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The Pinball Chinwag Returns! | Sonic, Pokémon, Dune, Stern, JJP & More!

Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama·video·1h 3m·analyzed·Jul 4, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.021

TL;DR

Casual pinball industry chat covering Dune, Stern pricing, Pokemon code updates, and upcoming releases.

Summary

Gonzo and Enzo discuss recent pinball releases and industry developments in a casual podcast format. Key topics include Dune's post-launch improvements and customer service, Stern's UK price reset making Pro models affordable entry points, Pokemon's bare code and licensing constraints, and upcoming releases like Sonic (JJP) and potential Barrels of Fun projects. The hosts also reflect on older 70s/80s games and Barrels of Fun's design philosophy centered on immersive experiences.

Key Claims

  • Stern UK dropped prices by almost £2,000 in some cases due to eliminating middleman distributor

    high confidence · Gonzo discusses significant UK price reset, noting Pro models now under £7,000 vs £8,000+ previously

  • Dune sold approximately 700 units instead of planned 1,000-1,200 due to manufacturing focus on Winchester

    medium confidence · Enzo estimates Dune production numbers and attributes lower output to prioritizing Winchester production

  • Pokemon code is very bare and has received minimal updates in five months since launch

    high confidence · Enzo directly states 'the code is very bare' and 'it's still very bare. It's been out for five months now'

  • Pokemon Company involvement in code approval is slowing updates, requiring weeks for feedback from license holder

    medium confidence · Enzo speculates Pokemon Company sends code for approval and 'you don't hear back straight away from license holders'

  • Dune had manufacturing defects out of box including worm mech issues, HDMI/power cable interference, and scoop problems

    high confidence · Enzo details specific issues he encountered: worm mech auto-plunger failure, HDMI cable run with power causing static, zip tie/opto issues

  • Barrels of Fun is rumored to be developing Big Trouble in Little China as small production run of ~300 units

    medium confidence · Enzo states homebrew creator 'now works at Barrels of Fun' and 'wouldn't be surprised if they do like a small run'

  • Stern Spike 2 games now appearing on secondhand market for under £5,000

    high confidence · Gonzo reports seeing Avengers Infinity Quest listed for £4,800 secondhand, previously would have been £8,000 new

  • Pokemon game requires completing four separate tasks before accessing different biome areas

    high confidence · Enzo walks through Pokemon showing Discover, Catch, Battle, Train requirements to access biomes

Notable Quotes

  • “I think it's nice to have the other opinions afterwards. So now I'm sort of looking at and viewing it through a separate lens.”

    Gonzo @ early — Reflects on avoiding early community sentiment before forming own opinions on Beetlejuice

  • “Whether your score is high or low, I just really feel satisfied. So I'm really enjoying that.”

    Enzo @ early — Expresses preference for simple, satisfying older games over complex modern ones

  • “Stern's lowest model, the pro is meant to be an affordable pinball machine, but they weren't. So there's been a reset here where they've dropped in some cases by almost £2,000.”

    Gonzo @ middle — Key explanation of UK pricing reset and its market impact

  • “They're so damn reliable for someone that's just getting into pinball. You want a Stern. And for that, I think now this whole reset is going to encourage new people into the hobby.”

    Gonzo @ middle — Explains Stern price reset as accessibility boost for new collectors

  • “At the moment, you're basically your four ramps are your modes that you start. And once you've completed them, it's repetition.”

    Enzo @ late — Core criticism of Pokemon's limited code depth and replayability structure

  • “The code is very bare. It's still very bare. It's been out for five months now.”

    Enzo @ late — Direct assessment of Pokemon's minimal feature set despite five months post-launch

  • “They need probably someone to help with design, which now they've got a couple of people. I think there's big things coming from them.”

    Gonzo @ late — Suggests Barrels of Fun design team expansion signals future growth

  • “Pay attention to what I have and what I end up getting myself. And in my collection now, I have a Dune and I have a Labyrinth.”

    Enzo @ late — Emphasizes putting money behind personal game recommendations as credibility signal

Entities

GonzopersonEnzopersonDavidpersonGeorge GomezpersonJack DangerpersonPhilpersonBarrels of FuncompanyStern Pinballcompany

Signals

  • $

    market_signal: Stern UK eliminated middleman distributor and reset pricing down by ~£2,000 on premium/LE models and made Pro tier truly affordable entry point

    high · Gonzo details specific price drops, Pro now under £7,000 vs £8,000+, enables market accessibility

  • ?

    code_update: Pokemon code updates severely constrained by Pokemon Company approval process; bare code five months post-launch with minimal feature additions

    high · Enzo: 'Pokemon Company...probably wants things changed' and 'you don't hear back straight away from license holders. I mean, people have said sometimes it takes weeks'

  • ?

    product_concern: Dune shipped with multiple out-of-box issues including worm mech failure, HDMI/power cable interference causing static, and scoop protection gaps

    high · Enzo details: 'worm mech originally, auto plunger, issue with some zip ties on the Optos, HDMI cable that was run in power'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Dune production cut to ~700 units (from 1,000-1,200 planned) to prioritize Winchester manufacturing; Barrels may revisit Dune production later

    medium · Enzo: 'they've done 700 or something. But I think that's also because they're probably focusing on building those Winchesters. David did say don't say never. I think they might build more Dunes.'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Barrels of Fun leveraging founder's amusement park/roller coaster fascination to create immersive, journey-like game experiences across Dune, Labyrinth, Winchester

    high · Gonzo: 'The thing with David...he's really into amusement park rides...you can see elements of his fascination...they do take you on a bit of a journey'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.042

0:00
Good morning, good afternoon and of course a very good evening to one and all watching and a very good evening to Enzo over in Australia at the bottom of the deep blue sea by the looks of it behind you mate, how are you? Yeah, good, good. And it's not that late. It's only 8.30 at night this time. Excellent. There you go. This works for both of us. Normally it's like 11 p.m. here. Yeah. Well, I don't know when this will go out. I'll edit it. We're not going live because that presents all sorts of other interesting technical difficulties. Enzo just said to me before we went live, are you going to address the fact that you've not done much uploading recently? So I am. I will address that. So first of all, apologies. Had some lovely messages when I uploaded the other day saying where you've been, what you're doing, welcome back and stuff like that. There's no big story to tell. It's just my job, which is this, but not for Pimball. Podcasting, websites, videos. It's been a crazy, crazy few months. Let's put it that way. So I've been mega busy and then you've got family stuff and whatnot. But whilst I very much operate my my work life around a football season or a soccer season, as some of you might understand it watching this, this is very much getting into pinball season now for me. And the reason that is, is because I think quite naturally as a football season tapers off, I play more pinball and I have more spare time. So I look at more Pimball. I also find at this time of year, you've got a lot of releases.
1:49
I've had, as you might notice from the channel, got a new game as well. And we were in the build up now to Pinfest, UK Pinfest. So as we start to build up towards that as well, I start to dip my toe back in the water. What I will say is I've not. I've always been playing Pimball. I've been playing Pimball the whole time. So even when I'm really busy, I'll always have time for a few games. And I will tell you now, up until very recently, I've pretty much been playing June for months. So I'll have a few games of June. But what I don't have is the time to scroll through the Internet and find out exactly what's going in the world of pinball. This man does, by the way. So he's going to he's going to be able to talk about all that stuff. And then we'll hopefully dive through some opinions. We're going to have a general pinball chat today. So, yeah, I'll tell you something though, Enzo. One thing I am sort of grateful of, I didn't really understand that there had been any reaction to Beetlejuice. So I just open the game, I start playing the game, and because I've been detached from Pinball, it's only really when I see the comments start coming in, people are starting to say, well, it's clunky and it only plays in the bottom half of the play field and there's too many scoops and things like that. This is a really good reason why I shouldn't ever read or watch anything before I do a video. Now, I've only probably played 20 games in it now, but as soon as I read that stuff, then you start thinking, hold on a second. Yeah, it is very bottom playfield dominant as you're playing it. So, yeah, I think it's nice to have the other opinions afterwards. So now I'm sort of looking at and viewing it through a separate lens. Yeah, people say it's not the most flowy Pinball machine, which is right. And because of that, I'm going to do a side-by-side comparison of Evil Dead and Beetlejuice, which I'll record next week. There you go, mate. There's my explanation. You OK? What have you been playing? Yeah, well, ironically, I've actually been a bit MIA. I did address that on a live I did. It's just like work-life. There's a whole heap of reasons. But yeah, look, I've been playing a lot of Dune, Pokemon, and I've been playing a lot of older 70s and 80s games, which we should address because there's an element of those games that I just really find captivating. As you well know with like Dolly Parton for instance where I'm a busy person I've mentioned this before I want to be able to just play games and feel satisfied and content and not worry about modes on like Avengers or Godzilla where I play 20 minutes and I feel like I've achieved nothing because I'm not that great of a player right whereas like you know like at the moment I'm playing heaps of Embryon which has so much character and soul but there's no like you know there's no video. There's no modes as such. It's just collect the letters, hit the captive ball, repeat. But you feel satisfied. You really feel satisfied. Dolly Parton's the same, collect the letters, but you just keep playing. And whether your score is high or low, I just really feel satisfied. So I'm really enjoying that. But June, for me, has been a really captivating experience. I had Labyrinth for a bit and I found that really hard to shoot and I was a bit worried about June.

Barrels of Fun founder David is heavily influenced by amusement park rides and roller coasters in game design

high confidence · Gonzo states 'The thing with David, right, is he's really into amusement park rides and roller coasters' and 'you can see elements of his fascination'

  • X-Men has gone six months without code update (January to June timeframe) aside from small recent update

    high confidence · Enzo notes 'X-Men hasn't had one in a long time. There was a small update the other day' with 'six months since January was the last time'

    • Jersey Jack Pinball
    company
    Pinball Heavencompany
    Pokemon Companycompany
    Dunegame
    Pokemongame
    Labyrinthgame
    Winchestergame
    Sonicgame
    Evil Deadgame
    Beetlejuicegame
    Transformersgame
    Jawsgame
    X-Mengame
    Avengers Infinity Questgame
    Pinfest UKevent
    Big Trouble in Little Chinagame
    Carrie Hardyperson
  • ?

    product_concern: Labyrinth has brutal left outlane due to post geometry and ball retention issues; requires £50 3D-printed aftermarket lane extender mod to fix design flaw

    high · Enzo confirms mod fixed 'brutal' left outlane that 'was a bit of a problem, particularly where the post comes up. It sorted that problem out'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Dune experienced botched launch with early code; appreciation only gained traction 6+ months later at Expo when improved code became playable

    high · Enzo: 'they were very unlucky with the launch. It was a little bit of a botched launch...until Expo, so probably six months, where people literally started getting to play it properly'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Pokemon features limited endgame content; four-ramp mode structure becomes repetitive; children unable to reach biome travel unlock requirements

    high · Enzo: 'once you've completed them, it's repetition' and 'my kids have never achieved it, right? So they never get to move around the map'

  • $

    market_signal: Post-price-reset Stern Spike 2 machines now available secondhand for under £5,000 (Avengers Infinity Quest listed at £4,800)

    high · Gonzo: 'I saw one the other day, Avengers Infinity Quest...listed last week for £4,800. Secondhand...wasn't that long ago...would have been just over £8,000'

  • ?

    machine_intel: Barrels of Fun rumored to develop Big Trouble in Little China as small production run (~300 units); homebrew designer now on Barrels staff

    medium · Enzo: 'the guy that did that homebrew now works at Barrels of Fun...wouldn't be surprised if they do like a small run of like 300 of them'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Barrels of Fun expanding design team; Gonzo suggests new hires signal 'big things coming' as design support strengthens

    medium · Gonzo: 'They need probably someone to help with design, which now they've got a couple of people. I think there's big things coming from them.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern price reset expected to drive new collector adoption by making Pro tier genuinely affordable entry point for beginners

    high · Gonzo: 'this whole reset is going to encourage new people into the hobby' and 'for someone that's just getting into pinball...this is particularly people that get into it'

    • 5:13
    And June at first will kick your ass, but it doesn't take long to find those shots, right? And once you do, if you love the movies, it's captivating. It's very immersive. So I've been doing a lot of that and playing Pokemon, which is very approachable and satisfying at the same time, even though the code isn't very deep. But yeah, look, it's been an interesting few months, that's for sure.
    5:44
    Yeah, well, I guess let's start with June then, because rather than maybe an easy thing to jump to the latest topic, but we've both been playing June a lot. An incredible, incredible Pinball machine. Sorry, just to go backwards. Labyrinth, did you have the lane extenders? Did you have that kit on Labyrinth?
    6:05
    No. Made a big difference. A big, big, big difference. Was that something Barrels of Fun did or was that an aftermarket thing? No, it was an aftermarket thing. And it was really expensive. I mean, it was a couple of bits. It was basically three bits of silicone, which were... Well, massively. Someone's had the ingenuity to make it and they manufacture it. Well, it's not even, sorry, silicon. It's three bits of 3D printed plastic and the smallest things you'll ever see. It's not like the lane guys. You know, you get the lane extenders on Star Trek The Next Generation. I have seen that. You know, you feel like you're getting a lot for your money. So you pay £50 for these three small things and you do immediately feel a bit ripped off. Were they the ones that your buddy did that did me the, he did the Cliffies for Pulp Fiction and the stuff for Galactic Tank? No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not Rob, but I'll tell you what, but he does do great stuff. Rob is very technically minded and he's a perfectionist and these people that make these things are, so they're not going to finish their mod until it rolls over the thing perfectly and does its job. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this was a similar thing. So I think initially I thought this was too expensive, but my goodness, it was worth it. You know, it was really, really money well spent because it changed the game. It stopped being so brutal, particularly on that left out lane, which was a bit of a problem, particularly where the post comes up.
    7:32
    It sorted that problem out on it. And actually, I mean, I'm not going to say it's my favourite game, but Labyrinth is nowhere near as bad. It's very immersive and I can play it and I found myself able to complete some modes which is pretty cool. This comes like another topic I wanted to address at some point but like in the audio visual industry that I'm in, you know, we talk about director's intent and how the director intended you to experience a film, right? And some people overdo it with like bass shakers and too many subwoofers and take away from the director's intent. Do you feel in Pinball though there are some mods that, I mean even these lane extenders for instance, that are meant to fix the game, like I understand maybe geometry issues and stuff like that, but is there elements of it that you feel that maybe takes away from what the original designer had in mind?
    8:32
    Maybe, you'd have to give me specific examples, I don't think this is one of them, I do think this is fixing something, and it certainly is David at Barrels of Fun isn't it, David? Yeah. I certainly think that he admitted afterwards that they were still learning, which you could see. You can see the progress of their learning from machine to machine. So I think if he'd have gone back, he probably would have made Labyrinth a little bit less brutal.
    8:56
    So, yeah, I know. And the other thing is that post popping up is a flaw in the game. There's a bit of an issue with it. It doesn't doesn't do what it's meant to do in terms of trapping the ball and knocking it. It's meant to knock the ball back down the in lane. It often doesn't do that. So they had to code it to rectify it. So actually we would actually go down and drain drain and then it would would launch it back into play. It was never meant to do that. The post was meant to pop it into the in lane. This modification basically helps what was the original design work. So there was there was a problem between design and concept and manufacture. This fixes that. So, yeah, it does much more to just extend the lanes. Maybe you could make that claim for Star Trek The Next Generation, which is a brilliant game, by the way. Maybe that, but I think it's just making it a little bit kind. I think you'd have to judge that on a game-by-game basis, whether a modification has changed the designers. I think Barrels are extremely good at doing captivating immersive experiences. I think they need – and David's admitted that they're still learning and tweaking and, you know, Winchester is a difficult game to build and I think that's probably why it's a bit slow for them. Dune was, you know, the worm mech and all that stuff. I think they built a great machine but there is some teething issues when it comes to dialing it in out of the box.
    10:26
    A few people I've spoken to had issues out of the box with certain games which is normal. I mean that's pinball right but their customer service is fantastic. He's got a couple of people in customer service that are really, really helpful.
    10:41
    Did you have a problem with Joun? Just a couple of things that needed dialing in. The Wormmec originally, the auto plunger, the issue with some zip ties on the Optos, HDMI cable that was run in power, like in the same tube as power and I was getting static interference. Okay. Because you should never run HDMI and power together. Right. In the audio video industry, we don't. So as soon as I pulled it out and replaced the HDMI, it fixed the issue. But that's pretty much it. Yeah. And mine's got the scoops in it. Like, because the later builds, they fixed the issues with the scoops. You used to get hammered a little bit because the way that they've done the scoop at the back, I think it has a protection now.
    11:35
    But it's just been, like, extremely immersive and captivating. The worm shot is a little bit clunky sometimes to try and hit it and get it into that little ramp.
    11:45
    It is, yeah. You know, that you don't hit it all the time. And sometimes it jumps out of the worm. I don't know if you've had it on yours where it will hop out and over into the next shot. No. Like it jumps over the mountain. It's not that. Sometimes it doesn't always register, but I've had a look at the optos. But yeah, I found, I heard the worm, the calibrating the worm. And I'm not good at this stuff, but I went into the menu and I managed to balance it up perfectly. So the menu system was excellent. Very good, yeah. It plays so well. I've got the precision flippers on it now, which have made precision pinball parts of John. It's just fantastic.
    12:28
    Yeah, I think they're brilliant. And it is a game. I've had a couple of people say, oh, if you're thinking of getting rid of it, let me know. But listen, you never say never, right? You never say never. But it's certainly not something that's in my intention to get rid of. It's actually on rent at the moment. And when it was, it's been on rent. We had the the expansion pack delivered, which was the slingshots. Have you got them? You know what they are. Yeah, the sculpts. Yeah, the sculpts. They are absolutely brilliant. I didn't I didn't go for the the big back glass. I thought it looked like a big bum hole. And I just thought it was. It does look good, but... I'm sure it does. I'm sure it does. But honestly, I didn't know whether to play the game or put Suda Krem around the edge of it.
    13:24
    Well, if you can't control yourself, it's better not. It wasn't a sexual thing. It was more for nappy rash, really. But obviously, I love the film and I love the sandworms and stuff like that. I was quite happy. I think the original back glass of the way it picks out the blue in their eyes, really great. Anyone that sees that game is blown away by it, particularly the powder coat, the sort of sand effect. It's not a clear coat, is it? You can feel it, there's a texture to it. The other thing that I think it might have the best Invisiglass of any I've ever seen. Whoever does their invisiglass, I've had two people come around and say, is that glass on there? And, you know, it's like, if you push it, they're actually pushing to see if glass is there. But, okay, I've never had that before. It's, yeah, I don't have a bad thing to say about that game. It stands a test. It's one of the best pinball machines, certainly. Yeah, they were very unlucky with the launch. I think it was a little bit of a botched launch. And, you know, the code at the time was kind of very early and I think it took until Expo, so I think it was probably six months, where people literally started getting to play it properly, that they started appreciating it. And I think they're sold out now. They didn't do the full run of, I think it was the 1,200 they were going to do originally or the 1,000. I think they've done 700 or something. But I think that's also because they're probably focusing on building those Winchesters. But David did say don't say never. I think they might build more Dunes. Have you played the Winchester? Not yet. There is one in Australia over East. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend to go due to personal issues. That's a long way as well, mate, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, but everyone I've spoken to just says Winchester's a masterpiece. Really? So, yeah. Yeah. I haven't heard any feedback. I haven't heard any feedback. I've been out of the loop, so I don't know anything about it. When's Pinfest?
    15:41
    End of August? End of August. Yeah, so surely you guys will have one there, more than likely. I don know about short Yeah I would hope I love to play it Yeah certainly I would hope yeah I imagine they send one over I mean that was the first time I played June was at Pimfest Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so it was, yeah, I'd be interested to, the only reason I did, as I say, I've got nothing, I think there are, I think there are scenes that make brilliant, fantastic pinball machines, it was just, I'd never heard of the story of the Winchester house, it was, And I'm very good. Carrie Hardy did a video on it, but not on the game itself. The story of the Winters of the Hat, which I found. Well, I know everything I know about it from now. I did an excellent video, very informative, but I didn't know anything about it before that. So I thought, OK, yeah, you know, I don't necessarily think I need another haunted ghosty type one, but I'm sure the game is very good. But also I'm very conscious.
    16:43
    I certainly can't acquire games at the rate that I used to. And there's so many good games now. I basically have, I'm lucky I have my favourite games. They're either here or out on rent. So the next one is going to have to be, you know, so I'm dreading it almost really. You know what?
    17:01
    Now I see the JJP, Sonic looks incredible. Yeah, and Barrels is rumoured to have either, you know, Never Ending Story, G.I. Joe. They're more than likely going to do that homebrew of Big Trouble Little China because the guy that did that homebrew now works at Barrels of Fun. Okay. So you kind of, and he's been trying to get that game made, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do like a small run of like 300 of them or something, you know. But yeah, you're right. There's definitely like games just keep coming out. That's the problem. So, yeah, we've had a big price reset here, which you probably know about. Yeah. Which is amazing.
    17:49
    So what's that done for Stern now compared to what it was? It's amazing. It's brilliant. So Stern, I've said this for years and years and years and people never really. I mean, some people would understand it. Some people get it. I've even heard other people on other channels off the back of videos that I've done say, oh, well, the UK's got an issue. But it was was really difficult to fully understand. But I think for a lot of people, there were some points where.
    18:14
    A Stern premium is not meant to be the sort of same price as a pack JJP, for instance, and stuff like that.
    18:22
    Stern. Stern's lowest model, the pro is meant to be an affordable pinball machine, but they weren't. So there's been a reset here where they've dropped in some cases by almost £2,000.
    18:41
    That's huge. That is huge. In fact, definitely in terms of the LEs and the premium, but I mean in terms of the Pro. So the Pro is now an affordable pinball machine, which you can get. I say affordable, none of it's affordable, but it's an option. So basically the pro is thousands of pounds cheaper than you go in and buy in a Barrels of Fun game.
    19:04
    You know, so Barrels of Fun game is probably £12,000. A Stern pro now is just under £7,000. So now you have Sterns are now priced where they should be. Because you'd look at it before and you'd be having one of these gains. We'll stick with June because it's a great example of what we're talking about. With mechanisms and speakers and powder coated and beautiful. An awesome audio package. Showed by Jeff and all this one, everything, right? It's a feast, a visual and audio feast with ball locks and ball paths and all the rest of it.
    19:46
    It shouldn't be. Of course, a Stern can't, a Stern Pro can't compete with X. He's got so much more money packed into it. But because we had a middleman in the UK, we weren't able to do that. Now that's gone.
    20:01
    So we're now getting them for the price they should be. So now you're looking at it and you're thinking, well, hold on a second. This is particularly people that get into it. And it's also helped. Look, if you're unlucky, if you bought a Stern a year ago, then you're looking to move it. Then you're taking a massive hit. But what it's done is it's reset the market. And I've seen a couple of games now, Stern Spike 2's good games, now going on the second hand market for under £5,000. I saw one the other day, Avengers Infinity Quest. I know the rules are a bit like they are, but you won't find a better shooting pinball machine than Avengers Infinity Quest. It's an incredible pinball machine. I think there was one listed last week for £4,800.
    20:53
    Secondhand. Brilliant. Brilliant. You know, and it wasn't that long ago that for you to buy one of those new would have been just over £8,000.
    21:04
    So the price, you know, you could get a new one. So it's just reset that. So because of that, the other prices, the classics are probably still the same. You're going to pay a similar amount for an original Medieval Madness or whatever the case may be. It tells the Arabian Nights, which maybe we'll talk about because it's Padretti on this one. So those games have stayed similarly priced, I think. Obviously, you have the COVID bubble. What it's allowed, that entry point, which I think is really important, particularly with a Spike 2. So they're so damn reliable for someone that's just getting into pinball. You might even just find taking the pinball glass off Terrifier, never mind lifting the playfield up and looking at all that stuff. You don't want a WPC. You want a Stern. And for that, I think now this whole reset is going to encourage new people into the hobby. So I think it's magnificent. Stern's pros were always meant to be a budget pinball machine. Now in the UK they are and I think it's huge so yeah well well done well well done to Sturm well done to Pimball Heaven well done just it's just been amazing absolutely amazing and yes it's great it's great. Now we just have to get you a Star Wars. I'm all right I'm cool honestly I've got so honestly I've got so much so I've got you can talk to me about Pokemon because I don't know so I've got Pokemon Transformers coming over because obviously we have a lovely partnership with with Pimball Heaven. So they're coming over for me to do videos on. That's part of the lovely privileged position that I'm in because of that tie-up now that they are Pimball Heaven are now an importer, a distributor, if you like. I've probably got the term slightly wrong. And obviously I've always had a great relationship with Phil, but obviously for the channel, for us here, we get even more access to games and to those Stern games. So it's brilliant, which we already had anyway, but now it's even better. So yeah, I'm going to get to enjoy those games, which obviously, well, you can tell us about and Pokemon. I will. I just want to quickly finish on one thing about Barrels of Fun. The thing with David, right, is he's really into amusement park rides and roller coasters and all that, right? And you can see elements of his fascination with that in the games they make, because they do take you on a bit of a journey. Yes, it's a pinball machine, but it is very immersive and it is a hell of a rollercoaster ride playing Labyrinth, June and obviously Winchester. And kudos goes to him because I think there's a vision that he's putting into his games, right? They just need probably someone to help with design, which now they've got a couple of people. I think there's big things coming from them.
    23:41
    Well, just sorry, just before you finish that, I'll always say on this channel, you know, pay attention to what I have And what I end up getting myself. And in my collection now, I have a Dune and I have a Labyrinth. So, you know, amongst other things, you know, and yeah, you know, I do have a Potter on the way. So I took my time, took my time with that because I just think it's a magnificent game. And it's always that thing of do you miss it? I'd only played it. I didn't play it that many times. I just found myself yearning to hit that Quidditch, that Quidditch shot. And it's just so much. So, yeah, you know, you know, back, you know, put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, you know, back your own judgment. And so there's other things that I've got rid of to facilitate those games coming in. I've got Jaws coming back soon as well, which I'm really excited about. That's been out on rent. So just even just get it for a little while to play. It's up there with the best Jaws. There you go. So Pokemon, if you want to pull up, I've got some footage. OK. So the thing with Pokemon has been interesting, right, because it's the world's biggest IP. We mean you never discussed this when it got launched, you know, whatever it was five months ago, whatever.
    24:53
    The code is very bare. There's no achievements. There's very little kind of soul to the game. Like the vision is there where you collect Pokemon. You can do battles. You can now travel from different kind of zones from mountain to ocean to land. And wherever you're traveling are going to have different types of Pokemon because the Pokemon are, you know, ecosystem based. You'll get your water Pokemons and your mountain Pokemons and all that. So there's going to be a lot of replay value. Who do the mountain Pokemons mount? Do they mount other Pokemons? Yeah, probably. That's how you get baby Pokemons. That's why they're called Pokemons.
    25:37
    Or Pokemons. So, you know, this is obviously, as everyone knows, it's a George Gomez, Jack Danger collaboration. I tend to feel that this has got more George Gomez in it than Jack Danger as everyone is well aware by now. This has elements of James Bond, Lord of the Rings. There's elements there that when you play it's a very flowy game. Like you can hit the left ramp, right ramp consistently like multiple times, get wicked combos and it is fast. The shots are nice and wide, they're not tight. So it's not much of a brick fest. You have one of these, Enzo? The kids, yeah, we've got a premium. Again, to get games in at the moment, due to unforeseen circumstances, you've got to sell stuff or trade stuff.
    26:28
    And, you know, it's just you've got to try and keep the kids still engaged in Pinball. And Pokemon is the best IP for that. Especially the kids are, you know, Insider Connect is huge. Like, they love to scan in. My daughter loves to scan in. Like if she doesn't scan in, it's like she hasn't got her fix, right? And she won't start the game until you scan in. Oh, okay. That's like, and that's what Stern is trying to achieve, right? Is get people hooked into the achievements, into scanning in, and you can collect, like at the moment there's over 200 Pokemon that you can find, right? But the game, the code is very bare. It's still very bare. It's been out for five months now.
    27:14
    There was a slight update the other day which added a few other things. So there's definitely elements of where it's going.
    27:22
    I believe the license holder obviously has the final say. Pokemon Company is a pretty big company and that they want to be heavily involved in this code, which is probably rare for them. I think code is being done. It's being sent to them to look at and they're probably going, I want things changed. I would say that they're probably, you know, and you don't hear back straight away from license holders. I mean, people have said sometimes it takes weeks to hear back, you know. Right, yeah. But Stern get criticized for their code updates. I mean, X-Men hasn't had one in a long time. There was a small update the other day, but, you know, it's been six months since January was the last time there was an X-Men update. Yeah. So unfortunately, people tend to bring out their pitchforks when it comes to code updates in Stern.
    28:12
    But I do think there's a really good idea here and a really good kind of concept. It just needs a little bit more character and soul and some extra modes because at the moment, you're basically your four ramps are your modes that you start. And once you've completed them, it's repetition. The next time you go back to it, it's the same one. So do you complete them? Are you able to complete them? Yeah, look, and even the kids are, but you don't need to complete them. So as long as you've done them, then you can get to the mini wizard mode. So you've got Balbazor, Squirtle, Pikachu and Charmander.
    28:51
    Squirtle! Squirtle, probably reminds you of that time he went to Thailand. That's right. So, you know, you can basically, for us, it's probably easier to collect than it is for kids. I think at the moment in the current code, to be able to travel to other ecosystems, you need to, or biomes as they call them, you need to complete the four, and I'll see if you can see them, you need to complete these four things here, which is you've got to discover, you've got to catch, you've got to battle and you have to train. There's a lot to do before you're able to travel. So hold on, hold on, hold on. That's a bit hard. Who are you training, yourself or the Pokemon? The Pokemon, your four Pokemon. So you've got the four which are the ones in the ramp. So you've got the Balbazor, Squirtle, Pikachu and Charmander. Here is where you, can you see my mouse cursor on the screen?
    30:18
    Yes, yes. Yeah. So this is where you battle. So this is where you train them. So it's got like little these three things are like little gym weights. So you're training the ones you've already got. Correct. You're training your four main ones. What about when you're collecting them? When you're collecting them, does that bring more to your group? No. So you only ever train your four main ones. Right. And that's probably where there's a bit of a whether whether what do they say is that's where the stick is right where people have an issue with. They may add that you may be able to bring in other Pokemon to train, but at the moment it's the main four. But it's just that to be able to travel to other biomes to catch different Pokemons, there's a lot of things you've got to do. You've got to discover Pokemon, you've got to catch a Pokemon, you've got to train a Pokemon, and you've got to battle before you can travel, right? And I think that's probably a bit hard because my kids have never achieved it, right? So they never get to move around the map because then the map appears on the screen and you can with your flippers you can move around and pick which area you want to go to. I think that probably needs some dilating. But all in all I think it's a really fun game. It's a very simple approachable layout which it was always going to be. If Jack Danger original concept of this game was like X or Foo Fighters they probably would have put the brakes on it because when you got the world biggest IP and you trying to bring a whole heap of new Pinball people in designs like that can be a little bit intimidating This is really straightforward It four rounds I would agree with that. It needs to be a simple layout. I'd agree with that. I have interest, before we move on to Transformers, what happened with Uncanny X-Men? I've got to say, that was one of the – I mean, I was lucky I had the Pro and the Premium here. I'm not good enough to get annoyed about code. So I'm not constantly waiting for the next code update because I'm just not good enough to even get past the stuff they put in there initially anyway. Right. I'm quite happy to light up Dolly Parton. So it's fine.
    32:27
    I've got to tell you that uncanny X-Men was one of the best shooting pinball machines I played. So I was I was I'm not surprised. I do understand that people go deeper into pinball machines than I do. That I get. I thought it was a really, even the Jurassic Park Home Edition I really enjoyed. I thought Foo Fighters was a really good shooting game as well. I don't necessarily see the urge to pull Jack away from game design, really. He looked like he had real, well, it wasn't even potential. I thought he was producing really good angles and really good shooting games. Up until probably Kong came out, I think Kong in terms of shooting is probably the closest to, I guess, shot satisfaction to Avengers Infinity Quest. But we all know that Keefe is an amazing plotter of angles and ball paths. So what's going on with Uncanny X-Men? Because I think it's a really, really good machine. I am a big ambassador for Uncanny X-Men. I have an LE. I fight for that game constantly in the forums.
    33:35
    So Uncanny X-Men, unfortunately, I think the layout was very, very intricate. And for a mass-produced game, I think it was probably the wrong – it probably suffers a little bit because all these games are made by hand, right? And when the shots are that particular and that precise and that unique, right, it suffered a little bit of people complaining about shots not being rejected. They couldn't get the uniformity of a mass production line. Okay. So the game suffered a bit of critique due to issues with shots not making it up certain ramps or up certain lanes or whatever, auto plunger issues. Then I think what happened is because of that and the code, people just didn't gel with it. Stern, and I've had a conversation with George Gomez about this, Stern buried their head in the sand, right, And didn't address it. They let it go too long. The criticism was very harsh by the public. And it did cause, and I can imagine, and I won't name names because I said to them I wouldn't, that people that have told me that it really mentally affected them, that that launch that was, in their opinion, handled wrong. And the fact that they buried their head in the sand for too long on that game and they never addressed that the game had issues. They just didn't really address it and then took Wason off the code and then Wason was, you know, a punching bag for the community because they were all blaming him.
    35:10
    And then all of a sudden the code got a complete re-kind of, the main concept of the code is still there, you've just got the people that you fight. But how you do that and the descriptions and the information, I think that game unfortunately suffered a release that was badly handled and managed and it would have impacted Jack and the code team mentally. I don't think Jack was taken away from designing. I think Jack wanted to step back from designing because I've been watching Jack for a long time. It's probably 10 years. He's not built to be in an office. You know, he's a people person, he's a streamer, and I think building a pinball machine can probably be very isolated because of how discreet it needs to be and how the rumours have to, like, you've got to tight lip everything, right? Yeah. And you're probably in an office with no windows, you're not allowed to talk to anybody, only four people can probably see the game when you're designing it, and I don't think Jack is built for that, right? And I don't think the criticism the community took and the pitchforks helped as well.
    36:21
    And I'm not stupid. I know that it impacted Jack. And I'll tell you how I know. Right. He's never streamed the game.
    36:32
    Right. And it is probably the most, mine is really dialed in and it's my favourite shooting, Stern. It is most unique layout, right? The theme, everyone loves X-Men. I mean, most people know X-Men. It's a theme that even if you did it, you could still enjoy it, right? But the fact that Jax never streamed the game himself, there's a fear there that I think if he streams it and things go wrong, like the janky shots or the failed auto plunger, that he has to either address it or play it down like it's nothing, right? So there's probably a bit of, I don't want to have to address it or I don't want to have to play it down. So he's never streamed the game. I mean, he's a game designer, right? The issue I have with that, though, is that that game was still 20 grand in Australia for an LA, right? It's two years now and the code's not finished. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. It's two years that they buried their head in the sand and nothing's been addressed publicly. There was no one that did a video and said, we know there's issues. We're going to fix this. We're going to get, you know, they just kind of made you wait. And I think that was the problem. Yeah, I think like from a personal point of view, as I say, this is this is just a hobby. This is Gonson Fibble Flipperama is is a hobby.
    37:52
    And one of the reasons I'm busy is because my other YouTube commitments and we do. So I can understand how people don't, I think, appreciate how much it can mentally affect you doing this. So like last month on our football YouTube, we did 2 million views last month, right? So it's on a much, much bigger scale to Pinball. Obviously, the more bigger audience you have, the more open you are to be in receipt of nasty comments. There's no doubt about it. And yes, it massively impacts your mental health massively, massively. And I totally understand that. I mean, I've been at points myself where, you know, it's got so bad because I literally work in social media. Honestly, it's put me onto antidepressants because of it. You know, it's as simple as that. So I do understand. I totally understand that you're going to need to take yourself away from the firing line with that. So I do get that. But I also understand from what you're saying there as well, okay, we'll take all that to account and then he moves away from it and they get another coding team. You should be getting something. You shouldn't have to wait two years for something else. But yeah, just my initial point was I think it's a beautifully shooting pinball machine. But again, I totally understand it if you're not getting that.
    39:19
    I guess the goal, the holy grail, is standardization of a production line. I'm not talking about pinball machines. I mean, if you didn't have that in nuts and bolts, if you didn't have standardization, nothing would fit together. So on any production line, that's what you want. You don't want it. They used to have something falling up with Tesla cars. Some of them are made in the States, some of them are made in China. And out of some factories, the panels didn't fit properly together. So you're constantly striving for standardisation. And I think if they've struggled with that, something like a pinball machine. It's hard in pinball, right, because it's all handmade. And every game is always going to be slightly different. You can't help that. You can't help it.
    40:00
    Okay, right. So that's Pokemon and Uncanny X-Men. You've got Transformers. Transformers, right? Let's just talk about that quickly. So Transformers for me is a dream theme, right? Yeah. It hits nostalgia like you wouldn't believe. I loved, lived and breathed the cartoon. I've got toys still. This is a dream theme for me because it's based on what they call G1, Generation 1, which is the original, you know, Transformers. Yes, I had Optimus Prime and I had the dinosaur. It didn't look like that, by the way.
    40:33
    Grimlock. Yeah. This is probably the best pinball Stern's released in relation to theme integration, right? They've got even the call-outs from the TV show of we'll be right back for the commercial break. Or when you push the start button that says, you know, we return to the Transformers like the TV show set up. They've got all the assets from the cartoon. This feels like you're in the 80s when you're playing this. And that is a huge achievement. Sound effects are on point. Animations are on point. They've got the original cast from the show doing the call outs. Like the team in general has nailed this out of the park. I think this is Stern's best theme integrated game. There is obviously the massive issue that Optimus Prime was meant to transform and doesn't transform and they did touch on that in the seminar and unfortunately they couldn't get the reliability, they couldn't get him to transform and unfortunately you're left with a very overweight looking Optimus because he's very square because the concept was his arms were meant to go in and his head was meant to go down. And the only way you can really do that is if the truck was still kind of a bit present, a bit beefy.
    41:55
    For me, if you couldn't get it to work, you should have pulled that mech out and put a better looking model in as opposed to leaving in the static one that was meant to move.
    42:07
    And also, the only thing I really struggle with the game is that you're bashing Optimus' legs. You should be bashing the bad guy's legs. So if you couldn't get Optimus to transform, and I'll pause it here for a second, Megatron, who's the baddie for those that don't know, you can lock a ball in there and he fires the ball out of the cannon into this ramp, right, or over here to the other flipper. Now maybe it was too late in the design and they already had 100,000 Megatrons done but in theory you could have Optimus Prime firing a cannon because he does have a cannon as well and Megatron could have been the bash toy and Megatron didn't have to transform. But as a kid for me, the best thing I loved seeing was Optimus transforming and saying roll out. So the game should have had it. It doesn't have it. But for me, being a dream theme, it doesn't bother me. A lot of people and some other content creators are having a real sad about the fact that it doesn't transform. Right. It would have been perfect. I mean, knowing pinball is perfect, right? But this is a theme that to this day is still relevant. Generation 1 Transformers, they're still making toys off it. They're still making movies off it. They're still making comics off it. You know, it is still relevant. It's a big IP.
    43:33
    And it is people between 40 and, you know, 55 that know this, which is predominantly pinball players, right? Yeah, as I say, I had the toys. I used to watch that very cartoon. It's this, and you've got Elizabeth Gieske on code. Gieske is going to be the next big thing for Pinball. She'll be the next Lyman Sheets. You can see it in her enthusiasm, her direction, her ideas. She presents extremely well. She, you know, loves Pinball. She loves talking to people. You know, she's very unique and I think Stern have to hold on to her as much as possible.
    44:14
    This game is nearly code complete, which is the first Stern we've seen with nearly code complete at release. Wow, okay. But they have also had 16 months to work on it. You know, John Wick came out two years ago nearly, so they have had a lot of time to work on it. I've seen this, I just thought there they've got the shared video mode. Yeah, so you've got a mode that you can just play where you do me versus you and I can be Optimus and you can do it. And you've got to hit shots, you know, that's stuff like that. No, but sorry, one of them was on the right flipper, one of them was on the left flipper. Yeah, that's a battle. So they're doing battling each other. So in that, the left flipper is Optimus Prime, the right flipper is Megatron. And they want to introduce more characters as well to allow you to choose other characters and turn it into like a Street Fighter style video game that you can also play.
    45:10
    So there's a lot of ideas and the game is nearly complete already. And everyone I've spoken to, we don't have it yet here, but everyone I've spoken to in the US loves shooting it, loves just listening to the sound effects and the call outs and the music. And they've got that bonus mode for the 40th anniversary of the film, of the original cartoon.
    45:31
    They, Stern, went out and got the song from Stan Bush, The Touch, which is probably the most iconic Transformers song ever.
    45:41
    I would have been more upset if that song wasn't in the game than Optimus Not Transforming. Yeah, I mean, it's just always tough, isn't it? Just listening to what you're saying there about it. Yeah, I can imagine transforming is more important than the shark eating the ball, if you want, in Jaws, quite possibly. I can understand that because we all have our own disappointments. Like what I think when I heard when that... See, I've never played a Spike 3 game, by the way. I still haven't played Spike Freego. I think, so the most recent Star Wars, The Emperor's March isn't in there.
    46:24
    And you've got to have that. Because, you know, it's just going to build. So I think we'll always be looking at pinball machines and saying, well, you know, what's missing? Well, actually, not always, because sometimes you're going to get a theme. And I'll pick two here. I play Dune, I don't think anything's missing. I play Lord of the Rings and I don't think anything's missing. So it certainly doesn't feel like it. I'm sure someone will say in the comments actually this, this or this. But I think if you have to be reminded of it, it's probably not missing for you.
    47:00
    You know, so, yeah, that's interesting. I'm going to get to play both of those games, both Pokemon and Transformers. Transformers, so they both come in here as well.
    47:12
    And after, should be in a little while. Sonic, yes, Sonic. Now, Sonic, sorry, the reason I'm stalling is because I've got to tell people on this video now, but because I didn't have it pulled up here, I haven't got it ready. I want to promote where it going before it comes here so please just bear with me It the Pimball Factory that was it Sorry I just wanted to make sure It going to the Pimball Factory in Birmingham first so I think it going to be there for a couple of weeks and they got a competition there the Custard Cup 2 I believe which is a great name I think the Custard Cup was from Mario Kart, wasn't it? Is that right? Yeah, I think so. I was just trying to remember. I think it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been playing a bit of Mario Kart recently, actually. My kids, they're at age now, they kick my ass, mate, honestly. They're not telling me, oh, Dad, you've got to slide, you've got to slide more around. I know about the sliding around the corners, but they're just better than me.
    48:18
    But there you go. What can you do? Yeah, so let's go into the Pimball Factory if you want a chance to play it in the UK. Then it's coming here. I'll get a real chance to look at it.
    48:28
    Well, Mario Kart's a good segue for the next video I got, which is Sonic the Hedgehog. Yeah, okay. Let me pop that up on the screen. Because Sonic, you know, it's interesting because Sonic, when we heard Sonic was coming, I was like, God, I hope it is the video game Sonic, not the movie Sonic. And what JJP ended up doing is grabbing the video game Sonic, but not the one I thought. I thought it was going to be the 16-bit Sonic. Yeah, yeah, Mega Drive. Mega Drive or Sega Genesis, if it's America. What they ended up with was with the Seeker Dreamcast one which aligns a lot closer to the TV show Generations and that's okay because I think it finds that happy medium of the nostalgic guys like me that can relate to Sonic but it captures the young kids right and the thing with young children and my kids especially is they'll look at 16-bit Sonic and Mario and say that that looks bad and they don't want to play it. But they're happy to play Minecraft. But they're happy to play Minecraft, right, which is all blocky, isn't that ironic? But, you know, so that left to right thing, I think this grabs young kids and the older kids and it does a really good generational meet in the middle.
    49:41
    I love that swagger, by the way. What a lovely ring on that swagger. The ring is great. I think they've done a great job with making it approachable. It is very similar to Pokemon when you look at the layout on the bottom part. Obviously, Pokemon doesn't have that epic upper play field, but it's got the similar battle in the middle. It's got your left, your right, like it's very similar and it's a very approachable layout. Although I think Sonic looks, by watching a few streams and Retro Ralph did have streamed the other night, the shots look very tight on Sonic versus Pokemon. Pokemon looks more flowy, ironically, even though Steve Ritchie is the king of flow.
    50:24
    You get a lot of flow on the upper playfield on Steve Ritchie's Sonic. The upper playfield is spectacular. It is ginormous and there's like 10 shots up there or 9 shots. So that's what some pinballs have in them in general.
    50:42
    They've done a fantastic job. The battlefield is a lot narrower on Sonic, which probably creates more havoc, whereas Pokemon's is wider, but it looks identical. It's got the targets, it's got the arrows, it's got the slings. It's got that junkyard thing going on, hasn't it? It's got that junkyard thing going on, right?
    51:00
    Although Sonic's got inline drops, which I just think every game should have inline drops like this. They look nice, yeah. And that's fantastic. And I think the only thing that Sonic for me is a miss. And I know what people are going to say. I'm not bothered by Transformers not transforming. This has a loop, right? Yes, yes, yes. But it's not big, right? It's like that. It's fast, don't get me wrong, but it's over very quickly. But you can't see the loop because the loop is facing you, right? So it's not like it's on its side, right? It's vertical.
    51:36
    So iconically, Sonic loops have always been side on because the video games used to be side profile, right? I think it would have been awesome to have the loop side on. So you could actually see the ball, whereas it's facing you, so you see the back of the loop. And I think because of how small it is and how fast it happens, you experience it and it's great, but it would have been good if it was bigger and maybe longer. So you actually kind of, it was a longer to get to your flip. But gravity is working against you, right? So the bigger, taller it is, the more like that ball is to fall down. Well, he's using the, you know, in that right ramp, he's using the same mech as what kind of was in the Supercharger, right? The ball is on a magnet and it gets thrown. It's fast. And if it was just a little bit bigger, I mean, it could have been the same. I would have preferred it on its side, personally. Doesn't take away from the fact that it's a fantastic game. It looks fantastic. These gold ring 16-bit. No. Whatever was going up there when they're charging it up, they're charging something up.
    52:44
    Listen, all I've seen about it is this. I bet that is mega addictive. For anybody that used to play track and field and we used to call it button mashing, that's, yeah, I'm quite up for having a bit of that, to have a go at that. Yeah, for sure. So I love what they've done with these rings. They've put the 16-beak throwback from the video games, so it looks like an old video game. I think that's cool and those rings tell you what to do on the upper playfield and they've got countdown on them for modes.
    53:13
    There's a lot of passion behind the people that helped Steve Ritchie make this game because one of the guys lives and breathes Sonic.
    53:22
    But that upper playfield is just fantastic. Yeah, I like it. Well, I will get to try it, but yeah. And I think Harry Potter's upper playfield is probably one of the best in pinball ever. But you don't spend a lot of time up there. This one here, you look like you spend a lot of time up there, especially if you nudge the ball a little bit. That centre post is definitely helping a lot.
    53:45
    I think they've knocked it out of the park. Ironically, though, I do prefer the SE myself, the middle model, with the blue powder coating for Sonic. I think the SE with the red, it probably should have been gold. Are they still going to do an arcade edition? They have, yeah. Brilliant. Okay. I mean, just good times for Pimball, really. Good times, I think. Just quickly before we go, Pedretti and Tales of the Arabian Nights. You've seen anything of that? Yeah, look, I've seen a little bit of gameplay. I mean, it looks the same as the other one. You know, Pedretti, unfortunately, didn't have a really good run with Funhouse. A lot of people struggled with a bit of the QC and the quality control and the build quality. Did you play it? Have you played it? I played the Funhouse. I didn't play the new one. The Funhouse Progetti, you could feel it was very different to the original. I agree. I didn't play anything like it. I'll be honest, I didn't like it at all. I was thinking, oh man, I wish CGC had got this title. CGC plays so well. They really do. So, yeah, so that's what I'm worried. I would have been in on this. Otherwise, I love this game. It's an expanded code. But honestly, if it plays like that Funhouse played, I don't have no interest at all. They reckon, Andrea from Progetti reckons that they're not using those parts anymore. They're using more of the traditional planetary pinball parts, Williams parts and stuff. So you want to hope that that's been kind of rectified. Look, it's a popular game that was still fetching good money for an old one. I mean, in Australia, a restored totem was getting $20,000.
    55:27
    So, yeah. I think it's going to be all right. A beautiful game. The way the ramps flow, it's beautiful.
    55:38
    Yeah, there's a lot to be said. But, yeah, I'm in the realms something's going to go. Well, a couple of things are going to go. So I think probably my theatre of magic, ironically, is going to go, which is, you know, it's perfect. It's perfect. It's an original clear-coated playfield, all mechs redone, gold-plated. It's beautiful. I love it. And it'll probably be Pulp Fiction that goes after Pinfest because things have got to go. Things have got to go and it's a great game, Pulp Fiction. But I haven't had it. It's been out on rent for so long. I haven't had it since last Pinfest and I won't see it again until this Pinfest. So just quickly, quickly before you go, so your Betelgeuse, right, your video you did the other day, fantastic as usual.
    56:29
    It'd be interesting to see what you think, do another follow-up video, because a lot of people I've spoken to are struggling with the couple of the shots and the too much scoop action like you said, but the left scoop and the, sorry, the left ramp and the left shot, they're just struggling with it. Okay, I don't have a problem with a left ramp and a left shot. My shot I struggle with is the one that goes up to the top of the playfield, which is a spinner. I often say shots are where they, so you play Jaws, everything's where it should be. So just naturally you hit off that area of the flipper. It's not, for me, I just struggle and it shouldn't be because I've looked at it, it's quite a big aperture and I don't know if it's, maybe that left ramp is taking my eye too much and I just seem to miss it. So I'm either hitting that left ramp or I'm hitting the camera, the closest target, the left-hand target at the bottom of the camera.
    57:23
    So yeah, now it's been pointed out, yes, it doesn't have a huge amount of flow on it. That being said, you can hit the right ramp, which changes different ball paths, and then you can hit the left ramp. So I don't have a problem with the left ramp. So you can actually fit between the two. And it is incredible fun. You do feel a real need to, you want to make the shots, you want to press it again. And by the way, I don't have a problem massively with games that don't have loads of flow.
    57:51
    I like flowy games, but I would never say Deadpool was a flowy game. I absolutely adore that game. I think, yeah, I mean, you're hitting a lot of missed shots on Deadpool for me, But I still enjoy it. I'm still desperate to start that next battle and, you know, to get the Katana ramp or, you know, how often do I hit the Katana when I go for it? One in ten, something like that, but it doesn't stop me going for it because it feels rewarding. So I think you can get away with not having flow if the shots are rewarded when you hit them. I suspect it's got that.
    58:27
    And if the total package is good, right? Like you look at Beetlejuice, you've got art, you've got the theme integration. Now they're tweaking the code. They're listening. The thing with Spooky Man, those boys are so passionate. They listen to feedback. They've gone out to get call-outs done. They went out and got the famous song that everyone wanted. They don't need to do that. The game sold out, right? The game sold out. So they didn't need to do that. And that's a big kudos to the boys because they're so passionate about what everyone thinks. So I'm really interested to see what they've done with Goonies. Apparently Goonies is the next one. Yeah. Yeah, which is the trouble with these games that keep coming out. So, yeah, so again, I mean, I'm actually taking that probably should say now. So I'm going to take that Beetlejuice down to Medway Pimble Club. So that's going to have so people can play it there and decide for themselves. It's then going to Pimfest. It's then going out on rent. Yeah, I might not keep it. I don't know. We'll wait. We'll wait and see there. As I say, it's not a dream theme for me. I appreciate the theme. Goonies certainly would be.
    59:32
    So, yeah, you know, things have got to go for other stuff to come in. The only point you get to a point, which is, you know, you end up with games like I have where you actually, you've got... You don't want to get rid of them. No, I still regret getting rid of Batman, actually. And funny enough, even recently, I've looked at some of those prices. I thought, oh, you know, I'd love to have a go at Jurassic Park again, actually, you know. But, you know, you just think June's not going anywhere. Jaws certainly isn't going anywhere. Deadpool's not going anywhere. You start to have these, you know, Attack from Mars. You start to have these games where, well, you know. Nothing goes. Well, this is it. Dolly Parton won't go. You know, Fathom, I've not even played Fathom in ages. You know, you've got these, you know, I'm very blessed to have these games. Even for me, apparently Pinball Brothers has Fifth Element, right? Right. That's another dream thing. Something's going to have to go. It's a vicious cycle. It's a vicious cycle. Yes, it's a nice cycle. Things have to go and you enjoy them. But I always think there's an obvious one which tells you, are you playing it?
    60:43
    Do you play it? And do you miss it? Because with my games going away, I have an opportunity to miss them or not to miss them. Have I missed Jaws? Yeah. Have I missed Pulp Fiction? Not really. Not really. And I think it's a great game. I've got nothing bad to say about it. So there's nothing ideally that you want to get rid of, but you've limited money. And so things have got to go for you to bring in another game. So I think actually if I do want to get Goonies or something like that, then something's got to go. You know, and it's, you know, that's without Potter coming in, which I haven't even, you know, looked at yet. Got Whitewater as well. Lovely restored Whitewater. So, which again is not something I'd ever be keen to. I love that. Not many more addictive games than Whitewater, really. I think it's about as addictive as it gets. It says one more game, one more game. It's great. My girlfriend, she plays Whitewater. Yeah, that, Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness, those are just like, you know, they just keep making you want to play and play and play. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good, mate. Well, lovely, lovely chat. Lovely hour. That was a good little recap of everything that we've missed in the last three months. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. More to come. As I say, I'll do the comparison. I'll do the Evil Dead comparison to Beetlejuice. I can tell you now, a little spoiler, I haven't done a video yet. I think I enjoy the shots and the little flipper on Evil Dead. I think I enjoy that more than the upper flipper on Beetlejuice. I think as a game in terms of already the modes and the addictiveness, I think I prefer Beetlejuice. But I think, yeah, I think Evil Dead's a better shooter, basically. There you go. But we'll look in more detail. But as I said, they're making brilliant games now. I don't even consider these people to be boutique. They're just pinball manufacturers, they're not boutique manufacturers. They just make really, really nice pinball machines now. And the Goonies is going to give everybody a problem because everyone's going to want one. Oh, and Circus Voltaire remake. That's another remake. Who's doing that? American Pinball.
    62:55
    Okay. Because the new owner there wants to do some remasters as well, right? So American Pinball, Circus Voltaire, that's a popular game. That still fetches good money as well, the old one. It does. It is. It's a good one. Yeah. Sorry. It just never ends.
    63:11
    No, no, no, no, no, no. You're absolutely right. Thanks, mate. Lovely to speak to you. Yeah, good. Thank you. It's been a while. Oh yeah it has been a while right um as always well not as always I forget to say it um like share subscribe all that type of stuff um just yeah really really appreciate it keep your eyes locked on the channel we will have something coming up very very soon.