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The Pinball Show Ep 189: Diamond Hands $50K Pokemon & Coinbox Candy

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·2h 17m·analyzed·Feb 24, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.038

TL;DR

Pokemon Pinball's 750 LE units sold instantly; secondary market collectability expected to drive prices to $30K-$50K.

Summary

Dennis Creasel and Zach Minney discuss Stern Pinball's Pokemon release, which sold out 750 LE units immediately and is experiencing extraordinary demand. The episode covers production timelines (location pros shipping late Feb/early March, LEs mid-to-late March, premiums following), positioning Pokemon as a crossover hit with massive IP collectability potential. They analyze why Pokemon timing aligns perfectly with the 30th anniversary, concurrent TCG/Lego releases, and broader pop culture momentum, predicting secondary market prices could exceed $30,000-$50,000 for limited edition units.

Key Claims

  • Pokemon LE units (750 total) sold out immediately upon announcement with no price increase

    high confidence · Dennis states 'Stern announces Pokemon. 750 LE units. They sold out immediately. Immediately. No price increase, thankfully.'

  • Stern shifted production schedule: location pros in late Feb/early March, then LEs mid-to-late March, then premiums after

    high confidence · Detailed timeline provided: 'late February, early March, Pokemon, as we will talk in length about, the location pros. will be shipping out' and production order discussion

  • Pokemon sales are so strong that Stern cannot guarantee fulfilling all back orders by June; third run likely into later 2026

    high confidence · Zach states 'they said, don't even bank on us being able to fulfill all the back orders in June. Very likely, it is already into the third run of Pokemon'

  • Tanya Clice (Tanya Clice) is back as lead programmer after working on Insider Connected and Deadpool

    high confidence · Dennis: 'The lead programmer to everybody's joy, and we had hoped I'd hinted, Tanya Clice is back. He was stuck in the world of Insider Connected'

  • George Gomez and Jack Danger are co-lead designers; both signed the LE apron arch placard

    high confidence · Dennis: 'George Gomez and Jack Danger are considered the co-lead game designers on this game, even to the point that they both signed the LE apron arch placard'

  • Stern reduced LE production to 700s-800s range (750 for Pokemon) because 1000-unit LEs from John Wick and Venom were not selling as quickly

    high confidence · Zach: 'Stern recently has been doing, they've been dabbling in the 700s and 800s because they knew the 1000s weren't really flying off the shelves with John Wicks and Venoms'

  • Pokemon artwork is being handled directly by the Pokemon licensor, not Stern's in-house artists

    high confidence · Dennis: 'Lead artist is the Pokemon licensor themselves. So any piece of artwork you see on there, it's pretty much Pokemon people doing it'

Notable Quotes

  • “I think my answer would be... it is title and theme contingent, or title and parts contingent... I think what's really pushing this one to be location first, location pro, is the fact that... we are making every effort we can to get this game on the streets so that people can get their hands on this game. They anticipate this being one of the most heavily influenced titles that will pull in people that are non-pinball people.”

    Dennis Creasel @ ~27:00 — Explains Stern's strategic shift to prioritize location/operator availability for Pokemon (non-traditional audience) over LE collector shipments

  • “They told dealers, this is how you know Pokemon sales have been extraordinary, viewer... they said, don't even bank on us being able to fulfill all the back orders in June. Very likely, it is already into the third run of Pokemon, which will be sometime later in 2026.”

    Zach Minney @ ~42:00 — Confirms unprecedented demand; production constraints forcing multi-year fulfillment windows

  • “I think Tanya... is the closest programmer in current times that has expanded upon 90s Bally Williams that everybody loved... He expanded on that to make it more relevant to 2026.”

    Zach Minney @ ~55:00 — Positions Tanya Clice's coding philosophy as bridging classic accessibility with modern complexity

  • “Never, ever before has pinball seen a release quite like this with such built-in collectability. Could you argue, viewer, is there anything out there that we've ever got brand-wise that is not only the biggest IP ever, but also the biggest IP of the entire world combined with a collectability aspect to it?”

    Zach Minney @ ~72:00 — Frames Pokemon Pinball as unprecedented crossover event for collectibility in pinball; positions it as potential market inflection point

  • “I didn't need to see the game to know that... Even seeing the game, this is a theme that is tough to gauge because of the product it is. It's a niche product. It's an expensive product... are people outside of pinball going to spend $10,000, $13,000, $7,000 on a Pokemon-themed pinball machine?”

    Zach Minney @ ~50:00 — Acknowledges the inherent risk/uncertainty of mainstream IP adoption in niche pinball market despite immediate LE sell-out

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyDennis CreaselpersonZach MinneypersonPokemon by Stern PinballgameTanya ClicepersonGeorge GomezpersonJack DangerpersonRon HallettpersonPinball at the Beachevent

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Pokemon sales exceeding all recent Stern releases; back orders extending into third production run (estimated June/July/September 2026) with demand overflow

    high · Zach: 'they said, don't even bank on us being able to fulfill all the back orders in June. Very likely, it is already into the third run of Pokemon'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Pokemon positioned as unprecedented crossover IP with built-in collectability; only comparable to Star Wars in franchise scale; 750 LE scarcity driving secondary market expectations

    high · Zach: 'never, ever before has pinball seen a release quite like this with such built-in collectability... Could you argue... is there anything out there that we've ever got brand-wise that is not only the biggest IP ever, but also the biggest IP of the entire world'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Tanya Clice's rule design approach characterized as bridging 90s Williams approachability with modern complexity; fewer start-button mechanics for accessibility

    high · Dennis and Zach discussion of Deadpool rule structure as approachable yet deep; Zach: 'He expanded on that to make it more relevant to 2026'

  • $

    market_signal: Pokemon Pinball reframing pinball as collectible investment-grade asset alongside sports cards, movie props, and high-end collectibles; collectability as core market driver

    medium · Zach: 'I like collectible stuff. I like the sports cards... there's a lot of stuff that I like that is one of a kind, that is collectible' in context of Pokemon expectations

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Pokemon Company handling lead artwork/visual design directly; Stern restricted from creative interpretation to preserve IP aesthetic

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.412

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised.
0:13
Dennis, I'm hoping that you are ready for this fire. Bring it, bring it, bring it like a Charizard. 189 of the Pinball Show, that's Dennis Creasel, I'm Zach Minney, and we're coming in hot and fiery fire type. Or what type of Pokemon type would you be? Water.
0:36
Why would you be water? Squirtle. You like Squirtle? Is that your favorite Pokemon? Squirtle. Squirtle squad. I do like Squirtle. Yeah. Squirtle. Is there land or dirt? Grass. That's definitely your type. Grass type? Hey, man. Grass type. Come on. with all of it. I'm not consumed. Oh, maybe you are a rusty trombone. No. Years. Uh, no, uh, what fire? I, maybe I'm psychic. Oh, oh, like Mewtwo or Psyduck? Yes. Oh, you're going to throw Psyduck on me like that? I mean, damn. Isn't there like a toxin one too? I don't, I guess. I never played, other than Pokemon Go, I haven't played the game, so I don't know all the types. Pokemon! That I've seen enough speed. I do know some of them. That's the only music we can legally play in this episode.
1:34
I don't know. Nintendo might be like, that's too close. They might. I might get a cease and desist. How are you? I'm good. We missed our last episode. A little background sausage making. It was, we knew we could grow a sausage. Background sausage is not a good nickname, by the way. Well, put a pin in that because I got something for you. Okay, all right. Not remotely inappropriate either. Oh, you got something. I just realized that came across as very Predator.

Secondary market predictions: Pokemon LE could sell for $30,000-$50,000+ based on collectability and IP strength

medium confidence · Zach: 'Are we prepared, Dennis and viewer, to see a pinball machine sell for over $30,000? Hit it, baby... Do I hear 40? 40. Do I hear 50?'

  • “The timing is extraordinary for Pokemon. What better time than to have a pinball machine? And, oh, by the way, classic titles, the Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green, are set to release digitally on the Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2 systems... The brand is also teaming up with the Lego Group to launch the first ever official Lego Pokemon building set.”

    Zach Minney @ ~63:00 — Demonstrates convergence of multiple Pokemon IP initiatives creating sustained cultural momentum and market awareness

  • “So that's late March. We're going to start seeing premiums. And then into April, we are going to start seeing Pokemon premiums continue to roll out. Also, at the beginning of April... in April, they're actually going to finish up what they're still referring to as the first run pros... to me, that's not first run... but for semantics, I guess.”

    Dennis Creasel @ ~37:00 — Points to Stern's semantic labeling (calling April pro shipments 'first run') masking extended fulfillment delays

  • “With only 750 LEs in the entire world of this Pokemon by Stern Pinball... Are we prepared, Dennis and viewer, to see a pinball machine sell for over $30,000? Hit it, baby.”

    Zach Minney @ ~70:00 — Establishes scarcity narrative (750 units) as foundation for secondary market price appreciation speculation

    • Loser Kid
    organization
    Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
    John Wickgame
    Venomgame
    Deadpoolgame
    Godzillagame
    King Konggame
    Jawsgame
    Insider Connectedproduct
    Foo Fightersgame
    Pokemonorganization/brand
    Nintendo Switch 2product

    high · Dennis: 'Lead artist is the Pokemon licensor themselves. So any piece of artwork you see on there, it's pretty much Pokemon people doing it. So that's a pro and a con'

  • $

    market_signal: Stern reduced LE production to 700s-800s range (750 for Pokemon) after 1000-unit LEs for John Wick and Venom underperformed in velocity

    high · Zach: 'Stern recently has been doing, they've been dabbling in the 700s and 800s because they knew the 1000s weren't really flying off the shelves with John Wicks and Venoms'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Tanya Clice returns as lead programmer after working on Insider Connected; previously known for Deadpool programming

    high · Dennis: 'The lead programmer to everybody's joy, and we had hoped I'd hinted, Tanya Clice is back. He was stuck in the world of Insider Connected'

  • $

    market_signal: Secondary market speculation: Pokemon LE units expected to sell $30,000-$50,000+; framed as historic valuation level for pinball machines

    medium · Zach: 'Are we prepared, Dennis and viewer, to see a pinball machine sell for over $30,000? Hit it, baby... Do I hear 40? 40. Do I hear 50?'

  • ?

    announcement: Official announce of Pokemon by Stern Pinball with 750 LE units; 30th anniversary commemorative edition; co-designed by George Gomez and Jack Danger

    high · Dennis: 'Stern announces Pokemon. 750 LE units. They sold out immediately.' With signed apron placard confirmation and George Gomez co-designer statement

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pokemon released in Pro/Premium/LE three-tier model with 750 LE units only; intentional scarcity differentiation strategy

    high · Dennis: 'They're going to make pro-premium LE models. LE models, only 750.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern production timeline: Location pros late Feb/early March, LEs mid-late March, Premiums April, second-run June. Third run likely September-later due to demand overflow

    high · Detailed timeline provided by Dennis with explicit dates and acknowledgment that June fulfillment cannot be guaranteed for all back orders

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern prioritizing location/operator availability over home collector fulfillment to drive non-pinball audience adoption and create in-venue play/purchase motivation

    high · Dennis: 'we are making every effort we can to get this game on the streets so that people can get their hands on this game. They anticipate this being one of the most heavily influenced titles that will pull in people that are non-pinball people'

    • 2:05
    And I don't mean Predator like the Skit V version. No, we had planned to record the day later. Usually these episodes come out on Monday. We actually planned to record the Monday because you were getting back from pinball at the beach. So we were going to record after I was back from work. I got home. I was exhausted, but I was like, I got to pretend I'm not because people will judge it. And I sit down and I load up my computer and Zach's like, I have just gotten back. I haven't prepped a single thing. Pokemon wasn't out yet. So we're just like, you know what? Fine. We'll wait. And here we are. And now we have the news. We got Pikachu ready. I'm beyond excited. Excited. I'm finally a fire within this oven. It blows and glows brightly again. So I'm fired up. How was Pinball at the Beach? You know what? We'll talk about it later in the episode. Absolutely. Great show. Fun show. Very intimate. An intimate show, Pinball at the Beach, or the kids say P-A-T-B. And, yeah, we'll talk about that. But, man, the one highlight for me amongst many is I just – I've seen Ron Hallett from – Oh, yeah, Ron. From Slam Tilt. And he's just a highlight for me. A lot of people I talk to, I lost my voice. It's exhausting and like the best type of exhaustion going to one of those shows and getting dehydrated and everything. But I came away from it. I was like, damn, every time I get to hang out with Ron Hallett, Jr., I just love that guy. I just love him. He's so polite and he's so informative and knowledgeable. and funny, and he has the voice of smooth as silk. So, yeah. Yeah, I know. I always like it when I encounter Ron at shows because it's, you know, he's got that really deep knowledge and, you know, sees the humor in pinball. And, you know, he's been at this a long time. I mean, Slam Tilt, in fact, started just a few months after Eclectic Gamers did, and we just crossed our 10th year. So they'll be hitting their 10-year sometime here in 2026. I think what I like about Ron is it's easy for a lot of people into pinball, and we certainly will cover this later, whether it's hobbyists, whether it's media people. It's easy to, like, hate on me and to, like, you know, because I have to take the heel approach a lot. So to, like, lean into that and not want to associate with me, Ron's never been like that. He, like, gets me, understands me, and I can call him a friend. Like, yeah, it's really nice.
    4:46
    Yes, are you Ron Howell? What the fuck? Is this a Ron Howell? I guess. Yeah, I guess it's Pokemon and Ron. That's right. Pokemon!
    4:56
    Pokemon, yeah. Well, now, speaking of heel, Zach. Yeah? Now, you're very generous, Zach. You've actually sent me a number of things over the years. Sometimes I will get a, I've never actually received a human foot from you, and I'm not asking for that because, you know. You want a fucking toe? Who gets their toe? There's Croto. Second on a Croto. Remember that? That was like episode 10. I love it. But so sometimes I will just get like a package from Nicole or Zach, and it will be like, you know, Pinball. He's like, I had a Translate show up. You got me a while ago, like the Jaws Pro Translate, because you knew I wasn't a huge fan of the premium Translate, so I just got this Jaws Pro Translate that showed up months after I got Jaws, and it was just like, you know, it's really nice. But the latest thing, I have to ask. I think I know what you're talking about. Yeah, well, you do know because of what you were hoping to skirt around. There is no skirting around it.
    5:59
    Zach, and I mean this in the nicest way, why the hell do I have beef sticks? Beef sticks? Oh, wow. A whole thing of beef sticks. And not just beef sticks. Zach, candy.
    6:16
    These are Mike and Ike's, which are favorite. They were loose, loose like in the coin box. Like, they taste like old quarters and loneliness. I don't understand.
    6:31
    Oh, how did you? And ultimately, Zach, now the coolest thing, because I'm wearing it, is my Dr. No shirt. The shirt. I want to show you, though, because I have to question.
    6:46
    You made the shirt. If you're not watching video, it's too big. Dude, it's 6XL. So what are you saying? Are you saying I'm fat? Is that what you're saying?
    7:04
    6XL. I know that's pinball size, but Jesus. It's been way too long. Oh, I'm wiping tears. If you're not watching video, people, what are you waiting on?
    7:15
    6XL. I do like this. Are you literally? You literally sent me trash? You really have to work this. I love the effort. Literal garbage. Listener, if you, oh, man, this is such a long story.
    7:35
    But we're going to get into it. Please watch the video of him twirling around in his Dr. No 6XL shirt.
    7:46
    Wow. Literal garbage. Right now, the industry is hitting this new collectability wave that we've – I don't think we've seen it before to this degree. That shirt, my friend, may be very valuable to hundreds of people on Penn site as well as a pack of meat and that loose candy in a coin box. I thought I would save this shirt for when we do our Christmas giveaway. Oh, that's a good call there. And I cannot leave this on. It is a tripping hazard. I will die. I'll explain to people while you go take that shirt off.
    8:30
    Wow. So Dennis, ladies and gentlemen, he went for a well-curated joke there, a curated joke that included props. and this is why the entire hobby community respects him and loves him to the degree that they do because those of you that know really do know.
    8:54
    And we're going to talk about it later in the episode here where we can't get into it now. We need to talk about Pokemon, but it included an angry person that was angry at flipping out pinball. It included meat sticks. It included a Dr. No transplant. It included a shirt that I accurately got the size correct for but got in trouble for knowing the size. It included candy in a coin box. It included crates. There are memes now because of this thing that we're going to discuss later on. and we'll discuss it. If you want to hear about it,
    9:42
    you're going to hear my response to all of it coming up here soon, later in the episode. What am I supposed to do with meat sticks? I don't run an arcade.
    9:52
    Meat sticks. Oh, my gosh. That was good, Dennis. Stern Pinball, we get to start off with them, and pretty much the majority of this episode is going to be nothing but the King, Stern Pinball. Over the last couple of weeks, over on the production line at Stern Pinball, They've been creating and making James Bond Pros. James Bond? Oh, yeah. Surprise, surprise. Man, there's a segue for everything. The Dr. No Pro. So that was supposed to be made in April. It was bumped up to be made in early January. So that's why we are saying that. Do you think that's because of the delays with being able to get Pokemon going? I believe so because we're so accustomed to seeing that first cornerstone of the year from Stern Pinball right in January. But we did not see that now. Many of you know we've not seen that until February. So, yeah, they had to build something. They were like, why don't we bump this up? We got the parts. So they did make those. Now, as a reminder, I don't believe they have any – I don't think they have any plans of making James Bond again in the near future. So there's a good chance we will not see that this year made again. So whatever James Bonds are out there are out there. Late February, early March, Pokemon, as we will talk in length about, the location pros. will be shipping out late February, early March. It was late February, and then through all of this buzz and release, launch, sales, market, everything, they've now, the most recent update, they're saying early March. But I can see them putting them on, because they were kind of on the line a bit whenever media was there last week or the week before. So probably dual lines. I think they'll start making them this month, but they may not start shipping until early March. March, we're also supposed to see a run of Godzilla Premium games. And then mid to late March, Pokemon LEs will be going out. And then in late March, Pokemon Location Premiums, something that Sparrow often doesn't really have to deal with much, like these locations getting premiums because they're like, we're going to build a bunch of premiums anyway, so they'll just fall into that. A little different this time around. where they're actually designating some location premiums being right at the same time, but also keeping in mind they're doing premiums right after it too, so it will probably bleed right into the premiums, but they are making an effort to say, hey, whatever location premiums you submitted as official location games, because we have to fill out a form and everything for it, it's a thing, we're going to send those first to get those out there. Can I ask you a question? Yeah, totally. It's sort of, I want to know if you have a hypothesis. Like, why do you think CERN keeps tweaking this, like the order? Because, you know, it used to be the whole, what, like pro, was it used to be pro premium LE? And then they went and they started doing, you know, LEs got moved up. I know a lot of LE collectors were kind of frustrated that, you know, I heard mixed messaging. Like some were like, some were okay with it because they're like, well, they're working the kinks out. I'd rather my LE not need a whole bunch of modifications, sort of, you know, manual patching. But on the flip side, they're like, we're paying the most money. Why are we, like, last on the list? And now it feels like, well, in this case, it seems we've gone back to that. And I don't, like, why do you think there's something, like, going wrong? Every time they try and do it, they think that, nah, it didn't quite get it right. But now I feel like we're revisiting what they used to do. I think my answer would be, and I don't know this for sure, so I'm not speaking on behalf of them. My guess, my most educated guess, would be that it is title and theme contingent, or title and parts contingent. So it just depends on if they have the parts for the premium LE SKUs are going to be a little different than the pros, and it's going to be contingent upon the title. So for this one, I think what's really pushing this one to be location first, location pro, is the fact that in some of their communication with dealers and distributors, it has been we are making every effort we can to get this game on the streets so that people can get their hands on this game. They anticipate this being one of the most heavily influenced titles that will pull in people that are non-pinball people. They're relying on a lot of that, which they've had a lot of success thus far on. So to lean into that, they're going to say, not only have Pokemon people heard about a new pinball machine being made, but we want them to play it. We want them to see it every time they go to a barcade or every time they go to a family entertainment center. We want them that way they can play it and want it as well. So I don't think they're going to get that with the LEs. So they said, let's shift the LEs back, especially whenever I said title contingent to dependent.
    14:53
    That's why we've seen LEs as after premiums years ago. I mean, that was years ago. It's because LEs at that time were so hot that they would sell out instantly. So it's like, we don't have to. We're trying to sell premiums, so let's get premiums out there. People will get their hands on them. They'll buy those. But then over the last couple of years, you've seen LEs sell out, but not as fast. So they're like, you know what, we owe it to the LE people. Let's just jump that past the premiums. Hell, let's jump that past, because we've really, they probably make the most money with LEs per unit. So let's push that to the front of the line. But for Pokemon, it just makes more sense. Okay, that makes sense to me. Now, we'll discuss the whole production timeline, and there is a part that doesn't make much sense that we'll discuss. And I think that's when parts becomes a thing. All right. So that's late March. We're going to start seeing premiums. And then into April, we are going to start seeing Pokemon premiums continue to roll out. Also, at the beginning of April, so after all of those premium Pokemon, in April, they're actually going to finish up what they're still referring to as the first run pros. Remember, they're getting the location pros out early March. but they can't get consumer pros out. So that's when early April those pro buyers are going to see those. Now, to me, that's not first run. If you make some, if you make some Pokemon Frozen. Sounds like a little bit of a misnomer. I think it's a way of saying, no, no, you're still in the first run.
    16:24
    Hold on, don't be mad. Second run's June. But to me, that's, you know, but for semantics, I guess. So in April, we're going to see the rest of those pros. And then after that, we have April also, if they're still holding to it, Godzilla Pro, King Kong Pro, Jaws Pro, and Premium. So the hot titles there in April. June is the second run of Pokemon Pro and Premium. And for the most part, around the world, if new orders are falling, I know the pros. I don't know a first-run pro in the world that you can buy. you're going to fall into June at this point. That's where Flippin' Out Pinball is. Premium, same kind of thing. Probably, I think we have a couple more first-run March premiums, but for the most part, everybody's looking at June for the second-run Pokemon. Also in June, when do you think we're going to see that second 2026 Cornerstone, Dennis? Because typically, it would be January, the first Cornerstone. Then we would see April-ish, May maybe, April, May for the second cornerstone. But as you had talked about, they shift Pokemon back to February instead of January. So I'm guessing that we'll see that same shift maybe in June, see the second cornerstone. Maybe later, maybe earlier. I don't know. Yeah, I think, I mean, the thing is, because CERN builds so fast, As long as there's not a supply chain issue to slow down their ability to output Pokemons, even though I've heard Pokemon is selling very, very well, like compared to the last few titles is doing extremely good, they might be, quote-unquote, caught up enough to go ahead and launch as usual. So I do think June makes the most sense. I would guess first half of June, though. I do think they'll be ready to reveal at that point, because the licensure delays and stuff were, I don't think that's going to disrupt the whole production plan. I think that simply meant they had to drag out the reveal longer than they wanted to. But nonetheless, I think they're going to get back up to speed here pretty quickly. Okay. My question to Stern was, wait a minute, because I guess there were so many sales. I'm not used to recently, I'm not used to ordering a bunch of games and then them being like, here's the ones coming in March, here's the ones coming in April, here's the ones coming in June. I was like, wait, wait, what? Well, here's the ones coming in June. What do you mean?
    19:00
    Why wouldn't they all just be made at least by April? Well, no, because there's so many sales, we can't build them all that you're ordering in March and April. So we have to have some in June. And they told dealers, this is how you know Pokemon sales have been extraordinary, viewer. is because they said, don't even bank on us being able to fulfill all the back orders in June. Very likely, it is already into the third run of Pokemon, which will be sometime later in 2026. My guess, June, July, September, August, probably before that third cornerstone is revealed. My other thing was this. We're placing a large order. This is more dealer inside baseball stuff for those interested. From a buyer perspective, I've got really big decisions to make. This is like usually Patreon stuff, but we'll get it here. My decision, this is a lot of money that me as a distributor will be purchasing these games because I'm purchasing not only to fulfill the people that have ordered, but I'm also fulfilling for this imaginary timeline in the air that I'm hoping that I can have inventory, enough inventory to fulfill people before the next subsequent run or when they have them in stock, but not so many that it makes my company be in a bad equity place being able to purchase other stuff. So it's really tough. And then when you tell me that you're not going to get these until sometime in the future, I've got to think, well, I know there's another cornerstone coming. So are people going to wait? because when you announce another cornerstone, then these people are going to be like, well, I want that one. And then you get a mess of things. So it gets very difficult to estimate and to guess. Well, I mean, they're still selling a lot of them. My recommendation would be to delay it. I'm not sure. I still lean that they'll be ready in June.
    21:06
    But I don't know. I mean, there's all this other stuff. You know, you've talked about this other schedule. We've still got things like, you know, Godzilla Premium is going to be made, King Kong Pros and Jaws Pros going to be made. Those don't have to be made, and they change their schedule all the time. They could just pump out Pokemons instead of doing some of this other stuff. Some of them, like for Godzilla Premium in March, I need to start doing that. I know what you want. I'm about out. Like, I need them. I don't know how many back ordered. I need those. And you see the ones that they're building. Those are the ones that, like, dealers are running out of kind of things. Sure. They're like, I've got to build those because not everybody wants Pokemon.
    21:45
    I couldn't imagine the difficulty and the complexity of deciding all this, but it's a great problem to have for everybody involved. So that's all of that. All right, so I don't know when the third round of Pokemon is going to be, but now we get to jump into everything Pokemon. The official game title, did you know this, Dan? Yeah. The official game title is Pokemon by Stern Pinball. Yes, because Pokemon Pinball exists as a video game. Yes. They're going to make pro-premium LE models. LE models, only 750. And I say only 750 because Stern recently has been doing, they've been dabbling in the 700s and 800s because they knew the 1000s weren't really flying off the shelves with John Wicks and Venoms. They would have here.
    22:31
    Here they would have. Yes. And I didn't need to see the game to know that. It is tough. I will tell you this without going into too much detail. Even seeing the game, this is a theme that is tough to gauge because of the product it is. It's a niche product. It's an expensive product. It's a product that pretty much is the product that is pinball machines. Very niche. It takes a specialist, a hobbyist, somebody that's a connoisseur of this hobby to really purchase in abundance these things. You've got locations. Nobody just stumbles upon a pinball machine. It's like, yeah, sure, they do, but not to the degree of fulfilling a whole market. So it's really tough to know. So are people outside, we know this IP is huge, but are people outside of pinball going to spend $10,000, $13,000, $7,000 on a Pokemon-themed pinball machine? I had, in hindsight, it's easy. But it was tough for me to gauge because I didn't know. I did not know. Nothing could have prepared me for what followed. I would have never even guessed that, even if I had seen the game prior to. I wouldn't have guessed it. Makes sense now. I get it. But, yeah, I wouldn't have put all my eggs in that basket just because that's a what if. That's a big what if. It paid off, but a big what if. So Stern announces Pokemon. 750 LE units. They sold out immediately. Immediately. No price increase, thankfully. This is the 30th anniversary model. There's not going to be. Everybody's like, well, they're going to come out later with a 30th anniversary model.
    24:26
    I mean, I can see it. But normally they wait at least a year before they do an anniversary, and this is the 30th, so it wouldn't really matter. So George Gomez said he's a co-designer of this game. He said, no, this is our, you know, this is us paying tribute to the 30th anniversary of this brand. Game designers. Interesting story behind all of this. now that they've been doing interviews and such. Loser Kid did an interview with a reveal stream, so go listen to that. But George Gomez and Jack Danger are considered the co-lead game designers on this game, even to the point that they both signed the LE apron arch placard. So it is said that Jack Danger was doing this game and then, for whatever reasons, sat down from doing this game. George Gomez finished this game up. Lead artist is the Pokemon licensor themselves.
    25:25
    So any piece of artwork you see on there, it's pretty much Pokemon people doing it. So that's a pro and a con, I think. A lot of Pokemon people say thank you. We don't want any of our beautiful, brilliant, wonderful creatures butchered by any artist trying to give an interpretation of. So it is straight up Pokemon from Pokemon. I think the downside is there's no creative freedom to have them do something that normally they wouldn't do that is more associated with pinball.
    26:02
    So pluses and minuses there. We'll talk about it. The lead programmer to everybody's joy, and we had hoped I'd hinted, Tanya Clice is back. He was stuck in the world of Insider Connected, making that the big success that it was. He is most known for just one of the greatest coded games arguably, in pinball, with Deadpool. And then he helped Jack Danger out code-wise and did programming and rules for Foo Fighters, which kind of everybody loved as well. But really his claim to fame is Deadpool. And it is known as one of the most approachable. I like, the most approachable. I would say it's a combination, it's got depth to it, but his code sets are, at least the Deadpool code set, was very approachable compared to a lot of other modern Stern product where it can feel a little, you know, nebulous. Like, let's use, like Godzilla. Godzilla is a pretty approachable game, I would say, in a lot of ways, but compared to Deadpool, it's kind of like, what's this with this tank? And, you know, and there's that, and there's this bridge thing. Like, all the shots do something, but it's not immediately clear. Whereas with Deadpool, it's like, hey, look, shoot the scoop. You go on the scoop. Pick one of these three battles. Oh, I understand. Oh, I'm fighting the juggernaut. Oh, look, now I can go fight a T-Rex and go back in time. Like, it's, and that game is a hard layout compared to Godzilla. But I think the rules kind of, I don't want to say 90s-esque because I feel like there's more depth there. But it feels a little more at the start. Like, there are fewer things from the start button, so it's not as overwhelming. So I think your word of approachable works best here. I think, Tanya, you perfectly described it, Dennis, and I was thinking about that when you were describing it. It's almost as if he is the closest programmer in current times that has expanded upon 90s Bally Williams that everybody loved, that type of rule set and structure moments and stuff. He expanded on that to make it more relevant to 2026. But yeah, that's why people love him And that's why they always wanted him back on a game But he was so busy with Insider Connected And now this is still a team Initially they were like, it's a big team on this one Because there are so many Insider Connected things There is plenty of depth here But the approachability has to be there for the masses So it is very much Tanyo and Steve And I hear, listener, I hear that too It is, look, I didn't see it coming but it has to come right now. Ladies and gentlemen, it's nothing more than what you wanted to hear. We've been waiting too long. It's pinball! Market trends!
    28:42
    It doesn't belong this early. It doesn't. You know why? I can't hold it back. It's like the floodgates are about to explode. I've been wanting so much for pinball to see something this hot coming out of the fiery ashes. Like, there's got to be a phoenix in this Pokemon. There's probably 12 different phoenixes, right? I mean, I don't know. I couldn't wait for you to do this episode.
    29:11
    This episode counts. I couldn't wait. I'm done. I need to get all this out. It's Pokemon. It's Pinball Market Trends training up this week. It's the timing of this whole thing, Dennis and viewer. The timing. Talk about striking while the iron moth is hot. That's a Pokemon reference. The Iron Moth. You're welcome, all you PokeNerds out there. I was researching. Do I go Iron Moth here? Do I go Iron Hands? Which one is a fire? No, it's the Iron Moth. But the timing is trending up on Pokemon. First off, 30th anniversary.
    29:51
    It's the time to do Pokemon. Logan Paul sells a Pokemon card. I can't believe you mentioned Logoball. I don't even know who Logoball is. But he is. I don't. I know who he is, but he has a brother. Which one's the one that fights? Jake. I don't know. Is that Jake? Okay. Is there more white people names than Jake and Logan?
    30:16
    I'm not hating. I mean, I can say that. I think I'm white. But $16 million. We've got timing there. That's why this is turning up. New Pokemon trading card game set launched. People are physically assaulting one another, Dennis. Physically assaulting one another for their chance of grabbing that Mega Evolution of Sin's heroes. Oh, my dick is hard. Like, are you going, where are you going, Mega Evolution Charizard here? Pikachu with all the little diamond colors behind it? Is it, like, I think Pikachu's a chick. I think it's a girl mouse. Do you know Pikachu's a mouse? I didn't know that. But I have done so much damn research of Pokemon over the last two weeks that I feel like an expert now. Minus the whole Iron Moth thing. It's later in the series. Give me a little break. The timing is extraordinary for Pokemon. What better time than to have a pinball machine? And, oh, by the way, classic titles, the Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green, are set to release digitally on the Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2 systems. You talking about that on AGP, baby? Come on! So training up is Pokemon timing. And for all of you, so everybody's like, well, I'm not a video game nerd. I'm not a Pokemon nerd. I'm just a pinball guy. Well, let's see if this tickles your pickle. The brand is also teaming up, that is Pokemon, teaming up with the Lego Group to launch the first ever official Lego Pokemon building set. And I'm hearing that they're selling out immediately, and they're selling on the secondary market for way over what their MSRP is. And most of them aren't cheap. I mean, it's Lego, so, you know, but they're... I've looked at them. They look cool. Nothing makes me want to score more than seeing those Lego sets. Oh, my gosh. Clean up aisle nine. So Pokemon timing is trending up, and it has to be trending up. Also trending up this week is Pinball collectability. never, ever before has pinball seen a release quite like this with such built-in collectability. Could you argue, viewer, is there anything out there that we've ever got brand-wise that is not only the biggest IP ever, but also the biggest IP of the entire world combined with a collectability aspect to it? We've not even had a collectability brand made into a pinball machine, have we? I do think you could argue Star Wars.
    32:46
    Okay. You could. I think that's the closest we could come, probably. That's the only one that comes to my mind. It has this baked-in collectability that even myself, as a dabbler of collectible things, was not appreciative of and I didn't see coming. With only 750 LEs in the entire world of this Pokemon by Stern Pinball. Pinball Machine? Are we prepared, Dennis and viewer, to see a pinball machine sell for over $30,000? Hit it, baby. Everybody's going to talk about that. And 30. Do I hear 40? 40. Do I hear 50? How high are these diamond hands going to go, baby? Because we'll talk about it. We will talk about everything built into why this thing is going to be so collectible. and this is what I've been waiting for. I like collectible stuff. I like the sports cards. I grew up with the sports card stuff. I like movie props. There's a lot of stuff that I like that is one of a kind, that is collectible, that right now everybody, you know, crypto is tanky, but people, humans, and especially Western culture, we love collectible things. I think the Japanese, they're big into collectible stuff too. So and if you look at all the marketing stuff in the world I won go too far down the thing here but that the next biggest thing in the evolution of you know our culture is probably going to piggyback off the Eastern culture and that a lot of collectible stuff A lot of people are making it That's why you're seeing $16 million sports cards. That's why you're seeing some of the richest people in the world invest heavily in collectibles rather than stock market and other things. They're diversifying. But it's a big thing, and it's hitting really hard with Pokemon by Stern Pinball. So that's training up, this collectibility. We have been stoking this fire. We've been prepping this for the last couple of years now. It started with Evil Dead. That started that fire up. Arguably, it's not as sexy to say, but Metallica remastered LE kind of initiated this. Then Evil Dead really put it in its place where when you buy a pinball machine, you're not going to lose money on some of these models and trim levels. Not a guarantee and something that we don't even want to tell people that they should ever look to as pinball as an investment. But that really becomes a difficult argument when you have things like Evil Dead, when you have Beetlejuice selling out before it is even shown and selling upwards of $18,000 to $20,000 at one point, without a game even hitting the streets yet. You see Winchester Mystery House in September of last year, 525 units, a theme that nobody knows about. Boom, sold out within 24 hours, and now that is selling for upwards of $20,000. And now Stern, stepping back into the ring, tired of all the shit talking by people, puts his crown on its head, takes his championship belt, and smacks it over everyone's face with this Pokemon game. So is this the high point that we're ever going to see in pinball? Or is it just now starting? We'll have to see. All's trending up this week is sales general. There has been a boost. It's not even the Elwynn effect. It's been whatever games are popular, we're seeing a boost in sales post-Pokémon reveal. You think it's Pokémon or you think it's, like, tax returns?
    36:21
    Timing is everything. The timing. I should have put that in my timing training note. Nicely done. So, yeah, training out the sales in general. Mostly, like, I'm seeing it with Jaws and Harry Potter. Those are the big ones. We've seen it with Dune a bit, too, but that was before Pokémon was launched. but sales in general up right now across the board, both pre-owned and new. And I've seen a lot of people, I'd have to go back and crunch the numbers, but a lot of people, Dennis, they came in, they bought the Pokemon LE or the Pokemon Premium, and then they came back and said, you know what, since I already have that one coming, go ahead, because it's going to take a couple months for that to get here, go ahead and that Jaws Pro is looking cool, so send me that one too. So I'm seeing like two machines being bought at the same time kind of thing. We are seeing a ton of people, non-pinball people, jumping into Pokemon pinball, but we'll talk about that when we discuss fails.
    37:15
    But this segment's only good if we have something that's trending down. Trending down this week is taking Medieval Madness remake Merlin Deposits last summer and not getting customers a game. Shouldn't that even mean, Zach, why I'm running into this? I've ran into this. So we had this Merlin's. They're going to make more this year. We'll talk about that in the coming Pennistry News. But they're going to be making more. And I had a long list of people I couldn't get to last time as well as added to those knowing that they're going to be running more. So I go through that list. And, like, on three occasions, somebody was like, well, I'm still waiting for my MMR. And I was like, what do you mean you're waiting for it? I don't need one because I'm waiting for it. And I'm like, bro, I'm pretty sure all of those have been made and shipped. If not, and they're like, yeah, there's something with this issue or something. And then I would hear like people are like, well, the dealer took my deposit, but then I never ended up getting a game, so I'm seeing if I could get – I'm like, what the – seeing if you get refunded, you better be refunded if they couldn't get you a damn game. And then all these dealers like promising things and then telling – always blaming it on the manufacturer. I was supposed to get this many manufacturers. Oh, so this isn't a CGC thing? No, this is a dealer thing. Interesting. I'm hearing some sloppy dealer stuff going on. Yeah. Okay, I wonder if it had been CGC, like they got an order and that's like, that would have surprised me. Them being slow wouldn't have, but okay. It's very rare that dealers know exactly how many Evil Dead we're getting. We knew exactly how many Beetlejuice. We knew that. Don't let anybody pull the wool over your eyes, viewer. Zach here. Like, it looks like a duck, and it sounds like a duck, and it smells like a duck. I don't know. What do ducks smell like? Psyduck. Down. But it's probably the dealer. I hate to throw a dealer, a fellow dealer in the bus, but I've heard of that way too much. Come on, dealers. Clean up your shit. Get your act together. If you've got a game, sell it. If you don't, don't sell what you don't have. Also trending down this week is pinball extortion. What? Shit. Oh, we've got a segment about it later on. But look, making threats to harm someone's company and their livelihood, even after they've met all of your extortion demands, by going then on to a hobbyist worm and creating a hit piece thread, there's a special place for you all that are like that. So, I've met this type of scenario way too many times. This one being the one that takes the cake.
    40:07
    Yeah, takes the cake. Who is taking cakes? I could put candy in the cooling box and I couldn't even get a thank you. All right. We're going to talk about that, but that is the fact. To be trending down has been a thorn in my side for a couple weeks now. Also trending down this week is Hawaii. No, we're not going to. Also trending down.
    40:32
    It took me a beat. Turning down this week, I guess, is. Let me get that 6XL Hawaiian shirt back. I'm going to hang it in a closet for that bit. Just give me two minutes. Was it the shirt for Giants? What is this? How did you know I saw it? That's right. And, y'all, thank you so much for letting me get that off my chest. It's been building. You guys know how it is. When it has been a little too long and it builds up and you just want to explode. Yeah, that's how it was here at Pinball Market Trends. But then again, I'm just here to report the facts because numbers do not lie. Neither do I on Pinball Market Trends. Back to your regularly scheduled vodcast. Yeah, we have a game to talk about here. Sorry.
    41:24
    I'm so excited about this game, and I don't care about Pokemon. You learned about Iron Moth. I didn't even know that was a thing. I've learned. Jeez. I could, you know what? I would be pretty good at knowing, like, if you said a number of some popular ones, I would be good. I would kind of know them. Way too much research. Way too much. Okay. Let's talk about the theme of the brand of Pokemon. Pokemon, we know, or many of you may not know, highest grossing media franchise of all time in our world with over, I had to check, $288 billion plus in revenue, lifetime revenue.
    42:01
    I mean, it's been around a while, and it touches so many media pieces, even compared to Star Wars when you think about it. Because obviously, like that, it's got, it's had movies. It had a TV show. It's had video games. It has a collectible card game, which has done very well for, like, Rivals Magic, the gathering levels have, like, done well for itself.
    42:27
    And more popular than sports cards at this moment. Like, Star Wars has merch, but not like, hey, look, let's have all these cuddly, like, stuffed animal, like, kids. Like, it's got stuff that appeals to a much broader spectrum. in a lot of other, your finger can be in a lot of pies when it comes to Pokemon. Yeah, you're right. Well, and Stern was bringing up the fact that, like, even if, I mean, what a flex. They said you can take Harry Potter, you can take Star Wars, you can take, and the biggest lights, add them all up, and Pokemon is still bigger than all of them. That puts things in perspective very quickly. So this may be not the biggest American phenomenon of recent time, as it is now, but this is a global thing. And Stern said, Seth Davis, when he was presenting this stuff, said, this thing is massive. It is multigenerational, too. This isn't just one subset of age group. This is what you said. Kids are right. I remember numerous different ways. When I was in grad school was when the cartoon was going. So if you think about that and, like, you extrapolate back, A lot of those people that would have been watching that were like 10 to 12 at the time are in their mid to late 30s now. Sure. Younger kids are now in their 30s from that cartoon. And they have money. And they have money now. That's the thing. It's like I didn't say 20s. I said 30s. So a segment of that population will have enough disposable income now, especially if it's just, hey, this is a splurge thing. Like I've never had a pinball machine before. You've mentioned already, Zach, people getting into the hobby. $7,000, get a pro. A couple thousand more, get a premium.
    44:13
    It makes sense. This isn't a thing where it's like, well, our audience are all babies still, so they can't buy it. That's not the case. It's almost like a sociological thing, like a social psychology thing. It's cultural. It's not anthropology. But, like, if you think about it, not to get too down Alice's rabbit hole here, but you've got a younger generation. What's the generation now that we call them? I call them punk asses, but what are they? Zers? Xers? Zers? I don't know. I'm an Xer, and then there were the millennials, and then there's the Gen Z, and now the newest ones I think are called Gen Alpha for now. Gen Alpha. It sounds like a new set of Pokemon. But you've got these Gen Alphas and all these. And societally, we're raising kids now that don't feel like they can do what the people from the 60s did or make a good wage and have a retirement and a pension. So they're not seeing Social Security like people before my time were. So it's like this generational shift, too, where they don't see the importance in all that. They don't even see the importance as much in wealth and different things. So if they don't feel like they can get to that point, they're into gaming already more than any other generation, and they're seeing a way to maybe make money and invest in collectibles, there's no wonder why this really is hitting really hard right now in our society. So the theme is a broad crossover. It appeals to families, gamers, collectors, casual fans. Pokemon, I love to hear this. Seth Davis was giddy when he was like, the Pokemon company, the brand, they have really big plans on this pinball machine in particular that they couldn't even discuss in length yet, but they admitted they weren't expecting that the company, Pokemon, wanted to put so much effort and focus into this single product, this pinball machine. So they said they can't discuss it yet, But they were even surprised because they were open to taking on this brand as a pinball machine for just what they've got so far. They were really happy with that. But they were like, no, this company is really making this kind of a hallmark product in how they're moving forward with their brand. And it makes sense. We have seen Pokemon pinball video games, and it has been in the zeitgeist of this brand for decades now. Yes. Pokemon pinball on, what was it, Game Boy or something? Yeah. It's been around Nintendo for quite some time, so there's an affiliation with the... The franchise itself has already had a tie to pinball. Yes, it was virtual, but a tie nonetheless. It and Sonic. Sonic had pinball stuff, like scenes and stuff in the game. So there are a few of these video game-oriented franchises that had a tie to pinball because they did video game versions of pinball in their past. So that's the theme of the brand itself, the game launch. We discuss this oftentimes. We've seen a teaser.
    47:17
    Anymore as a dealer, I hate teasers, but it is what it is. We've seen a teaser that kind of got everything going. It confirmed that we're going to see a Pokemon pinball machine. That alone was enough speculation because of all these previous ones, titles from other companies to sell out immediately. We ended up, I had to explain to Stern, like, when you announce and launch this teaser, my job starts then. Like, you guys are going into the weekend on a Friday, and that's what my weekend then becomes. And we were able to sit down, have some drinks with some of the certain people, and I was explaining from a dealer perspective how that all goes down. Did they get it?
    47:58
    Yes. Well, it's just so different because not all dealers are the same. So while a launch on a Friday teaser for maybe 90% of the dealers, I mean, cool. but there's like 10% of us dealers that it's all hands on deck at that point. Then we've seen a trailer. We didn't know when it was going to come because the media ended up going there, and dealers went to an open house on like a Tuesday, media on a Wednesday. So we thought Thursday, but then it wasn't until Friday. So it was a Friday launch, which marketing-wise, usually you don't do a Friday launch, but they went with that. And then I had seen that there's like an extended look, you know, when it's like, hi, George Gomez here with Stern Pimp. And they go through like a deeper look into it. I don't think that that's been launched yet. If it has, I haven't seen it.
    48:53
    There's one out there, but I guess it is because of licensing stuff. So, yeah, we have not seen it yet. And then there were leaks.
    49:03
    The leaks. that was a big talking point at the launch of this game. Media Day content, Loser Kid reveal stream, or the interview stuff. The podcast interviews, yeah. It had a lot of the media stuff at launch day. You had all those people going up there and recording all kinds of stuff. So we had all kinds of content, so that was great. But we did have leaks prior to, which kind of sucked. And it was from a dealer. It's from a dealer, Dennis. That's always the dealers. It's not. That's what the people say. It was this time, though. Oh.
    49:38
    Batson. Come on. Batson. So, yeah, they had some snapshots, screenshots, and damn. But that's fine. We got past it all. Game line, or the game storyline and objectives. So what are you doing in this game? You're discovering, catching, training, battling in this Pokemon world underclass. You travel around the play field world as a Pokemon trainer, and you discover Pokemon in their different habitats. You become a top Pokemon. Is it Pokemon? Trainer by battling rivals and facing off against the menacing Team Rocket. Catch and train Pokemon to get them battle ready. Win your battle, win your gym battles and compete in the Pokemon arena. Battle the ball, interactive meow, balloon toy as it descends to the play field battle arena. All right, so you get a feel for what you're doing. Mm-hmm. Where's Jesse and James? Oh, forget them. We don't need them. They're blasting off again. Let's say. Team Rocket. We got Meowth. Is that not a name? Yeah, that's right.
    50:40
    Isn't he like the only talking Pokemon? The only one I know of. Yeah. Everything else just says its name repeatedly. Pika Pika. Except like Charizard. I think he just roars. Rawr.
    50:50
    Not like he's constipated. Like, rawr. Features and highlights of this game. It is a two-flipper fan layout. Correct? We're agreeable? Yes. Yes, it is. Is it the fanniest fan to ever fan? Nah, I still say Venom Pro is the fanniest fan. It's got that middle area that makes it not as cool. It's got a little junkyard going on there. That's right. It's loaded with video clips from the animated series, which I love to see. I love full assets, and it has a lot of animated clips. This was smart if for no other reason than it gave them nicely done, pre-created content, so they're not trying to, because, you know, then it will be the whole, you know, doing all these Pokemon, doing all this, you know, the custom in-house Stern animation, we know how difficult it is to create just lots and lots of, like, high-quality imagery. If you've got something like a show, this is like back when we were at Hot Wheels, like why they get that YouTube show. It wasn't because anyone knew the YouTube show. It gave them something for the screen that was already animated. 100%. Yeah. Also, they got the official Pokemon theme song, along with audio from the series, custom speech from Pikachu themselves, and Giovanni. Yes, I couldn't remember who Giovanni was. Someone told me that that's the guy who's actually behind Team Rocket. Team Rocket, yeah. And Pikachu, I love this.
    52:20
    Pikachu has its own voiceover actor, of course. But she's done it for a long time. They cannot go back to use Pika. They couldn't use it. They had to re-record everything. How great of a gig does that chick have that she's, like, contractually obligated. Anytime Pika speaks, it's new Pika. So she gets another check. That's bravo to that man. That's what we call job security in the industry. I want that agent. But other features include an illuminated Pokeball that locks to catch the Pokemon. It's like a lift ramp. It goes in there to like a subway, but then the ball shakes like it does on this series. You get a Pikachu animatronic toy reacting to play field action. You get a Meowth balloon toy and arena magnet with an exposed pop bumper. It's kind of clever design-wise. Play field features include Pokemon-themed ramp spinners, targets, and devices. Shoot the left ramp and cross the water bridge. So, kind of jump ramp-ish to the Squirtle Pool. Then, the little twirly Creeping Black Lagoon Mustang thing to charge on water energy. There's a kick-out hideaway area for Psyduck. It almost feels George Gomez-y with Bond. or the pass through on turtles. Lift up the flipper and you go behind that flipper area. Captive ball trio. I think it's captive ball or is it Newton ball? It's Newton because it Newtons into the next ball, et cetera.
    53:58
    Artwork. Play field art, to me, is pretty normal play field or pretty normal art altogether. When you were looking at the cabinets, Dennis, Did you – everybody likes the Ellie's on it. Yeah. Ellie's is in our package easily, but – It is. They got that right. It's because they got Pikachu hugging that Eevee. Everyone's going to think that's adorable. It is adorable. And yellow. It looks good in yellow. So the other two are red. What about the purple? It's the Master Ball. I didn't notice so much about the Master – I didn't know what the Master Ball was.
    54:33
    Clayfield Art, I would – I'll be a little less generous than you, I think, and I'll say serviceable. it's not going to win any awards but it's competent you clearly know what you're doing and I think that's important in pinball and it's definitely because they use the Pokemon artist it's definitely loyal to the look so but I mean it's not there's nothing really visually exciting about it that's why I say serviceable yeah I'm opposite I think the playful art is what shines here and And to a degree that's pedestrian on the pro and premium cabinet art to me and the back glass, I don't, there's just nothing really special. The LE art is special. It does, that does look good. All the evolutions and stuff, the mirrored back glass, the color. I can even get behind this purple because it matches perfectly with that master ball.
    55:28
    But the play field art to me is so clean you could eat off of it. It is the cleanest looking playfield art in some time for me. We're getting very muddled with playfield art at times in pinball, and this just looks clean. I love it. So that's where I think it shines. I like the style they use whenever they're communicating the rules and the inserts and stuff. It looks simplistic, but I think simplistic to a point that it is sharp. It's almost like the design elements of a Porsche 911. You know what the next iteration is going to look like, and you can be like, oh, it's pretty boring. It doesn't change. No, there's just something stylistically to it that is just fucking sharp, and I get that in the play field more than anything for myself. You could eat all of it. It's clean. Layout.
    56:25
    This is a – I was thrown initially when I seen this layout. I was like, this is a pretty basic layout. Yeah, it is. I mean, that should be the downside to this game, right? That's a matter of perspective. I think it was smart because, again, if Stern's seen this in the view of this is a game that could bring new people into pinball, and I think that's the right way to see it, a friendly layout. I get that Pokemon appeals to all generations. One of my biggest criticisms, and maybe it's an unfair criticism. People, feel free to write in and say, Dennis, you're being unfair. But Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles should never have been that hard layout for that theme. It just felt like it wasn't recognizing that there are a lot of kids that would be drawn to turtles, and then you alienate them because in less than one minute they've lost a dollar. And it's like, holy crap, this is terrible. This is friendly and approachable. and combined with what I expect out of Tanya's rules, I think that's the angle you need to go. People that are looking for, like they don't care about the theme and they're looking for an interesting shooting game, I do not think this is really going to scratch that itch very well. They do have some aspects that will appeal to veteran players. There's some components I really like. Yeah, it's been a while since we've seen this sort of center arena style thing. So that can be, I think that looks fun to play. I can see how a lot of people, maybe a lot of competitive players might go, this is too much of like a baby's layout to want to own. But for this theme, I think it's the right answer. And I think they tried to put in enough. Again, the rules are what drive a lot of it. Maybe it plays too long, but you can always set these things up to play harder if you really want. Well, but what I would remind people, and maybe it does play too long, I'll remind people that when I seen this top down before launch and stuff, I was like, it's pretty basic. I don't know if that's going to be enough. I was wrong because after the media, that whole media day thing did really help the hobbyist get behind this game that they didn't know Pokemon. Because the media loved this layout.
    58:43
    Maybe they're just trying to get behind Jack Dane and George Gomez. But they just said it shoots great. It just shoots really good. And it reminded me, Dennis, Iron Man.
    58:55
    Iron Man is pretty basic, but it is a blast to play. And it is not friendly at all. No. You see some of the boards, though. Even like Tron. Tron's a little bit Metallica, Guardians. There's nothing really special about them fan lamps. But maybe that's how this is, where people are just like, You can combo those ramps, and it reminded me of Iron Man. When you combo those Iron Man ramps, there is nothing that feels better than that. So people are like, and everybody's a sucker for that left orbit that turns into a wire form ramp. I love that. It's not just an orbit. It's an orbit one way you can rip that spinner, but that left orbit turns into a ramp. Love that. And the area in the middle, they're like, oh, it's junkyard kind of thing. Yes and no. I mean, just because of the general vicinity, it's hard to deny the junkyards. Well, and the crane toy. Yes. But the crane toy hits the targets, whereas this doesn't. You're hitting this thing more like, you know, Batman 66 crane kind of thing. But I love that the first, when I seen this game, my feedback was, you've got a winner in the mold and the sculpts. Oh, yes. Like, I can almost peg whether a game is going to come back with people who will play it. And some moldings are just not done well. I'm looking at even some other manufactured games that are kind of like, oh, we do molding and stuff like that. This is the cleanest looking, substantially large. That was my other feedback. These are large sculpts, and they look really good. So if they're interacting, that Meowth, kind of coming at the player and coming down, you hit it in a unique way where it's really bobbling around. Pikachu moving, Pokeball in a very cute manner going back and forth. I knew the sculpts were just phenomenal. They were really good. So that's one of the highlights for me. And then the layout, there's some clever things here, Dennis. I love that magnet use. I really like the magnet use there. people were saying it kind of feels like Uncanny X-Men. The sentinel right in front of the sentinel where you get this ball thrown around. So you get that. It helps you hit those targets up there as well as the pop. I think that's kind of clever. I like it feels like a shadow, the shadow path where you're hitting it up and to the right to, not to lock a ball, but that path feels up the middle there. I like the left pass through. The captive balls, I don't know if that's satisfying. We'll have to see. But if the ramps are that smooth, especially that left one, how it kind of jumps over and does a little figure eight, it reminded me of the one thing people loved about James Bond's 60th, that figure eight kind of thing. But this one's up in the air. So that's kind of neat. I can do without the little twirl in the gig by the flippers, honestly. I don't need the whirlpool kind of thing. And that's part of why, you know, while I noted you can set games up to be harder, I don't think that's its default state. And the purpose of that seems like it is to slow the ball down. So not Iron Man it, but like why else do that but to slow it? And Jack Danger, one of the designers, did say that he made sure that it was designed in a way that you're not there. Right, that it's not spinning like Creature the whole time. Yeah, that was mentioned on the Loser Kid interview. Yeah. Yeah, no, fan layouts aren't bad. People just get a little tired of them because you might end up with a lot in your collection. So, again, like from a non-Pokémon person, I could totally see why this layout would probably be like, no, I'm just going to let me go ahead and order Jaws instead or something. I see that. But there's a reason why there are so many fans. They're popular. We're talking about Medieval Madness. That's the thing.
    62:47
    Easier games sell better. They just do. And we've had that conversation before. All right, Insider Connected, that's the big talking point here because we can't really speak to the rules as much. I mean, we talked about the objectives and whatnot, but it's coming out with .8, .81 code. The media people said it feels like there's a lot there already. But Insider Connected, I think they have an opportunity here to do something special with because of just the license and collecting the Pokemon and stuff. They're utilizing Stern Pinball's award-winning Insider Connected Pokemon by Stern Pinball, elevating the experience by connecting trainers and their adventures across machines and locations. Now, this is a formal statement by Stern Pinball that I found interesting. I don't know what it means. By connecting trainers and their adventures across machines and locations.
    63:46
    I don't know. There's something there. It's interesting. When trainers play Pokemon by Stern Pinball, signed in with their Stern Insider Connected, I love this. The Pokemon that they catch are going to be added to their Pokemon, like the Pokedex collection, which can then be viewed on the Insider Connected app. That is brilliant.
    64:06
    180 Pokemon creatures right now are currently in the game. George Gomez said at launch, but there's going to be many more to come. That's just at launch. So you can collect 180 right now with many more. What is there, over 1,000 Pokemon creatures? Oh, I have no idea. But since they're not bound by region for this game, they basically, I guess, have access to all of them that they want. Yeah. So there's some cool ways you could collect some Pokemon, I think. Now, one of the dealers asked in the dealer seminar, can you collect all these Pokemon creatures from home, or is this just like a location thing? And they said, unsure at this point. So it sounds like they're getting people out, like Pokemon Go. Right. We forgot to even discuss the big thing of online gaming or mobile gaming that was Pokemon Go. You heard the Loser Kid interview, I assume? I heard parts of it. Okay. There was a part in it. I want to go ahead and ask you this now because I can see it both from you as a distributor being a nightmare, but you as someone wanting to see value, especially for LE people loving it, that they had actually, as a company discussed, basically numbering the games, the LEs, and each one was going to have custom, an art of a particular Pokemon for each one.
    65:28
    So not only do I love that, but... If you wanted one over $30,000, that could have gotten you there. This is the Pikachu LE. That's why we've got a big section to discuss. Oh, okay. Sorry, I haven't read ahead. I am huge into that. Whenever this was presented to me, it was one of the first things that I pitched. So much so that I was pitching it hard and I was planning ahead to the best of my ability because the collector in me absolutely sees a correlation between there being official numbers to each one of these creatures in the Pokemon world, a Pokedex number, and the Ellies having their own number. We'll talk about that in a minute, but 100%. But there was only so much that they could do with the Pokemon brand that they couldn't. I think they did pitch something to that extent, but the Pokemon company, they want their things accessible, so they don't necessarily, I find that hard to believe, because they can see what's happening at the trading card game, but they want it to be open, so they didn't want to. It's a lot of unique art packages, too. I mean, again, with their artists, it wouldn't have been a big deal, especially if it's just like the Translight or something. If you could get into my brain, I've thought about that more than anyone. I'm just imagining all the people contacting you, because, of course, you'd have number 54, So you'd have Psyduck because that's your Pokemon. And then everybody would be like, I want Psyduck. It's like, you got to go to Zach and get him to sell you his personal LE. Look, flipping out, Pinball may or may not have Psyduck.
    67:16
    Just, I mean, that's, you know. Let's talk about the reception of this game. Very positive. Yes. I thought it would have been mixed. Really? Why? I just, man, I messed this one up. I understand. All the signs were always there that this was huge. This is no squirrely, hazy nostalgia, back-to-the-future nonsense. This is a real property.
    67:40
    I just am not used to it. I don't think Pinball's used to this. I could lie and say, oh, I knew this was going to happen. I didn't. It's not. It's not used to it. I know who the buyers are. I know who my buyer base is, and I didn't know if that correlates with this brand, this layout. I just didn't know, and I was wrong, thankfully. I was wrong on this one. The reception has been phenomenal. From a sales standpoint, and if we talk about sales and production, the LE was an instant sellout, mostly before it was even shown. That was a bit frustrating, again, where I'd seen a lot of dealers. Even Stern was getting behind it, saying, yeah, I think all the LEs are gone with dealers. And I'm like, we haven't even launched the game yet. We haven't seen it yet. Well, that's the whole thing about even saying the leaks aside, the trailer stuff. The launch of this, I won't say, this is not going to go down in history as a good launch.
    68:33
    It was still difficult. As a seller, what do I do? If people want to we had hundreds of people wanting an LE But you owe it to the people that were on your list the longest to be able to see what the hell they buying That would be my take but I think that a minority take there I understand that, but I need to say, as long as you can just tell them, look, the gates are open now. Do you want to buy it? You haven't seen it. I think if everyone else is doing that, I was going to say your loyalty should be to the list.
    69:05
    Follow your list. But after that, you know, like what you did with Beetlejuice Lane, people have the opportunity. No one else is doing that. It just doesn't work. Everyone has to be on the same page. We did it again. But that's a pinball at the beach. That's what I was trying to explain to some of the people in the position. Just don't, and they can't think of every viewpoint with their sales force and how that works. So I just tried to explain to them. I was like, put yourself in my shoes. Here's what this is going to look like. And, you know, we can celebrate the fact that all of these are technically sold out with everybody. And ours are going to be sold out immediately once we work through that list. But think about what it looks like for me on launch day where we get assets 20 minutes before we launch. I am doing a website. I'm doing marketing. I'm trying to answer questions. I'm fielding calls and texts. I'm trying to do all that. At the same time, I said, a lot of your other dealers, they're done with their LEs. Their job is already finished. I haven't even started because I have to work through that list to confirm with people, do you want your spot? Do you not? If not, I'm going to move down the list to the next person. Do you want your spot? Do you not? And I was like, it is a nightmare. It's the greatest nightmare ever. But it's a lot of work. And I don't think they realize to the extent of when you do it like, when you try to be fair like that, what it ends up. It's a lot more work. But sales, instant sellout, even significant sales on the pro and premium orders to the point we talked about Stern is managing production runs differently. They, this was weird. And I don't blame them because whenever, whenever something's super popular, you're making decisions in the stream of things and you're trying to figure out how to deal with things. Even they probably didn't expect this type of response. They knew it was going to be popular. But they typically, here's how, again, inside sausage.
    71:05
    Typically, whenever a game is launched, we have to fill out these forms for locations because they want to get them out there first. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but it is what it is. Anything that we submit as an official location, we will get that many pros regardless. Let's say I put in five pros and I had 50 consumers that want to buy them. we're going to get five pros regardless. Some releases, I'm only going to get five pros because that's just the way it is, and I'll get the other 50 for consumers later on in the run.
    71:41
    Sometimes they're like, we're going to build a lot of pros, so we'll get your five locations, but we'll also get 10 of your back order 50. We'll give you 50 of the back order 50. That would be a lot of pinball machines, the 50 plus, but another 10, whatever you want to use as an example. On this one, it shocked everybody because we were in the midst of doing that. They actually said, guys, first off, they bumped up. You have to have your deadline to fill all these forms out before you usually do. And then, like, mid-doing all that, they said, hey, we've met our max on production for these location pros, so we actually have to take some of the location pros and push them back to when the rest of the pros are going to get made. And it's like, wait, what? And we weren't expecting that, and that was a little bit of a shock because they were like, it's just. So that's where I said it was kind of weird because if they're wanting to get these in the hands of everybody, it has to be a parts issue because why wouldn't you just keep running the official location pros then? But they're going to do their best to fulfill everybody. So I think we're fine, but it was still, again, when it's that much production and that much sales. The parts theory makes sense. They've even been requiring spreading this production out beyond June, like we said. Like there's no guarantee. Well, I don't even know how many I'm getting in June. So communication-wise, it's tough because they're going to be like, I know I didn't make the first run pro, Zach.
    73:13
    Can I get a second one? Yeah, they're going to let you know they're in the June run. I don't know. I'd like to think so, but I don't know. Maybe you'll get more clarity as we get closer to that month. Yes, usually that's what happens. But that's where you get some slippery dealers that make promises. They'll be like, absolutely, you're in a second run. Then they'll blame it on Stern later, and they'll be like, Stern didn't give us what we were supposed to give us. Like, no, bullshit, bullshit. You knew that you didn't have a number yet. You just wanted to get that sale. And I don't do that shit because I don't want to have to break that news to people and be like, and blame it on Star. No. The easiest way to keep your lies straight is to not tell them.
    73:56
    My parents instilled that in me. Like, that's even to detriment. Like, I feel guilty about everything all the time, and I don't do anything wrong. But, yeah, I don't have time in my life to lie about shit. I have enough on my plate. But lying is certainly something I do not want to add to the mix. Okay. So we've seen, on this one, we have seen so many location buyers, more than we've ever had as a dealer ourselves. I don't know. I think all dealers are probably like that. We have served more locations than we ever, double what we ever have. Even premiums. Premiums. I have more location premiums ordered for people than we typically even have location pros of any other title. That's just premiums. And location pros right now are double what we have of premiums. So all around, just a huge, huge seller. And as I said before, L.E.s, this is going to segue into the collectability, L.E.s now selling close to $30,000. People are calling it crazy. Pennside still is trying to come to terms with it because now Pennside, a hobbyist forum where a lot of people buy and sell stuff and chat on forums, for those most of you are aware. But the guy who runs that is putting a premium price on listing a game that is going to be flipped for more money, more than MSRP.
    75:28
    The trading cards of Pokemon, those distributors are trying to deal with this, and the company, Pokemon themselves, are trying to figure out ways to get them to people without scalpers. You've got Ticketmaster.
    75:39
    So a lot of different industries have to deal with this. But we're very much into the, on this title for the LEs, we're into that whole pandemic pricing increase that we're seeing on the secondary market, or on the market. So, LEs, when I say close to $30,000, I'm not lying.
    76:05
    People right now are like, bullshit, these aren't going to sell for $25,000. Bullshit. Like, the going rate right now, because I've seen it happen, is about $25,000 is what an LE is selling for within the last couple days. On average, $25,000. I've seen some people sell them for $20,000, $21,000.
    76:30
    Those are generally people that just are like, shit, I'll take that money. That's crazy. But we've got to think about it. $750,000. This is a big, and they warned me when I talked to them. They were like, this is going to be really big outside of the U.S. So this is something that we are feeding non-U.S. dealers and areas, LEs. We're not going to do this 75% U.S., 25% L.E.s the rest of the world. This is an even split, if not even more so. 375 is that middle point, so 375 overseas, 375 U.S., and it wouldn't surprise me if they did less U.S. It wouldn't surprise me. So that's not a lot to go around at all, and we know that freaking L.E. people go crazy here in the States. So it doesn't surprise me at all. But it kind of does. That's a lot of money for a pinball machine. Have we ever seen a pinball machine sell for, in the 20,000s, just a standard LE? I mean, you've got – Yeah, Big Bang Bar remake did that. It probably does.
    77:42
    Pirates LE. Did it get to 30? It got to 30 in the pandemic. The E did, yes. Yeah, it's the E, the most limited one. Batman 66 SLE.
    77:53
    That was in the 25s, 30s. It was so expensive. Supreme. Supreme might sell very well, actually. But none of these did they make $750 of.
    78:07
    I don't know. I heard that the count was on Pirates, but I don't remember if it was across all of the skiers or not, was $1,000.
    78:15
    Okay. But we're not even seeing these, even at these prices being listed on Pinside. I mean, I know, I think you've got to pay like $250 just to list one of these titles. So that's keeping a lot of people away from listing. But I know for a fact, for a fact, that a Pokemon Ellie has sold for $27,000. And I know for a fact that one has sold for $28,000. That's why I say selling close to $30,000. I have no doubt that more than one will surpass $30,000. And that makes me then roll right into talking about the collectability factor that many were not considering on this title. And one of them comes with what you were saying, specified numbers.
    79:09
    I don't care about numbers typically on LEs. Like you can pay, Stern's always had this thing, and the price of this premium thing is, I shouldn't use the word premium. There's a price for, if you want numbers two through nine, you have to pay 500 bucks for a specified number. So we've had people come to us, hey, I want number seven for John Wick or whatever. Now, it's usually right at first refusal for the person who had it on the previous cornerstone. So if they pass on it, then it's available. Somebody new can pay for $500. Anything number 10 and above is $250 premium fee that Stern charges. Dealers don't make anything on that, but we can coordinate that for people. Some people are like, oh, I've got $279 on every one of my games. I want $279. It's $250. Okay. And if you have it before, you have the right first refusal to keep it that way. So that's always been a thing. never before have we sold so many specified numbers we've sold probably more specialized numbers on this game alone for at least than the last 10 games combined they made a lot of money on these specialized numbers and that is because whenever I knew it was Pokemon the first thing I thought of was oh shit each one of these Pokemon have the number, people are going to, I mean, they just sold a $16 million Pokemon card. It's collectible. People are going to latch on to this as they should because it's cool as shit to think that if I buy a Pokemon LE, even if I don't have to spend the extra money for what special number I get, I'm going to get a randomly assigned out of 750, and there's only one Pokemon creature in the Pokedex with that number. So essentially, even if it's not an official thing from Pokemon and it doesn't have the badge that has the Pikachus, I don't care. It's still cool as shit. And arguably, every single one of those 750s is a one of a one. Every one of them. Number 25 is Pikachu and there's not a damn other one ever made or ever will be made. number 25 will be the only number 25. It is a one of one Pikachu. Number six Charizard. Number one, 150?
    81:40
    Mew two? One fifty one is Mew? I know way too many of these. Let's see Psyduck. I'm going to guess. Let's see the 54, 59. Let's see. I'm going to look it up.
    81:53
    I had looked it up earlier, but I already closed my tab. 54. Okay. See? I've done my research. and Mewtwo was 150, Mew is 151. 151 is like the number of original Gen 1 Pokemon. I know that. People go crazy, especially nostalgia people, people in our age demographic that are into Pokemon and a little bit younger than us. They're crazy about that 151. Some of the newer kids love the EVs of the world. They love all the new iteration Lucario, the 448s, that kind of stuff. I have a lot of my customers. I'm going to name you. I think this will be fun. some of the ones that my customers at Flippin' Out Pinball have purchased, right? Like Wartortle, number eight. That's a pretty damn cool one. It's a cool one to have. Anything in the top ten on any machine, I always think is kind of cool.
    82:45
    Caterpie, number ten. That's cool. Nidoron, number 29. You've got Arcanine, number 59. Polywhirl Number 61 62 Polywrath 65 Alakazam 92 Gastly 249 Lugia 386 Dioxus 448 Lucario 486 Regigigas 493 Arceus 644 Zekrom?
    83:27
    658 Greninja. All this was gobbledygook to me before a week and a half ago. Now I'm well acquainted. And some of these, this is, I'm sorry, this is stupid, but I'm going to respect.
    83:43
    Some of my customers have asked that they are, that no one knows that they are the ones with the ones they are getting. So I'm anticipating they have some pretty fucking grand plans on some of these things. I won't even say all of them. But Meowth, 52.
    84:03
    Jigglypuff, 39. These things are important to a lot of people. And Stern even leaned into this, too, when they realized that dealers were buying a lot of these numbers for their customers. They were saying they even sent out formally to us dealers as a selling point. They were like, hey, don't forget that this is kind of a cool way to look at these LEs. And they were like, it's not formal. It is just a number. So we want customers to know and consumers there's no special badge. There's nothing associated with that. But it's kind of cool. To the point that Stern sent out dealers a cloud-based document that showed the number and then a picture of that Pokemon creature just so you could easily see if the number was available because that's how much interest they had. They couldn't have the sales team be like, okay, this dealer wants number 59. Let me see if 59 is available. This one's not available. So that's what we were doing for like a week. Like, hey, is 648 available? Hey, is 592? So they had a chart that we could always reference, go up there to see what was taken and what was still available.
    85:12
    So amazing, fun stuff. So when I say that I've seen stuff sell for 27 and 28 so far, one of them was a pretty popular number. They were both pretty popular numbers.
    85:31
    But they weren't the most popular. So, yeah, I think easily we see something surpass 30. And I don't know, how high do you think, how high do you think we could see something? Do you think this matters? Do you think this, I mean, it is just a number. I mean, it would matter to some people. It would have mattered more if there was something besides just the number. Like if the plaque had the engraving of the Pokemon. Like it wouldn't even have to be a different art package. It's just the plaque has a, like, number seven has a picture of Squirtle.
    86:06
    I can tell you this. I open every LA for myself just because that's, like, one of the perks of being a fucking nut job in pinball, and I love pinball so much, and I'm a collector. So this is, like, this is everything to me.
    86:24
    I'm opening up a pretty popular Pokemon character, and I had to pay that extra $250 or whatever for this one. But I will be absolutely customizing mine to be that one of one, 100%, 100%. Whether I make a plaque, whether I put a nice mount, a PSA card of it onto the arch or the apron, whether I powder-coated the color of that character. There are so many fun things that I've looked into that I'm going to do for my personal one to make it a one-of-one because it's the only number that there is of that creature, and I'm going to have fun with it. And I think a lot of people are really going to have fun with doing the same as well. So I've looked into the plaque stuff because I'm like, I can get a plaque made. That would be pretty cool.
    87:21
    So saying that, yeah, do you think we'll see them over 30? Do you think this is crazy? Do you think this is a die-down? We'll see back. We'll get all the way back. It's up 20. We'll get 15. Hell, this will, by Christmas, be 10K. What do you think? There are a lot of the numbers that people won't care about. So I don't think you're going to say that the LEs will go above 30. I think most of the LEs will work like other LEs. But some of the numbers may always. Some of the numbers. Pikachu may always be over 40,000. Like, you know, maybe. That's maybe.
    87:51
    You'll never get number one. Gary Stern keeps every number one So I can't I've even tried to talk to Gary And said hey You know I'd love to have the number Now our perks are owning I did open up a A Beetlejuice number one I'm just I love you Spooky I love you so much I'll have your baby if I could I'm too old to have babies now But I would I'd have to get What do they do Can you get a vasectomy redone? It can be reversed, but it doesn't always work. Oh, damn. It's like you've looked into it. I remember hearing about it. Yeah, there's no way I've ever been looked up.
    88:36
    Okay. So, yeah, I'm interested to see because I can see it, man. $16 million for a card. Do you know how many wealthy people are into Pokemon? And if they found out there's an Ellie pinball machine, they're like $13,000. Like, that's crazy for a pinball machine, but I'll buy one. And then when they're like, oh, there's only 750 and you can get special numbers.
    89:03
    I'm just saying. A million dollars to me, Dennis, is like $5 to some people. Yeah, I wish I could say that the other way around. But, yeah, people have money. And if there's only one of something they want. I could see past 50. I could, too. But honestly, I don't really find it interesting.
    89:27
    Yeah. I just love that show. It's a one-off, though. This is not going to happen with the next game. That's what I was going to ask. Is this an anomaly? It is. I think you're correct, especially with the number system. I think you're correct. But I wonder if we don't see this help boost Stern's next cornerstone from a sales perspective. Possibly. But whether it's this versus all the other stuff, I don't feel like we're trying to think of a good way to phrase this. I think you could have a discussion if we're in a new pinball renaissance or not. If we are, I think it's just because the games have been good lately, not because of these other factors. Like, I don't believe it's this hype thing. Like, holy shit, Beetlejuice, just $4,000 on top of whatever to get a Beetlejuice. I guess Pokemon's got to sell out now. And now Pokemon did it. So now Transformers is going to blow up the entire world because Pokemon already destroyed the moon. But I don't see it like that. It's, you know, they did so much. Pokemon's license being Pokemon is one big thing. But you already noted one of the key things that I noticed when I first looked at it is, regardless of what I thought about the play field art, these were some nice looking sculpts and I don't associate that with Stern and even the pro sculpts were good they just took away the animatronics so it's like they checked a lot of boxes on this game they're learning they're adapting they're like the Borg they looked and said what are all these other little upstart wannabe companies doing to us yeah what are they doing? they're doing sculpts all the trim levels have sculpts booty right that's a phrase for the strip club they don't They don't put it in a game. You can't be putting in booty right like it's a proud moment.
    91:20
    I just picture poor Wolverine. But a snick shot on the throw. I'm just, I mean, to me it's the same thing. Stern learned this with JJP, and they were, you remember when JJP came out with Wizard of Oz, and Stern was, Gomez was out there going, we play the game, not the screen. It wasn't long before they were like, all right, we've got to put out Spike 2 and start doing LCD because they're eating our lunch over here. I know. I remember how bad that booty ring, those plastics. Remember, speaking of Transformers and the original Avengers, they would put these flat plastics in a U-shape to make ramps and shit. They would have interlocking plastics. And I was like, ew. It's signs and layered stuff. I'm like, oh, come on, man. So I think that, I mean, this was going to, I think, do well no matter what. But you look at it and you're like, it doesn't look cheap.
    92:15
    You know, it looks like, hey, look, here are all these key things. It feels very respectful to the license. That's what I was saying about like that art. It feels clean. It just feels nicely done.
    92:26
    It doesn't feel, because this thing, people could have just, they could have really went into the whole, this looks like cheap Costco bullshit. You know, it's standard. It's just got the Pokemon. And they didn't. I don't think they could because it was cleanly done. I think back to, like, the Steve Ritchie Star Wars, for example, and the Pro model in particular. So you didn't have the Hyperloop. And everyone's like, so we have a Death Star that's small and looks like an egg is broken open when it pops open. Like, people were frustrated with that being, like, their idea of a Premier Sculpt. And now you're a Pokemon with a pro with a properly sculpted Pokeball. It may not move, but it's sculpted right. Pikachu looks like Pikachu. The Meowth Balloon looks like the actual – like all the looks are there even on the low model. And I think that's because that's what's helping sell now, and Stern's realized that. They can't – there was a time where it felt like the other companies weren't selling because the gameplay wasn't there. Stern had the gameplay, and even if the games weren't the best looking, they played well. Everyone stepped up their game on that front. So now CERN, I think, is having to step up their game on the aesthetics. CERN's generally have really strong artwork. It's more of the elements that go in, the bill of materials stuff, where people really were calling them out. That's true.
    93:45
    Not to go back to sales stuff too much, but I know a lot of people do like that. I did hear it kind of shocked me. I heard a lot of dealers advertising. I was like, are they being salesy? Is this them being salesy that they're just kind of stretching? But they were like, this has broke all launch day sales. We have sold more of this game than we have already of all of these other games. And I was like, wait a minute. I did go back and look. I'd have to look a little bit. I really want to make sure that I'm correct. But I can't think of the last machine that sold this much the first day. That's very true. And I can talk from an ordered standpoint. we have ordered more games and have more games sold essentially for Pokemon in the first week than we have had of any release in the last, it might be ever. It may be ever on, not on like, this didn't sell more than Harry Potter total yet. This didn't sell more than Godzilla. This didn't sell more than Jaws altogether, but it sold more in the first week than we sold of any of the releases last year.
    95:04
    King Kong. I mean, we've sold more in the first week than all of the King Kongs that we've sold so far.
    95:11
    And I think that still has a nice 2026 showing. So that does say a lot. And then the prior year, I'm thinking, yeah, probably. So I'd have to go back and look, but... Yeah. I do think this is... This responds to one of the... And I got less LEs. The fuck, Stern? Yeah, they could have gotten away with it. That's because a lot of times dealers pass down their LEs, and I still buy more. I just wasn't able to... Well, I mean, Stern in this really responded to what I thought was sort of that criticism from 2025, which is, if I may, Seinfeld it a little bit. What is with all these manufacturers getting the licenses? what is it? And Stern was all like, here we are with King Kong. A lot of people rolled their eyes at Dungeons and Dragons. It's like, and now here you go, Pokemon. All right. So JJP had all the thunder with Harry Potter, the most beloved wanted license of all time. And now Stern's like, okay, well, I guess we'll just take the biggest franchise in history and drop it. And now people are realizing some of our early January, late December shows where I'm like, let them have their time. I'm telling you guys, Stern has it coming in 2026. Buckle up. And a lot of these manufacturers, too. 2026 is going to be monumental in this industry because there's so many people coming with the heat. So, yeah, I do think this helps the cornerstone sales on the next one. I think, yeah, you're right. It's not like this automatic, oh, I've got to go. No. But whenever people are making as good a games and machines as they are, this kind of stuff will happen. And as our culture gets even more collectible in the future, people will be coming to pinball for such stuff. Accessories for Pokemon.
    97:03
    I'm being told within the next month here and shipping shortly after. Wow. Okay. That'll be a change. I don't want to be a negative Nancy.
    97:13
    But I'll believe it when I see it. I did hear the topper's fucking phenomenal, but I'll say. I almost feel like we should be done there, but let's get through some of the other talking points here in industry news. Dutch Pinball in the pinball news right now. Melvin Williams is out and DPX is over. What the hell happened? New investors and a different creative vision. Now, I don't know if DPX is over. It sounded like, yes, that it's. I don't know if that was Melvin Williams' property. I don't know who owned that. My understanding was he was the. It's a little weird. I'm going off of the press release or the announcement from Melvin that I saw at Napa Arcade. So if I'm remembering that one right, though, yeah, he said, yes, that DPX is done as Dutch pinball exclusive. Because I guess that was. I always heard it was his thing. Like he was doing that and that they did it that way because of whatever reasons. I don't know if it's because Melvin wasn't a quote unquote investor in Dutch pinball per se, or they wanted to maybe reduce some liability risk. It was always a little confusing, though, Zach, because, as you know, there were all these discussions about, hey, if you stay in on Alice, a DPX game, you'll be one of the first people to get back to the future, which is not a DPX game. It's not anything right now, but it was always said that that was a Dutch pinball proper game.
    98:43
    But anyway, from what he said in his write-up, in his announcement, Melvin was like, there are new investors that have come into Dutch Pinball. They're not in alignment, Melvin and them, with the direction to go, whatever that means. And so DPX's plug has been pulled. And I think part of that is the fact that Raza will not be happening because that was going to be a DPX game. Yeah, that is correct. And then there was new news about Melvin. Melvin wasn't done yet because he said he and his team, and I was confused about this because I didn't know about this next part until just a little bit ago, but he and his team would still continue to do the code updates for Alice. Dutch Pinball has to build the Alice games that are still remaining. That's their job. But DPX is the one that does the version updates of the software.
    99:37
    Do you think it gets the support? It will be slower, but it will not be forgotten. That's what he indicated. Most people aren't buying Alice for the coat up. They're buying it for that pack of Virginia Slims topper I came up with.
    99:52
    Don't start smoking with smoke, Stoddy. Add that as a disclaimer. And then in emerging news, American Pimble announces that they hire Melvin Williams as creative director.
    100:06
    How did the tables turn? I, you know, I know you're just you've been in communications with the new owner of American Pinball. This move really perplexes me and makes me concerned, mostly because what based off of DPX and past statements with Melvin, his creative vision does not align with my creative vision. And so I am not optimistic about the creative choices that American Pinball will make if Melvin is going to be handling that.
    100:41
    Because Melvin seems to be the one who's been all, like, I don't know what the difference, and this is just Dennis speculating. I don't know what the creative differences were. I've always assumed Melvin is the guy who's like, the answer to pinball is to double, triple, and quintuple down on J-pop. You're going to have more pop if you do. Yeah, I'm going to pop.
    101:01
    And I'm like, if that's the direction American Pinball is going to go, remember American Pinball got its start with J-Pop, and it was not good. I know, it's like that full circle. It was not good, and I'm just, maybe that's not the case. That J-Pop art even bled into Houdini initially. Remember that? Yes. So let me ask you something here, and I don't know if you know this or not. JP DeWin going to Dutch, is that, did he go to Dutch with the new investor setup? Did he go to Dutch? Is he DPX Dutch and he's with Melvin? I don't know, but I would think given what has been – yeah, I would think it's a Dutch pinball. I do too. It makes me think that even more because the big Lebowski, which he helped on, he got his start with the big Lebowski, J.P. DeWin. That was a Dutch pinball thing. Because if Melvin and DeWin went to American Pinball, that's probably still a net positive for American Pinball. That's probably a net positive. DeWin's animation skill is so respected. It'll be interesting to see what this becomes because I was with you, especially the whole Allison, and then them announcing Raza and all that shit like that. I'm like, oh, God.
    102:11
    But the credit I will give them is when Melvin joins American Pinball, they announce we will not be doing Raza. So I'm like, okay, that's a good decision. so we'll see if those good decisions continue but I worry I'm not like a high level worry I just won't buy the games if I don't like them I'm just like I don't know why America didn't decide if this was the right creative person I don't care I really don't care so much about what like investors they had investors come in what's that mean for everything And then their announcement said that Dutch moving forward is more focused on and will be focused on original content kind of Now I assume that still means licenses just not going and doing No they talking about like original Original themes Original themes and stuff I just thought they meant original designs not taking J old Zidware failed crap and getting permission Maybe I misread it. I thought it meant like. I don't know. We're doing our own. I don't know. We're doing our own ninja clips. We're doing our own, you know. My brain refused to accept the interpretation of that, Zach, because you and I both know that that is objectively the wrong answer. They're going to have to have investors to keep them. What are they going to build between now and back to the future? They don't have Raza to build now. What are they going to make? More Lebowski? Well, they still got to finish the Alice's, so there's that. More Lebowski. How much demand is there for more Lebowski? I'm sure there's a little bit. There's a little bit, but they're advertising. It's a sign of weakness. That would be a big sign of weakness. weakness, Zach. It's like when... I don't know what else they're going to build. I agree with you. I get that, but it's like when American... Excuse me. Pinball Brothers, constantly revisiting the Alien Well, told you that none of their other stuff was working. It tells me that. And so that would be going back to... They did Lebowski's for 10 years. They should be done with that game. Yeah.
    104:18
    If it's that or closing, yeah. I totally get doing more Lebowski's. If they're really going to have Back to the Future and they're going to make Back to the Future, it's not even going to look like the same company for them to be successful because there's no way. There is no way that they make physical Bioskipi with the company that they currently have. I saw a reference because I guess there was a rumor going around that they were going to collaborate with Stern to do Back to the Future, and I guess someone came out and said, we are not working with Stern. Yes.
    104:47
    Why would Stern? Like Stern would be like, no, we'll just wait for you to fail and we'll buy the license up and do it ourselves. Like why would they ever partner with another manufacturer? They've never done it.
    104:57
    Yeah. The only thing that I can think there would be, because Cam and Cal has such a tie to Stern, that would be the only. Yeah, but you might as well wait them out. Like Dutch Pinball doesn't give signs of like we're going to be like this major successful manufacturer. I'm sorry to say that's just how it is. That's how it looks. I'm trying to think which one would make the owner of Dutch Pinball, Barry, what would make him more money, making $250 by himself or making $8,000 with Stern Pinball?
    105:36
    I don't know. What kind of agreement can you get making, you know, maybe what if I get $250 cut from each machine mate? What if I get a $1,000 cut? What if I get a hundred? I don't know. Let's say 8,000 machines times 250 machines a game. That's $2 million without doing anything.
    105:57
    Let's say he has a better manager like me, and they make 8,000 of these things, and he gets a $1,000 cut because they mark them up and make them a studio release where they don't have a pro and stuff like that. That's $8 million.
    106:12
    Is it worth the risk? I don't know. So that's that Pinball at the Beach I went to that Yeah, me and Nicole went to that What a nice show It was different than Mostly any show I've ever been to Because it was a small show This isn't TPF This isn't Chicago Expo Or anything like that This isn't Midwest Gaming With mixed This is a small show And I've been to small shows Cincinnati is a small show Louisville, small show But it wasn't that either This was the heaviest of pinball. This felt like what I said, intimate. An intimate pinball experience where if you were down there, it's the highest ticket prices, you're really into pinball. So it was nice in the sense that everybody that was there was really into pinball. And you don't get that at most other shows in such a small concentration So I think that was a highlight of that show Great location, the hotel rooms, but that can be said about a lot of shows I think the highlight also would be the weather It wasn't this time around Yeah, I heard it was kind of chilly Yeah This is a spouse show, I've learned There's no more spouses that will go to a show than this show because the beach brings spouses.
    107:40
    And I would say a lot of women into pinball, but still the majority of men into pinball, so their female spouses come to the show. I've seen a lot of wives, a lot of wives. But it was cold, so I've seen a lot of wives playing pinball with everybody. But it was a really fun show. It was really good, nice show, small, intimate. I would probably go back. I was treated kindly A lot of people talked with me But yeah I liked it Positive Thanks for anybody that came up and bullshitted with me a little bit Or shook my hand, took a picture or whatever Thank you, that was really nice And I'm trying to think If I met any dicks here No I think Yeah, nobody was even mean to me It was all good Thank you Chicago Gaming Company, this is like an afterthought now, but this is big news. They opened up orders for Medieval Madness Merlin, another run in 2026. First half of 2026 here. Now available. Bye, bye, bye. Bye, bye, bye! So, I don't know for sure what they're making. I know the first run, I think, was like 1,000 units. I would guess this to be the same, honestly. I would guess it to be another 1,000 units. At what point are we going to be satiated with Medieval Madness? Is this a title that you can just, I think sporadically, you could probably run this every five years. Yeah, I'm a little surprised they did it again this year. I thought maybe they would go and consider revisiting Monster Bash or Attack from Mars. I think just out of the cadence of their production, like, they're like this slow, like,
    109:28
    little engine that goes. And I think that they're like, we know what our downfalls are. So while this machine is still running, let's at least satiate the dealers and the community with what we can. So, yeah, there's probably not another reason to run Medievil's for another five years after this. But they're aiming for the first half of this year to run all of those. And then they're going to move on. What they'll move on to, I'm not for sure quite yet. But I would guess it to be a non-remake.
    110:02
    Spooky Pinball. Beetlejuices are shipping. They're shipping. I heard. I just opened one up. They're shipping. Damn, they're pretty. That is a pretty machine. Speaking of Pinball at the Beach, the talk of Pinball at the Beach was Beetlejuice, Winchester, and Harry Potter. That's what everybody was talking about and loving. And that was like the first public place for Beetlejuice. So it was just, they had them there. It was awesome. And the hoods didn't go up on those damn games. Good. So I think we might be in Evil Dead territory here where they built another solid machine. That would be fantastic. So Beetlejuice is now shipping. They probably shipped, let's see, they had, what, 10 at the show, and then they probably came back and shipped another 15, maybe up to 20, so they might have 30 out in the world now, and they'll start cranking those out for the rest of the year here. So our official club members, they got the goods already, but they get even more in this week's exclusive content, which I guess I'm just calling my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad experience with flipping out pinball.
    111:13
    Dennis, tell them what they're going to hear in this exclusive content. Sadness. Yes, it will be. Zach? All right. So Zach on a couple of the Patreons has shared with his experience. I don't really want to do it. Yeah, I know. I kind of pressured him because, look, you have a couple times in the past shared, you know, tales of a distributor where you had instances with games, mistakes happen, customers are unhappy, and just sort of shared those antidotes with people so they can kind of appreciate kind of what some of the downsides of being a pinball distributor are. In this case, there's a customer that you can go. It's a locked thread, but you can go and read about their complaint on Pinside. Zach, I say wisely, never once went into that thread. Oh, I went in there. I never posted in that thread. So you want to know. People were begging. There were people, Zach, who were begging you to reply. We can't log this until we hear from Zach. everything the only thing that would happen is it could possibly get worse for Zach like right now it's the customer that looks really wrong here but people do want to know your side of like this thing because when when I started someone else not Zach someone else actually emailed me the link to that uh last week and I clicked on it and I and I wrote back and I said after about four lines down I knew this customer story because Zach actually warned me about this customer well before this post happened. I think it was a month ago. I think he pointed to the left. So I was like, I know this story because he shared it with me before one of our recording sessions. So now you will learn, those of you who are members, patreon.com slash the pinball show, that you'll get Zach's side of this. Because actually the customer, a lot of the stuff he mentioned, Like, that was all stuff I heard from, like, he was surprisingly open. But he wasn't 100% open. And, of course, people want to know. And that's what makes it even, like, when he came out and did all that thing, because it's like the Hawaii guy, when I'm like, oh, shit. Ultimately, I don't really care because I'm like, we overdo it anyway. So, like, nobody else is going to go through the lengths that we did. So I'm like, okay, let's go through this. And I read through his thing, and at the end I was like, fucking proud of myself. Like, this guy's crazy. He is going to get blasted because – I mean, I couldn't believe he posted it when I read it because I'm like, this makes you look so – even not knowing the other side of it. I was like, this – like the part where you're getting – you clearly claim – You doubled down on the things that you ran from. You demanded free stuff in order to not go on inside. Yes. And he gave it to you, and then you complained about every free thing. The case in point one that I will share outside of the Patreon, because, again, you can just go to the pen side and read it, is when he got mad at you for sending him the right-sized shirt.
    114:23
    Oh, dear. That's not normal. Guys, that's not normal. Yeah. You don't see me complaining about my 6X Dr. No-Share-Wire, maybe.
    114:34
    It's not normal to be like, everything Zach sent, there was a critique of everything. And it's like, you didn't buy any of that stuff. And then he sent something for Joel to lure him in, but I didn't see it. I didn't find it. And then I got in trouble for that. And then I found candy in the coin box, and I didn't think it. And it even takes a place that I have to put behind the Patreon because, and I probably won't even talk about all of it because there's some, like, there's some risks at times with people. Like, you don't want to stir up the wrong shit. So that's why I was hoping that this would kind of go away, but it didn't. No, it became one of the most popular threads so far. We are early in the year. It's one of the classics. Yeah, no, it's... They put it in the Hall of Fame, classic thread. They locked it at 767 posts. They locked it at 10 pages too many. I don't know the up-down vote ratio. I don't actually have... It's plus 200 down votes. It was one of the highest ever.
    115:33
    But there is a story there that you'll want to hear, I promise you. And why not monetize it, fuck? Shit. We get a thread in there too That was my cut I don't want to talk about this on the episode I'm like well that was a Patreon episode I still don't want to talk about it But I think the people They want to know Zach You are a man of the people So we will discuss that Go to patreon.com Slash the pinball show Find out everything about that And more Drama extortion threats it's all in there I mean you get it all you get so much of it in there you should hear what candy I'll disclose in the Patreon I'll disclose what kind of candy and I can tell you the candy alone the choice in candy makes it even more creepy just the fucking candy And what did happen to whatever that guy Shipped to Joel Oh no Patreon.com Thank you so much for all the support there Even if you don't want to listen to it Go ahead and subscribe, help us out And then you get a private-ish discord That we chat about things Right now in discord they're chatting about everything Pokemon But we do Part of those are a very special group Of Screaming Goat Club members And we have to thank them We want to thank them right now. And we have some new people. A couple new goats on the farm. That's right. So we've got to say thank you to the Bobcat, our Bobcat, Mr. Rodney. I get to hang out with Rodney at Pinball at the Beach, so that was fantastic.
    117:20
    Rodney is one of the nicest people and a very successful person. Helps me if I have any business questions and stuff. He's a really cool guy. Was his house at the beach?
    117:33
    Nope. Okay. So no bobcat attacks were seen. Nope. Tropical bobcats. Nope. None of those. She was marked safe from Hurricane Bobcat. Oh, jerk that fucker. You know who else I saw there? Christian Line. Remember Dr. Penn? Yes, hung out with Dr. Penn.
    117:55
    There's some people I just connect with. Yeah, I used to chat with him from time to time. He's very nice. But it always reminds me, I really liked listening to Mrs. Finn's pinball podcast.
    118:06
    Dr. Pinboarder's not too nice, though. I've told him, like, when you're that nice, I don't know if I believe you. So, Jerry's still out. I think he is, though. I really do. Rob, thank you so much, Rob, for all of the continued support.
    118:23
    You're a panther. I think Rob got himself a Pokemon. Does he seem like a Pokemon? Yes. He seems like an L.E. Pokemon buyer. Okay. All right. We'll have to find out. Now, whether he asks for a specific number. Oh, that's the bigger thing. That's harder for me to guess. I don't think the Phineas did. You know what? I don't think any of them. I would guess he was just happy to have a Pokemon.
    118:48
    Rodney got a Pokemon. Frank, thanks so much for the continued support. Me, me. Probably my favorite call out there. Sound effect. Frank, did Frank get a Pokemon?
    119:05
    Frank does get a lot. He does. But somebody tells me he's waiting for Transformers. Optimus. If that's true.
    119:17
    Charlie. Hung out with Charlie at Pinball at the Beach. You know what I found out? He came up, Charlie came up to me, and he goes,
    119:27
    What's the call out? my thank you. Ding dong and thank you. I don't know where you got that from. I don't either. I just searched that. And it was clever. I liked it. So Charlie and I hung out. We actually formed another level of friendship because we have another hobby in common.
    119:52
    Stamp collect. No, it wasn't stamp collect. Wrapping vans. just as nerdy. No, he's into coral saltwater fish aquarium stuff. Oh, when I was a kid, I used to really want a saltwater aquarium. They're so cool. I've had a couple. And I'm out of the hobby, but I've dabbled into just the forum. It's almost a hobby without owning the pinball machine kind of thing. So I've kind of dabbled in that over the last year, almost prepping to get another one, but still sitting on the sidelines for now because I have time for nothing. So Charlie and I hung out and talked about that. William, another one of my highlights. He's in the beach. And the dude, not only does he abide, but he's everything you'd want him to be, Dennis, and even more. He and his wife were at Pinball at the Beach. Nicole and I hung out with them. We even hung out with them at the bar one night. They're phenomenal people. Love me some dude, William. So thanks for everything, William. Now, here's something funny about William. Did William get a Pokemon? Yes. I mean, yes. Come on. Yes, of course he did. Did William want a Pokemon, though? Yeah, he wanted a Pokemon. He likes the certain stuff. He didn't. What? He'll be the first to tell you. He tells me to pinball at the beach. He goes, hey, Zach. He was like, and he was so sweet. He was like, I don't want this to come. I get all my games. I don't want you to forget me. But I think I'm... Pokemon doesn't do anything. I think I'm out. I don't really want that game. If that's what it's going to be. Because I don't think that the teaser... No, the teaser came out because I spent the first six hours when I arrived. Oh, my God. We didn't even talk about that. No, we don't have time. I'm not going to talk. We're not going to talk about it. But Stern and their just wonderful turning up timing.
    121:47
    The hour. 45 minutes before I load onto the plane to go to the pinball at the beach, they drop the teaser. Mother fuck. I'm going to drop the teaser right when I get on an airplane. I'm at reception. I've got the Wi-Fi in the airplane. That's all bullshit. Thanks, Southwest. And I'm trying. And I got, Nicole, I got 4%. This is an old plane. It doesn't have a charger. I can't charge up my phone. I'm at 4%. It's launched. What am I going to do? It's a teaser launch. At 3%. It's at 2%. Nicole's like, you're a fucking child. Calm down. Once we land, you can charge up your phone. I don't want to hear your bullshit. Read your little Stephen King book. Fuck it, it's a 1% Nicole. What am I going to do?
    122:26
    I was a little bitch. I was, but I was throwing a tantrum. Fuck this plane. All right. So, yeah, William told me I don't want it. And I told him, you're my friend. You buy everything.
    122:43
    I'm hearing that this one is going to be a big one. I am not going to accept your rejection of this Ellie at this time. I would like you to first see the game and then let me know that you don't want it. But you will have a spot until then. He's like, all right. And then by, I think, the next day, he was like, yeah, yeah, go ahead. He's like, thank you so much for keeping it. I was like, yeah, come on. If you buy everything and all of a sudden you don't want something, I've got your back.
    123:16
    Adam. Sweet, sweet papa You are like papa Adam has been getting the goods lately He's like a baby, William He's like the baby He's like following in his footsteps I think Adam is one of the only people probably in the world That already has a Winchester and a Beetlejuice I didn't know he got his Beetlejuice I did know he got his Winchester.
    123:50
    That's impressive. That's how you do things, Adam. And your little baby. Little baby. He sent me a picture. He was like, yeah, we're on the beach right now hanging out. I think they went on vacation somewhere. And the baby. He was like, yeah, yeah, the baby's here too. And I said, you know what? Love the baby. But I'm jealous of that beach back there because I need a fucking break.
    124:11
    He's like, oh, you're not on a President's Day cruise right now? They have some specials they're running or something. Like, touche. But no. And now enters in our newest Screaming Goat Club members. We love you. We just, we love you more than all the other people in our Nordman Club, in our official club. We do. Until you drop down a level and then, you know, you're with them. But until then, you get the most love from Dennis and I.
    124:41
    Not that we're cell lines, but because we're fair and honest. Exactly why So welcome to the club Mr. Ted Thank you so much for the continued support We went back and forth Dennis took the lead on the nickname here Because I don't have enough Nostalgia And I go back But we know Ted to be An aqua guy He likes the Sports of diving Yes I was going, you know, deep diving into something that was inappropriate. So Dennis took the lead. He took the wheel. And Dennis, can you let them know what Ted will be formally known as here on the Pinball Show? Because I don't have any really great diving references. I decided instead that he will be known as Red October.
    125:33
    That's a Dennis nickname. What? The Red October. Give us a pin, Ted. One thing only, please. One thing only. Come on. Come on, man. The Red October. That's right. That's pretty fantastic. I think Ted may be trying to defect. We're not sure. It's almost as good as the Velociraptor. Alan. Yes. The Red October. That's right. But you have all sorts of audio you can pull from, like how you do with William and the Dude and Big Lebowski stuff. Yeah. People love hearing the Red October. They will. Okay. They're going to. You'll get a part where they explain Caterpillar Drive. It's going to be right up Ted's alley. I assure you. We could do the sonar blip.
    126:18
    It's like the TPN. Remember we did that TPN? It's all cyclic, Zach. Oh, my God. Who was in that? Wasn't Pushy in that one? Sean Connery. Sean Connery is the captain.
    126:31
    Reynos. Yes. Captain Reynos. Sean's saying he's a reaction to Burdick. And there's a Baldwin brother in there. That is Alec himself. Oh. This was the first of the Tom Clancy series where the next two Harrison Ford took the role over from Alec. The Matlin. Okay. The Red October. Congratulations on that nickname, Ted. We'll get your jersey printed up, I guess, of the Red October. And we have another member, Davis. Thank you so much, Davis, for the support. We love you. I love that he, I think I can share this. He was like, hey, glad to support the show and glad to support you guys and everything. And he said, do me a favor. Whenever something's coming up as a rumor or something, just give me a signal, a sign as to it's legitimately happening. And then he used a reference that one of my favorite references, lines in the series, was these pretzels are making me thirsty. So a lot of you know that reference as a Seinfeld reference, and I love Seinfeld. I love Seinfeld as much as Dennis loves The Hunt for Red October.
    127:43
    So, Davis, with you, because of that reference, because I can't just say, boy, Dennis, these preps must be making me thirsty. A week?
    127:56
    About GTFG coming up. Just if he watches the video, just shoot him the finger guns or whatever. It just comes up.
    128:09
    So you're going to be known here at the Pinball Show as the Tostanza. You are the Tostanza. There's so many good call-outs. That's perfection. The jerk store calls are running out of you. I intended it's not you, Andy. Nobody tells me it's them, not me. If it's anybody, it's me. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We're running with the Costanza. I wanted maybe a different one, but then it's like, no, that's more of a 90s reference. Let's keep it back in the 90s.
    128:49
    Ugly baby. A dingo ate your baby. There's so many Seinfeld things. The contest. Oh, my God. Chinese restaurant. I can't believe you weren't a, you're not, I would think you would love Seinfeld. Yeah, I mean, if it was on, I would catch it. But no, I never really, I didn't really watch it. Don't know why.
    129:12
    Vandal Lane Industries. Yeah, the Costanza. Thank you so much, Davis, for coming, hanging out. These pretzels are, in fact, making me thirsty.
    129:22
    Reminders that our live happy hour hangout is coming up this week, this Wednesday, February 25th, 8 to 9 p.m. Central. Yep. Nordman levels and above. Nordman. Already shared on the Patreon page, so you guys can find the link. It's going to be a good one. That's going to be a Q&A. Yeah, I think there will be a lot of Pokemon talk there. Between Pokemon, between rumored stuff, between the thread that never ended. There's a lot of stuff in there.
    129:51
    Until next time, Dennis, where can people catch you? You can always email me, eclecticgamerspodcast at gmail.com. Yeah. You can reach us at thepinballshow at gmail.com. Make sure to follow, like, and subscribe. Do us a solid, especially YouTube for those viewing us. Follow. It's free. Damn.
    130:08
    Are you not an official club member? If you're not, the least you can do is hit the damn subscribe button. Follow there. It's free. And Facebook, TikToks, Patreon. patreon.com slash the pinball show. That would be very, very helpful.
    130:23
    No bullshit. That Patreon stuff, I have a company in this. I'm informing you guys. You guys are supporting me through buying pinball machines and stuff like that. But the Patreon, a lot of that stuff is Dennis' way of at least getting something. So you're saying pity me and join Patreon? I'm not playing the pity card here. We split it 50-50. Yeah. But just, you know, I like Dennis to get his work, you know, acknowledged to. Straight Down the Middle is a video series I do. Go follow that on YouTube as well. And the sponsor of the show is and always will be Flippin' Out Pinball. When I buy my pinballs, then I buy from Flippin' Out. The choppers are for the cheerios, I've got it figured out. Flippin' Out, figured out. When I take a pinball, I think Flippin' Out. Product showcase this week Gotta be Pokemon Gotta catch them all We got some cool stuff happening Flippin' Out Pinball this coming year A really cool little marketing idea That we had to showcase some of the new products And companies we'll be representing Later on this year So that's coming soon I want to give everybody a heads up we're down to like a couple of those things.
    131:50
    I don't even know how they're even still in stock, but we have a couple of them. So get those. Same with Harry Potter. Actually, at the time of this recording, those are going to be gone. But we're going to have Harry Potter CEs more coming March. I think more coming in March, I believe. It's either Arcade or Wizard Edition we'll have in March as well. And then the following are going to be April, May. I don't know. That thing's still selling well. The Walking Dead Remastered. Ali, speaking of selling well, we did get a code update. We got a code update. And Medieval Madness, Merlin. If you wanted to make a Medieval Madness, now's the time to put in your preorder because I don't know if they're going to be making any more after this for a couple of years. So, and it's the nicest version. It's got all the upgrades already built into it. Topper, Excel, display, color, lighting, RGB lighting and everything. So, get this one. Get it now. It is a $1,000 deposit. To hold one, you'll get it within the next six months here. Not promised with CGC. You'll get one probably in 2026, but get in on that. All the other games, King Kong, Jaws, still killing it.
    133:03
    Yeah, all of those things. And interested list. Ken at FlippinOutPinball.com has been managing a lot of our interested lists, so get in on if you have a specific title that you're interested in. Get on that now. And for those that are like, I want to get in on the next Spooky or something like that, just keep in mind, even if you're getting in now, it's not a guarantee.
    133:23
    Some of these lists are long. The next rumor, JJP game. What's the rumor, Sonic? Get on the list. Let's make it happen. Right now, might as well. Ken at FlippinOutPimple.com. Trade-in program, as featured in that infamous thread, but the trade-in program a lot of people are trading in games especially Pokemon right now. Harry Potter right now. So get in on that. We try to make it the easiest, most efficient way to do trades in the entire world even if you're just selling a game. We're looking to go buy a big collection. I still don't know how I'm going to coordinate it all. It's like 40 plus machines. How the hell am I going to do that, Dennis?
    134:07
    But yeah, if you want to sell your game it's not going to be fun. reach out to us, Zach, at FlippinOutPinball.com Escalator, stair climbing, hand trucks, the TNT tables they're going to be building them soon Big Buck Hunter, arcade stuff everywhere Joel at FlippinOutPinball YouTube he streams Predator, he did a first impressions look at Pokemon, go check out that video FlippinOutPinball podcast, Ken and Greg they did a first impressions podcast as well. And a lot of good stuff coming from all of those individuals. And some of the Flippin' Out sponsored people, go check those out too. Loser Kid, Retro Ralph, Buffalo Pinball. I don't want to miss Loser... I don't want to miss anybody. But check them out as well. Dennis, teach them something. Well, I think with Melvin going over to American Pinball now, I'm not sure what the creative direction stuff's going to be. Hopefully it's not like the J-pop stuff like I mentioned, in my opinion.
    135:10
    But, you know, there's a lot of licenses that I think you can lean into. They're not going to have the nostalgia and modern tie-in of Pokemon. But, you know, I'd say, you know, something iconic that people will love, like City Slickers. Why don't you look at City Slickers? And you know what? If you do that. Early's Quest for Golf. I'm just saying, if you do that, reach out to me. I got seven toppers for you right here. Ready to go. Meat sticks. Oh, my God. And always practice safe pinball. And a big congratulations to all of you who have preordered your Pokemon by Stern pinball machine. Even bigger congrats to those of you who were able to secure an LE. And even bigger congrats for those of you willing and able to spend nearly $30,000 on a pinball machine. I'm going to go on a limb here and say that the Pokemon Pinball LE will be the highest priced sold pinball machine of all time. Not a little outlier bullshit. I'm not talking about one off. Commercial released, a couple of them will be the highest selling of all time. Who's going to get it? What if Jake Paul gets one? But then again, I'm just here to report the facts because numbers don't not... Numbers don't not lie. In before the lock.
    136:47
    Sorry, sorry. Eating these open Mike and Ikes. The green ones taste like they're not one of my favorites. They're like, well, it tastes like to not have friends.
    137:01
    It's like a coin box. I love that you're eating your prop. I ate most of them this morning. I like threw a few of them loose for comedic time. One of my favorite episodes of Full House when Michelle eats all the marshmallows during her advertising day. I didn't remember that. I have seen a lot of Full House too. Oh, that's one of my favorite shows ever.