DPP #23 "Godfather initial impressions!!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·13m 51s·analyzed·Mar 7, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Don's first take: Godfather CE is beautifully designed but too expensive; LE feels gutted.

Summary

Don provides immediate first impressions of Jersey Jack Pinball's Godfather 50th Anniversary Edition video and images released on announcement day. He praises the ornate design, mechanical detail, and thematic integration while critiquing the $15,000 collector's edition price point as unjustifiable in a crowded market, despite finding the machine design itself 'dope AF.' He contrasts it unfavorably against Toy Story CE pricing and notes the Limited Edition appears too stripped down at $12,000.

Key Claims

Godfather CE costs $15,000 and LE costs $12,000
high confidence · Directly stated pricing for both editions based on announcement video
Jersey Jack adds glitter to paint on Collector's Edition, seen on Guns N' Roses and Toy Story
high confidence · Don observed glitter in CE across multiple JJP games; confirmed pattern
Godfather features an unusual horseshoe/guillotine-like sheet metal drop target mechanism not commonly seen before
medium confidence · Don describes seeing this at 54-55 seconds in announcement video; notes he hasn't seen this mechanism before
Toy Story CE came with fewer playfield details than Godfather CE, making Godfather better value cosmetically despite same price
medium confidence · Don's comparative observation of announcement videos; subjective assessment
Toy Story prices have depreciated significantly since release (less than a year)
medium confidence · Don states Toy Story 'come down considerably in price' and dropped 'thousands off' in under a year
Godfather has LED underlighting added as an aftermarket-quality feature from the factory
medium confidence · Don notes LED lighting strip visible in opening shot, describes it as 'nice aftermarket pieces to the game out the box'
Godfather includes detailed mechanisms like spinners, standing targets, and a fountain with LEDs that would typically appear as aftermarket mods
high confidence · Don systematically describes mechanisms throughout the playfield and notes design attention to detail
Don would purchase Godfather CE at $11.5k cash from a distributor but not at $15k MSRP
high confidence · Explicit pricing threshold stated: 'if i could get this for 11.5 cash payment out the back door from a distro in a dusty warehouse i think i'd go on it but right now at 15 i'm not feeling it'

Notable Quotes

“Can you imagine having spent $15,000 for a Toy Story Collector's Edition and what you got in that play field, and then watching this video right now and seeing a game for the same price ornately decorated to the hilt?”
Don @ ~0:45 — Establishes the core value critique: Godfather CE offers significantly more ornate design/features than Toy Story CE at identical price
“I've already heard comparisons to Trump Tower, and I get it. I get it. Look at these gold rails.”
Don @ ~1:00 — Captures early community aesthetic criticism of the ostentatious design; validates 'taste notwithstanding' concession
“This thing looks like if it shoots up quickly it could sever your freaking finger. Maybe that part of the brutality of this theme.”
Don @ ~5:30 — Humorous but serious observation about the guillotine-like sheet metal mechanism; notes potential theme integration of danger
“I'm feeling this game from a design perspective, fam, this looks dope AF. And I I'm serious. Like, you know, if I could win over myself a raffle, I would proudly display this in my house.”
Don @ ~12:00 — Clear separation of design quality appreciation from purchasing decision; emotional vs financial reasoning
“if this didn't have the Godfather logo on it and just said, you know, Kingpin 2023, I mean, I think I'd still be feeling it.”
Don @ ~12:30 — Suggests the core gameplay/design appeal is IP-agnostic; license is additive polish rather than foundational
“If the market wasn't so crowded, I think, you know, uh, there'd be a lot more justification for it. But for right now with how crowded this market is and, and you know, deposits people already have in, I don't know...”
Don @ ~11:45 — Identifies market saturation as key factor suppressing his purchase intent despite liking the game
“at 15 i'm not feeling it and uh the bare bones version here the limited edition looks far too stripped down to support that 12 000 price”
Don — Establishes hard price ceiling for both editions; LE perceived as insufficient value at $12k

Entities

Jersey Jack PinballcompanyGodfather 50th Anniversary EditiongameToy Storygame Guns N' Rosesgame Donperson EricpersonStern Pinballcompany

Signals

?
community_signal: Jersey Jack released Godfather announcement video with sufficient thematic and mechanical detail to sustain 15+ minute detailed analysis; community reaction tracking beginning immediately on announcement day
high · Don's real-time frame-by-frame analysis of announcement video; timestamps and mechanism details extracted from official video; 'We were all sitting there hitting F5'
?
competitive_signal: Godfather CE priced identically to Toy Story CE ($15K), but with substantially more ornate playfield design. Positions as premium value alternative if market accepts pricing
high · Don's opening comparative analysis: 'Can you imagine having spent $15,000 for a Toy Story Collector's Edition... and then watching this video right now and seeing a game for the same price ornately decorated to the hilt?'
?
design_philosophy: Limited Edition lacks sufficient feature differentiation to justify $12K price; aftermarket upgrade path inadequate compared to typical mid-tier Stern games
high · Don: 'the bare bones version here the limited edition looks far too stripped down... I'd have to add the art blades. I wouldn't get those shin bumpers... I just don't think there's any way to do it'
?
design_philosophy: Godfather demonstrates Jersey Jack design philosophy of packing maximum mechanical detail and aftermarket-quality features into factory build (fountains, LED underlighting, intricate mechanisms)
high · Don: 'This game looks like it already has some mods in it' and 'If that didn't come with this game, I would buy this if this was an add-on' regarding fountain
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Topics

Godfather pricing and value propositionprimaryCollector's Edition vs Limited Edition feature differentiationprimaryPlayfield design detail and mechanical complexityprimaryOrnate aesthetic and ostentatious design criticismprimaryToy Story CE as pricing and feature comparison pointsecondaryJersey Jack design philosophy and aftermarket-quality featuressecondaryGlitter paint application on limited editionssecondaryMarket saturation and crowded pinball release calendarsecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.62)— Don strongly appreciates the machine's design quality, mechanical detail, and aesthetic appeal ('dope AF'), but is conflicted by perceived excessive pricing ($15K MSRP) relative to market conditions and purchasing power. He separates emotional/aesthetic satisfaction from rational financial decision-making. Frustration with pricing is genuine, not hostile—directed at value proposition, not design quality.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.042

Are you guys watching the internet right now? We just had Jersey Jack's video and images from the Godfather 50th Anniversary Edition released! It's noon! It happened! Took a little bit. We were all sitting there hitting F5 and everything, but I've got some initial impressions and I thought, you know what? Let me share them with people. I just saw this. I mean, it's 10 minutes after noon. Let's get to the video review now. Are you guys ready? Are you hyped for this? Has anybody put in a deposit yet? I'm hesitant to wonder, but let's get at it. Let me hit you with a quick hot take. Can you imagine having spent $15,000 for a Toy Story Collector's Edition and what you got in that play field, and then watching this video right now and seeing a game for the same price ornately decorated to the hilt? All right, taste notwithstanding, it's a bit ostentatious. I will absolutely give you that. I've already heard comparisons to Trump Tower, and I get it. I get it. Look at these gold rails. I just want to go through the video real quick and just give my first impressions of this game. So I hit the video. The first thing I did was see the images on Naps Arcade, so I kind of saw the mechanisms and everything. But just watching how they did this video, man, this thing is striking. And you've got to have the collector's edition of this version. I mean, I don't see a reason to even go for that limited. Yeah, you'll get the gameplay. But, dude, did John Youssi these gold ornate appliques to the front legs? I don't even, I'm not even mad about the horse head shooter rod anymore, man. This thing is tight. So, you know, watching this dude schlep up to the machine, after watching it a couple times, I've noticed there's under lighting now. There's an LED lighting strip with this low angle that shows it. I only see it in the opening shot where he's walking up to the machine. But dang, Jersey Jack, adding some nice aftermarket pieces to the game out the box. man and it just it continues from there um like i'm down with that side armor i like that gold i was afraid they were going to reuse the same kind of red uh ce trim level that they did from uh toy story and then they used on the le for the guns and roses i'm glad i didn't see that there is the red shooter played for the horse head shooter but the rest of it is gold that's good you know i'm gonna make an offer he can't refuse etched into the side rails and then these these men these ornate shin bumpers i'm gonna call them on the front man can you imagine having a couple drinks and walking too close to this machine and snacking your shin right up against those. Fire. What I'm not seeing, though, is any kind of button protection on this armor. Like, it doesn't come down like a lollipop or like those slanted ones that came with Godzilla Ellie. So maybe you'll have to throw some Mylar on there so you don't scuff the sides. But I wonder, you know, giving that opening shot, if it's going to have that kind of foil highlight that Stern's been doing. So I like that. I would have liked some button protection. But other than that, man, this thing is sweet. It's got another applique on the embellishment on the lock bar there, too. The thing is solid gold. Back again are the hot rails on either side. There's some LED lighting strip against the back, too. And, oh, did you look at the back left of the play field? There's a little Statue of Liberty tucked back there. You can barely see it, but it's in there. That's awesome. I'm just going to go through the video. And starting from the back, you got that New York City skyline back there. gangster mech guy with the gun with the red LED tip on there as he's shooting and firing. Underneath him looks like there actually a spinning disc that the ball enters almost like the centrifuge from CSI It looks like there some stand targets back there They did not cheap out on this build of materials when it comes to the little mechanisms the flippers the spinners the stand targets spinning discs and things that are hidden back there. I wouldn't expect to see this on the Stern, given their releases lately, as packed as this is. This looks like somebody went through meticulously and really said, you know what, what can I put in here, what can I put in here? there's things in here that if they were removed most people probably wouldn't notice but i think the fact that they are there really speaks to how interested this designer was in packing this with as much as they could um there's not a giant bash mech uh but man there's ramps and shots galore right and look at these i can't get over the gold chrome wire forms that come down uh starting with that one on the left it looks like um there may be another way to enter it otherwise it looks like It comes up from a Vuck behind Don Corleone there. And then coming down the left side, it looks like there's a mechanism to lock balls on that wire form ramp, similar to how Toy Story was. So I'm feeling that. I love this long, gosh, what was that pirate game, Black Rose, that had that long two-wire wire form that comes all the way down from the top of the play field. This thing looks like it's booking by the time it gets to the bottom, but then watching the balls drop out, they don't seem like they fire back up the in lane, so that's nice. um what else is on the right side here uh just more shots to take more avenues to explore and some spinners i'm seeing at least two spinners here for the main shots the one in the extreme left and the one just to the right of the gordo with the gun um coming down as far as mechanisms look at this look at this beautiful fountain that they put on top of the pop bumper the pop bumpers in the same place as you know the ufo and godzilla um that spot works it's not as punishing is Rick and Morty's, which is down at the infield there. But I like the subtle LEDs there of the fountain and the water coming through. This is what I would expect from actually an aftermarket add-on part. This game looks like it already has some mods in it. There's still some space up there in the back right where it looks like they have a plastic cover to prevent air balls where you could bolt some things on. And heck, Diddy probably already has a mock-up by now. It's been like 20 minutes since this game was released. um uh interesting mechanism later in the game too i think this is uh let me let me scroll through and see where it is um because i was watching this for a little bit um let's see there's a waterfall okay so at uh 54 seconds in 55 seconds uh there's this cool little um kind of horseshoe mech setup and this is unusual i haven't seen this before uh basically it looks like a small little horseshoe shot that you can shoot a ball and then it gets stuck back there kind of like how Ghostbusters balls, the four on the right or left would, as you hit them, they kind of Newton ball themselves up around the corner. This time it looks like you can shoot a ball in there and it probably gets stuck behind the standup target, which doesn't move, but appears to have a little trigger behind there to knock the ball back around. And then this little, instead of a drop target, it's like just a piece of sheet metal shoots up there to protect this lane from any further balls going in. And if your ball is resting against there, you can then Newton ball that guy up and around, probably to score points over that behind that drop tar or stand up target and then you get the stand up target on the other side when you go to 54 55 seconds in the video you can see what I'm talking about and actually show a ball hitting this other one this metal You know sheet metal drop target thing man looks that thing looks like a guillotine if you playing around with the play field I be careful and make sure you shut the power off because this thing looks like if it shoots up quickly it could sever your freaking finger Maybe that part of the brutality of this theme that theme integration Don't touch me or I'll cut your finger off. Like if you owe the machine money or something. I'm looking at that spinning mech. Man, that disc that's underneath the big gordo with the gun there seems like it's spinning fairly quickly. It looks like there's some stand-up targets behind there. I'm feeling that. It looks like he functions as a little bash target too. The LEDs are going nuts as the ball is smashing against it. It looks like there might be a bearing on the bottom too just to help the ball get around or maybe just a little metal buffer. The detail on this fountain here, I'm 54 seconds in just before it goes to that horseshoe shot. I'm loving this fountain with the horse heads and then the cascading water and the LEDs glowing in there. If that didn't come with this game, I would buy this if this was an add-on. What else do we have we can hot take here? Um, pretty. So the glitter in the play field is probably only on the collector's edition. Jersey Jack tends to do that with their highest trim levels. They put actually some glitter in the paint. I've seen them in person with Guns N' Roses, with Toy Story, and I do appreciate that glitter, man. Typically, I'm not a glitter sparkly guy, but in this case, I like it. I like that gold sparkle they have. I wonder if it carries through the play field. I don't really see it anywhere else. so um i think this game is pretty to the point of being a little ostentatious i would say um and maybe that plays in you know more with the theme because you walk up this thing you're like okay this machine clearly wants to be noticed in the arcade i mean this would stand out on a lineup um coming to the topper this topper looks like a much better effort than what was on toy story there's actually some moving guys up there um gangsta dudes on either side of a car and if you look in the video i'm at one minute four seconds in uh there's some smoke emanating behind the car and there's also smoke you know on set well location where they're filming this so that was probably a piped in effect i don't know if we'd actually have a little smoke machine and canister up there but that would be fire i don't think anybody's done that so far um i like the 3d sculpts on the boxes and the barrels um there's a stack of dynamite there there's some liquor bottles there's the two guys which have at least two points of motion up and down with their guns and also side to side the uh the car vehicle itself with working headlights looks like a 3d model i love the backdrop and then there's plastic uh uh stand-ups on the sides of the guys there so that looks cool this looks like something from the great movie ride um back at disney mgm studios back in the day and wouldn't you notice a real quick clip here and they put this in um at one minute three there's a close-up of the inside of the box showing the knocker firing i think just to communicate that this game actually comes with a knocker um now there's a uh a breakdown of you what's available between the two machines. It's on nap arcade. Um, I'm going to go back and read through all that to see what all the differences are, but, um, going to the end of the video where John Youssi the limited edition and the collector's edition side by side. I mean, how do you not go for a CE if you're going to go for this at all? Um, you got the shin scrapers, um, the, the volume knobs are there on both of them. Um, yeah, shooter knobs different. They reused a red, uh, strike plate for the shooter rod on the collector's edition. Uh, they also have red hinges too, but then they use the gold armor i'm feeling the gold armor um would it look better with the gold strike plate perhaps i don know uh but you get the interior art blades on the collectors you get that topper i don want to play this game without the topper It like Cactus Canyon and I already heard comparisons to that too This is Godfather and Cactus Canyon made it together for sure with that topper because it got the same feel But, yeah, I'm feeling it. This looks like a cool machine I'd be happy to have in my house, with the only thing holding it up being that price. That is the value discussion to be had. Is this thing worth $15,000? that no for me no i'm not i'm not firing out and uh uh looking to get this um uh off the line right now i'm not putting my run on refundable deposit in for this game at that price um i for sure wasn't doing it with toy story once toy story was revealed now toy stories come down considerably in price so if you had your heart set on a toy story and you waited about it hasn't even been a year i don't think um yeah you go now and pick one of those up for thousands off this game um i think you're going to run to the same issue with that high price being a barrier but i don't know if this thing will see the depreciation i guess we'll just have to wait and see um you know if this thing were to come down you know if i could get this for 11.5 cash payment out the back door from a distro in a dusty warehouse i think i'd go on it but right now at 15 i'm not feeling it and uh the bare bones version here the limited edition looks far too stripped down to support that 12 000 price i'd pay 12 for the collectors i don't think i'd pay it for the limited. I'd have to add the art blades. I wouldn't get those shin bumpers. Um, I'd have to redo the whole, I just don't think it's salvageable here. You know, a lot of stern games. If you get the mid tier, you can go ahead and buy the aftermarket parts, get the powder coat and come up to that level. Uh, I don't just don't think there's any way to do it. You got to go CE or not. So, and you know, if you got the cash, you know, would you go on this? If the market wasn't so crowded, I think, you know, uh, there'd be a lot more justification for it. But for right now with how crowded this market is and, and you know, deposits people already have in, I don't know, but I'm feeling the machine from a design perspective, fam, this looks dope AF. And I I'm serious. Like, you know, if I could win over myself a raffle, I would proudly display this in my house. Cause it looks, it looks awesome. I'm really excited about what they did with this design, whether it's thematically ties into the movie or not. I don't know if you can look at the theme integration from that perspective, because the movie's really slow and plodding and drama. And this looks like fat shots and gangsters. It looks like a good gangster pinball machine for sure. And then has that added polish of having a license on it. I think that's what we're looking at here. And yeah, this looks like, you know, if this didn't have the Godfather logo on it and just said, you know, Kingpin 2023, I mean, I think I'd still be feeling it. But I do like how the theme integrated with how you get to pick the family and such. I'm looking forward for more gameplay. When this goes on location, I'm going to rush out and try to play it so I can give my review to all of you. That's just some hot takes from drop day. I mean, I've known this game for like 20 minutes now, so I just wanted to give you my first impressions. I'm going to review the shots and go through the schematic metric of the differences, but that's what I got, yo. Whoa, what was that? That's what I wanted. Anyway, those are my thoughts from Godfather Pinball. Well done, Eric, man. This thing looks great. Why don't you bring one over to my house, man? and we'll play it around for a little bit. I'm not that far from Chicago, man. I'm a Wisconsin boy. Bring one up. We'll play it. We'll live stream it. We'll have some drinks. What do you say? Can you refuse that offer, sir? Is that the offer you can't refuse? I want to get my hand in that horse head now. Yo. All right.