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The Great British Pinball Podcast Episode 34

Neil McRae / Great British Pinball Podcast·video·1h 43m·analyzed·Jun 9, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

UK pinball market experiences price correction and dealer upheaval; secondary market volatility and confidence issues emerge.

Summary

Neil McRae and Scott return to the The Great British Pinball Podcast after a two-month break to discuss recent UK pinball market developments, including Pinball Heaven's closure as Stern's direct UK dealer, resulting price corrections across Stern's product line (Pro ~£7k, Premium ~£9.1k, LE ~£12.5k), and secondary market volatility. They discuss tournament experiences (TPF), recent game purchases and code updates (Pokemon, Whitewater, Ghostbusters), venue challenges, parts availability issues, and the secondary market pricing collapse affecting collector confidence. The hosts also review specific games (Venom, Jaws, Evil Dead, Uncanny X-Men) and debate pricing dynamics in a buyer's market.

Key Claims

  • Stern issued an RRP (Recommended Retail Price) and changed their UK distribution model away from Pinball Heaven/Electrocoin, resulting in a price correction of approximately £2,000 across all tiers

    high confidence · Neil McRae and Scott discussing Stern pricing changes in UK market; confirmed discussion of specific new prices (Pro ~£7k, Premium ~£9.1k, LE ~£12.5k)

  • Pokemon has sold 'gazillions' in America but code quality remains behind where it needs to be after 6-7 months

    medium confidence · Neil McRae discussing Pokemon sales and code status; notes first container was all Pros

  • Transformers code is 'one of the most further on coded games than what Stern have released recently' with decent sales

    medium confidence · Scott discussing Transformers release and code quality

  • Ghostbusters was brutally hard but became easier after an 8-month code update wait

    high confidence · Neil McRae discussing Ghostbusters gameplay changes post-code update

  • Stern is struggling with code quality on multiple titles and should reduce the number of games released per year

    medium confidence · DOMINO Pinball: Neil McRae opinion on Stern's development capacity and release schedule

  • UK pub market has been devastated by government policy; venues hosting pinball events are going bust

    high confidence · Neil McRae discussing venue crisis and difficulty finding locations for Swagely events

  • Parts availability from the UK is severely constrained with 1-1.5 month delays due to consolidation into larger consignment orders

    high confidence · Neil McRae discussing parts supply chain challenges and import delays

  • Secondary market confidence is collapsing; buyers fear further price drops despite evidence prices have stabilized

    high confidence · Neil McRae and Scott discussing buyer psychology and market uncertainty; multiple examples of price comparisons

Notable Quotes

  • “Stern is always, I don't want to sound dismissive to Stern, but they are seen as a cheaper product. They're more mass produced. They can make them at a cheaper price.”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Contextualizes Stern's market positioning in UK vs. rest of industry; explains why price correction was so shocking to UK dealers

  • “Why the hell aren't we selling more here? [referring to Stern's reasoning for price correction]”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Reveals Stern's internal logic for aggressive pricing reset in weak UK market

  • “It's code. It's basically where, well, it's getting the John Wick treatment except for the fact it's got guns in it. [referring to Pokemon]”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Explains Pokemon's mediocre Pinside ranking (247th) despite decent reviews; code issues blamed

  • “I can't sell at that price because my costs are too high. [Electrocoin refusing Stern's RRP]”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Explains the conflict between Stern and Electrocoin that precipitated Pinball Heaven closure

  • “If you buy a bigger coil, you get it sent down to you, you solder it in, life is good. Stop fucking about with the playfield. All you're doing is making it worse.”

    Scott @ N/A — Technical troubleshooting advice for X-Men's shooter lane issues; advocates for hardware over software fixes

  • “There are some folks I feel really sorry for, like, you know, Jib's trying to sell that Dune and she's taking... It's weird, isn't it? Because in the US, they're up in the money in June. But that's the thing, right? In the US, they're above ticket value.”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Illustrates the transatlantic divide in secondary market pricing; US games hold value while UK games depreciate

  • “Within a month, absolutely. There's no question. [referring to all games dropping in price further]”

    Scott @ N/A — Predicts continued secondary market deflation, indicating weak buyer confidence

Entities

Neil McRaepersonScottpersonStern PinballcompanyPinball HeavencompanyElectrocoincompanyPokemongameTransformersgame

Signals

  • $

    market_signal: UK secondary market experiencing significant depreciation across all game tiers with buyer confidence collapsing. Hosts report games consistently dropping £500-1000 in value within weeks of purchase; Deadpool examples at £5k vs £4.7k; Ninja Eclipse range £4k-£5k; no floor visible.

    high · Multiple specific examples: Deadpool £4.7k-£5k, Ninja Eclipse £4k-£5k range, prediction that 'within a month' all games will be cheaper; Neil notes 'I used to think I had a good understanding of pricing in this market. I don't anymore.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern ended relationship with Pinball Heaven/Electrocoin (primary UK dealer) and implemented RRP (Recommended Retail Price), causing distribution shock and competitive entry of new UK distributor with improved visibility on delivery timelines.

    high · Direct discussion of Stern issuing RRP, Electrocoin resistance ('I can't sell at that price because my costs are too high'), and positive remarks about new distributor bringing 'much better visibility on when games are going to arrive'

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern experiencing widespread code quality issues and delayed updates across recent releases. Pokemon ranked 247th on Pinside after 6-7 months; 8-month Ghostbusters update wait; John Wick code was initially poor; developer departures causing idle periods.

    high · Pokemon code issues mentioned multiple times; Ghostbusters 8-month update wait; John Wick developer departure note; Neil states 'Stern is struggling with a lot of code stuff right now' and suggests they 'drop down the number of games they release in a year'

  • ?

    venue_signal: UK pub sector severely impacted by government policy; venues hosting pinball events closing; Neil unable to find suitable location for Swagely tournament after contacting 20+ venues; suggests microbreweries and arcade venues as alternatives.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.310

0:00
Ssgwtn I, we thought we'd retire. Yeah, I wish. We're back by popular demand. People pinging me and Scott to say, sending us letters, postcards, emails.
0:41
There's even a balloon over Walking at the sign that said, please do another episode, we miss you loads.
0:51
And even part of our hate club had nothing to talk to about you for two months. Oh, they get bored, mate. Yeah, they need something to vehemently, you know, fester on. We are arranging some Great British Pinball fidget spinners for those people. And you can buy them and they're for charity for those that can't string more than one word together that hang out on Pinball Info.
1:19
With that, Scott, what a couple of months it's been. Yeah, yeah, been busy. How you doing? So yeah, it's been a hell of a week, a hell of a couple of months. Last time I was just before TPF.
1:33
TPF was awesome. And I won a tournament there. I won the media. Sorry, I didn't win it. I say sorry. I didn't win it. It felt like I won it because I came second. And that was like... No, I didn't win it. It was kind of basically a little bit of good fortune. I did knock out some of my media chums. I think I knocked out Retro Ralph and a couple of other media folks. I knocked out TNT Amusements, Todd, my good friend. He was playing. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead. UK number one, Andy Foster, both doing okay, not great, but okay right now. It's on Fox City Pinball if you want to watch it, I've got it on ahead of me. It's in District 82, great pinball location in Wisconsin and my good friend Tom Graff and team are streaming it. Yeah, I did TPF, I got to play Pokemon, I got to play... Sarp Boulton, Jardin Boulton, and the rest of the band. I think for me, I was just a little bit surprised that the call-outs were a little bit bland on that game. But I heard they're addressing that now. And on top of that, apparently, I forget the name of the original composer for the first Whitewater, but they've got a new singer. Oh, yeah. So I think that, to be honest with you, I think that will help with it. 100%. I didn't realize. It's like I was listening to Walt do a breakdown of how Whitewater changes the tempo and increases the number of beats and instruments added to this music as you progress up the rafts. Yeah. So I didn't even realize it. And then when I actually had a Whitewater in, I was like, oh, yeah, it's pretty cool. As you progress in the game, the music gets more basically upbeat, faster, tempo, stuff like that. That's why you do a podcast because you can't get to the top rafts in Whitewater. Yeah. Hey, I got two billion on Ghostbusters. I'm pretty happy with that. That was not bad for me. And that's a pretty different game, I think. On a game where you can always be in a ball safe.

  • Venom and Ghostbusters have mediocre layouts that no amount of code can fix; Venom described as 'fan layout' with uninspiring shots

    medium confidence · DOMINO Pinball: Neil McRae gameplay opinion on Venom and Ghostbusters layout design philosophy

  • Whitewater features dynamic music that increases tempo and instrument count as players progress up rafts

    high confidence · Scott discussing Whitewater's music design based on Walt's breakdown; confirmed by Neil's gameplay experience

    • “If the Deadpool's going for 46.50, which was bought last year, it's in the same production line. Do you know what I mean? It's okay, the game is newer, maybe when the shine wears off, but I just feel like, you know, it should be reasonable to see a game around that price.”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Argues for pricing consistency based on production lineage and age, challenges Jaws premium pricing

  • “Jaws is just so much of a great game. [philosophical comment about Jaws belonging in 'the great pinball hall']”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Reveals strong nostalgia/legacy premium for classic machines; suggests Jaws should command higher resale value than newer games

  • “If you buy X-Men, I'm going to divorce you. [Holly's ultimatum to Scott]”

    Neil McRae @ N/A — Humorous but illustrates X-Men's reputation issues among some community members; Scott ultimately chose Dungeons & Dragons instead

    • White Water
    game
    Ghostbustersgame
    Dungeons and Dragonsgame
    Venomgame
    Evil Deadgame
    Uncanny X-Mengame
    John Wickgame
    Jawsgame
    Stranger Thingsgame
    Metallicagame
    Deadpoolgame
    Iron Maidengame
    Ninja Eclipsegame
    Dunegame
    David Fixperson
    Martin Nilsenperson
    Philperson
    Tom Graffperson

    high · Neil: 'This current government, I mean, previous governments weren't great, but this government has nailed pubs. They're finished. They're done.' Notes pub hosting Swagely event 'has gone bust'; had to call 20+ venues without success

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: UK parts distribution severely constrained with 1-1.5 month delays for imported components. Consolidation into larger consignment orders required for cost viability; David Rachel (distributor) website poor quality exacerbating issues.

    high · Neil: 'I've had to wait like a month and a half to get some parts I'm after... it's done in a bigger consignment order.' Notes David Rachel distributor 'his website's fucking awful' but planning improvements

  • ?

    product_concern: Uncanny X-Men experiencing consistent shooter lane issues requiring field fettling or coil upgrades. Some units need larger coil + stronger spring to resolve ricochet problem (90% failure rate on standard setup). Identical issue seen on Iron Maiden and Avengers.

    high · Scott: 'People I've been speaking to have had uncanny x-mens. They've spent like seven hours fettling with it, just trying to get the damn shooter lane to, you know, shoot the ball up so it wouldn't 90% of the time ricochet back in.'

  • ?

    product_concern: Dungeons & Dragons has known cable/loom issue identical to Rush; cable runs too tight. Neil has parts but machine hasn't failed yet; described as 'annoying' recurring design flaw across Stern releases.

    medium · Scott discussing D&D loom extension parts; notes 'it's the same bug they had in Rush for the cable being too tight'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Venom and Ghostbusters criticized for uninspiring layouts that no amount of code can fix. Venom described as 'fan layout' with too many scoops and unexciting shots; only one viable orbit shot. Ghostbusters has too many scoops and uninspiring upper flipper.

    medium · Neil: 'If the layout doesn't give you that kinetic satisfaction, then no code's going to save it... it is absolutely 100% a fan layout. And in my view, most of the shots are not that exciting.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Significant shift toward buyer uncertainty and hesitation in secondary market. Buyers fear further price drops despite recent stabilization; mental psychology preventing purchases even at reasonable prices; general malaise about market direction.

    high · Neil: 'There seems to be a lack of confidence now. People are worried that this isn't the floor... People think they're going to overpay.' Scott: 'Within a month, absolutely. There's no question' [referring to further price drops]

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern implemented aggressive ~£2,000 price reduction across all product tiers (Pro £7k, Premium £9.1k, LE £12.5k) to stimulate UK market demand, signaling internal concern about market penetration. Described as 'price correction' rather than discount.

    high · Neil and Scott discuss specific new UK prices; ~£2k reduction equivalent to $2,700 USD; Neil notes Stern 'looking at the numbers and thinking, why the hell aren't we selling more here?'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: UK government policies (current and previous) described as devastating to pub industry, directly impacting pinball venue availability and event hosting. Multiple venues hosting pinball closing due to business failure.

    high · Neil: 'this current government, I mean, previous governments weren't great, but this government has nailed pubs. They're finished. They're done.' Direct impact on Swagely event planning

  • ?

    community_signal: Community norm violation around aggressive low-ball offers alienating sellers and damaging interpersonal relationships. Neil and Scott discuss impact on willingness to sell; example of Martin Nilsen potentially refusing to sell to aggressive negotiators.

    medium · Neil: 'you can offend a lot of people in the community by just low-balling them. And they'll just go, I'd just rather not sell to you. I'd burn it.' Discussion of Martin warning Neil that refusal of his initial offer would have meant no deal

    • 4:45
    So Ghostbusters used to be a really hard game. Brutally hard, right? And it still is a really hard game, except in the last code update, which we waited for like eight months. Ssr. Warking Dead Ssr.
    5:56
    Ssr. I mean, let me cover Pokemon. So, I think it's a fun game. And actually, I ended up buying one. In fact, it got delivered yesterday. Why do you think, by the way, in Pinside, it's literally like 247th? It's not even registering the top 100. It's got a decent number of reviews on it, but everyone's panning it. And I just wanted to draw your attention. It's code. It's basically where, well, it's getting the John Wick treatment except for the fact it's got guns in it. I mean, if basically the, you know, if the code was a bit better, I think it would be higher. And I think there's a couple of things. There was a lot of noise about how Insider Connected would be doing stuff and other stuff. Joran Witt Ssly and the Lullaby They had a challenge with the licensor who didn't want to do the old D&D graphics.
    8:32
    I think they've convinced that licensor and I think you'll see it. But actually, one of the things, so I had a few people around to play mine, a few people have played it, and I have yet to get a bit of bad feedback about how that game is now. So is it good enough to, you know, warrant the money versus the old one? Not yet, but I think it will be.
    9:01
    And I kind of reflect... It's a shame, isn't it? Because it's like, how old is it now? It's been out for at least six, seven months, maybe more. Six months, yeah. And they're basically, you know, I think Stern is struggling with a lot of code stuff right now.
    9:13
    I still think they should drop down the number of games they release in a year. Thank you for watching. Ssr. Warking Dead Sitar Wars, Walking Dead. Thank you for watching. Jasey, this current government, I mean, previous governments weren't great, but this government has nailed pubs. They're finished. They're done. Yeah. In fact, as we've mentioned it, so we were trying to organise a Swagely event. Oh, yeah. And the pub that normally hosts it has gone bust.
    11:37
    So I literally phoned about 20 plus venues, other pubs and other kind of things around that area. Thank you for watching. Did you suggest to him that he could do? Yeah, so, I mean, I said, you know, I definitely said go talk to some of the microbreweries, not the big guys because they don't give a shit. I said, you know, there's other places like Gravity and some of these big kind of arcade places. But I said to, what I said to him was, you know, look, some of these guys have had pinball before. The problem they have is maintenance, right? So there's a bowling alley a spitting distance from my house that's got a bond in it that is still running the original code.
    12:53
    Where it says pending licensor approval. I forget, does the bond have that insider connect at that point or was it one of those games that was early on in the cycle? It didn't have it at the time. Ah, okay. Or wait a minute, no, sorry. It had it, but... You've got to have one of those weak Wi-Fi dongles in it. And if they set it up in the bowling alley, it would update itself. But again, the upper slipper's always got a problem. I even emailed them and said, look, I'll look after this for you. Give me the key, I'll update it, I'll make it look nice. Sure. Because we go over there with the kids and try and... Sperry Pinball From that perspective, you really need to think about how do you build the ecosystem, not just venues. Because if you don't build the rest of the ecosystem, just get in certain parts.
    14:25
    I've given up most of the UK. Don't get me started on parts, honest to God. I could tear what's left of my hair out trying to get parts of it. It is. I've had to wait like a month and a half to get some parts I'm after.
    14:42
    From the UK? No, just getting them imported. And it's like, you know, sometimes you have to wait because they want to put a bigger order together to then make it worthwhile to get it across. So, you know, it's done in a bigger consignment order. And it's just too much hassle. If you do it directly yourself, yeah, it'd be quicker. Don't get me wrong. But to make it viable, it's just a pain in the ass. You're like David Rachel or something. Yeah, yeah, and others, to be honest with you, but the delays are the same. It's always chasing, waiting, chasing, waiting. I mean, I love Dave, he's a great guy, but his website's fucking awful. He's aware of that. I have told him, right, there's some big kind of like, how can I put it, focus happening in the next week or so, where he's going to be like making some, how can I put it, large, much needed input, Thank you for watching. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead. All those systems. Marco. Marco's made some huge improvements. I love their new website now. It's so much easier to use. Pinball Life, Marco, they're really great. I think, like, yeah, it's just a shame. It obviously costs a lot to maintain those websites, I imagine. So it does make it difficult. It's kind of, for me, it's kind of a cost of being in business. Like, you're not talking about what's going on. But anyway, I mean, look, it's not, if it was easy, they would have sold it. But I do, it's hurting them, it's hurting them in my view. I mean, whilst we're talking about dealers and distributors, obviously the big news is... The elephant in the room.
    17:15
    ...is Pinball Heaven and our direct Stern dealer, which is, you know... The same shockwaves in the UK market, that's definitely for certain. It was kind of funny that some of the noise around it was kind of a bit ridiculous. We should probably give some clarification to anybody in the US listening on this, but just so you guys understand, in the UK it's been a very different model for Stern games especially. Jair Pintle, Spar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead. Thank you for watching. Stern, which is nuts because Stern is always, I don't want to sound dismissive to Stern, but they are seen as a cheaper product. They always have been. They're more mass produced. They can make them at a cheaper price. And as a result, you get more bang for buck in that respect when you buy like a pro model. But we were entering levels of 8,500, 8,700 for a pro. Thank you for watching. Always has been usually the best way into the market. Yeah. And now it definitely is at seven grand. Well, that's the thing. So as a result of all these changes, we basically have now a price correction, if you will. Yeah. So there's two things that happened. Stern issued an RRP, which Electrocoin resisted like the plague because their take, and I spoke to John, he was like, I can't sell at that price because my costs are too high. Ssidney R. Sitar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead, Evil Dead. What is reacted to chat to the issues I've had, but I think it's great news. We've got a bit of competition. I think what I think we're going to find is we'll get much better visibility on when games are going to arrive, which literally the day I had to pay for my Transformers is the day my Pokemon arrived. I mean, that's just ridiculous, right? Yeah. I paid for that Pokemon months ago, which arrived yesterday. And we'll go back to the delay on getting pinballs and parts, right? That in itself. Exactly.
    21:40
    You know, if this was, you know, like, I don't know, an £800 PlayStation, different story, but, you know, £12,500 for a pinball machine, come on, right? That should be happening. There should be more knowledge in the supply chain about when that's going to arrive. It just should be the case, right?
    22:00
    And, I mean, we've got more, you know, well. Well, I say we've had the price reset, haven't we? So we've got pros now at, what is it, 7,000? I want to say 7,100, is that right? Around that, around that. Maybe 7.5, maybe. It's around that number. And then we've got like 9,100 for a premium. And I think it's like 12.5, as you just said, for the L.A. So effectively, we've seen like a 2,000 pounds, which is what, an equivalent of like 2,700-ish USD, reset off of every tier. Yeah, it's massive. And frankly, the reason Stern have done it is they're looking at the numbers and thinking, why the hell aren't we selling more here? Yeah. And, you know, I think I mentioned this on a previous podcast, I had a long conversation with the Stern team about, you know, the UK market.
    22:51
    And I think, you know, there's two things in sales. Thank you for watching. My worry is for someone like Phil, right, is my understanding, at least with most distributors, you have to commit to a line of orders on your games, right? So there'll be a new title that's released and they'll be expected to order a fixed amount to maintain, I imagine, their distributor contract. So given the fact that margins, my understanding, obviously, now that they've dropped quite a lot and the margins are a lot thinner, there's more pressure to then sell more units in order to make a profit. So it's a bit of a knife edge on that for me. It's like, I think, you know, you have to think about why ElectroCoin, okay, people could call it greed. And maybe, you know, they're right. In some instances, there was an element of price margin, especially at the LE level, where I think it was too high. But then you just think, is there really enough demand to be lowering the price? The margin's thinner, so therefore you have to sell more volume to make up for it. I think time will tell, right? We'll have to see how everything pans out in the market and whether or not what they've done is actually a good thing. And we see a much bigger amount of orders coming through. Because I would love to see pinball grow in this country. At the moment, it is difficult. I mean, we can go on about the used market and what's happened with the venues, but it's just not looking rosy at the moment. No, well, I mean, the good news is because of the reduction in the price of Pokemon, they've sold gazillions of them. True. In America, yes, but I don't know how many they've sold in the UK. Yeah, they've sold a good, good... So basically the first container that came over was just pros. So they've sold a lot. And candidly, right now, the code's not where it needs to be on that game. You know, they'll solve that over time.
    25:11
    From what I hear, the sales on Transformers are pretty decent. It's a great game. And the layout's fun, the code's great. And actually the code is probably one of the most further on coded games than what Stern have released recently. So that would be a pleasant surprise in nine months when mine's arrived. I'm just kidding. Phil promises it will arrive. Phil's promising me it will arrive early. I'll tell you one thing I would do with your Ellie. I have never been a fan of that kind of dual colour down the middle thing that they done where it Decepticons and Autobots Sstar Wars Walking Dead Evil Dead I think they probably had some stock kicking in the back.
    26:21
    I remember when Guardians of the Galaxy came out and used this wacky gold colour that was the same gold colour as WWE and everyone just assumed it was the... It was the stainless paper powder. Ssrn have reacted to them to like not understand don't get me wrong i think they've done a correct I just feel... People aren't going to be popular in my opinion on this, but I'm worried that the price is just too thin now and that the margin is too tight. But that's just me. But this is the thing that kind of made me chuckle. So during COVID, actually it was after COVID, so I'll just tell one quick story.
    27:27
    Stranger Things, right? Yeah. Yeah, Stranger Things came out, I think my LE was 9.2 and like new, 9.2 new, right? Of course, the price went up and then they did a rerun at the end of COVID of Stranger Things with a new price. So everyone with an old Stranger Things suddenly thought, well, I can sell a Deadpool, I can sell it for more money. And everyone's like, yay, I can sell it for more money, right? Now, oh, wait a minute. Does that mean I have to sell my game a bit cheaper? Well, you say that. What is interesting, right, there is a Stranger Things on the forum, but it's priced the same as I would say what modern LEs, i.e. that were much more expensive at the 15k mark are now being priced at. And I just think there's some people like out there beating down the price of people that paid this 15 and a half going it should be cheaper. And I'm like, but meanwhile, you've got LEs that were, as you say, a lot cheaper at 9k being put up. For a Stranger Things, Ellie, because they were sold out long before that price came out. It was a nine grand, nine and a half grand game, I think. I got mine. Yeah. I got a couple hundred quid off of it. It arrived. It arrived literally the week after COVID started.
    28:49
    And you can watch my unboxing of it on YouTube. And so, you know, here's what happened. The price of that, so that game's quite, at one point was quite a rare game. People didn't like it and then suddenly people liked it. It went up in price and then people put loads of mods on it, like toppers, they put all that art of pinball. The UBK, wasn't it? That did quite a bit. The UBK, I mean, I was going a couple hundred bucks. Yeah. Well, the topper was a grand, more than a grand, I think. And it's, I actually quite like the topper in that game. Yeah. I had a strange thing to remember. I literally went to town on it. A lot of people put these pinball mods on them, which are a serious wedge.
    29:37
    And, you know, people say, no, I want to get the money back. Actually, Scott, who's selling that game, you know, we go to TPF and Expo together, really good guy. His games are beautiful. He looks after them. I don't think it's a ridiculous price for that game. Thank you for watching. E-delay, you know, even people are thinking, ah, well, the new LE price is 12 and a half. Not for a metallic LE, it's not. That hasn't changed. And it's a super rare game, but also it's a freaking unbelievably great game.
    30:41
    I did say to her, I said, because I said to her, I'm not putting it up. I said, if you want to put it up, you can put it up. Because I knew the market was going to be dipping in hard. And I just said to her, like, you know, personally, I said to a certain number, and if you're not willing to go beyond that, just tell people and say, it's over that, I'm going to yank it. You know, that's the thing, Luke, the gamesmanship on here is ridiculous, right? And I've seen, you know, people, it doesn't matter where you post it, and I've done it myself, like, where, hey, you wouldn't take a cheeky five grand and they want ten. You know what the answer to that is right away, right? I mean, it's funny you bring that up because obviously I bought myself, I just picked it up today, Dungeons and Dragons. And I spoke to the guy, Martin, his name was. In fact, you probably know him anyway. It's Cyber Crichton. I think. Oh, yeah. Martin Nilsen. Go, go. Yeah. So beautiful house, by the way. Absolutely amazing house. He's got a great view. But basically I was speaking to him about like, you know, because he's got a couple of games up. And he said to me, I said to him, like, you know, what kind of offers have you had? He's had people just lowballing, like really like to the bottom. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead Ewan said to me if I'd have gone lower, he'd just basically not bothered with me. And I just thought, you know, that's the thing you've got to play. It's like people don't realise that you can offend a lot of people in the community by just low-balling them. And they'll just go, I'd just rather not sell to you. I'd burn it.
    32:34
    Do you know what I mean? They don't realise that. I've seen it. I mean, I'll definitely call out people who think they've got games too high. But also there's been some people who have been trying to sell stuff. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead. All of that from the US. I could just re-theme it and it's good to go. I feel that for that game, I don't know what condition it is and how many plays, etc. I think it was in good condition, Lucky. I mean, don't get me wrong. By the way, before I get lynched mobbed, I won't re-theme it. I'm just making a point. The price is so cheap.
    33:38
    I'm going to re-theme it. I'm going to call it... I was threatened by a fool on Pinsight, the game. I'll put it that way. I mean, it's kind of... Well, that's what I mean. This sounds ludicrous maybe to some people, but I see that as fun money at this point because it becomes like, despite four grand, this is nuts. Toppers, right? There's two toppers. I mean, that's the ridiculous thing about it. That's true. Yeah, when you think about it. But my take on that is, so I mean I picked up a Deadpool premium and Iron Maiden premium for around about, I think they were both 4,700 that were imported from France years ago. Thank you for watching. That price feels to me to be kind of rock bottom. In fact, I'd almost call it a bargain.
    35:07
    So, you know, snap it up. This is the thing, going back to what you said about Stern, you know, we've got this corrected pricing. And then the shockwave in the UK markets being that obviously people had had games at a higher price. Now taking a bit of a bath, let's face it. It peaks and troughs just such as pinball. But the part I'm a bit worried about, I suppose, is the buyer confidence. Because the people I've been buying from, and I've just been asking for their input as I've been going around, because buyer's market, I'm going to take advantage of it, sorry, is that there seems to be a lack of confidence now. People are worried that this isn't the floor.
    35:45
    Sorry? People think they're going to overpay. Yeah, yeah. Oh, wait a minute. I've just bought Deadpool for five grand and there's one that's 4,700. You haven't overpaid. That's 300 quid. Come on, right? Yeah, but it has that mental part in your head that you go... Oh, 100%. Yeah. The thing is, you know, this is affecting everything. Right now, there are three Ninja Eclipses for sale, right? That's true, yeah. There's one on the forum, and there's another one I think is on Facebook, and then there's another one, actually there's four, because David's trying to sell his new in box.
    36:23
    David's trying to get six grand, he's got no fucking chance of selling that game for six grand. Good luck, David. Like, dude, if you say I will buy you a steak dinner, mate, right, it's six grand, no fucking chance, right? Because there's one that's almost mint, gone for 49.50, and there's another one that's also mint, gone for 45.00.
    36:45
    The third one, I can't remember the price, but I think it was 40. I mean, you could say that, but I mean, like, given an example, if you were to buy a Stern, right, at the moment, and let's say Pokemon went up for sale because the code's terrible, and someone did say six grand for a Pokemon, Thank you for watching. Yeah, it's very unlucky. Maybe they're like, maybe a mech goes on fire or something. What do you mean by Dungeons and Dragons?
    37:36
    And then, you know, although actually mine's fine. I've got some parts. Have you not done the loom? You must have done the loom extension, right? No, I've got the parts for it, but it's been fine. I mean, it's the same bug as they had in, the thing that's annoying about that is exactly the same bug they had in Rush for the cable being too tight. Ssabu Wadu Ssdm, where you can find us on our social media platforms. I imagine there are definitely still people out there that will go, I just want new in box because I get a service with it. Because they don't want to do maintenance on it. They don't want to lift the hood, so to speak. Yeah. I mean, it's a bit nuts. Someone's selling a Metallica Pro for five grand. Yeah. No chance. And unfortunately, I wish that was it. This is the thing. It's like I looked at the price I bought Ghostbusters at and then there's one that went out cheaper a few days later. And I was just like, it is what it is. But I feel like there are some titles that... It doesn't matter what you buy right now. Within a month, you will see that game cheaper. I think so. In this market, we will. Within a month. Absolutely. There's no question. I mean, there are some folks I feel really sorry for, like, you know, Jib's trying to sell that Dune and she's taking... It's weird, isn't it? Because in the US, they're up in the money in June.
    39:54
    But that's the thing, right? In the US, they're above ticket value. People are selling them on for profit. And the irony is, because it's in the UK, just like everything else, it's not. The days are gone of, how can I put it, not taking a bath on something at the moment.
    40:13
    I think we're used to having games go for, like, what, £500 less than what you paid for it. Like the pros back in the day, those days are gone. They're gone. I just think you're lucky to get... This is why, you know, people were saying to me, oh, you're not going to find a Jaws at six grand. I'm like, why not? If the Deadpool's going for 46.50, which was bought last year, it's in the same production line. Do you know what I mean? It's okay, the game is newer, maybe when the shine wears off, but I just feel like, you know, it should be reasonable to see a game around that price. If I can get a D&D for less than six, I should be getting a Jaws for less than six. Thank you for watching. Ssr. I don't agree with you there. I know you don't, but Pinside would agree with me and probably some of the people out there would. I guess if you look at the games side by side and you hadn't played either of them and you were new, I could get what you're saying, right?
    42:03
    X-Men's come down to an amazing game. Maybe, maybe. I don't know. Jaws is definitely a good game, right? So it will command more money. I just don't, I don't know. I used to think I had a good understanding of pricing in this market. I don't anymore. The pricing is changing all the time. I mean, this is the thing. It's getting to a point where it's more about what you want to pay versus what it's worth to some extent, right? And so, you know, I would, and actually I got an uncanny X-Men premium at a ridiculously low price in the US. So, but now, I actually think I would make money on my X-Men premium because it's got, the game is just, it's on a different level now. Same with Wick. I mean, you see people buy X-Men because the code's got so much better, basically. I don't know if that's enough to say that though. I really don't. I mean, it's... Say what? Well, I'll give an example, right? People I've been speaking to have had uncanny expens. They've spent like seven hours fettling with it, just trying to get the damn shooter lane to, you know, shoot the ball up so it wouldn't 90% of the time ricochet back in. Easy, right? You want to fix the shooter lane thing, right? Yeah. Stop fucking about with the playfield. All you're doing is making it worse. You go up on my life, you buy a bigger coil, You get it sent down to you, you solder it in, life is good. Same on Seeker Iron Maiden, same on Avengers.
    43:48
    Just put a bigger fucking coil in the startup thing and a stronger spring on the thing and it's fixed. Actually, on my two X-Men, one in the club, one here, I've had to do neither of those things. Mine's worked great out of the box. Sperm.
    44:31
    I wanted to, I was between that and Dungeons & Dragons and X-Men, but Holly was like, if you buy X-Men, I'm going to divorce you. I was like, alright. Dungeons & Dragons. I had X-Men, didn't you?
    44:41
    We bailed on it. We switched it for Metallica. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm glad we did. I mean, Metallica is a way better game. Yeah, it is a way better game. But, it's, you know, I like Uncanny X-Men and Wick, man, what a job. All these people are, Wick's this, Wick's that, they're all buying it again. It's fucking hilarious, man, it's making me piss myself laughing.
    45:13
    I think it's because, as you say, the code finally got there. Like, it was bad code, let's face it, when it first came out. Yeah, I mean, it was, I mean, well, I mean, the issue was, is the developer that was working on it left the company. Yeah, yeah. It kind of sat idle for a bit. But let me, I just wonder, before we go, Jaws, right? Yeah. I think it's really important on this, right?
    45:41
    There's like a, when we die, right? And we're walking through the game. We're getting really philosophical now, go on. We're walking through the game.
    45:51
    We're walking through the great pinball hall that we all go to, right? Right. Most of us, a couple of us won't make it. You know who I'm talking about, right?
    46:03
    There's a special hall, right? It's got some very special games in it, right? Jaws is one of them. Jaws is just so much of a great game. Thank you for watching. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead. Let me give you an example of this. Yeah, go on. I'm glad you're sitting down.
    47:24
    Do you know what one of the most average games is right now? What do you mean by average, sorry? In terms of play.
    47:35
    Do you mean like it's a mid-game? It's a mid-game, it's okay. Like Pokemon? No, actually, Pokemon beats us. Thank you for watching. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead. It's a bit, what does it remind me of? It reminds me of something. It's a bit like Venom, right? Oh dear.
    48:59
    They've done a lot of cool stuff in the code of Venom, and I might argue Ghostbusters sits in this place, but not to that kind of extent. You can't, if the layout doesn't give you that kinetic satisfaction, then no code's going to save it. And, you know, I'm calling out because from my perspective, you know, when I played, you know, just for the first time, I was a bit excited about something that's okay and I kept playing it. And the fan, you know, people say, I'm going to tell you, it's a fan layout. I don't, you know, everyone's like, no, it's not. It is absolutely 100% a fan layout. And in my view, most of the shots are not that exciting. There's one orbit shot that I think has definite potential. The upper flipper, I mean, it literally, I don't know what they were thinking. There's too many scoops in the game.
    50:07
    People's scoops. A way to put a fire. Yeah. What I will tell you, though, is theme integration, artwork, music, graphics. Lighting as well. Very good. But it doesn't make the game any better. And they've got some funny modes. There's a mode where everything moves. I forget the name of the modes.
    50:33
    I know what you're on about. It starts playing Deo, yeah? You know, that's a deal, that's a deal, and that doesn't work because there's like a lock that if you haven't set your game up at a low pitch, the ball falls off the lock.
    50:46
    Oh. Yeah, I mean, and I have all my games steep, right? So it's kind of, you know, I think, I kind of, look, is that a terrible game? No.
    50:59
    It's just not as hyped as it is. It hasn't left up to the hype. It's just not, it's nowhere near as good as Evil Dead. I mean, that's the thing. You know as well as I do, I've had that game on pre-order now a while. I imagine I'll be getting mine similar time frame to yours. I don't know. Part of me was like, do I just sell it? And part of me just thinks I'll just keep it in the box and then see if someone wants it when I get it. Ssrb Ssrb Ssrb Ssrb Ssrb Yeah before you received that thing Yeah This is why I lucky enough I been able to pick these games up quite early in the process right Yeah. I feel exactly the same way about Winchester.
    51:52
    Have you really? You've gone a bit cold on it. Mate, the game came out at the beginning of October. I know, it's so slow. Do you know what? People are very polite around barrels with this, But I'm just a bit like, guys, come on. It was 500 titles. Why is it taking you this long to make it? I get the fact you're doing Dune at the same time, but maybe you shouldn't have done two production lines at once because you can't do it. Dune's been a disaster for Barrels of Fun, is my take. I think it definitely has been a bigger success now back off of Winchester because people were like, I can't get a Winchester, so I'll now buy Dune. And it is a game. I do like my Dune. I think it's their best game. There wasn't any of them to get, though. Ssr.
    53:04
    Sperry Pint, Sperry Pint, Sperry Pint. Jersy Jack Do you know what I mean? I've done so many playfield swaps, and I've done like 30 of them, so I know how monotonous it is. And it is grueling. Well, the thing about it is, I was told that when Jersey Jack used to be in New Jersey, as opposed to Illinois Jack, that they struggled to keep people in the same way. And the reason they moved to Chicago was because there's a workforce there that has the momentum that, you know, you can replace people. You can keep cycling through people and keep even the most monotonous. I mean, they make everything in Elk Grove Village. You know, pinball machines is one thing.
    54:51
    And that is what's driving. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead. So, Luke, I'm hoping that Winchester arrives in time for Pinfest because I'm bringing that, I'm bringing Star Wars, which Ray Day's put out some new code updates, this game just gets better and better. Ssr. I might bring Walking Dead Remastered just so people can see it. We'll see. And it's going to be, you know, if these games arrive, as long as these games arrive, I'm going to bring them to Pinfest and I'm going to put them in my secret room where only people I like can play them.
    56:01
    I remember when you threatened to do that last year. I did do it last year, but actually what people don't realise is the whole thing last year was a gag, which played out because with some friends I had a bet that I would get a load of shit about it, and I did, and it made me chuckle. I think it was good playing Evil Dead, though. I really did enjoy that. I think, as you say, though, part of me is like, you know, I would have preferred to have Evil Dead over Beetlejuice, but my wife just wasn't a fan of the theme. I love Evil Dead. But it's weird. She likes the newer stuff of Evil Dead. You know, like Evil Dead Rise? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But she doesn't like the old Bruce Campbell stuff, which is weird because I like the humour. I love the dark humour. I think the, you know, I just think it's a great game of play and it's one of the most played games at the club by a mile. I bet. But, I mean, what's going to be interesting though is there's a lot of people who thought Beale used to flip it in the UK. Are you really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're going to be in for a bit of a shock, I think. I think, yeah, I think they're in trouble and they don't believe me. Ssr.
    57:43
    These gold-plated Indiana Jones that, you know, someone bought for, you know, for 15 grand. They're like, no one will want to buy them for that anymore. It's kind of... That whole bit's gone a bit strange.
    57:59
    But like I mentioned Transformers, I played it. I think Elliott smashed it. He's the same guy that did Wick. I'm going to say this right now. Yeah. It's getting really close to you then, Niel. Really close.
    58:16
    Why is a fucking Transformer game not have any robot that transforms? Yeah, it's really... Why is that? It's really easy. It's because... It's the same reason why... It's the same reason why anything. They tried to make something work, and it just was too hard to make it work in a way that... It's a crying shame, man. It really is. I mean, I'm a big Autobot fan. So to have no Autobots on the playfield do anything, I'm like, I immediately started messaging Davey as in Sumbler saying, you're going to fix this, right?
    58:50
    I am the biggest Autobot fan. I know you are. I've seen the toys, man. I've seen you have the Autobots Prime. Yeah, absolutely. I have all of them. Well, yeah. Right? These are, go to my YouTube channel, you'll find this. I've seen it. I've seen it. Trust me. They are amazing toys. I mean, I hope for the sake of the models like Davey and that, that he does implement, even like Grimlock, because that's quite easy. He's out of the way, right?
    59:21
    Grimlock looks pretty rubbish. So I'm hoping Davey or someone fixes that. I hope they will. Yeah. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead. She's the first lead, but we can check. I think that's true, but is there not?
    60:33
    I don't know. I think. I heard it. Bear in mind, right, I've listened to some of the podcasts. It could be true. I mean, to be honest with you, I don't really give a shit what you are, as long as you're doing good stuff. No, I just think it's just nice to see, you know. Yeah, no, 100%. Yeah, I just think like, you know, and also from the looks of it, she seems to be pretty talented. So the code looked just, I'll be honest with you, way better than some other releases we've had recently from Stern. Oh, no, absolutely. I mean, I've done that several quarters following. It's the way that things come together. I mean, look, I'm super excited about that game. I can't wait to get it.
    61:12
    You've got an LE. Did you buy a premium as well for the club? I haven't yet. Actually, at the moment, buying games for the club, I've kind of parked it because there's nowhere to put them. The club's full. Right, okay. And I've got the games set that I want to have there. So if I'm putting in, you know, if I put Transformers in, then I'm taking out Pulp Fiction. Thank you so much for joining us. And, you know, I'll probably put Pokemon in, I think, because it's going to be a game everyone wants to play.
    62:13
    But I'm deciding on anything else, really. We'll see what happens. I mean, I got kind of four big halls full of games that are tombstoned.
    62:27
    Wow. What can I tell you? I mean, I have a similar challenge. Not only for me, not only for 192 games. Yeah, I don't have that problem, but I definitely started to, because the games I've been changing out have been creeping up in value. Because I got rid of what I consider my B-grade games. Yeah. But it's now getting to a point where I'm like, what do I want to get rid of next? It is getting harder. I think Ghostbusters eventually I will, like, I wanted a game that I was like, I'll play it for a decent bit and then I'll trade it out. Thank you for watching! I hope you've saved some money for SpaceX IPO, mate. Oh, I've had some great investment advice from some of my colleagues at work, actually. My wife has been using Trading212 and then basically putting up some fractional shares and investments in different areas. And she's already making, got better money than I would and having my money sat in pinball machines at the moment for an hour. Thank you for watching. reading up a lot of articles. To be honest with you, I always said to her, if you're going to do investments, money you're prepared to lose. Yeah, exactly. That's the easiest motto you can have with everything. I don't know if it's that. But I think SpaceX is going to blast off. Maybe. I keep hearing people saying to me, as soon as it hits that, all the original investors want their money back, and it'll be a bit like a Ponzi scheme, and it'll just... I mean, I have to say there is a bit of a danger of that. There's some really great stuff like SpaceX, And then there's X itself, which is, I mean, that's a shit show, I think. But then there's XAI, which is, let me tell you, there's no better platform than that right now.
    65:12
    And it's selling like hotcakes. So we'll see, we'll see, we'll see, we'll come back to it. So a couple of, just moving on. So, I just want to talk about, you know, some of the amusing things that we see in our community.
    65:38
    Okay. And it's kind of hilarious that, you know, so let's talk pinball info for a minute. I'm banned, right? And many people have tried to get me reincarnated. You'll never be unbanned, Niel. Yeah. I just don't see it happening. I'm super cool with that because I broke the rules, right? Yeah.
    66:04
    Actually, let me rephrase that. Twice I broke the rules and Gale is charged. Once, I think it's no bollocks, frankly, but it doesn't really matter. I don't really care. But what I find incredible... So I still can read it, right?
    66:22
    There are people on the forum that behave in a way that if it was me, I would be banned about eight times over.
    66:33
    Yeah. There's one post where I'm personally being threatened with violence. Yeah, I've seen it. And they haven't done anything about it. And what's kind of funny about it is... Although, I thought that post was on Facebook, though, no?
    66:54
    I think there was one on... It was on Pinside. There was one on Pinside, and they booted him out, which was kind of funny. There was one on... There was one on Facebook as well, wasn't there? Facebook, I did wind up by posting my favorite Ron Seal pinball advert.
    67:17
    That's what it said. I mean, oh my God. I tell you what, I am shit at DIY, but that was on a level of shitness.
    67:28
    I was like... The funny thing is, it came up on one of the WhatsApp channels that I'm on. But of course, I don't have any friends. Everybody hates me. And we were all just pissing our pants laughing. It was so fucking bad.
    67:47
    And I just couldn't resist it. So I burned some AI tokens on an advert. Ssir, you're welcome. I would love for that person to start something.
    68:29
    The thing is, right, on a more serious note, I remember seeing that individual's post and how he threatened not just you, but people who were your acolytes or your fanboys. And part of me is like, as you know, I've got like a nine month old, right? He's barely a year old. And we're talking about whether or not we go to pin the vest because it's not really an environment for an infant, right? And we thought, okay, well, we can try and make it work by basically him not being in the rooms. We can basically, you know, spend time with him and one of us can take care of him, one of us can go in and bring a game. But then I see that post and he's like, you know, threatening to punch people's face in and stuff like that. And I'm like, I just, I don't want that. I don't want that around my child. As much as I don't feel threatened by that individual, it's my child I have to think about. Ssure, Ssure. I personally think it's not the right attitude to have. If someone threatens someone else, whether it's a joke or not, it should be seen as serious. We banned Cole for saying something that he was seen in jest, and they all rinsed him as some racist.
    70:09
    And it was ridiculous. I'm sorry, it was absolutely ridiculous. And yet you have someone threatening someone with death threats, and nothing happens. Great moderation there, guys.
    70:22
    On Pinside, they basically acted, and a shout out to the mods of Pinside, they got a tough job on a super amazing forum.
    70:36
    People don't have to agree with each other, people don't have to like each other, but in a civilised society, to threaten violence... Yeah, it's well needed. It's just unnecessary. Ssr. It's kind of funny, but there's another moment of truth, which is, you know, how people, you know, between buddies, you know, you can use language like that, maybe, maybe not, I don't know. But kind of calling that out, it's like, really?
    72:05
    It's someone, it goes back to the whole coal thing. I know I'm getting stuck on this, but it does wind me up. If someone isn't taking offence to something, but then someone who isn't even in that demographic or race takes offence to it and suddenly they go, wow, that's racist, and you're lucky we didn't report you to the police for it. And yet, at the same hand, you can call someone a homophobic slur or you can give them a death threat.
    72:29
    Yeah, okay, guys. Great. Awesome. Good argument to stand on. And look, I was also threatened. There's a league meet where I was threatened if I turned up, I'd have my teeth punched. Ssr.
    73:11
    What I basically get is, you know, you have to be, you know, when you put the evidence together, Scott, you know, and you get the history of the individual, I actually feel pity. Oh, yeah. Thank you for watching. And this is just, again, me talking to you, and everyone can see this from transparency-wise. They see it as you taking over someone else's cherished kind of event, right? Yeah. And for whatever reason, even though you had good intentions, they see it as you taking control of something away that was someone else's dream, someone else's idea. And I think it all boils down to communication. That's all that is. Do you know what I mean? I think maybe, I'm not saying you did or you didn't, but I'm just saying if you'd have gone to that individual and asked for permission, then they said yes, it's fine. I did, that's the thing, I did. But they act like you didn't, that's the part I don't understand. This is the problem, I was guilty, judged and executed without anyone actually hearing a freaking word of what I said, right? I spoke to Mark, it's kind of funny, I spoke to him like at the last event and said, Ssr. Mace, well, some of us want to keep running this on. Are you all right with that? And he said to me, you know, that's cool, but I just don't want to be involved.
    75:35
    And, you know, that's the hilarious part of that. I mean, it's a sad shame because the pub's gone bankrupt. Yeah, it goes back to what we said before, right? I mean, the government soon is damnedest to kill the hospitality sector, without doubt.
    75:49
    But I think there is definitely bias in this community, and that's just what it boils down to. And I don't think we're ever going to change that. I think the part of me that just goes, do you know what? I just can't be bothered with it anymore, which is part of the reason why I'll be honest with you, why we took a break from the podcast, because I was just like, I don't need it in my life anymore. I stopped going on the forum. I stopped caring, because if you're not willing to listen to someone when they say, well, I take offense to that, and they just go, well, it's just a joke, I'm just like, well, then you shouldn't have done what you did to Cole. And it's as simple as that. Yeah, I mean, it has to be consistent. Sstar Wars, Walking Dead, Evil Dead, Evil Dead. And he points and he goes, Ed Sillyband.
    77:02
    And he's then doing an impression of Ed Milliband. It's fucking hilarious. And just seeing that bit of comedy around the kind of mad politics and crazy world that we live in right now. Didn't they do a new spitting image and they got in trouble for doing a spitting image of Pannington Bear or something like that? I heard about that. Oh, okay. No, I didn't. There was something like where they I don watch a ton of TV No I don anymore but I do find it a bit like you know if something is done as a parody or something as you say is done in jest of a political figure because they've done something stupid or because there's some scandal going on, you shouldn't be silenced on it based on some furious copyright. I do have to give a shout out. Golden Gun. Check that out. In the new Bond, this is a new Bond. Oh, is that the game that got released? I didn't realize it came with all this shit, but it's the new James Bond first light game. Mate, it is epic. I heard about this. Do you know what? I was surprised because isn't there an Amazon studio that did it and everyone was worried it was going to be rubbish? But it actually turns out it's really good. No, so it's by the same guys that did Hitman.
    78:19
    Ah, okay, yeah. So they were acquired by Square Enix and then they basically bought themselves out of it because Square Enix kind of derailed itself or something. And they basically bet the farm on this game. 2020, I heard about it in 2021.
    78:36
    I actually expect, so the last good Bond game before this is Goldeneye. And there's been some real shitters over the last 20 years since Goldeneye came out on Nintendo 64, right? So I'm a huge Bond fan, as many of you know.
    78:55
    So this game came out. I bought the limited edition because you got it a day earlier. That's how stupid I am.
    79:02
    But literally it came out and downloaded on my laptop whilst I was in... Does it run all right on your Rog Alley? It runs... So I've upgraded my Rog Alley. I'm now running a 1X Player Apex, which is the most amazing device that I've ever had in my life. It is outstanding. It has AMD Strict Halo.
    79:32
    Okay. And this thing, actually, I should have brought it here. This thing, so if you go to 1xplayer.com, because I know a few folks are gamers, but this has got an AMD Stix Halo 395 chip in it. And it's a game changer beyond belief. It's called the One Player Apex.
    79:58
    You can get this in two versions. It's an eight and a half inch, but the same size as the Xbox ROG or the same size as the Steam Deck. Steam Deck, yeah. But about the same size as the... Has the price on that gone up?
    80:23
    They've all gone nuts, man. Yeah. I got very lucky because I got in on this in the IG data Indiegogo. I got in right early and they honoured the price, which I was surprised at actually. I was going to say, given the price of memory and flash, it's a... This laptop is... Sorry, it's a handheld, it's not a laptop, it's a handheld. Sure.
    80:42
    It is the... I mean, it pisses on a lot of high-end stuff. And it comes with this thing, which is 10 and nuts actually. I don't know. Let's do a little bit of it. It comes with, ah, it's here.
    81:03
    This will shock you, mate. It comes with this thing called a Frostbee. Comes in this box, right? Right. And it comes with a cable that comes out of the back of it that you can plug it in. You don't have to use this, but you can plug it in, and it's water-cooled.
    81:25
    They've liquid-cooled it? Okay. Yeah. Hold on a minute. How's the, so it's got like radiators on the back then to exhaust it? No, you plug the cable in. Okay. And this little docking bay that's got all the water and radiator in it, right? It's cool as fuck. And I'll tell you what, right, when you plug the frost bay in and you turn it up to max TVP, holy moly, man, this thing blows the doors off everything. I mean, I have owned practically every handheld there is. Have they got like SteamOS on it or has it still got Windows? You can run SteamOS on it if you want to. I don't. I run Windows. It runs Windows in tablet mode. It's a touchscreen. Works great. It's got fingerprint login. That's what I like about my wife's Steam Deck. So I was going to get one and then the price is like tripled or whatever. And I was just like, I can't be bothered. I just like, you know. If you want a Steam Deck, I've got one that you can. I'll do a good deal on it because I've never used it. What have you got, an OLED or an LCD version? I've got an LCD version. Okay, yeah. We can talk after this. I've got the top-end LCD one. I mean, I've used it like five times.
    82:39
    Well, yeah, you wouldn't need to with the other devices you've got. So it's great for some things, but the kind of games I play, I kind of need a bit more power. Spooky Pinball Inc. Now he's got used to it and now he just looks at the lights and stuff and I'm like, yep, so but surely he's indoctrinated into the world of pinball. So I'll tell you, that was a quick one though. The reason why I got D&D, mainly because of the co-op and the ability of like, you know, to be able to play with my wife because she plays pinball. Everyone always says it's a bit weird, right? Not weird, but uncommon, I suppose, because everyone I speak to that goes, oh, your wife plays pinball. I'm like, yeah, yeah, she does. I like it though. I genuinely do like it, and that's why I wanted a game that we could just genuinely play together. There's a few games I think that have co-op, but not many, if I'm honest with you. I would like it to be a more common feature.
    83:59
    TMNT was one, wasn't it? TMNT's got it. Most Blade games have got it. Dwight is a great coder, by the way. I know you give the Ghostbusters crap and that with the whole music thing, But honestly, I do like it. It's good it comes from the layout. I mean, it's kind of unfortunate.
    84:21
    Yeah, I think maybe I've got less problems with it because I've got the pro, because I've noticed with the premium you've obviously got the ghost slings, which I've seen them, they're like demons. Like you could be playing and suddenly it just grabs the ball. Yeah, the issue is basically the ball coming out of the pops. You can never save it. That's true. Yeah, it's hard. So this is me. I don't know if this will translate, but this is me. It's not quite like the... Oh yeah, yeah, I see it. I've got those glasses that are like a screen.
    84:58
    Oh, right. So you don't have to use them, because in the sunshine they work amazingly well. Yeah. Beasts, they're called the Beasts. They're freaking amazing. Spooky Pinball Inc. The screen, it kind of just follows you. It's stunning. And the bits here, they've got tiny little speakers in it, and they just play the audio. I had noticed that with the, because I was speaking to Cole about that, with the Ray-Ban Metas. Yeah, they're more VR than XR.
    86:05
    This is like a screen. It was just incredible to see the fact across the stem of the, Oh, absolutely. You can go that haptic control. It's just nuts that you can fit that all in there. Yeah, it's absolutely one of the... And in my car, I had Park Close By, and I've got a Starlink Mini,
    86:23
    so I was able to play Fortnite online because I basically gave... I saw that video, that picture, yeah. I put Wi-Fi across the beach, and I'm playing Fortnite. I've got other people go to the beach to relax. What do you do? Play games. I go to the beach to relax. I mean, I'll be honest with you, I hate the beach because I hate it for two reasons. I fucking hate sand. You sound like Anakin Skywalker.
    86:47
    Yeah, I absolutely hate suntan lotion. Because I'm like, the white is the white, I am the gamma. It could be worse, it could be like me, we're putting suntan lotion on a hairy arm like that. It's like literally trying to elaborate gorilla. I hate this stuff. I can't avoid the beach. I'll tell you what, on a quick note on that though, Martin's has got like an amazing house next to the beach in Bournemouth. I was so scared. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That vista view he had today, it was breathtaking. Like, honestly, he's hit the gold mine there. I was so envious, honestly. I was kind of going because I wanted to take my little one to the beach because we were going to go, like make a day of it sort of thing. I'd pick the pinball machine up in the afternoon, go to the beach in the morning. And then we got the weather reports. You know what it's like in England. One minute it's blazing hot, the next minute it's bloody freezing and raining constantly. So ironically, the weather was all right when I got there, but you just don't know how quickly that was going to last. I mean, the weather's been awful this week, yeah. But what was I going to say?
    88:00
    It was one of those things. Rock Alley, beach. Yeah, so actually one other thing I want to mention is, So we're doing UK Open and the European Pinball Championships here in London. New venue near Wimbledon.
    88:17
    I'm going to release a bunch of info tomorrow on the UK Open website. Well, tomorrow, Saturday, it'll probably be... Is the plan still to do that post-Pinfest, I imagine? Is it all?
    88:27
    Sorry? When do you plan to do the date for that event? Oh, it's September. It's the last week of September. It's always a UK Open. Tickets will go on sale 1st of July. I think we'll have about 350 players, hopefully. To be honest with you, if we get 300, I'm happy. 300 is kind of the bottom end of the limit. We've got some big sponsors sponsoring. There's one manufacturer working on helping us with a few things.
    89:04
    And I think we've got a beer sponsor not fully pinned down yet. The big issue I'm having is I can't get anyone to do me any special rates on hotels, unfortunately.
    89:18
    London in September, you know, forget it. Yeah. So that's going to be a challenge. Hindsight, I think if I was to ask to do it again, I might not do it in London. I might, you know, go. But the problem is, is getting the games there. And actually, a shout out for help. If anyone knows of a kind of logistics company with lorries that can help us move the games from the club to the venue, we'll pay for it, of course. Thank you for watching. They're in the wrong place. They're in Manchester. I need someone kind of London-ish or Surrey area. They're far away.
    90:28
    But look, definitely, you know, we've got, so at the club we've got a docking bay. So, you know, with the right, if it's got a loader, we just got to roll the games on from the club. That would be the easy part. The hard part would be at the venue. Also, if you want to volunteer to help, we're going to need some volunteers. We get access to the place on the Tuesday, or is it the Monday? I think the Monday. Monday or Tuesday, I can't remember.
    90:56
    And we've got to get it up and running, you know, by Thursday. And then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we do all the work. And then Monday, we also need help to take all the games back. Because what usually happens is, it was a brilliant gig Sunday night, and then everyone disappears. And there's like four of us to move 100 games. And that can't happen. If that happens, if we end up in that scenario, I probably won't run another event because it's just, it's asking the same bunch of people just too much. So hopefully we're going to see, what's the word? Hopefully we're going to see, you know, a lot of Brits come out to help us because, you know, we want to do a great job for the EPC. UK Open will be amazing. Did you ask Gary Spencer any involvement that you could open as he was visiting? Yep. So Stern are involved. It's a Stern Pro Circuit event, so they're going to lean in with some help.
    91:57
    Yeah, I mean, Gary actually, it was great. Gary was talking in the club. We didn't spend a lot of time on that, but we walked around all the classic Sterns. He was amazed by the collection that we have there. Yeah, big collection now. And of the classics then and the modern ones.
    92:18
    When he saw Star Wars, it was a bit of a moment. How the hell did you get that? And I was like, Gary, you don't want to know.
    92:27
    That's quite funny, actually. I didn't think about that. It was very funny. So actually, I'm just watching on the big screen Keith Elwin's playing. And they're about to keep going in Escher and a couple of other players are about to play the Star Wars Fall of the Empire, which I actually think is a great game.
    92:53
    Anyway, so Luke, and also we've got a critical hit tournament in the club middle of June. Critical hit is we use these cards as part of the tournament.
    93:06
    And the cards do make people do dumb things. So this one says, if someone plays a spell on you, you can use this to block it. So someone might play a spell that says, swap the scores from player one to player two. And you can swap. It's a bit of D&D mixed in with Pinball. Great. If you've never been in a tournament before, this is the one to come in. It's a lot of fun.
    93:29
    And then match one of the tournaments beginning in July in the club. Spooky Pinball Inc. I'm glad to hear that the little one and the family are all doing well.
    94:07
    My life is just getting crazier and crazier with work and other stuff, which is good. I've actually kind of taken a bit of a break from pinball over the last month,
    94:22
    probably because I was on holiday and probably was a little going on at work. But, you know, I'm getting excited about the EPC. There's so many cool things we're going to do. It's going to be a blast. So on that note, I think all that remains to do is to thank the maker
    94:49
    and wish our four listeners, because that's all we've got apparently, Thank you for watching. It was a bit like, oh, that's closing? I thought it was doing all right. It was like, bloody hell. So that's not good. Are they, is it just gone, gone? Are they going to relocate? Gone, gone. Yeah, now they're gone. I think it's just got expensive to run. Power. Yeah. We have the same challenge as the club. Shout out to the Pinball Factory in Birmingham.
    95:45
    They've got, they're open every weekend. But a good bunch, I think they've got about 30 games there now. Cooking, a good bunch of guys up there running it. Shout out to the Blackpool. Pinball Club, you know, they're starting to get momentum looking the guys there. I think they've got about 25 games there.
    96:03
    Obviously, we've got a special one lit down in Salisbury, Pete and the guys. He's got about 30 games down there now. And obviously, Pinball Republic, you know, we're up to 80 games at the moment. And actually, we've got great news. We've got the Fiberlink going in, so you're going to see us stream a lot more from Pinball Republic. Watch this space, we've got a couple of big events. I was going to ask you that quickly actually, there was a streaming rig for sale on the forum, what's your views on that? Is that a good deal?
    96:43
    Yeah, it's a very good deal. That's the call and the corner. I always try and do it on my phone, but it's just terrible. I need a proper setup. Tony and the gang.
    97:25
    They won't let it live if you don't mention it. I know, you're right. I had it on my list and then you distracted me with that.
    97:33
    Blame me, sure. Yeah, Luke, shout out to Medway. I think they've got about 25 games down in Kent, Medway.
    97:43
    Cool place. And some cool people and Paul. So, yeah, I mean, lots of great clubs. And also there's a couple of commercial places, Retroids, shout out to them, they're good guys.
    97:59
    Funland Avenue as well in Brunswick. Funland, yeah, I think they've got rid of all the pinball though. Have they? Last I heard there was like two games there and it looked like they were heading towards kiddie gambling land.
    98:14
    But yeah, it's not, I think they might have, well they probably... Big ship retribution systems also knows kiddie gambling land. Get them hooked early, mate.
    98:27
    There's a place in the north, but I forget what it's called. Oh, there's also a club near Bristol, Slapshot.
    98:42
    I think it's Bristol or South Wales. They've got a decent amount of games. Spooky Pinball Inc. I'd be like Harry Potter without Harry Potter. Yeah, I'll give you that. No, I'm sorry. Yeah, apparently they've got... Oh, but have you heard what the Pinball Brothers have got? Oh, we didn't cover that. We didn't cover rumours. Look, we'll spend five minutes discussing this, only because my wife will be like, how the hell did you not bring this up? Fifth-ending element is with Pinball Brothers, her number one team. She will literally buy it, even if it's from that. Well, it's upsetting. I pissed myself laughing because I thought Scott's sold on that.
    99:56
    I'm so distraught. I'm hoping Kaneda is full of it and it's wrong because I distinctly remember the funny... I didn't hear it from Kaneda, so... Oh, did you not? I think this has got legs. Yeah, I don't... Kaneda knows nothing. Right. I remember when she asked David Van Ness on the livestream from Barrels of Fun, And she asked about, you know, do you have Fifth Element? He goes, I can neither confirm nor deny, which led me to believe at least that he might have it. My worry is that it's like most licenses, like He-Man. Do you remember that transferred ownership so many damn times? I just wonder if they did have it and then it's transferred over to Pinball Brothers. No one ever had He-Man.
    100:36
    Oh, really? Yeah, for two reasons. One, it's a more expensive license than people realize. And two, the new movie was coming out. Spooky Pinball Inc. Still not back at the revenue that they were making before COVID.
    101:21
    Sorry, who isn't? The movie companies. Oh, yeah, I know. But that's because, let's face it, people have moved on. Audiences don't really go out to watch movies anymore. They want to watch it on the street. But that's the fact that they put some stats up. People are now returning to the cinema. We'll see. And they've all pretty much announced that the cinema kind of exclusive is extending to 40 days. And the reason they're doing it, two reasons. One is people are starting to go back to cinemas, first of all, obviously. Two, the whole supply chain makes more money when there's a longer cinema run. Okay. Yeah, well, we've dived on too long, but yeah, we'll see what happens. I think the number one movie to watch will be like... I watched Hoshimikoku this weekend, so... Well, that's tanking already on projection. Yeah, I mean, I knew they'd suck it up, but anyway, I'm going to go see it. I was going to say, the only one I think will be a good telling whether or not audiences are going back will be the new Marvel Doom movie, right? Doctor Doom, where it is. I don't know. I think Marvel might have over overdone it, basically. But we'll see.
    102:40
    I'm out of the cinema. Scott, have a great one. We'll be back next month, I hope. Or we'll be... Yeah, post the Pinfest, right? We'll do like a free Pinfest.
    102:50
    We'll do a Who Can We Wind Up? Ahead of Pinfest special. Who else can we wind up? And yeah, use your venues. If you don't use them, they will disappear.
    103:05
    None of them will do them. They're amazing. But we will do it. On that bombshell, it's goodbye from me and... Goodbye from me. Goodbye.