Oh man. How you guys doing? Feeling um feeling like doing a show. Let's get this here. Let's get this here. Pokemon, how's everybody doing? Okay, let's try to move this without unplugging it. There we go. We're in the house. What up, children? Children behave. I mean, that's what they say when we're together. Watch how you play. coffee, Irish wife, two beautiful children in a nice town in Connecticut. If only I could fix my sciatica problem on my left side, I would be a happy man. I went bowling the other night and the next day I couldn't move my left leg. Like literally, I need to get this I need to get this nerve need to start doing those stretches. I think what caused it was working from home and sitting in chairs awkwardly with my legs crossed and also sleeping on the couch so many nights caused my sciatica issues. [snorts] Hurts. It's weird. It's like comes and goes, but man. [snorts] Ah, [sighs] getting old sucks, people. It does suck. We're going to talk about what's going on in the pinball world. There's a lot happening. We're right on the eve of what's going to be, I think, an instant sellout in Pokemon League. It's just like, it's just a no-brainer. It look, it doesn't mean it's going to be a great game. Doesn't mean it's going to Sad Boy, I've missed you. I missed you. Does Spooky have a Hawaiian shirt? I'll get you one, brother. I missed your 50 bucks, bro. Every week, every Saturday when I open up that bottle of Saki, I'm like, Jeff Brenner and I toast a sad boy. We love you, brother. Thank you so much. I won't even tell you how much money I lost in crypto this week. [snorts] I could have had a humongous pinball collection with what uh I lost. It's not It's not my main investment, but I've got a decent amount in some Bitcoin. And wow, everybody, man, just just pummel. Yeah, you got to buy the dips. You got to buy the dips and don't sell out, you know, like the people that like bail. Uh they a little bit, you know, the volatility hits, you got to be able to ride it up, you got to be able to ride it down. Like that's the key. Now, the the smart man is selling at the top and then buying back in. But who, you know, you don't know where the bottoms are and where the tops are. How many Pokemons? You know, I'll tell you this right now. I'll tell you this right now. I'm going to get a Pokemon Ellie to to see what the market does with it. And I don't care. I don't owe any of you anything on this one. You know what I'm saying? You don't like I Why do I don't owe any of you my spot? Too many times I I felt this this weird obligation to give you guys my spot on everything. All right, got the five Beetlejuice for you club members. We're going to figure out what to do with that. We got some time. You know, it's games number 50 500 or 501 to 506 or something like that. Oh man. Man, how's everybody doing? How's everybody's Saturday doing? people at the beach. Fizzy, man, the $2, man. I know you got it, Fizzy. I know you got it. Just stretching that sciatica just need to figure out is a is a long-term fix for this, though. It's like I don't want to have to keep stretching it every day and like I need that nerve to calm down. Um, yeah, I buy blue chip stocks. I have a financial adviser. I I have a diverse portfolio. I'm not picking like Netflix over here, Disney over here. No, No, no. It's not that doesn't work like that. Like, I'm I'm playing the the market. Market goes up, I go up. Market goes down, I go down. I have not seen Pokemon. Nobody's seen Pokemon, you know. I um I've spoken to people that have seen Pokemon and they've seen Transformers and you know, everyone's just saying Transformers is like the far superior game. There's not a real picture floating around. It's not real. I've seen all the floating around pictures. They're all fake there. I've seen the one with George Gomez leaning over the machine. They're all fake. Cuz if they weren't like if there was a picture floating around, I I would have it. I would be able to go into my inbox right now and I would have it. Everybody always sends me the lease because they know I'll leak it. And there's nothing going in right now. Nothing. Nothing. [laughter and snorts] So I I'm cool to wait. I'm cool to wait until next week. I think we're going to see the whole game. What did if you heard my podcast this morning? Let's just go over the reasons this game is an instant sellout. Biggest entertainment IP in the world and 750 LE's for a global community of Pokemon fans, pinball fans, George Gomez fans, and just fans of 90s memorabilia, right? Uh it's just an instant sellout. Like it's just what's not going to I see what's what's you know it's even as I say that I'm just like I don't know though you know there still has to be ongoing for anything to go up in value there needs to be ongoing inelastic demand for the game so that there's always more people that want it and if the premium is good enough and the Ellies don't have anything special enough then yeah They're not going to keep going up over time. Beetlejuice spot in Providence would be guy who wouldn't post it on pinsai. He's in Providence runs a pizza. Is that who's selling the spot? We're going to see. There's always going to be Beetlejuice games for sale. You know, it's just the way the market goes. I mean, there's only, think about like this, there's only a thousand total Pirates of the Caribbean games ever made, right? Ever. Same as Beetlejuice. And there's always some for sale. And I I think you're always going to see some of them for sale. And it's just going to be a game that trades consistently. And I just think it always will consistently get more than $10,000 uh for the game. So, it's um it's exciting to see the Beetlejuice games out there. People are playing it. No, there there's no Pirates of the Caribbean Ellie number 2000. Cause if you have number 2000, then then they just like made you a plaque, but they only made a thousand total. Is the Are the spooky Hawaiian shirts for sale? Are they selling them? Who knows? I'll get me one. I'll get me one. Who's down at the show? Who's down at the show right now? Who wants to uh write in the comments section how the show's going? How is Beetlejuice? How's Winchester? All right, I'll get a spooky Hawaiian shirt. I'll support my boys. My boys. The show's good. Yeah. No, I we had some snow last night. See, this is what would have happened. I would have got screwed because I would have had to have flown back today and I would have got screwed coming into New York with the Carl Weathers last night. I'm sure there's a ton of delays. So, I I hope Kim and Ed can do it a weekend that's not Super Bowl weekend just in general. Also, like Olympics are on. I'm enjoying that. A little weird watching the opening ceremonies. I was like, h it just feels didn't feel like feel like the world's in a weird place that stuff just doesn't matter much anymore. You're just like, all right. Cuz you know, the Olympics have this this aura of the world getting along and all of us getting together to compete via sport and then the world's on fire, you know? So, it's just I don't know. All these countries like we just didn't figure it out. We just didn't figure out like humanity just didn't figure it out. And it's not just United States's problem. It was like the whole world just didn't figure it out. The The only promising thing I hear coming out of the world right now is Spain is going to ban social media use for anyone that's under the age of 16 to protect the children. That's the only like good measure I've seen. Like I 100% ban it all in inserting into these young kids' minds violence, anger, depression, anxiety, pornography. Terrible. like, you know, no. Ban it all. The show appears small, limited to 1,000 people. Nice atmosphere. All right. Cool. Cool. [sighs] Who here is in on a Let me Let's do a poll. Pokemon Ellie, let's do a poll. Start a poll. Are you in on Pokemon LA? I amum going out on a limb here. I think Pokemon Ellie like going to be hard to get. But I also heard Stern is changing their manufacturing order. Did you hear this? So get ready people. They are no longer going to make the Ellies first. They are going to make the pros first again. Look at Mr. Azie here, baby. With a hundred bucks. my my brother down there in Florida with the gym, with the Cyber Truck, with the beautiful family. See, Aussie, man, like you're like we're like cut from the same cloth, brother. Like you get it. Like Like stay in shape, keep a positive frame of mind, marry the right woman, drive some badass cars, and enjoy life, right? And pinball is like a part of it, but it's not everything, man. You know, sometimes when I see these like uh you know, the league people like you could see it's just pinball became a little bit too much for them. Just like it, you know, it's like their whole world revolves around and it's all they got is the pinball community. And like I love the pinball community, but man, you need you need some friends outside it. You need a beautiful family. You know, the data shows that people with families are happier. It's true. It's true. You know, for the first time ever, women more women do not have are not married and are without children in their 30s. More women in their 30s are single with no children. Depression levels are up, anxiety levels are up. It's It's going to be real interesting the next 20 years what happens to all these people that married their careers who get let go. The reason why you need a partner in life is you need you need you need a partner. I just I believe that like we were meant to partner up, you know, it's part of nature. Anyway, um Pokemon will sell out regardless of what we think. Okay, so who's in on the Ellie? Let's see. No, most people are no. Wow. 88% no. We'll keep that poll open for a little bit. I think the game is going to be like, do you think we're going to see like a Pikachu on a spring? Yeah, I do think there's going to be some real [snorts] cost cutting measures happening with the game. I think there's going to be some real uh I think there's going to be some real criticisms of the game. I I think that next to Beetlejuice and next to Winchester, it's just a different they're they're two different companies. You know, George Gomez will be the first to say, "I can't do what they can do. I can't survive on those margins." I George would be completely honest about that. Like, Beetlejuice would put him out of business. Gomez is the best thing the game has going for it, man. Let me ask you guys a serious question. Would you rather this game have been fully designed by Gomez or Jack Danger? From soup to nuts, beginning to end, who would you rather have had design the game, Danger or Gomez? Put it in the comments section. I mean, everybody everybody is saying there's one for George, two for George, a lot for Jack, a lot more for Jack. [snorts] Both is fine. Yeah. Go me. Tell me the size of the shirts. I'll send you some. Uh, I wear a medium usually. I don't know if you're talking to me, brother. Yeah. I mean, I can't wait for G1 Transformers, man. If they get Peter Colin and it's got You Got the Touch. If it just says You Have the Touch, I'm like I I'm buying that game. I hope they do. You know, it may would make sense to do 500 Autobots, 500 Decepticon versions like they did last time. I'm really shocked that Stern has never gone back to the SLE market. They They really had a golden opportunity to SLE games and they they just couldn't do it. They just couldn't bring themselves to actually have a strategy, which is really idiotic because they've got so many rich collectors who could snap their fingers and would happily buy a $20,000 Stern if you loaded it. Look how many suckers they got to buy the $20,000 James Bond 60th with nothing in it. That game is so whenever you stand over a James Bond 60th and you you realize this was $20,000. It is one of the most I would just be embarrassed if I were Stern to ever put that price tag on it. The game looks so cheap. Well, look, Stern is um the thing is this. Pokemon's going to be a hit. They're They're going to sell once they ignite the amount of media coverage and Pokemon community. I I think all of us forget the significant amount of firsttime buyers that really only can buy Sterns because nothing else is available. Remember, a firsttime buyer is not going to wait. They're not going to pre-order anything. like a first-time buyer. This is the real reason why Pokemon's going to win in between now and the end of March. Stern Pinball will be able to make like four to 5,000 Pokemon machines. Just think about that for a minute. I They're going to win by sheer presence. Like they will be the games will be available and people want something new. I I think people have been craving something new. The last Gomez pin was James Bond. It was a while ago. I you know, the the one thing that I just always fall back on is I just can't see most of these grown men like, "All right, man." Like battling Pokemon. Like I just that I I you know what I'm saying? Like it's one thing to have Saber-Tooth versus Wolverine. I don't know, man. I really don't know if they're going to be able to like warm up to this. They're going to make a home level game, Eric. The home level game is the Costco game. I heard Costco has ordered 3,000 Pokemon machines. Cause, thank you for the 99 cents, brother. I said the same thing about Harry Potter. No, man. Like Potter, we all saw the Harry Potter movies, man. Like I Potter has Potter is about wizards and spells and bad guys and you know Harry Potter is like so much more easily relatable for everybody than than Pokemon is. I don't know. I just think the whole launch is bad. I I'll tell you why. They had months to get everybody excited about Pokemon to have more of a of a campaign roll out, if you will. They could have made cool merch, cool content. They, you know, Stern could have held a Pokemon tournament to see who gets a one of one gold. That's what I would have done. I would have done like a gold like illustrator card edition of the game where they only make one of them. You know, they really could have done something much more impactful to to announce Pokemon pinball to the world. Can you imagine that? They make a like a goldplated 101 illustrator card art inspired pinball machine, bring it to ComicCon, bring it to the And maybe they're going to do some of this stuff, but it just feels like they didn't like they just made this little lame video. Then, you know, George did the same launch video he always does. Hi, this is George Gomez, you know, from their little studio. It's just not it's not creative. It's not it's it's not built for modern content world. It's boring. It's lazy. It's just it's just they just go through the motions regardless of whatever the launch is. And I I really feel like Stern could have just done so much more to get the pinball community into Pokemon. I'm not even interested in Pokemon. I'm very in G. Well, it's not really a Gomez danger collab. I mean, we we this narrative has been u debunked many many times. There's very little Jack Danger in this game. Very little. George wanted a simpler game. I mean, there is no other way. And he would he he would not deny that that Jack wanted to be more ambitious with the creativity and George wanted a safer, more approachable game. We'll see how it does. You know, look what's what's going to be fun is come next week, the countdown for Transformers begins. You guys know how this goes, right? It's just like come next week, the countdown for Transformers begins. [sighs] you know I feel that we're going to be in for a little bit of a interesting pinball year and if I think about what I what do I think is going to be the big hit? I've been thinking a lot about this. This is what I do. I think of like what's the big hit going to be I think I think everybody's been craving a Jersey Jack game that shoots amazing but also has a theme that's just perfect for pinball. I mean, I think Sonic is a better theme for pinball than Harry Potter by far. And I think when we see Sonic, it's just gonna put a smile on everybody's face. I think someone needs to make Super Mario Brothers to go along with Sonic. But I think the success of Sonic is going to, you know, really catapult JJP with with Evil, no, sorry, with Harry Potter and Sonic together. I think Sonic's going to be the one everybody talks about. I don't think Back to the Future is going to make it out this year. I just don't. If you've heard my recent shows, I'm I'm just really not feeling the energy and the momentum that Dutch needed to get Back to the Future out this year never came to fruition. And I think uh consumer confidence is just gonna continue to erode as long as you know they seemingly just like no one no one's going to play the game. And by that I mean it's just no one's going to play the game of pre-order and wait years cuz that's what it'll be. Um, Goonies, you know, Goonies I absolutely expect to be killer in December, though. I mean, look, Spooky's just got the smartest window ever. I mean, nobody's got that window. They've got the smartest window ever. It's such a I I like the way that they're like fiscal year is like actually literally lined up with the the year itself. We're like, you know, new game every January. Like, it's beautiful. New year, new game. and they can just keep making a new game every year and sell out instantly. I think we're gonna see Spooky sell direct a lot more. They know it. Don knows it. Luke knows it. The The notion of handing out, you know, million plus dollars and and giving distros a lot of money for not needing them at all. like it because when you only make a thousand games, you can service each and every one of them yourself. And when you only make a thousand games, you can find every buyer yourself. So I I fail to see someone said this. They were like, well, if you buy direct, there's t like what t? Like what? Like I I just think you're going to see much more direct sales. They don't want to screw over Pinball's star. Um, I don't I don't know, man. I mean, I think Joe's I I think Spooky I I don't know, man. I I just I look at it like distributors and dealers got them to where they are today, but like they don't owe them anything now. They they're the ones who made all the improvements. They're the ones and they've been Look, don't get They've been making Joe a lot of money all these years. They've been making other dealers a lot of money all these years. So, like I don't know. Maybe it's time they tried a new model. I I just think someone's going to try it. And a Dra screwed me out of getting Beetlejuice. Made me really mad. No, but like again, we we keep talking about this. If they go direct, they instantly overnight eliminate scalping. They could 100% eliminate scalping on all their games. So, we'll see what they do. Look, I know Luke is looking for win-win win scenarios. And, you know, he'll find it. They'll find it. I I have faith that Spooky, whatever they will do, will never be unfair and will never screw anybody over. So, I think um I think, you know, you're going to see them just find a way to put more money in their pockets because they deserve it. That's it. They didn't need a 20 minute launch video to sell a single Beetlejuice, right? They didn't need any of that. They lit They don't need any of that for Goonies. They don't need any of that for Gremlins. They don't need any of it. It's like, it's so funny to me. You don't need to waste a single marketing dollar when your product is already sold out. You know what I'm saying? And like I actually think it's the opposite. I would do less. I would absolutely do. I I would make it even more mysterious. Make it people more crave it even more. You You know they when you've got such demand your marketing strategy completely changes. You see marketing is typically trying to drum up excitement, drum up demand. When you have already got it, then you do the opposite. then your job is to hold back information and just sort of pepper it out frequently enough to fan the fire. But what they want to do is create a frenzy at launch to the point where like yeah, people are going to throw in like 20 grand at these games. All right, ret we got Jean Gonzalez. Jean, thank you for the 10 bucks, brother. Beetlejuice has some sick Steve Ritchie like flow. I love hearing that. Look, I I'm glad the game shoots great. Um there's um [snorts] there's not a bad angle. Beetlejuice is like Brenda. There there's just it just doesn't have a bad angle. You know, I see this game from the left side, the right side, the front, the back. Every angle of Beetlejuice looks good. I think the one question mark is that damn board underneath it. That vertical board, man. That's a that's an interesting placement. Um, when you're doing Beetle giveaways, Kelly, who who needs a Beetlejuice here? Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna figure out I [sighs] you'll see what I'm going to do. There's going to be it's going to be tied to the launch of something else and I've got some time but I just got to get the you know I think in the end what'll make sense for me is to create a little bit of like a canada dropship pinball concier business. Okay, where I mean it's what I've been doing. It's what I've been doing for years that I want to help people get the hard to get games but at market value. Now this I I will say this right now. This Beetlejuice, none of them are going to be sold for over MSRP. That was the deal. That will be the deal. That will be how I bring them bring these games to market. But moving forward, I want to be the only, and I'll take the arrows in the back. I want to be the place these guys can go to get a game for the market value. And I don't care if all the crybab on, you know, how did he get one? How did like just shut up about it? Shut up about it. I'll tell you how I got it. I did, 1184 freaking podcasts about pinball, helping these companies, helping dealer and dro friends of mine. I haven't taken a penny from any of them. No sponsorships, no special deals, no I don't get a discount on games. So, if anybody after me putting 13 years of my life into this hobby has a problem with me getting my hands on a few games that I will sell at market value, I don't care. Okay? And the whatever 25 guys that unsubscribe for $5 a month can pound sand because I'll be making that up in one game sale. Okay? All of it and then some. So, I'm just telling you right now, and I'm not donating it to Project Pinball. I'm not I'm tired of this shenanigans. I mean, those dudes are making $900,000 a year. And I still still do not believe that it cost them $600,000 in expenses a year to operate 50 machines in which all of the repair work is volunteer work. Okay. So you tell me what where where the $600,000 goes. Okay. And I I'll wait here while people Well, that's a that's weird. That's That's a he they make more money than Keith Elwin. They make more money than Eric Miner. They make more money than all the designers that are making these hit games. They're probably pocketing more money than Bug and Luke at the end of the year. No, but nobody wants that. No, you know, no. It's all public public filing. 800 and something thousands. So, it is what it is. Buy your raffle tickets, people. Buy your raffle tickets. Don't ask questions. You know, there there were people that pre-ordered the uh the Haggus all five future games. Remember that? Remember those idiots? They went they went in on all five games. Hopefully Spooky starts selling their pins at fair market value. So here's the problem, man. What What does that mean? What does that mean? Should they if if Beetle Juices are trading the moment once there's demand because it's the value is there. Once you charge $15,000 for a Beetlejuice, then you come in then you run into issues. I mean, that's what Stern has been doing with their LE's. Like they they literally have they've literally priced each LE as if it's, you know, a hot title that went up in value. And that's why Stern killed its own LE market. It their now losing the most amount of money. This is this is true. Okay, there there's the math supports this. The data supports this. Stern pinball lees over the last four years are the biggest depreciating pinball machines in the history of an almost 100year-old pinball market. Can I repeat that? Pinball's been around for about a hundred years. Stern Sternlees over the last four years have been the biggest depreciating losses in terms of market value of the product in the history of pinball. Since Seth has been at the helm, their games have lost more money than any other pinball machines in the history of pinball. They have collectively evaporated more millions of dollars from the hobby than the entire history of pinball. There is no greater example of a company that has handed its customers such financial loss. To me, and I know some of these pinside babies don't get this. To me, that was the number one business objective was to fix that problem. And they haven't. Okay. They haven't fixed it. You're making that stat up, John. I'm not making that stat up, John. I'm not making that stat up. Over the last five years, John. John, you know I love you, brother. After go from Foo Fighters to today, right? What was that? four years of pinball machines. You go from Foo Fighters to today and you look at how much each game has lost in value. On average, John, on average, every single LE except for two has lost $4,000, John. So, John, this is why I'm just telling you like, okay, so a $4,000 loss on a $13,000 game is, you know, roughly 30%, right? Yeah, roughly 30%. There is no other period in pinball where if you bought anything, you lost 30% on the game. No, but John also like Sterno's handed they handed James Bond's 60th buyers singlehandedly the largest financial loss in the history of pinball. You know, you know the game that's second to that is Godfather. Thank you, Kelly Daniel. This ad sponsored by Canada for Stern Pinball is head of marketing campaign. [snorts] Look gang, you know, when I went to Stern, the my entire pitch to them was just to establish a way to reward their loyal customers and reestablish the less and the superle as as valuable items that lift everything else up. Like that was what we talked about. They were on look, they were on board for it. They were absolutely on board for it. The problem is is, you know, Mr. Sharp over there, he's not into collectors. The new CMO, he's not he's not about collectors. He's about finding more Costos. There's just nobody over there that represents collectors. And so I I'm not surprised that because nobody on the Stern marketing team has the collectors in mind that we're not seeing any marketing moves that benefit collectors. I mean, that's it's just like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I I work on some brands where maybe the target audience are dudes, and if you fill the entire creative team with like women who are single, you know, good luck. You're not going to get you're not going to get ideas that connect with dudes. Same thing if you have an account where like we're trying to reach moms and you put a bunch of 22-year-old dudes on it who have never had kids. Like, you're just not going to understand. collector spookies didn't hold value either. Kelly, you're not wrong, but there but you got to remember a lot of those spooky machines were $6 to $7,000. So even though you lost on a spooky, you didn't lo like you lost on Ultra Man, you lost on, you know, some on Scooby-Doo, but like none of the none of the Spookies lost 30%. Other than like Ultra Man, maybe. And remember, they were cheap. Like Rob Zombie, those games were 6,000. They're not they're now not going for like4,500. Do you do you um really think the the sellout of Poke Yeah, Billy? I I think Pokemon's already sold out. I I think it's already sold out. I think if you go around and try to get on a dealer list, you're going to be told no. I think I think a Yeah, I think it's sold out. I don't think Yeah, I don't think you're going to find them for sale. I would grab a spot and I would scalp it if you don't want. Even if you don't want it, make a few bucks. I think you're going to be able to make a few bucks on Pokemon. I mean, I just the amount. Yeah, you're right. Bonus guitars. Um, profit without passion. Every certainly is sold out before released. That's not true. That's not true. Like the Walk, you know, the the dealers have pulled back. The Walking Dead remaster did not sell through. They did not sell through those 500 to dealers and dros. Like dealers and dros are not sitting on those. I think Stern is sitting on a lot of those JC. There's no way that DRO sold they sold through Walking Dead to all the dealers. There's no way. There's no way. You know, and what's crazy is like The Walking Dead, man, talk about a game like nobody cares about. And you know, I think they finally removed all that waiting for license or approval nonsense, but there's they didn't put anything more in the game. Like, you know, like everyone was expecting like show clips or like nothing. nothing. Real. That was a real lame duck launch. I'm excited though. I'm I'm going to scalp a Pokemon for $25 million. How about that? How much do you think I'll be able to get for Pokemon Ellie if it goes up? And let's make it very po I think we should do an auction. I think we do an auction 16,000 12k Billy. Billy, you're below 13. I love it. See? Yeah. I think I know other reason why people hate me when it comes to scalping. You know what it is? Is Is Canada doesn't have any risk. You know what I'm saying? I I got I lost money on Toy Story 4. I lost money on Ultram Man. Um I didn't lose any money on Alice. I I did I haven't you know look you guys know me and it here's how it shakes out. People hold me a game probably within like a week of it being revealed. Do Do you still want it? And I have the ability to say yes or no. Now I've I've admittedly been a little I I should have bought a Jaws that there was a scalp to be made on Jaws for a little bit. There was a point where like Jaws Ali, you could have bought it for 13. You had to wait like a year though. It didn't really catch on at the beginning, but there was a point where like a new inbox Jaws Ali would have you could have got like 14 145 for it. How many Pokemon le seems low, you know, doesn't it? Like I I am shocked they didn't do like 500 Pikachu, 500, you know, Charizard or, you know, sort of split them amongst two very popular characters. Yeah, I defin Win Winchester's the one where like damn man, I would have loved to have scalped the Winchester spot. But here's the problem. If I got a Winchester spot being me, y'all would have complained to David Van Es, he doesn't even want the game. He's not allow Be honest. Be honest. So, I got 126 people over here and I've got 17 Facebook people that can't figure out how to go to YouTube. But be honest, how many of you would have complained to David Van Es if I had legitimately just got a game, saw the market value was going through the roof, and then I want to sell my you all would have complained. Why are you giving it to him? He doesn't even want he doesn't want to take It's so annoying. It's so annoying the the crybab in this hobby. IT'S MY GAME. I GOT IT. I put my money down. I reserved a spot. I can do what I want with it. You didn't get it. I did. They don't let you sell your spot. What does that mean? What does that mean? Oh man. You know what I was thinking about? Why doesn't Jersey Jack go back and get the clips from Willy Wonka? Wouldn't that be awesome? You know what I'm saying? Just like, okay, like do do a code overhaul that game and put in all the musical from the movie, put in the clips from the movie, sync it up with the movie. I mean, you did it for Harry Potter. It's so much cheaper to get those assets from Willy Wonka. I would love Jersey Jack to do something along those lines. Just I'm curious to see what their new games look like with Jean Paul to win no longer part of Jersey Jack. I'm a little worried. The 3D tour of the game you can do now is cool. I think they thought it was going to be a little bit more like wow, but it's also we've all seen Potter, so I think it'll be a lot cooler when Sonic comes out. I would have I would have saved it for Sonic to be honest and just, you know, then you we could have seen Sonic virtually like that. Um Azie, man, how is Beetlejuice? You're down at the show. How How are the games? How are how's everybody liking Winchester? How's everybody liking Beetlejuice? In the comments here, tell us how you feel. I mean, I love standing over Winchester. I really um when I saw it for the first time at Expo, like it it really pulls you in. It is a It is It is a world under glass. It like for lack of a better term, it is a world under glass. And there's just something about like Stern with Star Wars and then David has this game and you're like, "Wow." And it just got me really excited. Like there's only one thing left for barrels to do. They need to fix their lighting. Not the playfield lighting. They need to fix all those little PEZ, you know, like that looks I don't I hate the way that looks. It looks so cheap that strip inside the cabinet where you see all the individual LEDs and there's a way to not make it look like that. And Melvin has it and he'll he said he'll give it to David to do and and you could retrofit do it. So, like this is the good news is like it does they can put that in in the future and remove those like those PEZ lights. I I just I think it just looks so tacky and bad. And yeah, I don't like that strip on Beetlejuice either. I just think that also is like what what is this here? Like once you see, you know, when you see the LED lights like that, it just it it ruins the world under glass. It feels cheap. It feels like I went to Home Depot and just slapped this on a game. The light show on Winchester is incredible, dude. I My only concern with Winchester is, and it's it's again to be determined, is just the longterm will it have the long-term replay value for people. And that's just going to I I don't think anyone knows yet, right? Are you going to want to keep going through the Winchester Mystery House 6 months after owning it because you want to unlock things that create moments of wow? Um, so that's on the, you know, I think the world is there. I think the shots are unique. I think it's going to come down to that. I The music is great. The music's incredible, actually. And again, like some of that stuff's just going to be enough to keep it forever, right? There's only 525 games in the world and it's got this amazing art package, this amazing light show, this amazing campiness, this amazing sound. And if you want to experience it, there's only one of 525 physical places on the planet where you can have that experience. So, that's just a cool thing to know. Um, now with Dune, I think David needs to say this is it. I I think they need to say 700 only and then I think all the dunes just get spoken for. And I think dunes actually um will hold value pretty nicely. I do. Again, just you got to remember like in a world in which there's just so many everything else, the stuff that's truly limited, that has assets, that has like music, that has it just it just has a very impressive pinball experience is going to be fine. I It went from a 20k game to a 25k game after pinball at the beach. What did Christopher Winchester is not going to sell for $20,000? Bro, come on. I know you're joking. Um, look, I'm glad people who got a Winchester got one. I am. I I I'm not I don't have any FOMO around it. I don't I I don't. No, Christopher, come on. You think a Winchester is going to go for $25,000? Does anyone here think a Winchester will ever sell for $25,000? It's not already there, bro. Nobody's buying it for $25,000. See, see Chris, we got Chris who who has one. Chris, there's not a single documented sale of a Winchester for for $25,000. You I'll tell you this right now. You guys are suckers not to put $10,000 in your pocket. Suckers. You will be able to buy one a year from now for much less than $20,000. You just suckers. Like I'm just I got to be honest, man. It just like it's just funny to me because you're going to kick yourselves that you didn't just cash out and then buy back in. The only reason it's at 20 now is like nobody's selling them, but people will get them and like play them for six months and move on to the next. you. I I love I love when people pretend like this is going to be a bolted to the floor game. Okay, 25 is not coming up. If If you ever if you can ever show me a documented sale Christopher L of Winchester at $25,000, I will give you $100 just just for being right. collectors won't sell it. You guys are I think you guys are smoking a little bit of that Winchester pipe. I really do. I really do. You're acting like this is the greatest collector Gabe of like of our time. Like come on. Stop being silly. Stop being silly and it'll help you out. No, I'm Look, it's it's literally hot right now because there still are none. Look, I love these guys. JC, you have one, right? JC, you're the guy with the 800 plays, right? It's sold out before anyone knew it was a thing. It's in hardcore collector's hands. I mean, I don't I don't know, man. Like I'm happy for you guys. You guys are not getting $25,000 for it though. Ever. Just that's all I'm saying. I That is the only thing I'm saying is you're never going to see $25,000 for a Winchester. Okay, that's it. That's it. Um I hope you guys get your games soon. Yeah, absolutely. Go for 18 to 20. Sure. I never said it wouldn't. But look, once all 525 are made, the price will go down, not up. Okay? Now, now is the time when you can get the most you'll ever get for it. Not It's not going to keep going up. It It's just not like It's It's okay. Like, I'm glad it exists. I'm glad it's in the world. It's definitely an awesome unique pin. Um, but you guys are like smoking crack. If you think people are dropping 25K, Evil Dead has been out for a year and it's still going up. I don't think I think Evil Dead's plateaued. It's not still going up. Evil Dead's been around what, 18 for one now. You know, I haven't heard from those Resident Evil guys. I don't know. They They told me early this year, it's February. I personally I'm happy to release anything they give me, but I'm not following up either. I don't really, you know, I don't care. Like, you know, I got I've got more of an audience than they will ever sell of that game if they want to give me information. I just don't really care to play games with people and like, you know, they kept saying they're going to give me an exclusive. It's been a while. What's the story with Danger and Tank Girl? Hey, Jax, thank you for the 20 bucks. Um, yeah, Jack's making the game. I um, you know, I I don't know who's coding it. I don't know. Um, I don't know what's going on with Jack, you know. I I think he uh I think he deserves a new home. I don't I'm not sure he can get a new home. He might be contractually obligated to stay at CERN for a little bit longer, but I feel bad that, you know, this sort of thing broke him. It's hard. He's got young kids. He's got a wife. I I think the hours and the the pressure just got to him. I I relate. I know what it's like to feel like you're going in the next day and always letting people down or you're behind the eightball and it's just hard. He's a sensitive artist type. I mean, I [sighs and gasps] feel like I feel like 90% of the pinball world is that the the design world in pinball, the zombie Eddie, Jack Danger. Um, you know, the the reason why George Gomez has thicker skin, he's just been in it so long. And Gary doesn't give a Gary doesn't give a crap about anybody other than making money. You know, Gary doesn't care. He doesn't care. You're not going to see Gary crying. Gary quitting. Gary giving up. Never. Gary's old school. Gary's boomer money. Gary has grit. Gary doesn't care. It's not that he doesn't care. He just he's just, you know, he's he's executed. He's an executor. He's on to the next. You don't like this school? I don't care. I'm on to the next. You know, it it's Gary's company. Like in the end, like Seth will always be a hired gun who whose job was to take Gary's organization to the next level. I don't think he's been very successful at doing that. I think the opportunities were in front of them. Stuff happened before Seth was there. But the decision to pass on Beetlejuice and Back to the Future and but Transformers is a move in the right direction because trust me, the fact that these dudes are doing Transformer G1, they took that from Brian Savage. So Brian Savage was like the head of the Transformers and the G.I. Joe fan clubs at like Hasbro for like 20 years. Trust me, Stern doing G1 Transformers is a is a block against Barrels doing it. And you and if they do G1, the only option for barrels is to do the Transformer movie. If you think Stern is structured, you lost your mind. I'd be the best CEO of Stern Pinball. Can you imagine Canada CEO? I think my first decision would be um if I was C like let's just play a fun game. If I was CEO of Stern Pinball, what am I doing, right? What am I doing? I think something I would try to consider and I'm not again I'm not sure I need to look at because it's hard I don't have the numbers but something I would really consider is eliminating the premium model. I I think there's um I would make one game for the collectors and then I would make the pro. Now, I would put more in the Pro, but I would always make sure that the LE had something that just was very unique, whether and I think it should be a mechanism, and I think it should be different artwork, and I think it should be different software, but I would make sure, but the Pro wouldn't feel so stripped down. And so I would I think Stern would be more successful with like a $7,500 Pro and an $11,000 LE. And I would just do those two models. John, they're doing a good job. uh tank in the company themselves. No, I don't um I just think um or if you're going to do an LE, I would just if we want to do the three- tier model, I just think the LE should really come with an exclusive topper, an exclusive mech, and and a radically different art package. You know, it it's hard to make any business decision without looking at the numbers. I have no idea. I I think a lot of us would be shocked how poor some games have sold and how decent other games have sold. Like the game like a game like Dn D. Like I heard it did all right. I I'd be shocked to know they sold like 5,000 D and D games, but they may have. I don't know. Yeah, but the reason you've bought premiums Ajax is because the, you know, they really strip down the pros. That's the reason why. I don't know. Personally, I think Stern should have just stayed with 10,000. I think they should have done the three- tier model. I think Ellie should have always been 105 and I think they would be in a much better position today. That's it. I I think they I think they increased their margin and I think they lost a lot of volume I think if they had stayed at their old factory, Bill, you just said that. Yeah. I just think they scaled up too big. I think they've got this pressure and it's just not realistic and that's what has led them to do remakes too often and burn old buyers and all this stuff just doesn't work. It it's it's everyone forgets that Seth was brought on board to find a buyer. Okay, I know what the price was. I know what they were asking. You know how I know this? Cuz I know who they went to to buy it. They literally Gary and George flew to somebody's residence with a number. Okay, I'm not going to tell you how much cuz I was asked not to share. No, 35 million. Much more than that, Kelly. Oh, it's not. They're not a They're not a half a billion dollar company, Stern. I mean, come on, guys. Don't smoke crack now. The problem is nobody wants the headache. You can't because you It's too big. It's just too big for what it is. And if you buy them, you know, you're just absorbing their platform. They don't have the nicest platform. They You're absorbing all their baggage. You're absorbing all of that scale. And it's just it's not a enticing problem to solve. So I I I'm I I'm like glad that they didn't move forward. And I I think there was a very honest moment where you could either buy them or try to bury them. And it's like beautiful thing, right? It's like, well, maybe the world would be better off with more competition and less acquisition. The world is always better with more competition and less acquisition. I mean, I speak from seeing what my agency's going through and the whole marketing world's going through with big acquisitions. Um, you know, it's difficult to remain creative. It's difficult to remain hungry when you become part of something so big, you know, because because when you become part of something so big, you don't really see an impact on creative decisions anymore because yeah, even though you might have done, you know, had an idea that was successful over here, you've now got like, you know, think about it. If Spooky makes a really good, smart creative decision to secure this license and make these three games and they're looking at their employees of like what, like 40 to 60 people, and they can they can significantly see how their creative decisions have improved their revenue, the lifestyles of the people that work there, the morale, the the culture, the enthusiasm. If you're stern and you've got 600 employees and you've got you need to sell this many, you could have a good creative idea, but like it's underneath a mountain of other things that need to move the needle for the organization. And so you you almost, you know, it's overwhelming and and Stern's got like barely any employees. I mean, I now work for a company that globally has 128,000 employees. I want to say. So you got to remember that. So Canada is on a Excel sheet with 128,000 other people. Five people made Guns and Roses. Taylor Swift is one person. That's a multi-billion dollar franchise. 128,000 people, you know. So, it's like there's no way like you can't have that many people and then say like, you know, it's hard to have that many people and like established culture and be like people matter and like we're here for our people. Like that's just like that's I don't think anybody can be when there's that many. you know, the only thing you can be there for is the bottom line and and then the pressure to grow with that many people is so hard, right? Because people like, you know, when you know the people are trying to grow the product and the service, but like all those people got to be paid. So all those benefits and all the money and the salary and the vacation day, all that is eating away at the bottom line. It's just this weird conflicting forces in these large large companies and and what history has shown us over the last few years is when you just significantly cut your labor force, you significantly increase your revenue. I just saw a post on Pinside of a gentleman who was very honest and open about the fact that he just lost his job and he's one of us. He's in our age group. He's got two kids. he's the only provider for the family. And it was a very uh it just sort of stuck out in in a list of all these different threads to have someone, you know, be honest about his his fears, his insecurities, his concerns as we're all concerned about what's going to be on the Pokemon playfield. How many less will Winchester be worth? 25. You know what I'm saying? It's It was like real life. It was like in the middle of all this like fakeness because you think about it like the the amount of perspective that's lost when you start to overemphasize a toy of this price point. the amount of perspective we lost on where most people are at, where the world is at, where we are we all should be thinking about. It's it it sometimes takes stuff like that to sort of pull people back and remember, you know, like we all are going to be in a significantly difficult world. And I've been thinking about this more and more because I I don't think us insulating ourselves in communities and ignoring the world will help the children of the world, right? And And so what what do we do? What What does an individual do? You educate your kids. You teach them to be respectful. All that stuff. But all that's not going to be good enough if we continue to allow, and I mean this like these these tech companies to absolutely destroy humanity. I mean, we're watching it now and it's it's funny because especially in my industry in the creative field, it's like we're literally celebrating our own downfall. We We are actually promoting something that will eliminate so many jobs. It'll eliminate the humanity from so much of the work. It'll eliminate the creativity from so much of the work and we're literally celebrating it as being but it's I I understand why because clients now want that like they feel like if they don't have AI they're not part of like they're not looking around the corner let's slate to the show you know the next spooky pin is going to be come on guys like why are we still here what the next spooky pin is it's it's freaking Goonies. Okay, what else we going to know? Um, I would say if you're a Gremlin or Goonies fan, have your money ready. But having your money ready doesn't matter. You need to you need to get a spot. You know what I would do if I were some of you? I mean, they're going to kill me for saying this. develop a relationship with people at Spooky Pinball. You know what I'm saying? Don't come in hot like, "Hey, I want to get a spot." No. Maybe get to know them. Maybe build a relationship. There's no easier way to get a game than to have an inn with, you know, get to know the mayor, not the cops. So, you guys are all trying to get to know the cops. The cops are the the dealers in the Dro. The mayor is Bug and Luke. Those are the mayors. You know the mayor. I don't need to I don't need to waste my time with the cops. I know the mayor. Like the mayor can the mayor can uh get me anything I want. Rip up a speeding ticket. Let me park anywhere I want. Get me into any function. Anything. Know the mayors. Don't know the cops in life. That's a good advice for all your children and for everybody. Get to know the mayor. you know, the the issue with dealers is that, you know, they don't have enough games to go around for their relationships. So, a lot of them, you know, they have repeat customers. They can't possibly give each and every one of them access to the new game. They They just don't have enough. All right? So, then then you want to be one of the then you want to be one of the better relationships they have. Money talks to everybody. Money absolutely will help. I mean, I'm Sicilian. I know what it's like putting a $100 bill in my hand throughout life and I go to a club. Clubs are dead now, but back in the day, like, and the guy's like, you know, we're full. And then you're like, think you can get two us two of us in and you shake his hand with a $100 bill and you're in the club. It's just like it's the way way the world works. Um, yeah. I do love that clubs are dead, though. Like, nobody cares anymore. No one's going to clubs and spending like $800 on a $40 bottle of vodka anymore. It's dead. the Frank Sinatra used to have a really good sense of humor and he was uh pulling up to the country club in his car and you know they valet park it and he's coming out of lunch with his friends and the young kid is the valet and he goes and gets Mr. Sinatra's car. And Frank Sinatra goes, "Hey, kid. What's the biggest tip anyone's ever given you?" And the valet says, " $50, Mr. Sinatra." He's like, "Oh, yeah. Here's a hundred." So, he gives the kid $100. And then Frank goes, "Hey, kid. Who gave you the 50 bucks?" And he says, "You did, Mr. Sinatra. This is the kind of jokes my dad tells on the golf course that I have to laugh at. They're not bad. They're not great, but they're not bad. But there are just some amazing Frank Sinatra stories of how generous he was and how kind he was to the working class and servers in restaurants. And he would never let anybody talk down to a server at a restaurant or embarrass them. Old blue eyes clubs are dead. Yeah, it's weird when you look at the stats of all these dating sites and I just the amount of single people. I don't get it. You know, I've got um I've got two sister-in-laws. I've known them both for like 11 12 years now. In 11 and like 12 years I've known them both not once has either of them had a like been in a relationship. Not once in 12 years. I like when I was in my 20s I I was in multiple long-term relationships. I mean, they were they weren't like I wasn't into like one night stands, but I I started dating someone out of college and then, you know, it it was just I I just don't think you uh It's weird. Then you get to an age where it's like, well, you haven't been in any relationship and then you got to be like, it's it's not that people become desperate. It's almost like you then have to kind of accept what comes your way versus knowing. This is why Brenda and I are so good for each other is by the time I met Brenda, I I knew so much more about myself and I knew and I learned and grew through other relationships that I knew what a good lifelong partner would be. But if you don't go through any trial and error, like you're just I don't know. Then Then I could see why people are just like terrified of it. Like they I don't even want to go near it. You don't get it because you're a beautiful man.
Um 250 the most I have given on a live. Doubt I will be beaten. Hector thank you brother. I doubt you'll be beaten too. I mean that is a challenge to Bill Brandice and Sad Boy out there. Um someday someone will donate 251. Frank Max got it. Uh we might have to do a fundraiser one day and and you know I was gonna do a fundraiser. Let me ask you guys cuz I was going to one of our longtime friends of the show is going through something really tough and he's going through cancer treatment and it's expensive and it's no matter even if you have insurance it's just it's like wiping him out and he's had to sell some pins, sell some cars and I was like you know instead of doing fundraisers for project pimp pinball where they make 20 grand and who knows where the money's going. I thought it might be interesting to explore doing a fundraiser for a specific member of our community who's going through something really tough and to raise money to get him a game. And I was just like I don't I just don't know where people people's heads are at. Like if they think that'd be a good deed or if he doesn't deserve it. I don't know. I I just think we've got so many people here and if everybody gave like 50 bucks, we'd have them a game, you know, and like it just make everybody feel good. I don't know. No, I'm going to I'm going to think about like just doing the fundraiser even if we just fund raise and figure out how high we can go to get get him a game. And I know that he would never ask for this, too. He's got way too much pride and he's just very thankful for every day he has and I um you know I really um you know his story just reminds each and every one of us like how short life is and how you know how easy it is to have a a default setting every day where you're like on edge or you're triggered or you're upset or easily upset. or angered by things and and then real real life hits and you realize all that stuff that you were worried about wasn't really the thing to worry about. So, all right, I'm going to I'm going to look into this. Who Who you talking about? Came in late. Well, I didn't I didn't name his name. I don't I want to ask him, you know, for private reasons if he'd be cool with that, but I I think he um he would definitely appreciate it. I think he's a big Pokemon fan, and that's the other thing. I think he was like basically with all the cancer treatments, that's not in the cards for him. Um, you know, I was thinking too like, well, Project Pinball is raising all this money and you know, they're gonna auction off a Pokemon le for like 20 grand or something. And you notice, you notice how like that doesn't like they never really put the new games in the children's hospitals. It's always like the old stuff that they still own. Come on, people. Do the math. Doesn't cost $600,000 a year. They're not putting like 50 new games a year in hospitals, people. I mean, and they own those games. So, h how are those expenses if they still own them? Remember, they're not donating them. Doesn't they're not they still own them. They have value. Okay. Anyway, don't can't can't they may be flying business class around the country. the amount of people that are trying to get me to like just completely like go off on this Project Pinball investigative journalist. I I'm not going to do it. It doesn't mean it's not worth looking into, though. It's just not my job. I'm not the Wall Street Journal. I'm not the New York Times. The reason why major media outlets can go after things that they see are a little fishy is that they make money and they're protected by legal teams. I'm not. Bobby, you laughing? Good. Jamie, what's up, brother? Jamie's in the house from Triple Drain. No, not Triple Drain. What is it? What is it? The The round table. What do you guys call the round table? You know, I will say it's great having Retro Ralph back in the fall. J, we got to get Ralph back in here. Don normally joins. These guys are having fun. They're down in Florida. I think Ral is Ralph down there. Ralph saves me from looking like a jackass all the time now because I'm always like, "Oh, I got Pokemon." Like, "Dude, it's AI." Like every like every other day I'm like, "Oh, dude, I got the He's like, "Dude, it's AI." Like, literally Ralph just constantly saves me from looking like a jackass now. Yeah. Did you see Colin is uh the Twippies are happening on Valentine's Day? Like the dude is like it's like this weird I don't even know who this like Mark guy. It's literally Colin has taken the Twippies and turned it into I I think he's almost like purposely sandbagging it now, but he's absolutely turned it into the biggest nobody gives an joke it could. It It saddens me to see this is the end. You know what I'm saying? It's already dead, but this is really the final moment of it. It It's It's literally a a forest falling, a tree falling in the forest. It's literally at the point where like nobody even cares. And he had every opportunity. You You know the reason why he he literally would rather it die than see Canada ever win another Twippy. It's like a weird hill to die on for him because as he makes no money in pinball as he isolates himself as an island like nobody's nobody cool is hanging with them. Everyone else in the content space has since made amends is hanging out like you know everybody like I mean even Orbiter Albert will be back on this show one day. You know what I'm saying? Like there's no bad blood between anybody else but Colin's the only one that he's there. There he is. There he is trying to say that you know the competitive pinball scene's been destroyed or blown up by a a transgender issue in North Carolina. like he's always trying to like just like like land his plane on a topic that he knows this audience doesn't even want to talk about. Quintessential Quintessential New Robert Englunds bleeding heart kind of guy. You can tell like you know it's like the dudes who got picked on in high school now think they're going to set the agenda and they're going to now have control. like, "No, no, you're still going to spend high school inside that locker, Colin. You're You're not out of it. You're still metaphorically inside it." And look, we gave you a chance, bro. This is the thing. It's like I literally buried the hatcher with that dude. He had every opportunity and he went he he just couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it. H the loser kid guys to ruin the Twippy wondering what they think of the current. Well, yeah. Remember all that? That's when I was a terrorist and a cancer. Even the loser kid guys and I have made up I I mean I don't believe they think I'm a cancer or a terrorist. Like everyone got all riled up. I get it. But I also Here's the thing. It's like we all will find ourselves in moments where we get, you know, bent out of shape. But like eventually you got to let go of the anger. You got to move on and you got to forgive. And it never ceases to amaze me that anybody who believes in God or is a church-going individual is is without forgiveness or you know what I'm saying? Like there there's Yeah. There are literally people in this world that do not deserve to be forgiven. Um I mean like like when they let people out of jail who murdered people and then they go and murder somebody else. Like what are we doing? Like what are we doing? I just saw this beautiful mom who was a bar. She She owned a bar, gets murdered by a dude that was convicted of murder and let out of jail after serving only like 15 20. Like what are we doing? You know, we're supposed to be protecting the innocent, not having empathy for the criminals. And like again, like forgiven you murder once you murder somebody. I'm sorry. Hammarabi's coat like eye for an eye. God, this like Savannah Guthrie thing is the mom. Is that story following this story? I this is like crazy crazy. I mean, you think about you got like the FBI, everybody on it. You voted Canada every category. Uh where's Jamie at here? Yeah. Like life is not fair, Bill. Um J, there's lines for the 12 Beetlejuice machines. Jimmy, are you down there? Are you at the beach, brother? Who's at the beach? Who's at the beach? Pokemon Pro has a mechanical mech unlike the uncanny pro. Pro is the way to go. Um, Robert, Robert, do you have a picture of Pokemon? This is always that fun few days where like people have seen it, man. I I saw, you know, someone that everyone's got like the scoop on Pokemon right now. It's It's just annoying. It's like, yeah, what what like and it's like, oh, it's got something that it's got it's got something in it. It's like, you know, it's like we literally describe these things like a bunch just we should just bring a bunch of hot chicks in here and be like, "Yo, let me tell you what I think might be in Pokemon Pro and watch every single hot chick leave the room." You know what I'm saying? Like, walk into like a bar, beautiful women everywhere. Hey ladies, what do you think's in Pokemon Pro? You will clear that bar out so effing fast, it's not even funny. It's not even funny. Hey ladies, man, like what do you think is going to be the difference between the premium and the pro. Check out my cargo shorts. Bill Brandon's got them for me. They're Fendy. You know, if I was like Louis Vuitton, I would make I would make pinball cargo shorts a thing from Louis Vuitton. Like, let's do this, baby. What? Why do these people have so many pockets? Like, what? Why? We're gonna see the whole thing in a few days. It's going to be, you know, everyone can wait. All right, so we've got a few people got Pokemon. 80 16% said they got the Ellie. I still think it sells out. [snorts] Not going to lie, I love cargo shorts. Why? Why not just regular shorts? Like the moment you go cargo, you just look like you're about to go fishing. right? Or Or like work on the house, which is fine, but you're not you're going to a bar with cargo shorts on. What's the You're There's Here's the sad part. There's nothing in those pockets, but you're probably overly fat George Castanza wallet, right? So, what's the cargo you have on you? You know, that's why they're called cargo shorts. So, you have a lot of cargo like you're Swiss Army. Now, if you're this, you're literally got empty pockets. Do you even need a wallet anymore? Don't you just use Apple Pay? So, what's the why would you want to look like that when there's no cargo in the cargo shorts? There's weed in the cargo shorts. No, that's my thing is like when you're on vacation, I mean this. I have more respect for men in a fanny pack. A fanny pack's better. Get a stylish one. There's a reason why they make Gucci fanny packs. Just saying. Oh, did that Louis Vuitton pinball machine come out? That's just a That's just a marketing stunt thing. Like that's silly, you know? What if Gucci made cargo shorts? Let's see. Hold on. Let me Let me see if I I'll create it right now. Hold on. Can I upload a picture here? Man, it sucks that you can't drop photos in the chat on um Jack Danger. How's the beach going, brother? H, everybody, look, I hear the kids screaming. I want to say thank you guys so much for the ongoing support. It's going to be a very fun week. We're going to get to see a new pinball machine. New pinball week is always a fun week. Um, you know, let's all remember that this community is always the reason why we love it. The games are all overpriced. We know it. you know, but they the time we have together is where the value is. And I'm happy to uh entertain so many of you. There's a new podcast this morning, me explaining why I think Pokemon will sell out. It's a very balanced reason why. So, I think you'll enjoy that. Um, and I just want to thank each and every one of you. Uh, every week, this is my creative outlet that really keeps me grounded. It's always fun for me to say I host one of the world's uh most favorite pinball podcasts. I tell people the truth. They ban me from the forum. The forum people are still screaming and not making a single penny. And that if that works for them, if they want to get drunk in their homes and go on pinside and argue with the same 30 people, like seems like a real waste of time in my honest opinion. I wish some of those Pinside people would try the podcast. It's a lot different. It requires a lot more thought and a lot more um dedication to articulating your thoughts. See, when you're just like I always find it a waste sometimes, I do because people are just like after they put all that energy into that one post to get those eight likes, it's then on the next page in like an hour and then nobody cares. It's like such a waste. That's right. Enjoy the Super Bowl. Enjoy Bad Bunny. Enjoy it all. I look, I think he's going to be fun. I think he's going to bring some good vibes. I think all the I think he's going to rise to the occasion and not make it controversial. I I don't think he's going to do that. I think he's going to realize the magnitude of the moment. And I think even though some people want everyone to be divided, there's a reason why he's the most downloaded artist in the world. And I think he's gonna put on a good show. He sucks. Like I I don't say I love the music. I but I understand why people like, you know, his vibe. Um, you guys are I always got to remember who I'm talking to. I g I get it. Like, believe me, I'm I'm under no I'm under no disillusion that you guys do not lean predominantly middle right and that's cool with me. Like I I know I know the pinball audience. It's It always makes me laugh when people jump into a pinball conversation, right, with like a really progressive left point of view about anything. is like as pitball people, man.
Yeah. I mean, Kid Rock performing on the other channel is pretty embarrassing, though, if you ask me. Look, and I I'm I'm raised more right and, you know, a capitalist and a more Republican. I I think the kid rock performing is is so embarrassing because it's like if you're gonna it's like it's like they're stuck, you know? It's like the right is stuck with like like they should have just got here's the thing is like nobody in their right mind other than like a kid rock would even want to perform like opposite Bad Bunny because it's it just seems like a like it seems like something Colin would do. You know what I'm saying? I mean this like it's such a petty move. It seems like something Colin would do, like get, you know, get your underwear in a wad and cry like a baby and then put on your own performance. That just seems like something Colin would do. In the end, a real confident, conservative mind would just enjoy the show. See what it's about. Don't be close-minded. Again, if someone's the most downloaded artist in the history of Spotify, like that that seems to be enough of a reason to earn the right to play on the biggest stage. No. You know what I'm saying? There's a reason why. Like, it's going to be embarrassing like how few people watch Kid Rock's performance. That's all I'm saying. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Just let it go. Just let it go. It's It's a It's a It's a 20 minute concert. Like, but this is the thing about where we're at now. like everything's become politicized and it's silly. But to me, the the lamer thing is is watching Kid Rock perform. You know what I'm saying? Because then you're like literally admitting that you want to put yourself in a bubble. You want to make Canada ineligible to win a Trippy and you don't want like to hear any other side. You don't want to listen to their music. You don't want to hear what they have to say. You don't you you are like Yeah. like you're stuck in in a in a in a country and in a world that doesn't even really exist anymore. And it's not going it's not working out for most people. So the answer is in the middle. Being moderate is key. And to be moderate, you have to listen to all sides. It doesn't Look, I will never be crazy people. I will never be crazy. I think common sense. Would I have picked bad money? Not exactly. But do I understand it? Sure. Right. I understand it. Like I'm not I'm not under any like it should have been Guns and Roses. It should have been like you know Bruce Springsteen like whatever. You know what I'm saying? Like whoever's it should be Taylor Swift really. She won't do it though. I mean she's going to do it one day but she it should be Taylor Swift. It should have been K-pop demon hunters. H most pinball players like Oh, of course. I mean, that is the dichconomy of pinball is the the players, the tournament, the league night people are mostly liberal and the buyers are conservative. So, it's it's a nice mix of of two people that fundamentally probably hate each other. You know, that's why I don't even care. Like, I'm like, look, I I you know me, I don't make this show political. I don't I I don't care. Anyone can listen to Canadas Pinball Podcast. I'm I'm a lover, not a fighter. Everybody be good. Happy Happy Saturday. Enjoy the Super Bowl. We'll talk a lot next week later. I might go live this weekend later. Yeah, Derek. Derek. Derek's the ultimate. Got his panties all like all tied up in his electric Porsche. I love I love those. I I love the like the the morally the morally charged individuals like I'm for like everybody as I drive my $150,000 electric Porsche. He's the male equivalent of a Karen. All right. later.