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DPP #119 "Rumors!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·33m 40s·analyzed·May 2, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.037

TL;DR

Don speculates on Stern's 2024-2025 release schedule and secondary market signals indicating upcoming remakes.

Summary

Don Garrison discusses emerging pinball rumors for 2024-2025, focusing on anticipated Stern Cornerstone releases (John Wick, Metallica Spike 3, Pokemon), Jersey Jack's next game announcement at IAPA in November, and secondary market signals like high Munsters prices suggesting an anniversary re-release. He also critiques Home Pin's Spinal Tap for prolonged development with minimal public availability.

Key Claims

  • Pokemon pinball is coming, likely in 2025 as a winter release (two cornerstone releases away from current date)

    medium confidence · Don's interpretation of Stern's social media response and Jason Knapp's rumor post; Don believes Knapp has inside information beyond the public social media post

  • John Wick is the leading rumor for next Stern Cornerstone release, but Don rates it 50-50 against other possibilities

    medium confidence · Widespread community rumor; Don notes tight security with no leaked images

  • Metallica Spike 3 remake is coming for October/end-of-year release with full screen and modern features

    medium confidence · Persistent community rumor; based on speculation that Metallica band wants modern tech equivalent to Jersey Jack's Guns N' Roses

  • Indiana Jones pinball license lapsed mid-development at Stern, likely due to using Dial of Destiny instead of Raiders of the Lost Ark

    low confidence · Don's personal rumor from around a year ago; speculative interpretation of why project was shelved

  • Munsters anniversary edition re-release is coming (likely August/Halloween timeframe) due to secondary market prices ($15,000-$16,000) and black/white Translight restocking

    medium confidence · Don's market analysis; Stern's confirmation they can do anniversary editions while maintaining original LE scarcity

  • Jersey Jack's next game will be unveiled at IAPA Expo in Orlando in November (instead of Chicago Pinball Expo in October)

    high confidence · Replay Magazine article featuring Jack Winery directly confirming the November timeline

  • Elton John is Jersey Jack's best-playing game and they're buying more parts to keep Premium/Platinum production going

    high confidence · Replay Magazine article; Elton John sales performing well

  • Home Pin's Spinal Tap has been in development for over a year with only one confirmed public location (Pinball Hall of Fame)

    high confidence · Don's direct observation; confirmed by Chuck Casey's report from Pinball Hall of Fame

Notable Quotes

  • “I have a suspicion, and I don't have any hard information on this, but I get the sense that Jason probably knows more than he's letting on... someone's probably been whispering to him.”

    Don Garrison @ ~05:30 — Don's interpretation that NAP Arcade's Jason Knapp has insider industry connections beyond public information

  • “Stern has really tightened down on their security. I haven't seen any Whitewood pictures posted. No fuzzy pictures of back glass art. No none of that. So the leaks are tight.”

    Don Garrison @ ~03:00 — Observation about Stern's improved information security and lack of traditional leaks in current development cycle

  • “I think I'm going to be just about as surprised [if it's not John Wick]. I think I'm still 50-50, neck and neck.”

    Don Garrison @ ~04:00 — Don's genuine uncertainty about the leading John Wick rumor despite it being the heaviest speculation

  • “This is like the greatest time of the year... just the beginning of summer... the second half of the year is falling right into place now.”

    Don Garrison @ ~28:00 — Shows enthusiasm for the rumored release pipeline and seasonal timing of announcements

  • “Raiders of the Lost Ark [would be] a soul machine... The whole thing is capped off by a giant rolling boulder... It's just a great movie. It's a whole adventure.”

    Don Garrison @ ~12:00 — Don's passionate articulation of what an ideal Indiana Jones pinball game would feature

  • “This isn't just Nap Arcade calling it based off of a social media post. This is a print article from Jack Winery himself. So I kind of think we can just go ahead and carve that in our skin.”

    Don Garrison @ ~26:00 — Don distinguishing between rumor-mongering and official confirmation from credible sources

  • “I'm making this for people that don't know any better so I can take their money, which is even kind of a scuzzier take.”

    Don Garrison @ ~38:00 — Don's critical paraphrase of Home Pin's perceived business model and target customer

Entities

Don GarrisonpersonJason KnapppersonStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyJohn BorgpersonHome PincompanyChuck CaseypersonJack Wineryperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Home Pin's reputation damage from creator's anti-American statements and PayPal scam claims affecting market perception and availability

    medium · Don's report of Home Pin's public rants; creator's stated refusal to deal with American market; limited product distribution globally

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack pivoting next game announcement from Chicago Pinball Expo to IAPA Expo; changes announcement strategy and venue

    high · Replay Magazine article quoting Jack Winery; official confirmation with November timing instead of October Expo

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Enthusiasm tempered by skepticism; players eager for announcements but wary of speculation without official confirmation

    medium · Community pushback on Jason Knapp's social media interpretation; Don's own 50-50 confidence on John Wick; preference for verified sources

  • ?

    event_signal: May 4th Star Wars quest promotion indicates recent/upcoming Star Wars release timing; tax refund season strategy parallels Jaws January release

    medium · Don's mention of May 4th quest tie-in; commentary on seasonal release patterns

  • ?

    leak_detection: Unusually tight security around Stern's next Cornerstone release; no leaked Whitewood pictures or backglass art

    high · Don notes contrast to historical leaks; indicates development is progressing but information is locked down

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.101

0:00
who's ready for a rumor soaked episode of the podcast here on a wednesday midweek update man nap arcade drop and everything i'm going to talk a little bit more about that because i was already kind of thinking and contemplating some of these aspects i can't wait to get into it let's get to the music and then the drop We'll be right back. And they're coming hot and heavy this week, especially today.
0:52
Thank you, Jason Knapp, for the triple update earlier today. But you're not the only one thinking these things. I was actually thinking about these upcoming rumors and games on my drive to work yesterday.
1:05
And I can't wait to get more into it because I have some fresh perspectives I'd also like to add. A sprinkler of Parmesan cheese amongst the pinball pasta that we got going. What's going on, everybody? It's May now. It's May Day. We're a couple days away from May the 4th. Stern's got a whole new month of fun quests to go after this month. I can't wait. I'm going to pick up that Star Wars one on May the 4th. That's the only real time-sensitive one that you've got to be aware of. Welcome to the podcast, one and all. My name's Don Garrison. I run a pinball-themed podcast, and I drop content two to three times per week, which adds up, I'm not good at math, 17 times per month or something. We're live streaming. We're on Facebook. We're dropping Patreon content. I'm on YouTube. Just put up a new video. I'll talk about a little bit more of that coming up. I'd also like to thank the producers on the Patreon level. They're at the $20 level producing the show, helping me bring the content to you. And I'm thankful for all of them. I want to give a shout-out. I'm talking about Shane Told. I'm talking about John Tomberlin. I'm talking about my boy Chris Turner down in San Antonio. I'm talking about Danny Tapovich. Virginia Beach is representing. And Doug Puerta. Thank you. Group hug. Bring it in. We need to hang out online. Google Hangouts coming out and coming up. So thank you to them. And a congratulation is in order because yesterday was April 30th, and that was the day we did the drawing for the Cab Custom Laser Cut Side Armor for Jaws Pro Premium LE Edition, future SLE Edition. We gave that away. Mr. Ron Lamb, congratulations to you. Congratulations and adulations. He won the armor. He responded. He gave me an address, and so I shipped that out yesterday. So thanks for everybody for participating. We had 52 people that entered. It was easy to enter. All you had to do was send a photo of yourself and a Jaws machine. Most people found one on location or, if they're lucky, in their homes. Or some people found it on a desktop screen and took a little selfie. That worked too. As long as it was you and a machine, you were entered. 52 entered. Two people walked out with T-shirts. And one Grand Pies winner got the custom powder-coated Jaws armor. So congratulations to you, Ron. Wear it in happiness. and health. So I'm driving into work yesterday. I was working the night shift at the convenience store, and I was thinking about games that were coming out, the rumors, how everything's rushing through. And there's this persistent rumor where we're on the eve of a Stern Cornerstone release, the second game of the year, the second big game release of the year. And the leading rumor has been it's going to be themed around some sort of aspect of the John Wick Keanu Reeves franchise, right? Bang, bang, shoot him up. Kung Fu game, which I think could work in pinball. I'm kind of hype on it. I went and watched the movie in anticipation of this, so I have a little bit more background information on the licensed theme that they're going to be using. Can't wait to see what they bring. But I don't feel super strongly about this rumor. Now, it's the heaviest one that's been coming out, but I don't think I would be as shocked if it was something else completely. So I think I'm about 50-50. It may be John Wick, it may as well be something else If it was something else A Pokemon, a Dungeons and Dragons A Celine Dion pin I don't think I would be completely shocked Like what? We were all expecting this John Wick Stern has really tightened down on their security I haven't seen any Whitewood pictures posted No fuzzy pictures of back glass art No none of that So the leaks are tight, which I appreciate Because I do like to be surprised just like everybody else Last Monday was the day we were going to probably hear something if it was going to be this week, and so that did not happen. So then all eyes are on next week, and then the week after that, and then the week after that, and then the week, maybe two weeks after that. It'll take us into June. But it's imminent. It's here somewhere. And so Jason Knapp did kind of a rumor roundup post, a group of posts, it turns out today, hitting on a lot of these same points. So, you know, first I'd like to kick it off with, you know, this Facebook post that was posted where people were asking when a Pokemon pin was coming, right? Because that's, I mean, that's probably the biggest license, I mean, in existence. But as far as, you know, pinball forecasting, the one that most people are probably looking forward to, locations can't wait to get the Pokemon on site because it's just going to earn money by two, man, because the demand is going to be crazy. People want to get in their homes and never leave it. Like this is going to be the next big juggernaut. The last couple of years we were here in Jaws. Jaws is coming. Now Jaws is here. It's amazing. Pokemon is probably that next one. So there was a post on the social media, Stern Post, every day, every three days or something. Just put something out there to stay culturally relevant. It's probably a corporate team of social media folks who aren't really from the design team because I think those people have their focus and their attributes. their expertise is probably best suited to designing the games and not mucking about on the Twitters and the X's. So somebody posted, like, hey, when are we going to get our Pokemon machine? Or wouldn't it be great if we get one? Something like that. And then they flippantly said, like, you know, get ready, stay tuned. I don't know, something like that. And then, you know, Jason Knapp seemed to superficially run with that, like, this is the first kind of confirmation from the official sources coming out. And then people were quick to fire back with, like, you know, they wouldn't release something like that at a social media post. Okay, I think everybody's correct here. I think everybody's correct. I think Pokemon's coming. I think this was kind of a tangible confirmation, and I also think that the social media confirmation means absolutely nothing. And here's what I'm getting at. I have a suspicion, and I don't have any hard information on this, but I get the sense that Jason probably knows more than he's letting on. I don't think it was just a social media post that he jumped to and then jumped on his blog to say, look, Stern has confirmed it, guys. It's coming. And I think he, someone's probably been whispering to him. You know, he's more connected than I am. And then, you know, I think the social media posts gave him a nice little cover to be like, hey, look at this. Wouldn't this be great? So I'm feeling good about this. I'm feeling more sure about this than I am on John Wick coming out next. I think I'm still 50-50, neck and neck. If it's John Wick or if it's something else, I think I'm going to be just about as surprised. But, yeah, I think Pokemon's coming. When is Pokemon coming? Not this year. Nah, I don't think it's going to be coming out this year. I think 2025 seems reasonable. He seemed to forecast, as the day went on and I was reading comments and things, that this may be a winter release, which would put it two cornerstone releases from now. So we get this John Wick or whatever it is. And then I'll go on to talk about some of the other ones. Metallica has been really big. Supposedly the Metallica boys, they've seen what Jersey Jack's been doing with Guns N' Roses. They've seen where modern music pins are. and they're looking at their game, which came back in the Dot Matrix era, display era, and they want something with the full screen, the full package and everything. And there's been kind of this persistent rumor that there was going to be a rerun Vault edition of the original Metallica, and I think now that's morphed into not only is it not going to be a Vault from the Dot Matrix display era, but it's going to be something from the future era of the new Spike 3 system. Currently we on Generation Spike 2 as far as the actual control boards that run the different mechanisms in the game and such You know they gone from having you know centralized computer controlling in the back box to little boards that operate as satellites you know all throughout the game field and everything. And so with technology doubling every five years as far as bringing the cost down, bringing the power up, you know, look at where Spike 2 started back in the Batman 66 Aerosmith days. I mean, we're in a couple of cultural generations from then. So Spike 3 sounds completely reasonable. You know, let's update the components and everything. As time goes on, it almost gets more expensive to keep using the old equipment because less and less people are producing it. So maybe Spike 3 is coming from Metallica. That seems pretty strong. That seems pretty strong for the end of the year. But that would take Pokemon's spot. I think January is kind of a good spot. That was a great spot for Jaws this year. That came out. It was revealed. And then that was right around the time that W2s and 1099s and all that business was coming in. So we were looking at getting taxes done. Tax refund season right around the corner. All right, I got money in my pocket. Let's go on this thing, man. Let's go, bro. I ended up picking up not only a Jaws but a Black Knight Sword of Rage off of those tax breaks or tax refunds. So it's a good time. It's a good time. It's after Christmas. So people may have some more security or certainty in their budget by that point. So, yeah, so that completely makes sense to me that that might be a January release. We'll pencil that in. But, yeah, I don't know that, you know, I wouldn't be as surprised to see, you know, John Wick next to something else. At this point, though, I've kind of grown on it. You know, I heard John Wick and I was like, all right, a bit of a mid-license, but so was Foo Fighters. Look how amazing that was. So I say bring it. More Keanu, more fun. Where's Indiana Jones, right? Now, I've been hearing, you know, rumors and whispers starting around a year or so ago. You know, I'm out there. People email me things. unsolicited, just like, hey Don, don't say anything, but I heard this or this or that or that. And, you know, some of it comes true, some of it doesn't. I've been hearing some fairly persistent rumors that came to bear. You know, Jaws, Foo Fighters, Venom. Now, the order of the release of these games wasn't always consistent with what I was hearing, but I was hearing it. One other game that I heard around the same time, and we should be coming up from, was an Indiana Jones game by John Borg, Mr. Rush, Mr. No, he didn't do Ghostbusters. What's another game that he did? Kiss? Didn't he do Kiss back in the day? Regardless, he was supposed to be up next. And then, I don't even know where this rumor came from, but I remember hearing something somewhere. Maybe it was the show floor at TPF or one of the back rooms somewhere. Maybe it was a flight or maybe my brain telepathically communicated with another dimension. But there was the theme that John Borg was supposedly working on had lapsed. The license to produce it kind of went away. And I don't think that means that it went away because they were rushing in the end and then they couldn't make the deadline. Probably more so that like, you know what, this isn't turning out to be the best decision for us at this point. Let's just let this go. And I think that happens more often than not, where projects may start down a path and then development may change to something else. I spoke about this before, but maybe that's what happened to Indiana Jones. Now, why would that happen? because I think Indy is a perennial license. There's been a couple Indiana Jones games already. There's been a couple of Star Wars games already, and I think they could make Star Wars games every two to three years until the end of time, and they would still sell. Indiana Jones, I think, is exactly the same way. So my hope is that this was something like maybe they're going back to the old movie tie-in. Maybe it was Dial of Destiny. Maybe it didn't translate as well to pinballs, they thought. Maybe they didn't forecast sales. maybe, I know they don't do focus group testing, but maybe their internal kind of group testing was like, you know, I think this layout that we have for this game could probably be served by a stronger license than Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, let's just say. So if that was the case and they kind of shelved it, I feel okay about that. Because what I would really like to see is Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's a soul machine, and I believe I've talked about this before. But that movie has it all, man. You know, the first three Indiana Jones films, classic, all great in their own way, man. Hard to pick a favorite. But if you had to pick one that was just encapsulating an Indiana Jones adventure, I think Raiders of the Lost Ark would be the way to do it. I hope that's not what they were working on and that got shelved, because that would give me the sadness. That would give me the muy tristes, you know, if that would be the case. Because think about it, right? This is like, you know, the movie serials is what they're trying to throw back to, right? movie opens you're in a south american jungle you're already on an adventure there's dr jones leather jacket leather whip david fixes hat and he's going into the ancient temple right he's got his guide there what's going on there's there's a golden idol there's treasure in there there's danger in there he's raiding a tomb man he's basically raiding a tomb uh he loses his guardian along the way or his little little shepherd guy you know throw me the idol i throw you the whip no time no time and then punji sticks right and then the whole thing is capped off this is the opening sequence of the movie. The whole thing is capped off by a giant rolling boulder that he barely escapes in time. Spiders are involved. Angry natives blow darts, poison darts. Jock Lindsay in his seaplane with the call letters of Charlie 3 Papa Oscar, C-3PO, because George Lucas was involved. It's a cool throwback. Check it out. It's on the plane there. Jumps in there. Reggie the snake is in the plane. They probably flew there in the plane, right? Why wasn't there a seat for his guide? Maybe he met him there. But then wouldn't he have known Reggie was along the way? Anyway, the whole thing is just forecasting that Dr. Jones hates snakes. That's his main foil. He can handle spiders, but snakes? Oh, no, not the snakes. And then what happens later? He's in this giant chamber somewhere in the middle of Morocco or Egypt or some crap, and he's just full of snakes and everything. It comes full circle. Nazis are involved. Ghost and supernatural stuff is involved.

  • “I don't think I would be completely shocked like what? We were all expecting this.”

    Don Garrison @ ~03:45 — Don acknowledging the possibility of a completely different game than John Wick without major surprise

    • Replay Magazineorganization
    NAP Arcadeorganization
    Pinball Hall of Fameorganization
    Chicago Pinball Expoevent
    IAPA Expoevent
    Pokemongame
    John Wickgame
    Metallica Spike 3game
    Jawsgame
    Munstersgame
    Indiana Jonesgame
    Elton Johngame
    Spinal Tapgame
    Black Knight Sword of Ragegame
    Guns N' Rosesgame
    Star Warsgame
    Creature from the Black Lagoongame

    licensing_signal: Disney-owned IP release pattern established with Jaws; Indiana Jones shelving leaves X-Men 97 and Pokemon as potential Disney/Marvel slots for 2024-2025

    medium · Don's observation of annual Disney property agreement; Venom, Jaws, Indiana Jones (shelved), Pokemon timing analysis

  • $

    market_signal: High secondary market prices for Munsters ($15,000-$16,000 for Premium/LE) indicate pent-up demand driving anniversary re-release probability

    medium · Don's secondary market analysis; Stern's black/white Translight restocking suggesting production planning; precedent set by Black Knight Sword of Rage

  • ?

    personnel_signal: John Borg potentially shifted away from Indiana Jones project mid-development; reassignment or shelving of license

    low · Don's year-old rumor of Borg working on Indy; speculation that license lapsed; no confirmation but pattern speculation

  • $

    market_signal: Secondary market prices reaching $15,000-$18,000 range for collectible LE machines; Munsters topper prices escalating dramatically

    high · Don's market observation of Munsters Premium/LE pricing; Pirates of the Caribbean trading at $18,000; Don's own hesitation to pay premium prices

  • ?

    product_strategy: Home Pin Spinal Tap in extended development limbo for 1+ year with minimal public presence

    high · Chuck Casey report from Pinball Hall of Fame; no show appearances despite announcements; creator's anti-American statements affecting business

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Pokemon pinball confirmation via Stern social media response; Don interprets as tangible but non-definitive confirmation

    medium · Stern's flippant response to Pokemon request on social media; Jason Knapp reported it; Don believes Knapp has insider knowledge beyond the post

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern appears to be managing scarcity through anniversary editions while protecting original LE production values

    medium · Stern's stated policy to not re-release same edition sizes; permission to do anniversary editions instead; Black Knight and potential Munsters model

    • 14:19
    Sala, his Moroccan contact is there. It's just great. It's just a great movie. It's a whole adventure, and I think it'd be served great with pinball. So I kind of want to hope that it was either every Indiana Jones or Shia LaBeouf side quest or something, you know, not great. And that's what got shelved. So the future can still bring us a Raiders of the Lost Ark machine. Huh? Huh? All right. So what does that bring us to the forecasting for this year? If I got to put $5 down on what I'm betting is going to happen from Stern Pinball, Cornerstone release, let's just do the rest of the year. for Stern Pinball. Let me just call this, and then if I'm right, that's fun. If I'm not, you won't even remember by then. Let's go with John Wick next. My five bucks is on that. And then let's go for sometime around Pinball Expo in October, Metallica Spike 3 comes out. And then, boom, maybe we get a bigger screen. Maybe we get better audio. Maybe we get better reliability. Maybe we get accessories a little bit sooner than 12 months after release. But maybe that's what's coming. Then let's go forward a little bit into January. Let's put Pokemon right there. And then what else are we going to see? I think we're going to see something else game-wise. Oh, Joss, thank you for updating again. Appreciate it. I was wondering where that squeak came from. All right, so also this year, we may get another throwback release, just like we got Black Knight Sword and Rage earlier. I think the next game up to do that with would be Munsters, and the reasons are thus. It's the same reasons as Black Knight Sword and Rage. The game came out. It was pre-COVID, didn't sell that well. They kind of ended it and moved on. Now, if you go back on the secondary market, that's what's driving all this, by the way. The secondary market, the prices for the Munsters games, particularly the premium and LE, because they were made in limited quantities, are super high, like five digits high, like $15,000, $16,000. If you want to find that topper, forget it, man. That thing's as expensive as the Black Knight Sword and Rage topper was last year. So I think there is at least some pent-up demand for this game driving and inflating those prices. on the secondary market. So I think another run, another placeholder run of Munsters, I think it's probably coming. Also adding more fuel to this cocktail fire is the fact that the black and white Stern Translight just showed up back on the store for $99. You can go buy yourself one of those now. So why just randomly bring that back unless they had a huge order in, and so they're going to put those up there and just start making some money off of them So which version are they going to make Is it going to be the Pro Absolutely not The game fair enough as it is There no need to remake the Pros I don think The game is the Premium the one with Grandpa Munster's dungeon underneath the play field.
    17:01
    What else did it have? Herman's Bash Toy was in all of them. I've got to go review the Matrix. But the main thing was that you had Grandpa's dungeon underneath there, like a lower play field. So what version? I think Premium is the way to go here. They're not going to redo the LEs again. I think the black and white art is what you need to do. Stern said that they would not go back and release any more of these, you know, anniversary limited editions because they want to keep those edition sizes the same as when they were originally released. So no more Jaws limited editions. But they can do anniversary editions. Tell the cows, proverbially, come home. So this could be, I don't know, a Munster's anniversary, a Munster's Green Ghoul Kiss edition, you know black and white with maybe some some monsters green uh flex of glitter just like they did the blood red kiss alvira that looks amazing and i think you could sell three to six hundred of those probably especially if you came back with the topper with the side armor all the accessories man just put it out there give us a cash grab i think the market would support it so i'm going to drop that in somewhere oh god that's got to coincide with halloween right so as we get into August as we get our Uggs out, as we get our pumpkin spice lattes out. Let's see that drop. We'll see if I'm right.
    18:15
    I think it'd be nice to have more of them out there. I wouldn't mind having it at some point, and I sure don't want to spend $14,000 for it because, honestly, I don't think it plays as great as Elvira's House of Horrors. But, man, that theme, man, it's just on it. I love the monster. So let's see if that happens. And then that could be the rest of the year for Stern, sprinkling whatever else they might decide to drop or run again or whatever. And what do I know? I'm just speculating, but this is the rumor episode that you're tuning in for. Oh, we didn't slot in X-Men 97. When is that supposed to go in there? You know, supposedly they have some agreement where they'll do a Disney-owned licensed property every year. So far we got Jaws, and that's it. And if we're getting Pokemon will be in January, and that's not Disney.
    18:57
    Indiana Jones would have been. Maybe that was this year's Disney release would have been Indiana Jones. Venom was last year's due to the Marvel thing. So X-Men. All right. I don't know. Let's make that a summer release, let's just say. We'll see what happens. But, you know, I appreciate all the content that NAP was dropping on us. And just prior to going live here, we got this other article. I first saw this. Jersey Jacket posted. There's an article in Replay Magazine. Why don't I not subscribe to that? How do I get on that? Probably go to replaymagazine.com and give them $24 a year or something silly like that. But there's a big cover article about Jersey Jack talking all about their latest successful game, Elton John, plays great, probably the best playing game that they made, definitely not the most sought after, I think, price-wise that's still Creature from the Black Lagoon, no, no, no Pirates of the Caribbean, which I think there's one trading for like $18,000 now, thank God the prices are finally coming down not that they're ever going to run them again, as an aside Elton John plays great, people love it, people love the Platinum Edition I love that Collector's Edition but the price is more than my enthusiasm is for it, so I'm just getting neither. But apparently it's selling well and they're buying more parts to keep the premium, their Platinums going. But there was a little nugget in there that they talked about their next game release, which we were kind of soft penciling them in for October's Pinball Expo. That would have been a year to the date that they released Elton John. But it looks like they're talking the IAPA Expo in Orlando, Florida in November. So they're still hitting it. So they don't have to try to rush and get it done, I guess, for October's Pinball Expo. rather take it down there to Florida. Is that a great game to unveil, you know, as far as, like, building enthusiasm and things? Probably not. Because it's not a pinball show, right? Chicago's Pinball Expo is, like, the biggest industry show of the year in the town that pinball is produced, for the most part. So, like, that would have been the one to really, like, you know, do the big star-studdled. Not that we got stars in pinball, but you know what I mean? Like, all eyes are on Chicago's Expo for pinball particularly. A show like IAPA, pinball is not even in the top 5% of things that are exhibited on the show floor.
    21:12
    You know, about 10% to 15% of the entire show floor, which is like 20 times the size of Chicago's Expo, is dedicated to, like, arcade and redemption machines, you know, everything from bowling alleys to alley rollers, right, VR machines to coin pushers, like marble machines, all of that, and pinball is just another thing that's in there. And even amongst the arcade things, pinball wasn't even 10% maybe of the whole arcade part of the show. It was like dancing, coin-operated fountains, all kinds of crazy stuff going on. The show, by the way, is completely amazing, and I'm not missing it again next year. I went for my first time this last year in 2023. It blew my mind. I mean, I knew it was going to be cool, but, like, come on now. This is like, you know, I've died and gone to just amusement-themed park, industry-themed entertainment world, and, like, I could just live there. You literally could live there because there's free snacks all over the place. There's a whole section, a whole neighborhood just of, like, carnival and vending snacks and things, you know, slushie machines, ice cream machines. Somebody had a little airplane liquor bottle claw machine going on, pretzels, dip and dots of every sort, waffle bears it was nuts um so yeah i want to go i want to go and just live there on the floor i just want to go be homeless down at iapa and i'm just going to graze things and play on bouncy houses and and climb obstacle courses and it's just that's just what life and reality is going to be at least for the three or four days of the show so you know unveiling a game there you know it's just going to be there the people that are there chiefly are there for business they're going to buy things for their family entertainment center uh for their arcade for their go-kart track, for their amusement park, water park, resort hotel, casino, whatever. So they're not going there like, oh, I can't wait to play this latest thing from Jersey Jack Pinball. They're like, can I put that on my show floor and earn some money? Can I earn some secondary income by selling people drinks that are playing that thing? How many for 10 of those? Or how much for 10 of those? Who do I buy them from? When can I get them? That's what they want to know. So I guess unveiling something brand new there may create a little bit of buzz, but these people are more looking for like you know what's going to pack houses into my movie theater sporting arena uh concert venue uh mud wrestling pagoda whatever it is that they're selling right so i will say for me uh i went down there it was a month after chicago's expo and there was huge lines 30 45 minutes to play elton john the entire show at expo when i went to iapa it was like barely one or two people because people aren't there to waste time playing games they're there to make deals and then go to the Imagineering luncheon that they paid $130 for to go check out. That was amazing, by the way. I got myself in there. Wow, hottest ticket of the show.
    23:54
    You know, so people aren't there, you know, spending time, like, playing games. And these aren't pinball players, you know, so they're not people that are going to be having 45-minute games causing long lines. You know, they'll flip some balls around, check out, gauge the reaction of the audience, and then go ahead and get them. So I'm kind of really excited for APA this year. I'm going to be able to go there, and there's going to be the brand-new game from Jersey Jack. And I'm just going to slide myself in there in my business casual attire and just flip balls as much as I can. So I'm super-duper excited for that. So hopefully that bears out and that's true. And that's coming from an official source. This isn't just Nap Arcade calling it based off of a social media post. This is a print article from Jack Winery himself. So I kind of think we can just go ahead and carve that in our skin. That's not penciled in. That's carved, right, like on a gas station toilet seat. so we'll look for that coming up man this year the second half of the year is falling right into place now just the beginning of summer this is like the greatest time of the year what else is going on what else can we talk about oh let's uh in other news let's talk about everybody's seminal favorite pinball I can't even call them a company it's more of a collective of genius it's home pin I'm going to talk about home pin for a second so friend of the show Chuck Casey was out there at the pinball museum Shout out to you Guy Thanks for giving me the review of spinal tap from home pin so to date now this game had was unveiled like over a year ago right i know i was in it was a summer and i was in europe listening to the aussie pinball podcast and they were already talking about so i had to predate that so we're about at least a year into this game's release and where is this game this game is in one location i know of on earth um i think there's a private collector that might have another one somewhere in Connecticut. But this game is at the Pinball Hall of Fame, a prototype version of Home Pin's Spinal Tap. And so I put out there in a recent show, like, has anybody played this thing? Like, is it there? Is it working? Is it good? Maybe it's amazing. I haven't played it. I saw some footage of some show in the UK, like, nine, twelve months ago. That's the last time I saw the machine, like, anywhere. You know, they were talking about this guy was going to be at Expo last year. Of course, he didn't show up. And that was hot on the heels of his comments that, you know, he wants nothing to do with America because he got scammed from PayPal or something. Like, you know, he fell into some kind of boomer scam, and he's blaming the United States and every citizen in it for it because it's our fault.
    26:21
    And then, what else does he hate Americans? He was just ranting the whole time. And then pinball people in general he didn't like, probably because, you know, they look at his offerings and they're like, what the crap, man? And he's like, well, you guys don't get it, right? I'm not making this for people that like this thing. I'm making this for people that don't know any better so I can take their money, which is even kind of a scuzzier take. And from everything I hear, the guy's personality kind of fits. I haven't met the dude, but rumors exist for a reason.
    26:50
    Nevertheless, Mr. Chet Casey graciously was out there with his whole volunteer group tuning up like 60-something games at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas, so thank you for that service. He's invited me along sometime. I'm interested. I'm going to go and turn some wrenches and get some games working and check this place out. I also want to head up the Meow Wolf installation of Omega Mart that's out there in Vegas. Been meaning to do that for a while. So, yeah, I think a trip to Vegas is probably going to be in the works here for the next six to nine months. But anyway, so he got back to me. Yes, the game is there, and the game was working, and the game is, as we can expect, not fantastic. So there we go. So it does exist. It is there. If you're in Vegas for any other reason, of which there's a million I'd put ahead of, you know, pinball, go check it out. Go check it out. But don't have a drink in your back pocket when you go there because there's some kind of archaic rules from this place.
    27:42
    Anyway, supposedly it operates as a pinball collective slash museum and not arcade. So, you know, unlike literally every other themed entertainment environment on the strip, this one isn't designed for a good time. It's designed for respectful flipperaging on the machines or some such. I don't know. I haven't been there, but I am excited. I want to go check it out. So thank you, Chuck, for that review.
    28:08
    Straight to the point. It's there. It's working. It's what you think. Not that it's terrible, just that there's nothing really compelling or new involved in it, which if I was going to put $5 down and guessing how it would play, That's kind of what I would think. What else is going on? All right. That's the rumors as I know them. It was just kind of fun, you know, kind of on my drive to work. I was like, man, I can't wait to talk about this stuff. Hey, you know what would make sense? Maybe it was just, you know, not a great Indiana Jones theme, and that's why they reverted to that. And then, you know, I wake up this morning, and it's like, boom, NAP's already talking about it. So thank you, Jason, for everything you do. Best blog in the business, you know. I think as far as like a blog when news drops and rumors drops, Snap Arcade is the place to go for long-form articles and weekly updates. Kinetis has us covered. I think they occupy adequate space. We've got a Sheetz and Wawa thing going on, so shout out to my folks in the Northeast. They know what I'm talking about. All right, what's going on in pinball podcast news? I've got a new modification for a pinball machine called Jaws. One of the features of the game is the chum bucket. It's available in every version. I'm glad they included it and not just a flat piece of plastic. You hit the Newton ball, and then the little chum bucket bounces around and fills up your chum line. So I was like, okay, bucket, chum bucket, chicken bucket. So I went and I made myself, I cobbled together and formulated a KFC bucket of chicken to just swap out with the chum bucket. And as soon as I did it, man, I just started chuckling. I think I've been laughing since then. I'm looking at it right now. It's amazing. It functions just like the other chum bucket. When you hit the ball, it bounces back and forth. It's got the Colonel's 11 Herbs and Spices pumpkin out the top, man. The thing is crazy. So I love it. And, you know, as soon as I was showing it around to my friends and things, they're like, that's hilarious. Send me one. How do I send you money? And I was like, okay, well, let me think about this. So I've got these things together. I came up with, you know, what kind of price would I want to pay for it if somebody else was making this? And I thought, okay, $20 and $5 shipping. I would totally do that, like, in a second. So the price is $25, shipping included, in the United States. If you're in Canada, I'll ship it to you for $25, but maybe kick me a tip or something, just because the border fees are like $10 to $15 just to ship anything. Or maybe go in where you give me an extra $15, I send you two or something. Get together with your friends and combine shipping. Maybe we can do that for our Canadian brethren. But I'll ship it worldwide. If you're in New Zealand, I'll get it to you. And if you don't got $25 and you really have to have it and you're truly destitute, Your homie will help you out, man. I'll go ahead and send you one. Someone will tip me five bucks more for one of theirs, you know, if they have the means, and so that'll cover it. So everybody that wants one, I want to make sure you can get one. I want to use these proceeds to go right back into the 3D dungeon and double the capacity so we can add another printer and really start cranking out some fun stuff because, you know, I've been soliciting ideas for cool, weird things and making them for folks because it's my hobby and that's what we're doing. So I just put up a YouTube video talking about this mod, showing it off in its two versions, and an install and everything, so that's available. I just put it up on the Facebook page, so you can go check that out. I'm going to go throw these on Pinside, too, just so it pops up and people can see them. And I got them in the production right now. So if you want one, you can order it, and it'll come out right away. I accept Venmo if you're in the U.S. and have access to that, or PayPal, and just send it on to me, and I'll mail it on out to you. Just make sure you include an address so I know where to send it. And I always throw in some stickers. I think while supplies last, I've got some drink coasters that are branded with the podcast. I'll throw those in there too. And if you need anything else, you need a start button, you need a plastic apron card or something, let me know. We can combine things and build yourself a package of all kinds of fun stuff. Heck, get yourself a T-shirt in there too. We'll ship it all out at once. So if nothing else, check it out. Share the video. Anybody that's receiving a bucket, which you should be starting to get them pretty soon, like probably by this weekend, go ahead and install it and share it around. Tell your friends what you think, and then tell me what you think and what else you want to see. Because I'm all about making creative, fun stuff and just getting it out there for folks and using the proceeds to fund this enterprise of mine. What else do we have, man? What's coming up this weekend? It's a weekend of travel for me, but I'm going on the road and bringing my equipment. So it's going to be more pinball fun to come. Be sure to like and follow the Facebook page, the YouTube page, because I'm putting more content up there. if you're feeling froggy jump on over to the patreon because there's cool story time episodes and other things going on there uh whenever i'm developing things like this chicken bucket the first images were put up on the patreon so you kind of get to follow that way and it's just a great way to you know if you want to throw five dollars in my tip jar that's how you do it that's a price to walk in twenty dollars to get you the producer level and get you a shout out we hang out on the special discord and we talk about all kinds of like higher level stuff not fit for typical conservative family ears all right what else do we got i think that's about it for episode 119. Thank you so much for joining me. Shout out to everybody out there in the pinball space. And, you know, thanks for being cool people.
    33:15
    Southern Pride Gaming Expo. Be here before you know it. I'll be on site in July in Atlanta. So if you're in the area, be sure to stop by and hang out. We're going to have some fun. We're going to kick some balls around. And we're going to know what the heck game is next from Stern by then. Hopefully by next week.
    33:31
    Shout out to you and yours. John's Pinball Podcast, gmail.com. Get out of here. Later.