Pinball

"a lot of you out there, you're pedestrian. You don't push these products forward. You don't demand more in your pinball. And that's a sad part of pinball."

Pinball customers are pedestrian and don't demand quality

"making pinball is hard. It is extremely hard. It is one of the hardest things you could probably make in 2020, in modern times... I am in awe of the companies that actually are able to accomplish and finish games and get them in boxes. I am in awe of all of them"

Making pinball is extremely hard and we should respect companies that can actually finish games

"It was the engineers and the hardworking people at BLE Williams and Data East and all the engineers behind the scenes, you don't get the credit. They're the ones who built up the designers. The designers did not built up the manufacturing of these companies... The creatives take all the credit, but the hard work and the execution is really what matters the most"

Companies built up designers, not the other way around - manufacturing teams deserve more credit than creative designers

"If you're not into pinball you are not going to watch a pinball stream. You're not going to watch a pinball stream for more than like 10 seconds. We need to stop thinking that these things are designed to broaden the appeal of pinball"

Pinball streams shouldn't try to have broader appeal - only pinball geeks will watch them anyway

"watching someone stream a pinball machine is like watching somebody eat a cheese steak...watching a pinball stream just in general in general it's a fatiguing exercise"

Streaming pinball machines is like watching someone eat a cheesesteak - fatiguing and overstimulating

"If you don't let go of some of this OCD behavior, you're going to be a slave to maintaining the perfection of the game which will eliminate your ability to just play and enjoy the game... Just play the f in game. Just enjoy the f in game. Just turn it on, flip it and play it."

Stop obsessing over pinball machine preservation and just play the games

"I don't think you can be a pinball media person who is talking to people and trying to give them some sort of objective feedback on something happening... But how can you really go on the airwaves and give your opinion about something that you're also selling because you're never going to give a negative opinion about the thing you're selling."

Attacks pinball media personalities who are also Stern distributors as unethical

"I'm actually really happy I don't have any pinball machines. Let's talk about that for a moment, because I know I get a lot of flak for not having any pinball machines"

Not owning pinball machines is actually beneficial during crisis

"I know damn well that this show will be irrelevant in a few weeks... imagine two months from now and no new games have shipped. What are people talking about?"

Pinball podcasts will become irrelevant when no new games ship - including his own show

"Nobody wants to open up a $7,000 to $9,000 NIB toy and have to start adjusting stuff to get the game to shoot the right way. I get you might have to do it, but you should not have to do it."

All new pinball machines should not require significant adjustments to make basic shots work

"The economy is going to keep dipping and tanking. And so pinball sales are going to slow down... the thing that they will easily pass up buying right now is a non-essential pinball machine."

Pinball manufacturers will struggle due to coronavirus economic impact

"I do think that we do need a balance anyway. There are absolutely times and places for things like, like, like, rock bands from the 70s and 80s, right? There are absolutely places for things like Rick and Morty."

Pinball needs balance between contemporary and classic themes

"It takes over people's lives and I'm telling you and I've said it before. It's not worth it. Pinball is fun. Pinball is entertaining. But when it reaches the point where it becomes the center of your world, the center of your universe, it's the center of your house, the center of your free time, the center of your vacation space."

When pinball takes over people's lives completely, it's not worth it - balance is essential

"watching pinball to me is boring as f it is the most boring thing you could spend what little time we have on planet earth doing"

Pinball streaming is boring and will never expand the hobby - most streams only have 5-50 viewers

"Do you ever find it like weird that people want to watch a game they bought being streamed for hours before they actually even play it themselves? Isn't that like spoiling some of the fun of the game?"

People watching game streams before playing spoils the fun

"Pinball will expand and pinball can grow and pinball can reach a lot of people if every single pinball podcast went away. We are not the catalyst for the expansion of pinball"

Pinball podcasts don't expand the hobby or bring new people in - only existing fanatics listen to pinball content

"You're going to buy a $7,500 to $9,000 toy that you have to go upgrade out of the box to make it look good. Are you people really that stupid? Are you people really that stupid? You should be demanding more from these manufacturers."

Customers willing to buy defective games and upgrade them themselves are stupid

"pinball gizzard I have no idea who you are and maybe you think you know me, maybe you think you know it's in the heart of this man but let me tell you something buddy. You don't know anything about me"

Kaneda calls out pinside user 'pinball gizzard' for claiming he never intended to donate charity auction proceeds

"how many of you out there are spending the amount of time and energy that these individuals are doing to just create pinball content that they're not making any money on"

Pinball podcasters should be respected for their free content contributions rather than attacked

"I think it's lame. I think the lame people are the salty people, the people who complain that people are excited about being recognized or the chance of being recognized within the industry."

TWIPYs are positive celebration, not a competition - critics are just salty

"we have had for years now penball consumers throw crazy amounts of money for no value at all. And yet they expect deeper to put all of this value in there and expect us to to to cheap it and out right and we're not we're not deserving of charging more money."

Criticism of pinball consumers throwing money at games with no value

"No no Chris it's worse than that I guarantee you pull any manufacture right now whether they're doing it in house or not. And you drop a ball from three inches which is probably less than what the strongest strike could be every one of them will dimple."

Prediction: Any pinball manufacturer's playfield will dimple when a ball is dropped from three inches, which is less than the strongest strike during play.

"the greatest way to be in control while you're in that driver's seat is simply to not buy until you see something that is amazing"

Buyers should stop purchasing games until manufacturers provide better value

"I think where most of them are shortsighted is in how they approach this sort of feverish community that will absorb so much from them. And yet they get so little, right? They only seem to get a game out to people and maybe a little bit of options for the game and some crappy t-shirts."

Pinball manufacturers are missing huge untapped revenue opportunities in mods and merchandise beyond basic t-shirts and toppers

"450 people have locked themselves in and commit it to buying El Vira... Nobody has even played the game or seen it played and yet everyone is committed to buying it."

People committed $15,000 to Elvira without seeing gameplay or knowing if clear coat issues are resolved

"I can't believe people went into his four sale thread. And I know he's charging like 21,000, but people went into his four sale thread and started insulting him and making fun of the fact that he was trying to raise money to help a sick family member. And I just wanna say, that's disgusting."

Calling out pinball community members attacking someone selling game for family medical expenses

"that $200 microphone that is broadcasting out a message like that could potentially be costing some of these companies over a million dollars in sales. And to them that is egregious to them use of pinball media and an egregious terrible person to have in the hobby."

Pinball media criticism can cost manufacturers over a million dollars in sales

"I think it is irresponsible for these manufacturers to continue to put these kinds of problems into the game and then passing those problems onto you the customer who is spending all this money"

Manufacturers need to halt production until clear coat issues are identified and fixed

"I don't want to have to wait for the other pinball media to actually make this a main topic of discussion. Meanwhile people you know they're gushing over how great these games are. Meanwhile people are buying games and these issues are occurring"

Criticism of other pinball media for not covering clear coat issues

"we're not talking about news about you know trade wars in Europe and nuclear weapons and conflict with North Korea it's fucking pinball news it has a monetary value of fucking zero zero"

Pinball news has zero monetary value and credibility concerns are overblown

"It feels as silly as saying you can't have air conditioning in the summer, even though it's just a much better way to like exist or live. You know, I just think the games are a lot easier to play and just, and the artwork shines with the lighting."

Games desperately need additional lighting - compares to air conditioning necessity

"Willy Wonka is going to sell great because of the theme... It's going to sell twice as many as dialed in. It will. And even though some of the pinball purists might be like dialed in as a better game with better code and better modes... it doesn't matter. Willy Wonka will sell twice as many as dialed in on theme alone"

Theme is everything in pinball sales - Willy Wonka will outsell better games purely on theme

"I didn't even hear a lot of the pinball podcasts talk about Tommy and what happened there like what what is going on? If you have a pinball podcast and you're covering what's going on in the hobby, it's not always roses."

Calling out pinball podcasters for not covering the Tommy Floyd incident

"I don't think that if you knock a game around that just how heavy it is equals the fact that it's quality or not. But what's most important is just is the game working or not? Is the game going to stand up to multiple plays?"

Pinball quality should be measured by reliability, not just how heavy or solid it feels

"so many people out there are worried about one thing. They're worried about falling out with those manufacturers and those individuals behind the game. They still want to maintain a relationship so they can't really tell you how they really feel."

Most podcasters won't give honest opinions because they want to maintain manufacturer relationships

"It is the most versatile physical pinball mechanism ever developed. Write it down mark my words you'll say the same thing when you see it."

Prediction: A new pinball mechanism will be recognized as the most versatile physical pinball mechanism ever developed.

"I think streaming a game before it's done is my big issue with pinball streaming... Name me one other industry that does this that shows the world, the product before it's complete"

Streaming incomplete pinball games is stupid and harmful

"these people like Jack Danger and like Greg and Zach and Brodo even talk pinball, buffalo... There is so much work, there's so much energy, there's so much effort to make it happen... I think what they do is an incredible thing for the hobby."

Positive view of pinball streaming community and Jack Danger

"when it comes to having a quality pinball experience there's really only one question... is your pinball machine working or not"

Quality should be measured by reliability, not materials

"The fact that so many pinball machines look exactly the same in terms of the primary elements of the game. Does point, I think, to a lack of creativity and risk taking in pinball."

Pinball lacks creativity due to formulaic designs with three pop bumpers

"For me, the ideal number of pinball machines, the ideal, I don't understand why you would need more than this. The ideal number of machines would be four to six."

Ideal pinball collection would be 4-6 machines with different gameplay experiences rather than huge collections

"for so many of you guys you have pinball collections in your homes you barely play the games you barely turn them on you don't need 20 games you know that you know you have a disease you know you have a problem"

Pinball collectors have a disease - barely play their 20+ game collections

"When you stand over the game, it looks much better in person than it does on the stream. I guarantee you that. I guarantee you that."

Prediction: The game looks much better in person when you stand over it than it does on stream.

"I think people are going to realize that, fuck, it's better to own one machine that's magical than 10 machines that are kind of all right. And that's what's going to happen to pinball. You are going to see so many games go up for sale"

Willy Wonka will cause collectors to realize they've been buying inferior games and trigger mass selloffs

"Like 500 of those games and give each of those games a mode or a wizard mode that is only available in the collector's edition code. Why don't they do that?"

Pinball companies should include unique code/modes in collector's editions to justify higher prices

"I absolutely love it because I think pinball tournaments are boring as fuck. And they need more personality in it"

Tournament play is boring and needs more personality

"in 10 years I think pinball is not going to be nearly nearly having the same sort of resurgence it's having right now... we will hit an economic downturn... if you can't see the oversaturation that is coming"

Pinball market will decline significantly in 10 years due to oversaturation and economic downturn

"ultimately it does feel like the games that failed to be successful will end up being the greater games... maybe it's always been that way that if you want to create something super valuable, just claim you're going to make a lot of them, then throw your arms up and say, we failed to do it."

Failed pinball companies create the most valuable collectible games

"And that's not my fault. I don't want to plow through rule books and thread after thread after thread of people trying to explain the simplicity."

"I am no longer gonna flip anymore pinball machines. I no longer I'm gonna do that. I don't I don't feel the need to do it. I don't think Flipping games will even work anyway in the future I think we're at a saturation point"

No longer flipping pinball machines - market at saturation point