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Don’s Pinball Podcast is live!

Don's Pinball Podcast Live Streams (YouTube)·video·16m 29s·analyzed·Mar 14, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.024

TL;DR

Don's live stream covers Beetlejuice launch hype, Walking Dead production status, and American Pinball's uncertain next title.

Summary

Don broadcasts a live Sunday stream from Disney's Galaxy's Edge while at Leaderboard Arcade in Jacksonville, Florida. He discusses upcoming Beetlejuice Pinball midnight launch on October 14th, mentions Stern's Walking Dead remaster in production, comments on American Pinball's uncertain future and speculation about their next licensed title, and confirms Spooky Pinball's Beetlejuice release alongside industry-wide celebration events.

Key Claims

  • Beetlejuice from Spooky Pinball releases on October 14th with a midnight launch event

    high confidence · Don discussing confirmed release date and planning midnight launch party

  • Multiple manufacturers (Stern Pinball, Barrels of Fun) are participating in Worldwide Beetlejuice Pinball Day on October 14th

    high confidence · Don confirming industry-wide participation in celebration event

  • American Pinball has announced Cuphead is not coming out and they are working on a next licensed game

    high confidence · Don stating 'they're like on record now as saying that not only is Cuphead never coming out'

  • American Pinball's next game is licensed but the company has lost key personnel including their programmer and rules maker

    high confidence · Don: 'They don't have their programmer anymore. I don't know any designers that are still there. Their rules maker doesn't work there anymore.'

  • Walking Dead remaster machines are in production and being delivered

    medium confidence · Don asking 'Does anybody have a Walking Dead remastered yet? Have they been made? Are they being delivered?'

  • Stern was not building Walking Dead machines at Factory Friday; instead Jurassic Park Pros were on the production line

    medium confidence · Don: 'We saw Factory Friday and there weren't Walking Deads on the line. There were Jurassic Park Pros. Has me a little worried.'

  • Don has recorded an episode with Jenz, Bug, and Spooky Luke about Beetlejuice that will release on October 14th

    high confidence · Don: 'I have recorded an episode of with Jenz with Bug and Spooky Luke. I edited it this morning. It'll be released on the 14th'

Notable Quotes

  • “Beetlejuice releases on the 14th. I wouldn't doubt we're going to get it. I I have one of my game takes in in a group tent. He's been telling us about all the stuff that's coming. Hell yes.”

    Leaderboard Arcade staff member@ 2:50 — Confirms Spooky Beetlejuice release and retailer confidence in securing stock

  • “Stern Pinball's doing Walk of Dead gameplay. Everyone's bringing it. Barrels of Fun is going to do a factory tour. Everybody is celebrating World Spooky Pinball Day on the 14th in their own way. And I'm glad to see Stern Pinball is in on it.”

    Don@ 3:23 — Documents industry-wide coordination for Beetlejuice launch celebration

  • “I can't believe they're like on record now as saying that not only is Cuphead never coming out, but they're going to go ahead and release their next game which is licensed, but we have no idea who's even working on it.”

    Don@ 10:07 — Highlights American Pinball's public cancellation of Cuphead and ongoing instability

  • “They don't have their programmer anymore. I don't know any designers that are still there. their rules maker doesn't work there anymore. Like, like what's even happening in the world of American Pinball?”

    Don@ 10:15 — Documents significant personnel losses at American Pinball affecting production capability

  • “If they're bringing Masters of the Universe finally, I think that's the only thing that would allow them to regain some good graces within the community. I'm in on a Skeletor machine. I just want to play a Skeletor pinball machine.”

    Don@ 10:32 — Speculation about American Pinball's next title and community desire for MOTU license

Entities

DonpersonLeaderboard ArcadecompanySpooky PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanyBarrels of FuncompanyBeetlejuicegameWalking Deadgame

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Spooky Pinball Beetlejuice confirmed for October 14th midnight release with industry-wide celebration events

    high · Don and Leaderboard Arcade staff confirm October 14th release date and midnight launch parties across multiple venues

  • ?

    industry_signal: Unusual industry-wide coordination for Beetlejuice Day with Stern, Spooky, Barrels of Fun, and expected Jersey Jack participation

    high · Don: 'Stern Pinball's doing Walk of Dead gameplay. Everyone's bringing it. Barrels of Fun is going to do a factory tour. Everybody is celebrating World Spooky Pinball Day on the 14th'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: American Pinball has lost programmer, designers, and rules maker; company still operating but staffing severely compromised

    high · Don: 'They don't have their programmer anymore. I don't know any designers that are still there. Their rules maker doesn't work there anymore.'

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern Walking Dead remaster not observed on Factory Friday production line; only Jurassic Park Pros visible, raising timeline concerns

    medium · Don: 'We saw Factory Friday and there weren't Walking Deads on the line. There were Jurassic Park Pros. Has me a little worried.'

  • ?

    announcement: American Pinball publicly confirms Cuphead will not be released

    high · Don: 'They're like on record now as saying that not only is Cuphead never coming out'

  • ?

Topics

Beetlejuice Launch and Industry CoordinationprimaryAmerican Pinball Personnel Losses and Production UncertaintyprimaryStern Walking Dead Remaster Production StatusprimaryWorldwide Beetlejuice Pinball Day Industry ParticipationprimaryAmerican Pinball Cuphead CancellationprimaryContent Creator Strategy and Podcast Episode PlanningsecondaryVenue Operations and Pinball Bar Culturesecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

It is Sunday. Sunday means live stream day. And today I'm ripping my face off much like Nicholas Cage would. Is this not the best Fall of the Empire Star Wars topper? $112 and you can put a C3PO head on top of your game. Or for 75, get one of these popcorn buckets. All metal, huge. $75 plus 20% off that I get. We could hook it up if you need some Star Wars toppers. This is the place to get it. Coming from Batsu on live stream on Sunday. Never missing a day, 11:00 p.m. Central time, noon on this planet in this coordinate of the universe. We're going to chat. We're going to talk. We're going to get caught up. We're going to explore the Star Wars area while Shill from my favorite pinball company in Elkrove, Illinois. How you guys doing? Oh, we'll wait for some people to join. Wait for some people to join. Pinball Studios here. How you doing? Sterling. It's going off in like 4 days. The Beetlejuice launch event of the decade is happening. It's happening at my new house. It's going to be awesome. 20 friends plus some special guests. We're all going to coalesce in one region. Why? To celebrate Beetlejuice to put in deposits to watch the trailer, which was amazing. We showed Jenis the trailer the other day. His mind was blown. He's never seen the movie and he's like, "My god, you guys, it's like the greatest game." I'm going to take credit even though I had nothing to do with Beetlejuice. I still want to get in on the hype. Everybody wants to get on this hype. Stern P is going to get in on the hype by doing The Walking Dead gameplay on reveal. Come on. I mean, everybody's going to be super into doing Oh, right. Right. I worked for a company that that actually owns a lot of their pinballs. Stop it. Really? I own a lot of their pinballs. I work for Leaderboard Arcade in Jacksonville. Oh, well, shout them out. We're on live here. Leaderboard Arcade, Jacksonville, Florida. Leaderboard Arcade. Let's go. I do pinball podcasting. And we do a Sunday live every week. And this week, we're coming from here. Okay. And Stern just released themed Indeed. They did pinball machine. We actually just had um the launch party. The launch for follow. Uhhuh. By there. Two stores. We just opened our third. Food's amazing. Drinks are amazing. Games are amazing. Food, drinks, games, leaderboards. It's in the name, so of course they have it. Everybody's joining right now. We're going to check it out. All right. I know of leader. People know of it. Heard of it. Check us out. Well, here's the dude. Yeah. Did you guys pre-order a Beetlejuice from Spooky Pinball? I believe we actually might have it. We We just put out our um or for Halloween, we just redid and fixed up our Michael Myers and put it out. Yes. I love Halloween. Beetlejuice releases on the 14th. I wouldn't doubt we're going to get it. I I have one of my game takes in in a group tent. He's been telling us about all the stuff that's coming. Hell yes. All right. I'm doing the midnight launch party for it. It's going to be awesome. All right. I'll check it out. Oh, Don's pinball podcast. I'll check it out. I appreciate you. Okay. Leaderboard Arcade. We're hanging out celebrating pinball. Even from the intergalactic outpost here on the region of Batu. We're going to wander over to the other contingent. Everybody will be celebrating on the 14th. Stern Pinball's doing Walk of Dead gameplay. Everyone's bringing it. Barrels of Fun is going to do a factory tour. Everybody is celebrating World Spooky Pinball Day on the 14th in their own way. And I'm glad to see Stern Pinball is in on it. I'm glad to see Barrels of Fun has come to the party. We're making this a nationwide event for the midnight launch of the Beetlejuice. That was fun. That was random. All right, I'll have my Instagram wall here as we continue the live. What's the plan, guys? I'm going to walk by the cantina. You want to go on the What's the Millennium Falcon wait time? Rock and roll. Is it 45? All right, I will let the group decide cuz I'll do this for the next 20 minutes. No, that's gone. Definitely don't go to leaderboards. It's horrible. Oh my god. For real? I know of leaderboards. Hell no. Never heard the movie. I miss Dragon Fix. I know. I don't have time to load in Dragon Fix here um for this particular live. The crew here is trying to figure out what has the best wait time to wait establishment ratio. I will say with these threatening clouds, we should probably find something with an indoor queue. What's the wait time for the million falcon ride here? Oh, we're going to go into the Toy Story line. Oh, do we have to? All right, fine. We don't have to. Fine. All right, I'll go. He's like, I'll let the group decide. Oh, do we have to? [laughter] Are we going to end up in a 70 minute wait for Slinky Dog? Yes. in the rain. All right, I'm here for it. All right, we're gonna go to Andy's bedroom. I just took these guys on Rise of the Resistance for the first time. They do nothing about it, which is the perfect way to go into that ride. Now, his leaderboard's generally horrible. I don't want them to watch this and be like, "What a bunch of jerks. I've only been to Jacksonville once. I vote Stardust Racers." Listen, we're not a Universal anymore. Those passes have expired. We're here on this planettoid. We're going to Andy's backyard right over here. Are we doing photos? Are we doing photo times? Do we care about the art on The Walking Dead anymore? Is that still a thing? Do I need to be in this? Nope. Okay, good. All right, you guys want to get a picture? Let's get a photo. I've never seen so many travelers reading for a little. It's my data pad. Yeah, pad 13. # like and subscribe. All right, ready? Here we go. actually split up. Put a magic shot right there. Very Oh, sweet. Sweet. Amazing. Magic shots. Excellent. [laughter] Perfect. I'll get that new device for you. You guys are all set. Thank you. When's Does anybody have a Walking Dead remastered yet? Have they been made? Are they being delivered? Dude, I want to see one in person. They know Jacksonville's going to have a launch party for him. Can somebody bring a Walking Dead to the Beetlejuice launch party so we have one extra game to play? There's Slinky Dog. Slinky Dog. I come here and I got a Mickey pretzel and some terrible cheese. And I'm like, I like Disney still got it. I think Disney has still got it. Where did a picture? I'll send that picture to everybody. It should be manifesting soon in my data pad. Here's Andy's backyard. Alien swirling saucers. We call it ass cuz we're we're mature like that. We meaning I'm probably the only one. I want to be some Walking Dead, though. I'm sure the art will look good in person. I'm sure it won't command high prices soon. I'm sure I'll end up with one eventually. and life will go on and then we'll see what the next turn release is. But like I can't believe this midnight event is coming up like so soon for Slinky. No. I mean it's a fun ride and I'm down to waiting. I mean I'm just live streaming anyways. Who cares? It is It is a coaster credit. All right, Chad. Do you want to wait with me on a 70-minute live stream for Slinky Dog? I didn't have much of an itinerary. I just wanted to go on some rides, but I didn't want to miss my streak of Sundays. All right, Jeremy wants to jump in line with us for 70 minutes while we live stream that way. We're going to need ourselves a Diet Coke if we're going to be surviving this line. I got to find one where I get my passholder discount obligated for to meet like a release date. So, I think it'll still it'll debut. They'll make some and then they'll probably be doing like bilateral construction. This dude's got like $700 worth of lightsabers on his back right here. So, it's like $250 to build a lightsaber and then you got to carry the thing around and you're not allowed to use it. Listen up, dude. Shout out to life. You're not allowed to use it in the park. You have to carry that thing and then it's not going to fit in your carry-on luggage. Heck, it's not even going to fit in your check luggage. What is even going on? 75 short minutes chat. And it's probably going to rain, too. This is the worst queue to wait in during the rain. We're here at the worst time of day for the longest, slowest moving line. And the crew still doesn't care cuz I want to ride Slinky. It's going to make the ride even better. Jeremy, I'm at a Disney. Get down here. It's super fun. There's There's Krauss. There's overpriced snacks. And there's mind-blowing rides and illusions. And there's great resort hotels that you can try to get an upgrade to like we did for this trip. All right. Oh, American Pinball apparently is also back. Have you heard this? I can't believe they're like on record now as saying that not only is Cuphead never coming out, but they're going to go ahead and release their next game which is licensed, but we have no idea who's even working on it. They don't have their programmer anymore. I don't know any designers that are still there. their rules maker doesn't work there anymore. Like, like what's even happening in the world of I can't wait to see what this theme is. If they're bringing Masters of the Universe finally, I think that's the only thing that would allow them to regain some good graces within the community, the House of Houdini. If they can bring us Masters of the Universe, cuz nobody else is going to do it. I asked my friends that make pinball machines and they're not of the opinion that they could sell 300 of these things even though the license is getable. So, I don't know. I'm in on a Skeletor machine. I just want to play a Skeletor pinball machine. And even if American Pinball did it, I would probably still be interested if it was Masters of the Universe. So, I'm going to put that down as what I I'm going to try to manifest it. I'm going to say if they've got any sense left, it'll be Masters of the Universe. And that's probably the only machine I would buy from them. What's up, Johnny Bud? How you doing? We're at uh we're in Nanny's backyard right now. Line's moving actually pretty decently, so we're going to go with that. Shout out to my friend Dian. I know this is his friends here at work. What's up, guys? Look at this. The airtime hills here. So, apparently they're down for expo next year in addition to hopefully a more workable form of whirly ball or whatever they're calling it. They will have their new machine and I am hoping that it is going to be a Masters of the Universe elevator machine. Look at Slinky Dog back there. Come on, Slingster. There he goes. How fun. How fun, right? So, we'll wait and see. Um, I think they never should have passed on the guy Fiery license for barbecue. As stupid as barbecue was, at least it would have been stupid fun, you know? Get your care package. Thanks for the flipper coverage sound chucket. Yes, you got it. Perfect. Jeremy wants to ride, too. That' be like the worst live stream. All right. Maybe I'll jump on like maybe I'll jump on a Facebook live when we ride cuz I don't want to hold this for 75 minutes. Oh, cool. Yeah. Check out the slipper covers. Put them on your game. Let me know what you think. I I don't know if I sent double stick tape with them. You might need to go pick some up. Get the thin stuff if you need to. But cool. I'm glad there's more chum buckets out there. I got to I got to do another run of them and just make a ton. I want to just have the chum bucket be something that I just leave wherever I go. There's like a little chum bucket. It's back Ryan's head. This man's mustache. Probably one of the one of the better mustaches in pinball. He doesn't want to be on live. Oh, look at this. I mean, you know, come on. Yeah, brother. So awesome. All right. Shout out to all the creators that couldn't be with us here at the park today, but we're going to be celebrating Beetlejuice this week. And I'm glad that every company is jumping on. I can't wait to see what Jersey Jack Pinball does on the 14th to celebrate Worldwide Beetlejuice Pinball Day. It's known Wisconsin last night. I saw that somebody was sending me pictures. It's like 98° down here in the shade. It's so cool to be down here and like like there's all kinds of dads look just like Joel from Triple Drain right here. I keep like seeing them everywhere like with the cool shirts and the beards and they're all taller than me. So, shout out to you guys. Um, I have recorded an episode of with Jenz with Bug and Spooky Luke. I edited it this morning. It'll be released on the 14th because it will have all the first impressions of the game, why they made it the way they did, celebrating all the different shots that are in there. I wish I could say more, but we're like three 4 days away. I'm here tomorrow. I'm here Tuesday. Fly home Wednesday. Thursday night is the release. So, we're 4 days away from midnight release. And then Worldwide Pinball, Beetlejuice Day, celebrated by not only Spooky Pinball, but Stern pinball and barrels of fun as well, which is great. Pink Pink Pom Puff Best Besties has the best screen name. All right, Q&A. What do you want to know? I'll tell you what I heard. I tell you what I heard. I'll tell you what I heard. It's not been much. Sonic sounds like it's pretty good. And I heard that we still don't know what the next game from Stern is going to be after Walking Dead. We saw Factory Friday and there weren't Walking Deads on the line. There were Jurassic Park Pros. Has me a little worried. Like I would have thought they would have been building Walking Deads now that it's revealed. What's up cause? How you doing? I saw one of your lives pop up the other day uh from the arcade. So shout out to River City's Arcade in Danville, Virginia. I still need to make it over there. It's on my list soon as we get to it. Little busy for the next couple of months, but maybe we'll be able to get over there. I don't know. I think that's about all I got. I need a Diet Coke. Well, guys, fun live. Maybe we'll go live once we get on the ride here in a little bit. If I hear some more information, we'll pop back up on here down here for another couple days and then we're setting up for the midnight launch. I'm super excited. Can't wait for it. It'll be fun. So, when I hear more, you hear more about it from me. I think Walking Dead's probably fine. It's just it's more money than I want to spend right now on it. So, we'll wait. But yeah, River City's Arcades. River City's arcade. Um I got to get down there. I got to send you a banner, too, at some point. All right, guys. Talk to you later. Be cool.
  • “We saw Factory Friday and there weren't Walking Deads on the line. There were Jurassic Park Pros. Has me a little worried. Like I would have thought they would have been building Walking Deads now that it's revealed.”

    Don@ 15:13 — Raises concern about Stern's Walking Dead production timeline based on observable factory output

  • “I have recorded an episode of with Jenz with Bug and Spooky Luke. I edited it this morning. It'll be released on the 14th because it will have all the first impressions of the game, why they made it the way they did, celebrating all the different shots.”

    Don@ 14:26 — Confirms exclusive content planned for Beetlejuice launch day with designer/key personnel interviews

  • Cupheadgame
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Bugperson
    Jenzperson
    Spooky Lukeperson
    Masters of the Universegame
    River City's Arcadecompany

    rumor_hype: Community speculation that American Pinball's next licensed title may be Masters of the Universe to restore reputation

    low · Don speculative: 'If they're bringing Masters of the Universe finally, I think that's the only thing that would allow them to regain some good graces'

  • ?

    content_signal: Don planning exclusive Beetlejuice first-impressions episode with Spooky Pinball designers releasing October 14th

    high · Don: 'I have recorded an episode of with Jenz with Bug and Spooky Luke. I edited it this morning. It'll be released on the 14th'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Leaderboard Arcade Jacksonville has opened third location; participating in Beetlejuice launch event coordination

    high · Leaderboard staff: 'We just opened our third. Food's amazing. Drinks are amazing. Games are amazing.'

  • $

    market_signal: Leaderboard Arcade expressing confidence in securing Beetlejuice stock for launch

    medium · Leaderboard staff: 'I wouldn't doubt we're going to get it' regarding Beetlejuice pre-orders

  • ?

    business_signal: American Pinball's operational and personnel status severely compromised; public confidence in future product delivery questionable

    high · Multiple personnel departures combined with Cuphead cancellation and uncertainty about next title development team