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Right on Brother

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·35m 17s·analyzed·Oct 7, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

Don discusses community, DPX launch, Alice in Wonderland reveal, and X-Men shooter rod issues.

Summary

Don Garrison hosts a late-night Patreon-exclusive episode covering community support following recent trolling, DPX's official release announcement tomorrow, Dutch Pinball's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland embargo lifting at noon on October 7th, and detailed commentary on the competitive pinball landscape including X-Men LE's weak plunger issue, criticism of Berrio's Barbecue Challenge's weak mechanics, upcoming Cuphead hype, and his decision to purchase Avatar Collector's Edition despite mixed feelings about the theme.

Key Claims

  • DPX is releasing tomorrow with official confirmation of pricing and unit count

    high confidence · Don states he received confirmation earlier this morning that DPX is releasing, eager to see official numbers on units and pricing (speculates 550 or 499 units, mentions potential first-3-months bonus merchandise)

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland embargo lifts at noon on October 7th with live stream reveal at 11:30 AM CST

    high confidence · Don cites Kerry Hardy's stream announcement; Hardy explicitly states 'embargo is lifted at high noon' and stream goes live at '11.30 a.m. Central Standard Time'

  • X-Men LE has weak plunger and auto launcher issues that other players are also experiencing

    high confidence · Don reports hearing back from 'some other folks' having same shooter rod/auto launcher issues; adds 8mm to his custom rod length to fix weak plunge

  • Berrio's Barbecue Challenge is overpriced at $6,000-$7,000 when its actual value is closer to $4,000

    medium confidence · Don reports discussing with friends who collectively value the game around $4,000 despite current pricing; cites weak animations and uninteractive 3D-printed smoker grill as core problems

  • Cuphead is coming with top-notch animations leveraging Fleischer animation assets

    medium confidence · Don states Cuphead 'has been very heavily teased that that's what's coming out' and reports 'the animations are going to be top notch' with upper playfields; notes Fleischer animation is 'so great'

  • Alice in Wonderland will take 9 months to ship from order date

    medium confidence · Don speculates 'it's probably not going to be made until 2025, and it may be nine months from now before it's ready to ship' based on typical Dutch Pinball delivery timelines

  • Stern released Pro models first before LE to identify production issues before LE run

    medium confidence · Don theorizes: 'probably a bit of that was just to get the buggy games out, see what the problems are before you do that LE run' to avoid shipping defective $13,000 machines

Notable Quotes

  • “I only agree really with the politics of one of those people. But, you know, I would show them more respect than this guy. And that's because neither one of those politicians ever called my wife a piece of shit, okay?”

    Don Garrison @ ~15:00 — Don's emotional response to a troll (K-man/Kaneda) who made personal attacks; establishes boundary and explains lack of respect in community context

  • “I found a place to live rent free in New York and turns out it's in Kaneda's head.”

    Don Garrison @ ~14:00 — Don's humorous deflection of trolling, showing resilience and comedic approach to online harassment

  • “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is upon us. So by all means, I would ask you to join me tomorrow to see what Dutch Pinball Exclusive has been working on for us. The stream will go live at 11.30 a.m. Central Standard Time, and the embargo is lifted at high noon.”

    Kerry Hardy @ ~35:00 (from video) — Official announcement of Alice in Wonderland reveal timing and embargo details

  • “When I make mine, I tend to make them slightly longer than the Stern shooter rods, only because from experience, when I made my first Godzilla shooter rod, I copied the dimensions exactly. And I got a rod that was a little bit on the weak side.”

    Don Garrison @ ~50:00 — Technical expertise: Don's hands-on experience with shooter rod customization and design solutions

  • “Berrios is just going to get buried, man. Even me, like, I don't mind playing the game. Like, it's fun to play on location for a little bit. It's kind of a goof.”

    Don Garrison @ ~42:00 — Candid assessment of Berrio's Barbecue Challenge's competitive weakness in the current market

  • “If it was just the films, I probably would still be passing on this game. But this is a Disney World game. And you do not realize the depths of love that I have for theme parks, especially the Disney ones.”

    Don Garrison @ ~75:00 — Reveals personal motivation for Avatar purchase tied to theme park passion rather than IP itself

  • “I think the games that we're seeing now are a big step above where we were a year ago with X-Men coming out, with John Wick, which is still a killer license... And they're still committed to bringing out their loaded games for sub-$10,000. which is wild in this market.”

Entities

Don GarrisonpersonDon's Pinball PodcastorganizationK-man / KanedapersonKerry HardypersonMitch JohnspersonEnzopersonScott Larsonperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: DPX releasing tomorrow with official confirmation of unit count and pricing expected

    high · Don confirms 'DPX is releasing tomorrow' with official confirmation received 'earlier this morning'; eager for details on '550 or 499' units and pricing ($12,500 or $12,999)

  • ?

    announcement: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland embargo lifts October 7th at noon CST; Kerry Hardy live stream reveal at 11:30 AM CST

    high · Kerry Hardy announces in stream: 'The stream will go live at 11.30 a.m. Central Standard Time, and the embargo is lifted at high noon' on October 7th

  • ?

    product_concern: X-Men LE units have widespread weak plunger and auto launcher issues; multiple players reporting same problem

    high · Don reports 'I've heard back from some other folks, and they are having the same issue I was having with the weak plunger and weak auto launcher'; custom rod fix adds 8mm length; speculates all LE units have this issue

  • $

    market_signal: Berrio's Barbecue Challenge showing $6,000-$7,000 asking prices but community values it at $4,000; significant gap between seller expectations and buyer perception

    high · Don reports 'I've seen them pop up for $6,000 to $7,000' but 'Talking amongst ourselves, our value that we've placed on this game is somewhere around like $4,000'

  • ?

    product_concern: Berrio's Barbecue Challenge criticized for weak animations, uninteractive 3D-printed smoker grill, and overall mechanical simplicity

    high · Don: 'The animations are probably the weakest part of the game... The big toy in Berrio's Barbecue Challenge is a 3D-printed smoker grill... that doesn't really even interact with the ball'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.106

0:00
I just did a Patreon, but let's do a late night with Don kind of situation so thank you prof for the intro music that was tarzan by rapper prof pro f kind of a guy i'm coming back to dude's phenomenal man i wish i could rap like that i've been watching like a lot of his videos and like it's just on point dude like doesn't take himself seriously kills it with the flow and that right on brother just like right in the feels man right in the feel so apologies for the foul language but we are here behind the paywall in the playground this is my backyard man yeah if you're in here y'all are over the fence you can come through the gate the barbecue's going we're having fun man wander inside play some pinball wander back outside talk to my wife look at the area that used to contain a hot tub that spooky pinball just came drug out my yard that just happened yesterday folks i'm just having i'm having fun losing my mind in pinball trying to keep up with everything i'm here at work in ohio and it's late night and I want to talk to people. And so what better way than to have a one-sided conversation with myself, and we'll put it in a recording for all of y'all, everybody.
1:34
Folks, I've had a large outpouring of support this evening, which is great, because, like, the trolls came by again on my Facebook page. So DPX is releasing tomorrow. We got the confirmation earlier this morning that everything's coming out. And, like, I'm wondering, you know, about the official release information. I want to know number of machines, cost of machines, availability, and all that. it's been teased it's been rumored it's been leaked it's been whatever right and of course i've heard about it but i want to see like okay now that we're official like how many units did they change their mind is it 550 is it 499 like what's the deal if you order in the first three months do you get like a bonus t-shirt or something you know well i'm just excited man i'm excited so i shared the post from dpx to the facebook page with like all right guys it's coming we're finally going to get official information i ratted out all everything plus like where can I get a DPX t-shirt I want that shit for expo man I want it for expo and then you know um so like I got sent a troll from the K-man right um oh don aren't you in the loop I thought you were pinball famous just being an ass right or whatever and I like I could tell I could tell and it doesn't bother me right it doesn't bother me if I'm doing well trolls will come out you know I found I joked with somebody today that I found a place to live rent free in New York and turns out it's in Kaneda's head. Womp womp. So what pleased me, though, was that people took screenshots of, like, his page and sent it to me, like, where this stuff was coming from. And, like, he's been talking about me, like, the last couple days apparently. And, like, why? Like, why? You know, like, I'm not friendly with the dude, okay? Dude tried to come up and shake my hand. I'm like, no, no. And, like, I would, you know, if Kamala Harris came up to me, I would shake her hand. If Donald Trump came up to me, I would shake his hand, you know. And I only agree really with the politics of one of those people. But, you know, I would show them more respect than this guy. And that's because neither one of those politicians ever called my wife a piece of shit, okay? I don't need to come back from that, right? I don't need this guy's adoration. And, like, you know, I – okay, I tend to hold grudges. But, you know, I'm cool with everybody in pinball except for this guy because he's like abdominal pain, man. I just – I don't want the stomach cramps, right? You know, I could be at Disneyland. I could be in the middle of a concert. And if you have stomach cramps, it doesn't matter how fun the place you are, whether it's Texas Pinball Festival or Jersey Jack's Auditorium, with stomach cramps, it's just nobody's having fun anymore. And it's like, why? It's like if, you know, the color beige was a person, just like bland and just, oh, God, come on, make me nauseous. Anyway, so that's the deal with all that. The thing that I like, the lining of this whole thing and why I'm just still on my little Cloud9 situation here is people reached out. Friends of mine, they're like, hey, man, this guy's an asshole. Don't worry about it. And like unprompted, unprompted. I wasn't making a big deal about it or anything. I'm at work and like I look down at Facebook every now and then and maybe I'll try to post something. Like I want to stay topical. Like when news is coming, I want to kind of report on it. But I'm not following 24-7. and I'm, you know, I'm trolling the intensive care unit, you know. I've been in the emergency department, or I'm over at Walmart walking around. You know, I'm not, like, you know, constantly scrolling. It's not a day off for me. You know, but it was cool. Like, people are still hitting me up. Mitch Johns, dude. Enzo. Guys, you guys are freaking awesome, man.

  • Don has 1,300 Facebook followers, 800 podcast listeners, and 114 paid Patreon subscribers

    high confidence · Don states these exact numbers when discussing his media reach and influence with pinball companies

  • Spooky Pinball commits to top-notch themes and loaded games under $10,000

    medium confidence · Don asserts 'Spooky Pinball is committed to having just top-notch themes. And they're still committed to bringing out their loaded games for sub-$10,000'

  • Avatar Collector's Edition has different playfield design than LE, with Bader doing playfields instead of Lior or Mirko

    medium confidence · Don states 'Bader is doing the play fields in the CE and not Lior, or not Lior, not Mirko' as a key differentiator that influences his purchase decision

    • Don Garrison @ ~45:00 — Industry assessment: current generation of games shows marked improvement in theme quality and value

  • “I want to build this out as a community, right? The more people that join this community, the more it benefits all of us. So I'm trying to make this bigger than myself or my ego.”

    Don Garrison @ ~24:00 — Statement of Don's community-building philosophy and podcast mission

  • “The pinball companies, they're listening, absolutely listening. Now, they're not always following our advice, you know, Barrios Barbecue Challenge being chief among them.”

    Don Garrison @ ~39:00 — Meta-commentary on manufacturer receptiveness to community feedback and Barrios as cautionary example

  • “I'm not trying to throw Stern under the bus or anything. I was just honestly wondering if other people were having similar issues to that as well.”

    Don Garrison @ ~55:00 — Balanced criticism: Don addresses X-Men plunger issue while acknowledging broader context of production complexity

    • Kale
    person
    Jason Knappperson
    Jack Dangerperson
    Ken Cromwellperson
    Seth Davisperson
    Gary Sternperson
    Diddyperson
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    American Pinballcompany
    Dutch Pinballcompany
    DPXproduct
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderlandproduct
    Avatarproduct
    X-Menproduct
    Cupheadproduct
    Berrio's Barbecue Challengeproduct
  • ?

    rumor_hype: Cuphead reported to have top-notch animations leveraging Fleischer animation assets and upper playfields

    medium · Don: 'Cuphead, I haven't seen it yet. It's been very heavily teased... Reportedly, the animations are going to be top notch... they can take some of the greatest cartoon graphics that we've seen in the last 30 years'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Manufacturers increasingly pursuing big-theme, high-feature strategy ($8,000-$10,000) rather than budget titles ($4,000-$5,000 for Stern Home versions)

    medium · Don: 'I'm thinking if I had a pinball company, what can I sell 750 of? What can I sell 2,000 of? Big, big themes... come out swinging with something... Otherwise, swing for the fences and come in around $8,000 to $10,000'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Current generation of games (X-Men, John Wick, Avatar, Cuphead) represents notable improvement in theme quality and mechanics vs. one year ago

    medium · Don: 'I think the games that we're seeing now are a big step above where we were a year ago with X-Men coming out... Jaws was great... Spooky Pinball is committed to having just top-notch themes'

  • ?

    content_signal: Don's Pinball Podcast growing as manufacturer communication channel; companies now proactively reaching out with news and opportunities

    high · Don: 'When they have something to talk about or something to promote, like they're reaching out now. And then I'm reaching right in... I want to help you out if you're on a road trip'

  • ?

    product_launch: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland orders expected 9-month lead time before shipping

    medium · Don: 'if I wanted this game and I order it, you know, it's probably not going to be made until 2025, and it may be nine months from now before it's ready to ship'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Stern's strategy of releasing Pro models first before LE intended to identify production issues before high-value LE run ships

    medium · Don theorizes: 'Because they did the LEs first... I think this issue may be kind of related to that... probably a bit of that was just to get the buggy games out, see what the problems are before you do that LE run'

  • ?

    community_signal: Community rallying around Don Garrison in response to personal attacks by K-man/Kaneda; unprompted support from multiple friends

    high · Don: 'people reached out... unprompted, unprompted... Mitch Johns, dude. Enzo. Guys, you guys are freaking awesome, man... It's just heartwarming to see this community kind of blossom'

    • 5:02
    So I'm just happy that we have this, like, I want to build this out as a community, right? I was talking to my buddy Mitch. Shout out. Dude's from Iowa, I believe. It's where I met him in person. Got him a T-shirt. Solid homie. But, you know, we was talking about the upcoming Metallica game that's coming out. And so I've kind of, like, been to Stern a lot in the last couple of weeks. You know, not only, you know, I got invited there, you know, me and Scott from Loser Kids, Scott Larson, we went in there and played X-Men. And then, like, I grabbed Kale from the Electric Bat and Jason Knapp, jumped in my truck after JJP while we were waiting for the Interim After Event. And, like, we all, like, stole right on over there again and jumped back in the factory. and got to play some more. And they had the pro out there, and Jack Danger was there, and I got to play, like, the two games with, like, Jack Danger there. We're talking about shots and pinball theory and design and just, like, having fun with it and whatever. And, like, I'm just thinking, like, this is such a cool opportunity that I've somehow wedged myself into. And so I was talking to Mitch, and I'm like, man, when the next game comes out, I'm going to see if I can weasel a little bit harder and bring in some of my friends. because what I would like to do eventually is build up to where there's a public launch day with these companies, right, where you can just throw open the doors and it's like here's the day. We're going to have a barbecue. We're going to have pizza. We're going to have Chicago hot dogs or something. And for the launch, the public can come in if you're interested for free, you know, and show up and, like, have door prizes and things, get to play the new games, like, on site. Like, if you're local to Chicago or you wouldn't mind flying out to do that, like, how fun would that be, right? So I'm building these relationships, you know, and I was already able to pull in a couple of other friends to get in there. So if I keep this up, maybe we can finally build to that where there can be like a public day and everybody can just go, right? I was fortunate to be invited to, you know, the media day that Stern did with John Wick. I know a lot of people were disappointed they couldn't go. You know, I don't want to have fun if my homies aren't having fun. But I looked at it as an opportunity to get my foot in the door, start meeting people, let them know that I'm local. I'm happy to come down. I have a little bit of a following, but I've got 1,300 people that are on the Facebook page. I get about 800 or so people that listen to the podcasts. I've got 114 or so paid subscribers now.
    7:24
    So when I post something out there, at least 1,000 eyes are getting onto a Facebook. And when I drop a podcast episode with a gameplay reveal, there's at least 250 people day one, sometime within three hours, are listening to that episode. So if you tell me something, I can tell several hundred people very quickly. And the more people that join this community, the more it benefits all of us. So I'm trying to make this bigger than myself or my ego. I've accomplished plenty in my life. I don't have my ego wrapped up in this.
    7:58
    This is just really, it's just for fun, and it's the connections that we make, right? I was talking to somebody recently because I just got to go to JJP. I've been to American Pinball several times. So I'm friends with the Spooky Guys. I get down there, and I get to be in the new factory like they invited me on down there.
    8:15
    It's the connections that I'm making. A lot of it is just showing up. I put in the work. I don't mind traveling. It's fun for me. It's fun to go to pinball shows, right? But I went to IAAPA last year. There weren't a whole lot of pinball people there. Diddy from Diddy's Pinball Mods was there. I think there may have been a couple, but mainly it was theme park and other industry people. So when we went to the Jersey Jack area at IAPA, it wasn't clogged with pinball people. It was just me hanging out there and purchasing agents for Dave and Buster and stuff So I got to play out of Elton John without waiting You know they had a couple of them there I got to take my Disney friends over and show them Toy Story 4 and they were super impressed with it. So I got to see, like, the game through their eyes. And I got to spend some time with Jack and Ken Cromwell from JJP, just hanging out on the show floor. Seth Davis and Gary Stern from Stern Pinball were over a few booths down at the Stern booth, And I was able to go there and just kind of just be there, right, and make those kind of connections and inroads. And now finally it's starting to pay off. Like when they have something to talk about or something to promote, like they're reaching out now. And then I'm reaching right in, and I've got my hand behind me for all my homies. Like let's come in there too. So, you know, there's the person of Don that I am, right, flaws and everything. but then the Don's Pinball Podcast bigger persona that's being created is all of us in here together. And I appreciate nobody more than the folks that throw some cash in the tip jar, man. I really appreciate that. I know it's hard to do.
    9:52
    It's just such a big, big thing that you guys do that. So I want to keep creating more and really push the envelope of what we're doing here, right? And I want to help you out if you're on a road trip, you know, so you have something to listen to. So we're going to see the reveal probably here pretty soon of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In real time, I'm getting some updates. Kerry Hardy just posted that his embargo is lifting, I think, at midnight tonight, Central Standard Time, and he's going to do a live stream reveal of everything. So unless he messed up and he meant noon, but he put 12 p.m., but then he also said that he's going to be going live at 11.30 p.m. So I'm waiting to see. I just got an email back from him. We'll check this in real time here.
    10:34
    Oh, man, there's a stream announcement video that he just put up. All right. Let me watch this real quick. I'll be right back.
    10:45
    Let's do a live reaction to this. What's up, guys? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is upon us. So by all means, I would ask you to join me tomorrow to see what Dutch Pinball Exclusive has been working on for us. The stream will go live at 11.30 a.m. Central Standard Time, and the embargo is lifted at high noon. So at high noon, you're getting everything, guys. I'm showing you everything. I've got pictures right here, high resolution, all that stuff and junk. All the details will be revealed on this stream and would ask you to join me as we do the full countdown for high noon. So that way you can see one of the prettiest games that you've ever seen. All right. Gathering info, game details, all of that to be revealed as we lead up to High Noon tomorrow, October 7th. So by all means, join me at 1130 a.m. Central Standard Time for the Eat Me, Drink Me, Plunge Me reveal party. Subscribe, ring the bell down there. That way you can be notified of whenever I go live, and I will see you there. All right, so I think you may have messed up with the a.m. p.m. thing. So it'll be tomorrow at noon. I'll try to finish up some work, and maybe I can join in on that. But, yeah, it'll be fun. it'll be fun so um to recap you know i've heard the edition size of 500 i've heard the price is going to be like 12 5 or 12 9 99 like i've heard all that you know but what i want is the official confirmation that's what i'm excited about and i was really just trying to promote a little bit anyway uh your trolls will be trolls that's fine um i always say that you know if you weren't doing well yeah people wouldn't even care enough to even rag you right even care enough to even troll you So that's fine. That's fine. Yeah, but thanks so much, guys, particularly Mitch Enzo, everybody else. Enzo, everybody else has reached out. It's just heartwarming to see this community kind of blossom. It feels way bigger than me now. And I'm glad that this is kind of an approachable medium that we can jump into and have some fun. And I will tell you that the pinball companies, they're listening, absolutely listening. Now, they're not always following our advice, you know, Barrios Barbecue Challenge. being chief among them.
    12:56
    Man, I heard a crazy, crazy rumor about some of the re-themes of that white label game that will be coming out. I don't know, man. I'm looking at games that are forthcoming. I'm looking at games that are coming out right now, and I just don't see how Poor Berrio's Barbecue Challenge can compete with this. And I'm not sure how it even got birthed into existence to begin with. Now, the game's okay to play. The animations are probably the weakest part of the game. The theme is fine. I saw the Whitewood of Food Truck, and it actually looked pretty fun. I really wish this was Food Truck. There was a mechanism where there was a mechanical fry basket that you could put a couple of balls in, and then it would lower down in the food truck. And there was an upper play field that had some stand-up targets. I think they were hanging down, so it looked like a soda fountain. So you could use the flipper and hit against the soda fountains to pour different drinks and stuff. Like, that is miles more interesting than what we got with Barbecue Challenge. I'm looking at games now, X-Men and what it's got in it, Avatar and what's in there, what's forthcoming from Alice, what's forthcoming from other people. And, you know, mechanistically, you know, you just can't compete. I was talking to someone in the industry today about the fact that, you know, the big toy in Berrio's Barbecue Challenge is a 3D-printed smoker grill that's up in the back left corner. that doesn't really even interact with the ball, you know. And me, you know, I'm a very amateur pinball designer, but I'm wondering if there could have been a physical ball lock where balls could go up a vuck into a wire form and then store into a giant smoker, and then the smoker could open up and just spill the balls out, and that could be, like, a big multi-ball moment. You know, the bash locks are cool. They have been done before. There's some throwback things in this game, but the game is just problematic, problematic. I've seen them pop up for $6,000 to $7,000 now, even for the limited edition version. And even then, I was talking with some friends, and I don't know that we would go at that price. Talking amongst ourselves, our value that we've placed on this game is somewhere around like $4,000.
    15:07
    So I don't know. But it has to be the case that the measure of success for Burio's Barbecue Challenge may be 300 units sold, and maybe that's what they're looking at doing. So in that case, sell 40 of them, and then sell another round of Houdini's, sell some more Hot Wheels, and then maybe you've got another 30 orders for Berrios, and you throw it on the line, and maybe that's kind of what they're looking at. I'm thinking bigger. I'm thinking if I had a pinball company, what can I sell 750 of? What can I sell 2,000 of? Big, big themes. And thankfully, that's where most of the companies are at. I think the games that we're seeing now are a big step above where we were a year ago with X-Men coming out, with John Wick, which is still a killer license.
    15:58
    Gameplay-wise, I think it's going to get there. Jaws was great. We saw Looney Tunes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Spooky Pinball is committed to having just top-notch themes. And they're still committed to bringing out their loaded games for sub-$10,000. which is wild in this market. Jersey Jack releasing Avatar, and I think they've learned their lesson from Toy Story 4, from Godfather, like let's go bigger. Elton John, I think, was a pretty good seller for them, and I know it was very well received. Nobody's played that game and said that that's not a bad game. Compare and contrast Elton John and Berrio's Barbecue Challenge, Berrio's being a budget title, but why come out with a budget title? Like, come out, let's come out swinging. Let's come out swinging with something. You know, budget titles, those are Stern Home editions, you know. So drop the price to $4,000 to $5,000 if you want to have a budget version. Otherwise, swing for the fences and come in around $8,000 to $10,000 with some magical stuff. One thing I'll say about the forthcoming Cuphead, I haven't seen it yet. It's been very heavily teased that that's what's coming out. Reportedly, the animations are going to be top notch. And with Cuphead, how can it not be? This is the point of doing a licensed theme. You get the licensed assets. So they're not going to have to go and hire an artist to do animations and graphics and things. They can take some of the greatest cartoon graphics that we've seen in the last 30 years, right? You know, a lot of people still don't know about Cuphead. If you 65 years old I sure you not familiar with it I played the game I haven seen the cartoons But I can tell you that Fleischer animation is just so great So great So it going to look pretty And from what I'm hearing, I think they're doing some upper play fields and things. So it should have a fair bit more to shoot at than Berrios did. And, you know, Berrios is just going to get buried, man.
    17:58
    Even me, like, I don't mind playing the game. Like, it's fun to play on location. for a little bit. It's kind of a goof. And just wonder what's going on. There's paper plates and tablecloths. I don't know what's happening. But it's definitely not Diner. It's not Whitewater. It's not like an old Bally Williams. It's not even like Taxi. Taxi seemed like it. Even it had more in it. So we'll see. Maybe if Berrios played a little more like Taxi, we'd probably kind of like it a bit more. As it is, eh. Yeah. I do like the light shows. Not a terrible game, but again, And if there was one on Pinside for $4,500, right now I wouldn't go for it. Getting back to Alice. Don, are you sure you're not buying it? Apparently, you know, everybody thinks I'm buying an Alice in Wonderland. And I get it. You know, it looks like a cool game. I've bought just about everything else. I definitely don't have the money in the budget right now or the space. I'm still overburdened on space.
    18:57
    And I have Avatar coming, and that's taking up, like, the rest of the budget. So, no, no, I'm fine not getting an Alice in Wonderland tomorrow on launch day. If you are into this title, I think it's going to be a good game. I think it's going to be loaded with Lior's mods and things. You know, it's coming in at the price of an Avatar LE. I think, given the two, I'd rather have Alice in Wonderland than Avatar LE, but I'd rather have Avatar CE than either of those two. So that's kind of where I'm at. More on that in a bit.
    19:27
    So, tomorrow, if I wanted this game and I order it, you know, it's probably not going to be made until 2025, and it may be nine months from now before it's ready to ship. And nine months from now, we're going to get, like, three more Stern Cornerstones, another Spooky Game, and something from Jersey Jack, and, you know, a Cuphead and a half will be out already. So, you know, I hate having money tied up for nine months, and then by the time, you know, the funds are due, it's like I could have used that money and I could have bought the new Indiana Jones or the new whatever, you know, banger that Stern is releasing. You know, it's not going to have that new effect anymore. With Pulp Fiction, I had ordered and I waited 11 months in order to get it. And all along that route, there were people that were, their games were being made and shipped. And by then they were kind of over it. And so they were just immediately put up for sale cheaper. So if I want Alice in Wonderland at this point, I can just wait until they start being produced, start getting shipped over, and something else cool is out. And then I could nab one and skip the line. or potentially get one at a show. I don't know. That's the same with every game right now, with the caveat being I don't think X-Men LE is going to be too easy to get for too much longer. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm not misreading the market. But I think this game is going to be doing well. Some controversy regarding the shooter rods. So I've heard back from some other folks, and they are having the same issue I was having with the weak plunger and weak auto launcher. Now, I mentioned that I already had a custom shooter rod that was made. When I make mine, I tend to make them slightly longer than the Stern shooter rods, only because from experience, when I made my first Godzilla shooter rod, I copied the dimensions exactly. And I got a rod that was a little bit on the weak side. I was still able to do all the skill shots and everything, but I wasn't able to really fire the ball if I wanted to. And that's because I copied Stern's dimensions exactly. So I had to alter it a little bit to make it a little bit longer. I cut back on my shooter rod knob so it had more play in it, so there was more extension of the rod into the cabinet. When I got my Rush pinball shooter rod, I had the same problem, and that was the official one from Stern. Now, I made the skill shot easier, but sometimes you want a nice, strong plunge. So because of that, I've gone ahead and added an extra 8 millimeters or so to the length of the shooter rod. And when I swapped mine out in X-Men, I'm getting super strong plunges now that are ripping down that wire form right to the flipper, like, every time, no problem. And I could still, like, soft plunge if I want to. But for the most part, I just want to fire it up there, man. And it's, you know, if you do it too strong, it almost rattles a bit. So it's like even just a regular full plunge will make it up that ramp no problem. Now, there still is the issue with the auto launcher still not cresting that hill that's back there. but there is an adjustment in the menu to adjust the coil power for the auto launcher. And I haven't tried that yet, but I'm imagining that just bumping that up 30 or so we'll probably do it. So I'll try that when I get back home, there's no alignment issues that I can find or anything. Um, but other people are running into the same thing and then they're saying, you know, well, this is a $13,000 game stern. You think you'd know how to do this by now. And I, I don't want to be a total cuck for the company, you know, but I want to pump brakes just a little bit. Now, if you will recall, when Stern releases games, they tend to release the pros for location first in that first week and a half or so. Gets games out on location, gets the line used to making these things. Issues pop up during production that aren't ever there during testing, right? When they're testing a game, they may have like one prototype, like one, and it's got torn up art blades on it. It's got ripped up ramps because people have been playing with things and swapping things in and out and lifting and slamming the play field. So they're not going to put Artblade protectors in every time. So the games are dinged up for the prototype. But when they go into production, then they're making their production games. They're playing them and play testing them before they go in a box. But there may be issues that don't show up until you actually get it into the hands of people. And I think that's part of why. I mean, I know they wanted to have the pros on location first so people can play it and people can start earning money. But probably a bit of that was just to get the buggy games out, see what the problems are before you do that LE run. So you don't have people paying $13,000 and then having a game that's not exquisitely perfect in their game room and then getting feedback like this. So because they did the LEs first, which I totally love that, you know, the people that paid the most should get the best service. Yeah, I think this issue may be kind of related to that. So we'll see if there's anything going forward. I think the LEs are all built right now. So I think every LE will at least have this issue. The pros and the premiums that are being made now, we'll see if they go out with a similar issue at all. Now, it's not that the game is unplayable. It's just not quite as satisfying when you can't get that really nice plunge up there. And maybe they fix it by putting in a spring with higher tension. That would be an easy way to do it. I'm sure they have, like, 10,000 shooter rods in boxes in their back storage that they want to use, right? They don't want to throw them out. So that would maybe be a remedy is just do the spring issue, you know, or some creative washer placements. So that's where I'm at with that. I'm not trying to throw Stern under the bus or anything. I was just honestly wondering if other people were having similar issues to that as well. So that's what we're hearing back about that. I was going to say something about Avatar.
    24:59
    And, yeah, I'm getting a CE. And people are saying, you know, it's not really loaded with mechs or anything. It's really expensive. I played it on location. The audio call-outs were kind of redundant, things like that. I will say that my first times playing Avatar were in a pretty controlled environment in the factory. The factory during lunchtime, it was pretty quiet in there. The lights were down. We were able to see everything. And there was that hype of being there too. I mean, I can't lie. It's got to be awesome. The designers of the games talking to you and walking you through it, of course, is going to put the game in a better light. So here's the thing with me. This game, Avatar, I'm not a real fan of the movies. They're okay. I've seen both of them, but I'm not, like, you know, buying the lunchboxes or anything. But Disney, down at Disney's Animal Kingdom, built out a new land in 2013 at Pandora the World of Avatar. There's two rides in there, but really it's the themed land that is the most fun. There's a cool restaurant. There's some cool themed shops. There's themed food that's off planet. But the whole land has a bioluminescent edge to it. And if you're lucky enough to be there at a time when it's actually dark outside in Florida, that park tends to close early. So certain times of the year you can actually be there after dark and see all the bioluminescence that's in this land. It's such a cool space with the waterfalls, with the hallelujah floating mountains, with the vines, the no straight lines thing, except for like what humans have put there. Like it's fun. It a fun place to be And this game is based on a theme that existed at a Disney park I know the Avatar license more from the theme park than I do from the films Okay? If it was just the films, I probably would still be passing on this game. But this is a Disney World game. And you do not realize the depths of love that I have for theme parks, especially the Disney ones. Especially Epcot, man. Love me some Epcot. Disneyland, probably the best. Tokyo DisneySea, fantastic. Disney's California Adventure is getting an Avatar Land built sometime in the next few years now. That was just announced at D23. It's a whole thing. So to me, when I see Avatar, I think Disney World Land in a pinball machine, I got to have it, and I want to have the good version. And so it was a lot of little things, right? The game plays fine. I enjoy playing the game. I've played the LE a few times at Interium. I've been back there to play it. I took Monica there to play it. She wasn't as into it as I was, but I'm still digging it. I love the package of the art and animations. The call-outs are cool. I just love the fact that there's a day-night cycle, and then there's a moment where you build up and get that eclipse shot, and it's not a terribly hard shot but not super easy either. It's the right amount of difficulty once I get it dialed in. It's just going to be so sweet. And then with that awesome topper that's up there and the whole package that's integrated and the fact that it's basically a Disney World land in a machine with under-cabinet lighting and backlighting, like that is the reason that I want this game. And it had to be the collector's edition. Had to be. Limited edition, I get it. I see its shortcomings. It doesn't even seem like the same game to me because of everything else that's in there. Add on that to the fact that Bader is doing the play fields in the CE and not Lior, or not Lior, not Mirko, right? Lior's not doing it either, for what it's worth. that every little piece of that adds together that puts me up over the edge into i want to have this game and i'm out in ohio right now working extra shifts just so i can get it okay so that that's kind of that but i mean that's specific to me um you know other people they're like you know i don't really i don't really get this game um sure it looks fine but it's not really for me that's totally fine i get it people are like elton john is such the better game um Not for me, but if that's for you, that's what makes you unique, boo. Go with it. Elton John is a hell of a game. It shoots incredibly well. I like a little bit more depth of code. I'm not so much like a Halo player or a Fortnite player. I'm more of a Dragon Quest player, a Zelda player. I like adventure, third-person adventure games over just the first-person arcade shooters. Even though they're fun to play, for me to own and invest myself in it, that's just kind of where I'm at. So Avatar is a game for me there. X-Men's fantastic we're having such a good time in pinball right now I just I thought the other day like I've got I've got a whole arcade downstairs and I'm just like I'm feeling like I'm on silver spoons or something you know like the luckiest boy in the world you know I'll level with everybody you know how do you how do you afford these games and things I was thinking about this the other day for the last two two and a half years I've had a side job on top of my full-time job that I would work where I travel out of state and do a stretch of days doing 24-hour shifts for these rural community hospitals. And during the peak of COVID, there was such a huge need and there was so much government funding available that it was quite lucrative. So I spent a ton of time away from my family. And over about two and a half years, I was able to generate about $400,000 of extra income, which is, listen, I used to live in a hatchback that didn't even drive next to a junior college in Santa Rosa. I had a bus pass and a skateboard. Like I didn't come from this kind of money. This is completely bonkers and off the charts. what I did with that $400,000 is I took $300,000 and handed it over to the government to pay my student loans. My student loans were $297,000. Well, they were probably like $330,000, but I had paid down a little bit. Anyway, my remaining balance was $297,000. I paid that off last year. I took a huge chunk of all this money, all this work over two years that I did away from the family on top of the full-time job that I already have and just dropped it in just a bottomless pit of federal debt, budget, deficit, spending, whatever. I don't even know where the hell it went. I sure as hell could have used that to pay off my house. I would have had more fun lighting it on fire in the front yard than handing it over. But hand it over, I did. And so the remaining $100,000 has gone towards funding these games over a period of two years. A game would come out and have my eye on it. I would go and set up some shifts. I would leave my family, fly across the country, work 24 hours in trauma centers, ICUs, whatever, just up to my neck and people dying of viral disease so I could come back and then I got an Elvira. I got an Iron Maiden. I got Scooby-Doo, man. It's a butter cabinet. Check it out. That's where that all came from. And so I don't talk kind of publicly about what I do just because people get the wrong impression. They figure like, oh, yeah, you've got it made, sir. F you, right? Everything's probably handed to you. You probably got to go to some Ivy League school where you got to live in dorms and you had all your food was catered. And it's like that wasn't my experience at all. I went to a junior college. I got an allied health program degree where I became an x-ray tech. And then I was just like right place, right time. I managed to get myself into good travel contracts and kind of build a little bit of something. And then I got into a situation where I was working 12-hour night shifts full time at a trauma center. and then I would go to university during the day and try to get through science classes. And for three years of university, I didn't have a day off. I was working three 12-hour shifts a week plus an extra four-hour shift to make it 40 hours, plus going to school full-time during the week. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday were my long nights at the hospital. Monday through Friday, I was on campus. And so that doesn't leave time for anything. I mean, my blood pressure went up. I gained weight during it. because like every single day I was either at work or at school or both just to kind of see if I could pull this off. Right. And so I ended up getting accepted to a medical school. And then by the time I was in med school for the first time in a long time, I actually had some free time because I had to quit my job, move across the state with my young family, take out loans and try to survive on those, you know, with a new baby and everything. But for the first time, I could just focus on just doing school and I just lived off loans. and then I parlayed that back by taking $300,000 and dropping it into a big government black hole. Who knows? I hope it went somewhere good. I hope it went to go and fix a freeway overpass, or it went to put sidewalks in a town that didn't have it, or it went to go fix the lead pipes in Flint, Michigan. I hope it went somewhere good. I really hope it went somewhere good. I hope it didn't just go so Jeff Bezos doesn't have to pay taxes, the poor guy. Anyway, I'm not going to rant on that. It's not Don's political podcast. That would be something completely different. But this is Late Night Thoughts with Don. Thank you, Prof, for doing the music for this episode. I'll go ahead and play us out in an interlude. But thanks, everybody, for texting me back. I'm still getting text messages of support from people that have become homies, right? More to come, man. I'm kind of re-energized in this whole thing. I like the community that we're building. The expo is coming up in a week and a half, man. We're all going to be together there hanging out. If you're there, let me know. Give me a shout. What up, Don? I'll have stickers on me. I'll at least give you a sticker. I'll give you a dab, you know, pose for a selfie or something, man. Let's make this thing cool. Otherwise, if I get invited to cool stuff, I'm going to be looking around to who else is with me that wants to come along. Next time I get invited to Stern, I'm going to ask him if I can have a plus seven, and we can just, who's available? Let's all go there and play something and let it be fun. Yeah, I was the best even before this shit occurred to me. I was in the kitchen eating chicken while committing burglary. She laughing, smiling, claiming that she never heard of me. I'm ugly as fuck, you think I'm dumb too, certainly Ooh, swaggy, sativa in the baggy Bring your rubber gloves, cause it might get a little nasty I'm getting lit on a nightly, pass a menthols and a visine Better get creepy and dicey, get this motherfucker high Can I let my hair down, can I let my nuts hang Not too much I care about, except maybe my Mustang Damn, this advance, what's the plan before I get banned Go Jackie Chan, go Tarzan, god damn it man Do me a favor. Let me take out my phone and fill my swaddle. Leave this shit later. You know that I got the drink by the gallon. And homie, we smoke by the acre. Ain't nobody leaving the party until somebody gets easier. It's important I let my nuts hang. I'm about to let my fucking nuts hang. Right on, brother. Donuts in the Mustang. Fucking right on, brother. See how low my chain go. Right on, brother. Sit back and watch me work my angle. Fucking right on, brother. I'm about to let my fucking nuts hang.