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DPP #241 "The Lodi Episode"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·29m 9s·analyzed·May 17, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Don reports on Lodi pinball festival, Transformers/Sonic leaks, and P3 technical issues.

Summary

Don returns from the Golden State Pinball Festival in Lodi, California, describing it as a unique "Pinball Burning Man" experience centered around an on-site campground with themed machine displays and heavy social drinking. He covers disappointment about a missing Pedretti game, positive experience with the P3 Multimorphic Weird Al machine (which had technical issues), and provides extensive speculation on upcoming games: Stern's Transformers (releasing May 20th with stationary Optimus Prime due to reliability issues) and Jersey Jack's Sonic the Hedgehog (based on leaked playfield images and one questionable loop photo he suspects may be AI-generated).

Key Claims

  • Golden State Pinball Festival at Lodi Fairgrounds features on-site camping with trailers and RVs, creating a festival atmosphere unlike other pinball shows

    high confidence · Don describing the Lodi show layout and campground setup with multiple firsthand observations

  • The Pedretti (Italian manufacturer) brand new game was announced to be at Lodi but did not appear at the show

    high confidence · Don states: 'The Padretti game, first off, if we can start with some pinball dialogue, was not there' and 'Maybe it's still in customs'

  • Transformers pinball from Stern will have Optimus Prime as a stationary feature (non-transforming, non-ball-eating) across all three trim levels because the transforming mechanism was not reliable enough to ship

    high confidence · Don citing 'sources' stating: 'they had it working but not reliably enough to ship it' and confirming 'All three trim levels will have a stationary Optimus Prime'

  • Transformers game features Megatron that fires balls from his barrel arm and Soundwave that locks/shoots balls into/out of cassette holder

    medium confidence · Don states: 'Megatron is there and I'm hearing that he will actually fire balls from his barrel arm' and 'Soundwave is there. He's going to be locking balls and either shooting them into or out of his cassette holder'

  • Jersey Jack Pinball is developing Sonic the Hedgehog with leaked unpopulated playfield images showing main shot layout and Dr. Robotnik artwork

    high confidence · Don: 'there's pictures of an unpopulated play field that are floating out there. Sonic the Hedgehog is on there' and describes specific design details

  • A loop image showing Sonic vertical loop with TV element may be AI-generated because it doesn't align with the unpopulated playfield photo

    medium confidence · Don: 'the problem that I'm having with this image is it's not lining up with anything I'm seeing on this playfield picture... I think it's either AI generated... or maybe this is something that's on one of those little elevated playfield areas'

  • P3 Multimorphic Weird Al machine at Lodi experienced hamster cage lock mechanism failures during play when Don livestreamed it

Notable Quotes

  • “This is to pinball what Burning Man is to music festivals. This is Pinball Burning Man, or the closest I've seen to it.”

    Don @ ~10:00 into campground section — Signature description of Lodi festival's unique appeal as a camping-integrated event unlike traditional pinball shows

  • “I came from Wisconsin, and you guys got me under the damn table.”

    Don @ ~20:00 into campground section — Reflects on West Coast drinking culture at Lodi being more intense than Wisconsin

  • “Maybe it's still in customs... one troll on the Internet haven't seen it. So I was fed some false information or maybe there was the plan to have this game there and it absolutely was not. Kind of a drag. Kind of a drag.”

    Don @ ~8:00 — Expresses disappointment about Pedretti machine not appearing, suggesting possible miscommunication or customs delay

  • “Every time I pull up my camera, I seem to have a problem with a P3 that's at a show... iPhones jinx the P3, I think, is the problem.”

    Don @ ~33:00 Multimorphic Minute section — Humorous observation about repeated technical issues when documenting P3 machines on livestream

  • “The lead Transformer Optimus Prime does not eat the ball. He does not transform. The story that we're hearing relayed from other sources are that they had it working but not reliably enough to ship it.”

    Don @ ~43:00 — Key explanation for Transformers game design decision to remove transforming mechanism

  • “I'm seeing something that's got absolutely the funniest fan layout ever just by the inserts... but it seems like half the playfield is just wood, which means it's going to be covered by plastics and maybe upper playfields and other things.”

    Don @ ~51:00 — Technical playfield analysis of Jersey Jack Sonic leaked image showing shot layout complexity

  • “I can't wait for that day. They get the best licenses. We're playing Weird Al, man.”

    Don @ ~26:00 — Expresses enthusiasm for P3 Multimorphic platform's licensing quality despite ownership barriers

Entities

DonpersonGolden State Pinball FestivaleventLodi FairgroundsvenueStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyMultimorphiccompanySpooky PinballcompanyPedretticompanyErica's Pinball Journeyperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Golden State Pinball Festival at Lodi differentiates itself through on-site camping integration with themed machine displays, creating immersive multi-day experience unlike traditional pinball expos

    high · Don describes 'Pinball Burning Man' atmosphere with trailers, compound setups, outdoor machines under UV lights, DJs spinning, and infrastructure comparable to music festivals

  • ?

    product_concern: Transformers Optimus Prime transforming mechanism removed from all trim levels due to reliability issues in testing despite achieving functional prototypes

    high · Don citing sources: 'they had it working but not reliably enough to ship it' - indicates engineering decision to remove feature rather than delay launch

  • ?

    machine_intel: Stern Transformers game confirmed for May 20th release with media day embargo lifting same day; features Megatron ball-firing, Soundwave cassette lock, no Optimus transformation

    high · Official release date stated, described as having cartoon 1980s content from two trailers already released, NDA mentioned for media coverage

  • ?

    leak_detection: Jersey Jack Sonic the Hedgehog game leaked through unpopulated playfield photos showing 8-main shot layout with Sonic/Shadow racing motif and routed mechanism area

    high · Don describes floating photos: 'Sonic the Hedgehog is on there. Him racing as the blue blur straight into Shadow the Hedgehog' with detailed shot layout analysis

  • ?

    leak_detection: Jersey Jack Sonic loop image showing vertical loop with TV element may be AI-generated based on misalignment with main playfield photo

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.087

0:00
I don't care if I'm not prepared. Let's go ahead and do an episode anyway. Hit it! Well, hey there, everybody. Don's here. I'm back. I'm in Chicago. I'm in Wisconsin. I'm in somewhere. Episode 241. I was in Lodi and my mind was blown. This will be the Lodi breakdown episode. You guys have to know what's going on out there. Let's go.
0:30
Coming through like a ton of Megatron. I can't wait to see the balls shooting out of there. Hitting that metal landing spot on the left upper ramp. The one from Foo Fighters. You know the one I'm talking about. I can't wait to get to it. What's up everybody? Don from Don's the Pinball. The podcast. The person. The guy that we were hanging out with, if we were at Lodi, if you happen to be there, or actually are still there, I think, is it Saturday? Is it Sunday? I'm not even for certain right now at the time of recording because I have been through some stuff. I have been to the brisk of the precipice. The brisk? I got drunk in a campground with a bunch of pinball people. That's what happened this weekend. Hey-o, let's talk about that here for a little bit. I just returned from the Lodi Pinball Golden State Fun Festival, unlike any other pinball show that I have attended. I kept getting into conversations with people, and they wanted to know, like, Don, what do you think of the show? And it's like, I'm trying to formulate a freaking opinion. Here's the rundown of how everything went, man. Flew out there with members of the Spooky crew in tow, and I had been to Lodi before. Okay, I'm from California, from southern and northern. I've traveled the state top to bottom, been to damn near every county, and I've been to Lodi exactly once because it is located in what is affectionately termed the armpit of California. It's at the head of the Central Valley Agricultural Region and honestly never really had a whole lot other than drinking and walnut orchards going for it. And so when I heard that there was this great pinball show that happens there every year at the fairgrounds or whatever, I'm thinking, come on, dude. I don't want to go out to some dusty almond plantation in the middle of freaking Lodi, not close to San Francisco, not close to San Diego, not close to Disneyland, not even close to Six Flags Magic freaking Mountain, and then go out there to participate in Pinball. Can you not have this show anywhere else? And people are telling me, Don Lodi is totally different, man. You've got to come out and check it out. There's wineries and stuff. And like, yeah, I know they wine out there and you blend it in with the Sonoma varieties and they try to pass it off as coming from the valley when it doesn't fully come from there. I went, I went, I was invited. Everybody's been telling me for years to get to this show. And I had heard that Pedretti was going to have their brand new game there. And I'm like, OK, fine. Like I could at least get some Wienerschnitzel. There's a roundtable pizza in town. I could hit up Mary's Pizza Shack. All right, bet. And then when I found out my spooky friends were going out there, I was like, these guys need a guide, man. I can't let their California experience be sitting in a hotel room in Lodi because they don't know what else fun there is to do in the area. So I played the role of tour guide to the ultimate nth degree and we made it happen. The Padretti game, first off, if we can start with some pinball dialogue, was not there. I hit the show, got into town, we crashed the night before at the hotel. I got up and gave myself an early morning walk through the town of Lodi trying to reconnect with its roots, which are a lot different from what I've been told from 20 years ago. Here to tell you not terribly the case. There is a brand new Costco that wasn't there the last time I was there. But I mean, it's still, you can't shake the essence of the walnut orchards from Lodi. It is close to the Sierra Nevada foothills. It's got that absolutely going for it. And we did partake. We did partake. A nice two-mile saunter. And then I started to feel this weird feeling like I'm back home, man. Like I'm in California. I'm smelling the smells. I pop into the liquor store and I'm seeing like my familiar Mexican candies and condiments and things and beverages and who mix in the cooler, man. I'm like, dude, I do feel like I'm back home here. And then Lodi was starting to grow on me a little bit, starting to grow on me. There's not a town like that in Wisconsin. Let me tell you, I can go to any town in Wisconsin, probably short of West Allis, And feel pretty safe any time of the day or night. And here I was like 7 a.m. on a Friday, Saturday, Friday, walking up the main street. And like dudes are coming out the liquor store with 40s in their bags like they're in a rap video from 1989. And I'm like, yeah, dude, there is some danger here. There's a little touch of some adventurism. So I was having a good time. I walked up to the Grapevine Center, the Grape Party Gowns, the Grape Fair area. Wherever they have this event, it's essentially at a fairground. And I couldn't find the right entrance to get in here. I can see people waking up in their campers. See, the difference with this show is not only do you have the big show floor with all the pinball machines and everything in it, the side rooms for the tournament, the EM group for the grandpas, but there's also a big grassy area to camp on site. People bring in their 20-foot trailers and stuff and their class CRVs, and they're setting up whole cities there like it's Mad Max or something. I mean, this is to pinball what Burning Man is to music festivals. This is Pinball Burning Man, or the closest I've seen to it. And, you know, I'm seeing the campground. People are starting to wake up. They're grilling some sausages. I'm looking at a chain link fence like how the heck can I get my gimp butt over this out there? Like, you know, partake, get some food or something. I walk completely the wrong direction, wrap around this entire city block until I find a way in here. And then I quickly wandered the show floor. Please don't ban me for wandering in before the official show starts at 1 p.m. But I walk in and there's 250, 300 machines all getting set up. Beetlejuices are there coming out of their boxes. There was six of them, two with the cool toppers on them. They're all cool toppers, but, you know, the big Beetlejuice ones were set up there. Those came from Ace Gogy's On Tilt supplier down from Los Angeles, so that was great. Lots of people from Los Angeles go to this show. Lots of people from Reno come into the show. And I hit the ground and I'm like, I want to go see this new Pedretti machine. Where is it? I've been told for months that something here was going to, it was a brand new machine that was going to be here. It was, you know, Pedretti just released the Totan. So I'm like, where is it? I do a couple laps, don't see it nowhere. So I lap the campground. I say hi, I shake some hands. We have a good time out there with some people waking up and everything. Corwin and them show up. We get the Beetlejuices ready to go. But the Pedretti game, completely missing. What the heck, man? What was there? The newest game I did see there was a Yukon Yeti. Didn't quite make it through the first couple of hours. Had to disappear, go back to the green room for a bit, but was back in force later that same day. So, you know, whatever. That game was there. We had a P3 that showed up a little later. We'll get to the Multimorphic Minute here in a bit. But before that, the Pajretti game, where's it at? Maybe it's still in customs. I don know I wasn there on Saturday Maybe it did make an appearance But so far Troll on the Internet haven seen it So I was fed some false information or maybe there was the plan to have this game there and it absolutely was not Kind of a drag. Kind of a drag. One o'clock, the show starts. Fresh back from Wienerschnitzel.

high confidence · Don describing multiple ball lock failures: 'Ball number two goes into lock and then, ah, same thing. Same thing happens again' and suspects proximity to iPhone camera caused issues

  • Transformers game will be officially revealed/launched on May 20th with embargo lifting at that time

    high confidence · Don: 'Game will be released on the 20th' and 'Embargo should be lifted because the game's coming out then'

  • “With everything else that's coming out, I'm just going to kind of sit back, let this thing launch with its launch code, let it get some code updates, let's find out which orbit was drilled wrong and needs to be repaired.”

    Don @ ~46:00 — Shows market strategy of waiting for code maturation and secondary market availability before purchasing new games

    • Transformers
    game
    Sonic the Hedgehoggame
    Weird Algame
    Rick and Mortygame
    Beetlejuicegame
    Yukon Yetigame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Deadpoolgame
    Ace Gogy's On Tiltcompany
    Chicago Gamingcompany
    O'Hare International Airportvenue
    Kurt Burgettperson
    Weird Alan Heistperson

    medium · Don: 'the problem that I'm having with this image is it's not lining up with anything I'm seeing on this playfield picture... it's either AI generated... or maybe this is something that's on one of those little elevated playfield areas'

  • ?

    product_concern: P3 Multimorphic Weird Al machine at Lodi experienced repeated hamster cage lock mechanism failures, suggesting maintenance/sensor issues with platform

    high · Don describes two consecutive ball lock failures with ball search activation but no mechanism engagement; reboot required to clear condition

  • ?

    venue_signal: Lodi Golden State Pinball Festival shows strong attendance and draw from multiple West Coast regions (LA, Reno, Sacramento, SF area) with 250-300 machines on floor

    high · Don reports show floor size and notes 'Lots of people from Los Angeles go to this show. Lots of people from Reno come into the show'

  • ?

    community_signal: Lodi festival demonstrates intense social/drinking culture among West Coast pinball community, creating experiential differentiation from East Coast/Midwest shows

    high · Don's extended narrative about drinking, campground social setup, late-night gameplay, and comparison to Wisconsin culture suggests distinctive regional community dynamic

  • $

    market_signal: Collectors and enthusiasts showing pattern of delaying new game purchases to allow code maturation, bug fixes, secondary market availability rather than launch purchases

    medium · Don stating strategy: 'let this thing launch with its launch code, let it get some code updates, let's find out which orbit was drilled wrong... then I think it would be a good time to pick one of these things up'

  • ?

    product_launch: Multiple major title announcements pending: Transformers launching May 20th (Stern), Jersey Jack Sonic design finalization, Fallout and Dracula games referenced as upcoming

    high · Don referencing Transformers media day May 20th, jersey Jack Sonic layout photos, and future games Fallout/Dracula in market timing context

  • ?

    industry_signal: Pedretti pinball game absence from Lodi show suggests manufacturing/customs delays affecting international manufacturer deliveries to US shows

    medium · Don speculating: 'Maybe it's still in customs. I do know I wasn there on Saturday Maybe it did make an appearance' - indicates logistics uncertainty typical of smaller manufacturers

  • ?

    design_innovation: Transformers game features Megatron barrel mechanism that fires balls across playfield as key innovation replacing stationary Optimus Prime

    medium · Don: 'Megatron will actually fire balls from his barrel arm... He's going to launch them onto the wire form which is super cool'

    • 7:29
    We did a little bit of a side trip waiting for the show to open. Went into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, went and bathed in this stream. There was this cool swimming spot. But the stream through the canyon had made a cave. The cave emptied out into this giant block of granite carving a channel through it that you could swim in. It was three to four feet deep, super clear, clean water. I had a great time up there near Angel's Camp. Go check it out if you've never been. But rolling into the show, it was at first not completely impressive if I'm being honest. Okay, stick with me, stick with me. It was a giant hut of a room, a lot of square footage, a lot of pinball machines, and not terrible crowds. I mean, a lot of times you go to these shows and there's like two or three people stacked deep on everything. Every now and then you see an open machine, you can jump on it. Here, you were able to walk up and jump on multiple open machines, which was fun. You know, Beetlejuice had a line one to two deep essentially the whole time as to be expected, but like there was room to breathe. It didn't have like the high amount of vendors that were there. The first pinball show, I haven't seen my homie Andy selling his start buttons, so he probably doesn't venture this far out. But this was very much like a regional show. Okay, like if I live in the area, of course I'd come here, hang out with my friends and everything. And boy, were the people there like the best part of the show. Coming up to us, talking to us, giving feedback, playing games with us. It was just a good time. It was just a real good time. Jorge, cool to see him. I got to meet the Spinner, his lit crew. I got to meet all the tournament players that were over there having fun, watching some live streams and stuff. So it was a fun regional pinball show. I dug it. The weather was immaculate. It's still California. It's a dry heat. It wasn't super humid. No screen doors on the windows. The bugs weren't making us nuts. All that was fine. All that was fun. We went and got some dinner and then returned. And oh my God, something happens to this pinball festival when the lights go down. This campground erupted into like the main show that you're paying money, getting a wristband and going into. That's just like the pre-show, man. That's just like let's go in here and just like putz around until it gets dark. But when it got dark, that place got lit. That is where this became a show unlike any other, man. We're going trailer to trailer, compound to compound. I think I only managed to see and explore about 30% of the campground. And I was out there until after midnight. Lights were going. We ran into the Marco folks. DJs were spinning. Lights were going crazy. We had pinball machines out in the campground, under tent, under UV light, painted up with fluorescent ribbons and bows. I was playing a Rick and Morty on this makeshift wooden stage, and every time the shaker hit, the entire stage was rattling. It was such a crazy outdoor Rick and Morty experience. You know your boy blew it up. Talking about 10 million or so points or something for Rick and Morty. Multiple magic seeds. I was having a great time getting through tons of modes, ripping shots and combos. It was one of the best playing Rick and Mortys I have played, I think, ever. And here I am, out in the middle of Lodi, California of all places. Outside, under a tent, under the lights, and there was not a dry mouth in this entire place. Y'all like to drink. I come from Wisconsin, and you guys got me under the damn table. Everywhere you could go. I'm running into people that operate arcades up and down the West Coast, people I've met other places. It was just great to walk in and just meet everybody again, you know, again for the first time. You know, running into peeps. I know Erica's Pinball journey was there. She brought her one of her machines up that everybody could play with. We'll get to that in just a second. I remember there was loud out there. It was loud. I'm looking at the inflatable tents that people had set up. This was Pinball Burning Man. There was this guy with some kind of cardboard robot strapped to some kind of bicycle contraption that he's riding around. Like, it's just insane. Just insane stuff going on. I didn't even make it over to the fire machine. Somebody has one of those old Gottlieb or Williams Fire pinball machines hooked up to an actual propane torch. So, like, as you're playing, this thing is throwing flames into the sky. There was an NBA fast break. Well, there's two of them set up head-to-head. You could play that. There's inflatable tents with pinball machines. Just craziness, just craziness going on. I know there's more that I didn't even get a chance to get to, but, you know, shout out. Thank you to everybody for the hospitality and everything. I got to shout out this show. Like, you need to experience the Pinball Burning Man. Yeah, I need to go back. I need to go back and see it again. I remember I was there late into the night. It was hard to hear. You know, I saw somebody that I recognized, and he's talking to me, and I'm like, yeah, man, that sounds great. And I guess what he was asking me was, do you want to drink this cup of bourbon that I'm handing to you? And at that point, I'm committed. So what do you do? So like I got totally white girl wasted off of hard ice teas. And I'm wandering around Lodi. I'm outside. I'm playing pinball machines. I don't know where my mom is. It's just it was it was bedlam. You know, thank you for the DD that got me back home.
    12:26
    What a night. But yeah, prior to that, going around playing machines with everybody. Super fun. Lost World was there. Eric had to play that. A lot of rare machines, this, that, the other, machines for sale and such. It was super fun. And shout out to the great Erica's Pinball Journey because she did a heroic deed. She managed to wrangle a P3 Multimorphic Machine out of her home, the 7,000 pound beast, and brought it to the show with Weird Alan Heist just for up to play. Do you want to know how it played? Let's go to a segue to the Multimorphic Minute for this week. It's time for the Multimorphic Minute. I'm Kurt Burgett here to bring you the news. We got April Metals coming up later with weather and sports by Kurt Burgett, the Sturge of the North. And here it is. Thank you for the home office there for the shout out. So we went and played Weird Al and I love Weird Al Yankovic so, so much. So much, in fact, that when I found out he had a pinball machine, that's when I got to dive into the reality in the world And the mysticism of the P3 Multimorphic System, of which I think I am the greatest fanboy on the planet for the P3 Multimorphic, even though I do not own one. I'm always scouring the internet, and I'm always this close to picking one up, but something always comes and gets in the way. At some point, there will be no barrier, and yes, I will have the machine in my house. I can't wait. I can't wait for that day. They get the best licenses. We're playing Weird Al, man, and I'm up there first. We got four of us going, and I have a pretty okay game. I remember in my brain to use the other flipper buttons for the upper flippers, and I'm hitting shots, and we're watching the pillboxes pop up and down. And I have like an okay game, and then, you know, houseball it, whatever, whatever. I bounce back, my buddy gets up on there, he's blowing this game up. He's ripping this thing seven ways to sideways. He gets a ball up into the hamster cage lock. Didn't that win a twippy for mechanism of the year when it came out? And the ball falls into the lock and then the game just loses it. Has no idea where it's at. You know, flippers are still powered, but like, I don't know if it's an opto sensor that wasn't working. I don know what it was Ball searches were going off but you know for some reason there was no activation of the actual hamster wheel on the module Dang it we were having such a good time with this I happened to also go live on YouTube at the same time when we were all playing with Weird Al and it was going through this process I don't know. Every time I pull up my camera, I seem to have a problem with a P3 that's at a show. I don't know what it is. I'm not doing it on purpose. I see a P3, I go straight for it. I want to play the hell out of it. But every time I pick up my phone to do a live stream of all the fun that I'm having with this innovative system platform, it's really like a pinball universe that you need to enter. Something happens to go wrong. Something's jinxing it. I don't know. iPhones jinx the P3, I think, is the problem. So we were there for what seemed like five, ten minutes before finally, just miraculously, another ball launches out and play can continue, man. The dude's killing it, right? This thing is just like smashing past the high scores and everything. He's GCing the damn thing. We're having a great time. Ball number two goes into lock and then, ah, same thing. Same thing happens again. There's a guy sitting waiting to get on this game too as soon as us four knuckleheads are done with it. But we were stuck in the first round. We were stuck in the first round. So we called it. We didn't want to take up too much time, so we went ahead and power cycled it. I believe it did clear and then was functional after that. So it was probably as soon as I put my phone away, then it's back to work. And there must be some kind of proximity sensor in there or something. But we had some fun with the machine. I didn't get to circle back again and play Dungeon Door Defender. I really wanted to do that. I'm going to have to wait until I have my own P3 and I can go through all these things. So let us know. Is this something that has happened to you? I don't know how to maintenance these things because I've never had one in the home. I've only seen them on locations where, you know, locations that don't seem to be as robust. Maybe it's just the locations that I go to. Even down to Ace Goge there, Weird Al was having some problems, but it might have just been the day that I was there. It might have just been the day that I was there. Things will change when I have my own version. I can really stress test this thing. I want to learn the intricacies. I want to become the world's best P3 technician, and then everything's going to be great. So once again, thank you for bringing this machine into the universe for us to play. I just wish we could have had more time playing with it actually in a functional manner. In a functional manner. But hell yes. Hell yes, P3. All right. So to wrap up Lodi, how do you wrap the show up? It's in such an unconventional location. I mean, it's in the Central Valley. It's right off the 99. It's easily reachable from Sacramento, San Francisco, as long as you're not fighting commute traffic as we were going out there. I'll do a full trip report of the side quests over on Patreon for those of you who want to know about everything else that we did. Because we had the best, best time. I'll do an audio trip report on Patreon after this. That'll be fun. So head over there. Patreon.com backslash Don's Pinball Podcast. $5 at least will get you in the door. I love it. It's my virtual tip jar, man. Generating content is super fun. And this helps fuel everything. So be generous. Be generous. Patreon.com backslash Don's Pinball Podcast. We'll get you there. So we'll do that trip report. We did some fun stuff. Fun stuff in the mountains. I don't want to get into it here. I'll save it for there. But to encapsulate the show, it's so different. The first part of it, the preamble, was all pretty pedestrian. There's a lot of EMs there. They were doing seminars. Bug did his seminar yesterday on Saturday. There was a main hall that wasn't overcrowded, at least on the Friday that I was there. I was able to play a lot of stuff. I was able to hang out with a lot of friends. They didn't yell at me too much about the open container and everything. And then you can stay right there. You know, like, yeah, if we were in a hotel, we were two mile flip flop walk away down the road. But you could just bring a tent and set it up. And that is a unique experience. So, yeah, I mean, check it out. I think everybody needs to go to California if you haven't been. Just talk to somebody that is familiar with it so they can point out some really cool things to do. All right. I think California gets a bad rap because of traffic, because of this, that and the other. But I think if you experience that without experiencing the good hidden gems that are there, you're really not getting a sense for it. And the trip report will go more into that and how I think the people that are returning have a much better sense on exactly where the problems with California are. Because there are problems. They're just probably not the ones that you're thinking of. All right. Okay. We'll go on from there.
    18:54
    Where's my phone? I got back. Flew back yesterday. Everything was fine. I had my phone getting off the plane. I'm texting people and stuff, hit the bathroom, hit a vending machine. And then I get out to the car and I find out like somewhere between walking off of the plane where I knew I had my iPhone to getting actually into my car, it was missing. And then, you know, I didn't have a phone to check. Where's my phone? What's going on? I just want to get home. I needed to get a new phone anyway. So I went off. So it was sitting there, Terminal 3 between gate H5 and H6. Find my iPhone, work perfectly fine. It was found. It was turned into lost and found. I'm going to go down there and pick it up. I was going to pay to have them ship it, but I am going to be in Chicago, actually right down the street from O'Hare International Airport on the 20th for the Transformers Super Bowl party that we're doing. So if you haven't heard already or seen the entire play field of, there is a Transformers game Cornerstone being released by Stern Pinball on three trim levels on May 20th. Supposed to sign an NDA because the media day is on the 20th, but sounds like that's probably going to be superfluous at this point. Game will be released on the 20th. You've already seen the photos. You've likely already heard the drama around not only does the lead Transformer Optimus Prime not eat the ball, He does not transform. The story that we're hearing relayed from other sources are that they had it working but not reliably enough to ship it. And so there he is. All three trim levels will have a stationary Optimus Prime. Now, this isn't a game like Pokemon where there's one mechanism there. And if that one mechanism didn't do anything, it'd be a problem. There's a lot going on here with Transformers. We haven't even seen the official trailer yet. The two trailers including the teaser and the cartoon trailer that Stern has released have confirmed to us that this is going to be loaded with a lot of cartoon 1980s awesomeness. I love that. I love that Megatron is there and I'm hearing that he will actually fire balls from his barrel arm. Remember he transformed into a P-38 I believe. So he's going to shoot these balls around the play field which would be cool. He's going to launch them onto the wire form which is super cool. I dig that. Maybe he will even do some more that hasn't even been revealed yet or anything. Soundwave is there. He's going to be locking balls and either shooting them into or out of his cassette holder. I'm hoping for both. I can't wait to see what's happening there. We've got Grimlock up there as a toy. So by Stern standards, there's a lot going on in this game. This game looks to have a lot of the same kind of shot complexity layout going on as a game like Foo Fighters, which was fantastic. That was so fun to shoot man If only X shot as well as Foo Fighters does So like I looking forward to playing this game It may turn out to be that the transforming optimist not being there doesn detract a ton from the game But right now we don know because we don know all the damn details that come with this but they all will be revealed on Wednesday I recording this on Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Three days we going to have it all Three days we are going to have everything from this game So yes I looking forward to it No, I don't have a purchase order ready to go on it. Yes, I want to go play it. I probably wouldn't mind having this game down the road because of the complexity that it does have. This does look like something fun to have at home. But with everything else that's coming out, I'm just going to kind of sit back, let this thing launch with its launch code, let it get some code updates, let's find out which orbit was drilled wrong and needs to be repaired. And then once this game is out there and breathing and we're starting to see them pop back up on secondary, when we get to Fallout, when we get to Dracula, then I think it would be a good time to pick one of these things up. Just like you're plucking an over-ripened Deadpool out of the ethosphere and get that game in there and play it. So I would like to have a Transformers LE at some point. I've got enough new games to play right now. I don't have to have it right now. But I wouldn't mind having this thing down the road, and I can't wait to play the thing. And as soon as I do, I'll get my first impressions out to you guys. Embargo should be lifted because the game's coming out then. And then those of you that are on the fence, like, should I get it, should I not? Maybe that would help you hearing, you know, some firsthand, you know, playability experiences. You know I'm going to give it to you straight. You know, if I don't like it, if it's a clunker, you're going to know. There'll be a Transformers Minute. We'll go all through it and everything. But I can't wait for that. That's coming up on the 20th. I'm taking a Patreon member with me. I know you guys love going to that. I love bringing you guys to that. So we're going to make that a continuing thing as long as I'm permitted within the Stern Headquarters building. What else do we got? There are some images of a certain game coming from the house that Jack built. Jersey Jack and his billionaire bros are coming out with Sonic the Hedgehog. Dude confirmed, okay? I know they haven't confirmed it, but there's pictures of an unpopulated play field that are floating out there. Sonic the Hedgehog is on there. Him racing as the blue blur straight into Shadow the Hedgehog coming from the other side of the play field. There's pointed arrow inserts, not unlike the ones that you saw on the fighter plane game that Richie did, F-14 Tomcat. Not quite like 18 in a row or anything, but like eight main shots fanned out with two or three in each row. There is at least one good clear orbit that's got paint on the playfield. The other ones are kind of here and there. So what I'm thinking, and I know Kaneda covered a lot of this unpopulated playfield speculation and everything, but for me, just taking me casual observer looking at this thing, I'm seeing something that's got absolutely the fanniest fan layout ever just by the inserts, right? So it's going to be fun and fast to shoot, but it seems like half the playfield is just wood, which means it's going to be covered by plastics and maybe upper playfields and other things. There's a giant area routed out into it for like a giant mechanism or some such. So I know this is going to be a spectacular game. This is not just going to be a street level game. I can't wait to see it. And I got excited just like everybody else when I heard that there was other images floating around. You've probably seen the one of Dr. Robotnik kind of close up image of him with like a really sky blue sparkly play field that that looks exactly like something we expect from Jersey Jack Pinball. I saw the other photo of the loop. It's a plastic ramp going in, making a left-hand 90-degree turn into the first vertical loop from Sonic the Hedgehog 1 from Psychogenesis. It looks exactly like what I would want. There's a little television with a Sonic picture in it, like the ones that you would bash in the game to get a 1-up, and it's right kind of back in the center of the loop. It looks great. I want this to be real 100% because it looks like one of the funnest shots to shoot like ever, man, ever. It looks great. You know, the way that that flows into the loop and everything out of the plastic ramp turning and then it's a wire form loop. The whole thing looks great. But the problem that I'm having with this image is it's not lining up with anything I'm seeing on this playfield picture that's been floating around. So for that reason, I think it's either, and I hope it's not the case, it's either AI generated and maybe it'll serve as a source of inspiration for something else down the road, or maybe this is something that's on one of those little elevated playfield areas that would cover up some of the areas that are just bare wood on the photo of the unpopulated playfield. Wouldn't that be amazing if that was the case? Completely devastating, man. I want it to be true. So we should know soon. I've already heard a little bit of talk, a couple of birdies tweeting in my ear that while the main show is going on on May 20th, up the road at Stern with Transformers, there may be some people peeking in at the Jersey Jack game. I don't know if it's like an NDA thing. I don't know if it's just like a come in the back door, check it out. I don't know if the game's going to be like revealed on the 19th. Man, that could even happen. It hasn't happened yet. So I don't know. I don't know. I can tell you for certainly I have not been invited to go and partake in viewing the new Jersey Jack game. I'll also tell you that I would not turn down an invitation to go check it out because I definitely want to do that. And I know those Jersey Jack people are super cool. Now, I don't think the Jersey Jack Pinball is in a position where they need to snipe the Stern release necessarily in order to gain sales for their game. I think whether they launch this game on Tuesday, the day before Transformers released to the public, or they were to release it on the 21st, the day after Transformers, I don't know if their sales would really be affected. I mean, anybody at this point that's got money for a game for home has the luxury of knowing that Sonic the Hedgehog is about to come out. We'll see Transformers, and then we'll see Sonic, and can walk down and pick the one that they want. Maybe they see Sonic and they're like, you know what, I'm going to go with this Pro Transformers. That's the one for me once they see the feature matrix. You know, who knows? It's not like they need to jump out there and snipe to get sales. I think Sonic's probably going to sell just fine, just the same, regardless of what's going on up the street. And I think really the benefactors of all that are us, are me, are you. We get this abundance of choice of amazing games from great companies made by cool people with tons of fun code inbound for us to play pinball to our heart's content at our local brewery, at our local show, in our local garage, basement, what have you, in a makeshift trailer park out in the middle of Lodi, California, of all things. This was wild. I'm heading over to Patreon. Y'all be cool. Be sure to email me at donspinballpodcasts at gmail.com, especially because you can't text me right now because my phone is sitting over there at O'Hare. We'll be back to talk shortly.
    28:45
    If copyrights weren't a thing, I'd be playing Sonic music right now. But I can't wait for Sonic music to be blaring off through every room in my house soon. This is going to be fun, man. Melvin Williams over at American Pinball. Make stronger scoops. The one analysis week. Wish you well. Vocalberg. How was it? I missed it this year. Talk to you later. You guys be cool.