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Ep 83: The TPF Interviews

LoserKid Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·35m 34s·analyzed·Apr 14, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.040

TL;DR

TPF 2026 interviews with Multimorphic, American Pinball, Jersey Jack, and Pinball Expo leadership reveal momentum, licensing, and production expansion.

Summary

Scott Larson from Loser Kid Pinball conducted a series of interviews at Texas Pinball Festival 2026 with key industry figures, covering Multimorphic's P3 system and Weird Al licensed game, American Pinball's new direction under David Fix with Christopher Franchi art, Pinball Expo's upcoming show, competitive results, and Jersey Jack's production expansion. Interviews reveal industry momentum post-COVID, new licensing deals, designer partnerships, and two major trade shows positioning themselves as complementary events.

Key Claims

  • Multimorphic's P3 system now has four playfield overlays available for purchase at $3,000 each, with customers able to buy additional software games for $3,000.

    high confidence · Steven Silver (Multimorphic) states this directly during interview; positions it as major value proposition differentiating P3 system from competitors.

  • Weird Al Yankovic pinball machine has reached audiences beyond pinball enthusiasts through celebrities with massive social media followings sharing the game, with Weird Al having 5 million followers.

    high confidence · Steven Silver notes social media impact: 'I always say social media is really easy when you've got a guy with 5 million followers sharing your video.'

  • Christopher Franchi has signed on to provide original artwork (not licensed IP-based) for American Pinball's next game.

    high confidence · David Fix announces this as 'one of the biggest things' from their TPF seminar: 'Christopher Franchi has signed on to do the art for our next game.'

  • Barry Oursler has completed his first full pinball design and it is 'in rotation' to be shown, likely next year at an unspecified show.

    high confidence · David Fix states: 'he got his first full design done to us. So it's kind of exciting that we're probably going to be showing that next year.'

  • American Pinball is actively recruiting engineers (programmers, mechanical, electrical) and expanding partnerships with colleges for design education.

    high confidence · David Fix provides hiring contact (HRUSA@AmericanPinball) and discusses college outreach as 'almost a whole new wing' with Steve Bowden.

  • Jersey Jack Pinball predicts potentially two game releases by end of 2026 and has doubled production capacity with two manufacturing lines running simultaneously.

    medium confidence · Ken Cromwell confirms Jack's prediction is 'in the cards' and states: 'we're making the most amount of games on a daily basis than we've ever made since we started the company' with two lines capable of running two games simultaneously.

  • Guns N' Roses pinball has been the highest-selling Jersey Jack game since its October 2020 release, and the company kept it in production while developing new titles.

Notable Quotes

  • “I always say social media is really easy when you've got a guy with 5 million followers sharing your video.”

    Steven Silver (Multimorphic) @ ~06:30 — Explains the massive reach of Weird Al pinball beyond traditional pinball audience; illustrates licensing impact on market expansion.

  • “Every person that buys Weird Al, a lot of them are going to go buy Heist...It's a fun game, and then I'll go back and buy Lexi and Constant Kart Racing.”

    Steven Silver (Multimorphic) @ ~09:00 — Describes P3 system's cross-selling strategy and ecosystem value proposition; shows business model leveraging new customers to monetize back catalog.

  • “We don't want you to sell your game to fund your next game from us. We want you to keep making the game you bought better over time.”

    Steven Silver (Multimorphic) @ ~11:00 — Positions Multimorphic's customer retention philosophy against traditional arcade/home cabinet churn; emphasizes long-term value over planned obsolescence.

  • “Our design crew of our pinball guys are getting much older. We need the new young blood, and I'm happy to see and promote the young blood that are coming to these shows.”

    David Fix (American Pinball) @ ~21:00 — Acknowledges demographic challenge in pinball design talent; signals American Pinball's strategic focus on recruiting and developing younger designers.

  • “I couldn't believe it last night. There was five deep at midnight waiting to play Houdini, and it just tells you there's a lot of love for these games.”

    David Fix (American Pinball) @ ~25:30 — Indicates strong community interest in American Pinball's titles despite past company turmoil; demonstrates venue enthusiasm driving collector/operator interest.

  • “You can't even assemble the topper wrong because everything's made just a little slightly different shape and size.”

    Butch Peel (Chicago Gaming Company) @ ~55:00 — Illustrates Chicago Gaming's quality control approach and attention to manufacturing detail; prevents common user errors, improving product reliability.

Entities

Josh RooppersonScott LarsonpersonSteven SilverpersonDavid FixpersonBarry OurslerpersonChristopher Franchiperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Christopher Franchi signed to create original artwork for American Pinball's next unreleased game; marks shift from licensed IP-based art to fresh creative interpretation.

    high · David Fix: 'Christopher Franchi has signed on to do the art for our next game. Chris is a good friend, and we're excited to have him start working with us on some art projects and showing the world what true Christopher Franchi artwork is when it's not...let's put it this way—not by a license. So this is actually fresh art.'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: American Pinball announcing Barry Oursler as new designer with first complete design ready for production; represents talent acquisition and pipeline expansion.

    high · David Fix: 'Christopher Franchi has signed on...Barry, who I'm happy to say...he was the fastest designer. He got his first full design done to us. So it's kind of exciting that we're probably going to be showing that next year.'

  • ?

    product_launch: Chicago Gaming's Cactus Canyon remake receiving extended rules package (hardware kit included) later in 2026, developed with Lyman Sheets and Josh Sharp.

    high · Butch Peel: 'we're going to do an extended rules package that will supplement what we have in the game now...will have a new mechanism...It'll probably be available later this year, we're hoping.'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball operating at record production levels with two manufacturing lines running simultaneously, capable of producing two games per line concurrently.

    high · Ken Cromwell: 'we're making the most amount of games on a daily basis than we've ever made since we started the company. And we've got two lines that are running. We can put two games on a line. We can keep G&R on a line while we're running a new release.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.107

0:00
thanks for tuning in to the loser kid pinball podcast we are on episode 83 i am josh roop with me is not scott larson technically he is my co-captain and while we were down at texas pinball festival we did some interviews actually he got all these interviews together and uh i didn't realize he had done some of these and they're pretty cool to listen to i figured they deserve their own episode because we have 30, 40 minutes worth of content here. So why not we dig into these before we do that though? I want to give a shout out to our sponsor flipping out pinball with Zach and Nicole many, if you're looking for great customer service, if you're looking for that new pinball machine or those accessories, raw thrills, any of those machines, it is time to give them a call or hit them up on Facebook. That's what I do through messenger. Zach always takes care of me. I will admit I have had issues with my new inbox pinball machines, but it's almost like they never had an issue because he gets it taken care of so quickly and so efficiently that my machine is not down. I don't think any of my machines have been down since I've been with Flippin' Out. So if you want that new machine, hit up Flippin' Out. I'm going to kick it over to Scott Larson now. He's starting off with Steven Silver of Multimorphic. What do you have to say?
1:22
Okay, this is Scott Larson from Loser Kid. Everybody seems to enjoy the variety of modes and stuff that we've got. Now, when you take something to playtesting like this at a location, so afterwards, what are you looking at? Because I'm assuming you're going through, you're looking at the drains, you're looking at game times, you're looking at all that kind of stuff. Yeah, so we're doing that. We're also finding out all the bugs we didn't catch before. There's a couple right here that we had to do. Jerry was in the hotel room this morning fixing some stuff that was plaguing us on day one. And so it seems like they're holding up a lot better now. but mostly just looking at all that stuff and kind of watching people and seeing which things are giving people trouble, which things we need to communicate better on the screen. And that's one thing we can do on this big Playfield screen is that we can communicate really well. So we're seeing we've got a little bit more work to do, and we've got other stuff to finish out in the game, but I think we've got some pretty good data. Now, this is your first really licensed game, and you've had other things. You had Lightspeed, which I think was the big one that people were like, oh, this is really interesting. You have Heist, which I thought was hilarious. I love playing that at Expo. But this is the first game where it seems like you're branching out into people who know nothing about pinball, but they know something about Weird Al. So tell me about that impact. It's been huge. You know, I always say social media is really easy when you've got a guy with 5 million followers sharing your video. So, you know, I've got all these celebrities going on there saying, I want a machine and stuff like that. So it's been awesome seeing it go, get spread far and wide. But by waiting until now, like, I did really well. So I was able to fund the development of their license game. And now when people come in and they look at Weird Al, it's not just Weird Al. They're looking at Weird Al with four other games that they could buy for the system, plus 10 additional software games that they could buy for the system. And so it's a much more compelling proposition. It is the full vision of the P3 system coming to fruition here. Every person that buys Weird Al, a lot of them are going to go buy Heist. The pricing compared to other new boxes is a no-brainer. If I say to myself, Heist is a fun game, and then it'll go back and buy Lexi and CCR, and constant kart racing. There's a ton of games for each one of those play fields that all these customers are potential customers for all those as well. It's starting to grow, it's starting to build momentum, and we've got great stuff planned in the future. So, like Jerry likes to say, we've got the best customer loyalty program in the industry, where, you know, it's not we don't want you to sell your game to fund your next game from us. We want you to keep making the game you bought better over time. And every person that owns a P3, everybody that owns a P3 could buy an owl for $3,000, right? That's crazy in pinball. So, there's more stuff coming, and we're really excited about it. So I don't just keep getting better. Now, one of the challenges when you have a big game like this, the question is, how are you going to keep up? Because this obviously will jump you to a next sphere of interest, but there's always so much time that you have to fulfill that desire before people move on to the next shiny thing. So how are you going to accomplish that? So, again, it's a little bit different. Like I said, the success has been really good. We were booked out on our build schedule for quite a while. I would suggest now if you're interested in a P3, jump in the queue. And because, you know, as this goes on and then a future release has come out, the interest is just going to keep growing and growing and growing. But the idea is that on most of the games, that's absolutely true. You've got a small window where you've got to capitalize on all that. Like I said, Heist came out two years ago, right? We've got a ton of more people that are going to come into the system, want more value out of the system, are going to come back and buy Heist. So these games are going to continue to be valuable for the customers of this game, the customers of the next game, and the next game after that. As they see this stuff in our back catalog, they're like, yeah, this makes sense to add it to my library. So, you know, as we keep going, we're not sitting on our laurels, right? We're starting work on future games right now, and we're really excited about what's in the pipeline. And I said this to somebody who's a huge Weird Al fan. and it was the highlight of my career to be able to work on this game and I'm super excited about the stuff we've got coming up. That's awesome. Okay, so if someone wants to get a P3, what's the best way of getting it? You can go to Multimorphic.com. You can contact one of our distributors. We've got a place on our website that has our distributors listed or you can just go to Multimorphic.com. You put in a $2,000 deposit. That locks your place in. We get you a build schedule, like when it's going to come. If that works for you, that's fine. You keep your deposit. If not, you get refunded if you don't want to wait that long. But then you don't pay anything else until your machine is going on the line. And then we tell you what it is, and you can build it out at that time. You can decide to add whatever options. We'll have light speaker grills and the side lighting kits and all these other options that you can add on at that time if you want to. It's like ordering a car. car like if I want chrome wheels and a scented candle in I can get that. Yeah and you can also request the other plate belts and stuff at that time to be they go out and if you already got a P3 and you just want the game get in line and we've got we've got two lines going we got a line that's just building the modules as well so those is acting that's one of the advantages of this system is that we can build those faster and get those out faster so but the big limiting factor right now is just parts in the supply chain. Like everybody. Like everybody right so that's why we've got we've been extremely cautiously cautious about how we've been scheduling everybody out and as long as I've known Jerry in this business he's never sold anything that anybody didn't get he's never taken people's money and used it for anything other than building their machines and you know this stuff will get it he's built the reputation on under over delivering and under promising on these things. So we'll see. I think we feel good about the efforts we gave out for everybody. But that's the idea. You go and multimorphic.com is where you can put that order. Perfect. Well, we're in line and it looks like I'm about ready to play here. This has been Steven Silver with Multimorphic and P3. And remind them again, what did you do on Weird Al? I'm the creative director for Weird Al. So he's the guy that made it fun.

high confidence · Ken Cromwell states it's 'been quite a long time' since release and 'tremendous hit for Jersey Jack'; Josh observes it's 'probably the game I see most' and 'biggest seller.'

  • Chicago Gaming Company's Cactus Canyon remake will receive an extended rules package later in 2026, developed with Lyman Sheets and Josh Sharp, including new mechanics via hardware kit.

    high confidence · Butch Peel confirms: 'extended rules package that will supplement what we have in the game now...will have a new mechanism...It'll probably be available later this year.'

  • Pinball Expo 2026 (38th edition, October 19-22 in Schaumburg) will feature Stern factory tours, artist autograph sessions, and a large homebrew section with potential for American Pinball to greenlight games.

    high confidence · Rob Burke lists these as differentiators from Texas Pinball Festival; mentions American Pinball's offer to build homebrew games selected as 'best game' at the show.

  • Raymond Davidson won the Classics tournament at TPF 2026 and qualified number one for the main tournament; he is a primary coder contributing to Chicago Gaming's Rush machine release 0.91.

    high confidence · Scott Larson confirms both achievements in interview; Raymond acknowledges ongoing code updates for Rush.

    • “We're making the most amount of games on a daily basis than we've ever made since we started the company.”

    Ken Cromwell (Jersey Jack Pinball) @ ~64:00 — Confirms Jersey Jack's production scaling and manufacturing capacity growth; supports claim of ability to sustain two simultaneous game releases.

  • “I would say try to boil them down to one shot or strategy and see how many times you can do that.”

    Raymond Davidson @ ~40:00 — Competitive player strategy for Classics format; reflects high-level tournament play approach applicable to difficult/random-rule-set tournaments.

  • “With luck, two games coming out this year, one in October and one in November. That's all I can say. Two different companies, two different games.”

    Jeremy Packer (representing Super Awesome Pinball Show / Christopher Franchi Art) @ ~47:00 — Cryptic preview of two games featuring Franchi artwork; teases unannounced licensing deals or projects with different manufacturers.

  • “I think it's important to understand in this instance with G&R going back to October of 2020, the game cycle for us wouldn't typically be 20 months.”

    Ken Cromwell (Jersey Jack Pinball) @ ~67:00 — Explains context for long gap between Guns N' Roses and next release; acknowledges COVID impact on production timeline and normalcy expectations.

    • Rob Burke
    person
    Raymond Davidsonperson
    Jeremy Packerperson
    Butch Peelperson
    Lyman Sheetsperson
    Josh Sharpperson
    Ken Cromwellperson
    Steve Bowdenperson
    Jerryperson
    Zach Sharpeperson
    Nicoleperson
    Multimorphiccompany
    American Pinballcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Chicago Gaming Companycompany
    Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
    Texas Pinball Festival (TPF)event
    Pinball Expoevent
    $

    market_signal: Multimorphic P3 system ecosystem pricing: playfield overlays at $3,000 each, additional software games at $3,000, positioning as accessible alternative to full new machine purchases ($7K-15K).

    high · Steven Silver: 'Every person that owns a P3 could buy an overlay for $3,000, right? That's crazy in pinball...And so it's a much more compelling proposition...They're looking at Weird Al with four other games that they could buy for the system, plus 10 additional software games.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball projects two game releases by end of 2026 (currently March 2026), representing acceleration from typical 20-month cycle.

    medium · Ken Cromwell: 'Jack today in his seminar, still predicting that we could have two games out by the end of this year...I could see that actually being in the cards...the game cycle for us wouldn't typically be 20 months.'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Christopher Franchi artwork involved in two unannounced pinball games releasing October and November 2026 with different manufacturers; suggests multiple licensing deals in progress.

    medium · Jeremy Packer (Franchi proxy): 'With luck, two games coming out this year, one in October and one in November. That's all I can say. Two different companies, two different games.'

  • ?

    community_signal: American Pinball actively recruiting programmers, mechanical engineers, and electrical engineers; emphasizing college partnerships and emerging designer pipeline to address aging existing design community.

    high · David Fix: 'Our design crew of our pinball guys are getting much older. We need the new young blood...programmers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers: if you guys are out there and you've been in the pinball industry...give me a reach out...supporting pinball and education...to get new designers and new kids into the industry.'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Strong venue player interest in American Pinball titles at TPF 2026, with Houdini drawing crowds waiting to play at midnight, indicating operator/location confidence in product.

    high · David Fix: 'I couldn't believe it last night. There was five deep at midnight waiting to play Houdini, and it just tells you there's a lot of love for these games.'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Raymond Davidson wins Classics tournament at TPF 2026 and qualifies #1 for main tournament; reinforces world #1 ranking and competitive dominance.

    high · Scott Larson: 'world number one Raymond Davidson...Yeah, you know, I could only get first. I couldn't do any better...Raymond's also one of the main coders on Rush, and the new release just came out, 0.91.'

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball Expo 2026 (38th edition) expanding to 66,000 sq ft vendor space in Schaumburg (Oct 19-22); all major manufacturers (Stern, Jersey Jack, American Pinball, Chicago Gaming) participating; introduces homebrew-to-production pathway with American Pinball backing.

    high · Rob Burke: 'we've got 66,000 square feet of vendor space...Stern being there and Jersey Jack and in fact everyone being there now—American Pinball and Chicago Gaming—all these guys are there...homebrew section, which is a very large section...American Pinball has offered any homebrewers that if they build a game that is picked as the best game at the show, there's a very good chance American Pinball will contact that person.'

    • 7:54
    All right, Scott Lawson, Loser Kid Pinball here. We're with David Fix from American Pinball. David, you just finished your seminar. For those who couldn't make it to the Texas Pinball Festival, what did you talk about and what's coming up? Well, we talked about some nice surprises. One of the biggest things was that Chris Franchi has signed on to do the art for our next game. So that's a big announcement there. Chris is a good friend, and we're excited to have him start working with us on some art projects and showing the world what true Chris Franchi artwork is when it's not, let's put it this way, not by a license. So this is actually fresh art. This is kind of like his interpretation of some cool stuff. So we're excited about that. We also had a very nice talk about our good friend Barry who I happy to say that very you know he was the fastest designer He got his first full design done to us So it's kind of exciting that we're probably going to be showing that next year.
    9:04
    We don't know what show we'll be at, but his game is in rotation to bring it out. So we're finally going to get to see a Barry Osler game. And he also worked with Steve Bowden on rules. and so at least he was able to engineer the groundwork so that Steve can implement that. Is that correct? Absolutely. So when we brought Steve on, Barry was already working quietly behind the scenes, as it were, and it was just bringing those two back as a tag team. They had worked on so many good games from another company that we'll probably never see the light of day, and that was six games in three years, but six rule sets. So Steve was excited to work with Barry again and really get his input on what he wanted to design the game.
    9:51
    Yeah, and at Expo, you actually put an open casting call out for anybody who wants to design a homebrew and bring it up. Let's talk about the update. Have you heard much of information from people, or you're still looking forward to Expo to see what people come and show up? I'm still looking to see what's coming to Expo. It's amazing the colleges that have reached out that are trying this. It's amazing I've had some overseas people, some people. I mean, I'm just kind of excited for Expo. And I keep telling people, reach out to Expo or reach out to me at American Pinball. Let me know what's coming. And, guys, listen, this is going to be an exciting year at Pinball Expo. I know it is. And just to see all these unbelievable designs from people. There was one here even at Texas I was kind of impressed with, the Elf game. So people are working diligently to work on games, and it's kind of exciting to see these games come to fruition. I mean, this is a, you know, I hate to say it, but our design crew of our pinball guys are getting much older. We need the new young blood, and I'm happy to see and promote the young blood that are coming to these shows and showing off these great games. Now, you've been with American Pinball for how long now? It's a little over a year now. But you've been in the industry, shall we say, for 30 years. So you have a wealth of knowledge to come upon. And so what do you think for the next couple years of American Pinball, what can the community expect? The community can expect some license titles. We're already working on that. We're working on some other surprises. We're going to keep doling out surprises over the course of this year of stuff that's coming. personnel, the people who are joining American. We can't tell you who's all joining American, but the floodgates are open, and I'm still looking for people. So programmers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, if you guys are out there and you've been in the pinball industry and you've been on a hiatus for the last couple of years, you want to get back into it, give me a reach out to me. This is a growing industry. We're growing by leaps and bounds. And we're doing an awful lot also with a lot of colleges right now supporting pinball and education. And that's almost a whole new wing that Steve Bowden and I are working on to continue to promote this in colleges and so forth to get new designers and new kids into the industry. Yeah, and as someone who actually was a mechanical engineer in college, I totally appreciate that because we need people to reach out to those communities to actually get the projects out there. So that's amazing. So if someone is looking for a job, how do they contact you? They can go to HRUSA at American Pinball. And all you have to do is send an email and a resume there, and we'll take care of the rest. All right, perfect. Thanks, Dave. We'll see you, well, throughout the summer, but definitely at Expo. Oh, absolutely. I'll be at more shows. There's a lot of shows. Midwest Gaming Classics is right around the corner. We may have a surprise announcement there. We're going to have some other, you know, just stay tuned. American is growing, and people here at Texas are loving Valhalla and Hot Wheels and are still asking. I couldn't believe it last night. There was five deep at midnight waiting to play Houdini, and it just tells you there's a lot of love for these games. So we're very excited for the entire company and where we're going. Okay, thanks, Dave.
    13:26
    Okay, Scott Larson, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast here. Today we are with Rob Burke, who is down from Expo. And, Rob, what's your main job? My main job is I'm in the restaurant supply business, but pinball is really more fun.
    13:40
    But you also are heavily involved in the Chicago Expo, which I went to a few months ago. Well, that's my show, but you said it is, and we're doing another show, number 38, believe it or not. It's going to be October 19th to 22nd in Schaumburg. We've got 66,000 square feet of vendor space, so we're going to do our very best to fill it up, And hopefully, Scott, all your listeners will be there lined up to join us. Absolutely. Okay, so now what differentiates you guys from the Texas Pinball Festival? Well, the one thing is we have the tour of the Stern Factory. So that's really special, very unique. It's something they don't offer just for anyone walking off the street. We have a lot of pinball artists and designers that come to our autograph session, which is also very special for people that want to see it. And there's a lot of similarities, no question about it. But what's unique to me is you'll see people that come to our show that don't go to Texas and vice versa. It's just, I guess the demographics of where the people live. And last year we had around 400 games. I'm not sure how many they got here. But with Stern being there and Jersey Jack and in fact everyone being there now, American Pinball and Chicago Gaming, all these guys are there. so they seem to clean out their closets because it's right there next door, right there in Chicago. So we're very fortunate to have their support. And now with Dave Fix, who used to be a Pinball Expo attendee, now with him working at American Pinball, he's really stepped up that company's efforts, and they're producing games left and right. As a matter of fact, we have a home brew section, which is a very large section. That's another thing that we have at our show that's quite large, the home brew section. but American Pinball has offered any home brewers that if they build a game that is picked as the best game at the show, there's a very good chance American Pinball will contact that person in hopes of building that game. So this is a very, very unique opportunity for the home brewers out there. Now, like Sonic, they were the best at the show last Expo, and they don't qualify, but anyone who's developed a game in development or wants to do a game for the show and present it there at the show, they could have their game built. Yeah, and the challenge with Sonic was mainly a license. It was a licensing, correct. Right, right. But these homebrew guys are really creating some great stuff, so it's a golden opportunity for someone to build a game. And with a little bit of luck and votes from the people, as well as Dave Fix's nod, he may choose the game that they will build if the person so desires to go to the next step. And how long have you been doing this? Since day one. This is 38 years now. So it's, you know, anyone that does these shows, it's a labor of love. Let's face it. And for someone to do the same show so long, especially Ed down here in Texas and some of the other guys, they know the amount of effort you put into it and worrying about it and making sure everyone's having a good time. and it's just an endless project. It's a year-round project, really, because after the show's over, you start thinking about next year. So Ed's got a great following and we hope Expo does as well. And, you know, the one thing you ask about what makes our show different, we get a lot of European attendees as well as European vendors that come to our show. So that makes it really cool as well to see some of these guys. so Scott start warming the car up and get ready because there'll be a lot of a lot to offer this year it sounds good okay so if they want more information on the expo how do they find it pinballexpo.com all right thanks Rob thank you okay we are with world number one Raymond Davidson Raymond uh sounds like you had a big day today yeah man the uh classic tournament was good me so uh i hear you didn finish like better than first is that that correct Yeah you know I could only get first I couldn do any better
    17:53
    Okay, so for everyone else who is completely unaware, Classics is super hard because you have to know all these random sets, but there's so much randomness in the Classics, but Raymond, you seem to find a way of making it easy. So, what's your recommendation for people who are playing Classics?
    18:12
    I would say try to boil them down to one shot or strategy and see how many times you can do that. And have a plan, you know, if it's on this flipper, I'm always shooting this. Or if it's on this flipper, I'm always trying to pass it to the other flipper. And then just, you know, be vigilant, be aware. And then also don't try to get too cute. At some point, you just got to flip it away, you know.
    18:34
    How are you doing in the main? Qualified number one. So hopefully I can do the finals as good as I did in Classic. But either way, I'm already happy with the results this weekend. So just gravy on top. Yeah, and Raven's also one of the main coders on Rush, and the new release just came out, 0.91, correct? Yeah, I'll always be updating your code. You know, I love putting in more and more stuff into every release, and I want to see everyone enjoying it. And it's so great seeing everybody play it and just love it, and I'm so happy to be a part of it. Yeah, well, good luck, Ray. Thank you so much.
    19:13
    This is the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast with world-famous pinball artist extraordinaire Christopher Franchi and the Super Awesome Pinball Show. So, Chris, what's going on? Hi, this is Jeremy Packer. Chris couldn't make it. Well, you know what? Your games are really selling really well. Yeah. That Franchi guy. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, we're a family-friendly podcast here. All right. Yeah, no, it's actually for special. Having a great time. Good to see you guys. Good to see everybody else. Good to be back. It's been three years, and I've been all smiles. It's been great to see everybody. Feeling the love. Having a great time. Yeah, it's good. So what do you got here at the booth today?
    19:54
    Well, let's see. Sold out of most everything, but I've got Jaws Translates left. Sold all the Beetlejuice, Wonder Woman, a whole bunch of art prints. Yeah, it's like I've got a couple crumbs left. There you go. Well, hey, there's still another day left, right?
    20:12
    What, to get rid of the crumbs? Yeah, hopefully. Throw all the milk and cookies. That's where the crumbs go. That's right, exactly. And congratulations on the success of your show and your industry award. Is that what you won? Yeah, we got pinball industry last year. Yeah, awesome. Congrats. Yeah, great. So what have you been up to? Anything interesting that we should know about coming up? With luck, two games coming out this year, one in October and one in November. That's all I can say. Two different companies, two different games. All right. Well, that's pretty good. Been working hard. Right. What else have you been up to?
    20:51
    Bought a new house. Got a house with a fenced-in yard so our little pinball pup can run around, have a good time. So I've basically been moving, painting rooms, refurnishing, built a game room, you know, an arcade. I even got the official planet, Dayglo planet carpeting, you know, with the black lights and all that. And that's about it. Just getting work done.
    21:19
    Always important. Thanks again, Chris. All right. Thank you, guys. Everybody have fun.
    21:25
    All right. Loser Kid with Butch Peel. We're on the floor so it's kind of loud but Butch you had your little presentation today on Cactus Canyon. How'd that go? It was last night yeah it went pretty well. It's on Twitch if anybody wants to watch it and anybody cares to but yeah it went really well. I thought it was well received. Yeah I thought it was really good. You were talking about all the little things you guys did to upgrade Cactus Canyon because Cactus really wasn't a finished game. That's right yep and when it wasn't finished it wasn't finished in software and then the hardware we just added our thing did our upgrading more lights more cool features fix those drop targets which was a big pain but yeah we're working a lot better now yeah and there's a lot of stuff going on too especially with it with the topper upgrades you were telling about different ways of keeping the the topper from being uh installed incorrectly because each one of those windows is different size uh yeah exactly little details that's what it's really cool is Chicago Gaming, you know, you can't even assemble the top or wrong because everything's made just a little slightly different shape and size. So all those kind of details add up to a good quality game that lasts you a while and holds its value. Yeah, and even the mine thing and also you upgraded the train that's come across with the track. Oh, yeah, that original train was just like some vacuum-formed styrene, you know, and so we made a die-cast metal one that just gleams and shines. Really cool. But it seems like there's been a lot of demand for that. Yeah, there is. I had a lot of people after the seminar coming up and playing the game and really enjoying it. And, yeah, giving it a chance. It's a fun game. It really is. Yeah, I know. It's really good to enter that into the collection. And that's one of the few ones where you're going to have an updated code that you can buy afterwards that was being worked on with Lyman Sheets and Josh Sharp. Yep. Yeah, they did an extended code package that's going to have a new set of rules that will supplement the complete... Really? Yes, really. That is so awesome. I can't wait to see it. When am I going to get my game? Woo!
    23:35
    So yeah, we're going to do an extended rules package that will supplement what we have in the game now. And it will include a mech also, so it will have rules that are tied in with a new mechanism. So it's kind of a kit. It'll probably be available later this year, we're hoping. Okay, sounds good. We're all looking forward to it. We'll certainly have you on when it's available. Hey, sounds like a plan, man.
    23:55
    Okay, so this is Scott and, I was going to say Scott and Jeff. Take two. Okay, take two. Take two. Hey, this is Scott and Josh from Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. We are here with Ken Cromwell. He is the PR director of Jersey Jack Pinball. So we're touching base with him. How's the show been for you? The show is good. It's good seeing you guys here. It's been a long time, right? Since we got out, everybody's out at a show environment, looking around, people smiling, playing pinball. My voice is cracking because I'm losing it. That's what it's all about. It's a good time.
    24:30
    So how has Guns N' Roses been released? You released it how long ago? Yeah, so Guns N' Roses released October 5th of 2020. So it's been quite a long time. You know, when you consider a game release schedule. So we're ready to have another game here real soon. It's going to be exciting, you know, from a personal standpoint. To be able to market a new game is always exciting. And then just for the community that are anticipating another release, to have something coming is good. If you heard Jack today in his seminar, still predicting that we could have two games out by the end of this year. And if you consider it right now, we're in March. It'd be remarkable for us to have two games out at the end of the year. But I can tell you from internal, kind of the inside look, I could see that actually being in the cart. Sure, but since you guys have moved production now from, you know, from New Jersey back to Illinois, so everything is going to be a little different now, but you, and you moved during COVID, so that had to have been challenging. Yeah, I mean, it was a huge challenge. If you think about it, a lot of that probably played into some delays. I came in when the company was already kind of completing their move in April of 2020, and if you think about during COVID being able to build a factory, get a new game on the line, have it be a huge seller. I mean, it's quite a feat. I understand that, you know, everybody wants that next game, but considering the circumstances, supply chain, a pandemic, I think everybody's proud of Jersey Jack, what we were able to accomplish. Yeah, it certainly has been a fantastic game. And I would argue, and you don't release numbers, but I would say it's probably the game I see most and probably the biggest seller, if I were guessing. Yeah, I mean, you're right about the numbers, but I would, I can confidently say that this has been a tremendous hit for Jersey Jacks. Well, 100%. You know, and with the advertisement, when G&R came out, you just killed it with the advertisement. Love the commercials and stuff like that. You're looking to one-up yourself on this next release? Yeah, well, you know, it potentially could be a different approach to this kind of reveal. I don't want to get into redundancy where everybody knows what to expect. So the effort going to be there We are working with the same company that we had done the original promo for GNR with with Element Studios So we always excited to work with them and they top So, yeah, I would anticipate something that's going to be wowing. Yeah, and we talked to Jacob in the seminar, and Josh had asked that, you have four designers now, and you guys have been releasing games every two years. So that's going to be stacked up. But yeah, just like you said, it seems like you guys are on the cusp of being able to take it to that next level and have more releases. Yeah, I think it's important to understand in this instance with GNR going back to October of 2020, the game cycle for us wouldn't typically be 20 months. Jersey Jack Symbol right now, we're making the most amount of games on a daily basis than we've ever made since we started the company. And we've got two lines that are running. We can put two games on a line. We can keep GNR on a line while we're running a new release. We can have two new releases running simultaneously. So, I mean, it's exciting. Well, it's certainly a luxury to have a game that's such a big seller to keep the lights on. Yeah, keep the lights on? Absolutely. We try to keep them on over there. It helps everybody out in the long run. Well, when the world first met you, you were just a humble pinball podcaster. Yeah. What would you tell someone wanting to get in the industry that might be, you know, just a humble media type for the pinball industry? I think it's a tremendous asset. that it's almost like you've got a resume kind of built up. When you're able to establish good contacts in the community and you're able to gain respect to the community by respecting others, if you're looking to get into pinball, I think it does kind of pay dividends for you. That being said, I realize most people are probably not getting into creating content because they want to break into the industry side of things. But if you're interested in doing it, I would highly recommend looking into it. It's very interesting when we come from podcasting and we make assumptions and we think what we know makes sense with companies, we're able to discuss these things. Speculation is always good. But it's also pretty shocking to get in on the other side and to really see what is going on and why decisions are being made and why some decisions are not being made. It will blow your mind. It's pretty impressive. Yeah, that certainly makes sense. Well, we're certainly looking forward to it. When's the next show you're going to? Next what? What's the next show you're going to? Oh, that's a good question. I'm not sure what the show schedule is looking like. Okay, but either way, you're going to be at Expo. this fall? Yeah, of course we'll be at Expo in the fall. I think we might be doing a show in Florida and other than that, I'm not sure what's left on the schedule, but I want you guys to come to Chicago, come out so we can get you a tour of the company and, you know, if you want to take a tour of the factory, it's fun. Absolutely, we'll love to do it. Hopefully it'll be a lot easier now with the COVID stuff ramping down. Absolutely, and I want to congratulate you guys because I know you've established yourself. Unbelievable podcast. You got all the big guys, all the big hitters coming on there. It's good hearing your banter and it's just nice to see the progression of the podcast and you guys have not fizzled out and gotten stressed out so congratulations to you i know you're presenting tonight at the twiffies too right yes we are and honestly that coming from you kim that's a great honor like honestly looking up to what you did through special special one lit it's what you did was a very great accomplishment i still look back to when you did the 24-hour charity i don't know anyone else in the industry that would have done that and you you helped and an aspect of the hobby that needed to be helped. And it was awesome the people that you brought together to do that. And so with your, I don't want to say clout, but with your clout, it's really cool that you've complimented us and we've all the same about. Oh, yeah. You know what? It means the world that you would say something like that to me. It really, really does. But feelings mutual, guys. The respect is on my end with you. And I appreciate everything you guys do and keep it up. And then, you know, at some point quit your jobs and come work at a pinball company. I'll see what I can do. I'll see what you can do. Right, be a good fool for everybody involved here. Let's go.
    30:24
    This is Scott Larson from the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. Who am I with today? Dr. John. Dr. John from down under. With hardly any voice left from yelling at people all night in Texas.
    30:37
    Hey, how long did it take you to get here? It took me an hour to fly to Sydney and then 16 hours to get here. A direct flight from Sydney to Dallas, which is good, because otherwise it's about 31 hours if you go via LA. And what does it say that Ryan and Marty didn't show up? I can't say that word on your podcast. Oh.
    30:56
    No, Marty's busy building my Mermaid Edition Fathom at the moment and Ryan's just a big girly sook. That's probably true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what have you been up to?
    31:09
    Basically playing lots of games. I've been increasing my collection with old and new. So I've got a new Guns N' Roses. and I got an old genie, and I've just ordered Weird Al, so that'll be here next year. Did you get the complete package with all the games? No, just Weird Al and Heist. Okay, but that is a fantastic game. We were just playing it. I know. I'm looking forward to it. I've always wanted a multi-morphic, and I've just been holding off, and now I think I've got the exact right time to jump in. Yeah, it seems like it. It's a great game. Yeah, it is a lot of fun. Yeah, we were trying to play, would you rather buy this game, I would say Weird Al is bumping up to the top of most of them. Yeah, definitely. Of all the new releases, it's the one I'm looking forward to getting the most. How many do you think are going to go down in Australia?
    31:54
    I asked Jerry that. I don't know if I want to say numbers. He said there's been at least 10 orders. So we'll have another 10. Hey, it's still building up. Oh, yeah. I know one location near me has one on location. It was Lexi Lightspeed.
    32:10
    So there's a few coming down, and there'll be a few more. He's had a lot of orders come in already, and I think he's actually starting to look for a distributor Because people like to buy from a distributor locally if there's issues or whatever rather than get it sent all the way over and then Have to send back stuff. So having a distributor makes sense. So hopefully that'll be happening soon too. So are we going to see you stream it? Oh yeah, of course, of course I'll even try to talk Emily to playing with me, but Yeah, she's probably better than both of us right now. Yeah, I know. Yeah, she's just started university so the pinball's on a back burner for probably about six months and then we have the big Brisbane Masters tournament coming up in July in Brisbane and we'll have Esha coming over for that and Ryan from Comet Pinball's coming over and we've had Bowen and Colin Urban there before but we're hoping to encourage as many people as possible to make the little trip. Okay, if they want to come over, how do they get a hold of that information? If they either contact me. How would they do that? Just look up John Cosson on Facebook. Okay. They can do that. Or the official website is BPAC, B-P-A-C. Is my accent terrible? It stands for Brisbane Pinball and Arcade Collective on Facebook. All right. That'll link you to the tournament organizers. Okay. Good luck playing on. Thanks, mate. You have a good one.
    33:34
    I hope you found those interviews awesome. It was fun to listen to. If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserKidPinballPodcast at gmail.com. Look for us on the socials at Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, all at LoserKidPinball. Same with Twitch.
    33:49
    We will see you probably next week. Kind of weird that we're dropping an episode in between the two weeks. I hope you're enjoying the content, and we hope to hear from you soon.
    34:05
    Thank you. Shut up and sit down. Thank you.