Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 1: A Small Introduction
112 Plays7 years ago
In this introduction, I decide to dip my toe in the metaphorical pinball podcasting pool.
If you want to join in on the discussion email me at loserkidpinballpodcast@gmail.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Josh Roop and Pinball Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, Pinball Land.
00:00:01
Speaker
It is Friday morning and you've just tuned in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
I'm your host, Josh Roop, coming at you from Vernal, Utah, also known as Dinosaur Land.
00:00:11
Speaker
I know there's plenty of pinball podcasts out there, but I just want to sit down and join in on the conversation, so I appreciate you giving me a listen.
00:00:18
Speaker
Before I start into the meat of the show, I want to give you a background of me in the hobby.
00:00:22
Speaker
What originally got me interested in the hobby was that silly little 3D pinball game called Space Cadet.
00:00:27
Speaker
You know, the one that came preloaded on the Windows computer, what was it, 15, 20 years ago.
00:00:33
Speaker
And that's what actually planted the seed of pinball in me.
00:00:36
Speaker
I loved on that game how you could explore and see each thing, see what it did when you hit it, when you shot around the loops, starting missions, advancing spinners.
00:00:46
Speaker
It just was awesome to see.
00:00:48
Speaker
Well, as a teenager living in a small town without a major city within 180 miles,
00:00:52
Speaker
and not much here besides at Walmart, I kind of forgot what pinball was after 3D Space Cadet had kind of lost its charm.
First Pinball Experience and Collection Growth
00:00:59
Speaker
So I fast forward 14 years later and I finally get my hands on a physical pinball machine for the first time.
00:01:05
Speaker
My wife and I had some kind of family event out in Salt Lake City.
00:01:08
Speaker
So we make the trip out there and her cousin was nice enough
00:01:11
Speaker
to offer their home as a place to stay.
00:01:13
Speaker
I'd never met the guy, so I didn't know he was into pinball.
00:01:15
Speaker
Heck, at this point, I didn't even know I was into pinball.
00:01:18
Speaker
Well, that night, as everyone was going to bed, I had forgot some of the stuff from the car.
00:01:22
Speaker
It was pitch black inside the home, and I didn't have a clue which way I was going.
00:01:26
Speaker
and I started to hear some noises.
00:01:28
Speaker
I start following those noises and it brings me to this door.
00:01:31
Speaker
I knock on the door and my wife's cousin tells me, come on in.
00:01:35
Speaker
I opened the door and I was in awe.
00:01:37
Speaker
Guys, this room was a decent sized room but it was filled to the gills with pinball machines.
00:01:42
Speaker
So Sean waves me over to the pinball machine he was playing and asked me if I'd like to take a try.
00:01:46
Speaker
The first game I ever got to try was Circus Voltaire and let me tell you guys, I was hooked.
00:01:51
Speaker
Sean and I ended up staying up for hours playing his machines.
00:01:54
Speaker
Spider-Man, Simpsons Pinball Party, Revenge for Mars, NASCAR.
00:01:58
Speaker
It was crazy amount of pins he had in there.
00:02:01
Speaker
It was one of those situations where I didn't have enough time in the world, but I wanted to play each one of them.
00:02:05
Speaker
As Sean taught me about the rules and different aspects, I became more and more intrigued by these pinball machines.
00:02:10
Speaker
So after that weekend, I get home and pinball's just on the back of my mind.
00:02:15
Speaker
I didn't know where to start, didn't know where to go from it, and being in a small town where there's no pinball machines around,
00:02:20
Speaker
the most information I could get was just looking up different sites on the internet and figuring out how I could get my own pinball machine.
00:02:26
Speaker
Finally, after months of looking around the internet, I found a Gottlieb Amazing Spider-Man for sale in Denver.
00:02:31
Speaker
I know some of you are cringing, but I was excited for the first time to own a pinball machine.
00:02:37
Speaker
It was Labor Day weekend in 2014 and my wife says, why don't we make a trip of it?
00:02:41
Speaker
So we go out there and I thought it was funny because I thought I was breaking the bank at this point with my first purchase.
00:02:46
Speaker
I ended up getting that Amazing Spider-Man for about 400 bucks.
00:02:50
Speaker
So after making that 12 hour round trip, I get Amazing Spider-Man home and my family ends up playing the crap out of it.
00:02:56
Speaker
That's how it all begins, right?
00:02:58
Speaker
You get one, you think it's going to be enough, but you always find that your pinball machines are missing something, so you start looking for another, and another, and another.
00:03:07
Speaker
At the moment, my collection's at four pinball machines because of the size of my home and my budget, but I can't get
Munsters Pinball Machine and Industry Insights
00:03:12
Speaker
enough of it.
00:03:12
Speaker
So enough about me.
00:03:13
Speaker
Let's get started into the stories of the week.
00:03:15
Speaker
That's right, Munsters.
00:03:17
Speaker
Munsters was revealed this past Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas, Nevada.
00:03:21
Speaker
Guys, Stern is doing a great job with their reveals nowadays, and honestly, I'm
00:03:25
Speaker
This is the best one by far.
00:03:27
Speaker
With Jack Danger, Zack Sharp, and Gary Stewart dressing up as the monsters, it was great to see them get into character and that presence along with the pinball machine.
00:03:36
Speaker
I must say the game looks beautiful.
00:03:38
Speaker
It is crazy to see how much artwork has come along in these last five years between Zombie Yeti, Chris Franchi, Dirty Donnie.
00:03:46
Speaker
All those guys are killing it right now.
00:03:47
Speaker
Franchi knocked it out of the park with this one.
00:03:50
Speaker
That black and white with the splash of color is just beautiful.
00:03:54
Speaker
The game looks fun too.
00:03:55
Speaker
That was the other thing I loved about CES.
00:03:58
Speaker
Just the people getting up to the pinball machine.
00:04:00
Speaker
You could tell the people that were excited to play it for the first time.
00:04:03
Speaker
Not even Munsters itself, but a pinball machine in general.
00:04:06
Speaker
I noticed in the chat someone was complaining that the game looked like another ACDC, just a little tweet, which I could kind of see that.
00:04:12
Speaker
But honestly, code has come so far along that you could have the exact same play field laid out.
00:04:16
Speaker
But with entirely different code, it will make that game an entirely different game.
00:04:20
Speaker
So back in Chicago, Jack, John Borg, Dwight Sullivan, Tim Balls, and Mike start showing off the premium.
00:04:27
Speaker
I like it when Stern takes off the glass and walks you through the basics of the code.
00:04:31
Speaker
It really helps you to understand the game and to get a better appreciation of what's coming out.
00:04:35
Speaker
Can I just say it's awesome to see Dwight Sullivan talk about monsters like he was just showing off a brand new baby.
00:04:40
Speaker
I mean, it is his latest project, but for John Borg and Dwight, this project feels more like a passion project.
00:04:46
Speaker
Which I love, because when someone is connected with creating one of these machines on a passion level, it causes a game to go from just a pinball machine and turns it into an experience that you can feel.
00:04:57
Speaker
All in all, I'm excited for this pin.
00:04:58
Speaker
I'm not a huge Monsters fan, but after watching the videos, I can't wait to see one of these in the wild so I can get some playtime on it.
Celebrating Achievements and Community Engagement
00:05:05
Speaker
Moving on, I want to congratulate Spooky Pinball and Scott Denisi for making Spooky Pinball history.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yesterday, KT made the comment on their latest Facebook post that Total Nuclear Annihilation has set a record of most units sold in Spooky history at 530 units out the door.
00:05:22
Speaker
I admire what Charlie and the crew of Spooky have been able to do from taking their passion in pinball and turning it into a family business adventure.
00:05:29
Speaker
I got to tell you, it takes a lot of guts to give up on a steady job,
00:05:32
Speaker
and start up a business in pinball and make it successful.
00:05:35
Speaker
So my hat's off to you, Spooky.
00:05:36
Speaker
Great job, and keep up the good work.
00:05:38
Speaker
I know it's the first episode, so I want to keep it short, but before I go, I won't put this out there.
00:05:43
Speaker
I want some community involvement.
00:05:44
Speaker
It's great that we hear from industry professionals, but I want to hear from you guys out there in pinball land.
00:05:49
Speaker
Send in your emails to loserkidpinballpodcast at gmail.com with your thoughts.
00:05:54
Speaker
I'm excited to see where this goes, and I hope you're excited to join along with me for the ride.
00:05:57
Speaker
Have a great and safe weekend.