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DPP #89 "Let's talk pinball"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·19m 2s·analyzed·Dec 18, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Don's casual roundup of his pinball week with Venom praise, Nudge Magazine promo, and Jaws speculation.

Summary

Don records a casual, energetic episode fresh from skateboarding, covering his busy pinball week including visits to Eau Claire arcades, gameplay on Venom Pro, upcoming double unboxing of Stern games, and speculation on Jaws teaser timing. He promotes Nudge Magazine as a punk-rock underground zine covering pinball culture, discusses innovative Venom mechanics and code progression, and shares anecdotes about playing 1990s movie-themed games like Space Jam and Waterworld. The episode includes live Facebook streaming integration and discussions about distribution contacts.

Key Claims

  • Venom Pro features innovative Fastlocks mechanism and leveling system that rewards skilled players while keeping the game accessible

    high confidence · Don discusses Venom receiving Innovation award from Straight Down The Middle for Fastlocks and code progression system where wizard mode difficulty scales (low level=10 shots, high level=3 shots)

  • Jaws reveal should not happen immediately before/during holidays to avoid customers holding back on other Stern Christmas orders

    medium confidence · Don's speculation: 'I don't think it makes any sense right now to reveal this game...everybody that's got Christmas orders for other Stern machines may hold back...Maybe tease it after the holidays...NYE countdown'

  • Venom Pro maintains game progression/save state between boxing and unboxing, allowing players to resume where they left off

    high confidence · Don states 'I was able to scan in, and I was able to pick up my game right where I left off, right before I boxed the game up and sent it'

  • Space Jam wire forms are orange-painted, similar to Spooky's Looney Tunes machine

    high confidence · Don played Space Jam and noted 'the wire forms are actually orange, just like the Looney Tunes machine from Spooky Pinball'

  • Nudge Magazine is styled as punk underground zine with non-sponsored coverage, comparable to Thrasher and Big Brother skateboard magazines

    high confidence · Don compares Nudge to 'the subversive punk rock version' of skateboard publishing, positioned between mainstream Trans World and extreme counterculture publications

Notable Quotes

  • “I don't think it makes any sense right now to reveal this game. For which point, right? You reveal this game now, and then everybody that's got, you know, Christmas orders for other Stern machines may hold back.”

    Don @ ~3:30 — Strategic speculation on why Stern likely delayed Jaws announcement until post-holiday period

  • “It was like a paranoid delusion where like people believe you know that the newspaper is writing articles about them...Only I believe this was real because other people saw it too.”

    Don @ ~20:00 — Don describes surreal moment of being mentioned in Nudge Magazine article covering Twippy drama, reflective of community's small-world dynamics

  • “The main idea being once you get to wizard mode, battling a boss, whatever. If you're low level, you need ten shots to beat the guy. If you're at high level, you need three shots. So it gives you a chance to reward those skillful players by giving them accolades, by beating somebody at a low level, but also allowing everybody else to see the dang game.”

    Don @ ~12:00 — Praises Venom's inclusive design philosophy balancing competitive depth with casual accessibility

  • “Nudge falls like somewhere on, on that end of the spectrum, which is completely my wheelhouse. Um, I am known to not take myself, uh, seriously by, by any stretch, um, unless I'm forced to or paid to.”

    Don @ ~26:00 — Don identifies personally with Nudge's counterculture punk aesthetic and editorial tone

Entities

DonpersonVenomgameJaws (50th Anniversary)gameStraight Down The MiddleorganizationNudge MagazineorganizationIan (Nudge Magazine)personEau Claire Games and ArcadeorganizationWaterworldgame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Nudge Magazine positioned as punk underground zine providing non-sponsored, art-forward coverage of pinball industry comparable to counterculture skateboard publishing (Thrasher, Big Brother)

    high · Don compares Nudge's editorial positioning to 'the subversive punk rock version' of skateboard mags, with '4 issues out' at '~$30' including 'stencils and stickers'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don experiences surreal moment being mentioned in Nudge Magazine article covering Twippy drama alongside Colin, Kaneda, and Jason Appleson perspectives

    high · Don describes reading about himself: 'I saw that article that was posted recently covering just the background drama of the whole twippiness told from three different perspectives...I was mentioned in the article and it's I had a bit of a surreal, surreal moment'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Venom employs leveling-based difficulty scaling in wizard mode (low level=10 shots, high level=3 shots) to balance accessibility for casual players with reward for skilled competitors

    high · Don praises: 'So it gives you a chance to reward those skillful players by giving them accolades, by beating somebody at a low level, but also allowing everybody else to see the dang game'

  • $

    market_signal: Speculation that Stern should delay Jaws teaser until post-holiday period (NYE countdown) to avoid cannibalizing Christmas orders for other Stern machines

    medium · Don states: 'I don't think it makes any sense right now to reveal this game...everybody that's got Christmas orders for other Stern machines may hold back...Maybe tease it after the holidays...NYE countdown'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.057

0:00
What's going on everybody? Welcome to a little bit of a departure episode. It's a grunge version of Don's Pinball Podcast. I think we're up to episode 89 or something. This one will be a departure. I am fresh in from my skate park, from my garage, where I was absolutely shredding the Narnar. I posted some pictures up on the Facebook group. I just put it out there. Do you guys want a podcast? Are you ready for a podcast, listeners? Well, I am. I'm hyped. I'm hopped up on endorphins. I got a Diet Grape Fago in my lap. I just want to recount kind of some plans for the week that I have. It's going to be a busy pinball week, everybody. Today, it kicked off my episode with Jason over there at the pinball party. My homie from the Wisco just went up. I'm one of the five or 12 or whatever balls of Christmas. I'm number four. So go check that out. If you want some hashtag DonTent, it's fresh and dripping over there with my homeboy Jason, so check it out. Pinball party, always a fun time. Meff is a hoot and a half. Lives in the closet. I think he is a homicidal robot, but at this point, that is just purely speculation. What else was going on early this week just to get caught up? We'll get into a little bit of Twibby stuff here in a bit. But we did not see Hind or Tail or Finn of Jaws drop on us. If you're listening to Nirvana, this is off the Bleach album. So, you know, now you heard.
1:30
Yeah, so we didn't see any Jaws come out, but it's still around the corner. I don't think it makes any sense right now to reveal this game. For which point, right? You reveal this game now, and then everybody that's got, you know, Christmas orders for other Stern machines may hold back. You know, I just don't think it makes any sense right now. Maybe tease it after the holidays. Maybe give us, like, an NYE countdown, and then, boom, a fin comes through the water, and then more information follows the first week of January. Makes much more sense to me, but what do I know? I'm just a logical, well-adjusted human being. According to the courts at least.
2:06
Moving on to other episode information. Today I got back from Eau Claire. Hung out with Nudge Magazine. Ian, such a solid dude up there. Man, we went raging all over some arcades in the area. Shout out to Eau Claire Games and Arcade. The location that I first purchased my very first pinball machine, Stern Dark Knight. I got it from them in Eau Claire. He's not an official distributor, which is kind of cool because he wheels and deals, man. Tons of used games there in inventory. I was able to play a Waterworld straight up from 1995. Valdez mech, right? Flips over, got the Atoll on one side, got the Valdez on the other. Always a good time. Such a great perennial theme. Universal Studios Hollywood still has the Waterworld action stunt spectacular going to this day. It started in antiquity. it's got to be 25 years old now and it still packs the stadium three times a day with the smokers and the mariner and marion or mary or whatever the girl's name was she should have had a more prominent role and probably would nowadays but nevertheless terrible movie way overpriced total bomb was not dances with wolves on the water by any stretch but what a fantastic live stunt show that makes and the pinball machine is good too this is a trend i've noticed over the last few days in particular there have been that is not a secret but there have been some terrible movies that had some awesome awesome games i'm talking about stuff like last action hero i'm talking about shadow i'm talking about what else do we got a lethal weapon three well not a bad film joe pesci uh gave a command performance and my lord and savior mel gibson uh was also you know in there being his his crazy person danny glover was only i think three minutes from retirement in that movie um but yeah fantastic fun game uh and and there's a myriad of others i don't have a list in front of me or anything but you know you don't know what i'm talking about uh demolition man also not a bad movie great game uh i wonder if they would have made a cliffhanger if that would have been awesome too uh remember that movie back in the day sylvester stallone drops that lady off the wire and spends a whole movie to get right back in the same position and save her this time that was good times man man the 90s remember that we were decades from covid zima was ruling the underpass um it was a time it was a time and a half to be alive um so yeah hung out in eau claire uh we're also went to the retro lounge or something i forget the name of the place uh got in there got to play and put some time on venom pro and uh there's been some adjustments here at district on arcade venom premium has left foo fighters premium has left at a steal man uh got those delivered to the new tenants new owners tenants and they enjoying those So I was able to go back and I blew up the pro I did pretty good I beat my compatriot from Nudge so that made me smile He went ahead to wax the floor with me in every other game we played that night but I did good on Venom Pro. It helped that he didn't know the rules yet. But, you know, it was fun that I was able to go and scan in, and I was able to pick up my game right where I left off, right before I boxed the game up and sent it. So I think that is really the innovative win when it comes to Venom. I'll speak on Venom here for a little bit because straight down the middle just did their year-end recap, which is telling me that, holy crap, I've got to get together on doing a year-end best-of episode, right? It's my first year doing this, okay? But it's going to be an absolute showstopper. So, yeah, one of the accolades that they gave to Venom, and I think it's apt, is the implementation of this system. So innovation, I think the innovation stamp of approval is what they got. Innovation for the Fastlocks. I think they're fun. I think we'll see them utilized in a not-so-on-the-nose format in the future, but this would be a fun mechanism, as opposed to just a Vuck that's shooting a ball at high speed all over the place. This is another way to activate a ball in a wire form. Say for maybe a vertical loop for a Sonic the Hedgehog game, maybe. I'm just throwing words out there that I'm making up in my head. I have no inside information. But I think a mechanism like that would work. You could lock balls in the vertical stack there, and they could just, boom, fire out one after another. I think that could be fun. And I think you could fire them fast enough to clear a loop. Tell you what. Or a corkscrew. Or a series of corkscrews, man. Let's go Sonic 2 on this thing.
Space Jam
game
District 82organization
Mad Pinballorganization
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Electric Playground Pinballorganization
Wormhole Pinballorganization
Lethal Weapon 3game

product_strategy: Space Jam (1994) features orange-painted wire forms similar to Spooky Pinball's Looney Tunes machine, though Don notes Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil sculpt is superior

medium · Don observes: 'the wire forms are actually orange, just like the Looney Tunes machine from Spooky Pinball...The Tasmanian Devil sculpt in Looney Tunes is a lot bigger...A lot better than the one that is found within Space Jam'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Venom's save state/game progression persists across boxing/shipping cycle, enabling seamless player continuity when machines are relocated

    high · Don confirms: 'I was able to scan in, and I was able to pick up my game right where I left off, right before I boxed the game up and sent it. So I think that is really the innovative win when it comes to Venom'

    • 6:16
    What else do we got? Yeah, Venom, the code progression. No, the leveling up progression. I like that a lot. The main idea being once you get to wizard mode, battling a boss, whatever. If you're low level, you need ten shots to beat the guy. If you're at high level, you need three shots. So it gives you a chance to reward those skillful players by giving them accolades, by beating somebody at a low level, but also allowing everybody else to see the dang game. So it is a bit of an equalizer. And for that, I thank you, Venom. It was time well spent. And, God, I shed a small little hot tear, rolled down. It had a little glimmer in my eye when I came across it. You know, that game meant more to me than I thought it was when I was going to buy it. So not a terrible game. But time marches on, much like a river, much like Jurassic Park. we're moving to the hydrosaur pen now so that happened tomorrow, programming note I will be appearing on the In Before the Lock live stream with the Electric Playground Pinball super excited about that check that out, we're thinking 4 o'clock Central Standard Time, 5pm Eastern Time Robin over there does a live stream every Monday and has been doing it with Davey of Stumbler Mods and I've been invited on this week so I'm looking forward to that, I'm going to go on there and we're just going to talk some mods. We're going to talk some toppers, maybe even get into a little twippiness. Maybe we'll get a little twipper-pated. We'll see what's happening. But that's popping off tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, I'm in Chicago. I'll be picking up a few games, NIB, and coming back for a livestream unboxing that's going to happen early this week. It's probably going to happen on Tuesday. There will be a double unboxing of some magnificence from Stern. You guys could guess probably what I'm going to get. I've also openly mentioned it as well. but I've got some ideas that'll make for a fun unboxing. So if you at all dig the unboxings that have done so far, and that's like the kind of thing that, that jibbles your pickle, uh, let me know. Cause this one's going to blow them all out of the water. Double unboxing Don's pinball podcast. It's going to be hype. I was hoping to get the games a few days ago. So maybe I could have done some kind of weekend party thing. Uh, but the way the schedule is going, I don't even know if that would have worked, but if you're in the area and want to stop by and help me unbox these things, holler at me, I'm going to start texting any local friends I got here. See if anybody's free on a Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday evening for that. Also coming up will be an interview recorded with Wormhole Pinball down in Houston. I'll be doing that hopefully on Tuesday sometime for release at some point time in the next two weeks. I don't know what their broadcasting schedule is, but I'm just happy to be out there and making these fun connections. Had a great time with my new boy, Ian, from the Nudgy Pinball Magazine. You know what the craziest thing is? I saw that article that was posted recently covering just the background drama of the whole twippiness told from three different perspectives. Collins perspectives, Canada's perspectives, Jason Appleson. I don't know. There's another person on there, too. I got to go read it again. But like I was mentioned in the article and it's I had a bit of a surreal, surreal moment there. So, you know, the the the content that I was reading regarding the hobby that I participate in was talking about me. And it was almost like um like a paranoid delusion where like people believe you know that the newspaper is writing articles about them or like the television when it on is talking about them or like a stranger on the street is actually somebody stalking them or like those you know weird delusions Only I believe this was real because other people saw it too. So I'm a bit reassured. But to me, it's almost like if a nine-year-old me was reading my Nintendo Power and I was reading about Mega Man 5 and in that article it mentioned little Donnie got into it with a representative from Capcom the other day regarding, you know, some of the weapon upgrades and their early availability in Mega Man 5 and how it unbalanced the game or something crazy like that, right? Like you're reading Nintendo Power and the damn thing is talking about you. And that was just really weird.
    10:11
    I'm having a lot of fun in the hobby and the interactions and the relationships I'm forming with people and the giveaways that we do and the connections with fans. If you can only, you know, meet online, like that's cool. when we meet in meat space it's even better um and so this is just a permutation in the matrix as far as this goes um but that was that was an interesting moment for me that um i wasn't anticipating and it happened so go check out nudge magazine this magazine is not so much um you know kind of a catalog retelling of the industry as much as it is kind of like like a punk underground zine and just like like a fresh non-sponsored unofficial take um on the industry like on what we're doing. Um, this is very much like, you know, you know, an art house magazine you would see that would cover, you know, local underground bands or something, or like, you know, some other subversive political topics only it's like about pinball. Like this hobby is big enough that it's got, you know, nuanced art like this being put out. So check out nudge magazine. Um, if you haven't had a chance already, they've got four issues out. Um, you know, go ahead and order some, uh, I think there are like $30 and they'll send you a pack with like stencils and stickers and it is really well done. Um, you know, it's done a great card stock. Uh, the art is really good. They're really putting forth a lot of effort to have, you know, good art, good articles, little gonzo journalism. Like I really, really dig what they're doing. Um, for you skateboarding fans out there, and I may be speaking clearly only to Glenn here. Um, but, uh, in the world of skateboarding mags, there was trans world skateboarding, which was pretty much like the straight laced Andy McDonald, um, sponsorship heavy. Uh, this is kind of like the mainstream publication. We're going to keep it family friendly and everything. And then over there was Thrasher magazine, which you may have seen from a 14 year old's t-shirt walk around the mall with no indication on what that even means because it's blown up into the zeitgeist that it's reached that level. But this was like the subversive punk rock version. And, you know, there was kind of a split within the, the, the hobby between like the trans world guys and the Thrasher guys like us, man, you know, we were skating, you know, dumpsters and loading docks and these other guys were at manicured skate parks. So, uh, that's how I kind of see nudge. Um, and even further on the spectrum, there was a big brother magazine, which led to the creation of breakout stars like Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville, these other household names. They all started from big brother magazine, which is a way subversive counterculture skateboard publication. And nudge falls like somewhere on, on that end of the spectrum, which is completely my wheelhouse. Um, I am known to not take myself, uh, seriously by, by any stretch, um, unless I'm forced to or paid to. Um, so I, I fall right in there. So I'm hoping for more, uh, more, more synergistic, uh, opportunities with the nudge folks. So give them, give them a listen, give them a shout out. Um, you know, maybe think about ordering one of their issues and take a look at it. See what you think. Um, they've got good art. They're, they're putting forth effort. I really dig what they're doing. Print media is debtor than a fricking president, man. Like the, the, the presence on money, you know? So this exists as kind of an anachronistic throwback of, you know, an artistic endeavor about our hobby. That's really, really fun. And I love, I love the tone of their articles and everything. So check it out, go check them out online, go read that article. It's, it's interesting. It was talking about me. It was so crazy. So that's the programming notes for the beginning of this week. Who knows what's going to happen, right? Tomorrow is Monday. We're coming up to Christmas. I think it's like six days away or something. Biggest shopping holiday of the year. Also some deep religious significance to it. And then a lot of things are going to be closed. The factory at Stern, I don't even know if they're going to be open the rest of the year or if this is the last week for it. So, you know, would this be a time that they would put a teaser out? I just don't think so. But who knows, you know, tomorrow, 10 a.m. Monday morning, central time, we might see, boom, you know, Jaws has released contact your distributors. Now, if you would want to go and contact a distributor, who would you call to get on a list?
    14:09
    so bad Flipper stuck now I sad Play pinball with my dad Need a pin call Mad Pinball Topper's mods ain't got them all.
    14:31
    Call 1-800-MAD-PINBALL. Need more words that rhyme with all. We're doing a podcast. Call Mad Pinball if you need yourself a little bit of pinball happiness. Jeff at MadPinball.com. He is the man with the plan and maybe even a Cocker Spaniel. I don't know. I've never been over to the dude's house. But he's got pinball machines. He's got Godfather accessory kits in box. Well, he doesn't have accessory kits for Godfather in stock. He's got one. One Godfather kit in stock. So go and get it if you need to get one. I got myself those awesome chrome leg lines. I posted a photo today of my beautiful Harbor Freight workbench. And on there, I have affixed the Jersey Jack chrome lion dogs. And they're awesome. Fellow listeners of the podcast, according to this live recording, I'm currently live on Facebook right now. I decided to go live during the jingle so we could also incorporate some people like Charles Thomas. So I thought this would be fun. While I'm recording this podcast right now If there's anybody that wants to make a comment That I can address right now During the recording Like get it out in the next few minutes And then before the recording on this ends Who else is here? Jeff McNeil is here I don't even know if this is good content or not I thought this would be fun I'm live streaming on Facebook as I record this right now And we'll see what else is going on Don SNF is out What do you mean SNF is out?
    15:59
    What's SNF? What am I missing? Don SNF is on. Skilled nursing. I don't know what that is, man. What's a skilled nursing F? Let's see. What else can I talk about real quick? Got two new games that are going to be on box soon. I'll do a quick little review for Space Jam, which I played today. Was fantastic. This was like another Looney Tunes machine. And the weird thing is, the wire forms are actually coated or painted. I'm not sure if they were powder coated. But they're painted the same orange as Sunday Night Football. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, that's why I don't know what that is. When is the Jaws teaser? It's not today, but it could be tomorrow, or it could be probably the first week of January. I was playing Space Jam. It's got some interesting shots in it, but I was taken aback by the fact that the wire forms are actually orange, just like the Looney Tunes machine from Spooky Pinball is. So maybe that's where they got it. I will say the Tasmanian Devil sculpt in Looney Tunes is a lot bigger. I was going to say better and bigger at the same time. A lot better than the one that is found within Space Jam. There's this great shot, though, where the ball will go up the left ramp, jump up to a backboard, get stuck on a magnet, and then drop in the hoop. And I think that idea was actually recycled onto super hoops, right? Was it Quetzalcoatl, that company in Spain where their factory burned down? They were making super hoots. Remember that?
    17:19
    So I know completely we veered off topic, man. I'm Orville Albert levels of whatever here in the weeds. but I remember asking Zach Minnie from flippingoutpinball.com and asked him he was listed as a distributor for Super Hoops so I asked him about it and apparently there was some falling out there was never any confirmation or the games were never made or something never happened he couldn't help me and nobody knows if there's actually any Super Hoops that are out there I would like to play that at some point but I did play Space Jam and it was not terrible I looked it up, I think it's from 1994 I played Waterworld today I played Leave the Weapon 3 today It was a fun day for weird movie-based games from the 90s, and so I totally dug that. I'm hopped up on the endorphins from skateboarding right now, so I'm feeling super energized. I'm having such a great time with everybody. I wanted to jump on here and get another podcast out, so for the Monday morning commute, you'll have something to listen to. There'll be some more as there is more news, and I'll go ahead and finish this live then with everybody else. People are joining. I've got six people up on here. Guys, do you want to be on the recording, dude? Just give me some kind of question I can answer right now. my boy herschel's on here um all right i'm gonna pop off and i'm gonna talk to the live stream people um be sure to like and subscribe send me an email at don spinball podcast at gmail.com to talk and interact with me jump up on that patreon for a ton of benefits there's some new tiers that are coming out soon as soon as i finalize some of the cool plans and ideas that i have do you want to be a producer of the show that i think is going to be able to happen um and only for a small token monetary fee. So get at me and I'll keep creating content and keep making some great apparel for everybody. Thanks so much.