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Sunday Extravadonza livestream

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·1h 3m·analyzed·May 20, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Don's Sunday extravaganza: manufacturer roundup, market trends, Stern media event, and collecting philosophy.

Summary

Don hosts an informal Sunday night livestream where he discusses the current state of pinball manufacturers (CGC, Spooky, Stern, Jersey Jack) and their product pipelines. He shares personal collecting philosophy, announces a Stern factory media mixer event, discusses secondary market pricing trends, and advocates for a curated approach to home collections (suggesting 4 machines as optimal). Commentary spans game releases, code depth, licensing strategy, and community dynamics.

Key Claims

  • CGC sold or has Pulp Fiction available; it's a heavy machine weighing 375+ pounds

    high confidence · Don speaking from his own experience with the machine in his collection

  • Cactus Canyon upgrade kits are now available from distributors, though some customers with original deposits are still waiting

    high confidence · Don's direct observation and experience with the product

  • Spooky Labyrinth sold 750 of 1,100 units produced despite market challenges

    high confidence · Don citing sales figures he's heard

  • Spooky is currently producing approximately 40 games per week

    medium confidence · Don's commentary based on industry reports

  • Stern is holding a media mixer event at the factory (midweek, likely Wednesday) with all expenses paid for invitees

    high confidence · Don's personal invitation and confirmed attendance

  • A Jaws LE recently sold via Flippin' Out Pinball for $2,500

    medium confidence · Don's marketplace observation

  • Foo Fighters and Venom have dropped significantly in secondary market value, with players moving on after purchase

    medium confidence · Don's opinion based on market observation

  • Metallica remake has been rumored for as long as Twilight Zone remake for CGC (6 years)

    medium confidence · Don's historical observation of community rumors

  • Jersey Jack's Elton John game is too expensive for Don's home setup despite being a good game

    high confidence · Don's personal assessment

  • Don is stepping back from buying new-in-box pinball machines due to FOMO and market saturation concerns

    high confidence · Don's explicit personal declaration and reasoning

Notable Quotes

  • “I'm not going to put the thoughts into your head. We're going to stir the stew, and we're going to bring the thoughts out to the frothy cream that rises on the top, brother.”

    Don @ early in stream — Establishes Don's philosophy on content creation and audience agency

  • “Nobody needs 15 games. You know, what I want to do, a little thought experiment... The optimum number for games... if you had four, like what would be the best route to go to get them four people?”

    Don @ early/middle — Central thesis of the episode—curating a lean, intentional collection

  • “I'm trying to read the comments too. And that's why they're not going for it. Same thing happened to me. I got Pulp Fiction after 11 months of waiting.”

    Don @ mid-stream — Illustrates customer frustration with production delays at CGC

  • “Jaws is a better layout... Jaws is deep like the ocean, like the Mariana Trench, off the coast of Cape Cod kind of deep. It's like the Chesapeake Bay of pinball because there's just so much stuff to do there.”

    Don @ mid-stream — Don's assessment of Jaws' gameplay depth vs. other recent Stern releases

  • “I think I'm done with New In Box Pinball for reasons, and I don't think I'm alone.”

    Don @ mid-late stream — Sentiment shift; reflects broader market fatigue among collectors

  • “IAAPA makes Pinball Expo look like a closed-down Kmart and you're an urban explorer walking around a dead mall.”

    Don @ late stream — Characterization of industry event scale and importance

  • “Everything is for sale, man. Just throw me an offer and we can talk about it. The worst worst thing I could say is I won't accept it.”

    Don @ late stream — Demonstrates collector pragmatism and willingness to curate via trading/selling

  • “I don't even have a website and we're like shipping stuff every week. It's crazy. Love it.”

Entities

DonpersonChicago Gaming CompanycompanySpooky PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanyPadre GamingcompanyTurner Pinball

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: CGC's Pulp Fiction now shipping to customers; Cactus Canyon upgrade kits available at distributors

    high · Don received his Pulp Fiction after 11 months; reports distributors have Cactus Canyon LEs/SEs in stock

  • ?

    product_concern: Customers with original Cactus Canyon deposits still waiting despite kit availability; CGC production capacity bottleneck cited

    high · Don mentions some people not going for kits due to long wait times; speculation CGC won't ship LE Pulp Fictions until end of summer 2025

  • $

    market_signal: Jaws holding value better than recent Stern releases; Foo Fighters and Venom dropping significantly in price

    medium · Jaws LE sold for $2,500; Foo Fighters and Venom described as 'cheaper than when they came out'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don and likely other collectors stepping back from new-in-box purchases; concern about FOMO culture and market saturation

    high · Direct statement: 'I think I'm done with New In Box Pinball for reasons, and I don't think I'm alone'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Jaws positioned as superior gameplay depth vs. John Wick, Venom, Foo Fighters; John Wick layout better than Venom but shallower code than Jaws

    medium · Don: 'Jaws is deep like the ocean, like the Mariana Trench...'; John Wick 'not Jaws' but 'fun to have at home'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.192

0:00
What's going on all you birds and turds out there? What's going on? It's the Sunday night extravaganza is what's going on. I'm just in from walking the yard, mowing some lawn, picking out some fresh threads for me and yours. We're going to do something a little bit different here. I got the microphone set up. Let me make sure that y'all can hear me fine because I want to make sure we're recording this. And we'll put this out on the Patreon for everybody So give me an audio check Can we hear everything okay Give me a thumbs up If you're out there in pinball land And y'all ready for the extravaganza Because it's Sunday night And that's how we're going to do it Come on in the door Everybody get a carpet square set up Heck yeah we're just going to go Right into it No notes just fresh off the top of the dome Nobody else is out there doing this like the way that we do. What's up to all 57 Patreon members out there? Really appreciate. Y'all, hope you love the Translites you get every single month. Nobody else is doing that. Everybody else, they take your money. They take your content, and they tell you what to think. They tell you what to think. I say, you're an adult, and last time I checked, this was the United States of America, and we are free to make our own decisions, even poor decisions. And I ain't here to tell you what to do. I'm not going to put the thoughts into your head. We're going to stir the stew, and we're going to bring the thoughts out to the frothy cream that rises on the top, brother. That's what we're going to do. And if you want to go and get yourself 17 John Wick LEs and put them right next to your Venom LEs and right next to your extra large bed with your wife and two girlfriends, man, you can do that. And I ain't here to judge you, man. I just want to be invited over to go play pinball with you because that's what we do here. We got, nobody needs 15 games. You know, what I want to do, a little thought experiment. We're going to talk about every company. We're going to bring everybody up to date with where we are in pinball right now. And then I got a thought experiment. The optimum number for games, if you got one game, it's awesome, right? I mean, that's more than most of the country has. Okay, but if you had four, like what would be the best route to go to get them four people? I can't even read the comments.
2:28
If you don't put your pinball machines in front of a window, how are they going to breathe? Honestly, how are they going to breathe, right? You know, if you could put the pinball machines, it would be fine near a window. A Neo Geo arcade machine, you don't want to put that by your window in your apartment. Can you imagine? You go try to sell that thing, nobody would buy it if it was by a window. Come on, you should know that feng shui, man. Feng shui.

Don @ late stream — Reflects organic Patreon growth and community engagement strategy

company
Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
Electric Playgroundcompany
Rob Wrathperson
Jason Knappperson
Christopher Franchiperson
Raven Davidsonperson
Brian Kosnerperson
IO Arcadecompany
Rocket City Pinballcompany
Phantom Tiltcompany
Loser Kidsperson
Albert Agarperson

event_signal: Stern hosting all-expenses-paid media mixer at factory; confirmed attendees include Jason Knapp, Kinetics, Loser Kids; timing midweek (Wednesday referenced)

high · Don received and accepted invitation; discussing attendees and logistics; speculating on potential John Wick topper sneak peek

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Spooky producing ~40 games per week; targeting 750-1,100 units of Labyrinth over 12 months

    high · Don: 'They're doing like 40 games a week. That's Spooky numbers. So, yeah, 12 months, 1,100 games'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Twilight Zone remake by CGC rumored for 6+ years; speculation it ships after last Cactus Canyon unit (estimated 2028)

    low · Don: 'Twilight Zone is the rumor that I've been hearing every day for six years'; jokes 'they'll do it the day after they ship the last Cactus Canyon'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Pulp Fiction described as heavy retro-inspired machine with minimal mechanical complexity (no bowling alleys, no upper/lower playfields) but superior weight and build quality

    high · Don: 'retro-inspired, right out the 70s, no mechanical buildings, no bowling alleys, no upper play field, lower play field...it's heavier than every machine in here'

  • ?

    content_signal: Don's podcast reaching ~1,000 listens per episode; expanding into mixed media with Albert Agar; 58+ Patreon members with monthly translite giveaways

    high · Don: 'we're getting a thousand listens now per episode...we're branching off into other mixed media formats with Albert Agar'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Don at capacity with machines; exploring location-based strategy for overflow inventory (e.g., Ninja Eclipse at IO Arcade)

    high · Don: 'IO Arcade, Don's out of room here. We're not only out of room. We've exceeded our room'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Jersey Jack rumored to have secured Harry Potter (Wizarding World) license; details unconfirmed; expected reveal at IAAPA

    low · Don: 'Jersey Jack had Harry Potter and we've heard nothing and all the speculation has been like they probably just got Wizarding World, but none of that is confirmed'

    • 2:50
    All right, where are we at? So four optimum pinball machines, hypothetically. Let's just say you had four. Like, how would you build that? We're going to go about it. But first, let's do what's fun, right? Let's go around. Let's talk about every company. Who do you want to start with, man? We can riff on everybody. No notes. We don't need no notes for this. We'll put this out on the Patreon, though, so you can have that audio. So if you just got the video but you want the audio later, man, sitting in the bathtub full of shampizzle and you want to put your bubble bath on, you can listen to it, man. you could listen to it and then your iphone won't fall in the the drink and electrocute you man man that's what's up that's what's up who do you want to start with american pinball stern pinball spunky pinball cgc i got it from the gallery all right let's get to it so chicago gaming kids company right make some heavy machines i could tell you right now i got pulp fiction right over there you'll hear it going it's on a track mode we're just gonna let it go but that game is I thought Dutch Pinball made a heavy game. I thought Jersey Jack made a heavy game. I know what's taking them so long. They're waiting for the concrete to cure inside that thing. That thing, 375 pounds at least. It's got to be. All right, so CGC is making Diner, right? So we've got to get our deposits in for that. Diner 2.0, the second serving. I can't wait to see it. The game that everybody wants. I can't wait to see the interactive topper they're going to go on to. They're going to have Roth Rills is going to do that 2.0 code. the second seating, the second serving. I can't wait for it, man. I've wanted Diner forever, man. But I've been waiting for the good, good. You know what I mean? So, Padretti come out there with Facebook or Funhaus or whatever they're doing, then boom! CGC's like, no, no, no, no. We got Diner. Possibly. It's all purely speculation at this point. I'll tell you this, man. People are still waiting on Cactus Canyons. Where they at? And distributors have Cactus Canyons now. The LEs, the SEs, the toppers, whatever, the SE pluses, the extra wide, extra absorbent, heavy flow version is out there and available in the box if you want it. But some people are still waiting because they have a deposit in that they put in originally.
    5:02
    And I'm trying to read the comments too. And that's why they're not going for it. Same thing happened to me. I got Pulp Fiction after 11 months of waiting. I put in my deposit in June last year. That was May and now we got it. games fantastic games amazing i'm gonna put the mirror blades in there i'm a i got i got two toppers already i got two toppers already for full fiction so i don't need the le topper um this is fun this is funny though let me talk about this so in my machine that i got with there's like a 75 page freaking like text like college course textbook thickness book guide to the whole thing to the whole machine right and within there there was exploded schematics for the le topper like in there so in case something goes wrong like you've got you've got all the all the the blueprints to it i got a 3d printer i got some soldering irons and i can go buy some some flashers and i did some action figure we could build the le topper we got the schematics they came with the game so ain't no fame in this game now i'm not going to build them and sell them because those are heavily copyrighted but i might build myself one i might build myself one i might build one with dinosaurs on it and put it on top of a Jurassic Park. I might build one with a bunch of kaiju on it and put it on top of an Ultraman. We're going to go crazy with it, but it's just amazing where all this is gone. So CGC, still making Cactus Canyons, they'll make them for three more years. When are they going to get to the Pulp Fiction LE at this point, 2025, man? Now, end of summer, they might start rolling off. I don't know. I will tell you this, the game's built quite well. It's Super heavy, completely sturdy, and for a game that is, like, retro-inspired, right out the 70s, no mechanical buildings, no bowling alleys, no upper play field, lower play field, no metal ramps, basically, and it's heavier than every machine in here, except for maybe Wonka. Wonka's heavy and Big Lebowski. But, like, dude, dude. So what are they going to do next? I don't know. Twilight Zone is the rumor that I've been hearing every day for six years that they're going to make it. So, I mean, the rumor's got to come from somewhere, right? So that's probably where it is. Who is, I don't know who that person is.
    7:16
    These are my sunglasses, dude. I've got four versions of these, man. So I can be switching it up based on how I'm doing. We've got, no one's wearing the Young Thug, the Young King, Skrilla for Skrilla. This is from Los Angeles I got this, man. Young King, Young Money.
    7:36
    This is what we're representing. Ain't nobody else dressing like this, dressing up for you guys to come in here. I'm trying to build. We're at 58 patrons. I want 580 by the end of this live stream. And this is how we're going to do it, by giving you the good good and the trans lights every month, man. I've given out like six trans lights this year. I've given out a Godzilla banner that I went from flipping out. It's just because of how we do it. I give away Jaws freaking chum buckets to people. I'm sending them to Australia, dude. I'm sending my gear to Australia, and I'm like, yo, let me send this out to you, $20, $5 shipping, whatever. People are like, no, no, dude. I'm like, here's $30 for a tip. Thanks for everything you're doing. And I'm like, dude, appreciate that. I appreciate that.
    8:17
    Yeah, man, this hat. Not Scary Farm, dude. Act like you know. Not Scary Farm is like one of the best Halloween events in the country, and I've been going to haunt. I got the haunt tattoos, man.
    8:29
    We're into the haunted stuff. So the fact that me and Spooky get along so well, I mean, we're from the same pedigree. We're out of the same pedigree. All right. So CGC, what are they doing next? Twilight Zone, when are they going to do it? 2028. That's when they're going to do it. And they'll do it the day after they ship the last Cactus Canyon. Let's move on to another boutique company. Let's talk about some folks in Texas, in Houston, where they currently had a huge storm come through. They lost the AC. They had to take – what's the opposite of a snow day? That's what they did in Houston. But they sold 750 Labyrinths of the 1100. That's pretty good, especially now. If they would have came out two years ago, they would have sold out as quick as Halloween and Ultraman sold out.
    9:12
    But 750, not bad. Not bad for the first game out. Maybe they'll trickle through some sales going in. They don't need to sell all 1100 to get to their next game. Maybe they'll keep like 200, and they might say, you know what? That's good. We're just not going to build them, so what's out there is what's out there. or they may make some concurrently like Spooky's been doing. Like, ain't no rule you can't do that. I know the game's over there. The topper's amazing. I can't wait to see what they do next. On top of the pinball machines, you know, the other licensed gear that, you know, you spend all this time negotiating a license like Labyrinth. Why are you stopping the pinball machines, man? Why don't you do the Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie, David Bowie edition Mazda Miata. Put that out there. Or custom wraps for your Miata. Or, like, pin armor, but for your Miata. and like everything for your Miata, y'all. Why don't you just be doing that and have multiple different lines? That's how you expand your business, you know, not just selling to pinball people, but sell to like fans in general, right, because people love that kind of stuff. So I could see that happening. Now they're up to like 200 or something with their build by now. I thought they would have been farther, but you know what? Focusing on quality, getting them out. They're doing like 40 games a week. That's spooky numbers. So, yeah, 12 months, 1,100 games, between 750 and 1,100 is what they're going to make. That seems reasonable. They kept their prices relatively low. They didn't ask for 12,000.
    10:35
    But they were like, we got this other back class, and we got the shooter rod. You want the nipper? You want to get the nipper? You got to get this $1,000 topper. So the game was effectively like 13.5, right? Shipping, tax, all that business, pit armor. So they still got you, but, like, you perceived it as more value. And the guys are super cool. They invited me down to the factory.
    10:59
    Great vengeance and furious anger. Love it, man. I'm in the obscene mode with this game. I'm trying to read the comments. Yo, all of this predates any of my pinball involvement, dude. Dude, this bandana I got. Dude, it's like 20 years old, man, from a Dark Lotus show at the Gathering of the Juggalos in like 2003. That's 10 years ago, man. And then this probably predates even that. So put it in your pipe, dude.
    11:33
    The Young Thug. I got this at Magic Mountain. Man, that's gangster. That's a gangster theme park. It's in Los Angeles, you know.
    11:41
    Dark Lotus. I got Dark Lotus tattoos as well, homie. All right. So, barrels of fun. up to 220 they'll probably increase their business assembly process as they go on as they as they learn oil and grease that machine with that silicone grease that won't melt out the pla plastics like so they're going to be doing all right so i can't wait to see what they got next ain't going to be an expo probably probably a tpf next year well they'll debut their new game maybe they'll start taking pre-orders in january they'll reveal it and then it'll be a tpf tpf 2025 is building up to be amazing my homies from phantom tilt from australia are going to be on site at tpf i'm gonna be back there again i can't wait i had such a great time i had such a great time just meeting everybody in my wonk outfit hiding golden tickets who else is giving away stuff like that this guy is doing that and the patreon is how you say hey dude i like what you're doing here's five bucks man i laughed today because of you i had to go to work and my boss was a jerk but like i laughed on the way to work so thanks for doing that you know that's that's what we're doing that's what we're doing keep coming in everybody invite your friends invite your grandma's let's get in on this it's the it's the extravaganza we do these on sunday night for free for everybody and then the patreon shows jump on the patreon i got more story times going on there and then we do the podcast because the podcast is fun it's inclusive you know we're getting a thousand listens now per episode uh we're branching off into other mixed media formats with with albert agar and everything all right who's up next who's up next you want to talk about stern for a second i want to talk about stern i'm in a stern kind of mood i fired up Jaws again after playing Pulp Fiction non-stop. I'm just totally getting back into it, man. I'm totally getting back into it. It's also going to be a stern week because the media mixer invite, all expenses paid, extravaganza going on this week. I think it's Wednesday at the Stern Factory. A bunch of us are cobbling together. I don't even know who everybody is going to be there. I've heard confirmations from I think Jason Knapp is going to be there. I think Kineticis is going to be there. I think Loser Kids are going to be there. I think Loser Don is going to be there. And what else do you need? What else do you need, man? I don't know what they're going to do. I hope there's snacks. I hope there's sips and nibbles. I hope there's sips and nibbles and I can wander through the factory. Um, and maybe they'll have something cool. We can get a little peek at what if they had like the venom topper and they're like, Hey, we're going to have those media people coming by. We want to curry some goodwill. Why don't we give these guys like a sneak peek embargo and get their opinion on the venom topper? And then why don't we release that in a couple of weeks? Why don't we do that? Why don't we do that? Jeremy, what's up? How you doing? Shout out to everybody in the chat. Bring your moms on in here. We're going to go for a whole hour. We're going around the horn, as they say in pinball, and we're looking good doing it because it's Sunday. We've got to be in our Sunday best.
    14:27
    So... You're the weak and I'm the teary. Y'all hear that? That's Pulp Fiction, dude. Alright, so Stern. So John Wick, what's John Wick going to do? We know what Venom did. We know what Foo Fighters did. We know that they're available now cheaper than when they came out. Jaws? Jaws isn't like, you know, it's not going for more, but I saw an LE sold by flipping out for $2,500 like today. So like that was dope. That happened. So Jaws seems to be holding a little better in this market. But like Foo Fighters, good game. There's a ton of them. They're out there. People played it. They moved on to something else. Venom, same thing. I think a lot of people lost enthusiasm with Venom. They still went in on the LE and then they saw that precipitous drop no upper play field no lower play field no bowling alleys no major mechanisms fun game but the gameplay is cool code is cool but it's not not that much there um john wick looks like it could be another code champion definitely gonna get a code monster jaws is a better layout sorry that's just that's just how it is jaws is a better layout john wick though i love how the le looks so we'll see how it does we'll see how it does now I had mentioned that maybe Stern would do a soft pullback and not build all 1,000 units, but just build whatever they had numbers for plus a little bit of inventory so they have some squishy room, and then they could always revisit the well if they wanted to. They said they wouldn do any more LEs later on but if they only built 600 they could build another 400 later and they wouldn be going back on their word right Anyway but what I heard from people is like no no Stern doesn do that They bought parts for They building They'll stick them in a storage locker if they need to, but, like, they're not going to go back because it would cost more money to go back and redo the line and repurchase parts. You know, we heard that excuse with the Black Knight Sword. The Rage Topper, when it came out, it was $500. Now it's $1,500. Well, it's because they're smaller runs now, and then, you know, the prices went up on the little flat whatever. I got one because the thing is awesome but yeah that was if it was priced anymore I'd have a hard time going on it Tom Teaser's here what's up man dude speaking of Jaws can we talk about your fucking lighthouse I want one that thing's awesome I should have signed up for like a review copy or something or traded you a bunch of garbage that I printed for your awesome stuff that you print but yeah I love Jaws I'm looking at it right now it looks better than an LE to be honest. So John Wick, how's John Wick going to do? I think John Wick's layout is better than Venom. I think the code potentially could be better than Venom, only just.
    17:02
    You know, Foo Fighters had a good layout, but like code-wise it was shallow, but like as far as music pin goes, it's pretty deep. Compared to Guns N' Roses, compared to Rush, I think there's more going on that I understand in Foo Fighters, but it's not deep like Jaws. Jaws is deep like the ocean, like the Mariana Trench, off the coast of Cape Cod kind of deep. It's like the Chesapeake Bay of pinball because there's just so much stuff to do there.
    17:30
    So I don't think – John Wick's not Jaws. I think it will be fun. It will be fun to have it at home just to kind of play through it, watch the code expand. I love the idea that they're going to be sending text message contracts to you. Like that integration is what's really setting Stern apart.
    17:48
    We're going to see more games from them this year. they're supposed to be redoing this Metallica. We've been hearing about Metallica as long as we hear about CGC and Twilight Zone. So that'll come out. Will it be Spike 3? Will it not be?
    18:00
    Do you think... Jules over here, man. Do you think when Spike 3 comes out, they'll actually upgrade and go to a quiet fan that'll still move air? Is that part of what we're going to see? We've been hearing with the Spike 3 system that there are going to be features that we've been asking for. They're going to be implemented. So I'm excited to see that. I'm 50-50 on whether or not it'll be a Spike 3 for the Metallica release or if it's just a vault with an LCD and maybe that's what Raven Davidson's working on Raven Davidson, that's so Raymond that's so Ray Day I already got full RGB, cool I will say, I've really only like 90% of my Metallica that I've played has all been on that pro version so like, I got to play a real LE the other day at Wizards World. I'm like a fan of Metallica again now. I thought the game was okay, but I didn't like the art. It was too rat-fink for me. I couldn't get into it, but the music was good, but there was no visual. So if you come with the music and come with the visual and come with upgraded speakers and it's got the LE features, I'm really interested. I will say, I'm going to get to this in a minute, but I think I'm done with New Inbox Pinball for reasons, and I don't think I'm alone. And then we're going to get some other Cornerstone later in the year Who knows what it's going to be It's not going to be Pokemon Maybe it'll be that X-Men 97 Okay, Stern's going to be doing Stern's going to be doing Stern I can't wait to see how this week goes I honestly don't know what to expect Maybe they'll walk us in Give them some give us some candy a bottle of water We'll play three John Wicks in their streaming studio Maybe they'll give us a poster or a t-shirt And then they got us a hotel I don't know where they're where they're sticking us They can stick us in over over by the Midway Airport And the Motel 6 by the housing projects or are we going to be somewhere cool? We'll see what happens. But I'm going down for fun. They reach down. They're like, all expenses paid, Don. Go ahead and fly down. And I'm like, okay, but it's like two and a half hours away. I'm just going to drive. I'm going to drive. And they're like, dude, we'll reimburse you. Save your receipts. And I'm like, keep your receipts, man. I don't need you to buy me some borrow. I'm happy to come by. I was invited. I'll show up. I'm not flying across the country. Save that money for the loser kids. Give it to them. Fly them out from Utah, man. Just treat them right. I will, however, hang out at the hotel because there ain't no hot tub party like a sausage party full of pinball content, folks, right? So let's live stream from the hot tub. We'll talk to everybody in roundtable fashion. We'll get a couple twisted teas in us. It'll be awesome. So Stern's doing great. What's Jersey Jack doing? They're riding the Elton John train. Game is awesome. Game is fun to play. Game is too expensive to put in my home, so it doesn't exist here. Not that I have the room anyway, obviously. I was going to stop at 10 I'm at 17 that's too many I think 4 is a better place to be and that feeds into why I think for now new in box pinball I'm not going to have any FOMO about anything going forward Metallica's vault comes out if I get one down the road I can get one down the road if I don't I'm ambivalent about it I'm just glad there will be more of them out there I would like to see monsters redone not because I'm going to turn around and buy one new in box but just because down the road I might trade somebody for one same with X-Men 97 if it dropped right now I'd be like I'll go play it, maybe I'll pick it up later maybe it'll be better than Avengers, hopefully not Avengers is bad, but code wise Pokemon I might twist my arm if Jersey Jack is doing Muppets there's so much speculation about Jersey Jack when's Kamikau going to do Christopher Franchi's new podcast when's Dinner with Franchi happening I want to hear more about that reveal that Jersey Jack had Harry Potter and we've heard nothing and all the speculation has been like they probably just got Wizarding World, but none of that is confirmed. But it's going to have a good RGB light show, whatever it is. It'll be at IAAPA. I will be at IAAPA. IAAPA is amazing. It's in November. It's in Orlando. It's like, forget Pinball. It makes Pinball Expo look like a closed-down Kmart and you're an urban explorer walking around a dead mall. That's what IAAPA makes Expo feel like. And Expo is awesome. TPF is like that mall in your town that's still open because it's got some cool boutique shops, and they also threw a post office in there. Expo is like a dead one on the scale of IAAPA. It's like a theme park indoors, man. It's like the size of Disneyland. It's like 85 acres, dude. It's nuts. So they'll have a new game there. The cool thing about IAAPA, if you do manage to get yourself in there, is it's not full of pinball people. So, like, you know, we were waiting 30 to 40 minutes to play Labyrinth, to play Elton John when they dropped. this new game drop in at iapa guaranteed there'll be like one person in front of you sometimes you'll be able to walk up and there'll be nobody there like i got in the door as soon as iapa's doors opened i rushed right on over to elton john and i was there for like 20 minutes before anybody else even showed up and i'm like on the ce dude and then jumped over to like the ce godfather got to play that for the first time and then like toy story was there and probably more people were playing toy story than we're playing elton john it's like if people don't know like this game brand new like there was half hour queues at expo like a month ago so the man fourth quarter 2024 gonna be great so we'll see if they get if they bring the muppets i would be excited about it but it would take a lot at this point it would take like me selling a couple games here somebody people been asking dude is your stuff for sale everything is for sale man just throw me an offer and we can talk about it the worst worst thing i could say is i won't accept it i've had some offers on Star Wars. Look, this Star Wars over here. Star Wars Premium.
    23:34
    R2-D2 Topper. LE Armor. Lights up. Full powder coat. It's gloss black. The whole thing looks like you're on a Star Destroyer, dude. It's hooked up to the external sub. So, like, it sounds like a home theater in here when you're playing Star Wars. When you hit that Hyperloop ramp, it's just like every time I play it, I'm like, I can never sell this game. It's too much fun. It's too much of a fixture. It's a fixture down here. and oh victory thank you appreciate it appreciate i dress up for me but like i make pinball mods for me and then turns out that's what other people like too i've been busy in the mod dungeon too let me tell you i've got john wick mods uh one of them is about 60 of the way there another one is just about 100 they both look cool if i had the game i would definitely want these and if i do sell them if i am compelled if people compel me to make them for them too i ain't gonna charge a ton of money for them. They're cool. I can't wait to show them off. Patreon people, you got a little peek at it. If you spend five bucks and come join the Don Club, I feel indebted to you. I've got to give you stuff. Not only do you get the giveaways, not only do you get free stickers when you want them, but when I'm making fun little 3D print stuff, I show them to you first. I give you guys first dibs. If you want one and you're a Patreon homeboy, you're family, man. Join the family. Join the Don family and I'll hook it up, dude. We'll work stuff out. We'll trade. We'll barter. But man, I love the Patreon folks, dude. They're always hitting me up like I get extra t-shirt drops. They want some. I don't even have a website and we're like shipping stuff every week. It's crazy. Love it. So join the family, the damn family, the Don family. I don't know. I would come up with some name for later. It's so bright in here. My little peepers are having some trouble. Oh yeah. I forgot to beg for stars. I don't even, I don't even, And I've got like 120 stars I've gotten all together this whole time I've been doing this. I don't know if I have an activator right or whatever. They're exclusively from Brian Kosner. And so at this point, it would feel weird to accept stars from anybody else. So like don't feed me stars. It will go to my head. And that's Brian Kosner's thing.
    25:45
    It's just between me and him there. But you can join the Patreon and you can say, Don, what do you got? Can I have a banner? Let's barter. Let's figure it out. Do you want like a cover, a dust cover for your machine? I've got tons of those. People send me crap all the time. I've got stickers. I've got Turner Pinball stickers. Do you want a Ninja Eclipse sticker? I've got a stack of them right here. I've got this, what the heck is this? This is a little ephema of Elton John. Signed by Christopher Franchi, dude. Does somebody want this? Maybe I'll just pick a random Patreon member and this will show up in their mailbox. Cool stuff. I've got so much stuff. I don't know what to do with it all. I don't know what to do with all this stuff. Oh, dude. Dude, we've got Ninja Eclipse stickers. So Turner Pinball, also from Texas We'll stick in Texas for a little bit He's reached out to me He's like, Don, you know some people that operate arcades Why don't you see if they would want one See if they want a Ninja Eclipse And I'm like, bet So I was at IO and I'm like, hey man What do you think about a Ninja Eclipse? They're just throwing it out there And getting paid from the guy But like everybody says, he's a nice dude So I just help spread the word Just bring up topic conversation The game's fun to play But just like IO Arcade, Don's out of room here We're not only out of room We've exceeded our room I'm looking at a Gottlieb wipeout I picked up over here For a song So I gotta fix that up We'll get that out to somebody Should have asked Rockford Pinball Oh, for sure If I had a location I would strongly consider it Because A, there ain't not going to be a lot of them around And no matter where you are Most people in the area have not played one. So, like, I think it would earn some money, you know. So maybe you get 2,000 plays over eight months, and then you could sell it off for $4,500, make some of your money back, build some clientele, sell some twisted tees, you know. So I think it works good for location. I think it would be a good idea for location.
    27:45
    I haven't had a chance to really explore the code to know if it would, like, stack up because it's competing directly against, like, Jaws and John Wick and all its business. All right, so Turner Pinball, we'll see what they do. We'll see what they do. He's got a hell of a workshop at his house, I'll tell you that. Where's Tilt Bob? Where's Road Trip? We saw that little glimpse.
    28:03
    It had that cow drop target, which was fantastic. I love that. But, like, what's this game going to come out like? If this game's, like, more than $4,500,
    28:14
    there's just so much more you could do with your money. Like, would you get a Road Trip, you know? I tell you what, I would buy a Road Trip and a Ninja Eclipse before I would even pee on a Blues Brothers. I want you to go in that bag. I know what. It's the one that says bad motherfucker. Kids play that? Oh, man. I'll fix you, dude. I got the track mode turned on like high frequency because I love it. I had Rick and Morty doing the same thing. All right, let's finish talking about people. Who do we miss? American Pinball.
    28:46
    They're doing the Memorial Day barbecue sale, but barbecue's not included. But if you want a Legends of Valhalla, if you're one of the two people left that don't have a Legends of Valhalla, and you're in the market for one, but you only want new in box, $500 off. Again, if I had a robust location, I think I'd put that in there. If I had four machines at home, I don't know that one of the spots would go to that.
    29:04
    I want to play some more barbecue, though. Let's talk about Pulp Fiction for a second. This game, I don't know why I didn't notice this before, but the two spinners on Pulp Fiction both have ball bearings on them. They spin like butter for days, dude. I love that. I would have loved barbecue if their spinners had these bearings on them. I don't know if spinners had bearings. I don't know how much that adds to the build of materials, but those spinners sing. And I would love it if you could just rip those ramps on barbecue and get them spinning like that and build up your barbecue sauce meter or something. I still have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing in barbecue other than I hit the bash locks. I play with the bash locks. I try to hit the ramps, and then I just do the best I can. so I could talk about barbecue for days man I like I kind of want one I kind of want a barbecue it's just so weird plus they have a character named after me Gator Don is in the game how many Dons are in pinball right I know there's a Psycho Don in Georgia and then there's me Psycho Don in Wisconsin and like is that all the Dons is that all the pinball Dons is that all the pin Dons I can't even Dude, I can't even read comments right now. We're going to keep going.
    30:23
    Should we talk about Spooky? Let's talk about Spooky for a second. Spooky Pinball, absolutely killing it. Leaps and bounds. It's like they're exponentially rising as far as game layouts go.
    30:34
    Alice Cooper, theme and the color and the art, the concept, just phenomenal. The layout was frustrating just because the shots were a little tight. Just because it's just you're off by millimeters, and like it's enough to really, really change stuff up. Patrick Marino. Oh, thank you, Betty. I love this hat. This hat was $100. $100 for this hat from Knott's Berry Farm. It's officially licensed. It's great.
    31:04
    Megalodon? Probably. So, spooky. You know, they go and they do Rick and Morty, and it's like, again, the theme. They killed it. The light show. The music. The call-outs. Like everything. The art, fantastic. The layout, there's a couple of things. It's like, oh, if it was just a little bit more of this, it really would have sung, man. And the Jerry Ramp really fixes a lot of that game. But the game is still fun. I had it for a whole year. I love it. I miss it. I only traded it because I was able to trade for a big Lebowski. Otherwise, I'll probably pick one up again at some point. My kid's sad that we don't have that game anymore. So that game's good. Okay, so they get to Halloween and Ultraman. They're trying some new stuff. it shoots a little bit better there's no shots that are really bricking, they're just a little bit tight, still a little bit hard to find especially that right orbit shot but again the theme was just an absolute killer I went to MGC and I picked up a Halloween and I wasn even sad about it I loved it It played the hell out of that game The bass that dropped when you broke the car window and went into the scoop on the second play field, boom. It was great. And the fact that the ball comes up out of the hedge after it goes into the scoop subway system, and it's like, here's Michael coming out of the hedge. And if you don't react like right now, you are dead. Like, your ball's gone. Like, this phenomenal theme, interplay. Okay, so then we get to some shots, man. These guys sat down. They're like, okay, we did a three-upper play field game, the best one we could do. We did the best team integration with Rick and Morty that we could do. We did the best music pin concept with Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle that we can do. Then they're like, we want to do flow. We want to do shots. We want to do shots and layout and flow and keep everything how we've been doing it. And then they killed it. crowning achievement magnum opus tcm looney tunes shooting phenomenally available not even five digits right 96.99 and and you got their top shelf game with magnet graphics now everything's powder coated um it's just like just the whole pack topper included forget it you don't gotta you get a back glass get the translate stuff out of here we're giving you a back glass and like that's their top shelf and it's still under 10k they wanted to bring games out and have the best version be under 10k and they've been able to do that consistently the entire time achievement achievement you know so you know they don't have insider connected right okay they don't have the economies of scale that stern does you know they don't have a 700 000 square foot facility that they got to keep running with 300 employees they're doing what they do well they're doing it on their own they don't have like a major your financial backing. These guys are just killing it, man. And I can't wait to see what their next three themes are. Because I talk to these guys about them, and they won't tell me, which is good, because I don't need to know. But they're so excited.
    34:02
    They can't wait to talk about it. And whenever they're around, they're always scared they're going to let something slip because they're always discussing and strategizing and talking about these things, and they can't wait to do it. And, like, I don't know, if I worked for them, there's no way I'd be able to, like, keep it under wraps probably because I'd be, like, so excited. So, like, they very well may have Beetlejuice. They may have Muppets. They may have Harry Potter for all I know, man, because they can land the licenses. So, love me some spooky. I love me some spooky. All right, who's next? Who's next? I think we talk about just about everybody. Dutch Pinball, I don't know. They got some stuff coming out. We'll see, you know, when are we going to see it? Who knows? You know, Nap's saying Barry's going to release Back to the Future at Expo. And the Pinball Arcade News is saying Barry said no. It's going to release when it releases. You know, I'm not going to hold my cockles and wait to dump in when it comes out because I am no longer interested in paying money for a game and having to wait a year or more for it. Like, imagine, like, Cactus Canyon released when Halloween released. I remember because, like, I was late to the party on Halloween. and then Cactus Canyon was there and I'm like, oh, I could get one of these. And yeah, if I would have reserved one at launch, I would have had it by now. But can you imagine? And then you see like other ones in box you could go pick up but you've got your $500 or $1,000 already tied up for years. So I don't want to do that with Back to the Future even though it's probably going to be phenomenal.
    35:28
    I'm going to enjoy the hunt. If it's really good and I really need to have it, I'll wait and I'll hunt around and I'll find one with a couple of mods in it, with the starry apron already or whatever, with 88 miles per hour topper package, and then I'll just poach it. Poach it from somebody, and then I'll get it. And then it's like I'll enjoy it more. And I won't have to wait a year. I'll be on the hunt. It's fun to be on the hunt. It sucks if you – let's see what I almost said. It sucks to have 30 pinball machines because then when you go to the arcade, there's nothing to hunt for because you already have it all. Yeah, it sucks to have 30 games. That's phenomenal. It's beyond phenomenal. It's borderline crazy. But there's something to be said about it's fun to be on the hunt for things. If you had every game, you wouldn't be happy. If you have half the games you want and the other half are out there and you've got to seek them out, that's fun, man. That's the fun thing to do. That's why people go fishing, I presume. I don't understand fishing myself. If I go down to the lake, I want to get in the water. But with fishing, not only do you need way more gear than you need for swimming, but you need like a boat, you need a bucket, and then you got to wear all these clothes, and then you have to go out to the water, and you're not even allowed to go in it. You can't even go in the water. You can't swim around to scare the fish. What the heck? I don't understand it. I don't understand. I want to go there. I want to jump off the boat. Drag me around by the boat. I want to jump off a tree swing and get in the water. I want to mask and snorkel. I want to go around and chase fish and tickle their bellies. I don't want to sit there on the dock with a bunch of, you know, fish hooks everywhere, can't wear my flip-flops because I'll step on a pop-top, you know. Come on, come on, man, fishing.
    37:04
    What the heck? The new Funhaus. I actually felt pretty solid. Couldn't hear it over the rest of the show. Probably.
    37:16
    All right. Brian Allen's art's amazing. Like, I ain't going to lie. But gameplay-wise, there's just better options for me, for my game room and my space, which I'm out of. So Funhaus, I'm glad it's out there. I'm glad people enjoy it. If you want one, go get one. I'm happy for you. I want to go play one. Invite me over. I'll come play it. But, like, I can't even entertain bringing that in.
    37:38
    So here's where I'm at. CGC games, no. Any company that hasn't delivered a game, no. Dutch pinball, no.
    37:50
    If anything, Stern I would go on because Stern releases a game, unveils it, and then it's available, and it's, like, out there. Spooky pinball, if you jump in right away, you can get one and they're pretty transparent you know you'll get it but other than that everything else is kind of a gamble and I don't like waiting for games I'd rather instead of wait a year, wait eight months for a game I would rather the games release and then I go on the hunt because I'm the alpha predator and I'm out there on the prairie and I'm looking for the bloated zebra that I can take out that one's sick, this one's getting divorced and needs the zebra to get out of the garage and I can slide in there for $4,500 and tell them I'll put cash money down. I'll take it. I'll pack it up. Don't even worry about it. Boom, and I'm out. I'm coming in. Grab your zebra out the pack. I'll grab your sick yak.
    38:40
    I'll grab your giraffe calf and take it out. Alpha Predator mode. That's more fun for me. Okay, so you have four game spots in your game room. What do you do with that? What do you do? What makes sense, right? What makes sense? What makes the impossible possible? You sure you could have four Jersey Jacks, but, like, they're all going to feel the same. You know, you want to have some variety, but, like, you know, you want some reliability too, and you want those major licenses. So here's what I came up with. Let me know your thoughts. I think if I got four games, I'm doing two sterns off the bat because they got all the licenses. Their flippers feel phenomenal. They've got the insider connected. You know, you don't want just one game. You want two so you can bounce back and forth. They're always doing these quests every month that you can go get. So if you have a superhero machine and a Star Wars machine, chances are you're going to be able to participate in those monthly competitions and getting stuff. Now, you don't want four sterns because you do want to mix up a little variety. But I think two sterns out of a four-game lineup, phenomenal. Like what if your one stern game was Ninja Turtles, right? Yes, it's fun, but like it's just like brutal and like after a while you need a break, right? but like what if you had a Jaws and a Stranger Things or like a Rush or Batman 66 who am I kidding nobody owns a Batman 66 uh or there's probably more Aerosmith owners out there in the Batman 66 uh I've had some good games on it I'm gonna totally trash it uh but what'd be like two good Stern machines like Star Wars in a four-pin lineup I don't know um like Black Knight Sword of Rage and Jaws like those two I got them back to back right over here I wouldn't be sad with that One's fast playing, one's super slow and deep, and you can kind of like palate cleanse and jump back and forth. So I think two sterns and a four-pin lineup, perfect. Third spot, get a spooky. Spooky's got the licenses, the themes, the music. They feel different than stern games, but not different in a way that Jersey Jacks do with like the little kind of, keep the balloons in the air, children.
    40:47
    Let's all grab the parachute and let's pop them up. you know, woohoo, there goes the ball you know, great light shows with the Jersey Jacks, but I think you gotta have a spooky, two Sterns and an Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle over there, or a Looney Tunes or a TCM or a Halloween, you know a Rick and Morty would be ideal a Rick and Morty, a Black Knight Sword of Rage with the topper, a Jaws, so you have like something new, something a little older they're both Spike 2, they're both on the screens and then you got TCM over there, or you got Rick and Morty, so it's like Yeah, like that's pretty good. I think that's a good lineup. I think that's what I would do. What do we got? Metallica, Godzilla, Rick and Morty, the Big Lebowski.
    41:29
    Perfect, dude. Perfect, yeah. Like a long player, like a Jaws, like a Godzilla. You know, you have one of those. And a fast-playing Stern, like Black Dinosaur Rage. It's so good. Or Stranger Things, you know, maybe the premium, you know. All right, all right. So that's good, that's good. All right, so we have one more spot, and this is our wild card spot. This is going to be what sets people's game rooms off differently. is what gives a different vibe, right? Because you can go anywhere and find Deadpools and Star Warses and Guns and Roseses, but like that's where you can put your mouse in a round, right? Maybe you want to go a little retro, get an older game. Maybe you want to work on an old clicky-clacky grandpa game if you want, Bells and Chimes or whatever. Maybe you're like me and you got a Gottlieb Wipeout, you know. Something a little inexpensive. Amoto, how you doing? Thank you for the fashion inspiration. you know, all of us pinball live streaming content bros owe our inspiration, at least in part, to Emoto and Captain Crazy. I got a Captain Crazy sticker on my Harbor Freight lunchbox right over here. So thank you much for that, Emoto. Keep doing it. Keep killing it. All right. So the fourth game, right? Go retro, man. Maybe find a whitewater. Maybe you restored one. Maybe you got a high speed, right? or maybe you know that's where like Phantom Tilt said Big Lebowski would make sense there like a showpiece game that's where maybe you're in Super Nelton John maybe that's where you put your Elton John you know so I think something like that like something just a little off the wall a little of your personality there in a game you're like you know what I grew up going to a laundromat because we had a washing machine at home but we couldn't have a dryer so we had to wash clothes at home put wet clothes in garbage bags, go down to the laundromat because it was cheaper to wash them at home but cheaper to dry them in the big gas dryer than, like, purchase an electric dryer for home or something. That's how it was explained to me. Anyway, that laundromat in Guerneville, California, right next to the hippie health food store that sold ice milk bars, not ice cream. It was ice milk or something. It was super hippie. I ate them all the time. They had a diner. They had a Michael Jackson's Moonwalker arcade game, and then they had a Diner, and that's what I played. So I would like a Root Beer and a Frankfurter. That hits me, man. And anyone else, you're like, Diner, so what, dude? I don't want to play Diner. I'd rather play Whirlwind. And for me, Diner would be cool.
    44:01
    So yeah, so a little something 90s, a little something off the wall with Spooky, two solid sterns, four-game lineup, plenty of games for anybody. I think that would work. The cool thing is having the Sterns. The Sterns releases tons of games all the time. There's so many games out there. They're 90% of the market. So you can have that dead pool for eight months, and then you know what? Offer it up for sale and buy the new Stern. Or offer it up for trade and get something else you haven't had. And just like swap. You can swap Sterns out all day. I've been doing it. I've had like ten Sterns down here, and I only got like five right now. What's even down here from Stern? What's even down here? I should run my lineup now. So starting over the right from stage right, house left, I got a Gottlieb Wipeout. I got Spooky Corner, TCM, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo. I got a Tales from the Crypt, new pickup. Just here relatively temporarily. I've sold it to Brad. What else do I got? I'll get Labyrinth. Like Labyrinth would be a good fourth game. You know, something you can have for a while, something you have to hunt for.
    45:06
    Lebowski you'd really have to hunt. labyrinth you could go get on the list and get yourself one. Elvira. Blood Red Kiss. Come on. Come on, dude. The game's amazing. It's so sparkly. She's in her dress. She has a little custom callout every time you start that gives like, look at my red lipstick or look at my red dress or look at that blood or something. She has like some red callout she does every time we start a game. Super cool. Exclusive to that edition. The last of the redone Stern LEs that they're ever going to do unless they go back on their word. right what else we got i got stranger things there's a dialed in hanging out here in in the spot it's out it's out on loan i got my godzilla out on loan for this dialed in so we'll switch godzilla back in there stranger things right elvira godzilla stranger things star wars premium big lebowski pulp fiction jaws black knight sword of rage and the ultra vp and then big loop upstairs so dang it man there's too many games down here what's up charlie martin how you doing welcome to the show. Thank you for joining in the Sunday extravaganza. Y'all having a good time? Are you not engaged? Are you not entertained? We're bringing you the kind of nobody else is doing this. Nobody else dresses as fresh as this and comes on to give you this content. Not only that, I have a club you can join for only five bucks a month and you get even more stuff, right? And we're building, we're building every month and you have a chance to win free giveaways every month just because, just because I feel like giving back, man, I can't just be stingy and keep it out of myself, I want to reward everybody. So we do giveaways on there. I do extra long form content on there. When I'm working on stuff in the lab, I take little pictures of it and I put it out there first.
    46:42
    And you don't even have to go there. You just drop five bucks and be like, just in your tip jar, man. Thanks, buddy. Just like, because I'm virtually busking for you guys. You know.
    46:53
    Trying to read the comments. Burgers up next. What? You need LEDs around the hat. bet oh yes I do alright so four game lineup I got some mods coming out for John Wick hopefully next week and I'm I've showed a little bit off to a couple of people and the response that I've got was like let me know when that's available and like I'm building for me this is stuff like I'm building it just to like creatively come up with these things because I think they're cool ideas and then you know maybe I never do anything with them Maybe I'll just display them, you know. But, like, I can't wait to show people what I got. Miguel Hilton, mi hermano. I got a John Wick mod. I need to go down and install for my buddy Hilton down there at IO.
    47:46
    French fry mod for Pulp Fiction. French fry mod? What the heck? Do you mean to go with the burger? What John Wick are you getting I got a pro coming Man so here where I at You know this term bimodal distribution Instead of a Gaussian scale right where you know like a bell curve where, like, most things land in the middle and then the extremes are kind of, like, limited, you know, you get the bell. Well, a bimodal distribution is, like, the opposite of that, where, like, the big ones are on the end and the middle is kind of low. That's how I feel about the John Wick pro premium LEs, right? Tell me if you guys feel this way. Premium is a sucker bet.
    48:28
    Premium is a sucker bet. I'm a premium guy, typically. Jaws premium. Stranger Things premium. Star Wars premium. Like, I want all of the things, but I don't necessarily need to pay for the back glass. I don't necessarily need to pay for the armor. I can do that myself. I can powder coat myself. I can get Invisiglass. I can install a shaker motor. Like, I think I get more value plus in a premium than I do going on the LE, right? but for John Wick I think that premium is a sucker bet I think pro is the way to go or LE is the way to go but premium I just don't think you're getting the full game and it comes down to how cool the expression lights look and how meh the art of the premium is versus the LE and versus the pro so I think like boom get in on a pro and get the game if you want it you're going to get all the gameplay you're going to get the contracts emailed to your phone do SMS messaging You get the insider-connected stuff. You'll get all the call-outs. You'll get all the code, the wizard modes. All of that's going to be in the Pro.
    49:28
    Great vengeance and furious anger. You know, but you're going to get all the gameplay, and you're not going to be missing that much. Part of it, though, is kind of cool. The stand-up target, little Denise-y target. The fact that the car swings way out and acts as a diverter. You get a physical ball lock. Like, listen, the Pro played fun. But every time I shot the center ramp and it's like ball one locked and I'm like, no, it ain't. It's rolling down the wire for him back to my flipper. What do you mean it's locked? Is the lock not working? You know, it kind of, it kind of sucks. You know, it'd be fun if it like diverted back. So I think there's some fun in the premium, but here it is. If you get the premium, you've paid $3,000 more than the pro. You still don't have the lights. The pro ain't got the lights. The premium ain't got the lights. The LE got the lights and the best art package. Plus all that other stuff. and even if you want the lights you're gonna have to wait a year because that's how long it takes them to come out and then you're gonna need to be ready so you can go and grab it and not only that but like the lights used to be 450 and then they were 499 and now they're like 550 and then with the cabinet back box lights they're gonna be 700 at least so you're 9600 for a premium another thousand bucks just to get the lights and then you still don't have the good art package right and then you still have to buy a shaker motor and buy Invisiglass and buy some Artblades and you don't get the cool powder coat you know like you have to do other stuff too and you still don't even get the cool speaker grill cut out like you still don't get all that so if you're in on a premium plus the cost of the lights for $2,000 or two months of waiting you can get the LE or go make a thread on Pinside and say I want a John Wick LE $11,000 is my price who's going to sell it to me? I'll take it right now, but you have to include shipping. What an alpha move, man. Can you believe that guy? And people are like, what the heck is wrong with you, sir? Coming out here, talking this mess about you're only going to pay $11,000 and it went for like several pages and the guy was like, yo, don't even worry about it. I got one, thanks. Everybody else enjoy your day. what a savage move that was, dude. Did you hear about this guy? Dude comes on there. He's like, bro, I'm only paying 11 grand. I want it in my game room next week, but you got to pay for shipping.
    51:59
    And then he's like, I got one. Thank you, everybody. Goodbye. So I wouldn't buy a premium. I would wait and pay the same price as a premium plus the lights and go get the lights right now. I did that with Rush LE. I'm glad I did. Actually, I waited a little bit, and then I was able to pick up a Rush LE. It was barely played, and I had all the lights, and I had everything, and the lights didn't come out forever. Now, my boy, Jeff, over at Mad Pinball, he picked himself up one of those unsold Led Zeppelin expression light kits. He put it in his John Wick Pro already. He just took that little 4-inch sticker of Led Zeppelin graphics, peeled it right off the expression lights, threw it in there. The whole thing is just the light bar, and it's all coded. It's all integrated. It's all working, and he's got the expression lights in the Pro. So that's what you do. If you want John Wick, you get a Pro, and you go buy some Led Zeppelin lights from sitting around back stock somewhere. Throw them in. Call it a day.
    53:00
    Pay $99 and go get the Kenwood speakers for the cabinet back box with the lighting kit so you still get some speaker lights. Yeah, they're not integrated, but, like, so what? So get some $100 lights, upgrade your speakers so you can hear them wick call-outs. Get the Led Zeppelin lights, peel that sticker off. Go get whatever aftermarket art blade you want. There's Savage ones coming out. Custom Pinball has a great trans light. Guns all over the place. It looks amazing. And he does the vinyl art blades too. So go get some Custom Pinball trans light and art blades. Go pick yourself up any expression light kit you can find. Throw a shaker motor in there. And just John Wick Pro yourself. and John Wick Pro yourself, or take that money for the premium, the $1,000 you would spend on the lights, wait six weeks and get an LE, or post on Pinside and get one for $11. That's the way to do it. So there's the bimodal distribution of John Wick. I've played it. The game is fun to play, fun to shoot. I am really going to enjoy when I get to play the premium, those little extra little things that are in there, the little Altoids briefcase that opens and closes. I think it looks kind of fun. Looks like it's going to be fun to smash. People are kind of dismissing it. I think it's going to be kind of cool. Also, the diverter that physically locks the balls because, dude, ball one locked. No, it ain't. Quit lying to me, lady. It's rolling down the wire for him. That ain't locked. That's the opposite of locked, right? And then the little Denise-y drop target where you put balls back there in the little hot tub area of the club, and then you can bash up against it and send that ball backwards. Dude, I love that.
    54:36
    What else? You get a spinner. There's something. Oh, the little blood oath token that opens and closes. It's kind of cool. You know, if somebody made that aftermarket and it was $60, I might get it. If it was $200, I wouldn't. But, like, kind of cool. My mommy's here. Hi, mommy. How's Arizona? I want to come visit. Hi, mommy. Did you get your Mother's Day present? I saw the video. Look, your boy's big time. You know, when you get to go around the ladies' auxiliary, when you're doing your desert horticultural walks and you're bragging on your kids, you could be like, take a look at what my weird kid's doing. He's doing this. He looks fly on the live stream. My parents love me.
    55:18
    Okay, so, bimodal distribution of John Wick. There it is. Pro, do that build and your game's going to be awesome. You're going to enjoy it. The code's going to keep building, keep getting better. You're going to get the contracts on your phone. It's going to be fun.
    55:30
    Go down to the arcade and play the contracts. But tell the arcade dude, hey, go throw some lights in this thing. Otherwise, Find a way to get yourself an LE. I don't know what I'm doing yet. But I'll tell you what. I've already seen some mods that would make this game just a little polish. Just a little polish. I've showed some people already. Phantom Tilt's seen what I'm working on.
    55:52
    Balls of Steel's seen what I'm working on. Mad Pinball's seen what I'm working on. Patreon members seen a little bit of what I'm working on. I haven't shown them the big, big that I'm doing. I got topper ideas already. So, whatever. This is going to be so fun. It's the season of the wick. The sun has set on Jaws. It's now the era of John Wick until we get the era of X-Men or whatever. So I'm just going to revel in it. I'm going to play in it, whether it's here, whether it's in the arcade.
    56:19
    That's what we're going to do. Phantom Tilt. He knows. It's his objectivity, man.
    56:26
    Maybe what I'll do, maybe I won't even sell these mods. Maybe I'll just make them and send them to my friends. Maybe I'll give them away to Patreon members. How about that, huh? Maybe instead of another Translight, or maybe in addition to a Translight, we'll throw some mods in there too. Or maybe we'll do a Translight and a mod this month for June 15th for the Patreon giveaway, which you can get in on for only $5. This is a Project Pinball where I'm asking you to spend $180 for a raffle ticket with 200 other people for a game that only one person is going to win. Jump in here. Every 50 people in the Patreon will do another monthly giveaway that month. so we get up to 100, we'll do two Translites or a Translite and a Banner. But I think I might do, I think for the month of June, I think I might do a Translite and some mods because I've got some cool stuff I'm making. I think people would dig it. Who doesn't like free stuff? And $5 is like, you can't even get a two cheeseburger meal at McDonald's for that. But if you were stopping and you were listening to someone play saxophone on the sidewalk when you're in New York City heading to Battery Park to go buy some bootleg Gucci, you'd be like, I'm going to throw that guy five bucks.
    57:36
    So like I'm your busker. Just think of it like that, you know. So jump in there. We'll welcome all the new members. We're having a good time. I got more content coming up now that I'm actually finishing up 21 days straight of work where I'm going to have a week off to do some more content strictly for the Patreon. I'm recording this right now as an audio podcast for the Patreon. We're going to put that up there and stuff. Don's extravaganza. Who else wants to get some comments out there? Let's read some comments in the last few minutes that we got. I'm going to give my eyeballs a rest here so I can read this stuff. Woo!
    58:09
    I thought I had another bandana on. Oh, it's around my neck. Sterling? Sterling, see what I'm working on. And you ain't got to give it away. But, like, what are your thoughts, man? You've seen the John Wick mod I'm working on. I got another one I got to send you. I'm going to send you. Well, no, go on the Patreon. You're on the Patreon, dude. I just posted it on there. Let's get some comments going. Ryan Williams says I'm sure you could buy any expression lights and cut out holes on any art blades absolutely but I gotta say with the expression lights I think they actually might look kind of good alright without the holes cut off but just that light bar and then you just slice the art blade you know cut like that three quarter inch strip out put the art blade back there and just have like that long beam of lights with like the whole diffusion panel like I think it looks kind of cool Go check out Mad Pinball on Facebook. He just posted a video and some pictures of his John Wick Pro with expression lights, and it's just black with the light bar, and it looks awesome. Everything Penn Stadium does, but you don't have to move them out of the way when you lift your play field to go find a lost ball or something or go replace something or put a chicken bucket in there or something. That's cool. That's legitimately cool.
    59:21
    What else we got? Eric Klotz, how you doing? Welcome. Oh, my mama's commenting. Hold up, Eric Claus.
    59:31
    Of course I miss my mom. I want to come to Arizona. We can go to Culver's, and we can go to Wienerschnitzel. Man, Arizona is a fun place because they got some Culver's. They got some Wienerschnitzel. I myself like some Western gear. I like to go on horticultural walks through the desert. I like to see the saguaro cacti. And I got to go to Electric Bat Arcade. I got to go hang out with Glenn Danzig and his dog Spot.
    59:59
    So I had somebody reach out today, a shadow distributor, and I already put down a deposit. It was nonrefundable but for diners. So once it's released, I'm already in there. So I'm already ahead of the game. I had a great time at Electric Bat. Those dudes are cool. I got to get back to Arizona at some point. I got to go jump in the pool. Mom, how's the pool? water. Can I go jump in? I want to go swim. Maybe I'm going to take a weekend off and maybe I'm going to go down there. Maybe we'll do that.
    60:33
    Alright. Did we cover everything on this Sunday night extravaganza? I think we hit it all. Be sure to like and subscribe. YouTube's got stuff. Follow there. Follow me on Instagram. I'm putting stuff on there. Make sure you're following the Facebook page. Go ask 10 of your friends to follow too. Let's build this thing up. Let's get to the point where we can go to Expo and I can have like a VIP corral with snacks and drinks, a place to leave your purse, a couch, just a chill space on the show floor, and you can go and buy yourself an all-access wristband for the weekend, and that could be your place to go and chill out. That would be great. It would be great to have a little refreshation station at a pinball expo, and we could do that if we build up enough members.
    61:18
    Michael Jones, stop by and hang out at my parents' house. You can go meet the kitties. Go meet the kitties. Y'all are great. All right, I'm going to go record this right now. We'll upload it to the Patreon so people can listen in to all my thoughts and things that have been going on. 123 episodes that we've done and we ain't stopping yet. We're building. We're giving away translights. And if you ain't like it, then you just don't like fun itself, man. You know, go sit on your couch. Make sure it's by the window. All right, take care of yourself and be sure to wash your feet.
    61:51
    Hey, everybody. I just ended that recording. A little bit awkward there. Thank you so much for joining. Thanks for being a Patreon member. Invite 20 of your friends. Let's build this thing up. Let's blow it up. If we get to 100 Patreon members, we'll do two Translites, give it away every month, or a Translate and a mod. You know, I want to do it like the dentist office is, where, like, you know, you were good, you got your teeth cleaned, and at the end, you get to go raid the treasure box. So, like, if you're picked as a winner, like, tell me what you want. We'll do a pick-a-prize, man. We'll do a pick-a-prize. It's just, we're having fun, dude. I get stuff sent to me. I can't keep it all. I'd rather give it away. And so let's do that. Who am I going to give it away to? The people that support me the most. So we've got this reciprocal relationship, and we're going to keep building. Because of you, because you guys are listening, you lend credence to my words that I put out there. And then I get invited to American Pinball. Go play barbecue. When the game's released, I can tell you what I think about it. That's helpful. If you're on the fence, like, should I buy this thing? It's good to hear from somebody that's played the damn thing. Like, am I going to like it or not? And, like, I was confused as everybody else when I saw the game for the first time. I'm like, my God, they really did this. They really did this. Game's fun to play, but there's just so many other options. I'm going to Stern next week. I can't wait. I mean, I'm in Chicago all the time anyway. It's going to be super fun. Maybe they'll give us little sips and nibbles. Maybe I'll be able to cobble together some giveaway stuff that I can come back and then give away to you guys. Rather than just doing randos on Facebook, I'd rather give stuff out to my Patreon folks.
    63:16
    And, yeah, so we'll just keep building this thing. So thanks so much for being a Patreon member. Tell your friends. Spread the word. Let's make 2024 the year that this really just kicks off into, like, eleventieth gear.
    63:28
    It's Pulp Fiction. It's such a freaking great game. There's so much code in this game. The spinners on bearings. Dude, it's nuts, man. Play in this game. Go find yourself a friend that's got this game in the home and, like, go get some time. Just dedicate it. You know, get your twisted tea. Sit there. Play five games on it and just be like, my God, these guys did something special when they made this. And you don't even need the bad mother flipper edition, man. They're all good. later everybody be good I know y'all already washed your feet I was talking to the unwashed masses from earlier alright later