Transcript
Speaker: Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
Speaker: I am Josh Roop.
Speaker: With me, my co-captain as always.
Speaker: Scott Larson.
Speaker: And we are on episode 99.
Speaker: 99.
Speaker: We're almost there.
Speaker: We're almost to 100.
Speaker: The goal was is I want 100 out on January 11th because that's when the very first episode of Loser Kid dropped four years ago.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: But we've ran into a little hiccup with our guest.
Speaker: Still planning on coming on.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: It might not be the 11th.
Speaker: We'll let you know in a post.
Speaker: We'll figure it out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I'm excited.
Speaker: I'm excited that Zach Menny is back and doing better from his surgery.
Speaker: Did you hear this on the podcast?
Speaker: He did, yeah.
Speaker: He needed to have a touch-up on his back, and you don't want to mess around with that.
Speaker: So I message him, send him some goodwill, and hopefully he recovers.
Speaker: No one wants to be in the hospital during the Christmas time, but it sounds like he handled it like a champ, him and Nicole Manny.
Speaker: If you want those games, they're back now, so hit them up.
Speaker: They just released a new game today, which we're going to talk about, which is Bond 60th.
Speaker: I don't know if you technically count it as a new game, but it is a new game.
Speaker: It's a new game.
Speaker: It's a new game.
Speaker: So if you want to pick that up, hit up Zach and Nicole and see if they have any available.
Speaker: I literally have no idea what their allotment was.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and very, very scarce, it seems like, when it comes to it.
Speaker: 50, 500 globally.
Speaker: 500 for the entire globe.
Speaker: If you want that, go hit up flippingoutpinball.com.
Speaker: They've got their phone number and everything there.
Speaker: I like to hit Zach through Messenger.
Speaker: That seems to be the easiest way for me to contact him.
Speaker: So once again, Flippin' Out Pinball, we thank them for sponsoring us and helping us out with our podcast.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Keeps us going.
Speaker: So Scott, it's been kind of a crazy day.
Speaker: It's, it's, it's the third day of January, 2023.
Speaker: I mean, we are just three days in and Stern says, Hey, it is time to drop a new release.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: However, we should, we should plug a little bit of a little housekeeping first.
Speaker: So just first and first off the, the pre pre,
Speaker: the voting now for the Twippy this week in pinball awards.
Speaker: And we were nominated in podcast and Hey, my attitude is it's an honor to be nominated and everybody who was nominated a great,
Speaker: but go there and just voice, voice your opinion, vote for your favorite podcast.
Speaker: I mean, obviously us, but okay.
Speaker: Maybe not.
Speaker: We know your fourth favorite podcast.
Speaker: We should at least be fourth.
Speaker: So go ahead and, and it is fun.
Speaker: It's just fun to kind of, and,
Speaker: answer which games you like the most and who you think did the best art package, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: So that's the first and foremost, do your voting for this week in pinball.
Speaker: But also coming up is the pinball industry awards.
Speaker: Oh, yes.
Speaker: So that is it's it's a different format, but very similar in that this is a it's a committee you apply to be on it.
Speaker: Um, and then they rank it and your votes are going to be going to be public after.
Speaker: And, uh, the awards go out.
Speaker: I, they're basically different awards.
Speaker: One's like a people's choice award.
Speaker: One is like a, an Academy awards, right?
Speaker: So it's just different formats.
Speaker: So it's, it's kind of fun to have both options.
Speaker: And it's interesting to see what people vote on.
Speaker: who are in the media versus just all the enthusiasts.
Speaker: So it gives you a good coupling.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: And I think it gives you that flip side of that coin, right?
Speaker: You're still on the same coin, but it's giving you a different perspective of what people that dedicate their lives to pinball
Speaker: Well, maybe not lives, but I mean, I feel like we've dedicated... It's a major hobby.
Speaker: It's a major hobby.
Speaker: And so I feel like these people have a lot more knowledge and decisiveness when it comes to maybe a vote.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: A little unbiasedness.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It just depends on the situation.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: Overall, I think that we're happy with both.
Speaker: I'm glad they're both out there because they serve two different purposes.
Speaker: So if you can sign up to be a judge, hit up Dennis, David Dennis on messenger and, or you can go straight just to the pinball industry awards.com website or.net.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: Dot com.
Speaker: And David Dennis runs the silver ball Chronicles with Ron Hallett.
Speaker: And it's, it's a great history lesson on pinball.
Speaker: So if you want to catch up on that, that's a great podcast.
Speaker: But if you want to be a part of that committee, submit your judge ballot or submit your judge application and see if you get picked.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: All right, now on to the stuff that everyone's here for, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.
Speaker: I don't think I can do it as good as Craig Bobby does.
Speaker: How does he – he puts a lot more tongue into it.
Speaker: I don't want to know.
Speaker: His wife must be proud.
Speaker: I don't want to know.
Speaker: Okay, so we got a 60th anniversary bond.
Speaker: This was leaked –
Speaker: How many months ago?
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And the funny thing is when the pictures were leaked, there were a lot of people who said, no, that can't be it because it has what looks like an LCD screen in it, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What's funny, too, is I talked to... They shall be named...
Speaker: We talked confidentially to some people in the industry and they said, yeah, it's not.
Speaker: Yeah, they said that's fake.
Speaker: And I was like, well, they're very close to the project.
Speaker: So I assume they're not lying.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Thanks for sending us off the scent trail.
Speaker: Maybe it's because the reception was not so glamorous when it came to the other.
Speaker: Well, okay.
Speaker: Now, this release is completely different than any release they have done.
Speaker: And so we're going to have to address the product in isolation.
Speaker: We're also going to have to talk about the availability.
Speaker: And we're also going to talk about that there is only one version of it.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Which is a departure from what they have done since Tron.
Speaker: Was Tron the first one with Nelly?
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: I think so.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, this is, like you said, this is a first for them.
Speaker: I don't think this has ever been done across any pinball company to do a one-off of a theme that they've already done or in the process of doing.
Speaker: They made it very evidently clear when the information got leaked on the day of the reveal or the day before the reveal that Elwin was making this one-off, Gomez then went on to, I want to say, the Insider Podcast and
Speaker: the day of and announced.
Speaker: He said, yeah, Keith Elwin is making a one-off.
Speaker: It's going to be limited to 500.
Speaker: So all these speculations started swirling, even though he gave us a pretty good idea.
Speaker: It's a street level.
Speaker: It's sorry, not street level.
Speaker: It is a classic with no ramps.
Speaker: It's a single level.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, but a street level uses items you'd get off of the shelf, where there's some custom stuff.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess I, in my mind, I consider a street level as in, is no fancy ball crossing paths.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: Like, it's just all, like, what you see is what you get.
Speaker: There's no...
Speaker: So he said retro.
Speaker: He gave us – there was 10 drop targets he gave us, a spinning odd job hat spinner or spinning disc.
Speaker: He talked about a shot he'd never seen before in pinball.
Speaker: I mean there was a lot he gave us and it was like, wow, this thing sounds epic.
Speaker: And then we were hurrying.
Speaker: It was coming out and we were going to see it in like October.
Speaker: And then October came and nothing.
Speaker: And then –
Speaker: Someone spilled the beans and we'd see it in November.
Speaker: So then November came in.
Speaker: Someone speculated, obviously.
Speaker: Yeah, it was more of a speculation.
Speaker: And then, well, it was at Expo.
Speaker: We heard at Expo.
Speaker: And I think Owen even said when he was on Flipping the Script on Autism with Amanda, we should be seeing this in November.
Speaker: And then the next thing we know is, well, it's not coming in November.
Speaker: Someone had said that we should be seeing it before Christmas time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh man.
Speaker: There's so many things about this, about this release.
Speaker: Like both releases with bond that have been kind of complex.
Speaker: This is okay.
Speaker: It's, it's weird.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because it feels like we are trying to drag information and code and all of that out of Stern when I don't,
Speaker: I don't blame Stern.
Speaker: I truly think this is, this is completely up to the licensor and Stern's doing the best they can, but it, it has been bizarre.
Speaker: Do you think, and this is just us speculating, do you think Stern regrets taking on the James Bond license?
Speaker: And the only reason I ask is, we know that sometimes the licensor is used as a shield, right?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: We didn't do this because licensor.
Speaker: It's a very, very broad, just kind of covers some stuff, right?
Speaker: But I had someone outside of the pinball hobby send me footage of other stuff that had been licensed and done
Speaker: through the James Bond property and the craziness that these people that were getting the license, what they had to go through on public live TV and other problems behind the scenes.
Speaker: And so the licensor themselves is very difficult to work with.
Speaker: Well, I would say they are –
Speaker: It sounds like they are meticulous in controlling their product.
Speaker: And they're not afraid to pull the plug at the last second to protect that meticulousness and all that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so, and that's, if you have someone who's a little OCD on it, then that's kind of what you get.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Your question was, do I speculate that Stern has a little bit of buyer's remorse on the, on the license?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: That would be a great way to put it.
Speaker: Um, no, but I will say that they probably didn't anticipate it being as challenging as it was because we know that the, the bond sales aren't on par with what rush sales were with what Godzilla sales were.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, and that, and that can be a myriad of factors.
Speaker: Uh, the, uh,
Speaker: The question is, if you didn't do Bond, what is your alternative?
Speaker: Because you can't just say, don't do that.
Speaker: You have to have something to put in your place.
Speaker: Put in its place.
Speaker: Are you talking to the other rumored titles that are out there?
Speaker: Well, either that, they're going to have to fill the catalog with something.
Speaker: Bond is an iconic...
Speaker: historic run.
Speaker: I mean, everybody knows who James Bond is.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: How many people know who Pokemon is?
Speaker: I think everyone.
Speaker: It is a, is a globally recognized brand.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: How many people know, know who the, um, uh, Rick and Morty are?
Speaker: Yeah, that's probably true.
Speaker: Probably not as many as James.
Speaker: Not as many.
Speaker: I'd never actually heard of Rick and Morty before it was announced.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, just other things like that.
Speaker: I mean,
Speaker: It's an iconic film franchise.
Speaker: They've had success with that.
Speaker: So that is my take on it.
Speaker: What's your take?
Speaker: I think that there is a little bit of buyer's remorse.
Speaker: I think that this is – they have dealt with difficult licensors in the past, but this one has been –
Speaker: Well, and again, the fact that it's difficult, we are totally speculating on that.
Speaker: Yes, yes.
Speaker: Because we don't have any information from Stern or from the Bond people.
Speaker: Yes, and designers have never said in public.
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: No, they haven't said any.
Speaker: Well, okay.
Speaker: But I'm just saying like –
Speaker: No, I'm joking.
Speaker: We all know that some people can be difficult.
Speaker: And so we're trying to connect the dots.
Speaker: Yeah, correct.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: I still think there's a little bit of buyer's remorse.
Speaker: And I think the part that sucks about all this is it just, there's been a mark that has been missed.
Speaker: It feels like by time that James Bond finally gets the love from the code and everything, this could be bypassed by the next title.
Speaker: Well, so I don't know.
Speaker: Now, the thing that's holding back the Gomez version of James Bond is that the code is so basic right now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That it's taking forever.
Speaker: What version is the code on right now?
Speaker: I don't even know.
Speaker: Like 0.64, I think, is what they announced last week or the week before.
Speaker: I'm just doing a quick search to find out.
Speaker: So, okay, so they're at 0.80.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So it's made a lot of progress.
Speaker: I have not played the new code.
Speaker: Have you played the new code?
Speaker: No, I haven't touched it since Expo.
Speaker: So that's been two months.
Speaker: I will say 8.8 code.
Speaker: It's still has a long way to go.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Still has a little chunk.
Speaker: Stop 20% of the game to put it in there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I guess overall, it's interesting that they decided to go with,
Speaker: an extra version on top of all of this.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Who do you think they are?
Speaker: So listening to the Stern Insider podcast, Keith, along with Mark Pacinto, if I remember correctly, I might have slaughtered that.
Speaker: I do apologize, sir.
Speaker: But they talked about how when they were getting ready to work on the Bond theme, they were kind of elbows deep in it already.
Speaker: they had heard whispers that the licensor really wanted a retro style theme, a retro style game to, to go with the theme since they're very appropriate.
Speaker: So Keith had put it as he had threw his hat in the ring and, and they said, yes.
Speaker: And so he had some time between cornerstones.
Speaker: He had some extra time and he decided let's, let's go ahead and do this.
Speaker: So supposedly it was a request from the licensor to do something like this.
Speaker: which wouldn't shock me.
Speaker: It absolutely doesn't shock me because I can't see Stern saying, yeah, this is a great idea because, you know, they're, you know, the Venn diagram of interest, you have pinball fans, bond fans, and that overlap in that Venn diagram is where your market is, right?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Well, you're kind of right now you have pinball fans, uh,
Speaker: bond fans but you also have retro fans and so and you also we're going to talk about it a premium market so how those all intersect um does it hurt sales they have two options or is it or is it irrelevant i think it's irrelevant okay
Speaker: This release is so weird to me.
Speaker: It's just... I don't know if even Stern knows what mark they were going for on this one.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think the licensor threw this idea out there.
Speaker: They got excited about this idea and they went for it.
Speaker: And now, on release day, it's not going as planned, I feel like.
Speaker: And I could be entirely wrong.
Speaker: I'm just... I'm trying to... Like I said, we're trying to connect dots.
Speaker: Like you said, we're connecting dots.
Speaker: I just...
Speaker: Okay, let's talk about the first thing.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: The first thing that stands out to me, you've got a retro game, right?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That is modernized with LCD and different technology.
Speaker: Keith, don't talk about it.
Speaker: Yes, LCD, but also, okay, and we'll get to it.
Speaker: Everybody, including me...
Speaker: thought that the back box had an LCD screen.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And they've, they've taken a picture of the actual rules in this game because it looks like that.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: It, it legitimately looks like, um, in, in fairness, the most recent similar game would be, um,
Speaker: The Beatles.
Speaker: Beatles, yep.
Speaker: And the Beatles has an LCD screen and it has these retro, you know, real emulations.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so it was pretty easy to say, oh, that must be what they're doing.
Speaker: So my point being was we've got a retro layout, right?
Speaker: Like there's some modernization to it, the LCD screen.
Speaker: But I mean, there's a lot of stuff that's very throwback.
Speaker: You've got drop targets.
Speaker: You've got spinners.
Speaker: It feels very 70s.
Speaker: Why did we take the most modern Bond...
Speaker: And put them on the most retro theme.
Speaker: Shouldn't we should have the retro theme?
Speaker: Shouldn't it be flopped?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It should have been Sean Connery and the retro theme on the retro game versus having all the modern stuff on the, on the newer game.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I, the answer is yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because the retro feel fits with the retro bond.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it's super campy.
Speaker: It's super sixties era appropriate.
Speaker: And so, yeah, if I were making decisions, um, I would have done that.
Speaker: I would have done the, uh, done the retro on, uh, Sean Connery.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Instead of all three of your cornerstones, Sean Connery, and then your main one.
Speaker: And granted, we don't know how the licensing works on this.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Again, we are playing the game if we could do what we wanted to do.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And last time I checked, Loser Kid Pinball was not a pinball company.
Speaker: No, it's not.
Speaker: And we have no sway at Stern, as much as you want to believe that.
Speaker: I don't think anybody believes that.
Speaker: I believe it a little.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, look at their new hats.
Speaker: I mean, they're using our model.
Speaker: When it comes to hat decisions, you know.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Anywho.
Speaker: So, yeah, I would flip them.
Speaker: I don't fully understand that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You know, this is becoming a thing I've never noticed, but people, there's more and more people starting to point this out.
Speaker: Why aren't we like color coding the screws?
Speaker: Like the LCD screens bezel is all black and you're screwing it in with these silver screws.
Speaker: I don't know if it's that big of a deal, but I would say it all comes down to price.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The, could you imagine if they're like, well, I have that screw, but I need it in black.
Speaker: I mean, they would have to have colors for every single screw.
Speaker: I mean, is it possible they could do that?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I, I don't think you'll ever get that on a game that they're trying to at least make available to the general public.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: And if you're screwing in a screw and you, it ends up slipping a little bit, you're going to scratch the powder coat off the screw.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then great.
Speaker: Now you have to pull it out and put a new one in.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Let's, let's, let's talk reveal where it came out this morning.
Speaker: What, what eight o'clock our time mountain standards in here, 10 Eastern seven Pacific.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: We got two videos, and one was 40 seconds long, and that was kind of just the here-it-is trailer.
Speaker: And then the next one was the feature trailer, which was a minute and a half.
Speaker: Kind of a little more in-depth of what was on the play field.
Speaker: I'm going to reserve my thoughts first.
Speaker: I want you to go first, Scott.
Speaker: For what the features look like?
Speaker: Just the reveal in general and what you thought of the videos.
Speaker: It's okay.
Speaker: It felt very on par with their style.
Speaker: And they typically have a 90 second sizzle reel.
Speaker: And it's kind of a single, like it's just one person playing the game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it shows like, it kind of shows the shots, shows the drop targets, shows that I don't even know what to call that.
Speaker: The corkscrew shot.
Speaker: Which is fun.
Speaker: I think they're calling a figure eight shot.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then you have the inline drop targets.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: And you have the slash hat.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's, it's okay.
Speaker: It got the job done.
Speaker: If it falls into the realm of it, it got the job done.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There are so many ways you could have made this more awesome.
Speaker: You've seen the videos where they have those small cameras that follow, you know, a pinball path.
Speaker: Like they take the glass off and they follow it.
Speaker: And so it just looks amazing when you're actually inside the machine and it's flying around.
Speaker: they should do something like that.
Speaker: Like add those features.
Speaker: So you're, so you get more excited about it.
Speaker: But it feels it, it, it wasn't any different than any of their other releases.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I agree.
Speaker: I just, I,
Speaker: It left me kind of wanting more.
Speaker: I wish there would have been a gameplay, even like a three-minute gameplay.
Speaker: But I think that's also up to the licensor as well.
Speaker: Because that's the other thing, too.
Speaker: We did not see any clips from the movies.
Speaker: We did not hear any sound bites.
Speaker: It was strictly play-filled in what's on it and the features of it.
Speaker: And so it left me wanting more.
Speaker: And we've waited how many months for this?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, and I will say that this is, so let's talk about the price point.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Do you want to do features first or do you want to do price point?
Speaker: Cause we were kind of talking about features there for a second.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Let's talk about, let's finish talking about the features.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We've got 10 drop targets.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Keith said in the insider podcast, these are actually fully trippable.
Speaker: If I remember correctly, I can't remember exactly the word he said, but yeah,
Speaker: So if you hit one, it can trigger the rest to drop as well.
Speaker: Or what has become more of a theme in his newer games like Avengers and Godzilla is – I'm going to call it the boom button because Deadpool, I think that's the best way to describe it.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: you know you you do something it charges up your your your lockdown bar and you can push it to trigger stuff you can actually trigger those drop targets with the boom button on bond which i think is a cool idea as well uh the spinning odd job hat in the middle uh this one has four spinners this is the first time on a pinball machine
Speaker: that has ever had four spinners.
Speaker: That figure eight is very interesting, especially where you shoot it and it comes right back at you, but towards your flipper instead of chaos.
Speaker: Down the middle, you got the inline drops.
Speaker: What else is on here?
Speaker: There's a stand up with a one way gate.
Speaker: Two pop bumpers.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Did someone check to make sure that those were individually popped?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Thanks, Ron.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Get on that, Ron.
Speaker: You're missing the giant missile that everyone loves.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know that in the figure eight, it does have a slight...
Speaker: It's not a scoop, but it's like a saucer.
Speaker: You can shoot it.
Speaker: You know, in bingo games, they have the gobble holes.
Speaker: This is like a gobbled divot.
Speaker: So, you know, it goes back and it's not really a scoop, but it just kind of sits in there and then it just pops it out.
Speaker: Has a pop out.
Speaker: Like in a Simpsons pinball party, how you shoot around into.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: You're right.
Speaker: Is that exactly the itching scratchy shot in the, in the right?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: What else?
Speaker: I feel like I'm missing.
Speaker: I don't really include like the reels are nice.
Speaker: I feel like that's kind of, I don't know.
Speaker: It's a cool idea.
Speaker: Is it necessary?
Speaker: No, but it's kind of cool to see the LCD.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: there in the middle of the play field.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: What do you, am I missing anything?
Speaker: And the LCD in the middle of the play field is going to be a mixed blessed and a mixed bag, I guess.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because if there is any issues with it, you actually have to replace something that significantly affects ball movement.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I have black rose and even like my cannon shot, if it's going really slow, it will actually get into the groove of the cannon circle and it will deflect the path.
Speaker: And so you have the risk of, I'm sure that they've done a good job about making sure it's flat, but after time,
Speaker: You could have some raising, you could have some lowering.
Speaker: That could be a little challenging.
Speaker: It is nice though, because it is on your play field.
Speaker: And so it does give you information that you can see.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So I do like it.
Speaker: It'll be interesting to see how well received it is and how reliable it is.
Speaker: I feel like there's a lot of features for this game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I feel like it's a very packed play field, especially for a single level play field.
Speaker: It's very impressive what they fit in there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Let's talk about the elephant in the room.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I struggle a little bit with this on two levels.
Speaker: Hold on.
Speaker: So how much is the price, Scott?
Speaker: Well, okay.
Speaker: The price is set by the distributors, and
Speaker: However, Stern, I would argue Stern did a disservice to the distributors in selling some directly.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And by them setting the price at roughly $20,000, then it really forces the distributors to sell for a similar price.
Speaker: Like you're going to get some people who mark them up, that's fine.
Speaker: But I talked to a local guy, and he only has to sell a few of them.
Speaker: But I'm assuming the high volume people are – and this is me guessing – 20, 30, 40 of them.
Speaker: And so with him, I said, well, I –
Speaker: I consider just like going just slightly under $20,000.
Speaker: And cause you just have to sell, you don't, you have to sell a low volume of them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But if you're trying to sell 20, 30, 40, what would you set the price at?
Speaker: I mean, you, if you're a high enough volume dealer, you could set it at $20,000, but it's, you still have to move them.
Speaker: And that's a big game to sit on in, in your inventory.
Speaker: They don't want to keep this around for a year.
Speaker: Well, and I would argue, too, that the distributors are kind of fighting, not each other, but they're all fishing in the same pond, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Stern has almost a million people following their page.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: So when they announce, they have a pretty broad base they're heading to, right?
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: What about all these mom and pop distributors and dealers?
Speaker: The ones that aren't flipping out or...
Speaker: the small ones the the low volume but yeah they're yeah i just it it kind of took the wind out of the cells i feel like for the for the other dealers and it becomes hard i mean we're talking twenty thousand dollars has there been any other game besides elvira 40th that has been was and that was 20 to 25 wasn't it that was like the set your own price it was still kind of set your own price and because not even beetles was this much
Speaker: Yeah, it's still a set your own price.
Speaker: However, I would say the elephant in the room is not the $20,000.
Speaker: Okay, what's the elephant in the room?
Speaker: I would say the elephant in the room is $20,000 is the only option you can buy.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: Because even with Batman, the super limited edition, at $15,000, people could still get the premium edition for what?
Speaker: seven, 75, 8,000 or something like back in the day.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so you could still get that option.
Speaker: So, but this, they're not allowing that, which is interesting because if you, if I looked at this game, I would think it probably just guesstimating the build of materials.
Speaker: You're probably on par with a standard premium.
Speaker: Once you factor in the LCD screen and the, and the mechanical reels,
Speaker: And so where am I estimating the budget?
Speaker: I'd say that the build on this would probably between five to 6,000.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because that's typically, if you're manufacturing something, it typically ends up costing about half the price of the retail.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And that's just how most businesses work.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then they sell to distributors.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And they, they make a profit on that.
Speaker: And then the distributors can, can sell it on and get a profit on that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, so if this were available in like a standard, I would expect the pricing to be about 9,500.
Speaker: So the question is, if there was a standard.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Would you go for it?
Speaker: I'm nervous just because it's an unknown quantity.
Speaker: Um, the bond, the other bond code is so slow in coming out that I still feel like I haven't experienced the game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, on this one, I mean, this is, that's a big price that you're doing.
Speaker: Uh, I, if you're gonna have a designer that has the best track record, I mean, it's, it's Elwin because he has four, four for four of the best games of all time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so I'm sure that this will be a solid shooter.
Speaker: Now, he's not doing the code on this one.
Speaker: No, he was.
Speaker: He did have input.
Speaker: It seemed like they worked together on it.
Speaker: So this is a... You know what?
Speaker: I would.
Speaker: At 9,500, I would buy this game.
Speaker: I can't justify the...
Speaker: And this is a personal thing, right?
Speaker: Because we know that I'm not in the market for every game out there at different price points.
Speaker: And so this is only Scott Larson's price point.
Speaker: But there are plenty of people out there who say, no, I'm happy to spend that much on the game.
Speaker: And it's a really cool game.
Speaker: And I have one of 500.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So at what price point would you buy this?
Speaker: I might, might consider it $9,500.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So basically on par with a premium.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I think Elwin can compensate for ramps.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: I think his designs are that good.
Speaker: They're all fun.
Speaker: Yeah, they're all fun.
Speaker: I think I would love to have a retro style game in my collection.
Speaker: And nothing would make me happier than to have Elwin on the design of it.
Speaker: Because th is is a man that grew up on the classics.
Speaker: And so he knows how to design a game.
Speaker: Especially like we've never seen this before.
Speaker: We've never seen the top dog make what he thinks would be the best game.
Speaker: 70s retro game yeah 95 i still feel like it's a little steep but then again you know tna was what eight eight to ten eight thousand i think was the last the last run was eight thousand right so it's not i mean it's not too far out of the ballpark yeah i would say with
Speaker: with the reels and the LCD screen in the apron, or it's not in the apron, in the play field, I, that's what kicked up the features to on par premium where you typically expect wire forms or you expect some special ramps.
Speaker: So that is the upgrade aspect that I assigned to this.
Speaker: And like I said, I think the reels are great, but honestly,
Speaker: strip out the rules, put an LCD there.
Speaker: Don't do it in the play field.
Speaker: Sell it as a cornerstone.
Speaker: It would be, it would be very intriguing to see what, what happens.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'll be interested to see what the demand is because you are going after a very specific demographic.
Speaker: You are only going after whales on this one.
Speaker: You're going after people who are pinball enthusiasts and
Speaker: And you're going for whales at this point though.
Speaker: Like I've talked to a lot of people that granted have a lot more money than me.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: And they're just like, no, I cannot justify this.
Speaker: Not even if like.
Speaker: People talk big though.
Speaker: I wonder if they will sell out quickly.
Speaker: Like, is there any available?
Speaker: I guess they sold out through the Stern store.
Speaker: They did sell through the Stern store, but we don't know how many they had.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: How many of the 500.
Speaker: From the distributors I have talked to, which has been a handful.
Speaker: It's funny because someone did point out like, when you say distributors, you only mean flipping out.
Speaker: No, trust me.
Speaker: We know more distributors.
Speaker: Actually, I don't even bother Zach on this day.
Speaker: I actually don't either because I'm like, I, he, unless if I want the pinball machine, I am not taking away from his attention because this is one of the most profitable days for them, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But from the distributors I have talked to, these aren't moving quick.
Speaker: The 60.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The 60th is not moving quick.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it just becomes a weird thing.
Speaker: We'll find out by the end of the week where everything kind of lands.
Speaker: Pinside's fantastic at giving good information, giving false information.
Speaker: So it'll be interesting to see kind of by the end of the week what happens with this.
Speaker: I just don't see –
Speaker: Typically, I have one or two people that are like, yes, no matter what, I'm doing it.
Speaker: There's even a gentleman here in Utah that when I told him about this three months ago, when stuff had kind of leaked, he said, I'm in for it.
Speaker: And today he saw and he said, no, I just, I can't.
Speaker: It's hard, but I can't justify it.
Speaker: Okay, but this is a test case for Stern.
Speaker: But what are they testing, though?
Speaker: I think they're testing to see if there is a bigger market for a supreme style game where you are selling exclusivity.
Speaker: That's what the markup is.
Speaker: The markup is exclusivity.
Speaker: Okay, this is the gospel according to Josh.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So take it for what it's worth.
Speaker: Take it with a grain of salt.
Speaker: Josh chapter 2, verse 4.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Stern needs to realize they are the love letter to themes and to pop culture.
Speaker: They are not the pop culture.
Speaker: They are not the supreme.
Speaker: They are the people that make stuff for supreme.
Speaker: People love pinball.
Speaker: Pinball's been around for almost a century now in the mechanical electrical form.
Speaker: But the problem is, is people buy themes first.
Speaker: We've talked about this a million times.
Speaker: Someone had made a good point to us.
Speaker: Like, think back to when you bought your first game.
Speaker: Did you buy it based off a gameplay?
Speaker: Nope.
Speaker: I know I sure didn't.
Speaker: I knew nothing about it, and I bought Simpsons because I thought, cool, Simpsons.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: I knew nothing about Spider-Man.
Speaker: I knew I wanted a cheap pinball machine, and I bought amazing – Gottlieb's Amazing Spider-Man.
Speaker: It is amazingly unfunctional.
Speaker: And –
Speaker: My parents bought a Teenage Mutant Turtles, the Data East, and that one I would actually probably take Amazing Spider-Man over.
Speaker: I would take over Data East Turtles.
Speaker: It wasn't until my third game that I was like, okay, I want something newer with a DMD and a multiball.
Speaker: So I got World Cup soccer, and I love it.
Speaker: And then I realized, well, what I really do want is more like modes.
Speaker: Because I was starting to see gameplay for Adam's Family and Twilight Zone and stuff like that.
Speaker: I'm like, so I want a mode-based game.
Speaker: So it wasn't until about my fourth pin that I really started worrying about gameplay, right?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: that's four pins.
Speaker: You know, if you're buying solely off a theme, even if you're a big Bond nut, did you buy back at Gomez and you're not worried anymore?
Speaker: Like, this has no weight or bearing on your decision because you bought the game you wanted based off a theme.
Speaker: I mean, this is such a small niche.
Speaker: I don't understand what... Because a lot of people are like, well, they're trying to see what Elwin's name commands, right?
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: But the problem is, is it's a single level.
Speaker: It's not like they're doing a full blown Elwyn game and then limiting it to 500 and doing an exclusivity on that.
Speaker: I just, there's a lot of weird factors to this one and it's hard to like nail down exactly what this is supposed to be.
Speaker: However, I will push back a little bit on this and that I guarantee that Stern does market research.
Speaker: finds things that are, you know, interested, like how many people are actually interested in the product.
Speaker: And so having Stern, knowing that they actually do this analysis, this is even back when I was talking about toppers and saying that, you know, they should sell toppers for 350 and sell a billion of them.
Speaker: And the bottom line is I don't have any data to back that up.
Speaker: There should be, you know, the market analysis people will say, well, if I could sell, if I could make a thousand toppers at 300 bucks versus if I sell it for 800 bucks and I can make 200 toppers.
Speaker: and make the same amount of money, which one would I do?
Speaker: Produce less and make more.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so this is a test case for we are going on that side of the market curve and seeing if we can do, um,
Speaker: basically make a higher profit margin with less numbers.
Speaker: Now, this is not their standard release.
Speaker: This is not the only direction they do, but to be fair, car companies do this too.
Speaker: How many Lamborghinis are made in a year?
Speaker: I can't remember.
Speaker: Well, it's like a Lotus.
Speaker: Don't they all make 10 Lotuses through the whole year?
Speaker: Yeah, it's like they make more Lamborghinis than that.
Speaker: But it's still not a crazy amount.
Speaker: And there's a, you're paying a super premium for a Lamborghini because they don't make it that much.
Speaker: And so they're making a huge profit off each of the games.
Speaker: So that's what, this is the test case for this.
Speaker: So I, I'll be very curious to see how these move.
Speaker: I did a quick search and I found two that are posted.
Speaker: but um they're kind of around that one's looking to trade and the other one is looking about 21 000. this game is so weird i i know that we will see further down the road but i it was like beatles right we didn't know that beatles hadn't sold out
Speaker: until we did that interview with Joe Kimmichow, what, a year or two after Beatles took him out?
Speaker: And he's like, by the way, we're doing more Beatles.
Speaker: We haven't finished all the 1966.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's when I bought mine, because I was like, oh, they're still available?
Speaker: Great, I'll get mine.
Speaker: And well, even Zach Manning on the pinball show the next week is like,
Speaker: we didn't know they still had Beatles available.
Speaker: Do you think that's what this is going to be?
Speaker: They're going to do like a single run up front first.
Speaker: And then if these just don't sell it, they don't build them.
Speaker: And, and then if there becomes a bigger demand later on, they're like, by the way, we're throwing this back on the line.
Speaker: And we know it's been two years later, but I don't know.
Speaker: I actually, I would bet that they have all of the distributors committed to what they, what they're going to take.
Speaker: Because that is a quick revenue stream for Stern because they can make them, sell them to distributors.
Speaker: They have the cash.
Speaker: Distributors have the games.
Speaker: Usually the way it works is the distributor asks for an allotment.
Speaker: Stern gives them a certain amount of it, right?
Speaker: A lot of people don't want to turn that away in fear of they don't want to lose numbers, right?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: They don't want to be downgraded in the amount of games they get.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Do you think we see people turn away allotment on this because of the price?
Speaker: I would say maybe some of the smaller ones.
Speaker: However, even the smaller one that I talked to, you know, it's still, it's a big investment to have that much money tied up in a single product that you are waiting to sell for $1,000.
Speaker: a decent profit.
Speaker: They're going to make more on selling this one game than they would by selling a premium or a pro.
Speaker: They will.
Speaker: But where's the trade-off?
Speaker: Is it worth the three to five times the amount that you'll get from a premium or pro if you have such a hard time selling it?
Speaker: And then you're sitting on this game that you have paid
Speaker: and you know, a high price for.
Speaker: So do you want to have 50 to a hundred thousand dollars in inventory tied up on a, on a handful of games, or would you rather have your inventory be an allotment of pros, premiums and home additions?
Speaker: I think the other thing that hurts them on this too is I've heard it time and time again.
Speaker: A lot of people feels like this has a home pin feel to it.
Speaker: I don't know if it's the shooter knob that looks like the Jurassic park.
Speaker: It's,
Speaker: It's the same identical knob you find on the home pins, but it's just kind of printed to whatever.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, dress a park or, or, or the union Jack is what's on this one.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Here's my thought.
Speaker: You drop the topper, you drop the reels, you drop $5,000.
Speaker: Maybe, maybe drop something else off there.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Let's also talk about the topper.
Speaker: Um, I need to do anything.
Speaker: Not that I know of.
Speaker: It's just a black box.
Speaker: It's pretty.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, and it does come with the topper, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, it surprisingly didn't come with our blades though.
Speaker: So that, that was a little surprising.
Speaker: And I, I will point out that the art on this is, is a montage of the, uh, of the movie posters.
Speaker: I would love to pick Kevin O'Connor's brain.
Speaker: Cause he was the artist behind this.
Speaker: This is obviously what the licensor wanted.
Speaker: They wanted it as close to the film product as possible, which is why you're going to get these, this mashup of movies on the side.
Speaker: Okay, over, I don't know.
Speaker: I just feel like at the end of the day, this is a swing and a miss.
Speaker: Well, okay, but we need to separate the marketing of the game from the game.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: Okay, let me put it this way.
Speaker: I think this very much has the Toy Story effect.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Everyone looks at Toy Story, it says, I love the layout.
Speaker: It's a great game.
Speaker: Toy Story is a fun game, but yeah, it's... I enjoy the play.
Speaker: It's just out of my price range.
Speaker: I think that's what you're going to get with this.
Speaker: People are going to go, it's L1.
Speaker: It shoots amazing.
Speaker: I think once you... If you get to play this and you get to shoot the combination shot to hit the four spinners, I think you're going to go, man, this game is fire.
Speaker: i'm sure it is every game though you have to consider is this worth two or three games yeah because that that's what you would exchange this for in your collection would you on you've not played this yet no would you obviously you have godzilla and deadpool but would you take this game over a deadpool and a jurassic and a godzilla premium
Speaker: I wouldn't.
Speaker: But there are people who legitimately have more disposable income than me.
Speaker: Yeah, that's very true.
Speaker: Globally, there has been a recession, right?
Speaker: It's not just America.
Speaker: Well, and inflation.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Recession and inflation.
Speaker: I'm not getting paid anymore.
Speaker: And the cost of everything is up 10%.
Speaker: What's eggs that you're, I went to go to eggs from Walmart the other day.
Speaker: We usually get an 18 pack and it's like $22 right now.
Speaker: It just, it's out of control.
Speaker: An 18 pack of eggs is 22 bucks.
Speaker: Cause how much it was in our neck of the woods.
Speaker: I don't know how much is yours.
Speaker: I know if you go to Costco and to San Francisco.
Speaker: Are they dinosaur eggs?
Speaker: I don't know, man.
Speaker: Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker: Maybe I'm just blowing smoke.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: It's possible, but man.
Speaker: Oh, no, I'm talking.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: 22 bucks for the 218.
Speaker: So was it 36?
Speaker: The 36 pack.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: You know the ones, it's got like the two stacks of eggs.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because we go through a lot of eggs.
Speaker: Okay, I see at the Walmarts, I see 60 eggs for $25.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's 42 cents an egg.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: When what, six months ago, a year ago, you could get one of those for $10?
Speaker: Yeah, I really had...
Speaker: I had no idea.
Speaker: That's amazing.
Speaker: Crazy, huh?
Speaker: This is where we're at.
Speaker: I think we hit the iron.
Speaker: The iron has cooled off.
Speaker: And I'm not saying that the pinball bubble is bursting or anything like that.
Speaker: I'm just saying the fact that people can now go on vacations.
Speaker: Prices have gotten a little out of control on...
Speaker: cost of living in general.
Speaker: And so the first thing you're going to do is cut out your hobbies or like your non necessities.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And, and pinball is a luxury.
Speaker: Nobody needs a pinball machine.
Speaker: They, they, they don't.
Speaker: Um, but they're obviously fun to have, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, luxury items and pinball is a luxury item.
Speaker: They're the ones that are the canary in the coal mine for when people are feeling the pinch of financial, I guess, financial fruit frugality.
Speaker: It looks fun, though.
Speaker: I think it looks fun.
Speaker: I do like it.
Speaker: I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker: I would like to own it.
Speaker: But then again, Elwin, we trust.
Speaker: That's just me.
Speaker: So I would love to have this in my collection.
Speaker: I just cannot justify the price tag for what it is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's exactly what I said with Toy Story 4.
Speaker: There's nothing wrong with Toy Story 4.
Speaker: I just cannot justify... No, it's actually a fun game.
Speaker: I would buy Toy Story at $8,500.
Speaker: I really enjoyed it at Expo.
Speaker: It was a fun game.
Speaker: I just cannot justify the game for the price.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: I am curious, though.
Speaker: If you are planning on buying this, let us know.
Speaker: Let us know why.
Speaker: I've talked to about 30 different people today, and they have all said no.
Speaker: And one of them buys all the high-end stuff.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: People will say that, but then FOMO hits it.
Speaker: FOMO sets it in.
Speaker: They're like, nevermind.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it's Halloween sold out.
Speaker: Just by a picture, right?
Speaker: And I think that's where some of the hate we're seeing is today because everyone loves Elwyn, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like you don't want to miss out on an Elwyn game.
Speaker: And the barrier to entry for this game is pretty steep.
Speaker: It is catered to a small amount.
Speaker: I think there's a lot of people are going to hate on it because it's the fact that they can't have it.
Speaker: Well, there's 250 likely that will be in the United States.
Speaker: Roughly, it's like 50-50 for domestic versus abroad.
Speaker: Even if you push that up to 300, I mean, 300 divided by 50 states, you're looking at six per state.
Speaker: If anyone in Utah is getting this game, please let us know.
Speaker: I want to come over and play it.
Speaker: I actually do want to play it.
Speaker: My understanding is these will be shipping out in the next month.
Speaker: They're going to build them and get rid of them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Do you think that in six months to a year, will these be on the secondhand market?
Speaker: So let's give it a year.
Speaker: So next January, three options.
Speaker: Secondhand market, they're selling for more than $20,000.
Speaker: Same as $20,000, less than $20,000.
Speaker: I bet you see some deflation with it.
Speaker: You're seeing that with everything.
Speaker: So this is one of the first games that you're anticipating some sort of deflation.
Speaker: Yeah, I feel like we've been seeing deflation with a lot of games right now.
Speaker: the only game that really has stand the test of time of deflation is Godzilla right now.
Speaker: Those are still high demand selling for more than what you can buy them for.
Speaker: But everything else, it's kind of, you can get for either MSRP or a thousand or two less at this point.
Speaker: So just depends on game and gameplay and demand for that game, you know?
Speaker: I actually am speculating that in a year, these will still be around 20,000 just because of the limited nature of it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And this is, there are only 500 of these.
Speaker: And so if you.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: My nervousness is in a year, they're still sitting inside of the warehouse because.
Speaker: Well, that would be the distributor's nightmare because you don't want to, you don't want to sit on inventory for a year.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Especially your most expensive inventory.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if dealers get the early adopters and they're able to...
Speaker: to sell it quickly and make a quick buck, then that's the ideal for them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I wonder what happens if there are, you know, if you, if you have 501 people who are interested in 500 games, you have competition.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If there are 499 interested, then they can go wherever there's, there is that extra one available.
Speaker: Here's an idea.
Speaker: I'm going to pitch this to you.
Speaker: I know I pitched it to a distributor today.
Speaker: At $20,000, we're in the pricing of a cheap car, brand new off the lot.
Speaker: Do you think we should start offering leasing options and you have the option to buy after a year or whatever your lease is, or you could trade in for a newer model?
Speaker: Yeah, it's an interesting thought.
Speaker: I'm sure there are people who... Because there are people who rent out games all the time, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They'll rent out for anywhere from $100 to $250 a month.
Speaker: That... Yeah, on something like this, though, I don't know if this game I would be comfortable leasing out because what happens if...
Speaker: One, like one person walks by the game and scratches the entire side with a, with a rivet on their jeans or, or just something that completely dings the cabinet.
Speaker: Then you're like, oh, well that's, that's obviously going to take away from the, from the value.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and let's talk about that.
Speaker: Let's talk about renting out pinball machines that has become a really big market.
Speaker: Do you think it is viable to buy this and rent it out?
Speaker: Because most people I know that rent them out, rent them out for anywhere from about $250 to $350 a month.
Speaker: And you have to guarantee so many months.
Speaker: You would have to be $500 a month on this one.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: If you rented it, you would have to do $500 a month.
Speaker: And I would probably do like a four-month minimum.
Speaker: I would, I mean, it's not a half bad idea.
Speaker: If you really want one of these, but you don't want to do the price,
Speaker: Maybe that's your option.
Speaker: Get it the first month you play it or whatever.
Speaker: And when I've talked to people.
Speaker: I'm shocked at how quickly some people turn over games, by the way.
Speaker: I am not that guy.
Speaker: I do not pin around.
Speaker: I buy a pin and I have it for years.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But there are so many people I know.
Speaker: They're sending me updates on their inventory.
Speaker: I'm like, when did you get that?
Speaker: Oh, I sold it last week.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: wait, what did you sell?
Speaker: I didn't even know you had that game.
Speaker: Oh yeah, I bought that a month ago.
Speaker: So I don't go through games that fast.
Speaker: Some people do.
Speaker: If you have some FOMO, if you love L1, maybe this is the option for you is buy it, lease it out for a little bit.
Speaker: It brings down that price tag.
Speaker: It just...
Speaker: It's kind of weird, but then again, you would have one of 500.
Speaker: Like Scott was saying, they're probably going to be 300 in the US.
Speaker: Maybe that's an option.
Speaker: I know it's not a fantastic option because then you've got that fear of, like Scott said, someone walks by and scratches the crap out of it.
Speaker: Or it's at a home with a bunch of kids and the kids do who knows what to it.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: You put it in with the poor men and they put all their beers on it.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: I drew and Ian.
Speaker: But that is an option.
Speaker: If you want the game but you don't want the price tag, maybe at least – I know they're probably going to get yelled at for that one.
Speaker: Well, it's an option.
Speaker: It's an option.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm just trying to help you out.
Speaker: I know you, listener.
Speaker: I know that you're looking at this game.
Speaker: You're going, ah, but I want Elwyn.
Speaker: And I want this game, but I don't want to pay $20,000 for it.
Speaker: I'll be really curious to see if they are just sold out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: This is something we'll have to keep up with.
Speaker: I know we're having Elwyn on here soon.
Speaker: So I really want to know about the design process because our biggest concern is with the limited availability and the price point.
Speaker: But really, the game looks pretty solid.
Speaker: Yeah, it does look solid and it looks fun.
Speaker: I like that figure eight.
Speaker: That is something I've never seen before on a Pimble machine.
Speaker: And that four spinners, that just sounds epic where you shoot that left side into the figure eight, goes through one spinner, comes back through another spinner, ricochet it right off that left flipper up through the orbit on the right side through another spinner, and it comes back right down the middle through the last spinner.
Speaker: And, oh, that just sounds epic.
Speaker: And they're all opto spinners.
Speaker: So these teams are going to be juiced.
Speaker: Yeah, they're going to...
Speaker: um i i love inline drop targets yep and i i love a shot that goes back to the shooter lane like i do like that oh scott just go crazy just buy one of these and i can come to your house yeah we're doing a renovation right now i am not in the market for any machines oh come on sell off a couple you don't need beetles anymore this will replace beetles yeah i i have to sell three games to buy this beetles will give you a good down payment towards this yes
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Send us your thoughts.
Speaker: We said we were going to only do a 30-minute to 40-minute episode, but obviously we lied.
Speaker: We got sidetracked, but really, this really was more of a discussion irrespective of...
Speaker: elwin sicker sorry l160 uh bond 60 this is more of a discussion on pinball market trends this is a this is 60 minutes on pinball market trends yep i think overall like i said i i think we all feel the same way it it looks like a fun game you know we don't know where the code and stuff's gonna be at where the assets are gonna be at
Speaker: We know it's L1, so it's going to shoot great.
Speaker: It's going to feel great when you're shooting it.
Speaker: It's just that price tag.
Speaker: We all are a little bit of cringe.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, but again, I'm there.
Speaker: They probably did the market analysis on that.
Speaker: So it is what it is.
Speaker: You stern.
Speaker: That's the reason they're the big dogs.
Speaker: They know how to make these risks, take these risks.
Speaker: And I thought, I totally thought that Batman 66, the SLE.
Speaker: I was of that, of that opinion.
Speaker: It's like, no one's going to pay that.
Speaker: They did.
Speaker: They did, but they only made 60 of them, right?
Speaker: Or 80.
Speaker: I thought they made 80 of them because they did 30 and then there ended up being more demand.
Speaker: And so they magically came up with another 50 to make it 80.
Speaker: But 80 is, you know, you have to get...
Speaker: more to get up to 500 you know now that you say that i'm very curious let's let's just hurry and pull up this is going to take just a second i want to know what a batman sle is at right now because they're more limited granted you can buy a premium you can uh there's different versions where this one is one of one for 500 you know i just uh sle is not the super le right yeah it is sle is the super le yeah
Speaker: Someone's asking $34,000 right now on Pennside.
Speaker: At Boca Raton.
Speaker: Boca Raton.
Speaker: That's the only one I see.
Speaker: So I guess... I don't know.
Speaker: I guess...
Speaker: It's hard because these aren't segmented out.
Speaker: Like if you, if you could, if they had just an SLE, you could go in and go see what the previous payments are.
Speaker: I guess we could really dig through this if we want to.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: If you're, if you're interested in this, go ahead and do that.
Speaker: But okay.
Speaker: But that does show you that for limited market, there are a limited amount.
Speaker: There is a market for that.
Speaker: There are people who buy games just for the exclusivity.
Speaker: And that's what this game is.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: I'm excited.
Speaker: I'm excited for 100.
Speaker: Like I said, we're doing something a little different.
Speaker: We did have a couple people message like, you didn't do your typical Christmas episode.
Speaker: And it's like, well, honestly, people.
Speaker: I've sent Scott pictures of what I've been doing.
Speaker: I have been installing a bathroom for my son since I got back from Expo.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I did just look it up.
Speaker: 2016 was Batman 66.
Speaker: So it's six years ago.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You've been doing a bathroom.
Speaker: My whole main level is it's being painted right now.
Speaker: So that's nice.
Speaker: But it's yeah, we've been living in the basement for two and a half months.
Speaker: And if anybody has gone through that, they know how challenging it is, especially if you have a few kids.
Speaker: So we have been trying to keep our nose above the water.
Speaker: I get you.
Speaker: I've got one quick question.
Speaker: Let's end it on this.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Gomez had confirmed there's only going to be two more cornerstones this year.
Speaker: We're hearing rumors of Eddie on Venom and Jack Danger on Foo Fighters.
Speaker: That's the rumors we're hearing right now.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It's not a guarantee, but it is what it is.
Speaker: We did not have an L1 Cornerstone last year.
Speaker: Doesn't look like we're going to have one this year.
Speaker: Are you even interested in buying Pinball at this point?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Because he's not the... He has the most proven track record.
Speaker: But Rush is a solid game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's your Borg game.
Speaker: And Borg has a history of some big hits.
Speaker: I mean, come on.
Speaker: Metallica...
Speaker: Um, and Aerosmith's actually a fun game.
Speaker: I would totally own an Aerosmith.
Speaker: Tron.
Speaker: Tron.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So there's that.
Speaker: And Eddie, I, my kids, my kids' favorite games are medieval madness and attack from Mars.
Speaker: Um, and, uh, his, you know, stranger things, uh, shot up in popularity after it was released.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And Mandalorian, I mean, Mandalorian is still a fun game.
Speaker: It's different.
Speaker: It's a challenging game.
Speaker: So Eddie still has a good reputation.
Speaker: I mean, Jack Danger is the wild card.
Speaker: But in fairness, his Jurassic Park Home Edition is really fun.
Speaker: I would own it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So they have solid designers.
Speaker: They put out consistently solid products, which is why I think that...
Speaker: you can still buy a Stern and be confident that one, it will be functional and reliable.
Speaker: And two, you're not going to lose much money on it.
Speaker: If at all.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: I think that 2023 is going to be interesting.
Speaker: I hope it doesn't feel like 2022.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: My wish list though, my wish list is Stern decides to release a premium version of this and I will buy it.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: that's my wish list oh come on buy it and lease it out yeah how much do you want to rent up front josh five hundred dollars for one month yeah i know it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buy it for 20 grand that's not even gas driving out to vernal oh i'll come i'll come pick it up from you yeah i'll i'll white glove service it man i will
Speaker: All right, Scott, man, I can't believe it has been four years.
Speaker: I want to thank everyone that's gotten us to this point.
Speaker: I know we're not in episode 100.
Speaker: I don't know if we'll be able to discuss this with our guests because we're going to be focusing on them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I want to give a special thanks to Ryan Kaz, to Martin Robbins, to Zach Many for saying, yeah, you guys sound good.
Speaker: You should keep going with it.
Speaker: You should – because the first episode we recorded,
Speaker: it was just me.
Speaker: It was an eight minute segment.
Speaker: I send it off to them and they said, it sounded professional.
Speaker: Keep doing it, you know?
Speaker: And, uh, it wasn't for them.
Speaker: And I, I don't know where loser kid would be at.
Speaker: Uh, we've obviously made a couple of fans over the years.
Speaker: It's been pretty awesome ride.
Speaker: Uh, I want to thank the friends that we've made, you know, in literally there are way too many, um, to talk about, but,
Speaker: we are friends with so many people in the community and it is all through, um, people, um, people being the silent third member in this.
Speaker: I, I hope that people view this as if you are driving and listening to us in the car, you want to jump in on the conversation.
Speaker: You're just hearing two people talk.
Speaker: And that's what I've loved most about it.
Speaker: And I've loved that you, you reached out to me, uh, after the first episode and asked if I had any interest in, uh,
Speaker: Uh, apparently I have a big mouth, so.
Speaker: Well, I thought you'd do good because we talked, we talked to podcasts all the time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We, we would call each other a lot.
Speaker: So did you hear what was on head to head?
Speaker: What about slam till, you know, exactly.
Speaker: It's weird.
Speaker: It's weird to look at the, how the landscape has changed since we've gone to podcasting as well.
Speaker: It was really interesting because we were in, in the podcast realm for a year or maybe six months.
Speaker: And then, uh,
Speaker: A lot of people's like, okay, I'm not podcasting anymore.
Speaker: Okay, I'm done.
Speaker: I'm not doing the same.
Speaker: And so it really, we kind of looked around.
Speaker: It's like, okay, are we missing something?
Speaker: Cause we still like talking.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Well, and, and the new people that have thrown their hats and it's, it's weird.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They're great.
Speaker: It's weird to think they're kind of an elder statesman of the podcasting.
Speaker: Um, but no, I, I made me happy to see triple drain on the nominee for twippies.
Speaker: I think they've done a really great job.
Speaker: They have a solid, they really have a great dynamic, uh, with, uh, Joel, Tom and Travis.
Speaker: It was awesome to see the pinball room.
Speaker: Steve Condis.
Speaker: I'm sorry, dude.
Speaker: I probably slaughtered your last name.
Speaker: But I've known Steve for years.
Speaker: We used to do Salt Lake Gaming Con.
Speaker: He was one of the guys up there that would always be there.
Speaker: Steve gave me some pointers on if I ever wanted to run out pinball machines.
Speaker: Steve is a great guy.
Speaker: If you've not checked out his videos, check out his YouTube channel.
Speaker: all homebrew stuff, how to make your own stuff from scratch.
Speaker: They're amazing.
Speaker: Steve has put a lot of energy into these videos.
Speaker: Didn't he also do that point of view video on Godzilla?
Speaker: I think so.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I'm like, do that, Stern.
Speaker: Go watch that video and do that for your reveal.
Speaker: Put that in there.
Speaker: The one I wish, I don't know why, but our friend George Fisher from Don't Panic Flip did not make streaming.
Speaker: And it kind of...
Speaker: Threw me for a loop because George is awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, he's a great guy and a great player.
Speaker: And just his equipment and everything.
Speaker: He's on a professional level of streaming.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: I guess the other one that kind of shocked me to poor man.
Speaker: Didn't make it this year.
Speaker: It totally is just, it's just random.
Speaker: And we didn't make it one year.
Speaker: Just random dude.
Speaker: Like the pinball network has like five of the 10 spots on the list.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, but I, and we didn't make it last year, I think.
Speaker: So it was just the year before.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But still, it's just like, you know, number four, dude, it was all right.
Speaker: We were number four.
Speaker: Yeah, but it's still just, you know, I'm so glad that people find joy out of doing this and listening to us and listening to all our friends.
Speaker: We're friends with all the podcasters.
Speaker: We know them and we wish them the best too.
Speaker: Yep, I agree.
Speaker: It's always great to go.
Speaker: It stinks I won't be at Texas Pinball Festival.
Speaker: If I had some stuff come up, I was planning on it.
Speaker: I just, yeah.
Speaker: And life happens.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I'm kind of on the fence actually.
Speaker: I may not be able to make it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a, it, it, it's been a little challenging getting all the renovation done and, and lining up everything.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: I get you.
Speaker: I get you.
Speaker: Well, you know, we'll, maybe we'll run into, to you guys.
Speaker: If we decide to go to expo this year, maybe we should hit another show.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: We'll talk about it later, but we, we, I'm not ready to commit to anything right now.
Speaker: I've got to ask you though.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What has been one of your favorite moments of this podcast in the last hundred episodes?
Speaker: Uh, you know what?
Speaker: I, I will say that having, uh,
Speaker: Keith and and Eric on, you know, Keith Ellen and Eric Meniere as as two of our first guests actually shocked me that that you just reached out to him.
Speaker: They said, yeah, well, come on.
Speaker: So that's one of those things where you're like, wow, I'm I'm really talking to these guys like I'm asking them questions and they're they they seem totally down to earth.
Speaker: Um, anytime you get to talk to Roger Sharp, it is really unbelievable.
Speaker: Like the, the amount of, uh, energy and the amount of enthusiasm he brings to pinball, um,
Speaker: And and I will say this, his son does the same thing.
Speaker: And we've had Josh on.
Speaker: We talked to Zach, too.
Speaker: But Josh is running the IFPA.
Speaker: You know, Zach, Zach obviously does the stuff for Stern.
Speaker: But Josh has a similar enthusiasm for something that takes so much time.
Speaker: and provides a lot of joy to people.
Speaker: So I, I have loved all the guests that we've had, and those are just kind of the things because they're so iconic in the sport of pinball.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: I think one of the standout moments is having, getting to interview Ed Robertson was, was pretty surreal, right?
Speaker: That was pretty crazy.
Speaker: Uh, shout to Ed.
Speaker: He listens to the show, uh,
Speaker: Thanks for coming on, man.
Speaker: That was... It's cool to grow up listening to the Barenaked Ladies and then have Ed on and just shoot in the breeze about pinball.
Speaker: I think the other moment that kind of shook me out of...
Speaker: I'm always humble about this.
Speaker: We're two guys.
Speaker: We're doing what we love.
Speaker: I've never done it for fame or fortune.
Speaker: Obviously, we're making millions off this now.
Speaker: We are huge streamers.
Speaker: We get dozens of listens.
Speaker: When we won the Pinball Industry Award for...
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: For podcasting.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Excellence in podcasting.
Speaker: And it didn't click to me until, you know, people were congratulating us.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we talked to some of the judges after the fact and they said, it's your interviews.
Speaker: Uh, what?
Speaker: we had never seen anyone do the Sharp trifecta before.
Speaker: The fact that you guys got Roger Sharp, Zach Sharp, and Josh Sharp all within a month and a half of each other.
Speaker: And that was all during COVID.
Speaker: We didn't have anything to talk about.
Speaker: Well, and that's the thing they brought up too.
Speaker: It's like we have no news.
Speaker: Everything's shut down.
Speaker: And you guys were like, forget it.
Speaker: Instead of there's no news, you guys created news.
Speaker: You started hitting interviews.
Speaker: And I think that was the year too that –
Speaker: that manufacturer started reaching out to us to do their interviews and that's when i was shocked i i will say the the proudest moment i have is and i take no credit for this this is all josh for him organizing flipping flipping the script
Speaker: Getting everything together, finding the cause, finding the donors, teaming up with everybody who was involved, and being able to raise $26,000, $27,000 for families in need.
Speaker: And it's crazy.
Speaker: you want to make a difference in the world.
Speaker: And most of us are only able to do it in small amounts.
Speaker: And I would say that that was a definitely a small amount to 21 families, which I will always be proud of and honored that we were part of that.
Speaker: 31 families actually ended up being 32 after the fact, but yeah, 31 was our original goal.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And yeah, that definitely has been a cherry on top of everything.
Speaker: It was,
Speaker: The world's been really weird.
Speaker: You know, we started podcasting COVID hit a year later and, and kind of everything went to crap.
Speaker: I think some of us lost humanity or faith in humanity because some of the chaos.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's a lot of anger out there too.
Speaker: Don't you?
Speaker: There's a lot of divisiveness and anger.
Speaker: And it was amazing to see.
Speaker: We had so many people come together for flipping the script in front of the cameras, behind the cameras, the donors, the,
Speaker: I mean, just on screen, we had what, 20 different people between those that were helping run it, those that were interviewing interviewees.
Speaker: I mean, we, we only had 20 items to donate or that were donated at the beginning.
Speaker: By the end of it, 76 items is what we had.
Speaker: And, and like you said, all the people that stepped up that were very selfless in doing so.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: Yeah, 31 families.
Speaker: And those families' lives will forever be changed.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, this community has given those kids life, skills, and a head start that they just... They'll be able to live, as they put it, a neurotypical life.
Speaker: And it's amazing.
Speaker: So... Yeah.
Speaker: No, I agree with you, Scott.
Speaker: That probably...
Speaker: that almost seems aside from the podcast, but the podcast allowed us to do that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it was amazing.
Speaker: So, okay.
Speaker: Well, we should, we should wrap this up and I'm really looking forward to our next guest.
Speaker: It'll be awesome.
Speaker: Me too.
Speaker: It's, this is a gentleman that has not done a pinball podcast.
Speaker: I don't know if ever.
Speaker: I know he's done plenty of other podcasts because he is famous for other things.
Speaker: But we take him for granted in the pinball hobby.
Speaker: Did you really say we take it for granted?
Speaker: I think we take him for granted.
Speaker: Okay, you know it's granted, right?
Speaker: No, this is stone.
Speaker: This is kind of stone.
Speaker: There are people that know of this gentleman, and I know that...
Speaker: As soon as we bring him on and we start talking, you're going to be like, holy crap.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, that guy.
Speaker: He's that guy.
Speaker: Basically, I was that when I was like, I don't know.
Speaker: I'm not familiar with that.
Speaker: And Josh told me, I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I definitely know that guy.
Speaker: When I started naming all the games that this person had been involved in, it's kind of like, it's mind blowing.
Speaker: And so it's going to be epic.
Speaker: Well, we'll see you in one to two weeks.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: One to two weeks.
Speaker: Shut up and sit down.
