Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. The Pinball Network is online. Launching The Pinball Show. You are now connected, Insider, with The Pinball Show Episode 73. This week, the Creasel and I announce a winner. I can't help myself with timeless innuendos. Stern gets connected to the internet. But can you be verified? My Homie Gomi teases Elwin's next game release. Halloween Pinball leaving the factory. A battle between the foam core champ and a loud mouth. A GNR topper production update. A new game from Multimorphic. Waiting for a new game from American Pinball. The merchandise launch. And what design is winning the race to your hearts? Pinball market trends. and man crush of the week. Get ready, baby, because this week, Dennis is a little tilty, and I'm a little raunchy. Pinball is a game of skill. For some, it's a passion and a lifestyle. It's time for the Pinball Show. It's pinball with personality. episode 73 is coming at you with dennis and zach from the pinball show dennis how are you today i'm doing pretty i'm kind of tired but i'm doing okay too much porting last night sadly no uh as you as you might be aware i had so a couple days ago i recorded an interview with Ryan Claytor for my watch, my wristwatch YouTube channel about the pinball themed watch he developed. Exclusive. Yes, it was an exclusive. Yeah, actually he does reveal some exclusive information on that episode. So check it all out if you're interested. But we ended up, because of some issues came up, so we ended up having to do the recording later than we had planned. And then I, it's about 50 minutes long of content that I ran with. So I started the editing that night, but I didn't finish it all. So I then did the rest of it in the next day. And then I just, I don't know if I went out walking in the heat too long, but I just, I couldn't really sleep. And I was rolling around this morning and I was thinking, gosh, I really could just use some more sleep. I had that brief thought of I could just blow the pinball show off and not do it. You've never done that. But I jolted up, sat straight up. And I was like, no, you cannot do that. and you slap yourself in the face no no and i was like and it wasn't you know not to be mean but it wasn't about you like it wasn't that i couldn't let you down oh but it was that i remembered i'd once been told about how just easy podcasting is oh yeah and and i was like if i don't do it what does that say about me because this is so easy just so incredibly easy like of anything you could do to create content in this hobby nothing is probably as easy as podcasting which is probably why i've done it for so long wow so i was in video editing to top editing the next thing's easy i was thinking about that as i was editing in those cool like macro photography shots of that ricochet watch i was like gosh this is so easy and so here i am ready to do my easy job wow i know where that comes from it comes from the heart i guess it just comes All you got to do is press record. That's the tough part. Press live. Go live. It's just a mic. It's just a mic. Fun times. I love our little combative family at times. So what's been going on with you? You've not been in any combat lately. Nothing. Nothing. I've been working my little dick in the dirt. How about that? Is that an expression that people use? I have heard that before, but I don't know if you used it right or not because I've never – Like that's kind of – that's one of those expressions that actually makes me cringe involuntarily. Why? Because it's a male member? I just imagine like specks of dirt getting in the pee hole. Oh, gotcha. I always picture a dragon like a dachshund or something. No, I haven't been doing – I've been doing – Oh, I heard you're having issues with your above-ground pool. Well, issues is a strong term. I had to – That is going to blow down any day and I'm worried. That is true. You should not have let your kids architect that thing. No, it was me. I put it up, and that thing is coming down. Did you not read the direction? Were you like, ah? Oh, man, it was hell. It's round. I had to redo a hose. Hose dry rotted out to go to the pump. I had to redo that. So I've been working, just working, working on merchandising, working on flipping out stuff. How? You don't have any inventory. That's what my buddies are like. How are you even busy? And I'm like, I am extremely busy. Extremely, extremely busy. I thank you for taking the time out of your morning to do this easy-ass show. Well, the easiest part is after this when I spend six hours sitting in front of this godforsaken screen, 300 times cutting different pieces of this. That's true. You do the easiest part, the edit on the show. And for those of you who think that editing – oh, Zach doesn't do much editing. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. That means I'm doing my job okay. well you do a lot of you put a lot in in post way more than any other i was gonna say any other podcast i listen to but i listen to so few now yeah that that's an endangered species what you listen to i wanted to know one thing before we go to the correspondence talking about my dick in the dirt you used a more masculine term on the eclectic gamers podcast this last week dennis and it was cock you were talking about a lot of cock and you even elicited a giggle or two from your sidekick tony so what why all the cock talk on egp well we were i was in the intro uh which was which went too long and i was explaining what i've been doing though over the last couple weeks and i had yeah okay i was doing my well it was officially a wristwatch repair intro and tony was actually laughing mostly about initially about me discussing the the shaft oh that's right watch pieces that i was i was trying to replace and so after he found that humorous i because he because he was trying to stifle this and we were recording in person so i'm seeing him and he's covering his mouth to not laugh at his juvenile interpretation of my very important repair discussion show the human side of tony i appreciated it yes and so then i'm like why are you laughing at this i'm not even talking about the balance cock and then what is that what is a balanced cock well it's it's just a bridge it's a bridge that that carries the top of the balance picture of penis bridge the ants crawl across it carries the top pivots of a part called the balance staff and a watch. A staff, a shaft, and a cock. And actually on the Eclectic Gamers Podcast Discord, that is now our first custom emote. What's that, a cock? A balance cock, yeah. I made one and put it in. Didn't get you kicked off for terms of service or anything? I have a lot of pool with Discord. And with cocks. So those correspondents, Zach. Is there any other innuendo in time pieces, like a penis crank or a schlong dong? It's all that blatant. Okay. Well, let's hear what the correspondents have. It's time for TPN Industry News. Welcome to the pinball show's stern news update. I'm Craig Bobby. Well, the big news we've all been waiting for is finally here. No, it's not the latest Keith Owen game, and yes, it's hotter than the newest Watches with Dennis video. It's Stern Pinball's much-anticipated internet and game connectivity announcement. Dubbed Insider Connected, which according to Stern, is a comprehensive technology initiative to connect the universe of Stern Pinball machines. The platform is designed to enhance and extend player engagement with games across both home and commercial environments. It also presents professional operators of pinball machines with a robust set of tools to drive location play, build player loyalty, analyze performance, make adjustments remotely, and maintain the machines. Registration for Insider Connected is free. So what games can be connected to this network, you say? Well, any existing Spike 2 Stern LCD game can be added to the Insider Connected network by installing a simple, inexpensive retrofit kit, which will be available from Stern distributors, dealers, and the Stern store soon. In addition, all Stern Spike 2 LCD games produced after the September launch will ship with the Insider Connected system pre-installed. This includes new runs of previously released titles. Ooh! At their unannounced launch date, seven titles will be supported, but by the end of the year, Stern promises all 17 Stern Spike 2 LCD system titles will be added to the Insider Connected Network. All this information got you a bit confused? Well, Stern has released several very good comprehensive videos on this new product, including a very well done six minute YouTube video from George Gomez showing the retrofit kit and the titles it will immediately support. Insider Connected will transform how players interact with pinball machines and operators will benefit greatly from the new tools, said Gary Stern, chairman and CEO of Stern Pinball Inc. Meanwhile, somewhere in a quiet SEC office, Robert Mueller can be heard screaming in a corner. Although pricing has not been officially stated for the Retrofit Insider Connector Kit, when asked on a Stern Facebook posting how much the kit would cost, George Gomez himself replied, Not a lot. What's not immediately known, however, is what, if any, compatibility the new Stern system will have with Scorbit, a favorite program among pinball tournament players and JJP owners. I suspect none, but we shall have to wait and see. Welcome to 2021, pinball hobby. Welcome! And speaking of a lot, rumors abound on Pinside and other social media on the next possible price increase that Stern is set to announce with the release of their next title. According to Canada's Pinball Podcast, that increase could be as much as $600 for a Pro and up to $1,000 for a Premium or LE model. An increase of almost 10% on a Pro. Say what? And 13% on a Premium. Say what? And almost 11% on a Stern LE. Say what? And hey, get those Dremel tools dusted off because that very slick and cool Joe Abate moving Grogu mod we talked about a few weeks ago is now complete with step-by-step detailed DIY instructions from Joe that are available on Pinside and other pinball-related social media outlets. So just a banner week in the stern pinball world this week, Zach and Dennis. For the Pinball Show, I'm Craig Bobby. Catch you on the flip side. Hey, this is Kaz with an update on American Pinball. I reached out to Michael Grant, and as you know, a lot of companies have increased their prices recently. And American Pinball has implemented a temporary surcharge to offset the added costs due to the global supply chain issues. They prefer not to have a permanent price increase and are dedicated to offering the best value for their customers. And also, programmer Joe Schober, he's still working with American Pinball on a contract basis. basis. He's going to be in support of the existing titles and future games. And there is also an event planned for Pinball Expo on Thursday, October 28th. More info on that to come. Hope everyone has a great week, has fun playing pinball. For the Pinball Show, this is Brian Kosner. Hi, this is Ken Rudberg with your Jersey Jack update. Guns N' Roses has received another code update this week, now sitting at version 1.23. This code version has enhancements to the game's Desert Demolition mode, which has the player racing the band members across the desert and trying to beat them by hitting shots and pressing the action button for turbo mode. In addition to the other unnamed bug fixes and improvements, version 1.23 will provide topper support for both the standard edition and limited edition versions of the game. For all of you waiting for your toppers to ship, Jersey Jack has said that they will begin leaving the factory in September. And if you're looking for a more gameplay-centric mod for your Guns N' Roses, the Pinball Monk has released Guns N' Roses Airball Shields. This plexiglass mod will stop balls from hopping over the left in-lane guide to the out-lane. Those are available now. For the Pinball Show, this has been Ken Rudberg. Well, Zach, it was great to hear from those correspondents. All three of them. Pinball is changing. This happens. You just have to explain to pinball that it's going to be okay. It happens to every hobby. It happens to all industries eventually. And we grow. We evolve. And weird, weird stuff happens to our undercarriage. And that's what's happening over at Stern Pinball next month. Listener, Stern Pinball Insider Connected was announced. What is that, Dennis? What is Insider Connected? It's the online connectivity we've been waiting four years for. I didn't even see this coming out. It just dropped. I was watching it when everybody else was watching it. We had videos. We had a podcast by Nate Shivers on the podcast. And a lot of information has been thrown out there over the last week describing Stern Pinball's attempt at internet connectivity. It sounds pretty dynamic, pretty robust. We'll talk about some of the details here on the pinball show. But 17 games are in this, what George Gomez is calling the Stern LCD Spike 2 universe. All 17 have the capability of being connected to the Internet. What does that mean, though, listener? Well, it means a lot of things. It means that you can easily update codes, which is going to be helpful for me, instead of doing that jump drive and all that stuff. It also means that you can, using a QR code reader, you can scan a QR code and have a player profile that follows you everywhere. It also means that there are different enhancements to each individual game. We're not talking general enhancements. Those are there as well. We're talking game-specific enhancements, challenges, or rewards that you can earn by playing and succeeding in these games. There's also some type of, I guess, standardization. There's probably going to be some games where you can compete against other people. We don't know details-wise yet if you can simultaneously play with other people. Has that been announced? I don't know if that has. No, they've been coy about exactly what some of these online features, particularly the game-related ones. Most of this stuff has been about the experience points and the achievements and such, not exactly what we're going to be able to do game versus game. There's treasure chests. There's promotions. There's challenge. There are a lot of things the Stern Pinball is bringing with this Insider Connected. Now, there are a lot of details, though, and a lot of unknowns. For example, pricing. Dennis, we have no clue what pricing is going to be on this. We just know that with the next Cornerstone release, estimated to be September, all games moving forward will be equipped in the apron area, will be equipped with this system. It's going to have in the apron, right window area of the apron, is going to have a QR reader. We know that there's going to be a Wi-Fi dongle to plug in. So moving forward September onward, after that Cornerstone's released, everything's going to have it built in from Stern Pinball. We also know that there are retrofit kits for all of those games, all that universe of LCD Spike 2 games that came prior to. You can upgrade your game to be online connected, and you buy that through a kit. We just don't know what that pricing is. Many people have been alluding, Dennis, to a price increase over at Stern Pinball because of supply chain issues, because of manufacturing, because of a lot of things in the world right now. But I think this also adds to the bill of materials and it makes the rumor of a price increase. Sounds like it's going to happen in September. Yeah, and I don't know. I mean, yes, this definitely does add to the bill of materials because it's a more complicated item than what was in the apron area before. So that much is clear. I was a little surprised that they were not yet when announcing these kits and the availability for them that they didn't also announce pricing at the same time. I struggle to understand why they wouldn't have yet calculated the price. So I thought that was a little odd. And then I'll go ahead and note that I was contacted by someone who said they heard from an employee at Stern that the price increase is happening. I didn't get a lot of specifics. Our discussion had been focused on pros, and it sounded like $600. So that's sort of where – That's substantial. It is. And I'm assuming part of it is related to the kit. I'm assuming that. But my contact had said that in their discussion with this Stern employee that a lot of it was really the emphasis on what we've seen in so many industries. Just the price increases for them to get their supplies have gone up. If they want to keep their profit levels the same, they have to shift more costs to the consumer. So a price increase for, I'm assuming, wood and electronic chips and such. But that's what I was told. We know that the current MSRP for a Stern Pinball Pro model is $6,199. Thus, if this information turns out to be true, we are looking at $6,799 MSRP for a Stern Pro, $6,800. With the way that people are buying Pros currently, a lot of dealers are selling them at MSRP. Can you imagine, Dennis, $6,800 for a brand new pinball machine, a Pro? You know, once upon a time, I probably would have told you no, I couldn't. But the way things have been going, yes, I can imagine it now. The challenge is what I have a harder time imagining is whether or not I could bring myself to buy a new game at this point. It's a pill to swallow. I was looking back last night at my spreadsheet of all my purchases. You know, the most I ever spent on a game was buying Direct New in Box, the Total Nuclear Annihilation. That was, at the time, a $6,000 game. Was that shipping included too, right? No, shipping included, I paid a little under $6,300. Not bad. We know the MSRP on a Stern premium is right now $77.99, and the LE right now is $91.99. If some of the rumors out there being a $1,000 increase on the premium LE, if that is true, we're now looking at $8,800 for a premium and $10,200 for an LE. See, these price increases for me, listener, first off, they suck because I buy these things too. They suck. I don't want price increases. I get a price increase this substantial. I don't know. The good thing, the silver lining, if you will, is that the market is so hot right now for pinball. I think that you're not – unless we see figures that people are buying, selling five months later and losing their ass, I'm not as concerned. And as long as the value is there, people shit on me for, Dennis, for spending a lot of money on collectible stuff, right? So if I spend money on, like this last week, maybe I bought a Wilt Chamberlain rookie graded FLIR card. Maybe I did that. People would die if they knew, like, it's a piece of cardboard and you spent what on it? But to me, as long as the value is there and I'm watching the market and it's not just plummeting, what's the harm? Am I really even spending anything? Well, yes, you are spending because it's like a whole. I understand your perspective, but you are still converting liquid capital into an asset that you have to unload for it to have true value. So your money is tied up. It's just like if you were to buy an investment. Your money is tied up when you do that. You can't – if the market has a downturn, you would lose value. So you can watch the market as much as you want, but you're still trying to make a prediction. about what's going to happen in the future. My point being, if you watch that market and you see the trends, you can pretty much get out without losing. That's what I'm saying. If it holds the way it has been over the last what two years incremental increase I not as worried about it though Well all right So here where my worry would be in this case Let's assume that what I heard is the case about that a lot of these price increases are being driven by supply issues. Increased cost to get wood, difficulty in securing computers, whatever, all of it, all of it combined. Most of what I have heard from other industries is that this supply crunch is expected to alleviate probably within 12 months. Okay. So what happens in 12 months? Is Stern going to keep the price? And here's my fear. Here's my personal consumer fear. That Stern will raise the prices entirely, truly driven by the cost of them getting supplies. And then when those supplies go back down to normal pricing, they keep their price increases intact. But if they don't, if they go and say, you know what, we don't need an additional $250 for playfield wood anymore, and they lower their MSRPs, you will be taking a hit. Do you see them ever doing that or any manufacturer ever doing that? Well, you know, we're going to talk a little bit later, I believe, about a manufacturer that's indicating they're doing a surcharge approach. So, yes, there's already one manufacturer that's saying to deal with the price increases of supplies. They're doing a temporary increase. They've made it very clear. But if you're Stern Pinball and you're making 10 to 20 times more than somebody else, might you piss off your customer base if you, in fact, say, hey, I know you paid a lot more, but a year from now, we're going to actually lower the price and we're not going to give you it? Because then them people are like, well, give me a refund. What? But no one gets – I mean, that doesn't happen in any industry. No one gets a refund when, oh, look, it's on sale now. Well, it sucks to be you that you bought it three days ago. That's true for everything. That's a good point. Yeah, it might piss some more people off, but I think in Stern's perspective, it's, hey, we can't even keep up as it is, and so many new people have come into the hobby. It doesn't really matter if a few of them get grumpy that their resale value took a hit. Yeah, the only way that this price goes down, Dennis and listener, is if people stop buying them. That's it. Well, and we're not there yet. So that's why, from Stern's perspective, there's no reason to not do the price increase. It's stuff like this, though, Dennis, that makes people want these games even more. We're now connecting these games to the Internet. We're now enhancing the experience of what that game, quote-unquote, is and what is going to be in your home or on location. We're now giving you more to do as well. I think this is a fantastic move. I think timing-wise, it's great. It is really, really good, especially when we're hearing the rumors that we are about the next Cornerstone game in September. I don't know. I don't see a downside to any of this. Well, I mean, I do think there's a downside to the price increase. I don't think there's a downside to the Stern Connected, I think. Overall, I think the Connected, as they laid it out, is a good idea. We've seen some concepts like this in pinball, but this seems a lot more refined than the other versions. in my opinion. I agree. I agree. And so based off of that, I think it, it has a lot of potential. I personally really like achievements and such. So, uh, those sorts of things I think are, are exciting from a, from a player perspective. And like a gamer perspective too. Well, they've got some stuff here to incentivize location play. You know, the only way to earn full XP is to get out there and play on location. I think that, that has a twofold value. One, it might actually get some operators to actually update their game, update their games, We don't have that problem here in the KC area, but I know that's been a longtime complaint about the operator that's kind of, hey, I unbox it and I throw it in the corner and I don't do anything. 0.84 code still five years later. It's supposed to earn me money, which was fine in the 90s, but we have different tastes and standards today. and then uh obviously that you know coming out of the trying to come out of the pandemic uh and and doing things that might bounce back location play stern helping operators have added incentives to maybe get people to come out of their homes and play i think it's a positive for that side of the market and what you're talking about is that you can put these on your games at home or if you buy a game post september you're going to have this capability of going online i believe it's free to sign up for this? That was my understanding. They haven't been as clear when it comes to there is an operator unit that's going to be different. I don't think the mechanisms are any different. I think the login or the system interface is going to be different. It's called the Insider Connected Pro. That is for operators so they can do things like update their code when away from the location that they serve. They can check audits. They can check when a game is going down. All of this stuff is automated onto a cellular device or internet-based device, whatever they want to, so they can check while it's away. They can also set up their own different achievements for that location, similar to what we've seen in PinQuest, where you can achieve things. And the big thing is, at home, if I'm playing and I get a, say I get an experience point or I get a trophy or something like that, it will pop up green. Hey, nice job, Zach, you completed this task. Here's your checklist of things, which I love. But if you're on location, you can actually get that green with a checkmark in it indicating that it is verified. No shenanigans, no pulling the glass at home just touching stuff so that you can get all greens. No, they're doing this verification process by locations. Does that mean the location people can cheat? Yeah, sure. But the odds and the percentages of those in public cheating is going to be, I mean, that's common sense, right? It's going to be much lower than that of individuals at home. So that's the big thing that you were talking about here. Verified status being on location, you can earn that full check mark. And if you're a completionist, is that maybe what they call it? Yeah, and that's what we would call it in video games. Okay. Then you have to go on. It forces you to go on location. Your Deadpool at home is only going to get you so far. I'm okay with that. There has been some controversy about that within the hobbyist community already. Your thoughts? I mean, I get it. You know, because from an anti-cheat perspective, there are a lot of approaches you could do. Like if you were to film yourself, for example, live stream it, you would be able to demonstrate, hey, my glass is on. I'm not cheating. But as you noted, you could have someone in a venue take the glass off. And, you know, it's not it's not I don't think it's really about the anti-cheat. I think that's sort of the excuse. And, you know, it's sort of like, well, locations as a proxy is less vulnerable than at home. And I agree with that. I think that Stern looked at this and was really thinking, you know what? We could do this, and the only way to full clear, the only way to be a completionist is going to involve you having to go and do this on a location, trying to help out that location market. Embrace this technology, for one, so that's good for Stern, and then maybe get some more quarters dropped on those locations, which is good for the venues. So that's what I think the motivator is. Yeah, you have a really strong argument there. My logic is undeniable. are allowed to have a verified check mark, does that run afoul of some of the statements they've been making to their licensors about, hey, we're hands-off when it comes to the streaming. We're not giving them capture cards to get their direct video, but here we are telling them to put Mandalorian clips up on the internet because we're wanting to get a verified check mark. I think there's an area there. Stern's not anti-streamer. I just think they can't, even if they wanted to, that would not be a smart move for them to allow that just because I think it could cause some problems, if not legally, just with their licensors. And they want those relationships. And it forces streamers, if you really want to get yourself out there and get verified on video live to your audience, you have to do a location stream. Well, if you want to go into the dark depths of fear, just imagine the number of people that would get out. I did this once before I had a streaming rig. Like get out a step ladder and their cell phone and just start – and you connect that to – and just all the like garbage tier streams that would show up just to get those check marks. I know streaming is really, really hard. Because you think that – It's not bad. Well, there are only X amount of streamers in pinball currently, but that number is way up than before. But it's not hard to put a – like to put a potato cam level stream together with one camera. Like Twitch will let you do it. I mean, just imagine, because everyone's got a cell. We all have phones. Everyone has a cell phone. They'd be able to make a free Twitch account, hook this stuff up, and you're going to have the pinball section filled with people. That would be horrendous. It would be a nightmare. Just imagine trying to find new streamers navigating that. I mean, it's just, it's like, no. We don't want potato cam. Yeah, if we're going to do that, let's just push for TPN verified. Ding! The premium LEs, the retrofit kits, that is the ones that you've already purchased and you have in your game room or on location, they can be retrofitted. It comes with a custom node board. You connect it to node 8. You get a Wi-Fi dongle to the connected slot, and then you get that QR reader that just screws in to the apron. It already works. But on the Pro, you have to get a new apron or a new arch is what they call it. Install is not supposed to be hard at all, but it's interesting. I'm thinking as a dealer here selling these things, I'm going to have to sell a Pro with a new arch, new decals and all that. That might be a pain. Game specific. It's not like I can just order 100 of these update kits. It's like, no, I've got to have 14 Avengers Pros. I need 17 Deadpool Pros. And we don't know pricing. Pricing is going to come, they said, within a couple weeks here. And their goal is to start shipping these retrofit kits in October. I'm not going to burden myself with the concerns of the distributors and woe is them and their arches. So, sorry. I don't really care about that. So much work. I just hope it's not like a 24-page instruction guide so that my game will blink its eyes at me. Wave the hand. Wave its little hand. There's a Wi-Fi booster that's built in for locations. But, George Gomez said, hardwiring Ethernet is always the best for quicker connections. Oh, sure. And secure. heck of a planet. George Gomez was talking about the custom designed specific achievements for each game. That's what I find cool here. It's not just your run-of-the-mill achievements for any game across the board. They're specific. So like TMNT achievement, Dwight was working on you're training up your turtles. That's an achievement. Or Deadpool, you're trying to complete a battle in a certain time frame. That just doesn't transfer over to different games. Gomez also said at launch there's going to be seven games that are achievement supported. They're going to be ready to go. We know it's Led Zeppelin, Deadpool, Avengers, Turtles, three others. He said them, but I forget them. And then probably the rumored Elwynn game. By December though, the goal is to have all 17 games in the universe with built-in achievements. I do like that the achievements are designed by the game coders, coding team already. It's not just some group that's been pulled together to create all of these across the games. Like, Dwight Sullivan's working on Turtles because Dwight Sullivan and team coded Turtles. Profile badges. Somebody said that if you log in, instead of saying Player 1, it'll say your name now. There's going to be some cool stuff here. And then they were pushing the collections. George said, quote, we want collections to happen, end quote. Stern is going to have things that help you build a collection. The promotions I don't care much about. You know, if you get a free cheeseburger or whatnot, whatever. And businesses can already pretty easily run their own promotions within their business. You know, they promote them on social media. I don't know if that will – I don't think it was probably a hard add-on for Stern to do it in the product. I just – I'm not sure there's much need for it. Yeah. Whatever. They've done a lot of things too. I like – you talked about how well-designed this appears compared to other systems that you have utilized, Internet Connectivity and Pinball, and I agree. Well, it's easier when you integrate it with the person who made the product is making the integration for the product as well. This is obvious. Like even they've talked about like unique sound effects that they wanted to really nail. That way when you get an achievement, it's not cumbersome. It's not intrusive, obnoxious. It's just a nice, small, very unique sound effect that you know moving forward on all games. That's your connected sound effect. you've achieved something or something has come up. They did talk about hiring a data analytics company, doing some large data mining. Does this worry you at all? Privacy of this system. No. I did have on social media Miguel Jones. I don't know if you know Miguel Jones from up in Wisconsin there, also known by Pensiders by Hilton. He can be crusty towards Stern a lot. But he brought up a couple points. He said he was interested, but he's very cautious. He wanted me, one, to get confirmation of what Stern contractual agreements are with the data, i.e. as an operator. I don't think it is anyone's business what my sales numbers are per game, just like Stern does not tell us how many games they make. And two, is Stern committed to keeping the content free for the future? I'm not adapting and paying to retrofit the games only to turn around and have them pulling the bullshit raw thrills model of DLC and monthly fees or worse yet, a cut of every game played. These details need to be answered up front for all operators. Any thoughts there? I agree they should be answered up front. My understanding from the video I saw with George Gomez was that you could – it seemed like you would be able to turn off data sharing. Okay. But I just – because I recall it sounded like there were so many things you could choose to do or not do. I do remember that. So my assumption has been that there would be an opt-out option just like there often is in many computer user agreements, but they should be able to confirm that. the pricing one might be a little trickier for them like i don't i mean personally i would love for them to be able to say we promise it will never you know we swears it we swears it it freezes us but i don't know if they'll do that or not i don't i don't know if the pro or the the operator system is going to to be a monthly fee i mean it would be great if it wasn't i think it makes sense if it was i really do regardless stern should be able to put out exactly a what data analytics will be i mean again i professionally we run into this a lot with uh data that we get pulled together on health analytics and um you know just common disclaimers are it's de-identified that you can't figure out who the person is when it comes to health stuff if a community has like five or fewer cases we won't even have the number published because it's too easy to possibly figure out who was sick. So there are rules like that that sort of say, yeah, here's a bunch of de-identify. There's so much use to having analytics. I would say, you know, personally, in addition, I think it would be nice if they would commit to those. And if they if you're participating in the analytics at the very least, though, ideally, it should be public. Like if you want to be able to download the data set of de-identified information, it's available to everyone, at least everyone who uses the systems of the operators could maybe see, hey, what games are performing well overall nationwide you know maybe i should be thinking about buying a deadpool instead of a guardians you know that sort of stuff in the government world i always call it the big suck you shouldn't get to just suck all the information up for yourself i need something back to if i'm contributing to the vacuum i should get something too well ideally it's a private company though you've got to see uh yeah but hey they do what they want they don't currently get this data zach if they want it i should there should be an incentive for me to give it and the easiest incentive is I should be able to have access to the data too. Okay. So it does pose some questions there. I think some of the, if there is a pro subscription-based pricing, I think it's going to come out when all the other pricing does. So we're just gonna have to wait and see on that. I'm really excited about it. You don't have any current games that are eligible for this, correct? No, I don't have any spike games. Okay. What's your first spike game going to be? Deadpool? No, though I did, I did look at getting it. I mean, if I were to buy a spike game right now, it would be Jurassic Park. That's the right answer, I think. Man, I was playing that last night. That game is phenomenal. It's so good. It's so good. I don't know how he does better. Yeah, but I can't be buying no $12,000 Jurassic Park. George Gomez reminded everybody that not everything is going to be ready at launch, so be patient. And the state of CERN Pinball in general, business is amazing. They're suffering from the cost of raw materials, which we talked about. They'll be addressing that soon. Man, what a bittersweet September this is going to be because George Gomez on this podcast did discuss the next Cornerstone game. And he said, quote, the September game is going to knock you on your ass. He later said it was an Elwynn game. And even after that, went on to say, quote, I haven't seen anything like this in a while. George Gomez. Uh-oh. Hmm. So is it a re-theme? Have you seen it before? I haven't seen anything like it in a while. Elwin's take on WWE. And that would fit with the knock you on your ass. Logic 401 class there. Nicely done. And then he went on and he said the next two products are going to show. They're going to show connected. It was the way he said it, Dennis. You're going to come back. They're going to show. Well, no shit. They're going to show. Well, the way that phrased it made it sound like the games were pregnant. Are they showing yet? Fucking Elwin's is overdue. He's been baking his for a long time. Get that thing out. What if it was two games at once? Start a spooky like. We're definitely going to have a. Ultraman and Halloween. It's Godzilla and WWE 2.0. No. It's the same layout, so it's going to be okay. Didn't you hear WWE is trending down? WWE. Just add another W and then you can make it. WWE. Something about CM Punk. CM Punk. All those nerds out there are like, hell yeah! Insider Connected has consumed George Gomez for the last couple of years. He sounds very excited about it, and I'm excited as well. No production updates that I know of from a dealer standpoint. Getting a lot of people asking about Iron Maiden premiums that are still scheduled to be built the first week of September. So next week-ish. However, that was the only title they didn't initially tell us whether they were cutting allotments or pushing back. Wait and see here. We haven't heard anything. Games are still rolling out, Dennis. I'm still getting games. Albeit, they're already pre-sold, but they're still rolling out of Stern Pinball. There's more than I can say about a lot of other ones. That's good. And I guess they're rolling out of Spooky Pinball, too. A couple of Halloween machines left the factory this last week. Whee! I can't wait to see those little Mikeys popping out of them bushes. TPN Discord's been a little tough on old Halloween. It's just because Ultraman presented so much better. You guys are so silly. So dumb. What a dumb argument. That's kind of mean to say. That's just a theme that no one cares about versus a theme that everyone knows and loves. It's like, well, it showed better. Who gives a shit if it showed better? One's actually an awesome theme. They do. One sucks. It's all style over substance now, Zach. You're partially responsible for it. Gladly and proudly. So eat the cake you baked. You chose to make carrot cake, so eat it. No, I made vanilla because it's the best flavored cake. Maybe strawberry cake, but chocolate, you can have it. I actually like carrot cake a lot. That's fine. I get tricked with velvet, red velvet. I always think it tastes different than chocolate. It's the same thing, but it tastes better. I don't know why. So, Spooky Pinball, congratulations on getting a couple of those machines out. Where's my fucking Halloween game? Oh my God, I was like Rick and Morty all over again. Come on, Charlie! you don't get to be top of the list they they got to send those to all the rock stars and stuff first you know the rules that's spooky number 450 or 250 i don't know what number if you were famous you'd be at the top of the list but you're not you're nobody i'm a nobody just like deep root pinball no everyone knows who they are speaking of deep root pinball did you see this fierce battle on pin side between two well-known uh two well-known people you make it sound like an episode of Star Trek with Kirk fighting the monster. Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen. Our main title battle of the evening, it's the foam core champ versus loudmouth, Ben Heck, in a battle for the ages. Ben Heck and Dennis Nordman were going back and forth on social media, and I guess it's social media, or forum social media, I believe so. No, not really. Are they not They social And their media No The social media is designed where you on a whole you know Platform of updates Well it not topic specific You know, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, those aren't topic specific. It's designed for socializing. The Penn side is designed for pinball discussions specifically. I still think it's social media. You're not very bright, but that's okay. This is like the upside down ball argument. Ben Heck stated on Pinside on one of his posts He said Barry Dennis Savings Ha ha ha ha Why do you think they were at Deep Root Dennis Nordman didn't like that Dennis Yeah I'm not surprised Do you want to read Dennis Nordman Do you want to be Dennis Nordman here and I'll be Ben Heck Is that just because my name is also Dennis No you seem More akin to a Dennis Nordman I don't even know what Dennis Nordman I don't remember what he sounds like Go ahead and read Dennis Nordman's response to that Ben, you don't know everything. It could be that I was at Deep Root because I have a passion for designing pinball games. Blinded by the opportunity to put anything I wanted into a game, I realized after a year and a half that it wasn't going to happen. I designed three games while I was there, and they will probably never be seen. What a waste of almost two years. Well, you are free to post your opinions here. I can think of another place where you can put them. Whoa! He's taking his balance cock and sticking it somewhere. Nordy, calm down. Is that Batman Nordman? What is that? I said I couldn't remember what he sounded like, so that's his voice of rage. He always seems... to me. I like my version. And then he also tagged Ben Heck in another quote that Ben Heck said, Look, I love the guy, but to paraphrase Ricky Gervais, Dennis would work for the Taliban if they started a pinball company oh wow holy moly what a statement timely too and to that Batman Nordman said Ben you don't know what the F you are talking about why are you even here tell us about all the great games you have designed ouch man And Nordmanite's good at comebacks. I like them. And he actually did type F. He didn't spell it out. He went with F there. I did exact quotes. He didn't want to get kicked off of Pennside. Yes, because their moderation team is so aggressive. That's right. So good. He could dox people and still not be pooched off of that side. Ben Heck then responds with the closer just saying, Hey, I agree. It's a shame that Robert Mueller, or he said RM, didn't help you fulfill your vision. I think you have the most diverse range of layouts of anyone in the industry, and E3, Elvira House of Horse, is awesome. AP has, you know, like, A FACTORY, all caps. So I hope that works well for you. All right, analysis here. Do you think these two maybe don't get along very well? well um i mean quite bluntly i thought that ben's comments were completely out of line okay so you're going pro nordman here i don't i don't view it as as pro nordman i view it as when you're all right because i don't know ben you know i don't know him personally but so here's the thing i get that he's been i've been reading these threads i get that he's been taking a victory lap about deep root as everything is unraveled with deep root he's gotten a little more vocal about his feelings on it and he was not exactly shy about it beforehand in his sort of celebratory nature of enjoying watching deep root and and j-pop who he has a big problem with collapse i think that he has started just making fairly wild and unsubstantiated claims and not really i don't know if he's just not thinking about how insulting they are but let me tie it to me so you may not know this zach but i i actually like professionally i have a reputation for bluntness okay it's it's it's very surprising it's cultivated i do it on i approach it that way on purpose because i think it's an effective method that does not mean that i operate without tact now some people might hear me be blunt a lot and think that oh yeah that's just silly old Dennis being tactless like he always is. Almost, and almost, because I'm not perfect, but in almost all my instances, my words, even those blunt words, they are actually carefully chosen to accomplish something that I'm after. So I usually try and have a read on like, how direct can I be criticizing this program without say, name dropping and insulting the people behind it? Like, so I make it sound, I may be like, this is ridiculous. I don't understand why we're doing this. Why is it taking three weeks to get this thing done? And I'm not also at the same time challenging people's professionalism. Do you see – do you get the subtlety to it? Yeah, and Ben Heck has been a loose cannon. Well, and that's his style. And I think he's really been leaning into that on the threads. And in and of itself, I think that's fine. The issue is, for example, that first post you quoted from where he insinuated that he knew that Barry and Dennis don't have any savings, that they're broke. My impression would be that perhaps he just made that up because he thought it sounded funny. And regardless, it's a really shitty thing to say. Without thinking that Dennis Nordman had an account on Pennside because Dennis Nordman came in days later. So much worry about money and who's got money. This is a threat. It's a threat about Deep Root. Why would you even bring up someone's savings and act like you had some sort of intimate knowledge about why someone was working for that company? It's tactless. It's not relevant. There's a reason he's a regular on the Canadian Pinball Podcast. Well, I don't listen to that show, so I don't have any comments about his performance on there because I don't know what he says on that show. The issue that I see, though, Dennis, is, you know, behind the scenes, and I have some affiliations with these companies, dealer and media and such. The shit that I get handed to me because of something small I've said or quasi-controversial, this guy's associated with CGC and Spooky Pinball, and he's just blasting from the rooftops. I'm like, what the, really? The hell? I don't know. Again, I can't make everyone be fair and treat everyone the same way. I lack that power. My power extends far, Zach, but it doesn't extend that far. I don't think it's a good look for him. I don't. And I think in this argument. When I read it before Dennis Nordman weighed in, I thought, I don't think this is appropriate. Yeah, and I think in this situation, Dennis Nordman had the better comebacks too. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we could analyze. Well, but here's the interesting thing. And again, I haven't read the thread in a couple days. But even amongst the chain of quotes you put in, I mean, I didn't start on the savings when that Taliban one. Holy crap. I'm sure that in one's mind that sounded really funny until the person you're talking. It's like, what is this? Like a bully on the playground sort of thing. And you forgot the kid was there. Ben Heck's been making some social media statements to the Joe Cervino. We've really been lighting him up, too, because of that. So anyway, I get that Ben is giddy about Deep Roots Collapse. Way too giddy. Well. Calm down there, schoolboy. I'm not going to judge that. If he wants to be giddy about that, I don't have a problem with it. But I think in the zeal to do zinger after zinger, this is my total projection. I just think that he just started saying more and more outlandish things to entertain people and didn't really think about what that might do to some of those people who were involved who might actually come and say something. And I thought it was very interesting that amongst all these things you posted and what I saw on the thread, he never apologized. That last thing you quoted was a pivot to try and be like, this is my read of it. Hey, I know I went overboard, but I can't quite bring myself to actually say, hey, sorry for saying you'd work for the Taliban. on. Sorries and apologies and humility are hard to come by in this industry. I mean, I don't know Ben or Dennis. So I'm just, I mean, I'm blunt and I would never have said this. That's telling. Jersey Jack Pinball. This is a lack of segue. Jersey Jack Pinball is blunt too. Where do you go with that? You can't. Why are you trying? You can't. You lack the requisite skills. Well, not totally. If you were a streamer, you would be able to do this. I feel sorry for you streamers. I'm sorry. That was unrelated, too. I don't know what's going on. This has a little target. Did you know I invented the piano key next time? I invented that. Jersey Jack pinball is not targeted by Dennis right now. Toppers are shipping in the next one to two weeks just as an update. Update. Kind of like what you don't do to your Jersey Jack gates. now that was a tie-in friend of the show joe fox did send me a usb because he knew i wouldn't do it and he's got wonka 2.0 code for me and he's like hey jackass you have no excuses now plug it in i still haven't i wonder how you do updates to a multi-morphic game uh i think it's internet integrated is it actually i know it is sure download new games such as the new sorcerer's Apprentice. Sure. Jerry had to come out with that following Stern's announcement. Do you think it was timed? Finally, Jerry. Finally. Email the EclecticGamersPodcast at gmail.com Don't email. Well, I mean, actually you can. It's fine to email. Don't email me about Zach's comments. I don't want to hear it. Dennis is right. Sorcerer's Apprentice was released this last I always want to say it like the Zen Studio Sorcerer's Lair, though. See, I'm not familiar. Did you ever play that? Nope, not familiar. The layout's not that great, but I always liked the Sorcerer's Lair. You'd hear it because it was like the free one for, I didn't even say it low enough. It sounds like Theater of Magic. It's stuck in my head. That one in Rome. YouTube Magic. Rome, Rome. $499 will get you this add-on. That's less than a topper. You have to make sure you've got the Cosmic Cart Racing module. That's not less than a topper. That is not less, depending on what topper. Well, I'm talking industry factory toppers, so all that retail. I haven't seen much gameplay, if any, on this. I don't know the license itself. I guess it's a coolish theme, the graphics, because I'm basing my opinion, a large category of my opinion on multimorphic games, by the graphics, because if they're going to try to fill up that LCD screen with 3D animations and graphics and transitions, I'm going to judge it because I think that's the wrong direction. Stop trying to utilize it that way. Now, this wasn't licensed. Some people seem to have been confused. I thought they announced it pretty cleanly. Some people still seem confused. This was not the licensed game they've been teasing. What do they call a license of a Sorcerer's Apprentice? The only thing relevant is Fantasia, a segment of Fantasia. Well, Disney did actually put out a movie called The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Sure, they did. I've not seen it, so I don't know if it's inspired by the Fantasia scene or what. I think it's live action, so probably not. I don't know. That's like doing a... Why would I say that? I guess the Jungle Book was done live action, and it was completely inspired by a cartoon. Anyway, I don't know about that. Still more popular than the Sorcerer's Apprentice remake. No, no. That's like saying we're going to do a Quantum Leap pinball machine. Actually, a better theme than Quantum Leap. I still need to watch clips of this. It sounded like it had some interesting video game mechanics, which is something you would think that a system like P3 could really exploit. Sure. It says, this is in the description, You play the game as the apprentice. The ultimate goal is to defeat the sorcerer in a battle of magic. Gameplay has you traveling to different environments and playing modes to learn spells, collect keys, and find and open chests. When your health reaches 0%, the flippers die and the ball ends. A cast magic missile. Don't know the reference. I know you don't. But that one's there for those that do. Like Willow or something weird. Is that even close? It's not Willow. Willow, help me change back. to my true form. There you go. So that's Multimorphic Sorcerer's Apprentice. Just like Heist, I'll have to play it. I hope to see it at a show. I've played plenty of American pinball games, but it sounds like we're not going to see anything until Expo. Wait, Expo's not that far away. Dave Fix, you said two games, damn it, this year. Two games. Our correspondent, Kaz, spoke with Michael Grant a little bit. Michael Grant said that they've implemented a... This is what we were talking about before. They are implementing a temporary surcharge surcharge on their games to help offset some of the additional costs due to global supply chain issues that is affecting all the industries he goes on to say we prefer not to implement a permanent price increase at this time as we are dedicated to offering the best value possible for our customers i think that's very clever very clever you think they'll really reduce it back uh yes i do okay because they'll have clearly identified the surcharge as a separate line item is how I would interpret this. So people will know it's still there if it's still there. And that's where the interesting world with where I wonder, because normally my general rule of thumb with businesses is, hey, if they do a price increase, they never go back. They never go back. But if Stern Pros end up not being the cheapest commercial-grade game on the market, good point. And once supply chain issues are not a problem anymore, these other companies should be able to put out more games. The main thing, of course, is that's not going to magically give them the capabilities to mass-produce pinball. No, because they're still, from a production timeline standpoint, guys, we're looking at Hot Wheels, Late Fall is the next run, so we've got a ways for that. What are they running right now? I believe they're running Houdini's right now. Okay. Running Houdini's and then Oktoberfest following. I might have that swapped. No, I don't think they're running Oktoberfest at all. No, they are. Really? They are. Believe it or not. we've got a couple on order. Yep, yep, yep. I still don't. I think you're lying to make me look bad. No, I would never do that. I only like making you look good. And for streamers to look bad. We need to do one week, you and I, do a video cast. You know I've done that before. Yeah, I know you've done it, but not with me. That's true. I'm a whole other ball of energy. It would be hard with two separate remote camera setups to deal with. Set up those scenes. Michael Grant also talked about Joe Schober because last week, CGC said Joe Schober's working with them. He said Joe Schober's professional relationship with American Pinball hasn't changed. He's still working for AP on a contract basis, supporting future titles and the existing ones. And then he went on to say, for Expo Seminar, you're just going to have to wait until the seminar to see what we have brewing. So that's why I think maybe we still have a ways to go on the rumored Legends of Valhalla? Okay, well, I mean, a couple months out still. Pinball Paparazzi on Facebook shared a picture of a black and white picture of Alice in Wonderland. It looked like the J-pop layout and said, this is a future Riot Pinball American Pinball title. And Riot's the Legends of Valhalla people? Is that correct? Yes. I reached out to Michael Grant and said, on the record, can you say if there's any validity to this? He said, I cannot confirm nor deny any of that. Which itself is a confirmation of sorts. Interesting. I don't know. You have been tricked. You've been boxed in, Michael, by the Zack. No, I don't think this is a thing, but it could be. Who knows? The box may have been made out of cardboard, though, and you may have punched your way through. And for the last story this week in Pinball News, it's a big one because it's about our merchandising, Dennis. It's about us. Our favorite topic. Yes! Wow, we talked about social media which was going to be our top earner, which design. Oh, it was a good episode last week with Brad and David. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, Brad, he's been loving life right now, really been complimentary. Did you see he posted my sketch of Hulk 2D2? I thought he did a pretty good job. He gave me some credit there. I saw several of his posts. I don't know if I saw that. I'll have to go back and look. I'm not sure I saw that one. He was just saying how great of a collaboration it was and how well he and I work as a team. And, you know, just for all those manufacturers out there, if you want a dynamic duo that's going to create gold, it's there if you want it. That's all I'm saying. That's Brad Brad Albright's representative. So we released our merchandise last week. We've been doing well sales-wise. A lot of people are buying stuff, Dennis. Did you know that there was going to be more than just T-shirts and hoodies? I did not know that. In fact, I didn't even remember there were going to be hoodies. I so rarely wear hoodies. I have like four of them, and I wear one of them, and I wear it maybe eight times a year. See, I do a hoodie more than I do a jacket a lot. A lot of people do. So it was smart merch to do. It's just never been my thing. We got jackets, too. Did you see the underwear? Yes, I did. Aren't they juicy? Have you sold any of those? Believe it or not, we have sold underwear. Not the ones with you or Greg's face. All right, not the one with your face on it, right? I cannot confirm nor deny. Oh, my God. And we sold some goat underwear. too. That one makes a little more sense to me. Yep, that's right. We've sold a lot of prints as well. Those are going over better than, because you don't see a lot of people selling art prints. Yeah, I've seen a lot of people requesting prints. They were asking about prints. Those are selling really well. There's some surprises in there. There's still spots left for that LE Cowboy Creasel t-shirt. Limited edition. Limited to 75 of them. And Dennis, what's the deal now? If we can sell all 75 are you willing to really do a pinball market trends i teased that last episode yeah yeah we had talked about that off off mic and yes i yes i did say that you guys heard it order now i thought about making a rule like uh i i don't get no i don't want to be pin quested where one person going in and buying a whole batch of them to force my hand but honestly as pricey as those are that's fine that's true well they're le's baby they're le's and we've sold we've sold a good amount of them too but there's still more there's still more we still have all the mountain to climb i don't have to prep a market trends yeah you got a little time there but everybody listening go out show your support for the pinball show and dennis and i by ordering merchandise as well as that le le shirt because once they're gone they are certainly gone and i can't believe dennis even allowed them to be here in the first place. So without, you know, I don't think we need to go into the exact sales counts on all the numbers, but are you willing to share? Do you know what things are selling best in terms of shirts? Yeah, yeah. So it depends. Are we counting just t-shirt sales? Are we including hoodies as well? Because there is a different winner in either scenario. Right. Oh, gosh. I guess whatever way you want to have it calculated. I figured if you're wearing it on your chest, we're going to count it. Okay. Right? Sure. So the top sales earner thus far for the merchandise release is the pinball show with the screaming goat. Oh, the goat one? The goat. It actually looks pretty good. Yes. There is one more unit sold, including hoodies, than second place right now with SDTM Return of the Kraken. That's a very good shirt design, too. I really like that one. I do, too. He killed that one. He killed it. So those are neck and neck, and we'll update you next week on this week's sales if you guys have Return of the Kraken surpassed that of the Pinball Show Goat. Or in third place, close right behind, it's kind of a tie. We've got Hulk 2D2 and Pinball Market Trends with the same amount of sales. I thought it would be one design that people buy. But no, every design that we've released, Dennis, has been purchased to some degree. Oh, that's great. I am one of those purchases of Hulk 2D2. Yes, you are. yes you are and puppet pals is right there as well in fourth place and then the other ones kind of are spread without but those are the four clear or five clear top vote getter so we'll see vote by purchasing at flipping out pinball.com bye bye bye you know what i did think before we go into the next segment i thought it'd be a good idea you'll hate this idea but loser kid kind of brought that up to us just in a joking manner but i thought it was a good idea the prints that we have. For those of you who are going to Chicago Expo, I think I'm going to print out some extras so that you guys can pick those up. Or maybe even some t-shirt extras. I don't know about that yet just because it's hard to haul all that stuff up. Yeah, that gets burdensome real quick. The prints I can stack. That might be good. But I thought if you're willing, Dennis, if somebody were to catch you at a show, would you be willing to sign one of those cowboy creasel prints or the pinball show prints? I thought I could do that as well at a show. Yeah, I mean, people like that sort of thing. Yeah. That's fine. I thought it would make something that you're going to display just a little bit more personal. We can do that for you. All this talk about money, you know what time it is Yeah I know The point of the show has come where you lie back relax and bite your belt Because, baby, it's pinball. Market trends! This one snuck up on you, didn't it? You thought it was going to come out normal, but it didn't. Like my poop? Came out like a Ben Heck comment on Pinside. Woo! Don't Nordman this show up here. Swear to me. Where are the market trends going? why is everything so expensive i will show you the difference between people that believe in helping each other and those that want internal connectivity i can't even speak because i'm nordman nordman i was searching for that the whole time i went nordman batman it was there the whole time shit it was there how do we keep getting better and better numbers every week shit I'm there You've merely embraced the darkness But I designed in it Laid out in it Manufactured in it Look I went with Taliban Would it have been better if I went with Al-Qaeda You should have said Raza al Ghul Raza al Ghul Training up this week has not been heck Nope, it is Willy Wonka Collector's Edition by Jersey Jack Pinball. The price on these things is still $15,000. This is nuts. Nuts, I say! Did you ever think Willy Wonka was going to be this desirable, Dennis? Maybe not this desirable, but I think it's their second best layout that they've ever done. I like that. Also trending up this week, you got to, it's every Stern Spike 2 LCD title. You're going to be able to play this game differently in the future. Do you think this increases the desirability of a Munsters? A Black Knight? Only time's going to tell. But right now, I don't see people letting go of these as haphazardly as they have in the past. With the market and with the promise of what this could bring. All of those titles are training up. Also training up this week is our merchandise. We just talked about it. Has anybody dropped merch like this ever in the history of pinball? Think about it. Exactly! I got to pat myself on the back for this. Pat you for allowing it. A little squeeze of the tushy there. Nice and firm there, Dennis. The support has been overwhelming by you all purchasing some of these products. It does really help out a lot. So continue to buy, buy, buy. Buy, buy, buy! And let us know your favorite is. We didn't even, did we announce our LE shirt contest winner? No, we have not. Shit! My fault. Yeah. Last episode, we were giving away a Cowboy Creasel clone LE shirt at 75. All you had to do was share that merchandise release post and send us evidence that you did so. Some of you people, that's such an easy task. I don't know why there wasn't 500 submissions, but whatever. It's because they don't like that shirt. Bullshit. Bullshit. They're lazy! every one of you sons of bitches lazy except for those of you who've submitted they're basically podcasters lazy like us so much shit for this and why am i chiming in i don't want to be a part of this fucking i drug you in oh fuck the drama engulfs you and the winner of the giveaway LE, $75 value, limited to 75, Creasel Clone Cowboy Limited Edition T-shirt is trending up this week at Canup. Canup. Canup. Canup. Edward Canup. Canup. Nicely done. Email us your information so that we can get you and your size too. Give us your info and we will get you that shirt. Congratulations. don't stain it do not stain it don't over wash it either dennis has really been telling us about how to how to really properly take care of um apparel and clothing tri-blend varieties and last training up this week is ryan c last week i had such a boy crush on uh john stamos you hear that dennis uh yeah i vaguely remember that part make you moist yeah like a red velvet cake or a carrot cake a couple weeks before that is ryan reynolds these people are beautiful and ryan c is no exception in particular the words that he used on the last final round pinball podcast titled flying high was one that look it's like it's john stamos then ryan reynolds then ryan c he's like the hulk 2d2 of this lineup here of my man crushes. And it's quite simply because of this statement that he made on Final Round. When a brand new game comes out, Ryan, is it important for you to see the stream of gameplay, see pictures of the playfield, hear about the rules? The reason I ask is because recently, for whatever reason, there was some streaming, I think it was a reveal, of the two new spooky games. And again, congratulations to the Spooky Pinball community and the Emery family for selling out these games. We have heard after the stream, there were some people selling their games or their order of where they were. So did the stream help? Does a stream hurt? Should you be doing produced videos versus a stream where who knows what can happen? What do you think, Ryan? I think give it to Zach Many. Zach Many, the two videos I've watched of him revealing Guns N' Roses and Willy Wonka are the two gold standards of how to reveal a Pimel machine. It's like, he's a little sizzle reel. He's a bit of the story behind it. I think, give it to Zach Many. I think, give it to Zach Many. Gold standard. Gold standard. Gold standard. Gold standard. Gold standard. the gold standards of how to reveal a Pimel machine. Ryan, see, I love you. And if I was able to carry your babies, I would. Unless they were triplets. That would hurt. It would really hurt. So much talk about wieners and pregnancy this week, Dennis. I don't know what that's all about. Well, it's all your fault. Well, it's always all my fault, but... I feel like subconsciously there's something going on. And as an update, we talked briefly about Pierce Brosnan. Remember that? I didn't know if there's any. I said Pierce Brosnan was not the best Bond, and what was he in that was good? Missed out, fire, blah, blah, blah. Staying corrected, I had someone reach out to me, and I love this recommendation. They said, what about the Thomas Crown Affair? I never saw it. They recommended I watch it. I watched it immediately, and I loved it. I've watched it before. I kind of forgot about it. But, yeah, he's working his way towards a man crush, too. Very suave. I think, actually, Rene Russo was miscast there. I'm not sure about her, but he played the perfect part. I think you'd really like that film, Dennis. Okay. I'll try and check it out. Ryan C., I love you. Training down this week. I could say Jeff Teel was because his ass got hammered on final round. Whew. Love you, Jeff. Don't listen to him. Ryan C was just trying to be fucking Barbara Walters. Turning down this week is Stern's Spider-Man. Does anybody talk about this pin anymore, Dennis? If you're hearing about anything in that era, it's Tron. It's Star Trek. It's Iron Man. Nobody talks about Spider-Man. It's because it is what it is. Nothing crazy fancy about it. I know it's a liming game. Chill out. It's fine. You haven't seen the price go up on those like it has every other title. You can get a Spider-Man right now by Stern for $5,300, $5,500. Sorry, guys. Spider-Man's just a game. And it's not going up anytime soon. Also trending down this week is navigating the merchandise on FlippinOutPinball.com. My apologies, people. I'm getting to it. Categorizing every little thing into mugs or prints or T-shirts or women's sports brawls or banana hammocks. I'll get to it. It's a bitch right now. It's a pain in the ass. I'm sorry. I am sorry. And lastly, as a personal one, training down this week is repairs. Dennis, this last week, repairs have nearly killed me. So for those of you customers out there who are waiting for some tech repairs from Flip N Out Pinball, we are getting caught up on them. But everybody says, why are you busy? It's techs and repairs. The unsung part of being an authorized dealer of pinball and arcade machines. that's what takes up a majority of my time in the day would you ever guess that dennis no i guess nothing it's just a troubleshooting some people don't know basic concepts of repair some people do but they're advanced things and then you got to get a tech out you got to find a tech you got to get a hold of stern you got to troubleshoot with them then you got to submit a ticket then you and then you they get the thing and then you got to make sure they return the thing or else i get charged for the thing i don't want to be fucking charged for the thing and then once they get that and they replace it then maybe that didn't work or uh-oh a ramp has cracked what are you going to do there? Where is my ramp? You submitted it five months ago. This is my life, people. Zach carries heavy burden. Poor you. It's a hard job. But I love it. But someone has to do it. And someone's got to do it well, dammit. That's right. It's me. Wells aren't just for water storage. Let's talk about happy times with our deals of the week. Bye, bye, bye. Deal of the week this week can be found on Pennside, a Batman 66 premium to be precise, by Pin Factory 2000. Username on pin side. Asking $8,400 Oboe for a Batman 66 Premium. That's a steal, people. That's a good price. This one is home use only. Only second owner. Under 100 plays between two owners. Under 100 plays. I told you so. The game's not great. Pinnovators. Subwoofer. Volume headphones. Mirror blades. Polk subwoofer included. Come on! $8,400 Oboe. Look, it could sell for $8,400, but if you want to blow your money, pay that. If not, pay $8,100 cash. Pick it up right outside. It looks like Massachusetts. I can't say the same for this week's deal of the... Deal of the Fuck That Noise this week is outside of Ave, New York. Ava, New York. Which one do you want to go there, Dennis? Ava, you're a New Yorker. I don't remember that I can sing you the Sarah Brightman No whatever one means Ave Maria Actually what rendition of Ave Maria Is your favorite I don't think I know that song Say what Dennis Robert Creasel You were so close but no Was I really close No not at all Franklin You've never heard of Ave Maria I mean, I don't know. The name doesn't click for me. It's when people die. You play that? Dun, dun, da-dun, dun-a-na-na-na-na-na. Have they ever played that at a funeral? What? That's what they play. You don't have any continues left. That's what Mickey Mouse and Disney told me before they got all soft. You kick yourself once you hear Ave Maria. It's like one of the most popular songs of all time. Yeah, that too. That's called Taps. That's what they play. You could go with one of the most underrated Pixar films in WALL-E. I'd like to have a WALL-E pinball machine. Out of Ava, New York. Individual by the name of M. Daniel B. I'm not shitting on you personally, Danny boy. No, no, no. But you're trying to sell a Stern Stranger Things Pro UV kit. This would have worked two weeks ago, Danny. He's wanting $450 for it. We know that the MSRP and the retail price is $280 plus shipping, which is substantially higher, isn't it? Here's the problem, MDZ. These were just shipped out to dealers. I actually, I think, have a couple of the Pro Kits left. Buy, buy, buy! $280. So your little $450 Oboe right now is not going to work any longer. My suggestion, stick it in the closet, forget about it, pull it out a year from now, and if they discontinued it then, you get about $750. It's not going to work right now. And for those of you who are thinking about this and you want a Pro UV kit, save a couple hundred bucks. Come to Flip N Out Pinball. People try to be sneaky, don't they, Dennis? I don't know if it's sneaky. Maybe it's relying on people not doing their research. Bad timing. Well, you know, there's always those that don't check, go with the first thing they see, I suppose. That's true. I'm pretty sure that everybody in pinball listens to this podcast, so they should be fine now. I don't know if they all do. Numbers are pretty good, though. Last time I checked, numbers don't lie. And I only report the facts. And you can only hear that at one place. Have you heard the others? Nobody talks about this. Nobody's going to stand up for you, the listener. Everybody else, all the other distributors, they don't want you to hear this, Dennis. They don't want you to know. What's the secret? I'm the only one looking out for you guys. at the same time bad-mouthing, lying, and compromising the livelihood of others. Give me money. I'm never going to sell you anything. I just want your money for free without putting in any work. And that was your pinball show, Pinball Market Trends. Does your family hate you? That was a little effect. I'm lightheaded right now because I rolled back from my microphone for effect, and by the time I got back, I was already out of breath. You sound winded. Maybe you and you should have Ryan C. take you out for some cardio. Isn't he, like, climbing boulders and stuff? Eating bananas. Yeah, it's a weird thing that he does, but I think he could make some good money from doing, like, back massages. How much would you pay for a Ryan C. back massage? I don't Is he trained? I don't know I don't know, I've never actually had a professional massage With oil You've never had a professional massage? No Wow I bet you're really stiff You've probably got a lot to work out there I've had it a couple times And this is bad of me Maybe this gets me in trouble We'll see You're in a lot of trouble We'll test it right here is it is it bad that i prefer a female give me a massage than a male i don't know if uh see that's where the line like i don't know we depend on the motivation but i don't i wouldn't inherently think anything like that would be seen as good or bad it's merely a preference so i was worried about getting in trouble for saying that but it's true like if i'm being honest i yeah i don't know and i do have a preference if that makes me a bad person whatever i'm the one spending a hundred for the fucking massage. Yeah, I don't want Bruce... $100? That's a tenth of a topper. I'm gripping all over me. It's just I can't ease up. I don't feel nurtured. I'm going about it for the wrong reasons. Do you convert everything into topper for pricing? Because I've found myself doing this now. I don't, but... Actually, after I... I think it might be a comment on my Watches with Dennis YouTube with the interview with... Or maybe it was the review of the Ricochet watch. I think it was the review. Someone came in and posted a comment and said, that watch is only like one-third of a topper. It's a currency now. And I'm like, you know what? I do that too. Speaking of toppers, where's the Mandalorian topper? I thought we were supposed to see that in August. I'm going to have to message Jack Danger. Be like, Jack, where's the reveal at? Is he handling the topper builds? Just rub that in my face again. No, he's revealing all the damn toppers going forward. Oh, I forgot. I forgot about that. I'll never forget. I think the priority is insider connected. Oh, what if they connect these freaking toppers? To do what? They're already integrated. Yeah, but maybe if I'm playing you on Black Knight and we both have toppers, I can code in what I want the topper knight to say, and he can mock you. Nice shot, dipshit. That's mean. Mine would just go, boo-boo-boo-boo. Magna save quicker. It's impossible to magna save on that game. Just hit it with your forehead. Dennis, where can people catch you? And you can always email CollectedGamersPodcast at gmail.com. That's the easiest way. You can email me with all of your lovely flowery stuff. Zach, Z-A-C-H at FlipLetterInOutPinball.com or SDTMPinball at gmail.com. What are we showcasing this week? Product showcase this week. I'm actually going to see how fast you guys are. Quick draw here. Avengers Premium. Why in the hell would he showcase that if he doesn't? I had somebody back out last minute. Avengers Premium. Get it now. Get it fast. played the hell out of mine last night. It's a fun game. So good. I think it shoots better than Jurassic Park, but I think Jurassic Park is a better game. Hmm. I could see that. I need more time on Avengers. And I don't believe I've played the premium, so I cannot comment. If you ask me right now objectively what the best layout is in all of pinball history, it would take me a while to think of five that I think are more so than Avengers. It may be the best shooting game of all time. That's pretty high praise, especially since you don't actually like Elwynn games. I own all three. You own everything, though. That's a flex thing. That doesn't have anything to do with what you prefer. No, that was flex by proxy. You pushed that in there. Proxlex. So you can get that one available with us at Flip N Out Pinball. Just email me there or text me at 812-457-9711. We also just got in a couple more Big Buck Hunter Reloaded Panoramas. We have two left. Two left. Think about Christmas, people. Chicago Gaming Company's Ms. Pac-Man Galaga Stand-Up Arcade. I thought, hell, if there's no pinball machines, I might as well stock up on these. So I got these a couple weeks ago, and I've got some of those. Stranger Things Art Blades and Pro UV Kits. For those of you who ordered the Pro UV Kits from Flip N Out Pinball, they're shipped out. They're on their way. For those of you interested, I have a couple left. And for those of you who pre-ordered the premiums, we got some in. I don't think it's going to fulfill all of the orders. So be patient with those, but there's more coming. We also just got in some Avengers die-cut armor. Got to get some of that armor, especially the die-cut stuff. Jurassic Park, if you just got to Jurassic Park not too long ago and you still need the topper, we got it. Amber Shooter Rod, we've got it. And Art Blades, we have them. Turtles Art Blades and Shooter Rods, we have in stock. I am becoming an accessory stealer. Deadpool Pop Bumper Ninja Star Kits. They're cheap, people, and they look awesome. Bye, bye, bye. Banners, banners, we've got them. and an escalator turnaround time still 8 to 10 weeks. Damn it. TPN, last week we had a free play pinball podcast, episode 6, where Bill returned home with better audio. Yes, the voyage home. Thanks, Bill. He did not have whales with him, though. That was an interesting little podcast over there. I like it. But sometimes it's bold. And sometimes they get info that I think they're like the dark horse of info over there. I'm like, wait a minute. I knew of that, but I haven't heard of that publicly yet. Careful, guys. In the Final Round Pinball Podcast, Episode 41, Flying High with Ryan C. Man, what a dynamic. Those three were on fire this week, Dennis. Martin was drunk. Jeff was a fireball. He was the whole Deep Root thing. And Ryan C. was a fucking Buddhist. He was the spanner in the works. And they announced that Jesse J's Pinball Adventures is dead. You heard it. I spoiled it. Sorry, guys. I don't know if it's true or not. that management hasn't been notified. But I don't know if it is true. Ryan, Jesse. Pack your shit and fucking leave then. Go. Don't let the door hit you when the good Lord split you. I'm out of words. I'm out of time. Now I'm just going to press stop and upload because this doesn't need any editing. That would be way too easy. For Dennis Creasel, I'm Zach Minney. Always remember, you got to invest in Insider Connected because I have to show you that people are either insiders that are connected or else they're outsiders that are disconnected. I'm Nordman. And always practice safe pinball and merchandise up. We've got the instructions sent to us. There's like 24 pages. It's so stupid. I'm sorry. I'll do it at some point. If it wasn't that much work, I'd totally get people doing it. It's so much work. But it's just like, I want this arm that barely moves in this game, so here we go. his eyes closed does baby yoda swing you to sleep at night sack him come on come on hey i actually had one at the close you did holy shit this is a oh fuck it's because of how goddamn easy this is we're a little bit country we're a little bit rock and roll you