We call this pinball podcasting. Let's do it. As we rumble back in episode 214 Don's pinball podcast. Hello everybody. How's your weekend going? Are you having an exceptional Saturday? Let's talk about what's going on in the world of pinball currently, including some market speculation and dare I say rumors. My name's Don. I like pinball. I podcast about it. I talk about it. I think about it. I play pinballs when I'm not doing that drudgery of day-to-day normal adult working life stuff. What's going on, everybody? Had a great time last night doing some Patreon. Kerry Hardy kicked it off to be honest he did a live stream on his patreon by the way live streaming on patreon super fun and easy to do and exclusive and fun to just jump on there and be like here's what i'm hearing let's talk about it so if you want to know more patreon.com backslash don's pinball podcast get in on that so i followed up after some comments and carrie's uh chat there i was like man i should just go live next since we're all here and people are like yeah bet let's do it so we did a quick one there was not posted is not up there it was just for in the moment and i think time to time that's a fun thing to do man we were talking about everything that's going on currently in pinball especially with the imminent release of spooky the devastating release we saw with barrels of funds winchester mystery house and i want to start there with this game now that the game has sold out 525 we've all recovered from our post expo headaches what's really going on here deposits are being paid this game is unavailable everywhere i've looked i've looked not available 525 so what are we doing um i was speculating that barrels of fun was gonna have a new game probably a tpf now that's the looming next big event in the pinball world after pinball at the beach of course uh and that'll be in march and that is right in the hometown of barrels and i was thinking that that was where we were going to see a new game but these lads man they rushed forward now there may be market reasons of why they did that we know that dune while it's being appreciated now with its mature code didn't have the best launch or best first impression kind of a bond effect uh so i would imagine that sales are probably you know whatever they were going to sell from the first push have done keep the line moving hopefully this will give them a nice influx of both cash and credibility going forward uh as they move forward with some other licenses that they have. I'm hearing Carl D'Python Anghelo is already working on his follow-up title. And he did mention he was working on something else. He's still interested in continuing this. I hope this is another Elwynn, man. I want bangers coming from great people every year. Can you imagine? So, barrels will be in production with this game here now soon. So, thankfully. So, they got a 500 run. Sold better than Dune. I love it. I love it. I would love to have this game. I want to run my hands across that cabinet. I want to do Pepper's Ghost effects all day like i'm here for it man i'm here for it so production wise what can we expect going forward so if they are now back in houston today and parts have been ordered and cabinets are be you know stripping off labyrinth decals throwing on evergloss for winchester mystery house and if they're in production right now or at least gearing up in the next week to begin production november i think we may be looking reasonably at a 10th month build cycle assuming 50 games a month everything is going fine maybe they start a little slow and ramp up later but essentially 500 games in 10 months is kind of a realistic window time frame that i would look at so now that their game has released and it's barely even a week old it's time to talk about their next game right so what's their follow-up i don't know what the theme is i hope it's something amazing but uh assuming 50 games on average a month 10 month build cycle that takes us through until august next year, which completely eclipses TPF. So while it may be a little perpunctory to release another game of TPF, I don't think we would see it, but I think we would see something else from these guys before we got to Expo again and they just did another surprise drop like this. Now, this company is now known for surprise drops, right? Every drop they've had, we have not seen coming. We had Labyrinth as a surprise at Expo. Boom, this mystery pinball company or whatever is here with something sculpted great art fun to play david bowie on the back last man blew us all away uh then they followed up with what we were thinking was uh just a code name for dune and then uh clearly like a week before i was expecting to see it i was sitting on a bus in the the magic kingdom's walt disney world parking lot and then no it was it was the studios it was the studios and then like it dropped on my phone like people are talking dune like barrels release so surprise release again this absolutely a surprise release but it seems like they had clear hold of the rains this time so this 500 uh game run 10 months brings us into august so while they may surprise us between now and then I would expect to see something by mid to late summer The speculation may start building up again about a game going forward from them So what's going to happen with the value of this game? I'm looking back at recent history, and we know this game is absolutely in demand now. Two-day sellout, well done. Golf clap, enjoy your moment. Game's hard to find right now. And to date, I'm still not seeing a lot of pre-order deposits going out or being posted for thousands over like we've seen before, which makes it a little hard to read. And this may be because people that bought this game legitimately are excited for it and want to have it. This isn't just speculators running into flip games. And I think that's great for the hobbyist end of the industry. So how is this game going to do long term? If we're looking at a 10-month build, best case scenario, are we going to see the price drop by the time that we get to next spring? people have been waiting for this game and everything. I'm not so sure. And that's because I'm looking back at the most recent example of a game that was released with great hype, the FOMO hit hard, and then those deposits were going for thousands over. And I'm talking about Pulp Fiction LE. I think this situation is a little bit different, but I think it'll mirror it at least in the beginning. I'll explain. So Pulp Fiction was rumored, it was revealed, it was released and I was sitting there in my bedroom that day, much as I do. And I had the game, the Pulp Fiction L.E. Deposit was in my cart. And I was thinking, you know, I don't really like need a new game right now. I mean, I was building up my collection. I had plenty of new games. The last thing I needed right then was like one more new game to get. And then I was like, it's a single level layout. I don't know if that's the game for me. Turns out it was, but I didn't really have the insight to know at the time. And I was thinking there isn't really that much more special this topper didn't really grab me it does look good now that i've finally seen it you know but that's the key there finally so i passed on this and then what did we see we saw pulp fiction deposits going for three thousand dollars on pin side like two over the cost some pay a little bit more because they had to have this game and then famously you can now go out and get one of those for less than msrp no problem and that seems like a reasonable trajectory to expect given the hype at first and then what had happened later now is this what's going to happen to winchester's mystery castle i'm not so sure of that and that's because this is not cgc we're talking about this is barrels of fun they have a factory they've expanded it they have capacity they have employees they're going to make games and get them out part of the reason and probably the majority of the reason that the pulp fiction game did go down in value and people weren't still trading deposits up you know thousands over is because it took two damn years for the games to start shipping remember this? I do because my regular deposit that I put in a few months later, I think it was in Switzerland and I'm like, damn it, Joe at Pinball Star, give me a freaking Pulp Fiction. And then I had to wait like another year and a half or 18 months or something before I finally got it. So I don't think that's going to be the case here. I think there's a couple of things going forward for the value. And that's the fact that the people that bought it legitimately want it and aren't looking to just dismiss it when they get something else. The kind of people that have one of these things ordered, sight unseen, now I must have it, are the kind of people that also have money in the budget for like another game should it come up, right? Like the thing to always be worried about, like the opposite of FOMO, is what if my money is tied up on a game that I want today and then something better is released tomorrow and then now I'm like, oh, I should have waited. The Alice in Wonderland effect, as it were. So I don't think we'll see that because people want this game. People will still get themselves a Beetlejuice because it's probably the same demographic and market and I'm here for it. Now we may see the game land around MSRP by the time all is said and done and the whole run is done and it's sitting in like a labyrinth position now when there's something else newer that's been released and I think that's okay. So I wouldn't rush to try to capitalize on maybe just grabbing an extra seven to one thousand dollars on selling your deposit at this point because I think it'll hold and maintain you know This wasn't like a $15,000 game. And we'll see code updates going along. Carl, I'm sure, is going to stream the heck out of this game. We'll see the accessories, and hopefully they're more approachable than the shooter rod that we saw with Dune. The thing is just huge, man. It's huge. I'm like, I'm here for shooter rods, but, man, even I have my limits. I'm kidding. I get the rationale behind it, but it is large. Where's the Dune topper, by the way? I still want to see that. That was a surprise drop I was expecting. So, Winchester, Barrels, enjoy your week. until the next thing drops, which I'm getting a sense on, might be pretty quick. Spooky Pinball, we're right in the middle of spooky season. The fervor is building up as we head towards Halloween. We're looking around for The Walking Dead. Where is it? I've got FOMO money. I've got lack of common sense. Give me the thing that I want to throw my money at, Spooky. Where are you at? Where are you at? I'm hearing, while nothing is finalized, that we might be seeing something soon, like maybe before Halloween, an inkling of something. If it's not a full release, at least like what do we do? I think chances are good. I haven't heard anything. Nothing is in concrete but I hearing now from multiple sources that that kind of where the chatter at I excited man I want my spooky season man Spooky should own this month Should absolutely own it Halloween spooktacular horror nights is what we should call it or something or spooktoberfest, or feel free to use any of these words here. But again, you know, barrels sold out in two days. Beetlejuice is selling out in two minutes. I think Beetlejuice is the first game in history to sell out prior to the official reveal now. I think at this point, Mad Pinball is completely sold out. their allotments gone. Little House of Games, we've heard from them, is gone. I'm sure other dealers are in similar situations. Joe at Pinball Star might still have a couple, if you might want to drop him an email. Otherwise, there will be some sold direct through Spooky. I have no idea what the number is. If it was 150, I'd probably say, yeah, that sounds about right. And these will be sold direct. Now, typically, at least with their prior release, it was a day in November. I I think it was about 10 a.m. Eastern time that the order banks opened up, and I was able to go in, get my deposit in, and I got an early build. I love that. So look for that. That still may be your best way to get a Beetlejuice now that all the distros are like pre-pre-sold out. This website is absolutely going to have issues at launch, and I think it's making everybody nervous. We're all going to be sitting there logging in, refreshing at the same time. Even if you went with the platinum broadband option in Benton, I think it's still going to fry the server. I don't know if there's any way to fortify that ahead of time because there's going to be a crunch of traffic coming in there trying to get those 150 or so spots that are available. Now, there is also a little backdoor, guys. You can also call them directly to order. Hardly anybody does that, and they answer the phone and we'll sell you a little game over the phone. So now you may be hitting a waiting signal when that happens, but my three-pronged strategy would be to get my name on at least one distro's list, probably multiple. I think if you pay money to a distro now, while it can look slimy, you'll be locked in, man. You'll be locked in. And they're being generous. I mean, they'll give you a couple days to back out. You're not going to want to, but, you know, just in case, feel safe in that. There is a little bit of a consumer protection there, at least initially. The second prong would be the website. You know, have it loaded up. Make sure you go to the website and, like, load your credit card information in one time as a trial just to make sure, like, it's saved so that when you do go in, There's not a lot of time messing around getting that going. And then cross your fingers and see if you can get one. The other thing I would do is while I'm doing that, I'd be on the phone hitting redial trying to get through. You know, operators are standing by. Maybe they could have a robust phone tree set up or something. Either way, even if, you know, people are getting through and there's no website crashes, it's still going to go quick. Like five minutes quick. So, yikes, man. What a position to be in. And the other option, I guess, if I was going to add a fourth prong to this, is buy a house in town, get a job with the company, schmooze them for several years, and then make your way into their good graces and then cross your fingers and tap your toes like I did. That's probably an extreme example, but I am an extreme individual. So everything's looking cool for Spooky. I can't wait to see the trailer. Still haven't seen it. And at this point, man, just I want to be there for the grand reveal. I love grand reveals. Now, is there going to be a midnight launch event? I'm still waiting to hear confirmation on that. It's a very silly idea, something that's never been done in pinball, and I think it's a great stupid idea, and I really want to do it. I think it would be fun. Imagine being out there at midnight in the sweltering cold of southern Wisconsin in the middle of November or whenever this thing releases with like a chocolate martini with a Zagnut dusted rim, and you're just sitting there sipping things, and maybe a game is on or something. We've got some brats on the grill. true Wisconsin fashion. We're freezing our mustaches off and then we get to go get the game like that night. That'd be super fun. I'm pushing hard for it. If it can happen, you'll hear about it. I'm excited. I can't wait. Moving on to some other interesting news that came across my inbox. A bird's tweeted me, you know, as I go through my day, I hear things. There's some from random, you know, crazy rumors, other ones that seem a little off and out there. and then they have like a kernel of truth there to them where I could kind of see them happening. What I do with those is I'm like, hey, Patreon, you guys are paying five bucks at least. I love you guys. I'm hearing this, so you're hearing this. So yesterday I had posted that rumor that I had heard that Ghostbusters was coming, but not necessarily from Stern Pinball, but from their neighbors around the corner, Jersey Jack. And then like, I don't know, like my brain probably took over. Like I want this to be true so damn bad. I love that Jersey Jack platform with the giant screen and like the cabinets, 400 pounds and like dropping the Ghostbusters theme in there as well. Oh, I'm absolutely here for it. When we saw Harry Potter now that we've played it, it was kind of like build the materials, get the hell out of here. Let's just make this game as low as we can. Let's sell them for an outrageous $15,000 and let's just call it unlimited. And it's still technically time limited, but going forward, this is where we're at. yeah completely unreasonable and I completely still want the game and I love it so imagine that but like Ghostbusters at that same level I want this to be true So it probably 50 reality and 50 wishful thinking come together But let discuss this man And if it not true with Jersey Jack, I still think this is a great license for somebody to go get, man. Maybe somebody hears this and they go out and lock it up, man, and something can come from it. So I posted it there. Now, I've heard a lot about what Jersey Jack's next next is going to be. You know, Sonic is leading the charge here. Steve Ritchie's up next. He likes to do a warp ramp. It totally makes sense. Like let's reskin Star Wars for the fourth time here and make a great shooting game with a bunch of this time. We'll have ring sounds, you know, we'll collect rings as we go around. Imagine if you drain, but you have some rings in your, in your, in your backbox there, like that you've gained, and then you get a little ball save, but you lose all your rings and you have to hit a shot to collect some. Otherwise your, your ball drains. Like that'd be a fun ball save gameplay mechanic that we've seen done kind of like we saw the the oxen to destroyer in godzilla where you drain and then you have a chance to save your ball so imagine if you built up enough rings you would lose those rings but you have temporary enough time just to shoot a shot or something hit that spinner grab some rings and then you're saved right i think that'd be fun i think that'd be fun and surely if i thought of it these guys thought of it two years ago anyway i'm here for that i think that game's gonna be cool maybe maybe i could be persuaded to do a Jersey Jack Newenbox purchase again if it's that great. But what's on the horizon after that? The strongest thing, and this is not strong at all, but the most consistent thing that I've been hearing whispers of was some sort of Batman license, some sort of DC license, whether it's Justice League, which I don't want that. I think it's a tainted property. It doesn't have the staying power of Marvel. Batman, though, is the through line right there. I've been asking for a Batman game for three years now. Batman the Animated Series, Batman 87, Batman Forever. Redo that one again. Don't do Batman and Robin. Keep nibbles off the Batsuit. But I mean, it doesn't really matter what kind of Batman game. Like a Jet Black, Batman Cabinet, Jersey Jack Screen. I want it. I want it, man. Give me a Joker game. Give me something. World of Batman, that's what I want. If you have to use some licensed characters from DC and Justice League, make it happen. I'd be okay with that, but I don't necessarily want, you know, unless we're talking about super friends or something wacky like that, you know, great throwback nostalgia. But that's what I heard. So I shared it and you know, it's making the rounds now. And I don't want to be like the guy that's just making up stupid crap to get his name out there. Legitimately, this is what I heard. And it seemed at the same time plausible and I want it to happen. So I'm putting it out there. Let me know what you think. I would love to see like a license come out from multiple companies at the same time. I don't think the exclusivity of these licenses is such that two companies couldn't necessarily do that. I'd love to see one license be taken by three different companies and then see each their interpretation of it. Because you know spooky doing Ghostbusters would be one way. Barrels of Fun might be just adjacent. Jersey Jack would be in left field. And then Stern would be Star Wars Follow the Empire with Ghostbuster proton packs or something. or they would reach into their well and do a remaster, which is what I think they should do. How about this? Maybe don't fix the flipper gap, but put a ball save kickback or something right down there in the middle so as the ball is draining, a plunger can just knock it straight back up between the flippers. I think that would be fun. I just want these new, whether it's a Spike 3 screen or a big JJP screen, I want Ghostbusters big screen. I also want Batman. I also want Generation 1 Transformers. I also want some pinball fun, And when I hear it, I'm going to give it to you. When I need to order, I text or email Jeff over at madpinball.com. I use code WAP, and I send myself a T-shirt. I'm sending some T-shirts out this week. This is going to be great. Mad Pinball was there in effect. The beards were in full effect. Everybody was bearded there at Expo. Saw the whole crew running around. Love these guys, their passion for pinball. They bought a Rotation 8 to the Electric Playgrounds booth there. So if you got to play that, that was cool. people that love pinball support it and do fun stuff for the community i'm there for it when i need a game i'm gonna go for them uh unless i'm not on a list like winchester and even though i'm a pinball celebrity in my own mind i wasn't able to get a winchester for mad pinball because they honor their customers who call them first over celebrities that try to wring their arms and get five dollars off a game or something so solid dudes credibility i love it mad pinball this is don from don's pinball podcast i will go ahead and hit the drop and then we'll talk about where to email me. Sonic, Ghostbusters, DC, Batman, Beetlejuice, Winchester Mystery Castle. What is going on, man? Don'sBitballPodcast.gmail.com is where you get to meet Patreon.com backslash Don'sBitballPodcast for lives, for giveaways, for fun stuff, for rumors, and everything else. Let's do the Beetlejuice launch release party. Let's go. Who wants a Zagnut cocktail? you