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We Are Pinball #29 "MGC news and rumor wrap up!"

We Are Pinball (WAP)·podcast_episode·13m 45s·analyzed·Apr 7, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

WAP #29: MGC coverage, Evil Dead sellout hype, Spooky's next games teased, American Pinball intel behind paywall.

Summary

Don and Cengiz discuss their experience at Midwest Gaming Classic (MGC), focusing on Spooky Pinball success with Evil Dead (888-unit run, already sold out across three shows), the company's strategic decision to maintain that production cap despite demand, and their upcoming game pipeline. They touch on an American Pinball machine they previewed under NDA, tease exclusive MGC news and Portal game impressions for Patreon subscribers, and announce Jamie Burchell (formerly of the Wormhole) as the guest for episode 30.

Key Claims

  • Evil Dead is Spooky Pinball best game by far, according to everybody playing it

    medium confidence · Cengiz speaking about Evil Dead reception at shows

  • Evil Dead (888 units) has sold out completely across three major shows (Pinball at the Beach, TPF, MGC)

    high confidence · Don and Cengiz discussing the game's trajectory through shows

  • Spooky Pinball deliberately capped Evil Dead production at 888 units despite demand because they have five more games in development and need to stay on schedule

    high confidence · Don stating he asked Spooky directly about why they didn't make 900-950 units

  • Spooky Pinball next game will not release until November

    high confidence · Don noting the game won't come out anytime soon and they have a November target

  • Rick and Morty (750 units) is Spooky Pinball most prized/highest-value game historically

    medium confidence · Cengiz and Don speculating on Spooky's most valuable title

  • Evil Dead has 138 more units than Rick and Morty (suggesting ~888 vs ~750)

    high confidence · Don noting 138 more Evil Dead than Rick and Mortys in production

  • American Pinball game shown under NDA is better than Stern Pro and the hosts' best game

    medium confidence · Don stating it's their best game but not a 'Godzilla killer'; tempering expectations while saying people will be pleasantly surprised

  • Don walked unannounced into American Pinball booth in Chicago with friends after hearing Fix was out

    medium confidence · Don describing an impromptu visit where he 'knocked on the door' at American Pinball

Notable Quotes

  • “Evil Dead is now Spooky's best game like by far that's what everybody's saying”

    Cengiz @ early in show — Establishes Evil Dead as the quality benchmark for Spooky Pinball

  • “888 was all we were gonna do and then they gone and people were like legit mad like what are you talking about”

    Don @ mid-show — Captures the FOMO and demand frustration at MGC booth

  • “They're totally fine with it. We've got like seriously five games that are already set in development and we can't make Evil Dead for two years because we got these other games we got to get out”

    Don @ mid-show — Reveals Spooky's strategic reasoning for limiting Evil Dead production

  • “It's not a Godzilla killer but you know so temper your expectations but you'll be pleasantly surprised”

    Don @ discussing American Pinball game — Measured hype for upcoming American Pinball title while managing expectations

  • “I think we should just release that show to the public man”

    Cengiz @ discussing Patreon American Pinball episode — Interest in making exclusive American Pinball content public; suggests NDA concerns may be moot

Entities

Spooky PinballcompanyEvil DeadgameDonpersonCengizpersonRick and MortygameAmerican PinballcompanyMidwest Gaming Classicevent

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Evil Dead (888 units) sold out completely across three consecutive major shows, establishing rapid market validation and scarcity

    high · Don and Cengiz confirm sold out at Pinball at the Beach, TPF, and MGC; people at Spooky booth getting turned away despite having cash

  • ?

    collector_signal: Evil Dead creating strong FOMO and secondary market demand similar to Rick and Morty; people arriving at shows unprepared for sellout

    high · People at Spooky booth 'legit mad' when told 888 was the cap; no Pinside listings seen yet (unlike Scooby-Doo); full-price resales when available

  • ?

    product_strategy: Spooky Pinball strategically capped Evil Dead at 888 units despite demand to avoid overcommitting with five other games in development pipeline

    high · Don asked directly; Spooky confirmed they need capacity for next five games and can't make Evil Dead for two years; deliberate choice not to increase to 900-950

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball has five games in active development (not production) with November release target for next title; full pipeline through next year+

    high · Don: 'they got five games that are already set...in development. We can't make evil dead for two years because we got these other games we got to get out'

  • ?

    machine_intel: Spooky Pinball's next game targeting November release; details withheld under NDA; Don declining to view it to avoid six-month embargo on commentary

    high · Don: 'it's not going to come out until November'; Cengiz asks about next Spooky game, Don says he hasn't pressed for details due to NDA logistics

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.041

0:00
I rock my bling damn history, I make it look easy cause it is to me, my daddy says it's like a focus book to see, it's South Africa and Chitty make it history.
0:08
What's up WAP Universe? Episode 29 coming at you. Don here, hanging out with my boy Genghis and we were just talking like we always do. And then I was like, you know what, we gotta hit record and talk about some stuff. Cause yeah, we be having fun in Pinball Genghis, how you doing?
0:24
I'm doing great man, I have missed you, you were at the pinball show again, again. I mean, how can I stay away? I can't go like a week without going to a freaking pinball show. Midwest Gaming Classic. Thank you for the pictures. Thank you for the updates. Yeah. You had an awesome time. Thank you for Spooky Luke for wearing the WAP t-shirt.
0:45
Oh, my God. Robo-Jingus is in effect here. Oh, there we go. Now he's back. Yeah, Spooky Luke was wearing the WAP t-shirt. I walked into the show. Yeah, yeah, you're back. You got a little flub there. I walked into the show, and I saw him wearing the WAP t-shirt, and I was like, oh, yeah, this is going to be a good day.
1:01
Yeah, we love Spooky. We love Spooky for being like this. They are just, dude, they are just, I feel like they're like number two pinball company right now. Don't you feel like it? Right? I mean, yeah, they turned around and burned out through their 888 games. I was thinking about this. You know, what's Spooky Pinball's, like, most prized game? It's Rick and Morty, right? Probably, like, the highest prize. you know please make more please make more never be anymore they only made 750 of those and evil dead is now spooky's best game like by far that's what everybody's saying it's playing it and there's only 138 more of those than there were rick and morty's and they're already they're already freshly sold out and so i think evil dead's a game that's going to be in demand it's got way more than rick and morty does it's got way more shots and layouts wide body packed with mechanisms and there ain't gonna be no more yeah i really like that that they they won't you know make a remake or 70th year edition or something something they're like really we think about the the collectors here so 8088 that's the number i love that and like since that game came out this is the third show that i've seen the game at right it was a pinball at the beach it made its debut which was a very small group of people and then tpf that you know the games were going sun up to sun down they have the pin monk flipper fans on there there was no flipper fade at all just nuts and then here we are the third major show mgc and they're already sold out now yeah wow dude that was yeah i was hanging out this show that bought all those 30 or what 50 or what did you say that also they're gone yeah they're gone so like three four years from now it will it will be a highly sought after title yeah yeah because um you know back in the scooby-doo days we saw there was always like five or six scooby-doo pre-orders on pinterest pinside pinterest pinside you know people selling them like hey 1800 bucks whatever i have not seen that at all with evil dead um oh man and yeah every now and then when you do see one it's like full price and it's not for very long i was hanging out at the spooky booth yesterday and people were coming up and they were like all right um i'm gonna get one of these things you know what do i have to do and they're like sorry man they're gone and people were like getting mad like what do you mean they're gone i'm here i want one what do you mean you won make me one they like 888 was all we were gonna do and then they gone and people were like legit mad like what are you talking about everybody saying it a buyer market we we here with money in our hands and we can't get it yeah oh my but in a way i mean i'm happy for for spooky for this but it also hurt them a bit you know i mean why didn't we say 900 950 you know it's right i asked them specifically that question and the answer that i got surprised me a bit the short of it is they're totally fine with it um but uh you know they wanted to make enough games that are going to keep them busy through the next year they've got like seriously like five games that that like their next five games are kind of like already set uh they're in they're in they're in development right not production but development and it's like they're like we we can't make evil dead for two years because we got these other games we got to get out you know so like we got to make these this year november we got a new game and we got to make those so we can get to the other ones you know because they got they got the queue is full and they got to bring them out or they're going to time out so it's like this is what they're doing yeah wow but but they're tight they don't share nothing with you um so something you can share here on patreon or something you know yeah so I haven't I haven't pressed them hard to find out what their their their new game is I think they would show me if I wanted to you know do the full NDA thing but honestly it's not going to come out anytime soon it's not going to come out until November so I would be like oh my god that's the next theme and then the next thing I'm going to want to do is talk about it which I wouldn't be able to do and then that would be like six months of me sitting on my hands like i wish i could talk about this it's fucking awesome yeah don't don't spend a dime on that game until you see what spooky's got so i like this way where you know i'm sure i'll see it at some point but i don't have to worry about like what it is and not being able to talk about it that would suck yeah i know exactly what you mean because you saw evil dead like a month before release or something or two months before release yeah and i remember you had such a hard time not talking about it you were like i'm so excited but i can't talk about it i'm like this game's good but the hard part is when you when you do something like that you're like am i just crazy like i think the game's really good but maybe maybe i don't know i need somebody else's opinion you know when a game's released like when we see kong i could be like all right jing is what do you think of the layout here's what i think of the layout what do you think and we can hear like what people are saying so then we get a consensus like okay yeah this is really good or oh yeah no this is kind of dog shit um but like when when you're the only one that's seen it there's no one else to talk to so it's just like your secret shame you have to just keep and it's like i'm hyped on it but is this game gonna come out and people are gonna hate it and they're gonna be like don what the hell were you talking about this whole time so it's like it's validation when like it's finally out and you can talk about it yeah i know um like was it show number after we recorded show number I think it was 20 or 22. After that, we jumped over to Patreon and made an hour-long show there. And there, you actually, only on Patreon, you actually shared a lot of stuff of the upcoming American Pinball game. Oh, I remember that. I love that show. I think we should release that show to the public man Don you think You think so Because you have so You are talking about you just knocked on the door of American Pinball and what was actually going on in there So many people are interested. Don't you think we should just release that show to the people? I've had a couple of badass moments in my life and like, you know, sitting there in a cafe in Chicago with a group of friends from all over the country that are super into pinball and we get the news that Fix is out and we're like, what the hell? And I'm like, you know what? let's just raw dog over there and walk in the door and be like what's going on man and so and then we did it i mean i mean our supporters on patreon they love they love that episode you just walked in there you're knocked on the door and you also tried the next game and you talked about the upcoming game and you're actually you're actually how did you put it you're actually excited as a stern pro level game right so it was not a bad experience it was a cool game i think it's better than stern pro oh okay okay now i don't i don't want to like overhype it like i've seen it you haven't so it's obviously the best thing ever it's it's good um definitely their best game um you know but it's not i mean it's not a godzilla killer but you know so temper your expectations but you'll be pleasantly surprised this is the game that if you go in with lower expectations you'll be blown away and really surprised a lot of people are you know thinking about what's going on at american pinball and on that patreon show you actually told everything yeah exactly as you saw it you were in there with was it carol hardy yeah yeah you just yeah man oh yeah i think we should i think we should just open that episode to the public man what what do you think donnie i mean at this point i still i think i'm under nda technically but like does the company even exist anymore you know we have to we have to find out about that because you you share a bit yeah otherwise we'll just say fuck it i'll tell you what let's let's discuss it more behind our paywall there it's only five dollars to walk in there we got people all the way up to the 150 supporter level which we love we have great conversations on there yeah everybody listening a new supporter also don i saw that yeah and and i saw supporter so what we do every time we get a new supporter we always announce it here uh and it's it doesn't matter how much the new supporter supports us with this one is a pro level it's ray woods i don't know my hair there it is and i think i'm sending him a uh a wop t-shirt too he ordered a t-shirt so that is completely amazing oh what a supporter welcome we should give him a show the honorary ray woods you're a new supporter this is the ray woods episode we are always happy when we're getting new people into patreon because it's more just much more intimate in there so yeah but on every show we also thank our pro premium level le level and collectors at level supporters and we enjoy doing that so at ce level we have charles get ready for the air horns everybody yeah yeah give charles some air horn give charles josh crock some air horn again 100 100 150 dollars both of Oh Josh jumped up to Collect this edition to real velvet Steve supporter man I love him. Anthony Marua, $50. Yes, thank you, sir. Thank you. Yeah. And Enzo, oh, my goodness. Enzo is on the road. We love Enzo here, man. Yeah, another premium supporter. Let me give Enzo a Jeffrey Ford. Hell, yeah. What a solid dude. Pinball at the beach, man. Let's do it again. let's do it again jeremy yeah do that and share all the info here yeah we love it so you were at mgc let's just let's share i'm so interested because you sent me a picture you sent me pictures with with yeah with the spooky team i have some questions you sent me a picture with the uh portal game so i'm gonna ask you rated from one to ten did you buy it what's going on I want to know everything. I've got so much to comment about. No idea. Let's do that. Maybe let's do that. We have a long show today. And tomorrow, we have another show. Yes. Number 30.
Spooky Luke
person
Jamie Burchellperson
Stern Pinballcompany
[name withheld pending review]person
Portalgame
Pinball at the Beachevent
TPFevent
We Are Pinballorganization
  • ?

    product_concern: Severe demand/supply imbalance at MGC—people with cash in hand unable to purchase Evil Dead despite being at show; potential customer frustration

    high · Don: 'people were coming up...all right i'm gonna get one of these things...sorry man they're gone...people were like legit mad'

  • $

    market_signal: Spooky Pinball perceived as #2 pinball company currently (after likely Stern), riding wave of Evil Dead success and quality reputation

    medium · Cengiz: 'I feel like they're like number two pinball company right now...they turned around and burned out through their 888 games'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Hosts heard 'pretty cool' MGC rumors about next year+ industry developments; details promised to Patreon subscribers only

    medium · Cengiz: 'rumors that I've heard yesterday that are pretty cool for the coming up for the next year plus'; content gated to Patreon

  • ?

    leak_detection: Don gained access to American Pinball's booth and played an upcoming game under impromptu/unplanned circumstances; content shared on Patreon episode under NDA concerns

    medium · Don: 'we just raw dog over there and walk in the door...tried the next game and talked about the upcoming game'; Cengiz notes this was shared on Patreon show

  • ?

    community_signal: Jamie Burchill departed from the Wormhole venue; hosts planning to interview him about his future and what's next for the venue

    high · Hosts: 'Jamie formerly of the Wormhole...in a midst of turmoil and scandal the wormhole or the jamie hole will rise'; planning episode 30 discussion

  • ?

    content_signal: WAP using Patreon paywall for exclusive show content (MGC rumors, American Pinball details, Portal impressions); testing public release of some episodes

    high · Cengiz pushes to release American Pinball Patreon episode publicly; hosts routinely segment exclusive content for $5+ Patreon tiers

    • 11:23
    We got a special guest. We got Jamie, formerly of the Wormhole. Jamie Burchill, salt of the earth. Awesome dude. Coming on the show. Coming on the WAP. I can't. in a midst of turmoil and scandal the the wormhole or the jamie hole will rise and we're gonna celebrate it here yeah man show number 30 we should call it you know the wop got warmed but we cannot call it that anymore because he quit that and we're gonna we're gonna ask him what's going on what's up jamie and what's the future like i mean are you leaving pinball what's going on we're gonna start the wop hole with jamie that's what's gonna happen he's such a nice i mean he's the wop hole we gotta turn that into a graphic the wop hole welcome to the wop hole donnie man i love your name donnie and jamie he he already has got the nickname jamie Jamie, Jamie, get into the wormhole.
    12:28
    Get into the warp hole. Get into the warp hole, Jamie. Oh, it's going to be cool. So tomorrow, show number 30 will be up. And today, should we do it here or should we do the rest on Patreon, man, with all that info at MGC? What do you think? Oh, man, after all that edging we did and about all the MGC stuff and the rumors that I've heard yesterday that are pretty cool for the coming up for the next year plus uh we got uh my my remarks again in the saga of portal um you want to do all that behind the patreon for the the awesome people that are over there you want to get into it yeah let's do that baby let's do that let's jump over to patreon and everybody's welcome five bucks five bucks say hi yeah right buddy dude do it as a one-off man come in there try it out test the waters get your foot into the wop hole and see what's going on over there i mean just come in there are so many locked episodes in there that's the only the newcomers they're like oh my god there's so much stuff there's a ton of stuff over there man if you've got any kind of commute at all like yeah let us be your co-pilots man all right let's jump over in there then let's jump yeah all right peace out everybody head over there we'll see you in the green room