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The Pinball Show Ep 157: Godzilla 70th, How To Increase Product Collectibility, & JJP Game 10 Rumors

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·1h 48m·analyzed·Jul 15, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Stern announces Godzilla 70th Anniversary premium and revives Rush production amid summer production updates.

Summary

The Pinball Show discusses Stern Pinball's major summer announcements: a new Godzilla 70th Anniversary premium edition ($9,699 MSRP) with grayscale art and foil decals, and the surprise return of Rush to production in September/October after its 2022 cancellation. Hosts analyze production schedules, market strategy, and tease an exclusive Patreon discussion on market trends and collectibility. Additional coverage includes theme park chatter and industry news leading into Chicago Pinball Expo in three months.

Key Claims

  • Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition will have no limit on production numbers and be available as long as there is customer demand

    high confidence · George Gomez stated this in his official announcement video; Craig Bobby reporting

  • Stern is releasing a new 'King of the Monsters Challenge' code update for all versions of Godzilla

    high confidence · George Gomez announcement; new update to be accessed through in-game menu

  • Rush will be returning to production in October with Pro and Premium versions in a limited one-run build

    high confidence · Craig Bobby announcement; Stern licensed the game again due to persistent demand

  • Godzilla Premium (regular colored version) originally planned for Q3 has been bumped back to next year

    high confidence · Zach explaining production schedule analysis; strategic move to protect secondary market value

  • Stern has not shipped any pinball machines for a week, using it as a vacation week

    medium confidence · Zach discussing production schedule; unclear if complete shutdown or partial

  • Godzilla 70th Anniversary features artwork by Zombie Yeti on the back glass

    high confidence · Craig Bobby reporting official announcement details

  • Hosts predict a new cornerstone game announcement may come in August

    low confidence · Zach and Dennis speculation based on perceived gaps in production schedule

Notable Quotes

  • “This new version of Godzilla, in theory, will have no limit on production numbers and be available for sale for as long as there is customer demand.”

    Craig Bobby (reporting George Gomez) @ ~11:45 — Directly addresses collector concerns about value retention; differentiates from typical limited edition strategy

  • “Much like Stranger Things, the Rush title has continued to gain accolades and popularity for its tough-but-addicting Jongborg layout and, of course, Rush's classic prog rock music”

    Craig Bobby @ ~14:30 — Explains the business rationale for Rush's return despite initial cancellation; cultural momentum driving demand

  • “I don't believe I've ever had a conversation with George Gomez, ever. I've never met him.”

    Zach (host) @ ~38:00 — Reveals disconnect between host and Stern design team; establishes that content coverage is not based on personal relationships

  • “I think that what they're doing is they are hoping that they will have a major code update to John Wick by the time they get into August and that that is going to goose sales.”

    Zach @ ~50:00 — Strategic analysis of production gaps; suggests Stern is attempting to fix John Wick perception through code

  • “I think they're contractually obligated. I don't hold any animosity to them for pushing it.”

    Zach @ ~43:00 — Acknowledges regional/contractual promotion dynamics for Rush, particularly in Canada

  • “The Point of owning LEs is to show off. That's the only real point to them.”

    Dennis (co-host) @ ~06:30 — Highlights collector psychology and FOMO-driven purchasing behavior in premium market

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyGeorge GomezpersonGodzilla 70th AnniversarygameRushgameZombie YetipersonKeith ElwinpersonZach (host)personDennis (co-host)personCraig Bobbyperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern production schedule gap in August suggests potential new cornerstone announcement imminent; John Wick code update expected to drive sales in that period

    medium · Zach analysis of production line inventory; August appears lighter than typical with no new title announced; speculation that major code update is planned

  • ?

    code_update: New 'King of the Monsters Challenge' code mode released for all versions of Godzilla; accessible through in-game menu

    high · Official George Gomez announcement; downloadable update post-release

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Rush demand remained strong despite 2022 cancellation; game gained accolades for 'tough-but-addicting' Jongborg layout and prog rock music; Canadian market particularly supportive

    high · Craig Bobby reporting persistent demand and awards recognition; contractual obligation in Canadian market; persistent secondary market demand

  • ?

    event_signal: Chicago Pinball Expo (three months away) expected to generate wave of new announcements from Stern, Jersey Jack, Barrels of Fun, Spooky, Dutch Pinball, and other manufacturers

    high · Craig Bobby anticipating major news cycle in next 6-8 weeks leading into Expo; historical pattern of announcements at major expos

  • $

    market_signal: Godzilla 70th Anniversary positioned as unlimited production premium (not limited LE) to address collector concerns about value, unlike typical Stern LE FOMO strategy

    high · George Gomez stated unlimited production 'as long as there is customer demand'; comparison to Blood Red Kiss Elvira approach

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.325

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised.
0:11
The Pinball Network is online. Launching, The Pinball Show. On this episode of The Pinball Show, Dennis and I celebrate the summer and chat vacations and theme parks. Fine, fine. We'll also fill you in on the newest Stern Pinball production updates. new Godzilla 70th Anniversary game release, the Stern Strategy for new game additions, Rush making a return, the new Jersey Jack pinball game rumor, other news from around the industry, and pinball market trends. Also, this week, official club members get what could be the best extra content discussion that we've ever had here at the Pinball Show, which is an overall general current market analysis, market predictions, games that are holding value, ways to enhance the collectability of Stern Pinball machines, and a list of buy low, sell high titles. It's essentially the G.J. LaCoultre version of Pinball Market Trends. It's all here. It's all 157. It's all pinball.
1:22
Pinball is a game of skill. for some it's a passion and a lifestyle it's time for the pinball show it's pinball with personality it's episode 157 of the pinball show and oh it's a doozy dennis is it it's a could do yeah it's a doozy because no it's not really much of a doozy uh we did get some news, especially from Stern Pinball and from the other manufacturers around the industry. But first, I'm going to ask, how's your summer going? It's fine, Zach. Just fine? Yeah. I mean, I got a lot of, like, there's work conferences and stuff in the summer, so I've got a lot of, you know, sort of those trips and things that I can work around. Why do they do that? Well, I think it's because they want to destroy everyone's joy. Yeah. Yeah, that's winter and rainy season stuff. I think, you know, the kids aren't in school, so I think they reason that parents have an easier time getting to the conferences and such. Are you taking a vacation? It's vacation time. Are you taking a vacation this summer? I took a couple days around the 4th of July. You took a couple days? Yeah, I took the day before the 4th, the day after the 4th, and then, of course, I had the weekend to lead in, So I actually had that stretch. So I only worked Monday, Tuesday that week. Dennis. What? You offer this world too much. What? You've got too much to offer to have to take a vacation the day after 4th of July. Zach, we can't all be entrepreneurs and make up our own hours. When are you retiring? When do you think you'll retire? I was hoping to retire this November. No. but i don't have enough saved so i'm gonna have to wait on that but i look every month i check and i go investments are doing pretty good maybe another 10 years yeah i mean personally i'm actually estimating that i'll go 20 more years oh dennis yeah why well i think at that point i'll have enough of an egg in the nest that i won't have to think about it that's the logic Yeah, but you're super frugal, so that egg is so ridiculous. I mean, that's why I'm always checking. I'm playing it by ears. You know, I don't know. It depends. It depends if I don't like working anymore at that point, if I'm tired of it. You're different in so many ways. I think that's what makes this work. I have like, you give me $5, I'll spend $6.
Tohocompany
Chicago Pinball Expoevent
San Diego Comic-Conevent
John Wickgame
Deadpoolgame
Dwight Sullivanperson
Rob Burkeperson
Epic Universeevent
Iron Maiden Iron Man Voltgame
Jurassic Parkgame
The Pinball Showmedia
  • ?

    personnel_signal: Zombie Yeti credited as artist for Godzilla 70th Anniversary back glass; confirms continued role in Stern art department

    high · Official announcement; back glass artwork credited to Zombie Yeti

  • ?

    announcement: Stern announces Rush will return to production in September/October in Pro and Premium versions as limited one-run build after 2022 cancellation

    high · Craig Bobby official report; licenses renewed; high demand in Canadian market and tournament circuit drove decision

  • ?

    announcement: Stern officially announces Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition premium machine with grayscale/red aesthetics, foil decals, special toys, and anniversary back glass at $9,699 MSRP

    high · George Gomez YouTube/social media announcement; production begins this week; shipping late this week or following week

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern strategically postponing Godzilla Premium (regular colored) production from Q3 to next year to protect secondary market value of 70th Anniversary Edition

    high · Zach production schedule analysis; suggests intentional staggering to maximize initial demand and hold value

  • ?

    technology_signal: Stern using foil/metallic cabinet finishes on Godzilla 70th Anniversary; George Gomez noted this technique hasn't been used since Iron Man

    medium · Craig Bobby reporting; visual comparison to Iron Maiden Iron Man Volt; distinction unclear vs other chromium finishes on Jaws LE and Iron Maiden

    • 4:00
    You've stored those five acorns for the last 20 years, and they've become 40 acorns. I've gotten better about spending money.
    4:09
    But yeah, it is still hard for me to spend it on fun. But I mean, I don't mind taking vacations. But you see, that's where it's kind of like, well, I do kind of count TPF as a vacation, even though it's almost half working because there's always people that want to talk about the podcast, which I appreciate. I mean, it's nice hearing from people that listen. But it has become like we have to go and make sure we play all of the new games so we can cover them and stuff. That part is kind of like a job at this point, which is kind of annoying, but it's of my own making. I wouldn't feel that obligation if I hadn't started Patreon. Oh, I see. See? Yeah. Yeah, because the EGP Patreon covers the cost of that trip. So I'm like, well, I got to work. I'm getting paid. Speaking of vacations, I may take a vacation two weeks from now for the pinball show. It seems like you're always on vacation. When you're not issuing refunds, you're always on vacation. I know. You got to take a tight vacation this year because of those refunds. So you're not going on a cruise then?
    5:07
    You and Bruce Nightingale and your cruises, I swear. One day the Nightingales and I will. Floating buffets. We're going to cruise together. Our problem is I love cruises. I don't think I'll ever cruise. And the issue is it's hard for us to plan ahead because of our line of business and with the kids and stuff. So it's like, shit, we need to take a vacation in two weeks. What's available? And then we end up having to overpage it. So we may or may not be on a Disney cruise again. But the more interesting thing, speaking of Disney, is that there is a new theme park opening. It makes me think of vacation, even though it's opening, I think, early 2025. A new theme park opening from Universal Studios is going to be a third theme park in the Orlando area titled Epic Universe. Have you heard of this? I have not. Oh, my God. Oh, it's like the thing that I'm obsessing about. I'm researching. How do I get in the front of the soft opening? I want to be there. How do I get – Why? Why do you care about being there at the opening? Because I've never experienced a park opening in my life. But who cares? I love theme parks. Sure, but love it when it's not opening. Love it when it's already – like all the rides are tested. Yeah, but that's like play before you pay. Like, oh, no. I see an LE. I want to buy it. You're wanting – in the computer world, you're wanting to be a beta tester. It's like, why? It's not that special. Because beta is better than nothing. I want to experience some of the rides. Wait for full release. You have been corrupted by all these non-1.0 code sets. Oh, I just – This is not normal behavior. When I see an LE, I want it. I don't care if the code is at 0.7. I'll get there. I understand, but that's like half a flex and half just you. So, I mean, that's more – No one's going to know that you – I mean, unless you throw it in their face. Hey, did you know I went to the beta launch of Universal? I mean, no one's going to know that. It's not like – Oh, yeah, yeah. The point of owning LEs is to show off. That's the only real point to them. Really? Yeah, because all the gameplay features are the same on the premium. I like all the other – For Sterns. I just like the bells and whistles. I don't entertain at all. What other – it's like, oh, you look, you get a real backlash just like every game had in the 90s. And then – Powder coat. And then powder coat, which you could go and do on your own. I don't have the time for that. They'd probably get a better color. Do you like theme parks?
    7:28
    I mean, yeah, but I don't like them anymore. That's kind of surprising. I mean, I like roller coasters and stuff, but I don't fast pass and stuff. I don't like lines. I don't like being out in the sun. Oh, Dennis. The ride's not usually worth the wait in the queue, but conceptually, I like them. You need to go to a theme park with your boy then. I'll take care of you. We're going. We don't worry about lines.
    7:57
    I just love. Oh, my God. This is so bourgeois. I love theme parks, but I'm not going to wait in Orlando heat for rides. Sure. Don't get me wrong. I understand your motivation. I do. I've been to Disney World out there a couple times. All right. When's the last time? It was in the 90s. Oh, geez. Back when the world was innocent. I'm looking so forward to Epic Universe. They have multiple lands, including How to Train Your Dragon.
    8:23
    They're revitalizing that series. Why do you need dragons? It's just a dated franchise, but they're bringing it back. Didn't they make multiple movies? It wasn't just one. Yeah, but it's a long time ago. But they're actually doing live action, so it makes sense to the land. How do you have a live dragon? Now we're just getting dumb. Have you not seen The House of Dragon? I have. Have you seen the last episode? Yes.
    8:45
    New one to me. That was my favorite character, too, so now I'm sad. No spoilers. They're going to have Super Nintendo Land. That'll be cool. They're going to have a new Harry Potter. Did you know Mario's never had a pinball machine?
    9:00
    They're going to have a new Harry Potter, Diagon Alley kind of thing going. Your wizard, Hogwarts Legacy. And what is actually interesting, a lot of theme park enthusiasts, they're going to do like a Dark Universe Monsters, original Monsters World. Oh, Frankenstein. The werewolf, yeah. Yeah. The mummy. A little monster bash going on. Yeah. So that's going to be really cool. But I can't wait. If anybody out there listening has any type, look, we need the perks where we can get them here. If anybody has any in, do you work at Universal? Do you have any in where your boy can partake? I need to get in here. I need to get in. Whether it's filming or just experiencing, whether it's employee law, whatever it is, please reach out to me. And we'll take Dennis, too. We'll make him take a vacation.
    9:56
    I don't like roller coasters. I'm too scared now. You don't? I'm too scared. That's the best part. I used to. I can't. It's just too much. It's too much now. I'm more of a, when I go to Vegas, I don't gamble. I go for the shows. That's how I am here. I like the dark rides. I like the roller coasters if they're not too thrilly I don't need that in my life it's too much I like the animatronics the storytelling that's what I like yes the telling of the story that's always been the key thing the theming throughout the lands costume design I love it I was actually very worried about you last weekend why? Because you messaged me and you said, I found this watch. Oh, boy. I was like, Zach, you don't want to be a watch bro because that is a rabbit hole you do not want to go down. I think let's – And then you send me the one you like, $30,000 watch. I was like, I don't know if this is a good place for you to start. Why don't we – let's venture here, but we're going to make this a Patreon. So if you want to hear more about my deep dive into researching horology and collecting watches, then hopefully you're signed up to Patreon. Well, do we have Craig Bobby today? Do you think Craig Bobby owns a watch? Actually, I know he does. Oh, fancy. He seems like a very high quality but an everyday man. That's what Craig Bobby is. He doesn't need to stick his nose up. Well, I think he has a Casio G-Shock Mudmaster. There you go. So it's like an actual grandfather clock on his wrist. It is huge. Those Mudmasters are not small. That is so Craig Bobby style. See, that's what I'm talking about. Very utilitarian, but still high quality, but a big old thing. It's not like he's buying one of his fancy pants. What? Bergerou. Oh, yes. Check out my Bergerou. Sounds like something you'd wear on your neck. A birthday. They probably do make necklace timepieces. Hey, Craig, do you have a birthday this week for us?
    12:27
    Hello and welcome back to the Pinball Show's Top Stories. I'm Craig Bobby. Well, the hot, hot, hot days of summer have finally arrived, and with that heat comes hot news from Stern Pinball that they are releasing their much-anticipated, highly-rumored, super-spectacular Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition pinball machine. Say what? Yes, the rumors were true after almost a year of speculation that Stern would be releasing a special black and white version of their most popular Godzilla machine that would coincide with Toho's 70th anniversary of the first Godzilla movie, which debuted in theaters back in 1954. This week, Stern creative officer and pinball genius extraordinaire George Gomez took to social media and YouTube to present the new version of the Keith Elwin design machine that was originally released back in 2021 to eager Godzilla fans the world over. Living up to Stern's ongoing promise of not re-releasing additional limited editions of titles they had previously sold, this new version of Godzilla will be sold as a premium edition and have a regular premium edition MSRP of $9,699. Much like Stern is done with their stunning blood-red Kiss edition of Elvira's House of Horrors machine back in 2023, the new 70th edition of Godzilla features special foil grayscale decals on the cabinet, grayscale art with limited red and tastefully colored accents, special anniversary grayscale toys and mechs on the playfield, and a sweet new special anniversary Godzilla back glass with artwork penned by the always incredible Zombie Yeti. To further try and satisfy nervous limited edition Godzilla owners, Gomez stressed in his video that this new version of Godzilla, in theory, will have no limit on production numbers and be available for sale for as long as there is customer demand. Not interested in trading your existing Godzilla for this new version of the game? Well, have no fear, Stern has something for existing Godzilla owners as well, as George shared that Stern is also releasing a new code update for all versions of the game, which includes a new The King of the Monsters Challenge mode that, once released and downloaded, can be accessed through the in-game menu. Eager Godzilla fans can expect to see the new version of his favorite title at this year's San Diego Comic-Con later this month and is expected to hit the Stern production line for those lucky customers who buy one starting next week.
    15:05
    Now staying with Stern Pinball... baby here we go just days prior to the godzilla news despite previously saying that they wouldn't stern also announced that due to popular demand stern would in fact be doing another production run of the john board classic rush pinball machine now as rush fans will painfully remember back in 2022 stern announced the release of their long-awaited and much celebrated rush pinball machine which was then unexpectedly and uncharacteristically for stern canceled without warning less than one year later, leaving many would-be Rush buyers scrambling to the used market if they wanted to buy one. Now, Stern later claimed that Rush was taken off the production line due to low customer demand. However, since then, much like Stranger Things, the Rush title has continued to gain accolades and popularity for its tough-but-addicting Jongborg layout and, of course, Rush's classic prog rock music that millions of music fans absolutely love. The persistent demand prompted Stern to reconsider their previous decisions and renew their license of Rush to offer a limited one-run build of pro and premium versions of the machine, which should hit the production line in October of this year. So all you Rush fans out there that have spent the last two years hoping and praying for a new Inbox Rush machine, now's your chance. Don't walk, rush your way to your favorite pinball distributor, aka, flip it out pinball and bye-bye-bye. And although it may seem far away. The Chicago Pinball Expo is only a mere three months away now, and with this incredible gathering of one of the larger pinball expositions in the world, we'll inevitably drive a wave of exciting new announcements from pinball manufacturers, mod makers, and distributors about upcoming releases and developments, as they all aim to sell eager pinball enthusiasts the latest and greatest offerings. I'd expect we'll be hearing lots of news from all your favorites like Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack, Barrels of Fun, Chicago Gaming, Spooky Pinball, Dutch Pinball, and maybe even news from companies we never heard from before. So get ready, fans, for the news cycle to really heat up in the next six to eight weeks, which should prove to be a busy and exciting time in pinball indeed. That's all for this week for the Pinball Show. I'm Craig Bobby. Catch you on the flip side. well thank you craig for giving us all that latest intel i think he's back to mahogany table roll i hope so i hope we get some snifflings uh and i know that craig bobby's going to expo are you still in the boycotting expo thing yeah i'm kind of like well at this point i if i can't even be in the host hotel i just can't bring myself that's my version of fast pass I'll make an exception for TPF because everything's within walking distance, but not Expo. At this point, Rob Burke is calling me and being like, we'll get him a hotel room, I assure you. Rob Burke, he did reach out to me wanting me to assist and coordinate a lecture seminar. It was a good idea. I turned it down just because it would have been too difficult to get together by that time. But maybe the following year. Did he have the topic suggested or is he just like, hey, I want you to do something? He did. He was like, Zach, I know you're known in the industry as a topper king. So that kind of thing. I was like, he knew that? Yeah. I don't think anyone really knew that. Wait a minute. Damn.
    18:57
    So, yeah. So maybe next year. Maybe next year. But I'll probably be at Expo. I know Craig Bobby's going to be at Expo.
    19:04
    And maybe Dennis, if we can Patreon Zash enough to get him there. Who knows? No, you probably have to take vacation days and stuff.
    19:12
    Since I've only been at my job 10 months, I think I've got a ways to go before I actually hit cap. I'm sitting at like 60 hours of vacation right now. Okay. Because I used a couple for the 4th of July.
    19:24
    Next time you take a job, can I go in and negotiate? I want to be a manager. Look, you're the talent. I want to go in there. I didn't look to see if I could have asked for more vacation to start off because it's all very systemic because it's governmental. With that, I put in for that job, and I put in the requested salary, and then they paid me more. So I was kind of like, oh, well. Okay. It was very weird. Again, because it's all very structured. They're a smart company that knows your worth.
    19:50
    I don't know if it was that. Stern Pinball knows your worth, too. Do they? You know, Stern never communicates with me. They don't do me much. Do you think? Let me ask you a question, Zach. Okay. Because I don't know if Stern really knows me. I don't think they know me either. They're going to know me after this. Do you think if I...
    20:08
    I'm cutting that, too. What? Come on. I'm weaving at least platinum here. I'm weaving platinum 1908 quality strands of guilloche.
    20:22
    The last couple of episodes, you have thrown stuff in there. What? When I have to cut it, it's like, wow. What? Man, he's coming in. What are you talking? I am just. So good. I am a peacock, and you should have to let me fly. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, you're flying a torpedo. Man. I love it. You know, who was I talking to? It might have been the Happy Hour Hangout people last month, but they were surprised to hear that I don't have a lot of, like, close connections at Stern. Oh, do they think, like, you're just, like, chumming around with all the employees there or something? I think that the general public or listeners do believe that. It surprised a lot of people when I've told them, like, just to try to provide an example, I've never, ever once had any conversation with Keith Elwin. I've never, I don't believe, and forgive me if I'm wrong, George, I don't believe I've ever had a conversation with George Gomez, ever. I've never met him how did you get him to give me that audio file when I got Deadpool I'm thinking how that happened I've never had an in person conversation you never had coffee with him I've never had a conversation the only thing I've ever I think I've reached out to him through messenger for that and he's always been great to me with response to any requests or anything and you know if a game has come out and I've reached out to him but it's very distant like you know hey congratulations again to you and the team you've done a phenomenal job as a distributor he was very kind and and sweet when it comes to response to that but i've never had a like a in-person conversation with him um i have with gary on a couple of occasions but yeah i don't have a close relationship so yeah the sales team of course i have a really close relationship to the sales team but things are not siloed but you Design team is one aspect that I simply don't have any conversation or relationship with. Sales team, I do very much so, but, yeah, it's separate. Manufacturing, I don't really. Well, given their size, it wouldn't really make sense for there to be a lot of multi-hat wearing positions. Yeah, yeah. So it wouldn't necessarily make sense for you to have communication with the design team professionally. Yeah, but a lot of people are. At Dwight Sullivan, I do just because I have over the years. But, yeah, that's pretty much it. So I don't know if anybody has any clue who I am over at Stern Pinball for the most part. So I'm with you. Isn't it nice to have the anonymity? Let's talk about Stern Pinball production. Last week, nothing really happened. Nothing. Was that their week off? Yeah, so whenever we initially talked, well, it was a couple weeks ago, we knew that they were going to not ship anything for a week. but I don't think they produced for that week either. Yeah, maybe they used some vacation days like I did. I think they did. So nothing really produced. This week, we'll talk about it later, but Godzilla 70th Anniversary is going to be on the line this week. I think they've been running some Iron Maidens though. But the first part of this week, they're going to be running the Deadpool Pros that they had on the schedule. Also, probably sometime throughout this month, the remainder of Jurassic Park Premiums, if they haven't been all built yet. And then I just, you know, we talked about this for, it has to be about three to four months as to what's coming next. And we'd been saying in July something new, but maybe something old. And we were correct, Dennis. July came and we've seen the release this past week of Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition. I was holding out. I still felt it. And it did come to fruition.
    24:08
    I was full of doubt. it happened uh august they're probably going to run john wick pro and premium too and then september we're supposed to have that new cornerstone uh september october we're going to talk about this as well but they're rerunning rush again listener so the pro and premium models will be created again and they are looking to run those in september uh slash october depending on scheduling when they when they run that and then that one was a surprise to me uh wasn't surprised me just for more of a business end um i know that that was a possibility you probably knew more well but you know i i'm not a bit i don't they were engaging all business they were yeah they were gauging interest i was like i mean from dealers in the context of them redoing black knight sort of rage i'm less surprised about rush than that sure yeah sure it just was always so strange rush left production so quickly i remember i remember i would hear from people inside the industry are like, you guys are wrong. Rush can't. They're not stopping Rush. And it's like, they did. They stopped it. And then it was like a denial. It was like, no, no. It's like, I'm telling you. It's the number one game, not just in Canada, but in the world. It's like, well, all right, first of all, everyone, hold your roll a little bit. You're wrong. Some of that, that was a weak year. So that Rush got a bunch of awards. That sweeped, yeah. Yeah. That was like during the pandemic, nobody could get parts. Yeah, it was a mess. And then the other thing is Canada kind of shilled it really hard. Yeah, they did. They did. I think they're contractually obligated. I don't hold any animosity to them for pushing it. I never get into it, though. At the lead of the show, Craig Bobby gave that more attention than Godzilla 70. He just came out of the maple forest of the Yukon Territory to finally give us audio. And, of course, he's going to talk about it. That's, I think, the only reason why we got audio. With maple syrup on his lips. Tim Horton's eating nonsense.
    26:12
    Here's another modification to Stern Pinball Production schedule. We had planned on the Godzilla Premium, the regular colored version. We planned on that being made here in Q3 at some point. That's actually been bumped back all the way until next year now. Wow. Yeah. Now, I think that is a strategic move for sales and for holding value on the secondary market for your products, too. They're building Godzilla 70th. Again, we'll talk about that here soon. And I don't believe they have plans after this run of Godzilla 70th to produce it again this year. I think they probably going to build quite a few of those Godzilla 70th And for those to move even better than they anticipated they bump back Godzilla Premium until next year Interesting move Interesting move. I don't know if I disagree with it either. I think it might be a pretty, hmm, yeah. Yeah. Okay, so that's your production update. But, but, Dennis, you know, I got to looking at the schedule, though. and this is what happened last time then everybody started reporting after we after we dive into these schedules everybody's like holy shit pinball show saying something's coming in july something's coming in july and it did boy i'm looking at the schedule though and july we're going to be building a lot of godzilla 70th okay and then we got some john wicks in august september is supposed to be that cornerstone boy august just feels a little bare for stern pinball standards do you not hmm i mean i suppose but maybe they're anticipating that they're going to have to make a number of godzilla 70th since it's going to spill over into august they make so many games i don't think there's going to be spillage but 70th deadpool pro which has been a while since They did Deadpool Pro and then both Pro and Premium iterations of WIC. I mean, that's four games. You know what I think we could get in August? What do you think? I think we might hear of the Cornerstone in August.
    28:30
    I mean, that's conceivable. But do they build it in August? I don't know if they build it, but I think that there's just not enough in August based on the schedule that's presented to me at this time.
    28:45
    to not maybe go ahead and say, let's get something out in August, cornerstone-wise, because then we have September, October, November, December, four months. Maybe we see an additional new product, whether it's something old that's new again, but it gives them more room to produce more new type of products. something tells me august we may see the new cornerstone i mean maybe i don't think so okay i mean it's still it's the it's sort of seen whether not not officially but unofficially it's the third slash final month of summer and summer is not a good sales period for pinball companies And so September, kids are back in school. It's time to start thinking about what does daddy need down in the game room. I just, I, you know. For me, I look at a schedule and I see all of the different products that they could make in front of me. And then I see what they have inventory of currently. I see what dealers already have inventory of. And I cross all of those out because there's no reason to make more if Stern has them and or if dealers have them. And once I do that, I really narrow myself down significantly to only a couple, and those couple of things are already slated. So what I'm saying is push comes to shove. If they can make all of these 70ths here in the next two weeks, which I believe they will, absolutely, they're going to have time on their hands in August. I think that what they're doing is they are hoping that they will have a major code update to John Wick by the time they get into August and that that is going to goose sales. That's a good. And that's what they're relying on. That's my that's my guess. And that is. And they're thinking that John that they are not writing off John. John Wick is not yet 007 that they think they can save this.
    30:51
    And I believe they can actually. actually i really do i mean you know james bond purportedly is quite a good game code wise now nobody cares but but they're i think they're trying to make sure joe well the timeline was so stretched on it but it doesn't have to be stretched on john wick well and speaking of the new code for john wick it just came out this last week 0.84 a lot of cleanup there uh but still a long way to go for a full complete game so i like that line of thinking as well okay so let's get to Godzilla's 70th anniversary. Recently announced. This is a black and white version of the... They're calling it a premium edition. It looks like the LE. But a black and white version with red accents throughout. Almost blood red kiss ish.
    31:40
    I said it looks like an LE because the art is based on the LE package. Very much so. But they also give you metallic cabinet foliage. Kind of like Iron Maiden Iron Man Volt.
    31:54
    And you own an Iron Man Volt, so you know what I'm talking about with that metallic cabinet-like thing. Now, George Gomez said in the promo video that they haven't used this type of foil since Iron Man. He said something like that, and I'm like, what? So how does that differ than like Jaws LE or Iron Maiden? There's been a lot of chromium stuff, so I don't know the difference there. But it looks slick as hell. And then you get the upgraded stern. Recently on the premiums has been adding these upgraded side rails too. They extend out almost like a modern lollipop. So you get that as well. $9,699 is the MSRP. It is premium pricing, and they are building them now. It should be on the line this week and then shipping either late this week but probably the following week, domestically speaking. What did you think whenever you've seen this announcement? We kind of knew it was, we felt it coming. And we even felt the monochromatic thing coming. We didn't know what accent color they were going to, whether it's chartreuse in Munsters or whether it was going to be red. I honestly didn't think red.
    33:04
    I was not surprised at red, especially post-Blood, Bread, Kiss edition, which went over so well. And I don't expect a high degree of cleverness here. What did you think of the overall offering? It looks nice. I like that they went to the effort of monochroming the toys. That's cool.
    33:25
    I like that. I really do like that. And I'm sure all the mod makers are super excited because now they get to sell more mods just in a different color. And they've had full-time jobs, some of those mod makers, because of Godzilla alone. But the monochromatic toys really set it off because they did that vacuum form back panel on Godzilla. So that's black and white. You get the figures. Mecha Godzilla is already black and white. I think they probably started with that and go, you know, he's already silver. So what else can we do? Well, let's turn the green Godzilla that doesn't really look like Godzilla into a black and white Godzilla. You know, the tough part for me is a lot of people are like, this is the LE. And what I'll say really quickly, listener, is that it's fucking phenomenal. It's a gorgeous pinball machine for anybody. They're like, oh, I don't like, no, don't listen. They're just objectively wrong. It's an unbelievably beautiful pinball machine, objectively, period, dot. Now, whether you prefer the color, that's personal preference and choice. But it's stunning. It is stunning. But a lot of people are like, well, this is just, they were going to do an LE, but then they went back on that, and now they're doing premiums. But I'm pissed off still because what if I like this more than I like my LE? Do you agree with that? Do you see that argument? Do you disagree?
    34:46
    I – okay. I do see the argument. I don't know that I agree with it. I guess I could see the point where because the art package is so similar to the LE, it feels a little like cheating on that. I don't, though, agree with the argument. I mean, it's true. Anyone could have this reaction. But let's just say they did a totally different art package, but it still looked better than the LE. Then you still got the same complaint. Well, they came out with something that looks better than the LE. That's true. But we've lived with that. Honestly, the LE isn't always the objectively best art package. Yeah, people might say, yes, I love the Jaws LE art package best. But we've seen plenty of other games where people have said, you know what? I think the premium has got better art. It's varied depending on what the game is. So that's a subjective thing. And if the idea is that you are bothered when a new art package ever were to come out that wasn't revealed on initial reveal, then it doesn't really matter if you bought the pro premium or LE. You're just going to be unhappy that they came out with a better looking art package, and that's the one you now want. So it's not that they're wrong to feel that, but it's – I find it a fairly trite complaint. like we've lived with we've lived with that for a long time what i will say is this is not an le this is no it's not it's not it's not an le right it doesn't meet the definition of an le now it lacks all the le features like most of the le features it lacks it doesn't it doesn't have uh and a lot of these you can buy i get it but uh the invisible glass shaker motor interior art plates um the mirrored backless the big one it doesn't have a mirrored back this isn't an le no no and that's where but i hadn't heard anyone call it an le i've just heard some people are a little perturbed i suppose somebody the art package looking like the le art package but here's what i will say on the on the other hand as an le owner myself when that le came out and it was based on the mecha godzilla you know on the side cabinet and it just still had foil and all that but then they gave us the silver metallic i wasn't as impressed with it as an le package as i am many other le packages so whenever i see this black and white with the red accents and then they had like the the i'm assuming japanese lettering on it everything because it's black and white makes it sexy but because the original le featured mecha godzilla very mechanical silver in nature, they should have just had this as the LE from the get-go. That would have been the best of both worlds. Because it makes sense to the theming. This color combination makes sense to the theming that was the original LE in my opinion. So I think this looks a hell of a lot better than the regular LE, personally. And that's a fair issue that people can... I like this art package, but I've always had a soft spot for monochrome. I do too. It's not surprising. But I don't know if Stern's comfortable with initial launch ever since Munster's premium where they launched black and white. And I think they felt that that cost them sales. Very true. Because some people wanted color. I don't think they'll ever launch a cornerstone launch with a monochrome package. Plus, all the code is different, too, because a lot of the code and the visualizations on the screen are black and white, too. So this almost had to be another entirely separate effort, I guess. But here's the thing. LE buyers, in theory, have the potential to complain about anything that comes out after they buy their LE. And they more so than anyone else because they feel that they were – I mean, they did buy the exclusive run. We saw the same thing with Elvira where the – let's not even talk about the premium LE super or whatever. The Elvira 40th and then Blood Red Kiss came out, and a lot of people – actually, I don't know anyone who thinks the 40th looks better than Blood Red Kiss.
    38:51
    That'd be tough, yeah. And some people are really mad that this cheaper version had a better-looking art package, but the art package is subjective. So how do you ever really win on – I mean sometimes it's sort of a low ball like a softball where it's – like in that case with Blood Red Kiss, it ended up I think being pretty obvious to just about anyone regardless of their artistic knowledge. But, you know, to me, it raises it's I don't think it's really about the art package. It raises the question about whether or not Stern should start doing something to better honor. I'm going to use that word. It's not a great word, but better honor their L.A. buyers. I still remember we had a happy hour, TPS happy hour, and someone on there had calculated, if I remember correctly, it was pretty late that they said, you know, I think I've spent three hundred thousand dollars on Stern games and they've never spoken to me.
    39:43
    And it's like – I'm going to do another little comparison. In watches, they would have been reached out to. By whom? It depends. Probably their dealer. Okay. Probably their dealer. But it depends on the brand because if they were buying directly from the brand, then it might be the brand. Certain people, when they get – it wouldn't be at $300,000. them, but certain people, when they spend enough, the brands reach out to them and they do what they call piece uniques, one-offs, customs for those individuals. They pay for them. Don't get me wrong. It ain't a free gift, but it makes people feel really special because they invested so much. I learned that about watch keeping or watch. What do you call it? Watch making? Right, right. I don't know what it's called. Time pieces? There's all sorts of stuff. What do you call it? The study of time is horology. People just call it watch collecting usually. Watch collecting and watch collecting. Sometimes you can't – even if you have the money, you can't buy. You've got to work your way up. And that's where – that's how that model is very, very different. That's interesting. In the world of like Patek Philippe, you don't get to go in and buy black and white Godzilla. You don't get to go in and buy an LE. You'd have to start with an OLED Zeppelin Pro to prove that you're going to put enough money into the brand. So it's very – so I don't want to draw too many parallels to it. But I thought it was an interesting point that came up on the happy hour because I was like, yeah, you know what? In general, pinball doesn't seem to do anything to distinguish between high spenders and low spenders. It's a – again, it's just not – and that's not its history. It wasn't a luxury history. Yeah, it wasn't a luxury. Because what's the margin on a watch?
    41:22
    The assumption is – Jewelry. At least, I mean, one of the most transparent, smaller brands and one of the most affordable marks up their products three times whatever it costs to make, including materials. That's it? And that's the lowest. I was going to say, that seems low. Right, right. And there's some speculation that the dealers and watches make something on the order of 30% to 50% of what the list price is that they sell for. Whoa! How do you think they keep their... Look at Flippin' Out Pinball. We're going to transition a bit here. How do you think they keep distributors and watches happy? How do you think they get by being able just to sell a couple watches a month? Because the markup is significant.
    42:03
    Very significant. So anyway, but neither here nor there. My point simply with bringing this up is I think because as prices have gone up in pinball, the LE buyers in particular are probably starting to ask themselves, why are we doing – like these feature differences aren't all that extreme, and now we feel like you're making better versions later that aren't exclusive, so we just don't feel special anymore. What's Pinball going to do to make them feel special? It's a good – yeah, I don't know what the answer is to that. And I just think this triggered all of that. That's what I think of. This is not about Godzilla. This is about LE buyers. The trouble for me, of course, I'm going to be biased because I sell these machines. Hashtag biased. That's right. I am. But if I'm trying to purely think as a hobbyist, I am an LE collector. I don't have to have the LE, but I prefer the LE most of the times over not. And I own several LEs. For some reason, I don't care about the limited nature really, though. I never have. Then why are you a quote-unquote LE collector? Because I always think the package that they present is the nicest. That's what I want. I want the nicest version. I would rather have something, the nicest version of something with 10,000 copies than I would something that's rare that just doesn't look as nice. I just don't care about that. I care about powder coat because I don't want to have to do it. I care about mirrored back glass because I think it's the most beautiful. I care about shaker motor because I will add it. I care about interior art blades because it is kind of cool that they're different than you can just buy off the shelf. I care about all of that stuff, but I don't care if it's got 500 units or 25 or 1,000. I just don't care about that. So I would disagree. I don't think Stern is doing anything wrong to the LE buyers because I'm an LE buyer that doesn't care about any of that stuff. If I like this black and white 70th anniversary more, which I do, I'll have to make the decision as an LE buyer.
    44:05
    Because the true LE buyer then in that argument would be like, well, but they're making an unlimited amount of 70th anniversary. And I know that I've got one of 1,000. So it's always going to be rare. I don't care. I want what looks the best. So I have to make a decision. And this is a decision I'm trying to make, listener, because I'm like, I do like the looks of that 70th more. What am I losing if I get rid of my LE for that? Well, I don't have time to install all the mods. I really don't. I just, oh, I'm losing all the little pieces that then I'd have to buy for the 70th anniversary. And for me, that mirrored back glass, that is a lot. I love that mirrored back glass. So I ultimately probably won't. But if it had a mirrored back glass, that would be enough for me. That would have made me jump ship, sell my unit, have to install the other mods later on. That would have been enough. But because it doesn't have that, and it doesn't have powder cut now, just not enough for me. I don't see how anybody wanting to buy a Godzilla that doesn't own one doesn't jump all over this, though, personally. The game, this version, might have a decently long tail. I don't think it sets huge sales records, though. From a sales perspective, I can speak to that. It is doing accordingly to what I thought it would be doing. It is selling good. but this is a game that's been out for three years that has virtually sold more at Stern than any title that I know of. Everybody has this game that wants this game. Exactly. So mostly this is I think most of the sales, especially initial sales will be the people that care about the art package and are getting rid of whatever they currently have. Maybe they had a pro and they're like, you know what, now I'm going to finally jump to the premium because I love the game and I like this art package more. And some, but I think fewer who will be like i have the premium but i like this art package more and so i'm going to go ahead and probably sell my other one at a loss and buy the same damn game but black and white which there are probably a few people like that but as you noted who i don't know a single person who never pulled the trigger on godzilla premium because the art package just exactly them back zombie eddie like absolutely i mean i it the art package was one of the biggest criticisms for the game but that criticism was relatively mild it wasn't ugly people just didn't like the approach that was taken well there are some people that are trying to justify like it's pretty blatantly obvious they're trying to justify like their le status but oh no come on this thing looks like i'm like stop you're just you're just jealous because you don't have it like stop i don't know that's adorable that's shit that people i mean just enjoy your elitist uh limited uh count and use that i don't think stern needs to like i i thought it was a little dicey when they were doing like the jurassic park 30th l i thought it was dicey but i didn't see it as like a how dare you thing though to me because i think they were just setting the standard saying hey collectors uh remember we're still manufacturers and just like every other collectible manufacturer in this fucking world we are going to create different editions of things that you love Period. There's no obligation for us to say, this is really successful, so we have to stop selling it. No. Nobody else does that. Cars don't do that. Nobody does that. So to think that pinball should do that, I always thought that was a little ridiculous. Having said that, they did provide a lot here to say we're just doing these as premiums because price-wise, that is hard to look at that as $96.99 and then look at an LE. Like, yeah, that is tough. I don't know. I don't see that as an issue at all. But I'm a different type of collector than some people. See, the problem for me is I'm the type of collector, in other words, listener, I wish they would have just done this as a 70th anniversary LE. Because for the extra money, I want the back glass. I want all that stuff. And it just sucks now that I can't. Now I'm stuck in a situation. I'm like, God, dang it. But I'm torn on that. I think given the state of where the hobby is at right now, Stern made the right decision to announce they weren't going to do more LEs. Oh, absolutely. A hundred percent. You are right. There's plenty of other hobbies where there's an LE, and as long as it's not the same look, it's okay to do a different LE of the same product. It happens all the time. But pinball people were not used to that, and I think given the state of it, especially since they make so many LEs. This is where I think I would like to see this 1,000 LE nonsense needs to end. I want LE – if I had my true druthers, I'm going to get even more extreme. Write in your disagreements to the pinballshow at gmail.com. I would like LEs capped at 100. Whoa. And then go ahead and you can do more LEs if you need to and make them different looks. At 100? Because at that point, maybe even less, Zach. That's a $20,000 pinball machine, if not more. My point being that then even if you come out with new limited versions, that one unique look is so tied to such a scarce count that I don't think people legitimately can truly feel like they got cheated. They might like L.E. number two more than L.E. run two than the look of L.E. run one. But when you're talking double to maybe low triple digit counts, it's so exclusive at that point that I think that's where it's sort of a value retention. thing, I think, for people. Not for you. You have your reasons that you've announced in terms of why you like to buy LEs. I think for a lot of people, it's the prestige of it. The way you can have different runs is you just got to make the LEs more prestigious. The way to do that is to further limit them. I think you would still with $100, you'd have to increase the price of it. By increasing price, you'd still have to give a little you're still going to have to give more that differentiates it from a premium. I agree. I agree, especially with the latter. I fully expect the fewer LEs the company were to make, the higher they would raise the price. I think they can find the people because you need less people to buy them when you do that. You know what would be interesting? If they came out with the normal LE, but every title we knew as hobbyists, Stern knew that whenever the accessories were ready, there was going to be an SLE model of every title that comes out, and there will only be 100, and it will be fully decked out, not only with all the accessories that we have to buy as LE buyers, but accessories that are still kind of one-offish, thinking the dagger shooter rod for Elvira, some of those additions that you cannot buy that accessory. So things like that that really do put it up. So that way, if you want that prestige and that 100, you have to think to yourself, am I going to own the LE for a little bit until the 100 comes out, or do I risk waiting for the Super LE to come out. And if it was a huge hit for the LE, then I might not even get the Super LE and I might be out the regular LE. So I'll buy the LE for now. I'll resell it if I can snag a Super LE. I think there might be something there. I think the idea of the standard really limited Super LE model could work, but I think we got to think beyond we being the manufacturers, which I am not one, but beyond like dagger, shooter, rod, it cannot be this gimmicky, bottom-of-the-barrel, stupid shit that you glued in. It's got to be like Mechagodzilla on the toy on the playfield. His arms should move. Yes. Like different toys. Yes. Like the Godzilla in the back, it should do something. Its mouth should drop open. It should go, ah. I agree. Yes. That Coindor should be 18-karat gold. Like just stuff that makes it really clear they're doing something else. At 100 units, Stern Pinball, because of where they sit in this market in this industry, I think they could make 100 SLEs of each title, even if it is Venom, and if they put more into it and sell them each for $25,000.
    52:32
    Then you're jumping into the watch hobby and the car hobbies of, yeah, it's not for you. It's not for a lot of people. There's only 100. So, eh, tough. I could see that. And I think they'd sell every one of them at $25,000. Have to put a little bit more into it, but not substantially more compared to, you know, the price differential between $25,000 and $13,000.
    53:00
    That's interesting. And see, if it was the nicest version, I'd be itching. Because I'd be like, oh, shit. It's not like I can, my 3D printer can't build that.
    53:11
    Especially code-related stuff. All right, sorry. Other criticisms. I've seen this criticism, and I think this is an overplayed one as well.
    53:23
    Some people criticizing that it is more difficult to see that ball on a black and white play field than it is a colored play field. Now, Dennis, I hope you disagree with me here, but that is the dumbest argument I've ever heard.
    53:39
    A moving ball on a play field is going to be different between color and black and white. the ball is a fucking mirror it is a mirror already so it is going to reflect whatever it's around often times you see yourself in that because it's a ball so when you're looking at it going to bounce directly 90 degrees back that how spheres work That bullshit right That complete bullshit You know No. Well, to give them as much benefit of the doubt as I can, certain colors are easier to see in darker lighting than others, but the ball is the same color, so it is reflecting it. But here's the thing. If I play in a dark room and the lights go out on the game, I already can't see the ball, So I don't understand how I'm going to see the ball less than to not see it at all. This is why, let me tell you, and you will disagree with this, Zach, but I'm going to say it anyway. People should be playing with the lights on in their room anyway. It's not meant to be played in the dark. Yes, it is. No, it's not. You watch movies in the light, too? Come on. Movies are different than pinball. No, they're not.
    54:49
    They're a thematic experience. Maybe not like Princess Bride where the whole movie is in the game. That's great. I like that. I know you do. And don't even get me into the anatomy of the eye and rods and cones and how the rods are responsible for the black and white, which actually you can see a little bit easier than you can color, which is why in the periphery of your eyes you can't see color as much because it's full with rods.
    55:15
    Let's not even go to actual logic there. So stupid. Get out of here. Just eat more carrots. Baked in carotene. That's right. people just want to find a reason not to buy something that they've already purchased, and they don't want to have to resell and buy again. Just say you don't want to buy. I mean, that was what I like this art package better than my premium, and I'm not getting it. Yeah. Because I'm not buying the same game again. Stern did help save them a little bit because everybody thought the value of the Godzilla Premium was going to tank the colored version. Not when you delay it until next year. No. That helps even it out quite nicely. Sales-wise, like I said, it is selling good. I'm happy with the allocation I got and happy to get more if that's a possibility. I know that internally a lot of dealers are asking for more than their initial run allocation. I know that after speaking with some of the sales team over at Stern and them asking how many I've pre-sold out of my initial allocation, I told them that number, and they said, that's actually really good. So they know how many units they think they can sell as well. I think they're happy with how it's going thus far. Okay. Holy crap. Just before we move on, I forgot. Dude, what about them having the Godzilla 70th anniversary accessories coming out later that are going to be monochromatic too? They're going to be grayscale. They're going to be. What a twist. How could they come up with such a concept? How effing awesome is that? That's so cool. It's so predictable. What? So obvious. The LA people are going to be even madder now. That's another thing that makes me want to go over to the dark side.
    57:00
    The gray side. Oh, I love when all of that looks like you got a double take. You rub your eyes. Am I really seeing what I'm seeing? Yes. It's been dipped in ink, my friend. That's flipping awesome. I can't wait to see what it looks like. I think the art blades are just going to take the regular art blades and just black and white. So I don't think it's going to be anything different. And I don't think they're going to have to do that on the Ghidorah armor because that's just a gold foil behind it. So maybe they just have a chrome foil or something. So you can go out to a craft store and do that yourself. So I don't think that's going to be a big change there. Wow. So the other thing I wanted to say as the collector in me, what color powder coat? If you wanted to powder coat that game, would you keep it black? Would you powder coat it like a metallic black? You couldn't go white, right? Not on that silver. That wouldn't look good. I think that would be a little extreme white. And I don't think you can do silver either. I think you would just have to either keep it the hammered, weathered black, or gloss it black, like a piano black. You don't think a gunmetal gray could look good on it? I think it would be tough to match. Probably true. You could, but I think because it has a chrome foily look on the cabinet, it would be hard to match that type of, but maybe, maybe. Hopefully, as you guys start playing with your own Godzilla 70th, send us pictures to the pinball show at gmail.com or put it on our Facebook or Instagram or something. Share it. We want to see what different iterations look like. Some people said, what about red? What if you just go all in with that red? You know, I think you could if it was the same shade. I think you could do it. Damn. Oh, my. I think I might buy one.
    58:52
    But, yeah, I'm thinking I'm back. Did you see the advertisement I had again? Yeah. Why are you taking in these John Wick lines and sticking them on other games? I just love that I created an entire graphic design advertisement just because my friend rolled his eyes at the last one that I used like that. That's the only reason I did it.
    59:17
    Well, I hope it didn't sell any games. Oh, my gosh. So Rush is back. I advertised it. Yeah, I think I'm back.
    59:25
    You gave me a hard time on the Black Knight, the genius of that ad. Because it was dumb then, too. It's still stupid. It was more gold than anything in this industry. People go to another distro until he quits this. Go find another distributor and buy from them. Stop this madness. This is dumb. Nobody's going to put that type of work into advertisement as I do. Yeah, but they might copy your ad and just click your company name out. These are Russia's back, pro and premium. Am I eating crow a little bit with Ray Day?
    59:58
    I don't know. I think the statute of limitations has exceeded. It's been a couple years. I read they renewed the license, so they clearly let it lapse. We know they let it lapse. You were not incorrect. These are built to order in a sense. So they're a little different. So, in other words, Stern is going to be adhering to a build size based more strictly on dealer orders on these rushes.
    60:26
    I don't think they anticipate running them again. I think they gauged the interest from dealers how many more specifically they will buy, and they're going to hold dealers to that. It's not like they're all built on interest levels, but oftentimes they will build a surplus to inventory what they believe dealers will be buying over time. Here, I don't think that's the case as much. I think that they're going to be adhering to a build size from dealers. If I order X, I'm going to get X, and I do not believe in the next month or two there's going to be a surplus for me to re-up my order, if that makes sense. so in other words i think yeah a fairly small build right here but enough that it makes sense to uh to renew that license a lot of people are like what about this node board issue that the premiums had though what the hell oh yeah the premium node board is node board 10 oh uh certain did actually address that dealers they said node board issue has been addressed fixed and any new build going forward no button nobody's going to have to worry about any of that on these new rushes and then they did reiterate if you're having issues reach out to stern on the ones before but uh they're committed to uh they're committed to this run making sure everything is working perfectly all right in other news stern pinball announced the official retirement of its long tenured and iconic pinball artist art director greg freres and i'm reading this from kind of their press release under the direct tutelage of greg stern pinball announced the appointment of sebastian napoli as a art director and then there's a press release for additional details but please join us in wishing the best of luck to greg in his retirement as well as welcoming sebastian to the stern team interesting okay welcome yeah welcome and uh congratulations mr frayers for uh for your retirement he is a legend in this industry i don't think short of a legend i'm going to just out of respect list the projects that he's been lead artist on some he's had some design elements too but mostly as an artist all the way starting back to harlem globetrotters on tour rolling stones hot dog and skateball frontier fathom vector speakeasy bmx black pyramid lady luck karate fight black belt strange science hard body escape from the lost World, Truck Stop, Elvira and the Party Monsters, Dr. Dude, Party Zone, Star Trek The Next Generation, No Fear Dangerous Sports, Jackbot, Scared Stiff, Medieval Madness, Monster Bash, Revenge from Mars, Whoa Nelly, Big Juicy Melons, Wizard of Oz, Mustang, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Elvira's House of Horrors, and Led Zeppelin. What a portfolio Mr. Freres has helped create. That's a big loss to the industry there, I believe. Yeah, but he's probably earned that retirement by now. Absolutely, he has. And speaking of Stern Pinball, we've got some exclusive content for our official Pinball Show members. You yourself can become an official member if you're not already by going to patreon.com slash thepinballshow and signing up there. For as little as $10, you are helping support the show. And we're giving back by providing you with exclusive content, private-ish Discord, and all kinds of other goodies, whether it's the $10 level, the $25 level a month, or the Mac Daddy of $100 a month Screaming Go Club. But this week, Dennis, we're going to talk about games holding value, but more so we're going to talk about buying low and selling high. In a market that has become soft over the last six months or so, there are some highlighted games that we're going to look at that I think hobbyists should look to buy low on and also sell high on. This isn't really giving anything away. It's not like it's rumors and that's why you need to sell high now. But I'm not saying it's not that either.
    64:29
    What are you saying? Just general observations that can be made by crunching numbers. Doesn't this sound a little like Market Trends? It is. It's a special edition of Market Trends, if you will. Did you see we had a Patreon commenter say that without Market Trends, the episode that we did needed to be a .5? I'd seen that. That's okay. Don't riot yet. We may see a Market Trends this episode. So that's what the exclusive content is. Buying what title specifically to look out for to buy low? Right now before they go up or to sell high before they come tumbling down. Jersey Jack pinball on the news in a big way to nap arcade reporting that the new rumor for J.J.P.'s next release is looking like Avatar.
    65:35
    Not the last airbender. Oh, no. The one that Stern did? Yes. Avatar. Out of nowhere. Wow. Okay. So, James Cameron. You know, some of us just call him Jim. But James Cameron, Mr. Titanic himself, Mr. $1 billion box office original Avatar, followed up with billions of dollars for The Way of the Water in the sequel of Avatar. Planning, not only they've got a themed area in a Disney World Park, but they're planning on other sequels to the Avatar franchise, three, four, five. They've got these things jotted out for a decade or longer. The next, the Avatar 3, rumored to be at the end of next year, film-wise. the big tall blue people that resemble the story of Ferngul.
    66:36
    Yes, the Navi. So is this going to be like Avatar Navi Legacy? So this is like the second time JJP has prepared this. This is true. The world of Pandora. They did Guns and Roses, which was a Daddy East game, and now they're doing a Stern game. They do like to take. are they gonna make avatar do you think this is a good idea true is that is this a good theme i personally no i don't think so it's avatar was such a smash success because of what it was doing really more with three the the story was very pedestrian in the first one no it wasn't yes it It was. It's a standard. So Romeo and Juliet is a standard story, too? Yes, because, I mean, when it came out, it might have been the first, the first that we remember at least being written down. But, like, all sorts of things. What do you think the whole West Side Story is? Just musical Romeo and Juliet. Great stories are great stories. Yes, but it's plebeian. Like, we've heard that story before. Because it's true. It's not like a mind bender.
    67:48
    It's no memento. Right. Well, I mean, the writing of Memento is other. I was going to even be a little more close to reality and say, like, Interstellar. That's a unique story. Don't you pit that against this. But it's no Memento, is what I'm saying. Like, the writing is not Memento-level writing. But the story of Interstellar is very different than a lot of other stuff out there, unlike Avatar's story, which is just water babies, Romeo and Juliet. Does the love of being alive and does the love of connection and existence have to be complex? Must we not remind ourselves the fragility and the beauty of existence? I'm not saying that the story is bad, and I'm not saying that one can't go. I went to the theater and saw the first Avatar, and I enjoyed the movie. I'm just saying the reason why it was a smash hit wasn't the story. the story was serviceable to allow it to be a smash hit but it was the technology that was driving people okay and he's been talking about having like this planned out to be a five series thing since like two years after that movie and what they've done a second one which i still have not seen it's it's good it's really good okay well maybe it's smart i didn't know this is no barbenheimer so i'm saying it's not if you're doing a modern theme this is not hot enough I agree I would want something hotter personally I love this theme I love Avatar I love the film I love James Cameron stuff I love blockbuster films I love the storyline I love the technology behind all of these films being done I think they're revolutionary every time one comes out they push cinema forward I love pretty much everything there is to love about this franchise for me personally it's a nail on the head. But as a salesperson, they're so much stronger.
    69:50
    So much stronger. This is one of these things that you would think because of its success, it translates just by default to pinball. But maybe it doesn't. Maybe it does. I don't know. I was surprised to see whenever the rumored thread went up on pin side. I was really surprised to see, Dennis, how many people said, take my money, absolutely. This is a great theme for me. I love this theme. I thought I was like one of the only ones. I thought I was in the minority there. We'll see. I've heard of this rumor as well floating around along the likes of Harry Potter, Matrix, Muppets, all that stuff. Yes, I've heard it for a long time. You know what I'm going to give this? If this is true Avatar, I would rather have Avatar five times more than Elton John. I just would. Well, I'd probably lean a bit to the theme as well just because it's fun. Elton John is music. I think if it is Avatar, I do think it fits really good with pinball. Not to say the IP does, but just the UV, the colors, the fantasy nature. Oh, I hope so. Did they take that when they took the license? Just the fantasy nature of an environmental fantasy alien land.
    71:10
    Absolutely. It's why we're so enamored with underwater theming. Absolutely. This is awesome. But is it an IP that's like, oh, my God, it's Harry Potter. No, no, no. Absolutely not. Still stronger than Elm John. And the other piece that makes me think, eh. Is that if you're going to have your new guy do a game, Mark Seiden, you're not going to get him Harry Potter. But you should. No, you shouldn't. You should. No, no. You're a wizard, Player One. No. So I'm like, okay. All right. If you're going to have Avatar, I can see Seiden on it until he proves himself. Sure. That should put him on Godfather, to be honest. But sink his career before it started. So, interesting rumor. Thank you, Nap Arcade. Very interesting. Pedretti Gaming in the News. Funhouse remake official gameplay video out now. Produced by the Pinball Company. Nicely done, Travis and Carrie Wing. The hell? Carrie Wing's over there now. Yeah, they poached her. From your back of the woods. A few weeks ago. Yeah, not anymore. Now she's out in St. Louis. Oh, my God. So, she's no longer out in games? I don't know who's taking care of her out now. Pizza West? I mean, I think Solid State Pinball might be the owner of the game, so Nick, the owner there, might be handling the maintenance on them. He's worked on a lot of games, so he could do it. We've got quite a few Kansas customers that I may lean Kansas over Missouri now. I really may. I venture to say I've got more Kansas customers than I do St. Louis customers.
    72:58
    St. Louis is a different market, though, than, like, Kansas City. It's a very different place. They have the Arch. I believe what I'm saying is Kansas is better. You heard it. I'm sorry. To all my Kansas customers out there, remember that. I'm putting myself out there for you guys. Don't let me down. And for all of you St. Louis people, what gifts? Am I not good enough for you? We do have a lot of St. Louis customers. Well, the pinball company is right there in St. Louis, so they can just go down the street. They were in Columbia first. Look. They were crouching. is not that far away this is like a a board game of risk come over this way we'll help one another out as we have with funhouse remake gameplay video hopefully i i can get some uh filming done on that as well i it's kind of been my go-to lately i've been digging that game so go check out that video pinball brothers in the news oh alien alien toppers have landed at flipping out pinball and I always have to Everyone loves it and everyone's happy. A weekly criticism towards Flippin' Out Fimble or myself. What'd you do now? This week's controversy is around alien toppers. Really? I thought people were delayed for so long. Don't you know that you're the topper king? Do they know that? I guess not.
    74:15
    I shall teach them. They're supposed to come out in January and February and in typical fashion everything gets delayed and there's a Lior thing. Oh, God, just kill me now. This was a nightmare to get these toppers, Dennis, a nightmare. And I didn't realize. I saw a couple trickle out, but I guess that was it. Only a couple have trickled out. So when we got our allotment, I thought I was kind of, you know, with the rest of the pack. But these things sat in customs in Chicago for a little over a month. It was a nightmare to get these things from, I believe they came from Israel. So, yeah, rightfully so. That's a long way from a troublesome country right now. So it was a damn mess that I want zero part of in the future. And I told Pinball Brothers that I said, hey, I hate to be that guy. But if this is how this is going to be, just just I'm good. I don't I don't want any part of this. But we did get them. Finally, we finally got them. And then I started advertising because we had a handful remaining without buyers yet. So, yeah, of course I want to sell those. And boy, oh boy, I didn't realize that pissed some people off. And they said, wait, this is bullshit. I ordered direct from Pinball Brothers and they haven't sent me one yet. Why are you as some shitty little dealer getting yours before the people who make it? And to that I say, how dare you? How dare you? No, I said, what? I was shocked. I was like, oh, I didn't know this would be an issue. I thought people would be happy that they were getting them. So we got our allotment, and we started shipping them out. And I get people are upset because it's taking forever. I understand. Why that's a flipping out thing? It's not. Leave me alone. Or buy from me. One of the two. People did shit on me, and they didn't even buy the thing from me. But what I do, what I will say to the listeners who would initially think, yeah, that is bullshit. If they bought from the manufacturer, why are they getting them from the dealer first? That's all topsy-turvy land, right, Dennis? It's a very topsy-turvy world. I would like to remind people that that's how good business is done. If you are going to sell direct and you're also going to have a distribution sales network, then if you sell direct and provide the products to your direct customers prior to dealer network, you are then saying to your dealership network you are nothing but second thought and you are strictly a competitor. You're really playing that card hard. To find more balance and a good business relationship what most manufacturers will do like the likes of Jersey Jack Pinball they do this, Sturm Pinball, Barrels of Fun Spooky is kind of mixed in between. I'm trying to think. This is what these manufacturers do, listeners. They should send the dealers some first before they send their own direct customers. Otherwise, why do you have a distribution network? Shit or get off the pot, as Mama would say. One or the other. It makes sense to me.
    77:29
    I think people are frustrated because they're just tired of waiting. Speaking of waiting, Barrels of Fun, Pinball Dennis, they got hit. Yeah, they've been doing so good. Well, first off, they were Hurricane down there. Yes. That was kind of a mess down there. How do you pronounce that? Barrel? Hurricane Barrel? Wouldn't that be ironic? Burl. I think it's Burl. Barrel for Barrel's the fun. I think that's how we say it. Actually, I don't know how it is pronounced. I don't know. We say it in Evansville. I'm going to go Burl, like Durl. Burl. Durl. Burl.
    77:59
    Burl. Burl's the fun. We got hit with Hurricane Burl. A lot of people are just out of electricity and stuff like that. Huge electricity issues. So they were delayed a little bit in production over the last week or so here. But they still have been giving out games because we're on one of our batches right now. And they've still been shipping some. They did give an update, as Dennis was alluding to, listener, that since their last couple of weeks announcement, they're jumping past their 750 orders. Now they're 822. 822 orders. I would have just said 820. No. 822 seems a little desperate. I'm going to put out a special request Burles Could you please announce when you cross The 848 mark I think they should do like pinball adventures And just track every single one We got another one sold Like it's like the hospital Where the baby thing plays Oh another baby is born Oh shit So they are now 278 slots Left in their production schedule And any new orders are going to be produced in January, February. That's a little weird to say because some dealers may still have spots for the end-of-the-year run kind of stuff. So 1,100 units. I still see them just making a clean 1,000 and leaving that last 100 or making a clean 900 and leaving that last 200. You don't think they might just build them all out and keep them and trickle them themselves or let them up for distros later? That might be smart, actually. If they have the space and they get the capital, maybe. But if not, then I can see them pulling off a little 100 run a year from now or something. When are they doing their next game? When is it going to be revealed? I keep in pretty close contact with the team over at Barrels, fortunately, and I still don't know. I don't know. Okay. But that game still, still, that game is freaking killing it. I'm so proud of that damn game and that company right now. From all the shit that I have to deal with with other things in this industry, man, good frickin' job, Barrels. Not only are you doing it the right way, you made a fuckin' awesome product that is holding up like no other. I played it the other day. It's an awesome game. Just frickin' awesome. Damn. Why can't they all be like that? Nicely done. I can't say enough positive things about Barrels. Unless they fuck up Title II. Please don't. Speaking of fuck-ups, we don't have any fuck-ups in this next group because we're going to thank them all. The Screaming Go Club members, Dennis. Do you think they were mess-ups?
    80:37
    I mean, I don't want to say anything because they're so generous with their support. They are. We got to love on them. These are our VIPs. These are the people who give us the most support. So we got to say thank you to our bobcat, Rod. if the bobcat was a theme park ride well what would the bobcat be i'm picturing the scrambler like thing yeah that's what i was thinking of too was it yeah yeah kind of spinny fast it comes back it trying to get you oh shoot that fucker thank you steve bumblebee oh what kind of bumblebee reminds Bumblebee reminds me of the octopus ride at the fair too The one that makes you really sick that spins and the nose up and down Because there's always that one arm that it can't stop spinning, like they put all of the lube on it. Like that one lady on that one video. Oh, my God. At like the Mall of America. She's just there swinging, boy.
    81:35
    All right. Thank you, Steve. Oh, my God. I still see her spinning. Rob, I want to thank Rob for all the support. The Panther.
    81:46
    Now, that's a roller coaster, right? Yes. How many loops? How many loops on a Panther? Any? It's fast. Is it just sharp turns? No, I think it's fast. It's got some inversions. Okay. It's got some inversions. I will say that the Panther kind of sounds like a Cedar Point roller coaster where it has no ip attached to it so it's like we got something fast bored what are we gonna what are we gonna call this thing let's just call it the panther wow what about 60 percent of the time maybe there's a wooden roller depends if you found enough high schoolers to run it during the summer oh man it's i just went to holiday world over here i'm like that kid has no chest hair like What is going on? And he's operating this machine? Enjoy your ride, everyone. Oh, Jesus. I know, yeah, my 18-year-old, he would not be reliable on something that holds people on a track. But whatever. All right, Frank, thank you, Frank. The Falcon. Boy, another apropos name for a theme park ride, in my opinion. What would that be, ride-wise? The Falcon. Well, one of ours in our area had like those gondolas that would take you from sections of the park. So it would be flying around. Oh. You know, like a little lift, like a gondola for skiing. But these were closed container cars. That's a slow Falcon.
    83:15
    Well, they like to coast on the air currents. But I guess, okay. No, let's give it to them. High-speed killer Falcon. Just like dive bombing. Then a zip line. Zip line ride. Oh, yeah. or something like that where they lift you up and they let you go.
    83:29
    And you go swinging out over the park. The People Mover at Disney World is one of my favorite rides. Very slow, and it takes you through the behind the scenes.
    83:42
    Underrated, the People Mover. Listeners out there know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. Thank you, Dave, for the continued support and your shakiness being our shaker motor. Okay, what's a really obnoxious ride that makes you sick? Because that would be the shaker motor. Have you ever been on the one that's like a barrel, and you stand up against the wall, and the floor drops, and it spins so fast that you're sucked to the floor? Is it enclosed? I've seen both. I've seen enclosed and open, too. The one, yeah, I've seen both as well. I've always seen it open on top, but some are completely cylindrical, and others are just, hey, there's this little pad, and they put that little chain in front of you. Absolutely. That's like the fairground version. That is what the shaker motor is, definitely. But there was one that we had at our local fair back in the 80s and 90s that, what was it called? It was encased. It was like a spaceship, and you were inside. I think it was called the Galvatron or something. And when it would spin so fast, it would be on a sliding mechanism, your backrest. So it would go, and it would hit the top, and then it would slide back down. It was very shady. But, yeah, that's the shaker motor. Thank you, Mr. Fox. Mr. Joe Fox. What would the Fox be? The Fox would be a bouncy little ride. Teacup kind of thing. Oh, okay. You know? Or Himalayan trails on a little track kind of thing.
    85:14
    Easy coaster-y kind of spinny thing. That's what I'm thinking. Charlie, thank you for the continuous support. The bell. You know what? The bell is a sit-down restaurant. It's like where you get your funnel cakes.
    85:28
    See, I was going completely opposite direction. I was going that thing, the pillar where you sit around it, and it takes you all the way up to the top and then just drops you. I'm terrified of those things. You go up to the top to ring the bell. Oh, that's a good one. It has a drop, and it stops, and it drops again, and it stops. Yes. And works your way up. I hate those drop rides. I will not ride them. Yeah, it was the only way to get to the bell, though. I don't like that feeling at all. That's what I can't do as an adult. I can't do that stuff anymore. Oh, I just hate the thought of it. No, thank you. What about the dude, William? The turnstile to get in.
    86:04
    Yes, or the stoner's smoke. Yeah, he just gets his little ticket, goes, racks him through, and he goes off to the bar. Yeah, that's enough excitement for me, man. That rug really tied the room together, did it not? Fucking A. This guy peed on it. Donnie, please. That is totally the dude. Good line, kids. I'll watch you from the bridge. Oh, man. What is some of the more lame rides and the slow rides? I'm trying to think. Like, remember the little cars that are on the track? Yes. They don't have real fast. Ours had, like, they were in our local amusement park. They had them themed like our early French cars. They were supposed to be, like, going to the French countryside.
    86:47
    And they take up way too much space in the park. Oh, come on. Get rid of that stuff. Yeah, man. We need to go to a theme park. What theme park is around you?
    86:58
    The closest one is Worlds of Fun. That sounds janky as shit. What is that? Worlds of Fun? Because the theme park was always, it was themed, so every area of the park was thematic. So there was like an Egypt area and an Africa area. Okay, all right. Yeah.
    87:19
    I'm checking to see if there are. Still in operation? It is. I haven't been for a few years, but I was trying to see if they were still owned by – okay, yeah, no. I thought they got bought up, and they did. Six Flags owns them now. Oh, so it's the Six Flags one. Yeah, but it was founded by Lamar Hunt, the Chiefs owner. Oh. Can't say Chiefs. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. So, yeah. It's been around since before I was born. It has to come out that way. Yeah, so they got that, and they got Oceans of Fun, which is the water park right next to it. I can see why they would go there. Okay. And so, yeah. By me, I've got a pretty iconic but a smaller park known for some things, but it's called Holiday World. And each area is themed around different holidays, whether it's Halloween or Fourth of July, Christmas, that kind of stuff. And Thanksgiving is an area. They're a really big one. This is southern Indiana country. They just had a new roller coaster. They debuted this year. I can't make this up, but it is so Indiana and southern Indiana. It's so south. It's called Good Gravy.
    88:28
    And you ride. I shit you not. It's in the Thanksgiving land. You ride in a gravy boat. And you ride through the different utensils made to make Thanksgiving, like a cranberry can.
    88:44
    Something savory is coming. The silver has been polished The green beans have been casserole The turkey has been stuffed The cranberry jelly is out of the can The family is all here The table is set And the gravy is... Gone already?
    89:06
    Where's the gravy? Good gravy! How'd we run out? It's time to go over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house. We go with good gravy. America's graviest coaster. Gee willikers. That's some good gravy.
    89:33
    Coming May 2024 to a Thanksgiving theme section of a theme park possibly near you. Worlds of Fun has a lot of instances where we used to get new stuff built in. And now I think they've got more of a rep for maybe getting in stuff and making conversions to things. So, for example, Knott's Berry Farm used to have a Mondial swing ride. It was called Windseeker. But then Worlds of Fun bought it in 2014 and called it Steelhawk. Oh, yeah.
    90:07
    See, the Holiday World area, it's one of the best. It's kind of a built-in water park. So you pay one admission fee, and you get the theme park with some of the best wooden roller coasters in the world, as well as one of the greatest water parks in the world. It's known as the Water Coaster. There's water coasters now. Water Coaster Capital of the World. They also give you free beverages, kiosks throughout the entire park, free sodas you just walk in, fill up. They've got free sunscreen. I can't recommend Holiday World enough for a nice family outing. It's a wonderful place. Buy, buy, buy! Yeah, we had a, I think they may still have Timberwolf. I wanted to think it was the world's longest wooden roller coaster when it was first built, but I don't think it held that record all that long. That came in in like 89, because I never liked Timberwolf because it didn't have any loops, any inversions. And I wanted inversions or it needed to be really, really fast. The wooden roller coasters hurt me. Oh, now that I'm older, man, they jostle you around. My favorite was called the Orient Express, but they took it out years ago. Didn't they have a place at the mall you could eat at called the Orient Express? You're thinking of Panda Express. I'm always thinking of the restaurant at the mall that I'm like, that's questionable Chinese food, but I'm going to eat it anyway. And then I have gas and squirts all day. All right, thank you all for the support of the Screaming Goat Club. And thank you for listening to what has become iconic in this industry. So much so that even the likes of Georgia Gomez message me and they say, hey, what's trending up this week? And that is, ladies and gentlemen, pinball market trends.
    91:47
    I like your style. Let's do it. Trending up this week is Godzilla 70th anniversary. It has to be. No. It's got to be. It's not great. People with ellies are whining. That's why you know something's trending up. My alley looks better. It's got a bigger dick on it. There's just nothing else to talk about.
    92:11
    No. Oh, and oh, surprise, surprise, also turning up this week, Jaws. Right now, 50% of our sales are either Godzilla 70th or Jaws in the last week or two. Because nothing else has arrived. You're just refunding. No, dude, people are loving their Jaws. They keep on buying those things. Now I'm getting worried like, did I not order enough? When are they going to build them again? Hopefully I don't get low. Because the last thing you want is a whole warehouse full of inventory. and the one fucking thing you need to have. Thanks, Stern and Godzilla premium colored version. So yeah, sat on no Godzilla premiums forever. And the same might happen for Jaws. No, Dennis, it ain't so. I'm sure it'll be fun. Anybody need a John Wick?
    92:55
    Yeah, you got plenty. Just get a John Wick. Elvira premiums? Please. I'm thinking I'm bad. Oh, wait, no, I can't use it when it's actually about the game that's actually relevant to the statement. I can't wait until I'm Thinking I'm Back Guardians comes out in September for you. Or late August or whatever. That would be a good seller. Also trending up this week is trades in general. We've had more trades in the last two weeks than probably we've ever had. In this crashing market, why would you take trades? You've got to be making them take a bath on them. No, no. I mean, maybe that's why they're so successful, because I'm just doing poor assessments and evaluations of them, I guess. I don't know. But people like Godzilla 70th, we've already had like three or four people that are getting their Godzilla 70th because they're trading in a game for it. How much would you trade value give me for my Buck Rogers? Okay, well, I'd have to look that up. But probably, if it's a good working order, probably a thousand bucks. Licensed Buck Rogers. Probably a thousand bucks tops. BG Resto restored back glass with the mirroring preserved. Yeah, you're $1,000. It doesn't matter.
    94:07
    I've LED'd it. Can I get another $50? Squeeze it out. I've had people now, they're like, and that mod that I've got in there, if that doesn't increase the evaluation, then I'll just pull that out. I bet you people do that to you with color DMD. All the time. Toppers, everything. They got to be pulling, like saying, here, look at these photos. and then they pull out and you're like, why is this red thing in this? Oh, now that, when that happens, it's frustrating. Yeah, that's, yeah. If you send me pictures of something and we agree upon a trade and then it gets to me and it's like, well, hey, where's all that at? Oh, I didn't know you needed, oh, well, yeah. It's kind of where the value's at, but okay, all right. But yeah, trades in general, a lot of people are, for whatever reason, a lot of people doing trades right now. A lot of trades towards Elton John's. Yeah, people are trading in stuff. And that's always a good thing. I like doing trades. A little more work, more risk, but that's okay. We'll do it. Also trending up this week, I'm going to give a shout-out here. This is trending up, and congratulations to Pinball Junk Drawer. This is a podcast featuring the hosts Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Brew Sally. Foghorn, the giant rooster? I say that's just the handle that they use. I worked with someone, and she referred to this executive director who worked at another association that owned the building we were in. She always called him Foghorn. To his wife, who worked for us, she'd be like, he just sounds like Foghorn. That's right. Boy, you're bothering me.
    95:45
    Foghorn, yeah. So congratulations to them on episode 50. Wow. I wasn't familiar with them. I wasn't either up until more recently this year. episode 50 and then you know more recently this year i've listened to a couple of their episodes and really quite enjoy the personalities and um level-headedness of the host that uh uh the more as time goes on i'm losing throughout this industry not getting a lot of that so congratulations and terrific work over there at the pinball junk drawer all straightening up this week it's got to be epic universe theme park dennis come on where's where my vip is at anybody that works Is there anybody going to end? Help me out. I want to go. Let's go. Unfortunately, trending down this week, it's got to be Cactus Canyon Ellie. What the hell happened to this game? It's, to my knowledge, the only Chicago Gaming remake Ellie that has dropped in value.
    96:42
    They're already underpriced the way they are, Dennis. I could tell you the reason, but you don't want to hear it. It's that Joel Engelberth, isn't it? No, no. I wouldn't blame him. Joel likes that game, doesn't he? Yeah, he owns it. I know you bought one. Yeah. Because he somehow fell in love with it. Why is it trending down? Because it's not a good game. Oh, it is too. No, and I don't mean how CGC built it. No. There's a reason why they didn't make very many of them. And it wasn't just that they were going to Pinball 2000. That's exactly why they didn't make it. No, it was maybe mostly that reason. The times were different. It was just meant to be filler, and that's all it is. It's got a lot of cool little toys, but the layout's just not there compared to the other stuff that they've done. Would you say the same about Junkyard 2? Honestly, yeah. Ouch. I mean, but they were smart enough not to make Junkyard. Like, see, Cactus Canyon should not have been their fourth game. Cactus Canyon is an epic theme. It is a great game. It would have been better to have done Shadow, and you know it's true. Or BSD, and you know it's true. Not BSD. Yes. No, value-wise, no. I would say no to Shadow too I think this is stronger than Shadow You have been corrupted by what's in your warehouse and you no longer see truth For a remake it is stronger I would say that Tales of Arabian Nights is stronger than Shadow This B plus title that's only claimed to fame is it's low original production count and you're dissing all these solid B tier games that Williams did Because it is quintessential It's quintessential Bally Williams It is the family of I say science. It's the family of Medieval Madness and Attack from Mars and Monster Bash. It is their sibling. It feels like their sibling.
    98:27
    But it's trending down. These things, Dennis, I've seen them in the low eights. Yes, everything about it is progressing as I have foreseen. This is performing exactly as I expected. Not me. What I would blame it to, number one, is marketing. But number two is the extended time it has taken to produce these damn things. I think it has put a sour taste in people's mouth alongside the promise of an updated enhanced code package. People are not only giving up on it, but they're giving up with frustration. I think that's why you're seeing it trend down. I do think that is a factor. Because I think this thing is going to go right back up once they come out with that enhanced package. I don't think the code is going to make a big enough difference. That code can't fix layout. Yeah, but it's justification of, I disagree. I think it's a good layout, too.
    99:22
    That's fine. You can disagree. All right, so yeah, it's training down low eights. It's almost one we might talk about on spying low because. I hope not. Let's not talk about that one. And pinball bounty. I cleaned up the pinball bounty a little bit here, guys. All I'm looking for right now is a congo. That's it. Oh, overrated. Amy like congo. Amy, good gorilla, but Congo, bad game.
    99:47
    Actually, Congo's fun. It got so hype in the Pinberg era and it became a darling that everyone had to buy. I do enjoy it. Why? You don't like gorillas. I love gorillas. You never talk about gorillas in The Mist. You only ever talk about Interstellar.
    100:07
    Jane Goodall could kiss my ass. God rest her soul. I just like Congo. Stop eating my sesame cake. I think it's just the layout is really, I like the layout a lot. And the rules are different enough. Captain Bliss, I only wish to explore and discover. This fellow is a big bag of shit. I like it. CGC could have remade it, but they were busy doing Cactus. No, they don't need to be remaking that one, no. So yeah, I've got rid of all my other, I'd still like in a theater of magic but I'm not like hard pressed to get one because I think at some point somebody's going to remake it so whatever people I'm just here to report the fact because numbers don't lie neither do I on pinball market trends go get the 2.0 behind patreon bitches alright Dennis closing it out where can people catch you watches with Dennis YouTube yeah they can watch there they can listen on a collective gamers podcast so they won't hear the same topics just without as much disagreement. Do you think I'll ever become a watch hobbyist? You know, you're so scattered, you might.
    101:18
    You could do it. But you'd have to mentally, well, one of two things happens. One, you end up biting the bullet and buying this, like, uber expensive masterpiece from the get-go. Or you go, you know what? I'm going to be like a normal person and, like, dip my toe in. I'm going to try something that's got things that I really like and just know that it's not going to be everything all at once. That's why most collectors have more than one watch is because it's really expensive to buy the one with everything in it. Not to mention you pay prices for that, both real money and also things like thickness and wearability start to suffer the more complications you put in. Well, I'm not wearing it for comfort.
    101:56
    Sure. I'm wearing it because I want to go ding, ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Yeah, I get it. Or they can email me at collectacameraspodcast at gmail.com. You can email us here at thepinballshow at gmail.com. I read over those emails. And then also follow, like, and subscribe to us. We're on the Facebooks and TikToks and all that. Please do. And I think even Instagram, we give like a little audio tease to the exclusive stuff we do. I think I've been doing that lately. YouTube, all of that. Straight Down the Middle is where I do video series on YouTube. As well as flipping out pinball. Follow, like, and subscribe to that. They are the sponsor of this show. When I buy my pinball shit, I buy from Flippin' Out. From Toppers, Art Blitz, Rameos, I've got it figured out. Flippin' Out. Figured out. When I take a pinball, I think Flippin' Out. Figured out. When I buy, buy, buy, I buy from Flippin' Out. Buy, buy, buy. Product showcase this week is Godzilla 70th and Rush. A little two for there. Got two. We still have spots for the 2024 run here that's going to be shipping in the next week or so of Godzilla 70th. And Rush are going to be making in September, October. Get your pre-order in on that today. Just do it. We're also taking an interested list for that next JJP release, whether it's the rumored Avatar or something else. Be one with Mother Earth. Be one with my interested list. Elvira toppers, we just got back in stock. Bond toppers, I think we got one more left back in stock. Alien toppers. If you've read Pinside, you know that you can get them at Flippin' Out Pinball. And the beacon kits. Stern shaker motors back in stock. Stern bar stools. Do you have any of those? I think you need one or two of those, Dennis. I have enough bar stools. I don't need more. Oh, do you? Okay. Deadpool ninja star pop bumper kits. And then games-wise, Pulp Fiction SEs in stock. Alien Ripley editions. Just cut a couple more of those. What about non-Ripley editions? Don't have those. You don't have any alien anymore? No, they're gone. I got rid of those. Yeah, with that $79.95 for the Ripley Edition Couldn't get rid of the other ones fast enough Funhaus, you can still pre-order those Those have been good sellers the last month I've seen an uptick on the LEs there And we're getting closer to our cap on those LEs Labyrinth pre-orders I believe that if you order through us You can still get a game before the end of the year John Wick Pro Premium LEs The next Stern Cornerstone coming in September Maybe August and get on the interested list there. It's supposed to be a Jack Danger's game, from what I'm hearing. Who knows? Jaws Pro and Premium, those are dwindling, so you've got to get those. Godzilla Pro, Foo Fighters, Stranger Things, Venom, Jurassic Park, Star Wars. Check out the Facebook page. If you want to see all of our pre-owned, a lot of people are like, where do I find the pre-owned games at? They move so quick because they're priced so great. Go to the Flippin' Out Facebook page. And then if you need a game or a part or anything like an accessory, come through us. We sell stair climbing escalators. We do ice cold beer stuff. We got it all at Flippin' Out Pinball. And setting the standard in the industry for customer service. Alright, Flippin' Out with Friends, Joel is streaming pinball machines for us and talking pinball every Wednesday on YouTube. He just streamed Black Knight Pro and him and his brother fell in love with that damn game. That's Flippin' Out with Friends. Also, as a reminder, it would help so much for Flippin' Out Pinball if you guys, when you see one of our videos that we do or an advertisement or something, share it. That kind of stuff helps so much. as well as following. The more we build, the more that we can provide. So please, please, I can't stress that enough, please support us in that way. It doesn't cost you anything to share a video or to like and subscribe to the page. Dennis, teach these people something. Well, I'll ask you this, and we'll see if they know it as well. How is Godzilla 70th like in the newspaper, Zach? What? Like in the newspaper? I'd say it's black and white. And red all over. Oh, I see. Oh, wow. I say, I say, that was a mundane, mediocre joke, boy.
    106:00
    That's cutting it. I was like, why was I picturing a penguin for some reason? And always practice safe pinball and vacation up.
    106:13
    Special KFC edition. That's right. Cheeky Nuggies. Do they sell Nuggies at KFC? I'm sure popcorn chicken, I think, is as close as you can get. That's kind of like baby nudge. I still like the bowls. Have you not had the bowls? Yes. I love the bowls. I haven't gone in a while. I also like their pot pie. I've never had a pot pie.
    106:35
    It's like a bowl with a crust on top. Yeah. I might have to check that out. Yeah, the bowl is so good with mashed potatoes and cheese and gravy and corn. In fact, when I get an extra side, I get the potato wedges, and I put them in the mashed potato bowl. Oh, man, double up. And I use them as forks. Yes, that's a great idea. It's a scooper. Yes. Why get out utensils? Man, I'm getting the weight down. We use our finger. It's finger licking good. Use your tater wedge fingers.
    107:04
    I need to lose weight. I've been plumping up. I'm not very happy about it, Dennis. Well, you know, you're getting ready for winter, so.
    107:13
    Insulation. yeah i'm trying to eat less post-fourth because i usually eat too much in the lead up to and including the fourth of july and then after that i scale back when are they gonna make a cigarette that is not harmful except that's what happened i stopped smoking a year and a half ago and i used to be like a little uh you know lay a little crackhead with cigarettes and i was like should I eat or can I have another cigarette? And I'd just smoke a cigarette. But now, yeah, all there is is food. And that's common. I looked better. I was happier. The only thing is I really stunk.
    107:56
    So that's the downside. You were the smelly person in class. That was a small price to pay for your joy. For happiness, yeah. That's right. Pigpen was always happy on peanuts.
    108:08
    you