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Pre-unbox bonus show!

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·29m 18s·analyzed·Mar 6, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Don reviews D&D pinball code .85, advocates for offline rule variants, discusses licensing barriers for niche themes.

Summary

Don discusses his experience with Stern's Dungeons & Dragons pinball machine, comparing it favorably to recent Stern releases like John Wick and Ultimate X-Men. He explores licensing challenges for niche themes (Twisted/ICP, Ghost) and advocates for dynamic offline rule modes. The episode includes tangential discussions about music licensing costs, the avatar unboxing plans, and his sister podcast We Are Pinball.

Key Claims

  • Dungeons & Dragons at code .85 is much farther ahead than John Wick and Ultimate X-Men for engagement and gameplay depth

    high confidence · Don speaking from personal play experience with 20+ plays during internet outage

  • Twisted/ICP has been asking for a pinball machine regularly, possibly weekly at some point

    medium confidence · Don's recollection of interactions with the band; unverified

  • Music licensing costs were $2 million for Harry Potter, but contemporary licenses ask for $3.5-5 million

    medium confidence · Don's analysis of historical vs. current licensing economics; appears to be estimation/opinion

  • Offline/logged-out play of D&D is less engaging than connected play; needs rule variants for one-off mode

    high confidence · Don's direct observation from 20 plays without internet connection

  • He played Venom Premium more than Foo Fighters Premium despite owning Foo Fighters longer, due to grind/completion loop

    high confidence · Don's personal play history comparison

Notable Quotes

  • “You can have an amazing theme, and I'm sure these guys get bombarded just like Weird Al does...but number one, is the licensing even available for that? If it is, are we going to get more than just a movie poster?”

    Don — Articulates core barrier to niche-theme pinball machines: licensing cost and availability constraints

  • “This is a game that you've gotta be logged in to get the full feel of and full enjoyment out of, but it's difficult just playing one-offs every time.”

    Don — Identifies design challenge in D&D's connected-mode-first architecture for home/offline play

  • “So I think there's gotta be a dynamic way or two dynamic modes to play.”

    Don — Proposes design solution for offline D&D play to improve engagement

  • “I'm totally jiving with this game much more than John Wick, much more than Ultimate X-Men, the last two releases from Stern.”

    Don — Positive sentiment shift toward D&D vs. recent Stern titles at comparable tier

  • “That grind that kept me coming back...It was intoxicating.”

    Don — Identifies core engagement mechanic: long-term character progression/completion loop in pinball

  • “Every time you start, you know, you pick one of four characters, but you can only start in one of the four towns, and they're just the same four.”

    Don — Critiques limited variety in offline D&D progression loop

Entities

DonpersonStern PinballcompanyTwistedpersonInsane Clown PosseorganizationDungeons & DragonsgameJohn WickgameUltimate X-MengameAvatar Collector's EditiongameFoo Fightersgame

Signals

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Don praises D&D's character progression and completion loop as more engaging than John Wick and Ultimate X-Men; compares to Venom vs. Foo Fighters play patterns

    high · Played 20+ games of D&D offline; played Venom more despite owning Foo Fighters longer; identifies grind/completion as key driver

  • ?

    code_update: D&D at code .85 described as 'very much in its infancy code wise' but already outperforming John Wick and Ultimate X-Men in Don's view

    high · Direct statement: 'We are at code .85 right now. So very much in its infancy code wise, but so much farther ahead of John Wick and all on Ultimate X-Men for me.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: D&D designed with connected/logged-in play as primary mode; offline one-off play lacks dynamic rule variants and becomes repetitive

    high · Don: 'this is a game that you've gotta be logged in to get the full feel of and full enjoyment out of, but it's difficult just playing one-offs every time'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive sentiment toward D&D vs. negative/neutral sentiment toward John Wick and Ultimate X-Men; marks competitive win for theme/code design

    high · Don: 'I'm totally jiving with this game much more than John Wick, much more than Ultimate X-Men, the last two releases from Stern.'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Music/band IP licensing costs ($2-5M range) create economic barrier to niche themes like Twisted/ICP, Ghost; Don articulates structural challenge

    medium · Don discusses licensing availability, cost ($3.5-5M contemporary estimates), and mismatch with niche fanbase size as reason Twisted machine 'has never been made'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.088

0:00
It's the Purple Show! Everybody put your hands up high! It's the Purple Show! And this is episode number five! It's the Purple Show! Purple, purple, purple all the time! It's the Purple Show! You listen to my Purple Rhyme! It's the Purple Show! Everybody put your hands up high! It's the Purple Show with Don! What's going on? Twisted's Juggalo Access show from probably, honestly, like 1998. Taking you back to crack to rack to crack-dack back at the Purple Show.
0:41
Got Twisted on the brink, so I'm talking to Twi- I'm talking to Twisted, I'm talking to Spooky Pinball. Twisted is a band, a patriarch or counterpart of the Insane Clown Posse, if you would. I've seen these dudes a million times, met them, hung out, whatever. So they have been asking for a pinball machine. It turns out, like, at one point it was, like, weekly. Like, these are guys that are very much into nerd culture, very much into action figures. In fact, they have another podcast called Ashtrays and Action Figures that they do. So think of, like, Kevin Smith if he was, like, raised on Faygo, born in Detroit in a dumpster, and congealed in a sewer, and was mixed with, you know, ashes from ground-up VHS tapes of Halloween. That's what you would get with Twisted. So, as a connoisseur of this kind of horrorcore movement DIY punk aesthetic, out of the Detroit sewer, I would love to see a twisted pinball machine make its way out at some point. And I think there's about four other people that would probably be interested in purchasing one, and that is the reason why it has never been made. Because, you know, you can't just take a theme that you think is amazing and put it out there and expect to, like, you know, be compensated, right? That's for homebrew. That's homebrew thinking. Absolutely I can go out and make a twisted homebrew machine and bring it to shows, but I'm not going to bring it to market because ain't nobody going to make the thing. So the deal is, like, you can have an amazing theme, and I'm sure these guys get bombarded just like Weird Al does. Like, hey, you should parody this song. Hey, you should do this. And it's like, you know, they got to say, well, yes, that would be great, but number one, is the licensing even available for that? If it is, are we going to get more than just a movie poster? www.willywink.com www.willywinks.com Tim Kitzrow, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. Cairnsoduan,
Venomgame
We Are Pinballorganization
Ghostorganization
Kevin Smithperson
Sharon Osbourneperson
Howard Sternperson
Ozzy Osbourneperson
Black Sabbathorganization
Weird Al Yankovicperson
  • ?

    rumor_hype: Twisted/ICP reportedly expressing interest in pinball machine repeatedly (possibly weekly); community interest in music-themed pinballs (Ozzy, Ghost, etc.)

    medium · Don: 'they have been asking for a pinball machine. It turns out, like, at one point it was, like, weekly.' Loser Kid Podcast crowdsourcing thread cited with 500+ posts on music themes

  • ?

    product_strategy: D&D designed with connected online experience as primary; Don planning Avatar CE home unboxing to evaluate home-specific experience and mod potential

    high · Don: 'I want to see how the home experience is with Avatar Collector's Edition in the house' and planning vertical kicker mod work

  • ?

    content_signal: Don expanding podcast presence with We Are Pinball co-hosted from Copenhagen; reporting strong Patreon traction matching contribution levels between both shows

    high · Don: 'I've actually almost met dollar for dollar the contribution amounts on WAP as we have over here on the DPP Podcast' with 'three dozen' Patreon supporters

  • $

    market_signal: Historical music licensing (~$2M) now inflated to $3.5-5M range; Don questions viability of large licenses vs. niche appeal at $15K game price point

    medium · Don: '$5 million Harry Potter licenses being signed, a $2 million license cost...if the theme was there for $15,000 games...Although with inflation, they'd probably ask for $3.5'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Don proposes dynamic rule variants or dual-mode system for offline play to address repetition issue in connected-first game architecture

    medium · Don: 'If you're playing offline one-offs, you gotta change the rules up, right?...there's gotta be a dynamic way or two dynamic modes to play'

    • 4:16
    Kakere courtesy coating sigmoviid, All of these are music themes that you would like to see and I love this kind of crowd sourcing bit of nonsense. So they got like 500 posts or something on this so far just looking through this morning. And Ozzy Osbourne kept coming up and I know that we push back and say, please guys, no more 70s band. It's not Cengiz in there like nothing earlier than the 80s please. But Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, I think, you know, if you were going to make a game that was in like kind of the same spirit, We conduct workshops, administration, talent building, analytics, and quality management. We produce and deliver digitalilyj pádeu.com, dat.com, 501-242-50008, YA.ink, whatever that ligepp McDonalds, Metaorspons, Avon, orna��el at .com, 538-182-.» The amazing Jekyll Brothers came out, like the fifth Joker's card from ICP. And they were on Howard Stern being absolutely in character. It was fantastic. Go watch this. Find it online. It's like a 1998 interview with ICP on Howard Stern. Well, they had Sharon Osbourne on there as well. And so the beef between Sharon Osbourne and ICP is legendary. So ICP was doing a tour, and Sharon Osbourne was promoting this band called Cold Chamber, another group from the 90s that I was kind of into as well. .
    6:28
    Cloudibilianbol установ 1941 Conflict Commission Scandal to podium victory for chairman of director com pembra verge l void court reviewatamente for your identity public attention imens
    6:58
    90s, early 2000s Howard Stern is just like the place to air beef. So they had Sharon Osbourne on in the studio with ICP there and she bet them like $40,000 that their next album wouldn't sell a million or something. And hint it sold much more than that went platinum a couple times And so they were like we bet you and she on air with Howard Stern like bet we going to do that And of course like they went single platinum diesen Days But Now an hiatus of
    7:30
    previous of www.willywink.com www.willywonka.com A. Freaking fantastic, you know, how do you fill a machine with Fego? That much. So, I had this dream theme of mine, I know it'll never happen unless I build it myself. I would like to see the band Ghost represented in pinball. If you don't know, Ghost, kind of a tongue in cheek satanic metal band from Sweden, very much like tongue in cheek, you know, some bands are satanic forward, you know, like that's their whole aesthetic. You know, this band is kind of playing it up more as like a parody of organized religion Iron Maid, Fantastic railway show, Saturday Night Live, Palm Beach at the cease Philing moving once, Elliot Presley as Abba Meda bure with Bob Betor hook on the top of the sock champ Tim Kitzrow, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. printbox.com
    10:41
    www.willywinks.com 16, Zero i Thanks for watching video. I appreciate it. REM language Tim Kitzrow, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. Kicking butt, man. I got the game unboxed. You guys, tons of people watched that. We got some people that want some translates. Those are going out today. I'm leveling up my character. I'm starting with that Aragorn guy. He's the paladin dragon board dude voiced by Kevin Smith, the default one that comes up when you start the game. And I'm like exploring the towns. I'm doing the quests. I'm finishing them in one town and going to another one. I'm starting to explore the map a lot more. I'm having a lot of fun with it. So then I come over to go and upload my episode and I can't get Spotify to load. What's going on?
    14:04
    The whole town was out, so what a frickin' drag. So while I was dealing with that, I was working on some mods and things, getting some prints done, boxing up some things to ship, but I couldn't print shipping labels. So what did I do? I played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons yesterday. But I played it on the non-logged in Insider Connected mode, and I gotta say, this is, I mean of course, this is a game that you've gotta be logged in to get the full feel of and full enjoyment out of, but it's difficult just playing one-offs every time. Tim Kitzrow Loser Kid Pinball Podcast You like brand new at the start because it randomly will assign you you know like a town to travel to And you know this game is all about collecting items that that make differences as you go into other battles you know leveling up characters so that they're stronger against dragons or versus undead or something. And this may sound geeky to a lot of people, but I'm totally jiving with this game much more than John Wick, much more than a Kenny X-Men, the last two releases from Stern. But I got to say, there's got to be like two modes to this game. If you're playing offline one-offs, you gotta change the rules up, right? Because what I noticed in my 20 plays that I had yesterday with that internet, every time you start, you know, you pick one of four characters, but you can only start in one of the four towns, and they're just the same four. You can't explore the rest of the map until you get through some battles, get through a multiball, and then, like, travel to another place. And then by the time you get there, it's like ball three and you're done, you know? And so I think there's gotta be a dynamic way or two dynamic modes to play. And here's how BatteryPlinkedAndDeepS Unternehmen's lawmakers spoke to the plumber. County of Connecticut is in immediate need of a minor fifth רία
    15:54
    this year, I even thought this one was going to be pretty dramatic. www.willywink.com Karthik申 — www.youtube.com The pinball show, Black Water, Pinball Brothers, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Knapp Arcade, Raydaypinball Podcast. And remember, games were going for $8,500 for the top end back then. So it's like, how could we recoup $2 million? Where today, with $5 million Harry Potter licenses being signed, a $2 million license cost, if the theme was there for $15,000 games,
    18:19
    I mean, I think you could probably make a better argument now. Although with inflation, they'd probably ask for $3.5. So hopefully someday, the licensing costs will come down to earth. pictures tall the exit of Bl sao Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams,
    19:20
    For more information, visit www.FEMA.gov Jeff Steele Hoffman, www.dennyelfman.com And MCMSN. Love that. All right. What else do we got going on? D&D. So, back to the original thought. My thoughts were you have to have kind of like an arcadey, you know, if I'm just dropping a dollar in here, like let me see kind of a lot of the game just randomly award me equipment that otherwise you'd kind of have to grind for if you were doing the adventure route on Insider Connected. And I think that might make the game a little bit more robust and interesting. And so for me, I was like, well, obviously this is probably where they're going to take this game. So you got all this fun action packed arcade adventure as just a one off but then you also have this deeper adventure if you logged in right But what happens if you start this adventure game you get all this gear and then right before your third ball drains you go and log in and now is that all going to playing
    22:22
    www.patreon.com Ben Macpherson, What you make of this Part One of today's Content? For the first time, I was able to completely play through a game multiple times, you know, beat the boss, complete the game. Well, you know, I didn't get all the Klyton multiballs and all that business, but at least able to get through, you know, the final boss and everything, unlock a character and start over. That was intoxicating, and I played Venom Premium more games than I played Foo Fighters Premium when I had it. So there you go, and I had Foo Fighters longer, but I had more plays on Venom, specifically because of that grind that kept me coming back. So that was fun. It was fun for me. So I'm excited to get back into Dungeons and Dragons. We are at code .85 right now. So very much in its infancy code wise, but so much farther ahead of John Wick and all on Kenny X-Men for me. You want to call it ultimate X-Men. So let me know. Kick me your thoughts on that. Otherwise, we're gearing up for the Avatar unboxing. That'll be later today. I want to do it earlier in the day just to help accommodate people that are in Europe, people that are in Australia. Cainuren Gissman rather neutral anthrop sogenanれて And then we'll go. Now, I could do in the morning still, but wait another day. But I don't want to wait any more days, man. I've got this game sitting here. I'm dying to get into it. I want to see how the home experience is with Avatar Collector's Edition in the house. And I don't want to wait any longer for it. I want to get this kicked off because I've got to start cracking on a mod for it. This game's got that vertical up kicker in the back, the one that you get off the plunge to do the skill shot and lock balls. Speaking, we're dedicated out Saud students of Gerndu locking works in the generates the jätte-e ward of Hayden's Lacroix curly available! www.willywink.com básicallyball.com ヾ゙ rehabilitation www.patreon.com I'm ready to go paint it up. So we'll get cracking on that as well. So be sure to like and subscribe. Check out We Are Pinball, my sister podcast. I started with my sister from another mister. Cengiz over there in Copenhagen. We have a dialogue back and forth about whatever's going on in pinball, politics included, in as far as it affects pinball. And we deal with objective reality, even the sometimes not so great parts of it. So feedback there has been phenomenal. We also have a Patreon there too. So if you're digging the content and you just want more of it, there's plenty more down behind that paywall. Throw some ducats into the bin. Three dozen of you have already and we're having a raucous time over there. I've actually almost met dollar for dollar the contribution amounts on WAP as we have over here on the DPP Podcast which is just, my mind can't even wrap my head around it. It is phenomenal. But if you want some more fun and content, go jump on over there too and hang out with me and Cengiz. We do bonus shows basically after every show where we talk about www.pintastic.com It's the Purple Show! And this is episode number five! It's the Purple Show! Purple, purple, purple all the time! It's the Purple Show! Will you listen to my Purple Rhyme? It's twisted back with the Purple Show. My fam, my fam, my kin, my foe, my love for this, this Purple shit. Being underneath the fam representing us. Today's cruise, day of clinics, day of dues, day of checks. Purple Show is the shit, get up in the mix. ... HURRIE SINGLE FEATURINGってるkellecz, Badly Winner from Beforon YouTube Lab! Dialogs with Wayne Wheeler at EuropeanBaba Water!