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Three-quarter scale shock!

BlahCade Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·45m 1s·analyzed·Nov 21, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Zen physics improved, Williams app issues persist, ToyShock launches unlicensed 3/4-scale digital cabinet.

Summary

BlahCade hosts Chris Friebus and Jared Morgan discuss recent pinball digital developments, including Zen Pinball FX3's improved Universal Monsters physics pack and plans to backport those physics to earlier volumes, Williams mobile app engagement issues and upcoming table releases, and a surprising announcement of a three-quarter scale digital pinball cabinet called 'Gottlieb Digital Pinball' manufactured by ToyShock and sold through Walmart using what appears to be unlicensed Pinball Arcade content.

Key Claims

  • Zen will prioritize backporting improved Universal Monsters physics to earlier Pinball FX3 volumes 'sooner rather than later' rather than continuing to tweak new packs

    high confidence · Chris Friebus citing Deep Root Pinball post on Digital Pinball Fans forum

  • Another Zen Pinball FX3 table pack will release before end of 2019, with a beta already in progress

    high confidence · Chris Friebus confirming Mel's Twitter hint and stating he's entered third beta

  • Williams mobile app will add table parts earning for Monster Bash and Creature to daily challenges starting December 2019

    high confidence · Chris Friebus citing Twitter response from Williams team

  • ToyShock's three-quarter scale cabinet uses 24-inch display, measures 51x30 inches (playfield), and features 12 Gottlieb alphanumeric games that appear to be from Pinball Arcade

    high confidence · Chris Friebus reviewing cabinet specifications and game list from videos and product pages

  • The ToyShock cabinet lacks tilt detection but includes a plunger and side nudge buttons

    high confidence · Chris Friebus analyzing video footage and product details

  • FarSight Studios has not publicly acknowledged or licensed content for the ToyShock cabinet despite it using what appears to be Pinball Arcade games

    high confidence · Chris Friebus noting FarSight name appears nowhere on cabinet despite game selection matching Pinball Arcade

  • The ToyShock cabinet is not listed in ToyShock's website navigation tree despite video being available and pre-orders on Walmart

    high confidence · Chris Friebus reviewing ToyShock website and noting product is 'unlisted'

  • The cabinet weighs approximately 61 pounds and has a total height of 31.5 inches from floor to front lockdown

    medium confidence · Chris Friebus citing measurements from Armchair Arcade link in Twitch chat

Notable Quotes

  • “Once you've gotten a nice taste of really juicy good physics, it's hard to go back.”

    Jared Morgan @ ~7:00 — Describes community reaction to Universal Monsters physics improvements creating uncanny valley effect with older Zen tables

  • “It's that Uncanny Valley... so close to being real and then you get a taste of what it would be like if it was practically real and going back to the other it's just like you can't unnotice it.”

    Chris Friebus @ ~8:30 — Core insight into why improved physics create dissatisfaction with existing content

  • “We're not going to keep on reinventing the wheel every single pack, which is ridiculous. So they did the right thing.”

    Chris Friebus @ ~15:00 — Validates Zen's decision to pause new pack tweaks and instead backport physics improvements

  • “This is a catch me if you can situation where it's like hey we're going to put this out and by the time anybody says hey you've got to pull it off the shelves we'll already have sold our run and we'll be done.”

    Chris Friebus @ ~65:00 — Speculation about potential unlicensed product strategy for ToyShock cabinet

  • “I'm almost thinking this is a catch me if you can situation... it's almost like going back to the days of 70s and 80s licensing.”

    Chris Friebus @ ~65:30 — Compares unlicensed product approach to historical pinball licensing practices

  • “Why wouldn't FarSight have said anything about this? They have been hurting for pinball news of any sort.”

    Chris Friebus @ ~62:00 — Questions FarSight's silence about ToyShock cabinet using apparent Pinball Arcade games

  • “You could play it like that because there's actually no reason why you need it on legs at all because it doesn't have a digital it doesn't have an analog tilt so you don't need it on legs.”

    Jared Morgan @ ~54:00 — Points out cabinet design can function as countertop unit despite arcade-like appearance

Entities

Chris FriebuspersonJared MorganpersonGregpersonZen StudioscompanyToyShockcompanyWilliamsproductPinball FX3productPinball ArcadeproductFarSight Studioscompany

Signals

  • ?

    code_update: Zen Studios' Universal Monsters pack demonstrates significantly improved ball physics compared to previous FX3 volumes, creating uncanny valley effect and community pressure to backport improvements

    high · Chris and Jared describe 'juicy good physics' with 'bounce and variability' absent from earlier tables; Greg's video advocacy led to Deep Root committing to physics backporting

  • ?

    product_strategy: Zen Studios adopting strategy of perfecting new content physics before retroactively improving existing library rather than continuous per-pack tweaking

    high · Deep Root post on Digital Pinball Fans stating physics backporting is 'more of a priority' and 'sooner rather than later'

  • ?

    product_concern: Williams Pinball mobile app has intermittent push notification issues; users not receiving event alerts despite notifications enabled

    high · Chris reports not receiving notification for Creature timed event; Jared reports inconsistent challenge reset notifications; unclear if app needs to remain in recents/app stack

  • ?

    product_concern: Williams Pinball app Monster Box store item lacks transparency—no itemization of table parts per table or total quantity displayed before purchase

    high · Chris unable to determine if 20 coins for Monster Box covering 6 tables is worthwhile; store only shows 'are you sure?' without details

  • ?

    machine_intel: ToyShock manufacturing three-quarter scale digital pinball cabinet with 24-inch display, appearing to use unlicensed Pinball Arcade content featuring 12 Gottlieb alphanumeric games

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.135

0:00
blockade pinball podcast hey this is the blockade pinball podcast i'm your host chris frebus aka shut your trap joining me as always halfway across the world jared morgan howdy ho folks So, Ben, we didn't podcast last week, right? No, we didn't. We had an off week. We did, that's right, because I was unavailable. My kid was getting his second-degree black belt. And I was working.
0:43
Yeah, and working, yes. So both important things. Important things, and the main key thing for me to know is though my boy, who is about to turn 14, doesn't have the muscle strength yet, He's got the accuracy, and so I don't let him kick or punch me anymore.
0:59
No more kicky or punchies. Yeah, I mean, it hurts. It hurts, not severely, but it can hurt. And as soon as he puts some power behind it, it's going to hurt a whole heck of a lot more, and I don't want to be there for that. No. He'll be able to take you down. Well, I still got the weight advantage. Quite a lot of weight advantage.
1:21
And the arm length advantage. so you know yeah but that's that's that's diminishing uh i've only got nine inches on him right now i think all right okay yeah so catching catching up um but in that time period uh like we know and love uh obviously there was a certain release that i'm sure everybody got their fingers upon that being the Universal Monsters pack in Zen Williams Pinball FX3.
1:54
Yes. And the reaction by and large, everybody's loving it. And everybody's also hating now what it makes them feel about the other previous volumes.

“It looks like a big tablet.”

Jared Morgan @ ~50:00 — Critique of aesthetic with thick bezel around large display screen

Gottlieb Digital Pinball
product
C21 Digitalcompany
Universal Monsters (Zen)product
Digital Pinball Fansorganization
Deep Root Pinballcompany
Walmartcompany
Melperson
1UP Arcadecompany
Creature (Zen table)product
Monster Bash (Zen table)product
Haunted Houseproduct

high · Cabinet available for pre-order on Walmart; uses 12 specific Gottlieb games matching Pinball Arcade library; custom UI suggests third-party manufacturing

  • ?

    licensing_signal: ToyShock cabinet appears to use Pinball Arcade games without FarSight Studios involvement or acknowledgment; C21 Digital branding on cabinet but no FarSight attribution

    medium · FarSight name nowhere on cabinet; no FarSight announcement despite 'hurting for pinball news'; cabinet not listed in ToyShock navigation; custom interface differs from FarSight mobile app

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Hosts speculate ToyShock strategy may involve rapid sales before cease-and-desist, comparing to 1970s-80s unlicensed pinball licensing practices

    low · Chris: 'catch me if you can situation'; cabinet unlisted on website; available for immediate pre-order and December delivery

  • ?

    product_launch: Another Zen Pinball FX3 table pack confirmed for release before end of 2019 via Mel's Twitter hint and Chris's beta participation

    high · Chris confirms 'third beta' in progress; Mel previously tweeted another pack coming before end of 2019; Chris states he cannot reveal pack details

  • $

    market_signal: ToyShock three-quarter scale cabinet positioned as affordable entry-level product for home/kids market at $400 USD, similar positioning to 1UP arcade cabinets

    high · Cabinet explicitly compared to 1UP scale; video shows children playing easily; Chris notes price point ($400) more accessible than full-size or premium options

  • ?

    design_innovation: ToyShock cabinet demonstrates three-quarter scale digital pinball as viable form factor with mechanical controls (plunger, side nudge buttons) but lacks tilt

    high · Cabinet dimensions 51x30x31.5 inches; includes digital plunger and side nudge buttons but no tilt; suitable for countertop placement

  • ?

    content_signal: BlahCade claims to be first pinball-focused media to publicly discuss ToyShock cabinet despite videos existing on YouTube

    medium · Chris states: 'we'll be probably the first ones to actually comment from our status as Digital Pinball Podcast Gods'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Entry of non-traditional manufacturer (ToyShock) into digital pinball cabinet space, potentially circumventing traditional licensing channels

    medium · ToyShock manufacturing cabinet independent of FarSight, Zen, or established pinball manufacturers; available through major retail (Walmart)

    • 2:09
    Yeah, because of the physics, right? Because of the physics, yeah. Once you've gotten a nice taste of really juicy good physics, it's hard to go back. Even as gorgeous as the tables play, and we're talking like just nth of a degree differences here.
    2:25
    But it's those differences make huge differences in the overall feel of the game. It's that, what do they call it with CG when they're trying to duplicate humans and they come with the Uncommon Valley? Uncanny Valley. that's it, Uncanny Valley. That's where it gets to. It's so close to being real and then you get a taste of what it would be like if it was practically real and going back to the other it's just like you can't unnotice it. Something doesn't feel right here. It's just it's subtle and you can't put your finger on it exactly although some people have because they play it way too much.
    3:09
    it's just enough to take you out of the moment, right? Yeah. So our friend Greg, who does Spacey's Arcade on his YouTube channel, he just posted a video that was all about this pack and basically his general plea to Zan was, stop, you've got the physics. We can be happy. Any further tweaking is going to make some people more happy and other people unhappy. Right now we're at a happy spot where it's probably as good as you're going to get.
    3:51
    And so, therefore, go back and touch the other tables. And bring them back up to this level. Yes. and what I can say is Deep wound up posting on Digital Pinball Fans forum and said he's now going to make getting those physics into the other tables more of a priority than, basically he said happening sooner rather than later and sooner, I think you could say sooner with Zen is not one year like sooner was with FarSize yeah this this doesn't fall in the category of we'd like to this falls in the category of we will yeah that's right yeah um so that's that's really good to hear because obviously if i mean i was perfectly happy with the physics in volume four and then playing the monsters they're just juicy good like oh yeah even the zen version of the tables feels feels like really oh my God, there's some action on the ball that I've not seen in any of the other tables. No, it's if the other tables have this dead feel to them, which is traditional Zen style ball action. But even with this, it's got just that little bit of bounce and just that little bit of variability in it that makes you go, that certainly wasn't happening before. Yeah, and then you witness it with the Williams physics. You go, oh, jeez. Yeah. So, yeah, I think we've found that happy medium, and therefore Zen is going to feel okay. And I mean, I like the approach that they took, now that I understand what it was, which was, look, we're going to continually tweak this, and once we feel that we've completely nailed it and the community is happy, then we go back. We roll it out. Yeah. We're not going to keep on reinventing the wheel every single pack, which is ridiculous. So they did the right thing. Yeah, so basically we were all in a live beta. You just didn't know it. Yeah, well, that's pretty much how software works these days. Everyone is a beta tester, even if it's a public release. So anyway, that's good to know that that'll be happening in that front.
    6:17
    Shifting over, and we touched upon this also. So, hey, guess who's complaining again once more about the Williams Pinball app?
    6:29
    Everybody? Yes, because, and we already touched upon this last time, the short-term memories regarding the whole two-star business.
    6:38
    And here's the thing. I did, because I expected Zen to do what they did, which was they did two limited-time events. one was for Monster Bash the other one was for Creature wherein you earn only parts for those two tables however they've done that since the last show they've actually cycled in Creature and you had your shot they're giving some table parts for that if you were diligent and got in there and played it so yeah and I gotta say I was trying to be really diligent with Creature because I had kind of dropped the ball on Monster Bash and I was like okay I'm going to reach level 2 with Creature and the table cycled every six hours instead of every four hours.
    7:25
    That made it hard. Yeah, because I always missed one cycle because I was sleeping. Yeah. And I was still not able to get enough parts to make it to level two. So then I was kind of like, okay, no biggie, whatever. It's just going to cycle into the regular daily challenges. And sure enough, the tables themselves have cycled into the daily challenges, but I'm still not earning table parts. Right. So I reached out on Twitter, like I do, to get their attention and basically said, hey, what's the deal? When can we expect these to drop? And the response is they're going to do yet another timed event, which is cool. Yeah. Because, and you've got to understand what these timed events are for. They're not necessarily for people like me who already have all the tables maxed. they're for the newbie. They're for the person that has... For me, who hasn't. Right, who has multiple, multiple tables that aren't maxed at all. And that way you can get a concentrated dose of just those table parts to hopefully bring you up to level two so that you can play the tables any time you want and then grind away at collecting the rest. That's right. So they're actually trying to get you to that baseline. One thing that I did notice, though, is that when the new challenge for Creature cycled in, I didn't get any sort of push. I got push notifications turned on in the app, and I didn't get any notification, hey, there's a new tournament running. Would you like to, or not tournament, there's a new event running. Time to vent. Yeah, time to vent. Would you like to come in and have a look at that, mate? I didn't get that, and that's interesting. And when I say interesting, I think that could be done better, unless there was something wrong with my device, which I don't think there is. No, I think all I got was a notification that said your challenges have reset. And when I clicked on it, I happened to notice that there was a timed event there. I don't think I even got that. Yeah.
    9:26
    I'm getting intermittent work on, like, when my challenges reset. Like, after I played it and I've maxed out my challenges,
    9:33
    it's often that I don't actually get a notification coming through. So I just wonder if the app actually needs to be in your recents. In Android, it's called recents, but in iOS, it's like your app stack that you have open. I just wonder if it needs to sort of be running in the background, but not actually like swapped away for it to actually keep pushing you into the app. Yeah, I don't know. This is the first time that I actually allowed push notifications to happen. So the push notifications are all kind of new to me on this go around.
    10:09
    So anyway, what I was going to say, though, is there is going to be, on Twitter they respond, there's going to be another timed event. So hopefully that'll be enough to get up to the two tables. And then they said that the earning table parts for both those tables, that'll cycle into the daily challenges come December.
    10:30
    Okay. So there is a plan. You just got to wait a little bit. And I know, for those of you that are only playing on mobile, and you didn't want to pay anything, it sucks that you're not able to just play the tables after having waited five months. I get it.
    10:46
    But, again, this is how Zen is running the mobile app. It hasn't changed since the last, when they dropped Volume 4.
    10:54
    This is what it is, so get used to it. Yeah. Beyond that, the other question that I had was in the mobile app, it offered, what do they call it it was like a monster coin I can remember what the name of the pack was Here let me look this up real quick Basically it was you pay 20 coins and you get a suitcase of table parts
    11:28
    Hold on, I got it right here. Oh, it's called the Monster Box. Now, here's the problem.
    11:36
    There's no indication other than... So there was a notification when you first open the app that you can wave away, and then it doesn't pop back up. And it tells you what tables you'll get parts for. And it was probably, I think, six tables that you would be getting table parts for, for spending 20 coins.
    11:55
    Okay. But it had grayed out any of the tables I had maxed out, so the only two that were live were obviously for Monster Bash and for Creature. Okay. But beyond that, it didn't tell you how many table parts for each table you'd be getting.
    12:13
    And like I said, if you've eliminated that, you go to the store, and you push that particular tab, all it says is, are you sure you want to purchase? It doesn't give you any information. It doesn't tell you any information. No, it doesn't tell you anything. And it's like, guys, you've got to tell me what is in this, because I'm not just going to, well, I wonder what this button does, you know, and spend 20 parts. so i yeah they need to do that yeah except i i think the response um was that you get five table parts five per how much is this 20 20 coins 20 coins so if you that this would be worthwhile if you had all six tables but if you just doing two like you not really worth it not really worth Unless they actually roll all those table parts up in those two tables, and that would be worth it then. Oh, yeah. If it was, well, hey, normally we'd be giving you, what, the equivalent of 40 table parts, but here is split between the two, 10, 8, yeah, then it would be a little bit more worth it. That would be a good proposition indeed. Yeah.
    13:22
    I doubt they're doing that. Jared, I'm just going to make a note here. I'm not seeing anybody's texts or chat messages other than yours so you're in charge of following the chat today. Yeah, it's just we've got a friend of the show Jay William won in at the moment and he was questioning our title actually, he was going three quarter scale madness I guess I've missed the reason this title makes sense since I've just started watching well good news, as I said Jay William we're about to get there yes, we will be getting there but before we get there I'm going to touch upon one other thing zen related and just kind of know folks this might be a shorter than usual podcast because I've got to go to work I've got to go snap wait for the mouse yes something like that so Mel tweeted out that there would be another table pack before the end of 2019 and I am here to tell you that yes there will be because we've third another beta.
    14:28
    Yes. So yes, rumors are being confirmed. You will see something coming out. Beyond that, I say nothing.
    14:39
    That's right. Yes. Because truth be told, we haven't been told if we were even able to announce the beta. Although I don't see why we wouldn't have been able to because they said that another beta would be out before Twitter. Mel's kind of already hinted on Twitter. Yes. But I'm not hinting anything else beyond the fact that there is a beta. So there. Deal with it, people. and Jared just looks on.
    15:00
    Yes, I'm just reading the messages. Oh, I see. I finally see messages. Okay. All right. Let's see what Jay Willen says, because we like to encourage people to actually show up to our live shows, and because of that, we're going to read it. We'll read it. So he says, okay, thanks, Jared. Played for fun in my first ever non-digital pinball tournament. Congrats.
    15:23
    Welcome to the real world of pinball. Right? Found it interesting that Creature in FX3, I hit the middle move your car ramp from right flipper, but on a particular physical table where the flippers were set slightly differently. It only worked from the left flipper. Really?
    15:39
    Interesting. Left flipper should be the hard one to hit that center shot from, not the right flipper.
    15:46
    It sounds like to me that they've got their flippers misaligned. Yeah, a little bit of borking going on there. Or they've got banana flippers on it, one of the two. Oh, my God. I've yet to play a table with the Banana Flippers.
    15:59
    Netherworld's got their Time Warp, I think it is, the one with Banana Flippers on. They're rethemed to Revenge of the Hot Monster. They've got original Banana Flippers for it. It is weird, man.
    16:12
    They play very strangely. Backhand City, basically. It's ridiculous. Yeah. Okay. let's move on a little bit to what the whole point of this weird odd title is about as was pointed out on Digital Pinball Fans and then when I did a Google or a YouTube search turns out there's a couple of videos regarding this but we'll be probably the first ones to actually comment from our status as Digital Pinball Podcast Gods yes that's right Gods right Okay, sure.
    16:53
    Hey, you know, a little self-inflation never hurt anybody, right? No, it's called marketing. There is a company called ToyShock who is manufacturing a three-quarter scale digital pinball machine, much like what 1UP has done with the arcade cabinets.
    17:15
    Oh, yeah. The ones that they were selling through Best Buy, etc. LD down here. Exactly. This one currently that is being sold can be found on Walmart for pre-order.
    17:30
    But anyway, so it's a digital pinball machine. Three-quarter scale. When I say three-quarter scale, it is using a 24-inch display for the main playfield. It is 51 inches long, 30 inches wide, and 17 inches tall for the playfield. so it's almost a little bit smaller than a safe cracker right that would be a good right um the it is a translate with uh i couldn't tell if it was two person or four person scoring like there's spots for four but i don't know if all four displays work or if it's only two displays that actually work for often American.
    18:22
    It's because there is support for System 80B and System 80A games, so that means you do get the Bone Busters era, etc. Right, so because I didn't say what it is,
    18:38
    Gottlieb Digital Pinball on this. 12 tables, none of them being DMD. all of them, interestingly enough,
    18:48
    available in Pinball Arcade. And if you watch the video, it looks very much like this is the mobile app version of Pinball Arcade for the machines being, for the playfields being displayed. However, Farsight's name is not anywhere on this. The only other name associated, and it's actually stamped on the cabinet, is C21. I think C21 Digital something like that yeah but nowhere does it mention Foresight nowhere does it mention Pinball Arcade yet clearly this is what it is because why else would they have selected the very tables that they selected in the 12 it's interesting that they went with 12 if that was the case so here I can tell you what the 12 tables are and again these are all alphanumeric. No DMD. So they are Big Shot, Centigrade 37, Jack's Open, Haunted House, Bone Busters, Class of 1812,
    19:55
    El Dorado City of Gold. Wrong El Dorado. Yeah, incorrect one. Black Hole, Gone Nuts, Victory, Lights, Camera, Action, and TX Sector. Jared you're just like oh god now like I said these are all alphanumerics you may be questioning though so what there's 12 other tables available in pinball arcade from Gottlieb that didn't make the cut and I'll point this out we're not seeing Central Park which is a EM reel machine although Big Shot is too isn't it um it's real yeah right it's real yeah okay okay so they're one of my theory so you're missing uh central park eldorado and genie genie being a wide body that might have caused some issue with the screen that they're using maybe maybe and uh another so the remainder of the uh things that you're not getting our World Tour, Cactus Jacks, Cuball Wizard, Gladiator, Pistol Poker, Rescue 911, Teed Off, and Wipeout.
    21:15
    Which, me not being a fan of Got Leg Premier, I'm not too sad about the ones that are missing. But here's the deal.
    21:26
    A, it's kind of ugly. It's got this massively thick bezel all the way around the screen. And I kind of get it having a thick bezel down near the apron where you're going to put your palms.
    21:38
    But it just looks terrible. It looks gross. Yeah, it looks like a big tablet. Yeah. It probably is. The other thing. The thing that's interesting is I'm looking at the, I've actually found a page with more details on it. and it's like there's a menu select, but I'm just not sure if the screen is a touchscreen or not. I seriously doubt it's a touchscreen. I don't think it is, but I don't know. Because I believe there's three buttons on the front of the cabinet, and then your flipper button's on the side.
    22:15
    The other thing is that the back glass, like I said, is a trans light. Hey, hope you like Haunted House, because that's what you get. which in terms of pinball cabinet art that they could have used based off of these i would have much rather had either victory or uh black hole or big shot or jack open any of those would have been a much better choice in my opinion uh for something to sit in your house as opposed to haunted house which i mean great for halloween not for year round right but you know what i'm looking at this cabinet and i i've we could talk about this if we've got time but um melsby's pinball adventure um the ghost table i see where they lifted their art from like the haunted house house yeah is the same house that they got their um their uh thing from their art from interesting yeah that's an Interesting game, that one.
    23:16
    Now, I think the whole thing also weighs 61 pounds. So it's got some heft to it. You notice it doesn't actually have tilt? I don't believe it has tilt. It does have a plunger. It has buttons, side nudge buttons. Oh, side nudge buttons. Yeah, so, yeah, pretty horrible. But it does have a plunger. it does have a digital plunge well as the things yes yeah so i mean i applaud the idea and uh having built uh you know this thing for 400 bucks i'd be curious to know uh if it'd be worth gutting and making your own thing out of i don't know because have a look at the height so you've got a total height of 31.5 inches now i know that the legs alone on a got lieb system 80 are 27 inches well no that's what i'm saying it's 17 from what i read it was 51 inches deep 30 inches wide 17 high you're probably reading for the uh the total of the back glass included no i'm looking at the uh dimensions on uh there's a link in the twitch chat from armchair arcade that have uh 31.5 inches or 800 millimeters from floor to front lockdown so that's not high at all i'd have a lot of trouble playing this yeah it'd be like it'd be like a little teeny tiny it's almost like a countertop well the thing is you could you could play it like that because there's actually no reason why you need it on legs at all because it doesn't have a digital it doesn't have an analog tilt so you don't need it on legs you You just put it on the countertop.
    25:01
    Again, it would fit perfectly fine sitting next to these one-up cabinets, because they're the same scale. Do you know what I'd rather do? I would rather go and buy the pinball promo cabinet that accepts a switch and it accepts a 31-inch LCD. and these cabinets, they don't have the look of a pinball machine like that, but they're a better height, they've got a bigger screen real estate and you don't have to just play the 12 haunted house, like the 12 Gottlieb games. You can play Zen on it, you can play anything on the Switch on it and it's much better. I don't know if I can import them here because it's made in, I think it's Spain or something like that. But I see them all the time on my Instagram feed, and it looks really good.
    26:01
    If I was doing that, I'd just get one of them. I wouldn't get this. So here's my question, though. Does Farsight know?
    26:12
    Oh, who knows? Because Farsight has an agreement with Arcuda, and this is not Arcuda. No, it's definitely not a cuda. I think you can pretty much safely say that, yeah, this is not anything to do with those companies. Because here's the other thing. Why wouldn't Farsight have said anything about this? They have been hurting for pinball news of any sort. And you don't make mention that you've got a product that's going to be, you know, is available for pre-order right now and available for purchase in the beginning of December. Yeah. No, it seems a little odd unless here's theory. Number two, uh, unless a Farsight is saying adios, we're out of here. We got no license and we're going to go for a quick cash grab before they can throw a cease and desist at us.
    27:14
    Yeah. Like I'm looking at like, You look at the interface and everything, though, and it's like, it's definitely not FastSight's mobile interface. No.
    27:25
    It's a custom interface. It looks good. So, yeah, definitely not. So, yeah. I don't know what's going on here, man. This is whack. It's a little bizarre, isn't it? Uh-huh. That's one way of putting it. And the funny thing is when you go to ToyShockTio's website, the 21-seat digital pinball thing is not actually listed in their navigation tree. No, it is not. A video is, but navigating to the product is not. No, it's like an unlisted thing. It's really bizarre. So, yeah. Also, their website is really crap. I'm calling shenanigans but yeah I'd suggest that this is well and truly off the grid and yet it's being sold through Walmart's website the thing is once you sell them it is a standalone product you can guarantee there will be no updates received for this product it will be what you see is what you get, it ships as it is and yeah that's what I'm saying I'm almost thinking this is a catch me if you can situation where it's like hey we're going to put this out and by the time anybody says hey you've got to pull it off the shelves we'll already have sold our run and we'll be done pretty much like it's almost like going back to the days of 70s and 80s licensing and interestingly enough this is where again I'm like and is Farsight involved because Because, I don't know.
    29:13
    I don't like to allege anything in this particular case, but it would be an interesting strategy. Let's put it to you this way.
    29:24
    My gut tells me that Farsight is not involved, but if I found out that they were, I wouldn't be surprised.
    29:30
    Yeah. I don't think they'd ever go into the physical cabinet manufacturing space. But, I mean, in this case, Toy Shocks seems to have taken on that risk. You have a look at the scale, though. In the first opening shots of the video, it's like the kids are having a great time. It's perfect size for them. And then you see Granddad or Old Mate stand in front of it, and he's hunched over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame trying to play this thing.
    29:59
    And it's just, yeah, it's clearly aimed at kids. Then look, if $400 is all you have lying around and you really want to get some pimple action in your house, well, look, I'll tell you what, I'd rather have this over the pin.
    30:16
    Well, yeah. So, you know, this is a good option for people who want something for the kids to have fun with. And look, my kids, they'd probably have fun with this for $400 US, which is like, you know, $3,000 Australian.
    30:34
    As an aside, I'm doing my order for Force 2 on PBR, and I've got a spreadsheet that has an option for international foreign exchange, and the Australian dollar is 68 cents at the moment to the greenback. Holy cow. That is insane. It's just brutal. So the order that I'm getting, I've got to keep under the $1,000 Australian customs limit, otherwise I play duty on all the parts, and I'm at, with the current exchange rate, I'm at about $960 running for parts for this thing. Wow, that was amazing. So I might have to drop some stuff off it and put it onto the Pink Panther order when I get that one done because it's like,
    31:17
    it's like really close. Luckily, it's only the invoice parts, it's not the shipping. If it was shipping, I'd have to like knock $100 off it because like, it's just brutal. So the exchange rate is not going to get better. That's the only problem. I'm just going to have to suck it up, which means that... Is this because Australia is on fire right now? I don't know if it has anything to do with our being on fire. It's just because we're Australia and we're back in... This is almost the same exchange rate that we're experiencing when it was the 1970s. This is as bad as it was back then. So I don't know what's going on. I'll never forget when I was working in a men's clothing store and these two Australian guys came into the store and they were having a field day buying up, this is how far back we go, Z Cavaricci's.
    32:10
    Which would be pants? Pants that went like almost, well, basically all the way up to your rib cage and then flared widely at the hips and then tapered right back down the ankles.
    32:26
    Oh, wow. Just look up, if you want true 80s style, folks, Actually, it's like late 80s, early 90s. Look up Z-Covery Jeans. These pants were, again, this is back in, well, when I was selling them, it was 91.
    32:46
    Oh, yeah, look at them. And they sold for, I'm not kidding you, $80 a pair back in 1991. Oh, yeah. But they were cool as hell. It was like, basically, you look like a member of Depeche Mode if you were wearing them. yeah they're like they are high-waisted pleated and tapered trousers yes popularized in the 80s they were and they're returning they're returning to celebrate their 30th anniversary are you kidding me they're returning i'm just reading an article about it well it's like i mean i i it's kind of like how uh there's some women's jeans and shorts manufacturers that are going back to the uh the higher waistline for for women and i thought oh it's only a matter of time before the guys started getting those Cavaricis back. The problem with the Cavaricis is if you were any larger than a size 33 waist, they look terrible on you. Right. Yeah, right. Because you have to have a narrow middle and then of course you wear an overly baggy shirt so it would make your shoulders like huge So as a guy you would look like a total like you were a V, and then a V, you know, a reverse V. It was just, you know, it's the 90s look. And it was, I also think of it as, like, kind of like the Kingdom Hearts look, or the Final Fantasy look. It's belts everywhere. I had a pair that had three belts. I'm not kidding you. Three belts. Wow. That's incredible. And there was this whole technique that you had to learn how to taper the leg, how to do the fold, and then roll it up. And of course, then you can't wear socks, so it's also went into the whole no-wearing-socks-in-your-shoes look. Oh yeah, they're great. They're like capri pants, but horrible.
    34:34
    And so what you would do is you'd wear your Z-Cab reachies and then your hypercolor shirt. oh yeah oh hyper color where you can tell where the handprints uh where people had touched you yeah that's right yeah when when touching other people um was okay right can you imagine i mean there's literally the commercials where people putting their hands all over your shirts so that a handprint would be there yeah imagine that today it wouldn't exactly fly in today's culture other than people going, he touched me, look, I have evidence. Yeah, exactly right. It would probably actually be hyper-keller with DNA.
    35:15
    No, DNA swab. Yeah, so how did I get off on that tangent? Oh, the Australian guys. So the Australian guys. Welcome back. Circling back around. The Australian guys came in, and they were going nuts, buying tons of these and a whole bunch of our suits that we had.
    35:37
    It was a great store. These suits were basically, did you have a dance that you needed to go to? A funeral. What about a wedding? Buy our one-day-only suit.
    35:46
    Right. It was great for that kind of purpose. You didn't spend a lot of money. You looked good for that one day, and then you were done with it. See, we have a store here in Australia called Lowe's. and Lowe's is uh it's predominantly a menswear store and they specialize in suits that is there for a good time in a long time um they also have a fine selection of hawaiian style shirts in fact it's almost like they have a rack dedicated to their hawaiian style shirts so hawaiian shirts and suits and suits that are like very entry level right like you know disposable suits yeah you buy them they're like 150 australian yeah and it's like the full thing like even i think you even get a shirt with it yeah oh yeah ours our deal was and i'll get back to the australians don't worry um our deal was we'll circle back again yes yes 99 bucks got you uh pants jacket shirt tie and socks and socks oh geez you really didn't have to go anywhere else nope anyhow so we had a ton of mates so like i said everybody that would be going to a school dance came to us. Oh, and if you went $129, then you got the microfiber suit. Oh.
    37:03
    And you could go around zapping everyone. Oh, microfiber and the shark skin texture, not texture, but coloring.
    37:13
    So it was iridescent, and we kind of changed depending on the light that hit you. 90 suits, babies. 90 suits.
    37:20
    That is horrible. Oh, excuse me. My wife has popped in and says, what was the best thing about working at that store? Yeah, that's where I met my wife. Thank you.
    37:29
    I see. Was she in the market for a fine suit? No, she was not in the market for a fine suit. She was just in the market for a job.
    37:38
    For a job. Okay, so the Oscar-winning guys, yeah, they went nuts buying everything. And I was like, you know, I hear the accent. I'm like, what's going on, guys? And they go, oh, my God, the exchange rate. They go, you have no idea how expensive this stuff would be. We're just shoving this all in our suitcases. yeah that must have been when the exchange rate was okay um like there was a point at which i think in the late 90s early 2000s when we actually had like an 80 an 80 cents to the dollar exchange rate i think it actually went up to 90 at one point that was good like you could import stuff from the US and really it was good. But it's not good anymore.
    38:20
    Yeah. So anyway, that was Australians in the clothing store, which comes back to your exchange rate for buying pinball parts, which comes back to Farsight not knowing what the hell is going on with this machine, I bet. Okay. Most likely.
    38:39
    It just, I don't know. Like I said, it seems kind of odd and shady, but But, hey, if anybody winds up buying one of these, let us know. If you've got a spare, what is it, $400? $400.
    38:53
    $400 yank, just throw it down and throw it away and buy one of these daigles. Or, you know, Christmas is coming up, and you can just send a private message to me, and I'll give you my address, and I'll do a review here. Yeah, send it to Chris. Don't send it to me, because I'll cost you $400. Well, it'll probably cost you $400. Although, you know, there might be a local distributor down here. Like, maybe Aldi down here might actually carry this range. Because it seems that if Walmart carried over in the U.S., it seems that Aldi will often get the stuff down here. I mean, you know this whole thing was manufactured in China. Oh, yeah. It looks totally Chinese. I'd love to just take the thing apart and see what's inside it. But it's a solid box. There's not even a coin door on it. It's just a solid panel. Yeah.
    39:43
    Yeah. I mean, it's made for quick assembly by you, the homeowner. Yeah, it'll be a box. It'll just be like in a carton, and it'll just be the box, and probably the head will just somehow bolt on, and there you go. It'll probably just be like literally there'll be a little connector that will seat into the head when you assemble this thing. It'll just be plug and play almost.
    40:11
    Yeah. Or yours today. No. We wish you'd have free steak knives. Buy now, we'll send you another one.
    40:21
    Well, you got two. I always tell this, and it was back when Dennis Miller was actually funny. He used to tell a joke about buying a suit at Kmart. I don't know if you know what a Kmart is, Jared, but it's... We have Kmart here. Home of the Blue Light Special. And he was like, come in and get yourself a Century 21 gold jacket. and then he said, except for he was saying it was a short-sleeved suit jacket because that was even selling the comedy there, and it was, buy one, get one free, and his joke was, he goes, folks, two of shit is shit.
    41:02
    He goes, if they really wanted to screw you, they'd give you a third, which years later made me laugh hysterically because I was in a Toys R Us.
    41:15
    Hey, welcome back, Toys R Us. And they were selling these things called Juju Pets, which were these little hamsters that you, like they were battery-operated hamsters. Yeah. And they had had their run and they weren't selling well anymore at all and Toys R Us had buy one, get two free. Get two free? Buy one, get two free. They were literally giving them away. Yes. And the buy one price was heavily discounted. 99 cents or something ridiculous like that. Yeah, they were clearing shelf space, to be sure.
    41:53
    It was basically that one step away from just literally upturn you into the bin. Yeah. All right. Well, that's... Yeah, we're going to call it now because now we're just talking about nonsense, which is fun, but I got to go. I got to get ready for work. So, will we be next week? Next week, I'm going to say maybe?
    42:18
    Yeah. Maybe. We'll see what my schedule turns out. I don't know. It might be busy. It might not be. And we'll see if we have more things to talk about.
    42:30
    Because it's amazing how one day there isn't, and the next day there is. It's all the things. Yeah. All the things. and as we like to say, Jared, what are we going to be talking about next week? Well, probably if we are actually on air next week, probably some stuff and some things. There you go, folks. What more can you possibly ask for? All right. As usual, we want to just say a big appreciation for everybody that does watch the podcast live on Twitch, and we also give a big thumbs up to everybody that catches up with us later on YouTube, and I'm going to be one of those people. Make sure you stop the like button. Yeah, right. Um, and, uh, do what you want, but do, you know what actually we do prefer is right there. A little Twitter handles. Go ahead and follow us there. Um, yeah. Have a chat with us in law. Yeah. Have a chat. We like the quickest way to get us. It absolutely is. Um, and if you see anything that, uh, you think would be, uh, peak our interest and make for good topics in the podcast, that is absolutely the best way to contact. Just link it to us. Say, Hey, blockade or Hey, shut your traps or Hey, at Jared morgues, check out this and we probably all three because then you know because i don't really check the blockade account that much yeah i pretty much that's pretty much me yeah at there chris is basically chris is the blockade account except when i post episodes yes and then i i use the blockade account to post episodes whenever in the blockade twitter account it says i that's me yeah and whenever it says when an app mentions us both that's me writing the announcement post for the episode. So there you go. A little bit of inside baseball about how we share our social media account. It's exciting. Aren't you glad you stayed to the end? I know you are. All right. Oh, also be sure to check out the website, which is blockadepinball.com slash episodes. That's where you find all previous episodes as well as links to all the various things we talked about in the episode. I'm sure Jared will be throwing a link to Cavaricci's.
    44:31
    Oh, yes, I will be. Perhaps even pictures. That might even be the title card of the show. well I mean talk about three quarter scale you know it makes you look three quarter tall because of when you wear those pants it makes your chest itty bitty so yeah it's true yeah so there you go it makes sense yep all right well that's it we'll see you next time bye bye