Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Pinball Magazine & Pinball News PINcast January 2022 recap

Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast·podcast_episode·1h 4m·analyzed·Feb 3, 2022
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Lyman Sheets' death overshadows quiet January 2022 pinball news; Super Hoop in production, P3 game released.

Summary

Pinball Magazine and Pinball News discuss a quiet January 2022, dominated by the tragic death of legendary pinball designer Lyman Sheets at age 55 by suicide. Other major news includes Super Hoop entering production under Bitronic, a new rhythm-pinball hybrid game for Multimorphic's P3 platform, code updates across Stern's lineup, and ongoing supply chain challenges affecting manufacturers. The editors also cover Jersey Jack's continued Guns N' Roses production, Haggis Pinball's Fathom Revisited manufacturing, and Homepin's Spinal Tap progress.

Key Claims

  • Lyman Sheets died on January 19, 2022 at age 55 by suicide

    high confidence · Jonathan Houston and Martin Eyre confirm the death announcement and provide funeral service details; Martin notes knowledge of Sheets' depression history

  • Lyman Sheets was working on Cactus Canyon remake with Josh Sharp at time of death

    high confidence · Editors discuss expectations for upcoming work; rumor that code may be finished

  • Lyman had been signed to work with another manufacturer that hadn't been announced yet

    medium confidence · Jonathan Houston mentions this as hearsay without confirmation

  • Super Hoop (formerly Super Canasta) was revealed at Pinball Expo 2019 as a Quetzal Pinball design, then acquired by Bitronic

    high confidence · Martin Eyre provides detailed manufacturing history; confirms Antonio Arturo as designer

  • First 100 Super Hoop games manufactured; 400 total production planned

    medium confidence · Martin cites Bitronic website information; notes unusual on-legs storage indicates lack of trolleys

  • Super Hoop priced at €4,650 plus VAT

    high confidence · Martin references Bitronic website pricing

  • Flip a Foxtrot Rhythm Explosion (FFRE) is a new P3 game developed by Nicholas Baldridge combining rhythm mechanics with pinball

    high confidence · Jonathan describes game mechanics and P3 purchase process ($149)

  • Rush is currently in early pre-production software stage with many unfinished elements

    high confidence · Martin describes playing early Rush build at London arcade; documents missing features like band videos, unlit playfield elements

  • Stern monitors gameplay on pre-release machines via Insider Connected system

    high confidence · Martin confirms Stern knew Rush was being played despite it being pre-release; arcade owner explained monitoring capability

Notable Quotes

  • “the legacy that he leaves within the world of pinball is tremendous... whenever I get the chance of playing Monster Bash, I'll be definitely playing it in his honor”

    Jonathan Houston @ early in episode — Tribute to Lyman Sheets' design impact and recognition of Monster Bash as his signature work

  • “He had a great sense of humor and was able to capture that in that game as well”

    Jonathan Houston @ discussion of Lyman's legacy — Illustrates Sheets' design philosophy and personality reflected in Monster Bash

  • “rumor has it that the the coding that he was working on with Josh Sharp on Cactus Canyon rumor has it that that might actually be finished”

    Martin Eyre @ Lyman Sheets discussion — Possible completion of final work; uncertain whether Chicago Gaming will release it

  • “Big Brother Gary is watching you”

    Jonathan Houston @ Rush arcade play discussion — Reference to Stern's Insider Connected monitoring of pre-release machines; likely meant George Gomez

  • “it wasn't connected but uh the owner of the arcade said and actually it is and um when it when we first installed it it wasn't to be played yet and it was being played and Stern knew it was being played from the inside of Connected”

    Martin Eyre @ Rush early play story — Reveals Stern's surveillance capability on pre-release premium machines and protective development practices

  • “I don't know whether it's awaiting license or approval from Disney for that. but it's been a long time now and people are getting a bit antsy”

    Martin Eyre @ Pirates of the Caribbean Scorebit discussion — Speculation on licensing delays impacting player community; suggests growing frustration

  • “For the European market, this is probably the best price for a new pinball that's currently on the market”

    Jonathan Houston @ Super Hoop pricing discussion — Positions Super Hoop as competitive value offering vs major manufacturers

Entities

Lyman SheetspersonJonathan HoustonpersonMartin EyrepersonPinball MagazineorganizationPinball NewsorganizationAntonio ArturopersonBitroniccompanyQuetzal Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball focused entirely on Guns N' Roses production with rule set documentation released; no other titles in active manufacturing; supply chain constraints forcing single-title concentration strategy

    high · Martin notes 'all manufacturers are still suffering from supply chain issues'; Jersey Jack's production concentrated on Guns N' Roses with no other titles in pipeline

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball implementing active surveillance of pre-release premium machines through Insider Connected; Big Brother monitoring approach to protect development progress and initial launch impressions

    high · Martin confirms Stern detected his Rush gameplay remotely; arcade owner confirmed Insider Connected monitoring; Stern proactive in preventing unauthorized play of high-profile releases

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball media (Pinball Magazine, Pinball News) continues documenting industry through major personnel loss; funeral service streamed online and archived; community mourning and tribute mechanisms in place

    high · Jonathan and Martin coordinate coverage; funeral service details provided; multiple pinball figures expected to provide eulogies; community encouraged to view memorial

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Rush early build demonstrates incomplete software with placeholder assets, unlit playfield elements, and logic errors; mystery awards consistently 250,000 points; band videos missing (computer graphics only); unclear rule implementations

    high · Martin's detailed playtest report: no band videos, extra ball lighting not implemented correctly, no mystery variation, side scoop rules non-functional; explicitly noted reasons for Stern's pre-release playing restrictions

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.193

0:00
Lime and Sheets Death Announced Super Hoop Goes Into Production New P3 Game Released Hi, my name is Jonathan Houston. I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine. And I'm joined here today with... I'm Martin Eyre and I'm the editor of Pinball News. and Jonathan and I are here in our latest pincast to talk about all the events in the pinball world through the month of January 2022. Yes, and usually we say it's been quite an eventful month. Most of the times that's true. This time, a rather quiet month, although there is some shocking news.
0:47
Yes, and normally we would start with looking at the news from each of the pinball manufacturers, But this time we're going to start with what we would generally term as other non-Pinball manufacturer news. And, of course, our main headline is about the death of Lyman Sheets, Lyman F. Sheets Jr. Right.
1:08
Which obviously came as a major shock to everybody in the pinball world and everybody who knew him and his family and obviously to his partner, Penny. Right. And his death was announced on the 19th of January. He was age 55.
1:26
Which is, I'd say, very young. Indeed, yeah. All the more shocking for all the good things we're expecting from him in the near future with the work he was doing on the Cactus Canyon remake. And apparently he'd also been signed up to work with another manufacturer, but that hadn't been announced yet.
1:50
So, yeah, it seemed to be a lot of good stuff coming out, and obviously he's got a huge back catalogue of great successes, and not only the work he did at Williams Valley, but also all the stuff he did at Stern. And, well, I mean, personally, I wouldn't say it was a total surprise when I heard it. No, sometimes when you hear these news, you just can't believe it.

  • Pirates of the Caribbean Scorebit update still in beta testing and awaiting Disney license approval

    medium confidence · Editors discuss lack of Scorebit feature on Pirates vs other JJP games; speculation about licensing hold-up

    • Super Hoop
    game
    Multimorphiccompany
    Nicholas Baldridgeperson
    Flip a Foxtrot Rhythm Explosion (FFRE)game
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Rushgame
    John Borgperson
    Tim Saxtonperson
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Guns N' Rosesgame
    Pirates of the Caribbeangame
    Haggis Pinballcompany
    Fathom Revisitedgame
    Homepincompany
    This Is Spinal Tapgame
    Deep Root Pinballcompany
    Josh Sharpperson
    $

    market_signal: Super Hoop positioned as lowest-cost new pinball for European market (€4,650 + VAT) vs major manufacturers' pricing; Bitronic's casino/arcade equipment expertise enabling competitive pricing in location market

    medium · Jonathan states 'For the European market, this is probably the best price for a new pinball that's currently on the market'; comparison to Stern/Jersey Jack/other boutique manufacturer pricing

  • ?

    community_signal: Lyman Sheets' legendary design legacy across multiple manufacturers (Williams, Stern); his ability to elevate mediocre games into classics through rule design and humor (Monster Bash); sudden loss of prolific designer mid-project

    high · Jonathan describes discovering Monster Bash wizard mode for first time; Martin discusses Sheets' transformation of games; both note upcoming Cactus Canyon work and unknown second manufacturer deal

  • ?

    announcement: Super Hoop entering production; formerly announced as Super Canasta at Pinball Expo 2019; rebranded for English-speaking markets; Bitronic (casino/dart machine manufacturer) launching first pinball title

    high · Martin provides detailed manufacturing timeline; 400-unit production run; €4,650 + VAT pricing; distribution through Flippin' Out, RS Pinball, Nitro Pinball, and French distributor

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pirates of the Caribbean Scorebit feature stuck in beta testing; Disney license approval pending; delay creating community frustration and notable absence from Jersey Jack's Scorebit lineup marketing

    medium · Martin notes 'been a long time now and people are getting a bit antsy'; feature missing from official JJP Scorebit promotional lineup; speculation about Disney licensing hold-up

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern releasing expression lighting system add-on for Rush; post-release peripheral expanding base game with new LED effects; not included in Pro model but supported in operating system

    medium · Martin discusses Rush code update 0.86 including new lighting effects for optional expression lighting system add-on; available for Pro model purchasers

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Multiple manufacturers (Stern, Jersey Jack, Haggis, Homepin) reporting supply chain disruptions; Chinese New Year closure causing 2-4 week production halt; Stern reverting to older title production when unable to start new games

    high · Martin and Jonathan discuss ongoing supply chain issues affecting all manufacturers; Chinese New Year shutdown explanation; Stern's Godzilla and Deadpool re-production strategy; lack of progress updates from some manufacturers

  • ?

    technology_signal: P3 platform expanding beyond traditional pinball mechanics; Flip a Foxtrot Rhythm Explosion combines rhythm game (Guitar Hero-style) with pinball; modular software download model ($149) enabling rapid game development

    high · Jonathan describes FFRE mechanics: four-button rhythm gameplay with pinball penalty mode; downloadable from P3 operating system; multiple difficulty levels; comparison to Guitar Hero and Elvis game

    • 2:20
    This time, I didn't have to sort of second source the information. It was believable enough. And I know that Lyman had had depression in his life over many years. And that can sometimes lead to the way by which he did die, which was by suicide so that was all the more sad as well you know as if it could be any sadder and it was also thinking back to all the wonderful work he's done at Williams and at Stern and you know he'd taken games which had frankly been mediocre and turned them into gold from having the Lyman touch applied to the game rules.
    3:21
    And I don't know, what were your thoughts, Jonathan? Well, as everybody else, I was shocked. I didn't see it coming.
    3:34
    I met Lyman several times, either at the Stern factory when he was still working for Stern or at Pimble Expo. we weren't that close in the sense that I chatted with him maybe once or twice but I wouldn't say that we didn't click but we just didn't have anything to discuss so we were always just short hi nice to see you and that was it kind of meetings but the legacy that he leaves within the world of pinball is tremendous I couldn't help but remember and I still vividly remember the first time that I was that I discovered how to play or start up a lineman's layman's on Monster Bash and I thought it was so funny He had a great sense of humor and was able to capture that in that game as well.
    4:43
    That was just hilarious, and it's probably not appropriate to mention that now that he's no longer here. But still, whenever I get the chance of playing Monster Bash, I'll be definitely playing it in his honor. Quite right, yes. well the there was a service to mark his life and it took place on Friday the 28th of January at 11am it was streamed online and can still be viewed if you would like to do that at maritzofuneralhome.com slash obituaries m-o-r-i-z-z-o F-U-N-E-R-A-L-H-O-M-E dot com slash obituaries and just scroll down and click on the entry for Lyman and you can see all the eulogies and the tributes to his life and work from a number of family members and notable pinball people as well not sure whether well let's put it like this rumor has it that the coding that he was working on with Josh Sharp on Cactus Canyon rumor has it that might actually be finished so that could have been that might still get released after all although Chicago Gaming may actually decide not to release it I'm not sure that's up to them we haven't had any confirmation that the code is mostly finished but that's what I have been hearing although I can't say that I can't check whether these sources are accurate in this case well let's hope so it would be a nice fitting tribute to have his last magnum opus, I suppose, to actually make it into the public.
    6:58
    Right. Okay. Yes. Well, obviously, my sympathies go out and condolences go out to the Sheets family, Penny, and everybody else who is devastated by this news. Yes, absolutely.
    7:16
    Not really an awful lot more to be said about it at this stage. and it's not even one of those things where you can sort of say you can learn the lessons or anything could have been done differently because that doesn't really, isn't very productive or positive line of thought. But we should celebrate the work and the life of Lyman and I think that's what he would have wanted.
    7:43
    Right, okay. then I suppose we move on to our second headline or do you have something else in mind? no no absolutely our second headline was about the game Superhoop which is being made by Bittronic now it's not a new game is it Jonathan? no I was actually surprised to see that some websites are calling this a reveal this is a game that was already revealed at Pinball Expo 2019 which is two and a half years ago at that time it was called Super Canasta in the meantime apparently the name changed but the playfield is identical I think maybe some minor changes that aren't that obvious but it's the game was on the show floor it was, yeah, and playable for anybody who's a pinball expert. Yeah, and it was already known at that time that Bitronic would be the manufacturer. And the story is that Antonio Arturo, who is the main man behind Quetzal Pinball, who manufactured Captain Nemo Pinball and Tokyo Perfect Drift Pinball, Bitronic either approached him or he approached them but Bitronic was looking for a pinball design for the I suppose the Spanish coin amusement market and Antonio offered to design the game to them or they hired him to design the game which he did and that turned out to be Super Hoop which is currently in production and well there's quite a bit of news on the game other than the fact that it's in production what I find quite interesting to see is on the website of Bitronic are photos of many pinball cabinets on legs which is rather surprising why would you put them on legs in a factory that makes no sense to me although it probably indicates that they don't have the trolleys to move the cabinets around, because I don't recall any large manufacturer manufacturing the game in such large quantities as they are, and putting the games on legs. And while we're speaking of quantities, apparently the first hundred games have already been built, but it's a production of 400 in total.
    10:40
    And while the game is obviously destined for Spanish arcades, but there's also a new distributor in France, a name that we haven't heard before, stepping into pinball. But that doesn't mean that's a bad thing. In Europe, RS Pinball in Austria is also a distributor and there's Nitro Pinball in Canada and Flippin' Out Pinball, who are also distributors for the game, in North America.
    11:13
    Right. Okay, so it sounds like they've got a good distribution chain set up. It's a start, I suppose. Yeah, a little bit of history on the game, I suppose. The Canasta, the original Canasta game, was a very, very popular Spanish game. It was certainly popular in the Spanish market. Yeah, this is a, if I'm not mistaken, Sega SA from 1986 game? Yeah, that's right, yeah. It was sufficiently popular that it was then rethemed or rebuilt, I suppose, as New Canasta. Right. Later. Yeah, that was like a decade ago, I would say, by a company called Marsa Play, who actually also showed pictures of, I think, well, dozens of pinball cabinets being manufactured. But, well, we've seen the game at the EAG show in London, which usually takes place in January, except not this month, this January. Yeah. But we also remember that the coils didn't have an end-of-stroke switch and were actually burning on the show floor. It was technically a bit of a disaster, to be honest. I remember playing one over in Ireland, and I think it was actually in someone's house, and it never worked the entire weekend that we were there. So that wasn't a good sign, and that was a brand new game. So I don't think it ever went into proper production, that game. But the Canasta title has a very good history to it, a very popular history in Spain. Apparently the Spanish like to play basketball. Yes, so when the game Super Canasta was announced by Antonio, as you said, by Quetzal for Bittronic, it wasn't a surprise that they used that name. But apparently it's also intended for a much more international market when they're building 400. And the game, as far as I'm aware, everything in the game is in English rather than being Spanish. So for the English-speaking market, I think the use of the word canasta in the title became problematic, and it could be confused with the canasta card game. so better just to change it from super canasta to super hoop and canasta being Spanish for basket so it's just an anglicized version of the same title so hence super hoop which was super canasta as we said and interestingly on the Biktronic's website they have a price there of 4,650 euros plus VAT which is obviously going to vary by country is exactly what the VAT or tax rate is and obviously if it's in North America they'll have different taxes as well they won't have VAT they'll have sales tax and shipping costs that also need to be recouped I suppose yes absolutely which as we have spoken about before is not cheap at the moment if you were wanting to send anything across the seas by container. It's not cheap and it's not quick. Right. So while we can't show you any pictures, although they will be in the Pimble Magazine newsletter if you subscribe to them, what we can say about the game is it's mostly single level with, I think, one ramp.
    15:04
    It has five flippers, a 15-inch video monitor, and the back glass, according to the website of Bittronic, can be personalized. I'm not sure how, but there must be a way that you can either choose from different back glasses or maybe have clothes in special color themes, if that's what you prefer, so it matches your favorite theme, something like that. Yes, I certainly got information about this version of it back in October, and there was a video, I think, put on YouTube around about that time. Yeah, which has been viewed already close to a thousand times, so it's hardly a reveal, but okay, continue. Yeah I got all the rules information here as well which seem fairly simple rules not overly complicated which is maybe a good thing and I guess intentional for the market which it intended But it looks like a fun game and the price is attractive It's obviously going to come in under the price of any other manufacturer's regular operational game. For the European market, this is probably the best price for a new pinball that's currently on the market. I thought for a minute you were going to say for the European market, it's a slam dunk. But I'm glad you didn't. I'm glad you did. Yeah, that would have been far too cheesy. So, yeah, not really an awful lot more to say about that game at the moment. Have a look at the Biktronic website. It's a bit of a work in progress on their site. you need to get to the page for the Super Hoops by going up to the very top and going on to the products section. Products page and then under the Game Victronic tab. Yes, and then Super Hit Pinball. If you try to go through the main page, it doesn't actually get you anywhere, which is a bit weird. But as I say, they are working on it, and I'm sure it will be more prominent on the front page and with proper links in due course. But, yeah, go and have a look and see what you think. Right. And, well, one more thing about Bitronic. They're not a new manufacturer. In fact, they're a manufacturer of casino equipment and have been around for some time already, and they also produce dart machines.
    17:43
    So they're not new to coin-op and so on, which hopefully will help them get the game out there. Yeah, good. Let's look forward to playing the very latest version of it. I'm sure it will be turning up at pinball shows around the world fairly soon. Yeah, hopefully.
    18:04
    Okay, moving on then. Our third headline was about a new game for the P3 pinball platform from Multimorphic. Right. do you want to no I don't no okay no it's sure it's a new game developed by Nicholas Baldrige who already developed quite a few new games for existing playfield modules on the multimorphic P3 platform and this one is none other it uses the trying to see if I quickly see which module it uses the Cannon Lagoon play through module which is sort of the Cannon Lagoon one is more of a children's it's pretty basic on the upper module sorry this game is called Flip a Foxtrot Rhythm Explosion yeah FFRE I was going to say can we find a shorter name for that yeah otherwise although it's a quiet month it will be a very long podcast otherwise you have to keep saying that every time right so it's a mix of a rhythm game and pinball which actually is not the first time I think we've seen something like that although there have been games where you have to repeat a certain rhythm that the game is indicating yeah Yeah, I was thinking about the Elvis game where the video mode is you have to hit the flipper buttons as the notes or the arrows reach the left-hand side of the screen. This is a similar thing, except there are actually four buttons you can use, because the P3 has, I think by default, has three flipper buttons on each side. Yes. This uses two of them on each side.
    20:06
    And basically there are four columns and the symbols move up to the top and you have to hit the appropriate button as it reaches the top in order to keep your combo going. And if you miss any of those, you know, any of them get passed and you didn't press the button or you press the wrong button, then a ball is launched onto the play field and then you have to, the video aspect of the game stops and you have to then lock the ball back into one of the lanes at the top before you can carry on your game. Right. So, pinball is sort of like the side game. Yeah, it's almost like a penalty if you mess up the video aspect of it. Right.
    20:52
    But it seems to have a whole number of different levels to it. It starts off easy, like these games always do, and gets harder the further into it you get. And there are numbers of combos to achieve, you know, to hit the 50 or 100 combo levels.
    21:11
    And from the very start, you can pick whether you're beginner, easy, medium or hard levels as well. Right. And as with all these games which don't require a dedicated upper playfield module, then you can just download them from the game it's from the P3 itself the P3 is an operating system you can buy the game which costs $149 and is available from the Multimorphic website multimorphic.com add it to your account and then it will appear as a download on your P3 machine if you have one right so if I understand it correctly it's sort of a Guitar Hero meets Pinball Yeah, I think so, yeah. Good description. Guitar Hero was very popular for quite a while, so hopefully this will bring more people into considering a P3 pinball machine for their home. That's a nice variation, isn't it? Not everything on the P3 has to be strictly pinball, and this is a nice way of using the hardware in a different way. Right, okay. So I suppose that's all there is to mention about this game Obviously there's other manufacturers also building pinball Or at least trying to Let's take a look at them as well Okay, well it's been a busy month for Stern Pinball In the last Pincast we covered the launch of their new Rush game Which was early January to be precise we hold off our previous last recording a few days but it was this month so we covered the launch of that or the reveal of it and I was fortunate enough to be able to get to play Rush fairly soon after it was revealed there was a premium model, a pre-production premium model at an arcade in London and I happened to be in London and so I wandered over to the Funland Arcade near Russell Square tube station and played it there and I think it's now available for everyone to play. And it was fairly early software on that game. I don't think it was intended for people to play. Actually, when I went there, it was turned off, truth be told. And I don't think it was supposed to be played but I turned it on and played it anyway. And then the owner of... You have to tell the full story. Then the owner of the arcade came down because he got a call from Stern Pinball that somebody was playing the game while they weren't supposed to. Well, that's not quite the case.
    24:06
    Yeah, I did say, I know the owner of the arcade, and I turned the game on. The chap who was in charge of the arcade came over and said, oh, you're not allowed to play that. I said, it's all right. I know the owner. I'm sure he'd be okay with me playing it, which I am sure he would be okay with me playing it. so I played a few games I paid for the games and yeah they use a card system there so I've now got a card with quite a few credits left on it which I didn't use up and it seemed pretty fun from what I could see although there was obviously quite a bit missing in the software the mystery award was always the same I think it was 250,000 points always and nothing else. No mystery to that? No, as it turned out. And there was no I think there was even any band videos in the game either. It was all computer graphics.
    25:06
    But all the songs were there and the basic rules were there. There were lots of things on the playfield that didn't light up correctly. There was like an extra ball was announced and said the extra ball is lit, but the extra ball actually wasn't lit anywhere and um and then it would say extra ball you can get the extra ball at this side scoop uh but i don't think is right anyway but i shot the side scoop and nothing happened so i don't know as i guess that's why i didn't want people playing the game because there was so much that wasn't in it at that stage um but yes so after a while the owner did turn up and i was a bit surprised to see that i was playing the game and he said um no problem with you playing it but when finished can you switch it off make sure nobody else plays it i said i was going to do that anyway but yeah okay sure no problem with that um by which time i'd built up five credits on the game well it seemed a bit of a shame but i thought i'll i'll leave it then at that point and because it's it's got the stern insider connected to it but i had been told that it wasn't connected but uh the owner of the arcade said and actually it is and um when it when we first installed it wasn't to be played yet and it was being played and Stern knew it was being played from the inside of Connected so that they could see the game was being played and how many games were being played and when it was being played so they said they will know that you've done it so I said well I don't mind putting my hand up and saying if anybody's in trouble it's me for turning it on it's not your fault but I don't suppose they'd mind that much if I was just playing it to find out from a journalistic point of view what the game was like so I played a few games and left it at that so Big Brother Gary is watching you yes that's right probably more likely to be George as it's his baby but yeah there was never any question that the Stern would have access to that kind of information and they're going to be very protective of a game like that, which is a premium pre-production model. Right. It still surprises me that somebody is apparently monitoring which games that are not supposed to be played are being played.
    27:32
    Yes. Well, I guess it's because it's a very high-profile title and launch, and they want to show the best of their game. so not really hugely surprising but there you go so well speaking of Rush designer John Borg and software lead Tim Saxton were a special guest on the Marco Specialties Pintech Live where they discussed all things Rush in the Pinball Magazine newsletter there will be a link to that replay of that episode if you're interested in that yep and well Stern announced for those of you who are fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that they are teaming up again with NECA N-E-C-A no idea who they are with some apparently limited collector's edition items, whatever,
    28:48
    which is action figures of Shredder and what have you, which is now the third time that they are being offered. So either they're not that limited or they have really a difficult time getting rid of those. I think it's a different mix of products in this particular loot crate, as I think they call it. That's basically a box with various themed items in it, like a pizza magnet,
    29:13
    keychain, beanie hat, t-shirt. It does sound very familiar, doesn't it? It sounds always exactly like what was in the last one. But I think it is slightly different. But... Well, it's available as a... $69. Sorry, $65. $65.99. Yes, $64.99, whatever. So, if you're into that and you'd like to believe you have something collectible, then by all means, knock yourself out. Yeah. I don't know where they're available from, but... The Stern shop. Oh, okay. Right. So, plus shipping on those then as well. But I don't know whether they're available in any of the major US supermarkets or stores, which as they have been in the past. Yeah, no, I think these are the left-overs from there. Oh, sorry, did I say that out loud? well I understood that they sold out very quickly in all the Walmart stores I think each store only had like two or three of them but they all seemed to go fairly quickly so if you missed out on them I call that the distribution clusterfuck sorry oh well so time for my nap and for you to tell about new game code well again last month we were saying how busy it was in the run up to Christmas for all the new code and January has been only slightly less busy because there is a new version of Monsters Code out version 1.11 quite a few changes to that to how gameplay features work and some extra speech but it hasn't got Insider connected yet I understand that's still subject to licensor approval which is something which has been holding up a few things, including the Mandalorian, which also doesn't have Insider Connect yet, but it does have a new version, 1.02, minor stuff, bug fixes and a few small tweaks.
    31:14
    Batman 66 does get Insider Connected, though, added to it, in version 1.06, and a few minor tweaks as well, and it brings the rest of the operating system up to date with things like all the audio, equaliser settings, variable backbox lighting, you know, controls or what happens with the start button and that kind of stuff.
    31:34
    Godzilla, Stern's previous title, that gets a big update, version 0.9, with changes to the skill shot, awards, some new Rage Combo awards, City Carnage bonuses, a new one of those,
    31:51
    Godzilla control perks, and a lot more sound and lighting effects, and some new callouts. So, you know, quite a big update on Godzilla. Rush, the current title we've just been talking about, that got a new version 0 only for the Pro because I think the Pro the only model that out there at the the moment or at least presumably the only one they finished the code for up to this level So Pro version 0.86, some bug fixes and rule changes, which is kind of standard for this part of the development cycle. New lighting effects as well, if you buy and add on the expression lighting system, which doesn't come with the Pro model. but you can buy it and plug it in and it is supported in the operating system so it's now got some new lighting effects if you had done that so those five games, Monsters, Mandalorian Batman, Godzilla and Rush are the recipients of new code in January woohoo yes, ok, and that concludes our news on Stern Pinball I think it does, yep across the road there's not really much news at all Jersey Jack well they're having a busy time i suppose cranking out guns and roses games for as far as possible i think it's only fair to say that all manufacturers are still suffering from supply chain issues including stern pinball who have been doing some older titles in between because they couldn't start either with newer games or games that are in demand. Godzilla, for example.
    33:39
    So they fall back on all the titles and put them back into production. Deadpool being one of them the past month.
    33:49
    Jersey Jack, as far as we know, not so much. But they're still building Guns N' Roses and there's no other title that they're currently building as far as we know. They did release a rule set flowchart for Guns N' Roses. I think they did that previously also for other games. Yes, indeed.
    34:12
    You can download that on jerseyjackpinball.com Yes. Complicated game, I think, so it's probably worth studying that to see how the rules work. If you're going to be playing one and you're not really familiar with it. For instance, if you're going to be playing it in tournaments, it would be good to know.
    34:33
    Still no updates for Pirates of the Caribbean yet to add the scorebit feature, which is available for all the other models. But apparently it's still in beta testing, but hasn't been released. So it's a bit surprising that. I don't know whether it's awaiting license or approval from Disney for that. but it's been a long time now and people are getting a bit antsy when Jersey Jack show the line-up of games all with scorebit and online connectivity and Pirates of the Caribbean's not in that line-up and notable by not being there so hopefully that will get sorted soon and then the owners of those games will be able to join the scorebit world and download their updates and upload their scores wirelessly right okay so other news on pinball manufacturing all the way across the pond I would say heading to Australia sorry not much news from Haggis Pinball other than that they indicated that Fathom Revisited is now being manufactured yeah which is something that we'd like to believe yeah well they did say it So, as you say, we haven't seen any pictures or videos of the manufacturing process. And as we know, Damien has been very proactive in producing videos and showing pictures of the work so far in the factory towards doing kelts. Right. Which I understand have all been made.
    36:17
    But so far, all we had is, you know, Fathom Revisited is being manufactured and that's it. and no pictures or indication of how many.
    36:27
    It would be nice to see some on the line, I guess. Always a reassuring sign for those who have pre-ordered it. Yeah, also it might encourage additional sales. The revisited one might be sold out, but the classic model is still available, I suppose.
    36:44
    That's the Mermaid Edition, which is the limited, the sold-out one. Yes, indeed. So we hope to see some pictures and or video from Haggis soon. But anyway, congratulations to them anyway in getting Celts done and moving on to Fathom Revisited. Right. Okay. So staying on that side of the world, Homepin in Taiwan have been teasing the arrival of parts for This Is Spinal Tap. they also showed a picture of the cabinet the front of the cabinet with the start button which says let's boogie I had to check a small clip to understand the reference to Spinal Tap but yes that is a reference from the movie so I get it I'm not that familiar with it I kind of assumed it was but But the front of the cabinet almost looked like a Union Jack flag from the UK, but isn't because it's missing some bits. So it's a bit odd. Although pinball manufacturers haven't been great at reproducing the Union Jack flag reliably or correctly, thinking back to Austin Powers, which was also wrong. But maybe that's intentional. I know that Mike Kalinowski… Well, Mike's a bit of a stickler for accuracy. That's all. He can be quite pedantic if things are wrong, particularly grammatically.
    38:28
    So I don't suppose that would be a deliberate error or an accidental mistake. If it's not the Union Jack, it's probably because it's not meant to be. Or maybe it's a joke. Maybe it's an in-joke as part of the... Well, I suppose I need to watch the movie soon.
    38:48
    Or it's like the Stonehenge thing, you know. Right, okay. And, well, I wish there was more news to report. Unfortunately, it's that time of the year again.
    39:01
    Chinese New Year, which means that the company is basically closed and all their suppliers also are closed. Everything shuts down in China and associated territories or nearby territories in that part of the world.
    39:16
    So it's probably, what, two weeks to a month of where everything starts. I think the celebration for New Year is only like a week or so, but people tend to go to family overseas or… Yeah, take time off. Yeah, exactly. So it takes some time before everybody's back in business. Yeah, it's a bit like here with Christmas and New Year because everything sort of shuts down just before Christmas and doesn't really open up again until like the 4th of January,
    39:52
    depending on where Christmas and New Year fall in the calendar. So that's the best part of two weeks, really. Right, okay. so that's all the news from I'm hoping sorry I'm looking at the wrong sheet and I called the wrong name sorry about that close enough okay so let's move on to one of the other big one which one are you going to go with next well I guess the long story dragging on is Deep Root Pinball. Any news on that?
    40:36
    As we said before, the wheels of justice or legal proceedings drag on and take forever to actually reach any kind of conclusion, but there has been a new motion filed by the landlord of the office or the building where Deep Root was based. In fact, it turned out that they had two offices in different buildings on the same road. They were at 12669 Silicon Drive in San Antonio and also at 12621 Silicon Drive. So for some reason they needed more space than they could have got and had to have a second building. So the landlord of those has filed a motion with the court who's investigating or dealing with the bankruptcy of Deep Root companies, including Deep Root Pimple, asking for permission to appoint an auctioneer to sell off the assorted assets, which means parts, inventory, equipment, and furniture, in those two properties which were used by Deep Root Pimple. Yeah. I think I've seen a list of items being auctioned off, nothing spectacular like a desk, a computer person or stuff.
    42:03
    Yeah, I think I saw that earlier. And yeah, there was nothing there that you'd think, oh, anything that's specifically pinball related. There was manufacturing equipment, like circuit board making machines and things like that, and CNC routers and various other industrial equipment, but no signs of any sort of pinball collectibles like actual machines or whitewoods or anything like that. So what happened to all that, we don't know and a few other people don't quite know what happened to that either but it may be that it's elsewhere but that's for the bankruptcy,
    42:44
    the people dealing with the bankruptcy to actually work out where all those assets disappeared to. But in the meantime, the landlord has basically asked, can I get rid of all this stuff that's in there so I can let the properties out to other people now? Because it's been a while, and it's just sitting there with all this stuff in it, and the landlord's not getting any rent on those properties. So, yeah, understandably, they want it back. So in order to do that, they have to clear it out and get rid of the content. So that's what they're being asked for. So, you know, maybe you'll see some Deep Root Pinball items coming up for sale fairly soon.
    43:23
    Oh, can't wait. Will be the first sign. Yes, no pre-orders. Yeah, so Pinball Brothers, that's in Europe, mentioned that the first batch of Alien LV models are in final tests and they should be shipping out shortly. There's plenty of pictures of those games on their Pimple Brothers Facebook page if you're interested in checking that out. And well, they also had this auction for the LV426 number which ended on January 22nd. As far as we know, no winner has been announced yet, but the highest bid that we've seen, which was actually right there at the beginning, was $10,000. Yeah, we reported on that bid last month and it looks like it hasn't been increased, which is no big surprise because it's a lot of money to pay just for a number. It doesn't give you the machine, just gets you the right to have the LV426 number on it. Right. Whoever put that bid in early, I think, killed off any other bids. So, I guess they've got enough money to do that. For 10k, you'd think you'd get the game as well. Yeah. Nope, sadly not. Anyway. No other news or anything from Pinball Brothers. So, let's move on to Wisconsin and Spooky Pinball. Not much news from them either, except that they are having an anniversary. They marked nine years of pinball making this January. Well, actually, it's February, I think, wasn't it? The start of February. Yes, so congratulations. Yes, congratulations. Nine years. Doesn't time fly?
    45:26
    Apparently, it does, yes. and well obviously America's Most Haunted was their first game although they at that time they were still calling it something else, I'm trying to remember what it was hmm, good question I'm sure as soon as you say it will ring a bell in my mind but I can't remember what it was called either because I remember seeing different backglasses at Pimble Expo hmm I remember seeing it I think Midwest Gaming Classic I think was when I saw it was in someone's hotel room nine years on their way to their first decade of being a pinball manufacturer congrats to them and hopefully more news soon yep staying in North America and heading south a little bit to Cicero in the Chicago suburbs and Chicago Gaming, who appear to be, I don't know if they're expanding or they're looking to fill existing positions, but they are advertising for a number of positions. And they are, Jonathan, a CNC router operator. If you're capable of operating a CNC machine, maybe your calling is to work for Chicago Gaming. We're also looking for a cabinet assembler.
    46:56
    And we've both had the tour, which means that you get to play with the big press. Yes, and you have to enjoy the smell of wood dust as well. Yeah, but that's where mouth masks come into play to make sure that you don't cough up sawdust whenever you sneeze. Yeah.
    47:20
    And they're also looking for an electronics technician. what I found interesting is that I think this is the first time that Chicago Gaming is actually advertising these positions on their Facebook page so my guess is they're trying to reach a broader audience not sure where they were looking for people previously but if you fancy working in a pinball factory then most certainly contact Chicago Gaming yes and I think in fact for the CNC router operator it actually said that no experience was necessary so if you wanted to get into that side of the business then that's probably a good route get it? yeah yes very good Okay Right Pimble Adventures is a little bit more north Canada Yeah, Vancouver area. Yeah. And, well, we've been teasing, or they have been teasing, actually, the production of Pony Factory. well the month of January we saw only two new posts on their Instagram account one of the underside of a playfield which I assume is the same playfield that we saw last month so while it's being more populated it's not a very speedy process I would say no there's more on it than there was last month but that's a month later, so we assume it's a month later. Yes, and one of the things that caught my eye immediately was the lamp holders, which are all individually screwed with two nuts on the playfield. And they're made of metal and quite substantial-looking brackets, really. Right, but obviously, well, other manufacturers came up with PCB boards to hold lamps in there, as it's more efficient to manufacture that way, because screwing, I don't know, let's say 20 lamp holders under a playfield, it's going to take a lot more time than when you can do it with four PCBs and a lot less screws. but okay they also showed a photo of rubber rings flipper buttons and all sorts of other parts that apparently arrived yes lots of them yeah so hopefully finally production soon yeah one of the things that I think last time we were talking about this I mentioned the fact that the solenoids were mounted on that underside of the playfield of the Punny Factory and it only had very short leads before they came to a connector and I was wondering how they were going to link together because there didn't seem to be much space for a circuit board to go in there, a driver board and if there was then it would have to be pretty close to where the solenoids were because they were literally about I was going to say about 10 to 15 centimeters long four to six inches um which doesn't give you very far to know to run them to a board if they're all the all they've got four solenoids in a row and they all need to go to the same board that board can only be i need to be very very long or it's going to be very very close um that that wasn't resolved from this picture because those solenoids were exactly the same as they were then but the there were some um some lamps i think which were um which were connected up and they appear to be daisy chained together on a four wire bus which is interesting it looked like the switches were going to be on a matrix but maybe they're not going to be because they had short cables as well so it's interesting there is some it's not just an old style matrix or everything so the lamps are individually controllable by looks of it, which is good, but as we were saying just now, it looks to be somewhat over-engineered as far as the mounting of them goes, as Jonathan said. So other manufacturers, PCB, one screw into the playfield, done. This has got a big metal bracket for every single lamp, and that bracket's got two screws to hold it on. So it's going to be heavy under there as well. But it's going to be pretty solidly mounted. So, you know, swings and roundabouts. But interesting approach that they're taking towards that as well as everything else in their games. Right. Okay. So, and there's two companies where we can be rather quick or short. Dutch pinball, no news. No. And American pinball, no news.
    52:54
    Yes. It's a no-new show. We are assured there will be some news coming from American Pinball fairly shortly, but probably not in time for this particular recording. So, shame about that. I heard some rumors, which I'm not going to mention. No. Yeah, we might be, well, hopefully we get David Fixon on. Yes. Well, if it's, you know, if it's at all possible, we will get him on, and he can give us the latest because it's a year he's been there and I think it would be nice to look back on the past year of American Pinball and look forward to what's coming up given the upcoming news. But we can't pre-empt that and we will announce that as soon as we can. Right.
    53:43
    Earlier on, we already talked about the Pinball Brothers. There's a small bridge to Pedretti Gaming from that as Pedretti Gaming have announced the Funhaus 2.0 upgrade kit called Rudy's Nightmare a lot of people were enthusiastic about an upgrade for this game and the kit looks very interesting but we hadn't seen any gameplay videos yet well finally they are there and you can check them out on YouTube. There's a topic on Pinsight as well where the videos are, where links can be found as well.
    54:31
    Don't get carried away in all the emotions, either positive or negative. Yeah, on Pinsight, you mean? Yeah, well, yeah, in that topic, but on Pinsight in general as well. Yes. And, yeah, I think they took an interesting approach. It's a completely different game, as you might expect.
    54:53
    And then, well, I suppose some people are very nitpicky in certain areas, which they have every right to be. So some people will be very happy with this, and other people, maybe it's not for them. Yeah, when I first saw the details of it, I had a number of suggestions as to how it could have been or could be improved. But by that stage, it was pretty much all done and dusted and been signed off by the licensors at Planetary Pinball and Scientific Games. So I don't think anything was ever going to change with that. But, yeah, I do things slightly differently in some areas. and people on Pinside, as they typically are, are very valuable in expressing their opinions on what they would have done or indeed whether they absolutely love what they've got. So all variety of opinions are available. Right. Okay. Then, well, since we're on the sort of other news topic, I just remembered, I think, well, I know, I saw a commercial for the Dutch Pinball Museum online, which I suppose can be found on YouTube. I hadn't seen it before, so I figured it would be something that was recently posted.
    56:23
    It has the approach of you always remember your first. Sourcing. Yeah. Which, in case of pinball, that's actually in a lot of cases true there's a lot of people remember playing their first pinball machine yeah I have to admit I can't remember playing my first pinball machine I was going to ask no but then it was a long time ago for some of us and maybe for others it was a little more recent and fresher in their memories can you remember what yours was Jonathan yeah I think I can I think that was a victory with Mario Andretti or that racing theme yeah I think that was it but I only remember the cabinet the yellow cabinet oh right and then I remember playing Xenon and Mr and Mrs Pacman And so it was that period.
    57:35
    Right. And come to think of it, that victory must have been way later than Xenon. So it must... Oh, no, actually, Honey, Williams Honey. Oh, my goodness. A neighbor had one.
    57:49
    But that was only after I'd already discovered pinball. So it wasn't the first, but one of the first. Right, one of the first you remember. I remember some of my earliest games that they played at college, which was when I first got into pinball. So there would have been games like Black Knight. There was also Jungle Lord. Those two level Williams games, along with games from like 8-Ball Deluxe and Dolly Parton, Harlem Glow Trotters and Masahari.
    58:26
    It was a great game. Those are my other influences. Anyway, we're not here to talk about us. We're here to talk about the news. Yeah, well, I think we're mostly done with that. I think all the big topics that we wanted to discuss have been discussed. Well, I just wanted to mention about the Pindamool Industry Awards, which were announced this week. Right. voted by a selection of I suppose I would say hand selected judges because you had to I was not part of them you had to submit your application to be a judge and you had to be a podcaster or a writer or I could have been a judge oh you absolutely could have been and then basically we then sent the voting form and filled it in and this is where we find out what the results were pretty much a clean sweep of most best game awards for Godzilla which has come no surprise to me it's a bit it's one of those ones where you've got awards for everything you've got awards for best art on the cabinet and back glass, and he also got best art on the playfield.
    59:51
    Unsurprisingly, Godzilla won them both. Best theme integration, well, Godzilla again. Best toy, Godzilla. Best innovation, Godzilla. Best flip a button. Yes, best playfield layout, Godzilla. Best rules, Godzilla.
    60:04
    There are a few others, managed to get their foot in the door there. Zeppelin got best lighting effects, which is not really surprising with the expression lighting kit. this is for games which came out in 2021 yes so basically it's a stern fest because Jersey Jack didn't come out with a new game yes it was that or it was pretty much either Ultraman or Halloween as well but there was some P3 games came out as well in that time which got some votes but didn't win in any categories, I don't think.
    60:49
    And then there were sort of more media-based awards for pinball streaming and podcasting and writing and all that kind of stuff, which if you want to find out all the results, then just search for Pinball Industry Awards.
    61:06
    And I couldn't actually find a website for it directly, but I'm sure it's listed there. Certainly on Facebook, if you use that, then you can go there. I haven't seen a big list of all the awards, but there are some videos of the announcements of the awards, if you want to watch that. Or there are also lists of some of the awards in different groups. So it's all there. Congratulations to the winners. yeah yeah I just read that the pinball industry awards actually won an award for most underrated award ceremony oh right okay well congratulations to them I kid I kid really I never guessed yeah oh well so I suppose that brings us to the conclusion of our show oh hold on I did get a text from our good friend Gary Flower. Oh, we've got back Gary, haven't we? Oh, yeah. Well, I didn't forget about him, but it's not top of mind either.
    62:16
    What's he saying? Got some great news. Would be great to come on your show. Would that be a good idea?
    62:25
    Oh. I think so, yeah. Sure. Okay. Here it is again. What's that? Yeah. Okay. I'm available now. okay how about we give him a call so okay we'll do that right at the end I thought we were at the end oh right okay oh in that case let's wrap this up then and thank you for listening to this month's Pincast for January 2022 we'll be back next month beginning of March looking back at February and all the pinball events that happened then and in the meantime I'll say goodbye and then we'll hand over to Gary and see what Jonathan and Gary have got to say I'm going to say goodbye as well and then we'll give Gary a call bye for now and we'll be back we'll see you next month yeah next month and maybe sooner if there's breaking news let's call here bye
    64:04
    Thank you.