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The Pinball Show Ep 191 BONUS: Rumors Of What's To Come

Pinball Show Patreon Feed·podcast_episode·37m 29s·analyzed·Apr 21, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Industry insiders discuss rumored 2026 pinball announcements: Transformers at Stern, Sonic at JJP, and Goonies at Spooky.

Summary

Two pinball enthusiasts speculate on 2026 game announcements and pipeline across major manufacturers. Key rumors include Transformers as the next major release following Pokemon, Jersey Jack's Sonic the Hedgehog, Spooky's Goonies or Gremlins, and various remaster plans. The discussion reveals competitive timing dynamics between manufacturers and skepticism about some announced remasters like Walking Dead.

Key Claims

  • Transformers is the next rumored Stern game after Pokemon, designed by Elliot Eismin

    high confidence · Hosts discuss this as a strong internal rumor; one host gives it 80% probability

  • Jersey Jack is stopping Potter production to prepare a new game, with Sonic the Hedgehog rumored for May announcement

    high confidence · Host states 'they were stopping production of Potter essentially and they going to make those again in the fall' and predicts Sonic announcement in May

  • Spooky's next game is rumored to be Goonies (75% confidence) or Gremlins (25% confidence)

    medium confidence · Host assigns probability estimates to these two options as 'strongest rumors'

  • Stern is planning remaster releases including KISS, ACDC, and possibly Godzilla Gold Spike 3 edition

    medium confidence · Hosts discuss rumors of remasters; Godzilla Spike 3 mentioned as potential but both express concern about oversaturation

  • Transformers (LE) units could reach $15,000 secondary market within first week if production limited to 750 units

    medium confidence · Host estimates 80% probability based on 'things I'm hearing' about internal confidence in the game

  • Walking Dead remaster was a strategic mistake; the game never ranked in Pinside top 20 and nobody was requesting it

    medium confidence · Host expresses frustration: 'Stern doesn't tell them... why they decided to remake a game that wasn't even in the top 20 on Pinside'

  • Barrels of Fun hired designer Kyle Spiteri, who created Big Trouble in Little China and Friday the 13th homebrews

    medium confidence · Host mentions 'they hired the designer for the Kyle Spiteri they hired I know that He did Big Trouble in Little China homebrew and he did Friday the 13th homebrew'

  • Stern and Jersey Jack are in a competitive 'game of chicken' to announce cornerstone releases around the same time

    medium confidence · Host theorizes about timing: 'I think we're going to run into is Trough Jam 2026 where Jersey Jack wants really bad... to get in front of whatever Stern's next thing is'

Notable Quotes

  • “I'm hearing Transformers especially is, God, it's great. And it's back to what we want from Stern.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Early section on Transformers rumors — Establishes internal confidence in Transformers design quality and alignment with player expectations

  • “Stern always talks up their game internal... They don't. Not always. I know the characters in there that listen to them.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Discussion of internal Stern messaging — Reveals skepticism about Stern's promotional claims but suggests access to internal sources

  • “Why are you stepping on rakes? The rakes are obvious. Look at them. They're red. They're painted red and they're on your green lawn.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Walking Dead remaster criticism — Colorful expression of frustration with obvious strategic mistakes in remaster selection

  • “I think Jersey Jack Pinball does not want to get – they don't want to have to release after Stern's next cornerstone because they know Stern's next cornerstone is getting some praise here.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ JJP production strategy section — Explains competitive timing logic driving JJP's decision to delay Potter and accelerate new game production

  • “Sonic the Hedgehog by June... the thing is, seems early to me, but they've given what you've indicated with their production, I understand it.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Jersey Jack Sonic discussion — Prediction of accelerated JJP timeline driven by production capacity and competitive pressure

  • “Barrels of Fun... I think they're going to kind of throw people. So I don't think it would be something like He-Man yet.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Barrels of Fun section — Suggests Barrels' next release will be surprising and distinct from expected rumored titles

  • “Time-wise, the next person that has a great game is going to do really well. And I think Stern and JJP both know that.”

    [name withheld pending review] — Articulates the high stakes of release timing in 2026 for the two largest manufacturers

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyBarrels of FuncompanyElliot EisminpersonPokemongameTransformersgame

Signals

  • ?

    machine_intel: Stern Transformers confirmed as next major cornerstone after Pokemon, designed by Elliot Eisenman with high internal confidence and strong nostalgia appeal to Gen 1 cartoon fans

    high · Multiple mentions of 80% confidence in Transformers announcement; hosts reference internal chatter about Eisenman's redemption tour design quality

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack and Stern engaging in competitive timing race to announce cornerstone releases around same window; JJP delaying Potter production to accelerate new game (Sonic) to beat Stern's Transformers announcement

    high · 'game of chicken' language used; host explains JJP's strategic decision to pause profitable Potter production in favor of new release timing

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Multiple unverified IP rumors circulating: He-Man movie tie-in (Barrels vs American Pinball speculation), Dungeon Crawler Carl at Barrels, various remaster targets (KISS, ACDC, Godzilla Spike 3)

    medium · Hosts frame these as 'rumors' and 'the word is'; assign confidence percentages; note uncertainty about licensing availability

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Growing skepticism about Stern's remaster strategy; Walking Dead remaster particularly criticized as baffling strategic choice; hosts express concern about Godzilla oversaturation with multiple variant releases

    high · Extended criticism of Walking Dead selection; hosts contrast with successful Metallica remaster and question logic; express fatigue with YOLO collector behavior encouraging variant buying

  • $

    market_signal: Transformers LE units predicted to command $15,000+ within first week if limited to 750 units; significant premium pricing expected compared to recent Stern releases

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.112

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. Thanks again for the ongoing support as a Pinball Show Club member. Enjoy this exclusive TPS content and make sure to visit the Pinball Show Club Discord to chat about the bonus material. Dennis, I'm very excited because, look, you were poo-pooing on 2026. I'm here to tell you. It's going to be huge. Huge. Each year can't progressively be bigger. Not in this hobby. Maybe it is bigger than 2025. 2025 was bigger than 24. That's true. That's true. We're keeping up. Yeah, I know. Line must go up. They're just saying crypto. Line can't always just go up. Diamond hands, baby. Stern, we're going to jump into like rumors, right? Okay. What we're hearing and whatnot. Stern is going to have a bigger year. I agree. I agree. Pokemon's been huge. Huge. The next rumored game is Transformers. That's the next game. I said in the main show, Elliot Eisenman is on a redemption tour. Right now, inside Stern, people are talking about the next game from Elliot Eisenman. And almost like the man has something to prove.
1:27
This game is going to be really big. It's got a great theme, especially the nostalgia of the old Transformers cartoons.
1:38
But this is going to be a big one. This is going to be a big one. How big could this be, though? I think Stern's sitting on some gold over there, Jerry. And I'm hearing Transformers especially is, God, it's great. And it's back to what we want from Stern.
1:59
That's what I'm hearing. It has decent potential, but this is not a franchise in its prime. The fans will appreciate that joke. Yeah, I agree. So, yeah, it's got strong member berries, but Stern's done Transformers before. So it's not a theme that's foreign to Pinball already. Going with original cartoon like Gen 1 will be the smart play. That'll help on the art front and all of that. If it plays well, it would have very, very strong potential. It's not going to match Pokemon even if it plays better than Pokemon. Hopefully Stern's already just realized and accepted that. And from there, we'll see. But it should do better than D&D. If it's got gameplay on par, it should perform better than D&D.
@ Competitive dynamics discussion

  • “I would say that my guess would be different than what most people are guessing right now. But then what was the scene that he scrapped his first Whitewood.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Mark Seiden music pin discussion — Hints at non-obvious music IP for Seiden's next game; expresses caution about his design history

    • Sonic the Hedgehog
    game
    Gooniesgame
    King Konggame
    Kyle Spiteriperson
    Steve Ritchieperson
    Mark Seidenperson
    Eric Meunierperson
    Carlperson
    Walking Deadgame
    KISSgame
    Godzillagame
    Multimorphiccompany
    American Pinballcompany
    He-Mangame
    Gremlinsgame

    medium · Host assigns 80% probability to $15,000 secondary market pricing; contrasts with difficulty of achieving this for recent Stern games; references 750-unit production limit rumors

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Potential competitive dynamic between Stern and Steve Ritchie: hosts suggest Stern may be motivated to announce Stern cornerstone before Ritchie's Sonic success for Jersey Jack captures market attention

    medium · Host mentions 'I kind of have some history with their designer' and speculates Stern wants to prevent Ritchie success; frames as strategic timing consideration

  • ?

    product_strategy: 2026 release schedule shows consolidation around Stern, Jersey Jack, and Spooky as dominant voices; Barrels positioned as surprise factor; Multimorphic unlikely to announce cornerstone; American Pinball focused on remasters

    high · Systematic review of each manufacturer's rumored pipeline; explicit statements like 'that's all the big ones' and manufacturer-by-manufacturer assessment of capacity and strategy

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Barrels of Fun hired designer Kyle Smet (Big Trouble in Little China, Friday the 13th homebrews) in key production role; positions for future game development beyond currently rumored titles

    medium · Host mentions Smet hire and describes his homebrew quality as 'production-esque game'; suggests Barrels building team for expanded output

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Discussion reveals ongoing tension between theme appeal and gameplay quality; King Kong example shows strong sales despite weak theme/animation; Transformers Gen 1 positioning as smart choice for nostalgia without sacrificing gameplay expectations

    medium · Host analysis of King Kong: 'theme is trash' but 'it sells well'; contrast with discussion of Transformers requiring 'decent' gameplay to succeed given strong theme potential

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Hosts predict Sonic announcement end of May or early June with Transformers following within two weeks; both manufacturers expected to announce around same window; possibility of premature teasing to establish timeline advantage

    medium · Prediction range given as 'end of May' for Transformers vs Sonic; host notes 'it's going to be so close' and references history of 'one prematurely like teases something'

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Jersey Jack pausing Potter production for 5-month window (May-September) to prepare Sonic announcement and initial production run with 10-20 CEs for dealers/locations

    medium · Host explains: 'they were stopping production of Potter essentially and they going to make those again in the fall' and predicts '10 to 20 CEs ready to go for dealers and location'

    • 2:53
    King Kong, what do you think? King Kong's theme is trash. That's a little strong. And I have to admit, I did not care much for King Kong when I played it at TPS. Really? Yeah. That's surprising. Compared to – I didn't dislike it. It's just – it's like compared to everything else I played, it wouldn't be a game I would have a conversation with you about.
    3:15
    So I – others have written in to me because I've mentioned this on a Click to Gamers podcast and said they'd like – you know, they were surprised that I had a fairly indifferent take to it. I thought the animations were pretty poor and the theme is just – I mean the theme is on par with Godzilla except let's face it, King Kong is not as popular as Godzilla is. Maybe they didn't make the most of it like they did with Godzilla. The thing is, and I think you would probably agree with me on this, Zach. With Godzilla, they farmed the movies. And in King Kong, because they didn't use any, it was all custom. And then all the weaknesses in that show in terms of the janky phone-grade animation and all the rest of it because they can't hide behind the movies using clips and stuff to fill it out. I thought the humor on it was great. And, of course, it shoots good. It's an Elwin. Do you think they could go back and pull a Spooky and jump in the line on some of those old – they can't be that expensive, the old thing. The thing is a lot of people love Elwin games for how they play. I think Kong is going to do fine. Yeah, it sells well. Yeah. So there's no reason to – again, that's where I go back to my argument. There's no real reason. It's not going to pay them any meaningful dividends to try and rework it at this point.
    4:33
    Transformers could do better than Kong, I think. I don't know where Kong's at because the Elwin factor is so big and Eisman is not Elwin and he's not going to have an Eisman factor.
    4:43
    But thematically, it should be able to kick Kong's ass quite easily. Do you think – what do you think the percentage chance – let's do this. This will be fun. What is the percentage you putting on chances of Transformers being the theme for the next game Oh I think that like 80 percent Oh I good with 80 Yeah I good with that Stern is known if something happens, they can shuffle. They've shuffled before. They could shuffle again. I'm good with that. What do you think the percentage chance of within the first week of announcement, Them selling for the LE selling for $15,000 on the secondary market, something that is hard to do for Stern anymore.
    5:27
    That would be about 3 percent. Based on what I'm hearing, I'm at 80 percent again. Yeah, especially if they do the 750 or whatever.
    5:40
    I'm telling you, I'm hearing things about this game. This is the game I'm hearing. Stern always talks up their game internal. No, that's the thing. They don't. Not always. I know the characters in there that listen to them. I remember the talk about Wick, and then I saw it. I didn't ever say the Wick was – They didn't say you were the one who said it. I think I got in trouble with Wick. I think that one got me in trouble because I was like, really? I don't understand why you do it, John Wick. Zach. Okay, percentage-wise, percentage chance that the next cornerstone is Stern's best game this year. We know there's probably an Elwin coming. Yeah, 10%. Oh, damn. I'll give it a 50-50. Really? You got to factor in Pokemon already. So you're thinking Transformers is going to play better than Pokemon does. I think Transformers as a game will be better than Pokemon. I think it can be. I don't think Pokemon is anything to write home about regarding its layout. Its layout is understandable.
    6:53
    I thought it plays fine as most fan layouts will. So we'll see. Yeah, everything that I heard internally prior to Pokemon being released was this next game, Pokemon, is going to be a longtime seller and it's going to do phenomenal things.
    7:16
    Having said that, the two cornerstones after that, that's the meat and potatoes of what pinball people are going to go nuts over. And they were very confident with what they had compared to some of the releases of the last couple of years. Okay. So that's good. And the rumor is after this next cornerstone in the fall, yeah, in the fall, we will have an Elwin game. The rumor is Fallout. Yes. I think that could do very well, especially if they lean into the theme for the LE. Game of the Year.
    7:50
    Okay. It will be Game of the Year. Hot damn. Okay. I also don't think there's a high chance that its LE is going to go for $50,000. But I think those LEs will sell out within a week.
    8:07
    Yeah, there's a weird thing with – it's not weird, but I've noticed in the video game, there are video game collectible people.
    8:17
    And Fallout is an IP that people like to collect. They like collecting the figures. I've met a lot of people who, before I knew what Fallout was, I'm like, what is that? And they're like, oh, that's from a video game Fallout. Like just stuff from that IP. It has iconic imagery and video games that have that can lean into it in terms of merch. Yes, a lot of merch that I've seen. So, yeah, that's – the other rumors are – I mean we keep hearing a remaster, KISS, ACDC, all of that jazz. I don't know much about that. All of those will do better than Walking Dead, which was a huge mistake. Huge. But we're also hearing... This is why I have no confidence in when Stern tells you things are going to do great with the Collectors. If you knew the Collectors, you wouldn't have remastered Walking Dead. Yeah, but Stern doesn't tell them. It's the people that work at Stern. Well, maybe they should, while they tell you that, tell you why they decided to remake a game that wasn't even in the top 20 on Pinside and nobody was clamoring for. I don't have a relationship with anybody at Stern that's like, this is dog shit. They just don't tell me anything. You know what I mean? Either I hear things or I don't.
    9:41
    You need to find yourself the honest friend at Stern. Serving the honest friend role. Plenty of people that work behind the doors over at Stern listen to the show. If you want to be that person I will hold you in a nominee Explain the strategy to me how you go from Metallica a brilliant remastered game and then go with Walking Dead which never did good for the company
    10:09
    Selfishly, give me Walking Dead Remastered over Metallica Remastered. I personally would agree with you in terms of which game do I prefer more. But sales-wise, again... 9.92 on Walking Dead? Zach and I have had this talk before because sometimes – I mentioned earlier today. Sometimes it's weird. I've existed my entire professional career in government and nonprofit space, and sometimes I just look at these things and I'm like, should I not just run a business instead? Because this stuff is obvious. It's obvious, and I don't understand why people walk in – what would David Dennis say? They step on rakes. Why are you stepping on rakes?
    10:49
    The rakes are obvious. Look at them. They're red. They're painted red and they're on your green lawn and you're stepping on them. Quit stepping on them. What's next? WWE remaster? I mean, it can be worse. The rumor is that we may see a Godzilla Gold Spike 3 edition.
    11:09
    Oh, my God. Bringing the greatest selling pinball machine to Spike 3. It makes some sense, but they're still selling the other one. It does. No, don't do it. Don't do it. The sad thing is there will be people. They bought the first one. They bought the LE. Then they had to buy the black and white one. And now they're going to buy that one. And I'm just like, guys, don't be me.
    11:37
    Guys, don't be that guy. Don't. But I pass on Godzilla 70s. Show some discipline. I want them all to match. I beg you. I beg, listener. I beg you. Grow a spine and show some self-control. Quit lapping up the I only live once. That's right, YOLO. And then you're buying the same thing over and over again. I'm Brittany, bitch. Let's go.
    12:06
    Buy me baby one more time. Was that a Brittany song? Hit me baby one more time. All right. Man, she was a young teenager. Those are the days. All right. What else are the rumors swirling around in this hobby? Who's going to have He-Man? It's going to get done. There's a movie coming out. There's a lot of nostalgia. Who's going to do He-Man? You think Barrel's going to do He-Man? Barrel seems like the sort of company that would grab a license like that. Like they would have the relationship to pull it off.
    12:41
    So they would be my guests personally. Somebody's got to have it. Somebody's got to be doing it. That's a good theme for pinball. It is. Wasn't there once upon a time, though, that American Pinball had it? They had it, and then I think they bought it. Do you think Brian with American Pinball now could get it? Absolutely. Yeah, he's a G.I. Joe fame, yeah. So maybe he jumped back on and he got it?
    13:06
    My understanding is Barrels has a bit of a ways out on things they've already planned, and if they were getting their licenses all in a row early on and He-Man wasn't available at that time, And they may not have it. I could see them doing He-Man, but it wouldn't be their next two. I think so. I think it's barrels, but I think if it's not barrels, American Pinball has it again. So that's my guess. Hmm.
    13:29
    I just don't know who has it, but I don't know why somebody doesn't, which makes me think maybe Stern has it. I have a feeling Stern has it for some reason. It would be a good one for Stern, especially if they see Transformers work out well for them. Mm-hmm. Go ahead and start farming the 80s because then you do that. Then you got snorks on the – actually, I watched a documentary video on YouTube talking about how snorks were designed to compete with smurfs, which is pretty obvious when you look at them. But phallic though. Yeah. Well, there was a whole creative control thing behind all that. An uncircumcised snork.
    14:12
    Sorry. See, now you're always going to see that. Speaking of barrels, what are they doing? The rumor is Dungeon Crawler Carl. As their next game, though? Not as their next. Okay, because I hadn't heard that. Nope, not as their next. They should be the ones with Dungeon Crawler Carl because Carl loves Dungeon Crawler Carl. And given the hit smash success of Winchester, they definitely want to give him as much rope as he wants. Yeah. So, I mean, I could see that. They did hire a couple designers, I believe. I think they hired the designer for the Kyle Smet they hired I know that He did Big Trouble in Little China homebrew and he did Friday the 13th homebrew I briefly talked to him at TPF. Okay, good dude. He said hi to me and Tony, yeah. I like Kyle, and he's just solid. He's just really good for homebrews. His were the homebrews where I'm like, that's a production-esque game. I didn't get a chance to play Big Trouble. There was a huge line on it. I'd like to see him take more risk in the engineering that he puts into the game. I don't think it's a criticism, but I believe in him enough. It is. I'd like to see him bring some heat. Some people are like, maybe he has Big Trouble in Little China. Again, I think the next release from Barrels is going to kind of throw people.
    15:57
    So I don't think it would be something like He-Man yet. I don't think Big Trouble in Little China. I don't know what Barrels has coming. And then they had – didn't they get the homebrew guy that made Pokemon? I think they hired him too maybe? I don't remember. But they got a nice little team going there. And with Carl overseeing a lot of the stuff.
    16:22
    Man, but would you put Carl on a Winchester and then Dungeon Crawler Carl? Well, I think he would want it like he'd want Dungeon Crawler Carl. You have to let him have it.
    16:34
    I would say, Carl, here's the thing. Let's let's pay you more. So you're really happy. Let's give you whatever you're wanting. But I need to slide in a big AAA title for you to do in between your projects that you love. Please do me that one, Carl. Let me have you do a Ghostbusters. Appreciate it. Thank you.
    16:59
    So, yeah, that's Barrels of Fun. Turner Pinball. I have no clue what Turner's doing. Yeah, they still seem to be just going with the strategy of let's use all the licenses we bought from Deep Root. The word is that their next one, they're looking at a licensed theme. I was hoping they were going to do the Gladiator so I could try and goose more of my Rising Action shirt sales that I have with the Hydra.
    17:29
    That's right. Where's the Hydra t-shirt? Yes! It's my favorite whiteboard drawing ever. Or the Rey Mysterio. I've sold ones of those shirts. Ones.
    17:41
    My son still sports it. American Pinball, we know seven remakes. What are the other rumors? Remakes, you said.
    17:52
    Circus Voltaire, we know. Given Melvin coming in, they're going to farm the hell out of J-POP. That's all I ever see Melvin want to do. I think some other manufacturers already locked in some of them J-POPs. That's the thing. Maybe theater. I don't think you do World Cup. No, no. If you can, you do Totan. And if you can, you do theater. Though I bet you if anyone else is doing a J-pop, they're doing theater. I think other people have those. This is why they went circus. What are some other Bally Williams things? Oh, there's plenty of stuff. I thought if Yukon Yeti is working. Whitewater, sure. I'm waiting for somebody to do Whitewater. The problem is you've got to be able to do the topper. And I've heard people haven't been able to figure out how the topper exactly was done, like the tech to get the effect. But that would be a good one.
    18:44
    I also would say it's some of the – there's a lot more – now that the nostalgia in Pinball has grown, there's a lot of nostalgia for what we would have historically called the B-tier remakes. Some of my favorites. Yeah, so Shadow. Oh, one of my favorites. I don't imagine it has to be a hard movie license to secure. It wasn't a very good movie. You do that. Bram Stoker's Dracula would be an obvious one to do. This is more A-list, but Creature. Oh my gosh. Creature should be rich. I'm amazed CGC didn't do Creature because holy crap is that game popular. I wish I had a Creature. I have a Creature. I love it. But, you know, it's just like that's a game originally I didn't care for. And then when I played it, I thought, you know, this is a lot of fun. Simple and easy, but really challenging to like master. And it could benefit from some modernization. Oh, yeah. So that those right there would all be ones I think I think would be really smart ones to do. Oh, that would be really good. Yeah, that's a good point. I think we're going to see some of those. I really do. I think we're going to see some of those from that company. Other I'm trying to think Twilight Zone. There are other really good ones, but the. Licensing starts to make me wonder if American Pinball can pull it off. When you start going Indiana Jones, Star Trek Next Gen, Adam's Family, Twilight Zone, all of those have been known to be more complicated licenses. There's a movie licensed with Creature. There's a movie licensed with Shadow. There's a movie licensed with Dracula. But those are not big franchises. I imagine you could get them. You could get all of them. What about this? I don't think they have this, but Brian, if you don't, I think it's reached this point of nostalgia that would make it pretty cool again. The license would be tough. But what about Star Trek The Next Generation?
    20:43
    It would probably do very well. I would agree. It's one of the most stacked voice casts that was ever assembled for Pinball. That's why I worry about the licensing, but that would be kind of a cool throwback. It is an older show though. I think that it would be an easier license than Indiana Jones, The Pinball Adventures or even Twilight because Rod Sterling and Adam's family has always been a little tricky because Christopher Lloyd doesn't like his license used on this stuff.
    21:14
    I'm just going down the Penside Top 100, Scare Stiff, I think could do really good. I totally forgot. Very easy game, but quite popular for a lot of people. It's the preferred Elvira game. Bram Stoker, as you said. Yeah, no. Miss Multiball. The Getaway, I don't. I like Getaway. I don't think that's good remake material. Congo, same thing. I don't. It's just a weird thing. Amy is a bad gorilla. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do No Fear either. Fish Tales. There's been some rumblings about Fish Tales because that one guy's doing his own little suey. Fish Tales is a maybe. That might be a little too low on the B tier to do it. It's one that I keep going back to that I would like to have. I'd like to have a restored Fish Tales just because it's like Bram Stoker's words. The rules are pretty simple, but there's something really charismatic and charming about Fish Tales. Fish Nails.
    22:13
    So maybe. Yeah, I played a lot of it competitively, so I've kind of done with Fish Nails. They can even go back to what Haggis couldn't do. The eyeball deluxes of the world, the centaurs of the world. Yeah, I didn't envision that his plan is to go that far back. I hope not, but he probably could.
    22:33
    I mean, Indian Apple 500 doesn't really work. No, Corvette I wouldn't redo either for that matter. As we're naming a car. Yes, I think we kind of honed in on what works.
    22:48
    I'm still wanting Stern. I've already tried to make a deal with American Pinball and Brian this last episode. Hear me out. Here's my pitch to you. I purchase a certain amount of – you do a run. I don't know what the minimum run you'd need to do. Maybe we split it. Maybe we make 500 of them and you distribute 100 of them to your dealers and I do 400. And I'll take expense on some of this stuff, but licensing. But it's your own licensing. So maybe we – I want to redo some of the Sega games and some of the Data East games. Can I do that? Do you think that I could sell those? I think I could. Data East, the nice thing about Data East Sega is they were like the first to really jump in heavy into licensing. So they do have ties beyond just the nostalgia for the games. The problem is a lot of those games don't play all that well. So I don't know if that alone is enough. Keith can tinker on them a little bit. Once you start changing stuff around like that, it starts to be like, is that really worth the time? Or should you just do something brand new using a license? That's great. Yeah, maybe I just have too soft of a spot in my heart for some Sega games. You do. I just really like them. It would be like me suggesting let's start remaking some Gottlieb stuff. Oh, boy. Speaking of Galactic Tank Force, I got a soft spot in my heart for that. I think they're making more of those. Okay. Where are we at on our list? They're forever to sell the old ones. I don't see the point. Okay Oh Jersey Jack Pinball So here the interesting thing time I told you guys that they were stopping production of Potter essentially and they going to make those again in the fall Well then what the hell are they going to do in May June July August September for the next five months
    24:38
    Build their new hit game. That's right. Chiddly dogs. Well, I think that that's what they're doing. And I think by doing so, we see an announcement of the rumored Sonic the Hedgehog in May. I think what makes it very interesting, and I think that they're going to do what they've done really well the last couple of releases, And have 10 to 20 CEs ready to go for for dealers and location kind of stuff.
    25:13
    So I think I think we I think we could see a Sonic the Hedgehog by June. The thing is, seems early to me, but they've given what you've indicated with their production, I understand it. They want to hit really hard with this game. I know, but Potter, they've got so many Potters they still need to make. This is where it starts to be like, again, Dennis pretending to be business Dennis and he comes in and he's like, you've got all this demand to build this thing. Why are you jumping to the next thing when you're so busy building what's already popular? I don't get it. Do you want the answer? Unless you're going to lose the license.
    25:50
    The answer is that there are more reasons why they're running Jersey Jack Pinball than revenue. Okay. I don't think a billionaire is looking to Jersey Jack Pinball to keep their mansion and yacht afloat. Sure, but I thought maybe they care about what the customers think about them. And they've sold a ton of Harry Potters, and they know that the customers are itching for the next thing, and they want to strike while the iron is hot. And what I think we're going to run into is Trough Jam 2026 where Jersey Jack wants really bad, I think, to get in front of whatever Stern's next thing is. So it's this game of chicken.
    26:38
    Didn't you hate playing that in the pool where you're on the bottom holding the person up and when they fall over they won't let go and they're like half drowning you. And you're like, just get off of me. We are in the water. Have you ever played that game? No. You feel like the chicken and then they fight the people up on your shoulders fighting the pool. They try to push each other. Lifeguards would not tolerate that sort of stuff. They blow their whistle.
    27:04
    Yes. But I think that Jersey Jack Pinball does not want to get – they don't want to have to release after Stern's next cornerstone because they know Stern's next cornerstone is getting some praise here. So it doesn't surprise me that all of a sudden, hey, I know that we have orders and people willing to pay for these products, but we're going to delay that all the way to the fall so that we can get the next game up and going. I don't think that is a coincidence at all. That's what I was saying on the main show. Time-wise, this is going to be really interesting because I think Jersey Jack is going to be itching. And if I'm Stern, I'm really going to be itching as well because I kind of have some history with their designer that may be doing Sonic the Hedgehog, if that's the thing. And maybe I don't want Steve Ritchie to get out following up the Harry Potter success with another big success right before I'm trying to announce a cornerstone that we desperately in 2026 want to make a big mark revenue-wise on the year following Pokemon. And it's going to fall right around that same time where which one's going to be first, the rumored Sonic, the rumored Transformers. From what I'm hearing, the next game from each of these manufacturers is easily a success, easily a success. But it still pays to get out in front. It really does. And like you said, Dennis, this year thus far hasn't been a walk-off home run yet.
    28:39
    I mean we have a lot of carryover Beetlejuice is being built Winchester is being built Pokemon a hit but not like the big pinball game that everybody wants Potter now being fulfilled
    28:54
    Time-wise, the next person that has a great game is going to do really well. And I think Stern and JJP both know that. And those are the two right now that I think are close to probably revealing something. So that being said, which one do we see first? The rumored Sonic or rumored Transformers?
    29:19
    God, this is like a 50-50 for me. I'm going to say I think Transformers beats them to the punch. I'm going to go the other way just to make things interesting. I'm going to go – we're going to see a Sonic the Hedgehog and then followed up within two weeks, We're going to see a Transformers. If I were guessing, guessing, I would say.
    29:43
    End of May. Oh, it's going to be so close. They both want to release around the same time. So I don't even know if two weeks. It's going to be the shit again where we get where one prematurely like teases something. One does that, you know, that whole back. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's going to be really interesting in the coming month here. I'm looking forward to it, too. It's going to be a lot of fun. What else, Jersey Jack? The rumor is that Steve Ritchie and then the following to that would be Mark Seiden with a music pin. That's the rumor, a music pin. So people are trying to guess. Bob Marley. No, no, Bob Marley. I would say that my guess would be different than what most people are guessing right now. That's what I will say.
    30:39
    But then what was the scene that he scrapped his first Whitewood, which always worries me. But the second Whitewood right in the second game that he's created here is doing great, but we'll see. And then after that will be Eric Minier, and there's all kinds of rumors at that point what the hell it could be. Right. Spooky Pinball, the rumor is Goonies or Gremlins or what are the other rumors that they had? South Park was a rumor. There was another rumor. Those have a couple horror things too.
    31:19
    I only knew the Gremlins and Goonies. Yeah, the strongest rumor is Goonies or Gremlins right now. Goonies is the strongest rumor. Right, yeah, I agree. Oh, they're going to do fine. I put that over Gremlins at like 75% to 25%. I think it's one of those two, though. It's fair.
    31:37
    So that's Spooky. But I can see Spooky doing some wild stuff, too, and throwing in a little boutique-y thing at some point.
    31:46
    I know. Not with the main show in terms of where they are at on Beetlejuice production. I don't think there's time to throw in a boutique-y thing.
    31:56
    What manufacturer are we forgetting? That's all the big ones. Pedretti, I don't know. Dutch, Back to the Future is the word, but I've lost faith in a lot of that. Multimorphic, I don't know, but they've been doing good with licenses lately, so I would anticipate. They're now in the groove of kind of knowing what people want in their own little, in their own way, so I would anticipate. They don't need a step back. They've been taking good step forwards, so they can't afford to step backwards. So hopefully they have some good stuff continuing. And they should have an announcement.
    32:39
    Multimorphic should be coming up any time, too. But I don't think they're in that same fight. It yeah not exactly but it was I will say normally you know the last I can even remember how many years if Multimorphic doing a big reveal they do it at TPF the year that the game going to get built and they did not I went over to their area and they had a lot of stuff but obviously they didn have a new thing that they were really showcasing Not in a way surprising because Portal production didn happen for a few months I believe That the thing I think they not going to want to release a game while they still have a lot And I think that's smart. I think it's smart. I'm not sure that they put out something big this year, like Cornerstone Big. Obviously, they have third-party developers working on their platform, too, so there is that. Yeah. It's going to be, yeah, it's going to, God, just between Stern, JJP, Spooky, I don't think Barrels, they'll probably have a fall announcement.
    33:38
    I mean, that one's potentially a big one. I don't know, man. Another big year. I don't know if it, Stern we think surpasses what they did last year. Yes, and they are most of the market, so that could mean alone 26 is bigger than 25. Yeah, sure. Just numbers alone, that might be enough. But in terms of volume of games where people are like, oh my God, do I jump in right now and get Winchester or do I want to wait and buy Beetlejuice or am I going to buy Beetlejuice and Harry Potter and now I'm trying to figure out, oh gosh, I really also want to still get an evil. You know, I don't know if it's going to be that hard this time around or not. I don't know how many people are going to be like, damn it, I have to buy Pokemon and Transformers and Sonic. And I just I don't know if it's like that. And part it's just none of these things are Harry Potter and Harry Potter was a game changer last year. Nothing else is like that that I have heard this year so far. You could argue maybe a Goonies could be at that level. But I don't know because Beetlejuice did so great. Like comparatively, what what's Goonies going to do? Instantly sell out? OK, well, there you go. It's the same threshold as Beetlejuice. People are going to call me crazy. And this is the nugget for the people stuck around. Spooky, don't be mad at me. Spooky Pinball's next game. Spooky Pinball's next game is better than Beetlejuice. Spooky Pinball's next game is better than Evil Dead. Spooky Pinball's next game is the best game that they've made and could easily be the game of the year, 2026. There you go. I'm sorry, Spooky. I can't foot around it anymore. We'll see what Elwin thinks about that. Okay. For this one? Okay. All right. Yeah.
    35:33
    Spooky only making a thousand games. Honestly, to most folk, it ain't going to matter. Yeah, and that may be the case. It's all apples and oranges to some degree. But I'm saying that 2026 units wise, they're going to be more produced or more sold pinball machine, whatever you want to call it, in 2026 than in 2025, just from a number standpoint. Because you yourself said Harry Potter was the big one last year. I get that. But if we take that and you're saying that Pokemon probably sold more or just as many as Harry Potter, and we know that that's kind of like we're going to get just as big of two additional Sterns, if not three. And then we've got a damn big J.J.P. game and at minimum the same size Spooky game, if not another three to five hundred units on top of that. But we're going to have more games in 2026. No, I think the potential is very much there for that. I'm also guessing we're going to have less tariff uncertainty this year than we did last year, given some of the stuff that's already happened. And that obviously affects a lot of supplies. So that also is to the advantage. The main thing that would really only throw a wrench in it would be if we go into a recession. That might disrupt some people. But again, there was some thought we would enter into recession last year and we didn't and we might not again. So, you know, those are external factors. It's exciting. It's an exciting time to be into pinball. And we're going to focus on the positivity of it because, yeah, if it's too negative, then it's not a hobby you want to be into. Go collect stamps. That's right. They're real. Until then, save your pennies up. Get on those lists because we got some we got some juggernauts coming out.
    37:11
    It's going to be May. Maybe. I don't know. It might be. Maybe June. I'm Justin Timberlake, Dennis. I'll see you later. They can turn it off now. The one note to rule them all. He swears it.