. It's going to take them like three, four months. Stern Pinball will be done with their LEs of James Bond in three weeks. And I think Jersey Jack needs to rethink all of this. And I would happily do a consulting hour with this company so they could tell me some of their realities. But from my vantage point, I just think they're making all of these marketing mistakes. And I think what they're doing too is they're taking what happened with Guns N' Roses. They're seeing the excitement that game created. They're seeing what people were spending on it. It's almost like the entire marketing strategy for Toy Story 4 was what they should have done with Guns N' Roses. And now that they applied it to Toy Story, it's just not working. But they've really painted themselves in a corner. And it's going to be so interesting to see what this company does as we head into the holidays and Toy Story sales have flatlined. I mean, it's going to happen. There's no way they're going to get more demand for this game. And I hate to say it, when people put James Bond next to Toy Story and you see everything that's in James Bond, it's really going to be a no-brainer where the demand goes, where the money goes. If I have to summarize where pinball is at for everybody, the prices are higher than we ever thought we'd get to. But because of that, there's now no middle ground at all in pinball. There is no room for boutiques anymore like Home Pin. If you come out with a game like that for $9,500, you're going to be dead on arrival. If Spooky Pinball's next game is not great, it's going to have a hard time. People are not going to be fooled again and lock their money in. I don't even know how you make money if you're multi-morphic. They can't even build games. You know, these companies that can't even build product, like they take orders and it takes eight months to get you a product. They must just be like breaking even. Like you can't be making a lot of money with such inefficiencies. And I think what we're going to see over the next couple of years, I think Stern is absolutely going to dominate. And I think if the economy slows down, it's going to be really, really hard for these other pinball companies to find buyers. The only way you're going to find a buyer now at $9,000 plus is if you make epic games. If you don't have the talent to make epic pinball machines, then you are not going to find buyers. And it's going to be brutal. Like it is going to be brutal. All of these companies have priced themselves into an area where the games need to be great. If you can't make it great, don't even bother. Everybody, thank you so much for tuning in to Canada's Pinball Podcast. It's going to be a really exciting week. I will be with you along the journey. I'm going to be here on Thursday. I'll be here Wednesday. I'll be here Tuesday. I'll be doing random Facebook lives. I'll be doing this as long as there is news and as long as stuff is happening. I will pick up the mic and give you a show. I really do appreciate all of your support on a monthly basis. You know, isn't it crazy when I do tours of people's game rooms and some of them are not even Canada Club members? I mean, these are gentlemen with like three, four hundred thousand dollars in pinball collections. And they can't even cough up five bucks a month to be a Canada Club member. Each and every one of you listening right now, you do. And I'm so happy for that. Have a great Monday. We'll talk to you soon. I drive her anywhere from here to California when this song is over. I gotta find her cause she had me at Hatch Carolina. She had me at Hatch Carolina. Hatch Carolina. Hatch Carolina. And I'll find the day I found you