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Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·12m 8s·analyzed·May 23, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

Don Ada details Thailand Pool Tables scam incident and updates on podcast expansion plans.

Summary

Don Ada discusses a scam encounter with a Thailand-based pinball distributor (Thailand Pool Tables) where price inconsistencies led to confrontation, later resolved when the distributor was verified as a legitimate Stern distributor. He updates Patreon subscribers on travel plans to Pittsburgh/West Virginia, merchandise logistics, and upcoming podcast collaboration with Orville Albert from Poor Man's Podcast.

Key Claims

Thailand Pool Tables is listed as an official Stern distributor on Stern's website
high confidence · Don Ada verified the distributor status by checking Stern's official distributor list
Star Wars Premium Edition pricing from Thailand distributor was listed at $11,800 with only $800 separation from a 'Stern' model at $10,285
high confidence · Don Ada directly observed and screenshotted pricing on the Thailand Pool Tables website
Star Wars Home Edition was listed at $9,800 by Thailand distributor
high confidence · Don Ada noted the pricing during his investigation of the site
Thailand Pool Tables distributor acknowledged SKU data entry errors affecting product pricing
high confidence · Distributor (Mace) responded to Don's concerns stating 'that SKU needs to be updated'
Don Ada plans to work in Graham, West Virginia for a week flying through Pittsburgh
high confidence · Don Ada directly stated his travel itinerary in the podcast
Andrew from Pinball Adventures recently switched from Kaneda's Pinball Podcast Club to Don Ada's Patreon
high confidence · Don Ada identified Andrew as third Patreon subscriber with public cancellation of Kaneda subscription

Notable Quotes

“These games are not $800 to $1,000 apart. There's $3,000 of separation here.”
Don Ada @ N/A — Key statement identifying the pricing discrepancy that triggered the scam investigation
“I know it's super skeptical and I want to call people out so people don't get scammed because there's a lot of people that have money and are new in the industry”
Don Ada @ N/A — Explains Don's motivation for aggressively vetting the distributor despite potential backlash
“We have like 60,000 products and we can't, you know, something slipped through.”
Mace (Thailand Pool Tables distributor) @ N/A — Distributor's explanation for data entry errors in pricing
“Nobody supports Thailand pinball more than I do.”
Don Ada @ N/A — Don Ada's statement emphasizing his pro-distributor stance after resolving the dispute
“I need to get 1,000 followers on Facebook so I can be a baller like Kaneda's Pinball Podcast now.”
Don Ada @ N/A — Reveals competitive/aspirational positioning relative to larger podcast in the pinball community

Entities

Don AdapersonThailand Pool TablescompanyMacepersonAndrewpersonOrville AlbertpersonKaneda's Pinball Podcast CluborganizationStern PinballcompanyJack DangerpersonSpooky PinballcompanyHeliconcompany

Signals

?
business_signal: Small podcast creator monetization challenges: merchandise generates minimal profit (~$3 after shipping per shirt) despite operational costs
high · Don Ada explicitly stated shirt printing costs ($20 per unit, $14 at 10-unit minimum, $150 per size run) only yield $3 profit per unit sold
?
community_signal: Don Ada implementing merchandise trading/shirt exchange strategy with community members and industry figures (Jack Danger, Spooky Pinball, etc.)
high · Don Ada documented multiple shirt exchanges with designers and manufacturers; views as community-building activity rather than revenue
?
community_signal: Podcast subscriber migration from Kaneda's Pinball Podcast Club to Don Ada's Patreon, suggesting growing audience fragmentation in pinball podcast space
medium · Andrew publicly cancelled Kaneda subscription to join Don Ada's Patreon; Don Ada explicitly noted this as his third subscriber
?
leak_detection: Potential data quality issues on Thailand Pool Tables site affecting multiple product SKUs, suggesting systematic data entry problems rather than isolated errors
medium · Distributor acknowledged SKU update needed and referenced general product management challenges with 60,000+ items
$
market_signal: Thailand Pool Tables distributor pricing Star Wars Premium Edition significantly higher than typical US retail ($11,800 vs expected ~$7,500-$8,500), indicating substantial import duty/markup structure
high · Don Ada observed $11,800 Premium Edition pricing and noted duty/tax structure mentioned by distributor as justification

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.036

0:00

Hand me that motherfuckin' crack pipe, I wanna smoke me a pebble I'm through tryin' to be a rebel I used to follow them hip-hop tours Painting my demos out at backstage doors I'm through tryin' to be the next Alcid Red I'd rather just smoke this rock away 40 deals, contracts, label snakes everywhere, shit What's up everybody out there on Patreon? Droppin' some new content for you While I'm listenin' to the psychopathic brothers hip-hop their way Through the studio, man live mixing like a dj like it's w685 fm 102.7 the rock the hip-hop nation of the urban youth i don't know i don't know what i'm doing oh man what a wild day today was oh man this song the song is bumping you know so i started today with a international incident between myself and thailand pool tables all right let me tell you the story about this y'all this is nuts so i get up in the morning right and i'm like going through my phone and you know i'm looking at ads and Dude, I find scam ads all the time. I watch the scam baiters on YouTube videos, the guys that are going after the people from West Bengal and India that are trying to scam folks, and they pose and change their voices if they're old people, and they just kind of waste their time, and I love that. And whenever I get scam calls on my work phone, I play into it and try to do the same thing, and then I learn a little bit of Hindi and I talk back to them. It's just a fun thing I do. So I see this ad, and it's like Thailand pool tables. you know, buy, you know, Star Wars today. And they show a Star Wars pro and premium. And I'm like, all right, let's, let's follow through and check it out. So I go to the site and the site's a little, I don't know, it's like all over the place. Like these people have 60,000 different products. They're selling everything from like high-end game room to pool tables, to bowling alleys, to furniture, all kinds of stuff. And I'm like, what the heck? This is totally a spoof site. And so I'm like, all right, let me, let me just say, let's pretend like I want to go buy Star Wars. So I click on the button for Star Wars and they got the pro and premium and they're asking, you know, $11,800 for the premium and then $10,285 for the pro. And I'm like, okay, well, you know, and I get the probably marked up. I'm not even sure I'm in the right currency, but like basically $800 of separation or whatever between a pro and a premium, like that doesn't make any sense. Like this price does not make sense. And I just saw like a scam ad. This guy's been trying, he's been, he stole pictures of a Led Zeppelin limited edition and he's posted it for $8,000 for $6,999 just trying to get people to go after it. I know it's obviously a scam. So I'm like, dude, this is totally a scam.

2:28

These games are not $800 to $1,000 apart. There's $3,000 of separation here. So I was just like, I just post on the Facebook ad and I'm like, scam. And then went about my day and I started getting blown up by this guy. He started instant messaging me super angry. And I'm like, for sure it's a scam now because this guy's reacting all nuts to me, dude. And I'm like, look, your website is sus. your prices don't make any damn sense at all. And he's like, don't you know how much it is to import a game you know pay duty taxes to freaking Thailand And I like well number one no But number two I figure you know sure of course it going to cost money to go in there and I don have a problem with the prices that are inflated more than they are in the US like duh but like why you still want a pro and a premium to get them listed for the same price he had the Star Wars Home Edition for $9,800 and I'm like well it's like $1,000 cheaper than the pro that you're selling which is only $1,800 cheaper than the premium and then the Home Edition is like $4,000 like what the hell dude you know Like the prices don't make sense. And it went back and forth to the guy and he's like threatening. He's going to report me to Stern and all this business. And I'm like, all right, hang on, hang on a second guy, you know? So I went over to the Stern side, check the distributors. And sure enough in Thailand, Thailand pool tables is listed, you know, and I clicked over there and it takes me to the same site. So I'm like, okay, you know, this guy is probably legit. Okay. So I'm like, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay, cool. Yo, what's your address? He's like, we have locations all over Thailand. And I'm like, look, bro, I'm just trying to vet this thing, you know, cause there's so many scams. Like I'm running across them daily. You know, I had a dude, we reach out and try to do this cashier's check scam with me when I tried to list my, um, star Wars topper. So like, I'm all about like scams, a scam bait. I'm super skeptical and I want to call people out so people don't get scammed because there's a lot of people that have money and are new in the industry and they are the hobby and they don't get it. Right. So, you know, I'm trying to make peace with this guy. I'm like, yo, guys, cool dude. But like you came at me like really hostile instead of being like, Hey yo, I think this is a mistake. Here's our address. Here's who we are. Like that's how I would have handled it. And so, dude, it was just like put me in a weird spot like first thing in the morning. You know, it's 7 in the morning for me in Wisconsin. It's probably like 8 o'clock at night, and he's like blowing his head up trying to get mad at me. So to Mace Fuckit, Puckit, Mace Fuckit, P-H-U-K-E-T is the dude's last name, Mace, M-A-S-E, his first name. Mace Fuckit.

5:14

So that's how my day started. Oh God, it's wacky. I've been working every day this month. I'm planning on working every day this month, but it's totally cool because I'm changing venues, right? I started out working in Wisconsin at the beginning of the month. I went out to Ohio for a couple of days. I did that event in Cleveland, and then I worked for another five or six days in Ohio, came back over to Wisconsin, just finished up another week of work in Wisconsin. And I'm heading out tomorrow morning, flying out to Pittsburgh so I can drive over to West Virginia to this other hospital I work at. So I'll be working in West Virginia for a week. I'll be going flying in and out of Pittsburgh. so i'm planning on hitting up helicon and some local things out there but dude dude man this guy messed me up anyway so i'm flying out in the morning just want to update my patreon yo's my patreon dudes what going on what i up to what i about um we have a third patreon subscriber it andrew from pinball Adventures I can believe it this dude totally cancelled his very publicly was called out by the way cancelling his Kaneda Club subscription and he came right over to Don like welcome brother you have friends here you know I'm sorry I was kind of harsh on Punny Factory it's just I really wanted I wanted to succeed I wanted to be better I wanted to give an honest send up of the game it sounds like the game selling sounds like you're gonna make it i mean i got nothing support for you you know it's much better than any game i have ever made so you know i hope you know punny factory does well enough that you can roll in and get to first class which is the game that i am sincerely excited about anyway so i'm going out to pittsburgh i'll be working out in west virginia uh i've been talking to the dude uh orbital albert with uh poor man's podcast he's with that whole networking group and so he's been trying to get me on his show and i've been trying to get on his show and like i I think this guy just smokes too much weed and coffee because he's been kind of all over the place on getting everything scheduled. But it sounds like tomorrow I'm going to go live on his show. So I'm going to pack up the mixer. I'm going to head up there in West Virginia. I'm going to podcast from location, and I'll call in. And we should have a cool show back and forth. He does like a longer format show. It'll be kind of fun. We're coming up with a list of topics and things. If you guys think of anything, go ahead and email me. I'll bring it up. But it'll be fun to go on his show, and then maybe he can return the favor and come on like the regular podcast that I got going on. uh you know i think that would be fun so just want to give you guys an update on what i got going on i'm planning on doing shows and episodes like on the regular from my trip in west virginia i've done it there before it's always a good time man what a cool place it is out there it's like remote it's backwoods um but i'm nearby morgantown west virginia where the dude at helicon also operates a gaming location um downtown so i'm i'm gonna go and hit that up too what else i'd talk about. I think that's about it. I just wanted to cover that. But like, Andrew, thank you for coming. I've got the new shirts ordered. So people have been asking now for medium sizes as well. When I order a run of shirts, they're like 20 bucks a shirt to get printed. If I get 10 of them, that drops to $14. But then I got to, you know, I got to put out like 150 bucks for, you know, 10 shirts. And so if everybody wants all these different sizes, it's like another 150 bucks per shirt per size, you know, to get the thing plus shipping. And then, you know, people have been asking for the 3x size and Sticker Mule who I'm using, they only go up to 2x. So I've got to find like another supplier for the 3x. I've been working every single day. And so I haven't had time to really secure anything yet. I'm thinking of getting like maybe even just like a Zazzle store or something where I can upload the graphics and people can order directly. That's what Kaneda was doing on his shop, you know, and then you know, shirts are printed as they're ordered and then ship directly to customers. I kind of like have an inventory so I can stuff extra things in my personal envelopes and send them out. But I think that's what I might do to try to accommodate people for three X's. Otherwise I've got to get, you know, like I have four different shirts to get them all in three X's like another $150 per graphic. And so, you know, then you're up to $600 just in shirts and you know I not selling it like a ton of these you know like they don and they don generate any income for me I may be clear like three bucks after shipping and everything if I sell a shirt So I just doing it just to put something cool in the community and to have something to hand out to people when I meet them or like to do shirt exchanges. I like doing that, you know, like the distributors and things like if they have shirts, I'll trade with them. You know, I've done that with spooky. So I got a free spooky shirt. I gave him one of mine. It's totally cool. Flipping out, did me solid, did the same thing. Nicole mini gave me a shirt. I gave her a couple, I gave Greg bone a couple. Um, I sent Canada cup. I haven't seen him wear them yet. I gave Jack danger some, and he gave me a hug and an autograph. So, uh, I call that even, you know, cool dude. Um, but you know, anyway, the shirts are coming. Um, Andrew, I'm a hook you up. I'll take care of you. Uh, I'll just, I'll need your address and then, you know, send me some cheddar and I'll find a way to get some three X's to you. But I do have the two X's if you want brother, I did order a bunch. The Gorgar shirts are fire, man. I love how they came out. Uh, they're a bit divisive. You know, some people really didn't care for it, which is a little bit wild. I hope it's not like a B2 woke thing because there's a scantily clad female on there. But you know, people still even today, as woke as we are as a culture, still go to conventions as Slave Leia. So I don't see the problem. You know, Gorgar was from 1979. It's very much a product of its time. I think it's a brutally awesome graphic. So I dig it. And the people that like it super dig it. Anyway, that's a little bit about what I'm up to. I want to drop some Patreon content for my homies. that are kicking me the five bucks. We're up to three subscribers. I want to get stars on Facebook just so I can be a baller like Kaneda now. So I made that my goal. I need to get 1,000 followers on Facebook. So I'm going to start really mining people to go to the Facebook page and hit follow. So maybe getting out there on some other podcast will really generate some more followership for me. There's people on YouTube with just totally questionable content that have millions of views and millions of followers It's amazing. I just want a piece of that. I'd love to go on YouTube at some point, like work up and actually get one of those silver play buttons from a wall. Be a huge accomplishment. Anyway, thanks for listening, guys. Dropping this for you. I'll have another episode here in a couple of days. I think we'll have enough content to really get into it. But there should be something with me and Orbital Albert soon, man. I'm looking forward to it. All right. Don Ada out, I guess.