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DPP #95 "2 New game releases besides JAWS?"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·41m 50s·held·Jan 10, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Pulp Fiction production updates, Alice in Wonderland remake rumors, and Jaws gameplay stream critique.

Summary

Don discusses three major pinball developments: Chicago Gaming Company's Pulp Fiction production starting this month with distributor confirmation, a mysterious Alice in Wonderland remake potentially from a Dutch group or American Pinball's Ametron division expected in Q1-Q2 2026, and critical analysis of Stern's Jaws launch gameplay stream that disappointed despite the game's quality, where the premium shark mechanic underperformed expectations.

Key Claims

  • Chicago Gaming Company's Pulp Pulp Fiction is in production this month (January 2026) with games expected to ship by early February

    medium confidence · Don citing distributor Great American Pinball message received today about production timeline

  • Alice in Wonderland remake exists as a playable prototype with Zombie Yeti artwork and is likely from a Dutch group, potentially in partnership with Dutch Pinball factory

    low confidence · Don's speculation based on rumors circulating on YouTube/NAP, insider excitement he observed, and analysis of likely manufacturers

  • Alice in Wonderland production run will be approximately 500 units, making it rare and collector-focused

    low confidence · Don reporting unconfirmed numbers heard through industry contacts

  • Pedretti (American Pinball) has licensed Williams games from Pinball Planet and will announce a remake in the next two weeks

    medium confidence · Don reporting that people in the industry supposedly know but cannot disclose details due to NDAs

  • Pedretti Gaming announcement is likely Tales of the Arabian Night (TOTAN) remake, not Twilight Zone or other titles

    low confidence · Don's speculation using Occam's Razor, noting TOTAN has existing 2.0 code and is more feasible than other Williams titles

  • JAWS (Premium/LE) shark mechanic only pops up briefly for a single shot interaction before submerging again, limiting its appeal for the $3,000+ premium price premium

    high confidence · Don's direct observation of official Stern gameplay livestream during Jaws launch week

  • JAWS (Premium/LE) and Pro share the same translate graphic (remastered movie poster art by Michael Barnard), with LE having mirrored back glass

    high confidence · Don stating confirmed details from Stern's official reveal

  • JAWS (Premium/LE) will not ship until June 2026 at earliest due to production constraints

    high confidence · Don reporting industry feedback about extended wait times for premium edition

Notable Quotes

  • “It's looking like later this month, games will start coming out”

    Great American Pinball distributor (via Don) @ ~10:30 — First concrete production timeline confirmation for Pulp Fiction from a distributor with direct manufacturer contact

  • “They probably have some insight into Magic Girl, which is broken mashed potatoes of a code, and they learned from that process how to fix foundational issues and apply it to Alice in Wonderland”

    Don @ ~22:00 — Don's theory connecting the Dutch group's Magic Girl restoration work to potential Alice in Wonderland production capabilities

  • “It's a portmanteau of anticipation and disappointment”

    Don @ ~44:30 — Don coins a term to describe his reaction to Jaws—high expectations crashing when the shark mechanic proved underwhelming

  • “Here it is. The shark has busted through the playfield. This is what you want to pay that premium money for? And then one ball went into him and then he just shrunk right back underneath like nothing had happened. Peek-A-JAWS (Premium/LE).”

    Don @ ~45:00 — Direct critique of the Jaws Premium's signature mechanic, describing its brevity and lack of engagement

  • “If all the shark does is pop up for one shot and go back down, then you might as well just have the boat there and not even have it”

    Don @ ~54:00 — Rhetorical challenge questioning the premium tier's value proposition over the pro model

  • “The marketing idea from them was if we can slowly drip feed this throughout the week, we can keep this topic fresh in everybody's mind for a full week”

    Colin (The Kineticist, via Don) @ ~40:00 — Explanation for Stern's staggered Jaws launch strategy; contextualizes marketing philosophy vs. execution issues

  • “This was the chosen one that was coming. This was the follow-up to Godzilla, the full cornerstone. You know, it's Elwynn, man. They're going to give him an unlimited build of materials”

    Don @ ~48:00 — Articulates the community's pre-launch hype expectations for Jaws as Elwin's post-Godzilla masterpiece

Entities

DonpersonChicago Gaming CompanycompanyPulp FictiongameAlice in WonderlandgameJohn PapadiukpersonZombie YetipersonStern Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Chicago Gaming Company Pulp Fiction Standard Edition confirmed entering production in January 2026 (this month) with expected location availability in early February

    medium · Distributor Great American Pinball message to Don stating 'looking like later this month, games will start coming out' for Standard Edition

  • ?

    machine_intel: Alice in Wonderland (John Papadiuk designer) exists as playable prototype with Zombie Yeti artwork; rumored new manufacturer announcing within 2-8 weeks, production 500 units, expected Q1-Q2 2026

    low · Rumors on YouTube/NAP, insider excitement Don observed, speculation it's Dutch group or American Pinball's Ametron division; announcement expected by end of February; prototype display possible at Texas Pinball Festival

  • ?

    announcement: American Pinball/Pedretti division announcing a Bally Williams remake (license from Planetary Pinball Supply) within two weeks; likely Tales of the Arabian Nights rather than Twilight Zone

    medium · Don reporting unnamed industry sources with NDAs; Occam's Razor analysis: TOTAN has existing 2.0 code kit, more feasible production than complex Twilight Zone wide-body

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Jaws Premium shark mechanic underperforms—motorized shark pops up only briefly for single shot interaction before submerging, limiting replay appeal and justifying premium price differential vs. Pro model

    high · Don's direct observation of official Stern Jaws gameplay livestream; described as 'Peek-A-Boo Shark' that surfaces and immediately submerges; contrasted unfavorably with Demogorgon in Stranger Things which has extensive interaction

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.126

0:00
It's Don's Pinball Podcast, now available in Cherry Caramel Delight. Man, this week is off to a rolling, rip-roaring start, man. We just got that gameplay footage from Jaws. It's all blowing up now. I'm up to 95 of these frickin' episodes for everybody. We got more news and views to cover, so I had to do a whole other episode. Shout-out to Jengas for that action this morning. If you haven't checked it out, Retro Jango up on YouTube. Me and him did a collab and did a whole breakdown of the Jaws live stream video and release. I'll get into more of my reviews and views and insight on how all that went, especially everybody else coming up in a bit. But go check that out. But funny enough, during our recording, he was getting blown up with messages regarding some other rumors that I can't wait to talk about. And I'm hot on the heels of Nap Arcade. He's already got the articles up there. So if you want to check them out in a written format, go to my boy Jason's site. You know where to find him. Number one dude in the content reporting space, I believe. So let's just talk about a little bit of investigating I've done on my own that hasn't been reported anywhere else. Pulp Fiction, game popular to you and me. We all know it. Ten people have played it outside of shows, whatever. It's on order. So when is this thing being made? I've been joking recently that I'm looking for 2025 to get my game. The reason I say that is because we've essentially been told that back in October, games are going to be leaving the factory, like the first few SKUs or whatever. They did that reveal that they have the golden sample made, right? The template from which all the other ones are going to be made. And then, you know, October comes and goes with nothing, goes into November. December was really busy. We're here in January like, hey, wait a minute. Weren't we told back in September that October was when they were really going to get started? So I peruse Pinside. I look at the marketplace just to keep an eye on the market, what's going on with the prices of games, up, down, sideways, how much can you get a Bond 60th for, that kind of thing. And I see these advertisements that distributors put up there. They're trying to go out there, and there's a bunch of Mandalorian premiums with toppers listed for $7,000. but they still put out their ads saying, MSRP, $9,500, we have them in stock, new in box, no mods, come and get it. It's like, who's buying these, man? But anyway, I saw one from Great American Pinball, distributor in the northern Illinois region, for a Pulp Fiction Standard Edition, asking for deposits, right? $1,000, $2,000, whatever it is. So I just mentioned this to the guy, and I was like, hey, have you heard about our production update? Last time we heard was several months ago that they're supposed to be starting. To date, we haven't seen anything leaving. We're into a new year now. We're over a week in now. So everybody's back from the holidays. Hiring should have happened. What's going on? Is there an update? And so I just got a message back today saying that it's looking like later this month, games will start coming out. So there's an update. I thought that was interesting. This is for the standard edition as well. So we weren't sure, we being humanity, if they were going to follow the Stern tradition of getting a couple of pros out early and then going for the limited edition, the high dollar ones, satisfying all those orders, printing those huge toppers, and then getting back out to get caught up with just all the standard folks. Us plebes with only eight grand kicking around and not nine. But what it said is the Standard Edition Pulp Fiction is in production this month. That's what I've heard from a distributor. So great American pinball, though. There you go.

  • “When you have somebody like Josh Sharpe talking about the game while people are playing it, you've got good players playing and good players talking about it”

    Don @ ~41:00 — Identifies successful livestream format (commentary + gameplay separation) that Stern's Jaws stream lacked

    • Jaws
    game
    Keith Elwinperson
    American Pinballcompany
    Pinball Planetcompany
    Dutch Pinballcompany
    Magic Girlgame
    Great American Pinballcompany
    [name withheld pending review]person
    Colinperson
    Jack Dangerperson
    Josh Sharpeperson
    Michael Barnardperson
    Godzillagame
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent

    content_signal: Stern's Jaws launch livestream ended abruptly after 10-12 minutes (end of first ball), limiting audience understanding of complete game modes and mechanics; lacked dual-commentary format that made Pulp Fiction/Venom streams more effective

    high · Don witnessed livestream end to black after brief gameplay; contrasted successful format (Josh Sharpe commentary + players) with Jaws single-player stream focusing only on Keith Elwin gameplay

  • $

    market_signal: Jaws Premium ($3,000+ premium over Pro) value proposition questioned due to underwhelming shark mechanic; community debating whether premium is worth cost given feature limitation

    high · Don's analysis of premium features: shark is underwhelming, upper playfield/Orca area visually impressive but functional gap not justifying price; asked listeners to email with counterargument

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern employed drip-feed marketing strategy for Jaws launch (staggered daily content throughout Shark Week) to maintain week-long topic freshness, but early LE trailer leak forced reactive approach

    medium · Colin (The Kineticist) explained marketing philosophy to Don; Stern reportedly requested content creators pull early leaked videos but could not contain spread once public

  • ?

    production_concern: Jaws Premium tier facing extended production delays with June 2026 earliest ship date despite Pro tier shipping earlier; Chicago Gaming Pulp Fiction Standard Edition also delayed (October 2025 target missed, now January 2026 start)

    high · Don reporting industry feedback on Jaws Premium delays; Chicago Gaming Pulp Fiction missed October start target, now January production; both affected by supply chain/manufacturing capacity constraints

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Jaws community sentiment shifted from extreme pre-launch hype (expectations as post-Godzilla masterpiece with unlimited designer resources) to disappointment post-livestream due to underwhelming shark mechanic and brief gameplay window

    high · Don coined term 'anticipointment' to describe his emotional arc; attributed unreasonable expectations built over months of anticipation to designer's pedigree (Elwin post-Godzilla) and Stern's resource positioning

  • ?

    design_innovation: Jaws wave ramp feature (90-degree ramp turn in Premium) represents unique design element, but shark pop-up mechanic lacks the interactive punch and reactive feedback expected from premium-tier signature feature

    medium · Don noted wave ramp as genuinely innovative; compared shark unfavorably to Demogorgon (Stranger Things) which has screen-drop, ramp transform, gullet-kill, and physical shake/scream feedback

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Alice in Wonderland remake signals potential new manufacturer entry to market ('75th company' per Don) challenging Stern/Chicago Gaming duopoly; estimated 500-unit production run suggests boutique/collector positioning

    low · Don speculating new company entering market; estimated 500-unit run puts it between Rick and Morty (750 units) and America's Most Haunted (150 units); collector-focused marketing expected

    • 3:42
    That's interesting. That would be great if true. And if true, if, you know, in production this month, we'll give them until the end of the month. If they get a game out, then we should start seeing locations pop up in the beginning of February. So that's what I'll be looking for. The reason I really want to know, like, you know, they're going to make a good game. It's going to come out a good build. Their CGC is known for that. That's no secret.
    4:06
    But, you know, it helps out customers like myself if I can get a sense on when this game is going to come due because that's when the final payment will be due, right? You know, we've got deposits in there. I've seen between $500 to $2,000 distributors are taking of nonrefundable deposits, and then you're going to have to come and pay that balance. So it would be nice to know that I don't have to sit on this nest egg of money if it's still going to be eight months away. I'm free to kind of work it up once I get there. I pre-ordered this game in June. I was out trekking through the Alps, and I'm like, I've got to have a Pulp Fiction. I'm having a great time. I'm in a super awesome mood. Maybe the air was thin up in the Alps there, but, yeah, I went ahead and got one.
    4:47
    And back then in June, the money was allocated. No problem. I'll get paid here. bonuses come out here whatever you know it's in my head it all worked but now we're you know six eight months later and a lot of things that happen between now and then i mean expo came and went tons of new games dropped labyrinth wasn't even uh glint in anybody's eye in june and then here we are with it uh we've got more games that are dropping so it would be nice to know like if you know something brand new comes out in the next two or three weeks am i safe to go on that knowing that it's still going to be another year before i'll have to come up with that payment for pulp fiction or not like you know and and they can totally ballpark this and i think the way to do it is to say you know hey it's time for our bi-monthly update here's kind of where things sit right now uh pencil it in for around here and then you know two months later hey visiting back again here's kind of what happened and here's a little tighter uh range you know all right then a ballpark is getting smaller as we get closer to the date that you're gonna have to come up with the money uh that makes sense to me especially like you know if i've got this money for pulp fiction in June when I pre-order, and it's not going to be June until the next year, well, let me use that money to get another game in the meantime, play through it, live stream it, mod it up, have fun with it. And then when I'm kind of done, if it coincides with the time that my new game comes, I could pass that on to another owner, and then there I go. You know, my money wasn't just sitting there, you know, not being invested or something. I at least got something to play in the meantime. And that being said, this is all coming out of, like, the play money budget, not the investing budget. You know, don't sacrifice your investments for pinball. But on the other hand, YOLO is a philosophy. So if that's yours, who am I to tell you how to live? What else do we got on the docket today?
    6:32
    Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, okay. So let's talk about this. John Papaduke. I'm not going to get into the whole story or anything. But you know this guy. Made these games for Bally Williams and some of the most amazing games ever made. Tales of the Arabian Nights full stop, right? Circus Voltaire. among others. And then went on to spin off his own company, which never really came to full fruition. Things that led to Magic Girl, Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland, and this Alice in Wonderland. Can we even call it a white wood? It looks like a cardboard wood. All right, so there's a paperwood version of Alice in Wonderland with Zombie Yeti's first pinball art full design. So black and white outlines, not colored in or anything, but it exists out there as a relic of the pinball multiverse, right? We're in this timeline where, you know, Loki must have snapped his fingers and we ended up in this tangent, right? Where there isn't a fully playable magic girl that doesn't have huge problems and Raza never came to be and we never got a pin pod. And, man, Alice in Wonderland is the casualty here. So somebody, I guess, has access to build this thing and has the plans and what have you and what other assets might be there. And I guess it's coming out with it. So that's all we know, kind of. None of this is official. But this has been circulating around the YouTubes today. It's been up on NAP. So it's a thing, you know, and it seems reasonable. What we don't know is who this is coming from. But we do know people that do know where it's coming from. And although they have nondisclosure agreements and can't tell me rightfully so, the details, they seem really excited about it. And that excites me. You know, when people I reasonably trust that have some inside info, you know, I'm respecting their boundaries, but I look for their excitement and their exuberance. If they're like, I just can't tell you anymore, then I'm like, all right, I'm kind of bummed out then. But if they're like, dude, it's going to be soon, but I can't say anything yet, I get excited. I get excited because they're excited and they know more than me. So it may not even happen. Nothing's official, but somebody's making this thing. So who is it? apparently the strong rumor is that this is a new company, which is exactly what we need in pinball, is a 75th company. But who could it be? So this is where I get into my speculation mode. I'm good at reading people, reading markets, market pressure, like what would make sense. Occam's Razor being a philosophy to live by, the most likely answer is probably the one. So we do know that there's this Dutch group, and we do know that the Netherlands is a pinball country, right? Dutch pinball is there. the Dutch Pinball Museum is there. These are people that really know pinball or are passionate about it and people that make great games and have some resources. They've gone through some stuff to get to where they are. So the fact that they're sticking around means something. So there's a group of Dutch folks, haven't met them,
    9:29
    but they were able to get the, what do you even call them, zombie relics? The versions of Magic Girl that exist, and they were able to go in there to that broken bunch of mashed potatoes of a code and put together something rudimentary that worked and get the mechanisms like 95%. So at least there's like sometimes a functional Magic Girl to flip and play. So I'm thinking that whoever those people are probably have a say in this. They're probably looking at Magic Girl, which is, if you've never played it, which is most of humanity, it's got some fatal flaws to it. there was some big ideas about mechanisms, magnets, levitating balls, and it just didn't quite work. And the effort required to pull it off is just way too much that anybody should ever invest in the project. So it probably will never happen in its final form as it should have been but I think a lot was gained in that process of bringing it up to code and bringing it into shows and dissecting this thing and getting into it and learning the architecture or whatever's involved in that. So I think, you know, while you're playing with Magic Girl in this big stacked plastic Shooter Lane birthday cake-looking strange thing in the middle of the play field, you're probably looking over at other assets that this guy was also involved in, and there's Alice in Wonderland, zombie yeti art, It looks like it has a much more conventional type layout, you know, ramps, plastic ramps, and other mechanisms that don't involve high-voltage ball levitations that don't work and things like that. So they're probably saying, you know what, let's take what we've learned with Magic Girl, let's apply it to Alice in Wonderland and turn that into something. And so that is what I think is happening. So if this is the Dutch group that's doing it, which makes the most sense to me, I'm sure they've got friends over there in that factory with Dutch Pinball. We know Dutch Pinball creates some pretty good quality out of their facility. They've got good cabinetry, good builds, good mechanisms, good imagination. They do get games out. So maybe like a partnership where this could actually be built at Dutch Pinball under the auspices of this new company associated with these dudes that may be associated with the Dutch Pinball Museum. I don't have all the pieces here. I've got pushpins on the wall and yarn at this point and my own imagination. But let's say that's happening. Now, it could be just as easy that David Fix and the group there at Ametron are throwing this thing together right now, put it in boxes, and they're going to do a reveal where they rip off the cabinet art of these Houdinis, and we find out, oh, they were Alice in Wonderland the whole time. Who knows? I don't know. I don't know. But let's see what happens. And if I'm right, that'd be something interesting. So I'm going to put that out there. We don't know, but we're probably going to find out soon. Like I'm hearing the next few weeks something might come out, like between now and the end of February. So let's put a hard stop in February. By the time we get there, I think we're going to have a whole lot more details about what's going on regards to this. So that's exciting. Is this a game you would want? I'm hearing numbers are going to be around 500, like not a huge build, you know, half of what Labyrinth is doing. which would put it on the rare spectrum. You know, Rick and Morty is only $750. America's Most Haunted only $150. So between there, which if this is a quality build built in low numbers, it may be marketed more to the collector's market, which might drive up the price of it. So it may be kind of a pricey, fun thing to have for the guy or gal that has everything already. So let's look for that as we go into the first and second quarter of this year. I think if we get an announcement soon, this game would be in production probably soon as well, and there may be one at the Texas Pinball Festival. That would all line up to me. I can see a through line where all this is reality, and let's see if that happens. I think that would be fun. How would you love to go to TPF and have Papa Duke's House in Wonderland, the Lost Relic, rehashed and brought forward? What else do we got? I'm reading off a text message here that I feverishly typed out this morning. So let's get to the Pedretti announcement. So when's that coming? Sometime in the next two weeks is what people are reporting. I don't have any details or know what they're doing. Other than Pedretti has got license from Planetary Pinball to build some Bally Williams games, but not the ones that are inked with Chicago Gaming Company, of which we don't know which ones those are either. And this could be anything from Twilight Zone to, I guess, Diner. But more likely than not, it's something fairly awesome. So what would be the best Bally Williams game to make? Adam's Family, Twilight Zone, of course. People throw those around. But what about something that also has a 2.0 kit that was made for it? Something like Tales of the Arabian Nights? Wasn't that a game that did a 2.0 kit? I kind of remember seeing something at my first TPF two years ago where they were selling or demoing something about a 2.0 kit for the Tales token, the Tales of the Arabian Nights. what a fantastic game that is too I mean of all the Bally Williams games Twilight Zone is loaded with mechanisms I get it, I get it, Adam's Family has that strong license, it plays reasonably okay, but Totan is just like the full experience when I rediscovered pinball as an adult it was through the pinball arcade on my Playstation and the free game that was included with that download was Tales of the Arabian Nights and so that really woke me up to what's been going on in pinball over the last 10-15 years when I didn't have a laser focus on it so that would be a great jumping off point just like a solid title people would love it if they could churn out quality and churn out numbers I think there's no way this doesn't print money and if you got the bonus of already have done updated code for it so you have the option of playing the OG game or the updated code game I mean guys I think that to me is the Occam's Razor I think that makes the most sense so I think sometime in the next two weeks we're going to see a Totan release so set your money aside if you want to go in and wear this. I don't have any official word or information. I have heard from some people that supposedly know, and they've told me nothing because they can't, and I respect that. And that allows me to be just as surprised when I see it. But it doesn't stop me from speculating, and that's what we do here. But I can see that making sense. Going all in on a Twilight Zone with whatever's involved in that license, with the wide body, adding extra complexity, plus a lot of the mechanisms and sculpts and things you would have to make, versus a Totan, which is a more modern game. Plus, they may already have some experience with the architecture. I don't see them doing Funhaus. I don't know that that would be a huge seller, even though they did Rudy's Nightmare. I don't know if dredging Whirlwind out would be a great idea right now, maybe down the road. But I think for the first game to really plant your flag and get a successful run and get non-refundable pre-orders, I think that's the game you make. So that's what I would do if I'm them. I'm not. I hardly speak any bit of Italian. But that's kind of where I would think of that. Let's move on down my text list here and see what else we got. All right, so this game called Jaws launched last week during Stern Shark Week, which was fun. So I was talking with our good friend in the industry, Colin from the Kineticist, and he did help me out with a couple of things. So my first take was, what are they doing? This limited edition trailer leaked early, and then that's all everybody was seeing, and we were waiting for Stern's official word. Meanwhile, it was kind of souring everybody because the images weren't the best quality. It might not have been the final build that was in that trailer. Get out in front of this and release the information now so we know. Because early on in the launch, and what we find out to be the case with the premium at least, if you wanted to get one of those first batches, you had to be on the phone with your distributor, with the deposit ready to go before anything was even officially revealed.
    17:27
    And so because of that, like, I wasn't just going to commit money to a game that I really hadn't even seen just the trailer come out officially. So, you know, by the time it did come around, I was like, hey, let me put my toe in the water and see if any premiums might be available. They weren't, right? And we're hearing that it's going to be June until they come out again. So I was like, why didn't they just get out right ahead of it and just be like, here's everything. Now, as we go on the week, we'll have gameplay videos. As we go on the week, we'll have backstory history featurettes and things. But here's all the assets. Here's the pictures of the game. Here's what the different translates look like. Pick your poison and go get a deposit right now. That's what I wanted to see. And so Colin was setting me straight saying the marketing idea from them was if we can slowly drip feed this throughout the week, we can keep this topic fresh in everybody's mind for a full week. And I think that's what they were looking at doing. So like every day something a little bit more of a nugget would drip out. A little bit of a drip of chum from the bucket. Got to be careful with that word.
    18:27
    You know, would keep us satiated and going and building all week. So we'd spend a whole week just talking and it would dominate the news cycle as it is. And that was probably the point. So thanks, Colin, for setting me straight on that. That's a perspective I did not consider.
    18:40
    That being said, you got to move quickly, though. When this thing, I mean, it was everywhere, you know. I heard Stern reached out to a couple of content people and asked them to pull the videos, but there's no putting that cat back in the barn, man. Once that was out, that was out. I think a pivot and just own it and let's get ahead of it or try to catch up would have been the play to make. But when you're a big, successful corporation like this, you can't always twist and pivot on a dime. You've got to meet with the committee, get approvals, and then follow the hierarchy and consider all the aspects and then make those decisions. And sometimes you're in a situation where there's not a right decision. There's just a most best decision or at least worst decision. And that takes some hemming and hawing back and forth among multiple parties to come to fruition. So that's probably what happened. Regardless, we are through it now. We got everything released. We got the pictures. We know what the translates look like. We know that the Pro and the LE have the same graphic on the translate. Of course, the LE will be the mirrored back glass version. and going for it, the Pro and the LE, that's the art of Jaws, redone by Michael Barnard. So you're getting, yes, it is the old movie poster, but completely remastered. So it's going to look awesome in person. The art on the side of the LE cabinet, it's got that shinner, shimmer in that shine. So the thing is going to sparkle when you see it. I think they'll probably have some faint glitter in that powder coat, that white powder coat. So I think it's going to look much more boss than it looks, or at least what we saw a glimpse of in that live stream, which will go down in history as one of Elwin's moments of his life. So let me set the scene, right? So I had just settled in. I'm coming up on 8 p.m. Central Time, and I've got my popcorn ready. I'm like, okay, we're going to see a live stream gameplay of Jaws. We're going to see the modes, see the shots. We're going to see how that right outling ball save works. I can't wait. I'm going to see what the shark does. where's this big moment that we're going to build to Elwin's playing it so we're going to see the modes completion of the modes, the match screen all of it, we're going to see all of it and we get into the end of that first ball which took him 10-12 minutes and then it was like alright well that Jaws see you later and just stream end just to black What was going on Now it hard to be a top pinball player and a top broadcaster simultaneously Focus on the ball, make your shots, but also stay entertaining and live. That's why these group sessions work so well. When you have somebody like Josh Sharp or something talking about the game of Pulp Fiction while people are playing it, So you've got good players playing and good players talking about it so they can focus on one thing at a time. And it comes across as much more compelling like the Pulp Fiction livestream was. Or even the Venom livestream at San Diego Comic Con with the whole Deadflip crew and the Stern crew, Jack Danger, JD to his friends, who's out there being a generally entertaining guy as he is, plus also good players playing. and it was a mix of pro-level players, streamer-level players, and then average people too. So you're like, okay, I'm getting a sense of what this game is. Now I'm starting to imagine what this game is like if it's in my game room. Does it make a good fit for me based on that? And that helps you make that financial decision, whether it's for your location, your bar, your home, your grandma's house, or your Airbnb, whatever you want to do with it. Maybe get a GoFundMe and throw it off Todd Tucky's roof. You do you, Boo. Don't let me tell you where to go.
    22:13
    You know, but that's what was missing. So it was so weird seeing 15 minutes of here's some great gameplay, here's some of the modes, and then there it goes. And I will say this, and I coined this phrase with, well, I didn't coin it, but I did bring it up on Genghis' collaboration video that we did on YouTube today, and that's the phrase, It's a portmanteau of anticipation and disappointment. Now, it's not that Jaws is a bad game. I think Jaws is a great game. It's just, it's not as great as I had led myself to be believing that it would be. Case in point, pretty early on in the stream, we see the shark come up underneath the Sopranos boat in the middle of the playfield. And it's like, here it is. The shark has busted through the playfield. This is what you want to pay that premium money for? To have this moment of this monster erupting from the depths. and then one ball went into him and then he just shrunk right back underneath like nothing had happened. Like Shark was just like, it was Peek-A-Boo Shark, right? Shark's playing Peek-A-Boo. Pops up, hey guys, what's going on? Oh, we're done? Okay, bye. And like when I saw that, I was like, it was like the moment that my enthusiasm, which was just sky high at the beginning of the stream, just went down the maelstrom whirlpool, man. Just faded away with that shark. That was it. That was the big moment of the game. And maybe it's not. Maybe, you know, he comes back three times, and the third time is when the red lights flash, the curtain goes up, and churning and burning, we yearn for the cup. Like maybe that's what's coming later, but we only got the first ball, and then it was gone. You know, we certainly did learn that the Jaws crew likes Old Spice and Chum, because we saw that video several times. Shout out to Kerry Hardy. Thank you for the work that you do. That was hilarious.
    24:01
    You know, just good-natured rib poking. You know, don't be mad at me, Stern. Don't come at me. But this idea, like this was Jaws. This was the chosen one that was coming. This was the follow-up to Godzilla, the full cornerstone. You know, it's Elwynn, man. They're going to give him an unlimited build of materials. He's going to be able to put things in there that we don't see in other games. Venom's just a placeholder, man. Wait until we get to Jaws. Jaws is coming. It's going to be Elwynn. It's his triumphant return from Godzilla, man. And so, like, it's probably unreasonable to expect any game to live up to that level of intense hype. so there was so much anticipation going into it and then when you see the peekaboo shark it's like how can you not just be disappointed in that because you're expecting I don't know ball gobbling or flames coming out of his mouth or his throat lighting and strobing and music and haunting sounds and excitement and it's just kind of like here it is there it goes and so that just because that was a let down to what I had led myself to expect I suffered a case of disappointment with Jaws. And again, not that it's a bad game. The shots look fun. I want to see more about that wave ramp because that's really got a function. It's going to put people right off. You know, there's always the discussion on should I get a pro, should I get a premium? This is an Elwynn game, man. For home, premium's what you want. That's how you get the building that destroys. That's how you get the full-sculpt Mechagodzilla that grabs a ball in his belly. That's how you get the ramp that turns 90 degrees. Like, all the cool stuff is in the premium. And here, like, one of the coolest aspects of getting this premium version is the shark. And the shark peekaboos up and down out of the play field. And it's like, that's it? That is not worth it, man. Not when you can have that big shark from the pro just always there in your face and go ahead and you still smash him. Like, if all the shark does is pop up for one shot and go back down, then you might as well just have the boat there and not even have it, you know? Like, am I wrong? Email me. DonSpinballPodcastGmail.com. Tell me how wrong I am. Tell me how I'm missing this. But then without the shark being very impressive You're left with that epic upper play field Of the orca, it's got some cool shots in it The horizontal spinner You can access three different ball paths From that exit It doesn't look like it slows the ball down that much With that little zig zag that it goes into it So it looks like fun man But is it $3,000 of fun Given how lackluster the shark is Ah, that's hard to say You know, there's a lot of pluses To getting the pro, since you don't have that upper play field in a way you can get that vista out to the back of the game field where you can see the other half of Amity Harbor. I do really like that. I think Michael did a great job on that. And you just can't see it with the Orca because half the back plate of the play field is missing because the boat is sticking out there with that ramp. So I don't know, man.
    26:48
    Gonzo from Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama made a very good point that the premium versions when it comes to Stern is the full featured game. It has everything in there that was designed to be in there for the game, and the pro has things that are stripped away. So if you're going to own the game, if you get the premium, you get the game the way that the designer was intending it to be before things had to then be pulled away. And I think there's truth to that.
    27:12
    And so, like, that's what I would want. But at this point, Shark is just going to make me angry every time I see it because I'm going to want to hit it. I'm going to want to interact with it. And I want it to shake or die or do something. And it's just, you know, it's time to go back to bed.
    27:27
    Tired Shark. You know, I mean, look at the Demogorgon from Stranger Things, man. The screen pops down, turns into a ramp, launch balls up there. You can smash into him. You can roll over and break the opto. Or you can put the ball straight down the gullet and kill him immediately. And it's like he shakes and screams. And it's like a thing. It's like a moment. And nothing. I was expecting the shark to have a squeak like a dog toy when you hit it. Like that's it.
    27:54
    I don't know, man. So that was the gist of what I was thinking about, Jaws. Here's the practical parts of it. If you want a pro, you can go get a pro. If you want an LE, you may still be able to find one here or there. If you want a pro, those are mostly gone now due to part concerns. I don't know what part it's going to be. It's going to be something that's in common with the premium and the LE. So an upper play field part, something related to the shark mechanism. It needs to come from China. It's in short supply that they couldn't just go ahead and do 1,000 premiums right now. I think they're only doing a couple of hundred, you know, with more to come in June. Now, that may just be a buffer so that they know by June they'll definitely have the parts to do a full run. We might see a run pop up in March, for all I know. But for right now, if you wanted a premium, you had to know that you wanted it before you even knew anything about the game, which is frustrating. Because, you know, once I saw it and I was like, yeah, I do think I want to take a crack at this. I love how that shark looks. I like how it looked in the video. I'm benefiting of the doubt that the code's going to be there when it comes out. So I was looking at finally getting one, but then they were gone, and I'm being told June. And for me, when I'm thinking June, am I going to want January's game in June, when the next Stern Cornerstone is going to be out in June, when Alice in Wonderland is going to be released, when Totem or whatever Pedretti is doing, when Labyrinth is sitting downstairs, when Pulp Fiction might be finally leaving the factory,
    29:17
    when who knows what other games will pop up between now and then. That's a hard decision to be in, and that's where I'm at. Now, this is all very first world problem because, you know, I still have pinball machines to play, and that's fantastic. So I can't be mad, but it's just like that was part of it. And it was also a joke, too. When they showed the recording session with Richard Dreyfuss, that was fantastic that they got him. He came in. He was doing recordings of the call-outs. But I don't know if it – I can't tell if they were trolling or if it was really just this matter of fact that this poor guy was just sitting there just reading off a sheet, you know, jackpot, super jackpot. You know, super double jackpot, ball save, shark fin attack, drop target attack. Like, you're just going through it, you know. It seems like he was just doing, like, warm up your voice, read through it once, and then let's do the one with, like, emotion, you know, because when I think call-outs, I'm thinking, you know, like the Foo Fighter New Orleans call-outs. I'm thinking, like, Medieval Madness call-outs. Double super jackpot! Like, that's what you want to hear. You know, if you're doing well on the pinball machine, you want the machine to tell you. John Kritzow from NBA Jam fame He did the call outs for Elvira's House of Horrors man Jackpot all those different voices and everything It's all him and it's like They're all great they're all different He's playing different characters So I like that they got the dry guy To come in and record But if that's what they got Then I think finding a voice actor Who can do a similar facsimile And just punch it up a bit Would go a long way Now, the good news is all this can be fixed in code. Audio files can be updated. Lighting can be updated. Music can be updated. The interaction of the mechanisms and the coordination and the synchronization with all these can be updated later. So what we have is not what we're going to land on. But the shots are the shots. And I'm worried about the wave ramp. Okay, that's the way to access the upper play field, a full 180 to the top of that play field. And it's not short. and it looks to be at least as tall as the Venom 180 ramp from the premium And that rejects sometimes even with what seems to be a clear shot right into it So the fact that you got to rip up this lane do a full 90 turn and then still navigate the half moon ramp, you know, if it's a solid orbit-type shot, you can carry that velocity, no problem.
    31:39
    You can, but can you? You know, I don't have a sense on how wide that lane is to open, you know, to get in there, how clean of a shot that needs to be. But I did see Elwin brick it a couple times in a row, and he's, like, amazing, and I'm, like, exceedingly average. So if I go in on a premium and I've got a peekaboo shark that's not very compelling and I've got an upper play field that I can't even get to, you know, one out of five times or something, that's going to really put a huge wet towel on the whole game, and I hope that's not the case. We won't know until we get some regular people playing this game. So I've extended my hat to the good people at Stern. I'm commenting on their Facebook pages and stuff like, hey, Jack Dages is going to be there. It sure would be terrible if you guys invited me there too to get the average man's perspective. And I think there's some utility to that, to seeing what a good player can do with your game and then what an exceedingly average player can be like so it can help folks relate. by far most people are not really above average at playing pinball that own games at home and that's okay because we all have a lot of fun with them. I can put up big scores too, I just may have to change the game to five balls instead of three in order to still have that same level of enjoyment still get that same level of code progression and mode progression into the game and I don't think that that's a bad thing it's like a handicap it levels the playing field a bit like when you used to play with your kid's sister in Mortal Kombat and you would set your life bar to only half of a full one, and she got a full one, and then that way you weren't totally just trashing a 7-year-old. She had a shot to kick your butt by button mashing or what have you. So it's kind of like an equalizer there, and I think that's okay to do. I know the purist in me wants to keep it straight stock, leave the outposts up, three balls, and we're just going to be brutal. But then you find you're not seeing as much of the game as you could, and you're not getting as much of enjoyment out of the thing you bought that you otherwise could. So I've gone on certain games and for certain periods of time, especially when I'm learning them, to go ahead and set the balls high. Shoot, put Godzilla on ten balls and just have fun with it and see how many monsters you can destroy. You'll see modes that you never get to on a three-ball game. And sure, the tournament people will look at you sideways, but they're in a different reality than we are. And so to them, that's absurd. But, you know, to us, the way they play is amazing and completely out of our grasp. So I think it's okay to do that. rambling on a bit here, man. It's been a week. So that's Jaws. I think the premium looked fine, but I've got some caveats with it. I think the LE looks amazing. I think it's going to shine when you see it in person. Venom LE does that too. It looks like a great game. It doesn't have the gameplay that suits everybody, and I think the secondary market is showing that. What's the secondary market on Jaws LE going to be? I think it's going to maintain a pretty high quality. You get that shooter rod. You get the armor. You get that powder coat. You get the expression. What do they call them? Backbox lights? They have another name for it. Expression spotlights. Anyway, the colors of the speaker lights, the speaker grill lights, interact with the game, much like the expression lights do on the music pins. I love that. I wish that was available as a kit from Stern. Maybe we'll see that down the road. I would like to see them offer that shooter rod. I like that they're launching a game. There's already at least one of the accessories ready to go. Maybe the speaker lights will be another accessory available to other trim levels. I think that would be a definite win.
    35:14
    And I think if the topper comes out in the next three to six months, I think win all around. And then let's look forward to the next turn cornerstone. So I still would be interested in Jaws at some point. I really can't wait to go play it.
    35:26
    And I think the way things are going, pros are going to start getting on location fairly quickly. And so we'll all be able to do that. And I think that would be exciting. If you want to get yourself a pro, go ahead and email Jeff at madpinball.com. He's got spots available. He's hitting me up. He's like, I know I couldn't get a premium for you. And part of that is because I wasn't ready to commit at the time that he had them. So no problems there. But he's like, if you want pros, I got them. So that's his email address. Tell him I said, what's up, dude? He's good for pinball. He loves pinball as much as I do. And he's not the worst looking guy ever. So do yourself a favor and give him a holler. Give him a holler. What else do we got? We got some pinball podcast news from Don. I have been busy in the mod chamber cranking out some stuff. Now, much like a musician when he starts his career, he or she, plays cover bands, songs, right? You know, shows up to the bar and plays songs people already know. You know, just to get out there and get practice and kind of level up performing. And then as time goes on, you refine your own craft and then go off on your own. So I'm at the stage where I'm finding, you know, 3D models. I'm learning the modeling program. I'm trying to kind of reverse engineer how people ended up where they did and learn some of that process. So I'm standing on the shoulders of the giants that preceded me, and I'm coming up with some modifications as a starting point and then turning them kind of into my own, and I'm offering up my experiments that I'm doing here at home to the community at low prices. So check out my Pinside store. It's Pindon, P-I-N-D-O-N. I've got some VODs for Elvira's House of Horrors up there. My Rush mod is being sold exclusively through the Games People. You can find that on Cointaker. And this is the Rush Drumsticks mod that I kind of also saw what was out there, came up with my own simplified version of it, and put it out there. Learned a lot. I've got a new mod coming out hopefully this Friday, definitely this weekend. So bookmark that site, check it out. Follow the Facebook page for Don's Pinball Podcast because it will go up there as soon as it's public. And I think it may be soon. I'm just waiting for a few more resources to finish building up my supply because if this thing takes off like I think it will, especially at the price point that I'm offering it, I'm going to be stuffing a lot of bubble envelope mailers and sending them out. And I think people are really going to appreciate this. You know, those people on Patreon have already seen it. Some of the people on my higher level of Patreon have already received it and are really getting it and giving me good feedback. And the early feedback is that this thing kicks serious butt, and I'm overjoyed with how it came out. So I can't wait to reveal that later. Um, but, but that is coming this weekend. Follow the Facebook page. You'll see it first. Um, and then I should, by that point, have enough of them built up that if you order it, it could ship same day. Uh, so that will be fun and exciting. Did I have anything else? Um, whoa, I just got out of, uh, where I was supposed to be at. There we go back in here. And, uh, there we go. Patreon bonus offers, right? So I started a Patreon, um, earlier in the year, uh, just as a virtual tip jar, you know, uh, I was getting a lot of feedback from people. They, they really liked what I was doing. They like the content. They like the frequency that I come out with. You know, something you can listen to in the car, something you can walk the dog and listen to, mow the lawn, plow the back nine, add your own euphemism. And they were like, you know, can we just kick you a couple of dollars or a couple of stars or anything? And starting out on Facebook and with Facebook Lives, you can't collect stars yet until you build up to a certain level, like 1,000 followers, which I'm now 20 people away from. By the way, please follow. I'm almost there.
    38:53
    So I was like, here, let me throw my hat down. Just throw five bucks in there. buy me a couple games of Godfather and Root Beer. That's what that was for, and people joined it. And then we built it, and we have a Discord now, so we interact more on there. People were asking for more benefits, more higher tiers, so I added two more levels. I added a producer level at $20 a month that gets you into the exclusive Discord and allows you to have a tangible voice in how the podcast develops. When it comes to mods that are being released, prices that are going to be released, that's all in there. My Patreon members get 20% off in the web store for mods. That's new, that's coming out. I'm also making those Stern backer plates, those little 3D printed plates. They go behind your Pro Premium and LE badge on your game. If you're a Patreon member, not only do you get free stickers whenever you want them, but you also get some of them too if you want them. And so I've already had people happily reaching out for those. I'm printing them like crazy and mailing them out. Happy to do it. One of those will fit in a standard envelope. It's under an ounce. I can send it out with a stamp, and it's fun for me. So I'm just trying to think of what I can do to give back to the people that are investing in me and happily pulling off a couple of greenbacks and saying, like, I like what you do, and I want to encourage you because I want you to keep it going. So that's what fuels me. That's what keeps that going. So I want to share that with you guys. I have more ideas for things to do. The Patreon members get in on the bi-monthly giveaway. Last month we gave away a Godzilla banner, an official Godzilla banner from Stern that went out to a lucky drawing that we had. If you're a Patreon member, you get an entry into that drawing every two months for something cool, like a translator, a banner, or something awesome. The more stuff I get, the more I'm able to give away. If you're at the higher levels, the $10 level and up, you get two entries every two months. So double your chances right there. five extra dollars a month and you're you're you you increase your chances by 100 percent over where you were before and winning some really cool stuff so that's fun i'm always coming up with new ideas i've got a panel of producers now and we're brainstorming cool things to do uh we have a booth coming up hopefully hopefully a tpf it's almost finalized it's almost there but then uh that'll allow me to do even more fun stuff and a place to do my giveaways and raffles and uh you I'll bring out my discount mods and everything for everybody and slap babies and kiss grandmas and all those other things that I love to do that I would probably be doing anyway. But we could all do it together at the same spot. What else do we got for you guys today? I think that may be about it.
    41:25
    Please always email at Don's Pinball Podcast at gmail.com. It's a great way to get a hold of me. Also, the Facebook page. Dude, follow it. 20 away from 1,000. We're almost there. I get a whole ton of analytics that open up, even more ways to interact. It's going to be great, man. We're going to build this whole online community and keep kicking butt. Shout out to everybody else out there that's making something fun for somebody else. Anyone else, it's just, you know, peace it in life. Later.