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Ep 69: Go Go Godzilla
88 Plays4 years ago
Scott and Josh are talking news in the episode! TWIP Hiatus, Pinball Auctions, and the biggest news of all, Godzilla!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Recent Highlights
00:00:07
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
00:00:10
Speaker
I am Josh Roop.
00:00:10
Speaker
With me, my co-captain as always.
00:00:12
Speaker
Scott Larson.
00:00:13
Speaker
And Scott, it has been quite the exciting two weeks, it seems like.
00:00:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:18
Speaker
Wow.
00:00:19
Speaker
Well, I think once we had Joe Cam and Cal on, it basically just woke the news.
00:00:25
Speaker
Exactly.
00:00:25
Speaker
And we had a lot of positive feedback.
00:00:27
Speaker
We'll get to that here in a little bit.
00:00:28
Speaker
Well, we got some interesting feedback, too.
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah.
Pinball Purchases and Flipping Out Pinball
00:00:32
Speaker
But let's talk about flipping out because I think they – if you haven't called them yet, they definitely have something you can buy.
00:00:39
Speaker
Well, Josh, did you order anything recently?
00:00:42
Speaker
Because I did.
00:00:44
Speaker
I did as well.
00:00:45
Speaker
I got myself – I got a Beatles premium.
00:00:48
Speaker
That's what I got.
00:00:49
Speaker
Oh, is that what you got?
00:00:51
Speaker
Actually, okay.
00:00:52
Speaker
I will say I did text Zach and I was like, I'm kind of interested in the Beatles.
00:00:56
Speaker
And he's like, oh, okay, I'll put you on the list.
00:00:57
Speaker
But anyway, what we know what you ordered and we know what I ordered.
00:01:01
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:01:02
Speaker
Godzilla premium.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, me too.
00:01:04
Speaker
And we'll talk about that.
00:01:06
Speaker
That's coming up later on the show.
00:01:08
Speaker
But yeah, contact Zach and Nicole.
00:01:11
Speaker
They've always been really one.
00:01:12
Speaker
They're great friends of the show.
00:01:14
Speaker
They've always supported us.
00:01:15
Speaker
They are sponsored of the show and they've really helped us out.
00:01:18
Speaker
But two, I have been able to get a lot of great things from Zach and Nicole.
00:01:24
Speaker
And it's just amazing.
00:01:26
Speaker
If you are looking for anything on your machine, they'll go above and beyond.
00:01:29
Speaker
And including, what else can they get?
00:01:31
Speaker
It's not just pinball machines.
00:01:32
Speaker
They've got the Raw Thrills arcade games.
00:01:34
Speaker
If you want that full sit-down Halo game, I say go for it.
00:01:39
Speaker
I would love to have one of those sit-down Jurassic Park games.
00:01:42
Speaker
oh you know it'd be so awesome welcome to my arcade yeah i i'm gonna drive through it uh yeah but those uh big buck hunter man what an awesome game if you want if you want to really uh up your location or your home great game to have yep and like i said best way to get a hold of zach is i go through messenger uh dude's hard to get a hold of on the phone which is all right but
00:02:07
Speaker
Seriously, if I text Zach, I have an answer within minutes.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, just go to Flippin' Out Pinball, and they'll have all the contact ways that you prefer.
00:02:17
Speaker
They are fantastic.
Godzilla Pinball Machine Discussion
00:02:19
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:20
Speaker
Well, you know what?
00:02:21
Speaker
We, uh, we all know that Godzilla came out and we, that is going to be the bulk of our show.
00:02:27
Speaker
Um, let us, you know what, why don't we start with the, the pinball auction?
00:02:33
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:02:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:36
Speaker
What pinball auction are you talking about?
00:02:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:39
Speaker
I, okay.
00:02:40
Speaker
There was an auction.
00:02:42
Speaker
Okay, so the Museum of Pinball, which we talked about before, I'm still a little frustrated by this if the intent was to actually keep the collection whole and actually make it some sort of visible location.
00:02:56
Speaker
But it just seemed kind of weird.
00:02:57
Speaker
It seemed that they were, and we talked about this before, so I don't want to rehash it, but...
00:03:01
Speaker
They were moving to a place that was a little more user friendly.
00:03:05
Speaker
And then something about the lease and something about leasing their building to a marijuana distributor or grower or something like that.
00:03:14
Speaker
And then last minute, they basically, without even any sort of public effort, I'm not going to say there wasn't a private effort, but a public effort to actually figure out a way of making this
Museum of Pinball Auction Analysis
00:03:24
Speaker
done.
00:03:24
Speaker
They basically just said, we're closing up shop.
00:03:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:27
Speaker
And man, marijuana shop must be going there because some people were smoking something.
00:03:32
Speaker
Ooh, yeah.
00:03:34
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:03:35
Speaker
So, okay, did they even say how much they – like what total funds were raised by this?
00:03:43
Speaker
Not yet because it still goes on again this weekend.
00:03:46
Speaker
They haven't sold all the collection yet.
00:03:48
Speaker
So –
00:03:50
Speaker
Who knows at this point, uh, someone totaled it up.
00:03:52
Speaker
I thought they said it was three and a half to 4 million.
00:03:55
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised.
00:03:56
Speaker
I mean, it's crazy.
00:03:57
Speaker
Just the auction house in their collection alone or in their take alone is like half a million.
00:04:02
Speaker
So, you know, I, okay, this is a private collection.
00:04:05
Speaker
So I, I can't begrudge anybody for doing what they want with their private collection.
00:04:10
Speaker
It is sad because it had a lot of, of machines that I think were really difficult to find and rare.
00:04:17
Speaker
But it's, and they're going somewhere, right?
00:04:20
Speaker
It's not like they LaGuardia, whatever his name is.
00:04:24
Speaker
It's not like they took him and like chopped him up and put him in the East River.
00:04:27
Speaker
I mean, these are going to enthusiasts' home.
00:04:30
Speaker
And
00:04:32
Speaker
boy, oh boy, if you are an enthusiast and you had money to burn, this was your auction.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yep.
00:04:38
Speaker
Well, I think the other frustrating thing that has been voiced to us is the fact that how much money was spent on this auction.
00:04:48
Speaker
And granted, this is a private collection.
00:04:50
Speaker
I guess Papa was a little hamstrung because they're a not, they're a not-for-profit, a non-for-profit.
00:04:57
Speaker
So you can't just outright, I guess they had to go through some hoops to sell their collection.
00:05:00
Speaker
Right.
00:05:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:03
Speaker
I don't know.
00:05:04
Speaker
I don't know enough about the backstory.
00:05:06
Speaker
I feel bad that Papa wasn't able to do something like this.
00:05:09
Speaker
But seriously, Papaka sold half their collection.
00:05:11
Speaker
For what happened here with Museum of Pinball, Papaka sold half their collection and kept the facilities open and running for at least another year or two.
00:05:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'm still holding out hope that there's going to be some there's obviously some angel some angel investors out there that have buckets of money who could be able to put on something or to revisit something Papa like or, you know, or replay FX like who knows?
00:05:41
Speaker
Because, again, the games went somewhere.
00:05:44
Speaker
They didn't they didn't get exploded.
00:05:47
Speaker
But it's nice to know they're out there.
00:05:49
Speaker
But okay, let's talk about the prices though.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah, let's set some of these prices.
00:05:53
Speaker
What jumped?
00:05:54
Speaker
Okay, I'll tell you the first thing that jumped out at me.
00:05:57
Speaker
Mooncresta.
00:05:57
Speaker
Okay, Mooncresta.
00:06:00
Speaker
So if you go to the auction results, you can actually sort.
00:06:05
Speaker
And so I sorted by the price.
00:06:07
Speaker
And Mooncresta was a video game that I played probably when I was eight.
00:06:11
Speaker
And it takes about 30 seconds to tell you blow up.
00:06:15
Speaker
And someone bought that for a thousand bucks.
00:06:17
Speaker
crazy.
00:06:19
Speaker
And, and it's fine.
00:06:20
Speaker
Like it's obviously a classic game, but wow.
00:06:24
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:24
Speaker
So let's sort up to the top though.
00:06:26
Speaker
That's I, no one wants to know what Mooncresta who wants to talk about the expensive, crazy games that were sold.
00:06:32
Speaker
Well, what's funny is like I was telling you because I was like, are you going to hit the auction?
00:06:36
Speaker
And you're like, no, I don't think so.
00:06:38
Speaker
And I'm like, why not?
00:06:39
Speaker
I'd followed Captain Auction for about a year now through a few of their auctions.
00:06:45
Speaker
And I mean, you're not going to get a super amazing deal off one of these pinball machines.
00:06:49
Speaker
But if you're looking for a specific title and you're having a hard time getting a hold of it.
00:06:53
Speaker
You're going to get usually, this one's way out of the norm, this auction itself, but previous auctions you could get within the ballpark of Pinside pricing.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:05
Speaker
And obviously paying a little bit of a premium because of an auction, but there is sometimes you can get an auction for roughly plus or minus 20% of what Pinside is.
00:07:15
Speaker
Correct.
00:07:16
Speaker
And so I was like, I'm going to keep an eye out on this auction.
00:07:19
Speaker
And I was kind of thrown for a loop when...
00:07:23
Speaker
So you're the one who bought the Adams family for 22,500.
00:07:26
Speaker
You know it.
00:07:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:07:30
Speaker
I, there has to be something special about this Adams family.
00:07:35
Speaker
There's nothing that is one Adams family.
00:07:39
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:07:39
Speaker
It's not worth a $22,500 game.
00:07:40
Speaker
No, it's not.
00:07:40
Speaker
I don't care how nice it is.
00:07:41
Speaker
It's not that it's not that game.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:47
Speaker
No, I agree.
00:07:48
Speaker
22.5 for an Adams family.
00:07:51
Speaker
I mean, didn't they produce over 22,000 of these games?
00:07:55
Speaker
So you paid a dollar.
00:07:56
Speaker
I don't think it was 22,000, but it was a lot.
00:08:02
Speaker
You could argue it's the most produced modern pinball machine of all time.
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah, and that's fair.
00:08:08
Speaker
And now others could have legitimately pushed that if they kept it going.
00:08:12
Speaker
They cut some short.
00:08:13
Speaker
This wasn't a gold edition at all either, was it?
00:08:16
Speaker
It was just an Addams Family.
00:08:18
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know.
00:08:19
Speaker
I mean, it just seems so weird.
00:08:22
Speaker
So this is the amount of Addams Family, according to IPDB, they did 20,270 of them.
00:08:30
Speaker
Still, that's a good chunk of pinball.
00:08:32
Speaker
Well, you can't tell me that you can't search at the other $20,269 and offer anybody $18,000 for it and they would sell it immediately.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:45
Speaker
So there has to be something bizarre about that.
00:08:50
Speaker
Hercules.
00:08:51
Speaker
So just in case you have a gimmick game that's the size of a pool table, $18,000.
00:09:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:01
Speaker
There's yeah.
00:09:02
Speaker
The, the bonds I run again, it was two of them, two of them sold.
00:09:06
Speaker
It looks like it looks like, I'm not really sure.
00:09:09
Speaker
It says lot lot number four, six, nine.
00:09:11
Speaker
It has the same number.
00:09:12
Speaker
So I don't know if they just doubled it up.
00:09:14
Speaker
It's a, it's an error.
00:09:17
Speaker
Elvira house of horrors, limited edition, 14,000.
00:09:19
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:21
Speaker
Back to the future.
00:09:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:22
Speaker
So back to the future, obviously Joe cam and cow was right.
00:09:26
Speaker
$14,000 for back to the future.
00:09:30
Speaker
Data East produced this in 1990 with only 3,000 produced.
00:09:35
Speaker
Remember, Cam and Cow total took them a whopping six weeks.
00:09:40
Speaker
Plus, Michael J. Fox took away his likeness, pulled the plug at the very end.
00:09:47
Speaker
$3,400 for Back to the Future.
00:09:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:51
Speaker
Well, that's because you're buying the theme.
00:09:55
Speaker
That's the only thing you're paying the money for.
00:09:58
Speaker
Still like, so for, I guarantee that is not a $14,000 game.
00:10:03
Speaker
No cosmic princess.
00:10:05
Speaker
Seriously.
00:10:05
Speaker
A solid state cosmic princess for 13 five.
00:10:08
Speaker
Again, I just don't, some of these are just, uh, I mean, that's a odd Kate.
00:10:14
Speaker
So what's your takeaway from this whole, uh, museum of pinball, uh,
00:10:19
Speaker
I it's an enigma for me.
00:10:21
Speaker
So what do you think?
00:10:22
Speaker
I really think it's kind of anomaly in the hobby.
00:10:27
Speaker
I don't think this is something that is going to redefine pricing.
00:10:33
Speaker
I mean, people are going to attempt.
00:10:35
Speaker
We're already starting to see it where people are attempting to sell their Adams family now for 20 grand.
00:10:40
Speaker
and a really trashed Quicksilver for $15 or for $10.
00:10:46
Speaker
I can't remember exactly how much it was.
00:10:48
Speaker
I mean, it was five figures.
00:10:49
Speaker
Yeah, it was in Australia, and so there is a limited quantity factor, but still, yeah.
00:10:55
Speaker
But still, it becomes the whole eBay argument, right?
00:11:00
Speaker
Like someone goes to sell their shadow that they've had in their basement for 15 years that they have never done any service on,
00:11:09
Speaker
And they're like, this is a $9,000 game.
00:11:12
Speaker
I eBayed it, and this is what I'm listing it for.
00:11:15
Speaker
Exactly.
00:11:16
Speaker
So I really think this is a flash in the pan.
00:11:19
Speaker
I hope it is.
00:11:20
Speaker
I don't know.
00:11:22
Speaker
This seemed to be a little more like a blood-in-the-water situation and a feeding frenzy and a fear of missing out, a FOMO situation.
00:11:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:31
Speaker
Because I see there were some rare games that came up here that don't usually come up.
00:11:36
Speaker
And so I think there was a little bit of a blood in the water, but it felt a little bit like a fire that kept growing and people.
00:11:45
Speaker
It was such a national.
00:11:46
Speaker
We're selling it now and people jumping on it.
00:11:49
Speaker
This would never happen again.
00:11:51
Speaker
So I and now I will say.
00:11:53
Speaker
Who knows the next edition of their auction, they, it may go crazy again.
00:11:59
Speaker
However, I think that some people have looked at this with the, with time on their side and said, that was kind of crazy.
Pinball Community Updates and Challenges
00:12:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, I totally agree.
00:12:07
Speaker
I,
00:12:09
Speaker
And like I said, this had a lot more national coverage.
00:12:11
Speaker
There was a lot of coverage to the story.
00:12:13
Speaker
Well, there were national news.
00:12:14
Speaker
Like my, I had people who they know I'm in pinball.
00:12:17
Speaker
So my brother sent me articles on these things like, Hey, the museum of pinball is closing.
00:12:22
Speaker
I'm just like, yeah, but it's kind of a private collection that people saw like three times a year or so.
00:12:26
Speaker
Yeah, I agree.
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:28
Speaker
Well, okay.
00:12:29
Speaker
So I, I'm interested in hearing everybody else's thoughts.
00:12:32
Speaker
So give us your thoughts in the comments, the, in the episode below or on pin side.
00:12:37
Speaker
So.
00:12:39
Speaker
All right, so let's move on.
00:12:40
Speaker
We've got in our notes, Twip Hiatus.
00:12:43
Speaker
Let's talk about this really quick.
00:12:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:47
Speaker
Okay, there's a lot to unpack here.
00:12:50
Speaker
So what do you think, Josh?
00:12:52
Speaker
I say if you really want to get a really good deep dive on this, head over to Eclectic Gamers Podcast.
00:12:58
Speaker
It's their most recent episode.
00:13:00
Speaker
They did a fantastic job of deep diving this.
00:13:03
Speaker
And not only deep diving the hiatus,
00:13:07
Speaker
But FTC regulations and stuff like that, which was kind of involved in this situation as well.
00:13:15
Speaker
And I don't know.
00:13:16
Speaker
I just kind of want to echo Dennis and Tony did a really good job.
00:13:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:21
Speaker
I don't think I have much more to add other than what they said.
00:13:25
Speaker
There is certainly some challenges anytime you're in some sort of broadcasting arena that if you have a relationship somehow, where it's a sponsorship or a financial one or something, there is a responsibility to disclose that there is some sort of arrangement.
00:13:40
Speaker
You don't have to disclose what the arrangement is, but you do have to at least be transparent enough to say that they are part of putting on the show or...
00:13:52
Speaker
now that the challenge has always been, I, since we're very simple, we've never really had to deal with most of this stuff.
00:14:01
Speaker
If you are publishing something that's like this week in pinball and you have any arrangements with other people, then I don't know how complicated or entwined that is.
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:13
Speaker
I, if there is any sort of,
00:14:16
Speaker
relationship with Robert Mueller, we talked about this, that there is a, you know, there's an investigation, an SCC investigation, um, on Robert Mueller.
00:14:28
Speaker
And so that could be challenging if you are, uh, somehow on the payroll.
00:14:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:33
Speaker
But I, it's, I don't know what else to say other than it's a blow to the hobby.
00:14:40
Speaker
Yes.
00:14:41
Speaker
Jeff does a really good job of summarizing the top five things.
00:14:45
Speaker
And if you didn't have time to look at Pinsight all week, I always hopped on This Week in Pinball to check it out.
00:14:51
Speaker
So...
00:14:52
Speaker
My thought is it's a messy situation, just like Deep Root, that there are no winners in this.
00:14:59
Speaker
It's everybody's losing somehow.
00:15:02
Speaker
So I feel bad that that whatever whatever was going on with Jeff and Deep Root and this week in pinball, that it has taken down an area of the of the hobby that I think was vital and valuable.
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:18
Speaker
So in my heart, I hope that he's able to figure things out.
00:15:22
Speaker
And if he's able to come back in some form, then I would welcome him back.
00:15:28
Speaker
But it just makes me sad.
00:15:31
Speaker
What about you, Josh?
00:15:32
Speaker
Same here.
00:15:33
Speaker
I told, you know, shortly after Patterson had wrote the letter and put it out there, I told him it really sucks.
00:15:41
Speaker
And the reason being is, I don't know about you guys, but for us,
00:15:47
Speaker
I know that Head to Head and Zach Manny, when he was with This Week in Pinball, helped kind of encourage us to keep going or liked what they heard when I sent the pilot episode and said, keep going with it.
00:16:01
Speaker
So I felt like we had really hit maybe legitimacy when Nits Week in Pinball shared our podcast and said, hey, go give these guys a listen and then started covering our content because we were putting out interviews and stuff like that.
00:16:17
Speaker
Um, I always viewed this week in pinball as a very non-biased pinball resource.
00:16:23
Speaker
And so, um, it does stink cause it, well, let's be honest.
00:16:28
Speaker
Most of us podcasts are somewhat biased one way or another on certain, certain subjects where I feel like Scott and I are pretty good at, um,
00:16:36
Speaker
um being constructive criticism um but there's just there's some people out there that well besides deep root when we talk about deep root we might not be as constructive but well i okay but i was honest yes so but my point being is i felt like this week in pinball was a very here's the facts here's the information kind of get what you want out of it well i think it was more of a and that's where um again i i don't um
00:17:06
Speaker
I don't think that Robert Mueller's, I'm going to be on his Christmas card list anytime soon.
00:17:12
Speaker
But it's, if he is involved somehow, it makes it challenging.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:19
Speaker
Because there is some sort of credibility issue if you are, if it's a promotional attitude or a promotional arrangement, excuse me.
00:17:30
Speaker
But again, I'm not going to dive into that because I know I don't have any direct knowledge of any of that stuff.
00:17:36
Speaker
And so I'm just hoping that maybe it's time to take a hiatus.
00:17:40
Speaker
Jeff can figure things out.
00:17:41
Speaker
He can untangle things because I think he is an asset to the hobby.
00:17:46
Speaker
No, I agree.
00:17:47
Speaker
And like I said, definitely go give Eclectic Gamers a listen.
00:17:52
Speaker
I kind of after listening to them, I went and reread the letter.
00:17:55
Speaker
I kind of agree with the, the letter's not as polished as other content.
00:18:01
Speaker
I know.
00:18:03
Speaker
I think the problem is, is a lot of, a lot of the stuff that Deep Root put out was through Twip.
00:18:08
Speaker
And so I don't know.
00:18:10
Speaker
I don't know if it's just a distancing kind of thing.
00:18:12
Speaker
Cause what Robert Mueller did was pretty messed up.
00:18:14
Speaker
And so,
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:15
Speaker
I just, it sucks.
00:18:16
Speaker
It's, it's, this is, I'm not saying twip is dead because obviously they came out with a deep dive on Godzilla, but, uh, it stinks.
00:18:25
Speaker
This is, this is kind of how it ramps down, you know?
00:18:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:28
Speaker
And it's a crash.
00:18:30
Speaker
It's a full on implosion.
00:18:32
Speaker
So hopefully they can, they can retool and figure things out.
00:18:35
Speaker
I agree.
00:18:36
Speaker
I, I, we have, you have a, a more of a relationship with Jeff than I do.
00:18:41
Speaker
I've never met him or talked to him, but yeah,
00:18:44
Speaker
We sincerely hope that he's able to figure things out.
00:18:47
Speaker
And I think that when and if he decides to reenter the hobby as a publisher or even a podcaster, then I think he would be welcomed.
00:19:00
Speaker
My thought process too is, and I think a lot of people were wondering this, what happens with the Twippies?
00:19:05
Speaker
I know in the letter he talked a lot about financially trying to keep not just this week in pinball float, but the Twippies cost a lot of money.
00:19:13
Speaker
And he alluded this into the letter that they pretty much broke even last year.
00:19:16
Speaker
So is it even worth his time?
00:19:20
Speaker
I know that they love doing the Twippies and stuff like that.
00:19:23
Speaker
Is it even worth his time doing it though?
00:19:24
Speaker
Because it might become money out of his pocket to do that, you know?
00:19:28
Speaker
And he went above and above above and beyond last year.
00:19:31
Speaker
Cause anyone that was in the top 10, then got a plaque.
00:19:34
Speaker
I mean, that's, those aren't free, you know?
00:19:37
Speaker
So it, it takes a lot to actually do stuff like that.
00:19:40
Speaker
So, you know, it's, you know, again, wishing him the best and, uh, whatever needs to be worked out.
00:19:47
Speaker
I hope it's done.
00:19:49
Speaker
I agree.
00:19:50
Speaker
Good luck.
00:19:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:51
Speaker
Best
Stern's New Connectivity Features
00:19:52
Speaker
of luck.
00:19:52
Speaker
So, um,
00:19:54
Speaker
Let's hit the Stern news.
00:19:55
Speaker
Let's start with the thing that came out first, Scott.
00:19:57
Speaker
Let's talk about the internet connectivity.
00:19:59
Speaker
What do you think?
00:20:00
Speaker
It's finally, it's been teased to us for over, at least over a year because it was originally supposed to come out with Avengers.
00:20:09
Speaker
It had been alluded to from Gomez and from Gary Stern on interviews that big things were coming with this and it finally came out a week and a half ago.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:19
Speaker
What's your thoughts on it?
00:20:21
Speaker
This is a logical and necessary next step to pinball.
00:20:27
Speaker
The challenge that we've always had with pinball is it's very location centric.
00:20:31
Speaker
And even if you look at the tournaments, it's very much a, the, the ones that got the most credibility were the head to head tournaments because you're competing on the same machine and you're able to, you can say, well, if they got, you know,
00:20:51
Speaker
you know, 300 million and that guy got 280 million, then it's a head to head comparison that the guy with 300 million won with, uh, with moving past the, the, my generation, because my generation is the generation that we grew up with.
00:21:10
Speaker
Black and white and color TVs.
00:21:12
Speaker
We grew up with VCRs.
00:21:13
Speaker
We grew up with going to the arcade.
00:21:15
Speaker
I was, my whole childhood was centered around going to a physical location to play.
00:21:21
Speaker
Now, as the entertainment value has changed with home gaming becoming significantly better or equal to arcade gaming,
00:21:32
Speaker
And now arcade gaming has really transitioned into more of the... Raw Thrills is king.
00:21:39
Speaker
If you look at any sort of arcade, walk in there, it's every single game is a Raw Thrills game.
00:21:45
Speaker
And that's because it's an experience.
00:21:47
Speaker
You're sitting in it.
00:21:48
Speaker
It's an environmental... They're oversized games that you can't really replicate at home.
00:21:55
Speaker
But pinball is kind of this...
00:21:59
Speaker
I want to say orphan child, but it's been set into this.
00:22:04
Speaker
Everybody thinks of the chimes and the bells and whistles like a, like a 1950s pinball machine.
00:22:10
Speaker
If you talk to any average person who is not familiar with the sport at all, they're going to think of the classic pinball machine.
00:22:18
Speaker
And it's the same thing when you think of my generation or slightly younger, they went through the 90s, the glory days of, well, okay, the last gasp of the arcade until it finally died, really with PlayStation 2 coming about and people taking their money to home consoles.
00:22:39
Speaker
So this is one way of getting to the next generation because what are the kids playing now?
00:22:44
Speaker
Because that's really where the next generation of players are.
00:22:47
Speaker
So the kids are playing games.
00:22:50
Speaker
They're playing online games and it's a competitive thing.
00:22:55
Speaker
So they're doing an amazing thing of being able to say, okay, I'm going to hop on and play all these games in this big universe.
00:23:01
Speaker
And having some way, and I'm not saying it's perfect because it's a mechanical game that's uploading whatever achievements you're doing.
00:23:10
Speaker
But if they have some sort of way of saying these are the recommended settings on the machine and then having some sort of internet online presence, you have to have this to be relevant in the next phase of the, you know, of the careers, the generation, because this is a way for kids to,
00:23:29
Speaker
Well, and when I say kids, I'm 47.
00:23:31
Speaker
So anybody younger than me as a kid, but it's a way for people to try to interact on a level that's outside of Logan's arcade or outside of free gold watch or, or sunshine laundry or something.
00:23:45
Speaker
So yeah.
00:23:46
Speaker
you can say, wow, did you see the score of that guy who did this?
00:23:50
Speaker
And so it drives people to go on location and play or go to their friend's house and play and have some sort of online presence.
00:23:57
Speaker
Because if you don't have any sort of online presence in gaming or any entertainment thing, you really become a relic.
00:24:07
Speaker
That's my take.
00:24:08
Speaker
And so I understand why it's vital for them to incorporate this.
00:24:12
Speaker
And they've obviously been planning it a long time because all the Spike 2 games...
00:24:16
Speaker
are going to be retroactively fit with this.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yep.
00:24:20
Speaker
So, and that's my take.
00:24:21
Speaker
What's your take, Josh?
00:24:23
Speaker
Uh, I think it is a good step forward.
00:24:25
Speaker
I think it's an incentive for operators.
00:24:29
Speaker
Um,
00:24:30
Speaker
because it helps not only with location play, but it helps with diagnostics.
00:24:35
Speaker
Gomez had alluded in the Stern Insider podcast, there was a lot more coming down the pipeline.
00:24:41
Speaker
We're kind of just scratching the surface of what's releasing with Godzilla.
00:24:48
Speaker
I wasn't a super huge fan of the whole verified thing.
00:24:50
Speaker
You can only do that on location.
00:24:52
Speaker
But looking at it from a different angle, that's kind of a way for Stern to help operators
00:25:00
Speaker
get more traffic drive to their location.
00:25:05
Speaker
You also can verify if an operator is playing by a certain set of rules,
00:25:11
Speaker
then at least there's some legitimacy to whatever scores are entered.
00:25:16
Speaker
True.
00:25:17
Speaker
If it's home, you know there's going to be one dude who puts rubber bands over the outlanes, and it basically makes it obsolete.
00:25:24
Speaker
But there's easy ways to verify at home.
00:25:28
Speaker
I mean, streaming has become a huge thing.
00:25:30
Speaker
There's a lot more streamers.
00:25:31
Speaker
It kind of exploded here during COVID.
00:25:34
Speaker
And so it would be easy just to stream the fact that, hey, everything's set up the way it's supposed to be and play on the stream.
00:25:41
Speaker
But at least at location, you know, there's only one dude, maybe two, that has the key to the game and no one else is going to be messing with it, you know?
00:25:53
Speaker
So I like the idea of them giving away stuff, like you competing in local, what they call it, like treasure hunts and stuff like that.
00:26:02
Speaker
um my only thought process is like i wish they would have not called the stuff quests when you go to different locations because i'm like i mean that's that's directly using like the pin quest name yeah i don't know i don't know it's kind of weird to me like some of the stuff already existed and i feel like some of it draws from that
00:26:26
Speaker
But Stern came up with their own platform because it's Stern, and that's fine.
00:26:32
Speaker
JJP's using Scorebit.
00:26:34
Speaker
Stern came up with their own program.
00:26:36
Speaker
I would say that, yeah, Stern came up with their own program.
00:26:39
Speaker
And yes, you can say that it's going to be biting into other groups, but it's only natural that they would integrate something with their own operating system.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:51
Speaker
And if it ends up being diagnostics, I mean, what a great, how long have I been talking about for this to, for pinball to grow?
00:27:01
Speaker
You need to have some sort of ability to teach people.
00:27:05
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:05
Speaker
So if you have this thing and you, you scan the QR code and it's, it's linked up to Stern's system and it says, Hey, you're getting an error on this.
00:27:18
Speaker
Here's the video that says what you need to do to fix it.
00:27:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:23
Speaker
And so what, and this is just me brainstorming here, but what a great way of doing it as opposed to, oh, well, it's, wait, you have a credit dot on there.
00:27:33
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:33
Speaker
Let's look and see.
00:27:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:35
Speaker
What does the credit dot mean?
00:27:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:36
Speaker
Pull out the manual, dust it off.
00:27:38
Speaker
How do I find anything on there?
00:27:40
Speaker
If it actually connects with a database and sends it to you on your phone, then you're going to get the game up and running.
00:27:47
Speaker
Well, not only that too.
00:27:48
Speaker
I mean, I operated pinball for about two years in my local town.
00:27:53
Speaker
And it stunk when I showed up and the coin box was
Excitement and Critique of Godzilla Reveal
00:27:58
Speaker
near empty.
00:27:58
Speaker
And I talked to the owner cause I want to go check it once a month.
00:28:02
Speaker
There's no reason to go check it more than that.
00:28:05
Speaker
And they're like, yeah, like you were here.
00:28:07
Speaker
And then like five days later it broke.
00:28:10
Speaker
I'm like, why did anyone call me?
00:28:11
Speaker
And they're like,
00:28:12
Speaker
We don't know.
00:28:13
Speaker
And so for the fact that like Stern said that an operator can get a notification right to their phone that one of their games are down, that's game changing to me.
00:28:21
Speaker
Huge.
00:28:22
Speaker
I think the only thing that could be more game changing at this point, and maybe this is in Stern's bank,
00:28:26
Speaker
of what's coming out.
00:28:28
Speaker
But I mean, so I got a QR reader in it.
00:28:30
Speaker
Venmo has your own personal QR code.
00:28:34
Speaker
Start scanning in payments.
00:28:36
Speaker
That's one of the biggest hurdles.
00:28:39
Speaker
As I was an operator, I could not get people to put coins in the stupid thing.
00:28:44
Speaker
Because unless you have a coin changer right there, but absolutely you hit right on it is that if you have electronic payment, that is a game changer for operators because boom, we are talking money right there.
00:29:00
Speaker
I was at my kid's school fair tonight and I didn't pull out $1 bill.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yep.
00:29:06
Speaker
So everything was electronic and that is, uh, that is brilliant if they have that option to, to use Venmo or something.
00:29:14
Speaker
Well, and everything's contact lists nowadays with COVID world we're living in and whatnot.
00:29:19
Speaker
And honestly, if I have less payment and then put your fingers on the, on the, you know, it,
00:29:25
Speaker
but honestly if i had one of these in a bar and a drunk dude's wobbles up and he just starts swiping his qr code you're gonna make a lot more money than the guy that he's half drunk he can't figure out what the coin slot is then he realizes only has a debit card on him he goes to the front he puts in one coin and hits the button he doesn't figure it out yeah then he gets mad starts kicking the thing
00:29:44
Speaker
Just, this is so much more simplistic and I like it.
00:29:48
Speaker
I'm excited to see where this takes us.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it is necessary.
00:29:54
Speaker
I wouldn't even say it's elective.
00:29:55
Speaker
I understand why they developed it.
00:29:57
Speaker
This is the necessary next step.
00:30:00
Speaker
So, so they, they announced this and then they give us a teaser trailer for their next game, which is Godzilla.
00:30:10
Speaker
I mean, we've known this for two and a half years ever since.
00:30:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:13
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's okay.
00:30:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
The, the, once they signed it away from spooky,
00:30:22
Speaker
Then yes, this was, you knew eventually they were going to make this because well, there's a chance they could have squatted on it, but I think the bottom line is they were planning on making this because there was obviously a reason for it.
00:30:37
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to start off with one beef though.
00:30:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:30:41
Speaker
Okay.
00:30:42
Speaker
So they did the teaser trailer.
00:30:43
Speaker
Fantastic.
00:30:43
Speaker
Whatever.
00:30:44
Speaker
They've done this with every release.
00:30:46
Speaker
You get a 10-second teaser trailer of them showing the next game's title, right?
00:30:51
Speaker
But then they release the video three days later or whatever.
00:30:56
Speaker
And you've got a minute and 23-second video.
00:30:59
Speaker
The first 13 seconds...
00:31:04
Speaker
are showing them that you can scan your phone into the game.
00:31:07
Speaker
Awesome.
00:31:08
Speaker
That's your new feature, whatever.
00:31:10
Speaker
The plunge, you don't actually see the play field or a ball rolling across it till 13 seconds in.
00:31:18
Speaker
You see the pro for, I think, 20 seconds.
00:31:21
Speaker
Then you've got a segue into the premium, which is fine.
00:31:25
Speaker
You get another 20 seconds of the premium.
00:31:29
Speaker
And then the last 20 seconds of the video is just outro.
00:31:35
Speaker
It's showing Godzilla again.
00:31:36
Speaker
It's showing Toho.
00:31:37
Speaker
It's showing Stern Pinball.
00:31:39
Speaker
I'm just like... And the weird part about this release, they've done this with every other release.
00:31:44
Speaker
And I don't know why they didn't do it with this one.
00:31:46
Speaker
But they usually release...
00:31:48
Speaker
at the very bare minimum three videos they show a game trailer which is all the games put in one into one trailer then they have a pro features and then they have a premium slash le's features video and sometimes they'll do accessories sometimes not whatever on that one but why did we not get a pro and a premium like i felt like we saw such little gameplay i mean they showed off the awesome mechs and stuff like that but like
00:32:15
Speaker
I want to see the game.
00:32:16
Speaker
Like, I don't want to, I don't want to spend a minute and 20 seconds, more than half of that on, on titles and, and, and your new feature and stuff like that.
00:32:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:32:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:32:29
Speaker
Did you order the game?
00:32:31
Speaker
Well, yes.
00:32:32
Speaker
Okay.
00:32:32
Speaker
So I, I, it accomplished what it was intended to do, right?
00:32:36
Speaker
I was okay.
00:32:38
Speaker
I was in on the pre-order list back in July and
00:32:40
Speaker
Okay, I get it.
00:32:42
Speaker
Me too.
00:32:43
Speaker
I am... I have a feeling that Elwin's going to take over my entire game room because every single game he releases, I'm going to buy.
00:32:53
Speaker
So, yes.
00:32:55
Speaker
Now, what was your... Now, I get it, but...
00:33:00
Speaker
Yeah, it will be nice, but we just have to wait a little longer.
00:33:03
Speaker
That's fine.
00:33:04
Speaker
Anticipation is part of it, right?
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just saying if you have a game trailer and you're showing off a game, you should show the game in your trailer instead of.
00:33:14
Speaker
Yeah, anyhow, let's move on.
00:33:16
Speaker
So, oh, yeah, so that's that's our entire entire Godzilla wrap up.
00:33:22
Speaker
So let's move on from the.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah, let's OK.
00:33:25
Speaker
Let's talk about the theme.
00:33:28
Speaker
What does the theme Godzilla do for you?
00:33:31
Speaker
So let's actually just rewind two seconds.
00:33:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:33:35
Speaker
What does the Toho Godzilla theme do for you?
00:33:38
Speaker
Because I'm actually kind of shocked they didn't.
00:33:40
Speaker
They've released four movies in the last five years of Godzilla.
00:33:44
Speaker
They're rebooting what they're calling the Monsterverse.
00:33:49
Speaker
Are you kind of shocked that it was Toho and not the new stuff?
00:33:54
Speaker
Uh...
00:33:55
Speaker
Depends on the price of the license.
00:34:01
Speaker
So I will say that package deal though.
00:34:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:34:06
Speaker
So when any average person thinks of Godzilla, what do they think?
00:34:13
Speaker
Do they think the new stuff or do they think kind of the, the campy dude in the rubber suit dancing around?
00:34:19
Speaker
And okay.
00:34:20
Speaker
That's what I think when I think of Godzilla.
00:34:22
Speaker
So the theme itself did very little for me because it was, it was kind of Jason and the Argonauts, the, the stop motion photography, the really bad special effects, the, the B movie feel where, you know, you ended up watching it at a,
00:34:37
Speaker
a PTA movie back in the days, kids, you would actually buy a PTA movie on Saturdays, your kids, your parents would drop you off and all the kids would go to the sticky shoe theater and they would watch some, some bad movie for 90 minutes.
00:34:51
Speaker
And they had these movies.
00:34:53
Speaker
So I, that's kind of what, um, I wasn't super interested in Godzilla really.
00:35:01
Speaker
I actually never even saw the new ones.
00:35:03
Speaker
because I watched them.
00:35:04
Speaker
They're decent.
00:35:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:05
Speaker
Okay.
00:35:06
Speaker
It's fine.
00:35:06
Speaker
I just never felt that it was, I, it's not, it's not my bag.
00:35:12
Speaker
It's not my thing.
00:35:13
Speaker
So, so I, the license did very little for me.
00:35:17
Speaker
What about you?
00:35:19
Speaker
Um, I agree.
00:35:20
Speaker
I wasn't super enthralled for a Godzilla themed pinball machine.
00:35:25
Speaker
Um,
00:35:26
Speaker
I will say, though, I am into campy stuff.
00:35:29
Speaker
I have said it before.
00:35:31
Speaker
I enjoy the Aquabats.
00:35:34
Speaker
I mean, I watched Power Rangers growing up.
00:35:36
Speaker
I feel like this is where they got their inspiration from, that campy fighting.
00:35:41
Speaker
It's almost not like fighting.
00:35:42
Speaker
It's just a bunch of zooming up and zooming out of cameras and terrible throws and stuff like that.
00:35:47
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:35:49
Speaker
I honestly can't tell you if I've watched a Toho version of Godzilla, but I do remember as a child the Matthew Brodwick coming out, and then as a child not understanding why everyone hated that version of Godzilla.
00:36:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:04
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:36:05
Speaker
The Matthew brought, the funny thing is I turned it off.
00:36:08
Speaker
I remember I watched it right until I think there was a whole bunch of small lizard.
00:36:12
Speaker
It's small lizards in Madison square gardens.
00:36:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:16
Speaker
And I, I kind of lost interest.
00:36:18
Speaker
I was like, I think I've done.
00:36:20
Speaker
Um, so I don't know.
00:36:22
Speaker
Uh,
00:36:23
Speaker
It's like I said, I think it's campy enough that it just, it fits my collection in that way.
00:36:29
Speaker
Um, but Godzilla, no, it's not on the top of my list.
00:36:32
Speaker
It's nowhere near, I don't even know if it's on my top 20 of my lists.
00:36:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:36:36
Speaker
That being said, when it was released and you took a look at it, what did you think?
00:36:42
Speaker
I thought, holy crap, this thing is packed.
00:36:46
Speaker
The theme integration is amazing.
00:36:48
Speaker
Right.
00:36:49
Speaker
That was my thought is that this looks fun.
00:36:53
Speaker
Like I, I showed it to my daughter who's six and she said, wow, that looks fun.
00:36:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:58
Speaker
It, it, my six year old daughter and saw this game and said,
Godzilla's Features and Art Discussion
00:37:03
Speaker
that looks fun.
00:37:03
Speaker
So I was like, you know what?
00:37:05
Speaker
I think I missed the ball on this, that this is, this is a good thing.
00:37:10
Speaker
Like I said, I don't know if it's the theme, but when you've got a five-level skyscraper in your game that sinks into the play field, you've got something special.
00:37:25
Speaker
Has that ever been done before?
00:37:26
Speaker
I know we talk Doctor Who, but other than that, I've never thought of an interactive toy like this that keeps the flow going.
00:37:36
Speaker
I don't know.
00:37:37
Speaker
I'm impressed with it and
00:37:40
Speaker
I mean, the theme is on par.
00:37:46
Speaker
And I love zombie Yeti artwork.
00:37:48
Speaker
I think he does a great job.
00:37:49
Speaker
I don't know why he causes some diversity on Pinside.
00:37:52
Speaker
Some diversity?
00:37:57
Speaker
Division?
00:37:57
Speaker
What's the word I'm like?
00:37:58
Speaker
Division, yeah, yeah.
00:38:00
Speaker
He can be divisive, especially on this.
00:38:05
Speaker
But OK, but I thought the game looked fun.
00:38:09
Speaker
So the the initial impression on I was like, wow, this this is going to be good because really I was kind of on the fence about whether or not I was going to buy this game because of the rumored theme and it not really resonating with me.
00:38:21
Speaker
But now I'm I'm all in.
00:38:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:24
Speaker
So, OK, so let's talk about the art.
00:38:27
Speaker
I guess I'll go first on this one.
00:38:29
Speaker
I think zombie Yeti did a great job of threading that needle of taking something that's old and campy and making it old and camp.
00:38:39
Speaker
Like it still looks old and campy, but it visually it pops.
00:38:43
Speaker
Yep.
00:38:44
Speaker
And it definitely has his style.
00:38:45
Speaker
He, he has mastered, um, Jeremy has mastered being able to, to do a great play field art package.
00:38:54
Speaker
And I think it works really well for this.
00:38:58
Speaker
And you have to, you can't go black and white on this.
00:39:01
Speaker
You have to have that, that kind of modern comic booky feel because that's in, it feels kind of like a seventies comic book.
00:39:10
Speaker
And I know that, uh, that Godzilla span spanned earlier than that, but this, uh, I think thematically it, it dialed in exactly what it needed to for this thing.
00:39:22
Speaker
Yep.
00:39:24
Speaker
I agree the artwork is on par.
00:39:27
Speaker
It's good.
00:39:27
Speaker
I don't understand when people are like, well, it looks too much like Avengers.
00:39:30
Speaker
Well, so then you could say that it looks too much like Ninja Turtles and it looks too much like Deadpool.
00:39:34
Speaker
That's zombie Yeti style.
00:39:37
Speaker
You don't complain ACDC all sounds the same.
00:39:39
Speaker
It's because that's the way they play their music.
00:39:42
Speaker
I do have a friend who says, I asked him about U2 and he says, I don't like that song.
00:39:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker
But looking at this, like the thing I appreciate, it looks great.
00:39:54
Speaker
The thing I appreciate about zombie Yeti, I know that Franchi does this as well, but they take the source material and they just, they dive deep into it.
00:40:04
Speaker
And, and part of it is like with turtles.
00:40:06
Speaker
I know with Jeremy Packard,
00:40:08
Speaker
He grew up with turtles.
00:40:10
Speaker
It meant a huge deal to him to do that artwork.
00:40:14
Speaker
And so there's a lot of passion that oozes out onto the play field.
00:40:18
Speaker
If you don't believe me on this, look at the Primus play field.
00:40:22
Speaker
That man loves Primus.
00:40:24
Speaker
He's done flyers for him and everything.
00:40:27
Speaker
And the Primus play field, if you know their history and stuff like that, that play field is just a love letter to Primus.
00:40:34
Speaker
It is fantastic.
00:40:35
Speaker
And I feel like you're getting the same thing with Godzilla here.
00:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's if there's if there's one criticism I could possibly make is
00:40:47
Speaker
the side art on the pro and the premium, they just mirrored the sides.
00:40:51
Speaker
Like he didn't do anything unique on either side.
00:40:54
Speaker
It's just the, the same thing on both sides.
00:40:56
Speaker
Okay.
00:40:57
Speaker
So I'm in that now that's kind of a small criticism, but it is something that some people will look at and say, why, why isn't it unique on each side?
00:41:09
Speaker
The LE it is unique on each side.
00:41:11
Speaker
The,
00:41:14
Speaker
the play field itself looks very similar.
00:41:17
Speaker
I don't even know how much he had to change between the, the pro and the premium, just because the layout seems pretty identical.
00:41:28
Speaker
the major challenges is you don't have the elevator.
00:41:34
Speaker
Well, whatever the building skyscraper, the skyscraper, you don't have that.
00:41:40
Speaker
And you don't have the mechanized Godzilla or the Mechagodzilla or what is it?
00:41:47
Speaker
Mechagodzilla.
00:41:48
Speaker
Mechagodzilla.
00:41:49
Speaker
You don't have that, but everything else looks very similar.
00:41:52
Speaker
So I think it was,
00:41:53
Speaker
easier for well he didn't have to change too much so it actually feels very similar which i think is a big plus really yeah overall i i enjoy the art yeah i think i think it looks good it's on par of what it needs to be i feel like zombie yeti kind of redefined what art should be for pinball yeah and uh it it's on all cylinders for me it it sold me on the art not not the game itself sold me on the art but what i'm saying is it's like
00:42:22
Speaker
I don't know.
00:42:23
Speaker
I guess my expectations aren't really hard when it comes to art because I feel like anything from 2010 to now has been a lot better than everything from 2000 to 2010.
00:42:35
Speaker
They've been more hit.
00:42:36
Speaker
They've been more hit than this.
00:42:38
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:42:39
Speaker
I mean, even ACDC, I don't know, it's kind of cut and paste.
00:42:44
Speaker
I know some of it's hand-drawn, but...
00:42:46
Speaker
I mean, even that artwork's a lot better than, let's say, like 24 or Avatar.
00:42:51
Speaker
Those are terrible.
00:42:52
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:42:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:53
Speaker
And so I'm just, you're getting your money's worth for the artwork here.
Pinball Pricing and Market Dynamics
00:42:58
Speaker
That's my opinion.
00:42:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:00
Speaker
It certainly is a pretty piece that you will put in your house.
00:43:02
Speaker
Yep.
00:43:03
Speaker
All right.
00:43:04
Speaker
And okay, so Max, wow.
00:43:09
Speaker
Well, let's talk about price increase, too.
00:43:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:13
Speaker
Do you want to do max first or do you want to do pricing?
00:43:15
Speaker
Well, let's talk about the price increase first, because I think it'll actually play into it.
00:43:19
Speaker
Okay.
00:43:20
Speaker
And so the price increase, it is, it's a big jump.
00:43:25
Speaker
And so I, I, this will be interesting to see.
00:43:28
Speaker
So the pro model goes up to 6,899.
00:43:31
Speaker
So basically $6,900.
00:43:36
Speaker
Premium is $8,999, which is basically $9,000.
00:43:38
Speaker
And limited edition is $10,499.
00:43:39
Speaker
So $10,500.
00:43:39
Speaker
So you're still keeping that standard $1,200 difference between the premium and the... Well, actually, wait, sorry.
00:43:42
Speaker
No, that's a $2,200 difference.
00:43:43
Speaker
Yeah, $2,200 difference between the pro and the premium.
00:44:05
Speaker
And the LE is another 1500.
00:44:07
Speaker
So really between the pro and the LE, wow, that's, it's getting pretty much, I mean, it's not double, but it's getting close.
00:44:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:19
Speaker
So that's a big jump in prices.
00:44:21
Speaker
So Josh explained this to me.
00:44:25
Speaker
Well, Kamekau alluded a lot to it when we talked to him in the podcast two weeks ago.
00:44:31
Speaker
Pinball prices, it's not even just pinball.
00:44:34
Speaker
It's the economic situation has gotten out of control.
00:44:38
Speaker
Wood is getting... I mean, you could buy wood for four times less last year than it is right now.
00:44:44
Speaker
It just... Shipping costs... Good luck in finding a shipping container.
00:44:49
Speaker
And then you start talking about air freight, and that's even more money.
00:44:51
Speaker
It just...
00:44:54
Speaker
am i just i don't want to say i'm justifying the price raise but we're it's not just stern and we saw spooky when they revealed halloween yes their base unit stayed the same price halloween stayed the same price as rick and morty but everything else their new two tiers above that is well above what the bloodsuckers was yeah um
00:45:15
Speaker
Who was the other one that just announced?
00:45:17
Speaker
There was one other that just announced, too.
00:45:18
Speaker
And their prices.
00:45:20
Speaker
They've all gone up.
00:45:21
Speaker
They've all won.
00:45:22
Speaker
JJP last year went up $1,000.
00:45:23
Speaker
Yeah, they raised that after they had started selling the game.
00:45:27
Speaker
So that was shocking.
00:45:29
Speaker
So part of me is like, this has to be out of necessity.
00:45:33
Speaker
If everyone's doing it, there's got to be some kind of...
00:45:38
Speaker
It goes back to the fact I think we're still seeing shortages places.
00:45:43
Speaker
Prices are going up on metals and wood.
00:45:46
Speaker
Does that justify the $1,200 on a premium?
00:45:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:50
Speaker
So that's what I'm getting at.
00:45:52
Speaker
I think it's a combination of necessity and popularity.
00:45:56
Speaker
This is going back to basic economics 101.
00:45:59
Speaker
You have a supply and demand curve.
00:46:02
Speaker
And when the supply is, is low, then the, and the demand goes up, then the prices are going to go up.
00:46:10
Speaker
So when you have a situation where used games are going for similar or equal or more than new in box games, then, then the pricing is not accurate because it does, it's not accurate for demand.
00:46:29
Speaker
Um,
00:46:30
Speaker
So I think it was raised for two reasons.
00:46:33
Speaker
I think it was raised possibly for supply issues.
00:46:38
Speaker
But I think it was also raised to say it's the same thing about ticket resellers.
00:46:44
Speaker
People complain and complain about ticket resellers buying up tickets and then scalping them for twice to three times.
00:46:54
Speaker
Guess what?
00:46:55
Speaker
If they're able to sell a ticket for $500 that they bought for $100, then Taylor Swift should have sold it for $500.
00:47:04
Speaker
She shouldn't have sold it for $100 because she was selling it for under market value.
00:47:10
Speaker
And so if you sell it for what's market value, then that's what you'll get.
00:47:15
Speaker
And so it's legitimate to say they're raising, they're likely raising how much they're getting from each machine.
00:47:24
Speaker
Now, I also think that there's a little bit of an arms race.
00:47:29
Speaker
When you look at when Steve Ritchie goes over to JJP and he subtly says the cuffs are off and
00:47:39
Speaker
Everybody looked at that and said, well, okay, so that's a build of materials issue.
00:47:46
Speaker
If you're handcuffed by something, that means that you are limited by design.
00:47:50
Speaker
And limited by design means you don't have everything you want to put in the game.
00:47:54
Speaker
So is it possible that these, I think there's three fold issues to this one.
00:48:01
Speaker
So, uh, the costs have gone up too.
00:48:05
Speaker
I think they've actually raised their build of materials.
00:48:07
Speaker
I think they're actually allowing the designers to put a little more into it because we're going to get into it.
00:48:14
Speaker
This game looks more packed than any game Stern has ever made.
00:48:19
Speaker
And three, I think there is a, hey, it's selling for more.
00:48:24
Speaker
Who should get the price?
00:48:26
Speaker
Should a flipper get the price or should Stern get the price?
00:48:29
Speaker
And the answer is Stern should get the price.
00:48:33
Speaker
So I'm... And I...
00:48:37
Speaker
it's hard for me to say that I am cheering for these prices to go up.
00:48:42
Speaker
But the bottom line is we knew they were going up just on the secondhand market.
00:48:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:47
Speaker
Like you look at all of, uh, like all of the, the L E's, the, the, the Jurassic park alley, and it's going for like $13,000.
00:48:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:56
Speaker
I didn't pay $13,000 for mine, but that's what it's going for.
00:49:00
Speaker
And so, um,
00:49:02
Speaker
If Stern is able to do that and they increase the amount of LEs they're building, they're doing a thousand of them and they sold out almost instantly.
00:49:11
Speaker
And I was actually, now I will say, this is a tooting my own horn.
00:49:16
Speaker
I was able to find an LE for a friend who said he couldn't find one.
00:49:19
Speaker
So Tim Purcell, you're welcome.
00:49:21
Speaker
I agree with you.
00:49:22
Speaker
I think it shows that the marketplace is healthy.
00:49:27
Speaker
I think the people to claim that it's solely a cash grab, that's a little naive.
00:49:33
Speaker
It's my object.
00:49:33
Speaker
And it's self-serving to say that I like buying cheap stuff.
00:49:37
Speaker
Yep.
00:49:38
Speaker
And so, and I think they timed it perfectly.
00:49:43
Speaker
I think...
00:49:45
Speaker
Because this was originally supposed to come out with Avengers last year is what we were told.
00:49:49
Speaker
You mean the connectivity?
00:49:51
Speaker
Yeah, the internet stuff.
00:49:52
Speaker
Sorry.
00:49:53
Speaker
And so I think they saw that prices were already rising as is.
00:49:59
Speaker
And they figured, well, let's hold off on the internet stuff and we'll do it all at once.
00:50:04
Speaker
I think that they've been wanting to rise prices for right now.
00:50:07
Speaker
But I think they were so nervous to see what was going to fluctuate with the economy that this is why they've held off.
00:50:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair.
00:50:15
Speaker
Like I said, am I happy with the price raise?
00:50:18
Speaker
No.
00:50:20
Speaker
But it's predictable.
00:50:23
Speaker
And I will counter argue to say, would you like to be involved in a hobby where people are selling their games just to get out of the hobby?
00:50:34
Speaker
And so you're buying all these games for cheap, but everybody's saying, you know, pinball's dead.
00:50:39
Speaker
This is terrible.
00:50:39
Speaker
We're done.
Comparison and Innovation in Godzilla Design
00:50:41
Speaker
Well, and even looking at Godzilla, this brings excitement.
00:50:44
Speaker
I mean, this, the mech mechs in this game, the, the innovation on it.
00:50:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:50:51
Speaker
So, so let, let's transition then.
00:50:52
Speaker
So we talked about pricing.
00:50:54
Speaker
So now let's talk about the game.
00:50:56
Speaker
So what's in the game, Josh, a five story skyscraper, a breaking bridge.
00:51:03
Speaker
You got Mecha Godzilla that has a turntable in front of him.
00:51:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:07
Speaker
Turntable with a ramp on it.
00:51:10
Speaker
That way you can ramp it up and he'll catch it with a magnet.
00:51:13
Speaker
And that turntable turns so that way you've got three stand-up targets to hit.
00:51:17
Speaker
I mean, the pop bumper is in a, I would call it the TNA location because that's what TNA did at first.
00:51:26
Speaker
And there's a lot of metal.
00:51:28
Speaker
There's a lot of metal ramps.
00:51:31
Speaker
Well, actually, it's in the TNA location.
00:51:33
Speaker
Okay, really, it's in the pop.
00:51:35
Speaker
And that Twilight Zone had the pop bumpers down low too.
00:51:38
Speaker
Yeah, but it's a single pot bumper in that one location.
00:51:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's true.
00:51:42
Speaker
Pat Lawler's like, I'm putting five right there.
00:51:44
Speaker
And everyone's like, hey, that's Adam's family.
00:51:47
Speaker
Welcome home, I guess.
00:51:48
Speaker
Anywho, this game for the premiums pack, and what's crazy to me is how stripped down the pro is.
00:51:58
Speaker
Okay, well, is it stripped down for... Do you think it's stripped down for a Pro or stripped down compared to the Premium?
00:52:07
Speaker
Sorry, stripped down compared to a Premium.
00:52:11
Speaker
Well, okay, so I would say stripped down compared to this Premium.
00:52:15
Speaker
Because if I look at this, I still argue that this is a pretty crazy Deluxe Pro.
00:52:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:24
Speaker
Okay, compare this with Iron Man.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yeah, true.
00:52:28
Speaker
Good point.
00:52:30
Speaker
This has wire form ramps.
00:52:33
Speaker
This has three flippers.
00:52:34
Speaker
This has all these crazy things.
00:52:37
Speaker
If I had released the Pro five years ago, you would have said, this is amazing.
00:52:42
Speaker
This is a game changer.
00:52:44
Speaker
Oh, and I also forgot.
00:52:45
Speaker
So there's one new feature on here that I didn't include on the mix.
00:52:51
Speaker
The industry first, the Magna grab.
00:52:53
Speaker
Yeah, that claw thing.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:56
Speaker
Well, no, it's this big post here.
00:52:57
Speaker
If you look next to the skyscraper.
00:52:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:00
Speaker
And there's actually a captive ball in there.
00:53:01
Speaker
When I say the claw thing, if you look at Jeremy's art, there's a Godzilla claw underneath.
00:53:07
Speaker
I gotcha.
00:53:08
Speaker
So, but yeah, that thing has a ball in it as well.
00:53:11
Speaker
There's a captive ball in there as well.
00:53:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:13
Speaker
So wait, there's no way.
00:53:15
Speaker
There's a captive ball too.
00:53:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:18
Speaker
You look at it from a different angle where it's, where it's sitting down.
00:53:21
Speaker
You can see there's a ball behind it.
00:53:22
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:53:23
Speaker
It just looked like a curved metal thing.
00:53:26
Speaker
Exactly.
00:53:26
Speaker
That's what I thought too, until they'd said on the, the insider podcast that that actually has a captive ball behind there.
00:53:32
Speaker
I am an insider.
00:53:33
Speaker
I just haven't actually listened to it yet because I've been working all week.
00:53:38
Speaker
So,
00:53:38
Speaker
But no, now that you bring up that point, if you were to compare this to an Iron Man, yeah, this is a lot more packed than an Iron Man.
00:53:47
Speaker
Well, yes and no.
00:53:49
Speaker
I guess Warmonger is a pretty good toy.
00:53:51
Speaker
You mean Iron Monger?
00:53:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:55
Speaker
The Warmonger is the rocket shot.
00:54:00
Speaker
Oh, gotcha.
00:54:02
Speaker
But yeah, this has got a lot more wire form and stuff to it compared to that game.
00:54:06
Speaker
Definitely.
00:54:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:08
Speaker
So this is, it's great.
00:54:10
Speaker
It's amazing.
00:54:11
Speaker
So I, this is packed.
00:54:13
Speaker
So I also suspect that maybe there was something that, that Keith really wanted to do and they allowed him to have a few extra dollars in the building material because the prices, this isn't standard across the board prices.
00:54:31
Speaker
This is prices for Godzilla.
00:54:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:34
Speaker
And for the other games, they said they're raising them $300 till the end of the year.
00:54:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:40
Speaker
And then there's going to be a different price.
00:54:41
Speaker
And then there's going to be a different price.
00:54:43
Speaker
And so I actually feel that this is kind of a borderline premium game.
00:54:49
Speaker
Like when I say a premium... Like a Kapow title?
00:54:52
Speaker
Like a Kapow.
00:54:53
Speaker
I know this isn't a Kapow title, but this feels like it is so packed with everything that this is...
00:55:03
Speaker
a, a, a supra premium game.
00:55:06
Speaker
I agree.
00:55:06
Speaker
Cause I, I don't know how, how other, like how many mechs this thing looks more packed than I would say, uh, Avengers.
00:55:15
Speaker
And I thought Avengers look packed.
00:55:17
Speaker
What's your takeaway from, from Godzilla?
00:55:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:21
Speaker
I think it's a fun, campy theme that while the theme doesn't do much for me specifically, everybody knows who Godzilla is and everybody knows he's coming to destroy the city, but he also somehow becomes like saving the earth from aliens and stuff.
00:55:40
Speaker
So it's, it's just, it's totally campy and fun and having that, uh,
00:55:48
Speaker
that bridge ramp that breaks is just cool looking.
00:55:54
Speaker
I don't know how else to say it.
00:55:56
Speaker
It's just really interesting.
00:55:59
Speaker
And the Easter egg of having the, the Papa carpet on there is just a, it that's, that's really clever and a great nod to the Papa facility.
00:56:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:11
Speaker
Um, but that, that breaking bridge, just it, that's brilliant.
00:56:15
Speaker
Um, so there's two things that I think are amazing is the, uh, the skyscraper that goes up and down, but also the bridge.
00:56:23
Speaker
Uh, those are the two things that jump at me.
00:56:25
Speaker
What do you think, Josh?
00:56:27
Speaker
I think the skyscraper is pretty awesome.
00:56:30
Speaker
Uh, realizing if you look at that,
00:56:33
Speaker
they had to engineer that so it didn't actually hit the bottom of the cabinet when it sunk all the way down.
00:56:37
Speaker
That's what I was kind of... Well, does it sink all the way down?
00:56:39
Speaker
Because it's the physical ball lock that is on top and they kind of spill out.
00:56:46
Speaker
Does it actually go all the way down?
00:56:48
Speaker
So it goes the vast majority of the way down.
00:56:50
Speaker
So if you look at the...
00:56:52
Speaker
the top of the roof lifts up and then the balls come across this clear plastic.
00:56:57
Speaker
That's right above the, the bottom door.
00:56:59
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:57:01
Speaker
Cause I, I kept looking that like how far down I thought it kind of dumped down.
00:57:06
Speaker
Oh, oh yeah.
00:57:07
Speaker
I see.
00:57:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:09
Speaker
I didn't see exactly where they dumped down, but yeah, that's going down probably about four and a half inches.
00:57:15
Speaker
That's I thought they said it was six inches in total.
00:57:18
Speaker
It goes down six inches in total.
00:57:20
Speaker
That's what I was.
00:57:21
Speaker
That's what I think they said there on.
00:57:23
Speaker
That's pretty impressive.
00:57:25
Speaker
I don't know.
00:57:25
Speaker
I'm excited.
00:57:26
Speaker
I'm excited to get my hands on this game.
00:57:28
Speaker
And, and crazy detail.
00:57:32
Speaker
Get that Godzilla sculpt.
00:57:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:34
Speaker
And that's pretty good.
00:57:36
Speaker
I mean, for, for the, for the flack they got for having the, you know, the, the dishwashing glove for the gauntlet.
00:57:45
Speaker
that uh that Thanos had this is uh that's pretty darn good yep I agree so did you know that did you know that our logo is actually on this game as well what isn't did you see so Keith Elwin is actually drawn onto the game oh even though his hat is backwards I was told that is a loser kid it has to it has to be it's
00:58:13
Speaker
So our logo's on this game.
00:58:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:17
Speaker
Along with our Twippy, I heard that there's a Twippy on.
00:58:19
Speaker
We didn't get a Twippy.
00:58:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:21
Speaker
He got it.
00:58:21
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:58:22
Speaker
Our future Twippy, you know.
00:58:23
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:58:23
Speaker
Exactly.
00:58:24
Speaker
No, but there is Gary Stern on that.
00:58:27
Speaker
Did you see that?
00:58:28
Speaker
Yes.
00:58:29
Speaker
That's pretty awesome.
00:58:31
Speaker
That was a great touch, Jeremy.
00:58:34
Speaker
There's some wonderful Easter eggs in here.
00:58:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:36
Speaker
You know what?
00:58:37
Speaker
They've just... I am so excited with everything that Stern has been putting out.
00:58:42
Speaker
It's been...
00:58:44
Speaker
They really have raised their game.
00:58:47
Speaker
Well, I actually want to hit on two more things.
00:58:51
Speaker
Let's really quickly, you said that you heard some positive things about Cam and Cal.
00:58:55
Speaker
You heard some interesting things.
00:58:57
Speaker
What was your responses you got?
00:58:59
Speaker
Oh, well, I thought there were people who laughed a little bit about the Beatles and they said that sold out.
00:59:06
Speaker
I'm like, may or may not be sold out.
00:59:09
Speaker
That could be that could be some gamesmanship.
00:59:12
Speaker
Now, that being said, I do like the Beatles.
00:59:15
Speaker
I know some people really don't like it and they say it's a very stripped down.
00:59:18
Speaker
You're paying a premium for what should be a five thousand dollar game.
00:59:22
Speaker
I get it.
00:59:23
Speaker
But if you take everything away from that game, that if you take the pricing away from the game and just play the game, I bet everybody will say, you know what?
00:59:32
Speaker
That is a fantastic integration of the theme and it's fun and it's a fun family game that you can have.
00:59:41
Speaker
So that's actually why it jumped me up to say, I'm actively looking for a Beatles now.
00:59:47
Speaker
So if anyone has a Beatles out there that they're tired of and want to sell it to me, I'm not going to pay $14,000 for it, but you can go ahead and contact us.
00:59:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:58
Speaker
But what reinforced it was the theme is king.
Theme Licensing and Cultural Impact
01:00:03
Speaker
He claimed that Guns N' Roses were selling for a super high amount.
01:00:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's not really true.
01:00:09
Speaker
They're not super available because I think people like it.
01:00:13
Speaker
But when they do come available, they're not $11,000.
01:00:18
Speaker
Back to the Future, people only buy those just because of the name.
01:00:23
Speaker
And he capitalized on the licensing magic.
01:00:30
Speaker
So I doubt that if Stern released Lord of the Rings and it was called...
01:00:38
Speaker
Like short people and trolls, you would not be.
01:00:43
Speaker
Right.
01:00:44
Speaker
D&D.
01:00:44
Speaker
It would not be the same.
01:00:46
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:47
Speaker
So he found lightning in a bottle on that.
01:00:49
Speaker
Now, he's very good at that.
01:00:52
Speaker
But, you know, he certainly has no love for Robert Mueller.
01:00:55
Speaker
And I share that with him.
01:00:59
Speaker
Uh, yeah, but I, it was really awesome to talk to Joe and I really appreciate him coming on.
01:01:04
Speaker
So what, what was your take back on Joe's?
01:01:08
Speaker
A lot of positive, positive comments came back.
01:01:11
Speaker
A lot of people enjoyed the interview.
01:01:14
Speaker
uh, a lot of people did point out that me and you got a whopping like 17 words in on the whole thing.
01:01:19
Speaker
Well, okay.
01:01:20
Speaker
He was like, it was like, uh, he was a jukebox.
01:01:23
Speaker
You put a quarter in him and he just went off and it was like, wow, that's, that's really good.
01:01:28
Speaker
He was, he was awesome.
01:01:29
Speaker
He was, he was a fantastic guest.
01:01:30
Speaker
He was, uh, like I said, he's very confident and whatnot.
01:01:35
Speaker
Um,
01:01:36
Speaker
I don't know.
01:01:36
Speaker
I really enjoyed having him on.
01:01:38
Speaker
Some of the stuff I felt was very left park-ish, but a lot of it was pretty spot on, I think, what he said.
01:01:44
Speaker
Right.
01:01:44
Speaker
And he obviously knows what he's doing.
01:01:49
Speaker
Now, some people said about him being very confident about getting the license.
01:01:53
Speaker
And even our friends at the pinball show with...
01:01:59
Speaker
With Zach and Dennis, they were talking about whether or not he would be the one to get a license.
01:02:06
Speaker
They said, well, Roger Sharp.
01:02:07
Speaker
I'm like, maybe.
01:02:09
Speaker
Roger Sharp certainly knows his way around licensing.
01:02:13
Speaker
However, Joe has worked with
01:02:16
Speaker
Harry Potter.
01:02:16
Speaker
And so I, I Warner brothers.
01:02:19
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:19
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:19
Speaker
I didn't feel that it was bravado for him to say, if there's a game done, he's going to do it.
01:02:26
Speaker
I think that is a done deal.
01:02:28
Speaker
Like it will be him when, and if a Harry Potter is made and I would be shocked if anybody else got the license away from him.
01:02:36
Speaker
Uh, speaking of the pinball show, I just wanted to bring this up really quick because it's funny.
01:02:41
Speaker
Cause we talk about this in private and then we talk about it in public and then we talk about it in private.
01:02:45
Speaker
Uh, the Goonies, cause obviously Joe Cam and cow, uh,
01:02:50
Speaker
It's funny that Dennis said they should have cut that out.
01:02:53
Speaker
I laughed so hard.
01:02:54
Speaker
Yeah, I was laughing.
01:02:55
Speaker
Just because it was such a genuine reaction of what Joe had said when you said the Goonies and he's like, wait, what about the Goonies?
01:03:02
Speaker
And you'd said, you know, it's a bad theme or whatever for people.
01:03:06
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:07
Speaker
And he's just like, oh, it just I laugh.
01:03:10
Speaker
So, no, I was laughing pretty.
01:03:12
Speaker
And the best part about it is we're interviewing him with a video on.
01:03:16
Speaker
And so we were able to see his reaction.
01:03:18
Speaker
And some of the reactions aren't going to translate as well on just a voice medium.
01:03:25
Speaker
But it was a genuine reaction.
01:03:28
Speaker
So I had a good laugh, too.
01:03:29
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:29
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:30
Speaker
But one thing that we did, and neither one of us have talked about the pinball show or us.
01:03:36
Speaker
So we posted...
01:03:40
Speaker
Would you like a Goonies?
01:03:42
Speaker
Wrapping up episode 72 with the pinball show, put nice job, Zach and Dennis and Brad Albright.
01:03:48
Speaker
I figured instead of emailing us, you can just vote here.
01:03:52
Speaker
Is Goonies a dated theme that doesn't hold up and isn't the best theme for pinball at the moment?
01:03:58
Speaker
Or do you believe Goonies would be epic and still good as ever, as it ever was?
01:04:04
Speaker
Comments.
01:04:05
Speaker
We got almost 60 comments on this bad boy.
01:04:07
Speaker
I mean, people jumped on.
01:04:09
Speaker
and they really did range i mean great theme really think it's a gold mine uh to it's been so long since i've watched it i'd have to watch it again before i tell you but honestly maybe that's saying something right there uh goonies does absolutely nothing for me you're doing you're dated goonies never die i'm dated goonies is dated you're dated
01:04:36
Speaker
It would be epic, dated theme, it's okay.
01:04:40
Speaker
I mean, it really, if you were to take a poll, I counted these all up, and what was it, like 60% of them said that it was a dated theme, and there's better themes out there where the other 40% said, hey, it's a really good theme, and it would do really well in pinball.
01:05:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:06
Speaker
Honestly, what's the threshold?
01:05:09
Speaker
What's the threshold?
01:05:10
Speaker
You're, you're rarely going to get a hundred percent theme.
01:05:14
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:14
Speaker
And so at what point do they say, you know what?
01:05:16
Speaker
There's enough of the pinball market that's interested in that theme that makes it worthwhile for them.
01:05:23
Speaker
The other one that made me laugh that stood out, Ian Harrower, he posted, I love the Goonies.
01:05:27
Speaker
Great movie.
01:05:28
Speaker
I can see the cast so vividly in my mind.
01:05:30
Speaker
And he posted a picture, but it wasn't of the Goonies.
01:05:33
Speaker
It was of the guys from Stand By Me.
01:05:35
Speaker
Stand By Me.
01:05:35
Speaker
Yeah, that was so good.
01:05:39
Speaker
So, yeah.
01:05:40
Speaker
But, I mean, people are claiming Back to the Future, Scooby-Doo.
01:05:44
Speaker
I'd rather see Gremlins or Top Gun.
01:05:47
Speaker
I mean, it just – yeah, I agree with you.
01:05:49
Speaker
Gremlins is not going to get made.
01:05:50
Speaker
No.
01:05:51
Speaker
There's no chance.
01:05:52
Speaker
Top Gun, I could actually see Top Gun getting made, especially with Maverick coming out.
01:05:56
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:57
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:58
Speaker
Um, yeah, I just, okay.
01:06:02
Speaker
So, so here's the question, Josh, like if you were in a theme presentation, like, okay, you present different themes.
01:06:12
Speaker
Um, Hey guys, we got Godzilla.
01:06:15
Speaker
How many people are interested in Godzilla?
01:06:17
Speaker
Like, do you really think of the pinball community that more than 40% were interested in that theme?
01:06:25
Speaker
I would make it lower, but I would make it lower.
01:06:27
Speaker
And I actually, I bet they're going to sell a billion of these things.
01:06:31
Speaker
Don't tell Zach, I said this, but I really think that Goonies would be a higher up on the list than Godzilla.
01:06:36
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:37
Speaker
I, well, I, I, I totally agree with you.
01:06:39
Speaker
That's my point is that on our responses, you had 40% of people saying that they were connected with the theme.
01:06:45
Speaker
And so there has to be some market testing, but at what point do they say, yes, we can make this thing because it will sell.
01:06:53
Speaker
But there are a lot of people who hated star Wars and star Wars is way in my wheelhouse.
01:06:59
Speaker
So I don't know.
01:06:59
Speaker
I, the thing about Godzilla, here's the thing about Godzilla is it's such an influential theme.
01:07:05
Speaker
It is,
01:07:07
Speaker
It dates back to 1954, and it just has permeated society on a world scale that he is recognizable almost anywhere in the world.
01:07:19
Speaker
So that's why I'm like, Godzilla makes sense to a point.
01:07:23
Speaker
And I just don't know where Goonies lands.
01:07:25
Speaker
That's the thing is Godzilla is still having movies made where Goonies, I don't know, isn't.
01:07:34
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:34
Speaker
But you know, again, um, I'm what's the next rumored title.
01:07:40
Speaker
Uh, rushes and how many people like rush?
01:07:42
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:43
Speaker
I, I like rush.
01:07:45
Speaker
So, but they, they've even made jokes in, you know, I went to, uh, I went to a, it was a last tour.
01:07:54
Speaker
It was called, uh, uh, cinema strong Giotto because, uh, one of their, um,
01:07:59
Speaker
One of their instrumentals is called Levi Estrangiato.
01:08:02
Speaker
Yeah.
01:08:03
Speaker
But it actually talked about their last tour.
01:08:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:08:06
Speaker
And they were interviewing Tom Morello's wife and Tom Morello's wife.
01:08:12
Speaker
He said, I liked her because she was a Rush fan.
01:08:15
Speaker
She was an original Rush fan before Rush was cool.
01:08:18
Speaker
And they even had like a counter that came up and said total, total female Rush fans.
01:08:23
Speaker
And it counted up to seven.
01:08:26
Speaker
So you're obviously rushed.
01:08:29
Speaker
They're never considered a cool band.
01:08:32
Speaker
So you're already dealing with half of the demographic right there and you're dealing with a very niche thing.
01:08:37
Speaker
But it's rumored that that's the next thing that's coming up.
01:08:41
Speaker
So they will take chances on themes that will connect with enough people to sell.
01:08:45
Speaker
Well, and here's, here's my thought process.
01:08:47
Speaker
So on all of this is, yeah, we, we came out with an episode a couple of weeks ago about the secret sauces theme, right?
01:08:55
Speaker
I'm believing more and more.
01:08:56
Speaker
It's not just theme theme is fantastic.
01:08:58
Speaker
Don't get me wrong, but I would argue that Led Zeppelin is a bigger theme than Godzilla.
01:09:05
Speaker
Led Zeppelin's one of the top selling bands of all time.
01:09:08
Speaker
It's up there with Beatles.
01:09:10
Speaker
It is what it is.
01:09:13
Speaker
Um,
01:09:14
Speaker
but i feel like led zeppelin was lackluster i'm not saying that the game was bad i just i feel like the game didn't do as well and granted godzilla's only been out for three days now but i feel like the reception to godzilla is a lot lot warmer
01:09:35
Speaker
than it is Led Zeppelin.
01:09:37
Speaker
And I attribute a lot of that to A, Keith Elwin has an innovative design that hasn't been really seen before, where Zeppelin felt like, oh, here's another Star Trek, here's another.
01:09:49
Speaker
It's a Richie's Greatest Hits.
01:09:51
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:52
Speaker
And so I'm starting to believe, yeah, theme is king, but you have to have the band to back it up if you want a really good selling pinball machine.
01:10:05
Speaker
Yeah, you're right on.
01:10:09
Speaker
This was, I would say, the theme of this game that came out.
01:10:15
Speaker
Do you want to know the important theme?
01:10:16
Speaker
The number one selling theme?
01:10:19
Speaker
Was Keith Elwin and Rick Nickel.
01:10:22
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:23
Speaker
And Zombie Yeti.
01:10:25
Speaker
So it's that it's that group.
01:10:27
Speaker
They got the band back together and they put one out.
01:10:31
Speaker
Zeppelin, I did talk, I have a good friend who's a distributor, a local one here in Utah.
01:10:37
Speaker
And I picked his brain and I said, hey, what is your interest?
01:10:43
Speaker
Like, what are people asking you about?
01:10:46
Speaker
And he said, I haven't had one inquisition on Led Zeppelin.
01:10:52
Speaker
I'm like, really?
01:10:53
Speaker
It's like, okay, so what are you getting asked on?
01:10:56
Speaker
He's like, well, I'm getting asked a lot on.
01:10:58
Speaker
Deadpool, I'm getting a lot of questions on Jurassic Park, Avengers, Premium, and Mandalorian.
01:11:08
Speaker
And those were the top ones that he was getting inquiries for.
01:11:14
Speaker
And I may have one of the few Led Zeppelins in the state.
01:11:20
Speaker
So it's, I don't think it was a big selling game because I think there wasn't much that was different for, for fans.
01:11:30
Speaker
Yep.
01:11:31
Speaker
I agree.
01:11:32
Speaker
It's still fun though.
01:11:32
Speaker
I, I, I like playing the game, but I think I like playing the game because I get to hear the music and it's a cool light show.
01:11:39
Speaker
Yep.
01:11:40
Speaker
So, so honestly, like I said, I still feel like Goonies is dated.
01:11:45
Speaker
I feel like it doesn't hold up.
01:11:46
Speaker
I watched it recently.
01:11:48
Speaker
But honestly, if Godzilla can make a theme that looks this amazing and whatnot, I think in the right hands, you could make an amazing treasure hunting pirate game that is Goonies themed.
01:12:03
Speaker
I mean, we've done it multiple times before with Black Rose and Pirates of the Caribbean and stuff like that.
01:12:09
Speaker
I don't know, but I feel that exact same way about Scott Pilgrim versus the world.
01:12:16
Speaker
I mean, there's so much on that movie slash comic book that you could do a lot of
Farewell and Listener Engagement
01:12:22
Speaker
great things with it.
01:12:22
Speaker
And it's not, but it wouldn't be out of Stern's wheelhouse because you're making movie slash comic book pins all the time.
01:12:31
Speaker
So I don't know.
01:12:34
Speaker
I'm kind of getting to the point where it's like theme is awesome and great, but I think, I think
01:12:40
Speaker
It's not the only thing.
01:12:42
Speaker
It's not the only thing.
01:12:43
Speaker
If you can make a heavy metal pinball machine, there's not much out there you can't make, in my opinion.
01:12:51
Speaker
Okay, so one final question I do have.
01:12:53
Speaker
Okay.
01:12:55
Speaker
You're Charlie Emery.
01:12:57
Speaker
Yes.
01:12:57
Speaker
This is your passion theme, and it is well documented that you wanted this theme, and you wanted to have it a spooky game.
01:13:11
Speaker
so you see the reveal with everybody else what is your reaction i'm not even go there man because i i know that charlie loves this and and whatnot um i i don't know there's so much in depth that i there's emotions i don't i don't even understand because he makes pinball and this is his theme and all that jazz so i
01:13:37
Speaker
I bet he's happy.
01:13:39
Speaker
I bet it's a mixed bag of emotions.
01:13:40
Speaker
That is exactly what I'm getting at.
01:13:43
Speaker
I think it's a mixed, he, he is conflicted because he certainly, he would have poured his heart and soul into this game.
01:13:53
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:55
Speaker
And he would have done everything he possibly could to make it an awesome game.
01:13:58
Speaker
And he would have nailed the theme.
01:14:00
Speaker
Yeah.
01:14:01
Speaker
I, I, I would argue that Stern's ability to do
01:14:08
Speaker
advanced level game stuff is higher.
01:14:12
Speaker
They're a bigger company.
01:14:14
Speaker
Stern can do things with a game that Spooky just doesn't have the resources for.
01:14:20
Speaker
And so I would say as a fan, he's looking at this and saying, this is awesome and amazing.
01:14:28
Speaker
And I think Keith was able to nail the theme.
01:14:33
Speaker
He was able to nail the integration and he was able to do some really awesome things.
01:14:39
Speaker
I think it probably, you know, emotionally, it's a stab at Charlie because he's not, he wasn't able to do it.
01:14:45
Speaker
But from a fan side, I think he has to be excited that this looks so amazing.
01:14:52
Speaker
And it's so well received for such a, such a niche theme.
01:14:57
Speaker
No, I'm, I'm excited.
01:14:59
Speaker
It's another good day in pinball.
01:15:01
Speaker
It's a lot better this month than it was last month getting that news.
01:15:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
01:15:06
Speaker
No, I think this is... It's morning in America.
01:15:10
Speaker
So if you're old enough to know that theme, then you're probably interested in the Led Zeppelin game.
01:15:18
Speaker
Or you need to take some ibuprofen for your back.
01:15:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
01:15:23
Speaker
You need time to schedule your colonoscopy, kids.
01:15:25
Speaker
Exactly.
01:15:26
Speaker
So...
01:15:27
Speaker
Well, I think we pretty much covered it.
01:15:30
Speaker
We've covered Kapow.
01:15:32
Speaker
We've covered Godzilla.
01:15:34
Speaker
Is there anything else I'm missing before?
01:15:36
Speaker
Oh, I want to say one more.
01:15:37
Speaker
Sorry.
01:15:37
Speaker
One more thought.
01:15:38
Speaker
It just hit my head.
01:15:40
Speaker
Ian Haberman, man.
01:15:43
Speaker
Sad to see you go.
01:15:44
Speaker
Sad to see you step down from Poor Man's Pinball Podcast.
01:15:47
Speaker
I get it.
01:15:48
Speaker
Scott and I have been doing this for almost three years.
01:15:51
Speaker
I remember us sitting down with Martin rushing over the Willy Wonka
01:16:00
Speaker
notes and watching that live on stream and seeing you and Drew scurry up to Wonka with your poor man's shirts on and getting ready to play some pinball.
01:16:14
Speaker
We've had some really great interactions behind the scenes, in front of the scenes.
01:16:18
Speaker
Man, I
01:16:21
Speaker
it's like, I get it.
01:16:22
Speaker
Life, life gets in the way and, and life is definitely more important than a podcast, but, uh, I don't know.
01:16:30
Speaker
Part of the class of 20, 2019, I guess that would be, uh, it's sad to see one of you guys go and,
01:16:37
Speaker
And he'll probably still be around.
01:16:39
Speaker
We still hear from Fowler and stuff like that occasionally on a podcast.
01:16:42
Speaker
But good luck in life, man.
01:16:45
Speaker
I know that you've had some really rough times these past couple days or these past couple months.
01:16:51
Speaker
I hope life gets better.
01:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's a melancholy happy trails.
01:16:55
Speaker
Yeah.
01:16:56
Speaker
So very unique.
01:16:59
Speaker
You guys did good work with poor man.
01:17:02
Speaker
And good luck to Drew with whatever he decides to do with poor man.
01:17:04
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:17:04
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:17:06
Speaker
Anything else?
01:17:07
Speaker
No, I think it's great.
01:17:09
Speaker
Now, this is the question I want you guys to answer.
01:17:16
Speaker
One, it's a two-part one.
01:17:18
Speaker
Were you interested in Godzilla as a theme before?
01:17:21
Speaker
And two, if you are buying a Godzilla, which version did you get?
01:17:27
Speaker
So shoot us those responses.
01:17:29
Speaker
Sorry.
01:17:29
Speaker
One last question for you, Scott.
01:17:31
Speaker
Okay.
01:17:31
Speaker
All right.
01:17:32
Speaker
Okay.
01:17:32
Speaker
One last question.
01:17:33
Speaker
I know you've been dying.
01:17:35
Speaker
I know you've heard this question a month ago and you've been dying to answer it.
01:17:38
Speaker
You ready for this?
01:17:39
Speaker
Yep.
01:17:39
Speaker
Okay.
01:17:40
Speaker
Segment still.
01:17:42
Speaker
You are on a boat and you could only save either Jeff Tealas or Martin Robbins.
01:17:50
Speaker
Okay.
01:17:50
Speaker
You know what?
01:17:50
Speaker
It's, it's no question.
01:17:52
Speaker
Um, I am, uh,
01:17:55
Speaker
You know what?
01:17:56
Speaker
I am going to, uh, I'm going to throw myself overboard and save those beautiful people.
01:18:02
Speaker
I'm going to stab myself and jump into the water for those sharks.
01:18:06
Speaker
And then I'll ride them like those girls on Atlantis.
01:18:14
Speaker
I'm sorry.
01:18:15
Speaker
I didn't see the Atlantis thing.
01:18:18
Speaker
Seriously.
01:18:19
Speaker
One of the most awkward play fields out there.
01:18:22
Speaker
Oh my goodness.
01:18:22
Speaker
Yeah.
01:18:24
Speaker
Anyway, I love you, Jeff.
01:18:26
Speaker
And even though Martin, you were going to stab me, still love you.
01:18:31
Speaker
All right.
01:18:32
Speaker
We're ending on that.
01:18:33
Speaker
If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserKidPinballPodcast at gmail.com.
01:18:37
Speaker
We are also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, all at LoserKidPinball.
01:18:41
Speaker
We do stream occasionally at LoserKidPinball on Twitch.
01:18:45
Speaker
I just posted one for Avengers.
01:18:47
Speaker
We had some fun there.
01:18:50
Speaker
If you want to get a hold of us,
01:18:52
Speaker
Like I said, email us.
01:18:53
Speaker
Facebook's probably the best way to do it.
01:18:55
Speaker
I do have a couple hats in stock.
01:18:57
Speaker
If you're coming to Expo, we're going to be there.
01:19:00
Speaker
Please give me a heads up if you want any swag whatsoever.
01:19:04
Speaker
So we can either A, get a specific thing printed like a shirt or I cannot get the hoodies right now.
01:19:11
Speaker
Scott doesn't even have a hoodie because I can't get the hoodies.
01:19:14
Speaker
I don't know why the crap hoodies are on back order, but they're on back order.
01:19:19
Speaker
We got stickers.
01:19:19
Speaker
We got all that jazz.
01:19:21
Speaker
I think I still got some beanies floating around.
01:19:23
Speaker
If you really want that stuff, let us know so we can bring it to Expo with us.
01:19:27
Speaker
Yeah, and we may have a new hat design.
01:19:30
Speaker
Oh, really?
01:19:31
Speaker
Spoiler.
01:19:31
Speaker
Only you're going to have to tell me about that.
01:19:34
Speaker
All right.
01:19:36
Speaker
Thanks, guys.
01:19:36
Speaker
Check us out.
01:19:37
Speaker
All right.
01:19:37
Speaker
See you in a couple weeks.
01:19:38
Speaker
Okay, bye.
01:19:50
Speaker
Shut up and sit down.