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Saturday Morning Spectacular - May 27, 2023

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·1h 27m·analyzed·Jun 13, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Kaneda predicts Stern will consolidate market by eliminating half of 14+ competitors within 2 years.

Summary

Kaneda discusses the state of the pinball industry on his Saturday morning podcast, emphasizing oversaturation with 14+ manufacturers competing against Stern's dominant 90% market share. He predicts Stern will eliminate 7 of these companies within two years. Key topics include Jersey Jack's new Harry Potter license, Galactic Tank Force engineering problems, American Pinball repeated design failures, and a personal pivot toward promoting health investment alongside pinball collecting.

Key Claims

  • Stern controls approximately 90% of the pinball market

    high confidence · Kaneda, discussing Stern's market dominance and pricing power

  • Jersey Jack has secured the Harry Potter pinball license

    high confidence · Kaneda, discussing Joe Kaminkow leak of this information and Jersey Jack's acquisition

  • Galactic Tank Force has significant engineering problems, acknowledged by advocate Flinibus who criticized the center bank target design

    high confidence · Kaneda citing Flinibus's public comments about poor engineering and lack of prototype testing

  • American Pinball has made five games (Houdini, Oktoberfest, Hot Wheels, Legends of Valhalla, Galactic Tank Force) without achieving commercial success of 1,500+ units on any title

    high confidence · Kaneda analyzing American Pinball product line and market performance

  • Stern raised prices throughout a period without AAA title releases, maintaining demand

    high confidence · Kaneda discussing Stern's pricing strategy and upcoming IP pipeline

  • Stern LE games like Foo Fighters sold out in record time; there is near-zero financial risk in buying Stern LEs new in box

    high confidence · Kaneda analyzing collector behavior and secondary market pricing for Stern products

  • There are currently 14+ pinball manufacturers (listing Stern, CGC, Spooky, Multimorphic, Pinball Adventures, Dutch Pinball, Jersey Jack, American Pinball, Pinball Brothers, Homepin, Haggis, and others)

    medium confidence · Kaneda counting active manufacturers, acknowledging some were missed in the enumeration

  • In the mid-1990s, only 5 companies manufactured pinball machines (Williams/Bally, Gottlieb, Capcom, Data East/Stern, Sega)

    high confidence · Kaneda historical comparison of manufacturer count vs current market

  • Jack Danger is no longer doing Dead Flip streams weekly, focusing on family and work instead

Notable Quotes

  • “Stern is going to put seven of those 14 companies out of business in the next two years. Easily.”

    Kaneda @ ~42:00 — Core industry prediction about consolidation and Stern's dominance strategy

  • “I think Galactic Tank Force is in big trouble... this game went from prototype stage to production in a way that they didn't really take into consideration issues.”

    Kaneda @ ~12:00 — Direct assessment of American Pinball's manufacturing and design failures

  • “There's no wait space. You can't compete with Stern's talent, with their efficiency... they're going to put half of these companies out of business.”

    Kaneda @ ~45:00 — Analysis of why Stern will consolidate the industry

  • “How do you tell someone to buy anything other than a Stern LE? And that's why the demand for a Stern LE, even though there's 1,000, it's just going to keep growing.”

    Kaneda @ ~1:10:00 — Explanation of collector behavior driving Stern LE demand despite large production numbers

  • “I think Harry Potter, I'm just going to say right now, I just think it's going to disappoint any diehard Harry Potter fan. There's too much source material.”

    Kaneda @ ~15:00 — Skepticism about Jersey Jack's ability to do Harry Potter justice as a pinball machine

  • “American Pinball... doesn't it feel like after making five pinball machines... you haven't made a game where you can sell at least 1,500 of them?”

    Kaneda @ ~23:00 — Criticism of American Pinball's product-market fit and creative direction

  • “I can't take companies seriously that are hiding how many games a week they can make... Stern will tell you... American Pinball won't tell us.”

    Kaneda @ ~35:00 — Commentary on manufacturer transparency and manufacturing capacity disclosure

  • “Invest as much money in your health this year as you do on one single pinball machine. That's it.”

Entities

KanedapersonStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanyGeorge GomezpersonJoe KaminkowpersonJack Danger

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Kaneda predicts Stern will eliminate 7 of 14-15 current manufacturers within 2 years due to market saturation and Stern's 90% market dominance

    high · Stern has 90% market share, pricing power, AAA IP pipeline, and manufacturing efficiency; too many competitors chasing finite buyer base

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball has acquired the Harry Potter pinball license; information leaked by Joe Kamikow

    high · Joe Kamikow leaked the information; Kaneda's detailed discussion of design challenges and probable designers (Eric Minier, not Pat Lawler)

  • ?

    product_concern: Galactic Tank Force exhibits serious engineering problems in the center bank target assembly; the game's primary advocate (Flinibus) publicly criticized the design

    high · Flinibus pulled the center bank targets apart and stated it's poorly engineered; Kaneda notes lack of whitewood testing and 4-month iteration period

  • ?

    product_launch: Galactic Tank Force collector's edition units (at $11,500-$17,500 price points) have not been delivered to any customers as of late May 2023

    high · Kaneda explicitly states: 'We are almost at the end of May and not a single Godfather collector's edition has made its way to customers'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: American Pinball's reputation declining due to repeated design and manufacturing failures across five games; lack of commercial success and engineering problems

    high · None of the five American Pinball games achieved 1,500+ unit sales; Galactic Tank Force has significant engineering problems; general creative vision concerns expressed

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.264

0:00
Let's do this Saturday morning. Let's get everybody in the house. Let's get the party started. Gonna go to the gym after this. We're gonna talk a little bit about what I've been talking about this year, which is I want everybody to invest in themselves as much as they invest in pinball. We're gonna talk about that. No judgment, but just talk about what I'd like to see everybody do this year as we wait for pinball machines to come out. Let's get the Magic Girl Playfield in the house. What's up, everybody? Happy Memorial Day weekend.
0:33
I'm sure we'll have a little bit of a less of an audience today as people just enjoy the long weekend, the beautiful weather here in New York City. I mean, look at Cos with the 10 stars.
0:48
Zombie Eddie is the only reason why Magic Girl is nice. Well, Matt Andrews did beautiful cabinet artwork, too.
0:54
Good morning, Hans. Good morning, people. We're losing some club members, people. We're at 6.06. We went from 6.20 to 6.06.
1:10
Well, I knew we were going to get like 10 people. But if you're watching this right now, and I mean it when I say it, The days are going to come to an end of me doing this hour and a half every week while some of you can't join the club. Why is it? Why can't you join the Canada Club, listen to the podcast, and then just show your support? Okay? It would be great.

high confidence · Kaneda, discussing Jack Danger decision to step back from streaming

  • Dialed In!! (Limited Edition) has bottomed out at approximately $7,500 in the secondary market and represents strong value

    medium confidence · Kaneda's collector market analysis and pricing observations

    • Kaneda @ ~1:20:00 — Personal philosophy message about balancing pinball collecting with self-care and family

  • “Foo Fighters (Premium/LE) was the fastest selling LE in Stern history... When it's Back to the Future? When it's Jaws? When it's Indiana Jones? It is going to be crazy.”

    Kaneda @ ~1:05:00 — Forecast of record-breaking demand for upcoming Stern AAA title LEs

  • “If you bought Toy Story 4, you lost $3,000 in six months... same is gonna happen with Godfather.”

    Kaneda @ ~1:15:00 — Warning about secondary market depreciation risk for high-priced JJP collector editions

    • person
    Pat Lawlorperson
    Eric Meunierperson
    Steve Ritchieperson
    Dennis Nordmanperson
    [name withheld pending review]person
    Bowen Kerinsperson
    Scott Danesiperson
    Galactic Tank Forcegame
    Dialed In!game
    The Wizard of Ozgame
    Pirates of the Caribbeangame
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Multimorphiccompany
    Godfathergame
    Toy Storygame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Harry Potterproduct
    Pedretti Gamingcompany
  • ?

    collector_signal: Stern LE games hold value or appreciate in secondary market with near-zero financial risk; Jersey Jack CE games depreciate rapidly ($3,000 loss in 6 months predicted for Godfather)

    high · Kaneda detailed analysis of Toy Story CE, Scooby-Doo, Guns N' Roses depreciation; Stern games like Godzilla gaining $6,000-$7,000 value; zero risk buying Stern LEs at MSRP

  • $

    market_signal: Stern raised prices throughout period without major AAA title releases; Stern LEs now $14,000-$15,000 with topper; demand doubled while prices doubled

    high · Kaneda: 'Stern didn't double the bomb... they simply slowly then gradually then quickly have now doubled the price of almost all of the product and they have twice the demand'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Bowen Kerins and Scott Denisey left Spooky Pinball for Multimorphic, signaling internal dissatisfaction at Spooky

    medium · Kaneda notes the departure as unusual: 'Stuff had to get pretty bad at Spooky for Denisey and Bowen to go to Multimorphic'

  • ?

    industry_signal: 14+ pinball manufacturers now active vs. 5 in the mid-1990s peak; massive oversupply relative to market size and purchasing capacity

    high · Kaneda counted: Stern, CGC, Spooky, Multimorphic, Pinball Adventures, Dutch Pinball, Jersey Jack, American Pinball, Pinball Brothers, Homepin, Haggis, French company, and others (14 total, more acknowledged as missed)

  • ?

    design_innovation: American Pinball's approach to manufacturing suggests games move from prototype to production without sufficient whitewood testing and iteration cycles

    medium · Kaneda: 'didn't play this game as a whitewood... didn't make five of them and bang on them for four months to make sure this was the right way to engineer'

  • ?

    content_signal: Jack Danger (world's #1 pinball streamer) ending weekly Dead Flip streams to focus on family and work balance

    high · Kaneda discussing Jack's decision and implications for work-life balance in pinball content creation; Kaneda congratulated Jack on the decision

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack attempted to position as high-end collector alternative to Stern but failed due to inferior game design and execution; now charging premium prices without product to back it up

    high · Kaneda: 'Jersey Jack should have always been targeting the high-end collector... now they're charging high end collector prices but they don't have the product to back up the pricing'

    • 1:39
    $5. I went to buy two iced coffees yesterday. $9.87 for two iced coffees in the freaking suburbs I'm not charging enough for the work I mean you guys know this but I'm not going to raise the prices it is what it is I'm not going to go to $10 a month I'm not going to do freaking 25 tiers like $5 you get the best pinball podcast on the planet I've got some really I've got an interesting bit of news that I'm going to share on the show next week. And it's going to be good. It's going to be good. It's going to be news that you wish went the other way in the sense of somebody was trying to go back and work with a pinball company and they couldn't work it out.
    2:35
    Thank you, Joseph. Appreciate it. We're going to talk all about what's going on in pinball this week. we're going to talk about the state of the pinball hobby we're going to talk about what each company has you know has has going on what we think is going to happen over the next few weeks and you know these teaser games these new companies that are threatening to throw their hat into the ring we're going to talk about those companies what i think the likelihood is we're going to see something that actually uh either lives up to or exceeds our expectations i was talking a little bit to George Gomez yesterday.
    3:12
    We're going to talk a little bit about Jack Danger is no longer going to be doing dead flip streams every week.
    3:22
    Now would be... Joe Kamikow has blocked me from Facebook. He got all triggered by me about, I want to say, three years ago.
    3:36
    And I don't know why it was a really weird thing he did like we were having a conversation i think he shared with me some of franchise uh james bond artwork that he did for for joe's like aston martin i don't even i didn't say anything to piss him off but all of a sudden he comes back at me and says i don't have time for this high school drama and then just blocks me so i don't know what to tell you joe kamikow kamikow is not going to be coming on the canada pinball podcast anytime soon uh and i think you know this this admission that jersey jack has the license for harry potter the fact that he distributed that information i mean look i wouldn't have done it if i were him i i think he's you know i think he's got um i think maybe he's a little bit bitter that they didn't get it I don't even like I have to say this, people. I think there's too much material to get Harry Potter right. I don't think Jersey Jack is going to get it right. I think there's too many books. There's too many movies. There's like they're just going to end up making it like you choose one of the four houses and then you learn these spells. I don't think it's going to. I think Harry Potter, I'm just going to say right now, I just think it's going to disappoint any diehard Harry Potter fan. I don't think you can make it as one machine there's too much source material they need to break it up self-admittedly I did not read the books I've seen all the movies and I understand why people love Harry Potter so I'm not going to say anything negative about people's love affair with the property I also don't think it is what I would choose for pinball knowing, again, how are we going to do it justice? How are we going to have quidditch? How are we going to have spells? How are we going to have magic? How are we going to have magic wands doing interesting things? How are we going to have Voldemort? How are we going to have all this stuff? How are you going to do it? How are you going to have the flying car? You got to make it magical. The train station, you got to make it magical. Getting to Hogwarts, the big hall that all the kids and students sit in. Like, I don't know how you do it justice. It definitely begs for a world under glass. My, again, my worry about all these new games now is that I just don't see these companies making worlds anymore.
    6:16
    I see them making artwork and code. And so that's my concern about any property where there's such an identifiable world you want to see come to life in a three-dimensional way underneath the play field or sorry the glass I think you want to see that so and it's also let's be honest if they got the license for Harry Potter they just got it they just got it right and so Jersey Jack is probably just getting to work on the design of this game. Obviously, I think Eric Minier would be the one everyone would want to touch this machine. We haven't seen what Steve Ritchie can do at Jersey Jack. I think everyone is watching closely to see what Steve Ritchie's game is. I really hope Jersey Jack gets its mojo back. I really do. I really do hope that that is the case.
    7:19
    And we shall see. It's going to be a really interesting next half of 2023 for Jersey Jack. We are almost at the end of May and not a single Godfather collector's edition has made its way to customers.
    7:36
    So hopefully we see those sometime in early June. I'm not worried people are going to get them. I'm not worried whatsoever. And they're going to make these games. It's going to be fun to see people unbox Godfather collector's editions. I haven't seen anybody unbox a Galactic Tank Force Limited Edition. And also, if you've been following the Galactic Tank Force thread, ladies and gentlemen, not good. Not good. The number one advocate for this game is now disappointed with the way the game was engineered. Did you see Flinibus? he pulled out the that center bank of all those targets and it's just so poorly engineered and it's really starting to feel like this game went from prototype stage to production in in a way that they didn't really take into consideration issues they didn't play this game as a whitewood they didn't make it's not you know doesn't it feel like they didn't make five of them and just banged on them for four months to make sure this was the right way to engineer this or that.
    8:51
    So I actually think... Pat Lawler is not doing Harry Potter. Pat Lawler is not doing Harry Potter, Daniel. Don't even start a silly rumor. Pat Lawler is done designing.
    9:07
    Okay? but i think galactic tank force is um is in big trouble and i know people think i have an agenda against the game i just think this game wasn't thought through very very thoroughly and the fact that flinney bus the fact the fact that flinney bus who is advocating for this game is like look this game's not it's not engineered right and this isn't how i would have done it and it looks like a mess it looks like so i don't know what they do now i don't know what they do now there there's they i think what they need to do they need to get the damn tank edition games to their customers there are people who spent 11.5 or 17.5 they have no idea when they're getting their game so like i think american pinball you know if you listen to my podcast i told you what happened they tried to pull a fast one with with their vendors and they got caught and that is why i think you're seeing a real struggle to make this game uh quickly i i you're they're another company where they're another company where we don't know how many games a week they can make we've seen some walkthroughs of American Pinball I'll give them that but doesn't it feel like this game just did not live up to the expectations people had doesn't it feel like American Pinball after making Houdini, Oktoberfest, Hot Wheels, Legends of Valhalla this is their fifth title doesn't it feel like after and you could throw magic girl because they built those don't don't forget that people um doesn't it feel like as their fifth title american pinball has still not really had a hit game how do you make five pinball machines and you haven't made a game where you can sell at least 1,500 of them.
    11:23
    And you're spending millions of dollars, all the hard work to manufacture pinball. They just lack creative vision, and they still lack creative vision. I also think it is damning that Dennis Nordman is nowhere near the marketing of this game. Where is Dennis Nordman? Where is he? He's not streaming his own product?
    11:57
    I think Nordman just wanted to make a tank cabinet. I really do. I think he had this idea. I don't think the game came together the way he kind of wanted it to. I think the whole thing feels like a huge compromise to his initial vision.
    12:17
    Okay? I haven't heard anything from them. They don't like Kaneda very much. I don't really care. I'm just curious. Look, let me talk about this company on another level.
    12:31
    I don't know how many they're going to make. And I wonder if Galactic Tank Force is going to end up becoming some, like, niche cult classic game that actually holds value on the secondhand market but but then i don't think it's going to because galactic tank force is half the game that dialed in is it's half the game dialed in is dialed in shoots much better has twice as many toys has much better code everything about dialed in is way better than galactic tank force right the scopes are not 3D printed. Everything is way better in dialed in. You can go get a dialed in LE for $7,500. I think dialed in LE, if I were any of you out there, that is the game I would buy right now. I think dialed in LE has hit rock bottom with pricing. You can get one for $7,500 hundred bucks in great condition that is a that is criminal with the amount of stuff that's in that game with david feel music with i think arguably jersey jack's best usage of the 27 inch screen ever dialed in to me and i've always enjoyed playing it there was just something about it that just didn't make me want to own it but that's but now that it's so damn cheap i think you're like like i would rather have it dialed in than just another generic ten thousand dollars stern premium like i and you like it's twenty five hundred dollars less than a stern premium i think dialed in like years from now is gonna have like a a second coming i i do i do i I just think it's one of those JJP games. When you stop and think about it, it's still Pat Lawler's best game that he made at Jersey Jack Pinball.
    14:37
    And it's the one he took the longest to make. He didn't rush it like he did Willy Wonka in Toy Story.
    14:44
    And I would go get a... There's a CE new in box. Here's what's interesting. 15 000 for the ce new inbox is like it's like impossible to buy that because the ce is not nice enough and and the thing is this chris from rc cage wants to join the video what you got to give me a reason why you want to join you can't just join it's just you got it you got to pitch canada why we should go live to you um but man the le looks exactly the same so you might as well get an LE for half the price.
    15:29
    Canada keeps asking why AP is getting manufacturing wrong since they've done four previous titles. Issue is none of the people involved in those. Well, yeah, I mean, there's a reason why people have left American Pinball.
    15:44
    There's a reason why people left Spooky Pinball. You know, there's a reason why Bowen Cairns and Scott Denisey went over to Multimorphic. I mean, think about it. I mean, stuff had to get pretty bad at Spooky for Denisey and Bowen to go to Multimorphic, right?
    16:03
    Imagine, like, being like, I'm out of here. Well, where are you going to go to, like, be part of pinball momentum? Well, I'm going to go to Multimorphic. What?
    16:11
    Like, I don't know, man. That feels like a – that's not a lateral move. That's a downward move. Going from spooky to multi-morphic is you are going to a worse company.
    16:27
    Now, you might have more creative control over there, but I mean, I don't even I don't even I can't take companies seriously that are hiding how many games a week they can make. I mean, that's my new thing. It's hard for me to take any of these companies seriously when you ask them. So how many games a week can you make? And they just they won't they refuse to answer your question.
    16:50
    Stern will tell you. I bet Jersey Jack would tell us if we asked them. American Pinball won't tell us. Haggis won't tell us. I bet Pedretti Gaming would tell us. We're going to talk about Pedretti.
    17:12
    I don't know why they put the Queen machines on the floor. Have you seen this? I'm like guys just buy a table like it just looks better like did you see the production shot of Queen Pinball it's nice that they're making games but I don't think a game should ever end up on the floor like nothing you're making should end up on the floor get a long table and line them up there it just looks bad I don't care who's making games I don't think there's ever a point where play fields or Jersey Jacks play fields or spookies play fields populated end up on the floor of the factory the floor is where your shoes and feet should go not not your $10,000 assembled play field I don't know why I have to tell companies this everything you show is a reflection of your organization pick up the play fields that are populated, Pedretti,
    18:22
    and buy a table. Buy a table, okay? I think it'll present better. But look, I mean, they're making games.
    18:42
    Should we count how many pinball companies right now are making machines? Let's do this first. Gang, I need your help on this. In the mid-90s, when pinball was at its highest in terms of volume, games were selling 10,000 to 20,000 units. In the mid-90s, we're going to talk about that French company. Don't worry, Albert. Is that Albert who asked? Cliff Albert. No, Cliff, we'll talk about the French company. let's let's do this first in the mid 90s how many people were making pinball machines you had what bally williams you had capcom right a couple games you had data east stern right same company data eastern you had gottlieb right was still making some games four companies is am i missing anybody bally williams gottlieb capcom and daddy eastern okay so that's four i got gottlieb in here john anyone else that's four companies sega okay and sega was kind of part of Data East Stern, right? All right. So we got five, five companies were making pinball machines when pinball was the most popular it's ever been and when there were the most purchases of pinball machines ever. Five. Okay. All right. Cool. Let's count today. Stern, right? cgc okay let's go on to i mean i'm gonna count them play mechanics is a separate entity um let's count spooky pinball multimorphic okay pinball adventures um dutch pinball let's keep going i it's hard to remember all the jersey jack pinball American pinball It's getting scary right Let's keep going Did I say Multimorphic already Let's talk about This new French company Alright 10 Pinball Brothers 11 Let's go on to I think we're missing some Homepin Haggis 13 we're at We're still going. We're not done yet.
    21:32
    There's some we're missing. I know we're missing some. What am I missing here? Spooky. 14. I thought I got spooky.
    21:52
    14 companies We not even going to count Quetzal Bala Rama Okay Do you see why we have roughly 10 to 15 companies give or take give or take their size and their you know, their scale and fifth. So, so stupid, right? Stupid. And Stern has like, Stern has like 90% of the market. They really do. Stern has like 90% of the market. And here's my prediction, gang. Stern is going to put seven of those companies out of business in the next two years.
    22:36
    Easily. Stern will put seven of those 14 companies out of business in the next two years. There's no wait space.
    22:46
    There's no wait space. You can't compete. Oh, turn or pinball, right? You can't compete with Stern's talent, with their efficiency, with their – they're going to put half of these companies out of business. And the thing is this with Stern.
    23:03
    They've been raising prices, raising demand all throughout a period in which they didn't even have a AAA title. Do you know how scary that is? do you know like george gomez must be sitting back realizing he's got back to the future he's got jaws he's got indiana jones he's like he knows what he has coming he's got amazing spider-man venom he knows what's in the hopper he knows he's got probably motley crew he's probably got beastie boys he's probably got you know it's just like it's not stopping and here's the here's the part that is so beneficial to Stern and they did it right. The Stern Insider Connected and the Stern community, they really did. They really did make their brand out of all the pinball companies the most close to a lifestyle brand. Because when I say lifestyle, I mean, the majority of people that buy pinball machines now that are looking for new pins, I don't think they have like this love affair with Bally Williams. I think these people have really discovered their love of pinball through the Stern era of pinball. And they now look at Stern as the benchmark for the best pinball. And as they want to buy new games, they're looking primarily at what's next from Stern. Stern is setting the agenda and controlling 90% of the pinball market, both with their audiences. Think about it. Stern has won the collector community. they've won over the tournament and the league night community right they the players like the pinball players what games do they want to play what games have their respect which games do they love like it's stern stern stern stern stern everybody else is really is like is so hit or miss i would argue that jersey jack should have always been targeting the high-end collector They failed at doing that. Now they're charging high end collector collectible prices, but they don't have the product to back up the pricing.
    25:20
    You know, no collector is like, oh, yeah, like Godfather CE and Toy Story CE is not what people want. It's not what a high end collector wants. They failed. And the games are empty compared to Wizard of Oz, compared to Dialed In, compared to Pirates of the Caribbean. So they've lost a lot of that collector who thought they were going to have that high-end alternative. And here's the saddest part, people, is not only did Stern Pinball beat everybody at their own game and then some, they also now make 1,000 LEs. If you add the topper, a Stern LE is now $14,000 to $15,000. They're laughing all the way to the bank. Stern didn't double the bomb on its games they simply slowly then gradually then quickly have now doubled the price of almost all of the product and they have twice the demand for all of it Foo Fighters LE was the fastest selling LE in Stern history Foo Fighters LE sold out like in record time, right? Okay. A thousand of them sold out like that. Foo Fighters, a theme that arguably, what do you think is going to happen when it's Back to the Future? What do you think is going to happen when it's Jaws? What do you think is going to happen when it's Indiana Jones? It is going to be crazy. And the part that I left out of my collector's corner was that there are a lot of collectors that simply buy every single new LE that comes out when it comes out. Even if they don't like Foo Fighters or they don't like Rush, they simply buy it so that they remain at the top of the list with their distributor. Because think about it, there is almost zero risk of buying every single Stern LE new in box. There's zero risk you're going to lose money. I don't even think you lost money on Led Zeppelin. I think you broke even. But cool. So let's say you break even on Led Zeppelin for 10,500, whatever it was, 11,000. You bought Godzilla. You just made yourself 6,000 to 7,000. You bought Rush. You broke even. You brought Foo Fighters. You maybe made 1,000 or 2,000. But no one's losing money. Nobody who buys a Stern Ali is losing $2,000 to $3,000 in like six months. but if you bought Toy Story CE, you lost $3,000 in six months. Same is gonna happen with Godfather.
    27:59
    You know, there's a lot more risk. If you bought Scooby-Doo, you already lost two to $3,000. Your Scooby-Doo, if you are at the end of the Scooby-Doo line, you are now kicking yourself because you could have got a Scooby-Doo immediately and saved yourself two to $3,000. Guns N' Roses also, yes, has lost people money. So I'm telling you, if I was just going to tell someone what would I buy, how do you tell someone to buy anything other? I mean this. As a new in-box game, how do you buy anything other than a Stern LE?
    28:38
    And that's why the demand for a Stern LE, even though there's 1,000, it's just going to keep growing. because you're going to have thousands of people around the world that are going to want to get their hands on one of a thousand.
    28:59
    Double up on the do to describe this. Billy B's in the house. Billy, you're here, but you didn't kick any stars.
    29:08
    All right, gang, I want to encourage everybody to do something. I'm going to take a little bit of a tangent real quick. And this is one of my new messages. And I mean it when I say it. You know, the last – after losing my friend and losing a lot this year, I basically have been probably self-medicating myself. Not probably. I know I have. Like self-medicating too much. and by self-medication, too many happy hours that weren't happy. You know, just going out, like finding an excuse to drink, eating food that wasn't really healthy. I stopped really taking care of myself the way I normally try to. And I'll tell you what I did. Like I hit rock bottom. It's bad, like really bad on Cinco de Mayo. Just drinking, isolated drinking. And I said to myself, this isn't you. This isn't what you should be doing. Like it made everything unenjoyable. Made doing my podcast unenjoyable, made playing pinball unenjoyable. And so the last like three weeks, just drinking a lot less, eating healthier and exercising a lot more. And the only thing I encourage each and every one of you, and I know that everybody's life is different. I know each of your backgrounds and where you're from and sort of like your schedule, your financial situation. Every one of us has a different situation. But I just want to encourage each and every one of you to do me one thing this year. Just one thing.
    30:38
    Invest as much money in your health this year as you do on one single pinball machine. That's it.
    30:50
    Nothing more. So if you buy a Stern Pro for $6,000, spend $6,000 investing on taking care of yourself, whether that's a gym membership that you use, whether you, you know, spend a little bit more, but eat healthier. Cause I really do believe this. I do think that, and I talked to so many of you personally, and I just see people just, and I have friends who are just, they buy every single new game and their life hasn't changed at all in years. They're there. And for some of you out there, you know, in their forties and fifties, some of my friends way, they're struggling way too hard physically. I see them at shows. I see them in person. They're, they're just, they're beat down. And I'm like, no, like we, we, we all can get a little bit better at this. All right. And that's just what I encourage each and every one of you to do. And that's it. I'll get off the soapbox now. It's made a big difference in my life over the last month. And I always plan to invest more in my health than I, than I will in pinball machines. Um, so I, I just encourage each and every one of you to think about that. And I always hear this from everybody, that I don't have time. I don't have time to go to the gym. I don't have time to exercise. That's total BS. It only takes a half hour, three days a week, and your life will change dramatically. And all the time you're spending playing pinball, think about it. Again, just invest in yourself. All right.
    32:17
    So let's go on to what we think is going to happen at these companies right now. Let me go. By the way, I don't know if any of you I don't know if any of you suffer from allergies, but I think I finally are suffering from allergies because the pollen this this like spring summer is terrible. and now the last few days i don't know what it is i just bought some flonase i just have this like nasal drip happening at night and it's just torture torture like i can't sleep the moment i'm lying down i'm just congested and it's just it's the worst feeling ever natural honey all right oh god oh i gotta take the demon out this weekend the demon is the ultimate memorial day ride it's like it's just this little tingle you get right here it's right here it's right here there's a little tingle and it doesn't go away and you just want to clear your throat or blow your nose and it's just terrible.
    33:39
    We're going to go to the gym later. Today is going to be pull-ups. It's going to be back and legs today. So I'm going to do a bunch of pull-ups and I'm going to do back exercises and leg exercises. And I'm going to do it for 40 minutes,
    33:54
    maybe throw in some crunches in the middle and I will feel great. 46 years old. I mean, I feel good for 46. when I tell people I'm 46, I mean, maybe it's because of the way I act, maybe because it's my stupid haircut. Maybe it's because I don't wear clothes that are age appropriate, but whatever it is, whatever it is, I'm happy at 46 to be doing this show every Saturday, to be doing the podcast, to be, you know, trying to find that balance in life. It's not easy. Trust me. Trust me. I mean, speaking of balance in life, let's talk about Jack Danger no longer streaming dead flip pinball. I mean, this is the world's number one pinball streamer, is now going to focus more on family and focus more on his job. I know this is really hard for Jack. I mean, I congratulated him on it. But as someone who does this every week, someone who does the podcast, someone who has a wife, a child, and Jack has two beautiful girls, a beautiful wife. I'm not going to make any suppositions other than I know that it's got to somewhat be killing him to be hanging up the stream the problem is and I face this more than I admit to you as a dad with young children it is a really difficult balance between children that need nurturing and then the role of dad and helping out your wife. I mean, that is it. I mean, and I openly admit that I don't do enough of what I should be doing for Brenda. I don't. I'm not present as much as I should be. And I make stupid excuses why I'm sometimes too. And look, we're both tired, but nobody's more tired than Brenda. Nobody does more work than Brenda. I mean, most mornings waking up with Killian, getting his lunch ready, getting him to daycare, picking him up from daycare almost every night, like giving him dinner. It is basically a job in itself.
    36:22
    And so, of course, I'm tired too. I don't sleep as well as I'd like to. Killian is in our bedroom with us. I mean, the crib is right freaking here. You can see it. So, you know, I pull this card all the time. Like, oh, well, dad's role doesn't really begin to like three or four years of age. And look, I change diapers. I do stuff, but not as much as I should.
    36:46
    And I think, you know, I can't imagine coming home from work or not coming home because I'm streaming pinball. I know – I feel like he probably didn't want to give it up. But you got to give up some things and you got to be – if you want to save your marriage and you want to have a healthy family, you got to have the balance. I think I just heard Brett yell at Killian.
    37:20
    This is all like ideal time for this. As I talk to you about how I should do more as a husband and father, they're out there. She's struggling out there with Killian. It's hard. It's just nothing really prepares you for the amount of time and effort it takes. And for those of you out there without children, all I can say to you is enjoy your time. You can do whatever you want whenever you want for the most part. it also does take a village to raise a family and that's the other thing that we find difficult is we don't really have family and friends nearby to help out so for example this memorial day weekend while most people out there who are young and without kids are looking forward to a long weekend uh parents uh it's such now it's like the third day that like now you got three full days with no support. It's like you almost don't look forward to having these days off from work.
    38:24
    Finally going to get a much needed vacation at the end of June, gang. So just just mark your calendars. There will be. Actually, you know, you probably won't miss much because we're going to go to the Bahamas the last week in June from Monday through Friday. So I probably will still do the Saturday morning spectacular when I get back. Brenda's sister is going to fly in from Ireland and watch Killian. So Brendan and I can finally, after two and a half years, just take a vacation amongst ourselves, which we need badly. Look, gang, 10 stars here. 10. We've got Billy B owns the nicest hotel in Vancouver. Makes more in one bar tab than I do all month podcasting. Nothing. Nothing yet.
    39:22
    Normally we get I think it's Jason. We get Mr. Scott. We get Scott Rosen. Where the big dog is that? Hector.
    39:36
    Hector just joined. What do you guys want to talk about? I think Cliff Albert wants to talk about the French company.
    39:51
    Oui, oui, pinball. I don't really – I'm just going to say this. From what I've seen of this French pinball game, I don't understand it. I don't understand who would buy this. that's i think it's i think marketing is weird when you make a game like that you did no market research you you just you're just making something you want to make and that's cool it's not my money it's their money but i don't think they're going to sell many of that game i think people are more even though there's more companies people are becoming more selective than ever before on what they purchased because there's just too much to risk now. If you really want to have something different, knock yourself out. Go buy a Galactic Tank Force. Buy this French game. But I don't think most people just want a different pin. I think everyone still wants a great pin. And we have not seen any of these startup boutiques make a great pin.
    40:52
    Not since arguably the Dutch Pinballs Lebowski. That was a decade ago. but nobody else that's thrown their head into the boutique space has made a great pin. They don't have the software is the problem.
    41:11
    Look, I think, you know, people who are self-aware and don't want to have kids, I mean, that's totally cool.
    41:19
    Don's pinball podcast is in the house. Don has been wasting his time with merchandise nobody wants. Don, what are you doing? Don why are you selling $25 t-shirts to get back like $3.75 just give it up Don no one's going to be buying your merch no one's going to buy your merch it's okay Don I get it you're doing everything everyone does just keep doing what you're doing just do the short free show that fills the void it's for me well yeah it is for you because trust me you're going to be losing money on this stuff Don's fun because he captures he's got that sort of neophyte enthusiasm for pinball he almost considers buying everything Don I think you're going to learn real soon you gotta every time you play a game you don't have to feel like you need to buy it especially because you've got stuff on location near you.
    42:27
    I ain't got crap near me now because John at Jack Bar won't buy any of the new games. I'm still like, I just like, all right, like, I don't want to make the trip for only Foo Fighters. Nothing else new. No Godfather. There's not a single Godfather in New York City.
    42:43
    All right. Talk about the Godzilla topper. All right. It's coming out Tuesday. It's $1,000. And I bet you it's going to be a bunch of flat plastic for a thousand dollars.
    43:01
    Well, I don't know. I haven't seen it. I don't, I don't really like, I think, I think, look at the stars. Here we go.
    43:12
    Just book Chicago Pinball Expo. Bill, this is, we haven't talked about this yet, but Bill, trust me. If you booked Chicago pinball, only book Friday and Saturday. Fly out Sunday morning.
    43:30
    Do not book Thursday. Do not book Wednesday. Do not stay more than two days. It is too long being there. The show is too small. you'll see it all in an hour, and you will regret going in early. Trust me Everybody makes this mistake They go to these shows way too early hang out with their pinball buddies, and they're freaking exhausted by the time Saturday rolls around.
    44:15
    Don, they're going to use your t-shirts to clean the labodes. good, you know, I was banned, I was banned from Expo last year,
    44:32
    I was banned last year, I don't think I'll be banned this year, so I might as well go grab a room, I'll tell you this gang, like, Pinball Expo, like two years ago, was a lot of fun, because it was like the first show back, after COVID, I'm, I'm really on the fence about investing in going to shows, like, as often as I used to, and I mean it, like, I don't know, like, it's fun to walk around and see everybody, but you kind of see the whole show in a few hours, and then you, like, can't, And I let me let me be candid.
    45:23
    I think pinball shows suck at getting a feel for games. And I think we need to find a balance here. I think we need I think pinball shows they they need to rethink some of this because I think the companies need to rethink it a little bit. I think the experience at the shows themselves is when it comes to playing pinball is so bad.
    45:50
    Think about it like this. Cargument coming or movie. Imagine screening a movie in which you have 20 movies screening right next to each other, blasting their movie volume. imagine a car show in which every car is turned on at the same time revving its engine in the conference center none of these these shows are relics they're set up the way they were in the 80s and 90s as a way to sell product to operators you now have a collector or a home buyer and you're presenting your product to them in the shittiest way possible. I'm going to curse right now. It is the shittiest way possible to showcase people the game.
    46:44
    Why does nobody even... If I was a pinball manufacturer, I would not want to be on the main show floor. I would have a separate area and I would allow people... I would allow people to book an appointment throughout the tournament or throughout the show to come see the product, learn about it from the coder and the designer, have a glass of whiskey or a beer.
    47:15
    Would you like to order one? Like actually make it a real sales experience. Create your own little showroom somewhere in the hotel and show the game properly. You would sell more product that way.
    47:36
    It's really terrible. And I don't understand why this hobby continues to be Bush League when it comes to marketing its own. It seems silly. Like Jersey Jack comes with this big scaffolding. Who cares? The experience sucks.
    47:59
    Stern puts all these games at Marco's booth. Experience sucks. It sucks. I would rather play Foo Fighters LE in the bathroom than on a loud show floor.
    48:15
    It's a stupid, stupid way to try to get into a game. It doesn't work. I don't understand. Again, this is a relic. these shows are set up like relics. This is how, it's like a trade show, but your clientele is now your consumer, not an operator.
    48:43
    So it's exhausting. Can I be candid? It's not fun. When I was at TPF, I spent as little time as possible on the show floor because it's exhausting. it's overwhelming i feel bad for my vendor friends it's not fun i i just have fun hanging out at perry's steakhouse talking pinball but if that's the case gang i'd rather you guys fly to new york city let's spend three days here talking pinball at better restaurants at better bars have more to do and then we can go to Jack Bar and play pinball and we can rent the place out from John.
    49:28
    You don't even have to rent the freaking place out. We roll in, if you roll in the Jack Bar at 1 p.m., you got the place to yourself.
    49:39
    Instead, you're going to spend a few thousand dollars, a thousand dollars, two thousand dollars and have like nothing but a headache coming out of, like it's just, it makes no sense to me. I just don't understand how you... And then you got the seminars, which are the worst. It's like you got these old curmudgeon-y dudes who don't even understand how to work PowerPoint. And it's just so sad. Like, it's so sad how people launch their games at pinball shows.
    50:15
    You know, I wish you guys could go to a real... Have you ever been to, like, a real event? Can I ask you guys a question? There's millions of dollars being made by these pinball companies. Have you ever legitimately gone to a real product launch, a real event, a real seminar, a real walkthrough panel discussion about a product?
    50:45
    Would you go to a pinball one? And legit, like middle school kids could put on a better presentation than half of these companies do at these shows. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing, especially considering how much these games are, because this is no longer like this is not cheap and cheerful. A watch company will put on a much better exposition than Stern Pinball would or Jersey Jack or American Pinball. and gang trust me you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a nicely polished professional showcase of your product there's that misconception no you just simply need to grow up industry and stop acting like Bush League 1993 marketing is all we know and dressing like it's 1996.
    51:48
    Like, have you seen the dress? And look, I don't know. Again, not my company, not my brands, not my way I would do it.
    52:00
    I mean, obviously Stern does everything the best. They don't even need to do a lot because of their demand. But everybody else does. everybody else needs to up their game up their ante up their marketing everybody else needs to and you know stern has earned the ability to sort of they've earned the right to sort of bypass a lot of that marketing requirement because they don't need to because they just make the best damn pinball machines consistently for the last like 20 years i mean Believe it. Storm Pinball is making the best pinball machines over the last 20 years easily.
    52:39
    And so they can coast now and just make their 60, 80 million a year. Nobody else is doing that. Don't lump all shows into your impression of just two shows. Gabe. Okay. So, Gabe, you're telling me, Gabe, that up in Boston.
    53:04
    It's not the same thing. It's not all games are on at once and it's a drowning headache as you're trying to get an impression of a machine. You're telling me that up there in New England, you guys do it differently? Like it's actually not a headache to try to get immersed on a new machine? Or is it all just on one floor? You know, when we did the walk around of the Golden State pinball show like last weekend in that big hangar, I was just like I wouldn't want to walk into that hangar with all those games on at once I just wouldn't want to do it gang I just I think this hobby needs to change a little bit you need soundproof rooms or soundproof areas they need to do more like why Why do I want to walk up to like Marco's setup with like four of the games all touching each other? Like I'm not having a good time. Like the only thing you get from a pinball show is layout. You get none of the sound. You get none of the lights properly. You get none of the call outs. You get none of the codes and the mode coming through. None of it. None of it is presented properly.
    54:31
    and I love that, like, being negative, he's being negative, he's being negative, he's being negative, he's not supporting funeral shows, like, no, maybe your pinball show should think about this a little bit, like, why has it got to be like this, you know, like, why would you want to have Jersey Jack pinball just worked all this effort to make the Godfather, okay, let's talk about Jersey Jack for a minute. Okay. So I'm going to put like 15 Godfather pinball machines all next to each other on at the same time. Okay. That makes sense. Then flanking them are just a bunch of random dudes machines all turned on with their speakers pointed at my booth where I'm trying to sell people on our brand new game that we just spent millions R&Ding. So we're in the worst possible place in a basically nothing but noise and lights hitting my potential customers. And this is the best way to showcase the Godfather.
    55:42
    And I can see Ken standing there. It's not a good environment to show pinball. but they're not even handing people headphones they don't have headphones but they're not giving people headphones you think jersey jack would have nicely branded headphones and have a few games reserved for their clientele no they don't they don't even have them there they don't even have headphones.
    56:24
    Oh, earmuffs for Galactic Tank. You guys are bad on the stars. I mean, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna indict you guys. 540 stars. I can't eat. I can't eat. I can't pay for this Magic Girl play field. Let's go get it.
    56:42
    You know, eventually I'll hang this up oh look Kaneda's he doesn't play pinball he just holds up pinball playfields magic girl oh wow if you want to watch if you want to buy the working version or half working version all you need is 45 or 65 thousand dollars and coin taker will sell you one 65 thousand dollars get the F out of here Chris I love Chris and Melissa, but come on.
    57:20
    $65,000. $45,000. Oh. Let's just throw it on the bed. It's like, get out of here, Papa Duke. Mmm.
    57:40
    Oh, you guys with your stars. Ten stars. What am I doing? You know, one day, imagine if Canada went away, and it was just Don's pinball podcast weekly.
    57:56
    I love Don. He's like, I played Galactic Tank Force five more times. I'm ready for a review. Don, I'm going to give you. Don, stop doing. I know you're stuck. You're stuck. I know there's no news. You're trying to find news. I get it. I get it. What you need to do, what you need to do is you need to now pull back the layers of this hobby a little bit more and also realize nobody cares about your collection. OK, rule number one, when you're when you're podcasting, talk about the industry, talk about the companies. I don't know. Nobody cares about what you're putting in your game room. Nobody cares. I don't even have done. I'm the number one podcaster, number two or three streamer in the world. I don't even have a pinball collection.
    58:43
    Nobody cares. Nobody cares that you put a Star Wars topper on. Nobody cares. Trust me. Canada paved the way, man.
    58:54
    Canada proved that you don't even need to play pinball. 96 hours of straight pinball. I don't get it.
    59:13
    Don, I hope you're buying some... I hope you have a good S&P 500 fund. I hope... I mean it, brother. I see you're... You keep saying you're buying games. I hope... Don, what do you do for a living? Can we ask you, Don? Don, what's your career? I mean, I'm assuming you're doing pretty damn good over there. I mean, there's a lot... There's a decent amount of games there, man.
    59:37
    Decent amount of games. See, if it were me right now, I'd be buying Disney stock, not Disney pinball machines.
    59:48
    Disney's at $88 a share. Stock has been cut in half. I'd throw $100,000 in Disney now and not $100,000 in pinball machines.
    60:01
    They'll be fine in the long run. They're just going through a bad patch. when netflix crashed down when netflix this is a year ago people when netflix right when the war in the ukraine happened and people did not sign the russian netflix subscriptions went away netflix stock went from 700 a share to 160 netflix like like netflix is not going anywhere you put $100,000 in there you now would have $350,000 in one year or you could buy pinball machines oh so Don you're a doctor awesome brother alright so you got the money yeah well look i um i think we're we obviously all know this we all know we're in a little bit of like a news lull like we're we're like we're like excited for toppers like this like when we get to this point where we get excited for toppers like big topper news godzilla like you know like Great, Godzilla topper. Let me tell you right now. You're not going to get your money's worth on the Godzilla topper.
    61:28
    You're going to pay $1,000 for something I guarantee you Stern makes for $100. You will pay $1,000 for something that I bet costs Stern $100 to make.
    61:44
    So have at it. Go for it. Put it on top of your Godzilla. Guess what it's going to do to the game? Nothing. Nothing.
    61:56
    It's just I mean, Godzilla's already had its glorious run of the industry. So, like, look, it is what it is. I mean, it'll be cool to see it. Is a pinball topper worth more than five minutes on a podcast? No.
    62:28
    I think, here's what I think. I think this is just going to be the year, like, only Stern is going to have a successful year.
    62:38
    That's my take on 2023, people. I think only Stern is really going to have a successful year. I think it is Venom. I think those crappy teasers, like something amazing. Those are not Stern teasers, people. Those are not Stern teasers.
    62:57
    Stern doesn't do stupid teasers like that. I'm excited. I always say this. And let me tell you why. Let me tell you why I'm really excited about where everything is at in pinball right now. I am excited because I think there has never been a better time to be in this hobby. I'll tell you why. Yes, prices are bonkers. Yes, used game prices are bonkers. But it was always going to go that way. We all know it. Go look at cars. Go eBay Porsche, right? And search by high to low. All these GT3s for $300,000. Imagine if everyone who owns a single nice car was also into pinball. Do you know what $15,000 is to those people?
    63:55
    It's nothing. For a toy for a wealthy man, this hobby is still just, I don't know. Like, how do you price something that's actually really, like, for a lot of you dudes out there, this is more fun to you than a car and a watch, right? Like, this watch, let's see. They mass produced this thing. I love it. It's a very fashionable watch.
    64:29
    Tag, whoo-ah. Monaco, right? Steve McQueen's watch that he wore. They mass produced this thing. it's nice it's got like a you can see the the mechanism inside it six thousand dollars and this is just a basic entry level nice watch i would say like i don't know six thousand dollars right okay look how much more goes into a stern pro i i mean i don't i don't really think we've seen the ceiling at all you keep that watch up your eyes you know so like so here's why I love being in the hobby right now it's a collector's hobby right now the players are getting priced out like if you're just if you just want to bang on a game yeah like Stern will sell you the pro but man you're looking at the direction of this hobby like Like, what happened?
    65:36
    But look, the good news is there are more pinball locations. You're going to be able to bang our machines to your heart's desire. And you're not going to need to own everything. And you're not going to buy anything at these prices. So you're good.
    65:49
    So here the thing I love pinball right now because of two things two things I love that prices are this high because that number one I love that everyone is climbed into this hobby now and it's like a $10,000 to $15,000 proposition. I love that, right? That there's 15 companies all trying to sell this product around that price. That's reason number one, right? We get to watch 15 companies try to sell us pinball machines roughly around $10,000 to $15,000.
    66:28
    The reason why I love this hobby right now more than ever before is reason number two, is for that much money, these games need to be freaking masterpieces or it's so easy to pass on them. There's never been an easier time since I've been following this hobby to not feel the urge to buy every single new game. It's stupid. It's too much money. And most of the games are not as good as they're priced at. It's just not there. And if you listen to Kaneda and you wait, look what's happening if you wait you get a scooby-doo for two to three thousand less you're going to get godfather for three thousand less you're going to get guns and roses for four thousand less you're going to get everything for less money if you wait like there are people that bought day one james bond 60th for 22 000 with tax from stern 22 000 they would have saved $7,000 if they listened to Kaneda trust me, James Bond's 60th is going to net out at like $12,000 for one a year from now once you see Keith Elwin's jaws James Bond's 60th will be so forgotten it's not even funny I'd rather have a Woe Nelly Big Juicy Melon just a more interesting cabinet at least so it's easy And I'm at a stage in my life now where it's all about cash flow, wealth generation, getting a house, investing in things that are going to make my life better. I will have two to three pinball machines and that's it. I will not buy more than two to three pinball machines.
    68:20
    I don't want to have more than three pinball machines in my home. I don't. I hope I have friends in the neighborhood I can talk into getting into the hobby, right? I mean, think about it. When I move, I'm most likely going to move somewhere in Connecticut. When I move into town and I make friends with the people that have much more money than me, what do you do, Chris? Well, I do marketing. I'm a creative, but I'm also do pinball podcasting. Oh yeah. Like, and these are people with, you know, four or five, 6,000 square foot homes. So strategically I could be the guy that wants to have them all in my house or I'll talk to the lawyers and the doctors and the hedge fund managers like hey you should buy a few pinball machines oh yeah that sounds cool which one should I get okay and I'll recommend all the ones that I don't want to buy that are still good games sigh like I don't think having 20 watches and 20 pinball machines and 20 cars.
    69:27
    For the people that can do that, great. But I've never met anyone truly happy because of the things they've owned. I've met people that are happy because of what they produced in life.
    69:43
    Something they created themselves through their career, their business. That's what brings them fulfillment. Their family. not buying $15,000 pinball machines.
    69:59
    I don't want to have a lot of them. I also think when you walk into a room, and I mean this, look, I've seen a lot of your game rooms.
    70:11
    I think a pinball machine is like when you have like one in the right room where like everything in that room is thought through properly. I think it stands out way more and you're actually able to appreciate that machine way more than when you shove it in a line of like 20 games or 10 games or 50 games. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like now nothing feels like it has any attention.
    70:41
    And again, I just don't want to have an arcade in my home. I did that. I had it. I have a few games here. Let me tell you what happens. People never come over to play. Rarely does anything get used, and I'd rather be doing something else.
    71:04
    Am I coming to Iowa this weekend? No. Someone just said some game sold for a lot of money in Iowa. Emily, I'm wondering if you bought it.
    71:18
    So Don, let me ask you a question. Don, do you go to the gym? Do you exercise, Don, at least as much as you play pinball a week?
    71:32
    I'm going to put people on the spot here. Don's a public figure, so we can put him on the spot. Imagine if everybody did as many push-ups as they did plunges every week.
    71:48
    Could do it. I think I'm always going to go to the gym. You know, I like going to a gym. I'm not going to put a gym in my home. Just I don't like the way exercise equipment looks in the house.
    72:09
    Again, it's just it's just me. It's like I think getting to the gym. I like seeing other people like exercising. it's motivating that's a game you know look I think everyone knows what they need to do everyone here is an adult everyone knows like the right balance they need following our own advice is always the hardest thing look we've got a long weekend it's gonna be fun you guys you know drinking beers playing pinball enjoying the good weather John's in New York. John knows how nice it is outside. It is perfect weather. Perfect weather.
    73:05
    Canada Push-Up Challenge. did someone ask about expo push-up challenge at expo okay oh hans that sounds great wine tasting my thing with wine is i am i feel like you give me a bottle of wine that's like 50 bucks and like I love it. Jack Danger's in the mother effing house.
    73:36
    Jack, welcome to the Saturday Morning Spectacular. We talked about you earlier, but we want to say live thank you for all of your amazing streams. We'll always be the world's best pinball streamer. The only man that can actually play a game and read the chat and make it engaging all at the same time. Not sure why you help other companies sell their games. But look, I think you're going to find the middle ground, Jack. You will. And it's always hard. Like I was talking all about how like I don't do enough for Brenda and Killian and I don't and I feel guilty about it. And I think the hardest part about being a new dad and John, you probably know this too at Jack Bar. Just like not some of it's just not fun. Some of it's just damn boring. Like being a new parent can be damn boring and no one tells you that until you're in it.
    74:29
    I don't know. Guys are like... Men are weird. We're weird in the sense that we don't really want to do stuff we don't want to do. I'm always getting in this debate with Brenda. She's like, you never want to do what you don't want to do. I'm like, yeah, well, yeah, duh. Why would I want to do stuff I don't want to do?
    74:51
    One of my first reviews at work in my first company, I was like 23 years old, 24 years old. My boss said to me, your problem is you only want to work on the accounts you want to work on and you don't want to work on the stuff that doesn't interest you. And I just looked at him like, yeah, yeah, bro. That's how it works. I'm not going to be like, oh yeah, I want to do like shampoo and conditioner companies.
    75:33
    All right. Oh, John said being a parent is the most satisfying. It is absolutely satisfying. It is, it's even more like i i i give an example sometimes you just see your kid do something and it's just amazing to see the origins of life just the origins of how we process things and things stimulate us so killian takes a drink of his milk the other day And he goes, he's like, and he goes, ah.
    76:17
    And I'm like, that is the greatest ah, like I've ever heard. Like just the way his beverage satiated his thirst. And he's just like, ah, you know, like he has no care in the world. He knows nothing about taxes or pinball prices or any of the drama on pin side. He's just, he's like, ah, so beautiful to witness. well look gang now is the time where like usually donald hopkins gets us the 40 000 stars i think we got 40 000 stars last weekend now we got 595 i can't even order soy sauce a pack of soy sauce for this bill you're watching me suffer bill i can't believe it um we didn't talk about the Bally Williams remakes. They're all coming, gang.
    77:08
    You're going to get another version of Tales of the Arabian Nights. So if you have a Totem and you want a new one, now's a good time to sell it. We're going to get a new version of Theater of Magic. If you have one and you want a new one with all better stuff, now's a good time to sell it. We're going to get a new Twilight Zone. If you have one but you want a brand new one with all better stuff, you better sell it. Twilight Zone Theater of Magic and Tales of the Arabian Nights they are all coming back all of them maybe Circus Vault, they're all going to come back yeah, I'm for real I'm not joking here here's what's going to tip everything off you want to know how you'll know which ones are coming first simply look out for when a large bulk order happens of parts for one of those games you're gonna see pedretti gaming announce a remake soon you know pedretti gaming making queen and alien you think that's where they're gonna stop nope my i am making a very educated guess Pedretti Gaming will be making Twilight Zone remake.
    78:35
    Look, gang, I've already spoken to people involved with this project. It's happening. I'm not lying to you. I don't care if Naps Arcade doesn't ever give me any credit for anything. It's happening. Matrix is coming from Jersey Jack. Steve Ritchie. Boom.
    78:55
    this stuff is all going to happen. That's why I'm like, gang, why would you jump into any of these games right now? Why would you throw tons of money at Godfather, tons of money at a Galactic Tank Force? When you know what's around the corner, and I know a lot,
    79:14
    it's such an easy time to just sit back, chill, put on your tag, sip a glass of rosé this weekend, and don't send a check in for $15,000 for something right now.
    79:28
    Again, I'm just trying to save you guys money. If you want a Godfather Collector's Edition, guess what? You'll be able to get it for $12,000 in six months.
    79:39
    New in box. New in box, people. You actually think 1,000 CE sold at $15,000 to a customer? Come on. the big distributors are going to sit on them for a while.
    79:58
    What people here seem to forget, you think distributors are allocating their games to customers one-to-one?
    80:11
    Gang, wake up. Oh, then all of a sudden you're going to see distributors with new in-box this for $18,000. Listen, distributors are speculating now and holding back inventory.
    80:25
    They don't want you to feel like you can get one right now because they want to speculate. I'll tell you the game.
    80:40
    The game that's going to make people the most money. the game that's going to make the biggest flip this year for money money money Pulp Fiction L.E.
    80:54
    Pulp Fiction L.E. I think Pulp Fiction were they charged like $9,700 for it right yeah Pulp Fiction L.E. will go for $15,000 new in box easily it's freaking Pulp Fiction it's just watch it trust me you will see Pulp Fiction all these go for 15k and people will buy them I don't think over that but you're gonna see Pulp Fiction all these go for that much Topper will be unobtainium No one will separate the topper from the game.
    81:44
    The topper alone is worth... I mean, it's hard to put a price on it, right? Everyone who buys a regular Pulp Fiction is going to have L.E. Envy. Everybody. Nobody's going to want to have the basic edition of the game.
    82:04
    Nobody. You're going to want the L.E. I wouldn't buy a non-LE of Pulp Fiction I would not want to have that game without that topper it's too good it's integrated into the game it's part of the gameplay experience I bought a Pulp Fiction instantly now I may have a Pulp Fiction LE to do the Canada raffle, right? Where people get a chance to buy one at sticker price.
    82:44
    But I don't know, you know? I think I'm just going to do it for club members. And last time I did it for the new club members.
    82:57
    But this time... don look at don trying to look at don don didn't get a pulp fiction le and he's he's trying to convince himself that it's oh it's just scopes don you bought a star wars topper that looks like shit that does shit all right don right r2d2 looks like shit what is he even popping out of that topper is ass and how much it looks like shit on top of the game Pulp Fiction topper looks amazing it's one of the best toppers in the history of pinball on one of the coolest games in the history of pinball he bebops as you see John telling you bro you're gonna get a Pulp Fiction LE you're gonna cancel your SE order because ordering one was stupid you should have waited you should grab an LE now for 2000 over sticker while you still can I'm trying to be helpful Don, you're new I know the type you're new to the hobby kind of you haven't seen this before and you're gonna wait too long you already waited too long you gotta grab it now before the games get made once people start seeing these games unboxed and the beauty that is Pulp Fiction because I've stood over this game the prices are going to go up no but Don, the mistake you made was why are you wasting money on a Star Wars topper when you simply should take that money and go grab a Pulp Fiction LE spot right now. Like, you know what I'm saying? You're not investing in, you don't care about the Star Wars topper.
    85:02
    You think about not getting a Pulp Fiction LE more than you think about that Star Wars topper. The other thing about this, I think you're gonna see Pulp Fiction's made pretty quickly. I don't think you're going to see the big play. First of all, thank you for the stars.
    85:23
    Who we just got 3000 stars from Hector. And I hope we see Rocky for. Gang, it is we are at time is a fun show today. Goes quickly, goes quickly.
    85:41
    I think we're going to, you know, look, trust me, invest in yourself, invest in your health. wait it out right now.
    85:52
    Right? Wait it out. There are a lot of games coming, but at these prices, these games need to be masterpieces. I think, you know, Foo Fighter owners, you guys are having a blast. The game's a great hit. Game's doing really well.
    86:07
    Other than Foo Fighters, slow burn on Godfather. It's always going to be that way. That game's never going to fly off the shelves. Not the LEs, at least.
    86:19
    I don't think we're obviously not going to see the CEs until June. But I think, you know, they're beautiful. And then here's what's going to happen. LE owners that have fallen in love with their LE of Godfather, right, the dudes that bought it at 12.
    86:38
    They're then going to want a CE if they love the game. And they're going to lose a ton of money selling their LE and then they're going to spend. They're going to lose like twice. I can't wait to my friend Derek literally loses like five to six thousand dollars just to own a Godfather, which is going to be so easy to own because I can already I can already see what he's doing.
    87:04
    All right, everybody, I'm going to go enjoy this beautiful weather. John, I'm going to try to make it over to Jack Bar and have one of your frozen cocktails. Make sure the machines are working every time I'm there. They're never frozen. I'm always waiting. Are they, are they, are they, are they, you got to keep them on all night, right?
    87:23
    We'll see you guys next week. Really good bit of juicy information on the Canada's pinball podcast coming up this week about Jersey Jack and the making of the Godfather. I have some really interesting true story that happened about the making of that game. That, that is, you're going to wish it went a different way.
    87:45
    Yeah. Demon going out. All right, everybody, be good. Go to the gym.