hey everybody so real quick i did the uh unboxing today for harry potter and the order of the empty wallet or whatever we'll call it and uh put about i don't know 15 games through it um just really quick i got it into position in the bar and just i have some more first impressions and that is that this game's just pretty incredible um so far i've explored a couple of the multi balls i just beat like i'm all hype right now i just beat three death eaters and then i started the death eater multiball finished that went back to battle another death eater and it was freaking lucius right like draco's dad like the big evil guy from the movie the guy you see way more than voldemort interspersed with that like i also finished the fall term for order of the phoenix or whatever and like i still don't really have a great idea of what i'm doing but the game is good about telling me which ramps to hit, when a multiball is ready. I know the drop targets and inlanes to light the golden trio multiball. So it's all just freaking Harry Potter nonsense. This game feels better than any other Jersey Jack game that I've played. To date, I think the most kind of sought after game is probably Pirates of the Caribbean, but that game didn't have any characters or assets really. It had 37 characters you could choose from, not that they really did much. Now, the game was great because it had that rocking boat upper play field. You could load a ball and shoot the other ship, which was fantastic. Everything else was pretty good, but I would argue that, you know, Hobbit was right about as good as that. You know, Wizard of Oz was loaded with fun little mechanisms and things and was great for its time, but it's not a game that, like, draws me back. Like, if I'm being honest you know the gameplay is not incredibly compelling though it is a treat to play for sure um but you know all the Jersey Jack games they've been they've been very good but they're very different from like a Stern where it's not like fast arcade quality action you know uh Guns and Roses was just like a feast for the eyes as is Avatar although I say Avatar shoots better but none of them shoot like great and um this game and I don't know if it's just because I like the theme more than really anything else I've come out with. But this issue is like crazy, man. It's super fun. I'm having fun like nudging and getting my balls back. I don't feel like I'm getting any cheap drains with it. And for me, I don't know if I've leveled up or something, but I've been able to get, you know, moderately deep into this game so far. I mean, finishing half of a year of a movie, that's substantial. Just having like just a lot of fun with it. A lot of fun with it. I dig the art and everything with the game. Of course, I put the Silver Lions on there because it's me and this is kind of what I do. So, yeah, I just want to jump on here and give some first impressions on how they have the game. I know not that many people have them at home. I was able to somehow, you know, get myself in there. Listen, I don't like to, you know, flex on people or anything, but, you know, every now and then, I think I'll try to say, you know, is there a way I could, you know, what are we talking about here? Man, I went down to Jersey Jack. What a different place that feels like now. And I hope this changes. I wanted to get back to how it was. Back during the Avatar launch, when we all got invited down there, we were hanging out with Ken. They gave us all a banner for coming down. Like, it was super fun. And then, you know, I'd been talking with Ken at shows that had been showing up, you know, a couple times a year. I kept seeing the guy. So got to kind of, you know, know him a little bit as far as, like, at least he knows my face. And I was like, hey, man, I got an Avatar in order. Is it cool if I come down and pick it up? And he's like, yeah, of course, you know. And then when I would run into him again, it was like, yeah, you still coming down to pick up that avatar? All right, should be just a couple months, couple weeks, whatever. And then when I came down, he invited myself and Monica in, gave us a tour of the factory. Monica had never seen it before, so that was fun. He took us back to his little cubicle, and he gave us a bunch of stuff, right? We got a bunch of banners to give away, some trans lights that were all signed by Jack. He gave me a hat sculpt from Guns N' Roses, like the slash one. It wasn't signed, but I mean, that was pretty awesome. He gave us a couple of hats. It was great, man. It was just really great. And I'm like, this is perfect. I now have a contact here. If I have questions about games, there's a rumor online, at least I could jump out to him. He'd called me before when he'd heard a rumor. I think it was kind of some drama between an arcade owner and Jack or something. And he just wanted to get some perspective or something He overheard So he was reaching out So I was like that cool We fostering this good relationship and when harry potter comes out you know maybe he can get me in there a little bit early i nda and get to see the game that didn work out um i thought at least you know when the game is ready i can come down there and maybe he'll load me up with stuff to give away again and then this time you know coming down there i got the text yesterday morning uh i wasn't expecting the game to be ready i was told last week that it would be one to three weeks. So in Jersey Jack time, I was expecting, you know, four to six weeks. Uh, but then yesterday I got the text from Jeff and Matt, like, dude, Don, your game's ready to pick up. And I was like, well, holy crap. I just got home, uh, from night shift. I got to take the kids over to the swimming pool. Uh, but it was like, okay, well, I guess I'll drop everything and run into Chicago. It's Friday, whatever. So I'm like, all right, are you sure everything's cool? Like I can get in there and get a game and pick it up and everything. Cause I didn't have a lot of time, but it was a three-hour drive into Chicago, grabbed the game three hours back, and then I had to go back to work. So I could do it, but it was going to be tight. So I get down there, and of course, I walk in the door, and then the second door there is locked, the one that you have to get into that little lobby where you can play some games. So I hit the doorbell. A guy comes over. It's like, hey, I'm Don Garrison here to pick up a game. Here I am. And they're like, who are you supposed to meet and I'm I don't know I thought those was worked out you know so I was going through email and I found a name a kind lady came over and sent me over to round back to the roll-up door which I know this door I've driven in there before it's in the factory floor it's where you pick up games and stuff so I'm like all right cool back up to the door let's go opened up and it's like now wait what's going on who are you what are you picking up are you sure who you're supposed to talk to what's your name they look through the manifest don't find my name on any of the boxes that are drop shipping that day. They're like, we don't know. And I'm like, oh, please no. I just drove my three hours down here. They're like, who are you here to see? I'm like, well, I, you know, my contact was Ken, but he doesn't work here anymore. And they're like, you know, that's right. So story checks out. So texted back and forth with Jeff at MAD. My game was there with, didn't have my name on it, but they had a manifest that I was supposed to pick up. So that was legit. You know, it wasn't that it wasn't true, but it was just like, man it was so different the last time i was here it was like don here your game's finally here let's walk the line here here's some stuff you know have a good time and then i asked the guy lovely guy by the way at the at the loading dock there he's just trying to make sure that he had someone you know paperwork documented that he could sign we eventually found it signed it so he was good he helped me tip the the game into the truck all that uh nicest guy dude was wearing a venom t-shirt too by the way not like not like stern pinball venom but just like venom and i'm like that's what's up that's what's up um you know it's a super cool guy and i'm like hey you know um just trying to see you know can i get some promotional materials you know do you have a sales and marketing guy here who took over that position you know i like to go say hi drop off a card make some contacts whatever and they're like we don't have that uh anymore and i'm like yeah dang it and so um you know i told the guy like hey i'm just you know i'm i do this podcast we're doing a live stream on boxing tomorrow um last time i was here i was able to get some promotional materials, just looking to see if he had anything. And it was just like, yeah, no, no, we don't have any of that. And that's, I didn't want to push it, you know, or anything. I don't want to be a jerk and I want to be like, don't you know who I am, you know, forever. I don't want to do that, but I didn't want to push a little bit just to, so I could see if I could get some stuff to give away. Now, uh, truth be told, they probably don't even have any of those marketing materials. When I got avatar, uh, remember they were producing LEs for a long time. Then they got to the CEs. It was supposed to be November when the CEs would be shipping out and I could get my game and ended up being March. So by the time I was down there to pick up, we were six months into avatars going out and in production. So by then they had whole stacks of banners and all kinds of whatnots and translights and cards and plastics and all that business. So I think it's just too early and they don't have any of those now. I'm still going to follow up and try to establish relationship with the new sales and marketing guy, or gal, or team, whenever they get one. And I'll try, if I can, to get some promo materials that I can give out, because I do like doing that. And yeah, I'll let you know if that happens, but that's kind of how it's been going. Now, the parts of the internet, and this isn't even widespread, but there's this issue about AI art on the Harry Potter play field And listen I mean I not out there with a microphone a magnifying glass going over every inch of the uh play field i definitely not an apologist i mean i didn like the art on the ce cabinet when it was first revealed even though like i get it now and so you know i let it fly i was like this sucks man i really wanted like a cool movie i wanted hagrid flying on his motorcycle all that business didn't get it whatever um you know so if i saw something though it was hokey, I'd be like, even if I liked the game, I'd be like, this is artist questionable. Um, but like looking at the play field and I mentioned this on the live stream, the CE play field, now that I have it at home with brighter lights overhead, um, it looks like there's a, you know, crushed rock candy, sugar crystals, like kind of all over the play field and highlights. It almost looks like you need to reach down and wipe it away, but it's all nice and smooth and covered with clear coat. Like you don't feel anything. Um, so it's like a really cool effect. And I was looking around even like some areas that I've seen highlighted that have this weird AI artifacts. And guys, I'm just not able to see them. So this may be a case of people sitting at home and really overly scrutinizing art. You know, and if you kind of have a death wish against JJP for whatever reason, or you're fanboying, which it's fine, we love to do that. You know, this will play right into it. But looking around, like trying to be critical, I really can't find anything that's jumping out at me like, oh, that is just bad. That is just like bad, bad. So I don't know, you know, art does have a, uh, modicum of subject reality to it. So maybe you're, you're making me different, uh, differ. Uh, but to me, like, I think it looks great. And when I'm playing the game and I'm barely scratched the code, but you know, I, I'm not having trouble starting modes in that scoop. I know that was going off for a while. Like, man, if nobody can start scoops here, or you have to at least be able to start a mode from the plunge when I've wanted to hit the scoop, It's on the tip of my left flipper, the way my game's set up. And when I really wanted to hit that and I trapped up, I was able to hit it. And the scoop is actually open from the side facing the middle of the play field as well, like the center line. So you can hit the scoop from the side or straight on. It's not like, you know, in Rush, you know, with the stern fix where there was those two snuffer blocks on either side. And I was like really tight to hit in there. Like that's not the hard shot in the game. The Death Eater is the hard shot. and even that if I'm focusing and trapping up and you know within three or four times I'll probably get it it's pretty easy to get the drop target the hard shot is when the drop target's down getting into there to the death eater uh but so far that's the tightest shot in the game doesn't feel unfair uh it doesn't feel quite as bad as the death star shot on star wars um it's kind of three quarters of the way down on my right flipper and then I can get pretty close there if I get a couple shots at it so far I've been able to do it hey I just had a game where I beat three Death Eaters, to the Death Eater multiball, and then Battle Lucius was super cool. The lighting and the hot rails, the way they're integrated in this game, even on this launch code, really works for me. When you hit the secret skill shot, it's Dumbledore's army or whatever, it's the left kind of orbit off the upper flipper. The lane that you plunge straight into. So if you hold the left flipper down, it starts double arrow blinking red on that inner orbit, that left orbit, the one you have to hit with the upper flipper. You plunge right into it, ball goes around, and then off the upper flipper, you just have to hit it in there. And then it gives a really good shaker motor and hot rail, red light flashing effect. And then I think you can loop it a couple of times if you can manage to get it. It's fun. Little things like that. Like these are things that I appreciated when they were in Avatar, but this feels gameplay wise, like an order of magnitude jump above that. Because not only is the theme on point, the integration's on point, and there's a lot more things to hit on here than there are with Godfather. And the way that the stairway acts as a diverter rather than just all the little diverters like with Godfather, it works so much better here. I think this was kind of an idea where Eric was going. And when he did Godfather, he was on his way, but wasn't all the way there yet. And I'm so glad Godfather came so Harry Potter could run. You know, Godfather walked so Harry Potter could run. This is not God Potter. I don't know who was saying that. Forget it, dude. Game's great. I don't think I really need to do much to it. It's got the Silver Lions on there from Godfather right now, so it's totally christened. At home, looking at the powder coat, it's got this very nice glitter effect to it It not a real heavy glitter like the kind that you can feel It very tiny so it just like a nice sparkle that in there I really dig it Hogwarts topper it fine We going to have to live with it I don think anything else is going to come out from JJP You know, they're not going to recall these and send us like a fully sculpted one. People may come up with some additions to put to it. I did see the dark mark, and my topper is about 8 to 10 inches from the ceiling, and it projects about a 6 to 7-inch dark mark that just sits up there. It's not coated in there yet, but when you power the game on, it does go through its cycle and then pops up there. So, you know, that is what it is. The game was really fun. Like, it feels very much like a game that came from the company that did Willy Wonka, that did Wizard of Oz, that did Godfather and all those other games, but, like, it feels like the best version of what they've been able to do. So hopefully what we're seeing now is, like, you know, this is the level this company is at and it's going to continue to improve. Hopefully Evil Dead is where Spooky's at and they're going to continue to improve from here, and it's going to be exciting times for like the number two and number three company you know battling behind stern and stern may be a victim of its own success with as many games as they're putting out the code teams can't keep up with it all it seems like i mean you know john wick and x-men just like lagging in code uh jaws i think was probably done you know nine months early so it had some time to come out with some good code uh but now it's all about ketchup and it just feels like you know wick was forgotten and i know they're working on x-men and i'm not going to dog them. You know, it's not like, you know, what are we doing buying these stupid games or whatever? You know, the games are still fun. John Wick is still a fun game to play. Venom is still a fun game to play. And, you know, thankfully the prices are down, so that's good. But man, I just wanted to record something after I've unboxed this game, got it over in position and I've been playing it. It's just great. And if this helps assuage anybody's fears, like, man, am I really making the right decision by getting this game? I think if you've got it and you like pinball, you'll love this freaking game. If this game doesn't end up holding its value, it's only going to be because there are thousands and thousands of them out there and eventually people want to move things on. And so that's going to be a double win for people that didn't buy it new in box, but want to wait and get that their second round. So there you go. You know, if you just got a new game or maybe you decided to go for predator instead, predator is going to be a game where there's not thousands and thousands of them out there. So if you win in on one of those, go enjoy your predator, pick up Harry Potter down the road. But like, yeah, I don't even want to look at dialed in. I wouldn't mind having a JJP corner. I hope they keep this level and above going forward. And as far as games, like I wouldn't mind picking up a Godfather collector's edition, just because I like the aesthetics of the damn thing. And they can be had for a relatively low price. I think one of those in a toy story would kind of complete a JJP corner if I wanted to do that. But right now I am counting 17 games. I'm seven games over my limit of 10 that I self-imposed and I've never managed to hold it beneath there since I've exceeded it. So that's life here at Planet Wobegon. Anything else? I don't know if there, I had something else I wanted to talk about. Was it Stern stuff? Was it Predator stuff? I don't know. When I have something else to say, I'll go ahead and say it. But really what I wanted to impress upon everybody was that I'm genuinely enjoying this game. I'm very glad that the stars aligned and I was able to schedule myself some shifts out of town to help cover the cost of this so I can jump in on the train. I'm having a lot of fun. I'm going to go jump back on it. I'm going to go jump back on it. Email me donspinballpockets at gmail.com. I have to go through and see what my translate situation is. I have a couple more nights to work and then I'm off for a week. We'll do the Patreon giveaway a little bit later this month. Before the end of the month, we'll be sure to hit it. Then we'll get caught up. My hope is that I can get more Kong Translites in too. I have to check and see if the art's out there. Anyway, that's the news from here, man. Thank you for being a Patreon member. Really appreciate it. Give yourself a pat on the back. Thanks for hanging around. And I really appreciate the support that comes from you guys. I'm going to keep generating content for you. And as we go into next week, I think we'll have some more to talk about. And Jaws 50th, it's right over there, over the horizon somewhere. Let's see if I have a song queued up. Recording. Well, that's not it. Let's not do that one. I don't know if I want to go out on that. That's just for the podcast. Sorry about your ears. He's the ultimate spooky shill. Oh my God. He's got his face all in your grill. It's Don's Pinball Podcast. Yeah. Let's go out on that. I'll see you guys later.