You got me running, going out of my mind. You got me thinking that I'm wasting my time. Going way down. Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up. Oh, welcome everybody to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. Happy Friday. I'm your host, Kaneda. I'm in New York City. It's mid-June, and I've got one major question on my mind right now. It's simply this. Where are the games? Where are all the games, right? We had this March madness in March of this year. All these manufacturers came to TPF, showed us their product, said, give me your money now, and you're going to get your pinball machines. And here we are. It's like mid-June. Where are the Godfather collector's editions? Where are the frequent unboxings of Galactic Tank Force? We know nobody's getting Pulp Fiction until who knows when. Where are all the games? The only games people are really unboxing are still just Foo Fighters, James Bond 60th. By the way, have you seen anywhere close to 500 James Bond 60th anniversary pinball machines being unboxed? I bet you, as of today, there are probably more than 300 of those games unspoken for. You're going to see them new in box until now, until the day you die, until the day after you die. People will still be offering like $14,000, $12,000 for the most overpriced pinball machine of all time, James Bond 60th. But shots are the new toys, baby. Shots are the new toys, Kaneda. Nobody needs to engineer an actual toy that does anything. We don't need a medieval madness castle. We don't need a disappearing magnet like in Tales of the Arabian Nights We don't need a theater of magic magic trunk We don't need a ball rod that swings out We don't need a Lord of the Rings ring that actually magnetically grabs the ball We don't need any of that, Kaneda All we need are shots Shots are the new toys I put up a post about that and people were actually arguing with me I want to see more mechanical engineering that creates a wow moment in pinball for this much money and jackasses are arguing with me that they don't even want to see that to those people just go buy your stern pros and be happy but pros are for hoes everybody so here we go all right so here we go so here's what i want to talk about right it's mid-june it's june like 16th today where are the godfather ces i thought this game was supposed to be on the line in May. We haven't seen a single person unbox it. We've seen about like two to three unboxings of the Galactic Tank Force game. I think we've seen just one tank edition unboxed since this game was revealed in March. And I want to ask a very simple question. Why did these companies even bother going to Texas Pinball Festival if they could not even get games frequently into the hands of customers and it's three months later. 90 days ago, you showed us your product. 90 days. So what's been happening over at these companies for the last 90 days? Now, look, we know that Jersey Jack Pinball has been making Godfather Ellie a game that nobody wants. Godfather Ellie are sitting in box at distributors right now. Nobody wants it. That's why everyone's waiting for the collector's edition because we finally want to see this game get into the hands of some people and until godfather actually makes its way into the hands of people the jury is still way out on whether or not this game is really gonna win people over will it be the next pirates of the caribbean will jersey jack pull the plug on this game prematurely and then people will want it because they can no longer have it i don't think that's gonna happen on this game i think they're going to make way more games than people ever want of the Godfather, Pinball Machine, Galactic Tank Force. How many of you out there ordered a Galactic Tank Force? Do me a favor right now. Send me an email if you ordered a Galactic Tank Force. Now, David Fix will not tell us how many games they sold, but by the look of the club thread and by the feedback on this game, I just keep hearing the same thing. People unbox this game and they're like, it's a nice addition to our lineup. You don't really hear anyone say anything glowing about the game. It's okay. It's not a terrible game. I've played the game about 20 times. It's a fun game to shoot. It's weird. It's quirky. But if you go in on one for this much money, it begs the question, why? Why do you want a Galactic Tank Force? Is there something you're not getting with all of the other good pinball machines that are out there in the world? I would much rather own a dialed in LE than a Galactic Tank Force It got way more in it It shoots better The only thing it doesn have better of is maybe artwork but I would argue the Playfield artwork, even though it's got Pat Lawler, like young Pat Lawler in his mom jeans holding up a cell phone, there's more illustrations on the artwork on freaking dialed-in than there is in Galactic Tank Force. and there's so many more mechs and toys and code in that game. So that's the thing, right? If you have like $8,500 or $9,000 burning a hole in your pocket, I think it's really hard to say, hey, I don't want anything else out there that costs this much. I'm going to get a Galactic Tank Force. I don't think many people are saying that. And the damn tank thing just looks bad in a lineup. I must say this. The more I see this tank edition in a lineup, Like it looks cool when it's by itself in a 1950s retro diner. Like it works there. It works in a bomb shelter. It works in some throwback Norman Rockwell sort of room. But when you put it in a lineup of games and I don't know, something about that really thin tank tread just looks weird to me. And then once you open the backbox on this game, when are you ever going to see it in tank format ever again? And then that tank turret just looks like the weirdest topper ever when the backbox is up. Oh, American Pinball. Come on. Oh, American Pinball. I'm going to say it right now. I got the same thing to say to American Pinball as I do to Jersey Jack Pinball. I'm ready for your next games already. I'm ready for your next games already. I'm already over these two games. The majority of the pinball buying public is already over these two games. These two games are a swing and a miss. You did not win over the pinball buying community. You never will. You're never going to have a second swing at the plate with these games. You're never going to sell thousands of them. You're never going to get new demand in these games going. It's not going to happen. Jersey Jack, let's bring on your next game. And if we hear the rumors are right, Steve Ritchie's game is not going to be the Matrix. Oh, it's so unfortunate. We all wanted the Matrix. I'm hearing now that Steve Ritchie's next game is going to be as we feared Elton John. It is going to be a music pin and it is going to be Elton John. Now look I want to play a little bit of devil's advocate on Elton John. I know everyone's like no no no no no. But his music is iconic. It is amazing. It does have high energy. So I'm waiting to see what Steve Ritchie does with Elton John. I think if they go fully Elton John 1970s glamour with this thing and they make it over the top and his high energy songs kick in, it could work. It could work. I don't know. Like, I don't know if it's going to work. Look, everyone said Foo Fighters was going to be a flop, but it wasn't. But arguably, Foo Fighter fans crossover much easier with pinball buying fans. But I don't know. it's going to be Elton John and we're going to see this game probably in the fall. Like, I don't know how Jersey Jack Pinball is going to actually still make the Godfather come like July or August unless they're still making collector's editions. And the fact that we haven't seen any collector's editions unboxed and it's like mid-June, I think it's going to take them all the way up until September to make 1,000 collector's editions of the Godfather. And then I think they're going to be done. I think distros are going to be sitting on LEs. I think no new orders are going to come in and then they're going to have to move on to the next game or everyone who's working on that line is just going to be standing there with their hands in their pockets. But I'm going to go further into Jersey Jack pinball next week when I do my deep dive on every single company. I also have a really good line of sight into what spooky pinball's next title is going to be. I am going to share that next week on my deep dive of spooky pinball. I'm not going to reveal that rumor right now. Now, here's the good news. If you're listening to this right now, you don't have to spend any more money. You don't have to join some other discord. You don't have to up your Canada donation to 10 or 50 or a hundred dollars a month. You're going to get this information for just being here. So thank you for being here. All right. So what else is going on in pinball? Everybody's waiting for their games. Well, we now know that Lior, the art of pinball, Lior, the master sculptor over there, I think he's in Israel, the master sculptor, the art of pinball. He is now going to be making official sculpts for a pinball manufacturing company out there in the world. Which one do you think it's going to be? I mean, if I were to guess, I think it's going to be Jersey Jack Pinball. I think it's going to be Elton John. Lior has been making sculpts primarily for Jersey Jack games. He the biggest Jersey Jack fanboy Every once in a while he make some stuff for like Godzilla but for the most part he really best known for his sculpts with Pirates of the Caribbean with stuff like The Hobbit. So I fully expect the Abbas family has approached him and he is now going to be making official game sculpts for a new game. Now look, I don't really care about sculpts. I want toys. I don't want static things that don't do anything. I don't want this hobby to turn into an overpriced diorama where everything is just sculpts, but nothing interacts with the ball. It's like, look at the Tommy gun guy on top of Godfather, right? Would I like him to be sculpted differently? Maybe. Would it have done anything to the game? No. Would it change the game in any which way? Absolutely not. So I've never looked at pinball being like, oh, we need better scopes in pinball. That's the problem. The problem in pinball at these prices is nobody's engineering magical mechs anymore. And nobody seems to be asking for it. And then you say this stuff and the freaking tournament players out there jump down your throat. The Johns at Jack bar jump down your throat because John doesn't want toys. John wants to remove all the outlane posts from his games so you drain as fast as possible so Jack Barr can make money. The moment we start taking advice from tournament players and location operators on what should go into a pinball machine for this much money, of course Stern Pinball and Jersey Jack want us to feel like that's what everybody's asking for, but an operator just wants to make money. That's all they want. All they want is a theme. They don't care if the game sucks. They just want a theme. Like Toy Story is arguably one of the most underwhelming pinball machines of all time, and it makes operators more money than almost any new game on the market right now. So that's what we want. Why would anyone want a great earning game that's absolutely a snooze fest to own because there's no magic in it. It just shoots well. It's based on a theme people know, and it's inviting to people walking up to the machine in a bar. Is that what you want in your home? And that's not what most people want, right? Star Wars is another great example. That game is horrible. It is horrible as a Star Wars game. As a theme integrated pinball machine based on some of the greatest movies of all time. That game is horrendous, but it earns great on location. And the majority of people that jump on a Star Wars on location will never even get a freaking ball into that hyper drive. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It says Star Wars. You see Luke Skywalker. You hear the theme song. It pulls you in. And so, yeah, I'm tired of hearing from tournament players and operators what they look for in pinball machines. So don't argue with Canada because Canada is like the rest of collectors out there. When we spend like six to $15,000 on a game, no one's coming into our game room inside our basements and our bedrooms and putting dollar bills into these machines every time we play the damn game. We don't want a game that just earns money. We want a game that makes us smile, that makes us giddy, that gives us pinball moments we'll never forget. That's not what an operator wants. They want your moolah. All right. Speaking about what operators want, I bet everybody wants a Harry Potter pinball machine, but my friend is down there. He's at the freaking trade show where all the big properties are. Jack Winari is down there last week or this previous week, and Jack Winari is telling people that Jersey Jack Pinball does not have the license to Harry Potter. Now, do we believe Jack? Jack will always be a notorious salesman. He's going to spin everything. But he told my friend, he said, look, I don't have the title. I don't have the theme. Joe Kamnikow is being a jerk. I don't know why he did that, but we do not have the Harry Potter license. Do you believe Jack? I do not believe, Jack, but I also could envision a world in which nobody has the Harry Potter license. And I also don't think we're going to see it anytime soon. And I think all of this Harry Potter debate, it's really so premature. I mean, I think we're going to see Back to the Future before we see Harry Potter. I think we're going to see Jaws before we see Harry Potter. I think we're going to see Matrix before we see Harry Potter. Now, speaking of Matrix, If Jersey Jack is not coming out with the Matrix next, does that mean that Dutch Pinball might still have a shot at the Matrix? Now, I've been hearing rumors that Dutch was in the running for the Matrix, and I once spoke to Barry and he said to me I can assure you Chris Jersey Jack does not have the Matrix license Now I think looking at the way both companies have been going over the last few years I think most people would rather see what Barry over at Dutch does with the Matrix versus Jersey Jack Pinball. That's just where everybody's at right now. I mean, if you're going to make Toy Story with no toys in it, and you're going to make Godfather, another game with almost no toys in it, like there's like nothing really in Godfather. Go look at that game. Go look down at Godfather and tell me what you see in that pinball machine that looks like an exciting thing they engineered. I get it. A bunch of diverters, 29 ball paths. I don't care. It's like, so what? You put a lot of words on a page, but it doesn't make for an exciting read. And that's the Godfather. Oh, sorry, Derek. I'm going to upset my friend Derek, who paid full price. I mean, think about this for a minute. My friend Derek paid full price for Godfather Ellie. Why? Why? I told him to wait and see. He could go get one right now for $2,500 less than he paid. And he paid full price. Why? When are people going to wake up? Wake up. Why would you want to lose money? It's like paying full price for a Scooby-Doo. If you bought your Scooby-Doo at full price, congratulations, you just lost $2,000. You just lost $2,000. Look at Ultraman. Ultraman collector's editions were like $8,000 to $9,000. You can go get one now for like $5,500 for an Ultraman collector's edition. Congratulations. If you had just waited a year, you would have saved yourself freaking $4,000. But what does Canada know? Why would we listen to Canada? All the other pinball media are telling you to buy everything right now because you're making all your distributor friends wealthy and you're the one who's losing money. Well, start listening to Kaneda. I'm going to keep more money in your pocket. And when you do pull the trigger on a game, I'm going to make sure you get a game for the right price. And the truth is this, unless it's a really great game based on a great theme, you're going to be able to get every single pinball machine that comes out moving forward at these prices for 30% less than it is brand new if you just wait six months. The only games you need to move on instantly are going to be hot titles from Stern Pinball and if Jersey Jack can get a freaking hot theme again and just hot themes in general like Pulp Fiction. Everything else, Galactic Tank Force, Scooby-Doo, The Godfather. You could go down a list. Space Hunt. I hear Home Pin is now saying they're going to make another game based on a movie for $5,000. Home Pin is garbage. They will never make a great pin. Everybody knows that. It's why I don't even talk about Home Pin very much because nobody cares. Everybody, think about this hobby. If you had just waited on almost every single game, you could go get it right now for less than it was brand new. And at these prices, the dips in the value are going to be extreme and they're going to be fairly immediate. There's no room for this hobby to absorb mediocre pins that are around $10,000 because there's too many great pins you can get for $10,000. And that's where it's at. Everybody, it's been a great Friday. It's raining out. I'm going to Killian's Daycare to do a father-son thing with him right now. And next week's going to be epic. I'm telling you, this is why I held back on this episode, because next week I am going to do five episodes. I'm going to go down the list of the top five manufacturers, and I'm going to do a deep dive on each one. Now by deep dive, I don't mean like hour-long shows, but I'm really going to focus each show on each manufacturer, what's working for them, what's not, what they need to continue doing, and what they need to stop doing. And I'm going to be really, really candid on those episodes. I'm going to call it Kaneda's Candid Take on Stern, Kaneda's Candid Take 2 on Jersey Jack, on Spooky Pinball, on CGC, and it's going to be epic. I'm telling you right now, I feel like you're going to be nodding your head. And so then when I go on vacation in the Bahamas, you're not going to be like, where's my Kaneda content? Because you're going to have plenty of material to listen to when Brenda and I go on a much-needed vacation. Everybody, have a great weekend. We'll talk to you soon. Kaneda out.