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DPP #45 "Hexa killing it out of the gate, musically anyway. Plus toppers Toppers, TOPPERS! Even some GTF views!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·29m 11s·analyzed·Jun 1, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Hexa impresses musically, Godzilla toppers disappoint, American Pinball radio silence hurts GTF sales pitch.

Summary

Don discusses Hexa Pinball's Space Hunt teaser trailer and music, multiple Godzilla topper releases with mixed reception, his disappointment with American Pinball's Galactic Tank Force design and lack of company communication, and reconsiders his purchasing strategy for upcoming Stern releases like Venom given recent FOMO-driven purchases.

Key Claims

  • Hexa Pinball released a teaser trailer for Space Hunt with notable music and playfield glimpses ahead of June 10-11 reveal in south France

    high confidence · Don describing the teaser drop from Hexa Pinball; sourced from Nap Arcade

  • Stern's Godzilla topper is $1,000, unlimited production, features minimal new mode integration compared to $1,700 Rush topper

    high confidence · Don's direct experience purchasing both toppers; describes his disappointment with Godzilla's scope vs Rush

  • Electric Playground Godzilla topper is in prototype phase, sub-$900 for basic version, with motorized mechanisms adding $200-300 more

    medium confidence · Don discussing conversations with Electric Playground team; acknowledges prototype/not-ready-for-primetime status

  • American Pinball is radio silent on Galactic Tank Force issues; distributors cannot reach company leadership or get production/fix timelines

    high confidence · Don's direct statement about distributor relationships and lack of communication from American Pinball or David Fix

  • Galactic Tank Force's bank of five stand-up targets are launching balls over flippers unexpectedly, a known issue under investigation

    high confidence · Don mentions 'they're working on a fix' but nothing official from American Pinball; describes the mechanical problem firsthand

  • Don joined the billion-point club on Galactic Tank Force at Helicon Brewery in Pittsburgh

    high confidence · Don's personal gameplay report after visiting Helicon Brewery

  • Stern Venom is rumored to be complete for two years with Brian Eddy and Zombie Yeti artwork

    medium confidence · Don reporting speculation about Venom's dev timeline; notes this is 'what people are saying'

  • Stern Limited Edition games are typically $13,000 vs Premium at $10,000, with LE gaining mainly powder-coat armor and alternate artwork

    high confidence · Don's analysis of LE vs Premium pricing and value proposition using his own purchases as examples

Notable Quotes

  • “Man, look at this thing... I think we're dealing with something that will probably definitely take a giant turd right on top of Spinal Tap.”

    Don @ early in episode — Humorous but enthusiastic reaction to Space Hunt's visual presentation and music

  • “Man, that song slaps, though, right? I mean, you know, boutique company, who knows how much this machine's going to get, where they're going to make it, how many they're going to make. But, you know, it doesn't look terrible.”

    Don @ Space Hunt segment — Captures Don's optimism about Hexa despite boutique production uncertainty

  • “I went in on a mod... to rip out the sculpt that came with my Godzilla to put in one that looks like the zombie yeti artwork and then wouldn't you know what i'm getting a topper with the same dang sculpt on it not only that but the same dang zip tie so yeah i see the disappointment with everybody”

    Don @ Godzilla topper section — Demonstrates the ironic layering of disappointment: buying a mod to replace a sculpt, then the topper has that same original sculpt

  • “The plastics are up there. There's a tank. There's a sculpt that I already didn't want that I'm paying money to actually remove from my machine and replace with something better. And then there it's going to be on top.”

    Don @ Godzilla topper section — Crystallizes the disconnect between topper and machine for Godzilla buyer

  • “What the godzilla topper did was sucked out a lot of the enthusiasm that i had for buying new pinball things now.”

    Don @ Godzilla topper section — Direct admission that a single purchase dampened overall collecting passion—key sentiment shift

  • “Galactic Tank Force is a disappointing game. That's that's that's the take that i have on it... Bone Busters is a bad game. Strange Science is a bad game... Galactic Tank Force is a disappointing game.”

    Don @ GTF segment — Establishes Don's nuanced critique: not fundamentally broken, but creatively underexecuted

  • “I haven't seen him around. I haven't seen him doing interviews... I'm just left to be in a spot where I don't have a lot of faith and confidence in this company.”

Entities

Hexa PinballcompanySpace HuntgameStern PinballcompanyGodzillagameRushgameElectric PlaygroundcompanyGalactic Tank Forcegame

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Hexa Pinball released teaser trailer for Space Hunt with playfield footage and original music ahead of official reveal June 10-11, 2023 in south France

    high · Don reports 'they went ahead and dropped a teaser trailer' with video clips and screenshots showing playfield layout, conveyor ramps, upper playfield mechanics

  • ?

    product_launch: Stern released $1,000 Godzilla topper (unlimited production) with new integrated game mode; received mixed market reception

    high · Don describes purchasing before release due to FOMO, topper arriving with original Godzilla sculpt and related disappointment with mode depth

  • ?

    product_concern: Galactic Tank Force stand-up target mechanism is launching balls unexpectedly over flippers; American Pinball reportedly working on fix but has not communicated timeline or details

    high · Don mentions 'the Bank of Five targets, they're getting bent, changing the trajectory of the ball, and just really launching it up into the glass and over the flippers' and 'I heard they're working on a fix. But where is that fix? We've heard nothing from American Pinball.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don experiences FOMO-driven collecting fatigue after Godzilla topper purchase; explicitly states loss of enthusiasm for new purchases including Iron Maiden LE and reconsidering Venom LE

    high · Direct quote: 'What the godzilla topper did was sucked out a lot of the enthusiasm that i had for buying new pinball things now' and later 'Now I'm just like, you know what, I just don't need it'

  • ?

    product_concern: American Pinball experiencing severe communication failure; CEO David Fix is absent from public appearances and interviews; distributors cannot reach company for production timelines or support information

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.088

0:00
how's your week going i'm gonna spice up this middle hump day for everybody i believe it's wednesday it's don's pinball podcast episode number 45 for your midweek how's it going everybody this is for may 31st 2023 and we got some new news to get into i couldn't believe it was gonna do an episode a little earlier today then boom more news is dropping i'm glad i waited Hail to the procrastinators. Thanks, everybody, for joining once again. Let's get to this roundup. I think it's going to be pretty dope.
0:33
Don't hurt your foot on the drop. Swinging into our Wednesday, all the way from France, a hot, glossy, dripping new update from Hexa Pinball. Remember these guys? This is that new offshoot boutique company out of France, right? They're going to be debuting this new game, Space Hunt, we've been hearing about. They've been putting out some teaser images, and we were all planning on seeing the reveal in about a week and a half, June 10th, June 11th, down in the south of France there, right near the Pyrenees Mountains, just north of the Spain border. But boom, they went ahead and dropped a teaser trailer with some sick music. Listen to this.
1:23
Oh, I'm sorry. Is this a French pinball company? Are we listening to Wasp? Is this an Iron Maiden cover band? What is this? Listen to it.
1:41
Your boy got super hype on this all of a sudden. So they also released in this video some good sweeping images of the play field. Not a ton of gameplay, but a couple of cool elements here. And so I think, now it's still early and too soon to tell, but I think we're dealing with something that will probably definitely take a giant turd right on top of Spinal Tap. Man, look at this thing. You can check out the video. I got the link from Nap Arcade as one does. And I took some screenshots, and I'm looking through these blurry cell phone screen caps I took. And what I'm seeing is those cool graphics that they've released Tier 2 for otherwise already, the side cabinet, the back glass. But now we can see some of the layout. And the main thing is dominated by these two metal conveyor ramp systems towards the back. Looks like there's a quick 180 ramp there, too, similar to what we've seen with Avengers and Mousin around. They have this cool little upper play field with a kind of a little whirlpool spinny kind of orientation with a giant hole in the middle, like a toilet bowl, right? You know those toilet bowl water slides? There's some kind of hangy pendulum in the middle. I don't know if it stimulates anything or gives off any kind of electrical connectivity or point generation. But it definitely looks interesting. There's a little extra flipper up there as well as some wire form rails. So not much to see from this quick, blurry video. But I'm curious to see some gameplay. It looks like they've got some pop bumpers up there at the end of the field. Now, it's not packed like a Galactic Tank Force is. But I don't see anything there also that would yeet the ball over the flippers. So that's Space Hunt. Space Hunt dropped on us. Okay, that's enough of that. Man, that song slaps, though, right? I mean, you know, boutique company, who knows how much this machine's going to get, where they're going to make it, how many they're going to make. But, you know, it doesn't look terrible. The music is great. And looking at the speaker panel, they've got some embellishments on there as well as a pretty giant-looking LCD screen. And it's come with powder coat, which I can appreciate as a powder coat aficionado. So let's move on to the topic that I had planned for today. But that was Hexa. So go check out the video. And, man, I want a longer loop of that music, man. That totally slaps. All right. What's everybody talking about? Everybody's talking about toppers. Topper Tuesday came and went. And we saw actually not one Godzilla topper reveal, but we got two recently, right? So, all right. Thoughts on the Godzilla topper?

  • Don's new Foo Fighters Premium (non-LE) arrived with a non-functional Overlord opto sensor, which was replaced by Stern support within 3 days

    high confidence · Don's personal experience; credited Raymond Davidson for Facebook community help and Stern Tech support for resolution

  • Don is reconsidering his Venom Limited Edition pre-order after Godzilla topper disappointment dampened his FOMO-driven purchasing enthusiasm

    high confidence · Don explicitly stating his change in mindset and decision to potentially downgrade to Premium instead of LE

    • Don @ GTF section on American Pinball leadership — Points to David Fix's absence as symptomatic of broader company communication failure

  • “I reached out to the Stern Tech support who started a ticket for me... Three days after I reported it, I had an optical sensor in my hand, a replacement.”

    Don @ Foo Fighters defect recovery section — Contrasts Stern's responsive support infrastructure with American Pinball's silence

  • “Now I'm just like, you know what, I just don't need it. I don't need it to be happy. I've got plenty of games that I don't need one more game to be happy.”

    Don @ Post-Godzilla topper reflection — Marks a philosophical shift away from FOMO-driven collecting

  • “So when you get a Stern Limited Edition, really what you're doing is you're getting powder-coated armor. You're getting a different back glass, maybe some different side cabinet art.”

    Don @ Venom LE value analysis — Articulates the marginal value proposition of LE vs Premium for future purchases

    • American Pinballcompany
    David Fixperson
    Donperson
    Venomgame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Brian Eddyperson
    Zombie Yetiperson
    Raymond Davidsonperson
    Mouse and Aroundgame
    Helicon Breweryvenue
    Led Zeppelingame
    Nap Arcadeperson/entity
    Stern Limited Editionproduct_category

    high · Don states 'Where's that wide-brimmed hat of his? I haven't seen him around. I haven't seen him doing interviews' and 'distributors are not even hearing anything from American Pinball. Where are they at with the production of these games?'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Don critiques Galactic Tank Force design direction, proposing alternative mechanical solutions (drop targets allowing player to navigate tank interior, vertical kickers, spinners, magnets) that would enhance gameplay without changing layout

    medium · Extended section where Don proposes 'why couldn't this have been a mechanism where you hit the stand-up targets, and then they drop out of the way, opening up a path underneath the tank?' and follows with multiple design thought experiments

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern Pinball demonstrates responsive customer support; defective Foo Fighters opto sensor replaced within 3 days; contrasts sharply with American Pinball's silence

    high · Don describes Stern Tech support ticket process, coordination with dealer, and receipt of replacement part within 3 days; explicitly uses this as contrast to American Pinball

  • $

    market_signal: Don re-evaluating Limited Edition value proposition; notes that Premium ($10k) with aftermarket powder-coat armor (~$500) may offer better ROI than LE ($13k) for non-music-themed games like Venom

    medium · Extended analysis comparing LE/Premium pricing: 'So is a $13,000 Venom going to be worth it? Let's speculate because that's fun to do. I'm not sure... I kind of like the idea of the budget LE approach. Save a couple thousand dollars.'

  • ?

    product_launch: Electric Playground released Godzilla topper in prototype phase; features motorized Godzilla scale flip and UFO rise mechanism, sub-$900 base price with motorized version adding $200-300; also developing LCD panel variant

    medium · Don notes 'they probably weren't ready quite yet but they heard the Stern was taking money already' and describes conversations with team about pricing tiers and motorized mechanisms

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Stern Venom rumored to be in production pipeline with Brian Eddy design and Zombie Yeti artwork; Don was initially committed to LE purchase but now reconsidering

    medium · Don states 'Venom, right? That's what we're waiting on. That's what we've been hearing. This game's been done for two years. That's what people are saying' — noting speculation rather than confirmation

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Don defines distinction between 'bad game' (unplayable, unenjoyable) vs 'disappointing game' (playable but creatively underexecuted); uses GTF as example of latter category

    high · Extended comparison: 'Bone Busters is a bad game. Strange Science is a bad game... Galactic Tank Force is a disappointing game' with detailed explanation of why design choices fell short

  • ?

    design_innovation: Hexa Pinball emphasizes powder-coated armor, mirrored backglasses, and quality cosmetics as design differentiators; uses PinSound equipment and design-to-order model

    medium · Don notes 'they've got powder coat, which I can appreciate as a powder coat aficionado' and 'pretty giant-looking LCD screen' and 'speaker panel' embellishments visible in teaser

    • 4:06
    You know, I'm in on one. I'm going to put that out there. And I did buy it before it was released, so I kind of knew what I was stepping into.
    4:14
    Yeah, I don't know. FOMO, call it what it is, whatever I knew it was going to come from Stern I knew it was going to come with some new mode Whether that new mode is amazing or not is still unknown But at the price of Only $1000 I wasn't expecting anything as complex as Rush And boy was I right Did you guys see this thing? So I also went in on a mod From this UK company Where they took the green Godzilla sculpt Out and replaced it with one that actually Looks like it was drawn in the art style Of Zombie Yeti plus it's got light up LED spine on the back and some fire breath eyes and things and so I went ahead and got it I went in on the list on the pin side thread probably about 8 months ago or something and you know maybe if this thing comes up available I'll be able to get one my number came up and I had the money sitting there and thought heck why not throw something else cool in Godzilla that's totally unnecessary anyway so I did that I paid like 200 bucks or something to rip out the sculpt that came with my Godzilla to put in one that looks like the zombie yeti artwork and then wouldn't you know what i'm getting a topper with the same dang sculpt on it not only that but the same dang zip tie so yeah i i see the disappointment with everybody and you know i see people recommending you know what vote with your wallet with this thing you know if you want something higher caliber you know don't get it but then aren't we also telling them stern why are you charging two thousand dollars for these integrated toppers even though they have cool features i don't know a lot of mixed messaging going on. Now, I'm sure I could call my distributor and tell them, look, you know, I buy a lot of stuff from you. Can I get store credit or something and get something else? But I don't want to do that to them. You know, I knew full well the risk I was taking with this thing. It's still a stern topper. These things, you know, has there been one that's gone down in value? I haven't really seen it. Maybe Mandalorian now, you know, but that thing already started at $2,000. But let's just start with a story of two toppers, right? I also have a rush topper on the way, And I am super ecstatic about that, even though it costs $700 more than the Godzilla Topper. And I'll tell you why. I was playing Rush, and, you know, Rush is such an experience. It's this kind of high-level copper steampunk-themed game. And, you know, it's not a game where you have – it's not Rick and Morty. It's not Total Nuclear Annihilation. It's not 30-second games. I mean, you could play this thing for 45 minutes with a modicum of skill like I do. So I started to say, you know, I was playing it the other day, and I started to think, you know what? I can't wait for this topper to come and be integrated so I can have the gears up there turning around. And then when I do hit that mystery VUK switch area, you know, I'll get the mystery award, see the things going. Like, I'm really excited for that. And that excitement is exactly what I don't have for the Godzilla topper. I'm not super enthused about going back to Godzilla and playing to see what this mode is in the top. It just doesn't excite me, right? The plastics are up there. There's a tank. There's a sculpt that I already didn't want that I'm paying money to actually remove from my machine and replace with something better. And then there it's going to be on top. Maybe I'll take my Godzilla sculpt I'm removing and throw another one up there, and they can both eat the cotton candy. Now look maybe this was the scope and scale that they were looking at making from the beginning so they achieved their goal but it would have been nice to have a heads up and you know can i get a collapsing building what if there was a bridge mech up there and when you got the bridge multi that bridge also broke just something simple it could still even be plastic i don't know i'm spitballing i'm sure then it would be a three thousand dollar topper if it had everything in it that i would want but what the godzilla topper did was sucked out a lot of the enthusiasm that i had for buying new pinball things now. I was already contemplating like, man, if they're going to do another run of Iron Maiden Premium, maybe I should get one of those before the run is gone and I can't get a new in-box one ever again. And now I'm just like, you know what, I just don't need it. I don't need it to be happy. I've got plenty of games that I don't need one more game to be happy. I don't need one more topper. I don't need one more expensive mod. I don't need one more powder-coated armor kit. I'm just, I'm over it, right? I'm over it. And that's what it did to me. I'll still get it if it's not great and there's still people on a list and they're not really making these things I'll probably just let it go for cost to somebody to help them out but my enthusiastic passion was definitely tempered a bit with this in other Topper related news, also other slightly disappointing news, the folks that brought us that cool aftermarket Twilight Zone Topper electric playground they went ahead and got the jump on this they probably weren't ready quite yet but they heard the Stern was taking money already for a topper that was going to be released the next day. So they went out and released their video for their topper. And it's been called a lot of things. You can see pictures of it online, Electric Playgrounds. Yeah, Godzilla topper. But basically what they did was they took the Exilion's art from the play field and tried to recreate that UFO with the cityscape up on top of the machine. And I don't know, maybe it's just the perspective. Maybe we're not viewing it from the right angle. But the thing has been described as a dog's water bowl. I looked at it and I saw the front bumper from a 2006 PT Cruiser. I even did a Who Wore It Best on my Facebook page there because that's kind of what it looked like. Now, this also has several confusing tiers to it, too, for a topper, right? Now, first off, there's a couple of motorized things in there. There's a Godzilla that flips between scales down to scales up on his back, I guess, when you're in a battle. There's another mechanism that causes a plastic UFO To rise up in the back They claimed it was during the Planet X When you get there this thing would come up I was talking to them and I thought it would be better If it had more integration Like when you destroy a saucer or something Just so you can see that movement Because I've never been to Planet X Regardless it's plastic And there's going to be two versions One with the mechanisms one without apparently And as far as price They were saying that the initial one Without the mechanisms was going to be sub $900 So I'm thinking $899, right? And then they said a few hundred more, which I'm thinking to be another $200 to $300 for the mechanism version. And then that's not all. There's also, well, at least what is right now a 3D printed mock-up of that front PT Cruiser bumper to stick on the Exilion's dock water bowl dish, which is supposed to have some LCD screens in it. and each one corresponds to, you know, Bridge Attack, Tanks, one of the monster modes, and then the Tesla Tower, you know, modes. It's kind of cool. I mean, I like that integration. But overall, the thing doesn't really seem as cohesive as it could be, especially for the folks that came up with this Twilight Zone topper with the moving bar and, like, a wire form. It's like it's got pinball mechanisms on the pinball topper. What a novel concept. I would have wished it was a little bit more in that lane than what we got. But, you know, has anyone made a decent Godzilla topper so far? Well, there's that one huge sculpt from the guy that does the Katy Perry tour stuff, you know, the Hollywood guy. He's working on the Foo Fighters bomb topper that looks interesting, you know. So that's a very detailed sculpt that that guy's selling. But overall, this is what we got. We got the $1,000 topper. It's all we're going to get from Stern, most likely. The first round is built or is near done being built, and then there may be more based on demand. What's demand going to be like? Is there any resale on this thing? I don't know. They're not limited. I think if they were limited to $750 or even $1,000, I think then you would look at it holding some value. But for an unlimited topper with a theme that had unlimited potential, this is what we get. And people are already talking about mods to make the topper more what it should be. And I'm a mod guy. I don't mind mods that are going to add functionality or add quality of life bonuses or something to the gameplay. Jerry Ramp, for instance. But this, man, I don't know if I want to pay for another $200 sculpt to fix a sculpt on my $1,000 topper. You feel me? I don't think I'm alone on this. That's the topper news for where we're at right now. The PT Cruiser topper. We'll see. We'll see what it looks like when it actually gets out. I'm sure it's still prototype phase, and I get the sense that they weren't quite ready to go prime time with this. But then they were a stern force to their hand, right? All right. I have a couple other topics I wanted to get to today. I want to visit back to Galactic Tank Force for some reason I kind of want to give some more impressions after I got to play it again first off, the folks at Helicon Brewery in Pittsburgh y'all are some legends man they were closed on Memorial Day that was the day I was transiting through Pittsburgh to fly on back home and I received a nice message that says you know what, we're going to be working in the brewery why don't you just stop by and I did, and they let me in and they fired up all the machines for me and let me go fill my pocket with quarters and go around and play everything got to play some mouse and around again fantastic fun game love that um but i got to play some galactic tank force i actually did not too bad i joined the billion point club which was impressive for me with the old galactic tank force and i'm kind of evolving you know with my reactions perspectives to this game so i just wanted to kind of revisit it for a second and just update i know not everybody's got to play it and most of the people that i think have played it it was at a show um i've played it in some locations where I was kind of the only one there, so I got to get more of a sense out of it. And I want to say that the game is not bad. And by that, I mean the game is not a bad game, okay? Bone Busters is a bad game. Strange Science is a bad game. Just the type of game that you're playing, and on ball two you're like, you know what, screw my extra ball. I'm just going to leave. I'm done playing with this thing. So Galactic Tank Force isn't a bad game. Galactic Tank Force is a disappointing game. that's that's that's the take that i have on it and because i mean the lights i like i i like the graphics that were done with this game i like the music i don't mind the dubstep i like the uh the homebrew pin stadium style lights that they came up with um that all works to me i like the wire form ramps the buck doesn't bother me i like the magnets but they're just some questionable choices some some fatal flaws that are that are in here and i've mentioned it before you know these are long journeys that you go on. And, you know, you can have the talent, but you also need to have the direction. And I think that's what could have really helped this machine out. When it comes to things, particularly the main mechanism of the game, right, the tank in the front with the little Nordman robot or whatever his name is that pops up out of it with the stand-up targets that are yeeting balls over the flippers, right, that's not fun. And I was playing I mentioned it earlier I was playing Mouse and Around This is a game that has some stand targets in relatively the same position as Galactic Tank Force This is a game that came out 30 years ago 20, 30? Math is hard. 25, let's say.
    14:45
    And the mechanisms of this, there's a bank of three stand-up targets, and when you light them all, they drop into the play field, opening up what's a quick 180 ramp, kind of like the Maryland ramp on Munsters. and that's a fun little mechanism then it comes back up and you can repeat it for points and things and when you hit the ball directly into those stand up targets it doesn't run straight down the drain it doesn't bounce and come over the flippers so why reinvent the wheel here? what I would have liked to see I'm not a pinball designer but I've been thinking about this and I came up with some ideas and I want somebody with technical know-how to tell me why this is a bad idea so we have this bank of stand up 5 targets I don't think that's a terrible idea There's a little life bar there and LEDs in the play field, so you can kind of see how much energy the tank has that you're battling. There's individual LED lights on each target, so the targets can change color based on, you know, which one will cause the most damage, you know, so you have a way to aim for it. So it's not just random, and I dig that. But why couldn't this have been a mechanism where you hit the drop targets, or not the drop targets, you hit the stand-up targets, and then they drop out of the way, opening up a path underneath the tank? And I've mentioned it before, but I've done some more thinking. You know, what if you could then either shoot a shot straight through the tank, up into the pop bumpers, and that could, you know, destroy the tank, or that's your reward. You know, you've disabled the tank, now go for the kill shot. You know, it'll be an easy shot right at the middle after you battled hitting all those stand-up targets and depleting the life bar. I think that would have added a lot of gameplay ecstasy, right? So some moments that could happen in there with really not changing the layout at all, but just changing the mechanism itself. Another thought. What if you shot the tank and then it dropped into a subway or something? Or there was a Vuk in there. Maybe a vertical up kicker that would shoot the ball up and then out a turret back at the player, but directed towards a flipper so you could capture it and then get ready to fire back. I think that would have been great. I think if you would have gone even a step farther, maybe when the robot pops up, it's tied into a mechanism just like the levitating magnet spinner from Led Zeppelin Premium and Limited Edition. So what if, you know, as this robot pops up because his tank is disabled, now there's a spinner underneath there that you can shoot through and maybe even a magnet that could capture the ball and then take it beneath the play field as the tank resets in order to store that for later or maybe to give more ammunition to a future tank to fire back at you. These are the thoughts I'm having. So somebody tell me why maybe that couldn't happen. You know, it wasn't through the lack of development. I mean, this game is rumored to have been in development for years and years, right? Even maybe in Nordman's Garage, it's a tank form with or without a game for a decade or more is what I've been hearing. So where was the direction on this going? Now, the problem that we're seeing, these Bank of Five targets, they're getting bent, changing the trajectory of the ball, and just really launching it up into the glass and over the flippers. And that's not okay to do. And I heard they're working on a fix. But where is that fix? We've heard nothing from American Pinball. And so what I need to have for myself, speaking just to myself, to purchase a pinball machine, I have to have faith in the company that when, not if, something goes wrong, I'm going to have someone I can reach out to for help who's going to tell me, okay, here, look, try this, this, and this. This is what it seems like you have. That part's under warranty. We're going to send it to you. Or, you know, there's some sort of community or some kind of recourse to know how to fix your game. Because pinball games break. I mean, it's what they do. If you don't want it to break, don't play the dang thing, right? And so not only do we have distributors that don't really know what's going on here, or not only are we not hearing things officially from American Pinball, distributors are not even hearing anything from American Pinball. Where are they at with the production of these games? These distributors are out there to market and sell these games, but they don't know when they're coming. They don't know what the fix is. Is there a fix? Is there going to be a delay in production? It sounds like there kind of should be. And maybe that's what they're doing, but they are just radio silent. No one's seen David Fix, the CEO, the Indiana Jones of this company, man. Where's that wide-brimmed hat of his? I haven't seen him around. I haven't seen him doing interviews. And so I'm just left to be in a spot where I don't have a lot of faith and confidence in this company. And I am one of the target demographic. I would think I'm pinball buying public. I'm some guy that would buy something kooky like this and put it in my game room. And I'm not doing that. And it's not because of the cost. because I think the deluxe edition, given today's market, is reasonably priced, and it essentially comes fairly well loaded. I think they've got good build quality of the cabinet. They can make a lockdown bar, man. Let me tell you, I like the lights. I like the music. I don't care about the theme. Like, it doesn't turn me off to it. But there's a couple of fatal flaws I would like to see rectified, and I need to have faith that when I have an issue, I'm going to be able to solve it. Okay, I bought a new in-box game from Stern Pinball. Stern, big granddaddy, the monster, right? 90% of the market share, right? These guys churn games out. I got a new in-box Foo Fighters Premium, and I set it up, beautiful game, no plays on it, and then the opto for the Overlord was non-functional, right? And that is huge to the gameplay. Like, as you play through the modes, that final shot is through that optical sensor. So without it there, out of the box, I had a game that I couldn't even, you know, complete half of it, right? And so that sucks when that happens. And so I reached out to the Facebook community. Raymond Davidson actually popped in on there and gave me some advice. I was able to diagnose that, yes, it was an opto problem. I was able to disassemble the mechanism. I reached out to the Stern Tech support who started a ticket for me. I coordinated with my dealer who ordered the part that I needed. And three days after I reported it, I had an optical sensor in my hand, a replacement. I soldered that bad boy in, and it's working great since then. So if you're buying new in box pinball, having things wrong with it is something that happens. You have to be able to roll with that. You may get a game that is not necessarily a lemon, but needs a little bit of tweaking before it's 100%. You avoid that by buying on the secondary market after somebody's had the game for a period of time, but you run the risk of pinflation going on. If the game's not available new in box, you're going to be paying inflated prices. But you may be getting a game that's already play tested, is working great, came from somebody's home that knows how to take care of these things, and probably has some modifications added to it already. So that's a good way to go. But I understand if I don't want to wait and I want to get a new in-box game, I'm rolling the dice a bit. But I have confidence that I can reach out to Stern for these types of issues, the distributor network, as well as a network of pinball fans on Facebook, on Pinside that are willing to help out. But I don't have that with American Pinball, right? I have distributors that I trust that can't get a hold of these guys, that don't have any news. And so I'm going to sit here and hold on to my money. Here's what I'm going to do with Galactic Tank Force, because I don't think it's a bad game. I think it's a disappointing game. And I think while I say there's some fatal flaws, I think they are addressable. I think this game can be remedied. And what I would like to do is pick up my deluxe edition in a year or so depending on when these things actually come out let say a year after they really start showing up in people homes where it gets play tested gets the issues sorted and then people are just done with it this game flooded on the market just like Valhalla and Oktoberfest are and the used price is lower than the new price and I could pick one up at a deal to have for you know 12 to 18 months and play with I wouldn't mind that because I like the music I like the lights I don't hate the gameplay um you know but there's just from the marketing to some of the decisions that were made, I still think it needed some more creative control to rally all the talented people that they have at American Pinball working on these things. No, I'm not a pinball designer. If I'm wrong, call me out. Let me know. AP, David Fix, you listening? Don'sPinballPodcast at gmail.com. Tell me why I'm wrong because I'd rather be right than, well, I'd rather be correct than just think that I'm right and spout my own opinion, right? So that's kind of where I'm at and what I'm thinking with that. I would love to have more faith in the system behind AP, and that is your Galactic Tank Force Minute.
    22:53
    What's next from Stern Pinball? It's Venom, right? That's what we're waiting on. That's what we've been hearing. This game's been done for two years. That's what people are saying. Brian Eddy's on it. Zombie Yeti's on the artwork. How can you go wrong here? Well, if it's a little more Mandalorian and less Stranger Things and Medieval Madness, I guess that's how it could go sideways. I was totally in and committed to, I'm going to get a limited edition of this version. I can't lose, right? Stern LE. And then the more I'm thinking about it, especially after Godzilla Topper time, I just don't know if it necessarily makes financial sense for sure to go with the $13,000 level of limited edition with Stern Pinball, right? Especially when you can get a premium $3,000 cheaper, and then for $1,500 add basically even better and more embellishments than you get with that limited version. The only thing you're missing is the signed paper from Mr. Gary Stern. I've got one of those. I don't need two. And I have a signature from the designer, and that was fun to go hunt him out. So when you get a Stern Limited Edition, really what you're doing is you're getting powder-coated armor. You're getting a different back glass, maybe some different side cabinet art. At least with Foo Fighters, you got the expression lighting included, which is a $500 upgrade. So far, not available. I'm running an old Led Zeppelin in there. But when it comes to Venom, I mean, I'm not expecting to see expression lighting for Venom. It's not a music pin, right? It's not going to have those individually addressable RGB LED lights running up and down the sides of the play field cabinet. So is a $13,000 Venom going to be worth it? Let's speculate because that's fun to do. I'm not sure. I was sure before I bought a Godzilla topper sight unseen. Now I'm not so sure. Now I'm going to hold on to my money. and if that means that I lose my LE spot and have to settle for a premium as long as I still want to get the game I think that's the way to go my Foo Fighters is fire I put a photo up on a Facebook page people are digging it I powder coated not only the side rails, lock bar and legs like you get with the limited edition but also the coin door and the speaker grill all for about $500 it looks phenomenal now even with the red that's in the art on the premium edition because on the side of the cabinet blades towards the back. They do have that blue-green motif, so it all does tie in and flows. It looks great in person, and I'm totally digging it. So, I don't know. I kind of like the idea of the budget LE approach. Save a couple thousand dollars. The only thing you're missing is a limited number itself, which, you know, for a thousand games, I don't know if it makes that much of a difference. We'll see. This is a decision you have to make once the game's revealed. But, yeah, assuming it is Venom coming next, I am still interested in the game, but I'm not necessarily going to jump it at the LE level unless there's some compelling reason to do it. Moving on, just some pinball podcast news. I am loaded with shirts, man. I got my – I put in a huge order because people have been asking for medium-sized shirts. People have been asking for double Xs. Initially, all I did was runs of XLs because that's what I wear, but I've got them now, and they're going out the door, man. That's a couple of big orders come in. New Patreon subscriber, Andrew from Pinball Adventures, Thank you very much, sir, for not only your order, which is on the way, but also for sending me that Punny Factory Care Package. You are a legend. I'm going to try out everything that you gave me. I had the game room guys have sent me some stuff, too, to try out on my Rush Pinball machine. I'll be doing that, too, and giving some reviews in a future episode here. But I've also been getting some good emails from people that have been out there listening. And this is what I love. This is kind of why I went and did this. you know because i would exhaust all the available podcasts you know for pinball while i'm on commutes drives um you know skateboarding around the neighborhood what have you and so i'm hearing back from people that are doing the dang same thing but they're doing it with don's pinball podcast as well so i'm happy that i'm contributing to the zeitgeist to the the cultural movement to the ephema no the uh what's the other word for zeitgeist uh diaspora the pinball diaspora is better for all of us that enter into it let's say that so i appreciate all the other podcasters that are out there but i really doubly appreciate not only the people that have kicked me five bucks on patreon and the people that have ordered t-shirts so they can go represent but just the people that are sending emails like giving feedback like i like that you do this i think this would be a good idea for the future and i can incorporate that otherwise i'm just sitting here kind of in my own head coming up with the types of things that i would like to talk about hopefully they're interesting but yeah I just wanted to cover that again so patreon.com Don's Pinball Podcast if you so dare I'd be ever so much grateful hit me up if you join the Patreon if you want some stickers and magnets and things I will send them out to you for free I'll cover the shipping on those my way of saying thanks to you if you run into me at a convention which my next one will be Expo in Chicago feel free to come up and hit me up for stickers and keychains and schlotzkies that's a sandwich place. Hopefully I don't have a sandwich in my pocket. But I want to do some more giveaways of these shirts. I like what I do. I'm not making a ton of money on them, hardly at all, but I'm doing it for fun. And it is fun to do that. I like to trade merchandise, and I like to do giveaways. So I'm going to do more of that in the future. So let me know what your thoughts are. Did you see the video with Hexa Pinball? What do you think of Space Hunt? Let's get back into it. Let me know what you think about Space Hunt. Did you get a Godzilla topper? Are you trapped in this thing too and having second thoughts? Well, me, too. So you are not alone out there, man. Space Hunt. This song freaking slaps.
    28:22
    Space Hunt. Oh man, I'm just going to enjoy it for a little bit here. Space Hunt. Oh, we're on the move, yeah.
    28:34
    Nothing but a Space Hunt. This was Don's Pinball Podcast, episode 45. I'm going to play this off into the sunset. Go Space Hunt! space it's time to spin the podcast