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Saturday Morning Spectacular Dec 14

Kaneda Pinball Podcasts YouTube Lives·video·1h 54m·analyzed·Dec 15, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.040

TL;DR

Kaneda warns pinball market is oversupplied and overpriced; blames Stern's distributor-focused mindset and poor theme choices.

Summary

Kaneda discusses a critical juncture in pinball's market health, highlighting oversupply across all manufacturers (evidenced by Automated's stockpile and JJP's discounting of Guns N' Roses), declining demand at current price points ($9,500+ Stern Premiums, $12,000 JJP entry), and deteriorating secondary market values. He analyzes Stern's marketing failures under current leadership and advocates for a consumer-focused strategy, predicting a new Stern game reveal within 3 weeks (likely CES in January). He also addresses Spike 3 expectations, Evil Dead's theme limitations, and clarifies his role in the Monsters art leak.

Key Claims

  • Every major pinball distributor currently has significant inventory stockpiled; this is a red flag for declining demand.

    high confidence · Kaneda cites his tour of Automated Amusements warehouse and extrapolates across 20-30 key distributors; directly observed stockpiles.

  • Stern has thousands of unsold Pro and Premium machines new in box in a Chicago warehouse.

    medium confidence · Kaneda speculates based on observed production pace and distributor inventory patterns; stated as educated inference, not confirmed fact.

  • Guns N' Roses LE secondary market price is ~$6,000-6,500 vs. new retail of $8,985-11,000, representing JJP's overproduction.

    high confidence · Kaneda cites specific pricing data and notes JJP's $225 discount as a manufacturer clearance signal.

  • Elton John is the only JJP game holding significant secondary market value due to superior shooting mechanics and limited production.

    medium confidence · Kaneda's opinion based on gameplay analysis and market observation; predicts prices will plummet when Harry Potter/Steve Ritchie Matrix release.

  • A new Stern game will be revealed within 3 weeks, likely at CES (January 7th), either Dungeons & Dragons or King Kong.

    high confidence · Kaneda claims confirmation from Seth Davis (Stern's CEO); CES is Stern's traditional reveal venue.

  • MAP pricing for pinball is effectively dead; manufacturers will soon be forced to discount aggressively like JJP.

    medium confidence · Kaneda's market analysis of oversupply dynamics; logical extrapolation but not explicitly confirmed by manufacturers.

  • Evil Dead is underselling due to theme appeal limitations, not game quality; mainstream themes (Die Hard, Top Gun, Predator) would sell 888+ units easily.

    medium confidence · Kaneda's subjective opinion on theme marketability; notes Spooky's limited sales relative to production effort.

  • Stern's marketing department (Zach Sharp, Jody, Jared) does not prioritize home collectors/new in-box buyers; they serve distributors and operators.

Notable Quotes

  • “Everybody's got inventory. Everybody, like there is nobody who is not sitting on a lot of pinball inventory right now. And when you start to think about what that means for this hobby, let's talk about it right now. It's absolutely a red flag that pinball, the demand for it at these prices, is declining every month, every year.”

    Kaneda @ ~13:00-15:00 — Core thesis: oversupply signals structural demand decline across the industry.

  • “And so then think about it like this: the normal asking price that Jersey Jack wants for a Guns N' Roses LE is $11,000. The secondary market price of the game is almost $5,000 less than that. That is a terrible place to be.”

    Kaneda @ ~26:00 — Concrete evidence of manufacturer overproduction and failing price support.

  • “You're absolutely now making a moronic move if you buy new in box unless it's a super rare LE, okay? So I got a question here from my boys, 'Is Back Bar. Do you know what Stern's next pinball machine will be for next year?' So we'll get to that. It's either Dungeons & Dragons or King Kong. I have a confirmation of when we're going to see the game, so that's going to be real soon, people. We're talking less than three weeks.”

    Kaneda @ ~32:00-36:00 — Critical market advice + new game announcement (D&D or King Kong reveal expected within 3 weeks).

  • “The number one way you're going to grow your business, Seth and George. All you need to do is get everybody that loves pinball right now. Don't be ashamed of who they are... And just if you can get each one of your current customers to invite a new friend into Stern Pinball and into the hobby, you will double your business.”

    Kaneda @ ~50:00-55:00 — Kaneda's strategic advice to Stern on growth; reveals he has direct conversations with Seth Davis and George Gomez.

  • “I don't think, they're not really doing it, you know? I think Vic told me, I saw him at Automated, that like, he talked to Zach about it, Sharp, and then, you know, is it, it's Zach Sharp, right? Who's at Stern? ...The thing is is that what's up, Franchi? Welcome to the party. We haven't even gotten to really, uh, anything Spooky yet.”

    Kaneda @ ~65:00 — Confirms Christopher Franchi's presence on stream; references Stern's loner/referral program as largely ineffective.

Entities

KanedapersonSeth DavispersonGeorge GomezpersonChristopher FranchipersonZach SharppersonJersey Jack Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern has thousands of unsold Pro and Premium machines in a Chicago warehouse, new in box; overproduction continuing despite declining market demand.

    medium · Kaneda's inference based on observed Avatar/production pace and distributor inventory patterns; stated as educated speculation.

  • ?

    business_signal: MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) pricing model for pinball is effectively ended; manufacturers will be forced into aggressive discounting like JJP.

    medium · Kaneda's market analysis: 'MAP pricing of pinball is over... Get ready to kiss goodbye the old world.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Widespread inventory stockpiling across all major distributors (Automated, 20-30 key distros) signals structural oversupply and declining demand at current price points ($9,500+ Stern, $12,000 JJP).

    high · Kaneda's direct observation of Automated warehouse + extrapolation across distributor network; frame: 'Everybody's got inventory... This is absolutely a red flag.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern's marketing department (Zach Sharp, Jody, Jared) prioritizes tournament players and operators over home collectors; structural misalignment with primary revenue driver.

    medium · Kaneda's critical assessment based on observed marketing strategy; claims Seth Davis understands this needs change; suggests candidates (Sharp, Jody, Jared) lack home collector focus.

  • ?

    community_signal: Monsters (Stern) artwork leaked to public; Kaneda clarifies he shared with trusted people (not intentional leak); George Gomez states he was unaware of leak.

Topics

Market oversupply and declining demandprimaryPricing unsustainability and secondary market depreciationprimaryStern Pinball's marketing strategy and leadershipprimaryJersey Jack Pinball's business challengesprimaryUpcoming game reveals (D&D or King Kong)primarySpike 3 specifications and expectationssecondaryTheme licensing and game appealsecondaryMonsters art leak and Franchi/Gomez responsessecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.72)— Kaneda is deeply concerned about pinball industry trajectory. Critical of Stern's marketing/strategy, JJP's overproduction, theme choices (Evil Dead), pricing sustainability. Occasional optimism about Seth Davis's willingness to change direction and next game reveals. Parenting moment briefly lightens mood but overall tone is 'industry in crisis' with unsustainable business model.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

let's do this we are live we are live in the garage it is a Saturday morning let's get this stream going let's share the stream let's not share page deny deny Den not what is going on here cancel all right all right all right all right all right share this let's copy this link let's get the patreon clowns in here right now how's everybody doing happy Saturday morning some of you just know now to tune in here like it's just that simple we're always going to do it on the Canada YouTube page from now on let's do this let's do this URL SMS December 14th live boom next let's do this I don't know why patreon always has you do like the future date it's kind of weird publish and then we just got to stop by Facebook real quick get the Facebook clowns in the house we live now we live all right now we're all good getting faster at that it's not really making you guys wait like 20 minutes as I try to figure this stuff out um one more thing before we get going let's get the audacity going let's post this hold on where did it go I don't even know what I'm doing here audacity skip skip okay sound looks okay everybody Welcome to the Saturday morning spectacular I'm your host canand how we doing we've got 18 people they're slowly going to trickle in interesting week in pinball I'm coming at you live Saturday morning lover boy Canada in the garage I got the Toyota parked outside we got the Neo GEOS in the background we got Fifth Element dream theme everybody how's everybody doing we're seeing pinball machines for sale we're seeing manufacturers try to Pace out when they're going to reveal their stuff we've got some news about Stern about Spike 3 Jersey Jack is fire sailing it's own product what does that mean American pinballs leader is now trying to win over some sympathy we'll talk a little bit about that not a lot about that Steve Bowen is now unemployed I don't think Steve bow and has ever really contributed a single thing to a pinball machine that's hit the market and what would we have done without him the same thing we've done with him enjoy pinball for a really long time all right everybody how's everybody doing we got 24 on Deck what does that mean get him in here get him in here razza you know where is razza you know what's crazy about razza everybody is Melvin over at DPX has the entire game he has all of it right now just ready to go uh I keep telling Melvin I'm like dude you got to make it like exactly the way deep root had it like in that cabinet that all that weirdness is part of it if you put it in a Dutch cabinet it doesn't work if you put magic girl in a Dutch cabinet it also doesn't work you got to go weird I mean it is the whole reason why John papad got people to sort of uh you know buy into his whole Zid wear Madness is that it looks so different and when you see a magic girl the cabinet is longer than a normal cabinet the glass is longer that big screen under the glass all that stuff it just is what made it unique and I think if you remove all that you sort of then just become another pinball machine and I think you know Alice suffers a little bit from that it just doesn't look like nothing you've ever seen before it it looks like everything else we've been seeing in pinball and then it doesn't you know have sort of that J-pop weirdness going on and I hope Melvin codes more weirdness into the game uh because as it's stands right now it needs more of it it just needs more weird wacky stuff going on how do I sound everybody how are you guys doing you've been a fan since 93 uh oh fan since uh I guess Canada fan is that what you mean I don't know I don't know how many we've got you know we've got look I'll say this I want to thank those of you out there who have gifted Canadas spinball podcast as a holiday gift to some of your pinball friends now look I'm just speaking to like 50 of you 60 of you maybe maybe 65 if if like we can get 65 of the 735 Canada subscribers or 700 whatever 27 we're at to give the gift of Canada spinball podcast we will hit 800 uh by the end of the year which I think would be great and look it's only $60 I can't even tell you I just bought what did I buy today I don't know I bought like some toy for kill 100 bucks some decals for some truck I'm going to give him another 40 bucks it's just you might as well just take your money out of your wallet and light it on fire ohh man so where are we gonna start this weekend on Canada's Saturday morning spectacular um hold on one second let me get a let me get a sip of water here I'm a little I'm still coughing up a storm so you know I believe it was a week ago was over at automated and we saw all those games at automated we have to talk about that I think what that did and I got a lot of messages from people that uh were like basically I'm glad you showed us that tour of automated uh the whole stockpiling of games has been something that we've been uh hear like we heard as rumor all these years and trust me everybody that's just one Dro and if you go across the hundreds of dealers and the I don't know there's probably like aund dros even more dealers when you think about well I don't know if there's aund dros there might be like 20 or 30 like key dros when you think about everybody's got inventory everybody like there is nobody who is not sitting on a lot of pinball inventory right now and when you start to think about what that means for this hobby let's talk about it right now it's AB absolutely a red flag that pinball the demand for it at these prices is declining every month every year we are going to see a decline in the amount of people that get into the pinball hobby not an increase and I really think when you take a step back gang in basically uh a St turn premium being $9,500 is kind of just like ludicrous a game that they'll make an unlimited amount of $95 if you want the full featured Stern Pinball Machine okay so you got that that that's silly and stupid then you go to Jersey Jack and if you want to get their full featured entry level machine it's $12,000 for a game that you know like Avatar Ellies are going to be worth eight grand by easily by the middle of 2025 so you're gonna lose $4,000 and so we have to talk about this Guns and Roses $225 off on a Guns and Roses Ellie now the problem with this sale a few things to talk about here we don't normally see Manu ufacturers put their own product on sale if you look at that just as a move by a manufacturer the significance of what that's telegraphing is simple we've got more games than people want we made too many of these games and that's just Jersey Jack putting those games on sale with their inventory I know Mike over at automated has over 50 G&R l in a box probably any distributor out there has G&R Lees in a box and the issue is is at what is it now like $8,995 or whatever it is $88 985 the market price for a Guns and Roses Ellie with probably just a few hundred plays you know in mint condition with all the washers underneath the play field you're looking at $6,500 and you absolutely might be able to get one for 6,000 on the table so they are still almost $33,000 off on what you could get a G&R Le for and so then think about it like this the normal asking price that Jersey Jack wants for a gnle is $11,000 the Market Street price of the game is almost $5,000 less than that that is a terrible place to be uh avatars are not going to hold any value Godfathers held no value Elton John is holding value for a few reasons it's their best shooting game ever and they didn't make many Elton johns but let's be honest you they did not make a thousand Elton John CES they absolutely did not uh and I think Elton John is uh I'll just say this Elton John is a Stern machine released by Jersey Jack pinball it is it's a Stern machine they they finally made a game that shoots like a Stern that has code that's easy to understand like a Stern that doesn't overwhelm you with multiballs like a Stern that has that beautiful buttery Steve Ritchie flow like a Stern machine and that is why Elton John is holding it's not a theme most people want it uh but it's a it's it's still the most fun pinball experience you can have on a jersey Jack game from a gameplay standpoint there's nothing else in the jjp portfolio that comes close to shooting as well as uh as Elon John now look when Harry Potter comes out and Steve Ritchie's Matrix comes out absolutely expect Elton John prices to plummet Okay so we've got like all this stuff piling up right we've got game after game after game dros sitting on premiums and Pros Galore because they have to buy in bulk if they want to secure their Stern allotments Stern has kind of screwed over their long longtime dealers and dros by adding so many new dealers so everyone's getting less l than they used to and it's getting really really difficult so Kelly Daniel just said it's getting harder to sell used games absolutely Kelly because people are just out of room too so if you look at the forces that are the the macro forces that are hitting this hobby right I would say on the market forces are games are too expensive uh especially in a inflationary world you you kind of want to keep your money in appreciating assets so you want to have your money in some crypto right now in some Netflix in some meta in the S&P 500 you want to invest in Technologies uh you know and pinball machines used to be and everybody needs to remember this it's not that we saw pinball machines uh first and foremost as an investment but it used to be a place where you could invest your money in it have your fun and not lose much and that was the justification for so many of us as to why we would keep buying new in box and I think that's an important point I don't think pinball trading is going to go away I don't think your desire to get more machines into your game room is going to change uh but the desire to buy new inbox because it's a good buy because you're not going to lose much is over like you're absolutely now a moronic move if you buy new in box unless it's a super rare Le okay so I got a question here from my boys is back bar do you know what Stern's next pinball machine will be for next year so uh we'll get to that it's either Dungeons and Dragons or King Kong I have a confirmation of when we're gonna see the game so that's gonna be real soon people we're talking less than three weeks you will see the new game from Stern Pinball uh so again like why buy anything right now I think buying anything right now is really a a sucker's move and don't be a sucker you're too smart uh I don't think it's going to be hard to get anything and so you know we've got all these games piling up the prices the macro forces uh people are not uh they're not into these prices uh and they're at a room and I think the other macro force is for each and every one of you right now uh you all have great games already and that's it like it's so weird to me I've always said this it's so weird to me if you have so many great games already that you enjoy day in and day out why would you wake up and feel like you need another game uh and I bet for most of you out there you have not ever seen the end of most of your games if you have you haven't seen it in a while and I think the stuff you have would bring you enjoyment for now until kingdom come if you just adjusted your mindset a little bit and enjoyed the new stuff on location and only bought something new if it absolutely checked all the boxes for you like a dream theme Done Right executed right uh and I think a lot of people are there I think a lot of people are there and I think you know evil debt hasn't sold out look at all that spooky put into that game the reason evil debt is not sold out is because of the theme it it's if that was any other theme with a little bit more mainstream appeal they easily would have sold 888 of them by now easily easily I mean I look every time I watch The Stream I get more and more uh excited by the passion and I get more and more deflated by the theme because I I just don't care about those movies at all like at all like I don't want to watch them if someone was like hey Chris you want to come over and have some Louis Trey and watch Evil Dead I'd be like you know even though you put Louie Trey on the table I'm not coming over but if they said let's come over and watch Die Hard yes Christmas Vacation yes Blood Sport yes Fifth Element yes Total Recall Predator Karate Kid Top Gun you know I just keep going Breakfast Club Ferris buers I just keep going keep going keep going all of them would sell much better than Evil Dead so it but again I'm happy that Evil Dead lovers get a great game it's just not for me uh so look something's going to give Jersey Jack fire selling their games is just the beginning Stern is going to have to do the same thing you know when I walk through Mike's Warehouse Stern's gonna have to put so many of their pros and premiums on sale they they' because here's the crazy part is the distros and the dealers are out of room right they're out of space uh people forget like Stern kept cranking out more like Alvar more this more that they've been making games for last few months someone's been taking them I absolutely I absolutely think there is a warehouse in Chicago with thousands of games unsold new in box thousands of games new and sold in boxes uh and you know Matt pricing is done let's let's just be honest people the map pricing model of pinball is over it's over so get ready to kiss a goodbye the old world of how Stern has seen its customers as the dros and not you and me is over you know I'm going to say this I everything we said was off the record for the most part for the most part I had a really good conversation with Seth Davis uh he's a really good guy I mean this when I say this Seth is a really good guy and he really cares and he's trying to get it right and for people that insult him and okay a lot easier you know it's armchair quarterback from the internet uh all the market forces that are impacting his business now look I'm very candid with Seth I'm like you guys you guys picked horrible themes recently like what is jod doing you you focus grouped all wrong you should be embarrassed that you didn't get back to the future I'm very candid with him I I tell them the prices are too high I tell them there's too many Lees and you know I tell him that the problem with the Lees today and is is that you didn't make them special and if you want to make a thousand and you want to sell a th000 L's then you have to really start giving customers more value and by value I'm very clear with him exclusive topper for Ellie you need that right if only if you like look at the exclusive topper is done for Batman you need an exclusive topper you need some exclusive modes that are only available in the Ellie version of the game it it needs to be done this you just can't have only decals and artwork and stuff that's easily upgradeable you need stuff that's exclusive to justify that almost $4,000 premium for the game $4,000 right so you know I just think like you need to start thinking about this stuff and believe me he is thinking about this stuff he is like trying to get this stuff right he he walked into a company believe me he walked into a company um you know James Bond 60th like I don't think that was his idea you know I really don't I think some people made those decisions it wasn't his decision I think they've learned a harsh lesson Lon lesson with that they learned a harsh har H can't talk today a harsh lesson with rerunning Jurassic Park Le rerunning elvirus again I think all of this stuff just like I think that was more Gomez I do I I think they needed to like because again because remember when stern was doing those moves more Jurassic Park El more elvas more this more that you know why they were doing that is because they still saw their customers as the Distributors so the number one shift that Seth really understands they need to make because you got to remember this is institutional knowledge institutional Behavior he needs to break the number one behavioral shift Stern Pinball needs to make is they need to realize that their customers are not the distros their customers are not the operators their customers first and foremost at the top of the pyramid are the new inbox home buyers so everything they do needs to be in servitude to the new inbox home buyers and he needs a marketing department that understands that I I don't think Zach Sharpe understands that everything Zach Sharpe does has he done anything for the home collector or the home buyer no has Jody no has Jared no I don't even know what Jared's doing anymore other than continuing to flood Facebook with inappropriate photos you know what I'm saying like I I don't know their marketing department is not focused on the primary target and and he get gets it and he gets it and I'm telling you folks Ladi I'm going to be honest ladies and gentlemen like one day I would love to help Stern pimball figure that part out you know over a decade I've been studying this industry I have 30 years almost of public relations marketing experience and I would love because I because think about it if there was one pinball company that I would love to help them understand how to Market to the audience in the right way it would be Stern and I know like that would probably Make Me Maybe not be able to do my podcast but in the end I've sort of achieved everything I could ever achieve here so it would be fun to actually make real and tangible changes over at a company that all of you would benefit from and again because it takes the right mindset and it takes the right understanding of how to reach the right audiences and one thing I said to them and they're they they've adopted it is I went to them and I said hey look I know you guys want to grow your company but the the number one way you're going to grow your company is not what you've been doing it is not this like let's include all these young people into the future of pinball and that's how we're going to grow let's do focus groups with young people and see what themes they want the number one way you're going to grow your business Seth and George and I was with Gary all you need to do is get everybody that loves pinball right now don't be ashamed of who they are don't have your Stern merchandise shop look radically different than who your target audience is and it does right now don't pretend you're something you're not Embrace who you are love the folks that love you and just if you can get each one of your current customers to invite a new friend into Stern Pinball and into the hobby you will double your business it's not going to happen overnight but if you go the other route and you start doing all this Dei looking stuff and you start having you know Zach Sharpe Focus all on tournament Players and like this new Stern cup Badges and Inter you know Insider connect like all this stuff is not where they need to be applying effort and it's again because sh because Zach is again like Zach's a smart guy but he's like he's building programs for like tournament Players and operators and look absolutely like Zach needs a counterpart that understands what a home collector wants he needs someone to help him there right and they need to start getting earned media in vertical media Outlets that introduce new audience is the pinball and it's not Costco right it's not it's not Costco like it's it's not it's not you know trying to make a cheap version of your product and bringing it to a wholesale retail location where nobody goes in there and and just impulse buys like a five or $6,000 item so I really do think I really do think there is a opportunity for this company to finally wake up and and reach their target audience you know in the right way and you know just just so you know like I would love to uh have that opportunity one day to help them do that I know I come with a lot of baggage I know I know it'd be like like he said it'd be like an organ transplant you know try to put Canada into the system there but it is what it is but um but you know the thing is this let's talk about it so let's talk about where we're at here um look the referral program I know you guys have seen this referral program I know Vic got a couple games first of all Vic's a great guy I'm glad he got a couple games um I don't they're not really doing it you know I I think Vic told me I saw him at automated that like he talked to Zach about it uh sharp and then you know is it it's Zach sharp right who's at sir not I always get him confused who's where um the thing is is that what's what's up franie welcome to the party we haven't even got to really uh anything spooky yet we we'll talk about the franchy interview too if you want Chris now that you're here uh the the thing is you know the loner program isn't really a thing I I think Vic was working with them for a period of months I think they sent him a couple games but it's not like they're sliding anybody I don't know anyone else who got any machines but what does make sense what does make sense is for these large companies uh to get pinball content creators a way to uh engage with the product review the product uh and give their feedback on the product here's my here's my issue though because I again when I was talking to Seth they're going to invite media in for the new game probably you know into Chicago uh before they you know unveil this thing probably at CES I mean that's a good guess right I mean Stern tends to unveil their games at CES they've done it multiple times it is sort of like their tentpole moment in the industry uh is to bring a new game at CES so you're gonna see a new game and CES is is January 7th so just do the math like you're going to see a new Stern machine machine in the next three weeks so whether it's going to be DND or King Kong uh you're absolutely gonna have another Stern option and so you know what Stern's most likely gonna do is invite people in to Chicago see the game hear from the team uh and play the game the problem I have is like you can't really get a true feel for a game in in that fashion and and I don't mean to be uh arrogant can I be a little bit arrogant Mr franie can I can I turn on my Sicilian hat my lover boy cap I'm not just any pinball content creator though I mean I have a larger audience than most and not only that is my audience are new and box buyers they are like you're not going to listen to me if you're a tournament player if if you're an operator the only reason John from Jack bar listens to me is because he has to because he lost the bet about there being a fourth James Bond game but my audience is exactly exactly the audience Stern wants to get excited for new I see this little man what's up brother oh coffee thank you k you want to say hi can I lift you up come here just real quick daddy why do you have two skate why do I have two skateboards can you grab me that one yeah can you can you bring it to me because I want to show everybody can I no no don't skate don't skate yeah show us how you do it don't can you hold all right hold on a second here people we got to hold got to see what's going on here hold on hold on hold on okay I'm going to hold you ready ready stay on it want go way yay yay all right can I do the other one now you want to do the other one now okay get the I want to do I want I want to do the other one a lot a lot yeah you do a lot cuz Dad's got to do a show but here why not lighting is it not lighting um I think we have to light here hold on let's see let's see there you go just takes force all right buddy I got to do my show Mom I do it Daddy I want to do it okay how about this how about this daddy daddy and I there you go here you go okay okay awesome okay we'll do it later right buddy high five dad just this one light no that one doesn't light up they're different Wheels see high five thank mommy for the coffee okay buddy K okay don't don't Mama sometimes you just need I sorry about that you know sometimes you just have to take a parenting break uh I know I know first of all I want to say thank you to Frank for getting me another Canada board which is just so awesome he gave it to me at automative as a holiday gift his son puts these together um all right so my point was I I think Stern should get me some games I I think I think Canada getting a loner game for a few weeks is what I want what I don't want to do what I don't want to do is just be like shuffled through Stern with all the content creators at once and you know just like these like Fanboy experiences it's just I don't want to do it I I it's not really my thing and I I mean it when I say this that I don't know I just kind of roll a little bit more independent sometimes and when I when I cuz I want to really and and I mean this when I say this I really want to sit down and ask tough questions of the companies and the designers and and really you know like get some valuable info and some meaningful responses and it's just like you can't really do that in these larger group settings it just doesn't happen now of course if I went to stern it would be really easy you know for George and whoever designed the new game to to carve out some one-on-one time and maybe I'll do that like but if they invite me I'll go I mean absolutely I mean I I absolutely would never look a gift horse in the mouth and and I I I'm honored I they didn't invite me last time you know to the John Wick boondoggle um but you know I think it goes without saying that when you invite me to go uh to your factory and see your new game you're not buying a positive review do I want to give a positive review yes do I want to be blown away yes and from what Seth has told me the next two games are going to be a real increase in creativity and I think that's exciting to hear I really do I think that's very exciting to hear especially post X-Men which was a very creative layout and design and to know that they're pushing the creativity further um and the one thing that I think everybody you know it was a topic of my last show is that um Spike 3 is not what anybody thinks it's going to be like we you got like I I think the best way to think about Spike three gang is to think about the difference between Spike one and Spike two right do you remember what the big difference was did you feel the big difference uh was it like did they launch Spike 2 with in a Monumental way with a with a new game no it was like node boards and it was like different power supply and it they they use Spike as a terminology for their processing not for their platform uh so I I really do encourage everybody to sort of let go of this notion that Spike three is gonna have this Mass no Spike what Spike one didn't Spike one have an LCD screen was Spike 1 DMD only okay I I forget yeah I guess Ghostbusters was Spike one okay so okay now I think what's G to happen with Spike 3 I think we're GNA get a better screen I don't think we're gon to get a bigger screen uh I think it's going to go to 4K which is completely unnecessary on a screen that size it's like absolutely pointless uh to put a 4k monitor but you know I guess when they're showing 4K movie clips uh it'll make everything look nicer but they'll have a lot more processing power I expect the internet connectivity to be improved upon the lighting to be improved upon uh and the ability for the power and the boards to drive more creativity above the uh the playfields but again I just don't and and you know in talking to Seth I think you might see more of a a gradual rolling out of Spike three components over 2025 versus all right here's King Kong and all the big changes are in it I I that's not gonna happen that's not gonna happen so I I definitely you know think there's going to be changes I think they're going to be for the better uh and I think we all are hoping and praying that none of those changes come with a price increase just just like that's it like uh but then you know Mr Gomez has just said hey it's been three years since we increased prices yeah George because you took them to the Moon brother you took them to the Moon you know and I don't know if there's anywhere to go that's further than that until you hit Mars and you can't go much further than where they have the pricing now I think if Stern increases prices there's going to be an absolute Revolt an absolute Revolt because you can't raise prices as like everything else is just plummeting in value it just it doesn't add up it's good having franie here franie once again man congratulations on crushing it on the uh Evil Dead art and you know the George Gomez interview is good I I just for the record it was nice to hear Gomez say that he didn't even he he wasn't even aware that any monsters art got out there and also Christopher I also want to say that yes and I've said this to you I did share moners art with some people that I trusted and it got out what I didn't do was like share it on Canada's Facebook page and like leak it out on my channels as like a way to burn you so I I'm sorry that I let some people that I trust see it and they let it out but I didn't put it out okay I just want to clarify that and and also George Gomez clarified that he was not even aware of that so for all the pinsiders out there that have been saying I'm the reason why I was not the reason why I was not the reason why man there's some like pinsiders you ever Noti these pinsiders they just can't they just can't get over Canada they can't move on like you know I don't I I don't know what what's going on like I saw some someone was like asking me like what I thought of of like I man recently is uh uh refusing to watch the Todd Tucky tour of automated because of me he's like we're all laughing at you you know with your porn star hat and your glasses and I'm like I'm like cool man like I know exactly what I'm doing uh I make love to a beautiful woman all the time I'm very confident in who I am and the one thing I do do uh is I show my face I show up at pinball shows I don't hide behind a computer uh and I have no ill will towards Doug Mo Jr I don't I mean you know he's not Iceman Iceman was as cool as they get you know with Maverick like Iceman would have the Swagger and the confidence to roll into Texas pinball festival and like hang out with us and you know Doug's a good guy he is he actually is a really good guy and if you read what he says he kind of says everything I say I don't know why he thinks everything I say is idiotic what it's exactly what he says um but look Life's Too Short Man Life's Too Short all these people are parents they are husbands they're all working hard to beat inflation and you know you're not going to wake up in a good mood if you wake up angry with people takes a lot to sort of forgive people and move on but it's actually really important in life um yes I look I'm glad you know Chris I'm reading Mr franchy wood are under the bridge um look pinside is not a bad place I like let's talk about you know let's talk about someone that Mr franie knows and real quickly uh you know because I saw a lot of people sharing the news with me that Steve dowen is no longer at American pinball that David fix did an interview with loser kid pinball podcast now look uh as I as you can just maybe imagine or connect the dots I've really reluctantly uh I don't know how to even put this I've first I ignored talking about that company for months I I had to I don't um again in the spirit of the holidays and forgiveness I will say this and it's hard for me to say this because I'm been trying to choose my words very carefully and as I looked at my little boy just who walked into the room and this family and this house and you know what I do for a living is I I make content about well my second gig is my real job is my real job I I make content about pinball companies I I provide commentary about my opinions about pinball I never do any overlap with my clients on my main job I I know what the line is and I need my real job to support this family to send my children to daycare I need my real job uh to pay for my mortgage and to invest money in the future so I can send my kids to college like all the things I need and worked really hard for and when I say I need I've worked really hard to have a career I love to have a company I love working for uh a CEO who I adore who just retired a new CEO who's great and I um I just want to say that if I ever say anything to a a pinball company or about a pinball company that they have a issue with that I would just implore them to just come to me and and have a conversation with me I I think that is the uh mature thing to do I think that is the appropriate thing to do uh and I think you know canus pinball podcast is is me it's my entertaining sort of alter ego it is not Chris father husband provider okay and so the lowest point of my life that I felt maybe my whole life uh I was because of what what he um you know what he did to me and I'm not going to go into details and it hurt me tremendously more than I've ever hurt that company it hurt my family tremendously and again in the spirit of the holidays I I forgive David fix for what he has done to me and I I don't wake up and think about it I don't I don't wake up and think about what he took from me uh what he caused me because you know in his mind he probably sees it as a a fair retribution you know the way I look at it all now is let bygones be bygones and you know I will cover the products they release and I will do what I do and I will do it on my personal time and in my personal spaces and and um you know they need a hit game I mean that's it they need a hit game and you know you can you can interview the guy you can hear all his stories about his relationship with Mukesh and a Tron and they fine I mean all nothing ma no one cares I I gotta be honest I don't care about any words or stories or interviews anymore I'm I'm so tired of interviewing pinball personalities all I care about is good games if you have a great game and you showed it to dros like he said and and orders you know people ordered it cool let's see it I I don't know what else to say like I haven't seen it no one else has seen it I know big Distributors I haven't heard any big Distributors glowing about it so I I don't really you know but again I don't I don't know what how to react to an interview where things don't sound great and I don't know if it's a smart interview to even do if things aren't like I all like the only thing people want to see is is a good game and if you got a good game and you got it in development and you know you say you're not going to launch it until it's done done like it doesn't I I don't I don't know how to respond to that like I I don't think any game is really ever fully done like there's always improvements you can make with code um I think they're stalling I think I think things behind the scenes must be difficult to get a new game to Market and the reason why I'm like worried about their next game is it should be out now ERS should be taken now like go up against evil dead don't go up against Harry Potter don't go up against King Kong don't go up against the other stuff that's about to hit the market like go up against evil dead and Avatar and X-Men like these games are not you know they're they're more you can compete more with those kinds of titles so um again gang I look at everybody you know I I understand the motivation of David fix I understand Steve Bowen loves pinball you know I don't I don't know the guy at all they don't know me at all uh all I know is you know he's had four years at the helm of of the company and he's made strategic decisions that just really didn't work out and you know as we know in pinball one hit game can erase three flops if you if you nail it so I I think that's that's how I see it um but we also live in a world gang where like people are not fair right they they they'll make moves they'll they'll go behind your back they'll try to get you in trouble with you know your employer and all these thing it's just like I I don't think we should live in that world I I don't I don't and and so that's how I'll leave it I hope they have a good holiday over there I hope they get a game to Market uh and and I know nobody cares about the drama like if you make if you make a good game you get a good game out to Market I'm I I you know I look around my life ladies and gentlemen and I'm not longing for anything more like I yeah I wish I everybody wishes they had some more money and they had some more savings and they could like you know relax a little bit more but I you know two beautiful kids a beautiful wife a beautiful house a beautiful Town beautiful neighborhood beautiful neighbors this community is amazing I've got a beautiful guns and& roses machine that I love I've got uh you know two cars I enjoy driving I've got two parents that are still alive and when we're not arguing about something stupid we get along great uh I've been given a lot of advantages and leg UPS in life and I see the way the world is and I think everybody should be uh should be pretty pretty thankful for for what you have and especially if you're in this Hobby and you're you're able to even have the side coin to pinball machines so I you know that's it so we all should be thankful I have a second copy of franie can I get a Evil Dead skateboard I I really like what you did with it can you gift it to Killian for Christmas I I don't know if it's age appropriate but he would love to have it I'll hang it on the wall thank you um let's talk about spooky uh I watched the stream on Thursday as I said in my show this week I I don't think there's a company with more Good Vibes surrounding it right now than spooky pinball uh Goonies is next apparently with the big pirate ship and cannons I think franie Will Tell Us hey franie if Goonies is not next can you just tell us um but I just watch bug and Luke and and franie and Ben heck and and everybody over there and as I said on my podcast this week I I think we're we're reaching a point in pinball where when you buy a game you want to support a company and you want to feel like some sort of personal connection I think everything happening in the world now is very personal and I think it was very personal why people voted the way they did the election and I think mature adults want to understand what were the personal reasons why you feel this way I've had a lot of good conversations about a postelection world not from Derek he still hasn't spoken to me um really sad as was a man I I loved and respected and was part of my family he was supposed to come over to my house for the holidays and now not doesn't even talk to me I've never been more let down in a friendship ship in my entire life than I've been let down by Derek stutsman I I mean that like it is it is a tragic loss to me the way he treated me after the election and what he said about anybody that voted for Trump okay I'm just gonna say like yeah I voted for Trump but I didn't I don't necessarily like Trump but my reasons for voting for him are very personal and I will share them with people and I don't if you voted for Harris I respect you I respect why you voted that way uh I don't know why anyone would be confused that I've always said I'm moderate socially liberal fiscally conservative but of course I'm going to lean a little bit more to the right because of financial reasons in my life and my personal life anyway anyway my point being my point being everything's personal and So when you buy a pinball machine from a company you want to feel some sort of personal connection to that Institution and I don't think any company makes people feel more personally connected you know the to them than spooky pinball and and I said this on my show that when you buy from them you almost can feel the thankfulness of your purchase that your money is GNA go to making these people that I can see with my own eyes that I can hear from with my own ears going to go to making these people have a great holiday put food on the table get everybody jazzed and motivated to hit 2025 running to feel so excited that they've got to build these 800 plus games and every you know every time they sit down to think about new modes and new things it is like this how can we as a company say thank you back to those who have thanked us for making these games with the best possible product we can right and and just pouring passion into these things let me ask you a question have you heard from Mark siden since he released Avatar let me let me let let me ask it again where's Mark seiden Avatar's out have have you heard from him he's one of the nicest guys ever he is one of the nicest guys ever I I think he should go over to Spooky pinball uh have you heard from Mark though have you heard from uh Keith P. Johnson at all like has he has he been in front of the camera making you feel good about buying an avatar but but that's my point do you think if if someone really loved what they worked on and is so excited about it they would just stop talking about it they would stop engaging the community they would stop Building Bridges between the product and customers and future customers no you don't hear from them at all no no Keith P. Johnson just wants to put this humongous Diner menu of how you play the game on your wall and he's done with you and what you see is what you get uh look Luke Luke I I'm gonna tell you this right now if you make a Kira not only will you sell 500 easily they will not only hold value they will go up in value they will not plummet in value like old man Akira is probably the most celebrated and iconic work of Japanese anime ever on a global level yes you would easily sell every single one if you if you made man if you got the original soundtrack with that music it is perfect for pinball the high energy scenes and you have magnets that can grab the ball because tetsuo has the telekinesis Powers you've got an upper play field you've got everything you need and then you use like holographic neotokyo the world underglass just jumps out with AK Kira you would absolutely absolutely crush it okay so just just none of these other ones Robotech and ninj scroll they don't have they're all great they just don't have the iconic Timeless appeal that ACC does and then there's a reason why like Heritage auctions whenever they do an Aira auction like one single frame with Canada on his bike sells for like $90,000 like just think about that for a minute you they don't think the dude who buys that is gonna like be thinking about a $10,000 pinball machine so I I just think give it give it a whirl Luke bring me in as a consultant you know don't and also don't design it with the crappy design like Ultram man and Halloween can we say that is it too soon to say Halloween design is not aging well those glad you guys didn't make John Wick those Hitman popping out of the bushes I don't know I don't know if you guys were drinking too much when that you thought that was gonna be fun it's not fun because you can see them when they don't pop out because I they're right there they're right there they're right there they don't pop out of anything they're just I can still see them before they swing out um look the thing is that's it spooky pinball wins The Good Vibes Awards and they know how to do this and they're going to be successful because they they will never have to sell thousands of games of one skew and the moment they dip their toe back into something like Goonies I it's just day one sellout fighting for a spot games will go for three to 4,000 over sticker they're going to have their Metallica Le remastered moment with Goonies we all know it I predict it right now when spooky pinball releases The Goonies for $10,000 the market value on those games will be 13 to 15,000 you won't be able to get one you're GNA have to know Canada I will have eight on order and then I will secretly flip seven of them to Rich multi-millionaires who will not care Joe newart will tell me he he doesn't have one for me you know he's gonna get me one Melissa will get me one the thing is I get them I get on their list though and I pay money and then you know it's just also I'm also being a little bit factious guys but the the games are gonna go instantly and they're gonna sell for well over sticker and it's gonna be Spooky's biggest value game ever I I absolutely believe it and yeah stop with the niche horror movies guys I get it you're now making enough money where you can easily get some some beautiful women in bed you know you know what I haven't said my running joke in a long time like this is why like tournament playing is pointless like there's no point in being the best in the world at something if it doesn't get you laid think about that for a minute there's no point in being the best in the world at something if it doesn't get you laid Elon Musk could be the best in the world at making electric cars he's getting laid the best basketball player in the world getting laid the best soccer player getting laid the best this the best that probably even the best spell spelling be person when they get older but um if you're the best pinball player in the world that's not not going to get you laid nope it's G to make it harder uh now I could say being the best pinball podcast in the world will get you laid it's by Charisma Brenda's beautiful she could do so much better than me so much better than me the only way I was able to sort of like marry Brenda super simple personality 100% personality and confidence and you know look she she went on dates with jerks and I Bankers with a lot of money it doesn't it doesn't you spend a night hanging out with canadi in the city you're gonna have a better time with all those guys you ever hang out with guys that work in finance I mean I do it all the time here they I mean this town is surrounded by people who get like six seven figure bonuses they like I'm in the cheapest house in in this town and I don't make the money they make and and but whenever I go to like you know functions in this town and you're around like a bunch of Patagonia vest wearing Financial people they they literally have like you know like what do you do they and they can't figure me out when you're like I'm a creative at a marketing agency they're like well what about the market is I'm like I don't know what you're talking about right now you know Charisma make him laugh make him cry in a good way with surprises not in a bad way um so everybody look we've got another half hour to go I want to I want to talk to you guys anything I'm missing the I I haven't talked about cgc what's weird about cgc right now to me gang is on Facebook they're like so transparent now like who's running their Facebook account does anyone know like who has the Chicago gaming company handle on Facebook because what's so weird about it is they're like confirming things that they really haven't officially confirmed elsewhere they basically just said yesterday they are absolutely making more Medieval Madness remakes in the first quarter of 2025 like where's the like what okay we know it's coming but it's just nuts how they're just and I'm telling you right now for all of you out there who uh you know who who have a Royale Edition or Royal Edition uh they're they're going to screw you they're gonna make a a final version of Medieval Madness and your Royal Edition is going to be made again or made even better absolutely rich people buy pinball and wear cargo shorts supporting companies who do what you want pinball companies to do Royale with cheese I know I look I I'm so tired of Pulp Fiction it it's so two years ago and not only that gang is they made the weight terrible for everybody they're not throwing in anything extra and I think that are just a company that I I just could care less about right now think about it like it's gonna go here here's here's how it's gonna go it's gonna go pulp fictions into Medieval Madness and then into Twilight Zone remake into Halo from play mechanics next that that's your lineup from cgc for the next probably four years Medieval Madness Twilight Zone and Halo shorts cargo shorts are are I think are typically worn by uh people that are a little bit out of shape because they carry everything they don't look good they are comfortable don't get me wrong I I used to have some cargo shorts you just can't look good in them but again I think they're worn by people that don't care about like like fashion or looking great but I'd rather hang out with a dude in cargo shorts that loves pinball than an i Banker with a Patagonia vest on so it's it's unfortunate that the trippies won't be at tpf I I don't really know what to expect from these new chippies uh I think franie is gonna win for best art package I don't know though franie it's gonna be close because like I like I will say the art package on X-Men is also phenomenon pH phenomenal phenomenon phenomenon um the thing is is X-Men man it's like the vibe around that game is so bad right now Jack hasn't really come out and told us like what's what to expect I don't know if like X-Men is going to get votes I just think I think people like seeing franie win because of how much he wants it I mean it's the same thing with Canada you guys understand that right like who like it's not like all this is subjective like franie and Yeti are amazing artists but if I think sometimes it comes down to who do you just want to like see how they're going to react if they do win and it's like you want the offthe cuff sort of emotionally charged individuals like Canada and franchi to like be the ones who are going to like cheerlead and jump up and down and go nuts where the more reserved people just might be like thank you have a good night you know like okay I don't know what they're going to do though when it comes to like the the speeches from the people uh I I don't know like I I feel like if it's just them talking to a room of 40 people and you know I think it's going to feel more like a podcast and less like an award show so that's my um that's my only concern is like what was nice about tpf it felt like an award show it really felt like an award show because because here's the thing there then there's no point in doing it live and and I always think they make this mistake because like live from Wormhole and why do it live if people aren't getting up there and giving live speeches like there's no point you might as well just pre-record the show get everybody to get like the top three nominees from each category to submit their thanks video you know their like acceptance speech if you will and then you can like edit it all together and then you could broadcast it live and and have the chat be live which I think they did that you know one year during Co to me that makes more sense it's more fun because then you give everybody a chance to inject their personality into the show so I don't think they're gonna do it that way I think it's gonna be you know just live from Wormhole like I I think they made a huge mistake with like 12 categories for locations like see this is the problem it's like everyone's got to stop thinking about like their own personal wishes and think about what does the end viewer want to see no one gives a best Northeast be best northwest best central location best like they have like eight different geographical regions where they want to give a Wards for best pinball location it's like no one cares nobody cares it it's like and it's not even like a good thing to vote on because what would someone like me know about anything anywhere there and I get I get what they're trying to be like well in the Northeast I would just say that's that way Jack bar go in and that way like it's just it's too much it's too much I'll tell you this all pinball locations are great all all pinball out there in the world where you don't have to spend $ to $15,000 are great sure there's some amazing arcades out there but they're great yeah no franie I I'm I'm confused too should we should we pull it up let's pull up the trippies right now let's see if they have like the categories 2020 4 let's see let's see if we got the out tickets available I mean did anyone buy a ticket I I all right so let's see here I'm I'm just there's like a tppy whip page and colins got a story let's go here all right all right let I'm going to read you the awards right now content creator Awards we've got content creator of the Year okay I'm eligible for that breakout content creator of the year what does that mean breakout let's let's um I want to be able to see you guys like let me share screen what what does breakout mean does breakout mean you're new is that what that means breakout but that's not breakout doesn't mean new breakout means you could have been around for a while and you know why they're doing that 100% I'll tell you why they're doing that they're they're doing that they're doing it so they can give an award to uh probably um you know people who have been around but they're not new it's no breakout breakout means rookie does it let me see what the definition of breakout means I just think it means someone who who grew in popularity doesn't mean rookie could why wouldn't they just say best new content creator best rookie that doesn't make any sense like breakout is what definition of breakout let's see breakout the forcible Escape especially from prison an outbreak what does a okay see that's what I'm saying like what does break does break out let's say breakout award mean the award is typically given to the sports person in his or her rookie season at any given level but may be worn by an athlete who a given year improves their performance okay so yeah it's like a double meaning it either means you're new or you improved yeah it really is just make it the Don Garrison the Don's pinball podcast award where Don's pinball podcast is um the only one on the on the ballot it's fine like look the dude deserves an award for just I think he just deserves an award for perseverance uh we should have like pinball podcaster that refuses to shake hands award that that would be like a shoe in win there he's still upset still upset we'll see we'll see if he shakes hands at Stern um let's see okay so breakout best podcast do you think we're gonna win for best podcast this year gang I I mean I know I'm asking a loaded audience here but like best podcaster do you think I got it do you think do you think I I got it like I I feel like it's still it's me Zach Dennis loser kid like who are the top like Don's not like he's not best pocket he's not even close it doesn't work it doesn't work the numbers will never you know like I I think we got it I think we got it I I think Canada and every Canada subscriber and just one other family member and we' we'd have it um we should win breakout too CU why can't I win breakout because in the definition of breakout gang I think we should try to sweep as many as we can and the definition of breakout it just means you've improved so like and that's subjective so that absolutely I think we should be eligible for breakout best video content creator streamer I mean we're looking at it right here this is the best pinball stream in all the pinball you know this you know this is the best pinball stream in all the pinball come on you don't want to see pinball in a pinball stream there's just something amazing about potentially winning the best pinball streaming all of pinball and not even streaming pinball that is that's where real talent lies all right then best publication I hope that just goes to naps arcade is that a publication though is a website a publication all right so when it comes to yeah franie is right like when it comes to awards for games we got game of the year we've got innovation of the year we've got the Lyman sheets best rules and code best theme integration best game launch and reveal that's a marketing award most improved game did did they get this wrong there's no best art package huh why would there be no best art where's best where's where's best um H how do you not have best art which is one of the most uh celebrated categories in the entire Twi which is like one of the most fun things to vote on there's no best art I think best theme and theme integration should be separate you know what I'm saying because like Evil Dead is not the best theme but it's the best theme integration see this is why these committees franie are are you with me on this who M like what are these committees thinking like Colin what how do you leave out art why why would you leave that out and then gang look at they have 1 two three four five six seven eight n they're they are nine nine trippies being handed out for locations nine there's more trippies going out for locations than there is for actual game awards so we've got best location you Northeast Midwest Southeast Southwest West Europe Australia Canada Australia Asia Canada and best new pinball location we've got the Homebrew game of the year and then the custom game of the year what is what does that mean what's the difference between Homebrew and custom like are they actually going to give an award to whoever customized their Godzilla the most I don't I don't understand what what is that what's a custom game that that like some some clown like modded up is premium and and can win a tppy what what I I you can't make this stuff up okay Toppers best OEM topper best aftermarket topper best interactive aftermarket interactive modder accessory best aftermarket non- interactive mod okay okay so wait a minute we now there's no trippy for best artists but there's a Trippy for best aftermarket interactive mod and aftermarket noninteractive mod are you kidding me you can win a tppy because you three printed a sign that doesn't do anything you win a Trippy for that do you know much work goes into doing an art package for Evil Dead do much work goes into making three pinball podcasts a week and doing a show for 90 minutes do you know how much work this takes you get a tppy for a little sign doesn't interact I I didn't look at all these yet Christopher Franchi thank you for letting me know this is crazy they they need to make changes to this like Colin come on Jamie like what is this see the problem is now that you do this now that now like why would you do this why would you like leave out one of the most popular categories in all of the trippies we need to get best art back in we're crunchy I'm telling you right now I'm gonna put it on Facebook right now like the tppy I'm gonna put it right now the 2024 tippies are are inval it if they do not include in Award for best pinball artists Jamie and Colin wake up we don't need nine trip all right I just posted it franie I wrote the 2024 trippies are invalid if they do not include an award for best pinball artist Jamie and Colin wake up fix this now very very strident I was they're gonna fix it come on don't be stupid guys just just don't be stupid like you know it's real easy just give the people what they want you know I want to see franie versus Yeti here I just best pinball art not what best favorite same thing all right favorite all adjusted of Jesus everyone the semantics of this world let me see how do I edit this edit post favorite pimp all right favorite all right all right there we go up 100% franie they're going to fix it this is why Canadas need it too late tppy is already ordered order another one order another one um let's see what else we got here we got best pinball app or service best convention or show H just always like tpf told he is boring um best tournament best online community group Canad pinball podcast the best pinball Community member of the year Canada gang I think we can win we could and here here's the planning committee so hit these guys up Colin Jamie Erica s Aron siden Mark sidon's wife is on the committee I think Rob wrath Aaron Davis fast pimp Aaron if fast Aaron always pops up in these weird places Ryan um and will who was the old this week in pinball um so I think Canada can win content creator of the Year breakout content creator of the Year best podcasts best video streamers that's four and we could win best online community group and best Community member of the Year pinball Community member of the year we can get six trippies people I'm not even joking we could win six trippies we should do it we I you know I I they would never let me win six trippies but we can win six trippies in one year just think about that for a minute by by their by their rules well I'm eligible for six tippies I mean I I if I don't walk away with at least three of those we know it's not valid you like it's just it's always hard right it's always hard because they know the most engaged fan base around the trippies is canus fan base they know because they know the only person that promotes the damn show is me like seriously like I I I'm always the number one person that Hypes that damn show H why does he franie why does he hate you I don't understand what happened what did you even do to the guy but Hector the best way to F the tppy is to get can six of them in one year can you imagine that we go with six of them six trippies I should be eligible for um the reason why break I have to be eligible for breakout because it can't just be new because then then Don won't be eligible either so it's got to just be like you're having a good year right you're having a good year that's breakout I think having a good year I'm I've got the most subscribers in the history of pinball subscribers for a podcast I've made the most money out of any pinball podcaster ever through the podcasting you know through the podcasting amount I've had the most engaged podcasting Community there has ever been what else can I do like I mean look I'm at the top of this very small mountain of dirt I mean that is really where I've placed the Canada flag do your own show like you did last year um look we could do that stuff but like um nine out of 10 pinball players even know about the trippies they will know about the trippies if they get can going we're gonna win six I'm feeling positive about it I feel I feel good I feel good we're we should be eligible for six I don't know how they're going to do it like with the drop downs I I hope they get those drop downs right franie don't worry we're going to get art into this it is a tra I'm gonna hit up Jamie right now like right now we're gon let's call him right now let's call him live right now to see if he picks up and leave him a message okay like I'm gonna do remember this is what made Colin hate me but like this is not like a negative thing I'm not gonna chew him out I'm just gonna ask him live why right right now people are are gonna text Jamie don't answer do I even have him in here let's see Wormhole um I don't know if I have his number save does anyone see I have a is this his number no I I don't have Jim's number saved if someone wants to PM me it I'll call him live but I don't have it saved let's maybe we can call him on Facebook Messenger if he's on there now let's see he is let's call we're going to call him through Facebook right now I know he's on this is Jamie Jamie you're on live right now brother we have a serious serious question right now you ready what we got brother dude we need favorite pinball Artist as a category what is up like I'm I'm going through the show categories I got franie here you're like we can't how do you admit that that's like one of the hottest categories that people love to vote in yeah that's tough when you have 50,000 categories you got to move them down to the 20 I can produce an hour and a half show dude you've got nine you've got nine categories for location nine yeah we're gonna we're gonna spit those out quick it's gonna be great you're gonna love that wait wait but what Art's got to be on there H how does that fall out I've heard this complaint you're not the first no but like but like why can't we fix that right now like did but but how do how did the committee say we're gonna remove art but have best Midwest location don't you love the Midwest it's beautiful this Jamie Jamie this we have to fix this like no because like guys like I want you to do it right like you you can't leave out a category that's had six seven years of being one of the most celebrated categories like now like because because here's what's happening is like the rumor is like it's just a personal Vendetta against franie no what I I've met Chris a bunch of times I don't not not with you not with you but like who but but how did that get like how can you admit how can you admit like a legacy award like that and then at you added more location Awards so that doesn't hold water brother you got to admit like how do you add location Awards and omit a legacy award that everyone loved I think this is a good point I think you're bringing up a good point so let's just get it fixed called the pinball Community Awards isn't it it's not just the the Wormhole pinball Awards yeah yeah so let's get so let's just get art back in as favorite art favorite artist well I mean I have I'm gonna bring it to the tppy committee I'm just part of this committee yeah we'll bring it up today I will bring it up all right let's fix it like just get it in what else do we need to be fixed what else I mean look I like I don't love all these loc I think there's too many locations you know that like I just think I think well I know we're gonna have to breze through that and then breakout let just Define breakout for me because like does that mean rookie or just having a really good year or both I think it's a rookie if I had to read into it I don't have the notes in front of me brother okay and then is there going to be um like it'll be drop down right so people will vote with drop down yeah same as you know but drop down boom boom I know you want to win five to eight I mean how potentially well not break about the no breakout is rookie then I'm not eligible um but the rest the but here's the thing the other thing that was interesting that you guys changed a little bit is theme best theme is different than best theme integration right because like Evil Dead is the best maybe integrated theme but it's not the best theme so that's the other issue is like it seems like you guys Consolidated in areas that I think are important to you know celebrate like you know because like who got the who picked the best theme doesn't mean they integrated it right right when you just I could tell you that there was a group of people trying to get this done and all volunteers was getting paid and we're just trying to make this do as best we can and if art is the one that's getting everybody going then I think it's probably worth other discussions I do no I also just like my recommendation too is like I would have just kept all the manufacturer Awards the way they were and just cut some of the other fat that made the show long-winded right it's like but I I think what what it's look like what happened is a lot of the manufacturer stuff got truncated and like that's actually how you celebrate pinball right there's it's almost like too much community and personality Awards outside of manufacturer Awards and that's that's my only advice guys as you go back and I would just have a committee meeting be like look Canada brings up an interesting Point we've actually reduced the amount of times we can recognize the ladies and gentlemen who make these games and actually make the products and we've increased the amount of awards for Content creators and locations and I think that's what I would just look at you know and you guys have two two and a half weeks to just like you know time to shuffle to shuffle over a little bit I'm H look I'd be happy that might be above my pay grade brother there well no one's getting paid for this so like nothing's above your pay well look I would look and I I'm I'm happy to to join you know an emergency meeting with your committee oh yeah you want to be on the committee no I don't want to be on it but like come on but I just like you know like this this isn't hard like what people you you know build a chauffer that recognizes I beg to differ how hard it's gonna be I've already put in probably 40 hours just on the script and the things alone and and uh you know I want to make sure that that what happened previous years with with audio and video don't ever happen again yeah yeah well that I mean yeah yeah but like you know but like there's you got to think about like an award show like if you just start removing awards that had that have legac won six seven years in a row like that's not that's like just not fair I would say to those individuals that are that were eligible again these are just like people who are on the manufacturing side should be they should take precedence over the content creators the you know they should like like franie and Yeti trying to hand out all bars of gold some people are going to complain that it's heavy no but it's like it's crazy that like franch and Yeti shouldn't be and and the artist for Avatar shouldn't be like not even recognized but like Don will and me like that that's weird you know like that's not celebrating the best in Pinball it's you can do both is all is my point is like they're they just let's get the ardan I think that'd be a good first and I I would separate theme and theme integration just because it's two separate things right when you think about it right what the best theme in pinball is not evil dead but it's the best theme integrated and and I would say the best theme in 2024 was probably what like Jaws right but Jaws wasn't but Jaws wasn't the best theme integrated or you know maybe it was I don't you know what I'm saying but that's that's what makes it fun to vote on because it really does make you think a little bit about oh okay like by definition I need you know two two separate games might win for best theme and best theme integration that that's that's what makes it fun to see the results no one cares about any location results except for those locations and that's when you lose audience do you think I that I was thinking that you know how sometimes the Oscars and the award shows do a free yeah like they show quickly like best short anim yeah you could do all that that's fine but just but then get more of the meat back on the bone with the manufacturer Awards which fell off like that you know what I'm saying because that's the stuff people want to see um anyway take take it back to the committee assistant producer credit for this no it's just common sense Jamie you know me I love you look you're you're on my Saturday Morning Show right now every everyone has faith in you I think you know I like this has to have been a personal like weird decision and I think just corrected that's it look I can tell you this I honestly I can tell you this when this when we were approached and and we didn't bring this up on the podcast so I'll give it to you now right the worm all said we had stipulations and the stipulations were nothing bolognia cheese right I'm not gonna swear because you yeah yeah right and it's not had to be completely and utterly above the board because if you look at the reputation of wormo we don't have a reputation of being a-holes and we let me ask you a question when you say nothing balone and cheese then you've got a you can't win a Trippy for favorite artist but can for best aftermarket non-interactive mod it doesn't get any more baln and cheese in that that's just like a s i just that's a like a a sign bro you know that like someone 3D prints can win over what franch and Yeti put into an art package that's why I would go back there is some baln and cheese in here man you know and you know that like because you know that that means nothing that's not going to make pinball better I think these manufacturers actually do if you want to make it a legitimate Award right where these manufacturers do celebrate it you got to like make them the priority first and foremost right the rest of it it is fun to watch the personalities right like the pinball podcaster fighting it out like that brings audience that's why podcasting was like yeah but I would just look at it and again I'm happy to meet with you guys it's look the committee's a good bunch of people I'm surprised Aaron over at fast pinball who self-proclaimed himself as the smartest man and pinball didn't like even recognized this so like you guys are too smart to like retract some of those industry awards that should just it it's I think Jamie it's like it's just like don't don't mess up the stuff that actually matters and don't add too much extra that no one even needed that that's my only advice and I'm happy I I gotta be honest I appreciate the advice right because I've rather you call me get me on the spectacular and then yeah we'll make it good we'll make it right no because it needs to be right and uh I don't want I I we don't want any of the stains of previous yeah that's it and everyone's and look and then the more people eligible the more interesting the better like I love you brother they love you like as I'm speaking to you right now like it's filled with hearts and and everyone like this is it this is good this is good and and it's it's never too late you know to just make a little bit of a pivot and then everyone's happy like it's important like everyone needs feedback you know and it's just about what you do with the feedback all right brother I'll let you go time yeah and and hey like where's my first class ticket down to Texas you know we are 5013 I want people to know that that are listening and watching that Wormhole is a nonprofit right we're not do we're doing this so that we can start working with project pinball more and working with neuro Divergent individuals and that's what we're doing so uh trying to get a first class you might get a spirit out of us pay for your own bag wow well what does project pinball do with all that money no one makes a profit there that's a that's a story for another day anyway I'm just joking everybody say goodbye to Jamie Jamie have a great Saturday brother all right see that was great I think we got it I think we got it I think we got it um franie you're in you're in now I'm already declaring a victory on on favorite artist I'm already declaring it um look Colin Colin's in here now like it doesn't matter Colin it doesn't matter if if Christopher Franchi and yelled at you and will it doesn't matter like it's because because Colin what you can't do is you can't prohibit zombie Yeti from winning the amazing artist on avatar from winning you can't use franie as a as as a as a way to eliminate the category CU cuz Colin then you're falling into that slippery sloper trying to avoid that happened with me last year right we had our you know we had our kff whatever you call it and then you you know you removed my ability to win don't do it again right and again we've got a few weeks you guys the show is in a few months just let sleeping dogs lie is that the phrase I'm looking for I don't even know but in the spirit of the holiday guys just get get all of this stuff out of of our systems recogniz like whatever manufacturer Awards there were before just you got to keep them those were the most important Awards and I think if we do it right you're going to get a much better audience and you're going to just have people are going to feel like it's valid and then you're not going to give some other award show the opportunity to swoop in and recognize artists and recogniz this and you know I again I think there's there's sh you know when Jamie says like we we don't want the baloney and the cheese you've got some balone and cheese Awards in there and it's probably because some people on the committee are friends with people who make non-interactive pinball mods like that is not that should not be a Trippy you could do best mod just do best best after market mod but to break up Mods think about how crazy this is Colin to break up aftermarket mods into two categories of interacts with the ball and doesn't and then not even break up best theme and best theme integration which are far more interesting to think about far more impactful on games themselves and I also think much better like data for manufacturers to look at right we what we want you know like we won for best theme but we didn't integrate it like people that's a good thing to Telegraph to manufacturers okay so I I look again in the spirit of the holidays I I think all of this can easily be fixed I think everything becomes water under the bridge I think the committee knows what the right thing is to do and I mean this when I say this you easily invite me into this that meeting I'll tell you guys exactly what to do I I could I could fix it in five minutes and it's like you to Jim's Point like don't spend 40 hours on scripts and making sure you get the production right before you get the actual Awards right like the categories right like get that right I didn't take a strong look at it because selfishly I was like oh I'm eligible I don't care about the rest of it but now I'm like overly eligible I you know I'm not a rookie so I could I could potentially win five tppy like there's too many like I should not be able to win more Awards than Keith or you know Keith P. Johnson or you know it's just like yeah yeah there's there's too much of that okay um well Colin like Colin the thing is you can't remove favorite artist so what happened was Colin we were just looking at all the awards and there's just um you know you've sort of reduced the amount of manufacturer eligible Awards and increase significantly the um the content creator award Awards location Awards like that's not you know when we really want to celebrate the finest in pinball uh you always have to put the manufacturers and all the hardworking people who make the games we love uh those Awards should be the priority it was always just icing on the cake to see can battle it out with franie and Zach for podcast like that was just fun end of show drama if you will uh but you know you can't you can't start to do too many sort of of deconstructing of content creator Awards and have too many because you want to you know you want to celebrate too many of those people the the truth is this there's like very few really really good pinball content creators and and the best ones will just always win and that doesn't mean like people should stop doing what they do but you know it just is what it is and and unlike a sport like I I think it just kind of stays the same like you know I'm not getting rusty in my age I'm getting better at this so I and I and I think Colin too like we we want to just make sure it's it's representing everybody the best and I think that's a fair way to look at it and fr she's runnerup categories you know that's the thing is like for best artists man to leave out I I gotta be honest franie and and everybody there like this would be the most competitive year for favorite art you've got Avatar looks stunning Metallica Le looks stunning X-Men looks stunning and Evil Dead looks stunning so I you you in a year in which that battle is probably the most interesting battle to watch in all of the awards you remove it how is Evil Dead not eligible because it didn't ship and then that's another idiotic thing so you know Art's not going to change so evil dead should be eligible like art should be eligible the moment it's revealed um especially from a company that's not going to like not ship it this isn't razza um this isn't well Colin you removed the favorite artist category yeah I it's not a huge synaptic leap if you remove the favorite artist category to realize that every artist is getting snubbed on their opportunity to win but Colin I know you guys are going to change it Colin also just common sense because I do think what's hard about some of these award shows is context matters right so knowing Evil Dead is stunning and you know it it can't win for best code it can't win for best game of the year but the art is final and so maybe we should let Evil Dead art be eligible this year uh because of that and you know what I'm saying because the problem is if you wait a year so many more games are going to come out like I don't and it can't like the art was revealed in December I absolutely would make Evil Dead art eligible in this year's tppy because it's fresh it's hot it's new it's exciting and and you and just put it in the drop down and just let people vote just let people vote the way they want to vote let people vote and and I'll tell you another reason why I should do it Colin is because there's nothing greater than activating a crazy man like myself in the name of Christopher franchi you want to activate him to get excited to lobby for votes to go to his fans and and you know that's how the tippies work my man they work by exciting the nominees to then go to their fans and their community and encouraging them to vote you know when you remove that you remove hundreds of people that are interested in checking out the show and so that's my point you know and and look and this is all so easy to fix in just a few minutes I I mean that not even a few hours a few minutes it is not hard to figure out what things you need to separate theme from theme integration I would have best favorite artists um I would have uh you know I think like you know we used to have best sound in a game which was always a little weird but that's gone too but again think about it if you remove best sound from a pinball machine if you just remove that and this is why you can't remove that it's because when you remove best sound in a game you actually then remove the ability to reward someone like David Thiel from winning recognition you remove you know I don't know if there's been like a great sound package this year to be honest but but sound is not there I I also saw no more best call outs you know and I say it's like I would rather lose all the pinball location Awards just lose them all and restore stuff like best callout because a call out and a company directing actors to give the those high energy call outs like that's part of a memorable game's experience I think that deserves recognition as well again all these things were there you know you know no but see the thing is col is like here's the thing you you can you can hear a call out on a YouTube stream of a game I can see an artwork I can't see what it's like to play in the midwest location nominees i i vehemently think the only filter should be like are people able to experience or see with their own eyes or make or have enough information I think that's the best way to say enough information to come to to a a conclusion on this on this category and and I think theme integration yes best theme yes best sound yes best call outs yes of course like we're all listening to the call outs on evil dead right now and we no no one owns the game but right now as of like right now I mean it would probably win best call outs in a game and it should I it you know again this is not hard um what did Ian say definitely need art but losing location is stupid building Community is important just because you don't play Pinball Ian Ian having nine trippies for locations is idiotic it's idiotic Ian you're gonna have nine trippy awards for nine different geographical regions it's idiotic I mean if you want to do East Coast West Coast north south fine but not nine nine Ian I'll tell you right now I thought you're a marketer do you want to put the audience to sleep or do you actually want to do awards that make people want to tune in that is the most idiotic category it's never fun it's it it all it ever does is make all the locations that lose feel a little bit crummy in a way and and again like we saw this like that's one of the easiest to to game you know where locations would just simply set up a laptop and everyone's just like voting and like places where like winning that were tiny compared to much larger locations that don't care about winning a you know so again whatever what do I know people want to hear nine TW like you have more awards for location than you do for manufacturer Awards okay I'm not on this committee I'm just observing it right now well and I don't like publication is naps arcade it's not a publication so can that even like are there even any pinball Publications like like physical Publications um I think there should be a best pinball news site but um anyway look gang I I like that this stuff always makes us get uh you know talking I I think it does because it's like it's a it's a way to reflect on our Hobby and our community and that's that so so Ian you've got nudge and you've got pinball magazine what else so like I'm just yeah I'm just curious so like are you really trying to win a a twod dog race with magazine why would naps be a now well look I'm fine you know gang like Drop nudge naps kineticist put everything down like as long as you put as much as you can in the drop- down menus that's that's a win-win win right I just think when you like in in the past I felt like there isn't you know remember they had like they had the worst category ever I tell you what the worst category in the history of the trippies was was best pinball article right that was like the dumbest thing in the history of trippies because like you're gonna give a guy a Trippy for writing one article when podcasters have to freaking podcast thousands of hours a year when designers have to spend two years of their lives making a game when artists have to slave away for art you're gonna give a guy that same award for writing one article stupid anyway Colin happy to connect offline we can we can go through the categories and I can give you just my opinion on what I think should should come what should maybe go some areas of consolidation um and that's that what is Ian saying franie you don't want this smoke wait Ian are you like threatening franie come on man Ian and simmer down as I told my dad simmer down um Ian I don't I don't think anyone here is uh is is acting like if I don't go to it I'm gonna snipe it like a nerd I don't even know what that means um uh I I don't intend to snipe it like a nerd uh Curious phrase there um my attendance will be determined by the um the family inside this house and whether or not it's a good time of year for me to get away uh but I'm not sure yet because because here's the thing Ian nobody's communicate to anyone on the uh on the ballot if you will what going there means for me like are there going to be chances to give live speeches how is you know what I'm saying like what's the what's the reason for going uh is and and how would you know that's that's the only thing I mean I would obviously want to see worm Hall you know Robert Blakeman and all my my boys down there uh but just you know communicating because if I'm GNA spend you know a thousand doll or whatever to come down and and spend a few day like you know I just want to make sure like what what does it look like uh what what do we got going on here people fighting we always these Awards always seem to bring out the best at everybody let's be honest I mean I feel like I'm the coolest character here right now I think Jamie was really cool I don't think any anyone's fighting I I think anyone in the chat who is is sort of getting a little unhinged a little bit should just simmer down um you come to the party that's what pinball is about okay um so let me ask you a question Ian so I I win favorite pinball podcaster what happens like I'm there do I get a chance to is there going to be like an open mic for people there to say thank you to the people that voted for them and and maybe have a little like minute or two address I I don't know like is that a thing is there going to be like a desk with a you know a mic for those in attendant who are being I don't know so I again I'm just trying to figure it out yeah I mean G gang we're all GR men like gang like we're all grown men in a hobby that the majority of people think we're losers and we all should have invested our money in Netflix stock meta and Nvidia if all of us just bought those three shares four years ago instead of any pinball machines we'd all have like six figures Plus off of just a single pinball machine purchase so yeah good times to buy buy pinball new in box um if you're if you're there you can say something thing we're going to try and dial people in okay cool no this is good gang this is good I think um I'm glad that trippies are back i' I've never I've never said otherwise uh I I don't snipe like a nerd I don't know what that means Ian it's just I man you know you're never gonna you're never gonna get like you're never gonna try to Pigeon hold me as being like a bad guy or trying to shut down uh you know this award show nobody loves the trippies more than me I hope you guys understand that nobody loves the trippies more than me hold on one second ladies and gentlemen I'll show you why we're going to do this if we're going to do this if we're going to do this we're going to do it right okay so I'm tell you like you want to know about the tppy here you want to know what it feels like to get up there after a Year's worth of work and win one of these $ five trophies brother I I'll tell you what it feels like girls waited in the limousine Brenda saying Daddy don't hurt me you know people trying to get your autograph left and right open bar Capital Grill that's what it's like brother rolling in I get I get you want to feel what it's like to put on that jacket you know be a little bit of a pimp nudge magazine beautiful photography take a photo of this brother take a photo of this I'm like I'm like I'm like carefully carefully putting down my $ five do trophy so I don't scratch them because you know they mean a lot more than five bucks all right dripping and trippies you know what I'll never understand when when franie smashed his twippie I I was there it was so obviously a joke I will never understand franie after all these how the heck did Mike vinor not realize that that was a joke it was so obviously a joke I I still to this day and more upset that people thought that was being you know was real and a sincere reaction like oh my gosh like talk about weird like I I don't understand but it it was so obviously staged I I don't know but he like really like got mad about it all right everybody well we're well past the normal time but we had a good you know free tppy meeting of of an alternative tppy Council here in committee everybody be good and have a great weekend and treat your families as good as you treat Canada with love and respect all right happy holidays we'll be back if you haven't signed up for Canada spinball podcast and you want to know what it's all about and what being on the winning side of the tppy is about join we're gonna make pinball podcasting great again it's so funny how easy it is to like get people going all right everybody later

medium confidence · Kaneda's critical assessment based on observed marketing strategy; he claims Seth Davis understands this needs to change.

  • Spike 3 will bring gradual improvements (better screen, 4K, improved lighting/connectivity) but not revolutionary changes; rollout will be gradual throughout 2025.

    medium confidence · Kaneda cites conversation with Seth Davis; contrasts Spike 1 to Spike 2 transition as incremental rather than revolutionary.

  • If Stern raises prices further, there will be 'an absolute revolt' from collectors.

    medium confidence · Kaneda's strong opinion on market tolerance; references George Gomez's statement that prices haven't risen in 3 years.

  • “I think what's going to happen with Spike 3, I think we're going to get a better screen. I don't think we're going to get a bigger screen. I think it's going to go to 4K, which is completely unnecessary on a screen that size. It's like absolutely pointless to put a 4K monitor.”

    Kaneda @ ~85:00-90:00 — Details on Spike 3 spec expectations based on Seth Davis conversation; tempers community hype about revolutionary changes.

  • “Because you took them to the moon, brother. You took them to the moon. You know, and I don't know if there's anywhere to go that's further than that until you hit Mars, and you can't go much further than where they have the pricing now. I think if Stern increases prices, there's going to be an absolute revolt.”

    Kaneda @ ~95:00 — Stark warning on price ceiling; rejects George Gomez's suggestion of price increases.

  • “And and also George Gomez clarified that he was not even aware of that. So for all the Pinsiders out there that have been saying I leaked the Monsters art... I didn't put it out, okay? I just want to clarify that.”

    Kaneda @ ~105:00+ — Addresses Monsters art leak controversy; clarifies he shared with trusted parties, not maliciously leaked.

  • Stern Pinball
    company
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Automated Amusementscompany
    Guns N' Roses LEgame
    Avatar (JJP)game
    Elton John (JJP)game
    Evil Dead (Spooky)game
    X-Men (Stern)game
    Dungeons & Dragons (Stern)game
    King Kong (Stern)game
    Monsters (Stern)game
    Harry Potter (Stern/JJP)game
    Steve Ritchie Matrixgame
    Spike 3product

    high · Direct conversation between Kaneda and Gomez on stream; Franchi also present for discussion; Kaneda explicitly defends his role: 'I didn't leak it on my channels.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Kaneda publicly expresses interest in consulting/working with Stern Pinball on marketing strategy for home collectors; acknowledges it would require leaving podcast role but views it as meaningful impact opportunity.

    high · Direct quote: 'I would love to have that opportunity one day to help them do that... I have 30 years almost of public relations marketing experience.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Evil Dead (Spooky) underselling due to niche theme appeal despite high production value. Mainstream themes (Die Hard, Top Gun, Predator, Karate Kid) would sell significantly better.

    medium · Kaneda's subjective theme analysis; notes machine not sold out vs. high production effort. Contrasts with hypothetical mainstream theme interest.

  • $

    market_signal: Secondary market prices for JJP Guns N' Roses LE 40% below new retail ($6,000-6,500 secondary vs. $11,000 new); manufacturer directly discounting ($225 off) to clear inventory.

    high · Specific pricing data cited; JJP manufacturer discount noted as unprecedented signal.

  • ?

    community_signal: Christopher Franchi (artist) at Spooky Pinball continues to be active in design/creative decisions; gave Kaneda holiday gift (skateboard); involved in response to Monsters art leak discussion.

    high · Franchi appears on live stream; acknowledged by Kaneda; referenced as Evil Dead art designer.

  • $

    market_signal: Stern pricing ($9,500 Premium, $11,000+ LE) is at or near ceiling of market tolerance. Further price increases will trigger 'absolute revolt' from collectors.

    medium · Kaneda's strong market assessment; references George Gomez claim of 3-year price freeze and current inflationary environment.

  • ?

    announcement: New Stern game (Dungeons & Dragons or King Kong) will be revealed within 3 weeks, likely at CES on January 7th, based on confirmed insider information.

    high · Kaneda claims confirmation from Seth Davis (Stern CEO); CES is Stern's traditional reveal venue; specific timeline: 'less than three weeks.'

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    technology_signal: Spike 3 rollout will be gradual and incremental (better 4K screen, improved lighting/connectivity) rather than revolutionary; no major platform changes expected in single release.

    medium · Kaneda cites conversation with Seth Davis; contrasts to Spike 1-2 transition as primarily node boards/power supply upgrades, not platform overhaul.