Well, hello there, listeners. Here's another episode of Don's Pinball Podcast coming through. Episode number 32 for you on a Tuesday. There's some news bits dropping. I'm back in town. I'm no longer floating on a ship in the middle of the Caribbean. But I did bring back a sunburn. It's not too bad. And I did have a great time out there. Thanks for listening to those last two episodes that came from the ship. Are you guys watching the Deadflip stream right now? We're checking out Galactic Tank Force, and there's a little bit of news and rumors coming up. A Peter Foo goes home crying to his mama. Me too, B.A. Baracus. Thanks for that. So yeah, I'm poking through the Deadflip livestream right now. Started watching it earlier today at work. Still going strong there. They've been over an hour at this thing, and we're getting our first actual real live images of gameplay of this game, or at least I am. Now, the other thing that's interesting to note about this livestream is that you can hear the music, you can hear the call-outs, and you can look at the screen and see the displays. Now, I know this game has been available to play at the last two conferences, which happened this month, Texas Pinball Festival and Midwest Gaming Classic, technically the end of last month. But when you're in a busy convention floor, it's hard to hear the music, it's hard to hear the call-outs, and I really appreciate the whole package. But here, I've been able to do that, and I do have some comments. Now, I haven't watched the entire stream, but I watch about 45 minutes of it off and on, listening to the car on the way home, and then I got it up actually playing right now. And look at that UFO mech with the cow hanging from it. Can we say that at least for the month of April, this is the coolest mechanism in pinball right now? There's a cow on a string and a spaceship that goes back and forth with some dazzle graphics on it. If that can't make you smile, then maybe the 3D printed quality of that UFO will, but more on that in a bit. So what do I think of this game? I haven't played it, but do I have some hot takes? You better believe I got hot takes for you. So the dubstep music, I heard a lot of people talking about that. Like they're planning on walking up to a 1950s era kind of campy sci-fi romp. And instead of like, you know, those music that you would see in the movies from like Elvira's House of Horrors, you're just like thumping some dubstep electronic music. Now it's not full Skrillex, so let's not go, you know, completely off the EDM spectrum. But it does got some beats, and I was kind of vibing with it from what little I've heard there. The other thing I noticed watching this stream that I've seen much better than just the live streams from the show floors is the graphics package, particularly in the attract mode, the RGB lighting and the way that it sweeps up and down the play field, even including the pop bumpers. I like that they have individually controlled LEDs there, too. So that lighting pops. I do like what they've done there. So lighting with this, also with the deluxe level and higher, you get these, what are basically PinStadium Lights that come with the game. So that is appreciated. I do like that purple glow that they throw off there. And they seem to complement the play field pretty well. So good job on the music doesn't bug me. I do like the lights. I like the RGB. I like the budget PinStadium Lights that they have. and from what I'm watching the full motion video live action episodes or little clips that are on the LCD screen, they don't seem as obtrusive as I felt they were when they released that teaser video or the reveal video in teaser form so I'm not as bagging on the game as much as I initially was based on that video now that I've been able to see some quality gameplay I really wish they would have launched with this so when we were getting the details of the prices and the different modes and everything, or different models and trim levels, we could have saw a good high definition stream like this. So thanks for getting the dead flip dude, Mr. Foo Fighter himself, to go ahead and record this for us. And you know, even as I watch it now, you know, I'm able to appreciate everything with so much more quality than an over the shoulder, you know, potato cam with questionable Wi Fi. So what else the sounds, I'm digging the sounds from what I've seen so far, they're not putting me off. I've heard some people have some issues with like the pop bumper pew pew sounds. I didn't pick those up in the stream, but I'm going to go back and watch some more of it. So my, you know, initial first impressions of watching a high quality video, I have a better view on the game than what I had before. I'm still very excited to play this. I think Southern Fry Gaming Expo is probably going to be my first opportunity. That's the next show that I'll be at. And this should definitely be there. That's a sizable show down there in Atlanta. And I'm hoping one will maybe pop up somewhere in the meantime that I can go check out. Hey guys at Madison, you know, are you guys getting one of these? Please and thanks, IO, maybe. So one other thing I did happen to catch from the stream, and that was in regard to the airball rejects that were coming off of the stand-up targets in front of that tank. Now there's a tank in the middle of the playfield. It's got five stand-up targets right in front of it. And apparently what was happening is these built and designed in-house and not off the shelf stand-up targets were bending back and then they were causing the ball to launch over the flippers and drain immediately, even over that ball save in the middle and leaving a bunch of people at the conventions like, what the heck is going on? So from what I gather, their explanation to me that I heard while listening to the stream was that this was a design they made this wasn't an off-the-shelf part and they didn't really or they didn't have time apparently to put it through its paces of 500 games to you know it was functioning properly during their testing uh but once you know it was played several hundred times that when they noticed that these things were starting to bend and then ricochet and yeet balls straight over the flippers Now, they've since gone back and kind of re-engineered a fix for this to kind of stiffen those up so they're not as prone to that. But what they were saying was, you know, that they were encouraging people in the factory to play the game to try to uncover issues, but they had no way to test this 500 times. and my initial response to that was what are you talking about of course you did of course you could you could build a little mock-up of an auto ball launcher on a sheet of plywood put these targets up there and they're just like set it on auto fire so every five to seven seconds it fires a ball at the uh targets and then you know if it starts heating balls over the corner of the rig that you built up then maybe you have an issue and go back and design i mean when we look at uh car parts when they're manufactured, doors, or even the, you know, opening refrigerator doors or something that you'd have at home. These things are robotically tested over and over hundreds of thousands of times to simulate years and years of use to see, you know, how does it hold up over, you know, a thousand openings of your GE oven range door? You know, is it flying off the hinges or can it put up with the abuse? So I don't know, maybe that didn't occur to them. Maybe this is a little bit of inside pool that we're seeing and these sorts of things happen all the time and we just don't happen to hear about them and uh american pinball is being transparent letting us know and letting us in on it so you know maybe just some secret inside information but i like that they're being transparent about this i also like that they have a fix i'm also looking at dancing cows on the screen what is going on with this flipping game i still don't fully understand it i'm gonna have to watch more of this stream later but um you know it sounds like they got a fix they can drop in and i think units will be produced going forward we'll have this fix involved anybody else that has bought the game they're they're told to register it then they'll get a fix sent out to them now american pinball is not the only pinball company that has needed an aftermarket fix i mean rush game of the year right well rush had the problem with those uh scoops and and and problems with rejecting and and uh the metal ramp there was unsupported so it was warping over time and balls were not ejecting properly and then they came up with their own kind of in-house aftermarket fix for that. Ninja Camp did a much better one, which I have on my machine, which I recommend to everybody. So, you know, Stern, of course, is not beyond reproach with something like this. Thanks for the transparency, though, and explaining to us exactly what was going on with the rejected balls off the standout targets and the fix that's available. So, you know, there's a fix, no harm, no foul. But, you know, for the prices they're commanding, I would expect at least this level of transparency. So there we go. Now, during the stream, there were some bugs that seemed to pop up, and I think the game had to be reset a few times. There were some ball traps that had to be down-glassed and fixed. Again, that's not something exclusive to American Pinball. And from what I've heard from some operators that have their games on location, particularly Hot Wheels, the thing is a tank. You think this is a tank? Hot Wheels is the tank. They're saying they never really have any issues or downtime with this machine. So American Pinball doesn't appear to have a long history of unreliability that we see with some other manufacturers. And even the big dogs like Stern can even have those issues. So it is what it is. As far as this game goes, I still want to play it. I really want to play this. Based on what I've been seeing so far in the last few days, I've actually kind of considered, like, maybe is this a game I would want to add to the collection at some point? Now, note that I have not gone through on that, dear listener. These games are available. I think the Deluxe Edition, everybody agrees, is the way to go. It comes fairly fully loaded with components and the art blades and the pin lights and all that business without having any tank treads or any extravagant markups. So, you know, I think there it is. I'm warming up to Galactic Tank Force. Really want to play it, but this looks like it's going to be a location play for me. Moving on, I got some kudos and some shout-outs from some trusted dealers to highlight. I haven't done one of these in a while. So I'm going to give a shout out and a hey thanks buddy to Steve over at the Michigan Pinball Refinery. I got my Elvira House to Horrors recently. And I have also played on location the Elvira 40th edition. And that 40th edition from Stern, the 40th anniversary edition, had that great purple powder coat with the sparkles in it. And it just felt good. It looked good. It was a great art package. It went well with those foil decals. And I wanted to replicate that. I also did not want to spend $25,000 on an Elvira pinball machine when I could get one for $10,500 from my homies over at Mad Pinball. Thanks, you guys. So I reached out to a couple powder-coater places, landed on Steve from the Pinball Refinery. I've known about this guy because he kind of creates his own kind of higher-end games. He works with CoinTaker. It looks like you can order a game from him, and he'll do custom powder coats, add in custom sculpts for you, and then send you this premium kind of package. I was expecting to be a little pricey. We came in around $400 for a powder coat, and we powder coated everything on that machine. Now, the 40th Anniversary Edition comes with the powder coated legs and rails and lock bar like you'd imagine, but I was able to add the coin door. I was able to add the hinges. I was able to upgrade two lollipop rails for the side. Even the shooter housing, which doesn't come powder coated on the 40th Anniversary Edition, does on Don's Refinery Edition. so I sent those out two weeks they were sent back to me and I just finally bolted everything on last night and man does this thing sparkle go check it out it's on the Facebook page at DonSpinballPodcast.com I took photos of every angle I could think of I even put a new shooter rod on there now the 40th anniversary edition comes with that jeweled shooter rod and that was a look that I wanted to go for So I was trolling through Amazon looking for kind of cheap jeweled daggers or letter openers, something I could convert into a shooter rod, and I came across pinballshooterrods.com, custom pinball shooter rods guy out in Cincinnati who makes custom pinball shooter rods, and he had one. Now, ostensibly, it was made for Lord of the Rings, But it is a nice kind of elven-looking dagger with a black handle converted into a shooter rod. So I picked that bad boy up and threw him in there. And so far, it is working so good. Check out the pictures. I think I'm really proud of how it came out. And, you know, I've been playing it kind of nonstop last night and tonight. It's looking pretty good. Let's do a quick rundown. There are seven new games that are out. I just want to talk about those real quick. We got Queen up first. What are my impressions of that? You know, again, I played it. I'm not rushing out to play it again. It's an older design that seemed to languish in a bit of development hell for, I don't know, five to ten years, and now it's out. I got to play it on location. I got to play it with updated code, and I got to play it with three balls, guys. Pinball Brothers had it on two-ball mode at the expos that I played it at. Has anyone bought a Queen? I guess if you're a diehard Queen fan, this is the game for you. For me, I'd like to go play it a couple more times on location. I'd like to play it with headphones on so I can really hear the music. But to tis, what to tis. Moving on to Scooby. Scooby is one of the seven games that I have ordered. I was in on the theme and layout. I've played it. It plays a little easier. I think it'll really complement my game room. My family digs it. So it's going to be a win for us personally for those reasons. Somebody mentioned this is not a game that would be good in tournaments. I think the Eclectic Gamers podcast folks, they put this at the bottom of their list actually. Now, these guys are coming from a perspective of maybe more of like a tournament play or a little bit more of a traditional fast-playing, flowy kind of game. And this one is basically a floaty kind of game, where if you're an accomplished tournament player, you could probably stay on this game all day. So for that reason, they weren't really fans of it. They specifically called out, Dennis called out, the bangs and twangs and other cartoon sounds that they lifted from Scooby-Doo and put in there when you hit the slings and such. I kind of dig that. I like those springy sounds. I like those goofy sounds. I like this goofy game. I like there's five multicolored wire forms. So I'm in. I'm happy with my purchase and I'm anxiously awaiting my bill, which is somewhere in the 700s. Should be coming this fall, but you know, I'm digging Scooby. I went in on that. Final Resistance, I agree with everybody else. It's multi-morphic. If you own this machine already, you've already got a pre-order for this, and I think that's the right decision. If I owned one, I would totally be in on one. This is not going to cause me to put down money in a game that I probably won't receive for a year. But at least between this and Weird Al, if I did have one, if I did come across one, I would want to play this. So I think really, you know, if you own a P3, you've got this game pre-ordered there it is that's my hot take uh godfather shoots well best jersey jack a best jersey jack shooter i'll give it that um does have some flowy shots i do like it um i dig the art um whether the theme integration is there or not um is you know a matter of taste and and it's up to you uh value however for me it's not there for you if it's there fine if i come across this game I want that collector's edition, and I want it for around $11.50. If you got one, holler at your boy. I'll pick one up. Foo Fighters got it on order. This is an easy go on. This looks like a flow monster. It's got good music. If you tolerate Foo Fighters at all, I think you'll really dig this game. If you hate that type of music, if it's grating on your brain, you're probably not a guy that owns an Iron Maiden, which is also a pretty good flow monster. So, tis what it is. I'm considering strongly giving this the same powder coat treatment that I did for Elvira, maybe with an orange sparkly powder coat, so Steve Michigan's Pinball Refinery, I may be in contact here shortly when mine arrives, Galactic Tank Force I just gave you my rundown on that, I do like and I'm watching the stream again I like the sounds they don't bother me, I really dig the lights the shots, I have to shoot it to see for myself I like all the effort that they put in doing the graphics on the LCD screen. There's a chicken running away from a bomb right now. That's kooky and fun. I'll echo the sentiment that if you're looking for something different and different in a good direction, here it is. If you're looking for something different in just a bizarre direction, P3 Multimorphic is right there for you, sir. No knocks to anybody that digs it. Now, what if Scott Danesi was able to create a traditional layout, non-virtual version of Final Resistance and sell that as well? What would you expect to pay for it? And would you buy one? I could see one of those on location. Interesting idea. I'm sure licensing-wise he's probably contractually obligated to not do that because it would most certainly undercut interest and sales in this game. But I just thought that a curious thing. Maybe that would be an interesting homebrew project. because somebody that's looking for homebrew projects start making their own P3 multi-morphic games but as standalones without the screen. Is that possible? I would love to see what somebody's standalone Weird Al would look like. Can you buy the $3,000 component and then drop that into like a homebrew cabinet That seems like it would be well that would definitely be an interesting project Okay so P3 Multimorphic they sell the full virtual cabinet and then they also sell the modules. Can you buy a module and drop it in and get it working? My wheels are turning on that. What would that even look like? Would they be mad? How could they be mad? You bought the module you're using the module how you want to intend i i don't i don't know guys is this possible is this feasible would you have to find a rom somewhere no the module comes with the rom right the module comes with the rum homebrew p3 multimorphic is there a cottage industry that i've just developed where you could make a homebrew cabinet built to accept a p3 multimorphic module and just not have the graphics. Did I just invent something? All right. I'm going to table that for now. And, uh, and I'm going to strongly consider whether that is possible or not. That leaves us with Pulp Fiction. My thoughts on Pulp Fiction are known. Um, yeah, Ellie's the one to get. It's not available. Well, Ellie will be available. Um, they'll have to be a markup. I've seen people paying one and a half to $2,000 just to take over somebody else's pre-order spot, raising the price of the game to $12,000, $13,000, $14,000. That would seem reasonable for me. I think if I saw people, if I saw an LE of Pulp Fiction on Pinside for $13,000 to $14,000, I would think that would be probably appropriate. I think for reasons, I wouldn't go in on that just on principle. I had the opportunity to purchase an LE. I consciously decided that I didn't need one. And so I'm gonna live with that decision. The decision that I'm also considering living with is purchasing a standard edition. Yeah, haters say what you want. I know I won't have that fun topper. I will have the game. I will have the call-outs. I will have all of that. So I'm going to wait until I play the game. If I really dig the game, because I super dig Pulp Fiction as a license, I may go on an SE at some point. When would that be? That's the other thing that I have the luxury of. I'm not tied up into a deposit. If this is a game that in two years from now, they've only built and distributed 400 to 500, and there's still tons of people waiting, I'm not really missing out on money that's tied up into a game If they go ahead and churn these things out Like Stern or JJP And there's thousands of them on the market And I can pick one up used or pick up a show game I may just do that So I'm okay with that now I've come around, I didn't get an L.E. I can live with that I can get an S.E. and I can play the game in my house Or I can go play it on location Or whatever So those are my thoughts on those Just a few tidbits to kind of finish up B.A. Barak, is he still with us? Me too, sir. Me too. So, some footage of Punny Factory dropped. Remember this game? This game was announced and it's being worked on by some, can I call them a company? A consortium of pinball folks called Pinball Adventures are coming up with a game called Punny Factory. Get it? It sounds like Funny Factory, but it's a pun. And the game is loaded with puns. And the game is also loaded with some shots and what looks like a flat play field. Based on this teaser video, I would like to see more. Release more, sirs. I understand that they're a relatively new outfit, and they just want to get something out. Something out that people can play, something that they can sell, something they can generate some income with so they can then move on to their other projects. One of these other projects is one called First Class. It is a game about airplanes, or jet airplanes, or being a commercial pilot, or some dang thing. anyway all I know is there apparently is going to be a commercial jet mechanism in the game does it lock balls does it light up does it make zoomy zoom sounds does it take off does it land does it flare does it have retractable flaps these are the questions that I have for first class my other question for first class is where can I put down my deposit for this game because I'm definitely intrigued on an aircraft themed game sounds crazy sounds fun I want to know more I I want to not spend $15,000 on a game, but I'm curious. I want to know more about Punny Factory. I would totally dig playing one, and I would like to know more about First Class. Also, Trolling Nap Arcade, as I'm known to do, came across a post from a few days ago, I think before Midwest Gaming Classic, where they had mentioned that at some point in the future, vague as this is, a topper will come out from a game that was initially released about 10 years ago and is still in production. a game from a Dutch pinball company a game called The Big Lebowski is getting a topper guys. Now if they come out with a topper that's anywhere like the Pulp Fiction topper I think we got a solid piece of machinery for your machine particularly if it's not like $3,000 particularly if we're actually able to order it and get one now there was a code update for The Big Lebowski apparently people digging through the code or the code release notes noticed that there was some code in there pertaining to a topper and we actually got some confirmation it seems from dutch pinball that a topper is in development and will be out at some point probably beyond that it's anyone's guess i don't like that one let me use this one there we go hit it give me those scratchies before it goes in guys all right so what do you think tuesday night episode um the dead flip stream is still going on. I'm going to kickback and watch this for a little bit. Kick me some of your comments at donspinballpodcast.gmail.com Order yourself some stickers. Order yourself some t-shirts. I got keychains. I got magnets. I got all kinds of crazy stuff. Do you just want to send me money and get a gift bag of weird crap? Let me know. Holler back.