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DPP #130 "Rumors and Road Trips!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·43m 10s·analyzed·Jun 24, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Road trip updates, fall game rumors (Harry Potter, Aerosmith rerun speculation), and IP licensing importance.

Summary

Don discusses upcoming road trips to Ohio, Washington State, and Georgia, mixed with speculation about fall pinball releases. He shares rumors about potential Aerosmith and Black Knight reruns from Stern, speculation on Jersey Jack's Harry Potter announcement, and reflects on IP licensing importance in pinball. Key travel announcements include WWE acquisition (replacing Godzilla), custom Jaws delivery to Seattle, and attendance at Southern Fried Gaming Expo.

Key Claims

  • Jersey Jack's next release after Elton John will likely be Harry Potter, though they may have Muppets ready as alternative and switch between them based on market feel

    medium confidence · Don speculating on Jersey Jack's schedule: 'Right now they might have both of them kind of slated for the same time, and they'll just kind of feel out the market'

  • Harry Potter will likely be designed by Eric Mauer, not Seiden (who is still waiting for his first game release)

    medium confidence · Don's speculation: 'last time I heard, it wasn't going to be Seiden on this one, but it was going to be Eric manure'

  • Black Knight: Sword of Rage is being made/rerun by Stern due to supply shortage demand

    high confidence · Don: 'It turns out Stern thought the same thing because they went ahead and made some. They're making them right now.'

  • Pinball Palace in Georgia was temporarily shut down by lottery tax authorities but reopened after media coverage and political intervention

    high confidence · Don's account of the Georgia arcade issue: 'dude went to the media and they gobbled it up... created enough of a fervor that some people were like, with connections, it kind of got everything sorted out'

  • Aerosmith saw backstock of decals at Stern Factory tour suggesting potential rerun

    low confidence · Don saw 'a pallet full of the Aerosmith stickers' and later a distributor (Angeli Stark/Mad Pinball) posted interest list for Aerosmith

  • Multiple IP licenses are in development: Back to the Future (Dutch Pinball), Harry Potter (Jersey Jack), Pokemon, Beetlejuice, Goonies confirmed

    medium confidence · Don: 'I have a good indication that about at least three of them are... Back to the Future, for sure. Harry Potter seems like for sure. Actually, Pokemon seems for sure, too. And somebody's got Beetlejuice. Oh, and somebody's got Goonies as well.'

  • Southern Fried Gaming Expo is confirmed for July with licensing issues resolved

    high confidence · Don: 'I've heard back from them that everything is cool. The show is happening. Everybody is going to be there.'

Notable Quotes

  • “Right now they might have both of them kind of slated for the same time, and they'll just kind of feel out the market and make the move that they think they should.”

    Don @ ~24:30 — Explains Jersey Jack's flexibility with release schedule between Harry Potter and Muppets

  • “It turns out Stern thought the same thing because they went ahead and made some. They're making them right now.”

    Don @ ~33:45 — Confirms Black Knight: Sword of Rage rerun is in production

  • “The theme is why the lights are awesome. The theme is why the sounds and call-outs are awesome.”

    Don @ ~60:15 — Core observation on IP licensing importance to pinball game quality perception

  • “The festival being able to go off next month in just a few weeks... But rest assured, I've heard back from them that everything is cool.”

    Don @ ~09:45 — Confirms Southern Fried Gaming Expo is proceeding despite earlier licensing concerns

  • “You're at a music festival, right? And you get the big stage up there, and Elton John's up there... And they're over at the local stage like, hey, we got ABBA over here, guys.”

    Don @ ~15:20 — Metaphor for why recently released games like ABBA and Funhouse receive limited attention at events

  • “I thought, hey, there's got to be more demand than supply for this game. That's why they aren't available anywhere.”

    Don @ ~31:15 — Explains Don's reasoning that led to Stern's Black Knight rerun decision

Entities

DonpersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyBarrels of FuncompanyPinball PalacecompanyEric MauerpersonChris FranchipersonGenghispersonBlack Knight: Sword of Ragegame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Pinball Palace Georgia venue received emergency support (gifts from manufacturers) after temporary regulatory shutdown

    high · Don: 'last-minute gifts being sent to them too, from Barrels of Fun and Spooky Pinball'

  • ?

    community_signal: Patreon subscriber base (~100 members) receiving exclusive content ahead of public podcast releases

    high · Don: 'Got nearly 100 people over there paying good money. I've got to give them some exclusives... Even stuff that wouldn't even make it into these kind of shows.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Don argues IP/theme licensing is critical compensating factor for gameplay shortcomings in modern pinball market

    high · Extended discussion comparing game quality metrics; Don notes theme importance overrides other category ratings

  • ?

    event_signal: Southern Fried Gaming Expo confirmed proceeding July with licensing issues resolved

    high · Don: 'I've heard back from them that everything is cool. The show is happening. Everybody is going to be there.'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Multiple IP licenses confirmed in development pipeline: Back to the Future (Dutch Pinball), Harry Potter (JJP), Pokemon, Beetlejuice, Goonies

    medium · Don: 'I have a good indication that about at least three of them are... Back to the Future, for sure. Harry Potter seems like for sure. Actually, Pokemon seems for sure, too.'

  • $

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.130

0:00
Oh, that slow rumble means it's Don's Pinball Podcast coming back at you for episode number 130. Can you believe how this year is going, man? Halfway gone, but so much more to come on. This will be a little bit of a rumor episode and some news. Let's get it.
0:30
We'll be right back. for me. I know it's Sunday for everybody else, but we've got one more shift left. And then, my friend, in the morning, we are hitting the road to Ohio. We're going on another pin venture. We've got two games coming in, two games going out. Want to hear all about it? I let the Patreon people know all about that. Had to do it. Had to do it. Got nearly 100 people over there paying good money. I've got to give them some exclusives. So finally, I kind of tore away from how I was planning on doing this whole thing, which is the virtual tip jar, and now we're just dropping some dynamite bombs over there. Even stuff that wouldn't even make it into these kind of shows. Not for the free shows. So go check that out. The Patreon folks, I'm getting great feedback, so thank you everybody. Honestly, it's up to you. I don't have to do it. I'm not going to show myself out there. I'm just making people aware of what's out there. Tell you what's out there. The devil's down in Georgia, stirring the soup, and now he's in the cake mix? Well, I heard smack from some people, and it seems like everything is simmered down now. Man, the gripping, the icy grip of the lottery tax man shutting down arcades in Georgia, I guess it was sorted somehow. So what had happened was Pinball Palace was like, hey, guys, I'm getting shut down. What the heck's going on? The story is that they didn't give the guy any time, Kelly, to give any time to really remedy everything in what would seem to be a reasonable fashion, which is kind of strange for, you know, the government to reach out like this and say, hey, you know, we're going to get you with this fine, you know, but not like work out a deal so they can actually get paid. And I think it may have something to do with the privatization that's running the lottery. I don't know. But this reeks of something like, you know, some corporate administrative decision where they're just looking out for money. But dude went to the media and they gobbled it up, got an article out there talking about how the pinball palace was being shut down by this overreaching lottery or what have you. And I guess it created enough of a fervor that, you know, some people were like, with connections, it kind of got everything sorted out. So back open, had a huge event. Hopefully this weekend really blew out the Pinball Palace with people rushing down there. There was last-minute gifts being sent to them, too, from Barrels of Fun and Spooky Pinball. That's awesome. So that's really good. Support a good location out there. Haven't been there yet, but it's squarely on the list of places I want to travel to. I'll be in Georgia later next month. I can't believe it. It's coming up so quick with the Southern Fried Gaming Expo? Adventure. That's what I'm going to say. I'm going to drive on down there, and I'll be picking up a game there. But first, next week, I'm picking up a game in Ohio. My Godzilla has been sold. So I'm going to go deliver it personally to a chum in the Cleveland area. And then on the way back, I'm going to pick up another game. I'll talk about that more in a bit. but I'm going to go see it tomorrow, and if it's hitting like I think it is,

  • Don is acquiring WWE LE pinball and selling his Godzilla to fund it

    high confidence · Don: 'My Godzilla has been sold. So I'm going to go deliver it personally to a chum in the Cleveland area... we're swapping out Godzilla for WWE'

    • Harry Pottergame
    Elton Johngame
    Aerosmithgame
    WWEgame
    Godzillagame
    Southern Fried Gaming Expoevent
    Back to the Futuregame
    Straight Down The Middleorganization
    Angeli Stark / Mad Pinballcompany
    1UP Loungecompany

    market_signal: ABBA and Funhouse games receiving limited attention despite release; buried compared to major IP launches

    medium · Don's festival metaphor: games released without major IP struggle for visibility against established franchises

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Eric Mauer likely designing Harry Potter for Jersey Jack instead of Seiden

    medium · Don: 'last time I heard, it wasn't going to be Seiden on this one, but it was going to be Eric manure'

  • ?

    announcement: Black Knight: Sword of Rage confirmed in rerun production by Stern

    high · Don: 'It turns out Stern thought the same thing because they went ahead and made some. They're making them right now.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack has multiple titles ready for fall release (Harry Potter and Muppets) and will choose based on market conditions

    medium · Don: 'Right now they might have both of them kind of slated for the same time, and they'll just kind of feel out the market'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Aerosmith Stern game potential rerun based on decal backstock sighting and distributor interest list

    low · Pallet of Aerosmith decals at Stern factory tour, $9,800 Pro listing, Angeli Stark/Mad Pinball distributor interest list

    • 3:52
    probably if you were going to pick five machines I would get, I don't know that you would pick this one. And I know you definitely wouldn't pick the other one I'm getting later this month, but you can page your own books. Sorry about all that. So I heard back from the Southern Pride Gaming Expo people themselves because there was concern that this licensing fee for amusement-operated machines, whether they're on Coindrop or not, was going to potentially affect the festival being able to go off next month in just a few weeks. But rest assured, I've heard back from them that everything is cool. The show is happening. Everybody is going to be there. Spooky Pinball did a post. They're going to be there. Bug Screamin' Stream this last week did this great interview with Chris Franchi. I listened to the whole thing. It's fantastic. I think I've got to watch a little bit at the end where they're eating the hot wings and things. I have to go check that out. But, yeah, it was a good time. So I think everything is simmering down a bit, but I think it is because of all of the exposure that this issue got. You know, if there wasn't the media coverage locally down there, I don't know that the right strings and levers of power would have been in place to get that going. So I'm happy that that's going on. I've been looking forward to Georgia since Expo and definitely since Texas. Texas was so much fun down there, running around in my donk outfit, having fun with everybody, playing a Jaws LE for the first time by First Expo with my own booth. We were doing the Golden Ticket giveaways. It was awesome giveaways. So I'm looking forward to going down there. Are we going to see any new games when we go down to Georgia?
    5:26
    Perhaps. There's a couple of things out there. There's a couple of games floating around that have been released and then didn't really receive a ton of fanfare. And then I just feel like they're getting totally buried. I'm going to get more into that here at the end of this show.
    5:39
    But particularly, I'm talking about Funhaus. And poor ABBA, man. You know, ABBA was released, and it was like, it's like these guys threw a party, and everybody was just kind of looking the other way. It's like you were at a music festival, right? And you get the big stage up there, and Elton John's up there, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Looney Tunes are up there, and Stern's got, like, all their rotation games out there. And they're over at the local stage like, hey, we got ABBA over here, guys. And everybody's facing, you know, they're over there watching Five Finger Death Punch, right? They're not watching ABBA. that was just for the five finger death punch fan fan out there i'm sure they exist i see them in commercials all the time all right so uh what are we going to see down there hopefully we'll see abba uh hopefully we're probably more definitely going to see funhouse because those are being imported now i want to check out this midnight edition i haven't ever really played this 2.0 code and you know it doesn't have the greatest pedigree or best impressions from people that have played it um but then you know it was whirlwind 2.0 and i gotta go play suey and the grannies at some point so maybe that'll be down there too don's gonna be down there and that's gonna be the best thing with these festivals we all say it it's it's the people uh the chance to go down and hang out with folks that we interact with online or we listen to their stuff you know the craziest thing is when you meet somebody that does a podcast or does youtube and like you know you develop this kind of a parasocial relationship they call them you know you watch some people's videos like like other people that do travel blogs and things like i never miss their stuff and then like you almost feel like you kind of know them and they don't even know you at all this is like paris was like all one-sided but anyway like when you go and meet somebody in person and they talk you're like oh my god you sound just like the guy this happened the other week i had the guys in the pinball junk drawer from the poor man's pinball network uh they're local in wisconsin so they came by some folks from d82 came by and we had a party over at district on and playing games, but it was cool. These people walked up to my house, and I instantly recognized their voices, but my brain had created their shape in three-dimension meat space and just not what I was expecting.
    7:48
    I'd never seen a photo of these folks, but they walked up, and I'm like, you guys sound so familiar, man, but you're in the wrong bodies. The ones in my head were totally different, and it wasn't a shock. It's just different. But that was super fun, so shout out to them, man. Come by any time. We had a blasty blast. I'm really getting District Don just humming on all cylinders, even though it's a bit expanded. So I am happy that I got some fresh rotation coming up in the mix. Talked about it a little bit on the live stream from earlier today, the Sunday night extravaganza. It's on Facebook. Go check that out. Also got to demonstrate the shooter rod from Barrels of Fun, the follow-up to their Jaws barrel shooter rod that they have with Jaws. They've got a broken bloodied pencil for John Wick, $65. Go check it out. It's fun. It's functional. And I've been having a heck of a time with Wick. I'm going to try to follow my outline here, though. So two new games going in, two new coming out. Which ones are they? I talked a little bit about it on the third episode of the We Are Pinball podcast with Jengiz. We talked all about It's WWE man I can't wait I'm so hype on this game I did talk a little bit more Again I've been dumping so much Patreon content It's crazy I feel like I've already talked about this And I have and it's all over there But basically the gist is I've been smitten with the LE version Of WWE for reasons I get it All the criticisms of the game are completely valid You know it's not It's definitely not Godzilla Heck, it's not even Data East Jurassic Park. But it is a game with a theme that, for the right person, resonates. And with the gold trim and the Hulk Hogan signature on there and the Titan-tron, I'm just excited. So I decided I would just keep my eyes open if a good version of this game ever came by, and it just kind of dropped in my lap. So it's happening. So, yeah, we're swapping out Godzilla for WWE. I bet you didn't see that on your bingo card. It makes a lot more sense when I discuss the kind of finer details in there. but that's some more content that's hunting on over there alright so the third episode of WAP we are pinball I think it was our best one yet great feedback from it it's on all the pod chasers and everything but Genghis and I had a nice dialogue back and forth about just whatever's going on in pinball and if you want to hear a little bit of a funny story about one of Genghis' ex-girlfriends that's on there too man so much fun stuff is happening alright so I got another road trip coming up it seems like every other week for the next couple weeks, I'm somewhere else. I'm going to be in Ohio this weekend. I'm going to Cleveland tomorrow.
    10:25
    I don't know if I'll be hanging out at any shops. I might just be hanging on Lake Erie after I swap out these couple of games. But then I'll be back before too long, swinging back through Chicago. I'll see if I can announce a little stopover. Maybe I'll hit up Interium again or Galloping Ghost.
    10:40
    Maybe I'll just go get a pizza. You guys want to get pizza with me Sunday in Chicago Hit me up Let make something happen maybe if I go over to Stern I can stop by and play some games again I wonder if they still going to do that if they have that public area open All right, so the next trip after that is going to be coming up June, no, July 10th. I'll be in Bellingham, Washington. It's in the Pacific Northwest. I'm heading to Seattle, y'all. Back to SeaTac. Kind of some old stomping grounds, or at least kind of nearby where I used to hang out. I'll be going to the 1UP Lounge for the unboxing of my Jaws. This is crazy. I got a Jaws Premium, powder-coated the whole thing, a custom armor made from Barcelona. I got everything powder-coated, everything modded, just because it's fun for me to do. I like playing with these things, a little start button, shooter rods on there, all the bit. And then I sold it to this arcade because they kind of like what I do, and they wanted to get it. So I'm shipping it out there, and then I'm going to ship myself out there so we can unbox it, undress it, set it up so everybody can bask in the glory of the LED lights coming from my homemade topper that I have for it. And then we're going to have a tournament with giveaways and stuff. It's still in the planning stages now, but look for that. So July 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, I think I'm flying home on the 14th. We'll be doing events in Washington State and Oregon. Like, this is so crazy. You know, it's just weird to, like, talk about myself on this road trip. But it's going to be fun. So if you're local to those areas, I know Jeff up in Vancouver, he's going to swing down. We're going to hang out. It's going to be fun, man. I can't wait to get some Pacific Northwest food, feel the chill vibes, and the light rain that permeates that area, and just see some evergreen trees and some giant volcanic structures. Yeah, it's fun to get back out there. So super stoked on that. And then as soon as I get back, we're road tripping down to Southern Fry Gaming Expo. It's going to be awesome. We're going to stop at Dollywood. We're going to go through Bucky's. I've got the house sitter all lined up so the doggies will be having a great time and then they'll get to play all the games downstairs, it's going to be awesome for them, so thanks, shout out to them it's good to have a good house sitter, man someone to get your mail for you keep the dogs fed, they don't have to go into a kennel, love it anyway, so Southern Fried Gaming Expo will be down there for that, and I'm hoping that I'll get to get my hands on an ABBA, I want to check out this fun house with the 2.0 code I'm not going to leave with probably either of those I'll get to spend some more time On Burial's Barbecue Challenge I hope And then hanging out with the Spooky Guys Is going to be awesome Plus they got wrestling down there too How apropos to pick up WWE At Southern Frank Gaming Expo Where there's wrestling too This is going to be awesome Danny Temovich are you coming out too man I miss my booth babes man I need you guys back here Yeah so what we are a little bit light on is like deep news. There's stuff permeating all out there. But the rumors are starting to build. And it's something that happens here in the middle of summer. As soon as summer starts, if you're in grade school, you never want summer to end, right? The worst thing is probably in about three weeks from now, there's going to be back-to-school sales and all those signs are going to be popping up at the department stores. And it's like it just kills your summer, right? But as I've become an adult and I've even lately started acting like one, occasionally. I try not to let it take me away.
    14:07
    But the fall season is coming up. It's coming up soon. Things are going to get spooky, like for real. The Halloween events will be starting. Home Depot is going to change everything over with those giant 12-foot skeletons.
    14:19
    And then creeping in between the dust of the pumpkin spice lattes and me putting on my Ugg boots, we're going to get some new game drops. Stern's new game is going to be out. I think we're going to see something else from Jersey Jack. I think the fervor, the buying frenzy around Elton John has cooled. I think however many CEs they're going to produce, they're coming up to where they'll have been produced definitely by the end of summer. And so to keep that line going, you got to have something else. And the big rumor is that Jersey Jack is Harry Potter. And is that what's next? Now, I think this changes all the time. The reason for that is because Jersey Jack probably changes their schedule around all the time. I'm sure they have like two games at least that are ready to drop, or at least will be ready in the fall, but they may switch, you know, one week it may be Harry Potter next, and then there might be Muppets, and they might be kind of going back and forth. Right now they might have both of them kind of slated for the same time, and they'll just kind of feel out the market and make the move that they think they should. And that's probably why, you know, when we hear things through the intertubes or the interconnecting realities we have of rumors, Well, they always kind of change around. Things that were real at one point in time end up changing by the time you get there. That's why we didn't see Indiana Jones released from Stern Pinball. We got John Wick instead. Indiana Jones, I believe, was like a for sure thing that was happening at some point, but then as it got closer, for reasons unknown to me, it got swapped out. Maybe it's still a thing on the back burner. Maybe we're going to see it next. Where's this July special surprise that's going to come out? I know Black Knight Sword of Rage is being built right now, and that was just a rumor that I almost kind of feel I started, but I think I was just maybe just putting out the energy that the universe was feeding into me. Regardless, I think that was the right move to get a short run of that Black Knight Sword of Rage out there. And whether we'll see Munsters run, whether we'll see Aerosmith run again, that's the other rumor. Let's stick with Stern rumors here for a second since I'm kind of on it. Something weird has been happening like the last couple of days. You know when you're talking to your friend about something and then all of a sudden, And, like, for the rest of that day, Facebook is showing you ads for the thing you were talking about. Like, they're totally spying on you. Like, you're talking about trampolines, and then they show up. Well, like, you know, I was at the Stern Factory tour, and we all saw the – so we seen that pallet full of the Aerosmith stickers at the tour. And, you know, it kind of went either way. Like, when I say pallet, it wasn't four feet tall. I mean, it was probably four inches or so of back box decals, right, And which would be reasonable just as back stock, just to throw into their cavernous hordes there. Maybe they had a whole bunch of them, and that was just the one we could see.
    17:00
    But then I saw a post where a routed Aerosmith Pro was being listed for something like $9,800 or something insane on the Facebook pages. I don't think it was a scam because usually it would have been way underpriced if it was a scam. but it was just weird to see somebody, it was in New Jersey, like a New Jersey Shore Aerosmith Pro was just like $9,800 or something crazy. Like maybe dude just throwing a net out there and then it's like OBO or whatever. But it was kind of weird to see, okay, like, you know, there was talk like, hey, they're going to run this game again because we saw this. And it's like, I don't put a lot of stock into that. Then I see someone dumping a pro and it's like, well, okay, that just could be, you know, again, random. But then I saw another Facebook ad from Angeli Stark, right, the Mad Pinball guys. and they had a little post that said, hey, if you're interested in getting on the Aerosmith just desired list, right, or, you know, interested list, go ahead and email us. And I'm like, well, it's coming from a distributor now saying, hey, just in case you may be interested in a potential run of Aerosmith, go ahead and email us. And I'm like, that's a lot of coincidences all stacking up there. Is there any there there? So I put out a post and said, like, guys, what does the community think of this, you know? Now, when I called Black Knight Sword of Rage Pro, it was because I was looking for one myself. I was playing one on location, and I found that I would play this game, you know, three or four times, and it plays very fast, right? And so I'm running out of dollars. And the same thing happened with Rick and Morty. So I decided back then I wouldn't mind picking up a Rick and Morty, and I ended up doing just that, played the crap out of it, had a great time with it, and then sold it on off. And so I thought, you know what? I'm having fun playing Black Knight Sword of Rage. I know it didn't sell very well. I know it's not, you know, I don't even know if it's in the top 100 on Pinside. You know, it's not Godzilla.
    18:50
    But, like, I'm having fun with it, and it's cost me a lot of dollars. I'm going to go look around, see if I can pick this game up. And then when I took a look, I couldn't find any. And when they did pop up, they sold super quickly. And so I looked at other games, and there was, like, there's plenty of Jurassic Park stuff. There's plenty of Mandalorians, plenty of everything else. But there's no Black Dinosaur to rage. And it was from that era, kind of pre-COVID, where, you know, people weren't just buying so much of everything because we still had arcades to go to. So, you know, it just wasn't made in very high numbers, and there's not a whole lot out there, and it's, you know, it's an okay enough game, but there just wasn't the supply. So I thought, hey, there's got to be more demand than supply for this game. That's why they aren't available anywhere. It turns out Stern thought the same thing because they went ahead and made some. They're making them right now. And so then I started thinking of other games that came out around that time, Monsters being one of them. Again, not highly lauded as a game, but, you know, when you do find them, They do tend to demand a little higher prices because there's just not that many out there. I looked for an LE once, and they were like $16,000 or something crazy for that. The premium is right behind it, like almost the same price as the LEs.
    19:54
    So I thought that would be interesting maybe to run. Maybe there's demand for that. But Aerosmith I don't really see as having that high demand. So I asked the community, and some folks said, yeah, it's not the best player, but I'd probably get one. Or maybe I'd put one in my location, started hearing that. So I don't know. Stern's probably got more finger on the market pulse than this. They would probably have to do more than just 70 games. They'd probably want to build to fire up the line again and renegotiate a contract and maybe throw some extra code in there. Did Aerosmith even have a topper from Stern? I have to go back and look. I'm sure it did, but I can't think of what the heck it looked like. I'm sure it was $30 when it came out the first time, and it would be $1,700 now to be rerun. But would they go through the effort of baking the shooter rod again and the armor and, like, sell a pro, or would you do a premium? It seems a little weird for Aerosmith, right? But we'll see. We'll see. I don't put that as a strong rumor, but it was just a little concerning what I was noticing, and it could just be Facebook listening to me too. Anyway, so I did see that. What's next on my agenda here? Let me refer to my notes. Talked about that, talked about that, talked about that. All right, so straight down the middle. Did you see this? They put up a new video. I always love watching those guys, especially the Bone Dude. but they did a nice little rundown of top 10 themes that haven't been made that should be made as I was watching along and of course it finished off, I didn't see Super Mario Brothers coming, that was kind of cool, even though we did technically have one from Gottlieb back in the day but yeah, I would love to see that too, that was number 3, number 2, Back to the Future, apparently Dutch Pinball is the one that doing that it a consistent rumor I keep hearing when are we going to see it I think last I heard Barry was saying not Expo and just prior to that somebody had said it going to be at Expo So 40th anniversary Expo. Probably better than not chance it'll be there. Where's Alice in Wonderland in the mix? Who knows? But the number one, of course, Harry Potter. And that's supposed to be the game tied up with Jersey Jack. I think, let's see, last time I heard, it wasn't going to be Seiden on this one, but it was going to be Eric manure i could totally see that um you know uh siden still has his game you know his first game hasn't come out yet you know and this is like like the ip right right so you know i can see it going to to eric there so uh so we'll uh we'll see there uh but then as i was watching it i was thinking oh man i wonder if they're gonna do some honorable mentions and of course they did and then i was like oh are they gonna get the one that i thought of when i was down in universalist last couple weeks for ET. I was at the tribute shop down in Universal Studios Orlando. It's a shop that they theme heavily and they switch it up every six to nine months or something. It's kind of a throwback. And right now, it's the best one I've ever seen. It's all dressed up to look just like a 1980s video rental store with an arcade attached. And then there's a little shopping area just after that with the cashier. So as you're walking through here, you can pick up some merchandise and take photos with the cardboard stand-ups of Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and just like remnant. They did it so well. You know, these guys do haunted house walkthroughs and mazes, and so they take that same level of detail and put it into the shop. It's just a great themed shop to walk around. In the arcade, they had a Polybius mock-up arcade game. That was awesome. But in the final room, each of the four walls of this room are decorated with another killer theme. Back to the Future has a whole wall. Jaws has a huge wall. Ghostbusters has a great giant wall with Gozer's final scene up at the top. and the fourth wall is E.T. with that iconic scene of Elliot and E.T. on the bike flying in front of the moon that doesn't actually exist in the film. Go watch the film. That scene, it was the sun, and they were silhouetted against the sunset. It wasn't the moon. The moon, that's all marketing stuff, but, like, that's the iconic thing that we remember. That's what the topper would look like. But I think E.T. would work, and wouldn't you know it, the straight-down-the-middle guys agreed because it was in their honorable mention. Love it. Love it, man. So, yeah, that was a good watch today. You know, but I love that they put that out, and I'm hoping that at least eight of those themes that are on there are being made. And I have a good indication that about at least three of them are. Back to the Future, for sure. Harry Potter seems like for sure. Actually, Pokemon seems for sure, too. And somebody's got Beetlejuice. Oh, and somebody's got Goonies as well. And I love their honorable mentions. They mentioned National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I think that's the best film. I think it would just make a great pinball machine just full of moments. Just the Griswold's front lawn. Everything takes place in that house. You know, cops show up. There's good music. Chevy Chase not acting like a total ass.
    24:40
    Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the yuppie neighbor. Just it's just so great. You know, just as close to a perfect movie as you could get. Gremlins also, same thing. So I would love to see these themes scooped up. You know, and so pinball manufacturers, if you're listening, more of this, please. You know, the barbecue exercise was fun. It was very silly. Didn't seem to make a whole lot of commercial sense, you know, but fun to play. There's things about it that I like. But these, these themes, these themes. Now, I appreciate the back in the 90s. A lot of the great games that we remember from that era, a lot of them were their own themes, right? Original IP. But, man, nowadays you really need to have the killer IP. And here's kind of how I came to that realization. So if you were to take, let's say, an Excel spreadsheet, right, and give yourself six different categories that you would rate a pinball machine on, and then, you know, you'd have to score enough points throughout that Excel spreadsheet. If you got enough points, then it would be a game you'd be interested in buying or at least investing some time playing or just something you could just totally skip. And so if you – I don't think all the categories are weighted evenly though because I think that for the right intellectual property, for the right license, for the right theme, capital T theme, you could make up for shortcomings in most of the other categories. If you look at art, you know, right? I mean, the great art will elevate a great game. You know, it just, can you imagine Godzilla done any other way than it was without that zombie Yeti art? You know, can you imagine, you know, Monsters or Batman 66 without the Franchiart or Godfather with the Franchiart? Come on. Can you imagine Scooby-Doo if it didn't have, like, those graphics and assets on there? You know, but, you know, you could do a game, like, with CSI-style graphics, where it's just kind of like photoshopped. But the game can still be great, especially if you really like that theme, it can make up for it. Gameplay. We've all thought of great games that don't play the best, but, man, the theme just puts it up over the top. Whereas if it was a completely terrible theme or generic theme and shot poorly, you wouldn't care about it. If it shot well, maybe that would kind of make up for it. Yeah, like the theme is stupid, but the game shoots well. I'm trying to think of an example.
    27:10
    I was going to say, you know, Total Nuclear Annihilation plays amazing, and it's an original theme, but it's like a good original theme. What's a bad original theme that plays really well? I'm going to have to, you know, rack my brain for that. But let's take an example of Rick and Morty from Spooky Pinball. The game is awesome. The call-outs are amazing. The humor is great. The sounds and lights are awesome. The theme, though, the theme is why the lights are awesome. The theme is why the sounds and call-outs are awesome. The gameplay is not S-tier. I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that. The portal shot is a great gameplay element, and it's just not satisfying when a shot that should go up there just has that rattle and you're just feeling defeated. The gameplay is very fast, almost like a TNA. But for that game, you really want to play through the modes, and there's not a whole heck of a lot to shoot at. But the game, the game is fantastic. I went out and bought that game. I think I paid $11,500 or something for that game. And it wasn't even a butter cabinet. It was heavily modded. And at the time, this is 2021, 22, that was a good price for that game, especially as modded as it was. And then I went ahead and traded it off when it still had a ton of value. And I could go and buy another one now for about $9,500. So it's almost like it worked as a short sale.
    28:28
    But the theme, the killer theme made up for any shortcomings in layout, any shortcomings in gameplay, you know, or anything else. Like the IP is the strongest thing, you know. What else is in there? So code, you know, a great theme can make up for shallow code, and robust code can't really pull you back from a bogus theme. All right, so if they took barbecue and they added 17 wizard modes and just it was so deep, I don't think it would make it really all that more compelling than it is today, you know. But a game like John Wick with very early code, I think, can only improve with the code because the layout is serviceable. But the theme is awesome, man. Like when you're watching the screen there while somebody's playing and you're just like following John around, it's just like annihilating people. Like I was getting hype. I was playing John Wick with my wife, Monica, and as she was playing, I actually took some time to look at that screen. And, yeah, like it was crisp. I love the definition. I like the interaction with the lights and the bang-bang on the screen. Like it was getting me hype. regardless of what she was even playing. And that is all because of the theme. If this was just generic gun-fu brawler, it wouldn't hold up. It wouldn't be as fun and engaging as it is. So I hope companies are listening to these IP lists and aggressively going after these. And I'm going to hit up some robot music here.
    29:56
    Because when these themes come out and I reach out to Mad Pinball, I want to feel comfortable about that purchase.
    30:03
    And you can make up for poor gameplay, early code, bad call-outs, bad light shows. Those can all be fixed. As long as the layout is serviceable, that's probably number two in the priority. The theme has to be on point.
    30:19
    And if the theme is on point, I'm calling 1-800-MADPINBALL. Or Jeff or Corbin at madpinball.com. And getting on a list, at least.
    30:30
    We're kind of up to the end here. I love this part. So the fresh pinball podcast that the Mad Folks do is in season three now. I think it's time for a new jingle. I want to update this thing. Maybe, Glenn, you got anything out there for Mad Pinball that I can go and put in here?
    30:55
    All right, so where have I left off here, man? So scattered. All right, so rumor time. All right, so Beetlejuice, Goonies, Pokemon, Dungeons & Dragons, love them, Harry Potter, Back to the Future, you know, Alice in Wonderland has already been announced-ish. So these are all bangers, man. If even half of these are dropping on us in October, like, what the heck are we going to do, man? We've got to clear out these game rooms. I surmise that there's other people that are like me that have been building up their arcades and are now reaching a point of saturation when it comes to room, budget, what have you. And so we'll need to make some hard decisions. And it looks like people are making those decisions because the market, even though prices are down, is just getting absolutely destroyed and flooded with more games to sell.
    31:43
    Godzilla's are just like dime a dozen now, man. They're just dumping out there. We've got that rumored 70th anniversary black and white art package coming out potentially. I see that as 50-50. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, I don't think I'll be too surprised. But I think just a rumor of that happening is having people dump everything. So on the one hand, market-wise, as a seller, it kind of sucks to see this game that you paid MSRP for, maybe even a little above in terms of Godzilla, just to get the dang thing, you know, back in 2020. And then, you know, you put in the mods because, of course, you have to. And you've enjoyed the hell out of it. And you thinking like this is a game I should sell for at least And then come to find out that is about the most you going to get for a modded Godzilla Premium And it like man that kind of sucks you know So you can do two things. You can keep the game and enjoy a hell of a game, you know? But if you're like me and you just, even though it's fantastic, and even though when you play it you're like, yeah, this game is just great, you don't find yourself playing it as much as some other things, I think it's okay to go ahead and let it go because then you become a buyer. Then you can turn around with those proceeds, meager as they are, and then you get your pick of the market with everything else down right now. It was like Guns N' Roses LE. It's almost like 6,000-something. Like, jeez, man. Get a WWE Pro for $3,800. Somebody sold a Bond Pro. It was routed for $4,800. I mean, $4,800 for a Pro machine that's got the best code it's ever had of its entire life, like right now. And a pro, the Dr. No edition of the 007 Cornerstone, there's nothing really compelling on that LE or premium to go for it. Pro is the way to go for that one. And $4,800, man, that would be a scoop, especially if you're like me and you kind of just never got around to owning that machine because you can't own everything. But, yeah, that would be a great thing to step right into. My God, this dude apparently, I hope a friend of mine is sharing this. but the person that was selling it was an operator and I guess they were saying that the game just wasn't earning that much and then when this guy got his hands on it after paying $4,800 for a Bond Pro, it was still running .6 code like super early code, like the code it launched with no wonder nobody was putting any quarters in here there's not even any game in there, what the heck man plug that thing into Wi-Fi, get yourself a USB dongle get yourself some dang code in that thing man So yeah, DeWater wasn't earning well. Probably low plays then if it was never updated. Anybody that knew better would have walked up to it, maybe played one game and said, get me out of this game with nothing in it. His box of lights barely has any lights working in it. So anyway, there's some deals out there. So if you were to sell your amazingly modded game that you want to get $15,000 for and you've got to take something 40% less, you could probably also buy something for 40% less than it was two years ago as well. So as long as you're willing to kind of, you know, sell one and take one, it's pretty much just swapping things out at this point. So that's the market. I don't know where we're going to see it. This may be just a return to normalcy, and this is probably just going to persist. Maybe we'll see prices, you know, continue to drop a bit, especially, you know, if these new games are coming out and they're all dropping on us in October. Yeah, I think we'll see people liquidate quite a bit, especially Harry Potter, man. Harry Potter drops on us. People are going to be selling their mothers to get this dang game. We're going to see such a flooded market, and I'm sitting there thinking like, I keep doing this. I keep thinking every now and then, I guess I wouldn't mind having a Mandalorian, either the premium or LE, with that topper and just put some time on it. And then I play one, and I'm like, yeah, no, I don't need that. But then it's still Mandalorian. You still got the ice spider mode. Love that, man. Game doesn't play the best. I don't like the dangly bits underneath the razor crest. but I could probably pick one up for like $5,500 for a modded premium with a topper. I don't think that would surprise me at this point, and I don't think it would be terribly wrong to do that if you could get yourself that kind of deal. So who's going to be dropping new stuff? JGP, I think they're going to be dropping some new stuff. Stern, we know that's coming this fall. Spooky, I'm going to put on the wild card. I don't think I'd be surprised if they drop something at Expo, And I don't think I'd be surprised if they drop something in December.
    36:03
    But, yeah, anything to keep the line moving. And they've got that brand-new building, man. They're going to be streamlining things. So one thing I did hear out of the Franchi interview, since we're on Spooky, is that, and everybody's been saying this, and I've been making this up and saying it as well, they're really excited about what their next stuff coming out is. And from people that should know, I've got a sense that it's probably like their best work is still to come it's going to be even better than what we're seeing now and Looney Tunes and TCM were a step up from Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo was a step up from what came before that so I'm just excited to see what they got next man God I would love it if they got Breaking Bad come on dude Breaking Bad, who would you want to do Breaking Bad would you want Stern to do it it'd be okay, it'd be like John Wick you know, some ramps, some scenes it'd be alright but it would be like a corporate version of Breaking Bad Jersey Jack would put a lot of sparkle in there which I don't know if it would really service the theme as well hopefully they wouldn't go back to a wide body but they would get some code out and then that's probably as far as it would go and we'd always be like what about the later seasons man there's no wizard mode in this but spooky if they got it maybe some interesting shots in there there'd be all the assets and there would be code updates coming for like 10 years So I think it would be awesome if they were to go ahead and get.
    37:28
    All right, so where does that put some of the other guys? Where does that put American Pinball? Now, Burials Barbecue Challenge I think was a bit of a sales challenge.
    37:39
    They've now announced that they're going to be reusing this layout for other themes. So, okay, maybe they'll try to kind of find some corporate partners. You know, maybe someone's doing a trade show, and they want to have the new Ford Mustang pinball machine, and it's going to be the burial layout. All right, well, bless them. But what are they going to get for us, right? Man, it's all about what I get. What am I getting from American Pinball there? Galactic Tank Force, you know, had every, I don't know, by the numbers, it had everything in it I like, except an original theme. I wonder if it would have had, like, a stellar top-shelf IP with the otherwise, you know, serviceable layout and all the great sounds and music and stuff. I think it really would have elevated it. So if they actually are, which is the rumor, that they've got an IP like He-Man or some such, yeah, I think we can actually take a pretty favorable look at American Pinball. I think it would be the best move for them to come out with just a killer nostalgic 80s IP and just nail it, man.
    38:41
    I wasn't focus grouped. I'm happy to help if I can. But, yeah, I would like to see the shop that Amtron built churn out some quality content. When are we going to see it? Well, I guess if it comes down to how many sales barbecue has and if they have some space on the line and want to keep it moving, I really don't know. So that's a bit of a wild card for me. I don't know if we'll see something from AP at Expo. Tell you what, I think at Expo we're going to have more of a sense on what and when then for sure. So I'll just table my speculation here for now. I got my speculation hat on with barrels of fun though. they just, you know, they've got 750 of these labyrinths sold they're around 200 or so forgive me Brian if I get the numbers not quite correct, I did mention them on the prior podcast but I could say they're comfortably in that middle phase of building, right? Now by the numbers shipped they're not at 500 games but they're probably ending that first third which is always the slowest build because now the employees are more adept at building. The little issues that don't crop up until you're in production have no doubt cropped up by now and hopefully have been sorted. And so now the pace can kind of quicken and they can keep their clip up. I care about the numbers of where they're at because as they start running out of either games sold or games total, that's when we're going to start seeing kind of announcements and whispers and reveals of what their next game is. And, you know, these guys, they know theme, they know theme integration, they know the world under the glass, even though it's so cliche to say that. Ugh, I got a little vomit there.
    40:26
    But, no, I think these guys are bringing some heat. They've got a five-year plan, I believe, they talked about. So I think they've got things mapped out for at least one game a year. Now, Labyrinth was revealed at the 39th annual Chicago Pinball Expo. So in the fall, when we get to the big 40, are we going to see a repeat? Of course, last year, year 39, Jersey Jack was just killing it with the reveal of Elton John. But then equally, there was a 40-minute lines to go play one of the four Labyrinths that they had. Labyrinth was also revealed at Expo. There was two just killer apps, killer games that were out. And poor Venom, I think, was just kicking around the Stern booth. So we'll see. I'm excited to see what we're going to have at the 40th anniversary Expo. Will it be something from Barrels of Fun? I don't know if it will be a little too soon. I think we'll still be deep in the throes of Labyrinth production. Maybe we'll look for Q1 2025 for that. All right. So, yeah, dude, I can't wait. Once we get to Halloween, man, the whole – isn't it crazy how the landscape of pinball has changed just in the last year? The market has gone completely opposite of where it was a year ago. But I think the games that are coming out now are even better than the ones that came out last year. and we got that big deluge in March 2023 with Galactic Tank Force and Pulp Fiction and everything else, now we're kind of post Pulp Fiction, you know, Pedretti's entered the mix with their Funhouse, more remakes are coming Chicago Gaming Company's talking about getting well, they're not talking about anything but we're talking about them getting the Twilight Zone out and the other run of Medieval Madness, now they didn't tell me that they had that coming, but it was supposed to happen at the end of last year and that didn't happen And then there's still the rumor that Jersey Jack would have a game for IAPA this year. So I don't know, man, all over the place. The IAPA rumor, that would make sense if it was Harry Potter, and maybe that was the plan, and maybe now they'll switch it up. If, like, the Elton sales are slow and they need to keep the line moving, maybe Seiden's game will come out, and then they'll still have Harry Potter as a carrot to dangle. I mean, it's just going to be a cash-money printing machine. So it's like they're playing through the level, and they've got the special weapon, and they're just waiting for the boss. And when things get dire, go ahead and hit it. for the max effect. That's the Harry Potter button. Alright, everybody, be good to yourself and each other as Jerry Springer would say back in the day. Email your buddy Don at donspinballpodcastgmail.com. Join the Patreon if you want extra content, if you're just like, can't wait for the next thing to come out. Otherwise, I'll be on the road dropping the content like it's hot. Email Jeff and Mad Pinball and say, hey, Don's great, or whatever. Or say, you know, eat your vegetables or tell them something. Um, yeah. We're going on the road. I'm going to pick up games.
    43:05
    Pinball's so fun, man. All right, later.