What I love the most, and you know, I'm a very peaceful person, listener. So, you know, I'm anti-gun in real life. On movies, I want guns, right? And what I loved about this, I love John Wick, is he doesn't shoot these people once. Oh, no. They've got to have at least three bullets in them, minimum. Boom, boom, boom. Yeah. Oh, fucking hell It is intoxicating I get it I understand why people are saying Why are there no guns On the playfield Or as the shooter Why are there no guns I absolutely I'm there with you brother slash sister I'm there with you Am I losing sleep over it Is the question I'm not Because there's still shit loads of violence in the videos Well, that's the thing. The videos show all that kind of stuff. So if Lionsgate didn't want it, okay, that's fine. There's another thing, too. The first time I saw the art without hearing any piece was like, wow, well done, Randy Martinez, who gave us Mandalorian and has done a lot of work really with Star Wars and stuff. So here's kind of outside the box doing John Wick. And I thought, oh, that looks pretty cool. I like the color scheme. It looks good. I'm looking forward, again, looking forward to playing this game. But you know what? I think this is the best art he's done. It is really, really good. I'm very impressed with it. It's one of those things where it's busy, so there's a lot for your eyes to take in, but it's colourful. This is what I always say. There's a couple of things that you've got to understand. There's the theme, and then there's the theme integration when it comes to the art. And what I mean by that is it's something as simple as an insert that's an arrow having some art around the arrow that integrates the theme. So it might be something that's a little bit ornate. Do you understand what I mean by that? Wow, you're getting deep. Well, I am. Well, obviously, I'm in the business, right? But it's more so that there's two things you've got to factor in. You've got to factor in the theme that you're trying to represent and how you're now using pinball art to represent that on the play field. He's just done a bang-up job. So, well done. It's funny you say that because for me, again, my first impression is I don't really look at that thing at all, the integration. And I think the more I would. First impression, I don't. First impression is like, wow, I like the Translate. Wow, I love the cab. The play field looks – the play field, honestly, what I'm looking at is the shots. I'm looking at the ramps. I'm looking at the bash toy. I'm looking at how they've integrated the drop target and the pop bumper there. And just, man, it looks pretty cool. So, again, I can hardly wait to play this game. Yeah, I'm absolutely in agreement with you. Because I'm not obviously all that familiar with him. But who was the designer? Elliot Eisman. Yes, new. Well, he's done a lot of their... He's a mechanical engineer. So, first game, yeah. Yeah. So, fucking hell. I know. I would say for any game, well done. But your first game? Holy crap. And good on Stern for really, in the last few years, stepping up what Jack Danger has done, what Elliot has done, and finding new blood, if you will. This guy's obviously put in the time from the mechanical side and to step up to the big leagues, if you will. Pretty cool. In the year in which Stern has already promised us three cornerstones, at least, There's some vaults that we're expecting to see. The big rumors are Tron and Metallica. So we'll see those hopefully soon. And yeah, congratulations to Elliot, to Tim Sexton, who did the code on this game. And I don't know. Again, I see it at a lot of locations in North America already. That's one thing I like about Stern is they release a game and they're out on location. I think if you can do that, that's a real strength and certainly strikes when the irons are hot, so to speak. Yeah. So, look, again, if we can go into a little bit of more, let's think about this strategically, right? So is John Wick a good thing? Oh, boy, you're asking the wrong guy because... No, I'm not asking the wrong guy. No, you are. I'm asking a guy and, well, not proven, but just trying to see whether you think, in your opinion, as a podcaster that has an opinion podcast, in your terrible Canadian accent, do you think John Wick as a brand is a great thing? Without any explanation, and my only choices are yes or no, the answer is quickly yes. Mine is a no, but also I hadn't seen any of the movies, so that's why I wanted to, oh, my God, get this. get educated. Stop me, right? And make up my mind. What I don't know is, is John Wick in the zeitgeist? Is it this theme that everybody knows about, everybody talks about, everybody loves? I don't know whether it is. And the reason why I say this is, again, hi, James. This is based on a conversation that I had last night over dinner. Oh my God, this dinner It was amazing, by the way. Jackie is just the best cook. Anyway, the question was pricing because pricing isn't going anywhere. They are not going to reduce their pricing. It is still here in Australia for an LE over $20,000 Australian. So if the pricing isn't going to change because you've now priced a lot of people out of the market, and there's 1,000 LEs, by the way, and I still think that they're available, what is it that you need to do in order for people to be comfortable with $20,000 or whatever it is in US dollars, like five US dollars. But you've then got to give value for money, right? So you've got to look at the game and think, well, what are you giving me now in the play field and in this machine that warrants $20,000? Is it the theme? Is it what you actually put into the play field? and I can ask you the question but for me personally I look at this game and I think yeah actually you've done a good job to make me look at that machine and think fuck there's a lot more in that than what I would normally get from a stern maybe just maybe twenty thousand dollars is okay I still think premium the premium model is your go-to model well you get the same rules as the LE. So in that sense, yes, it's a different art package. By the way, I love all three art packages. Sometimes you come up with a machine and you're like, eh, I really don't like such and such version, but I like the other ones. I like all three on this, so good job on the art. Again, the LE thing is a different, you know, I'm not a FOMO guy. It's a different breed. It's, we kind of jokingly talk about the whales in pinball that have to have it and feeling special and all that kind of stuff. So I don't have that mindset. I know I have an LE, but I don't think I would ever have another one. Guess if money was not an object, sure. But common sense, am I going to get that value back? hmm because all that aside that that's not the question i ask myself about uh a boot uh that's not the question i ask we gotta take a time out here marty needs to go have a dart the question i ask myself is not is 20 000 worth it is a friend of mine we'll just say his initials are js we're uh talking and when it comes time to getting a new game, we both agreed that, okay, to bring in a new game into my home, into my collection, it has to be better than my worst game here. Okay, yeah, you and I have had that conversation before. Yeah, so... Led Zeppelin, obviously. Well, sure. Well, fuck, is John Wick a better game than Joker Poker? A hundred times better, but I also want that kind of older style game. So I have to compare era to era. Correct, yeah. You know, and we'll see. You couldn't let Joker Poker go. That is such a good game. My wife, it's her favorite game. Yeah. Yeah, no. That's like, it's not apples with apples. Yeah. It's, yeah. Is John Wick better than Ollie? A hundred times better. But Ollie has some sentiment to me because it's the actual machine from Papa in which I beat the living shit out of Zach Sharp and turned it into a t-shirt. So I have to keep that. And it's just other games like that. I got a grand slam game from the Louisville Arcade Expo that I haven't even really set up. Is John Wick better than that? A hundred million times better. Of course it is. But I like the baseball theme of this. So the question you're asking is, is emotionally John Wick better than these games? And it's not because emotional is very subjective and it's based on memories that you have and how you felt about a machine at a particular time. on paper absolutely John Wick is better than all of those games you know I say theme it doesn't matter to me but I guess it does because it's kind of the tipping point it might be I have a I'm looking at a rush machine right here is John Wick better than rush it could very well be but what theme do I like more rush not even close oh again I when I was over at hash man's I played rush again because I've not I don't really get to play that much as you know and it's your boy John Borg you love a good Borgie I do love being Borg'd but oh my god Rush is great it's great it is just great it's the game I play more than any other game and I have 10 more because it beats the living hell to me I have it set up tough I haven't even come close to completing it and I'm not saying I'm finding new things but it's just a It's a fun grind. Some games are really grindy, but this is a fun one, too. Who did the rules for it? Tim and Raymond Davidson. Oh, bullshit. You two are fucking geniuses, legends, because that is what makes the game. It's a good layout. It's a Borg layout, so you know what you're getting. But it's the rules that make you feel something. You feel so much through that game. those two people right now love you guys well that's funny you should say that and they also did led zeppelin another game i have in here the criticism i have heard tim and raymond are friends of mine but the criticisms i've heard of those games are that they're really difficult to go up to for the first time and understand what the hell is going on i have to agree with that criticism that being said owning it or playing a game a lot of times you get to learn it and oh my god the rules actually make the game zeppelin as much as i love steve ritchie the rules totally make that game if there's anything you like about it it is the rules well i know i know people like hashman obviously says and greg silber you know they love led zeppelin so i even though i play it and it leaves me unsatisfied. I've still got to objectively look at it and go, well, these people have got good-tasting machines, so it must be a good machine. It's just one of those things I said before. It's just not for me, and I think it is that. It's that accessibility. But I think if I had a, like Star Wars, because, again, I played that, and it fucking just beat me to the ground. But if I had those games at home and I could spend a lot of time with them, I'd probably fall in love with them. But as a turn-up-and-quickly-get-satisfaction, no, you don't get it immediately. I think these are a slow, long burn, these games. That is a really good point about Star Wars. It's funny. When I play pinball, I really play for one thing and one thing only, and I am probably in the minority. So I'm saying this, fully aware of this. I play games to think, how can I do in this game in a competition, and where can I not exploit, where are the shots that matter to me to get the points, to bring in a mode, to add a multi-ball, to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, which is not what most people do. So that being said, I do not play Led Zeppelin ever just for fun, but I look forward to it so much when it's in competition. But me turning on my Zeppelin machine, I can tell you right now, I don't turn it on unless I have a league night. Rush, I play the shit out of because it's fun. I hold my breath in competition. It's also a great competition game, but that's a game, again, And Godzilla is great for all of the above, but probably I fear it a little more in competition because in big competitions, they're going to really bastardize the game and make it super sling out, gone, no posts, hard settings and all that stuff. So it's probably more of a fun factor for me than a competition game. But there is a real difference in these games. Star Wars, for example, you just gave a great example. I would rather play that for fun and to learn it and go into it, then see it in a competition and go, oh, shit, because you just don't know what's going to happen. But for fun, sure. I'll put two other games into that that I think, and everyone will hate me for saying this, but there's one game in particular that I love because I am good at it in tournaments and everybody else is shit at it in tournaments. That is WrestleMania. And so it is, I would say objectively, not a great game. but because i love the designer go on you're editing the show i'm curious if that'll stay we haven't agreed on whether i'm editing your fucking editing i'm going five weekends in a row you're totally doing it okay whatever anyway so it's one of those things objectively it's it's not the most fun game but because i tend to beat everybody when i play that i love that game right Okay, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the thing with a WrestleMania game. If you know the game, there's a ring on the top, and the ball's in there a long, long time. If it's not in there, you get it back up. You want to do tag team, blah, blah, blah. Get back in the ring. So that's the kind of not fun factor, I think, what WrestleMania sees. Go back to Jaws. My first impression of Jaws, and I want to note, is, holy shit, this is the best sounding game I have ever played. The sound of the reel, you know, just everything, the clips, everything wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I look forward to when the code becomes full because there's just so many opportunities there. But right now I'm like, okay, I play a lot of the pro. There's a lot of stop and go action and I'm like, I like the speed of that left orbit shot that flies down as long as the post's not up. but if the post comes up, okay, we're stopping again. The fin comes up. I want to see a little more quicker pace because it seems like a real fast game to me, but then it slows down by both posts, really. But still, that game could be my favorite game by the time all the code's done, but it's still a winner. Hmm, interesting. Okay. Let me tell you what my first, my favorite game of recent memory is. You ready? And I played it last night, and we had a big, long conversation. I just went, this game has not aged badly at all In fact it has aged better Do I know it That is Yeah of course you do It a recent game Should I guess Yeah go for it By Stern? Yep.