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EP 25 - Where is your pinball money going for the rest of 2026?

Flip n Out Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·54m 6s·analyzed·Jun 10, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.037

TL;DR

JJP Sonic announcement confirmed for June 23; discussion of 2026 game pipeline and market saturation strategy.

Summary

Flip N Flip N Out Pinball Podcast 25 covers the official announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog by Jersey Jack Pinball, confirmed for June 23rd launch (Sonic's 35th anniversary). Ken Crone and Greg Bone discuss pre-order strategy, expected pricing tiers ($9,999–$15,000), and broader 2026 game release pipeline including Toten (Pedretti Gaming), Cirqus Voltaire remake, and anticipated announcements from Spooky and Barrels of Fun. The episode also addresses correction of a Steve Richie/Jerry Thompson story from a prior episode.

Key Claims

  • Sonic the Hedgehog by Jersey Jack Pinball will launch on June 23rd, 2026, Sonic's 35th anniversary

    high confidence · Ken Crone and Greg Bone confirm this as officially announced by JJP founder Jack Guarnieri; they visited JJP facility to view the game under NDA

  • Sonic game will be based on the video game franchise, not the movie franchise

    high confidence · Ken explicitly states: 'The game is going to be based on the video games and not the movies'

  • Sonic pricing: $15,000 Collector's Edition, $12,000 middle tier, $9,999–$10,000 Arcade Edition

    medium confidence · Ken states 'That's what I believe is going to happen' — indicates pricing is not yet officially confirmed, only predicted based on JJP's historical pricing pattern

  • Sonic the Hedgehog will not be limited edition; games will be built to order

    high confidence · Ken: 'these games, as far as we know, they're not limited in nature... these games are going to be built to order'

  • Pedretti Gaming is teasing 'Toten' (Tales of the Arabian Night remake) with anticipated launch near or shortly after Sonic

    medium confidence · Greg predicts Toten will come soon; Ken notes the tease has been running for '3 or 4 weeks'; discussed as likely launching after Sonic to capture disappointed buyers

  • Cirqus Voltaire remake is in development and likely to launch late summer or by October Expo

    medium confidence · Ken: 'I don't know where American Pinball standing with Cirqus Voltaire, but I would assume that they're going to pitch for some time late summer, maybe' and later discusses winter or October Expo timing

  • Spooky Pinball is expected to announce a new game in fall 2026

    medium confidence · Ken: 'We know that Spooky is most likely going to announce something this fall'

  • Barrels of Fun will likely announce a new game approaching late 2026

    low confidence · Ken speculates: 'by that time, I would assume barrels would maybe start to get close to announcing something'

Notable Quotes

  • “Jersey Jack Pinball is in a really nice spot with this game that's coming out, and I believe it will be another great hit for the company.”

    Ken Crone @ ~13:00 — Direct endorsement of Sonic based on private preview; sets positive tone for upcoming launch and hints at game quality without breaking NDA

  • “If you're a Sonic the Hedgehog fan, I mean, this is going to do it justice, I think.”

    Ken Crone @ ~13:30 — Cautious but positive assessment tailored to franchise fans; acknowledges enthusiasm while managing expectations

  • “This is going to be a banger for JJP.”

    Greg Bone (attributed to Zach's comment relayed by Ken) @ ~14:00 — Third-party validation from Flip N Out staff member Zach who visited the facility; indicates widespread internal confidence

  • “I think that personally, it is probably best to launch afterwards, because I think if you try to launch before, people are definitely going to hold those dollars that are interested in Sonic.”

    Greg Bone @ ~22:30 — Strategic market analysis of Toten's launch timing relative to Sonic; anticipates buyer behavior and cash flow patterns

  • “from the release of Sonic onwards, we're going to have like a hell of a little push of games... what started off that felt a little bit of a dry year is going to go into almost a tsunami.”

    Ken Crone @ ~36:00 — High-level industry observation about 2026 game pipeline acceleration; suggests major wave of announcements expected summer-fall 2026

  • “I know you already basically confirmed it, teased, confirmed, but I think... it would be best to see Cirqus Voltaire come out at a later date... maybe winter.”

    Greg Bone @ ~45:00 — Strategic advice to American Pinball regarding Circus Voltaire timing to avoid direct competition with Toten for collector dollars

  • “The correct version of the story, as Jerry reminded me, is simply that Jerry Thompson believes... there were two people that did not like him. One was his ex-wife and the other was Steve Ritchie.”

Entities

Sonic the HedgehoggameJersey Jack PinballcompanyKen CronepersonGreg BonepersonJack GuarnieripersonZach Sharpeperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Official confirmation of Sonic the Hedgehog by Jersey Jack Pinball with June 23, 2026 launch date (Sonic's 35th anniversary); theme based on video game franchise, not films

    high · Ken Cromwell states 'at this point we're able to confirm that the theme is Sonic the Hedgehog... tentative launch date right now would be June 23rd... confirmed by company founder Jack Guarnieri'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Sonic expected to follow JJP's three-tier model: Collector's Edition ($15K), standard/middle tier ($12K), Arcade Edition ($9,999–$10K); built-to-order production (not limited)

    medium · Ken: 'That's what I believe is going to happen... pricing should be the same. 15,000 on collector's edition. The middle edition would be 12,000 and then 10,000 or 9999 on arcade'

  • ?

    business_signal: Flip N Out Pinball operating exclusive pre-order system for Sonic with optional deposits; list-based queue system; expected to receive multiple units across tiers

    high · Ken details deposit mechanics, email list signup at ken@FlippinOutPinball.com and greg@FlippinOutPinball.com, list distribution in thirds across three staff members for customer fulfillment

  • $

    market_signal: 2026 back-half characterized as 'tsunami' of releases: Sonic (June 23), Toten/Circus Voltaire (July–winter), Spooky announcement (fall), Barrels announcement (late 2026), Stern Cornerstone, potential Stern remakes

    high · Ken: 'from the release of Sonic onwards... what started off that felt a little bit of a dry year is going to go into almost a tsunami... dude, this is going to be a freaking jam'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.162

0:00
Hey, what's going on Pinball Land? Welcome to Episode 25. That is zero to five. Flippin' Out Pinball Podcast. My name is Ken Cromwell. With me today, as always, is Greg Bone. And today, it's kind of a fun episode. We've got some interesting updates and some housekeeping going. But before we do that, Greg, I want to talk to you about the episode. I wanted to check in with you and ask, how are you doing, buddy? What the hell are you talking about, Ken? We've got a game announcement to talk about today. That's exciting. It is exciting. It's always good. New game announcements, they come in waves, it seems. And we're going to talk about the confirmed Sonic the Hedgehog and its proposed launch date, a couple other tidbits. So that's going to be fun. I did want to take a minute and welcome our newest Patreon members to patreon.com slash FlippinOutPinballPodcast. Wanted to take a minute to welcome Will, Retro Ralph, Retro Ralph's in the house there. What's up Ralph? Yeah, what's up Ralph? Silvergun360, Josh and Wade all coming in as our newest Patreon supporters. If you'd like to go in and support the show in a little bit of a different way, get a lot of behind the scenes access and bonus content, You can go to patreon.com and search Flippin' Out Pinball Podcast. You can join for free. I'm really mad. There are some different paid tiers also. I'm mad, Ken, that I don't have an awesome name like Silver Gun 360. You know what's cool about that name is that I'm a big Stone Temple Pilots fan and there's a song called Silver Gun Superman. It's off the purple CD and when I saw Silver Gun 360 pop up, I was getting ready to jam out to my Stone Temple Pilots. Both of us are jealous. Welcome, Silver Gun. All right. The first thing, I would like to make a quick correction on a story that I told in the previous episode, and it was regarding Steve Ritchie and Jerry Thompson. And essentially, the story that I rolled out said that Steve Ritchie once said there's two people that he hates, his ex-wife and Jerry Thompson. I botched the story, Greg. I don't know how else to say it. I made a mistake. And when I was saying it, I'm like, this doesn't sound right because I remember Jerry telling me the story. And for some reason, it seemed a little more fun and innocent. And so Jerry reached out to me because somebody reached out to him and said, hey, Jerry, what's going on with this? So anyways, my apologies. The correct version of the story, as Jerry reminded me, is simply that Jerry Thompson believes, and this was at the time, years ago, that there were two people that did not like him. And one was his ex-wife and the other was Steve Richard. So it was close. It changes the dynamic of the story. It does. Completely my fault. But do you know what I learned from that story? What's that? I learned that Jerry Thompson does not listen to our show and I am now heartbroken. I am heartbroken that it had to go through multiple channels to get to him, that he didn't hear it himself and wasn't upset himself to clarify with us because he didn't hear it directly. I didn't want to say that, but that was a little bit disappointing to me as well. I'm going to say it. Jerry, Jerry, and whoever, whoever is going back to Jerry, please inform Jerry that I am disappointed that he does not listen to our podcast. Well, when I told Jerry that we had a podcast and that because I was explaining to him how we got the story out, you know, he's always very nice. And he's like, oh, you guys are two of my guys. So I do, too. But yeah, Jerry, come on. We got it. We got to listen to the podcast a little bit. You're in pinball. We're in pinball. We were mutual respect for one another. Let's get it going. It's funny, too, because when we were in Stern for the Transformers distributor thing, There were a couple people that I was talking to about Flippin' Out and I had mentioned the podcast and they were not aware of it either. So you know what that is? That's a lack of marketing on our part to promote the podcast. We're going to broaden it. So, you know, while we're talking about it, if you're listening to the show, reach out and share the show with a couple people and we'll see where it goes. Because we're at about 2,000 followers on Facebook and when you combine, you know, YouTube views and the podcast listens, we're in the thousands per episode. So it's nice. We don't do it for the notoriety of it, but it's just fun. It's our creative outlet and it does help with work too. Speak for yourself, Ken. I do it for the pinball fame. How much more famous can you get though, Greg? I mean, you're kind of gripping upper echelon. It slipped over the years here, you know, straight down the middle. You know, we just, we can't crank out what we used to and stuff. And, you know, this podcast has elevated me back up a little bit, but, you know, I've slipped I think it's from celebrity A status down to B list. I don't know about that. Which is fitting for me because of my reviews, but. I think you're A tier. I really do. You're A tier in my book. You're A tier in the court of public opinion, too, if I had to guess. I appreciate that, Ken. A lot of people do clamor for the Straight Down the Middle episode, so we do hope to see more of those coming out. But I see behind the scenes where it's like, I don't know how you would have time to get any of that done. Oh, it's so rough. To be honest. Yeah. You know, and even with us, I mean, Mondays we're catching up from the weekend. Tuesdays we have our meeting and then we're on it all day. Wednesday morning is really the only time and we're recording this on Wednesday morning. It's June 10th. Yeah. And it's just after 9 a.m. Central time. We record this for an hour. It takes me a couple hours to edit and then we get it out. But well, podcast, that's the thing is podcast. I mean, we can do this remotely, you know, doing video remotely if it was just Zach and I separately on a Zoom type thing or something or like this on Riverside. It just doesn't hit the same. So like being together is where it's at, but it's just so time consuming for us to be able to drive, meet up, spend an entire day, you know, four to five hours. And then just the editing on top of that is so much just because then we're working in, you know, just normal video editing, splicing in photos, pictures, everything that we're doing. Zach always adds just like the perfect little quirks and stuff to the video as well. So, you know, it's just, it's so much easier to do what we're doing with this. Straight down the middle is just all consuming. Um, and it's hard for us. Like you said, how busy we all are, but, you know, typically towards the end of the year, we're usually able to crank out, you know, a handful of episodes. So, you know, hopefully towards the end of this year, maybe mid summer, we can get something out. That'd be fun. I miss the show. Cause you, you record more than one episode when you're together, right? Yeah. Just cause we're about an hour and 45 minutes apart. So anytime that we can get together, unless it's just like picking game up or dropping a game off from each other, We're doing something weird like that. We'll normally try to work. And we used to be able to fit in easily four episodes, but then our episodes, like the editing stuff got so just dynamic in our timeframes and stuff. Typically about two to three episodes we'll work into one day. Um, let me, when you're recording like say two or three episodes in the same day, do you change clothes? Oh yeah. Yeah. We made that mistake. We had talked about it early on when we first started the show. Shit, man, almost 10 years ago now. And we had talked about it and we just didn't do it. And then very early on, people called us out on it and it looks stupid. So we were like, okay, we changed clothes. So it's like a different day. These guys always have the same t-shirts on. Yeah. And we strategize too about what we're going to go first with, because if it's something not real dynamic, you obviously kind of want to get warmed up. So, you know, we'll go with the least interesting topic that we're going to talk about for the day first. Usually second is our most polarizing that we would want to put the most energy and stuff into. And then the third is, you know, hit or miss, depending on where the energy is and how stressed out we are trying to answer emails in between takes and everything else. Do you guys get a lot of fan mail like straight down the middle of people sending you guys stuff? We used to, but not so much anymore just because we're not on the show. Now it's you and me. Now we get sent stuff. We got some, you know, I want to do an episode or at least a bonus content of some of the coolest stuff that we've gotten. Oh, yes. That people have sent. It's been generous and it's good. Yeah. We've gotten some really amazing gifts. Yes, yes. Why don't we start off this show with not the most boring of the topics, but maybe probably the most interesting of the topics for episode 25. And that is Sonic the Hedgehog by Jersey Jack Pinball. I guess at this point we're able to confirm that the theme is Sonic the Hedgehog. The game is going to be based on the video games and not the movies. And the proposed or the tentative launch date right now would be June 23rd, which is Sonic's 35th anniversary or birthday. So assuming that there's not a holdup, and usually what will happen with holdups is it'll just be because of last minute licensor approvals or trying to coordinate with these, These, you know, the licensors marketing teams, it looks like the 23rd, and this is confirmed by company founder Jack Guarneri, the 23rd will be the launch date. Jersi Jack Pinball invited us in to get an exclusive look at the game last week. So we were in there on Thursday. We were able to get some, you know, assets that we're able to use for help of promotion of the game. And this helps everybody in the industry when this comes out. So without me giving away too much, just out of respect for Jersey Jack Pinball, and obviously, you know, when you sign a nondisclosure agreement, you don't want to press that. I can confidently say that I had a really good experience there. It was great going back to my previous stomping grounds because I hadn't been there in a year since I left Jersey Jack Pinball. So it was really good to see everybody. And we could talk about that another time. But as far as the game, and that's going to be most people's interest in the focus.

  • Ken Crone previously worked at Jersey Jack Pinball and left the company

    high confidence · Ken states: 'it was great going back to my previous stomping grounds because I hadn't been there in a year since I left Jersey Jack Pinball'

  • Flip N Out Pinball operates a pre-order waiting list system where deposits are optional until official game reveal

    high confidence · Ken outlines the pre-order system in detail, explaining deposits lock in a spot but are not required to join the waiting list

    • Ken Crone @ ~3:30 — Public correction of prior episode statement; documents community feedback and Ken's retraction of mischaracterized anecdote

  • “We don't do it for the notoriety of it, but it's just fun. It's our creative outlet and it does help with work too.”

    Ken Crone @ ~8:00 — Reveals podcast's dual function: creative expression and business development for Flip N Out Pinball as distributor

    • Flip N Out Pinball
    company
    Tales of the Arabian Nightsgame
    Pedretti Gamingcompany
    Cirqus Voltairegame
    American Pinballcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Barrels of Funcompany
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Steve Ritchieperson
    Jerry Thompsonperson
    [name withheld pending review]person
    Straight Down the Middleproduct
    Transformersgame
    Pokemon Pinballgame
    Harry Pottergame

    rumor_hype: Toten (Tales of the Arabian Nights) by Pedretti Gaming teased for 3–4 weeks with vague 'something magical' messaging; launch timing speculated to follow Sonic by 1–2 weeks (early July)

    medium · Greg: 'Yeah, I think we're going to see Toten soon... It's been teased. It's been about, it's been a three or four weeks, I think.' Ken predicts Toten as secondary game in June wave

  • ?

    product_concern: Potential buyer cannibalization between Toten (Tales of the Arabian Nights) and Circus Voltaire remakes; both target classic collector segment; strategic timing critical to avoid splitting limited collector budget

    high · Greg: 'I assume that a lot of the buyers that would buy Toten are also going to buy Circus Voltaire... Those two are the ones that probably should have battled it out of who was coming out first'

  • ?

    community_signal: Ken publicly corrects prior episode anecdote about Steve Ritchie and Jerry Thompson after Jerry Thompson reached out through intermediaries (not direct listener); signals community sensitivity to accuracy and indirect communication pathways

    high · Ken: 'I botched the story, Greg... Jerry reached out to me because somebody reached out to him... The correct version of the story, as Jerry reminded me, is simply that Jerry Thompson believes... there were two people that did not like him'

  • ?

    content_signal: Flip N Out Pinball Podcast has ~2,000 Facebook followers with thousands of views/listens per episode; used as creative outlet and business development tool for Flip N Out distribution; accessibility/reach to industry figures remains limited

    high · Ken: 'we're at about 2,000 followers on Facebook and when you combine... YouTube views and the podcast listens, we're in the thousands per episode... It's our creative outlet and it does help with work too'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Ken Cromwell has recent direct experience at Jersey Jack Pinball (left within past year); provided exclusive NDA-bound preview access to Sonic; Zach Sharpe also attended preview; positions Flip N Out as industry insider

    high · Ken: 'it was great going back to my previous stomping grounds because I hadn't been there in a year since I left Jersey Jack Pinball... Zack hopped on kind of a last minute flight up there, quick turnaround'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Discussion of 'art of the tease': balance between under- and over-teasing game announcements; risk of over-tease causing consumer frustration; Sonic faces 13-day countdown with need for creative content rollout

    medium · Ken: 'it's a delicate balance. You know, we talked about the art of the tease in a previous episode... you can't overly tease because then people start really getting aggravated about it. But if you don't fuel or put enough fuel into the tease, it becomes boring'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Sonic Collector's Edition has undisclosed 'wow factor' feature that generated positive reaction from Ken and Zach; described as compelling differentiator vs. Arcade Edition, despite $5K price premium

    medium · Ken: 'The CE has some wow factor on Sonic the Hedgehog. That's what Zach said, too. He said there's something that's really amazing with that CE that I was like, oh, mm. I know, I know, I know. It's good. We tease, we tease, we tease'

  • $

    market_signal: Market analysis suggests significant customer segment reserves annual 'pinball money' budget; unfulfilled by early 2026 releases (Pokemon, Transformers) creates pent-up demand for new announcements; impacts purchasing decisions

    medium · Ken: 'there's a big part of the pinball customer base that has money set aside to buy that first pinball machine of the year... probably have a little bit of money burning a hole in your pocket... you probably have a little bit of money burning a hole in your pocket'

    • 9:59
    Jersey Jack Pinball is in a really nice spot with this game that's coming out, and I believe it will be another great hit for the company. That's exactly what Zach said. So I didn't get to make it up. Ken obviously lives close by. Zack hopped on kind of a last minute flight up there, quick turnaround. But, you know, that's what he came home and that was his exact words to it. He was like, you are not going to be disappointed in this game at all. And I was like, oh, OK, OK. And then, you know, I got some details of it and so forth. But yeah, I mean, I got I got kind of giddy about it. It's very fun. I mean, and if you're a Sonic the Hedgehog fan, I mean, this is going to it's going to do it justice, I think. I'll be excited to share more about it when the game officially comes out. I kind of just want to leave it at that because I don't want to be the type of person that accidentally reveals a little bit too much because of my excitement for the game. But I also want to curb my enthusiasm and I don't want to get like crazy where where expectations are set that realistically no pinball company is going to be able to meet. But I will say, shot the game, we filmed the game, we met with the designers.
    11:15
    This is going to be a banger for JJP. See, I can't wait to see it because I haven't even I haven't laid eyes on it yet. So I'm excited to get to see it and get that first impressions out on it, man. Well, I mean, I'll show you the footage we took, Greg. You're under NDA with the company, so I'll share it with you. I also want to be clear with this. I mean, obviously there's two things. I worked for that company before and I worked for Flipp N Out Pinball today. So obviously it's advantageous for me to want to kind of pump a game and the interest of selling units and things like that. I've never rolled that way. I don't think anybody here does. So when I'm saying that I believe it's going to be a really good game, I'm saying it genuinely and not disingenuously to try to drive sales. Well, yeah, and that's why I brought that up about Zach saying that to me as soon as you guys got back. You know, he's not pitching anything to me. You know, but I mean, it was his thing. Like he was, uh, he was amazed and there, you know, there are games that he comes in and again, I just wouldn't mention it, but you know, he'll come back from seeing or something or he sees first and he'll be like, eh, you know, it's good. I mean, you know, it's going to sell well, or it's going to do this or it's going to do that away, you know? So, and typically, like I said, like, if I get something like that, I just don't open my mouth. Well, that's the polite way to do it. I mean, I simply wouldn't have offered extra information other than that we went in there, saw it, and we're under NDA. I can't say anything. Yeah, I'm just offering it, offering extra opinion because I think it's I think it's good. I think they're going to do well. I think everybody's going to do well. I think the community is going to be happy. And if you're a Sonic fan, you should be pretty, pretty happy about this. So we'll see what happens. We'll see if the 23rd works. Again, if you see a delay. It's probably not on JJP other than them working with licensor approvals, but right now it looks like the 23rd. So that's that's good and that's exciting. We are doing this now since the theme has essentially been revealed officially. And again, that was I think Jack Guarneri had mentioned that it was on a post that went up last night from I think Pinball News, Pinball Magazine, Jonathan Joosten. I also I seeing other creators now saying that they been in there to check out the game So we are opening up pre spots And there a couple different ways that you can do this You can go to FlippinOutPinball or you can go to SonicTheHedgehogPinball which will just kind of redirect you to FlippinOutPinball And you can check out, put on a deposit. And when the game is officially revealed, you can confirm which model you prefer. It looks like there's going to be the collector's edition. I don't know what that middle tier is going to be. And there's going to be an arcade edition. Pricing should be the same. 15,000 on collector's edition. The middle edition would be 12,000 and then 10,000 or 9999 on arcade. That's what I believe is going to happen. So you can put a deposit down. Now, if you don't want to put a deposit down, but you still want to be in the queue, you could just email one of us. I'm Ken at FlippinOutPinball.com. Greg, what's your email? Greg at FlippinOutPinball.com. Just let us know. Hey, say, hey, could you please just add me to the list? We'll put you on the on the list and then we'll start going down the list in the order in which, you know, So people were requested to be on when the game is revealed and will finalize things. So full transparency, no real reason that you that you need to put a deposit down unless you are just hell bent on wanting the full commitment and wanting to get in there and potentially getting in on something earlier than than you need to. If you want to see what's going on before you buy the game or before, obviously, before you buy the game, but before you put the deposit down, you're fine, too. You know, these games, as far as we know, they're not limited in nature, whereas there's not like 500 only or a thousand only that these games are going to be built to order.
    14:57
    So, you know, no, no, no big sense of urgency coming from us other than the fact that we understand a lot of you are enthusiastic. You like you've got some skin in the game when you put a deposit down. Great. We're happy. The only urgency is to get on the list. Just get on the list. Then you're you're securing your spot with us and that spot in line, you know, so no deposit needed to do that. And then we'll accept that deposit once the game is announced, like you said. But definitely get on the list. Don't wait around until the game is announced to get on the list with us because then you're just further down. You know, a little behind the scenes, too. When the game is revealed and then we have the list, I think Zach was talking about we're going to divide that list into thirds. So you'll hear from Zach, Greg, or myself about choosing which unit you want or choosing which model you want and then getting your information for deposit and or balance. So hang tight. Get on the list. It's going to be busy. That list has been popping lately. And as we get closer, we're what, two weeks away, a little less than two weeks. Yeah. At this point, 13 days. Man, that's so close. That is exciting. This is going to be an exciting summer. So the 23rd is a Tuesday. I always like launching games on Tuesday. Yeah. So this leads me to my next question, Greg. Like, do we see I think you had made a prediction. Maybe it was in episode 23 or 24 that you thought there might be multiple games in June. So Sonic's going to be one. You still think there might be another one? Yeah, I think we're going to see Toten soon. Yeah, well, it's been teased. What do you think? Like, all right, if you're Pedretti Gaming and I just like thinking about this, like, is it to your advantage to have gotten out in front of Sonic? Or is it to your advantage to kind of wait until Sonic was revealed before showing your product? That's kind of a tough one, but you know, as we've kind of loosely discussed, you know, I kind of think, you know, you'll have a lot of the same buyers, but not necessarily the same buyers. There's going to be some people regardless that are going to be disappointed when they see Sonic. It's just inevitable with any game. Nothing wrong with it. You know, from what you guys have said, it's amazing. But there's just, you know, there's always something that just ends up not what somebody's expectation is. So I think that personally, it is probably best to launch afterwards, because I think if you try to launch before, people are definitely going to hold those dollars that are interested in Sonic. To where as then Sonic's release, they're like, oh, okay, I don't really like it. Some of the hype might have already passed on Toten, even though they're pretty close. So if you wait afterwards, the same people that are a potential same buyer could sit there, they see Sonic, and then they're like, you know, it wasn't what I really wanted. Oh, man, Toten drops. Oh, shit. Okay, there's my game I can buy. Like, that's what I want. Because you know what you're getting for the most part with. Yeah, with what you're getting. Yeah, if it's like what they did with Funhaus with the LE and stuff, you know, there could be different artwork. So you're going to see some stuff new for the first time, obviously, which is exciting. But for the most part, you know what you're getting with that game. So, yeah, I personally think that with them being so close, you wait till just a little bit after Sonic and jump on that because I just don't know, you know, the buyers that are on the fence that would buy both. I just I think it's going to work against you if you launch before, you know, because those people are going to hold those dollars. I agree. Just in anticipation. I think right now that there's a big part of the pinball customer base that has money set aside to buy that first pinball machine of the year. And if it wasn't anything that's come out so far, if it wasn't Pokemon or it wasn't Transformers or whatever, you still have, I mean, for lack of a better term, you probably have a little bit of money burning a hole in your pocket because you're thinking yourself, I reserve this money for my own entertainment for this year. If you reveal now, it's like I still think that money, part of it's tied up for people to wait for Sonic. If I were them, I would obviously wait until Sonic's officially revealed because then people know kind of what to expect with Toten. But what I would do, I would announce my launch date. Meaning if I, let's say I'm going to launch July 1st, I would announce that that launch date is coming so that people that have waited for the 23rd for Sonic know that if that game did not. So if that game didn't appeal to them, yeah, that is coming. So, all right, I just got to wait another few days to see what Toten's about and then I'll make my final decision. What I think you said that made a lot of sense, though, I think for the most part, like these are probably two different buyers, somebody looking for a new game, enthusiastic about a new license, a new theme, Sonic person, Sonic fan versus somebody that is a fan of the classics and the old school, Bally Williams. Those are people love those remakes. If you only have a certain amount of money, if you got twelve thousand dollars to spend this year and those games are so close, I would again, if I were Pedretti, I'd be like, look, you're going to see Sonic on the 23rd. You're going to see our magical announcement on whatever it is, July 1st. And it's close enough to where you don't feel like you're you're just waiting because when you're in that in that just wait, that waiting period, it like it gets frustrating and you get anxious. You're like, I'm just going to buy this game. I don't have time to wait. But you know, you made a super stellar point too though by saying, you know, there's also the buyer that's just captivated in new pins. Like, you don't necessarily know if you have intent to buy Sonic, just that it's a new pin coming out. Like a lot of people will wait on that before they spend their money. That is like, as you said, they just want to make sure that it's not something that appeals to them. Even if Sonic doesn't mean that much to them, the fact that it's a new game, it could look really cool, a lot of hype behind it, that can push a lot of people to buy the game. So I think a lot of people still just wait to see a new release regardless of whether they're super strong intent to buy that or not. So I think that you avoid that as well coming out afterwards. I think there's a lot of people too that like they just they just want the newest thing because when people come over they got the newest thing. You know what I mean? Yeah, I get it. I'm like that to a certain extent when I when I was entertaining a new game like so I get a lot of the new games just because I've ran through a lot of the old stuff. So, you know, my collection's pretty solid with what I love. You know, I've been in the hobby long enough and rotated enough games out. So, like, I look forward to the new game because it's just new. It's something new to play. It's something different that I haven't got my hands on before. So, you know, I'm kind of that person, you know, and I got money burning a hole in my pocket right now. You know, I bought Transformers for location, but, you know, I passed on Pokemon just wasn't my thing. So, you know, I'm kind of anxious for something to bring home. Well, yeah, you're going to have. Well, you went out last time you had purchased Harry Potter Arcade Edition, which was $99.99. It sounds like they're doing that again for Sonic, and I could see you getting in on that again. Oh, yeah. I'm getting – oh, yeah. I'm going arcade. I'm pretty sure. Like, you know, something might knock my socks off on that LE or that CE, but I'm still – you know, I'm a penny pincher. Again, not – That sounds horrible on a $10,000 game when it's like, go on with the $10,000 motto because I'm super frugal, guys. Right. That's right. Oh, that much. He's going 10 Gs. Yeah, the CE has some wow factor on Sonic the Hedgehog. That's what Zach said, too. He said there's something that's really amazing with that CE that I was like, oh, mm. I know, I know, I know. It's good. We tease, we tease, we tease. But yeah, okay. So potentially we've got this Tales of the Arabian Nights that's, I'm trying to remember when they officially kind of set up the socials where it's like, hey, something magical is coming. Yeah. It's been about, it's been a three or four weeks, I think. It's been a while. Yeah. Long tease. I was going to say, that's kind of where you run the risk. And then also if I'm Jersey Jack Pinball right now, I'm probably thinking I need to get something out now because once, you know, Jack's officially, look, it was, and he'll say it himself, is the worst kept secret, right? Harry Potter was the worst kept secret. They're not, they're not really keeping secrets on these last couple games and it's because the enthusiasm's high and they're setting people's minds at ease. Look, once you announce or officially reveal that's what the game is, we gotta be ready to take orders. And it's a tough spot to be in because people haven't seen the game, but that's why we got the pre-order list. If you want to get on the interest list, you can do that. But now you run the challenge of keeping people engaged from today being June 10th to official launch date of the 23rd. And I'm assuming you'll see some creative teasers that will be rolling out here over the next several days. It's a delicate balance. You know, we talked about the art of the tease in a previous episode of Flippin' Out Pinball Podcast where it's like you can't overly tease because then people start really getting aggravated about it. But if you don't fuel or put enough fuel into the tease, it becomes boring. The game feels old. So this is your 13 day countdown where you really got to hit it out of the park. Uh, drive interest into the game and I can't wait to see what they what they do on this one. I agree. All right. That'll wrap up Sonic the Hedgehog for now. And Toten. Yeah, and Toten. And Toten. If something breaks, if we get breaking news, Greg, we're gonna come back on. We're gonna fire up the mics here, flipping out Pinball Podcast and uh... And again, I won't cut it short because I mean, I still think that we're gonna get, you know, this is gonna be a big wave. You know, I don't know where American Pinball standing with with Circus Voltaire, but I would assume that they're going to pitch for some time late summer, maybe. So, I mean, I mean, we could have a wild little ride here. And then by that time, I would assume barrels would maybe start to get close to announcing something. We know that Spooky is most likely going to announce something this fall. Also, like, I feel like from, you know, the release of Sonic onwards, we're going to have like a hell of a little push of games. You know, what started off that felt a little bit of a dry year is going to go into almost a tsunami. And then we're going to have next Stern Cornerstone in there. We're going to have probably a remake from Stern towards the end. I mean, dude, this is going to be a freaking jam. It's going to be a hell of a back half of the year, right? Yeah. Well, because the year kind of started slow. So but it seems like it's going to end in a flurry. You brought up something that I had not thought about recently when when you bring up American Pinball, because they were kind of the first to announce that they had a remake and it was Circus Voltaire. And that I mean, if you're going to do any remakes, I think we talked about this. Circus Voltaire is big. Tell the Arabian Nights big. You know, those are those are two bangers for the remakes. So I think right now, American Pinball, they are they still building Houdini 100s, right? They're still coming off the line. They're doing like another, they're doing another run of, we're doing, they're doing another run of Galactic Tank Force, which has some updated, uh, mechs or sculpts from, uh, bring it in there. What's that? I said, I think I know where you're going with this. Well, I'm just thinking it's like, when do you, when do you get into your, And again, they kind of announced it earlier. I mean, now there's another remake that's kind of on the forefront, and that is with Tales of the Arabian Nights. Do you think that that impacts the ability for them to kind of, does it impact sales on Circus Voltaire? I do. I personally do. And the only reason, I mean, we're getting ready to go into a saturated market, it seems here coming up, which is an amazing thing. I mean, to have options. And I'll probably buy multiple of these games, hopefully. But you know when you competing with every other manufacturer and then you competing up against another remake to where I assume that a lot of the buyers that would buy Toten are also going to buy Circus Voltaire I would agree It in that same wheelhouse for those classic collectors So that's the only thing that I think could hurt it. Those two are the ones that probably should have battled it out of who was coming out first. Because I, you know, and it'll all come down, I assume, manufacturing and everything else, keeping the line running, keeping employees busy, I don't see normal business aspects of pinball, but I personally think that it would be best to see Circus Voltaire come out at a later date. I know you already basically confirmed it, teased, confirmed, but I think, and I'm talking about maybe winter. You want to create some distance now, right? Yeah. Some good distance. You're getting leftover sloppy seconds money at that point. That's why I think Expo October. I do. I don't think it would be a terrible thing. It's a hometown show for them. Yeah. And if you sort of know that it's coming out too, and that way you're budgeted for it and everything else, because a lot of people will only buy one game a year, if they can. But then there's also a lot that'll buy two games a year. But, you know, then we start getting into bigger collectors and people that really go over two games a year, you know, is in a different realm. So, you know, I think that you still keep the door open for that fourth quarter of roping at least those two game buyers as well. You know, that you might miss out on if you're releasing too close to Tails, because then they're going to have to make a choice.
    28:31
    And maybe Circus is, you know, hell, I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Maybe. But I think people are going to jump on the now thing. You know what I'm saying? Even though it's like a battle, like, I like Circus Voltaire better than Toten, but they haven't fully came out with it yet. I can see Toten right in front of me. I'm buying Toten and I'll pick up Circus down the road. I think that that's the way most people's minds work. So I think giving that gap to be able to build the bank count up, move games around, do that thing for a later date, the newness of Toten starts to wear off if it gets into people's hands by then, or just even the newness of buying it starts to wear off. Then I think that that starts to build the hype around Circus Voltaire. You know, that can start to build and generate. I think it's going to be fun to be able to see two companies each offering remakes of the same era from the same original designer, John Papaduke, and just see how they both approach, you know, their versions of these remakes. The quality of the build, like little things that they add, whether it be cosmetically with light shows, additional things, that's going to be a really fun, just almost a direct one on one kind of comparison with that, with those games. With those games. So that that'll be fun. If Barrels of Fun does what they did last year because they kind of they went into Expo in October at Chicago Pinball Expo in Schaumburg. The they went in there and they did the sneak attack and they revealed the Winchester Mystery House. So if if that's something that they do this year again because Winchester's continue to ship and I think people are anticipating something from them at least being announced pretty soon. And I can see Expo being like a thing for them. They saw great success there last year. Like that was a huge momentum boost for them, you know, especially with Dune. Not just, I mean, Winchester's were all sold out by the time they got there. But you still got your hands on one. You still got to feel the product, feel what they were about. But it was just a huge momentum boost for Dune as we've talked before. Good for the brand. It's just good for the brand. Exactly. So I think doing the same thing and having those games there for people to play, even if they're already sold out. I think that first kind of unveiling physically to the public at Expo is just going to do nothing but put them, you know, fast track them back on that momentum train. Yeah. And I'm just curious to see what the title is that they're coming out with. There's been so many rumors. I know. And, you know, we have a lot of times we know and we have to play coy a little bit. We have to be very careful, as you said, and, you know, step around some things. But this one, we truly are flying blind right now. I wonder if they if they know. That's the other thing, right?
    31:13
    We'll see. We'll see if it's coming up. They're finalizing art pack. They were like, we got a game built. We just we don't have art on it yet. We don't know what direction we're going to go. We don't know the scene. I can see it. The going back to the remakes real quick before we move on. I'm excited for both the titles, Tales of the Arabian Nights and Circus Voltaire, because as a pinball buyer and collector for years, I've never owned. I don't want to spend either of those titles ever. They've been very hard to get. Even back in the day when things were a lot more affordable, they were always considered more expensive. And if you'd stumbled across one, they were usually pretty blown out and roached. And I've always been the type of collector where I always want pristine for me. Like I don't want worn in games with play feel. I just don't like that. I prefer to have it look nice. So I don't know. We'll see. I will hopefully own one of them for an extended period of time because I do miss having like an old school Bally Williams game in the collection. For me, it's been mostly modern day pinball for the last, I don't know, half decade at least. Yeah. So I would like a little, and listen, Chicago Gaming, if you do have Twilight Zone, looking for my Twilight Zone is my favorite game. I would love to see a modern day Twilight Zone. Well, that's another one. I know we keep talking about speculation on so many of these episodes with this stuff, but I mean, it's just like it's hard to ignore the fact of, A lot of these manufacturers are due for a lot of stuff. I mean, Chicago game is another one. They're, they're due. They're due for a game. Well, guess what? I mean, so they still have medieval madnesses coming off the line as they continue to build in the summer. We actually have them in stock. So if you do want to grab a medieval madness. Just as of yesterday. Yes. Go to FlippinOutPinball.com. You can put it in your cart. It'll ship the next day. So if you've been waiting, now's the time to jump on that. And depending on where you are in the United States, some of the fastest shipping in the I would say, you know, typically you're going to see two to four days. Typical. Now, if you're all the way on the West Coast, maybe five days or so, but typically two to four days. I just sold the game on Monday. How did this work? I sold the game Monday. It went out Tuesday. It shipped Tuesday and it was like already at the destination at the end of Tuesday and they called and the delivery got set up for Wednesday. It was like one day. Yeah. With FedEx. Yeah, it was crazy. Especially states around us like Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio a lot of times. Like it is super, super quick, especially Kentucky. Yeah, it's just so cool.
    33:44
    On a previous episode of Flippin' Out Pinball Podcast, we were talking about the risks that companies take, speculating on licenses that they think could be good without them really being established. So we were talking about, you know, at the time, like what would be a license that you could get now that hasn't really hit stride that you could kind of be in on the bottom floor on and, you know, have a great game. Like we were talking about how like Stranger Things was kind of like one of those instances where it was like a new fresh license.
    34:15
    We were to Game of Thrones was one of those licenses where Stern kind of went in before it really just gained stride. Man of Lorien was a little close. I mean, it was sort of the same like around the Stranger Things. Sure, sure, sure. And I had shared a story because if you go in on a new license or a new movie without knowing how it's going to be received, you take a lot of risk. So if you pay a bunch of money and you build a game for a year, year and a half and this movie comes out and it's terrible, you're in trouble, right? So I was sharing this story that George Gomez had told us back in the day. And this was back in my old podcast when I was doing Special Win Lit Pinball podcast with Bill Webb. And then we were streaming for Flippin' Out Pinball on Monday nights. And George Gomez came in and he was at the time Star Wars the Pin. It's that little home version of the game had come out. So George came to my house. We streamed Star Wars the Pin. So George shared a story about how back in his Williams days, they secured the title for Johnny I just want to play the story here now versus me trying to explain, because you know my track record on telling stories lately. Haven't all been accurate. So hear it from George. This was years ago back on Flippin' Out Pinball streaming. I love that. Oh, that's like a cult game. You know, everyone wants that game. What game is that? Johnny Mnemonic. Oh, Johnny Mnemonic. The movie studio. The movie studio, we were hassling them, you know, come on, you guys got to show us the movie. Yeah. And I knew, you know, I was a fan of William Gibson. I read the short story and the short story was cool. Yeah. And so I thought, you know, and Neil McAstro was running Williams at the time and he said, you got to do this. Somebody's going to put, you know, $100 million into this. And I was like, okay. Which makes complete sense though. Yeah, makes complete sense. And then we kept saying, show us something. Show us something. It was like we're at the end of the development cycle. I mean, we've got our pinball machine basically built. And they said, OK, come fly to Hollywood. So I flew to Hollywood and they screened the movie for me. And I ran out of the movie theater, called Chicago. Can we get out of this?
    36:35
    That's horrible. Oh, man. Well, that's the wrist you run, right? Right. Absolutely. Can we, can we, like, let's name it something else.
    36:48
    Haha, see, I think what's interesting about that is, like, I don't, um, I can't say I don't disagree with George, especially probably around that time. I didn't think it was that horrible of a movie. I mean, it wasn't a blockbuster. I would have probably been a little worried, too. But I didn't think it was that bad. I just, well, I picture George like in the movie theater by himself with like 300 seats and he's just kind of sitting, you know, five rows deep in the middle. That's the way I kept envisioning. You know, just him thinking about what this movie is going to be about and all the awesomeness of it and him being underwhelmed and then him having like a sense of panic that we just, guys, we just went all in and we don't have the best hand right now. I wonder what sales numbers were on that game though. Like I wonder how they stacked up to. Like modern day sales? Yeah, just anything. Yeah, I wonder where that's touching. Even in that day, I wonder how that game still performed. I've never played Johnny Mnemonic ever. Are you serious? I've never played it. There were a handful of games when I first got into pinball that were, again, this is like 10 years ago, that were kind of coveted games that were very overlooked but were very coveted. I love it. Johnny Mnemonic was like one of the first ones that I heard about. Like everybody clamored for Johnny. Everybody wanted that game because George did such a good job on it. You know, power down mode is awesome. So that was probably, that was my third, second or third pinball machine that I ever owned was the Johnny Mnemonic. And that's a fun game. It's just like anything like Demoman, it's like any of the games of that era. You know, I'm not saying that it's not challenging. Johnny Mnemonic is a little more challenging than most games because it's so quick, but still it's one of those things that once you hit that wizard mode, you can run through it, you're going to start running through it all the time. But, you know, there's a lot of strategy in that game that's fantastic with the power glove and getting different things and getting extra balls. Is that a white body game, Greg, or is that? It's not. No, it's standard. Standard. Okay. Yeah. But dude, it's just so good. Power down mode is just one of those great moments in pinball that I still love. And like I said, it's just so quick and such a brutal game, but fair, fair game. So like I recommend anybody out there who's not got their hands on Johnny Mnemonic, get it, man. It's a good game. I would just recommend waiting for the remake and then have all the modern day technology with the, you know, you go from Tales of the Arabian Nights to Cirque du Voltaire to Johnny Mnemonic. Zach's got a mint Johnny Mnemonic that he picked up. It was one of those things where he kind of early on made fun of me about liking that game. And then, you know, I slowly rubbed off on him on a few things, but he's got a real, real nice mint one that he ever puts up for sale. I'll honestly probably buy it. My work phone is going off, Greg. Should we answer the call live on the air? You're on Flippin' Out Pinball podcast. Sorry about that. All right. So again, that that was the follow up on the George Gomez story and Johnny Mnemonic.
    39:52
    So yesterday, Greg, I was up hanging out in Patreon and I had posted to everybody over there that, you know, with the news not being tremendous as far as like new news coming out this week, kind of opened up the floor. People had any interesting discussion topics that they wanted to hear some commentary on. We'd be open to those. And we had a couple comments asking about what kind of things can you do to play better, pinball-wise? Which is always interesting to get people's takes on that. And then the other what are prominent staples to kind of get yourself set up and running with a solid game room which I think is always fun So I think what we do with those is do you want to talk about those now or do you want to bring them over to Patreon Let take them to Patreon That be some good discussion All right. So Patreon bonus content. Amongst other things, we'll be looking at some basic tips that Greg and I self like to utilize to get a little bit better pinball wise. And then, of course, some game room tips, ideas on setting up a cool game room or having something different in that game room over at Patreon.com slash Vlip. That's FlippinOutPinballPodcast. Greg, we're going to close out this episode. Before we do so, it's time for the Pinball Power Rankings. And for those of you new to the segment, the Pinball Power Rankings by FlippinOutPinball and FlippinOutPinball.com. Essentially, they're the top five most inquired about or purchased games, accessories, etc. coming from us at FlippinOut. Coming in at number five, Chicago Gaming's Medieval Badness Merlin remake. This is a game that, again, if you are a pinball collector and you've never owned a Medieval Badness, back in the day I had not until I bought a remake. This is a game that you definitely want to consider, put in the game room. It's timeless, it's generational. And it's gorgeous. It's gorgeous. One of the best mechs in all of pinball with the castle that collapses. But from the audio, the lighting, the topper, it's a solid, solid game. Highly recommended. And coming in at number four... Oh, sorry. No, you're good. And coming in at number four... Greg, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. Sorry, thank you, thank you. All right, no problem. Definitely, definitely buy one. And number four on our list is Sonic the Hedgehog. Even though it's not released, there is still a ton, ton of interest in this game, and we are getting emails. We have emails and phone calls every day. Again, mainly people wanting to be on that list. Some people begging us to just take their money for the game. I have not seen it, but please just take my money. I want it that bad. Yes. That's a true story. I think that that's going to be jumping up higher on the pinball power rankings next time we talk about it. Very quickly. Coming in at number three, we've got Pokemon by Stern Pinball. Game came out. Solid sales in the beginning. People are just kind of waiting for that code to develop, and once they get everything sorted with approvals, again with the licensors and code starts releasing, I think you're going to see that game continue to stay in that middle position, potentially climb to number two or number one. But Pokemon, and they're available right now too, FlippinUpPinball.com if you want to grab a pro or a premium today. And at number two, so this one, I mean, it's not shocking to me, but Harry Potter. We are like, we have seen a massive uptick again on Harry Potter. We do still have very few, very few arcades left and very few CEs left. We have been sold out of Wizards for some time and we had, you know, we bought as many arcades and CEs as what we could get shipped to us. But those again are starting to run low. So do not wait around. I know that this sounds crazy, but you know, there's a possibility we might not see some be in production for a while. So, you know, if it's one of those things that you've even toyed around with that, like, you know what, I'd like to wait closer to Christmas or something and pick that game up again, not to create that FOMO. But, you know, I think that if you wait any longer than a few weeks to a month, then you're going to be SOL. Number one on this month's pinball power rankings, again from Stern Pinball, Transformers. There's more than meets the eye with Transformers, Greg. Hot sales on Transformers. I think as the game trickles out and people start playing on location, it's going to continue on the hype. And then we just saw the topper kind of soft revealed at a pinball show. So if you want to get your Transformers topper, you can do that also at FlippinOutPinball.com. You can put a deposit down on that, pay the balance when they become available. Get over to the Flippin' Out Facebook page and check that topper out. Take a look at that topper, man. That's impressive. That is really nice, man. Talking Optimist Prime. That's right. They're going to talking heads a lot lately, which people kind of like. I like the talking heads. Yeah. Why not? That's good. Why not? We're a couple of talking heads. So we need toppers. We need our own topper, yeah. Like a Red and Ted, like, roadshow type topper. Oh, could you imagine that? The Red and Ted, I don't like that. It's creepy. No, it's quite scary. Yeah, it is kind of scary. Quick recap then in the top five. Number five, Medieval Madness. Number four, Sonic the Hedgehog. Number three, Pokemon. Number two, Harry Potter. And coming in at number one, most inquired about purchase games from Flippin' Out Pinball, Transformers. A little housekeeping production here. You know what you guys are looking for. Again, you know, we just kind of discussed about the Harry Potters and that we're running low on those. We are also running very low on Elvira's Elvira Premiums. We have just a couple of Star Wars Fall of the Empire LEs left and the always hot and popular and ever-selling Godzilla Premiums. We're running low on those, and we don't know when Stern will have those back on the line. So, you know, if you're still interested in a new-in-boxed Godzilla Premium, an Elvira Premium, or a Star Wars Fall of the Empire LE, jump on those now. Now, can I tell you something? I'm going to be very sad when that game sells out. I love Elvira House of Horrors. I've owned it twice. I would own it a third time. Highly recommend it. We have a used one coming in that I think is going to be at a pretty good price. I told Zach, I said you might talk to Ken. I'd be open. I'd be open. Also, we do have a few Transformers LEs left and as always, we offer free shipping on all of our brand new Sterns in the box, new in the box. So that is a great deal. Those Transformers LEs kind of snuck in because we sold out immediately. And then through the good graces of Stern Pinball, they were able to get us a couple more. So we actually have those, which are nice. And two things that are kind of awesome that we were able to pick up, too, that I forgot to mention, too, is we were able to get a new in-box Pulp Fiction LE. So anybody that's been looking for that, that's tough to find, man. And such an awesome game. And then Turner, who just came out with Yukon Yeti, one of their early games, Merlin's Arcade. We've got a Merlin's Arcade in stock new in the box as well for anybody that's interested. That's a super cool game. So if you're waiting on Yukon Yeti and excited about that, get you a little Merlin to wet your whistle. Yeah, I think Merlin's, that's been a pretty good game. Every time I've tried to play it at a show, it's been impossible because the lines have been long, but I'm hearing good feedback on Merlin's Arcade from Turner. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And, you know, as I mentioned, you know, to you about that, that Elvira premium, that used one coming in, you know, always again, guys, everybody get over to to our Facebook page. Keep an eye on those those used games. And while we're always looking for trade ins on those those used games, you know, if it's something you really want, I recommend just buying it flat out because a lot of those games go within, you know, a couple of hours. So by the time that you guys get over pictures of your used games, all that information I need for a trade evaluation, typically those used ones are gone. So, you know, if it's something that you you're really passionate about, don't waste your time on on a trade for one of those used games necessarily. Make sure to jump on that and buy it before it's too late, because I see a lot of people miss out. Sadly, it boggles my mind on the used stuff because, like you said, it goes so fast where sometimes it'll be the afternoon. I will be tied up for an hour. I'll go to check my messages and I'll be like, hey, so-and-so is interested in this used game. And by the time I'm trying to figure out what's going on, it's already marked as like pending. Yeah. It's like they're gone. Pending. Honestly, I've never seen used games sell so quickly and consistently then at Flippin' Out like ever. But they're a good price. Like we don't price gouge on that stuff. You know, we're very fair with our evaluations. You know, we need to make a little bit of money on their very small amount, especially for the risk that we take getting those in. But, you know, we're very, very fair on our pricing. And, you know, for the most part, they're very clean, very nice games. You know, a lot of very low play games that a lot of people see. So, you know, that's why they fly. And you're getting it from somebody that you trust, you know, somebody that's going to stand behind you a little bit, talk to you, you know, not just some random person, couple states away that you don't know. And you're not having the drive to go look at that game. It makes a big difference. I get a lot of people that will say, it's like, hey, you know, I wanted to come to you guys because I just feel like I know you guys. I'm watching the on the middle and I'm listening to podcasts and all that kind of stuff. And and it's cool. We're not hiding. That's for sure. So I always tell people, it's like, hey, you're you're going to we're the most transparent, honest people you're going to meet. Yeah, it does us no service to try to deceive you and, you know, miss miss represent. And we do make stuff easy. This this is no lie. Literally, a customer came in. He's fairly new to us. He already did a trade with the crate and everything. I mean, I'm talking like he did a trade with trade with us like a week or so ago. And he came back in and he said, hey, I've got a Metallica that I'd like to trade in and I'm looking for a Jaws Premium new in box with all these accessories. Like what price would you be at? So I shot him over the evaluation, trade evaluation for the difference between the two. And then he came back and he was like, oh, man, OK, you know, what if I was just to buy that Jaws and all the accessories outright? Like what would that look like? And before I could respond back to him, he came back. He goes, literally, he says, Greg, never mind. He goes, let's go through with it. You guys make stuff too easy. I don't want to have to mess around with anything else and I don't want to have to mess around with this game and sell it to somebody. So let's just do the trade again. I got you, brother. You're good. But then again, that's a very true story. And like, I hear that a lot. You know, trades are not for everybody, especially depending on where you live in the country and stuff. But again, you know, we do make that process super simple and super easy. So if you guys have any questions about it or anything, you know, hit me up. You do a really good job with that, too, because you head off to trade evals and yeah, people are happy. You're doing it down to a science. I have algorithms. Yeah. Well, it's time consuming when you're running everything through. It's not like we type something into a computer and it spits it out like a Kelly Blue Book. No, it's all by hand. I keep a notebook. I have a legal pad and I just keep everything and I flip through it and I have all my numbers there in case I need to re-question myself for what's going on. But I mean, there is a formula to it. I get terrified at the end of it because you're running all the calculations and you're like, all right, I think I got it. And you're like, wait a second. Did I did I did I account for this? Did I account for that? Oh, yeah. I freak out still like that. I've tried to let it go because that's like not that he's saying I need to be more efficient, but I know how quickly he he would do it in the past. And I'm like, bro, but this is your company. Like, I don't want to make that mistake and cost you money. So like I double check this. But I've gotten better about feeling confident in my evaluations to where I'm just like, send. I'm done. Yeah, good. I'll remind everybody to go to Flippin Out Pinball. Like Greg said, our Facebook page has the use inventory. We have a new website that's going to be launching in the fall. And the use inventory will be brought over to the new website also. So there will be like a one stop shop for those of you that don't really like to get involved with Facebook and would prefer to have something separate. You'll have it there. And there will be ways to kind of click on things that are out of stock and be notified when it comes back in. So all that's getting set up, we're streamlined in that process. But again, if you ever have questions, you can always reach out to either one of us directly. That's what we're here. We're all about bringing that better experience to the pinball customer. Yeah. And go to Flippin' Out Pinball YouTube. Some people have asked me about this. It's confusing because we have Flippin' Out Pinball and then we're Flippin' Out Pinball Podcast. Our social pages, we just kind of keep separate because one we keep for business. The other one we keep for kind of the extra content. So Flippin' Out Pinball, go to YouTube and go to Facebook and throw a like and a follow there if you don't mind. And then for our podcast, if you don't mind, if you're at Facebook and YouTube, you know, search Flippin' Out Pinball podcast, send a like, follow or share on there. And it helps us with the algorithm, which essentially just kind of helps us get the word out when we post new things. And you'll also be notified immediately when something new comes up. So we hope hope you can help us out. But I think that's it, man. And like, as far as the day goes, we'll jump off here. We'll record the Patreon bonus content, which will be available also later this afternoon. And I think we'll just call it a wrap. What do you think? I agree, man. Nice little episode. Closing remarks, Greg. Anything? Be prepared for Sonic. That's fucking terrible. That's terrible. Gotta go fast.
    53:23
    Yeah. They're gonna go fast. They're gonna go fast, right? Don't let it throw you for a loop. Hey! Hey, you just bring the bell out there. Better get them coins together. Oh my gosh, got some blue balls. That's crazy. For Greg Bone, I'm Ken Cromwell. Don't forget to take some time out of your day and play some pinball. So long, everybody.
    53:57
    Hell yeah, have a good week and we'll talk to you soon. I thought that turned out good. Yeah, it's great. Did we mention...