Episode 1062 (FREE SHOW): "Kaneda Launches a Kickstarter!"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·25m 15s·held·Mar 12, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.041

TL;DR

Kaneda mocks cheap pinball Kickstarter, criticizes Multimorphic platform adoption, warns JJP about Harry Potter stakes.

Summary

Kaneda launches a satirical Kickstarter campaign to push a cheap $799 Alice pinball machine off a roof, criticizing the pinball community's reactions to low-cost machines and Kickstarter funding models. He extensively critiques Multimorphic's P3 platform for lack of market appeal despite technical innovation, expresses skepticism about Jersey Jack Pinball future (particularly Avatar's failed UV lighting feature), and predicts the next unrevealed game is Goonies. He also reflects on unsustainable secondary market pricing and shifting economic conditions forcing industry consolidation.

Key Claims

An $800 Alice pinball machine Kickstarter is asking for $100k goal with no refunds after reaching threshold, potentially allowing founders to pocket money even if project fails
high confidence · Direct discussion of Kickstarter funding mechanics and project structure
Multimorphic has not sold 500 units across their entire P3 platform history
medium confidence · Kaneda states 'They haven't even sold 500 units' but does not cite source; this is his assessment based on public data
Jersey Jack Pinball Avatar Limited Edition owners are using aftermarket UV blacklights from Home Depot to create eclipse effects because the machine's built-in system doesn't work properly
high confidence · Kaneda describes specific customer workaround observed online
Toy Story Limited Edition and Godfather Limited Edition have lost $12k-13k combined in resale value for individual collectors
medium confidence · Kaneda's personal collection experience; specific to his purchases
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory has the best code among Jersey Jack Pinball games, though it was made 'so hard'
medium confidence · Kaneda's opinion on code quality comparison across JJP titles
Portal is going to be the first public reveal of a Multimorphic game and will likely be their best-engineered title with more innovative toys than modern competitors including Harry Potter
medium confidence · Kaneda's prediction based on Multimorphic's historical pattern
Jersey Jack Pinball can operate for months or years without releasing new games due to their financial runway, unlike Stern which requires constant production
medium confidence · Kaneda's analysis of manufacturer business models
Secondary market pinball prices from 3 years ago (Metallica LE $18k, Ghostbusters LE $17k, Walking Dead LE $14k) will never be reached again
medium confidence · Kaneda's market analysis and commentary on price normalization

Notable Quotes

“How stupid can this community be? That's like someone sending me a freaking Power Wheels toy saying that I paid too much for my Dodge Demon.”
Kaneda @ ~2:00 — Opening statement criticizing community reaction to low-cost Kickstarter pinball; sets dismissive tone
“I'm going to drive it to Todd Tuckey's place at TNT Amusements. And I'm going to push this damn thing off the roof. That is what I plan to do with the $1,000.”
Kaneda @ ~4:30 — Core satirical premise of Kickstarter campaign; humorous deflation of product quality
“This company could have set up this whole thing and this guy could walk away with almost a half a million dollars and then announce that the project wasn't feasible.”
Kaneda @ ~6:00 — Critique of Kickstarter funding mechanics and fraud risk
“They haven't had a hit game ever. Sam Stern Pinball has sold more John Wick than this company has ever sold.”
Kaneda @ ~10:30 — Direct criticism of Multimorphic's sales performance and market impact
“It is like serving lobster on top of cardboard. Imagine having a lobster dinner and you're cutting into it over cardboard. That's what this is because people don't want the platform.”
Kaneda @ ~14:00 — Metaphorical summary of Multimorphic's core market problem; innovation without buyer demand
“If Jersey Jack Pinball has nothing on the line for four months, they can stay in business. If Jersey Jack Pinball doesn't put out a game for a year, they could stay in business. That's not how Sam Stern operates.”
Kaneda @ ~25:00 — Key business model differentiation between manufacturers; explains design philosophy divergence
“I would rather spend $10,000 on a Disney vacation with my children than buy a pinball machine. That's where I'm at. Because those memories will live forever. The pinball machine won't.”
Kaneda @ ~40:00 — Personal philosophy shift; reflects broader market saturation and priority realignment commentary

Entities

KanedapersonJerry StellenbergpersonGary Sternperson Eric Meunierperson Multimorphiccompany Jersey Jack PinballcompanyStern Pinball

Signals

?
business_signal: Multimorphic's operational viability questioned despite claimed decade of unpaid founder work; questions how company sustains operations without transparent unit sales numbers.
medium · Kaneda challenges: 'He hasn't taken a salary in a decade. Sure. He hasn't made any money in a decade. Is he a robot? Is he someone who doesn't need food and sustenance? How does he pay his bills?' Demands transparency: 'I will turn a page and a new chapter on Multimorphic... if they tell us how many units they have sold.'
?
business_signal: Unsustainable new game release cadence (4-5 games in 6 weeks) with questionable buyer capacity to absorb inventory at inflated prices.
medium · Kaneda asks: 'How are we going to absorb four to five new games over the next six weeks? How is that going to actually be successful? How many people are going to keep putting deposits down on things they can't actually afford?'
?
community_signal: Kaneda's Kickstarter campaign (requesting $1k to destroy cheap Alice machine) represents meta-commentary on community engagement and satirical content strategy.
high · Kaneda describes Kickstarter campaign as entertainment/satire superior to the actual product being destroyed; frames content creation as differentiation from product-focused manufacturers.
~
sentiment_shift: Growing skepticism about Multimorphic's business model despite acknowledged technical excellence; P3 platform adoption remains fundamentally blocked by consumer preference for traditional pinball machines.
high · Kaneda states: 'There is no market research out there that says people want to swap out these modular things... people don't want the platform... If they wanted it, you would have had a lot more people buying it over the last 10 years.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.076

0:00

I am begging each and every one of you, stop sending me that Alice Kickstarter story. I saw it went live yesterday. I've been following this game like the rest of you. I don't care. This thing is a cheap tinker toy. How stupid can this community be? I mean that. Why do people keep sending me this being like, see, These guys can do it for $799. We're getting ripped off by Jersey Jack and Stern Pinball. People wake up. How stupid can you be? That's like someone sending me a freaking Power Wheels toy saying that I paid too much for my Dodge Demon. This thing is going to be a plastic piece of junk. how can they make a pinball machine for $799 and make a profit? Think about that. That means the cost to make this machine for them is going to be around like $300 to $400 at most. So if you think you're getting a quality product, it's going to be like cardboard people and plastic. I'm so sick of this thing. And here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to create Canada's Pinball Podcaster, the Canada Kickstarter. And here's how it's going to work. Look for it in the next week or so. I am going to raise on Kickstarter $1,000. That's what I'm going to ask of all of you. That's my goal. And if we hit the goal of $1,000, I'm going to buy one of these $800 Alice machines. I'm going to spend the rest of the money on gasoline. I'm going to drive it to Todd Tucky's place to TNT Amusements. And I'm going to push this damn thing off the roof. That is what I plan to do with the $1,000. And if you want to contribute more than that, thank you. I will take Brenda out to dinner with the money over the $1,000. Look for the Canada Kickstarter real soon. And I can guarantee you that my Kickstarter moment will be much more entertaining than the cheap plastic tinker toy version of Alice. And also, people, wake up. Do none of you know, and I don't even think it was any of you, the people that donated to this thing are moronic because they don't know the way Kickstarter works. There's a reason why he set the goal at $100,000. You and I both know. You can't start a pinball manufacturing company for $100,000. But the reason why they set the goal at that is if they don't reach the goal of $100,000, then everybody who donated gets a refund. But the moment they hit that goal, nobody gets any money back. This thing could go belly up and nobody gets a refund. Not only that, any money raised over that $100,000 goes directly into their pockets. So think about that for a minute. This company could have set up this whole thing and this guy could walk away with almost a half a million dollars and then announce that the project wasn't feasible. And after they ran the numbers on production, they couldn't make it work. and he can ride off into the sunset with only having made a prototype of the game and never getting customers their products. I don't think it's going to go that way. I don't know if it's going to go that way. But what I do know is that he now has $450,000 that he doesn't have to return to anybody. And you might have just paid his salary. This thing could have been fully financed and independently financed by an outside investment group. And you just gave this guy half a million dollars. And again, I don't know why I'm saying they. I know nobody who listens to Canada's Pinball Podcast donated to this thing. I can't even get you guys to donate $10 a month, let alone buy an $800 Tinker Toy. And I apologize to those of you out there who are offended. He did it again. Canada did it again. He just made fun of us for only making a $5 donation a month, and he's busking for $10 a month. I'm so sorry. If you're a grown man and you're upset that Canada is asking you to raise the roof because he does two to three shows a week, a 90 minute live show. Everybody, are you not entertained?

5:00

Jerry, where's your portal game? Did you see this? Gary Hardy coming out, telling us, hey guys, something about me you didn't know. I've been secretly under NDA with Jerry at Multimorphic. Well, let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, Kaneda has not been secretly under the NDA of Jerry Stellenberg. I'm free. Kerry doesn't know what it's like to be free. Kerry's got to keep his mouth shut. And now he's saying that Portal's going to be a hit. You see this stuff? It's going to be a hit. And he's saying it's the best multi-morphic P3 game to date. Let me tell you something. That's like saying this is the best Canadas pinball podcast to date. Do you know how damn low the bar is on this pinball podcast? Do you know how damn low the bar is on multi-morphic games? Saying it's the greatest multi-morphic game to date isn't saying anything at all. They haven't had a hit game ever, Kerry. They haven't had a hit game ever. Stern Pinball has sold more John Wick pros than this company has ever sold Spooky Pinball has sold more Rob Zombies than Multimorphic has ever sold So I am at the point now with Multimorphic. I understand you're doing all this work. I think Jerry said something like he hasn't taken a salary in a decade. Sure. He hasn't made any money in a decade. Is he a robot? Is he someone who doesn't need food and sustenance? How does he pay his bills if he hasn't taken a salary in a decade? How is he paying all these people to engineer stuff for Multimorphic? We know he's made money off of P-Rock, but Jerry is a genius. He is a genius. He is the kind of guy that can turn a million dollars into a thousand dollars. He's missed the entire pinball money-making wave over the last 10 years. And I know he invested his own money. He invested his family money in Multimorphic. And it's sort of sad to me. It's sort of sad because they haven't even sold 500 units. And I know nobody wants to talk about it like this, but I'll talk about it like this. Look, I hope Portal's a hit. I hope they have a game that's really fun. And the same thing is going to happen when this becomes the best Multimorphic game ever made. The same thing that's going to happen when you saw Weird Al, the same thing that's going to happen when you saw Princess Bride. You're still not going to want one because even though you might want the game, you're not going to want to commit to this platform. And that's the part that's never going to work for Multimorphic. There is no market research out there that says people want to swap out these modular things inside pinball machines. And you know what's funny to me is they make this modular system where you could swap in, And the last third of the play field becomes Lexi Lightspeed. It becomes Heist. It becomes Final Resistance. It becomes Princess Bride. Cool. So you're swapping them in and out. And what's the one thing this company's never made? They didn't even make a thing where you could store those extra modular versions of the play field or the sections of the play field. They have to leave it up to the community to design something to store those units. If you're going to make something like this, like even when we bought Nintendo cartridges when we were kids, right? Because this is what Jerry wants to make. He wants to make something that's more like a console, and then you're going to buy new games for the console. Okay, when Nintendo sold us all those cartridges, they also sold you something to put the cartridges in so you can have a nice sort of display of the things you own. He's never done that. Not that these things are small like Nintendo cartridges, but my thing is this, Jerry, just get the game out. Just show us what the game is. I'm at the point now where it's really crazy to me that like portal from Multimorphic. It's going to be the first game we see. And we'll see. I bet it is the best game they've ever made. I bet it's got the best engineering. I bet it's got the best toys. I mean it when I say it. This game is going to have more wow in it than Harry Potter. I mean it. The engineers over at Multimorphic are going to put more toys in it. They're going to be more innovative. They're going to do more than like most of these modern pinball companies are doing. But here's the caveat. They're doing it on a platform people don't want. It is like serving lobster on top of cardboard. Imagine having a lobster dinner and you're cutting into it over cardboard. That's what this is because people don't want the platform. What you're serving them up is not what they want. If they wanted it, you would have had a lot more people buying it over the last 10 years, Jerry. And the thing is, this is still a company that refuses to tell us how many units they've sold. So here's the thing. I will, I will turn a page and a new chapter on Multimorphic and be more positive if, if they do one thing, if they tell us how many units they have sold, because I don't want to give credit to something unless it deserves credit. And I mean that. And look, again, the game's going to be probably really awesome. And here's the thing. You're going to want to play it, but at a show, you're going to want to play it on location. You're not going to find any on location, but it's just a real dilemma for pinball buyers. Now, do you want to go in on this? Because if you commit to this platform, you're also kind of have to commit to getting the other games. And you know it. You know it. You're going to be like 20,000 in on a multimorphic with all of its games and you go to sell it and you'll be lucky to get $10,000. And that's the state of pinball now. And so did you see this guy? Speaking of the state of pinball now, did you see this guy? He's got an avatar CE and he solved the issue with the UV lighting. Oh, congratulations. Someone has finally solved how to make the game look and feel more like Stranger Things when you go into that moment. the bioluminescent eclipse happening during the Pandora world, right? And so what the guy had to do, he went to like Home Depot and got a UV blacklight, put it on a tripod and it's like bent over. It almost looks like a four by six inch blacklight. And he toggles it on and off when the game goes into eclipse mode. It is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. If you are working at Jersey Jack and this was the big feature on your machine, all of you, all of you, Mark Seiden, everybody over there, Tom Capera, Eric Minier, I love you guys. You should be embarrassed that you are watching your customers have to do this to create the effect in your game that you sold us on in your $100,000 video. To me, Avatar is the past. This game is not going to sell that much. It's going to tank in value. It's not going to be a game people really want. It's beautiful. But you know what? You hoodwinked everybody with that reveal video and I'm over it. I'm looking forward to Harry Potter. I think Potter is the moment this company either shows us they can do it or it going to be the moment where people shoulder shrug walk away and you going to start to see more and more people supporting companies like Spooky people that are putting the passion in, and Jersey Jack is heading south unless they nail Potter. Doesn't matter how beautiful the games are. Look at the resale value on a Godfather CE. You are now losing $6,000 to $7,000 on a game. When you really sit down and think about what that means, I supported Jersey Jack Pinball and on two games, let's just take Toy Story CE and Godfather CE. On those two games, you lost between $12,000 and $13,000 if you go to sell it today. I haven't even lost that much money on a Dodge Demon over six years. And so this is just the new state of pinball. And you got to think, people, how long are customers going to line up if they keep absorbing all of these things? And if they made Toy Story 1, you wouldn't have lost a penny. If they made Toy Story 1, I would own one. You would own one. If they made Toy Story 1, Andy's Room, Pizza Planet, The Claw, if they made the Toy Story everybody wanted, you still would not be able to get one. Those CEs would be bolted to the floor. They only made Godfather because Jack wanted to make it. Makes no sense. Harry Potter is their moment. Gentlemen, it's time. You know it's time. The game is done. We're going to see it real soon. I'm excited because it's all or nothing on this. They're never going to go out of business. You have to understand this. When people say Jersey Jack needs to nail this, they don't need to nail this for money. They don't need to nail this to stay in business. they need to nail this for their own pride for their own legacy Brett Avis Eric Minier everybody over there Jack Winari this is your legacy and I know you think you've made games that people are appreciating but I don't think you're really reading the room you guys have all the resources to make the greatest pinball that's ever been made and you haven't really hit the way you should be hitting and you're only as good as your last game. If you make a magical potter game that has great flow, great toys, great theme integration, great artwork, you know what you need to do, right? I don't need to tell you what to do. You get to walk in every day and have a dream job. You get to walk in every day. You've got unlimited funding. You've got Eric who loves this theme. You've got a focus, right? This company has the ability to focus on one game at a time over a two-year period, right? They didn't rob this game from your hands, Eric, the way they robbed X-Men from Jack and forced him to release it early because Stern has to keep that huge factory going. If Jersey Jack has nothing on the line for four months, they can stay in business. If Jersey Jack doesn't put out a game for a year, they could stay in business. That's not how Stern operates. It's not. And so Jersey Jack, you've got all the resources. You've got all the time. You've got all the feedback right after a decade of us giving these guys feedback. Now's the moment. And that's why I'm so excited to see what they do. And don't mistake me for some strident, vitriolic, a-hole Canada. I want this game to be amazing. I want Eric Minear to show us what he's got. I want this game to be a combination of sort of Elton John gameplay meets the toys and fun of games like Wizard of Oz and Pirates meets the sort of satisfaction of Willy Wonka layout meets the sort of code enthusiasm we have. You know, I'm trying to think of like which Jersey Jack game has the best code. I would probably say it's Willy Wonka. Really? It really is. The problem is they made it so hard. But you know what I'm saying? It's like we shouldn't have to struggle for this much money to land on a Jersey Jack game where the code is incredible. We're going to get there and it's going to happen in less than two months. All right. So we got portal. We got all this is going out the door. Barrels of fun. All right. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I want to make my final guess and I'm probably going to be wrong, but I want to make my final guess on what I think the barrels game is because I'm tired of seeing just the exclamation flipper. I'm tired of seeing that on my here's what's coming out. And the only one I'm not making a guess on is barrels. And it's really just a few weeks away. I'm going to tell you right now what my guess is. And I think it's Goonies. That's it. That's Canada's final guess. I think it's Goonies. I think they've been sandbagging us. I think they've done a good job. I think they've misdirected us. I think they've put out rumors that aren't real. And I think it's going to be Goonies. I think there's going to be a massive pirate ship under the glass. And I think they've done a great job keeping it under wraps. And I also think there's a 95% chance I could be wrong. But I want to just tell you, that's my final guess. Like if this is an episode of Traders and we're writing down with chalk on a little chalkboard and I'm going to turn it over and be like, look, you know what, David? You know what, team? You know what? I think it's Goonies. I don't even know if that is a good metaphor for what I'm saying right now. But anyway, that's it. Here's the other thing. We're going to know about this game in less than four weeks. So it's going to happen. Then we're going to get Predator. Then we're going to get Harry Potter or King Kong. And it's all coming in the next two months. It's about to get really exciting. Texas Pinball Festival is like, what, like nine days away. Normally people would reveal their stuff before TPL. That's what's going to happen with Portal. I think we're going to see that any day now, probably end of this week, sometime into next week. So it's about to get really exciting. Everybody, thank you for being a member of the Canada Club. Hopefully you got some entertainment here Hopefully this is the one show that never going to I don want to be under NDA Hey something you didn know about me guys is I been talking to Jerry Stellenberg behind the scenes. Carrie, you know, I love you. You know, I love you. Your content is great. And Hey, it's fun to see stuff early. I don't really like seeing stuff early because it's more fun for me to leak stuff and to spoil the plans of these precious pinball companies. Think about everything going on in the world. We haven't talked about how everyone's investment portfolios has been decimated. Everyone's crypto has been decimated over the last few weeks. It's rough, people. So right when all these pinball companies are getting ready to ask you to buy $8,000 to $15,000 non-essential elements of your life, you've lost a lot of money. And so it's not a good time to drop something like this into the world. I think a lot of you are going to start closing up your wallets. I think a lot of you are going to learn how to be satisfied with what you've got in life. And I think we're heading into a period just to sort of reawakening. There's too much stuff out there in the world. I was talking to my friend about this. Like, look at all the cars and watches and toys, like all the collectible things. There's just so much of it. At some point you wake up, You're like, honey, I'm happy with what we have and I don't need more. When you reach that supernal realm in life, you will be a lot happier. See, it makes it easy when the economies tank because when the economies tank, you don't even have to come to that conclusion on your own. The world has forced you into a situation where you can't just go buy everything like a little kid in a candy store. You've got to now sort of prioritize what's important to you. And it's going to be fun watching all these games go up for sale. Did you see all these like Walking Dead? All these are going to start to go up for sale. All these Metallica at least. Everyone's trying to still cash out. And I mean this. The amount of people trying to cash out on prices that are three years ago is crazy to me. Someone started a thread on Pinside. The hobby is blah now. And what they meant by that is, can everyone just stop with the delusion of like thinking you're Metallica LE? The old one is still worth like 18 or 15,000. Your Ghostbusters LE is 17,000. Your Walking Dead LE is 14,000. It's over. You're never getting those prices again. And what used to be fun about this hobby, I mean this, we didn't like abuse each other. I mean that. We did not abuse each other. Let me take you back to one moment in my life when I scalped a game. I bought a Ghostbusters LE. I think it was like eight grand. something like that. I sold it not for 18,000, not for 15,000. I got something like 10 grand. That was what we asked over for a game. This was before $2,000 toppers. This was before all these content creators bought every single game imaginable, told you it was the best game ever, and then sold it a week later, right? This was before all of that, right? Well, yeah, it's great. John Wick, at least great. Okay. Yeah. It's an amazing game. I'm so happy. I see my $13,000 in value. And then the game's up for sale on Facebook a week later. You know, you bought a game for eight. It was hard to get. It was impossible to get. They all sold out instantly. And we were happy just putting $1,500 or $2,000 in our pockets. You know, the buyer was happy. They weren't paying astronomical amounts over. And for everything else, people weren't trying to like go crazy. COVID made everything go crazy. And really, it hasn't changed. It hasn't become fun because everything is so astronomically overpriced. And I hope we all wake up. And again, I think the market forces happening in the geopolitical world are going to force it on a lot of us, you know, because I think your brains are still stuck in that COVID pricing pinball world. I think with all these new games coming out, there's going to be a reality, especially for these manufacturers. They're not going to be able to find homes for all of these products. Think about it. How are we going to absorb four to five new games over the next six weeks? How is that going to actually be successful? How many people are going to keep putting deposits down on things they can't actually afford? It's about to get really interesting. You know, for me, two things. My house dictates how many games I can have. At most, I can have two. And the other thing that dictates how many games I want is my mind, like common sense. I won't be happier in life if I get more pinball machines. I won't be happier in life if I add more elements into my life that I don't really need. my priorities are different than some of you. I've got young children. My priority is to get these kids educated, to enjoy every moment as they are young. I would rather spend $10,000 on a Disney vacation with my children than buy a pinball machine. That's where I'm at. Because those memories will live forever. The pinball machine won't. I'll get bored of it and then I'll lose $3,000 to $4,000 when I go to sell it. When I got back from Disney, even though it's overcrowded, yes, and Disney can be stressful. Every time I look back at those photos where we're blowing Killian's mind and Cassian is inside Brenda's belly, we feel great. It's amazing. I want to get as close to that feeling on Jersey Jack Pinball's Harry Potter. I'm curious about Kong. Jerry, I know Portal's going to have a lot of toys in it, but just tell me how many units you've made. And if we raise $1,000 on Kickstarter, Kaneda will push an $800 Alice pinball machine off the roof of Todd Tuckey's building. And I bet it probably won't even break because the thing's going to be made of plastic. It's just going to bounce. Okay, everybody. Happy Wednesday. Kaneda out.