Episode 778: "My Gaudy-Father Thoughts!"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·17m 57s·analyzed·Mar 8, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Kaneda critiques The Godfather as gaudy, mechanically uninnovative, overpriced for its content.

Summary

Kaneda delivers a lengthy critical first-impression review of Jersey Jack Pinball (their 8th game), expressing disappointment with the art package aesthetic, gameplay pacing, lack of mechanical innovation, and overall direction of the company. He argues the gaudy red-and-gold design doesn't match his vision of The Godfather theme, questions whether JJP has abandoned their premium positioning, and suggests the game feels like 'just another Stern' rather than the fully-loaded, innovative company he expected. Despite acknowledging bias and promising to play before final judgment, he concludes the game doesn't excite him compared to recent releases like Foo Fighters or Godzilla.

Key Claims

Jersey Jack Pinball has been around for almost 11 years
high confidence · Kaneda, opening context about JJP's history
The Godfather is Jersey Jack Pinball number 8 game
high confidence · Kaneda, explicitly stated: 'Jersey Jack pinball number eight, the Godfather'
The Godfather is the 50th anniversary release of the first film
high confidence · Kaneda, discussing licensing: 'it's the 50th anniversary of the first film'
The game features 28 minutes of interview content with Keith and Eric
high confidence · Kaneda, referencing 'Straight Down the Middle' video
A thousand Collector's Editions is too many for a premium product positioning
medium confidence · Kaneda, opinion on CE production volume and market positioning
Jersey Jack games feature deep rule sets and complex explanations
high confidence · Kaneda, repeated criticism: 'Jersey Jack Pinball is like the role playing game for pinball fanatics'
The game lacks major mechanical features compared to classic examples like T-Rex (Jurassic Park), castle (Medieval Madness), or upper playfield (Pirates)
high confidence · Kaneda, mechanical innovation critique
The art package is primarily red and gold, appearing 'gaudy'
high confidence · Kaneda, primary aesthetic critique of the machine

Notable Quotes

“It just felt like that and again I not sure that that connotes Godfather to me...I just didn't think it would be so loud, so obnoxious, and so gaudy.”
Kaneda @ early — Core thesis of the review—aesthetic mismatch between theme and execution
“Jersey Jack Pinball is now Just another stern and they were never supposed to be just another stern, but that's what I feel like.”
Kaneda @ mid — Central criticism about company direction and loss of differentiation
“If you're going to put a $15,000 pinball machine in front of me, Am I not allowed to ask you where's the mechanical innovation?”
Kaneda @ mid — Core pricing vs. value argument that frames the entire critique
“Maybe I need to learn how to lower my expectations. Maybe I need to learn how to look at something like this and just be excited by it because we got a new pinball machine.”
Kaneda @ late — Self-reflection on community hype culture and his own standards
“I think Jersey Jack Pinball is like the role playing game for pinball fanatics...I just don't think that's pinball.”
Kaneda @ late — Philosophical disagreement with JJP design philosophy
“I don't want to spend $15,000 on a game where there's arguably nothing that crazy going on in it.”
Kaneda @ late — Direct statement of value proposition failure
“This playfield and what's in this game after Foo Fighters just felt very underwhelming to me. It just didn't feel very cohesive.”
Kaneda @ early-mid — Comparative evaluation against recent JJP release
“In 30 seconds I will look down and we will know whether or not Jersey Jack Pinball is going to be the fully loaded jam-packed company that they promised us.”
Kaneda @ mid — Frames the game as a litmus test for JJP's future direction

Entities

Jersey Jack Pinballcompany The Godfathergame Kanedaperson Christopher Franchiperson Eric Meunierperson Keithperson Pat Lawlorperson

Signals

?
product_concern: Kaneda criticizes The Godfather's art package as overly gaudy with excessive red and gold, lacking cohesion and not matching the dark, gritty tone of the film franchise
high · Repeated complaints about 'gaudy,' 'loud,' 'obnoxious' design; comparison to 'mobster's penthouse' aesthetic; criticism that it doesn't 'come together'
?
design_innovation: The Godfather lacks major mechanical features that would justify $15K+ price point; Kaneda notes absence of standout mechanisms compared to classic examples
high · Direct question: 'Where are the major mechs?' and comparisons to T-Rex, castle, upper playfield; criticism that gameplay isn't 'fast' and lacks 'snappiness'
~
sentiment_shift: Community sentiment appears divided; Kaneda observes comments defending game based only on 'fun to shoot' without considering value, suggesting lowered expectations
medium · Meta-commentary on how games are now evaluated: 'The only two ways we can evaluate a pinball machine now are, it looks fun and I can't wait to shoot it'
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gameplay_signal: The Godfather features complex rule sets characteristic of Jersey Jack Pinball design philosophy; Kaneda criticizes over-engineering and need for extended explanations
high · References to '28 minute' interview, 'Straight Down the Middle' video, observation that 'It shouldn't be this difficult to explain'
?
design_philosophy: Jersey Jack Pinball chose to adapt Godfather into a 'choose your own mobster adventure' rather than direct film narrative; creates tonality mismatch that contributes to gaudy aesthetic

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.054

0:00

I have been blind lady and rat is dancing with me. All right. So how do I do this? How do I give you my unbiased first impressions of Jersey Jack pinball number eight, the Godfather? And the truth is this, and I'm going to be very, very, to the best of my ability, honest on this podcast. There is no ability for anybody in the pinball media, anybody who even likes pinball to be completely unbiased with what we see because we all have our own biases. We have our favorite companies, our favorite designers, our favorite themes. Pinball is a 100% subjective item. We all have different feelings. We all are moved differently by every single game that comes out. I was moved impressively by the Foo Fighters. I did like Scooby-Doo. It didn't blow me away. I'm not going to say much about Multimorphics games because they don't blow me away. And so for Jersey Jack Pinball, the pinball company that has been around for almost 11 years now, they've loaded up games with wide-body adventures like The WizardofOz and The Hobbit. You know, they were the company that was going to bring us back to the Bally Williams period of pinball, and they brought a lot of innovation to pinball. There's no denying it. I mean the LCD screen, the LED lights in games, we got loaded games with games like the Wizard of Oz and Pirates of the Caribbean and Dialed In, Guns and Roses really changed the way we looked at light shows and a concert going experience in a pinball machine. And look here we are Jersey Jack number 8 just landed in the world today and we don't know I know much about the game. So I saw the one minute sizzle reel. I saw the 28 minute like straight down the middle video where Keith and Eric are interviewed about the game. And I'm looking at the game itself. And it's really, really hard for me to get excited about The Godfather. And look, I was never excited about this theme to begin with. So that was part of my bias. Now look, I was very curious how they would integrate this into a pinball going experience. After watching the straight down the middle video, it's clear what they had to do, right? To make a slow Italian drama mobster movie that's really about family, they had to sort of create their own Godfather adventure and that's sort of what's happening in this game. It's more about you're part of this mobster game that is inspired by everything happening in the Godfather movie franchise. And look, I get it. It's what they had to do. You're not playing like the Godfather movie. It's more of like a choose your own mobster adventure with the different families from the Godfather universe. And you could debate that whether or not that's what you want in a pinball machine that is labeled Godfather the 50th anniversary. Remember, it's the 50th anniversary of the first film. And so I'm looking at the game and I'm looking at what's in it and I'm looking at the artwork and I'm looking at the gameplay from the video and I just want to give you my feelings on I'm going to look at this as if I was a potential customer for this game and who I think this game is targeted at and does this game as the eighth game in the history of pinball. I'm going to go down in no particular order my thoughts and feelings on the game. So the first thing that struck me was how much red and gold is in this machine. And when you look at the art package on the game, it is filled with a ton of like red and gold. And I don't know any other word other than it looks very gaudy. www Italian and my people do have a tendency to get very gaudy and tacky with their displays of wealth and so when I saw this art package it definitely popped out like a very very gaudy piece of furniture in some mobsters penthouse apartment right it just felt like that and again I not sure that that connotes Godfather to me and again it just my perception of Godfather and how the movie has I'm going to show you how the game is being portrayed and what my feelings are. I just didn't think it would be so loud, so obnoxious, and so gaudy. Like I thought it would have been a little bit more subdued, a lot more of like the piano black, and I think the game sticks out in a way that just doesn't scream godfather to me. And I'm looking down at the playfield right now. You know, again, there's a lot of gold, a lot of red, and then there's like that stained glass window with the rose in the middle with all the different objectives. And the first thing I said is, here we go. Here we go again, Jersey Jack Pinball. They always have their deep rule Sets. You know, so obviously there's a lot in the game, but looking at this art package, you've got that stained glass window. You've got either Marlon Brando or Al Pacino by the flippers. Then you've got the sort of Italian Sicilian sort of landscape, and then you've got New York City, and then you've got the five families, and there's just a lot going on. That's all sort of put together. And I just want to say this. I get what they're going for. I get they're making I'm not going to be playing this like mobster game where you get to select your five families and the Godfather movie theme is pulled through this, but I'm just going to say this right now. This playfield and what's in this game after Foo Fighters just felt very underwhelming to me. It just didn't feel very cohesive and it just doesn't come together and make me smile the way I smiled when I saw the Foo Fighters package for the first time. This doesn't make me smile the way I smiled when I saw the Munsters for the first time. And I'm just going to say that I don't think this is Franchi's best work. I don't think it has the detail that we saw like in the Munsters. And that's just my initial feeling. But when I look at it, it just doesn't make me smile ear to ear. Again, there's just something about it. I'm looking at it from the bird's eye view. It just doesn't come together. Even the way the Guns N' Roses playfield came together. And then you've got this like C.E. package of the game. The C.E.'s got these ornate sculptures on the legs. It's got the horse head shooter rod thing. Subject is CODN Cameron and the search is It feels like Cactus Canyon meets The Sopranos. And this is why we've been saying all of these months, we're not sure The Godfather is a great theme for pinball because again, you go from this dark, gritty Italian drama movie that is so iconic. And then when you try to pull that iconic movie into a pinball machine, it just starts to look a little comical. And that takes away from like the power of The Godfather film in my honest opinion. I'm going to be a little bit more cartoonish and this was always going to be their challenge is like, well, what do you put into the game physically that brings the Godfather movie to life? And let's just talk about that for a minute. Okay. My big worry was that Pat Lawler was going to have his thumb on top of this game and this game was not going to be loaded with the same kind of content. Text On Screen Watch The game in motion and I just going to say it when I looked at the game in motion and the gameplay video of the game from the straight down the middle video the gameplay doesn look that fast it doesn and maybe it fast for jersey jack pinball but then you go put it next to a game like foo fighters and it still seems pretty slow compared to like the snappiness of a stern and I get it like a lot of the mechanical stuff in this game is stuff that What's not in this game is anything that feels like a major mechanism. Where are the major mechs? For this much money, where is the innovation in mechanisms? And I get it. People have also said to me where's the major mech in Foo Fighters and I don't disagree. And this is my overall feeling about all of these games nowadays if you're gonna put a $15,000 pinball machine in front of me, Am I not allowed to ask you where's the mechanical innovation? Where's the mechanical creativity? Where is stuff we haven't seen before? And I get it. There's some stuff in this game we haven't seen before, but what's not in this game or anywhere near in this game is something as cool as the T-Rex in Jurassic Park or the castle in Medieval Madness or the upper playfield in Pirates of the Caribbean or the triple spinning disc which Eric put in the original version of Pirates before Pat Lawler. I'm going to know in 30 seconds whether or not this is the new direction for Jersey Jack Pinball. In 30 seconds I will look down and we will know whether or not Jersey Jack Pinball is going to be the fully loaded jam-packed company that they promised us or if they're going to turn into this. And when I saw this game, what it felt to me like is that Jersey Jack Pinball is now Just another stern and they were never supposed to be just another stern, but that's what I feel like. And you could hate me. You could say, Kaneda, you haven't played the game yet, but I don't care. I'm looking at this game and I'm not seeing anything in this game. Mechanically, that's really that interesting. And I would have to wait and play this game before I make up my mind. If I were going to buy this game, if you're on the fence about this game, there's absolutely no rush to get on this thing. Day one, maybe we're all just a little bit fatigued, but I mean, I've seen it after Foo Fighters. This game is not popping. Is Foo Fighters the greatest game ever? Absolutely not. But I don't know. I'm just feeling lately that pinball is sort of running in place right now. And it's the most expensive it's ever been. And at these prices, and I'm just going to say this, Jersey Jack number eight should be their most impressive game to date. This game should be everything they know so far. I am impressed that they have clips from the movie where they So, let's see what we can do to actually sync up the voices with the clips. That is good news, if you are a fan of the franchise. But just look at the game. Is this game more impressive than WizardOfOz? Is this game more impressive than Dialed In? And I know what people are going to say. Everybody's going to fall back and say, well, it's more fun to shoot, so then the price doesn't matter. And that is where we are in pinball today. I've already seen it in the comments. The only two ways we can evaluate a pinball machine now are, it looks fun and I can't wait to shoot it and that's fine and I can't wait to shoot it and it does look fun and I will play this game and I will have fun with this game and it'll be just like Toy Story 4. I'll play it, I'll enjoy it, I bet it shoots great but there's no way I would want to spend $15,000 on a game where there's arguably nothing that crazy going on in it. I don't want to spend $13,000 on any of these sterns. And I'm just feeling like, well, maybe this is it. Like maybe this is pinball, Chris. And maybe Chris, the problem might be you, not these companies. And maybe they're right. And maybe that's a true statement. Maybe I need to learn how to lower my expectations. Maybe I need to learn how to look at something like this and just be excited by it because we got a new pinball machine. And that's always been the approach of everybody else who does pinball podcast, right? Let just celebrate everything and let lower our expectations and then all of a sudden this game is great and I that where I at I sorry but I just not blown away by this game I think it fine I think they did the best with what they had to work with but looking down on it I don think it the best art package from Franchi I don think it the best world under glass from Eric Minier And I sure as heck don think Jersey Jack Pinball is loading these games up now where the prices should be this much I think Jersey Jack Pinball continues to be a company with a little bit of an identity crisis. If they want to be premium high-end pinball, which I'm not even sure they want to be, then they've got to figure something out. A thousand collector's editions is too many. I've got a question for you. No, I'm not playing this game for fun. Okay. Let's play it right away. Okay. Here we go. Okay, here we go. Okay. Yes. Here we go. Yes. I'm not judging this much, but I better look down at a game and see something that's absolutely blowing me away. And again, if it's blowing you away and you're satisfied, I'm happy for you. I just don't feel that way about this game. It doesn't make me smile the way Ghostbusters did before we knew it didn't shoot very well. It doesn't make me smile the way Foo Fighters does. It doesn't make me smile the way Godzilla did. It doesn't make me smile the way Guns N' Roses did. And again, I think it's because of the theme and they had to go down this weird road where it's like your own mobster adventure inspired by Godfather. I encourage everybody to watch the Straight Down the Middle video. You'll get a lot more in-depth knowledge of this game. And I'm just going to say it, Jersey Jack Pinball is like the role playing game for pinball fanatics. And my friend Derek, he's listening right now. He loves this. He loves these deep rule sets. He loves when they go down all of these explanations on how to play the game. I'm sorry, but I just don't think that's pinball. I think pinball can be deep, but Jersey Jack just always feels like they over bake it. It's like they've got too much time to make each game, but they always put way too much in it. It shouldn't be this difficult to explain. I don't know. It just always feels like there's so much going on and I'm not sure that makes the game better. And Derek's like, damn you, Chris, you don't take the time to learn the rule sets. And maybe he's right because I'm a new dad and I don't want to have to I have to take the time or study so much to learn how to play a pinball machine everybody. I want to see the silver ball go around a piece of wood and interact with a world under glass and I just don't feel like they ever should have made this theme and that's my two cents on it. Let me know if you disagree and you're probably like, Kaneda, you're just trying to be negative. I'm not. I'm really not. I really do not want to be negative. I think Jersey Jack should have made the Matrix or Top Gun or something like Back to the I'm sorry, that's not what I think of when I think of the Godfather. Kaneda out. I hardly know this beauty by my side.