Happy Friday everybody, it's Kaneda! Should we do a podcast about pinball? Yeah, let's do it! Oh, it's Friday everybody! How's everybody doing? Welcome to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. We've been listening to 80s music in Casa de Canadá. We've been thinking about what's about to happen in the pinball world. Are you ready for seven freaking games over the next eight weeks? Let me repeat that, everybody. Seven pinball machines are going to be out in the world over the next eight weeks. It's about to get crazy. Where are they all going to go? Who's got all this money? let's talk about it on this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast. Who's going to win? Who's going to lose? I don't know, but I do know this. There are going to be some big themes. There are going to be some winners and there are definitely going to be some losers. Before we get there, what's going on in the pinball world? We just saw the apron to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The fact that, you know, you had to improve the apron. I told Melvin when I first saw that apron, And I was like, bro, it doesn't look good. You need to have the colors match up with the playfield colors. I still don't like, I'm just going to say this. I still don't like the black and red. The rest of the game's colors are like blue and purple, more Alice-y. And they should have made the apron that color. The apron should like bleed into the playfield color palette. but it does look much better with those magnetized scrolls and the roses. I mean, who reads rule sets? How can you even read the rule set on a pinball machine? Have you seen how small the font is? It's stupid. I don't like these tiny little rule sets. Okay, what else is going on in pinball? We've got people in the D&D thread. I've been jumping in there. What's going on, guys? You're getting your D&Ds. Here's something that's interesting. I think owners of these games are realizing that, you know, you've got your character. You're going on a journey, right? And if you've ever played D&D, it's all about leveling up your character and your posse. And then you're going into battle with like enemies and creatures and dragons and goblins. And the problem is with the way the game is right now, everyone is saying that the battles are the same over and over again. There's no consequences when you get into a battle. And by that, I mean nobody ever dies when they're in a battle. Now, think about a role playing game like D&D. You go in and you've got your armor, you got your shields, you got your numbers, right? for this is like my strength. This is my, I don't know, like wizard power, projectile, whatever. I don't know. I'm not a loser who played D&D. I just want to say that. I played Street Fighter. I played Punch-Out, 720. I played games like Daytona USA. I played Sonic, Mario. I loved fighting games. I love sport games. I was never anybody during the 80s and 90s who said, hey, everybody, let's stop doing all this fun stuff and let's start playing Dungeons and Dragons. Never happened when I was a kid. I get that people were into it, but I just got entertainment elsewhere. I think there were just a lot more fun things to do. Okay, so you level up your character and you go into battle and then I guess you roll the die and depending on what number you roll, that sort of dictates how you do in that moment or in that battle. But the problem is in this game is nobody's dying. So you're getting into these battles and you can't die or get hurt or have to start the battle over or go back and redo it. And when you think about role playing games, not just like D&D, think about Final Fantasy or any role playing game you've played on a video game. There has to be consequences to these battles or they don't really matter. And what people are realizing in the game right now is pinball isn't really set up to do it that way. And so the thing you're really battling when you get into a battle because you're never going to lose, like you're never going to lose. No one's going to die. No one on your team is going to die. You're not going to die when you get into a battle. The only thing you're battling are the outlanes and trying to keep the game from draining. So what I'm hearing is that's not that satisfying to the D&D fanatics because leveling up means nothing. Think about it. What's the point of leveling up your characters if every single battle you get into, you can win even if you're at the lower level? It's not like your leveling up really matters because the battles are all too easy. All right, so that's going on in the D&D world. You know me. I think D&D is a good game for D&D geeks. I don't think pinball is going to become this sort of save your progress and start off where you left off. I don't think that's going to be the case. I think the best pinball machines are games that are just the right level of difficulty and on a three ball game and without having to lower your outlaying posts, you can see most of the game. People are wondering when is the Jaws final wizard mode going to be out? And people are now realizing even when they drop the final wizard mode to Jaws, the way you have to activate it, you're going to have to get through the five mini wizard modes to activate the final wizard mode, which is gonna be impossible for 99.9% of people. And look, there's some people out there that say a final wizard mode should be almost impossible to get to and something you should spend your life trying to achieve. I don't believe in that. I think you should see the whole game on an epic 30 to 40 minute game. That's how I think pinball should be. If you have an epic 40 minute game On a three ball experience, you should see everything. And I don't think you necessarily have to beat all those mini wizard modes. I think you just have to get to them and like those inserts. All right. So that's going on over in the Jaws world. People are applying like oil to their spinners. Spin away, Jaws fanatics. I will say Jaws Elite, Jaws Elite is holding its value. There is none for sale. There's only one on Pinside for sale and it's for $16,000. And so look, there's a thousand out there. Keith Elwin is the only sure bet in all of pinball right now. And the same thing is going to happen with King Kong. Day one sellout coming. We got that going on in the pinball world. So let's talk about the next eight weeks. Eight weeks, we are going to see seven titles come out in the pinball world. You might be saying to yourself, that's not right, Canada. That doesn't sound right. How can there be seven new titles coming out in the pinball world over the next eight weeks? Well, let's look at it. So we are going to get the next game from Barrels of Fun. I'm going to talk to you about what I think it is. I'm going to make a final call on this game. And let's see if I'm right. There's some news about Barrels we're going to talk about. We're going to get the new game from Barrels. Then we're going to get Pinball Brothers is going to make Predator. That's also going to come out in April. we're also going to get Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is going to start to ship from Dutch Pinball I know it's not brand new but now we're going to get people that are going to unbox this game and get asked to pay in full for their Alice and so I consider that a brand new pinball machine shipping in a box over the next eight weeks we're also going to see Portal from Multimorphic we're probably going to see that game at TPF in just a week or so we're going to get the final edition of Medieval Madness Remake. The news that I gave to everybody is they're going to make more than 500. I'm hearing they might make over 1,000 of these games. So if you've been holding on to your Medieval Madness Remake and you were thinking about selling it you know might be a good time right now I don really care CGC I don even take them seriously I will never buy another CGC game I keep saying this I just don like the way this company operates. And even if they reveal Medieval Madness remake, you know, you're not going to get it in the next eight weeks, but it's going to be revealed. We're also going to get King Kong from Stern Pinball. Huge game, right? We're going to see a price increase. I think it's going to be $600. It's going to be $13,600 for the LE. I think it's also going to be the game where Stern finally announces that Spike 3 is out in the world, and this is what Spike 3 is. We've already seen elements of Spike 3 out there in the world. If you take the Translight off, your Metallica remastered, it looks a lot different than if you take the Translight off on your Foo Fighters or on your James Bond, those new components are all part of Spike 3. We're also going to get Harry Potter from Jersey Jack Pinball. Harry Potter. Everybody's looking at this game. Is Eric Minier going to deliver a banger? It's going to be standard body. It's going to be expensive. A lot of expectations around that game. So Portal, Medieval Madness, Harry Potter, King Kong, predator barrels of fun and alice that is seven games in eight weeks and hey there might be more surprises tpf is around the corner someone might roll in the tpf with a new game who knows what's going on in the pinball world there's so much going on i do know this most of you are out of room i don't think you're out of money nobody's really in this hobby living paycheck to paycheck buying pinball machines. If you are, shut this podcast off, go get a financial advisor and really rethink your life decisions. So the game that's still a mystery to me, and they've done a good job keeping it a mystery, is Barrels of Fun. I've heard a lot of people say Dune, and it most likely is going to be Dune. A lot of people that I trust have said Dune, and here's the thing. I don't want it to be Dune. I'm going to say what I hope it is based on recent evidence, and I think they might be trying to misdirect us. I'm probably wrong here, but I hope I'm right. So yesterday, David David Van Es and the team over at Barrels has sent out an email to people I know. I won't mention names. No, I will mention names. Our friend Kale from Electric Bat got an email inviting him to go to Barrels of Fun to sign an NDA to see the next game. So that means the next game is very close. Kale's got a great relationship with David David Van Es, and so it makes total sense. I think he got one of the first Labyrinth games and set it up at the Electric Bat arcade. Will Kaneda be getting an invite? So it's interesting. I reached out to David David Van Es. He listens to this show and he sent me a gift with great power comes great responsibility. I think he's implying that I would not respect the NDA. Of course, I would respect the NDA. When I sign a document like that, I will respect it. The thing is, with all of these NDAs, I'm shocked nobody has spoken about what they saw on the barrels tour because there's no way to know who said what and there's no way to enforce any of it. And also, you know me, I almost would rather not even sign an NDA and just invite me to come play the game the way Jersey Jack did when we saw Avatar. There was no NDA. We just went there and played the game. It was after they did the reveal video. I'm getting the sense that Barrels of Fun knows they need to move quickly. And so here's what I hope it is. I hope that Barrels of Fun has been misdirecting us for a long time. I hope that they planted the rumor of Dune out there in the world. I hope that they planted the rumor of G.I. Joe. Brian Savage has a strong connection to G.I. Joe. I hope all of those have been rumors orchestrated by them. I hope they've been talking to me. And I mean, even my friends who have talked to me, I think they're purposely sandbagging their enthusiasm around the next game because I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think that they've hidden in plain sight what the next game is going to be from barrels. And I think the next game is going to be Goonies. I know that somebody has the Goonies license. I also know that the Goonies license, I don't think you can have exclusivity on it. So maybe even more than one pinball company could make a Goonies machine. I first thought that Goonies was a spooky title. It still may be. But I'm hoping that this company, when they put those Goonie keys all over their factory, that was them hiding in plain sight that it's Goonies. Now, here's the thing. If it's not Goonies and it's not a theme that's as exciting as Goonies, then what they've done on that factory tour is a colossal marketing mistake. You don't want to catfish the enthusiasm of the community by showing them a theme they'd rather have than the theme you're coming out with. So if this game comes out and it's not a theme that's as exciting as Goonies, I am going to make fun of them. Why would you get us excited and troll us by putting Goonies skeleton keys all over the place? Now, the thing is, these pinball companies, the marketing is always atrocious. Remember when Jersey Jack stood in front of that Harry Potter picture, right? And everyone's like, oh, my gosh, right? We were all excited. And then what did he do? Jack did that because they knew they had the Harry Potter license, but he does that photo and then the next games are like Godfather and games like Toy Story 4 and games like Elton John. It's like, dude, you don't do that. Don't get people excited about something that's four games away when you know that theme is bigger than the next four games. It's not going to help you. But you know what? Again, pinball marketing, the worst marketing on planet Earth. So that's Canada's wish. It's probably not going to happen. It's probably going to be Dune. And I think people are going to be disappointed if it is Dune. All right. So then we're going to have Multimorphic Portal. I'm not going to talk a lot about that. We will see that game at TPF. Then we've got the Pinball Brothers Predator game. And I just released new news today for all of you that they're going to make in total 1,000 units of this machine. And is that enough? Is that enough? And I think everybody's response to this game has been the same. There's not a grown man, and I mean this, 40 to 60 who's into pinball that doesn't love this theme. And there's not a grown man, 40 to 60, that loves pinball that has enjoyed the new games that have come out from the Pinball Brothers. In fact, not only not enjoyed, I think most pinball people consider ABBA to be one of the worst games in recent pinball history. I think people consider ABBA to be worse. And I mean this, not by theme, but by gameplay, that ABBA as a gameplay experience. And I've heard this from many people is worse than Barry O's barbecue challenge. And so what's happening right now is this dichotomy of this is a dream theme for a lot of people. They've got the Arnold Schwarzenegger version of Predator. They paid a lot of money for the license. And what they did not do is go get a designer to make the game Why didn they go get someone like Dennis Nordman They have designed this game in and that should make everybody very nervous because ABBA was designed in-house and it's atrocious. And you know how I feel, Einstein's theory. If you do the same thing over again and expect a different result, that is the definition of insanity. And so we're not insane to think that this game is going to be a dog. I hope it's not because I think this is it for pinball brothers. You got a dream theme that if you make a great game, you're going to sell out of 1000 units instantly on a game like predator. But here's the thing. We're going to be able to tell right away. I mean, it's not going to be one of these things where we're going to have to wait and maybe make up our mind and see more video. No, I think the moment they pull the curtain off this game, we're going to be able to tell by the layout, by the toys, by the artwork, if this is a game that is worthy of this theme and that can compete with what's about to come. Because think about it. This game is going to come out after, I think, Barrels of Fun. I think Barrels is going to beat them to the punch. So Predator is going to be compared to Barrels. And look, there's no comparison. Listen, Labyrinth is a thousand times better than ABBA. So right away, we have more faith in the team over at Barrels. So then Predator comes out and it's going to be end of April. And in just a few weeks, it's going to be Harry Potter and King Kong right after it. So I think what everyone's going to do, because you heard me say, I'm going to buy this game, even if it sucks. And I still am. I mean it. I'm going to buy this game, even if it sucks, because I love the theme. And I'm asking each and every one of you, don't do what I do this time. Let me be the guinea pig. Let me be the sucker. I've already talked to Melissa. I'm going to get one of the first ones made. So let me get it. Let me unbox it. Let me give you a review. I don't think this game is going to be good. I don't think this game is going to be take my money now. I don't think you're ever going to have a hard time getting one. I do think if I buy this game on day one, I'm going to lose money. So let me be the sacrificial predator lamb and show you guys what's in the game and just wait. Okay, so I'm not being a hypocrite. I'm just making an exception to my own rule. And I am being very transparent about that. You don't get that these days from a lot of content creators. A lot of these guys, they unbox everything because you know what? They're getting the games at cost from their distributor friends, and they're not telling you that. Think about how disingenuous that is. Like you act like you're unboxing a game and you paid full price. I wish there was more transparency by a lot of these guys because it's so disingenuous to do that. And when you think about what that telegraphs and these guys are seemingly buying everything, you know why? Because they're not paying full price. I don't even know what they're paying or if they're even paying for these games. Yeah, it'd be real easy for me to unbox everything if I didn't have to pay for anything. All right, so Predator, 1,000 units, wide body game. It's a pinball brothers game. It's being made or manufactured at Pedretti in Italy. And here's what I was laughing about yesterday. Here's why I don't think the game is going to be good. You've got an Arnold game that is basically like the poster child movie for male masculinity of the 1980s. It really was. Arnold movies, that was it. He was the action hero for all of us little boys who were grown up in the 1980s. And so you've got this blockbuster movie that all these little kids in America grew up wanting to emulate and have Gatling guns in the jungle. There's just like a badass nature to this film. And here's what I'm worried about. The last country that I think can adequately make this badass movie come to life is Sweden. All right. And so here's the funny part. You got this badass movie that took over American culture, going to be made by the Swedes and manufactured in Italy. And when you think about that, it makes me laugh. And then you think about all the tariffs and the taxes that are about to happen. Who knows what's going to happen in the global pinball manufacturing space? But if these games start to get taxed, it's going to be really hard to find buyers. So we shall see April 25th, April 25th. That's not too far away. It's coming. It's coming. We shall see what happens. And then we get into May. May is going to be nuts. We should be screaming May Day from the roofs of the pinball towers because we're going to get King Kong and Harry Potter on top of each other. Here's what's awesome about this. It's like all the question marks are on the JJP side. Is anyone nervous that Keith Elwin's going to make a great game? Is anyone nervous it's going to shoot well? Is anyone nervous it's going to have great toys? Is anyone nervous the code's going to be amazing? Is anyone nervous the art's going to be amazing? Is anyone nervous about King Kong at all? You know, it's not even going to be surprising when they do the price increase. It's a $600 price increase. I've been telling you this for months. $13,600 for the LE, $10,300 or $400 for the premium. Nobody's nervous about it. everybody knows it's going to be day one sellout everyone knows it's going to be huge everyone knows the game's going to be epic it's just the way it is jersey jack harry potter everything's a question mark everything makes you nervous everything is the game going to be a good layout eric minier hit or miss right hit or miss wide body pirates yeah it's shot okay shot okay but not great it was a wide body it didn't feel like a wide body but that's not a game that has like incredible flow it doesn't guns and roses terrible shooter everybody knows it terrible shooter i own it. I play it every day. It's not a great shooting game. And when I say terrible, it's just not a game where you get rhythm going and the game would be so much more fun if there was a lot more rhythm and flow in the game. And so then Eric tried to make up for the lack of flow in GNR. And then he made Godfather more wide open, really brutal game, lots of straight down the middle drains, not the most rewarding pin. And especially compared to a game like Elton John, you can see, There's just a different level of talent when it comes to layout that Steve Ritchie has and Keith Elwin has that Eric Meunier hasn't showcased he has. But Steve Ritchie's been over there. And Steve Ritchie's been able to bang on Potter now for two years. So hopefully he's helped Eric figure out a more satisfying layout. But that's a big question mark. And then we get to toys. Jersey Jack games have been empty. Empty. Avatar is empty. There's not a single toy in it. Godfather was empty Guns and Roses doesn't even have toys Elton John doesn't really have toys They've been putting empty games for $12,000 to $15,000 Harry Potter is a game that needs to be loaded with magical stuff It needs to feel like Pirates of the Caribbean on crack And so are we going to see a standard body game? I think if I were to think about the Jersey Jack games Dialed In was a standard game that had great flow And was loaded with fun toys That's what we want to see in Potter But that's a big question mark. Who's doing the artwork for Harry Potter? Christopher Franchi did Godfather and Elton John. He made those games look amazing. There's a reason why Elton John looks so good. It's because of Christopher Franchi. And Guns N' Roses looks amazing because they used a GNR artist who's absolutely incredible. GNR is one of the most underrated art packages in all of pinball. That playfield art is absolutely one of the best ever. But who's doing Harry Potter? Right? Who's doing it? Big question mark. Makes you anxious. Everything about this game. And then we get to the code. Probably the most anxious thing is the code. Are the clips going to be muted? Is it going to be another one of these weird slot machine games? Now, David Thiel is working on the sound. The only thing I not anxious about with Harry Potter is the sound and the music David Thiel is doing it But what did they hand him Is he going to be able to work with the movie clips and the scenes Now if it has muted clips as I said I not buying the game I think we need to send Jersey Jack a message. We won't buy your machines if the clips aren't integrated properly into the game. It's lazy and it doesn't work well. So everything's a question mark. How much is the game going to cost? Now, I don't think that's a question mark. I think the game is going to cost exactly 12 or 15, depending on the model. They're not going to raise prices. But man, that's coming out at the same time as King Kong. And look, Jersey Jack's model now is the only version that makes sense is the $15,000 model. And Keith Elwin, L.E.'s are the way to go. So think about it. If you want both games, this is 2025, right? Both games before tax and shipping, you're looking at $28,600 for two mass produced pinball machines. What happened to our hobby? I love when people are like, Canada, stop complaining about price. You know, you need to like get off of that topic. Dude, two pinball machines, $28,600 and you want me to move on. There used to be a time when you could get two Cernoles that are in the top 10 on pin side and you were spending $11,000. So for all you people that want me to stop whining about prices, I'm not. And to end this podcast, I'm going to call out one of my subscribers and listeners. And brother, I'm just doing this, man, because I was making a joke and everyone needs to lighten up in life. So when I posted about American pinball, they are selling now Galactic Tank Force, the signature edition that was once $17,500. It came with the thermos and the lunchbox for $17,500. You now can get it new in box for $9,995. A loss if you bought it brand new of $7,500. And it says wire discount available. I wonder what the wire discount is. So I wrote this game when launch was $17,500. And I did have some friends that bought it at that price. And I made a joke that those people are $5 a month club members because $10 a month is too much for them. Did you get the joke that I could have saved people $7,500 and still the majority of people are at $5 a month. And I always joke about how I want people to raise the roof, to increase their subscription just a little bit. And you know me, I've always, in a jovial way, begged and busked for people to do that. The way I beg and busk for stars on Facebook Live. And I'm going to call you out, brother. Howard Sewell, who's a member of the show for a year. Howard, how you doing, man? He writes, dude, you got to quit it with the upsell begging for an increase in your subscription. Either raise your price and we can decide if we want to stay or just drop it. Howard, I got tons of comments on that post. Nobody was complaining about the upsell, but I just want to say this, Howard. At $5 a month, thank you for your subscription. I'm never going to ask you specifically to raise the roof. And if it annoys you, Howard, there are many pinball podcasts out there that go on for 90 minutes and say nothing of interest that you can always go join. And they're free. And they're free shows. But trust me, Howard, you're getting what you pay for in the world of pinball podcasting. We have a lot of people that subscribe at $10 a month. We have people at 15. We have people at 30. People at 50. People at 100. But Howard, not everybody agrees that this show is even worth $5. Let me read for you. I've never done this before. Let me read for you. Whenever you leave Patreon, they ask you for an exit survey where you can write why you've canceled your Canada membership. So to end this Friday show in which I'm super happy, I can't wait for the weekend. Let's read some of the reasons that people have left Canadian's pinball podcast. He's a tool. Wines too much. Not all shows are available on Patreon and content on the other platforms being removed. I'm not willing to support his behavior or poor attitude any longer. I'm out of here. Not enough pinball for a pinball podcast. I have heard enough lectures about not buying pinball. What the heck is this feedback? We don't talk about pinball on this pinball podcast. I get right to it. All right, let's keep going. Pinball interest has declined for me. I get it. You know, people are going to burn out. Too political. Forced to hear and read pro-Trump rhetoric. Anyone who gives a respectful counter view gets attacked. Not a good vibe. whatsoever. You know, I'm confused by this one. This must have been Derek. You guys listen to this show like two to three times a week. Where is this show going down a pro-Trump rhetoric political angle? Where is anybody being attacked? I think the only place you are going to get attacked if you go crazy purple hair far left is in the Patreon chat maybe, but you're going to get attacked anywhere in pinball if you go crazy far left. And that's just the way it is. Not me. It's not me doing it. I don't attack anyone for their political beliefs. I don't. That is not what I do. And my show's never been about that. All right, let's keep going. I've been a member since the beginning. Your show is great and keep up the good work. I'm just taking a break from pinball. This one's funny. This one's funny. I'm going to change the first word to something else that's similar. Crapping on people who grew up playing D&D because he's a bigoted a-hole. And hey, Yeah, if you're a dnd nerd, I still want to put you in a headlock the same way I did In middle school. All right, and I still want to kick your ass not in real life I want to kick your ass in street fighter 2 and show you what a real game is like A few more then we'll go not really into pinball anymore. Pinball is too damn expensive now getting out of the hobby Show became a trump support rally welcome to believe whatever you want but that's not what I come here for. Isn't it interesting? I just want to say this. I don't go down political roads. I don't. But I want to say this. Isn't it crazy that the party that is supposed to be about free speech and accepting everybody is the party that always takes their ball and goes home instantly? They don't even want to have a dialogue. And my company is like 90% far left. I get it. I'm moderate. I really am. I don't like any politicians. They're all liars. But this show is not a pro-Trump rally. And what's crazy to me, the far left typically, the moment they hear something they don't agree with, it's like this. They just rage quit the entire conversation and they can't even talk to you about it. The same way Derek like rage quit our friendship. It's so weird to me. I will say this and I'm going to end on this episode since all these people complain, think this is a pro-Trump show. And again, I'm not pro-Trump, but I just want to say this. If you ever want to win an election in America again, you stand up and clap when we are honoring a little boy in America who beat brain cancer. It's just that simple. It's just that simple. You don't even have to like Donald Trump, but it's not about Donald Trump. This is a little boy who was given five months to live who beat brain cancer and you don't stand up and clap for him and his father. You're never going to win another election again with behavior like that. And if you want to cancel your Canada subscription just because I believe in that, then please cancel. I don't want your $5 if you don't think a little boy like that deserves to be applauded by everybody. Canada out. Happy Friday. Thank you.