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Chicago Gaming Company Announces New Cactus Canyon Model (Ep.67)

A Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·30m 43s·analyzed·Nov 11, 2021
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

CGC's surprise SE+ announcement reframes Cactus Canyon LE scarcity narrative amid dealer inventory and speculative buying.

Summary

Host discusses Chicago Gaming Company's announcement of a new Cactus Canyon SE+ model priced identically to the Limited Edition, clarifying that despite claims of LE sell-out, significant inventory remains available to consumers through dealers. The host analyzes pricing dynamics, secondary market speculation, and upcoming DLC from Lyman Sheets, while also sharing competitive pinball tournament updates.

Key Claims

  • Cactus Canyon LE is not sold out to consumers; 30-40+ units confirmed unsold in dealer inventory, possibly 100+ nationally

    high confidence · Direct claim from host based on dealer conversations; host states 'I know for a fact that there's at least 30 to 40 that haven't been sold yet'

  • SE+ MSRP of $9,249.99 is identical to LE MSRP, making LE underpriced and driving secondary market prices to $13,000-$14,000+

    high confidence · Host references specific pricing matrix and observed third-party sales; states 'I promise you, now that the SE Plus is out there, it's highly likely that a cactus canyon le is worth more than thirteen thousand dollars'

  • Speculative buyers unaffiliated with pinball are actively purchasing 8-20+ LEs for resale

    medium confidence · Host relays dealer anecdotes of buyers admitting to multiple units on order; states 'I know that they exist' but bases claim on secondhand dealer reports

  • Cactus Canyon is one of the easiest modern pinball games with minimal threat of drain and limited strategic depth

    high confidence · Host's personal assessment based on extensive play; observes 'there's really no reason with the current code to deviate from just staying on a vertical plane'

  • SE+ announcement was unplanned/poorly communicated; dealers had no advance notice

    medium confidence · Host states 'several dealers...had no idea what I was talking about' regarding SE+ rollout; suspects last-minute decision

  • Upcoming Cactus Canyon DLC rule set pricing will likely be $800-$1,000+, with comparison to $1,250 topper cost

    low confidence · Host speculates on pricing range; explicitly states 'It all speculation I don even know if the people at CGC know yet'

  • Host recently broke into IFPA top 50, with goal of reaching top 64 for IFPA Worlds qualification

    high confidence · Personal tournament result disclosure; host clarifies rank may be provisional pending month-end confirmation

Notable Quotes

  • “The game itself is definitely not sold out to consumers. That's very important.”

    Host @ ~15:00 — Core clarification correcting widespread belief; reframes entire inventory/scarcity narrative

  • “If you got locked in at the MSRP price, you haven't even paid in full, most likely for a game at this point. You've just put down a deposit for a game that's already appreciated $2,000 to $4,000, which is amazing.”

    Host @ ~30:00 — Explains secondary market dynamics and LE owner windfall due to pricing miscalculation

  • “This is a B tier game...and now here it is just selling like hotcakes, people speculating on it.”

    Host @ ~35:00 — Reflects on unexpected Cactus Canyon demand despite game's lower-tier status relative to classics

  • “I'm very curious to see when that Cactus Canyon new rule set comes out from Lyman Sheets. I'm curious to see what the pricing will be on that.”

    Host @ ~40:00 — Identifies upcoming DLC as major revenue/adoption question for CGC and current owners

  • “These younger players...they have such a built-in advantage because their reaction skills are just so much more there compared to the rest of us.”

    Host @ ~55:00 — Observation on competitive pinball meta shift favoring younger players with superior reaction times

Entities

Chicago Gaming CompanycompanyCactus CanyongameLyman SheetspersonTom GraffpersonFox City's PinballorganizationChicago ExpoeventMonster BashgameAttack from Mars

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: CGC possibly planning licensed game release for summer 2022 (moving away from remakes) based on current rollout velocity

    low · Host speculation: 'I wouldn't shock me if Chicago Gaming had another game coming out...I would hope sometime next summer'; based on pattern of rapid execution observed

  • ?

    community_signal: CGC's Cactus Canyon launch planning and messaging characterized as poorly coordinated and last-minute despite 2-3 years of prior rumors

    medium · Host notes dealers unaware of SE+ launch, Zach Manny (video producer) given only 'couple of days' to shoot announcement, overall 'shotgun strategy' execution

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: LE buyer sentiment shift from potential regret (due to SE+ announcement) to euphoria due to asset appreciation and scarcity recognition

    medium · Host acknowledges initial concern from LE buyers about game value depreciation, then reframes as massive windfall due to underpricing and secondary market dynamics

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Youth players showing decisive advantage in competitive pinball due to superior reaction times and ability to absorb modern Stern game mechanics

    high · Host observes younger players 'crushing it' at Chicago Expo; compares youth reaction advantage to inherent 'steroids' or 'infinity gauntlet' effect

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Cactus Canyon identified as oversimplified modern pinball with minimal strategic depth; described as 'one of the easiest' contemporary games with excessive safety/forgiveness

    high · Host's repeated assessment: vertical shot focus only, all shots in upper third, minimal drain threat, average players can reach end-game within days; requires rule set DLC overhaul to add strategic depth

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.092

0:00
Welcome back to another episode of A Pinball Podcast. Thank you guys so much for being here. I greatly do appreciate it. And today we are going to keep talking about Cactus Canyon from Chicago Gaming. There's a few more tidbits that have come out and actually a whole new model now that has been announced since our last podcast. So we're going to discuss that today. and i would be remiss if i did not tell you guys that yes i made a mistake last episode or last podcast and i know i had plenty of you out there pointing it out to me and rightfully so because it was just a boneheaded move by my part but upon looking at the cactus canyon remake i noticed that there was a ball return from right to left across where the train was, a habit trail, you would say. And lo and behold, I just drew a total blank. And in my head, I was convinced that I have not seen this before, which is just utterly bizarre because I've played Cactus Canyon dozens of times over the years, if not probably over a hundred times at this point. And I, for the life of me, just could not remember that at all. And I know there's some people out there that were wondering, well, you know, if you've actually played it, how would you not know that that existed? And I would tell you, well, it's because, you know, the, the gameplay is just so memorable on cactus Canyon that, yeah, that's exactly why I forgot. But I do have receipts if you're watching on YouTube right now. And here are the receipts right here from our last league final took a, a great selfie right here. I'm just entirely photogenic. As you can tell, I just, even out in public, I, I dress like this. I know, it's sad. But anyways, back here in the back, as you can tell right here, Cactus Canyon right there in the background. And yes, it is turned off because it is broke. What's wrong with it? I don't know. But the bottom line is it's in a line with the Monster Bash, Cactus Canyon, and Attack from Mars. All original, all play great when they're turned on. At least they feel great whenever you play it. But yeah, when it comes to Cactus Canyon, though, for me, guys, honestly, it just i would say out of the big three that are around and we're talking about medieval madness we're talking about attack from mars we're talking about monster bash i would say cactus canyon for me doesn't quite approach where those three are actually at in terms of gameplay in terms of rule set in terms of just creating something that is just ultimately fun to play now i'm not saying that Cactus Canyon can't be fun to play. I'm just saying for me, I don't enjoy that game quite as much as the other games or anywhere near as much. I will say that if you've never played one before, definitely as always, make up your own opinion. You know, make up your own mind whether or not you're gonna like this game or not. Don't just base it based off what I'm saying. You need to get out there, actually play it, watch video, kind of look around and see what you think after that, after you experience it for yourself. but in terms of the actual overall gameplay of it i will say i believe that cactus canyon is probably one of the easiest if not the easiest modern day pin that there is i mean the shots are just right in front of you there's nothing really dangerous there's really no reason with the current code to deviate from just staying on a vertical plane just staying north and south with your shots are just, there's literally really no reason to go horizontal with anything in that game, which means you're going to have long ball times. And plus all the shots are in the upper third of the whole game. And because of that, even if you do break a shot, it's not like it's going to, you're not going to be in danger of draining. Let's just say it that way. So if you're kind of, if you're an average player, this might be the type of game that you really do enjoy. This might be the type of game to where you can feel like you're getting somewhere. You're getting deep into the game. Although, relatively speaking, the deep parts of this game is probably the equivalent to a three-foot kiddie pool at this point. But that's why they got Lyman and Josh helping out with the new code that's coming out that will end up being DLC for everything else. And I know they've shored up some parts of the code, obviously, with, I guess, Cactus Canyon continued. And I have had a chance to play that. But again, the majority of my time is spent with the original code. and it really is bare bones if you're playing original code. But I can see the value for people that want to play this and want to play something that is very forgiving in terms of a shooter. And if you're looking for that, you will find it right here. Now, if you're an above-average player, or you fancy yourself as an above-average player, pretty much you're going to finish up playing this game within a week, if not within a couple of days. I mean, there was reports coming out from people that had just played it for the first time ever, and they felt like they were already at the end of the game by their first, second, or third games played on it. And that's what Cactus Canyon is, and that's why this game sorely needs a full revamp of the entire rule set to make it worth your while to keep digging further and further into this game. But, you know, it is what it is, and I'm sure the DLC coming out will address all of that pretty much. So now that we talked about that a little bit,
game
Medieval Madnessgame
Cactus Jacksorganization
Freeplay Floridaevent
IFPA Worldsevent
The Pinball Showorganization
Zach Mannyperson
  • $

    market_signal: Significant gap between wholesale 'sell-out' (dealer allocation sold to distributors) and consumer availability; 30-100+ units still unboxed in dealer network

    high · Host claims direct knowledge from dealer contacts of unsold inventory; clarifies 'sold out' terminology applies only to CGC->distributor channel, not end-consumer market

  • $

    market_signal: Speculative/investor buyers entering pinball market to flip limited editions in bulk (8-20+ units per buyer)

    medium · Two separate dealer anecdotes of buyers admitting to multiple units on order for resale; host indicates pattern consistent with other industries but specific sourcing unclear

  • $

    market_signal: Three-tier pricing model (SE/$7,999 vs SE+/$9,249.99 vs LE/$9,249.99) creates confusion and undermines LE differentiation at identical price point

    high · Host directly addresses dealer pricing dilemma: LE cannot be sold at MSRP when SE+ exists at same price; predicts rapid price divergence favoring LE

  • $

    market_signal: SE+ MSRP identical to LE MSRP creates perverse incentive structure; underpriced LE drives secondary market inflation and speculative buying

    high · Host documents LE prices rising from $9,249.99 MSRP to $13,000-$14,000 in secondary market within weeks; identifies this as intentional scarcity creation mechanism

  • ?

    announcement: CGC surprise announcement of SE+ model with topper at identical LE pricing, creating new market tier

    high · Hosts confirms SE+ officially added to CGC product matrix; rollout was unannounced and caught dealers/distributors off-guard

  • ?

    product_strategy: Upcoming Cactus Canyon DLC rule set from Lyman Sheets represents first major post-launch code overhaul at scale for CGC consumer market

    high · Host identifies DLC as critical to game longevity; notes pricing strategy ($800-$1,000+) will determine adoption rate among current owners

    • 5:18
    Cactus Canyon itself with CGC, An interesting move happened this past weekend. Now, initially, it was just the special edition and the limited edition coming out, with the special edition being priced right at $7,999.99 MSRP. The LE was priced at $9,249.99, so $9,249.99. That's where they were priced at with their MSRP.
    5:50
    Now, that basically, it created a situation in which when you have your lowest tier model that close in price to your LE, it's a guarantee that you're going to make your LEs fly. In which case, if that was their goal, that's exactly what happened. Now, for me, I definitely missed the mark on this because early on, I thought that this game wouldn't be near as popular as, say, an Attack from Mars or Monster Bash. But the fact is, we're also in 2021 now. and the whole game has changed. If it was at this point about 18 months ago, I still would hold that belief that I don't think Cactus Canyon would sell as much as the games that came before it. But again, new era, new money, new ball game, a lot more people in this hobby now. So it doesn't shock me at all that this game sold the way that it did. Now, what is very confusing right now though, and I'm sure a lot of you that are reading through message boards, you're listening to other content, or you have email blasts coming out to you, you're under this belief that the limited edition is completely sold out. It's unobtainium. You're not going to find it. You're just going to have to settle for this new model that's coming out. And the new model that I'm referring to, in case you don't realize what's going on, is called the SE+. And the SE+, all it basically is, is a standard edition with a topper put onto it. And yes, the MSRP is the exact same price as the limited edition. So this is why this is important right here. This is why this is very, very important what I'm about to say. So it's been claimed that the LEs are all sold out.
    7:26
    And, you know, it's kind of like this gray area because the fact is if you're looking at it from Chicago Gaming's standpoint as the manufacturer, as the people creating this game and getting it to their dealers distributors or whoever else It makes sense that they saying hey this is sold out because they obviously did sell through their entire I guess just allotment of games that they created I say allotment. The amount of games that they created, they sold through to their dealers, to their distributors wholesale. That's what I'm assuming that they're meaning whenever they say sold out. Now, nobody's really saying that publicly. And to my knowledge, everybody can correct me if I'm wrong, but to my knowledge, Chicago Gaming has not said that specific thing publicly. It's just, hey, it's sold out. And even if you look on their matrix, which we're going to look at right now if you're over on YouTube,
    8:18
    even if we look at their matrix, as you can tell, the SE Plus, plus the Special Edition and the Limited Edition, they're all on here. So the SE Plus is on here now. And if we go to the very bottom, you can see right here that on the LE side, It clearly says sold out. And on the SE Plus, it's $92.49, and on the SE, it's $7.999.
    8:40
    So it makes sense if Chicago Gaming is claiming it's sold out by them just selling through distributors and dealers. But I need to be crystal clear with you guys out there. I do know for a fact that this game is not sold out to consumers, and that's the important thing to understand about this situation. Again, I'll repeat this for people that might just be hearing this for the first time. This game, Cactus Canyon Limited Edition, the remake from Chicago Gaming, is not, not, not sold out to consumers. All right? It's very important. So that means if you're sitting on the fence and you missed out on an LE and you really, really want an LE, they're still out there. They're just not up for sale yet, but I'm telling you, there's several dealers, several distributors out there that still have them new in box, and they have not put them up for sale yet. And I would probably say this number has to be, I would think it would be close to 100 plus LEs. They're still unaccounted for, at least in America. That's what I would have to assume. I know for a fact that there's at least 30 to 40 that haven't been sold yet. So they're still out there is what I'm saying, and it's up to you as the consumer. I'm trying to keep you guys as informed as possible. That doesn't negate the fact that, hey, if we go by the definition of sold out from Chicago Gaming, yeah, sure. They've sold this out completely to a dealer, but guess what? The dealer still has these games new in box. They are still out there. They're just not up for sale yet. And so this creates an interesting situation in which the SE Plus was announced this past weekend, And the rollout of that was just, it was kind of crazy because I started getting texts, started getting a couple of phone calls of people asking me if I've heard about this or not. And yeah, I'm going to be one of the last people to hear about it anyways because I don't sell games for a living. But I ended up contacting a few of my buddies that sell games for a living, and they had no idea what I was talking about. So apparently there was only a few people that even realized that there was going to be a special edition plus launched out of nowhere, basically, saying, hey, we got a topper with this, and hey, this is what the price is going to be. So it created kind of an interesting situation and an interesting reaction from the pinball community in general, especially considering people had already put in money for the LE, and they're still awaiting to get that. Now, that being said, I know that the feeling from everybody is, well, I say from everybody. From some people out there, I know the feeling is, well, what does this mean for my LE? And as a future owner, does that mean that my game's any less valuable? Does that mean that, hey, I kind of got screwed because I paid extra for the topper right here, and then I wanted it to be special, and now I find out somebody else is going to get the topper?
    11:32
    So ignoring all that, I mean, here's the fact, guys. For your LE, the LE is crazy underpriced. I'm saying it is, to me, when I look at what some of these third-party prices are going for, and we're going to talk about that in just a second, when I see what they're going for and I see how quickly people were just trying to gobble up this game, it was really underpriced. And I would have to venture to say I think the Special Edition is overpriced. So it's kind of one of those situations to where when you look at the lowest tier model being as close as it is to your limited edition top model, you're basically going to shove as many of those buys to the LE in general. So it's not a shocker that it flew as much as possible. That being said, LE adopters, if you're in on an LE, your game is definitely worth $2,000 to $4,000 more right now. It is. I mean, the fact is you are getting a crazy, crazy deal. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, if you're not happy with your LE the way that it is just because there's an SE+, I'm telling you, somebody else will gobble it up at your cost or $500 more easily. They won't even think anything of it. And I'm saying it's even more apparent that this LE is worth more because the SE+, just with the toppers priced, exactly the same, exactly the same as an LE. And we can go over this right now, just going over the matrix real quick to see what's included with the LE and what's not included with the SE Plus. Because, again, these are still the same MSRP. And, again, these LEs, right, these LEs have not been sold out to consumers. So now this puts dealers and distributors or whoever has this game new in box, it puts them in this weird position. Where do they price it at now? You cannot price the LE any longer at MSRP, even to your end user consumer, because it makes no sense to have your LE that everybody wants to price it exactly the same as a product that apparently doesn't really have a limit to it now with the SE Plus. So keep that in mind as well. And I think automatically that this is going to make prices rise pretty quickly. But again, so I'm kind of getting off track here. Let's discuss the matrix of the SE Plus and the LE. So as you can tell right here, if you're looking on YouTube, the artist's sculpted mine car and tracks, that's with the LE, not with the SE+. So everything I'm saying here is basically with the LE and not with the SE+. The sculpted train tracks themselves, that's with the LE. Gunslinger lower arch, LE. Limited edition metal serial number medallion, obviously with the LE. The Wild West shootout topper. So this one is with the SE Plus and with the limited edition. The topper is exactly what makes this a plus. Custom interior art blades, LE only. Shaker motor, LE only. There you go right there. And of course, you've got the enhanced software, original software, which is with all three models. But that puts us in such an interesting situation in which even here we look at the trim color. stainless for the SC Plus, which is exactly the same as the standard edition, and the LE gets the gun metal gray finish, so a totally different finish. But again, this puts us in an interesting spot in which there is two models out there, and one of them is considered the top tier model, but MSRP wise, it's the exact same price as the mid tier model. So yeah unwrap that for a second That kind of the situation that been created here And I just it very interesting that it pushed that the LE sold out We're seeing that heavily pushed towards us. And it makes me think that this is really designed in order to push that SE plus more. I would think that the SE itself is obviously not going to be their big seller. It's always going to be the top tier model. So why not create something that kind of bridges that gap together? Now, I would be like, I'm totally OK with this. Like, do whatever it's your business. You know, I would have preferred to see this from the very beginning. It's very odd that this wasn't there. But then again, from the very beginning, this is seeing this has been just a complete discombobulated situation. I mean, we we heard Zach many talk about this on the pinball show earlier this week, and he kind of alluded to the fact that when he shot the initial video for Cactus Canyon, he just had a couple of days to do it. And basically that means that there was really no extreme planning for this in terms of getting this game to the people and getting it debuted properly. Now, at least there is a debut, but that just kind of shows you just this almost like a shotgun strategy of rolling this out, which is kind of shocking considering that this has been rumored for two or three years at this point. It's not like it's a surprise on CGC's part that, hey, we have this game, we're going to release it. It's just from how things have gone down at Expo to how this debut video went to how this past weekend went with announcing the SE Plus and just the overall communication. And it's just, it blows my mind. It's out there right now. But, hey, if you are a pinball player and you want this game, at least you're going to be able to get one of these games. There's no fear of it not being manufactured or anything like that. So that's a good thing. Silver lining, that's what we've got to look for in all of this. And I'm excited for the people that have gotten a hold of this game. Now, that being said, kind of rolling back here a little bit.
    17:18
    Again, I can't stress this enough. The game itself is definitely not sold out to consumers. That's very important. So if you're wanting this game, I would say just hold tight until maybe shortly before Christmas, maybe even in January. The games should start coming out. you should start seeing some being available for sale. Now, that being said, I guarantee it's not going to be for $92.50 any longer. I mean, new in box right now because the SE Plus now exists, and we were all thinking before the SE Plus even existed, we were thinking, hey, this LE is underpriced, and it's probably actually around $11,000, $13,000, around that range. I promise you, now that the SE Plus is out there, it's highly likely that a cactus canyon le is worth more than thirteen thousand dollars at this point new in box that's just the reality of it that's 2021 that's the atmosphere that we're in that's the ecosystem that we are playing in right now and we have to face facts that that's where the pricing is and i know that there have been some le's that have already switched hands third party that exceed $13,000. And I think maybe even a couple exceed at $14,000 as well. So keep that in mind as well when you're making your decisions on what game model you want to go for, whether you want to actually get a hold of an LE or whether or not you're just happy with your standard edition with or without a topper. That's entirely for you to decide. But if you are an LE owner, I would say just hold tight. Be happy that this SE Plus exists because basically what has happened, if you got locked in at the MSRP price, you haven't even paid in full, most likely for a game at this point. You've just put down a deposit for a game that's already appreciated $2,000 to $4,000, which is amazing because it benefits you and it definitely doesn't benefit that dealer that decided to sell the game at MSRP, which blows my mind too at that point. But that's where we're at right now. So I mean, kudos to the LE owners, you guys, early adopters, all got a huge bucket of wind by getting in on this game immediately. Now, that being said, what's very interesting as well, throughout all this and talking to a few dealers out there, I am aware, and I've seen this before in other industries, but I am very, very much aware, and I would be shocked if this is not happening right now, but there is a few people out there that are not pinball people. I'm pretty sure they're not pinball people, and they are trying to buy up a lot of LEs. I mean, I'm talking 8, 10, 15, 20 LEs just of this Cactus Canyon remake in general to resell it. And I'm not quite sure who these people are, but I know that they exist. I know that they exist because one of the dealers I talked to said that they actually turned down somebody from getting one because they had already sold out of their allotment, but then the guy admitted, I already have eight on order anyways. and that just like that just blew my mind and i also heard from another dealer kind of hinted at the same thing that a potential buyer admitted that they had already bought a few or have a deposit down a few so this is happening this is happening and i know that people hate that it's happening but this happens across many different industries and this is and i'm not justifying it i'm just saying this is what the reality is and this is really what happens whenever you price a product that's limited edition to where you're trying to create scarcity, but it's priced in such a way that creates an enormous amount of velocity. And when that velocity of sell would have been there already, even if you were priced at $12,000, even if it would have still been there, now that you're a couple thousand underneath what people still would have bought it for at nearly the same speed, you're basically guaranteeing you're going to invite a lot of scalpers, a lot of speculators, a lot of flippers, you're also guaranteeing that you're going to make the third-party prices absolutely explode. I'm telling you, within the next few months, the prices of these particular games, these particular units for the LEs are going to explode. And so if you're sitting on an LE right now, be happy. You got a lottery ticket. You just scratched it off, and it says winner. To me, I would be absolutely shocked if the price fell out of these games anytime soon. I would be just floored because this is a B tier game. This wasn't one of the so-called A tier titles of, of that era in terms of how we look at, at least now looking back on it, how we look at monster bash and attack from Mars and medieval madness, you know, cactus Canyon just wasn't that. And now here it is just selling like hotcakes, people speculating on it. People, I mean, new models coming out for it. So it's just, It's amazing. So, again, kudos to LE owners. If you got one, good on you. If you want to get a standard, an SE Plus, go for it. I mean, I think either way, you're going to have a fun time. If you're a great player, you're probably not going to last that long on it. But I am curious to see when that Cactus Canyon new rule set comes out from Lyman Sheets. I'm curious to see what the pricing will be on that. I would have to believe if a topper, if a topper is 1250, it's really making me wonder right now, what is software that goes into completely changing your whole entire game? What is that going to be? I'm very curious. I've heard anywhere from 800. I've heard over 1,000. I don know It all speculation I don even know if the people at CGC know yet what they going to price it at But either way I very curious about that because I feel like that going to be the ultimate balance of trying to figure out where do we price this at in order to get current owners to adopt this downloadable content because that's essentially what this is. And to me, this is pretty much the first time that we've seen something like this on the scale that it is with the amount of money that is here. So I'm curious to see where that's going to be priced at. And I'm curious to see how that's going to be adopted by people. And how do you roll something like that out? I mean, how do you debut that? How do you really, really try to pull in your current consumer base to go ahead and buy this product, get that upcharge out of them? Because obviously people that haven't already adopted the game, they're not going to be buying. To me, that wouldn't make any sense. So I'm really curious to see how they're going to market this to the current owners of Cactus Canyon and how they're going to get them to adopt a brand new rule set. And I'm curious to see when that new rule set is going to come out, because judging how this is all going, it wouldn't shock me if Chicago Gaming had another game coming out. I guess finally getting away from remakes and getting to an actual licensed game, I would hope sometime next summer. I would have to believe that that's kind of the timeline that they're looking at, just judging on how quickly they're trying to get this game out and how they're trying to get the LEs rolling by January and seeing how the SEs in general will lag behind in terms of just desirability and people wanting to get them. But we'll see. We'll see what happens. Anyhow, so that's enough Cactus Canyon talk. Real quick, I'll get into tournament pinball. If you guys don't want to hear that, I bid you guys adieu. Have a great weekend. I appreciate you listening. if you're still here and you want to hear tournament pinball talk. Let's talk about that real quick. So yours truly finally broke into the top 50. I don't brag about myself much, but I'm going to do it right now. No, I'm just kidding. It's definitely a very, very cool thing to have happen. And I say that because I have so much damn support at home with my wife. She puts up with a lot with me traveling, with me practicing, with me studying rule sets. and I very much do appreciate the support system that I have at home. Even my kids asking me how it's going. I mean, stuff like that helps a lot. And there's just, I mean, I have certain goals for myself from a competitive standpoint that I do want to be ranked a certain rank. I do want to have a chance to play in IFA Worlds. I want to have a chance to qualify for that, which means you have to be top 64 in the world at a certain time frame that ends in order for you to qualify for that. So that's kind of one of my main primary goals. And a secondary goal was to break into the top 50, and I finally did that. Kind of just backdoored it, though, because I was 51st, and then all of a sudden, I guess somebody decayed, and then I ended up moving up because of that. But, hey, I'll take it, but I believe it's never truly official in terms of being on your permanent profile or whatever unless you make it to the end of the month like that. So it's going to be kind of close because I still have a few tournaments to go this month in general. But I'm happy to at least see that 5-0 by my name. And hopefully I can keep going up. But, man, there's some damn good players out there. And the competition is just insane. And we're talking all ages. And speaking of insane competition, if you didn't see Chicago Expo, definitely go back and watch that if you can. I know my boy Tom Graff, he did all the streaming there with Fox City's pinball. They did have some issues with the Wi-Fi and with, I guess, generally just trying to keep the games to where you could actually watch it without any lag or anything like that so you might experience some of that but i still encourage you to go check that out it should be on his twitch still under his vods i don't think he has it up on youtube yet but there was a lot of great games being played a lot of young players just crushing it and when it comes to sterns young players have such a huge advantage it's almost like if you so to me a younger player in pinball, and when we say younger, we're not talking like the old man, Raymond Davidson at 27 or however old you are right now, Ray. But I'm meaning like the people,
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    the kids that are below 20 or right there, they obviously have a built-in advantage because their reaction, their reaction skills are just so much more there compared to the rest of us. And I'd like to think, even being in my late 30s at 37, that I still have somewhat of my reaction that I did back when I was younger and playing baseball. And that's kind of an inherent advantage that I have over a lot of people that I played baseball for 20-plus years. And I had to work on reaction training the majority of the time. So I've been able to have a higher-end reaction than most people. But, damn, I still can't even keep up with these younger kids. and they have such a built-in advantage with their reaction. And then you build it in that they can all just really be like sponges for these new sterns and know the ins and outs, understand the geometry, and it's just like somebody that's already on steroids just getting more steroids, and they are just sort of maybe it's just like these kids have the infinity gauntlet, and we're just all just the peons just getting knocked over all the time. But kudos to all of them. There's a lot of young blood that is in competitive pinball, and I think that's a great thing. I'm happy to see it. But I will say it is time for us old people to fight back eventually because we still have some classics tournaments coming up and some other tournaments coming up pretty soon. So for yours truly, I'm going to be traveling to Kansas City this weekend. I believe even tomorrow might be a travel day since today's Thursday. So I'll be up there this weekend playing, and then I'm going to jet back to Oklahoma City. I say jet. I'm going to drive my truck very fast for five hours to get back here for another tournament this Sunday, which is Fall Face-Off. So if you're anywhere in the Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas area, and you happen not to be at the Houston Expo, if you're down there or you happen to not be doing anything else, come check out the Fall Face-Off in Oklahoma City at Cactus Jacks. It'll be all day Sunday, and it's basically like a one-day Pennburg-type event. So pretty fun. and then the following weekend I will be at Freeplay Florida which is in Orlando I think I'm going to get there on a Wednesday and just hang out with the wife for a little while I'm not going to have any kids with me at that one so it'll just be me and Monica, my wife and yeah, we'll be hanging out and having fun playing in that tournament so if you guys happen to be down there and you see me, please come by and say hello I love meeting new people I love talking about people's collections I love hearing about people's pinball stories so please, I definitely do appreciate that. And it's always humbling when I get a chance to talk to somebody and meet somebody for the first time, because I truly do appreciate you guys taking time out of your day to listen to, or hear anything that I have to say and interact with what I'm listening or with what I'm saying. I definitely do appreciate it really from the bottom of my heart, but I think that's about all I got. So we got to the 30 minute mark and I think we're good. So I appreciate you guys being here once again. And if you guys need to get a hold of me, I can be found at a pinball podcast at gmail.com. But yeah, that's all I got. I don't know what you guys are doing here anymore. Go play some pinball. Later guys. You have just listened to a pinball podcast. You can catch new shows on your favorite podcaster or over on youtube.com forward slash Marv Loco for even more pinball content.