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Triple Drain Pinball Podcast Episode 71 - Beaches, Beetlejuice and Bulbasaur!!
1.3k Plays18 days ago
Hosts: Joel Engelberth, Tom Graf and Travis Murie
We are back after over a month off (sorry guys!) and we’ve played a ton of pinball. Travis and Joel discuss Pinball at the Beach as well as their first experiences with Spooky Pinball’s Beetlejuice. Tom now owns a DUNE and he shared his current love of it. Travis and Tom have both played Pokemon by Stern Pinball and they had lots to say about that. We also chatted about Predator pinball, and Foo Fighters, and KISS and Winchester and a few others. We actually shoved a ton into this “shorter” episode and would have gone longer but Travis is a bum and had to work. Sorry for the delay and please enjoy!
Thanks again for all the support everyone:)
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Travis' stuff: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePinballCompany
Tom's stuff: https://www.youtube.com/@Foxcitiespinball
Joel's stuff: https://www.youtube.com/@FlipNOutPinball
Shoutout to Jackson Gee and his incredible artwork. jacksongee.com
Shoutout to Brad Johanson and his company Alter Creative Media for his intro video. Altercreativemedia.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Humor
00:00:04
Speaker
We're three guys who like to talk and ball. So we came up with clap, our name. We're Joel and Travis Donovan, talk and ball. And we call ourselves Triple Drink, Triple Drink, Triple Drink.
00:00:17
Speaker
We're Triple Triple Drink.
00:00:23
Speaker
We are here. We are here. We did not retire. We did not quit. We, uh, I don't know. We excuse insert excuse here. That's why we didn't, that's why we didn't record in January. He was holding out for more money. he is such a freaking diva behind the scenes. So I had to take him on a sailboat and that convinced him. He's like, Oh, okay.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yep. That was it. often watching and he wants to, uh, he wants to podcast more now. I would love to blame.
Recording Plans and Delays
00:00:49
Speaker
Honestly, okay. I thought he was going to blame me. No, we recorded in December, and then we recorded with Loser Kids in December as well, which was great. And then early January, we're like, let's wait. you know There should be a reveal here soon. Let's wait. And and obviously the Pokemon reveal that just got keep pushback, pushback, pushback. And then people got busy, and then we're like, oh, we'll go to Pinball at the Beach. We'll record after that.
00:01:08
Speaker
And whatever, long story short, we're here now, but I do. Here's the true story. joel is Joel was on a darkness retreat for like a couple months. Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, he's like, it's like guys, I don't have time for this anymore. I'm going to take a few months off. And then Wednesday comes and he's like streaming. Complete isolation. That's what it was. Yeah, I really just needed to focus in. Rehab. You need to lock in. Is that what it was?
Fan Interactions and Community Support
00:01:34
Speaker
That's what it was. I was too distracted. No, I just, I appreciate ah in the most loving way, the people that came up to us at pinball at the beach going, where is triple drain? Where's, ah you know, I think one of the guys, was it Lee? Is that his name? He was, he was like, ah like, look, I go to my pinball browser. or I go to my podcast browser. Nothing, nothing. And I'm like, I know, I know, I know, I know. But we're here now. Oh, I legit, I decided to keep count. I was asked no less than 22 times.
00:01:59
Speaker
It was in a three day time span. I'm like, I know, I know. I'm like, guys, we're just, we're, you know, two idiots and me, you know? it's just like, I don't know.
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah. i'm just ki tom quote I'm just kidding. Tom's lovely. Oh, we've had all kinds of famous quotes lately. What, what'd you say the other day? eight Hey, pal. Is that what it is? Well, yeah, there's Hey, pal. There's eight spots shotted. That's what it was. Spots shotted.
00:02:26
Speaker
i said it twice. Spots shotted. i said it twice on the Foo Fighters tutorial. Shout out to Ray Day and pointing out all the things I missed on that tutorial. uh apparently his combo lights were not as obvious as i thought they were are his as as obvious as he thinks they are you know i'm just here we go we're gonna know just really we're gonna really five when ray sends me a facebook message going watching the tutorial now and then the line oh this is painful and i'm like oh ray i'm trying to i tried as best i can did you did you see ray at stern travis
00:03:00
Speaker
I did not. I texted him. He's like, oh, he's like, yeah, i'm a couple of miles away. I'm like, oh, okay. Well, I too am a couple of miles away. And then we stopped talking each other. That's smart. yeah I do want to give a shout out to Martin. There was a guy named Martin at Pinball at the Beach that was wearing a triple drain shirt. It always makes me so happy when I see a triple drain shirt. um And yeah, he's from, what was it? It was either Sweden or Switzerland. One of those. I know those are very different Sweden, I believe. Those are very different countries, but the fact that he flew all the way over and wore the shirt, awesome. So it was great talking to him and meeting him. So big shout out there. but And then, Joel, then I'll let you go on. i I have to also give a shout out to Mike and Teddy from Hangar Pinball, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yep.
00:03:41
Speaker
They're awesome. they They helped out with the cell boat, although there was somebody else involved. I don't i don't know they want to be named dropped, but they helped out cell boat. And then um they did, what was it, karaoke?
00:03:53
Speaker
yeah Saturday night. So they head up the karaoke and all that. And unfortunately, Joel and I did not get to sing, Tom, because we accidentally wandered over to the bar and I had a margarita. or Travis put in work. Travis put in work with, ah there was a lot of old fashions that he was i was ever consuming. It was great. It was a great time. Shout out to Mike. Mike admitted more than once that I think he falls asleep listening to this podcast. So um good night, Mike.
00:04:20
Speaker
Tuck in. I hope you're warm. hope you're cozy. ah Get some good rest. You're going to have a good day tomorrow, but just turn your brain off and go to bed. Okay. always Always a solid comment. You know, yeah Tom, have you noticed that? We take that as a, as a positive. Well, there's I've had so many men come up to me and say, or even like wives, my husband falls asleep to your guys' voices.
00:04:46
Speaker
And I'm like like, well, you should see how much they pay for Tom's OnlyFans. I don't out them, though. The soothing sounds of triple drain.
Pokemon and Pinball Discussion
00:04:55
Speaker
Well, so I just, real quick, I know I'm not trying to bury the lead here, but we're going to talk about Pokemon. We're absolutely going to talk about Pokemon. Travis is a Pokemon expert. It says it right on the screen. Oh, my God. Which you're not going to see. So I've gone from, I know we'll talk about this a little bit later. I've gone from understanding like 5% of it, just playing Pokemon Go, right? Because Monica makes me. And then I find out Monica is like a huge Pokemon fan. And then I find out I've been pronouncing it wrong this entire time. It's Pokemon. But we talked about this yesterday. So I'll go with Pokemon. I think it's Pokemon. Well, you can go Pokemon, Pokemon, Pokemon. Right. Right.
00:05:34
Speaker
It's one of those. Yeah, it's one of those. so It's one of those. Yeah, I found out Monica is like a huge fan, and now she's like, okay, like we go from we're going to save money and really lock down this quarter one to, hey, is there going to be a new pinball machine when I get back home from work? And i'm like,
00:05:50
Speaker
yeah Yeah. The kids will talk to you again. Your your daughters will love it. Maybe my wife will talk to me again as long as I have a Pokemon pinball machine. i She was at Pinball's Beach and she was great. so Yeah, she's awesome. Monica's awesome. She doesn't listen to us. She admitted she doesn't listen to the show, but she's great.
00:06:06
Speaker
She hears me talk enough. She doesn't need to listen to me. True, true, true. Pokemon's pretty great. It came out when I was in fifth grade. um My brother had Pokemon Blue. i had Pokemon Red. We both beat those games. And I remember distinctly Mrs. Carr's class. Shout out to Miss Carr who took away – actually, no shout out to you because she took away my instruction manual. I had my Game Boy Red Pokemon instruction manual. Cold-hearted.
00:06:30
Speaker
hidden behind my history book and i was reading the instruction manual and she noticed and she took it so i don't know where you're at mrs car but i hope you don't have a good day because i still remember mrs car i salute you that is a good move joel was not paying attention in class and wasting your time I'm just glad this didn't happen to Jared because if we would have been like, hey, this happened to Jared, there would have been like 50 people finding Ms. Carr like somewhere. yeah She would have been dogged within a day. Took away my Pokemon manual.
00:07:03
Speaker
Anyways, ah we're going to talk about Pokemon, but I do want to wrap up real real quick.
Pinball at the Beach Event
00:07:08
Speaker
Pinball at the Beach was awesome. Pinball at the Beach is a fantastic show. The summary of Pinball at the Beach is I've always done Pinball Expo in Chicago and TPF, both fantastic shows. And so if you're wondering, should I go to Pinball at the Beach?
00:07:21
Speaker
If your goal is to play as much pinball as possible, then TPF or Expo are probably the better options. If your goal is to meet as many industry people as possible, probably go to Pinball Expo. It's in Chicago. That's where everybody is.
00:07:34
Speaker
But if your goal is to have fun, like just a fun time, it's so much more social. it's ah They only sell 1,000 tickets. They didn't sell out. So it's it's a smaller venue. It's more intimate, but yet it's not crowded. The longest line all all day is like maybe three people deep.
00:07:51
Speaker
but most games don't even have a line you can just walk up and play and and what's awesome is you can just play pinball for two three hours and then you can step out of the tent or the pavilion and you're at the beach and there's amazing food all within walking distance multiple restaurants multiple bars it's just such a enjoyable hangout and i brought my wife this year and she is not a pinball person and she had a blast So if you've ever thought about bringing kids or you've ever thought about bringing a significant other to a pinball event, this is the one to bring them to because worst case, they play pinball for an hour and then they go to the pool or they go to the beach or they go to the bar. And that's great. And that's the thing that you don't really have that type option at a TPF or an expo. So had an amazing time. It was awesome. To sell room with Neil McRae, that's all. Well, yeah. Now, the real question is, is Tom Graff going to show up next year? You never say never. Because the autograph session was only two and half hours. But if you show up, holy shit, like eight hours at least. I don't know. Kerry Hardy's going to have to sit on the sidelines Tom Graff shows up. I'm just saying. It was awesome. And really, loved everybody that said hi in the conversations we were able to have and just be able to play and just hang out. And it was just it was a really good time.
00:09:12
Speaker
But really, I mean, at the end, my wife genuinely had a great time. And I asked her, I said, what are the chances that we will come back next year? Because was just my wife and I that went. And her answer was 65%. 65% chance. Wow.
00:09:24
Speaker
There you go. yeah That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That's better than 64%. Sure is. Sure is. um So Pinball at the Beach was awesome. um Yeah, really, really good time. ah other Tom, what's the percentage you show Percentages, 64%.
00:09:41
Speaker
60, 60, 68. come to the dark side. See, Tom's going to N-Disc. He wants to play for World Championship. See, i that's the difference, Joel. I chose Disney World and Sailboats and Dolphin Watching and...
00:09:56
Speaker
hanging out with you over you know a pinball tournament. Having fun at a pinball show or getting my butt kicked at a pinball tournament. I choose get my butt kicked. Travis, honest question here.
00:10:10
Speaker
Do you think you drink more drinks? then you played games of pinball. Oh yeah, 100%. But here's the thing though. i was never I was never drunk. no like that The key is, and I figured this out, and this might be like oh it is well this might be the Native American in me too. So for those scoring at home, I'm actually a third sixth, whatever. Whatever 66% is, two-thirds Native American. Math, like I said, lower than It is early. okay i bet I've been having to deal with therapy. i know anyway It's been a long week for you. the point being is I realize certain alcohol will go through my system faster. It's not a stereotype. It's literally a biological fact. And I've had to live with this biological fact after celebrating my 21st birthday 22 times. So knowing this, I space it out. I make sure I get a good breakfast in the morning. i don't do mimosas, at least at pinball. If I'm in Vegas, okay, it's mimosa time. But that's near here nor there. But I make sure to space it out properly. And yeah, we just go from there. So it's like, it's just fun, right, Joel? You go... You go to the bar, you have a margarita, you go you know talk to some people, you might see a pinball designer or two or somebody in the industry, you're like, hey, we need to get a drink. And then you go get a drink. And do you talk about pinball at all? No, you don't. And that's what's cool about it. You talk about anything else but pinball. So it's kind of like...
00:11:36
Speaker
that's great yeah because you you forget these people that are in this industry they have lives outside of pinball they have families they have other hobbies they you know so that's like that's truthfully the cool part and then of course if you do want to talk pinball you go ahead and do that but plenty of people to talk pinball coming back around to it joel yes i drink more drinks than pinball game i might have played maybe 11 pinball games this year like total Yeah. games And probably like five of those or four of those are Beetlejuice and two of those were Winchester. Yep. I was similar boat. so Similar boat ah with the games. i I don't drink a ton and I, so you can actually go to, bus you can, but you can, wow. You can go to pinball at the beach without drinking a ton. Like if that's not, so don't, don't that be a turnoff. No, that no, no. It's a great time. yeah You're still allowed in the bar. You know, you they have, I saw plenty of kids getting virgin daiquiris all weekend, Tom, and they looked fine. I mean, a couple of it was questionable, but still, i you know, they were they were good. It was fine. Okay.
00:12:36
Speaker
So, ah at what I will say is, at Pinball to Beach, multiple games on Beetlejuice. I had a chance to play a few games on Evil Dead. Still a great game. Played some Dune. Still a great game.
00:12:49
Speaker
Winchester. Still a great game. Seeing Keith Elwin play Winchester for the first time was a pretty amazing experience. When you see somebody like really good at Pinball, just step up to a game for the first time and just start...
00:13:02
Speaker
hitting shots like it's nothing it just it's a gut punch but at the same time it's a magical thing to experience like it's really cool to see somebody at that level play a game that well uh and then also played harry potter played harry potter a bunch uh there was a bunch of harry potter games there and what a great game like really what a great game i will say my wife and i both had an entire game where neither of us started a lesson. So the scoop is still hard to hit, and that's all I got to say about that.
Beetlejuice Pinball Experience
00:13:31
Speaker
Is your lifestyle mad you for not having a dune?
00:13:35
Speaker
Well, okay. I don't know. Maybe this isn't complete. I'm getting a dune. Dune is coming. Dune is coming. I told Zach, I was like, finally, I need to commit to this. Sign me up for dune.
00:13:46
Speaker
So I'm in the final, the the initial, whatever, the the late run, the March run. So we are getting a dune. And that was really funny um introducing my wife to people. And so many people were like, so how do you like dune? You know, like they, they know Nicole likes dune and she would light up every time because she likes dune. So, so what's leaving?
00:14:05
Speaker
Nothing. Well, Godzilla is going to go to my parents. So Godzilla, I'm going to give them a game that they can blow up and have a great time. So Godzilla is going to my parents and Dune will be right there. Um, let's talk about Beetlejuice real quick. Beetlejuice. Travis and I both had multiple games on Beetlejuice. I'm going to let you talk first, Travis. Um, what were your initial impressions?
00:14:25
Speaker
What are your thoughts on Beetlejuice? So it's an interesting thing. Um, The first game I played, we played one ball and we had to walk away. And it wasn't because the game was bad. It was just a super long player. The way that they had it set up, we tried to play a three-player game. I think it was... I had a player you mentioned earlier that on Winchester.
00:14:46
Speaker
And he played freaking forever. And then... That guy. Yeah. Then Monica came up and she played for like... Five minutes at least. She played for a little while. And then I came up and I played for a while. And then I just realized, okay, this this game is not going to drain. And I think it's mainly because if you looked at every game, Joel, it's like the left outlane post.
00:15:06
Speaker
They had it nearly all the way down, I think. so And then there there was like some type of right gate, Tom, like on the outlane that just stayed up. The whole entire time. So it was near impossible to lose a ball. like If you had a pulse, you were going to play forever. like The gate was similar to the gate on Harry Potter. The protecto, patrono. But it was go always up.
00:15:27
Speaker
It was always up. yeah So if that ball went out the outlane, Doesn't matter. That game yes i was coming back. Yeah, it was. You could not drain out the right side. Tom, it was like you were going bowling with like the safety bumpers up or the child bumpers up the whole time. Like you had the training wheels on. So, you know, i get why to do that. but at the same time, for me personally, I don't know about for Joel, but for me personally, it's hard to get a tell on like how a game is going to play if it has like endless ball saving has all that. But, you know, I will say, I think the game is a real looker. The art, freaking fantastic. It might be one of, like, the top five art packages I've seen in pinball. So if people are into that, it'll be excellent. It'll be great.
00:16:08
Speaker
If you can, if you have one on order, ah I mean, as as much as the art pops... Sell it now. I think if you if you could upgrade to the butter cabinet, I think you'd like that. I mean, the art pops so much. So I have no idea that... I assume the butter cabinet would even just... Yeah. leather And I, and I know it's an overused term. Like, ah you know, we talked about that before, like color pops and stuff like that. And, you know, I just, I take my C I got in, in art back in high school. So I know art obviously, but it just, it just, it looks great. no math You don't know math. No, I don't know math. No, that's, that's for a wife. I got, I got to see a in math also, Joel. Okay. So, but, you know, the game looked fantastic um in terms of how it played. You know, it's it's very tough. And I'll say this across the board for any game, any manufacturer that's at a show. It's so incredibly tough to get games set up properly and keep them.
00:17:02
Speaker
playing proper all weekend long when they're being played nonstop. So I'm mindful of that. It's not like I'm setting up in a controlled environment where I'm the only one. I can hear the sounds. It's perfectly level. So, you know, I always give grace for that. And I try to look at it from the point of view of how will this game shoot based on my understanding of geometry. And I have to pull that knowledge from previous eras, previous games played. So that's kind of where I'm at on it.
00:17:28
Speaker
uh know starting out with the good i did like the left orbit when it worked like that left orbit when it went all the way around and looped back i thought that was a cool shot and when i say when it worked if the game was you know leading to the right that shot was not going to work if it's too high of a pitch it just didn't have enough power to go up there sometime so again i played four different models so your mileage may vary just on setup but When it cleared it, it was pretty cool. And I did like how Joel, the upper flipper, you could hold it up yeah and you actually hit the backside of the upper flipper when you go through the left orbit and then it feeds back down to the scoop. I think that's a pretty cool shot and a cool take on, you know, a classic, like let's have an upper flipper and kind of like Star Trek or like Ninja, whatever, you know, to where you hit it from behind or James Bond. So that was a little bit different. It's in a different spot.
00:18:17
Speaker
Other than that, one thing that stood out to me that I liked a lot more that I didn't think I would was the camera targets, the two stand-up targets. And I think it's just In the middle, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, I will freely admit I'm not a fan of a bunch of stand-ups in the middle. So, like, that doesn't resonate with me with the Beetlejuice layout. But I can say the way that they implement it, those two targets with the camera and kind of everything going out on the play field, but that one target flashing and you knowing that you need to hit it,
00:18:45
Speaker
It was pretty clear on that point what you're supposed to do. And I think it actually led to a multibull I know if I spammed it enough. There's a hurry up associated with it Yeah, it felt like things were happening. so But, you know, that's that's the things I really liked. um You know, ramps are fine, orbits fine.
00:19:03
Speaker
the The spinner shot into the scoop, that I had a little bit harder time finding that shot. But it was cool when you could hit it. You know, I'm talking about the spinner that was connected to the weapon. Yeah. Yep. Yep. I mean, it was just, that was a tougher, tougher shot for me. And, you know, the, the sandworm was the one thing I was really curious about because I was thinking it was going to do a bunch of stuff.
00:19:24
Speaker
And I just, I think if I had the one critique over it that I wish since that's the main mech to the game, that it was available closer to the start button because it was taken four, five, six, seven hits sometimes to the targets. Well,
00:19:38
Speaker
Maybe you don't know. So the way that works is there's three targets. There's a main target. No, I'm familiar with how it works. But you have to hit it. It's a hurry up. Like you have to hit all three in a short period. I understand that, which relies on skill of a player to unlock something that's your main mech. I think that should be so much closer to the start button for somebody. Like have it be open, let people hit it, and then you go to that second level.
00:20:04
Speaker
Oh, so you're saying yeah start with it open. a hundred percent to hit it once. Yeah. Because what you just described, you're gating your best mech behind doing a bunch of other stuff interesting that people may not do because the game was set up super easy and it was still taking a while to get to that point.
00:20:20
Speaker
I mean, I got i got to it. My wife got to it. But I hear what you're saying. I mean, ah I see what you're saying, though. Yeah, that's like my one critique. That's just my one critique. But, I mean, overall, i I don't know. The sandworm, I was interested to see how, like, the lower play field would do.
00:20:35
Speaker
I guess below it. I don't know if you'd call it that. i'm yeah I'm not even sure. But yeah I found myself not generally noticing anything happening with that. And I don't know if that's because of just how it is or if there's just not code with that or...
00:20:49
Speaker
I don't know. My expectations were a little bit different than what I saw there. But overall, I mean, the sandworm eats the ball. So if you're into that, like that happens. But generally, I just, I don't know, the sandworm itself, I thought the mech was going to do a lot more than what it did early on. And I kind of, I even looked over at Joel and I said, you know what? i I like the D&D dragon more because I was thinking maybe it could be something where you're hitting it a lot and more things are happening.
00:21:17
Speaker
But oh would the ja the way the jaw reacts on the D&D dragon. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I just didn't notice it. Like like I said, I need to play it more. was at a show. Like I'm not going to write it off or anything like that. That's just like my first impression. So don't fire off all your all your arrows at me yet. Send them to Joel.
00:21:33
Speaker
Yeah. Triple drain at gmail.com. I mean, overall, I kept playing it. Other people were playing yeah although it. was There was lines the whole time. Oh, yeah. um Yeah. 100%. my that's a great first take my, I would say, um, so on the, on the sandworm mech, what I like about it was, um, I mean, once I understood that they bug was initially like, Oh yeah, if it was just hit the three targets, like it would be the easiest mech in the world, but maybe they do that for the first multi-ball and then they have the hurry up aspect for every multiple after that. What I did like is I think they already have three multi-balls plug programmed in. So there is variety there. So every time I played, I was getting different multi-balls. One of them, uh, uh once it starts the the dragon the worm is up and then you had to smash the the action button a bunch and um it would slowly lower it down and then it would bring it down and then you'd have chances to hit it and so it's like that was a cool integration of the action button there was another one i think it was called gut punch where you had to it was up and you had to hit below those below targets and once you hit enough of those you know like you're hitting it in the gut it would come down and then you can see that's That's the one I couldn't really tell what was happening. That's the one I had issues well maybe with. Well, maybe with audio or something that would be it could be more obvious what's going That's what I think, too. But I do like that, that it's that if you're going to have that much of a mech, give us variety, especially if it's not like, oh, yeah, the first one's always this, and then the second one's always this. No, it's like, I think it's random or... or whatever it is. But, um and then there was a third one. I don't remember the exact rules of that.
00:22:59
Speaker
What I do say that the mech itself moves a lot. Like there is a lot of articulation with it. um I did get to the day mode, the day mode, which was shown on the trailer ah where all the different, you have to hit the different mechs to get them to either start dancing or stop dancing. Which I will say, Joel and and Tom, i I'll tell you this too. I forgot to mention this on mine. So sorry for interrupting, but that is probably one of the coolest modes. It's awesome. I've seen in pinball. Like it's, it's, it, it, it can't work. Yeah. It can't work for competition at all. And you may get bored of it if you play it like 30 times, but if you play it the first few times and you give it yeah time in between, it's, it's hilarious. Like, yeah, that mode was, that was awesome.
00:23:40
Speaker
That's what stood out to me was I think they've really taken their, their, they're trying to make every mode a unique moment or a unique experience. like that, you know, just that multi-ball, the fact that you're smashing the the action button um to get that to come down. Or I played the Beetlejuice modes. There are white arrows. ah So by hitting an arrow, you get a Beetlejuice, you have to get three. um And then you can start Beetlejuice mode.
00:24:03
Speaker
But like one of those, there's this as-seen-on-TV mode. And to play that mode, you're supposed to hold the action button down. So it's a one-handed mode. What I don't understand is if you can beat the mode without doing it.
00:24:14
Speaker
Because I watched a lot of people do that, and almost everybody drained. as you know eventually they're draining with a one-handed mode play but i'm curious if that's a you know you can you get more points if you do it one-handed or or you have to finish the mode one-handed or so i don't know my guess is the way i understood it because i watched um watch somebody that will be not named but they know who they are they put their knee up on the action button and apparently it just kept all like all the shots open and it looked like that the score stays right oh yeah There's a lot points, but me, I'm not that flexible. So I just trapped up and timed it out. Cause I'm like, I, okay, I don't want to hold down.
00:24:50
Speaker
yeah mean I wanted to go to something else. Like it was fun, but he wanted to drink. Leave him mal alone. Thank you, Tom graph. Just every mode or everything I experienced. I mean, the day mode is extremely amazing. Like, no, I mean, it's a moment. It's really cool. The left orbit I struggled with. um Now, I only played two different copies. um So I'm very curious when I go to stream it. I mean, I'll find it. I mean, I know I'll find that shot eventually.
00:25:16
Speaker
But I also have the habit of when it's a harder shot, I don't know why I'm i'm pushing the button harder. You know, like I just got to like push it like I'm going to end now there. And the problem is when I do that, then I leave the flipper up. So the problem is you're using the right flipper to hit the left orbit. But like Travis said, if you leave the right flipper up, it just hits the bottom of the upper flipper and goes into the scoop. It doesn't go around the couch. So I'm like I would hit the shot, but I'd be celebrating and still holding the flipper up like an idiot.
00:25:43
Speaker
And then it's back down. So the idea of locking a ball on the couch, you have to shoot the ball ah in this upper loop enough to then be able to. I never locked a ball on the couch because I couldn't. On the right hand side, right? Yeah, on the right hand side. so I saw people do it. It's a very cool mech. I mean, that's that's the one thing. there's There are mechs galore in this game.
00:25:59
Speaker
um The theme integration is top tier. I mean, it's really good. Beautiful game. The pulsing lights. I know that's something on on the initial stream. The colorful pulsing lights were really jarring to watch it. It's not as jarring in person. It's definitely noticeable, but it's not nearly as jarring in person. False, Tom.
00:26:19
Speaker
Do you think it's super jarring? I thought it was more towards JJP than it is Stern, personally. I mean, it's a lot light show. But I have old sensitive eyeballs, too, so that could be it. It's probably a me problem. Yeah, it's a me Yeah, well, I did mention it's a bug and they did say they were going to adjust like um they were going to give the ability to adjust, you know, the brightness, obviously, like how much of a difference or I told him, I said, just from a streaming standpoint, if you have an option to turn it off or like a consistent. yeah So it was too much for you, Joel.
00:26:49
Speaker
Well, I'm saying I told him bug and you tattletail didn't you? He's thinking of his cameras. Exactly. i said from a streaming standpoint and he he acknowledges he goes he knows that on camera it is it is way more drastic on camera than it is in person. So he goes from a streaming standpoint, he understands. So I'm curious if they'll implement that. um not Not necessarily assuming everybody's going to turn it on, but just to have that ability would be nice. But it was, I mean, my overall experience with Beetlejuice was I'm excited to play this game more. I'm excited to dive into these modes more.
00:27:21
Speaker
And I do think if you're in on an order of a Beetlejuice, it's, I mean, i think you're going to love it. And I i i would... already placed i think this game's right up there with that evil dead type mech experience uh mode experience so evil dead is is doing incredibly well and i i've no doubt that beetlejuice is going to be right there beside it um i mean overall it's a great time to be a pinball fan i mean really when you look at it you have excellent machines coming out from oh yeah pretty much everybody i mean you have I mean, just just look at what we had a chance to play, right? You had Evil Dead. You had Winchester. You had Harry Potter.
00:27:57
Speaker
And, of course, you know, Stern's going to come out with multiple games a year, so you have so many at-bats to play. So many games. Or games that are going great. so Tom, are you getting a Beetlejuice? Yes.
00:28:08
Speaker
You are? Oh, didn't know that. Oh, yeah. I was wondering. Ooh, getting that butter. are you Now, are you going to turn the lights down, are you just going to crank that shit up? don't What are you going to I got to see it first.
00:28:20
Speaker
Oh, okay. Well, that's fair. I mean, that's a rational take. Joel and I are just, you know, we're on both sides of the fence on this one. Tom has the definitive view of, you know, the right way to do things. So I'll be really curious to hear what the right answer there. Tom is living his best life. I have no idea what you guys are talking about for the last time. What a freaking beauty. Hey, you know what, Tom? this I know this is early. This is early, Tom, but happy birthday. Oh, thank you. Tomorrow's his birthday.
00:28:45
Speaker
Yeah. So when everybody, uh, Travis has wished me a happy birthday every day this week. yeah All you have to remember is comem Tom's birthday is Valentine's day. So when you're celebrating, I've done that for you. When you're with your loved one, when you're with your loved one, think of Tom. Yep. That's what it matters. When you're with your loved one, think of Tom. Um,
00:29:03
Speaker
So Beetlejuice is great. Good on you ah for getting one. I think it was it was interesting talking to people there um at Pinball at the Beach. Did you get one? Yes. Joel, can we ask Tom, why did you get a Beetlejuice?
00:29:15
Speaker
ah No, because we're not going to ask him that. No. Okay. We not have time. yeah I'm curious. Tom, why? what Yeah. We haven't had this conversation. You pulled the trigger before you even saw it, I think.
00:29:26
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, i I said I was interested, but, you know, once i once I saw it, I was like, this looks really cool. So yeah I didn't want to miss out.
00:29:38
Speaker
yeah Did Franchi help push you over the over the edge? You saw the art. You were like, yes. Definitely the art on that game is spectacular. And it was on Evil Dead, too. I mean, I think Evil Dead had something to do with it because I didn't want to get Evil Dead just because of, like, the horror theme.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah. ah And Beetlejuice is a little different. Uh, but, uh, like when I play evil dad, I'm like, wow, this is fun. Like there's a lot of mechs in it.
00:30:09
Speaker
know, I think you're going to like a lot. Yeah. The topper is really cool in person. The spooky speak they had off. So we did not get to experience any sort of spooky speak, which made sense. I mean, you're, it's super loud in there. There's no, I think the, Well, the best ringing endorsement I can give to Beetlejuice is I talked to multiple people that were having debates over what's better. Beetlejuice or Evil Dead. And if you know how people reacted to Evil Dead. Fist fights broke out. Well, yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, I saw a couple of guys with a couple of beers. I mean, they were having a heated discussion about I'm like, okay, I i have to sit down. I have to to this. don't what you're talking about. They made some great points and that was one of the points that they made. So I was like, oh yeah, that's fair game. It's
Winchester and Dune Pinball Reviews
00:30:48
Speaker
great. But the point being is people aren't writing it off immediately. If you're comparing it to something that was already considered a banger from your company and it's already getting that direct comparison yeah and it's getting that debate back and forth, then your game's in a good spot.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um Another game that's in a great spot, Winchester. Winchester had a very long line. um And it was really cool ah that, you know, for a lot of people, this was their first opportunity to play the game. And so there were people coming back and just playing it and playing and playing it. And it was similar. Like I mentioned, you know, you'd ask somebody, it's like,
00:31:21
Speaker
oh well, what game are you getting? They're like, I got lucky. I got in on Winchester. I got lucky. I got in on Beetlejuice. So it's like these people that hit the lottery on, on, on getting lucky to get some of these games. But, but Winchester, I mean, I heard nothing but positive reviews from people that, that had a chance to play it for the first time.
00:31:37
Speaker
um And yeah, I obviously played it some more. and And once again, I just, I love shooting that game. I'm really excited to see what they're doing with that. It's a shame ah that that you can't hear it. You know, that's, that's every pinball machine at a show, you know, that you're missing that audio. But I but i played Winchester a bunch. ah Still an amazing game. And then I had the opportunity to play Dune a few more times. Still loving Dune. And believe it or not, everybody, Tom Graff, Mr. Tom Graff over here, he bought himself a Dune. So you have a Dune now.
00:32:05
Speaker
It is in your basement. Let's hear your, what is it, your two-week, three-week ownership experience of Dune Pinball by Barrels of Fun. I haven't played it. No, just kidding. yeah i'm just ah No, it's awesome. ah I really love I mean, it's it's a tough game, but I really love the risk reward of it.
00:32:26
Speaker
Like some of the, I think they're called prophecy modes. Yep. um You get into those and it's like, do you want to continue do you want to collect a jackpot? And you're like, I want to continue. And then you screw up and you're like, shit.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah. And then, but um yeah, no, I, I, I, I'm really digging it. I think it's an excellent game. Like could be a top 10 game, honestly. Let's go. tom Are you a fan of Dune in general? Like Dune, the franchise? Um,
00:33:00
Speaker
not Not to the point where I'm like an avid fan like Star Wars. Sure. um But I've seen the new movies. I like them. um I remember when I was a kid and I saw like the one from the 80s and I was like, I don't like this at all. like But, you know, I think that was because I was a kid and just how the movie was done. But yeah. No, I really like the ah the new movies. So like i I think from when it first came out, you know the code was really bare bones.
00:33:36
Speaker
And now you know you can tell they've they've really tied the movie in to the game and everything. And it's it's super well done. Obviously, the audio, Jeff, from ah Dirty Pool. Dirty Pool, yeah. yeah just it's It's awesome. It's really great.
00:33:56
Speaker
That's great. I'm glad that you're loving it. um And i yeah, I just think it's funny that, you know, a player at your skill level with the way that your brain works with with math and points and risk reward and everything, or you know, you're saying top 10, possibly top 10 in a game with Dune. And then we got the other side of that, my wife, who doesn't care about any of that. And she's loving Dune. So it's just that that range is shows a lot, um which which I'm pumped. I'm pumped to get a Dune. oh And there's really, like, if I was going to pick, like, the best mech last year, it would definitely be that worm mech.
00:34:31
Speaker
Like, it just does so many things. Mm-hmm. grabs a ball, pulls it down under their play field. The worm pops up. It becomes a bash toy. yeah The magnet sinks in and goes up and drops it up on the play field. I mean, there's just so many things it does.
00:34:49
Speaker
And it's just it's just really cool. b m The mode that I haven't played yet that i that I'm really excited for is the Fae. um Once you spell Dune,
00:35:02
Speaker
ah not No, it's not when you spell dude. It's when you get, what is it, four Bezzy Jezzeret awards? You get to that Fae multiball? Yeah, I haven't done that. You know what I'm talking about? dude. Well, you report back because do you remember in the second movie? I have not played the new code yet.
00:35:17
Speaker
So like I just installed it recently. I've just, I've been busy with media days and life. Yeah. the um In the second movie, do you remember ah the black and white kind of gladiator fight scene?
00:35:31
Speaker
Yes. No, I have. mode i okay Yes, I have played that. Yeah. That mode I've heard is an amazing moment in like an amazing mode. It is spectacular. I ask like everything turns white yeah and like, it's just, it's super cool. Yeah. yeah Awesome. The modes, I, I, I assume Eric prep keys, like the main coder there. I mean, just fricking fantastic job with that game.
00:35:58
Speaker
Awesome. So I you know i keep asking you this question because you look at last year. So now now you have you have Dune. You're getting a Winchester, which is awesome. So that will we'll add this to the mix later. But right now you have Dune in your house. You have Harry Potter in your house. You have Star Wars, Fall of the Empire in your house.
00:36:16
Speaker
um What else you have? You have King Kong from last year as well. There's there's a lot of good games that came last year. Yeah. So... I mean, any, anything standing out when you look at what you've played in the last month, any, anything really standing out to you? Yeah.
00:36:31
Speaker
Not, not necessarily. i mean, probably more Dune just because I just got it. Sure. But you know, and that, that, That happens a lot with me. Honeymoon, yeah. Yeah, you get your new game and you want to play it. What Joel is asking you, Tom, is who is winning in your household? Which manufacturer is winning? That's what he really wants to know. Yeah, that's hard to say. I don't want to. They're all winning. I don't want put pressure on anybody. You don't want to piss off anybody? Well, it'll be interesting. I get it. I get it.
00:37:03
Speaker
At least you're not leaking photos. That's good. True, true. I think it's great that, you know, there are, you know, you have Stern that's a big manufacturer, but you have other manufacturers that are really yeah stepping up to the bar. And then it just makes pinball that much better because the competition gets greater. Yeah.
00:37:28
Speaker
100%. Travis is holding his hand up. Yeah, I don't want to rush you guys, but I just got noticed that I have maybe like 25 minutes left off. Okay. Time to pivot. I mean, if I have to leave early, you guys can still keep going. That's true. You don't need me to. Just for the sake of editing, I'm just going to leave an empty, you know, you can just leave your camera on. Yeah, exactly. We've got to talk about Pokemon. Screenshot that. We're good. Okay, let's pivot to Pokemon. Joel, what did you think when you played it? Oh, funny boy. Funny. So I, this is funny. We're recording this at 10.30. We're the captains now, Tom Graff. 10.30 a.m. on Friday. Pokemon's going to be revealed in an hour and a half. That's why Travis is having to leave early because, you know, he's got to, like, sell the game. Okay. got to do dealer stuff. So Travis went there. He went to Stern for dealer day on Tuesday. He's played the game. And Tom went there on Wednesday for media day. He's played the game. I have not played the game. I've seen some grainy leaked photos.
00:38:27
Speaker
And that's it. So I am i'm on the outside looking in
Pokemon Pinball by Stern
00:38:31
Speaker
here. um So yeah, just initial impressions. we let We let Travis go first last time. So Tom, initial impressions. You were there for media day. um What are your initial impressions with Pokemon Pinball by by Stern Pinball? I thought it was excellent. ah Uh, it, I'm not a Pokemon guy. I didn't play the video games. I've okay. i may, may have bought a pack or two of cards, just kind of check it out, but I've never gotten into like playing the game or anything like that.
00:39:02
Speaker
Um, I thought it was really cool. Uh, the layout's really well done. I, I feel like it's a layout. You know, somebody like myself or Travis, who's maybe in the top 250 in the world, might think it's an easy game, at least at this point.
00:39:23
Speaker
ah But I think this is going to really... hopefully bring in people to pinball. I mean, it's just, it's very approachable. It's very easy to understand the rules.
00:39:38
Speaker
Like I, I could understand what was going on like after two games, like, okay, I know what's going on here. Like, I don't need an encyclopedia to understand the rules. Yeah.
00:39:51
Speaker
um You have your bash toy up the middle, which honestly was phenomenal. like Nice. Yeah, that that is a very cool toy. ah But overall, I thought it shot well. I mean, there's there's plenty of opportunities for like combos and things like that. it's you If you like a ah fast game, i like it's it's a fast flowy game, but it's not it's not like...
00:40:21
Speaker
Steve Ritchie fast or like Gomez's like Johnny Mnemonic fast, but it, it, it, it's hard to explain, but it's not overwhelming. to It's not overwhelming. Thank you. oh Yes. Yeah. That's what I want to say.
00:40:37
Speaker
Nice. um The little bit that I've heard, i mean, there was a lot of question of who designed this because this is Jack Danger and Gomez. So it's like, is this a Gomez layout or is this a Jack Danger layout? There's people online that think this is a direct copy of Transformers, which is not... the case. oh now What I've learned is this was absolutely, this is like 95% Jack Danger. Jack Danger designed this entire layout and then and then it was handed off to George. I think what I've heard is there was two shots that George had them switch. They basically, where the captive ball is and the Pikachu ramp are, initially those were switched, but then you couldn't see the captive balls.
00:41:15
Speaker
So Gomez was like, no, let's move those back so that you can see the captain ball mech. But besides that, it was this is almost entirely Jack Danger. And I know selfishly, I love Jack Danger layouts. I had a blast streaming food the other day. I have X-Men behind me. Jack is known for super dynamic layouts. And it's and it's clear that I think he started down that path and then was kind of encouraged to make it a little more simple, make it a little more approachable.
00:41:41
Speaker
And um selfishly, it's like I want the crazy dynamic layout. But I understand with a theme like Pokemon, Pokemon, Pokemon out with a theme like this, you want this to be as approachable and accessible to everybody as possible. And I think I think what I've heard, some people think this is his best layout because it shoots great and it shoots really fun. Travis, what your initial impressions, experiences of the game? Yeah. So, I mean, like I said, air everybody listening, keep in mind, I am a dealer, Stern, so you might hear me glazing a little bit. But this is like my honest thoughts on it, though.
00:42:16
Speaker
It harkens back to what we've discussed the past couple of podcasts to where I have this theory that I'm wondering what happens when a designer kind of does like the Chef Ramsay thing to where you're looking at a world class chef and you're saying, make me the best scrambled egg you possibly can. Right? yeah Because there's, there's elegance and simplicity. And I think that pinball in general, if you look at all the layouts that have shown up, and I think this has always been happening since the eighties and nineties, it's just kind of exploded the past 10 years or so to where everybody is going towards dynamic layouts, which what we mean by that, or what I specifically mean is having multiple flippers on a game, all kinds of crazy ball paths, horizontal ball paths and everything.
00:42:57
Speaker
But the issue with that is, is you know too much of something can be a bad thing. It's not always a good thing because you have to have shots dialed in. You have to have, if your design has to have a certain setup, yeah that sometimes makes it a little bit more difficult, especially if you're manufacturing two, five, 10,000 plus games, right? It's got to get out there to location, so on and so forth.
00:43:17
Speaker
So I think i as soon as I saw what the layout was and I became aware of it, I just i knew immediately in in my heart of hearts that this was going to be an absolute home run.
00:43:28
Speaker
But at the same time, I accepted that pinball enthusiasts that are hardcore about their dynamic layouts, whether it's on Pinside, Facebook, they're going absolutely shit all over it. And I understand that. That's just the way it is. You can't please everybody. But I'm looking it from the standpoint of,
00:43:45
Speaker
You need something that's different than what's out there. You need something that pulls more people into pinball. And there are plenty of themes out there that that does that, but let's face facts. you know, Pokemon is a massive, massive IP. It's like three or four X anything else. It is clearly the biggest IP. It's not, I know a lot of people think it's Harry Potter. It's, it's not. and Harry Potter is massive on its own. It just gives you an idea.
00:44:09
Speaker
And we've talked about this before that Jersey Jack took a very big risk with how they designed Harry Potter and everything they did. And I think it paid off. I think they did get it on the design. Right. But that, is an inherent risk.
00:44:22
Speaker
Whereas with Pokemon, imagine if they did something like that. Like imagine if it was the X-Men layout there. yeah that's That's a big risk, right? So I mean, you're swinging for the fences there. And sometimes you're better off, not necessarily, I won't say play it safe, but you're better off making something that you know the majority of people can play and can feel good on and feel like they're hitting shots on. And because that's what that's really what pinball is at at the end of the day, because a lot of us, if we're playing like whether it's a Godzilla and X-Men, a Dune or Harry Potter, and you feel like you're hitting all kinds of shots, we're really doing that from the standpoint that we've been playing pinball for a few years. We're not doing it from the standpoint that we're three weeks in and we're, you know, fumbling the ball all over the place, just trying to stay alive. So
00:45:11
Speaker
That in itself, I'm glad to see that Stern went that direction. um You know, overall with it, I think the thing that I enjoyed the most about it is that shots are accessible.
00:45:23
Speaker
Rules are accessible right now. I'm kind of glad that they went that way. I'm sure that there's plenty of depth coming. Yeah. With ah the various Pokemon and all that. But... Other than that, like I'm really happy with what I see. And that doesn't mean like the games without fault or anything like that. Like I'll i'll be up front. it I'm not a big fan of their two pop nest area, the nest of pops, because the ball doesn't come out over the middle of the play field at all. It just kind of hangs up.
00:45:49
Speaker
and just goes to the left orbit and comes back down. Obviously, probably intentional because you look at something like um like an ACDC, for instance. Great example of something that has like five major shots to the game instead of like Star Wars that has eight or nine. yeah it It basically, and I'm talking about Fall of the Empire on that one, but...
00:46:09
Speaker
the feed coming out of the pops there could be dangerous for people right down the middle. So I'm sure like something like that, maybe that's just a design choice. I'm personally not crazy about it, but I understand from the accessibility standpoint, why they exist.
00:46:23
Speaker
Um, You know other than that, I think the mech, the middle mech, the meowth that comes down, I think that's great. I think it's fantastic. I call it junkyard on steroids, and I absolutely hate junkyard, how that mech works. Yeah, it's way different than the junkyard. Oh, yeah. It works on this. It's big. It's huge. You see it move. You're clear on what to do. You you get to it, you know, pretty quickly. So all that I really like. Literally fun to hit. and man Oh, yeah.
00:46:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's a it's a good Mac. I think that they did a great job on that. um You know, the Pikachu that's on at the right ramp that yeah, that moves back and forth. You know, for me, I I don't really care either way just because I'm paying attention to the pinball.
00:47:07
Speaker
And there wasn't, I didn't notice anything in the code in which the ball would stop and it would guide my eyes toward Pikachu towards moving or saying anything. So it might as well have been like Rogu on Mandalorian. i I didn't notice it moving. There is a post up there that stops it.
00:47:23
Speaker
There is. On the ones that I played though, Tom, it's like the post came up and then immediately released the ball. Okay. I don't know if it was supposed to like hold it there for like a It'll probably start something over there. Yeah. It's just not in the game yet. Well, it came up.
00:47:37
Speaker
It was in the game. It came up quick when I started Pikachu's mode, which was on the right ramp. And it was two ball multi ball. But that post just came up real quick. And then within like less than a second later, the ball was already coming back to the right oh flipper. So I don't know if it just didn't catch it or what exactly was happening there. So yeah, I hope that they add in more for that. Let me ask this because I know a lot of a lot of people early on, Ellie's are gone. Ellie's are gone, which yeah props, I mean, those are gone. I couldn't Ellie. yeah Ellie's are gone.
00:48:07
Speaker
But the difference between the premium and the pro, as far as I can tell, Pikachu doesn't move. The Pokeball doesn't move. There's no magnet under the upper area. And then there's this weird Psyduck lock. So I know you can lock a ball. There's a little flap. So under the Pokeball, you can, that's how you catch the Pokemon, I think, is you go under that and then it spits out the ball just like the coffin on um on Elvira. It spits out ball over there. And I know that entire mech isn't there on the pro.
00:48:36
Speaker
And then also the whirlpool, which apparently there certain times where you use the little whirlpool on the left end lane. Yeah, and the whirlpool isn't like the whirlpool on Star Wars or Creature. Well, I mean, it doesn't stay in there very long. So what's fascinating is... designed it.
00:48:57
Speaker
Yeah. And if you look at the, you guys will see this here really soon. Like I was taking a look at that whirlpool and I could tell like they had like little cutouts in it that appeared to be slowing down the ball. So my theory is those weren't there before. And that ball probably just went like, The whole entire time. And they're like, okay, we can't have this. We need to figure out a way to slow it down. I think that was their answer to slowing it down. Right.
00:49:21
Speaker
But I, I personally wish it would keep going a little bit more. Cause i I was only getting like four or five around there at any one time. And when you're in the squirrel mode, well, I'm just saying, you know, for me personally, if I see a whirlpool up top, I don't want to watch it there. yeah But if I see a whirlpool at my flippers,
00:49:40
Speaker
Like, I don't mind if it spins a little bit. Like, it's fun on Mustang and everything. There's a gate so that there are times where and initially the the ball will just drop down and avoid the whirlpool entirely. So if they have the whirlpool tied into a mech sorry, tied into like a specific mode, then yeah, that's that's one thing. Like on Star Wars, you hit that whirlpool sometimes when you're not trying to. And it's like, can I just give me my ball But this is if it's tied into a mode where it's like, OK, I'm going to enjoy this right now because it's the mode. But mike my question is pro or premium. Where are you at with that? Do you feel like it's an obvious answer here? Which ones do you think are going to sell more? um
00:50:16
Speaker
What do you think, Tom? I think they're going to sell more premiums, but I personally am just going to get a pro. Okay. Because I just... That's just me. Yeah, okay.
00:50:27
Speaker
That's fair. But I've been getting pros now for a while, so... Yeah, and you can always upgrade if you, like, fall in love with the game. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and I know... But I think, like, if you're a diehard Pokemon fan, you're going to want to get a premium or an LE. Yeah.
00:50:42
Speaker
The LE was freaking sweet, like the ah the expression lights. like if If I'm comparing it to the way they did Walking Dead and this one, like this one blows it away. It's night and day. Yeah. yeah yeah Yeah. It blows it away. the The lights on the outside look amazing, like in person. Nice.
00:51:04
Speaker
yeah Nice. And in and not on the inside, personally. But with Spike 3, Spike 3 is designed in a way that all models could accept yeah expressionally. So ike get it for the I could get it for the pro. Obviously, it won't have the same, you know, aesthetics and all that.
00:51:20
Speaker
Sure, yeah. And the purple pouting coating was, ah. It was nice. Yeah, it looked nice on on the cabinet, I thought. I assume, and and I mean, people already, this is the speculation the speculation side of this, right? Which is, i think people are already saying that the values of the l LEs are probably going to go up.
00:51:40
Speaker
And that's just, there's an entire Pokemon collecting community that drop crazy money for Pokemon collectibles. And I think there will be certain people in that community that once they hear, oh, there's a, there's there's a pinball machine. I got to get one there. They were, they're going want the best. So I'm very curious. I would assume there are people, bellies are gone, unfortunately, but I bet there are people that are, that have some that are just going to hold onto them to sell them later. And a hundred percent, there's going to lag time between when like, heavy duty Pokemon collectors become aware of this and start understanding what it is yeah compared to like when they want to pull the trigger and get something. So I think like this type of theme, this is like a pure evergreen theme. It's probably going to be manufactured for like six to 10 years at least like No joke. I mean, obviously Star Wars was doing that until they shut it off to go to the next Star Wars. So, I mean, this definitely has that high end potential. So the question really becomes, how are they going to implement home team and insider connect with it to, you know, get your Pokemon and everything. Draw people in, keep playing. Yeah, a thousand percent.
00:52:47
Speaker
I think they there's a lot to do with that. Tanya was on code and Tanya, anytime that I would ask ah anybody at Stern, what's Tanya doing? You know, Tanya's the lead. Andrew and Josh are also on it.
00:53:01
Speaker
Correct. And, but with Tanya, my, for years, like the last few years, it's, what is Tanya up to? Cause after food, that was the last thing he did. And they always said he he's on insider connect. So I think Tanya knows insider connect inside and out. So I would assume the insider connected integration into Pokemon is going to be big.
00:53:19
Speaker
Um, so it'll be exciting to see what that's like, you know, who all you've collected or whether or not they do like, um, Yeah, I can't remember what they said, but I think it was ah like you could collect 150 Pokemon right now and they're going to add more.
00:53:34
Speaker
That's awesome. Something like that. That's awesome. And i'm I'm excited to learn more. um Obviously, the game still isn't out yet. It's a big out out in an hour. When this is released, this will be released, you know, within the next day. Good, because have an NDA. Yeah.
00:53:47
Speaker
Yeah, well, you guys will all see it. You guys will have all been able to see it after that. But I'm i'm excited about it. And I don't i i know selfishly, like I really like crazy dynamic layouts, but this is the theme that absolutely deserves something that's approachable. Everybody that I've heard that's played it says it shoots amazingly well. And and i don't maybe this is somewhat unfair, but you know Star Wars Fall the Empire is a huge IP. And I think...
00:54:15
Speaker
I assume there was a similar conversation of, you know, maybe we need to make this more approachable, not, you know, more of a fan layout. If you were to compare the two, I'm kind of getting a a vibe that is a pretty drastic difference in how they shoot and which one's and more approachable. I'll tell you straight up, it's a massive difference. I mean, yeah and you can look at it once you see the play field. Yeah. yeah I mean, and it's simply because of geometry, right? yeah I mean, there's so many shots you could fit in. Right.
00:54:43
Speaker
You know, the there's definitely ah an area of forgiveness on on the shots, but I mean, it's not to say it's an easy, like the easiest game that's ever been made, but sure you know, it's, it I mean, you're going to lose your ball. It's not Beetlejuice. I mean, I think, yeah, I think for, i think for a Stern, I'm kid, I kid. For a Stern, it might be, and so it's kind of odd. It's like, it might be one of the easier shooters, but But there's still areas to where things could go sideways quick to where you could lose your ball. Like if that left ball guy doesn't come back to the left flipper and goes into a sling instead, yeah, you're dead. If the if you're not able to handle the scoop kick out from that little town scoop, because it was powerful on the games that I played. i don't know about you, Tom.
00:55:29
Speaker
But it wasn't like a dead bounce over. It would like bounce up into the sling or bounce like straight up. So it had like a lot of... A lot of velocity there. And then an area out of the junkyard area on the right-hand side, or i say junkyard area, out of the Meowth area, the battle. yeah It, it tend to, at least on the ones that I played, if you let it roll down the right side, it would go either into the left sling or even towards the left out lane. So there are still, there are still danger zones because there needs to be in pinball, but you know, whether that's all intentional, don't know, or whether that's going to be, you know,
00:56:03
Speaker
kind of changed around a little bit as the games keep getting manufactured. i don't know. Either way, it's fun it's a fun game. It's fun game. yeah I'm excited. I'm excited to see it in an hour and I'm excited to play it, hopefully stream it soon. I think I had heard that the pros are going to go out first. so Yes. um carry Very quickly, it sounded like. yeah That's exciting.
00:56:22
Speaker
i don't know. I'm excited for Stern. I'm excited for Pokemon and and this theme and Pokemon enthusiasts. um It's just interesting, like like everything in in pinball, you know to see some people already ah frustrated or upset. They're like, what are you know Stern's phoning in these simple layouts. Where's the fun? where't my remember It's like, no. this is I own a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And unfortunately, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, an amazing theme, an amazing theme for so many people.
00:56:49
Speaker
And so many people hate turtles because the game's brutal. And it's like you can just kill it. You can kill a theme with a bad layout. yeah a bad Turtles isn't bad. With a challenging layout. I think what what I wish some people in pinball would understand is not every every machine that's made and not every theme has to be specifically for you. It's okay to have different things because...
00:57:13
Speaker
there's so many games being manufactured already. We can't just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again. And that's kind of what I see all the manufacturers doing in a way that they are trying to do something a little bit different, like a sprinkle here and there, like obviously Spooky's championing The theme integration, lots of mechs moving around. JJP is about the lights, the pomp and circumstance of the LCD, putting everything into it.
00:57:39
Speaker
Obviously, you know, Barrels of Fun is going with the cinematic version of pinball. And then you have Stern that's leaning heavily into the insider connected it thing and into not necessarily tournament play, but into layouts that can be. Location play. Exactly. That can be put on location, take a beating and be played. So there's different strokes for different folks. I mean, even Stern's taking chances on D and D with, you know, your story progress or venom leveling up somebody like there's definitely risk being had across pinball. So I think if anything, what I would encourage everybody to do is try something out. Even if you think you're going to hate it, try it out. You might actually like it. And guess what? If you don't like it, you have like a thousand other options to go play and have fun with pinball. Yep.
00:58:20
Speaker
And a pinball show like Pinball at the Beach is great for that because you can you can see they had the whole skew of pinball. So it's just like you can you can be playing modern games or you can go play an old – just find your niche. My buddy Derek, who's local, he's he's becoming ah like a grumpy old man.
00:58:35
Speaker
He just – all of his – all the modern stuff is like a turnoff to him. He's just like, I don't care about that thing. And he's just like – he's fully embraced. The older alphanumeric, like just that's the level of pinball that he loves. And that's great. and That's great that it's out there. So find find your niche, whether it's old Bally Williams days, modern pinball, EMs, whatever. That's what's awesome about this hobby.
00:58:56
Speaker
um But I know, Travis, you got to work. You got to go like do your job. Yeah. My apologies. I miss i misread my timing. I thought i was going to have until 1030, but it was just till 10. So as I can't read. Yeah. plug and try and Go ahead and do your plug.
00:59:10
Speaker
ah Yeah, I'm Travis Murie and I got to get the heck out of here. I mean, I'm on triple drain, pinball company, and all that, but yeah love you guys. You guys are awesome. Joel, even you, you're fine. You're fine, Joel. People think I hate Joel and they're right, but right now I'm going to say he's awesome. Thanks, Travis. Good luck to you guys soon.
00:59:28
Speaker
Thank you. You guys take care and I'm going to leave all this on so you guys keep going for as long as you think you need to go. Later. up Later, guys. Bye. um Tom, this might be the best the best ah next whatever 20 minutes of Triple Drain we've ever had. um So, it's a safe environment now, Joel.
00:59:46
Speaker
Just to remind the listeners, Triple Drain started because you, Tom, you wanted to start a podcast. You were going to do a solo endeavor. Me, Tom, want to start podcast.
00:59:57
Speaker
All right. Well, Tom, there's only two other things that I can think of that I wanted to talk about, unless you have
Band-Themed Pinball Games
01:00:02
Speaker
another topic. But um two games that I've had the opportunity to stream. Well, i had I already mentioned Foo. Foo was awesome. yeah Foo, the completed Foo code. Do you still own a Foo Fighters? Oh, yeah.
01:00:13
Speaker
you have a pro or a premium? I have an LE. LE. Dude, it's I streamed an LE. What an awesome game. That game is so fleshed out. And Fubot is awesome. like the food like To work towards Fubot, once you understand that, I love objective-based wizard modes where it's like, what do I want to work on? and it's And it's just understanding. It's like, oh, all I have to do is beat one mode. like It's not like I have to beat all the modes. I just have to beat one mode in one go.
01:00:43
Speaker
boom, do that. And then it's like, hit to this multiball. You have to get to combatron. You have to play area 51 multiball. You have to do the sonic radio. It's like, once you understand what you have to do, get to, what is it? The food, not food, but the bot frenzy mode. Like once you understand your tasks, it's just, you can totally shift how you play that game.
01:01:03
Speaker
And, oh man, it's, I love the layout. I love the way it shoots. That center spinner never gets old. And um Ray, believe it or not, He did a good job. He did a good job. The code is really good.
01:01:15
Speaker
The code is very, very good on that game. So yes I just think it's crazy with Foo Fighters. That game came out and it was selling like hotcakes. Everybody owned it. And then for whatever reason, the the value of the game just kind of plummeted because people started selling them.
01:01:27
Speaker
And I will tell you now, if you're a Foo Fighters fan, get in on one. Go get one. You can get a pro for under like $5,000, it seems like. It's insane. i know.
01:01:38
Speaker
And the premium or LE with the expression lights, like Jared had a blast like that game. And I understand band pins can be, um you know, it's it's hard to own a band pin if you don't love the band. Like true. Because you're they're like, oh, I didn't know you were such a Kiss fan. It's like, well, I'm not, but I really like the pinball game. You know, it's like, so I get it. yeah You don't necessarily have to like the band to like the game. Yeah, you know I get it.
Predator and Alien Pinball Comparison
01:02:05
Speaker
Oh, you have Elton John too. Elton John's one of those. have Elton John. But it's, don't know, Foo Fighters awesome. That was one of those like, man, that game was great. And then the other game I streamed, Predator. I had the opportunity to stream Predator. Sorry, Joel. I know you played Predator at Expo a bunch of people played Predator Expo. I wasn't a fan of it.
01:02:26
Speaker
you know I just like, I don't know. it maybe Maybe it was the game I played or something. The flippers were pretty... tired at the game at expo. Yeah. And also like, you know, I had a, I had a shot to lock a ball and like, I hit it like a couple times that it didn't work and you figured like, eh, and I had to go anyways, cause I had to go stream. So Yeah, it's my takeaway with Predator. Jared and I, we had a fun time. We had a fun time streaming it. From a technical standpoint, it was a challenge to get everything working with the video and the audio, but I got it. I got everything working. I had to do some tweaks. I understand this game's coming over on a boat. So I mad respect for all the Australian listeners and European listeners that get all of their games off a boat because... That thing, your game's beat up by the time it gets to you. So mad respect for you guys having to tweak your games and get them working because I had to tweak this one. There was an opto issue, but I got it all working, got it all working, had a good time, had a great time playing it that Friday night, or, wow, Wednesday night.
01:03:31
Speaker
um But I had a lot of people at Pinball at the Beach. What are your thoughts on Predator? What I will say is if you own an alien and you like your alien, then you will like Predator.
01:03:42
Speaker
It's just understanding that every manufacturer has different quirks. And so a Pinball Brothers game has its own unique quirks that are different than JJP, that are different than Spooky.
01:03:53
Speaker
So if you know what those quirks are and you like those quirks, you like how the game feels, how the flippers feel, how the build quality, like if you like all of that, then yeah, I would say you will like predator between the two. i preferred alien. I think alien is the better game.
01:04:08
Speaker
Um, but overall I would give, I'd give predator a solid B it's fine. It's, it's, I mean, yeah I would even say it's good, you know, but it's just the modes. There was nothing in the game that like blew me away. The, the, the multiball with the, that loads up over in the, in the mech with the machine gun. That, that's a pretty cool multiball. That's a pretty cool moment. Um,
01:04:31
Speaker
But overall overall, the layout's fine. The layout's fine. All the shots, you can hit all the shots. They're all accessible. um The modes, the code itself, I just filmed a tutorial. It's all good. Like, it's a good game.
01:04:41
Speaker
But it's really hard as an American. That's a $12,000 game to get it over here, plus shipping, plus this, plus that. And man, you look at games in pinball right now, there's a lot of good games you can buy for $12,000. True. And that's where it's just like, I just feel like that game It's just not on the same level, in my opinion, some of the other games. They said they were going to end production of it soon, too, right? Yeah, it's going to be, that's one of those, and I understand in this hobby, there are collectors that they just like collecting more obscure games, more rare games.
01:05:19
Speaker
Absolutely, Predator will fit in your collection. Yeah, you have a big collection. Go for it. But would I put Predator on location? No. Would I, like, in a small lineup, you know, four or five games?
01:05:31
Speaker
It's just, don't know, unless you're just a diehard Predator fan. But even if you are a diehard Predator fan, it's so obvious that Arnold Schwarzenegger is not in the game. Like, it is comical how they've blurred his face or edited certain scenes to, like, oh, you can't see him because he's running through the brush. Oh, that's the back of his head. Oh, that's his arm. Oh, I mean, it's creative what they did to get as much of him in the game as they can without him being in the game.
01:05:59
Speaker
True. But, I don't know. you do You do miss him being in the game, and that's where I feel like Alien, the sound is better than Alien. feels yeah Get chopper! Jared and I had a good time. So if you're on the fence, go back and watch our Predator stream. um But yeah, if you're parent like i I bet there are people that will buy the game and own the game. Retro Ralph owns the game and loves the game. I'm happy for you, Ralph. I'm glad that you really love that game.
01:06:25
Speaker
um But man, it's just hard to me. It's just hard personally to to try to even put that in the same level as some of the games that came out last year. Not every pinball machine is going to...
01:06:38
Speaker
be on the heartstrings of every person. so true you know
Ninja Turtles and KISS Pinball
01:06:41
Speaker
True. I mean, you hate Rush. I love Rush. Rush just kicked me in the balls over and over and over again. I need to stream it again, honestly. It was a yeah it was a tough game to like get a grasp of when I first had it. yeah but But I love the game so much and the theme, I just had to pound on it.
01:07:04
Speaker
So I had a shout out to George Fisher with Don't Panic Flip. He had asked me, do I still love turtles? Do I still love turtles? And the reality is I get it. I understand in my world, turtles, S tier theme. it is It is one of my top three. t I love turtles. But if I'm going to be honest, is turtles an S tier pinball machine?
01:07:23
Speaker
No, it's not. I understand. I really like the code. I've really learned to love that. Like I love the layout, but I understand for most people, it's a brutal layout. It's a harder to find layout, but if you own it, you find the shots, you play enough. You can really like, it's not a bad, it's far from a bad game. I think it's a bad rap. i think it's good game. still have pro.
01:07:43
Speaker
Yeah, but I think that's that's something that like I understand Rush is Rush to you. So right even if Rush was bad, you'd still love that game to death because it's Rush. So I get that. As a Rush fan, it's very well done, honestly. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, the last game I streamed this this week, kiss, this is a kiss LE that Zach got in on trade. It's a game that I may have played one time before we streamed it.
01:08:08
Speaker
That's a great game. Yeah. I used to have one. That is a great game. Like some of these games, I don't know. I don't know if I'm just, uh, I'm just ah naive like naive or I just don't know. Or I, I just started a little late, uh, because that was a, that's 2015.
01:08:26
Speaker
That game was fun. And i don't it's not I don't love KISS, but um there's a simplicity to it. There's a simplicity to it. Once you understand, fill the grid. Here's how you fill the grid.
01:08:37
Speaker
Simple task-based you know objectives. so On the l LE, the wizard mode, there's a magnet in the back with the Starchild multiball. I mean, the scoop sucks. The scoop is brutal. Yeah, it's a tough shot. Yeah, that scoop is right there with...
01:08:53
Speaker
Well, I get it. you know Rush got a lot of like grief for that scoop, essentially in the same spot. um But there's a Cliffy protector on this. I think they all came with one. Oh, yeah. That makes it worse. Exactly. No, it didn't come with it.
01:09:06
Speaker
Oh, they just added it. Because yeah even I watched the Bowen tutorial, and Bowen was like, get it off. get the Take the protector off because it makes it really hard. But I just, I don't know. I think In pinball, and i and you you're an incredibly good player, but I like sometimes just having a more simplistic game.
01:09:27
Speaker
Maybe having in your lineup. Give yourself a Harry Potter, which has eight movies worth assets and crazy deep code and you know crazy stuff to experience. You can enjoy that game, but but make sure you have in your collection a game that you can just step up and play. yeah Step up and you don't have to overthink. Just play the game. The center ramp on KISS.
01:09:50
Speaker
is honestly probably one of the best ramps in pinball. Yeah. It feels yeah it's so good. It's very, I would say, pretty easy to hit. Very easy to hit. You could just loop it all day long.
01:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, just so smooth. It reminds me of the Led Zeppelin And then there's the right ramp. Oh, the right ramp sucks. The right ramp is brutal. And of course, you have to hit the right ramp to light your instruments. And that's pretty important. And ah that's that's the that's what holds holds you back from just blowing up the game. But but honestly, it's like it's very simple objectives, but but the collecting instruments is the challenge. And you only need one challenging objective to keep a game, keep you coming back, you know? yeah Otherwise, if that if that right ramp was just butter and you could just hit it all day, you'd blow through the code on that game oh so fast. absolutely Tough shot through the pop bumpers too on that game. Yes, loved orbit. Four pop bumpers. and
01:10:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah. You've got some shots that you can hit all day, and then you got a few others that are challenging, and the way that the code is laid out sprinkled in where it's just that, okay, this is the challenge. Oh, it got through it. Okay, let me do this. and I don't know. It was great. so it's just i've I've had a blast streaming some of these games that I just didn't I like Munsters. We've talked about it before. Munsters was one that, you know, gets a bad rap and great game.
01:11:07
Speaker
Great game. Like so much fun. Yeah. i could see Munsters being on the lines of actually like a Pokemon. I think there's going to be a lot more to Pokemon than Munsters is. yeah So, but yeah, i could see people, i could see like really high end top tier players being like, oh, Pokemon's too easy.
01:11:30
Speaker
I will be very curious to see how Pokemon fits into your tournament lifestyle. like i think I think if you made it, you can make it hard. You could move the outlaying posts and and but put a tighter tilt on and make the slings really sensitive. It could be a tough game.
01:11:49
Speaker
Okay. i'm I'm curious to see. ill We'll have to wait and see on that one. ah Of your current collection, Tom, what's the what's the easiest game? Let's stick with modern. like what What's the easiest game that you want? me probably probably Adam's Family is probably my easiest one.
01:12:08
Speaker
Okay. yeah i go I can walk up to that and just kind of tour the man to the mansion. yeah What about LCD games? ah Uh, that's a tougher one. um I'd have to think about it. I'd say probably Rush, honestly.
01:12:26
Speaker
oh okay. All right. Okay, because my follow-up question was going to be, you know, when I just think some people, if a game's too easy, like Deadpool, there's a lot of people that that sold Deadpool because they're like, yeah, I've beaten it many times. yeah I still have my Deadpool. I mean, it's ah it's a good game. i did the The thing with Deadpool is, yeah, you can get, like, a really good game going, but then it can really... And that's another game, like, i I made the sling super sensitive on it. You made it harder? Yeah. It makes the game way harder.
Adjusting Pinball Difficulty and Modifications
01:13:00
Speaker
i asked um I asked Josh Sharp because I saw he had a monster bash in his collection. I was like, how do you have a monster bash at your level? you know like I just thought that would be a game that people would be bored of so fast. yeah Josh knows how to set up a game hard. And he goes, make the slings tight. yeah Make the outlanes big and the slings tight. And it it's not a hard – it becomes a totally different game.
01:13:20
Speaker
Yeah, you you learn, like, you know, I've gone to the IFPA championship ah twice, and that's like an invite-only thing, and you you learn pretty quick, like, oh, um'm I really got to make my games harder. Yeah. You know, like like they just, they make they make those modern games. Usually the classic games are pretty playable, but the modern games, like, yeah. yeah Your ball touches the sling, it just grazes it, and it's going to fire.
01:13:54
Speaker
Boom. Yeah. I'm... Well, that's what's been interesting playing some of these games that Zach's gotten in on trade because these aren't brand new games. So it's like some of these are are worn in a little bit or um they have mods on them. I don't know if I talked about this on Triple Drain, but I streamed ah a Bond LE.
01:14:11
Speaker
And the Bond had the mech. where when you would hit the underwater mech that scoop instead of the scoop firing it back up at the rocket it it's a like a 180 horseshoe that just feeds the left in lane oh interesting yeah so it's a wire form that that it's just a small wire form that will feed the left in lane um Did you like that?
01:14:31
Speaker
I liked it. I liked it. I blew the game up one night, but I watched in some of the Facebook comments, people are like, that mech makes the game way too easy. And I get it because now you're feeding the left flipper in a very safe way and the ball feed in there. So it's like, okay, I get it. It is safer for sure. But i I thought it added a lot more enjoyment to the game because the depth of code in that game now, there is so much to do in that game. yeah So, you know, if you're going to have a game that deep,
01:14:58
Speaker
you want it to be accessible. You want it to be, you know, I don't want to only be able to play two or three villains every single time I play. Like, I want to see depth of code. So um I thought that was a cool mech. I've had multiple games with precision flippers.
01:15:11
Speaker
I do like the extra power. I do. I don't think it's needed on every game, but um at the same time, I've i've never had precision flippers on a game that I felt, ah, I need to take these off. Like, it's just, you can put them on and then you can always turn down your coil strength. um So I'll be, there's in the dune thread, there are people putting precision flippers on their dune and I'm i'm curious. I'm curious if I would want to do that. On my dune, I did, I increased the power on the right flipper.
01:15:39
Speaker
The left flipper was fine. The right one just didn't seem to like make the, the shot past the worm into the harvester. And then when I, you know, there's just certain things you got to do to dial in your game. But um when I did that, like then the game, like I'm like, oh, this is how it should play. the The ramp behind the worm to to kill the harvester, there are people on Pinside that are putting shims under the front flap of that ramp. okay so you know, the ramp is a very steep ramp.
01:16:12
Speaker
very short and steep ramps so the idea is if you shim that front one it makes the ramp a little less steep okay they're saying they're getting way less rejects so i'm curious it's possible if anybody's done that i mean write in triple drain at gmail.com or comment on the youtube video i'm just curious if that's if that's worth doing i actually sent the the thread page to david van s and i was like what are your thoughts on this and he said oh we'll look into this i did have to dial in my worm my worm was like slightly higher than the play field
Upcoming Pinball Games and Speculation
01:16:38
Speaker
Yeah. And their, uh, their software to do it is like phenomenal. Yeah. I could just go in there. Boom, boom, boom. And I'm pumped. I'm pumped for Dune. Oh, dude no Dune's great.
01:16:49
Speaker
We are, I mean, sorry, we apologize everybody that's still listening, but it's... They're like, where's Travis? We apologize for missing January, but we were just, we knew if we recorded, Pokemon would be released, you know, two days later. um I do think, I know you guys are going to have a chance. Travis will obviously get one at the Pinball Company. You'll probably get one at Lumberjack Johnny's or something close or your own personal one soon. yeah Hopefully I'll be able to stream one soon.
01:17:12
Speaker
um So we'll have a lot more Pinball to play. in the next few weeks. So hopefully we we can record again sometime soon. um I really thought like code wise, it was like kind of like Bally Williams meets Stern. Awesome.
01:17:28
Speaker
Yeah. Like the, the ramps and the orbits had, you know, three shots, start your mode. And then you could also do like a battle in the scoop.
01:17:40
Speaker
And there's, there was a lot going on for early code. That's awesome. yeah Well, I can't wait to see it in 40 minutes. It's going to be. The countdown has been 41 minutes is when i will to it. Are you going to go live afterwards?
01:17:56
Speaker
I'm not going to go live. I might, I might record a, uh, talking to Zach. He's like, Hey, if you ever want to do like reaction type or, uh, you know, initial impression stuff. So we'll see. I mean, I got everything set up. It might be easy enough to do. I know we've done that before where we've like,
01:18:11
Speaker
Oh, we did it that night. Yeah. No, we did it during the day. Like once. Oh, you're right. I forgot about that. Yeah. That was fun. Yeah. That was fun. Could do that. That is fun.
01:18:23
Speaker
All right. Well, um was there anything else? Anything else, Tom, that you wanted? I'm good. think we're good. Travis, you know. I just think it's funny. He says he's got to like do stuff, but i just I can't really imagine him doing anything. Honestly, as an there's zero chance he's going to listen to this. Zero chance. so like Realistically, like if I had to give him a performance review as a co-host, I mean...
01:18:51
Speaker
Is he meeting expectations, Tom? Like, I don't, maybe we've just set the expectations low. pretty he is. I mean, he's meeting them, but it's just, I just set the, I just set the expectations where I think he can, yeah, i think he can hit them. But I just don't know. I just, I, he says, I, maybe he's just, he's probably taking a nap. He's probably taking a nap in the room. I don't know.
01:19:11
Speaker
just don't know what done. gotta take nap before I gotta sell games. But what's he doing, Tom? We've seen him with technology. I mean, don't know. I know he made some videos, so maybe he's releasing videos. He's probably doing something. Maybe we should get, is it Dominic? No, we should get Carrie. We should get Carrie on here sometime. Carrie would be good. Carrie, his coworker, and we can get some truth out of her. How is he? Is he okay? Okay.
01:19:37
Speaker
i could I could probably say that Kerry does 98% of the fixing of, you know, the tech work. Yeah, and Travis probably does 98% of the breaking of the game, you know? So it's just, I think that's what it is. is Travis is has excelled in life because he surrounds himself with strong women. So he's got Kerry to build him up in professionally. He's got Monica to build him up at home, you know? Makes a lot of sense. That's the key. That's the key. But...
01:20:06
Speaker
All right, Tom, go ahead and plug it
Promotion and Merchandise
01:20:08
Speaker
up, dude. All right. Fox City's Pinball and Triple Drain. You can find me either way. triple or fox City's Pinball, I do mostly all my live streams on Twitch.
01:20:20
Speaker
ah So you can find me there. Yeah. And then um Silver Ball Swag. Silver Ball Swag, if you want to buy some Fox Cities merch, you can also get some Flippin' Out merch at Silver Ball Swag. Heck And can get Triple Drain merch at Silver Ball Swag.
01:20:33
Speaker
um So check all that out. we We have a Zazzle store for anybody that wants to buy a Triple Drain Lunchbox. They're out there. They're out there. ah My name is Joel, and I do the Flippin' Out pinball stream every Wednesday night with my brother Jared. Feel free to check out that. Just click on the live tab.
01:20:47
Speaker
for on YouTube and then ah also some tutorials there if you want to learn how to play some games. If you really want to learn how to play Foo Fighters, don't watch my tutorial because Ray said it's painful. So i thought it was pretty good. I thought it was good, but I'm sure it's fine. It's fine. It's fine.
01:21:02
Speaker
um But yeah, ah like always, Tom, you get the last words. ah Check out Pokemon.