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DPP #179 "Portal, Potter, and Podcasting"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·35m 9s·analyzed·Mar 17, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Portal released; Harry Potter sub-$10k rumored; mystery game coming pre-TPF; Multimorphic prices climbing.

Summary

Don Garrison discusses a massive week of pinball news highlighted by the official Portal P3 module release from Multimorphic, rumors of a third-tier pricing structure for Harry Potter from Jersey Jack Pinball with a sub-$10k standard edition, and speculation about an unannounced game releasing before the Texas Pinball Festival. He praises Portal's design innovation but criticizes the escalating price barrier ($3,900 base, $5,500 extended) and recurring P3 system limitations including cantilever flippers and screen maintenance issues.

Key Claims

  • Harry Potter will come in three tiered versions (Standard/Limited/Collector's Edition) with sub-$10k pricing on the standard edition

    high confidence · Don reports hearing this from operators; consistent with JJP's Guns and Roses model; described as addressing operator feedback on pricing

  • Portal Extended module will cost $3,900 base, with additional center playfield modules at extra cost, and $750 for topper

    high confidence · Don cites official pricing from Multimorphic; states total entry price of $11,620-$12,500 for new buyers

  • An unannounced pinball game will release tomorrow (Tuesday, before Texas Pinball Festival)

    medium confidence · Don reports rumor from unnamed sources with reputations; speculates it could be Barrels of Fun, Stern, or American Pinball but explicitly states uncertainty

  • Venom pinball accessories/topper are coming from Stern Pinball

    high confidence · Don reports this as confirmed rumor; discusses context of long delays and community frustration

  • Electric Bat/Electric Playground is releasing 300 'Double Tap' toppers for Pulp Fiction with interactive kinetic elements and numbered apron badges

    high confidence · Don confirms first 100 batch releasing Thursday, full reveal at Texas Pinball Festival; pricing unannounced

Notable Quotes

  • “I've got three tiered versions for this game from jersey jack pinball going back to their standard limited edition collector's edition tier levels that they had back in guns and roses which they eschewed for toy story 4 godfather elton john and avatar”

    Don Garrison @ ~8:45 — Confirms Harry Potter will return to JJP's three-tier model after four-game hiatus

  • “the standard edition will be sub 10k so coming from somebody like jersey jack where their entry level position msrp is 12 000 wait a couple months pick it up for nine um i don't i think they're breaking that trend”

    Don Garrison @ ~11:30 — Signals potential major pricing shift for Harry Potter to address operator feedback

  • “this game looks really kind of Cool, guys. I like the theme of this...this is like a perfect license for a pinball machine, especially something with portals”

    Don Garrison @ ~35:00 — Positive first reaction to Portal game design and theme execution

  • “if you just want the module i'm seeing three thousand nine hundred dollars...the price is creeping up now though. $4,000 just to drop the module in, that's – I mean, if you already got one, you're probably committed at this point”

    Don Garrison @ ~45:00 — Expresses concern about escalating P3 module pricing creating barrier to entry

  • “for me to jump in now and look at the prices of this and then what's going to come in the future, that's a barrier, man...if my enthusiasm is eclipsed by a high cost of entry, it's a barrier for me. Then, you know, it's a no from me, dog”

    Don Garrison @ ~48:00 — States personal decision to not purchase Portal module despite liking the game itself

  • “the whole feel of the game the quality of the game it's in the flippers man...when you get these weird little you know connection lines going around it's just strange it's just strange”

    Don Garrison @ ~58:00 — Articulates core complaint about P3 cantilever flipper feel versus traditional pinball

  • “I think the game is good. I think the barrier to entry is pretty high. And I think it's a little frustrating.”

Entities

Don GarrisonpersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyHarry PottergamePortalgameMultimorphiccompanyJerry EtterpersonBarrels of Funcompany

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Multimorphic positioning Portal as premium modular system with extended features/customization, but pricing model increasingly challenged by boutique manufacturer alternatives at lower entry points

    medium · Don compares $12.5k total P3 entry cost to competitor pricing; notes Spooky sub-$10k collector's editions as comparison point; questions value proposition at current price tiers

  • ?

    event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival (starting Thursday) positioned as major news/announcement event with multiple unreleased games expected to be revealed or playable

    high · Don describes TPF as 'one of the greatest events of the season'; notes historical pattern of major announcements; will be attending; Portal release timing (day before) suggests coordinated content rollout

  • ?

    leak_detection: Unannounced pinball game rumored to release tomorrow (Tuesday) before Texas Pinball Festival; likely candidates include Barrels of Fun, Stern, or American Pinball

    medium · Don reports unnamed sources 'with reputations' confirming release; notes specific timing (24-48 hours) makes speculation credible but identity unconfirmed

  • $

    market_signal: Multimorphic P3 module pricing climbing ($3,900 base, $5,500 extended, $750 topper) creating perceived barrier to entry for new buyers; concerns about sustainability of pricing model

    high · Don explicitly states pricing is barrier to his own purchase despite loving game design; calculates total entry cost at $11.6-12.5k; notes price creep from earlier $3k modules

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball reportedly returning to three-tier pricing model for Harry Potter with sub-$10k standard edition, addressing operator feedback on accessibility vs premium positioning

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.105

0:00
Oh, you too. It's not just a beautiful day, ladies and gentlemen. It's going to be a beautiful week of pinball news and releases and everything. What's up, everybody? Don Garrison here, back in your ear with Don's Pinball Podcast. We're up to 179. Can you believe it? Can you believe it? How is this Monday going for you guys? I'll tell you, for a group down in Texas, they're celebrating now because we got that seminal release of Portal Long. rumored to be coming from the P3 multi-morphic community of engineers and ball harvesters and wicked bad scientists down there in Texas. We've also got a flurry, like literally a McFlurry with Snickers, of rumors of everything else under the sun too. And some are confirmed, some are nearly confirmed, some is purely speculation. And I can't wait to dive into all of that. A new release alone, like Portal alone, would make this whole episode like the framework but not 10 minutes after that trailer dropped and i checked it out i was already hearing other rumors and things confirming now the texas pinball festival one of the greatest events of the season is coming up this week this week it's monday now thursday we're all going to be on site back in texas has it been a year already remember last year we had jaws there looney tunes and tcm were tearing it up ninja eclipse was getting played american pinball was still a thing remember back then 2024 and here we are once again people were hunting around for golden tickets it was madness i'm beyond excited and i can barely even keep up with everything that's happening but let's start with some quick news drops rumors very delicious you patreon folks you know dude it's dawn here man don't you love me in your ear jump over the youtube like and sub over there because we're doing content but then if you want to get in on stuff like as soon as i hear it it goes up on the patreon patreon.com backslash don's pinball podcast five dollars get you in the door bonus shows and fun stuff galore over there we're having fun on the discord go if you're on the fence on jumping in maybe try it out and do yourself a favor especially heading into a week like this where we're already getting crazy rumors non-stop confirmations secret leaks and such and there's going to be even more at the texas pinball festival of which i will be in rapt attendance like wrath the destroyer the destroyer of uh clear coat on playfields more to come on that as we hear it so here's a juicy rumor nugget right off the bat how about harry potter right uh the theme that i think that and pokemon and back to the future i guess have been like the triple threat room ruling the the horizon of the pinball scape well i got some i don't know i got some tasty rumors seems like it's coming from a good source and here's what i'm hearing about this release which should be coming out really any month now so here's what we got i got three tiered versions for this game from jersey jack pinball going back to their standard limited edition collector's edition tier levels that they had back in guns and roses which they eschewed for toy story 4 godfather elton john and avatar the last four games there so we're going to see three tiers again however rest assured each of these tiers will have it sounds like the same play field now when they say that probably i'm taking it to mean they're going to have same play field mechanisms if you can think back to guns and roses that standard edition version that they had which seven thousand dollars seems like a giveaway now uh that did not have that cool upper play field and that awesome bass guitar wire form man that made the game for me that made the purchase everything else was just gravy but i loved that bass guitar wire form but the diverters on the top super cool uh so what i'm hearing is that the three versions will all have the same playability as far as you know what's in it now uh whether there's uv accents or you know golden sparkle dust in the collector's version in the clear coat that you don't get in the other version probably that'll still be the case you got to add some sparkle for that fifteen thousand dollar tier level uh the other thing i heard was on price the standard edition will be sub 10k so coming from somebody like jersey jack where their entry level position msrp is 12 000 wait a couple months pick it up for nine um i don't i think they're breaking that trend you're not seeing elton john's going for that you're not seeing avatars going for that godfather is right over there for you so this is something i've been hearing from operators jersey jack would you please do the standard version again we want to have your games they're beautiful they're well made the themes are cool they earn money but like we don't the 12 000 is a big ask you know that's like a limited edition level you know from stern that's two thousand dollars more than a spooky um you get like 17 burials barbecue challenges for that um you know and it sounds like they've heard them and for a title like this which needs to be absolutely everywhere arcade owners come on it's a it's much easier to stomach that and get a game like this into your arcade so hopefully this holds out to be true what i haven't heard is when is the release for this thing you know we've heard you know everything as soon as the avatar ce's are done uh they'll be running the harry potters and we'll get a release you know people were rumoring hey it's going to come out next week and then it didn't it's going to be a tpf until it's not it's going to be the mgc until it's not i don't know i don't know now these things it's hard to hit a release date for a title of this magnitude in the field of something as complicated to build as a multi-thousand part pinball machine. So it'll come out when it's ready. And I don't think it necessarily needs to be released coinciding with a show. But I think we're going to see that before we get to the summer solstice. So how about that? So get your pennies ready. At least if you really want to get a Harry Potter pinball machine and you want to be in on the ground floor, MSRP, you don't want to wait. At least now there's a better budget option. And it sounds like it's not going to be missing that golden snitch up or floating play field or whatever the heck they end up putting into it. So a little tidbit for you guys, Patreon guys. You already heard this because you were awesome, and I reward awesomeness in this field. What else do we got? Coming up, there is the Texas Pinball Festival. This rumor also popped off today just like right before the Portal thing released, and that's that Venom accessories are coming from Stern Pinball. Way to go, guys. Get that thing out.

Don Garrison @ ~62:00 — Summarizes balanced critique: quality product with pricing/accessibility concerns

  • “What I want, though, I want these games in a regular cabinet is the gist of it. And I think it's a good idea.”

    Don Garrison @ ~64:30 — Core recommendation: P3 games would benefit from standard pinball cabinet form factor

    • Texas Pinball Festival
    event
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Electric Bat / Electric Playgroundcompany
    Pulp Fictiongame
    Brad Albrightperson
    Venomgame
    American Pinballcompany
    Patreon (Don's Pinball Podcast)platform

    high · Don cites multiple operator sources requesting lower entry price; notes this breaks JJP's recent four-game trend of only offering premium-tier models

  • ?

    announcement: Portal P3 module officially announced and released by Multimorphic with extended playfield option and accessory topper

    high · Official trailer released; pricing published; Don provides detailed breakdown of features and mechanics

  • ?

    product_strategy: Harry Potter release remains unconfirmed despite operator demand; rumored before summer solstice but no specific date; Avatar CE production may impact timeline

    medium · Don notes persistent speculation (next week, TPF, MGC) has not materialized; acknowledges manufacturing complexity; reports Avatar CE backlog as potential constraint

  • ?

    product_strategy: Electric Bat/Electric Playground releasing aftermarket 'Double Tap' topper for Pulp Fiction with interactive kinetic elements, numbered badges, and acrylic construction; 300 units planned with first 100 batch Thursday

    high · Don confirms release timing, unit count, and availability details; topper on display at Texas Pinball Festival

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community frustration with Venom delayed accessories appears to be shifting toward cautious optimism; accessories finally incoming but pricing and specs unknown

    medium · Don expresses relief mixed with skepticism; notes long delay has dampened enthusiasm; jokes about collecting topper as shelf display artifact rather than functional component

  • ?

    technology_signal: P3 cantilever flipper system continues to be design compromise versus traditional pinball feel; flipper lag and connection mechanics cited as quality reduction despite innovation

    high · Don dedicates extended segment to flipper feel critique; notes plexiglass screen degradation; describes seven servo-driven pop-up scoops as high-maintenance interface with limited added value

    • 6:19
    Better late than, well, hopefully it's good. Hopefully it's not $2,000. Can you imagine? This needs to be a budget-friendly gimme to the fan community. You waited this long. You suffered with us through the game. You lost money on the resale value. But you did have fun playing it, as I did. So here's a topper for your game, if you still have it, that doesn't cost a third of the used price of your machine. I can't wait to see it. And at this point, with as notorious as the Venom whole thing has been, I almost kind of want just to buy the topper, stick it up on my shelf, and display it at this point. Like, I want to have it. Like, it's not going to have the goo canister with the magnetic liquid or whatever that was causing reported fires and development. Man, this thing is completely blown up. It could be as simple as, like, they couldn't get the size plastic that they wanted or the licensor wouldn't sign off on it. And all of a sudden it's like ferro liquid is escaping and leaking into the cabinet and the whole thing's bursting into flames and leaping off of Todd Tucky's rooftop. But I can't wait to see what the hell this thing is. And I like at this point, at this point, I almost kind of just want to get the damn thing just to have a stupid topper. I'll stick it up on top of something else. tell you where i won't be putting it and that's on top of pulp fiction because i've got myself a pulp fiction standard edition game which also has the same layout gameplay variety and build quality as their limited edition minus one topper i added in the mirror blades i don't have the chrome bumper accents for the speaker panel and i don't have the wallet on my apron but i am in such a great position because our friends over there at the electric pinball uh electric playground sorry are the purveyors of aftermarket toppers. They won the aftermarket topper of the year with their Attack from Mars topper. Brad Albright did the designs for it. Well, they've got a new topper for the Pulp Fiction pinball machine. It's called Double Tap, so there's no licensing infuriation going on here in this pack of red apples that they're dropping. This thing is dropping on Thursday. They've had an interest list open. The facts of this thing, as I know them today, are that there will be 300 of these toppers, topper packages made. And you get not only the interactive topper with some cool kinetic stuff going on. Am I allowed to share that yet? The full reveal will be on Thursday when the banks open. I think the noon time, and it will be on display at the Texas Pinball Festival. Not quite ready for pickup yet but will be coming shortly thereafter with the first batch of 100 being released And then they plan on getting all 300 out of course within the year But you don only get that interactive topper with cool kinetic action but you also get this is fantastic you get a acrylic magnetic apron badge, which will have double tap edition with your edition number for your apron in that gaping hole that the bad mother flipper wallet is leaving for the standard edition owners. So I love this. No word on price. But we get, seriously, a pretty awesome topper from our guys that know what they're doing. Game integrated. You know, they use light sensors and things that you'll hook up to the game. So, like, gameplay elements and different lighting color packages will match the gameplay with the topper as well. Love that kinetic ability. But we also get, like, that limited badge that we didn't get because we didn't want to wait 17 years for the Bad Mother Flipper edition. So it's good. So every version of Pulp Fiction should be totally decked out. LE buyers, you finally are getting, I think they're halfway through their build. So, of course, you get the full complement of all the accessories and everything on your machine. But us standard guys, well, at least 300 of us can have a chance to have it fully dressed. So if you have not yet jumped on over and got on the list for this thing, at least get yourself first right of refusal and go sign up over the electric playground, TEP Pinball or TEPinball. Google them. You'll see them up there. And then I think there's going to be, what I'm hearing, an awesome trailer released Thursday, three days from now. And then order banks are going to open, and for sure this thing is going to sell out. Don't miss out like the Lebowski people missed out. I was able to get in on that. They only made 100 of those. There will be 300 of these, but I can guarantee you, sir, that there are more than 300 standard edition Pulp Fictions out there. And once they're gone, they're gone. So get it before she's gone. So excited about that. I can't wait to go pop over and check out all of that. I think I covered everything there. Venom toppers and accessories. That's not it. There's still something else. I want to talk about Portal, man. P3 Multimorphic. I've got an opinion and an ego, and I want to share it. Before I get to that, though, there's another pinball machine that's supposed to be coming out pre-TPF. Now, it starts in three days, man. How much time do they have left? Apparently tomorrow, a pinball company that's not P3 Multimorphic will be releasing a pinball machine prior to the TPF.
    11:08
    That's what my heart's doing right now. My AFib is kicking off. I can't believe this. Who is doing it? Now, the strong contender, if we follow forums and things, is Texas's own Houston-based Barrels of Fun Pinball. What's the rumor this week? It was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and then it was Dune, or it was Fifth Element before it was Dune because Adam Savage had some internet show that had a mech on top of whatever. What else did they run? Those Goonies has been a golden rumor for them. My Little Pony, G.I. Joe. It's been everything at this point, which means I don't think anybody really knows. And Barrels of Fun is doing a great job at obfuscating this, and they're probably seeding out these weird rumors just to keep us all guessing. I love that. Remember back when Labyrinth wasn't even revealed yet? They didn't even reveal the name of their company. They had a logo and stickers were appearing at arcades across the country. Great guerrilla marketing. They sent out this worksheet and they came up with this story about like somebody helping their young middle school son with their homework. And we got like word searches to do with clues about Labyrinth and stuff. Super fun. So I would expect something like that. And for them to turn and burn in 24 hours to be the company that releases this game on Tuesday doesn't really seem like their style. But is it Stern pinball? If it was Stern, it would be something like a, I don't know, a Jaws 40th anniversary black and white shark bite edition or something. I don't see that happening just yet. Jersey Jack is finishing up Avatar and on the cusp of launching Harry Potter, but it's too early for that. So who does that leave us with? is will this be the rumored game from american pinball we'll find out tomorrow what the hell this is supposed to be but like this isn't just like rumors that are in the passing like people with reputations are putting things out there like something's coming tomorrow so uh not only getting a game release week we're getting a game release like two days you know so it's not just new game week for for portal but we're getting something else too plus who knows what's going to happen between now and tpf at the end of this weekend like not even thursday man we're going to be on site and we're going to be knowing stuff so i can't wait to be there and play all this stuff i'm excited should we do it should we get over to portal now what do you guys think what do you guys think i think um i i'll speak to my views on the multi-morphic p3 device in general and i've shared it before you kind of have a sense of it uh but how's this game this game looks really kind of Cool, guys. I like the theme of this. So I played Portal back in antiquity when it came out. PS3, I think, was the generation we were on, and that's where I played this thing. I went to go fire it up yesterday or the other night, and it's not on. I got a PS5 now hooked up to the main TV. It's not on the PlayStation Store. It's not on PlayStation. Plus, apparently you can't find it outside of the PS3 generation, though I think it's on Xbox as part of a collection with Valve software. And then I think it's also on the Switch. So I may drag the switch downstairs and plug it in just so I can play through some portal again because this game was super fun. First-person game, not quite like running down, gunning down enemies, although there are sentry points. It's more of like an action puzzle game with a really cool gimmick with the physics engine, right? You shoot blue portals, and then you shoot an orange portal, and you can go through the orange portal and come out the blue or vice versa or send objects through there and use it to solve puzzles. Super fun, right? And then, you know, the physics of things are such that if you jump from a high location into a portal that's on the floor and your other portal is on the wall, you're going to go shooting across the play field. So it was super fun to play with that at the time. Very innovative. And we've seen this trope now used in other games and everything. So this is like a perfect license for a pinball machine, especially something with portals. We saw portals work great on Rick and Morty. The shot was just hard to get to. So I like this idea. I like the art. I like the world that you can create with this. You know, it takes place in an aperture testing fortress facility, which essentially, you know, is for scientific control and stuff. So there's your whole world that you're in, right? And then you go and exist in this thing and do different tests and whatnot. And, like, super fun. I dig it. I watched this trailer, and, you know, I guess this will be more of a first reaction because I haven't even had time to dig into every little feature and ball path and things that are in this game. But I saw it, and I'm like, absolutely, this is a multivariate game. This looks like seeing Weird Al for the first time. This looks like seeing Heist for the first time. This looks like Princess Bride, right, where everything is in the back third of the playfield, or so we thought. And everything is made out of thin plastics. And, you know, you've got those pillboxes lined up there in a row, all 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7 of them with their associated servers. The whole thing weighs 900 pounds. And then about a minute into this, a minute 23, they're like, but wait, there's more. Right. But wait, there's more us. And then they drop in some extra ball paths and interactive accessories that are closer to the flippers, which has kind of been. Well, I don't even know if that's in the top three drawbacks of the P3. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. But I saw that and I was taken aback. It's like, hey, wow, that looks really cool. What I thought was at some point, these extra wire ramps and everything would just kind of shoot out and they were folded up and they would kind of cantilever out or accordion fold out. So for certain modes of the games, there's new ball pathways that show up. So I was like, all right, all right. That is slick, guys. I dig that. I don't know how you pulled it off, but I really am excited about that. And then through subsequent watches, it was just a quick camera cut, and there's like an extra module that you can purchase for this game, which what are they calling it, the extended version? Portal Extended, right? So the idea is that you get this back there to the play field module that you drop in there for $3,000 plus. thousand dollars and then there's a bonus add-on mechanisms that you can affix to the center part of your game and kind of get a little bit more away from the whole ease of swapping play field out thing i'm gonna get into it man i can't wait i can't wait but game itself looks fun i i like what they did with uh the launch ramp in the middle uh iron maiden style into a big flat target and then balls locked back there i like the upper play field of the left i really think it's slick looking It looks like upper play fields from Foo Fighters or Jaws And I love those ones where you can go up there There a single flipper and there some interesting things to do A couple of ball pass There a weighted companion cube mechanism up there and it looks like it can function as a diverter where when you bash it drops down into its portal, pops up on the other side of the play field and acts as a physical diverter that seems to hold the multi balls in lock. So I like that. I like physical ball locks. I like bash toy mechanisms and it's a clever use of the portal and the weighted companion cube is featured. Great. in two parts of the play field because it's halfway through a portal. Great. I love that. It looks like Brad Albright, I think, did the art on this. I think the art looks fine. It's not offensive to the eye and the sensibilities, right? It looks okay. It looks like a multimorphic game. If you had Princess Bride and Weird Al's Museum of Natural Hilarity and Portal all side by side and you were 20 feet away, it would kind of look like they all went together, right? This is all I'm saying. And we've seen that from other people, so I'm not mad at that at all.
    18:32
    If you've got yourself a multimorphic machine, of course you would probably buy this. I'll get into the issues that I have with – well, not an issue, but more of a recommendation that nobody is going to listen to for this. But really the market for this game, if you can convince somebody to purchase a brand-new machine, fine. But if not, you're selling this to the already installed user base. but other than that the barrier to entry now is getting a little bit ridiculous i think for what you get now that's not to say that the build of materials isn't huge and astronomical for this thing because clearly it is um but uh well maybe maybe we'll get into that now uh portal looks fine let's let's talk about the cost for this thing what's this thing going to cost you if you just want the module i'm seeing three thousand nine hundred dollars is that right remember when the selling point was this thing was you know initial investment is a little bit higher than just about everything else on the market. However, for three grand, you can have yourself a whole new game, and you can swap it out whenever you want. And we got Lexi Lightspeed, and we got Cosmic Karts, and we got Cannon Lagoons, and we got Heists and stuff. And so, you know, there's these original themes. They play enough okay. Then we started getting things like Weird Al. I was like, all right, I kind of dig Weird Al. I'm not sure I like the approach of the whole package, but, yeah, we dig some Weird Al. And then Final Resistance was phenomenal, right? And so it's like, okay, I can see a drained huge miss for the price, but I see at least where they're going with it, and there's some baked-in value for people that own these things. The price is creeping up now, though. $4,000 just to drop the module in, that's – I mean, if you already got one, you're probably committed at this point. But for me to jump in now and look at the prices of this and then what's going to come in the future, that's a barrier, man. I have fun with the Multimorphic P3 system. I've played every one of their games. Some of the downloadable ones I haven't got to. I haven't played that pigeon-pecking game or duck hunt or bird escape or bird photographer on every single module, but I've played it on at least one or two. A Dungeon Door Defender was super fun to play. So I derive enjoyment from this device. I respect the engineering and ingenuity and everything that went into it. but when you come at me with a price, you know, my enthusiasm can only go so far. And if my enthusiasm is eclipsed by a high cost of entry, it's a barrier for me. Then, you know, it's a no from me, dog, even if I really dig it. And I love princess bride as a theme, and I love that movie. So killing it on themes. I love these killing me on price as well. And so for that reason, I'm kind of out with this. What else do we got? So if you want to have the extended version of the game, which why in the world would you buy this game and not have the good version of it, it's $5,500. And that's on top of the cost that you already paid to get this thing into your house. My goodness, man, my goodness. Now, for those of us with means, this is a no brainer, you're going to get the good version and you're going to go play and you're going to have a great time in your game room. And then you're going to go play around your boat in the lake. And then you're going to fly to Fiji and the life is great, right? So I get it. I get it. I know who they're marketing to and who's out there for this. But for me personally, that's a huge barrier, man. That's a huge barrier. Okay, if you are jumping in for the first time and this is your game, you're at $11,620 or $12,500. Getting up there. Now, this is coming from somebody that's got themselves an Avatar CE. So who the hell am I to talk? Why even listen to me? I'm just covering what it is. There is a topper available for this. Now, we saw top-end editions, either all-in or added accessory bundles that came with everything, right? You pay that higher price, and then you're going to get the magnetic art blade. You're going to get the limited edition topper. you're gonna get swords to mount on the side of your cabinet all those sorts of things well now it looks like you don't uh that's 750 for this acrylic dimensional topper that they have which i think the topper looks great for the game it matches the aesthetic it doesn't look out of place uh just from the brief photos and videos i've seen it complements everything it's interactive like it's kind of you know yeah it's fine yes i would have loved to have you know kinetic sculptures on there moving around but that would have came with a higher price 750 it's a lot and you know if you already have one of their other games you're not switching toppers off these things but i like that it's available i would have expected this to be bundled with the game though because essentially what you have is what spooky pinball is including for free or included in the price so they're sub ten thousand dollar collector's edition models and you know here it's 750 on top of somebody that's paying 12.5 to jump into this whole racket i mean my god people But maybe these are the prices because they're selling. And again, who cares what Don has to think? He's not buying one of these anyway, whatever. I can't wait to play it. I think the game is good. I think the barrier to entry is pretty high. And I think it's a little frustrating. And I'll get into that because that's why we're all here, buddy. All right. So I've covered that I don't hate Multimorphic. Don't hate Jerry. Talked to him a couple times. I'm sure he has no idea who I am. And I've played every one of their games. And I was excited to go play Final Resistance on location when I did at the Pinball Palace down in Oviedo, Florida. Super fun. I'm glad I got to go there and play it.
    23:44
    What I want, though, I want these games in a regular cabinet is the gist of it. And I think it's a good idea. Now, I get that Jerry, man of the earth, very much an ingenuitous futurist, right? Came up with this thing, the P-Rock system, the boards that run everything. this concept the uh with the game you get this giant screen which is like the bottom two-thirds of the play field with that there's a lot of interactivity that goes on with it there's an infrared laser grid system uh overlying that that can track your ball in xy coordinates and then have graphics that follow around in real time so there's like video game that you're playing with a physical pinball which is kind of cool i really dig that it's a way to put a real pinball into virtual pinball now you may ask yourself just because you can does that mean you should uh but it's innovative and it's neat the drawbacks of that are that you have to throw plexiglass over the screen it gets scuffed and then looks kind of crappy um the the colors aren't as crisp as they are on like my 1080p uh virtual machine that i have that has absolutely crisp graphics under glass because there's no dirt and balls rolling around on it uh this one you're kind of suffering from that and i think any screen in a play field has that potential even lower play fields monsters can get bad acdcs get cloudy and then you know would need to be replaced so like like that it just it just subtracts from what i think the vision of the overall package is uh the other huge drawback is these cantilever flippers and slings that you have to have because if you're accommodating a full screen you can't put um a flipper posts through that into underground mechanisms underneath the play field so the coils have to be hidden in the apron and then there's this kind of cantilevered system almost like it's a like a buraco uh japanese uh puppet show art right where things are on sticks and like dancing around and stuff and there's like a little bit of a lag there it doesn't feel as good as regular pinball and really the only way that a player can interact with a pinball machine other than nudging it around and trying not to tilt is the flippers so you've got like the whole game the the whole feel of the game the quality of the game it's in the flippers man ask ea sports it's in the game it's in the flippers you want the good flipper feel and when you get these weird little you know connection lines going around it's just strange it's just strange you get used to it i get it and you can still play the game it doesn't really detract but it just it doesn feel like man like how i want it to feel also you got these six pillboxes right that are in the midfield area And they kind of cool as pop scoops I totally get it Dungeons Dragons has a cool pop scoop and it awesome It's one of the defining features of the premium. So pop-up scoops in pinball, super fun. Seven pop-up scoops in a line with other pop-up barriers in front of them, each one connected to its own servo that wasn't going to require maintenance and such. and also it introduces an interface along the entire border there that you know the ball can get hung up on or deflect slightly and it's like you know even upper play or lower play fields that we have in games now when the ball treads that edge it gets deflected a bit and it's like okay it distracts a little bit yeah it's a downside it's a downside and this thing's along the entirety of the cabinet you know i'm sure there's leveling that has to be done and i'm sure once you get the game in and dialed in it's probably not that big of an issue and server motors can be replaced pretty unexpectedly but it's like what is it really adding versus the cost and the weight and everything else that's in it so here's what i would like to see here's what i'd like to see uh i'd like to see multimorphic have this as a console right which essentially it is it's a console and you purchase games for it no different than the super nintendo back in the day uh for me i feel like how it's set up now it's like this company's making games for the sega genesis and i got a super nintendo at home so it doesn't matter how cool the games come out they could do vector man they could do eternal champions but if i get a super nintendo i can't play this thing right so i gotta buy the console to be able to get in here and the console i don't like as much as other options i do for the same or less price right i mean you're talking about 11,620 and that's without the extended stuff that you would want to have that's without the cool topper that's probably without the magnetic side panels with the art on it and then you know you can go iron Maiden's like $6,000 for a pro used or probably cheaper if you, if you bargain a little bit. And you're going to tell me that playing portal in 2025 delivers a better gameplay experience at Iron Maiden. Oh, I'm getting worked up. So here's what I would like to see. Here's what I would like to see. Um, there's people that will never buy a multi-morphic cabinet. I'm probably one of them. I'll never say never, but you know, right. Cause, uh, I'm enthusiastic, but not, not to match the level of the cost. So what? Oh, I'm just like, just excluded. Like you don't want to rope me in. How about this? You've put through all the work, hard work to secure licensing, to hire an artist, to create a layout, to mechanically engineer the mechanisms in their electrical engineering. You can make the P rock boards. You've got the licensing approved, the art approved. You came up with the topper, all of that business. You put in all that work for this skew. Right. Or these these three skews. Right. The machine and then the two tiers. Okay, so what about you did all that work anyway? Go get yourself a wooden cabinet. Go get yourself a standard play field made. Throw a 12 to 16-inch screen somewhere in the middle there. Add your laser grid if you want or not. But put in standard coils, standard flippers. No, you know, no servo motors, right? Have everything all in one play field. You can still get the gameplay interactivity with drop targets, just like Cactus Canyon had, you know, where the Speedo Bandito is like running around the playfield and you have to do the duel and shoot them. Like you could just have pop-up targets come up. Hell, we've seen Plexiglas cows pop up as pop targets. Now there's three of them in Road Trip.
    29:40
    So put in something like that so you still get that interactivity, but then you don't have to worry about that interface of the six pillboxes and their associated servers. You don't have to worry about wire forms that are built in with partitions in them because they have to jump between the back third and the rest of it. And you can have a standard cabinet with art blades and then a standard play field that delivers a really good play experience with standard flippers that we're used to that feel good, that feel comfortable. And then this is something that as an operator who would probably never put a multimorphic machine out there just because of the maintenance that's going to come up if it's being played hundreds of times a day, but would totally go on a $6,500 portal in a pine box that you can throw out there and then make the topper available to them as well. Why not? Sell art blades and things if you have to. But have another level for people like me that I would love to have a portal machine. I'd love to have a Princess Bride machine for a day or so. Can you imagine having total nuclear annihilation in its wood cabinet and fast playing Denise Equality right next to a Rick and Morty and then right next to a Final Resistance just in a pine cabinet, right? And the screen in Final Resistance mimics a traditional play field anyway. So if any game speaks to that, I think it would. You've already paid for the licensing. You've shaken the hands. You've flown out to the studios. You've submitted art back and forth. You've been working on this thing for 18 months or so. You put in the work. Just turn and throw a version in a regular cabinet for people that may want to get in to what you're doing, man. It doesn't mean that you failed or that your technology isn't amazing. It's just more options for people that are out there. And I would love to see a portal out en route. And I'm just not going to outside of Ace Goge because that's the only places that you're finding these things. Right. So that's kind of where I'm at with this thing. I don't hate Jerry. I don't hate P3. I don't hate Multimorphic. And I'm not sour graping these guys because they don't send me free product. Keep your free product. I'll buy your product. Build a product that I want to buy and listen to me when I'm telling you what I want. I want to play Portal at a regular cabinet. Man, there's jank. There's jank in the extended version. That right plastic ramp watching the videos, the balls going around there. uh the the bottom of that uh ramp the plastic ramp has nothing to secure it there right now i haven't dug i haven't had this in my hands and gone through it and see how it actually plays so i'll reserve final judgment but just watching the thing it's sitting on the screen it's sitting on the plexiglass over the screen there's nothing to hold it down there so when this ball is racing around there if you really rip that ramp it's got some jank man it's gonna flex and move and lift up and do this thing you know and it's like if you're in a multi-ball situation it's doing that it's not going to be as fun as if it was just screwed into the damn wooden play field put your screen in there and have screen assets and things but make like make like a make an arcade version the p3 multimorphic company of engineers have introduced the arcade edition of their game so if you want to just buy a one-off set it and forget it like the ronco electric food dehydrator rotisserie chicken dispenser in your arcade fine you can do that if you want to get the full-fledged p3 multimodal experience it's here too everybody's happy crank these things out why the heck not you've got the factory you've got the parts you got the people do you have the will sir and that is what i think is missing and i don't think they care at all what i have to say to be honest and so you know hey it's their world it's their company they're free to do whatever they want i can't wait to go play this game because it looks awesome there's great voice acting in here they got the voice of gladys in here uh they got mark silk is on this my boy he did the voices with uh the awesome labyrinth topper um so like there's there's quality in here and i think it's just not being mined to the extent that i would like to see it and that's why every time i see one of these games releases i'm like that looks cool and that sucks because i want to be able to play it but i don't want to play it in this way because it just doesn't feel the same to me um and it's being said it's still fun but for the same money i've got other options that are always going to jump in there right that's why i haven't been to alaska yet for all the money it takes to go to Alaska. And as cool as Alaska is, I always end up going somewhere else instead because I want to go to Japan more. Right. So like that's what happens. So I haven't to poor South Korea. I've been to Japan five times and to South Korea zero times because if I'm flying all the way out there, I'm just going to go back to Japan. It's so much freaking fun, man. Universal Studios still has the jaws right out there for cripes sakes. So it's a it's a it's a South Korea situation, man. You know, so so build me a Hawaiian version so I can have a little stopgap halfway across Pacific. Jerry, meet me halfway across the Pacific. Can we do that? Anyway, Portal looks sweet. I like what's going on there. I'm excited to go play it. If you're a P3 owner, you're going to buy it. The price is up higher. Yeah, there's a man in America. So I don't know. Are tariffs affecting parts and things? We'll see. I think price increases are coming. Man, like and subscribe and join the Patreon, man, because I'm going to be hearing some stuff because people can't help themselves around shows like this. And I'm just going to be updating constantly, almost like a stream of consciousness. Join for a month, man. Check it out. We're having a good time over there. What we are also having is a good day. You too, take us out.
    34:59
    What do you think? Am I completely off base? Don's Pinball Podcast at gmail.com to get at me. Yell at me on Discord, Facebook, wherever. I'm all over the place. Guys, take care. We'll see you at TP Mother Grabbin' It.