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The Pinball Show Ep 142: WIN A Topper, Playfield, Armor, & More - HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY + 2023 Full Industry Analysis

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·2h 10m·analyzed·Dec 5, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.037

TL;DR

TPS hosts announce massive giveaway, analyze 2023 pinball industry, and reveal 2024 rumors including Jaws, Fifth Element, BTTF.

Summary

The Pinball Show Episode 142 features a major holiday giveaway (topper, playfield, armor, banners, shaker motor, Insider Connected kit worth thousands of dollars) sponsored by Flippin' Out Pinball, a comprehensive 2023 industry analysis by manufacturer, rumor coverage of upcoming 2024 releases (Jaws, The Fifth Element, Back to the Future), and Stern production updates showing Guardians of the Galaxy, Stranger Things, and 2024 roadmap details.

Key Claims

  • Stern's Guardians of the Galaxy Pro final run is shipping in December 2023

    high confidence · Host Zach citing production update information; Stranger Things Premium rumored as last 2023 game

  • Keith Elwin's next game for Stern is rumored to be Jaws (1975), releasing early 2024

    medium confidence · Craig Bobby segment citing persistent online rumors with detailed layout information

  • Barrels of Fun's next title rumored to be The Fifth Element based on alien head visible in Adam Savage Tested video

    low confidence · Craig Bobby citing Reddit user Snorkmatto's observation of shelf decoration in Labyrinth gameplay footage

  • Dutch Pinball rumored to have secured Back to the Future license, possibly with Christopher Franchi as artist

    medium confidence · Craig Bobby citing Flippin' Out stream where Franchi commented about Dutch Pinball and BTTF; Franchi's comments interpreted as teasing

  • Star Wars Mandalorian machine may not release until 2025 (delayed from earlier expectations)

    medium confidence · Zach citing an unnamed 'birdie' source; characterized as rumor/prediction

  • Stern Pinball released Insider Connected app with home leaderboards and planned remote system control features

    high confidence · Dennis and Zach discussing Insider Connected app launch as new accessory/software initiative

  • The Pinball Show hosts have requested removal from Twippies ballot due to awards drama and negativity

    high confidence · Zach and Dennis discussing explicit request to be removed from media categories; Zach claims he created media categories and now regrets it

  • Spooky Pinball is teasing new title(s) with whitewood parts sent to media personalities, likely horror-themed

    medium confidence · Craig Bobby citing ongoing whitewood teases with speculation about Texas Chainsaw Massacre or similar theme

Notable Quotes

  • “This holiday season, you and I are givers. We're lovers. We're givers.”

    Zach (host) @ Early in episode — Sets tone for major giveaway announcement; references podcast's community-first philosophy

  • “And I've created a fucking monster. I mean, on paper, it does make sense... but one rotten onion can ruin it.”

    Zach @ Twippies discussion — Zach admits creating media categories for Twippies and now regrets it due to toxicity in awards season

  • “December is my least favorite month when it comes to pinball... There's always drama every December.”

    Dennis @ Twippies discussion — Reveals seasonal pattern of toxicity tied to awards voting; establishes why both hosts want off ballot

  • “I still think that we could have an announcement. Don't do it, Stern. Let me win.”

    Dennis @ Production update segment — Dennis jokingly competing with Zach over whether Stern announces game in December; shows host personality dynamics

  • “Birdie Birdie came in, sat on my shoulder, pecked my nose... the bird did tell me... that Mandalorian, you may not see that running until 2025.”

    Zach @ Production update for Star Wars Mandalorian — Whimsical rumor delivery about Mandalorian delay; unclear reliability of source ('birdie')

  • “We don't want you to do the talking. Talking is cheap. We want to give back to you. So I think, Dennis, what we need to do is do the biggest giveaway that the pinball show has ever done.”

    Zach @ Giveaway announcement — Core philosophy statement: celebrating listeners over chasing awards; justifies massive giveaway scale

  • “You simply can't know or trust if this pinball information is in fact true or... is just full of rusty balls, sketchy paint jobs, and weak-ass flippers.”

    Craig Bobby @ Rumor Alley segment intro — Sets skeptical tone for rumor segment; acknowledges inherent unreliability of leaks/speculation

Entities

The Pinball ShoworganizationZach (Flippin' Out Pinball owner)personDennispersonCraig BobbypersonStern PinballcompanyFlippin' Out PinballcompanyKeith ElwinpersonJawsgame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball released Insider Connected app with home leaderboards; planned features include remote system/game control

    high · Hosts discussing new app as Stern accessory initiative; Dennis waiting for bugs to be worked out before downloading

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinside thread defending Flippin' Out Pinball against troll received overwhelmingly positive community support

    high · Zach cites multiple pages of supportive comments from past customers and community members; emotional response to community backing

  • ?

    event_signal: The Pinball Show announcing largest holiday giveaway in show/podcast history with sponsor Flippin' Out Pinball; prizes include toppers, playfield, armor, banners, shaker motor, Insider kit

    high · Detailed giveaway announcement with specific prizes and entry instructions; deadline December 15, 2023

  • ?

    leak_detection: Barrels of Fun Fifth Element game leaked via alien head visible on shelf in Adam Savage Tested video of Labyrinth gameplay

    low · Reddit user Snorkmatto spotted alien decoration at 2:50 mark; Easter egg interpretation suggests possible tease or coincidence

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Christopher Franchi (award-winning artist) appearing in Flippin' Out stream chat to tease Back to the Future and Dutch Pinball connection

    medium · Craig Bobby citing Franchi's chat appearance and cryptic comments about licensing and art direction during BTTF discussion

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.390

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised.
0:13
The Pinball Network is online. Launching the Pinball Show. A big old episode 142 of the Pinball Show for you here in December as Dennis and I launch the biggest holiday giveaway in our show's history. Hell, if not pinball podcasting history. As a thank you for making us the world's most popular and favorite pinball podcast, this episode we are giving away a pinball topper, a zombie-yeti playfield, stern armor of your choosing, a shaker motor, insider connected kit, banners, and more. Listen to the episode and enter to win today. We also go big in this episode with what's coming in 2024, the highlights and downsides of each pinball company in 2023, the latest pinball news, a most special new segment for our official TPS Club members, and of course, the award-winning pinball market trends. There is no other. This is The Pinball Show. pinball is a game of skill for some it's a passion and a lifestyle it's time for the pinball show it's pinball with personality dennis we've got one huge ass episode it's the pinball show it's episode 142 it's a holiday time and we've got to jump right into it, man. Oh, good.
1:48
I'm waiting. This episode, Denny, is going to be huge. Have you seen the likes of this episode? You know, we haven't had the impressions lately, Den? Well, I take a lot of criticism. Yes, you do. I do. Amanda Hamilton from Preplay Pinball Podcast, she rates my golem really low, like a five Cs out of ten. Five Cs. I've explained to her that I'm doing the book version.
2:17
But I don't think that resonated. People loved my Trump. They didn't. The Trump's pretty decent. Now, he's saying politics aside, I don't have a great Trump. I have an even worse Biden, though. My Trump is old Trump. It's not new political Trump. What about my Dr. Phil? I hate Dr. Phil. I don't hate it like Kim Trump. Everybody does. my issue with your Dr. Phil is that it sounds like Mr. Mackey from South Park. It is Mr. Mackey. So every time I hear it, I'm like, that's not Dr. Phil.

“Acquiring the license may not be as hard as people have been speculating, and... he himself may be doing the art for such a title.”

Craig Bobby (paraphrasing Christopher Franchi) @ Back to the Future rumor section — Key quote from Franchi teasing BTTF and Dutch Pinball; interpreted as near-confirmation by commentators

Barrels of Fun Pinball
company
The Fifth Elementgame
Spooky Pinballcompany
Dutch Pinballcompany
Back to the Futuregame
Christopher Franchiperson
Star Wars Mandaloriangame
Twippiesevent
Insider Connectedproduct
Guardians of the Galaxy Progame
Stranger Things Premiumgame
Adam Savage / Testedperson|organization
?

product_strategy: Star Wars Mandalorian delayed to 2025 from 2024 expectations; replaced Book of Bubba project

medium · Zach's 'birdie' source rumor; unclear reliability but consistent with timeline concerns from Stern Book of Bubba shelving

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern running James Bond toppers again in stock; Pinball Alley signs sold out (first batch); Godzilla toppers coming December

    high · Accessory inventory updates from Stern; signs had strong social media buzz leading to quick sellout

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern 2024 production roadmap detailed: Q1 (James Bond Premium, Godzilla Premium, Stranger Things Premium, Cornerstone Pro); Q2 (Foo Fighters Pro/Premium, Venom Pro/Premium); Q3 (James Bond Pro, Godzilla Pro, Jurassic Park Pro); Q4 (Foo Fighters Premium, James Bond Premium, Deadpool Pro, Stranger Things Pro)

    medium · Dennis providing detailed quarterly breakdown; all marked 'tentative, all can change'; based on Stern production schedule

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Spooky Pinball teasing unannounced 2024 title via whitewood parts to media personalities; likely horror-themed (possibly Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

    medium · Craig Bobby reporting ongoing whitewood part reveals with fan speculation; Spooky teasing continuation this coming week

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Dutch Pinball rumored to hold Back to the Future license; Christopher Franchi potentially doing art; teased via Flippin' Out stream chat

    medium · Franchi's cryptic chat comments about licensing difficulty and winking at Dutch Pinball connection; appears intentional teasing

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Keith Elwin's next Stern game rumored to be Jaws (1975); early 2024 release expected

    medium · Craig Bobby cites 'persistent rumors' with detailed layout information online; characterized as 'almost as sure a bet as it gets'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Hosts explicitly requesting removal from Twippies ballot citing toxicity and awards drama; Zach regrets creating media categories

    high · Both hosts express desire to be removed from ballot; Zach admits creating the media categories and now calling it 'a fucking monster'; Dennis says awards 'brings out the worst in people'

    • 2:53
    Not Mr. Mackey. If people go back, we're going to do this for our Patreon. We're going to go into the vault, the Twit Vault, and if people listen to some of the content and some of the angles that we tried to go into in the past, Man, we've come a long way. There's been a lot of experimentation. Yeah, the only... It's tough to say, because there's always someone who hates all voices. They want the show to be super serious. Oh, yes. Which, they've come to the wrong place, unfortunately. But there are plenty of other podcasts to consider. Yeah.
    3:28
    But... Me and my plastic rants. Oh, there he is! We are the only ones who are truly celebrating. The one voice. The caked canary in the cold light. A snowball of light. Nord Man. We still need to find a penguin. I think that might be a day to fix. I remember when I found my parents lying there in the alley pass.
    3:53
    People love the Nordman. Man, there's so much stuff I love about this show, and it humbles me each and every day. Listener, this is going to be a huge episode for us. You're about to find out why very soon. But one thing I've got to say is it's the holiday season. We did our Thanksgiving episode last week, Dennis, and we gave thanks and sarcastic thanks to those Patreon members in a special episode there. But we gave thanks. This holiday season, you and I are givers. We're lovers. We're givers. I was humbled this last week speaking of giving. There was a pin-side thread opened up by a fucking troll. Sorry. There was a pin-side thread opened up by an individual who has been rough on me in the past. Harassed me. I've never even met the person. whatever. But one of us tried something very sneaky and opened up a thread and said, flipping out pinball experience. What's your experience? Is it horrible and deplorable?
    4:51
    And just very much opened up a troll thread. But it was masked in a way that if people didn't know the history of this guy towards me and my company or the hundreds of other people he rests on pin side, they wouldn't know. But what he got instead was two or three pages full of nothing but the most kind, positive, supportive comments and stories for the relationship they have had in the past with my company, Pinball Distribution, the flipping out pinball. And, dude, it brought like a tear to my eye, seeing all of the past interactions and friends and customers jump in there. And I was super humbled by it because, you know, with anything you get a mixed bag of things. But when it comes to my career in business, I'm so, so committed to that. Seeing all the outpouring of support and love made my legs weak.
    5:48
    So thank you. Anybody who stepped in there and was unbelievably kind and honest, that meant the world to me. And I just couldn't believe it. Sometimes I forget that people are nice. So A-plus Pennside and A-plus Pennsiders on there. I'm going to have to be nicer to Pinside because they have my back there. And to the troll that tried that, everybody was like, yeah, it really backfired on you there, buddy. So thank you. I feel good. Dennis, I love Pinside. Well, I only say nice things about Pinside after having a thread just to call me out on Pinside that one time. Pepperidge Farm and Dennis, remember. That said, I wasn't aware of this thread, so I'll have to go read it. You have to. You don't have to go read it. No, I found it now. I've been looking while you were still a little queen. That's what happens when you bust your ass. Here's my favorite. I'm only on the first page because I can multitask, but only to a certain degree. My favorite comment, though, I want to call it out, was from Mudflaps. He said, Zach and Greg pulled me out of a burning bus. Greg was rougher than he needed to be. B plus.
    7:00
    You know what? I'm even going to upvote that. Oh, wow. There you go. Wow. You're up to 48 upvotes, Mudflaps. You know, I don't actually look at downvotes. I turn that off on Pinside to make it a more pleasant experience.
    7:14
    Woke culture. I just want to live in my happy bubble. Just let me be happy. Anymore, I'm still the same way. You know what? This is pinball, Zach. There's a lot of positivity. There's the Secret Santa thread. I don't participate in the Secret Santa. However, I know a lot of people get so excited about it. And it can be useful to remind people that there are positive aspects because, you know what, we're in the season of negativity when it comes to pinball. And it was. You're right. Like the Secret Santa, I was blessed. Nicole and I were blessed again to be asked to be a part of a Secret Santa pin side giveaway where they gave away a pinball machine to an unexpected party. You did that last year, too. Yeah, last year, this truly saint of a person that we know of that wants to continue remaining anonymous does this. Last year, they gave a Toy Story 4 CE. They gave away a handful of things, and we helped to be their little elves. And we contributed a little bit. But, like, whole freaking pinball machine, Dennis. And it wasn't the guy even came back and said he was so, so thankful. And he said, like, you know, I would have been thrilled with, like, a, he said, like, a Stern Home Edition or even one of those marked down, I think he said Led Zeppelins or Pros. But he was like. Oh, no. One of the fire sale gifts. Yes. He was like, but this Santa was kind enough to gift me not only a Cactus Tanya remake, but the SE Plus with the topper. Oh, wow. Beautiful. Very generous. So that pinball Santa is real, folks. He is real. Well, you were very generous. You gave me a very nice gift last year, too. That was last year. Times is tough.
    9:03
    But that leads me to say thank you. You gave me a gift. I already got my gift from you, Dennis. It came early, yes. Much more than you should have spent. It was the power of Cyber Monday. I know, but you shouldn't have spent that much. And I know that you spent that much because you opted for the two terabytes rather than the 500 gigs of the one terabyte. And the reason for that was really just because you're like shooting like 6K now. I'm like, maybe you can hold five minutes of footage on a one-terror. I got to get you to 10. I got to get you to at least 10 minutes. And it was so funny because there's nothing more true than that. Like, I have to have these external hard drives hooked up to my actual cinema camera because there's no other device, even a CFast, not to be nerding out here, even a CFast cannot write speeds fast enough for a high-end 4K or a 6K. So it takes one of these portable SSDs and stuff like that to be able to do it. And you don't get much, but you have to have so many of these. It's like an arsenal just to film a production piece or an upcoming featurette, wink, wink. So, yeah. So, damn it. Thank you, man. You're welcome. Your gift is in the mail, I think. Maybe by the next episode people will see the lingerie that I've sent you.
    10:14
    All right. We've got something big, Dennis. We do? Oh, my goodness. Yeah, you've talked about some of the negativity this time of year, and we probably won't jump into that so much just because I'm burnt out with it. I'm tired of bad humans. I'm tired of... You know what? It just comes down to that, Dennis. I'm sick and tired of bad humans. And sure, there's only a few of them in this thing we call the pinball hobby. that, damn, they stick out like a sore thumb amongst the hundreds of wonderful, beautiful people. So to focus our efforts, hopefully. I'm getting so sad about just the shitty human beings out there that I want us to do something to give back to the people who support the show and who listen to these damn people right now listening to this show. We've got to give back, and we've got to give back in a way that only the pinball show does each and every year. We're taking a month off.
    11:17
    We're going to Hawaii. Dennis, the Twiffies are coming. It's a season of awards show. Nothing creates more disdain for one another. Nothing creates more toxicity than that. And we've never asked for a vote. Not once. We've never asked for a vote for the Twiffie Awards or the Pinball Awards or whatever it may be. Have we? I don't remember us ever asking. I figured this year, you know what? We should just buy votes. just to show our supporters, hey, we love you so much. We'll give you a dollar every time you vote for us. Can we do that? Maybe we'll do a giveaway. I'd love that for a dollar. You vote for us, we'll give you a topper. How about that? Can we do that? I don't know. I don't remember the rules anymore. I can ship to Brazil, okay? I'm going to put that up there. I can ship to Brazil. Oh, there's the throwback.
    12:09
    So I figured we'd do a giveaway that way that we are disqualified from the Twinkies Nobody can vote.
    12:16
    Oh, that's okay. I've asked you before, Zach, if we could just ask to not be on the ballot. We've tried that. And you've explained to me that you attempted that. We've tried that. I'm going to, well, because I don't want to have to threaten shenanigans to get off the ballot. But you know what? At this point, and Zach, you've heard this from me for years, even back when you were doing the Twippy stuff about how I just think, especially when it gets to the content creation side and picking the favorites, that it actually does more harm than good. You said that from day one, and I disagreed with you. And it's just because people, I think it brings out the worst in people, and I would rather not be associated with it at all. It brings out the worst in a few, yeah. So I don't expect anyone on the Twippy governance committee to listen, but I am asking, assuming you're okay with it, remove us. I'm requesting that we be removed off of that ballot. Yeah, I'm fine with that. I don't want to be associated with your award. It doesn't work. But, yeah, but I finally come to the point, and I agree with you, Dennis. I actually... What? I agree. You've actually changed your mind. Because of the way I see some people treated, I think I'm with you. I think just get rid of it all. Get rid of the whole media portion of the Twippies or whatever it may be. And, you know, this is hard for me to say, Dennis. I am the one that created the media categories in the 50s. No wonder you were so defensive against my idea. That's my idea. Documented pitching to Jeff Patterson saying, we need to include the podcasters, the writers, the photographer, the YouTuber. We need to include those. And I've created a fucking monster. I mean, on paper, it does make sense. And we've seen it in other things. And part of when we were doing the pinball awards, That was part of the discussion because I was against including them there, too. I understand you want to celebrate the hobby, but at this stage, just for a variety of reasons. One rotten onion can ruin it. Well, you could still just celebrate the games, and I think maybe that's okay. Staying aside, I have all sorts of issues with People's Choice, but I've talked about that ad nauseum, so I'm not going to bring that up. December is my least favorite month when it comes to pinball. and it's not because it's a dry spell. It's because of the awards season and I just think it just makes things really there's always drama every December. Yeah, I helped co-create the Twiffies to celebrate pinball and those who make it so positive and fun for me did the same with the pinball awards and the former pinball industry awards just to celebrate pinball. But now I just I can't focus on that because there's so much blowback that comes to me. So instead I'm like pissed on it all. I'm here to celebrate you the listener, the people because at the end of the day numbers don't lie. So who gives a shit? I'm here to celebrate these people and I know you love these people, most of them anyway so I want us to celebrate our listeners, our supporters and those individuals who message us and we can put a smile on their face each and every week or give them information that they may have not known otherwise or provide as we do the best pinball analysis in the entire industry. When it comes to the Twippies or award stuff, look, people, if you like us, vote for us. That's fine. If not, not a big deal. Dennis is trying to get us off the ballot. I'm fine with that, too. We don't give a shit. We want to support you by not just talking, by actually walking. We don't want you to do the talking. Talking is cheap. We want to give back to you. So I think, Dennis, what we need to do is do the biggest giveaway that the pinball show has ever done and maybe won any pinball podcast has done. I do think it's a pretty sizable giveaway. And that's, of course, thanks to our official sponsor, Flippin' Out Pinball. That's right, everybody. You heard it here from the pinball show. We are going to be giving away this holiday season over the next two weeks your choice of a topper. Damn it. We're not doing an art play. A topper. I choose Ghostbusters topper. I mean, now, wait. So, I'm home. there's options too. It's not like I'm just giving you a Led Zeppelin topper. Now, that's an option. How about a Mandalorian topper? I think it's $2,000. Has anybody given away a Mandalorian topper? We're about to do so. Or how about a Rush topper? I think it's $1,700. A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles topper. So we've got some options there. You could win a topper. That's not enough, though. What else can we give away? How about a Zombie Yeti playfield? An actual pinball playfield. either an Iron Maiden pinball playfield or an Avengers Infinity Quest pinball playfield. Is that enough?
    17:10
    Do you have any of the banners? Okay, we'll do banners. How about that? Look at banner, Michael. We'll give their choice of a banner. Whatever the flipping out has at the moment. But banners. You can have a banner. How about we do three banners? Hell, why not? So we've got a topper, a playfield, Dennis says some banners. We'll do that. How about some armor? Hundreds of dollars of armor. Armor. Godzilla armor. Elvira. James Bond. Avengers. Jurassic Park. You take the pick. Armor. Let's give it away. This is the love that we have. You want a shaker motor? Let's throw in a shaker motor, too. Your choice. A red trimmer? No. God. No. Not that Stern Pinball is sponsoring this, but you know what? I'm going to show my Stern love. We'll give away a Stern Pinball shaker motor. Do you want an Insider Connected kit? All right. Now, Nicole, at this point, is like, Zach, what are you doing? No, you agreed to give away a topper and an arm.
    18:04
    But we'll do an insider kit, too. Hell with it. I don't care. We're celebrating you as a listener. Let's do it, Dennis. And not all of these things are going to go to just one person. We're going to give away a topper. We're going to give away a play field, a set of armor, insider connected, a shaker motor, three banners. That's like eight prizes. How are we going to do it? They don't have to vote for us. It's the Twippies. All they've got to do is, let's see if I can mess this up. All right. Simple, simple. All you've got to do is share this episode of the Pinball Show on social media, Facebook or whatever it is. Just share it. And then whenever you do share it, comment on why the Pinball Show is your favorite pinball podcast. That's all you've got to do. Share it. Yep. Pretty simple. Just for the sake of, I don't know if we can see all the shared stuff, comment on our post here for this episode on Facebook. Put a comment in there as to why the Pinball Show is your favorite pinball podcast. Or you can say your favorite podcast. I don't know. It may be. Maybe we beat out the true crime stuff. So they can do that. Yeah. And, of course, you also have to like the Pinball Show Facebook page. Yep. Do that, too. But also like Flippin' Out Pinball as the sponsor here of this giveaway. Like the Flippin' Out Pinball Facebook or Instagram or YouTube. Just make sure you like that. And just for good measure, if somebody doesn't have social media or something like that, they can just email us their comment of why the Pinball Show is their favorite pinball podcast. The pinballshow at gmail.com is your alternate method of entry. Okay, so that's not bad. All you've got to do is share this episode and comment on that post why the Pinball Show is their favorite pinball podcast, as well as liking the Pinball Show and liking Flippin' Out Pinball's Facebook. Yeah, it only takes a... I'd say you could probably do all that in about 15 seconds. Yes, and you could win thousands of dollars worth of prizes here. And I do want to thank you, Zach, for Flippin' Out Pinball being willing to sponsor all those giveaways. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because we do care about our listeners. We do. Why not? So there has to be a deadline to this. We're recording again in two weeks. So, individuals. You need some tally time. I'm thinking maybe Friday. You think Friday? Yeah, the Friday before we record next. That works. Yeah, yeah. So, 15th. Yeah, give you guys over a week. December 15th is the deadline at 11 p.m. Central. That is your deadline. You have to submit this. Again, share this episode with a comment as to why the Pinball Show is your favorite podcast, as well as liking the Pinball Show social media and flipping out social media. That's easy. And again, you can also email thepinballshow at gmail.com. If you're on social media. Okay, cool. I like it. Good, good. People, go out and win some prizes.
    20:37
    You know who's not going to win a prize? Me. Craig Bobby. What? He did audio this week, though. He did. But he brought up Rumor Corner. He changed the name of it. Well, let's take a listen.
    20:52
    Jamar O'Reilly, swear to me. My parents. I found them there, supposedly. Hello and welcome back to the Pinball Show's Top Stories. I'm Craig Bobby. Well, as the end of the calendar year draws to an end and various holiday celebrations are beginning to stir, so too are mischievous pinball elves who are once again bringing no end to the pinball rumors, speculations, and postulations about what the next upcoming titles may be from the various pinball manufacturers. And short of bringing back Dennis Creasel's own trademark Rumor Corner segment that rose to popularity on his Eclectic Gamers podcast, I'm going to call this segment Rumor Alley as we dare wander down a seedy and shady alley at night looking for our own pinball rumor fix. But remember, you simply can't know or trust if this pinball information is in fact true or, much like a bad back alley pinball deal is just full of rusty balls, sketchy paint jobs, and weak-ass flippers. Danger, Will Robinson. It's a crotch party right up in here. Why don't you lick on this big jaw? Stop it, Dale. Stop it.
    22:25
    First up, we have one of the longest and persistent rumors regarding Stern Pinball, that their pinball design juggernaut and silver ball champion Keith Elwin, whose next game is rumored to be in the theme of the 1975 classic movie Jaws, rumored to be released sometime in early 2024. Say what? Now, the rumors online these days are so detailed about what's in the game, along with various layout elements, that I'm saying this hot and heavy rumor is almost as sure a bet as it gets. And of course, anyone that follows Pinball knows that anything by Keith Elwin is bound to be a runaway success for Stern. So expect news of its imminent release to shoot shockwaves of oohs and aahs through the Pinball multiverse. A little further into the shadows of Rumor Alley, we have persistent rumors that Barrels of Fun Pinball's next title could be in the late 90s Bruce Willis space adventure masterpiece, The Fifth Element. Dang! What? A rumor whose fire was further stoked this week as Barrels of Fun's Labyrinth Machine was featured on Adam Savage's YouTube channel, Tested. Now, what does Labyrinth have to do with The Fifth Element? Well, during the video, an astute Reddit user named Snorkmatto snared a picture that was taken at the 2 minute and 50 second mark of the video where they cut to a scene of Adam Savage playing Labyrinth. Nothing special there, however, just to the left of the back box, sitting on a shelf, one can clearly see the head of an alien seen in the fifth element. Sheer coincidence? Or could Barrels of Fun be trolling the Always Information Star Pinball community for what their next title may, or may not, in fact be? Not to be outdone, Spooky Pinball has tossed their horror-themed hat into the pinball rumor alley this week, as they continue to ship various whitewood or prototype parts to various pinball media personalities, as fans continue to weigh in on what part of the game they may be looking at when each part is revealed, and what theme the seemingly innocuous parts may be a part of. The easy guess is another horror theme, like the Texas Pinball, I mean Chainsaw Massacre. However, Spooky is also rumored to be revealing yet another tease later this coming week that may give more answers to the ever-growing guesses of their next title release in 2024. And the final dangerous rumor found in our darkened pinball alley is about continuing speculation around the fan-favorite theme of Back to the Future. Beyond some of the rumors that Dennis and Tony have reviewed during their recent Eclectic Gamers podcast where they speculate the likely possibility that in fact Dutch Pinball and not Stern Pinball has in fact secured the coveted license to the Back to the Future movie. A rumor that was doused with gasoline on a recent online stream of Flippin' Out with Friends with host Joel Engelberth, where award-winning artist Christopher Franchi appeared in the chat toward the end of the stream just as discussion of the Back to the Future license heated up. Franchi chimed in, typing that acquiring the license may not be as hard as people have been speculating, and that in fact he himself may be doing the art for such a title. Hold on! Okay. Holy Spirit, activate! Oh no! Holy Spirit, activate! Activate! Alright, let's go. The always coy Franchi also teased at one point, and I'm paraphrasing here, that he wouldn't be surprised if Dutch Pinball did in fact have ownership to the Back to the Future license. Wink, wink. Well, you know what I say. We shall have to wait and see. Okay, let's hightail it out of this sketchy rumor alley and back into the safe and welcoming arms of Zach Menny and Dennis Creasel, where I must bid you farewell for yet another week. For the Pinball Show, I'm Craig Bobby. Catch you on the flip side.
    26:22
    Well, thank you, Craig, for regurgitating all of those rumors. Maybe we should run with the rumors for this episode. I think we're going to make this episode big. Rumorlicious? Let's make this episode so damn rumorlicious that you don't have to use ChapStick for a week. Juicy. We're going to give them the rundown of the news, as we always do. But I think we should just dive into the year and to discuss what games are rumored to be coming out in the future, as well as any information we know, and what came out this year for each manufacturer, what we liked, what we didn't think worked as well, etc. And we'll start with Stern Pinball. Your production update this week, listener, is that the Guardians of the Galaxy Pro final commemorative run is being shipped right now. They're shipping. So that gives us Guardians of the Galaxy. We know that the last two weeks of Stern Pinball are going to be administrative, fiscal inventory kind of stuff, so they're not going to be working. They're going to start early January. So that leaves us a week, Dennis.
    27:20
    Yes. one week, well I guess two weeks. One week. This week is basically more the Guardians of the Galaxy Pro. But then there's still, what are we doing until the 18th?
    27:35
    Stranger Things Premium! People still think it's bump to next year. I have no evidence of it. I'm still being told and it could change today. I'm still being told that that's the last game that's being run in 2023 by Stern Pinball. Making me the winner. That's right. Making you the winner. What did you win? I won the, is Stern going to have a game come out in December? Oh, well. And he said, no. No. I still think that we could. Yeah, you're going to think it until January 1st. I still think we could have an announcement.
    28:13
    Don't do it, Stern. Let me win. Stern. I, listen. Stern. It's me. Den Den. I don't go by Dennis. Okay. Stern. It's me. Stern, this is Dennis. Okay. Listen. If you're listening, do I ever ask you for anything? The answer is no. The answer is no other than for all of your production data ever. But aside from that, I don't ask for anything, which incidentally I still haven't received that production data. I need that production data. Stern, don't let Zach win this one. Just let me have one. Just let me one time. One time. Thank you Alright No We need it in January Alright well speaking of January 2024 Comes to the likes of James Bond Premium That was pushed out of December January 2024 also is Godzilla Premium Small run Stranger Things Premium Another small run And Cornerstone Pro in LA's question mark Small run if it's not good That's so true That's so true. I'm just saying. He needs a good release, Keith.
    29:24
    February 2024, I'm betting on the next Cornerstone Premium. Q2 of 2024, nothing else has really changed between Q2, 3, and 4. That is Q2, Foo Fighters Pro, Venom Pro, and Premium. Q3, James Bond Pro was pushed out of December, but James Bond Pro for Q3. Q3 also. Godzilla Pro, Jurassic Park Pro, Foo Fighters Pro. Q4 is Foo Fighters Premium, James Bond Premium, Deadpool Pro, Stranger Things Pro. All tentative, all can change. Star Wars Mandalorian. Look, I'll give you a little tidbit. Birdie Birdie came in, sat on my shoulder, pecked my nose. I said, that's rude. Fuck off, bird. But the bird did tell me.
    30:02
    Why were you so mean to this bird? I don't know. And then the bird tweeted at you, and then it said, my name is X now.
    30:09
    That's a Twitter joke. Oh, gotcha. That's why I spelled it out. Well, Birdie told me that that Mandalorian, you may not see that Mandalorian running until 2025.
    30:21
    Mmm. Whoa. Weed, weed. Wait a minute. I thought the new season was going to, whatever. I just imagine Stern scrambling after they had to shelve their Book of Bubba for that thing they were going to do. Yeah, that's right. What an awful thing. Stand down, stand down. We're not doing it. Stern Pinball Accessories Updates. Did you know that they ran James Bond toppers again in stock? I did not know. Yeah. Wow. James Bond toppers. Is that one of them available in the giveaway?
    30:54
    Dennis, don't press your luck. No. Those are selling okay. Okay. Go with it. Why not? All right. December, we're still supposed to get some Godzilla toppers. Still supposed to get some Godzilla toppers this month. Now, they did. This is interesting to me. That first batch of the Pinball Alley signs that they made, they sold out of those. No more available. They said they'll probably run it again sometime next year, but nothing in stone. That had a decent amount of social media buzz, so I'm not too surprised they sold out of them. So those are gone, so you have to get those through dealers now. January 2024, Stranger Things has been bumped to the first of the year here. Remember, they were supposed to do it in November and December. They've bumped that, which is making people think maybe they're bumping the premium. I don't know. But the accessories are not coming until January. And then Fear Not Your Iron Maiden Aces High Toppers coming Q1 of 2024.
    31:50
    Did you know Stern Pinball got an app? Insider Connected. It gets an app. Yes. There's an app for that.
    31:57
    What was the Rick and Morty episode? I've never seen Rick and Morty. Would you like me to help build an app? Oh, my God. One of the greatest shows of all time. So good. But Stern Pinball Insider Connected gets their own app. Did you download that app? I have not. Dennis. I'm waiting for the bugs to be worked out. Oh, my God.
    32:19
    I'm what you call a late adopter. Yeah, not an early adopter, huh? Maybe if they had told me that the app came lined in titanium What a dumb marketing idea Do people actually think titanium is like some precious metal I don People love it They eat it up Oh, my God. Is that the only thing? There was no new feature on the new iPhone, so they're just like titanium. And then, like, Samsung's doing it now. Like, we have titanium in ours, too. Who doesn't love the look of a dirty stainless steel?
    32:50
    Titanium. Oh, thank you for my iPhone. It's now trimmed in my favorite color, gray. Hey, that is my favorite color, actually. It's my favorite color as well.
    33:01
    It's just every time I'm reminded of we're the same person. We are not. We are not remotely the same people. We are identical. All right, rumored games from Stern Pinball. Jaws is the rumor coming at the end of December. Hell wins game.
    33:18
    That's what the rumor is. I think the rumor, what do you think the percentage of that rumor being true is? I'm putting it at about 90%. 100%. Wow. You're going all in. Okay. What about Dungeons & Dragons? I haven't heard much about that, but I have heard. Zero percent. I've heard about John Wick. I've heard that's pretty much a thing. 38.2%. I'm going 70% for John Wick.
    33:47
    Dungeons & Dragons? I just finished it. I want it to be a 12. That's a five. Two, I don't want Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe if there's another, like, it would be the movie, right? It didn't do great. No, 10%. I don't know. That's something you keep in your back pocket if you somehow run out of licenses. So it's something you throw away. I love that people were rumoring, like, there's going to be a 70th anniversary Godzilla coming up next year. There's going to be this 50th anniversary Gels coming up. And then the same people who were making up those rumors then came out and said, you heard it here first. They're now canceling their plans to do the 70th anniversary. I'm like, wait a minute, you son of a bitch. You can't do it. Like, you made it up in the first place. Now you're canceling what you already made up? What is going on in this world? You know, the latest Loser Kid Pinball podcast actually dove a lot into the discussion about what's going on with the rumors. What do you think? So we know Stern Pinball this last year, 2023, came out with James Bond's 60th anniversary. Keith Ellin designed game. Single level game. Very high price. Foo Fighters, Jack Danger designed game. Venom, Brian Eddy, Dwight Sullivan game. Was that it? That's about it, wasn't it? Stranger Things. Yeah. What were your highlights of Stern Pinball this year? Low light? Like, what downsides? Anything you love? Like, kind of, like, are you wanting this, like, personally to me, or what are my overall views are? Okay, yeah, that's the angle I was probably going to go with. All right, well, the big success, I think, has to be Foo Fighters. Yes. The first Cornerstone game of Jack Danger, very well received. Yes. I also feel that Stern got, and this is probably more luck than anything else, But they got to take advantage. They were the last company to take advantage of what I consider the COVID effect, where people were just buying everything hand over fist, not really thinking about possible negative impacts on resale or anything like that. They got to benefit from that. And maybe that was because Jack was new and people wanted his first, quote unquote, real game. Possibly. Or maybe it was just, hey, a lot of people hadn't adapted yet to thinking, you know what, is the market really going to keep behaving like it did in 2021 and 2022, which it does not. So that was their highlight. Yeah, I agree. And I think for the purposes of this episode, maybe next episode, Dennis, we give our favorites or our award picks for the year kind of thing. But this episode will speak to what we think the high and low points just more objectively are. I'll have to noodle on. It gets a little more difficult with other companies where they had fewer releases. In terms of low light, that's easy. Venom, I'm sure, has not done what they wanted it to do. We talked about that, too. To piggyback off of that, I would agree that one of the low points for Stern Pinball this year was Venom. I will emphasize, though, I'm not sold that it is the product itself so much as the circumstances in the situation scenario that it was put in or they put it in whenever it was released. Remember, we did have that huge gap when they announced at the end of July, but then we didn't start seeing games or anything until like two months afterwards. The hype is already, that's just a thing Stern doesn't do. It could have been out of their control, but nonetheless, that hurt. It hurt. Sure, but we saw a far more egregious example last year with James Bond, and that hurt it. And it hurt it, too. Undoubtedly. But the market was a hair better there. Yeah, the market was there. See, Venom, unfortunately, Venom just faced a lot of headwinds. Yeah, exactly. I think the delay is definitely a factor that's in play. The market was a headwind. The C-tier theme didn't help. It wasn't the strongest theme like a James Bond, no. You know, Frisco pinballs aside, Venom is not a top-tier character to most people. And maybe it should be a B-tier. I don't know. It's still a good theme for pinball, though. Yes, but a lot of people that are initially doing ordering are going to do the ordering based off of those things that I'm going to do. I'm still in the episode right now, but the latest Lamb Tail podcast episode, they have a guest on, and that guest was explaining how with Rush, they had to pay $20,000 for a Rush game. It didn't matter. And this was someone who had never, I think, bought a premium before. Well, and it still followed also, it still followed, Dennis, the avalanche of new products and titles that were announced at the end of 2022 into the first quarter of 2023. Remember, we had that big old five or six titles all piling out during TPF, which had some residual effect, I think, come Venom in the summer. So, anyway, but delays on release, issue with the theme choice, I would say, especially people who saw the initial images of the Pro model, could have been very much put off by the fact that it is the fanniest fan layout to ever fan. Fanny Mae. Yes. And then the fourth item that I think of as a factor is this is Dwight Sullivan's big experiment with this progression-based gaming. And I think that may have, if not alienated people, made them extremely hesitant that they wouldn't like the game and they wouldn't buy it without trying it. And, you know, you've got this sort of feedback loop where they don't trust that they're going to enjoy that style of progression gaming. That they worry it's going to make the game too easy and that they'll beat it and then have to sell it or whatnot. I don't know. But it was a very, you know, he took a big leap from where he had done Turtles. Yeah, that's a great point because I think in the long run, it was smart to take a risk like this. I don't know, you know, time-wise or anything. I haven't dove into that. But to take this risk to see what pinball can become. So I think long-term is a great idea. But short-term, yeah, it's going to make people more hesitant, especially spending this much money and having a dynamic shift in what pinball is or what it could become. But I am with you also that one of the highlights was Foo Fighters. I mean, that damn game, Dennis, I had such low expectations for, just based on the theme. Doesn't mean I don't like the music. It's just, it is akin to like an Elton John, where I'm like, I don't think it moves units. I just don't. Even throwing zombie yeti artwork, which helps enormously, I still was worried. And then we seen what it did look like. And we've seen that they themed it around Foo Fighters, action, Saturday morning cartoon, alien kind of thing. That helped. And then on top of it, I've got to give Jack Danger, the design team, credit. It was that freaking design. That thing, that's the one game that I still say, for better or worse, almost shoots too good. And there are some Keith Elwin games sometimes, like Avengers and stuff, and I'm like, it almost shoots too good. where you've got to have some risk there. But it shoots like a damn dream, and I think that was a huge highlight to an otherwise theme that I was going to chalk up as, nah, not going to do well. Now, James Bond's 60th anniversary, that did fair. I don't think it was a highlight at all. I think it reminded Stern, hey, even Keith Elwin has a ceiling to some respect, and even more so, honestly, more than even that, The ceiling for a single level is pretty low, regardless of bill of materials, regardless objectively of the cost of a unit.
    41:34
    People will not and do not perceive that style as contemporary, and they will not pay contemporary dollars for it. Yeah. The reason why I chose Venom over that as my low light for the company was it's such a small production run that in the grand scheme of things, they played that one fairly safe. Obviously, Venom got full cornerstone treatment. So that's the main differentiating factor. But, yeah, I agree with pretty much everything you've said about the bond game. It just, for what it was, and we've seen signs of this. Remember, Beatles was a slow mover until the pandemic sold the rest of them off.
    42:12
    People, whether it's right or wrong, the market says single level, it does not cost as much as quote-unquote full featured. And you could slap L1's name on it, but clearly they gouged on that price. It was when it launched, I mean, the initial price asks that we saw were, they just did not click. Yeah, so I think, does that work in the future? I think they learned a lot from that, as well as they have last year on the home edition games. I think they learned a lot on that. I think this also, for Stern Pinball Listener, was the year of the special edition. And introducing, and I think this is due to market fluctuations and the status of the market and the changes that we've seen throughout 2023 on market stability. I think we see more special edition stuff in the future as well, because they introduced that this year with the likes of things like Elvira Blood Red Kiss, the likes of Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary, Ellie, what it likes of Let's revolt This stern stranger thing that people Have been begging for It's what do people want Let's give them that so that we can continue Manufacturing at the pace That we are going to be in this new factory As well as Let's take what's tried and true Let's take what people love, that is Ellie models of games Something special, glitzy and glamorous And let's bring anniversary Editions to provide the collector community with another chance in on an otherwise lower run of an LE that was initially released in years prior.
    43:52
    Yeah, I think they'll experiment some more with that. That one, I think they see the ceiling, though, on it, too. Yeah, I think Stern recognizes that in the new market that they now face, a need to be nimble and to play around with the space they've got with the licenses that are already available to them to put on the line. But, yeah, the ceiling of it, or the way I think of it is, you're playing a game, a dangerous game, when you do things like this because you could upset your whales. And the whale is an almost mythical beast, and you do not want the whale to feel the harpoon going into it. So my point being, I know Travis Murray had kind of expanded on this on a prior Triple Drain episode, a few of them ago, actually, talking a little bit about this. So I do think it's a tightrope back, especially as the market cools, for Stern to be able to, like, what can we do that feels okay and hopefully doesn't upset our people that are always, I went where I had a first refusal on every LE. And then they get to the point where they're like, you know what? I'm done with right of first refusal on Stern LE because they're going to always have a better LE later.
    45:09
    So I don't think they've had that yet, but I think they're aware of it, and they're trying to figure out ways to do it where it doesn't feel like you don't want to piss off your old base, but there's money being left on the table if they don't do these things so that it's a tightrope. You've got to watch your pander meter. You know, we're going to watch how much we feed, and we don't want them to get sick. We don't feed them too much to make them sick, but we want to keep them hungry.
    45:39
    Foie gras them. I think that's it. What did you say? I said foie gras them. You know foie gras? The goose liver? They force feed them. Oh. Anyway, never mind. This is reminding me of the recent Rick and Morty's back again episode of the – I've never seen Rick and Morty. I know, but you'll know the reference. They did the total recall of the little thing that comes out of the stomach. He's like, open your mind.
    46:05
    Oh, the Quaid. The Quaid. What was his name? Open your mind. And they did a whole episode on that. It was fucking hilarious.
    46:16
    Okay, the other thing that I have to bring up, this is certain pinball heavy because they, I'm proving my point right now. They continued in 2023, Dennis and listener. their complete and utter domination. And what I mean by that is some of you might be like, well, wait a minute. There were some new things that came out that I think made a pretty big punch. And I would agree with you. Things like barrels of fun pinball. The domination continues because I would argue that all the established companies out there, the Jersey Jacks, the Chicago Gaming Company, the American Pinball, they were taking swings, maybe even bigger swings than they've taken in the past, and it resulted them in more steps behind CERN Pinball. They continue to dominate in the connectivity sector of this industry and hobby, and they're flying with that thing. So much to the effect that I would say that Insider Connected is now a huge plus with the entire CERN Pinball platform, and I'm excited to see where it goes next year alongside the Spike 3 system. That's right. I want to see where Spike 3 is going, and I want to see if Spike 3 has the capability alongside Insider Connected to finally get to the mecca level of Internet connectivity and pinball, and that is some sort of exchange of competition between two different locations. That's the next big step. They've got the milestone stuff. They've got the badges. They've got the awards and the achievements. They've got all of that. I think their next step, unfortunately, may be the in-between, which is downloadable content. I think that might be the in-between they might see before, you know, me playing somebody in Kansas. But I want to see what Spike 3 is going to bring, and I want to see what this next iteration of Insider Connected is going to bring. So I think 2024 should show what that next big step is going to be. Then again, maybe Stern in 2024 is just going to be a master of puppets pulling your strings, twisting your mind and smashing your dreams. Jersey Jack Pinball. Did you know this last week or so, Jersey Jack Pinball had sent out some showroom models of Elton John platinum editions for some of the dealers out there? I did not. Did you get yours? Yeah, I got mine. Got it all set up. I think even flipping out with friends, we'll be streaming it possibly as early as this week with Joel Engelberth. Woo-hoo! So I've been playing that, trying to learn the rules and such and the flows and figuring it all out. So go to your local dealer if you're wanting to play and see this thing, and then order it at flippingoutpinball.com, your platinum or collector's edition of Elton John. I think it was a good move, though, to get them out in the world a little bit better through the use of distribution. Yeah, it's been a little weird. Normally they've had a few ready to go when they do their reveals, and I really like that, but obviously they didn't hear them. So, yeah, whether it's online or something, I don't believe so. Jersey Jack, there was an interview. He did the Loser Kid. We discussed that last time. This last weekend, he went on a Canadian pinball podcast, doing a live stream, and caught him at automated pinball distribution and had him sit down to discuss some questions. A lot of it was kind of carbon copy from the Loser Kid pinball podcast. There's still some interesting information, nonetheless, that came out of it. When asked about whether or not Elton John's pinball machine was on the line, Jack responded, quote, it's on the line. Okay, well, there you go. You just said you didn't think it was on the line. Well, better to listen to the founder, I think, than the distributor. Question mark. Why?
    49:57
    Okay, question mark. And then Chris asked, no, like, we've seen some go to the dealers and stuff or customer games, the customer games. And Jack said, quote, customer games are going out. End quote. Okay. Oh, they're actually going out. I haven't seen any unboxings or something. So I guess this week we will see plenty of unboxings and videos from the factory showing all of those Elton Johns online. I'm pumped. Let's get them going here. Software and hardware changes on the flippers. He talked about that. I don't know if you listened to the pinball show or not from the last episode. But he talked about them having the same coils. Remember, I was saying possibly that was a difference. He said, no, same coils. and it was not just software changes. I guess he was just saying that people like us were like, well, wait a minute. You just said software changes. He said, no, there were hardware changes as well. So it's the same coils, but there's other. You know what? I don't know. I've done some flipper rebuilds, but I guess I'm just too stupid. So was, like, was, I mean, like, different coil stops or what? I don't know what the difference would be. I have no clue. Okay. I can think of a lot of components that can be different. I'm just trying to think of, like, what would. What would really, yeah. Would it be maybe a power supply issue? Penmonk, if you're listening, write into penmonk.gmail.com. Can you tell me, like, what it would be if it's not the coil? Victor.
    51:23
    Yeah, possibly. He'd say power supply product. I don't know. Who knows? Now, they also talked about Steve Ritchie and him working on his next game and stuff. Jack had to make another little jab there. said, quote, you let Steve Ritchie do what he wants to do. You don't take things out of his game. Oh, there it is. You can't not do it. When asked about pricing, Jack Ranieri said, quote, probably not, end quote, regarding the question about whether we've seen the ceiling on pricing in pinball. Probably not. He thinks the ceiling is higher. But he also emphasized that it doesn't mean you're going to see any increase in pricing from Jersey Jack. but Jack says he still sees for some specialty stuff the ceiling not being met yet. When asked about remaking previous stuff, because he said he's looking forward, not looking backward, probably not going to rerun anything in the past, he said, quote, I'd be shocked if we're building pirates again. So he's really doubling down on that. Do not want to make pirates again. That doesn't surprise me, though. He said that we will probably see one and a half games this coming year. I don't know what that means. Hmm. We will split this game in twain. We will only show them the head.
    52:38
    Mark Seiden is on the next game. I confirm that. Harry Potter with Mark confirmed? Yes. Which tells me it's not Harry Potter. Oh. Okay. Excuse me. Mark Seiden on Hogwarts Legacy confirmed? Yeah.
    52:54
    I'm telling you, he's the right person to put on it. Chris S. Very structured said, were you guys able to make just Toy Story 1 if you wanted to? Jack Grenier's response, yeah. Oh. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. And then he followed up with, did Disney make you make Toy Story 4, the number 4? Jack responded, no. So he's saying that the company just is incompetent. He didn't elaborate, but the information that was presented from... Well, no, Jack, I think, has always been consistent that they chose to make four, but I heard some of the actual employees that had worked on the game had indicated that there was a time where it could have not been four, but because the development cycle went so long and then the four movie came out, that Disney, I guess, they didn't quite say that Disney, quote, unquote, made them, but they were like, Disney came back to them when they wanted to extend the license and said, we want you to do four, and their reaction was, you don't push back on Disney.
    53:59
    So that's kind of like, if I was to try and nuance it, that's the best I could do. And that's all off of my recollection. And he went on to say that if for some reason they don't have the license anymore, but if they did, they could potentially make a Toy Story 1 or 2. It might not be a bad idea.
    54:16
    Side note, other manufacturers, why not? Why not jump into that? I still think it's very viable and would do incredibly well. That's tough because of the risks of confusion to the public and such. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I get that, but I don't know how many toys. I mean, Toy Story didn't sell horribly. It didn't sell as well as GNR. Jack also talked about licensing and needing to appeal to the world rather than just the U.S. and different genders, different ages. So he talked about the importance of that. But the big thing to Jack Guarneri is the usage of assets and what assets they can get. He said, quote, the more assets we have, the better chance we have at making better games. I'd agree. I would agree on that. But he also said, quote, the design team decides what they want to do, end quote, regarding whether or not they use assets in the game or how they use, how much they use of those assets. because I think the example of Willy Wonka was brought up, and Jack kind of pushed it to the design team and said, hey, that's what they chose to do. Interesting. If that's true, design team, use all the assets.
    55:28
    All of it. Well, but there is a balance, right? I mean, at some point, do you want it to turn into, I still remember my stereotype, as much as I enjoy playing the game of Guardians, which is like, let's just have every freaking clip from the movie in here at some point. I don't know. It just seemed kind of silly. Wobbly no-no. No. Oh, my buffalos. So, yeah, so Jack got to talking about that. He said the next game is licensed. And he threw another dig saying, quote, I'm not making three games that are unlicensed.
    55:57
    Another burn. I appreciate that one, though. He also talked about compensation and whether or not designers get bonuses if they sell more games and how that works. Jack said, quote, the whole company gets bonuses if we do better. Everybody. He even talked about the example of the people packing the boxes and stuff. Okay. Yeah, I mean, there are a number of companies that I believe that operate. I've been in the public and nonprofit sectors for so long we didn't have that. But my understanding is that's pretty common for a lot of companies. Do bonuses company-wide. Yeah. So that was good to hear. I like that. What did Jersey Jack do this last year? They had the likes of the Godfather coming out in March. And here recently they had Elton John come out. So they did get two games out within a year. So bravo on that. I think some of the reasoning was because of sales kind of thing. It wasn't because of ability to get parts and production speeds and stuff like that. I agree with you. But I do want to note that they've gotten games out within a year before now. This was a calendar year, and some people, for whatever reason, mentally couldn't. But the gap between what Godfather and Toy Story 4, I think, was within 12 months. That's true. That is right. So they're actually on a cadence to be able to do this now, it looks like. Yeah, their cadence is dramatically improved from the early days when Jack ran the company. Yeah, until Harry Potter comes out. Hogwarts Legacy is how it's pronounced in English. Hogwarts Legacy. It's going to be Hogwarts Legacy. You can deny all you wish. All I can say to you and every other podcaster out there saying the same thing is just, you know, remember your boy here. All right. Hey, I've been wrong a few times in this hobby. So they came out with those two games. I think that the highlight is that they came out with two games that are what Jersey Jack pinball machines are, complete and utter beauty. They are dazzling and some of the loudest and most dripping with beauty games that we've ever seen in the industry, and that does not go without any exception this year with these two products. I think the downside for me would be that the theme choices of both of these, I think, are subpar. I really think they're subpar. If you told me, pick 50 as a distributor, pick me 50 themes that we could manufacture and make some money on, neither Elton John nor Godfather would be in that top 50, I don't believe.
    58:29
    That's a long list, too, 50. So I don't think they landed on either theme. nor do I think with either game they really have brought something that helps people look past the theme or that they can commit to the theme even if it's not in their top choices of themes in pinball. So subsequently, I think you've seen the downside of Jersey Jack pinball this year has been probably sales numbers.
    58:59
    Okay. I don't know to the full extent as to what 2024 has coming for them, But I can tell you I am very excited about the stuff that they do have coming in the next five years. Based on, I mean, if the rumors that I'm hearing are true. And speaking of the rumors, we've heard Harry Potter. We've heard the Matrix, Top Gun, Maverick kind of thing. What else have we heard? Those are all the pending ones I'm aware of that I've heard. I think if 2023 was Jersey Jack's down year, then just like Dogecoin, to the moon. Okay. Well, I wouldn't recommend necessarily that you diamond hands a JJP game because those things seem to fall far more as you wait. So if you don't like your game anymore or you're tired of it, I would say sell it. Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I wouldn't diamond hands that. Their highlight for me, I would say, is their trailer game, their teaser game. No, it's strong. It's the strongest in the industry. Their marketing is strong, yeah. It's honestly, all right. Jersey Jack pinball. Listen, this is Dennis. Jersey Jack, listen to me. You're taking it too far. Don't let people fly away from their games. They shouldn't be floated. Don't let people float. Don't be floating people. Like, this is a Quidditch match. You should have held that for when Harry Potter, Hogwarts Legacy, see the non-Harry Potter, Harry Potter game come about. But you didn't. You fired it off too early. And now we won't be impressed when people float on a broomstick away from the pinball machine. I'm just saying, that was a prime opportunity, and wasting it on Elton John was a mistake. Snap. That's all I'm saying. Low light. I'm going to be more specific than you on that. My low light is God. Oh, that was a positive? Yeah, that was. Oh, shit. Top of the tier trailer game this year. Okay, all right. Wow, next level. I think they're going too far with it, but you know what? It's still top of the tier. Yeah, they got millions of dollars. They're turning it to 11, and I'm a little worried. But low-light Godfather easily. Terrible theme choice. Absolutely awful. That that ever got greenlit is absolutely shocking.
    61:12
    That's the sort of person I would tell you to make Citizens Kane pinball is my concern. Just because something is an iconic, excellent film does not mean it should be made into a pinball machine. And the pinball machine looks good. And it plays well. But that theme, oh, that theme put it behind the 8-Ball more than the 4 did behind Toy Story. Elton John, at least, as an iconic music. Yeah, it makes sense to pinball. With music that works for pinball, that one makes more sense to me. It's kind of like the rumor to Journey. I think there's a rumor that Stern has Journey. Kind of along the same lines. Like, I don't think it's going to bust down any doors, but, like, it's a good thing for pinball. I like Mason Journey. So it's Godfather, and the design team did what they could with it, and that's why I think when you play it and you see how they approach the rule set, it feels very much like, all right, we're going to kind of do it like the Mafia series of video games and have you go and control territory and all of that, because the movie plot doesn't really work.
    62:11
    You could try and argue that the movie plot's about controlling territory, too, but obviously that's not what the movies are really about. They're about these interactions with these characters. It's a character study style of film, and I just feel like on paper it was a terrible idea. That's why I remain, of all the themes they've ever done, I remain the most shocked at that one. At least with Dialed In, you could argue they didn't know any better about doing an unlicensed theme that early in their sojourn as being a company, but Godfather of Ish had known better. It was a big mistake, and it hurt that game, which even though the game's fun, there will be people that will never look at that seriously because of that theme. And you know what's funny? You say you talk about the differences between an Elton John product and release versus a Godfather. And here I am publicly saying that as a distributor, we sold many more Godfather units than we have Elton John. And I anticipate and estimate that that will easily remain the case throughout the lifespan of the Elton John game. I would like to see next year in 2024 Jersey Jack Pinball's next release to really make sure you nail the launch of this product because I don't think it was done well enough to maximize sales for Elton John and I believe the numbers don't lie on that and here I would also again like we talked about with Stern Godfather probably did not nearly obviously to the extent of Foo Fires, but Godfather still probably benefited from that. We're not quite sure if the market's changing from what it was in the pandemic, and I think there were still people that were kind of jumping on. Plus, they had games ready to go for sale. Absolutely. Like, you could actually really not pretend on the line. They were really on the line. And I would also say this. I don't think Jersey Jack Pinball is crazy. I don't think Jersey Jack Pinball should change their pricing structure. I do not think they should lower their prices, because I do think that the theming that they have over the next five years is going to be substantially greater than their last two releases. Thus, in my opinion, there should be no need to reduce any prices. I think your model of what you've got right now, the whole platinum thing, I don't like that that's now not limited, but your collector's edition at $15,000, I think you're fine there, especially if you have some dynamite themes coming up. I would. I feel that pricing is too high. I would say there's a lot of risks, though, to lowering pricing.
    64:42
    And inflation will eventually catch it up to be sane. So at this stage, they might as well just stay the course and just hold the pricing. I do think switching from LE to platinum was a smart move, though.
    64:56
    Contextually, yeah. But if you going to keep the same price then people are getting kind of less than because there no limit at that point I see the argument They do get rad cows now They get a topper now So there added features So that's a plus. 5,000 was a bullshit limited count. So true. They never met it. So true. Not even on Guns N' Roses did they meet it. You're right. So it was fake. But there are themes coming up that are bigger than Guns N' Roses. Of course. I just – that's their premium model. They needed to accept it and adapt to that. And I don't – if you were – all right, maybe – right into the pinball show at gmail.com, if you were one of these people who – were you actually buying the LE version of a JJP with its 5,000-unit limit because it was exclusive? Oh, you're right. You're right. Because I don't think it was – it would have worked if it was really limited. I mean, we've been debating if Stern has got, and I would argue they are, that 1,000 LEs is too many. It's too many for the size of this hobby. Too many people are able to get the LE. What they should be doing, I'm not saying. I'm not convinced. Sorry, LE buyers, because some of you aren't going to like this. But they should be raising the prices even more on those LEs and dropping the unit counts. And making them truly precious.
    66:19
    But they don't. They're trying to have their cake and eat it too. And that worked in 2022, 2021. It's not going to – look at Venom. It's not going to work the same way all the time like it used to. And so if you want to – Auea wants things to be exclusive, and they notice if you go from 500 of something to 1,000. And that's before we even play these stupid games with the 50th anniversaries and all that. Not to jump back up to our last classification with Stern Pinball, but I wonder if Stern Pinball does something. if they want to do these special editions going forward in the future, they jump back and fall back to 500 LEs at initial release, and then a year, two years later, they fulfill the rest of the remainder of that 500 to get to that 1,000 with a different edition, different artwork, and stuff like that to hide that 1,000 unit count. That's something on that tightrope walking that I'm thinking that they are debating about how to play that game. Because if you notice, the reason they're coming out with these additional special editions Some of their justification is, hey, we now do 1,000 LEs per game.
    67:25
    Jurassic Park only had 500. Alvira's a low run. That's what they're kind of saying. Speaking of theme whispers, there's no better than Spooky Pinball, honestly. I mean, Spooky Pinball arguably has the second best themes in the entire industry. I don't think it's arguable. I think they do.
    67:50
    I think that company, for whatever reason, knows how to get good themes, and they know what good themes are. So let's talk about Spooky Pinball. They continue sending out these next game prototype parts to different media members. I think Nap Arcade did a video, a live feed on receiving a part and showcasing it. The part in itself, I think it's a puzzle, guys, because I think the part in and of itself is not going to tell you much, but with Kerry Hardy's part or Don Pinball Podcast's part, I think that's kind of where it's at, if I had to guess. But it's still a nice little teaser system that I'm enjoying quite a bit. I think that they're almost done with Scooby-Doo's. So we should be seeing, I don't know when they will release their next game, but it's going to be coming up with all these teases here.
    68:40
    Spooky. Oh, it's Dennis again. Spooky. Don't send me no puzzle piece. You're so mean to Spooky. I am not, but don't send me no puzzle pieces.
    68:51
    I want to play your game. Is that a Saul reference? I don't know. Was it? Rumored upcoming games. I guess Saul now?
    69:04
    We added that last time, didn't we? Yeah, I think we did. We added Goosebumps. I didn't remember us adding it, but I guess so. I'd heard, the main two I've been hearing were Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw. Yeah, I've been hearing that. Monty Python's Holy Grail, Looney Tunes, Friday the 13th. I think Friday the 13th would work.
    69:30
    So what do I think their highlight of this year was at Scooby-Doo? I think that Scooby-Doo, they should be proud of themselves, because if they're building close to 2,000 units of a game, That's a lot of pinball machines I think that there are some Jersey Jack runs That they would have loved to have sold 2,000 pinball machines or units of a certain title I think that for a lot of pinball companies 2,000 would be a dream They would be so happy to do so So I think they're going to congratulate themselves For selling nearly 2,000 of a title Now then again I think another highlight of not only 2023, but historically for pinball, is bringing the license of Scooby-Doo into the industry. That is a no-brainer if I've ever seen one in my life. That is not only a great theme, but one that is perfect for pinball. Now, the feedback that has been received is very similar to that of some spooky pinball machines. The typical downside kind of things are the criticisms that you see. I would comment that those criticisms are getting better each and every release. But I think, yeah, I'm with a lot of people. All right, you can't say your boutique company anymore, Spooky. Come on. You're running with the big dogs now. Highlight-wise, I think it would be hard to say anything other than Scooby-Doo because for a lot of people, though I guess technically they may have started it in – no, they did start it this year, didn't they? The announcement was in 2022. The announcement was at the end of – it was in December. Anyway, the bottom line is, general reaction that I've seen overall is that it is significantly better received than Halloween Ultraman. Yes. For a variety of reasons. Better theme, as you've noted, is an excellent theme choice. Halloween was a good theme. But gameplay-wise, a lot better reception to Scooby-Doo than the Halloween Ultraman layout. And I feel like it sounded like that they've stayed on top of, you know, they solved a lot of the other issues, like critiques about the animation style in the older games versus what they've done in Scooby-Doo. The rules updates. I'm not saying they put out a lot on the old games, but they've done more to make it feel like they're trying to address a lot of the concerns that people had. Yeah, they've had encoders and stuff, yeah. Because Halloween Ultraman as a game I thought was a step back for the company. This seems like a step forward from that, a pretty significant step forward. So I think that's definitely their highlight. and to the low light basically what you touched on the problem that Spooky has despite the strides that they've made, the improvements they made, the moving to like Molex from IDE cables and all the rest of it is they still, of the major manufacturers, and they are a major manufacturer whether they want to acknowledge it or not they are a major manufacturer, they have the worst reputation on quality and as long around long enough that they should be better. That American Pinball's build quality is better than theirs is a problem. So I'm hoping that they really... It's tough because there's so many things that they need to look at. But not just trying to make good games, but make good quality games. And this seems to be this never-ending struggle with them. And I agree with you that they've made progress, but not nearly the amount that they should be making. Yeah, I can agree on all of that stuff. I do like that their customer service is good, so they won't ghost you like some manufacturers may.
    73:03
    They'll be there to, you know, they'll back up their stuff. They'll send you part of it. They're good with that. But, yes, quality continues to be a focus.
    73:12
    What about barrels of fun? That's a whole barrel. Can we even skip over Chicago Gaming like that? Let's be fair. They've earned their spot in the top four here. Chicago Gaming Company. I can't really give you a highlight because they haven't done much besides. Anything? Continue shipping Cactus Canyons. They're behind on that. They don't have the production run completed at this point. And Pulp Fiction, they estimated, was going to start shipping in Q3. They've blown through that. All these are lowlights. And I don't even know if we'll see any – I don't think we'll see any Pulp Fictions produced this year. That's my strong take. And I think 2024 is finally when you're going to start seeing some trickle out. And I do believe that after that we're going to deal with a year, if not a year and a half, of the majority of Pulp Fiction. So I don't see anything on the horizon from Chicago Gaming Company for quite some time. And even their estimation that Medieval Madness was going to be rerun in 2023, and then we hoped and prayed to push to the back of 2023, I think would be somewhat of a miracle if we've seen any reruns of Medieval Madness occurring even at the end of 2024. I don't see it. They've given me no evidence to suggest so, and it's very tough for me because of all the products that any manufacturer makes, Chicago Gaming Company may be my favorite or one of my top favorites. That's Chicago Gaming Company. Yeah. I mean, my highlight would be despite or in spite, perhaps, of everything that's been happening with them, they have been able to maintain the reputation of perhaps having the best build quality in the industry. Yeah. people really respect how robust the games are when they get them. And as noted, but I guess I'll just, I'll be a little more, I'll put more of a blunt point to it, is Chicago Gaming Company, this has been going on for years. Has it been? No, I'm just going right into my lowlights. Wow. They only ever did a personal. They don't. They don't, because I assume they're too busy trying to build Cactus Canyons.
    75:08
    Howdy, partner. But I got, I'll give, I'll call them out here in a little bit. The lowlight is the production speed. It's an abomination, and it's been that way before Cactus Canyon. So, Chicago Gaming Company, CGC if I may use your abbreviation. This is Dennis here. Oh, there he is. All right, there we go. Yeah. I had to find your number because it was buried under these incessant excuses for why you weren't able to do SU pluses.
    75:37
    Figure it out. Like, why are you so slow at building everything? It's absolutely ridiculous. You've been in this industry forever and a day. Your quality is awesome, but your pricing's great, but you are so slow. You should be a top three manufacturer, but you have the output of a lethargic sloth, not even a regular sloth, one with some sort of lethargy. Did you hear my example that I gave last episode? They'll just figure it out. Figure it out. Isn't that funny? That almost sounds just like a recording. Yeah. Figure it out. So that's CGC. Man, I don't even know. Do you think play mechanics, do you think they are more hesitant about developing a follow-up game because of this? And also more hesitant to have CGC manufacture a follow-up game because of this?
    76:37
    I say yes. I say yes but it doesn't matter because I think the relationship between those two companies is so incestuous that it's going to just be with them no matter what okay there's just too many people are buddies with too many other people in that company well I think they utilize CGC for cabinet building it's just I can phrase it as polite or as nefariously toned as I chose to do just for the entertainment of the listener But the bottom line is too many people are friends with too many other people within each other's company. They're not going to go to another company. Who could take it on? Who's ready to, outside of American Pinball, which claims it's got like 25 operational lines ready to fill. I would no longer say American Pinball would be a good candidate. I may be rounding up, incidentally, on the number of lines American Pinball. I'm not convinced. A hyperbole. I'm not convinced that American Pinball would be able to do that. I'm not. I'm convinced that at least one person there thinks they are. We can jump into American Pinball right now because I would say that I've heard that Houdini's have been on the line for like the last fucking two months.
    77:43
    If you have 200 to make, how long is it going to take you to make them? I don't. For American Pinball, the last year here, they had no really news right now, but the last year they had Galactic Tank Force, the original team, come out. Dennis Nordman designed. GTF. And, boy, oh, boy. There were no alleys in Galactic Tank Force because of the bad memories.
    78:06
    I wanted Rocky Road. My parents promised me Butterbrickle. Do you think Nordman's favorite is Butterbrickle?
    78:18
    Okay. It's P.K. and not P.K. American Pinball's highlight was GTF. Honestly, you know what? We're the big show here in the pinball show, and I'm going to say it real loud. I think the highlight for American Pinball was the layups and the toss-ups that the media provided you, American Pinball. We provided so much to help support a product that was dead on arrival, and you squandered it. You didn't nurture it. You didn't pat us on the head. You did nothing, and we can only do so much. We can only polish a tank so much to make it shine. And we did everything we could And it wasn't enough We just needed you to have a good game And While I like your game I like weird kinky shit So it's just me So I think the highlight was the Media being willing to Attempt to give them some Standing I think they just chose to use that focus On other stuff Their low light was that they're still trying to sell The signature editions and their media push is for that right now. I don't understand the decision-making there.
    79:37
    Well, you have a point. GT or me. Yeah, you have a – my highlight will obviously be about GTF, but I'll go ahead and say in terms of their marketing efforts, the idea of having a tank version that actually drove around at Texas, that was pretty clever. It was eye-catching. It was goofy. Maybe it fit with the direction they wanted to go with the game. So of all the stuff I saw come out of them and the ways they tried to kind of, you know, spaghetti on the wall, see what sticks to promote this, that was definitely right up there. I think a lot of people ended up being sad when they found out that the tank versions were not drivable by the general public. Because I actually did an aww when I found that out.
    80:21
    I do want to comment briefly about your remarks on the media. That was very interesting. I mostly blame Triple Drain Pinball Podcasts for this, but it was broadly the media. And I blame them more than anyone, probably because of the lunchboxes, because they really leaned in on that. We gave them their acronym, didn't we? Yeah. Here is the thing about it all. It was so fascinating. It's the first time I can think of. He gave them a tagline that was used throughout the entire industry, Dennis. Yes, I understand that. The reason my librarian said, TKF.
    80:56
    And I don't even go to the library. anymore. All right, sorry. No, no, that's fine. My issue was that I just this is just an aside. I was so amused, though, because all my time commentating in this hobby, that is the first instance where I think I can identify where the hobbyist media actually embraced and promoted a game just for the sport of it. It was before we had seen anything, and it was like we just sort of, based off some early people saying some stuff on their shows, it wasn't like behind-the-scenes discussions, all of a sudden we just decided GTF was going to be made a thing. And that's what happened. They had all this stuff, but you're right, they didn't really do anything with it. That is not my low light for them, though. Okay. That's unfortunate, but their low light is. I know the reason why, but I won't say why. The low light is that they still have leadership of their company going out and saying the next three games are going to be original themes.
    82:03
    This is American Film Law. Uh-oh. This is Dennis here. This is Dennis. Listen to me. I have no marketing background. I have no promotional background. I'm just me. I'm just a hobbyist. I'm just an enthusiast. but I've covered this hobby in various content creation formats, all on podcasts because podcasting is easy, so that's why I do it.
    82:29
    But I've been around a long time. I've got over my five years of experience. That's cool. That's right. I have articles on the subject of pinball, all sorts of stuff. I've been very engaged in this hobby. What you are doing is incorrect.
    82:47
    Get a theme. one that required you to pay for a license and not Hot Wheels. Thank you. Yeah, don't tease He-Man and give us not He-Man. Yeah, and now they got the Cuphead rumor, but I'm like, but when? When Cuphead 5 comes out? Oh, yeah, that's true. Because all of these things, yeah, no, the He-Man thing, I almost forgot about that one. And that one was, everyone was sharing the song where he does that, sings that what's going on meme. Oh, yeah, yeah. And all that. People were excited. Again, we were going to make American Pinball a thing again for no good reason.
    83:31
    But you've taken that away. You were the chosen one. You were supposed to destroy the show, not join them. Not join them. He's lying. I hate you. And American Pinball's lying. They're burning from their lack of support. I hate you. He hates you. He's trying to steal her.
    83:54
    Obi-Wan. Yeah, that's how it feels. Now, selfishly, as a hobbyist, I like TTF, and I'm glad they made it. As a distributor, eh, it's not feeding my kids. Aren't they about to put out, make another 300 or something? No. God, no. And the other thing to this is, like, if they come out with Yukon Yeti, the follow-up to Whitewater, selfishly, as a niche little pinball collector as I am, I am extremely excited about it. Extremely.
    84:31
    But as a distributor, eh. Yeah. So my upside is, you know, they've made some stuff like Houdini. I still love Houdini. Oktoberfest is a damn mess And that's a big no thanks Hot Wheels for some reason People really liked it I don't get it I really don't get that game I see no fun in it But you know So I seem to like the things that The masses don't when it comes to American Pinball like people Hate a GTF I thoroughly enjoy that game So bring on Yukon Yeti Nordman Please I want a Whitewater sequel All right.
    85:14
    Barrels of Fun, the new kid on the block. Do you think that would do good as a team, new kids on the block?
    85:21
    Do as well as Elton John does. Agree. I think it might be cooler, though, than Elton John. Just saying. It would get bonus points with a lot of people because it's more modern. Yep.
    85:33
    Barrels of Fun, new kid on the block. Recently, did you see this Adam Savage is tested? Adam Savage tested, it's like a YouTube show from the Mythbusters, Adam Savage. He had this huge old 6 million subscriber channel. Yes. They just had an episode themed just around the Labyrinth Pinball Machine by Barrels of Fun. Yes, I did see it. What a great, great piece for exposing pinball, number one. But just a damn interesting episode for anybody to watch. That was good watching right there. Reminded me of when the JJP had the slow-mo guys do one of theirs. Yeah, so it was really in-depth. If you have not seen that, I really strongly encourage you to go check that out. I thought that that would have a nice reverberation of sales because of something so widely exposed, and I was correct. We received, hell, I think seven or eight orders just following, like within 48 hours of that airing, seven or eight orders. And to me, that's substantial. That is very substantial. I don't know if I've sold seven or eight of any individual title in a 48-hour period since, well, I mean, since the release of. Since it launched. Yeah, since the game launched, you know. So, fantastic. The upside, so what has Barrels of Fun done this year? They did a lot of things right. The highlight for me, what I think their highlight was of this year, is coming to a marketplace as a new company and immediately retaining the majority of trust from your consumer base. Even being able to sell direct to the point that you've sold out of your allotted direct sales. It does help that you've had known parties that have been in pinball that people love and adore. But that doesn't always work. We've seen that with Deep Root. There are some people we loved at Deep Root, too. It just didn't work. But it worked here, and thus far, they've done pretty much everything right. They've checked all the boxes. Timing has been impeccable. Not showing things until things are ready to sell is another thing. They've really done everything right, and I know the other manufacturers, if they're looking out for anybody right now thinking, whoa, let's see what they're up to, it's definitely who the cool kids call barrels. Downside for me Was of course I mean the low hanging fruit was The mystery pinball company Annoying everybody like flies on shit So that was annoying But once they came out as barrels Yeah everything has been Pretty golden thus far I think maybe another downside Is the name Barrels of fun Doesn't do much for me It works but doesn't do much for me But I can't say enough good things thus far We'll have to see what their production looks like in 2024 That's what they're going to have to focus on Because they've got to make a lot of labyrinth pinball machines But thus far, pretty dynamite and very surprising as a veteran hobby It's very surprising to see a company be able to do what they did in the end of 2023 Yeah, I agree with both of those Which isn't too surprising because they only have one thing So I won't add anything to it Maybe Fifth Element That's the rumored upcoming game. Yeah. We'll see. I think that's another strong theme. Strong enough theme. Yeah. Stronger even than Labyrinth. I agree with that as well. Somebody said on Adam Savage's test, I think Nap showed a picture of, there was like a fifth element character, like a sculpt head that was in the video, almost like an Easter egg from the fifth element. That's too lazy to go back and check. And what I found interesting is this came after the rumblings and rumors of Fifth Element being their next theme. So was that just placed in Adam Savage's studio because he's a fan of the Fifth Element? Or was this their little troll move because they heard that there was rumblings that that was their next game, so they just trolled a little bit more? Or was this them being the former Mystery Pinball Company and laying clues around everywhere because they are little Goblin Kings over there? placing Trixies everywhere. I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. Pinball Brothers, they're still around. Do you know that? Yes. So much so that they are now shipping Alien Ripley editions. Booyah! I think ours are on a plane from Italy. Yeah. So for all of the customers of Flippin' Out Pinball that have your orders in for Alien Ripley edition, I believe that you may have your game here within the next hell I don't know one to three weeks if I guessed yeah hot damn now remember they had the pending art they had for Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley they had like people like I don't like the translator is she in the code she's very heavily in the code now but they changed the art now the art was approved so they could show the approved art which is like a close up of Ripley so all is well a lot of positive reactions from the changes in art from the initial renderings. And, you know, the game's shipping. Do you think you'll ever own an Alien? No. You don't think so? Nah, it's white, buddy. Yeah, that's true.
    91:00
    The rumored games, people still say they're going to come out with a remake, working with Pedretti. They got the European Pinball Company collaboration now. We might see them take the torch from CGC to do some of these remakes of her Twilight Zone. I don't think so yet I think Pinball Brothers is going to swing with something else Here in March February, March I think we're going to see another release from Pinball Brothers And I think that's what we're going to see Now the highlight of last year I think I'm going to give it to the Ripley edition Coming in saying I know a lot of people like this game And a lot of people have been telling us years They want Sigourney Weaver in there I know that Andrew Highway said that this couldn't happen I know that Roger Sharp who helped us with licensing said, yeah, we just didn't ask. Them saying, we want this game to be the best it can. Thus, we went out and we paid. We got Sigourney Weaver, not only in a new Ripley edition, not only for only $7,995, much less than their other editions, but we're expanding this new code to the other owners as well. Overall, Pinball Brothers is doing a lot of things right, and they're definitely a company to be on the lookout for. Or we just – hasty decisions is what I don't want them to do in the future. That's my only hesitation. Don't want any hasty decision-making. I don't love downside. Downside for this company is that they don't have an establishment over in the U.S. yet. I think they need that. Okay. Yeah, highlight for me would be the same as yours, the decision to do the Ripley edition, giving the fans what they want. I think that was a very smart play. downside, also the Ripley edition pricing it under the other edition see this is where when we talked about JJP and them lowering prices where I said there could be a risk if they were to actually lower it so that I actually think it makes the best sense for them to hold their pricing because they basically just devalued all of those other alien games they heard of distributors that have LVs in stock and SVs in stock it's simple math, we've seen this in other hobbies So, I mean, I'm not like spinning some weird truths here. This is pretty typical market behavior sort of things. And while it may have made sense when they lowered the price on Queen, the edition that I don't think had shipped out yet, and then I believe was honored for everyone. In this instance, you basically have the new version, which is cheaper, which is better.
    93:30
    So it's like everyone getting a Ripley edition has an advantage here. and everyone who is stuck, and yes, you can upgrade unless you have a highway version, and then you can't even do that. Not that they need to do anything for the highway folks, but I'm just saying the decision to make a better version and sell it for less, that is going to put, I think, is going to put people on the defense in terms of the next game that Pinball Brothers comes out with, and people are going to wonder, well, if I just wait, will I actually be able to get new in-box for even less money? And so I think it was a low-light decision. Yeah, and that's what I mean by some of the hasty decisions. You've got to be careful. That's all. Just think about it a little bit more before you roll out with it. I'm not sure it was a hasty decision. Given they did this similar thing with Queen, I think one of two things. One, they didn't have a big blowback issue with Queen, and so they thought they could do it again without really thinking through the differences between how they did it with Queen and the situation with a long-running game like Alien. Option number two, they're in financial trouble, and this had to be done. They have to sell. They just have to. And thus, they couldn't even factor in what the public would think about it. They're desperate. Well, that's what I meant by the decision. Like when Queen came out, remember, they announced that they half-ass show it, and then people are like, what the hell is that? Is that this kiosk or this pop-up? That's weird. It's not available really for sale per se, or if it is, it's just in European markets. Are they ready to ship? No, they're not even building that. Like, that thing fell flat even before you even had a chance. So Queen was such a – and, again, I'm not – I probably could have low-lighted Queen. But Queen showed to me where – back when they kiosked Queen, I think it was around that time, is when I said I was still in the boat of Pinball Brothers, I thought, was just basically trying to recover what they could from their investments in Highway. And so they were going to sell Aliens. And then since Queen was designed, I thought, all right, maybe they do Queen. And then they go away because they didn't seem to want to truly design games. They didn't have to have that sort of staff on board. And then we know Queen hasn't done well. We know it's not selling like Alien did. So now we see them go back to the Alien well, doing something that resonates very, very well. But because they so desperately need new sales, it's not just selling a bunch of toppers and translights of Sigourney Weaver. They could have done that and just pushed out the code update. No, they've got Ripley additions now that they're trying really hard to push, and they've priced them so competitively against their old product that, to me, these are signs of financial distress.
    96:08
    We'll have to wait and see. We'll have to see what 2024 has. I'm not going to call them and ask them and say, hey, Pinball Brothers, this is Dennis. I'm not caring. We'll see.
    96:17
    We'll know. Don't worry. If it's distressed, we'll know because this won't be enough to save them. Yeah, there's a lot of what they're doing that I like, and there's a lot of what I like. So I'm excited about their 2024. Haggis Pinball, I can say the same with them.
    96:35
    There's not much to cover here. They announced Centaur Revisited. They changed up their models a little bit where they dropped the classic model, and they said, look, we're just going to do all the upgrades in a normal, like the Mermaid Edition, but we're calling it the Beast Edition where you get all the upgrades. Now, we're going to actually add a level above that. There's only 25 or 50 or whatever it was of the Orblivion Edition where we're really just going all out for that upper echelon of people who really want something different and looking for exclusivity. So I like, I think the highlight is Centaur as an announcement, if they're going to do remakes, is a big highlight. I think that the quality of the materials that they're still using and everything Is still a highlight and getting positive Remarks from the Fathom Revisited they have been doing Their new model I think is a highlight as well And how they're doing that I don see anything else Really much to discuss I mean rumored rumored games in the future will be a ball to luck That what everybody probably thinks I can say that the remainder of their Fathom revisited, they said their goal was to get them all done by the end of this year. They've, in a play right now, flipping out pinball's remainder of Fathom revisited games. So they upheld that for us. So I think Haggis is fine just quietly doing what they're doing and selling games and not making a big splash, pun intended, at this moment. They just need to keep their noses down, keep working hard, and keep offering people a walk the walk instead of talking the talk. So I think all is good with Haggis Pinball. Yeah, I would say highlight is I think they learned a lot of lessons from the Fathom build. And so their announcements on the Centaur remake were, I think, other than I think they overpriced it for what the market is now at, given the cooling off, most of the decisions they made with Centaur were improvements. So probably I think that they improved the overall ask.
    98:42
    I'd say the low light for Fathom this year was probably the decision to go ahead and let the new code go to the classic editions. Oh, yeah, I remember that. They've clearly adapted to that for Centaur, but I think they should have just bit the bullet and ran with it. But, again, I think for financial reasons, which I think is why they ended up pricing Centaur the way it is. They were like, we could make a lot more money if we could sell additional software packages. And so they just went ahead and were like, we need it, and they did it. So I understand the decision, but, as you know, those sort of decisions can alienate the people that chose to adopt in a certain way. People who would not have gotten the LE, had they known they could have paid the classic and then just paid an upgrade price. True. So that's, I'd say, the main low light. I'll throw out another little thing, and this is, it's more unfortunate for Haggis than anyone else because it's a bet of their own making that most companies know not to make their bet in, but they launched their company, like Kelts era, very transparent, and then they became very not transparent. And so now they have a reputation for being extremely opaque to the public. In reality, I think they're about as opaque as any other manufacturer, but this is why you don't go around doing, like, weekly updates and keeping everyone informed, and then you stop, and you just start going real deep. It's different. Yeah, and so it just, they come across as more secretive than they really are, but that's because they started so transparent, and they 180'd on it. Well, and they're probably a little gun-shy, too. Oh, we won't even, we don't even have the time to dive into what all those possible motivations would be. The bottom line is, though, they should never have been as transparent as they were, because now they're in this boat where they're just seen as the company that got secretive. I always worried about the spooky pinball with the same respect. Yeah, because they like to respond on pin side stuff. And it's like, until you don't. And if you stop, you're going to be seen at far worse light for stopping than Stern is seen for never having done it. Mm-hmm. Yep. This is how it works. Consistency and honesty are key. So, yeah, I think they, yeah, you're right. They learned a lot of stuff, and hopefully we'll see continued improvements from them moving forward. I like their model, their business model and their business plan. But that one, I mean, as I am a dealer for a lot of other companies, I'm biased there, too, because I'm their exclusive dealer here for the United States. Oh, I had to do a, I was publicly, there was a public statement put out there from Canadian Spinball Podcast claiming that in addition to kickbacks that I've been providing for these media people to speak nicely about my company and games, which, again, just for clarifications, total fucking rotten bullshit. It's just not true, people. There's nobody out there that's making money if they sell games for me. Frankly, you want to know why? because, number one, who gives a fuck I sell enough games? Number two, nobody's going to sell better than me. And number three, I don't want to have to fucking document, like, who's getting what. No, stop. It makes no fucking sense. I don't need that. But there's a public statement that put out that the reason that we have exclusivity at Flippin' Out Pinball with Haggis Pinball is because I paid for that exclusivity. Now, I think making such a false statement publicly is probably illegal because it's just simply not true. I don't know what to do with it. But just for clarification purposes, stop being fucking disgusting. It's not true. Hopefully, I'd like to think the reason Haggis came to flipping out pinballs because there's no other reason. If you don't want that many games into the U.S. or don't need that many games into the U.S., one dealer can handle it. So why not pick a dealer that you have a good relationship with and results show? But, yeah, what does that do? I pay for exclusivity. I can see maybe that being a thing, but it's just not the case here. I'm not sure how it would work with a distributor exactly I mean it's like I've seen industries well for example like sponsors wanting to be the exclusive sponsor of an event when I worked at a quasi public entity we had a big manufacturer equipment seller it was road equipment for anyone who cares and they would want to like come in and basically they wanted to be the exclusive manufacturer that sold that type of equipment and they offered a significant funding. But you see, they're buying the exclusivity so that they could hope to sell stuff in that regard. Sure, sure. For a company like Haggis, they sell the same number of pins regardless of how many distributors they have. Yeah, they allot flipping out a certain amount. So it doesn't make logical sense. Like, it wouldn't make sense to me why you would pay to be the exclusive seller. I mean, I could see for certain extent. I'm trying to be like, well, then I'll be able to make all the money off of those. But here's the thing. The reason why I don't think it makes much sense to me is because the MSRP is the MSRP. Yes. And they would know if you were charging more, like the public would know if you were charging more. Yeah, they can set the fees in or the price in. And so, especially if there's no option to buy direct from the company, it could make more sense. And I'm saying it. You're right. You could make it work in some ways, but I'm not sure that the profit is – like how much would the exclusive deal be worth? Because you have to factor in like what's the profit – like what's your profit on an average game sale? And then you have to decide is it – what's the delta for selling all of them in this one market? And so – and what percentage of that? Because obviously it needs to be lower than 100%. I just – Yeah, you're being too logical. I'm just saying I don't know why somebody would, as a fact, put that out there publicly when it's just not true. I don't get it. I don't – I saw someone, I can't remember if it was Pinside or social media, who said that they thought that, I think they said that flipping out pinball sponsors all the pinball network stuff. Yeah, I've heard that too. Which I thought was weird. I think this show is the only show you sponsor that's on the network. That's correct. Okay. I thought so. I was trying to think. I mean, I don't listen to the ads. I had a conversation with somebody, a mod maker came up to me and they were like, oh, it's really smart what you did with TPN. creating a network like I'm the only one that created it. Creating a network for people just to talk good about your company. And they were saying it, poking, like, really smart business move. And I said, well, wait a minute, because I take offense to that stuff because I'm very cognizant of it. And I said, well, who are you referring to? Like, what shows? He said, I mean, come on, all of them, man. I said, no, like, Reverend Drinkshare, Kicking Back, who? Like, in particular. Can you, you know, just name one. I don't even need all of them. Just name one. Well, you know. I said, no, I don't because, you know what, there's not one channel in TPN that we sponsor. Yeah, the only one I remember was when Pinball Party was a member. That was the first one. They had a sponsor. You sponsored them, but they're not on the network, so not anymore. I said, you're probably thinking, like, loser kid? And they're like, yeah, man, see, loser kid. I said, yeah, they're not on the network. They're not on the network. I said, but maybe poor man. But you're probably talking about poor man. I was being past regressive at this point. They said, yeah, poor man. I said, well, yeah, I don't. They're not on the network. What about, yeah, so. Which shows do you sponsor?
    105:54
    We sponsor Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. We sponsor Pinball Party Podcast. We sponsor Brody and Pinball and Buffalo Pinball. Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. Formerly Travis Meary when he was doing. His YouTube podcast, yeah. That and I'm trying to think, is there anybody else? My apologies. Well, TPS. You sponsored the podcast. Well, yeah, yeah. Sorry, tangent there, people. Now's the time that we divert people over to Patreon. Do people want to go to patreon.com slash pinball show and sign up as an official club member? They do if they want to hear today's super exclusive content that we've spent a long time working on. So I hope it goes over well for you. They can also get plenty of other perks by being an official member of the pinball show and supporting the show. It would be awesome, too. There's three club membership levels, including the official membership level at $10 a month, Nordman club membership at $25 a month, or your $100 a month Screaming Goat Club membership. And just as a quick update to those who are already Patreon members, Zach and I are working on getting the decals out to the Nordman Plus Club members and then the shirts. The paywall polos. Yes, the paywall polos. Zach's trying to find a printer that can do the design that we've got. So that's in the works, and then you'll be reached out regarding your shirt size. The decals have been ordered. And received, actually. Oh, good. And in 2024, you're going to start hearing some of the episodes from our Screaming Goat Club members, as well as the Nordman level members and above get to choose a topic for us to discuss. So that's coming soon in 2024. But in the meantime, we've got a phenomenal, I'm going to call it a segment that we've created that's going to be a ton of fun. Let's call it Make a Pin, I think is what we... Yes, Make a Pin. Make a Pin is going to be essentially the contemporary pinball artists that we have nowadays, the Franchise Yetis of the world, the Johnny Crafts of the world, the designers. We've got a list of designers, a list of programmers and rules makers. We have a list of sound engineers. We have a list of video animators. We have a list of all the different companies in this industry. So all these lists and using some of the best yet to be made themes or most desirable themes in pinball, whether it be a Back to the Future, Harry Potter, Top Gun, Matrix, Taylor Swift, Goonies, Beatles, Cocaine Bear. Wait, did you add Cocaine Bear? Cocaine Bear. We need it. Beetle juice. Cocaine Bear. Die Hard Pred. We're going to throw them into the TPS randomizer, and out's going to pop.
    108:27
    We're going to randomize everything, including the theme, so we're going to explain how this assortment of characters, as it's been thrown together by the TPS randomizer with the random theme, is going to look like, what it's going to turn out to be. We are going to do our damnedest to describe what that particular team, with all the knowledge that we know of their works in the past, what type of game that would create. I'm looking forward to Abomination. Oh, it's going to be interesting. Damn. Who's going to be matched up with who? Could it work, or will it be a mess? Tune in to find out now. Speaking of the Pinball Show Club membership, we've got to be thankful to our Screaming Goat Club members. Dennis? Yeah. They're still full from being designated different Thanksgiving foods. Yeah. Some were not happy with their foods. We did get a message about, really? You know what? We can't help. We can't help what you channel as a food. That's right. I know what's channeled in my tummy when I hear about Bobcat.
    109:29
    It's belly tickles and chuckles. I still watch that video to this day. Thank you, Rodney, for the continued support. And here's hoping this holiday season a Bobcat, in fact, does not. attack your wife. Oh, shut the fuck up! Steve Javsy with Mr. Bumblebee.
    109:45
    Here's hoping this holiday season, Javs, that a bumblebee does not sting your nose. Yeah, that would be bad. Have you ever seen the pictures of the dogs that get stung by, like, wasps and stuff? I don't think so. Oh, my God, they puff up and they look like Muppets. Thanks again Rob For being a panther We call him our little sex kitten Thanks for the continued support This holiday season We hope that a panther does not attack the bobcat That attacked Rodney's wife Oh shoot that fucker I think Rodney's wife may have attacked the bobcat My wife Attacked the bobcat Oh thank you Colin And I'm sorry All at the same time I'm utterly sorry for people in this industry. I'm so sorry.
    110:39
    Oh, poor Colin probably wants to pack up all of his work and just leave at this point. But thank you nonetheless for supporting the pinball show. And thank you for the kineticist. And for anybody who wants to be negative about the twippies or twip or the kineticist or something, all I would ask is, before you have an opinion, fucking do your homework. That's it. Is that too much to ask, Dennis? Before you have a strong opinion Attacking somebody Maybe just know what the facts Maybe not attack people Maybe that's even better But just naturally people like attacking Speaking of attack the falcon Coming in hot Frankie Frank thank you so much for the continued support May this holiday season Not bring you a falcon that swoops down And takes your Yorkie high into the sky It's not going to live That purportedly, because I didn't see it, purportedly that happened in Alaska to one of my grandmother's schnauzers. Oh, to an actual family member's schnauzer? Well, not to a, like, it didn't take her baby. Schnauzer's not small. It took her dog. But, yeah, so as I had heard it from my uncle, and I don't know what year this was. Long ago. Galaxy far, far away. Yeah, they were, I guess, out at camp in the bush out in Alaska. And this eagle or hawk, I don't remember which iteration of the story. Did someone say eagle?
    112:02
    Sorry, go ahead. Or falcon of some form. Some bird of prey swooped down and grabbed the dog. And, well, they didn't get very high up off the ground. And purportedly, my uncle pulled his gun and shot the bird and saved the dog. I was waiting for him to shoot the dog like a clay pigeon. Pull! He shoved the dog out of my ear I would be amazed Unless it was super close But I don't know Who knows if this is true or not Again, I never saw like the feathers Did Chuck Norris do a tumble roll Out of an igloo and catch the dog then? And nurse them back to health My understanding was that the bird Was barely off the ground Because of the weight of the leg This wasn't a puppy, this was a full grown schnauzer It's the claws though So, it's their, they, the vital organs, they puncture. Well, like, it got, like, I don't know. Oh, my God. Maybe it's all made up. That's horrible. What's your uncle's, like, does he have a big beard? He's like a wilderness creature. I don't think he has a beard anymore. He is a hunting guide. Hell, yeah. One of several on that side of the family. Did he do it for a living? Part. I mean, he's also a teacher. Well, he's now retired. I think he retired this year, but he was a teacher and also did EMS Medec up in north of the Arctic Circle. I still want to be guided by him through the wilderness like Revenant and Leo. Yeah, we prefer not to have the Revenant experience in Alaska.
    113:29
    Because the only way out of camp is life flight. That's the only way. I thought it was in the torso of a bear. If they can get into you from the weather. Because you've got a radio in. There's no cell signal out there. Thank you again, Dave. I appreciate you, Dave, for being the shaker mother here at the Revenant World Show. You're essential. You're crucial. You're the number one accessory here. Don't let Craig Bobby tell you that he's the number one accessory. It is you, the shaker motor. And I hope that your holiday season is not filled with any shaking or stumbling around. Unless it's because of too much eggnog. Who drinks eggnog? I like eggnog. Of course you would.
    114:09
    Joe Fox, we appreciate you, Joe. I don't care what the fox says. But this holiday season, I hope that you and the missus can get foxy, if you know what I mean.
    114:20
    Hey. Sorry about that, Miss Fox. Charlie, thank you for being our little bell. Every time the bell rings, we get another screaming goat member. Charlie, may your holiday season be filled with the caroling of bells from really annoying bastards that still do caroling. Do people still do carols? No. People get shot nowadays. I wouldn't trust caroling nowadays. No. Not this this night, is it? Yeah. Except in the Hallmark movies. Oh, my God. I'll be watching those with the wife. And last but not least, to the dude. Mr. Treenhorn treats objects like women, man. William, thank you again from Dennis and I for being a Screaming Goat Club member and continuing your support. May your holiday season be filled with doobies and white Russians, and let's hope that you keep your little painted pinky toe in 2024. How much money would it take for you to cut off a pinky toe? Would you do it for 50 grand?
    115:28
    Sure. Would you really? You would take a pinky for 50 grand? Oh, you can say mine. Oh, shit. I thought you were offering up one of yours as tribute. Shit, it got dark. Oh, baby, that market is a fickle beast, ain't she? Ooh, she's temperamental. One minute she's seducing you into buying a GGM, and the next minute she won't even give you $8,000 for an Addams Family. Yeah, the market. Can't live with it, can't live without it. So I'm here to make it a little easier on you to tame this market, Tentrist, in your favorite pinball podcast segment, Pinball Market Trends! The Bobcat Check, my lord!
    116:12
    I like your style, dude. Come on, Medusa. Ain't no market scare me. You're not such a big old bad market, are you? No. You just want lovin's too. Ah, don't you bite. Turning up this week is Labyrinth by Barrels of Fun Pinball. They get a little bump this week because they are slowly trickling out. More people are playing them on the select few locations around the country than the world. They continue to get good publicity. They continue to get good feedback for those who do get their hands on one. And a big boost this last week is Adam Savage's exposure on his tested show on the Internet. So this game and the company continue to trend up, as do the sales of this little phoenix that rose out of 2023 without anyone seeing it coming. Also trending up this week, I've got to give a shout out to a good buddy of mine, Scott Larson, from the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. Josh as well, but in particular, Scott. Whoa! Go listen to their last episode. What I loved about it and why Scott is training up is not so much what he said. Sure, I may agree with that, but you don't have to agree with it to respect and appreciate when people in media or content creation have the courage to speak open and freely about their feelings and thoughts when something is occurring that's just not right. It's so damn easy to be quiet. in those situations. I battle it all the time. Believe me, it's not in my best interest to speak out when I do, when things are just complete bullshit. And sometimes it feels lonely calling situations out when they need to be called out. So much love and respect to Scott Larson for making me not feel alone. To taking the route that's more bumpy, not because it's easier and it's paved cleaner, but to have the courage to be honest on your platform when something is not sitting right with you. I always tell people it's so much easier for me to be like, hey, Zach, shut the hell up. Make sure people know how much you love pinball. Only show people the exciting things about pinball and what you love. You have a business. Lean on those things. There's no sense in you speaking openly, sticking up for other people or anything like that, or selfishly, it's just not worth it. But I get in trouble and I do it anyway. So thank you, Scott. Even if I don't agree with other content creators, whether it's in pinball or whatever it may be in, I'm always going to respect people that give their true opinion. Now, some people can come across as little dickheads and lying sacks of shit, not because they truly believe that. They're just feeding you toxic poison because they themselves are miserable and they don't want to see happiness from others. So they try to grow a group of like-minded people that can shut down any sniff or whiff of happiness coming from others. And then there's those that just turn a cheek to it because they don't want to be associated with it. I don't know which ones I respect less.
    119:12
    Also turning up this week is Final Round Pinball Podcast, specifically Martin Robbins. Martin, look, I listened to the last Final Round episode with Jeff T. Ellis and a special appearance by Ryan Singh, and my heart broke when Martin was telling me that I, in episodes past, I don't even know if it was a Twit Podcast or this one, and I trained it down head-to-head because I don't even remember why. I can't say I didn't believe it at that time because I'm training something. I did truly believe it, but probably a prick or an asshole thing of me to do nonetheless.
    119:46
    And he brought that up, remembering how bad that hurt, and that made me feel like shit. So you get my training up this week because the last episode that you guys did made me so happy to be a listener of that podcast and a fan of that podcast because it's really second to none the level of relationship and banter that the hosts have over there. So as a reminder to everybody, by training up, Final Round Pinball Podcast. Go listen. I love you, Marty. It's the holiday season, so we've got to keep training up things. Training up this week is Stern Pinball. I've got to. They've probably been the most consistent training up on this program, but numbers don't lie. I only report the facts, so don't hate on me. The people serving pinball is training up in a big way because of their upcoming cornerstone announcement that's all people are talking about. Plus, they have a new Insider Connected app that everyone's been waiting on. And sure, it had some bumps upon release. Ain't nobody talking about no bumps now. It works. And you're going to see it work in a hell of a lot more ways in 2024 coming soon. Oh, wee. But as you spoon with that market lying by a warm fire, she could turn around and bite your ass. Because every once in a while, that market will trend down. and trending down this week is Stern Pinball's Home Edition games. Ouch! On the secondary market, these things are taking a beating. Star Wars in particular. I was on the marketplace and saw a Star Wars Home Edition. It used one, still in good condition, down to $2,800. People's, that's cheaper than a System 11, a good System 11. And the sad thing is it plays better than most System 11s. The sad thing is it has better rules than most System 11s. The sad thing is it actually has a theme, not only any theme, but one of the greatest themes of all time compared to the original themes of a System 11 game. Sometimes the market doesn't make sense here. It just doesn't. $2,800? Ooh, brutal.
    121:41
    Also trending down this week, I've got to do, it's Cactus Cannon Remake. We're starting to see these things dip on the secondary market, where the other remakes just aren't showing that dip. Maybe it's the length of time it's taking to produce these things, or the sour taste that's leaving a lot of people's mouths. Or honestly, maybe it's the hope of Pulp Fiction to finally start rolling out, but the market is just dying on Cactus Canyon remake. CGC games are known to uphold their value higher than MSRP. Not with Cactus Canyon. They're dipping below that. And substantially for the SE model or the SE Plus model. This will take a big swing and uptrend later on once that upgraded code kit comes out. But until then, man, you're a little butt cactus. Also trending down this week is JJP's Godfather Ellie. That poor game is worth more than it's going for on the secondary market. But I'm just here to report the facts. Just personally, I think it's worth more. But I'm seeing these things in the life-new condition. Godfather Ellie's in the 8,000s. I'm talking like $8,500 for this game, this $12,000 game. It's nutty, right? That's a lot of game for the money. And speaking of a lot of game for the money, I've got to save you some money by providing you this week's deal of the week. Buy, buy, buy! Deal of the week, courtesy of Flippin' Out Pinball. We've got this Foo Fighters Premium. Great condition. I've lowered this thing twice now. It's pre-owned. I think it's a couple hundred plays on it. Nice game. I've lowered it a couple times. We're down to like $81.99 for this. A new game is $96.99. $81.99 for this lightly used game? It's still sitting, so I've got to reduce it some more. So why not make it a DOT dub? A deal of the week. We'll slash the price all the way down to, should I make it under $8,000? Surely it's going to leave by then. Even more? Fine. $78.99. Buy, buy, buy! In your Pinball Show Market Trends Deal of the Week. Pinball Bounty. Don't think I forgot about that, but I can cross one off my list. Got my hands on the Dolly Parton. Woo! Was she not majestic during that halftime show during Thanksgiving? Yes, she was. So much so that a private owner of a restored model, fully restored Dolly Parton, from the West Coast said, Zach, she needs to come home. And I said, with tears streaming down my stubble cheek, You're damn right. Damn right she does. And she's got a one-way ticket to Evansville, Indiana. STI, if I see one scratch on her beautiful, silky cabinet, I will lose my mind. You heard me, Michelle. And as always, I'm just here to report the facts and to collect my dolly bounty. Because numbers don't lie and never will lie on Pinball Market Trends. Amy still needs pinball. I still want a conga. And Lord of the Rings. Well, maybe I'll make that on the next one. Oh. All right, Dennis, where do these people need to get a hold of you? If you need to reach out to me, you can email thecollectivegamerspodcasts at gmail.com. Or you can email us at thepinballshow at gmail.com. Remember to enter to win a pinball topper, pinball armor, shaker motors, banners, a freaking play field. It's a big giveaway here at the Pinball Show. We couldn't do it without you. We appreciate you listening, following along, subscribing, and pushing love for pinball fun. Also follow along with Straight Down the Middle, a video series I do with my friend Greg on YouTube. This is your hint. You may want to follow Straight Down the Middle YouTube video series right now. Go ahead and subscribe and follow it. It's going to be an exciting December. Sponsor of the pinball show is Flippin' Out Pinball. When I buy my pinball, share my fun from Flippin' Out. From Toppers to Playserios, I've got it figured out. Flippin' Out. Figured out. When I take a pinball, I think flipping out. Flipping out. When I buy, buy, buy, I buy from flipping out. Buy, buy, buy. Shout out to Jason at Pinball Party. Consuming the hell out of that stuff. Product showcase this week is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pro. I was able to secure a couple. Those things have been long gone. I've been able to get a couple new ones in the box. So a lot of people like that game in the pro version especially. So come out and get you one of those. I got Star Wars Pro in stock as well as Elvira Blood Red Kiss. Guardians of the Galaxy Pro now in stock. Venom Pro, new and used. Premium, new and used. LE, new and used. Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary, I've got one left. James Bond Pro, premium. I've got one LE still in the box. 160th Anniversary Edition still in the box. Avengers Premiums, pros. Foo Fighters Pro, premium. Order your Labyrinth today. Order Elton John today. Get on the rumored list for anything coming up from, I don't know, maybe spooky pinball or stern pinball or who knows. What else? GTFs? I still have some. You want some? You want one, Dennis? Maybe that's what I'll get you for Christmas here. No, no, no. Thank you. No, thank you.
    126:44
    No takes back, Jesus. Where's the lunchbox? Accessories shakers. You know what? This holiday season, give the gift of love, and that is a pinball topper. You've seen the advertisements. They're wonderfully done Don't Let's upgrade from the Art Blades this year people Come on I know you don't want to give a whole pinball machine But can we not at least give a topper Or some armor Let's do it together I'll hold your hands Flippin' Out with Friends Last week it was a It was a Labyrinth stream The week before A talk stream And this week An Elton John stream I believe And you'll want to follow and subscribe Flippin' Out Pinball on YouTube Because there's going to be some exclusive streaming opportunities coming up again, probably some of the TPN last week. Let's see. We have had Final Round Pinball Podcast Episode 75. Oh, yeah. Three's Company. You know who that third is. Yeah. Ron C. Old Chuckle. I spoiled it. Happy birthday. And we had Pinball Innovators and Makers Podcast Episode 16, Give Back More, came out. That's the one with Jamie Boyd talking about his mind crime machine that he's working on. Oh, very cool. And then he had already kind of referenced it during this episode, but Triple Drain, episode 45. Keith Elwin guest stars, which is good, because Travis had a lot of Internet issues. I'm only about a third of the way through this episode, but it sounds like things were really... Not like the old camera turn-up, like really frustrating Internet issues must have been hampered.
    128:14
    But anyway, if you enjoy hearing from the goat, I think his Internet was okay. And TPN, this week we continue to celebrate our holiday cheer as we sing Kumbaya and I crack the sleigh whip upon the backs of everyone in this network in order for them to sell my products. There will be people that will believe that. I know.
    128:42
    You know George and Dennis and Joel and Amanda and David. Do you recall the most chilliest bastards of all? Marty and Jeff Gillespie. Got you the haggis. Exclusive gift. I agree.
    129:10
    The hoggy of death. Craig Bobby. He's not the biggest show. Joel would be probably the biggest show. Everybody loves Joel. Except for when it's Halloween.
    129:23
    Oh, my God. Go ahead and teach these people something. Audience, listeners. Dennis. Dennis here. I need you to listen up.
    129:37
    Stay classy, San Diego. And always practice safe pinball and feed into the FOMO. The next during game is about to come out and you're going to fucking want it. And I don't blame you. My ass is going to want it, too. So, bye, bye, bye.
    129:53
    Deer loves him as they shout it out with sweet. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, you'll go down in history.