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 Scott, it has been quite the exciting two weeks, it seems like.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Well, I think once we had Joe Cam and Cal on, it basically just woke the news.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And we had a lot of positive feedback.
Speaker: We'll get to that here in a little bit.
Speaker: Well, we got some interesting feedback, too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: Well, Josh, did you order anything recently?
Speaker: Because I did.
Speaker: I did as well.
Speaker: I got myself – I got a Beatles premium.
Speaker: That's what I got.
Speaker: Oh, is that what you got?
Speaker: Actually, okay.
Speaker: I will say I did text Zach and I was like, I'm kind of interested in the Beatles.
Speaker: And he's like, oh, okay, I'll put you on the list.
Speaker: But anyway, what we know what you ordered and we know what I ordered.
Speaker: Go ahead.
Speaker: Godzilla premium.
Speaker: Yeah, me too.
Speaker: And we'll talk about that.
Speaker: That's coming up later on the show.
Speaker: But yeah, contact Zach and Nicole.
Speaker: They've always been really one.
Speaker: They're great friends of the show.
Speaker: They've always supported us.
Speaker: They are sponsored of the show and they've really helped us out.
Speaker: But two, I have been able to get a lot of great things from Zach and Nicole.
Speaker: And it's just amazing.
Speaker: If you are looking for anything on your machine, they'll go above and beyond.
Speaker: And including, what else can they get?
Speaker: It's not just pinball machines.
Speaker: They've got the Raw Thrills arcade games.
Speaker: If you want that full sit-down Halo game, I say go for it.
Speaker: I would love to have one of those sit-down Jurassic Park games.
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
Speaker: Seriously, if I text Zach, I have an answer within minutes.
Speaker: Yeah, just go to Flippin' Out Pinball, and they'll have all the contact ways that you prefer.
Speaker: They are fantastic.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, you know what?
Speaker: We, uh, we all know that Godzilla came out and we, that is going to be the bulk of our show.
Speaker: Um, let us, you know what, why don't we start with the, the pinball auction?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What pinball auction are you talking about?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, okay.
Speaker: There was an auction.
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.
Speaker: But it just seemed kind of weird.
Speaker: It seemed that they were, and we talked about this before, so I don't want to rehash it, but...
Speaker: They were moving to a place that was a little more user friendly.
Speaker: And then something about the lease and something about leasing their building to a marijuana distributor or grower or something like that.
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 done.
Speaker: They basically just said, we're closing up shop.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And man, marijuana shop must be going there because some people were smoking something.
Speaker: Ooh, yeah.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: So, okay, did they even say how much they – like what total funds were raised by this?
Speaker: Not yet because it still goes on again this weekend.
Speaker: They haven't sold all the collection yet.
Speaker: So –
Speaker: Who knows at this point, uh, someone totaled it up.
Speaker: I thought they said it was three and a half to 4 million.
Speaker: I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker: I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker: Just the auction house in their collection alone or in their take alone is like half a million.
Speaker: So, you know, I, okay, this is a private collection.
Speaker: So I, I can't begrudge anybody for doing what they want with their private collection.
Speaker: It is sad because it had a lot of, of machines that I think were really difficult to find and rare.
Speaker: But it's, and they're going somewhere, right?
Speaker: It's not like they LaGuardia, whatever his name is.
Speaker: It's not like they took him and like chopped him up and put him in the East River.
Speaker: I mean, these are going to enthusiasts' home.
Speaker: And
Speaker: boy, oh boy, if you are an enthusiast and you had money to burn, this was your auction.
Speaker: Yep.
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.
Speaker: And granted, this is a private collection.
Speaker: I guess Papa was a little hamstrung because they're a not, they're a not-for-profit, a non-for-profit.
Speaker: So you can't just outright, I guess they had to go through some hoops to sell their collection.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know enough about the backstory.
Speaker: I feel bad that Papa wasn't able to do something like this.
Speaker: But seriously, Papaka sold half their collection.
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.
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?
Speaker: Because, again, the games went somewhere.
Speaker: They didn't they didn't get exploded.
Speaker: But it's nice to know they're out there.
Speaker: But okay, let's talk about the prices though.
Speaker: Yeah, let's set some of these prices.
Speaker: What jumped?
Speaker: Okay, I'll tell you the first thing that jumped out at me.
Speaker: Mooncresta.
Speaker: Okay, Mooncresta.
Speaker: So if you go to the auction results, you can actually sort.
Speaker: And so I sorted by the price.
Speaker: And Mooncresta was a video game that I played probably when I was eight.
Speaker: And it takes about 30 seconds to tell you blow up.
Speaker: And someone bought that for a thousand bucks.
Speaker: crazy.
Speaker: And, and it's fine.
Speaker: Like it's obviously a classic game, but wow.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So let's sort up to the top though.
Speaker: That's I, no one wants to know what Mooncresta who wants to talk about the expensive, crazy games that were sold.
Speaker: Well, what's funny is like I was telling you because I was like, are you going to hit the auction?
Speaker: And you're like, no, I don't think so.
Speaker: And I'm like, why not?
Speaker: I'd followed Captain Auction for about a year now through a few of their auctions.
Speaker: And I mean, you're not going to get a super amazing deal off one of these pinball machines.
Speaker: But if you're looking for a specific title and you're having a hard time getting a hold of it.
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.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
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.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: And so I was like, I'm going to keep an eye out on this auction.
Speaker: And I was kind of thrown for a loop when...
Speaker: So you're the one who bought the Adams family for 22,500.
Speaker: You know it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I, there has to be something special about this Adams family.
Speaker: There's nothing that is one Adams family.
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: It's not worth a $22,500 game.
Speaker: No, it's not.
Speaker: I don't care how nice it is.
Speaker: It's not that it's not that game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, I agree.
Speaker: 22.5 for an Adams family.
Speaker: I mean, didn't they produce over 22,000 of these games?
Speaker: So you paid a dollar.
Speaker: I don't think it was 22,000, but it was a lot.
Speaker: You could argue it's the most produced modern pinball machine of all time.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's fair.
Speaker: And now others could have legitimately pushed that if they kept it going.
Speaker: They cut some short.
Speaker: This wasn't a gold edition at all either, was it?
Speaker: It was just an Addams Family.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: I mean, it just seems so weird.
Speaker: So this is the amount of Addams Family, according to IPDB, they did 20,270 of them.
Speaker: Still, that's a good chunk of pinball.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So there has to be something bizarre about that.
Speaker: Hercules.
Speaker: So just in case you have a gimmick game that's the size of a pool table, $18,000.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's yeah.
Speaker: The, the bonds I run again, it was two of them, two of them sold.
Speaker: It looks like it looks like, I'm not really sure.
Speaker: It says lot lot number four, six, nine.
Speaker: It has the same number.
Speaker: So I don't know if they just doubled it up.
Speaker: It's a, it's an error.
Speaker: Elvira house of horrors, limited edition, 14,000.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Back to the future.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So back to the future, obviously Joe cam and cow was right.
Speaker: $14,000 for back to the future.
Speaker: Data East produced this in 1990 with only 3,000 produced.
Speaker: Remember, Cam and Cow total took them a whopping six weeks.
Speaker: Plus, Michael J. Fox took away his likeness, pulled the plug at the very end.
Speaker: $3,400 for Back to the Future.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, that's because you're buying the theme.
Speaker: That's the only thing you're paying the money for.
Speaker: Still like, so for, I guarantee that is not a $14,000 game.
Speaker: No cosmic princess.
Speaker: Seriously.
Speaker: A solid state cosmic princess for 13 five.
Speaker: Again, I just don't, some of these are just, uh, I mean, that's a odd Kate.
Speaker: So what's your takeaway from this whole, uh, museum of pinball, uh,
Speaker: I it's an enigma for me.
Speaker: So what do you think?
Speaker: I really think it's kind of anomaly in the hobby.
Speaker: I don't think this is something that is going to redefine pricing.
Speaker: I mean, people are going to attempt.
Speaker: We're already starting to see it where people are attempting to sell their Adams family now for 20 grand.
Speaker: and a really trashed Quicksilver for $15 or for $10.
Speaker: I can't remember exactly how much it was.
Speaker: I mean, it was five figures.
Speaker: Yeah, it was in Australia, and so there is a limited quantity factor, but still, yeah.
Speaker: But still, it becomes the whole eBay argument, right?
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,
Speaker: And they're like, this is a $9,000 game.
Speaker: I eBayed it, and this is what I'm listing it for.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So I really think this is a flash in the pan.
Speaker: I hope it is.
Speaker: I don't know.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because I see there were some rare games that came up here that don't usually come up.
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.
Speaker: It was such a national.
Speaker: We're selling it now and people jumping on it.
Speaker: This would never happen again.
Speaker: So I and now I will say.
Speaker: Who knows the next edition of their auction, they, it may go crazy again.
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.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I totally agree.
Speaker: I,
Speaker: And like I said, this had a lot more national coverage.
Speaker: There was a lot of coverage to the story.
Speaker: Well, there were national news.
Speaker: Like my, I had people who they know I'm in pinball.
Speaker: So my brother sent me articles on these things like, Hey, the museum of pinball is closing.
Speaker: I'm just like, yeah, but it's kind of a private collection that people saw like three times a year or so.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, okay.
Speaker: So I, I'm interested in hearing everybody else's thoughts.
Speaker: So give us your thoughts in the comments, the, in the episode below or on pin side.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: All right, so let's move on.
Speaker: We've got in our notes, Twip Hiatus.
Speaker: Let's talk about this really quick.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, there's a lot to unpack here.
Speaker: So what do you think, Josh?
Speaker: I say if you really want to get a really good deep dive on this, head over to Eclectic Gamers Podcast.
Speaker: It's their most recent episode.
Speaker: They did a fantastic job of deep diving this.
Speaker: And not only deep diving the hiatus,
Speaker: But FTC regulations and stuff like that, which was kind of involved in this situation as well.
Speaker: And I don't know.
Speaker: I just kind of want to echo Dennis and Tony did a really good job.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I don't think I have much more to add other than what they said.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, if there is any sort of,
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.
Speaker: And so that could be challenging if you are, uh, somehow on the payroll.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I, it's, I don't know what else to say other than it's a blow to the hobby.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Jeff does a really good job of summarizing the top five things.
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.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: My thought is it's a messy situation, just like Deep Root, that there are no winners in this.
Speaker: It's everybody's losing somehow.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So in my heart, I hope that he's able to figure things out.
Speaker: And if he's able to come back in some form, then I would welcome him back.
Speaker: But it just makes me sad.
Speaker: What about you, Josh?
Speaker: Same here.
Speaker: I told, you know, shortly after Patterson had wrote the letter and put it out there, I told him it really sucks.
Speaker: And the reason being is, I don't know about you guys, but for us,
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.
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.
Speaker: Um, I always viewed this week in pinball as a very non-biased pinball resource.
Speaker: And so, um, it does stink cause it, well, let's be honest.
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,
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
Speaker: I don't think that Robert Mueller's, I'm going to be on his Christmas card list anytime soon.
Speaker: But it's, if he is involved somehow, it makes it challenging.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because there is some sort of credibility issue if you are, if it's a promotional attitude or a promotional arrangement, excuse me.
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.
Speaker: And so I'm just hoping that maybe it's time to take a hiatus.
Speaker: Jeff can figure things out.
Speaker: He can untangle things because I think he is an asset to the hobby.
Speaker: No, I agree.
Speaker: And like I said, definitely go give Eclectic Gamers a listen.
Speaker: I kind of after listening to them, I went and reread the letter.
Speaker: I kind of agree with the, the letter's not as polished as other content.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I think the problem is, is a lot of, a lot of the stuff that Deep Root put out was through Twip.
Speaker: And so I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know if it's just a distancing kind of thing.
Speaker: Cause what Robert Mueller did was pretty messed up.
Speaker: And so,
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I just, it sucks.
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.
Speaker: This is, this is kind of how it ramps down, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's a crash.
Speaker: It's a full on implosion.
Speaker: So hopefully they can, they can retool and figure things out.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: I, I, we have, you have a, a more of a relationship with Jeff than I do.
Speaker: I've never met him or talked to him, but yeah,
Speaker: We sincerely hope that he's able to figure things out.
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.
Speaker: My thought process too is, and I think a lot of people were wondering this, what happens with the Twippies?
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.
Speaker: And he alluded this into the letter that they pretty much broke even last year.
Speaker: So is it even worth his time?
Speaker: I know that they love doing the Twippies and stuff like that.
Speaker: Is it even worth his time doing it though?
Speaker: Because it might become money out of his pocket to do that, you know?
Speaker: And he went above and above above and beyond last year.
Speaker: Cause anyone that was in the top 10, then got a plaque.
Speaker: I mean, that's, those aren't free, you know?
Speaker: So it, it takes a lot to actually do stuff like that.
Speaker: So, you know, it's, you know, again, wishing him the best and, uh, whatever needs to be worked out.
Speaker: I hope it's done.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: Good luck.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Best of luck.
Speaker: So, um,
Speaker: Let's hit the Stern news.
Speaker: Let's start with the thing that came out first, Scott.
Speaker: Let's talk about the internet connectivity.
Speaker: What do you think?
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.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What's your thoughts on it?
Speaker: This is a logical and necessary next step to pinball.
Speaker: The challenge that we've always had with pinball is it's very location centric.
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,
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.
Speaker: Black and white and color TVs.
Speaker: We grew up with VCRs.
Speaker: We grew up with going to the arcade.
Speaker: I was, my whole childhood was centered around going to a physical location to play.
Speaker: Now, as the entertainment value has changed with home gaming becoming significantly better or equal to arcade gaming,
Speaker: And now arcade gaming has really transitioned into more of the... Raw Thrills is king.
Speaker: If you look at any sort of arcade, walk in there, it's every single game is a Raw Thrills game.
Speaker: And that's because it's an experience.
Speaker: You're sitting in it.
Speaker: It's an environmental... They're oversized games that you can't really replicate at home.
Speaker: But pinball is kind of this...
Speaker: I want to say orphan child, but it's been set into this.
Speaker: Everybody thinks of the chimes and the bells and whistles like a, like a 1950s pinball machine.
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.
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.
Speaker: So this is one way of getting to the next generation because what are the kids playing now?
Speaker: Because that's really where the next generation of players are.
Speaker: So the kids are playing games.
Speaker: They're playing online games and it's a competitive thing.
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.
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.
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,
Speaker: Well, and when I say kids, I'm 47.
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.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: you can say, wow, did you see the score of that guy who did this?
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.
Speaker: Because if you don't have any sort of online presence in gaming or any entertainment thing, you really become a relic.
Speaker: That's my take.
Speaker: And so I understand why it's vital for them to incorporate this.
Speaker: And they've obviously been planning it a long time because all the Spike 2 games...
Speaker: are going to be retroactively fit with this.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So, and that's my take.
Speaker: What's your take, Josh?
Speaker: Uh, I think it is a good step forward.
Speaker: I think it's an incentive for operators.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: because it helps not only with location play, but it helps with diagnostics.
Speaker: Gomez had alluded in the Stern Insider podcast, there was a lot more coming down the pipeline.
Speaker: We're kind of just scratching the surface of what's releasing with Godzilla.
Speaker: I wasn't a super huge fan of the whole verified thing.
Speaker: You can only do that on location.
Speaker: But looking at it from a different angle, that's kind of a way for Stern to help operators
Speaker: get more traffic drive to their location.
Speaker: You also can verify if an operator is playing by a certain set of rules,
Speaker: then at least there's some legitimacy to whatever scores are entered.
Speaker: True.
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.
Speaker: But there's easy ways to verify at home.
Speaker: I mean, streaming has become a huge thing.
Speaker: There's a lot more streamers.
Speaker: It kind of exploded here during COVID.
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.
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?
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.
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
Speaker: But Stern came up with their own platform because it's Stern, and that's fine.
Speaker: JJP's using Scorebit.
Speaker: Stern came up with their own program.
Speaker: I would say that, yeah, Stern came up with their own program.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
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?
Speaker: You need to have some sort of ability to teach people.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: Here's the video that says what you need to do to fix it.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Let's look and see.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What does the credit dot mean?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Pull out the manual, dust it off.
Speaker: How do I find anything on there?
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.
Speaker: Well, not only that too.
Speaker: I mean, I operated pinball for about two years in my local town.
Speaker: And it stunk when I showed up and the coin box was near empty.
Speaker: And I talked to the owner cause I want to go check it once a month.
Speaker: There's no reason to go check it more than that.
Speaker: And they're like, yeah, like you were here.
Speaker: And then like five days later it broke.
Speaker: I'm like, why did anyone call me?
Speaker: And they're like,
Speaker: We don't know.
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.
Speaker: Huge.
Speaker: I think the only thing that could be more game changing at this point, and maybe this is in Stern's bank,
Speaker: of what's coming out.
Speaker: But I mean, so I got a QR reader in it.
Speaker: Venmo has your own personal QR code.
Speaker: Start scanning in payments.
Speaker: That's one of the biggest hurdles.
Speaker: As I was an operator, I could not get people to put coins in the stupid thing.
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.
Speaker: I was at my kid's school fair tonight and I didn't pull out $1 bill.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So everything was electronic and that is, uh, that is brilliant if they have that option to, to use Venmo or something.
Speaker: Well, and everything's contact lists nowadays with COVID world we're living in and whatnot.
Speaker: And honestly, if I have less payment and then put your fingers on the, on the, you know, it,
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
Speaker: Just, this is so much more simplistic and I like it.
Speaker: I'm excited to see where this takes us.
Speaker: Yeah, it's, it is necessary.
Speaker: I wouldn't even say it's elective.
Speaker: I understand why they developed it.
Speaker: This is the necessary next step.
Speaker: So, so they, they announced this and then they give us a teaser trailer for their next game, which is Godzilla.
Speaker: I mean, we've known this for two and a half years ever since.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, yeah, it's okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The, the, once they signed it away from spooky,
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.
Speaker: Okay, I'm going to start off with one beef though.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So they did the teaser trailer.
Speaker: Fantastic.
Speaker: Whatever.
Speaker: They've done this with every release.
Speaker: You get a 10-second teaser trailer of them showing the next game's title, right?
Speaker: But then they release the video three days later or whatever.
Speaker: And you've got a minute and 23-second video.
Speaker: The first 13 seconds...
Speaker: are showing them that you can scan your phone into the game.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: That's your new feature, whatever.
Speaker: The plunge, you don't actually see the play field or a ball rolling across it till 13 seconds in.
Speaker: You see the pro for, I think, 20 seconds.
Speaker: Then you've got a segue into the premium, which is fine.
Speaker: You get another 20 seconds of the premium.
Speaker: And then the last 20 seconds of the video is just outro.
Speaker: It's showing Godzilla again.
Speaker: It's showing Toho.
Speaker: It's showing Stern Pinball.
Speaker: I'm just like... And the weird part about this release, they've done this with every other release.
Speaker: And I don't know why they didn't do it with this one.
Speaker: But they usually release...
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
Speaker: I want to see the game.
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.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Did you order the game?
Speaker: Well, yes.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I, I, it accomplished what it was intended to do, right?
Speaker: I was okay.
Speaker: I was in on the pre-order list back in July and
Speaker: Okay, I get it.
Speaker: Me too.
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.
Speaker: So, yes.
Speaker: Now, what was your... Now, I get it, but...
Speaker: Yeah, it will be nice, but we just have to wait a little longer.
Speaker: That's fine.
Speaker: Anticipation is part of it, right?
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.
Speaker: Yeah, anyhow, let's move on.
Speaker: So, oh, yeah, so that's that's our entire entire Godzilla wrap up.
Speaker: So let's move on from the.
Speaker: Yeah, let's OK.
Speaker: Let's talk about the theme.
Speaker: What does the theme Godzilla do for you?
Speaker: So let's actually just rewind two seconds.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What does the Toho Godzilla theme do for you?
Speaker: Because I'm actually kind of shocked they didn't.
Speaker: They've released four movies in the last five years of Godzilla.
Speaker: They're rebooting what they're calling the Monsterverse.
Speaker: Are you kind of shocked that it was Toho and not the new stuff?
Speaker: Uh...
Speaker: Depends on the price of the license.
Speaker: So I will say that package deal though.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So when any average person thinks of Godzilla, what do they think?
Speaker: Do they think the new stuff or do they think kind of the, the campy dude in the rubber suit dancing around?
Speaker: And okay.
Speaker: That's what I think when I think of Godzilla.
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,
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.
Speaker: And they had these movies.
Speaker: So I, that's kind of what, um, I wasn't super interested in Godzilla really.
Speaker: I actually never even saw the new ones.
Speaker: because I watched them.
Speaker: They're decent.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It's fine.
Speaker: I just never felt that it was, I, it's not, it's not my bag.
Speaker: It's not my thing.
Speaker: So, so I, the license did very little for me.
Speaker: What about you?
Speaker: Um, I agree.
Speaker: I wasn't super enthralled for a Godzilla themed pinball machine.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: I will say, though, I am into campy stuff.
Speaker: I have said it before.
Speaker: I enjoy the Aquabats.
Speaker: I mean, I watched Power Rangers growing up.
Speaker: I feel like this is where they got their inspiration from, that campy fighting.
Speaker: It's almost not like fighting.
Speaker: It's just a bunch of zooming up and zooming out of cameras and terrible throws and stuff like that.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, yeah.
Speaker: The Matthew brought, the funny thing is I turned it off.
Speaker: I remember I watched it right until I think there was a whole bunch of small lizard.
Speaker: It's small lizards in Madison square gardens.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I, I kind of lost interest.
Speaker: I was like, I think I've done.
Speaker: Um, so I don't know.
Speaker: Uh,
Speaker: It's like I said, I think it's campy enough that it just, it fits my collection in that way.
Speaker: Um, but Godzilla, no, it's not on the top of my list.
Speaker: It's nowhere near, I don't even know if it's on my top 20 of my lists.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That being said, when it was released and you took a look at it, what did you think?
Speaker: I thought, holy crap, this thing is packed.
Speaker: The theme integration is amazing.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That was my thought is that this looks fun.
Speaker: Like I, I showed it to my daughter who's six and she said, wow, that looks fun.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It, it, my six year old daughter and saw this game and said, that looks fun.
Speaker: So I was like, you know what?
Speaker: I think I missed the ball on this, that this is, this is a good thing.
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.
Speaker: Has that ever been done before?
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.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I'm impressed with it and
Speaker: I mean, the theme is on par.
Speaker: And I love zombie Yeti artwork.
Speaker: I think he does a great job.
Speaker: I don't know why he causes some diversity on Pinside.
Speaker: Some diversity?
Speaker: Division?
Speaker: What's the word I'm like?
Speaker: Division, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: He can be divisive, especially on this.
Speaker: But OK, but I thought the game looked fun.
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.
Speaker: But now I'm I'm all in.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, OK, so let's talk about the art.
Speaker: I guess I'll go first on this one.
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.
Speaker: Like it still looks old and campy, but it visually it pops.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: And it definitely has his style.
Speaker: He, he has mastered, um, Jeremy has mastered being able to, to do a great play field art package.
Speaker: And I think it works really well for this.
Speaker: And you have to, you can't go black and white on this.
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.
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.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: I agree the artwork is on par.
Speaker: It's good.
Speaker: I don't understand when people are like, well, it looks too much like Avengers.
Speaker: Well, so then you could say that it looks too much like Ninja Turtles and it looks too much like Deadpool.
Speaker: That's zombie Yeti style.
Speaker: You don't complain ACDC all sounds the same.
Speaker: It's because that's the way they play their music.
Speaker: I do have a friend who says, I asked him about U2 and he says, I don't like that song.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But looking at this, like the thing I appreciate, it looks great.
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.
Speaker: And, and part of it is like with turtles.
Speaker: I know with Jeremy Packard,
Speaker: He grew up with turtles.
Speaker: It meant a huge deal to him to do that artwork.
Speaker: And so there's a lot of passion that oozes out onto the play field.
Speaker: If you don't believe me on this, look at the Primus play field.
Speaker: That man loves Primus.
Speaker: He's done flyers for him and everything.
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.
Speaker: It is fantastic.
Speaker: And I feel like you're getting the same thing with Godzilla here.
Speaker: Yeah, it's if there's if there's one criticism I could possibly make is
Speaker: the side art on the pro and the premium, they just mirrored the sides.
Speaker: Like he didn't do anything unique on either side.
Speaker: It's just the, the same thing on both sides.
Speaker: Okay.
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?
Speaker: The LE it is unique on each side.
Speaker: The,
Speaker: the play field itself looks very similar.
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.
Speaker: the major challenges is you don't have the elevator.
Speaker: Well, whatever the building skyscraper, the skyscraper, you don't have that.
Speaker: And you don't have the mechanized Godzilla or the Mechagodzilla or what is it?
Speaker: Mechagodzilla.
Speaker: Mechagodzilla.
Speaker: You don't have that, but everything else looks very similar.
Speaker: So I think it was,
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
Speaker: I don't know.
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.
Speaker: They've been more hit.
Speaker: They've been more hit than this.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I mean, even ACDC, I don't know, it's kind of cut and paste.
Speaker: I know some of it's hand-drawn, but...
Speaker: I mean, even that artwork's a lot better than, let's say, like 24 or Avatar.
Speaker: Those are terrible.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so I'm just, you're getting your money's worth for the artwork here.
Speaker: That's my opinion.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It certainly is a pretty piece that you will put in your house.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: And okay, so Max, wow.
Speaker: Well, let's talk about price increase, too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Do you want to do max first or do you want to do pricing?
Speaker: Well, let's talk about the price increase first, because I think it'll actually play into it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And so the price increase, it is, it's a big jump.
Speaker: And so I, I, this will be interesting to see.
Speaker: So the pro model goes up to 6,899.
Speaker: So basically $6,900.
Speaker: Premium is $8,999, which is basically $9,000.
Speaker: And limited edition is $10,499.
Speaker: So $10,500.
Speaker: So you're still keeping that standard $1,200 difference between the premium and the... Well, actually, wait, sorry.
Speaker: No, that's a $2,200 difference.
Speaker: Yeah, $2,200 difference between the pro and the premium.
Speaker: And the LE is another 1500.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's a big jump in prices.
Speaker: So Josh explained this to me.
Speaker: Well, Kamekau alluded a lot to it when we talked to him in the podcast two weeks ago.
Speaker: Pinball prices, it's not even just pinball.
Speaker: It's the economic situation has gotten out of control.
Speaker: Wood is getting... I mean, you could buy wood for four times less last year than it is right now.
Speaker: It just... Shipping costs... Good luck in finding a shipping container.
Speaker: And then you start talking about air freight, and that's even more money.
Speaker: It just...
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
Speaker: Who was the other one that just announced?
Speaker: There was one other that just announced, too.
Speaker: And their prices.
Speaker: They've all gone up.
Speaker: They've all won.
Speaker: JJP last year went up $1,000.
Speaker: Yeah, they raised that after they had started selling the game.
Speaker: So that was shocking.
Speaker: So part of me is like, this has to be out of necessity.
Speaker: If everyone's doing it, there's got to be some kind of...
Speaker: It goes back to the fact I think we're still seeing shortages places.
Speaker: Prices are going up on metals and wood.
Speaker: Does that justify the $1,200 on a premium?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's what I'm getting at.
Speaker: I think it's a combination of necessity and popularity.
Speaker: This is going back to basic economics 101.
Speaker: You have a supply and demand curve.
Speaker: And when the supply is, is low, then the, and the demand goes up, then the prices are going to go up.
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.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So I think it was raised for two reasons.
Speaker: I think it was raised possibly for supply issues.
Speaker: But I think it was also raised to say it's the same thing about ticket resellers.
Speaker: People complain and complain about ticket resellers buying up tickets and then scalping them for twice to three times.
Speaker: Guess what?
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.
Speaker: She shouldn't have sold it for $100 because she was selling it for under market value.
Speaker: And so if you sell it for what's market value, then that's what you'll get.
Speaker: And so it's legitimate to say they're raising, they're likely raising how much they're getting from each machine.
Speaker: Now, I also think that there's a little bit of an arms race.
Speaker: When you look at when Steve Ritchie goes over to JJP and he subtly says the cuffs are off and
Speaker: Everybody looked at that and said, well, okay, so that's a build of materials issue.
Speaker: If you're handcuffed by something, that means that you are limited by design.
Speaker: And limited by design means you don't have everything you want to put in the game.
Speaker: So is it possible that these, I think there's three fold issues to this one.
Speaker: So, uh, the costs have gone up too.
Speaker: I think they've actually raised their build of materials.
Speaker: I think they're actually allowing the designers to put a little more into it because we're going to get into it.
Speaker: This game looks more packed than any game Stern has ever made.
Speaker: And three, I think there is a, hey, it's selling for more.
Speaker: Who should get the price?
Speaker: Should a flipper get the price or should Stern get the price?
Speaker: And the answer is Stern should get the price.
Speaker: So I'm... And I...
Speaker: it's hard for me to say that I am cheering for these prices to go up.
Speaker: But the bottom line is we knew they were going up just on the secondhand market.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I didn't pay $13,000 for mine, but that's what it's going for.
Speaker: And so, um,
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.
Speaker: And I was actually, now I will say, this is a tooting my own horn.
Speaker: I was able to find an LE for a friend who said he couldn't find one.
Speaker: So Tim Purcell, you're welcome.
Speaker: I agree with you.
Speaker: I think it shows that the marketplace is healthy.
Speaker: I think the people to claim that it's solely a cash grab, that's a little naive.
Speaker: It's my object.
Speaker: And it's self-serving to say that I like buying cheap stuff.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: And so, and I think they timed it perfectly.
Speaker: I think...
Speaker: Because this was originally supposed to come out with Avengers last year is what we were told.
Speaker: You mean the connectivity?
Speaker: Yeah, the internet stuff.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: And so I think they saw that prices were already rising as is.
Speaker: And they figured, well, let's hold off on the internet stuff and we'll do it all at once.
Speaker: I think that they've been wanting to rise prices for right now.
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.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker: Like I said, am I happy with the price raise?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: But it's predictable.
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?
Speaker: And so you're buying all these games for cheap, but everybody's saying, you know, pinball's dead.
Speaker: This is terrible.
Speaker: We're done.
Speaker: Well, and even looking at Godzilla, this brings excitement.
Speaker: I mean, this, the mech mechs in this game, the, the innovation on it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So, so let, let's transition then.
Speaker: So we talked about pricing.
Speaker: So now let's talk about the game.
Speaker: So what's in the game, Josh, a five story skyscraper, a breaking bridge.
Speaker: You got Mecha Godzilla that has a turntable in front of him.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Turntable with a ramp on it.
Speaker: That way you can ramp it up and he'll catch it with a magnet.
Speaker: And that turntable turns so that way you've got three stand-up targets to hit.
Speaker: I mean, the pop bumper is in a, I would call it the TNA location because that's what TNA did at first.
Speaker: And there's a lot of metal.
Speaker: There's a lot of metal ramps.
Speaker: Well, actually, it's in the TNA location.
Speaker: Okay, really, it's in the pop.
Speaker: And that Twilight Zone had the pop bumpers down low too.
Speaker: Yeah, but it's a single pot bumper in that one location.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: Pat Lawler's like, I'm putting five right there.
Speaker: And everyone's like, hey, that's Adam's family.
Speaker: Welcome home, I guess.
Speaker: Anywho, this game for the premiums pack, and what's crazy to me is how stripped down the pro is.
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?
Speaker: Sorry, stripped down compared to a Premium.
Speaker: Well, okay, so I would say stripped down compared to this Premium.
Speaker: Because if I look at this, I still argue that this is a pretty crazy Deluxe Pro.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, compare this with Iron Man.
Speaker: Yeah, true.
Speaker: Good point.
Speaker: This has wire form ramps.
Speaker: This has three flippers.
Speaker: This has all these crazy things.
Speaker: If I had released the Pro five years ago, you would have said, this is amazing.
Speaker: This is a game changer.
Speaker: Oh, and I also forgot.
Speaker: So there's one new feature on here that I didn't include on the mix.
Speaker: The industry first, the Magna grab.
Speaker: Yeah, that claw thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, no, it's this big post here.
Speaker: If you look next to the skyscraper.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And there's actually a captive ball in there.
Speaker: When I say the claw thing, if you look at Jeremy's art, there's a Godzilla claw underneath.
Speaker: I gotcha.
Speaker: So, but yeah, that thing has a ball in it as well.
Speaker: There's a captive ball in there as well.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So wait, there's no way.
Speaker: There's a captive ball too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You look at it from a different angle where it's, where it's sitting down.
Speaker: You can see there's a ball behind it.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: It just looked like a curved metal thing.
Speaker: Exactly.
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.
Speaker: I am an insider.
Speaker: I just haven't actually listened to it yet because I've been working all week.
Speaker: So,
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.
Speaker: Well, yes and no.
Speaker: I guess Warmonger is a pretty good toy.
Speaker: You mean Iron Monger?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The Warmonger is the rocket shot.
Speaker: Oh, gotcha.
Speaker: But yeah, this has got a lot more wire form and stuff to it compared to that game.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So this is, it's great.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: So I, this is packed.
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.
Speaker: This is prices for Godzilla.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And for the other games, they said they're raising them $300 till the end of the year.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then there's going to be a different price.
Speaker: And then there's going to be a different price.
Speaker: And so I actually feel that this is kind of a borderline premium game.
Speaker: Like when I say a premium... Like a Kapow title?
Speaker: Like a Kapow.
Speaker: I know this isn't a Kapow title, but this feels like it is so packed with everything that this is...
Speaker: a, a, a supra premium game.
Speaker: I agree.
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.
Speaker: And I thought Avengers look packed.
Speaker: What's your takeaway from, from Godzilla?
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: So it's, it's just, it's totally campy and fun and having that, uh,
Speaker: that bridge ramp that breaks is just cool looking.
Speaker: I don't know how else to say it.
Speaker: It's just really interesting.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, but that, that breaking bridge, just it, that's brilliant.
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.
Speaker: Uh, those are the two things that jump at me.
Speaker: What do you think, Josh?
Speaker: I think the skyscraper is pretty awesome.
Speaker: Uh, realizing if you look at that,
Speaker: they had to engineer that so it didn't actually hit the bottom of the cabinet when it sunk all the way down.
Speaker: That's what I was kind of... Well, does it sink all the way down?
Speaker: Because it's the physical ball lock that is on top and they kind of spill out.
Speaker: Does it actually go all the way down?
Speaker: So it goes the vast majority of the way down.
Speaker: So if you look at the...
Speaker: the top of the roof lifts up and then the balls come across this clear plastic.
Speaker: That's right above the, the bottom door.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: Cause I, I kept looking that like how far down I thought it kind of dumped down.
Speaker: Oh, oh yeah.
Speaker: I see.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I didn't see exactly where they dumped down, but yeah, that's going down probably about four and a half inches.
Speaker: That's I thought they said it was six inches in total.
Speaker: It goes down six inches in total.
Speaker: That's what I was.
Speaker: That's what I think they said there on.
Speaker: That's pretty impressive.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I'm excited.
Speaker: I'm excited to get my hands on this game.
Speaker: And, and crazy detail.
Speaker: Get that Godzilla sculpt.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's pretty good.
Speaker: I mean, for, for the, for the flack they got for having the, you know, the, the dishwashing glove for the gauntlet.
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
Speaker: So our logo's on this game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Along with our Twippy, I heard that there's a Twippy on.
Speaker: We didn't get a Twippy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He got it.
Speaker: Oh, no.
Speaker: Our future Twippy, you know.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: No, but there is Gary Stern on that.
Speaker: Did you see that?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: That's pretty awesome.
Speaker: That was a great touch, Jeremy.
Speaker: There's some wonderful Easter eggs in here.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: They've just... I am so excited with everything that Stern has been putting out.
Speaker: It's been...
Speaker: They really have raised their game.
Speaker: Well, I actually want to hit on two more things.
Speaker: Let's really quickly, you said that you heard some positive things about Cam and Cal.
Speaker: You heard some interesting things.
Speaker: What was your responses you got?
Speaker: Oh, well, I thought there were people who laughed a little bit about the Beatles and they said that sold out.
Speaker: I'm like, may or may not be sold out.
Speaker: That could be that could be some gamesmanship.
Speaker: Now, that being said, I do like the Beatles.
Speaker: I know some people really don't like it and they say it's a very stripped down.
Speaker: You're paying a premium for what should be a five thousand dollar game.
Speaker: I get it.
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?
Speaker: That is a fantastic integration of the theme and it's fun and it's a fun family game that you can have.
Speaker: So that's actually why it jumped me up to say, I'm actively looking for a Beatles now.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But what reinforced it was the theme is king.
Speaker: He claimed that Guns N' Roses were selling for a super high amount.
Speaker: Yeah, that's not really true.
Speaker: They're not super available because I think people like it.
Speaker: But when they do come available, they're not $11,000.
Speaker: Back to the Future, people only buy those just because of the name.
Speaker: And he capitalized on the licensing magic.
Speaker: So I doubt that if Stern released Lord of the Rings and it was called...
Speaker: Like short people and trolls, you would not be.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: D&D.
Speaker: It would not be the same.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So he found lightning in a bottle on that.
Speaker: Now, he's very good at that.
Speaker: But, you know, he certainly has no love for Robert Mueller.
Speaker: And I share that with him.
Speaker: Uh, yeah, but I, it was really awesome to talk to Joe and I really appreciate him coming on.
Speaker: So what, what was your take back on Joe's?
Speaker: A lot of positive, positive comments came back.
Speaker: A lot of people enjoyed the interview.
Speaker: uh, a lot of people did point out that me and you got a whopping like 17 words in on the whole thing.
Speaker: Well, okay.
Speaker: He was like, it was like, uh, he was a jukebox.
Speaker: You put a quarter in him and he just went off and it was like, wow, that's, that's really good.
Speaker: He was, he was awesome.
Speaker: He was, he was a fantastic guest.
Speaker: He was, uh, like I said, he's very confident and whatnot.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I really enjoyed having him on.
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.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And he obviously knows what he's doing.
Speaker: Now, some people said about him being very confident about getting the license.
Speaker: And even our friends at the pinball show with...
Speaker: With Zach and Dennis, they were talking about whether or not he would be the one to get a license.
Speaker: They said, well, Roger Sharp.
Speaker: I'm like, maybe.
Speaker: Roger Sharp certainly knows his way around licensing.
Speaker: However, Joe has worked with
Speaker: Harry Potter.
Speaker: And so I, I Warner brothers.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: I think that is a done deal.
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.
Speaker: Uh, speaking of the pinball show, I just wanted to bring this up really quick because it's funny.
Speaker: Cause we talk about this in private and then we talk about it in public and then we talk about it in private.
Speaker: Uh, the Goonies, cause obviously Joe Cam and cow, uh,
Speaker: It's funny that Dennis said they should have cut that out.
Speaker: I laughed so hard.
Speaker: Yeah, I was laughing.
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?
Speaker: And you'd said, you know, it's a bad theme or whatever for people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And he's just like, oh, it just I laugh.
Speaker: So, no, I was laughing pretty.
Speaker: And the best part about it is we're interviewing him with a video on.
Speaker: And so we were able to see his reaction.
Speaker: And some of the reactions aren't going to translate as well on just a voice medium.
Speaker: But it was a genuine reaction.
Speaker: So I had a good laugh, too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But one thing that we did, and neither one of us have talked about the pinball show or us.
Speaker: So we posted...
Speaker: Would you like a Goonies?
Speaker: Wrapping up episode 72 with the pinball show, put nice job, Zach and Dennis and Brad Albright.
Speaker: I figured instead of emailing us, you can just vote here.
Speaker: Is Goonies a dated theme that doesn't hold up and isn't the best theme for pinball at the moment?
Speaker: Or do you believe Goonies would be epic and still good as ever, as it ever was?
Speaker: Comments.
Speaker: We got almost 60 comments on this bad boy.
Speaker: I mean, people jumped on.
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
Speaker: It would be epic, dated theme, it's okay.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Honestly, what's the threshold?
Speaker: What's the threshold?
Speaker: You're, you're rarely going to get a hundred percent theme.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so at what point do they say, you know what?
Speaker: There's enough of the pinball market that's interested in that theme that makes it worthwhile for them.
Speaker: The other one that made me laugh that stood out, Ian Harrower, he posted, I love the Goonies.
Speaker: Great movie.
Speaker: I can see the cast so vividly in my mind.
Speaker: And he posted a picture, but it wasn't of the Goonies.
Speaker: It was of the guys from Stand By Me.
Speaker: Stand By Me.
Speaker: Yeah, that was so good.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: But, I mean, people are claiming Back to the Future, Scooby-Doo.
Speaker: I'd rather see Gremlins or Top Gun.
Speaker: I mean, it just – yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker: Gremlins is not going to get made.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: There's no chance.
Speaker: Top Gun, I could actually see Top Gun getting made, especially with Maverick coming out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, yeah, I just, okay.
Speaker: So, so here's the question, Josh, like if you were in a theme presentation, like, okay, you present different themes.
Speaker: Um, Hey guys, we got Godzilla.
Speaker: How many people are interested in Godzilla?
Speaker: Like, do you really think of the pinball community that more than 40% were interested in that theme?
Speaker: I would make it lower, but I would make it lower.
Speaker: And I actually, I bet they're going to sell a billion of these things.
Speaker: Don't tell Zach, I said this, but I really think that Goonies would be a higher up on the list than Godzilla.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, well, I, I, I totally agree with you.
Speaker: That's my point is that on our responses, you had 40% of people saying that they were connected with the theme.
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.
Speaker: But there are a lot of people who hated star Wars and star Wars is way in my wheelhouse.
Speaker: So I don't know.
Speaker: I, the thing about Godzilla, here's the thing about Godzilla is it's such an influential theme.
Speaker: It is,
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.
Speaker: So that's why I'm like, Godzilla makes sense to a point.
Speaker: And I just don't know where Goonies lands.
Speaker: That's the thing is Godzilla is still having movies made where Goonies, I don't know, isn't.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But you know, again, um, I'm what's the next rumored title.
Speaker: Uh, rushes and how many people like rush?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, I like rush.
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.
Speaker: It was called, uh, uh, cinema strong Giotto because, uh, one of their, um,
Speaker: One of their instrumentals is called Levi Estrangiato.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But it actually talked about their last tour.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And they were interviewing Tom Morello's wife and Tom Morello's wife.
Speaker: He said, I liked her because she was a Rush fan.
Speaker: She was an original Rush fan before Rush was cool.
Speaker: And they even had like a counter that came up and said total, total female Rush fans.
Speaker: And it counted up to seven.
Speaker: So you're obviously rushed.
Speaker: They're never considered a cool band.
Speaker: So you're already dealing with half of the demographic right there and you're dealing with a very niche thing.
Speaker: But it's rumored that that's the next thing that's coming up.
Speaker: So they will take chances on themes that will connect with enough people to sell.
Speaker: Well, and here's, here's my thought process.
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?
Speaker: I'm believing more and more.
Speaker: It's not just theme theme is fantastic.
Speaker: Don't get me wrong, but I would argue that Led Zeppelin is a bigger theme than Godzilla.
Speaker: Led Zeppelin's one of the top selling bands of all time.
Speaker: It's up there with Beatles.
Speaker: It is what it is.
Speaker: Um,
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
Speaker: than it is Led Zeppelin.
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.
Speaker: It's a Richie's Greatest Hits.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: Yeah, you're right on.
Speaker: This was, I would say, the theme of this game that came out.
Speaker: Do you want to know the important theme?
Speaker: The number one selling theme?
Speaker: Was Keith Elwin and Rick Nickel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And Zombie Yeti.
Speaker: So it's that it's that group.
Speaker: They got the band back together and they put one out.
Speaker: Zeppelin, I did talk, I have a good friend who's a distributor, a local one here in Utah.
Speaker: And I picked his brain and I said, hey, what is your interest?
Speaker: Like, what are people asking you about?
Speaker: And he said, I haven't had one inquisition on Led Zeppelin.
Speaker: I'm like, really?
Speaker: It's like, okay, so what are you getting asked on?
Speaker: He's like, well, I'm getting asked a lot on.
Speaker: Deadpool, I'm getting a lot of questions on Jurassic Park, Avengers, Premium, and Mandalorian.
Speaker: And those were the top ones that he was getting inquiries for.
Speaker: And I may have one of the few Led Zeppelins in the state.
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.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: It's still fun though.
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.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So, so honestly, like I said, I still feel like Goonies is dated.
Speaker: I feel like it doesn't hold up.
Speaker: I watched it recently.
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.
Speaker: I mean, we've done it multiple times before with Black Rose and Pirates of the Caribbean and stuff like that.
Speaker: I don't know, but I feel that exact same way about Scott Pilgrim versus the world.
Speaker: I mean, there's so much on that movie slash comic book that you could do a lot of great things with it.
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.
Speaker: So I don't know.
Speaker: I'm kind of getting to the point where it's like theme is awesome and great, but I think, I think
Speaker: It's not the only thing.
Speaker: It's not the only thing.
Speaker: If you can make a heavy metal pinball machine, there's not much out there you can't make, in my opinion.
Speaker: Okay, so one final question I do have.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You're Charlie Emery.
Speaker: Yes.
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.
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
Speaker: I bet he's happy.
Speaker: I bet it's a mixed bag of emotions.
Speaker: That is exactly what I'm getting at.
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.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And he would have done everything he possibly could to make it an awesome game.
Speaker: And he would have nailed the theme.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, I, I would argue that Stern's ability to do
Speaker: advanced level game stuff is higher.
Speaker: They're a bigger company.
Speaker: Stern can do things with a game that Spooky just doesn't have the resources for.
Speaker: And so I would say as a fan, he's looking at this and saying, this is awesome and amazing.
Speaker: And I think Keith was able to nail the theme.
Speaker: He was able to nail the integration and he was able to do some really awesome things.
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.
Speaker: But from a fan side, I think he has to be excited that this looks so amazing.
Speaker: And it's so well received for such a, such a niche theme.
Speaker: No, I'm, I'm excited.
Speaker: It's another good day in pinball.
Speaker: It's a lot better this month than it was last month getting that news.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: No, I think this is... It's morning in America.
Speaker: So if you're old enough to know that theme, then you're probably interested in the Led Zeppelin game.
Speaker: Or you need to take some ibuprofen for your back.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: You need time to schedule your colonoscopy, kids.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Well, I think we pretty much covered it.
Speaker: We've covered Kapow.
Speaker: We've covered Godzilla.
Speaker: Is there anything else I'm missing before?
Speaker: Oh, I want to say one more.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: One more thought.
Speaker: It just hit my head.
Speaker: Ian Haberman, man.
Speaker: Sad to see you go.
Speaker: Sad to see you step down from Poor Man's Pinball Podcast.
Speaker: I get it.
Speaker: Scott and I have been doing this for almost three years.
Speaker: I remember us sitting down with Martin rushing over the Willy Wonka
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.
Speaker: We've had some really great interactions behind the scenes, in front of the scenes.
Speaker: Man, I
Speaker: it's like, I get it.
Speaker: Life, life gets in the way and, and life is definitely more important than a podcast, but, uh, I don't know.
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,
Speaker: And he'll probably still be around.
Speaker: We still hear from Fowler and stuff like that occasionally on a podcast.
Speaker: But good luck in life, man.
Speaker: I know that you've had some really rough times these past couple days or these past couple months.
Speaker: I hope life gets better.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a melancholy happy trails.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So very unique.
Speaker: You guys did good work with poor man.
Speaker: And good luck to Drew with whatever he decides to do with poor man.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Anything else?
Speaker: No, I think it's great.
Speaker: Now, this is the question I want you guys to answer.
Speaker: One, it's a two-part one.
Speaker: Were you interested in Godzilla as a theme before?
Speaker: And two, if you are buying a Godzilla, which version did you get?
Speaker: So shoot us those responses.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: One last question for you, Scott.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: One last question.
Speaker: I know you've been dying.
Speaker: I know you've heard this question a month ago and you've been dying to answer it.
Speaker: You ready for this?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Segment still.
Speaker: You are on a boat and you could only save either Jeff Tealas or Martin Robbins.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: It's, it's no question.
Speaker: Um, I am, uh,
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: I am going to, uh, I'm going to throw myself overboard and save those beautiful people.
Speaker: I'm going to stab myself and jump into the water for those sharks.
Speaker: And then I'll ride them like those girls on Atlantis.
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: I didn't see the Atlantis thing.
Speaker: Seriously.
Speaker: One of the most awkward play fields out there.
Speaker: Oh my goodness.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Anyway, I love you, Jeff.
Speaker: And even though Martin, you were going to stab me, still love you.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: We're ending on that.
Speaker: If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserKidPinballPodcast at gmail.com.
Speaker: We are also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, all at LoserKidPinball.
Speaker: We do stream occasionally at LoserKidPinball on Twitch.
Speaker: I just posted one for Avengers.
Speaker: We had some fun there.
Speaker: If you want to get a hold of us,
Speaker: Like I said, email us.
Speaker: Facebook's probably the best way to do it.
Speaker: I do have a couple hats in stock.
Speaker: If you're coming to Expo, we're going to be there.
Speaker: Please give me a heads up if you want any swag whatsoever.
Speaker: So we can either A, get a specific thing printed like a shirt or I cannot get the hoodies right now.
Speaker: Scott doesn't even have a hoodie because I can't get the hoodies.
Speaker: I don't know why the crap hoodies are on back order, but they're on back order.
Speaker: We got stickers.
Speaker: We got all that jazz.
Speaker: I think I still got some beanies floating around.
Speaker: If you really want that stuff, let us know so we can bring it to Expo with us.
Speaker: Yeah, and we may have a new hat design.
Speaker: Oh, really?
Speaker: Spoiler.
Speaker: Only you're going to have to tell me about that.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Thanks, guys.
Speaker: Check us out.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: See you in a couple weeks.
Speaker: Okay, bye.
Speaker: Shut up and sit down.
