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Pinball Magazine & Pinball News PINcast February 2025 recap

Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pincast·podcast_episode·1h 21m·analyzed·Mar 3, 2025
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TL;DR

Feb 2025: FunSub launch, Big Lebowski ends, Alice Kickstarter confirmed for March 11.

Summary

Pinball News and Pinball Magazine's February 2025 recap covers major industry developments: Ametron (American Pinball's parent) launched FunSub Manufacturing as a contract manufacturer; Dutch Pinball completed Big Lebowski production after 10+ years and faces a delayed component for Alice in Wonderland; Wonderland Amusements announced a Kickstarter launch for their 80% scale Alice game on March 11; Stern released John Wick accessories with exclusive new content behind a paywall while continuing code updates on Dungeons & Dragons and X-Men; and Spooky Pinball's Motorhead game remains unconfirmed for 2025.

Key Claims

  • FunSub Manufacturing (Ametron) is now offering contract manufacturing services for pinball, arcade, and family entertainment games at funsubmanufacturing.com

    high confidence · Jonathan and Martin discussing Ametron's pivot to contract manufacturing under the FunSub brand

  • Dutch Pinball's final Big Lebowski machine rolled off the production line 10 years and 5 months after the launch party on September 27, 2014

    high confidence · Martin: 'the last game rolled off the production line 10 years and 5 months after that'

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland production at Dutch Pinball is delayed due to a key component expected to arrive mid-March

    high confidence · Jonathan discussing production delays: 'That key component is expected to arrive mid-March'

  • Wonderland Amusements' Alice in Wonderland is an 80% scale pinball machine priced below US$1,000, launching a Kickstarter on March 11, 2025

    high confidence · Jonathan: 'they are launching a Kickstarter to publicize and, I guess, to pre-sell the game. And that launches on the 11th of March'

  • Stern released John Wick accessories including RGB LED topper with exclusive 3-minute 'TikTok Mr. Wick' mode

    high confidence · Discussion of Stern's John Wick topper with '150 RGB LEDs and a rotating hourglass and a topper exclusive 3 minute long mode called TikTok Mr. Wick'

  • Spooky Pinball responded 'not in 2025' when asked about producing the Motorhead game shown at Texas Pinball Festival

    medium confidence · Jonathan: 'the response was not in 2025 but they didn't deny that it was going to be a future game'

  • Stern's Dungeons & Dragons game has experienced dragon movement problems

    medium confidence · Discussion of thread titled 'is Dungeons & Dragons a fire hazard?' and dragon movement issues

Notable Quotes

  • “I didn't ask for permission but there isn't much point in suing them I don't think I've got the money to pay compensation”

    Jonathan (regarding FunSub's use of his factory photos) @ Early segment — Humorous but reveals practical challenges for small media operations asserting IP rights against larger entities

  • “Well, kudos certainly to Barry and everybody else involved in making that happen so we covered that in the past but it means now that we can move on to the next title”

    Martin (on Dutch Pinball's Big Lebowski completion) @ Big Lebowski segment — Recognition of Dutch Pinball's achievement overcoming production challenges over 10+ years

  • “not in 2025 but they didn't deny that it was going to a future game so you could read into that that they are not doing that game or you could read into that that it might be next year”

    Jonathan (on Spooky/Motorhead rumors) @ Spooky Pinball segment — Illustrates community speculation around non-committal manufacturer responses

  • “people are looking at that and thinking it's buying additional content for the game which is in need of further development”

    Jonathan (on John Wick topper criticism) @ Stern segment — Captures community sentiment around paywall content for games still in active development

  • “I don't know whether they fixed the bug with the dragon itself. It seemed to be quite problematic, but hopefully.”

    Martin (on D&D code updates) @ New code segment — Indicates ongoing quality concerns with recently released flagship game

Entities

FunSub ManufacturingcompanyAmetroncompanyDutch PinballcompanyWonderland AmusementscompanyStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyPedretti Gamingcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Ametron pivoting American Pinball assets toward contract manufacturing rather than resuming proprietary game development

    high · FunSub Manufacturing launch with web presence and stated mission; no indication of returning American Pinball to market

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Negative reception to Stern's John Wick topper strategy requiring payment for new game content

    high · Jonathan: 'people are looking at that and thinking it's buying additional content for the game which is in need of further development. Right. So that didn't go down very well'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Wonderland Amusements manufacturing Alice game in China despite Dutch Pinball's previous failed attempt at China manufacturing

    medium · Jonathan noting historical context: 'Dutch Pinball was planning to source out production of their games in China as well. Yes, that's right, after the deal with Aura fell through'

  • ?

    event_signal: Stern attending NYC Toy Fair (March 1-4) showcasing D&D, X-Men with representatives; Jersey Jack founder Jack Ranieri also attending

    high · Martin: 'stern pinball will be on booth 5359 where they will be showcasing the newest game' and Jack Ranieri's Facebook posts showing attendance

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Pinball Brothers CEO Daniel Jensen not attending Texas Pinball Festival, limiting interview opportunity

    high · Jonathan discussing conversation with Daniel Jensen: 'who informed me he will not be at the Texas Pinball Festival'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.245

0:00
new pinball contract manufacturer it's the end of the big lebowski alice kickstarter launches next week hi my name is jonathan houston i'm the editor of pinball magazine and i'm joined by hi i'm martin ever i'm the editor of news and jonathan and i are here in our regular monthly Pinball Industry News Pincast to look back at all the exciting events in the pinball world in the preceding month, which in this case is February 2025. And we often say it's been a really busy month and there's a lot to cover, but to be honest, February wasn't a busy month in the pinball industry, was it Jonathan? No, but there's still a lot to cover. There is, but we're going to go through it as fast as we can after last month's epic super bonus edition, which was over three hours long with interviews with Gary Stern and Stern Pinball team and David Fix. Right. And we're going to try and keep this one relatively brief. Right. Well, we always try, but you know how that goes. That's true. Yeah. We're going to try harder. Right, right. Okay. So let's do it. Right. So starting off with American Pinball, and you think, why American Pinball? Well, as predicted in our previous pin cast, Ametron, the mother company, so to speak, of American Pinball, have positioned themselves as a contract manufacturer of pinball and other arcade games using the name FunSub.
1:39
Yeah. They created a new company called FunSub Manufacturing, which you can find at the moment at funsubmanufacturing.com if you want to go onto the web.
1:51
Interesting name, FunSub. doesn't necessarily immediately string out as a great name for a contour manufacturer, but, you know, maybe all the good ones are taken. It's not terrible. There is a slight problem in that if you search online for FunzUp, you will immediately find that FunzUp is a brand of stand-up paddle boards. Right. So FunSUP.
2:18
Pinball Brothers
company
Multimorphiccompany
Barryperson
Jonathan Houstonperson
Martin Everettperson
Jack Ranieriperson
Daniel Jensenperson
Seth Davisperson
Jodie Dankbergperson
Jack Dangerperson
Roger Dave Peckperson
Melvin Williamsperson
$

market_signal: Tariff uncertainty affecting Wonderland Amusements' sub-$1,000 price target for 80% scale Alice game manufactured in China

medium · Jonathan discussing Trump tariffs: 'the increased tariffs from China introduced by the Trump administration recently are going to blow that 1 US dollar price tag out of the water'

  • ?

    announcement: Wonderland Amusements confirming Alice in Wonderland Kickstarter launch for March 11, 2025

    high · Martin: 'the Kickstarter page that we just mentioned is already there, but the campaign hasn't launched yet' with March 11 launch date confirmed

  • ?

    product_strategy: Dutch Pinball's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland delayed due to key component arriving mid-March

    high · Jonathan: 'one key component for the game that is delayed and as such the full production of the game is delayed as well. That key component is expected to arrive mid-March'

  • ?

    product_concern: Dungeons & Dragons experiencing mechanical issues with dragon movement; thread titled 'is Dungeons & Dragons a fire hazard?'

    medium · Martin: 'I don't know whether they fixed the bug with the dragon itself. It seemed to be quite problematic' and mentions fire hazard thread

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Spooky Pinball's Motorhead game status unclear after responding 'not in 2025' to inquiry

    medium · Jonathan: 'the response was not in 2025 but they didn't deny that it was going to a future game'

    • So those are the results you'll get at the moment on Google, or the first hundred results you'll get if you search for Funza. And here's the first theme of their pinball machine. Yeah, it could be. Yes, first paddleboard pinball.
    2:35
    So anyway, they've launched this website which says that they will be offering their manufacturing capabilities for pinball, arcade, and family entertainment slash redemption games. Well, basically what they already did for American Pinball, because American Pinball also was involved in one of those computer games for some customer of them. Yes, that's right. Yeah, they did an arcade game, and they also tried to launch their own redemption game. Yeah, The Flying Dutchman. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Which I don't think was a big success. Well, it never went anywhere. No. I was being kind. So anyway, if you go to their website, you'll see their three streams that they're hoping to generate revenue from, which I just mentioned. It says their mission is to provide top-notch contract manufacturing services tailored to the amusement industry.
    3:37
    And they say they are powered by Aintron, as you said, American Pimples' parent company, which we covered in some depth last month when talking to David. Yes. So no news, basically, on getting American Pimple back on the road or hiring back former employees or anything like that? No, or indeed launching their next title, which they have been working on and should be very close to being ready to launch, if only they had the means to do so. Right. So, anyway. So, I took a look at the website of FunSubManufacturing.com. I came across some familiar pictures.
    4:21
    Yes, under their pinball section, they have a picture, well, a rather large picture of the manufacturing facility and the production line. a bunch of graphic tank force games all stacked up and some Houdini machines being built all of which I took when I was visiting when you and I were visiting the factory in October 2023 at the pinball expo so now the question is are you going to sue them?
    4:53
    well I didn't ask for permission but there isn't much point in suing them I don't think I've got the money to pay compensation so So here you have it, kids. We'll let it rot. Just get away with it. Yeah, that's right.
    5:09
    If you just take the illusion you don't have any money, then nobody will see you anyway. Well, let's see if that works going forward.
    5:19
    But anyway, we wish them the best of luck anyway with the thumbs-up manufacturer. I can't help but think that I can't help but wonder. let's say I have a pinball concept or let's say I have everything, a playing prototype, okay, take this into production. Are they currently able to do that?
    5:40
    No, I don't think so. I think you'd have to come to them with a much more developed concept, complete with engineering drawings and a bill of materials and everything else that they can order for you and then assemble and then just ship the box product to you or to your distributors. And then after that, it's up to you to deal with the sourcing of materials and the quality control, service, marketing, all that kind of stuff. Right. So as far as I can see, it seems like it's just a manufacturing facility and no more. Right. And then the question that rose with me, so to speak. Okay, so let's say you have a pinball design, you have all the 3D CAD drawings and everything, the parts list, and everything is completely, you did all the work.
    6:41
    And you ask them, can I source production out to you? And they say, yes, of course. And I have a feeling that they're going to charge probably as much as they would retail for an American pinball game. So why would anyone be interested in sourcing it out if they are already, and this is an assumption on my end, but if they are selling you the product that you designed yourself at almost close to retail price, there's no markup left.
    7:14
    I don't think it would work like that. They say, well, okay, it will cost, I don't know, $2,000 to build your game. okay so you give us all the parts or the spec for all the parts, we order the parts in we assemble the game we give it to you pay for all the parts and it's $2,000 per game and then you sell it at whatever price you want to sell it for I don't think it wouldn't be an American pinball game. It will be your own game. I get that, but I just feel that the price for sub- for manufacturing by them is so high that there is no room for any markup. Well, that's the price they would have to work on such to make it worthwhile for the company who is designing and selling the game. They're just not doing the building part of it. They may have a huge amount of the work done, as you say, but don't have the manufacturing facilities. So you just need a place where you can build the game and some staff to build it. And that's what funds up our operating by the looks of it. Okay. Sorry for this slight derail of me.
    8:43
    That's all right. Okay. Yeah, I think it's interesting exactly what they're offering. We don't know yet. That's the thing. It'll probably be tailored to every potential customer. I apologize for all the speculation that just happened.
    8:58
    Yes, well, that's all right. That's what we're here for. So, anyway, that's pretty much the news from Ametron slash American Pinball for this month. I don't think there's anything else we can add to that. So let's move on to our second headline, which is the end of the Big Lebowski. Oh, my God. Yes, at long last. The final, the Big Lebowski machine has rolled off the production line at Dutch Pinball. Yes. Story started, well, it started before this, but from my perspective, started with a launch party at the Grand Café Lebowski, very close to where you are. I'm very familiar with it. I would, Derek. Yes, indeed. Yeah. So that was back on the 27th of September 2014. Yes.
    9:46
    And the last game rolled off the production line 10 years and 5 months after that. Well, I'm pretty sure they were, first of all, not expecting it to be that long. I'm sure they weren't. But there's a plus side on it because, okay,
    10:03
    I'm also sure they weren't expecting production to be as large as it was. No. I'm trying to think, I can't imagine any other company who, certainly in the pinball business, who's been manufacturing one single title for over 10 years.
    10:20
    With gaps. I was going to say that. There's some notes there. Yes. Oh, yeah. But, well, it's good to see that Dutch pinball are where they are now, in the sense that they look to be, well, they dug themselves out of a hole. let's put it that way absolutely I think kudos certainly to Barry and everybody else involved in making that happen so we covered that in the past but it means now that we can move on to the next title and that as we know is going to be the Dutch Pinball exclusive game Alice's Adventures in Wonderland right developed with Melvin Brow Williams and Barry and production of that is, well, was due to start fairly soon. But I think there's been some developments there. Yeah, well, what I understood is there is one key component for the game that is delayed and as such the full production of the game is delayed as well. That key component is expected to arrive mid-March And in the meantime, they are starting on getting the production line in order so that all stations know what to do and what to put in. And the pre-production of cabinets, sub-assemblies, and all that kind of stuff, that will begin. but they can only build up to a certain point and then they are going to need that key component.
    12:09
    And we don't know what it is? No, apparently it's not the cabinet. No. I do not know what it is, but oh well. It could be something bespoke for that particular game, not a sort of standard, it's not a power supply or a computer board or a back glass or anything like that. It could be the back glass, I suppose.
    12:32
    Yeah, okay. Well, that's expected to arrive mid-March, I think you said. So, well, we're at the beginning of March. We're only looking for a couple of weeks' time. And is this, I mean, I'm asking you this, and I don't know whether you know, but is this going to be built in the other factory, the exclusive factory across the street.
    13:00
    I know they were planning to move all the production over there and make the existing manufacturing building into development. Right, no, I don't think so. And I do have some additional info,
    13:17
    which some people can check for themselves as well if they wish to. As we discussed earlier, Dutch People has acquired a second building where production for all the DPX titles was supposed to be taking place. But it looks like that location is now being used by the Pinball Factory. and if you look it up on Google Maps which I just did then it clearly shows Dutch Pimple being on the opposite well literally across the street of that location and there's a link with a URL if I translate it it's slippermechanic.nl but it's in Dutch.
    14:17
    Which is, well, it suggests that they fix your pinball machine. And on Google Maps, the pinball factory is listed as an arcade location. So I'm not sure exactly what to think of that.
    14:38
    I have no further details. I didn't talk to Barry about it, but it was pointed out to me to look into. So I literally just did. Okay. I can confirm that Google Maps is listing the Pinball Factory at the location that was supposed to be the DPX factory.
    14:57
    And it's basically telling me that they are just building, they're going to be building these Alice's Adventures in Wonderland games in the same location as they were building the Big Lebowski. Okay. And it's just a hinge. It's not confirmed. So we don't know anything about this pinball factory company? No, no. Okay. It wouldn't happen to be Melvin's by any chance.
    15:28
    I'm guessing. Trying to see what the website says. we repair, restore, maintain and value pinball machines so that they can put a price tag on the game that you're offering them. You can rent pinball machines or get them for operation.
    15:56
    Sounds like an operator then, really. And a restorer. Okay. So, interesting change of use then for that, or potential. Yeah, from what I understand it's basically someone else who is renting a bunch of space. Right. Okay.
    16:20
    Apparently they also have a commercial location in Malik, which I have no idea where that is. Oh, okay. Well, we'll investigate that, and we'll come back next month with more details as to what's going on with the Dutch Pinball factories, and whether they still have two, or whether they only have one now. And they've let one of them go. Anyway, we were talking about Alice in Wonderland, or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, being the title of the Dutch Pinball exclusive game, But they are, of course, not the only company developing an Alice in Wonderland game, because Wonderland Amusements are also developing a very different product, which they have shown several times. And they have very recently shown a new video in their February monthly update, which showed all the full back box and cabinet artwork, inner cabinet decals, artwork on the bottom apron, a caterpillar sculpt, ramp artwork on both of the ramps, an improved castle sculpt for the Queen of Hearts castle, an updated Mad Hatter's Tea Party table sculpt. and also, although it wasn't shown in the video,
    17:43
    it wasn't shown on the game in the video, I should say, they also have new, brighter playfield artwork because the previous artwork was thought to be rather muddy and dim, so they've got a brighter version of that to show separately from the game that was shown. There was some flipping going on with the game. There was suggestion before that it was quite difficult to shoot some of the ramps, but they were quite easy to shoot in the video that was shown, so that was good.
    18:15
    And as you may recall, this is an 80% size version of a full-size pinball machine, so it's not exactly the same full size, 80% in dimensions, and has a smaller ball.
    18:27
    Sorry, carry on. Right. Yeah, no, while you were saying 80% of a full pinball machine, I was going to say, like, think of it as a safecracker size. Yes. I haven't actually, well, I have got my hands on the cabinet, but it was only the cabinet when I saw it last, so it would be interesting to see whether they bring that game to any pinball shows. Now, this is a game which is designed by the Arcade 1-Up people, or the team behind that, so they have a lot of experience in marketing games and marketing low-cost versions of expensive arcade games, which is exactly what this is. because the team have throughout said their intention is to hit a price tag of below US$1,000.
    19:17
    Right. Which is quite an ask, really, in this day and age. They've made no issue of the fact that they're going to be manufacturing it in China, which, of course, brings us back to an issue we've been talking about before, you know, tariffs.
    19:33
    Well, not even that. Yes. well, I was thinking longer back because in the beginning of Dutch Pinball, Dutch Pinball was planning to source out production of their games in China as well. Yes, that's right, after the deal with Aura fell through, yes yes, yeah, I think that was it, yeah that didn't work out well for a number of reasons and ultimately I think it was probably for the best that it didn't happen, but But Wonderland Amusements are certainly intending to manufacture in China, and the videos they've shown of the game up until now have been from their China manufacturing partner, which seems to be where the game is being developed. Now whether the increased tariffs from China introduced by the Trump administration recently are going to blow that 1 US dollar price tag out of the water It means it going to be 1 or more We don't yet know. But what we do know is that they are launching a Kickstarter to publicize and, I guess, to pre-sell the game. And that launches on the 11th of March. Previously, they were going to do it, but we didn't know when exactly. it's supposed to be March or April well the date is fixed 11th of March is when it's going to go live so you go to kickstarter.com slash projects slash wonderland amusements slash wonderland dash pinball yeah if you want to go to the exact page yes slash wonderland dash pinball probably if you just search if you go to kickstarter.com and you type in that you're searching for wonderland pinball then you probably get there as well yes i think so that's right yeah we don't know what the different tiers are going to be for for backers with um how much you put put up to start with whether you pay in full or whether you um you can put down a non-refund well because it's been kickstarter it will be a refundable deposit if the project never goes into um it's never completed yeah but there will be different tiers i'm sure and different rewards for for backers So we look forward to seeing what that is when it launches in just over a week's time. I'm also curious whether that means that if they don't have enough backers, then they can basically back out of the entire project or not. Yeah, indeed. I'm interested to see what their target funding amount is, whether it's something which is going to be easily achievable, where if they put it down to, I don't know, $50,000,
    22:12
    in which case they're probably going to hit that fairly easily. if they give it, I don't know, a month or six weeks or eight weeks of the whole campaign, or whether they price it really high and say, we've got to raise a million dollars to do this, which will make it more of a challenge. So anyway, the Kickstarter page that we just mentioned is already there, but the campaign hasn't launched yet. So if you're interested, then you don't want to miss out. you can already visit that page, bookmark it, and then keep an eye on it. Or you can sign up for updates, and then you'll be notified when it goes live as well. Right, yeah. Which is the 11th of March at the moment, unless something happens. Right. Okay.
    22:57
    Moving on, then. Moving on, indeed. And then we get to our biggest pinball manufacturer in the world at the moment, Stern Pimble who released a new range of John Wick accessories just what we've been waiting for yeah exactly and what are we talking about? we're talking about a shoot-em-up expression lighting speaker kits, side armor and a topper featuring a multiple plastic layer 150 RGB LEDs and a rotating hourglass and a topper exclusive 3 minute long mode called TikTok Mr. Wick.
    23:40
    And the new mode is also available as a challenge mode at the start of the game. But only if you've got the topper. Right. Or if you know how to fool the game that you have the topper. Yes, that's true. I think that's brought a certain amount of acrimony, shall I say, on Stern because they've been waiting for some updates to that game, some improved rules, lots of fixes and further development on it. And this big announcement came out, and it's basically saying we've got this new topper. And if you want to buy the topper, you can get this new mode. And if you don't want to spend more money on your game, then you don't get it. So, yeah, people are looking at that and thinking it's buying additional content for the game which is in need of further development. Right. So that didn't go down very well at the time. But they haven't forgotten about it anyway, because there are some new John Wick contracts that have been announced during the past month. anyway so still getting some some love uh but just not as much as uh owners were hoping for right okay so and then um well uh this weekend uh basically um there is a um a toy fair in new york city being held from march the 1st until the 4th so that's uh still two more days um and stern pinball will be attending it's an annual event featuring thousands of new and unique toys games edutainment entertainment driven experiences and more from around the world ah i'm such a news yes yes stern pinball will be on booth uh 5359 uh where they will be showcasing the newest game including their latest critical hit game, Dungeons & Dragons, The Tyrant's Eye, and The Uncanny X-Men.
    25:58
    Critical hit game. Yeah. I'm not so sure what so critical is about it. So we'll be represented by Seth Davis and Jodie Dankberg, ready to answer any questions. Any questions? Any questions. So if you want to know why bananas are curved, ask Jodie. Yeah. I'm sure he'll be able to give you a very good answer to that. Right. And interestingly, although not exhibiting at the event, Jack Ranieri of Jersey Jack Pinball, founder of that company, posted photos on his Facebook page that he's attending the event, the toy fair, that is. Not the Stern stand. Well, maybe as well. You never know. Jack's not shy of walking into a competitor's booth. or, you know.
    26:51
    Okay. Yes. So that's, well, all for the Toy Fair. But there's more fairs. MagicCon in Chicago also took place. Not exactly sure when, but Stern did attend with Dungeons & Dragons.
    27:10
    And the game was also featured on the IGN FanFest video series. so it's all just a bit promo for Dungeons and Dragons of course well you already mentioned they added some new contracts for John Wick but also achievement batches for those who are playing on Insider Connected for March to coincide with non-Pinball events such as the Oscars St. Patrick's Day Pi Day which is the 14th of March, and some others as well. Yeah, an amazing number. 132 different achievement badges for the month of March. Oh. Yeah, which I'm sure you're going to want to collect them all, aren't you, Jonathan? Oh, yeah. I can't sleep if I don't collect them all. Well, okay. I won't keep you away from your insider-connected gaming. And we'll move on to your favorite section. Ah, the new code. Oh, yes. The new code. Yes. Not surprisingly, Dungeons and Dragons was there. Two new updates this month. On the 7th and 18th of February, basically just lots of rule changes. They keep changing quite significant aspects of the game at the moment.
    28:27
    Additional rules added and a few extra sound effects and lots of bug fixes. I don't know whether they fixed the bug with the dragon itself. It seemed to be quite problematic, but hopefully. Certainly it seems like it needs fixing. Yeah, it's a bit worrying when you go onto Pinside or whatever and see a thread title saying, is Dungeons & Dragons a fire hazard?
    28:50
    I think that's a little unfair, but it certainly has had a few problems with the movement of the dragon. Other software this month was the Uncanny X-Men. Yes, another game like John Wick, which people thought was a little bit neglected, shall we say. Well, they got version 0.90 out on the 19th of February, which wasn't the big update that owners were hoping for. It did have lots of new speech calls and sound effects, and they changed many of the rules for modes and multiballs, fixed quite a lot of bugs, added some extra display effects, but didn't add things like mini wizard modes, or indeed a full wizard mode, which people have been clambering for. but it's only at 0.9, so there's still plenty to go before it reaches 1.0. People get restless, but it'll get there in the end, I'm sure. Oh, yeah, and knowing, well, Jack Sporny is still involved with this, as is his game, Jack Danger. That's right, yeah. Yeah, so actually I thought the game was extremely fun when I played it last year when it just came out, and I can't wait to play it with the new code. Yeah, I think the problem is just that it was rushed, and it was less developed than you might expect because it had to fill a hole on the line. Right. So if you think of it in those terms, then yes, it'll take a little while before it reaches 1.0 with all the features added. Right. Okay. So then, well, we already mentioned Jack Wannieri. We did. Let's hop over to Jersey Jack Pinball, also in Elk Grove. Well, I'll tell you why not, because there's no news this month. So moving on to quadratic gaming. No, well, Jersey Jack, we've just been, on social media, they've been promoting all their other recent games, like Toy Story 4, Guns N' Roses, Godfather, Elton John and Avatar. Of course. We are sort of waiting on the announcement of Game 11, which there's no set time for that yet. I don't know whether it will be announced this month or next month, but I don't think it's been much, much longer before. Well, I did ask with Jack whether we were going to see a new title at the Texas Pinball Festival, and all he could say was, maybe.
    31:16
    Well, there's only a couple of weeks to that. So as pinball companies these days tend to, if they haven't started teasing it in the next couple of days, with little sections of play field or a little trailer video or tease video or, you know, something related to the game that you have to try and guess what it is,
    31:42
    which they can then extend over the next couple of weeks, I don't think it's going to be at Texas. Right. Okay. So, well. We'll find out in the next few days.
    31:55
    We'll just have to wait and see. Yeah. So, moving on, as you said, to Pedretti Gaming. And this is some news from them.
    32:04
    Well, a little bit. Okay. They're still building and shipping Funhouse remake games, mostly to America, I think. Mm-hmm. Glad to hear it. Hopefully for them. Now, tariffs will be increased and what have you?
    32:21
    No, not yet, anyway. Another one of those wait-and-see situations, see what develops with that. But, yeah, I know that's done in conjunction with the pinball company in the U.S., So there may be some means of bypassing tariffs if it's a bit more company who's actually marketing the game. But anyway, speaking of which, they have posted an unboxing video for the new Funhouse remake on YouTube. Yeah, the company that is, yes. Yes, that's right. They've been explaining the differences between the original game and the remake, so all the additions that have gone into it. you can go to YouTube, and I'm sure you can go to the Pinball Company and Funhaus, and search for those two on there, you will get the link to it, which is, as usual, a bunch of random or semi-random characters and numbers and other symbols in the URL. So we won't try and relate it all here, but it's easy enough to find, I'm sure. Right, so, and the latest news which Pedretti shared on their Facebook page was that they joined the Blue Sky social platform. Oh, right. Okay, I'll hop over there and follow them on there. That's right. I'm not sure whether they're going to be posting any different content than on Facebook and Instagram and what have you. I also have no idea whether Blue Sky is a very popular social network experience or whatever you want to call it. I was on there yesterday having a look it seems to have very similar stuff to Facebook at the moment to be honest but probably with a smaller number of users well just wait and see how that develops maybe it's the next best thing since sliced bread so who knows looking forward to having it for breakfast then so Pinball Brothers slightly related no news other than, well, I expect them to still be building ABBA games or other games, although I haven't seen any recent photos or footage that they are actually shipping games, but that doesn't mean that they're not very busy. I did happen to talk to, or chat, I should say, with the CEO, Daniel Jensen, who informed me he will not be at the Texas Pinball Festival. Oh, that's a shame. Yeah, it is, because that's usually when we do an interview with him. It is. But that doesn't mean that there will not be any local Pinball Brothers representation like... Fun, I guess. Yeah, probably. Probably the nearest distributor for them. Right, so... Oh, well. That's all we have right now on Pinball Brothers. So it's a very short segment. and we went to Spooky Pinball. Yeah, we said it wasn't a particularly busy month, and Spooky Pinball are, of course, busy up in Benton building their games. Evil Dead. Evil Dead, yeah, mostly at the moment. But there's no actual news from them other than a couple of code updates, one of which is Evil Dead, of course. That came out on the 17th, which added quite a few tweaks to the feature set of the game. fixes some bugs adds a few extra options to the in-game menu and there's also a new Looney Tunes code out, came out on the 27th, curiously labelled as beta or beta depending on where you are in the world kind of suggests that it's not fully tested but it does add two new episode based modes called Baseball Bugs and Rabbit Punch so nice to keep getting extra content added to that game not just bug fixes or tweaks to the rules but whole new modes added so good work to the team working on Looney Tunes right so and then there was a little bit of news which is more like a rumor so we don't do rumors no definitely not no but the fact that there is being rumored about a certain upcoming title is something that we can report on because that's actually happening. The rumor is happening, yes. Yes. And the rumor being that Spooky Pinball is apparently going to be making the Motorhead game that they showed in their booth last year at the Texas Pinball Festival. I think that was from Dave Peck. Yeah, Roger Dave. Yes. from Australia who built that game so the curious thing is apparently Spooky was asked whether they are going to be building that game and the response was not in 2025 but they didn't deny that it was going to be a future game so you could read into that that they are not doing that game or you could read into that that it might be next year so not 2025 but after that. Yeah, indeed. And that's a rumor, so it's pure speculation. We just report that this is the rumor that is going around. Right. Okay, well, we won't speculate any further on that.
    38:01
    It was a good game, though. It was a very good game, yes, and certainly worthy of being taken to the big time. And speaking of being a good manufacturing partner to develop it further. Right. But if they were to take it on board, yeah. So let's move further south. We talk about Texas, and a local Texas company, a relatively local Texas company, is Multimorphic, based in Round Rock in Texas. They are currently building the final pre-order batch of the Princess Bride playfield modules. If you remember, they said they were going to be building them in batches, well, basically one a month. They're building the final pre-order batch. It took them six months, or will have taken them six months, to complete all the pre-orders by the time they finished.
    38:47
    After that, they'll keep building them, but they'll build some for future orders, basically to go into inventory. And also alongside that, they'll be making some complete P3 machines without the modules in, but the base machine, doing that in anticipation of the announcement of their next game title. so when they do that they'll just be able to build a whole bunch of modules to go into these complete machines which they are building or will be building very shortly so that will save them a lot of time and be able to get games to buyers earlier than they would otherwise if they started from scratch right so that probably means that we won't see a new title from Multimorphic at the upcoming Texas Pinball Festival which is a pity yep that's probably the case but oh well we look forward to it anyway and it's good thing to know that once they do once they are ready to announce and reveal and what have you uh that they also will be available uh in the possibility to ship rather quickly yeah absolutely which is uh what all companies want they want to be able to get in on that initial launch buzz right um other news from multimorphic well last month we talked about their referrer program where if you are a P3 owner you can refer a new buyer to Multimorphic and if they go ahead and purchase a game and a game module then there's some benefits in terms of store credit to both the referrer and the new buyer. I think the new buyer gets money off their purchase as well. Well they're now offering to help promote P3 streamers. So if you have a P3 and go online and stream your games and then Multimorphic want to know about it they want to help promote your stream and they are offering to provide some swag that you can give away as prizes during your stream So if you're interested in doing that, then just contact sales at multimorphic.com, and they will give you the details on how to go about hooking up and telling Multimorphic what it is you're doing and getting some swag from them. So that would be nice. I should probably send an email to them as well, asking for some swag for the So You Think You Know Pinball Quiz, which we will be hosting at the Texas Pinball Festival. You're right. Yes, definitely. We will be hitting them up for more of the most generous sponsorship they've been able to provide over the past few years. Right. Yeah. Meanwhile, Multimorhig have been sort of looking forward to future production. and they've been looking back at the timeline of development of the P3 pinball platform. Ever since it began probably 13 years ago or more, really, I've been fortunate to have been able to report on that for Pinball News ever since March 2012. Wow. About 13 years ago, back before the company was even called Multimodal Figures, it was Pinball Controllers back then. Pinballcontrollers.com was their website. I think the website's still there, but that's when Jerry and co. were really focusing, before that, were focusing on the P-Rock system and the add-on boards for that. But then the P3 was created as a means of demonstrating the potential of the P-Rock system and the kind of things you could do with it, and it's all pretty much grown from that. so yes I remember seeing it back at Gerry's house my first visit there and him and Les and Brandon were working on it and it's come a long way since then with various iterations of cabinet the playfield has changed somewhat various features have been added to it and improved as well, flippers pop bumpers slingshots and things like that side targets, extra upper flippers it's all been improved in the trough particularly but anyway if you go, choose to go to pinball news and go to the old website which is a link on the right hand side then you can in fact you just go pinballnews.com slash games slash p3 I think you can read all these stories we've done over the past 13 years and seeing how the game was developed in that time. It's quite fascinating. Right. If I do say so myself. Yeah, okay. Well, thanks for the shameless self-plug, Mark. Well, if I don't do it, who will?
    43:49
    True, true, true. Okay, so while we're in Texas, heading even more down south, we have Barrels of Fun, known for their Labyrinth game.
    44:04
    There's a little bit of news from them. They hosted a factory tour for those attending the Twippy Awards, which were held at the nearby Wormhole Pinball Arcade.
    44:19
    And we hope to visit Wormhole as well. Well, we get the chance to visit. And Barrels of Fun. And Barrels of Fun as well, yes. So a factory tour. People are eagerly awaiting a new game from Barrels of Fun.
    44:41
    So, of course, people ask and we see photos of doors that are not allowed for entry for non-employees and so on, and strictly forbidden access, yada, yada, yada. But apparently what the Factory Tour has learned us is that Barrels of Fun have about 100 to 150 labyrinth games still yet to make, which probably takes them about a week or six to complete those. While the game initially was announced as a run of 1,100, the company has decided to cap the production of Labyrinth at 1,004 games,
    45:33
    so basically 1,000 less. No, 100 less. Oh, sorry, 100 less, yeah. Math is not my strong side. Okay. So do you think, just speculating here, is that the number of orders they've got and they've decided they're not going to take any new orders on the game? Yeah, something like that. I don't think there's any significance to the 1,004 number, is there, in relation to the theme? No, I don't think so. No, it's probably, okay, these are the orders that we have. Maybe we build a little bit of inventory to ship to distributors if there's more demand. and that's probably it. Now, barrels did show off a new pinball machine to people who took the tour, at least that's what we understood from Don's pinball podcast, but the game that they saw is not going to be the next game, which makes you wonder what game did they see?
    46:35
    Yeah, I've heard various suggestions, one of which included Dune, whether it was the original Dune or Dune 2 I don't know but I don't know whether that's accurate or just mischief but I haven't actually seen it confirmed anywhere it's another fact that we're reporting a rumour yes, well maybe, not saying definitely maybe we'll be able to bring some more information on that in next month's after we've had a visit to Bows of Fun. Well, maybe I'm speaking too soon here, but I think we might be able to interview David Van Ness for our next spin cast. I would certainly hope so. I'm sure he's got plenty to tell us about where they are, what they've done, what they've decided, and where they're going. Right, okay.
    47:34
    That's about it, I think, isn't it? Yeah, I think so. So I'm trying to think. I did see a post on Facebook of Labyrinth Games finally arriving in Europe. Yes, that's right. Yeah, that was Stefan at RS Pinball, wasn't it? Yes, I think so. So for those in Europe who have been waiting for their Labyrinth Games, well, if you ordered one with Stefan, then you're probably about to get one. I think I saw a post on Facebook from retro arcade specialists in the UK with a big stack of toppers for Labyrinth which have arrived in the UK so I think the people in the UK who had ordered a topper for the game should either have got it by now or will be getting it soon or you just get the topper and then wait for the game yeah exactly oh well anyway so that rounds it up for Barrels of Fun but we expect more news in our upcoming episode at the beginning of March which will be of course at the beginning of April actually terrible but that will be after the Texas Pimple Festival so hopefully there will be news from Barrels of Fun lots of news from the show I think, than other manufacturers, as you were about to say. Right. And unlike what you just said about manufacturers teasing upcoming games for weeks in advance, well, with Barrels of Fun, yes, they did tease Barrels of Fun as a company for weeks, but they didn't tease Labyrinth. No. That was a complete surprise, and I would not be surprised if they decide to do something similar with, if they are revealing a new game at the Texas Pinball Festival,
    49:36
    it's going to be very close to the show before they announce anything. Yeah, or may not even announce anything. You might just turn up at the show and have it there. Right. So surprise everyone again. you know that seems to be uh their their way of operating which is which is good fun good fun for everyone barrels of fun in fact yeah anyway yeah we'll get back to that uh next month um but for this month we are currently looking at a home pin factory in taiwan yeah you know the company that It's supposed to be manufacturing the Blues Brothers, but they also have a history of producing power boards and... Yeah, aftermarket boards, replacement boards for various pinball and other arcade games. So they're basically an electronics manufacturer, I think. Right, yeah. It's where they started and where they founded the company. Well, there isn't any news this month on Blues Brothers or any of the other games. You know, Spinal Tap either. But all we've got from Mike Kalinowski there is a picture of, or a couple of pictures of the arrival of some boxes of electrolytic capacitors. 15,000 microfarad ones for those who are interested in that kind of thing, which are for an upcoming aftermarket board, and that's all we know. He says they look like they would be suitable for a power supply-related product, but we don't know what it is. But no directly related pinball news from Home Pin this month. Okay, so, well, that seems like a good time to head back to Texas then. Good idea. Get back to some real pinball. Right. So we're talking about Turner Pinball, And similar to the Labyrinth games that we were just discussing of Barrels of Fun, the Ninja Eclipse games from Turner Pinball also made it to their European distributor, RS Pinball in Austria.
    51:48
    Excellent. And on top of that, Turner Pinball also announced they have shipped more than 50% of the first edition Ninja Eclipse machines. which is 50 machines I believe yes because the production is limited to 100 if I'm not well the first edition games all the games I think they said they are not going to make a second edition of Ninja Recruits oh but who knows maybe they change their mind we never know not that they have a history of changing their mind don't get me wrong so no we'll just well just wait and see but congratulations to Turner Pimble for yeah it's a great start for their launch title really yeah I think it's gone down very well. Now, in the state that they got the final game in, after going through a number of iterations, as we're talking about with Multimorphic, not as many as them, but having gone from their sort of super light version, which with the small cabinet and the thin back box that people didn't really like very much, they seem to have come up with a winner with the first edition production game. So congratulations to them. Look forward to seeing what they come up with for game two, which can't be that far away. Right. And then, well, speaking of being more than halfway through the production of a pinball title, the same goes for the Pulp Fiction limited edition production, which is done by Chicago Gaming, as we all know. Right. Okay. So the limited edition model. Right. Yes. Which people were waiting a long time for. Yes. So they're halfway through. Yeah, which is a production of 1,000, so that's over 500 machines by now. Great. That's the only news I have from Chicago Gaming, by the way. Yeah, well, that's more than the news we've got from Pinball Adventures in Canada, who, despite all the talk about tariffs, which I think are about to come into force very soon between the US and Canada, and no doubt there will be retaliatory tariffs as well on American products in Canada which might make American pinball games, not American pinball, but US pinball games quite expensive up there. It seems like a good opportunity for pinball adventures to get in and sell to the Canadian market. But we haven't got any news from them yet. There's no sign of them ramping up production ahead of any potential tariffs coming in. Right. Well, the good news is if you don't have any games to sell, there won't be any tariffs. That's true, yes. There's always an upside.
    54:25
    Well, let's look at a company that has got some product to sell and are not so far in the target for tariffs. Well, that could change, of course, at any moment. That's Hexapinball, who are based over in France.
    54:40
    Remember a while ago we reported that they were running this scheme whereby if you ordered a Hexer pinball game, the Space Hunt game from them, then you could go to the factory and help build your own game alongside the team there. I'm not sure whether that's a scheme. It sounds so dangerous. Well, a plan or, yeah, an offer, shall we say then. Yeah. Yes, an offer where you can go and help build your very own game. Well, they're rerunning that now, so if you haven't bought a Space Hunt game and you fancy having one and you're able to get to the Bordeaux region of France and go to the Hexapinball factory, you too can be there as your own game is built and contribute to that build under the supervision of the team there. Yeah.
    55:32
    Build faster! Yes. Stand there with a whip. Exactly, yeah. Something like that. Build better. So, and on top of that, they also published a map explaining the rules of their space hunt game, how to play the game, which you can find on the hexa-pinball.com website on the support page. They also posted an image of the map on their social media.
    56:02
    And, of course, that's a good way to see whether you think, is this a game for me? yes you can see the depth of the rules within it good ok they did start announcing a number of shows that they will be attending this year in France and probably well I wouldn't say overseas but probably well Europe let's say so they did announce their first French show that they will be attending, which is I think already the second weekend of March, the 15th, somewhere. I didn't write it down, but sure, check their socials and you'll discover it yourself. If you happen to be in France anyway. Interesting you should mention about the 15th of March, because that is also the date for a show in Australia, where Vector Pinball will be exhibiting, and that is the Hoi Moe 3rd Annual Pinball Festival. held March the 15th at the Hoey Moeys, which is a bar, restaurant, function, event room building, I should say, in a place called Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. Right. Now, they reckon they have about 25 pinball machines set up on this, and it's a bit of a strange event by the looks of it, because they seem to split the day into like three sessions, all of which are only like two hours long so you can be there from like 11 in the morning to 1 and then 1 30 to 3 30 and then like 4 till 7 or something in the evening and that's it and each session is sold separately um but i guess with 25 machines there they need to be a little bit careful about it getting oversold um but vector pinball are going to be there and they are going to be bringing some of their australian designed and manufactured pinball creations. According to the event's website, they'll be bringing one of their 8-Ball Fury games, two of the Peter Brock games, I guess, they have two different artwork packages for that, so maybe one of each, and also one of the Holden pinball games. I think they have a couple of those as well, I don't know which one they're bringing.
    58:26
    So, if you want to get your hands on some vector pinball games, head over to the Hoey Moey's third annual pinball festival on March 15th. Right, yeah. So in the meantime, they also updated the VectorPinball.com website with a new front page, which seems to load quicker than before. Still not a very fast website. No, not very fast. Yeah.
    58:52
    But I noticed that previously you mentioned that their Holden games were on a website called HoldenPinball.com. Right. That is now integrated into the vectorpinball.com website as a subsection of that. It redirects to it if you go to oldenpinball.com. Well, interestingly, the Vector Pinball Facebook page lists a whole bunch of different URLs for their website. I mean, there's peterbrockpinball.com, 8ballfurypinball.com, holdenpinball.com, and a few more. I'm not reading these yeah they all refer to probably to just link to the same website just covering all their bases making sure nobody else gets in there and takes those URLs I suppose so yes but that's all the news for Vector Pimble or however you want to call them yeah and also all the news from Australia I think as well no news from Haggis no I've been trying to find any more information about the liquidation of assets from them. It's all gone very, very quiet over there, as far as I'm aware. I haven't been able to get any extra information over and above what we've already reported. So I can't help there. This month, we'll keep checking. Right. Okay. So there's also no news from a company called Bittronic Spain, who we know is manufacturing the Tokyo Perfect Drift game for Antonio Arturo or at least it's his design. Yeah, I'd really like to see some more about that because that's a game and it didn't seem to have been publicised or advertised very much anywhere. It deserves to be. Yeah, so I did send an email to Antonio. He didn't get back to me yet but then again I only sent it two hours ago. on Sunday, so.
    60:54
    I was hoping he was just checking his email, but, oh, well, he didn't get back to me yet. But hopefully we can bring you more news on that. There's a couple of European distributors for that game, but I haven seen anybody really announce that they have the game in stock or that it finally arrived or something like that So streams all that kind of stuff So it makes me wonder I seen photos of the factory with rows and rows of cabinets of games being built which is great, but where are they going? Yes, that's right. We want to see them. We want to get reports. We want to play them ourselves. Exactly. Yes. Well, hoping they would be at EAG last month, but sadly not. but not last month, in January now. Right. Anyway, so you did some checking on Cardona Pinball. Yeah, nothing new in the pipeline from them, but they have been doing a few new videos on their YouTube channel, mostly about how to install their kits or assistance in installing their kits. There's already a lot on their YouTube channel about their Black Rose Skull and Bones and their No Good Gophers Battle for the Green kits. But there's also a couple of new ones addressing a couple of problems that people have had in installing them. I have to admit, when I installed the Black Rose Skull and Bones one, I didn't have any issues with it. It all seemed to fit perfectly well. But I know that different people, or different games are made in different ways. These are old games now, Black Rose particularly, and all the original games weren't necessarily made to the same specifications. So you can understand that some people might run into issues that I didn't. But anyway, there's some new videos there on Cardona Pinball. There's also another one, which I haven't looked at yet, which is advice about how to soundproof your game room to keep down the noise of your pinball machines and not to disturb people in adjacent rooms or, indeed, adjacent buildings. So go and have a look, Cardona Pinball on YouTube. right okay so then we have oh well new game alert well or not so much actually yeah um so uh we have been talking about on and off about um a company called the tilt bob pinball uh which was founded by bob niece if i'm not mistaken that's right yeah and uh well it turns out uh well they were working on this game called Road Trip that we knew.
    63:32
    And for some reason they decided to change the name of Tilt Bob to Ram Spinball Production or Ram Spinball Manufacturing, one of the two. Yeah, I think there was a legal issue with using the name Tilt Bob. As a manufacturer, I don't quite know what it was or why. It seems a strange thing. But I guess if you get sent a cease and desist by somebody who thinks they own the right to that name, then you either fight it and spend a lot of money trying to defend your rights, or you just change your name. So they changed it to Ramps. R-A-M-P apostrophe S. That is the name of the company, which... Well, what's their name? Well, well, yes, but of all the names, it's not even, no, plural. It's possessive. So who is Ramp? And why is the company named after them? Right. Oh, well. So, anyway, they had a prototype of the road trip at the pinball at the beach show, which was hosted by Ed and Kim van der Veen last month, which was quite a big success. We'll get to that in a little bit.
    64:45
    Apparently, the game was running on a very early code, 0.3, which probably is just enough to keep it running through the show. There was no price set.
    64:57
    as the bill of materials isn't finished, there's supposedly a maximum of 500 units to be produced, although they said anything over 100 sold is a big win. Now, if you're curious about that game, I think Kerry Hardy did an in-depth video interview with Bob Neese in which he is walking you through the game as well with the glass off so you can get a good idea of what the playing field looks like and so on. So just go on YouTube and look for the Kerry Hardy channel. And it's probably one of the first videos you'll find in there. And that was from Pinball at the Beach, I guess. Yes. Okay. And that's all we have right now for Rams Pinball. Yeah. So a few companies where we don't have any news this month, one of which is STR Pinball in Spain going back to them, we haven't had any news from them for a long time quite so we were talking about just now that's Antonio's company no news from them just yet Circus Maximus no official news, although I do know that Antonio is working on a new game design I know that as well we can't say anything about that at the moment no, we can't oh I just did Oh, damn. We'll edit that bit out. Well, I didn't sign the NDA, so...
    66:28
    Okay, I was just saying Circus Maximus, as usual, no news from them, if indeed they still exist as an entity.
    66:34
    So I think that covers all the companies. We now move on to other news, then, from the pinball industry in the past month. Right.
    66:43
    Well, as you may have seen, the Trippie Awards were held at Wormhole Pinball. We mentioned them earlier.
    66:51
    And there was an audience. There were people who were actually at the awards. And, of course, they were the ones who went on, or some of them were the ones who went on the tour of the Barrels of Fun factory.
    67:06
    Trippie Awards previously had been held at the Texas Pinball Festival, but this year weren't. They were held at, as we say, Wormhole Pinball. they well I suppose it's a bit more low key now Jaws seem to win most the most categories about 6 or 7 different twippies for various aspects of it JJP got a couple for Elton John and Avatar I know Metallica Remastered also got an award Pinball Expo won Best Show of the year.
    67:48
    You've got the thing with Texas. Well, I think it's hard. I mean, especially in Pinball Expo's anniversary year, as last year was. Right. Yeah, I think the amount of events that were put on for that, I think it would be impossible for anybody to beat that.
    68:04
    So anyway, that came and went. There were some technical issues with it, I know, but I think all in all, there were a lot of people working on it to make it a success and we'll see where it goes from here, whether they end up being sort of going back to a major show again, or not. Right, okay. So, then you found some info about the fourth annual Pinball Degenerate Awards. Yeah, I had an email from Joe I'm always going to pronounce his surname incorrectly, but Chiaravino is how I'd probably say it, but I don't know if it's a soft C or a hard C, but I'll say it's a hard C. So, Joe, who heads up Pinball Degenerates, he's going to be doing, as you said, the fourth annual Pinball Degenerate Awards, a.k.a. the Degenies. They'll be taking place on that same weekend we were talking about just now, Saturday the 15th of March at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, live from the Super Wonder Gallery in Toronto, Ontario. Sorry, Toronto, Ontario. And if it's going to be streamed live, I suppose. Yes, it is.
    69:14
    There's no terrorist supply for watching it online. No, absolutely free. It'll be on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. It will apparently be featuring a jam-packed night, including live variety acts, comedy, music, game show with prizes, and the most awards in D. Jenny's history. so join Joe on the 15th of March from 8pm Eastern and see more DJs awarded and then we briefly talked about or we mentioned the Pinball at the Beach event, the first edition hosted by Ed and Kim van der Veen, former organisers of the Texas Pinball Festival I should also mention from the Little Shop of Games who was also organizing it and brought most of the games to it. Right. Okay. Well, so, okay. A collaborative event, I would say. Right.
    70:14
    Well, that appeared to have been a very successful event. The weather was nice. There were quite a few industry guests, mostly from Stern, if I'm not mistaken.
    70:27
    Actually, surprisingly, a lot from Stern. It's like Stern basically charted the plane and went over there with whoever was available. And apparently a lot of people didn't mind exchanging the Chicago weather for the floor.
    70:46
    Yes, exactly. And being in a beachside resort for a nice weekend. Yes, it seemed a very successful first outing for the show.
    70:57
    Obviously a lot of work to put it on, but the results seem nice. There's a report from our good friend Ross, Ross Simpson on Pinball News, if you'd like to go and have a look and see for yourself some pictures and walk around video as well. Also, at least one interview with George Gomez that was filmed at Pinball at the Beach, and I'm not sure whether that same reporter, talk to other people as well.
    71:27
    But if you go on YouTube and you Google or you look for Pimble at the Beach, I'm sure you'll find it soon enough. Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, talking about trips to places with nicer weather, we were talking earlier about our planned trip to Texas in a couple of weeks' time. Hope to visit Bowser Fun. Maybe Wormhole Pimble if they're open when we are there before we head up to Frisco for the Texas Pinball Festival. And as you said, we will be hosting our So You Think You Know Pinball quiz.
    72:02
    But we don't know exactly when that is because when I last looked, which was I think yesterday, the full schedule hadn't been published yet. There were some things that were on the schedule. There's some magic acts as well and bands as well playing. I think the Go-Go Gorillas I think are also playing there. one night.
    72:22
    But I don't know when we are, whether we are. I think we'll probably be on Saturday night, I suspect. You'll find us in the hotel's bar, as ever, and we'll be looking forward to seeing you there with lots of prizes to give away and silly questions to ask about pinball trivia. So hopefully I won't crash with anything else that's going on either at the show, like an autograph session or anything like that. Yeah, oh well. We'll see. And we were both asked to contribute some content for the program guide for the Texas Pinball Festival.
    73:03
    I don't know what you provided. I know what I did. Well, I have to hold my head up and say I was busy as my house was in chaos with builders ripping everything to bits. I was not in a position to sit down and work on an article. Right. Okay. So, well, if you're lucky enough to attend the Texas Film Festival, you will, usually you will get one of the programs as well. And the page that I contributed is actually in collaboration with our good friend Gary.
    73:41
    Gary? Oh, I haven't heard from Gary for a while. Yeah. No, we talked to Gary last month. Oh, that Gary. Yes. Gary Stern, I'm talking to you. You were referring to a different Gary. No, and I got permission to basically to publish what's cooking with Gary, his recipe that he shared with us for chicken legs last month. Yeah, so, yeah, it's a bit of a just a funny thing. It is very light-hearted. I think it's good fun. Yeah. You did a very nice job with it, I have to say. Yeah. So it was easily approved with Stern as well. They had a good laugh about it as well. So, yeah. So Gary's recipes for a poor man's cocoa van, you will find in the Texas Pinball Festival Guide this year. Well, there you go. I'm going to be eager to try it as the first possible opportunity. Right. Okay. Right. So anyway, moving on, staying in Texas to a degree. Remember, we go back to the ongoing saga of Deep Root and the civil and criminal cases against Robert Mueller by the SEC and Department of Justice. Well, a little bit of development this month. Robert has appointed yet another different attorney to represent him in the criminal case. And it's been granted another 90 days for that attorney to get familiar with the case. that means I know what it means, another delay so how many times are you allowed to get a different attorney well I'm not sure because this could go on forever it could do, yeah well it has done pretty much because this means that the plea hearing for the criminal trial has now been pushed back to the end of July the 31st and if a trial ever goes ahead That is currently arranged for the 11th of August. So this is something that's going to be taking place about now. And then it was delayed by 90 days, and then it was another four months, and now it's another, well, the middle of August at the moment. So that's assuming there are no further delays or attorney changes.
    76:06
    And then you remember the financial penalties that Robert faced from the SEC's case, which were admitted to, the charges were admitted to, they have been deferred until after the criminal proceedings. Oh, I'm sorry. So nothing's happening with all that until, well, probably until August now. So, well, that means we won't have to cover it too much unless something else changes.
    76:29
    Like another new lawyer. Another new one, or two, or three, yes. Yes. Well, we'll keep an eye on it, and if anything does change, we'll bring it to you in the next spin cast. Right, okay. So then I have two events I would like to mention. Last month we already mentioned the dates have been announced for the European Pinball Championship taking place in Austria. I figured I'd mention that as well.
    77:02
    Pinball artist Doc Watson, very familiar to us, and LCD animator Jean-Paul De Wynne, who we know for his work for Jersey Jack Pinball and Dutch Pinball, by the way, will be special guests at Pinball Universe the weekend of June the 14th and the 15th. This is in Germany. Yes, in Germany, indeed. In Bunde, to be precise, at Pinball Universe.
    77:29
    And I believe 120 tickets were available. Apparently, it already sold out. but I'm not sure when it sold out for both days.
    77:42
    And surprisingly, I couldn't find that much info on it on the Pimble Universe website. It was actually the German Pimble Association that had some info on this event. And then a little further down the calendar,
    78:01
    the dates for the Dutch Pimble Open Expo for 2025 have also been set. November again, but this time a little later in the month. November the 21st until the 23rd.
    78:18
    Okay. In the same location as the last two years, which were very successful events, by the way, in Veldhoven, near Eindhoven, that is. So easy to fly in if you're flying into Eindhoven Airport. and it's still the same, well, the former monastery with hotel rooms attached and so on.
    78:44
    Yes, an amazing venue, huge. One thing to be aware of if you are flying into Eindhoven is what happened last year was on the evening of the last day, on the Sunday, there was thick fog in the whole area and all flights out of Eindhoven were cancelled. So the people who, people from the UK who had flights out in the evening didn't have flights out in the evening and had to stay overnight until they could get either the next day's flights or go up to Amsterdam and fly out of Schiphol to get back home. So apparently that's not an uncommon event at Eindhoven Airport. No, no, true. I had, when I was flying in for EAG Expo, I had the same experience in the sense that there was fog.
    79:38
    And as a result, the airline I was flying with decided that it would be easier for them to transport everybody to an airport in Germany. with buses, and then we could fly from there. So that got me a five-hour delay as well. So time to be aware of. Anyway, if you're planning to fly in or out of Eindhoven, I'm flying in and out of Amsterdam, because there's a good train which runs between the two cities. Yeah. Oh, well. And, well, I guess that wraps it up for all the news that we can offer you this month. I think it does, yes. So we'll be back with the next Pincast at the start of April. We'll be looking back at all the events in the wonderful world of pinball throughout this month, the exciting month of March, which will include, of course, our visit to the Texas Pinball Festival and other locations on that trip. So check out reports of those on Jonathan's Pinball Magazine website and my Pinball News website. where you'll be able to read all about where we went and what we found. And we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our So You Think You Know Pinball free prize quiz at the Texas Pinball Festival itself. So until then, I'll say from me, Martin Ayer of Pinball News. And from me, my name is Jonathan Houston. I'm the editor of Pinball Magazine. we hope you have a fantastic magical March and we look forward to joining you again next month for the next edition of the Pimble Industry News Pincast bye for now bye bye