If this ain't love, you better let me go. If this isn't love, I'm on another roll. If this ain't love, baby, just say so. Welcome everybody to the only pinball podcaster that's never getting an invite to Stern Pinball. and I don't even care. I don't get what the big uproar is. I wear that as a badge of honor. No, Stern, I won't take your all expense paid trip to your facility. I would rather be able to say whatever I feel about your $13,000 John Wick. And ladies and gentlemen, I've been bombarded with people being like, did you hear this podcast? Did you hear that podcast? Did you hear this reaction, this rant about not being invited to Stern. And I think everybody needs to take a chill pill. Nobody cares about us. What we care about are what these companies are doing. And that is why Canada's Pinball Podcast has been number one for all of these years, is the number one thing I talk about. It's not about myself. Yeah, I do boast every once in a while about winning the twippies that each and every one of you handed me because you love the show. But what I talk about every single week is what's going on at these pinball companies, what moves are they making, and how do we feel about it? If you make pinball the center of your universe to the point where if you don't get invited to a party, you're going to have a mental breakdown, you really need to get some help. And when I did my F off rant show, think about it. I was just mad that George Gomez and the powers that be at Stern think that we're so stupid that we're going to spend $2,000 on a Foo Fighters topper. And I'm like, F off at all of these prices. F off. And now look at this whole thing. This whole media invite, inviting all the pinball media that they know are going to say nice things about them. It's a day late and a dollar short. Trust me. This was never part of their plan on how they were going to launch John Wick. Did they invite any of these pinball media into Stern Pinball before they launched John Wick? People are getting this access right now. Think about it. is because John Wick's sales are abysmal. And so, okay, everybody, Zach Sharp, let's bring in all of the people that we know are gonna say nice things and let's set the record straight. I mean, it's so silly. What does it mean, set the record straight? Derm pinball brought out a game that most people don't see the value in. That's it, hard stop, nothing else. It's not selling, it's not moving. I don't care how hard it is to make wiring harnesses. I don't care what you're gonna spin left and right about no boards and spike two and all this stuff. I get it. You have a very large operation. You moved into a very large factory and now you got to sell more games than you ever had to before to justify upscaling your operation to that size. And now what are you doing? You've shown the pinball community for the last few years what you think about us, what you think about us collectors, what you think about all the buyers. And then you went and you burn them and then you ignored all those people that cover you every single week and you'll launch John Wick with an all new set of media and it didn't work and now you're doing a mea culpa and it's fine. I don't care. It's no skin off my back. What I care about is this, is that nobody's really reading the true message. Everybody is still tone deaf. What everybody in pinball is saying right now, it's not saying, hey Stern, show us how you make games. Nope, it's not that. It's not saying, it's not, hey Spooky, Why does it take so long to code a game? Nope, it's not that. What everybody is saying collectively right now in all of pinball is that all of you wankers out there who make games, it's no longer COVID. And we're not going to pay these inflated prices on every single game that comes out. And none of these companies, there hasn't been a single company that has actually made one single move to lower the prices. I don't know why it's so hard for all these companies to realize that that is the main issue on the table. That is the priority item that nobody seems to want to address. And no matter what Stern shows these people this week, I'm never going to walk away from whatever I read thinking that a John Wick L. Lee is worth $13,000 or a Foo Fighters topper is worth $2,000. So that's what's going to happen this week. The only one I'm going to read because I love him so much is Naps Arcade and Jason Knapp. I think he has the best pinball media channel. And I know people are like, oh, there's no such thing as pinball media. I think Jason Knapp is pinball media. I think I'm a pinball entertainer and a personality. I don't care if I'm a media or a creator. All I care about is like, basically, I've got the best community in all of pinball with each and every one of you. Okay, so that's what's going to happen this week. What does that mean for John Wick? John Wick pros are all over the country. That's fine. I can't wait to jump on the game. The feedback on the game has been sort of middle of the road. It's like I expected. People are jumping on it. The game kind of fast the game kind of brutal and the code is still really early People are sort of associating it with James Bond code like it 0 So will it have a turnaround My main thing with John Wick is this, and I've seen the streams, I've heard Tim Sexton talk about it, I've listened to people talk about the game. What I'm not hearing is this. I'm not hearing anybody articulate a single real moment of wow in the game. And that is the problem. Where is the wow? I'm not hearing anyone say like when you start this mini wizard mode, wow, when you hit this mechanism, wow, when you hit this combo, wow, when you hit this magnet, wow. I'm not hearing any of that. So where are the moments of wow in John Wick pinball? I'm not sure it's going to be there, but I do know this. None of you, And I mean this, none of you have seen enough to pull the trigger on a $13,000 LE. None of you have seen enough wow in this game where like you could easily justify like dropping this much money on the game right now. And I think that's just where we're at in all of pinball. So we've got that happening over at Stern. I think this game is going to be passed on by most of you. And I think we're all waiting for what's next from Stern. And the rumor is Metallica vault sometime in June, July. I would think rather July. and then the next big cornerstone game sometime in the fall of 2024. And so that's it. That's what's happening at Stern Pinball. Let's go to Jersey Jack, Elton John, collector's edition. Did you see this painful story? This guy orders an Elton John collector's edition. And look, it is an amazing game. I would own this game if it were $12,500. I'm going to wait until the game is that price. The thing is, by the time it hits that price, Steve Ritchie's next game will be out and it will be based on a better theme than Elton John. But here's the story that's so painful. This guy orders the game. Imagine this. Put yourself in his shoes. The game arrives. He opens up his front door. He sees it. Jersey Jacks, CE. And then he looks down at the box and the worst nightmare happens. It says on the label, Godfather Collector's Edition. They messed up at the factory or at the warehouse. They sent him the wrong game. That is the most painful mistake ever. Oh my, my, my. What a painful mistake. He's now got to stare at that cardboard box and just dream about the Rocket Man. So look, Elton John is a phenomenal game. I think everyone's coming to their senses. If all things hold true right now, I think Elton John is the game of the year. If nothing else comes out that's a banger in 2024, Elton John is the best pinball machine of 2024. Easily. Easily. Jaws is neat. Jaws is cool. But I think Elton John is the best modern pinball machine I've ever jumped on. It's just not worth the money. And I hate saying that. I wish we just didn't have to say that. Like if Jersey Jack just kept prices where they were at, they would be running circles around Stern right now with this game. But both of them. It's like they're both like, well, you think you're going to go there? We're going to go here. Uh-oh, we both screwed each other. Uh-oh, what are we going to do? Anyone going to lower prices? Nope, we're going to hold the line. Elton John continues, as I've been saying, to be a slow burn, but everyone who owns one is enjoying it. It's impossible. It's impossible not to enjoy an Elton John pinball machine because of how buttery smooth it shoots and how much fun it is to just flip that game. I mean this, Elton John might just have the best third flipper shots in all of pinball. And this is coming from someone who never plays pinball. No, trust me, it is. It is one of the best third flipper shots in all of pinball. And there's just something about standing over that game that makes you feel really good. It puts a big smile on your face and it is an absolute stunning game. Speaking of games that are not holding value, people, Guns N' Roses collector's editions are now worth $10,000. Oh my gosh. At the height when this game first came out, you couldn't get a GNRCE for less than $19,000. And some people paid that much. You can now easily get one for $10,000. Now look, I still think Guns N' Roses is a great bang for the buck at 10 Gs. Heck, it's a great bang for the buck at 12.5. And now the LEs of this game are sliding down. This is crazy. Get ready for it. The LEs of GNR are now worth the same price as a Stern Pro. We're talking $6,500. Now, do you want to be terrified? I know of a distributor who's sitting on like 100 GNR LEs new in a box. New in box. And those games have to be sold per Jersey Jack's map pricing deal. I want to say $10,500. So every single new in box GNRL in a box by a distro should carry a price that almost more than what the street price is See people, the street price is ultimately going to win out and we know this and this is why it's great and this is why when I say wait and see, if you just wait and see, the street price is going to take over everywhere. Like nothing is immune to this and there's just so many games out there. There's so many great games. I think we don't use that word enough. There's just so many great games. They're everywhere. And every new game that comes out has to be just as great to get you to sell one of your great games to make room in your game room. All right. So that's what's happening over at Jersey Jack. All eyes are on the next game. Now, I have heard a rumor that the next game is going to be Harry Potter. And I know like maybe that was a joke, right? If you warm up to the theme, I think you're really going to like Mark Seiden's game. Now, I think that was a joke now because I heard a rumor that Jersey Jack himself was over there in Europe and Jack has loose lips. And I heard that he was talking to one of the big distros and that distro is already taking deposits on Harry Potter. Now, he might just be taking those deposits because Joe Kay confirmed for everybody that Harry Potter is going to be a Jersey Jack release. And like dealers and distros create lists on games they know are coming out. Like we all know Back to the Future is coming out. We know Alice in Wonderland is coming out. Just because of Kaneda saying Alice in Wonderland is coming out, Melissa at Cointaker has over 200 people on the wait list to get an Alice in Wonderland. I've lead generated almost half of the games that are going to be available just on Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. So who knows, right? Who knows? What we do know is this. This Mark Seiden game, I expect it to be packed because I think this game is going to be the first game we really get that was made without Pat Lawler. You know, remember when Steve Ritchie went over there, Pat Lawler was still there. So Sidon's game hopefully will be the new chapter in Jersey Jack. I know we were looking at Elton John as the next chapter, but clearly Ritchie, he sort of played it safe, but it wasn't really a mistake now that I think about it because he played it safe. He gave you a game that is everything you love about him. It's got the gameplay that's so addictive. And then it's wrapped in this beautiful Jersey Jack platform. And that's playing it safe. There's nothing breaking in the game. There's no issues with the game. Everyone who owns it is having a good time. And that is good because Jersey Jack games of the past have always had a really bad Achilles heel. Maybe it was an engineering problem or the playfields were falling apart. But what's nice about Elton John, for once, you can buy a Jersey Jack game, unbox it, and not have to change anything. The only change I've seen some people do, which I don't even think is necessary, is just add the pin woofer kit to get a little bit better sound. But the sound is already phenomenal for a pinball machine. So we've got that happening over there. There was an interesting Naps Arcade post about the next game from CGC is going to surprise everybody. Cool. that game will be coming out in 2027 who cares what's next from chicago gaming company they take forever i'm telling you right now this company is making twilight zone that is 100 happening they are making more medieval madness remakes when those things happen is anybody's guess we still don't have pulp fiction at least out the door i also heard like way back and it's hard for me even to remember some of these crazy rumors from so many years ago that Mark Ritchie, who did Pulp Fiction, is working on a licensed game next, and it is a sci-fi theme. So there you have it. So I think that might be what Jason's story is alluding to. It's a game that nobody could guess. It's definitely not going to be Diner. I saw that that was floating around, like Diner from CGC. That would be the dumbest move to make. All right. So CGC, who knows? Just get these Pulp Fiction LEDs out the door. Let's talk about the Pinball Brothers and ABBA real quick. Because I don't really see much conversation happening around this game. Like where is the conversation around ABBA? Is the game on the line? I think what needs to happen now is they need to get these games out. Like they need to get them to customers. I think Pedretti Gaming is going to be sending people fun houses way before people get their ABBAs. And that's how it needs to be. It's just another game where I'm not sure the demand is going to be there. They might be right. There might be demand in Europe and in Sweden for this game and in Australia, but I'm not really seeing in America this desire to add an $11,000 ABBA machine to collection. So I think that's going to be a hard game to sell. Funhaus, $750. I've heard mixed reports. I heard it was down at a show for a bunch of hours. I heard from other people it was great. To me it still a concern that Pedretti Gaming never launched this game or revealed this game with any gameplay video or footage and they just threw it out into the world That would make me a little bit nervous I don think that the way to do it It really is not hard anymore And all these people have been in the pinball space for so long to know what you should be giving your customers on day one. So we will see more of Funhaus. For those of you out there, there are people online that have uploaded what Funhaus 2.0 Kit is like. So that's going to be the game you get, just wrapped with a nicer art package and maybe some nicer lights. What else is going on in the world of pinball right now? You know, I will say like we're at a period now where there's not like a banger theme we're all waiting to jump on. We've got Multimorphic and The Princess Bride. We don't talk about that very much because again, the game's not on the line. And you see how quickly hype starts to die down when you don't have a constant weekly sort of stream of either gameplay or new things to show people and get them excited. It really is interesting to me that this is all pinball marketing ever is. It's like all of it needs to happen right when your game is revealed. If you wait too long, demand and hype just dissipates. You know, we got American pinballs trying to fire sale their games. There's a $500 off on Memorial Day. But here's what's crazy. Memorial Day, barbecues the one thing that they're not discounting is their barbecue adventure game and i went on pin side the other day and they were doing all these like sponsored ads trying to sell this game it's game over for american pinball it's game over for haggis pinball get ready for those haggis refunds people because you were promised them you know what's crazy to me is Haggis Pinball still today will take a deposit on Centaur on its website. So they have not shut down their own order banks. I don't know how you would ever order this game right now knowing what happened. And I really feel bad for some of the people out there who paid in full for the $17,500 oblivion edition of the game. But you have really nobody to blame but yourself because when you sent that money, you knew what situation Damien was in. Now, I'm going to be following this company closely over the next few weeks because they owe my friend Kelly Daniel a fully populated playfield. And Damien said as of earlier like this week that he was going to get that playfield out to Kelly Daniel. So let's see if that happens because that's not an easy thing to do, to put a fully populated playfield in a box. All right, everybody. Happy Wednesday. Don't lose your cool if Stern does not invite you to its shill jamboree. You make pinball content because you enjoy making it. That's why you should do it. You shouldn't do it for invites. You shouldn't do it for any other reason other than you enjoy making the content. I will say, even though I don't really listen to pinball podcasts anymore, I don't because I get all my news from Naps Arcade or from my sources. But I did listen to the two rants this week because, you know, because everybody was talking about it. And I just wanted to hear for myself what Orbiter Albert was going to say and what Jason over at Pinball Party was going to say. And after listening to both of them, I think Jason handled himself with dignity and class and gave a really intellectual and smart reason why he was upset he did not get an invite to Stern. And for Albert, I know you're passionate. I know you're emotional. I know this triggered you. But, man, I wouldn't have done it like that. I would not have done it like that because now you're never going to get invited. and we're so quick to just respond in today's world. And maybe, just maybe, if you didn't get invited, maybe it would have been beneficial to just ask one of your friends who did get invited and say, hey, could you talk to Zach Sharp for me? Just let him know that I would really love it if they could find a way to get me there after all of the years I've been making content for them. And maybe just see if that works first before you fly off the handle. I don't wanna get invited. I don't want to be in the back pocket of any of these companies. I don't want to sign NDAs. I don't want anything other than the freedom I have to talk to you about these companies without feeling like I'm burning friendships or they're not going to let me in next time. I don't care about that. I care about making the most entertaining, informative podcast that is helping you save money as these companies are clearly ripping us off right now. and I'm not going to fly over there and do a fluff podcast about how I've changed my mind now after seeing behind the scenes at Stern. Come on. They're going to show these guys exactly what they want to show them. You know what? I want to see how much Seth Davis is making for doing nothing over at Stern. Later, everybody. Some people call me Maurice