DPP #235 "Unboxing a Pokemon"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·29m 33s·analyzed·Apr 3, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.014

TL;DR

Don's Pokemon LE arrives damaged; advocates direct contact with distros before public complaints.

Summary

Don from Don's Pinball Podcast received a Pokemon LE that arrived damaged during shipping with a bent playfield support bracket and misaligned hanger brackets, discovering the damage during a live unboxing on April Fool's Day. After contacting distributor Flipping Out Pinball (Zach), he received a replacement the next day and used the incident to advocate for contacting manufacturers/distributors first before posting complaints online. The episode also covers Pentastic show experiences, a mysterious 'Cardona' person making 2.0 code kits for classic games, Multimorphic P3's new licensed module in development, and criticism of AI-generated Pokemon artwork on third-party art blades.

Key Claims

Pokemon LE is the most in-demand game Stern has probably ever produced, with units instantly selling for $25,000+
high confidence · Don, speaking about Pokemon LE secondary market value during unboxing discussion
The Pokemon LE unit had hanger brackets slipped underneath the playfield slides, unable to be lifted without causing more damage
high confidence · Don describing specific mechanical failure discovered during unboxing inspection
Multimorphic P3 has a new licensed module in development, confirmed at TPF conference, but details remain undisclosed
high confidence · Don discussing P3 announcement at The Pinball Fest based on conference presentation
Portal, Weird Al Yankovic, and Princess Bride are confirmed P3 Multimorphic licenses
high confidence · Don listing previously released P3 licensed titles
Cardona has created 2.0 code kits for Tales of the Arabian Nights, Funhaus, Whirlwind, Black Rose, and No Good Gophers
medium confidence · Don discussing unknown figure/entity making 2.0 code updates for classic games, expressing unfamiliarity with Cardona
Wyze Trailers is the only US distributor for Multimorphic P3
high confidence · Don questioning P3's single distributor model during Multimorphic Minute segment
Pin Graphics is selling Pokemon art blades for $89 featuring AI-generated artwork
high confidence · Don discussing and criticizing AI Pokemon art blades from Pin Graphics
Sonic pinball machine is coming this summer
medium confidence · Don mentioning Sonic release timing alongside other upcoming Stern titles

Notable Quotes

“Pokemon LE is like the greatest in demand game as Stern has produced. Probably ever, probably ever.”
Don @ ~7:45 — Emphasizes Pokemon LE's unprecedented market demand and collector frenzy
“To go out and just kind of put distributors, manufacturers, companies, mod makers or someone on blast before you've given them an opportunity to like, you know, get back to you on what's going on. This could be something simple.”
Don @ ~11:30 — Core advocacy point about community etiquette and dispute resolution
“The thing is tilting away from me. That can't be right.”
Don @ ~4:15 — First sign of mechanical failure during live unboxing
“Don't worry, man, we're going to take care of this. I'm going to take the game back. I'm going to get another one out to you tomorrow.”
Zach (Flipping Out Pinball) @ ~9:00 — Rapid distributor response to damage complaint; positive customer service example
“What the hell is going on with Pikachu? It's ugly, it's terrible.”
Don @ ~45:00 — Strong criticism of AI-generated Pokemon art blades by third-party vendor
“Multimorphic exists on an alternate timeline or alternate universe, but it's passed through the wormhole into our reality.”
Don @ ~26:00 — Expresses bewilderment at P3's unique design philosophy and gameplay

Entities

Donperson Zach SharpepersonFlipping Out PinballcompanyPokemon LEgameMultimorphic P3gameThe Pinball FesteventPentasticeventCardonapersonWyze Trailerscompany

Signals

?
product_concern: Pokemon LE unit arrived with bent playfield support bracket and misaligned hanger brackets, rendering it unplayable. Playfield slipped underneath pivot bracket slides during transit despite secure lockdown bar and intact packaging.
high · Don's detailed description of discovering hanger brackets slipped under slides, bent metal angle bracket on back of playfield, busted plastics, and inability to lift playfield
?
community_signal: Don advocates for contacting manufacturers/distributors before posting complaints publicly, citing his positive experience with Flipping Out Pinball's rapid response and replacement offer.
high · Extended segment dedicated to advising community to contact service lines and distributors first, praising Zach/Flipping Out Pinball for within-hours response
?
collector_signal: Pokemon LE units trading at $25,000-$40,000 on secondary market immediately upon availability, demonstrating unprecedented demand for Stern release.
high · Don stating 'instantly these things were going for like 25 grand' and later mentioning fear of buyer paying $25,000-$28,000 receiving damaged unit
?
machine_intel: Multimorphic P3 confirmed to have new licensed module in development; confirmed licensed at TPF conference but details remain undisclosed.
high · Don citing P3 conference presentation at TPF: 'they're very tight-lipped. I haven't heard rumor one about what this module is. But we know that it's licensed now. That was confirmed.'
?
design_innovation: Unknown figure 'Cardona' creating 2.0/3.0 code update kits for classic Williams-era games including Tales of the Arabian Nights, Funhaus, Whirlwind, Black Rose, and No Good Gophers.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.089

0:00

Who's ready for another hit for that Dawn's Pinball Podcast Flavor episode number 235? Let's make it happen. We are back from TPF. Pokemon LE did make an appearance, did have an unboxing on YouTube, and we'll talk about where it went from then. All that and a multi-morphic minute. Let's go! That's how it works, man. What's going on, everybody? Hello in the world of pinball. All of these games are made in the past, present, and future. This is why we do it. We have a lot of fun. And speaking of fun, what's more fun than new pinball day? How about Pokemon LE? How about that stuff showed up from flipping out pinball? I knew it was coming. I mean, I could see that the games are being made at the factory. I don't even know if all the LEs are out yet. And then all of a sudden, I get a call saying, this is FedEx. We got something for you. We're going to be there in about two hours. And since I was seven states away at the time, I called my wife and arranged to have it dropped off at her new job that's in town. So that worked out great. Back into town yesterday, essentially did a layover at my own house currently in Florida. And then I was faced with a dilemma. So thanks for those of you that reached out on the pin, the Facebook live feed that I did where I was asking, like, should we go ahead and unbox this brand new game, the hottest game out there right now? Or should I wait till I get back in a couple of days? And overwhelmingly the response was, dude, grab that Pokemon pack and rip it. So that's what we did. So we, you know, we set up a camera, we got everything ready to go. We jumped onto YouTube. It's up there live on the Don's Pinball Podcast YouTube page. You go check it out. And so slowly, methodically, I dug into what I thought was going to be just another Stern unboxing and oh, did it go sideways. Now, first off, I should have known something was happening. Karma's been looking for me for a while and it was April Fool's Day. So like the quadrasphere was aligned. I knew some, I was going to step into something. And so, you know, get the box open, get the legs on the game, pull it down. Looks gorgeous, right? It's got that purple armor on that we saw. I was waiting to check out like the new fancy armor, what they did on the sides instead of the stickers that they had. I was going to check out the paint. I couldn't wait to fire this thing up. I lift the back box. The back glass looks amazing with its mirroring and everything. That's the first time I'd seen it, you know, seen it in person. And so like, you know, it's, it's in the house. I'm so excited. I look down and something looks amiss. Like I had the back legs up about two inches, the front legs only about an inch. That way I can fit my lift cart with the carpet underneath the game. You know, so it's pitched perfectly and maybe a little bit steep, you know? And, but I'm looking down at a play field that looks like Bugs Bunny's holiday anniversary birthday bash challenge, because the thing is tilting away from me. That can't be right. I looked down at the lockdown bar We're going to go through that beautiful HD glass that Stern puts on their LEs. And I'm seeing the hanger brackets about an inch upfield, an inch north from the receiver. Okay, so for those of you that aren't familiar, I learned the terms for all these things now. So the lockdown bar, you remove that. The piece of metal that's on the cabinet that the lockdown bar is received into is called the receiver. And the hanger brackets are at the end of the playfield. That's what you put in the notch to lock this thing in place. And it's out. And I'm thinking, okay, that's the first off, it's very strange. You know, I don't know how the course of shipping these things could bounce out of there, but whatever. So I left on the lockdown bar, I go to lift the playfield up, and I can't lift it up. And I'm looking at the back of the playfield, and there's some busted plastics under there. I look under the playfield, there's the pieces. So I knew something was amiss, but it took me a little bit. All this is on a live stream unboxing, by the way. So I'm going through this game. What had happened was somehow the game came out for a while. The game was tilted vertically, this playfield, the whole populated playfield, pretty weighty, just slammed down. There's a metal angle bracket, at least on the back right there, that sits, it's attached to the cabinet, the new spike three cabinet that I couldn't wait to dig into and really see like how this thing's put together. So the whole thing back there is bent. So something really jostled this guy and kind of smashed up the back of the playfield. And I'm sitting there and like the thought that's slowly sinking in, like you don't want to believe these things when it happens. It's almost like if you were to say, you know, bust your spooky pinball glass or something, you're just like standing there in disbelief for a while until it sinks in. Like I knew I wasn't playing this game that day. And then it got even worse. Like I couldn't lift the playfield. I couldn't figure out why. I'm like, what the hell is this playfield even sitting on to sit? It was low in the cabinet. Like the front is high, the back is low, and this thing is tilted up. So I go underneath and the pivot brackets, This is what actually rides on those slides. Both of them are located beneath the slide. Like the whole playfield must have fallen so far back into the back end of the cabinet that the hanger brackets slipped underneath the slides. I don't know what happened here, man. I don't know. But like, like something was amiss. So here's what I did. I went right to Facebook, right to Pinside, just started complaining right away, hoping that some stranger would help me. I'm kidding. That's exactly not what I did. This was again the purchase from Flip N Out. Had great service throughout the process of doing this. Thanks so much, Zach and crew. I texted him, I emailed him, and I got a response like within a couple minutes. At this point, I like, listen, listen, okay. I had finished up a 24 hour shift out there in Maine on the East Coast. I'm almost done out there. I stayed up all night, took a 3 a.m., got to the airport, took a 5 a.m. flight back home. Like, I hadn't slept in a couple of days, you know, and I'm just, I'm just trying to do a fun live stream. We play five games of Pokemon before I had to head to the airport again. So I said, heck, I gotta feed the family. So I went out to go grab some McDonald's from down the street because they got some new like hybrid Netflix collabs going on, like some super silly stuff are going on. Open your McDonald's app, man. They got some weird combo meals and things and sets and stuff. And can I just quick aside the Derpy McFlurry that they have right now is probably the greatest thing I've ever had from McDonald's. So go check that as Boba Balls in it. It's berry flavored. I don't even know what the franchise is that it's based on, but I want Derpy McFlurry again right now. More to come on that. So I went and get some food, and in the process of doing that, I'm already getting an email back from Zach, and he says, don't worry, man, we're going to take care of this. I sent him pictures and he's like, just I'm going to take the game back. I'm going to get another one out to you tomorrow. And it's currently on its way to the house. So so shout out, man. Shout out, flipping out pinball. Thank you so much for hooking this up. I don't know that all the ins and outs of what's happening, but I know that this thing is definitely not playable in the state that it is. And listen okay listen if this was a Stern Pro right and I happen to get one of them like I could probably replace ramps I could replace things on it I could replace a bracket I could take the pivot brackets off of it level the playfield put it back together and everything But like it still gonna to have that that smack of like not being pristine Okay And if this was a John Wick pro I shouldn be a problem man We'll go ahead and slap it on there. We'll get it working. This is Pokemon LE. This is like the greatest in demand game as Stern has produced. Probably ever, probably ever. Um, I'm trying to think back of other games Stern would have made that have been worth like money, money. And aside from like, you know, strange things like Bond 60th or something or Elvira 40th anniversary, like, like this is the one of the modern age, man. You know, instantly these things were going for like 25 grand and stuff. And it's like, it was almost like winning the lottery if you, your number with your distributor happened to come through. Um, so, you know, like, like I'm okay if this would have, we could have figured it out, but like for Pokemon LE man, like this was kind of devastating. Tim Kitzrow, INDISC, Data East, Jeff Teolis, Tim Kitzrow, Mirco Playfields. Check it out. I wasn't wearing, you know, a fun costume. I didn't paint myself purple, but like it was funny. It was really funny. I think people enjoyed it. Oh my God. I can't even imagine this is all real. Like it's still sinking in. So I wanted to cover that. So basically, you know, how would this, how would this even happen? I reached out to my buddy Jeff and he says he's seen this before. If like a game has got some shock damage, meaning like the game on the pallet was just like, you know, dropped directly onto the ground. Now I will say, the box that this game came in, essentially pristine. Some superficial little scratch on the box, but nothing that went through the cardboard. Nothing that looked like it had gotten a big shock or anything. The pallet was in excellent condition. Everything was centered on there. It was centered, Leonard. So I don't, you know, there was no outward sign that there was a problem here. So either, like something weird happened in transit, but okay. For this game, for it to pop out of the receiver bar with the lockdown bar, the lockdown bar was latched, both latches were down, the glass was in there really snug. So I'm not sure how this game could have come out of that receiver without busting the glass. Like I don't, I'm not sure like, like there's enough room for that to happen. Now this is my first time having a spike three cabinet, like the full cabinet. The first one that would have came out would have been Walking Dead Remastered. So this is the second one, the first one that's ever been in my house. So maybe there is a little bit of play in there where it just can happen. It looks like there was a little scratch on the inside of the glass there. So maybe that's what happened. Maybe the game just wasn't placed into the receiver and then was boxed up or may have slipped out or slipped someone's mind or something. And then when it tilted up, it happened. I don't know. Regardless, it was like, it was just such a drag, you know, because I don't want to be that person that's like, yeah, there's a minor imperfection here. I'm going to throw a fit. I want a warranty replacement something. I really think it was apt in this point. And luckily, my distributor I bought the game from agreed, and we're getting it fixed, man. We're getting it fixed. So thanks, Zach. Appreciate it, man. Appreciate the communication and everything. That was fantastic. So I'm not mad. All right. I did another live stream after this happened, still on zero hours of sleep. And I wanted to make a point because we've seen this happen. Other podcasts have been talking about this, too. A lot of newer people in the hobby, myself included. You know, and we get a game at home, something doesn't seem right. You know, maybe a flipper's dragging, needs to be adjusted. Maybe a pop bumper is not firing or or maybe all of a sudden, like your game just reboots and resets. And so you want to go to the community and say, like, first off, is this normal? Right. And I think that's totally fine to do that. But to go out and just kind of put distributors, manufacturers, companies, mod makers or someone on blast before you've given them an opportunity to like, you know, get back to you on what's going on. This could be something simple. You know, people that make these mechanisms will understand it way better than, you know, a casual user would or even randos on on pin side or on Facebook or wherever. So two things. I think if you have like an issue with your machine, right, this pop up is not working or, you know, this this start buttons, I pushed it, nothing's happening. You know, contact the service line for the manufacturer or better yet, if you bought it through a distributor, contact them first, Because somebody has probably had this problem before and it's probably something simple. And if it's the first time you've dealt with it, it's going to seem like impossible, but they'll, they'll work you through it. You'll figure it out. That worked for me. On the other hand, I still think it's okay to take your problem to an open forum, just because this may help somebody else that's coming down the road from you. They'll come into the same problem or something, and they can look back at your experience, even if it's years later and say, 1-839 Goddefiance Next!

Tilt Graphicscompany

Spooky Pinballcompany

medium · Don discussing new code kits: 'Cardona guy has been doing this' and listing multiple games receiving updates; no prior familiarity with this person/entity

product_concern: Pin Graphics' AI-generated Pokemon art blades receiving critical reception for poor quality and nightmarish character rendering, particularly Pikachu depiction.

high · Don's strong criticism: 'What the hell is going on with Pikachu? It's ugly, it's terrible' and recommending pastoral scenes without characters instead

market_signal: Pokemon art blades priced at $89 by Pin Graphics, representing reasonable pricing for aftermarket art blade products.

high · Don noting: 'there's been, there's, Pokemon Art Blades available and they're $89. So like that's kind of a reasonable price for Art Blades'

venue_signal: Pentastic show featuring VIP premium rooms in optimal locations with heavily modded high-end machines in lower-crowd environments, enhancing collector experience.

high · Don praising Pentastic: 'They had the VIP rooms exactly where they needed to be. It was awesome' with multiple bonus rooms featuring pristine modded games

business_signal: Multimorphic P3 relying on sole US distributor (Wyze Trailers), limiting market presence and availability to major regional shows (MGC, Expo).

high · Don questioning: 'How come Multimorphic only has one distributor in the U.S.? It's Wyze Trailers' and noting limited show appearance schedule

announcement: Sonic pinball machine confirmed for summer 2026 release from Stern.

medium · Don casually mentioning: 'Sonic is gonna be this summer' among upcoming Stern releases

rumor_hype: Transformers widely speculated/hoped for as next Stern Cornerstone release following Pokemon LE.

low · Don hoping 'Hopefully it's Transformers' regarding next Cornerstone announcement; speculative rather than confirmed

sentiment_shift: Community quality concerns emerging regarding AI-generated artwork from third-party vendors, with Don expressing strong criticism of Pin Graphics' Pokemon art implementation.

medium · Don's extended critique of AI Pokemon art blades and recommendation against using them despite liking other Pin Graphics products