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77: Down These Roads

Pinball Party Podcast·podcast_episode·37m 53s·analyzed·Aug 2, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Reflective episode on pinball collecting: experiences and community matter more than machines.

Summary

Jason from Pinball Party Podcast reflects on his evolving relationship with pinball collecting, emphasizing that the lasting value comes from experiences and people met rather than the machines themselves. He discusses how the novelty of new games has worn off, leading him to find fulfillment in podcasting and community connections instead. The episode touches on recent market slowdown, lackluster reception of John Wick, and his nostalgia for games like Foo Fighters and Metallica.

Key Claims

  • John Wick by Stern Pinball is not doing well commercially and people don't enjoy it much

    medium confidence · Jason observing market reception; notes Keanu Reeves playing it at Comic-Con was notable

  • The pinball market experienced a COVID boom followed by a contraction with lingering oversupply

    medium confidence · Jason discussing pre-COVID healthy market, COVID explosion, and current normalization with lagging oversupply indicator

  • Stern Pinball pricing is burning out hobbyists and reducing market participation

    medium confidence · Jason directly stating 'Stern burning most people out there with pricing'

  • Recent game releases (Jaws, John Wick, Godzilla, Quest) lack novelty and engagement value for experienced players

    medium confidence · Jason describing how new releases provide short-lived novelty that wears off quickly

  • Spooky Pinball likely to reveal next game in December

    low confidence · Jason reading news snippet about Spooky Pinball likely revealing next game in December

  • Pinball Brothers is beginning to ship games

    high confidence · Jason citing news: 'Pinball Brothers begins shipping'

Notable Quotes

  • “When I think like quick thoughts of that history, I'm not actually thinking of the machines. I remember the experiences of getting the machines or meeting the people that I got the machines from.”

    Jason (host) @ early section — Core thesis of the episode: experiences matter more than machines themselves

  • “John Wick... seems to be by all accounts not doing that great. People don't really enjoy it that much except for Keanu Reeves on that recent video.”

    Jason @ opening section — Market observation about John Wick's poor reception despite star power

  • “What was so exciting and what drove me for so long was each game was a new experience because I had not played it before.”

    Jason @ mid-section — Key insight about what made collecting rewarding; contrast to current market saturation

  • “There's a lot of extra machines out there and now there's a lot less money in it. There's not as many hobbyists doing it. And with Stern burning most people out there with pricing.”

    Jason @ market analysis section — Direct critique of Stern's pricing strategy and its market impact

  • “If there's a game, regardless of price, that I could just play right now, it would be Foo Fighters, followed up with probably Iron Man, Stern Pro Vault.”

    Jason @ late section — Reveals favorite machines and nostalgia for specific titles

Entities

JasonpersonKeanu ReevespersonCale HernandezpersonZach SharpepersonStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyAmerican Pinballcompany

Signals

  • $

    market_signal: Host observing secondary market declining; machines losing value; oversupply from COVID-era purchases now depressing prices

    high · Jason noting 'secondary market going down' and 'lot of extra machines out there and now there's a lot less money in it'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Shift away from collecting toward podcasting/community due to lack of novelty in recent releases

    high · Jason explaining move from active collecting to podcasting as way to find 'new experiences' because 'there's no novelty' in current games

  • ?

    product_concern: John Wick pinball underperforming commercially despite major IP and star endorsement

    medium · Jason: 'seems to be by all accounts not doing that great. People don't really enjoy it that much'

  • $

    market_signal: Stern's premium pricing burning out hobbyist market participation

    medium · Jason stating 'Stern burning most people out there with pricing' as factor in market contraction

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Recent games (Jaws, John Wick, Godzilla, Quest) failing to maintain long-term engagement; novelty wearing off quickly

    high · Jason discussing how new games provide initial excitement but 'novelty wore off pretty fast' and become repetitive grinds

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball planning December announcement; Pinball Brothers shipping; Jersey Jack and others managing delivery expectations

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.114

0:00
Welcome back everyone to the Pinball Party Podcast. My name is Jason and this is the podcast. You've downloaded it, you spent your gigabytes and your, to be fair, probably about 200 megabytes recording it. Recording at 48.1 quality. I'm using a Shure SM7B microphone into a Focusrite Scarlett audio interface using Audio-Technica M50s as my monitors over my ears and some Genelec 8030s should I need to not use it? Who cares? Welcome back to the show. You know, it's been a slow pinball year. In fact, a slow couple pinball months, hence, You know, not doing this podcast for a little while. We did one, was it last week? A couple weeks ago with Cale Hernandez from Electric Bat Arcade, the Blackbirds, if you will, out of Tempe, Arizona. Go check them out. Fantastic. I haven't done a lot of pinball. I've been watching from afar like a gargoyle on a stoop, keeping an eye on the secondary market going down and pinball machines just kind of like, eh, okay, here they are. John Wick, I still haven't played that. Um, seems to be in all accounts not doing that great. People don't really enjoy it that much except for Keanu Reeves on that recent video, uh, Instagram or pick your social media of choice. He was playing it, I believe it was at Comic-Con, which is actually pretty awesome. I mean, Keanu Reeves, Matrix, Speed, Man from Tai Chi, you get it. Him playing his own game is awesome. But I'd be smiling too, you know, a multi-hundred millionaire, whatever he is, playing a pinball $ enfrent9 Där is a poster for Owner And we're live Inhale itals fodep fortressfilm outset.com Music by Katherine Freeman,
3:14
Please subscribe now for part two of a very new节 of this podcast with Dr. 시면 Duncan. Thanks so for watching, and I'll see you next week. Bye. So why I wanted to hit record today, not just, oh, pinball's stupid and we're in a rough spot. I mean, it's true. I mean, I wish I had, you know, 50 games to play right next to me, but I don't. I have zero games and I haven't had a game in a long time. But yeah, reflecting on what pinball has been for me and why I kind of have gone through some of these hot streaks of playing a lot, talking a lot, doing a lot, and then not, and not to be like, hey, everyone listen to me, but maybe somewhere in a A similar boat or find similar pleasure in the sport of pinball. So I was taking a walk today thinking about that of, you know, the wise men say the things to spend your money on that provide you the most happiness is, you know, experiences, saving your money, paying down debt, not buying stuff or consumables. Not that pinball is a consumable. But if I think back of All the pinball machines that I've lusted after. I can't wait to get a Lord of the Rings with a specific playfield or a game I haven't played or all these. You know, and then subsequently getting shit for selling a game too soon. I've all been nonsense. You've heard the story before or people. Hey, you've got this new machine. Keep it for a year. Otherwise, you're weird or what are you doing? No, I think my habits and a lot of others habits out there. That is more of the I think the healthy way of buying a Masates, Mel Dani, Volker Lang, ilateral
Pinball Brothers
company
John Wickgame
Bram Stoker's Draculagame
Lord of the Ringsgame
Foo Fightersgame
Metallicagame
Ghostbusters Sterngame
Jawsgame
Godzillagame
Quest for a Few Daysgame
Walking Deadgame
Electric Bat Arcadevenue

medium · Jason citing news: 'Spooky Pinball likely to reveal next game in December' and 'Pinball Brothers begins shipping'

  • ?

    community_signal: Podcast/content creation becoming primary engagement avenue for hobbyists as machine collecting novelty declines

    medium · Jason explaining shift from collecting to 'podcasting, the audio of it to give it another avenue, another experience'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Post-COVID normalization resulting in market contraction; fewer active hobbyists; inventory oversupply

    medium · Jason analyzing 'healthy pinball hobby...pre-COVID and then COVID...explosion...now it's like...getting back to normal...lagging indicator...lot of extra machines'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Community speculation about Jersey Jack and American Pinball next titles (Matrix, Harry Potter, He-Man mentioned)

    low · Jason speculating 'I hope it's Matrix or Harry Potter' for Jersey Jack and 'Is He-Man gonna be American Pinball?'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Healthy trading market pre-COVID enabled by player experience-seeking; shift toward breakeven philosophy on machine purchases

    medium · Jason describing personal strategy of 'mitigate that cost...I'd prefer to only lose $500 or make $200. Hopefully...roughly break even'

    • 5:47
    Warner Braun marketplace, Tiktok Fortnite starters youtube. Dr. E da��도 gn I guess what I'm getting at is thinking back to two years ago, even last year to a certain extent, last year, the year before, and the year before that, let's say, when I was doing plenty of what all of us do, find the games we want, play them, trade, all that stuff with friends.
    6:51
    When I think like quick thoughts of that history, I'm not actually thinking of the games. I remember the experiences of getting the games or meeting the people that I got the games from. can keep that first name to save ah how many times have past cie fosse susp gesehen history of christening movie how do I mimicismo Um... Bram Stoker's Dracula. Alright. Do I remember the game? I mean, I do. But what I remember most if someone, um, let's say God. I'm not a God person. I don't believe in it. Whatever. If you do, great. Who cares? What do you believe in? I don't give a shit. But let's say it's God. It's easier to describe this story like this. You know, uh, I get, I die from old age. I'll probably live to like 102 because everyone in my family lives forever. But you know, once I hit like 95 years old is when I start just doing heroin and Discoverpool travailon, venirtあ futurき対 cs'jさん挑igning越 atac Mat Peter kapaldi, Errejko Boosка, dedeguyuy, Petr Teta from the video of Kady lok começou 15 enchating y их Paracket bš слишком c全部 망� semans really rgyo t TU ском
    8:30
    Thank you very much. The pros and cons of talking to certain people. I remember this one guy, my God, on Facebook, who was, probably took him two years to sell it because he's just an idiot. Found the game and I was going to buy it. And then I backed out, like, as in like, no, I guess I'm not, I'm not actually fully interested. I didn't fully commit, but I, and then I saw the game at MGC, the actual game I was going to buy. And if I would have been a smart man I would have bought it there and brought it back But instead a week later I like Hey actually I played your game at MGC so I actually tested it I come buy it so I come drive another eight hours But I remember it was close to Halloween era so I was in the mindset and I thought, what would be really, you know, make this experience good for me because it's an eight-hour drive? I love Bram Stoker's Dracula the movie. Why don't I listen to the audiobook? Not the abridged one with Count Dooku himself, Christopher Lee, narrating, Tantai So, if you've noticed, I thought, well, this is adjusted to quarantine, which was, I know that because I accidentally downloaded that first and thought, man, this book is pretty quick. I got a refund of apple and bought the unabridged for what it's worth. I thought, I'll listen to the audiobook on the way there and back and just have the full Dracula experience. And, uh, you know, again, what was I doing leading up to it? I was like making this big paradise in my head. The knowledge I have of vampires, the love I have of the vampire lore from Bram Stoker's to interview with a vampire to just vampires in general as a kid, you know, we all kind of like vampires. It's pretty sweet. You know, it'll be awesome. It'll, it'll fill that little gap. Then I go get the game and it's in the same condition I knew it was in. I remember talking to the guy a little bit. You're talking about work, driving back, listening to Bram Stoker's Dracula, liking a lot. And then yeah, I played the game and had a couple of things I tweaked and modded on it. And that was kind of it. But, you know, no, actually, I should say, there's a song I made, wrote, whatever you want to call it. I guess I'll put at the end. You may have heard it before called Down These Roads. And there's a lyric in there that I remember working on it kind of like five feet from where I am right now. And I was talking.
    11:15
    What is it? I was talking about I put emotions where they can't be found and hitch a ride on basically the lyrics meaning in a way talking about burying your feelings to not have to deal with them is kind of the point of this. Hey, I heard artists talk about that shit. Anyway, the lyrics are I put emotions where they can't be found and hitch a ride along that cemetery wall. And I remember the way I came up with The reason for that is because I was working on Brahm Stoker's Dracula that cemetery in the back left of the machine, I was putting UV ink on it and I was going to put a UV light to shine on that, and working on that machine I will always remember that lyric, which in my head actually works really well, comes from the influence of having that game. So owning Bram Stoker's Dracula was the memory of it is a combination of the listening to the audiobook, the drive, it being in lyrics and and meeting the guy and seeing the game at MGC. And I sold it, I don't know, a month later, something like that. It's a fairly simple game, you get to 30 million, 30 billion guys, it's been so long. You know, you do it and it's awesome. And, and you have, you know, your little orgasm and you move it on. So that's what I remember about the game the most. Yes, the experience of the game. I think most people or hobbyists that would listen to a podcast, you absorb the information from the game pretty quick. I mean, like the audio you get used to pretty fast. If you play the games a lot, you get used to the shots, you get used to the rules. And it's all very new. And it's very exciting at first. And then you get used to it. And you know it. And it's like, all right, well, okay, this thing is Bram soakers racket is specifically this thing is $5,000. Is this worth Do you have five thousand dollars of joy long term for something that I have now memorized everything about? I've seen everything I need to see. Uh, no, but the experience was worth it. So it wasn't worth five thousand dollars, but what I always tried to do and what a lot of us do is mitigate that cost of, alright, I wanna buy the game for X. I'd prefer to only lose $500 or make $200. Hopefully, roughly break even in the end if you can, or at least just pay enough for what that experience is worth. Recht
    14:11
    I don't think a lot of people are. I'm like, just shut up. I'm not. If you are, that's fine. I like to invest in ETFs or low mortgage rates or appreciating assets. Shut up. This is the toys. But we all get value out of it for different reasons. A lot of people get it out of buying a beater and fixing it up and they love that part of it. And that's actually pretty fucking sweet. I like that in Lord of the Rings. Sure. Other people want that. The point is, looking back of my habits of pinball the whole time, and maybe this isn't like some revelation, but to me it is. It's a reflecting point of pinball of what was so exciting and what drove me for so long was each game was a new experience because I had not played it before. Driving to get it, meeting the people, sometimes scary, sometimes not. All of that, I've kind of owned or done most of that I wanted to and none of them have stuck around to provide this longing happiness. I then personally moved on to what I'm doing now, the podcasting, the audio of it to give it another avenue, another experience. But down this, down these roads, right? Down this road, we'll just use that song in the theme of today's episode. Looking at some of these, I had a for sale. Now on the Internet page Gustave
    16:11
    verse2 Pinball, the best and only place to buy your pinball machines and accessories. But I get there and I did bring like I think I brought a dolly And I think just a rap because he didn't have all the stuff. You know the tools you need. He didn't have a lot of the tools. Anyway, I get there and he's like, oh yeah, also we're going to need to take the head off and take it sideways up the stairs. What? What? Come again? Okay. I thought this was all right. Usually, you know, for us to do this, it's usually a heads up like, oh, by the way, this is going to be the worst heads up. No, I had none of that. You just thought it was the normal like, oh yeah, this is going to take four hours, by the way. Commentary
    18:10
    . Timing and Subtitles by the Amara community This was it wasn like fuck just turn around the book get back drive it here you go hello yeah thanks bye get home hours after I was supposed to and then the game I sold after a week and whatever so my memories were that fucking crazy trip and the game was just the game
    19:06
    Again same point the experience is what it was and you know again the wise men quote say an experience with someone else you love I didn't love this guy. тました, disregardbiaודикаépindienviron sidubanks對不對особ الن persecупщ منَّşانraction الش الل dachte releases τιarah hates, A lot of Lord of the Rings stories. I could probably just do a whole episode on buying and Jesus, I'm remembering this clown. Oh my god. A lot of Lord of the Rings stories that I can totally remember. Tron. Oh, that's a fuck in the ass, isn't it? My Tron, buying that. The antithesis of all the great memories of this. I'm 95 doing the heroin, doing the cigarettes. I die. God's like, tell me about Tron. I'm not sure what I'm doing up there. He'd probably throw me back down in hell to talk about that Tron story again. Loaded Ghostbusters Pro with color DMD. I do remember a few Ghostbusters stories. You know, because I've owned it a few times, as one does. This is something nice. at least Everyone hopefully has this story that's bought and sold a game or two something like this where basically and I've learned from this person in the best possible way Where the game ends up being? Not just slightly but loads better than even is described where you know sometimes you I think in the first couple games you want to like kind of ignore a couple things nothing major like A gash on the playfield, but maybe like a little switch. That's kind of flaky coverflikLeakS feedback from awakenindustries.com
    21:24
    This was in the middle of COVID where Godzilla premiums were like $50,000, but everything was, so it really netted out to be the same difference between every game. Fair trade is the point. Ghostbusters plus cash. But his wife ended up coming to the trade because she was coming up to our town, and so he sent it with her on an errand. So she drops the game off. I give her a Godzilla and we're like, this weird pinball, huh? All right, here's $500. See you later. Next week He had that extra Ghostbusters cheater kit, basically, you know, the center post and all those lane guide things that you take off of Ghostbusters. Don't be a pussy. He had those all extra in the coin box. He had a fan mod. Anyway, the moral is I remember that this is one of those good people that just undersells what they're selling you. You end up basically having even more value than you thought of. caused by harassment of the head %uh and her seconds Mark P. Bally D. Vargas G. V. D. V. G. D. V. I think maybe subconsciously those were all the experiences that kept me going. The buying the games and meeting, you know the good and the bad because you never know what you're going to get. And doing the audio for, sorry the music for Triple Drain Podcast and then doing this and meeting Kale and Nudge and Zach and Joel and the other Zach and wait, is it two Zachs? There's two or three Zachs. Doing the Patreon. and that's what's been keeping my interest is like you know shit I miss that also I know it's only been a couple months but man I mean when I was in it I was fucking in it but now I'm finding all those experiences and other new places because pinball the last I mean few months is like there's no novelty and I mean I played the complete bejesus out of Jaws which was Okay, water or You know I thought it wasn't great and then I thought was amazing and in the end like yes, I think it's fine I think it's average. I think it's you know Down it's fine. It's more the theme than anything that really doesn't do much for me But then John wick comes out and it's like no shit That's not great and since what Godzilla like I have played it It's fine. It's black and white I don't care. Plus the game! Drupie Flippers, Flow I'd rather trap and shoot kind of games 2018-9 November curator 추측非 sú 2020-9월 16일 gen知名冠軍 2021- safe 실행 2018-9월 15일 드�omina 2018-9월 17일 meta 2010-9월 28일 це
    25:47
    tiptonplayit for quest for a few days and I don't know that the novelty where's off pretty fast in that it becomes this game of like well it's just a grind do you want that scoreDee wanna go through this thing over and over enough for an arbitrary score where you getting experiences with it I would hope that it's the six experiences so for me it would be X-Men or metallic comes in play it get on here start recording be super excited about it Interview spotlight with Zach glorious, Gaza GloryJonesAnd กJani assist, Wyattuogsguhs, But I think more realistically looking at the landscape of everything is kind of following this of there was this very healthy pinball hobby and market pre-COVID and then COVID there was this explosion of like, oh my God, and the money and all that people went out there and now it's like, oh, it's getting back to normal. But there's this lagging indicator of, well, there's a lot of extra games out there and now there's a lot less money in it. There's not as many hobbyists doing it. And with Stern burning most people out there, Tindall. What's up, old dude? Never ending desconcess than football because Astor that politic You know what I may do to this Werk to go in a Mazda 6 Yeah I was chased by three Asians the other day in a Mazda6 Yeah I was driving my 2023 MX5 club out in the twisties And I could tell when this black Mazda6 was coming up on my ass like oh you a hooligan So like yeah okay I play So there this famous famous there this popular spot in Now go and join the fun, the fun. It's over. I'm out in the country where I am where like you go to be stupid with your car. It's just...it's what you do. There's no speed limit and there's twisties everywhere, so you try to just get your adrenaline out there. And I was doing it, and they were following me the whole time. I turn around, they follow me. Turn around, follow me. Keep going, follow me. We got behind this clown in a minivan, who's going slow as shit. We were honking, you know, just being complete, complete idiots. Um, anyway, doing that. But now, so that's, you know, just like anything else, becoming less novel. It's fun, but like, okay, if I'm not doing this with people I love, which, to be fair, my wife and I absolutely love being stupid in vehicles, so that's fun. Um, pinball is still tickling me. And so whatever JJP's got coming, whatever Expo's got coming, um, that's exciting. But I should say, taking a break and looking back, I'm back. I think what I was getting at. I'm kind of going all over the place. Thank you for bearing with me. The games I miss playing like teleport a game right in front of me and just start playing for like, oh, you want to have fun with a game. Foo Fighters. Easy. The first one. No doubt. Foo Fighters, Premium or Ellie, you know, whatever. But with Expression Lights, just seriously, that's that's the game I miss the most. And I've played everything that I've ever wanted or would want to. If there's a game, regardless of price, that I could just play right now, it would be Foo Fighters, followed up with probably Iron Man, Pro Vault, but I mean if it's just playing I'll play either, but yeah, Pro Vault, and then Ghostbusters. Oh god damn it, I'm doing that thing where I talk myself into wanting fucking games again. God damn it. Alright, that's dumb. and my fucking metallic a hope they don't change too much um and walking dead yeah on my condors one for sale right by me God damn it this is probably mild game that okay alright this is still it is my old game that thing plays so nice a serious sir okay this bad news I just have recordings for I want to keep finding reasons to record and keep doing this. I miss it. I really do. Work is busy. Work is great. Life is good. Life is busy. Life is great. All that. Pinball, do me a favor. Come out with an X-Men soon. Reduce the price a little bit. Stop being bullshit with the LEs. Jersey Jack, come on. I hope it's Matrix or Harry Potter. If it's Muppet, Anton انوerie د 보여드데этомуgen brigade Before we get started Who's Tex Van самый? History of Atari pinball and spooky pinball likely to reveal next game in December and more. Yeah, well that lines up. What? I'm just reading this right now. So I'm saying um and filler words. People who order Looney Tunes or Texas Chainsaw Massacre today can expect delivery in January or midwinter. That's just something I can't do with pinball in general. Nope, reverse that. I guess what I'm saying is pay for a game now and wait. This Week in Pinball, Franchi), Lic trigger*** foreign Okay, spooky spooky spooky. Yeah, come on. Be good. Be butyljuice or He-Man. Is He-Man gonna be American Pinball? God, that's so dumb. Pinball Brothers begins shipping ABBA surprise code uptake for sperm. Sperm? Sperm Pinball's Deadpool. Yeah, for Deadpool Wolverine. For those who saw it, what do you think? I saw it. Deadpool Wolverine. Was it as incredible as the marketing got me as hyped to believe? No. But I did like a lot of the cameos and it was definitely good.
    33:56
    But OK, anyway, that's enough for this time. Let's save more for next. I do have some ideas, but I wanted to talk to all of you. Missed you a little bit. Missed doing this. And I will end this with a song called Down These Roads, which I've used before. And spoiler, it was the lyrics that used to be
    34:14
    hitch a ride along that cemetery wall. Forget if it's cemetery or fabricated in this version, But it's supposed to be cemetery food, so forgive me. But until next time, see you later.
    34:50
    More ников Fl Conference & V sensation Š 15 Ś f I've been down all these roads before Now I'm in love with who I oughta be The one who's there for me when I need her most I don't know everything but I know for sure I'm on these roads alone I know it's distant Far from over Make me believe That I'm learning to reflect Take it day by day All I am is me anyway
    36:33
    Attendinguém PUBG OWNED summer ballets Gospel TwEnويCeWin Security5 GT FourSñMoyjHXW, shimbD 6Hs Za4Ze LDek LakeVMn PClinessC nurture, TextElement.T Сегодня I can't believe this. Dyedv And I'm learning to reflect, Thinking, thinking day by day All I have is me anyway Bye!