We Are Pinball #27 "The Texas Edition!!"

TL;DR

TPF wrap-up: Spooky Evil Dead sells out, Darth Vader Star Wars rumor emerges.

Summary

Key Claims

• Spooky Pinball had 59 Evil Dead units remaining plus scattered inventory at distributors when Texas Pinball Festival started

  high confidence · Don states: 'they were down to 50 there was 59 left plus um a smattering amongst distributors'

• Evil Dead units sold out during Texas Pinball Festival after people played them on-site

  high confidence · Don describes constant lines (1-3 game wait from noon Saturday onward) and packed Spooky booth with 13 games; distro Joe Newhart bought 25 remaining units with $50,000 check and immediately resold them

• Spooky Pinball plans to produce 20 games per week after ramping up production

  medium confidence · Genghis states: 'Next month or the end of next month they'll be up to 20 games a week. They'll be churning out'

• Evil Dead production target is 808 units total

  high confidence · Don states: 'this game right now or evil dead is only 8088' (appears to be typo for 808)

• Medieval Madness Limited Edition sold out in approximately 10 minutes

  low confidence · Don: 'rumors are saying Medieval Madness sold out in 10 minutes or something' — speculative, unconfirmed

• Chicago Gaming's Medieval Madness Royal Edition costs $12,000 (up from $9,000 for previous Royal Edition)

  high confidence · Don: 'the Royal Edition was like $9,000, and this one is $12,000'

• Cactus Canyon code update costs $1,200-$1,400

  high confidence · Genghis: 'It just released the code for the cactus canyon yes sir finally at long last there's an extra little mod and some extra code in there 1200 1400 bucks something like that'

• Star Wars pinball is being redesigned as a Darth Vader-themed title with John Borg as designer

  low confidence · Unverified rumor from anonymous industry-connected source: 'that Darth Vader-themed one that they're doing' for forthcoming Stern title

Notable Quotes

• “Spooky gets away with the pre-order deposits because in two months production is ongoing, and within four months it's spooled up. Next month or the end of next month they'll be up to 20 games a week.”

  Genghis @ ~30:00 — Directly compares Spooky's production cadence favorably against Chicago Gaming's multi-year delays; establishes market expectation for 2-4 month turnaround

• “If it's Darth Vader, pinball. Done. Done. Done. I'm sold. Done. Think about the back glass. Pinball brothers could make this game and I would buy it.”

  Don @ ~45:00 — Demonstrates immediate emotional response to Darth Vader theme; indicates willingness to purchase at any price tier if theme is compelling

• “The deal has always been you can get it quick, you can get it high quality, or you can get it cheap. Pick two.”

  Genghis @ ~18:00 — Articulates CGC's historical business model; suggests they can no longer claim 'cheap' at $12,000 pricing without faster delivery

• “They're no longer cheap then or at least good value. So now you need to either bring these games quickly or it's going to be really bad to have $12,000 tied up for another year and a half.”

  Genghis @ ~19:00 — Identifies pricing/production timing tension for CGC; implies market dissatisfaction if long waits continue at premium pricing

• “He came over when there was 25 games left with a check for $50,000, and he was like, here you go. They're mine.”

  Don @ ~23:00 — Illustrates distributor opportunity and rapid capital deployment; Joe Newhart's bulk purchase of remaining Evil Dead units demonstrates market appetite

• “Morgan is that the kid sister to bug over there at spooky pinball she's gonna hate it”

  Genghis @ ~08:00 — Identifies Morgan Emery (related to Spooky Pinball) as new Patreon supporter; informal confirmation of family/staff relationships at Spooky

• “all the williams games i i love them in until recent three years or something and on a some show i listened actually to my favorite designer keith elwynn he said yeah bella williams games i'm over them”

Entities

Signals

• ?

  business_signal: Cactus Canyon paid update model may incentivize Stern to monetize code updates on future titles rather than provide free updates as historical practice

  medium · Don speculates: 'What happens when Stern sees this model?... they could say three years from now, you have all this greatness on JAWS. But if you pay us $1,000, you will get another drop-down target'

• ?

  business_signal: CGC's Medieval Madness pricing ($12,000, up from $9,000) without delivery acceleration signals margin expansion but risks customer dissatisfaction if multi-year waits continue

  high · Genghis: 'The deal has always been you can get it quick, you can get it high quality, or you can get it cheap. Pick two... Now you need to either bring these games quickly or it's going to be really bad to have $12,000 tied up for another year and a half'

• ?

  community_signal: WAP podcast growth evidenced by Patreon supporter increases ($1,251.33 cleared in recent period), merchandise sales momentum, and community members recognizing hosts at events

  high · Don: '$1,251.33' Patreon support; Genghis: 'we have listeners on WAP. They're just hitting me up. And T-shirts, Donnie. T-shirts. I got more going out'

• ?

  competitive_signal: Spooky's rapid production cadence (2-month completion, 20 games/week ramp) and on-site playtesting strategy creating FOMO and distributor bulk-buying demand vs CGC's multi-year delays

  high · Joe Newhart's $50k impulse purchase of 25 units post-playtesting; Don notes: 'as soon as people got to play at once they were like on their phones yep let's go bring it'

• ?