Question for you Zach, or anyone else for that matter, do you feel that there is more to the story that wasn't told in "Tilt! The Battle to Save Pinball"? There is always more to the story but out of curiosity do you feel that was not "truthful"?

Regardless, it would make for a great episode!

Good choices, I'll add in my perennial Chronicles request:

-Ed Cebula the great and forgotten Data East designer.

He started out designing pins for Gameplan, and then he had a hand in almost all of the great DE pins, before dropping out of the pinball industry and disappearing. Who was this man of mystery?

I’m seeing the opposite lately. People want videos modes in every game, and if it’s not there, it’s like the manufacturer forgot to put one of the flippers in.

T2 super jackpot is one of the most addicting things in pinball. The payoff, the sounds, kinetic satisfaction. It’s got it all.

Need to have more Bruce. This was fantastic chemistry and really glad Bruce decided to come on even though his opinion is completely wrong! I love it though. Great episode!

Agreed, this worked better than I thought it would!

It was awesome hearing Bruce school Zach on what makes a good pinball machine.

Hobbit: “what do you even hit with the upper flipper?!!?” Lol!

See, us old timers look past the shiny flashy things.

rd

Enjoyed hearing Bruce as a guest. He’s stubborn and opinionated, making for a great podcast!

-------- TPN Launches ThePinball.Network -----------

The Members of TPN are excited to announce the lunch of our website www.ThePinball.Network!

ThePinball.Network is designed to be at a focal point for pinball content creation and online pinball entertainment. This website was built from the ground up to be the next step in growing the TPN brand and to make accessing TPN content easier than ever!

TPN was founded by Zach Meny and Dennis Kriesel as a media group dedicated to pinball shows, podcasts, videos, and streams. Their goal has always been to develop an inclusive, accepting, and collaborative community of pinball content creators where ideas, suggestions, and positive reinforcement build a better hobby.

Podcasting:

Looking for a pinball-oriented podcasts? Check out the list of amaze-balls TPN Podcasters in the Podcasting section!

Looking to build on your knowledge of pinball history? Interested about hearing the latest news or interviews with pinball’s premier names? How about what ever the hell the Puppet Palz are? Well, TPN has you covered at ThePinball.Network. We have a variety of podcast content creators who all have distinct audiences. There is likely something for you among our suite of Podcasts.

Be sure to check out our dedicated TPN Podcast team member pages. There you can find links to their Podcast’s RSS feeds, websites, Facebook pages and merch stores!

Streaming:

At the heart of TPN is the dynamic group online Streaming Affiliates. These Streamers are the most innovative, captivating, and fun Streamers on the interwebs. Under the Streaming section you will find the detailed Twitch Streaming Schedule to keep you up to date on the always busy Streaming schedule.
ThePinball.Network is here to help you find TPN streamers, watch them stun your senses with their flipper skills (or non-skills), and engage with them online. We have made sure to collect links to their streaming channels, social media, websites, and Only Fans… probably… Jump in and find someone new.

More Content to Come:

TPN is always looking to innovate and push the envelope.

We plan to continue to build out ThePinball.Network in the coming months by including new sections like a Pinball Blog with post by TPN Members. Articles to share content creation knowledge. Why should you trial and error your way though Streaming or Podcasting if we already have? How about Pinball Stories from your favorite pinball personalities and hobbyists on how they discovered pinball, how they experienced pinball through their life and how they faced great moments in pinball.

In addition, we still have a few content creators to add to the site which is why they may be missing!

We’re enthusiastic to share all this content with you, so keep it lock on ThePinball.Network for more!

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Wow a website; wish I had had that idea 11 months ago!

Edit: and I thought Geocities wasn't around anymore!

Looks like you've got some competition and they ripped your show name .

Time to call the lawyers
And what's on the coin door of your Hobbit .

Wait....so "Pinball Market Trends" is trademarked but not "The Pinball Show"?

As long as market trends and deals of the week and little Dennis is safe in the front shirt pocket of Zach , I can sleep easy at night .

A phone ring of "Buy Buy Buy" would be hilarious !

Oh my God... The 4 inch Kreisel clone!!!

Say what you will, that's a decent launch trailer.

And she's not nearly as sexy as Den Den.

Well, typos show that they're comman folk. Helpz then stay in touch with the peple.

Hmm, I always thought of Den Den as the cute little pocket man of the group. I think Pocket-Kriesel would fit right in on puppet palz.

Hey wait. Was Den Den on H.R. Pufnstuf?

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Hey Zach, I'd have one suggestion regarding the show:

Since it's only a podcast, it'd be totally ok and nearly unnoticable if you save the mp3 file in mono and assign a lower bitrate to the channel you have left.
(Like you stop noticing compression with music in stereo with 192kbps, so half of that -96kbps- for one channel is absolutely sufficient.)

It could massively reduce the filesize (while unnoticable in sound quality) and the podcast streaming would perform way more hazzle free on mobile devices. And a 180MB like the newest show is a lot of weight on the dataplan if you listen to a podcast every day, or try to jump inside the podcast and it loads/ streams the file again, again and again from the beginning.

Oh, and it wouldn't stop halfway on my way home, when the preloaded buffer from the offices wireless network runs empty.

That's propably the most important thing.

Edit: I want to add that server performance and personal experience might vary wildly in correlation to the geographical location. The performance of the website as a whole is not great from where I am and might be totally ok inside the US.

I can't believe they got Ed Robinson to do a custom song for them.
Amazing.

What's going to be the running time?

I can't believe I ate the whole thing!

"Just one more stuffed artichoke"

I'm glad to see Dwight get his own episode. I met him in Louisville and he's a super nice and down to earth guy. Some of his games are my favorites and I think GOT is a masterpiece.

Great episode!!

Thanks fella!

Sharing a feeling that I’ll hearby refer to as ... the conspiracy theory. There is no such thread available so will go into what what I believe to be true.

In it ... Rodger Sharp has already licensed Harry Potter with a demand that Jersey Jack design and produce them. These are full-assets licenses and allow for three distinct pinball machines to be made over five years. This ends 2025, and the clock has started!

As such, JJP’s attention is divided into producing GNR with all the polishing to make it the greatest game ever made - no question!!! (that will take some more work IMO). The other attention is focused with Pat and Eric both being balls to the wall designing 2 of these HP tables. They are bringing on another mystery designer to produce the third and final table (can’t say who it will be but he must be pretty great to hang with Pat and Eric

This is why Toy Story has fallen off the radar. Pat has that one done and it is in the chute and ready for launch. Pat is busy designing HP #1. Eric is supporting GNR issues and designing HP #2. Designer of HP#3 has yet to be selected so TBD. Near end of 2021, Toy Story will be announced and it will start up on a new second line at JJP. TS will be built alongside GNR for following year. In Mar of 2023, JJP will reveal the first 2 Harry Potter pins and they will be shipping both games. (two new games in one year at the same time. mic drop). A JJP will have announced designer of HP #3. (we may see Eric designing the final game. Why change horses when you’re already riding the best?). In March of 2024, Harry Potter #3 will be released. The final pin of the trilogy will be run on the main line. HP versions 1 & 2 will continue to be run on the smaller line. All lines will run through 2025.

In preparation for this, I wil be purchasing a map and a magic wand. Highlighting the total license fee of $6M. A $3M check was paid to start the deal, $1M for each machine. $1M final payment is due at expiration date of contract - 12/31/25. That adds to a mere $4M and I said $6M, so where’s the missing money? $2M is owed and paid to the actors for their permissions. Now $6M is a tough nut to swallow, but spread over 6k units made and the BOM has only increased $1k per pin.

Forgot to mention, thanks go to Dennis Kriesel for his gift of prophecy and whispering of a honey potion into JKR’s morning Bloody Mary. That sealed the deal, I am sure. #wordsmatter

You have theory crafted an interesting conspiracy theory.

I actually get a few people who, from time-to-time, ask me about Harry Potter and if I really can't imagine it happening. So let me weave you a version of my own theory craft that, while I still find it improbable, I could see as a potential path forward.

Kaminkow and Roger Sharpe, together, tag-team and get the license. Cost runs between $1.5-$2 million, for a single game. Three-year term that triggers the moment the paper is signed. Stern gets the game for three reasons:
1) Kaminkow only works with Stern when it comes to pinball
2) Roger gives his son the coup-of-the-decade when it comes to licensing
3) They are the only company that can really eat this cost assured to meet the license timetable

The money alone is not required for this to happen. Kaminkow has to give JK a ride in his 1966 Batmobile. Also, to satisfy her concern that pinball lures children into seedy venues of ill repute, a condition of the license is no functional coindoor can be included and the software must have coin-drop options removed (free play only). JK, fresh off her Batman experience and reasonably assured only homeowners will get this game, consents (oh, and the cash of course).

Kaminkow and R. Sharpe co-design the game. I imagine it looks like a cross between Laser War and Barracora. B. Eddy isn't even allowed to look at it during design (he's banished to Godzilla).

License assets are limited. It's the world of Harry Potter but none of the major characters. Stern has the pull to get Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) to do call-outs but that's really as close as it comes (full music though!). Game has you play as a generic "wizard" in the world, and you tangentially play modes related to major scenes from the various movies. Most movies are rolled into the single pin (except the second-to-last, Harry Potter and the Boring Tent Experience, or whatever it was called, there's nothing worth redeeming there).

Three models, but not cornerstone, more like Beatles. All three flavors are limited. Unlike Beatles, all three versions have mechanical differences. Estimate total game production on the 2-3k level. Prices inflated to address license issues. My speculation is Gold is basically toy-free, Platinum has a cool serpent toy, and Diamond has a whole mode dedicated to quidditch. Lots of video assets with shots of the school and the world and such, no close-ups of characters. Lowest model probably starts around $8k and the highest around $20k.

If you want hope I give you hope. Tempered, realistic, and brutal.

You had me until no coin door. I don’t think that will be an issue in the end. While part of many HP lore back stories, it might not be real. Surely if the game is released with a coin door the licensor can claim they had jkr in a mud wrestling ring and when put in a head lock, jkr tapped out and says, ”the coin door can stay”!!

When the game(s) are made we see for ourselves and if there is a coin door we can conclude it never really was an issue. If it ships without one, then it really was an issue.

If Kaminkow / Stern has the license ( what have you heard?) I’d totally expect your reality theory to play out as described. That will save me 3 x $12k and equals a Christmas card from my finial advisor every year until death.