30:112024 it it is an iconic movie it is a a Spielberg movie it has everything you want it has you know it it's just such a it's it's a great theme for Pinball it's a great theme for pinball Canada hitting it on the head with the themes Okay so the best theme integration right all right Jaws is the best theme is Jaws going to win for best theme imigration no it's not spoiler alert how can I give the best theme integration in which the word integration is off the screen my font issues to a game about a shark that eats things and the damn Shark doesn't eat anything it absolutely is I still believe to this day one of the biggest misses when it comes to theme integration I also think the upper Playfield doesn't look like a boat at all it doesn't look like the Orca have you stood over jaws and just looked at that Orca it is the cheapest cheapest like flat plastic looking upper play field that's meant to look like a ship I mean then go look at the pirate ship in Jersey Jacks Pirates of the Caribbean and you tell me that Stern is charging us $113,000 and that's what a ship is supposed to look like it's terrible it's absolutely terrible so the best theme in a graded pin when I I want to give you like my criteria for what I mean I mean a game that I mean it takes everything you love about the theme it builds a world underglass that brings that theme to life with everything you'd want I mean a game that gives you all the moments from the subject matter on the screen with synced up audio and and and video I I mean a game that just connects the moments from that property into the game playay right into modes into like mechanical things and moments of wow right if like if you think about a game like Lord of the Rings like how amazing is it destroying the ring or or like battling ballog when he swings out to block your pathway right it's like we need more of that in pinball we need more of that in pinball and there's not enough of it and when I look at this game and I you and I look at the integration of the source IP into the game itself without a doubt without a doubt the best theme integration Kudo winner is spooky pinballs Evil Dead and this game I I I mean I wish it wasn't an evil tender again I wish it was Goonies Goonies is coming they know it's coming watch how quiet they get right now when I say Goonies is next with a big pirate ship they know it's next bug is not gonna say anything franie is not hey bug franie all spooky Luke all you guys on here right now just in the chat deny that it's Goonies next all right you're not gonna see them deny it they're not going to be able to write anything um but evil dead to me is what we want and it is what we want when it comes to theme integration and the thing is this when you listen to the team over at spooky pinball when you listen to them talk about what went into making this game there is just a level of passion and connection to these themes that they are now and I and I mean this they now have the talent to integrate the themes in the right way I I I would say five years ago they didn't they just didn't I think they've learned a lot I think they've grown as a company and now I think they're definitely punching above their old weight class and they're and they're bringing pinball machines uh into Market with you know amazing stuff so did spooky Luke say anything about Goonies I'm busy designing goodies um I've won magnet lift Mech oh that's amazing that that's amazing okay you know what spooky Luke I I get it I get it this game also does deserve to win the kudos for for for for for the most amount of toys and mechs in a game I I will give you an an honorary Kudo if we if we were to go off of like total toys and mechs in a game Evil Dead should get the Kudo for it I'm getting pressured I'm getting pressured here I I feel the peer pressure um best pinball machine in front of a window Canada oh man you guys are you guys are brutal you guys are brutal all right so the best call outs in a pinball machine right and do believe that call outs is an important part of every pinball game and sometimes call outs can be a unique way you take the clips from the TV show or the movie right and you use them again I use Lord of the Rings as an example of the way they grab the moments from the film really create an amazing journey and and and sort of chopping up the film to make those call outs so exciting is what makes Lord of the Rings such a fun game to play um the thing about you know when you think about Jaws and they got Richard dfus doing the call outs uh were those the best call outs in pinball I know Jaws definitely uses the clips from the movie in a good way uh when we look one of the weirdest call outs like the call outs kind of only tell you what to shoot you're not really getting uh excitement from those call X-Men's call outs have been really how do you say this I mean it's just for some reason when they get some of those voice actors with Sabertooth and the other Marvel characters they're just not exciting people um Metallica callouts you know again like I maybe you know I I think that Metallica definitely has some energetic call outs um this one was hard you know and and again I I I think that the best call outs in all of these games and just having listened to them recently and I went back and I watched a bunch of gameplay is I do think the call outs in evil dead to me are just like the best because I just think what they wrote and what they've told Ash to say Bruce Campbell to say like in these clips is just really really great um a lot of Anthony like what the Happ okay like I what I'm this is this is open for debate but like I I in my honest opinion you know I think the put the stuff they put into this game has a lot of really good call outs um that's my thing um so I'm I'm the mob is speaking here so I I'm wondering if you guys think another game should have best call outs in it I I I think overall the entire pinball world's call outs are flat and I think that people should go back and listen to how the voice actors were directed in the Bal Williams days like like go listen to the call outs in Medieval Madness and attack from Mars and all those classic games they they did such a better job getting animated and getting energy into the call out so I say overall overall we need to see just better energy and better call outs from these pinball companies all right so next game was who had the best launch and reveal of of a game and this one you know even as I'm about to show you who won um I think this one comes down to a criteria that is um because I looked at this just from I looked at this from a pure marketing standpoint right like who when they revealed their game to the world like who just revealed it in the best way possible and I I also want to say that when it comes to marketing and doing something exciting during your pinball reveal I said this to Seth Davis I said it to uh Gary I said it to um you know George Gomez I I think all pinball marketing when it comes to a move that a company can make that everyone would remember forever as the way they revealed and launched the game is something that this industry needs to sort of improve upon and I'll give you an example gang like if I was working over at storm pinball how are you not having a DN tournament to see who wins DN D number one Le off the line like how did you not think to do that and again the reason why these companies are so they're so stuck in a boring way of revealing a game is we all know it's Dungeons and Dragons and so they easily could have just revealed the theme without showing you the game and Stern Pinball could have had a fun DND D tournament that took place at Expo or took place you know around different key markets where you give people a chance to win an Le by being the best D and player and pinball fanatic right so D and D isn't really a game you win how's it not a game you win nobody wins you just keep playing there's no way to there's no way to make a DN D tournament that's so weird to me all right so that's that's crazy to me so you just play the game and you just level up these characters and that's it and so how do you win the pinball machine wow this is like honestly or or okay okay so if you can't win in D and D how fun would it be to just do a DND D tournament where pinball fans can come up I'm gonna give you a new idea all right a new idea of course I didn't do research on D and D because nobody I knew played D and D growing up nor did I but I do know that there's a 20-sided die right all right so imagine this idea number too can's brain doesn't stop imagine if you had a tournament in which people could just go head-to-head against each other and each roll the die and whoever rolls the highest number advances to the next round and you do a 20-sided die contest to see who gets D and D number one all right can you do that can we do that would that would that be enough of a of a fun thing to do but in the end G like there's really not much that's ever done now look just on a pure marketing level on a pure marketing level the best launch was the $100,000 I mean they spent a $100,000 on the launch video gang it should be the best uh reveal and launch of a game and I think in the end the game didn't deliver but when they launched it remember everyone's got to remember this when this game launched there was a moment in which a lot of our skepticism was sort of taken over by the beauty of that launch moment and that video and the way they put that all together was pretty Spectacular Now I want everybody to go do this go back and watch that $100,000 launch video and watch how they talk about the game but then watch how they actually show you the footage of the game what is coming out of Mark sidon's mouth and the team at Jersey Jack does not syn up at all with the actual footage that is so pedestrian and mediocre they're like oh then then you battle the colonel and then you see the colonel like cheap little toy that doesn't really interact with the ball just the knife going up and down so it's kind of funny right and then the UV ink didn't really work and Carri Hardy like exposed the fact that they had extra UV Lighting on the ceiling and so the whole thing was a little bit of smoke and mirrors in a way and they knew they didn't have enough of a game so but it but it still was the best video and and I do think when it comes to like the best Vibes yeah the Evil Dead launch was great Vibes and and and Jaws was also really good as well um all right the coolest company in pinball who's the the coolest company in pinball I mean I always say this the criteria for this one you got Turner you got American pinball you've got pinball Brothers padr gaming you got Dutch pinball you know when you think about who's the that is just like the one you want to open up the door and go have a beer with the one who's part of the community day in and day out the one who seemingly cares the most now about you know bringing to Market something and listening to feedback I mean it's it's you know who I'm going to put up here and and the reason why I think we should celebrate the the folks over in Benton Wisconsin and spooky pinball uh because we're not we're obviously not celebrating their sorial choices here um but we should celebrate the fact that this company just really cares a lot has grown in the right way uh I think continues to do what all of us really want is they continue to be both a part of the community but also a manufacturer they continue to listen to feedback in real time and respond to people uh they continue to make tons of content on a weekly basis they continue to make strategic hires like bringing Christopher franie on board that was really smart I I think you got to and and and they just seem seem like they're having fun right they just seem like they're having a good time you know when you open the door to Stern Pinball it's so damn big you might not even see anybody for like a quarter mile um and you know like they've got dogs in their photos I mean to me like that's it like they have dogs like inside the company walls like that to me is what every pinball company should have all right all right so spooky pinball you guys are are pretty cool almost as cool as Canada all right we got 120 wow we got how do we get 126 people are now watching word has got out that the can Kudos award the most the most celebrated pinball award show in the history of 2024 the only pinball award show happening in 2024 uh spooky pinball congratulations all right best artwork damn man damn if this wasn't the one that made me um made me step back for a little bit have a shot of whiskey and and really this is the hard one this one was like the hardest because there's like there's a lot um there's a lot and I think you know when I was like looking at all of these I will say like artwork is an area where pinball has really grown tremendously and you know I I know you don't even see Alis here but to me these were the four I mean Alice Alice was not going to win best artwork people I mean it it's I do like Alice for sure but it it you know there's too much there's too much controversy around the Alice art package for it to win best art work and I I sort of I landed on these four really I really sort of struggle to even pick a winner because when it comes to Art package you know to me it's not just the cabinet it's also what's happening on the Playfield right it's also on the translate on the backbox but sometimes just got to step back and and I mean this you got to just like step back and look at the game and just like almost like close your eyes and then open them up and be like wow is this like exciting me does this feel like fresh original like have we seen this before or does this feel like you know like something we haven't seen before uh and you know and then every every element you got to look at you got to look at the the apron you got to look at you know everything uh and so I I had a hard time with this one but in the end in the end again much to my chagrin because I wish it was another theme I still think that you know and we've seen lots of different art packages from franie and I I I mean it when I say it like these things are just stunning and they're laid out in a way that I think has really shown over time his Mastery of knowing how to lay out a pinball art package in a way that just is perfect for the theme and and the thing I love about franie is his style is so it's like it works on anything that has great source material that he can just enhance and do his thing on and it just looks so damn good uh you know what I'm saying like you're not you know we're we're like and Yeti I mean I want to say this like yetis are package on X-Men is phenomenal I mean that like absolutely phenomenal I mean I like when you watch Yeti hand illustrate X-Men line by line there there's no better illustrator in the history of pinball uh and X-Men I love the layout of it but I think where X-Men you know falls down a little bit is as we've seen a lot of Marvel artwork right so it doesn't have as much originality Avatar is also a beautiful game but but emotionally I think there's just something about the Avatar art package that like you know it's it's like you don't get excited about Avatar the way you do about the other ones uh a Metallica stunning Le package on the Metallica Le remastered but he's a more of a poster artist and that's why like the translate and the the cabinet for Metallica are so cool and the backbox I find the Metallica Playfield though to be pretty bad and I think the Metallica is is a little underwhelming and that's the thing about Alis too gang is while while Alis has like a beautiful I mean let's go back to the I I'm gonna go quickly here because I'm gonna get back to all the games like I wanna I wanna I want to go to Alice real quick you're gonna see a quick scroll through but out of all the games close your eyes gang um the thing about Alice is the Playfield is not nearly as good as the cabinet you know what I'm saying like the the the yeti artwork does not pull through enough for it to win um best art package but it's it's it's still very stunning still controversial all right we're going to go forward what do we at here all right all right we did Art launch reveal TOS company best art all right Evil Dead all right best gameplay layout um I'm I'm watching my little screen flip through so the the gameplay layout this one man another one where I have to be honest very very underwhelming year in this category uh I I I look at all these games and I'm I'm I'm wondering you know like where where is it where is the best gameplay layout I I wanted to give this to X-Men I did I did I wanted to give it to X-Men because of its creativity but I can't because of all the issues people are having with their games and I think you know when you look at the issues it's really not it's you know it's really a shame because you can take creative leaps with a layout and if it doesn't work right or you're having issues with the you know I don't know like the auto plunger or the the hand breaking up the wire forms is not exciting or is more frustrating than fun what game do you just walk up to and once you know where all the shots are at you're gonna have the most fun playing it and you know so in the end even though I don't love the the toys in it I I still think the layout of Jaws from a pure shooter St point is is still the best when you play a dialed in Jaws um I'm seeing some people here say Texas Chainsaw Massacre yeah look I I also again I got to be candid here like I I think Stern always has an advantage here because they've got the best flippers they still have the best flipper feel um and I think that even though look I know you're not seeing Texas Chainsaw Mass win anything here but it's elwin's just still on a different level here and I think I don't think people would argue that Jaws his layout um you know and and for a guy that has done a lot he continues to make games that just have incredible flow in Combos and shots um I'm seeing a lot of people here maybe just a few people here uh but Texas Chainsaw Massacre seems to be another fan favorite yeah I mean that the layout of spooky Texas and Looney Tunes uh is is definitely worth a shout out uh a lot of of interesting shots in those games a lot to shoot at and shoot for so but Jaws is the one that Canada picked as the best layout um in pinball um the best pin in front of window so I I know this is one I snuck in here and you know this can and as I look at my Guns and Roses which you can see it's not in front of the window you can see it here there's a gap there's a gap I mean I I will die on that Gap people I will die on that Gap trust me it kills me there's nowhere else I can put my guns and roses in this room I've uh I I knew exactly the the the the hate I'd get when people saw that so let's um let's look at the winner for this um Melvin your name is the fonts have messed it up a little bit but Melvin Williams he I mean he's not even trying here he he's got a retro Atomic Zombie Adventure Land from deep root smack dab right in front of a window I mean this thing is not even it's not even in front of a window it's also covering a doorway I mean this is the double whammy of where you don't put a pinball machine and it looks like he's got stuff stacked underneath it as well so I I've talked to Melvin about this game and apparently he's made some changes he fixed the ramp on the game he says it plays well um so yeah this is this is the worst pin maybe the worst pin in front of a window both you know we get it he closed the minines all right Melvin's a good friend so he he'll get a kick out of this game of the year game of the year here I mean have you picked up the theme