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Pinball Magazine & Pinball News PINcast December 2021 recap

Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast·podcast_episode·1h 37m·analyzed·Jan 6, 2022
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Stern reveals Rush Pinball with John Borg design; Jack Danger joins as in-house designer.

Summary

Jonathan Houston and Martin Ove recap December 2021 pinball news, focusing on Stern's Rush Pinball reveal featuring designer John Borg with a packed layout and motorized features, Jack Danger's official hiring as a Stern pinball designer, and numerous code updates across Stern's catalog adding Insider Connected functionality. The hosts discuss Rush's niche appeal as a Canadian band with North American focus, analyze playfield mechanics comparing them to previous Borg designs, and note the innovative artist selection process Stern used for the game's artwork.

Key Claims

  • Rush Pinball is a Cornerstone game (Pro/Premium/LE with 1000 unit limited edition)

    high confidence · Direct statement: 'It's a Cornerstone game for Stern, so three models.' LE units already sold out to distributors and through Stern Insider.

  • Michael Barnard (Rush artwork artist) was contacted in 2020 and hired in August 2020

    high confidence · Martin references blog post by Michael Barnard stating contact in 2020 and hire date of August 2020, establishing Rush was decided upon before container shortage occurred.

  • Rush Pinball features three flippers including upper right flipper (mirror image of Tron's upper left)

    high confidence · Detailed playfield analysis: 'there is an upper right flipper similar to Tron...It's a mirror image of that game.'

  • Jack Danger officially joined Stern Pinball as in-house pinball designer

    high confidence · Direct announcement: 'Jack has officially joined the Stern Pinball design team as a pinball designer.' Confirmed he designed home model of Jurassic Park and will continue Deadflip streaming.

  • Stern is prioritizing Pro model production first to get games to operators before Premium/LE home units

    high confidence · Jonathan: 'Stern announced that they start production with the Pro model...They're trying to get those Pro models out to operators to get the game experienced a lot more and drive sales.'

  • Rush band members Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee provided voice calls directed by Ed Robertson of Bare Naked Ladies

    high confidence · Martin: 'the remaining two band members, Alex Leeson and Geddy Lee, have provided voice calls for the game together and directed by none other than Ed Robertson of the Bare Naked Ladies.'

  • Stern conducted competitive artist pitch process for Rush artwork (five to six artists competing)

    high confidence · Jonathan describes process: 'he basically pitched, contacted Stern and wanted to do a game design to which Stern basically pitched to five or six artists, all the Rush team, to see who would come up with the most interesting designs.'

Notable Quotes

  • “I think John Borg really outdid himself...I was impressed...by what everything...I think this is a really packed layout.”

    Jonathan Houston @ ~13:30 — Positive assessment of Rush playfield density and design complexity despite lacking new mechanisms.

  • “It's probably like the first 10-15% of the game...the software and the graphics and the displays...which has to be allocated and probably stuck to. So that probably ties them down.”

    Martin Ove @ ~9:45 — Explains why design completion doesn't equal production readiness; software/graphics allocation determines release order.

  • “They're trying to get those Pro models out to operators to get the game experienced a lot more and drive sales...Gary is certainly very keen on pushing the operators...He still sees that as the heart of Stern's sales.”

    Jonathan Houston @ ~27:15 — Reveals Stern's strategic operator-first release prioritization under Gary (Stern leadership).

  • “It's the first time that Stern is pitching artwork jobs to artists to see who comes up with the best package in their eyes.”

    Jonathan Houston @ ~32:45 — Identifies innovative new artist procurement process at Stern, contrasting with typical licensing-directed artist assignments.

  • “Congratulations to Jack and to Stern and the other designers in the team John, Brian and Keith so it's a powerful team they have there now.”

    Martin Ove @ ~36:00 — Acknowledges Jack Danger's addition to Stern design team alongside John Borg, Brian Eddy, and Keith Elwin.

  • “Stern may be lucky to have Jack Danger come on as a new talent, but we're also happy to have Jack Danger as a streamer, because he's brought a lot to the hobby.”

    Martin Ove @ ~37:30 — Recognition of Jack Danger's dual role and impact on pinball community through streaming.

  • “the theory that I heard yesterday is that as you may be aware of there is a shortage of containers to ship games overseas and by focusing on Rush most of the production games would actually remain in North America saving a lot of money.”

Entities

Jonathan HoustonpersonMartin OvepersonJohn BorgpersonJack DangerpersonMichael BarnardpersonEd RobertsonpersonGeddy LeepersonAlex LifesonpersonNeil Peartperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Jack Danger hosting first live gameplay stream of Rush Pinball on January 7th via Deadflip channel with design team available for questions.

    high · Jonathan: 'the first chance to experience the game will be January 7th, where Jack Danger will be hosting a live gameplay stream on his Deadflip channel...Usually the design team is also around to answer any questions.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: John Borg reuses proven mechanical elements from prior games (Lord of the Rings ring magnet, dual scoop similar to Jurassic Park) while maintaining layout density and shot complexity.

    high · Martin: 'John likes to reuse elements that were used in other games in the past...similar like the ring from Lord of the Rings making a new appearance.'

  • $

    market_signal: Stern implemented competitive artist pitch process (5-6 artists competing) for Rush artwork selection rather than relying on band-directed or licensed artist.

    high · Jonathan: 'Stern basically pitched to five or six artists, all the Rush team, to see who would come up with the most interesting designs...it's the first time that Stern is pitching artwork jobs.'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jack Danger transitions from independent streamer/designer to in-house Stern Pinball designer position while maintaining Deadflip streaming responsibilities.

    high · Official announcement of Jack joining design team alongside John Borg, Brian Eddy, and Keith Elwin; commitment to continue streaming.

  • ?

    product_strategy: Rush Pinball features LE/Premium exclusive motorized ramp and dual-output scoop; Pro model has static ramp and single-output scoop, creating clear tier differentiation.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.293

0:00
Rush Pinball Revealed Colin McAlpine and Bowen Kerens join Multimorphic Deep Root Companies file for bankruptcy Hi, my name is Jonathan Houston. I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine, wishing you a very happy 2022. And I'm joined here with... I'm Martin Ove and I'm the editor of Pinball News also wishing you a very happy new year as we look back on the events that happened in the pinball world during the very last month, December of 2021 which seems a long time ago but it's not well, we're in the first week of January and as there was a new title coming out we decided to hold off recording our podcast until that title was revealed which is the case which is also the first topic or headline that we're going to discuss. Rush Pinball revealed by Stern Pinball. Yeah, big surprise to no one, I think. John Borg had been promoting Rush music and the band on social media very heavily over the previous few weeks and I think it was pretty much an open secret that the game would be Rush and that John Borg would be the game designer. hand right you say no surprise at all but yet to many people the theme itself is quite surprising in the sense that it's not metallica or guns and roses or a band of of that that instantly rings a bell with everybody i think you're right it's more of a niche title than any of those those that you mentioned and um yeah you kind of get the feeling that that um we're running out of big name bands and groups to turn into into pinball themed uh themes for uh for machines and um no how far do you want to go down the the the list of uh most popular groups um before you you decide that the market isn't there but even so there seem to be a lot in the us and obviously in canada where uh where russia hails from uh very very popular bands a band i should say um and uh and still popular even after all these years and the fact they haven't well one of the one of the three members of the band um neil perk died um a couple of years ago at uh and they haven't hadn't recorded anything for quite some time before that and have no intention of uh continuing without him so it's uh it's a it's not an active band but they have a very extensive and popular a back catalogue of albums and individual songs. Well, speaking of albums, quite a few.
2:55
Personally, I'm not that familiar with the music of Rush. Being based in the Netherlands, I don't think they ever had a hit record over here. It was slightly before my time as well, because in the early 70s they were very successful, and after that I think they sort of had their fan base, and I don't think that expanded that much.

  • Expression Light System available in LE (1000 units) and as add-on kit for Premium/Pro models

    medium confidence · Martin: 'It is fitted to the limited edition the 1000 limited edition machines...It's also going to be available as an add-on kit for both the Premium and the Pros, though whether it will be exactly the same...we don't know.'

    • Martin Ove @ ~8:15 — Speculative theory about Rush selection motivated by shipping logistics and North American focus.

    Garyperson
    Keith Elwinperson
    Brian Eddyperson
    Rushgame
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Deadflipproduct
    Insider Connectedproduct
    Pinball Newsorganization
    Pinball Magazineorganization
    EAG Showevent
    Park Avenue Previewevent
    Virtual CESevent

    high · Martin: 'on the Pro is static and on the LE and Premium is motorised and can raise...whereas on the Pro you shoot into the time machine all the time.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern rolling out Insider Connected achievements across catalog (Monsters, Stranger Things, Beatles, Aerosmith, Black Knight Rage, Guardians, Led Zeppelin, Mandalorian) with pending additions for Batman 66, Mandalorian v2, Star Wars, and Monsters pending licensor approval.

    high · Martin lists multiple updates adding Insider Connected; notes: 'Insider Connected is apparently coming soon for Batman 66, The Mandalorian, Star Wars and The Monsters...pending licensor agreement.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern prioritizing Pro model production and delivery to operators first before Premium/LE home units to maximize market exposure and drive sales.

    high · Jonathan: 'Stern announced that they start production with the Pro model...They're trying to get those Pro models out to operators to get the game experienced a lot more and drive sales.'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Speculative theory that Stern selected Rush due to North American popularity focus to minimize overseas shipping costs during container shortage crisis.

    low · Martin: 'theory that I heard yesterday...shortage of containers to ship games overseas...by focusing on Rush most of the production games would actually remain in North America saving a lot of money.'

    • 3:19
    But if you think that their music is only popular in North America, so to speak, I looked on Discogs, which is a website where you can check out all the final and CD releases of bands and so on. I was actually surprised to see that most of their albums actually have been released in Europe and basically worldwide. But I suppose it's more of like a group that focuses on albums instead of hits. Yes, definitely, yeah.
    3:59
    And they were quite popular over here. I'd say probably, as you said, 70s, 80s. And, yeah, probably that's their peak time. and they played gigs across Europe as well. I remember a friend of mine went to see them play at Wembley, so they were certainly selling out venues.
    4:23
    Especially Wembley, it's a big one. Yeah, I don't know whether it was the stadium or the arena, but it was certainly hacked and talked about a lot in the media at the time. Okay, so... Well known here as well. there is an interesting theory why Stern would go with a band like Rush right now.
    4:45
    And that may have, I'm not sure whether that is the reason. Obviously, they have a following. So there is a justification to do a pinball based on them. But seeing that their popularity is mostly in North America, the theory that I heard yesterday is that as you may be aware of there is a shortage of containers to ship games overseas and by focusing on Rush most of the production games would actually remain in North America saving a lot of money on overseas shipping which eventually would be paid by distributed anyway, but if they're shipping games in North America, it would probably make things easier for Stern at the moment, until that problem is solved. Which is not a Stern problem, but... No, it's a global problem. I can kind of see that. But I'm just looking back at what the lead time on developing a game would be, because I was just reading a blog by the guy who did the art for the game, Michael Barnard, and he said that he was contacted... When exactly did he say? He said he was contacted in 2020. Yes. Yeah. And he didn't find out until August of 2020 that he'd actually got the gig. But in 2020, they were looking for somebody to do the art on Rush. They'd already decided on the title at that point. Right. which is way before that shortage of containers yes I thought so but well with Stern I tend to believe that they have actually a few games ready to go and they can basically choose which one would be best at that time also depending on whether they can get all the parts to build such a game I still tend to believe that they have a couple of designs on the shelf that they can use anytime as they see fit but that's just me and oh well. Yeah probably the designs but knowing how much of a game these days is the software and the graphics and the displays actually having a design done it doesn't it's a long way from actually having a game ready. It's probably like the first 10-15% of the game so So I think it's probably more the allocation of resources for sound and graphics and display effects and lighting and all the software programming as well, which has to be allocated and probably stuck to. So that probably ties them down a bit more as to the order of release. Okay, well, enough with all this non-relevant banter, I would almost say. What can you tell us about the game, actually? Well, it's a Cornerstone game for Stern, so three models. Which I have to say, that is sort of a surprise. I was expecting it to be a boutique game. Yeah? Okay. But we knew John Borg was designing it. We've known that for some time. Doesn't mean that John Borg can't design a boutique game. No, true. They tend to come from other people. But, yeah, okay. So it is a Cornerstone game. Pro Premium and a limited edition of 1000 which apparently already all sold to distributors so that doesn't mean that you can't get one but distributors can't get them anymore I'm not sure whether I saw this yesterday when it was announced or not but I thought Stern were actually selling some directly from their own website through Stern Insider, yes yeah, so I didn't even do that and those all sold out very quickly, that's for sure right, so but if we look at the game if I may say so I was impressed right by what everything no I think this is a really packed layout I think John Borg really outdid himself you think so I was looking at it and I was thinking where now this is a band pin there's no upper play field there's no there are no sort of new mechanisms in it really apart from the scoop, the double scoop.
    9:27
    But that's, it's a scoop, you know, two of them joined together, and it's under playfield lock with a window. We've seen that before. There's plenty of things that we've seen before. The Lord of the Rings magnet. We know that John likes to reuse elements that were used in other games in the past, similar like the ring from Lord of the Rings making a new appearance. That's all fine. but shot wise I think it looks like a lot of fun to shoot it there are a lot of shots in there I think that's true I was just trying to look where's the value if you're looking at the price of unique mechanisms when you look at the limited edition it's got that drum clock drum yeah drum clock whatever you want to call it Yeah, that thing, yeah. But that's only got one hand on it, which seemed a bit cheap to me. I thought they might have had an hour hand and a minute hand.
    10:26
    That was too expensive, Martin. Well, yeah, well, exactly. Confusingly, they say when it gets to midnight, but then they say that the hand is the minute hand, where it should actually be an hour hand, I'd have thought, if it was going to go all the way around to midnight. Otherwise, you wouldn't know when it was midnight if it was just a minute hand.
    10:44
    Ignoring that particular issue, It didn't strike me as being packed full of value. There's a lot of plastic ramps in even the limited edition or the premium version, which I thought would have been quite cool. There's not a specific Rush story that says Rush, although the clock room could be that. But it doesn't do anything other than rotate and slightly interact. but still layout wise I was like yeah I can see this be a fun game even not being familiar with the music of Rush yeah I'm sure it'll shoot very nicely indeed there's an inner orbit there's an outer orbit there's an inner lane the time machine shot there's the feature behind the drop targets but I don't know it just didn't strike me as being innovative or, I don't know.
    11:47
    I don't want to say the toys are insignificant, because they're obviously not, and they've got custom moulded mechs for the time machine and the clock drum thing as well.
    12:02
    And I'm sure it'll look absolutely lovely with all the lighting effects they've got in there as well. But, coming off the back of other band pins, obviously Guns N' Roses and even Led Zeppelin let's not get into the Led Zeppelin debate but comparing it to other band pins that we've seen they've got a lot more in if you compare it to Led Zeppelin I feel that this game is more packed I agree actually, it was a bad choice of comparison but it's not like Kiss where you have the Gene Simmons head that spits out balls and it's also a John Borg design, by the way.
    12:40
    Similar, it's not a Metallica. But let's just say that once we get the chance to play it both, you might be happily surprised and I could still be disappointed because I already expect too much of it. But I don't think it will disappoint.
    12:59
    Maybe the music will disappoint me, but that's a personal thing. Right. Well, the artwork I like, I don't particularly like the three members of the band staring at you from the playfield menacingly. That's not a great look for me. But the rest of it, I think, looks very nice. And I like the fact they've got shot lines back on the artwork as well. You know, you've actually got lines going from the centre out to each of the shots. So you can see where you've got guides to show you where to shoot, which is a nice feature, which has been somewhat lost, I think, in all the concentration of artistic design. It's actually become quite difficult at times to see where the actual shots are in the game on some earlier models, not particularly Stern in particular, but all sorts of different manufacturers. So it's nice to see that back as well. And it looks like a play field and artwork package that guides you as to what to do, which is always nice. Yeah, on Pinsight I saw some people making comparisons to Tron and the X-Men games, which, yeah, I can see some overlap, I would say, but still obviously not the same layout, it's different. And like I said, I think it looks interesting. So I'm intrigued and I hope to play it soon, but I've been saying that for the past two years. And the last recent game I played was Stranger Things. Yes, that's right, yes. Well, yeah, on that point, we should probably mention at this point that I'm guessing you played Stranger Things at the EAG show. Yes. In London. Yes, that was 2020, just before Europe's lockdown. Yes, so it's probably worth at this point just having a quick mention of the fact that the EAG, which was scheduled for the middle of this month, January, has been postponed until the start of March, actually March this year still. So check the EAG website to get the new dates, and if you were planning to go to that and haven't already rebooked your travel and accommodation or whatever, now would be a good time to do that. and which also mentioned that one of the things which was tied in with that, which I think they always do, but this is an event which is held at Park Avenue in North West London. It's a preview of the products that are going to be on display at EAG by a few of the distributors and manufacturers who reside in Park Avenue. there's a few of them there including Electrocoin who are the stern distributors for the UK and UDC a United Distributing Company who are also a very big coin op distributor and manufacturer so that is still going ahead on January 11th to the 13th so keep an eye on Electrocoin or UDC's social media feed for details of how you can get along to that if you are able. That will be in northwest London on the 11th to 13th of January.
    16:26
    Right. So, thank you for that side note, but let's get back to Rush. So, we already expressed what we think of the game, but what's in it?
    16:41
    Well, yes, good question. A bit harder to do that than it is with Led Zeppelin. I'd say, but... Good one, good one. No, let's not rush to conclusions. No, okay.
    16:58
    Whichever little bell that goes off every time we say the word rush. Right. Now, I do have to make you a compliment. You wrote an article which is published on your website, pinballnews.com, about the reveal of Rush, in which you explore the playfield and all its features, and I highly recommend everybody who is interested in finding out more about this Rush Pin to actually take a look at that article, because I think you did a very good job. Oh, it was a bit of a rush job, I have to say. Yeah, well, that's the problem if you get the press release at the same time as the game is revealed. Yes, although we've tried to take steps to avoid that happening, but to our avail so far, at least with Stern. other manufacturers are more compliant or more helpful in that regard but maybe we'll get there at some point I suppose you should re-look at what the differences are between the Pro and the GD we have a three flipper game which means that there are shots to the side, in this case there is an upper right flipper similar to Tron, probably in the same location as well, if you're familiar with that game. Well, Tron's the flip. It's flipped over. Tron's is the upper left flipper. Is it? Yes, it's a mirror image of that game. The side ramp is on the other side with the Cora and Cora shot being out in the middle and Gem being the side lane. But, yeah, because you can shoot into that lane off the target bank on the left-hand side. Right. On Tron. So you had me fooled on pin side by already mirroring that image. Ah, right. You didn't have a Tron next to me. But, no, that makes sense. Tron being a rumour to be a Funhouse rip-off and Funhouse having the upper left slipper as well. So, yes, I get it, I get it. My apologies. I was looking at the wrong image. or a mirrored image, I should say.
    19:12
    But still, so we have sort of like an upper flipper, similar to Adam's family, I would say. Yes, that's right, yeah, with a side ramp, which is for Super Jetpot. Right, and a couple of, actually there's quite a few shots you can make with that upper flipper. Yeah, there's an inner orbit, which you can make, I think, and you can shoot into the dual scoop, which is an interesting feature, which I don't think we've really seen on any game quite like this before. There is a forward-facing scoop and a side-facing scoop. The forward-facing one can be shot from the two main flippers, and the side one can be shot from the side flipper, and they both work as a pair, those scoops, and lead to an under-plainfield lock, which is a bit like the one in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
    20:07
    No, I haven't played it. Maybe I'm thinking of Avengers. Anyway, you can get the ball locked underneath the playfield and there's a little window where you can see the locked balls. And the balls can kick out. On the Pro model, they only kick out of the front-facing scoop, but on the Limited Edition and Premium, they can kick out of either scoop. I understand. So speaking of double scoops, I tend to think of Jurassic Park also having a double scoop, but not one facing sideways. And a bit like last section here, I think it's the same kind of thing. Right. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those also John Borg designs? I think so. Yeah. So I think I saw a comment Which probably is very accurate That this game has Sort of a 90's nostalgia Layout I would say Elements that you can Connect to Older games Although I do think that for example The drop target lock on this game Sort of an Variation on what we've seen in Deadpool. Yes, that's right. So on Rush there are three drop targets behind which on the premium and LE there is actually a physical ball lock, very similar to the one in Deadpool I think, which turns it into a captive ball.
    21:34
    But on the pro there is I think it's just a stand-up target behind there which doesn't lock the ball but advances or starts multi-ball in that way and launches a ball from the shooter lane in that case rather than releasing the locked one. Right. Which is something we've seen before. But probably the main toy of the game has got to be the time machine, which is right at the very top of the play field in the center. Which is similar to the ring in Lord of the Rings. It works in the same way, I think, by the looks of it.
    22:04
    It's circular. You can shoot the ball into it. It can grab the ball and hold it within the circular magnet. It can throw it out the back. It can probably throw it forward as well. We haven't seen that yet. and there's a ramp leading up to it which on the Pro is static and on the LE and Premium is motorised and can raise and when it's down there's a target beneath the time machine which you hit to advance towards raising the ramp and when it lights and rises you can then shoot into the time machine whereas on the Pro you shoot into the time machine all the time to advance it and it looks like it's got some nice lighting effects on that ramp as well, it seems to have a whole bunch of LEDs associated with it, some nice Perspex sides, which help guide the light and produce some nice effects. So, yeah, looking forward to seeing that in action as well.
    22:56
    And the other toy, I suppose, as we mentioned before, is the drum clock thing, which sits over the pop bumpers in the limited edition and premium versions only. Which, if you haven't seen the Playfield yet, are in a similar area as on Adam's family.
    23:14
    Yes, and there's the same shot all the way through the middle into the orbit, into the outer orbit, I should say. But, yeah, it seems like shooting into the pop bumpers advances the clock, which is like on the face of the bass drum, and it has 12 segments or 12 points on it which light up.
    23:35
    Symbols, are they? I don't know what the symbols are I thought they were going to be astrological symbols but I'm not sure they are definitely not astrological I sort of get the feeling that by using these symbols it sort of reminds me of Led Zeppelin a little bit also the music by the way I'm not sure if I would be offending anybody if I would say that Russia is like the Canadian Led Zeppelin No, I don't think so. I don't think anybody would ever be put out by being compared with Led Zeppelin. Right Well okay So anyway well They call it the Clockwork Angels clock okay and it has a bunch of symbols over the top of it I don know what those symbols are They seem to be symbols related to Rush in various ways I don't think they're related to other bands. Well, I mean, there are other sort of hieroglyphs there that look like, you know, there's like water sign, star sign, or sun, and various other symbols which have meanings in other cultures, shall we say. Okay. Well, anyway, I look forward to playing this game, although it might be a while.
    24:56
    It might be, or yes, because you probably won't be able to come over to EAG, I suppose, or even the preview, if that happens. The preview, probably not. EAG in March, that might still happen, yes. Right, good. What's also interesting to note is that the remaining two band members, Alex Leeson and Geddy Lee, have provided voice calls for the game together and directed by none other than Ed Robertson of the Bare Naked Ladies. Yeah, yes. A fellow Canadian, of course, Ed Robertson. Right. So it's a full Canadian sound package or voice call package, I should say. Right. that. We also didn't get around to mentioning the expression light system which has made a return after first appearing in Led Zeppelin. It is fitted to the limited edition the 1000 limited edition machines and is incorporated into the cabinet side art as a sort of lighting rig down the side.
    26:08
    It's also going to be available as an add-on kit for both the Premium and the Pros, though whether it will be exactly the same as the ones in the Limited Edition, we don't know whether it will be multicoloured like that or whether it will be single colour. Interestingly, I haven't seen any videos that show that expression light system in use. Well, they're probably still programming that. Well, yeah, it does make you wonder. But they did say that they're going to be producing the Limited Editions in the middle of January. Right. Actually, surprisingly, or maybe not, Stern announced that they start production with the Pro model. Yeah, that's something which they've been doing for a while, I think. They're trying to get those Pro models out to operators to get the game experienced a lot more and drive sales. They start producing the ones that really just go straight into the homes, by and large. Obviously, there are operators and barcades who want to have a limited edition, but the thousand machines are mainly targeted at home buyers.
    27:14
    But, yeah, it's the same with the insider connected kits which they produce. They wanted them to go to operators first to get those out. So this is something which they are – we know Gary is certainly very keen on pushing the operators or feeding the operator market and keeping that alive and building it. He still sees that as the heart of Stern's sales. So he wants to get those early machines out to operators and get as many people as possible to experience the game. So that's why they're building a run of pros first. Right. Now, speaking of experiencing the game, the first chance to experience the game will be January 7th, where Jack Danger will be hosting a live gameplay stream on his Deadflip channel,
    28:14
    which I think starts at 6 or so. 6 p.m. Chicago time, yes. Yes, exactly. So that will be interesting to watch. Usually the design team is also around to answer any questions, if any. and um i'm not sure what they're doing yet but but stern are part of the virtual ces show right which um which is taking which is starting today actually yes so you may be able to see some stuff from from rush at that if you uh if you get on get to the ces website and um and see who who's participating in that stern is certainly part of it what they're showing whether they're showing more than just their promotional videos or having somebody talk about the game. We don't know. But it's worth checking it out just to see if you can get a look at the gameplay before Friday's reveal with Jack. Right, okay. So one of the interesting things, and we briefly touched on that when you mentioned the artist for this game.
    29:23
    The story behind that I read is that he basically pitched, contacted Stern and wanted to do a game design to which Stern basically pitched to five or six artists, all the Rush team,
    29:45
    to see who would come up with the most interesting designs. And then Michael won in the end. So he was selected as the artist to do the art package. As far as I know, it's the first time that Stern is pitching artwork jobs to artists to see who comes up with the best package in their eyes. So that could be an interesting thing to note as well. Yes, I suppose it's also interesting from that point of view that Rush didn't have their sort of go-to artist that they would direct Stern to and say, well, if you want to use our license, then you need to use this artist because they have associated with us, they've done a lot of work for us and we trust them to produce representations of the band and their image, which will be in keeping with their values. So obviously this time Stern put it out there and I would assume showed the band or their representatives the pitches that had been received and between them they worked out who they were comfortable working with. Which is good because I hadn't seen, looking at Michael's portfolio of work, he doesn't seem to have any prior history of working with Rush. so it's not something which he's familiar with in the past, in fact he says he didn't even know much about the band when he first started but he did the research and found out all about them and all the symbols and the history of the discology, discography I should say of their work and incorporate all those elements in his pitch and obviously it worked. He also said he'd been He contacted us a few times in the past to try and get involved in doing art for pinball and hadn't heard anything back. Yeah, those pasts. All of a sudden he had. Yeah, I know.
    31:54
    Don't you hate it when you don't hear anything back? Yeah, so I know he's hopeful that that will lead to future work with the company and on some of their other licensed titles. Well, I have to say, I do like the art on the Pro and the Limited Edition cabinets.
    32:17
    The Premium one, I was a little bit like, oh, not sure whether I want that as a centerpiece in my living room, but to each his own, I suppose. Are you talking about the backgrounds or the translights? No, the cabinet side art I'm mostly referring to. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that's a bit sort of Star Wars-y, isn't it? Yeah, Doctor Who comes to mind. Yeah, it's a space theme, but obviously there's a certain amount of all that in the film. It ties in with the theme, I suppose. Yes, I think so, yeah. Anyway, we should probably rush to other subjects. Yes.
    32:59
    Well, we mentioned just now about Jack Danger streaming the first live play of the game on Friday evening. Well, we have some other news about Jack, don't we? Yes, Jack has officially joined the Stern Pinball design team as a pinball designer. Obviously, as we reported a couple of episodes ago, he already designed the Jurassic Park pin, the home model of Jurassic Park. and that was quite a surprise although it was no secret that he was working on a game design for Stern but apparently they liked that or Jack so much that they offered him an in-house position as pinball designer yeah congratulations to Jack and to Stern and the other designers in the team John, Brian and Keith so it's a powerful team they have there now but I wonder what that means for Deadflip? Well, Jack indicated that Deadflip will continue as it usually is, so he'll be streaming I think almost every weekday.
    34:15
    And he's still streaming games from other manufacturers as well. Right, okay, well, that's a good deal then. It seems like a win-win for everyone there. Right, yeah, so, and I have to say, Stern may be lucky to have Jack Danger come on as a new talent, but we're also happy to have Jack Danger as a streamer, because he's brought a lot to the hobby, I suppose. Yes, absolutely. I think he's expanded the audience for streaming of pinball games, and as a result of that, the playing of pinball games. Right, okay. So, now I already can see in my notes what the next topic is, so it's time for a nap while Martin reads out the code updates for games and that's quite a lot this time so I'll be back in 20 minutes ok I'll wake you up with I'll say the word rush a bell will ring and you'll wake up so yeah there's been a lot of code this month from Stern and mainly driven I'd say by pushing the insider connected system into some of the back catalogue of games, but also taking the opportunity to fix a few bugs and add a few new features as well. So we'll just run down these quickly. So the monsters, that got version 1.10, which added a lot more speech, added things like the DJ mixer, added a new couch potato challenge, which is a two ball times multi ball with two stages, which end when it's complete or the time runs out all the balls drain. There's a chattering teeth, progressive wall, multiple tweaks and some new adjustments. But that didn't include Insider Connected, interestingly enough. So that will come at some point. There will be a second update which will include that and the associated achievements that go with it. Stranger Things had version 1.05 to add Insider Connected achievements and a few bug fixes. Godzilla had version 0.85 which as you'd expect is still in development and um which also did the same thing and the beatles as well remember that yes well that's got version 1.20 which also added uh entirely connected and a few bugs aerosmith yes all the way back there yep um that that also had entirely connected added a black knight sort of rage had two updates actually um one which um added Entirely Connected achievements and fixed a few bugs and the other fixed a few other bugs. Guardians of the Galaxy, version 1.09. Same again, Entirely Connected and all the achievements. Led Zeppelin had it added as well and The Mandalorian had two updates, version 1.000 and version 1.010, which added quite a few tweaks to the rules and some bug fixes, but that also didn't have Entirely Connected at it yet. So Entirely Connected is apparently coming soon for Batman 66, The Mandalorian, Star Wars and The Monsters. I think that's all pending licensor agreement over the nature of the achievements and the awards that you get for doing that. So yes, as you can see, a lot of code this month. Congratulations to the coding team at Sterling getting all that stuff out before the end of the year. So there's a lot of games and a lot of owners there. We're very happy to get all that. And nice to see some love being given to some of the older, relatively older games as far as getting bug fixes and the entirely connected added to them. And I think it's probably time to wake up Jonathan now. So I'll give him a quick check.
    38:14
    Well, actually, it's not you that woke me up. It's my phone ringing. Well, that was handy. It was like an alarm. but you know what that means don't we yeah well if you hear the Clash London calling it can only be one person it's our good friend Gary Flower calling ok well let's get him on and see what he has to say hey Gary happy new year hi guys I just wanted to wish you a happy new year and let you know the good news I've updated the software on my telephone Oh, good. So, next time... Oh, Gary?
    38:53
    Well, that looks well, doesn't it? Are you still there, Gary? Sounds like his phone could do with a code update as well. Well, I think he got one, but it doesn't work that well, apparently. He wants the one that fixes the last one.
    39:06
    Yeah, probably. Well, terribly sorry about that. I was really hoping to have Gary finally come on the show. Let's make that a resolution for this year. Finally get Gary on the show. properly yes yes yes okay well i'm sure i'm sure all the uh all the times he hasn't made it on he's probably probably have a a pin cast all to himself all the things he wanted to tell us at some point we should do a best of gary uh episode best of no gary yes right okay anyway moving on to our second headline, which is regarding Multimorphic, the company of Jerry Stellenberg that is developing the P3 platform, I would say. Yeah, in-board platform. And, of course, not just Jerry, but a big team of people now. Well, yeah, the team is expanding, I would say. Exactly. So we have two new additions to the Multimorphic team in the form of Colin McAlpine and Bowen Kerens. And they will be very familiar names to anybody who follows competitive pinball, I would say, because both top international players, very highly ranked in the world rankings, and of course Bowen had been working previously with Spooky Pinball working on their rules.
    40:38
    Rick and Morty mostly, I think. Yeah, in order to basically enhance them and make them accessible and enjoyable and deep enough as well for all levels of players.
    40:51
    But now, well, he left them a while ago. I think we reported that in an earlier Pincast and he's now teamed up with Colin and they are working with the Multimorphic team where they will apparently be involved in, and I quote, the full creative process on current and future Multimorphic titles with a special focus on game rules and ensuring P3 games are fun and engaging for players of all skill levels.
    41:22
    So there you go. They'll be working with the game layout playfield designers and rule designers and software coders to make the games more fun, basically. Right. Okay. What I found very interesting, I'm not sure whether you know this, but obviously, first of all, thanks to Jerry Stellenberg, We had the heads up on this news so we could launch it at the same time as it would be revealed by Jerry on our respective websites, pinballnews and pinball-magazine.com.
    42:03
    And what happened on Facebook was that former Deep Root designer John Norris chimed in and he started basically offering his services to design rule sets. for Multimorphic as well.
    42:21
    Yes, I did see that. Yeah, and well, obviously, they just hired two people to do that, so I'm not sure whether there's any need for John, but on the other hand, it's an open platform, so if John would like to design a complete new rule set for Heist, for example, nothing is stopping him other than making sure that he has a P3, platform himself to develop and test the code that he would write if he would want to. But it's interesting to see that the DeepRoot, former DeepRoot employees are seeking new ways to generate some income, I would say. Yes, we'll move on to them a little bit later and talk about what's been happening at DeepRoot. and Deep Root Pinball in particular. But, yes, I mean, I've seen John a few times offering his services in... He describes himself as more sort of a rules guy rather than a playfield designer. Yeah. Which is a bit strange because he was both, really. He was employed as both at Deep Root. And he had his own thing. And got deep before that, long before that. Oh, yes. Yeah, well, he's got a big back history there. But, yeah, anyway, he seems to be looking more towards what he can do with rules now, which is maybe a little more easily achieved without him to have an entire playfield production line, which is, as we've seen, not the simplest thing in the world to build up from scratch. Right. But there's more news about Multimorphic.
    44:13
    Indeed there is, yes. I should probably just before we move on I should also just mention that I did ask Gerry about whether Colin and Bowen would be going back and looking at any of the existing titles with a view to changing the rules or adding extra code to them and he said that that's not their plan at the moment but not to rule anything out but yes carrying on Multimorphic have added an upgraded flipper assemblies to the P3 pinball platform, which apparently deliver more or better ball control and more consistent flipper power. Now, all new P3 machines coming from the Multimorphic Factory in Round Rock in Texas will include these enhanced flippers. They're also available to any existing P3 owners for the princely sum of $40. So not a huge outlay in order to improve the feel of the flippers if you've got one of those games. They're available to pre-order right now. They do need new software in order to take advantage of the upgrade kits. If they haven't got the new software, then the flippers will behave exactly as they do now. But you can download new software from the Multimorphic website once you've got the kits, and it will take advantage of the new hardware. So that's a nice little and relatively cheap upgrade if you have a P3. Right. Well, it's always great to improve the quality of your flippers and enhance your game experience, I suppose. Absolutely. Who wouldn't want to do that? Right. So, and, well, this time let me take care of the software updates. Okay. Because unlike Stern, this is a rather short list. There is a new code update for Sorcerer's Apprentice, version 1.8.3.0. which adds more than 60 additional voice calls, including more insults, a few bug fixes, support for new flipper assemblies, and a couple of gameplay behavior tweaks. Yes, that's right. The insults, I think, can be switched on and off if you don't want your game to insult you while you're playing it.
    46:35
    You can disable those and just have it tell you nice things. I would just love it if you would tweak that adjustment, and if you turn it off, that the game would insult you for turning it off. That would be so hilarious.
    46:53
    I like your thinking. Okay, well, I think that wraps it up for News from Multimorphic for December and the very start of January. Right, and we already briefly mentioned Deep Root Pinball in relation to John Norris, But there is some news about Deep Root Pinball, and it's not the best news if you're hoping to buy one of their games, I suppose. Yeah, I think that's fair.
    47:22
    Most of the Deep Root family of companies file for bankruptcy, which is Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is the one which is like the end of the line, really. chapter 11 is the one where they're protected from their creditors and trying to restructure and carry on trading but chapter 7 is okay basically closing the doors and locking them in game over so that's for a whole raft of deep root companies but a couple of smaller ones actually haven't filed or hadn't filed for bankruptcy until recently Yes, that's right. So the ones which did were Policy Services, Wizard Mode Media, Deep Root Pinball,
    48:09
    Deep Root, the two funds, Growth Runs Deep Fund and 575 Fund. There's a couple of three- and five-year adventure funds. Deep Root Tech, which is the parent company of Deep Root Pinball. Deep Root Studios, which is the animation bit that was based over in Utah, and Deep Root Capital Management, which obviously failed in their name.
    48:38
    So there are quite a few companies there and they have been given or Robert Mueller has been given extra time to file the Statement of financial affairs and schedule In fact only until tomorrow at the time of this podcasting We're recording this pincast on the 5th of January and the clock runs out on that on the 6th. Not to say it won't be extended again because that often happens, especially if there are things like Christmas, New Year and all that that stop.
    49:12
    Oh, that's a good idea. Give him extra time to work on those. Exactly, yes. Anyway, we'll see what happens tomorrow, whether that gets extended again. In the meantime, if you are owed money from all games, from Deep Root Pinball, there was a meeting of creditors scheduled on January the 28th. Does it also count for the people that invested in any of the Deep Root funds? I would think it would, yes. I think so. it'll be for the whole range of companies so yes which includes the that should be a happy get together 5755 I would hope it would be a virtual one for everyone's safety and I mean that in both senses but that's it does appear sorry appears that there is no there are no assets available to pay creditors according to the court and they say, therefore, please do not file a proof of claim now. If it later appears that assets are available to pay creditors, the clerk of the court will send you another notice telling you how to file your proof of claim and the deadline for doing so. But basically they're saying, well, as far as we can see, there's no money left and there's no assets. So good luck, really.
    50:38
    We'll find out more on January 28th, anyway, at 9 o'clock. when they have the meeting of the creditors. I suppose we'll be addressing this in our next pincast at the beginning of February.
    50:52
    Yes, I guess so. I'm not really sure what's going to happen there, other than the fact that we're told that there isn't anything, and at some point the motion or the bankruptcy will be granted, and that will be the end of that tale. But of course it won't be, because there are assets. I was going to say there must be prototypes of the games that they worked on and assets to or whatever you need to build those prototypes. Yeah, well, there's equipment that's been bought. We've seen the printed circuit board machine that they bought, and I assume bought and paid for. Maybe they didn't, and maybe it's been taken back, or it belongs to somebody else, or it was leased, or who knows the story behind that. I'm sure this will all come out in due course. There was an awful lot of paperwork associated with an event like this. Right, but still, the assets that we have seen in pictures and the prototypes, I doubt will recover $60 million. It's very difficult to imagine they'll have much in the way of financial value. The games themselves, yes, if there are two Razor games, then yeah, maybe they can bring in, I don't know, $20,000 each, just for rarity value but then as in all almost all bankruptcies there's a very strict pecking order when it comes to who gets that money and normally right at the very top is the government and the IRS or the tax authorities who will probably take any money which is recovered then there'll be some secured creditors and then there'll be the unsecured creditors who will be the people who paid for games and didn't get them all those people who were waiting for a game in lieu of payment from Zidware you know as well so if they didn't take the cash offer earlier and waited to get a Raza later down the line they will be unsecured creditors as well so I wouldn't imagine that there'd be any money left by the time it gets down to them but that's normally the way with these things, we've seen this happen a few times in the past so anyway, as you say, next month we should have some more details about exactly what happened at the meeting of the creditors on the 28th of January Right, so slightly de-grutilated and yet not exactly as we all know, one of the titles that John Papadu was working on which he carried over to Deepwood, was Alice in Wonderland. Yeah. But that was not the first time that John worked on an Alice in Wonderland design. He actually worked on that at Bally Williams as well, when he joined them, rejoined them, I should say, probably at the late 80s, I would say.
    53:58
    And interestingly enough, there was a prototype, which recently surfaced again. Okay. Pinball Profile did a podcast with Michael Henley who worked with John on that game.
    54:13
    And there's a topic on Pinside. If you just use the search term Alice in Wonderland, it will pop right up. That will show you pictures of the original prototype that John did for Belly that back in the day wasn't taken into production. But it's still interesting to take a look at. Very good. Yeah, well, let's head over and have a look at that. Right. Something you mentioned there which I only saw in passing yesterday, and maybe you know more about it than I do, or you read more about it because I was in a bit of a rush at the time.
    54:50
    No? Okay. Trying to figure out, yeah, what? No. Yeah, thank you. Sorry. No, I've got this. Sorry. Okay. yeah I saw we were talking about pinball profile I saw that Jeff Deolis said he was going to stop doing pinball profile to take care of some personal things I suppose well he was intimating that there had been some threats flying around and some harassment of him which caused him to stop doing any more Pinball profiles. Well, who did he arrest? Well, I don't know.
    55:36
    I don't know what the story behind it is and probably never will know, but it was another one of, you know, sort of harks back to this week in Pinball, didn't it, with Jeff there and the reason that he gave for stopping doing his weekly updates. Well, and Kaneda's also being arrested, I suppose. we have a new hobby harassing pinball podcasters can they just be harassed rather than the other way around presumably people are having to pay to get beyond the firewall in order to actually harass him yeah or companies harassing him for leaking all their secret info oh well yeah no surprise there then I was sorry to hear about Jeff anyway I hope that resolves itself very soon Oh, yeah, absolutely. Best wishes to Jeff for solving that issue and, of course, for the new year.
    56:33
    Well, he did so many pinball profiles, it's hard to have listened to all of them, but a very good interviewer, I would say. So we hope to have him back soon. Yes, indeed. Okay.
    56:47
    So moving on to some slightly better news then, after a few minutes of somewhat depressing stuff, let's move on to what's been happening at American Pinball, because, well, they moved to their new place a while ago, but they've been holding a little ceremony there.
    57:07
    Yeah, I even got an invite. Me too. Yeah. Not that I could attend, but apparently about a hundred people could and that was I think it was December 16th where they had a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Palatine location this is an Ametron location and American Pinball is part of the Ametron group at that address so So about 100 people in attendance for the official opening. But in the meantime, they were already working there. So not a big change other than just a ceremony. Yeah, it's kind of an official opening, you know, where they can invite officials, supporters and community members, elected officials and the mayor as well, again, to be there. And we'll get together, hopefully socially distanced. Right, yeah. And that was actually all the news from American Pinball this month. Yeah, not a huge amount. They're still busy building games. Good luck to them. They are, yes.
    58:24
    Good. Well, moving on to Jersey Jack Pinball, which is just a block away from Stern Pinball, if you know. Not much news there. No.
    58:36
    They did release a Jersey Jack holiday show podcast, in which I think the entire factory crew was invited as well to explain what they are doing.
    58:53
    Well, it's a holiday podcast, so all these people are wishing you happy holidays and saying that they are working on a new game that will hopefully come out in the future. Yeah, so... Yeah, it is what it is. Exactly, yeah. Not much news there. No, if you want to hear... Yeah, of course people are working on new games. What else do we expect? Yes, and code updates for existing games, of course. Right. And, oh well.
    59:28
    And all Jersey Jack pinball games now have wireless support and scorebridge integration, except Pirates of the Caribbean. but that's still in beta and not released yet but that's coming as well yes it does exist at least and it's nice they've all got scorebit and wireless support for downloading updates and obviously for the scorebit side as well so I think you need to buy yourself a wireless dongle for those games prior to Guns N' Roses in order to activate that But you can always plug into the Ethernet port in the meantime if you haven't got a dongle. And enjoy some scorebit enjoyment and achievements and record your high scores. And play against other people. So, good stuff. Yeah. So, I was actually surprised to receive a call from Jersey Jack Pinball founder Jack Buonieri just after Christmas, I believe. a very pleasant call lots of details that I can't discuss here but I figured it would be interesting to at least let you know that we're on speaking terms I'd be shocked if you weren't well you know we had a little situation last year that we didn't go into but yeah well let's just see what 2022 will bring in terms of that situation I think we're all good anyway we're all good, absolutely, no problem there and I just hope that we can move on and finally do whatever what we were supposed to be doing in the first place last year already, so anyway let that be a teaser for upcoming episodes Yes. Let's move on to... We're working on something big, people. Something really big.
    61:36
    Yes. We should turn that into a podcast. A holiday podcast. Yeah, Haggis Pinball. And some news from Australia. Finally. Yes. Okay, so the latest news from Damien from Haggis Pinball. He said that this was an update that came out in December. Video update, so you can watch it on their Facebook page. You can indeed and I think on YouTube as well. All the Celts games were supposed to have been built by the end of December. So we don't know whether they actually achieved that but probably did. It was assuming they did, yes. It was relatively close to the end of December when he released that latest update so we could see the end in sight for those. There was some suggestions around that there been extra kelp zolders taken recently and that those games were being built as part of that batch which would be ahead of the people who ordered the Fathom Revisited game some time ago. Still I can if you're already building that game you can build a few more that's earth shattering. It makes sense to do it that way but it probably wouldn't take very long either it's only a matter of a few days I would have thought, for the extra orders that they might have taken. But some people's noses were put out of joint thinking that somebody was jumping the queue and getting their game built ahead of theirs. Well, technically that's true, but it makes sense as well. It does, yeah. But I think that was really because people hadn't had an update for a while and were wondering what was going on with the Fathom Revisited order. But what is happening with them is that production for that game is due to begin in January. So now. This month. Woohoo! Yes, it may already have started by the time you're listening to this. So Fathom Revisited should be on the line and those games,
    63:38
    lots of them I think were ordered, should be produced. And I think it was the Mermaid Edition that was coming out that was going to be made first, if I remember correctly. Yeah. Oh, we'll see. Things change. and, well, let them get things in production. I mean, it took quite a while for Kelts to be taken into production, so let's see how it goes this time, because we still have supply chain issues hurting everybody in the business, basically. So let's not get ahead of ourselves or day. And one last fun fact to mention is that Celts apparently won Best Modern Pinball at the Pincenetti Show Congratulations to Haggis then on winning that which it's good that they had one there and it was obviously well received Apparently yes and oh well looking forward to hearing more from Haggis and I'm really curious to see how those fat and revisited games will turn out to be Yeah, good. Well, next month we should have more news on weather and how production is going on that game. Right. And while we're on the other side of the world, let's move on to Homepin Factory in Taiwan by Kalinowski. He showed lots of parts coming in for This is Spinal Tap, which is their upcoming game. Yeah. Think about controller PCBs, RAMs, plastics, coils, what have you. All sorts of parts are coming in, which is a good thing. The less good thing is that they are still waiting on some parts before they actually can begin production.
    65:36
    So there is a slight delay, which he's not denying. but he's making good use of that delay by adding more general illumination to the game right, ok and I talked to Mike for over an hour yesterday which was as always a very pleasant call he was able to share some images with me of what this Spinal Tap is going to look like and obviously I can't share those, so I won't.
    66:12
    But from what I've seen, it looks to be an interesting game. I'd be shocked if you said otherwise, to be honest. Yeah, basically I told Mike that obviously looks are one thing, but the most important thing is the game should be fun and I think it's also very important to pay attention to the choreography of the game so that if you shoot a ball into a scoop you don't have to wait 20 seconds before the game interacts with what happened. Yeah, it also needs to shoot well. The shots need to be fun and not reject the ball all the time like we've seen in some other games in the past. Certainly the initial offerings from various companies have not always shot as well as they could do. Yeah. So, but according to Mike, a lot has been improved. So let's wait and see. And hopefully he will be able to show the final product, basically, soon.
    67:29
    Yes. Well, it was supposed to be before the end of the year. Yes. But I asked him about that as well. There was a contractual obligation to... Marshall, wasn't it? Marshall Amplifiers? They had an anniversary. They had an anniversary, and the game should be present there.
    67:47
    And I asked about that, and basically Mike was off the hook, as he had not received confirmation to use certain elements that he wants to use in the game, and therefore it could not be displayed.
    68:06
    So licensing issues can work for you as well. Yes, that's a nice get-out clause. I like it, yes. Okay, so we'll again wait to see what happens with This Is Spinal Tap and how production for that is coming along in our next Pincast at the beginning of February. Okay, so while we're on the tour of pinball companies, let's head up to, well... Europe. Yeah, head back, well, I wouldn't say back to Europe, but head to Europe for Pinball Brothers. And they've been busy. They've been revealing their limited version of the game. Of Alien, that is. Absolutely, yes, good point. I was taking that for granted. But yeah, it's Alien, limited version. If you're wondering why it was limited version, not limited edition, all that became a bit clearer a bit later, and we'll come to that. But the limited version has illuminated interior side art,
    69:07
    which looks very impressive and really ties the game together. I don't want to say that, no. But it has blue powder coat side armour with a sort of alien head, shape. It has a shaker motor, has some beacons on the back box which are shorter than the ones on the original Highway Pinball version. But that was often going to be an advantage for people who have normal height ceilings. So they should be able to get that in without having to cut holes in the ceiling for their beacons. It has different back glass art to the standard edition and has a numbered dog tag on the apron, illuminated backboard art, anti-reflective glass and some different pop bumper caps which show the eggs being open rather than about to open. That makes a big difference but it is different from the original version. Yeah and if I'm not mistaken the cabinet art is also different and I have to say I kind of like it.
    70:13
    Yeah I think when I first found out the details of it I was a bit underwhelmed. You know, this is the limited version. There's not a huge amount of difference. But overall, I think, given the choice, it would definitely be worthwhile going for the limited version over the standard version. Right.
    70:33
    Well, speaking of that limited version, there's a charity auction being held for the first game that will come off the production line.
    70:43
    And that game will have the serial number LV 426. Why is that significant? Apparently that's significant because the planet where the aliens were found is called LV 26. And hence the limited version. Sorry, LV 426. Yes, hence the LV limited version. And it could also be 426. I haven't seen the movie so I'm not sure whether I'm pronouncing it correctly. 426, yes.
    71:15
    So, yes well they've been having this charity auction for that particular number which is it's only open to people who have already ordered or in fact already purchased a limited version of the game and it's just the auction is just for the right to have that number it doesn't include the actual machine itself so you still have to buy the machine and then you can bid to have LV46 as the number of that machine. Proceeds are going to a good cause which hasn't been specified by Pinball Brothers yet. And as you said, this will be the very first game to leave the factory. The first limited version game to leave the factory. Which I'm not sure is a good thing or a bad thing because it means if there are any issues with the games when they get to customers' homes that they want to fix it's too late. But hopefully they will have ironed out all bugs by that stage because it's not like they don't know how to make Alien games. They've been doing it for a while. Right.
    72:19
    Yeah, well, that's the news, the official news. I'm still curious whether we get to see the Queen taken into production this year. That's a game that was exhibited probably up until now in London and it's about to be removed from the Queen pop-up merchandise store. Yes, literally any day now.
    72:46
    And I should also mention, going back to that auction that we were talking about, the auction is open until that first game ships, which is going to be sometime this month, but it's not specified exactly when. When I looked a few days ago, the current highest bid was $10,000. Which is already, for quite some time, that the bid is $10,000. So not much activity going on there No I think that may have put most of the people off bidding but remember that just for a number You got to buy the game on top I just take LV 427 and I be just as happy with it. Yeah, I'll get 428 and just file off the little bit of the 8, so it looks like it says 6. That's very, very smart. Yeah.
    73:33
    I'll just go to eBay and get a dog tag made up with the same number on it for five bucks or something. Anyway, yes, so moving on from Pinball Brothers, thank you for mentioning about Queen. Yes, you reminded me about that. So Spooky Pinball, let's go back to the US, and they have some news and some new code. Yes, well, you know how I love new code. Who doesn't? case yeah version 1.05 for both halloween and ultraman which has a new mode added a stalker mode or a dada mode yeah stalker for halloween and dada for ultraman yeah and um and a bunch of behavior changes and bug fixes.
    74:32
    And of course they're still in the process of building these games and I'm not sure how far into the production they are.
    74:45
    On Pinside Total Nuclear Annihilation 2.0 is also still being rumored as coming up at some point in the future, but I expect them to finish at least the production for Halloween and Ultraman first. And who knows whether they go into that game, TNA 2.0, at that point, or whether they first do another game. We don't know yet. Yeah, it would be interesting because we don't think Scott is currently working with Spooky, do we, on future games? Right. And, yeah, Scott is actually involved with Multimorphic at the moment. Yeah. but that doesn't mean that a rerun of Total Nuclear Annihilation is out of the question.
    75:36
    But that's up to Spooky and Scott to figure out how they are going to do that. Yeah, sure. So while we're looking ahead, on Facebook, Spooky did mention that 2021 was their best year yet. obviously record breaking game reveal with two games on the same day going into becoming available to buy and bringing in the biggest revenue ever for Spooky Pimple and they're looking to go even bigger in 2022 which is this year Well, they moved to the new premises last year and expanded their existing building Yeah, so they're already in their bigger facility yet and still expecting 2022 to be bigger than last year, so that makes me wonder what we can expect from Spooky Well, one of the things we can expect is some new people because they've got two new team members to help them get even bigger They've got DJ who is doing programming and helping the game design. Is that a wiki-wiki-digi?
    76:53
    It could well be. I think we'll have to wait and see. We'll get back to you in February with the answer to that question. And also, Luke. We've already got a Luke, but we've got another Luke. Oh, I thought it was the same Luke. I don't think so. I think it's a new Luke who's going to be involved with quality assurance,
    77:13
    game checking, and game development as well. So congratulations to them on joining the spooky team. Right. So, okay. Well, so that sort of rounds it up for spooky pinball. I think it does.
    77:30
    But so moving up north, we have Pinball Adventures of Andrew, I forgot his last name. McBain. Yes, McBain. There you go. for well he has been teasing Pony Factory and Elements for quite some time you pointed out to me and everybody else by the way that while their Facebook is completely dead on Instagram they are actually frequently posting and the past month they have been or he has been posting some photos of a playfield that's being assembled, one.
    78:21
    It's a Pony Factory. Yeah, the interesting thing on that is that apparently all targets and assemblies that are
    78:35
    on the game have connectors on them, which is making it easy to supposedly, for assembly, so you don't have to solder the wires on, you just connect them to the right connector. Yeah, but something I noticed on looking at that picture was that the actual leads on those connectors are very, very short, which kind of leads me to think, well, these days you generally have a circuit board under the playfield, which everything will plug into, or a number of circuit boards which will then be linked together, so everything only has a short lead onto a circuit board which then has a controller on it which is linked back to the main processor well on the pictures that they've been showing or Andrew's been showing on Instagram all the leads are probably about I don't know about two, three inches long I guess yeah something like that which means there's no way they're going to reach your controller board anywhere so they must be having a wiring loom that's going past all these that these are plugging into. Yeah, very old school. Yeah, it is old school. And all the switches, of course, I notice have also got diodes on them as well, which kind of suggests it's going to be part of a switch matrix rather than dedicated switches going to a dedicated controller board somewhere. So, yeah, it looks like it's going to be quite traditional design with a switch matrix, probably a lamp matrix, and not an Ethernet-connected system.
    80:15
    Right. Okay, so, well, we'll hope to figure out how that's, what the plans are or see a fully functioning game anytime soon. It's also interesting to see in the example, in the game that's being built there, they seem to be using a mixture of Williams and Stern coils. for the solenoids.
    80:40
    Which struck me as just humorous that a new startup company would be using other people's cores. Right. Yeah.
    80:50
    Last episode we also mentioned the new website for Pinball Adventures, which actually has been updated to the point where at least on the the punny factory and elements uh pages there are some more info yes and apparently both games will uh have a production run of 100 standard editions and there will be 12 um sort of limited editions but they're either called an engraved edition for a punny factory or a knight edition, with a K, that is, for elements. You should probably say those are the maximum numbers, rather than they're definitely going to make 100. Well, yeah, for... Okay.
    81:44
    Up to 100 machines and up to 12 of the limited edition ones, as you say. They will get to those numbers.
    81:54
    If the game is fun enough, I'm sure they will. Indeed, and priced well, and is reliable enough. That's right, and has a good reputation with it. Right. One of the other interesting things, well, let's just talk about the engraved edition because that's something we saw when we first started talking about Punny Factory was that Andrew was very keen on having this fully wooden dark wood cabinet with the logo embossed, or the opposite of embossed, engraved into the side. And that's still a thing. but only 12 of those will ever be produced by the looks of it and it's also interesting they all come with that smokestack topper which is something which seemed like a bit of a wacky idea when it was first mooted that you can have a smoke machine inside the game which as the punnies are manufactured will give a puff of smoke out of the top of the bat box I usually blow a few resistors and I get the smoke as well Yeah, probably not. We all want the smoke. Yes, the magic smoke comes out. That's right.
    83:03
    Well, the actual smoke stack topper itself is included on all models, or both models, of a Pony Factory, but the actual smoke machine itself is not. So that's an option. So you can add that or not, depending on whether or not you want to do.
    83:22
    And also something else, which we spoke about before, when we were talking about elements was that we said it doesn't have a backbox LCD, but it has a topper LCD. Yeah, well, that apparently isn't the same kind of thing as a sort of standard LCD. According to the description, it says the topper LCD displays random animations of the elements the player is fighting. So not the score. It says the score is shown on a unique, what they call, bow tie that has a built-in LCD screen. I assume that means the bottom arch. Right. When it says bow tie. It says built-in LCD screen with all the bells and whistles. I'm not quoting that. Sounds like bells and whistles. Yeah. There you go. That makes me wonder, and I don't want to be skeptical, goal, but if it's just showing random animations, why would you bother getting that topper?
    84:26
    Oh, I assume it comes with the game. I don't think it's an option. I think it's part of it. Right, okay. Then at least I would expect that the animations would at least tie in with gameplay instead of being random. It says random animations of elements the player is fighting. Of the elements that the player is fighting. So if you're fighting a particular element, it will show animations of that element. If it would really be random, then it makes no sense to me. It may have multiple animations of the same element. So it'll cycle through them or pick random ones. Right. Anyway, interestingly, the idea is that it's there to give people who are watching the game some indication of what the player is doing. But, I don't know.
    85:15
    Anyway, it's all a bit mixed up, I would say, because the image of the Knights Edition, which is the limited version of Elements, has, the picture is obviously Photoshop, and they haven't quite got the layer of the display in the right place, so that's a bit misplaced there, and the picture of it also calls it a limited edition on the side.
    85:39
    So, whatever. There's only 12 of them, so it doesn't really matter that much. Right, okay. so well that rounds it up for pinball adventures in Canada well there's still a few companies left that we haven't discussed and the main reason is there is no news to report on those companies these companies being Chicago Gaming who are probably busy building Cacus Canyon and Dutch Pinball who are busy building the Big Lebowski at least that's what we hope. Obviously, we had some holidays, and people may have taken a few days off.
    86:21
    But, oh well, as long as there's no news, it's good news, I suppose. I think so, yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, there is some other news in the category sad news. Yes, very sad indeed. Let's start with a couple of people that we've lost very recently.
    86:45
    Mark Mandeltort, founder, CEO, president of Marco Specialties, died unexpectedly at his home. Yes, and I have to say I was really shocked by that. Yes, me too. Yeah, such a nice guy, so dedicated to promoting pinball in all its forms. I mean, who else would set up that huge, great travelling circus, that is the Marco stand that goes to so many different shows, sometimes even multiple shows at once, and has all the newest Stern games there.
    87:21
    A very modest part selection compared to what they offer on their website and have installed. They weren't going there really to sell the games. They weren't going there to sell the parts. They were going there to promote Stern Pinball and to get everybody excited about playing the latest games. and they put on an amazing display and I think it's going to be a continuing testament to Mark's enthusiasm and heartfelt love of pinball that that keeps going even after his really sad death and I think so many people in the industry were shocked by that you and I both yes and my sincerest condolences to the Mandeltort family and all employees of Mark of Specialties absolutely and we absolutely lost someone I cannot imagine that anybody who knew Mark was not looking forward to seeing him at a show it's a sign that it's a comfort to see him there and know that he's going to be there not just to talk to but also to put on an amazing display of pinball and such a massive promotion for the game right So, and yeah, so words are difficult to find, but it was also, for me, it was always a pleasure running into Mark at pinball shows, always having a little chat and really great guy to, well, to see at the shows. And, you know, what he did for the business and for the hobby is probably so, so big, not many people will realize that. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I had to turn to our good friend Gary Flower to put his legacy in perspective, the article in People News. So thanks to Gary for helping out with that. Gary knew Mark better than I did he'd been to visit Marco's warehouse in South Carolina I think it is Lexington, South Carolina I think and visited him there and interviewed him for Replay magazine which I was fortunate enough to be able to tap into Gary's knowledge for the story about Mark's death which is it's always difficult to cover stories like that but I think Gary is very good at that thanks for that and so just when we sort of got well I wouldn't say we got over the death of Mark but when it sort of settled in and you move on basically then the news hit that Alan, and I'm not sure if I pronounced his last name correctly,
    90:30
    Seahack? Seahack is how I always called him. Right. Who is a very well-known pinball operator from New York City and often spotted visitor at pinball shows, also passed away. and if you knew Alan, that was quite a character he was instantly recognizable and again somebody so full of enthusiasm for pinball no filter no, he would tell it like it was absolutely in some senses he was every manufacturer's worst nightmare but also the best thing you can have as a manufacturer because he would barge in the design area at CERN Pimble and start telling the designers what the problem with their games are.
    91:29
    And if I would be a manufacturer, I would be happy with that info so I can improve my games. Yeah, absolutely. He's been an operator in Pimble in New York City for so long. He's got so many great stories. And was so willing to share them openly. and volubly and such great company to be with. And like Mark, you know, you saw Alan at a show. You know, you're walking down the corridor and there's Alan.
    92:01
    You just knew that it was going to be a good time. Oh, yeah. So, and Alan was diagnosed with MS for quite a while, which made him I'm trying to find the right words he wasn't the most well his walking was a little bit different or difficult because of the MS but still that didn't stop him from being who he was and operating games yeah and I think once Jersey Jack announced that he would be making pinball machines I think Alan was one of their biggest advocates he was, I think Jack described him as the biggest advocate and also their biggest pain in the ass at the same time well that probably sums it up very well and I'm sure Alan would agree with that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. But again, somebody we will miss when we get back to pinball shows. Sad way to end with those two deaths, end 2021 and start 2022. Yes.
    93:26
    There you go. What can you do? Well, we can remember them and I'm sure that we will. As we will, yes. We will remember them fondly for the good times. Yes. so well moving on to less hurtful news I suppose some good news for a change yes Ryan Claytor who we know of going on carnival and other things watches that he does he's a comic book illustrator artist whatever you want to call it he launched a kickstarter for a new comic book which is called A Hunter's Tale and for more details visit www.ahunterstale.com where you can find all the details on the Kickstarter campaign and online promotional tour throughout January I'm very curious how that project will go Yeah, he does work on a diverse range of different products. As you mentioned, the Mr Jones watches as well, which there have been a couple of those I think now, which sell out again instantly, like everything seems to do, pinball related these days. Maybe I should put out a magazine again. Well, yeah. The thing to do is to put out a regular one and a limited edition version. Right. There you go. I'll take my 20% commission for that idea. 20%? All right, 19 for you.
    95:08
    Anyway, Ryan's doing a month-long promotional tour throughout January online and turning up in various different forums and podcasts and blogs and various things. If you go to ahuntertotale.com, as Jonathan just said, you can see where he's going to be and find out more about it. And you can pledge to his Kickstarter campaign to fund the book, if that's something you'd like to see happen.
    95:39
    Right. Okay. And that rounds it up for the month of December of 2021. Indeed it does. And the first week of January. Yep. Almost the first week of January. Yeah. As you said, we postponed this pen cast by a few days just so we could get the Rush announcement in there. And I'm glad we did because I think it was well worth including. Yeah. And it's nice to know in advance when an announcement is going to take place so we can plan these things rather than suddenly someone deciding, I know, let's announce our game today. So it makes things a lot easier for everyone. Right. Okay. So we'll be back most likely the 1st of February with our next pin cast, unless some miracle happens and we have reason to do a bonus podcast. You never know. That's the great thing about the pinball world. Things happen all the time, and not all of them are planned. Right. Or some are planned, but we don't know about them. Yeah, true.
    96:46
    Yeah, so until the start of February, we hope you have a very great very enjoyable and peaceful start to 2022 and get to visit some pinball locations and play some pinball right so in the meantime stay safe stay healthy and well as mentioned earlier on the podcast Martin wrote a great article on the reveal of Rush Pinball check it out on pinballnews.com I also wrote an article on the reveal of Rush Pinball. Check that out on pinball-magazine.com Marvellous. So until the next time, from both of us have a great time and we'll see you at the start of February if not before. Thank you. Bye bye.