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Stern Pinball's Transformers | Reveal Podcast

LoserKid Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·46m 19s·analyzed·May 20, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Stern Transformers reveal: dual-axis Megatron, Soundwave lock, split-flipper combat, challenge modes via cyber coins.

Summary

Stern Pinball's Transformers game receives its official reveal on the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast, with co-designers Elliot Eismin and Elizabeth Gieske discussing mechanical features, rule design, and development philosophy. The game emphasizes large motorized toy integration (Megatron cannon with dual-axis articulation, Soundwave ball lock), strategic mode progression with difficulty tiers, and novel social features including split-flipper head-to-head modes and challenge modes unlocked via cyber coins. The designers balance competitive depth with casual accessibility while incorporating voice actors from the original G1 series.

Key Claims

  • Megatron cannon articulates on two axes (side-to-side and up-down) and can shoot in any direction once loaded

    high confidence · Elliot Eismin, technical discussion of mechanical features

  • Optimus Prime was originally planned to move/articulate but was cut due to reliability concerns during testing

    high confidence · Elliot Eismin, design decision explanation

  • The game has five main mission modes, each heavily featuring different playfield areas (drop targets, spinner, ramps, stand-up targets)

    high confidence · Elizabeth Gieske, rule structure overview

  • Challenge modes (including split-flipper Optimus vs. Megatron) will not launch with the game but will be added a few months after release

    high confidence · Elizabeth Gieske, development timeline clarification

  • Players start with Autobot faction; Decepticon play was considered early but rejected to avoid overwhelming new players with a binary choice at startup

    high confidence · Elizabeth Gieske, design philosophy explanation

  • Cyber coins earned in main game grant free access to challenge modes at location without extra payment, controllable by operator settings

    high confidence · Elizabeth Gieske, monetization and location operator flexibility

  • One Shall Fall mini-wizard mode has rule changes based on which prior missions were completed, affecting game difficulty and scoring significantly

    high confidence · Elizabeth Gieske, mode interaction mechanics

  • The game includes original voice actors from the G1 Transformers series (Frank Welker for Megatron)

    medium confidence · Elizabeth Gieske, voice acting credits (content cuts off mid-discussion)

  • Pro/Premium/LE models share the same cabinet; upgraded lighting armor is an aftermarket accessory available for all tiers

    high confidence · Elizabeth Gieske, cabinet and accessory specifications

Notable Quotes

  • “I knew this is a big toy game, right? Transformers is a big toy franchise. So I wanted to kind of lean into that and kind of copy a lot of that style to the game.”

    Elliot Eismin @ early in interview — Articulates the core design philosophy: treating the pinball machine as a toy experience, driving decisions about scale and motion

  • “The scale kind of led from there. If you want to have a pinball shooting out of Megatron's cannon, well, it is an inch and a sixteenth, so everything else kind of drives the scale from there.”

    Elliot Eismin @ mechanical design discussion — Explains how the pinball's physical size constrains and determines toy proportions—a fundamental design constraint

  • “We try to do it so it's more player friendly, like shoot at the left flipper, so return to your left flipper, or at the upper flipper. That'd be brutal in tournament, like just shoot directly at your flipper.”

    Elliot Eismin @ Megatron cannon behavior — Shows deliberate balancing between spectacle and fairness; tournaments were a consideration in feature design

  • “I feel like a lot of people want to connect this to some other game. Someone played it and they're like, oh, it's like Dragon Multiball... One Shall Fall felt like it's its own thing when I was designing it.”

    Elizabeth Gieske @ mode design comparison — Defends against comparisons to other Stern titles; emphasizes original design intent despite structural similarities

  • “If you play all of them, though, you're going to be in the mode and out of the mode in no time... all of them feel very powerful.”

    Elizabeth Gieske @ One Shall Fall mission synergy — Describes the strategic risk/reward of completing prerequisite missions; shows sophisticated rule interaction design

  • “Prime Training is a objective style... shoot the right ramp as many times as you can in a minute... that's how you get better at pinball is playing more and being more intentional.”

    Elizabeth Gieske @ challenge modes philosophy — Explains pedagogical intent behind skill-building modes; targets newer/casual players and friends playing together

Entities

Elliot EisminpersonElizabeth GieskepersonJosh RooppersonScott LarsonpersonZach MenypersonNicole MenypersonZombie YetipersonBrett Z Rubinperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Stern Transformers pinball officially revealed on Loser Kid Pinball Podcast with full designer participation and feature deep-dive

    high · Entire podcast episode dedicated to reveal; co-designers present; comprehensive mechanical and rule breakdown

  • ?

    design_innovation: Megatron cannon features dual-axis motion (horizontal rotation + vertical cannon articulation) with multi-directional ball firing; novel complexity in toy integration

    high · Elliot Eismin: 'there's a little piece that articulates his cannon up and down as well as he rotates, so he's got a two-axis function'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Designers deliberately chose large toy scales matching original Transformers toys rather than multiplying smaller versions; scale driven by pinball size constraints

    high · Elliot Eismin: 'everything else kind of drives the scale from there' because pinball is inch and a sixteenth

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Five main missions with tiered difficulty; One Shall Fall mini-wizard unlocks after 2 modes; mission order affects subsequent mode rules and scoring; deep strategic interaction

    high · Elizabeth Gieske: 'The rules change based off of which missions you play beforehand... all of them are game-breaking'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Challenge modes (split-flipper PvP, Prime Training, topper mode) will launch months after release; phased feature rollout to extend engagement

    high · Elizabeth Gieske: 'the game is extremely finished it won't have any of the challenge modes until a few months after it'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.139

0:00
Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. I am Josh Roop. With me, my co-captain. Scott Larson. And it's reveal day, Scott. And this game looks amazing. If you want Transformers, Scott, where are you getting it from? Call Zach and Nicole Mini at Flip N Out Pinball. Also, if you want all the accessories, which are going to be amazing, go ahead and reach out to them. New, used games, whatever. They can hook you up. So, Transformers, we are super excited to talk about that today. And today, we have the two co-designers. So, we have Elliot Eisman, and we have – okay, you're going to really have – I try to pronounce your name correctly every time, and I'm totally wrong. So, please help me. Yeah, it's Elizabeth Gieske. Gieske, okay. Yeah, like M-Linickey. I think I can remember that. Okay, so today we have Elliot and Elizabeth here today to talk about Transformers. So welcome to the show. Oh, hello. Thanks, yeah. I got to say first before we kick this off, Elizabeth, my wife wants you to know she thinks it's kick A that you're a lead co-designer in this male-dominated industry. And she's like, that is so cool. So just a little kudos before we get going. I'll take that. It is pretty cool. Yeah. Okay. This game looks amazing. Elliot, your background is mechanical engineering. You've been doing that for Stern for a while. You did John Wick. You're now onto Transformers. This game looks amazing mechanically. It just, like, between the Megatron shooting the ball out of the cannon, you've got Soundwave launching the balls out of his chest. I mean, this game looks like it leans into your expertise. Is that what you use to lead into this game? Yeah, I mean, going into it, you know, I knew this is a big toy game, right? Transformers is a big toy franchise. So I wanted to kind of lean into that and kind of copy a lot of that style to the game. So of course, it's going to have big toys, it's going to have big motion, it's going to have all of that sort of stuff. And so just to highlight the cool Transformers, we had to put that in there. And so like, I definitely leveraged my expertise to be like, okay, I know exactly what to do with that. Let's go, we can run down that path. A little bit quicker versus like having to research it or like figure out how it works or whatever. So, yeah, it was a big it was a big help on this game for sure. What was your opinion on getting exposed to this? Because it's probably a lot different for you getting exposed to a retro, a retro theme as an adult, as opposed to me as a kid buying the toys. Right. Yeah. So I'm a little it was a little past my prime. So I was like in that lull after it all happened and before the next big wave in like the 2000s for the Transformers. So I missed that. So it was actually a lot of fun going back, watching all the episodes, going to like TF Wiki and like learning on all of the fun stuff that the fans love. And that was just a really cool experience just to kind of relearn it, how everyone else grew up with it. I got to relearn it and find it for the first time, which was really fun. Yeah, same. I'm now, I can honestly say I'm a huge fan of Transformers, where before I didn't, I knew about them, but I didn't really have a lot of input on it. But over this last weekend, I watched Bumblebee, which I did before because I knew Hayley Seinfeld, and I'm like, yeah, she's great. So I watched it for her, but now I watched it for Transformers, and I'm like, well, they played the touch. You got the touch! Oh, that's so cool. And, you know, I'm like, whoa, was that Bron? Did he just get destroyed? Like, whoa. So, I mean, I think now I'm like, I know the inside jokes. I get excited with everybody else. And, yeah, I wasn't there originally, but I think I caught up pretty quickly. You chose the ones I would choose. I would choose Megatron. I would choose Optimus Prime. And I probably would have chosen Starscream to put in there along with Soundwave because Starscream, everybody's kind of that whiny kid. And we kind of all identified with Starscream. But obviously you chose them, but you made them big. And so they seem to be about the same size as the toys that I played with originally. Was that intentional as opposed to shrinking them down and having like 10 of them, like Lord of the Rings style? Right. No, I, you know, like I said before, going into it, I knew I wanted big toys. Just it felt more correct. It's more of a feeling than anything. And then also just the natural size of a pinball. You know, if you want to have a pinball shooting out of Megatron's cannon, well, it is an inch and a sixteenth, so everything else kind of drives the scale from there. So I knew Megatron would be big, and then Soundwave, same idea. If you want to shoot balls out of his cassette deck, it has to be big. So they all kind of, the scale kind of led from there. And I mean, we know it was a big cast of characters. It was just like, you know, interviewing people, being like, hey, which character? Do you like? And, you know, one of our subject matter experts, Mike Kizovat, you know, he's a huge Transformers fan. And, you know, if it passed his his sniff death, we're like, OK, we're on the right track here. Speaking of Megatron's cannon, this thing is insanely cool. It's cool that it it articulates over, shoots onto a ramp. Does it because it can come back towards you and shoot straight directly at you? Is it or is it just towards the ramp? So it has it has a couple functions. So it can shoot across the playfield into the ramp to your left flipper, but it can technically shoot in any position it's at. Once the ball is loaded, it can go anywhere. We try to do it so it's more player friendly, like shoot at the left flipper, so return to your left flipper, or at the upper flipper. So it can actually rotate around and as he moves, his cannon moves down and kind of shoots at the upper flipper. That'd be brutal in tournament, like just shoot directly at your flipper. We did practice it. I heard some software so that he was just like going back and forth with the flippers. You could control them and then the action button fired it. So we were kind of deciding of like, okay, yeah, this is pretty cool. But it was also like, oh, that's straight down the middle. That's not cool. Yeah. We don't want to be too brutal, you know. Got Jack Danger in the back corner with his beer can controller controlling the flippers on and shooting ball at you. I get you. Okay, so does the Megatron Cannon, it goes side to side, does it also go up and down? Yeah, so in the same motion, there's a little piece that articulates his cannon up and down as well as he rotates, so he's got a two-axis function to him. And it loads in through the, it looks like it loads in through the back box, and it comes in, so when it loads, then it can just move around, right? Yeah, exactly. So there's some couple of moments in the game where you're intended to load the cam and then you play through the mode or play through the feature and then he'll fire the ball either like across the play field or at your upper flipper. So I think one other question that kind of comes from the video and whatnot. Does Optimus Prime, is he just standing there or does he articulate or move at all? So he just stands there. We tried to go into making him do something, but it became a little bit too much of a reliability issue when we were running through the testing and the early testing. So we decided to focus more on Megatron because that was a really cool feature that we had. So yeah, it was a thing that we made a decision on. And so I walk up to the game. Am I an Autobot? Am I a Decepticon? Am I trying to balance the balance both sides? Like, tell me how that works, because I think it'd be kind of cool if I could be like a Decepticon trying to take down the Autobots. Yeah, I mean, that was actually an early conversation that we had on. Do we want to allow players to play as a Decepticon? And pretty early on, you know, in order to like craft like the most perfect game, it felt like the right answer was to go with play as an Autobot and stay as an Autobot. There are like Decepticon features for sure. Like Starscream is obviously like a big character. So there's a Starscream mode and Soundwave is awesome. So he has a Soundwave thing. But yeah, it feels a little overwhelming for players to walk up to a game and immediately have a big choice to make. And it becomes like, well, what's the right one? And that's not really what you want to have as a player experience to be. It's like, no, just play and have fun as you're playing. But I knew that was going to be a question of, well, why can't I play as a Decepticon? So really early on, I was like, we'll have a mode called Autobots. Originally it was called Autobots vs. Decepticons and it was going to be the split flipper mode idea that I had. And if you want to play as a Decepticon, you can play that mode and be the right flipper and that will be the Decepticon side. That would be like two separate codes for the same game and that seems to be overwhelming. Yeah, I mean as my first, like I had a vision for the game and I wanted a lot of variance to it and there is a lot of variety to the game as it is. And to have another like, well, double that would have been pretty tough. But as it stands, every mission, which is the main modes in the game, has three levels of difficulty that drastically changes the mode. And you have to like earn the hard difficulty. And when you're in there, it's like, oh, man, like like people ask me what my favorite mode is. And I'm like, well, it's Solar Needle, but rusted, you know, it's Solar Needle hard version or it's Golden Lagoon hard version because they really are different modes depending on the difficulty.

  • Brett Z Rubin led the light show design, starting with expression and speaker lights before playfield effects

    high confidence · Host Josh Roop, crediting lighting designer

  • “I call it stupid pinball... the game is just, it's sillier.”

    Elizabeth Gieske @ challenge mode tone — Characterizes the challenge modes as intentionally humorous and low-pressure, distinct from competitive rule depth

  • “It's the Dinobots were always like doing a lot. And there's like the most footage was coming from the Dinobot side. So like pretty early on, it was like it made sense to have a Dinobot feature.”

    Elizabeth Gieske @ Dinobot feature integration — Shows how source material availability (G1 footage) directly influenced feature inclusion and playfield design

    • Mike Kizovatperson
    George Gomezperson
    Frank Welkerperson
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Flip N Out Pinballcompany
    Transformersgame
    Deadpoolgame
    Jawsgame
    Godzillagame
    Hasbrocompany
    Jack Dangerperson
  • $

    market_signal: Cyber coin system grants free challenge mode access at locations (earned through main game play); operator-configurable; contrasts with paid challenge model (Jaws teeth)

    high · Elizabeth Gieske: 'once you collect 10 coins... you'll be able to have the option to play one of the challenge modes for free'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Autobot-only faction choice at startup to reduce cognitive load for new players; Decepticon features embedded in specific modes rather than separate path

    high · Elizabeth Gieske: 'it feels a little overwhelming for players to walk up to a game and immediately have a big choice to make'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Elizabeth Gieske credited as lead co-designer; podcast host's wife specifically praised her role as pioneering female lead co-designer in male-dominated pinball industry

    high · Josh Roop: 'my wife wants you to know she thinks it's kick A that you're a lead co-designer in this male-dominated industry'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Split-flipper head-to-head Optimus vs. Megatron mode where players physically compete for center button control; skill-building Prime Training mode with timed objectives

    high · Elizabeth Gieske: 'you might end up hitting yourself... you'll have to fight each other physically on the game as well as on the playfield'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Original G1 Transformers voice actor Frank Welker (Megatron) confirmed for game voice work; licensing negotiations successful for legacy talent

    medium · Elizabeth Gieske: 'Frank Welker, who also did Megatron' [in original series]; context cut off but confirmed participation

  • ?

    product_concern: Optimus Prime articulation feature abandoned during testing due to reliability issues; demonstrates QA constraints on mechanical complexity

    high · Elliot Eismin: 'We tried to go into making him do something, but it became a little bit too much of a reliability issue'

  • ?

    community_signal: Designers intentionally created 'stupid pinball' challenge modes for social/casual play (non-scoring focused) alongside deep competitive rule architecture

    high · Elizabeth Gieske: 'I call it stupid pinball... the game is just, it's sillier' vs. main game's strategic depth

    • 9:58
    Now, on the left side, I noticed the – it's the Dinobots, right? Okay, that actually surprised me a little bit because maybe I know about – aren't they the ones that, like, assemble, like, Voltron and make, like, a super dinosaur or is that a different thing? Different brand. Okay, all right. There are four of them and they are awesome. And it was when we were watching the show and we're trying to gain footage and and have like cool Autobot moments. It felt like the Dinobots were always like doing a lot. And there's like the most footage was coming from the Dinobot side. So like pretty early on, it was like it made sense to have a Dinobot feature just because we knew we're going to have a lot of assets to work with.
    10:45
    So it was like, yeah, I'm going to have this like little side motion side mission area. And this is going to be the area. And then Elliot took it. Yeah. And like I kind of fell in love with the Dinobots when I was watching them just because they're there's so much they got to bring a lot of comic relief to the show. And as well as being badass, they always come at the last second and kind of save save the Autobots for whatever they're doing. So I kind of knew I wanted to feature them and feature Grimlock specifically. So it was kind of like carving out a little area of the play field. OK, that's the Dinobot area and we'll figure out what to do with them. And it was an evolution on kind of getting that left side ramp on there that feeds the upper footer. So it just it turned out really good.
    11:26
    Did you guys get to buy some of these classic ones? Like do you have the physical ones Because I played with those Like everyone wanted Megatron because you could actually transform it into a gun that you could use in your hand which I still understand Then they, like, in the later iterations, they changed him into, like, a spaceship or something. I never really understood any of that. Yeah, he turned into a tank. It's funny because, like, when we first started, like I said, our subject matter expert, Mike Kizovat, Brought in his giant Transformers collection and his Unicron. He's got a Unicron that he has. Oh, I didn't think you could see that. Oh, yeah, it's nuts. And then also the Roboson toys. So, like, he has it all. So we got to play with all the early stuff, like, really early on. And then I just got kind of been going to Walmart or Target or whatever and just getting whatever Transformers toys I have. So I have, like, several Megatrons and Optimus is just floating about, you know, now. Yeah, I have a sound wave. My friend gifted it to me. Shout out. Thank you. It's the best. It's my fidget toy at my desk. It's like my only toy and I love it.
    12:32
    I think that the artwork looks very good as well. Who did the artwork? And the Ellie kind of looks like it takes inspiration from Gomez's Transformers. Is that what kind of led some of that as well? I mean, so who did the artwork? It was kind of a team collaboration. There was a lot of people that touched the artwork, so I can't really name one artist per se, but it was definitely under the direction of Zombie Yeti, so he had a big hand in it. But yeah, it was a whole host of artists that did it. And to kind of answer your question there, there was some nods to Gomez's Transformers for sure. That was one of the early things we looked at. Well, one for inspiration, like two, like what should we not do as well? So like the split armor is definitely a nod to like, oh, okay, they did that before. Let's do that again because it worked out pretty well.
    13:25
    And then the Bumblebee rule too that you came up with later. Yeah, we didn't have enough Bumblebee in the game because if you remember the G1 show, it doesn't have the same Bumblebee as everyone knows. Like I only knew Bumblebee and Optimus and I watched the show and I was like, what the, who is this character? You didn't know he was a Volkswagen bug? Yeah. He also was in trouble all the time. He had to be saved a lot. But he did make it into the game as a feature, and we mimicked what happened with the 2011 Transformers on the captive ball. So the captive ball is the bumblebee spell out, and he has a great animation.
    14:01
    Okay, but Soundwave, did Soundwave actually talk? I don't think he did. Yeah, he talked. Yeah, he had a distorted, like, robotic voice. Okay, yeah. Frank Welker, who also did Megatron. Now you design a game and you have the Pro Premium and LE. So walk me through, like, what do you get if you upgrade to the, you know, what do you get on the Pro? What do you get when you upgrade to the Premium? And what are you getting with the LE? Okay, so the Pro, I mean, it has all of the same shots. I'll just say all the same shots for both games. So you have a very left ramp that feeds an upper flipper. You have a left ramp that feeds the left flipper, a right ramp that feeds the right flipper. Yes, right flipper. You have a Megatron bash toy and an Optimus bash toy and a nice sweet center shot that's got a very fun spinner on it.
    14:57
    So you have all of that is kind of your base level pro. And then on the premium, you have all of that, including a articulating Megatron toy that also fires the pinball in multiple locations. You have a Soundwave ball lock that locks balls and shoots balls out of his cassette tech. And you have sculpted both Soundwave and Grimlock toys.
    15:21
    Yeah, and then on the LE. Oh, and then on the LE you have your custom armor split color armor. You have an Autobot themed side, a Decepticon themed side. And then you have the same as your speaker panels and just all the accoutrement like 80 glass shaker motor and stuff like that that we normally put on there. Yeah, and I got to say the light shows, Brett Rubin was the one who did most of the light shows for the game, and he knocked it out of park. He actually started with the expression and speaker lights before doing the playfield. Yes, it looks fantastic. I think it's one of our best looking games. Yeah, there's no limitations, right? You could put the upgraded lighting system.
    15:58
    Can you put it on the Pro? Can you put it on the Premium? Yeah, so that's, we don't have the accessories launched yet, but that will be, it's the same cabinet for Pro, Premium, and LE. So, yes, you can put the accessory armor lighting on the Pro and the Premium. The LE obviously will come with it. So if you wanted to, you could swap out your LE armor for accessory armor, but I would keep the LEs because it's much cooler. It's cool. With the Cybertronian text on the side, too. Yeah. There's a hidden message on the Autobot side and Decephalikon side. I won't share. Oh, just kidding. If you know Cybertronian, you can read it. I do not. Apparently I'm going to have to look that up. Yeah. So one of the features I noticed that was going on in this game is called Energon Cubes, if I say that correctly. Can you kind of explain that? It looks like it's tied to the spinner. How does that work? Yeah, Energon in the show was most of the time Decepticons were trying to gain energy from the Earth somehow, and they made these cubes to do their dastardly plans or whatever. But often in Transformers media, like in video games, Energon is something that's like the collectible item That like does good things for you. So we, you know, ported that over here. But yeah, so you right off the bat, the spinner is lit. It's got this like fun little strobing light show. It's like it really wants you to shoot it and it feels really good when you do. So you fill up an Energon cube and the cubes are then enable you to be able to play the easy version of modes. So once you start, you go into Megatron's scoop, and if you don't have an Energon, you just start the mode, it's off to the races. But if you do have an Energon cube, it asks you, do you want to energize this mode? And if you energize it, you'll get an easier but less valuable version of the mode, or you can keep it. And keeping Energon will affect scoring in one of the many wizard modes. So there's some strategy there. But yeah, if the spinner's light, you want to shoot it. Walk me through how many modes, how many planned modes, and you're going to, usually, you know, there's six or eight modes, and then you go into the mid-tier modes, and then you go into the advanced deep mode, so. Man, how did you know? I'm stealing my secrets over here. Oh, sorry, sorry. Yeah, so there are five main missions, which are like the main modes in the game, and each one of them feature, or heavily feature a different part of the play field, So you have like the drop target mode and the spinner mode and the ramps and stand up targets. So those are those are the five. And then once you play two modes, just play them. You just have to start them and modes start lit. All you have to do is knock down a drop target, get the ball to Megatron however you can. You start your mission. So there's no like chopping wood there. Once you play two, you have one shall fall it and that's your first little mini wizard taste. I love that mode, So Rocks. It was Elliot's idea with, hey, Elizabeth, I want Optimus and Megatron to fight each other. And I was like, you got it. So that's that featurette mode. You can keep playing more missions and that will affect the scoring by a lot. Oh my gosh. You're going to be like 200 million points if you play all the modes. So that's kind of like one track over here. But there's the dino missions, the dino bot stuff also has untimed missions. So you just start one and it lasts the rest of your ball. You'll be having these little fun objectives on the side.
    19:34
    There's also in-lane modes that are Autobot and Decepticon themed. So it's like a frenzy and a hurry up. And then there's some multiballs scattered around the playfield and such. So cool enough, every mode that I had intended to be in the game is in the game except for the final wizard mode. So all of the inserts, Tech Spec Mania, Combiner Multiwall, Rescue Optimus, all of those kind of deeper modes are in the game and they're really fun. With, you know, Megatron fighting Optimus, okay? Anyway, it seems like it's leaning a little bit on Deadpool, and Deadpool is one of my favorites where it's like you can go ahead and start one of the fights, but if you work a little harder and you get Wolverine, if you get Domino, if you get all that kind of stuff, then you can really blow up the game. Were you borrowing a little bit on that inspiration, or was this a different approach? I don't think of that specifically. I feel like a lot of people want to connect this to some other game. Someone played it and they're like, oh, it's like Dragon Multiball because it's like a very Dragon Multiball from D&D because the ball saver is always lit, so you're going until one of you dies and the flippers kill. So it's similar. I think it's most similar to that, I suppose. But yeah, going into it and the strategy of like, do I want to play this now or like, you know, get more to go into it? I don't know. I don't think I... One Shall Fall felt like it's its own thing when I was designing it. There's other parts of the game that do feel like, oh yeah, there's kind of like two fighters over here and over here it feels like Godzilla. But One Shall Fall is a little bit more... It has a little bit of one hand of the king, actually. The rules change based off of which missions you play beforehand. So if you play, all of them are awesome. They're like, all of them are game-breaking. I played the game once without, well, I can. I play the game all the time without any missions beforehand, and the mode is impossible. But if you get just two missions, which is the requirement, then the game opens up. So it's like the drop targets suddenly matter if you play microbots or if you play prime target, draining no longer hurts you.
    21:58
    Yeah, huge game changers, but all of them feel very powerful. So if you play all of them, though, you're going to be in the mode and out of the mode in no time. The One Shall Fall is separate, though, from you guys have come up with this split flipper head-to-head Optimus Prime versus Megatron mode as well. Can you explain that a little more? Yeah, so this was actually where the naming got confusing because Optimus versus Megatron used to be the mode in the game and Autobots versus Decepticon was outside. I was talking with my artist and he created like this super sick like intro and it said Optimus versus Megatron. I'm like, oh man, I guess we got to call it that now.
    22:37
    But yeah, okay, so the Split Flipper mode and there's a few other challenge modes or what I call challenge modes that are completely separate from the main game. So you not going to find a way to happen into it and then be like why is this what going on It like a whole different 16 mode feel So it accessible in the gameplay menu However it still under development So at Game Watch although the game is extremely finished it won have any of the challenge modes until a few months after It in development right now We have art we have music Someone just had to finish the regular game so she could get on to the other fun trinkets of the game I honestly almost more excited I like the main game is so awesome I like guys there this thing coming It going to change your world It going to be so cool But yeah, so Optimus versus Megatron, how it works is that it requires two people to play. The one person as a Decepticon will play on the right side as the right flipper, and the Autobot Optimus side is on the left side. And different shots will be red and purple. And no matter who hits them, so you might end up hitting yourself if you're not careful, you'll hit the shot and it knocks off health on your other guy. And the action button will control the side flipper.
    23:58
    Which is fun. Which is hilarious. So you kind of have to fight each other physically on the game as well as on the play field to get control and beat each other up in a street fighter feel. So yeah, I'm excited to get that into the game and start sharing it with everybody. I think it's going to be a real winner.
    24:18
    Sounds like it. It's a novel idea. It's hard to get it across. Yeah. I just imagine two people at the bar fist fighting over the center button.
    24:27
    Taken rough. So and then these challenge modes that you're talking about, I noticed this is similar because I assume it's tied to the cyber coin wallet, which I associated with like the Jaws teeth. Is that true? Is that like where you're going with that? Yes and no. I'm definitely stealing the code from Jaws' teeth in the game. But it is the same idea where in the main game you'll earn the cyber coins, but the challenge modes themselves won't be locked behind them. You can play them if you're not connected, or if you are connected you'll be able to play it. But the idea is that once you collect 10 coins, if you're out on site somewhere, you'll be able to have the option to play one of the challenge modes for free. So it's like your reward for playing, you know, like you can't do it all in one game. You'll have to play a few games and it's like, hey, do you want to play more pinball? Do you want to play pinball is that a little different? Here's some options. Do you want to, if you're on a two player game, play Optimus versus Megatron. If you're on a single player, play Prime Training or if you have the topper mode, you know, the topper mode will be available or the 40th anniversary mode. Right. So that those are all be kind of separate from the main game, but accessible all the time. But like if you have the challenge coins, you'll be able to be directed to the gameplay menu. Well, no, it will just like jump you in. It will bypass the gameplay menu. So I feel like a lot of people don't know how to navigate it. But once I feel like once that, you know, they play it once, they'll want to play it again. How do I get there? Oh, I can access it through the gameplay menu. I don't have to collect 10 more coins. But it's still a fun reason to be able to, you know, earn coins and play more pinball. We love that. So if I'm understanding correctly, because like out on location with like Jaws, if I want to play those those challenges, then you have to pay extra money to play those. But with this, if you had the cyber coins, you just automatically, if you're out on location, you sign in with your insider connected. You could play those modes free of charge as long as you have those coins. Yeah. And I'll put it on an adjustment. So if an operator doesn't want to have that ability on their game, then you can switch it off. But it'll be it'll be at the end of a game. You'll have that option. So you still have to play a game. You'll just get more, you get an extra thing for free. It's like Bally Williams with the extra ball button, but this is it. Yeah, yeah, or replay, you know, you did something, you earned a free game. It's the same idea. Yeah. I love that you guys have been incorporating all these mini options into games because it does allow people to escape from new block, you know, just all these little things that just kind of the fun. I'm fast-forwarding to the end to a part and I can just have this mini game with my friends. In some ways, that's a little more fun for me as a social game than it is for me trying to get the most points. Because it seems to be it's played for laughs, right? It's kind of like the shark is broken mode or whatever like that. It's just... No, it's hilarious. It's like, yeah, that's an awesome mode. I love, like, I call it stupid pinball. Yeah, absolutely. Like, the game is just, it's sillier. I was playing an arcade in Louisville just the other day, and the games were on free play, which automatically means that we get to play pinball not for score anymore. We just get to it. So we played Ghostbusters, and all we were doing was trying to shoot the PKE ramp, the right ramp. Yeah. And that was the only goal for all of us. We were just, whoever shoots that ramp wins. And I'm like, wouldn't it be awesome if the game like created this for you? So that's the idea for for prime training is a objective style, you know, shoot the right ramp as many times as you can in a minute. And we have free balls, right? Or like, and I'll give you tips along the way to says like helping you get better at pinball, because that's how you get better at pinball is playing more and being more intentional of like, okay, catch the ball and hold it for 10 seconds as quickly as possible. Go, you know, whoever does that, the best wins. And so instead of playing a 40 minute game and that's the thing, once you get good enough, you don't want to play with other people because I'm like, well, you're just going to be standing there. But how about we play prime training instead? And it'll be like, I'll have 30 seconds. You have 30 seconds to do some objective and we'll see who did it better. And then for me, that's the type of pinball that I really, really love and enjoy playing. And yeah, I wanted to create an opportunity to like share that with everybody. And I'm like, yeah, do it. Do it faster. It'll be fun. We have a, we, there are three friends of us that have a big collection. And what we've started doing is saying, okay, what we are doing, we are learning this game. So today we are going to go in, it's whoever can start that mode first or who can do this? Because it does make it a little different as opposed to someone playing Metallica and getting like a billion points because you're just kind of waiting around watching them. I'm impressed, but I'm not really having much fun. Yeah, no, but go into Metallica and get Fuel, or like go and attack from Mars and start Martian Multiball. You know, like who does that? Yeah. It's fun. Great. I've got to say, this game looks like pure 80s nostalgia.
    29:46
    You guys really hit on all cylinders with this game. How was it working with the original Optimus Prime and Megatron voice actors? And how do you even make a script for something like this? Well, first of all, it was a lot of fun.
    30:01
    I was really hoping, you know, early on that we'd actually get them because it was a question of like, are they available? Can we get recordings from them? Are they still willing to do stuff? And, you know, we got that answered pretty quickly. I think it was like within the first, you know, half of the project. Yeah, we recorded them early. Yes. The script was kind of finished before the game was remotely finished. It was pretty stressful, actually, to be like, okay, do we have anything? Does he say Locke is lit? Yeah, all that stuff. But, yeah, Mike Kizvat was the one. Well, we had two main scriptwriters, I would say, Brendan Small, who has done some other games, and Mike Kizvat. And Mike definitely got them to record, like, all of their iconic lines. Yeah. Like, I think my favorite line in the game is, free play is the right of all sentient beings. Which I'm like, that's pretty good. Yeah. And because Mike also worked on the 2011 Transformers, so he was able to pull all of the previous work he did for that game too, so that kind of helped influence a lot of our script now. And then on top of his best knowledge of stuff, it just, it was, we got the script. Right, we put the burden on him.
    31:19
    What does this whole game cover? Is it just the TV series? I know you talked earlier about The Touch, which is pure 80s cheese, like valid rock. What all does Transformers cover? Yeah, so the main game covers season one and two of the Transformers TV show. So we're going basically up to the movie because that's kind of when the show changed tones, the characters all changed. So we wanted to stick with the original, like what people know. Like if we came up with a game and it was like Galvatron and Rodimus Prime, everyone would be like, what? That's not right, I remember. So we kind of stuck with that vein, and then we got access a little bit midway through the project to do some of the movie stuff. So then we kind of also have a special mode with the touch, probably. We're still kind of figuring that out. Yeah, we have plans of the 400 challenge modes I have planned in the game. That is one of them. So yeah, it will be using the movie assets and the movie touch. We have some custom music from a band called the Knights of Unicron, but they rock. They rock so hard. I mean, talk about 80s cheese. They're copying it. So we'll have that music in there, too. All right. So you're not going to kill Optimus Prime? Yeah, you'll kill Optimus. Yeah, that's the whole goal is we want to relive self with trauma. It's just, you know, every shot.
    32:44
    That was seriously my next question, like, are we killing Optimus? We're killing Optimus. Spoiler alert. Just in case you haven't seen the 80s movie, Optimus dies at the end and he really dies. He dies like 10 minutes in. I know.
    33:00
    Yeah. Who is like smoke coming out of his mouth beachcomber? Oh, yeah. They're all brutal. All brutal deaths.
    33:08
    Did you ever see the Goldbergs episode on that? No. Where he was like super excited to go and watch it and then he's just like shell-shocked. He's just like, wait, what? They killed him? Yeah. This is why Hasbro is doing an apology tour this year. Yeah.
    33:26
    Okay. If you were to be an Autobot or a Decepticon, which one would you be? And which one would you be?
    33:38
    I'd have to be Soundwave. I would choose Soundwave, too. It was the coolest. Yeah, it's the cassette tape that I grew up with. I think for me, I relate to the character more of Wheeljack as an Autobot, so that's definitely me. Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, unfortunately the Decepticons are cooler. They can fly. I mean, come on. They can fly. They can turn into planes, which Superion, they do.
    34:07
    Can I be a Stunticon? Those are awesome. Decepticon again. They get all the cool toys, okay? Yeah, I want to be one of the Suntikons. Okay, but it's the same thing. I want a double-sided lightsaber. How come a good guy can't have a double-sided lightsaber?
    34:24
    I mean, you can do it in Knights of the Old Republic, but you can't do it in the canon stuff. I mean, come on.
    34:30
    Some of the bad guys always have the cool stuff. They do. Because they're allowed to think outside the box. They play by their own rules. Mirage would be cool Yeah Mirage would be cool So one feature in this game too is tech spec cards Can you explain those a little bit more Yeah those are the main collectible items in the game
    34:50
    That was a, I knew I wanted something that you can collect a lot of because I wanted to fill out the game. So I asked Mike, I was like, what do you think? And he's like, yeah, there's these tech specs that were on the back of toy packaging. It'd be cool if we can, you know, work that into the game. So, yeah, that's like kind of like, so this game doesn't just cover the show. It also covers like kind of the toy feel and how you're like, you know, putting things together. So the tech specs lead directly to tech spec mania, which is kind of recursive. But if you collect three of every color, which there are five colors of tech specs, then you start tech spec mania, which like the whole play field lights and you can kind of go crazy. The other thing that tech specs do is it helps you collect combiner parts faster. So collecting three tech specs gives you two combiner parts and you need five combiner parts to form a combiner. So there's that. And then the tech specs also work as shot multipliers if you beat a mission that is the same color. So this whole game kind of like interacts with itself in this way. I have this like rule of fives when it comes to the game. There's five missions, five tech specs, five combiners, five parts to collect a combiner. So it was kind of fun to be able to mix and match how I wanted the game to kind of work with itself.
    36:13
    So yeah, there's three main purposes for tech specs in that way. The shot multiplier helps combine our part collection and starts tech spec mania, which is a multiple. So the shot multiplier is kind of similar to Foo Fighters? Yeah, I'm trying not to make Foo Fighters, but it just works so well. Because hear me out. I'm all ears. The difference would be Foo Fighters likes the left ramp every time you play LA or something. The tech specs are random. They're randomized on the play field when you start up a game. It's the same for every player, but the center orbit is blue. So if you are a strategic player and you're like, oh, I want to I want to light my center orbit 2x because I have this plan. You might have to do a different mission because blue, it might be red this game, which is prime target, might be yellow, which is Gold Lagoon. So you kind of have to like be on your feet and kind of like analyze the play field and it will allow you to have a more variable game even in tournament. Unless you're on competition mode and then I'll write the same text back every time, which is lame.
    37:25
    Fairness and all that. So how many multiballs? There's one main one, which is Transformers multiball, which is the scoop right next to Optimus. You just handle a bunch and then it gets harder past that. Then there's Dinobot Island multiball, which is a two-ball multiball. It's basically mummy multiball where it switches and you can do add-a-balls from Iron Maiden. Except the jackpot multiplier is an exponential. So it's two to the n power where n is equal to the number of balls in play. So if you have four, it's two to the four.
    38:03
    That's not the question that you asked. That is an interesting math problem that you gave us, though. Yeah, just like Rapier, you can get a billion points on a shot if you're really crazy.
    38:16
    There's Combiner Multi-Wall and Sex Effect Mania, and then Rescue Optimus sends into Multi-Wall, I think. And then, I think that's it.
    38:28
    It might be one on free. Oh, One Shot Falls Multi-Wall. Yeah. Sounds like there's a lot going on in this game. How do you balance all that? Because you don't want it all going at the same time.
    38:40
    A lot of times, you know, you kind of have to force, like, once you start something, you're locked out another one. So you can't stack multiples together. But there was a lot of iterations of this game, and I had enough time to do so.
    38:53
    So, like, my rule sheet that I have, I never delete anything, I just cross it out. It's just pages of, like, cross out, cross out, cross out. Because sometimes it was, like, this mode felt too similar to this other one, or this is in the wrong spot, it's clashing with this other mode. Or this part of the game is feeling empty. What if I try to make this mode a little bit harder to start so it fills that space? So there's a lot of pacing, like solving, problem solving. But yeah, I mean, like when you're playing, it doesn't, I don't know, I don't think it feels overwhelming. But if you ever just like stand and look at what the play field is telling you, you're like, oh, man, there's what do I choose? I got this going on or just two shots away over here. You know, you kind of have to pick your shot. But if you just shoot anything, you're probably going to do something good. So don't give it too much thought. Just play the game. Shoot the flashing shots. You're going to have a great time.
    39:48
    And people are always going to start asking accessories. How's the development of the accessories coming?
    39:56
    Well, they're actually pretty far along. I don't know exactly when they're going to release, but they are pretty far along and they look pretty badass. Yeah, really good. We got software in for topper stuff, and we got lights going, and I don't know how much we can talk about it.
    40:18
    Well, we know there's going to be accessories, so that's what I'm just like. Obviously, you want to be able to spend more money on your game. Yeah, I expect it sooner than later, I'd say. Yeah, like I said, I don't know quite the release date, but it is one of the, I will say this is one of the coolest toppers that I've been a part of Stern with. I'm not just going to say because we had a hand in it, but visually it's really cool. And the topper mode rocks.
    40:50
    Okay, so let me guess. You have Megatron and Optimus Prime up there, and you unlock a mode where they transform into a pinball machine. How do you know? That's so crazy.
    41:02
    Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it's really good. It's so good. I wish I could talk about it. Let's just say that. Yeah, I don't know. We have, I don't know. It's really good. I'll say there's some custom art and it is fantastic. Phil Golett was the guy who did the custom art for it and it looks really good and he's like already done with it. And I'm like, whoa, too fast, too fast. I'm not ready.
    41:26
    Well, you know the question that everyone wants to ask with every release since Jaws now, why don't the Transformers eat the ball?
    41:33
    Yeah, well. They shoot the ball. Well, I gotta say, this game looks fantastic. I wish we were there with you because I am jealous of everyone playing this game today. It just looks so good. Like, I'm happy for you guys. Like, this just, it looks fantastic. You guys did such a great job of making such a cohesive game that looks and feels fun. Oh, no. It is. Like, it's hard to work on the game because I just want to play it all the time. So what's one aspect of the game that we are not smart enough to ask about that you're like, why didn't they ask about this?
    42:09
    Yeah, you covered a lot of it, man. I mean, the text facts was, that's some deep cuts here. You did your homework. Yeah. Did you have anything? Not really. I mean, you guys covered pretty much all of it. Yeah, we covered the four challenge modes, most of the main gameplay. Combiner Multi-Hall is super fun. It's so much fun. It's so silly. I had a lot of fun on this game, guys. You're going to have a great time. Yeah, it's cool.
    42:39
    Does Megatron mock you a lot? Because I think you need more Megatron mocking. It's really funny. Yes, it's really good. It's pretty good at knowing exactly how to mock you at the right time. Oh, I can't wait.
    42:54
    Once we get that in, I think it'll be an appropriate amount of mocking. That's what I love about Funhaus is like it knows when to mock you and just the perfect one-liner. So I'm all about that. I'm all about games mocking. I want more mocking on games. It's true. I took inspiration from Funhaus in particular. I think one of the speech calls might be pretty close. But then you have Optimus and he's just like, I got it from here. Don't worry. Mr. Positive. He is. He's so optimistic. Yeah.
    43:25
    I think that's why I never identified with an Autobot because they seem like the adults in the room. Yeah, they kind of are. Yeah. You know, the Decepticons, they're always doing something where you're getting in the dad eye, right? Yeah. Thanks, Dad. Yeah, thanks, Dad.
    43:43
    Go away, Optimus Prime. Cool. Well, if you want anyone bugging you, what's the best way to get a hold of you, Elliot or Elizabeth?
    43:52
    Probably just call Stern Pinball. They can forward the number if they want to get in touch with them that way. Otherwise, email me, Elliot Eisman, at Stern Pinball. SternPinball.com. That's probably the easiest way to find me. If you find anything wrong with the game, go to email bugs.report at Stern Pinball.com. I would appreciate that. Otherwise, Elizabeth Duckey at Stern Pinball.com.
    44:20
    If you love the game, my name is Elisabeth Duckey. If you do not like the game, my name is Raymond Davidson.
    44:27
    Call Rick Nagel. Yeah. And yeah, thank you guys so much. We are super excited and I can't wait to get this. I'm hoping we get one out here pretty soon. Hopefully. We'll see. Sadly, Keto's is shutting down. Well, is it shutting down or is it just filing for bankruptcy? The brewery itself is. The people that own the pinball machines are not. Yeah. Well, no. So I'm wondering, like, anyway, that's really inside baseball. But I'm hoping we can do something here. If not, I guess I'll just have to put it back here behind me. Maybe Iron Maiden needs to take a break for a minute.
    45:03
    It's time to get your LE of Transformers, Scott. That's true. And we'd say hi. Yes. If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserkidPinballPodcast at gmail.com. You can get a hold of us on all the socials at LoserkidPinball. I won't lie, though. I only respond mostly to Facebook.
    45:20
    If you want some Silver Ball swag, SilverBallSwag.com slash Loserkid. Our shoes are finally back, Scott. Yes. So excited. And apparently the Pope is wearing them. Okay. Thanks for calling for that. I really wish that weren't Photoshopped. It looks so great. Don't say that. This Week in Pinball got the scoop, man. That's true. But other than that, Scott, give us our last words. You know what? I think, what is it? Autobots? What is their catchphrase?
    45:52
    Autobots, transform and roll out. It's roll out. Oh, that's right. Roll out. A built-out game I.