I I never get sick of that Pinball Heaven intro. Happy Star Wars day everybody. Uh Gonzo's not here. I've got a better looking rooster though. Although that's probably subjective, but you know
that's better than what I usually get called man. I appreciate it. How is everyone going? We're going to just uh give it a couple minutes to get as many people in as we can. I'm digging these lives. I'm digging doing them. It's good to see Gonzo Super Flipperama doing lives. I'm trying to get my uh the hell is going on here. How you going, man?
Do fantastic. Hi, Don here. Hi, everybody. It's finally happened. We're here Star Wars day live react time with Enzo. Nowhere else I'd rather be. Got a hot episode ready to drop. I this embargo it's been sitting on my chest, man. I can't wait to get rid of it.
So, for for those that don't know, Don went to Chicago, as he always does, had an NDA that he signed. Uh has seen the game, has played the game, has fondled all the twangers, and um
ran my finger on that cabinet.
We're we're going to get his uh his thoughts and that as well. Uh I've got the video for the Star Wars uh ready to go. I cannot show it to you till 12:00 my time, midnight, which is 11:00 a.m. CT time. Are you CT time?
Uh, Central time. Yes, sir.
Central. There's so many time zones in America.
Six officially. Yeah.
So, per Australia has two.
All right. So, um, we've heard a lot of things. There's been a lot of speculation. Obviously, Don just wink maybe if we're right. Um, we we know it's John Borg. We know it's Ray and Code. We know that Stern had to use a uh Disney artist because of licensing, blah blah blah. It does look like it is the guy that does all the toy art. Um, and uh I like what I've seen so far. Um, we know that it is a hybrid between a Venom, a Guardians of the Galaxy with a bit of Rush thrown in there. Um, we know that the uh Jaba Jaba's ass doesn't eat the ball.
We we know that um there's the TIE Fighter and the Millennium Falcon from the other Star Wars game. And right off the bat, I can tell you right now that um I I prefer this one over the old game. Me personally, from what I've seen so far.
I mean, that Millennium Falcon was cool, man. The way the uh the engines lit up the blue. Love it. Wouldn't it be great if we saw that again? Huh?
Yeah. Yeah. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Um, there is an AT-AT that collapses. Now, the controversy is that it's not the biggest ATAT. Some people might think it's big enough. Might be bigger than yours. I don't know. Um,
that's thing. Every culture has their own definition of what big enough looks like.
That's for sure. Uh guys, there's a quite a few of you in the chat already. So, um Dark Spider, uh Endolf and Fishing, Shane, Bruno, Patrick, how are we all going, boys? Uh Junior Vieiraa Dander, that is a sick name. Um Jason, boys, thank you very much for coming in. Um so, we'll keep an eye on the time and then that way we'll play this video and and show it to you guys. Um, I'm thinking that the Pro is still going to be a good value from what I've seen and what I've heard and what I've kind of been told. Um, removing a few sculpts, sure, whatever. You're not going to miss out on much. Um, the Empire Strikes Back is going to be heavily done on the LA is the information we've heard. Yeah, I haven't watched this video yet. So, I'm not I haven't watched the video and I'm telling you guys I literally have not pressed play. So, um we will wait until 12:00 and do a live reaction or else it's not a live reaction. So, um yeah, I mean
this only happens once, man, where you get to finally transverse from the world of your speculation that you've built up in your head to reality. And that's always a jarring thing, you know, because you're always gonna think of of things that are fantastical and then you can build yourself up so high that you end up being let down by reality. But this has been a this has been a great time because we haven't had potato camera leaks going on at all. Everybody's been like watertight like a like the rear end of a marmet.
Yeah, I have been very impressed that there's been no leaks up until 10 minutes ago.
Incredible. Yeah. Um, but I think uh it's it's it's going to be an interesting launch because obviously being Spike 3, we know the screen's bigger. We know there's four speakers, two two drivers, two tweeters. Um, we know that um obviously there is going to be some form of lighting in it more than likely. Um, so look, I think it's a it's a safe launch to be your first launch for Spike 3
and game is meant to be approachable from your 5-year-old to your 95year-old nana. Uh, and that's good.
She's going to love it.
There you go. Right. You heard it right here. Don's Pinball Podcast said, "Your nana is going to love it." And the thing is, I'm going to say something really controversial. Everyone's already heard this take. I found D and D way too hard. Geometry shooting on that game is brutal. I found the same with King Kong. I'm not a good player. So, when you're not a good player, it's very hard to approach a game and have a good time. And when you've got a theme like Star Wars, it has to be approachable by the shittiest player, the youngest player, and the oldest player. And tournament players will probably they might last an hour on a ball one, but who knows? We'll see. Um,
I will say I was talking to Monica about this earlier. If you have ever hit the hyperspace loop on the other Star Wars game that we've had, if you have managed to do that once, you will be able to do absolutely everything on this game. Probably your first game you play on it.
Yeah. So, there's my point on Star Richie Star Wars. Um, you know, the Hyperloop is great, but how often do you hit it in a 20 minute game? Like maybe once if you're lucky. Um, so you know, we'll see. Um, one of the things I will touch on is, um, as everyone knows, Gonzo was pretty distraught that this game's not coming to Europe. Uh, even more distraught where he started playing Bond Ellie the other day and he saw trailers of the name appear in Europe.
Rubbing his nose in it.
Just rub your nose in it. I mean, look, it's probably obviously Stern can't have one video thing for each country. I get that. But it just doesn't help, you know. It doesn't help. But
Stern doesn't love this either. You know, it's only it's because they've exhausted everything and there's no options.
Yeah. And look, at the end of the day, uh, from what we've heard, and Don, you might be able to touch on this, it's not Stern's fault. This is all licensing and the agreement of licensing, and Stern has actually wanted to push this. Um, can you shed any light on that at all?
Yeah, we get this a lot in licensing. You know, you think of some concept or idea like let's just throw out, you know, PeeWee's Big Adventure or something and it's like, why isn't this a pinball machine? And it's not for lack of trying. There's some licenses that just are not open to the idea of licensing it for pinball, licensing it at all, you know, licensing it for that market. Um, so when you approach a studio, like you go to DreamWorks, you're like, "We want to do Kung Fu Panda." and they may say, "Well, this year this is Shrek. Shrek is all we're offer licensing opportunities and maybe in three years that'll be different, but this is what you have to choose from."
And so, in the terms of Disney, I mean, huge empire, Star Wars, their biggest brand, $45 billion uh franchise, like all told, which is like three orders of magnitude higher than the next highest one, right? And so, you know, the the European market there where, you know, pinball just hasn't flourished as much as it has in Australia and US, um, you know, they may look at it and say, "This is small potatoes for us for this brand. We're we're licensing other projects. We're just not interested in doing pinball in this European market." Like, there's not even a conversation to be had, not even a dollar amount.
So, that could be the s I don't know in CERN's instance what it is, but it could be that. It could be that they said here is the cost to license in Europe and they're looking at revenue to be generated and what sales would be based on prior sales and maybe there's just not enough in it for them there.
What they have said publicly is that if you're in Europe and you want this game, tell your distributor, let them know because
if they get an overwhelming amount of pre-order uh hype, they can then maybe take that to the licenser and show them like these are people demanding this game. Can we revisit this?
Yeah. So, I don't think I'm getting dead.
My phone's blowing up of YouTube notifications of all these pinball content creators going, "We're going to go live in 20 minutes."
So, the market's going to be saturated.
Let's tail this, man. Let's tail together. We could do speculation right now and then we could see if we're right in 20 minutes.
Well, you know, like I said, I you know, um I have heard that it is a fan layout. Now, fan layout is controversial cuz most pinballs are a fan layout, but the fact is like the game of the year this year is going to be Evil Dead. And that is a fan layout. Yes, it has a lower playfield and yes, it has the ball lock cabin. Sure, I'll give you that. But it is a fan layout. And this is this game probably from what I'm hearing has more shots than Evil Dead. So yeah, if you look at the lineup, what I've heard from people already is that they've been saying eight shots. That doesn't mean eight ramps. It may, you know, that may include a stand-up target, you know, but uh yeah. Uh and you know, we got to remember there were some great games that had fan layouts. Ovirus House of Horrors, a game I have owned two versions of and just love is ultimately just a fan. Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Right. So creative things can be done with it. Um you know, are we going to see creative things with mechanisms?
What's up, Sterling? How you doing? One of my favorite things to do is to look at a layout and see some kind of convoluted ball path and try to figure out what I have to do to interact with that. In this case, it seems like what you see is what you're going to get.
But that will speak to anybody being able to come up here and at least do one of the major things, you know, in a game.
Yeah. I I think like fan layouts aren't necessarily a bad thing unless it's really brutal like Stranger Things. Like I struggle with Stranger Things. those left and right outlanes are just a killer. Um, and but I think it's a fast safe, you know, it's a it's a it's just a safe way of doing a design. I don't think it's a bad thing. Um, so one of the things I have heard is that the art on the playfield, Don obviously has seen it, so he can't really comment at the moment.
Yeah. Yeah. um is that the art is very on the playfield is is a little bit bare and spaced out because it's not your typical crazy, you know, full Zombie Yeti X-Men and layout, right? Where there's a lot of content on the playfield. And I think in a way I actually don't mind that cuz I think you can probably tell sometimes a better story when that happens. Um, but for me, as long as we see Luke, Vader, Emperor, Yoda, um, X-Wing, like, as long as everything is in there, then, you know, I'm going to be happy. Is would I be happier if this was a Danger meets Elwin design? Look, sure. But those games, ball times are not very long on them. They're high risk reward. Um, and if you're going to be wanting to sell this to kids and older people and anyone and new newbies, unfortunately, you got to play it a bit safe. And I don't think that's a bad thing, right? And I know everyone's going to go on the witch hunt and say that Stern took the easy way out. I disagree with that from what I'm hearing and what we're going to see in about 15 minutes.
Um, was your how was your experience? I mean, I know you've been to the factory and these events multiple times. Was this any different because it's Spike 3?
That was the greatest thing was actually like not just going, you know, we went in and into the conference room and went through the trailers and everything. They pointed out all the nuts and bolts of Spike 3, but walking into the streaming room and seeing all three machines there alongside the Spike 2 is that you really hit with that screen is freaking enormous and it looks awesome. The the the thing it doesn't convey in photos and things is is the the resolution. They ran us through the specs. I mean, the screen is 35% bigger, but when you look at it, it looks twice the size. And not only that, but um because of the processing power and the resol resolution is higher definition, there's also 256 times the colors that are represented as well. So, everything was super sharp. And in my mind, I'm thinking, well, how high definition can a 11 to 13in screen actually get? But then when you see it and how crisp everything was compared to Spike to from where it was before, how the blacks weren't washed out like they do look on some games. Everything was just just crisp with with clear blacks. And um this thing is absolutely loaded to the hilt with movie clips and images and assets. Like it's constantly on the screen. Um
yeah,
you know, you'll you'll see how the information is displayed and everything. Um, but it's very much like front and center like everything. I don't think anybody could walk up here and be disappointed with there's not enough Star Wars content in here.
There you go. Um, not addicted to pinballs is my friend Ash here in Perth. Uh, and a very good point. I said this before, there is nothing really wrong with a fan layout, but you are um there's only so much you can do with it. It's two flippers most of the time. And you know, look, again, most games are fan layouts. So, um, here's an interesting controversial question. Is hitting a pop bumper for a reason, like to get a jackpot or something? Is that considered a shot in your opinion?
I mean, it's in the geometry. Um, I think I think shooting up into a pop bumper nest, it wouldn't necessarily seem like that. Like I I consider that like right orbit shot to the pop bumper nest in Stranger Things. I'm not going up there for the pop bumpers, right? Um but strate but uh you know Rick and Morty or on Godzilla specifically it is absolutely a shot that's your kill shot for Ebra and Godzilla and so maybe we'll see something similar to that here. I will say between the two flippers playing through the game without putting out any spoilers. I was able to hit just about every shot from either flipper which was nice which was approachable. So, if one of the big complaints about Richie Star Wars was how hungry that left out lane was, how unfair it would feel sometimes, uh, they've gone completely 180 degrees away from that here.
Um, so good question. Uh, the it is based on movie four, five, and six, so it is the original Star Wars. The Ellie is basically The Empire Strikes Back. Um, so, you know, there's a big homage to that, which is, you know, one of the greatest films ever made. Um, but yeah, look, I mean, um, you know, I I don't think fan layouts are an issue. Like I said, Evil Dead Game of the Year probably is a fan layout. Venom, Venom's fun in my opinion. Um, I know people find it a bit boring and a bit empty, but the layout is fun, but, you know, I think just there's that small minority of like real, you know, your typical negative nies that are just going to [ __ ] on it all together. Um, but look, from what I've heard, from what Kerry in his Patreon said today, and if you're not on Patreon, join Kerry Hardy's Patreon. Don has Patreon. Don's got two Patreon. The greedy son of a [ __ ] Um, but um, you know, but he never tells you to go join his Patreon, though. Um, but you know, like that I'm what I'm hearing I'm liking. Um, and I've been really, you know, pretty um,
well, like if you're being honest, like, you know, if you're walking up, would you rather have some fun playing on a Venom Premium or a Mandalorian? You know, Mandalorian does not have a fan layout. Everything's crunched around all all over the place with all sorts of hidden little stuff, but it doesn't all add up to like fun. Like, at least the flowwise of Venom or with the fast locks or the flow of John Wick when you get it, that part's fun. it didn't have deep theme integration, deep gameplay. Um, so maybe that's what be the special sauce for here.
Yeah. Well, you know, look, like I said, I I've been pretty um uh uh vocal of my thoughts on DN D and King Kong. Uh I do like when you hit the shots in King Kong and it's butter, but it can be tough. The ball times are not long, especially when you're an average player. So, for me, I'm all for a game that is approachable, safe. I don't have a problem with that. Um, obviously you're going to have uh it's an interesting one because you're going to have your Stern fanatics that are going to like take any opportunity to [ __ ] on Stern.
Then you're going to have your Star Wars fanatics that are going to take any opportunity to be disappointed in a game because it doesn't have Ja eating the ball. Um,
that's not the reason to be disappointed
and or it doesn't have um uh you know certain elements that they really want. I mean, there's a lot of moments in Star Wars that you could go that should be in the game, you know, like uh I think Don, you mentioned this on your podcast. How cool would it be if you could shoot balls into the that animal that he has to cut open to hide himself in the winter?
Oh, slice open your tonton, stuff your balls in there, man. In my game, we're going to celebrate all the weird stuff that happens. Yeah. or a magnet that sticks your ball to the ice ceiling and then the Wampa comes and knocks it off. Yeah.
Um yeah, there's so much fun stuff you could do like that. I don't think we're going to see quite the risks taken here with this license in this particular product.
Um but yeah. Yeah. What could have been? And then there is a lot of room open for modders to customize this thing however you want.
Yeah. Do you think sometimes Stern knows that and they purposely were like, "We can get away with it because we know the mod market will just fix it for us."
Listen, no one's sitting there in my mod dungeon telling me what I can and can't do. Like, I I I've got a blank slate. I can do whatever I want. Um, but they have to get absolutely everything approved and and the the style guides that they have to stick to can be quite limiting. So, you know, take, you know, as long as they put out something halfway decent and at least leave some room there so we can maybe pop something off, add something more grand in our design back on and have it implement. I I think that's I think that's fine and I think there's a lot of opportunity for that here.
Uh, yeah, we are aware there are pictures. I have decided not to show those pictures. Yes, technically you can go look for them. Uh, but I think I will do the right thing and respect Stern's uh embargo till 12:00 midnight my time, 11 o'clock their time, and then we Yeah. 9 minutes.
9 minutes away. Just stay in chat for 9 minutes. Um, so look, uh, again, you know, um, could you have done more? Could could I have different toys? Sure. I'm I would love to have seen an upper playfield and a lower playfield. The lower playfield could have been the cave that Luke is tied upside down in, and you got to bash the ball around him. Um the AT-AT and I think I said this to you, Don. I would have loved to have seen a shot like, you know, in Wizard of Oz where you had the house.
Yes.
And the upper playfield, you had to spin around like a tornado, right?
100%.
So the AT-AT, you know, Luke had his A-wing and he was going around tying the legs up, right? It would have been cool to do that and then see the AT-AT collapse.
I believe that was no speeder, but yeah, I'll allow it. What
was it? And that wasn't awing. I don't I think Alien's different.
Is it? Oh man, I I should I should have done my research.
Okay, but let's look back at what's happened recently with recent releases. X-Men and D and D in particular. You launch a game with this huge mech and then you get a service bolt and right away deactivate this mech. We got to come up with a fix. Like this isn't the game that you want to take any chance of that happening on. Get it out to every arcade and tell people they need to deactivate the Death Star or, you know, don't let Eper Palpatines's freaking shuttle craft take off because it'll blow up, you know.
Yeah. So I I think they went back and looked at their library. What mechs have we used before that were impressive? Are there are there different ways that we can use this proven technology? Uh so we're going to avoid having issues. And so I think that's that's part of why this may be a little bit on the capital S part of safe.
Uh thanks TZD. Uh I enjoyed making that video. It was uh it was a fun video to do. And yeah, Don's got a great channel too. And
thanks Tommy.
[ __ ] as well. um which is uh we are pinball for those dirty assminded people.
Um
so let's see uh what time is it? We're at 11:53. So we've got videos downloaded. They're ready to rock and roll. Um
this is exciting. Finally get to see it. Man,
look, I kind of feel a good energy about it. Like you know, like a turning point. Now, some people might turn around and say this could be if it's a disaster for them, this might be the catalyst that changes everything for Stern. It might force them to have to go a bit smaller again. But I I think there's always going to be
Which release hasn't had that hanging on it? Which release hasn't been like, oh, maybe that's just the code name, right? But but the thing is, Don, like Ash, my friend Ash here in Perth said, um, at the end of the day, there is enough people that are stern fanatics, enough people that are that suffer FOMO, enough Star Wars fanatics, it's going to do well. Like, you know, it's naive to think that you're going to not sell out 770 LE's. Like, that will go in in the first hour.
Like, Star Wars.
Yeah. I don't know how this is going to go. It could be 50/50. We might see an immediate sell out of LE's. We may not. Um, but either way, these games will be marching in a fantastically dressed pro to locations and it's going to do phenomenal for location operators because even if it's not a big seller initially for homeowners, everybody's going to go out and play this thing. They're going to play the hell out of it. It's the first Spike 3, the sound, the screen, everything. You're going to see it in like five minutes.
Yep. Um, so, you know, for for me, one of the things is the code. one of the I really think that Dn D has one of the most unique pinball experiences when it comes to the code, the character leveling, the call out, the storytelling, all of it. And unfortunately for me, I just find the game too brutal and the geometry a bit too hard. But
I think there's merit there to Dwight Sullivan, who is a genius. I'll just put it out there. Um, and he's extremely passionate. Uh, although some will argue that Star Wars wasn't his best work. I I actually quite like the code on Richie Star Wars. I think it's it's fun. Uh if you know what you're doing and how to move that multiplier,
that's the trick. It's frantic because there's so many things going on at the same time. Your your shot multiplier is counting down constantly. You've got to take that high risk to the standups to keep it going. Um all of a sudden you're like trying to get TIE fighters with the action button and then you want to move your uh multiplier to the the video mode shot,
you know. So, and plus which character did you pick? Which perk did you put on them? All of that comes into it. Um,
we have 120 people watching, right, which is huge, huge for us. And we're going to do a couple giveaways. Um, I will give away something and I don't know how I'll send it to you, but I will send it to you. Um, and actually what I'm going to do is I'm going to give away um some hoodies and um I'll work with Sterling. We got the pinball studio.
Um I I'll donate those and I'll get Sterling. If you're in the USA, we'll get those shipped to you. Uh, I'm sure Don's got some translite that we can probably do. Um, or if not, I'll send you translite. I've got a couple. Um,
uh, Don's got a little retro Ralph mod that he can probably print for you guys.
We'll talk on that. We'll talk about that story after. Um, and, uh, we'll do some giveaways. There's a lot of people, so stay in. We can't give away a free game because that's just, you know, it's not going to work. But um
maybe if we had a thousand people in Patreon, we could afford to do that. So go call your your grandma. Sign them up today.
Sign them up today to Patreon. I mean, this is this is the uh what's the uh when you try and sell yourself on Patreon. There's got to be a word for that that
prostitution, I think. Yeah,
prostitution. Um right. So, look, I'm excited. I think um you know, it's not going to be for everyone. like any game, you know, there was people that hated Jaws. There was people that hated Godzilla. Nobody asked for Godzilla, apparently.
That's true.
Um, so yeah. Um, we'll see. Um, it'll be interesting to see. Did they talk about toppers or anything or not really?
Uh, they did. There will be a topper for this game and it apparently it'll be backwards compatible to the Richie Star Wars as well.
Nice.
I think that'll be popular.
And Stern has said that they are working very hard to get toppers released when games get released. That is a big plan for them in the future.
For everybody else with more moderate means, I I already have a killer topper idea for this game.
Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Um yeah, Pat, I have heard that this game is far more approachable than the old Star Wars, then TMNT, then Rush, um then Metallica, then Guardians. So, you're going to be safe there. So given the choice, would you rather have a game that was aired a little bit on the easier side for a license like this or a game that was more on the brutal side like a TMT? You know, which would disappoint you more?
I I'd want an easier side.
I want to be able to do the things. I don't want mechanisms in there that I can't ever accomplish. I
I want to be able to see like I was watching my buddy stream Stranger Things tonight on um Enter your Initials. There was modes I had that game for a year. There was modes that he was playing that I had never seen before. Total isolation is awesome if you can see it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um and yeah, look, um even Rush, Rush is probably, in my opinion, one of Borg's best layouts. The theme isn't for everyone, but the code is like there's a lot going on in Rush.
I still have no idea. I've had Ray Day spoon feed me the code and I still can't wrap my head around it.
All right, so I'm going to get this ready. We're not going to press play yet. Um I'm going to do the right thing. I'm going to wait until
I'll shut up and let you enjoy. Um, well, it's just like it's a hard one, right? Because I'm like I'm checking Stern's YouTube and I'm kind of going, "All right, when they go, we go."
Um, you know, so,
so let's do this. Let's let's just play through it and react in real time and then we can go through it again slowly. Stop and go and look at all the things.
100% 100%. Yeah. Um, so we're
What's that?
Jenga just is in the chat, buddy.
Where is he?
He's in the chat.
Oh, there he is. Whoa. What's up, guys? Look at the size of that amigga. That's big enough, man.
That's the second biggest amigga I've seen today.
That's packing. He's one big amigga.
Packing heat. Packing heat. Um. All right. So,
I got 10:59, man. This is like New Year's. I'm I'm
It feels like New Year's, doesn't it? Well, it is because it's midnight here. So, God,
it's 11 It's 11:59 p.m. in the future.
My embargo die.
What's that?
My embargo is dying. I I'm so excited. So, you're 100% sure we can go at 11 regardless if their video is not up yet?
Got the email. That's what it says. I got my show is going live in one minute. That's breaking down everything. I've got a whole buyer guide for people.
Yeah.
Yep. No problems. Well, mate, uh, as soon as it's 12 and you're happy, I'm just going to press play. What do you think?
Yeah. Stern site is refreshing slow.
Oh, mate. Stern site is going to crash.
I got 11, dude. Let's do it.
Let's go. Let's see if this uh is not playing or it is playing. Yeah, people are showing it. So, let's go. [Music]
Hey everybody, it's George Gomez at Stern Pinball and we're here today in a galaxy not far away. I love
you into the legendary Star Wars universe. With our latest game, Star Wars: Fall of the Empire. With its debut in 1977, Star Wars redefined pop culture and remains one of the most iconic and influential themes of all time. We're excited to bring Star Wars to a new generation of pinball players, taking them on an epic adventure to relive key parts of the Skywalker saga and save the galaxy once and for all. Fueled by our brand new Spike 3 technology, Stern Pinball Star Wars Ball the Empire will have players returning to the story that started it all. Players will experience timeless Star Wars moments through a pinball adventure like none other. This next generation of Spike 3 technology features a robust enhanced CPU, allowing us to seamlessly integrate highquality film assets and custom animations that really highlight our new larger full HD display. Game assets, including John Williams iconic Star Wars score, sound amazing on our all-new audio system. And this is just the beginning of the Spike 3 platform. Over the course of the next year, you'll see an array of additional Spike 3 platform features that will continue to enhance performance and usability. In addition to the new technology, the game also highlights vibrant hand-drawn artwork. And now I'll hand it over to legendary game designer John Bourb to take you through all of the exciting features in Star Wars: Fall of the Empire.
I'm loving what I'm seeing. Hi everybody, I'm lead game designer John Borg here to show you everything in our latest game. Star
Stern heartthrob John Bor.
Players can take down the AT-AT by attaching their snow speededer's toe cable and shooting the spiral ramp to send it crashing down. Mirroring the breathtaking scene from the Empire Strikes Back.
Destroy the rebuilt Death Star 2 by lowering the shields. Dismantle the battle stations during Death Star multiball in order to save the galaxy. [Music] Escape from Cloud City aboard the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive by hitting the center jump ramp to escape hyperspace.
That's cool.
Take down the salacious crumb drop target to access the Sarak [Music] Tie fighters. Battle Stormtroopers and play through your favorite character modes and missions. [Music]
Use the Jedi ball to save your ball on your journey to defeat the Empire.
The Force is with us after all. Oh dear, pinballs are everywhere.
Through the power of Insider Connected, players can explore and connect to the galaxy on a pinball adventure of a lifetime. Whether you're a Padawan or a Jedi Master, Star Wars: Fall of the Empire is available in pro, premium, and limited editions. Relive the legend, rewrite the fate of the galaxy. This is more than pinball. This is Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, available now at sternpinball.com. Um, dude, that slapped.
Yeah,
I reckon that's great. That ball save that went from the outlanes over into the um launcher.
I was trying to I was trying to find that again.
Force is with us after all.
Yeah. So, as you're playing the game, you'll be able to fill up a meter, and when it's halfway full, you'll get access to that ball save. And the higher you build it up, the stronger the magnet is supposed to pulse. Um, yeah, the idea is like quickly grab over there, get your ball, and then you're supposed to let go, hit it again to pulse it to throw it either up, sideways, or back up into the playfield.
So, that will take a bit of getting used to, I guess.
It takes I wasn't able to successfully pull it off. Um,
yeah.
But, uh, yeah, that so that is the thing you'll have to train. It's only available on the premium and le the on the pro. It'll just trigger a right normal ball save.
That's again. That was cool.
So, it's almost like the Rick and Morty where it's it's sitting there pulled ball just floats in space and then at the right time you can release and I guess it'll throw back up.
Yeah. Wow. That's cool. Um, look, I I'm liking the the AT-AT that collapses the, you know, my idea of wrapping around was kind of there, but it's just on the wire form. I guess it would have been cool if that wire form went around the AT-AT, I guess. But, um,
yeah, I mean, it kind of swirls above the the top there. Um, it's a buck. You shoot in there and then there's a vertical up kicker that kicks it up there. So, there is a chance for the ball to stall there on the third shot to wait for the the guy to collapse. But when I was playing it, the ball was coming back so fast as a player, you didn't really watch. You couldn't see that animation.
That's uh Do you guys want me to play it again? We'll start from Lab Borg just talking about it. I can go back and we'll just play it again. Maybe we'll do that just because I think people want to probably miss things or um let's have a look. Galaxy once and for all the
Vigp is gonna have a 90minute uh
live stream of gameplay he recorded going up soon.
Oh no.
But what I want to know what everybody's first impressions are because I know what mine were, but I I don't know if I'm correct.
Well, a lot of the comments everyone's saying they're loving what they're saying.
Um
I like that artwork. that that artwork is a little bit kind of like photorealistic, but also at the same time it's kind of comic art. Um,
like a kids cartoon, but in a in a good way.
Yeah. All right. TZD in the chat wants to know what's lost on the Pro. Um, like just about no gameplay is lost on the Pro. You lose that magnet, but you still have a physical ball save. And again, I wasn't able to really get the Madnick to work. That needs training. Uh, you you don't have those helmets of Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper. Um, but they are featured on the plastic and they they're really they're just static little models. Um, Jabba is not up on the Sarlac pit swirly toilet bowl shot. It's just flat plastic. So, put whatever the heck you want up there. Um, the TIE fighter on the right ramp that's rigidly attached is not there. Um, so it doesn't interact with the ball at all. It's just a basically a decoration that sits on the ramp. The middle ramp, which reminds me of Rush, it goes up and down. On the Pro, it's fixed. Now, when the ramp is in the down position, there's just a rubber stopper that you hit at the end of that. So, just your ball just comes straight back and then the ramp raises and then you can just start shooting the hyperspace. So, it's a thing where I think people may actually prefer it on the Pro because it's just always up and doesn't have that reject down the middle aspect to it. Um, and then the uh the the AT-AT is static. It doesn't actually go down and beg like my Beagle wanting dinner. Um, but it is it is fully sculpted still. It's still the same mechanism. just not attached to any kind of movement. And that is it.
All right, let's play this again and we'll do all the questions after this. So, we'll go through this just in case we've missed something.
Lead game designer John here to show you everything in our latest game.
William, I think it looks great too, mate.
Players can take down the AT80 by attaching their snowers to cable and shoot the spiral ramp to send it crashing down. The breathtaking scene from the Empire Strikes Back. Destroy the rebuilt Death Star 2 by lowering the shields. Dismantle the battle stations during Death Star multiball in order to save the galaxy. Escape from Cloud City have ordered the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive by hitting the center jump ramp to escape hyperspace.
Oh, so the bull the ball's airborne. Cool.
It's like Iron
Maiden. There's an opto in that toilet bowl, too, to count how many revolutions.
Battle storm troopers and play through your favorite character modes and missions. [Music]
Two opto spinners also
on your journey to defeat the empire.
Very cool.
The force is with us after all.
Oh dear. Pinballs are everywhere. Through the power of Insider Connected, players can explore and connect to the galaxy on a pinball adventure of a lifetime. Whether you're a Padawan or a Jedi Master, Star Wars: Fall of the Empire is available in pro, premium, and limited editions. Relive the legend. Rewrite the fate of the galaxy. This is more than pinball. This is Star Wars: Fall of the Empire. Available now at sternpinball.com. All right. So, what I want to do is I want to take it to a point.
It looks like AI to redraw movie stills. We specifically asked them and they had an artist come in and redraw all the faces and everything from the games and didn't use AI and they specifically pointed that out.
Um, oh, Gonzo's in the chat.
Oh, Gonz, what are you watching it for?
This is depressing. Look, we'll get you one. Don will put it on a pallet. We'll send it to you. You don't connect games to Wi-Fi anyway, mate. So,
take the gold stuff. Don't plug it in. Just roll the roll the balls around it just it'll be a big play set for you.
So, so look, we got this far left spinner shot. I'm a sucker for spinners. There's one on the far right. Then, obviously, I really like what they've done with this. It looks smaller in the um kind of leaked photos that got potato, you know, uh uh bukkakeied all over, but um the you know, I think it's possible. I quite like that. Could have been a bit bigger. Sure. The rush ramp that is very rush rampish. Um sure. Um the I I didn't realize nobody ever mentioned this in any of the um leaks or anything that the the hyper ramp was there like a ramp that's airborne, right? Um so there's like a trap door that opens up that you shoot the ball into.
So there's always that opening in the back panel and that's what it's a U-turn into the left wire form. And so it'll jump over the gap that the orbit occupies back there. So, if it doesn't quite make it, it'll fall into the orbit.
Right. Okay. And then we've got this uh so this is a plastic ramp.
Uh which
jabbers the whole thing is like a one piece plastic. Yeah. Plastic ramp up there attached to a plastic toilet bowl. There's an opto on the lower left. And so as the ball is circling around, I saw it like cycle through menu options and then it would land on something and that's what it would award you. um
which is these circular uh inserts I guess
or or some such. Yeah, I still I still know all the rules and everything. Um we had played a version of the code that just went live that day. Um so Ray did his best to talk us through it, but it's hard without context of hanging on there.
Yeah, I thought this was a pretty cool pinball moment, but I'm kind of what I'm seeing I'm going to just put the volume down for a sec. The problem I have with the AT-AT moment is it doesn't look like it stops the ball. So, you don't really actually get to watch that and and you know, take it all in. Right.
Exactly. Cuz it's not like you shoot up there and then all of a sudden a pin will come up and then you can watch the moment happen now. Um once you qualify it, there's three lit inserts in there that'll count your one, two, three, and the third one is the one that triggers the multiball and then he falls. Um now there you could change it with code where that third ball once it gets into the vertical upkicker, it could stall right there and let the animation play out and everything and then go into multiball. Um, so I don't think it's like definitely not going to happen, but I was surprised at that because you kind of want to stop and take a moment and watch that happen.
I I really like what they've done that each shot is about a particular moment in in the law of Star Wars. Um, I do like that they use the Death Star 2 because that's never been used. I don't think it's always been just a the Death Star, the original one. Um I I it's interesting that they've chosen that when you lock the balls that it dribbles and vomits the three balls out the front again.
So So that's um I think that's actually the Groot mech because the you bash the mouth the mouth opens. You it'll physically lock all three balls and then they all kind of just vomit out of the Death Star which thematically I'm not sure how that ties in because this Death Star remember is the one that they had to go into fly to the center and then blow it up.
Yeah. Um, the Death Star doesn't spin, doesn't rumble, doesn't have lighting effects. Uh, the only movement is with that jaw opening and shutting. There's no audible vomiting sound, but I provided that every time it happened because it made me ch.
Yeah, look, I think it would have been cool if you loaded it from the front and then the balls came out of the back maybe.
Um, or or one a couple from the back and one from the scoop or something to kind of throw you off. Um, I don't know. I wonder how many times people are going to think that they're I'll show you this. This freed me out.
How many times people going to think that their ball got stuck up there?
I I think that's probably why they put that there because his tail would have been a ball trap and so they I was looking at it and that ball looks to be a little bit smaller than a fullsize pinball. I'll have to actually measure the real one, but um just from eyeballing it, it looked like it's embedded in there and maybe slightly smaller.
Yeah. Right. Okay. Interesting. Um all right, I'm going to start this from the beginning. Let it play in the background. I can't actually see the chat at the moment. Uh, I really like the LE. Although that little mold near the flipper button of the AT-AT, the little cutout that's a bit
bit of a weird shape. And yeah, it kind of a little bit
it's blue powder coat. It's cut out in the shape and it's a sticker that's on the cabinet similar to how John Wick's premium armor was.
Yeah. So, okay.
I mean, at least it's not matte black.
Well, look, I was going to say I'm really happy that the powder coating is there. I'm really happy it's got expression lighting and I think it's good to see expression lighting um not um on a you know just a music pin. Um
oh the pro cabinet does not have the ability to have the expression lights put into it. That was the other thing.
Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, that's true. Um so look, to be honest, I like everything I see. The movie clips far more enjoyable movie clips than the last film. Uh it doesn't look disjointed like you're not doing, you know, um you're not in the middle of Hoff and then all of a sudden you're in like the Death Star and then all of a sudden you're you're fighting Obi-Wan, you know, like I do like that it's a little bit um um cool like that. There's one thing I was going to ask you now. This scene here, let me just quickly take that back. Mhm.
So, I like how the artist has drawn in this is the the window of the emperor's throne and there's these inserts which are the pattern in the window and they actually light up. Is that like a mode level that shows how far you are in a mode?
Yeah. So, each of the main eight shots is represented by another character in the movie franchise. And I think like as you qualify each one of those, their their um corresponding bar will be lit and then you probably light them all for the major wizard mode or whatever. Yeah, we specifically asked about that and the game set up so each one of those shot pass will be devoted to a different character or like a different mode or something. But yeah, you know, finishing each one of those tasks will then award you probably that light there. Although the code we were playing was still early, so it may not even be fleshed out yet.
Yeah. So, look, I can already tell by what we've seen that the game is much more approachable uh by a lot of different, you know, people that play pinball. It doesn't look overly complicated. Yeah, there's a lot of fun toys and mechs in there. Um, could they have done more? Sure. I would have liked to have seen a lower lower playfield. I would like to have seen an upper playfield. Uh, you know, I thought that engine room where he cuts Luke's hand off in the film. Spoiler alert.
Um, you know, that uh what was that called? It was like a turret thing that he was like floating in the in the void of the uh engine, whatever it's called. That could have been an upper playfield on its own. But
look, you know, it is what it is. when you're not going to be able to keep everyone happy.
Yeah. I mean, in my mind, the game I'm designing will have, you know, the indoor area with with the trees and that's the pop bumper nest up in the corner and you you'll explore like the different areas and and each one will play a little bit differently. There'll be an upper play field, but that's, you know, in my own complicated, you know, mind. Um, this is a game that I had never played it before, but I walked up and each of my first three or four games, I felt like I was good at pinball.
I was able to make the things happen. sometimes multiple times per game. You know, Death Star multiball, the Hoff Battle multiball. You spam the hyperspace ramp. There's a hyperspace ramp multiball. Um I had one run where I was just playing one-handed with the left flipper and just putting the ball right up that hyperspace jump ramp like five times in a row
and just feeling like a boss, you know, with just my my meager skill level. So
that's that's what this game is. That's who it's for.
Um couple comments about the layout. Yeah, look, we have touched on the fact that it is a fan layout. Uh, and again, I don't think there's anything wrong with that because I think when you have a theme like this, and I know I'm repeating myself, it's, you know, it's approachable. Um, and, you know, it doesn't mean that it's going to be terrible to play. Um, there was one of the one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, Don, was um
I did want to mention real quick the Ellie the um the the Kenner artwork would have been perfect for foil embellishments, but the LE decals are just plain decals, no foil embellishments, no radals. Um I I kind of think that's a miss because I love those foil accents that they've been doing particularly with J looked great. Jaws, it looked great. That shimmering ocean that's not here. And then a question in chat about visual assets. Uh there's there's loads of characters and loads of scenes and you hear them talk and you know when you tilt you see Han being lowered towards the torture droid. Like it's all it's all in there. Everything was there. I
I think uh you'll probably see a 50th anniversary of this come out next year where the stars in the Emperor's backdrop there are going to be all glitter and uh we may have more shimmer and more shine on on that. That's if that's the Vader edition with the blood red armor with the sparkles in it. I'm telling you, man. And if it's got the rest of the Spike 3 embellishments by then,
yeah.
I'm just saying
it's interesting reading the comments because there's uh more people saying that they're impressed than people that are saying, you know, Sad Boy unfortunately thinks it's underwhelming. Uh but, you know, look, it's not for everybody. That's the joy of pinball, right? Every game is different for everybody. Um, so, um, look, I think
Gonzo's gonna love this freaking game, too. I'm so sad.
What's that?
I think Gonzo's gonna love this game.
Yeah, I know. He was in the chat and he's going, he's devastated. There was there was a comment he made. Um, where is it? He goes, I'm sulking.
So, comment in the chat, CC, how's the new sound system? So, uh, George Gomez cranked the sound in that streaming lounge on the premium, which doesn't have the extra tweeter speakers. Well, I could share those images now. Um, and it was not only loud, but clear. Like, it wasn't distorted at high levels. And even with all the people in the room and everything and the other games playing, like it was really coming through. And I wasn't even directly in front of the game. I was kind of off about 45 degrees. So, I I I need to I need to play with one a little bit more. But I think we won't have to worry about upgrading amplifiers to these games anymore to get high fidelity decent sound.
Um, do we want to do a giveaway? There's 140 people in the chat.
Absolutely.
Let's send some or something.
Well, uh, we got to come up with questions, right? Like, um,
the most obvious one would be, uh, well, I guess let's have a look what we can give away. Um, we'll do we'll give away I'll I'll I'll organize something with uh Sterling with some hoodies and some shirts. Um, let's have a look at All right.
Josh Gub is savage. Looks great for a P3 module. You get my stamp of approval.
That's hilarious.
Um, we are going to go with uh most people I think fanatics are going to get this right. So, we're going to go with what year? And you guys need to be ready. You put your answer in the chat and we're just going to pick the first person that gets this right. Right. And uh hopefully we don't have to send hoodies and shirts to like Greenland or something. Um I'll see. Yep. Working. All right. Andrew, that is not that is too obvious. Uh what year? How did I know someone was going to say that? Um, did
let's go with um
what Empire Strikes Back. When did that come out?
Oh, okay.
And a lot of people get this wrong, right? Because um it's an interesting one because everyone everyone thinks it's one thing, but it's not.
Let's see.
All right. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We got CC 1980. just changing. Yeah. Yeah.
Came second, but you can't win. Changes. Uh CC, don't know where you're located. We'll do a couple more of these giveaways. Don't worry, they're easy answers. Um whereabouts are you CC? Please tell me you are in America. Um what have you got that you want to give away? You got a translite? You've always got translit.
I got I got a stack of trans lights. Yeah,
you're you're there. You go, Florida. Well, I'll tell you what. um send uh me or Don a message and whoever um gets that um we'll we'll get in touch and we'll send you some hoodies and shirts uh and I'll get those sponsored and I will cover the cost of those and we'll get you some Pinball Studio shirts and hoodies. Um I'll get Sterling to send me the bill and we'll get them shipped to you.
Yeah, plenty of new logos for Don Pinball Podcast and We Are Pinball as well that are absolute fire.
All right. Well, let's Why don't we do some Dom Pinball podcast and wet ass pinball uh shirts and hoodies, right? And I'll uh we won't worry. I'll worry worry about the cost later. You send me the bill. Um let's pick a different film. Should we pick your favorite?
Uh gosh, which was my favorite?
I was going to say episode one.
Oh, I thought it was Big Adventure. Um
Big Adventure. No, we're gonna go Star Wars, right? So, let's do Star Wars. Um, I got a good one. I have to look it up. I don't know the answer for it. Here. One second.
Got the answer. So, get ready with your comments. In the meantime, I will just play this while Don's looking for um, let that play in the background. Uh, look. So, so far, let's just recap. I love what I'm seeing. The artwork's not going to be for everybody. The Playfield artwork is a little bit uh, less cluttered um than normal. Um, but I'm okay with that. Um, so let's have a look.
I got to double check and make sure this is accurate. Rugged drug. Andrew, you're right, buddy. You were also 1980. I'll tell you what, send us a message and we'll send you something as well. Don't worry.
All right. All right. I got it. Are you ready for the next question?
Let's go.
Next giveaway question. So, this one's also a year. All right. But real quick, what year did Star Wars the special edition come out?
I don't even know the answer to this.
Yeah, I had to look it up just to double check and I'm watching the chat. 1978 N. Oh, Django got it. That's I'm I'm not giving it to him. Ryan's William Art. Let's go with that. He was the next one after Jenz. Ryan Williams Art, 1997. January 31st. It was supposed to come out in the fall of 96, but actually was pushed to January 1997. I was there when each one of these came out. And that's important because while there is a lot of clips here from Star Wars, a lot of them are from the special edition because that's kind of all Disney will allow access to. Hello, Gans.
Hello, Dom.
Don Pickle podcast.
What's I I saw Don just snuck into the backstage and I was like, "Oh, he's there. He wants to come on."
I couldn't resist. I've been watching behind the scenes. I've been listening. This is the big reveal for me.
I thought you were at work.
Well, I am, but work's here.
Oh, yeah. It's true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What do you think?
Yeah. It's It's I love it. I love it. This this thing will look gorgeous in chrome in a if the armor was chrome.
I don't know if it's a T- molding chrome. Did I see it
is on the LE? Yeah.
Yeah, it's all got to be chrome. T- molding chrome mirrored back glass. I look I I was sulking because I didn't I didn't I didn't want to soil the everybody's excitement because look, you know, well, I was going to say we got um subscribers from all over the world. We got people presenting the videos from all over the world and I am I don't want to kill everybody's excitement because I'm grumpy that we can't have this game in Europe. So that that was my only reason. But I'm no longer grump I am I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed that we haven't got it in Europe. But I am also excited by the game and I think it looks really good. I know it's a fan layout. I get it. But uh I Yeah, what can I say? I like the game. I want this game. So yeah, looks really good. But yes, I didn't want to steal you guys thunder either. Don's been such a great great obviously Don's played it and I want to find out.
Well, here here's the thing. You need to get everybody that that that wants this game to let their distributors know so they can let Stern know so they can let Disney's licensers know that there's a market there waiting for this game and then maybe that's the last hurdle they need to get the licensing approved.
Yeah, I mean I did I did one I did wonder about and they've said that they Stern told Stern told me that. Um and and we've done that but I think it's it's just a hard thing to do. um when you've already been told that there's no gay. Justice for Gonze. I love that. Um and Chief Chief of Southerntherland. What what an excellent name that is. Um yeah, I think it's really hard when they say, "Look, we haven't got one for you, but let you let your distributor know." It's a It's a bit like going to the bakers after they've closed down and saying, "Could I have some donuts, please?" And them saying, "No, you can have no donuts. We closed down. No donuts for you." And then they've been advertising it on the screen. So on the spike
on the spike twos at the moment,
that's horrible. They're saying, "Oh, look at this lovely Star Wars game that you can't have." So, we're we're triggered. I think the word is triggered at the moment.
Triggered.
Um, so yeah, look, we got Don in cuz Don actually went he had signed an NDA. He knew about it. We spoke about his experience um and what it was like and what they've said about the big screen looks impressive and and all that. Um, yeah, look, I I'm really happy with what I've seen. Is it safe? Yeah, I'll repeat that. It is a safe play by them, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. So, um, you know, yeah, I mean, look what
and look at the speakers that are on there, too. The Spike 3 speakers, that's the huge thing from this. We finally get like tactical hands-on what Spike 3 is going to be like. That screen's impressive. 18 and a half inches. I was wrong. And then the LE comes with the extra tweeters on top, but that'll be upgradeable across all of all the models. Um, the other thing they mentioned is that going forward, um, as some of the Spike 2 games are are made over the next year or so, some of them may convert over to Spike 3 as well. So, you might see Spike 3 versions of potentially things like Jaws or Kong or what.
Oh, all right. I'm just seeing um Jeez, my phone's blowing up. Everything's blowing up. Um, we're going to have uh Jeff from Dirty Pools Pinball is going to join in about 10 15 minutes, I think, as well. Uh, we I did advertise there was a few special guests. I didn't realize we're going to have this many, but that's fantastic.
I was I was watching Dirty Pool's June the other day, which sounds rude, doesn't it? But uh yeah,
you're looking at his worm again, were you?
I was. I was.
Um so, um one sec.
I think I think the giant ball sucking wormhole is done better on Doom. Um just because there is Sarlac art, but you can only see it if you're standing over the game looking through the Java toilet there. Um
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's one of the facts, isn't it?
Yeah. Yeah. So, that's one of the two silly things from this game. The toilet bowl's a little silly and the the Groot vomiting Death Star is a little silly, but it's silly in a fun way, too.
I haven't seen Star does yet. I I I heard you cuz I believe it or not, Enzo, I spoke to him earlier and he said, "We're going live at midnight, but we're in three different um locations here. Midnight can mean a lot of different things." So, I just clicked on and I thought, "Oh, hold on. You're live." So, I've seen the atat collapsing, which is on there now. I haven't seen what the Death Star does, apart from a ramp comes down.
No, the ramp there, but the mouth. Yeah.
And all three balls can be physically locked inside there and then it plays a scene and then they all come rushing out.
Okay. Wonderful. I think it looks good. I like it.
There you go.
Oh, and that ramp lifts up there. That's That's a jump shot.
Yes, that's a jump shot. So, the the hyperspace jump shot is really cool because a bit like Lord of the Rings where it goes into the ring. Um, you'll see it now. There you go. Boom.
Okay. And the lights all light up on the side when they're up there. Don't notice. Yeah,
the the expression lights really added a lot to the game. That and the shaker motor um are must have add-ons. So, but you have to be premium level or above for the game to accept those. Now, the the interesting thing I heard through a lot of people is that Stern obviously doesn't want to be making parts for Spike 2 and three, and they're working on a way for Spike 3 to be backwards compatible. Did they speak about that?
Yeah, they said it won't happen with every game, but games that are still in production going forward over the next year or so will be made as Spike 3 versions. Yeah.
Um the the uh software needs to be completely rewritten, but the the daughterboard system, the nodeboard system is the same. Uh, but some of the cabling is different. So, you can't just grab this screen and throw it in your Spike 2 cabinet and expect it to work. Um, it does does need the new computer architecture, but um, you know, it's not insurmountable, but so, you know, a game that's only going to be in production for the next year or so, probably it's not going to happen to, but things like Jaws probably will get spike three treatments.
Chris, did you see the ball save force?
I I I think you were just about to show it.
So, so you can get the ball. Don will explain it quickly again. You can chuck it into the um plunger or you can chuck it up. Watch this.
Wow. So, this is what Steve Ritchie really wanted something like that on the on the game he did. He wanted to have something that that signified the force and um and I think they they didn't have the budget to do it. Right. That's cool. That's really cool.
Mhm.
Yeah. Um, so Don, so can you just explain again how you chuck it into the plunger again?
Yeah, so as you're playing the game, there's a little Jedi meter in the corner of the screen. When it's full halfway, it activates and then the more you fill it up, the stronger the actual pulse will be. And then when active, you need to hit the button and then it's going to grab the ball and then you can see there, it's almost like Rick and Morty where it pulses so the ball stays in space. And then I think you time it so when it's, you know, on its way up, you can let go and have it fling back up or it can fling out the uh the the side ramp there. Uh or the side drain into the shooter lane. That's only available for premium and LE. The Pro doesn't have that magnet. Uh but you'll go ahead, hit the button, and then it'll award you a typical ball save.
Yeah. So the So the Pro's got a static AT-AT. It doesn't have the Darth helmer, the Darth helmer, the Darth the Darth Vader helmet, the Stormtrooper helmet or the Jabber. Um, but look, I mean, they're things that you could ultimately put in yourself. Not an issue. Um,
I don't think there's any real gameplay altering things that you're losing on this.
No. Yep. No, no, agreed. Agreed. So, look, I think it's great. Um, and you know, with Ray Deon code, mate, you just can't go wrong. Um, you know, I think probably the biggest takeaway is people aren't going to maybe like the art, but again, they didn't have a choice. They had to use the Disney art, the artist that they wanted to ch. It's not I think it's fine.
It person looks fine to me. Yeah. So,
I do have another video that um I got sent. Let's see if we can share that one quickly. Um, this one is purely about the um LE. It's going to look a bit small though, only because of the ratio. I think this was done for like a real on um Instagram, but we'll we'll show it anyway. So, there you go. Boom. Boom. Can you guys see that?
Yes.
All right, let's have a look. [Music] Oh, that's the sound. Tie visor. That's what you want to hear. [Music] We're saved.
I've got I've got another video which that wasn't the one I was going to show. Is um the call outs done by um C3PO?
Yeah. And there are custom and I didn't get confirmation that it's Anthony Daniels, but they said custom callouts by C-3PO. So, it's either a great sound alike or what, but there is Yeah. custom.
It does sound like him though.
It does. And um I will say aside from that, there are still a lot of call outs from movie clips that are used too. So, it's not just C3PO all the time.
There you go. Okay, let's watch this one. That collapses really well.
It's good.
People are going to make some good mods for this stuff as well.
Already on it. Got some ideas.
We're saved. [Music] There you go.
Let me just let me just click on this. Methodone has said a B layout without a three pump. This is this is exactly right. I don't like that. I don't like that stuff. I really enjoyed Rush, but I felt it spoiled the game. really enjoyed Eer Smith, but I felt it spoke the game. Um, I I don't want to I know it works and people love Maiden and I know it's a different designer obviously with Maiden, but I I I quite like that it's separated to two pop bumpers either side of the machine, right, from
I'll bring that up.
I Yeah, I I I like that. I I I don't like the the nest of pop bumpers. I don't like having to shoot through them. I'm not good enough really.
Well, it's interesting that they've got one right there, right, and then you've got one right there. And you I thought you were it was going to be brutal and get you in the outline, but this is but these posts are there and that won't happen.
They kind of missed it. Yeah. And then there is a scoop for Darth Vader there just above that left pop bumper.
Is that to start a specific Darth Vader modes only?
I don't know if it's only for that, but that's how a lot of the modes got started.
Yeah. Look, I believe there's going to be uh gameplay and stream happening in the next hour um by other content creators that were there yesterday. So, I mean, my phone YouTube notifications have gone ballistic at the moment. Um, because there's a lot of content creators and to be fair, I mean, this is a big theme, right? Like, there are I've got 15 notifications of content creators covering this game at exactly the same time. And I think everyone criticized Stern for not showing the game and not allowing the content creators to stream. And I think this was a very clever way of getting everyone in, everyone creates content, and then everyone drops the content at exactly the same time.
Um, because everyone's talking about it right now, which is going to make it trending, right?
Yeah. I know Vic VP and Cool Toy were both there with rigs recording gameplay footage, so they're probably all going to have long plays. And then Chief of Southernland's asking, "When can we expect some reviews?" I should have just dropped my episode where I kind of went through a gameplay review and buyer guide for all three versions. Try to explain everything as best as I could. So, that's out there. And
Cool Toy Cool Toy has just uploaded a pro gameplay video. So, by all means, you'll be able to watch that soon. Um, so, you know, look, for for me, I I just think, you know, we've we've created something that is getting everyone together. It is a theme that, yes, it's big. Harry Potter was big, but I just think Star Wars has a way of bringing everyone together. Um, especially in a market that is normally guys between 45 and 65 that are that lived and breathed Star Wars, right? Uh, whereas a lot of those guys didn't live and breathe Harry Potter. So, um, look, I I think they've played it safe. I've said that. I don't think it's a bad thing. Um, was there anything that we haven't covered, Don, that
I mean, this is the coolest Star Wars toy that's out right now. For sure. For sure. So, there you go.
That's what you got. You got a nice arcade playing game in a Spike 3 cabinet. This isn't the home version. Fully fleshed code. It's a full cornerstone release. Expression lights. I wish there was foil on the decals. Um, but a lot of it else is just nitpicky stuff. I mean, game's fun to play it. It's got all the assets in it. Um, look, there's people are going the toys are a little bit small, but look, I mean, you got to find that happy medium, right? There's still a company that has to work on making profits and blah blah blah and all that stuff. Um, but I I think there will be mods, no problems. Uh, Jaba is actually pretty big. There was a video where Jack Danger was holding Jabber and, you know, it didn't look as that looks smaller in that. It's a bit like, here's a perfect example, right? When when we saw uh Dn D for the first time, I was blown away by the size of the dragon. When I saw King Kong for the first time, I was blown away by the size of that. So, they look small here, but you'll be surprised they won't be that small in person. Don, you've seen it. What do you reckon?
Yeah, I mean, this looks like a Jabba action figure you would have opened up from a package in 1978, you know, and and the the light that's inside them makes them glow up like a like a nightlight or something. So, it looks like an actual toy you would have bought back in the day. And that's probably what they're going for.
Um,
is it what
is that? A flasher in him?
Yeah. Well, he's got like a a flasher LED PCB stuck in them somewhere. Yeah. Yeah. Because because on the Pro, there's nothing there. It's just a top plastic, which would be a great spot to drop Jabba's Palace or something right there. So,
the Death Star is a little bit smaller than the uh the four. doesn't move, blow up or light up. But maybe this is what they got to use. You know,
that's probably my biggest take on this is I would have liked to have seen the Death Star bigger um just because it's such a big presence in the film, but like that there's a lot of space still on that back part here where you could have gone bigger. But I think what they're trying to create is this hole in the wall at the back to create a pinball moment. And if you had made that Death Star bigger, you probably would have taken away from that element. But this is my gripe I had with John Wick, right? Where the car is massive and the hotel is tiny,
right? And they're right next to each other and it just doesn't look in proportion, right? And the hotel could have been bigger. There's a lot more space up there, right? So this is where the Millennium Falcon looks massive and the the Death Star is a little bit small. I do imagine we are going to see mod makers blow this thing up.
Yeah, Jaba's going. If I got this Jabber's going, he's gone. So, I want some bigger bigger Jabas going in there.
You know what?
Put Jabber and I want and I want a bikini um Princess Layer laying in front of him as well.
Yeah. One more comment before I go. This looks like if I took all my uh my Star Wars toys out of the box and laid them up with my Hot Wheels tracks and and was playing on my carpet. Like, this is the kind of thing I would sit there and play with.
Yeah. Look at all the toys lined up. Like, there they are. We're going to throw vehicles at them and try to smash them. and and that's what the game is while while the while the movie's playing on the TV screen in the room.
So, this is coming into my Star Wars bedroom as a kid.
So, look, I think it'll be easy to replace that um Death Star because the opening is can be at the bottom. It's not going to matter. Um, but yeah, a few people have said it would have been cool to have a hyperdrive, but the thing is my take on the hyperdrive, and we spoke about this right at the beginning of this episode, was that it's a great mech, but everyone I speak to, they're lucky to hit that hyperdrive once in the whole um, uh, time that they're playing the three balls. It's a hard shot to make. Um, but yeah, look, again, each to their own. You know, here we've got Anthony saying he likes Richie better. I struggle with that because I don't think Richie's game is f great at all to be very frank. But uh again, the joys of pinball, everyone's valued to their opinion and there are games that I just don't like that Don I love Galactic Tank Force. Don hates Galactic Tank Force.
You can have it.
So, um you know, that's the the joys there. Uh Don, you got to get going, don't you?
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks so much, guys.
No problems. I got Jeff's coming on any minute now. He'll be here soon. Um but I really appreciate it.
Tom, thanks mate. Nice nice to see you.
All right, take care guys.
You too.
Um, so Chris, the good thing is is that like there's the support stern. I've spoken to Zach Sharpe and a couple people. Um, you know, they are pushing hard to get this over to you in Europe. Um, so, you know, it is a bit unfortunate that it hasn't happened in in time. But look, you know, you you normally would you say that you would get Stern games like two or three months after the launch anyway? Normally
always late. Yeah, we we we're we're really they like So, for instance, Spooky and JJP really look after us over here. So, they they they they make sure that that we get them over and they send them out at the same time and they air freight them over. So, we we're really lucky with that stuff. Yeah. Stern
We do get them a long time afterwards with Sterns. Yeah.
Yeah. So, even if it's three or four months, so there's still time. you may still get it at the exact same time at this point in time you don't have it. But there is a possibility that might happen around the same period as when you would normally get it anyway. Um, so let's hope they can get it all done and dusted before um, you know, before that goes.
Yeah. Listen, you know, I've got to say this, and I didn't particularly want to, as as we would say in the UK, piss on anybody's fireworks, but um you know, there's a lot of people, and since I did my sort of tantrum video a couple of weeks ago, I've had a lot of people from Europe, European distributors, European pinball enthusiasts, collectors, players, you know, have contacted me and a lot of them do feel really let down. And yeah, I mean, particularly when when Stern put that
look, Stern Stern just put their advertising up on all their Spike 3es and I guess it goes out via Insider Connected. But
yeah,
yeah, I mean I I had three videos almost instantaneously of people saying, "Well, hold on a second. We're I'm playing Venom or I'm playing whatever.
Well, you're going to get more of them now."
And the screen is Yeah. The screen is now showing me
what I can't have. So, yeah.
Um
Yeah. Yeah. And and people have been saying that to me to just think that little of us that you know they don't they don't seem to be um bothering and whatnot. So yeah, there's a lot of disappointment in Europe. So it would be it would be a great thing indeed if this situation did get sorted out because the thing is I mean a lot of people were saying well hopefully it would just be a bad game and you won't you won't like it. I can just see the the trim on the um T- mold in there, the chrome trim. Um
I like it. I don't mind all the artwork. I actually think that back glass on that, if it is an LE there,
that's the LE. Yeah.
Magnificent. I like that. And I just think if that was all in chrome, all that metal work there.
Yeah.
Maybe maybe the the speaker panel doesn't need to be in chrome, but the um the lock bar and and the rails and the the hinges. And I personally would get rid of those blades um because they're bit too blue. The whole game's a bit too blue for me. You made that silver. I just think the game is going to look stunning. I don't mind the artwork on the playfield. It's me. I want to see Luke. I want to see Yoda. I want to see these things. Um I like I like what they're doing at the back there. Um actually, and that gives it the depth. If you look at it, just look at what you're looking at there. You can I know the Death Star's too small and anything I could do to upgrade that I'd certainly do. But it's almost like you're looking into space at at the back there. So you've got you've got the sort of depth of field there if you want. Um, I don't mind a fan layout. I got plenty of stuff that's not a fan layout. So, it's it's I I don't mind a fan layout. Some of the best games I've ever played have been fan layouts. Don't mind that. Um, yeah. Look, there's there's a there's a there's a lot there's a lot to like here. And I think so this is which was
this is the premium. So, this was a leaked photo. I think it's from one of the dealers things. Um, so this is the premium artwork. Um, and you know, the artwork on the translite especially, I think it's great and it does a lot of homage to the vintage toy line of Star Wars. I think um there's a lot of uh and I think this guy that does the art actually does the current toy line. Um, we'll know more. Uh uh we do have I have an interview with John Borg on uh Monday night uh Chicago at 8:00 p.m. um which is my Tuesday morning uh and is the UK's middle of the night unfortunately
8 8:00 p.m. Chicago time for people to want to tune in. Right.
Yeah. So, but look, I think I the the moment of this Return of the Jedi moment is fantastic. The LA is more about The Empire Strikes Back, which I guess makes sense because it is the most iconic film. Um, but yeah, look, I, you know, can't can't really complain with that.
I think I think that looks good. I don't have a problem with with that artwork. Yeah, that's I don't like Maybe that that's the the one I like least. Maybe that one there. I don't know. It's hard. It's hard to say. I'd need to see it, but um I don't have a problem with with the art. No, actually, the one behind George there is probably the one I like least. I like the sort of I think I like picking up the silvers and the you know I love all that stuff. I used to love as a kid I used to love the command ships. I used to love them you know it was ever ever since in in a new hope that first scene that you see which is um which is you see Princess Leia's ship and it goes goes past.
Yes.
Before it gets swallowed up.
I never forget it. I went went to this went to the cinema. I went to see see it twice in the cinema when it came out. It was the second film I ever saw in the cinema. First one was Pete's Dragon as and then
it as it came through and it just looks so big
and you just see it sort of comes through like that as it you know sort of comes up and then it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and you think when is this thing going to end?
Yeah.
And from that from that moment I I just loved those. Um just love those ships and um yeah so anytime I see any of those I just think they're they're magnificent. So, you know, anything that you can have like that on on the artwork or the atats I think are brilliant as well.
Yeah.
Uh yeah, you you can't for me you cannot have too too much Millennium Falcon, too much Vader, too much. It's it's Stormtrooper. Brilliant. You know, bring it on. That's what Star Wars is all about for me. It was the um
I call them the first three films, but of course it's not. It's four, five, and six, isn't it? But as far as, you know, as far as in terms of watching them,
that's that's what it's about for me. It's not the Clone Wars and and all the Juda Binks. It's this stuff. And I'm really pleased to see it in this game. I look at any pinball almost any pinball machine and think actually this could have been improved upon. But I love it. I think it looks really good and I I very much want one, which makes it um Yeah. Exactly. I just said the Yoda's eyes light up when he does the ball save. And that's kind of reminiscent to the owl's eyes in Rush. Um when it does the shoot again. Um I'm just going to Jeff uh Jeff Dirtyool is here. We're going to get him on. Give me one second and we're going to shut this for a sec.
Hey Jeff.
Jeff.
Hello. What's going on Gonzo? What's up Enzo? Thank you so much for having me on.
What's going on?
Nice to have you. I'm uh I'm here. I have I have played the game. I am I fire away. I will try to answer any questions you guys have. I
I I appreciate I know you went live at 11 a.m. as well and just ended. How did your stream go?
Good, good, good. I mean, we really broke down. We had uh Kyle and John Tl Slaps hopped in and they were helping field some more questions about the game and and just kind of giving more details. People had a lot of interesting questions about what is going on with the game and I think it's a pretty interesting thing to chat about. So, how was your guys chat? What's uh what's the hot topic over here?
Well, I got Don on earlier just because obviously he was there as well. So, I thought while we're waiting for the the the midnight for me, uh we got Don in and we got his opinion on it. And then in the meantime, um obviously we spoke about that and everything, but for those that don't know quickly, Jeff has his own channel, Dirty Pool Pinball. Uh Jeff does things very, very different, very quirky, really really uh yeah, all Hell the Pyramid. Jeff is all about the pyramid because his Twilight Zone's his favorite game. Um, so please head over, like and subscribe. And Jeff is a fantastic photographer and has a fantastic Instagram channel. So please do that as well.
Appreciate that. We don't need to plug me though. Let's talk about Star Wars.
Jeffy Field on his camera there. He clearly is.
I was going to say you can tell he's a sound engineer because his audio is fantastic.
Also, nothing says sound like putting a bunch of stuff on the wall that you don't use. Right.
Correct. Correct. on me in my hoodies that I don't wear. Um, yeah.
All right. So, Jeff, how did it play?
It flows awesome. It's insanely fast. And, uh, I think that, you know, I said the two I got to shut off my OBS. Oh, no. Stop making noise. It's playing It's playing silly elevator music in the background. Don't do that. Okay. The two words that I think that really kind of quantify this game are fun and accessible. And I think that one of those is going to really like resonate with people and the other is going to turn people off. And I think that this is a landmark for G Stern's initiative to try to get more people into pinball, right? They're pushing a ton of games in Costco at a lower price point to try to get people on board one of the largest franchise available that people will buy pinball machines that just because they like Star Wars and not because they like pinball. And I think the Costco direction for that is the cheap version and that this initiative is the expensive version of that. They're providing a complete Star Wars experience for people that are really into the franchise and may not be into pinball and they want a game that is going to be fun for those players and also trying to make it fun for players that are a little more veterans.
So, there's some physical logistical stuff on it that I am concerned about, but overall it it's fun. But it's fun because it's fast and it's fun because it's a fan layout and the fan layout is really far back on the game. And I'm worried about veteran players just burning out on it for like long time play like just being able to kind of dial in on the shots and just it becoming less fun for them.
But I have not played it more than an hour or an hour and a half. So
what was it easy? It was easy to shoot. Most of the shots, with the exception of the Death Star shot and sometimes the scarlac pit, if I'm saying that correctly, are easy. The center shot you could combo like infidium, that's a word. Uh the two the spinner orbits are unbelievably easy to hit, but they're also really gratifying because it's very similar to like Pulp Fiction with the exception of it stopping and returning it down the middle. you'll hit one spinner and it is already immediately coming back at you from the other side. And there is an issue with like adjustment. So their pro was set up where the return on that was going straight down the middle, but the premium and alleys weren't at all. And that's not an issue with the game. That's just a configuration and and you know just tweaking it kind of setup.
Um but there, you know, the shots are fun. I love the floating pops. I think that modern design has removed pop bumpers in general from play cuz they take up a lot of real estate. they don't really do much for the game, but since these are floating pops, it kind of sets up the game to have two sets of slingshots, which adds a lot of randomization on the bottom. And it kind of echoes that like I think they're trying to add a little bit of artificial difficulty on the lower half of the playfield because of there not being a lot there because everything is a, you know, family out way in the back.
There you go. And I'll tell you what, it's better than I mean, we spoke about this on the channel just before, but for me, when you're doing a theme that is so appealing to everybody and we're trying to bring new people to the hobby, the game has to be easy and approachable and not have geometry issues. Uh, I'm not pointing at you, DN D. Um, but you know, and I think
talked to Dwight about that when I was there.
Yeah, I bet he didn't like that. No, Dwight's approachable.
He's very cool about it.
Yeah, he's he's cool. So, you know, and I think the game has to be a 5-year-old and should be able to enjoy it and a 93y old should be able to enjoy it and also the people in between. Um, we got a couple questions. How was the sound on Spike 3? Did they crank it up for you?
They did. They showed off that they could go with as loud as they could possibly make it without it distorting. So, there's a few interesting things about the sound. So, that the way that they've set up the sound module package. The Premium and the Pro only have a mid-range tweeter and the subwoofer. The LE comes with an actual highfrequency tweeter that is above the mid-range tweeter. That spot is a dummy spot that's plugged with a plastic on the Premium and Pro to make it be available for an upgrade later on and to not break the visual aesthetic of like making the, you know, speaker grill look differently. Um, so it's good and and to that I mentioned this on my channel too, like I think a lot of people don't get that the quality of the audio that you get out of a pinball machine has more to do with the room that it's in and setting up the EQ for that to match that room. So, you know, adding better speakers that are just louder and have more bass if you're in an area that has that is absorbing bass or is producing too much bass needs to be addressed as much as it can through the EQ system that's available in the pinball machine, not by just putting better speakers and stuff in it. So, just a little
side tangent there.
Um, we got an interesting one here. So, accessible is great. My biggest complaint Harry Potter is they made a huge fan base theme into a difficult layout where an average person can't start a movie and a whole game. I touched on this before and I said that as much as Harry Potter has a big following and everything, maybe the game is probably a little bit too complex and hard for a 5-year-old to walk up to and play. And they probably just get bamboozled by all the rainbow lights and everything. Sure. But I think Stern's nailed it doing it the way they've done it on this.
They broke it down.
Sorry. Sorry, Jeff.
No, go for it.
No, I just with Potter having seen particularly when it had the release, having seen it have 200 people playing it, a lot of whom were kids. I think with with the kids, they were just happy to be playing shots and and watching the staircase move and and stuff like that. So, I don't I don't I don't feel and particularly locking the ball on the magic wands. I don't feel that the kids felt they weren't achieving something. Were they technically starting modes? No. But they definitely I I think were having having a good experience. I think in terms of are you going to then start as a child to be learning the game and learning the shots and learning what you should do. As I said earlier, I'm a big fan of the the the fan layout. I I I like a fan layout. I don't think everything
You're going to like this game then.
Yeah.
Um so the you can tell what All right. to compare it to the Steve Ritchie game, right? So, the modes and the progression through that game were full chapters. It was just like you're playing the battle of Endor and like that kind of thing. They've trimmed it down to like movie moments in this which is kind of cool. It's like you're blowing up the Death Star, you're dropping the AT-AT, you're going into the Slarac pit. And I think that's a lot more digestible for people that don't like Star Wars. Again, to your point about accessibility, it's like you may not remember the entire movie, but you do remember the Death Star blowing up. You do remember if you're not a huge Star Wars fan, these are moments you do remember. And I think that echoes their accessibility of just trying to be as much digestible. Okay. Can you go back a second? That's the biggest concern I have for this game that just happened.
Uh it's the ramp up into the uh Death Star,
the Lord of the Ring uh shot or the um
Yeah, the kind No, no, not the one to the left of that. the one where it goes into the mouth of the
Yeah, it was just there for a second. It's like a half second shot.
Yeah, I'll go.
Anyway, I'll talk about it while if you can find it. So, this was an issue that almost every creator was having there where that shot reject this one right here. Pause it. Oh, damn it. Okay, so that shot as it's going up the ramp is catching air and hitting the upper lip of the Death Star and not going into it. And it was rampant. Correct. It was an issue on like every single person that was playing. It was happening at least once or twice a game, you know, no matter if they were hitting it directly. Like obviously if you're rattling it down the I can't see my finger. If you're rattling it down the ramp, like that doesn't count, right? But it's there's something about that mechanic that is not as consistent as it should be. And even when you were doing a successful shot, it's feeling like ungratifying because it's rejecting.
Um hopefully they can put a little plastic hat on the ramp or something, but I mentioned it. Johnny said on stream that he acknowledged it, but like not that it was an issue, but they're hearing the feedback, so who knows?
Well, look, I think uh it's all about that's the joys of pinball, right? I mean, you could test and test and test, but to me, it's it's an interesting one. You think that they would have picked that up sooner, right, though? So, maybe there's already that, I guess.
I don't Yeah, I don't know if that's just it was a issue with that particular unit or or what. Uh, I do think it's really funny that the echoes of like two Ghostbusters mechanics are in this game in two different ways cuz the the little I forget what the name of the little guy is, but he's basically a Sculler brother. He's just solo.
And the and the Magnus save that you just saw is it's a Magna sling. It's the same mechanic that was in the slingshots on Ghostbusters Premium and I don't know, Grand Lizard and a few other Twilight Zone, you know.
Um, that thing is hard as hell to do like the single pole. So, the way it works is you spell Jedi, you spell J E, and you get the a single pulse that you can use. So, when you hit the button after it goes down the out lane, you can catch it with a single pulse and it'll throw it up into the into the shooter lane. If you spell Jedi completely, then you get the like super version of it and you can hit it and it will capture the ball completely and then throw it up into the center of the playfield.
It's super fun. And that is not on the pro.
No. And did you find that like if you had to how often would you be able to successfully use that ball save realistically?
I was not able to use it at all. I spelled it I spelled Jedi once and it captured it correctly, but uh I only tried to use it maybe three times and all of them were failures, but that's my fault. That has nothing to do with the difficulty of it.
No. No. Do you think that's probably something they can adjust in code to maybe make it easier to tap or anything? Or is it just get adapting to it? Borg had specifically said that they're adjusting the timing of that Magnus saveave thing. So I know that that's something that they're still kind of working on. So
yeah,
but also with stuff like that, you have to get Yeah. Thank you, String of Films. That's very kind of you. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed, by the way. Um I I think look at something like World Cup soccer. The first few times you play that, you you forget you forget all about, you know, the save and then once you get used to a game, you you start to acclimatize to it. And once you know it's there, you'll start to I guess you'll start to use that to to ball save anyway and you just get used to that particular nuance of the pinball machine.
I don't know if there's an opto down there, but it would be interesting if they set it to automatically save your first one like automatically without hitting the button just to show you the mechanic exists because the complaint I have I don't here if you can pause it right back there. If you look at below Yoda, by the way, Yoda's eyes blink white and it's this creepiest [ __ ] in the world. Like it's just like it's like he's staring into your soul. It's really bright. It's just like while you're playing you're just like it's like
out of the corner of your eye you keep catching him like blink at you and you're just like what's going on?
Uh but the Magnus save thing there's nothing there to let you know that there is a mechanic that does anything. It's literally just kind of like a faded blue ball graphic. And it's a little weird that there's not like, you know, if you think about like Magnus graphics unlike other games, you know, like Ghostbusters's got like plasma and the Dick White inserts and like even like Grand Lizard has like these concentric yellow circles coming out of it. There's like an identifier to let you know that there's something there that's going to produce an effect and that is non-existent at all for that.
I'm trying to just get it to that point. I think it's just after this. Um, yeah, I found the uh the Yoda. Um, so he's I'm assuming that what when his light his eyes are pulsating is when you're meant to be using it. Cuz if you look at that here, you see his lights are p his eyes are kind of flick. There you go. But you're right.
I think I think that's the ball save flicker for that. I don't think that's because it gives you an audio cue. It tells you to use the force as it's coming down. So I'm not I'm not sure if there is a light cue for it. You may be correct about that, but in some of the other stuff, I noticed that the lace his eyes aren't on. So, I can't speak to or against that.
Yeah, I think it could be like a twoin one like because it doesn't have ball save written anywhere, but it could be that his eyes are for ball save a bit like the owl in rush. So, it's a very similar position where the owl in rush is. Um,
sure.
And then, but yeah, if you look at that, it doesn't actually say ball save anywhere or shoot again or anything. So, we are Yeah, could be two in one. Borg said that the time to hit it is right where that uh on the uh underneath the left in lane where the um metal kind of changes um on the bottom edge of that of the wire guide. That's where you're supposed to hit the button to pulse it so it goes through I guess to give it enough momentum. But I'm sure that also has to do with how fast the drain is. So
yeah, and I'm and I'm sure the game will have different um especially depending on how the game is pitched as well will make it will make a difference um on how you can save that and also how you hit those ramps at the back. Um I really like the and I didn't realize and none of the leaks or rumors ever touched on this, but the that Lord of the Rings shot with the hyperdrive.
Yeah, the hyperdrive's cool.
Yeah. Is that is that a real pinball moment? Can you feel it when you do it? The sound effects and
Yeah, they tell you that you need to hit it. It's there's like a strobing light that's inside of it. And the like stars that are in that gap have like a force perspective effect. So, it's supposed to like look like it's, you know, going back infinity instead of like turning to the left, which it does. You know, it's got a little bit of uh I don't know, TNG kind of backbox stuff where like a few of the ramps back there like go behind the backbox just a little bit and then wrap around. Um, but it it's it's cool, but it's not like uh, you know, like lights out moment where you're just like, "Holy moly." Like it it's it's less exciting than Lord of the Rings, but cool enough to stand on its own.
What happens to the ball when it goes in there? Where does it does it come back out of that um,
it loops out to the left and comes straight out uh, down the left wire form and then runs back to the left flipper right there. That's what it is.
Sure. Sure.
Yeah. Right.
I wish that they put a decal on this. I I mentioned it too. I think the reason is because on the premium and LE, you know, you got Java sitting on top of it. But on the Pro, it's really obvious that it's just like this empty plastic like whitewater, you know, funnel. And I feel like there was a missed opportunity for just a simple decal that had teeth on it like Scarlac style.
But there you go. That's the So that light doesn't There's no light or anything on that that changes for the ball save. Like that blue ball is just solid uh you know, wood. Did I miss that? Sorry, it was so hard to bloody pinpoint. Um,
yeah,
there you go. Yeah. So, that there's no lighting effect for that. But that is where the ball save is,
which I'm sure is something they could code in, especially if you've got the expression lighting maybe as well. Um,
they they should use the aprons more for that for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. Did you uh
did you Too soon. Too soon, Mike. Too soon. Yes, there was a giant dildo in my bag. My wife put it there.
Um, how was your because that was your first trip to Stern, right? How was the the experience has meant to be pretty captivating when when you go to the factory and that?
Yeah, it was amazing. I mean, the factory is bigger than you could possibly fathom. It's just enormous. And the amount of people they have in there assembling machines is like pretty breathtaking. You know, I mentioned this on my channel, too. Like I think that uh I've been critical about Stern being like, "Oh, this this like money heartless entity that's just like trying to manufacture games and cut corners and all this shit." And being out there has like pretty much changed my mind completely. Like talking to everybody and just the experience. Like I know that they're putting on not a show, but like they want to interact with the people as best they can so that there is good, you know, good karma between both sides, but the people that work at Stern designing the games are people that love pinball. and every single person there was cool and receptive and engaged with us in a way that didn't feel like manufactured. So
yeah,
I had a good time. I think we touched on that as well before you came on that, you know, we do need to remember that it is still a big old machine that of course they've got to make profits and all that type of stuff, but everybody that works there, they love making pinball and they're not there to they're not trying to piss people off on purpose, you know, and sometimes the decisions are not made well and sometimes D and D is not approachable because it has geome geometry issues. Sometimes they you can't win them all. You can't please everybody, you know. uh enter your initials loves D and D. He's got my old one and and he swears by it, right? So that's the beautiful thing about pinball. We don't all have to agree on it. Um but it doesn't necessarily mean that that company is there to rip you off. Um even though everyone thinks that Stern make 80% profit on all their games. Um I am I was saying before on the toys a few people said they look a bit small. I I think the Death Star definitely could have been bigger, but I think there's an element there that some of them probably look a bit smaller on camera because when we got King Kong here, I was quite surprised at how big the spider is and how big Kong is. Um, so I think when you see some of these toys in person, the aat could have been bigger, but I think it probably, and correct me if I'm wrong, do they do they look bigger in person?
Yeah, I think that that's fair. the this is a populated playfield at least on the premium and the LE. The the Pro obviously doesn't have all the cosmetic toys like the Stormtrooper hat, the death or Darth Vader hat, the TIE fighter, like all of the like vertical plastic toys that you're seeing in the back like aren't on the pro. Um but on the premium alley, it looks incredibly populated and you know, you get that world under glass vibe. You know, definitely not an issue. Also, I don't know if this was intentional, but uh if you look at the back left uh wire form that comes out, it's in the shape of a Thai bomber, which is kind of neat. It's got the open top and like hexagonal like
guides. I mean, I realize that pinball wireforms are kind of like that, but I feel like there's a lot of little like echoey small things that are
I don't know, Star Warsy hiding around. The Millennium Falcon looks really amazing and the and the LEDs for the for the uh whatever engine exhaust port uh look they don't look cheap. Uh, I think a lot of the some of the mechanics like of Godzilla's buildings and stuff in the back like are like just cheap. They don't look like quality plastics that you don't get that here. The sculpts are like really good.
Yeah.
And those wire form seems to almost have a matte finish on them. Um, they're not
Johnny said they were chrome plated,
right?
And is that on all the models or just the premium LE?
I don't know. I mean, I guess probably just the premium and LE, but that's just speculation. And the only reason I'm saying that is based on the Jaws,
but do you think I mean like with X-Men for instance, the Pro is probably the best value for money pro that Stern had done for a long time. I'm going to say that this probably comes close to topping that or even second because you're just missing the the force grab uh ball save and the sculpts, right? You still get the tire.
There's there's one other difference that they haven't mentioned that is different from the Pro to the LES. It the hyperspace ramp does not elevate. It is fixed up on the Pro.
So this one here in the middle.
Correct. That one is locked in the up position on the Pro model.
What does it do when it's in its normal position and when it's flat position?
I think it just dumps it down into the left or right orbit of specifically the left one. But I again I'm not 100% sure on that. So what the only thing you can't really see very clearly from the stuff that they're showing you here is the there's a shot to the left of the light lock at which is like a saucer shot that then is on a vuck that goes up and does the little like spinny loop. I'm doing doing all my hand stuff over here where you can't see it. What am I doing with my life? Anyway, so that's like really the only shot that you can't really see. And those are the two obvious multiballs. Um the ramps have lights on them to illuminate which lock is available uh or which stage of lock you're in. That's not new. I know that other Stern games have done that. But it is well done. It looks it look like the game doesn't look cheap and it when I played the 27 Steve Ritchie one for the first time, I was just like like it felt like Star Wars, but it also felt a little like manufactured. It didn't feel like I was like really like drawn into the whole like world. This one's not. You're like really drawn in. Uh C3PO does all the call outs. It's really awesome. Rejected shots do like R2-D2 like bleep bloops and stuff like it just you're pulled in like immediately into the game. Um if you like Star Wars. So,
I think we're I think there's a small percentage and I've already said this earlier on that are just going to automatically [ __ ] on it because they just don't like Stern and they don't like the artwork and they don't understand that there's reasons why the artwork is the way it is and and all that. But one thing I wanted to ask you um uh and one and I'm not seeing is that the and Don touched on this and he agrees with me. It'd be cool if there was like an uppost or a magnet that holds the ball so you can take in those pinball moments of the AT-AT falling the Death Star about to puke the balls out or the ramp coming up because that everything's so fast that do you get to take that stuff in?
Yeah, this game has no chill
like good. You're as soon as you as soon like as soon as you hit the hyperspace shot, it's like already back at the left flipper. As soon as you hit either of the right orbits, it's already flying back at you and you're dealing with the pops that are like randomizing it as well, right? You know, it's just the only time that you get a moment of like pause is when you're hitting the scarlac pit scarlac pit because it has a natural kind of like, you know, go down the funnel timing. So that takes time. And when you hit the AT-AT shot, because there's a half second or a second pause, it does a a video moment and then it vucks it up into the into the little orbit uh like ramp. So,
is it safe to say that with this Valac pit, there's the four roaming shots? You
those are those are mode starts.
Those are mode starts.
Okay. But you can't really pick them, can you? Because they're
I forget you. They cycle, but I forget how I forget if it's a left or right flipper thing or if uh Yeah. or if it's some other mechanic.
Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Um I've just locked myself out of my window, funny enough. Would you believe? Give me a second. Um I'll just shut that one down for now. Um all right. So, I mean, overall, like we knew that they they had to make a banger because the Star Wars fanatics critiqued the last game quite heavily. People said they found the last game too hard to follow, too hard to work out the 40 plus mode multiplier. Um, and the outlanes were brutal on that as well. There was no force save on it. Uh, you know, you just hit the nail on the head. They they've literally knocked it out of the park in relation.
I mean, I think you nailed all of the criticism. And Stern made a point like, you know, cuz we mentioned like why are you make, you know, why are you making another Star Wars game? Like there was one less than 10 years ago, you know, they showed the they showed the cycle of Star Wars games that they had produced and made a joke that Gary said that he should have done one in the in the 2000s so that there would have been one for like every every decade. And then it begs the question like, well, you're stacking two now in in less than a 10-year period. And their response to that was like they had basically like took that first game as their this one is an iteration on that to try to refine it in the ways that they wanted to to make it better and they did not say more accessible. I'm saying that but they wanted to improve on it and make it a better refined experience. And that's the game that you're seeing here.
Interesting. Um
I've got an interview with John Borg on Monday 8:00 p.m. uh Chicago time. Um, is there any questions modewise? Like I I noticed on the the inserts of the playfield um that you've got the uh Rebel Assault stuff and then you've got the um what was the other one? The uh Darth Maid modes and then you got the Millennium Falcon ones. Are are they all different modes within modes or are they just the modes? So, I can't answer that because we didn't play into the game as if we were trying to discover the modes with the amount of time that we had. Um, you know, we're focusing on trying to get footage of it and not actually exploring the rules. So, I will be tuning into your broadcast to find out all that information.
I'm Yes, I'm trying to get Ray's a bit under the pump at the moment, but we'll get him on to talk more about the code as well hopefully towards the end of the week. Um, but yeah, look, I mean, the the screen size I think is a good size. I love that they haven't affected the artwork on the translite because if you've got this game next to it, your Spike 2's Yeah, sure. It's going to look slightly different, but at least the the translite proportions haven't changed. Um,
no, the headbox is the same as well. It's not it's not bigger in any capacity. They just increased the size of the screen and then kind of shrunk the speaker grills to be a little more vertical. Um, I do love that the left orbit and the right orbit have spinners on them and that when you come around, you know, you're cop spinners all the time. Um,
it's super fun.
The the pop See, I consider the pop bumpers in this type of location when you've got to hit them for a reason a little bit like in TNA when you've got to destroy the reactor, you got to hit the pop bumper, right? I still consider that a shot in my opinion. Um, do you think the way these work are considered shots or are they more there just like you said just
No, I do think they're considered shots because you can see there are giant arrows that point onto them and I don't think they would have put insert arrows on that if they weren't uh like a plausible shot. Also, you can notice that the way that they're recessed in there that most of it is covered from the top. Like they're definitely not designed to be hit from above that often. They're more exposed on the lower kind of third or 2/3. So, I think it's more for either deliberate or if you screw a shot and you throw it too low, it's going to, you know, you get the randomization time. Like, have fun. You buckle up. And those pops fire hard. The slings and the hot bumpers gives no [ __ ] They're powerful.
So,
it looks like pops really you can only activate them from like 12:00 to 6:00 basically.
That's correct. So,
so you're kind of only using half a pop.
Yeah. which is interesting that they're going to put that in there and kind of have a real estate. But I think if they put in like if they put angled, you know, walls in there that had slingshots on them, right? Uh then you you're forcing the ball to have only a single kind of trajectory of of firing off by having them be like complete pops. There's like a lot more randomization and I think that goes into that more like first play instantly fun kind of vibe. Like anybody who goes in here and fires the ball off and happens to hit a pop bumper and it goes off careening like crazy, you're going to get a bit of that endorphin rush no matter what. So
yeah, look, I mean I I think uh for for what it is and for what they've done, I'm happy with it. I am already saying I prefer it more than the old Star Wars game from what I'm seeing. Obviously, we haven't played it, but you have and that's why you're here. Um, is there anything that you think that like um or actually the scoop just remind me is the scoop there um did you notice that it was used for anything particular or is it just like certain hurry ups and certain mysteries?
The scoop is used a lot. Uh I there must be a subway that connects to it because I remember the scoop firing balls at you pretty frequently. Um and I found myself hitting and shooting that scoop either unintentionally or intentionally a lot. Yeah. Um, so
the scoop, is it an easy shot? Is the scoop?
It's very, very easy. It's a little bit like the left scoop on on Ghostbusters, but it's super deep, so the ball doesn't have like the possibility of rejecting out of it. It like
completely swallows it, which is why I think that there's a subway underneath it because it just disappears down there.
So, it's not a it's not a [ __ ] like Metallica or Godzilla or
Godzilla's tough scoop. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. No, it is. Yeah. Yeah, like I said, the shots are they're pretty easy on this. Um, and with the exception of, you know, like the Death Star, that shot's narrow. It is shootable. It feels a little bit like the uh lock shot on like Attack from Mars, right? It's that kind of like placement and it's a little bit narrow like that. Um, but again, when it's open and you hit it and it doesn't go in, it can be frustrating.
Interesting. I think it would have been good if you locked those three balls in the Death Star, right? Um if they had spat those balls out out of the scoop like one in the
They fire out of the Death Star. It's super fun. It's super cool.
That's what you want.
Yeah, they blast back out from the Death Star.
Yeah. Is it not a bit like a bit of uh I don't know. It's weird. I kind of in some modes I kind of look at and go, is it a bit like like a bit of regurgitating? So, it's very it's clearly the same mechanic from D and D. The dragon like vomits them. It's like just imagine your dragon was a giant space station or a moon.
Uh, and a bit like Groot, I guess. The Groot multiball, like Don said.
I I haven't I haven't played that game, although it's in League right now, so I should probably brush up on it.
Yeah. Yeah, do it. Do it. It's basically Metallica, so if you played Metallica, you're laughing. Um, so, uh, yeah. Right. Cool. Um, was there anything we've missed or which we do you think the um the Pro is the one to get for people that are price conscious? You're not missing out on not much by the seems of it. So,
I think your comment about how it's probably going to be the new best value for pro is true and I think that that might frustrate a lot of people. Um, but the the mag the the Magnus save force thing is a really cool mechanic that I think is probably going to sway a lot of people to want the premium. If I liked Star Wars enough and had space for a new game, I would want the ability to use the button to control the force. I just think that that's too Star Warsy and too cool a thing not to have. I don't think anybody gives two shits about a ramp going up and down in the back. Like that's not
like no one's going to be like, "Mom, that ramp goes up and down." Like, we absolutely have to get the premium.
So, I'm gonna ask you I'm gonna ask you something. And obviously I'm a I my business we do hi-fi and movies and sound and calibration uh and bass management. And obviously with you being a sound dude and a movie dude and everything the the call outs, the movie scenes, the sound effects. What's your take on it all?
They're awesome. It's the best sounding it's the best sounding stern pin in a while. And I think a lot of that has to do with you're hearing iconic sounds, but also they're they're coming out of better speakers. They can be tuned better. And so, uh, they moved the transformer power into the center of the backbox so that the actual speakers could have enclosures on them. And I know your business, Enzo, like the static pressure and kind of like phase cancellation that that fixes is like huge. So, if if people aren't aware of like when a when a speaker cone is moving, if there's too much resistance behind it, it can and I mean air pressure resistance, it can it can mess with what the sound quality is going to be. And if the backbox itself is absorbing energy at certain frequencies, you might get like weaker bass or stronger treble in different room modes that you don't want. And by enclosing that with some sort of sound isolation foam, they're working with a third party vendor that's creating their audio system for their speakers. So, Stern is taking the audio upgrade very seriously. So, which is good because those paper cones and spike two are a joke.
Yeah.
Can I ask because I watched Jeff's watch Jeff's video on on June and obviously I know you've had some input there as well. Obviously, I've played June. I've not played this. The audio was sensational on that. Where does this compare to something like that?
I mean, that's I think that's a biased question because I did work on the audio on Dune. So, I mean, I really took the time to dial it in. I think my Dune sounds better than their Star Wars did in their environment, but I think if you took the time to set up the EQ on it to be for that room space that this game would be able to produce just as good as sound as that.
Okay.
Um, the thing with speakers and what a lot of people don't realize is that sound when sound leaves a a tower or a monitor speaker, the sound leaks even through the cabin, the through the wood, right? And then you get cone in um uh I always forget the the the correct term for this cone filtering where you think about like dropping a pebble in an ocean and the sound ripple the water ripples right the in some instances with speakers and we're getting off track but that sound then joins at a very different millisecond back to the front right and I think that enclosing of the speaker has always blown my mind that you don't see more of it in arcades and pinballs. because it makes a hell of a difference and especially if you can rule as well. Um, so I'm
You want to know why I think
I think Stern and other companies like barrels since we're talking about Dune have changed this mentality is absolutely because the home market has now circumvented the arcade market because arcades don't give two too [ __ ] I hope I can swear on here. I realize I'm dropping a lot of them. Sorry about that. Uh, arcades don't care if the games sound really amazing because it's in such a loud environment with so many games around them. It just doesn't matter. But now they're trying they're trying to create these like curated experiences, you know, they call them cinematic experiences or whatever the buzz word is to really bring you into the game. And for that you need engaging sound. It's just it is. Nobody's watching movies and with iPhone speakers. Everybody wants to talk about how sound's not as important as other elements. It's like, well, go watch your movie off a oneinch speaker and tell me how you like it. You know,
it's definitely about creating the experience. And I think once you've had that, it's very hard to uh go back to uh the not having it, let's put it that way. Um uh bass subwoofer, how did how did that go?
It wasn't very bassy, but again, the stern like preview room is quite open. You know, it's like a it's a simulated arcade space, so it's it's really wide. They do have sound dampening in some capacity, either hiding above the ceiling or something just cuz the room is a little dampened. Um, I wasn't impressed by the sub, but I don't think that that's indicative of it being not capable. I think they just didn't have it tuned up to, you know, shaky mode.
Um, we do have a question here from Amanda. I think you touched on this before. She probably wasn't here. I'm after something more challenging than Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Harry Potter. Would this fit the bill? No. This is far more approachable than all those games, right? So,
yeah, I would say Walking Dead is a much harder game.
Yeah. Um, they didn't talk about remasters by any chance while you were there.
They didn't. I asked Bor, I was like, I'm assuming that this is, you know, working on an IP that's original now and not doing a remaster has got to be both exciting and kind of challenging in a different way. And he seemed pretty excited that he was working on a new game. So,
yeah. Cool.
Um, there's a whole heap, we've had like between 100 to 200 people in the in the chat through the whole two hours that we've been going. Um, so I apologize if I have missed you at all, people. Thank you. Thank you, Gonzo, by the way, for having me on here. I mean, I've been a fan and watching your channel for quite a while, so I really appreciate it.
Thank you, Jeff. Thank you for coming on. Honestly, it's been absolutely brilliant. Amazing. I've been really doing a deep dive in a lot of your stuff recently as well and really really enjoying it. I think you do a great job. So, thanks for joining us and yourself and Don for sharing because we you guys have had a chance to play it. So, it's really great and to see everybody interacting in the chat. So, no, it's me that should be thanking you and and thanks Enzo as well for I didn't I wasn't planning on coming on this video, but I saw Enzo and Dom were live and Enzo's done such a great job in engaging a whole community. So, yeah, thank you both a lot.
No, pleas butterfly.
Social butterfly. Some Some consider me a little bit annoying, but hey, um take it with a pinch of salt.
Uh June and Predator look more challenging. Uh yeah, I'd probably say that that's the that's probably accurate. Um
I don't know if Predator looks more challenging. It's really the Predator video stuff hasn't really given a good capacity on how difficult or not difficult it is, but I don't know. This game is This game's difficulty comes from its speed, and I think everyone will immediately realize that when they play it.
Yep.
Which is sort of right for Star Wars, right? We want Star Wars to be fast. There's there's I think there's enough slow games, enough games that slow it down. There's enough games that are not fan layout. There's there's enough variety. There's enough. I want a short game. I can, you know, play Dolly Dolly play Dolly Parton Piction. I can play Labyrinth. Actually, to be fair, that's that's um
I've been having some better games on that.
That is definitely a short playing game.
Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, there's nothing wrong with a long playing game. You just, you know, I like it. I like it.
Yeah. The So my issue with with the original Star Wars, the Steve Ritchie one, kind of the echoes similar what I don't like about John Wick is that the the return speed on the shots is is punishing in a way that feels unfair and the like you don't have an opportunity if as soon as you've missed a shot by a little bit, it's like, well, you shouldn't have missed a shot at all. And I'm I'm not about playing perfect pinball. I'm about reacting to the situation as you're playing it. And this game's doesn't have that element of difficulty. It's just honking fast. So, you know, you need to be un ready. You just got to be ready for every moment that's going on in there. And I think that's going to be a lot of fun for people at least immediately. And I in the long term, I don't know, that's that's to be revealed as people get a little more mileage on the game. I think
that's a great observation about something whether something is fair and just or not. And you know, there are a number of games where you in fact the worst part of that is when you hit a shot that the game has asked you to hit and then you lose the ball. And funny enough, that was something I would accuse the Steve Ritchie's uh Star Wars, you know, you make the plunge, you plunge it, and you lose the ball. You think, well, I've done nothing wrong here because it wants you to to plunge it and hit the targets on the left hand side. Then you lose the ball. You think, well, I've done what you've asked. This is this is un
You shouldn't have plunged that ball. You should have just left it in the shooter line.
Exactly. You don't want to play pinball.
Um Jeff, how you going on time, bud? I know you've got stuff on. And
Oh, I'm good, man. I've just got I got I've got a boatload of footage to edit. That's pretty much all I got going on today is just the entire Stern adventure, so I can put that together.
Um, Iron Man is tough. There are elements of uh like I really enjoy Borg's Iron Man and I think it's kind of this has elements of that game. I don't know if you've played Iron Man, Jeff.
I have. So Iron Man has that same issue where like if you hit the whatever the suit that comes up directly in the middle, it immediately drains. And it's like, but they're asking you to shoot it. So the solution is like, well, don't hit it really. You got to shoot it on the edge. And it's just like,
okay, like sure, but don't make it come up to hit it if you're not supposed to hit it then, right?
So there isn't any of that here, but that's just because the game is so far in the back. And that that seems to be the modern design philosophy is just like cram as much [ __ ] in the back as you possibly can, but leave the kind of front two/irds like pretty open so that people aren't frustrated by it.
And isn't isn't Harry Potter's like that, you Everyone shits on P3 for doing that.
Um,
Multimmorphic. I still haven't played any Multimmorphic games. It's just they're not available anywhere. And I'm like not going to drop the money on one without playing it first, which you shouldn't do with Star Wars either. Go find it.
Yeah, I think everyone should play a game first before they buy it. That's for sure. But, um, yeah, look, I I just I'm really happy with what's seen. Um, I'm liking uh what's there. Sure, I would have liked to have seen a lower playfield. Maybe the the snow cave where Luke's hanging upside down that you got to spin around or or maybe the uh you know an upper playfield where Luke loses his hand on that turret. You know, maybe they but you know there's limits, right? So, I get that
there's so much real estate in the middle that they could have put a lower play field on. I I completely agree with you and I don't know. I'm sure it's a cost issue at that point.
The game doesn't feel like it is empty. So, like I don't feel like it needed, but if they had included a lower play field with some sort of mechanic that they could have easily integrated into the Star Wars universe, I think that really would have that would have made this game special instead of just good.
Yeah. Yeah. I I think lower playfields and upper playfields have a way to um to introduce Well, take that game cuz let's touch on Evil Dead for a second. Have you played Evil Dead, Jeff?
Yes, I have.
Yeah. So, Evil Dead is a fan layout, right? But what what distracts people from realizing that it's just Venom, right? Or it's just a fan layout for instance that and yes, it has a lower playfield and has the cabin. Sure. But it's the total package and the the if it didn't have that lower play field and if it didn't have that cabin lock, I think it would actually be a bit more obvious that it's very much a similar layout to Star Wars in theory, right?
Yeah, that's a good point. But the fact that it's a wide body and they crammed so much stuff in there, it's one of those situations where it becomes kind of more than the sum of its parts, right? Like the experience becomes more than just like the lower play field. It's just you have to do all those things at the same time while it's occurring. So it feels bigger than just, you know.
Yeah. And and I think that's what makes Evil Dead possibly game of the year because everything in it is part of that experience. And I think that like you said, if this had that low playfield, that maybe was the the the the cave or even the Empire Strikes Back uh you know uh hanger that was in the snow and buried in the snow um that it could have just taken it to that other level. There is a bit of uh industry I don't know whether it's common knowledge or whether they don't really talk about it but there is a an issue with lower playfields causing playfields to bow as well because whatever
I'm aware of being playfields unfortunately
but
I mean I get that you got to reinforce the wood so
yeah so you know so maybe there's that element but I think a lot of it is obviously got to do with the bomb right build of material for those that don't know what bomb is
um
they could have made Don't make it a big wide one then, man. You could have shot the Death Star and then it goes down and then you do the like lane run that drop the photon or proton torpedo into the into the hole. Like that would have been the move in my opinion. That way you've got like the most iconic experience of going down there and you could have put all the little plastics of like little, you know, the what do they call them? Gribbles or whatever the little like uh the the little uh just deformities that are on top of the actual Death Star all the way down the lane. I don't know. I think that would have been really neat. But again, we're talking about hypothetical stuff on a game that's already a good package. So,
yeah, there you go. Um, we have just hit two hours. Is there anything else at all uh that we've missed or that you think is uh an important take from from this discussion?
I'm trying to think if there's anything that uh logistically is missing from some of the stuff, you know, because Star didn't mention anything about the ramp being different on the Pro and the premiums. Like, there's a few things that they like omitted from it. I I don't think intentionally, but just like they're trying to make a nice trimmed one minute or whatever teaser vignette and that the ramp's not incredibly important. They can just put that on a on a press release. Um,
yeah, I had some notes from the dealer stuff, but it doesn't say. I was just making sure I haven't missed anything. Um,
yeah, I mean, I don't know if your chat has anything specific that they're curious about. Again, I can't really talk in depth about rules or or that kind of stuff because we didn't explore that element of it. But in terms of flow and how the shots feel, I don't know.
Um, is there an element of the Death Star when it trickles the balls out that those balls go straight down the middle a little bit like Godzilla, but you got ball save on, so that doesn't really matter.
No, it comes it comes out a little bit like a shotgun effect because they're they're all firing at once. So like there is a bit of a rattle. So they kind of come out in like a like a narrow cone. So,
but so they come out fast then.
Yeah, it's like
Yeah. Right. Cool. All right. Good. I was worried that it was a bit like a, you know, uh, like a limp bloody I'm trying to keep it PG, but um, a bit meh.
It's like a long night of drinking and you made a mistake the next morning and you're over the toilet and then now you're in a multiball.
Yeah. Now you're in a multiball. Good. Um, I think Stern needed this. I think Stern needed after you know the debacle that was X-Men that got pushed forward because D and D wasn't ready. Then we had issues with the uh the I mean Metallica was a hit. Sure. I know some people lost um the guy's head but Sparky's head. The dragon had issues. Uh King Kong had some issues with some of the arms and the calibration of the arms. Um some people don't enjoy the the layout of Dn D. Some people struggle with the the game times and the brutality of King Kong. So, I think there's been a good 12 months where Stern has really struggled and we can go back to John Wick where the game's not it's brutal and you know it's tough and not approachable. Um, so it's it's it's something that they needed and I think this could have been and Kerry Hardy touched on this that if this game was an absolute disaster, it could have been a catalyst for Stern. Um,
it's not a disaster. It's not even close. I'm sure people are going to complain about this, but like it's a it's a it's a fine pinball machine and you're going to either love certain elements or not. We when I was we did a podcast on the table when we were at Stern with Dawn and Erica and I had asked the question about where I thought the last like five games of Sterns like where does this sit in terms of like how good it is and I put it I put it like above D&D obviously and below Jaws. It's above Wick. It's better than Wick. It's better than uh D and D. It's about as good as King Kong and it's not as good as Jaws in my opinion. But again, that list is different for everybody.
So, this is Jeff. Your Dirty Pool account is still live on behalf of Back.
Thank you. Thank you, Gekk. I forgot I need to can the YouTube.
Ain't nothing wrong with that. Um, it's a little
I appreciate that hour and 40 minutes of just silence. Uh, can we play as Vader and just destroy the
Do you play as
It is called Fall of the Empire, not Fall of the Resistance.
Yeah.
Um, so do you play as anyone? Like, are you playing as C3PO and you're witnessing all this stuff? Like, what's what's the take on that?
I I don't I don't think so. I can't speak to that. I know you're playing as the rebels and you are like defeating the the Empire in different moments. You know, that's why you're fighting them in the slit, blowing up the Death Star and those kind of things. Um, but no, C3O is your narrator because he is giving the call outs as things that are going on. And the call outs aren't just like from the movies. Like there are specific callouts that they did that are, you know, pinball related. You know, he says certain things that are, you know, all save related and pinball like just just new callouts that are originally recorded for this. So,
is it actually C3PO or have they used a voice actor?
I I believe they said it is the actor that is doing C3PO's voice. I mean, obviously, I believe the original actor is is passed, but whoever is currently the voice of C3PO, they got
There you go.
I remember them saying something specific in that vein, so I hope that's exactly it because if it's not, I'll feel bad. But it's Yeah, it sounds exactly like C3PO.
Well, they got Ian McShane in, didn't they, to do Winston and John Wick, so uh you know, they're certainly capable of getting good voice actors in.
Kevin Smith and Dungeons and Dragons.
Sure.
Yeah. Ex Exactly. They fought
they fought to get a name on it or I guess originally like Disney wanted them to just call it Star Wars Pinball and they were like look like we have to differentiate this in some way and Disney does not like it apparently when you add or make up titles for stuff. So they really had to kind of go to bat to try to get a new mcnomer assigned to this. So
I don't know what other people are going to probably call it Star Wars foe, right? FOE was probably going to be it
probably. Um, Fox Po was in the other Star Wars. Um, I'm just making sure we haven't missed any. Um, no, we've covered Sorry.
More fun than Mandalorian. I'll put it that way. I don't think Mandalorian's that bad. I know a lot of people really don't like it, but it's it's it seems immediately more fun than Mandalorian.
I've just got one here, so I've got to do a review on the Mandalorian very soon. Actually,
I think um with Mandalorian, everything's just so far forward. It's the complete opposite, right?
Yeah, it is. It's it's really it's really there. But it's quite it's quite good fun. And actually the uh I like I like the sound I don't mean to sound quality necessarily, but I do like the sounds on it. But I got to thank Neil Neil McCrae for lending me that. He's been forgot his Venom here as well. So, I've been quite quite two of his games at the moment. I I think with playfields that have elements that are forward like that, you you naturally have the problem of like, you know, the flippers don't know what shot you're going to make, right? So, they can't like tone down the shot so that it doesn't hit off plastics or rubbers that are up front less hard, right? So, when you're doing a fan layout like this, like all the shots need roughly the same momentum in order to successfully hit them, which makes the game feel a little tighter. Whereas, like with John Wick, anybody that is putting elements really forward on the playfield, if you hit and reject into those, they're the ball's coming back at you.
Yep. Just trying to see. Um Jeff, I don't know whether you can I was talking to Don about this. So this artwork here at the front, which is the emperor's throne window and has these light up uh inserts which obviously mimic the Death Star decor. Yeah. Is that a mode level indicator or is that indicating
um certain
pulling up my photos that I took to try to answer this
feeling that that looks like because it looks like it moves and to me it's a really good opportunity to do like a mode indicator of how deep and you're in that mode. Um
no that ladder that ladder on the Obi-Wan shot is just a graphic. It is not uh it is not like a
but these progressive
light these inserts here.
Oh those yes those do light and they do move
for sure.
Do you do you remember or if they said anything if that's mode related or not like a
I do again I do not I don't know I can ask
yeah that's a ask Borg. He'll definitely know um when you plunge there is no you know in some games you hold the left flipper and the ball can go around. This goes around. There's no option, right?
I Yeah, I didn't check for a secret or, you know, super skill shot for it. Uh, short plunging it, it drops back down through that right spinner. And if you pull harder than that, it goes all the way around. Um, I don't think that there is a geometry thing on the back loop. Let me I have the full res one here pulled up. I I don't think there's anything hiding on the back playfield that can go in for like a secret skill shot or anything. I think it's either you're coming down the left spinner or the right spinner.
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Okay. Uh look, you know, I think uh we've had uh over 90 over 100 people the whole this whole time. We're down to 65. So we have done 2 hours and 11 minutes. Was there anything Chris that you wanted to uh touch on that we haven't?
No, I I just I probably would like to say I you know I was almost predicated to to not like this game because I didn't want to because it wasn't available in Europe. So, uh, I I I would have if there was something I didn't like, I I certainly would have said it. But,
um,
I can talk about that. And I think that that's an important Did I already talk about that? Cuz I forget if I did that on my stream or not. It's it's important info. Um, it's not Stern's
It's not Stern's fault for once. No. Uh, so essentially like Disney's broken up into different territories. There's like Disney North America, Disney Europe, Disney Tazakistan or whatever. Like there's all these different Disney elements.
Disney North America was all on board and wanted a pinball machine and gave approval for its distribution in their territories and the Disney Europe and Disney whatever other territories that you do not see it in did not feel or want a pinball machine in their territories to represent the Star Wars brand. Star Stern wants them to and they're hoping that the successful sales of it in North America will open the door for it to be available in Europe. They're counting on it, but they're not doing it to try to save money on tariffs or whatnot. They had a specific brief in their dist distributor whatever presentation talking about how the price increase hasn't gone up. They're not raising the price with Spike 3. That they are eating tariff costs to try to help continue to build, you know, pinball branding and stuff like that, which I find a frustrating point that a lot of companies are putting in there being like, "Oh, well, you know, we're not raising our prices to like, you know, so the consumer doesn't have to pay it." like the consumer shouldn't pay it at all. Like that's not a selling point. Like
why are you presenting that? Like it's like oh thanks. Like I appreciate that, you know. So but Disney is not Disney is the one that's keeping it from being overseas. If you're mad and you are in Europe that pinball's not there and you're like why won't Stern sell it? It go yell at Disney.
Yeah, I think that's that's happening as well. I've I've actually contacted Disney and Lucasfilm over here. I know someone um uh that's over there. So, but anyway, but irrespective of who whoever's thought it was, you still feel that you're missing out. So, I I was ready to this game and and it would have been probably more convenient if this had been a stinker, but I like it. And uh and yeah, I I want one and I
you It's funny you mentioned Jaws there, Jeff. I mean, I think Jaws was a bit of an eye openener for me because it got such a backlash and actually has turned out to be probably since Deadpool my favorite Stern game. Mhm.
And I play it, you know, more than anything else. So, the fact that something's criticized when it comes out doesn't really hold too much sway with me. I don't mind that it's only two flippers. Again, there's there's plenty of other three, four flipper games that you can play. I I really like what I seen. I I it does what you two things you said. It look a populated playfield. Absolutely right. It looks that way. And also the long shots. I quite like long shots. Um I don't mind them. One of my favorite shots is um is the sniper shot on on Judge Dread, which I really love that shots. I've always since I hit that shot as when you spoke earlier about it being um hitting a death star wasn't particularly satisfying because it for whatever the imperfections in it wasn't particularly clean. So important to hit a satisfying shot. So I don't mind it being long shots. I find it some of the most satisfying shots. I like it. I like the look of it. Um it's a little bit blue for me, but I would if I'll get one and I will try and get one by hook or by crook. I'll get that blue armor off and and get some chrome stuff on there. And I think we'll be looking at a really really good pinball machine. And yeah, I'm I'm I'm actually I think the thing is I'm excited by it. I didn't expect to be excited. I expected to be grumpy and and having a tantrum that I couldn't get one. And now I am actually excited and think yeah, I'm going to try and get one of these. However, that that may
if we are comparing it to Jaws, I will say like I feel like every single shot on Jaws feels unique and satisfying. Like I know that there's people out there that don't like Jaws, but if you look at every single individual moment of a Jaws shot, each is a different unique kind of moment and experience. That level of satisfaction does not exist on this game in that same capacity. However, the flow that you are getting back for the ball to rebound and then experience a new shot is much tighter than it is on Jaws. And Jaws already kind of, you know, you get the ball back pretty quick. Um, a lot of the shots feel like that center ramp where you hit it and it's like immediately back on your flipper and you're like ready to go back at it again. So, you get a lot of that kind of feel out of it. Um, but again, like you know, the left and right spinner shot, it feels like a spinner shot. It's okay. The the Death Star shot goes up, hits a dead end, and rolls back down. It's not inherently satisfying as a shot. Hitting the uh Scarlac pit, it goes in there, and then you have to wait like two or three seconds for it to finish spinning around. So, like the individual moment shots, not as good as Jaws. the complete package a little flowier in some ways.
Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you.
There you go. Well, we'll probably wrap it up, I guess. Eh, it's uh two 2 hours and 15 minutes and it's uh 2:00 in the morning for me here in Perth.
Jesus.
Thanks for staying up, Enzo. Thank you.
No, not at all. I look, I live and breathe. I love doing this. I love engaging. I love doing that. We're doing lives now on the channel, Chris, because
we wouldn't be doing it without you, Enzo. Honestly, I don't have the time for this stuff. And it's it's amazing that you do. and it's so popular and people love it. So, thank you.
No, no, my my pleasure. And Jeff, I love what you do, dude. And I am going to plug you because I think you're very talented, extremely down to earth, extremely helpful and approachable. Um, and
and entertaining
and entertaining. Definitely entertaining.
Thank you. I just want more people to play pinball.
All the pyramid. Head over to Jeff at Dirty Pool Pinball. He is a fantastic photographer. So, jump on his Instagram, but please like and subscribe his YouTube channel. um because the more people see his channel, the more Pimble grows as well. So, um thank you very much for your time. I'm looking forward to seeing all this content that you're creating. Um we did do a few giveaways uh at the beginning. Um I may do another one uh on Tuesday with John Borg. I will talk to him or Tuesday morning my time. It is Wednesday 8:00 p.m. CT time. So, that is happening uh then. So, uh yeah, we'll see. Are you guys coming to Expo or
Um I was planning to um but there's a couple things stopping me. Work is been an absolute [ __ ] the last 6 months. It has been challenging uh trying to evolve and adapt in this cost of living economy that we have in Australia. Um which isn't just a problem in Australia, it's a problem everywhere. Uh on top of that, I have a fractured coxic bone which makes it really hard to sit for two hours without like wanting to burst into tears. I'm currently sitting on an ass pillow. Um, and I also hate flying, so 15 hours on a plane above water does not really tickle my fancy. Um,
no, that that doesn't sound too fun.
No, but I would love to. And I've been invited to all the launches and to come. Um, it's just uh I'm going to try and get to Pinball the Beach in Florida, which is in like February, I think, from memory. Um, but I would love to do a trip and also do it with Chris and get together because we've only ever spoken since co via cameras. So, um, it'd be cool to finally catch up in person. But expo is meant to be good. Um, I'm looking forward to seeing everything that uh, we get to you guys get to experience. So, looking forward to seeing that
one day. Yeah. One day. I'm I'm just just absolutely flat out with with work which is uh which is just evolving all the time. But one day I just suspect if I go to it's not I haven't ever been to the states before. I've been plenty of times when I was younger and used to work out of Fort Lauderdale actually. But um I suspect if I go over now for pinball related stuff I don't think I'll ever come back. So
that's not a bad thing.
I know. I know. Yeah. I'll be hooked. I'm Yeah. But one day one day we'll definitely come over.
All right guys. Look, thank you very much. We will end it there. I appreciate everyone hanging in. There's been 66 people that I think have probably been here the whole time. I know that a couple of the boys said they're still here. Phil Murphy, thank you very much, mate, since the beginning. Uh, thank you everyone again. Thanks Chris. Thanks Don who was here earlier. And yeah, we'll we'll see you on the flip side, guys. Thank you very much.