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Don’s Pinball Podcast is live!

Don's Pinball Podcast Live Streams (YouTube)·video·40m 14s·analyzed·Dec 15, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Don tours relocated pinball collection, discusses Spooky's momentum and LE trading dynamics.

Summary

Don streams from his newly relocated Wisconsin home, showcasing his expanded pinball collection including multiple Spooky games (TCM, Looney Tunes, Evil Dead), Star Wars Fall of the Empire, and others. He discusses game preferences, code updates, Spooky's recent commercial success trajectory, potential IP themes like Rambo, upcoming TPF announcements, and reflects on his recent real estate move and game trading decisions around LE pricing.

Key Claims

  • Spooky Twins (TCM/Looney Tunes) initially worried about commercial viability; now the company is 'on top of the game' after Evil Dead and Beetlejuice success

    medium confidence · Don speaking about Spooky's trajectory and uncertainty two years ago

  • TCM is a 'hidden gem' that didn't sell out immediately but people are 'finally warming up to it' after playing

    medium confidence · Don's assessment of TCM's market reception and current appreciation

  • Stern's Insider Connected shows real-time achievement popups, which no other pinball connectivity system replicates

    medium confidence · Don comparing Stern's Insider Connected to other systems like Scorbit

  • Scorbit hardware costs $300 per machine to install on non-hardcoded games

    medium confidence · Chat member providing technical details; Don's reaction of surprise

  • Don sold Harry Potter and Avatar JJP games to fund house down payment; recovered full price on Harry Potter but lost money on Avatar

    high confidence · Don's detailed explanation of recent game sales and financial motivation

  • John Wick Ellie and X-Men Ellie were not $13,000; Don traded them at undisclosed prices for D&D LE plus $2,000 cash addition

    high confidence · Don directly correcting pricing speculation and explaining his trading strategy

  • Scooby-Doo (2,000 games produced) still hasn't sold out

    medium confidence · Don comparing Spooky's production numbers across titles

  • Don moved his entire pinball collection downstairs and set up multiple games in approximately 48 hours

    high confidence · Don's description of the physical move to new Wisconsin home

  • Raven pinball machine was named after Rambo's Vietnam code name 'Raven' (mentioned by Colonel in First Blood)

    low confidence · Don's speculative connection between First Blood and Raven game naming

Notable Quotes

  • “Two years ago when they dropped these two games right here, TCM Looney Tunes. Um at the time they were like, 'Man, I I hope I hope somebody buys these,' you know. Um it was their first game that had some real flow.”

    Don@ 7:25 — Highlights Spooky's uncertain market position in 2022-2023 vs. current success with Evil Dead and Beetlejuice

  • “This is a hidden gem of a game. If you couldn't get a Beetlejuice, if you can't get an Evil Dead, this is the one to grab right now.”

    Don@ 8:13 — Don's endorsement of TCM as underrated alternative in Spooky's portfolio

  • “I think I'm done with Elles new in box because I could go out right now and get a Star Wars Fall of the Empire Ellie or a Walking Dead Ellie for like 11, you know, and I think that's more reasonable.”

    Don@ 31:23 — Reflects shifting secondary market pricing strategy for LE editions

  • “I just played a game and I was playing some Chewbacca modes on Follow the Empire and I got one and I was like that's that's a great achievement. I love that. But I have seen no other system that does that.”

    Don@ 18:44 — Unique appreciation for Stern's real-time feedback mechanics in Insider Connected

  • “I unpacked an entire trailer, filled the entire house, moved all these games downstairs, and set them all up in like 48 hours.”

    Don@ 10:44 — Indicates scale of collection relocation and Don's personal commitment to hobby

  • “And I don't know if if I could pick eight modes off the movie. That would be interesting. But I could pick a good five. And then uh you know, you throw Rambo two in there, which I'm going to screen a little bit later. And I think you could do a Rambo game where you have Rambo one and two.”

Entities

DonpersonSpooky PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack Pinball (JJP)companyMultimorphiccompanyBarrels of FuncompanyEvil DeadgameBeetlejuice

Signals

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Spooky Pinball's market sentiment shifted dramatically from uncertain (2 years ago with TCM/Looney Tunes) to dominant position after Evil Dead and Beetlejuice launches. Don characterizes them as 'on top of the game.'

    high · Don's narrative arc comparing 2022-2023 anxiety to current success; TCM now recognized as 'hidden gem'

  • $

    market_signal: LE edition pricing stabilizing/declining on secondary market; Don shifting from new-in-box LEs to used LEs at $11k price points (Walking Dead, Star Wars Fall of the Empire)

    medium · Don's statement about being 'done with Elles new in box' and purchasing used instead; recent trading activity losses on John Wick and X-Men LEs

  • ?

    collector_signal: High-value LE flipping and trading shows active secondary market activity; Don trading down to fund house purchase demonstrates liquidity in collector segment but also price volatility risk

    high · Don's detailed account of Harry Potter (full recovery), Avatar (loss), John Wick LE (loss), X-Men LE (loss), Kong Premium (breakeven)

  • ?

    product_concern: Competitive disadvantage emerging: Stern's Insider Connected provides real-time feedback popup achievements that no other manufacturer replicates; Don notes this deterred him from buying non-Stern games

    high · Don's statement: 'it really deterred me or at least I had to think like, do I really want to get this other company's game or just get another Stern?'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Pinball Circus rumor circulating but generating minimal community excitement; Don notes lack of 'clamor' despite game's conceptual appeal

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:01
Can we do it? Can we do this on a Sunday? Can I fit it in? Have I been busy today? Absolutely. Sorry for missing the morning session. But I I was wrecked from yesterday. This, as you may see behind me, is a pinball lineup. And it's not like you haven't seen these games before. These, of course, are my home games. However, they're in the new home now. And yesterday, I drugg all of these things downstairs around the back of the house. Drug them all in. Today, I set them all up. so busy all day. But lineup and and there's more. There's more hidden around. We got a got a Star Wars over here. Ultram man's chilling over there. I showed up with almost everything I needed. I did leave a coin box with some hardware for my EM. And I left a uh power cord for Ultram Man. Other than that, I managed to bring everything here. So, that's cool. Check out this turn expression light topper. Dope, right? Only like 3.95 or something. So, it's late. Well, it's late. It's late for me. The sun is setting in Wisconsin. Got a walk out basement here. Um, I I do have I do have a drink in my Wisconsin uh ice chest, which is a pile of snow over there in the corner. You want a cold drink, you just you stick it in there, go outside and grab it when you need it. Easy, easy. You got to be careful that it will freeze. It's negative temperatures outside. Bit of a cold snap here in the uh what we would call the Midwest. Wonder if anybody's watching this yet. There's six people. Where the hell are my comments? I probably have to hit the comment button. Lighting on. Oh, light lighting off. Lighting on. Interesting. Retouch. I can do all kinds of stuff. Well, that's fun. Anyway, I can't see any comments if there are any. But I didn't want to let a Sunday go without something. I bet this is the comment button. Chat viewing options. I can't even read it. It's being cut off my iPhone.
1:59
There we go. Hey. Hey. There we go. No sound. Oh, I think I know why there's no sound. Hang on.
2:12

  • Don is interviewing Scorbit tomorrow (Monday) but is uncertain what to discuss with them

    high confidence · Don's announcement and request for interview question suggestions from chat

    • Don@ 12:54 — Don pitching Rambo as viable pinball IP based on First Blood rewatching

  • “Why don't we have like Jersey Jack connected, you know? You know, like like the the Jack system or something. Earn Jack points. Jackbox Live, we can call it the Jackstation Network.”

    Don@ 21:50 — Don advocating for JJP competitive connectivity system to match Stern's advantage

  • “I can't have everything. And to keep getting new stuff, old stuff has to go.”

    Don@ 9:47 — Philosophical stance on game trading and collection management

  • “I'm down to only like two more weeks of shifts. I have to work at my current job and then I get to quit and I won't ever have to go back to that town.”

    Don@ 28:38 — Personal life milestone reflecting Don's full-time transition toward pinball/content creation

  • “I wish Spooky was releasing three games a year because there's so much good stuff.”

    Don@ 29:09 — Demand signal for Spooky's game release cadence given recent success

    • game
    The Creature Midnightgame
    Looney Tunesgame
    Star Wars Fall of the Empiregame
    Scooby-Doogame
    D&Dgame
    Harry Pottergame
    Avatargame
    Walking Deadgame
    Portalgame
    Predatorgame
    Zeldagame
    Scorbitperson/company
    Electric Playgroundcompany
    Retro Ralphperson
    First Bloodmedia
    Canada Saturday Showcontent
    TPF (The Pinball Fandom)event

    medium · Don: 'I haven't heard a lot of clamation for a pinball circus' despite hearing rumor on Canada Saturday Show

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Rambo pinball game concept pitched by Don; claims no Rambo game exists yet; bases pitch on First Blood rewatching and thematic potential

    low · Don's subjective assessment of First Blood as convertible to 5-8 game modes; speculative nature of manufacturer interest

  • ?

    operational_signal: Don completed full home relocation and setup of extensive pinball collection (10+ games visible) in 48 hours; indicates scale of personal collection and operational capacity

    high · Don: 'I unpacked an entire trailer, filled the entire house, moved all these games downstairs, and set them all up in like 48 hours'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Don announcing quit from current job (2 weeks remaining); transitioning to full-time pinball content/collector role; implies growing viability of pinball content as primary income

    high · Don: 'I'm down to only like two more weeks of shifts. I have to work at my current job and then I get to quit'

  • ?

    demand_signal: Don expressing desire for Spooky to release 3 games/year based on current demand and 'so much good stuff' in pipeline; implies supply constraint

    medium · Don: 'I wish Spooky was releasing three games a year because there's so much good stuff'

  • ?

    content_signal: Don confirming interview with Scorbit (connectivity specialist) scheduled for tomorrow; seeking audience input on interview topics, indicating collaborative community engagement

    high · Don: 'I forgot I'm interviewing Scorbet tomorrow. What do I say?' and requesting chat suggestions

  • ?

    product_launch: Star Wars Fall of the Empire accessories (topper) coming soon per Don's statement; will be plastic with lighting, no movement, ~$1,500 price point (speculative on Don's part)

    medium · Don: 'I heard Follow the Empire accessories are coming soon' and speculating on specs/pricing

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Don's gameplay preferences show variance: TCM/D&D/Monsters support extended play; Star Wars Fall of Empire supports 2-3 plays before abandonment; indicates code depth and rule complexity preferences

    medium · Don: 'this Star Wars game, I guess this one, I'll play a couple times until I blow it up and then I walk away from it' vs D&D/TCM all-day playability

    • All right. Thought it was still Bluetooth connected. I've got Zelda set up over here and I'm using the Bluetooth speakers to play some YouTube nonsense and music. Hell of a music box. Essentially, right now it is a a box speaker, but uh there's a whitewood layout that's in there. I just need to wire it up and it'll be shootable. I'm going to go out to my Wisconsin ice box here. Put in my comments. There they are. Okay. Yeah, you live stream terrorist. Anyway, I've been listening to everything that's been going on. I just haven't been able to comment on it. Look at this sunset. Look at this. Check this out. A Wisconsin sunset at 4:30 in the afternoon. Uh, there it is. Oh, Frosty. There we are. All right. It's like uh it's like you're going into a walk-in freezer when you walk outside. Like I have a a freezer from our old garage. It's full of frozen food. I brought it here. It's just sitting in the garage still completely frozen. Like the the garage is sub-zero temperatures. Like it can't even defrost. It's crazy. But I thought I would walk and I would give a little bit of reprieve in upstate New York drink chest. Absolutely. A bit of a reprieve for Star Wars Fall of the Empire. Do this always happens like I set up games. I'm totally tired. I just I turned everything on. First game I played on here, not 300 million. Got each one of the multiballs. Played played through several molds like on one ball. It was great. Uh I got extra ball. I had fun with it. You know, the modes they're interesting when you're hitting the shots. I know there's not I know there's not a ton of uh deep variety in here, but I was having some good fun with it. So, for a toy that's meant to be fun, yeah, there's better ways to spend your money. It wasn't so bad. Don't forget to farm right ramps for the extra balls. Oh, yeah. Yeah. 10 shots up there. The nice thing, at least with the way my game's set up, I can backhand that pretty easily. Just let the ball roll a little bit from a crater. Cradle. Crater. You'll hit it every time. Um, but yeah, it's okay. I think, you know, this game when I play it like two or three times, I'm like, I'm done. I don't need any more of this. Whereas like D and D, I can just jam on all day. Um, TCM, I can play one after another. Monsters, as soon as I drain, I'm like right back in there. This Star Wars game, I guess this one, I'll play a couple times until I blow it up and then I walk away from it. But I think it's got more longevity for sure than than than bad Star Wars. you know, but there's definitely worse games. There's definitely better games, too. So, I want to see him step up. Look at this lineup. Look how dope that is. I need to get like a big mirror on that side of the wall and like a mirror over here, so it just looks like it just keeps going. [snorts] This light up armor was the best upgrade I did for this game. This is a premium, by the way, but it's got a mirrored back glass, which even the LE didn't have. Gorgeous, man. Boom. There's probably more mods I could stick in here, but but I dig it. I'm reworking the topper to incorporate those lights. I think it'll be pretty dope. I just like I love the look. I love the look of a whole lineup. This is killer, too. Um I I got some hardware. I got some bolts for the back box. Got leaps. I can't set this up just yet. And then I need the the power cord for that. I need to finish the wiring on Zelda. And then we'll have everything going. There's a black knight upstairs, too, that I just haven't brought down yet. These two guys, man, these are my two of my three spookies I have right now. Yeah. Yeah. Look at this. Look at this. How much sense does this make? TCM Looney Tunes. And I I still don't know which one I like better. It's TCM, but like I They both play so different, man.
    6:00
    They both play so different. I got to throw the topper back on there. I took it off when I moved it. Everything's on insider connected now. Sorry for the beetle juice party. It wasn't up there. Spooky Luke's favorite game. Pull fiction. I love this topper. Electric playground. Thanks so much. Electric playground's making me a Star Wars topper. Uh I don't think it'll go on there. I think I think it'll go on here and I'll probably have to take these lights down and put them on some other game. But we'll have fun with it. So you you can't switch the codes between these two because the architecture is different. Like the actual computer setup is different. Like the coding is different. So like I don't think it I never tried it. Maybe I'll try it one day. I don't want to break my games. Tell you what though, this game over here, you can put Halloween on this one, no problem. So that is awesome. There's a USB drive in there of each game and so you can just swap back and forth and play whatever you want. Freaking Ultra Man butter cabinet. Buttery butter. The art looks good. You know, I wonder if when uh when the Spooky Twins were building this game and Halloween if they had any inkling on like where they'd be right now, you know? And let's start with that. So, my arm's going to get tired doing this. um two years ago when they dropped these two games right here, TCM Looney Tunes. Um at the time they were like, "Man, I I hope I hope somebody buys these, [laughter] you know." Um it was their first game that had some real flow. I know. Um gameplay-wise, scope-wise, they stepped up with uh Scooby-Doo. The art was amazing on Scooby-Doo. Uh the game play a little simple on the lower part, but it had a great upper play field, you know. So, coming off of Scooby-Doo, which was 2,000 games, still hasn't sold out, and then they had these two and they're like, I I hope we still have a job for a year. And then people appreciated the flow. I think if it was one or other, I think these two games would have maybe sold out. I wonder if collectively they sold more than 888. They they've had to by now. People [snorts] are finally warming up to TCM now that they're getting to play it. This is a hidden gem of a game. If you couldn't get a Beetlejuice, if you can't get an Evil Dead, this is the one to grab right now. Game's awesome. Code's amazing, but like like this came out and didn't it wasn't an immediate sellout or anything. And then they were like, you know what? Hold my beer because we got Evil Dead coming. This is the theme that we've wanted to do forever. I'll step in the light. People have wanted it forever, right? Do the P missing the package. Um and then then Evil Dead came out and then still didn't like leaps and bounds. It's it sold well initially, but then once once people played it, it was like we know what happened. They were gone and then Beetleju's gone. And now these guys are on top of the game, man. They're on top of the game. And the springboard that started with Scooby-Doo and then these two right here and then just catastrophically launched with the last two titles is like going to keep going. Got to get a lunex. I mean, I I like having them both here. It's a good pallet cleanse to go from one to another because, you know, you learn the shots, you're basically training on both games, but code's different, the vibe is different. You know, even the track modes are different. Like these games two the trick is that two different teams were on each one of these, right? It wasn't just like let's let's make one kind of like one mode architecture and then just switch the uh assets. like the games play completely different.
    9:43
    But I like Scooby. I miss it. I got a good price for it and I can't have everything. And to keep getting new stuff, old stuff has to go. I would still have Scooby. I would still pick it up. And it's it's like a bargain right now, too. You can go get one. Um, mine was a butter cabinet. My first one. Loved it. I need to find a way to get evil dead again. I don't see the price coming down soon. We got to figure out where we're going to put Beetlejuice. It's got to be in a prominent position. Maybe we'll keep like for whatever game's rotating in and the hottest of the moment we'll be like right here. So, this room, this room's pretty big. I can put three rows of games here and then against that wall, too. So, we'll have room. I'm going to go sit. My arm's getting tired.
    10:27
    Traded Maiden for a Scooby. Love it. I dig the game. You know what? And the code's better now, too, than when I owned mine. So, I think I really need to get it again. Oh, that's so much better. Maybe I'm finally in my old man mode. Dude, I unpacked an entire trailer, filled the entire house, moved all these games downstairs, and set them all up in like 48 hours. So, maybe I'm maybe I'm entitled to be a little little exhausted. It's late Sunday. I'm off tomorrow. I'm just going to I'm going to relax tomorrow. I'm probably going to record some tomorrow. The return of the We Are Pinball. People have been asking for it. I know. I've been busy, out of town. It's an international podcast about pinball, about fun, about friendship. Yeah, it was a ton of work. I don't know how to slow down either. If I've got a spare five minutes, we're doing something. You know, it's not for lack of trying. Um, I did take a moment last night here in the theater room. Um, and I watched First Blood, and this is a a movie and a theme. It's the first Rambo film and something that I've been wanting to uh push. God, I look fat in this black t-shirt. Um actually lost weight, too. I think it's an angle. Um I I [snorts and clears throat] I think this I've been cheering because I think this could work for pinball. There's never been a Rambo uh game. Raven, you know, aped off of it because of its popularity. I would like to see it work. So, watching Through First Blood again last night convinced me that I really think it could work. What a film. Have you seen Rambo? If you haven't seen First Blood in a while, or if you've never seen it, I got Paramount Plus. It was free on there. Go watch it. Go watch it. Go down to your theater, your local theater, and put it on and watch it. Great film. A Vietnam veteran kind of making his way through the Pacific Northwest, checking in on some old uh squadmates of his and just gets hassled by this, you know, small town sheriff who doesn't want drifters in his town. and all he wants to do is just get some food and keep going. And uh yeah, they're just not letting him have it. They're abusing him. They're unlocking his PTSD. And then he just goes nuts on the entire town. And and the the beginning of the film makes you so angry at the cops that are mistreating him. And then it's just retribution for the whole film. And it feels totally justified. And you're like, "Hell yes, Rambo." And I don't know if if I could pick eight modes off the movie. That would be interesting. But I could pick a good five. And then uh you know, you throw Rambo two in there, which I'm going to I'm going to screen a little bit later. And I think you could do a Rambo game where you have Rambo one and two. I think that'd be perfect. I'm going to watch three also. But freaking John Rambo. John Rambo's code name in Vietnam was Raven, which is mentioned by the Colonel in the movie. And I think that's where they got the name Raven for the Raven pinball machine. So there's your lineage. It'd be great if you could throw in like some Raven callouts or something. I don't know who would make this game. Um I listened to Canada Saturday show and he was dropping some rumors. One of which I had heard, one of which I hadn't heard. Stern doing Corvette again or I don't know. They didn't do it the first time, right? I forget which one they did. I I'm not I'm into a car game about as much as I am into a sports game. Um that being said, dog soccer was fun. Highspeed was fun. So, you know, maybe the other one though, that pinball circus rumor, I'd heard that bouncing around and I'm still waiting to hear back. You know, when a rumor drops that's like juicy, like something we want to happen, you hear the community just clamoring for it. And so far, I haven't heard a lot of clammation for a pinball circus. I mean, at least get the one in Vegas working, you know. Uh, as a concept, I think it's a game that deserves to exist. I think it'd be fun. I I'd like people to have a chance to play it. Um, but yeah, you could say that about any game. You know, I'm glad people can play Blues Brothers, but hell heck no, I wouldn't buy that game or or wish it on anybody. Um, it's just Has anyone played Blues Brothers? Like I know pinball's fun and it technically is a pinball game, but like it's it's not even like ironically interesting. It's the same song throughout the whole thing. Uh but you know that there can whatever I'd rather play Roadtrip than I would Blues Brothers. So where's Roadtrip at? I wonder if um they were Tilt Bob. What are they now? The Ramps Company. Is that what they are? I haven't heard anything out of them. I haven't had them reach out. Oh I just remembered. Uh, programming note. I think I'm interviewing Scorbit tomorrow and I don't really know what to say. I'm missing all these uh missing all these comments. We need Rocky, Karate Kid, and Superman. All right.
    15:34
    I don't want to abide by community guidelines. I just want my comments to stay here so I can see them. Oh, there they are. Oh, what's up, Enzo? How you doing? There's 16 people in here. My stupid uh comments keep disappearing.
    15:47
    Oh, somebody want to see the Stranger Things back glass. Let's go. Let's go check it out. I'll show you. Ramps road trip. Anyway, what the heck do I talk to Scorbet about? They reached out to me. They want to come on. I want to capitulate. I just have no idea what to say to these people.
    16:11
    So, this is mirrored. This is real glass. The mirroring effect is subtle, you know. Of course, I wish it was more. You really need light to see the lightning bolts. That's where all the mirroring is and around the Stranger Things logo. Chippers are crate, how you doing? I'm doing all right, man. I'm doing all right. We need a topper for Wrestlemania D and D. I've got to build another one. Uh, Texas has its topper over there. I got to put my monsters topper back on. Star Wars is getting probably electric playground. Although, damn it. I do love that expression light topper. I wonder if there's a way I can incorporate both of them. I'll see. Zelda doesn't have a topper yet. Zelda has a rudimentary layout. I'm sticking simple with it. You know, it will have an upper flipper if everything goes okay. There'll be another ramp up there. Um, there'll be a a subway and a vuck if I can figure out how to do it. I've got good concepts there.
    17:13
    You could have got a Ellie for 10K. Hide all chat messages. I want to watch all of them. So anyway,
    17:31
    oh god, it's so tired. All right, guys. I need some scorbit questions. What do I ask him? I got a DND premium. Um, you know, I had to cuz I that's what I wanted, but I'm sure the pro is just perfectly fine. I got the premium though. I like the extra movements that the dragon does. I wish it was incorporated in the game code more. That's like not at all. I haven't even seen the new Street Fighter trailer. Street Flav the Will that movie be enough to get me? I don't know. Maybe. I haven't even seen it to I haven't had time to do anything, man. And I forgot I'm interviewing Scorbet tomorrow. What do I say? Hi guys. Tell me more about pinball connectivity. How I don't I don't really know. I never had Scorbbit in my JJPs and now it's gone. So, I don't know if it's just like a USB thing you plug in there. I don't know if you have to download code. I don't know if you can still update your game with it running. I don't know if it gives you real-time feedback because if you're doing connectivity for pinball it really there's two things you can do real time feedback popup scoring like like Stern does. It's my favorite part of Insider Connected. I just played a game and I was playing some Chewbacca modes on Follow the Empire and I got one and I was like that's that's a great achievement. I love that. But I have seen no other system that does that. Um they'll record your scores. you can get badges or whatever in the app that you have to like look at later. And when you're doing like John Wick contracts, they don't show up until sometimes a half hour or an hour later. So, you're playing the game and you think you qualified it and then you check and you have to like wait and see if it uploads later, you know, to see if you got it or not. I don't like that. Is that what Scorbit's like? Maybe I'll ask him. Maybe that's what we'll talk about. All right. So, somebody remind me. It's in the afternoon sometime. I got to look at my email. Um, I feel bad because I have this whole thing set up and it's just like I I'm I'm everywhere except for like staying on top of content generation. Um, I'm between houses, you know, half my equipment's one place, half is another. What's your vision for one year, five year? Perfect. I would Doug, thanks for that. Scorbit used to work on Spike, too. So, like I still don't know like what it is. Is it code that you have to load on the game?
    19:48
    You know, obviously it's got to be reading off the data from what you're doing. It's got to be reading switch hits and stuff. I don't know. I want to see uh I want to see Insider Connected keep flexing and keep adding more value to it. And you know, if Stern has to charge a monthly fee, I pay a monthly fee to a car wash that I like going to. So, you know, if I'm playing a lot of pinball and there's a lot of cool interactions and, you know, it's it's like Xbox Live where we can play against each other, like there's those kind of benefits, I think you could get away with a monthly fee for that. And then, you know, if you're paying a monthly fee for it, you'll want to go out and use it. May encourage people to go to the arcades and stuff. Um, there needs to be a department that's just churning out content constantly and like updating new things that pop up on the screen. It connected in line with the CPU board. That would make sense because then it's reading everything that's coming in. It's a device you can install on most pinball machines. Costs 300 bucks per machine. Oh. Oh, no. No, man. So, if I have 10 machines, that's three grand just to connect. No. No. Had it on dialed in, but I don't think I added hardware. All right. Um, it's got to be hardcoded in.
    21:09
    Yeah. And you know, for a while there before I would buy another like a non- stern game, I would think, but but if I get this game, I don't get any connected benefits, you know. So, it really deterred me or at least I had to think like, do I really want to get this other company's game or just get another Stern? You know, because you bring a Stern game in, you open and unbox it and the first couple hours you're playing it, you're getting all these achievements. It's fun. You know, you open up a Jersey Jack, you don't get that. And I would think by now they would have had a competitor. I don't think JJ wants to be like substandard to the connectivity that Stern has. Why don't we have like Jersey Jack connected, you know? You know, like like the the Jack system or something. Earn Jack points. Jackbox Live, we [snorts] can call it the Jackstation Network. But like as a competitor because like JJP threw off score bit functionality and then they said they were developing their own thing. I thought we were like a year or less away from it and just hasn't been there. The good thing is for my old games too, you can really have your full game room live. That would I mean that would be awesome like to add that connectivity to older games that didn't have it. I get that. And it's also the same reason I was like wary about buying non-Tern games because I didn't get the inside connected. If I wanted to buy like a Walking Dead for instance, you know, the older game systems or system games, they're not uh they're not connected. So, it's like I wouldn't get updates and things from that unless it got remastered. Um, speaking of which, I would like to play a Walking Dead remastered. Where are these games at Stern games when they come out? They're everywhere and I've seen it nowhere around me. I got to go to Retro Ralph's house to go and pick one up. By the way, that guy's AI videos are nuts. I need to get into that. They're so funny. Um, he's like, you know, ranting as uh as a pinball corporation like Stern. Super fun. Um, what else is going on? Accessories. I heard Follow the Empire accessories are coming soon. That's cool. I want to see what this new uh Star Wars topper is because it's not going to be the same one they did before. That was limited. So, it'll be something else. It'll be plastic. It'll be $1,500. It'll have some lighting effects. It will probably have no movement.
    23:33
    Oh, Walking Dead and Portal. What would you choose first? I mean, that that's a Sophie's choice, man. Like, you got Portal, the the the perennial game of the show versus The Walking Dead. Brand new Stern. Go get your bleep bloops by logging in. Yeah, that's a tough one. He has Predator. Oh, Ralph. Ralph got a predator. Where'd he get one? Oh, I I forgot to mention. Hey, Don. It's Don K. Oh, hey, what's up, man? Yeah, that was fun. Um, was that over by portal? I was. So, TPF. Yeah, dude. Pendons Unite. Uh, TPF is going to be interesting. Um, when are we hearing about Raza from DPX? That's like another game that's floating out there that's supposed to be some at some point. I mentioned the other night, I think I was here last night on Patreon. Um, what do we got? Halo. I want to see the new Multimorphic, the new Turner. Beetlejuice will be a TPF. Uh, Jersey Jack won't have anything. Stern will probably have their new game. Plus, Walking Deads.
    24:41
    I want to see Raza. I don't I want to play it. I don't want to buy it. New P3 Minecraft. Oh. Oh god, that would suck. That would suck because I I've kind of been thinking a Minecraft game would be fun. Like I think a Lego game would be fun. I think Lego Batman would be the most fun. U P3 Multimorphic always gets the best themes and they make them on their weird machine. They get some cool themes. They get some cool themes. Um Barrels of Fun. They're not going to have a new game for a while. I wasn't expecting their new game until TPF and then they dropped it right before Expo. Um, they should be building them. Maybe I'll have mine before TPF. I'm excited to see what Halo is. Um, I'm excited to go Oh, Hexa is bringing three musketeers. Don, you made it barely, man. Can't wait to see the new pinball setup. Dude, you should have been here 10 minutes ago when I just walked through there. It's all set up. Gomez said his collab pin with Jack Dangerous, either Transformers or Pokemon. I remember this that I watched that. I have eight spike twos. While they are fine, time for a change. They have a stern field. I get it. And that's kind of where I'm at now. Um I'm waiting for Beetlejuice to come in. I want to have Beetlejuice, Evil Dead, and Winchester just all lined up and like things will be good. It's like every banger game from this year except for Harry Potter. Harry Potter, great game. Um, just played it again at at Dan's house. Um, had mine, don't have it anymore. I should put a game in the corner. What do you think? What's a good game for the corner of the movie theater room? Something Something's got to go over there. Maybe we'll put a bar or something so we can make drinks while we watch movies. This is such a killer setup.
    26:38
    So, man, Pinball 2K retract for March. Oh, I get it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that would be good. I got rid of Harry Potter because I bought this house and I needed money for a down payment and I floated the idea and I came somebody came immediately with a full price offer and so I was like I can get right out of Harry Potter for what I got in. It was like I never bought it. get out scot-free and I'll get like a chunk of change for the down payment for the house and then Harry Potter's so popular there's going to be so many I can pick it up again later down the line and maybe even a little bit cheaper. So that's why I sold it. I was I was enjoying it. I only had it a couple weeks. Um it was a CE. Um I wish all the wire forms were gold. I was taken aback by that that one with the Quidditch balls, the quaffles or whatever or the bludgers. um that uh that's not gold and it's because of how the electricity needs to travel through that to signal properly. But man, I really wanted a gold one. Um but that said, I I love the game. I played the hell out of it and I was able to get a full price offer for it and the customer was very happy to get it and I delivered it even and took cash and it's actually it's actually cash I still have so I can go and pick up another game at some point. Yeah, I don't think we'll see him on Pinside for a while and that's fine. You know, in a year or two, maybe I'll pick one up again and, you know, that'll be fun. I don't have a JP right now. I sold my Avatar. I sold my Harry Potter. I lost money on Avatar. And I did not lose any money on Harry Potter at all. And I think if I still had it, I might have even been able to eek out an extra 500 bucks. But that's okay. Um, I just wanted to have enough money to make sure I got the down payment going cuz this house kind of came up out of nowhere. But how do you not jump at this opportunity? Hey, go go go go live in the town of pinball. And this is exciting. I'm down to only like two more weeks of shifts. I have to work at my current job and then I get to quit and I won't ever have to go back to that town. I'm going to go back for for property management reasons, but I'm never going to have to like leave Benton, you know, leave the uh the the the the cool game lab where we're throwing stuff together and say, "Guys, I'm having fun here. We're making a really cool mechanism, but I got to go to work in a town 3 hours away." I'm not going to have to do that anymore. I'll be able to go hang out there until like we fix and finish whatever it is that we're making. And I I wish Spooky was releasing three games a year because there's so much good stuff. I did not I don't know if I made Here's what happened to John Wick Ellie. Um first off, John Wick Ali was not $13,000. So So [snorts] forget that. I won't say what it was, but it wasn't that. Um and then X-Men also kind of same. Um but I took both of those those Ellies. I traded them back to my DRO in exchange for Kong Premium DNDLE. Plus, I added $2,000 on top of it. And looking at where X-Men Ellie is now and where John Wick Ellie is now, I think I was still ahead. [laughter] Um, but yeah, so I think uh yes. Yeah, I I lost some money on on John Wick and lost a more on X-Men, I think. Um, that said, I played a hell of a lot of John Wick. I really got to like enjoy and figure out that game. Um, I played a lot of X-Men. I own two of them. Um, but uh, yeah, they're gone.
    30:26
    It's a great looking LE, but like the price was dropping. I was going to get stuck with it and I I wanted to have D and D. So essentially I traded John Wickle Ellie for D and DLE and then I I I took a bath on uh on X-Men LE or X-Men pre X-Men LE and I traded it for a Kong Premium. That's whatever. And then I made a little bit on the Kong Premium because I made that over and sold it to the arcade. So that's fine. Um it it all came out okay. Entertainment budget. Hey, taught me my lessons with less though. I'm g be very careful with those purchases, you know. Um, so will Spook So Spooky do real white. Are you done with Ellie's? Um, no. No, I don't think I'm done with Ellie's. I think I'm done with Ellie's new in box because I could go out right now and get a Star Wars Fall of the Empire Ellie or a Walking Dead Ellie for like 11, you know, and I think that's that's more reasonable, you know, that's more reasonable. So, I'm not against owning Walking Dead LE actually. Um, now that I'm looking at it, there's a lot that's in there. I have to see how I feel about the cabinet and stuff. 13,000. Absolutely no way. I like that topper, but I would still be at like $12,000 right now if I got $11,000 LE plus $1,000 topper. And uh I don't want the Walking Dead that much. You know, if a Walking Dead LE was like 9500, I may I may. And I think that's where they're going to settle. So, you know, Pokemon LE comes out, let's say, in a couple of weeks. No, I'm not buying one new inbox. Do I get a premium? Maybe. depends on what the game looks like. Otherwise, premiums are always available. They'll be available with the fix kit already in the game if you wait, you know, a month or two till the next round of building or at least, you know, the end of the first round of building because the Star Wars they're making now already has the fix in them. So, you might as well unless you've got to have an LE that no one has touched. No, Stern doesn't do foil art anymore. So it won't be the LE should have been a foil Charizard. That's like the most desirable card or whatever. Check with Albert Agar, but I believe that to be the case. That should be the LE, but Stern seems uninterested in doing the foil cabinet art, which sucks because John Wickle, if you've seen it in person, the foiling on the candle flames is amazing. That was like one of the the the chief parts of that game. I liked the stained glass back glass was awesome. And then what happened? What happened to it? Like fell off. It like totally fell off. Um I thought they just skipped foil for Star Wars because the white blue. Uh they skipped it on Kong. They skipped it on Star Wars. They skipped it on Walking Dead. I'm sensing a pattern. Like where is it? D and D was the last time they did foil. And yeah, I I asked him like this is an LE man. Why is there no foil artwork in here? you know, and it's like, well, cuz of the blue. It It made the ice look too blue. And I'm like, ice looks blue. I want foil. I want rad cows is what I want. If you're doing the top end edition of your game, put some rad cows on there. That glassy feel, it's amazing. Walk up to, you know, a Harry Potter or a Avatar and they've got Radcows on them. Except for the arcade edition of of Harry Potter, but like those are awesome. Do they roll out a 50th anniversary Star Wars? Why? Why? Um, it made perfect sense on Jaws. Hell of a seller, great game, deep code, awesome theme, fun to play, interesting mechanisms. And then, yeah, you make a celebratory version of that. Uh, Godzilla, you made a celebratory version of um Elvivra had celebratory editions. Star Wars. I don't know like follow the Empire when you you can't sell the ones that are out there. The price is just dropping. You know who's going to buy a high price new and box celebratory Star Wars. Uh I don't see it. I don't see it. Unfortunate because it should have been, you know, something commendable. The game's fun, but
    34:54
    I dislike it Stern didn't even use protective coating on their cabinet decals. Yeah. I mean, when you look at their volume and you're like, listen, we could save, you know, 15% by doing this over that volume, that's that's a that's a significant savings. And I think that's what they're looking at, I guess. And I think they're looking at keeping the price the same but deteriorating the value of the asset itself in order to like the opposite thing would be to maintain or increase their level of quality but then raise their price up. They stop laminating their artwork mid TNT. That sucks. I mean because like when I move a game I'm so like if it's scratched like it's screwed. Yeah. That's no fun. Rad cows are so cool man. just they're printed on like a plexiglass and then you just stick them on the side of the cabin or screw them in. It seems like like easy like I would do that. Um you know barrels stepped it up and they call them is it horizon ever gloss is what they called them but it's essentially like that type of material like it's a plexi material. Theirs has foiled. They have foiled rad cows which is awesome. Lamid is the price of vinyl somewhere 50% cost saving. Oh yeah, you know, and for the arcade edition, for the premium edition, fine. But for the LE, like, step it up, please. Please. So, that that kind of sucks. Um, somebody mentioned, is Spooky going to go back to horror themes? Of course.
    36:32
    You know, um, Spooky's looking for themes that people really want and also themes that that they feel the team can really put a lot behind. And so, yeah, like and these guys love horror, you know, so I think it'll happen. What uh what horror themes would you want to see? People mention Child's Play. It comes up all the time. That's like a terrible angle, but my arm is so tired. I should have brought my uh little phone deal. I got to I might say to Scorpit tomorrow. What's your one and fiveyear plan? What exactly is the product? That's what I'll ask him. I'll just ask him things that I want to know. Nightmare on Elm Street seems to be the one that everybody wants. I'm gonna start shutting down here. I gota I gotta get to the other house tonight. Where'd everybody go? Oh, there you are. All right. Who want to see the game room?
    37:28
    Bell the ball. Currently, people want Doom. I don't know if there's much story in Doom.
    37:36
    That's sick. I can't wait to see what this ends up turning into. Oh, Zelda,
    37:44
    you will have lights someday. You have audio and that's okay.
    37:52
    All right, I've got to pack up. Got to hit the road. I got some more shifts to do this week and then um wife and [snorts] then we'll be staying here. So, I'll solo myself back up, come back, and we'll just keep doing that. and we'll we'll see what happens with Nightmare and Elm Street. If you want to see it, keep asking for it. It's the best thing I can tell you. All right, I'm going to check out that Star Wars or Star Street Fighter trailer. Roads are fine. The temperature is -4, but the roads are open. My arm's tired. I got to pack. I got to get ready for work later this week. My studio is still back at the other house and I'm doing in the morning and then Scorbit. So, we'll do that. I'll drop it for you guys. Thanks for joining in here. Um, if you like the content that happens here and you want to help out, Patreon's a good way to do that. Patreon/donspinballodcast. Um, I just did a live stream last night for a while from here. So, there's extra live streams on there. You're entered to win stuff. You're entered to win stuff. It really helps out. I'd like to build it up and get like another 50 people on there so we can just make the community even huger. the more people that are on there, the more like clout I have with companies to send me stuff, you know, and then I like to share that stuff with you guys, including news and exclusive stuff like the Beetlejuice Party, which was awesome. More of that is coming. And so, the more people we can get, the easier it is for me to kind of like get these guys to give me some stuff, you know? Then we share it with everybody. Ask anybody that was in this room watching the Beetlejuice trailer worldwide. We debuted it right here. Happened right here. I live in this house now. This is awesome. So, check it out. patreon.comdonspinballodcast. Dropping content there as much as I can, including the live streams, the giveaways, and um you know, if you were a higher level tier member, uh you knew about this Beetlejuice party months before anybody else, and you actually probably helped plan some of it. So, think about that. I have a producer level for $20 a month, and then you were in the inner circle helping me plan all this stuff. So that'll get good ideas communicated directly to the top and support independent pinball jargon or whatever it is I do. So I don't do commercials a lot. There's one I want to do a little bit of a little bit of a pledge drive. See if we can build the community up even more. I'll see you guys on Discord. Uh be cool, man. Because