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The Pinball Show Ep 87: What I Like, What I Don’t About The Rush Pinball Machine

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·38m 34s·analyzed·Jan 14, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.038

TL;DR

Zach Minney reviews Rush pinball: strong layout and mechs, poor character art, immediate sell-out at $11k LE price.

Summary

The Pinball Show Episode 87 features an in-depth review of Stern's newly released Rush pinball machine, designed by John Borg. Host Zach Minney presents detailed analysis of the game's layout, mechs, art, and pricing across Pro/Premium/LE tiers, expressing appreciation for gameplay features while criticizing the mid-playfield band character artwork. The episode includes industry news updates covering Jack Danger joining Stern full-time, Munsters code update after nearly 2 years, Jersey Jack personnel changes, and strong secondary market demand for Rush LEs at $14,500+.

Key Claims

  • Rush LE sold out immediately at increased MSRP of $11,099 (up from Godzilla's $10,499)

    high confidence · Zach Minney, pinball dealer/distributor correspondent, providing MSRP and sales data

  • Rush has pre-sold more machines than the total annual Led Zeppelin sales despite initially skeptical market outlook

    high confidence · Zach Minney reporting dealer order data and sales performance

  • Band members themselves selected the mid-playfield avatar artwork and were part of the design team

    high confidence · Michael Bernard (Rush designer) correction noted in news segment; confirmed by Gary Stern in dealer seminar

  • Munsters received first code update (V1.10) since March 9, 2020 - nearly 2 years without updates

    high confidence · Craig Bobby, TPN correspondent, reporting Dwight Sullivan code release

  • Jack Danger joining Stern Pinball's game design studio full-time in 2022

    high confidence · Craig Bobby, TPN news correspondent, official announcement

  • Rush has 16 selectable songs at game start, 4 main multiballs, 3 time machine multiballs, 3 challenge modes, 1 mini wizard multiball

    high confidence · Zach Minney reporting from Gary Stern dealer seminar and promotional materials

  • Over 600 custom speech callouts from Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies)

    high confidence · TPN correspondent reporting from official seminar data

  • Stern Insider Connected has 20,000+ registered users with thousands of kits already shipped

    high confidence · Zach Minney reporting Gary Stern's announcement in dealer seminar

  • Secondary market pricing: Rush LE hovering around $14,500-$15,000 before machines even ship

    high confidence · Zach Minney reporting secondary market observations

Notable Quotes

  • “Rush will be the Stern Sleeper hit of 2022, second only to Elowen's next pin due out this summer.”

    Craig Bobby (TPN correspondent) @ ~6:30 — Prediction of Rush's market performance despite initial skepticism; references upcoming Elwin game

  • “It's not about how much the game is, it's what the return is on the game...if you don't see that price dropping on the secondary market, you're not really spending $11,000, are you?”

    Zach Minney @ ~20:45 — Philosophy on LE pricing justification based on secondary market resale value

  • “The characters mid playfield they're about as bad as the Angus face on ACDC Pro...honestly they may be worse they are bad”

    Zach Minney @ ~42:15 — Direct criticism of Rush's most controversial design element - band character artwork

  • “Who are you selling this product to? Are you selling this to the band members? No...You're selling this to consumers.”

    Zach Minney @ ~43:30 — Rebuttal to defense that band approval justifies unpopular character artwork; consumer focus principle

  • “I'd say it's a mixture of both - the market wanting what's new and people loving John Borg games.”

    Zach Minney @ ~26:15 — Analysis of why Rush exceeded sales expectations despite theme unfamiliarity

  • “I'm worried about the number of multiballs in this game...too many multiballs is not a good thing”

    Zach Minney @ ~34:50 — Code design concern about multiball frequency impacting gameplay depth and replayability

  • “The pro is good enough...the pro's stacked, it's full, and it's going to make people very, very happy.”

    Zach Minney @ ~30:00 — Assessment of Pro tier value proposition as a complete game despite Premium/LE additions

  • “John Borg games...he going to try to kick me in the nuts with his outlanes and he going to have a fast flowy game.”

    Zach Minney — Characterization of John Borg's design philosophy - challenging, fast-paced gameplay requiring skill

Entities

John BorgpersonZach MinneypersonJack DangerpersonDwight SullivanpersonTim SextonpersonJohn BernardpersonGary SternpersonGeddy Leeperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern Insider Connected platform has 20,000+ registered users; thousands of kits already shipped with thousands more planned for January; indicates strong adoption of connected/digital infrastructure

    high · Zach Minney reporting Gary Stern's announcement in dealer seminar about Insider Connected growth

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Secondary market strongly favoring premium/LE tiers over Pro; smaller ratio difference between Premium and Pro sales on Rush vs. Godzilla and Mandalorian, but still heavily premium-focused

    high · Zach Minney dealer analysis: 'ratio or discrepancy between how many premiums sell to every pro...smaller than we had seen...on Godzilla...on Mandalorian, but still pretty heavily favoring the premium here'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Rush's mid-playfield band character artwork heavily criticized as poorly resembling the actual band members; compared negatively to ACDC Pro's Angus face

    high · Zach Minney: 'The characters mid playfield they're about as bad as the Angus face on ACDC Pro...honestly they may be worse they are bad'

  • $

    market_signal: Stern LE games increasingly positioned as collectibles with recurring 'collect them all' strategy; focus on creating Premium features that collectors want; trend of immediate LE sell-outs at premium pricing

    high · Zach Minney: 'With each Stern release, it's more becoming a collectible type of thing. Stern LEs, collect them all...With each Stern release, last couple have been heavy on the premiums...creating premiums that the collector wants'

  • $

    market_signal: Rush exceeded pre-release sales expectations; dealer reports pre-selling more Rush units than total Led Zeppelin annual sales despite lower theme familiarity

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.116

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised.
0:12
The Pinball Network is online. Launching the Pinball Show. Pinball is a game of skill. For some, it's a passion and a lifestyle.
0:29
It's time for the Pinball Show. It's pinball with personality. Hey gang, it's episode 87 of the Pinball Show. Your host, Zach Minney. It's better late than never. Am I right? Isn't that what they say? Of course, that really doesn't work if you're hearing it from a one-night stand you had in Cancun, Mexico. Uh-oh. We have a nice snackable little show today. and here in a couple days you'll have dennis and i back for episode 88 snackable i'm hungry reminds me of lunchables anybody tear into some lunchables i'm not too proud to say it little hayman swiss and so this is my go-to i don't get into the lunchables though that have the like the pizza and stuff the cold sauce on crack no no no no dennis creasel doesn't know what a lunchable is he buys all that off-brand shit so for him it would be package digestibles Packaged digestibles with prune juice and no meat. Just crackers. Let's jump over to the correspondents to see what type of news they have this week for you. It's time for TPN Industry News.
1:43
A belated happy and healthy new year, everyone, and welcome to the pinball show's stern news update. I'm Craig Bobby. And what a start to the new year it is. First off, we have Twitch personality and Stern brand ambassador Jack Danger joining Stern's pinball game design studio full-time this year and then most recently live-streaming Stern's newest pinball release, Rush, earlier this week. All the world is indeed a stage for Stern's Jack Danger.

Cactus Canyon Essies small production run beginning this week/next week, with LE expected February and SE+ late March

medium confidence · Zach Minney providing timeline estimates based on production patterns, not official confirmation

@ ~38:15

  • “Deadpool...This is becoming the Elvira house of horse...it will continue to be a highly desired game on the secondary market.”

    Zach Minney @ ~58:30 — Deadpool production constraints creating sustained secondary market demand similar to Elvira legacy status

  • “You've got the most preferred edition of one of the greatest, largest license in all of pinball history...That is prime for the hurricane of an inflated exponentially increased price.”

    Zach Minney @ ~66:45 — Justification for Star Wars Comic Premium high secondary market pricing ($16k+) based on IP, rarity, and discontinued toppers

    • Alex Lifeson
    person
    Ed Robertsonperson
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Rushgame
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    LTG/Lloydperson
    American Pinballcompany
    Steven Bowdenperson
    Chicago Gaming Companycompany
    Munstersgame
    Deadpoolgame
    Led Zeppelingame
    Star Warsgame
    TPN (The Pinball Network)media
    Craig Bobbyperson
    Deadflipmedia

    high · Zach Minney: 'I was told we were going to get the Rush pinball machine...thought oh no...not the greatest seller...then I seen the pictures...this thing has been selling surprisingly well...pre-sold more rush pinball machines than the total amount of lead zeppelins'

  • ?

    community_signal: John Bernard is pinball art newcomer; suggests learning curve integrating illustration expertise into full playfield design for Rush

    medium · TPN correspondent notes 'new artist on this package, new to pinball' for Rush art

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball let go LTG/Lloyd after ~9 years of unpaid tech support service; significant community backlash signal - described as 'pinball institution'

    high · Ken Rutberg JJP correspondent: 'one of their longest tenured and most popular tech support people...let go from the company...called a pinball institution'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jack Danger officially joining Stern Pinball's game design studio full-time in 2022; previously Twitch personality and brand ambassador

    high · Craig Bobby TPN news: 'Twitch personality and Stern brand ambassador Jack Danger joining Stern's pinball game design studio full-time this year'

  • $

    market_signal: Rush LE MSRP increased from Godzilla's $10,499 to $11,099; sold out immediately at higher price point; secondary market already $14,500-$15,000 before machines ship

    high · Zach Minney reporting MSRP increase and immediate sell-out; secondary market pricing tracking

  • ?

    product_strategy: Rush explicitly positioned in three tiers with strategic feature distribution: Pro base layout, Premium adds rising center ramp/clock/ball locks/fork mechs, LE adds Expression Lighting/mirrored backglass/steampunk cabinet

    high · Zach Minney detailed breakdown: 'the premium LE is where it's at...objective choice would have been...premium LE is where it's at'

  • ?

    product_concern: Code design concern: Rush features 4 main multiballs, 3 time machine multiballs, potentially excessive; Zach Minney worried about multiball frequency negatively impacting gameplay depth

    medium · Zach Minney: 'I'm worried about the number of multiballs in this game...too many multiballs is not a good thing'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Band members themselves were part of Rush design team and selected the character artwork; raises question of artistic approval vs. consumer appeal

    high · Michael Bernard correction and Gary Stern seminar confirmation that band members selected and approved avatar designs

    • 2:21
    Here we go! Pretend the ball is a long-awaited friend. And what a stream it was as pinball fans around the world got to experience the magic and the majesty of Canada's rock and roll royalty, Rush, come to life in pinball form. The title, which has earned both strong praise and criticism this past week, proved once again how the world of pinball has many tastes and many takes on what makes a good machine. The Rush pin designed by John Borg with code by Tim Sexton and art by pinball newcomer John Bernard has come under fire and praise for both its art and layout choices. Some critics called the layout too similar to Borg's 2012 X-Men and that the band avatars found in the middle of the playfield and based on the band's 70s era looks and also from the art of the 2019 graphic novel Rush, A Farewell to Kings, did not have enough resemblance to the band. Really? And as Michael Bernard corrected everybody on Facebook, these are images that the band members themselves selected and wanted on this machine. But what's that machine fired up and played that sweet, sweet Canadian prog rock goodness paired with that awesome Stern Expression Lighting Kit? Ooh-wee! What's up with that? Folks, you heard it here first, regardless of how you feel about the band or this game's art package or anything else, Rush will be the Stern Sleeper hit of 2022, second only to Elowen's next pin due out this summer. Yes, Rush is packed with cool mechs, ramps, targets, amazing band callouts from Geddy and Alex Lifeson, tons of speed, and is a rock flow demon that makes the old king of flow look like he's driving a go-kart down the center lane of the interstate. What's that? Led Zeppelin is on line one and wants a do-over? What? So call your local distributor ASAP to get on a list for Rush today and pray you're not waiting up to a year to get your hands on what looks like to be a very well-designed and fun machine. And just because we've followed this story on and off for the last 18 months, Munster's owners finally got their very own Christmas miracle a couple weeks back, courtesy of Stern's codemaster, Dwight Sullivan. Yes, at long last and after months of begging and pleading, Stern Pinball has listened to the absolute tidal wave of pin-side posts and customer feedback by releasing the new Munsters code V1.10 for the Pro, Premium and Limited Edition models. I know, I know, it's the Munsters' first code update since March 9th of 2020, rivaling Ghostbusters for a modern Stern title that was in desperate need of a code update. And by the way, this isn't just a little insider-connected code add-on here. We're talking about tons of new upgrades, modes, tweaks, modifications, and bug fixes that have been on the minds of Munsters owners since the title's launch. So it's basically a new code day in Munsters land for 2022. Are we good now, everybody? Are we good? Are we good? Okay, thank you. So Stern is certainly off to a great start in 2022, everyone, with tons and tons to look forward to and wait for as the months roll by. For the Pinball Show, I'm Craig Bobby. Catch you on the flip side.
    5:59
    Hi, this is Ken Rudberg with your Jersey Jack update. It was a sad day for many Jersey Jack pinball fans this past week when one of their longest tenured and most popular tech support people, known as LTG or just Lloyd, was let go from the company.
    6:17
    He had been serving as unpaid tech support for almost nine years and was a reassuring and helpful presence on Pinside. He's been called a pinball institution and was working to help Jersey Jack customers fix their games, answer questions, and just acting as a knowledgeable and helpful friend to many. He's been the owner and operator of SS Billiards in Hopkins, Minnesota for close to 50 years and has deep ties to the pinball community Let's all wish him luck in whatever he decides to do next in the hobby and thank him for the support he's given over the years For the Pinball Show, this has been Ken Rutberg Hey, this is Kaz with a quick update on American Pinball Steven Bowden was a guest on the Final Round Pinball Podcast, Episode 49 It was a fun discussion on his move to Chicago, working on Raza, and a lot of tournament talk. And since coming to American Pinball, he's been involved in testing games, rules, sales and marketing, and attending shows. He also said that one day he'd like to be involved in designing games. I met up with Steve at Chicago Expo, and he was very excited about his new position. I really look forward to seeing what he's going to bring in 2022. Let's hope everybody has a great week and has fun playing pinball. For the Pinball Show, this is Brian Cosner. All of the news this week revolves around Stern Pinball's release of Rush Pinball. Revealed by Stern Pinball on January 4th and later streamed on Deadflip, this Rush game was designed by John Borg and programmed by Tim Sexton, Raymond Davidson, and the rest of the team. I didn't know this. I didn't know that Rush sold over 40 million albums worldwide. big Canadian band up there I'm not sure Europe or Australia knows who they are prior to the reveal as a dealer I was able to sit in on the seminar by Gary Stern telling us all about the game and some really cool tidbits from Gary about this game that you may or may not know such as when you start a game at the start of the ball you get to choose a song there's 16 songs in here they're laid out with different modes and stuff but you get to choose a song at the beginning of the game The music is very interactive with the gameplay. We even know that in the LE, it comes standard, those expression lighting system that is coded to the game with a dynamic light show for you, like a concert experience. But it's all integrated very well. Like, gameplay features will update with each verse that is played by these songs. So the chorus hits, boom, you've got another interactive gameplay update regarding rules, regarding light show, and something that Gary was really pushing hard during that seminar, which I think is fantastic. We're going to finally get to a point where music pins are not just going to be jukeboxes. They're going to be more interactive, moment-based gaming experience, I believe. Some of those music pins get stale. You guys know that. And by leaning into these songs, that's your IP, that's your content of the game. You can't really destroy a ring with ACDC. You can't have those moments. So you make those tracks the moments themselves. They use a lot of tour footage on the display, live concert footage, and custom animations for each and every song. Over 600 custom speech call by Alec Lifeson and Geddy Lee along with our friend Ed Robertson from Barenaked Ladies So we get the band involved We get a full light show concert experience We have John Borg on design. Whether you like Rush or not, the foundation is being laid here that I think may create a pretty damn great game. When you pick a song at the beginning of the game, you're going to see the album cover on the display from which the song comes from. Nice cool little detail there. And as the player, you're going to be experiencing the band throughout different decades that Rush has been around. And Gary did say that the band members themselves were on the design team. This kind of reminds me of Slash helping with design with Eric Menier over at Jersey Jack Pinball on Guns N' Roses. So all models have custom artwork. They have custom-sculpted electromagnetic time machine ball lock right in the front there. There are six main timed modes, four main multi-balls, three time machine multi-balls, three challenge modes a mini wizard multi-ball mode main wizard there's a lot of code in this game all games feature three flippers three drop targets the pro has red and white gi so you get some uh some interactivity there 17 rgb inserts but for me the no-brainer comes with the premium le models that center ramp is not static on the premium le it does rise up and down you also get a clockwork angel's clock with a working hand it's like a bass drum with a clock that's cool you get an additional ramp you also get the vuck wire form on the premium le instead of just going back hitting a target and coming back which i'm not crazy about on that pro you get that old school bally williams you know the data east feel you hit a vuck pops up onto a wire form back to your flipper i like that on the premium le you get a couple ball locking systems One, you get a ball lock system. It has the ability to stage balls under a viewable insert. That's really neat. Kind of like a Metallica, Metallica Premium LE. You also get a ball lock behind the drop targets to the left. I do love on this game, on the Pro, you get those drop targets, and you have a shot behind it. I am a sucker for shots behind drop targets. That's why I really, really like the layout of Star Wars the pin. You have to get past some drop targets to get up a ramp. I love when any type of target in a pinball machine, That's not its only function, you know, because it's a little weak when you hit a target. Whoop-de-doo. But to hit a drop target, it goes down and then, like Beatles, has a stand-up target back behind there that you can hit for a jackpot or whatever you want to. That's how the Pro is here on a brush. The Premium LE, when you upgrade to that, behind those drop targets, you actually get a fork that comes up that will stage a ball for a captive ball experience or for a multi-ball. Now, that is basically Beatles drop-down target shot behind. and then you have the Magneto X-Men forks that come up to hold that ball. A lot of people are comparing this to X-Men, and I definitely see that. It's a John Borg game, so that makes sense. A lot of people say you flip it around and it's drawn. John Borg games, that makes sense. Some people say it's like TMNT with all the wire forms and paths and diverters. It's a John Borg game, so that makes sense. On the Premium LE model of Rush, you also can have balls that can eject from both scoops. You have two scoops in this game. I'm always like, eh, on scoops alone, so we've got two of them, eh. But on the Premium LE, you have balls that can come out of the side scoop. We'll see how it plays out. Okay, that's cool. On the Premium LE model of Rush, you also, in addition to the Pro, you get the GI that's red and white. On the Premium LE, you get red, white, and blue.
    13:05
    America! Canada? Huh? On the Limited Edition model, there's 1,000 units. They have that expression lighting system, also an option on the Pro and Premium models. You do get a mirrored back glass, custom die-cut armor, a steampunk kind of feel, black matte finish. We'll talk about that soon. Steampunk exterior art package inspired by Neil Peart. Thanks, Pearty. And we've got a new artist on this package, new to pinball. Other layout features include an opto-spinner, which us pinheads love to rip. You get a ramp diverter. I didn't watch much of the streams. I don't know if it's controllable. I hear that it's controllable if you hold the action button. It's the radical. It's the Radical Ramp Diverter. It's a skateboard on the Bally Radical. Nobody's saying that. Am I saying that? It's Radical. So this game was streamed January 7th. So go check that out if you haven't yet. I still need to check it out. So how's this thing selling? Well, the pricing of the Pro model and the Premium model have stayed the same. No changes there from Godzilla pricing. But the LE model has actually increased. We had a recent increase for Godzilla LE. now we're getting an additional increase from an MSRP of $10,499 to an MSRP now of $11,099. And they sold out immediately. And look, I'm with a lot of you listeners. You're getting priced out of these things at $11,100. I'm with you. I get it. However, when these things sell out immediately like they do, it just goes to tell me that there's a lot of people that are not priced out. And a lot of people, nobody talks about this, but I try to tell you guys all the time, it's not about how much the game is, it's what the return is on the game. So do you want to spend $11,000 on a pinball machine? Hells no, I don't want to. But if you don't see that price dropping on the secondary market, you're not really spending $11,000, are you? So how's it selling overall? Look, I'm going to be real with you all. I was told we were going to get the Rush pinball machine. without seeing it i thought oh no that theme does not appeal to many people at all this isn't going to be a big seller we'll be lucky if this thing clears what led zeppelin cleared again not the greatest seller not bad but not the greatest then i seen the pictures and the video from the seminar and i thought this looks like a damn fun game huh i still rush though i do like the artwork but do i like the artwork order banks opened and this thing has been selling surprisingly well i believe we have pre-sold more rush pinball machines than the total amount of lead zeppelins we sold over an entire year it's a hot game why is that maybe it's the market people are wanting what's new maybe it's the layout people love john board games i'd say it's a mixture of both and never forget I've been kind of talking about this. With each Stern release, it's more becoming a collectible type of thing.
    16:03
    Stern LEs, collect them all. And if you don't have an LE, find a way to make your premium even more special than all the LE owners out there. Now, the last couple of releases by Stern Pinball have been heavy on the premiums. They've really had a lot of focus on creating premiums that the collector wants, the pinball player wants over the pro. They've been very successful at that. Now, we know John Borg creates one hell of a pro, though. Think of his last handful of pros. It's almost like the pro is good enough. On this model, I'd say the ratio or discrepancy between how many premiums sell to every pro kind of thing is smaller than we had seen as a dealer on Godzilla, smaller than we had seen on Mandalorian, but still pretty heavily favoring the premium here. But as I look at this game, objectively, the premium LE is where it's at.
    16:56
    You're not going to have any mechs or anything that get in the way that maybe one could argue on past titles. But is it needed? I don't know if this stuff is needed. Physical ball locks are really cool. Extra wire forms, ramps, really cool. Shots that go somewhere instead of come back, really cool.
    17:14
    Objectively, the premium LE is where it's at. But this isn't like a Led Zeppelin Pro where you're like, where's the game at? This pro's stacked. It's full. And it's going to make people very, very happy. It's not like the code's any different. You're still getting the same game. So really quick, let's jump through things I like, things I don't for Rush Pinball.
    17:34
    Haven't touched this game yet. We should have my hands on one early next week, late next week. What do I like? It looks like one hell of a fun board layout, especially the premium LE models. You get an upper right flipper, which I love, especially if it goes somewhere I love. You get the orbit and a ramp on that shot. Who doesn't love a third flipper ramp? Everybody does. Or a loop. Everybody does. You get a John Borg special through the pops orbit. I love to be smacked around when I play pinball. So the challenge of a shot through the pops orbit, mmm, me likey. A behind the drop shot. One of my favorite shots on Beatles. I love, love, love, and I've already expressed it here. Give me something behind those pops. I love it. And a behind the flipper shot. Now, behind the flipper shots, I like because you're not using that space, so it's kind of cool if you can integrate some code to do something there. Take it or leave it, I do like it. And it's just yet another shot that can be had. What I don't like about this game? It's Rush. It's a brand and a band that, not that I hate it, but just one that I'm not very familiar with. It's Rush. What do I like about Rush? The toys and the mechs. Jesus, you've got a time machine. A drum clock. You've got the Radical Diverter. You've got a Vuck. You've got Expression Lighting System. A Visible Ball Lock. You've got the Beatles behind the drop shot into the Magneto Physical Ball Lock. You've got Opto Spinner. It's loaded. Is it innovative? No. I wouldn't say so. No. But it's full, and it looks so much fun to shoot. And John Borg's are never giving me games. I don have to take a long journey on John Borg games He going to try to kick me in the nuts with his outlanes and he going to have a fast flowy game But if you don have these shots dialed in it going to kick your ass and it keep me coming back for more Personally, I wish the theme would have been different here, because this is a layout that I think I'm really going to enjoy. What I don't like about Rush, I am worried about some of the code. I'm worried about the number of multiballs. Getting into pinball, you want to see multi balls or you have fun keeping the ball alive and stuff then you play pinball more and more and more and you realize that uh too many multi balls is not a good thing i'm worried about the number of multi balls in this game what do i like about rush some of the aesthetics i love the pro back glass that's the winner the le cabinet art that's the winner even the back glass on the le is sharp premium cabinet i heard some people poopoo in the premium i like that cabinet i think It looks really good. I don't have any tattoos, listener, but I guarantee you, if I was going to get a tattoo from a pinball machine, it just may be that big-ass owl at the drain that, instead of saying shoot again, says hoot again. That's my type of funny. I love the owl. The play-filled colors I like, the aesthetics there look good. Even the apron art. They've got more area now. They're really focusing in on making that apron art beautiful. what I don't like about Rush some of the aesthetics yeah look I agree the characters mid play field they're about as bad as the Angus face on ACDC Pro I said it yeah honestly they may be worse they are bad I don't care if it's the comic book art of Rush or not it's not good I was watching TPN last night the Pinball Network videocast with Joel Engelberth Craig Bobby, Tom Graff Mike Castleman. Awesome, awesome show. You guys got to go check out that VOD. But Joel was making the argument.
    21:08
    Joel, that's fair. Joel was making the argument that, well, the band was part of the design team. They approve this. They like this representation of who they are. So that's what matters. And I think, listener, as you're hearing that, you're probably thinking, well, that makes sense. Yeah. If the focus is on this band, then who better to say what looks good than the band members themselves. I disagree. My argument would be this. Who are you selling this product to? Are you selling this to the band members? No, they probably contracted to get a free one. You're selling this to consumers. Ah, it reminds me of one of the greatest comedies of all time, Joe Dirt. You're going to stand there, owning a firework stand, and tell me you don't have no whistling bungholes, no spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honky lighters, Husker Do's, Husker Don'ts, Cherry Bombs, Nips and Daisers, With or Without the Scooter Stick, or one single whistling kitty chaser?
    22:06
    No. Because snakes and sparklers are the only ones I like. Well, that might be your problem. It's not what you like. It's the consumer. It's not about you. It's about the consumer. here so no i i don't think a hundred percent the band should be the one that determines this who are the experts here the experts are the people building the pinball machine stern pinball i think stern pinball knows better about what sells in the pinball industry than a rock band so no it's a bad argument and the wild thing is all of the other art in this game is nice it looks really good but fear not mod makers are already working over time to fix that issue and yeah that's not the only thing is aesthetically speaking i love the steampunk feel and the looks of the le the guitar slash gears armor loving all of that i love the steampunky thing give me houdini all day long this thing is beautiful but i'm kind of having a tough time guys with the the choice of matte black i don't know if this is it doesn't seem like this is the wrinkle black that you get on the pro and premium that comes standard on stir machines but damned if it doesn't look like it. Okay, so maybe it's matte. That's kind of the end thing right now, right? Matte. Matte colors. And it may look great in person, but it just doesn't scream elite. Us elitists, we want color. The correct choice here, listener and stern pinball, the correct choice would have been going with a powder-coated patina look there. That's the correct choice. Make a bold move here. You can even have the base color a black. I'm fine with that. Even a matte black. patina that baby up though make it make it look like it's like copper that's been weathered you got some light blue patina in there that would have looked stunning so those were things i like things i don't on rush pinball production updates on rush pinball we know that the pro probably ships early next week starts yeah probably yeah so we're probably going to start seeing them hit next week. LEs, they're going to start here at the end of January. And then premiums are going to start in February along with more pros in February. If you didn't listen to the last show, there is another premium run in April. Now people are already trying to sell their LE spots. That's kind of the thing right now. You're seeing on the secondary market before these things even ship, rush LEs. They're hovering around $14,000 to $16,000.
    24:36
    I'd say $14,500 if you didn't get a chance to get an LE. Expect about $14,500. or 15 with shipping. Gary Stern also pointed out in this seminar, and we will talk more about Rush Pinball in the coming days, but Gary Stern did talk about how Insider Connected was going. Did you know that there's over 20,000 people already registered for Stern Insider Connected? Thousands of kits have already shipped, and Gear Bear said thousands more kits will ship in the month of January. We've seen some of them. Again, not enough to get all of our back order, but we're pushing for a bulk shipment of them by the end of the month, so be patient. So Stern Pinball is holding it down right now, and we'll probably see another game in May, June. Chicago Gaming Company, are they holding it down? Holding down games from leaving the factory? Hey!
    25:28
    Believe it or not, we may actually start seeing this week or next week a small little bit, little incy-wincy little run of Cactus Canyon Essies leaving the factory. You're going to see a handful, a big Paul Bunyan hand, but a handful of them, not all the SEs. Once those look and feel good, you'll see more SEs. Then you'll see the LEs. Then you'll see the SE+. So my guess right now, they haven't updated us, but based on this timeline, my guess for Cactus Canyon LEs, you're going to see those in February, and then you're going to see the SE+, late March.
    26:02
    You all know I cannot leave you without the number one segment in all of Pinball Podcast. Well, hell, we got your award votes this year. So I'm going to give it to you, and I'm going to give it to you raw, baby, in this week's Pinball Market Trends.
    26:15
    Trending out this week is Rush Pinball, of course, by Stern Pinball. When all of your LEs sell out 1,000 units at an increased price, that's called a trend. When sales for myself are double those of what I estimated, that's a trend. when you had a stream that did not result in canceled orders that's a trend so over the next weeks get your ass out there on location and play rush pinball email us at the pinball network at gmail.com let us know your thoughts when you first play rush also turning up this week is deadpool the little game that keeps going why is deadpool turning up people want it they want it bad we all know we can sneak into our mama's room when she's sleeping and take five, ten, maybe twenty dollars out of purse, run on down to third street, catch the d-bus downtown, and meet a Latin American fellow named Martinez. We know that. And we know that Martinez stuff is the bomb. They don't care. They want a pro. They want a premium. They want an LE. This is becoming the Elvira house of horse. We had another push in the production run. People were anticipating, so they were probably holding off from pulling the trigger on buying a used unit. Boom, gets pushed out six to eight months. And you're looking at summer for another run. And I'm here to tell you guys that run in and of itself is not going to fulfill every back order. It's just not going to. Around the world, to fill every back order of Deadpool right now, they'd have to crank that thing out for like two, three weeks straight. So it will continue to be a highly desired game on the secondary market. I wouldn't overpay though. There's plenty of them out there. Plenty more coming. Deadpool Pro, I wouldn't go over 7 for a Deadpool Pro. That's just me personally. Premium, you're seeing them 12 to 14, depending on what's on them. LEs, 15, 18. If you can find a Deadpool LE under 15, I'd say you're good. But if you spend too much, the value of your collection in the future could be trending down. Also trending down this week is people losing their ever-loving minds on Star Wars comic premium pin side ad for sale. Y'all need to take a zany and just chill out. Take a break. Relax. Chill, bruh. There's a dumpster fire over on pin side right now. A guy's trying to sell his Star Wars comic premium edition with topper for $16,000. Okay. That sounds loco, right? And I get that quick reaction from people. But let's think about it here. I don think it any crazier than a lot of these games for sale Ghostbusters LE over 20 grand This isn crazier than that GNR CE is going for 25 It not that crazy You've got the most preferred edition of one of the greatest, largest license in all of pinball history. With one of the coolest toys ever that they have discontinued and will not make anymore. That is prime for the hurricane of an inflated exponentially increased price. Numbers don't lie people. I don't play the art. well then buy the Photoshop version for $8,000. But if you want the goods and you want it to look better than everything else around it, you go for that comic edition. You know what dog food tastes like, do you? It tastes just like it smells. And I don't know if you're staying up to date or not on topper pricing, but it continues to go up. I've recently seen a Star Wars R2-D2 topper. They are a limited edition. They're not making any more. It's seen itself for $3,000. So if you take $3,000 minus $16,000, do some Greg Bone math, and you come up with $12,000. You're at $13,000. Okay. It's $1,000 over. It's got some wiggle. I would place that gain value, not $16,000. I'd say $14,000 to $16,000. Absolutely. And speaking of, you, listener, can vote for the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. Which machines will make it into the hall this year? I think tomorrow's the last day to vote for the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. Who's going to be inducted this year? Let's go radical. And you want to keep the moths out of your wallet, so listen in closely to this week's Deals of the Week. Buy, buy, buy! We got a hot little number here. Deal of the Week this week on Pennside. It can be found outside of Louisville, Kentucky by Robert for Pinball, selling a Stranger Things Pro with a UV lighting kit. Again, remember, those are done. Those are gone. Get them while you can. This one is $6,500 Oboe. Come on. Buy, buy, buy. 250 plays with the UV kit. 65 Oboe. Give him 62. Done deal. Remember, guys, this is $6,900 new without that UV kit. This thing is practically new. That is a no-brainer. Another deal of the week this week is a whodunit out of Holland, Michigan, by Goggle Loy on Pennside. This is a trade, so no monetary amount here. but this is one beautiful example I agree cabinets been redone, new graphics an NOS playfield swap that has been clear coded try to find one of those the reels have been gone through there's new chips on the stepper motor boards new decals on the reels flipper rebuilt I want this game this would be a game that I would try to get honestly maybe I'll reach out to see what they want in trade but if you ever wanted a super nice whodunit they don't come around often as it is this is the one probably to powder coat beautiful purple powder coat and it works get it but one thing i would not get is this week's deal of the oh god yep you guys are talking about it it's an nos high speed pinball machine time capsule piece of history on pin side oh boy mopar joe outside of euclid ohio's decided to sell my once in a Lifetime find. My NOS 1986 high-speed pinball machine. Yes, you read this correctly. This is a never-used, never put on the legs other than the factory, and never had a ball run through it other than possibly factory testing. High speed, and it still has the factory protective film on the side rails. Holy shit. All the paperwork's still inside the machine. Never. Okay, it sounds nice. But you go look at it. The CPU's been pulled and put back. The head on this thing looks like it's been tumbled down a hill. It's, sure, it's probably the nicest high speed you're going to find. I would take a stab at it if the price wasn't $20,000. Sell, sell, sell. And the bad thing is it's almost like an auction that this guy's doing. Look, I've got people interested. People are lining up. But I'm going to leave it open. See what the highest bid's going to be. Oh, fuck off. Get the ad off then. You got the highest bid. Just go. Be gone. Pinside's blowing up with this thing. And for the love of everything sacred, if you're trying to sell a high speed at $20,000, make sure you redo the head even if you lie to people it's original look how pretty it's the original head with holes in it like oh no nope uh can i get cash for this i got some urns to run and i don't think i'm gonna make the bank an honest value of this game considering how nice it is and everything i'd be worried turning it on if it's never been turned on before after all these years uh you can probably swing 10 grand for this. For me, if I bought this game, there's scratches on the head. It just looks like shit. If I bought this game, I'd probably strip it down and have it clear-coated. If you're really going to want the nicest one. Remember, no diamond plate on that stuff, guys. If you're going to buy this, strip it down. Get it taken care of. Get it in museum quality. Fix that head for God's sake. And okay, then you got yourself a nice... It's not worth 20. No. No! 10,000. And I'm being nice. And as always, I'm just here reporting the facts for you people because numbers never lie on pinball market trends. First time I s*** the d*** for crap.
    34:13
    Mmm, that was a digestible little show, wasn't it? Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. Did you like that prune juice? Den, den. I'll see you next week, baby. Mwah, mwah, mwah, smoke cheese. You can email us at thepinballnetwork at gmail.com. Gotta give a shout out to Straight Down the Middle this week. Thanks for all the award voting for SDTM. Greg and I are appreciative. As well as all the votes coming in for Flippin' Out Pinball. We're not just a dealer. We're trying to bring you much more than just selling you a game. Backing it up with the best customer satisfaction in the industry, as well as media creation and media support. Flippin' Out Pinball this week product showcases the Houdini Deluxe model by American Pinball. Got a couple left. Get it, get it, get it. Also have a lot of pre-owned machines. High-end stuff, too. We got a Monster Bash SE that's just loaded down. Beautiful powder coat. That looks just like the LE model. We get that for $10,995 pre-owned. Come get that. The pre-owned stuff I like to have people come pick it up. But if we have to ship it and it doesn't sell locally. Then we'll think about it. Batman 66 LE. I've got one. If you want that topper. Woo baby. There's only one way to do it. Get the LE or Super LE. We have one right now in stock. Batman 66 LE. I think it's number 69 too. Gadget. Godzilla Pro pre-owned. Joel Engelberth has been streaming. He unboxed it as well. I think he's going for market pricing. If you want that, he's in the Indy area, the Indianapolis area. Or if it doesn't sell locally, we can ship it. Cactus Canyon SE and SE Plus. Get your orders in for those. We still have spots left. Star Wars Premium Comic. We've got one. I was telling you about it. If you want the best version of the Star Wars game, that's it. We also have a limited edition topper that's been pre-owned. If you want that R2-D2 topper, we've got it. Willy Wonka LE. I think I just have like two or three of those left. Get your Godzilla pre-orders in. everybody else is and they're jumping you in in spots too because i tell people end of 2022 into 2023 for godzilla premium and they're like all right no deposits i want one so mark me now we still get some ij deluxe toppers by elite pinball stand-up arcades stranger things art blades we got jurassic park uh amber shooter rod i believe art blades deadpool pop bumper ninja star we still have armor i believe we still have a couple toppers stranger things topper if you have a Stranger Things and don't have that topper, you've hashtag failed. One of the coolest toppers ever made. Iron Maiden stuff. We have banners. Rush banners should be in pretty soon, as well as another run of Godzilla banners. Escalera turnaround time. There's an update on here, people. I'm sorry to report, parts delays continue to plague Escalera to a severe degree. We're at about three to four months right now. So if you ever think you're going to get an Escalera next year, go ahead and place your order now with us. As well as merchandise, go ahead and order you the Pinball Show Decal, Collector's Decal, on FlippinOutPinball.com, or t-shirts or hoodies or hats or whatever you want to, undies. Get it. Nordman. Last week on TPN, there was a stream every damn day, and it went so well, we're going to talk about it here in a couple days. But check out the VODs if you want to go back and watch the gameplay of those pinball personalities, play some of your favorite games right now, go to TPN's YouTube for those VODs. Triple Drain had an episode, episode 12. Rush is here with Loser Kid. They had the Loser Kid guys on. Final round, episode 49. So close to 50. Hurry. They had Steve Bowden on. Hurry. Hurry up and wait. Jeff Teolis. Bless him. He had some shit go down apparently with his privacy and security of him and his family doing these media stuff. So he's going to take a break. A long break. I don't know if he'll be back. I don't know if Final Round Pinball Podcast will be back. but we wish him and his family the very, very, very best. Go check out episode 49, and maybe the last.
    37:54
    TPN this week, we have all types of stuff going on. The easiest way to find out what's going on at TPN is to subscribe, follow us on social media, whether that's Instagram, Facebook, the Pinball Network. Another episode with Dennis Griesel here in a couple days with myself. We're going to be chatting about new production updates from Stern. I love the updates, as well as my experience opening up an alien pinball machine by Pinball Brothers. Thus far, my reactions and much, much more. And as a reminder, always practice safe pinball and hoot again.