Episode 1242: "Kaneda Mis-directs Himself Into The Right Direction of Mis-Direction"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·22m 42s·analyzed·Jul 23, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.021

TL;DR

Kaneda speculates on upcoming releases while criticizing market oversaturation, pricing, and marketing failures.

Summary

Kaneda discusses market saturation in pinball, expressing skepticism about Multimorphic's platform viability and Jersey Jack's pricing strategy. He confirms upcoming announcements for Multimorphic (Ender's Game and Dungeon Crawler Carl) and speculates about Barrels of Fun's mystery title (possibly Bon Jovi). He critiques Stern's marketing, pricing strategies across the industry, and first-impression design failures, particularly King Kong art direction.

Key Claims

Multimorphic's Ender's Game and Dungeon Crawler Carl were shown at a VIP event at Multimorphic about 1.5 weeks ago, and Jerry (implied: Jerry Koci/Multimorphic) is upset that attendees leaked this information
high confidence · Kaneda states this is 'firsthand account' and directly contradicts speculation that Barrels of Fun has the Dungeon Crawler Carl license
The Sonic the Hedgehog game's owners thread is only 2 pages long with approximately 40 people responding to a survey about orders, which is unusually low for a Jersey Jack release
medium confidence · Kaneda cites observation of Pinside forum activity as comparison to normal Jersey Jack game launches
Barrels of Fun's reserve program signup opens tomorrow (July 23rd) at noon on Instagram, with a new title announcement expected shortly after or at Southern Fried Gaming Expo
high confidence · Kaneda states 'It is July 23rd. This Friday, tomorrow' and references the reserve program timeline
Barrels of Fun likely has approximately 200 more Winchester Mystery House units to manufacture, and production may have concluded
medium confidence · Kaneda speculates on timing of next game release, suggesting 3-4 month typical delay for boutique companies
Transformers was engineered to transform in the Transformers pinball machine for two years before being removed due to cost-cutting measures
medium confidence · Kaneda references this as design failure: 'what he was engineered to do for two years before they yanked him out because of cost-cutting measures'
Christopher Franchi is the artist on both Goonies and Back to the Future SLE art packages (85 Goonies SLEs and 88 Back to the Back to the Future)
medium confidence · Kaneda observes: 'we're going to get 85 Goonies SLEs and 88 Back to the Back to the Future with Christopher Franchi on both art packages'
Goonies will be a widebody game featuring a large pirate ship on the right side where the ball is launched, potentially with cannons that fire the ball across the game
medium confidence · Kaneda states 'From what I've been told' regarding the pirate ship mechanism

Notable Quotes

“I don't think Jerry has enough to get people to buy into the platform. It's just never gonna work... the more games he releases on this platform actually works against him because he needs to convince new people to buy into the platform”
Kaneda @ early episode — Core skepticism about Multimorphic's business model and platform viability
“When you know that Goonies is coming up in just a few months, when you know that Back to the Future is around the corner, you're not going to go run and buy a $15,000 Sonic.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Explanation for why advance knowledge of upcoming games suppresses current game sales
“Almost everything is $10,000 or more. And still the majority of people in this hobby buying games are legacy fans of pinball that were around when games were half the price.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Key market dynamic: pricing disconnect between current costs and buyer salary growth
“You need to get so much of it that cannot be changed right before you reveal it... You need to get the theme right. Can't change that after the game's been revealed.”
Kaneda @ late-mid episode — Design philosophy about first impressions and immutable game elements
“It is killing me as someone who loves that movie so much that that game is not behind me right now... I will not buy this game because Stern did not go the distance.”
Kaneda @ late-mid episode — Personal stance on Transformers machine due to Optimus Prime transformation feature removal
“Men, 40 to 60 years old, that's who can drop $7,000 to $13,000 guys on pinball machines... Stern continues to not understand just because you put young people in your marketing does not mean you have now solidified the next generation of buyers”
Kaneda @ late-mid episode — Critique of Stern's marketing strategy mismatch with actual buyer demographic
“Stern, you're in big trouble... The topper is so silly. Optimus's mouth does not go up and down. It doesn't look like he's talking. Again, lazy.”

Entities

Multimorphiccompany Jerry Kociperson Jersey Jack Pinballcompany Barrels of FuncompanySpooky PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyKanedapersonEnder's Game

Signals

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market_signal: Widespread criticism of $10,000+ pricing on nearly all new pinball games; Kaneda notes most legacy buyers haven't doubled salaries in 10 years despite price doubling
high · Almost everything is $10,000 or more... Yukon Yeti is $10,000. Everything is $10,000... the majority of us that have been in this hobby for 10 years haven't really doubled our salaries
?
product_concern: Quality control issue: Keri's factory-fresh Sonic the Hedgehog machine arrived with a broken rubber, requiring immediate playfield disassembly
high · Keri's Sonic. He unboxes it and it's got a broken rubber from the front. Factory!
~
sentiment_shift: Community showing signs of purchase fatigue and selectivity due to market saturation; low engagement on Sonic the Hedgehog despite being a Jersey Jack title
high · The owner's thread is only two pages long... I don't think people are running towards this game, and I think it's indicative of the oversaturation of titles we've been getting
?
design_philosophy: Kaneda articulates principle that immutable design elements (theme, art, layout, toys, mechs) must be perfect at reveal; software-only fixes insufficient for poor hardware design
high · You need to get the theme right. Can't change that after the game's been revealed... You can change the software. You can change the call outs... But the majority of the decisions that need to be right need to happen and they cannot be altered once the game is revealed
?
product_concern: Transformers machine had Optimus Prime transformation mechanism removed after 2 years of engineering due to cost-cutting, creating first-impression failure

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.015

0:00

She's into superstitions, black cats and blue dolls. I feel a premonition, that girl's gonna make me fall.

0:14

Welcome everybody to Ganneda's Pinball Podcast, the only pinball podcaster that can successfully take credit for both sides of a guess. Is it going to be Bon Jovi? Is it going to be something else? What is the announcement on Monday going to be? It's going to be Multimorphic Enders game and Dungeon Crawler Carl. Josh Coogler is now being announced at being at Multimorphic. And I just want to say this. I don't think Jerry has enough to get people to buy into the platform. It's just never gonna work. And the thing he doesn't realize, the more games he releases on this platform actually works against him because he needs to convince new people to buy into the platform because he needs to sell like the entirety of the multimorphic platform. I just don't see people doing it. People are not even buying Sonic the Hedgehog and they're going to buy Multimorphic. I was in the Sonic thread and I'm shocked. Like the owner's thread is only two pages long. And in the survey, how many games or what games did you order? There's only like, I don't know, like 40 people at most. Look, I know they've sold more than 40 games, but this is not normal. Usually when there's a New Jersey Jack game that's been out now for a few weeks, the owners club is usually the people that have ordered the game, talking about the game and what they're excited about. And I think what's happening with Sonic is because the code doesn't really have like stuff to share and stuff to geek out over. I don't think people are running towards this game, and I think it's indicative of the oversaturation of titles we've been getting. I think it's indicative of the amount of people that have bought a lot of games where they're still waiting for code to get good. I also think there's just a general sort of contentment with the games you have, and you know what's coming. See, this is the thing. This is why when people wonder why pinball companies try to keep everything a secret. The reason is this. When you know that Goonies is coming up in just a few months, when you know that Back to the Future is around the corner, you're not going to go run and buy a $15,000 Sonic. That is unlimited because you know that you might wait and see Goonies and want it more and see Back to the Future and want it more. Also, $15,000 is a lot of money and you're only going to pull the trigger on a $15,000 game if it's a dream theme that checks all the boxes. You know, and this is the issue with all the pinball right now is almost everything is $10,000 or more. And still the majority of people in this hobby buying games are legacy fans of pinball that were around when games were half the price. And so, you know, it used to be crazy. We would joke like 10K by Christmas, but now it's like 10K every single month and multiple companies thinking their products are worth $10,000.

3:53

Yukon Yeti is $10,000. Everything is $10,000. A Stern Premium, an unlimited Stern Premium is basically a $10,000 game. And I don't know about you, but I can maybe make a guess that the majority of us that have been in this hobby for 10 years haven't really doubled our salaries in that time period. And so as everything gets more expensive, you're just going to get more selective. And I am shocked about Sonic. I am because I'm like, what do they do now? Like, how do you get more people excited about Sonic? Some of you say, get it out on location, get more people playing it, but I think this game is going to go down as a great location game. I don't think it's going to go down as a game where people jump on it, right now at least, and say I'm going to pull the trigger on it. I also think Jersey Jack is going to have to rethink its collector edition strategy If Van Halen is next there no way you can say we going to make unlimited Van Halen CEs It just not going to work I think Jersey Jack, you know, did the right thing with Harry Potter, but they can't do the Potter playbook on every single game moving forward. This is why marketing matters. And this is why pinball marketing has always been a head scratcher to me, Because it's almost like everyone just does the same playbook time and time again. I mean, look at Stern Marketing. They've been making the same topper. This is the same topper since Black Knight that became the Foo Fighters topper that's now the Optimist topper. It's just like the same thing. The problem is when we bought the Black Knight topper, it was like $500 or $600. Now this topper is $1,500 for the same exact engineered thing. It doesn't work. And every time you see like Stern accessory videos now, it's just rinse and repeat. There is nothing original. There's nothing unique. When you look at the matrix of leadership shooter rod, it's terrible. And what is that, like $200 for that? It's just at the point now where we really need companies to slow down and think about how are we going to do this differently? We can't just keep calling the same plays and expect success because consumers are basically running defense on those plays. We're tired of it. We're tired of it. We keep getting burned and nobody wants to be burned moving forward. OK, so let's think about this right now. It is July 23rd. This Friday, tomorrow, we are going to get the time in which the barrels reserve program. Instagram, the time is up to sign up tomorrow. I don't know what the exact time is. I think it's like noon or something. So I think I might just sign up and I'll tell you why. Well, first and foremost, it's a tax write off for me. So it's not going to cost me $75. Now I'm not going to have a problem getting any pin ever. Okay. So just so you know, I'm in on every SLE that's ever going to come out. I will be able to get my hands on everything. That's what doing like twelve hundred and forty two podcasts about pinball gets you. OK, over a 10 year period. But here's the thing. I think what they might do is this. I think the moment that reserve program closes, they might announce the next title. So they said that once it closes and they announced the new title, they said they were going to announce the new title around the barrel reserve program. So are they going to do it tomorrow? Are they going to do it at Southern Fried Gaming Expo? There is an exclusive event for the Barrels Reserve Club members. It's got to be soon. Do you think David is worried about what's happening over at Multimorphic? There are still morons, and I don't use that word often. There are still morons on Pinside that think Barrels has the dungeon crawler Carl license. Trust me when I say this. This is firsthand account. Now, people that went to the VIP event at Multimorphic like a week and a half ago, they saw Dungeon Crawler Carl and Ender's Game. And Jerry is so pissed off that they told people that. But that's what's coming. So it is not a Barrels of Fun license. Dungeon Crawler Carl is not a misdirect and it's really going to happen over at Barrels. So that's going to happen on Monday. In the past, David's had the unfortunate timing of releasing games when the next Elwynn game was available. That was King Kong. And also Harry Potter came out right around Dune. Dune launched at a horrible time. I know they blame me for the poor performance of the Dune sales. I know that for a fact. For some reason, Travis doesn't like me because of that. It's my fault. No, the problem with the Dune launch, the game was unfinished. He rushed it out and you had Harry Potter and King Kong. Now, I think David made a mistake because he probably thought King Kong was going to get a better reception than it did. You know, these companies, for some reason, still can't figure out the age old cliche. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Now, here's the thing I'm a little bit worried about. Why, if there's like 200 more Winchesters to make, I think Dune Manufacturing has concluded, why would you release now? I think they need a little bit of money probably to order the parts for the next game And so that is why I think they doing it They want to get the next game on the line in October This is like that normal delay of like three to four months for these boutique companies So when are we going to see it? All this misdirection talk has just been fun. I see people on Pinside being like, this is not good for barrels and this and that. And in the end, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters to the lead up of a game if the game is amazing. That's the thing. It doesn't matter if you're skeptical. It doesn't matter if it's been hyped. In the end, when a game gets revealed, if it has all the elements that pinball enthusiasts want, it will do just fine. It will do fine for years. This is the thing about pinball that I love so much. You need to get so much of it that cannot be changed. You need to get so much of it right before you reveal it. You need to get the theme right. Can't change that after the game's been revealed. You need to get the artwork right. You need to get the layout right. You need to get the toys right and the mechs right in the game. Once the game is out, you cannot change those things. I have not seen a pinball company ever replace a mechanism in a game or remember when David Fix was going to add mechs to Hot Wheels. It never happened. You have to make sure you get it right from day one. Your first impression is important. You can change the software. You can change the call outs. You can change those things in a game. You could add accessories that sit on top of the game and sit underneath the game. But the majority of the decisions that need to be right need to happen and they cannot be altered once the game is revealed. I am still shocked to this day how many companies get the theme wrong, that there are still pinball machines where the art is not great. And, you know, we all feel the same way collectively. There's not enough mechanical magic in the game. Take a game like Transformers, right? Look how much it got right. It got the theme right. It got the art right. It got the software right. And one simple thing that needed to happen that they now cannot change is the number one reason that most people will not buy this game. And that is the mechanical aspects of the game and Optimus not transforming. I know that they just put in the movie mode. It is killing me as someone who loves that movie so much that that game is not behind me right now. There is way more in Transformers now than there is in Pokemon. It is killing me. But I am a man of principle on principle alone. I will not buy this game because Stern did not go the distance. That is it. It is that simple. I could never play Transformers and look down at that game and not wish that Optimus did what Elliott wanted him to do, what he was engineered to do for two years before they yanked him out because of cost-cutting measures. That's it. That's it. I don't care. Have your fun. Enjoy the code. It's John Wick all over again, okay? That's just the way it's going to go down. Have you seen who Stern is using to try to elicit sales for this game? They're using all of these female bubbly influencers to try to sell people on expensive pinball machines. It's just funny to me. Stern's marketing is just so bad. Have you seen their new website and it's engineered for mobile? It's terrible. They absolutely don't know who buys their product. Men, 40 to 60 years old, that's who can drop $7,000 to $13,000 guys on pinball machines. I work with the people of age that Stern has on its website and these are the influencers they're using to try to push pinball machines. People that age can't afford rent. They are not in the market for pinball. Stern continues to not understand Just because you put young people in your marketing does not mean you have now solidified the next generation of buyers And if they wanted to grow this company, they would have fired that agency that told them to pass on back to the future. And they would have doubled down on the people that actually buy their games. And as I told them, if you want to grow Stern Pinball, you go after your demographic and you get each person who buys from you to invite one friend that they know into the hobby. Then you'll double your audience. You're not going to get there by using like Gen Z imagery and people wearing your merchandise and calling it a lifestyle brand. It's just so silly. All right, so we've got new Transformer code. It looks fun. The topper is so silly. Optimus's mouth does not go up and down. It doesn't look like he's talking. Again, lazy. And this thing is three times as much as the Black Knight topper. Stern, you're in big trouble. All right, let's go to Goonies. Goonies is going to be a lot like Beetlejuice. It is not going to have any of the actors from the movie itself do original call outs. I believe they're going to use sound alikes. But, you know, much like Beetlejuice, the vibe over there at Spooky is the game is just more fun when it's just the movie. The movie itself has enough moments that can kind of guide you through the game. So not sure how that's going to pan out. It's hard, right? Because when you think about pinball machines and our favorite pinball machines, there is something about those unique call outs that makes the experience so engaging and rewarding. And, you know, when Spooky is doing it like this, can they achieve the same level of satisfaction? Beetlejuice to me is such a mixed bag. Like, I feel like I hear people love it. Some people don't love the layout. But I keep hearing that this Goonies game, it's a wide body game. From what I've been told, there's a big pirate ship on the right side of the game where you launch the ball. I'm not sure if you launch the ball into the pirate ship and then there's like cannons that fire the ball across the game. Sounds amazing to me already. I think a lot of people are excited about Goonies. There's going to be 1,299 of them and 85 SLEs. There will be a chance for anyone in on one to grab one of those SLE spots. They're going to do something that nobody's going to complain about. It's going to be fair for everybody and it's going to be fun to watch. But the majority of you will not be able to snag a SLE even though you're going to want one. I think all models of this game are going to look phenomenal. And it's going to be funny. We're going to get 85 Goonies SLEs and 88 Back to the Future SLEs with Christopher Franchi on both art packages. Isn't it crazy how Franchi's just on this supernal realm now making all of the in-demand games? And poor Zombie Yeti, man. And Jeremy, he's so talented, but you never hear people say anymore, like, I want Jeremy on the art package. Stern overused him. They put him on the wrong projects. When you go back and look at, like, iconic King Kong movie posters, you know, King Kong's one of these games where, like, it was right there. If they had just made Kong look like the iconic Kong that everybody remembers, it would have done so much better why they went in the art direction they went in. That's on Jeremy. He's the art director. And I know it's like that game would have sold twice as well if the art was better. If the animations reflected those classic movie posters, they could have done something super cool, almost like a King Kong comic book style animations that reflected the iconic movie posters from back in the day. Instead, they went in this direction that just looks like a King Kong comic book I would pick up for my kid at the pharmacy. It just doesn't work. All right. So we don't care about King Kong. It's all going to be about what is the mystery over at Barrels of Fun over the next week. And if anybody is going to pull the trigger on this multimorphic game, I don't know. I think it's a terrible time to release a pinball machine. I do. Who amongst you is not going on vacation soon and spending almost the price of a pinball machine to take your family on vacation? It's also like the weather's so nice. Do you really want to like unbox a machine? Let's talk about Keri's Sonic. He unboxes it and it's got a broken rubber from the front. Factory! Guys, if we're going to send this game to one of the most followed pinball content creators, make sure there's not a broken rubber in the game. You think that happened during shipping? I mean, that's not good. I know it's a one-off thing, but the last thing you want is when the guy that's been hyping your game the most, he unboxes it and he can't play it. And the first video he makes is him trying to figure out how to sort of take off the upper playfield. Gang, it's not hard. Make a game that does the theme justice. Make a theme that this community wants. I really hope for Barrels' sake, it's not Bon Jovi because look at the feedback. It's brutal. I think more people hate Bon Jovi than Kaneda on Pinside, which is amazing. Finally, finally, I'm not the most despised name on all of Pinside. It's Bon Jovi. Meanwhile that dude sold 150 million albums and he getting insulted by guys that wear cargo shorts and have cats as their avatar photo on Facebook You know that the world we live in A bunch of nobodies are insulting one of the biggest musical acts of all time The dude sold out 10 nights in a row at Madison Square Garden and some guy named like FlipperBat107 on Pinside thinks you suck All right everybody a lot going to happen in the next week or so Thank you guys for all the support and thank you guys who have been upping your subscription amounts I really appreciate it We've had more and more people do that recently. There's been a lot of great content. I just have one question. Whether I'm right or not, whether I'm right or wrong on Bon Jovi, are you not entertained? Aren't we making this so much fun? We transformed the barrels thread into a Bon Jovi debate for an entire week. Canada did that. Everybody else, I don't even know what they're doing. This is where it's at. That's why you're here. When people are like, why do people pay him fired up? Because this is why we are on the pulse of what is happening in pinball. You know, we don't have to wait a week and then we're just going to discuss what Kaneda says, because that's where we're at again. Kaneda drops these breadcrumbs and everybody else is eating them like pigeons. Kaneda out.