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DPP #43 "Potter, Gorgar, and Amish sandwiches!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·31m 54s·analyzed·May 19, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Potter rumors, Tank Force review with design fixes, Chicago arcade visits, overrated games segment.

Summary

Don's Pinball Podcast #43 covers Harry Potter license speculation (rumoring multiple price tiers and potential competing Stern release), reviews Galactic Arcade Tank Force with gameplay critiques and mechanic suggestions, visits Chicago arcades (Interium and Galloping Ghost), and launches a segment discussing overrated games (Tron, Willy Wonka). Episode includes tangents on Pennsylvania Amish culture and food, arcade infrastructure observations, and venue spotlighting.

Key Claims

  • Jersey Jack Pinball may have secured or be in final stages of Harry Potter license

    medium confidence · Don speculating after hearing from other podcasters; notes this is reasonable speculation but not confirmed

  • Stern may release Harry Potter before Jersey Jack due to contract deadlines, similar to Bond release timing

    low confidence · Don speculative commentary about license expiration clauses and Stern's Bond release as potential precedent

  • Jersey Jack could use triple-tier pricing model (boutique $20-25k, LE ~$12.5k, operator ~$7-8k) for Harry Potter

    low confidence · Don paraphrasing Kevin Loza Kid Guys podcast speculation on market strategy

  • Galactic Arcade Tank Force has fatal flaws including ball kickback over pop-up saves and 3D printed sculpts lacking production quality

    high confidence · Don's direct hands-on gameplay experience at Interium arcade with 6-10 games played

  • Pulp Fiction is now on location at Interium in Schaumburg, Chicago—first documented location in the country

    high confidence · Don received email from Knapp Arcade; visited Interium and confirmed Pulp Fiction was playable there

  • Galactic Arcade Tank Force appears not to be in serious production yet; no unboxings documented

    medium confidence · Don observation based on lack of unboxing videos and only show/early units appearing on location

  • Tron is overrated relative to other licensed pinball games in the hobby

    high confidence · Don's personal opinion stated directly after repeated plays on location and virtual pin

  • Galloping Ghost Arcade plans to raise pay-one-price admission from $20 to $25 this summer

    high confidence · Don observed during visit to Brookfield/western Chicago location

Notable Quotes

  • “This is All American Amusements. This is like getting two balls in your launch lane when you start a game. That's how good this theme is.”

    Don (paraphrasing Kevin Loza Kid Guys analysis) @ ~5:00 — Illustrates consensus that Harry Potter is an exceptionally valuable IP for pinball market positioning

  • “Just because Jersey Jack may have the license to Harry Potter, one of the largest theme licenses I can think of at the moment, next to Star Wars, doesn't mean it will actually come to fruition.”

    Don @ ~12:00 — Key caveat about license speculation; references contract termination risk

  • “For a game like this, a world-class pinball machine at world-class prices, I want the world-class standard which would be resin sculpts or something.”

    Don @ ~28:00 — Criticism of Galactic Arcade Tank Force 3D printed elements; articulates quality expectations for premium-tier machines

  • “I think the quick fix for that would be with code, where you just add a ball save after a stand-up target hit like that for just a second or a second and a half.”

    Don @ ~32:00 — Specific code fix proposal for Tank Force; demonstrates engagement with game design problem-solving

  • “I really do. I love Tron, both the old film, the new remake. I love that aesthetic. But when playing this game, I'm just not getting any kind of satisfying, deep, rewarding experience from playing it.”

    Don @ ~55:00 — Opens new 'overrated games' segment; establishes divergence from community consensus on beloved classic

  • “They even called and said is there a way to get the Insider Connected working on Munsters there is, but since it's such an older game it's one of the first ones that they went back and retro-engineered Insider Connected 4.”

    Don @ ~52:00 — Reveals technical constraints on Insider Connected retrofitting to older Stern hardware

Entities

DonpersonKevin Loza Kid GuyspersonChris LanepersonLord KanedapersonJersey Jack PinballcompanySterncompanyAmerican PinballcompanyHarry Pottergame

Signals

  • ?

    machine_intel: Harry Potter pinball license rumors intensifying across podcast community; Jersey Jack presumed to hold license in final procurement stages; speculation on 2-year timeline and multi-tier pricing strategy (boutique $20-25k, LE $12.5k, operator $7-8k)

    medium · Don references multiple podcast takes on Potter rumors; Kevin Loza Kid Guys analysis of tier strategy; Don's caveat that licenses don't guarantee release and contract expiration risk mirrors Bond precedent

  • ?

    product_launch: Pulp Fiction pinball confirmed on location at Interium arcade in Schaumburg, Chicago; documented as first known US location; standard or SE edition without topper

    high · Don received email alert from Knapp Arcade; personally visited and played Pulp Fiction at Interium; confirmed via Pinball Mag pre-visit check showed no availability, then found it on-site

  • ?

    product_concern: Galactic Arcade Tank Force exhibits multiple issues: 3D printed sculpts lack production-quality resin finish; ball kickback over pop-up saves on stand-up targets; grating frequency audio in launch sequence; cringey character video acting; layout lacks satisfying main mechanism

    high · Don's 6-10 game hands-on experience at Interium; detailed critique of sculpt quality, ball physics, audio, and video presentation; proposal for code-based ball save and mechanic redesign (drop targets → spinner → tank destruction)

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Don proposes Galactic Arcade Tank Force redesign: motorize stand-up targets to drop below playfield, exposing spinner; require 15 spins in 30 seconds; explosion mechanic similar to Star Wars Death Star; multi-form boss progression like Medieval Madness castles or Attack from Mars

    medium · Detailed design proposal spanning ~6 minutes of content; cites mechanical precedents (Medieval Madness, Attack from Mars, Star Wars LE); suggests could be implemented if game is still in design phase

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.096

0:00
back once again it's don's pinball podcast for your ear lobes episode number 43 decided to go ahead and drop back in and drop this killer information on everybody well as good as i can make it just cobbling together everything going on for the what kind of it's like the end of the week now man is this non-stop you know i try to just kick back for a couple of days but like news and views keep coming into me and i'm here to share them with y'all uh y'alls right that's how we put it wiki wiki wiki wiki let's get it the result maestro hit the button slamming what's going on everybody what's good man so since that harry potter news drop there's been you know takes from every single uh podcast that i listen to and it's all fantastic i you know i love and appreciate everybody that's within this podcast community everybody's got a different take um you know i totally dig it uh plus you know i take my marching orders from lord canada and he had his episode today, so then I have to come out with mine, apparently. And here it is for you. Love you, guy. Love what you do. Thank you for the content. So back again was Loser Kid Guys, you know, and these guys come with some good 90-minute episode content that I really enjoy. And so they really went into detail about, you know, their perspectives and everything on the Harry Potter rumor. So without belaboring the point, I mean, I did a whole episode just on it, you know, but I'm back home now, and I've heard other people's views and things. And so one take that was interesting was their idea that the Jersey Jack would go back to this triple tier formula, the one that Stern pioneers and uses. And the idea with a license like Harry Potter is, first off, it's gold, right? People dig this thing. This is AAA. This is like getting two balls in your launch lane when you start a game. That's how good this theme is. So obviously you could take advantage of that in the market. It's probably a more expensive theme. so why not have like a boutique level you know one-off special machine like a bond 60th level like a twenty thousand twenty five thousand dollar even game geez can we imagine games at that price that's nuts um anyway but if you did that you know obviously you wouldn't be moving five thousand units right if you were coming out with a uh kind of a boutique run of 500 at that high dollar price fine but with a license this wide appealing i mean you would want to have a version for operators as well. And so given that this may come out in two years from now, if, if ever, um, you know, and they may have that commanding high price level for that collector's edition, then, you know, when they do 5,000 runs of their limited edition, well, limited, not so limited at 5,000, you know, if it's running for, you know, 12, five or so, maybe they come out with another version around, you know, 10 or $11,000 for operators. I don't know if an operator would jump, um, at $11,000 game though. I mean, they have to bring it down to like $7,000, $8,000 for something like Harry Potter. But this would be an appeal that would bring people in the corner of the other Redemption Play arcade over to play your pinball machines. Mommy, mommy, look, it's Harry Potter. Yo, Hermione Granger, I'm going to go wave my wand. Where's Hagrid, right? And so then they also speculated on the same kind of things that have seen other people do regarding the theme. Do you do a theme for the movie? Do you do the theme based on the books of which there were illustrations of the characters and just find a way. There's just no way to make this game that's probably going to not make a large segment of the hobby angry, I would think. So, best of luck to them. Now, one other point that came to me as I was walking across a rain-strewn parking lot back to my car after work today was just because they have this license, and I think it's reasonable to speculate and believe that they have secured the license or at least in the final stages of procuring that, just because they have the license doesn't mean they'll make the game. I'm sure Stern has tons of licenses that they've never exercised that they've had the rights to. With these licensing deals, likely there's a period of time where this licensing contract is active, and either party can terminate the contract if the time runs out or if the game isn't released in time. That may have been what spurned Stern to release Bond as they did, the Bond Cornerstone, where it was kind of like released, and it wasn't released, and it was, but it wasn't complete, and the code wasn't ready, and it just kind of like wasn't the seamless launch that we would expect. But it may be because they were trying to meet a deadline. Maybe they were running out of contract time. They really had to get something going and get the game out there. So just because Jersey Jack may have the license to Harry Potter, one of the largest theme licenses I can think of at the moment, next to Star Wars, doesn't mean it will actually come to fruition. And nobody really knows for sure. And even within the walls of Jersey Jack, they may not know. But, heck, for all I know, Mr. Amateur Pinball Podcaster extraordinaire, where in five months from now, Steve Ritchie's Harry Potter may be gracing us and commanding nonrefundable deposits, for all I know. So it's all speculation at this point. But I did appreciate the guys there at the Loser Kid podcast. They also had on, was it Nathan Lane? No, Chris Lane, Chris Pine, one of the guys from the Dr. Pin from the super awesome pinball show Extravaganza. And so they were on giving some comments. It was a great show. I won't belabor it. Go listen to it. But I will comment on some Pennsylvania. Now, your boy here, who currently resides in Wisconsin, did spend three years living in central Pennsylvania in Lebanon, right next to Hershey. So right in their wheelhouse and area. And they were talking about going to the Allentown Pin Fest, which sounds fantastic. Wish I knew about it back then when I had the time. But I also wish I had money. However, I didn't when I was back there in training. Regardless, there is an Amish market adjacent to the Expo Center in Allentown. And they make these stuffed pretzel sandwiches, of which they were raving about for good reason. They're probably super delicious. But I want to point out a couple of things. First off, they are not available exclusively there. They are also at other Amish farmers' markets. In fact, the one in Effort of Pennsylvania goes by the name of Green Dragon. It's there every Friday. It's probably been going for 200 years. It's a combination flea market, swap meat, livestock auction, and other accoutrement of the plain communities, as we call them in the Amish country. And Roseanne's Bread is a stand there, and they do these stuffed pretzel dough sandwiches, and they're fantastic. It's like if you can make a hot pocket out of, like, the best pretzel dough ever, right? Wrap it in meat and cheese around pretzel dough and then bake them in these old ovens. And then when they come out, you dip the whole thing in butter, sprinkle it with salt, and put it out there for, like, $3.50. Delicious. Probably at least 1,500 calories each. And, you know, your boy could go through two, you know, my big boy days, man. But they are fantastic. So if you're in Allentown, Pennsylvania area, you probably already know about those. But if you're adjacent, if you're in Hershey, it's a quicker drive to Ephrata, right down the turnpike, or you can kind of cross through Lidditz.
Galactic Arcade Tank Force
game
Pulp Fictiongame
Trongame
Interiumvenue
Galloping Ghost Pinball Arcadevenue
Lit Pin Barvenue
Green Dragonvenue
Allentown Pin Festevent
David Thielperson
Willy Wonkagame
Star Warsgame
Led Zeppelingame
Medieval Madnessgame
Attack from Marsgame
Insider Connectedproduct
  • ?

    venue_signal: Interium arcade (Schaumburg) uses RFID card system with transparent $1/game pricing (vs. obfuscated credit systems); Galloping Ghost (Brookfield) plans price increase from $20 to $25 pay-one-price admission; both venues maintain curated pinball selections (15-20 and ~50 machines respectively)

    high · Don visited both venues; praised Interium's transparent pricing model; observed Galloping Ghost pricing notice; both venues offer discount reciprocals ($5 off adjacent location)

  • ?

    product_concern: Galactic Arcade Tank Force appears not in serious production; pre-orders accepted but no unboxings documented; only show/early units visible on location; suggests possible design-phase revisions ongoing

    medium · Don notes lack of unboxing videos; observes only a few units on location (likely from shows); speculates game may still be in design/revision stage

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don launching 'overrated games' segment challenging community consensus on beloved classics; Tron rated lower than community norm despite aesthetic appreciation; signals willingness to deviate from groupthink in niche community

    high · Explicit new segment introduction; Don plays Tron multiple times on location and virtual pin; states 'I'm going to get some heat for this'; questions why Tron is rated above Jurassic Park, Iron Maiden, Godzilla, Whitewater, Medieval Madness

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Speculation that Stern could release Harry Potter before Jersey Jack if contract deadlines force expedited production; cites Bond as precedent for rushed/incomplete launch to meet licensing deadline

    low · Don's speculative commentary on license expiration mechanisms; notes Bond was released incomplete and code unready; suggests similar pressure could force Stern to beat JJP to market

  • ?

    technology_signal: Stern Insider Connected retrofitting to older hardware (e.g., Munsters) requires new metal apron or door-mounted device; technical constraint limiting backward compatibility on early IC-equipped machines

    high · Galloping Ghost staff informed Don that IC retrofitting to Munsters requires hardware replacement; noted as 'one of the first ones they went back and retro-engineered' IC 4

  • $

    market_signal: Speculation that operator-tier Harry Potter would need to be $7-8k range to be attractive, despite $12.5k LE pricing; suggests licensing cost and perceived value may price operators out of premium IP games

    medium · Don paraphrasing Kevin Loza Kid Guys analysis; notes operators unlikely to jump at $11k for any game; expects $7-8k price point for operator adoption

  • ?

    content_signal: Don acknowledges competitive/collaborative podcast landscape; references Lord Kaneda's episode prompting his own; notes appreciation for Kevin Loza Kid Guys' detailed Potter analysis; signals tight community of pinball podcasters covering overlapping content

    high · Opening remarks about 'marching orders from Lord Kaneda'; multiple podcast name-drops (LoserKid, Kevin Loza Kid Guys, Super Awesome Pinball Show); statement 'everybody's got a different take' on Potter

    • 6:34
    But Green Dragon is there. It's fantastic. It's open on Fridays. And, man, you can get these pretzel sandwiches. They take the pretzel dough. They wrap it around hot dogs, little smokies, all kinds of stuff. And then they ask you, like, do you want this dipped in butter? And you're like, I didn't know that was an option. But, yes, I do. And, oh, they are fantastic. And now they spoke a bit about the Amish community too. Now, Amish is not a monolithic organization by any stretch. So for those of us who are outside of that community, we're referred to as English from within the community, Amish is not one thing. Amish is not one people. Different families have their own sets of rules. You might see somebody that, to the uninitiated, may look Amish, and they're using a cell phone. You're like, I thought that was banned. No, sir. It is all referred to as the plain community from the strictly Amish folks to the Pennsylvania Dutch to the Little House on the Prairie cosplayers that call themselves Mennonites and drive around with cars with bumpers they painted black because they don't want to be ostentatious. Anyway, Pennsylvania, fantastic for pinball, fantastic for food, fantastic for roller coasters. What a great state that is. Just wanted to comment. Moving on. Today, I went to Nap Arcade. Well, I got an email from Nap Arcade because I'm on their email list. And wouldn't you know it, there's a Pulp Fiction locally available on location to play now. First one in the country documented that we know about. And wouldn't you know it, it's at Interium in Chicago. Well no Schaumburg you know just south of the Costco across from where they do the Expo Center at the Renaissance So I was there two days ago and I got to play some Galaxy Tank Force Galactic Tank Force Galaxy Tank Force and I give a little review on that But, man, I was just there. I've heard about this place. I was driving through on my way back from Ohio. I stopped in to go shop at the mall, get some stuff from the Lego store, and then I went into this place to play some pinball. And they had great pins. They had every one of the American pinball machines on display. They had a lot of Jersey Jacks, latest games, some of which I'll get to, a bunch of Sterns and everything. Dang, I was able to play a Turtles Premium. The Wi-Fi wasn't on, though, so I didn't get no achievements. Come on, Insider Connected, bring it. But right next to the Jersey Jack line now, there is a Pulp Fiction without a topper, so I've got to assume it's the standard edition or special edition, the SC, whatever they're calling it. But it's there, and you can play it. And gosh dang it, I missed it by two freaking days of all the luck, right? Well, let me give a brief review. Interium, fantastic place, huge arcade, kind of like a Dave & Buster's, but more bowling is what it looked like. I didn't have time to explore the entire place. Large Redemption Arcade, but they had about 15 to 20 pinball machines, all latest releases. Some older ones, too. I think there was a World Cup soccer in there. There was a Whitewater, a Circus Voltaire. So they have some cool oldies. They have all the new Sterns. There was a Foo Fighters Pro that was there. They have a lot of the recent Jersey Jacks, plus every single American pinball underneath a big banner of American pinball with their old logo. So that was fun. I wish I would have had more time to be there. they do a card system but each game is a dollar and one thing I did like about this arcade in particular is that the games or at least the ones that I saw and I played they had the price to pay in an actual dollar amount it wasn't in you know paws or you know zip ties or razor blades or whatever currency that arcades usually use to kind of obfuscate you know the cost you know where you have to do this mental math to say well if I you know pay 50 bucks then I'm paying 25 cents for each one of these whatever made up currency points that they have but for $100, it drops down to 19 cents, so maybe I should do that, but then I'm spending three times as much as I was planning on it. And then you go to play a game and it costs 10 who's at what's its or whatever. No, this was great. This was like $1, you beep the card, they were RFID, so none of that barcode crap. So I like that. Slick place. It was my jam. And I was able to spend some more time now on Galactic Tank Force. Now the dudes over at the Lit Pin Bar in Minneapolis, they let me in before they opened to put a couple games on Galactic Tank Force, for which I am incredibly grateful to them for doing because I was able to play it. That was the first place I got to play it. But because I felt like I was imposing a bit, I did two games and then kind of thanked the guys, gave them some stickers, and then bounced. So this time I was able to put about six games through this, six to ten. And I have some thoughts. Okay, so first off, like I walk up and I'm like, great, this game's on location. I checked the pinball map before I drove through Chicago each way, and nothing was available anywhere, yet here it is. So that needs to be updated, and I should probably be the guy to do it. if somebody hasn't already. But it was on location. It was a dollar to play, three balls. And it was great. I was very excited because I had more time to spend with this game. It was fairly quiet there. It wasn't a very busy day. So I got to play it. And, you know, I have heard a lot about the stand-up targets in front of the tank. So my first couple of games, I just kind of focused on just hitting those tank targets. And, yeah, it would fire back at you as you would expect. I mean, it's a risky shot. A couple of times the ball did bounce over the pop-up save that was in the middle there. I didn't notice that these stand-up targets were bent back like some of the other ones were, so these were just strictly the regular stand-ups. But, you know, yes, okay, you hit it, and it does bounce right back, sometimes goes straight down the middle, which when they do have the save that comes up, that should be prevented, but occasionally it does pop over. And so I think the quick fix for that would be with code, where you just add a ball save after a stand-up target hit like that for just a second or a second and a half. That way, if it does bounce over the flipper, at least your ball is there and it's automatically rejected back in there or launched. So I think that's a way to kind of fix that with code. But I still think this game has some fatal flaws to it. Playing the game, I appreciate the magnets that they put in there. I appreciate the cow, even though it's weird. It's hanging from a noose.
    12:02
    But I didn't mind the shots. The vucks into the ramps were okay. It's definitely not a flowy game like Foo Fighters. and there's a couple of things that are just flawed with it. First off, okay, can we just get the 3D printed sculpts out of the way? They do look like something that I could print and for a game like this, a world-class pinball machine at world-class prices, I want the world-class standard which would be resin sculpts or something. So a company, if they're going to put these into production, they're going to be making hundreds to a thousand of these games, go ahead and outsource this to a production company and get some decent sculpts in there that don't look like something that I made. When the little Nordman robot popped up from the middle, I mean, I could see stranding in the negative space within his chest there where he has a little lightning bolt logo. And that's fine if I'm making a mod at home and I'm putting it in my machine all day. That's great. But for something like this, I would expect some higher build quality, especially because the rest of the game is solid. I mean, the cabinet feels great. The flippers feel responsive and they work. the light show in the game is fantastic I mean top shelf the sounds as far as the music and some of the other sounds that are in the gameplay itself I like them there are a couple of grating sound effects it was hard to pinpoint exactly where it was happening but there was this kind of like this ringing ding kind of siren-y sort of pinny tinny sound that would come through sometimes when you first launch a ball and it's like I don't really like that I don't know if it's like it sounds like a targeting system from Star Wars but like turned up very high in frequency. And I would like to see that just go away in the code. That's an easy fix. Please just get that guy out of there. So get that out with code. Get the ball save if the ball runs over the flippers, which, you know, I mean, fatal flaw shouldn't be there to begin with, but I think at least it could be greatly mitigated with code of just a quick ball save.
    13:57
    But, you know, after that, you know, I think the plastic ramps, the wire forms, I think they all work. the placement of the paw bumpers is fine. I do like the Vuck that's in the back that goes up. I like the ball lock mechanism. I like the magnets, and I like the build of the game. The planet in the back and that mirrored back glass at the back of the play field, that's fantastic. But as good as that is, the cringey characters that they got for the video scenes, I watched them because I wanted to see them, but that just really put me off the game. I went into this game, and the first couple of games I put through it, I wasn't really getting deep into the code or anything because I was just playing with the stand-up targets and just firing balls around indiscriminately. And I was like, you know, I kind of like this game. I wish it was available. Maybe I could see myself getting one. Because I have a lineup of five Stern games that are all brand new, so anything else is just cake on that. And I could tolerate a game like this in my game room because it's just different enough, but I have enough variety that I think it could work. And I was really wanting to like this game. I'm like, okay, fantastic. Maybe it's not as bad as people were saying, But then watching a few of those videos, I'm like, you know, Professor Plotnick, come on, man. And then, you know, Sonya Blade, you know, bless her heart.
    15:12
    And I don't know. Maybe there's more variety in there that's not programmed in. But just seeing the same things kind of over again, it was almost like – it was like when I was in college. And it would be Halloween. And then we would go into class. And the professors would all march in. And they all were all dressed up as different characters. and they all had a theme and it was all just kooky and campy because these are college professors doing this. So one year they were all X-Men and the anatomy professor painted himself blue and he was Beast with his white coat professor jacket. And it was great for what it was because we know these guys. We loved them. They were our instructors and they went through the trouble of dressing up into some B-tier costumes or whatever. But that kind of like how this was watching those characters It like the people that we have from work went together and they putting together a skit And you know if I knew these people you know it would make sense But it was like, you know, it's almost like watching Randy Quaid in Independence Day when he's jumping in the fighter pilot, you know, and just some of the cringy things he was saying. This is kind of what I'm getting. No disrespect to these people. They're all very quite talented. They wouldn't be involved in this project if they weren't, you know, already serving another purpose. And this is kind of a secondary thing. But I think there is something to be said about, you know, when you want actors, hire actors, you know, pay the scale and get what you pay for. But regardless, it's fine. It's just for me, I'm not feeling it. So that was detracting. Some of the layout issues, especially the tank, detracting. Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but how about this for a fix for gameplay? Keep the stand-up targets, fine. But, you know, you hit four or five of the stand-up targets, and then all the stand-up targets then drop into the play field, opening up a path underneath that tank with a spinner, or maybe a spinner into a gobble hole that goes to a subway. And then, boom, there's your shot. You're ready. You know, the shields are lowered. Mechagodzilla is ready to be hit or whatever. You hit it, rip that spinner in the middle. Maybe you have to, maybe the spinner is the core of the tank, right? So you hit the drop targets. The drop targets drop, exposing the spinner. And then you've got about 30 seconds to spin that thing 15 times, you know, and then drop into the Vuk or the lower play field or something, or even just shoot straight through, you know, like with a Led Zeppelin. and then the tank explodes, you know, the tank that's made out of an actual sculpt with a mechanism in there. And then maybe it just, you know, explodes and rattles and flashes like the Death Star does in the Star Wars Premium in Ali from Stern. I think that would add such a great moment and almost capture some of the same excitement you get when you play Medieval Madness and you destroy the castle, you know, and you've got to work your way through the five tanks, like you work your way through the five castles. Or Attack from Mars, you know, which this game's compared to a lot. I think this could have been like a modern reimagining of like an Attack from Mars type Brian Eddy game with a main mechanism that, you know, while you're shooting the shots and going around, you also have this subplot of battling these tanks that come up. So I think that would work. This game still hasn't released as far as I'm concerned. This game's not available. You can put down a pre-order, but they're not getting delivered. I'm seeing no unboxings. I'm seeing a few of them show up on site. These are probably ones that were already made, ones that have been appearing at shows, but I don't think this game is in serious production yet. And that may be because it's at the design stage again, and they're going through some last-minute changes. So if there is time, I think this would, at least for the upper-tier levels, this would be an interesting, satisfying mechanism. If this could be designed with a tank, leave it where it is, leave the stand-up targets, but motorize them so they drop down below the play field, exposing a spinner that you can hit and then build up enough heat to overload the tank and then, boom, shoot the tank and the tank explodes and then the whole mechanism resets and then you go on to the second form of it. I think that would work. All right, I'm going to move on from Interium. I spent plenty of time there. I want to go back. I still have money on my card, and I need to go back now for Pulp Fiction. That will happen in two weeks when I'm back in Chicago. While I was in Chicago, though, I went to the Galloping Ghost Pinball Arcade. Now, this is a two-location place in Brookfield or something, one of the towns around the western part of Chicago. And it was a pay-one-price arcade. It was $20. The price was going to go up to $25 this summer, it looks like. And they have, like, 50 or so games at the pinball place. They also have a pay-one-price arcade up the street. If you save your receipt, you get $5 off if you want to go up there, or vice versa, go one or the other. But they had some interesting games. So it wasn't just all the modern Sterns, all the modern JJPs, all the modern APs. They did have about three modern Sterns, three to four.
    19:33
    Elvira was there, Munsters, a Led Zeppelin Premium, and a Godzilla. But they had a smattering of a bunch of rare stuff that I have never played before. Q-Bert pinball game. That was fun and fantastic. Medusa? You've all played Medusa? I think it's an old Bally Williams. It looks like probably something that came out a couple years after Fathom. I haven't looked it up, but that was a fun, fantastic game. It had a play area at the back of the play field. You know, you pinball guys, you probably know all about Medusa more than I do. But it was cool seeing that mechanism where, like, the upper flippers can come together, and, you know, you can kind of flip around and try to hit the stand-up targets in the back, and then they separate again, let the ball roll down. So that was a fun game from that kind of era of what I'm thinking must be early 80s. I'll look it up when I get off of here. But they also had this homebrew Predator pinball machine, which I have never seen or even heard of. Apparently this was a one-off homebrew that they then were able to purchase, and it was actually working. So that was fun to get to play. So they had a lot of just like rare things that I haven't really seen, even at expos and conferences. So if you're in the Chicago area, $20, $25 this summer, it's worthwhile to stop by and play. Now one of the reasons I went there was because they had a Monsters Premium And I was looking through my Insider Connected account And there's a couple of Insider Connected games It just says I have no record of ever playing And one of those was Monsters And so I was hoping I could go there And I'm like this is a big arcade They'll have Insider Connected and everything They didn't I think they had Insider Connected on Godzilla And that was it So I'm still looking for a Monsters with Insider Connected So I can go and actually get these achievements Particularly if they're on location but other than that it was a fun place, it's definitely worth a stop by the guys are really great, I dropped off a bunch of stickers for them, so thanks for coming by, they even called and said is there a way to get the Insider Connecting working on Munsters there is, but since it's such an older game it's one of the first ones that they went back and retro-engineered Insider Connected 4, and so you probably have to buy a new metal apron if you can even find one, to have it added to the apron otherwise you'd have to put it in the door so that could be part of the hold up but guys if you could it sure would be awesome if there was an insider connected device on there or even maybe one you can just move around. Also I'd like to say that I am warming up a bit more to Led Zeppelin it's still not a game that I think I want to own. I do like the theme but it was fun playing it I did like the shots and the spinner mechanism that drops beneath the playfield that's fun. I think the premium minimum if you're going to play the pro really just doesn't have much satisfying mechanisms or anything. And this is coming from a guy who owns Star Wars. Moving on, what else do I have? Oh, a new segment I wanted to do. So I wanted to do a segment where I talk about some games that seem to be lauded in the community, but for me personally, I find them kind of overrated. Let's go with the first one. I was paged last night. Came from your dad's office at the arcade.
    22:28
    So? Well, the number's been disconnected for 20 years. Two nights before he disappeared, he came to my house. He said he was about to change everything. Science, medicine, religion.
    22:41
    He wouldn't have left that, Sam. He wouldn't have left you. Alan, you're acting like I'm going to find him sitting there working. Just, hey kiddo, lost track of time.
    22:55
    Wouldn't that be something? Oh, that's right. Coming straight out of Flynn's Arcade with Tron. What? I'm going to get some heat for this, I know. But come on, guys. I've played Tron on location several times. I've wanted to like it. I dig the aesthetic of it. I really do. I love Tron, both the old film, the new remake. I love that aesthetic. I love Electronica, the dance party that was at Disney's California Adventure for a few years in the early 2000s. But when playing this game, I'm just not getting any kind of satisfying, deep, rewarding experience from playing it. You know, every time I see it on location, I throw a game or two through it, but I'm like, yeah, okay. You know, they got the red tank mech there at the back. You know, you got the little hole with the Vuk and the little arcade machine is kind of cool. I like the lights and the ramps, but I don't see what's so dang satisfying about this for everybody. It okay to shoot but you hit the plastic ramps and then your ball back at the in lane Like what am I missing with this game Am I just too naive What is the deal with Tron that makes it such a rewarding amazing experience I mean you know like better than you know a Jurassic Park Iron Maiden Godzilla something you know Why is it better than Whitewater, Medieval Madness, you know, some of these other games? It's better than Fire, you know. Yeah, I'll give you that. But I just don't have – I just feel, ugh, about it, you know. It's like, you know, if I play it or I don't, it's kind of, ugh, it's fine. What is it about Tron? That just seems so amazing. I just played it again tonight on my virtual pin that I have, which has great rumble, great force feedback, high definition. You can play the game regular. You can play it where it's playing movie clips in the back glass. I mean, it's a fun, engaging game. I get the sounds and the call-outs and everything and replicate the gameplay. But still, I'm like, why is it rated so highly? I mean, I've warmed way up to Deadpool, but all the times that I've played Drawn, I've played it on several locations. I've played it virtual. I don't know. What am I missing? Let's go to the next one.
    24:57
    Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the chocolate room. Alright. We're going to step into a little pure imagination. This is sacrilicious, right? I've got haters already writing emails. I can believe it. So, Willy Wonka, Jersey Jack. I get it, I love this theme I love this movie, I love these songs I've seen this movie a hundred times, I've read the books this introduced me to Roald Dahl I've read just about every other young novel that he did, I think I did a book report on James and the Giant Peach about ten different times when I was in grade school I love it man, I just about have a gobstopper tattoo but I don't get it man I don't know if it's the shallowness of the theme integration because the songs aren't there but I've tried to really enjoy this because I know how much people love it. They're like, this is the best shooter, you know, Pat Lawler genius, whatever. This was supposed to be Toy Story. But, I mean, there's a lot of ball pass. I mean, everything is there, but, like, I just feel like there's no depth, no soul for me, like nothing to grab me to play this game. You know, so what am I missing with Wonka? You know, is it the shots? Am I playing bad versions? Am I just a bad pinball player? Am I a terrible human being because I just don't seem to care that much for Willy Wonka? Like, you know, if I caught one at a deal, you know, like $3,000 under market, I still don't know if I'd want it because I just don't have fun playing it that much. I mean, you know, I played it on location. I played it at friends' houses. You know, there's a virtual version on my VP, which is fairly terrible. But, you know, it looks good. It's got ramps. I love ramps. I love shots. Gobble holes are fun. There's some elevator in the back that I never got to play with. Maybe that's it. Maybe I'm just a bad player and I haven't played deep enough in there to really get it. maybe I'll get it one day. I mean, I'll keep giving it a chance when I play it on location, but it was there at Ethereum. I walked right by it. Guns N' Roses was there. I walked right by it. I used to own that, so that's not a big deal. Godfather was there. I just walked by that, and I just played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which I got a free game on, and then I played a lot of Galactic Tank Force, and then I was kind of short on time. But why is it with Willy Wonka? Why is it better? Why don't I like it? I should like it. By all accounts, I should like it. I think I like dialed in way more than I like Willy Wonka. Pirates of the Caribbean I really like. I like Wizard of Oz more than Willy Wonka. I don't know what it is. I want to like it, guys. I'm not just trashing it just to be contrary. I want to like this game, but I don't get it. So give me some feedback and comments of what I'm missing or what I need to do to really appreciate this game on a level that I see everybody really calling about. Maybe it's just good shooters and that's all people need and they're happy with that. I like a little story, a little depth, a little music, a little razzle and dazzle, you know. All right, moving on. I covered a lot of stuff today. One thing I did today is merch drop. I dropped two new merchandises. One more time, Airhorn. All right. Was that cringe AF now for the kids? So I've got a Gorgar t-shirt, all right, and I've received all sorts of views on my Gorgar graphic. Okay, so what I've been doing for my Fathom, you know, Mermaid shirt, and then this one, I'm like looking back at those classic games that are pretty iconic with their imagery and I'm trying to take away, you know, give it to my artist and have him come up with an interpretation and then throw my Don's Pinball podcast on there to make something interesting. You know, I didn't want to just make a shirt that just has a small logo up in the left breast area that just says, you know, Don's Pinball podcast and here it is. Give me $25. I'm hungry. You know, I want to give you something and I love big graphics on shirts, big loud graphics. I'm all about it. so he came up with this design and it's Gorgar in a cave the scantily clad woman is there and it's all drawing on this imagery from Gorgar he put the snakes in there pinball machine skulls it's heavy, this would be a cool rock album logo it's not super death metal it's not gory but it comes a little harder and I had people, especially people from the Gorgar fan group and they're just like I want one, how do I get one, let me send you money send me one as soon as you have one and I'm like, fantastic man, we're popping off And I have other people saying, you know, I really liked your other two logos. This one, I'm just not feeling. So the community has been divided. I've had people like Love React and people put like Haiti faces on it. So what a polarizing t-shirt. Is it a polarizing game? I mean, I have a soft spot for Gorgar. When I was playing Pinball Arcade on the PlayStation, it was one of the tables that I had. And I was exploring these kind of older games. And so the first older game that I really played that I actually enjoyed the gameplay on, it wasn't just doing it for nostalgia. This is a game that came out in 1979. I mean, I was born that year. So, like, I have this kind of weird connection with Gorgar. He's a demon. The game is fully demonic. There's no music. It's just a heartbeat that quickens as you play with these weird 70s call-outs, man. I got something for Gorgar. And, like, the snakes and everything. Man, this is great. I love this logo. I've ordered a bunch. I've already sold one. So, if you want one, donspinballpodcast.gmail.com. $25. I'll mail it to your door. If you want to add another shirt, just give it another $20 and tell me which one you want. I've got four different lines now, four SKUs. I'm so excited about that. I have extra-larges and double Xs coming. The other shirt, I've had another artist just design me a nice round Don's Pinball Podcast logo. It's got a pinball machine with a microphone on it. Pretty simplistic, but if you don't want the ostentatious graphics, it's another cool shirt that you can get. I got pictures up on the Facebook page of Don's Pinball Podcast, which is what you're listening to. So on the Facebook page, there's photos of that. Same price, $25. I got them on order. I'm going to get them in two weeks so you can pre-order now. Give me those non-refundable deposits, man. Now, you know, again, these shirts are fairly expensive. $25 really barely covers the expenses of them. I'm doing this just to put something cool that's out there, you know. So if you want to rep the brand and help me spread my message, that's really what it's for. Another way you can contribute is on the Patreon page for Don's Pinball Podcast. It's still only $5. Go ahead and join there. And then if you want stickers or other things that I come up with, refrigerator magnets, random stuff, if you're a Patreon member all you got to do is just email me and I'll send that stuff out otherwise if you would like just some stickers you want a refrigerator magnet a keychain just some random stuff go ahead and just email me donspinballpodcast at gmail.com give me your address and then Venmo or PayPal me five bucks just to cover the shipping of that and I will do it or take that five bucks contribute on Patreon let's prove all the haters wrong do I even have haters who could hate this content who could hate this great content that I'm bringing to the community every week and that I have done 43 times. Did you see on Instagram, Pinball Brothers did a little factory tour? It was really quick. It wasn't a comprehensive thing. So I don't know if it's quite pizza worthy, but it's out there. I think that's all the news up to the moment. Let's see what the weekend's going to bring us, guys. Man, crack some margaritas or just some orange juice if you're otherwise staying nice and sober and not so toasted. Have yourselves a good evening. Thanks, everybody.