Ep 80: Catching Up

Transcript

Speaker: Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.

Speaker: We are on episode 80.

Speaker: My co-captain with me, Scott Larson.

Speaker: And today, it's just me and you today, buddy.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: You know, it's sometimes you have to catch up.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: We haven't really talked about the news for a little bit.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: It's been kind of weird.

Speaker: Yeah, I know.

Speaker: It's been a lot of fun, but it's, yeah, there's a few things that we do need to catch up on, which will be nice.

Speaker: And let's start off with our sponsor, though.

Speaker: Josh, who's our sponsor?

Speaker: You know, Flippin' Out Pinball has done an awesome job for us.

Speaker: uh zach has helped me i'm actually uh getting some stuff submitted on warranty for my dracid park we uh the light has went out on my qr reader for my new internet or my stern connected and man he is right on top of it and so um i've like i said if i've ever had an issue zach has taken care of it i've

Speaker: always been happy with his results and he keeps me up to date as much as as the manufacturers do and so if you're looking for that next pinball machine now that stern's not making some for a little bit we'll get into that a little bit later but if you're looking for that that godzilla or the rush or mando they're they're gonna be making all those this year

Speaker: And so hit him up.

Speaker: He'll get you taken care of.

Speaker: And if he doesn't sell it, he will probably somehow try to find a way to get you on.

Speaker: He'll acquire it.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: So he's awesome that way.

Speaker: And yeah, check out Flippin' Out.

Speaker: Zach and Nicole Menny.

Speaker: All right.

Speaker: And Josh, there's a lot of stuff that we really... We've been a little Rush heavy and probably because I'm a huge Rush fan.

Speaker: Probably.

Speaker: But there's a few other things that have happened.

Speaker: I guess most notably, Weird Al was announced by P3 or Multimorphic or however you want to call it.

Speaker: So, okay.

Speaker: Let's talk.

Speaker: What's your first impression on Weird Al?

Speaker: Let's talk about the theme.

Speaker: When you hear...

Speaker: Were you surprised by the theme?

Speaker: I want to ask you first, are you a fan of Weird Al?

Speaker: I don't know anyone who's not a fan of Weird Al because at least there's one song that is, it's fun, right?

Speaker: I mean, it's, there are many of them that are on dad joke level where people will groan a little bit, but at the same time think, yeah, that's pretty funny.

Speaker: Well, my son's at 11.

Speaker: And so when he saw this, he's, he got his first MP3 player that's like for Christmas and

Speaker: And it was nothing but Aquabats and Weird Al's all he wanted on his MP3 player.

Speaker: And so it was funny because when I showed him this, he's like, we're going to buy this, right?

Speaker: And I was like, let me play it first and then we'll decide from there.

Speaker: And so he's like, I'm going to Texas then, right?

Speaker: Oh, wow.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: He wants to level up.

Speaker: I was like, no.

Speaker: No.

Speaker: Yeah, that's pretty funny.

Speaker: It's funny because I feel like I was listening to the pinball show, which they did a fantastic deep dive, or at least a dive of the Weird Al theme and everything.

Speaker: And one of the things that they had said is like,

Speaker: It feels like everyone was a fan of Weird Al at that like preteen teenager boy stage.

Speaker: Like we all remember the song that made us giggle.

Speaker: We shared with all of our friends, but we've all kind of grown up and like we still have a nostalgia for Weird Al, but it might not be our go to music.

Speaker: And I feel like that's a perfect metaphor for like pinball.

Speaker: A lot of us enjoyed it as teenagers or preteens.

Speaker: Like we love the arcades.

Speaker: We love pinball.

Speaker: So after I thought about that, I was like, well, kind of where it was the perfect theme for pinball because they both kind of go hand in hand.

Speaker: I think the theme is good.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: In that it's certainly recognizable.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: It feels very much like a...

Speaker: I don't know, like a Saturday afternoon special or something where it's, you know, it's, this is not, well, I'm going to borrow from Dennis a little bit.

Speaker: Dennis Creasel, when he's talking about, this is not an A-list title and that this is not like a huge one that is,

Speaker: is culturally touching everybody such as, you know, like Mandalorian was huge and stranger things and all, all these things that are huge that are relevant at this time.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Weird Al's been around for so long.

Speaker: I mean, really, I remember him way back from the Dr. Demento days, which he would submit these, you know, he, um, I think I remember the first song that he did was, w as a Yoda.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And it's funny, but you're just like, yeah, that's kind of a funny thing.

Speaker: But it's like Saturday Night Live.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: Saturday Night Live, it's a parody of something else.

Speaker: And yes, it's funny, but is it enough to carry a theme?

Speaker: But I think Weird Al is certainly enough to carry a slot machine or something like that.

Speaker: And this feels a little bit like in that realm where, hey, it's interesting enough and quirky enough that maybe it'll be fun.

Speaker: Well, and what's funny is when it was announced, so we hadn't seen anything yet.

Speaker: It was just essentially Weird Al's

Speaker: Museum of Hilarity.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: We were in a chat with some of the people at work at P3 and they're not giving us anything.

Speaker: They're just, they keep saying more soon, more soon.

Speaker: And one of them asked, well, what's your first impression?

Speaker: Just, just from the title and from, and I said, it reminds me of Alice Cooper's nightmare castle.

Speaker: And they're like, how so?

Speaker: And I'm like, well, think like Alice Cooper was all about going through his nightmare castle.

Speaker: Like it was progressing through rooms and stuff like that just off of the name alone.

Speaker: And so it makes me think that you're going to progress through a museum

Speaker: like you'd, uh, with weird Al and whether the rooms correlate to whatever it, you know, they're different themed.

Speaker: And he's like, you got all that just off the name.

Speaker: And I said, yeah, that's, that's how else would you take that?

Speaker: Cause it's weird Al's museum of hilarity.

Speaker: And, and they had said, that's interesting that I'd said that.

Speaker: And then like a couple of days later when they did a full announcement, it's kind of similar.

Speaker: Like you, you hit the orbits to go through different rooms.

Speaker: Um, the thing that kind of bugs me,

Speaker: I know people keep saying there's like 17 fully featured songs.

Speaker: No, they're not.

Speaker: I get that the hamster songs in there for probably one of the modes.

Speaker: I can't remember if it's like a hamster multiball or whatever.

Speaker: But Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a 27 second long song.

Speaker: There are gum commercials with longer music, you know?

Speaker: Yeah, this is different than Rush's 16 songs.

Speaker: Yes, very different.

Speaker: And most of those, three of those songs alone in Rush are pushing 20 minutes.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: So, you know, if you're looking at, that's an hour on three songs.

Speaker: And I know it's a completely different genre.

Speaker: I get that.

Speaker: But there is something about, well, okay.

Speaker: So do you remember back in the day when you buy a...

Speaker: you could buy a CD that has like, Oh, what am I thinking?

Speaker: Like a,

Speaker: sitcom intro songs, right?

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: You know, you did like the Cheers intro song or the Golden Girls intro song or something like that.

Speaker: So this is a little bit past your age, but the Yous did an album called In Love and Death and they had a lot of intros and outros from each song that was like carnival music or different, like stuff that sounded like a bomb ticking and then you realize it's an alarm clock and stuff like that.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: But it kind of feels like you're listening to it, but it's, if you put it all together, it's probably about 40 minutes total of music.

Speaker: And it feels like, Hey, this is, it's kind of a, a CD that you would put on at a kid's party.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: And so now that's not bad, by the way.

Speaker: I mean, arcades were built on amusing kids, really.

Speaker: And how many how many people have that intro stories?

Speaker: Like, how did you get into whatever into pinball?

Speaker: And they're like, well, my parents were in a bowling league.

Speaker: So they took me to the bowling thing and they gave me some money and I went to the arcade.

Speaker: And really, and that's basically what it was.

Speaker: So I.

Speaker: I think this is kind of a new version of that.

Speaker: So the theme I would say was confusing when I first thought about it.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: But it felt, hey, this could work given especially multimorphic.

Speaker: The only people that can actually do this

Speaker: would be multimorphic because it's a little bit more of a, I guess a lighthearted thing.

Speaker: I think of like heist, think of all those things where they're a little bit,

Speaker: bridging that gap of like the iPad game or, or, or one of the, a couple of those things that typically have like fun animations and are geared more toward kids.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: So I, this is a, if you're going to do weird Al, then this is the platform for it.

Speaker: I agree.

Speaker: And I think, honestly, it is a great theme.

Speaker: I think it's funny that a lot of people have complained, like, Dad Rock, Dad Rock.

Speaker: And the first thing that came up with Weird Al was Dad Rock.

Speaker: I'm like, if anything, it's kind of the furthest from it.

Speaker: Like, it's the dad jokes.

Speaker: Well, okay, but it's the dad era.

Speaker: So when people talk about dad era, okay, fine, but...

Speaker: Who's buying these things?

Speaker: Yeah, but like half the songs are from 2000s and later.

Speaker: Okay, but still.

Speaker: Dads are buying these things.

Speaker: Correct.

Speaker: You don't get, you probably, when you're selling games, you probably sell four games to someone in the 35 to 55 year old age group than you do in anybody in the 15 to 30 age group.

Speaker: But can we at least acknowledge this is probably the very first pinball machine to have a rap song in it?

Speaker: And not just one, it's got multiple.

Speaker: Is there any other pinball machine that has rap in it?

Speaker: Well, apparently, no.

Speaker: No.

Speaker: But that's my point is like, so we're, I know it's a parody.

Speaker: Like I get that.

Speaker: It's not the original song by Charmeleon or, or by Coolio or Amish paradise is the first rap song.

Speaker: Oh, and I love it.

Speaker: So, but that's the thing though, is like, I see the same and where it all resonates with me because he was like the first album I had bought when I got a CD player.

Speaker: My parents gave me my CD player.

Speaker: I got like the Jurassic Park soundtrack and I got the Space Jam soundtrack.

Speaker: And then I went to Walmart and the first CD I bought was Weird Al's Running With Scissors.

Speaker: You rebel.

Speaker: Rebel.

Speaker: And so as soon as they announced this, I did a lot of digging because what concerned me the most is when I saw the song list.

Speaker: is me being someone that actually enjoyed Weird Al and like downloaded his songs as, as I was growing up and stuff like that, or buy to bought his CDs.

Speaker: I didn't recognize a lot of these songs, but you recognize Weird Al though.

Speaker: Correct.

Speaker: So I'm not super worried about that because if someone, yes, I know there are some of the big songs out there, but Weird Al is one of those guys that is probably personally bigger than any of his songs.

Speaker: Probably.

Speaker: If you look at the reverse, most of the time it's like the one hit wonders where they're known for the one song.

Speaker: And you think of Flock of Seagulls, you know, I ran so far.

Speaker: That's the only song that really comes to mind.

Speaker: You can't think of anything.

Speaker: If you think of Weird Al, you're thinking he's almost more of a comedian than anything.

Speaker: Yes, exactly.

Speaker: And so he's going to make you laugh with whatever he's going to do.

Speaker: Well, it's impressive that he spanned 40 plus years.

Speaker: His first, his first song that he released was in 1976.

Speaker: I don't know if everyone realizes that.

Speaker: I mean, that's, that's crazy.

Speaker: Was that my Bologna?

Speaker: No.

Speaker: Um, I'd have to look it up.

Speaker: It was one for Dr. Demento and it was something like my station wagon car or whatever or something like that.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: He would like to record it with like some handheld, uh, radio thing when he was singing into it.

Speaker: I mean, yep.

Speaker: man okay talk about a i want weird al's level of confidence yes because there is zero chance that i would dare to be stupid take a you know taking a page from weird al like he really pushes the envelope of i i don't care how far i'm going to push this i'm going to make you laugh well what makes me chuckle too is there's almost two different eras of weird al there's a starting out weird al up to

Speaker: early nineties is what I'm going to say, where it was almost a lot of commentary on the current pop culture or whatever it was.

Speaker: And so like a lot, some of these songs haven't aged well because, um, they're making references to, to stuff that happened in the eighties that,

Speaker: I mean, a lot of people might remember, some don't.

Speaker: But his newer stuff, everything kind of from the 90s onward was more of a commentary on stuff that you would, like, Word Crimes is a great example.

Speaker: People being almost illiterate with their writing and stuff like that.

Speaker: That's kind of timeless.

Speaker: I can't think of a song.

Speaker: Like a Surgeon, it's still a good one.

Speaker: And I want to say it's kind of timeless.

Speaker: But it does have a lot of references in the 80s.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And so some of it falls flat.

Speaker: But overall, I'm excited.

Speaker: Weird Al is – it's funny because you and I – It looks fun.

Speaker: It looks fun.

Speaker: It looks fun.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: That's absolutely the thing.

Speaker: It looks like a blast, and I can't wait to play it.

Speaker: Well, what makes me chuckle is we did not know this was coming.

Speaker: No.

Speaker: And someone had pointed out to me, you guys realize that you've mentioned Weird Al –

Speaker: on every episode for like the last five episodes.

Speaker: But like, were you trying to draw pins?

Speaker: And I was like, no, we did not know this was coming.

Speaker: Legitimately, yeah.

Speaker: My first, like I said, my first CD was Running With Scissors.

Speaker: And on that CD is Jerry Springer, which is a cover of

Speaker: one week by the Berenaked Ladies.

Speaker: So we brought that up with Ed.

Speaker: And then we know Ray Day is a huge Weird Al fan.

Speaker: He's great.

Speaker: So we at least had to have one Weird Al reference in that episode.

Speaker: I mean... It's totally random.

Speaker: Yeah, there is some serendipity about that.

Speaker: Okay, here's the question, though.

Speaker: I think this looks fun.

Speaker: You think this looks fun.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: Will this sell multimorphic games?

Speaker: Supposedly they're all sold out of the LE, so they've at least sold 227.

Speaker: Okay, but this is one of those things where if you adopt this platform,

Speaker: And it is kind of a no-brainer that you're already, you like this version of pinball.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: And it really is a no-brainer to say, well, it's like buying a Nintendo.

Speaker: Like, oh, I can buy a new cartridge for it.

Speaker: And so, yes, that is the brilliance of this, is that anybody who has a game will probably buy the module.

Speaker: Now, the question is, do you think that they have new people buying off this game?

Speaker: I want to say yes.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: I think, I know you and I had this discussion with Joel Engelberth and Nick Brown, Pensomniac, while we were traveling to and from Pinball Olympics at Expo.

Speaker: And the complication with Multimorphic has been, it's a cool system.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But I haven't felt like there's anything that just draws me in enough to take the plunge for the price.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And so I think a lot of people feel that way.

Speaker: They're excited by the technology.

Speaker: But Heist just doesn't do it for them or Lexi Lightspeed just doesn't do it for them.

Speaker: And so like, well, we'll wait till everyone's been hearing about this license themed rumor for how long now?

Speaker: At least a year.

Speaker: And so like, well, maybe that's when I'll take the dive because some people want a cabinet that's recognizable.

Speaker: And obviously this cabinet really is.

Speaker: It looks really cool with the Weird Al, the we're going to call it the pro or the standard.

Speaker: It's got the colors exploding off of it out of the museum with Weird Al just blaring into the microphone.

Speaker: And then the limited edition is like bright yellow orange.

Speaker: And he's just Stallone kicking out of the side of the cabinet with references to all the songs on his body.

Speaker: And so I think people that have wanted a multimorphic

Speaker: with good artwork, this is what you're getting.

Speaker: And that's a recognizable theme.

Speaker: I don't know a single person.

Speaker: So I've mentioned this to a lot of non pinball people for the last two week or whatever it's been announced.

Speaker: And every single person I've talked to about Weird Al,

Speaker: knows who Weird Al is.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So it's easily identifiable by everyone.

Speaker: That's including my wife, who as soon as I told her, she's like, well, does it have white and nerdy?

Speaker: Because that's her Weird Al jam.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: You know what I'm saying?

Speaker: And so she's not like, wasn't like, we're buying one, right?

Speaker: But it was still like,

Speaker: I know the theme.

Speaker: Interested, right?

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: And it peaked.

Speaker: And so I think it's a very smart decision.

Speaker: The thing I think that hurt them in all of this, I do want to make one parallel really quick before I go to the hurt, is I felt like they almost mirrored what Stern does to a T.

Speaker: They did a teaser trailer, which Stern does a teaser trailer.

Speaker: Stern's now been waiting about a week before they actually drop a full trailer.

Speaker: They waited about two days, two, three days.

Speaker: But you still got a pretty good trailer, giving you pretty much the features, the toys that are the standouts, even the black backdrop with a person playing the pinball machine, which was Becca from FlipTronic.

Speaker: That was pretty awesome.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Just like the way that they've been announcing all this, like the teasers and everything like that, I feel like it's very Stern-esque.

Speaker: So Stern has proven that their marketing works.

Speaker: So why not copycat them?

Speaker: And I think they did a great job of that.

Speaker: The only thing I think that hurt them was...

Speaker: when the pricing came out, it was kind of convoluted.

Speaker: And even.

Speaker: Yeah, it was a little hard to understand.

Speaker: And even Zach and Dennis brought this up that.

Speaker: Yeah, you.

Speaker: OK, I'll use the car analogy, right?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: If you go in to buy a car, what do you want?

Speaker: What's the one thing you want?

Speaker: You want the out the door price, right?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: You're like, I go in and it's like, okay, if I'm buying this car and if I bring in a bucket of cash, how much do I have to do it?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And they, they could have done a little better about just saying, Hey, buy the whole package, hit this button.

Speaker: Well, and it's like me, though.

Speaker: I've been heating and air conditioning for 15 plus years now.

Speaker: I have learned with a customer, I never go in there and say, okay, this system is going to cost you $3,000.

Speaker: And then they're like, perfect, go ahead and install it.

Speaker: So I start installing it, and then when I'm all done, I'm like, okay, now it's $5,400.

Speaker: Whoa, where did $2,400 come from?

Speaker: Well, the $3,000 was just for the furnace.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But if you wanted it installed.

Speaker: If you want me to actually put it together for you.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: That's going to be another $2,400.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: See, that's what they should have done the upfront price up, you know.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: They should have went in with the assumption of this is we're all appealing to new people that are getting into the system for the first time.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Like I really agreed with Zach and Dennis and they covered this a little more.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Go, go listen to it.

Speaker: Go listen to the pinball show and they'll cover it more in depth.

Speaker: But that was one thing that I think was definitely something they needed.

Speaker: But that being said, I think that's more of a marketing thing.

Speaker: So yeah.

Speaker: And, and granted the dust has settled.

Speaker: It's, it's all worked out now.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: It's a hiccup.

Speaker: It's a learning curve.

Speaker: They did great.

Speaker: I think multimorphics handling this really well.

Speaker: Yeah, it's however, I did just click on it and said it is slightly confusing still, I would argue, because you click on it says P3 pinball machine.

Speaker: You click on it and it has the LE version of Weird Al.

Speaker: And you click down and it says it does say for the base only.

Speaker: But if you do that, I don't know.

Speaker: I still would think that if you go to Stern and you click on it and you see a picture of an LE machine, that's what you're buying.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So I don't, I'm not a marketing guy.

Speaker: But maybe have like, hey, this is the basic machine with maybe generic art or something on the side.

Speaker: And then say, by the way, this plus a game module equals this.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Because you can actually see that visually.

Speaker: So that may be something that would make it a little less.

Speaker: Now, if you just click down just a little bit, it says the price for the base P3 machine with no game kit is $8,300.

Speaker: Price is very for game kits.

Speaker: And it does specifically say price as shown in image above is $13,100.

Speaker: So that is fair, but you have to scroll down a little bit to see that.

Speaker: So this is...

Speaker: It looks like the...

Speaker: fifth game?

Speaker: Am I counting that right?

Speaker: Because I see their game kits.

Speaker: I see Weird Al, I see Heist, Cosmic Kart Racing, Lexi Lightspeed, and Cannon Lagoon.

Speaker: And then you have some other smaller ones.

Speaker: You have Sorcerer's Apprentice, which uses Cannon Lagoon.

Speaker: Then you also... That uses Cannon Lagoon, right?

Speaker: No, it uses... No, Cosmic Kart Racing.

Speaker: Sorry.

Speaker: Yeah, it uses Cosmic Kart Racing.

Speaker: I knew it was wrong when I said it.

Speaker: Scoop and shoot Lexi.

Speaker: So you have all these other ones for smaller amounts.

Speaker: But, you know, hey, they're getting to have enough options that, you know what, if you have limited space and you want something that is pinball adjacent, then this is good.

Speaker: It is different than a standard pinball machine, but I still feel that it is a fun experience.

Speaker: Well, and I think, yes, the upfront cost is a little steeper than most pinball machines.

Speaker: But I think the long-term cost, like if this is a system that you're interested in and it has a lot of depth already too, it's only been out for five years and they've had how many games?

Speaker: Like cornerstones, quote unquote cornerstones, there's at least been one a year.

Speaker: So you know they're at least going to put out product.

Speaker: And even in between that product, they're having different rule sets.

Speaker: They're having different games that correlate with the modules you already own.

Speaker: They're legitimately putting out as many games as other companies like JJP and Spooky.

Speaker: Really, this is their fifth game.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So they're actually putting...

Speaker: I don't know how many people have the problem.

Speaker: I'd be curious to find out how many people actually have it.

Speaker: And you know what?

Speaker: Here's something I want.

Speaker: If you own a P3, reach out to us and tell us what your thoughts are and what your thoughts on the long-term lastability of the system.

Speaker: The one thing that I'm concerned with is this reminds me a little bit of

Speaker: like a, um, like a game system.

Speaker: So, and game systems have lifespans.

Speaker: They do, but I think the, I think the hardware on these are upgradable because there are great hardware, which is something that I think is, is huge.

Speaker: I know they've actually, you know, they have like the extra flipper that you can buy and the better, you know, the, you know, those types of things.

Speaker: So,

Speaker: There are ways of doing it, but that would be one concern that I had about the long-term thing.

Speaker: If you like truly, Hey, you only have to have one of these.

Speaker: Cause I don't know if you're going to have two of these things.

Speaker: Yeah, I don't, I don't, but maybe if you want to, if you want to carve a cosmic cart racing against each other.

Speaker: Yeah, no, but I think that it would be more of like, I have multiple machines because most people, when they buy one pinball machine, they're,

Speaker: what's the next thing that happens?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Another pinball machine because they realize, wow, it's not as fun if there's only one person who's able to play it once.

Speaker: I think my overall takeaway from all of this, Multimorphic has a hit on their hands.

Speaker: I think it's going to move units.

Speaker: In the marketing department, excluding the pricing, in the marketing department, I think that Multimorphic is a top three company when it comes to their presentation.

Speaker: I think they've shown that they can do it better than some of the other traditional pinball companies.

Speaker: The only ones I think that have done it better is JJP and Stern at this point.

Speaker: And if you disagree with me, let us know.

Speaker: But honestly, I'm going to have to have examples because all I can think of CGC and how they released Cactus Canyon because that was not fantastic.

Speaker: Yeah, that wasn't ready.

Speaker: Yeah, we're not going to go back into that, but that certainly was.

Speaker: I basically was sitting there.

Speaker: I almost turned to Jeff T. Ellis.

Speaker: I'm like, what was that?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Like, really?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But overall, congratulations, Jerry and company.

Speaker: We're excited.

Speaker: Colin McAlpine, our friend that's been on our show a couple of times, he's doing rules for the game.

Speaker: So that's going to be exciting.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And Bowen Karen's also, uh, uh, top level player who helped, uh, helped advise on, uh, Alice Cooper's nightmare castle.

Speaker: So, so we're excited.

Speaker: Yeah, no, I certainly want to play, play it and we will definitely, uh, take, um,

Speaker: We'll return and report.

Speaker: Yeah, same.

Speaker: I agree.

Speaker: And it is March, dude.

Speaker: I'm so stoked.

Speaker: This month's going to be so good.

Speaker: So good.

Speaker: You know, I still haven't bought my ticket.

Speaker: Can I just tell you how stupid the price?

Speaker: Like the one flight that is perfect coming back to Utah, they want $750 for a round trip ticket.

Speaker: Dang.

Speaker: So unless I'm like, that's what I told really, that's why I told my son no.

Speaker: Cause it was, it was like $800.

Speaker: I was like, no dude.

Speaker: Like, yeah, I, okay.

Speaker: To put it in perspective, I just bought round trip tickets for my entire family to go to, uh, to go to Florida in April.

Speaker: And like the total amount of tickets for five people, uh,

Speaker: were like two thousand dollars yeah so well my wife and i were looking at taking the kids to california in may yeah round trip was gonna be 1300 bucks i know it's crazy that's flying directly out of my city which is impressive in my opinion yeah um i've got my notes next that uh stern has pushed back their cornerstone

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: You know what?

Speaker: I, okay.

Speaker: Did anybody, did this surprise anybody?

Speaker: No, I, I actually, I, I was kind of wondering like, what are you doing?

Speaker: Like, why, why didn't you do this sooner?

Speaker: It just felt like they were, they had such an aggressive schedule that it was hard.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Look at Owen.

Speaker: He's, he's consecutive.

Speaker: He's put out a game once a year, almost on the, on the dot.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And they, these people usually do take about 13 months, if not just a little bit more.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And, and here we're pushing, like when we talked to them at expo, Rick Nagel had not had like a day off in like two years.

Speaker: Cause he's, he's coding around the clock.

Speaker: Like give these people, they need a break.

Speaker: Well, actually the issue is they can't keep up with production.

Speaker: And that's the bottom line.

Speaker: They can't keep up with demand.

Speaker: And they've increased their production by 25% and they still can't keep up.

Speaker: They still can't.

Speaker: So right now it is so red hot that they are, you know, it's okay.

Speaker: I know I'm going way back in the weeds, but, um,

Speaker: When Lionel Richie hit it big, they actually, he put out two albums like back to back and ironically, like he had two singles from the second album.

Speaker: And then there was a single from the first album that leapfrogged it.

Speaker: And it's just one of those things where like...

Speaker: Why in the world would they have put out so much stuff?

Speaker: Because eventually you do kind of trip over yourself.

Speaker: And it feels like they were going so fast in there.

Speaker: Hey, we always release these things.

Speaker: We have this machine, but...

Speaker: But the demand increased exponentially and they just couldn't keep up.

Speaker: Well, let's be honest.

Speaker: They've lost a designer.

Speaker: They've gained a new designer.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: If we do the math, Led Zeppelin came out 15 months ago in April.

Speaker: And so I could almost guarantee the next one was supposed to be Richie.

Speaker: And if everyone got bumped up three months, that's really stepping on toes.

Speaker: So, and Gomez.

Speaker: Gomez said he was designing one.

Speaker: And so we can only assume, right?

Speaker: We can only assume that he's filling that niche that Richie left.

Speaker: Well, that's what I've been told.

Speaker: I've been told that's what he kind of announced on the last podcast he was on.

Speaker: Yeah, that would make logical sense to say, hey, he's designing a game because that's basically how we got Deadpool.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So that's the problem, too, is Gomez is a very busy man.

Speaker: He's over a lot of things.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And so it's hard to have.

Speaker: I'm running a company.

Speaker: By the way, I also make pinball machines.

Speaker: Exactly.

Speaker: Why not?

Speaker: You know.

Speaker: And so it makes sense not only because everyone's like, well, it makes sense that they're, they're, they're doing it right now.

Speaker: I'm like, it's because I think it's because they lost Richie.

Speaker: They've had a lot going on between insider connected new platforms working on spike three.

Speaker: I mean, they confirmed that at, at expo.

Speaker: Um, I mean, there's been, oh, there's a lot of irons in the fire right now.

Speaker: And I think it feels appropriate.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: It feels great.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: I don't, I don't know if anyone's like, oh, come on.

Speaker: There's like, yeah, yeah.

Speaker: Why not?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Well, and someone had pointed out to this.

Speaker: This does not stop from vaults coming out or if a Kapow title comes out.

Speaker: Yeah, it does leave some open some openings for that.

Speaker: But do you really think that's going to happen?

Speaker: Because I don't.

Speaker: I can see a vault coming out.

Speaker: I think this is a catch up because the vault is the whole point of the vault is to keep the line running.

Speaker: Guess what?

Speaker: They have so much to keep the line running.

Speaker: I mean, they have people who are waiting.

Speaker: Like George Gomez is waiting for his Deadpool.

Speaker: The designer is waiting for the Deadpool.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: That tells you.

Speaker: He doesn't work at the place that has a Deadpool there.

Speaker: So I totally get it.

Speaker: But that tells you how red hot the demand is.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: No, the demands were, well, just think about it.

Speaker: Like we've been sponsored by flipping out for a year and a half, two years now.

Speaker: And, and it used to be, I could call up Zach and say, Hey, what do you have in stock?

Speaker: And he'd give me a list and I'd say, send it to me this week.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Now it's, I'm on the wait list for six months.

Speaker: Well, and I will say, thankfully, I've told Zach that I get almost every game.

Speaker: And so I'm just like, just tell me what's available.

Speaker: And that's how I, you know, because I want to, I want Zach to make sure that he is able to do his, you know, his full time job, which is taking care of you guys.

Speaker: So, and I'm, I'm totally fine with waiting because I don't, so I just got my Mandalorian.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And I also guess what?

Speaker: I just got my Iron Maiden at the end of last year.

Speaker: So three months ago, I got Iron Maiden that I ordered about a year ago.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So, and honestly, out of everyone that I feel the worst about for all this, like the distributors are really the ones that get the worst.

Speaker: And the reason being, I'm going to explain this really quick is a new title's announced.

Speaker: So Mandalorian, let's take Mandalorian.

Speaker: Mandalorian was announced and then it took six months for the second run to even happen.

Speaker: So that first run sold out.

Speaker: People are getting their games within the first two months.

Speaker: Well, six months later,

Speaker: L1's Godzilla gets announced.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: How many people went...

Speaker: This game looks so much better than Mandalorian.

Speaker: I still don't have a time or a day on when Mandalorian showed up.

Speaker: I will cancel my order with Mandalorian and then buy Godzilla.

Speaker: How many distributors just lost?

Speaker: Because a lot of them don't take deposits.

Speaker: And so they lost all that Mando money right there on the spot.

Speaker: And their buying window just got pushed back another four months or whatever.

Speaker: So a lot of these distributors, I mean, there's, there's still people buying.

Speaker: So they're still buying.

Speaker: And I will argue that I Mandalorian is, it's still a great game.

Speaker: It's a, it's a different game than Godzilla.

Speaker: Absolutely.

Speaker: And we, we all recognize how great Godzilla was because it was awarded game of the year by the pinball industry awards.

Speaker: And I agree with that.

Speaker: I voted for it as the game of the year.

Speaker: But I think Mandalorian is really fun.

Speaker: It's a different style game, though.

Speaker: It's really fun.

Speaker: I don't know, honestly, if personally I would ever own it.

Speaker: I was in on one, and then I went and played it a handful of times.

Speaker: And I...

Speaker: I hate to say this, but I'm kind of getting to the point where Elwin's the standard.

Speaker: And if it can't meet Elwin, I just feel like for what I'm paying for a pinball machine now, it has to match that price.

Speaker: And so, and I know that people are like, well, if you buy it, you can turn around and sell it.

Speaker: You're not losing money.

Speaker: Well, that's not the whole point of the story.

Speaker: It's like my, my basement.

Speaker: I mean, obviously I could add more to this basement, but I,

Speaker: Typically, one of my machines have to go out for a machine to come in.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: There's only so much purchasing power that the average pinball collector has.

Speaker: Correct.

Speaker: And they're still expensive.

Speaker: I look at my pinball machines.

Speaker: I'm like, do I want to lose one of these games for a game that I'm going to somewhat like that's probably just going to be turned on and sold the next time an L1 comes out or something that I really want?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So that's kind of where we're at, at least for me.

Speaker: Yeah, I, I am, I'm still, I have been so busy.

Speaker: I had Mandalorian delivered and I still, I still, it's been so cold outside and we are about to start a remodel on our house.

Speaker: So I'm nice.

Speaker: So I'm nervous about that.

Speaker: And so basically my garage is doubling as a as an accessory game room.

Speaker: And it's just been so cold that I haven't been able to go out there and unbox it.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But yeah, it's I'm still excited enough about it.

Speaker: The.

Speaker: I want to definitely play it because I think it'll be fun.

Speaker: But yes, certainly something that's different.

Speaker: They need to slow it down.

Speaker: They need to be able to release more.

Speaker: You certainly don't want to out-punt your coverage.

Speaker: And if people are waiting so long for a game, then they are fickle.

Speaker: They will move on.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: So I think this is a brilliant move, and there's two reasons.

Speaker: We've been talking to Travis Murie of MarvLoco slash Triple Drain, and really Stern only had two options.

Speaker: This is what he said to us.

Speaker: It was either A, push back a cornerstone and catch up on your backlog, or B, cancel everything that's been ordered right now and start fresh right now.

Speaker: And yeah, you're not going to do that.

Speaker: That would be, that would be a dumpster fire.

Speaker: Because really when you order, you're not locked into a price.

Speaker: I mean, Stern, you know, I, I paid more for my, I paid more for my Iron Maiden than when I ordered it.

Speaker: And I, I get it.

Speaker: That's, that's how a business is, but.

Speaker: Well, and that's the other thing too.

Speaker: It's like, I kind of get nervous.

Speaker: Cause I'm like, I'd rather, I want a new pinball machine in my house before the price goes up again.

Speaker: I mean, this is becoming a yearly thing.

Speaker: This is not.

Speaker: Well, this was a big jump.

Speaker: Godzilla was a big jump.

Speaker: A big jump.

Speaker: Um, the, every other title was like, yeah, we're using a hundred bucks, which a hundred bucks.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: I'm not discounting a hundred bucks, but it's not going to kill your purchase.

Speaker: 800 bucks may kill your purchase.

Speaker: So.

Speaker: everything's increased i just went got a haircut yesterday yeah my haircut increased 50 within the last two months just because they realized they were losing money they just yeah i i inflation's killing us all i pay so much on haircuts i know you do so as my hairdresser's like oh josh you just got thick luscious hair yeah yeah

Speaker: Yeah, but I think this is a family friendly podcast, but I'm going to tell you to go something yourself.

Speaker: So, but the nice part is when we talk to go as an expo, they are doing other things to make sure that they can start produce even more than what they're producing right now.

Speaker: Cause they, they, they see that they're not keeping up with demand and this pushing a cornerstone back is a temporary fix.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Once they start saying more new cornerstones, the orders are going to come flooding back in again.

Speaker: So they've got to be... When we talked to them, they said they're going to do two new CNC machines so they can keep up with play fields and all their woodcutting stuff.

Speaker: So Stern's on it.

Speaker: They're adapting for the future, and it sounds like business is good for them right now, even with price increases and with product delays.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: So, uh, so I did open rush.

Speaker: Do you want to talk about that?

Speaker: Uh, yeah, let's go for it.

Speaker: Dun, dun, dun, dun.

Speaker: So, uh, I, I didn't have much time.

Speaker: It was freezing outside.

Speaker: Uh, the people who usually come up, my buddies who come over to help me open, they couldn't come over.

Speaker: So I actually just opened the machine myself, which is kind of interesting to try to open a machine yourself.

Speaker: I do it all the time, dude.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Well, all right.

Speaker: Well, the last three I bought.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But, uh, you know, trying to lower it down, then raise it up and so you can do it.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But, um, two things, two things that happened, one of my drop targets wasn't working.

Speaker: And the funny thing is, you said the video, it's like, I did just bricks right off there.

Speaker: And the funny thing is, um, Raymond, uh, you know, one of the coders, one of the co coders with Tim Sexton, he had, he had messaged me.

Speaker: He's like, Hey, have you, uh, have you loaded 0.89 yet?

Speaker: He said, no, I'm about to.

Speaker: I'm going to do it tonight.

Speaker: He's like, okay, so I want you to look and see if there are things that are interesting or confusing about it.

Speaker: And I actually texted him.

Speaker: I was like, so the drop targets, do you have to activate the drop targets?

Speaker: Because one of them isn't going down.

Speaker: And he's like, what are you talking about?

Speaker: So I sent him a picture and I nailed this target and it just goes nowhere.

Speaker: And he's like, yeah, that's not good.

Speaker: You can take your finger in the video and you're pushing it and refuses to go down.

Speaker: Yeah, and I'm pushing it.

Speaker: So my friend came over and we lifted it up last night.

Speaker: And I was like, yeah, I need to work on this drop target.

Speaker: And we looked and this is an amazing easy fix.

Speaker: One, the spring that pulls down the drop target had fallen off.

Speaker: Oh, nice.

Speaker: So that was actually a total easy fix.

Speaker: You've put it back on and it was good to go.

Speaker: So, uh, so you're telling me when the drop target stay is standing for too long to consult your local physician.

Speaker: Yes, yes, exactly.

Speaker: Well, he, he wasn't anesthesiologist.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So, uh,

Speaker: So yes, that's how that worked.

Speaker: That was able to do it.

Speaker: Now, another thing I just want to know, anybody else who has rush, when I launch the ball, it rattles a little bit in the shooter lane.

Speaker: So I don't know if that's my game specifically.

Speaker: Now, in fairness, it's not fully leveled correctly because it's in my garage, and so I haven't really had time to set it up.

Speaker: So it could just be a leveling thing, but I'm just wondering if anyone else is having that issue.

Speaker: A couple other things that this was more of a revelation.

Speaker: I'm going to share it with you, my friends, because I had no idea that this even existed.

Speaker: I was asking, I am not a great code guy just because I'm not a tournament guy.

Speaker: I just don't have time for it.

Speaker: But I love playing in my home.

Speaker: So I was asking Raymond about, hey, some of the rules.

Speaker: Hey, does this work?

Speaker: Does this work?

Speaker: And he said, well, have you looked at the PDF of the rules?

Speaker: And I said, what?

Speaker: So if you, yeah, I had no idea that this even existed.

Speaker: So perhaps you guys know this and I'm late to the party, but if you actually go to the Stern website and just click on a game and all the way back to Turtles,

Speaker: If you click on, I'm actually on their site right now and I clicked rush and it goes down and shows the, you know, the pro premium LE and then keep cycling all the way to the bottom.

Speaker: And it actually has all their, all the PDFs, the feature matrix that has the trailers, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker: At the very bottom, there's something that's called rush rule sheet.

Speaker: And so you can click on it and it actually goes through and tells you, hey, the song selection, the skill shot, the song modes, and then tells you about each mode and then tells you about everything you do in the mode.

Speaker: And then you have, oh, Time Machine multiball.

Speaker: this is brilliant by the way, like for them to actually put this out, shout out to the stern gods for figuring out that this is what modern machines need.

Speaker: Cause the rules are way too complicated to, I, again, I just don't have the time to figure it out on my own.

Speaker: So this is the best thing.

Speaker: So if you want, if you have one of those new sterns from turtles on, then you can actually just go look at the rules on their website.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: So, and Josh, did you know this was, uh, was a thing or am I the only one who's late to the party?

Speaker: No, I've used it for turtles.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: So you didn't know.

Speaker: So you just didn't share.

Speaker: I just, I guess I assumed.

Speaker: But you know what assume means.

Speaker: Assumed everybody knows.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So that was a revelation to me.

Speaker: So I do really appreciate that.

Speaker: And that will definitely level up my abilities.

Speaker: I would love it, by the way, if they want to go back and do it for all the other games.

Speaker: Like Jurassic Park would be perfect on that.

Speaker: And Iron Maiden would be great on that, too.

Speaker: So, yeah.

Speaker: Deadpool would be fun too.

Speaker: Deadpool, at least it's straightforward enough that even a simple game player like me can figure that out.

Speaker: But it's great.

Speaker: So my question is, have you put up a high score on Rush yet?

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: Okay, so if you put up a high score, you've obviously seen a good chunk of the game.

Speaker: Or you've seen, not a good chunk, but you've been able to play it to get... Enough, yes.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: So I want to know, what are your thoughts on Rush?

Speaker: Try to put your bias aside.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: It's okay.

Speaker: It is definitely a Borg game.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: And that it is, it's not impossible.

Speaker: However, it will beat you up if you don't hit a shot.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: So the shots are findable.

Speaker: That is one thing that is great about this.

Speaker: I felt the turtles was a little hard to find the shots.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So I was a little nervous.

Speaker: And again, that's more of a declaration on my playing ability more than Borg's layout.

Speaker: But I found these shots.

Speaker: I can hit them and I can find them.

Speaker: There are there are two scoops in this.

Speaker: And so.

Speaker: the scoops do slow down play for a minute.

Speaker: Now that can be okay really in a board game because board games are so fast and they can be fast and brutal that it does give you a moment to pause.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: The it, it is fun that the wire forms are fun to watch and they come really high.

Speaker: I'm surprised at how high they are in the game.

Speaker: that they overlap.

Speaker: I have the LE, so there's the third wire form that goes to the right flipper.

Speaker: It feels like it can, if you are on and you're hitting the shots and you are locked in, it can be a very long playing, smooth shooting game.

Speaker: If you are off a little bit though, man, that thing just, if you brick it, it goes right down the middle or right out.

Speaker: And it is unforgiving.

Speaker: So this will be a great game to level up your skills.

Speaker: And also, I am so excited to get the deep dive into these rules because having Tim and Raymond on it, it will be an amazing rule set.

Speaker: And we are looking for those deep rules to keep our interest, right?

Speaker: So I think that it was very wise to put Tim and Ray Day on this on this game.

Speaker: And I think a lot of people that can be concerned with codes, codes going in a good direction now.

Speaker: There's still some shortcomings, but I feel like this is a great showing by Tim and Ray Day of the

Speaker: Rules knowledge, nostalgia to throwback rules.

Speaker: I think they've done a great job.

Speaker: And even hearing, because a lot of people kind of groaned when it first came out and it was like, oh, we got two really high players.

Speaker: It's going to be nothing about, it's all going to be about

Speaker: the the code itself like it's going to be just like tournament rules and and some people like we want to experience the game and i've been talking to more and more people and they're like wow the the nuance and the throwbacks and the stuff that's tied in with the game yet shows other games is just amazing yeah and so i've heard nothing but good from it

Speaker: We are seeing the emergence of the next generation of great pinball coders.

Speaker: And I know that we're, you know, we're, we're early a little bit because this is Tim's third game.

Speaker: Raymond came on to Stern a little bit after Tim.

Speaker: He's helped out on a few other games.

Speaker: They're, they're kind of co-pilots on this one.

Speaker: with Tim taking the lead, but wow, I am really impressed with the thought and care that has gone into this rule set.

Speaker: And I know that it will only get deeper.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: So I, I have, and the presentation is great.

Speaker: Like the, um, the, you have to, if you get this game, you have to get the expression light kits.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Because, and I, I have said after I got Led Zeppelin, this needs to be standard on any rock game.

Speaker: And so, you know, what Mike Vinicor did with that is great.

Speaker: It feels very theme appropriate.

Speaker: So I do like what they've done.

Speaker: So yes, it's a fun game.

Speaker: It will definitely stick around for a long time.

Speaker: I am super excited to get the topper.

Speaker: I've heard it's, I have no idea what the topper is, but I've heard it's really cool.

Speaker: So it's a great package.

Speaker: And yeah, I, I understand people who are like, yeah, it's a rush.

Speaker: Isn't my favorite music.

Speaker: Well, I don't know how many people love to iron maiden.

Speaker: I don't know how many people,

Speaker: loved metallica i it's it's very pinball friendly music which that was one thing that concerned me about rush because it seems a departure from typical pinball music but it really works personally me i don't know if i'll ever own a rush um i still need to come out and play your le i've played a pro i've enjoyed it like i said i'm just kind of at the point where

Speaker: I don't want to keep moving pinball machines in and out of the house.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And I get it.

Speaker: And I think that it's, it is great to, uh, it's great to have music pins that are a little different.

Speaker: And really this is a, this is kind of a departure from your typical, uh, you know, your ACDC, your Aerosmith, the Metallica.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: This is a little, uh, aside from Primus, I guess, but they, this is, uh,

Speaker: this is a little bit more of a mature music option.

Speaker: Speaking of Aerosmith, a really quick side tangent that I don't have on our notes.

Speaker: We got a shout out on Instagram.

Speaker: Um, I, I couldn't find the post once I went back to look for it.

Speaker: Um,

Speaker: The lady's name was Julie.

Speaker: She gave us a shout out and thanked us for reminding her how awesome pinball could be.

Speaker: I don't know how she got onto our podcast.

Speaker: I don't know if it was Ed Robertson or what, but she lives out in Salt Lake and she went out.

Speaker: They had a night of theater because after listening to us, you talk about theater and us talk about pinball.

Speaker: They went and found some pinball.

Speaker: And they played and they loved it.

Speaker: And she's like, I want them to play, get some mom rock pinball machine.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: So I, I'm pretty sure this is, this is actually one of the nurses at my hospital.

Speaker: Nice.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So, so, but one of the, one of the mom rocks she said was Aerosmith.

Speaker: And I said, well, you're in luck because they do have an Aerosmith pinball machine.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And so she actually, after she played that, she messaged me.

Speaker: She's like, is there a guns and roses pinball machine around here?

Speaker: I'm like, well, my friend has one.

Speaker: Nice.

Speaker: So shout out to Julie.

Speaker: She's a great sedation nurse.

Speaker: Awesome.

Speaker: See, spreading the joy of pinball.

Speaker: Spreading the joy.

Speaker: Now, if she really wants a pinball machine, she wants a Brene Brown pinball machine.

Speaker: So you can get your therapy on while you're playing pinball.

Speaker: Nice.

Speaker: Nice.

Speaker: I really just, I want to mention this really quick.

Speaker: We've lost a lot of legends in the hobby.

Speaker: And since we last spoke, we lost Barry Ousler.

Speaker: If you can, please help out his family.

Speaker: I know that people want to make a commentary on the health system.

Speaker: But we do want to remind you, Scott especially, that Barry did work for Deep Root.

Speaker: And they have mentioned that a lot of their life savings was kind of eaten up by working for Robert Mueller.

Speaker: And we just want to help them out.

Speaker: And the lack of coverage that that offered when Deep Root went sideways.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Well, and Barry's had counselor for a while now.

Speaker: I mean, it's been pretty rough.

Speaker: And so if you can help out, I think the fund is still open.

Speaker: Go ahead, help, you know, Barry.

Speaker: Barry's one of those figures that you could argue and say that actually helped save pinball during the eighties.

Speaker: It was his design space shuttle that reinvigorated pinball in the arcades.

Speaker: Um, he's, he was a really nice guy.

Speaker: Uh, I don't know anyone that ever talked to him and said that he was too busy for him or whatnot.

Speaker: He always wanted to talk pinball.

Speaker: Barry was a great guy.

Speaker: And so it's,

Speaker: Teal listed a great job.

Speaker: If you haven't listened to his most recent pinball profile, I think we all agree.

Speaker: We're, we're, we're, we're done with doing retrospectives and it's not because we don't want to do them.

Speaker: It's just, we've had too many in the last.

Speaker: And Jeff does a better job than we do.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: Jeff knows these people on a personal level.

Speaker: And like he said, between losing Mark with Marco, uh,

Speaker: Lyman Sheets and now Barry Ousler.

Speaker: And this has all been within what?

Speaker: Four months.

Speaker: A couple months.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And so, you know, my favorite Barry Ousler game is Junkyard.

Speaker: I know it's kind of kooky.

Speaker: I know it's kind of random.

Speaker: I don't know what it is.

Speaker: I've always connected with that game.

Speaker: Ever since I got into the hobby, I just made shooting toast at a dog chasing a woman that got out of a bathtub.

Speaker: I don't know.

Speaker: It's a really fun, kooky game.

Speaker: And I think that kind of sums up a lot of Barry's games.

Speaker: They were really fun.

Speaker: They had really good shots.

Speaker: And they're all almost different from each other.

Speaker: You've got the brutality of Dracula, the goofiness of Junkyard, the fun-filled carnivals of Hurricane.

Speaker: I mean, Pinbot.

Speaker: How iconic is it?

Speaker: Pinbot and Jackbot.

Speaker: It stinks because it feels like a lot of people were excited after hearing Barry go to Highway and then moving on to Deep Root and then finally making a break at a company that's made a pinball machine that proves that they can do the things that they've said they're going to do.

Speaker: And then we sadly lose him after a couple weeks of his announcement of being an American pinball.

Speaker: And so you will be missed, Barry.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: Yeah, it's it continues to be rough.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: Hopefully we're on the tail end of all this.

Speaker: All these issues, but hopefully we can get back to normal life and get back to the.

Speaker: You know, I'm looking forward to Texas because it seems like it's going to be one of the first ones that feels like it's a post-COVID show.

Speaker: And I'm not, I know that COVID is still going on, but it seems like this will be the first one that it'll feel like it's closer to what life used to be.

Speaker: I agree.

Speaker: So I, I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker: Josh and I are going to be there.

Speaker: We're still like everybody else.

Speaker: We're still a little backlogged on our swag.

Speaker: but we're going to a little bit coming.

Speaker: I, we will have a little bit for Texas.

Speaker: I have, I have stickers for everybody.

Speaker: So whoever wants a sticker, come up and hit me up and I'll give you a few.

Speaker: So I have a funny t-shirt idea that I'm going to kick to you after the show, Scott.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: This will be, I can, if I can get some of them done before Texas, if not, oh, well, okay.

Speaker: But, uh, teaser, I had a funny, funny idea.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Um, but let's, let's talk TPF.

Speaker: Um,

Speaker: We're definitely going to be there.

Speaker: We've been asked to present an award for the Twippies, so that'll be cool.

Speaker: This is our second time doing that.

Speaker: We did the topper two years ago, right?

Speaker: Yeah, I think so.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Topper's perfect, so.

Speaker: We've put our request in for which one we would like to present.

Speaker: If it happens, awesome.

Speaker: If not, we'll still be there to help.

Speaker: It's the award for the best Rush pinball machine.

Speaker: Exactly.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: That's it.

Speaker: Like I said, I gave my list to a person...

Speaker: the other day of what I want to do at TPF.

Speaker: Really?

Speaker: It's just meet people.

Speaker: I'm not going to play in the tournament.

Speaker: I'm actually, I am there to experience the show.

Speaker: So if you see me and if you want to, to grab a drink or get a bite to eat or something like that, we are happy to, to spend time with anybody who's interested.

Speaker: Well, I have to wonder if this is going to be a quick show because Expo was four days long, you know?

Speaker: Yeah, we're flying in Friday.

Speaker: So starting Friday night and then I'm flying out Saturday.

Speaker: Well, I still haven't bought my ticket just because I've been hoping that prices drop a little bit.

Speaker: But I'll be flying out Sunday afternoon.

Speaker: So basically 48 hours.

Speaker: That's it.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: So we're excited.

Speaker: Be excited to finally meet like people like Ed Van der Veen for the first time.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: You know, he used to be the co-host of super awesome pinball show.

Speaker: Love Ed.

Speaker: He's a cool dude.

Speaker: We get to finally meet the guys, Travis Muri from Triple Drain.

Speaker: We got to meet Tom and Joel at Expo.

Speaker: Zach Menny is actually not going to be doing his flipping out stuff down there.

Speaker: So if you see him, you get to hang out with him.

Speaker: So there's going to be a lot of people there.

Speaker: Sounds like RB Flip France is coming all the way over from overseas.

Speaker: Oh, nice.

Speaker: Nice.

Speaker: They'll be there.

Speaker: So a lot of cool people are going to be there.

Speaker: I'm stoked.

Speaker: The nice part is, is we actually got a room opened up in the MDC suite.

Speaker: So we'll be staying in the hotel in the convention center.

Speaker: So, yeah, but definitely if you are around, please message us and we'd love to catch up, at least say hi, take a picture, shake hands.

Speaker: And if we have time, we'd love to go and grab some, grab some beat or play a play game or two.

Speaker: Definitely.

Speaker: Um,

Speaker: I'm excited for TPF.

Speaker: I'm excited for Weird Al to play there.

Speaker: I was excited for Toy Story, but now the rumor is this Toy Story is not going to be at TPF.

Speaker: I don't know what to say.

Speaker: Or sorry, Jersey Jacks game number five.

Speaker: Okay, sure.

Speaker: But like we, okay, they can't say, oh yeah, it's totally going to be announced.

Speaker: That's not how anything works anymore.

Speaker: So, you know, we I I was wondering about Cactus Canyon getting revealed about Expo.

Speaker: And then I was like, yeah, I guess it's probably not going to.

Speaker: And then it was.

Speaker: So, you know, it's OK.

Speaker: It'll be fun to see it.

Speaker: But really, I I'm actually more interested to play Weird Al.

Speaker: I'm more interested to play Weird Al than I am to play Toy Story.

Speaker: So I want to do some trivia with you really quick.

Speaker: Okay, go ahead.

Speaker: So let's go through the rumors of what we know of Toy Story for right now.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: It's Pat Lawler's last game.

Speaker: Supposedly he's retiring after this one.

Speaker: We don't know if that's 100% true, but that is what we're hearing.

Speaker: At least retiring as a designer.

Speaker: Correct.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: This game...

Speaker: is obviously Toy Story is what we're hearing.

Speaker: I haven't heard any other rumor for a theme other than Toy Story.

Speaker: And it's been one of those ones that was announced like two or three years ago.

Speaker: It's like Guns N' Roses.

Speaker: It's the worst kept secret in Cold Ball.

Speaker: Correct.

Speaker: Um, there was, if I remember correctly, there was like a disgruntled employee when they left, they kind of leaked some of this information.

Speaker: So, uh, anywho, um, but the, the interesting trivia part I was going to say to you is I can almost guarantee this game will at least have three flippers.

Speaker: I know that's kind of like a whoop-dee-doo thing, but we know it's not gonna be a typical fan layout.

Speaker: And you know, the reason I can almost guarantee that is

Speaker: Do you know how many two flipper games Pat Lawler has made in his 30 plus year career?

Speaker: People sitting at home, Scott's thinking right now, if you know it, start screaming it at your phone, at whatever it may be.

Speaker: Or if you don't know, start thinking about the Pat Lawler games.

Speaker: You know, obviously it's not Adam's family.

Speaker: That one has three.

Speaker: Twilight Zone has them.

Speaker: Four.

Speaker: Has he ever done a two flipper?

Speaker: That is a great question.

Speaker: I went through the list before we started recording.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: He has one two flipper game in his 30 plus year career.

Speaker: And it's one you're never going to guess because I didn't even realize he made this game.

Speaker: Huh?

Speaker: You ready for this?

Speaker: CSI.

Speaker: Oh, geez.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Oh, man.

Speaker: That used to be at Lagoon, I think.

Speaker: And that was his last game he made for Stern.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: It's it was not a memorable one, but that was also the dark days of Stern.

Speaker: That was 2005 to 2010.

Speaker: So, you know, those were the the the life support years.

Speaker: I don't think CSI is a bad game.

Speaker: It's not like it doesn't stand out.

Speaker: Nobody's looking for a CSI.

Speaker: It's like 24.

Speaker: Nobody's looking for a 24.

Speaker: Maybe I bring home a CSI to my wife and that's what gets her into pinball.

Speaker: Yeah, no.

Speaker: But no, so I can... How many games has he made over his career?

Speaker: I can 95% guarantee that Pat Lawler is going to have at least a 3-4 flipper game.

Speaker: That's just his style.

Speaker: He'll want to go out with a bang.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: It's time for another upper playfield.

Speaker: So he'll be probably doing that's my guess.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: The signature, this is a, it's a signature Borg and a signature Pat Lawler.

Speaker: I don't know who did it first.

Speaker: I think Pat Lawler did it first, but the five lanes at the bottom,

Speaker: You've got the two in lanes with an out lane on one side with an in lane and out lane on the other.

Speaker: You know, I, okay.

Speaker: If there's one thing in pinball that I, I hate, it's the double in lane because I am a, I,

Speaker: I am a wizard when it comes to hitting that middle post and having it bounce to the outlane.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: Like every time I can do that.

Speaker: Like when, when I was playing turtles, it would bounce it.

Speaker: Like every time it came out of the layer, it would bounce on that thing and go out.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: And that's, I kind of feel the same way.

Speaker: I'm like, let's kind of get rid of the double in lane.

Speaker: I think we've exhausted that option.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Unless if there's like a, unless if it's used in a cool way and that's usually in a standard body, a wide body is a little more, I think you got to fill out space anyway.

Speaker: Um, but seriously, standard body guys, let's, I don't know if it's your signature, I guess, whatever, but I'm just not a huge fan of that.

Speaker: Unless if there's specific feeds to those in lanes.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: So here's another question I have.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: What is on the pin side top 100 without looking?

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: What is one through five?

Speaker: Uh, one is medieval madness.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Two is Godzilla.

Speaker: Three is Jurassic Park.

Speaker: Four is... I don't know.

Speaker: Four is Guns N' Roses and five is Attack from Mars.

Speaker: Okay, actually, I was really impressed.

Speaker: You didn't get the order right, but you got four out of the five.

Speaker: Oh, dang.

Speaker: So I was I. Yeah, you actually did better than I would.

Speaker: You won the last time I looked at the top top five or top one 500 top 100 of inside.

Speaker: Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker: Months ago.

Speaker: OK, so I actually haven't done either.

Speaker: So this was interesting.

Speaker: And and usually when a game comes out, it shoots to number one because there's like 10 people, you know, then then it slowly like creeps down.

Speaker: So Godzilla is number one.

Speaker: Oh, wow.

Speaker: Godzilla's number one with 519.

Speaker: So that's actually a pretty solid rating.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Medieval Madness, number two.

Speaker: Attack from Mars, number three.

Speaker: Jurassic Park, number four.

Speaker: Deadpool, number five.

Speaker: Oh, wow.

Speaker: I would have never guessed that.

Speaker: That surprised me that Deadpool jumped up so much.

Speaker: So you take out GNR for me, put in Deadpool.

Speaker: I would have had.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker: So again, that's pretty solid.

Speaker: So if you look at, okay, so the four Elwyn games, all four of them are in the top 15.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: So you have... Really, what is Elwyn's worst game at this point?

Speaker: You know what?

Speaker: It's according to the ratings.

Speaker: I know it's subjective, but... Avengers Infinity Quest.

Speaker: What do you feel like you own all four of his games?

Speaker: What is his weakest?

Speaker: Um, you know, I'd probably agree with that.

Speaker: Even though I was thinking, cause I w I was wondering at some point I need to sell an L one.

Speaker: And I was wondering the other day about what game would I sell?

Speaker: And I thought, you know what?

Speaker: Maybe Avengers.

Speaker: And then I went and played it and I'm like, dang, this is fun to shoot.

Speaker: It is a wonderful shooter.

Speaker: It's funny because I was feeling the same way.

Speaker: I was like, if I have to get rid of a premium at some point in time, which premium is going out the door?

Speaker: And I'm like, well, I haven't played Avengers in forever.

Speaker: And I logged in to my Insider Connected and I started flipping.

Speaker: Dang, this feels good.

Speaker: Every shot feels good.

Speaker: The one thing I need, though, is I need to fix.

Speaker: I need to get the Captain Marvel shot fixed, though.

Speaker: Oh, next time I come over, I'll do it for you, dude.

Speaker: You don't have to buy anything fancy.

Speaker: I'll show you how to do it.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Cause like mine works probably about 70% of the time, which is still pretty good.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But it's just enough that it just, yeah.

Speaker: If you hit that shot solidly and it gets jammed and like goes screaming down the middle, it just frustrates me.

Speaker: So.

Speaker: When I had Colin McAlpine over, I had done the Carlo, Carl D'Angelo.

Speaker: Yeah, the bend it back.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And he was hitting it like butter every time.

Speaker: So then I thought, well, maybe it's just me and my shooting.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But yeah, if I usually want to hit it.

Speaker: Colin was hitting nine out of ten on mine, too.

Speaker: But he's also he's a top player.

Speaker: So.

Speaker: I bet mine back and it does great now.

Speaker: So, yeah.

Speaker: So long as I had to hit it on the fly, usually I've got to hit a black widow and then, and then hit it on the fly for me to actually do it.

Speaker: But yeah, but no, that, and that's, that's, that's the funny part.

Speaker: So his weakest game is Avengers and it's number 15.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So, wow.

Speaker: I mean, and really what's the weakest, what's the weakest part about Avengers?

Speaker: Is it some people complain it's too easy to shoot.

Speaker: Yeah, it just depends on how much your outlanes are.

Speaker: So if you really want, if you want to make Avengers hard, you can open up the outlanes and it will be brutal.

Speaker: So I think I think the shortcoming with Avengers and it's not for me because I actually like this about Avengers is the complexness of the rule set.

Speaker: when you start adding in where gems go, working up your combos to get your balls locked so you can have your portal locks to then

Speaker: progress all the way through to get your, your victory laps per gem, you know, which gems help you get through which other gems.

Speaker: I think a lot of people will go look at that and they go, that's just way too much information for me to deal with.

Speaker: Cause you look at Jurassic park was his number one until Godzilla was released.

Speaker: And the thing about Jurassic park that I've come to learn over the years is there is a simplicity to it.

Speaker: There's like an elegant simplicity, but a lot of depth there.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: I know it sounds like an oxymoronic statement, but what I mean by that is when you play Jurassic Park, you start a paddock.

Speaker: The basic of it, if I'm teaching this to a new person, you start a paddock.

Speaker: Once you start that paddock, you're rescuing people.

Speaker: You have giant flashing orange shots that say rescue.

Speaker: Once you've done that enough, you can then set the trap.

Speaker: Once you set the trap, you go for the dinosaur.

Speaker: And as you go further into the game, it progresses and adds just a little more to that.

Speaker: You got to do one more thing.

Speaker: You got to do one more thing to capture the dinosaur.

Speaker: And I think that's what people love about Jurassic Park.

Speaker: There's an elegant simplicity, but then the depth comes from control room, comes from the T-Rex events.

Speaker: And you can stack those interchangeably.

Speaker: One at a time, essentially.

Speaker: And I think that's what people love about Jurassic Park.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And I would argue that Deadpool, what has made it so great is it's actually, if you want a simple rule set, get Deadpool.

Speaker: It really is not that complex of a rule set, but they were really smart in saying, hey, you want to do the battle?

Speaker: Go ahead.

Speaker: You have the three battles and then you have the boss battles and then, yeah, you can go on and move on.

Speaker: But really, if you want to, but each battle, if you want to make it more interesting, do the team ups, like try to get Dazzler, try to get Colossus, try to get Wolverine.

Speaker: And so it really does step up.

Speaker: And one thing I found, and I totally forgot about this because I just barely bought...

Speaker: the upgrade stuff for it.

Speaker: So I put the, the Ninja star pop cap bumpers on and I, I was, I was, I opened it up cause I was going to put the shaker motor in and look down.

Speaker: I totally forgot that it has a cassette in the bag.

Speaker: Oh yeah.

Speaker: I totally forgot that.

Speaker: So I actually need to pull up my, my cassette player, which I still have.

Speaker: So nice.

Speaker: Anyway, but I don't know.

Speaker: I just found that interesting.

Speaker: I just pulling that up.

Speaker: So.

Speaker: So it'll be... The good news is...

Speaker: for all of you who are counting in the top 10, which used to be completely dominated by Bally Williams of the nineties.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: I'm going to, I'm going to list off the top 15 Godzilla medieval madness attack from Mars, Jurassic park, Deadpool monster bash, Iron Maiden, Elvira's house of horrors, Twilight zone, guns and roses, Metallica pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, stranger things, Avengers, affinity quest.

Speaker: So the only ones that are on the list from that era are Medieval Madness Attack from Mars, Monster Bash, and Twilight Zone.

Speaker: So 11 of the top 15 are new games.

Speaker: So that just confirms how great of an era of pinball we're living in.

Speaker: I totally agree.

Speaker: And I want to point something else out too is one through five, all, whether it be Williams, whether it be Stern, I feel like they've hit on the cylinders of like, they're starting to recreate that Williams magic from the 90s that we talk about.

Speaker: That's why I brought the simplicity of Jurassic Park.

Speaker: I think Godzilla is that same way too.

Speaker: You have a elegant simplicity to the rule set that has a lot more depth as you dig into it.

Speaker: And it's fun.

Speaker: It's fun.

Speaker: It's funny.

Speaker: It's funny.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Comedic gold on some like Jurassic Park obviously doesn't have the comedic gold like the other four do.

Speaker: It's still there's still funny.

Speaker: Like I still laugh about some things like when you see Keith running from the dinosaur.

Speaker: I laugh about that.

Speaker: Deadpool is hilarious.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: And Godzilla kicking his kicking his son back in the rubber suit.

Speaker: So obviously we're doing something right.

Speaker: I think, like I said, I don't know.

Speaker: Maybe we would do kiss Keith Owens, but I don't think so.

Speaker: I think we give the man the respect that he deserves.

Speaker: I think he's come into an industry and has revamped it into a way that he has now become the standard and everyone's trying to play catch up.

Speaker: But I think we're starting to see that with new coders.

Speaker: We're starting to see that with different design angles.

Speaker: I mean, it's funny because we talked about Weird Al the first of the podcast and I'm looking at this and I'm like,

Speaker: the first thing I thought of was like the butt pretzel.

Speaker: Cause you, you see the shot where you shoot it through and if you hold the flipper up, it keeps on going.

Speaker: I mean, that's just something that was recently created with in the last, I doubt they were hanging out at spooky and saw that and was like, we're just going to add that into our game.

Speaker: You know, uh,

Speaker: There were some elements from Oktoberfest in Word L. I mean, there's these concepts that we're starting to see that people are starting to grasp onto and love.

Speaker: And there's nothing wrong with that.

Speaker: Like when something's good, we want to really re-experience it in a game.

Speaker: And so I think the future still is bright.

Speaker: And maybe we've just hit the peak of it and we're starting to dig down because...

Speaker: Pinball wasn't thriving for almost a decade.

Speaker: Then we hit Wizard of Oz and ACDC and Metallica and these games started pumping back in what pinball could be

Speaker: not only for location, but the beauty of what it could be at home.

Speaker: And now we're starting to really dig deep into what it can be at home.

Speaker: And so it's wonderful.

Speaker: Pinball's in a great place right now.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So, well, I I'm looking forward to Texas.

Speaker: I think we'll be able to squeeze another episode in before Texas.

Speaker: Definitely.

Speaker: But, uh, you know, that's, that's pretty much what I have today.

Speaker: And I, I'm just, I'm, I'm excited.

Speaker: And I, I,

Speaker: I'm excited to see where all the companies are going.

Speaker: I think they're all in a decent direction.

Speaker: I think the trajectory is a little different for each company.

Speaker: But I still feel that they're all on a positive upslope, the major companies.

Speaker: Well, and my argument is the weakest outing that's out there right now, whatever your mind just went to, think of that game and compare it to almost any 2000s game except for Lord of the Rings, Simpsons Pinball Party, Tron.

Speaker: Yeah, well, Tron was later.

Speaker: I thought it was 2008.

Speaker: Was it 2010?

Speaker: Wow.

Speaker: It might have been 2010.

Speaker: But my point being is that 2000 to 2009 range kind of leaves you wanting.

Speaker: Life support.

Speaker: So that game you just thought of that was just released in the last two years or whatever from company XYZ, I know you might not be a fan of that game, but would you prefer to play that game versus? 2011.

Speaker: tron was 2011 so there's really four games in that entire decade that i would be willing to own and what four what four are they besides lord of the rings and simpson's since pinball party um i spider-man is actually still a fun game it's a good game yes and pirates of the caribbean and i own i own three of them the only one i don't own is lord of the rings you own the greatest hits of 2000s

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And isn't that crazy?

Speaker: Like, I don't even, you can't even like the last two years.

Speaker: I can't, you can't encapsulate those in two years, in four games.

Speaker: So would you rather own XYZ versus Austin Powers?

Speaker: I will never own an Austin Powers.

Speaker: Which is sad because I really do love those movies.

Speaker: The first movie I thought was really fun.

Speaker: The other one's not so much.

Speaker: Which is funny because my favorite is Goldmember.

Speaker: I just can't stand the cross jokes.

Speaker: It's just too over the top.

Speaker: I thought you were crazy.

Speaker: Now I can see you're nuts.

Speaker: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker: Anyway, I also got... I randomly stumbled into a... Speaking of CGC, I randomly stumbled into an Ultimate Arcade 2+.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: So now if anyone knows how to get an expansion pack for it, let me know.

Speaker: But I was able to buy that.

Speaker: And so that was a lot of fun.

Speaker: My kids finally coming out to the arcade now.

Speaker: So anyway.

Speaker: good times you know i know that people said that we've been hitting on all cylinders for interviews lately thank you for the nice comments it's awesome to we've had a lot more uh interactions last four months yeah with the community than we have for a while and i don't know if it's because of the interviews we're doing or whatever but we've had a lot of people reach out thanks for that thanks for tealas for mentioning on on final round

Speaker: Dude, seriously, Teal's is like the interview champion.

Speaker: He's the nicest guy in the world, by the way.

Speaker: Like, genuinely.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: He might seem like your favorite C-word from Australia towards Martin.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: But he's genuinely a nice dude.

Speaker: And, dude, his interviews have been fantastic.

Speaker: If you haven't listened to the Josh Sharp, the 22222 Dave.

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker: Fantastic interview.

Speaker: And there was a lot of hidden nuggets in there.

Speaker: Like I said, go check out Pinball Profile.

Speaker: Go check out Final Round.

Speaker: You know what?

Speaker: Oh, I almost forgot.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: We have not congratulated the pinball show.

Speaker: Oh yeah.

Speaker: Welcome to the club guys.

Speaker: Congratulations to your pinball industry award.

Speaker: And I, I excellent in podcasting.

Speaker: I actually voted for them.

Speaker: I, I, I full declaration.

Speaker: I was like, they, they earned it and certainly check them out there.

Speaker: They're certainly awesome.

Speaker: So.

Speaker: So I got to harp on one thing just really quick.

Speaker: Okay, go ahead.

Speaker: You guys have to be a little bit more transparent with the rules.

Speaker: And maybe you have been, but it was really funny because someone reached out to us after the fact, and they're like, man, it just sucks that you guys couldn't win again this year.

Speaker: Like, I would have voted for you, but you wouldn't have won because that's against the rules.

Speaker: And I was like, wait, what?

Speaker: Is it?

Speaker: Is it like a Hall of Fame?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So we're in Hall of Fame, baby.

Speaker: The Hall of Fame portion is.

Speaker: So any of the games, any of the pinball machines that are put in the Hall of Fame cannot be.

Speaker: But the problem is, I guess some of the people that was on the committee did not know that.

Speaker: And so we got almost no votes because they thought we couldn't win it anyway.

Speaker: Oh, my gosh.

Speaker: I had no idea on that.

Speaker: That is hilarious.

Speaker: But anyway, hey, we still love doing this.

Speaker: And no, it's good.

Speaker: I just thought it was hilarious because, like I said, no, it's very well deserved to pinball show.

Speaker: I did not vote for you guys.

Speaker: Sorry.

Speaker: but I voted final round.

Speaker: Seriously.

Speaker: That will reach around again.

Speaker: Final round is great too.

Speaker: So, but they made it into that.

Speaker: They were nominated, uh, back box pinball podcast.

Speaker: Awesome show, Lauren and Becca.

Speaker: You guys do a great job every time.

Speaker: It was awesome to see you guys nominated.

Speaker: I mean, there's, there's a lot of fantastic pinball, uh, podcasts out there and it's great to see them being recognized.

Speaker: Um, a lot of us do this out of the, out of the, uh,

Speaker: kindness of our hearts.

Speaker: I don't want you to call it.

Speaker: We do it for fun.

Speaker: We do it because it's a great break.

Speaker: It's a great break.

Speaker: It was funny because I had talked to someone and I can't remember exactly what got brought up.

Speaker: And they're like, oh, there's just too many pinball podcasts out there.

Speaker: I was like, what?

Speaker: Maybe you know something I don't know.

Speaker: But

Speaker: I don't, they've kind of fallen off this last six months.

Speaker: Yeah, I think so.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Um, so I don't know.

Speaker: And then they proceed to say there's not that many streamers and I'm like, Whoa.

Speaker: I feel like we have an abundance of streamers.

Speaker: It's like, it's like we moved from podcasts to streamers.

Speaker: So, uh, anywho, long story short, we're excited for TPF.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Congratulations.

Speaker: We're looking forward to it.

Speaker: And so seriously hit us up.

Speaker: We'd love to see you.

Speaker: And so we'll have to take our crystal so that way we can have it with

Speaker: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker: I'm just going to wear it around my neck.

Speaker: Flava Flav.

Speaker: Why not?

Speaker: Cool, man.

Speaker: I guess if that wraps it up, I'll do our outro.

Speaker: If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserKidPinballPodcast at gmail.com.

Speaker: If you would like to get a hold of us on the socials, we are at LoserKidPinball on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, all your favorite sites.

Speaker: We're not on TikTok because...

Speaker: I really don't have a face for, I have a face for podcasting.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Uh, no, thank you.

Speaker: Everyone that, that reaches out.

Speaker: I'm sorry.

Speaker: I've been a little bit more quiet.

Speaker: I did have a couple of people reach out.

Speaker: I was like, I haven't heard from you in a while and you haven't talked very much.

Speaker: Honestly, Scott knows what's going on in my life.

Speaker: It's been an interesting two months.

Speaker: Yeah, it really has.

Speaker: No, but you know what?

Speaker: We're, we're here for each, for everybody.

Speaker: And again, reach out to people.

Speaker: It's hard for everybody.

Speaker: And we just want to make sure that this is a break for everybody, including us.

Speaker: So we, we appreciate anybody who's willing to listen to us.

Speaker: So definitely.

Speaker: And so appreciate those that reached out.

Speaker: Honestly, I probably won't tell you what's going on anyway.

Speaker: If you do reach out, but I will appreciate you reaching out.

Speaker: So yeah,

Speaker: Like I said, the only, only two people know outside of my family.

Speaker: I think Scott and Zach to be entirely honest.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: So, well, yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: If I were to choose one other person to talk to, it'd be him.

Speaker: So yeah.

Speaker: Isn't he like a, like a psychologist?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: He's a, he's a licensed clinical psychologist.

Speaker: So yeah.

Speaker: So he's heard it all.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: He has.

Speaker: Hey, seriously, we love you guys.

Speaker: Thanks for listening.

Speaker: And we'll talk to you in two weeks.

Speaker: Talk to you in two weeks.