Pinball

"The game should look as amazing as the game flows. That's a bunch of BS. We no longer should look at a Pinball machine and say, well, it looks good enough. I really like the way it flows."

Pinball art should receive equal attention to design - games should look as amazing as they play

"the more and more I look at this stuff and zoom out a little bit and look at the world around pinball, the more I realize there is no point. There is no reason for any of this. There is no need for pinball in the world. There is nothing of value to be gained or lost. All there is. All there is. Is an attempt at bringing us some joy and some happiness"

There's no point to pinball debates - it's all just about having fun

"I know that the majority of people out there are a bunch of suckers when I watch you behave this way when you just jump back on board because the person who's who's lied to you now for for like years... you love pinball so much that you believe whatever someone tells you when it comes to a pinball manufacturing"

Pinball collectors are suckers who ignore red flags and enable bad business practices

"Nobody in the car industry goes and throws money at new car companies. Nobody in like the transformer toy collecting hobby goes and throws money at a toy that has not even been made yet. Only in pinball do people throw their hard earned money at a toy that hasn't even been developed or manufactured yet. It's idiotic and it needs to stop."

Only in pinball do people throw money at toys that haven't been developed yet - it's idiotic and needs to stop

"When we think about passionate people in the pinball world, it's really just on one hand. You can count the people that actually are so passionate about pinball that they're making their very own pinball machines. That's amazing to me."

Believes passionate creators making machines are rare and more valuable than critics

"Prices are not going to plummet. Pins are going to lose a thousand here or a thousand there. Some might go down more if the game is not good. But you're not going to start seeing Wizard of Oz is selling for $4,000 anytime soon."

Pinball prices will decline but not plummet due to too much new inventory

"all these collectors and all these pinball enthusiasts they've become like mindless sheep who just move towards the light they remind me of those bugs in in wreck it Ralph right that once the beam of light goes up they all just swarm towards it that's what pinball people are like when you put a dream theme out in the world"

Pinball collectors are like mindless sheep who follow dream themes regardless of company problems

"I will always argue that pinball primarily is a work of art. And I think collectors out there, especially collectors, they are drawn to the artistic side of this hobby maybe more than anything else. Because we know that a lot of those collectors, they don't even like, they barely play their games. They like looking at them, waxing them and just keeping them beautiful."

Pinball is primarily a work of art, and collectors are drawn more to artistic side than gameplay

"the reason for it... who is the primary audience? Primary audience is an older person. The primary audience, not even a secondary audience, is the location... That's not a primary driver for any of the companies currently in business."

Roger Sharp believes themes target older demographics because that's the primary market, not locations with younger audiences

"I think the biggest obstacle, if you will, is the need by location owners and equipment operators to maintain their equipment. And I think that that is a challenge for pinball to kind of become more mainstream."

Roger Sharp believes the biggest obstacle to pinball becoming mainstream is maintenance, not lack of demand

"there are so many games coming out that it's almost impossible for things to stand out it's almost impossible for things to feel really special and it's almost impossible to have the spotlight on your game for very long"

Market saturation makes games less special and harder to flip

"People love it so much that they behave in a way that contradicts all logic. And that is why we also love it because it is a place where our hearts and our nostalgia like drives us towards the future. It's not about common sense and it's not about thinking logically."

Collectors behave irrationally and emotionally in pinball, contradicting all logic

"The problem with the forum is that there's a lot of, there's a lot of like disinformation and there's a lot of like, you know, sort of uninformed opinions affecting what, what people. And it's, it's normal of all forums... And some people are going to spin you up because it's fun to spin you up."

Forums spread misinformation and negativity about pinball issues

"I've said many times on this podcast, collecting Pim-Ball machines and trying to keep a Pim-Ball machine pristine and mint and perfect is kind of, it impossible thing considering what the thing is... they're, they're games, they were designed to be played."

Keeping pinball machines pristine is impossible and contradicts their purpose

"Watching a video stream of someone playing pinball for two or three hours is probably the worst use of time you can do over a two to three hour period... watching somebody play pinball is tantamount to having like your back wax"

Watching 3-hour pinball gameplay streams is the worst possible use of time

"pinball really went through a period where just the artwork became terrible like it was just when pinball was about to die in the late 90s early 2000s the art really just became Photoshop drag and drop kind of stuff like it used to be hand drawn artwork it used to be very intricate stuff very colorful stuff"

Pinball went through a terrible period where artwork became Photoshop drag-and-drop instead of hand-drawn

"I am not sorry that this podcast will go after individuals who manufacture games who make mistakes or say things that are not accurate I'm not sorry anymore when I read people's anxieties and frustrations when they're buying new inbox"

Kaneda defends his critical commentary on pinball manufacturers, saying he won't apologize for going after companies who take money but don't deliver products

"I don't blame the buyers because you guys are like you're like drug addicts. Like you're like addicted to Pinball right. I mean anyone who comes on the Pinside anyone who collects Pinball machines like that's your thing like your drug is Pinball. And so when someone promises you a new Pinball machine you you wave money at them like you're waving money at a drug dealer and you're an addict"

Pinball collectors are like drug addicts who wave money at manufacturers like they're waving money at drug dealers

"out of all the hobbies I'm into, out of all the different companies and brands I follow, I don't think I've ever experienced more of a larger group of disingenuous, dishonest all over the place, never get, you know, tell you the actual truth, lack of transparency companies that I do in the pinball world"

Pinball manufacturers are the most disingenuous and dishonest companies across all hobbies

"the current artwork that people were getting when you when you popped on the scene was shit. It was shit. It was dragon drop Photoshop shit."

Pinball artwork before Magic Girl was poor quality drag-and-drop Photoshop work

"why can't we get more creative code that would open up a Fun experience to more and more people... Every player gets two minutes to see how many times they can hit the pop bumpers and whoever hits the most pop bumpers wins"

Pinball should offer different gameplay modes beyond just high score competition

"You've got to sell at least a thousand machines to even get a marginal basis of profit"

Pinball manufacturers need to sell at least 1000 machines to make marginal profit on new titles

"I'm like, do you know the history of pinball 2000? You know, it didn't fail. All right. It didn't fail. It sold. It sold. And it actually sold better than expected."

Pinball 2000 didn't actually fail - it sold better than expected

"Your purchase decisions will determine which one of these companies survives and which one of these companies fails. It is all up to you."

Collectors control the entire hobby and should demand accountability from manufacturers

"This is a hobby about a toy, right? Nothing of what we're discussing is really that important. None of this matters at all in life"

Pinball hobby obsession is unhealthy and ruins enjoyment of the games

"It's just silly to think about all the gripping and speculation and arguing that goes on around the expensive toys that we call pinball... the hobby that we're in is really inconsequential on every level in the world"

The entire pinball hobby is inconsequential and we're all wasting energy arguing about expensive toys while people in third world countries are happier without any of this

"You are going to see Pinball companies fail by 2017. Companies that you know now that are shipping games will be gone. I guarantee that."

Prediction: Some current pinball companies that are shipping games will fail and be gone by 2017 due to market collapse.

"Try and come up with the similarities to what we're going through now and really ask yourself, shouldn't we stop all this madness and just let games speak for themselves and get excited about a game after we play it."

People should stop the madness and get excited about games after playing them

"I think collecting Pimple machines is is fucking about to self destruct... It's gonna burst. It's gonna burst. It really is"

The pinball collecting hobby is about to self-destruct from unsustainable pricing and volume

"Pinball is the dumbest fucking thing to collect. It really is... If you spend $10,000 on a TV You will have the nicest fucking TV... Name me another toy in the home that you play for entertainment Where like 10 grand doesn't even get you the best version of it"

"I don't think it's gonna be that bad. I think this hobby is doing very, very well. I think that the hobby is going to become more of an elite hobby."

Pinball hobby will become more elite but won't die in 10 years

"And stuff's going to sit for sale if people think they're going to get like more than they paid for those titles. So that's my prediction is you're going to see a lot of people having to sell this stuff."

Prediction: Many people will be forced to sell their pinball machines due to high pricing and reluctance to accept new pricing.

"I think remakes to me pointless. Why do you want to go back and get a Attack from Mars? Why do you want to go back and get a Cactus Canyon again? I'm sorry, but these games and the future of pinball is where the excitement lies."

Pinball remakes are pointless compared to new games

"this is becoming if it is not already it's a hobby for rich white dudes for the most part"

Pinball collecting is becoming a hobby exclusively for wealthy people

"The first comment right after Adam Post is... 'wow, seriously, much love the spooky, but this is bullshit.' I mean, the level of anger was..."

Designer backlash against Domino's contest

"This theory of a bubble is kind of ridiculous I mean I've heard this about 10 years ago or seven years ago and you know these you know it's it's not really a theory that's holding up."

The pinball bubble theory is ridiculous - more people want pinball than own it

"I think it's an awesome toy it is a toy it's not an investment okay I don't buy my games investment"

Pinball machines are toys, not investments

"They looked at it as an investment and that's wrong and that's where I went wrong too"

Pinball should not be viewed as an investment

"I will go on the record Ryan by saying that I don't think that making pinball machines is hard"

Making pinball machines isn't actually hard

"They don't show you the pinball machine until it's already made and done and then you can go buy it. That that needs to be the practice that everyone adopts"

Only show pinball machines when they're complete and ready to ship

"But the fact that you can sell a game for almost what you paid for it if not make a little money. That is a major contributor to why it's so popular"

Pinball machines are good investments due to resale value retention

"There's it's it's like a hanger where pinball machines go to die. It feels to me a little more like a big You know A big funeral home for pinball versus a place that embodies the life of pinball the spirit of pinball You can't just shove games in a hanger and call it a day"

Pinball Hall of Fame needs major overhaul to feel fun and inviting

"I'd rather have a pinball machine where you have eight modes that are incredible and are give you just as much satisfaction and you want to get through all of them versus cutting each of those slices into smaller slices"

Quality over quantity for pinball modes - fewer substantial modes better than many short ones

"It's not a sport, guys. It's a competition. It's a competition of skill. And I get it. And it's competitive. And you play against someone. But it's not a sport."

Pinball is not a sport, it's a competition of skill like chess

"I think it's the only place I go to where I see grown men in their 40s. Literally walking with canes. I'm sorry, like guys who are way too young to be so physically out of it."

Many pinball tournament players are physically out of shape - grown men in 40s walking with canes

"I think at the risk of pissing off a lot of people I think pinball arcade on was it sunny Placation or whatever it is I think that's sort of the urban answer because it's a great way to learn a rule set"

Strong preference for Pinball Arcade as urban pinball solution over owning machines

"majority people who want to play pinball and have fun don't really care about that. And I think that's a hard pill to swallow for some people."

Most people don't care about deep code and complexity in pinball

"I think pinball is like for me it's the ultimate metaphor for life. There's good days, there's bad days. Just like in pinball, some days you've mastered it, some days it kicks your butt. But no matter how good you get, there's always room for improvement. Pinball is like inherently social"

Pinball is the ultimate metaphor for life - has good and bad days, always room for improvement, inherently social

"it's reached a point now where if you're working on a pinball machine you should stay focused on the pinball machine you're working on and let your work do the talk. Don't don't come out and don't be critical and don't nitpick other people's artwork until you have proven that you can develop a pin that is equally as exciting"

Pinball designers should stop critiquing competitors and let their work do the talking

"So pinball, it seems like if you're going to go into being an operator, pinball is probably the hardest venture to go into... claw machines are just churning in the money"

Pinball is harder investment for operators than claw machines