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Episode 636: "Rush Pinball Details"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·16m 43s·analyzed·Jan 3, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Kaneda reveals detailed Rush pinball rumors ahead of reveal, raises art concerns, discusses LE pricing strategy.

Summary

Kaneda discusses detailed rumors about the upcoming Stern Rush pinball machine, including mechanics (time machine central mech with magnetic ball freezing), theme integration with the band, 17 songs, and designer John Borg's involvement. He expresses concerns about the art package quality and palette choices, mentions Stern's request to charge premium pricing for Limited Edition, and speculates about exclusive lighting features in LE versions. The episode also includes a tribute to deceased NYC operator Al Seahawk and discussion of Jersey Jack Pinball severing tech support ties with Lloyd (LTG).

Key Claims

  • Rush pinball will have a large circular time machine mechanism in the middle that can magnetically freeze and shoot the ball

    medium confidence · Kaneda citing rumors heard in community and Facebook, explicitly stated he hasn't seen the game

  • Rush will have 17 songs with full theme integration from the band similar to how Slash worked on Guns N' Roses at JJP

    medium confidence · Kaneda referencing earlier speculation and rumor mill discussion

  • John Borg is the designer of Rush pinball

    medium confidence · Kaneda stating 'I'm also hearing this is a John Borg pin'

  • The Rush art package uses a darker palette similar to Houdini's steampunk style with illustrated characters rather than photorealistic images

    medium confidence · Multiple sources Kaneda spoke to, described as rumors he's cobbled together

  • Stern is asking dealers to charge premium pricing for Rush Limited Edition versus Pro/Premium which are priced same as Godzilla

    medium confidence · Kaneda citing multiple dealers

  • Limited Edition of Rush may have an exclusive feature not in Premium Edition, possibly the Expression Lighting System

    low confidence · Kaneda explicitly stating this is his guess based on dealer information about LEs being priced higher

  • Jersey Jack Pinball has terminated tech support from Lloyd (LTG) after years of unpaid work

    high confidence · Kaneda stating 'Last night we learned' - recent news from community

  • Ed Robertson (Rush frontman) may appear in the game doing callouts

    low confidence · Kaneda stating 'That is a rumor that I am hearing'

Notable Quotes

  • “So every time anyone goes there, we can order a special dedicated to him. So we're one day away from Rush and Kaneda's Pinball Podcast is going to do what Kaneda's Pinball Podcast does best.”

    Kaneda (host) @ opening segment — Transition from tribute to Al Seahawk to announcing Rush rumors

  • “I'm going to tell you what the big but is and it's not my butt. The big but is this... The number one issue with the game... the art package on this game is not... I'm hearing that the color choices are a little strange”

    Kaneda (host) @ mid-episode — Key concern about Rush's visual presentation

  • “I haven't seen this game yet, so I don't know. Like I'm hearing. There might also be like a clock. I'm just hearing elements of this game. I haven't seen anything.”

    Kaneda (host) @ mechanics section — Explicit disclaimer about source reliability of rumors

  • “If there's one thing you can't change, if there's one thing the mod community can't fix, it's a bad art package.”

    Kaneda (host) @ art discussion — Key philosophical point about art package importance in collector value

  • “I'm guessing that Sam Stern Pinball is going to make the expression lighting system that exclusive item for the Limited Edition and that is why they're going to try to charge more.”

    Kaneda (host) @ LE pricing section — Speculation about first Stern precedent-breaking feature split between editions

  • “Lloyd is one of the nicest people in the community... He doesn't want to take money for his tech support... what could he have possibly done to be shown the door from Jersey Jack Pinball?”

    Kaneda (host) @ final segment — Expression of confusion about JJP's decision to cut Lloyd

Entities

Al SeahawkpersonEd RobertsonpersonJohn BorgpersonSam SternpersonKanedapersonLloyd (LTG)personBrian Harry AllenpersonJeremy Packerperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Rush pinball will be officially revealed tomorrow (day after podcast), with Kaneda providing advance rumor details

    high · Kaneda: 'So we're one day away from Rush'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Community speculation about Rush's central mechanical feature being a time machine with magnetic ball-freezing capability

    medium · Kaneda: 'So we've speculated for a while that this game has a very large circular mechanism in the middle of the game and I am hearing that that is not only true but it is a time machine'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Rumored Rush time machine mechanism with magnetic levitation to freeze and shoot ball, compared to Lord of the Rings ring mechanics

    medium · Kaneda: 'it might grab the ball. Like Lord of the Rings sort of ring, like have magnets around it and freeze the ball in midair'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern requesting higher pricing for Rush Limited Edition by potentially reserving exclusive features (possibly Expression Lighting System) not in Premium Edition

    medium · Kaneda: 'I'm guessing that Sam Stern Pinball is going to make the expression lighting system that exclusive item for the Limited Edition'

  • ?

    product_concern: Multiple sources report concerns about Rush art package using dark palette with illustrated characters that may not exceed expectations, contrasted with typical Stern visual quality

    medium · Kaneda: 'I'm hearing that the color choices are a little strange... the way they illustrated the characters in the band is not going to blow you away'

Topics

Rush pinball game mechanics and featuresprimaryRush pinball art package and visual design concernsprimaryLimited Edition vs Premium Edition pricing strategy and feature splitprimaryStern Pinball manufacturing and design decisionsprimaryJersey Jack Pinball tech support personnel changessecondaryCommunity impact of Lloyd's departure and tech support reliabilitysecondaryTribute to deceased NYC pinball operator Al SeahawksecondaryPinball podcast content and Patreon funding modelmentioned

Sentiment

mixed(0.35)— Kaneda expresses enthusiasm about Rush mechanics (time machine, magnetic features, John Borg design, band collaboration) but significant concern and nervousness about art package quality and visual presentation. Strong negative sentiment regarding JJP's decision to cut Lloyd. Somber opening tribute to Al Seahawk. Overall tone is cautiously optimistic about gameplay but pessimistic about aesthetics and troubled by business decisions.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.050

Knapp Arcade, David David Van Es. Welcome to episode, what are we at now? We are at episode six hundred and thirty-six of I'm your host Kaneda. Happy New Year's everybody. I hope each and every one of you had a great holiday and an amazing new year. Now it is with a very sad and somber note that we start the new year in the pinball community. We've lost one of the greatest members of the New York pinball scene, the Northeast pinball scene, but just the pinball scene in general because when you're into pinball, you're not just an East Coast or a West Coast person. You're part of the whole global pinball community and you might have known him as Al Pinball Al. I think you say his last name Al Seahawk and Al was always somebody that was ever present in my pinball scene in New York. He was always hanging out at Modern Pinball. He was an operator of pinball machines all over the city and just an amazing guy, an amazing guy. And for those of you who knew Al, you knew how sweet he was, how big his heart was and Al unfortunately passed away in his sleep just a day ago. So I want to say with heavy hearts, we will miss you Al. Anthony Pasal This Week in Pinball, Johnny Pneumonic, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, transliteregon Maybe we should do like a commemorative drink. I'm going to talk to John over at Jack Bar for Al. So every time anyone goes there, we can order a special dedicated to him. So we're one day away from Rush Pinball and Kaneda is going to do what Kaneda does best. I'm going to give you some details I've been hearing in the rumor mill about Rush Pinball Machine and we will see which one of these rumors come true and come to fruition. This Week in Pinball, Johnny Pneumonic, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, transliteÜND Can уж Twoüp Maxwell come to the dragon ball volcan occasion to ask the question He might even make an appearance in the game doing callouts. But I think that's a great addition to this game because Ed Ed Robertson knows so much about pinball. He knows so much about what makes a pinball machine exciting and fun. And we all know this. When someone is doing callouts for a pinball machine, they need direction. And Stern can sometimes do really piss poor direction on callouts when they're working with like talent. So I really hope Ed told these guys like don just say jackpot say jackpot You know so we see we see but I think Ed Ed Robertson will be in the game That is a rumor that I am hearing Alright what else is going on Well it going to have the 17 songs like we mentioned earlier This game is going to be fully theme integrated with the band It isn like they licensing this band or their music or their image The band worked directly on this pinball machine just like slash worked with the band Eric on GNR over at JJP. So expect this to be one of the greatest theme integrated pinball machines that Stern has put out. So that is going to be something that is going to be exciting to Rush fans that are out there. Now what else am I hearing about this game? So we've speculated for a while that this game has a very large circular mechanism in the middle of the game and I am hearing that that is not only true but it is a time machine and the major mech in Rush Pinball will be a time machine. All the way up to the top, the pinball machine. But here's where it gets really cool. So it's a big circular Mech, and I hear it might grab the ball. Allah, Lord of the ring sort of ring, like have magnets around it and freeze the ball in midair and shoot the ball out into the time machine. And so that is what I'm hearing will be the major Mech. Very cool. You know, I love toys, you know, I love magnets, you know, I love Lord the Rings. So to see this Mech may be made bigger in a Rush Pinball machine is very cool. And the way it's going to work, the way this game is going to work, the storyline of the game is you're going to be able to travel through the different periods in which Rush made music and play songs from those periods. So you're going to go from what the seventies, the eighties, the nineties, you know, I think they're still making music into the two thousands. So this is going to be how the game sort of works. Will it be like a concert in a box like Guns and Roses? I don't think so. I think it's going to be more about going back and playing songs from different eras. That's much different than what Guns N' Roses was trying to do which is actually put the elements of going to a GNR show under the glass. So kind of an original theme, right? I don't think I've seen another music pin in which you travel through a time machine to play music from the band's different eras. So very, very cool approach to a music pin if you ask me. I'm also hearing this is a John Borg pin. So you're gonna get a lot of like these ramps and wire forms and plastic ramps that elevate off the playfield. Plays What I like about Borg's designs is they come up off the playfield, right? Like Led Zeppelin. I think this game is going to have a lot of dimension to it. So That's another cool thing. So you're going to see that. I just want to say for the record, I haven't seen this game yet, so I don't know. Like I'm hearing. There might also be like a clock. I'm just hearing elements of this game. I haven't seen anything. I haven't seen any materials from Stern Pinball. I'm just going off of some rumors that people on Facebook are saying and I'm reading through pin side and I'm sort of cobbling together if you will the consistent rumors I'm hearing over and over. We'll see if Kenaid is right. Now, there is a big butt coming and I've talked to a few people and everyone I've talked to has this big butt and I'm going to tell you what the big butt is and it's not my butt. The Big Butt is this. The BigBut in Rush Pinball, when I talk to people and they're like yes it's this it's that but there's this issue with the game. The number one issue with the game and I want to apologize to Brian Allen who is a very talented artist because I heard a rumor that Brian Allen was doing Rush. That is not happening. So please disregard that rumor. The BigBut I'm hearing on Rush Pinball is that the art package on this game is not I hearing that the color choices are a little strange that maybe the LE is a darker palette kind of like a Houdini kind of steampunk color to the game But I also hearing it illustrated right So there not like Photoshop drag and drop images of the band but the way they illustrated the characters in the band is not going to blow you away I'm hearing it might be more like the way they drew Guns N' Roses members and Data East GNR, right? Very like Sharpie looking, not highly detailed. So is this going to be true? And it's kind of ironic because Rush was always a band that was never about flashiness, it was never about sexiness, it was never about image. So, maybe Rush fans are gonna think this is awesome that the game might be ugly because this band was never about sexy album covers, it was always about the music. So, is this what you're gonna get? Are you literally gonna get an ugly Rush machine that has a lot of soul, that has the best drummer ever in music? But I don't know. I would argue that everybody wants their pinball machines to aesthetically be beautiful. That when we saw stuff like the blue on Led Zeppelin, we were like, what is this? And we know that Stern can either hit it out of the park with their art packages or they can miss terribly. Now the thing is Stern hasn't really missed terribly in a long time. Led Zeppelin was definitely a miss. It was definitely lazy. But I'm hearing this could be one of the biggest This week we have a look at the best scratcher art packages we've seen from Stern Pinball in a long time. And I do think it's a shame because if there's one thing you can't change, if there's one thing the mod community can't fix, it's a bad art package. And if the playfield art isn't good and the side cabinet artwork is not good, then I think that's going to make people be like, I might not want to put this ugly duckling in my row of Stern machines. And Stern Machines are usually colorful and beautiful for the most part. I mean, they've made some pretty nice looking machines over the last few years. The other rumor I'm hearing is this is that you're not even going to know who the artist is. This is a brand new artist and you might not even know who it is. They might not even be crediting this artist the way they do Zombie Yeti and the way they do other artists who have worked on their games. I mean, even Johnny Crap got credited. I don't know. Maybe Stern's trying to hide the fact of who did this, but we shall see. The other part is this. I haven't seen it and all art is subjective. But I've heard from multiple sources that have seen this game that artistically it might make people scratch their heads. Now again, I have not seen it. You know I'm a man of great artistic taste and if I saw this I would give you my point of view on it and my true opinion. But here's the good news. We're all going to be able to see it tomorrow but I'm nervous. I'm nervous about what this game is going to look like. Here's the last final detail I want to give you on this game. Stern is asking people to charge more for the LEs. I've heard from multiple dealers now that Stern is saying, hey, the pro and premium price will be the same as Godzilla, but we would like you to charge a little bit more for the LE. Now, I was asking a dealer of mine, why? Why are they doing that? And here is what I heard from a dealer. I'm not going to say which dealer it was. And no, you're never going to guess it. I'm hearing there might be a feature in this game that is only This week's topic is the What is the only pinball that is only in the LE? It will not be in the premium. Now you could ask yourself, what do you think that could be? What feature would be in the LE that they leave out of the premium? Now it's a music pin. Now what thing did they put into Led Zeppelin that we didn't see before? My guess is this, and this is just Kenaida guessing. I'm guessing that Stern Pinball is going to make the expression lighting system that My guess is Stern Pinball is going to make that an exclusive item for the LE and that is why they're going to try to charge more. It is also going to be a very, I think, a very divisive move because Stern has never done this before. They've never released a premium that doesn't have all of the features of the LE. Now very questionable move This is just like Jersey Jack giving you that coma ball lock in the CE that they left out of the LE Can you hear Killian crying He not happy about this move Because Killian all in on the premiums these days So that is my guess that Stern Pinball Expression Lighting System only in the LE Take that to pin side and say that is what Kaneda is guessing. Alright, the final point I want to make on this episode of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, I hope you are enjoying it. Thank you guys for contributing to the show. You knew the show wasn't going to go away and now you get to enjoy it and our numbers are fine, our numbers are holding strong. At the end of every month we lose a few people because they realize that Patreon's gonna bill them but then we gain a few more as well. Here's the other part. Last night we learned that Jersey Jack Pinball after eight and a half years of getting tech support from LTG, you know him as Lloyd, he's been working for them I think for free for eight and a half years they let him go from their tech support department. Now what is going on here right? I don't know there are two sides to every story but this seems to make no sense. How do you cut a guy loose who's not costing you any money? I heard the only cost to them was they would give him a machine to figure out all the issues and to troubleshoot it. I want to say this. Lloyd is one of the nicest people in the community. Butch Peel is also one of the nicest people in the community. They are two of the greatest tech support people in the history of pinball. The one company that needs the most tech support out there is Jersey Jack Pinball. And they have now cut loose two of the nicest people that the community loves from Texas. This week in Pinball eh valet package eh I like Lloyd. He is like the nicest, most altruistic guy in the community. He doesn't want to take money for his tech support. He doesn't. People wanted to set up a PayPal and a donation for him and he won't accept it. So you're telling me someone with a heart like that that just does it because they love pinball, what could he have possibly done to be shown the door from Jersey Jack Pinball? I don't know. But we will try to find out. I'm actually going to try to get Lloyd on the show to talk about this. I doubt he will join. This Week in Pinball, Johnny Pneumonic, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, transliteelectronic panel in backbox that is backlit during playelectronic Game of Thrones unint This Week in Pinball, Johnny Pneumonic, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, transliteelectronic panel in backbox that is backlit during playelectronic Game of Thrones unint This week we'll talk about the first time you'll ever be in a restaurant. It's so good. And I know that the first time you'll ever be in a restaurant is probably the day that you're going to have a restaurant. But be prepared to be in a restaurant that's not just a place you live. It's a place you share joy and happiness and a place where you can keep your time and energy. And it's a place where you can be in and out of this hobby if it weren't for people like Lloyd. So I do think they deserve to benefit with their skillset and their knowledge. But he doesn't want it and that's on him. But you know, Kaneda where I stand on this. If you're good at something in life, never give it away for free. Everybody we'll see Rush tomorrow. More to come on this game. Happy holidays everybody. Rest in peace out. valeurmania-enlcon professor indian englishellen
Butch Peel
person
Slashperson
Stern Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Rushgame
Led Zeppelingame
Guns N' Roses (Stern/Jersey Jack)game
Godzillagame
Houdinigame
Lord of the Ringsgame
Modern Pinballvenue
Jack Barvenue
  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball has terminated unpaid tech support volunteer Lloyd (LTG) after years of service

    high · Kaneda: 'Last night we learned that Jersey Jack Pinball after years of getting tech support from LTG, you know him as Lloyd, he's been working for them I think for free for years they let him go'

  • ?

    community_signal: Community concern about loss of Lloyd as tech support resource for Jersey Jack Pinball, which has reputation for requiring extensive support

    high · Kaneda: 'The one company that needs the most tech support out there is Jersey Jack Pinball. And they have now cut loose two of the nicest people that the community loves'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Rush pinball features direct band collaboration similar to Guns N' Roses at JJP, with theme integration throughout rather than licensing-only approach

    medium · Kaneda: 'The band worked directly on this pinball machine just like Slash worked with the band on Guns N' Roses over at Jersey Jack Pinball'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Rumor that Ed Robertson (Rush frontman) may provide callouts for Rush pinball game

    low · Kaneda: 'That is a rumor that I am hearing' regarding Ed Robertson's involvement

  • ?

    industry_signal: NYC/Northeast pinball community mourns passing of respected operator and venue presence Al Seahawk

    high · Kaneda opening: 'We've lost one of the greatest members of the New York pinball scene... Al unfortunately passed away in his sleep just a few days ago'