Episode 317: QUEEN Pinball hype with Marc Silk

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·27m 43s·analyzed·Oct 3, 2021

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.037

TL;DR

Queen pinball prototype preview with Mark Silk, emphasizing promise but noting artwork falls short of current industry standards.

Summary

Jeff Theols interviews Mark Silk about the Queen pinball machine prototype displayed at Queen the Greatest pop-up shop in London. They discuss the machine's 14 live songs, playfield features (Brian May's guitar upper playfield, piano with drop targets, band member collection mechanics), video quality from Live at Montreal and Wembley footage, and Mark's concerns about artwork compared to recent industry standards set by artists like Christopher Franchi and Zombie Yeti. Mark also discusses his voice work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball and reveals a flipper code easter egg.

Key Claims

Queen pinball has 14 live songs including Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Gaga, We Will Rock You, and We Are the Champions
high confidence · Mark Silk detailed the tracklist after visiting the Queen the Greatest pop-up shop in London
The Queen machine prototype uses live video from Queen Live at Montreal (35mm film, available on Blu-ray HD) and Wembley 1986
high confidence · Mark Silk confirmed video quality and specific concert sources while discussing the prototype at the pop-up shop
The playfield features Brian May's Red Special guitar as an upper playfield element and piano keys with drop targets
high confidence · Mark identified specific playfield features from photos of the prototype
The machine is being developed by Pinball Brothers
high confidence · Jeff Theols explicitly states 'let's wait to see what Pinball Brothers does with that'
A 3D printed, unpainted Wembley Stadium sits at the back of the playfield as a work-in-progress element
high confidence · Mark Silk observed and described the unpainted 3D element during his visit
Mark Silk was the voice of Splinter, Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, and Shredder on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball
high confidence · Mark confirmed his extensive voice work on TMNT and revealed flipper code 197 activates a video message from him
The Queen machine is still a prototype with non-functioning modes and likely to see changes before January release
high confidence · Jeff stated 'the machine you saw wasn't even working at this point' and modes 'aren't working yet'
Current standards for pinball art have elevated significantly in the past 3-4 years due to artists like Christopher Franchi and Zombie Yeti
high confidence · Both Mark and Jeff discussed how modern art standards make the Queen prototype artwork appear below expectations for a game of this stature and price point

Notable Quotes

“I saw the very last ever Queen performance with Freddie Mercury. It was August 1986, and it was a complete fluke. I got invited by a relative, and it was one of those turning points in your life where you just go, this is how it should be. It was incredible. No one could command a crowd of that size. Freddie was the best. There's no one even close.”
Mark Silk @ ~8:45 — Establishes Mark's deep personal connection to Queen and Freddie Mercury, framing his emotional investment in the pinball machine's quality
“And the reason we think that is because we just seen how the Zombie Yetis and Christopher Franchise and Randy Martinez and all these wonderful artists have just brought so much to pinball art lately that i think our standards are a lot higher than they once were if this game came out 10 years ago you probably don't blink an eye”
Mark Silk @ ~15:30 — Core criticism of Queen artwork relative to contemporary industry standards; signals expectation gap between prototype art quality and current market expectations
“The standard now that you would see on a movie poster or on the front cover of, you know, Rolling Star magazine or something else that's pretty epic. And if you're going to put art on anything now of this ticket price, but also of this stature, it has to be the best you can give that license, the best you can give the customer, the best you can give the fan of this.”
Jeff Theols @ ~16:00 — Frames minimum acceptable art quality threshold for premium-priced pinball games based on licensing stature and fan expectations
“For me as a fan of the band, what i would love to see is artwork that represents that on the playfield i did notice on some of the pictures there was a big guitar an upper playfield i guess yeah so on the playfield on the top uh top right hand side is an upper playfield which is a representation of brian may's classic fireplace guitar”
Mark Silk @ ~19:00 — Identifies specific design element that works well (Brian May's guitar) while suggesting broader scope for improvement using Queen's rich visual catalog
“You know, Mark, they've only got the videos in there and certainly the modes aren't working yet. So they're probably looking for somebody to voice the thing. So I don't know if you've reached out to Pinball Brothers or not, but I would get on that bell right away.”

Entities

Mark SilkpersonJeff TheolspersonPinball BrotherscompanyQueen (band)organizationFreddie MercurypersonBrian MaypersonChristopher Franchiperson

Signals

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community_signal: Stern Pinball uses easter egg flipper codes to hide video/audio messages from voice actors, creating collectible discovery moments for players and builders to find cast cameos
high · Mark revealed TMNT flipper code 197 for his video message; Jeff mentions Led Zeppelin pinball may have similar easter egg, suggesting this is systematic practice
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event_signal: Mark Silk traveled to London specifically to preview Queen pinball prototype at Queen the Greatest pop-up shop, demonstrating community enthusiasm for major IP licensing announcements
high · Mark stated 'I'm taking the rest of the day off. And I got on the train to London and went for an adventure' upon learning of pinball machine at the pop-up
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design_philosophy: Queen pinball artwork falls short of contemporary industry standards established by recent work from Christopher Franchi and Zombie Yeti, raising questions about final version adequacy for licensing stature and fan expectations
high · Both Mark and Jeff explicitly discuss how modern art benchmarks make the prototype artwork appear below acceptable standards for a premium-tier game of this IP significance
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design_philosophy: Queen playfield incorporates band member collection mechanics (similar to Monster Bash) and uses Queen album artwork reproductions on targets, suggesting rules complexity exploration still in early prototype phase
medium · Mark observes band member collection mechanic and album artwork on targets; notes modes aren't functional yet and they're likely still designing rules complexity
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Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.083

0:00

I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now. It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Theols. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com, all your past episodes, subscriptions and more. We're also on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. You can find us on Facebook and email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. Let's go to the UK right now and talk to our good friend, Mark Silk. Hello, Mark. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing, Jeff? Good to talk to you. I saw you did a little bit of a day trip to London. What was that all about? You've been peaking. I'm a big Queen fan. Queen were always my favorite band growing up. And as soon as I heard they had a pop-up shop in London and there was a pinball machine there, I thought, I'm taking the rest of the day off. And I got on the train to London and went for an adventure. You know what's so great about this Queen pop-up shop, which is called Queen the Greatest, is that it is so hard to find Queen merchandise. I'm going to tell you a story. When I went to the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I went to the store specifically looking for Queen merchandise, my son Brady's favorite band, and they said they don't license it out like other bands may do to Cleveland. So I couldn't buy it. I've seen Queen in concert. I could buy some stuff there, but not really what I wanted. It was very limited. So this pop-up shop is just a dream come true. Yeah, that's kind of why I wanted to go down, because obviously the pinball thing is a real draw. But as a fan, I just wanted to see what they had there. And it was a stack of T-shirts, great posters. They had things like the essential Queen Rubik's Cubes. Why? I don't know, but it was there. Queen Teddy Bears. But things like, if you're a fan, things you might have already got before, but presented in a different way. So there was Queen's Greatest Hits remastered on vinyl, but in a special limited edition of 500 copies of this special Queen the Greatest sleeve. So the new logo for this pop-up shop is exclusive to this event. But there was some cool stuff there. It was just fun as a fan of it to be there and experience it up close. Can you imagine if Queen somehow got the marketing department from KISS and started merchandising everything under the sun, and we could have Queen everything, Queen condoms, Queen caskets, you name it? No, it's cheesy, but that would be a kind of tragic. No. Very nice pun. See, the highlight for me, this is where we're going now, the highlight for me, clearly, as you can see on this audio file, if you look closely, you'll see this Queen The Greatest bag, and inside it, I will pull out for you, Jeff, a pair of Queen socks. Nice. I have a picture of that bag, so I'll post it on our Facebook and our Instagram. Do you know the brand Happy Socks? Yes. Yeah, they're really, really well-made, cool socks. It's Queen's own happy socks. And on it, it says Galileo, Galileo, Figaro, and that's pretty much all you need. So, yeah, I'm happy. I couldn't put the pinball machine in a carrier bag, but the socks worked. My son collects crazy socks. So, yes, I'm always looking for unique socks. So let's talk about this pinball machine. By the way, thanks to Martin from Pinball News for giving kind of a nice detailed spread on that. So this is a theme that means so much to so many people, myself, you. It's your favorite band. You've seen them live. Yeah. I'm going to jump in there. I saw the very last ever Queen performance with Freddie Mercury. It was August 1986, and it was a complete fluke. I got invited by a relative, and it was one of those turning points in your life where you just go, this is how it should be. It was incredible. No one could command a crowd of that size. Freddie was the best. There's no one even close. The ultimate showman. So that's one of the things that's unique about this pinball machine. Again, this is a prototype, so likely we're going to see a bunch of changes to this machine. In fact, the machine you saw wasn't even working at this point. It was just really for display purposes. But with the possibility of seeing something new, maybe changed a little bit in January. So we're looking forward to what Pinball Brothers does with that. But I like that they have all live songs. I thought that was unique because, really, that is the Queen experience. Yeah, Queen, they're very great. I mean, their studio work was incredible and groundbreaking. But Queen live was something else. And something that as a fan, because there's going to be a lot of very mixed opinions about this machine. And again, as it's a prototype, you kind of need to wait to see what the final version is until we really know. But visually and in terms of the audio, it actually sounded really good. There were clips from Queen Live at Montreal, which they originally shot on 35mm film. And you can get that on Blu-ray now in HD. And that really does look a fantastic image. It's my favorite live album of theirs. Yeah, it looks, it's beautifully captured. So there were clips from that show, a whole bunch of songs, and there were also, I'm pretty certain there were clips from the Wembley show as well in 86. So the tracks that are on there, the 14 live songs, are A Kind of Magic, Another One Bites the Dust, Bohemian Rhapsody, Hammer to Fall, I Want to Break Free, Kill a Queen, One Vision, Play the Game, Radio Gaga, Seven Seas of Rye Somebody to Love, We Will Rock You has to be We Are the Champions and Who Wants to Live Forever so those are the 14 live songs that are in there and the quality of the video was excellent and the quality of the sound, the actual reproduction of it was very good so that's at least a good starting point I think you and I could probably name another 10 songs we would like to see included there but still a pretty good list, 14 songs it's not 8, it's not 10, so you're getting a little more than you normally see in pinball machines. I know when Guns N' Roses came out by Jersey Jack, we were all excited. 21 songs, that's incredible. And it looks kind of, I don't know, I mean, I haven't seen it, but what JJP did with GNR, how they incorporated the live performances and used the studio tracks, I thought it worked very well. I mean, this, they don't have to sync up. You've got the live audio and the live video, so it'll probably be an easier sync for Pinball Brothers. Yeah, and as much as I love, as much as I love Queen's studio work, the live albums are absolutely stunning. So, you know, as an experience for a pinball player, that would be very exciting to have live tracks. But yeah, you know, I want to see the final version. I really do. The art is something that it probably caught a lot of people's eye. Again, we're just seeing the thumbnails and pictures from people like yourself, from Martin from Pinball News and others. Yeah, there could be a little more, I think. And the reason we think that is because we just seen how the Zombie Yetis and Christopher Franchise and Randy Martinez and all these wonderful artists have just brought so much to pinball art lately that i think our standards are a lot higher than they once were if this game came out 10 years ago you probably don't blink an eye yeah i totally agree the the standard of arts in pinball over the past even just three or four years has gone to the roof i mean if you look at what christopher franchi and zombie yeti and and you know a bunch of others are doing, but those two in particular have completely elevated the art of pinball. It's the standard now that you would see on a movie poster or on the front cover of, you know, Rolling Star magazine or something else that's pretty epic. And if you're going to put art on anything now of this ticket price, but also of this stature, it has to be the best you can give that license, the best you can give the customer, the best you can give the fan of this. And if you're a fan of Queen especially, you'll know how striking Queen's visual image has always been. They were always so careful and creative in nurturing their image, and it changed throughout the years. I mean, even the iconic Queen logo. Freddie Mercury designed that back in, what was it, about 73, very, very early on. And it's timeless. I mean, that would be an incredible logo. You know, everyone's got an idea, don't they? But I was just going through this book here called 40 Years of Queen. I bought it a few years ago. And every few pages, you just see stunning visual representations of the band. From the iconic shot of the four heads on the Bohemian Rhapsody video to them live, the lighting rigs they used, those in themselves were a show. The album covers. There's so much that you can do with Queen. But when you think of Queen, immediately you'll have your version of Queen or your version of Freddie Mercury that springs to mind. It might be Live Aid. It might be Freddie with his fist in the air and the mic stand in his hand. But that's, for me as a fan of the band, that's the way I would want to see them represented on a pinball machine. I would want to relive every little moment that I love about Queen. That theme should be translated into what you see on the play field on the screen. The good thing that we have, they already have those assets for the screen. We just need to see that represented on the Translight and the rest of it. The great starting point is that they already have the great quality live video and live audio from the screen. so really we need to get art you know for me as a fan what i would love to see is artwork that represents that on the playfield i did notice on some of the pictures there was a big guitar an upper playfield i guess yeah so on the playfield on the top uh top right hand side is an upper playfield which is a representation of brian may's classic fireplace guitar that his dad built for him out of a fireplace so that's that's a nice touch then what else have we got there looking on the playfield here there's a piano on the left hand side there's a piano keys with drop targets and targets behind the drop targets yeah yep and i'm just looking what else we got here on the playfield there's a lot of stand-up targets and there and on a bunch of the targets they have uh little depictions of classic queen albums on them which now that's interesting because on the left hand side there's a stand-up target looks like a drop target which has the queen a kind of magic album cover on it which suggests then that they can use that artwork somehow so can they in a final version could they use a larger version of that somewhere there's other like classic queen moments like legit reproductions of albums on there what else we got him to get close up photos they took because i get the feeling they can probably do more than we're seeing just the fact that we've seen the queen a kind of magic stand-up target some artwork on that target. That would be great if more could be done with that. I noticed that, similar to Monster Bash, you're going to have to collect the different members of the band. Yeah. I think that's good that they've included... The band isn't just Freddy, obviously. It's Brian, it's Roger, it's John Deacon. And there's a lot you could do with the rules here. I mean, there are only four of them, so I wonder if this is going to be a complex game or is this going to be a simple wizard mode game? Are you going to have to explore the songs like in ACDC to get to something like an encore jackpot? There's a lot you can do. There's a stack you can do. There's lots of little, you know, ticks and nods and winks to classic wee moments. Like for the Radio Gaga video, there's an old time radio in the background. You know, the fact that you mentioned this Brian Mays guitar there. There's a keyboard there. For me, it would just be great to see what they do with the final version of it. Because I would love to see something that just, well, clearly it's not finished. because at the back, there is a 3D print of Wembley Stadium at the back, which isn't painted yet. So that's something else, obviously, that's a work in progress. So, you know, there's still potential. I've seen a bunch of people, you know, point out issues that could be tidied, and that happens with any prototype. Prototype. That's the key. It's a prototype. Yeah, the cabinet art looks okay, actually. From the one side, you see Wembley Stadium in silhouette and the Queen logo there. That's okay. It's, you know, it's actually okay. But there's a bunch of stuff that, you know, as a prototype, you'd go back and you'd probably have a tweak. But I would love a great Queen pinball machine. I genuinely would love it. That's why I got the train. It went down to Carnaby Street just to see what this thing was like. But, you know, I think realistically, you just, to be fair to anyone, if someone says this is a prototype, you have to go, okay, well, let's wait. because you don't know what point of the process this is or creatively where somebody has got to yet. You know, Mark, they've only got the videos in there and certainly the modes aren't working yet. So they're probably looking for somebody to voice the thing. So I don't know if you've reached out to Pinball Brothers or not, but I would get on that bell right away. I think I should tell them we know this guy called Jeff. He's unbelievable.

Jeff Theols @ ~28:00 — Informal suggestion that Mark Silk should pursue voice work on Queen pinball, leveraging his TMNT success and deep Queen fandom

“I would love a great Queen pinball machine. I genuinely would love it. That's why I got the train. It went down to Carnaby Street just to see what this thing was like.”

Mark Silk @ ~22:45 — Demonstrates Mark's genuine investment in the machine's quality and his willingness to travel to evaluate it in person

“Prototype. That's the key. It's a prototype. Yeah, the cabinet art looks okay, actually.”

Mark Silk @ ~23:00 — Key caveat—Mark emphasizes the prototype status to contextualize criticisms and maintain optimism for final version

“And so I got brought in to be Scooby and... Like Shaggy as well, Scoob. And Droopy... But yeah, if they ever create a Scooby-Doo machine, I would love to be involved in that.”

Mark Silk @ ~47:30 — Reveals Mark's extensive cartoon voice work background (Cartoon Network/Warner Bros) and expresses interest in Scooby-Doo pinball voice work

“So in attract mode, you hold both flippers in for a second or two. then the code is 197 so the left flipper is for the number the right flipper is enter”

Mark Silk @ ~38:00 — Reveals Stern's easter egg convention—flipper codes for hidden video messages from voice actors; demonstrates TMNT has mark's personalized easter egg

“Pinball Expo ends last day of October. The day we can fly from the UK to America is the 1st of November. So thanks for that.”

Mark Silk @ ~55:00 — Highlights real-world travel constraints preventing UK pinball community members from attending major US events; frustration with timing of UK-US travel restrictions

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinballgame

Queen the Greatestevent

Queen Live at Montrealproduct

Wembley Stadium 1986event

Stern Pinballcompany

Bulls and Ballsevent

Star Wars home pinballgame

Dutch Pinball Museumorganization

No Time to Dieproduct

IFPA 18 World Championshipevent

Guns N' Roses pinballgame

Martin (Pinball News)person

licensing_signal: Queen pinball leverages exclusive access to live performance video content (Montreal 35mm, Wembley 1986) and merchandise licensing (Happy Socks collaboration), indicating strong official partnership

high · Mark confirmed video quality from specific concert sources and official Queen the Greatest merchandise integration; Mark purchased official Queen Happy Socks at pop-up

market_signal: UK-US travel restrictions creating barriers to UK pinball community participation in major North American events (Pinball Expo late October), pushing enthusiasts toward European tournaments and festivals instead

high · Mark unable to attend Pinball Expo due to UK travel ban (ends Oct 31, can fly Nov 1); considering Texas Pinball Festival (March) or European events instead

personnel_signal: Mark Silk's successful voice work on TMNT pinball (Splinter, Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, Shredder) with easter egg flipper code suggests Stern employs voice actors and creates hidden tributes to cast members

high · Mark revealed flipper code 197 in attract mode activates video message from him recorded in studio; Jeff acknowledges this is standard Stern practice

announcement: Queen pinball machine by Pinball Brothers officially displayed at Queen the Greatest pop-up shop in London with 14 live songs, playfield features (Brian May's Red Special upper playfield, piano drop targets), and video content from Live at Montreal and Wembley 1986

high · Mark Silk visited the pop-up shop and confirmed prototype details; Jeff references expected changes by January reveal

product_concern: Queen pinball prototype features unpainted 3D Wembley Stadium element and non-functional mode systems, indicating significant work-in-progress state despite public display

high · Mark describes seeing unpainted 3D Wembley Stadium at back of playfield; Jeff confirms modes aren't working and machine was display-only

product_strategy: Queen pinball expected to see changes/refinements before January release, with final version potentially addressing prototype artwork concerns and completing unpainted playfield elements

medium · Jeff states 'likely we're going to see a bunch of changes to this machine' and references 'maybe changed a little bit in January'

sentiment_shift: Community standards for pinball art have elevated significantly in past 3-4 years, raising expectations for games themed around iconic visual properties like Queen

high · Both hosts emphasize how recent artist work (Franchi, Zombie Yeti) has set new benchmarks that make older art standards seem unacceptable for premium releases

licensing_signal: Queen pinball uses 14 live songs from band's catalog, with prototype featuring high-quality video from Live at Montreal (35mm Blu-ray) and Wembley 1986, indicating comprehensive official content licensing

high · Mark provided complete tracklist and confirmed video source quality; both hosts discussed how live audio/video sync is simpler than studio+live mix approach used by other manufacturers (GNR)