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Episode 668: "The FOMO Topper Worked!"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·28m 28s·held·Apr 15, 2022
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

FOMO topper strategy worked; JJP underinvesting in accessories; industry talent concerns.

Summary

Chris Goulers (Kaneda) discusses how Elite Pinball's Pirates of the Caribbean topper successfully leveraged FOMO marketing by creating artificial scarcity (100 units for 750+ existing machines), proving FOMO remains powerful in pinball. He criticizes Jersey Jack Pinball for leaving millions on the table with subpar topper offerings, expresses concerns about Haggis Pinball radio silence and alleged labor issues, notes Spooky Pinball desperation move to hire new animators a year post-launch, and reflects on the industry's talent concentration at Stern and JJP.

Key Claims

  • Elite Pinball Pirates of the Caribbean topper sold out with only 100 units made despite 750+ existing machines in the market

    high confidence · Chris Goulers describing the FOMO success; stated '650 people can't have it' mathematically

  • Jersey Jack Pinball sold 5,000 Guns N' Roses (LE) machines but only offers a $200 plastic flat topper

    high confidence · Chris Goulers criticizing JJP's accessory strategy; direct comparison to Elite's $2,500 topper pricing

  • Haggis Pinball has experienced staff departures due to Damien not paying team members adequately

    medium confidence · Chris Goulers citing anonymous ex-Haggis employee; unverified rumor about low compensation driving departures

  • Spooky Pinball is hiring a new company to animate Halloween and Ultraman games a year after launch

    high confidence · Chris Goulers reporting Spooky's announcement; characterized as 'desperation act' due to lukewarm reception

  • Key talent departures at Spooky include David Van Es, Bowen Kerins, and possibly Scott Danesi

    medium confidence · Chris Goulers stating departures occurred but not explicitly confirming current employment status for all

  • Ryan McQuaid is rumored to be in talks with American Pinball for a Sonic Pinball game

    medium confidence · Chris Goulers reporting rumor about Sonic Spinball conversations; McQuaid hasn't confirmed details

  • Godzilla has superior 'magic under the glass' compared to recent releases like Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Guns N' Roses

    medium confidence · Chris Goulers expressing subjective design philosophy opinion about playfield interactivity

Notable Quotes

  • “FOMO is never going away. It'll never fully go away.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~55:00 (approx) — Directly contradicts his earlier claim that Spooky destroyed FOMO; frames the topper success as proof

  • “Kaneda, I've got eight left. Kaneda, I'm sold out.”

    Jordan (Elite Pinball owner, paraphrased) @ ~25:00 (approx) — Shows how Elite's FOMO strategy worked in real-time; Jordan proved scarcity marketing effective without pre-showing product

  • “Jersey Jack, what's wrong with you? Seriously, I mean it when I say it. You guys are leaving millions on the table.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~30:00 (approx) — Direct criticism of JJP's accessory monetization strategy; characterizes it as massive missed revenue opportunity

  • “This is another example of we've seen the way this movie goes... when they start to go radio silent.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~40:00 (approx) — Compares Haggis to pattern of boutique company failures; expresses concern about communication breakdown

  • “The worst elements of his games are the design and the layout because he's not a great designer.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~50:00 (approx) — Critical assessment of Scott Denisee's design capabilities; attributes strengths to DJ/music background only

  • “The greatest talent in pinball is over at Stern Pinball... the second greatest talent is over at Jersey Jack.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~45:00 (approx) — Establishes clear talent hierarchy in the industry; dismisses Spooky's comparative abilities

  • “Nobody is running to Spooky's next game again. They're not.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~38:00 (approx) — Blunt assessment of Spooky's damaged reputation post-Halloween/Ultraman

Entities

[name withheld pending review]personJordanpersonElite PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyHaggis PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyPirates of the Caribbeangame

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Elite Pinball successfully executed artificial scarcity FOMO strategy with Pirates topper (100 units, 750+ existing machines) selling out without pre-showing product, proving limited edition scarcity marketing remains effective in pinball market

    high · Chris Goulers stating toppers sold out; mathematical analysis of scarcity ratio (650 buyers left out of 750); Jordan's direct confirmation of rapid sellout

  • $

    market_signal: High-end pinball accessories (toppers priced $2,500) show strong secondary market demand with flipping potential (10-20% of units likely bought for resale); accessible entry point for collectors to monetize rare machine ownership

    high · Chris Goulers noting 10-20% flip rate speculation; anecdote about 3D-printed topper purchased for $300, sold for $3,000; rare machine owners as target market with capital to spend

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Spooky Pinball's reputation significantly damaged post-launch of Halloween and Ultraman games due to lukewarm reception and animation quality issues; desperation move hiring external animation company one year post-launch signals loss of consumer confidence

    high · Chris characterizing new animation hire as 'desperation act'; stating 'Nobody is running to Spooky's next game again'; noting gameplay/animation concerns documented in community feedback

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Spooky Pinball experienced departures of key talent including David Van Es and Bowen Kerins; possible Scott Denisee departure; correlates with declining game quality and community confidence

    medium · Chris Goulers citing multiple departures; linking talent loss to game quality decline post-Crossroads/Rick and Morty era

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.085

0:00
Top of the morning to you. What's the hat? Top of the morning to you. What's the hat? It's gotta be On the whole world It's gotta be Welcome to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast everybody. Happy Friday. I'm excited to do this show for everybody. And today I'm also going to be interviewing Steven over at Deep Root Pinball. All the best! And as always, thanks for watching and I will see you in the next episode. Take care. Bye! Bye. Bye! gaysandbe carpängen phases, saturday lent?, and I will say your name. I want to give a shout out to Jan, Jan Lumens. I think it's Jan. I think I said that right. I want to give a shout out to Michael Boyd Collins. And I want to give a huge, huge shout out to Mr. Stuart Burns. And here's why I'm giving Stuart a special shout out. He raised his pledge amount. And so, you know, this always makes me happy when people raise how much they donate each month because it shows me they really enjoy the content. Now, let's get right to it. So yesterday, the world of pinball FOMO, which on a previous episode, I had said that spooky pinball has single-handedly destroyed FOMO in the pinball world. And what I meant by that is the fear of missing out, that people would run in and buy something before they see it. And we saw yesterday that not only is FOMO pinball alive and well, but it is flourishing How hard is the work of fine fathers in editorial design? In the morning, we open them and leave them in theiciaiding for couple hours, then they appeared © KMTJ Dominic2014.jouvxedim2625 © KMTJ� dome crmd Crapman, finech millions, pinball() Deluxe, prodfy, extraord엽 pinball, pinball technique, pinball varsity, pinball Beasle, pinball blueprint for Proweb Jordan made a very smart decision to make these toppers for Pirates of the Caribbean because Pirates of theCaribbean right now in the marketplace is still one of the most rare, the most sought after and the most expensive pinball machine of all time right now. If you think about it, in Ellie of Pirates which used to be an $8500 game and the CE which Manage 10ooo.
4:09
What a game that is…. I sat at the corner of the Larry animals at Frankoking.com, To The Hyper elementalander , and hidden camera at the Doble Markits . I practiced Chair at Fort Moneolle at Fort Rock, front leg to the Chiston Palace near Manco McL Sauce and looked MMA at my mom change of B burnt Up Houston and teared off man即 arbit Joey, Br capacit update. Was not258'thinapple.boss,g159247 ولا the bensign чжэ,'nnd the真ğeräTINy Zjck k esperaña. Who needs no money, I am here ш Feuer 보통 peybro comprehend Lionsuster Nikol? Shar Intel abnalsinpaughn powiedzgnuy geometry If you guys basculate in Idgpc0 I'm going to talk a little bit about the Guns N' Roses topper after this, but It is so bad. So if you own a $20,000 Pirates of the Caribbean, you have been looking at this CE topper with envy for like three to four years. And now you have the opportunity to put something on top of your machine that looks so much cooler than the CE topper. So this is a really smart move because guess what? There's like 700 people or more that have an Ellie of pirates, right? I think 150 were SEs and then there were CEs, right? So you've got 750 people who have had a crappy topper on top of their game and you're only making a hundred, right? Just do the math. That means if just Ellie buyers wanted it, 650 people can't have it. Okay. Now I haven't even talked about the topper. You know, it's got the screen up there. It's got the crack in sort of tentacles. It's got the ship. It's got waves in the ocean. What's degli Vader going? Welcome It's just like this blue light up there with the ocean. It's super cool, but I want to make sure it's not distracting so that when stuff is happening in the game, you're not always being distracted by this like blue bright ocean up above you. Like when the game goes dark, it goes dark. When there's like lighting effects in the game, that thing also interacts with those lighting effects. So I don't know yet. Like I haven't really seen it integrated into all the different gameplay and modes of Pirates. Memories of Welcome to Baton Rouge Co Bast Ken Da Kandy as Jose here with owns a pirate CE That topper is way too loud Everybody who has it has to turn off the topper because the servo motor is overworked and you just hear this like grinding noise of the server trying to move the bell to move the ship inside the bottle and it a horrible sound Everyone I know who has a CE turns it off So if I was a CE owner I would want to get one of these toppers because Knapp Arcade bajo were DoeYrnsteesknaniMe Universeอก crypto have done video series, goldлед
Guns N' Roses
game
Halloweengame
Ultramangame
Sonic Spinballgame
Godzillagame
Cactus Canyongame
Brett Abbasperson
Damienperson
Keith Elwinperson
Ryan McQuaidperson
Scott Danesiperson
David Van Esperson
Bowen Kerinsperson

business_signal: Haggis Pinball allegedly experiencing staff departures due to inadequate compensation practices; skeleton crew attempting to continue development; reflects broader boutique company sustainability challenges

medium · Anonymous ex-Haggis employee reporting low pay driving departures; Chris noting pattern of boutique company collapse when going 'radio silent'; unverified but attributed to insider source

  • ?

    community_signal: Haggis Pinball thread on Pinside forum has become hijacked by off-topic discussions (craft beers) due to complete lack of developer updates; community sentiment degrading with no official communication for extended period

    high · Chris Goulers directly observing thread conversations; characterizing silence as 'bad sign'; noting community indifference as symptom of lost engagement

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Industry over-emphasizing accessories (toppers, mods, shooter rods) while neglecting core playfield design innovation; Godzilla cited as exception with superior 'magic under the glass'; games like Guns N' Roses and Willy Wonka criticized for relying on superficial light shows rather than ball interaction surprises

    medium · Chris expressing frustration with mods on Willy Wonka; contrasting GNR's light show with lack of unexpected ball behavior; praising Godzilla's playfield design as standard others should meet

  • ?

    industry_signal: Pinball industry talent highly concentrated at Stern (greatest) and Jersey Jack (second greatest); significant gap between top-tier and boutique company design capabilities; no rookie designer breakthrough since Big Lebowski

    medium · Chris ranking Stern first, JJP second; dismissing Spooky's talent level as 'not even close'; noting absence of breakout boutique rookie designers in recent years

  • ?

    product_concern: Spooky Pinball games (Halloween, Ultraman) received negative community feedback on animation quality, prompting post-launch hire of external animation company; indicates original animation work failed to meet market expectations for premium-priced machines

    high · Chris noting year-long lukewarm response; characterizing animation hire as admission of quality failure; stating 'value of the games is plummeting'

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball leaving substantial revenue on table by not producing premium aftermarket accessories; estimated millions in missed accessory revenue from 5,000 Guns N' Roses LEs alone at pricing comparable to Elite's $2,500 topper strategy

    medium · Chris calculating 50% attachment rate on 5,000 machines × $2,500 price point = $6.25M potential; criticizing $200 plastic topper as inadequate for premium machines

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Ryan McQuaid's custom Sonic Spinball game rumored to be in discussion with American Pinball; unconfirmed but characterized as impressive garage build exceeding manufacturer-greenlit game quality

    medium · Chris stating 'rumor is he's talking to American Pinball'; noting McQuaid's reluctance to confirm details; assessment that custom game surpasses half of manufacturer titles

    • 7:57
    Abkjais kanmas Knapp Arcade.d cabaret at Newton For $3,500, I sold it for $3,000. A 3D printed, top of a ship, with some barrels and some lights that he sold me for $300 bucks or $350 bucks and I sold it for $3,000. So when I look at this topper for $2,500, oh my gosh, it seems like a bargain! Now, do I think people bought these to flip? Absolutely! I bet at least 10-20% of these toppers were made by the ashing Franchise, hobby gymnastics, prowading, I'm going to be the one to find the topper. I'll be the one to find the game. And they won't be wrong. There's twice as many Pirates of the Caribbean CE machines as there are these toppers. So this was a genius FOMO marketing move. Now, does it make me happy that Jordan has blown up and sank the Kaneda ship on the fact that FOMO is dead in pinball? He just proved it's not dead. Now, the reason why I think this thing did so well also is nobody's wondering whether or not Jordan's going to make it. Thurber dobbsie a fin mé The first thing to do is show someone the product before they have to buy it. But what he proved yesterday is that you might not always have to do that. And I was texting with Jordan and I was saying, hey man, I'm hearing some people that are sour about this approach. You really should show them the thing before you ask for their money. And he responded. He said, Kaneda, I've got eight left. Kaneda, I'm sold out. And so as a marketer, I'm like, he was right and I was wrong. by Sport forcément på Kari Also said to myself Jersey Jack Pinball is leaving millions of dollars on the table and the reason why they're leaving millions of dollars on the table is they're releasing crappy toppers to put on top of what I consider to be the most beautiful pinball machines of all time which are Jersey Jack machines and I am so embarrassed by the toppers on top of Wizard of Oz, on top of Willy Wonka, on top of Pirates of the Caribbean. On top of dialed in, on top of everything, everything they've ever made, on top of the Hobbit and especially Guns N' Roses. Like they have the Guns N' Roses IP, all of the cool stuff they could do to put on a Guns N' Roses machine. They've sold, think about this, they've sold 5,000 GNR LEs, 5,000 machines and the only topper they're going to offer people is a $200 piece of crap plastic flat topper. Jersey Jack, what's wrong with you? Seriously, I mean it when I say it. You guys are so talented. Why aren't you going out there and finding a vendor to make toppers that are worthy of your beautiful games? And every time you guys do a move like this, and I sent a message to Brett Abbas on Facebook, I'm like, dude, I hope you were paying attention to what happened yesterday with elite pinball toppers. You're leaving millions on the table. I mean it. Millions of dollars. bane sama¡' sine чтобы No timing.
    13:40
    Coming Week! Coming Week Coming Week Coming Week Coming Week Second part of you got ten percent of people to buy it five hundred that five hundred thousand dollars right there But I think you would get way more than ten percent of the people to buy I think you get half of the people to buy it If you had an official Guns and Roses Topper that was awesome So you know like we see We see We see what crappy Topper comes on top of Toy Story You know if I was J Hey JP again, you need to make your game everything from the bottom of your legs to the top of the topper. You should be saying to your people, our stuff is going to be better than everything else in the market. We are the high end pinball company and I really do think they should be embarrassed about what's on top of their machines. You know, we're talking about toppers people because we can't be talking about games. I mean, what's happening in the new game space right now, right? People are waiting for their cactus canyons. Now I heard some stuff from someone who used to work at Haggis Pinball, an ex-Haggis employee. I've been going into the Haggis thread. You know me, I'm not gonna let up on this. I've been going into the Haggis thread and the entire conversation is around like craft beers in Australia. See, this is what happens when you don't give any updates. Your thread becomes a joke. Everybody hijacks it with silly stuff. It's like just what grown men do to pass the time. Now here's what I heard from someone who used to work at Haggis and I would love for Damien to say this is incorrect or Marty to speak out on this. I heard the reason why people have left the team is that Damien really wanted people to build these games without paying them a lot of money. And so people departed. And so Haggis Pinball has like a skeleton crew trying to grind it out. And so that is what I am hearing. And I've said it and I'll say it again. This is another example of we've seen the way this movie goes. We've seen the way these boutique companies go when they start to go radio silent. They won't show us anything. I'm going to do a new offer right now. Okay. I will give Damien $100, right? If he just holds his end of the promise, if Damien can show by the end of April, at least five fathoms lined up that are in Thank you
    17:01
    a I Betty in 毛 Brian I'm trying to focus on these things because once you ask for people's money and you give them some sort of promise, I want to make sure you live up to your promise. I think what people get wrong is I want to see these games in testing. I want people to get their products. I want Haggis Pinball to figure this out. That is what I want. I don't want to see these companies collapse. I don't want to see them burn money every day without anything on the line. That's not what I want to see. I wouldn't have done it the way they did it. I wouldn't go radio silent. I wouldn't. I think they're in a tough, tough spot, people. I do. I mean, every week that goes by with no update, no communication, it's a bad sign. And it's weird to me the way like everyone in the thread sort of just like shrugs their shoulders and doesn't care. Again, I think they're going to grind some out, but man, I really think we need an update from Haggis Pinball. Spooky Pinball World Well, did you hear that Spooky Pinball has announced that they are hiring a new company to do animations for both Halloween and for Ultraman. I've never seen this before. Game's been out a year, the response to the games have been lukewarm, the value of the games is plummeting, and now we're hiring a new company to do the animations. Look, that's a good thing. I mean, really building the ship in the ocean. They really are. And I must say they must be eating a lot of humble pie right now and eating crow because they know what the response to these games is. There's no avoiding it. Like, their good will is really in jeopardy and this is a move. This is almost like a little bit of a desperation act, it really is. Have you ever seen another pinball company where a year went by and then they hired a new animator to do the game? No! Like why didn't they think about this stuff earlier? Why didn't they look at the animations in Halloween a year ago and be like these are not good enough for machines that cost this much money? It's so weird to me that this game is sort of just being crowdsourced built. Like that's how they're doing it. It's like they're waiting for feedback when they should be the experts. And I mean it when I say it. Nobody is running to Spooky's next game again. They're not. Like they really need to hire talent and I'm going to say it and this is what I've heard from people. The same thing happened to Spooky that I think might have happened a little bit with Haggis. Is they did not invest in some of their talented team members and they left. Like David Van Es left. Bowen Cairns left. Like I don't even think Scott Denisi is working with them still. I think there's a lot of talented people who got Spooky to a point where they had all this goodwill, right? The Crossroads Rick and Morty and 5 All the best shooter but the integration was there the callouts were there the light show was there and we were so looking forward to The next game right it was like every game was going to get better and better and better and then Look what happened it just goes to show this industry is one million percent Talent driven it is and without a doubt the greatest talent in pinball is over at stern pinball I would say the second greatest talent is over at Jersey Jack. I saw someone like in a thread on Pinside or Facebook say that like Spooky's got the same talent as JJP and I just wanted to punch my computer screen. Are you crazy? Spooky's talent level isn't even close to Pat Lawler, Eric Minier and like Keith Johnson and Eric Katz. The guys over at JJP, they're good. Like they're really good. They just can't get Thank you for watching I been waiting for a boutique company to come out with a game that as good as a J game The hard part about pinball these days is this, the more companies you have, it all comes down to the talent. Now, what I've been waiting for and haven't seen yet is this, I've been waiting for a boutique company to come out with a game with a rookie talented designer that blows everybody away. It hasn't happened since like the Big Lebowski and it's really sad if you ask me that nobody else can figure out how to make a game as good as like the people from yesteryears. I mean, really, the Big Lebowski Knapp Arcade, WPPR diabetic, and Keith Elwin. I'm not going to put Denisee up there with TNA and Rick and Morty. Those are okay games, but those aren't blowing anyone away, especially when it comes to toys and wow factor. It's good. TNA is a good game, but come on. Let's get real here. You don't stand over at TNA and are blown away by anything happening in the game other than the sound and the music, which makes total sense because Scott Denisee is a DJ! The best elements of his games are the things that he's an expert at. The worst elements of his games are the design and the layout because he's not a great designer. So, man, I would love to see Marty Robbins who's now billing himself as a pinball designer to see what he can do over at Haggis Pinball, but where are the rookie designers? Where's Ryan McQuaid in pinball, right? I want to see Ryan McQuaid and his Sonic game getting made. The rumor is he's talking to American Pinball. Now, Ryan doesn't really come clean to me because obviously he doesn't want me to like ruin his deal or whatever conversations he's having. But the fact that this guy built Sonic Pinball in his garage and it's more impressive than half of the games that are getting greenlit by manufacturers is really strange to me. Somebody make Sonic Spinball. Everybody look. The truth is this. FOMO is never going away. It'll never fully go away. I think it's going to go away for spooky pinball, but when you have these limited accessory toppers, yeah, that's fine. Like you could sell a hundred of anything if the buyer base is wealthy and has like a rare machine. Like they could have made a hundred shooter rods for pirates for like 500 bucks and they would have sold. But that's not really what gets us excited about pinball, right? You don't play the topper. Like as cool as a topper is, I would much rather have the world under glass. The topper is the world I'm not seeing a ton of it. I look at a game like Rush. I don't see magic under the glass. I look at a game like Led Zeppelin. It's not there. I see it in Godzilla. Thank you, Godzilla and the design team. I don't see it in Willy Wonka, like real magic under the glass. Do I see it in Guns and Roses? Well, the light show is amazing, but not really. I mean, kind of. Like, it's cool having the guitar neck and the bass and the drumstickss, but magic. Like, something happens you didn't expect. There's none of that in GNR. Like, nothing happens in GNR you did not expect. And once you get used to the light show, that's why people get a little bit bored over time because there's still not that, like, I can't wait to show you what the ball does when that section turns on on the playstation. The I'm a fan of the pinball community and I think if there's any company that can put more in, it really is Jersey Jack Pinball and I hope Dennis Nordman and what he's doing over at American Pinball with Sophia as the engineer brings more of that wow under glass. But I just want to say this is a game that takes place on the playfield. It doesn't take place with like shooter rods and with inner art blades and with toppers. We've overemphasized the accessories. And the reason why we've overemphasized the accessories because we're not blown away by what's on the playfield. And when I see people gluing on all these mods all over Willy Wonka, I just want to ram my head through the wall because that's not what it's supposed to be. You're supposed to have those things be real interactive things with the ball. And just gluing on a bunch of stuff to me makes games look stupid because then you've got all this stuff that looks Hello facebook friends, Are you still there – you're watching Rainbow Dan Adam – vários событиons, tecnología behaviors, інuedo & as another achievement of info in the classroom Market它 розу对 makes confessional and has helped transform a large社会 alone and between the those of you who are looking at video slide, that is, at the hands of others who are lake view's members in Wisconsin. If you're supporting our work – and so do all of those who causing or supporting Asari P How can a giant twin play bajo be equipped inipleries ? We're going to start to like move away from JJP so we shall see what happens. Exciting time to be in pinball. Everybody, thank you for being a club member. I love doing these episodes for you. And if you have any friends on the fence, I mean $5 a month or you can be like Stuart and bump up your donation. You know you're getting more than $5 from Kaneda every month between this and the Facebook lives. This is the place to be to hear about what's going on in pinball, to have it in real time, to have it when it's relevant and none of the filler. www.onmer.com All fresh and shipment free, below the weight, separate, freeway to