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DPP# 169 "Harry Potter will disappoint!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·35m 44s·held·Jan 17, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Don argues Harry Potter needs two separate games to do the license justice; previews rumored 2025 release pipeline.

Summary

Don critiques the scope challenge of fitting the expansive Harry Potter universe into a single pinball machine, arguing it risks disappointing fans by necessarily omitting major locations and characters. He speculates on numerous upcoming releases including King Kong (May, Stern), Ghostbusters Remaster, Star Wars prequel trilogy, Evil Dead (Spooky), and discusses production updates from Turner Pinball, Pedretti, DPX, and Barrels of Fun.

Key Claims

  • Harry Potter pinball is rumored to release in March 2025 (if Nap Arcade is to be believed)

    medium confidence · Don cites Nap Arcade as source of March release rumor; notes it seems 'a little premature'

  • Jersey Jack paid $5 million for the Harry Potter license

    high confidence · Don states this directly as established fact

  • King Kong pinball from Stern (designed by Keith Elwin) is rumored for May 2025 release

    medium confidence · Don cites this as rumor; notes he hears such rumors 'over and over again from different places' and they 'end up manifesting into reality'

  • Ghostbusters remaster is rumored with possible UV reactive ink playfield innovation

    low confidence · Don speculates on features he'd like to see; unclear if this is actual rumor or personal wishlist

  • John Borg is rumored to be working on a Star Wars prequel trilogy pinball game

    low confidence · Don heard this 'from multiple sources' but expresses skepticism and distaste for the theme

  • Spooky Pinball has five titles in production with no room for additional projects

    high confidence · Don states this as officially released information from Spooky

  • Evil Dead (Spooky) will be publicly unveiled at Pinball at the Beach event February 7-9, 2025 in St. Petersburg, Florida

    high confidence · Don provides specific event details and date

  • Ninja Eclipse by Turner Pinball sold out completely

    high confidence · Don references this as accomplished fact

  • CGC is rumored to be remaking Tales of the Arabian Night

    medium confidence · Don cites this as most frequent rumor he's hearing; uses statistical 'mode' analogy

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (DPX) is delayed until late February/early March 2025

Notable Quotes

  • “How do you take this epic license spread across what is it, six, eight movies, seven books, whatever, a whole expanded universe, and distill it all into one pinball machine and not disappoint everybody?”

    Don @ early in episode — Core thesis of the episode — the fundamental design problem with Harry Potter

  • “You paid $5 million for the license, man. Don't just waste it all on one title. Get two out of this, man.”

    Don @ mid-episode — Prescriptive suggestion for how JJP should approach the license

  • “Otherwise, what you're going to end up with is Hagrid's Hut is going to be a scoop. The Ministry of Magic is going to be a spinner. The Quidditch pitch will be a ball lock in the corner of the play field.”

    Don @ mid-episode — Illustrates the reductionism problem — iconic locations diminished to generic playfield shots

  • “I love this idea... If this can approach that same level of refinement... But with a theme that seems a little bit better than just Godzilla... magical”

    Don @ discussing King Kong rumor — Shows enthusiasm for Keith Elwin's track record and excitement for Kong

  • “I can't get excited about battle droids. Roger, roger. Come on. Come on.”

    Don @ Star Wars prequel discussion — Expresses strong negative sentiment toward rumored Star Wars prequel trilogy game

  • “Spooky Pinball bring it. Literally, bring it to my house. I want to play my Evil Dead.”

    Don @ Spooky section — Shows personal enthusiasm and collector intent for Evil Dead

  • “I basically have a subscription to these guys [Spooky]. I dig the jig of their flow if that makes sense.”

    Don @ Spooky section — Indicates strong brand loyalty and pattern of purchasing from Spooky

  • “If you already did Ninjas, what do you do next? You do Pirates, right? That's the two things, Ninjas and Pirates. Remember that meme from like 2005?”

Entities

DonpersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyHarry PottergameStern PinballcompanyKing KonggameKeith ElwinpersonSpooky PinballcompanyEvil Deadgame

Signals

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Don articulates a substantive design critique of Harry Potter's scope — that the IP is too expansive (8 movies, 7 books, expanded universe, 15+ major locations, 20+ major characters) to fit meaningfully into a single pinball machine without reducing iconic elements to generic shots.

    high · Extended monologue listing specific locations (Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, Ministry of Magic, etc.) and characters; comparison to other JJP games (Toy Story, Godfather, Avatar, Elton John, Guns N' Roses); proposal for two separate games as solution

  • ?

    machine_intel: Don reports multiple rumored pinball releases in early 2025: King Kong (Stern, May), Ghostbusters Remaster, Star Wars prequel trilogy (John Borg), Evil Dead public debut (Spooky, Feb 7-9), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (DPX, late Feb/early March).

    medium · Don cites Nap Arcade for Harry Potter March rumor; states King Kong rumor comes 'consistently from different places'; acknowledges Ghostbusters and Star Wars are speculative; Evil Dead debut is confirmed event; DPX delay is reporting

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball at the Beach event scheduled February 7-9, 2025 in St. Petersburg, Florida will feature Evil Dead's public debut. Weekend passes $199 (or $174 with Cary Hardy's discount code); limited to ~100 attendees; includes drinks, bonfire, beach access.

    high · Don provides specific dates, location, pricing, discount code, and attendance cap; states he 'snagged' his ticket

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don expresses strong negative sentiment toward rumored Star Wars prequel trilogy game. He shifted from excitement upon hearing 'Star Wars' to disappointment upon learning it's Episodes I-III rather than original trilogy or Hoth battle concept.

    high · Extended rant critiquing prequel trilogy elements (Jar Jar, battle droids, pod racing, sand dialogue, Anakin/Padme romance, Darth Maul underutilization, Darth Vader's 'No' scream); explicitly states 'I can't get hyped for a game with jar jar binks in it'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.107

0:00
Harry Potter pinball from Jersey Jack is going to disappoint absolutely everybody. We're going to get into the why I believe that and more in episode number 169, nice, of Don's Pinball Podcast here. It's not all doom and gloom. Don't let that clickbait intro mislead you, but I think I have a point here that I'm developing. Let's get into it.
0:30
Oh, that's right, Lee Bright. There are definitely some rumors going around, and we're going to dig into this tasty business right about now. So I apologize for that clickbait. I don't think anybody's honestly going to be disappointed by Jersey Jack bringing out the seminal title of Harry Potter. It's rumored, but it's supposed to be coming, and coming way sooner than my girlfriend. No, I mean way sooner than we were planning. Like March, if Nap Arcade is to be believed. and it seems a little premature, but that's what's being reported and that's what I'm going to go with here. On this action-packed episode of Don's Binabell Podcast, settle in, grab your hot tea, because we're about to get some hot dish here. All right, so Harry Potter's going to come out at some point eventually. Let's say it's March and just kind of go with that. How do you take, right, this epic license spread across, what is it, six, eight movies, seven books, whatever, a whole expanded universe, and distill it all into one pinball machine and not disappoint everybody because their favorite part had to be left out, okay? You know, breaking it down, a pinball machine is a wooden play field with about eight major shots off of both flippers. There's different permutations of this. Sometimes they cheat and add lower play fields to get some extra action or some upper play fields here, maybe some side-to-side action, a danger room or something. But really, you've got a limited number of shots and a limited number of real estate square meters in order to encapsulate everything that's on the theme. And with Jersey Jack and looking at the games that they've produced, I'm talking about Toy Story 4 and Godfather, Avatar, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, you know the bit. Now imagine overlaying the vast world of Harry Potter into that sphere, that four by two foot space, and like not leave out 80% of the content that's in there. I mean, it's too big to do and be able to convey it in a way that enthusiastically embraces everybody's imagination. just off the top of my head i've compiled a list of not every location across just the movies let alone the books but like very major plot point leveraging locations and i'm gonna read that list to you because i like to read lists on my podcast so just off the top of my head i jotted this down you've got the dirgeley's household the cupboard under the stairs that harry lives in Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron Platform 9 and 3 quarters Hogsmeade and the Three Broomsticks Hogsworth's Castle where the whole classroom is and the whole school is The Great Hall where everybody has their feast with the floating candles there Hagrid's Hut out on the grounds The Dark Forest The Ministry of Magic not only in London but also in Paris Nocturne Alley, Home of the Death Eaters Ollivander's Wand Shop Gringotts and the whole subterranean layer within the Quidditch pitch, right? And not only locations, I'm talking about characters, and despite just Harry, Hermione, and the ginger boy, you've got two versions of Voldemort, when he's this ethereal form that's parasitic on other people, and then later on when he's fully formed and you have to battle him, you've got the Lestrange lady, you've got Death Eaters, Sirius Black, Hagrid himself, the glowing Patronus, you also have world building that occurs, okay? the first few films, right, we're identifying with Harry because we have no idea about what's going to happen. So as the world is explained to him, it is explained to us as well. You're a wizard, Harry.

high confidence · Don reports this as current production update

Don @ Turner Pinball section — Speculative discussion; Don admits he's 'completely making that up'

  • “Tales of the Arabian Night... Twilight Zone. Medieval Madness. Attack from Mars from Mars. Monster Bash. I want to see Tales of the Arabian Night done.”

    Don @ CGC remake discussion — Expresses strong preference for which classic game deserves remaster treatment

  • “2025 is coming with a fury.”

    Don @ mid-episode transition — Captures overall sentiment about density of upcoming releases

    • Pinball at the Beachevent
    Turner Pinballcompany
    Ninja Eclipsegame
    Pedretticompany
    CGCcompany
    Tales of the Arabian Nightsgame
    DPXcompany
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderlandgame
    Barrels of Funcompany
    Labyrinthgame
    John Borgperson
    Loser Kid Pinball Podcastorganization
    Nap Arcadeorganization
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    George Gomezperson
    Cary Hardyperson
    Dungeons & Dragonsgame
  • ?

    product_strategy: Don argues Jersey Jack should develop two separate Harry Potter games rather than attempt to fit entire franchise into one machine — one focused on early discovery/school years (earth tones), another on darker adult themes/final battle (black/green).

    high · Detailed proposal: separate games with different visual palettes, tones, and narrative arcs; 'Imagine these two games separately next to each other... I think that's the only way that you could do this approach justice'

  • ?

    community_signal: Broad excitement in community about 2025 release pipeline; Don notes 'the rumor mill is dumping on us' and '2025 is coming with a fury' referencing density of upcoming announcements.

    high · Cataloging of multiple rumored/announced releases; Don's phrase 'holy garbage, man, 2025 is coming with a fury'; reference to Stern employees being 'excited about future titles'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Spooky Pinball officially confirmed to have five titles in production with no capacity for additional projects; DPX reporting production delays on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Barrels of Fun at ~750/1100 units on Labyrinth.

    high · Don cites Spooky statement directly; DPX delay officially reported; Barrels of Fun unit count is stated as observation from recent factory updates

  • ?

    collector_signal: Don expresses strong FOMO and brand commitment to Spooky Pinball: 'I basically have a subscription to these guys... I dig the jig of their flow' and states high likelihood of purchasing their rumored Goonies/Beetlejuice games.

    high · Direct statements of intent to purchase; characterization of buying pattern as subscription-like; noting he's ordered 600-700 units worth of public demand

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Don critiques fundamental design challenge: must choose between realistic representation of major Harry Potter locations (requiring multiple playfields) or abstract/generic representation (reducing iconic locations to commodity shots like scoops and spinners).

    high · Specific examples: 'Hagrid's Hut is going to be a scoop... Ministry of Magic is going to be a spinner... Quidditch pitch will be a ball lock'; acknowledgment of physical constraints: 'four by two foot space'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Keith Elwin's track record discussed as consistently strong across multiple major IP licenses (Godzilla, Avengers Infinity Quest, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Iron Maiden); Don speculates similar quality in King Kong.

    high · Don lists designer's past works; notes 'This guy's magical'; expresses confidence in Kong quality based on prior experience

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Don admits to pure speculation on Turner Pinball's next game: 'I have nothing to hang that on. That's completely me just making that up' regarding hypothetical Pirates game following Ninja Eclipse.

    low · Don explicitly disclaims basis for Pirates speculation; characterizes as pattern matching (Ninjas → Pirates meme) rather than intelligence

  • $

    market_signal: Don comments positively on Stern's current price stability and expresses hope they avoid price increases through end of 2025; notes this would be significant enough to consider breaking his New Year's resolution against new in-box purchases.

    high · Direct comment: 'good on Stern for not raising prices yet and good on them if they can make it to the end of 2025 without raising them'; context of recent industry price increases making this notable

    • 4:43
    I'm a what? A wizard and a thumping good-a-night wager, once you trade up a little. Remember that scene in the lighthouse, right? Hagrid shows up on his flying motorbike and takes Harry away from the Dursleys, plucked from obscurity and he goes from being i don't know like a 10 year old that's literally being abused and neglected to like guess what your murdered parents were famous wizards there's a pot of gold for you in gringotts here's a sorcerer's stone here's your letter to hogwarts like let's get out of here man and like we were there with him uh the whole first movie and into the second and partial the third it's all harry learning about this brand new world and us along with right learning about what wizards are learning about what muggles are learning about how magic works how it doesn't work where you should use it where you shouldn't um what a chocolate frog is where hogwarts express goes like it's a journey of discovery that becomes coming of age and then adult themes come in there then harry is mastering his craft and avenging the whole wizarding world right uncovering deep conspiracies battling the ultimate baddie the death eaters as patronus meeting his parents in the mirror, like all that business. How do you put that into, what, six square feet of real estate in a pinball machine? You don't put it all in a pinball machine. You don't put it all in one pinball machine. I'm going to posit this right now, not that it means anything coming from me, but this could clearly be at least two dynamite, loaded, absolutely packed and fun to play pinball machines from our friends over there at Jersey Jack Pinball. You paid $5 million for the license, man. Don't just waste it all on one title. Get two out of this, man. Milk that teat. Let's get some raw milk Harry Potter flowing full of E. coli bacteria. That's what I want to play. Imagine you're playing this game where you're starting out as Harry from scratch. The wand picks the wizard. The sorting hat gets placed. The sorting hat topper is talking to you, and you're going on this journey of discovery to accumulate all your wizarding gear, get into your house, get into Hogwarts, and then battle through the troll and all that stuff from the early parts of the series. Then you have another game. That's like the Empire Strikes Back version. Everything's a little bit darker. There's despair, but out of despair, your Patronus will shine, and you can then guide your way through the Ministry of Magic and Gringotts and battling the adult people, and it's a little bit of a darker tone, right? And then you've got this final battle against physical Voldemort. Can you imagine these two games separately next to each other? One has brown and earth tones. The other one is black with greens in it and just magical things are going on. I think that's the only way that you could do this approach justice to this license. Otherwise, what you're going to end up with is, and I don't care how loaded the game is and how much fun it is, Hagrid's Hut is going to be a scoop. The Ministry of Magic is going to be a spinner. The Quidditch pitch will be a ball lock in the corner of the play field. And it's like everything is just diminished, man. Either that or you have to make the whole game based on the first movie and a half, right? And then there's your Harry Potter game. I think that's the only way to do it. Am I wrong? Am I off base? Please let me know. Don Pinball Podcast at gmail.com is how you get at me. I have been weighing heavily on this Harry Potter business for the last couple of days here, mulling this all over. And, you know, I think I'm not alone. and listened to the Loser Kids Pinball podcast recently who have been absolutely killing it with news and interviews. And they brought it up too that this would make, I mean, honestly, you could make three games out of this license. But at least two solid ones that have different feels, different tones, that could complement each other. And if you buy one, you're going to buy both of them. I mean, let's be realistic here, even if we're not being realistic on price. Jersey Jack, I think you could do it, man. I think you could do it. In for a penny, in for a pound. Let's go, man. Let's go with this. you know like uh the the dark forest would just be like a pop bumper nest and like it needs the whopping willow man uh the flying car the the weasley's house like there's so much more we haven even got to the freaking sorting hat has to be in there and not just on like a spinning disc but like in a meaningful way uh i don know are you sorted into your house when you start and that can be because the hat chooses your house the wand chooses the wizard right so you can't you know pick your character because your character has to be assigned to you it's magical man there's got to be fiber optics all throughout this glittered impregnated play field man i've got such high hopes for this that there is no way in God's green earth that I could ever live up to the expectations I've already built up in my head going into this game. That being said, I was still thinking, you know, would I be able to transfer my Avatar deposit from Jeff of Mad Pinball over to Harry Potter? I don't know if I want to do that to him. And I still want to play in the world of Avatar. But, I mean, come on, man. Come on, Harry Potter. How do you put all that? How do you distill that magical essence, that unicorn blood, into just one game? I don't know that you can do it. Let me know what your thoughts are. You know how to get at me. The rumors, though, have not stopped there. I don't know what it is about the beginning of the year, but the rumor mill is dumping on us. We just got a brand-new Cornerstone game from Stern in the form of Dungeons & Dragons. It feels like we just got X-Men last week. It feels like John Wick has been dropped off at the fire department, the baby return box, and he's just like, where are the contracts? What was the last contract you saw, man? It's gone out of here. So, in addition to that, from Stern, there's so many more rumors about what's coming. All right, like the LEs of Dungeons & Dragons, I don't even think are in production yet. We would have saw that on the Factory Friday. I think everybody's still jet-lagged and hungover from CES, man. But despite that game not even having the first Worf Dragon, the first Klingon Dragon leaving the factory, We're already getting rumors about the next game, and wouldn't you know, it is an absolute banger of a theme. The King Kong, right? The King Kong game from Keith Elwin. This guy's magical, right? He brought us Godzilla. Thank you for that. If that was all he brought us, he would have earned his spot on my wall. But he brought us Avengers Infinity Quest. All right. The game shoots well. It needs movie code in it. But Iron Maiden, Jurassic Park, Jaws, man. Fucking Jaws, the dude brought us And now he's going to bring us Kong I love this idea You've got Godzilla, you've got King Kong The same guy If this can approach that same level of refinement But with a theme that seems a little bit better Than just Godzilla Dude, magical What if there's callouts about Godzilla battle stuff Baked in there What if they release some late in the game code That introduces some King Kong aspects Into Godzilla So you can battle them both back and forth How cool would that be Let's unlock a mode where you can battle the creatures in King Kong as Godzilla or vice versa, man. Just think about it. That would be completely freaking amazing. So this game is supposed to be coming. Apparently, it's May. We could all be just making this up and it will never happen. But, I mean, consistently in pinball, when I hear rumors like this over and over again from different places, it ends up manifesting into reality. So I think that's kind of where we're going to be. Sorry if I'm coming across as too excited, but I'm hype on all this stuff. so King Kong in May spike 3 price increase that's what I would put my $5 down on let's see if it comes to fruition good on Stern for not raising prices yet and good on them if they can make it to the end of 2025 without raising them pinball prices I would be forever indebted to you although I may be maybe threatening to break my New Year's resolution of no new in box purchases this year we'll see we'll see but like that alone would be I mean, that would only be plenty, man. Not only have we just got Dungeons & Dragons, but we got that too. And then, like, the rumors are that the remaster is coming again. I kind of get that. But that it's Ghostbusters? Not only that, but, okay, I don't know how far in the weeds I'm getting or if I'm being led down the primrose path, but just imagine Ghostbusters remastered, art that's in that same style but maybe tightened up a little bit, and then shots that have been redesigned by, say, I don't know, Mr. George Gomez, the head of the production studio over there, close that flipper gap, realign the ball guides so the shots now match the new flipper geometry, and just bring that game back out with LCD screen. And also, one of the greatest pinball innovations I think we've seen in the last 10 years, ultraviolet ink on the playfield in the form of the streams from Ghostbusters. Like, imagine that you've got the same or similar art as before. I don't think it needs a complete redraw. but impregnated into the playfield and into the paint is UV reactive ink in the form of the Ghostbusters proton pack streams streaming across the playfield. And for certain modes, there can be a flash of UV and you would see the flashing light there just materialize ethereally from the playfield. I love it. I love the hologram that's in there on the upper versions of this game. I love the subway ramp. But imagine Ghostbusters that's like functioning and has been fine-tuned and refined and truly remastered. and then brought out again, like in the same year as King Kong and Dungeons & Dragons and Harry Potter and everything else, holy garbage, man, 2025 is coming with a fury. And that, that's probably the peak, because there's one more rumored game release that I, even I, am not hyped over. Now, I'm hyped on my boy John Borg. Dude does some good work. I love just about everything that he's made. I mean, Turtles being the sole standout that I'm not terribly enthusiastic about. But I love what he did with Rush. I loved when he did it the first time with Kiss. Some of the other things that he's done have just been fantastic. So he is rumored to have himself one hell of a license in the form of a Lucasfilm tie-in. Now, there was that rumor that he was working on Indiana Jones, and then something happened there where it all fell apart. Maybe it's that. I would love if it was that. I would love if it was Raiders of the Lost Ark by John Borg. I want to go on that adventure. Borg Daddy, take me on that adventure with you. but the rumor that I'm hearing and supposedly it's from multiple sources as well by the time it filtered to my ear and I don't want to believe it I was enthusiastic because it was a Star Wars license like Borg's working on some sort of Star Wars license from the world of Lucasfilm which like I'm over the moon about until I heard it was like the one Star Wars thing like I can't really get behind and that is the prequel trilogy of episode one two and three right i mean come on i can't i can't get hyped for a game with jar jar binks in it i don't want jar jar binks call outs i don't want battle droids i don't want pod racing i don't want sand gets everywhere i don't want maybe it's because i'm so in love with you no maybe it's because i'm so in love with you oh fucking the lake country on the boo i hate that cringy bullcrap the teen angst is just glaring thick. And then just when the prequel trilogy started to get great and children were being murdered and sand people were being murdered, Darth Vader gets neutered and has that no scream, right? No!
    16:04
    God. Can you imagine every time you lose ball three and then the screen just goes to, Rise, Lord Vader. And he's just like, Where's Padme? Oh, she died because she was too boring. We should have got Kira Knightley. At least she was more exciting. and then you just get that and then that's it. I'm just done. Roger, Roger. Battle droids. Freaking Darth Maul who didn't even do anything. He's built up to be this big bad. He was going to be the phantom of the phantom menace and then he just stands there and gets cut in half and that's it. God, come on, man. Come on. There's got to be something better in the expanded universe we could do. Literally anything. Just give me a Hoth space battle as a pinball machine and I will be completely over the moon and I'll buy two of them. But if you're doing the prequel trilogy, are you a space angel? I just can't, man. I can't get behind that. And that's fine. Listen, I'll be mature about this. Not every pinball machine has to be for me specifically. I'm getting plenty of toys to play with this year. So for you prequel trilogy diehards, there you go. Have at it. Maybe I'll get drunk and play it. but like I can't get excited about battle droids. Roger, roger. Come on. But that's okay. That's okay. There's plenty more rumors to go around. Who do I have next up on my list? I love me some lists man. Spooky Pinball. Evil Dead. They just posted today this great YouTube short where they're just walking down the lineup of all their games that they have in production right now. Like all four of them. Scooby-Doo's Texas Chainsaw Massacre which is a hell of a game by the way. Looney Tunes which is also a hell of a game just not as good as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and then there's like five Evil Deads all decked out with their toppers fully lit looks like they fully built and then they pan over and they got even more Evil Deads on the rotisseries that are going through their QC testing And I was like Spooky Pinball bring it
    17:58
    Literally, bring it to my house. I want to play my Evil Dead. But there's been some other rumors floated, too, about future titles from them. And they've been all over the place, kind of the same things I've been hearing, Goonies, Beetlejuice, you know, the typical spooky rumors. And so, you know, because I'm hearing both of these things, it probably means that nobody really knows what's going on next. I certainly don't. You know, I haven't been shaking the tree trying to find out. You know, I like to learn about these things organically as time goes on. But the consistent thing that officially they've been releasing is that they've got, like, five titles in the works right now. And even if they wanted to add something else, like, they don't have any room for it. And each title is, like, better than the one before it. They're super excited about what's coming out. I love that. I recently ran into some Stern employees, too, and they were also excited about future titles that are Tier 2-4 unreleased. So I'm really happy about what's going to be coming out. But from Spooky specifically, I think the next thing we're going to see from them news-wise is the first public unveiling attempt to play Evil Dead, which is going to break next month, February 7th and 9th, St. Petersburg, Florida. Pinball at the Beach, it's coming up. I think they're only doing like 100 weekend passes to this event that's at a hotel on St. Petersburg Beach. the idea was it's winter time let's go down to Florida let's have fun with pinball let's invite pinball famous people and let's only have a limited number of people so it's not like there's huge lines for things and we get some high quality entertainment time and this isn't like a $40 ticket it's $199 for a weekend pass and that's for Friday afternoon all day Saturday and then Sunday until 2pm or so plus there's like drinks and a bonfire and it's at the beach and tickets are still available for this thing so if you want to go down there And I wish I would have known about this, but Cary Hardy has a discount code if you go watch his YouTube promo for it. And it's like Pinball Hardy or something is the discount code. But if you put that in, you save $25 off of that $199 ticket for a weekend pass, and they're still available. So I snagged mine a couple of weeks ago. I'll be heading down there, hanging out with pinball famous people, let alone I'll be on the beach. I'll be steps away from Busch Gardens, Tampa, and I'll get to play some Evil Dead in the public for the first time. and I really want to see what the public reaction to this game is. I like it. I got in very early before there was even really code in the game. I played it again recently, just stopped by the factory, and, like, I ordered it. I want to get this game. I want to play it. I love that sling flipper that's in there. I like the nod to Medieval Madness with the pop-up deadheads. I like all the sculpts. I've gushed about it enough. You guys know. And 600 or 700 other people know because they've ordered this game too. but I want to see what the public reaction of actually playing this game is and so I'm looking forward to that and I don't have long to wait thank the maker for that so spooky yeah you got some rumors coming out if they're doing Goonies fine if they're doing Beetlejuice fine I'm going to buy it probably I basically have a subscription to these guys I dig the jig of their flow if that makes sense if that makes sense and it pleases and sparkles Turner Pinball building Ninja Eclipses right now. I just started printing up some of the castles that were originally in the first pre-production version of that game and then they were replaced with plastics in order to bring that cost down from that lofty $10,000 or $11,000 down to under $7,000, which causes the games to completely sell out. So I'm going to try to put together some of those 3D sculpts back into the game and make them available once I do some prototyping. So I am printing those up right now. But what is Turner Pinball going to do to follow up the successful sellout of Ninja Eclipse? I think they're going with another title and given that they did Ninjas, I kind of think they're going to do Pirates next. Now, I have nothing to hang that on. That's completely me just making that up. But, I mean, if you already did Ninjas, what do you do next? You do Pirates, right? That's the two things, Ninjas and Pirates. Remember that meme from like 2005? So, I have no idea what they're doing next or if they would tackle a license. Will they reach back to the Deep Root bag now that they've shown that they can successfully produce a game, sell it out, and come out with something else.
    22:10
    I hope not. What I hope is that Turner Pinball keeps selling licenses to other companies that dredge up these cursed games and uses that money to fund either original projects that he puts a lot of heart and energy into or licensing his pinball interactivity. Like, if anybody can come up with a competitor to Insider Connected, I kind of think it's Turner, man. Turner Logic, right? That's like his background. So imagine if he came up with a companion app that could be licensed out to other companies, that they could put in there so we could approach the same kind of interactivity as we get with Insider Connected, but in a way that surpasses what any one other company could probably get the budget to do. So I'd like to see what's coming from the future from him. So no, I don't know what game they're coming out with next. No, I don't know when it's going to come out. But it seems like given the successful launch and build out of Ninja Eclipse, I'm seeing these things showing up, man. Dude's doing everything right. I think we can look forward to something else from him. What if it's Pirates, man? What if it's some kind of pirate game? How fun would that be? Turner's Pirates. Turner Classic Pirate movie.
    23:16
    So we'll see. So I really don't have anything else to say about them other than that. But I just want to manifest it a bit. I want to manifest it a bit. Pedretti's been in the news with their follow-up to Funhaus. Has that sold out? Have people played it? I played a Funhaus remake that they did. It didn't feel... Well, I mean... I shouldn't say that. It felt like a traditional Funhaus, but with all new components. But it did feel different. It didn't feel like a CGC make where it's really like if that game was made today, which is some marginal improvements. This felt like it was built in the same factory as ABBA and Alien and Queen, because it has some of their same components as far as the stand-up targets, like those white ones that they use. So, I mean, it was interesting. It was very much in the style of Funhaus, But, like, Funhaus was never a game I was really super into. Rudy's creepy. The layout's kind of weird. It's got some Lawler stuff to it. I don't know. If you dig it, you dig it. But they're rumored. And I love the fact that somebody's remaking Tales of the Arabian Nights. I think of all the remakes, that's the one I'd be most excited about. Forget Twilight Zone. Forget Medieval Madness. Forget Attack from Mars. Monster Bash. I want to see Tales of the Arabian Nights done. I want to see it done by CGC. and in a way that I could actually get one without having to wait six years for it. But apparently that's what I'm hearing most frequently. I think if we're getting math nerd about it, the mode, you know, mean, median, and mode, remember that? The mode is for Tales of the Arabian Nights. But I dig it that they're remaking this game. This is one I would be interested in. So I'll have to see what the final package ends up coming up as. and from what I remember they were working on a 2.0 kit or somebody was at one point. I remember the first time I went to Texas Pinball Festival I saw some folks that were talking about new code for Tales of the Arabian Nights and at the time I had nothing to really hang that on as if it was even a thing. But yeah, maybe. Maybe that could be a thing. I'd like to see them do Whirlwind especially because they came out with that Whirlwind 2.0 kit so put all that in one game and make the price cheaper than me having to go out and try to find a Whirlwind in decent condition and add radcals and all that business, let me just get a good one from the jump. And I'll even play Sui and the Grannies, I guess. We'll see.
    25:33
    Otherwise, Pinball Magic, I think they kicked around that idea. Whatever. CGC apparently will be doing Twilight Zone at some point. I feel like I've been talking about that as long as I've been in pinball podcasting. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But Pedretti making Toten. I love the idea of new Totens being made. It's of the classic games. That's the one I'd rather have. I'd rather have that over Twilight Zone for sure. but do I want it with like ABBA parts? I don't know. That would probably be a pass for me. So we'll, let's see, let's see what ends up happening, but something's coming from them. If it's a Circus Volterra, that game's too creepy. I'm right out with that. It's too weird with that, like plastic ball rolling around the play field. I get it. It's innovative, but it's just like some J-pop schlop. I'm not, not so much, not so much into that. Also in the J-pop schlop that I'm not really interested in, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is being delayed in production until the later end of February for now until we get into February and it's like well we'll do the first couple weeks of March and then we'll see where it ends up I don't want to be sandbagging this game too much I didn't buy one I'm not really interested in it I'm happy for people that are interested in it and I'm excited to see what DPX comes out with next but we be following the saga and I be reporting on it as I do I don want to completely avoid it I want to mention it as developments and things come up I wouldn mind playing it again when I allowed to have more than two balls too I think that would be fun. Hopefully they turn up the power on that scoop, though, man, because that was just the low-flow toilet. I hated that. I hated it. And I want to play in the upper play field, guys. What the heck? All right, next on the list to talk about, Barrels of Fun, our new friends down there in Houston who are going to be hosting a, I don't know, some kind of factory tour or meet and greet for the Twippies that are happening at the end of February.
    27:19
    Coincidentally, right around the time the DPX is supposed to be putting the first Alice in Wonderland together, 500 to go this year, guys, or you're going to have people asking for deposits back. Let's get on it. So I wonder if barrels of fun will have something cool to show off at their factory during the Twippy tour at the end of February, like four or five weeks from now. it seems to me like they haven't really been posting updates of late but I think they're at 750 or so of their 1100 labyrinth that they're making so it may be time to start teasing that new title especially in the lead up to Texas Pinball Festival because if you're going to launch it that's a hell of a good time to do it so maybe we'll see something new from them Don what have you heard of the rumors? I've heard again just like Spooky Pinball I've heard all kinds of stuff Fifth Element, Dune seems to be hitting harder now. I've still heard rumors about like a Muppets license or something, given that they work well with the Jim Henson company. So that tells me that no one's really sure. And it's kind of all over the place. And if anybody is like for sure, sure, they're not talking, because I haven't heard anything like concrete. But more info as I hear it. But we'll see what they have to come out with. I think I remember hearing somebody somewhere talk about something, that's how solid this is, that they took some of the feedback from Labyrinth about some of the shots being a little bit tight and they've adjusted that going forward. I like that idea because as much as I loved Labyrinth, and actually, I really, I miss that game, man. The topper was so hilarious.
    28:48
    I'll probably pick one up again at some point. But I never really got into collecting a lot of the orbs. Old Liat, I think I only finished that mode once. It was just a little bit too difficult for me or at least maybe at my level of pinball proficiency when I was playing it because I never really got to see any of those wizard modes or anything deeper in the game or anything more than maybe three modes complete. I did love what was in there. I love the innovation. The shots were fun, but they're just a little bit too tight. Like I couldn't dial them in for whatever reason. So I would look for them to improve that going forward in the future. I would totally dig that, guys. But I have faith in the barrels of fun, guys. And, man, I hope they have something cool to show off. That would be fun. We're going to be down there in Houston. Either way, I'm going to stop by and say hi to my folks. Good people there. Brian, David Van Ness, the whole team. I haven't met a guy there I didn't like. I played Bowen Cairns in Labyrinth, man, when we were streaming at TPF. It was so fun, man. So I've already built up cool memories in my core memory banks with Barrels of Fun, and I want that to continue in the future, and by all indications, that will be the thing. So we'll see what they have to do. I don't have any cricket sounds queued up here, but I was going to talk about American Pinball next. And when we left off of the saga The plan was for them to still come through And release their next game No rumors on that title Because it's set, we know what that is And Wish them all the best Guys, get this game released This should be all hands on deck right now Let's get this game out right now Get it out before King Kong Get it out before Harry Potter Get it out before Barrels of Fun's next game Spooky has released The next game's releases are pending I heard this hot take recently You know we saw the job posting for Production workers and hiring so hopefully That's what they're doing right now gearing up to go into production But are they going up Into production because of that new Lower tiered model of Galactic Tank Force I can't think Of a game other than War Burials Barbecue Challenges Least Less in demand than a Budget version of Galactic tank force um what do you remove there's only one ramp in the game do you make a ramp less gtf like how do you do that um i don't see anybody getting galactic tank force and thinking you know what i wish some of this stuff wasn't in there so it was just a more bare bones you know kind of game because i do like a lot of the the the accent like the best parts of that game are some of the extra things that they put in there i love that planet in the back um you know i like some of the other features and the sculpts that they put in there. They're 3D printed, but I don't know. It's fine. I don't hate the game because I wish those were resin sculpts or injection molded instead of 3D printed. I think they could have been, but whatever. If you take that out, what are we left with? The same layout with just one ramp. I need more ramps and pinball. We'll see. Hopefully, they're gearing up to make this new game. I want people to play it. I want this game to exist. I want to manifest it. I want more of this game in the world and I would be sad if like the only thing we see coming out of them in the next six months is a lower tier gtf version what like what do you get instead of a thermos do you get a bento box or something I don't know man it's like the uncrustable of pinball uh I hope they're coming out with the new game and that the next thing I see from them I want to see like hey this game's launched come get it come play it we're bringing it to shows like let's go let's get hype let's make 2025 the year of American pinball and whatever this new game is. That's how enthusiastic I want to be. Hopefully they can make it happen. And hopefully it's not me talking about this, you know, $7,500 version of galactic tank force. I don't know, man. I don't know. Yeah. At least it doesn't have, doesn't have the tank treads.
    32:35
    So those are my thoughts for this Thursday evening. Hello, everybody. Do you want to get yourself a game? Email Jeff at mad pinball.com. A lot of people have, and I'm getting good feedback. Like, Hey, Don, thanks for recommending this guy. like doing business with him. He's such a charming fellow. And you know, get on some lists for some of these rumored titles because no matter what, you know, no matter the budget Galactic Tank Forces, no matter whatever Multimorphic is rolling out with next, there's some absolute bangers coming this year which are going to keep us plenty busy in the world of pinball. And you can hear all about it here on Don's Pinball Podcast, but also through some of other podcast partners. Phantom Tilt I just appeared on there. One of the best podcasts to come out of Australia and definitely the best in Western Australia is Ryan and Kimber's baby over there, Phantom Tilt. So me and him were on there just talking all sorts of mess about pinball that just dropped like today. So go check that out. Head on over to We Are Pinball if you can't get enough of this guy and Mr. Jenga is over there. We have an internationally flared pinball show. It's kind of all about all kinds of stuff, but it goes for an hour. And then we've got a Patreon where we go for like another hour just talking mess and nonsense uh something to put in your ear holes we are pinball go check that out it's on spotify it's wherever you found this it's over there too uh with a companion patreon that we are just like dumping content into having fun with it um also check out fresh pinball podcast uh one of the newer ones on the scene this is actually uh the the angeli stark brothers and uh jeff at mad pinball and they came out with their own pinball podcast because of course they did it's called fresh pinball podcast and i listen to it all the time and i dig like their their their take so these guys are distributors these guys are professional operators and i don't think there's enough of that in pinball we got the pinball show uh with the with the flipping out gang and everything for dealer perspectives but like other than that there's not really any other dealer perspective podcast i don't know if todd tucky's been like doing stuff recently i haven't seen much of his content but uh uh fresh pinball has got the distributor angle cornered and the operator angle which I totally dig new episode just dropped today I'm going to go listen to that here in a little bit anything else get at me man let's go this has been another episode of Don's Pinball Podcast thank you for joining email me at donspinballpodcast at gmail.com get yourself some mods or something tell me what game you have I probably got a bucket full of stuff for it I'll send you I'll throw t-shirts and stickers and things your way if you want to get one of the flyers from Dungeons and Dragons I still have those and I'm giving them away for free. All you gotta do is email me. Maybe send me $5 for a sticker pack or something. Wait a minute. Hit my music back up. We're not done.
    35:18
    So I've got flyers going out to people if you want them. Otherwise, I'm all over Patreon with all kinds of stuff. Patreon.com backslash Don Spinball Podcast. Bonus stuff goes on there on the regular. Ask anybody. Ask your mom. Jump on Discord. Man, where do I find the time? Hermione Granger lent me her time tuner. That's the only way I get all of this lovely stuff done. Anything else? I think that's it for now. See you on episode 170. Later.