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Episode 6: "Suck it San Diego Comic-Con!"

The Flipside Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·37m 8s·analyzed·Jul 23, 2024
789dc60d-4845-4bc2-a11f-d09a9b434fe3
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Retro Ralph covers Godzilla 70th preview, John Wick impressions, and fall pinball rumors.

Summary

Retro Ralph discusses his recent experiences at Southern Fried Gaming Expo, including early hands-on time with Godzilla 70th (before its official San Diego Comic-Con debut), feedback on John Wick's reception and code updates, and a heartwarming story about meeting a pinball enthusiast in Denver. He also shares current pinball industry rumors about upcoming games from American Pinball, Stern, Spooky, Jersey Jack, and Dutch Pinball.

Key Claims

  • Godzilla 70th was showcased at Southern Fried Gaming Expo before its official public debut at San Diego Comic-Con

    high confidence · Retro Ralph, host, direct observation at the show

  • John Wick has tight shots, difficult gameplay, and reminds some players of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in terms of scoring

    high confidence · Retro Ralph reporting feedback from multiple players at Southern Fried Gaming Expo

  • Tim Sexton will work on John Wick code updates through the end of the year

    high confidence · Elliot Eisman (mechanical engineer at Stern) confirmed to Retro Ralph

  • John Wick was Electric Bat's number one earner last month

    high confidence · Cale and Rachel (Electric Bat operators) reported to Retro Ralph

  • Godzilla 70th features metallic foil artwork on side art depicting Mechagodzilla

    high confidence · Retro Ralph's direct observation at Southern Fried Gaming Expo

  • American Pinball's next game is rumored to be either Cuphead or He-Man/Masters of the Universe

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph reporting on rumor research

  • Stern is rumored to be working on X-Men 97, possibly with Keith Elwin as designer

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph reporting on rumor research

  • Metallica is rumored as a Stern rerun with LCD instead of DMD

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph reporting on rumor research

  • Spooky Pinball is rumored to be working on Beetlejuice

    low confidence · Retro Ralph reporting on rumor research

  • Jersey Jack's rumored next titles include Avatar, Top Gun, The Matrix, and Harry Potter

    low confidence · Retro Ralph reporting on rumor research, attributed to 'Colin'

Notable Quotes

  • “So suck it, San Diego Comic-Con. Boom! Already saw it.”

    Retro Ralph @ Early in episode — Sets tone for the episode; Retro Ralph saw Godzilla 70th before its official public debut

  • “The thing that really stands out to it is the way they had it set up in the booth... the side art just, I know artwork is subjective in general, but, I mean, I looked at it and I'm like, damn, that thing pops crazy.”

    Retro Ralph @ Early-mid episode — Detailed aesthetic reaction to Godzilla 70th metallic artwork

  • “Elliot, you know, stay positive. You did something good here and people are enjoying it. Look around. There's lines for John Wick all day, every day.”

    Retro Ralph @ Mid-episode, discussing John Wick feedback — Encouragement to designer Elliot Eisman; defense of John Wick against online criticism

  • “I don't think you have to have a bunch of mechs or like crazy crazy toys all over the place to be a good game... I look at Bond and Bond looks rather bare when you look at it. It's one of my favorite games.”

    Retro Ralph @ Mid-episode — Commentary on game design philosophy regarding mechanical complexity

  • “I want to encourage you guys go out go to join the tournament it doesn't matter it doesn't matter how good you are, you will meet some really cool people. And some of these people might end up being your friends for life.”

    Retro Ralph @ Mid-episode, from his panel — Core message from his Southern Fried Gaming Expo panel about community engagement

  • “He's like, well, man, my small town I'm from only has one pinball machine in it... so he was so excited to play it was his birthday so of course i'm like i paid for his games”

    Retro Ralph @ Mid-late episode — Anecdote about meeting a pinball enthusiast in Denver; illustrates passion in underserved markets

  • “I think if you're American Pinball and you're just coming off of a game called Berrio's Barbecue Challenge that you probably should lead with He-Man, not Cuphead. That would be my advice.”

Entities

Retro RalphpersonElliot EismanpersonTim SextonpersonKeith ElwinpersonJack DangerpersonDonpersonGenghisperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Godzilla 70th playable at Southern Fried Gaming Expo before official San Diego Comic-Con debut

    high · Retro Ralph confirmed hands-on time with unit at the show; Marco Specialties brought two units

  • ?

    product_concern: Godzilla 70th missing black and white LCD artwork assets at show floor; expected for Comic-Con reveal

    high · Retro Ralph noted DMD was in color only; mentioned code may not have been ready in time

  • ?

    code_update: John Wick receiving continued software updates through end of year via Tim Sexton

    high · Elliot Eisman confirmed to Retro Ralph that code refinement is ongoing

  • ?

    operational_signal: John Wick performing well as top earner at Electric Bat venues despite tight shot difficulty

    high · Cale and Rachel confirmed it was number one earner last month; strong player interest observed at expo

  • ?

    rumor_hype: American Pinball next game rumored to be Cuphead or He-Man/Masters of the Universe

    medium · Retro Ralph researched rumors; expressed opinion that He-Man would be strategically better choice

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Stern rumored to be developing X-Men 97, possibly with Keith Elwin as designer

    medium · Retro Ralph heard rumors but noted uncertainty about designer attribution

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.111

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to the flip side, your pinball podcast by your host, me, Retro Ralph. We got a lot to talk about, so I'm going to try to keep it to my normal 20 to 30 minutes, but I can't guarantee we might go over because I just might be that excited to talk to you about all the things that just went down. this past weekend and probably the past week or so. So I'm going to turn the volume down, and we're just going to roll right into it, just like we always do. So the big news, the top news, for me at least, is that I did not expect this, but at Southern Fried Gaming Expo that I just got back from, there was two Godzilla 70s that Marco Specialties brought to the show. Now, the official press release does say, from Stern, that it's going to be showcased and highlighted for the very first time for the general public at San Diego Comic-Con. But guess what?
1:03
I saw it before then, so suck it, San Diego Comic-Con. Boom! Already saw it. Anyways, a lot of people saw it, including Don's Pinball Podcast, who I got a chance to hang out with for a brief period of time. We played some Total Nuclear Annihilation, and he was not happy with the outcome. But that's okay. It's not very often that I win in anything, so the fact that I beat him made me feel good. But, you know, it's Don. I'm sure he could beat me at a lot of other games. But anyways, that is a game that is very difficult if you haven't played it much. But anyway, so what do I think about the Godzilla 70th now that I've seen it?
1:39
It looks beautiful. So the thing that really stands out to it is the way they had it set up in the booth. If you're watching this on the YouTube side of it versus listening to it, you'll be able to see the video. But they had it set up in like a side-by-side sort of thing or back-to-back, sorry, with the original version, obviously, with the colorful play field. So you could kind of compare the side art. And the side art just, I know artwork is subjective in general, but, I mean, I looked at it and I'm like, damn, that thing pops crazy. It pops like crazy because you got the metallic part of it, right? And you're featuring Mechagodzilla on the side. So that foil artwork, that feature that they use that gives it that sheen, it just makes it look like Mechagodzilla's metal. So it's really cool on the side. Now, of course, the back box side art, the same thing. It still has that sheen to it. It looks really cool. The back box is okay. I don't, you know, I'm not, like, blown away by the back box. It's really the sides. Sorry, not the back box, but the translate in the back box. It's okay. But the play field is, like, I'm kind of 50-50 on the play field because I really love the original. zombie this is obviously zombie yeti as well just gray scaled high def gray scaled but um i don't know i'm like i'm like the jury's still out like i could give or take the playfield as as black and white it's really cool but um but i guess for me being someone that owns one already i'm like really contemplating whether or not this is something that oh my gosh because it's the same game i mean as you guys know it's not like it's a different game it's the very same game just with these features. They did not have the black and white LCD, so I don't know if that's something there. He did mention they're going to do that, so I don't know if the code just wasn't ready in time. But whatever they had running on the show floor did not have the LCD artwork assets and video clips in black and white. It was all in color still. So anyway, it would have been nice to see that. I'm assuming for the grand reveal at San Diego Comic-Con, they'll have that ready, but they did not have that in time, I guess. for Southern Fried Gaming Expo. But anyway, so speaking of that, I'll give you a little bit of my experience at Southern Fried Gaming Expo. I got there kind of late because of that whole CrowdStrike rollout that kind of got all messed up. I don't know if you're unaware.

Retro Ralph @ Late episode — Opinion on American Pinball's strategic choice between rumored next titles

  • “I would have tombstone pile driven the freaking Guns N' Roses cabinet if we were anywhere else. And I was so freaking pissed off.”

    Retro Ralph @ Late episode — Frustrated reaction to poor ball save settings on Guns N' Roses

    • Bob Rose
    person
    Caleperson
    Rachelperson
    Jason Knappperson
    Colinperson
    Nickperson
    Marco Specialtiescompany
    Stern Pinballcompany
    American Pinballcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Dutch Pinballcompany
    Electric Batcompany
    Southern Fried Gaming Expoevent
    San Diego Comic-Conevent
    Pinball Expoevent
    Total Nuclear Annihilationgame
    John Wickgame
  • ?

    rumor_hype: Metallica rumored as Stern rerun with LCD replacing original DMD

    medium · Retro Ralph identified this as having 'some validity'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Beetlejuice rumored as possible Spooky Pinball title; newer movie release expected

    low · Retro Ralph mentioned hearing the rumor; acknowledged low confidence and lack of Spooky contacts

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong community enthusiasm for social pinball play; personal connection building through casual gaming

    high · Anecdote of Denver encounter; panel messaging about tournament participation leading to friendships

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Discussion of tension between challenging gameplay and new player accessibility; debate over mechanical complexity necessity

    high · Retro Ralph's defense of John Wick difficulty; criticism of Guns N' Roses ball save settings; commentary on mech-heavy vs mech-light games

  • ?

    venue_signal: Arcade bars identified as primary driver of modern pinball distribution and accessibility

    high · Panel discussion topic; reference to Token Taverns documentary by Bob Rose; Electric Bat performance metrics

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: John Wick perception improving from initial online skepticism to strong location performance and player enthusiasm

    high · Retro Ralph noted negative online comments contrasting with positive in-person feedback and operator success

    • 4:03
    We use CrowdStrike at my work. I don't even know exactly what it is. I think it's some kind of like anti-malware. So if someone knows, let me know. All I know is it slows down my work computer. I'll tell you that much. But I think it filters internet traffic and things like that. So anyways, there was some update to it that took out a lot of Windows machines, and the only way to fix it was to reboot them into safe mode and then apply a patch. Well, you can imagine there's a lot of Windows machines running various different things in the world, and Airlines is one of them.
    4:34
    And man, holy crap, I walked into the airport. I was unaware of this event even happening, so I'm on my way to the Southern Fried Gaming Expo, and I'm looking around. And I'm like, all these monitors have blue screens of death with sad faces on them. And I was like, that's weird, right? Like I just immediately thought, oh, well, it's probably just isolated to the airport or whatever. But little did I know it was happening all over the place. So it definitely caused a lot of disruption. I was supposed to have my panel on Friday night, but I ended up having it on Saturday. And you know what? It probably worked out to my favor because I was really nervous about the turnout I'd have at a panel at Southern Pride Gaming Expo at like 7 o'clock at night on a Friday the first night. So I don't know what that turnout would have been like, but I want to say there was maybe like 30 to 40 people. That's really good, in my opinion. So I was pretty excited about that because in prior years, we had done panels in there and maybe it was like 10, you know. So that was really good, especially coming off of I was just in SoCal for their gaming expo. And I had about like 40 to 50 in there. And that was like the biggest audience I've ever had. This one was probably and the fact that it got rescheduled was probably around the same size, if not a little bit larger. So I was really excited about that and super grateful that people would even want to come out at a show like that and hear what I have to say. The session was more about the future of arcade gaming and the current state and the future. And I did talk a lot about pinball as a part of that, right? Because I think pinball has really helped propel a lot of these arcade bars, which is really, to me, the arcade as of today, right? I mean, you could argue you got the Dave & Buster's and places like that main event. But to me, really, the thing that's driving the hobby and continuing to propel the hobby forward are all these arcade bars that have popped up all over the place. And if you haven't seen it, the only man I know that's made a documentary about the rise of arcade bars is my buddy Bob Rose. If you haven't seen the movie, it's called Token Taverns. It's on Tubi for free with advertisements if you want to see it that way. It's on Amazon. There's a bunch of different places you can watch it. Give it a watch. You might enjoy it. I'm actually in it. I'm featured in it in a very, very small part, but I am in the movie, which is kind of cool. So anyways, moving on. The one thing I'll say, right, the feature game was obviously John Wick because that's the latest release from Stern Pinball. And I just, you know, it's not just because I own it and it's not because I'm just a Stern fanboy. I really, really like John Wick. The game is a lot of fun. And actually, my buddies over at Electric Bat, Cale and Rachel, it was actually their number one earner last month. So it's doing well on location. People enjoy it. And the overall sentiment I got from anybody I talked to that played it at Southern Pride was that they liked it. The only feedback I got that was sort of negative, if you want to call it negative feedback, was, hey, the scoring's a little low and it reminds me of Turtles in that way, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And the only other feedback I got was that it's hard, right? The shots are tight and it's hard. But I don't think hard is bad. Like, I think hard is good because it's a challenge, right? Some games, you might argue, are too easy. I think this game is hard, so it's going to be challenging. I don't think it would be my first game. Like if someone said, hey, I want to buy my first pinball machine, and they were a casual player, I definitely wouldn't suggest John Wick as their number one game to put into their collection or start their collection with. But for someone that's been in the hobby for a while, it's a fun, challenging game. And me being somewhat newer still, I look around, and I see a lot of people complaining about games being too easy. I'm like, well, Stern finally gave you a game that's hard, So enjoy the game for what it is. But yeah, the thing is, overall, everyone really liked it. My only beef with playing games at shows is that you just like a lot of times the sound, the sound is loud, but it's so loud in there with so many other machines that it's really hard to hone in on that. And there's a really cool soundtrack by Pantera that's part of the game that you really can't experience much at the show because you can't hear it over everything else. Now, I did take them a moment to talk to Elliot Eisman. So if you don't know, Elliot Eisman has worked for Stern, I think, for 10 years as a mechanical engineer. So he creates a lot of mechs and things like that that would be part of the games that we all play. I don't have, like, all the data as to all of the games that he worked on or provided, you know, his specialties on. But really nice guy. I had met him at the Stern factory tour, but I didn't really have one-on-one time with him. I could have. I just, I think I was pretty overwhelmed by that overall experience. So I didn't really think to stop and talk to him. But I was with my buddy Nick, and I'm like, Nick, I think that's Elliot. The thing is, the guy looks different in, like, every picture that's posted of him online. So I was like, I think that's him. And so I went, I was like, I'm going to go talk to him. Nick like yeah you should you should So I started a conversation with him and I felt compelled to tell him though that like screw the noise Like I like look at all these people enjoying the game that you designed You know what I mean? And it's like I think if you looked at comments or just looked at maybe social media or other content creators, there's been like definitely a lot of repetition or people that like pick up a message that the game's not good or the game's not selling well. And I was just putting myself in this guy's shoes. This guy's first game got designed. And if he was reading comments or looking at other content that was created, there's a lot of negative content, the no guns thing, all this nonsense. But at the end of the day, it's a fun, fast, and challenging game. And it was his first one. And I'm like, man, you should be proud of this, really. You created a great game. And look at all these people that are enjoying it. And he was there to look for feedback. I gave him some feedback on the scoring and such. But I don't know. I felt compelled to tell him, like, look, I'm a content creator. I see comments of people saying negative stuff about me. You just got to ignore that stuff and rise above it. And I think he will too. I think he'll design another game, no doubt. But I think it was really good. I did ask him if the code updates are coming, and he said Tim Sexton's going to work on – his project is to work on the code from now until the end of the year. So I'm sure we're going to see subsequent updates, as that's a lot of time. And he even admitted, like, we're refining the code quite a bit. So I think that game's just going to continue to get better. and I just, you know, I kind of just like, you know, I kind of just said, Elliot, like, F that noise. Look at the people in here. They're all enjoying your game. Get the feedback from the people playing it, not from people that haven't played it that just want to like mouth off online. You know what I mean? There's a lot of that in pinball where people just like don't play a game, you know, jaws. Oh, the game sucks because the shark doesn't eat the ball. Who gives a shit if the shark eats the ball? Like, I could give a rat's ass. The game is so fun. No part of me walked up on that, man. Man, I'm so disappointed. this game sucks because the shark didn't eat the ball uh the other thing i will say is a lot of people put a lot of emphasis on mechs like oh games with more mechs are better and i'm like i don't know man maybe i'm in the i mean i'm in like the rare i don't think so though i think a lot of people share this sentiment as well i don't think you have to have a bunch of mechs or like crazy crazy toys all over the place to be a good game the toys are fun and it's great when you have them and i think having them or one or two in a game is always it's always like creates moments within that game, but I don't think you need it to have a super successful game or a fun game to play or a challenging game to play. I mean, I look at Bond and Bond looks rather bare when you look at it. It's one of my favorite games. There's not a whole lot going on. As a matter of fact, the pro to me is my preferred. I don't I don't miss the jetpack thing and I don't miss that one physical ball lock. So I don't know, man, that's just me. You know, definitely if you're if you have a way to comment or want to want to like comment on what I'm saying, definitely do that. But I just wanted to make it a point to be like, Elliot, you know, stay positive. You did something good here and people are enjoying it. Look around. There's lines for John Wick all day, every day. So really cool. And it was encouraging to see Cale and Rachel really like it. Their community, which I view as mostly hardcore pinball players and some casuals really like it. As a matter of fact, they like it enough to make it the top game last month. So I think that's really cool. But anyway, I'll move on from that. So that conversation with Elliot was really cool. Now there's another like really cool pinball story. I'll say it really short. I won't, I won't spend a ton of time of it, time with it, but I was in Denver for work. So this week I was actually in Denver or last week, sorry. I was in Denver Monday, Tuesday, then flew home, then worked for a couple of days, then took off to Southern fried gaming expo. So I was really tired last week, but when I was in Denver, I was like, man, this is funny. You guys are gonna laugh at this. I was on like a 29 day streak on insider connected. And I'm like, I'm not going to let that go. Like, I can't just because I'm on this work trip, I got to find a way. So we went out to a customer dinner. It was in the Denver, like downtown ish area. And like, man, I got to go somewhere. So I hop on pinball map. And I found that there was a I've been to this place before. It's called like one up arcade bar or something like that. So I'm like, I'm going over there. So I so it was the dinner ended early enough and I had I had like one well no I had two I had two uh two old fashions but anyways anybody that knows me knows I I don't drink much I actually had nothing to drink at Southern Fried Gaming Expo I had not one single beer which is crazy so I didn't even have one beer that's not how Expo usually goes Expo I usually have uh quite a bit to drink but I didn't I didn't have anything I don't drink a lot though in general but anyway so I didn't have anything to drink but I did this night. So I had those two old fashions and I'm like, you know what, if this one up place is close to where this restaurant is, it might be a good idea for me to just chill out there for a little bit, play some pinball, make sure I don't lose my streak and, uh, and, and be, uh, more be safe to drive. Right. So I go over there and I was about to jump on a game. I get my change. They have all those old school change machines there. It's all coin drop there. It's not, it's not like a flat rate arcade or anything like that. So it's, it's a cool bar though. It's a cool, cool bar. Kind of got a grungy feel to it, which I like. You know, it kind of makes you feel like back in the day. Very, very cool place. Cool arcade bar. If you're in Denver, definitely check it out. But I'm about to play my first game. I think I was going to go on Jaws. It's kind of stupid because I own that one. But when you go on location, it's better to play games you don't own, right? So I go in there. I'm about to put in a credit. Actually, I put one credit in. And there's this guy, and he's like, hey, man, you want to play John Wick?
    14:45
    I put in a credit. He's like, oh, man, you just put in a credit. I'm like, I don't care. Yeah, let's play John Wick. So I left the credit, and I didn't care. And there wasn't anybody really in there, so I figured if we hop back on Jaws, there's one credit will be on there. So I started talking to this guy. A guy I didn't know. He was super friendly. And we just started talking. And I was like, hey, man, where are you from? You from Denver? He's like, no, actually, I'm from this mountain town up north. My family and I own this barbecue restaurant, and it's my birthday, so I'm down here for my birthday. I was like, well, where's everybody else? like why are you here alone kind of thing and he goes well i'm with my fiance and uh i think he said his i think it's his daughter his fiance and his daughter i can't remember it could have been daughter could have been his future stepdaughter i'm not i'm not 100 sure but uh but but she wasn't of age so she couldn't come into the place and he she goes or he goes well uh you know do you mind dropping me off just for an hour it's my birthday i really want to play some pinball before we go out to dinner or whatever and you know his girlfriend's like yeah of course right And he seemed so excited to play pinball, man. I mean, over the moon. So I'm thinking, like, does he not, like, has he not played pinball in a while? Like, I get excited to play, but he was so freaking happy. Like, the smile was all over his face. And I'm like, man, why are you, you're like really excited. I love seeing you like this. You're kind of amping me up that you're so excited. He's like, well, man, my small town I'm from only has one pinball machine in it. He goes, it's a really small mountain town. We only have one. so i don't remember what one it was but it wasn't like an ultra popular game either it was like kind of something that that isn't that popular so he was so excited to play it was his birthday so of course i'm like i paid for his games but what was so cool is like i didn't even know this dude i'm i thought i was just gonna play alone in this in this arcade bar and i'm i start becoming really friendly with this dude that it's his birthday which was super cool so i got to like kind of celebrate this guy's birthday i paid for his games which was cool it was like my birthday present to this strange stranger I didn't even know and he was just so fun to play with we ended up playing um a lot of Adam's family and when um I don't I don't know I'm not I'm not good at remembering like Adam's family is something I like the game but I'm not I don't even know like what the hand is that comes out of the box like I don't even know what that character's name is his name could be like handsy for all I know like I don't know anyways I'm not good at remembering a lot of stuff like that I only remember like I don't know some things I can remember some things I can't but anyway i don't know what the freaking guy the hand thing's name is but when that happened in the game like i was playing and that happened and it grabbed the ball he like lost his mind so i said well how do you play then if you only have one pinball machine up there he's like i only play digitally that's all i play he's like i play pinball fx3 uh fx2 and like that kind of stuff he said he even plays uh the vr pinball with like the meta quest and stuff and i was like that's cool man and and he goes but it was interesting because i watched him get better as we were playing because his timing is his timing is different because he's used to playing the games digitally but man he's like man i just wish i had i i want a pinball machine a real pinball machine one day but anyways long story short the guy was just freaking a really cool guy and that i when i did my panel at southern fried gaming expo i was that was my main thing i'm like i want to encourage you guys go out go out of your house go to join the tournament it doesn't matter it doesn't matter how good you are, you will meet some really cool people. And some of these people might end up being your friends for life. You know what I mean? You don't know, but you don't know if you don't go outside and do it. And I think in, we need to do more of that during the pandemic. Everyone just, just bought all this crap and for their house, including me, I kept buying everything I had. I had, I had a, I had frigging enough room for, well, I used up all my room, but I like created an arcade out of my garage and the inside of my house man had arcade games everywhere Arcade games and storage lockers I mean it was insane And now when I think about it now I like I enjoy having a collection but I I enjoy being out socializing and playing these games with other people that like it way more. So anyways, go do that. That was something I encouraged during my panel. And, uh, speaking of the panel, we did get into rumors a little bit about pinball. That wasn't at all the topic, but people asked. So I was, I was like trying to make a list of at the time I rattled them all off, but I think we'll talk about it really quick. because I think it's interesting. And then I want to get back to one other thing about playing pinball at a conference or even at a tournament versus your own house, because I was a little frustrated. But we'll get back to that in a second. So this is the current rumor list. And I'm not, like, one to dig in like Jason Knapp, right? Jason Knapp is, like, got, like, a competitive intelligence background. I actually did work in competitive intelligence, too, which is interesting that we have that in common. But he currently works in competitive intelligence. So he's very good at tracking things down and things like that. So, I mean, this is what I know right now. Don't hold this. This is just based on other research that I've done. But people ask, like, who's doing what and what are the rumors? So the reason why the rumors are interesting is because a lot of these things, if they do come to fruition, would probably happen around the Pinball Expo timeframe, so sometime in the fall. But American Pinball Cuphead seems to be the main rumor that that's their next game. I don't know. The other one that's rumored is He-Man in Masters of the Universe. I think I would take He-Man way over Cuphead, and I think if you're American Pinball and you're just coming off of a game called Berrio's Barbecue Challenge that you probably should lead with He-Man, not Cuphead. That would be my advice, but I don't know. Who am I, right? But that would be my advice. I think most of you guys would agree with me.
    20:17
    Considering we're probably the main buying demographic, people in your late 30s, 40s, 50s, I don't think Cuphead has any freaking nostalgia for any of us. So that one has me scratching my head. So if they lead with Cuphead, I think that's going to be a really bad idea. But we'll see. I guess we'll see. We'll see by expo time if that ends up happening. The other one is Stern, right? So Stern, the main rumor I keep hearing with Stern is X-Men 97. I don't know who the designer would be, though. I've heard that Jack Danger would be the designer on X-Men 97, but I'm not really sure. So I'm not sure what's going on with that one, but that'll be interesting to watch. And then, you know, this rumor, I have no idea how much validity there is to it, but that would be Keith Elwin. So that would make Keith's – this would be like Keith's third monster game, I think, right? Because you have Jaws, you have Godzilla, and then X-Men 97, or monster, whatever you want to call it. Like creatures, I don't know, whatever. anyway so and then uh the only other rumor i know from stern that has some validity to it is probably uh metallica as like a rerun but with an lcd versus a dmd because i think that game had a dmd so those those are the stern rumors as far as i know them then spooky i have no idea i don't really have any contacts at spooky um i'm not a huge fan of spooky's games to be honest the one game that i love that they made was was tna i love tna that game is really fun you know people say they don't a lot of people say they don't like like flat play fields but i think that game is super fun the music the sound effects like everything about that game just if you if your goal if the things you like about pinball is it sucking you into a world you like really think you're working around this nuclear reactor i mean it's it's a super cool super cool game um but yeah in general i don't get super amped up on spooky games i don't know why like none of them really have like really hit the mark for me but the one that I have heard is Beetlejuice now if you did a Beetlejuice I probably wouldn't buy it but I definitely want to play it I definitely would want to play it and it kind of makes sense because isn't the newer movie coming out uh at some point I don't know I don't follow it's weird my wife doesn't like movies she doesn't not like movies but she has a hard time Kim who you've you've heard on the podcast one time but she doesn't like sitting through it's like if movies had intermissions she'd be fine she gets antsy so that's why she's good at like binge watching shows because she can get up between like oh all right it's 22 minutes or or you know maybe an hour at max depending on what it is so she likes that format better than like a two hour or three hour movie i can i can get her to go sometimes but yeah so if it's beetlejuice i i'm cool with that jersey jack's rumor list is interesting because I have no clue which one of these would even happen but I gotta think they're working on their next game the list that I have you know mostly from uh Colin would be Avatar which I have no interest in I like the movie but I have no interest in an avatar and they already did an avatar stern so I don't know that one just doesn't I don't get that one I don't know I know it's popular but I don't know how popular it is in our age group that is the main buyer demographic for this stuff. I don't know. Avatar just like, I don't care. I don't know. That's just one I don't care about. Top Gun, man, I could get behind a Top Gun. But I am also, keep in mind, I was a kid that was obsessed with fighter jets as a little kid. Loved them. I had F-14 Tomcat pictures all over my bedroom. I loved that. My grandfather used to bring me to air shows. Top Gun, if done right, would be pretty freaking badass in my opinion. And I think you could make that into a really cool pinball machine. The Matrix, you know, another Keanu Reeves. What have we had? So for Keanu Reeves, you've had Johnny Mnemonic, John Wick, and then we'd have The Matrix. I don't know if there were any other games that had, that had, uh, there were movies that, um, Keanu Reeves was in. The main rumor that keeps coming up all the time though is Harry Potter. Now I'm not a big Harry Potter fan. I don't dislike it. That wouldn't be one I would buy though. I don't think. I don't know I will say this though I had a chance to play Elton John finally I finally got to play it in a place where I could you know put a little bit of time on it although the lines were kind of long for that game throughout the whole Southern Fried Gaming Expo because they brought they brought a couple games or they brought like four or five games to the show not not four or five Elton Johns they had like a Guns and Roses they had a Toy Story 4 they had Elton John and maybe something else that I can't recall but I played I played and got really pissed off at Guns N' Roses because I was like I don't know if they had the settings set weird but I literally like I I I launched the ball and it freaking drains and I didn't get a ball save and I'm like what the hell it was like within like 10 seconds or something it felt like to me I was like how is that even possible like I'm like who like to me I thought why would you code it that way because anyone casual coming up to it would be like, F this game and move on. Like, that's just so, you want to give someone a chance, you know what I mean? Especially because there is a market for new pinball fans, and you're not going to be good the first time you play, you know what I mean? You need to have something that gives you something. So it's got some challenge for the people that have been around for a while, but, like, someone new doesn't have, like, a terrible first experience. I lost my, I was tired, I was hungry, I lost it. I would have tombstone pile driven the freaking Guns N' Roses cabinet if we were anywhere else. And I was so freaking pissed off. So anyways, that will lead me to my next topic because we could talk about Dutch pinball, I guess, for a second. So Back to the Future is supposedly rumored, but I don't think that's happening because they have that Alice in Wonderland game. I still don't understand Dutch. It's like two companies. I don't even get it. So someone can correct me on that. I don't understand the structure, the company structure of Dutch. But supposedly Back to the Future is going to be the one that we get at some point maybe after Alice in Wonderland. So I'm thinking that's going to be 2025 now. You're probably not going to see that at Expo. But that would have been really cool to have that at the 40th Expo. That's what I was kind of hoping on. But it doesn't sound like that's going to happen now. So anyways, if you know more or want to talk rumors, we could do that. I'm not usually much of a rumor speculation guy. And honestly, I don't have the connections that a lot of these others do to like really validate these rumors, nor do I want to spill the beans too much. I'm someone that likes to be surprised. So I know like nothing in life you can be surprised about anymore because of social media, like everyone leaks stuff. But I really do enjoy being surprised, even though we kind of knew the 70th Godzilla was coming. It was kind of cool that it just popped up. You know, I mean, I was like, oh, damn, that was true. But I kind of like I kind of forgot about it. You know what I mean? So it was sort of cool that just kind of dropped. So that leads me to my last thing I want to talk about. playing at a tournament or a show versus playing at home. Maybe this is just me, but I was super, super frustrated at my abilities at the Southern Pride Gaming Expo. Like, it seemed like I was cursed. It was like every game I played, I was stiff. I wasn't loose. I didn't feel like I was in the zone. I felt completely out of my element. And it bothered me because I've been playing pinball every day for quite a while now. I don't know. I probably missed a day or two but I at least on like a 32 streak right now But typically I been trying to play it every single day and put in some time and some practice because I want to be better like I really it fun when you start learning the rules and you can progress through the game and keep your ball alive longer because you can then make more progress in that particular game and I it was bothering me because I I came into to Southern Fried Gaming Expo really confident that I have gotten a lot better because my scores at home would reflect that I have and even my scores at the tournament that uh that I play locally but man it it like bruised me hard like I was really really upset about it and I don't I don't know like I don't know what I don't know why I don't know why I like I don't understand why it went that way but it seemed like whenever I wanted a redemption game it got worse the only there were a couple games I played okay on I played okay on Terminator 2 a couple times with my buddy Ryan I played okay on Total Nuclear Annihilation the two times I played that. But anything that was Stern and things I own, it was games I friggin' own. It's very frustrating to play a game you know decently well and you play well at home. Like, I'll give you an example. John Wick is a low-scoring game. This morning I woke up, cold, haven't played a damn thing. Just woke up, didn't eat, didn't drink, didn't do anything. And I got on John Wick, and I got around $50 million. I didn't even come close to $50 million the whole time. Now, $50 million, I'm not boasting that that's an amazing score, but it's respectable if I were at the show and I hit $50 million.
    29:20
    Of course, my high score on that game is only like $101 million on the limited, and I think it's much higher on the pro. The pro I played at Interium when I was out on a work trip, and I'm at like $100 million. I've got to look it up on Insider Connected. I think I'm at like $160 million or $70 million, which is actually a pretty good score on John Wick. But anyway, so I was so frustrated, man. So I don't know, have any of you, it would make me feel better. Do any of you experience this, this inability to like perform under pressure? It sounds gross. Like really, like to do it when you have people watching you or because you're not playing in succession, right? You play and then you get in your own feelings and you get in your own head. I don't know, I am a competitive person by nature And it does bother me when I lose. I don't really want to be last place. You know, I don't know. It was hard, man. It made me kind of bummed out. So. Yeah. And then, of course, I have one friend that likes to just completely throw salt on the wounds when I'm upset. And I'm not that kind of person. Like if I see someone down, I don't like – I mean I know it's stupid to say I was down because of pinball, but it was really genuinely upsetting me because when you practice at something and you feel confident in your abilities or you're proud of the way you've been playing and you don't do well, I think it hurts you a little bit. You know what I mean?
    30:40
    And there's this one friend of mine that just loves to just kick me in the nuts when he knows I'm upset. I don't do that to people. I don't know why he does that or feels the need to do it. But he doesn't he supposedly doesn't listen to this podcast. So he knows he knows. I told him to his face, like, why being a jerk? But he maybe stopped for a minute and then went back to it. So I don't know what to tell you. But I don't feel like that's how you treat people. You know, they're down. You got to encourage them to even if even if it doesn't help it. I think everyone everyone likes words of encouragement. So anyways, ball busting is fine amongst friends. But when it becomes like repetitive to the point, it starts to feel malicious at a point. You're like, hey, are you really like, do you enjoy seeing me pissed off? Because you're kind of feeding into my anger right now, and that's not really making me feel better. And it's very obvious when I'm upset. You see it all over my face. The one thing that's cool about me as a person is you know where you stand. I'm usually just smiling all the time. I'm a very happy person. I smile a lot. I laugh a lot. That's kind of the space I like to keep my life in. I like to be happy, surround myself with positive things. uh you know obviously the reason why is this there's a lot of negative or things in your own life that will cause turmoil or stress right sick we're getting to the age where some of our parents are getting sick right or they're not in good health that's what i want to channel my energy into not uh someone kicking me in the balls over and over again for not being good at pinball that day you know what i mean like that seems that's just a stupid thing like look why are you going of make me more mad like or just drop or like draw me into like a dramatic space you know I mean it's just there's I'd rather reserve that energy for things I really need to worry about but anyways which which you kind of contradicts what I'm saying a little bit because pinball shouldn't be that way but I think because I was having such a bad game and he was continued to kick me in the nuts just didn't make me feel good you know what I mean so so it was weird it was like a really positive trip trip because I met a lot of people and um the panel went really well and just just it was really cool to be around people that enjoyed the content. Just when someone comes up to me and just says something like, I really enjoy the content. Thank you for creating it. Thank you for taking the time. There's way more of those people than negative people. So that's, that's what, that gives me energy and makes me excited. So anyways, moving on from that pinball expo is next. It was weird, man. I was on the plane. I was in my own head and I'm like, I don't think I'm going to pinball expo this year. I'm all booked. I'm all booked and everything. But part of me was like, I don't want to go. And it's because I was so, I was so negative about the whole, like my play was so bad that I was like down. But then, you know, that's a stupid reason not to go. It's probably going to be really exciting. I'm going to probably hang out with a lot of people that, uh, that I know from going to prior shows and probably some new people that maybe are learning about me for the very first time on this podcast, which is really cool. Like I'm excited to meet people that know me from this, which is new from knowing me from the traditional retro Ralph stuff. So anyway, I'm going to go. I think, I think. I'm still like, I'm not 50-50. I'm like 70-30 going versus not going. But it is all booked, so it would be stupid for me not to go. And it would be really great to see and hang out with everybody. And I think it's going to be a really interesting time for pinball because I think there's going to be a lull between now and then, and then there's going to be an explosion of new stuff all happening at the same time. So it will be exciting to see what gets announced and what games we can play and what we'll see on the floor. Oh, the one bummer about Southern Fried Gaming Expo is there was supposed to be a Labyrinth there, but I guess because of all of the issues with the CrowdStrike thing or something, I don't know what happened, but it got held up in shipping, so it did not end up there, which is kind of a bummer because I haven't put a ton of time on that game. I put a little bit, and I don't think it's one I would want to own, but it's definitely one that I'd want to play more of because I really liked Labyrinth as a kid. So anyways, are you guys excited for Expo? So I generally am excited for Expo. It's just, I guess, coming off of this Southern Fried Gaming, I was a little down in the dumps. But I'm back up. I woke up this morning. I played a good, fairly reasonable game of John Wick on my first cold, woke up. So I'm like, screw this shit. I'm getting out of my own head. Pinball is supposed to be fun, and it is. But you've got to, like, you know, maybe I was taking it too seriously. But I am competitive by nature, and sometimes that kind of gets in the way. My uncle one time, maybe it's like in the Italian blood of my family because my uncle one time we were playing some game. I don't remember what it was, but whatever it was, it needed a pencil. It was like some kind of like game where you wrote stuff down or something. And I remember he broke the pencil at the table and like walked away. It was like at a family holiday event. I was like, damn. And I kind of was that guy at Southern Pride Gaming Expo. Not when I was interacting with people, but when I was interacting with machines, you would have thought I wanted to destroy every pinball machine. It's funny. Hey, man, sometimes pinball can be frustrating, right? Especially when you're not playing well in a game that you own. But anyway, so we'll see what happens at Pinball Expo. Are you guys going? If you are and you're watching this on a platform that allows you to comment, I'm curious if you're excited about any of the things that we talked about, like some of the rumored games and stuff. But that's going to wrap up this episode, guys. Oh, I forgot to mention, I brought all my podcast equipment. I had all these ideas. I was going to get a moto on the show. I wanted to do something with Don's Pinball Podcast, and none of it ended up happening. But I did put a video out on the Godzilla 70th. So if you're interested to see more of it, I took some pretty good shots with my good camera. So you can kind of get a good idea of the colors on the play field and how that gray looks and the red looks against the side art and everything. But anyways, guys, thank you so much for all your support. I really do appreciate you guys for supporting the channel, supporting this podcast. And I hope that between now and Pinball Expo 2024, I get to meet you guys. And there's going to be some really exciting announcements in pinball. But until then, I will see you on the flip side. and that's a wrap