Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Episode 63: Sonic vs. Transformers Pinball Review + The Wildest Year in Modern Pinball?!

The Flipside Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·57m 6s·analyzed·Jul 11, 2026
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.021

TL;DR

Retro Ralph reviews Sonic JJP vs Transformers amid unprecedented pinball abundance.

Summary

Retro Ralph reviews two newly released pinball games—Sonic the Hedgehog (Jersey Jack Pinball) and Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye (Stern)—in the context of an unusually abundant year for quality pinball releases. He praises Sonic's accessible yet deep ruleset, innovative upper playfield, and faithful adaptation of Sonic Generations gameplay, while noting minor criticisms around boss battle impact and missing feature modes. He also discusses the broader pinball market excitement, community dynamics, and his current game room lineup.

Key Claims

  • Sonic the Hedgehog pinball is based on Sonic Generations and faithfully maps video game progression mechanics (checkpoints, rings, Chaos Emeralds) to pinball gameplay

    high confidence · Retro Ralph, direct gameplay explanation and personal experience with Sonic

  • Sonic CE features red powder coat armor with video topper; SE has blue armor with acrylic topper; Arcade Edition is most affordable and plays identically to CE

    high confidence · Retro Ralph describing machine variants and pricing strategy

  • Sonic currently ships with four pending feature modes (including Casino Nights) not yet coded; code completion status is partial but substantial

    high confidence · Retro Ralph explicitly stating missing modes and code roadmap

  • Sonic implements a ball save on the accelerator loop return to protect inexperienced players from sudden loss after first hit

    high confidence · Retro Ralph describing specific mechanical safeguard and appreciating design intent

  • Harry Potter pinball is rule-complex and requires extended learning curve, but Sonic is more accessible at entry level while maintaining depth

    high confidence · Retro Ralph comparing rule accessibility across Jersey Jack's recent releases

  • 2026 is 'the wildest year in modern pinball' with unprecedented volume and quality of releases causing collectors to struggle with space and trade-in decisions

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph opening statement about market saturation and community behavior

  • Sonic features seven selectable zones (Green Hill, etc.) playable in any order; harder zones unlock progressively and skilled players can start at highest difficulty

    high confidence · Retro Ralph detailed gameplay walkthrough

  • Winchester Mystery House (Barrels of Fun) is an 'amazing game' with exceptional call-outs and immersive experience; Jeff Dodson work is 'outstanding'

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph's personal endorsement after extended play time at Electric Bat venue

Notable Quotes

  • “There is so much good pinball. It is stupid. Everyone's looking at their game rooms being like, what do I want to get rid of? What do I have to get rid of? Because I need to bring new stuff in.”

    Retro Ralph @ 0:00-1:30 — Articulates the market saturation and collector anxiety driving the 2026 hype cycle

  • “The designer has to make a design that's approachable for the mass community... the software developer has to create something that feels approachable to people too, both basic entry-level players and then the super-skilled players and then even the tournament players. So it's definitely not an easy job.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~5:00 — Articulates core design challenge in modern pinball development balancing accessibility vs. depth

  • “Yellow shots are rings, blue shots are checkpoints. There's a lot more to the game than that, but if you know those two things, you're off to a good start already.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~12:30 — Highlights Sonic's successful rule simplification and accessibility compared to Harry Potter

  • “The upper playfield is just really, really fun... It will develop your skills. So if you're more of a novice player, you just got to work at it and you will get it.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~20:00 — Praises upper playfield as both accessible and skill-development tool; design success

  • “When you beat a boss battle, it's a little anticlimactic... make that more of a moment. Like if you think about Death Eater, the Death Eater in Harry Potter, when you're playing the Death Eater and that bass drop happens, it's a moment.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~25:00 — Primary gameplay criticism of Sonic; calls for greater emotional impact on boss completion

  • “I'm not trying to tell you to buy the game. That's not my thing. I've never been about that. I just want to share my experiences with you, share my excitement for the game, and then hopefully encourage you to go seek it out and play it.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~30:00 — Establishes personal editorial stance: experience sharing vs. sales promotion

Entities

Retro RalphpersonSonic the HedgehoggameTransformers: More Than Meets the EyegameHarry PottergameJersey Jack PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyBarrels of Funcompany

Signals

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Sonic implements simple entry-level rule set (yellow=rings, blue=checkpoints) enabling casual play while maintaining substantial depth through Chaos Emeralds, speed-run mechanics, drop target progression, and grading system (D-S tier) that encourages extended engagement and replayability

    high · Retro Ralph explicitly contrasts Sonic's accessible ruleset with Harry Potter's complex learning curve; praises zone-based mode selection and tiered difficulty system

  • ?

    design_innovation: Sonic's accelerator loop features automatic ball save on first impact return to protect novice players from unexpected outlane drain; accompanied by visual/audio beacon cueing right-flipper position for advanced shot setups

    high · Retro Ralph describes ball save implementation and appreciates design intent to balance accessibility with skill development

  • ?

    product_launch: Sonic ships with four pending feature modes (Casino Nights confirmed) not coded at launch; Jersey Jack Pinball following Harry Potter model of post-release code updates delivering additional content

    high · Retro Ralph explicitly states modes are 'not coded in yet' but 'coming,' notes this is 'probably some more stuff that's going to be put in'

  • $

    market_signal: 2026 experiencing unprecedented release velocity forcing collectors to evaluate game room space, triggering active trading/selling of older titles to make room for new acquisitions; describes community-wide anxiety about inventory management

    high · Retro Ralph opening statement: 'Everyone's looking at their game rooms being like, what do I want to get rid of? What do I have to get rid of? Because I need to bring new stuff in'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.038

0:00
Music Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Flipside Podcast. I'm your host, Retro Ralph, and we are here for another episode, an action-packed episode.
0:44
Transformers More Than Meets the Eye vs. Sonic the Hedgehog. Who is the winner, the ultimate winner, or are they just two really great games? I don't know, we're going to talk about both of them on this episode. But it's a little bit misleading because I don't want to pin them against each other. But I do want to talk about both of them because, guys, what is happening right now?
1:11
There is so much good pinball. It is stupid. Everyone's looking at their game rooms being like, what do I want to get rid of? What do I have to get rid of? Because I need to bring new stuff in because I got to trade it in, blah, blah, blah, sell it, private party. I don't know. We're all going a little crazy because there's so many good themes and games coming out. And there's a whole bunch more. We're only halfway through the year. So we're going to talk all about that. We're in the new studio. I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I'm going to paint that wall this weekend if I don't get distracted. I have major undiagnosed ADD, but I definitely have it. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know I have it. I try to keep it under control, but I do absolutely have a pretty bad case of ADD. I should be medicated, but I'm not. So, so that's why sometimes I bounce around side quests. But they're fun, right? Side quests are fun. Okay, I'm gonna kill the music. Before we get started, just a quick word from our sponsor, Flippin' Out Pinball. If you're looking for a new pinball machine or a used pinball machine, go hit up Zach at Flippin' Out Pinball, and all the information is in the description, whether you're listening to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or right here on YouTube, the video version. So anyways guys, okay, what an action-packed couple of weeks, months, whatever. There's just games coming out of our buttholes right now. Don't even know what to do with myself. So real quick, I just got off recording with the Triple Drain guys. Travis couldn't make it, so I was the fill-in. I was the fill-in for Travis, and so Joel didn't have to get beat up for a whole entire two hours. I'm just kidding, I love Travis. And it's a fun little dynamic that those guys all have. But I was really grateful to be on that show. We talked a little bit of Transformers. We talked a little bit of Sonic. We talked a lot about a bunch of things. I'm going to deeper dive into those topics a little bit more today because all these new games came out and some of you guys have not even experienced them yet. But I want to give you my take on them so far as they exist so far in the wild. And we're going to try to I will bring up I will bring up things that have occurred within our crazy pinball community. And and some of it I'll try to I'll try to have a fair and balanced analysis of everything that's going on currently in the space. So here we go. We're going to start with Sonic because that's the game I just got. If you guys haven't watched my video on Sonic, it's on the Retro Ralph YouTube channel. Thank you, Mason, for killing it on the edit. It was awesome. Mason Conrad, whoop whoop, he's awesome. Actually, I don't know, I thought I had my little horn thing, but I don't. So, what do I think about Sonic so far? Well, the community reaction has been pretty good for the most part.

“Winchester Mystery House... holy crap, Karl D'Angelo just knocked it out of the park and Barrels of Fun made a very, very cool game.”

Retro Ralph @ ~37:00 — Strong endorsement of Barrels of Fun's quality and design director's work

  • “They did such a good job incorporating the sound effects. Like when you get a checkpoint, it's going to be a very familiar sound effect to you. When you collect rings, it's going to be that ring noise.”

    Retro Ralph @ ~41:00 — Praises faithful audio design and Sonic IP integration through sound design

    • Winchester Mystery House
    game
    Jeff Dodsonperson
    Karl D'Angeloperson
    Eric Minorperson
    Mason Conradperson
    Coleperson
    Rudyperson
    Ozzyperson
    Electric Batvenue
    Kaleperson
    Triple Draincontent
    Joelperson
    Tomperson
    Travisperson
    Flip N Out Pinballcompany
    Zach Menyperson
    Gary Sternperson
    The Flipside Pinball Podcastevent

    design_innovation: Sonic's drop target bank (Chaos Emerald Multiball) incrementally increases difficulty; retains progress on missed targets to lower skill floor; implements post-lock captive ball mechanics in multiball phase to reward advanced play

    high · Retro Ralph describes drop target retention, explains progression from 3-target to 4-target activation, highlights post-lock Bash Dash mechanics for multiball play

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Sonic's checkpoint system and LCD animation progression are intentionally mapped to Sonic Generations video game level progression rather than randomized; zone-based mode selection (7 zones, playable in any order) mirrors video game structure

    high · Retro Ralph explicitly explains checkpoint-to-animation mapping: 'when you hit a checkpoint, you'll see Sonic running through the world as it exists past the last checkpoint'; describes zone selection as analogous to video game progression

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Sonic's zone-first mode selection (choose before plunge via action button) eliminates traditional mode qualification shots; seven distinct zone options with independent progression allow player agency in difficulty/theme selection

    high · Retro Ralph: 'You can select what zone you want... right from the first plunge... before you plunge the ball, you can use the action button and select any one of those zones'

  • ?

    product_concern: Sonic's boss battles lack impactful emotional payoff despite mechanical success; shaker motor activation and wire-form return are mechanically functional but fail to match memorable moments in similar games (e.g., Harry Potter's Death Eater bass drop)

    high · Retro Ralph: 'make that more of a moment... when you're playing the Death Eater and that bass drop happens, it's a moment. It's a cool moment that you remember'

  • ?

    content_signal: Retro Ralph explicitly positions reviews as experience-sharing and community discovery enablement rather than sales promotion; encourages hands-on play-testing via Pinball Map and location play before purchase

    high · Retro Ralph: 'I'm not trying to tell you to buy the game. That's not my thing... I just want to share my experiences with you... go seek it out and play it'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball establishing pattern of releasing games with substantial pending code features; Game Changer difficulty system being carried forward from Harry Potter to Sonic as standardized customization feature

    medium · Retro Ralph notes Game Changer feature 'not fully baked yet' but planned for expansion; four feature modes pending; describes as evolution of Harry Potter's customization philosophy

  • ?

    community_signal: Retro Ralph exploring idea of weekend-long game demo event at Electric Bat venue to facilitate local community play of new Sonic title; would combine merchandise display, tournament-style signup, and content creator presence

    medium · Retro Ralph: 'would almost be cool to bring it there for just a weekend... just make it an event... I'll host something where I'm there both days and people just get to play it'

  • ?

    content_signal: Retro Ralph maintaining integrated content distribution across video (YouTube), audio (podcast), and streaming platforms; coordination with video editor (Mason Conrad), cross-promotion with other podcasts (Triple Drain), and viewer engagement through Super Chats

    medium · References to YouTube video review, audio podcast version, video footage of garage, editor credits, and appreciation for Super Chat tips from community members like Ozzy

    • 3:50
    There's, you know, with any game, there's always, you know, there's good and bad. There's people that are going to like things, there are people that are not like things. And so that's the thing that's really difficult with pinball because, like I said many times to many friends who have asked me or viewers that have asked me, fans of the show that have asked me, hey, I want to get this game, what should I get? Or I want to get my first game, what should I get? It's such a hard thing to answer because the deeper you get into the hobby, the more you figure out what games and layouts and designs and themes that gravitate, that you gravitate towards. And so by giving a recommendation sometimes, it might not be exactly what that player is looking for. So you have to help them kind of weigh that out. Like, what is it that you like? Do you like fan layouts? Do you not like fan layouts? Do you like more unique designs? Do you not know what you like because you're brand new into the hobby? So maybe we need to start from the basic ground level.
    4:44
    You know, so yeah, so it's hard. It's hard, and I got to think that designers of games have a big challenge because you have to balance. The designer has to make a design that's approachable for the mass community, and then the software developer has to create something that feels approachable to people too, both basic entry-level players and then the super-skilled players and then even the tournament players. So it's definitely not an easy job or an easy task to be able to appeal to everybody. But I feel like Sonic did a pretty good job with that. So just basic level, let's break it down basics. No one is complaining about the cabinet design and layout. The cabinet, it looks amazing. You know, they knocked it out of the park. It's all Sonic all the time. The powder coat on both versions look great. The LE and the SE. The LE has the, oh, sorry, I'm saying LE. The CE and the SE. So the CE is the top of the line one. You know, you're going to get that amazing topper and you're going to get the powder coated armor and all of that stuff. It's red on the CE. The only thing I've heard people say is, man, I wish the, you know, it's a, I don't know what the percentage of people that are saying this, but some are saying, man, I kind of like the blue. I wish the blue was on the CE. It's not. If you want the, sorry, I keep saying them wrong. I'm all over the place. See, I'm already have an ADD. The SE and the CE. Then there's the arcade edition. The SE has the blue armor. The CE has the red. And the SE doesn't have the topper. It has like an acrylic topper, which is still pretty cool, but it's not the video topper or whatever. Now, when I was on Triple Drain, we were talking about how cool the topper is, but we're also saying, look, the topper is kind of a spectate thing, right? If you're someone watching someone else play, you can kind of follow along and see what's going on in the topper. But currently, there's nothing in the game that's stopping the game for any long significant amount of time to focus on the topper. So as cool as it is and as awesome as it looks in a game room, you got to like weigh that, right? Is that something you must have? Because some people just want the sexiest thing they can put in their game room and it's a pretty sexy topper. So I understand that. But money isn't infinite. And I think the SE is great. And I think a lot of people would probably gravitate toward the SE. But what's beautiful about this offering is that if you do have maybe less funds or you don't want to break the bank, even though 10K is still very expensive, you can get the arcade edition and you're essentially experiencing the same exact game as I am with the CE. So you're not missing out on anything, just some aesthetic things and then the topper, right? So and the shaker motor and things like that, but those can be added and those are minimal cost, right? The Shaker Motor is like less than $150. So it's something that anybody can add pretty easily. And then, of course, it doesn't have art blades and a couple other things. But it's essentially the same game. So if you're just wanting to experience this game, you can go in on an arcade edition and feel pretty good. They're getting the same experience that I am. So let's talk about the gameplay for a little while.
    7:51
    I really enjoy this game for a lot of reasons. So I never played Sonic Generations, although I started to. So there is a version of software on the Switch. It's called like Sonic X Generations. If you download that, you will actually get access to generations, the original generations, which is what this pinball machine is based on. So if you understand what happens when you complete a zone on the video game, it is the very same thing that happens when you complete a zone on the pinball machine. But what I like about this is that there's a lot of variability within each zone you play. And you can select what zone you want. There's seven zones available to you. And you can select it right from the first plunge. Before you plunge the ball, you can use the action button and select any one of those zones that you want to play. I like this. I really enjoy games that allow you to select the mode you're going to play. I really liked that. Or, you know, like kind of things like Evil Dead where it's, you know, you select the movie you want to play. This is actually bringing you right into the mode right when you start the game. So there isn't like a qualifying shot to start the mode. You're in a mode. It's just which mode do you want to play? Which zone do you want to play? You could almost think of a zone as a mode. Now, what I love about this, sometimes code can get really complex and confusing. This really doesn't do that. From a very basic level, yellow shots are rings, blue shots are checkpoints. There's a lot more to the game than that, but if you know those two things, you're off to a good start already. So you can progress through a mode by hitting checkpoints, and then once you complete all the checkpoints, you will have the middle shot available to you to start your battle with Eggman. And then those battles get progressively more difficult. But what makes the game exciting for me, and I think for anybody that has a chance to play it or if you bought it, is that there's a lot more to it than that. You can collect Chaos Emeralds, which help you. You can hit the Bash Dash on the left, which is your multipliers, while you're in the multiball. There's various different multiballs you can experience. The upper playfield, those shots are a little harder, but that will let you progress faster and get more points. Yes. So and there's also like a speed run element to it, too. The faster you complete it, the more you're rewarded. But you're also rewarded for getting all those other things, getting more rings, doing it faster, getting chaos emeralds. So even though you can complete a zone, right, you can just you can just say, all I'm going to do is do checkpoints and rings. And that's what I'm going to focus on. You don't even need to really focus on rings if you don't want to. But we'll get back to rings in a minute. You can just start a boss battle. And that's great, but you get graded for the other things that you're doing within that experience in that zone, no matter what one you select. So it's what keeps me coming back because I'm like, oh man, I only scored a B on Green Hill Zone. I want to go S tier, so I want to try to do those things to get S tier in that zone. And then when you complete two zones, it's not currently in the code, and I don't think you actually have to fully complete them. You just have to play them. You can get a mini wizard mode that they're not calling mini wizard modes. They're calling them feature modes in this game. They're not coded in yet, but those are coming and there's a lot of cool stuff coming in those. So I feel like right now the way the code is, there's a lot to chew on and there's a lot of different variants when you're playing a zone. And I love the fact that it maps to the video game, you know, like that whole video game tie in. That's probably not easy to do. And they probably had to think about that for a long time. How do we do this? And I feel like they came out with a clever way to do it by by giving you all the elements that you'd kind of experience within a Sonic game in the zone that you're playing. The other thing, too, that's cool is the animation that's playing on the on the on the LCD is mapped to where you are within the checkpoint of that level. So when you hit a checkpoint, you'll see Sonic running through the world as it as it exists past the last checkpoint you just completed. So he's moving through the zone just like you would the video game. So it's not random animations in the back. Those animations coincide with checkpoints. I've heard a little bit of confusion about that where people aren't necessarily like saying that it's tied to – like some people are saying, oh, it's random. It's not random. It's actually as you progress through the zone.
    12:12
    The other thing I love – the upper play field is just really, really fun. And I find myself sometimes playing the game differently. Like I'm going to try to leverage the upper playfield a little bit more because I know I can get higher points if I focus on the upper playfield a bit more. Like I'm going to get my checkpoints up in the upper playfield versus getting them in the lower playfield. I say lower playfield, but when I say that, I mean the main playfield of the game.
    12:38
    So I'm really enjoying it. I've heard people say, does it become repetitive? I feel like where I feel the variation is, right now at least, is in the how do you go through completing the zone, and then do you want to go after some of those other things to make the zones more valuable. The other thing that's really cool, and get a better score at the end of the zone, the other thing that's really cool is when you're playing Chaos Emerald multiball, which is those, or any multiball for that matter, those three drop targets. I like this because it's accessible for a player maybe that's a lower skill level, but it progressively gets harder. So to start Chaos Emerald Multiball on the first one, it's those three drop targets, and then the fourth shot into that bank of drop targets, because now they're all down, will actually get you Chaos Emerald Multiball. The other thing I like, which this was a cool design idea, is instead of resetting the drop targets if you drain, if you hit two, those two are down the next time. I like that for beginner players because that makes it a little bit easier to achieve Chaos Emerald multiball. But when you're in Chaos Emerald multiball, you can even have a little bit more fun because there's the Bash Dash target on the left. Now, if you lock a ball, if you hit the Bash Dash target, the post comes up, and now that becomes a captive ball. So you can hit that and then you can work on playfield multipliers while you're in that multiball. So there just there a lot more to it than just playing the zone And so I just want to make that clear because even when I first played it that wasn necessarily completely clear to me But at the basic level I could say blue shots will get you checkpoints which will get you through the zone Now, rings are also important. Basic rules on rings, which is cool. If you can collect 100 rings, the middle will light up as an extra ball. I really like this because, you know, for a beginner player, you may focus on the rings a little bit to try to get that extra ball to prolong your playtime. All of these elements were very creative, and I do feel like even though I love Harry Potter, I love it, but a common complaint I get about Harry Potter isn't that it's not fun, isn't that the layout isn't amazing because the thing shoots amazing. It's I don't really understand the rules. I have to really deep dive the rules. You know, I don't I'm a little confused about the rules and it takes some time to understand the Potter rules. There's even some things currently in Potter that I'm still learning. And I've had the game for probably almost a year now, maybe even over a year now. So I like that, though, because that means that a game like Potter, you can have around for a long time and know there's depth to it. So you're going to keep it on your floor probably for a long time. It is a game to me, I hate saying bolted, but it is Harry Potter right now because it's mostly code complete is a game I can't see going anywhere for a significant amount of time because it's just fun. And people that come over love playing it because Harry Potter is just a movie that a lot of people love and have a lot of like great feelings about. They watched them with their kids, all sorts of things. Maybe you enjoyed them by yourself. Whatever it is, Harry Potter universe is super cool. And Eric Mignor did an awesome job. But getting back to Sonic, the layout is cool. It's cool. It's fast. The accelerator loop is awesome. Then the accelerator loop does two things. It does when you hit it, the ramp almost it's almost magic in a way. The first time I had it happen, I was like, what the hell just happened? Because it happened so fast. You almost don't even you hear the noise that Sonic makes when he goes through the loop. And then the ball is like returned to your right flipper really fast. So you've got to pay attention. They did implement, at least in the current code, there is a ball save. So if you like the first time you hit it, you like completely just like, whoa, what just happened? You will get the ball back, which I actually like. I hope they keep that in. I think that's a good idea because I can see, you know, I can sort of see like a tournament player being annoyed by that. But of course, like any game, you can put it on, you can change the rules and do whatever you want. With JJP, you can change like almost anything you want about the game. So you can dial it in to be as easy as you want or as difficult as you want. And the Game Changer feature with the key fobs is also there just like Harry Potter. So if you want to make the game a little easier, you can do that. That code isn't all the way there, but it's mostly there. There are things there. If you put it on easy, it will qualify things a little faster. I haven't really played with the Game Changer much, so I don't know all the details. But it's not fully baked yet, but the plan would be to get it to a point where it's working exactly like Potter did. So there's going to be very strict rule changes about how the game will work in easy... I think it's... I can't remember. I know the top end is Wizard. I don't know if it's Easy Normal Wizard. I can't remember if the middle... whatever. But anyways, you get it. It's like an easy, medium, hard kind of thing. And Hard Being Wizard. So I like that. They didn't abandon this idea of game changer. It sounds like that's something they're going to continue to do with the game. But I also like this because these games are expensive. You want to be able to have fun with it right away. And if you're just a novice player, put it on easy and enjoy the game that way until you refine your skills or do the opposite. Play it normal and just work your skills the way up. But that's what's the beauty of it is you can do it however you want. I know I talked about the upper playfield already, but that upper playfield is just cool as hell. There's no way around it. It's cool as hell. It will develop your skills. So if you're more of a novice player, you just got to work at it and you will get it. One tip that could be cool and you could try it is when you hit that middle shot, the ball's going to come. It beacons you that the ball's going to come around that right-hand side. It's going to have a beacon. And so if you're paying attention, it's going to come on the right hand side. If you want to feel like you want to slow it down for a minute, like maybe you're maybe you're in a boss battle and you're like, I want to I want to like slow it down for a second because the game is very fast. You can raise your your right flipper and sort of ski jump over to the left one.
    18:51
    To slow it down a little bit to maybe set up your shot to shoot Eggman or to shoot any of the nine shots that are up there. Super fun, very rewarding once you get a groove down. As far as criticisms of it, right now my only thing would be, and I really hope JJP takes this to heart, I would like the boss battles to have a little bit more impact when you complete them. Like when you beat a boss battle, it's a little anticlimactic, it does do something, it shakes the shaker motor and then it drops the ball back to your, because it has the wire form. It's the only wire form return in the whole game. It'll return it to your left flipper. However, it does have a post that holds it for a second before you start up in another zone, and you can select your zone from there if you want to go to a harder zone or whatever.
    19:40
    So my only thing would be make that more of a moment. Like if you think about Death Eater, the Death Eater in Harry Potter, when you're playing the Death Eater and that bass drop happens, it's a moment. It's a cool moment that you remember and it's exciting. They just need to make that a little more exciting, I think. And then maybe even consider as you progress through the zones, and you can start them in any order by the way. If you're a more skilled player, you can go all the way to the hardest zone, which is the one on the top.
    20:11
    That would be my only criticism, is make those a little bit more of moments, and then the four feature modes that aren't in the game yet, hopefully we get those in a timely manner. Let's get those out. But keep in mind, not many of these games shipped yet, so there's plenty for someone to chew on right now. But that's the beauty is we should get those code updates over time and those other four modes will be there. I think it's Casino Nights. I qualify that a lot. If you beat two boss battles, you complete two zones and beat two boss battles, you'll see that light up. But currently it doesn't do anything. You can't actually get into that mode. So lots to chew on. Not a lot of criticism of the game for me. I think the only thing that's going to maybe determine whether this is a game for you or not is the layout to fan layout. If that's not something that if you don't enjoy that, I would say at least go find one, go to Pinball Map if there's one locally by you, play it and see if you enjoy it. But I'm really having a lot of fun with it. I had both my buddy Cole over. I like having friends over to play the game to see what their reaction is. Because Cole doesn't own a physical pinball machine outside of – I let him sort of borrow my Transformers the pin because he doesn't have a ton of space in his house right now for a pinball machine. And I think he brought it into his house. It wasn't his garage, but a garage in Arizona without AC. No bueno to play pinball. So he brought it into the house, and his wife is having fun with it. So he's now hooked on the drug of pinball. And he does play pinball, but he plays mostly virtual pinball. So he was like, oh my gosh, I love this game. It had the one more game effect for him. Rudy also really enjoys this game too. So I didn't ask Rudy, Potter, or Sonic. Kind of don't like that question because I feel like there's such different games and it's not really fair to compare a code complete game to a game that still has some room to grow. I would say the codes out of I don't know what percentage the code is at, but the fact that there's still four more feature modes and probably some more stuff that's going to be put in. I think you're getting a lot right now. And then we have something to look forward to, which I appreciate. So all in all, I'm really enjoying I'm really enjoying Sonic. And I think I would encourage you to go play it on location. I think with any game, it's hard to buy a game sight unseen. I'm not trying to tell you to buy the game. That's not my thing. I've never been about that. I just want to share my experiences with you, share my excitement for the game, and then hopefully encourage you to go seek it out and play it and see if it's a game that you also enjoy. But I am having a blast with it. Now, we had talked about potentially bringing it to Electric Bat. I don't know when I'm going to do that. I'd like to do that, but I have a lot more I want to do on it. I have more filming I want to do of it, share more, stream more of it. So it would almost be cool to bring it there for just a weekend and not like weeks and then just make it an event. I haven't talked to Kale about that, but if he'd consider doing that, that would be really cool to just be like, I'll host something where I'm there both days and people just get to play it and sign up to play it and experience it. If they would be down for something like that, I think that would be cool to get the local Arizona community to be able to experience the game a little bit more. I think I might have talked about this in my last podcast. If I didn't, I'll bring it up now. Ozzy, who is someone that he's very active in the community. He joins almost everybody's streams, very supportive of all the content creators. So we all are very grateful for him. He's very generous with Super Chats, which I know all of us appreciate because everyone works really hard to create content for you guys. Some people have their content behind paywalls, so they make money making the content. But for those of us that don't have things behind paywalls, when people tip via Super Chats, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool and it's much appreciated. And Ozzy is extremely generous, so I appreciate that. But he had bought a Winchester Mystery House here locally in Arizona, and he brought it to Electric Bat for a period of time. It was like two weeks. And I got a chance to really put more time on Winchester. What an amazing game, even though that's not what the topic of this podcast is. But holy crap, Carl D'Angelo just knocked it out of the park and Beryl's made a very, very cool game. And I know I've given him props many times, but Jeff Dobson created a team of people that really, between his skills and some of the people that he had doing, and I don't know if he arranged those people or if, I'm not sure how that all worked. I never really asked him directly, but the people that they got to do the call-outs and things like that, awesome. And Jeff Dobson's work on it is amazing. So talk about an immersive pinball experience. Now, getting back to just closing off on Sonic, the other thing I really like about Sonic that we didn't really talk about is the very familiar music and sound effects. Maybe some of the music wouldn't be as familiar because it is leveraging the Generations versions of the music, but there are some tracks that are going to sound very familiar to like the 16-bit Genesis version. They're just kind of done more like with a modern, you know, sound, you know, the technology to make it sound more modernized. And then some of the levels, unless you played those on Generations, then they might be a little less familiar to you, but still very much in that like Sonic universe. But they did such a good job incorporating the sound effects. Like when you get a checkpoint, it's going to be a very familiar sound effect to you. When you collect rings, it's going to be that ring noise. When you go around that loop, it's going to sound like you shot around that loop on the Sega Genesis version. And that sound effect is very much there, just maybe more modernized and a little bit more higher quality than what you remember. Although the Genesis was a pretty badass, the sound chip in a Genesis was awesome. I always loved the music in the Sega Genesis. So all in all, I'm very happy with where things are with Sonic. I'm looking forward to what they're going to do with the code moving forward. And I'm very excited for more people to play it and experience it. So let's pivot. Before we pivot to Transformers, I wanted to show you guys something really quick. I did some garage upgrades. Now, if you're listening to the audio version, you're not going to see this, but this is the current lineup as it exists today. So I know people ask all the time, what's the lineup look like? And so if you're on the audio version, I'm going to try to call out what people are seeing. But I'm essentially running a camera remotely from my new studio downstairs to my garage. And I can control it remotely from where I'm at right now. So my first row of games is, and right now this is where they are, I'm probably going to move them around because I kind of want the JJP games to be next to each other. But you've got Jaws, Sonic, Walking Dead Remastered, King Kong, and I'm loving bringing John Wick back. What is, wait, hold on, what is Gary Stern wearing? Hold on, hold on, maybe we can zoom into that. Gary, Gary, what are you doing? Do you know what company you work for, Gary? Is Gary wearing my Sonic hat? What are you doing, Gary? Gary, Gary, come on now. You shouldn't be doing that. You know, you're supposed to be promoting your games. Oh my gosh, Gary. And then if you look to the right of that, you can see my leaderboard that's in the garage. So got some pretty good healthy scores going on there. Then if we back up the camera a little bit and look at the other row, I've got these two cardboard cutouts of Amy and Sonic. And then the first game on the far end is Transformers, which we're going to talk about in a second. I'm really loving the Transformers. We're going to talk about that in a minute here. And I've got the LE version of that. Then we've got Predator, Deadpool, Evil Dead, and Harry Potter.
    27:58
    So farewell, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice left the building. I just it's not that I didn't like Beetlejuice or anything like that. Let's that's we'll toggle back to my main room here again for a second. I loved Beetlejuice. It just wasn't fully my thing. And there's a couple of reasons for that. I did mention if you want to go watch the the Triple Drain podcast, it should be out the same day. This one is out to go check out and support those guys. And thank you for Joel and Tom for having me on and Travis even though Travis wasn there I appreciate that It was a lot of fun And we did talk a little bit about my motivation to move Beetlejuice on and things like that So we going to go back into the garage for a second And then the area that you guys are always giving me crap for there a lot of mess right there We won't pay attention to the mess, is this seating area right here. So this is the seating area. And a lot of you have said I should get rid of the seating area and bring in. So you only usually see that part of the seating area. I don't usually show you my water filtration system over there. But that's the seating area right there. And then if you go further over out of the camera, yeah, the camera can't go all the way over that way. See, I can go. Let's swing it this way. Swing it all the way. Sorry if I'm making you a little dizzy here. I'm making myself dizzy. If I swing over to the left, you've got my streaming rig is right here. And then and then a hunter who moved from Arizona to move to Utah. I'm really bummed about that. Hunter made this cool little 3D printed version of me. You can see right here. So how cool is that? I can't believe this thing can even zoom in that far. I don't think I think it's too dark in there for it to fully focus in on that. So I got my little refrigerator filled with beers and energy drinks and all that stuff. And this is a bunch of trash from from me unboxing all these games. I got to get that. And that's the tripod that you're seeing right there. So anyways, that is the that's the full. You just got a garage tour without having to come into the garage. That's what's currently going on in the garage. And now we're going to focus on Transformers more than meets the eye. So how do I feel about Transformers more than meets the eye? OK, if you're a Transformers fan, which if you're a G1 Transformers fan, they just like Sonic, they really knocked it out of the park. And that's why it makes it so difficult to choose a game right now, because you got Transformers that knocked it out of the park when it comes to the theme integration. And same with it. They did the same thing with Sonic where Transformers might differ a little bit. But I think a lot of people are nostalgic for G1. So if you are, I feel like this game is going to really appeal to you. And between the unique layout that Elliot put together and Elizabeth's Code, it's pretty great.
    30:38
    I'm having a little bit of an issue with mine right now. My Megatron Cannon is hitting the ramp, but it's bumping into the wire form in front of the ramp. So I have a ticket open with Stern, and they're helping me walk through it. It's like 90% there. I'm going to actually do a video on my Facebook page that kind of explains the process just so that if others have this problem. I've been on the Pinside thread for the owner's thread. I haven't seen other people. Maybe there's been like one or two other instances of someone saying that something similar, but then a lot of people are saying that they're not having that problem. So if it's a widespread problem, then I'm assuming Stern will put some kind of fix-it kit out. But I don't think it is a widespread problem. It might just be a problem with mine. I don't know. So we'll find out. So if you are listening to this and you have a Transformers or got a Transformers, let me know. Is your Megatron cannon working 100% as it should? So let's talk a little bit about, because I broke down the cabinet of Sonic. We'll break down the cabinet of Transformers. Cabinets, it's beautiful. I don't know if people are, I think there's a little bit of a split, no pun intended, because the cabinet is literally split. You know what? Hold on. You know what I'm going to do? Just because people give me crap for it. Not only am I going to wear the gloves while I play, I'm going to wear the gloves while I podcast. I've been getting a lot of crap lately for the gloves. And you know what? I don't, I will not defend the fact that I wear these. I'm not going to defend it. I'm just going to say this. If you play pinball with me and I don't have gloves on, then your ass is going to be playing with some sweaty, nasty flippers and some sweaty, nasty lock bar. And that's the main reason why, because number one, my hands slide off. Am I defending this position? No, maybe a little bit. So like I don't want my hand sliding all over the place. And I also don't want you to go up to a game and have my gross sweat all over the buttons. No one wants that. No one wants that. So that's the main motivator. It's for my gaming experience and your gaming experience. So there is nothing more to it. I've had people ask me if it makes you play better. It does not have any magical powers. There's no magical powers in these gloves that are going to make you play better. You just got to play better. You have to learn and evolve and continue to practice and that's going to make you play better. The only way this is going to make you play better is if you have sweaty ass hands like me because then your hands won't be slipping and sliding all over the lock bar and you will be able to play better. Be more respectful to the other patrons in that location who are also going to share that game with you. Okay, so the art on the cabinet. They went back to the foiled artwork, which I think complements the Transformers very much. It looks great.
    33:25
    It's very G1 universe on both sides of the cabinet, on the sides of the head, all good. On the LE, you get the mirrored back glass. I think all the art on all trims of this game look really good. Same with Sonic. The artwork is great on all of them. Art is subjective. Some people like others. There has been a time where certain games come out and people go, man, I wish I could put the pro artwork on the premium or vice versa. It is what it is. You know what I mean? I like all of them, but like I said, artwork is subjective. Some people like other trim levels versus others, but I think with Transformers and Sonic, they did a good job on all of the trims, so I think you'd be generally happy with all of them. The only thing I've seen people be critical of on the cabinet itself for Transformers is some people don't like the decision to revisit what they did in 2011, I think it was, with the regular Transformers, the first one that came out, there was more Michael Bay universe. They did that half Autobots, Decepticons, red-purple thing. Some people don't like that. That's what they did on the LE. The other ones obviously is just regular black armor. So you can do what you want. You can take it to a local powder coder if you want or just leave it black. And that's that. That's that. Now, Stern's done something a little interesting with Spike 3. This is Spike 3, so you're allowed to, or they support the expression lighting both on the outside and inside of the cabinet, so you can upgrade those things. So if you decide to go with a Pro, you can essentially put the same expression lights I have on my LE on your Pro both inside the cabinet and on the outside external lighting, which I think that's very cool. You know, obviously those costs add up over time. So if someone wants to just have the game have all that stuff already installed, then you can certainly go with the LE. I do think there's a sweet spot for this game. I kind of feel like maybe the premium is the sweet spot for this game. I struggle because I bought the LE and I know damn well that LEs are just not going to hold their value. And I don't think, you know, we saw it with Pokemon. Pokemon did, Jaws did, Metallica Remastered, the LE1 did, but I wouldn't bank on that. Don't bank on I'm buying an LE and I'm going to be able to get my money out of it 100% if you go to sell it. So those are all considerations for you to make, but I think you'd be really happy. The overall gameplay layout and design, you're going to experience a very similar thing outside of a couple of things With either the Pro or the Premium. I think the Premium is the sweet spot though. I find the Soundwave lock really cool. The Canon is neat. But all the play is there in the Pro. So outside of aesthetic things and some of the mechanical things, you can experience a similar gameplay experience with the Pro. And you can add a lot of those things to it. So the layout is very unique. I think Elliot did a really good job. This is Elliot's second game after John Wick. John Wick has had a brand new life because of MXV. MXV really brought this game up to a level on the John Wick side that really made it impressive. And in this particular game, Elliot was paired up with Elizabeth and Elizabeth did a bang up job on the code. Now, I'm sorry I didn't mention Bill Grupp's name. Bill Grupp, I think, made a conscious effort with Sonic to make it more approachable because a lot of the complaints about JJP is there's too many things going on at once. I don't think that's the case with Sonic at all. So if you're looking for a little bit more focused software, I feel like they did a really good job making the software easier to understand. Even though there are elements that can go deep on Sonic. So getting back to Transformers, Elizabeth did a great job with this. My only thing, and of course I own it and I made that decision to buy it. I can't help but I'm a human being. If you show me something that could have been or I have this idea in my head of something that could have been, I'm going to fantasize about that a little bit. Even though I know I can't change it, I do wonder what that would have been like had Optimus transformed. My only thing I don't like now owning it is I just think Optimus doesn't look good. He just doesn't. Now, does that make me like the game or have less fun with the game? No, but I do think that would have been cool. And there is a part of me still that wishes that Stern would consider doing something for premium and LE owners. Even if it came at a cost, I feel like I would buy in on that idea. I don't know what that would be like PR-wise or how they would present that, but I just feel like the community, yeah, sure, you'd have some people that would complain, oh my gosh, I should have got this or I should have done this and you're making me pay for it. I just feel like the game is too good to have this large amount of detractors that are mad about this little thing, and I get it, you can be upset about whatever you want. But it's just a bummer because the game is very good and I hope more people will open their eyes to it, whether that be playing it on location and experiencing it. And maybe they'll realize that, yes, it's a bummer that Optimus isn't the way it should be and that Optimus doesn't look great when it comes to how they represented Optimus in comparison to everything else in the playfield. So maybe we'll see. I don't know. But there's also the mod community. I have no idea what they're going to do. But I would even be cool with if someone wants to mod, if a mod maker wants to make a much better version of Optimus that doesn't do anything other than maybe like do some lighting up or do something cool like that, that would make me really happy. If it looked more like Optimus and looked more on brand for how we expect Optimus to look, I'd be cool with that. But shots and layout wise, the shots are really unique, very different kind of layout than Sonic. So this is like, you know, cross the playfield shots. The Grimlock shot is one of my favorites. You hit the Grimlock shot and it sends the ball across the game and onto that upper flipper where you have some opportunities to shoot different things. There's like a, I don't know what you'd call it, but there's a little section with a stand-up target that you can hit. And you can hit that off the initial plunge and get a really lucrative skill shot, which it's a little bit difficult to do. But when you do, it's pretty awesome and satisfying. Then you can also bash Optimus in the shins with that upper flipper. And then there's a shot to the left of Optimus that sometimes doesn't always, it sometimes rejects. But when you do hit it, it's pretty satisfying and it kind of goes behind Optimus and it goes in this little box and kind of whips back around. I like that too. The other thing I like is they've made it pretty simple to start modes and it's very easy to explain to someone. There's drop targets in front of Megatron. You knock down those drop targets. You shoot that shot behind him. You don't have to knock them all down, by the way. You can actually sneak in by, I think, hitting just one or two. I can't remember. I think there is a sneak in with one where you can actually still get it in, potentially. I can't remember off the top of my head. But they make it easier to start modes. The other thing I like that Elizabeth did, which I thought was very cool for just like kind of Sonic, where they did some things to make it more approachable. If you play two modes, you don't even have to beat two modes. You get access to the mini wizard mode, one of the mini wizard modes. There's going to be a bunch more that are coded in that aren't there currently called One Shall Fall. Now One Shall Fall, it's almost like these, I know these code developers were not talking to each other, but they have the Casino Knights mode that's not currently coded, which is complete two boss battles. Very achievable for a newer player or someone with a decent skill set. Well, they did something similar here with Transformers, and I love this because pinball is tough when you're starting out and you want to see more of the game or experience a moment in the game or a moment that the game has to offer. A lot of times people don't get to mini wizard mode sometimes or at all. Excuse me, I have like a tickle in my throat. It's been like this whole day for some reason.
    41:44
    Sorry, I'm just taking a drink really quick. So if I play two modes, I get access to One Shall Fall. One Shall Fall is really fun. You access it on the right ramp. There's an indicator light that actually says One Shall Fall and it will flash. Really fun. Great music. It's got intensity.
    42:04
    I think you'll really enjoy that One Shall Fall mode. And it's a battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron. And it's super fun. So it's a moment. It's one that you can easily get to with just a little bit of practice if you don't have advanced skills. And we need more of that in pinball, quite frankly, because I think some games are incredibly difficult. And those games that are incredibly difficult, people with a moderate skill level never get to see much of the game. And I think that's a little frustrating. Give us some stuff up front for the players that aren't quite as good, But also make it more challenging because there going to be many things in that game that are harder to get to But they did the same thing on Sonic So I think that a good thing for pinball you know like giving us those moments that are easier to achieve The other thing I really like on this game is the Transformers multiball is cool They did change the rules from when I played it at Media Day. So at Media Day, you hit the VUK that's right on the right-hand side of, and that's vertical upkick. I had someone ask me what a VUK is. It's vertical upkick. It's a device that shoots the ball back up. So if it's like you're hitting a scoop, the Vuck will shoot it back up somewhere so that you're redirecting the ball somewhere else on the playfield.
    43:21
    The initial code, when it was really, really early, when you'd hit the Vuck, it would, the lock would be, you'd basically hit the Vuck to light the lock, and then you'd hit the Vuck again to lock a ball, and then you'd do that four more times. So it was a little bit like weird to light the lock by shooting the same shot that you're locking the ball. They changed it where you have to bash Optimus in the shins. That'll light the lock. Then you lock a ball. You just repeat that process. Now, as you progress through the game, you have to hit him in the shins more to get to light to lock a ball. So there's a level of difficulty that increases as you get further in the game. So all great things because I think to have an accessible multiball for someone that is brand new or doesn't have quite the skill level, I think that's a good thing to do for pinball. And as long as you make the code such that you still have stuff for other people to explore that are a higher skill level, then I think that's a good thing. There's a bunch more modes that aren't currently available in Transformers that are coming. So similar to Sonic, there are things that they are going to code in over time. So we'll have that to look forward to. But I think the commonality between both of these games is that they came out of the box. You know, a little rare for modern Stern lately to have code this far along. And J.J.P. usually has a pretty good base code when they release games. It's kind of their thing. And I feel like here you get a lot of that with both of these games. So there's plenty of code to chew on on both of these games. But the layouts are very different. One's a fan, one's a more unique design. So it's just kind of like, what is it that you gravitate towards? So sometimes I make decisions on games just strictly based on that. Like, I think it's good to have a fan layout in your collection, but I can see where, like, if you only had one to choose from, if you were a newer player, a fan layout may be more approachable for you than something that's a little bit more complex or unique. And then you kind of work up to that. Like my mistake I made is my first game was Jurassic Park. I kind of did the thing where I bought based on theme. Like, oh, what theme am I really into? That wasn't the best choice for me because Jurassic Park, I couldn't appreciate Jurassic Park as a beginner player. So like for instance if I was if someone was a beginner player I might say hey if you like Pokemon that would be a really good game for you to start with because it's super ultra approachable. So you do have to consider those things if this was your first game which one would be more approachable to you you know or do you want the challenge right off the rip like hey I want to I want a really challenging first game and I love Transformers and maybe that's the decision. Or if you're like, hey, look, I'm starting out. I want something that's a little bit easier for me to understand out the get-go. Then probably Sonic would be a better choice out of those two. But there's no right or wrong. It's just about what you like. And I just feel like getting the more challenging of the games when you're brand new to the pinball might discourage some players because they're feeling like, oh, I'm not making progress or whatever. Or they just don't have that accuracy in their shots yet to really progress through the game in the right way. And I think that was me with Jurassic Park. It just wasn't quite there for me. So we talked a little bit about music and sound effects. Just like Sonic, they did an awesome job integrating it. I probably doesn't get enough credit. They did a bang-up job integrating the movie – sorry, not the movies, but the first two seasons of the show into the Transformers game. And then the other cool thing is there's going to be a movie mode, which will be content from the movie and the Stan Bush song. There's a little Easter egg right now. You can listen to the Stan Bush song, but that mode is not currently in the game. That's going to come later. So if you're watching this and it's we're in July of 2026 and you're watching this or listening to this way later, those modes may already be in there. But for right now, they're not, at least currently as of as of today. So I think it's crazy, man. I just think we're in this weird but very good time period where there's a lot of choices for us and there's a lot of great choices for us. So that's a good thing for Pinball. And then this is just Stern and JJP. We have new games coming right around the corner. Barrels of Fun is probably going to come out with another game soon. P3 is coming out with another game. It's almost imminent. It's going to happen really soon. There's rumors that that's Dungeon Crawler Carl. I'm apparently the one guy on planet Earth that has not listened to or read the books. I'd like to because it sounds like something I might be into. So I'm going to try to give that a shot because I feel like I want to understand that universe a bit better. But yeah, so a lot of people are not as familiar with P3. It's sort of this modular pinball system where you can buy a game and then your game is capable of being upgraded with modules that they sell. So like, for instance, they have a Weird Al module. They have a, shoot, why can't I think of Princess Bride module. So there's modules, they have a, oh shit, what's the name of the thing? They have a portal module. So this, but the thing is you can buy the base game in whatever game you want and then you can add modules later. And those modules aren't that cheap. They're like the cost of a Stern Pro almost I think is about what they run nowadays. And then, of course, you have to keep those modules somewhere. You have to store them somewhere. So it's not like, you know, you have to just keep in mind, even though it's less space, you still have to take up space to store these modules and things like that. So we've got that coming. We have, you know, toward the end of the year, you've got another Spooky game. I mean, Spooky hasn't even completed or, you know, they're probably maybe 30 to 40 percent through the run of Beetlejuice. And there will be probably October-November timeframe announcing the next game, which is rumored to be Goonies. Now, hey, Spooky, if you're listening, if it is Goonies, you've got to get the Cyndi Lauper song in the game. I know you guys will spend a little extra money to put stuff into the game, but as a Goonies fan, give me the Cyndi Lauper song. And I'm getting that game anyway because, see, the bad thing about Spooky is you kind of have to buy it sight unseen. You're not going to know what you're going to get because they're red hot right now. Everyone wants to buy the latest Spooky stuff. And so unless you're on a list, you better try to get on one now. I don't even know if you can still. But everyone – I'm very excited for that. So you got that. Then you got something that American Pinball is going to come out with this year. So they're going to come out with something other than Circus Voltaire before the year is out. You know, Turner is going to start shipping Yetis here soon. So if you bought a Yukon Yeti, that game is still available. You can still buy it if you want a Yukon Yeti. And I'm excited to see how that game progresses because they've got a new sound designer doing better music and better sound effects for that game, which I think it desperately needed.
    50:23
    It desperately needed that. And I like the layout of that game. Very Whitewater 2.0 kind of thing. It's very, very cool. So that's just what I can think about at the top of my head. Then, of course, it gets crazy with Stern because they release a game quarterly. So you got then Fallout is the rumored title next from Stern. So you got that coming. I do feel like maybe we have too much to choose from, and that's difficult because we only have so much time, money and space. So there's difficult decisions that are going to have to be made. And unfortunately for a lot of us, we don't have the 10 grand to just drop all the time. So something has to go from the collection. So what game are you going to get rid of from your collection and which one of these games are you interested in? Definitely let me know in the comments because I want to know what games you are thinking about bringing in to your game room as the year progresses. Now, I know there was a rumor that they were going to do like a Bond Goldfinger edition. I don't know if that's this year or not. I really don't. But that could be cool, too. A lot of people love that game. I love that game. If I bought it again, that would be the third time I've had Bond. Obviously, that is a game that when it leaves the game room, I'm bummed that it's gone and I always want it back. So Bond was a boomerang game for me. I really enjoy the code of that game. It's a really great George Gomez game. And if you've never experienced Bond, go play it on location. A little bit of a learning curve to get the shots down in that little cluster that has all the shots. But once you do, it's really satisfying. I'm trying to think of what else is really coming out now. I'm going off the top of my head here. I think we covered everything that I know of, at least. I'm trying to think if there's anything that... Oh, and then Back to the Future is supposedly coming from Dutch, so you got that.
    52:07
    I don't know. That one's kind of an anomaly because I don't know exactly how many of them we're going to have in the U.S. I know Cointaker is going to be an exclusive distributor for that game, so if you're interested in a Back to the Future, probably should start talking to Cointaker now Because I don't know how many of them they're exactly getting here in the United States. That might be one, though, you're going to wait a little while to get. Because Dutch Pinball's production capabilities is not that of Stern or Jersey Jack or even Spooky, I think, for that matter. I don't even know if they can deliver as fast as Spooky can. So lots of cool stuff, man. I don't know. It's just crazy. We're in a weird time in pinball where there's so many options. But that's good because if one game doesn't speak to you, there's probably a good chance that one of these other ones will.
    52:53
    Criticisms of Transformers really quick since we're talking about it. You know, obviously there's that whole what could have been thing. That's kind of my only criticism right now. And I think, you know, just like with Sonic, I want to see more code. But right now there's definitely plenty to chew on, just like I feel like there is with Sonic. So there's definitely code to chew on. And the thing is there's various different means of playing both of these games. So I think there's plenty to kind of keep you occupied and busy right now if you're like an early buyer of either one of these games.
    53:27
    So that's kind of it. That's all I really wanted to talk about. I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast. If there's questions you have of either one of these games, definitely let me know because I'm still enjoying. This is like early days for me with both of these games. So I'm just playing them, enjoying them. I know this was a one versus the other, but that's what's so difficult about these two games because I love Sonic, grew up with Sega Genesis, played a ton of Sonic, didn't play the later versions, but there's enough in there that brings you back to that nostalgic time, even though it's not based on 16-bit. So that's pulling on me. Then you got Transformers, which was my childhood growing up, setting up the TV tray on a Saturday morning with my cereal bowl. And I know Cole or not Cole Kale talked about that. That was exactly what I would be doing. I have my little TV tray. I'd set it up. I'd watch Transformers on a Saturday morning. And so and a lot of that nostalgia, a lot of those elements are really in that game. So it's going to pull on you. Fun layout, fun to shoot. So it's it's this would be a hard choice. If you could only have one of these, you really have to think about I would suggest going and playing both of them to figure out which one really speaks to you more. Because I could easily say if you have infinite money and space and time, that both would be great additions to your game room. And I think you'd have a good time with with either one of these games. So. So, yeah, that's kind of where we're at. I'm going to end the episode here.
    55:00
    I hope you guys enjoyed this time with me. I always enjoy doing these podcasts. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the reception that I've had to the podcast. The people that listen, support, promote, help me. It's awesome. I'm definitely not making tons of money from this. Very little, if anything. And so that little bit that you guys give back from time to time, whether it be for a super chat, joining a live stream or something is very much appreciated. If you're listening to this right now, this weekend, the weekend of July 11th, 12th, I'm probably going to stream Transformers this weekend and then we will have more Sonic streams coming because it's the summer of Sonic. That's kind of what I coined that term, Summer of Sonic. So we're going to do more Sonic live streams. And then, yeah, I'm excited to see what other things I could do potentially with this room cam that I got set up. The main motivation here was that Rudy and I, while we're live streaming, could take a break, sit on the couch, talk to you guys a little bit, maybe take a step back, drink some beer and hang out. So I'm excited to see. I've had that camera in my possession for a long time and I never set it up. So I'm kind of motivated to do a little bit more, up the quality as much as I possibly can. And again, definitely love all the support, but there's so many things we covered in such a short period of time. Tell me in the comments, like, what games are you most excited about this year? Are you picking up a Sonic or a Transformers? If you're not sure, go on Pinball Map, find one in your area, and go play it. That's the best way to figure out what game is going to be the best one for you. That's it for now, guys. Thank you again, and we will see you on the flip side. See you guys.
    56:48
    What do you think about the new digs here? I gotta paint that wall. My wife is working this weekend. I gotta paint this wall. I'm doing a nice color there. It's gonna look great. Alright guys, we'll see ya.