Shout out to Ben Smith and his creation of this new merch design! He sent us this logo as a joke and we decided to roll with it. I'm assuming Travis loves it but I can't see him so I don't really know. Shirts and Hoodies available!

https://silverballswag.com/collections/triple-drain-pinball-podcast/products/short-sleeve-t-shirt-1?variant=39819788058682

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That's my favourite podcast! Thanks ZMeny

Great listen to latest TPS.

I think the both of you have great insights in to the bond 60th game..
I believe the both of you are correct with Dennis' thought about who the game was made for being more in line. 20k thematic pinball is geared toward the super collector of the theme. 65/35 split towards the super fan.

I also think that they will reuse the playfield layout for this game with a future game. Ala Metallica/Guardians, with a few small tweaks.

FOMO is an evil mistress

All Stern needs to do is retheme the 60th Elwin layout as STARGAZER 2, ditch the playfield screen..its unneeded.... price it at $7500 and sell thousands of them.

Everyone is happy.

Episode 121 Part 2: From BUY Now! To CRY Now! was superb. The rebuttal was so good and 100% spot on and more importantly - delivered effectively. What a mind trip. Anyways, points made we are all ready to move on and continue to prosper. Somewhere in the world an eagle is is screeching and a goat is screaming.

I hope whoever fake ordered the 60th has gone on a special list. What a douche move.

Everyone says this … unfortunately it shows a lack of knowing how business works.

Assume a cost to manufacture of $5000 (random figure but a decent guess)

500 games made in a week x $20,000 each = 10,000,000 - manufacturing cost $2,500,000 = $7,500,000 profit. In one week.

2000 games made over 4 weeks x $7,500 = 15,000,000 - cost to manufacture $10,000,000 = $5,000,000 profit. And you’ve tied up the factory for 4 weeks.

Your concept takes 4x more time to make. And makes $2.5 million less profit.

For manufacturing (and retailing) low numbers and huge margins make a lot of sense.

rd

Yes! As someone who is considering getting into the re-theme/homebrew side of the hobby I am SO EXCITED for this podcast!!!

I thought the conversation about re-theming the Elwin bond game was interesting with good points on both sides. I think putting out a game by the most popular current designer and making it extremely difficult for most people to play it isn't good for the hobby. Knowing that there's a good chance I may never get to play that game bums me out. If Stern's goal is to keep growing the hobby (and therefore their business) I think they should re-skin it to a fun theme with good artwork and sell it at LE pricing to help protect some of the value of the Bond60. That would be a good compromise for everyone.

Anyone buying James Bond 60th based on the assumption that it is the only game Stern will produce that will ever use that layout is taking a gamble for sure.

True. But why not do both? Stern most likely wouldn't be able to sell another 500 of the game at the high price, but could maybe sell another 1000 at a discounted price with a different theme. Wouldn't be as profitable as the Bond 60ths, but would still be highly profitable. Two weeks work, 2.5 mill profit using your numbers. Sounds like real money.

Because everyone who just paid $20,000 bucks for their 500 only, limited edition game will be really pissed off and never buy another $20,000 game again.

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you! The Whales are there to be continually drip fed enticing “rarities” cough cough and be relived of their dollars.

No need for them to reuse this layout. Just spend a month and make another similar one. The designers are on salary … Use the same software framework and change the assets.

Most of this stuff is pretty commonsense really. Added …. But this is Stern we are talking about .. so who knows!

rd

Yep... I understand that.
I should have put in the caveat that I was thinking a year or two down the road, when Stern is in the Bigger factory, with an extra build Line or two.

My response was to your assertion that it made no economic sense to run a different pin with the same layout. As to the pivot to whether or not it would piss off the whales, possibly.

I could see Stern making the argument that it was only limited in that there were only ever going to be 500 James Bond 60th anniversary pins ever made. I don't see anywhere they promised to make this layout exclusive for all time.

As for Stern biting the hand that feeds them, that goes on constantly. TWD Premium, Munsters Color Premium both pissed off the LE buyers. Elvira SLE, then Elvira 40th anniversary also come to mind.

"Common sense" would predict future behavior based on past patterns, so anyone assuming it wouldn't happen again are the ones not thinking clearly about it imo.

Funny … because I almost put a caveat at the end of that sentence that said “but this is Stern we are talking about here”.

Hey - as I said in the JB60th thread - as a long term pinball owner, I don’t like the way this is all going. $2000 toppers? $13,000 LEs? - get the f**k outta here with that shit.

But from the business side - hard to fault what Stern is doing. Minimise the output and maximise the profit. They keep on jacking up the prices and people keep buying their stuff.

It’s a few years later than I thought it would be - Gary stayed on way longer than I expected - but prepare yourself for the sale of the company for megabucks, and Gary and Dave’s retirements.

rd

No, that’s not what I was meaning.

In the JB60th thread countless people have said “they should make this $7000 and they’d sell a bunch”

My point is WHY would they do that? When people like Zach will willingly hand over $20,000 a pop.

They’d be stupid to do that. Take Zachs $20,000 and run.

Then Zach can buy a Beatles and put it in a regular Stern cabinet. Because the Beatles can doesn’t match the other pins. OMG Zach! My head was almost exploding when I heard all that stuff about the Radical backbox!

As a tribute to you, here’s a picture that will no doubt make your skin crawl . Rest assured that the 100s of people who see this every year *dont* *give* *one* *shit*.

rd
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Post fail

Agreed. That's what I've been thinking ever since they hired Seth. They are going to be doing everything they can to maximize valuation. Rough ride for pinball enthusiasts.

I’m not sure of the appeal of JB60. One could buy 3 pro’s designed by Elwin for the price of a single level game by Elwin. Any of Elwin’s 4 designs is better than this one. The only constant I can derive is the buyer of JB60 is not concerned about gameplay. Rather it must be the collectibility of the game that is motivating sales. I am not into buying collectible pins so am not a target audience for this offering. No anger was added.

Also - I see the grass roots developing of a new movement - Pinball Purchase Bullying (PPB). PPB must end! Stop the shaming of rich, white dudes. Why can’t we all just get along? You are more likely to score an invite to play one if you are nice to these patrons.
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I was dying laughing at the "Flippy" bit... Figure it out!

Very cool episode guys! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the INDISC stream all weekend long until late night here in the east coast and relate to Joel’s excitement during the finals, it kept me glued to the TV too. Great review and congrats to Travis!!

I enjoyed listening to the tournament talk. I’m never going to watch people play pinball for longer than a few minutes. That’s extremely boring to me.

But listening to what happened, boiled down to 15-20 minutes was perfect. Just telling me what happened, explaining thoughts going into the competition and a few anecdotes was way more interesting than watching pinball being played will ever be.

F*ck f*ckf*ck f*ckf*ckf*ck f*ck

toe tappin'

In Australia we would write
Fuck , Fuck , Fuck , Fuck , Fuck , Fuck
Happy Australia Day everyone .

IMG_20230126_191630 (resized).jpg

Which would be short for:
"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge",
"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge",
"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge",
"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge",
"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge",
"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge",
And that's just to much to say.

And No Toe Tappin

Interesting and well done interview.

Good job on the award show. The giveaways were a nice touch.

This is most likely not the origin of the word but don’t tell Van Halen…

Good award show last night. I predict this is going to be a rough morning for Amanda.

Enjoyed the Pinball Awards. Fun and entertaining

Pinball Awards was great, if I had won anything it would have been epic.

If I had won the Rush Topper, Flip N Out would have a sale. thanks again

I just tried to get on tpn using my phone and computer and chrome gives me an unsafe webpage warning? Anyone else have this problem?

They didn't renew their domain name before expiry.

Or website certificate perhaps?

Ut oh

I've let Zach know, the post just references the wrong URL. The website is: http://thepinball.network/

EDIT: Actually, I think we had that URL functioning as a mirror to the Podbean URL at one point before having the TPN website made. If you are wanting the feed URL that I believe it pointed to, you can access that here: https://thepinballnetwork.podbean.com/

Sure am.