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Kaneda' Pinball Podcast Saturday Morning Spectacular Oct 4

Kaneda Pinball Podcasts YouTube Lives·video·22m 4s·analyzed·Oct 5, 2025
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Analysis

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TL;DR

Stern facing crisis with Star Wars flop, price collapses, and market saturation amid stronger competition.

Summary

Host discusses pinball industry trends, focusing on Stern's struggles with Star Wars sales, secondary market price collapses, and competitive pressures from other manufacturers. Also previews Big Trouble in Little China homebrew game and discusses James Bond and Jaws gameplay mechanics.

Key Claims

  • Stern only sold 770 Elite versions of Star Wars, which is 'embarrassing'

    medium confidence · Host (Kaneda) makes this claim about Star Wars (LE) sales figures as evidence of poor market reception

  • King Kong Elite has lost $3,500 in value in less than six months, unprecedented in Stern history

    medium confidence · Host references Cary Hardy Elite purchase and compares to historical Stern pricing patterns

  • Star Wars was a rushed project; John Borg did not have adequate time and resources

    medium confidence · Host claims Indiana Jones was shelved to rush Star Wars, citing limited development resources

  • Stern needs to sell four games per year to sustain factory operations, but demand is shrinking

    medium confidence · Host applies supply/demand economics to argue Stern's business model is unsustainable at current prices

  • Rumors of Stern employees unhappy and 4-day work week are not rumors but based on firsthand knowledge

    low confidence · Host claims insider knowledge of employee dissatisfaction but provides no specific details

  • The Walking Dead remake will be another burn to existing owners, like Metallica and original Walking Dead

    medium confidence · Host predicts The Walking Dead (LE) release will devalue original Walking Dead machines and create market oversaturation

  • Stern's Star Wars 50th Anniversary won't happen because Star Wars is a 'sales disaster'

    low confidence · Host speculates Stern won't pursue 50th anniversary edition based on poor Elite sales

  • Jaws 50th playfield is superior to Jaws Elite, creating a burn for Elite owners who paid $13,000

    high confidence · Host directly compares Jaws 50th and Elite playfields, discussing customer frustration

Notable Quotes

  • “They continue to hand their customers significant financial losses wrapped up in mediocrity, you know, mediocre pinball machines with B-level themes for the most part.”

    [name withheld pending review] — Core critique of Stern's current product and market strategy

  • “It's embarrassing that the Ellies didn't they couldn't even sell 770 Ellies of Star Wars. That is embarrassing.”

    [name withheld pending review] — Quantifies Star Wars sales failure as unprecedented for a major Stern IP

  • “Stern pinball cannot survive at these prices with this kind of product. This is not me making this up. This is the market is speaking to them directly.”

    [name withheld pending review] — Explicit statement of market crisis thesis based on supply/demand dynamics

  • “Playing a game on location is like sleeping with a prostitute. You don't have to take it home.”

    [name withheld pending review] — Colorful metaphor distinguishing location play appeal from home ownership desirability

  • “Stern Pinball needs to sell four games a year to keep that line going. Four at these prices as all the old games get clobbered in value.”

    [name withheld pending review] — Explicitly compares Stern's output needs to competitors (Spooky, Dutch, Barrels, Pinball Brothers, Multimorphic, CGC) who each make one game per year

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyBig Trouble in Little ChinagameStar WarsgameKanedapersonKing KonggameJawsgameJaws 50th Anniversarygame

Signals

  • ?

    product_concern: Star Wars experiencing Death Star shot mechanical failures; expression lighting reported as wavy/misaligned in cabinet installation

    high · Death Star shot rejecting, expression lighting installation issues with wavy appearance reported by owner

  • $

    market_signal: Rapid and unprecedented depreciation of recent Stern Elite editions: King Kong down $3,500 in <6 months, Elton John down $3,500 in 2 years, Star Wars Elite offered at $11,200 vs $15,000+ retail

    high · Multiple specific pricing examples: King Kong LE $13k→$9.5k, Elton John $15k→$11.5k, Star Wars LE $11.2k offer from dealer

  • ?

    business_signal: Star Wars Elite sales failure; only 770 units sold, described as embarrassing and disaster-level for a major IP release

    medium · Host states '770 Ellies' sold is 'embarrassing' and indicates poor market reception, unexpected poor sales for major franchise

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Widespread loss of collector confidence in Stern's new releases; historical precedent of value retention broken; perception shift from investment to liability

    high · Extended discussion of unprecedented value losses compared to Stern's 30-40 year history where this never occurred; host emphasizes 'never' before

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pattern of releasing superior versions of recently sold Elite games (Jaws 50th, future Star Wars 50th, Metallica remake, Walking Dead remake) creating buyer's remorse and trust erosion

    high · Host explicitly criticizes Jaws 50th playfield superiority to Elite, predicts Star Wars 50th and Walking Dead remake, compares to Metallica precedent

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:05
My mom [Music] run. [Music] All right, kids. How are the kids doing this morning? A little early start here. Saturday morning spectacular. Canada in Saturday morning spectacular. Canada in the house. How's everybody doing? Let's get the mic on. What's up, What's up, Red? Red? Red choices. Not a red choice. There's a blue. Let's get this going here. Ah, good morning. How's everybody doing? Let's get the Charger playing. Canadas Pinball Podcast. Got like a week and a half to expo. We're excited. I'm excited. Going to try to read without my glasses. How's everybody doing? Good. It's a beautiful day here in Connecticut. Killian's about to go do soccer. I got a wedding to go to. First time we're having like a all day babysitter come over here. One of the teachers watch the kids so Brennan and I can go to a wedding. Sad Boy, you and you need to stop. You know, you don't need to stop. More of you need to be like Sad Boy with the $49.99 every week. Comes in hot. I love it. Thank you so much, brother. What's the overunder on you playing big trouble in Little China for 10 hours? Oh, love it. Yeah, we're going to talk about that game on today's episode of uh Saturday Morning Spectacular. Um I have thoughts on it. I have thoughts on it. I actually, you know, I can't wait to play it. I can't wait to see it. Uh I have some thoughts. I have some thoughts. Uh but I think it's fun. I think it's always fun when we get these homebrew games and people are building these games. uh you know with with nothing but passion. With nothing but passion. Um let's let's welcome everybody who you say hi. I say hi back. We got Chance. It's not mass-produced. What's the relevance?
2:42
Well, well, Chance like I mean I don't I don't well, Chance like I mean I don't I don't I don't look at homerew like that, you know, like if I can't own it, why do I care? I don't think it's like that at all. I think it's about celebrating pinball. I think it's about creativity. I think it's about seeing the potential in some of these themes that might not even be feasible from a licensing standpoint.
James Bond
game
The Walking Deadgame
John Borgperson
Evil Deadgame
Harry Pottergame
Beetlejuicegame
Elton Johngame
Avatargame
Labyrinthgame
John Wickgame
Metallicagame
Spooky Pinballcompany
Chicago Gaming Companycompany
Pinball Brotherscompany
Cary Hardyperson
DOMINO Pinball: Neil McRaeperson
Fifth Elementgame
Sad Boyperson
  • ?

    business_signal: Rumors of Stern employee dissatisfaction, potential 4-day work week, and staff attrition; host claims firsthand knowledge these are not rumors

    medium · Host states 'I have like firsthand knowledge of people not wanting to work there anymore' and claims rumors of 4-day week are substantiated

  • ?

    industry_signal: Stern's business model requires selling 4 games/year to maintain factory, but demand shrinking while competitors (Spooky, Pinball Brothers, Multimorphic, etc.) succeed with 1 game/year

    high · Host applies supply/demand economics, directly compares output: Stern 4/year, competitors 1/year each; frames as unsustainable

  • ?

    product_concern: Star Wars alleged to be rushed project with shelved Indiana Jones redirected to Star Wars; John Borg given insufficient time and resources

    medium · Host claims 'John Borg did not have a lot of time to make this game' and 'shelving is Indiana Jones, putting him into Star Wars'

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong enthusiasm in community for homebrew games like Big Trouble in Little China as creative expression and theme exploration outside licensing constraints

    high · Host defends homebrew as 'celebrating pinball,' 'creativity,' 'seeing potential in themes' that aren't commercially feasible; argues homebrew fills gap for unlicenseable IPs like original Top Gun

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Discussion of how licensing limits commercial pinball options; specific example: original Top Gun pinball impossible due to Tom Cruise/Val Kilmer rights

    high · Host states 'we're never going to get a top gun pinball machine ever with Tom Cruz and Val Kilmer and the original movie' and cites licensing as reason homebrew is valuable

  • $

    market_signal: Stern cannot sustain current $13,000+ pricing for Elite editions given rapid secondary market collapses and dealer pressure; yet rumors suggest prices may increase further with Walking Dead

    high · Host frames as 'house of cards' and questions 'how can they keep doing this'; notes rumor of Walking Dead price increases as potential 'catastrophe'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Competitors (Spooky, Jersey Jack, Pinball Brothers, Multimorphic, American Pinball, Chicago Gaming, Barrels of Fun) gaining relative market share and collector interest as Stern's reputation declines

    medium · Host explicitly compares Stern's 4-game/year requirement to competitors' 1-game/year viability, implying competitors better positioned; earlier content context shows these manufacturers thriving

    • 3:09
    Uh, and I think that's why it's exciting because, you know, look, we're never going to get a top gun pinball machine ever with Tom Cruz and Val Kilmer and the original movie, right? Never. It's going to happen. So, the closest we'll ever get to a Top Gun would be if someone just made a homebrew, right, and reskinned an old game maybe or built a new one. But that's about it. What's up, Louis Fizzy Mike Jones, everybody? How we doing? We got nine on Facebook. Am I in the right Facebook?
    3:42
    You're funny, Killian. You are funny. Um, You are funny. Um, we'll never get a good Star Wars spin. I I absolutely want to talk about Star Wars and the uh the owners club is pretty damn sad. And now now it's all about the the Death Star shot is just rejecting left and right. It's not working well. Some dude showed a picture of his his expression lighting is all wavy like the way they screwed it into the cabinet. the quality is not great on it. We're going to talk about Star Wars. We're going to talk about Spooky. We're going to talk about JJP. We're going to talk about Homebrew. We're going to share thoughts on everything going on in the pinball world. I think it's safe to say um Pinball is more exciting than a Taylor Swift album. That album is pretty damn bad. After listening to the entire album, I can honestly say I will never listen to it again. Not as good as Chapel Ron. Not as good as Sabrina Carpenter, not as good as Machine Gun Kelly's new album, Lost Americana. Trust me. Look, there's been a lot of great music recently. And Taylor Swift, no one cares. No one cares now. Saying nothing. You know, we're at a point now in all of like what we like we we collect pinball. We buy pinball. We talk about pinball. We do content about pinball. Thank you, Fizzy, for the for the two bucks, brother. Um, we're at a point now where it's basically we have so much entertainment at our disposal,
    5:23
    so much to excite us, entertain us, keep us occupied, free us from boredom that it's like, I don't know, the that it's like, I don't know, the world's different now. Like, you either do something that that like breaks through or it kind of gets instantly ignored. And that's the quagmire that this new Stern Star Wars is in is it's immediately and I mean this immediately by the masses is going to be dismissed. Thank you Wayne for the hundred stars. And I think the um the response to Star Wars has to be sending shock waves through Stern Pinball. There's no way they expected this Star Wars pin to sell so poorly there. It's embarrassing that the Ellies didn't they couldn't even sell 770 Ellies of Star Wars. That is embarrassing. What's caught up to Stern now is a perfect storm that's against them. They they continue to hand their customers significant financial losses wrapped up in mediocrity, you know, mediocre pinball machines with B-level themes for the most part. and they continue to burn their existing collectors and customers time and time again. Releasing a nicer playfield on Jaws 50th is a burn to the Jaws Ellie owners. I don't care who you are. If you love Jaws, there's no like I would want to be swapping in uh a Jaws 50th playfield into my into my Jaws LE cabinet cuz I would be I would know like I love this game. I want to keep this game. I want the nicest version of this game. And now the nicest playfield version of the game is in the 50th anniversary, not in the Ellie that I spent $13,000 on. And you just can't keep doing this. You can't keep doing this. You can't keep burning your customers. You can't keep making nicer versions of games. We all know Star Wars 50th will come out. I don't even think they'll do Star Wars 50th now because Star Wars is a sales uh disaster. It's got to be a sales disaster for them. There's no way it's selling that well. And why would they go back now and make another like I think Stern is in real big trouble. I think they underestimated what the competition would deliver. And I think they've spent too many years just burning their customer base. And the majority of their customer base are not dudes like Neil McCrae who just have so much money to burn. No. like they needed to be more uh aware of what their core new inbox buyer, what that person was uh was was wanting from them as a company. And as I said out on my podcast this week, Carrie Hardy losing $3,500 on a brand new Keith Ellwin King Kong Ellie is a disaster. Think about that for a minute. And I said it on my show since 2000. Like basically in Stern's like 30, 40 year history, you never would have lost $3,500 on a pinball machine ever. No matter what the game was, Mustangle, WWE, no matter what the game was, there was never a single example where a Stern Lie that someone paid top dollar for would ever lose $3,500 in value ever during the entire duration of owning the game. Never. Now you're losing $3,500 in less than six months. And they don't see that as like the biggest problem facing their company. Why would anybody? Because here's the thing. If you want a King Kong LE, the code's not done. And now I can go get one for $3,500 cheaper than Carrie Hardy. So every sucker that bought it new and box for 13 is a sucker cuz all those guys could have bought them now for $3,500 off, you know? And nobody wants to feel like a sucker. Nobody feels like a sucker if they bought Evil Dead. Nobody feels like a sucker if they bought Harry Potter. Nobody feels like a sucker if they bought, you know, Beetlejuice, which we're gonna talk about. Uh, but look, everything, man, everything's just like these prices, they don't hold. They don't hold. They don't hold.
    9:39
    And here's the thing, too. Here's the thing, too. You know, I I was just on I was curious because I like, let me just check out Elton John. Elton John C is now 115. That's a $3,500 loss, you know. Yeah. Yeah. $3,500 loss. I mean, given that game is um two years old, it held held strong because Avatar was so weak. I was a sucker. I bought Labyrinth, traded it for John Wickelli. Couldn't be happier.
    10:19
    Uh was it was it a straightup trade? Sean, I mean, Sean, and you got your John Wick Lee for like 3,000 off what it was.
    10:37
    Yeah, I you know, I agree that Jaws and James Bond are the best. I I would say obviously I think Jaws is a better shooter than James Bond. Um, I think that to me the one thing, and gang, correct me if I'm wrong, but I I'm a I grew up watching all the old Shan Connory James Bond movies. Correct me if I'm wrong because I haven't played the latest Code. To me, the one thing missing in James Bond is all of the funny sort of inappropriate overtly, not sexist, but like the whole like the not sexist, but like the whole like the womanizing aspect of James Bond, which made those old movies so fun to watch now because of how like ridiculous they are. Is any of that in the game? Like, is any of James Bond being like a heartthrob and, you know, all these beautiful women are lusting after him? Is that in the game? Because like I I always I never felt like that came through in the game at all.
    11:42
    All it is is in the game. Okay. Not really. I love this. Yes. Not really. Which one is it? I don't know who who to believe. Who to believe? Thank you guys for the stars on on on Facebook.
    11:58
    I you know it's a very um it's kind of like a yes or no question and we're getting answers in the middle. I um you know I look I like the fact that I see these people with Star Wars having quality control issues, having Death Star rejects. Like how can Stern I I the game was rushed by the way. You guys do know this that Star Wars was another rushed project at Stern. You do know this that John Borg did not have a lot of time to make this game. You do know this, right? Like like shelving is Indiana Jones, putting him into Star Wars. It's not really This game wasn't really It's not really This game wasn't really uh they didn't go at it with all their resources and all their talent.
    12:54
    Kelly Daniel, the pitball palace. Of course, people are going to love it on location. You know why? Playing a game on location is like sleeping with a prostitute. You don't have to you don't have to take it home. You know, look, whenever I play games on location, I'm usually really happy to play it. I But Kelly, here's the thing. No one's playing it and being like, I want to go buy the game.
    13:30
    Well, look, it's um it's going to be a I I think it's going to be brutal when Stern releases The Walking Dead and and it doesn't take off. And that's that to me Stern launching The Walking Dead, increasing the prices could be a real catastrophe for them. And I I again, you have to remember like this company like Spooky needs to make one game a year, Dutch one game a year, you know, Barrels one game a year, Pinball Brothers one game a year, Padretti one game a year, CGC one game a year. Stern Pinball needs to sell four games a year to keep that line going. Four at these prices as all the old games get clobbered in value. It It's the writing is on the wall. Stern pinball cannot survive at these prices with this kind of product. This is not me making this up. This is the market is speaking to them directly and they are about to raise prices. Does anyone else are there any economist in the house here? I mean I did not study uh you know economics significantly. I did take a few classes. I do know business though. I do know the very principles of supply and demand. And Stern is now stuck in a position where they have to have a an abundance of supply to keep that factory going, but the demand keeps shrinking.
    15:16
    All right. So, Charles Thomas just said, "My friend was offered a Star Wars Ali from a dro for 112." Yeah. Do you think it's comic art with Hillbe Do you think it's comic art with Hillbe College for TV assets? Um, for Walking Dead, I I don't know. I really don't know. I think it's going to be I think it's going to be new artwork. Um, I mean, they did new artwork on Metallica. I don't think they're going to get the TV assets. I don't I just looking at the way I mean, they didn't get the King Kong assets. They're going to go get the Walking Dead assets. So, I don't think that's going to happen. Um,
    15:56
    you know, Anthony said like The Walking Dead is another burn to Ellie owners. The problem is this. It's like, you know, when you remake The Walking Dead, much like Metallica, what happens is is you now have thousands of the original Walking Dead games that now become undesirable. You then now have all these owners knowing that. So, they'll probably just keep it because, you know, they're not going to lose their shirt on it. Nobody really wants the old one. And then if they do decide to like free up room for a new game, you're now you're adding even more to the oversaturated nature of the market. You see how this is like a house of cards that's just going to come down on Stern and it's going to it's it's already hitting like they they could they must be seeing it. I mean, the rumors of employees not being happy, the rumors of a 4-day work week, I I mean, I don't think these are rumors, people. I I don't think these are rumors. In fact, I have like, you know, firsthand knowledge of people like not like like not wanting to work there anymore. Like, it's these are not rumors.
    17:05
    Star Wars Ellie 18K by Christmas. No. Does anyone know where to get All right. Should we watch um on YouTube? Let's watch the trailer for um let me pull it up for uh this Big Trouble and Little China game. Hold on a second. Let me just pull it up. Let me close all these other windows so you guys can see what I'm working on.
    17:32
    We'll say the Facebook with the Apple has a better camera than an MacBook Pro, which is kind of crazy when you think about that. A cell phone has a better camera than a laptop. How's that possible? All right, let's do this. This go to close. I'm working on some highly confidential Super Bowl stuff right now. All right, let's do this. Go to YouTube.
    18:12
    For you guys on Facebook, I'm going to I'm doing this on YouTube because it's I can share a screen. I can't do this on uh
    19:12
    [Music] Oh yeah. [Music] Oh, [Music] you really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we? Way. [Applause] [Music] See things no one else can see. Do things no one else can do.
    20:09
    Ride the lightning [Music] magic. The darkest magic. My soul swims in it. Welcome to Big Trouble and Little China Welcome to Big Trouble and Little China Pinball. It's all on the reflexes.
    20:34
    Okay. Um uh yeah, I it's a teaser, so there's like there's much more of the movie footage than there is of actual uh what the game is. I saw more pictures on Naps Arcade. like let's go there real quick. Um yeah, you know, look, I I I will say this. I I want to see it because I love this theme so much. I mean, you know me. I mean, I this probably in my top four themes I want to see in pinball is Big Trouble on Old China, Fifth Element. Those two I just like would be like must owns. Um, you know, as I'm looking at, let's see. Here we go. All right. Let me see if I can make this a little smaller for you.