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Ep 30: Off The Rails with Jeff Rivera
55 Plays6 years ago
Seriously, there is a lot of tangents in this episode. Promise there is pinball talk but we also discuss a wide variety of different topics. You'll laugh, you might cry, but we hope most of all you are entertained. You've been warned
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey, thanks for tuning in to the loser kid pinball podcast.
00:00:09
Speaker
You are on episode number 30 this week.
00:00:12
Speaker
As always, I got my co-captain with me, Scott Larson.
00:00:16
Speaker
And Scott, who do we have with us today?
Impact of Contagion on Pinball Events
00:00:19
Speaker
Well, we have one of the founders of the podcasting world in pinball.
00:00:25
Speaker
We have Mr. Jeff Rivera, who has, uh, got me farther in pinball than anybody else.
00:00:32
Speaker
And he has been able to break away from his busy schedule and to join us, which would have been our Texas Pinball Festival preview.
00:00:41
Speaker
But instead, we're going to take a left turn and talk about a lot of states of pinball.
00:00:45
Speaker
How are you doing, Jeff?
00:00:47
Speaker
I'm doing all right.
00:00:48
Speaker
I've also gone further with you than anyone else in pinball, Scott.
00:00:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's probably true.
00:00:54
Speaker
It's probably true.
00:00:55
Speaker
We've gone all the way.
00:00:57
Speaker
We have actually, I purchased two games from Jeff.
00:01:00
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:01:00
Speaker
So.
00:01:01
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:01:02
Speaker
I'm glad you're clarifying that because from my end, it does not sound right when you guys both say you've went all the way.
00:01:09
Speaker
We've consummated our pinball relationship.
00:01:11
Speaker
That's just because you have such a dirty mind there, Rube.
00:01:14
Speaker
It's not dirty.
00:01:16
Speaker
Hey, I'm just, the people are already sitting in the car going, what the heck is going on?
00:01:19
Speaker
Hey, we are still family friendly, okay?
00:01:22
Speaker
Nobody's in the car.
00:01:23
Speaker
There are no commutes right now.
Mental Health and Personal Challenges in Pinball
00:01:25
Speaker
Exactly.
00:01:27
Speaker
everybody everybody's at home sequestered with their kids and because they are so sick of listening to their kids right now they are desperate for any pinball podcast related material they have their headphones on and they're doing the dishes well i'm glad we can be like the the pinball podcasting world's ex-girlfriends now that you're desperate you're coming back to us we're the backup podcast that's what we are you you know it so desperate action is still action
00:01:56
Speaker
Hey, I'll take it all day, every day.
00:02:01
Speaker
Oh, where are we even going with this?
00:02:05
Speaker
Well, let me put it.
00:02:06
Speaker
Well, let's open up.
00:02:07
Speaker
Let's talk about Texas Pinball Festival and the Deep Root launch.
00:02:11
Speaker
All of us were planning on going to the Texas Pinball Festival.
00:02:15
Speaker
I was planning on going to the Deep Root launch.
00:02:18
Speaker
And essentially, the world is melting down with Contagion.
00:02:24
Speaker
So everything has been, I would argue, appropriately shut down while we're trying to prevent a worse pandemic than what we have.
00:02:35
Speaker
So it has really thrown a wrench into many things, including all the collateral damage with
00:02:42
Speaker
millions upon millions of dollars being lost daily because a lot of these events are a lot of the people who code to these events, they're making their money off it.
00:02:51
Speaker
And they're either selling their merchandise or they're the facilities people they're selling.
00:02:58
Speaker
They're, they're enabling these, these conventions.
00:03:02
Speaker
And right now it's, it's a major hit on the economy.
00:03:06
Speaker
I think,
00:03:07
Speaker
I was talking actually with Dr. Penn the other day and he said, I don't even, I don't even like where my 401k is going.
00:03:14
Speaker
So of course I had to log into mine and yeah, it's a good thing.
00:03:19
Speaker
I have about 20 years left in my career to recover everything that's going on.
00:03:24
Speaker
I didn't look at my 401k.
00:03:26
Speaker
Just don't, don't, don't, don't.
00:03:29
Speaker
I don't need more bad news.
00:03:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:33
Speaker
Oh, and you forgot to mention too, we all survived the earthquake here in Utah.
00:03:36
Speaker
So there's that.
00:03:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:39
Speaker
But I had the best, I had the best story though.
00:03:42
Speaker
I was actually sitting on the porcelain throne and it started vibrating, not in a good way.
00:03:48
Speaker
And then I shout out to my wife.
00:03:50
Speaker
I think we're just having an earthquake right now.
00:03:56
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:03:57
Speaker
I just can't.
00:03:59
Speaker
Hey, but I do have one of those special things.
00:04:01
Speaker
Last year, Kara was in Europe, and so I got her one of those as a surprise because everything in Europe has special toilets and has one of those bidet toilet seat things.
00:04:11
Speaker
And so now when you sit down, it actually heats up to greet you, and it actually has like a humming sound as it sprays down water just so it creates a mist so you don't create too much noise.
00:04:23
Speaker
So it was almost like an amusement park ride.
00:04:26
Speaker
That's great.
00:04:28
Speaker
I've been on the bidet bandwagon for a few years now, never going back.
00:04:33
Speaker
So with the toilet paper shortage, I'm good.
00:04:35
Speaker
As long as you're on that toilet.
00:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, actually, all my kids come in.
00:04:41
Speaker
So there's five toilets in the house and even my kids, they all come in to use that one.
00:04:45
Speaker
So essentially we have one toilet in the house.
00:04:48
Speaker
That's great.
00:04:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:49
Speaker
Welcome to Potty Training Talk with with Jeff, Josh and Scott.
00:04:54
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:04:55
Speaker
OK, so you've hit a ton of topics all at once.
00:04:58
Speaker
And honestly, I'm going to stop you right there just for a second, because I want to catch up with Jeff before we start diving in, because I feel like the whole episode we're going to be talking about coronavirus and economy and all that jazz.
00:05:08
Speaker
But people haven't heard from Jeff for how long has it been, like a year or so?
00:05:13
Speaker
um the last episode we put out was it's not pinberg yet so that was probably uh june or so may or june of last year it's yeah getting close to a year and so what have you been doing in the last year you've been hiding in your bat cave because we we've called you batman here on the show before and you've been called that in the slap group before
00:05:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's fine.
00:05:37
Speaker
I actually have friends and other friend groups that also call me that for some reason.
00:05:40
Speaker
So I'll just own it.
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:45
Speaker
Wow.
00:05:46
Speaker
The last year, huh?
00:05:48
Speaker
Well, it's not just me.
00:05:50
Speaker
Jessica moved from Oregon to Florida.
00:05:54
Speaker
So she's in Florida right now and is trying life out there for right now.
00:06:01
Speaker
So I'm going to ship her a microphone.
00:06:02
Speaker
We're going to pick the show back up and it'll be...
00:06:07
Speaker
We're still super far apart, but we'll be together online again.
00:06:11
Speaker
So that's why the show took some time off, but not the only reason.
00:06:16
Speaker
There are plenty of other reasons.
00:06:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:19
Speaker
So I've always been open about stuff that's been going on on my show.
00:06:23
Speaker
And you're not used to bummers on your show, but it's going to be a little bit of a bummer.
00:06:28
Speaker
I'll try and be brief with it.
00:06:32
Speaker
So I have OCD and it's not like the wash my hands 500 times OCD.
00:06:41
Speaker
It's called intrusive thoughts.
00:06:43
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:44
Speaker
And I have things that hop in my head and I have no control over them at all.
00:06:48
Speaker
They come in, they do their thing, they get me to try and compulse and do stuff.
00:06:54
Speaker
And for the most part, I was pretty good about handling it, but it got really, really bad and I had to go into treatment for it.
00:07:01
Speaker
I've graduated that program.
00:07:03
Speaker
It was amazing.
00:07:06
Speaker
every single day and it basically made it so I couldn't work during that time.
00:07:12
Speaker
Um, the type of treatment it was as a exposure based therapy.
00:07:16
Speaker
So it was exhausting.
00:07:18
Speaker
And for a few months there, I couldn't do anything, but basically just go to treatment, come home, sleep.
00:07:25
Speaker
And that was it.
00:07:26
Speaker
And it was also very, very expensive.
00:07:28
Speaker
So I sold almost my entire pinball collection to fund that.
00:07:33
Speaker
And then just, um,
00:07:35
Speaker
to take one more slap on the face and really not a lot of people know this yet, but, um, I'm going through a divorce on top of it all has not been an easy process divorce.
00:07:50
Speaker
And, um, I've been separated since fall, but, uh, it's been kind of crazy.
00:07:58
Speaker
I can't,
00:07:59
Speaker
get into a lot of the details because there's some legal stuff going on with it, but I have not seen my kids or my dog since December 7th.
00:08:08
Speaker
So I've been working to, um, fix that.
00:08:14
Speaker
And it's been a legal process, which has been going well for me.
00:08:19
Speaker
It's just been crazy expensive.
00:08:21
Speaker
Um,
00:08:23
Speaker
So anyway, that's where I've been and that's what I've been doing.
00:08:26
Speaker
If I have any free time and I'm able to stay awake through that free time, I'm just scrambling to get my business making money again.
00:08:35
Speaker
It kind of put full stop on everything when I went into treatment.
00:08:39
Speaker
So...
00:08:40
Speaker
Pinball podcasting really kind of fell low on the priority scale there for a little while.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yes, I want to bring the show back.
00:08:50
Speaker
I'm starting to get back to life again.
00:08:52
Speaker
Having gone through the LCD treatment and getting my mind back was really, really big.
00:08:57
Speaker
So for people who haven't seen me for a little while, they'll notice that I'm a lot more focused, more awake.
00:09:04
Speaker
But with everything else going on, I'm just really preoccupied.
00:09:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:09
Speaker
Uh, any questions since I work in medicine?
00:09:14
Speaker
Um, a couple of things I want people to, to understand.
00:09:17
Speaker
Um, uh, you and I actually talked about this roughly a year ago and I was actually overwhelmed and gratified and humbled that you would actually share something so intimate and personal, uh, with me.
00:09:33
Speaker
Um,
00:09:34
Speaker
It's always challenging when you are trying, you have a friend and you see them struggling because a lot of people don't understand how to deal with someone who is dealing with something that is on the mental side.
00:09:49
Speaker
And I want to clarify a few things that your brain is another organ in the body.
00:09:54
Speaker
And so if people had issues with their liver, if they had issues with their kidney or their heart, there's no sort of stigma with that.
00:10:03
Speaker
And we just accept them and we try to help them out as much as possible.
00:10:08
Speaker
With the brain, I think a lot of people really do have this stigma where they don't want to, they want to be sensitive to the needs of the individual, but they also, they feel that in this halfway of how do I help?
00:10:22
Speaker
I would argue that the best thing to do is to stay involved with the person.
00:10:28
Speaker
And yes, there's going to be limits on how much they will let you in or what they will accept.
00:10:33
Speaker
But the best thing to do is to reach out and to let them know that, hey, you're still thinking about them.
00:10:39
Speaker
You still care about them.
00:10:41
Speaker
And you are there if and when they need you.
00:10:45
Speaker
And I think that's the, from my standpoint, anybody who has friends who are going through, and regardless of what it is, if it's depression, if it's OCD, if it's anxiety, as long as they know they are not isolated and alone in the world, that seems to be at least one thing that you can do for someone you care about in your life.
00:11:07
Speaker
Totally agree with that.
00:11:09
Speaker
Support, validate, and be present, I guess.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:14
Speaker
And even if it's just sending messages, and guess what?
00:11:17
Speaker
In today's society, if they don't respond, that's fine.
00:11:21
Speaker
I guarantee they're getting your message and they're actually reading it.
00:11:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:26
Speaker
And if you have to, send memes because everyone looks at a meme.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:31
Speaker
Well, and that brings a question to my mind too, Jeff, is because I've known you for a couple of years now and you've always been the go-to guy.
00:11:40
Speaker
Like whether it be that, cause you were the head of kind of everything that goes on here, pinball wise with the IFPA.
00:11:49
Speaker
And like, even if we had a question about podcasting, like you always seem to be the one that's, that's helping all of us.
00:11:56
Speaker
And so how do I'm trying to think how to put this?
00:12:00
Speaker
How do we reach out to someone like you that is always giving, but sometimes needs people to take care of them as well?
Community Support and Coping Mechanisms
00:12:10
Speaker
Well, that's actually one of my issues was is I have help compulsion.
00:12:14
Speaker
I haven't quite figured out what support looks like for me yet.
00:12:21
Speaker
I'm barely getting back into kind of normal everyday life.
00:12:25
Speaker
And with me having been in treatment, they focus on like what your, you know, what your family members can do or your friends can do, but very much just in regards to helping you manage your OCD.
00:12:39
Speaker
Now I've kind of been equipped with what I need to do to handle that.
00:12:43
Speaker
Um, I have no idea what is going to come my way over the next few months, but just knowing that people are willing or even like, um, wanting to help or support, it means a lot.
00:12:57
Speaker
And I think emotional support is probably the biggest thing for me right now.
00:13:02
Speaker
Cause, um,
00:13:04
Speaker
I'm all alone in a six bedroom house trying to make ends meet.
00:13:07
Speaker
Like it's really weird.
00:13:09
Speaker
It's been a, you know, for the past 10 years, it's been a pretty noisy house and lively.
00:13:14
Speaker
And, um, you know, I've had to strip away a lot of the things that I like, um, like my pinball collection or, um, a lot of free time that I would dedicate to go fly fishing or, or other things like that.
00:13:26
Speaker
I mean, for those that are local, they noticed, I, I think I only made it to, um,
00:13:31
Speaker
like six IFPA events last year in the state.
00:13:35
Speaker
That's very low for me.
00:13:37
Speaker
Um, and you know, I was the last person qualified for the, the SCS.
00:13:41
Speaker
So, um, I'm hoping that's not going to be the case this year, but for all the people that did reach out and have been, it's, that's kind of all that I've really been needing.
00:13:51
Speaker
Um, so yeah, it's, it's nice to see people stepping up and doing that.
00:13:56
Speaker
Yeah, and I would argue that this is not a downer to talk about things.
00:14:02
Speaker
This is actually life.
00:14:04
Speaker
And this is important because I guarantee that we have degrees of separation of one.
00:14:12
Speaker
We know someone personally, whether or not you know that they are struggling with these things or not.
00:14:17
Speaker
This is something that will affect every single person.
00:14:21
Speaker
And at least being aware that being
00:14:24
Speaker
you know, being there, being involved in their life is important because it would be so easy to say, that's, I don't know what to do.
00:14:32
Speaker
I'm going to isolate myself from that situation, but open yourself up, try to reach out, try to try to help all those people who are struggling because you can make a difference in someone's life and whether or not it's just being there, that it, you
00:14:48
Speaker
we've always talked about pinball having some of the best people and being there in someone's life.
00:14:53
Speaker
I can't imagine anything more important than just knowing that someone actually gives a damn about them.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's nice.
00:15:02
Speaker
Well, I appreciate you coming on and even, I wasn't expecting you to share that.
00:15:05
Speaker
I just, I figured, you know, I don't know.
00:15:08
Speaker
It's awesome that you're willing to be open about what's going on.
00:15:10
Speaker
I appreciate that.
00:15:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:12
Speaker
I just, I feel like mental health is one of the things that,
00:15:16
Speaker
it would help a lot of people, whether you suffer from it or not, if it was normalized a bit.
00:15:20
Speaker
So, um, yeah, I'm, I'm there for it.
00:15:24
Speaker
So no, no.
00:15:26
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:27
Speaker
Well, I, one, I want to make sure that we get, we give enough time due for what is really important because really, uh, you know, we've been talking for 16 minutes and I would say that of the 30 podcasts we've done so far, if this has been the most important 16 minutes that someone could possibly hear out there.
00:15:46
Speaker
Because in this world, we become so socially isolated that it is so easy for us just to feel in a world of six billion people that we are completely alone.
00:15:59
Speaker
Now that we're in forced isolation, at least physically.
00:16:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's good.
00:16:04
Speaker
I've had a lot of time to process what's been going on and having gone through the intensive outpatient treatment, learned how to process it in a lot more healthy manner.
00:16:16
Speaker
So I'm probably doing a lot better than I should be.
00:16:21
Speaker
So if you really want to help Jeff out, you're still trying to sell some of your pinball collection, right?
00:16:25
Speaker
I know you don't want to get rid of it, but you've been trying to sell it.
00:16:30
Speaker
Yeah, so I've got interest in my dialed in.
00:16:34
Speaker
I'm going to have to sell that.
00:16:36
Speaker
And I'm hoping not to have to sell my Wonka, but that would be next in line.
00:16:41
Speaker
So everything else is gone,
Economic Impact on Pinball Industry
00:16:44
Speaker
man.
00:16:44
Speaker
I went from 17 machines to two real fast.
00:16:48
Speaker
That is, that's crazy.
00:16:50
Speaker
That's it's, I know when this all started, you, you messaged us like mental health issues suck.
00:16:56
Speaker
Like don't let it get this, this far.
00:16:58
Speaker
And like, it's been hard for like a lot of us to watch.
00:17:01
Speaker
Cause like I said, you're our Batman.
00:17:03
Speaker
I don't know how else to put it.
00:17:05
Speaker
So it's, it's hard to see like you have to get rid of your collection, but it's awesome to see that you're willing to take that step to, to, to better yourself.
00:17:13
Speaker
Yeah, long term, long term, it'll be cheaper and easier to face it all now.
00:17:19
Speaker
So I'll I'll rebound with the collection and everything.
00:17:23
Speaker
Once I get back to kind of full working capacity, it'll be fine.
00:17:28
Speaker
It's just going to be like some of those machines that I let go.
00:17:32
Speaker
I've had for like 12 years, 13 years.
00:17:35
Speaker
So it's kind of crazy.
00:17:36
Speaker
So you don't go.
00:17:36
Speaker
But yeah, it's all right.
00:17:39
Speaker
Even even games.
00:17:40
Speaker
We know that you love like Twilight Zone.
00:17:42
Speaker
Like that's.
00:17:43
Speaker
Since I've known you, that's like your baby.
00:17:45
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's always been my all-time favorite.
00:17:48
Speaker
And I've had longer than any of my kids.
00:17:52
Speaker
Well, I still have my Twilight Zone in my garage.
00:17:54
Speaker
So you're welcome to borrow that and use it as much as you want if you need mental health with a pinball machine.
00:18:01
Speaker
Awesome.
00:18:02
Speaker
I'm willing to babysit and fix pins, people.
00:18:04
Speaker
There you go.
00:18:06
Speaker
Okay, so transitioning, we are all in this weird zone where we were ramping up for this big Deep Root launch and Texas Pinball Festival, but it's all gone.
00:18:19
Speaker
So every last bit of it.
00:18:21
Speaker
Well, and everything else is up in the air too.
00:18:22
Speaker
Like, yeah, we saw Hot Wheels, which yay.
00:18:26
Speaker
I don't know what else to say about Hot Wheels.
00:18:28
Speaker
That you're getting that.
00:18:29
Speaker
That's what you're getting from me on that.
00:18:30
Speaker
But seriously, like we still have possible Stern.
00:18:34
Speaker
We've got Deep Root, which I can't remember what they have or haven't confirmed.
00:18:39
Speaker
So I'm not going to confirm myself what's going on.
00:18:42
Speaker
That's smart.
00:18:43
Speaker
And so we know that I think,
00:18:48
Speaker
pinball show talked about they're still attempting to push through to do something with it.
00:18:53
Speaker
But I mean, you look at those guys and they miss last year's date and then it's like they're all ready to go for this date and then this happens.
00:19:01
Speaker
Poor Damien over at with Celts over at Haggis Pinball.
00:19:06
Speaker
He's no longer coming to America because they've shut down virtually the airports for him, it sounds like.
00:19:12
Speaker
Well, and the earthquake shut down our airport so I don't know...
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:17
Speaker
I mean, it's just crazy.
00:19:18
Speaker
We had so many reveals that were happening in the next two weeks.
00:19:20
Speaker
Are we still on those timelines?
00:19:21
Speaker
Is it still going to happen?
00:19:23
Speaker
No, no chance.
00:19:25
Speaker
I mean, this is, this is a global economy pause.
00:19:29
Speaker
And so I don't see any of them being able to ramp things up.
00:19:35
Speaker
I, you and I mentioned, messaged JJ and he said, or I think he posted on Facebook and we were asking about how the business was.
00:19:45
Speaker
And even actually, I'm sorry, it wasn't JJ.
00:19:48
Speaker
It was a Zach mini.
00:19:49
Speaker
And he said, so far that hasn't been such a slowdown, but
00:19:54
Speaker
But I don't see how – pinball is a complete luxury item.
00:19:58
Speaker
I don't see how people, when they're having their decrease and the government's talking about giving everybody $1,000 to help them make ends meet.
00:20:08
Speaker
I don't see how that's going to change with people just buying the same amount of pinball machines that they have in the past.
00:20:17
Speaker
It's got to affect us in the next two to three months.
00:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of...
00:20:24
Speaker
Domino's yet to fall economically is still so I don't know.
00:20:28
Speaker
Like it's pretty early to project what's going to happen to pinball.
00:20:32
Speaker
Um, who knows a vaccine could come out for this thing and like really squelch it or it could become a yearly issue, which would be awful.
00:20:42
Speaker
Um, we don't need a flu on top of the flu during flu season, but, um, as far as what's happening now, like I've, I've lost a lot of work personally that, um,
00:20:53
Speaker
Definitely impacted what I'm going to be doing in pinball this year.
00:20:56
Speaker
Everything from certain shows I was going to attend that I've had to budget out to, you know, possibly budgeting for a pinball machine later in the year once I kind of got work going again.
00:21:06
Speaker
But the longer it takes to get back my feet, the less I'm going to be able to buy.
00:21:10
Speaker
And I know I'm not alone in that.
00:21:14
Speaker
So with the uncertainty, I can't take that thousand dollars and put it towards like an EM and, you know, an order of parts from Pinball Life or something.
00:21:21
Speaker
Honestly, too, it's like, I don't know, like JJ over at Game Exchange, we were talking about him.
00:21:27
Speaker
And he right now, because he knows everyone's cooped up, he's doing an offer on a used game.
00:21:32
Speaker
It's like 500 bucks for the first game.
00:21:34
Speaker
You have to agree to have it for two months, but then it's like 250 every game after that.
00:21:39
Speaker
And so, I mean, if you're cooped up, that's an all right deal.
00:21:43
Speaker
But then again, we don't know where we're going to be sitting in a month.
00:21:46
Speaker
So it's like, do I dare take that risk?
00:21:48
Speaker
And then in a month, I need that thousand dollars?
00:21:51
Speaker
I just, I don't know.
00:21:52
Speaker
It's so goofy right now.
00:21:54
Speaker
Well, I, I guess what I would say is that there are ways that we can help out people with the pinball community and, and, and,
00:22:00
Speaker
even like friends who have businesses.
00:22:02
Speaker
So sometimes in the service business, if you can't get their service right now, then you can buy, like it's essentially a gift card.
00:22:13
Speaker
Like you can actually say, hey, I know you can't do this service right now, but I'm going to prepay you for this and then anticipate that when things get less crazy, you can do that.
00:22:23
Speaker
And so whether or not that's with restaurants, whether or not that's with
00:22:27
Speaker
you know, a contracted person who does something for you.
00:22:31
Speaker
You can do that and still try to keep things lubricated until they actually get back on their feet.
00:22:37
Speaker
Because if you have a restaurant and you just don't get anything, you will shut down.
00:22:43
Speaker
If you have, if you have an
00:22:48
Speaker
I don't know, some sort of contracting, whether or not you're a photographer, whether or not you're a caterer, whether or not you're any of these things.
00:22:54
Speaker
If you want to help out your favorite people, contact them and say, Hey, I know you can't do it right now, but can I prepay?
00:23:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point.
00:23:04
Speaker
I totally agree.
00:23:05
Speaker
I think, I think there's other ways that you can help.
00:23:07
Speaker
I know that the government stepping up, which is awesome, but where do you guys think?
00:23:12
Speaker
So,
00:23:14
Speaker
Do we even throw out any scenarios?
00:23:16
Speaker
Where do we think the pinball economy is going to end up at this point?
00:23:20
Speaker
I mean, you have Deep Root.
00:23:23
Speaker
We can only guess how many machines they were going to debut.
00:23:26
Speaker
It depends.
00:23:27
Speaker
It depends on what their fallback is.
00:23:30
Speaker
Deep Root's fallback is Robert.
00:23:34
Speaker
He has the funds to actually weather the storm.
00:23:38
Speaker
Stern is the biggest company out there and they are dominating the market.
00:23:43
Speaker
So I think they will have to scale down a little bit.
00:23:48
Speaker
But the bottom line is they're the ones who are still manufacturing.
00:23:51
Speaker
I think the part that you're going to start seeing is you're going to start seeing some of the smaller ones.
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:58
Speaker
even JJP to an extent, you're going to see spooky hit to an extent because they, they just don't have the same volume that Stern does to, uh, to float, uh, haggis that who knows if haggis will be able to weather the storm because this is a global, this will be a global economic depression that will take years to get out of, um, any of these small other things.
00:24:24
Speaker
Um, um,
00:24:25
Speaker
You know, we haven't we haven't talked about the is the gangster one.
00:24:31
Speaker
Oh, Kingpin.
00:24:32
Speaker
Yes, Kingpin.
00:24:33
Speaker
So we're going to see if they're going to be able to weather the storm.
00:24:37
Speaker
Also, people, you know, also small people in the service industry.
00:24:41
Speaker
You have Chris over at high end pens.
00:24:44
Speaker
Are people going to be willing to spend, you know, five thousand dollars in restoring their dream pen if their 401k took a 20 percent dive?
00:24:53
Speaker
It's a good point.
00:24:55
Speaker
I hope it's only 20%.
00:24:58
Speaker
I have a, I guess I have an optimism for all of it.
00:25:00
Speaker
Um, I really, I really hope that here in a month we'll have a better clarity of what's going on.
00:25:07
Speaker
My biggest, my biggest thing.
00:25:08
Speaker
And I, I know Jeff is maybe on the same ship with me, but what happens to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles now?
00:25:15
Speaker
I mean, usually the schedule is as TPF happens, then Stern reveals not even like two days later.
00:25:21
Speaker
Do you think that pushes back Ninja Turtles?
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:24
Speaker
It allows them to add Venus in there.
00:25:27
Speaker
Venus the mellow.
00:25:29
Speaker
Ah, no, no.
00:25:30
Speaker
The best turtle.
00:25:35
Speaker
I hope you know this awkward silence is because of you, Scott.
00:25:39
Speaker
It's not awkward.
00:25:40
Speaker
It's just an angry silence is what it is.
00:25:44
Speaker
No, I don't know what it's going to do to marketing timelines because we, like they said, it's still so early to know what it's going to do to people's buying habits.
00:25:54
Speaker
If people aren't willing to buy, you can't really invest in, in like promotion.
00:26:00
Speaker
So you would want to sit and hold it, but yeah.
00:26:03
Speaker
how are you going to like convince people to buy the next thing without showing it?
00:26:07
Speaker
It depends.
00:26:07
Speaker
It's a weird thing.
00:26:08
Speaker
Like people expect a certain cadence of releases and announcements.
00:26:12
Speaker
And I mean, yeah, time's coming to show the next game, but I don't know.
00:26:17
Speaker
Like I guess they look at sales of things that are on the line and see how that that's going to be impacted.
00:26:23
Speaker
I mean, this three weeks ago, wasn't that big of a deal.
00:26:25
Speaker
It's, it's so short.
00:26:28
Speaker
Um, the timescale of all this happening still.
00:26:31
Speaker
So who knows what's going to happen?
00:26:33
Speaker
Yeah, because even like last week, we were, you know, it started hitting, but we were, I was still debating whether I go to Texas Pinball Festival or not.
00:26:41
Speaker
It didn't seem like it was that big of an issue until.
00:26:44
Speaker
you know, it started becoming a state of emergency.
00:26:46
Speaker
So, right.
Coping with Crisis through Humor and Media
00:26:47
Speaker
Well, it, it literally went in, uh, in 48 hours.
00:26:52
Speaker
Um, cause I was actually mentioning, uh, uh, Christian line, Dr. Penn, uh, because we're both anesthesiologists.
00:26:58
Speaker
So I, I was just messaging back and forth and finding out how his hospital was doing and what they were doing to limit services.
00:27:07
Speaker
And I'm not kidding within 48 hours, it was a
00:27:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think we'll still be able to go forward.
00:27:12
Speaker
It's not it's not global to.
00:27:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's off.
00:27:16
Speaker
We're done.
00:27:17
Speaker
And that's 48 hours.
00:27:19
Speaker
And the first time it felt real to me was when the NBA canceled games.
00:27:25
Speaker
Right.
00:27:25
Speaker
That seemed that seemed to be, oh, this is this is a big deal and I'm going to see everything cancel.
00:27:32
Speaker
Thanks to Utah, by the way, too.
00:27:35
Speaker
I hear something kind of funny about that.
00:27:36
Speaker
So the first two players that were positive were obviously Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
00:27:44
Speaker
Um, the day before Donovan Mitchell got his positive test, I was talking with him in person and I ended up developing a cough like right after.
00:27:57
Speaker
So I had to go get tested.
00:27:58
Speaker
Um, and my results came back yesterday.
00:28:00
Speaker
I'm clear.
00:28:01
Speaker
I'm clean of virus.
00:28:03
Speaker
I have something else, but, uh, it was just like,
00:28:08
Speaker
Did he give it to me?
00:28:08
Speaker
Did I give it to him?
00:28:09
Speaker
If I give it to him, was I the one that shut down the entire NBA and basically the sports world?
00:28:14
Speaker
Because I had just come back from California from a court date.
00:28:17
Speaker
And so I'm like thinking, did I pick it up in California?
00:28:19
Speaker
Did I give it to Donald Mitchell?
00:28:20
Speaker
Did he actually give it to Rudy Gobert?
00:28:22
Speaker
What happened here?
00:28:25
Speaker
I'm so glad that I'm not the one that shut down the NBA though.
00:28:27
Speaker
It wasn't me guys.
00:28:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:29
Speaker
Okay, but did you see that meme that went around that it was cold but it was hilarious?
00:28:34
Speaker
It had Rudy Gobert and he said defensive player third time in a row.
00:28:38
Speaker
He literally shut down the NBA.
00:28:40
Speaker
I didn't, but I mean, it was almost my fault.
00:28:45
Speaker
Almost, yeah.
00:28:46
Speaker
I was going to say what's even worse about the situation too is just –
00:28:50
Speaker
I don't know if any of you follow the NBA closely, but Ruduk O'Bear was kind of like, I don't want to say making fun of it, but he was very nonchalant about it.
00:28:58
Speaker
Oh, he was making fun of it.
00:29:01
Speaker
He was totally making fun.
00:29:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:03
Speaker
Three weeks ago, it was kind of a joke.
00:29:05
Speaker
And today it's not like today.
00:29:07
Speaker
People are really afraid and people are worried.
00:29:10
Speaker
And three weeks ago, it was kind of like, I don't know.
00:29:14
Speaker
We had the same thing with swine flu.
00:29:16
Speaker
It was funny for a couple of weeks and then it was everywhere.
00:29:18
Speaker
And I actually got it.
00:29:21
Speaker
I had my aunt died from it.
00:29:24
Speaker
So it stopped being funny at one point.
00:29:27
Speaker
And I think we're at the, it's not that funny anymore.
00:29:28
Speaker
The memes are still great, but.
00:29:30
Speaker
Yes, they are.
00:29:31
Speaker
Like the actuality of it is it just kind of sucks being stuck in your house and being limited to one loaf of bread per trip to the store.
00:29:41
Speaker
Well, you have to find humor in crises and, and people can look at it as cold blooded, but really if you, if you lose your humor, then it really puts you in a really dark state.
00:29:52
Speaker
And you have to just accept that life follows some ironic paths.
00:29:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:01
Speaker
Life finds a way.
00:30:04
Speaker
I just watched that the other night.
00:30:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:30:07
Speaker
You know what?
00:30:08
Speaker
That's one of those things where the book and the movie, they are different, but they're both equally awesome.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:16
Speaker
So I'm not saying that the movie doesn't have flaws or it's cheesy moments or what's going on there moments, but I put that in my list of perfect movies.
00:30:25
Speaker
So if you have time, I mean, it seems like a lot of us have time.
00:30:30
Speaker
You really should go through the Rotten Tomatoes.
00:30:34
Speaker
What's the perfect movie and what isn't?
00:30:37
Speaker
I just, my son and I sat down and watched Jaws.
00:30:40
Speaker
It's his first time.
00:30:43
Speaker
You know, for a 1975 movie, it really does hold up.
00:30:46
Speaker
I totally forgot there was nudity at the very beginning.
00:30:50
Speaker
Are you serious?
00:30:52
Speaker
The Swimmer.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:52
Speaker
Well...
00:30:55
Speaker
It had been a little bit since I'd seen it.
00:30:57
Speaker
So, uh, but you do know that Amity means friendship, right?
00:31:01
Speaker
Really?
00:31:03
Speaker
But long story short on Rotten Tomatoes, it's like 98%.
00:31:06
Speaker
Would you agree that that is that good of a movie?
00:31:09
Speaker
I do.
00:31:10
Speaker
Um, I think so.
00:31:13
Speaker
I, I'm not going to get into my full list of what are perfect movies, but just to throw out a few of them.
00:31:17
Speaker
So you kind of know what I consider perfect, um, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters.
00:31:25
Speaker
Um, there's a zone and you kind of look at the time period.
00:31:28
Speaker
Those are all like late seventies to early nineties.
00:31:32
Speaker
Um, and,
00:31:33
Speaker
But all of them still hold up extremely well.
00:31:36
Speaker
So they've already stood the test of time.
00:31:40
Speaker
How do you feel about Last Jedi?
00:31:44
Speaker
It's not a perfect movie.
00:31:46
Speaker
The only perfect Star Wars is Empire Strikes Back, and it is perfect.
00:31:49
Speaker
Okay, you know what?
00:31:50
Speaker
Rogue One is a perfect movie.
00:31:52
Speaker
I watched it the other day, and I cried a little bit.
00:31:56
Speaker
Well, maybe when they need to sell the remaining Star Wars pins, they'll re-theme it to Rogue One.
00:32:03
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:32:05
Speaker
That hurts.
00:32:06
Speaker
It hurts.
00:32:07
Speaker
It would work.
00:32:08
Speaker
Probably would.
00:32:09
Speaker
Because you die on the plunge.
00:32:12
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:32:13
Speaker
That's terrible.
00:32:14
Speaker
Nobody survives.
00:32:16
Speaker
You know, my list of movies, my all-time favorite is The Dark Knight.
00:32:21
Speaker
I mean, and it holds a very respectable score.
00:32:24
Speaker
That's a perfect movie.
00:32:26
Speaker
Yeah, it really is.
00:32:27
Speaker
It just, every time I watch it, it's just amazing.
00:32:30
Speaker
The movie, the other movie my son and I started watching was Gremlins.
00:32:34
Speaker
That is cheesy 80 goodness.
00:32:37
Speaker
Oh, it's crazy.
00:32:38
Speaker
Wow.
00:32:39
Speaker
Why is that no one's favorite Christmas movie?
00:32:40
Speaker
It takes place during Christmas.
00:32:42
Speaker
It is a Christmas movie.
00:32:43
Speaker
And it is self-aware.
00:32:45
Speaker
Like, they know they're being cheesy, which helps.
00:32:49
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:32:49
Speaker
That whole bar scene.
00:32:50
Speaker
And, you know, the flashing, everything.
00:32:53
Speaker
Just fantastic.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:32:55
Speaker
So, my favorite movie is really old school.
00:32:58
Speaker
It has to go back to, like, 1950-something.
00:33:00
Speaker
It's Ben-Hur.
00:33:02
Speaker
Okay.
00:33:03
Speaker
And it's probably because I'm a 90-year-old trapped in a 45-year-old man's body.
00:33:07
Speaker
But...
00:33:08
Speaker
No, your body's about 92.
00:33:10
Speaker
You're breaking down.
00:33:11
Speaker
Ouch.
00:33:11
Speaker
That hurts.
00:33:12
Speaker
Actually, it's probably true.
00:33:13
Speaker
My, I've been working on a plantar wart on my foot.
00:33:16
Speaker
Seriously.
00:33:17
Speaker
Like who has to deal with a plantar wart?
00:33:18
Speaker
And I've been dealing with it for four months.
00:33:21
Speaker
Uh, so Josh, when he dies, um, I'll happily fill in on a weekly basis because his body's crumbling.
00:33:30
Speaker
Wait, wait, am I turning into the Jeff?
00:33:32
Speaker
Is it, is this just going to be, is this just going to be my health updates?
00:33:36
Speaker
Um,
00:33:36
Speaker
I haven't been able to breathe deeply for a year either.
00:33:38
Speaker
Should we talk about that?
00:33:40
Speaker
Varicose veins, diminished lung capacity.
00:33:44
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:33:45
Speaker
We've got to share this for a second.
00:33:46
Speaker
Now that you've brought it up, we've got to share this.
00:33:48
Speaker
So the last tournament we did at Scott's house, he didn't play with us because he just had surgery for his varicose veins.
00:33:53
Speaker
And so like...
00:33:55
Speaker
So we're playing pinball and there's Scott laying in the middle of floor with like his legs in the air because that's part of, yeah, wrapped.
00:34:02
Speaker
And we're just like, you all right?
00:34:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'm fine.
00:34:05
Speaker
No, I'm fine.
00:34:06
Speaker
I'm fine.
00:34:06
Speaker
Just keep playing.
00:34:10
Speaker
Hey, that's commitment.
00:34:11
Speaker
That's commitment to pinball.
00:34:12
Speaker
Yes.
00:34:13
Speaker
Yes, it is.
00:34:15
Speaker
I share, I share my health, my health issues too.
00:34:18
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:20
Speaker
I'm still trying to find the best rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes, and I'm completely lost on the site.
00:34:25
Speaker
Just watch Sing Street.
00:34:27
Speaker
That's my always recommendation for people.
00:34:29
Speaker
Everyone likes it.
00:34:30
Speaker
Sing Street.
00:34:32
Speaker
You want my always recommendation?
00:34:33
Speaker
Me and my wife's always recommendation is the rundown with The Rock and Sean William Scott.
00:34:39
Speaker
Uh-huh.
00:34:40
Speaker
What?
00:34:40
Speaker
Now that is cheesy 2000s fun.
00:34:42
Speaker
You've never seen the rundown?
00:34:44
Speaker
Okay.
00:34:44
Speaker
Is this like Aquabats 2.0?
00:34:45
Speaker
No.
00:34:46
Speaker
It's got Christopher Walken in it.
00:34:49
Speaker
where you bring up some esoteric thing that nobody knows except you i know what the rundown is yeah see never saw it but i know what it is sing street is that uh is the band in uh ireland right yes in the 80s yeah no that that's a great one yeah that's a great one it's fantastic
00:35:11
Speaker
Yeah, it's time for you to watch the rundown.
00:35:13
Speaker
It's very cheesy.
00:35:15
Speaker
It's kind of got some wrestler-esque moves to it because, you know, it's got the rock in it.
00:35:20
Speaker
But it's hilarious because the bad guy is Christopher Walken.
00:35:23
Speaker
You can't say no to Christopher Walken.
00:35:26
Speaker
Does he ask for more cowbell?
00:35:29
Speaker
He does not in this one, but he does talk about the tooth fairy and it's hilarious because he's trying to explain the tooth fairy to these guys that only speak Portuguese.
00:35:38
Speaker
Okay.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:39
Speaker
Any, just do it.
00:35:41
Speaker
It's like three bucks to rent.
00:35:42
Speaker
You've got time.
00:35:43
Speaker
I know you do.
00:35:45
Speaker
It's probably true.
00:35:47
Speaker
I want to move on.
00:35:48
Speaker
I want, I want to, let's talk to whippies really quick.
00:35:50
Speaker
So, okay.
00:35:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:35:51
Speaker
Well, one thing I also don't want to talk about.
00:35:53
Speaker
So Texas pinball festival, they had all the merchandise.
00:35:56
Speaker
And so they, uh, in order, I, Ed took a bath on this.
00:36:00
Speaker
So please go out, buy a t-shirt, buy a banner, buy a key chain.
00:36:05
Speaker
I don't care what you do.
00:36:05
Speaker
Just go ahead and buy something.
00:36:07
Speaker
And so try to help them out too.
00:36:10
Speaker
Again, seriously, look for any of your favorite places you frequent and call Tilt Cycle.
00:36:18
Speaker
See if he has anything for you.
00:36:20
Speaker
Just figure out some way of buying one of these small things from them.
00:36:24
Speaker
But again, Texas Pinball Festival, go buy the merchandise.
Celebrating Pinball Community Achievements
00:36:28
Speaker
Same with, sorry, the two people we were supposed to give a shout out, we were going to be supporting while we were at Texas Pinball Festival, was Brad Hunter of Lit Frames.
00:36:39
Speaker
He's got some wonderful product.
00:36:40
Speaker
And also the other gentleman I was going to start talking about too is Jockton, because he was going to be at TPF as well with his pin shades.
00:36:48
Speaker
And so I feel bad because like pin shades is something you got to like experience yourself to like understand how awesome it is.
00:36:55
Speaker
And so I was like, dude, like rock on.
00:36:58
Speaker
I'm excited for people to get this in their hands.
00:37:00
Speaker
And then, well, we all know how it ended.
00:37:04
Speaker
Hey, when I had retinal tearing, those light sensitivity glasses absolutely saved my pinball life.
00:37:11
Speaker
So I kind of want to see them.
00:37:12
Speaker
We'll have to bring them up.
00:37:14
Speaker
Okay, come on down.
00:37:16
Speaker
We are going to do something this week or next week, and I will bring them up.
00:37:21
Speaker
Because you don't have AR glass on your pinball machines, do you?
00:37:26
Speaker
No, I don't.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:27
Speaker
So that'll be great because we'll be able to try that out.
00:37:30
Speaker
Yes, I do.
00:37:31
Speaker
Because they're just JJPs now.
00:37:33
Speaker
Oh, you're right.
00:37:33
Speaker
You're right.
00:37:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:37:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:36
Speaker
We can go to Keto's and try them out.
00:37:38
Speaker
Okay.
00:37:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:37:40
Speaker
So let's talk some Twippies if you don't mind.
00:37:43
Speaker
I don't mind.
00:37:45
Speaker
Awesome.
00:37:46
Speaker
So for those who don't know, Jeff...
00:37:49
Speaker
Patterson, not Jeff Rivera.
00:37:51
Speaker
Jeff Patterson has decided to keep going on with the Twippies.
00:37:54
Speaker
The show must go on, right?
00:37:56
Speaker
I'm pretty for sure, Moto, and Carrie's still the host.
00:38:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:01
Speaker
But we're going to be doing... We're still going to be presenting that... I don't know if we talked about this last show, but we're going to present one of the... Was it topics?
00:38:10
Speaker
No, not topics.
00:38:11
Speaker
Awards?
00:38:12
Speaker
Awards?
00:38:13
Speaker
Well... Yeah, sure.
00:38:16
Speaker
Awards.
00:38:16
Speaker
We're going to go with that.
00:38:18
Speaker
But...
00:38:20
Speaker
I want everyone to tune in and support this.
00:38:22
Speaker
Cause like Jeff is still getting, the thing is, is like a lot of us don't have much to do between if, if your job has shut down at this point or it's been tore down by an earthquake or whatever it may be, you know, you're gonna be sitting at home with a lot of time.
00:38:35
Speaker
And so Jeff is putting like an amazing amount of effort into making this still go on.
00:38:40
Speaker
So what do you guys hope to see in the Twippies?
00:38:44
Speaker
Well,
00:38:46
Speaker
I was supposed to be the photographer at the show for the Twippies.
00:38:49
Speaker
So am I going to take pictures of a computer screen maybe?
00:38:52
Speaker
Yeah, you can do that.
00:38:54
Speaker
I still should.
00:38:54
Speaker
I should act like I'm taking pictures of that.
00:38:57
Speaker
Just screenshot them all.
00:38:58
Speaker
You know, I still have the outfits, the two suits that I ordered.
00:39:04
Speaker
They're still upstairs.
00:39:06
Speaker
And my wife came home because she was in Europe.
00:39:08
Speaker
Yes, thank you very much.
00:39:09
Speaker
She just got home on Sunday.
00:39:11
Speaker
And so she's been sequestered.
00:39:13
Speaker
And she looked at it as like, why do you have these dumb and dumber suits?
00:39:16
Speaker
And I'm like, well, it's a funny story.
00:39:19
Speaker
She didn't know?
00:39:21
Speaker
Well, okay, so I didn't tell her.
00:39:25
Speaker
No, you can't release all your pinball crazy on your family at once.
00:39:28
Speaker
You have to dole it out slowly.
00:39:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:31
Speaker
Okay.
00:39:34
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:39:34
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:39:35
Speaker
So what did your wife say?
00:39:36
Speaker
She's just like, oh, yeah, par for the course kind of thing.
00:39:39
Speaker
She just rolled her eyes.
00:39:41
Speaker
One thing I'd actually would like to see with the Twippies is I'd like to see some of the announcements of games integrated into them.
00:39:47
Speaker
Because we have the awards and we have things like that.
00:39:51
Speaker
But a lot of the times that like E3 and stuff for the video game industry, they do all their announcements at their big shows.
00:39:58
Speaker
And I know it's not an award show, but when Spike does the video game awards, they announce new stuff there.
00:40:04
Speaker
So I think it'd be kind of cool because if they were announcing...
00:40:09
Speaker
product or games in the Twippies.
00:40:12
Speaker
It's probably not possible this year.
00:40:15
Speaker
Who knows?
00:40:16
Speaker
But it would bring a lot of viewers to it and it would help to really drive the show for future years.
00:40:23
Speaker
The more people will watch, they're going to be involved in the voting next year.
00:40:26
Speaker
And I think it'd be a really cool nod by the manufacturers of whether they're mods or full games to support the show in that way, saying, hey, we've got something coming out.
00:40:35
Speaker
We'd love to debut it on your show.
00:40:38
Speaker
So again, probably too late to do that kind of stuff this year.
00:40:41
Speaker
But I think it'd be something that'd be neat if companies started thinking that direction.
00:40:46
Speaker
And I think it would cement its legitimacy as well.
00:40:48
Speaker
I think there's the problem is, is that people always kind of question its legitimacy, whether that's
00:40:56
Speaker
Warranted or not, but, um, I, that would be really cool.
00:41:02
Speaker
If you guys win, it's totally not legit.
00:41:04
Speaker
I'll just say that.
00:41:05
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:41:05
Speaker
Well, I, I voted like a thousand times.
00:41:07
Speaker
Is that bad?
00:41:09
Speaker
I voted.
00:41:09
Speaker
With the old, uh, Chicago vote, early vote often.
00:41:15
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:41:16
Speaker
You know what?
00:41:16
Speaker
Heck yes.
00:41:17
Speaker
That's true.
00:41:18
Speaker
All right.
00:41:19
Speaker
Let's, let's, let's beeline it out of that topic really quick.
00:41:22
Speaker
So Jeff, you own a Wonka.
00:41:23
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:41:25
Speaker
Do you think that Jurassic Park has it locked down for Game of the Year?
00:41:28
Speaker
Do you think Wonka has a chance?
00:41:31
Speaker
I mean, Wonka has a chance, but it's a small chance.
00:41:36
Speaker
I think Jurassic Park pretty much has it.
00:41:39
Speaker
The only thing is, is like a lot of people...
00:41:43
Speaker
And I wish we could kind of get away from this.
00:41:44
Speaker
They are kind of like advocate voting.
00:41:47
Speaker
So like they might be mad at Stern because of the UV kit for Stranger Things.
00:41:51
Speaker
So now they're not going to vote for Jurassic Park and they're going to vote for anything else just to stick it to them.
00:41:56
Speaker
And I hope people aren't really doing that, but that's always a factor in these sorts of things.
00:42:01
Speaker
But no, I think Jurassic Park's pretty much got that.
00:42:05
Speaker
I agree.
00:42:06
Speaker
It's just way more widely played as well.
00:42:10
Speaker
I mean, most shows you go to have like four or five Jurassic parks and one Wonka.
00:42:14
Speaker
Well, and I think that's really what hurt Pirates of the Caribbean last year.
00:42:18
Speaker
Legitimately, I think Pirates of the Caribbean is a more ambitious game.
00:42:24
Speaker
And with what Eric did, it was unbelievable.
00:42:27
Speaker
But I think it was hamstrung just because there weren't as many of them out there.
00:42:32
Speaker
And so people didn't get exposed to them, whereas Iron Maiden was flooding the market.
00:42:36
Speaker
Yeah, it matters for sure.
00:42:39
Speaker
What about the rookie of the year?
00:42:42
Speaker
Like, what do you feel about that?
00:42:43
Speaker
Because it ended up being basically a dragnet category of, hey, you're kind of new to pinball doing something different.
00:42:50
Speaker
Well, the problem is it's not even like you're new to pinball.
00:42:52
Speaker
Like, Deadflip's been in the hobby for five years now.
00:42:55
Speaker
Sure.
00:42:55
Speaker
Like, actively.
00:42:57
Speaker
But you're making a game for the first time.
00:43:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:01
Speaker
True.
00:43:02
Speaker
So I guess that's, he's been in pinball, but maybe not the industry.
00:43:07
Speaker
I don't know how they want to like split those hairs, but, um, I will say the layout he's making looks pretty awesome.
00:43:14
Speaker
I don't know.
00:43:14
Speaker
I just, I think rookie of the year is, um,
00:43:18
Speaker
It's one of those things that they need to better define it or they need to get rid of it.
00:43:21
Speaker
That's just my opinion.
00:43:22
Speaker
I think last year was justified.
00:43:24
Speaker
You had Scott Denise, you had Keith Owen, and you had Eric Meniere.
00:43:29
Speaker
It was very defined.
00:43:30
Speaker
No one gave a crap about it because those were three people that were obviously rookies in the category that they were going for.
00:43:37
Speaker
I think the way I would refine that sort of category, because some years you're just not going to have anybody that's, you know, new on the scene or you only have one or two.
00:43:46
Speaker
I think what you should probably do is change it to like a breakout award where, you know, a designer that's been around could win it, but maybe they've done something different or unexpected.
00:43:57
Speaker
And it's not like a comeback award, but it's just like this year you kind of set yourself apart.
00:44:02
Speaker
And then the newcomers would naturally fall in there as well.
00:44:05
Speaker
Because if somebody's first time,
00:44:09
Speaker
designing a pinball machine, then obviously there'd be considered for like a breakout award.
00:44:13
Speaker
So, but we'll see.
00:44:15
Speaker
I mean, like it would be cool if they kept getting enough newcomers to the industry to support that award.
00:44:21
Speaker
I mean, that'd be great.
00:44:23
Speaker
Well, and I think the other thing that was brought up with it too is do you define it solely as someone that has done something to further the pinball industry or do you let it be a dragnet for the whole hobby in general?
00:44:36
Speaker
Because that was kind of the problem with this go around.
00:44:39
Speaker
I mean, you got Tim Sexton, obviously a man that deserves it with his work on Black Knight.
00:44:45
Speaker
But, you know, okay, I'll use us as an example because I feel like I can take a swat at us without anyone –
00:44:52
Speaker
being mad.
00:44:54
Speaker
Your mom will be upset.
00:44:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:56
Speaker
Does our contribution to the hobby even come close to compare to Tim Sexton's contribution in the hobby?
00:45:03
Speaker
It depends.
00:45:04
Speaker
Like what if people don't like modern pinball, but they do like podcasts and there's a lot of players that don't really like
00:45:14
Speaker
Pinball is getting enough variation into it that the things that people value, some people don't even really like playing that much.
00:45:20
Speaker
They just like the hobby.
00:45:22
Speaker
They like to have a few machines that they can tinker around with.
00:45:24
Speaker
They like discussion, but they're not big time players.
00:45:28
Speaker
And that sounds weird to say, but...
00:45:31
Speaker
Pinball offers enough content aside from actual playing of pinball that you can be involved that way.
00:45:37
Speaker
Maybe you really just enjoy the art or you enjoy, I don't know, the general excitement of it.
00:45:41
Speaker
But for a person like that, they probably don't care about the intricacies of code and updates and such.
00:45:49
Speaker
But for like the tournament player, they're going to say, yeah, fresh ideas and code is extremely valuable.
00:45:56
Speaker
The most important thing going on right now.
00:45:59
Speaker
it's going to be perspective based.
00:46:01
Speaker
What would you think about instead of having a rookie of the year, having, you know, like in the Oscars, how they have like,
00:46:08
Speaker
you know, the in memoriam where they have the famous people who have died.
00:46:12
Speaker
And so it's all the people, you know, you can't just have best person who died this year, which would be kind of interesting.
00:46:20
Speaker
But what they could do is just say, hey, these are the, you know, for an Instagram term, these are the influencers who made a splash this year.
00:46:30
Speaker
And you can just have like 10 people and just talk about them.
00:46:34
Speaker
Or do you think that's it's unnecessary?
00:46:37
Speaker
I mean, I'd get tired of being put on the list, but I'm down for it.
00:46:40
Speaker
Sure.
00:46:43
Speaker
You're so hipster using that word influencer.
00:46:47
Speaker
Guys, I used to work for an influencer marketing firm.
00:46:52
Speaker
Wow.
00:46:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:46:54
Speaker
Sorry, guys.
00:46:55
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:46:58
Speaker
I've been doing a project while I've been talking to you guys.
00:47:00
Speaker
I know it's terrible of me, but I got my new...
00:47:05
Speaker
Arcade 1-Up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Bar Stool.
00:47:10
Speaker
And I've been putting it together because I want to test ride this baby while I'm on air with you guys.
00:47:15
Speaker
Because if you don't know this, my recording studio is a cold cellar in the bottom of the farmhouse.
00:47:22
Speaker
And it's not very comfortable down here.
00:47:24
Speaker
So I got something nice for my tushy.
00:47:27
Speaker
It would be hilarious if there was just a loud crack and a, I'm all right, I'm all right.
00:47:31
Speaker
That would be awesome.
00:47:34
Speaker
Are you trying it right now?
00:47:36
Speaker
Yes, I'm setting it down next to the microphone.
00:47:39
Speaker
This is going down.
00:47:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:47:40
Speaker
So how did you get this?
00:47:42
Speaker
Because I bought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game and I didn't get a bar stool.
00:47:49
Speaker
It came out last week.
00:47:50
Speaker
You can get it via Walmart.
00:47:52
Speaker
Oh, like with the game or without it?
00:47:55
Speaker
Without the game.
00:47:57
Speaker
How much was it?
00:47:57
Speaker
It sold 80 bucks, if I remember correctly.
00:48:01
Speaker
I don't think it's worth it.
00:48:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:03
Speaker
Ninja Turtles.
00:48:04
Speaker
It's worth it.
00:48:05
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:48:06
Speaker
It's just not.
00:48:07
Speaker
I'm not a Ninja Turtle fanboy.
00:48:08
Speaker
I actually already have a Ninja Turtle game.
00:48:10
Speaker
Didn't I tell it?
00:48:11
Speaker
Didn't I show it to you?
00:48:12
Speaker
I got it for five bucks.
00:48:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:14
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:48:16
Speaker
the pinball machine for Ninja Turtles has been inevitable because they've had so many toy pinball machines made like different iterations and stuff.
00:48:25
Speaker
It was just a matter of time.
00:48:27
Speaker
So yeah, better not to rise of rise of the tip.
00:48:32
Speaker
Okay.
00:48:33
Speaker
I just hope they have like, when you sit on it, it has a vanilla ice go Ninja, go Ninja, go.
00:48:41
Speaker
It does not.
00:48:42
Speaker
But it's got a nice cushion to it.
00:48:45
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:48:45
Speaker
It's a nice barstool.
00:48:46
Speaker
It doesn't rotate like most barstools.
00:48:49
Speaker
Okay.
00:48:49
Speaker
All right.
00:48:51
Speaker
It's officially licensed.
00:48:52
Speaker
That's all you need, right?
00:48:53
Speaker
You know, the only time that I actually got near the end of Turtles in Time was when the game crashed on me.
00:49:01
Speaker
So I still haven't done it.
00:49:05
Speaker
Okay, the arcade one up, like, don't get me wrong.
00:49:07
Speaker
I love the little guy, but it kind of takes the fun out of it when you can dump 999 lives into the thing and just go to town.
00:49:14
Speaker
Okay, that's all my kids do.
00:49:16
Speaker
My kids, I'm sitting there trying to hit and fight the characters, and they're just hitting the add character button.
00:49:24
Speaker
So I'm just hearing cowabunga, cowabunga, cowabunga.
00:49:26
Speaker
Well, I'm trying to fight, and they're just standing around.
00:49:31
Speaker
We put limits on the number of credits.
00:49:33
Speaker
So when I'm playing those games, my kids are like, all right, guys, we're each going to get five credits.
00:49:38
Speaker
We're going to see how deep into this game we can go.
00:49:41
Speaker
And sometimes they want to continue beyond that.
00:49:45
Speaker
And I was like, all right.
00:49:46
Speaker
I'll give you one more.
00:49:47
Speaker
And you reach up and turn it off, right?
00:49:49
Speaker
You're like, no!
00:49:51
Speaker
Click.
00:49:52
Speaker
I don't actually backhand, but I show them my backhand.
00:49:55
Speaker
And they understand.
00:49:57
Speaker
Don't you dare touch that credit.
00:49:59
Speaker
Yeah, because you will smack the machine, right?
00:50:01
Speaker
Because that's what the backhand means.
00:50:03
Speaker
smack the machine.
00:50:04
Speaker
Well, we've had a couple parties and it's just the kids come down and that's seriously what they gravitate towards.
00:50:09
Speaker
They hear the sounds and then as soon as they push the add the player and it's cowabunga or is it let's kick shell is the other one depending on which game you're on.
00:50:17
Speaker
And my wife's like, I'm going to kill me some kids because seriously, like
00:50:21
Speaker
That's all they do.
00:50:22
Speaker
And they can't just leave the sound turned down.
00:50:24
Speaker
No, no, no.
00:50:24
Speaker
They got to turn all the way to 15.
00:50:26
Speaker
And so you can hear it through the whole house just yelling, let's kick shell.
00:50:30
Speaker
Let's kick shell.
00:50:32
Speaker
And they can never let it go all the way out either.
00:50:35
Speaker
So it's like, let's get let, let, let, let.
00:50:37
Speaker
You're like, okay, we get it.
00:50:39
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:50:40
Speaker
Yeah, I get it.
00:50:41
Speaker
That's your Ninja Turtle talk for this episode.
00:50:44
Speaker
I wonder if people are sick of the Ninja Turtle talk.
00:50:46
Speaker
They're like, can we please just release this thing so Josh has nothing else
Pinball Market and Theme Appeal
00:50:50
Speaker
to talk about?
00:50:50
Speaker
I feel like it's become our Maverick.
00:50:53
Speaker
Oh, that's good.
00:50:54
Speaker
That's a good one.
00:50:56
Speaker
A non-existent one is your Maverick.
00:50:57
Speaker
That's great.
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:00
Speaker
I did buy it on VHS the other day.
00:51:02
Speaker
I saw it at a thrift store, TMNT, the 1990 movie.
00:51:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:07
Speaker
Ooh, very nice.
00:51:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:10
Speaker
And it was from a rental place.
00:51:12
Speaker
So it's got that hard plastic shell that you squeeze.
00:51:16
Speaker
You squeeze it and then the VHS slides out.
00:51:19
Speaker
Oh, oh yeah.
00:51:20
Speaker
It's like that.
00:51:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:22
Speaker
It's like that hard shell condom thing.
00:51:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:25
Speaker
And what it does is it makes sure that the box stays in like perfect condition though.
00:51:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:32
Speaker
Does it have a sticker that says be kind, please rewind.
00:51:35
Speaker
It has something about rental on it.
00:51:38
Speaker
But I haven't like, I don't have a VHS player anymore, I don't think.
00:51:41
Speaker
But I bet you it still has that awesome Pizza Hut ad in front with the kid playing baseball.
00:51:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:47
Speaker
Just so you know, I do have a VHS machine, so you can come down and try it out.
00:51:52
Speaker
I have one as well.
00:51:55
Speaker
That's great.
00:51:56
Speaker
It's great.
00:51:56
Speaker
Did you know that Ninja Turtles actually held the highest grossing independent film made up till like Napoleon Dynamite came out in like 05?
00:52:05
Speaker
That makes sense.
00:52:08
Speaker
It was hot stuff.
00:52:09
Speaker
At least they got taken down by someone with like nunchuck skills.
00:52:13
Speaker
Boastaf skills.
00:52:15
Speaker
Boastaf skills.
00:52:16
Speaker
Nunchucks.
00:52:17
Speaker
Who wants to take a roundhouse kick to the face with these sweet babies on.
00:52:21
Speaker
So these bad boys.
00:52:22
Speaker
Yeah, these bad boys.
00:52:24
Speaker
So that's the next pinball machine, right?
00:52:26
Speaker
Oh, Napoleon Dynamite.
00:52:27
Speaker
That would be an LE purchase right there.
00:52:30
Speaker
You know what?
00:52:32
Speaker
The Uncle Rico edition or whatever.
00:52:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:34
Speaker
I love when he's playing tetherball by himself and he's like hitting it.
00:52:39
Speaker
You could have a tetherball mech in there.
00:52:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:42
Speaker
That's kind of like the Jurassic Park car, but it just keeps spinning.
00:52:45
Speaker
Uh-huh.
00:52:47
Speaker
Yes.
00:52:47
Speaker
I love it.
00:52:48
Speaker
It's not the Jurassic.
00:52:49
Speaker
Okay.
00:52:50
Speaker
That's what Hot Wheels has.
00:52:51
Speaker
Did you see that?
00:52:52
Speaker
Hot Wheels.
00:52:53
Speaker
It's the Jurassic Park car.
00:52:53
Speaker
It just has that car spinning around.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:57
Speaker
Oh my goodness.
00:52:58
Speaker
Yes.
00:52:59
Speaker
What?
00:52:59
Speaker
Okay.
00:53:00
Speaker
We're, we're on this now.
00:53:01
Speaker
What are your guys's first impressions of Hot Wheels since we've seen wonderful cell phone footage of it?
00:53:08
Speaker
Uh, I don't like to judge a lot off of cell phone footage.
00:53:13
Speaker
Um, but since that is all that we have, I'll say this.
00:53:17
Speaker
It looks fine.
00:53:20
Speaker
Um,
00:53:21
Speaker
It's very standard, which I think is probably a good thing for coming from American pinball.
00:53:28
Speaker
If we're either one of you guys in the four player group of Oktoberfest at Denver that lasted for like an hour and a half.
00:53:40
Speaker
Yeah, and it was you and Dan played on Ball 1 for like 45 minutes.
00:53:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:46
Speaker
And I think I wandered by.
00:53:48
Speaker
I think I wandered away and played like five games of Black Knight, and I came back, and you guys were still playing with it.
00:53:54
Speaker
Yeah, and so that's not going to happen here, which is nice.
00:53:58
Speaker
It doesn't look like there's going to be a lot of complex things that are going to be problematic, but I don't know.
00:54:03
Speaker
It's going to see how well they are at building a standard game, because it is...
00:54:07
Speaker
it's got a couple of little surprises and stuff in there and it's got some of their little trademarks, but I do love that on the out lane and the in lane lights, it says spells Epic.
00:54:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:20
Speaker
That kind of, I didn't know they poached Jared from Stern, but Epic.
00:54:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:26
Speaker
You know, okay.
00:54:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:28
Speaker
My, my take on it is, you know what, this is going to be that game that 70 year old grandpa is going to buy and put in his basement.
00:54:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:38
Speaker
And this is exactly catering to that crowd.
00:54:41
Speaker
And I actually have said it before.
00:54:44
Speaker
It's actually good when you have options outside of my wheelhouse because I am perfect.
00:54:50
Speaker
The the main demographic for Stern.
00:54:52
Speaker
I am the 45 year old dude with a pinball basement.
00:54:56
Speaker
And so this theme is not for me.
00:55:00
Speaker
However, this is a theme where grandpa is saying, Hey, I'm trying to have some cool things for my grandkids to come over.
00:55:07
Speaker
And they, you know, are you kidding?
00:55:09
Speaker
They're not going to buy iron maiden.
00:55:10
Speaker
They're not going to buy kiss.
00:55:11
Speaker
They're not going to buy, you know, a motley crew.
00:55:14
Speaker
They're not going to buy any of those things, but they're like hot wheels.
00:55:17
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:55:17
Speaker
I'll buy that.
00:55:19
Speaker
So as long as it plays somewhat, as long as it is good enough, they'll sell it.
00:55:26
Speaker
And so I think it's actually a good thing.
00:55:29
Speaker
And perhaps it's one of those things where they're going for a market that is currently untapped.
00:55:33
Speaker
And really that that older guy with a game room, you know, it's in some ways it's a little bit like the Jetsons, but this is something that even they will relate to the 70 year olds.
00:55:45
Speaker
Right.
00:55:45
Speaker
Hot Wheels been around.
00:55:47
Speaker
Well, and I hope it's one of those games that's like the shadow where no one likes the theme, but it's like such a killer game that you're just like, I have to own the shadow.
00:55:56
Speaker
Because like you got to admit the whole price in that title is solely because of gameplay.
00:56:02
Speaker
It's not in theme whatsoever.
00:56:03
Speaker
Right.
00:56:04
Speaker
Right.
00:56:04
Speaker
The resale value.
00:56:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:06
Speaker
Well, the nice thing about Hot Wheels is it's not going to be, for a lot of people, a theme that gets them excited, but it's not going to be a turnoff theme.
00:56:14
Speaker
Like Iron Maiden plays really well, but there's a lot of people who don't like the theme.
00:56:18
Speaker
And it's a turnoff theme for some.
00:56:22
Speaker
Who's, like, irritated by toy cars?
00:56:26
Speaker
You kind of have to be a grumpy person, right, to just say I'm flat out irritated by that?
00:56:31
Speaker
I can see not enjoying it, not liking it, but it shouldn't annoy you.
00:56:37
Speaker
I agree.
00:56:38
Speaker
It's basically a non-threatening theme that you recognize.
00:56:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:44
Speaker
Do you think it's the theme at the bar, though, that people walk over and think, oh, hey, Hot Wheels.
00:56:47
Speaker
They're not going for the bar.
00:56:49
Speaker
That's Oktoberfest.
00:56:51
Speaker
And then Gottlieb will come out and make Matchbox cars.
00:56:56
Speaker
The premiere will be back.
00:56:58
Speaker
That would be so sweet.
00:56:59
Speaker
It'll be like burning tires is what it would be.
00:57:01
Speaker
Something like that.
00:57:02
Speaker
Nice.
00:57:05
Speaker
Micro Machines.
00:57:06
Speaker
You remember those?
00:57:07
Speaker
They were awesome.
00:57:08
Speaker
You know, I was so jealous because I was so dirt poor when I was a kid that all those all those little little brats who had every single toy, you know, the guy who had the AT-AT machine.
00:57:20
Speaker
Like, I was so jealous of the guy with the AT-AT machine and the Yoda underoos because I didn't get those.
00:57:27
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:57:28
Speaker
I know.
00:57:28
Speaker
I don't know what to say to that.
00:57:30
Speaker
You know, I kind of want to.
00:57:32
Speaker
Did you know you can buy adult size underoos now?
00:57:35
Speaker
I kind of wanted to buy some, some Yoda under ruse just to surprise my wife one night.
00:57:40
Speaker
And yeah, it was a surprise.
00:57:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:42
Speaker
Not in a good way.
00:57:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:45
Speaker
That's, that's an, that's an idea.
00:57:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:49
Speaker
You're done having kids though, right?
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:51
Speaker
No, I, I've been fixed.
00:57:52
Speaker
I'm shooting blanks.
00:57:53
Speaker
So, okay.
00:57:54
Speaker
So yeah, it's not going to change a whole lot for you.
00:57:56
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:57:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:59
Speaker
I'll give you an update next episode.
00:58:01
Speaker
No, no.
00:58:02
Speaker
We'll just figure that you did it.
00:58:04
Speaker
Leave it to your imagination.
00:58:05
Speaker
I'm pretty sure we'll hear about it on Facebook.
00:58:08
Speaker
It didn't work.
00:58:10
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:58:12
Speaker
Oh my goodness.
00:58:13
Speaker
I don't know why.
00:58:14
Speaker
Well, we've been watching a lot of Big Bang Theory lately because, you know, time.
00:58:18
Speaker
And so, yeah, now...
00:58:21
Speaker
All I'm thinking about is like, cause Sheldon, that's all he wears is like Spider-Man and superhero under ruse.
00:58:26
Speaker
Cause it always comes up as a joke when, you know, this was still on the laundry and anyhow.
00:58:31
Speaker
Well, he usually has the flash shirt on.
00:58:33
Speaker
That's, that's his go-to.
00:58:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:35
Speaker
So yeah, I had to stop watching that when my kids were old enough to get all the innuendos.
00:58:41
Speaker
Well, my wife points sometimes they literally talk about sex every single episode.
00:58:45
Speaker
I'm like, no, they don't.
00:58:46
Speaker
Yeah, they do.
00:58:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:47
Speaker
We're in like season four.
00:58:49
Speaker
It's everything.
00:58:50
Speaker
I've never noticed it.
00:58:51
Speaker
Yeah, it must be.
00:58:53
Speaker
I don't know what it is, but yeah, I guess I'm oblivious.
00:58:56
Speaker
I don't know because this is our fourth or fifth time going through the whole series.
00:58:59
Speaker
By the way, did you just said you're oblivious?
00:59:01
Speaker
Because that's awesome that that I did.
00:59:04
Speaker
And I will own up to that.
00:59:06
Speaker
Yes, I want to be oblivious.
00:59:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:11
Speaker
I'm pretty for sure I said oblivious, but hey.
00:59:13
Speaker
Sure.
00:59:15
Speaker
Fine.
00:59:16
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:59:16
Speaker
I hear Bolivia is beautiful this time of year.
00:59:21
Speaker
I heard oblivion is a fantastic game, so.
00:59:23
Speaker
It could be.
00:59:25
Speaker
Okay, so the last topic, because we've gone completely off the rails, but the last thing that we did talk about, or we wanted to talk about is...
00:59:33
Speaker
It's probably the end of having, hey, I'm buying this license and I get everything with it, including the music, the actors, the videos, everything with it.
00:59:46
Speaker
And so...
00:59:49
Speaker
Exactly.
00:59:49
Speaker
Where are we in pinball and themes?
00:59:51
Speaker
Because it seems like we have to pick and choose with the theme.
00:59:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:59:56
Speaker
So which parts of the theme are paramount?
00:59:58
Speaker
Is it the name?
00:59:59
Speaker
Is it the music?
01:00:00
Speaker
Is it this actor?
01:00:02
Speaker
Is it that?
01:00:02
Speaker
So like, what is it that will allow you to still purchase a theme, but have enough of it that it's relevant?
01:00:10
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:12
Speaker
So hold on.
01:00:12
Speaker
I want to do a couple examples before we develop into this really quick.
01:00:16
Speaker
Okay.
01:00:18
Speaker
So the reason this is getting brought up, I mean, obviously Jurassic Park is a fantastic game.
01:00:22
Speaker
And the main complaint was there was no movie, like actual movie footage and stuff like that in it.
01:00:27
Speaker
But what they got with the theme was the dinosaurs, the logo, and the music.
01:00:33
Speaker
And so it's proved that you can make an awesome game with just some of the elements from the movie.
01:00:40
Speaker
And we've heard the rumor, this has been talked about on multiple different podcasts, that Jaws was only going to be like the shark and the boat, maybe the music, but that's it.
01:00:51
Speaker
Um, so I think first off, I think if you're going to buy anything asset wise from Steven Spielberg, you're going to run into this.
01:00:59
Speaker
And second off, do you think this starts becoming a trend where Jurassic park like games becomes the standard?
01:01:07
Speaker
So, yeah, it's actually, it's actually something that's been going on for a long time, but they've been hiding it better because they use DMDs.
01:01:14
Speaker
So they didn't need to buy the video clips.
01:01:16
Speaker
Um, they didn't have to buy, um,
01:01:19
Speaker
this always get the image rights to certain actors.
01:01:24
Speaker
If you take a game that sounds like it has a lot of theme packed into it, and it does, let's like look at Simpsons Pinball Party.
01:01:33
Speaker
Now, the trick there is that most of the voice actors on the Simpsons voice like four to five characters.
01:01:40
Speaker
So they only needed to get a couple of people and they got a whole bunch covered.
01:01:44
Speaker
Plus they used Fred Young to imitate a few voices.
01:01:46
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:48
Speaker
But, um, if they were to do the Simpsons today, they probably have to sacrifice and get down to a single voice actor.
01:01:55
Speaker
They'd probably go with, you know, Homer's voice or Bart's voice.
01:01:58
Speaker
And then they'd use video clips, um, which would be a whole different cost.
01:02:02
Speaker
And, uh,
01:02:04
Speaker
I think that the introduction of live video started causing that trade-off because they have to get, again, with real-time movies like Jurassic Park, they would have had to get Jeff Goldblum to sign off on his image being used and all that complicates stuff.
01:02:23
Speaker
Personally, I like what they did as far as limiting...
01:02:29
Speaker
um, the image assets and not using video clips as much as I love Jurassic park, the movie, and we already went over that.
01:02:37
Speaker
Um, I think it just opens up possibilities to do what they want with it.
01:02:42
Speaker
If they're not having to tie in certain shots to trigger this scene or that scene, like if you look at the Munsters, um, it's just like a clip show of repeating clips over and over and over.
01:02:54
Speaker
Um, and it just feels like there's a little bit less, um,
01:02:57
Speaker
freedom to do what they want within the game at that point.
01:03:01
Speaker
But yeah, they're going to have to keep dividing these up.
01:03:05
Speaker
The cost of these licenses seem to be going up more and more, and they're going to because there's more competition for them now.
01:03:11
Speaker
It's not just Stern being the only builder saying, hey, we want to do a pinball machine.
01:03:16
Speaker
And they approach Disney and Disney say, yeah, but we are also talking to JJP.
01:03:20
Speaker
They want this too.
01:03:21
Speaker
And who else might be putting in for it?
01:03:23
Speaker
So the cost of the stuff is just going to go up.
01:03:26
Speaker
constantly because of that yeah i i think that it is actually beneficial to have a story that's within the world of jurassic park but not necessarily the same story right i i know someone who had it was gary uh my buddy
01:03:47
Speaker
He had an L.E.
01:03:49
Speaker
Star Wars.
01:03:51
Speaker
And he actually liked it.
01:03:53
Speaker
It was fun.
01:03:54
Speaker
It was the most beautiful Star Wars because he had blinged it out.
01:03:59
Speaker
He had done all sorts of really cool things with it.
01:04:02
Speaker
And he said...
01:04:03
Speaker
Eventually, it was the constant call outs from the movie that made him want to sell it because it was making him not like the movies anymore.
01:04:13
Speaker
I could see it.
01:04:14
Speaker
Just repetitive, right?
01:04:15
Speaker
It was just repetitive.
01:04:16
Speaker
So, you know, every time the ball drains, it's Yoda, control, control.
01:04:21
Speaker
You must learn control.
01:04:23
Speaker
And that's one of the most powerful parts of Empire Strikes Back is that teaching scene with him and Luke.
01:04:32
Speaker
But if you get so tired of those little clips, then eventually you're going to hate the game.
01:04:38
Speaker
So I like having the option of having a different storyline.
01:04:43
Speaker
But still, it still makes you feel like you are involved in the world.
01:04:48
Speaker
Now, I will completely argue that the difference is with Lord of the Rings, you are going through the movie of the Lord of the Rings.
01:04:56
Speaker
Right.
01:04:57
Speaker
But they're not video clips.
01:04:58
Speaker
They're not video clips and it feels good.
01:05:00
Speaker
And that was when the first time that I played Munsters, I about wanted to die the fifth time grandpa walked over to that stupid book and flipped it.
01:05:11
Speaker
Right.
01:05:11
Speaker
I was like, I don't care anymore.
01:05:14
Speaker
Just keep moving.
01:05:14
Speaker
So now I will say that The Hobbit, if you want theme integration, The Hobbit is probably the best theme integration ever made.
01:05:25
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:26
Speaker
And they did a lot of custom stuff too, though, on top of it.
01:05:29
Speaker
No, absolutely.
01:05:30
Speaker
But I'm saying that that was one of those where, yeah, that is the way to do it right.
01:05:35
Speaker
But it is so hard to do that.
01:05:37
Speaker
And I would argue Pirates of the Caribbean, the new JJP one with Eric, he did an amazing job of getting you in that world while not feeling like you are just overwhelmed by that world.
01:05:50
Speaker
So it's that fine line of how much is it worth?
01:05:55
Speaker
Are you willing to spend a thousand dollars to get the theme that you want?
01:05:59
Speaker
People always say that, that they're willing to pay the money, but when it comes down to it, they're going to, they're going to holler every time there's like, oh, they raised a 500 bucks for this.
01:06:10
Speaker
They're like, well, we could have lowered a $500 and stripped some stuff out, which is what has probably happened with some games.
01:06:20
Speaker
So do you think it's acceptable then?
01:06:22
Speaker
So would you prefer to be playing the movie like a Lord of the Rings type of game, which I guess we've established you're really not because it's DMD and stuff like that?
01:06:32
Speaker
Or would you prefer to be...
01:06:36
Speaker
kind of like in the role like Jurassic Park you are like the new hire the employee well let's take gremlins for example let's say that all you got with gremlins is literally just the gremlins you even get the you don't get gizmo you just you get gremlins right and you get the logo and but you're the idiot that decided to give the little magua water and now you're cleaning up as many gremlins as you can you know what I'm saying do you think something like that would work
01:07:07
Speaker
I dig it.
01:07:07
Speaker
I mean, that's what they did with Ghostbusters.
01:07:09
Speaker
You're the recruit.
01:07:10
Speaker
Um, and, uh, you know, Ernie Hudson's doing the voice as Winston and he's talking to you as the new guy and it works fine.
01:07:18
Speaker
It feels like you're in Ghostbusters.
01:07:20
Speaker
The theme integration in Ghostbusters is actually fantastic.
01:07:23
Speaker
They did a really good job with that one.
01:07:25
Speaker
It's fantastic.
01:07:26
Speaker
Yes.
01:07:26
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:27
Speaker
Um, I like it though, because it leaves a little bit to be left unexpected as well.
01:07:34
Speaker
Um,
01:07:36
Speaker
I don't know.
01:07:36
Speaker
I don't know how many things are so iconic.
01:07:40
Speaker
Like these are all popular themes that they go after, but I don't know how many things are so like dead iconic that you can't have a take on it or a story within a story.
01:07:50
Speaker
Like even Star Wars, they could say, Hey, you're the leader, leader of a fighter squadron at, you know, at these big battles and, you know,
01:08:01
Speaker
You know, you could have very passing references, like maybe the Millennium Falcon just flies by on the screen at times or something like that.
01:08:07
Speaker
But you have your own story going on.
01:08:08
Speaker
It'd be interesting.
01:08:09
Speaker
I mean, that's what Rogue One was as a movie.
01:08:11
Speaker
It was the, you know, the side story.
01:08:14
Speaker
So they could do really cool stuff with that, with these themes.
01:08:17
Speaker
But
01:08:18
Speaker
Sometimes that's hard because they don't want you generating new art assets within those themes.
01:08:23
Speaker
They want you to use their package stuff.
01:08:25
Speaker
So I think the concept works fine.
01:08:28
Speaker
It's up to the license holder of what they're going to let you do with it.
01:08:31
Speaker
I don't know.
01:08:32
Speaker
I'm getting more and more to the point where I enjoy being immersed in the game by being someone in the game.
01:08:37
Speaker
Like Jurassic Park.
01:08:41
Speaker
I think it's awesome.
01:08:42
Speaker
And it makes me nervous when people are throwing such a fit about, hey, why are not all the movie clips in there and this and that?
01:08:49
Speaker
I don't think it's such a terrible problem that all the assets aren't in the game.
01:08:54
Speaker
It should just feel like the theme.
01:08:57
Speaker
You don't necessarily have to have all of the famous scenes played out as you play.
01:09:01
Speaker
Well, it matters, though, on location.
01:09:05
Speaker
It will.
01:09:06
Speaker
If someone is only playing a game because they're at a pizza joint and they see Star Wars out there, they want to see the familiar stuff.
01:09:17
Speaker
And so it's finding that fine line of how familiar is necessary versus repetitive.
01:09:25
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
01:09:26
Speaker
I guess that does go to your point.
01:09:27
Speaker
I mean, if we made a Star Wars and you didn't get any of the characters from it, you're literally got like what?
01:09:33
Speaker
The Millennium Falcon and maybe a couple of Wookiees because that's what they're giving you.
01:09:38
Speaker
People might be upset with that.
01:09:39
Speaker
And I could understand that, but we don't have to go to the whole degree of every single specific scene from each movie.
01:09:45
Speaker
Sure.
01:09:48
Speaker
But how fun would it have been to have Star Wars filled with custom call outs rather
Reflections and Merchandise Promotions
01:09:54
Speaker
than movie clips?
01:09:54
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:55
Speaker
Well, if only there was a Star Wars actor that was really good at voice work.
01:10:00
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:01
Speaker
I mean.
01:10:02
Speaker
Someone that could really hit the mark.
01:10:04
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:04
Speaker
I don't know.
01:10:05
Speaker
Maybe they can get the guy who did the Joker in Batman.
01:10:09
Speaker
How could you imagine if they had used him in a Batman pin?
01:10:14
Speaker
Oh, that would have been great.
01:10:16
Speaker
Let's vault the Dark Knight and not into Batman 66.
01:10:20
Speaker
Let's vault it.
01:10:22
Speaker
Let's just vault Batman 66.
01:10:24
Speaker
I would vault Batman 66 and put it into just the animated series.
01:10:30
Speaker
I would take that over Batman 66.
01:10:32
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:34
Speaker
That'd be awesome because then you get Mark Hamill.
01:10:37
Speaker
Oh, that's who did it?
01:10:38
Speaker
Oh, man.
01:10:39
Speaker
Has he been in anything else?
01:10:42
Speaker
Um, no, he's the best Joker ever.
01:10:44
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's, he really is.
01:10:46
Speaker
He's great.
01:10:47
Speaker
I don't know when, when it comes to Joker lists, there's, there's two that float to the top and it's either Heath Ledger.
01:10:53
Speaker
It's a, it's Mark Hamill and it's seriously every Joker list I've looked at.
01:10:56
Speaker
It's one of the two.
01:10:57
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:57
Speaker
Right.
01:10:58
Speaker
So I, that's true.
01:11:00
Speaker
I'm Mark's done it twice.
01:11:01
Speaker
He did the animated series, then the video game stuff.
01:11:04
Speaker
And, um, Oh, which was amazing.
01:11:06
Speaker
Arkham city is some of the best voice acting I've ever seen, but yeah, he's an incredible Joker for that.
01:11:11
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:11
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:13
Speaker
Arkham city, the pinball machine.
01:11:14
Speaker
Do it.
01:11:15
Speaker
Come on, Stern.
01:11:16
Speaker
Do it.
01:11:16
Speaker
Yes.
01:11:18
Speaker
And don't.
01:11:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:19
Speaker
I'm all for that.
01:11:20
Speaker
I love that series.
01:11:21
Speaker
That's a great, my son loves that series.
01:11:23
Speaker
I mean, it's just a wonderful series.
01:11:25
Speaker
So, well, I, I think that pretty much, uh, wraps it up.
01:11:31
Speaker
I, I honestly think, you know, the whole time we've said this multiple times, we've went off the rails.
01:11:35
Speaker
I really think that's going to be the title of this episode.
01:11:37
Speaker
Really orange, uh, plastic track.
01:11:39
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:40
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:40
Speaker
The Hot Wheels track.
01:11:41
Speaker
We crashed a few times, but you know what?
01:11:43
Speaker
That's part of the fun.
01:11:45
Speaker
Hey, dude, I'm still disappointed.
01:11:47
Speaker
I still want to play, even though it's not my game theme that I want.
01:11:51
Speaker
I'm still disappointed that we're not going to be playing these games.
01:11:54
Speaker
It sucks.
01:11:55
Speaker
No, I was so looking forward to this Texas pinball festival, but I probably was going to win the tournament.
01:12:00
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I felt it.
01:12:04
Speaker
I felt it.
01:12:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:06
Speaker
I think a lot of people thought I would.
01:12:08
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:09
Speaker
Well, Jeff, you do have some pinball-related stuff.
01:12:13
Speaker
Why don't you go ahead and tell us what you have and how they can find it?
01:12:17
Speaker
Um, I have a podcast that has plenty of episodes to catch up on.
01:12:22
Speaker
If you want to do that, the pinball podcast, the most pretentious name in pinball podcasting, um, just pinball podcast.com or Facebook or whatever you can find us.
01:12:33
Speaker
We'll come, we're coming back.
01:12:35
Speaker
Um, also I'm selling a dopey shirt that is peace, love, happiness, and pinball.
01:12:41
Speaker
Um, um,
01:12:42
Speaker
Everyone wants peace, love, and happiness, but I really think you need that fourth thing to be truly content.
01:12:46
Speaker
And for us, a lot of us, it's pinball.
01:12:48
Speaker
So I'm selling that shirt.
01:12:51
Speaker
I find my Facebook profile.
01:12:53
Speaker
I posted it there and I made it public.
01:12:54
Speaker
That'll do.
01:12:56
Speaker
Okay.
01:12:56
Speaker
Okay.
01:12:57
Speaker
And why?
01:12:57
Speaker
Otherwise...
01:12:59
Speaker
Support my co-host Jessica and soft plunge soft plunge pinball her, her merch that she's doing.
01:13:07
Speaker
Um, she just came out with some new stickers and it's awesome.
01:13:13
Speaker
Like Jessica does a good job with that.
01:13:16
Speaker
Um, you see her stuff everywhere now.
01:13:18
Speaker
It's just soft plunge pinball.com.
01:13:20
Speaker
But if you were at, um,
01:13:23
Speaker
uh pinberg last year you saw her pinball summer tinks all over the place in the shorts and stuff so yeah check yourself out scott scott's scott got some of those booty shorts and he he sports him for his wife yeah and i mean come on she's got the wu-tang one the uh pinball rules everything around me shirt that's just you kind of got to have that okay actually yeah i have totally forgot i have to actually give a shout out
01:13:48
Speaker
to Dr. Pin and Mrs. Pin.
01:13:52
Speaker
So we have been getting this package together to send off to them.
01:13:58
Speaker
And Mrs. Pin actually said, hey, I need your logo.
01:14:02
Speaker
And we're like, oh, okay.
01:14:03
Speaker
So I sent off the logo.
01:14:06
Speaker
And they sent me a package of, and they asked what size my wife was.
01:14:12
Speaker
My wife got a custom shirt of two things.
01:14:14
Speaker
She got an exercise shirt of Mrs. Pin, Mrs. Pin's pinball podcast.
01:14:20
Speaker
And also it has Womp on there, which is hilarious because I had to explain to my wife what Womp was.
01:14:27
Speaker
And she liked it, but she says, we're never telling our kids what that means.
01:14:30
Speaker
And they also gave me a bag and they gave me earrings and they gave me a whole bunch of sweet swag.
01:14:36
Speaker
So we are in the process of engineering our return gift bag to send up to them.
01:14:43
Speaker
But just wanted to give them a shout out for everything they sent me and how absolutely amazing that was.
01:14:49
Speaker
And if you haven't checked out their pinball podcast, it's Mrs. Pinball Podcast.
01:14:55
Speaker
And also Christian is Dr. Pin and he is on.
01:14:59
Speaker
The is the super awesome pinball podcast.
01:15:03
Speaker
Is that what it is?
01:15:04
Speaker
Yes, that's right.
01:15:04
Speaker
Okay.
01:15:05
Speaker
Cause they changed their name a few times, but that they go check that out too.
01:15:10
Speaker
Um, uh, I just need to actually say one thing.
01:15:13
Speaker
I offered to send a box of fun pinball stuff to them about a year ago, maybe longer, probably longer.
01:15:20
Speaker
I still get to do it.
01:15:21
Speaker
Okay.
01:15:22
Speaker
Bring it down.
01:15:22
Speaker
We'll just send a giant guest package.
01:15:25
Speaker
Okay.
01:15:26
Speaker
That reminds me, our shirts should be done tomorrow.
01:15:29
Speaker
I will check with our people.
01:15:30
Speaker
We were supposed to have these for TPF.
01:15:32
Speaker
Listen, you guys, our people, you're so fancy on this show.
01:15:36
Speaker
I know.
01:15:38
Speaker
Sounds so elitist, you people.
01:15:41
Speaker
But we should have those done tomorrow.
01:15:43
Speaker
We do have some extra.
01:15:44
Speaker
We were planning on having some extras down at TPF.
01:15:47
Speaker
If you want to reach out to us and get one of those t-shirts.
01:15:50
Speaker
I got hats.
01:15:52
Speaker
I've got beanies.
01:15:54
Speaker
We were cocked and ready to rock for TPF.
01:15:57
Speaker
And then this all happened.
01:15:58
Speaker
And I already put in the order.
01:15:59
Speaker
And I was like, well.
01:16:00
Speaker
We'll make it work.
01:16:01
Speaker
So if you want to get ahold of us, we are the loser kid pinball podcast at gmail.com.
01:16:06
Speaker
Don't put the in front of it.
01:16:07
Speaker
Just put loser kid pinball podcast.
01:16:09
Speaker
You can find us at Facebook at Facebook, facebook.com slash loser kid pinball podcast.
01:16:15
Speaker
I cannot talk tonight.
01:16:15
Speaker
My tongue's tied.
01:16:17
Speaker
If you want to get ahold of, of me or Scott, you can find us on Facebook.
01:16:21
Speaker
That's probably the easiest way.
01:16:22
Speaker
We talk through messenger a lot.
01:16:24
Speaker
Um, we are on Instagram and we're on SoundCloud.
01:16:28
Speaker
So if you want to check us out, if you're not checking us out right now, I don't know how you're doing it, but yeah.
01:16:34
Speaker
Oh, and I want to do one quick shout out.
01:16:35
Speaker
We have a fan that has listened since every single episode and I've never talked about this guy, even though he is, he's an awesome dude.
01:16:42
Speaker
His name is Spencer Chapman.
01:16:44
Speaker
Dude, thank you so much for the support and all the shows.
01:16:47
Speaker
I ran, I had him down last weekend and he's, he's telling me how much he loves the shows and, uh,
01:16:53
Speaker
you're an awesome dude.
01:16:54
Speaker
So I'll have to introduce you to Scott and Jeff next time you're, you're around and about so.
01:17:01
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:17:02
Speaker
So other than that, guys, Jeff, thank you so much for coming on.
01:17:06
Speaker
Uh, we really appreciate all the conversation, the banter, even though we went off the rails.
01:17:10
Speaker
I apologize.
01:17:12
Speaker
I don't.
01:17:13
Speaker
Yeah.
01:17:13
Speaker
But I think it was, it was important.
01:17:15
Speaker
We, we actually talked about things that were even more important than pinball.
01:17:18
Speaker
So,
01:17:19
Speaker
Yeah, Hot Wheels.
01:17:21
Speaker
You know we're going to go off the rails when we're talking about Scott sitting on the toilet getting shaken during an earthquake.
01:17:26
Speaker
It worked.
01:17:27
Speaker
I'm just putting that out there.
01:17:27
Speaker
Rock my world.
01:17:32
Speaker
But thanks again.
01:17:33
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in.
01:17:34
Speaker
Thanks again for joining us, you guys.
01:17:36
Speaker
Yep.
01:17:37
Speaker
Thanks, guys.