You know, I don't see these companies as in direct competition because I think they're serving different sections of the market. You know, Jersey Jack hitting that 10% of, you know, high-end, sparkly, I-have-to-own-it market for the home. And, you know, kind of high-end locations. And then the other 90% being served by Stern Pinball. But, you know, it's fun that they get along. That was good. That was a wholesome picture. I'm glad I got to see that. So, yeah, a lot of news dropping here in the middle of the week. What the heck is going to happen with the rest of it? What else do I have to talk about? Spooky Pinball is in the news. They are in the news because they are in my basement, as you know. I received my Scooby-Doo topper at the end of last week, and boy, I'm glad that I did. I got it all hooked up, and the thing just looks great. I've had it for about a week. I've put 20 games through it, having fun with that bookcase. I will say that the bookcase mechanism, clever little rack and pinion design system with one of those kind of more robust servo motors on it, comes on with the game when you trigger one of the villain attack modes or the video mode. And there may be some more or some more coming. And then once it's open, it stays open for the rest of the game, you know, playing little clips. The fun thing is when you are in a character battle, it is playing like what appears to be like that whole episode up there on that little screen. And not that you can see it as the player, but like, you know, my wife was sitting there, you know, watching cartoons while I was playing. So it's fun. It's fun. You know, it's a little bit more than just some cut plastics that came on the OEM included topper. So that was nice. I've even seen where my buddy Wes has even taken the old topper and taken those pieces off and has hung them on the back of the other one, making it like into a super hybrid topper. So I'll probably try that out soon. You know, it's fun. It's fun. the code though is the other unsung hero of this. If you haven't played the new Scooby-Doo code update, what are you doing with your life, man? This thing is awesome. The video mode itself is okay. Video modes are video modes, but unlocking it is pretty dang satisfying. The three shots to the drain on the upper play field in quick succession, then you hit that red sling up there, and then it's that secret passage shot down on the main play field that activates it. and then you get to take a break and go up there and throw Scooby Snacks down a hallway. Who doesn't love to do that? I'd like to see the code continue to improve and maybe get other villains running back and forth randomly up there, maybe a couple of Easter eggs. Bug, why don't you get you and Luke up there too? It's just like every now and then just characters are run out, if the licensor allows. I think that'd be funny. But, you know, more call-outs, more modes. They're getting more activation of some of the inserts that didn't really do anything before. So like the green ghost that you can try to grab as he randomly runs around the playfield. It's fun. It's good times. I think people are going to love this topper once they get their hands on it. When are they going to get their hands on it? I heard because I talked to him and asked him that they have the toppers ready to ship here pretty soon So I would imagine this week they may be going out to people But so far the install wasn too difficult and then once it in there and hooked up it been working just fine There's a way to calibrate it so that your door opens and closes smoothly and starts and stops where it should. So yeah, we're having fun with it. And with that big screen up there and the way that these guys are committed to coding and improving their games as time goes on, I think we may see even some more that's up there. So is this going to be a new thing for Spooky? Um, I, I, I'd be, uh, I'd be in favor of that, uh, because the collector's edition versions, well, here's the thing. Their collector's editions are probably always going to include a vinyl cut topper. Like we've been seeing with Halloween, um, an Ultraman and Rick and Morty and, uh, you know, Scooby-Doo here and, uh, Looney Tunes and TCM both have that kind of, you know, depth of field and multiple layer acrylic topper. Um, but then I don't see any, any problem with them coming out with something more robust with a higher build of materials to offer as an option. You know, you don't have to have it. Some people have ceilings that don't even permit the vinyl toppers that come with the CE. So I think that's fun. I'd like to see them, you know, as more of an accessory, even something you could even put on the wall so it interacts as you're playing the game. I don't think there's any problem with that. So I'm looking forward to see if these guys revisit this well, depending on how this experiment goes for them, to see if we get some with Looney Tunes and with TCM. Because, you know, if you could get like some more Looney Tunes characters, maybe animated ones up on the topper. I think I would be down for that. Projections would be fun. I'd like to see him do some stuff with that. Light shows, you know, imagine, you know, playing a game and a disco ball lights come out or something and like fill your room with like glittery lights. I think there's a lot of room to go with these integrated toppers. And Spencer's Gifts is full of things to decorate your game room and dress it in light and lasers. So let's get some laser toppers, man. I want to see some Class C laser devices sitting on top of my machine. So we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. While I have the guys on the horn, it's a flurry of activity there at the Spooky Headquarters right now. They've got these toppers ready to go out. They've got Scooby-Doo's on the line still. And they got their two new games on the line. And it sounds like, to me, that they're nearly ready to start shipping these games. Like within a matter of a few weeks, when I spoke with them, I think it was the 3D sculpts that they were waiting for. The final ones, the final resin painted ones. I think they're still coming from Back Alley Creations. It sounds like they're waiting for those to put in the games, and then the first ones will start to go out. Hopefully I'm low on that list so I can get my Looney Tunes and TCM soon and start playing and, heck, maybe even get back into some live streaming for everybody. So that's what's going on over there at Spooky. Stern Pinball is furiously churning through the first run of the Jaws Pros. I'm back from my trip last week where I was able to go play the Jaws Pro and Premium. I've given my thoughts on the last episode that I did. I like this game. I'm happy to say that I did secure one with Old Town Pinball. They did have a premium for me. Thank you, Sterling, for the hookup with Will down there. So we've got one on order. I'm expecting to have it probably by the first or second week of March. I think that'll be in development at the end of February. And then hopefully I can run down to the factory and pick it up or from that adjacent warehouse and get it to my house. And then we'll do another live unboxing and giveaways and fun stuff. um because you know how i like to do those so uh you know this game uh it's going to be fun the game shoots well already i've shot all the shots that are in it um i enjoy the uh the the code that's in there and the assets that they got from the movie so if this is the earliest that we ever see the code and it's already pretty fun right now i can't wait to see like where this gets to once we're closer to 1.0 1.1 um so yeah jaws solid game gonna be a hit gonna sell better than venom I think we know that. When it comes to production numbers, I was a little taken aback that, you know, given that this game has been done for what sounds like a while design-wise, and I'm sure has been slated to be released when it was, that Stern is running into some supply line issues coming from the factory in China that's going to delay the start of the run of premiums to the point that they're only making, they haven't released any numbers. but you know, I was expecting, you know, 1500 premiums to come off the line in two to three weeks, like two and a half weeks or so. Uh, and it sounds like they're only going to do a few hundred, um, because, uh, from talking to several distributors in my hunt for a Jaws premium, now that I was kind of a little late to the game on deciding that I wanted to get it, uh, sounds like they weren't getting nearly what they were expecting, like maybe 30% of what they were expecting. I haven't heard any hard numbers from anybody. Uh, but the sense that I got was, uh, they were, they were expecting money much more than they did get. Uh, so that is going to have the bonus effect with Stern of keeping demand up for this game and will probably be pretty refreshing to distributors coming off of Venom where that game I feel is probably overproduced for the demand that existed at the time. Venom also came out at a time when the market was on its way dipping down. It's also not a AAA license and the gameplay field is quite barren. Now the code makes up for a ton, especially on that premium. The way the play field changes, the gameplay is fun. I think the gameplay is compelling. I think the art is great. And I became a believer in Venom. Venom Premium. Venom Pro, I still don't know if I would own that one unless I had an arcade. And even then, I'd probably feel pity. Well, the good news is that if you wanted to get out and dress up your arcade and you've been late to the party on Venom, go ahead and pick yourself up an LE for under 10 grand right now and get the best looking version of Venom and the best playing version of Venom as well out for your arcade. So, you know, that's what I would do. If I had held off by now, I probably would have spent the extra 1500 bucks or whatever, and just went ahead and got one for 10 grand. So, you know, that's Venom. I don't think Jaws is going to suffer the same fate though. I'm not totally convinced that Stern is artificially limiting supply on just that premium line in order to, you know, bolster the price in the resale market. But, you know, if they truly did run into some production delays, I think this it'll only help them out. It'll allow them to put some other games on the line as well. And they'll have the line as tied up with Jaws Premium and then still have pent up demand going into the year. So, you know, maybe it was a situation where they took some lemons and they're making themselves some lemonade about it. I know I feel much better that I've been able to secure one Now I feel like I one of the lucky ones But I feel bad for people that were missing out similar to how I was when I was a little late to the party And by the time I showed up they already kind of sold through So we see what happens for the rest of the year. Speaking of, we're going to get two more Cornerstone releases from Stern. They've said that they're back to the production schedule and pace and cadence, love that word, of doing three Cornerstone releases per year. The first one, Jaws, that we got in January. Jaws in January. So I would say by May or June, we'll get another title. And then that gives us time to have another fall release so that by the time we get back to January 2025, there'll be another Cornerstone ready. So that's probably how the year is going to go out. I haven't heard anything official. I haven't heard what the next game is. I've heard whispers from multiple places, you know, and kind of being consistent. So I would think that the next themes are already picked out. The games are probably already designed. I don't know who's designing them. But again, I've heard Dungeons and Dragons. I've heard John Wick. I've heard Pokemon, which Jack Danger, Pokemon, Zombie Yeti, make it happen. Make it happen. I want that game. I want that game. But then there's also, you know, the fourth game that is supposed to come out, you know, we knew about the, you know, the last three of all Met Expectations. So we're supposed to get an Indiana Jones machine at some point. And so far, I haven't heard like a lick of that since, since it was revealed by Kaneda last year or a year ago that we were getting Venom, Jaws, Foo Fighters, and Indiana Jones. Well, so far, three for three. So the next one would be an Indiana Jones. And then another whisper did come through me, and the whisper said, Raiders of the Lost Ark. And my interest immediately perked up. So we've had two Indiana Jones pinball machines, and they've all kind of been a consortium, consolidation of multiple different titles. The first one being a trilogy, and then I think they threw Crystal Skull in the last Stern release. So for them to come back and pick the OG daddy, I mean, as much as I love Temple of Doom, as much as Last Crusade really elevated the trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark started it all. Raiders of the Lost Ark has all of the tropes that you would want from a serialized 1940s type film, right? It's got the crumbling temple with the angry temple idol. And you steal the gold idol. There's booby traps that get set off as you go out. Jock Lindsay is flying the float plane with the tag numbers of C-3PO. Come on. This is the film. You've got Cairo. You've got a snake pit. You've got the Ark of the Covenant. You've got zombies with their faces melting off. It's got everything you would want from an Indiana Jones adventure. and you don't have to worry about cramming in absolutely everything from the entirety of the zeitgeist is Shia LaBeouf. Feel free to sit this one out, send your leather jacket if you want, but, but, but, but have a seat over there. I should drop in like the, just do it sound right here. Um, you know, but I think everything, everything, uh, that is in that movie would be good for pinball shooter rod could be either a gun or a whip, you know, come on. Um, you know, I'm already got the you know the topper has to have a rolling ball on it or be like a sculpted temple up there with like flames and sconces and and have some motion to it i'm already seeing it right now so i think if like the next two cornerstones are raiders of the lost ark and pokemon 2024 there's going to be a rabid um uh fight for game of the year with all these titles those three from stern the two that we got from spooky and barry's food truck from american pinball I'll have to see how the rest of the year goes. Just a smattering of news all over the place. Some company in Australia announced another game for $7,800 that's pool themed. I don't know. Go listen to somebody else talk about it. I don't even know that much about it. I'm not terribly excited about it. You know, Little Shop of Horrors has been dropped as a theme from somebody. Who knows? Everybody and their grandma is making a new pinball company right now. I think that's fun and exciting, and I can't wait to see how it shakes out. Was there anything else that I wanted to cover today? talked about food truck. When are we going to see it? Probably Texas pinball festival. Maybe that was probably what was penciled in to happen. Um, so I would expect, uh, we'll, we'll know more by TPF. This is going to be, this is going to be a fun TPF. I will be there in person. I will be there with my own booth, uh, co-sponsored with balls of steel pinball. Uh, Sterling pinball will be there too. Sterling pinball is not his last name, but I'm going to start calling that from now. I'm cooking up some really wacky ideas when it comes to giveaways, from the podcast at TPF. I don't think just coming up and saying whitewater is going to cut it anymore. We need to do something. We need to step it up. I'm thinking some sort of scavenger hunt, something fun, something interactive. So don't be surprised. Well, actually, you know what? Prepare yourself to be surprised because if what comes to fruition, if what's in my head materializes in this dimension, it's going to knock your socks completely off. So make sure you bring a staple gun to staple your wig back down because Don's Pinball Pocket is about to blow it out to the wall. What else did we have?