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Pinball Industry News: June 2020 Re-cap

Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast·podcast_episode·1h 42m·analyzed·Jul 2, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

June 2020 pinball recap: Stern ships Heavy Metal & TMNT, Gary Stern interviews, JJP opens new factory.

Summary

Jonathan Eustice (Pinball Magazine) and Martin Eyre (Pinball News) recap June 2020 pinball industry developments, highlighting Stern's exclusive Gary Stern 75th birthday interview, the launch of Heavy Metal pinball ($7,999 re-theme), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles production updates, and Jersey Jack Pinball's move to a new Illinois factory with their first shipments. Multiple code updates rolled out for Stern games, and Stern introduced branded merchandise and social media engagement campaigns.

Key Claims

  • Heavy Metal pinball is a re-theme of Star Wars (which itself was a re-theme of Supreme and Spider-Man Home Edition) with custom artwork and original recordings from Sebastian Bach and Brendan Small

    high confidence · Hosts discuss Heavy Metal as re-themed Star Wars with similar playfield layout and original music collaborations

  • Heavy Metal pinball priced at $7,999 with white glove delivery service; limited production run through holiday season

    high confidence · Jonathan and Martin directly discuss pricing and production timeline

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reached 1.04 code version during COVID lockdown with extensive development time, featuring cooperative gameplay modes with team options (2v2, 1v3, 1v2, all four together)

    high confidence · Hosts detail TMNT code progression and cooperative gameplay feature additions

  • TMNT 500 limited edition units completely sold out to distributors, though individual units may still be available through dealer channels

    high confidence · Martin clarifies LE status and distribution availability

  • Jersey Jack Pinball shipped first games from new Illinois factory (near Stern's location) in June 2020, including Willy Wonka titles picked up by Hemispheres Amusements

    high confidence · Hosts discuss JJP's factory relocation and initial shipments

  • Stern launched social media 'Stern Showdown' tournament pitting classic Stern games against each other with public voting; Metallica vs. Jurassic Park vote allegedly swung 70-30 in Metallica's favor after fan group post

    medium confidence · Jonathan describes the voting campaign and alleged fan manipulation of Metallica matchup

  • Gary Stern's exclusive 75th birthday interview was unscripted, conducted over extended afternoon session at Stern factory, and was the only podcast interview Gary granted that month

    high confidence · Jonathan details interview circumstances and confirms Gary's statement that no other podcasters requested interviews

Notable Quotes

  • “It was really good of Gary to stay behind. We started it in the afternoon and carried it on, and by the end of it, I think he was the only one left.”

    Martin Eyre @ early in episode — Illustrates the extensive and unplanned nature of the Gary Stern birthday interview and his dedication to the conversation

  • “There's some interesting bits there I've never heard mentioned before.”

    Martin Eyre @ discussing Gary interview — Validates the novelty and value of the exclusive interview despite similar stories being repeated at industry seminars

  • “It's priced at $8,000 because that's the pitching level that they think collectors will pay for it... Presumably not dedicated pinball people.”

    Martin Eyre @ discussing Heavy Metal pricing — Indicates Heavy Metal pricing targets collector/casual market rather than dedicated pinball enthusiasts

  • “Well, yeah, $6,000 I can get a Turtles... But Turtles isn't a heavy metal magazine game, and if that's what you've got to have, that's the price.”

    Jonathan Eustice @ Heavy Metal pricing discussion — Acknowledges premium pricing justified by IP licensing and limited appeal to specific collector segments

  • “If you buy a Stranger Pro things, you might as well end up with a bonus game like a Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit or one of the other gadgets that they included.”

    Jonathan Eustice @ Stern merchandise section — Describes Stern's random merchandise inclusion strategy in game boxes

  • “I suppose it's another marketing angle to remind people that Stranger Things Pro is out there and available if people want to buy it.”

    Martin Eyre @ discussing Stranger Things bundling strategy — Frames merchandise inclusion as supplementary marketing tactic rather than core value proposition

  • “Well, that's basically buy a topper, reverse engineer it, and there you go.”

    Martin Eyre @ discussing $600 Jurassic Park topper — Acknowledges community expectation that players will hack topper functionality rather than pay premium price

Entities

Gary SternpersonJonathan EusticepersonMartin EyrepersonStern PinballcompanyHeavy Metal MagazineorganizationTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) PinballgameHeavy Metal Pinballgame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Multiple pinball manufacturers resuming production after COVID-19 shutdowns with appropriate sanitary measures in place

    high · Jonathan: 'new pinball machines are shipping again from multiple different companies... everybody who closed down due to the virus and now all back making their games in some quantity or other'

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern implementing merchandise bundle strategy (random Stranger Things items in game boxes) as supplementary marketing tactic alongside branded merchandise (face masks, toppers)

    high · Jonathan describes 'The Find' program packing random Stranger Things merchandise into Stranger Pro boxes; also discusses $9.99 face masks and $600 Jurassic Park topper

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball demonstrated corporate social responsibility stance during June 2020 George Floyd protests; Gary Stern issued company statement against racism and injustice with commitment to supporting Black community

    high · Jonathan: 'Gary Stern saying well he was spilling out the company's stand against racism and injustice and saying that they will work towards a more just tomorrow... I think I'm right in saying they're the only pinball company who put out any comment in regard to that matter'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Stern Showdown social media tournament demonstrates fan community organization and potential for coordinated voting manipulation across fan forums

    medium · Jonathan: 'Metallica fan group... somehow someone posted on a Metallica fan group that this boat was taking place and all of a sudden around about 6,000 votes poured in from Metallica fans who probably don't even know anything at all about the pinball but it's Metallica So all of a sudden the vote swung the other way and became a 70-30 win'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.309

0:00
heavy metal pinball finally launched multimorphic as usb and bluetooth audio new pinball machines shipping again hi my name is jonathan euston i'm the editor of pinball magazine and i'm joined here with Martin Eyre, but I'm the editor of Pinball News, and we're here to look back on the exciting world of pinball through the month of June 2020. Right, and what an exciting month it has been. It has been, yeah, we always say that, but some months have quite another... this has actually been quite a busy one, I think. Yeah, not every company has news to report, but that being said, I think the good news is some companies are sort of starting up again after being shut down due to the coronavirus. Yeah, as we said in our headlines, new pinball machines are shipping again from multiple different companies. We started up again, presumably taking suitable sanitary and sanitizing measures to make sure their staff and customers are safe in producing their games. But yeah, I think everybody is now back as far as we know. everybody who closed down due to the virus and now all back making their games in some quantity or other maybe in reduced quantity but yeah and quite a lot of them have had new games released right so I suggest that but basically let's go over each company like we usually do and with each company the corona effects will be discussed as well So I think that's probably the easiest way to go by this. And let's start off with Stern Pinball, who is our biggest manufacturer of pinball machines still today.
2:10
Yes, and we'll start off with something we covered in our special celebratory pinball interviews with Gary Stern. And for those who have no idea what we're talking about, Gary Stern celebrated his 75th birthday on the 12th of June, and Martin and I were fortunate enough to have an exclusive landmark interview with Gary Stern the evening before his birthday, which we then published as two separate podcasts which contained a wealth of information on topics that normally aren't discussed by Gary. Yes, it was far more extensive than even we were expecting, I think. It was really good of Gary to stay behind. We started it in the afternoon and carried it on, and as we were doing it, people were leaving the factory, and by the end of it, I think he was the only one left. Right. And this on his 70th birthday, so that was very kind of him for doing that. Thank you to Gary. Right. And yes, we covered so much. We were originally going to release it as a single interview, but there was so much, it was certainly worth splitting it into two to cover the earlier years, starting with his early years working in the stock room at Williams and his legal studies and the buying of Chicago Coin and the start of Stern Electronics and through the formulation of Pinstar and then DataRease Pinball and Sega Pinball and Stern Pinball. And going through where we are now, how the company is being run, how things have changed, all this experience and everything that's happened in the industry over his time in it. And he's got an overview of what's happened in the past, I don't know, six decades, I guess, unlike anybody else. So it's certainly worth getting his take on where pinball has been, how it's changed, and, you know, a little look forward to where it's going. Right. So if you want to listen to these episodes, click here. Yeah.

Stern introduced branded face masks ($9.99 reusable) and $600 Jurassic Park LED topper that unlocks special game mode when installed

high confidence · Hosts discuss merchandise pricing and topper functionality

  • “If you want innovation, you haven't seen anything yet.”

    Jonathan Eustice (quoting JJP teaser) @ Jersey Jack section — References JJP's vague promotional messaging about upcoming innovations without concrete details

    • Jersey Jack Pinball
    company
    Ken Cromwellperson
    Brett Abbasperson
    Leonard F.S. Abbasperson
    Hemispheres Amusementscompany
    Stern Showdownevent
    Jurassic Park Topperproduct
    Stranger Things Pinballgame
    Elvira's House of Horrors Pinballgame
    Spider-Man Home Edition Pinballgame
    Supreme Pinballgame
    ?

    event_signal: Gary Stern granted exclusive 75th birthday interview to Pinball News/Magazine; unscripted, extended afternoon session at Stern factory; hosts confirm it was only podcast interview Gary gave that month

    high · Jonathan: 'we were actually the only podcast that reached out to Gary Stern for an interview I asked him about that and he said that nobody else had asked' and describes unscripted nature and extensive duration

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Ken Cromwell serves as communication specialist at Jersey Jack Pinball, publishing podcasts and conducting interviews with company leadership

    high · Jonathan: 'Ken Cromwell is there in charge of communication and what have you. He's a communication specialist, I believe is the title... published two podcasts, one with an interview... Brett Abyss'

  • $

    market_signal: Heavy Metal pinball priced at $7,999 as re-theme of $6,000 TMNT creates perceived premium for IP licensing; hosts question sustainability of collector-focused pricing strategy

    medium · Martin: 'It's priced at $8,000 because that's the pitching level that they think collectors will pay for it... Presumably not dedicated pinball people' and Jonathan notes similar layouts selling for vastly different prices ($4k Spider-Man, $25k Supreme)

  • ?

    announcement: Jersey Jack Pinball completed factory relocation and shipped first games from new Illinois facility in June 2020

    high · Martin: 'they've shipped the first games from their new factory... They were delivered, or they were picked up, I should say, by Hemispheres Amusements' including Willy Wonka titles

  • ?

    announcement: Stern launched Heavy Metal pinball in June 2020 as limited-run re-theme celebrating Heavy Metal Magazine's 300th issue with original music recordings

    high · Heavy Metal announcement details: re-theme of Star Wars, $7,999, white glove delivery, limited through holiday season, Sebastian Bach and Brendan Small original recordings

  • ?

    product_strategy: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles received extensive code development during COVID lockdown, reaching v1.04 with cooperative gameplay modes (2v2, 1v3, 1v2, all-four team play) and frequent updates

    high · Martin: 'I think the team had so much time to further develop code during the COVID-19 lockdown that they're currently actually at 1.04' with detailed cooperative mode descriptions

  • ?

    technology_signal: Stranger Things v0.96 code update adds expanded support for lighted shooter rod with new lighting effects and animations

    high · Jonathan: 'version 0.96 Stranger Things came out just today, in fact... Adds more lighting effects and builds on the version 0.94, which was also released in June'

    • 4:34
    Yeah. I'm sure everybody can see the link. I hope so, yeah. else go to our podcast garden page. Where did you get this from?
    4:46
    Well, you can also get both parts of the interview, the 75th birthday celebration interview with Gary Stern there as well. And although we would say that, I think it is definitely worthwhile listening to.
    5:03
    You and I have both been at many seminars where we've heard Gary talking. and basically tell the same story over and over and over again. Well, variations, but there's a lot of new stuff in here. We don't get the same stories.
    5:19
    Gary knows the kind of stuff we were after, and we were able to surprise him as well with a few points. There's some interesting bits there I've never heard mentioned before. Yes, absolutely, yeah. Definitely worthwhile. Well, yeah, it's interesting that overall most of the comments that I've seen on the interview were positive, but I also got a few emails from people saying that they really don't like podcast interviews because they prefer to read them because they have bad hearing.
    5:54
    Oh, right. Okay. um valid point i would say but but this was never going to be a um um uh a pimple magazine interview uh in printed form or anything like this this was just a um uh a special interview because gary stern was uh celebrating his 75th birthday sorry and um yeah the idea sort of came up on the spot. I'm actually surprised and I hope I'm not mistaken but I think we were actually the only podcast that reached out to Gary Stern for an interview I asked him about that and he said that nobody else had asked Right, and maybe after somebody else tried to interview him as well and they might have gotten it but I've not kept track of anything like that but anyway, like we said it was never intended to be a written, published interview as like in Pimmo magazine or anything like that. So we were very thankful that Gary was so cooperative. And I think it's actually interesting to note that usually when, or well, it's not uncommon when interviewing someone at Stern that they would ask to send in the questions up front so they can prepare their answers and they know what they're going to talk about. And in this case, we just went on the fly. We prepared our questions, but we didn't submit anything up front. And basically, we got carte blanche, and I don't think we edited out anything. No, not at all. As you'll hear, everything that went on there, from the points where Gary is talking to Shelley and recalling how they first met and various other parts of their history together. You know, she comes into the office and says goodbye as she's going off home. You know, it's all in there. Yeah. So we haven't taken anything out. So, as you said, it was... Is it Gary's phone raw? Well, it was totally unscripted on his side. And at one time he did actually read out something which was kind of like pre-prepared. I think we called him out on that and said, you've got that written down somewhere.
    8:24
    There were the occasional sales pitches, so to speak. But, okay, yeah. He's a salesman. Always will be. He's a good one. Anyway, highly recommended to check those very entertaining and informative interview sessions that we did with Gary Stern. And once again, thank you Gary Stern and Stern Pinball for allowing us to do so. Indeed. And Stern Pinball, of course, have been busy this month in many ways. They're very big on social media, which we'll come to a little bit later, but they also launched a new game. Well, we say new, but it's one that they tried to launch before, but that was just before the lockdown, and that kind of launch was pulled until afterwards. And in June, they did actually release details of the heavy metal game that they've done in partnership with Incendium. Right. Yeah, the game celebrates its 300th issue of the Heavy Metal Magazine, which is a very well-respected art magazine, I would suppose, at least I know that a lot of graphic artists respect the magazine for the artwork that they find in there let's put it like that it's a kind of sci-fi heavy metal rock fantasy magazine I suppose it's a comic really isn't it yeah I suppose but not in a bad way in a way like 2000 AD was a comic what is a comic still it's a very professional and as you say respected publication and yeah so the game itself they have a metal game is a re-themed Star Wars spin which was in itself a re-themed Supreme and a re-themed Spider-Man Home Edition game with some changes to the layout. Minor changes, I would say.
    10:47
    Obviously, the Star Wars toys were taken out. Some heavy metal toys were put in. It has custom artwork, I would say.
    10:59
    Yes, correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe I'm misremembering this, which is quite possible, because it's quite late at night we're doing this, and it's been a long day. But when it was first announced, weren't there going to be two versions? Yeah, I think there were going to be two different artwork packages indeed, yes. Don't recall that seeing... I think the two sides are very different on the cabinet art, lower cabinet art. But I don't recall that they actually offered two different packages. But my... There's only one now. Yeah. And, okay. apparently the game won't ship until the holiday season well that's are we talking summer holiday or are we talking Christmas right okay so which gives them plenty of time and as I understood it it's a limited edition run but they haven't excluded the number is basically open on how many are being ordered yeah it's limited to how many they can sell until the holiday season starts. Right. At which point they'll, well, I guess they'll make them just before the holiday season and ship them in time for people to get them. But I don't think after that they don't plan to make any more, I think. Right. So it will be interesting to see how many will be made. For those interested, the game features original recordings from Sebastian Bach, not the classic composer, but I suppose this is a more rock-oriented artist, I suppose. And Brendan Small, in addition to iconic tracks from the heavy metal movie original soundtrack, including Blue Oyster Cult,
    12:51
    sorry, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, and others. Yeah. And as you mentioned, well, we've seen photos from the Stern factory with Turtles on the line, but Heavy Metal is as far as we have been able to see not on the line yet no, I don't suppose they'll ship them and build them all in one run once they know how many they're building I suppose right, yeah, that makes more sense the thing we haven't mentioned yet is the price of the game yeah, it's a bargain if there's an elephant in the room, that would be the elephant it's yeah, the price is $7,999.
    13:36
    This for, as you said earlier, a re-theme of the Star Wars pin. Now, I can't remember what kind of... Or Spider-Man Home Game, which sold for, I think, around $4,000, something like that.
    13:50
    I think the Spider-Man Home Game had a smaller, but color LED display. Yeah, but the playfield layout is basically the same. Yes. It was similar, I think. Similar, but the ramps are a little bit different. Yeah, I think now there's some drop targets you need to knock down before you can shoot the left ramp. Yeah, similar, like Star Wars, yes. Yeah, that's the same on Star Wars, yeah. But anyway, so $8,000 minus $1, but apparently with that you get a white glove delivery service where they deliver it to your home and set it up for you. So there you go, there's some value in there as well. And, of course, you know, it's going to be a limited edition. And if you're a heavy metal magazine fan or, indeed, a fan of the movie, then it's going to be a fabulous memento or collectible. Okay, so now I have an odd question. Obviously, this game has almost the same layout as the Supreme game, which is selling for, well, yeah, it's selling for $25,000. Chances are, with the Supreme game, there were only 100 made. Let's say there's only going to be 50 heavy metal games. Does that mean that these games will be even more expensive in time?
    15:14
    Well, I suppose it depends what collectors are prepared to pay for it. They priced Supreme at that price because they could.
    15:25
    And I'm sure similarly with heavy metal. It's priced at $8,000 because that's the pitching level that they think collectors will pay for it. Right. Presumably not dedicated pinball people. No, because dedicated pinball people would say, like, hey, for $6,000 I can get a Turtles. Yeah, right. But Turtles isn't a heavy metal magazine game, and if that's what you've got to have, that's the price. Right. Or you cut up some old magazines and paste them all over your Turtles pinball machine.
    16:01
    It's still not the same thing, but yes, you know. Okay. Sorry. Yes. Anyway. So that was the new game. Right. Well, not, yeah.
    16:13
    Well, keep in mind that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was announced at the end of last month. so that's still the new game as well and it's in production, pro models have shipped and they're currently building limited edition models if I'm not mistaking 500 limited edition games completely sold out which doesn't mean that you're not able to find one if you're looking for one it just means that all distributors opted on buying games, but distributors might still have those for sale.
    16:56
    If you're still looking for one, you might have to make a few phone calls, but you might still find one.
    17:02
    Yeah, absolutely. Not sure how long it will take them to build 500. Now they're working on a slightly different production schedule,
    17:12
    but I think after those are done, they'll be working on the premium models, which are the normal procedures, isn't it? Do the pros first, then the LEs, and then the premiums. Right, and maybe they go in between the limited edition and the premium and run some more pros. Depends how much they have in stock and how much demand there is. Absolutely. And in the meantime,
    17:39
    speaking of stern social media, we've been blasted by people receiving their Turtles pro games. Lots of people unpacking games and streaming how they are unpacking games and setting it up in their game room.
    17:58
    Yeah, so if you're into that, then knock yourself out with all those Twitch streams and what have you.
    18:05
    Yeah, I think we mentioned before, it's an interesting thing to watch, people setting up games. I don't know how involving that is, seeing somebody else get their game and take it out of the box. Well, it can be very satisfying knowing that you don't have to lift that thing yourself. True, and it's nice to see how games are boxed these days and what they look like when they come out of the box, how much work has to go into it. I suppose it might be interesting if people pull out a game and find it doesn't work or there are issues they need to fix, whether they'll include that in the stream or not.
    18:43
    Right, yeah. But hopefully every game that comes out is factory tweaked. but you talked about social media earlier and Stern as we said have been very busy on social media they're doing their Stern showdown which is where they try to work out what the best Stern pinball game is by pitching pairs of games against each other and having a public vote as to which one is preferred right now it's getting towards the final stages of that there was a bit of a fuss the other day when I think Metallica it was came up against Jurassic Park and the boat was going along and Metallica was lagging behind slightly with Jurassic Park in the lead and then somehow someone posted on a Metallica fan group that this boat was taking place and all of a sudden around about 6,000 votes poured in from Metallica fans who probably don't even know anything at all about the pinball but it's Metallica So all of a sudden the vote swung the other way and became a 70-30 win for Metallica knocking out Jurassic Park. Right. So that was a bit of a... So where were all the Jurassic Park fans? Well, yeah, I guess nobody posted on the Jurassic Park forums about this.
    20:04
    But let's learn for next time. I think currently, and this was what I checked yesterday, it may have moved on since then, I don't think it has, a couple of days for each one. Deadpool was up against Iron Maiden and Iron Maiden was marginally in the lead 55-45 at the time my vote would go to Deadpool no no just because I thought Deadpool was the funnier game oh it's definitely funnier but Deadpool against Iron Maiden interesting I think there's a lot of Iron Maiden fans out there I think Deadpool well I think it's maybe underappreciated by Where's the Deadpool forum where I can... Off you go.
    20:50
    Yeah, but then someone will post in the Iron Maiden forum and, well, now... The Iron Maiden forum is probably more likely to vote.
    21:01
    For Deadpool? Metallica fans did. Oh, I thought, yeah, so... I'm surprised the Metallica fans didn't vote for Jurassic Park. Yeah, well, yes, in an ironic way, yes. Yeah, no, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. But, yeah, that's interesting.
    21:20
    But, well, continuing on their social media, Stern posted also something which they call The Find, which is related to Stranger Things, and what it comes down to is that apparently they had some Stranger Things swag or merchandise, whatever you want to call it, games like Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly and some other stuff.
    21:48
    And they posted something like a flyer-ish type of image with 10 of those merchandise items posted. And apparently these will be packed into random Stranger Pro pinball machine boxes.
    22:12
    And, well, if you buy a Stranger Pro things, you might as well end up with a bonus game like a Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit or one of the other gadgets that they included.
    22:25
    Which, I suppose, is a nice marketing tactic, but it also makes me wonder how many of those games actually end up, or these gadgets end up with people knowing that a lot of stern distributors tend to unpack a game from the box first set it up tweak it so that it's completely playing correctly in order to avoid that they have to go over to someone do a service call, change the light bulb or what have you so then what happens if a distributor finds one of these gadgets or what have you are they going back in the box, are they coming with the game or is it a nice present for one of the kids of the distributor yeah it's an interesting thing to put in the box really, it's not something that's going to sway somebody to buy the game or not buy the game but I suppose it's another marketing angle to remind people that Stranger Things Pro is out there and available if people want to buy it and who knows, you might just, you know, it's an angle, isn't it, to help promote the game. Yeah, but if you're really in the market for Trivial Pursuit edition, or Stranger Things edition of Trivial Pursuit, I think there are cheaper ways to get it. Yeah, but not so much fun.
    23:55
    I mean, it saves Stern having to ship those items out if they sort of gave them away as part of their insider program or something like that. they're already shipping the game, so they can ship the merchandise with it as well. Right. So you don't suppose, oh, I'm probably going to have to make an edit about this.
    24:16
    You don't suppose it's a way of Stern saying, like, well, you bought the spinball machine, but if you don't like it that much, here's another game that you can enjoy.
    24:26
    Yeah, all part of the Stranger Things experience. You know, if that game wasn't enough, then here's a little bit more. Right. Okay. Well, let's look at it from the positive side. So you get a little bonus if you buy a Stranger Pro game, if you're lucky. Yeah, and talking Stranger Things, we normally talk about the code for games in a minute, but while we're on the subject, version 0.96 Stranger Things came out just today, in fact. Woohoo! Which includes some changes to the rules, and adds quite a lot more support for the lighted shooter rod. if that's something which you get. I was waiting for that. Yeah.
    25:09
    Adds more lighting effects and builds on the version 0.94, which was also released in June, which was actually quite a big update. It added lots of new awards and animations and a big bunch of fixes, bug fixes, I suppose, for the game, for the code, which included a couple of potential game crashes. so obviously it's important to get out there.
    25:33
    Oh, I thought it's now going to crash more. Oh well maybe it an operator thing crash level And it also includes some new speech and music as well So yeah if you haven updated your Stranger Things game in June or indeed in July, then there's new code out there and you should do that because it's quite important to get it up to at least 0.94, and now 0.96 as of today. Right. And, well, since we're on the topic of code updates, there was also a code update for Elvira's House of Horrors, 0.97,
    26:16
    with quite a few changes to the rules, several bug fixes, new sounds, video clips, and they tidied up the director's cut effects and video clips. I have to be honest, I have no idea what that is. that's a almost like a home setting where you can have extra features and some of the rules are changed extra jokes and stuff like that extra video clips and sounds and things that you don't get in the normal production version things that they'd like to put in but probably couldn't justify putting it in a location game but if you choose to go with the director's cut then yeah it's now got some extra stuff built into it right we noticed that stranger things are 0.96 Elvira's House of Horrors 0.97 getting close to what's normally defined as the you know the fully feature complete version of 1.0 but that kind of naming convention or numbering convention seems to not be applied to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No, I think it was, but I think the team had so much time to further develop code during the COVID-19 lockdown that they're currently actually at 1.04.
    27:44
    Right, okay. They are at 1.04, which came out this month, but that's a fix, really, for 1.01. We which had a problem with the Cowabunga Wizard mode and wasn't running when it should have done.
    28:01
    Cowabunga! Yeah, exactly. It didn't sound like that either, so maybe they fixed that in 1.04. 1.01 came out on the 23rd of June, which was mainly around some of the changes to the cooperative gameplay modes. Remember that they introduced that with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where you can have players team up or either as groups of two against two, or one against three, or one against two, or all four together, to get further through the game and share some of the awards.
    28:39
    It also included some bug fixes, as you'd expect, and some tweaks to lighting effects and some of the gameplay features. but it's interesting that if they had all that extra time that they put all the development time into the new game and meanwhile Elvira's House of Horrors and Stranger Things aren't yet well there's different production teams or program teams I suppose and they might be working on something else as well in the meantime yeah I'm sure they are, I'm sure they're working on the next releases yes But you do have a valid point. You might expect more code-aids expected. But who knows? We might be surprised this month or over the summer, something like that. Anyway. Also on social media, I think we can expect to see quite a few pictures of people there wearing their stern face masks, which are now available from the Stern shop. Yeah, hopefully the coronavirus is only a temporary thing. These might be very limited.
    29:54
    Get yours now. Well, yes, they are branded with some custom artwork and hashtag play strong, whatever that means. Well, I think that's sort of a derivative of what Steve Ritchie used to say, play better. oh if you said that that would make even more sense yeah play strong I don't know I'm actually surprised I haven't seen more pinball branded face masks out there seeing as everyone seems to want to have to wear them now not sure how many people want to wear them but I was thinking about whether it's possible to print your own pinball designed individual game themes you can have a different one for each day of the week or different companies even. But this seems to be, as far as I'm aware, the only dedicated pinball branded face mask available. And that's $9.99. What?
    30:54
    Yeah. It's washable, I guess, reusable. It's not a wear once and dispose of. Hmm. Okay. If you say so. So.
    31:06
    Well. I'll just stick with the face masks that I'm currently using, and I try to use them as few as possible.
    31:22
    But we're obligated to use them in the public transport when using that, so that's the only time. thankfully we're past the lockdown situation over here and things are liberating quite a bit so we still have to keep our distance but bars and so on are open but okay i'm completely losing uh the the the focus point over here um because we were talking about the stern shop and uh one of the other items that you can get in this stern shop is a Jurassic Park topper. At last. Yes. And sorry to inform you, the price tag is not the same as the face masks.
    32:18
    Wow. Then I take two, I guess. no $600 gets you from what I understood a static topper with several layers of plastic and in that topper is some are some LEDs which light up in a track mode and during gameplay it allows you to spell Jurassic Park which is actually a carryover feature on the game. And I suppose when completed, it unlocks a special mode. Yes, I believe it does. It has got people wondering how they can fool the game into thinking that you have the topper installed so you can get this special mode without having to spend $600.
    33:14
    Right. Well, that's basically buy a topper, reverse engineer it, and there you go. yeah absolutely um i'm sure some people work it out over time so they do we've got some we have uh top men working on it right now and women i'm sure yeah so um yeah and in the meantime if the coronavirus wasn't enough um the u.s and probably uh parts of other parts of the world as where it had other issues, riots even, and so on, having to do with the death of George Floyd, which was a story as it is already.
    34:06
    And following probably lots of other companies, Stern Pinball also put out a message you want to elaborate on that yeah they basically said well it was Gary Stern saying well he was spilling out the company's stand against racism and injustice and saying that they will work towards a more just tomorrow by educating themselves and promoting positive change and supporting the black community no details exactly how they're going to do that But I think I'm right in saying they're the only pinball company who put out any comment in regard to that matter. Right.
    34:57
    Now, this whole racism thing is mostly focusing on the black community, if I'm allowed to call it that. If I'm not, then please don't beat me up for that. but I think such a statement from Stern is actually not a surprise at all considering how many Mexicans are working in the factory yeah that's true well working in elder production yeah and I don't think anybody could ever accuse Gary Stern or anybody at Stern from being a racist at least well obviously we're not working there But if you have so many, I suppose there's quite a few different ethical cultures and ethnicities working at Stern. So it would be far-fetched to call them racist. But as far as I know, I don't think anybody was. Yeah. So anyway. So, yeah. Good. OK. Well, I think that pretty much wraps up the news from that particular part of Elk Grove Village. Right. And let's move on to, well, almost neighbors, Jersey Jack Pinball. Yeah. They've got their new factory just one street away from Stern Pinball. Yeah. And they've been setting everything up and started their pinball manufacturing there, along with all the other companies in Illinois, once they were allowed to. and they've shipped the first games from their new factory. Yeah. They were delivered, or they were picked up, I should say, by Hemispheres Amusements.
    36:46
    I don't know exactly which games they were, but I think they were Willy Wonka's. Most likely, yes. Yeah, I think they were. Yeah.
    36:54
    So, well, congratulations to Jersey Jack for getting their first game shipped from the new place. Right. And what's interesting to notice about the new player, the new place, Jersey Jack Pinball Place, on their Facebook, they shared a photo of the entrance of the building where they have three games set up from the top of my head because I don't have the picture present. I think there's a Willy Wonka, a Yellow Brick Road, and possibly a Dialed In. Yeah, I think it was Dialed In. Yeah. And the reason that I mention that is that it's actually interesting that they sort of created this little showroom, if you will. I don't think Stern Pinball has a showroom like that. They have the enormous row, the arcade in the factory. But this is clearly a presentation like sort of a window dressing, I would almost call it. you know, basically showcasing we make pinball machines and this is what they look like.
    38:03
    And, yeah, so it's a nice little touch, I suppose. Yeah, I kind of wonder why they have those three out of the five. Is it five that they've made? Yeah, five. Yeah, Pirates and Hobbit are missing.
    38:24
    Yeah, I wonder why. maybe they don't have any maybe they've sold them all that might be the case I'm not sure whether they are keeping one of each in stock for a future museum or what have you so which is actually very uncommon for pinball companies to do so it's not a tradition so and well speaking of Jersey Jack they Well, Ken Cromwell is there in charge of communication and what have you. He's a communication specialist, I believe is the title. Sorry if I got the title incorrect. And he published two podcasts, one with an interview or where he's interviewing Brett Abyss, who is, according to the podcast, the owner of Jersey Jack Pinball, although I have to admit that I was under the impression that his father, Leonard Abbas, was sort of the investor. But I'm not sure which is exactly the role that Brett is playing in this. but he certainly seemed very enthusiastic about the company and why they got involved in it and what's coming from JCP in the very near future. Yeah, he was very big on promoting their upcoming innovations but giving no details of what they are or any timelines. We've seen that before. I think we mentioned that in the last podcast. Yeah, there was a teaser. Yes. If you want innovation, you haven't seen anything yet. Well, we haven't seen anything yet, that's true. But hopefully we will do before too long.
    40:26
    But yes, like you, it was interesting when Jersey Jack Pimples was brought in, investors were led by Leonard F.S., who, as you say, is Brett's father. we haven't heard any official announcement about any change of ownership but Brett was announced in the podcast interview as the JJP owner which was interesting or makes me wonder what happened to Leonard, he was certainly heavily involved in setting up the Illinois side of Jersey Jack Pinball and running the office up there, I think, for a long time.
    41:15
    And now Brett seems to be sort of like the operations manager or the known COO or whatever for Jersey Jack Pimble or something like that. Yeah, I don't know what the exact job title is. No, but anyway, the first interview was from Ken in the Behind the Backglass series. which, interestingly, that's a brand which is promoted in the broadcast, but doesn't seem to be promoted on their website. Well, there's a video teaser on their social media where you see various employees of Jersey Jack promoting the Behind the Backloss series, encouraging people to send in a video with their questions for the Jersey Jack team, and they will answer everything that they can.
    42:15
    Yeah, I think Ken did say that the intention is not that these will be a series of interviews. It just so happens that the first one was. And episode two also is available on the Jersey Jack people website, website which is getting kind of features a round table i would say with um with joe cass who does uh the software some of the software for jersey jack people um peter dawn some mechanical engineer there and eric munier um game designer and previously electrical engineer um on then um looking more at um how the what's the recent news is from the factory and the pros and cons of working from home, and how it feels to be back in the factory and producing games again. So that's two more podcasts, or two podcasts, I should say, from Jersey Jack Pinball's Behind the Backguard series. Right. So, yeah, and on their social media,
    43:20
    well, Jersey Jack have been promoting various pinball locations with, obviously, Jersey Jack pinball machines who have been reopening after a closure due to the coronavirus. So I guess that sums it up for Jersey Jack Pinball, I suppose. Yeah, I think it does. So let's head a little bit north and see what our friends up at Speedy Pinball are doing.
    43:45
    They're obviously producing Rick and Morty and will be for quite some time. But along with that, they've brought out some new code. a version of their software according to the date of release or the date it was signed off anyway. So the most recent one comes from the 19th of June this year. So it's version 2020.06.19, which adds another couple of dimensions, which are the way that, kind of like modes, which enable extra features during gameplay. and add an extra wall award, fix some gameplay bugs, and kind of just fiddle around with some of the game settings and the award levels and values. So just making it, tidying it up, making it a bit more complete. Right. So, and, well, there's more news from Spooky Pinball. at the time of this recording their July podcast had not been out so we don't know whether there's any news in that but what was announced is that there's a new project launched by Bug Amory the son of Charlie where basically they're going to be selling powder-coated armor kits. You have to think of legs and the lock bar, back-block hinges, side rails and all that kind of stuff for games like Alice Cooper, Total Nuclear Annihilation and I'm not sure whether you can pick your own color or whether they just... In some cases you can. There's some games where they have a couple of choices, but games like America's Most Haunted, that I think only comes in a sort of ghostly white color.
    45:50
    Right. And so, including shipping in the U.S., such a kit, a powder-coated armor kit, if you want to call it like that, will cost you $445 U.S.
    46:12
    Yeah, it's not bad, really, considering you get the legs of the lock bar, back box hinges, and side rails as well. Right. Do you get any refunds for your old legs and side rails and what have you?
    46:30
    I think they're, well, I guess once you've taken them off, you could send them off and get them powder-coated to something else, if that was what you wanted. but it's also worth mentioning that the Alice Cooper and Total Nuclear Annihilation games, I'll just call it TNA for ease of pronunciation those two games also come with some speaker grills as well in the kit although the earlier games didn't have those so they're not included but the price is the same for anyway I think some nice colours and some nice finishes on that, and this is this powder coating is something they're doing in the factory, I think. Is that right, John? Yeah, I think they built a separate powder coating room in their new facility.
    47:19
    Right. So, wow, good. Yeah, good investment, I suppose. And it actually sort of makes me wonder, obviously there's already a topper for Alice Cooper, but since they're into these add-ons to the game. I'm wondering whether we're going to see an official Total Nuclear Annihilation topper as well. Ah, yes, good point.
    47:48
    And for the record, we haven't heard anything about that. It's just me wondering, speculating, and maybe throwing an idea in the hat. Who knows?
    48:00
    Okay. Well, I can't think of anything else, any other news yet from Spooky, unless you have any? No, I think that's it for this month. Okay, let's move on. Let's go back to Illinois and our friends at American Pinball, who are producing their Hot Wheels game. Now they're firmly set up at their new place in Palatine. Right.
    48:27
    And they offered in the same way, in a slightly more generous way than Stranger Things Pro, So they've offered the first 500 games produced will come with a free Shaker motor. Woo-hoo! Yeah, well, there's a reasonable value to that. Yeah.
    48:47
    And it sounds like it's something that's a must-have in a Hot Wheels game. You can think of many instances where that would come in useful. Right. But rather than having to buy it as an off-the-market add-on, the first 500 games will come with it in sort. Right. So. And, yeah, what's also interesting to note is, obviously, American people launched this game and sort of announced it just before the coronavirus lockdown. Yeah.
    49:21
    Which resulted in that they were not able to stream it in the meantime. neither could they build it because obviously the factory was closed but now that things are loosening up a little bit in Illinois Deadflip finally got the honor of streaming Hot Wheels on June 13th and I actually watched that stream and I have to say I was actually quite impressed with how much fun the game is.
    50:02
    Yeah, it does seem to be quite a common reaction. Words coming in do seem to indicate that it's a fun game to play, and certainly, you know, if the theme is not entirely to your liking, then the gameplay certainly seems to more than make up for that. Right. And if it is, then that's an added bonus. yeah well I think it's a very good accomplishment from the team and American Pinball that they the interesting thing is and I think the consensus if you look on some of the discussions online while Turtles might be if we're talking about two games coming out around the same time Hot Wheels and Turtles and we start comparing based on the license Turtles might be an easy pick as being the favorite game, but based on gameplay, it appears that Hot Wheels might actually be beating Turtles at that.
    51:05
    Nothing against Turtles, but here we have a game that appears to focus on basically creating a fun game from the start and then making sure that it deep enough to keep it entertaining While with Turtles you instantly have to wonder like which character are you going to pick and how is it going to affect with multipliers and what have you during gameplay,
    51:41
    which for quite possibly, if you're not a tournament player, you don't care that much for that. You just want to flip a ball around and have some fun, and Hot Wheels seems to be achieving just that.
    51:57
    Yeah, hopefully the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles doesn't suffer from the same kind of bewildering selection you get on some games like Game of Thrones was one, wasn't it, where you had to pick your house, and most people who hadn't or casual players wouldn't have a clue what difference it makes and then Star Wars took that to extremes with having so many choices to make or from which you can pick at the start of the game but at least with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles there are only four to pick from and the benefits of them are well, hopefully spelled out on the screen yeah Yeah, but it's interesting that the benefits from which turtle you pick, I think there's two levels indicated, and the first level, when you reach it, it was something. But you also have to keep in mind what the second level is, in case you reach that, of course.
    53:04
    So, I sense a little bit that turtles is, code-wise, more intended at tournament players, which is fine, of course, but there might be a market for people who just want to have some fun. Yeah, I think I'll counter that and say that I think it's good to have both catered for. You have the immediate award that you get from picking a turtle, but then you also get the... If you're a tournament or a homeowner or a more in-depth player, then you can think further into the game and think well okay I get this straight away but later on I'm going to want that so I won't pick the obvious choice so you know it's got the two levels of appeal to it the immediate gratification and the strategy as well so I do quite like that as long as it doesn't become too complicated and confusing for the casual player to put all that in yeah so But, yeah, and earlier this evening, I texted with Michael Grant, who is in charge of sales at American Pinball, whether he had any news. And he told me American Pinball will announce a new code update for Hot Wheels later today. Ooh, any idea what that might include yet? A new code. Ah, okay. That would be the new car. Yeah. So, no, he didn't specify what would be happening, but keep an eye out on the American Pimble social media for more details on that.
    54:52
    He also pointed out that the mod couple revealed several mods to enhance your Hot Wheels game, which seemed to be quite fitting with the game. I have to say those mods look interesting. They're not very complex, if I may say so. But they sure dress up your game if you're into that. Yeah, and I noticed American people, I think it was American people, also put out a video or some information anyway about how you can replace the cars that are supplied with the game with your own choice of cars. Yes. So if you have certain preferences for certain models, then you can replace the ones that are in the game. So obviously modding this game is a big business, not just for American Pinball, but for outside companies as well to make mods for it. and maybe that's a good way for American Pinball to build interest and get a following behind the game to make them even easier to customize than other companies that just say, there's the game and that's all there is to it. That's all we're going to sell you. Stern have obviously taken on the idea of adding mods through their Stern shop, but maybe American are making it a little easier for buyers to make their own mods or modify the game in their own way. Well, with these $1 cars, these Hot Wheels cars, I think, are they still $1?
    56:35
    I don't know. I don't know anything about them, to be honest. Okay, well, so they used to be $1 and maybe they still are, or maybe they are $2. so basically these are the cheapest mods you can get to mod your pinball machine if you have a Hot Wheels you know so if you feel like swapping cards around then well there you go what's also interesting watching the stream from Jack Danger on the Hot Wheels games I thought it was rather interesting how the game seems to have elements from other games in sort of like the storyline I'm not sure, did you watch the stream? I didn't oh well then you probably can elaborate no explain it to me though there's this evil character that is causing some issues there's a he's causing problems in a city and then you have a news broadcast talking about what's happening in the city and so on so that sort of reminded me a little bit of Dialed In yeah sounds like it and there were some other elements that reminded me of other games as well obviously I should have written them down because now I can't remember which ones. But I thought that was rather interesting.
    58:14
    I have to say I was very impressed also with the animations on the LCD of Hot Wheels. And I understand that they got, there's some YouTube series or something like that they were able to use for storylines and what have you. but also the fonts used for scoring and indicating certain awards and what have you it looked very good to me let's just say it looked good to me yeah so compliments I suppose to Josh Kugler and his team and yeah I'm very curious how Hot Wheels will do, because this could be a very interesting game for operators, I think.
    59:10
    Yeah, it certainly looks like it. I think that was certainly where American Pinball were aiming this game.
    59:18
    That's not to say it's not a home collector's game too, but they certainly made the game a lot more maintainable, without having hugely complex mechanisms or big parts of the play field inaccessible. So it can be cleaned and maintained and operated with minimal maintenance. And they put that in their Lord's literature, I think, saying it was deliberately designed that way. So it sounds like they've also made it fun as well, which is even better. Right. And then there's one more little bit of news from American Pinball, which is, well, not as much fun, I suppose.
    60:06
    We reported a couple of months ago that Jim Petla came out of retirement to work at American Pinball. And I think he started out as a part-time employee. and soon enough that became full-time.
    60:24
    And unfortunately, Jim has decided to leave American Pinball. And who knows, he might be pursuing other business interests or go back to being retired. That remains to be seen. but yeah I was sort of disappointed to see that they split ways yeah it's a shame obviously some kind of falling out there or dissatisfaction on Jim's part with his role at the company I know details I can't talk about it so I won't that's fine but I'm sure A man of Jim's enthusiasm and energy, even at the age that he is, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from him before too much longer. I can only hope so. I think Jim brings quite some experience to the table.
    61:31
    I can imagine other pinball companies being interested now that he came out of retirement. So hopefully other companies are paying attention. Yeah. Well, we'll leave that there for now. More to follow, I'm sure. And so, okay, let's pretty much cover most of the American Pinball news. Yes. Happenings from American Pinball. So let's head way down south and go to Jerry and the team at Multimorphic. Right. Down in Texas, who have been busy as ever.
    62:14
    Did you say Jerry or Gary? Jerry. Now, okay, just trying to avoid any... Oh, right. Oh, yes. I get your point. I'm sure we'll hear from the G-man a bit later So far he never disappoints He doesn't, no, never disappoints in disappointing But anyway, yes, back to Multimorphic, who have been busy as I was saying They've had their full production team at the factory For the last couple of weeks now I think So they're busy building games they're building their I suppose, it's a busy building heist yes most likely that's obviously their most recent game and now that production has resumed that's the game that's really in demand it's been getting great reviews and more and more people are ordering and the good news is if you're in the market for a heist there is an introduction offered and let me look up how much that exactly is I think I wrote it down $9,995 is the introduction special for Heist while technically that offer expired Multimorphic is still honoring that price but they also reserve the right to end that offer at any time So on borrowed time, if you want to get your P3 pinball platform and the heist module and software and I guess artwork as well for that game. Yeah, and the back box, I think, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, now's the time to do it before that offer runs out. Right, and you have to keep in mind that obviously the game is in demand, so there's about a six-week lead time for new orders,
    64:21
    which still is not too bad, I suppose. And hopefully it will stay at six weeks, because I understand that Texas is sort of a coronavirus crisis at the moment. It is indeed, yeah. They're closing bars and shutting down various facilities. as there's been a sharp increase in the curve of infections and deaths are also,
    64:49
    the rate of death from COVID-19 is also on the increase. So not good news there. But let's not dwell too much on that because... No, but let's hope that the team can continue building games. there's no indication they're going to close down manufacturing or businesses at the moment at least but as you say that could change if the numbers don't start to call them numbers it's people being infected or dying from Covid-19 doesn't start to come down but in the meantime yes it's all about heist but they're also still working on the software for that game as well yes and it was also announced earlier today by Jerry Stellenberg from Multimorphic that there is a heist update in the making and the next update will have player profiles and co-op play as well and with player profiles you might wonder, okay, so what good is that? One of the things that you might be able to do with your player profile, since Heist has a third upper flipper, I think there's a setting in the menu where you can choose on which flipper button you want to operate that upper flipper. And if you store that in your profile, then it will always be on that flipper, while it might be on a different button for a different player.
    66:34
    That's one of the things that you are probably able to store in your player profile. Right, and presumably history of scores and other preferential settings as well. Yes, and there was an extra ball and that kind of stuff. Yeah, well, no, volume settings, that kind of thing, if you always like to turn the volume up when you play or whatever. but that's something which is coming to the next software update or heist but there have also been some software updates as well for other games and one of the key features they've introduced this month is it's to do with listening to the audio from the game now previously it was pretty much limited to listening to the speakers in the game, as good as they are It's sometimes nice to wear headphones or even to pipe that out into an external amplifier and speakers.
    67:36
    So now Multiborfic have added USB and Bluetooth audio support to their P3 games, starting with Cosmic Kart Racing. now that means you can go into a special menu by holding in the flip of buttons when you start the game to pair the game with your headphones if you're using Bluetooth or if you're a homeowner you can open the door and plug some USB headphones into one of the ports inside the game now at the moment you have to open the door to do that but Jerry told me when I contacted him about it that they are planning on having external ports available as well on the games. So if you're operating the game on location, for instance, or don't want to keep opening the door, you should be able to just plug your USB headphones into a USB port that will be presented on the outside of the cabinet and it will immediately detect them and the audio will then go through there. So that would be good for keeping the noise down in a home environment and also for getting much clearer audio in an operated location. so they are going to bring that out to other games but at the moment it's just Cosmic Kart Racing but there will be software updates coming for all the games because it's kind of like a core function now and should be almost game independent as to which as to whether they have this USB and Bluetooth support it should be something that will be available on past games and future games right so I guess yeah absolutely so hopefully well it will be very interesting it's too bad that we don't have any pinball shows yet because I'm really curious to see how people will respond once they get a chance to play heist at a pinball show right now it's basically limited to the people who already ordered the P3 platform previously Or just bought it now, but most of those games are in private collections. And I'm really curious what will happen once more people get to experience this game.
    69:58
    Yeah, well, I haven't got to play any of the recent games. I haven't got my hands on Hot Wheels or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles yet. So I'm really keen to get back into playing pinball on location or in private homes. Right.
    70:16
    So staying in Texas. Yeah, then we moved to a little further to San Antonio, which is probably one of the corona crisis hazards. It is. It's a hot spot. Yes. Just behind Houston, I think.
    70:33
    Only Austin is also up there as well. But basically all the vaccination centers. Yeah, okay. So, yeah, we're talking Deep Root Pinball, of course. We still have to officially release their first game. But we know there's a team of people working there. And Steve Ritchie informed us yesterday, I think it was, that he was informed that pinball designer Barry Osler, who is working for Deep Root Pinball, has been hospitalized. and has been confirmed to be diagnosed with COVID-19.
    71:18
    Yes, obviously, bad news. Barry said that he thought he'd be in hospital for a while. Yeah, and, well, considering his age, I think Barry is, well, I'd say at least in his late 60s, if not 70s. I'd have thought about 70. so that makes him probably the very vulnerable age group who is at risk of dying from COVID yes I'm sure they were taking precautions there to make sure that doesn't develop any further and obviously we all wish Barry all the best and hope he's fully recovered and back out and back working at Deep Root as soon as possible. Yeah. We want to see him at the launch and a few two-game shows to present his games to us. Yeah. So apparently, well, there's more news on Barry Osler in regards to Deep Root. and then it has sort of to do with the Seattle area that seems to boycott deep food what happened is apparently a 20 year old or even older photo of Barry Osler appeared where he apparently had some sort of Halloween costume where he was wearing a black face and some people in the Seattle area commented on that photo mostly on the way that Deep Roots responded to that photo yeah it was quite a dismissive response not really addressing it but I don't know what people were expecting were they expecting Deep Root to sack Barry for it or to make some kind of well I don't know what people were expecting Deep Root to say they just reiterated that they're a racially diverse and welcoming company as you would expect them to and sort of left it at that on the basis that saying anything much else would probably be unhelpful also for Deep Root We know there's different, part of my English, if it's not accurate, it's not my native language, but there's different ethnicities working at Deep Root as well. So it's not that you can accuse Deep Root of being racist or anything like that. and um no i think it's just the fact that they didn't didn't address the the complaint um that was made to them about about that picture um per se but just just talked about things in general terms which uh annoyed people but uh i'm not sure exactly what kind of boycott that can be for deep root because they haven't got a product and they're not selling anything at the moment so Right. And speaking of selling products, there was a bit of news regarding that. DeepRoot did update their website on June 15th, which was before this whole other issue occurred.
    75:01
    And let me just quote it. Basically, it says, in 2018, we wanted to show of the five days of DeepRoot, and back in March we wanted to show off live in front of guests and a grand launch. Neither of those launch concepts make any sense anymore. Therefore, soon we will take a low-key approach. We will welcome a few pinball VIPs for a special recorded tour through our research and development history, innovations and facilities. and the website says a little bit more but basically we're looking at a low-key launch for a few invitees only and I'm afraid that well, with Trump already announcing that the US borders will remain closed for the rest of the years for citizens from the European Union I won't be one of those VIPs.
    76:04
    No, nor me. apparently. You're no longer in the European Union. And not a VIP. We're in the European Union to the end of the year. Ah. Yeah. Wow. Yes, we are for all official purposes. Yeah, so we won't be doing that.
    76:24
    But there isn't any time scale on when they're going to do this low-key. This is low-key. Yeah, okay. But then again, with the whole coronavirus situation in Texas now, you can expect further delays. Obviously, Deep Root has already been suffering delays from parts not being available, companies shutting down, or goods not being delivered, and all that kind of supply chain issues, as we call that.
    76:56
    So, yeah, it still remains to be seen when we can expect product from Deep Root and in the meantime let just hope that they keep continuing developing their games and that it will help them build a portfolio that once they ready to launch that they might surprise us all.
    77:20
    Well, I think they need to. If they've got that many people working there, they can't keep working indefinitely and not produce any product for sale. So I'm sure they're as keen as anybody to start or to put their game down there and get orders for them. But, yeah, right now it's not looking great,
    77:44
    and that announcement about having a low-key recorded launch doesn't really have much of the showbiz and pizzazz and the bravado, really, which we come to expect from deep root in there, know how they're going to change the game, and break the mould, and do something completely different, and blow the socks off everybody, and now it's a low-key recorded launch.
    78:18
    So, in the end, it'll be the games that will do all the talking, so let's wait to see what they come up with. Right. So, yeah, moving on to, well, a little bit outside the US, I suppose. Home in Taiwan.
    78:36
    Yeah. Not making pinballs yet, as far as I'm aware. No. They're still working on fitting out their factory and getting the equipment up and running because they showed some pictures on Facebook of the building and the installation work that's taking place there. Apparently the building was heating up quite a bit, basically because it's in bright sunlight most of the day.
    79:05
    And it's a metal building, and apparently that heats up quite a bit when being exposed to direct sunlight.
    79:16
    So it's being, I suppose, isolated or something like that? Insulated. Insulated, yes. Sorry, that's my not native English. Yeah. So that's one of the things that's happening. And another issue that they're currently facing is that it turns out the current voltage used in Taiwan is different than what is being used in China, which means that a lot of their machinery is not working. Yeah. And so what I understood is that they're trying to fix each machine. but I'm wondering, isn't it easier to just get a generator and generate the right voltage that you need to operate all those machines?
    80:06
    Well, it may not be possible to do that. They might have emissions restrictions around there. If you get the generators, it produces emissions and it produces noise, and maybe that kind of thing is not allowed in that area. And also, how long are they going to keep doing that for? and it's not a normally having a generator is not a long term solution it's just a stop gap until you can get the core issue solved so seeing as they're not making games at the moment it's probably going to be easier for them to get that sorted out first and get everything working and then they can start ramping up the production properly right okay so that was basically all the news from Homepin that there is to report and if we move a little more south I suppose we end up in Australia Haggis Pinball yeah been very quiet from Haggis really we haven't had any videos or any updates on any of their social media feeds other than to say that they're still there and they will have some news in a few weeks sounds like I'm not going to get anything anytime soon. That was posted two days ago, so... Yeah. So, it makes you wonder what's going on with them. Presumably not very much, although they haven't got much to report. Right. So, oh well, we'll just wait and see and hope for the best.
    81:42
    Yeah. Wish them well. I hope that they can, if they've got any problems, they can overcome them. Okay, so if we're already touring the world, basically, Dutch Pinball. Well, we're not relying on you for any information there. Have you spoken to Barry at all recently?
    82:00
    No. I'm now trying to remember. I reached out to him when we recorded our previous monthly episode, which was a month ago, of course.
    82:14
    I asked about it. Some time ago there were plans to do a video stream from the factory. I asked whether, since there were some liberations regarding the coronavirus situation coming up, I asked him whether he had any plans to schedule that. But he told me he hadn't even thought about that. interestingly july 1st saw some further liberations regarding the coronavirus so um who knows but it could also be that they're just too busy building games and there it's not on on their agenda for uh for the moment so no news um but um i'm assuming that they're still building games and uh especially since uh the coronavirus situation is uh improving much over here in the Netherlands, so there's no reason to assume that that's affecting their business. Contrary, hopefully. Yeah, hopefully they'll be able to ramp up a bit more even. Right. Good. We skipped one company or two companies in America, which I'd like to get back to. First, Chicago Gaming.
    83:35
    Yeah. As far as I know, not much going on there. I think in our last podcast, we mentioned that Chicago, we'd just been in contact with Chicago Gaming, and they'd announced or confirmed, I should say, that Butch Peel had been employed by the company as their lead service engineer.
    83:57
    It was actually on the 1st of June that they put out a statement. So I guess that falls within the limits of this podcast, even though we did cover it last time. But I don't think I have any other news from them. Do you? No, I don't think so. Okay, so they're still turning out games. Yeah. Okay, then we have Cirx Maximus who are working on Kingpin, but I haven't seen any news from them. No, their social media, Facebook and other websites and other outlets are all no updates for many months. on those. So I suppose we might get some more stuff coming out when shows are imminent, but we're not entirely sure when those shows are going to be. Shows are still being cancelled.
    84:56
    In the UK we had our UK Pinfest main national shows, that's been cancelled. the new show Pinbrew Fest which was rescheduled until August that's also been cancelled that's in Girard in Ohio things in September haven't been cancelled yet I know the Austria Comic Con where Stefan Riedler and RS Pinball are planning to have a big display of games that's going ahead as far as everybody knows I think it's been confirmed it's going ahead for September and the Ann Arbor Pinball Showcase, you know, Clay Harrell's place in Michigan. That's not near Michigan.
    85:44
    That is in Michigan. That was rescheduled as well to September and that's still going ahead at the present time.
    85:55
    And as before, on the Pinball News website, and I'll do this as a blatant plug, in the diary section we're keeping track of which ones have been cancelled or postponed or not cancelled in our diary, so you can find the details of what will be the next show that actually takes place. Right. Yeah. And, well, speaking of shows, Rob Burke of Pinball Expo did send out an email with a questionnaire asking people whether they are intending to attend Pinball Expo if it will take place.
    86:34
    And the questionnaire was rather basic, I would say. I couldn't find a fitting answer whether that's probably to do with aiming at international visitors like me. Basically, I would love to attend Pinball Expo, but since the borders are closed it's going to be a rather difficult challenge for me yeah it's a problem real shame all geared up for that and I got all new equipment and everything ready to go for this year's coverage of the seminars and I guess I have to wait so speaking of coverage of seminars obviously Pinball Expo is the biggest pinball show with the most number of seminars usually.
    87:28
    Would a virtual edition with seminars recorded from various speakers at various locations make sense to you?
    87:38
    I think it could certainly work. I don't know whether you'd do it as just pre-recorded talks from people, whether you try and do it as an interactive stream. That would probably be the better way of doing it, so people can take questions from the audience. You can do both. You can do a pre-recorded section and then you go live once that's done and take questions from the audience. I've seen that happen with other Zoom events, so to speak. Yeah, you certainly could. Yeah, I suppose the question is what's the angle for Pinball Expo? If they were doing that, I suppose it promotes the brand for them and keeps the idea in people's minds that Pinball Expo is the place where you go to hear all the seminars and hear the speakers that you want to hear from. but it's a lot of work and obviously no one's unless you do it on subscription no one's contributing to the costs of any of this right or you have to make it a paid model but I'm afraid if people are already being used at the seminars that you record are available for free I'm not sure whether they would pay for them this time yeah and of course the recording will get out anyway. So just as they do with the Stern Insider paid ones, all the details are made available anyway, even if at the time of publication or broadcast, only those who subscribe can actually watch it.
    89:28
    It's a difficult model to make work, and particularly given the short timescale that Pimble Expo have to get it all set up to get people signed up if they're going to do that right so oh well hopefully for Rob Burke either Expo can take place as scheduled and people will massively line up to be there as it might be the only Pimble show this year yeah hopefully keeping a suitable distance I'm very interested to see how they do the Stern Factory tour.
    90:05
    Right. Well, it might be easier to maybe visit the Jersey Jack Factory this time. Yes. Well, I think I won't tell you more about the possibilities of that. So, oh well.
    90:22
    So, let's see. Well, there is some other news. Some sad news I have to say. And, yeah, again, part of my English, as it's not my native language, but earlier or early June, we were informed that Steve Epstein was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. And I think less than two weeks after that, he already passed away. Yeah. Steve, obviously very well known in the pinball community, the founder of the Broadway Arcade in New York, and he and Roger Sharp together, pioneers of competitive pinball rankings and tournament systems. and of course Steve's reach through the pinball goes much further than that but if we went through everything he's been involved in over the years this podcast would have another hour at least added to it. Yeah.
    91:39
    But yeah, really sad to see such a sudden death of such a well-respected, I think it's fair to say universally loved.
    91:54
    Oh, yeah, absolutely, yes. I've never seen him without a big smile on his face. I've never seen or heard anyone say anything negative about him. No. I don't think there's anybody else in the pinball industry or business you can say that about.
    92:11
    Yeah, that's probably true. I only met him on, I think, one or two occasions. It was very interesting to see how he was traveling to Europe whenever the IFBA World Championship was held in Europe. He was always there.
    92:28
    And I thought it was... I didn't expect him to join the championships whenever they were overseas, but I was happy that he did, and I was able to meet him that way. well his legacy lives on through the IFPA and Papa of course and also his name lives on in the Epstein Cup which is part of the IPA World Championship and not to forget modern pinball in New York yeah absolutely which is absolutely instrumental in setting up right so and oh well may he rest in peace indeed and well other surprising news less dramatic than the passing of Steve Epstein Canada's Pinball Podcast was about to air its 500th episode and didn't get that far no, 499 yes, and that was it Yes, and then it stopped. And apparently, obviously, if you're familiar with Kaneda's Pinball Podcast,
    93:55
    he was certainly someone who wasn't shy to speak his opinion. And he also didn't mind leaking material if he had access to it. and I think well the most recent leak that he was I'm not even sure whether he was the one who leaked it but once it was out there he shared it as well, let's put it like that was the details from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game from Stern where he truth be told knew a lot of details about which were all correct and apparently that was his last leak because obviously the show got cancelled and the reason for that as far as I understood is that there were complaints filed at his employer and I understand he works in marketing and he's very good at his job over there and he was called into HR where they told him that people were contacting the company about his pinball podcast and you have to understand that obviously the guy has to make a living and as such he was like he wasn't going to let a pinball podcast ruin his marketing career, which is very understandable.
    95:45
    And as such, episode 499 was his last episode. Yes, well, I think it's fair to say that most employers these days will have various terms and conditions in their employment contracts requiring you not to bring the company into disrepute in any way through your work or out-of-work activities. And I guess somebody at some point decided within the advertising company that he works for that the podcast or his actions were not of benefit or didn't show the company in a good light. although I think many people even knew who he worked for anyway so it would be hard to... Yeah I'm not sure whether it was that but obviously if someone starts complaining with your employer and they want to have a talk with you then apparently they are taking these claims rather serious and yeah, you can wonder whether it's a, what to think of someone complaining to someone's employer about a pinball podcast.
    97:10
    And obviously online people are speculating who might be behind it. But as far as we know, there's no proof. So we're not going to call any names either. At least I'm not. No. Quite right. We have no idea. And there's probably only a very few people who do know who that is. I'm sure they're not talking.
    97:33
    Right. So there we go. But still, we have to... Sorry. While Kaneda's Spinball Podcast is gone, you have to applaud him for doing 499 episodes. I think that's the biggest number of Spinball Podcasts that anybody has ever recorded so far.
    97:57
    Yeah, it would be hard to beat that, I would have thought. Well, as long as we keep on running long enough, then we might get there.
    98:07
    But no, it's very impressive. And keep in mind, he already won three Twippy Awards for his podcast, and he might even win a fourth while he's no longer around. The podcast, that is. So, yeah, people might disagree with the way that Chris, which is the real name of Kaneda, addressed certain issues.
    98:35
    But we also have to acknowledge that he was there to warn people about certain individuals trying to run a pinball company being full of shit. And he was basically one of the few that actually called him out and told him, like, this guy is not doing what he says. He was basically flat out lying. So, and it takes courage to do that, you know. And I also, and this is very, not as important probably, but I don't think I've ever been able to hear Chris say any ums,
    99:26
    which is something that I do a lot, and I really envy him for being able to talk without any ums. Yes, yes.
    99:35
    I have to say I've never listened to any, but, yes, from what I've heard, He is very professional in the way, was very professional in the way which he put his ideas over and was not short of means of expressing himself, shall we say. Yeah. So, oh well. I suppose that's all the news that there is to sum up the month of June 2020. Yeah. well that went rather well I suppose so it's good to see new games coming out and people manufacturing games hopefully locations opening up so people can play them on site and lots of people getting their games at home and hopefully some shows coming up later in the year but not just yet it seems so yeah Yeah, as you say, positive mostly, with a couple of very marked sad points. Okay, so, now before we, well, basically, this is the time where we say goodbye, but you feel like catching a beer after this? Yeah, I think we can do that. Let's do a socially distanced share of a brew or two. Right, okay. So thank you for listening to this month's episode. I'm not expecting any special interviews in the meantime between now and the next monthly episode. But then again, you never know.
    101:23
    Thanks for your attention. if you are subscribed to the Pimble Magazine newsletter you'll also be getting a summary of what is being discussed in this podcast and from my end thank you very much for listening and I hope to be back with you next month yes we look forward to it and we look back on the month of July 2020 and catch us at the start of August. So until then, from me, Martyn Ayer, and from my co-host,
    102:00
    Jonathan Houston. Sorry. We'll wish you a very happy July, and we'll see you next month. Okay, thanks. Bye-bye.
    102:12
    Okay, so, how about that beer? Can you follow me to the kitchen? Okay, cool. So, I think that went rather well. What do you think?
    102:24
    Yeah, very good Yeah, I think we covered everything there It's been a busy month And Lots to cover And I think we've got it Got it all down Yeah Is that my phone ringing in the back?
    102:36
    Oh, I don't know Who would be ringing this time? Yeah, it's rather late So it's probably nothing Just my imagination Oh well Cheers mate Cheers
    102:52
    Thank you.