Bonus show #179

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·16m 27s·analyzed·Mar 17, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Don speculates Turner Pinball releasing soon; analyzes JJP Harry Potter tiers, licensing, and shooter rod strategy.

Summary

Don speculates about an imminent pinball game release, ruling out Barrels of Fun (still finishing Labyrinth production) and using process of elimination to suggest Turner Pinball as the likely announcer, possibly a 'Pirate Eclipse' title. He also discusses Harry Potter licensing rumors—three tiers under $10K—and provides detailed analysis of Jersey Jack's pricing strategy, shooter rod customization potential, and film licensing negotiations. He critiques Multimorphic's Portal (no arcade cabinet version limits location availability) and Dutch Pinball's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (weak gameplay, overshadowed by earlier Papa Duke acquisition).

Key Claims

Barrels of Fun has approximately 150 Labyrinths left to produce and will not release a new game this week
high confidence · Don visited Barrels of Fun warehouse ~2-2.5 weeks prior to recording; saw production line status firsthand
The imminent pinball release is likely from Turner Pinball, not Barrels of Fun, based on production capacity and timeline logic
medium confidence · Don's process of elimination analysis; ruling out Stern, JJP, Spooky, American Pinball, CGC, and IAPA
Harry Potter will have three tiers, with Standard edition under $10K
medium confidence · Don cites a trusted source; calls it a rumor but treats it as credible intel
Jersey Jack paid $5 million directly to the studio to secure Harry Potter film rights and character likenesses
low confidence · Don heard this as a rumor; frames it as speculation about licensing costs
Harry Potter's Collector's Edition will include a Golden Snitch-themed leg mount/topper and potentially four house-themed shooter rods
low confidence · Don's speculation on what 'would make sense' for JJP's marketing and pricing strategy; not confirmed
Multimorphic's Portal has no arcade cabinet version, limiting location availability and restricting casual play outside of shows
high confidence · Don states this as fact based on Multimorphic's business model; expresses frustration about limited accessibility
Dutch Pinball's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has weak flipper strength and insufficient upper playfield access compared to games like Elton John
high confidence · Don played the game at TPF; offers detailed gameplay critique
Dutch Pinball's game design would have been stronger without the Papa Duke acquisition/theme integration
medium confidence · Don's opinion based on playfield analysis; speculates Turner Pinball used Papa Duke licensing money for Pirate Eclipse

Notable Quotes

“No way Barrels of Fun is having a new game released this week. No way, I don't see it.”
Don @ early in episode — Sets up speculation that another Texas company is releasing, builds suspense for announcement
“So when I was at Barrels of Fun's warehouse just recently for the Twippies, I mean, we're talking about two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago, there was a labyrinth on the line and they have about 150 or so left of these things to make.”
Don @ early-mid episode — Firsthand observation from warehouse tour; provides concrete production intel
“It's like an aircraft term... spool up production on doonies”
Don @ mid episode — Shows Don's reasoning about how Barrels of Fun production lines work; demonstrates technical manufacturing knowledge
“Through process of elimination... It's not Stern, Jersey Jack isn't dropping Harry Potter yet. Spooky... no. American... on record they're not even bringing their new game to MGC. So who does that leave? The T-Man. Turner Pinball.”
Don @ mid episode — Core speculation logic; narrows down to Turner as most likely release candidate
“If you can get the same gameplay experience [in the Standard tier], it's a hell of a lot better than spending $12K. I'll tell you that.”
Don @ Harry Potter discussion — Shows Don's value assessment of JJP's tiered pricing strategy for Harry Potter
“This game is a miss if they don't have four aftermarket shooter rods for each of the different houses... You will buy the game and then you'll buy your $220 accessory.”
Don @ Harry Potter discussion — Design speculation and accessory monetization strategy; shows how collectors drive ancillary revenue
“I don't hate Multimorphic. I hope I made that clear during the normal podcast episode. I just think they're, for the price, for me, I'm not interested.”
Don @ Portal discussion — Clarifies Don's stance on Multimorphic; positions price as primary concern, not quality

Entities

Donperson Barrels of Funcompany Turner Pinballcompany Jersey Jack PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyMultimorphiccompany

Signals

?
machine_intel: Barrels of Fun has ~150 Labyrinth units remaining in active production; new game will be queued on parallel line with ~10-20 units ready for launch; next release expected 1+ month out, not this week or at Texas Pinball Festival
high · Don witnessed production line during warehouse tour 2-2.5 weeks prior; detailed explanation of how Barrels of Fun manufactures and stages releases
?
rumor_hype: Unnamed pinball game release rumored for 'tomorrow' or within days; Don speculates via process of elimination it is Turner Pinball, possibly 'Pirate Eclipse' or similar pirate-themed title
medium · Don mentions 'fire coming tomorrow' and explicitly states he heard a rumor but will not spoil it; uses manufacturer elimination logic to narrow to Turner
?
product_strategy: Jersey Jack Harry Potter rumored to launch with three tiers: Standard edition under $10K, Limited tier (higher cost with art blades/acrylic decals), and Collector's Edition (highest cost, ~$12-12.5K, with Golden Snitch topper and premium aesthetics)
medium · Don cites a trusted source; discusses how pricing tier desirability will stack (Standard for operators/gameplay focus, Limited as middle-market option, Collector's as resale hold)
?
licensing_signal: Rumor claims Jersey Jack paid $5 million directly to the studio to secure Harry Potter film rights, character likenesses, and movie clip integration; Don speculates this is plausible for first/second film assets under contract renegotiation
low · Don heard this as a rumor; frames it as speculation; uses logic about actor leverage changes post-fame to support the theory
?

Topics

Imminent pinball game announcements and release speculationprimaryBarrels of Fun production timeline and manufacturing logisticsprimaryTurner Pinball and 'Pirate Eclipse' rumorsprimaryJersey Jack Harry Potter licensing, pricing tiers, and accessory strategyprimaryMultimorphic's Portal and home-vs-arcade cabinet strategysecondaryDutch Pinball's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland gameplay critiquesecondaryFilm licensing costs and character rights for pinball gamessecondaryCollector vs Standard vs Limited edition pricing and desirabilitysecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Don is excited about upcoming announcements (high energy speculation on Turner/Pirate Eclipse, positive on Harry Potter tiers) and appreciative of Jersey Jack's strategy, but expresses clear frustration with Multimorphic's location-only approach and genuine disappointment with Dutch Pinball's Alice's Adventures execution. Generally optimistic about the industry but critical of specific design and business decisions.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.049

Oh man, some fire just came at you at Don's Middle of the Pockets episode 179. It was super fun. I want to jump on here for the after show real quick. Man, there's no way Barrels of Fun is having a new game released this week. No way, I don't see it. I don't see it. I heard a rumor on where it was coming from. and let's just say another Texas company may be having a game and it makes a heck of a lot more sense for them to release. You know who I'm talking about? The Patreon members. You're probably listening to this. I don't want to spoil the surprise, man. But like, I can't wait for the fire tomorrow. Here's my speculation on why. Dr. Dre, take a second. So when I was at Barrels of Fun's warehouse just recently for the Twippies, I mean, we're talking about two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago, there was a labyrinth on the line and they have about 150 or so left of these things to make. Now, they're not going to release their next game, Barrels of Fun, until it's in active production. They have at least 10 of them in boxes and can, I don't know, bring them to a show or at least come out and say, look, we got this brand new game, here it is. Go play it at Ace Goge. Go play it at Interium. Go play it at the Wormhole. And go call your distributor because some of the distributors already have it in stock and can deliver it today. Like, it can ship today. That's like the best way to launch a title. Can you imagine like seeing a title? Like imagine if Portal released today, of all things. And they were like, yeah, not only that, if you call right now to your distributor, this guy that sells trailers for us, he's got them right now. He'll send it to your house today. It'll be there this weekend. Like if you were on the fence about being like if you'd buy this or not, maybe just caught up in this hype, this pre-release, post-release hype. You know, it's been two hours since the game came out. And you're like, damn it, I could get it this weekend? F it. Give me a freaking portal. You would sell them. You would absolutely sell them. So any company that can successfully do that in pinball, phenomenal. So coming back to Barrels of Fun. For them to be able to actually do something like that, they would have had to have stopped production on Labyrinth, redid their whole line, their production line, start running this new game, whatever it is, Goonies, Dune, who knows, Doonies, I'll call it Doonies. They just run a bunch of Doonies. and you get like 30, 40 of them, then stop, go back, put all the labyrinth stuff ready to go, clear everything out, put it in a back room in the boxes or put it in a storage shed somewhere in Houston in the heat. And then act like you're busy building labyrinths because we have the twippy people coming, right? We're going to show them this, you know, other project that we're working on having to sign NDAs for. And if we're signing NDAs, just have the new game out there if it's an extra production. So I don't think they would, they would do all of that. Just so, just so what? so they could do a factory tour and then like stop and go back and start making them again. They're going to finish the Labyrinths and then they're going to throw the new game on like a parallel line so that they have like 10 games ready to go at launch. And then they'll be ready to just pivot and turn. They can run through the rest of the Labyrinths and then seamlessly just like gear up and wheels up and what speed up? What's the word I'm looking for when you're like getting something up to speed? You know, spool up. It's like an aircraft term. you know spool up production on doonies and so i think that's what they're going to do and we might only have like a month to wait i mean it might be next next week but it's not going to be at the texas pinball festival i know they said that they don't know what they're bringing and they could still surprise us and show up with a game but i don't think the release tomorrow is from barrels of fun i don't have confirmation from the barrels guys they're they're not even leaking it to me so um and i was like i was there you know so they don't want it to come out and that's totally fine like i don't expect them to just you know dump and give me all their information once they're ready they'll tell me and that's that's totally fine you know i don't need to try to you know tank their launch strategy just because i you know i'm a egotistical podcaster and i want to know everything as soon as possible but if they would have invited me to come play it i totally would have done that anyway so i excited about what their new game they bringing is I don think we going to see the release tomorrow I think it might be another Texas company And this is through process of elimination. I don't think Stern's going to drop a Black and White Jaws. Jersey Jack isn't dropping Harry Potter yet. Spooky, of course. No, they're in deep into Evil Dead production right now. We won't see a new Spooky until November maybe for a release and then drop deposits. Same like IAPA. I'll be at IAPA at the Jersey Jack booth playing Harry Potter and submitting my deposit for whatever the hell Spooky has up next. So I know it's in active development. It's not ready yet to show. I haven't seen it yet. But it's not spooky, right? So it's not Stern on JGP, not Spooky. It's not American. They're on record. They're not even bringing their new game to MGC, which is a huge miss. They got to get this game out. But I think they have other issues they're dealing with now. So who does that leave? who does that leave that has a game that's you know blisteringly fast through production um is located in texas would make total sense and uh he's a homie he's a homie so i don't want to mess up you know any any special release for turner so i didn't put this on the main show but that's instantly in my head just through process of elimination if the rumor is true that a pinball company's releasing a game it ain't ramps it ain't ramps it's not cgc well what are they going to do oh yeah we got uh come get your medieval madness now that's not a release that's not a new game we know about that it's been rumored to be coming for three years not even rumored they've been telling us they've been lying to us it's been coming for three years when are we ever going to see it we'll see it when we see it so i don't think it's cgc either so that only leaves i think realistically the t-man and i can't wait for pirate eclipse or whatever it is look the dude did a ninja game all right what are the two themes ninjas and pirates right we're always argue which one's better ninjas or pirates so if you did ninja eclipse do pirate eclipse i want to go swashbuckling with turner pinball would that be the game that i break my no new inbox or no new cash for new inbox games in 2025 we'll see i may go out on a limb for turner he's a solid guy i dig that guy all right well what else we got what else we got harry potter rumors dropped in my inbox oh my god three tiers under 10k i love that but it's still expensive it's still an Expensive game, but under $10K, that's cheap for JJP. And if you can get the same gameplay experience, it's a hell of a lot better than spending $12K. I'll tell you that. So for Harry Potter, if that rumor tracks to be true, I am in on their standard edition for sure. Or I'm in on their collector's edition, or I'm out. So those are my three options. I think going for the limited version, not really interested. What am I going to get? A scaled-down topper? You know the CE topper on Harry Potter is going to be absolute fire. and the only way to get that damn thing with the golden snitch uh leg mounts is to get the collector's edition um you know you can pay 12 000 or probably 12 5 to get the limited version but it's still not going to be as good as the collector's one it's not going to be as desirable as the collector's one there's going to be a thousand collectors 5 000 limiteds and unlimited standard editions and so i think you either go in for the gameplay experience at a ten thousand machine and buy an aftermarket topper from uh from the guy making the tim tom oh god i can't think of his name when i'm recording i hate that um you know uh you get yourself a cool aftermarket topper uh and get the ten thousand dollar version and then go with that and have all the gameplay experience or like just make the damn investment have the game that's gonna hold on to its desirability it may not hold on to the price that's never a guarantee but nothing will be as desirable as the collector's edition of harry potter because it's going to have the good topper it's going to have the golden stitch legs covers i'm guessing it's going to have the harry's freaking wand shooter rod maybe you can maybe you pick your house and they'll have like an assortment of different shooter rods this game is a miss if they don't have four aftermarket shooter rods for each of the different houses so if you are a damn ravenclaw you can get your blue ravenclaw shooter rod for your custom machine or you can get your Gryffindor shooter rod or your Slytherin come on the light up crystal Slytherin shooter rod You know if you were a Slytherin deep down you were bought purchasing that So you will buy the game and then you'll buy your $220 accessory. That is a complete miss. If they don't have that ready to go. Other rumors are floating around that aren't as solid. That was the only thing I got from my source and I trust this guy. So I think that's happening. Uh, otherwise I've heard that they have the license for the characters, but not the films, um, With licensing and as crazy as it gets, I would almost believe that if I didn't also hear the story of the $5 million that was purchased directly to the studio to get the rights to the movies and everything that comes along with it. And I think you could do that. With a franchise like Harry Potter, okay, Sorcerer's Stone, Philosopher's Stone, the first film came out. These kids were nobodies. No one knew Emma Watson. No one knew Daniel Radcliffe. No one knew the Ginger Kid. or any of that. So these kids wouldn't have had the leverage that they did by the time they got to third film and beyond as far as owning their licenses and owning their rights. I think Goonies is in a similar position. Sean Astin wasn't the Sean Astin that he is now after Lord of the Rings, even though his dad was freaking Gomez Adams in the TV shows. So what I'm saying is that those rights probably belong to the studio. And so if you can directly deal with the studio To get those assets, the call outs And the scenes from the movie and whatever And the likenesses and stuff from those early films I think that's where you would get money I think it would be big money To get Emma Watson now to come in And record custom call outs Are you kidding me? Daniel Radcliffe? Are you kidding? Even though he seems like a super cool dude And he works with Kevin Smith Doing stuff, they did Tusk He did the Weird Al movie That would still be just extra money because he's a big name now. But if you base this game off film one and film two, I think you would satisfy 90% of the Harry Potter audience out there that would walk up to a game about what they would expect to see. And, yeah, you might not have Moaning Myrtle in her final form or whatever the hell. And maybe you can get a Dolores Umbridge in there somewhere. But as far as getting Harry on screen under the stairs, battling the Dudleys, talking to snakes, that's all movie one, movie two. and I think you're 90% of the way there if you get that. And if you go after those rights, the studio probably owns that. As the film was successful, contract renegotiations take place, then that's where things can get dicey with licensing. I don't have any real insight on what the details of the agreement are, but I can absolutely speculate and see that. Like, that makes sense to me. So I think we'll get a game. I don't think it's just gonna be the characters. I think it's gonna be the movies. And having Avatar CE in my home has been completely amazing. I know it's expensive. God, I know. But I'm vibing with this game. I went home and played it again today. It took a little hooky from my shift. I went and played the game. It's awesome. It was completely awesome. And part of that is because you've got the film clips there. You're playing the scenes from the film. I don't know what the modes mean. I don't know how they relate to the story at all. But as a cinematic experience, it's awesome. And so you wouldn't want to have just like static drawings of the characters like inspired by the book or nothing. Not for no $5 million licensing fee. No, no, sir. No, no, sir. You come out with three tiers, four shooter rods. That's how you do it. And I think that's what's going to happen because Jersey Jack likes to make money. And that's how you would make money. I would absolutely purchase my Ravenclaw freaking shooter rod for my Harry Potter game. And I think the smart thing to do would be to just go grab a standard version. you could always sell it to an operator uh later on down the road because that's going to be the cheaper version it's going to be the operators one and you're going to get the gameplay experience you can get the screen you're getting all that now or you decide heck it i'm going in for this thing let's go go big or go home get that collector's edition so that you have one of only a thousand and you have the cool topper and the snitch legs or whatever it's going to have that would be the version to get the limited is probably going to have you know some art blades and it have uh the the uh the acrylic decals instead of the regular ones but essentially if you're going 12 i would go 15 because you know as far as like having something you could later sell and be desirable it's going to be that collector's version i think i think that's just not speculating but that's what we got so thursday i'll be heading down to the texas pinball festival I'm super excited about it. I can't freaking wait. I don't hate Multimorphic. I hope I made that clear during the normal podcast episode. I just think they're, for the price, for me, I'm not interested. But I am interested in playing some Portal. I'm sad because they don't do an arcade version cabinet of it because that means it's not just going to be on location here in my town. It's not going to be on location in anybody's town. You're going to have to search far and wide to find people that are, like, confident enough and have the skill to route a Multimorphic machine. and it just it sucks because portal i love that that's that would be so fun to go play everywhere and i'm not going to find it anywhere outside of a show where i got to wait in lines to play it i'm going to do it i'm going to be a tpf playing it i can't wait to play me some portal but it's just like it's just it's it's disappointing it's frustrating you know because i want to have an arcade cabinet of this theme i think it's great and uh that's that's what that is uh dutch pinball similar thing i don't hate dutch pinball i love big lebowski i love Barry, super cool guy. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland falls flat for me on gameplay. Layout, eh. The Juggalo in the back, eh. The weak eject out of the scoop. Man, it's just like it wasn't a thrill. It wasn't like playing Elton John, man. Remember when you walked up and played Elton John for the first time? You're like, I don't care about this damn theme. This is grandpa music, whatever. And then remember the fantastic time you had shooting fast around, nice strong flippers, things are happening. How do I get a freaking ball up into the piano? know look at elton up there dancing back and forth and then imagine my frustration when i walk up to alice's adventures in wonderland and everything i'm doing is trying to get to that upper play field there's like just about no way for me to get up there uh the flippers aren't strong enough and maybe that was part of the show and then when you do get up there you can't really even do anything it's some magnets and stuff but like that's about it it was just like it was close and i really don't think they needed the papaduke thing at all i think they could have taken that theme and just made an original game it ripped off the game take the good parts from it but but do it in a more fun way don't feel like you have to shoehorn everything into that and i think and i said it before that i think dutch pinball is better than analysis adventures of wonderland i think leor's sculpts are better than that game is um i think the stumbler lights and everything are better than that game is and i think they just deserved better i think the game deserved better art um and and i i don't know you could save money by not even going over the papaduke thing but hopefully Turner took that John Papadiuk money that he got paid in licensing and he's running with it. And I can't wait to sail the seven seas and the high season hoist, the black sails for pirate eclipse guys. Be cool, man. Hey, Dr. Dre, why don't you take us back out, buddy? Why don't you, why don't you bring that back in? Oh, that's a stompin'. Hey, thanks so much for being Patreon members. I really appreciate it. As I hear stuff, man, I'm just going to dump it on Patreon as soon as I can. So thank you for your continued support and membership. It means absolutely everything. I love each and every one of you. If we get not one more subscriber, it's been way more than worth it. Way more than worth it. But we're going to get some more, man. We're going to get some more. And the more I build up here and the more I get more credibility and reach, the more I hear more stuff early and the more I bring in all my homies. with me because we a team dog where's our snoop pinball machine and i want to i want to play pinball with this music thumping through the cabinet oh god love it all right be good guys