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Episode 10: Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown with Dan Nikolich
73 Plays6 years ago
In Episode 10, we sit down with Dan Nikolich and talk all things Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown! After the interview we talk Flip N Out pinball stream and the results of the Aquabats pinball theme
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Milestone and Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
00:00:09
Speaker
We are on episode 10.
00:00:10
Speaker
That is right.
00:00:11
Speaker
We have hit double digits.
00:00:13
Speaker
I know it's very small, but it's almost six months that we've been going.
00:00:18
Speaker
My co-captain, as usual, is with me.
00:00:21
Speaker
Scott Larson.
00:00:22
Speaker
And who else do we got with us today, Scott?
Guest Introduction: Dan Nikolic
00:00:24
Speaker
Well, we have the director of the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showcase.
00:00:28
Speaker
We have Dan Nikolic.
00:00:30
Speaker
How are you doing today, Dan?
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm doing well, thanks.
00:00:35
Speaker
How are you guys doing?
00:00:36
Speaker
You know what?
00:00:37
Speaker
It's actually been a long day, a long weekend.
00:00:40
Speaker
And I actually just watched about four hours of pinball streaming.
00:00:44
Speaker
So I feel like it's a marathon pinball day.
00:00:48
Speaker
Nice.
00:00:49
Speaker
I want to know what sleep is again.
00:00:51
Speaker
For those that don't know, Dan, my wife had twins.
00:00:56
Speaker
So...
00:00:58
Speaker
Yes, I highly mentioned that.
00:01:00
Speaker
I'm sure you'll be sleeping next year.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yes, correct.
00:01:05
Speaker
So I'm already looking forward to next year.
00:01:07
Speaker
Year two is when they start playing together and then you can sleep.
00:01:11
Speaker
Yes.
00:01:14
Speaker
But enough about me.
00:01:14
Speaker
Let's talk about our wonderful guests that decided
Community Growth and Event History
00:01:17
Speaker
to come on with us.
00:01:17
Speaker
Why don't you tell us about Rocky Mountain Pinball Show there, Dan?
00:01:24
Speaker
Well, this will be its 16th year.
00:01:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker
We've been doing it.
00:01:50
Speaker
We have a great community and it's been expanding for the last 16 years.
00:01:54
Speaker
The community is really what makes the show special because they are the kind of the heart of the show.
00:02:00
Speaker
They bring games.
00:02:02
Speaker
They do things.
00:02:03
Speaker
They set up things.
00:02:04
Speaker
They help us with ideas.
00:02:07
Speaker
And we're a family run affair.
00:02:09
Speaker
So we've been doing this for a while.
00:02:10
Speaker
And hopefully we get bigger and better every year.
00:02:16
Speaker
So Dan, what inspired you to start this?
00:02:20
Speaker
It's 16 years ago, it's 2003, Lord of the Rings, Simpsons come out, but really video games have kind of taken over at that point and we're only down to one manufacturer.
00:02:31
Speaker
Why did you say, hey, I want to start a pinball show?
Dan's Pinball Journey
00:02:35
Speaker
So I grew up in Vegas and I actually worked at the MGM arcade in high school for a little bit fixing video games.
00:02:43
Speaker
And some pinball.
00:02:45
Speaker
We didn't have much pinball at the time.
00:02:48
Speaker
So that would have been like the 90s, kind of still the second heyday of video games and a little bit of pinball.
00:02:56
Speaker
And then I came up here, went to college, graduated from college and bought a pinball machine.
00:03:02
Speaker
I was just going to buy one for my house.
00:03:05
Speaker
That's what we all say.
00:03:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:07
Speaker
No one ever buys one.
00:03:09
Speaker
No.
00:03:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:11
Speaker
No.
00:03:11
Speaker
Never happened.
00:03:12
Speaker
So then I bought one game and I started fixing them.
00:03:16
Speaker
I met a few people around.
00:03:17
Speaker
I like to tinker and fix games.
00:03:20
Speaker
So within probably six months of buying that first game, I thought, you know, we should do a pinball show.
00:03:27
Speaker
That would be fun.
00:03:29
Speaker
And so I asked my wife, I was like, let's put together a pinball show.
00:03:33
Speaker
She's like, what would that be?
00:03:35
Speaker
And I was like, well, we'll just have a bunch of games and we'll have some vendors and we'll have people come in and have a good time, maybe run tournaments and things and hopefully not lose our house in the process.
00:03:47
Speaker
And she was in, in that first year, we had about 80 games and a couple hundred people that showed up.
00:03:54
Speaker
And from there, it's just gotten bigger as pinball has exploded.
00:04:01
Speaker
Nice.
00:04:03
Speaker
Well, one of my questions for you, Dan, is so Utah's kind of still a new blossoming scene, but I live kind of right on the border of Utah and Colorado, and I've noticed that the scene is more well established in Colorado.
00:04:16
Speaker
Was it that established back in 2003?
00:04:17
Speaker
Or was it like, what's caused this explosion of pinball in Colorado?
00:04:23
Speaker
Do you know?
00:04:25
Speaker
I think Colorado's always had a pretty good pinball scene here, even before I started.
00:04:33
Speaker
At the same time we started the show, Lions Classic Pinball has been around right about the same time frame as we started.
00:04:41
Speaker
There were a couple of places to play pinball.
00:04:45
Speaker
I remember a tournament that was local here that maybe had like six games.
00:04:50
Speaker
But there wasn't a ton of pinball around.
00:04:54
Speaker
It just started growing a little more each year and more people
Colorado's Pinball Scene Expansion
00:04:59
Speaker
had games.
00:04:59
Speaker
I think there is a disproportionate amount of games in Colorado.
00:05:03
Speaker
I'm not sure why, but there are a lot of collectors here, a lot of people that have games in their home.
00:05:10
Speaker
So...
00:05:11
Speaker
I'm not sure why it got big here, but I know Celebrity Sports Center might have been part of that too.
00:05:18
Speaker
If you guys don't know what that is, that was like a Disney bowling alley slash.
00:05:23
Speaker
It was just massive.
00:05:24
Speaker
It was like 75,000 square foot facility, kind of like a family fun center with hundreds of lanes and tons of pinball and skeeball and all that.
00:05:36
Speaker
And it was opened by Disney in the 60s and that ended up closing up in the 90s.
00:05:42
Speaker
So I don't know.
00:05:43
Speaker
I think that might have had something to do with it.
00:05:45
Speaker
People today still will come to the pinball show and they'll go, you remember celebrity sports?
00:05:51
Speaker
And I was like, I lived in Vegas.
00:05:53
Speaker
I don't, but I've heard a lot about it.
00:05:55
Speaker
So if you guys Google it, it's kind of an interesting place.
00:05:58
Speaker
It was owned by like, I think a couple of the guys in the Rat Pack were investors.
00:06:03
Speaker
And it was just a really unique thing.
00:06:08
Speaker
That is way cool.
00:06:10
Speaker
I'd never even heard of that.
00:06:11
Speaker
And that's funny that you never knew what it was, but now obviously you've got quite the history on it because you've had to hear about it every year for the last 16 years at least.
00:06:19
Speaker
Yep.
00:06:21
Speaker
Exactly.
00:06:22
Speaker
So I have a question.
00:06:23
Speaker
When you're trying to get people to come to the show, and this was actually on the – we were looking at some streaming tonight and we were actually looking at Oktoberfest.
Inclusivity in Pinball Events
00:06:35
Speaker
And there were a few pinball podcasters – well, a lot actually – in there.
00:06:40
Speaker
And so we were bouncing ideas off each other.
00:06:44
Speaker
And I posed the question, hey, I'm talking to an event organizer.
00:06:49
Speaker
What are the things that you've always wanted to ask an event organizer?
00:06:52
Speaker
Because a lot of times we interview either people from the industry or
00:06:58
Speaker
or someone trying to sell things, but this is an interesting way of looking at it.
00:07:03
Speaker
So when you're trying to go for an event, who do you shoot for?
00:07:10
Speaker
Do you shoot for the hardcore fans or do you figure, hey, I've got the hardcores, how can I bring in the casual player?
00:07:17
Speaker
What is your focus when you're trying to organize this?
00:07:20
Speaker
So our goal is to be everything pinball.
00:07:24
Speaker
Our goal is to have
00:07:26
Speaker
Every person in the community, whether you like to restore games, play games, tournament players, whether you like to just play games,
00:07:38
Speaker
art, science, repair, whatever it is, we want you to be there.
00:07:43
Speaker
And that's the same with families.
00:07:44
Speaker
We spend a large chunk of our time trying to bring new people to pinball.
00:07:52
Speaker
Our goal is to bring everybody in the Rocky Mountain region together for one weekend a year, every location.
00:08:01
Speaker
And we also look at the other states like Utah and
00:08:06
Speaker
the Dakotas and Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, all around us, Wyoming, as part of our community too.
00:08:14
Speaker
So we try to do whatever we can to support those people as well.
00:08:18
Speaker
So we, you know, leagues, tournaments, whatever it is, we want to bring new families into pinball.
00:08:25
Speaker
And that's our, our goal is to grow pinball to the masses.
00:08:30
Speaker
Um,
00:08:31
Speaker
So we kind of have that and we do different aspects to try to keep people happy.
00:08:36
Speaker
Some people come to enjoy playing the game.
00:08:38
Speaker
Some people come to talk to their friends that they don't get to see every once in a while.
00:08:45
Speaker
And some people like video games, some people like pinball, console, whatever that is, we're trying to cater to everyone.
00:08:52
Speaker
Just kind of a tough task sometimes.
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:08:56
Speaker
Well, in looking at your guest list, it's pretty eclectic.
00:08:59
Speaker
I mean, you've got video gamers and whatnot in here, but I mean, Steve Ritchie from Stern Pinball.
00:09:03
Speaker
You've got Joe Balser with American Pinball.
00:09:06
Speaker
You've got David Thiel, Butch Pill with Jersey Jack.
00:09:10
Speaker
I mean, there's some pretty big names on this list.
00:09:12
Speaker
It's pretty amazing what you guys have put together and where I can only imagine where you started out to what you're at right now.
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting when, you know, starting the show a long time ago, it's a fairly small industry.
00:09:26
Speaker
So we just got to know people and, you know, you would just call up people that at Stern, who was the only one at the time.
00:09:36
Speaker
And then Jack, we actually used to buy games from Jack for the tournaments a long time ago before he was started Jersey Jack Pinball.
00:09:46
Speaker
So he was the largest Stern distributor in the country.
00:09:51
Speaker
You know, you just build relationships over time and they've kind of become like our second family.
00:09:58
Speaker
Very cool.
Industry Involvement and Changes
00:09:59
Speaker
So I have a follow up question to that.
00:10:01
Speaker
And I've I guess I've argued on this on past episodes and and maybe ranted a little bit, but it seems that.
00:10:12
Speaker
it seems that manufacturers are using the festivals less as their announcement platform.
00:10:19
Speaker
Hey, we're revealing a big game that's coming up.
00:10:23
Speaker
And we saw this with Texas, where Texas came up and neither Stern nor Jersey Jack really released anything new.
00:10:31
Speaker
They released Yellow Book Road, but it wasn't a big game.
00:10:35
Speaker
reveal.
00:10:35
Speaker
And then the next Monday they teased black, uh, black night and they released that on Tuesday.
00:10:42
Speaker
And then two weeks later, um, Jersey Jack released Wonka.
00:10:46
Speaker
So, um, I'm wondering how much interaction do you get from the, the, um, the manufacturers?
00:10:55
Speaker
Do you still get a lot of support from them or do you feel that they've just kind of distanced themselves and said, well, we can do this on our own.
00:11:02
Speaker
We can,
00:11:03
Speaker
We can just reveal whenever we want and we can stream it.
00:11:07
Speaker
I'm just kind of wondering what your take is.
00:11:10
Speaker
You know, it is an interesting thing.
00:11:12
Speaker
I think that a while ago, the shows used to be the place to launch your new game.
00:11:23
Speaker
I'm not sure why Stern chose to not launch Black Knight at Texas.
00:11:29
Speaker
I don't know if it's just easier for them to control how it gets out there or how they want to do their media part.
00:11:39
Speaker
I know Jack did launch at Midwest Gaming Classic, which is a big show.
00:11:45
Speaker
They've got a good 10,000-person attendance.
00:11:48
Speaker
So they did launch at a pinball-slash-gaming show.
00:11:53
Speaker
It's a weird deal.
00:11:54
Speaker
I know that originally the manufacturers were –
00:11:59
Speaker
very much tied to the shows.
00:12:01
Speaker
And then I think that there are so many shows now that sometimes if they're shooting to sync up with a show or a big show like Texas or Chicago, that maybe schedules don't work out all the time.
00:12:13
Speaker
And then, or they try to push it and they launch early.
00:12:17
Speaker
And maybe in the past, sometimes they've been burned by trying to launch too early to hit a show.
00:12:24
Speaker
I know back in the day, they used to launch all their games at like AMOA or the operator shows that operating is a little less important and the home market is much larger for them.
00:12:38
Speaker
I'm not really sure why they're not doing that unless they just have such a great audience that they can hit now with like Comic-Con and some of those really massive events that they can do.
00:12:50
Speaker
Okay, so even if maybe they're not revealing, or at least there seems to be a trend moving away from revealing at the shows, or at least timing it, obviously the two that people think about is Expo and Texas.
00:13:06
Speaker
However, with that being said, do you still get the same sort of support from them where they're excited to come to?
00:13:13
Speaker
I would say that we're a smaller show out here in Rocky Mountains.
00:13:17
Speaker
There are certainly a lot of other things, and
00:13:20
Speaker
with them competing with so many or we're competing with so many different venues and different shows, are you still getting the same support from them where it's like, you know what, we may not be releasing something, but we're still going to come out and support you.
00:13:35
Speaker
We're sending X, Y, and Z. And they're obviously sending Steve Ritchie.
00:13:39
Speaker
Do you feel that support or do you feel that has changed over the years?
00:13:45
Speaker
I mean, we're also one of their original shows, so we have a long history.
00:13:51
Speaker
We have a pretty strong attendance, too, in comparison to a lot of shows.
00:13:59
Speaker
So I think we get good support from them.
00:14:02
Speaker
Colorado has one of the largest turn distributors in the country that is local here.
00:14:07
Speaker
So Game Exchange is our local distributor, and they do a great job of
00:14:14
Speaker
supporting us and making sure that we have new games and Stern.
00:14:19
Speaker
And we've, we worked with the manufacturers for years.
00:14:23
Speaker
You know, we have relationships with all of them and, um,
00:14:28
Speaker
They also understand that it's great to get their product out in front of people, right?
00:14:34
Speaker
They can be able to play it and hopefully be a homeowner or maybe an operator or someone else that gets to play that game for the first time at a large festival where you have a very good captive market.
Growing Pinball's Popularity
00:14:48
Speaker
We're marketing specifically to the public that enjoy pinball.
00:14:53
Speaker
So we have...
00:14:54
Speaker
thousands of people that are there to play pinball so what better place to put your pinball machine out and have people play it than festivals like that
00:15:04
Speaker
Game Exchanges is a pretty big name too.
00:15:06
Speaker
They probably work pretty closely with you guys.
00:15:08
Speaker
I know that we've worked with them in the past with some of the shows that we have done.
00:15:12
Speaker
And JJ is just, he bends over backwards to help out and get stuff to the shows.
00:15:18
Speaker
He was telling me the crazy amount of pinball that you guys set up.
00:15:23
Speaker
It's like takes over the whole week when you guys do the show just because it's like pinball after pinball coming into the show.
00:15:31
Speaker
They do, yeah.
00:15:32
Speaker
They're pushing right now.
00:15:33
Speaker
We have about 300 games that are queued up for the show this weekend.
00:15:40
Speaker
And Game Exchange is a really great supporter.
00:15:42
Speaker
They are bringing a ton of games.
00:15:45
Speaker
They are bringing everything new that Stern has, American, Chicago Gaming, and Jersey Jack.
00:15:53
Speaker
So you'll be able to play all their new stuff there.
00:15:57
Speaker
And we have an awesome community here.
00:16:00
Speaker
The
00:16:01
Speaker
that really supports us and brings all kinds of games.
00:16:06
Speaker
Blizzard Mountain is another big one.
00:16:07
Speaker
They're bringing over 30 games.
00:16:10
Speaker
They actually closed their arcade for like a week to bring their games down to the festival for people to play and then take all their games back up to their location afterwards.
00:16:23
Speaker
That is absolutely amazing.
00:16:26
Speaker
So my other question, my follow question up to that is, are you one of the lucky few that actually has a Willy Wonka pinball machine coming from Jersey Jack for the show?
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, we will definitely have a Willy Wonka pinball.
00:16:38
Speaker
It's already here in town, ready to go and show up on Friday to get set up.
00:16:44
Speaker
Nice.
00:16:46
Speaker
That is way cool.
00:16:47
Speaker
We'll also have a black night, sort of rage limited.
00:16:51
Speaker
So I think we were one of the first places to get those.
00:16:56
Speaker
We work with Stern and JJ to get one at our haunted house pinball tournament that is running at the show as well.
00:17:05
Speaker
So that, that will be there as well as the actual black night you'll get to see in person.
00:17:13
Speaker
Ooh, I hope it's Steve Ritchie dressed up.
00:17:17
Speaker
That would be hilarious.
00:17:18
Speaker
See him running around as the black night.
00:17:19
Speaker
Give me your money.
00:17:22
Speaker
So my first question was from the special Winlet podcast.
00:17:26
Speaker
This one was from Dennis from Eclectic Gamers.
00:17:29
Speaker
He asked, how do you determine the success in your show?
00:17:33
Speaker
And a follow-up question would be, is constant growth a goal?
00:17:41
Speaker
Wait.
00:17:42
Speaker
Yeah, we try to put pinball out in front of as many people as possible.
00:17:47
Speaker
The more pinball that's out there, the better, the more competition, the more manufacturers, it is better for pinball.
00:17:53
Speaker
I mean, we were around in 2003 when there was only Stern and pinball was always one game away from being all done.
00:18:05
Speaker
So I think that this is a great time right now in the
00:18:09
Speaker
in the industry.
00:18:10
Speaker
There's tons of options, something for
Impact on Next Generations
00:18:13
Speaker
everyone.
00:18:13
Speaker
So we want to kind of get pinball back out in the mainstream so that at the next downturn or things go south, that pinball still survives and lots of people remember it and play it.
00:18:26
Speaker
And kind of the cool part of success for me is now 16 years later, it's
00:18:31
Speaker
My favorite part of the show is we'll have kids that come up that used to come to the show as, you know, seven to 10 year olds and their parents brought them and they come back now as adults because they love pinball because that's what they were exposed to when they were little.
00:18:48
Speaker
So, no, I want to get this in before I forget.
00:18:51
Speaker
So how do you get tickets?
00:18:53
Speaker
I actually, this is a last entry to me.
00:18:56
Speaker
I decided two weeks ago to come out to the show.
00:19:01
Speaker
And so I still haven't bought my ticket.
00:19:03
Speaker
How, what's the best way for people to go and buy tickets?
00:19:07
Speaker
And what is available?
00:19:08
Speaker
What packages do you have?
00:19:10
Speaker
Um, so you can go to our website, pinballshowdown.com and we have a couple of different packages.
00:19:18
Speaker
Um, we, we kind of do some special things for our community that brings games.
00:19:22
Speaker
We have kind of magic hours or bonus hours in the mornings.
00:19:27
Speaker
And then we have a special event at night, which is, uh, just for people who bring games.
Ticket Packages and Contributions
00:19:32
Speaker
And then we understand that there's some people that are flying in or something like that, that maybe can't fit a
00:19:39
Speaker
a pinball into their carry on.
00:19:41
Speaker
So we do offer a limited amount of packages that allow you access to those after hours events and being able to kind of spend some time with those people who kind of love their games out of their basement and out of their garages and got them down to the show.
00:19:59
Speaker
So that that's the ultimate gamer package.
00:20:01
Speaker
And then we have a, another one that's the gamer package.
00:20:03
Speaker
And then we have weekend and day two too.
00:20:06
Speaker
So,
00:20:07
Speaker
We have a kind of a price point for everybody.
00:20:10
Speaker
We want to make sure that we're affordable to have families come and bring their kids too.
00:20:17
Speaker
And do you have a tournament going on too, I'm assuming?
00:20:21
Speaker
We do.
00:20:21
Speaker
We have multiple tournaments all weekend.
00:20:25
Speaker
We have a regular tournament, an open tournament with an A and a B division.
00:20:30
Speaker
And then we have a novice only tournament, which are for players with an IFPA ranking of 3000 or lower.
00:20:37
Speaker
And then something that's kind of unique to our show is we'll do probably a dozen different tournaments all weekend long that are kind of just casual to get involved with
00:20:50
Speaker
women's tournaments and kids and parent kid and split flipper and Zen where one person has a blindfold and the other person flips, tells them when to flip.
00:21:02
Speaker
So we kind of try to do some fun stuff like
Scott Wickberg's Virtual Pinball Buzz
00:21:04
Speaker
that too.
00:21:04
Speaker
That's unique so that if you're intimidated that you're not a great player, you can still come in and have a good time.
00:21:14
Speaker
And I'm assuming all of that is on your website.
00:21:16
Speaker
It talks about all the different tournaments and what's available when you're coming in.
00:21:20
Speaker
Yep, it is.
00:21:21
Speaker
It's all on our website under the events page.
00:21:25
Speaker
And then you just click on tournaments.
00:21:28
Speaker
So one of the things I'm looking at on your website right now that's intrigued me, there is a name on here that has made headlines this week with This Week in Pinball and a couple other podcasts and whatnot, which is Scott Wickberg.
00:21:40
Speaker
I don't know if you know the answer to this or not, but the reason he's made news this week is because he's made a virtual pinball machine of Harry Potter, and there's people freaking out because apparently that's the theme that needs to be made.
00:21:52
Speaker
Do you know if he's bringing the Harry Potter pinball machine or the virtual pin to the show?
00:21:58
Speaker
Yeah, he, Scott will actually be one of our speakers at the show.
00:22:03
Speaker
So I'm sure that he will be speaking about Harry Potter.
00:22:08
Speaker
I believe his seminar is on Sunday.
00:22:13
Speaker
if I remember right.
00:22:14
Speaker
You'll have to check the schedule to be sure.
00:22:16
Speaker
But he will be, he brought his Stranger Things virtual pinball last year and had it available for people to play.
00:22:25
Speaker
So I am sure that we will have Harry Potter available to play his virtual version on the floor.
00:22:32
Speaker
We'll have
00:22:33
Speaker
uh, probably three or four different virtual pinball machines at the show from different collectors.
00:22:39
Speaker
So I'm sure that you guys will be able to try it out.
00:22:43
Speaker
Very cool.
00:22:45
Speaker
I'll send you some pictures, Josh.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yep.
00:22:48
Speaker
You're going to have to make me jealous.
Ongoing Preparation and Community Involvement
00:22:50
Speaker
How long does it take to prepare for something like this?
00:22:55
Speaker
We start right after the last show.
00:22:57
Speaker
So literally the next day, the day that the show is over, we sit down and go over everything with people that are on our team and collectors, vendors.
00:23:11
Speaker
We're getting information all weekend long.
00:23:13
Speaker
And then we sit down and download all that stuff, write it down so that we have a good list of what can we do?
00:23:20
Speaker
What are new ideas?
00:23:21
Speaker
What can we make better?
00:23:22
Speaker
How do we change things?
00:23:24
Speaker
So, and then really we start hardcore, um, doing work about six months out.
00:23:32
Speaker
Um, we'll start working on it regularly at least every two, three days a week.
00:23:39
Speaker
Um, six months easily out.
00:23:44
Speaker
Dang.
00:23:45
Speaker
That sounds like a full-time job.
00:23:49
Speaker
It feels like it sometimes, but the reward is definitely worth it.
00:23:53
Speaker
Right.
00:23:56
Speaker
Ask me that on Tuesday.
00:23:59
Speaker
This is usually crunch time, you know, getting up to it.
00:24:03
Speaker
But yeah, it's great to be able to see people have a good time and do all the neat things and all the hard work and the long nights and everything.
00:24:12
Speaker
They end up worth it in the end for sure.
00:24:15
Speaker
Cool.
00:24:16
Speaker
How have you seen the pinball, at least the show, change in the last five years?
00:24:20
Speaker
And if you can look forward into the future, what would you anticipate things changing as we go forward?
00:24:28
Speaker
Pinball has been booming, especially the last five years.
00:24:31
Speaker
You know, for a few years there, things were kind of stagnant, I think, everywhere.
00:24:38
Speaker
And then I don't know what happened, but manufacturers started popping up.
00:24:43
Speaker
You know, people were looking to
00:24:45
Speaker
build games, make games, and the shows exploded at that same time.
00:24:52
Speaker
There's lots more people that are attending the shows, and I think location pinball started getting really great again.
00:25:01
Speaker
I don't know what was the cause and what was the effect, if it was locations or shows or more games, but somehow that combination got working and started working well.
00:25:14
Speaker
I think
00:25:15
Speaker
10 years from now, I don't think we're done on the top of the top of the pile yet.
00:25:21
Speaker
I think we're probably, I see pinball is going to keep growing for at least another five, six years before, you know, unless we have some sort of terrible economic downturn might
Future of Pinball: Optimism and Innovation
00:25:33
Speaker
hurt us.
00:25:33
Speaker
But otherwise there are lots and lots of people still getting into pinball.
00:25:39
Speaker
And I totally agree with that.
00:25:40
Speaker
That's a, I would, that's a very good assessment for my opinion.
00:25:44
Speaker
So I want to know more about you, Dan.
00:25:46
Speaker
What's, what's your favorite pinball machine?
00:25:48
Speaker
What, what got you into pinball?
00:25:51
Speaker
Um, what got me in or what's my favorite?
00:25:54
Speaker
Cause both, both.
00:25:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:56
Speaker
So what got me in was the first game I bought.
00:25:59
Speaker
Uh, first pinball I bought was a fire.
00:26:02
Speaker
Um, it, it's, it's an okay game.
00:26:06
Speaker
Save my babies.
00:26:07
Speaker
I have a soft spot for it.
00:26:10
Speaker
Whenever I find one, I buy it.
00:26:13
Speaker
I don't know why, but then I'll find it a home somewhere because it was the first one I got.
00:26:18
Speaker
I drug it out of this basement down in Pueblo.
00:26:21
Speaker
I bought it on eBay.
00:26:23
Speaker
The guy said I had to pay before I picked it up, which should have been the first red flag.
00:26:28
Speaker
So I picked it up, dragged it out of this basement.
00:26:31
Speaker
It's a train wreck.
00:26:32
Speaker
And then I got it going and finally sold it to somebody.
00:26:37
Speaker
But it's got a soft spot for me.
00:26:39
Speaker
And then probably my favorite game is whatever the newest stuff is.
00:26:43
Speaker
It seems to be the thing that I really like.
00:26:47
Speaker
But what I always go back to is I have a Twilight Zone that I really enjoy playing.
00:26:52
Speaker
Something about it, I've always wanted one for when I first got into it.
00:26:57
Speaker
And I still play mine fairly regularly, you know.
00:27:03
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:03
Speaker
By the way, I also have a friend who's a firefighter who he found out about fire and he said, I'd like to have one of those someday.
00:27:11
Speaker
So whenever you need a home for your next fire project, let me know.
00:27:15
Speaker
I have a neighbor.
00:27:17
Speaker
Will do.
00:27:18
Speaker
I will.
00:27:18
Speaker
I'm sure I will find one.
00:27:19
Speaker
They seem to find me.
00:27:21
Speaker
I've owned like seven of them.
00:27:24
Speaker
How many do you have at once versus how many and how often do you rotate your collections?
00:27:32
Speaker
I have quite a few games, but I also have some games on location too.
00:27:37
Speaker
So part of my other craziness is I operate some games out, kind of a hobby operator.
00:27:44
Speaker
So I have a couple of locations around town.
00:27:49
Speaker
One of them has about 25 games at it, which is just down the road from the show.
00:27:57
Speaker
And then in my home collection, I probably at any one time have maybe 12 to 15 games set up at my house.
00:28:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:08
Speaker
I'm going to point out that I don't think a hobby operator with 25 games on location really qualifies as a hobby operator.
00:28:16
Speaker
I was going to say I would consider myself a hobby operator.
00:28:18
Speaker
I had at most two out on location.
00:28:21
Speaker
So 25 is a big leap.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:24
Speaker
So in addition to your full-time job and in addition to your part-time job of organizing this tournament, you also have your cell phone number on all these games around town for them to call and say, Hey, there's a ball stuck.
Announcement of Colorado Pinball Pub
00:28:37
Speaker
Yep.
00:28:38
Speaker
I do.
00:28:39
Speaker
You know what?
00:28:41
Speaker
There is a, there is a path pathology involved in the sword devotion.
00:28:46
Speaker
Yes, there it's, uh,
00:28:48
Speaker
It seems to get a little crazier every year.
00:28:52
Speaker
And actually, we're going to be announcing at the pinball show that we're going to be opening our own place up pretty soon called the Colorado Pinball Pub.
00:29:01
Speaker
So there's a scoop for you that we'll be launching that at the show.
00:29:08
Speaker
We'll be starting construction very soon, getting it started.
00:29:11
Speaker
And kind of our goal is to have a little place to play some games and hang out.
00:29:18
Speaker
Is it going to be like a bar arcade?
00:29:21
Speaker
It will be a bar arcade.
00:29:24
Speaker
Okay.
00:29:25
Speaker
And when do you think you'll be releasing, you'll be opening that?
00:29:28
Speaker
What's your target date?
00:29:30
Speaker
Our target is by the end of summer.
00:29:32
Speaker
So we're, like I said, my day job is I do, I build buildings for a living.
00:29:39
Speaker
So that's not the part that scares me is the build out.
00:29:44
Speaker
It's once we get there, then we will be open all the time.
00:29:48
Speaker
So fun and fun and a little scary.
00:29:54
Speaker
I think it sounds fantastic.
00:29:55
Speaker
I'm excited to go and check it out.
00:29:57
Speaker
Yep.
00:29:58
Speaker
So also, so this is my first time in a show.
00:30:02
Speaker
What are the things that you're going to say, wow, you're going to want to do this, this, or you're going to want to buy this and this, or these are the things that I'm kind of curious about because I see a lot of people who are trying to find ways of, of customizing your own games, alternative translates, mods for the games, um,
00:30:24
Speaker
What are some things that you're saying, you know what, you really want to check this out?
00:30:31
Speaker
You know, this year we have a ton of new things that we have added to the show since we have so much more space.
00:30:38
Speaker
We almost doubled the space that we had from our last hotel to the new one.
00:30:43
Speaker
So we've been able to add things like we have an escape room at the show.
00:30:46
Speaker
We have...
00:30:48
Speaker
more tournaments.
00:30:49
Speaker
We have an EM workshop that's happening all weekend where you can go and take classes and learn how to fix games and read schematics and do all of that.
00:31:00
Speaker
Uh, we have a haunted pinball tournament that's happening over the weekend.
00:31:04
Speaker
And then we have, um, over 30 vendors with mods and parts and new games.
New Show Features and Enhancements
00:31:12
Speaker
And, um,
00:31:15
Speaker
you know, anything you could look for that is pinball arcade related in any way.
00:31:22
Speaker
So I would say that I would try some of the new stuff that we've added and tell us how you like it.
00:31:29
Speaker
And, you know, that'll kind of help us figure out what we should dedicate more of our time and space to.
00:31:36
Speaker
And then we have seminars.
00:31:38
Speaker
We have a seminar every hour from 12 o'clock on Saturday to
00:31:44
Speaker
until 10 o'clock Sunday night.
00:31:47
Speaker
And then we've got another half dozen or so on Monday.
00:31:51
Speaker
So I think there's like 20 plus seminars over the weekend.
00:31:56
Speaker
So you could spend 20 plus hours listening to different things about how to fix your game, Steve Ritchie, Joe Balser, all of our guests, how to play pinball.
00:32:07
Speaker
We try to do some different things that...
00:32:11
Speaker
offer a little bit more of the community aspect and bring other folks into the show that may not be the pinball designer or artist, but have their way to contribute back to the show.
00:32:24
Speaker
Kind of like you guys having the pinball podcast seminar at the show with Jeff.
00:32:31
Speaker
Well, the other cool thing I think also too, speaking of Jeff is he always talks about, he talks very highly in the regard of the show.
00:32:37
Speaker
He's made me excited for a couple of years.
00:32:39
Speaker
It just always seems like it's the wrong time for me to go.
00:32:43
Speaker
And so I've never been able to get out to Denver to see the show, but I've always been excited because he says it's like going back to family.
00:32:49
Speaker
I've always viewed it as one of the better shows.
00:32:52
Speaker
Well, we appreciate that.
00:32:53
Speaker
It's a, we do have an awesome community here.
00:32:55
Speaker
They, they are kind of what make this show special.
00:32:59
Speaker
I think that that is the thing that's very unique.
00:33:02
Speaker
We have a great community that takes real pride in the games that they bring and they're very welcoming to new people coming in and they'll sit down and hang out with you and talk whatever it is that your aspect of pinball or your aspect of arcade gaming and make you feel welcome.
00:33:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:33:26
Speaker
There was even a gentleman last year when I was talking, we were talking over a Spider-Man pinball machine he was selling.
00:33:31
Speaker
I cannot remember his name.
00:33:32
Speaker
I do apologize because he ended up coming to Salt Lake to our show and hanging out.
00:33:36
Speaker
But he was one of the ones that said, you need to come to the show.
00:33:40
Speaker
Just come hang out.
00:33:41
Speaker
It's so cool.
00:33:42
Speaker
You got to do it.
00:33:43
Speaker
And I think that's a good sign for a good show when people want to brag about what's in their town.
00:33:50
Speaker
And so I think you guys are on the right track.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:56
Speaker
I mean, we hope so.
00:33:58
Speaker
You'll know pretty soon.
00:33:59
Speaker
You guys, Scott's coming out, so he'll be able to give you the lowdown.
00:34:06
Speaker
He's going to be making me jealous the whole time.
00:34:08
Speaker
I'm going to be feeding babies, and he's going to be sending me pictures.
00:34:10
Speaker
I'm going to be like, this is awesome.
00:34:13
Speaker
I don't know how else to describe it, but yeah.
00:34:15
Speaker
You should look on our website.
00:34:17
Speaker
I think that Don, Don from the Pinball Podcast...
00:34:22
Speaker
the former host, one of the former hosts of the pinball podcast.
00:34:26
Speaker
Um, he had their twins.
00:34:29
Speaker
They came out with their twins to the show and like had them strapped up with, uh, your plugs and headphones on when they were little.
00:34:39
Speaker
That is awesome.
00:34:40
Speaker
I might have to hit Don up and see, get some pointers.
00:34:44
Speaker
So there you go next year or in two years, uh, you can bring your kids out.
00:34:49
Speaker
I know my son wants to come out.
00:34:50
Speaker
And the funny part is, is every time I'm looking for a wizard of Oz pinball machine, I'm always looking into Denver area because it seems like one comes up every month.
00:34:58
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I'm always looking for Denver area to, like you said, there's, there's a massive amount of pinball machines in the Colorado area from border to border.
00:35:09
Speaker
It's kind of, it's kind of goofy, but, um, yeah, that's why I keep telling my friends.
00:35:14
Speaker
I'm like, I'm close enough.
00:35:16
Speaker
If you ever need something in Utah, man, I can find it for you in Colorado.
00:35:18
Speaker
Um,
00:35:21
Speaker
So obviously learning how to work on these games.
00:35:28
Speaker
So how would you start?
00:35:31
Speaker
I'm kind of more of a novice.
00:35:34
Speaker
I know kind of how to tinker, but really just enough to make myself dangerous.
00:35:39
Speaker
I just installed Color DMD and Pinnovator's
00:35:43
Speaker
the headphone jacks into my games, but I swear it takes me about twice as long as it probably should.
00:35:51
Speaker
When someone gets into pinball and they get their own machines, where do you say, hey, by the way, these are the basics that you all have to know, and then
00:36:00
Speaker
you can figure out how to do the other stuff as you get farther along.
00:36:04
Speaker
There doesn't seem to be, there's the Keith Ellewin Pinball 101, how to play pinball, but there doesn't seem to be as, as obvious of a resource for people who say, Hey, I just want to learn how to work on my own machines.
00:36:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:18
Speaker
It, I think it's getting a little
Hands-On Learning Opportunities
00:36:21
Speaker
better.
00:36:21
Speaker
There's, there's some great online resources to look at stuff and you can always YouTube and, you know, Google what you need.
00:36:30
Speaker
at the show, that's, um, there's a hour seminar on kind of how to get your show game show ready.
00:36:39
Speaker
And they go over basics, like how to rebuild flippers and how to take apart a pop bumper and how to do some basic repair stuff, how to fix a slingshot, things like that.
00:36:50
Speaker
And, uh, you know, I think that that gets people's feet wet and I think kind of allows them to a little bit of
00:36:58
Speaker
hands-on and lets them look at things and touch it, feel it, so that they're less intimidated working on their own game.
00:37:06
Speaker
You know, I think that eventually then you can kind of work your way into board repair, try to do some soldering.
00:37:12
Speaker
There's an awesome club here called the Colorado Pinball Club that does like a monthly meeting and they do cool stuff.
00:37:19
Speaker
Like a few months ago, they had like a how to solder session that was
00:37:25
Speaker
There's probably 40 people that showed up and there was a bunch of scrap boards that they had.
00:37:31
Speaker
And you just try to solder things and desolder them and just try to get a little bit of time and hands-on work with it.
00:37:41
Speaker
Well, cool.
00:37:42
Speaker
I think, uh, pretty much we're coming up on our 40 minute mark.
00:37:46
Speaker
And so we're going to have to start wrapping things up, but is there anything else that you would like to kind of tell us about that maybe we haven't touched on yet, Dan, that people need to know about Rocky mountain pinball showdown?
00:37:58
Speaker
I don't think so.
00:37:58
Speaker
I think we've covered everything really well.
00:38:00
Speaker
Um,
00:38:01
Speaker
We have some great guests, some awesome, awesome things coming up this weekend.
00:38:05
Speaker
We're pretty excited to show off our new venue.
00:38:09
Speaker
We think people are going to really enjoy it.
00:38:11
Speaker
It's kind of a unique thing.
00:38:13
Speaker
Oh, I didn't talk about, we do have a swap meet too.
00:38:17
Speaker
We haven't had one in a long time, but the community kind of got together and I heard that it's coming along pretty well.
00:38:24
Speaker
So if you have some extra stuff you need to get rid of or
00:38:28
Speaker
you need to pick up some extra things.
00:38:30
Speaker
The swap meet is kind of a new aspect that takes place on Sunday morning that we're trying out this year for the first time in a while.
00:38:38
Speaker
I hope that goes good because that sounds like a cool concept.
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, I've actually been on the lookout for some cool play fields that are no longer usable but are still pretty.
00:38:49
Speaker
I'd love to get a few of them so I can put them downstairs in my game room.
00:38:54
Speaker
I'm sure that
00:38:56
Speaker
I have to keep an eye out.
00:38:57
Speaker
I'll, I'll keep an eye out for you too.
00:38:59
Speaker
If you're flying out though, it might be a, it might be a big carry on to carry back.
00:39:04
Speaker
Well, that's okay.
00:39:05
Speaker
Actually, there are a few guys who are driving out from Utah that I'm sure I can load them in the back of their car.
00:39:10
Speaker
I don't know if Lee's driving out.
00:39:11
Speaker
He usually drives out with a few games and I can throw it in the back of his, but,
00:39:15
Speaker
That's one thing I'm always on the hunt for is finding different things to make my game room fun.
00:39:23
Speaker
I actually just bought a two and a half foot M&M that is staring at me right now.
00:39:28
Speaker
Right now it's in my living room, but it should be down in my game room next to Mario.
00:39:32
Speaker
So I'm always on the lookout for that kind of fun stuff.
00:39:41
Speaker
So you have like a two and a half foot Mario as well?
00:39:45
Speaker
Yeah, so I found just randomly on either Facebook or there's a KSL marketing out here.
00:39:55
Speaker
It's just a local news station.
00:39:58
Speaker
That tends to be our list.
00:40:01
Speaker
It's KSL classifieds.
00:40:03
Speaker
And I have no idea what I was searching for, but there was like a two and a half foot Mario statue.
00:40:09
Speaker
It was from a guy who
00:40:11
Speaker
was the manager of media play back in the day.
00:40:13
Speaker
And when the Nintendo 64 came out, that was the display that came out with it.
00:40:16
Speaker
So he's been hauling this thing around for, for years.
00:40:19
Speaker
And I just looked at it and I said, that is really cool.
00:40:21
Speaker
I'm sure my wife would kill me if I told her I spent $300 on it, but it makes me smile every time I go downstairs.
00:40:28
Speaker
That's super awesome.
00:40:30
Speaker
That would be a cool thing.
00:40:31
Speaker
If you were living in Denver, I'd see if I could convince you to bring it down to the show.
00:40:35
Speaker
That would be super cool to see.
00:40:37
Speaker
Yeah, that would be fun.
00:40:38
Speaker
Well, I know that when I sent it to Jeff Rivera, he said, I get first dibs if you ever sell that.
00:40:47
Speaker
Well, thank you, Dan.
00:40:48
Speaker
We appreciate you coming on and coming to talk to us about the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown.
00:40:53
Speaker
I know that Scott is pretty giddy, like a little schoolgirl with his first crush.
00:40:57
Speaker
Schoolboy.
00:40:58
Speaker
Schoolboy, whatever.
00:41:01
Speaker
But he's excited to come out.
00:41:02
Speaker
I'm excited for him because I'm probably going to get a ton of pictures this weekend.
00:41:05
Speaker
I really wish I could be there.
00:41:07
Speaker
But we do appreciate you coming on.
00:41:08
Speaker
We're going to get this out before the show happens so that way we can get a little bit of a push and or have something for people to listen to on their flights and drives there.
00:41:16
Speaker
And I will say that I appreciate that there are people who are passionate who are willing to do these type of shows.
00:41:24
Speaker
In many ways, I'm sure that there's a way of being compensated on some level for what you do.
00:41:30
Speaker
However, I know that the return on investment for doing something like this is far less than what you would make on just working your standard job.
00:41:40
Speaker
And so I appreciate that there are people who are as passionate as you are to keep these things alive because –
00:41:49
Speaker
The bottom line is I don't have the time to do something like this.
00:41:52
Speaker
I barely have time to do a pinball podcast, but I want people to know that it is recognized and appreciated that they're willing to kind of take that mountain climb and put on this event for people like me who are willing to come out and see it.
00:42:09
Speaker
And I'm sure that you probably – the complaints always sound louder than the praise.
00:42:14
Speaker
But I just want you to know that I really appreciate what you're doing.
00:42:18
Speaker
I'm really looking forward to this weekend.
00:42:21
Speaker
Well, thank you.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah, I tell everybody the number one thing you can do is tell somebody who brought a game how much you enjoyed playing their game.
00:42:30
Speaker
Because I think that that is the coolest thing.
00:42:33
Speaker
I think that people that bring their games really enjoy kind of sharing them with everybody.
00:42:39
Speaker
And nothing makes their day more than just telling them how much you enjoyed playing
Pinball as a Social Connector
00:42:43
Speaker
their whatever it is or getting to see someone's smiling face when they put their blood, sweat, and tears into their
00:42:51
Speaker
their super fun game that they brought out.
00:42:54
Speaker
So make sure when you're there, any pinball show, wherever you're at in the country, number one, bring a game if you can.
00:43:01
Speaker
Number two, tell the people that bring games.
00:43:03
Speaker
Thank you.
00:43:05
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:43:06
Speaker
And I'll certainly hunt you down over the weekend and chat with you a few times.
00:43:10
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:43:11
Speaker
I really appreciate you guys having me on.
00:43:13
Speaker
For sure.
00:43:14
Speaker
Yeah, happy to do it.
00:43:15
Speaker
Anytime you want to come on.
00:43:17
Speaker
We are very lowbrow.
00:43:21
Speaker
Whoever wants to come on, we can certainly discuss.
00:43:24
Speaker
The bottom line is that this is an escape for me.
00:43:28
Speaker
Life is challenging enough with everything that everybody's dealing with, whether or not from family drama or work drama or projects.
00:43:36
Speaker
political drama or religion drama or whatever.
00:43:39
Speaker
And I appreciate that this is something that for me, I can escape from all of that and I don't have to deal with it.
00:43:46
Speaker
And so if there's any way that I can connect with someone on a social level, regardless if they have anything in common with me, I can at least have something in common with pinball.
00:43:56
Speaker
And, uh, and so that,
00:43:58
Speaker
if anybody has nothing better to do than to listen to us rant, I, I just appreciate giving them that break and having that opportunity.
00:44:09
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:44:11
Speaker
Well, thanks again, Dan.
00:44:12
Speaker
We really appreciate it.
00:44:12
Speaker
We'll catch you this weekend.
00:44:14
Speaker
All right.
00:44:14
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:44:15
Speaker
Thanks guys.
00:44:16
Speaker
Thanks.
00:44:16
Speaker
Thanks Dan.
Community Connections and Growth
00:44:18
Speaker
So we just wrapped it up with Dan.
00:44:19
Speaker
What are your takeaways from it there, Scott?
00:44:23
Speaker
You know, it's one of those where I understand that pinball is a niche sport or a niche hobby or whatever you want to label it as.
00:44:33
Speaker
It still seems like it's growing, it's healthy, and I think that it's bringing more people to go out of their house.
00:44:44
Speaker
So I think these conventions are actually a good opportunity.
00:44:50
Speaker
I think that it's, I think people are tired.
00:44:54
Speaker
I think people are tired of just connecting to their computer or online gaming or whatever.
00:44:59
Speaker
It seems like the way I look at it is that's already been done and I want to talk with people again.
00:45:05
Speaker
So this is a great opportunity.
00:45:07
Speaker
I'm really excited.
00:45:08
Speaker
Seriously.
00:45:08
Speaker
It takes a lot of effort, I know, to take time off and go to a weekend convention.
00:45:16
Speaker
But I really have no idea what to expect.
00:45:21
Speaker
What's your thoughts?
00:45:22
Speaker
Have you ever been like – we've been to the one here.
00:45:25
Speaker
I was here for two hours.
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:27
Speaker
when I was on my way out of town last year.
00:45:30
Speaker
But I've never really been to a pinball-only convention.
00:45:33
Speaker
What are your thoughts?
00:45:35
Speaker
You know, this is one of the shows that has intrigued me before even I knew that Salt Lake Gaming Con existed.
00:45:41
Speaker
I've always wanted to get out to it.
00:45:43
Speaker
I guess I'm a different state in my life to where I can't just go, I guess.
00:45:48
Speaker
I don't know.
00:45:49
Speaker
And I can't remember who else I was talking to, but they were saying it's kind of a bad weekend because it's Memorial Day weekend.
00:45:55
Speaker
Yeah, that was – I had a lot of second thoughts on it because of that.
00:46:01
Speaker
But honestly, I've always – I think it's a good show that would – I think they got all the good games there and so it would be just as good as – well, maybe not just as good as a Texas Pinball or a Pinball Expo, but it's just right up there with me with those shows.
00:46:17
Speaker
So it's something I've always wanted to try.
00:46:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's just different.
00:46:21
Speaker
I'm not –
00:46:23
Speaker
I'm curious because I know that right now it seems like everybody's chasing Texas.
00:46:29
Speaker
However, you know, he's the one who said, well, we've been doing this for a long time.
00:46:33
Speaker
So we still have those relations.
00:46:35
Speaker
And so that makes me really curious to see how, how they do it really.
00:46:41
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree.
00:46:42
Speaker
You know, so, so I'm excited.
00:46:44
Speaker
I'm excited for you.
00:46:45
Speaker
I really wish, I really wish I was going this weekend, but yeah.
00:46:49
Speaker
Yeah, you're doing something better.
00:46:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:51
Speaker
Well, cool.
00:46:52
Speaker
Let's talk about the couple things.
00:46:55
Speaker
Honestly, there was still a trickle on the news.
00:46:57
Speaker
No biggie there.
00:46:59
Speaker
The thing that I thought was cool was the Harry Potter.
00:47:01
Speaker
So last week, sorry, before we get into Harry Potter, last week when Special One Lit was talking about Harry Potter, I started digging and looking for this because it's like there's a Harry Potter pinball machine.
00:47:12
Speaker
And I thought this is really cool.
00:47:14
Speaker
And so a lot of people said that it's probably a fake, so I don't read much into it.
00:47:20
Speaker
And then when it came out this week in Pinball this week, that it was a virtual pinball machine.
00:47:24
Speaker
I still thought that's a cool idea.
00:47:26
Speaker
It's with it being a home project, maybe it'll gain a little traction and maybe it'll show the potential that a Harry Potter pinball machine could have to JK Rowling, because I know that she's kind of opposed to pinball machines.
00:47:41
Speaker
Well, I'm not sure.
00:47:42
Speaker
Like, I've heard that rumor before, but I really have no idea where that started or what credibility I'd give to that.
00:47:54
Speaker
Just because, I mean, come on, they have like...
00:47:57
Speaker
There's Harry Potter video games.
00:48:00
Speaker
There's Harry Potter.
00:48:01
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if I were walking through Vegas and there were like a Harry Potter slot machine.
00:48:05
Speaker
And so I don't, I mean, she licenses those, uh, those little, uh, those jelly beans that taste horrible.
00:48:14
Speaker
Um, Barry bots or whatever it is.
00:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, those.
00:48:17
Speaker
And she has an amusement park section in Universal Studios.
00:48:23
Speaker
So I kind of feel that while people say, oh, she doesn't like pinball,
00:48:30
Speaker
my attitude is it's probably just not a big enough player.
00:48:34
Speaker
And she is, she is the wealthiest woman in England.
00:48:38
Speaker
Did you know that?
00:48:39
Speaker
I didn't know that.
00:48:40
Speaker
She has stupid money.
00:48:43
Speaker
And for, for her to even, you know, it's kind of like the, you know, we talk about the Beatles pinball license, right?
00:48:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:51
Speaker
And it's, you know, it's the most expensive.
00:48:52
Speaker
It's the first, you know, seven digit one.
00:48:54
Speaker
Okay.
00:48:55
Speaker
It's a million dollars.
00:48:56
Speaker
Okay.
00:48:56
Speaker
That means nothing to her.
00:48:59
Speaker
Literally, a million dollars means nothing to her because she's made so much money on this stuff.
00:49:03
Speaker
I just think it's probably not on her radar.
00:49:07
Speaker
Until it becomes on her radar, I just don't see it being a big deal.
00:49:12
Speaker
I agree.
00:49:14
Speaker
Is it possible?
00:49:14
Speaker
Is it possible that she has some vendetta against pinball?
00:49:18
Speaker
Maybe, but I think we're overestimating what people, non pinball people think about pinball.
00:49:24
Speaker
Cause when, when I tell people that I'm, I'm into pinball, they always say the same thing.
00:49:29
Speaker
Oh really?
00:49:30
Speaker
That's cool.
00:49:31
Speaker
Do they still make those?
00:49:32
Speaker
Yep, exactly.
00:49:34
Speaker
Every time.
00:49:35
Speaker
And so I guarantee she is not this anti-pinball.
00:49:39
Speaker
Okay, this is me just thinking.
00:49:41
Speaker
We're not even on her radar.
00:49:42
Speaker
She doesn't even care about pinball.
00:49:45
Speaker
Well, and here's the thing, too, about a Harry Potter pinball machine.
00:49:48
Speaker
As much as I would love to have a physical made Harry Potter pinball machine, it scares the living daylights out of me to have one made.
00:49:57
Speaker
And the reason being is there's so much material there between all eight movies, seven books, everything.
00:50:06
Speaker
Like, even when I saw this virtual pinball machine layout for the first time, I kind of looked at it and went, huh.
00:50:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:11
Speaker
They're only going with Goblet of Fire.
00:50:13
Speaker
That's not really my favorite book.
00:50:15
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:50:16
Speaker
Oh, that is my favorite book.
00:50:18
Speaker
Like that's where, like after that, Harry Potter died for me.
00:50:23
Speaker
Like that was where it was like, okay, this is not going the direction I want.
00:50:27
Speaker
And,
00:50:28
Speaker
She got pissed and killed everybody.
00:50:31
Speaker
So Goblet of Fire, I'm like, that is the best book.
00:50:35
Speaker
It is really good.
00:50:36
Speaker
Don't get me wrong.
00:50:36
Speaker
I do really enjoy it.
00:50:38
Speaker
But it's like, what do you do?
00:50:39
Speaker
There's seven books.
00:50:40
Speaker
Do you pick one?
00:50:41
Speaker
Do you try to put all seven into one pinball machine?
00:50:44
Speaker
There's just so much there.
00:50:46
Speaker
Just kind of like with Willy Wonka.
00:50:47
Speaker
Willy Wonka was such a theme that's been wanted for so many years that that first night when it was showed, there were so many mixed reviews because I think people's expectations were just through the roof.
00:51:01
Speaker
And so when they saw it, they're like, that's it?
00:51:03
Speaker
And so I'm really fearful.
00:51:05
Speaker
I'm not saying that it wouldn't sell well.
00:51:07
Speaker
I really think a Harry Potter pinball machine would do excellent no matter how they made it.
00:51:13
Speaker
I mean, look at Star Wars.
00:51:14
Speaker
Us as a pinball community is like, it's very, very polarizing in the community, but it sells well for operators.
00:51:22
Speaker
It does great on CoinDrop.
00:51:24
Speaker
It does really great for vendors when they're selling it to distributors and stuff like that.
00:51:29
Speaker
So I just, I think that...
00:51:33
Speaker
I don't know.
00:51:34
Speaker
Harry Potter would sell great.
00:51:35
Speaker
I just, my, my worry is, is it would not live up to the expectation that everyone has presented.
00:51:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:41
Speaker
My thought is I thought Star Wars was, I thought it was okay.
00:51:44
Speaker
It was a fun game.
00:51:46
Speaker
It didn't scratch the itch that I wanted for a Star Wars machine, but in many ways, I think that we, we elevate our dream themes to a ridiculous level.
00:51:58
Speaker
I think everyone wants the dream thing to be Lord of the Rings because we,
00:52:02
Speaker
Lord of the Rings is basically that Holy Grail, where it is that theme that a lot of people like, and the pin was done so well and the rules were so well incorporated that I think it scratched that ish.
00:52:18
Speaker
And so people expect every time there's a dream thing, it has to be Lord of the Rings.
00:52:23
Speaker
I agree.
00:52:23
Speaker
The bottom line is it just doesn't happen.
00:52:25
Speaker
Lord of the Rings was an anomaly.
00:52:28
Speaker
I mean, do you really think that the Iron Man machine is,
00:52:32
Speaker
the dream theme integration for Iron Man.
00:52:34
Speaker
Oh no.
00:52:35
Speaker
And it's, it's a fun game.
00:52:36
Speaker
I like, I love it.
00:52:37
Speaker
I have the game, you know, but the Avengers, the Avengers was, you know, it wasn't okay.
00:52:43
Speaker
It wasn't, it wasn't okay.
00:52:43
Speaker
It was kind of a miss.
00:52:44
Speaker
I think that some people didn't thought it was clunky, but it, it didn't have that Lord of the Rings feel, but okay.
00:52:51
Speaker
So let's just say Lord of the Rings, um, name me one other dream theme that has hit that status.
00:53:03
Speaker
Wizard of Oz?
00:53:05
Speaker
I really don't know.
00:53:06
Speaker
Is Wizard of Oz a dream theme for anybody but Jack?
00:53:09
Speaker
I don't really think it was, but now that they've presented it, that's the thing about it.
00:53:13
Speaker
No one wanted it, but it did really well at meeting expectations because no one dreamt about what it could have been.
00:53:19
Speaker
Yeah, and so I think that we have this unrealistic standard for, I guess, the only other game that I would say, yes, that is a perfect theme integration, would be Simpsons Pinball Party.
00:53:35
Speaker
And that's very polarizing.
00:53:37
Speaker
Some people love that game.
00:53:39
Speaker
Some people hate it.
00:53:40
Speaker
But guess what?
00:53:41
Speaker
Tron is not that deep of a rule set.
00:53:45
Speaker
It's a fun game to play and it has good music.
00:53:47
Speaker
But really, if you're going to say, yeah, that's a dream integration, then I think you're missing the point.
00:53:54
Speaker
It's a very simple game.
00:53:56
Speaker
And I have a beautiful Tron, but I don't think it's this.
00:54:00
Speaker
It's certainly not the same level as Lord of the Rings.
00:54:02
Speaker
So I think for someone to expect Harry Potter to be the second coming of Lord of the Rings, I think that's unreasonable.
00:54:10
Speaker
I agree.
00:54:10
Speaker
Well, and who knows, they might grab it and knock it out of the park.
00:54:13
Speaker
I just, I think it's no matter any way you slice it, it's been so hyped for so long that if it does come out, there's going to be a lot of polarizing comments.
00:54:24
Speaker
So I do not envy the people that actually get that pinball license because it's going to be a rough one.
00:54:31
Speaker
It really is.
00:54:32
Speaker
Yeah, and I guess, you know what, I would say the second, like a theme integration that by far exceeded expectations would be Jersey Jack Pirates of the Caribbean.
00:54:47
Speaker
That coding is crazy in that game.
00:54:50
Speaker
It is so deep and it is probably the best theme integration and code integration and everything with a game and even operating under modern constraints with a licensor, which just seems mind-blowingly hard.
00:55:08
Speaker
And what Jersey Jack and Eric and
00:55:11
Speaker
and Joe Katz and everybody was able to put into that machine is mind blowing.
00:55:17
Speaker
So, and I think that's why people keep saying if, if Harry Potter does get done, they want it to be done by Jersey Jack because there's a common theme.
00:55:27
Speaker
And obviously if you want something quick, efficient and, and to the point that's going to be stern.
00:55:35
Speaker
But I think that, you know, that's the reason why people would like that to be done by JJP.
00:55:41
Speaker
Totally agree.
00:55:42
Speaker
So moving on, we got to join and hang out with, it seemed like all the podcast celebrities tonight.
00:55:48
Speaker
We were there with Special Unlit.
00:55:50
Speaker
They were doing their Monday night stream of Oktoberfest.
00:55:54
Speaker
So if you don't know this, Zach Many bought up Flippin' Out Pinball, and he then decided to start streaming the most recent release of Pinball Machine that they could get their hands on.
00:56:05
Speaker
And so he was trying to find people to stream it.
00:56:08
Speaker
And Ben, uh, Bill and Ken of special one, let's like, we can do it.
00:56:13
Speaker
No problem.
00:56:14
Speaker
So they've been doing this.
00:56:15
Speaker
This is our second night.
00:56:17
Speaker
They've been doing this.
00:56:18
Speaker
You were in the chat with us.
00:56:19
Speaker
What'd you think there, Scott?
00:56:21
Speaker
Well, one... Okay, by the way, I was really blown away that we were even invited.
00:56:28
Speaker
Legitimately, I got... Because this was the Special Winlet podcast.
00:56:33
Speaker
It was their Facebook post.
00:56:35
Speaker
And they had tagged a lot of these other podcasters.
00:56:39
Speaker
But...
00:56:41
Speaker
Just to be named, I'm looking at it right now because I sent a screenshot to Josh and I said, this is kind of crazy.
00:56:48
Speaker
So this week in pinball, slap save pinball, collect the gamers, loser kid pinball podcast, Mrs. Pins pinball podcast, pinball nerds podcast, pin stadium, and all of these people were there.
00:56:59
Speaker
And even Lloyd shows up from SS Billiards.
00:57:02
Speaker
Wow.
00:57:03
Speaker
Which I don't know if anybody has not heard of Lloyd, but if you have any tech question, he's one of the first guys that always jumps on and says, hey, by the way, do this.
00:57:12
Speaker
I told Lloyd that I want him living next to my man cave so he can fix all my games.
00:57:19
Speaker
But it was just such a crazy thing that.
00:57:23
Speaker
Everybody said, yeah, sure, why not?
00:57:24
Speaker
Let's just hop on.
00:57:25
Speaker
And I'm sure there's other people that they may have tagged.
00:57:29
Speaker
That's just off the top of my screen grab that I saw.
00:57:34
Speaker
So two things that were interesting.
00:57:36
Speaker
One, they were playing Oktoberfest.
00:57:39
Speaker
Two, everybody was really – it was almost like a –
00:57:46
Speaker
It was like a reunion almost where everybody was like, hey, I don't know who you are, but I know you because I listen to your podcast.
00:57:53
Speaker
And the podcasting, it's so inbred in that we all listen to each other and we all kind of promote each other.
00:58:01
Speaker
And really, Kate, here's my take.
00:58:04
Speaker
Anybody who's willing to spend any ounce of their time doing this because no one's making money on it.
00:58:11
Speaker
This is a hobby.
00:58:13
Speaker
And so the fact that anybody is out there
00:58:17
Speaker
doing this, God bless them.
00:58:20
Speaker
And I think that everybody realizes, look, this is just everybody just wants to do this because it's their hobby.
00:58:27
Speaker
It's their escape.
00:58:28
Speaker
So one, I love that it wasn't, that there was no drama and everybody was just getting together and looking at a game.
00:58:34
Speaker
And then everyone was making comments, huh, this is interesting.
00:58:36
Speaker
This is what I saw in the game.
00:58:38
Speaker
So that being said, my first take on Houdini, one, I love that wire form on the right side.
00:58:47
Speaker
houdini or oktoberfest on oktoberfest excuse me um did i say houdini maybe i did you said houdini yeah i meant oktoberfest that wire form on the right side looks awesome and really what it reminds me of is you know those um you see those youtube videos where it's a
00:59:07
Speaker
It's a ball that goes up.
00:59:08
Speaker
It's the kinematic machines and they're going through and they go up and down and it just does a fun visual things.
00:59:15
Speaker
And I love that in games.
00:59:16
Speaker
Really when I wanted to buy my first pinball machine, the only thing I thought of is I want one of those games that have one of those wire things that the ball goes everywhere.
00:59:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:25
Speaker
And again, not really a high bar, but that's what I was thinking.
00:59:30
Speaker
And so, you know, there's a few games that really do that.
00:59:33
Speaker
You know, Star Trek, the next generation has a lot of those, those cool wire forms.
00:59:37
Speaker
They're just fun to watch.
00:59:39
Speaker
And I was really impressed with how it flowed.
00:59:42
Speaker
It really looked like the second coming of belly Williams and basically take a belly Williams thing from the nineties and put a LCD screen in.
00:59:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:53
Speaker
That's what it looked like to me.
00:59:54
Speaker
What'd you think?
00:59:55
Speaker
I've really been intrigued.
00:59:57
Speaker
So when I first heard Oktoberfest, when it was first rumored, I'm like, okay, this is a joke.
01:00:02
Speaker
Like, seriously, who does Oktoberfest?
01:00:04
Speaker
And then a couple months later, it's like, they're doing Oktoberfest.
01:00:07
Speaker
And I thought, okay, now this is a joke.
01:00:10
Speaker
Like, you can't do Oktoberfest as a pinball machine.
01:00:14
Speaker
But they have switched my mindset on it, seeing this pinball machine.
01:00:19
Speaker
I think...
01:00:21
Speaker
Because they originally say Joe Balser originally wanted to do, I can't remember what game it was, but he was working for Sega at the time as his Oktoberfest.
01:00:30
Speaker
And he just wanted to do this theme forever.
01:00:32
Speaker
I think this goes to the fact that when someone has a passion project, they can do it right.
01:00:37
Speaker
And so I might not be huge on the October Fest theme, but the game looks like a hoot.
01:00:43
Speaker
It really, I agree with you.
01:00:44
Speaker
It looks like the second coming of Valley Williams.
01:00:47
Speaker
I want to get my hands on this game and just enjoy it.
01:00:50
Speaker
Um, it looks like there's so much fun and in depth there.
01:00:54
Speaker
I agree with you.
01:00:55
Speaker
The wire forms are something enjoyable to see.
01:00:58
Speaker
And I don't think it would be one of those things you get tired of, or you might just start ignoring it, but it's not something you'd be like, I hate that this is in here now.
01:01:05
Speaker
Um, it looks great.
01:01:07
Speaker
I don't like the artwork.
01:01:08
Speaker
That's still me.
01:01:09
Speaker
I think the play field's a little too busy, but that's just me.
01:01:12
Speaker
I think it's perfect.
01:01:13
Speaker
I think it's a perfect location game.
01:01:15
Speaker
I'm not sure how many home games they'll sell, but considering that the, the second coming of location pinball is,
01:01:24
Speaker
It's going into restaurants and bars.
01:01:28
Speaker
And so this is a theme that I think really would work well.
01:01:33
Speaker
I'm excited to play it.
01:01:35
Speaker
It's again, because I'm very selective of the things I bring into my house.
01:01:40
Speaker
I wouldn't bring into my house, but.
01:01:43
Speaker
I, you know, again, I don't think every, uh, theme has to go into a house.
01:01:48
Speaker
I think that it needs to be available for many different locations out there.
01:01:53
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:53
Speaker
And I think this is the perfect game that, Hey, if I had a restaurant slash bar, I would say, buy that, put it in there, see what happens.
01:02:00
Speaker
Yep.
01:02:00
Speaker
I think we're even getting one here in Utah here soon.
01:02:03
Speaker
Uh, maybe it's even Dan Newman.
01:02:04
Speaker
I can't remember, but someone is buying this machine to put out on location.
01:02:08
Speaker
So we will be seeing it soon.
01:02:09
Speaker
I'll go play it.
01:02:10
Speaker
I'll go play it.
01:02:10
Speaker
It looks fun.
01:02:12
Speaker
I think, and well, and I really give props to Zach and Bill and Ken.
01:02:17
Speaker
I know that these streams aren't easy.
01:02:19
Speaker
I know that they're taking extra time to go grab it.
01:02:23
Speaker
I know that like Bill and Ken get an incentive out of it because they get to play the new machine and pretty much get to rent it without, they just, they gotta do work instead of paying for it.
01:02:32
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
01:02:33
Speaker
Yeah, but they're still paying for it.
01:02:37
Speaker
But I totally said, hey, fine, if you need a location tester, send it out to Utah.
01:02:42
Speaker
I'm your guy.
01:02:43
Speaker
But that's a little dismissive.
01:02:45
Speaker
Yes, they're still not making any money off it.
01:02:48
Speaker
There can be some benefits from it.
01:02:50
Speaker
I know the Buffalo guys have been able to get a JJP loaner.
01:02:55
Speaker
But still, that is nothing compared to what they could make by just working their job.
01:03:01
Speaker
Well, and now that Zach owns Flipping Out, he might get a little incentive.
01:03:07
Speaker
People might get turned on by buying it now.
01:03:10
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
01:03:11
Speaker
It's free advertising.
01:03:12
Speaker
And so, you know, it's a game that is being streamed.
01:03:16
Speaker
And I think it was really smart to invite other podcasters because we're talking about it.
01:03:21
Speaker
So I think that was a great move.
01:03:22
Speaker
And you know what?
01:03:24
Speaker
I thought it was nice because it was a good way of bouncing ideas off.
01:03:27
Speaker
But yes, I actually thought it looked a lot of fun.
01:03:30
Speaker
I agree.
01:03:31
Speaker
Well, moving on to our last topic of the evening, we got to go over.
01:03:36
Speaker
I set the poll for like two weeks because I figured we wouldn't be recording until next week, but because we had the interview come up, uh, we're going to record this week, probably skip next week and then go the week after.
01:03:46
Speaker
And the poll will definitely be done by then.
01:03:49
Speaker
But if you did not listen on episode number nine, we talked about music pins and a theme that we'd like to see become a pinball machine.
01:03:58
Speaker
Uh,
01:03:58
Speaker
And I was so adamant that the Aquabats would make a good theme integration into a pinball machine that we took it to a pole.
01:04:08
Speaker
And this is what my hope was before we start getting into this, because I know exactly what you're going to say.
01:04:13
Speaker
But before we get into this, I never said that like Stern should go out and buy this license.
01:04:17
Speaker
I didn't say that Jersey Jack should be buying this license.
01:04:20
Speaker
I think this license would integrate really well into pinball.
01:04:24
Speaker
There's some themes that you're just like, I don't see it happening.
01:04:28
Speaker
my thought process was that people would look at it and go, yes, it'd either integrate well or B, I've never heard of this, so I'm going to go check it out and kind of formulate my own opinion.
01:04:40
Speaker
I never thought it would be C of, I've never heard of this, so it would make a crappy theme.
01:04:46
Speaker
Okay.
01:04:47
Speaker
However, okay, what did the pinball community tell you, Josh?
01:04:52
Speaker
Okay.
01:04:53
Speaker
So the pinball community...
01:04:57
Speaker
I got 15% of yeses.
01:05:00
Speaker
It was really close on Facebook, but I decided to go on Pinside because I don't know why.
01:05:04
Speaker
It's Pinside.
01:05:06
Speaker
But Pinside, it was like 63 votes no and 6 votes yes.
01:05:12
Speaker
But here's the stupid thing to me.
01:05:15
Speaker
Hold on.
01:05:16
Speaker
This is what's stupid to me.
01:05:17
Speaker
Don't vote no because someone says, well, obviously this theme and this theme should be made before Aquabats.
01:05:26
Speaker
That wasn't the point of my conversation.
01:05:28
Speaker
The point of it was...
01:05:29
Speaker
it should integrate well into the machine.
01:05:31
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
01:05:33
Speaker
Okay.
01:05:34
Speaker
Okay.
01:05:35
Speaker
Here's the thing I don't understand though.
01:05:37
Speaker
There's you, your wife,
01:05:39
Speaker
your your son and your two new twins so that's five votes i don't know who the sixth one is no i'm going to do some shout outs right now because no there was plenty of votes i think even dr pin of mrs pin mrs pin pinball podcast right yes who's my spirit animal because he is one of my spirit animals because he's also an anesthesiologist who plays pinball
01:06:04
Speaker
See, he said it would make a great theme.
01:06:07
Speaker
He said he'd prefer there's a couple other ska bands he'd prefer over them, but he does think that it would integrate well.
01:06:12
Speaker
So Yancy Blaylock, thank you for voting yes.
01:06:16
Speaker
Greg Tripp, thank you.
01:06:18
Speaker
Matthew Montgomery, Lucas Wade Mueller, I really appreciate it.
01:06:23
Speaker
And to everybody else who sided with me, I'd like to thank you.
01:06:28
Speaker
The list is too long, so I can't put them all out, but...
01:06:32
Speaker
Well, and we don't know who the other ones are besides Dennis Creasel, which by the way, Dennis Creasel proved my point that he, he did, he'd never heard of the Aquabats.
01:06:41
Speaker
So he just assumed to be a bad theme.
01:06:43
Speaker
He even said, he's like, I've never heard of it.
01:06:45
Speaker
I'm not going to look him up.
01:06:46
Speaker
It's a terrible thing.
01:06:47
Speaker
Get over it.
01:06:47
Speaker
And I'm like, he was pretty brutal.
01:06:49
Speaker
Like he really was.
01:06:50
Speaker
And which is fine.
01:06:51
Speaker
That's, that's Dennis for you.
01:06:52
Speaker
But that's the thing though.
01:06:53
Speaker
I was asking for people to, if you've never heard of them, go check them out.
01:06:57
Speaker
Then formulate an opinion.
01:06:58
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
01:06:59
Speaker
Your public service announcement is noted.
01:07:01
Speaker
Thank you.
01:07:02
Speaker
I appreciate that.
01:07:03
Speaker
So I'm going to dismiss all your nose because a lot of them were done out of ignorance.
01:07:09
Speaker
Just so.
01:07:10
Speaker
Okay.
01:07:11
Speaker
Now that being said, so this is the poll question that I want to extend this week.
01:07:17
Speaker
Okay.
01:07:18
Speaker
And so at least when, when you want to finally give up on this ridiculous crusade that you have on getting the Aquabats pinball machine done.
01:07:26
Speaker
Um, what I want to know is, um,
01:07:30
Speaker
Of the pinball community, are you interested in going to a show?
01:07:36
Speaker
Okay.
01:07:36
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:37
Speaker
Because I think that there's so many people in the community.
01:07:42
Speaker
And I don't know if you want to do a follow-up question on it.
01:07:44
Speaker
It's like, well, are you interested in going to a show?
01:07:47
Speaker
Or what would you be interested in?
01:07:50
Speaker
Maybe there's so many different ways of it.
01:07:51
Speaker
But I just want a yes-no answer.
01:07:53
Speaker
If you play pinball, are you interested in going to a show?
01:07:57
Speaker
Okay, yeah.
01:07:59
Speaker
I'll throw it up there.
01:07:59
Speaker
We'll do it.
01:08:04
Speaker
I want to do one more thing.
01:08:05
Speaker
This is the realization I came to after we did this poll.
01:08:09
Speaker
There's a lot of old people in pinball.
01:08:13
Speaker
I thought a band that was around for almost 30 years would have a little weight under them.
01:08:19
Speaker
But no, there's a lot of people that have never even heard of these guys.
01:08:22
Speaker
So...
01:08:23
Speaker
Okay, so I'll admit, I'm kind of in the Dennis Creasel camp.
01:08:27
Speaker
So I thought the Aquabats were like a cover band.
01:08:32
Speaker
Are they not?
01:08:33
Speaker
No, they're not.
01:08:34
Speaker
No.
01:08:36
Speaker
Oh, see, I thought that was like one of the, you know, there are bands that go around that do like fun versions of old songs.
01:08:45
Speaker
So that's what I thought the Aquabats were.
01:08:48
Speaker
I'll send you some stuff.
01:08:49
Speaker
You know what?
01:08:49
Speaker
Next time they come to Salt Lake, which is going to be in September, I will buy you and your son some tickets and we will all go.
01:08:56
Speaker
Okay.
01:08:58
Speaker
I'm really curious now because I seriously thought this was just like a, it was a made up cover band, like Spinal Tap who plays like, you know, who plays like Duran Duran or a whole bunch of party music.
01:09:11
Speaker
That's what I thought it was.
01:09:12
Speaker
Well, then what's funny to me is someone mentioned on Pinstine, they're like, that's not the, isn't that the Wiggles?
01:09:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:19
Speaker
I'm like, what?
01:09:21
Speaker
No, it's not the Wiggles.
01:09:23
Speaker
Actually, the Wiggles would probably make a great pinball machine for three-year-olds to five-year-olds.
01:09:31
Speaker
Probably.
01:09:33
Speaker
My point being is themes right now that are being made
01:09:38
Speaker
are themes that were necessarily appealed to people that grew up, uh, sixties, seventies and eighties.
01:09:43
Speaker
Yes.
01:09:43
Speaker
It's all the, it's all the rock stars that are in their sixties now.
01:09:47
Speaker
Correct.
01:09:47
Speaker
And yeah, no, absolutely.
01:09:49
Speaker
All, all this stuff.
01:09:50
Speaker
And, and that's why they, they really need to start looking at different ways and maybe, uh, you know, Hey, go where the money is.
01:09:58
Speaker
And so, um, if they need to make, uh, you know, a four pinball machine, or if they need to make an iron Spider-Man pinball machine, or if there's all these other, um,
01:10:08
Speaker
like Marvel superhero things that they can make since they've run out of greasy-haired 60-year-old rock stars, go there.
01:10:18
Speaker
But I would also just love to see, I would love a good Mario pinball machine.
01:10:23
Speaker
I totally agree.
01:10:24
Speaker
I would love a good Zelda pinball machine.
01:10:26
Speaker
I'd love it.
01:10:27
Speaker
Like all these, uh, all these, uh, Nintendo, um, they're, they're ready for market.
01:10:33
Speaker
I mean, they obviously Nintendo does a really great job and they, they have licensed them before, uh,
01:10:38
Speaker
But who knows?
01:10:40
Speaker
Maybe it's such a niche market that there's not enough crossover.
01:10:44
Speaker
And since Stern only releases three to four games a year as opposed to 12 that they used to, maybe it's just not worth them taking a risk on it.
01:10:53
Speaker
But I actually think if you wanted to get into the home market, I think that you would sell a billion like Super Mario Brothers pinball machines.
01:11:01
Speaker
I agree.
01:11:02
Speaker
If done right, you could definitely get a lot out there.
01:11:05
Speaker
So my point being is...
01:11:07
Speaker
A lot of these people, so if you take 60s, 70s, 80s, that's people anywhere from their mid-range of 40s, 50s, and 60s.
01:11:14
Speaker
That's people that have, I don't want to say disposable income, but they're probably a little bit more set in life versus I'm 31 going on 32.
01:11:24
Speaker
I've got an early family.
01:11:25
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
01:11:26
Speaker
And so I bet in 10 years, because I really got thinking about this, are there bands from the 90s and the 2000s
01:11:33
Speaker
that anyone would agree upon that would make a good band, a good music theme.
01:11:39
Speaker
And the only ones I could really think of is Nirvana.
01:11:44
Speaker
You might get some yeses to that.
01:11:46
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think Nirvana would ever license.
01:11:49
Speaker
Maybe Foo Fighters would do it.
01:11:51
Speaker
Foo Fighters was another one I thought of.
01:11:54
Speaker
Linkin Park.
01:11:56
Speaker
And I know that's, that's the thing is a lot of people right now would agree with almost any eighties band would be a good pinball machine.
01:12:03
Speaker
And I don't, I don't discount that.
01:12:05
Speaker
I really think a lot of these eighties bands are doing really good as pinball machines, but I think in 10 years from now,
01:12:12
Speaker
If the hobby is going as strong as it is now, and we start getting more of those people into pinball in that age range with a disposable income, you will start hearing more of Nirvana, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine.
01:12:27
Speaker
I would even go as far as Slipknot or maybe some of those bigger bands from the late 90s, early 2000s.
01:12:38
Speaker
Maybe.
01:12:40
Speaker
I think that this is kind of a, the thing that's made pinball relevant again is the same thing that made bands irrelevant.
01:12:52
Speaker
And it's basically the rise of the internet, the online community.
01:12:58
Speaker
And so people didn't have these mega bands.
01:13:02
Speaker
You know, you would have these bands that once they made it big, they were big.
01:13:07
Speaker
But now, there's no barrier to entry like there used to be.
01:13:12
Speaker
And so you can have all these niche bands.
01:13:15
Speaker
And it's the same thing as having a niche hobby like pinball.
01:13:18
Speaker
You can find a community, even if it's a small community, just with the online interface.
01:13:25
Speaker
And I don't know if, because all those bands in the 90s and going into 2000, that's really the rise of the internet.
01:13:33
Speaker
And
01:13:33
Speaker
This is the rise of instant gratification.
01:13:36
Speaker
People can get exactly what they want.
01:13:38
Speaker
They're not, they're no longer pre-programmed into, well, this is what a record, uh, um, producers think is good.
01:13:45
Speaker
And so I, there will never be another Michael Jackson.
01:13:48
Speaker
There will never be another Madonna.
01:13:50
Speaker
There'll never, because there's so much delusion out now.
01:13:53
Speaker
Who knows?
01:13:54
Speaker
Maybe there are artists that are just as talented now, um,
01:13:57
Speaker
um, you know, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, whatever.
01:13:59
Speaker
Uh, but I just don't think that they have the same cultural impact.
01:14:04
Speaker
I mean, the, uh, the NBA finals are going on right now and it's on cable or not, not the final, excuse me, the playoffs, the finals are coming up, but like, I haven't watched a game yet because if I don't like what's on the channel, I can turn it to 900 other channels.
01:14:21
Speaker
When I was a kid, there were three channels.
01:14:23
Speaker
Um,
01:14:23
Speaker
There were three channels and then Fox was the outlier and then there was PBS.
01:14:30
Speaker
So unless you had cable TV, which had like 20 channels, but nothing was really on cable TV because it just wasn't as profitable.
01:14:38
Speaker
So the way that everything is so divided now for our attention, I don't think there's any of those mega bands out there.
01:14:46
Speaker
Well, and I think also, I don't know if you've ever seen this documentary, but there's a documentary about, it's called Before the Music Dies, and it's got industry vets.
01:14:55
Speaker
They talk a lot to like Dave Matthews from the Dave Matthews Band.
01:14:58
Speaker
They talk to a couple different people.
01:15:00
Speaker
And the point that they make, because like you even kind of talked about this in the last episode, in the 90s, Napster became big.
01:15:06
Speaker
You could just download music.
01:15:09
Speaker
Yeah, free.
01:15:09
Speaker
And so...
01:15:11
Speaker
Bands used to be like the Beatles.
01:15:13
Speaker
You grew up with the Beatles.
01:15:14
Speaker
They evolved as they became a band.
01:15:18
Speaker
Same with Aerosmith.
01:15:19
Speaker
Same with Journey.
01:15:22
Speaker
But the problem is now, when we had that turnover in the 90s, when music became free, artists started figuring out, we'll start recording our music for free, or not for free, sorry.
01:15:34
Speaker
We'll record it.
01:15:35
Speaker
We'll put it out there for free or very cheap, and then we'll make money off of the merchandise.
01:15:41
Speaker
Yeah.
01:15:41
Speaker
Or touring or yeah.
01:15:42
Speaker
Cause I went to, I went to Metallica concert and Metallica had like a, you know, there are these t-shirts that you can probably buy for 20 bucks, but they were selling them for 40.
01:15:54
Speaker
And then they gave away the recording of the music at, you know, you could download it.
01:16:00
Speaker
I never actually did on that one, but you could, you could record it.
01:16:04
Speaker
So it's, um,
01:16:07
Speaker
yeah i don't know i just think that there's uh there's so much competing for our attention that no one listens to the same album over and over again like they did when i was a kid well and honestly the record labels nowadays are just trying to find out one hit wonder yeah they're just trying to they will sign anyone that has a good voice to produce the one album with the couple hit songs and move on to the next one
01:16:33
Speaker
They're looking for a gimmick.
01:16:34
Speaker
They're looking for a gimmick.
01:16:35
Speaker
If you can get a one hit wonder, you are success.
01:16:38
Speaker
If you can get one album wonder, then you're great.
01:16:41
Speaker
If you have anybody who has more than one album, you are in legendary status.
01:16:46
Speaker
So if you like any, any band who has three good albums, you are in really rare form and it just doesn't, it doesn't happen anymore.
01:16:55
Speaker
Bands used to put out 10, 12 albums in their career.
01:17:00
Speaker
Bands now three, three, maybe four.
01:17:03
Speaker
And then they break up and they usually take four years between them.
01:17:06
Speaker
So.
01:17:07
Speaker
Well, and the money's not there and it's not worth their time to be on the road.
01:17:10
Speaker
Yeah.
01:17:10
Speaker
Well, I don't know.
01:17:12
Speaker
And that's why, you know, when, when Marty was here from head to head,
01:17:16
Speaker
And we talked about it too.
01:17:17
Speaker
I just went to the Muse show and Muse is one of those rare exceptions that the show was amazing.
01:17:24
Speaker
And it made me want to go back and look at all their old catalog, but they're still an old band.
01:17:29
Speaker
I mean, really they're my age.
01:17:31
Speaker
They're, they're in their forties and that is an old band.
01:17:35
Speaker
I mean, how most, most bands, at least in the eighties, they were early twenties.
01:17:42
Speaker
I agree.
01:17:43
Speaker
It just doesn't happen anymore.
01:17:45
Speaker
So let's wrap this up.
01:17:46
Speaker
I guess we kind of fell away from pinball there for a second, but music's one of my passions, so I could talk about this for hours.
01:17:52
Speaker
Before we go, though, just one more quick shout out.
01:17:56
Speaker
I know we talked about three different people for our Loser Kid, our honorable official Loser Kids.
01:18:02
Speaker
I want to add two more to that list.
01:18:04
Speaker
We've talked about them before on this podcast.
01:18:06
Speaker
Actually, sorry, three.
01:18:07
Speaker
Three.
01:18:10
Speaker
The one, the pair is Martin Robbins and Ryan Kaz from the head to head.
01:18:15
Speaker
If it wasn't for them, we would have not taken the leap to keep this going or to even start this.
01:18:20
Speaker
We kind of talked about this on their episode 80, 188.
01:18:22
Speaker
Or was it 88?
01:18:26
Speaker
88, 88.
01:18:27
Speaker
So go check that out.
01:18:28
Speaker
If, uh, if you want to do that.
01:18:30
Speaker
And then the other person, Zach many from straight down the middle this weekend, pinball flipping out pinball, the list goes on and on.
01:18:37
Speaker
He was one of the other ones that convinced us to keep going with it as well and to start it up.
01:18:41
Speaker
And so, uh, you both are official loser kids in our books.
01:18:45
Speaker
So, and if you are at Rocky mountain pinball showcase this weekend, um, come and hit me up.
01:18:50
Speaker
I'll be walking around.
01:18:51
Speaker
Uh, we don't have t-shirts or anything like that, but, uh,
01:18:56
Speaker
send a message to Josh and he'll get it to me.
01:18:57
Speaker
We'll figure out how to, how to hook up.
01:18:59
Speaker
But, uh, um, Jeff and I will be doing Jeff Rivera from the pinball podcast.
01:19:05
Speaker
Uh, he and I will be doing something.
01:19:07
Speaker
Uh, I don't know what it is.
Casual Conclusion and Farewells
01:19:09
Speaker
We haven't, uh, um, decided on it with Jeff yet, but, uh, come and say hi.
01:19:14
Speaker
I love to meet people.
01:19:15
Speaker
Agreed, man.
01:19:16
Speaker
Well, I got to go feed some babies.
01:19:18
Speaker
I'm getting the, uh, the cries I can hear him from upstairs.
01:19:20
Speaker
So.
01:19:21
Speaker
There you go.
01:19:22
Speaker
Well, have fun and go get some sleep.
01:19:24
Speaker
Rule of a newborn is you sleep when they sleep.
01:19:27
Speaker
So with twins, good luck.
01:19:28
Speaker
Thank you.
01:19:29
Speaker
I appreciate it.
01:19:29
Speaker
All right.
01:19:32
Speaker
Later, man.
01:19:32
Speaker
See ya.