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DPP #25 "Louisville Arcade Expo! Bond 60th review!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·18m 3s·analyzed·Mar 13, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Don covers Louisville Arcade Expo, reviews Bond 60th, meets Spooky team at expo.

Summary

Don Garrison attended the Louisville Arcade Expo where he played Bond 60th, met industry figures like Spooky Luke and Bug, and observed strong sales of Scooby-Doo. He provided a detailed review of Bond 60th, noting it's a competitive, low-scoring game with minimal mechanics that appeals to skilled players but may lack longevity for casual collectors. Spooky Pinball is expanding facilities and hinted at upcoming releases.

Key Claims

  • Bond 60th was missing a shaker motor on the floor unit despite being advertised to come with one

    high confidence · Direct observation of specific demo machine at Louisville Arcade Expo

  • Spooky Pinball sold all three decal-printed Scooby-Doo machines and one Halloween machine at the expo

    high confidence · Don witnessed the sales directly at the event

  • Spooky Pinball has 2-3 games in development across an 18-month cycle

    medium confidence · Information from Spooky Luke and Bug at the expo

  • Butter cabinets cost increase from $1,000 to $1,400 and Spooky only breaks even on them

    medium confidence · Spooky representatives stated at the expo

  • Bond 60th is priced higher than Foo Fighters Premium ($9,600) and may lack longevity for casual collectors

    medium confidence · Don's comparative analysis based on gameplay observation

Notable Quotes

  • “Butter was popping like it was in the skillet ready to make some popcorn... those colors were popping that contrast was hitting.”

    Don Garrison @ ~10:00 — Describes visual impact of butter cabinet finishes under arcade lighting; demonstrates appeal of premium cabinet options

  • “Mini Keith Elwin over here... That touched my soul.”

    Other players at the expo (about Don) @ ~20:00 — Demonstrates the skill-based competitive nature of Bond 60th; shows how impressive opening shots are on the machine

  • “They have a clear coating company that they use where they get these direct printed cabinet parts from. And they say they're really just breaking even on these.”

    Don Garrison (reporting Spooky's statement) @ ~12:00 — Reveals Spooky's manufacturing economics and pricing strategy for premium cabinet finishes

  • “I think there's a couple of small guys... oftentimes i just wander back over there and i'd hang out first... sometimes it would be an hour just... chatting and talking.”

    Don Garrison @ ~27:00 — Shows the approachability of Spooky team at events and their willingness to engage directly with community

  • “The structure's up. They're waiting for concrete to pour, and that's up to the weather in Wisconsin.”

    Spooky Luke (about new facility) @ ~28:00 — Confirms Spooky's facility expansion with dedicated buildings for mechanical assembly, R&D, and playtime

Entities

Don GarrisonpersonSpooky LukepersonBugpersonZach MinneypersonGreg BonepersonLouisville Arcade ExpoeventSpooky PinballcompanyFlippin' Out Pinball

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball expanding production capacity with new dedicated facility; structure up, awaiting concrete pour; two separate buildings planned for mechanical assembly and R&D/playtime

    high · Spooky Luke stated: 'The structure's up. They're waiting for concrete to pour... one dedicated building for mechanical assembly and another one for r&d and and play time'

  • ?

    community_signal: Flippin' Out integrated Insider Connected leaderboard system at Louisville Expo, enabling real-time competitive play and achievement tracking across multiple machines

    high · Don noted: 'You could actually try to get a place on those leaderboards... as you were playing bond as you were playing godzilla as you were playing elvira you could actually try to get a place'

  • ?

    community_signal: Don's Pinball Podcast successfully executed community engagement at expo through merchandise giveaways, sticker distribution, and passphrase-based prize packs

    high · Don gave away 3 prize packs on-site, distributed ~200 stickers, sold t-shirts directly; plans to repeat format at Southern Fried Gaming Expo in July

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Bond 60th plays as competitive, low-scoring tournament-style game similar to TNA; appeals to skilled players but lacks longevity for casual collectors

    medium · Don notes: 'very low scoring game... similar to like how I feel with TNA... this is a very competitive nature... if you're a type of person that just rips TNA all the time'

  • $

    market_signal: Spooky Pinball hinting at upcoming releases through subtle Easter eggs (Wile E. Coyote shirt, Evil Dead shirt worn by Bug)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.054

0:00
Dozpin Ball Podcast is roaring back into effect now that I have returned from the Louisville Arcade Expo where I had a complete blasty blast all weekend, Friday and Saturday night. Congratulations to the winners of the prize pack. That was amazing. It was more successful than I was expecting. And I got to meet a ton of great people. I'm going to get into all that review. And I did play an additional game, Bond 60th. and I've got some hot reviews for all of yous. And that's coming up in just a few seconds.
0:38
What a fantastic time was had by all in Kentucky. It was a little bit frosty frosty, a little 40 degrees, a little wind, but for me coming from Wisconsin, absolutely balmy. I didn't touch my hoodie all weekend. Going into the convention center on Friday, there was a good mix of games there, and it wasn't huge like Texas, but about, oh, you know, a third of the size of that showroom, but it was a good time to be had by everybody. There was even an internet celebrity I got to meet, John Riggs. He does a YouTube channel reviewing NES titles and old Sega Genesis games, and I and my family watch him. So he's also from the same region of the Pacific Northwest, so what up? Shut up, dude.
1:17
So it was cool seeing him. Got a picture. Also, on display, man, I think Flippin' Out had the biggest kind of placeholder of the event. They had kind of about 16 games, one big square of Bond Pros, Bond Premiums, Elvira's fresh off the line, one of which even had the speaker lights running. And then they had about five Godzillas. Tilt was there right behind them. Spooky was in effect. And a lot of other local arcade and game and cosplay suppliers and stuff. So it was a good time to spend, you know, a couple days of the weekend down there in Kentucky. Started with Flippin' Out. You know, they had their leaderboards up for Insider Connected. So it was nice to see that functional. so all weekend as you were playing bond as you were playing godzilla as you were playing ovira you could actually try to get a place on those leaderboards and i believe they did have some giveaways there a couple dudes were there from stern stopping by too for help out with things and a lot of games were being sold um met up with uh cause from flipping out we'd communicated online he hit me up uh we got to hang out all weekend very gracious dudes man um i had a good time talking with them uh and i was there solo so not thank you very much for hosting me and let me hanging out of your table. Man, I was dropping stickers all over the place. If you haven't got the Don's Pinball Podcast stickers, they are in effect, man. Popping graphics, die-cut stickers, and they are free, yo. I sent a lot out. People have emailed me at thedonspinballpodcast at gmail.com. I made sure they got them. I had shirts in effect. People were actually buying the shirts directly off me. That was great. It was just a fantastic talk with everybody. um and then uh i did also do the uh prize pack giveaway so uh on the last episode i released that word the phrase that pays that gets you i'm not gonna say it uh blank for days uh you got a prize pack of a t-shirt some pins and some stickers i made up four of them all you had to do was identify me at the conference and tell me the passphrase whitewater i picked that because it's just a great game that i like playing um and you know my first day i was there for about three hours just wandering around I was over at the video game section and some guy came up and he's like hey are you done and his friend there's like say it say it and he said it and he got it um so I was able to give away three prize packs that way congratulations to the winners this is a promotion that I definitely will repeat again because that was fun you know I was branded with my merchandise so I think it was easy to find me um just hanging out but it's fun to have people come up and talk and you know I'm getting great feedback on the show I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing I think I'll know when I really made it when I start getting the haters coming in. So I'm expecting that sometime maybe this fall if I keep building the way that I've been doing. Otherwise of the show, Spooky Luke and Bug were there. They had four Scooby-Doos, one of which was in that sweet, oh, so soft butter cabinet. I love that guy. So I've got a Scooby on order and I've kind of gone back and forth. Do I really need a butter cab? The extra price is $1,400 right now, up from $1,000. And from what I hear from the guys, they have a clear coating company that they use where they get these direct printed cabinet parts from. And they say they're really just breaking even on these. They reflecting their own costs It not a big money maker for them but it an option they like to add And man it does look good Basically just makes the size of the cabinets feel exactly like a play field And in the dimly lit arcade hall at the Louisville arcade expo you could really see that butter pop, man. Butter was popping like it was in the skillet ready to make some popcorn. I mean, looking over at the decals, the art is great on Scooby-Doo. Like this isn't just a, you know, some, some washed out design or something. So starting with the good art, the good popping contrasting colors um in the dimly lit arcade the the decals really were absorbing all the light and so they really weren't reflecting very much you know so they were appropriately dim but even in the dim light you just turn around and look at that butter and those colors were popping that contrast was hitting um just inviting you over there to give it some soft soft rub downs man i can imagine myself out there like biff at the end of back of the future waxing down the car man because this thing just feels great. So I'm torn, man. I'm torn like Tiger Lily, Natalie Imbruglia from back in the day in the 90s, man. But if I can convince the wife, I think that's my final hurdle. And if I can pick up some extra shifts, I think I'm going to go on some butter because I couldn't stay away from the dang thing. Gameplay-wise, Scooby-Doo going fantastic. I was there Friday. I was there Saturday. There was an additional day on Sunday that I wasn't there. But while I was there, I did see that they had sold, I think they sold all three of the decal printed Scoobies. The first one seemed to leave right away. I didn't even remember that they had a fourth game on display. And then looking back at the photos from their setup, they did have three decals and one butter. Most of the time I was there, it was just the two decals and the butter. So someone must have grabbed it and pieced out.
company
Bond 60thgame
Scooby-Doogame
Stern Pinballcompany
Foo Fightersgame
Keith Elwinperson
John Riggsperson
Insider Connectedproduct

medium · Don observed Spooky Luke wearing Wile E. Coyote/Acme-themed shirt and speculated about Roadrunner game; Bug wore Evil Dead shirt; Don notes 'they like to drop hints'

  • ?

    event_signal: Louisville Arcade Expo was successful but smaller than major shows; Flippin' Out established dominant presence with 16 machines and Insider Connected leaderboard integration

    high · Don attended Friday-Saturday, noted ~third size of Texas Pinball Festival showroom; Flippin' Out had largest placeholder with Bond Pros/Premiums, Elviras, and Godzillas

  • $

    market_signal: Bond 60th positioned as premium/luxury product with limited appeal; Don suggests buyers already know if they want it; 500-unit production may be appropriate for demand level

    medium · Don's comparison: 'for most folks, this is going to be overpriced... you'd go on a lower-priced game that seems to have more in it'; notes 500 edition number is appropriate

  • ?

    product_strategy: Butter cabinet premium option now costs $1,400 (up from $1,000); Spooky claims break-even economics; strong visual appeal under arcade lighting drives collector interest

    medium · Spooky representatives stated they break even on butter cabinets; all 3 decal Scooby-Doos sold at expo; butter version highlighted as visual standout

  • ?

    product_concern: Bond 60th floor unit shipped without shaker motor despite specification; raises manufacturing quality control questions

    high · Don observed missing shaker motor on display unit; stated 'Supposedly it's supposed to come with a shaker, but mixed up with a factory'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Spooky Pinball operates with 2-3 games in development across 18-month cycles, indicating sustained release cadence

    medium · Don's observation after talking with Spooky team: 'they got to the point where they've got probably two to three games, like, in development in, like, an 18-month cycle'

    • 6:06
    The other two had sold. And then they even brought a Halloween new in box that somebody apparently just backed the truck up and just stole right off the floor there with the quickness. I purchased it, but, you know, he had some place to be, apparently. So that was fun. I spent the weekend just going back and forth between playing some Bond 60th, what I'll get to in a minute, and going hanging out with the spooky guys, hanging out with the flipping out guys, wandering the show floor, trying to win myself a brand-new Stern Star Wars Pro, which was raffled off for charity. Didn't win, but contributed to a good cause. Some guy left with a PS5. It was just fun. Plus, there was video games everywhere to play, People brought their short throw projectors in the walls. Wherever there was available wall space, it was going down. It was like four-player turtle action. So I saw some Mortal Kombat going on, even some Primal Rage. Get out of here with that. It was nuts.
    6:54
    So smaller expo compared to expo or Texas Pinball Festival or Midwest Gaming Convention. But it was definitely a fun time. And this march is loaded. But if you're in the area, well, we're stopping by. I may bounce through there again in the future. So, Bond 60th stepped up to it, and it was off there by itself, so you couldn't really see any size comparisons. But, you know, yeah, it's exactly as advertised. What you expect it to look like is exactly what it looks like. Black cabinet with the posters. The front is pretty limited. The side armor and the lockdown bar are all that black. It is a different powder coat than the wrinkle coat that the traditional just pro and premium sterns have. um you know did feel a little softy softy but not a whole ton of embellishments there is a little uh specter insignia on the side armor near the button but other than that it's got the topper it's as expected doesn't even come with art blades and this one was also nefariously missing the shaker motor what happened stern how does it play it plays exactly like i expected it to play honestly um that shot to the left that figure eight shot from the top ripping that oh so sweet um follow that up with the combo to the right side to hit the other two flippers you can get all four flippers floating at once i managed that one time while i was there and i tried my hardest to get that center hat going at the same time to unlock that achievement but uh it's fun when you step up to a new stern now with insider connected that first game you play as long as it's halfway decent you're gonna get like 10 or 12 achievements unlocked so that's always a fun thing um and then you know progressively i was getting more throughout the weekend i think i played it about 10 times all together consistently had a line of at least you know four people deep uh throughout the whole weekend while I was there. But I was able to get into some four-person games. People were super friendly, you know, trying to include you in there. First game I played, I was with Kaz and a couple other guys. We played four-player. They gave me the lead-up position. So first player, brand-new game, Bond 60th. And, man, that first ball, I blew it up, yo. I got all the way clear past 6,000 points, which is the threshold for a replay on that game And they looking at me like whoa who this ringer dude We just met this guy He blowing it up Mini Keith Elwin over here That touched my soul Thank you for that I proceeded to just waste every ball I played all weekend I think I played consistently worse the longer I played. Every game was worse than the one before it. But it was fun. I did get a couple replays. I unlocked a lot of achievements. I got some cool shots accomplished. I wasn't able to spin the wheels, though, or spin the reels over. By doing that, you gain 10,000 points. There's four reels, so four scoring positions, 9999 is the highest you can get, and then they reset. When they reset, though, a little backlit LED in the display comes up that shows 10,000 points, and then I saw it go all the way up to 70, so to truly spin it, you'd have to get 100,000 points, which, man, you'd have to be blowing the heck out of this thing up. A little bit of a, I don't know if I'd call it a drain monster, but yeah, hungry out lanes and straight down the middle, so you've got to watch for those. You've got to nudge at the right time. But, you know, some satisfying shots. Now, I was expecting to be able to rip that figure eight both ways. I wasn't seeing anybody doing it from, you know, the down-up. Basically, the up-down was a way to do it. If you hit it perfectly from the bottom, I saw it go up, you know, click around a little bit. A lot of times it would end up in that saucer position.
    10:15
    Speaking of saucer positions, on the right side, there's those three drop targets that are in line. You drop those, and then you can get the multi-ball, right? So as you're playing, you know, you throw it up there three times, you get those drop targets hit. And then the first time I did it, ripped a ball straight back up in there, smashed the back of it. I'm like, perfect, multi-ball, and I get nothing. It turns out you have to hit the drop targets, then get the ball up there, but not too fast. You have to get it up there, and it's got to land in the saucer. When it's in that saucer, that's what activates the two-ball multi-ball. One of your main goals then at that point is to get both balls in both saucers, the one being up in the figure eight on the left and the other one being that multi-ball activator on the right. I couldn't manage that, but I did manage to blow up some significant points, at least getting to the 7,000, 8,000, 9,000 point range, which was enough to qualify for the leaderboard for top 10. I think somebody had blown it up and got around 17,000 points. That was the number one position, so bravo to you, sir or madam or whoever was blowing that up. But it's weird, you know, people were consistently coming by and you could tell the people that were, you know, definitely a cut above everyone else because they were just, you know, their balls were there. Scores were blowing up much, you know, embarrassing the rest of us. A lot of my games were sub 1000 points, y'all, on this machine. So what do I think about it? Well, you know, embellishment wise, it's a bit light. I'd expect for the price that there would have been some custom art blades. I would want a knocker. I would want the shaker motor. Supposedly it's supposed to come with a shaker, but mixed up with a factory. I don't know what happened. Maybe Shaker Boy was out that day when they got these first ones boxed up. So, but it's what you expect. I mean, for most folks, this is going to be overpriced. Not saying that the game is bad. I mean, it's fun to play. I don't think it's, you know, you know, the shots don't rattle around. I mean, the shots feel good. It feels fair. It's just a bit outlayed hungry, I guess I would say.
    12:10
    You know, a bit untraditional, not a ton of mechs and toys in it, which is not what it was designed to be. But for the price, I think most people would go on a lower-priced game that seems to have more in it and more longevity. I think for myself, if it was in my lineup for the type of playing that I do, I'd probably tire of it fairly quickly and look to turn it over. Whereas something like Foo Fighters, which the premium right now priced at $9,600, would, one, save you cash and give you a lot more longevity. Plus, it would come with a lot more mechanisms and things for me, for my play style. So I think it's good if you're into that type of game. If you're a type of person that just rips TNA all the time and likes the competitive nature of it, I would put this more in that category. If you've got the money, you've got the space, you want to get it in and flip it later, you come across a good deal, I'd say go on it. I think if you want this game, you already know you want this game. And if you're not going to get it, you already, again, know that you're not going to get it. I think the 500 edition number is appropriate. I don't think anybody that wants one is going to have trouble finding one. and I want to go play it on a couple of locations I know that are getting it. I think if you do have a curated pin bar or something, this is a good game for it. This will definitely be a draw for people. I mean, it's a rare Elwynn. So anybody that knows pinball from the mediocre level up is going to want to travel to your place and hopefully down some of your tasty beverages So that my review on Bond 60th I think it fits You know again I played it about 10 times had fun playing a competition with other people This is similar to like how I feel with TNA, you know, the ball times are low. So you can go through a four person game in less than 20 minutes, right? And then you're really competing for score. I mean, with this, this is a very low scoring game. I think if you get the skill shot, it starts off at only 30 points. As you light up those roll-in lanes, though, the point values do go up. So by ball three, you know, it could be more considerable. But, like, starting out, you know, you might hit, like, 50 pops, you know, in a row with those pop bumpers right after the roll-ins. But then notice that you've only got 50 points because there's only one point per pop to start with. As you hit those pops, though, the point values per pop do go up. So it's kind of that progressive, you know, type game. It was fun. I want to play it again. I want to take my wife Monica out. You know, we'll try it out, get her opinion. um but i got space in my game room for some other games speaking of spooky pinball man what a couple of cool guys um you know i'd go by the table you know talk to them you know run all my questions and they're just gracious and handling it and acting interested but then turns out i think there's a couple of small guys um because oftentimes i just wander back over there and i'd hang out first you know sometimes it would be an hour just you know chatting and talking about you know themes i'd like to see uh you know looking for a little uh little hints you know I know these guys like to drop hints. Like when they were at Midwest Gaming, no, Texas Pinball Festival, they had a Scooby-Doo blanket sitting out there back in the Halloween Ultraman days. And they're just like, no, we just like Scooby-Doo. No big deal. We just brought this blanket or towel or whatever it was. So I'm checking out their T-shirts, right? Luke had this Looney Tunes Wile E. Coyote-themed shirt, it looked like, with some Acme on it. So I'm like, hmm, let's see. Are we doing a little Roadrunner Desert Battle game coming up next? And then my boy Buggy's had on his Evil Dead shirt, which I think that's been a perennial rumor for them. Sounds like they got, you know, at any one point now with how they're doing, they got to the point where they've got probably two to three games, like, in development in, like, an 18-month cycle. So I'm hoping that these guys will just keep continuing to release games kind of as they're going. I asked them about the new building. They say the structure's up. They're waiting for concrete to pour, and that's up to the weather in Wisconsin. But that's going to be their new production facility now. They're expanded even more. so they'll have one dedicated building for you know the mechanical assembly and another one for r&d and and play time and maybe a basketball court or some darts or something um yeah the boys were really gracious they did invite me to come on down and tour the facility which i've been wanting to do for a while so i will definitely take them up on that maybe i could take this show on the road i wonder if i asked nicely enough if i can get them to actually come on microphone for a little bit wouldn't that be amazing milestone for don's pinball podcast um so uh yeah spooky you luke man that that dude um yeah we bonded a bit at the end there right at the very end um i was chatting up a guy who is who's definitely been imbibing quite a bit and he wingmang me pretty hard so thanks for that brother i love it otherwise i had a great time at the expo i want to do another follow-up episode about all the other news that's dropping too um you know we got images from galactic tank force uh american pinball released the uh the the full what the full tank looks like i've got comments on that but i'm gonna get to it oh also i played another game called Godfather. Forgot to mention that. Man, that's just been getting lost in the sauce with this pin march. I'm glad I started early on in February. But anyway, Spooky Luke, Bug, thanks so much for your hospitality. Zach and Greg, cause for flipping out. Thanks, brothers. It was great hanging out with you guys. Nice meeting you dudes. Everybody, I gave them a t-shirt. They swapped one back for me. So we did the t-shirt exchange things. I think I gave out about 200 stickers and everybody seemed to dig them, man. So I'm going to keep that up. So the next conference, I think I'll go to Southern Fried Gaming Expo in July. I've always been wanting to head down there, so I think I will do the giveaway again because it was so successful. Anyway, as always, let me know your thoughts and everything and send it over to the email. Let me hit my outro button.
    17:38
    Don'sPinballPodcast at gmail.com. You can email me directly. I've got one more prize pack to give away. I think in the next podcast I'll come up with a way to give that to you guys. Otherwise, follow the Facebook page at Don's Pinball Podcast. Just search Facebook. Follow me there. I do post links. I've got links from the show on there, including the winners. That'll be one of the ways that you could possibly win. So let me know what you guys think. As always, I'll be back sooner than you think I will be. I guess.