Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine God, I gotta be down because I want it all It started out with a kiss, had it, it ended up like this It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss Now I'm falling asleep and she's calling a cab Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up Welcome everybody, happy Friday, welcome to Canada's Pinball Podcast How's everybody doing? Brenda and Killian are out of the apartment for the weekend I have the whole place to myself and I'm super jazzed on this episode of Canadian pinball podcast. I have some really fun news for everybody. I have some rumors that are going to make your head spin. There are now all these games coming out that I'm going to have to order, but it's all happening in the future. It's not right now. We're going to talk about this Elton John stream. Did that change people's minds? Are you now going to write Jersey jacket check for 12 to $15,000? I don't think so. I want to give a huge shout out to Lit Pinball, who just became a $30 a month Omokase member of Canada's Pinball Podcast. Thank you so much for the support. And for you guys out there sitting at $5, $10, $30, there hasn't been anyone who's been raising the roof lately. People, you know that this is the show. This is where you're going to hear the excitement, the rumors, everything you need to know about pinball. You listen to me, you read Jason Knapp, and you watch Kerry Hardy, and you've got the entire pinball world in the palm of your hand. All right, so let's start out with this right now. I'm going to drop with a rumor that's huge. So I heard at Pinball Expo that the folks over at Barrels of Fun were excited. They were talking to people and they were really jazzed about their labyrinth pinball machine. And the feedback from the show was great. And you know how it is at these shows. You get these guys a little liquored up. They're really excited. They know that this is just the beginning. Games are selling. They had a great showing at Expo. And I heard someone had a little bit of loose lips on that team. And they let it slip that they have the license to a game that if they make it, I am absolutely going to buy it. It is one of my favorite movies of all time. It is one of Brenda's favorite movies of all time. And it is no other than The Fifth Element. Yes, not the fourth element. The Fifth Element. Bruce Willis, this movie is one of the greatest movies of all time. Luc Besson's masterpiece. It has such a good storyline. It has such a good soundtrack. And it has such a visually interesting world. And if they can bring it to life in the right way under glass, I will buy this game instantly. Instantly. They don't even have to show me the freaking game. If they just say they have Fifth Element after seeing Labyrinth, I will write them a check on the spot and I will actually make it for a dollar more than what they even want for the game because that's how freaking excited I am if Barrels of Fun makes Fifth Element. Now, look, we have to wait, right? It's not going to happen right away. They've got to make the Labyrinth for the next year. And this is why these companies need to keep these themes secret. And these rumors can hurt these companies because then you don't want to get the current game if the next game is something you'd much rather have. Because at these pinball prices, we all know the reality now. You are not buying a game unless you are absolutely in love with the theme. That's it. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The hobby is too expensive now. Everybody's losing way too much money when they dabble and buy a machine. I mean, look at these Venom LEs. Are you looking at these VenomLEs, people? They are now selling for like $9,500. VenomLE is now selling for $9,500, a $3,500 loss in less than a month. This is insane. We haven't seen it before. And I actually think Stern Pinball is in a little bit of trouble, people. I hear they have games piling up in their factory. And Stern Pinball is overpriced. And it's not going to work. Jaws is not going to be able to save Stern at these prices. There's just no way if the game after Jaws is Dungeons and Dragons, people are going to spend $13,000 on an LE or $10,000 on a premium. It's not going to work. John Wick is not a theme in which you're going to get 1,000 people to spend $13,000. I'm a little bit worried about Stern. I think Seth Davis has ruined them a little bit. I think he got greedy, and I don't think he really cares about the community. I think he cares about the bottom line, and it's going to bite them because more and more people in this hobby are starting to listen to Kaneda. They're starting to wait and see. They're starting to ask, why would I buy this game now if I just wait Imagine everybody who paid in full for a Venom LE how they feel today seeing their game has lost in value in one freaking month One month not a year not two years, one month. All right, so speaking about a game that's going to lose more than $3,000 in value in one month once they actually start making it, let's talk about Elton John. So I watched the 25-minute stream. I watched Joe Katz go up there and start the video with the snooze Fest talking about how to get the skill shots going in the games. Look, I get it. He did the rules. And actually, Joe Katz, out of everybody over at Jersey Jack Pinball, I actually think he puts the best rule sets into Jersey Jack games. His work on Willy Wonka is some of the best. His work on Toy Story is good, albeit it's an easy game. And he doesn't just overload you with multi-balls the way Keith does on all of his machines. Like, Keith is one-dimensional, just all day multiball and everybody hates it. It's like chopping wood and for some reason he just can't get the memo. Stop putting so many multiballs into a game. Like you're getting multiballs in a Keith game without even doing anything. It's not even an achievement. It's just annoying. Keith, stop it. So I watched this stream and I watched what's going on on the screen. I watched the animations. I watched the shots. I watched the piano with the LEDs on the piano, which is probably the coolest part of the game, the way the piano can create text and also has like the cheering crowd. But I just want to say this, after watching 25 minutes of Elton John, I just came away from this machine feeling one simple thing. What was the point? Like, what was the point of making this game? And the other question was like, what's the objective of even playing the game? It's just another music game where you select your song and that seems to be it. There's no like real narrative. There's not a lot of cohesiveness. There's no real emotional stuff happening in the game. It's like this weird collage and slideshow that looks like it was done on iMovie on a computer where you're just seeing all these static images of Elton John throughout the years. There's no live concert footage that you're watching. I don't know if that's an exclusive thing for the CE topper, but they need to sell this game and they need to sell this game now and if you watch this video I mean the gameplay is not that unique we've seen this layout a lot there's no unique toys in the game whatsoever there's no moments of magic there's no moments of wow like I don't even think the light show is that impressive it's like all the light shows been sort of like pushed to the sides with the hot rails but like the light show itself on the game is not as impressive as Toy Story or Guns and Roses or freaking the Godfather and so I'm thinking to myself, what is the point of this game? It just feels like an easy pass on so many levels and it's just not going to catch fire. It's just not. And I think what's going to happen with Elton John, I think the orders are never going to roll in for this game. It's going to be a game where they do a small production run and then they're going to move on to the next. So you want some more rumors and you want to know why no one's going to buy Elton John? Because I'm here to tell you right now, the next two games from Jersey Jack Pinball, because Jersey Jack Pinball spoke to people and had loose lips again, the next two games from Jersey Jack are going to be in this order, Harry Potter and the Matrix. So if you know that Harry Potter and the Matrix are coming from both Eric Minier and Mark Satan, which are two guys that pack machines with toys, are you really going to spend $12,000 to $15,000 on an Elton John machine that's just going to lose thousands of dollars? And that's the problem for Jersey Jack. At $12,000 to $15,000, they will sell a ton of Harry Potter. At $12,000 to $15,000, they will sell a ton of the Matrix. But at $12,000 to $15,000, nobody's buying Elton John. It's just not going to happen. I heard from one of the biggest distributors of JJP, and they only got orders in the single digits for this game. Because everybody knows you're going to be able to get an Elton John LE for $9,000 in like a month or two. You're going to be able to get a CE for like $11,000 in a month or two. So why would you pay in full? There's absolutely no point to paying in full for this game. I mean, right, it's like Elton John or Fifth Element, Elton John or Back to the Future, which is coming out, people. And I have more information about Back to the Future, and I can't really disclose much, but I'll tell you this. Chew on this, people. Everybody you want to be working on this game from a pinball industry level is going to be working on this game, all right? So you just try to fill in those blanks with what you think I'm talking about right there. And if you want to get your paws on the first Back to the Future super limited edition version of the game. You're going to have to go through Kaneda because I'm telling you right now it's going to happen and I think they going to do it right and I think Dutch Pinball is really smart and I think Barry knows what he doing and I think he one of the most talented designers in the history of pinball I know he only made one game but so what So what His one game is more impressive to me than what I've seen over the last 10 years from a mechanical and a creative and a theme integration standpoint. Nobody has done anything more creative than the big Lebowski and you know it and you know it. Yes, there might be games with better code but put a machine in front of me from a mechanical standpoint, from a mechanical standpoint where there's like wow toys and interesting stuff happening that interacts with the ball. Name me another game in the last 10 years that beats the big Lebowski. You can't do it. Does it sound like I'm Win Schilling for Barry? Is he paying me money? No, I'm just really excited for what this company has coming out. And there might be another Dutch surprise before back to the future. Oh, maybe you need to fly to New York. Maybe you need to get Canada drunk. Get a couple bottles of sake in me and maybe I got loose lips. You're not going to get it out of me. You're not going to get it out of me. I gave my word and I don't break my word. Contrary to what Christopher Franchi says, when I give my word, I give my word. I don't know what happened with that monster's artwork. I really don't know what happened. There's no proof it was me. There's no proof it was me. Look, I've already got my back to the future order. I've already got my back to the future order. I'm telling you right now, you should probably call Melissa up at CoinTaker and say, hey, are we doing this? Because that's going to be who you're going to want to get in good with. Now, look, for those of us out there who have been in good with Chris and Melissa all these years, I think we're going to be taken care of. But for everybody else, you know, we're going to see. We're going to see. I'm trying to do a little thing where maybe we can sell some of these Back to the Futures through Canada, like an exclusive amount of games where Canada listeners can get access to, kind of like the way Mike and I had automated with Raffle Off Games. But now nobody wants these Stern LEs. I haven't had to do a raffle because none of them are selling out and nobody wants it. And if I were to give someone the chance to buy a Venom at $13,000. It's like me robbing $3,500 from my own fans and I'm not gonna do it to you guys. I'm not gonna do it. You're the best fans in the entire hobby and I wouldn't screw you over by making you buy a Venom for MSRP. Isn't that just sad when you think about it? Like you're getting screwed over by a pinball company if you buy the product for the price they say it's worth. And when are they gonna wake up and realize this stuff is not worth this unless the theme is killer. and Stern does not really have a series of killer themes coming out. I'm a little bit worried about Stern. Again, I'm going to say it. I'm a little bit worried about Stern. They are such a big operation and I don't think they're used to this. All of a sudden, all of these boutique companies are starting to get some juggernaut themes that people really want. And it's like Stern is the Roman Empire and they have this sort of cocky attitude now like nothing can take them down. But man, they oversaturated the market. They overpriced their games. And everyone seemingly has every single Stern machine that's out there and none of them feel special. And now you've got these smaller boutique companies coming at them with like special themes that are really emotionally clicking with the pinball buying public. And they feel special. Like there's only going to be 1100 labyrinth machines in the entire world. So if you own one, it's not going to be like owning a stranger things that everybody has now or a Metallica that everybody has or a freaking Godzilla that everybody and their mother has. Like all these Stern machines, they're kind of boring. They're just everywhere. My friend Chad in Chicago said it the best. He's like, the problem with Stern pricing is simply this, Chris. The reason why games like Stranger Things used to be worth like $13,000 is that those prices happened a year after the game was out. And then there were like only 15 for sale on Pinside. So those 15 games might be worth $13,000 because there's only 15 available in the world. But he's like, that doesn't mean every single Stranger Things premium is now worth $13,000. And so what Stern has done now by flooding the market with a thousand LEs, they basically made them not limited or rare at all, especially the premiums. They price them as if each of these games only has 15 available in the world to buy right now. And that's the problem. I think they made a huge error in the pricing and distros are getting destroyed by people, especially with this clearance sale. Now, every single distro, I get they can move inventory, but now every single distro's games are now worth $2,000 less. And best believe it, those distros are eating that. They're going to eat that. Stern's not giving them $2,000 in credit on each game they sell when they cut the prices by $2,000. And everyone who owns a Stern machine now lost if you own one of those games And so who wins in this scenario The move is basically this Stern is admitting that they overmade games They made too many games that people don want That why they sitting in boxes That's why they're sitting in boxes at distributors. That's why I'm hearing there are hundreds of games sitting at Stern with no orders. So then what's gonna happen to those games? I mean, if you think $2,000 off a Rush Pro is where it's gonna end, no. We're gonna start to see pinball machines. Mark my words, people. We are going to start to see pinball machines with 50% off just to get them sold. If you think the market's not gonna collapse, people, it's collapsing right now. Nobody really wants to admit it because we're in the middle of the collapse. And what I mean by the collapse is just that there's gonna be thousands and thousands of games that are gonna lose so much value, already have lost so much value. People just don't realize it yet because they haven't tried to sell those games yet. And good luck when they try to sell them when all these exciting themes are coming out. And then the future of pinball and all these new games in box. The future for new in box is simply this. If it's not a AAA theme that people absolutely want or a cult classic movie that's limited in number, that's the only way you're gonna survive new in box. A cult classic movie where you don't make many of them or a AAA theme. Everything else is dead. Galactic Tank Force is dead. Games like Legends of Valhalla, absolutely dead on arrival. If you wanna make the sequel to Whitewater, you're dead on arrival. Now, the only way for like a niche game like Galactic Tank Force to work is you have to make it magical and you have to make it very limited. And they didn't do that. And then they idiotically charged $17,500 for that signature edition of the game. It pissed everybody off. David Fix doesn't know what he's doing. He's not a good marketer. None of these companies have good marketing right now. Like when I was watching that Joe Katz video, I'm like, this is not what I would do to sell this game. Go look at my Facebook live video. I showed them how I would talk about this game if you were trying to actually get people to buy it. And you're not going to get people to buy it with these like rule set videos that absolutely put people to sleep. Like when Bowen Kerins was talking about Labyrinth, that's the only time I don't want to buy one because it's so boring hearing those rule sets. I don't mind people doing rule set videos, but using a rule set video as the initial introduction to a game to get people excited is a terrible marketing move. everybody it's going to be bonkers 2024 Jaws is going to come out is it going to be an ugly duckling who knows it's a Keith Elwin game it's going to sell well I think Jaws will sell just fine again I don't think it's enough I don't think it's enough because we know Stern has a new game every three months so what happens if Jaws comes out and does tremendously well and then Dungeons and Dragons for $13,000 it's just not going to work it's not sustainable the only thing that's sustainable and pinball is canada's pinball podcast and people we are into november now i think december is when the twippy voting happens so i'm gonna have to get like six or something shows live for everybody to listen to but you'll see what i'm gonna do they're gonna be funny shows they're gonna be funny shows i'm gonna make them purposely really bad i'm gonna do six horrible pinball podcasts that are just out there because i have enough votes with just each and every one of you to win and if each and every one of you gets like someone in your family to vote alongside you, we are absolutely going to win. We're going to crush it. It's going to be amazing. All those haters and weasels that tried to cancel me a couple months ago, they're going to see what happens when the Canada Army shows everybody in the world who the favorite pinball podcaster is. Everybody, thank you for the support. This has been a fun show. Tune in tomorrow for the Saturday Morning Spectacular when I do an unboxing. And you're like, oh my God, is Canada finally going to unbox one of his pinball machines? I will when I get a home. But what I'm going to unbox tomorrow, I don't know what's in it. It came from Spooky Pinball. My friends at Spooky Pinball sent me a care package. So I will unbox it live on my Saturday morning spectacular. Let's say we'll do it at 11 o'clock. We'll build up some excitement. I will get more people excited about this unboxing than Jersey Jack's entire marketing team has got people excited about Elton John. What a dead on arrival game. It's over. If you bought one, you just lost $3,000. Everybody have a great Friday. I'll talk to you soon. I never I never