Ah, beautiful freaking Saturday morning. We were just at the beach. The nice part about Row in Connecticut spelled backwards on Facebook is for some reason you can't turn the image around anymore in Facebook is uh we have access to a nice little private beach and it's so beautiful sun coming up. You're on the beach chair on the sand. The kids are playing. Kelly and I were doing some basketball sand castles. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Such a beautiful thing. Family is everything. We're um we're coming in on August and August is going to be an interesting time in the world of pinball because I think it's going to be slow to begin and then it's all going to pick up. We got more people coming through Facebook. You guys know how it works. The first few minutes you guys say hi, I'll say hi back. We had the most amount of second most I had to clarify. Frank D'Angelo with his $200 contribution last show I thought was the most ever and then I realized it wasn't even close. Um Hector I think gave more than that like 250. But I'm not going to name I I can't well I'm going to name his name but not say how much. Kim Mitchell once sent on Brenda's birthday a significant amount more money than that and said, "Love the show. Go take Brenda out for a nice dinner." And so it was incredible. I I literally sometimes am just floored by the generosity of the people in this hobby and the individuals that are in it and the appreciation of just those of us who make content on a weekly basis. lately. I don't know if you've noticed this lately, but it's just kind of feeling like I don't know like and maybe maybe you feel this way about my show as well, but I just feel like lately it's just like a more of the same from the same like it's just I don't think anyone's even trying to think about anything critically or constructively or like just do something different. It's just this like what game should go here? Like what game? Like it's just I you know like like the new code update like I it's it's at the point now where I I think people need to sort of think think a little bit creatively about show topics and and that's on everybody. It's not me. It's everybody. It's like we need to get mix it up a little bit. It's getting really uh just like feels like Groundhog Day. It's like same people posting the same thing every day. Here we go. pinball content. I think some of it, maybe a lot of it, gang, is I do think there's just it's not a fatigue. It's just kind of like I think people are just feeling like I'm good. Like I I'm good now. Like nothing surprises me anymore. Like nobody's surprising me with what they're saying. None of the manufacturer moves are surprising me. And I think everybody wants to be surprised. I think I think people want a game they didn't see coming to just like blow them away. I think people want magical mechs back into games more often. I do. I really do. I I I don't think it's just going to come down to lights and artwork. I don't think it's going to come down to only theme. I think for games to really wow, there's going to have to be some uh some some new stuff, some new feeling we haven't quite had before. Uh, does Harry Potter bring that for for for many of you? I I maybe, right? I think Potter just is refreshing because it shoots so well and it's a Jersey Jack game. And for a lot of you out there, you've never played a Jersey Jack game that shot well that was based on a movie theme and and had a lot of assets that uh were were attractive and arresting. So maybe it is Harry Potter. I you know I don't know if if you've listened to my podcast knowing what Steve Richie has around the corner I I think it's going to be um I think it's going to be a hit. I think it's going to be a hit. Um I can see it already. I can see how Richie and the way he designs is just perfect for this theme. Everyone is spending money on traveling now. Maybe, maybe. Right. It's that time of year. July, August, you take some trips. Everything costs a lot of money, too. You want to travel anywhere. It's like I mean, I flew to Austin, I think. Like I mean, I upgraded my seat to business class, but it was like like $1,100 to go to Austin, Texas. What? What happened to the world? Um Todd Tucky's in the house. Todd, we're on YouTube. We're on Facebook. Typically, I paid attention for once. made it early and sound instantly dropped out. Well, I know. Is the chat on? I'm not seeing any new messages. Uh, the chat is on. For those of you in the uh YouTube club on the YouTube page, write something in the chat so Dave Sanders sees that the chat is on. Maybe I just haven't said anything, Dave, that's worthy of writing anything. Everyone's just tired of typing. What's up, everybody? Look, everybody's there. Here they come. What's with the 5K cheaplymade Costco home pins? Just make the Pro 5K. Why sell low quality? That's a question from Michael on on Facebook right now. Um, look, you know, Stern needs to keep the workers busy. I mean, that that's really all it is, gang, is like they need to find new distribution models. And I think that's why we're seeing those Costco games. I' The jury's out. Like when I met with Gomez, he he said like these things were sold out and Costco orders were huge and then you know then I see people at Costco snapping photos of a wall of those machines available for sale. So whether or not they sold through does that mean they're selling out at Costco? I I don't think anybody impulse purchases a $5,000 pinball machine though walking through Costco. That's the part that's weird to me. Is someone really like not aware that there's all these pinball companies in the world and they're just going to be walking down the aisle being like, "Honey, um, we need to get some more chips and salsa. Hey, look, there's a $5,000 pinball machine I'm going to go buy that's three times the price of a 77 inch TV." Like, I just don't see it. I really don't see it. Yeah. If you're going to Disney in July, like, I I think you are crazy. It's too crowded and too hot. go to Disney in February. Uh, go to Disney in like January or right around the holidays. What's happening? Let's do this. Let's just do some Q&A for a while because, you know, there's not a ton of manufacturing news going on. What's happening with American Pinball? Been very quiet for a long time now, said Fred. Look at this sad boy with a $100 already. What's up, dude? Shout out to all the unathletic neck beards who are ego tripping at Pinberg this weekend wearing cargo shorts. They make the world go round. Rest in peace, Azie and Hulk. Good seeing you, dog. Well, thanks, sad boy. Um, right. What a terrible week for Gen X. We lost Azie, Hulk, Hogan, and Theo Huxable. Uh, you know, Malcolm Jamal Warner was 54. Hogan was 72. Azie, what was Azie like 78? I think Azie was or 76. Like, really terrible week for Gen Z. Um, I really look I um I to go back to American Pinball. They're they're done. Like it's over, gang. It's Mukesh is not going to kickstart this thing. Here's the true story. He doesn't want to make another game until all the existing inventory is sold. The problem is they might have upwards of 200 games or parts for games that need to be sold. The problem from there is the games are effing terrible. Nobody wants Galactic Tank Force. People keep forgetting Galactic Tank Force when it first came out, the Sig Edition, the signature edition with the lunchbox and the thermos. Remember, with the 3D translate, people forget this. That edition was $17,500. It wasn't 155. It was 175. I have friends that bought it for 175. Okay, you you they're now offering that same game from the factory I think for 8500 or something. So like it's just you know what's crazy about GTF? Can't believe I'm calling it that cuz I I feel like I it it it has no place being named after Grand Theft Why did I say Grand Theft Auto? I think Grand Theft Auto. Um anyway, yeah, not the same initials. Canada, uh the um the code just I don't know, they just didn't go wacky and weird enough with it. It could have worked, but it just didn't work. We've got 51 people on YouTube. We've got 22 here. Thanks, Wayne, for the stars. Um we got Sad Boy with 100. We're going to love his donation. Uh, as you know, when you send the dough, you take over the show. Send the dough and take over the show. So, um, they're done. Grand Theft Fiasco. Uh, look, I think I think the thing is, what's up, Mike Jones? Welcome to the party, pal. Um, let's talk about Jack Danger's new role. Let's talk about it. So, I didn't catch him streaming at Comic- Con. Has anyone caught his ComicCon stream? Flip Stevens, what's up, brother? I think Jack um just needed a break. There's no other way around it. He needed a break. And I think he misses what he used to do. You know, I always say this and and the currency of life, it's like kind of how well do you sleep at night? Are you in love with the person you're sleeping next to? And how many days do you wake up in a good mood? And you gota you got to imagine this. You gota and this is sometimes hard for people to really understand that you could make you could make half a million dollars a year and be miserable and long for the time when you made $100,000 a year and woke up every day in a good mood. And sure, everybody would rather have the money. Everyone would rather have both. Everyone would rather have half a million dollars paycheck and wake up in a good mood. But it there comes a time there comes a time when work just takes over everything, okay? And it takes over your peace of mind and then and then like the work infiltrates your family, your relationships. You can't even like sit down and enjoy a Netflix show. You can't just kick back and enjoy what I I gotta be honest, gang. Just 30 seconds on this. Bill Brandis is in the house. Billy, we're on Facebook and we're on YouTube. Donkey Kong Bonanza is honestly the greatest platform game since Mario 64 for N64. It it is so revolutionary and fun and enjoyable and just wait if you haven't got to the part where you turn into Donkey Kong Bonanza. It is the most creative, fun, insanely like I can't believe I'm playing this game and it's like 70 bucks and it I could sit here for hours and just destroy the world and you can you literally literally can like destroy every single piece of like the world going towards the planet. It's so good that I'm so giddy. I can't wait to play it like as soon as I get more free time. Okay. Just so good. It It's just so good. Martin knows what I'm talking about. Okay. But my point is this. Jack Danger, he's going to go back to streaming. He's got one more game in the design hopper and I think they're going to take it from there. I I don't think Stern wants to lose him. I don't think Stern like, you know, I don't know like if he got a pay cut or not. I don't know any of these things. All I know is I reached out to Jack. definitely want to have, you know, a conversation with him. But I understand it. I I don't even It's almost like I don't even need to know the details because I've lived through this many times in my career where the expectations of me and what the job entailed wanted me to be someone I wasn't. Uh, I might be going through that a little bit now where like I'm really good at this. I'm really good at that, but like what what that entails might be more than I'm more than I'm like really great at. I do think Weiss really let down Jack more than anybody. And I think the code problems with X-Men, like you got to think about it, and it's not too hard to think about it. You got to put yourself in Jack's shoes. Like you you take a really creative approach to a pinball machine, which when you look at X-Men LE, it's one of the most stunning pinball machines of all time. It absolutely is. And then to see this like beautiful creation from a design standpoint, from an art standpoint, from a theme standpoint, it had such opportunity and then the code just let it down. And then and then you know Jackie doesn't want to let anybody down. He's in the business of making people feel good about pinball. And the last thing he wanted to ever see was you know people getting in on one of his machines and not having a satisfactory experience. And and I can tell you cuz I know that Jack Danger has a great heart that that makes the heart heavy and it makes the days tough and it makes the evenings hard to sleep. And I think that all that just added up to him just wanting a little bit of a break from all that. And I think Stern respects him and is giving him that. So I I don't see it as a negative. I want Jack Danger to be happy. I I don't You know what I'm saying? Like if Jack Danger's happiness means we're not going to get more games designed by Jack Danger, uh yeah, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. like he we should root for our friends and our colleagues and people we know uh to to be happy above all and you know I know I know a lot of wealthy people that are miserable. I know a lot of wealthy people who are divorced multiple times over. I know a lot of wealthy people whose kids don't talk to them. I know a lot of wealthy people who are alcoholics. I know a lot of wealthy people that are in therapy like three days a week just to make just to make it through a week to make that big salary. They're in a therapist chair like every single week, multiple times. Do you want to live like that or do you want a pinball stream and be happy and go to bed at night, you know, feeling recharged? Mike is in charge now and we'll fix in a year from now. It's a great one. Okay. Well, you know what the problem is? The whole like in a year from now doesn't work anymore at these prices. These games need to be good within the first year. Um, okay. You know, look, I don't, you know, someone's saying like Hulk Hogan was an a-hole, like I I'm sure he was. You know, money corrupts a lot of people. Like, you got to remember Hogan was making about 25 million a year in the mid 80s. Like the mid 80s, the dude was making 25 mil. He was the biggest athlete in the world next to like Jordan um and like Michael Jackson as a celebrity. like he was he was he hulkia. Um so you know it is what it is. Like I don't pretend to think that celebrities are great people. I think they struggle more than anybody in keeping it together. Hector I will have to buy it now. Um I am on work call 247 365. It sucks but pays for my family survival education and sometimes that we can enjoy together. Love to just throw everything aside. Yeah, Brad, I get it, man. I get it. You know, you never, you know, my dad always gives me the main piece of advice he gives me with my children. He says, "Just be present." It's funny. It's funny coming from my dad because he really was like at work a lot, but he's like, "Just be present." I remember once being on a family vacation uh to the Jersey Shore. My dad was working on a deal and we had just got there and they they needed him back for the deal. So they they sent a helicopter to come get him. If if I was if I was at the beach with my family and Weber needed me back, uh a helicopter is not being sent to retrieve me. It would have been um you know in Uber. I would be in a RAV 4 head heading back in traffic.